Dance in the Rain
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storms to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
One of my favorite movies is Forrest Gump. If you are familiar with it, Forrest and his first mate, Lieutenant Dan, have their shrimp boat out to sea during a powerful storm. For an endless night, they are tossed about, buffeted, drenched with driving rain. They nearly capsize and drown. When the storm finally passes, all the shrimp boats that were “safely” docked in the harbor are wiped out. The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, on the other hand, not only survived but benefitted wildly… because it was the only shrimp boat left. Forrest and Lt. Dan become millionaires. We in turn learn a valuable lesson – winds and waves may crash and destroy, yet somewhere out in the midst of the storm, it is calm and serene, and you can make it through. But first you have to go out and find the middle.
That’s our challenge in maneuvering today’s choppy real estate market – to find the eye of the storm, to get out in the middle of the market and move along with it. And maybe be the only one left floating! To do this, we must make changes, do things better, differently, systematically. Be active not passive. We must avoid (reject) the psychological malaise that has so many others in real estate paralyzed and panicked. Nor can we simply hunker down and wait for economic thunderclouds to pass over. Get your foundations deeply embedded. But don’t just stand there. Be flexible. Dance with the raindrops!
We have some pretty nifty dance steps at CBC Metro Brokers – old timey ones where you dance with a partner, but also some of those organized group line dances, where prospecting and promoting work in tandem, creating a unified message and presence. Incessant. Impressive. Get into a GO Blue program, come to the office for organized call sessions, hold investor workshops, do consistent e-mailings and social media posts… about great real estate opportunities that crop up only when prices and values are in sync, sellers more motivated and less greedy.
At CBC Metro Brokers, we are not confused, nor should you be. Real estate is an activity business. This storm will soon go away. I want us to be stronger, better prepared, staffed up, trained, seasoned, tough and eager to LEAD the market before the sun peeks through. The rest of the competition can come out of their shelters, cut their fees, try to poach our agents, and do sloppy real estate as before. They won’t find us, however, because we’ll be far out to sea, in the middle! With our dancing shoes on.
Written by Marty Rueter