My professional purpose is to help you, the broker, maximize your production and help you become the best version of yourself. Why? Because happy brokers sell more real estate. I do that by helping you solve problems that you face every day. If you can effectively solve your problems, you'll be happier in your business and in life.
Today, the problem I want to help you solve is to assist you in creating a plan, with specific dates and time frames that will make your vision a reality.
I am personally passionate about this topic as I am in the process of revising my life plan, my goals for the next 3 years and my first quarterly initiative, but before I explain the next chapter of my story, let's get really clear on one thing.
Your vision is going to cost money.
Let's face it, we're not out working our tails off for our health alone. It can be taboo to talk about finances but, in reality, most of your primary goals will be focused around your income. You will need to find a way to "Fund that Feeling" that is felt after creating your vision. If your vision doesn't rock your world, you're not thinking big enough.
So, I came into 2021 knowing that I am in the 7th inning of a 9-inning career and I told myself that during 2021, I needed to revise my life plan to answer the following questions:
How I want to live and how much do I want to work during my retirement years?
Who do I want to be in my 60's?
I knew coming into 2021 that I had around 10 years to prepare for the next stage of my life. As a side note, I don't see myself as one that will ever fully retire, I just want to have the ability to make the decision to not to work if I don't want to. We live conservatively but my vision for that stage of my life is big so I've got to make sure I execute in innings 7, 8, and 9 to make it happen.
After meeting with my financial advisor and getting a lot of clarity from the book "The 12 Week Year" by Brian Moran, I developed a financial plan based on 3-year goals in 3 segments totaling 9 years. My formula is based on the book’s formula: 12 x 12 = 3 x 3 = 9 Years. Okay, let me break that down: 12 weeks in a quarter x 12 quarters = 3 years. 3-year goal sets done 3 times = 9 years. The advice from my financial advisor, reading " The 12 Week Year," and lots of time in thought has given me immense clarity which was the exact goal coming into 2021. I'm giving myself the remainder of 2021 to stress test my thoughts and vision and to give myself some "runway" to prepare for 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The quarterly goals are set, the 3-year goals are set and I will identify a different topic for each quarter to "level up" a professional or personal area that needs attention just like I did this past quarter with my health and wellness. I've come to realize that, as it relates to the economic and income side of the equation, that NET WORTH is the best scoreboard for me. NET WORTH is easily equated by taking your assets minus your debt to give you your number. It's a scoreboard that is fully within your control. You cannot control Leaderboards etc because there are so many external factors involved but you can control your personal income and you can control the debt you take on. Also, NET WORTH is easily tracked by user-friendly financial software like Quicken (my favorite).
So, how do you impact your income? You put action into place each quarter that will help you level up professionally and personally. If you just keep doing the same thing over and over, year in and year out, you will fall behind and become less marketable in your marketplace. I discussed last week that "high performance starts with elimination." To start, your quarterly goal could be to eliminate "the weeds" in your business one by one. Elimination of inefficient habits, unproductive routines and a lack of planning all lead to a business that will soar. I've seen some of the biggest, positive breakthroughs for brokers occur during the elimination stage.
So, imagine a day when you are so evolved that your business and life are in flow and you've got boundaries in place that protect you from downside. I learned all these concepts midway through my life and if I have one piece of advice, it is never too late or you are never too young to start a life planning process supported by 3-year goals broken down into quarterly segments. I had a conversation recently with one of my daughters and she has some anxiety around "who she wants to be when she grows up." I told her that finding your purpose takes time and it takes life experiences to really understand what makes you tick, to find yourself and identify your strengths. I told her that you live, learn, grow and experience life and work in your teens and 20s, you perfect your craft in your 30s, you generate income in your 40s and you protect and grow your wealth in your 50s and 60s. To live the way you want to live takes intentional effort. That effort takes thought, planning and consistent execution over the long haul.
It's really easy to skip the concepts I've discussed over the last month but if you want to succeed at an elite level, it's critical that you go through this process. Take some time to think, meet with your financial advisor and put pen to paper. Maybe the concept I discussed today gives you a roadmap on how to set up your plan to live how you want to live and be who you want to be. The reality is that those answers will cost money and you will need to create a plan to help you "Fund that Feeling.”
I will put out more content on this topic, book recommendations etc over the coming weeks at instagram at @askjimmiller and on my private Facebook group page "From the Desk of Jim Miller". Follow along there to get content to digest.
