When it comes to the level of business you do, what is your comfort zone? What are you trying to achieve? Are you in to making as much money as you can or are you happy with just making a good living? Do you judge your success by how many toys you have or by how much freedom you have in your life? Do you place limits on yourself or are you always trying to do more? Have you ever asked yourself these questions? I have.

I think it's very important to know what we want out of life and equally important to know how to get there. TLW and I decided a long time ago to keep our company small. For us, success is being able to do what we want, when we want and having the financial capabilities to do so. But, we are not money mongers. We don't judge our success by how much money we make. Personally, I have never had the desire to be a mega producing, Real Estate selling machine. Even though I can assure you, I have the tools and the ability to be one, if I choose to. It's just not for me. I enjoy my downtime too much.

Of course, I could always open an office and hire lots of agents and expand my business into a mega producing office. But again, it's not for me. To be honest, I don't want the hassle of operating a huge Real Estate company. It would cut into my freedom.

What I enjoy doing and what makes me happy is working with Sellers and helping them through the process of getting their properties sold. My goal is to always provide quality service to a limited quantity of people. Because of this, I turn business down quite a bit. I only want to work with folks that appreciate what I do and who want to work with me. We have to get along. We have to be on the same page. We have to have the same goals. By choosing to work like this I eliminate stress from my life. And that gives me peace. Being in this frame of mind enables me to give folks my best at all times. And to me, that's what it's all about. Quality not quantity.

"So, Broker Bryant, what's the point of this post?" The point of this post is to encourage you to evaluate what is you want out of Real Estate. Don't worry about what is expected of you but instead find out what it is you need to do to be happy. Then, make a plan and do it. Whether that's doing 20 transactions a year or 200. It doesn't matter. What matters is that it is YOUR goal, not someone else's expectation for you.

Money cannot buy happiness but endlessly pursuing it can definitely keep you from being happy. Find a balance. Find YOUR balance. Find your comfort zone and then reap the rewards of a peaceful life. Trust me when I say, your customers and clients will see this is in you and will want to work with you. Your business will be a lot easier because of it.

Always remember, "Real Estate is about people not money."

So what do you think? Food for thought?

 

48 Comments on Compete with the rest and make a mess of success.

FEB
13
2007
409,999 Points 72 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Reserved Parking For #1 "The Lovely Wife"...TLW...ROAR!

Hubba! Bubba! Wink. Wink. Let's add SVW to that :)

Darlin' I love your post. This is all so very true. Money does not buy happiness. Happiness is achieved from within our soul. To attempt to buy happiness is nothing more than an exercise in futility. You can I both know that.

We have come a long way over the years and we are where we are today because we understand that what we want and what we want for our business is much more important than what our peers in this business want us to do. It's our life, it's our business. We have done well because we understand quality matters more than what other people expect from us.  

Whoa...That was a mouthful...I'll think I better stop. I could have written my own post on this topic :)

Don't worry I won't do that to ya :)

 

 

5:57pm • #1
264,980 Points 67 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Derek just received a testimonial in the mail from a former client (and now friend) that said that one of the best things about him was that he was family-oriented. That was one of the best things that a testimonial could say, IMHO.   I believe that it goes:

  1. God
  2. Family
  3. Business

I work enough to have a happy life, pay my bills, play with my kids (FYI... kids= 2 children+Derek), spend time with my friends and family, and live. I work just enough to live life. I do not live to work. Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. (Much more important than Location. Location. Location.)

Wonderful post... again!   :o)

6:27pm • #2
18 Featured Posts

Mariana got the parking space right outside the front door. I'll park next to her. watch those door dings missy!

BB, I'm with you all the way. money can't buy your time back, happiness or freedom for that matter. I love my downtime and enjoying working to live, not the other way around.  Just me and my honey for now, but my future kids are gonna get a lot of me and my honey will have them+ me to manage,.kinda like Mariana with her big kid Derek.

I dont compare myself to others. After me they broke to mold. If I did compate I would be miserable.. so many people out there are so successful and important. I live modestly and love having fun. I need free time to have fun..

not to sound like a broken record, but psychology fascinates me, and I contstantly mention to ego. Me and my ego are getting along fine. It doesn't run me. can you tell?  who cares about status. God only sees the inner me. the real me. cars, money and houses can be gone in a flash.

God, family and friends. all day long.

