Life That POPs

Please, allow me to be the very first to wish you a Happy New Year!  What’s that?  Not the first huh; the second?  The tenth?  Well just forget it then.  Truth be told “Happy New Year” is kind of silly isn’t it?  I mean, it’s just an imaginary line drawn in a calendar.  The time of year we just know we’re going to write the wrong date on our checks and when we do we’re still surprised by it: “Look what I did here Mac, I was writing out a check and I wrote ‘08 instead of ‘09!  Can you believe it!  Golly, I wonder how many more times I’ll make that mistake.”  (Note of explanation for the younger readers out there: we used to carry around these little pads called checkbooks.  They were nicely encased in a faux leather little cover and you would write on one of the sheets in this pad a kind of IOU that your bank would pay out of your account.  It had the benefit, especially right after the holidays, of creating a little time between when you paid something and when you necessarily had to have the actual cash.  You could not use them for online purchases, which was OK because the world was offline at the time.)

Where was I?  Oh yeah: saying Happy New Year on this day is a bit arbitrary.  When you think about it, we begin a new year every single day of our lives.  As a matter of fact, we begin a new life every single day of our lives.  Why don’t we wish each other Happy New Life each day instead of Good Morning?  Wouldn’t that put a much finer point on the power of today?  Oh I know what you’re thinking: “arbitrary or not, this is the time for Resolutions.”  Have you read the statistics on New Year’s resolutions?  Do you know how many are broken within hours of their creation?  (If so, please go ahead and post them in the comments because I didn’t bother to look them up – one of my resolutions is to waste less time finding links that others can find on there own.  As a matter of fact, did you know that the importance of blog linking is declining?  Damn it!  There, I went and broke my only New Year’s Resolution… anyone got the time?)

Here’s my point: every single day is an opportunity for us to take one more step down the path of success as we define it.  Whether you want to lose weight, spend more time with your family, spend less time with your family, make a boat load of money, load a boat with money and travel the world – whatever our goals – we can get closer to them each and every day if we only take three simple steps:

1. Have a Goal.  This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how many people do not have a specific, written goal they look at every day.  (I’ll pause here for everyone to get a paper and pen and write their goal down.)
2. Select an Action.  Like ironing, one you can do every day and make into a habit.  Albert Einstein said the 8th Wonder of the World was the power of compounding.  If it is so powerful in the financial world, imagine the impact of a compounding habit on us!
3. Recognize your WHY.  Have a damn good reason “why” you want to achieve the goal.  We are motivated by the why’s in our life.  Nobody actually loses 50lbs because they would look better.  They lose weight to save their life or to save their marriage or to finally show up at the High School Reunion and rub it in the face of “little miss popularity” who now has four kids, four chubby cheeks and a couple of chins…)

Hey, the truth is everyone looks at January 1st as a time of new beginnings.  If it helps to believe in that type of mass delusion I say go for it.  If you set your goals on December 3rd I say good for you too.  If you are going to wait until January 2nd just to be contrarian I relish the beat of your different drum.  Just make sure you don’t wait until January 3rd, because that will have been three New Lifetimes from now and no one should allow so much time to pass without purpose (last night’s festivities not withstanding).

Take a look around.  If you are content with what you see, don’t change a thing between today and yesterday.  If, however, you occasionally wake up and say to yourself “Hey, I don’t remember asking for more bills than money.” or “When did I decide I wanted more waist than I had belt?” you might want to engage in a little personal compounding yourself.   Those three steps I mentioned above are all that’s required to create some pretty amazing miracles.  Want to know the best part?  Compounding your personal interest does not depend on a calendar.  It doesn’t matter in the least what day today is because when it comes to your success, every day is a beginning.

Happy New Life!

I attended a Christmas dinner party earlier this week.  It followed the script of most such dinner parties, which is to say: it was remarkable – the same way almost all social gatherings turn out to be remarkable.  They start slow: a few people in various corners of the living room, their conversations hushed and directed at the same person who accompanied them through the door not ten minutes earlier.  Then the wine is opened, some appetizers are laid out and enough people show up that a tipping point occurs.  As if by design the conversation hubs begin to move, some groups grow in size while others diminish, strangers are pulled in and couples become less dependent upon each other.  Eventually, the dinner is served and new friends engage in cross conversations around the table.  It is a predictable, if not awkward transformation leading to a unique treasure each and every time.

