Why You Need a Team – These 5 Reasons

Leverage The Strengths of Others So You Can Do What Only You Can Do!

Five or so years ago, I was on a call with my coach, Rod Santomassimo. Rod is the founder and president of the Massimo Group, and he had been coaching me through the purchase of my father’s brokerage firm.

I remember him asking me if I would consider allowing him to profile me in a book he was writing. He asked me to think about it and let him know.

I thought, he is asking me to allow him to tell my story to the industry and create a great amount of presence for me that I couldn’t do on my own. Five seconds later, I let him know I would be honored.

That book, Brokers Who Dominate – 8 Traits of Top Producers, became an Amazon.com bestseller. If you are a CRE professional, I highly recommend.

As of yesterday, Rod has launched his second book, Teams Built to Dominate – How to Create Your Own Platform, Grow Your Business And Gain control of Your Life.

teams built to dominate

I wanted to share this you for a couple of reasons. First, I received an early copy of the book and it is fantastic. Second, I have a special code to offer you that will get you 20% off. And third, Rod and I shot a video series that goes along with the book – Team Building Toolbox – where we take you through how to implement the strategies and best practices of team building that Rod takes you through in the book.

And the video series is being offered free this week if you buy the book. But more on how to take advantage of this $300 value later.

The 5 Reasons You Need a Team…yes, even you!

  1. A team allows you to leverage skills beyond yourself – If you are a producer, there are activities you do that generate high income. There are other activities that you do that are low dollar activities. A team allows you to put in place people with strengths in those low dollar activities. You can delegate to them. So no longer do you need to do $20/hr work. Plus, this frees you up to do those high dollar tasks that only you can do. This leads to exponential growth!
  2. A team removes you as the bottleneck – When you work as a solopreneur, you have to do everything. This makes you the bottleneck. John Maxwell calls this the Law of the Lid in his bestseller, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. This just means that you can’t grow beyond yourself. You are the lid that prevents it. But with a team, you can break through your personal ceiling and grow.
  3. A team prevents burnout – Most of us have experienced burnout – that hopeless feeling that nags at you. Imagine if you had a team to handle all the activities you hated doing. That should put a smile on your face!
  4. A team brings additional perspectives – Many hard-charging producers don’t like to think of this point. The truth is, there are many perspectives you don’t have that a team brings. It is also true that you don’t always have the best perspective, and other sets of eyeballs can lead to success in areas you will fail on your own.
  5. A team challenges you – When you work on your own, you are only challenged to the extent you can muster motivation and discipline on your own. But when you build a team, those team members will challenge you. They will expect your best. They will push you. This is a reason I’ve had a coach for so many years. I need to pushed.
There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

The 30 Tools I Use For Productivity, Blogging, Social Media, & Travel (18 are free!)

I don’t know how many times I’ve said – “I wish I had more hours in the day!”

I’m sure you’ve had that sentiment as well.  Alas, 24 hours a day is all we get.  That isn’t going to change.  What can change is how much you can squeeze out of each hour.

30tools 3d cover

Before I go on, I want to make this point.  I’m not advocating becoming a workaholic – or even feeding that addiction.  I’m talking about getting more work done faster.  I’m talking about being able to have more time for what really matter.  Time for your family.  Time to take care of your health.  Time for self-development.  Time for care for your spiritual health.

Some of the most valuable posts I’ve ever read have been on the subject of productivity.  I consume that kind of information.  Everything I’ve learned about productivity apps has come from others or just tinkering with them.  All I’ve learned about traveling efficiently comes from experience and what others have shared with me.

So here is my resource list of the 30 tools I use on a regular basis to squeeze more out of every day.  I’m going to give you the highlights here, and you will be able to download it at the end of the post.

Productivity

When I did my reader survey last month, the subject of productivity was the number one topic of choice.  In this section, I give you my favorite free and paid tools for increasing your productivity.  And here’s a little hint – 1password and Tripit are completely awesome.  Awesome!

Blogging

Blogging has revolutionized my online presence.  It is not easy to do.  But it is so worth it.  The key to blogging well over time is to systematize it.  I have a few templates that I use for most posts.  It saves me a ton of time.  These are the tools I use to build my email list, optimize for SEO, etc.  These tools will save you a ton of time and allow you to maximize your ROI.

Social Media

I’m almost sick of social media.  I believe most people have accepted that social media provides value – sometimes a ton of it.  Though I’m sick of talking about, I use it everyday.  And if you’ve never heard or used BufferApp, you need to check this section out.

