Are you too old for tech? Why it’s not about age.
A very wise person once told me that “successful people get results and unsuccessful people get excuses”. Since then I have tried to live life with no excuses. It is a constant challenge to keep that promise, and the “age” excuse is the one the keeps boiling to the top; it’s the easiest one to indulge….
No matter where I travel, when the topic of technology/change comes up, I hear “I’m too old to change” and they are usually younger than I am.
Don’t become Blockbuster
The sad reality is, if you don’t welcome change you could become the next Blockbuster Video. 10 years ago they had it all until the small upstart Netflix made the conversion from warehousing to online downloadable movies. Blockbuster watched their market share shrink and their stores close. Is that the business model that you would like to follow? Is that the life model that will guide your future? Are you ready to retire?
Today’s toys are tomorrow’s tools: The iPad launched in April 2010, the modern day cell phone in the early 1980’s, smart phones in 2000, the modern car is just over 100 years old, yet very few homes are without them today.
When change confronts us, lines in the sand are drawn but you would be aghast today if someone told you they did not drive a car, or have a phone number. We adapted and we learned.
Does age force that adaptation to stop or do we just feel overwhelmed and tired? There is no doubt that the amount of change has increased but is slowing it down the answer or is engaging new technology the solution…why not bring back that child’s sense of wonder?
Nobody in today’s working world was born into technology…we have all had to adapt. Each one of us will make our own personal decisions but we now live in a digital world and need to get used to it.
In my 50’s I found myself parenting my parents…the hardest job I undertook and was never trained for…but I did it because there were no options. Did I really believe it when I was promised that life would get easier as I got older? I was set up and fell for it!
What’s the ROI of change?
What was the ROI (return on investment) in looking after our parents and children? We do it because it had to be done…The ROI of change is engagement in the world. Not engaging is like saying you want to stop living, stop moving forward and hide…is that realistic?
Change is the only constant in our lives, no matter what age…embrace it, enjoy it, get used to it, and celebrate it. Stop using age as an excuse…
If you think you don’t like change, I know you will like irrelevance even less…
- Richard Silver is a salesperson with Bosley Real Estate in Toronto.
GUEST AUTHOR:
Richard Silver is a veteran real estate salesperson with over 30 years experience. Richard is a practicing agent working at Bosley Real Estate as well as President of the Toronto Real Estate Board and a past member of the MLS and Technology Council at the Canadian Real Estate Association. He is an Accredited Buyer’s Representative and sits on the Advisory Council of REBAC at the National Association REALTORS in the United States. He is often a guest speaker about the use of “Social Media in Real Estate”. Richard has won numerous real estate awards and is a consistent top producer, ranking within the top 1% of the Toronto Real Estate Board’s 31,000 members. Richard is author of a top Toronto real estate blog.
Trulia Staff
Empowering agents with information to generate more customers, convert leads in to transactions, and grow their business.
Follow Us!
Legacy Comments
if my dad, who is 79 years old, a Cuban Immigrant can run an Amazon Store – and my 65 year old mom has an iPad, age can no longer be an excuse. Life is about growing and facing new challenges.
When I first got into real estate 10 years ago, I remember some of the 20+ year veterans telling me stories about the Fax machine entering the business – agents did not even want to accept that, and now it is a fixture in homes and offices globally.
10 years ago it was e-mail and digital pictures…. today it’s social media and marketing effectively online. Every season brings it’s own opportunity, are you making the most of today’s opportunity? My 79 year old dad is – so can you!
Great article Richard.
Pierre, I could not agree more! At 70 and in real estate full time for 26 years I had made the decision to continuiously “re engineer” my self as the technology came on. My age 20 something buyers are amazed that I can text them. I just tell them that I text for food and we all get a chuckle. Really, it is about taking the old skills and blending them in with the new. Real Estate is still a local business, it is still a very emotional business for buyer and seller. The biggest challenge is to get to a place with on line clients to get into a real working relationship, face to face and get the process started. My last 4 deals have been pretty much e signed and done on line, but the grunt work is still there, and that is why and how we stay viable.
I was just talking about this very thing with a colleague. I was suggesting that Board of Realtors need to hire a social media specialist for the purpose of training brokers and agents in the Association. I also suggested that the age long angst and competition between real estate professionals needs to be traded for the newer collaboration model and working as a team. What might a County be able to accomplish as single real estate unit (or more of one)? I know it’s PollyAnnish, but things ~ they are a changing.