In this solo motivational talk, Leigh Thomas Brown (One Community) addresses the common “almost ready” syndrome that plagues many real‑estate agents – the tendency to wait for the perfect moment, more knowledge, or ideal market conditions before taking action. He labels it analysis‑paralysis and explains how it holds agents back. Brown outlines three concrete steps to break the curse: (1) cultivate humility and curiosity, acknowledging that no one knows everything and moving from judgment to learning; (2) surround yourself with a resource‑rich network of mentors, brokers, and trusted vendors so you can lean on expertise you don’t possess; and (3) take decisive action by making the first phone call, using a running analogy to illustrate how the hardest part is simply starting, after which momentum builds. He reinforces the mindset shift of focusing on positive interactions rather than fearing rejection, noting that most people are helpful and can become future business sources. The talk concludes with a call to like, subscribe, comment, or reach out directly for further support, positioning Brown as a coach eager to help fellow professionals become tougher and more successful.
Chapters
Have y'all heard of the curse of the almost ready agent? That's the real estate pro who is fixing to do something, going to do something. They're going to get around to it. But nobody has an around to it because you just never take action waiting on a perfect moment, waiting on the market to change, waiting on yourself to get more knowledgeable. Some might call it analysis paralysis or death by analysis. But whatever you call it, You're in your own way. So how do you get past being the almost ready agent? Well, here's step 1. Get a little humility about yourself, friends. I've been in real estate 25 full-time years and I do not know everything. In fact, every time one of my agents calls me, I brace myself thinking, oh Lord, what are we going to hear about today? Or I go to a listing appointment or go out with a buyer and I get to see something that makes me say, Nope, never saw this before. 'Cause that's one of the things we love about this business. It is different every day. We deal with different humans every day. Every house is different. That's why our business really can't be commoditized. It is different. And because it's different, you keep encountering different things. And so you have to have that sense of get to it that's gonna help you get through it. I think about the immortal words of Howard Brenton, God love him. He was one of the best instructors we ever had in organized real estate. And he's been gone from us for some several years now. But Howard always said, get out of judgment and into curiosity. You won't be an almost ready agent if you're always curious and you say, well, I don't know, let's find out. Which means that step 2 in overcoming this curse is having that resource-rich environment around you, your mentor, ideally your broker, maybe it's your vendor list, the professionals that you trust when it comes to heating and air and water, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, pools, roads, driveways, you name it, you've probably got somebody on your list. When you encounter those strange scenarios, you say, well, I don't know, but let me ask, I've got a guy. In fact, I went by a truck on the interstate yesterday, and I think it was Got a Guy Plumbing or something similar, and I got so tickled because I've been telling people this for years. I don't know, but I got a guy. That's our job as professional REALTORS®. If you let go of the fact that you don't have to know it all, then you can say yes to the fact that you do have the right people to reach out to. And then the bonus, your buyers and sellers don't have to get on Nextdoor to look for help, 'cause we all know that is the level of hell that Dante never really envisioned. Now, the third secret to get over being the almost ready agent is the one you don't want to do. So just go ahead and get mad at me now. You're going to have to do something. You're going to have to make the first phone call. I compare this to running all the time because as a medium-aged person who runs, I'm not going to win anything. If I do, it's my age group in a small race where nobody else is competing with me because that's called cherry-picking your opportunities. But in general, I don't run for medals. I run for me. I run so that I will feel better. So that I have some time to have good prayer talk with God. I run so I can eat foolish food later in the day because, you know, I love my pound cake and I can justify that if I have moved. And frankly, my whole body responds when I've had a chance to get active. And it's hard every single day. This is what most people don't tell you about running. They lace their shoes up and they say, oh, I just love to go. They're liars. They are liars because that first mile is hard. Getting out of bed is really hard. Getting dressed is hard too. But getting started, nobody wants to. However, I know this. The first mile gets gone and then the second mile. All right, my blood's moving. Third mile, I can do this. Fourth mile, I finally loosen up. That's the other secret to running. It takes mile 4 before you loosen up. And then my body can actually go much further because as it turns out, my body was never the problem. It was me. My head. I have to get over that. That's the same thing in getting over your almost ready curse. You didn't call anybody because you were afraid of rejection. Well, if you call the first one, it's going to be hard. They don't want to talk to me. I don't have anything to say. Market's terrible. Whatever excuse you've given yourself, if you call them and say, hey, ring-a-dingy, it's Leigh Thomas Brown with One Community, you know what they're going to say? If they answer, they're going to say, hey, what you doing? And then you have a conversation. That's your first mile. And then you say, well, that actually Okay, I survived it. Let me do mile 2. Then you call the second person. And it got even easier because the first call was done. And you realize people are actually nicer than you gave them credit for. Most people are not jerks. Most people are not going to cuss you out. So stop thinking about the negative people in the world. Don't let the negatives take you away from all the positive people who really appreciate your expertise. They like you enough to hear you out. And they might just turn into your best source of business. And then you'll realize you've overcome the curse of the almost ready agent because now you're out there doing the things that make you successful for the people who appreciate you, building a business that you can love for a long time to come. Now, if this helped you, then give me a like, give me a subscribe over here. But most importantly, if you need something, type it in the comments. Send me a DM or give me a call, because I love nothing more than helping my fellow professionals get a little bit tougher.
