Top real estate agents like Brad Korb serve their clients best by constantly improving how they do business. According to Korb, one of the best ways to accomplish that is to spend time with other successful agents. On a recent trip to Toronto, Canada, he visited the office of Thomas and Sally Cook, the husband-wife team behind Toronto Real Estate.

"Tom and Sally are among the top 100 RE/MAX agents in the world," said Korb. "Sometimes I need to get outside of my immediate marketing area and hang out with top agents in other parts of the world so I can see how they do things."

Korb met the Cooks at the RE/MAX International Annual Convention earlier this year in Atlanta through his friend Zac Pasmanick, an Atlanta real estate agent who is also one of RE/MAX's top 100.

"Brainstorming and masterminding" in Toronto, said Korb, resulted in valuable insight on new aspects of internet marketing.

"It's the wave of the future," he explained. "Buyers are spending more time online and doing it earlier in their home searches. I found how these top agents in Canada are developing ways to interact with buyers online. What I learned will help me better serve buyers in my own market."

In turn, the Cooks were eager to learn what they could from Korb. He spoke to members of the Cooks' team about his focus on balancing business and personal priorities as a means to set and meet goals.

"One of my big things is to keep a journal. Every morning, I write in the journal five things that I'm most thankful for," he said. "I find that it's a great way to start the day."

He also uses the journal to chronicle the good and bad parts of the day before, the current day's goals, and steps he must take to achieve them. The goals go beyond business transactions to include all aspects of his life, from family and spiritual needs to good exercise and nutrition.

"Much of what I shared with the Cooks' team, I learned from other agents over the years and also from motivational speakers like Brian Tracy," Korb explained. "I've learned that if you've got a dream you want to reach, you have to have a roadmap to get there. Balance is an important part of success."