Growth - Winning The Day

Persistence

08/23/202308/23/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

Here is what I know as an entrepreneur, you try 10 things, and 9 don’t work out as planned, and 1 (after tweaking it) works.

The problems entrepreneurs confront every day would overwhelm most managers.

The point? Persistence. If you believe in what problems you are solving, you keep iterating until you find the formula.

I’m in the game.

It’s not about the money… it’s the challenge of solving a problem that helps people and firms grow.

It’s the community, connection, and servant leadership.

#WinTheDay

PS: Checklist

1. Is my vision clear and compelling?
2. Are my goals defined?
3. Do I have the right strategy?
4. Can I execute the strategy?
5. Is it fun with people I love and respect?

Servant Leaders

08/22/202308/22/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

#Community
#Connection
#ServantLeadership

I posted this yesterday, and I might everyday for the next 90 days. Why? Lately it’s been the first three words when I wake, and the last three words of the day.

Servant leaders build community. They encourage friendships and provide forums for these relationships to emerge and deepen.

Servant leaders work to build strong positive relationships and are willing to accept the differences of others as a strength.

Getting the job done is not enough. Servant leaders are concerned about the health and strength of others and the overall sense of community and connection.

Servant leaders accomplish this by building relationships, community and connection.

In other news – about last night – the Angel game was postponed so we just walked around the lake and interacted with our community. Whenever I see a park bench, I always think of Forest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get” yet you can always serve to make things just a little better.

By design or by default — By design vs. by default

The most important question?

08/18/202308/22/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

The most important question?

“What do you really really want?” This Is really the second most important question. Say what?! The more important question is: “What are willing to give up to get it?”

Are you willing to give up chill time for gym time?

Are you willing to trade busy work for prospecting, business development, or recruiting?

Write a book? Are you willing to give up what you usually do from 7 to 9 pm and go to the library instead?

I’ll do whatever it takes to get what I really, really want.

I’ll give up whatever it takes to ______ (fill in the blank)

To get _________, (fill in the blank) I’ll do whatever it takes.

When you are willing to do whatever it takes, you’ll earn want you really want.

Onward and Upward.

08/18/202308/22/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

“Onward and upward” is a mindset that requires a few key ingredients: optimism, empathy, curiosity and action.

Optimism is the ability to overcome adversity despite the circumstances.
Empathy is the ability to understand situations from another’s perspective with no judgment. The ability to choose to respond rather than to react.
Curiosity. To be effective be curious: curious about how people are feeling, curious about why things happen, curious about the future, curious about steps to take to navigate difficult waters.
Action. The winners are the doers. Talk is cheap, action speaks.

When we make changes by design vs. default we can craft a future the supports the growth we deserve.

Perfection is not a standard, progress is.

With 80 to 90 working days left in 2023 I’m opening up 10 slots for “what’s possible” strategy sessions. Because it’s not how you start the game it’s how you finish.

Onward and upward.

Be The Voice Of Reason

08/03/202308/03/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

A favorite and a classic.

Human nature craves the exchange of information. When that exchange turns unproductive try this 4 step approach:

Understand the difference between valid information and gossip.
If gossip nip it in the bud
If gossip change the subject
If gossip confront the individual

Keep the strategies above in mind so when you’re confronted with a gossipy associate, you have the checklist to respond appropriately.

Doing The Right Thing

08/01/202308/01/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

One of my lawyer friends quoted Carl Sandburg today:

“If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.”

My take? Doing the right thing is always the right thing and good business. “Make it right” and “Honor your commitments” is one of the best mantras ever.

Thoughts?

What I Learned About Business In My Golf Lesson

07/22/202307/24/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

I was reviewing some golf lesson notes and thinking this applies to business, hobbies, and life, yes?!

Thoughts precede motion.
Visualize what you want (see it, feel it, trust it).
Manage your mental state & those things that get you ready to perform at your best.
Being comes first; doing second (who do you need to be?)
Routine is ALL about confidence.
Choose confidence over comfort.
Tempo, rhythm, and balance.

