First things first: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
You might be thinking, “Gino, what? Happy New Year now?”
Yep! I’m commemorating the new year a few months early because the real estate new year begins Sunday, Oct. 1. In a fantastic, new YouTube video, Joe Stacy, executive vice president, general growth manager and designated managing broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago reiterated this statement, explaining: “What you do in the last three months of this year is going to have a direct impact on what you get done in your business in 2024.”
Here’s the gist: Your new year is about to start because when Oct. 1 rolls around, it’ll signify the end of the third quarter and the start of the final 90 days of the year. Why is this so significant to us as a starting point for the new year? Because in real estate, we operate on a 90-day cycle. All the prospecting, lead generation, planning and marketing we do now is going to pay off three months from now. It’s why our new year doesn’t start when the clock strikes midnight and Jan. 1 arrives. Our new year begins Sunday.
There’s something else to keep in mind as we ring in the Real Estate New Year: This is when your 2023 business planning must begin. (You can download the Business Planning Essentials here.)
Having a solid business plan will keep you from the dreaded Q1 slump. Each year, when Q4—and the holidays—roll around, with all its sugar cookies and holiday-party reverie, people tend to get off schedule. But if you skip ahead 90 days from the holiday-themed celebrations, you’ll get to Q1, which is exactly where most real estate agents see the lag from a slower holiday season.
During my 30+ years in real estate—as an agent, manager, and owner of a company—I’ve found there’s typically a cash flow problem in January and February. This applies to agents as much as it applies to brokerage owners.
A business plan allows you to plan for what’s ahead and avoid that problem. It ensures the busy holiday season won’t stop your momentum in 2024. And considering Oct. 1 as the start of the new year instills a hearty level of discipline into your business operations, so you kick off the (real) new year strong.
It reminds me a lot of football, and specifically Mike McDaniel, head coach of the Miami Dolphins, the team that defeated the Denver Broncos 70-20 on Sunday in their home opener, recording the second most points by a team in a regular season game in NFL history.
A performance like that doesn’t happen by accident. McDaniel’s leadership is the perfect example of what you can achieve when you’re focused, disciplined, and prepared earlier than anyone else. I’ve briefly mentioned this story before, however I want to go into more detail now, as it applies to preparation and planning: McDaniel’s Oct. 1 New Year is 3 a.m. every day, the time when he arrives at the office. His 3 a.m. workday routine began in 2008, when as a 25-year-old Houston Texans assistant head coach under then head coach Gary Kubiak, McDaniel messed up. Kubiak would call his assistant head coach’s office phone at 6 a.m. on the dot each morning and two times, McDaniel didn’t pick up. Because he was late those two times, Kubiak fired McDaniel. The head coach thought McDaniel had to learn a life lesson, and as McDaniel explained in an ESPN special: “In my mind, I was late twice. What he was telling me is that you do whatever it takes to get things done.”
It would take a few years before McDaniel finally understood the message. After exactly 865 days out of the NFL, McDaniel returned to coaching and vowed he’d never, ever be late to the office again. He would instill a sense of unrelenting discipline into his life and never have to risk losing his dream job – or his dreams. Cut to Sunday night and McDaniel’s team is breaking records, and he’s still leaving his house at 2:24 a.m. to arrive at the stadium in Miami Gardens at exactly 2:51 a.m., settling into his desk just before 3 a.m. There’s another number he keeps on his desk: 2:46, which is the exact time Dolphins owner Mr. Stephen Ross called McDaniel and told him he was head coach. The two numbers displayed in McDaniel’s office, 865 and 2:46, represent opportunity lost and gained.
So, what’s the message? Like McDaniel, it’s discipline that will help us grow. It’s the reminder that if we just do things earlier than everyone else, if we celebrate our new year in October, if we plan for 2024 now, if we fully prepare for what’s ahead, then nothing is impossible, and everything is within our reach.
This article is adapted from Blefari’s weekly, company-wide “Thoughts on Leadership” column from HomeServices of America.
