3 Biggest Business Regrets - $20 is $20

Regret. The guilt and the weight of yesterdays... If you are in business for yourself you can end up with a flaming heap of it. Regrets and second guessing are terrible unless they allow you to make future decisions better.  Business owners (especially in real estate for some reason lol) seem to be eternally optimistic. I try to live life, and conduct business in a way that few regrets pop up and seldom does the wasted emotion of guilt rear its head.  Here are a couple of regrets during starting up that I hope you can avoid: 

1.     Not having product – Investment sales is service based.  You are the commodity.  You are the brand.  Hiring you buys your clients a piece of you. If you haven't been putting together a pitch deck at 3am or emailing by the pool on vacation (very loose term in real estate) you quickly realize that commodity is finite. You can scale that by crafting a team around your skills and values. Effective, scalable but not passive until you reach a critical mass of both systems and professionals (Keller Williams does a great job of training this). Prior to that it's you against the clock.  I wish that I would have bottled my educational technique, coaching style or sales secrets into a marketable package earlier.  This serves as both a great calling card and effective marketing. Not to mention it keeps the register ringing during those lean times.  There is no downside to having an ebook, a journal or even hoodies with your logo or pretty face (I'm good looking and assuming you are too ;)) on them. To paraphrase a crude spring break t-shirt "$20 bucks is $20 bucks". 

2.     Not tracking or producing marketing consistently – Articles, ads, cards, emails - all of it goes out.  How effective is it really? Not tracking the effectiveness or the trending of certain marketing pushes is basically setting fire to money.  Telling everyone you have something for sale and not having a way to receive that action or convert interest into income has the same incendiary effect.  I was always very busy getting and managing business in waves, not keeping a focus on a consistently high quality message and basically breaking it down into tasks over time. I was very scalpel when I needed to be more sledgehammer. Doing it and tracking it keeps the scattershot to a minimum and dollars concentrated effectively.  

3.     Not pushing for popularity - One of the true benefits of working with me is intense personalized service.  Your investment, your well-being and your family's future are all taken into consideration.  This made me a real estate professional that specialized in high touch, capital intense situations that required discretion.  Black belt, surgeon, A-team mercenary,  whatever the descriptor it was delicate work and I loved it. I worked direct with people that needed me and did well.  My face was never on any signs or my card and barely on my own social media.  I think being a little more public about my talent and expertise or more personable in pictures (I definitely look like a boxer but sound like a banker) would have garnered more business and acclaim. I never wanted to be famous I just yearned to be good. I felt that was a conscious choice but there is definitely a way I could have made both work.  Income follows attention. Maybe the next iteration will have a bit more flare (that's a strong maybe lol). 

Regret is natural.  Not looking forward and changing is stupid. The past may guide and inform but it should not dictate.  Here is to making the great regret the great lesson!!!