Systems Check, “One Timing”
To Your Success August 22 from Joe New on Vimeo.
August 23rd, 2011 by Joe New
TURNING FAILURE TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
In 1991 I, along with my business partner, suffered a financial meltdown. We had built a successful publishing company, but our growth outstripped our working capital. We simply ran out of cash.
For a while our distributor funded us in the form of cash advances on our sales. But eventually, their parent company wanted those advances back. Although we didn’t officially go bankrupt, the distributor essentially foreclosed on us and took over all our assets.
This was a difficult time personally. I was confused, frustrated, and very angry. Initially, I blamed the distributor. If they had only sold more, as they had promised us, none of this would have happened, I thought. It’s their fault.
But eventually I looked in the mirror and had to acknowledge that I could not move on until I learned from this experience. Though incredibly difficult and humbling, I am now thankful for this period in my life. I learned some critical, life-changing lessons. I am convinced that I would not be where I am today if I had not had this failure.
But not every failure ends so well. Sometimes, people suffer a setback and never recover. I don’t think it has to be this way. It is all in how you process it. I am convinced, that if you are going to succeed, you must learn to deal powerfully with failure.
I think there are at least five components to turning failure to your advantage:
- Acknowledge the failure. This is where it begins. To my knowledge, I have never fired anyone for failing per se. Failure is natural if you are striving to deliver big results. The problem comes when you fail and then refuse to acknowledge it.Several years ago, I had an employee who was floundering. He wasn’t delivering the results we expected. That was certainly a problem, but it wasn’t the primary problem. The problem was that he refused to acknowledge that he had a problem. He kept defending himself. In doing so, he only convinced us that he didn’t “get it.” As a result, we had no choice but to let him go.
Once you acknowledge failure, you take away it’s power. You can then begin to turn it into something positive.
- Take full responsibility. You won’t get anywhere as long as you blame others for your failure. As long as the responsibility is external—outside of you—you are a victim. Why? Because you can’t control others. You can only control yourself.But when you take responsibility for the failure and become fully accountable for it, you take back control. Suddenly you realize that you could have done things differently. You open the door to possibility—and to creating a different outcome in the future. But this can only happen when you acknowledge the failure and own it.
- Mourn the failure. I am not simply exhorting you to have a positive attitude. Failure stings. It hurts—sometimes deeply. Many times there are very real and serious losses. Often times there is collateral damage. Other people are hurt. Sometimes innocent people.It’s okay to feel sad about these things. Sometimes it takes a while to recover. When I had my financial setback in the early 90s, I mourned for weeks. It couldn’t be rushed. In fact, I think the reason I was able to bounce back relatively quickly was because I mourned the loss so deeply. I dealt with it thoroughly and got it behind me.
- Learn from the experience. Even failure can be redemptive if you learn something from it. It doesn’t have to be career-ending. In fact, it can be career-building—if you take the time to wring all the juice out of the lemon.Honestly, there are just some things you can’t learn—or won’t learn—without failing. I wish it were different. But pain is a powerful teacher. Like Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher, once said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” So true.
But it only makes us stronger if we thoroughly process the experience and determine what we could have done differently and will do differently next time around.
As Ilene Muething of Gap International has taught me, it is helpful to ask “What was missing?” rather than “What went wrong?” The latter shuts down possibility and often results in blaming. The former opens up possibility and results in learning.
- Change your behavior. George Santayana, another philosopher, said, “Those who cannot learn from history are destined to repeat it.” And we really haven’t learnedanything until it affects our behavior.If we keep doing the same things that led to the failure, we are destined to get more failure. We have to be willing to change. And it really does start with us. This is the one thing we have control over.
- Enter whole-heartedly into the next project. You can’t allow failure to hold you back from the next venture. If you fall off the horse or a bicycle, you have to get back on—immediately.If you don’t do this, the failure gets magnified in your mind. Wait long enough and you might never get on at all! Instead, you have to put the past behind you and move forward.
