Today we interview somebody I believe is truly remarkable, not just because of what he’s done, but the style in which he has done it. Corbin Chivers would be the only person I know that gets less sleep than me in the drive to become successful. Anywhere he goes Corbin knows at least smiling face in every crowd. With his successful real estate practice and all of his advertising sometimes I feel like I see his face everywhere too. Corbin truly loves what he does and has that unwavering desire to be successful that we talk about far too often, but is truly so rare to find.
Question:
Please describe what you do as your profession
Answer:
I own and run a top 1% Real Estate team in the Fraser Valley, Corbin & Co. I’m a licensed Realtor myself and through my Personal Real Estate Corporation we represent Buyers and Sellers in Real Estate transactions!
Question:
What made you want to get into business?
Answer:
Well before Real Estate I managed a very large Health Club which I had worked at for over 8 years! I loved my career in Health and Fitness and enjoyed every day at the gym. I got to workout every day and earn a great living selling others on what I already believed in with a passion! It was a dream job!…that is until the new American owners started increasing our mandatory club hours (to over 60 from 50) and also jacking up our goals!!! In the last year I worked for that company they jacked up the goals so much that I would have earned $30,000 LESS compensation than the previous year if I had stayed! THAT was enough for me to know I needed a big change up! I couldn’t afford to work there any longer but I didn’t know where I could take my experience and skill-set and replace a 6-figure a year job on day 1! Other gyms weren’t paying any better so I really struggled with what to do!….Then enters my best friend Chris, the “Realtor!”…Chris (Who also ironically worked for me at the gym at one point) had been chatting with me casually over several years about working together as a Realtor with him and his family but I was always reluctant because I had so much passion for health and fitness. When I heard the kind of compensation he was earning for the amount of work he was doing I couldn’t believe it though so instantly I was interested! I felt like the daily hustle and dedication I put into the Health and Fitness position that led me to win every top award and be very successful would translate into Real Estate! Chris taught me that I could combine my passion for helping PEOPLE (which was really the passion all along) and SALES and still have an incredible rewarding and enjoyable career! Once I met with him and his family to go through the details and explore the total opportunity…I was SOLD and the rest is history!
Question:
What is your biggest motivator day to day? What keeps you going?
Answer:
At the end of the day my job is helping someone make one of the biggest (usually THE biggest) financial and emotional decision of their life – What/where/when they buy a HOME! It’s extremely gratifying to be an integral part of this process and that’s where much of my day to day motivation comes from. Other than that though my biggest motivator comes from my burning desire to achieve as much as I am capable of. I have always had this feeling where I want to do as much as I can possibly do and don’t ever want to leave anything on the table. I have a very extreme personality when it comes to competition and I totally thrive on that when it comes to running my business. I literally turn work into a big game and I feel like commissions or how many homes you’ve sold is just a way of keeping the score (as cliche as that sounds)! I LOVE watching the monthly rankings and seeing how I stack up to other Realtors and I take immense pride to know that I’m in the top 30 Realtors out of 3700 board-wide and that’s all because of my own hard work and discipline and nobody else’s other than my amazing team and clients of course. Looking at who’s kicking my ass on the scoreboard for an hour or two always reignites the fire in my belly and gets me right back to the hustle!
Question:
What would you say is the key to your success?
Answer:
It sounds cliche but it’s Discipline and Gratitude. Discipline proceeds hard work or training various skills because both require discipline to even get started. Discipline happens when you know your why and your why ultimately pulls you towards your goals. Like Tony Robbins says, you’ll never succeed if you have to push yourself to work. That never lasts. If your why is BIG enough then nothing can stand in your way and you’ll have unwavering absolute commitment to achieving your goals at any cost. I feel like for anyone getting started and reading this, this is one of the best practices you can try is to discover your own why for yourself. What lights the fire in your belly when you envision your ultimate future? What exactly does this future look like to you? If your why is too general and not specific you’ll never make the sacrifices you need for long enough to achieve the goal. The beauty of discipline is it’s controllable. You can’t control your IQ! The second part about Gratitude is also very important. If you can’t acknowledge and appreciate all that you currently have – then you’ll never train your mind to appreciate anything new that you gain as you’ll always be focused on the “next thing”. It wasn’t until 2016 that I took this second practice to heart when it was in the Summer, and I remember having almost a “numb” feeling after earning more money in this one MONTH than I had earned in a YEAR at my previous job….”so where was the excitement?” I thought! I almost couldn’t believe it. I was SO focused on getting more and more that within mere moments of that month being over I was already working on the next deal like that entire month had never happened. I didn’t even let myself celebrate it and had already moved on!…Crazy, most people will think (myself included!). But what had happened is I totally got consumed with the hustle and forgot what meant the most, and that’s the DAILY practice of being grateful. After a few counselling sessions and some good talks with my girlfriend I realized that what I needed to do was, without exception, 7 days a week, consciously journal to myself (I use the app BLISS for Android) listing all the amazing things in my life and why I’m grateful for them. 2 Years later and I’ve never been happier. If you’re reading this – whether it be in physical journal or on your phone/computer, take 5 minutes every single day and write down 3 things you are grateful for and why. Put some thought into it. You’ll still lose sight and get disappointed and upset of course but the longer you do this the quicker you’ll regain perspective, which I like to call the “cousin” of gratitude.
Question:
What do you believe the future holds for you?
Answer:
As far as professionally – In the short term I’d like to become the #1 Real Estate Team in the Fraser Valley. Currently we are the #5 team of 3 members so the top is definitely within reach. In my personal life I see myself getting married to my beautiful and incredible girlfriend Tina who I’m in love with and being an official step Dad to her amazing son Austin. As far as the long term I’m careful to put any boundaries on where I think I’ll be…in my past I would have never dreamed I would be in such an amazing spot in my life, relationship wise and financially…so if anything that taught me to be careful setting my goals too low, or I just might achieve them!
Question:
Finally, how do you define success? Is it a dollar amount, a certain lifestyle, something else?
Answer:
I have to drop another Tony Robbins quote for this because it’s basically the thesis of my entire life: “Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, where you want, with whom you want, as much as you want.
As we can see evidenced here, Corbin truly embodies the spirit of success. The motivation he has is unwavering and his future potential is truly unlimited.
Check back soon for the next installment in our interview series.
As always, if you like the post, follow and share with your friends.
AM
Climb to Success 