Last Updated on July 18, 2023 by Luke Feldbrugge
A real estate vision board is a great place to establish your goals for 2023. It’s big, it’s prominent and it prevents you from being distracted from your personal mission to have your best year in real estate. In addition to keeping your goals front-of-mind, it can also help inspire you as you go through your day. Staying on track, motivating you in your business, inspiring you to be a better business leader — can one board do all that? It certainly can help.
Keeping your business focused is key to moving forward in the new year. The real estate business can pull you in a lot of different directions at the same time, especially during peak season. There are things that must be done, things that should be done, and projects that would be helpful to complete (but not vital). Your REALTOR® vision board is your map into an uncertain future.
REALTOR Vision Board: The Big Why
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” –Neil Gaimann
When it comes to creating a real estate vision board, there’s the little “why” and the big “why”.
The little why is what we have talked about: motivation, focus, inspiration and moving your business forward in the direction you want it to go.
The big “Why” is what you need to answer for yourself, inside of yourself. It means you have to ask yourself why you chose this career and why you want to help others find their new, or their next home. The big Why is a more serious question about what drives you in this job.
When you start answering that big Why, you’re going to see some themes arise for your real estate vision board. Those themes and metaphors will go up on your board. You may remember a mentor or leader that played a big role in your decisions. Put them up there too. Vision boards work on the law of attraction popularized by Napoleon Hill. The idea is, with the right mindset, you can gather positive thoughts and positive outcomes to you and your business.
In the case of Homes for Heroes, our real estate vision board would be about thanking our community heroes, the firefighters, teachers, healthcare workers, police officers, military members and EMS. We do that by connecting them with our local real estate agent affiliate members who have joined our program to serve their local heroes. We also thank them after closing with a check that averages about $3,000. These heroes are our big Why. If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, sign up today and schedule a time to speak with a member of our team.
How to Make Your Real Estate Vision Board
Once you’ve got your ideas defined in your imagination, you need to find the words and the images that bring your real estate vision board to life! These are the ones that will become part of your board. These ideas should drive you. The images should jump out at you. The words should have meaning (don’t go with generic phrases like “Be Better” unless that means something specific to you, something personal you can explain to someone else).
Create Your Own Physical Real Estate Vision Board
There are, of course, two paths to creating an actual real estate vision board. One you might call the old fashioned method while the other is the modern digital equivalent. When you go with a physical board, you probably want to find a bulletin board or cork board or even poster board. This is where you will post your vision. Then you start clipping a collection of pictures and images, either from a stack of magazines or from online sources. You may even use objects significant to your vision if you can attach them (e.g. your Dad’s dogtags or your Mom’s bracelet).
Now, design it. If you have design skills, you’re probably going to be careful as you lay it out. There will be priorities set for some words and images. Spacing will be important. You don’t want it too crowded. You may, depending on your vision, want it more organized than your typical collage. This can be a very enjoyable part of the process. If, however, you are a perfectionist, dial it back a bit. This is a vision and visions aren’t always perfect.
Do it Online Using a Canva Vision Board Template
If having a physical vision board isn’t that important to you, it may be easier to assemble one online. There are plenty of tools to help you. We will be talking about the Canva vision board template further down. The online version of your vision board has certain advantages, such as:
- It’s easy
- It’s fast
- The copy and paste function was practically made for this exercise
- You can include video clips
Why Not Both?
You can go either way, digital or physical, but it’s probably better to do both. That means if you create a digital vision board, you should also print it out so you can put it up, big, on a wall in your office. It should be kept front-and-center in your office and in your work day. You may want to go to a printing company to make it large.
If you go with a physical board, such as a bulletin board, you should take a photo of it and have a digital copy. You can then use it as a screensaver to your phone or your computer. Having both a digital and physical version of your real estate vision board is part of the “front-and-center” strategy.
Public or Private
How you want to display your real estate vision board is another decision you will need to make. Maybe it’s a more private vision with very personal images and words that you don’t want to constantly broadcast to the world. In that case you could have it in your office, on a wall that primarily faces you. Then only people who come into the office, such as clients, can view it. If clients ask about it, it will open up a dialogue that will give them insight into your process.
If you want it more public, you can make it the first thing people see when they go by your office. The digitized version can be very public if you share it on your social media accounts.
Free Canva Vision Board Template
Among the online tools you can use, the Free Canva Vision Board Maker comes highly rated. You can completely customize your real estate vision board, but it also has templates so you don’t have to start from scratch. Once you are in, you can also find a printable real estate vision template, so that should be particularly helpful. It also has a ton of stock images you can use. Finally, it’s easy to download and share your vision board once it’s done.
Another source for ideas is Pinterest. It has an extensive collection of every variety of vision board. We also encourage you to post links to your vision boards in the comments section. Let’s start a community of real estate specific vision boards.
Homes for Heroes
At Homes for Heroes, our vision board would have the phrase “Together a Team We Will Thank Every Hero in the Nation!” featured prominently. We do that by connecting our affiliate member real estate agents with their local community heroes looking for a new home, selling their current home, or both! If that fits into your vision of the coming year, let us help you connect with these heroes. Together we can create a collaborative vision of gratitude.