Give me a few appraisals a week, and I'm happy. :)

6:28pm • #3
429,065 Points 90 Featured Posts Outside Blog
Here's what I think. The more real estate agents focus on the client, the relationships, the better off the entire industry will be. You can't automate relationships.
6:54pm • #4
160,892 Points 43 Featured Posts

I think the whole article is crap!

 

You are successful because you are so darn good lookin'!

Or did you forget?

6:57pm • #5
11 Featured Posts
I'm right with you and TLW on this one.  It's all right to be little bitty!  ;-)
7:02pm • #6
131,634 Points 14 Featured Posts Outside Blog
My father always taught me, "if you give the service the money will come" 
7:53pm • #7
110,235 Points 26 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
Bryant, leave it to you to focus on something inherently smart. The other reason I had to try to do this last year was so that I was not 'all over the map.' It wasn't trying to be greedy at all, it was trying to be everything to everyone. It just did not work. I still work on that focus but your point is sooo valuable.
8:56pm • #9
616,688 Points 244 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Well thanks for all the responses. I really do appreciate them all.

Mariana, Sounds like you have a real handle on it. And that's a good thing. Enjoy your family as much a you can. Concentrate on the things that really matter in life.

Nick, glad to see you in early today. So are children in the plan for the near future? I can tell you would make a wonderful father. Little dudies:)

Jeff, You are almost right. But look below:) Automation with a human touch.

  

 

 

 

Robo Broker Bryant compliments of Nick M.

Mark, thanks for the reminder.

Amber, I predict much success in your future. You have a wonderful attitude.

Jay, "if you give the service the money will come" Your father was a wise man. That's why it's so important to do what you love. Your profession should be your passion not a job.

Thanks Ava. Without priorities we are wanderers lost in a field of discontent. A very bad place to be. 

Carole, I also have an issue with trying help everyone. It's one of the reasons I limited my business to just sellers and only in one specific area. It gives me a valid reason to turn people down. A concentrated effort will achieve much more than one that's "all over the map" BTW will you be my other Valentine?

TLW, Traveling together hand in hand

       we made are mark upon this land.

       Together we've focused strong

       on our cause to make a stand

       against the pull of greed.

       Whether shoppin' or moppin'

       you've kept a smile on your face

       we may not always win

       but we'll finish the race.   

         

 

 

9:41pm • #10
110,235 Points 26 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog


BB and 3C forever LOL     Bryant, of course and TY you knew I needed that :-)  TLW will surely keep you out of the doghouse with a poem that good!  You guys are too much :-)

9:47pm • #11
409,999 Points 72 Featured Posts Outside Blog

 

 

Oh! My! ... Hubba! Bubba! SVW (smiing very wide)

Darlin' I think it may be time for us to cut down the computers...

Need I say more? Thought not :)

TLW...ROAR!

9:57pm • #12
409,999 Points 72 Featured Posts Outside Blog

                   The Lovely Wife's Valentine Poem To Her Husband Broker Bryant

We have lived and loved together...

   for oh so many years

We have shared each other's happiness...

   and cried each other tears

We once struggled everyday...

   in our efforts to remain a team

Our future bound as one...

   as we chased our elusive dream

On this special day...

   it is important that you know

Without you by my side...

   I would not have the get up to go

Please believe me darlin'...

   as I write these words to you

My heart, my soul, my body...

   all feel a love so true

For I wish you love and happiness...

   and a life free of pain

Rest assured my dearest...

   your love for me has never been in vain

My love now and until the end of time...Always your..."The Lovely Wife"...ROAR...PURR :)  

10:15pm • #13
325,939 Points 64 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
And...being able to know your own space in the world  makes it that much easier for your clients to find theirs. Right on, Bryant..write on.
10:20pm • #14
259,602 Points 102 Featured Posts Outside Blog

I mostly agree BUT...someone has to pay San Diego Gas and Electric their monthly tribute.

BRYANT SAID:  Don't worry about what is expected of you but instead find out what it is you need to do to be happy. Then, make a plan and do it.

BRIAN SAYS:  If there is no margin; there is no mission.  Remember, we are a dot com and not a dot org.  I get the point but practitioners should realize that there MUST be a plan (as you pointed out) 

10:41pm • #15
535,951 Points 52 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

In response to Flanders...ROFL!

I think you are right on target and congrats on hiring your new buyer's agent!

