My name is Hugo Balarezo, and I’ve sold more than three quarters of a billion dollars (yes, with a “B”) of residential real estate in my career. You’d never guess that would be possible if you saw how I started in the real estate business. It was 1985, I was a college graduate with a degree in business, marketing and chemistry. I got into real estate because I wanted to make lots of money, and I thought I was hot stuff. Fast forward 12 months later, I had racked up $22,500 in credit card bills and managed to close 2 transactions the entire year. Needless to say, my ego took a big hit! Reality finally slapped me in the face when I took my total earnings and divided it by the numbers of hours I had worked that year and realized my time was worth $2.17 per hour. I could have made three times more at McDonalds. I was frustrated, no one at my office seemed to care and I needed answers. . sound familiar?? So I went out to search for the answers I needed on my own. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but deep down I knew I could work harder than anyone and I just needed some direction. Then I ran across a sales bootcamp put on by a sales trainer. So I drove to Arizona, with pen and paper, and absorbed everything he talked about. When I came back I wrote everything out on cue cards, laid them out in sequence and memorized them. I then set up a daily schedule and blocked my time into three blocks: 1) prospecting 2) practicing 3) improving my business. The more I practiced, the more, confident I got, and I started getting results and scheduling appointments. The more I did, the more disciplined I became and the more homes I sold and my business started to grow Fast forward to today … I’ve sold more than 4,250 properties since 1985, I currently have a team of 15, and I’m looking for the next chapter in my life. I received a ton of sales awards while at Re/Max, Keller Williams, and currently own two real estate companies in Riverside California. So I decided to share some of the things I learned along the way with you and hope you get one great idea you can implement. That’s all it took for me to get my career moving in the right direction. Check out more info at http://www.reacceleration.com/bestmarketniche. You can reach me at (951) 643-7410, or email me at [email protected]. Here is to your success!