Travel

I traveled a ton for work last year.  I think I was on 65 airplanes.  If there is one thing I’m good at, it is navigating airports.  Traveling is a drain on your energy no matter who you are.  Being able to minimize the frustrations of travel while remaining productive saved me a tremendous amount of stress.  These are the tools I used to do it.

Bonus Section:  Recommended Books

As a bonus, I’ve included some of my favorite books in the following categories:

  • Platform building
  • Productivity
  • Business
  • Leadership
  • Stewardship
  • Parenting
  • Marriage
  • Commercial Real Estate
  • And others…

These are books that I’ve read and personally recommend.  I’m no expert in any of these subjects.  However, these are books that have helped me grow in these areas.

To download your copy of this free resource list, simply click the button below!

Download Your Free Resource List

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

Book of the Month: Decisive – How to Make Better Choices

 

BookoftheMonth

Every day is filled with choices.  Many are small and inconsequential.  Some are life changing.  This month’s book suggestion was written to improve our decision-making ability.

Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath

Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath

As I was reading this book, I thought back on some of the key decisions in my life.  At age 10, I chose to place my faith in Jesus to save me.  At age 18, I asked the most beautiful angel-voiced blonde on our first date.  Later that year, I decided to attend Murray State University (go Racers!).  Four years later, I decided to enlist in the Marine Corps.  One year later, I proposed to that beauty I mentioned before.

All of these decisions worked out for me.  So many others did not.  I am not going to share that list with you.

So whether you are deciding where to eat tonight, or when and if to propose to your girl (congrats little bro!), you go through the following steps.

  1. You have a choice.
  2. You consider your options.
  3. You make your choice.
  4. You live with/suffer the consequences.

The Heath brothers do a masterful job at describing what they call the four villains to decision-making.  They coincide with the four steps above.

  1. Narrow framing – you don’t consider near enough options – often stopping as soon as you have two.
  2. Confirmation bias – you gather self-serving information to support your natural bias.
  3. Short-term emotion – you allow the heat of the moment to overly influence the decision you make.
  4. Overconfidence – your optimism for the future allows you to be caught off-guard when things go south.

To counter these “villains,” the Heath brothers put forth a very clever and easy to remember acronym – W.R.A.P.

  • W – Widen your options.  Refuse to limit yourself to a “whether or not” choice.
  • R – Reality test your assumptions.  Someone somewhere has faced your situation.  Find them.  See what they did.
  • A – Attain distance.  Sleep on it.  Clarity is often found on the other side of a pillow.  Don’t let yourself make a decision when you are emotionally charged.  If you are older than 12, you can think of at least 3 times immediately when you did not head this advice.
  • P – Prepare to be wrong.  This is just good business.  If you are a golf fan, notice how the elite golfer stays away from the big trouble spots.  They have good misses that do not cripple them.  Force yourself to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

The Heath brothers spend the rest of the book sharing story after story demonstrating the power of this process.  In fact, their premise for the book is that it is the process of making a decision that has the most impact on the quality of the decision.

This book is incredibly clever and entertaining.  It had me page-turning.  I was so intrigued that I’ve shared this process of decision-making with my coaching clients, my family, and many of my friends.  I believe it is powerful.  I believe that this book can have a powerful impact on your future.  Do yourself a favor and decide to read this book.

Question:  What one decision of the past year do you regret not applying this process to?  Your comments are welcome below!

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

Book of the Month from Dan Pink

BookoftheMonth

I read a lot.  Most of my good ideas come from the books I’ve read.  I am constantly suggesting to my clients books that can help them with problems they are facing.  So I am going to offer to you each month a book for your consideration.

I did not enjoy doing book reports when I was in school.  I don’t plan on doing them now.  However, I am going to try to wet your appetite because these are books that have helped me.  They have helped me learn.  They have helped me grow.  They have helped me to think differently.

Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says, “You will be the same today as you will be in 5 years except for two things:  the books you read and the people you meet.”  I agree with him completely.

To Sell Is Human

To Sell Is Human

This month’s book is To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Dan Pink.  You may be thinking to yourself that you don’t want to read another sales book.  If you are, you should reconsider.

Dan Pink is a rock star story-teller.  He is also a world-class researcher.  What he has done in this book is weave together powerful data with engaging stories.  You haven’t enjoyed learning this much in a long time.

