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Business comes third

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace NV License # 56750

In his autobiography, football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers stated his personal doctrine this way: "The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third." Likewise, the values of the Keller Williams philosophy are "God, Family, then Business."

The Sundance lookAt my home, it's just me and my dog, Sundance. This morning I was getting ready for a 9:30 meeting at the office. I figured I would arrive 30-45 minutes early, catch up with some of the other agents and be ready to go at 9:30.

Now I know I'm not the only one who talks to his pets, so I said "I've got to stop by the office this morning, Sundance, and then we'll have all afternoon free." And then he gave me 'The Look'... one that said 'it's really beautiful outside this morning, can't we just go for a quick walk in the park?' And I thought 'you know, I can talk to our agents any time. I'm going to spend a few minutes in the park with Sundance.'

Not five minutes into our walk, we met one of our neighbors. "You're a REALTOR®, right?" he asked. "I need to talk to you about selling my house." Wow! Great call on going for a walk, Sundance! So now I have a slam-dunk listing appointment, and I still made it to the meeting in plenty of time.

Whatever your beliefs, whoever makes up your family... be sure to take time for numbers one and two, and you might just be surprised at the impact it has on number three. Business comes third.

Alexander Harb
Knights Investing - Mesquite, TX
Dallas, Texas Real Estate Investing

WTG and great post...looks like the One who you make time for rewards your devotion......

I get the same thing...reward for real love and devotion.....

He is awesome...:-D

Sep 22, 2006 12:27 PM
Christopher Smith
TREGO REALTY - Cedar Rapids, IA
Thank you John for this post, very important that you are third. 
Sep 22, 2006 12:39 PM
Elaine Reese, REALTORĀ® in central Ohio
Real Living HER, Powell Ohio - Powell, OH

The Murph - who is snuggled up beside me - told me to say 'hi' to Sundance. Sundance looks just like Murphy's next door friend.

Dogs keep us humble, lower our blood pressure, and are grateful when we sell a home so we can keep them well supplied in toys & treats.

HAH! I just failed the 'human' test. The Murph will vouch for that!

Sep 22, 2006 02:40 PM
Toby Barnett
KW North Sound - Marysville, WA
Toby Barnett

"the values of the Keller Williams philosophy are "God, Family, then Business." "

Is that actually practiced at Keller Williams? It's surprising to hear that KW is a Christian based company.

Sep 22, 2006 04:03 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

John, great post and a great reminder of what really should be most important.  I find that, at times, I get too caught up on #3 and I let it consume me.  Then I realize I've got things in the wrong order and try to remedy that when I realize I'm too caught up in business again.

Thanks for the reminder!

Ann Cummings
www.AnnCummings.com

Sep 23, 2006 01:09 AM
Carl Guild
Carl Guild & Associates - East Hampton, CT
Central Connecticut Real Estate
Can I borrow your dog? I need some more listings!
Sep 23, 2006 03:09 AM
Sara Lipnitz
Max Broock Realtors - Birmingham, MI
Wonderful reminder for all of us.  It's so easy to get off track.  The great thing is that we can always get back to where we should be!  Wonderful is the Lord's grace.
Sep 23, 2006 08:19 AM
Michele Van Detti
CJR - Gilbert, AZ

Great post.  Once again I feel blessed to be given the opportunity to be a Keller Williams agent.  "God, Family, Business."  That's a KW motto, and it's definatley taught at our market center. 

Toby, you ask if KW is a Christian based company.  I think that founders of KW are Christian, but I think that the emphasis is on spirituality as opposed to Christianity.  I'm a Christian, so when I hear God, I think of my faith, naturally.  Keller Williams is a company that was built from the agents up, and KW is dedicated to the growth and success of its partners more than any other company I've seen.  The God, Family, Business structure comes from agents who didn't do things in that order.  If we put business first and ignore our families and our spirituality, the things that truly make life worth living and working for, we'll burn out awfully fast.  We'll resent our business for what it takes us away from.  But if we put our spirituality and our families first, we'll be grateful for the business that helps us support them and have time and energy to focus on our business.  Take some time to see the movie "Click" with Adam Sandler.  I was surprised not to see Dave Jenks and Gary Keller's name not featured in the credits.

Sep 23, 2006 05:54 PM