Catch Up on Your Reader Favorites
This week, a review of our favorite posts this year, plus a midyear checkup
Happy Weekend! This week’s post contains a quick tour of our reader favorites from this year. If you’re taking a little time off to enjoy the holiday, family and friends, put a few minutes of inspirational recharge into your day by catching up on these gems. And as always, thank you for your support!
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#1 Post of the Year:
Remember the old days? Cabbies had to accept anybody off the street, regardless of safety, familiarity or ability to pay. They’d sit in traffic or suffer delays at rates determined by a government official, regardless of impact on profitability or effort. They cleaned up after messy passengers, withstood verbal abuse without recourse, and were targeted for armed robbery on a regular basis. Sounds like it wasn’t such good-old-days after all! And that’s exactly what my Uber driver said about the changes happening in real estate — and more.
#2 Personal Growth Post
How does someone who’s supposed to be “always inspiring” write an optimistic piece a week after his mother’s passing? I gave it a try with this post from January.
Divorced in the 1970s, a single mom raising two kids whose outdoor job started at 4 in the morning, Mom was unstoppable. Once, working as a carpenter, she cut off her finger - then picked it up and drove herself to the hospital to have it reattached. (It worked fine for the rest of her life). When her paycheck barely covered the cost of daycare, never mind the mortgage, she studied nights to become the first woman construction worker in town, qualified to drive the biggest machinery, outperforming everyone on the crew.
“You’ll never last,” said one guy. “We’ll see,” she replied.
She later became his foreman.
#3 Most Motivating Post
Let’s be done with the idea that there’s anything wrong with us or our industry, despite courtrooms and complainers. We’re not an industry of unprofessionals. We use contracts, not secret rules. We are an open market, full of competitors who wake up every day unemployed, and only get paid on performance.
And 9 out of 10 consumers willingly chose to work with us last year.
And the year before, and before, and before.
So tell the naysayers to zip it. And get back to the business of your business right now. No more waiting for the next few months. Because this is the moment you’ve been waiting for!
#4 Smartest Strategy Post
People value YOU, not what you do. You, the person. Someone who does things, for sure. But someone who is something - much more. These days, with the lawsuit, government, or whatever else altering the relationship between you and your client, it won’t be your to-do list that knits it back together. Because nobody hires a vending machine. People don’t buy features. They buy benefits.
And the most valuable benefit in a relationship is: YOU!
#5 Most Powerful Idea Post
Let me introduce you to my favorite Japanese concept: omotenashi. Simply put, it’s the mindset of a host who is fully committed to the hospitality and success of their guest. Or in our case, the client. It’s a cultural phenomenon in Japan, and something anyone can learn with practice. A way of thinking about clients that redefines contractual relationships entirely. And of approaching our work where guests are cared for so deeply, we anticipate their satisfaction, not their service requirements.
It would be a fresh take on what’s happening in real estate, where everyone is much too worried about contracts and not focused enough on our contacts.
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