Was it A Con Job and Why the Secret is out for Estate Agents
Just over four years ago there was a young trainee plumber in Dublin.
He was skint, hated his job, drove a clapped out old banger and his career prospects were to use how own words, ‘pretty shite’.
But he had a vision (literally as it turns out) and strange things happen.
On Saturday 26 August 2017 that young man took part in the richest fight in combat sports history.
The Notorious Conor McGregor took on and ultimately lost to Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather.
It’s said McGregor will eventually bank around $100m from the fight – and that’s a conservative guess.
A lot of people hate him. They saw the fight as a farce. A con job with the punters being treated as suckers. An ugly orgy of excess and egos.
But there’s something we can ALL learn, especially estate agents, from how McGregor has achieved his meteoric rise.
I must admit that before his tangle with Mayweather I knew very little about Mr McGregor.
I knew he was Irish and flashy but that was about it.
But I got sucked into the hype. I started reading more about McGregor and his rapid ascent to becoming a world-famous millionaire was intriguing.
If you dig deeper and look beyond the trash talk and bling McGregor is a very intelligent man, with a genius for self-promotion and branding and, say it quietly, a decent bloke by most accounts.
Here’s five reasons why I think estate agents can learn from McGregor and how he’s achieved in four years more than 99.99999999 per cent of Planet Earth’s population will ever do.
- The Secret is out – McGregor said that a best-selling book about positive thinking and something called the law of attraction changed his life. It was called The Secret. Now I’m not suggesting you run out and buy it (I watched the film on Amazon Prime) but it highlights one aspect of success in any field – You must believe in yourself. I’ve met plenty of agents who are negative about pretty much everything and, low and behold, are still struggling their arses off.
- You never lose – of course we know by now that McGregor was comprehensively beaten by one of the greatest boxers ever in Mayweather. But McGregor describes all his losses and ‘failures’ as learning. It’s a great approach to take with marketing campaigns – if it didn’t work, learn from it and do something different based on those learnings. If it did work to win instructions do more of it – but look to improve it.
- Obsession – He admits to being so obsessed with his fighting career that he is a little insane about it. The best agents I work with, or have worked with, are genuinely passionate about what they do. And my definition of passion is something you’d do for free because you love it so much.
- Hard work – since his early days McGregor training (both mental and physical) regimes have been brutal. Nothing worth achieving is ever easy. You can visualise all you want but you need to put in the shifts to be a success.
- Give it a go – McGregor, as mentioned in point 2 is always learning. Added to that he’s not afraid to give something new a shot as he proved with his bout against Mayweather. Too often I see agents dismiss marketing ideas out of hand without trying it or having any useful evidence to argue against other than ‘it’ll never work.’
Imagine if Mr McGregor had listened to all of those who told him a few years back that his vision ‘would never work.’
Thanks for reading and here’s to your next instruction.
Jerry
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