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There is poor in America. And then, there is third-world poverty poor in India.
Few Americans will ever know what it is like to grow up in a home that doesn’t have a bathroom, but at the age of 6, I lived in a small apartment in Bombay that didn’t even have a toilet. My entire family had to use a shared bathroom outside.
Today, my children have the entire second floor of our home to themselves. They’ve seen more of the world before the age of 12 than I ever imagined I would see in my adult life.
But this isn’t a sad story. It’s actually an inspirational story on how adversity can drive all realtors or sales people to succeed when they look at the world from a different perspective.
It might not be the same story that Barbara Corcoran took to build her real estate empire, but that is what makes this so relevant to you. Success begins with our own journey and how we respond to the forks in the road.
Today, I am one of the country’s highest performing real estate agents and in my state of New Jersey, I am in the top .5 percent of all realtors.
My entrepreneurial journey across cultures and continents provided me with an education that no Ivy-league MBA program can teach.
It’s an education that taught me how to build wealth by scaling backwards. It helped me learn how to grow my business by turning away clients who didn’t accept me. And it reinforced how we are all the same as humans, which taught me how to market our business on a personal level to the masses.
Here are a few lessons I applied along the way that helped me build a realty business from scratch.
Scale in Reverse: Typically, MBA programs teach you to “scale up” but I “scale in reverse.” Rather than having 10 clients like most real estate agents, I typically take on 100 smaller clients a year. This creates a larger client base, which can lead to more sales and money than relying on a few bigger clients. For example, I closed 140 deals in 2013-2014—or 10 times the average realtor. Don’t assume bigger is better.
Find Clients that Accept You: I entered the real estate world at the age of 24. Everybody was older than me, so I tried to make 
myself look older by wearing glasses to fit in. At one point, I even put chalk in my hair, so it would look gray. When business wasn’t picking up, I realized that I had to change my business approach or leave the business. I couldn’t give up because I needed work, so I began looking to clients who were closer to my age. I discovered my niche by finding younger people who wanted to buy and sell condos. Focus your energy on finding clients who accept you.
Create a Micro-Client Presence: Most larger businesses want to market to the masses. I created a hyper-local online presence in real estate. In business, people typically want to work with someone who knows and understands them. This is especially true in real estate. I now have more than 40 websites in different local markets to appeal to individual communities. This strategy can apply in different sales markets and sectors.
Identify the Trends before they Start: Entrepreneurs and business owners can make more money with sales when they can identify a trend before it happens because prices are lower. For example, I noticed a fundamental shift in the real estate market 
before it happened involving baby boomers. My research showed baby boomers downsizing and moving into homes with a master bedroom on the first floor. I noticed this shift as it gained traction and sold my 7,000 sq. ft. home in order to buy a townhouse with a master bedroom on the first floor. I was able to identify this trend and make investments in these homes before they went up in value. In simple terms, I bought low and sold high—a sales strategy that others can follow when they are intuitive enough to notice market shifts before they happen.
Manage to the Minute: I believe in protecting my time. I don’t take calls unless they are scheduled on my calendar because I manage my time down to the minute. In business, you need to be in control of your time if you are going to be in control of your life. And in the fast-paced entrepreneurial world, this approach is even more important.
Written by Smitha Ramchandani of Keller Williams Realty works with home buyers and sellers from all price ranges – from condos to mansions, from India to New Jersey.
To view the original article please see our magazine titled “Advancements for Women” Vol 4, Issue 3 by Clicking Here