One of my key mentors over the past few years has been Jim Skerjanc. Jim’s been helping buyers and sellers for over 15 years, and is one of the most down to earth yet hardest working people I know in ANY business.

I drop in on Jim’s office once every other week or so, and I try my hardest to just shut up and listen. Any time I can do that, Jim will teach me some GREAT stuff.

Recently, we were talking about the rock-bottom, core principals of doing well by our clients — specifically home sellers. Jim has a way of really boiling things down to their simplest level, and when I asked him what his strategy is to consistently deliver customer satisfaction, he offered the following:

“Brandon,” he said, “at the end of the day, all our clients really only want two things…”

I leaned in closer. This was a priceless moment. In fact, it was more like a $499 moment. That’s about what real estate agent coaches charge for 2-day seminars where they speak for a total of 16 hours to basically deliver what Jim was about to deliver in just a few words.

“What our clients want,” he said, “are these two things: One: Don’t lie to me. And two: Work on my stuff.”  

Don’t lie to me. Work on my stuff. Period.

Think about the last service you paid for, whether it was real estate or an auto mechanic or a landscaper. Don’t Jim’s words really cover the bottom line of what you expect? Could it be that simple. I think so.

Thanks, Skerjanc. I’ll be back next week for more of that world class wisdom!

I read Inc. Magazine every month.

In the current issue, there is a paragraph with parrallel significance to a subject that’s been at the very forefront of my mind this year: Safety philosophy. Winter storm paddling season always has a handful of close calls on the water with the local surfskiing crowd. Heavy winds, big waves, cold water and testosterone have added up to three Coast Guard rescues of close friends of mine.

The rescues [should] get us all thinking, even soul-searching, about how we’re approaching and handling a potentially deadly endeavor. Coming from a whitewater kayaking background where there is a concise numerical rating system for individual rapid difficulty – and therefore paddler skill and ‘readiness’ — it’s frustratingly difficult to articulate a rating for a “stormy day on the Bay.”

In the end, it’s about the paddler him or herself, and attitude, as the following quote by Inc.-interviewed inventrepreneur Saul Griffith, describes:

“There are two theories on safety,” he pronounces. “There’s the SUV model: You wear steel-toed boots and helmets and just survive the injury. Or you go naked, and you’re hyperaware of your surroundings. That’s ninja style. I’m ninja.”

“Like my dear ol’ grandma used to say, It’s like wettin’ your pants in a cold wind: It feels good for a little while!”
–Anonymous

This past week

The most successful people in society aren’t necessarily “better” than anyone else, he writes. They have simply mastered the art of “procrastination shift.” A generation or two ago, I think they called it ”prioritizing.”

In the book, Brian Tracy begins by acknowledging that, now more than ever, in this fast-paced (and getting faster) world, the concept of being “caught up” is an illusion.

“You’ll never be ‘caught up’,” he says. I actually smiled when I heard that, and thought, “Ahh… thank goodness. I’m not behind… I’m normal.”

To help us swallow that truth, that law of nature, he asks a simple question that brought the concept into perfect clarity for me: “When a tight-rope walker is on a tight-rope, how often do you think he is actively balancing?”

The balancing doesn’t cease. Ever.

Yet, as a society, there is no question that we are accelerating in everything we do. We are a “now society.” We want it right freeking now or, preferably, sooner.

And yes, I’m one of the lead offenders. The most painful half-hour of my month, without question, every month, is when I visit the U.S. Post Office for a roll of stamps. I’m still trying to work out why they built the extra, always-empty 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th booths.

In the interest of learning more patience, and so I may set a good example for Hayden as he grows into this accelerating but insanely-precious, beautiful and rewarding world, I share with you this quote from our man Mahatma Ghandi, that it may dawn on us before we reach 186,000 miles per second:

“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”

Have a slow Sunday, all.

On Saturday morning,

All of us are parents, and as we sipped piping hot coffee and ate warm bread, we talked mostly about kids and, specifically, the importance of exposing them to long strings of opportunity.

The conversation took several tangents, as they do, but keyed in on 2 or 3 main points that we all agreed upon. The one I enjoyed the most was that, If a child or any person can be conditioned to accept failure as a messenger of a lesson, and then with that lesson try the thing again, ad infinitum, then that person shall have the world.

My friend Mark, one of the school teachers at the table, reminded us of a Winston Churchill quote that fit perfectly. I’m honored to share it here: 

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

I hope when my own son is a little older and is spending his days at school, he becomes used to me asking him at the dinner table, “So, Hayden, any good failures today?”