Unlock Your Best Year Ever: How to Build a Powerful 2026 Real Estate Business Plan

Welcome to Mike Ferry TV. My name is Tony Smith’s coach and speaker for the Mike Ferry Organization. Excited to talk to everyone here on Thanksgiving week here in the US. I know for all of our Canadian clients and friends you celebrated last month, but here we are the week of Thanksgiving. You know, the Mike Ferry trained Real Estate agents have probably gotten your business plan done. You’ve probably put together your goals and your production ideas and got your numbers together and recapped the 2025, and you’re basically in the dress rehearsal mode for the upcoming year. If you haven’t gotten that done, you need to get it done soon. We have always believed that the Mike Ferry Organization, that planning is a major part of what we do. Most of the world does not operate from a business plan. If you can create a strong, compelling, exciting, simple business plan and you can stick to that plan. Follow that plan. Use that plan as your roadmap. You’re so much further ahead than your competition because most agents never do it. So hopefully somewhere in the process of getting your business plan for 2026 put together.

All right, here’s what we know. We know that oftentimes your production goals, you know, sales goals and income goals and the things that you want to achieve are very exciting, very challenging at times. And to say the least, are the best way to get started in business. However, we also know that if you don’t have some really strong personal goals, some really strong backing for the plan, some really strong, basically fuel, if you will, for that plan, the production goals may not be enough to have you do what you want to do.

Mike would say to us, listen, if you have a time management problem or you have a production problem, it is possible that your goals are simply not big enough and exciting enough to get you to do what you need to do. Here’s what we know in The Mike Ferry Sales System. Mike has spent 50 years working through every imaginable angle and every technique. How you can sell a lot of Real Estate. I believe our system has everything you could possibly need for how to sell a lot of real estate. What we can’t do is we can’t sit at your living room and spend the hours and the time and the days and work you through all of the exercises for you to figure out what you want. Okay, so we have the how figured out. You’ve got to figure out what you want. And if you figure out what you want at a high level, then you won’t fight with us on the how to. I hope this makes sense. Okay, so if at times you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, even though you know what you’re supposed to do, maybe the what do you want is not strong enough.

1) Set goals in your five equities

So, I wrote down some ideas for you that could be supporting, and some of the supporting projects you can take on to make this business plan even more powerful. Basically, supply the motivation. Supply the oomph. Supply the backing for the plan that you’ve created. What could you do? Well, first of all, you could set goals in your five equities. We have five equities in our life. We have our physical equity. We have our mental equity. We have our spiritual equity, we have our family equity. And we have our financial equity, which is the one we work on most, helping you make more money. But if you were to set some strong, exciting goals in each of the five equities, now you’ve got something to look forward to or to work towards in the most important parts of your life.

I wrote down you could really start understanding an assignment that Mike has given us for years and years now, he used to say, 100. In all of these I’m going to say ten. Okay, sit down and write the next ten places you want to go. What are the next ten places you want to go? Then sit down and write. What are the next ten things you want to have? What are the next ten things you would like to have? And then write down the next ten things you would like to do. Okay. In our life, with ourselves and with our families, uh, certainly. I hope you have some travel goals, some places on this great planet that you want to go see and visit. Hopefully you’ve got some idea of some things that you’d like to buy for yourself and your family, and then hopefully you’ve got some things that you would really like to do or accomplish in your life. Write down the next ten in each of those areas. Maybe you could even put them in order. What if you knew the next ten, the very next place you want to go, the very next thing you want to have, and the very next thing you want to do. It’s a powerful exercise.

Now, Mike used to say 100. I’m asking for ten. Look at the next one. Get a year at a glance calendar. Get one of those calendars that has all 12 months in front of it. Sit down and outline when and where you want to vacation. Outline the events that you would like to attend throughout the year. Outline the holidays and the days off that you plan on taking. Spell out for yourself all of the incredible things and that you would like to do within the calendar. It often can help you see the future better, and you can get excited about some of the incredible things you have out in front of you. Get that year at a glance calendar and outline for yourself all of the incredible things you’re going to do.

2) Put together for yourself a really powerful, strong visual dream board

This is a big one. Um, I don’t know the status of this for you. I don’t know if you have one that’s active or not, but put together for yourself a really powerful, strong visual dream board. Cut out those photos of all the places you want to go and the things you want to have and the things you want to do. Make a strong visual representation of all of your goals. It’s something that you can look at. It’s something you can connect to. It’s something that you can use as a tool to help you do the things you’re supposed to do in your daily business. What is the status of your dream board? Is it time to upgrade one? Is it time to create one for the very first time? Sit down and put that dream board together.

3) Write a future letter

Here’s one that you might consider. Write a future letter. Sit down. Now that your business plan is done and you’re clear on some of the things you’d like to achieve. Sit down and write a letter. Now you can write this letter to yourself. You can write it to someone you respect. You can write it to your coach, maybe to Mike Ferry. You know, dear Mike, I am so thrilled of what I accomplished this year. Uh, I broke records with my income and made blank dollars. I had my highest production goal ever with blank listings taken. We were able to take the family to this incredible ten-day vacation to Greece, right? Uh, I was able to pay off debt. We were able to purchase for ourselves, make a letter in the for the future that basically describes everything that you want to have happen this year, but write it as if it already has happened. Write it as in a big thank you. It’s a powerful way to put out into the future what you’re striving to do. Write that future letter.