And his thesis is true – we are all in sales.  US Labor statistics says that 1 in 9 jobs in America are a sales job.  The other 8 are as well!  We are all in the business of trying to move people.  Are you a teacher?  You are trying to move your students.  Are you in the health-care profession?  You are trying entreat people to live differently – healthier.  You are in sales.

[Quick aside:  I ended a conversation with my little sister to finish this post.  I promised her a shout-out.  Love you Mange!]

This book was an eye opener for me on many levels.  Do you know the most compelling way to make a pitch?  You will after you’ve read this book.

Do you believe the myth that an extrovert is a natural top performing salesperson?  You won’t after this book.  It isn’t the introvert either.

You will also learn:

  • The new ABC’s of selling (Goodbye to Alec Baldwin’s Always Be Closing) – Attune, Buoyancy, and Clarity.
  • How to give the Pixar Pitch.  Hint:  it starts with “Once Upon a Time.”
  • The 6 successors to the elevator pitch.
  • The 3 rules for understanding another’s perspective
  • And much more.

This book is counter-intuitive and supported by a ton of hard data.  It is compelling and will absolutely challenge long-held beliefs that I bet that you hold.

If you are not familiar with Dan Pink, he has given one of the most viewed TED Talks to date with over 5 million views.  It is an incredible short talk that you should watch.  He is outstanding, and his topic is motivation.

If you have read this book or are about to, I would love to hear you thoughts in comment section.  Let me know what your first ‘Aha’ moment was from the book or his TED Talk.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

A Review of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

This is the book that started it for me.  This past May, Michael Hyatt published his New York Times bestseller Platform:  Get Noticed in a Noisy World.  The blog you are reading now was built on what I learned in this book.

In January 2010, I sat in on a webinar where a man laid out a social media strategy.  Until that day, I thought that Twitter was ridiculous.  I believed that the ROI on a social media strategy equated to wasted time.  I listened to this man spend an hour describing the benefits of having a social media strategy.  That hour changed things for me.

As I write this post, I have 2,677 followers on Twitter.  I have 1,502 business connections on LinkedIn.  I have 2,698 ‘friends’ on Facebook.  I don’t share this to boast.  I simply want you to know what is possible.  I am certainly not a celebrity.  What I have done is execute a plan, and it has worked.

When I read Platform in July of this year, it had the same effect on me as did the webinar on social media.  I finally understood the importance of blogging in conjunction with these other social media tools.

So what is a platform?  It is something that you stand on to be noticed above the crowd.  It provides visibility.  It allows for the amplification of a message.  It facilitates a connection between the messenger and the audience.  I don’t care if you have a product or service to sell or a cause to promote, you need a platform.  If this describes you – and it does – this book is for you.

The social media revolution makes this even more important.  Consider these statistics:

  • 14% of people trust traditional advertising (that is an incredible figure!)
  • 18% of TV ads generate a positive Return on Investment (ROI)
  • 90% of people skip ads if they have a DVR/TiVo
  • 78% of people trust recommendations from connections via social media
  • 70% of people trust recommendations from strangers via social media (wow!)

Michael Hyatt has been blogging for over 8 years and has built a truly world-class platform.  He shares with the reader what he has learned in that time from his success and failures.  The book is laid out in 60 short chapters that cover the following 5 steps to build an effective platform.

  1. Start With Wow – He uses a quote in the book that says great marketing simply makes a bad product fail faster.  The idea is you must have great content.  Wow your audience!
  2. Prepare to Launch – This is the preparation for launching your platform.  He covers everything from thinking bigger, to defining your goals, to setting up your tools.
  3. Build Your Home Base – This is the section of his book where he really dives into blogging.  How to blog.  How to write posts faster. How to avoid common mistakes.  This section has been invaluable to me as I launched my blog in September.
  4. Expand Your Reach – This section is all about how to build your audience.  It is full of sage advice and helpful tips that I use on a regular basis.
  5. Engage Your Tribe – Social media is a phone conversation – not a mega-phone.  The entire idea is to build and then engage your audience.  In this section, Hyatt shares with you all he has learned in building a platform that has over 300,000 unique visitors to his blog every month.

This is now a reference book for me.  It is highlighted and underlined.  I have notes written in it everywhere.  It is also the one book that I’ve loaned out and actually made sure I got back.  What I love most about it is the 3-5 page chapters.  Whatever I have a question about, I can grab this off the shelf and quickly find the answer.

This book needs to be on your shelf as well.  Here is where you can order it – Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (affiliate link).

So let me hear from you.  Have you read it?  What did you learn?  What could a larger platform help you accomplish?
There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.