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.

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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.
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What I’ve Learned From Cancer

And why, yet again, I've learned to listen to my wife!

I have had cancer.

Before you get concerned, I have the kind you would want. Tomorrow, a doctor working a robot is going to remove 2% of my right kidney. A couple of days in the hospital, and that’s it. No chemo. No radiation. There is a 99% chance I’ll be cured.

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I’m sharing this with you because I’ve learned some things.

To set the stage, my wife has been bugging encouraging me to get a doctor for years.

Just so happened…

A couple of months ago, it just so happened that I woke up in the middle of the night with a sharp pain in my calf. I’m the deepest sleeper you know. That’s never happened to me. I’d been on a couple long plane rides, and I had the thought that maybe this was  blood clot.

I got up and went to the clinic and was sent to the hospital for an ultrasound. I didn’t have a blood clot. In fact, I still have no clue what that pain was.

Just so happened that a few weeks later I tweaked my back setting up a booth at a show. I’ve had back spasms since I was 14, but this was different. It lasted longer. It hurt a little different.

Then it just so happened that I was doing some yard work and got poison ivy…bad. My back hurt. I was itchy. So I broke down.

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Sometimes I just love being a dad. This weekend, my daughter participated in her first karate demonstration. She just turned 6 and has been training for about a year.

My wife was out of town and had to miss this, so she asked me to record it. This is the result. I thought I would share it with you as well.

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How to Create Dominating Digital Presence – Registration Open

For the past 10 days or so, I’ve been releasing a free video training series on How to Create Dominating Digital Presence. These videos have covered why you need digital presence, how to avoid costly rookie mistakes, and how to automate your platform for maximum efficiency.

The 4th video is now live and it covers your next steps – where do you go from here?  You can access it by CLICKING HERE.

We have also opened registration for the online course How To Create Dominating Digital presence. Registration will only be open until September 25 at 11:59pm EST. If you haven’t watched the videos – now is the time!

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If you’ve ever wondered if digital presence can make a difference in your business, this video is for you. I cover all the benefits of digital presence and lay out for you how you can get it quickly and easily. The key is implementing a proven system that simplifies and greatly automates your platform so that you can demonstrate your expertise, attract and build trust with your perfect prospects, and educate your future clients.

Get Instant Access

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(Behind the Scenes) How to Automate Your Platform

Video 3 of 4 in my Free Video Training Series on Creating Dominating Digital Presence

There is one single reason why most do not build a digital presence. Can you guess it?

It is time…or the lack of it.

Lacking the time is what holds people back. This speaks to two things. One, you are too busy already. And two, you don’t believe creating a digital presence is valuable enough to dedicate precious minutes to building it.

So in today’s video, I’m going to show you my favorite automation tool that allows you to share extremely valuable curated content (you didn’t write it – you just found it for your audience) throughout the day. And it just takes a couple of minutes a day to manage. I don’t care how busy you are, you have a few minutes a day.

So far in this video series, I’ve shared with you why you need digital presence. I’ve shared with you 10 platform killing rookie mistakes to avoid. Those are both important topics, but they are conceptual. It is high level thinking stuff.

Today’s video is instantly actionable. You will be able to take what I show you and instantly apply it to your business. Who doesn’t like that?

And at the end, I share with you a special announcement coming next week!

Most of you know someone in your life who would benefit from greater digital presence. Please share this post and video with them. You’ll be doing them a favor.

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Play the Video!

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[Video] How to Avoid These 10 Platform Killing Rookie Mistakes

Video 2 is Up in the Free Training Series on Creating Digital Presence

Last week I announced the formation of Massimo University. As a launching point for this new venture, I’ve created a free video training series on creating dominating digital presence.

Video two in that series is now live. You can access it by clicking here.

In the first video of the series, I shared with you all the reasons why you need digital presence. In this video, I share with you the 10 platform killing mistakes you must avoid.

I think you are going to love it!

I want to remind you that this video series is only up for another week, so be sure you check them out while you can!

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Take Me To The Video!

There are so many who could benefit from creating dominating digital presence. I’d be so grateful if you would share this post with them. You can use the email button at the top of this post, or share it on your favorite social media platform. Thanks!

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What I Learned from My First Homework Assignment in 16 Years

A Letter to My Middle-schooler's Teacher

I got home from work a couple of weeks ago, and my wife informed me as I walked through the door that I had a homework assignment.

What?!

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Last week, I announced the formation of Massimo University with my friend and partner, Rod Santomassimo. As a way of marking this new venture, I have produced a free video training series on creating digital presence. You can access this free training by Clicking Here. And it is only up for the next 8 days…

My oldest son is in middle school. One of his teachers sent home an assignment called “In a Million Words or Less…” The idea was for us – as parents – to tell the teacher what she needs to know about our son.

The premise of this assignment was heartwarming. She explained that she simply does not get to know every student like she would like – especially the introverted ones. She wants to be able to tailor her teaching to the student (she calls them scholars).

I very much appreciate that!

My wife also shared with me that I was going to get to do this as the “writer” in our marriage. (My wife could be an incredible writer if she wanted to be, by the way.)

So I sat down to write the following letter. Before I share it with you, I want to challenge you to do a couple of things:

  1. Become a student of your child(ren) – I have 3 children and they are completely different. I don’t want to parent them the same. I want to understand them and get on their level. I want to know how best to communicate with them. I want to relate to them on their level.
  2. Understand a little about personalities – Luckily (or providentially), my sister is a Meyers-Briggs consultant with her own business. She’s incredible. And she has taught me a bit about personalities. This has opened up to me a world of possibilities in parenting my kids. As a result of this knowledge, I think I will be able to avoid some mistakes that would have led to some scar tissue on their hearts.
  3. Support their teachers – You don’t have perfect kids. I don’t have perfect kids. Your children’s teachers have a very difficult job. They are overworked and underpaid. They don’t need crazy parents blaming them for everything their children do wrong. That doesn’t help the teachers. It certainly doesn’t help your children.
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Huge Announcement Plus a Free Video Training Series…Just for You!

