On this 217th episode of my Monday Morning Pep Talk and final episode of Take Flight, V4.0, I'll take you through a 30,000-foot review of Take Flight which is intended to be a business and lifestyle operating system. Most of you that listen are in the real estate brokerage industry, but Take Flight can just as easily be used in most entrepreneurial endeavors. To anchor some of the key concepts of the program, I have taken key phrases that I have read in books, picked up on a podcast or found on a social media profile. I personally have used these as my "guiding principles" over the years and have passed them on to you through these MMPTs and podcasts. As I review Take Flight V4.0 today, I'll weave in a few of these key principles.
As I discovered the concepts around Take Flight over the last 15 years, here are some things that I am 100% sure about:
- "You become what you think about.” You must have a vision, a goal, a north start that guides your path and your decision making. A 3-year time frame is perfect. You may start to hear me use a "3 Year Flight" as I further formalize my content. The point being, you will not get up and do the things you need to do if you do not have a clear path defined around your "Why.”
- You need to eliminate negative stagnant energy from your business and life. If it is not working, move on. Matthew McConaughey so brilliantly states "High Performance starts with Elimination.”
- Making good decisions and setting boundaries is key to living a happy, productive life. "If it is not a hell yes, it's a hell no" is one of the most important "decision filters" you can add to your daily life.
- It is imperative to have a solid goal setting and goal attainment strategy. I feel strongly that a quarterly business planning strategy is the best approach. I have been inspired by "The 12 Week Year" by Brian Moran and the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operation System) based on the book called "Traction" written by Gino Wickman. Giving yourself 4 deadlines a year is so much more effective than focusing on annualized goals. Chunking things down using a "periodization" strategy is key to goal attainment.
- A relationship-based business model is core to who I am as a person and the reason I created the first Take Flight for you in 2016. Authentically and empathically helping someone (the person) with one of their top financial decisions is why we do what we do. Selling homes in a competitive, hustle culture mindset is ego-driven and will keep you on the treadmill of lead generation the rest of your career. Building a business and systems (CRM) around a selected group of clients that you provide value to over the life of your business is the only way to create a predictable and enjoyable business. Your compensation is the sum of how many clients you help x the value you provide them.
- You need 5 lists. Top 100, Top 100 referral partners, Hot List, Warm List and a list of collaborative brokers in your local market. The stronger those lists are, the higher your revenue.
- As James Clear states, "You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” You must take the time to build out repeatable transactional systems and processes and follow them. There is so much wasted time in reinventing the wheel every single transaction. Nobody is that good.
- "Marketing is about creating connections with people that need your talents and experience.” Today's consumer is attracted to those products and people that they connect with so you must use this fact to build out your marketing systems. "People Hire Who they Know, Like and Trust.”
- You can only do so much yourself. If you are pushing 50 hours a week, 25 transactions a year or $25M in production, it is time to add capacity.
- “Happy Brokers Sell More Real Estate.” You must take care of yourself through strategically planned time off and self-care. Learn to “Front Load Your Year.”
On last week's MMPT - Episode #216, I showed you how Take Flight creates critical mass in your business by using a "sales funnel" approach where your "Marketing and Personal Branding" feeds your "Systems and Processes" resulting in 1 transaction turning into 3, supported by a strong "Relationship and Database Management" strategy that cares for your clients over the life of your business producing repeat business. This approach is the "holy grail" for high performance for any business including, of course, real estate brokerage.
Take Flight v4.0, over the course of 37 episodes and almost 12 hours of content, takes you through the steps that you need to create critical mass or reach 30,000 feet where you can pull the engines back and cruise (aka, achieve a predictable and enjoyable business). It's proven. It can be done. I've seen it firsthand and it is a beautiful thing to watch. To get there takes commitment, effort, and - most importantly - it takes patience.
It was my goal in 2023 to put Take Flight on "tape.” I wanted to be able to direct my brokers/advisors at Jameson Sotheby's International Realty to a place where they could learn these concepts from the comfort of their own homes, on their schedules and use the Take Flight Progress Tracker to chart their progress. For those of you in other markets who have followed along with us and found the program helpful, I'm super grateful for your participation, your daily interactions and your kind words. For those of you just jumping on, I invite you to start at Episode #179 on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube, all searchable under “Ask Jim Miller” and linked here.
In 2024, I will push myself to add more "color" to Take Flight. I have been most comfortable behind the mic but know that I need to bring myself "to the surface" and show my face more. Please be patient with me as I grapple with the next stage of embracing new skill sets, conducting more research to stay relevant, and becoming a better version of myself to lead this amazing group of people who follow my content and coaching.
Have a wonderful holiday season with your friends and families. I'll be back on January 10th.