10:56pm • #16
1 Featured Post
Hey BB, you need a little relax time, after all living with STLW probably keeps you busy fishing! I know you would be a little tired after wrangling in one of those Jeep Trouts you have in your lakes!
11:40pm • #17
FEB
14
2007
489,737 Points 84 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Hit Router
I like your quote

Always remember, "Real Estate is about people not money."

If you take care of the people the money will always come. 

12:10am • #18
616,688 Points 244 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Whoopee! I got a Valentines poem. Thanks Hun very nice:)

Good morning evryone. Thanks for visiting!!

7:08am • #19
226,343 Points 41 Featured Posts Outside Blog

If Nick got the spot next to Billie, I'm parked all the way out there <<taking the trolley in>> 

I love your perspective Bryant.  Right now I am all over the place, as Carole put it, as I'm still in the "laying the foundation" mode.  It's hard being all things to all people.  I'm looking forward to a few years down the road when my niche will be firmly developed.  My idea of success looks a lot like yours.  More to do with loved ones than money.

7:20am • #20
117,279 Points 9 Featured Posts Outside Blog

My Uncle and Jay's Father would be in a fight to the death.  Bob told me once that if I think money can't buy happiness, then I am not spending it right.  Maybe he is kind of right, somehere, sort of.  He's single and tough to like sometimes.

One of these days when I grow up I want to be BB or at least as good looking.  Until then, even with rules set about when I will and will not work, I need to continue to build efficiencies and create financial security for my family.  13 years to go.  Savannah will be a freshman in college and I will be in the islands.  I can relax at 49, if I get there.  If not, the girls get the insurance.

Evil R

8:42am • #21
131,634 Points 14 Featured Posts Outside Blog
Hi Rich, my father died in 1990 he was 58, looks like your uncle won.
10:02am • #22
110,235 Points 26 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
I imagine the love birds are off on their own :-) But this is a great 'focusing' and 'food for thought' post. Which is why I am going to spend my snow day organizing my private life and not my work life!
11:10am • #23
117,279 Points 9 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Im sorry to hear that jay.

R

12:27pm • #24
131,634 Points 14 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Appreciate it Rich life is too short, we just have to make the best of it and live life to it's fullest.

That's why I enjoy your humor.  

1:08pm • #25
BB


Couldn't agree more --- I am blessed to have my husband as a business partner and although that business is not Real Estate, it is the foundation that I've been fortunate enough to build upon to make this Real Estate stuff a success.  The success to me comes from helping others acheive their goals and I will help and guide them in every and any way that I can...that's a different business model than many folks have expressed.  I guess I am rambling a bit here but suffice to say you hit it on the head "success (for people like us)  is defined by what you do, not by how much $$ you have".  
1:11pm • #26
Thank you BB reading this blog, I felt you are writing it for me. You are correct Real Estate is about the people not money. Commission is the last thing on my mind when showing houses. It does not matter if I sell one or one hundred, I am ok as long as it is not stressful. I am glad you have a stress less company for I cannot stand any stress in my life. Yes the commission is always nice but the way I see it the great acheivment in selling is seeing clients face when they look at the house and their expression of I want this, I can see myself in this house, and making it happen for them. This is why I want to be a buyer's agent. So BB and TWL let us rock and roll to a great year of helping people acheive their dream one house at a time. Knowing that we are all winners no matter how many houses we list or sell.
1:52pm • #27
3 Featured Posts
Wise words from a wise man. Living in balance is what life is all about! 
1:59pm • #28
112,221 Points 6 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Thanks BB....money doesn't buy happiness but lack thereof can cause unhappiness....but I agree, look at the client & how you can assist them & the money will come.

 

Oh & you & TLW are tooo cute....Happy Valentine's Day!

2:30pm • #29
453,305 Points 2 Featured Posts Outside Blog

What a great post!  No truer words were spoken.  If your priority is to work all the time and be "big", you'll miss out on all of the things that really are important.

BTW, love the poems you too ;)

2:32pm • #30
694,517 Points 145 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Hit Router

Sage words, Bryant, as always. It's so easy to get caught up in trying to be successful, however you define it, without really considering the things that are most important  - family, friends, emotional/mental well being, etc. A reminder now and then is always a good thing so we keep those values at the top of the list.

Jeff

2:53pm • #31

I have come back to read your "Compete with the rest and make a mess of success"...a few times now....got called to the phone with a clietn question....had to speak with a home inspector...talked to someone onmy team...you know, the usual (never boring) day in the life of a real estate person. I got thinking about what is most important to me in life...

