I was getting my daily fix of internet fluff on the net a few days ago when I happened upon an article relating to education vs. income. The basic premise is that the higher the education, the higher the income, up to a certain point. For instance, consider the following quote, “How much is higher education worth in cold hard money? A college master’s degree is worth $1.3 million more in lifetime earnings than a high school diploma,” according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. What we are basically hearing here, is that a doctor has to pay for his career with eight years of learning, a lawyer about the same. The return on investing eight years is counted in six figures for the rest of that person’s life — or at least until they retire to the Caribbean. Nice, huh?
Not so fast. Consider the typical real estate sales associate. 75 hours of class time and a passing grade on the state proctored exam will get you the same thing. That’s even nicer. At least that’s what the average Joe off the street thinks. Little do they know what we have to invest in time to keep ourselves on top of the game. Which brings me back to the original premise — “the higher the education, the greater the income.” Jennifer Cheeseman Day, in relating to college degrees, made the statement, “At most ages, more education equates with higher earnings, and the payoff is most notable at the highest educational levels….”
Now, granted, this applies to college degrees–but I wonder if the same principle were applied to real estate, how would the typical agent’s earnings stack up. If a study were done on agents and continuing education hours, you can just about bet the bank that those who are the most educated also earn the most. I think this has a lot to do with maintaining professional competence — this is something that cannot be obtained in a mere 75-hour course — it is a lifelong process.
Maintaining a high level of competence requires an agent develop knowledge and skills through continuous professional development. This includes continuing education classes, self study, and learning to apply knowledge acquired from other, more experienced professionals. It also includes regular performance reviews, either by the agent’s own personal method of accountability or by a coach or mentor.
Most especially in the field of real estate, keeping yourself educated is Big — and the payoff for keeping yourself educated is even Bigger.
Kind of makes me want to sign up for a CE class somewhere …