Again, failure is inevitable if you are going to tackle significant goals. You have to learn to make it work for you. In doing so, you are planting the seeds of your eventual success.
Question: What failure do you need to turn to your advantage?
Posted By: Michael Hyatt
August 22nd, 2011 by Joe New
Leadership Moment: Systems Check
If you are responsible for leading a team, you must have a system in place for coaching and managing your teammates. In this Leadership Moment, Daniel shares a few quick tips for setting up your system.
Posted By: danielharkavy.com
August 22nd, 2011 by Joe New
Mortgage Rates & US Credit Rating Downgrade?
To Your Success 8/8/2011 from Joe New on Vimeo.
August 8th, 2011 by Joe New
August Top Producer Interview
This month’s TalkJet interview is with;
Chad Goldwasser
Goldwasser Real Estate
5929 Balcones Dr., Ste. 300 • Austin, TX 78731
www.goldwasserrealestate.com
512-420-0300
Chad has been in the business for 14 years, and had the former #1 Team in the Keller Williams organization 2 years running.
New in the market, Chad began farming, making calls into the neighborhood (prior to DNC) and ultimately knocked doors to build his awareness and marketshare. Six weeks into this campaign, he got his first listing.
As business began to develop, they connected to a program that allowed them to donate a portion of each commission to the local school – and it grew from there.
PRODUCTION:
2008 543 sales $123 Million volume
2009 492 sales $104 Million volume
2010 520 sales $110 Million volume
KEY STRATEGY – Attitude: Chad begins each day with affirmations, visualization and goal setting.
He has trained himself to start each day with a “Wake Up Thought” and it is “It’s an awesome day and I will positively impact the lives of everyone I touch today.”
“The .01% Philosophy” is where Chad says if 99.9% of a transaction is bad, he focuses on the .01% that is good.
MARKETING STRATEGY: The Goldwasser Team utilizes Boomtown (www.boomtownroi.com) as their online lead generation and incubation solution. Social media is a significant focus for the team as well,and they have added all past clients and Sphere of Influence as well. (OK people, we’ve heard this two month’s running – have you done this?).
RESOURCES:
www.goldwasserinstitute.com
“Have positive energy, build great systems and train other agents to do the same thing(s) in their lives.”
August 8th, 2011 by Joe New
Toss the Junk From Your Trunk
I recently hosted a Mastermind Event in Phoenix for a group of very successful leaders I coach. One of the focal points for the day was attitude. As we discussed various ideas pertaining to attitude, one of the participants, Joe*, said:
“Sometimes you just have to toss the junk from your trunk.”
As humans, we all tend to carry around more junk than we should. Just as clutter can pile up in the trunk of your car if you don’t keep it cleaned out regularly, it can pile up in your life, too.
It’s easy to keep hauling around the junk because we’ve been taught to believe the old adage: out of sight, out of mind. The reality is that it’s still there, and you will still have to deal with it at some point — often when it is least convenient. In the meantime, it is still in the back of your mind, and that can negatively impact your attitude.
This point was driven home further to me later that same day.
After the conclusion of Mastermind, I flew back to Nashville and caught the limo shuttle service to The Parking Spot to retrieve my car. When I arrived, my car was sitting there ready to go. They had even anticipated me placing my luggage in the trunk — the lid was already raised for God and everybody to see the junk!
It wasn’t exactly overflowing, but there was enough clutter in there to cause embarrassment for me. I knew right then I needed to toss the junk from out of my trunk.
What are you hauling around right now that needs to be tossed? How would you feel if the contents of your life were exposed to the world?
Within the next 24 hours, make a list of 3–5 things in your life which need to be eliminated. This could include a task that you’ve been putting off, an emotion that needs to be faced, or a relationship that needs to be repaired. Maybe you literally need to clean out your car – or your office, or your email inbox.
Decide what needs to be done first, and then take action. The impact on your attitude may astound you.
Toss the junk out of your trunk!
