The Days are Long but the Years are Short

Welcome back, Business Freedom podcast listeners. So on today's episodes, I'm entitling this podcast. The days are long, but the years are short. So I'm likely going to get a little bit sentimental and sappy on the podcast and I'm going to tie it back to business. And if you haven't heard the expression. So my kids are ages 10 and 12, and we just got back from a trip. It was our first trip out of quarantine. We went to the beach for a week, and it was just a different trip. And our kids are at the age where they're kind of into their friends and their electronics and the things that we used to enjoy going to the beach. And this is our, like, 11th or 12th year going, they're not quite into anymore. So it's just a different trip. Julie and I had some time to ourself. We got to do some date nights, and I sat on the couch for a day and watched a few Good Men, like, with commercials. It took like three and a half hours. It was glorious. As I slipped in and out of consciousness napping, that was probably the highlight of this week. And so it made me think of just the journey as a dad, my marriage, and in business. And so the expression comes from, you know, if you're raising children, you know, in those early days, the days are long. Like, you get a newborn and that thing is crying and you don't know what you're doing, and it's waking you up at night and you're, you're worried, is it going to make it through the night? And you're just sort of new to that phase of life. The days are super long. And then when you're sitting there at the beach and your kids are 10 and 12, you're like, where did the years go? I get goosebumps thinking about where the years go. Like, my boy is getting set to be a teenager this year, and I can remember the first time we took him to Hilton Head. And so it's the same philosophy, business. And I was thinking about my journey in business and you know, how hard the early days in real estate were. You know, back in 2007 is when I got into real estate. 2008 was my first full year. I sold 71 homes before the end of my first full year. And all I had was an administrator until the end. Like, partway through 2008 and the end of 2009, I hired my first buyer agent. And that year I did like 58 sides. So I did 130 transactions or so before I had buyer agent help. And those days were painful and long. And I was more than a full time real estate agent. And then I was probably 30 hours a week. I was a business builder. You know, the first book I read when I got into real estate was E Myth Revisited. And if you haven't read the book, it's a good read, it's an easy read. It doesn't tell you how to do any of it. The thing that has stuck with me all these years is the E. Myth question, at least the way that I remember it. It's this. If you had to think about your how would you think about your business differently if you had to replicate it 10,000 times? So if you had to take. And I thought about this business when it was me alone, it was me alone. It wasn't like I already launched a team. It was just me alone. And like, how would I think about my real estate business? Me alone, sitting here, no leverage whatsoever. How would I think about it differently if I had to replicate this business 10,000 times? I'm like, obviously it forces you to think like, well, I can't do any of what I'm doing now. And then I just went on this journey, I went on this tear to sort of build the business in a way that didn't rely on me. And I bring that up because those days were really long and they were really hard. And you know, I went on from 58 sides, you know, before I really launched the team to I acquired, you know, or brought on three talented agents. The one I had late in 2009, we went from 58 to 1 18. I think I hired one agent more, maybe two, and one administrator. We went to 178. And then that was the year 2011. I really pushed hard to button up every system because I wasn't going to be in this business. It was going to be replicated 10,000 times, figuratively speaking. And January 2012 was the last time that I had an actual closing that was involved in. And you know, when I look back on my journey and others struggle with this journey, the not so fun advice, or it may not be easy to hear is that the days are long and just as in parenting, the rewards are just like super awesome, you know, to be able to raise your children, to be able to grow your business from the point where it was just you, this business was like just a thought, you know, and then this thought came to life and now it's this thing that is messy and it doesn't there is no upside of launching in the early days and bringing an administrator on and getting your systems in place tight enough so you don't have to give away all your commission to your agents. And you're running more like a brokerage versus, you know, a high performance organization, which is what real estate B school teaches. And so it just really made me think and sort of look back on the journey and the comfort I can give you is this, is that, you know, as long as you're committed. So I was committed early on to build out my real estate business. Even though it was only me, I was committed to building it out in a way where I didn't have to be the one helping buyers and helping sellers. And that was like the absolute commitment. And once I did that, everything else, I figured everything else out. None of it was easy. I had lots of good coaches, I had lots of not so great coaches. I sought out a lot of coaching outside of real estate. And I sort of synthesized all of that to make it what it was in 2011, 2012, where I was able to fully get out of production then most of 2012, I, I figured out the sales management system and the operational management system so I can put two people in place there. And it was this small little business, did three to three and a half million where I could work one day a week. That was. The journey happened in about five years. And those days were long. And so my encouragement