It was truly determination and discipline!
For the last six years, I’ve had my own travel agency that provides
vacation home rentals. Our business is
well-established and we continue to get repeat customers and many referrals. Many of our travelers have inquired about
investing in Florida real estate and I’ve always referred the business out to a
real estate agent. I was recently discussing
my 2015 business plan with an old friend.
We went over a few investment opportunities with international buyers
and he immediately suggested that I get a real estate license. My response to him was “I am too busy to GO sit
for a license.” He walked away and said
“GO do it.”
I started thinking about and analyzing my schedule, pending
projects and future plans and said to myself “there is no way I can do this.” I know the studying and time it takes to get
certain licenses having gotten my life insurance and mortgage brokers’ license
in the past. I went in circles for about
a week and one night I finally said “I can do this…GO ALY GO!” The
next day I completed the state application and signed up for a three week real
estate course. That following Monday, I
went to work as usual but at 6:00pm that evening I had my very first real
estate class. Every day for three weeks
(after a long day at the office) as I was on my way to class, I thought “why am
I doing this?…I just want to quit and go home.” It felt like the longest three weeks of my
life. It was very intense with lots of
information.
I made the decision to go back to one of the most important principles
of success; having discipline. My days
started at 6:00am and ended at 2:00am. I continued to run my business, attended
class from 6pm to 10pm, read every chapter and completed the homework. I took a two hour break during the day and
visited the library to study the next chapter in class. The course was finally over and after studying
for more than 16 hours over the weekend I passed the class exam. With the class exam out of the way, it was
now time to schedule my state exam. I
immediately became nervous and overwhelmed. I took three days away from the
world with just the course book and ME. My brain was dead and I was mentally exhausted
from lack of sleep.
It was on a Thursday when I drove to Lakeland, Florida to
test for the state exam. I felt
confident and ready until I sat in front of the computer. The questions might as well have been written
in another language. I was so confused
and overwhelmed but, I confidently responded with my best answer until I
reached question 65 and my brain died. I
became very anxious and decided to take a break to walk off my anxiety. After regaining my composure I came back and
finished answering all the questions. I was so nervous walking out of the
testing room to get my results. With
trembling hands I grabbed my test results. “Pass!” I laugh thinking back to when the lady said
“Congratulations” and I responded “Thanks, that was very hard and I think I’m
going to cry like right now.” Tears
immediately started flowing. It was a joyful moment to know that my determination
and discipline paid off.
Today, I look back on those six weeks of sacrifices and lots
of commitment to studying. I am happy to say I successfully completed the 45
hour post licensing requirement and passed the state exam. It is extraordinary to say that I passed three
exams when my excuses and fears were fighting with me every day to give
up. We are now finalizing our business
plans for 2015 to help international buyers with their real estate investments.
This milestone is truly an example of
discipline and determination.
This is GOALYGO!
Yanira ALY Nazario :))