This party was no different.  I sat down on the couch and was soon engaged in a wonderful conversation.  Forced to guess her age I would say sixty, but she could have been seventy and she could have been fifty.  She was well traveled and she was observant.  It was easy to sense a certain wisdom in her person and I was fascinated.  She had recently returned from a trip to Europe and exuded a confident happiness that intrigued me.  “What’s the secret?” I asked.  She looked at me for a moment, trying to gauge whether I would understand her answer I supposed, then replied, “I iron my clothes now.”  She could see in my face that I was confused and I could see in hers that she had gauged correctly.  “Over in Europe, people still care,”  and she went on to explain how Europeans were more considered in the clothes they wore and how they looked.  This appealed to her in comparison with the casualness prevalent in America.  So… now she irons her clothes every morning.  It requires a little extra time and a little extra effort but it makes her day special.

I thought about that conversation all the way home.  She had chosen a small habit, applied it consistently, and changed her entire day.  The truth in that statement is universal.  We can effect tremendous changes by simply applying a new habit consistently.  What do you do for a living?  Would you like to be more successful doing it?  Choose one action – one simple activity  – and commit to doing it EVERY DAY.  That’s it really.  You do not need a complicated plan with multiple marketing objectives and the latest, most expensive, high-tech shiny object.  You only need to execute one well chosen action every day.  You could call ten people from your data base for referrals, you could add three new people to your contact list,  you could even leave the office and get belly to belly with at least one person; just make sure you are creating a habit that directly leads to business.

Aristotle said “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”  My new friend from the party said “Iron your clothes every day.”  What do you say?

Unchained has wrapped up and, by all accounts, done a stand-out job exposing Social Media Marketing and the power of the individual.   I was bummed I could not attend.  Funny thing though: if you are hungry enough you get fed anyway.  My hunger was sated in seeing how a democratic, capitalistic, free economy continues to reveal our greater selves.  This past Friday that idea was brought home in a powerful, if disjointed, way in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

There were three, seemingly unrelated, articles that taken together gave me great joy.  From time to time we need to polish our appreciation for the economically empowering era we live in (and sometimes take for granted).

> Guy Sorman wrote an op-ed piece exposing the massive cracks in communism and the potential for political fall out that stems from the natural disaster of an earthquake.  The buildings whose failures caused the most damage – the schools and the hospitals - were those constructed by the state.  The graft and corruption that leads to the crushing of school children does not go unnoticed by the people.

So it is with China and with tyrannical regimes: The party is convinced it controls everything. But it is often the unexpected events that reveal fault lines in the system, the hypocrisy of public discourse, and the most unbearable injustices.

Tyrannical or sublimated, political or economic: the chokepoints of the world are slowly exposed. 

> The second article was a front page celebration of Erin Callan, the most powerful woman on Wall Street.  A free economy coupled with a free exchange of ideas is contributing to women taking their place in the most powerful of positions.  Even better, in my humble opinion, is what Ms. Callan has become known for and, one must assume, what helped move her to the very pinnacle of the economic pecking order:

She aggressively roots out rumors, even while pushing her bosses to disclose more financial information.

The open and transparent exposing of information leads to success.

> The third article discussed CEO Willie Walsh of British Airways PLC.  The company saw a record performance to end the year and is paying an annual dividend for the first time in seven years.  The staff will share in a bonus worth over $70 million dollars.  Yet there were glitches with the opening of a new terminal at Heathrow for which Mr. Walsh has taken full responsibility, claiming that it is his fault the employees were not properly trained.

Chief Executive Willie Walsh said he will forgo his annual bonus, worth (close to $1.5 million), because of the troubled opening of Heathrow’s new Terminal 5… “I felt in the context of a disappointing opening to Terminal 5 it would be inappropriate to take a bonus.”

Accepting the exposure of a failure and the responsibility of a leader is inspiration in its highest form. 

So it goes. From around the world we see the power and sometimes the humanity of capitalism.  An earthquake in China leaves communism’s cracks exposed; the CFO of Lehman Brothers chooses transparency and the economics of exposing; the CEO of British Airways takes responsibility for his company and accepts exposure.  Rejoice brothers and sisters: Exposed, Exposing and Exposure are the three dances of power disseminated.

