ROBERT SHAROFF

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. That’s not just a cliché. It’s a statement about taking control. Whether you’re a newcomer to real estate or a veteran whose career has never quite taken off, you can begin today on the path to success. Start by recognizing that there are no excuses for failure.

In this business, “the harder you work, the more money you’ll make,” says Kenneth W. Edwards, author of Your Successful Real Estate Career (AMACOM Books, 2003), a primer for new salespeople. “There’s no secret beyond that.”

“The most common reason for not making it,” says Sean Conlon, president of Century 21 Sussex & Reilly in Chicago, “is giving up before you get over the last hill.” Conlon is one of the industry’s more compelling rags-to-riches stories. He immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1990 and worked as a janitor before going into real estate. He became the city’s top selling salesperson and, in 2000, founded Sussex with two partners.

It’s fine to talk about hard work and perseverance, but exactly what do you need to work at? What steps lay the groundwork for future success?

REALTOR® Magazine posed those questions to successful practitioners who remember what it was like to show up for work that first morning, be assigned a desk and a phone, and be told to “get out there and make it happen.”