In case you missed them, here are the top posts from November.  I have also added a bonus Saturday post at the bottom that is guaranteed to improve your daily life – if you shave.  Be sure to check it out at the bottom!

The 17 Rules of Email Etiquette – My biggest beef with email is its ability to interrupt me.  The nature of my business requires me to be doing multiple things.  I am not a natural multi-tasker.  I much prefer to hone in on a task and focus all my energy on it.  I rarely get to do this.  I am also easily distracted.  The ding and notification that announces every email can cost me 5 – 60 minutes  Read More…

The Difference Between Top Producers and the Others – How many times have you heard brokers complain about how the market has sunk their business?  Maybe I’m talking about you?  You have heard the cliché, “a rising tide lifts all ships.”  The reverse of that would be, “a sinking tide sinks all ships.”  That seems to be the mantra of the CRE industry of the last four years.  Read More…

How the 14 Marine Corps Leadership Traits Apply to Your Business – Part 1 – Today, I was organizing my closet.  Hanging there next to my ties and dress shirts were my old Marine Corps uniforms.  They caused me to think back 8+ years to my former life.  So much of my life now is influenced by my enlisted years.  Just as the old meets the new in my closet, so much of the USMC leadership traits apply to running a business.  Read More…

How the 14 Marine Corps Leadership Traits Apply to Your Business – Part 2 – I was born with bearing.  God just knitted this one into my personality.  When I was a PFC (private first class), I had duty for the first time.  This meant that I stayed up all night manning a post in the barracks.  I was part of a 3-man team.  This was my first time “on-duty,” and I made a mistake…  Read More…

How to Turn Failure into Motivation – You will experience failures in your personal and professional lives.  It should not be the failed goal that defines the experience but the way that we respond to the failure.  Consider reflecting on these questions…  Read More…

My Salute to Our Fighting Men and Women this Veteran’s Day – Today is Veteran’s Day.  Today is the day that we remember and honor all the men and women who sacrificed.  They sacrificed years. Some sacrifices limbs.  Many sacrificed their lives – for you and me.  We understand freedoms not known by most throughout history.  My brother, who is a Marine Aviator, is this day protecting the freedoms of Americans to burn the flag or hate our country.  That is sacrifice.…  Read More…

Bonus Post

I remember when I was in college, I would shave every 3 to 4 days.  There was two reasons for this:  every guy hates shaving, and I was lazy.  Then I enlisted in the Marine Corps.  They require a clean-shaven face every morning.  It is called “scraping your grape.”

Five years of “scraping my grape” every day has two unfortunate consequences.  The first is that I now prefer the shaven face.  The second, and worse, is that my wife now can’t live with my scrubby face anymore.

Since I have resigned myself to shaving every day for the rest of my life, I now hate the razor racquet.  I can buy the razor handle for pennies, but the razors cost a fortune.  I’m in a bad mood every time I have to buy razors.  And since I have to pay so much for them, I use them longer than I should.  This causes me to hate shaving even more.  This is a vicious spiral.

Enter the Dollar Shave Club!

This is the coolest idea I’ve seen in a long time.  Additionally, this video is genius and hilarious – though unfortunately more raw than it needs to be.  Regardless, enjoy the video.

So here is how it works.  You sign up for one of the 3 levels of razors.  They send you every month the razors you need – automatically.  This rocks for the following reasons:

• The razors are comparable to the Gillette Fusion I used before.
• The price of the razors are way less.
• You no longer have the negative experience of actually purchasing over-priced razors from the store – the razors are shipped to your door!
• You don’t have to stretch the use of each razor.  This improves your overall experience.

In a word, the Dollar Shave Club rocks!  Sometimes it is the simple things in life.  This is one of those things.  Do yourself a favor and check them out.  And have a great weekend!