4) Do daily affirmations

Okay. Um, I wrote down, you know, if you want more power behind the business plan, you’ve got to do daily affirmations. You know, I will often ask an audience. I’ll say, uh, raise your hand if you do affirmations every day. And a few hands will go up. And then I’ll ask everyone to raise their hand. Everyone raises their hand and they look around and I say, I didn’t say positive affirmations. Okay, the truth is, we talk to ourselves every day. We’re always talking to ourselves. And if we’re not careful, we don’t talk to ourselves in the right way. You know, I’m too old. I don’t like prospecting. I don’t I’m not a morning person. That’s not supporting what you’re doing. Come up with 3 or 4. Very positive, very strong, very, very exciting affirmations and use and chant those affirmations every day. Maybe even get an affirmations partner that every day you can bounce your affirmations back and forth off of each other. Affirming what you’re trying to do is a powerful way to support your business plan.

5) Start a goals and gratitude journal every day

I wrote down start maybe a goals and gratitude journal every day. Sit down for 5 or 10 minutes, write down those top ten goals that you have, and then write down the things that you are grateful for today. There’s so much to be grateful for. You know, we work in an industry that has no cap on our income. We work in parts of the world that have undeniable wealth. There are going to be so many transactions in 2026 in your market. How many do you want? Okay, so maybe you should sit down every day and write what you’re grateful for and what your goals are. Create that journal. Okay, here’s a here’s a way to give power to your plan. Every afternoon, sit down and do an honest critique of your performance today. An honest critique. Now we ask you to track your numbers. So, part of that critique is tracking all of your numbers. How many hours? How many contacts? Listing appointments, listings taken. Sales. So, if every afternoon you sit down and write and track your numbers, and then I would ask you to answer these three questions in writing. What did I do exceptionally well today? There has to be something. What did you do well today? And then answer this question. Where did I get off track today? Did you get a little off track somewhere? Where did you get off track today? And then write down what am I committed to doing better tomorrow? Okay.

6) Critique your performance honestly every day

Uh, one way to really stay engaged and stay on your plan and stay productive is to be able to critique your performance honestly every day. Try this from now to the end of the year. At the end of every day, simply answer those three questions after you’ve tracked your numbers. You can’t help but do better. Okay. You can’t do better. Okay. I wrote down just a simple, uh, you know, just a simple tracking, right? Um, if you want to do better, track everything you do. Maybe you need to do a time versus motion study for a couple days. Right? Um, and take 15-minute increments and write down everything you do for a couple of workdays. It’s a really powerful technique to have you see if you’re productive or not. See how you’re really spending your days’ time versus motion study. It’s a great method to support your business plan.

7) Get yourself some strong accountability, strong role play partners

Okay, I mentioned it earlier, but get yourself some strong accountability, strong role play partners. Now is the time of year to get connected or reconnected to the accountabilities you need, and the role play and practice you need to do. We know this if you’re held accountable every day, and if you practice your scripts and skills every day, it keeps you closer to the production you want and the goals you’ve set on that business plan. Be sure you’re role-playing accountability partners are set up. Mike asked this question in a meeting not too long ago. He said, “Are you comfortable with your contribution to your business in 2025?” That’s a tough question. Okay. So, I’m going to ask you, are you comfortable with your contribution to your Real Estate sales business so far in 2025? Would you like to contribute more to your business in 2026? Would you like a stronger plan, a stronger daily schedule, stronger production goals? They’re all available to you, but it’s based on contribution. Okay.

8) Attend events

And then the last thing I wrote down to support a strong business plan, you’ve got to attend events. We know for a fact that agents that go to 4 or 5 Mike Ferry events every year, they undeniably get closer to achieving their goals. Why? Because they stay motivated. They stay plugged in. They stay engaged. Okay, we’ve got a couple of really important ones in front of us.

On Monday, December 1st, right around the corner, there are going to be three. Actually four, but three of our Mike Ferry toy drives going off all on the same day. Larry Kozak is hosting a Toy Drive in Toronto, Canada. Ron Cronin is hosting a Toy Drive in Anaheim, California. And yours truly, Tony Smith is hosting a Toy Drive in Las Vegas, Nevada. We decided to have a little competition. Okay, our toy drives are designed for us to provide some powerful information to you in December, and to really help out and do a great service to a lot of kids in need. Okay, so the event is actually free. All you need to do is bring an unwrapped toy, a gift card, or maybe even a cash donation. That’s your entry fee to the event. Okay, you bring a toy, you come for a for some time with us presenting Mike Ferry material. You walk away with some good information, some good things to do, and we help a whole ton of kids in the process. Look at Mike Ferry. Com. Go to our events page. Get signed up. Get registered for one of the toy drives. We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

And then of course we have the Production Retreat in January the 12th through the 14th in Orange County, California. Mike Ferry one of our flagship events, the Production Retreat in January. Get yourself registered for that. I know for a fact you’re going to come away from that event fired up with all the tools you need to make that business plan of yours come true. Okay, so I hope your plans done. If not, get it done. I hope you’re working on some of the supporting things that’ll really bolster and boost and keep that plan going and alive. And let’s all charge aggressively into 2026. Thanks for your time today.