Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Business Plan Now!

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Northern California, taking meetings, organizing calls and just this morning, leading a teleconference with Debbie De Grote, founder/CEO of Excelleum Coaching & Consulting all about business planning. For all of us, a business plan is vital because even as an agent we must think of ourselves as a business, and all businesses must have a plan. Remember the wise words of Benjamin Franklin: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Some may think it’s strange though to have a business-planning call at the end of August but there’s a reason for this exact timing. During my 30+ years in the real estate business—as an agent, a manager and an owner of a company—I’ve always found that there’s a cash flow problem in the months of January and February. This applies to agents as much as it does to owners.

Why? Because real estate operates on a 90-day cycle, so what we do 90 days before gets paid out 90 days later. This means a lag in business during the fall months will show up in Q1 of the new year. The lag is understandable, though avoidable; it’s obvious to notice right after Halloween a great number of agents go into hibernation. There’s Thanksgiving, the holidays … life gets busy and business gets put on the back burner. (Extrapolate those 90 days during this lull and you’ll understand clearly why cash-flow problems plague us in January and February.)

To get you started, access our Business Planning Essentials by clicking HERE.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thoughts on Leadership: Dream a Little, Win Big

This week my travels found me in Park City, UT and Salt Lake City, UT, then in Southern California for team meetings at our HQ in Irvine. But instead of focusing on the business of the week, I want to instead detail my time spent in SLC, where I was honored to help present our “Love Your Home” Sweepstakes grand prize winner, Aaron Zimmerman, of Sandy, UT, with a $50,000 check. This was our third year running a “Love Your Home” Sweepstakes, (held in conjunction with HGTV), and we set a new Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices record with an astounding 5.7 million entrants, 77% above last year’s sweepstakes registration.

With such an incredible number of entries, you might think, “There’s no chance I’d ever win!” But someone must win, someone did win and for 2017 that person was Aaron Zimmerman. Beyond being a serendipitous moment for Zimmerman, his win marks a three-year-long turn of true serendipity for our Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices sweepstakes. Each year, our winner was someone who will use the money in an impactful, substantial way. Let me explain …

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Thoughts on Leadership: 11 Days of Travel

This week my travels find me on the final day of 11 days of straight travel, which is unusual for me because I’m typically home on the weekends. However, this week-and-a-half business adventure has certainly been worthwhile and I’d like to recap some of the highlights for you now …

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Thoughts on Leadership: The Power of Connecting

This week my travels found me first in Rolling Hills Estates, CA, meeting with Bruce Short, broker/owner at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties; Mistydawn Jones, branch manager at California Properties; Denise Scarpetti, California Properties director of operations; Rick Elorriaga, vice president at California Properties; and members of the California Properties team. I was also working with our HSF Affiliates team in Irvine, CA. It’s been a busy few days but the time has been spent connecting with colleagues and friends—through a new employee orientation, at a California Properties awards event, during our HSF Affiliates Town Hall.

In business, networking and connecting is absolutely vital—the right connections can not only help you achieve your goals but also provide a richness to your life you can’t get from operating in insolation. Genuine connections are hard to find but essential to maintain. How do you connect with others in a way that’s both authentic and powerful? Watch the video for more …

GINO BLEFARI is CEO of HSF Affiliates LLC. You can follow Gino on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thoughts on Leadership: The Importance of Diversity

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me spending time with close family and friends in Calgary, Alberta, Canada then Lake Louise in Alberta, Banff National Park and, lastly Vancouver. (I write this now while traveling on the Rocky Mountaineer, a train that runs from Banff to Vancouver.) It’s been an incredible few days spent among the rugged, mountainous terrain of the Canadian Rockies, and strangely, being outside of the country has made me think about the beauty and uniqueness of our own. What makes America so very special? My blog posts for the rest of the entire year could focus on this one question and not adequately provide an answer. Still, there is something that undoubtedly and singularly characterizes the United States, and it’s a quality not often seen with such pervasiveness in any other land: Diversity.

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Recharge

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in Hawaii, meeting with the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hawai‘i Realty and spending time with good friends and family. My trip to the Aloha State reminds me of a recent video I shot all about the power of stepping away from the computer, the cell phone, the office and recharging to regain the strength necessary to effectively lead. Many leaders overlook the worthiness in time off—it’s just work, work, work—but the act of regularly recharging is not only instrumental to better leadership … it’s absolutely necessary! Watch this video to learn more …

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Thoughts on Leadership: Powerful Presentations

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Santa Barbara, CA for the 2017 Berkshire Elite Circle Conference, honoring the Top 50 brokerages in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network. It was an experience to be remembered, a celebration of some of our network’s finest leaders and a chance to gather actionable insights from the wisdom of not only these wise real estate innovators but also our keynote speakers, and my good friends, Tom McCarthy and Carmine Gallo. Both Tom and Carmine presented on the topic of … presenting, and delivered straightforward, sharp advice related to the subject.

I believe presenting is such a large part of any business—not just in real estate with listing presentations but for anyone involved in any business. You must always present your story, your product and your brand to others and do so in a way that captures their attention. Given the significance of presentations, I want to share some of my favorite takeaways from everything Carmine and Tom said.

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: Travel to Learn

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me in the city of St. Louis to meet with the team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties, an amazing group of real estate professionals who prove with crystal-clear assurance what you can achieve when you have a strong, vibrant culture at your brokerage business.

I have to tell you, being in St. Louis was really an eye-opening trip for me. I’ve long been a fan of the idea that new eyes see old things in new ways and sometimes, these “eyes” aren’t literal eyes but instead places, things and experiences that widen your perspective in ways you never thought possible. Travel, in this sense, is more than just going from one place to another but instead a complete mindset shift and a chance to learn what you otherwise would never have known. For instance, who knew that there’s an area of St. Louis called “The Hill,” home to baseball greats Yogi Berra and Joe Gargiola Sr., who spent their childhood living across the street from one another on Elizabeth Avenue?

“Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues,” Gargiola once famously said, “I wasn’t even the best catcher on my street!”

Posted by HomeServices of America

Thoughts on Leadership: Be Relentless

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me first in Northern California for a lunch with best-selling author and communications guru, Carmine Gallo, then in Southern California—specifically in the City of Industry, CA—for Relentless. The annual event, through interactive educational sessions and keynotes, details ways attendees can navigate daily obstacles while improving their lives both personally and professionally. As always, it was hosted by my friend Danny Morel, also broker/owner at Intero Real Estate Services of Southern California and a real estate coach. I’ve known Danny for almost 20 years, even well before his Intero days and then when he came to own an Intero real estate franchise. Now, he’s crushing it in his brokerage’s market of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, on social media, and through the inspiration he imparts to tens of thousands of aspiring real estate agents nationwide.

Relentless is all about that passion Danny so clearly possesses, and it’s a passion not only to make his own wins a reality but also to help others accomplish their goals, too. I couldn’t have been more honored to join Danny onstage to talk about such an important topic.

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