I have been a real estate broker the past 40 years of my life, of which the past 13 years have been solely devoted to #CRE. One thing I have come to realize is that longevity in a particular field doesn’t necessarily make you smarter, but it does give you a perspective that the beginners don’t have. As a result of my age and longevity in real estate, and especially in #CRE, I dream a lot.
So that’s the focus of this book – what I dream about:
- The things I think about that I want to share with the next generation of #CRE brokers.
- The ones that come to my office to get a prospective on this business from a guy who’s been there and done that.
- The ones who ask me probing questions.
- The ones who have many fears and doubts about this business.
- The ones who want to make it and don’t want to quit.
- The ones who want to take their business to the next level.
- This is who this book is for (and maybe even an “old timer” or two who may find this fun to read as they identify with my dreams and stories).
So let’s dream together and make our businesses better as we do……
1. #CRE is everywhere. The other day I was riding with my wife, Kim Baker, CCIM, in her car and had the opportunity to focus on the scenery versus the road. What I saw was #CRE everywhere we went. Not only were there retail stores and centers, but also free standing office buildings, restaurants, institutional buildings and an occasional industrial use building. There were also self-storage centers, a railroad, some trucking companies and an airport that we drove by. We later crossed the new Ohio River bridges where I saw several boats and barges shipping various types of cargo. On both sides of the river in downtown Louisville and Southern Indiana were restaurants, multi-story office buildings, hotels and residential apartment buildings. Everywhere we went there was #CRE. When I thought about this further I realized that I worked in an industry that not only had lots of opportunity, but one that needed my services. After working solely in #CRE the past 13 years, how could I have overlooked so many of these properties as possible sources of business? Maybe I was too busy daydreaming about other things or caught up in useless meetings and paper shuffling and not focused on what I was supposed to be doing. As the old saying goes, I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. There I was, right in the middle of a huge forest, with ax in hand, and couldn’t find any fire wood. As I dreamed on, it made me think a little deeper about getting out of the office more and taking my ax to turn some of this “fire wood” into commission dollars.
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert Einstein
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