Posted By: irrefutablesuccess.com
August 7th, 2011 by Joe New
Leadership Moment: Check Your Vision
In this Leadership Moment, Daniel shares tips on how you can utilize your Business Vision this week to improve your organization’s culture and results.
Posted By: danielharkavy.com
August 7th, 2011 by Joe New
The Only Thing “Lousy” Was the Advice!
We read an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on Monday titled A Home Is a Lousy Investment. It was written by Mr. Bridges, a professor of clinical finance and business economics at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. The essence of the piece is that owning a home is not a good financial investment for younger generations. The subtitle:
“Today’s young people would be foolish to imitate their parents and view ownership as the cornerstone of personal finance.”
Today, we would like to counter some of the points made by Professor Bridges. The professor looks back on California home values over the last thirty years and begins with the assumption:
“If a disciplined investor who might have considered purchasing that median-price house in 1980 had opted instead to invest the 20% down payment of $19,910 and the normal homeownership expenses (above the cost of renting) over the years…
There are several challenges with these givens. Let’s break them down.
“a disciplined investor”
There is no doubt that discipline in savings is important. However, studies show that homeowners attain greater wealth because of ‘forced’ savings.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University released a study, America’s Rental Housing: Meeting Challenges, Building on Opportunities. They explain:
“In addition, renters have only a fraction of the net wealth of owners. Near the peak of the housing bubble in 2007, the median net wealth of homeowners was $234,600—about 46 times the $5,100 median for renters. Even if homeowner wealth fell back to 1995 levels, it would still be 27.5 times the median for renters.”
“invest the 20% down payment”
The professor’s math supposes a 20% down payment. What about the people who put 5% down or 10% down. What about those who purchased a home with an FHA mortgage putting 3% down; or our veterans who used a VA mortgage to purchase a home with no down payment? (For those who think low down payments have caused the current foreclosure challenge, the difference in default rate between a 5% down deal and a 20% down deal is less than 1%).
“normal homeownership expenses (above the cost of renting)”
It’s great that Professor Bridges looked at data over the last 30 years. History is important. Foresight is much more valuable than hindsight however. In most parts of the country, homeownership is currently less expensive than renting. There is not MORE money to invest if you rent. There is LESS.
In their report mentioned above, Harvard University found:
“Rental markets are now tightening, with vacancy rates falling and rents climbing. With little new supply of multifamily units in the pipeline, rents could rise sharply as demand increases.”
Trulia, in its second quarter 2011 Rent vs. Buy Index, stated that buying a home has become more affordable than renting in nearly four out of five (78%) major cities. Ken Shuman, Head of Communications at Trulia said:
“With home prices nearing a double dip and more foreclosures expected to flood the housing market over the next two years, the decision between renting and buying a home across most of the country has clearly moved in favor of buying.”
The premise of Professor Bridges article doesn’t apply to the current market. Even some in the academic world agree that now is the time to buy.
Business School professors Eli Beracha of East Carolina University and Ken H. Johnson Ph.D. of Florida International University have done extensive research on which makes more sense financially: to rent or own a home. They published a sensational paper on this issue: Lessons from Over 30 Years of Buy versus Rent Decisions: Is the American Dream Always Wise?. In their paper, they explain:
“[F]undamental drivers now appear to be in place that favor homeownership over renting in the near term future…
[This] finding might seem unwise to many given the recent crash in the real estate markets around the country. However, rent-to-price ratios now seem to be in place along with other fundamental drivers that favor ownership over renting.”
They conclude their research paper with this sentence:
“Conditions (historically low mortgage rates and relatively low rent-to-price ratios) now seem in place to favor future purchases.”
If Professor Bridges’ assumptions are incorrect, how much value can the conclusions hold?
Bottom Line
The best advice given in the Wall Street Journal article was in the last paragraph:
“Owner-occupied homes will always be the basis for healthy and stable neighborhoods.”
And, in today’s market, a home is also a fabulous investment!!
Posted Be: KCMBlog.com
August 7th, 2011 by Joe New
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