
I’ll Know I’ve Done My Job If …
Did you see the newest version of my new business card?
I posted it to Facebook earlier this week.
As you know by now, growing up, I never wanted my name on the front of a business card. My own baseball card, that was my aspiration. But of course, regardless of one’s dream, at some point we’re all pressured to identify a path of study. Eventually, we’re forced to declare a major.
At the age of 20 or 21, we’re supposed to have it all figured out … THIS is what I am going to be.
How does that work out for most of us?
Yeah … pretty poorly.
Twelve years ago I reluctantly ditched the baseball card for the business version. In that time, it has showcased a number of different titles — all of them pretty much saying the same thing. Realtor®, Real Estate Consultant, Broker, Owner of Three Pillars Realty … because well, after all, that is what I DO.
However, that doesn’t speak to who I AM. And that, I believe, is a very important distinction to make.
I had this conversation, yesterday afternoon, with someone who’s expressed interest in joining the team at Three Pillars Realty.
Two weeks back, I mentioned to you that I’ve begun the process of recruiting new partner agents. Not just “licensees” but purpose and mission-driven individuals who, for one reason or another, haven’t been able to find a home “out there.”
In a previous article I referred to them as the blissfully dissatisfied.
As I sat there, yesterday afternoon, listening to this guy tell me his story, I couldn’t help but shake my head.
I’ve heard it too many times.
A minefield of broken promises.
Two years with Brokerage A, three with Y and another couple with Z. At each stop, he was promised the world only to quickly face the cold truth that was “going to be” did not end up to be so.
It reminds me of something my buddy, Sloper, and I were talking about the other day. Fact is, in life and in business you cannot build a reputation on what you are “going to do” for someone. It’s all about that action boss.
Getting back to yesterday though, I told him that I was impressed with his courage to keep pressing forward. Then again, it’s not all that surprising. I mean after all, here is a guy who is a full-time fire fighter. A man of respect.
In most circles, a pillar of his community.
And yet he admitted that his buddies at the firehouse often chide him for his “other job” as a Realtor. You’re just “another one of those” they say. It’s gotten to the point where he’s almost become ashamed by the title on the front of his business card.
Sad, isn’t it?
But I find that even in the darkest times, there is always light. Against the backdrop of a dark sky it’s easy to see the stars. However seeing them and being able to connect them in a way that creates a constellations, is often a completely different skill set.
That’s my job. That’s what I’m aiming to offer my partners — an illuminated path forward. A blueprint to success.
I had this discussion with Amanda May, owner of The Purple Fig, on this week’s Voices Of Impact Podcast. She expressed to me that her “job” is to provide her employees with more than just a living wage. Her goal is to “leave them better equipped and more knowledgeable that when they started with our company.”
We talked about our shared belief in the importance of continuous learning. The ability to connect the dots between the what, the why and the how is a rare and valuable skill these days.
To that point, I told Amanda about the story that’s been unfolding in our driveway, with “Maddy’s Sweet Shop.” Right now, as a seven and a half year old, my daughter Maddy wants TO BE two things — an artist and a candy store owner.
Her two biggest passions are art and sugar. :)
Odds are, she’ll end up becoming neither of those two things but for the time being Kristin and I are helping stoke her fire. We’re trying to give her all the resources that she needs to make a go of her business.
At regular intervals she’s set up shop on the corner selling her goods. Strategically positioned during our neighborhood’s “back to school night,” she raked in over $40 dollars in a couple hours time.
More importantly though, each Saturday I’ll sit down with her at the kitchen table and we’ll “do the books.” We’ll sort through her till. I’m trying to teach her that as a business owner, you don’t get to keep everything you make.
Some money must stay in the business, for working capital.
Some money must go into her savings.
Some we will take to put in the collection basket at church.
It’s difficult for a seven year old to comprehend how $40 quickly turns into $14 in her piggy bank but in my book, it’s never too early for her to learn these types of foundational skills.
No matter what she ends up “being,” they’ll serve her well in life.
I’ll know I’ve done my job as a father, if one day she too has the freedom to choose the title that goes on the front of her business card.
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Ryan France is a native of Austin Texas, Longhorn, National Champion, father of two, super-early riser, avid reader, admitted podcast junkie & bulletproof coffee addict. In a past life, France was an aspiring professional baseball player. Today, Ryan is an entrepreneur, author and relentless innovator of the real estate industry.
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