You say..."I think it's very important to know what we want out of life and equally important to know how to get there...."  So I  am thinking about the second phrase (I highlighted it) ...Possibly that sense of adventure, always  at the heart of the business of real estate, provides the fuel to reach a destination ...

2:55pm • #32
sorry...I didn't see the new(??) fill in...anyway...that last comment above was from me...Happy Valentine's Day and thanks for your compassion and wisdom...
janeAnne ECO-Steward Realty
2:57pm • #33
144,154 Points 7 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Bryant,

Thanks for the post. For me is is about my freedom. I did the corporate stint....Hated it! Success for me, is earning enough money to have the freedom to do as I choose. So far so good!

3:01pm • #34
396,807 Points 9 Featured Posts Outside Blog

I try to ask the Lord to order my day, each and every day.  Then make the most out of what He brings me. Sometimes I get to deal with the lovliest folks and then some of them are thumpers, but throughout the day doing my best to walk the way that He wants me to deal with people not based upon who they are but but upon who I am.

At the end of the day, there is a great sense of accomplishment in doing a good job and helping people accomplish their goals.  This is what causes me to accomplish my goal and in the end the money takes care of itself or has so far.

Thanks for the post. 

Judi Barrett

Integrity Real Estate Services

 

3:12pm • #35
212,647 Points 56 Featured Posts Outside Blog
AMEN!!! and keeping those goals within reason always helps.  I know some people that no matter how much they make, they always want MORE, greed gets the best of them - life will fly by them and they will realize they did not enjoy their youth.  Thanks for the inspiration.
4:40pm • #36
8 Featured Posts Outside Blog
Mainly - have an extreme customer oriented focus.  Keep that up, and you will earn enough money to have plenty of toys or plenty of downtime or plenty of time w/ you family - whatever you choose!  If you focus on the money, you may not make a whole bunch....
5:00pm • #37
260,423 Points 25 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

BB

Words to live by indeed and we try our best to do so.  The positive focus everyone here on AR has is truly the best medicine for those times when you may wonder if you are doing the best you can.  It's good to set goals but better to remember that they aren't meant to be a measuring stick but rather a reason to strive to be the best you can be. 

 

Thanks for giving us food for thought on this day of "indulgence"!  Hearts

5:04pm • #38
409,999 Points 72 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Veronica...

This is the reason you now work for us:

"Knowing that we are all winners no matter how many houses we list or sell."

Now that...Is stuff success is made of :)

TLW...ROAR   aka   Billie Tutas

5:12pm • #39
283,923 Points 42 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
Lovely poem from a loving wife to her ever so good looking husband-inspirations to us all!
5:22pm • #40
616,688 Points 244 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Wow! I thought this post was dead and it got it's second wind.

Hey Hun, we both put mushy poems on here. Oh well, it IS Valentines day. Hope you guys don't mind a little husband and wife flirting. Not bad after 25 years of marriage.

This IS a public post, so I hope the consumer appreciates that we are human and have lives and loved ones. Talk about transparency!! Sure beats "let's be transparent BUT be sure to mind your Ps and Qs and don't tell them that" Never be fake. People want to work with genuine people. And in my opinion, we owe them that.

5:35pm • #41
10 Featured Posts

if we can can get another 20 years on the boy - we'll have a Mark Twain for our times


6:13pm • #42
Great Post Bryant!  The idea of picking and choosing who you work with is what attracted me to this business.
6:34pm • #43
361,750 Points 38 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog
BB another well deserved featured post. Work only with people that you like and respect.  Work for 'thank you's' and the money will follow.
7:15pm • #44
409,999 Points 72 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Mushy here :)

I don't think the Consumers mind the fact that you and I are a team and that we just happen to be in love :)

Shall we find something to bicker about now? SVW...

TLW...ROAR!

7:40pm • #45
FEB
15
2007
232,592 Points 39 Featured Posts Outside Blog
I like the Biblical principal of "Take what you need...and no more."  I work very hard and too many hours, but I take what I need...and no more.
11:04pm • #47
FEB
16
2007

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Bryant Tutas Broker/REALTOR(R) Tutas Towne Realty, Inc

Poinciana, FL

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Bryant Tutas-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc

Address: P.O. Box 969, Dundee, Fl, 33838

Office Phone: (407) 870-9003

Cell Phone: (407) 873-2747

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