Professionalism vs. Amateurism by John Occhi

One often wonders, just what is the difference between a "Professional" and an "Amateur". In sports, it is easy - they have rules and the simplest interpretation is that Professionals are paid for their skills while Amateurs are not. The real difference between a Professional and an Amateur is how they play their game and their approach to mastering the game.

On the field or in the business arena, the Professional inspects, originates, studies, and practices to master their skills.

The Professional operates from a position of knowledge and can recreate their successful action over and over again.

Professionals constantly invest time, effort, and spend their own money attending courses and seminars, reading and studying the latest developments in the techniques of their areas of expertise. They will spend years to master and hone their skills to become masters, champions or major-league players in their chosen field. The Professional takes every skill required to mastery.

The true Professional will dedicate their lives to their careers - working nothing less than full time while the Amateur dabbles when it is convenient.

The Amateur just follows along, doing the barest minimum necessary to get by.

Amateurs are mediocre people living mediocre lives; working on the "draw", producing mediocre results; just eking out a living. They pass on explanations and rationalizations of how outside forces caused their failures as truth.

They nearly always blame others for their bad conditions and failures.
Most Amateurs fear failure and rarely attempt something if it might mean failure.

The Amateur tend to make other non-important, often destructive activities more important than their career, consequently they are notorious at making the unimportant, important.

The Professional embraces failure knowing they are one step closer to success; that there is some unknown that needs to be found and handled.
The Professional is generally very responsible, honest, and disciplined and seldom blames others. Rather, if something does not work out, they inspect themselves and what they did, and then originate a better way.
The Professional prioritizes their career and treats it as a source of their having all that they want out of life. They make the important, important.
The true fundamental difference between the Amateur and the Professional is that the Amateur doesn't know what it is that works, therefore cannot replicate the successful action.

Whereas the Professional who practices and studies until they have achieved mastery, knows what causes the successful action and can knowingly replicate it over and over, creating a series of consistent successful actions that produce spectacular results, for which they are well rewarded.

When you choose a Realtor - choose a Professional.