New Year’s Perspective
A little known fact about me is that I am a graduate of Georgia Tech. Academically, it was the toughest 4 years of my life. There were 10 of us who went to Georgia Tech from my high school, and by report card standards, I was the least intelligent of the 10. Only 3 of us made it through with a degree. Because most of my peers had never earned anything less than an “A,” they were falling apart with every “C” they received. In contrast, I was so worried about flunking out that I was celebrating every “C” that I received…because a “C” meant that I was still there. And sure enough, C by C, I made it through that ridiculously tough school with a degree. It’s been said that you don’t “graduate” from Georgia Tech; you “get out.” And so graduation, for me, was more a celebration of my tenacity than my academic intelligence.
To be truthful, I’ve always held a little grudge against Georgia Tech for making my college years so stressful and “robbing” me of many fun times that I knew others had at other schools. While I certainly made time for fun and relationship building, I had to be resourceful, organized and efficient in order to insure that I “stayed in.” I leveraged the intelligence of my peers there and created a network of friends who could tutor me when my class work was too tough; I leveraged my tennis skills and began teaching tennis lessons because I could earn in an hour what others earned with 3 to 5 hours of work.
Looking back, Georgia Tech provided me with an early opportunity to prove my mettle and it prepared me for the difficulties that I would experience in the “real world.” I never went on one job interview after graduation because I had gotten my real estate license and had already begun “trying” to sell real estate as a career while all of my peers took steady, well paying jobs with IBM, Microsoft, Bellsouth, Hewlett Packard, etc. My first year of real estate yielded me less than $20,000 of income. My second year wasn’t much better. Those years were 1990 and 1991…some of the worst years the real estate industry had seen since the Savings and Loan debacle many years before. The only way I was surviving was my tennis teaching income, which was starting to look like a more promising career for me than real estate. Somewhere in my second year I quit…or at least I decided to. I was tired of looking at the green grass that all of my friends seemed to be enjoying, so I contracted with a professional resume company and had all of my assets creatively put together in a professional document designed to get me a “job.”
What’s always been interesting to me is that the moment I “quit,” my real estate business got busy. And it didn’t stop. Even though the things I had been doing had started taking root, I’ve always believed that God overruled my immaturity – or my lack of long term focus – at that time and saved me from what could have been one of my biggest mistakes in life. My business continued to flourish and I ended up at Re/Max for 8 very productive years until divine intervention occurred again with Keller Williams Realty.
I’m reflecting on all of this as we close out one of the toughest economic periods of all time, and we are standing on the threshold of a New Year that could, quite possibly, be the transitional year for the business of real estate, among other industries. Just like graduating from Georgia Tech, I feel like 2009, like 2008, was a year to “get through.” And even though these tough times can make us feel like survivors in many ways, if we look harder at the rear view mirror, we will see victories in our character, victories in our determination, victories in our relationships, victories in our ingenuity, victories in our resourcefulness, victories in our education, victories in our systems, victories in our spiritual growth, victories in our perspective, victories in our habits, and victories in our leadership.
The toughest of times pave the way for our greatest successes, which means that tough times are a part of the cycle of success. We just don’t appreciate tough times until we can see the successes that they help to create.
We have people who have both struggled and succeeded through this past year. No matter which of these is true for you, I can assure you that the seeds you have been planting in your business will most likely take root in 2010 and your business (and your income) will grow even more in the New Year. And as it does, we will all start to see the difficulties of this past year with clarity, gratitude and awe.
It is no coincidence that we are all working together, growing together, “graduating” together and succeeding together in Keller Williams Realty. As a leader in this company, I am more proud of this company today than I have ever been before. I’m more impressed with Keller Williams than I’ve ever been before because during this time, this company has created more tools and designed more classes and created more access to more information to help every agent, team leader, productivity coach and operating principal take advantage of any and every opportunity presented in this market and succeed at the highest level. There’s not a company in this business that has answered the call of tough times the way we have. Real estate has always been a tough business; it always will be. And I can assure you that you are in business with the toughest partner in your business that you could ever hope for. I am personally committed to continuing to provide the most team oriented, synergistic and education rich environment for agents who have the will and desire to do this business better.
In 2009, Keller Williams became the #3 Largest Real Estate company in America; we were recognized as the #1 Real Estate Franchise and the #1 Most Recognizable Real Estate brand on-line. The Rawls Group ranked in the Top 70 brokerages in America and was voted the #2 Best Place to Work in all of Atlanta! In 2010, Keller Williams Realty will most likely become the #1 Company in market share in all of Atlanta! Your business will grow by taking advantage of our great team meetings, unbelievable statistics, 4-4-3, 36-12-3, BOLD, Coaching, Consulting and many, many timely classes to help you master the markets of the moment (Pricing, Social Networking, Short Sales, Foreclosures and more!).
At the time, I didn’t know that my 4 years at Georgia Tech were preparing me for 2009. And none of us yet knows what 2009 is preparing us for. I believe that it is a critical step in our journey towards greatness. Day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year we move towards what we want and are committed to. It’s the whole journey, not selected pieces of it, that creates invaluable experience, pride of accomplishment and the sweet taste of success.
Thanks for helping to make me better in 2009. And thanks for all that you will do to make 2010 a momentous year for you and our KW family.
I’m excited about the New Year because I’m excited about being in business with you.
Have a safe and happy New Year! See you next year.
Your #1 Fan…
SHAUN
