Posts tagged:Thanksgiving

THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP: HAPPY THANKSGIVING

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me at home, starting off with my typical Monday WIG calls. After the calls, I met virtually with two groups of students at the San Jose State University School of Business Entrepreneurial Venture Lab class. Listening to their pitches and delivering critiques was the closest I’ve gotten to becoming a Shark Tank judge. On Tuesday, I participated in the weekly Berkshire Hathaway Energy Presidents Meeting and today I was invited by Ken Baris (CEO of Jordan Baris Inc., REALTORS® Real Living) to give a 30-minute presentation about gratitude during the West Orange New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Thanksgiving luncheon, held via Zoom.

And gratitude really is the name of the game this week. I feel so grateful to pursue my calling with leaders who have become more like family. From the staff members to our CEOs to our network brokers and owners to our agents — everyone deserves my ultimate gratitude today and always.

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: A Thanksgiving Tale

By Gino Blefari

As my video message above explains, this week my travels find me in Orange County, recording videos like the one you just watched and meeting with our team. It’s fortuitous Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday, because it means my blog posts can always land exactly on the day of giving thanks.

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Thoughts on Leadership: Giving Thanks to Dwight “The Catch” Clark

By Gino Blefari

“[Quarterback Joe] Montana … Looking … Looking … Throwing into the end zone … Clark caught it! … It’s a madhouse at Candlestick …”

This week my travels find me in Northern California, working and preparing to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family. I’m feeling particularly grateful this year not only for my wonderful family but also for the friends who enrich my life in ways inextricable, intangible and extraordinary.

Leaders, as you know, are not born, they’re made, and the fabric of leaders is sewn from all the intelligent, inspiring people around them. One leader I’m thankful to call my close friend is Dwight “The Catch” Clark,” once an obscure, 10th-round draft pick in the 1979 NFL draft—the 249th player chosen—who went on to become Sports Illustrated’s NFL Player of the Year in 1982.  

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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. 

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Thoughts on Leadership: Be Thankful

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels found me in Northern California where on Monday afternoon I had the opportunity to have lunch with my good friend, Dwight Clark, former All-Pro wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers and five-time Super Bowl champion. We were joined by another friend of mine, best-selling author Carmine Gallo, who wrote some of my all-time favorite business books, including: Talk Like Ted, The Storyteller’s Secret and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Together, we spoke about the challenges and rewards of business, sports and life in general.

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An Architecture of Change: 3 Basic Home Features to Be Thankful For

By Crescent Seward

On my ninth birthday I received an oddly mature, mid-century architecture coloring book full of 1960s homes and their intricate landscaping. (This was in the late 1980s well before adult coloring books became all the rage.) I poured over those pages with my colored pencils and imagined what it would be like to live in each one, play in those various backyards – and became thankful for my own sprawling front porch – which hosted many nights of capturing fireflies and laughing with my little brother.

Like most Americans approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, I’m reminded of what I’m thankful for and thought back to those simple days of childhood. While my nine-year-old self thought a big front porch to play on was pretty important, today I value a few other things in a home (walk-in closets, anyone?). I started thinking about how many different types of homes there are and how far we’ve come in architecture and technology. From drafty Victorians, electricity and indoor plumbing, tract housing, double-wide trailers, McMansions and quaint Craftsmans, to the future of smart homes – we actually have a lot for which to be thankful.

We’ve also been changing and evolving our homes well before 1989. Here are a few things I’m sure you’re thankful for, in no particular order:

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Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: A Time To Give Thanks

By Gino Blefari

Today, I want to talk about Thanksgiving. We as human beings, Americans and yes, members of the HSF Affiliates and HomeServices of America, Inc. families, work very hard and always maintain a strong work ethic. Yet, as busy as we get, there are times when it’s important to step back, reflect and be thankful for all we have and all of the people in our lives we’re blessed to have around us. There are many reasons why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday (and no, it’s not just the food coma and football) but I want to share one story that is particularly meaningful for me as we approach Thanksgiving Day:

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