One of my first mentors Mike Ferry used to always say,
“Do things now that others aren’t willing to do so that later in life you can do all the things you want, the things that others won’t be able to do.”
I remember thinking how beautiful of a statement that was. I had always imagined one day being able to go to a World Series game or to travel to Africa on a safari. I thought to myself, “If I just work hard for the next 25 years, I can spend the next 25 doing whatever I want!”
The world rewards those that act. It didn’t take 25 years, it took only 10. People often ask me how I have time to travel all over the world and attend any sporting event I want, and I tell them, “Jimmy in his 30’s owes a lot to Jimmy in his 20’s!” At some point everyone has to pay the piper. Last year when I was teaching a course at UVU in the business school, I would tell the students if you work hard enough in your 20’s you will be able to enjoy the rest of your life from an advantageous position. But if you squander your 20’s partying and screwing around then you will be playing catch up for the rest of your life and never feel like you are getting ahead.
I think the main reason for this is because when you have huge success at a young age or if you are seen as a tremendously hard worker at a young age, then people take notice and opportunities start to fall into your lap. Relationships come to you that you could never develop in your 30’s or 40’s. You start to stack advantages that you never knew were possible. I can’t tell you how many times this happened to me. I look back now and I can’t believe the luck I had at a young age. I’m also not naïve enough to think that luck wasn’t earned on some level. Here are just a few examples of how my hard work turned into luck for me:
At age 24 I sold 60 houses my first year in real estate by working 70 hours per week and prospecting 5-6 hours on the phone every day. Because of this I was put up on national panels to talk about what I was doing. This is when I had the chance to meet Bill Pipes and start a relationship with him. Bill would later turn into my real estate mentor and one of my best friends. To personally be able to be mentored by Bill Pipes in my young 20’s is insane. This guy is known as the best one on one trainer for real estate agents in the entire country.
I had the chance to meet Mike Ferry and he took me under his wing. Mike loved to relay my story because it was using his system that allowed me to have that early success. In my second year as an agent I personally sold 98 houses and I was seen as a phenom in the industry. Mike put me into a special mastermind group called “The Top Producers” and everyone in that group sold 75 or more houses per year. Each quarter we’d fly somewhere around the country and meet for 2 days straight with 100 of the top real estate agents in the industry. The caliber of people I was exposed to was insane.
One day I’d be sitting for hours with Chris Heller who later became the CEO of Keller Williams and then next day I’d be sitting with Karen Bernardi, a 30-year veteran, top selling agent making millions of dollars per year in Boulder Colorado. These amazing agents were opening their playbooks and sharing with me every secret they had learned over decades of production.
Because of the success I was having my world was opening to more and more of these amazing agents. Next thing I knew I was being coached personally by Bob Fitzgerald. One of the greatest real estate speakers and coaches in the country. Bob taught me how to work on an even deeper level with For Sale by Owners and Expired listings. Through my coaching with Bob I once listed 65 houses in a 2-month period. Bob decided to interview me on his national show and once again I was introduced to another audience of amazing agents and people.
Next, I had the opportunity to meet with and speak for Tom Ferry. Tom has consistently been named one of the 25 most influential people in the world in the real estate community. He is close friends with marketing genius Gary V and Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. He introduced me to a new way of thinking about selling homes. Using social media, parties, and events to create a culture of loyal fans. It was he who encouraged me to start a podcast so that I could expose my network to more people and introduce my amazing friends to the community.
The point of all of this is simple, the price must be paid. To have a life that we have always dreamed of having, we must be willing to do hard things that maybe we didn’t want to do in the moment. My favorite quote in business and relating to hard work is this:
“When we are hard on ourselves, life is easy on us. When we are easy on ourselves, life is hard on us!”
Take advantage of the opportunities that life is just waiting to give to you. Take advantage of the people that will forever bless your life but that you will never even know you could have had in your life.
Work so hard that people have to notice.
Work so hard that you can decide who you take on as a client and who you decide not to work with.
Work so hard that one day people will look at your success and they won’t even understand it because you will be playing so much that the work will just look easy to all those around you.
Do things now that others aren’t willing to do so that later in life you can do all the things you want, the things that others won’t be able to do.
Comentarios