On mentoring

You should always strive to have a mentor and be a mentor. Doing this will allow you to understand that a) you don’t know everything and b) you have a lot of knowledge to pass along to ease the path of someone else. Having a mentor should keep you humble, yet being a mentor can help to boost your confidence. It should put you in a mindset to learn and a mindset to teach. It should let you give in addition to receiving.

On what it takes to sell…

There are three things you need to consider when selling. They are:

1. The right PRICE

2. Enough EXPOSURE

3. Good APPEAL

You can sell anything if any single one of those things is convincing enough for the buyer. But, you can sell it quickly and even get into a “bidding war” from the buyers if you get multiple of those items right.

For example, if you offer to sell a $300,000 house for $100,000, you’ll be able to sell it immediately. The price is so good that it can overcome the possible lack of exposure or appeal.

The opposite is true too. If you price a $300,000 home for $400,000, it doesn’t matter if you get a lot of interest in the house and it looks nice. If one thing sticks out too much (good or bad), it will help or hinder your ability to sell it accordingly.

That’s why you need to focus on moving any of these three items in your favor as much as possible. Even if the house is priced higher than it should be, if you get enough eyes on it, you still might sell it just due to sheer volume of people who see it. Or, from the appealing aspect of it, if a house is beautifully staged or you can help people envision living a happier/better life there, they will be more willing to buy it. If it is appealing enough, they may be willing to pay more than market value because it is promising them intrinsic value.

When listing a home, the sellers and I come up with the price together. Yes, they’ll mostly rely on my research and opinion for what the market value is, but ultimately they get to decide what we list the home for (the asking price).

The exposure is solely up to me. The sellers are paying me to sell their home, and with that comes the responsibility for me to get as many eyes on it as possible. The sellers can help by spreading word to their family/friends/co-workers and posting on social media, but really, it’s my job to get the word out to as many people as possible.

Lastly, the appeal is mostly up to the sellers. I can make suggestions on what to keep/remove from their home, how to stage the home, what needs more cleaning and what updates need to be done, but it’s up to them to actually do those things. If they have a messy house or if potential buyers leave feeling like they need to immediately wash their hands, the sellers just hurt their chances to sell.

These are the three basic items we need to factor in when thinking of selling anything. There are many other elements involved in selling, but if we get these three things right, we will have the best chance to sell that item quickly and profitably.

Taking asymmetric risks

What has a very low cost, but could have a major reward (or save you from disaster)? This should be thought of in terms of any of your resources (most importantly, your time, money, and energy).

For example, buckling your seatbelt takes two seconds, but it can save your life (or save you from an expensive ticket). The reward (living and/or saving money) seems to be well worth the cost (a few seconds).

Where can you find these asymmetric risks in life? Whenever you find them, make sure you take advantage of it.

Why reading 5 pages per day will change your life

5 pages per day x 365 days per year = 1,825 pages per year.

If a book averages 300 pages (which seems high), you would finish 6+ books per year.

What you read daily changes the way you think. If you can change your thoughts, you can change your life.

We all need constant, little reminders of how we should be acting. By going too long without thinking about something (leadership, business, marketing, sales, relationships, finance, etc), we often forget what we should be applying in everyday circumstances.