My mom’s side of the family is from the Chicago area. I love it up there. When I was younger, I would go spend some time in the summers with family.

One particular summer, my great aunt and uncle took me to a very large house in their neighborhood. Whatever size house just popped in your mind when I said ‘very large,’ think bigger than that. It was the largest house I’d ever seen at the time.

The reason for our visit was to see the owner’s garage. He had a four car garage with 8 Ferraris in it. He literally had a lift in each bay with one Ferrari held up over another. The owner walked into the garage from his house wearing a Ferrari racing suit. He was passionate. And incredibly wealthy.

I got to see a 1958 Spider (classic yellow). I sat in one of two F40’s that he had. I remember not being able to move after he strapped in the 5 point harness. I did not get to see his Testarossa as it was in the shop.

This man – this Ferrari enthusiast – was one of the top brain surgeons in the country. He was a specialist. You didn’t go see him if you had a bad case of poison ivy. You didn’t go see him for the flu or a muscle tear. You saw him if you had a problem with your brain.

Now take my family doctor. He is a super nice guy and a great doctor. He lives down the street from me and our children are friends. I’ve seen him twice in the last month – for poison ivy and nerve inflammation in my back. He drives a pickup truck – just like me.

Who makes more money? Obviously, the specialist does.

Now don’t misunderstand me. It’s not all about the money. This just illustrates the power of being a specialist.

Specializing in your business give you the opportunity to gain encyclopedic knowledge of your niche. It give you a manageable market area to dominate. It allows you to command higher fees. It allows you to have great insight into your perfect prospect because you know their problems and opportunities so well. That insight helps you to communicate to your chosen market with a super sharp message.

So yesterday, one of my coaching clients asked me how to choose your specialty. I’ve written about this topic here, but here are the three questions to ask yourself.

1. What do you like? Do you like a specific type of business (apartments, investment sales, retail leasing, or whatever)? Or do you like a specific geography or submarket? Make a list of your top 3 favorites.
2. What are you good at? In commercial real estate, different asset verticals require different skills. Multifamily properties, for example, require a bunch of number crunching. Are you good at that? Again, make a list of the top 3 specialties you think your skills would line up with.
3. Where is the market velocity? Where is the action. It does you no good if you like something and are good at it, but no deals are happening. For instance, you wouldn’t want to be the world’s best snow ski resort broker…in Kansas. Now make a list of the 3 hottest specialties in your market.

After you’ve answered these questions, take a look at where there is some overlap. That is a great place to start.