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Three Realities

07/20/202307/21/2023 Mark Johnson 1 Comment

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” ~ Max de Pree

The top 1% embrace these 3 realities:

Reality one: No leads means no appointments. No appointments means no sales. No sales means you’re broke. #moneyball

Reality two: The size of your business will be in direct proportion to the creativity of your campaigns and the quality and size of your database. #relationships

Reality three: Consistency is King and Queen. #persistence

Why Reporting (Your Numbers) In Your Real Estate Business Is Important

07/19/202307/20/2023 Mark Johnson 1 Comment

Have you heard this quote before?

What is measured improves.

What is measured and reported back exponentially improves.

A study of Olympic-level figure skaters. First, the skaters trained on their own, in their usual ways. They attempted 60 elements (jumps and spins) in 1 hour of training. Then, a whiteboard was brought out onto the ice so their coach could tally the number of jumps and spins in real time. The result: The number of elements attempted rose from 60 to 100. When the whiteboard was removed, the number declined substantially, back to 60. Then the coach brought the whiteboard out again. Suddenly the figure skaters were attempting 100 elements again.

Clearly, the coach’s monitoring and accountability sparked more effortful behavior.

The number one leverage you can put in place to achieve the success that you deserve is to up your level of accountability.

You deserve EXPONENTIAL growth, and that’s why I’d encourage you to work with an accountability partner and level up your TAG! What’s TAG? The appointment game.

What would happen to your business if, over the next 30 days, you simply:

Focused on the number of NEW conversations about real estate you create each day.

and

Focused on the number of NEW appointments you create each week from those conversations.

What would happen?

I dare you.

I challenge you to take me up on this 30-day game of TAG.

TAG, you’re it!

#WinTheDay

What Happened To The Real Estate Market?

07/10/202307/10/2023 Mark Johnson Leave a comment

It’s that time of the month… for the real estate market update.

If there were 2 slides out of the 84 from this month’s KCM updates plus 1 from Altos, which ones would I share? … you will see the 3 below, plus a link to all the slides.

Do you want to attract more people to your brokerage, team, or office? Then help your team translate what all the information and data means and how to act on it. We can help, HMU.

Key updates for this month:

247 years later, Adam Smiths’ laws of supply and demand are still working: 99% of US markets had a DECREASE in available re-sale inventory for sale.
- Let’s look at 2 markets, for the past 7 and 90-day period
- You can type in your own market for real-time results
  - Washington D.C.
  - San Fransico
A supply-constrained market with no relief in sight
- Large institutional investors have indicated no reason to sell – residential is providing higher ROI than commercial. Follow the money.
- Consumers are unwilling to trade a 3% mortgage for a 6%, opting instead to remodel or upgrade.
- New construction is growing – especially in the South – yet not nearly enough to close the gap.
- Freddie Mac survey: In the next 6 months = 18% of consumers indicated a desire to buy while 16% of sellers indicated a desire to sell.
While affordability is always an issue consumers have never been in better financial condition
- Average credit score the highest in 23 years – 714 Average
- For those applying for a mortgage: 765 is the median credit score
Consumers have more access to data, and information YET lack knowledge
- YOU are the knowledge broker for local market activities
- AFTER speaking with a knowledgeable HYPER-LOCAL agent, 64.5% of homeowners were MORE likely to sell than before.
- Creating a conversation with value-added content makes a difference – NO SECRET AGENTS!
A few of the top 20 markets with the most listings sold are in Texas: Houston; San Antonio; Austin, and DFW. Some of the tightest pricing is seen in CA, with less than 12% of listings (the national average is 32%) taking a price decline in cities like La Mirada; Cypress; Fremont; Placencia & Garden Grove.

Key takeaways:

Enabling Homeowners and Investors with value-added information does create listing opportunities. Especially non-owner-occupied and 1031 exchange opportunities.
16% of homeowners indicated a desire to sell in the next 6 months… that is your opportunity
Sales and Rates Normalizing – housing prices continue to show stronger growth than what was previously expected.
Homebuilders continue to add to supply, but years of meager homebuilding over the past business cycle means the imbalance will likely continue for some time.
Seasonality has returned
Prices rebounding

Confidence is contagious, and so is a lack of confidence. There is plenty of actionable data to be confident about.

PS: Recruiting and retention has never been more important. In all types of markets, we continue to see 10% of agents leave the industry; 10 %to 15% join the industry, and despite an 85% satisfaction rate with their broker 32% switch firms. Need some help? Let’s chat.

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