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"Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can." - Arthur Ashe

On September 5th, 2023 I met this great guy named Ben. How do I know that date? Well, because I was in LA on the Tuesday after Labor Day to do some workshops. Specifically, I was in Palos Verdes (PV) that morning. After I finished that morning session in PV, the manager said, “Hey, I gotta run to Long Beach and do their sales meeting. Can you come and do the same thing you did here?”

The answer was of course 'yes', and I followed him down there. It’s Southern California, so between traffic and all, I got to the second office with 2 minutes to spare but I needed to use the bathroom. Rushing out of the bathroom to get set up, a young man stopped me (Ben), and said to me, “Wow, I am so glad you are here! I had no idea you were coming!”

Now, I have never met this guy in my life. I have never been to this Long Beach office. So I have a very puzzled look on my face. He realizes all this, then holds up his phone and shows me on his Audible, there is my book. He said, “I just finished your book for the 2nd time!” 

I said, “Awesome! I am glad to be here too, and I also had no idea I was going to be here until 45 minutes ago.”

[BTW:  Nothing cooler than having someone show you they just listened to your book.  Not from a place of ego - but a place of contribution and making a difference.]

After the session, there were a few people milling around, and this guy named Ted was one of the people considering the coaching program. Ted didn’t have cash, but he wanted to pay in cash, so he left for his bank to get the money. I needed to leave, so Ben Venmo’d me the money for Ted, and Ted brought the cash to Ben after I had left. (I’m assuming)

The reason I am sharing all this: Ben is simply one of the nicest guys, easy to be around, likable, and as you can tell from this story, willing to help people out.

Ben did not sign up for coaching, but we had a decent conversation about where he was at. He has three kids, he has been doing a job 4 or 5 days/week while he gets his real estate business going. He really wanted to succeed in real estate - so I did my best to help him in that moment and then I needed to leave. That was the last I heard from Ben.

Until a couple of weeks ago.

Ben emailed me about something, and then we had a separate call. I really like this guy. I want him to win! So we got on Zoom - in fact, it was the Friday before last, at 4:30pm my time - the last call of my day. 

I asked him how it was going. As you can probably guess, it isn’t going. He is in exactly the same spot as when I met him 18 months ago. 

Sigh.

He has two days off per week. I said to him that if he had simply knocked on doors 2 days per week, for the last 18 months, he would have knocked on between 4,000 and 6,000 doors. He would have spoken to between 800 to 1,500 people. 

Note: This is not about door-knocking. He could have promised to talk to 10-20 people per day for two days per week. My answer is not always, “Door Knock.” On the other hand, when you are new to real estate, there is nothing better than knocking on doors to get you going.

At any rate, I said, “You wasted a lot of time. You do not get that back. Think about how much smarter you would have been, how much progress you would have made, and the odds that you would have sold a home are dramatically higher.”

The look on his face demonstrated that he got the impact of not starting. I asked him what was going to change now. He said his real estate license expires this November. “Perfect!” I said. “If you don’t do the work there is no reason to renew your license. Let’s see how bad you really want this.”

I am rooting for him. I am rooting for him so badly. But it’s not up to me - it’s up to him. I am also rooting for you. But I can’t want your success more than you do. I mean, I can want it more than you, but if that’s the case you’re in big trouble.

If you have been wavering...
If you have been on the fence...
If you have been thinking...
If you have been planning...
If you have been researching...
If you have been doing anything but doing, start now!

"Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can..."