Just a quick thought from notes I jotted down a few years ago.

“The secret to success is not in fighting the old ways that don’t work, but in putting your energy into the new ways that are working.”

I don’t know where I found it, or heard it. But it seems like timeless words of wisdom.

We all know the old saying “The only constant is change.”

Here are just a couple instances of big businesses who didn’t embrace change even though they were the dominant leader in their space.

Toys R Us didn’t embrace the world of e-commerce fast enough. Instead, they got lazy and pinned all their hopes on a relationship with Amazon as their exclusive online vendor. Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017. Amazon continues to innovate and test new tactics and business models.

Did you know that Kodak actually invented the digital camera? Actually, it was a Kodak engineer, and the year was 1975. Kodak could have led the digital imaging business, but instead they also failed to innovate inside their business and clung to their old print business. They filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

No matter how big or small your business is, you should always have some room left over in your budgets to testing something new.

And when I say budget it doesn’t have to be a monetary budget.

Leave room in your time budget as well.

I see a few people every month who seem like they are about to have a nervous breakdown. They are always talking about how much they have to do, and how they need another 4 hours every day just to “keep up”.

It’s interesting. I also notice that those people are the exact same people who are losing client each month.

I would imagine that if these “busy” people tell enough clients how overbooked they are, at some point those same clients are going to feel bad for them and take their business elsewhere to help take the pressure off.

If you’re not overbooked, join us at our WREIA meeting tomorrow night.

We are going to be talking about “Unusual Lead Sources for Real Estate”.

And yes, I will be telling the story about the lead I got from the drug dealer.

Join us at WREIA this month and you can learn from REAL PEOPLE having REAL SUCCESS in Real Estate.

And remember – “The secret to success is not in fighting the old ways that don’t work, but in putting your energy into the new ways that are working.”

Happy St. Paddy’s Day and see you tomorrow at WREIA!

John Peterson
Founder, Washington Real Estate Investors Association

Wholesalers – bring your deals to share with the members!