Twelve Lessons from my First 365 Days
One year ago I launched Life & Legacy Properties, and as part of my journey, I wrote and shared 6 Lessons from my First 60 Days.
Based on the responses I received, those six lessons proved to be both popular, transferrable, and encouraging to many of you (admittedly my email list was much smaller back then).
So, in honor of my one-year business birthday, I figured I’d share…
6 (more) Lessons from my First 365 Days.
One year ago, I lost my job. (obstacle)
One year ago, I was given a chance to do whatever I wanted for a new career. (opportunity)
If I stayed in real estate, I was asked to not solicit business from anyone I had done business with over the last decade, unless they reached out to me first. (obstacle)
Starting literally on day one - without me reaching out to anyone at all, people began reaching out to me, wanted to hire me, referred me to friends, and told me, “We got your back.” (opportunity)
Nationwide, the real estate market was coming out of our slowest year in three decades and heading into what would prove to be an even slower year in 2024. (obstacle)
40,000 homes would still be bought or sold in the Denver metro. I just had to go find those people. And for various reasons, my schedule was now VERY freed up to go do that. (opportunity)
There are always obstacles and opportunities.
I get to choose my focus.
When you’re either starting or starting over, your wins have to change.
My wins in 2024 were not what they were in 2023.
I had previously helped lead a 200+ agent office, now I was a solo operation with a small (but mighty) support team.
I had volunteered as part of the office leadership council for 5+ years.
I had previously helped sell 100+ homes a year, now I was starting at zero.
I had no systems. No database. No signs. No events. No customer prizes.
It was time to buckle down and build.
So, my wins became things like “Meet 100 new people in 2024.”
Create a weekly email and add hundreds of new subcribers.
Record videos answering client FAQs.
Provide a high level of service to every new client and earn a 5-star review.
Take everything I had learned over the previous decade and remix, remake, and restart.
I had no choice but to focus on what I can control.
I can’t control interest rates, but I CAN control if I research to find affordable solutions for buyers.
I can’t control if homes are selling fast or slow in a neighborhood, but I CAN control if I show up and work hard every day.
I can’t control outcomes, but I CAN control my effort.
I can’t control the curveballs of life (that sometimes feel more like a hit-by-pitch), but I CAN control my attitude and mindset.
I do not expect you, or anyone, to wake up every day thinking about me, my family, or my business.
Instead, I expect you to wake up and think about your own.
BUT, to act like the hundreds of people I know don’t care at all about my well-being, don’t have my back, or aren’t rooting for my success is to dismiss the wonderful gift that is friendship, encouragement, and kindness.
(this lesson was inspired by this email from Gigi Hahl)
My job is to ALWAYS do what is right, not chase down and correct potential rumors to ensure everyone has the right information about me.
To put it a different way:
I can control my integrity. I can’t control my reputation.
My win is integrity, not reputation.
After almost a decade of building a different brand and business, I had doubts I could start from scratch and create something entirely new.
Then I remembered a video I had seen few years prior - which I can’t find now or else I would link to it - about the idea of withholding your creativity in case you run out and need it later, or something like that.
The mantra was, “Don’t share all your best ideas now. Save some for later.”
The speaker in the video said that idea was misguided and proposed instead that creativity allows us to give our best every time, because it is infinite.
He claimed, if you pour out creativity, it will always be replaced by more.
Not every idea will be as unique as another.
Not every strategy will get the same results.
Not every post will go viral.
But, those metrics are not the point (go back to lesson one about Defining Wins).
The win is to be a creator, not a consumer.
The win is to always be generous, never stingy.
This win is to never hold back my best.
There will ALWAYS be more.
Today, I am overflowing with thankfulness for the journey of this last year.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to build and grow, the gift of launching this business, and the space and time to document the lessons learned along the way.
I am thankful for my wife (who forever remains my favorite person in the world) and kids (who currently, after a week of vacation from school playing video games together, consider me to be the world’s greatest Call of Duty player).
Thank you to every person who has spread the word, texted or called with an encouraging word, sent me a client referral, or has worked with me personally.
Your support makes all the difference.
I can’t wait to see what year two holds.