to you is that the days are long and then you get this moment where you can look back and you can appreciate all that you've accomplished. If you take the path to build a real business. And this isn't. I'm not trying to convince you to go down this path if you're a solo agent or any of that. I'm saying this to let you know it's going to be hard either way. The days are going to be long and painful either way. If you choose the path of being a solopreneur and you're going to be the one showing homes in the evenings and weekends and you're never going to systemize anything. You're the only one that can meet with sellers, you're the only one that can convert a buyer prospect into a client, you're the only one that can do this or that in your business. And even if you get an administrator, you're still grinding out all the sales parts of the transaction. You know, that is really, really hard. There's no easy way to do that and achieve financial freedom and, you know, bring your stress down and have time, freedom. There's, there's a complete disconnect there. Traditional success in the industry will have you working those long days forever. And you look back and there isn't this like feeling of accomplishment because you're looking back at the same year after year after year and there isn't this progression. The progression is that you master being a real estate agent. It's I do it, we do it, they do it. You master the I do it part, then we do it. You bring an administrator on, take over all the administrative stuff, you bring a couple buyer agents on to take over all your showings and then they get their own book of business and then you grow that a little bit and it's they do it where you step out of all of the production, you bring up one sales leader and one operational leader and you've got a 1012 person business doing two and a half to 3 million in most markets. That's the journey. There's three organizational models we follow. It's not overly complicated. And there are long days in there. You get to the point where you look back and you're like, man, look how far we've come. When I'm standing next to my 5 foot 3 son who is 12 years old, I can think about those long days, but I can look at the growth that he's experienced and the growth in our relationship versus just looking back on your real estate journey and not having that same sense of satisfaction. You know, the reason we launched our business foundation. So this is a bit, a bit of a pitch. I'll say it this way though. The reason we launched our business Foundations program, it's for anyone that wants to get on this journey of business ownership, but you haven't hit the 500,000 GCI mark, which is about 98, 99% of our industry. So it includes live daily coaching, live training from me personally, access to all of our tools and systems on demand, and our business Freedom Planner system. And we're offering that at an introductory price of 297 per month. It's getting ready to go up to 497 per month once we have about 100 members in that program and there's no gimmick associated with it. It's just the highest value thing we could have put out there to serve folks that really want to build a business. But they're under that, typically about a 500,000 GCI mark. They don't have the leverage on the admin side yet or the buyer agent side. And so if that's you go to getbusinessfoundations.com getbusinessfoundations.com and I'll leave you with this thought you I like to ask this question when I'm talking to somebody, you know, where do you want to be three years from now? And they're like, I haven't really thought about it. Most people don't have a written plan. And then I'll say, okay, let me ask a different question three years ago. Or I'll just kind of mess with them a little bit. Three years ago, what did your three year plan say? And did you get there? And they'll be like, I didn't have a three year plan three years ago. You know, haha. Or I say hahaha. Whatever. The point I'm trying to make is that we need to get on a path. You know, I started with three year plan back in 2007. Every year I have a three year plan. So my chances of hitting my three year vision are really high because it's the same process I followed since 2007. We've got, you get, we have to get you on a trajectory to start to break the cycle with this Groundhog Day, this long day that you're living over and over and over again. So when I say the days are long, the years are short, I want you to look back three years from now and see that you've broken the cycle of the only way you can make more money is to work more hours. That's traditional success in our industry and leads to really bad things. And so if that's you and you know there's more in you and you know you could do it if someone showed you the path. Business foundations is 100% for you. So go to getbusinessfoundations.com we'll see you over there. I'm honored to be a part of your business journey through this podcast and through Business Foundations or any of our other programs. So much love and respect. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to the Business Freedom Podcast. If you're getting value from the podcast, would you please leave us a five star review and share it with others who might benefit from the content I'm sharing. And if you're ready to scale your real estate business sustainably and profitably, there are a couple options for you. If you're doing under 500,000 in annual GCI, our business foundations Program program is for you. Head over to get businessfoundations.com that's getbusinessfoundations.com and learn how you can make the shift from overwhelmed real estate agent to true business owner if you're doing more than 500,000 in annual Team GCI. There's our graduate program designed for top producers and team leaders who want to grow their team and scale their business. If that's you, go to real estate b school.com and apply for a free Business Growth strategy session. Where you want to be Remember, only you can create your future, so take action now.