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When I first got my real estate license, I went to work for a small brokerage not far from my home. Our little office was made up of my broker, who was a great salesman; an administrative assistant; and supposedly another agent. I never saw him, and he never sold any homes, but he was rumored to have his license with our brokerage.

My broker also owned a printing business. His real estate company shared office space in his printing business. There was no sign on the door for the real estate company. In addition, he didn’t have his real estate business listed in the phone book. In addition, my broker wasn’t a fan of marketing. His entire business was built around referrals.

I believe this broker would meet the definition of “old school.” He never once ran a lead-generation ad while I was there. He never sent a customer newsletter. He never promoted his business to the public at all, in fact. He simply waited for referrals to roll in from friends, family, past clients and his large network of fellow business owners.

His procedures were similar to other brokers in that he handled any listings and turned over buyer referrals to me. I improved my skills and became good at working with home buyers.

This was all OK until …

One morning, my broker stopped into the office and said “Cancel any meetings you have today and go get your golf clubs.” We left the office and played 18 holes. As usual, we had a few beers as wel played. He was an excellent golfer and always beat me by plenty. I didn’t care because golf really never meant that much to me.

When we finished golfing, it was still pretty early, so we went off to the bar. This bar had an outdoor boccie court, and as we continued drinking, we soon got into some competitive boccie games. I beat him the first game, and when he challenged me to another, I beat him again. I couldn’t believe it, and he got a little irritated because he hated to lose, especially to me.

I started trash-talking a little, finally beating him at something. Then the alcohol must have kicked in, because he said this to me:

“Who changes your kitty litter?”

In an instant, my life was forever changed. This sentence was one of my life-defining moments. He was saying that he was responsible for all my sales and commissions because he provided me with every one of his buyer referrals. Honestly, he was right. I was dependent on him.

But I was angry anyhow, to say the least. I promised myself right then and there to start my own business and show this guy that I didn’t need anyone to “change my kitty litter.”

Immediately, I began looking for an office of my own. I found a run-down old location that I rented for $425 per month. I had a meeting with my broker and negotiated a higher commission split because I would no longer accept any of his referrals, nor would I be using his office, supplies or administrative assistant. I was going to change my own kitty litter from now on.

I studied marketing and an forged ahead, eventually selling homes on my own. In a few months, I had taken all my classes and got my own brokers license.

Let’s fast forward …

When I sold my real estate business, we were selling an average of 30 homes a month. This was the same number of homes my broker would sell in a year. My company had been ranked 4th on the fastest growing companies in Northeastern, Ohio. I proved that I didn’t need his referrals and that I could build a business on my own.

Looking back, I now realize how important this “Kitty Litter” comment was for my personal development. It forced me to go out on my own and make things happen all by myself. Had he not said this to me, I probably would have continued working his buyer referrals. Who knows where I would be today. I’d probably still be working in a spare desk somewhere in his printing office. Or more than likely, I would be out of business because his business model wasn’t sustainable.

I now believe that we all have “life defining moments” like the one I shared within this article. In fact, I believe the recent real estate market crash has been a major life defining moment for many in our industry. Life defining moments are critical for our success because they force us to do things we wouldn’t have done otherwise. I desperately wanted to beat my broker in the number of homes sold. I wanted to prove myself.This desire forced me to get out of my comfort zone and do things that I had never done before.

Many experts are now reporting that we have probably hit our market bottom. This is where you get to decide how you are going to deal with your life defining moment. You have a clean slate with your business right now. The market is at the bottom and will slowly but surely improve month after month going forward.

Will you come out of that comfort zone you’re in and do whatever it takes to be successful?

Will you prove to everyone you can build a great business?

I certainly hope you answered YES!

Don’t let someone else change your kitty litter.