Back on Monday, Jeff Brown wrote a post explaining in no uncertain terms why some real estate agents are failing.  If you have not read that post yet you need to take a long look in the mirror, get your priorities straight, stop reading this post and go back to Jeff’s.  Once you are done reading take another long look in the mirror and come on back.  Yesterday Brian Brady wrote a post with no less than sixteen links on marketing as religion.  If you are going to reference religion in marketing you had better use a minimum of ten links, so Brian is safe.  If you have not read his post: Marketing is Religion you need to take a knee for a moment, get your priorities straight, stop reading this post and go back to Brian’s.  Once you are done reading take a knee again, meditate or pray about your philosophy of marketing, then come on back.  Go ahead, I will wait right here…

My two cents’ worth on creating leads has more of an athletic angle; if you don’t know me you might find this interesting. (If you do know me you are probably quite sick of the ’sport as life’ analogy, to which I say: tough!)  Two years ago I began racing Ironman triathlons (I use the term racing lightly here).  If you are not sure what an Ironman entails, I will be glad to tell you.  You start your day by jumping in the water with a little over two thousand other competitors for a quick 2.4 mile swim.  This warms you up sufficiently for the 112 mile bike ride that follows and we cap the whole thing off by running a marathon.  The cut off time for finishing is 17 hours and believe me, that doesn’t sound like much as the day progresses.  So besides bragging, you ask, what does sharing this have to do with marketing for leads in real estate and mortgages?  Plenty.

By the time I start the marathon portion of an Ironman, I am not alone.  I have a little buddy that shows up occasionally and runs along with me.  I heard a coach introduce this little guy once, telling me that “somewhere along the run, your friend is going to show up and you will get to know him very well.”  He was right.  When things become tough we all have a friend that shows up.  He starts out real nice; telling us to slow down and not risk injury.  Later he might point out the cramp we are feeling or the stitch in our side.  As the day draws on he becomes more persistent and a lot more persuasive: “Maybe you should stop for a while and walk, you don’t want to hurt yourself.” Or: ”Look, why keep going? You have already proven yourself.”  Plus my favorite: “Is this really all worth it?  Most people would not have even made it this far.”  You see, this friend that we have; that each and every one of us gets to meet if we push ourselves, is the voice inside that revels in your doubts and your failures and your fears.

Real estate, mortgages, sales in general; these are all endurance events.  The race takes years and success is poorly defined.  Is it a monetary goal, like crossing the line in a specific time?  Is it a sense of accomplishment, like merely finishing the race?  Is it the health and happiness that comes from the effort and day to day practice?  That answer is unique to all of us.  But no matter how you define success for your career – your race – you must first realize that it is not a sprint.  This is an endurance event and you are going to meet your friend along the way.  I guarantee it.  You must learn to recognize him when he shows up.  Practice your responses to the questions and suggestions he makes.  Train yourself to keep going despite your friend’s best intentions and most diabolical internal dialogues.  There are no pat responses and no easy fixes.  Gathering leads goes on in the face of a great deal of rejection.  It goes on when you feel like it and when you don’t.  Your response to your friend will be different from mine and may even be different each time you meet him.  But you must have a response.  The key, the most important idea I can share, is this: The power of fear flees from the light of awareness.  Get to know your friend and recognize him when he shows up.  Keep moving forward with your plan and know that the only wrong answer is to quit.  Sooner or later, you will hit a point and you will realize that your friend dropped out.  He has not been around for a while and will not be coming back this race.  He will be back again; the next time you start a new marketing plan or go prospecting for new leads; the next time you toe the line at the beginning of an Ironman.  He will be waiting there.  But you will be that much stronger for having dropped him this time.

Post Script 
In my first Ironman I can tell you exactly where I dropped my friend.  There were inspirational thoughts placed at some of the mile markers in the run.  At mile 20 I was really hurting.  I needed something.  I stopped to read the inspiration written there.  It was dark and night had fallen so I really had to get close.  After reading the words, I wiped a little tear from my eye and I started on again with a sudden feeling of confidence.  I knew I had dropped my friend right there at that sign.  The craziest part though, is that I was not thinking about my own race after I read it.  I was not thinking about myself at all when I dropped my friend… and maybe that is how it works.  Instead, I was thinking about all the agents I knew back home who were struggling with the market changes and trying to shift gears in the middle of their long, long endurance event.  The sign said: Tough times never last, but tough people do.