Announcing the Creation of Massimo University with a Free Video Series on Creating Digital Presence

I met Rod Santomassimo in San Antonio. I was with my parents who had traveled with me to see me get my CCIM pin. It was a proud and blessed moment for all of us.

At the same time, Sperry Van Ness had been recruiting our company. We were invited to a presentation where Rod, and executive with SVN at the time, was giving us a presentation along with Kevin Maggiacomo and Jerry Anderson.

I got up to leave during Rod’s presentation. Turns out that is not the best idea. Rod called me out letting me know he wasn’t finished. I shared with him that I had to go sit for my comprehensive exam, and I would rejoin the meeting when I was finished.
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If you are ever in a room listening to Rod present, don’t walk out. You may get more attention than you planned.

Since that time, Rod and I have become great friends. I worked with him at SVN. I hired him as my coach when he started the Massimo Group. He asked me to come on as a coach for MG when he began to aggressively grow his company. He has taught me many things.

So I am so excited that Rod and I have formed a new company – Massimo University. Among other things, MassimoU will be creating and producing online courses – for CRE professionals and anyone with a sales or entrepreneurial bent.

And as a special gift to launch our new venture, we have created a free video training series on creating dominating digital presence. It is only open for a short time – the next 13 days to be exact. And I don’t want you to miss out!

So head to this link. I’m so very excited about the great strategies and tools we are sharing through this free series.

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And never in a million years did I expect to say this, but I am now the dean of a university – ha!

Don’t forget to get your free video training series. All you have to do is click the button below.

Get Instant Access

 

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I Might Have Gotten Hacked!

It happens, right? I figured it probably would never happen to me.

However, if you tried to access my blog over the last number of days, you may have gotten a completely white screen.

What an inconvenience…for both of us.

I do think I’ve fixed everything and put some safeguards in place so hopefully it will never happen again.

So please accept my sincerest apologies…and keep coming back. I’ve got tons of great stuff in the hopper for you.

Bo

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“[Interview] How to Move the Needle in Your CRE Business”
by Justin Lamontagne with Bo Barron

Sorry, listening to the audio on this website requires Flash support in your browser. You can try playing the MP3 file directly by clicking here.

I don’t remember when I started listening to podcasts, but they have had a huge impact on my life and my business.

I listen to them when I’m working out. I listen to them when I am traveling. In my constant desire to learn better ways to do anything, podcasts feed my mind.

CRE Elite Podcast Interview

More than that, experts in every field are podcasting now. That means you can learn just about anything, from the best, for free! If you are a business owner, entrepreneur, or in sales of any kind, I believe you should be spending more time listening to podcasts than music or anything else.

And with iTunes and smartphones, it has never been easier to consume great information from experts.

Recently, I was on a call with John Lee Dumas, the super successful creator of Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast. He was sharing with me that his brother-in-law is a CRE broker who has a podcast called CRE Elite – Broker to Brokers.

The premise of the show is Justin Lamontagne interviews top-producing CRE brokers from every state. In those interviews, he pulls best-practices, tips, and tools from these brokers. And shares them with you. For free.

This is the only podcast of its kind for CRE that I’m aware or, and a must listen. You can find out more at his website or on iTunes.

I reached out to Justin as he had not covered a CRE professional from Kentucky, share my story with him, and offered to by his Kentucky interview. He graciously took me up on the offer, and you can listen to our interview above.

Then I started going through his previous guests, and it was filled with some of my favorite people in commercial real estate. Here are some episodes I recommend:

  • Indiana – Steve Martin – A family affair
  • California – Brad Umansky – Writing the “book” on CRE
  • Texas – Coy Davidson – Social media and CRE
  • Featured Episode with Rod Santomassimo – A talk with a CRE coach, author, and broker
  • Georgia – Michael Bull, CRE broker and host of the CRE show

I highly recommend this podcast to you – these are some of the best of the best sharing their best-practices with you.

Here are Justin’s notes on our interview:

In this week’s episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit the great state of Kentucky and talk to a fascinating CRE expert in Bo Barron. Bo’s got a pretty cool story. He served five years in the Marine Corps and then rolled into the business as a 3rd generation commercial broker in his market. He spent over 10 years in the field as a broker, owner, and corporate executive with Sperry Van Ness. He then transitioned into commercial brokerage coaching through The Massimo Group who’s founder, Rod Santomassimo, I had the pleasure of interviewing in CRE Elite Episode 22.

The passion Bo has for coaching comes through loud and clear in this talk.  And I appreciated his comment about how too many brokers approach this business like a hobby. This work deserves to be treated like what it is, a business. Your own business. We then spent a bit of time talking about Bo’s experience working with his father and how, as a new broker, what it was like to be “afraid of the phone” and the lessons he learned in humility and truly earning the title of an expert.

Bo mentioned “moving the needle” a couple times in this talk. And that’s what he’s all about, focusing on best practices and figuring out ways to impact the market and do your job the right way.  Maybe I’ve said this before because I just get so excited about each of this interviews, but this is such a valuable talk. And towards the end of the interview Bo dropped one of my absolutely favorite lines since starting this show. He said, “Emotions dropped out of school in 3rd grade and they’re stupid”. Listen to it in the context of our talk and you see how wise that comment is and how you can apply it to your own practice.

Anyways, I’m obviously a fan so I hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did.

Let me know what you think! You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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