By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in Southern California for meetings at our Irvine HQ. For my message today, please watch the below video and remember that strong leadership is great to have when things are going well but it’s an absolute necessity when faced with overwhelming challenges. In fact, it’s one of the only ways to overcome them.
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 …
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me first working from my home office in Northern California and then eastbound to Miami for the AREAA Global Luxury Summit, all about the rise of Miami as an international powerhouse for high-end real estate investment. Speaking of real estate, spring is such a critical time in the cycle of a real estate agent—we’re right in the middle of spring selling season—and it’s often a time when we expect a lot and reality may not always deliver. That’s why I want to write today about the importance of celebration, (as you know, I always say we must celebrate the small wins), and how critical it is to make time to celebrate as we move onward and upward in our careers. Oprah Winfrey once said, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me in Las Vegas and then Phoenix, meeting with iconic broker, Mark Stark, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, Nevada Properties and California Properties, and his teams at Arizona Properties and Nevada Properties. As usual, I’ve been traveling a lot lately and with the upcoming holiday weekend, airports have been more crowded, roads filled with more traffic and getting around has been just a little bit harder. It’s during these somewhat stressful times I must constantly remind myself how much I absolutely love what I do—serving our network brokerages and helping people achieve their goals faster than they would in my absence.
I’ve often said I love what I do largely because of who I get to do it with, and that means working with great leaders like Mark, whose energy, enthusiasm and dedication to his agents is beyond compare.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me first in Irvine for a meeting with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties CEO Mary Lee Blaylock and the California Properties team then off to Dallas to meet with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty Texas agent Russell Rhodes, leader of the Russell Rhodes team, PenFed Realty Texas Broker/president Rick Wylie and the entire PenFed Realty Texas team. After that I flew to Detroit and spoke with agents, managers and leadership at Real Living Kee Realty. For each meeting, I delivered several principles for success, specific ideas to follow in order to win.
It’s no surprise winning is on my mind because I just received a text from my good friend and former All-Pro wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers as well as five-time Super Bowl champion, Dwight “The Catch” Clark, who’s on his way to Houston for Super Bowl Media Week appearances. Each summer, as soon as pre-season begins, teams have one Wildly Important Goal (WIG) in mind: Make it to the Super Bowl and then, win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. This trophy—a football resting atop a pedestal that measures 22 inches and 7 pounds of sterling silver glory—is only given to the team that has proven to be the very best in the world.
By Crescent Seward
Victor Quiroz, sales manager at Covina, CA-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties and former national REthink Council member, answered the phone after only one ring. It was early on a Monday morning, the day after attending an Oakland Raiders football game (they won, by the way). I knew he was traveling and probably had a long night celebrating the win but he answered chipper and ready to share with me his takeaways from a recent mentoring experience he had in Philadelphia.
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me Irvine, CA at our HSF Affiliates headquarters then in Phoenix to meet with Mark Stark, CEO/owner of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Arizona Properties, Nevada Properties and California Properties. While in Phoenix, I had the opportunity to play a round of golf with Mark as well as Dennis Alaburda—agent with Arizona Properties—at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, a world-class course that has hosted elite events like the United States Mid-Amateur Championship, Arizona Open, Ping Pro Scratch and the Merrill Lynch Shoot Out.
Being out on the greens, cacti surrounding me, the rocky Sonoran Desert hillside just beyond, I thought about one of my all-time favorite golfers, Jack Nicklaus, an athlete I admire as much for his off-the-course philosophy about life and leadership as I do for his superb skills displayed while playing the sport.
By Stephen Ferguson
STOP! PUT DOWN YOUR MOBILE DEVICE AND LISTEN UP!
Have you been up until midnight writing an offer? Skipped an event or child’s baseball game for a client or a deal? Went on a “vacation” and spent the entire time glued to your phone or tablet? Worked your way through a “day off,” texted clients all through a family dinner?
If you’re a hard-working real estate professional, the answer to one (or most) of these questions is probably yes.
Trust me, I’m not picking on you. I’ve been there. We all have. But I’ll also be the first to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s a long-standing myth that for real estate professionals, we must be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and must answer every single call, text or email with lightning-fast immediacy.
Here’s a secret: We don’t. And I’m living proof.
I’ve been in real estate more than 15 years and at the start of 2016 made a vow to take my life back and start enjoying the benefits of the solid business I’ve built. How? Here are eight simple ways:
By Gino Blefari
This week my travels found me in Costa Rica at the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo, a sprawling, tropical retreat overlooking the Gulf of Papagayo that borders the sandy beaches and pristine waters of the Culebra Bay. I was visiting Costa Rica for the Berkshire Elite Circle Conference, which brought together broker/owners from the top 50 companies in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network for a celebration of their achievements.
Thoughts on Leadership 