Sunday Reflection - Trust: The Ultimate Gift for Building a Real Estate Career

I remember the car most of all. Maybe you do too. I wrote about it in my last Sunday Reflection. It was used and old. But it was as clean as could be and I parked it in front of every house I visited. I showed up exactly as I was, with a clean car, a clean suit, and as nervous as could be.

 I was inside that car every day—a 21-year-old kid with one suit, a briefcase I’d received as a gift, and enough ambition to fill a subdivision of houses.

Since I had my real estate license, I was official, yet I was a ghost. I had no track record. I had never taken a listing. I had never been to a closing, and I certainly hadn't negotiated a purchase and sale agreement—the terms of what would be someone’s largest lifetime investment.

Looking back, I must have appeared as a massive risk to those buyers and sellers. I didn’t feel like one at the time—I felt ready—but I can see now how I must have appeared to them.

We often talk about the mentors and veterans who "taught us the ropes." I’ve shared plenty of those stories myself. This is my Sunday Reflection for today, though. I want to talk about the people who are often left out of the "success" narrative: The first clients.

Those first clients certainly didn’t hire me for my experience—I had zero. And I told them the truth when they asked. I think they hired me because they saw something in me that I hadn’t quite seen in myself. I'll never know what they saw, but they handed me their home—their most valuable asset—as if to say, "We trust you and know you'll get this right." Trust isn’t always something you earn over decades. Sometimes, it’s a gift someone else lays on you when you’re starting out. They recognize something in you, and they’re willing to take a chance.

When I got that first listing, I felt an overwhelming weight. It wasn't just "business." It was a responsibility that kept me up at night. I realized that if I failed them, I was failing the people who had given me my start. I had to make it work. I had to sell it!

I spent every waking hour making sure I was worthy of that gift of trust:

• I lived in the office.

• I studied contracts until I could recite the fine print in my sleep.

• I double-checked every detail because I knew I couldn't rely on "experience" to save me.

Your first clients are the architects of your reputation and the foundation of your career. If you treat those first few "Yeses" as just another lead, you are missing the point. You are a steward of their trust. How you handle that gift they gave you determines whether you’ll be in this business for forty-seven days or forty-seven years.

I actually sold my first listing and that first commission check eventually came. It kept the old car running and I got a new sport coat and trousers, but it was much more than money. It was about that vote of confidence my first clients gave me. Someone took a gamble on the kid with the shaky hands and no experience, and I didn’t let them down.

If you’ve been in this game a long time, take a moment today to reflect on the name of that first client. The one who gave you the "Yes" that started it all. Do you remember who it was? I do and I've never forgotten. Everything I've achieved since then was built on the foundation of those first few clients who believed in me before I had the proof to back it up.

To the families who trusted a kid in a used car: If you are out there and remember me as I remember you, thank you for the 47-year journey. I’ve spent every day since trying to remain worthy of it.

Trust is the ultimate real estate career builder.

You don’t need 47 years to be a great agent. You just need to step up and act like the person your first client thought you were.

Until next time, remain thankful,