“Eat your peas.”

“Don’t talk to strangers.”

When we were young, we heard many admonitions.  Being of curious mind, I always had a lot of interests, so one particular admonition I heard repeatedly was: “A jack of all trades is Master of none.”  The implication being that someone with a wide array of interests but no focus will establish mastery over nothing; which is to say: will not find measureable success.  There are, of course, exceptions to every rule.  Ben Franklin is certainly one.  His insights and accomplishments exist across a wide spectrum of intellectual and physical arenas.  Quintessentially, the exception to the rule might be Leonardo Da Vinci.  Alas, they are the exceptions.  As a matter of fact, if you establish mastery over many endeavors a la Da Vinci, we have created a new category for you. You are a Renaissance Man.  The goal of becoming a renaissance man is quite laudable… and beyond comprehension for most of us.

A recent post on BloodhoundBlog asked if agents writing on blogs shouldn’t spend more time writing about real estate.  I certainly do not take issue with that inquiry, nor do I question the purpose of the suggestion.  Real estate blogging can and should benefit those who buy and sell as well as those who represent.  But I do disagree with the premise.  I suggest that somewhere between Jack of all trades, but Master of none and achieving the pinnacle of renaissance man lies a gray zone most do not understand.

Not everything we were taught at a young age is correct.  Wide ranging interests without direct focus does not necessarily lead one to become a Jack of all trades.  As a matter of fact, by measurement of trade I have not participated, as a Jack, in a great many callings.  Yet in my life, outside of a few athletic avenues, I have not gained mastery over many things either; I certainly have yet to become a renaissance man.  So what do we call the strange area where interests are many and masteries are few?  The area in between Jack of all trades and renaissance man?

There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space… and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition… and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call… the twilight zone.” –The Twilight Zone

Rod Serling may have called it the Twilight Zone but I find the answer a little closer to home.  If you become knowledgeable in many areas without mastering any one in particular, there is a line of work designed just for you; a calling for which you may very well become a Master.  The second oldest profession in the world: sales.

I find, as I get older, I can speak intelligently and interestingly on a wide array of subjects and at varying levels of depth.  I can talk to almost anyone about almost anything. Does that make me a Jack of all trades? Certainly not – I don’t participate in a trade – what it makes me is a superior salesman.  This is, after all, the very essence of becoming great in sales: the skill of communicating with others in such a way as to create comfort and earn their trust.  This is what we do do.  Successful sales or mayoral marketing, is the learned ability to communicate with your community of raving fans.  It requires only a curious mind.

Prove your teachers wrong.  Take an interest in a wide array of diverse subject matters.  Enjoy conversations with people on topics of interest to them.  You may never become a Renaissance man, but neither will you be a Jack of all trades and Master of none.  Instead, become a Joker of all Trades and Master of One: sales.

One of the best parts of BHB for me, is taking the ideas and the round table discussions that happen here and bringing them to the street.  (I must admit an occasional guilty pleasure taken, when I use the knowledge I glean from BHB to steer and even dominate these discussions.  I am shamelessly looking forward to Unchained, that I might return a 600lb gorilla in guerilla marketing.)  There has been some very interesting debate recently, both here and on other blogs, over the valuation of real estate services.  It is a tough dialogue because large amounts of money are involved and strong feelings abound. 

But asking the agents I work with what they think of the NAR, their sense on the moral obligation of a contract and how they value their services opens up new view points and sheds more light on these issues.  Recently I was talking to a Realtor I know and respect about how to answer the question of commission and agent value.  Now, there may be many right answers to this question; but I have yet to hear one that cannot be debated and diminished.  Not due so much to anyone’s superior skills as a wordsmith but rather the multi-faceted nature of the topic.  This agent and I, however, after deciding that the premise of the question itself was suspect, eventually decided that there is one answer that is inarguable, morally justified and epistemologically sound.  The very simple answer to the question of how one justifies their commission is this:

I am a real estate agent and, by definition, an entrepreneur.  I am in business to make a profit.  I charge what the market will bear.