George’s Updates | Fall

“Summer has come and passed the innocent can never last, wake me up when September ends.” – Green Day

“We can still find a way ‘Cause nothin’ last forever, Even cold November rain.” – Guns N Roses

The month between the months mentioned in songs between my youngest (Green Day) and my (GNR) favorite bands is October, which we are in now.

Fall to me is the Ying to spring’s Yang. I have found this to be a great time to review the year (by the way, “Thank you!”), speculate on how the year might finish (another “Thank you!”), and what we can do to improve upon next year.

Each one of you has a stake in your business, regardless of your role on the team, and I have a few ideas worth pondering as you head into the New Year.

• Increase Escrow Fees – How would raising them, even just a little, affect your bottom line?
• Set a Budget – Budgets and the process of setting them allow you to review what you have done, think about your growth, and what you need to do to get there.
• Customers not ready for the “cold November rain.” – Do you have customers that really aren’t customers but instead are people whose deals you lose money on (if you get deals at all from them), come to all your events, use your resources, and are not a good fit? Like dead leaves on the dirty ground, they should not be around. (Paraphrasing The White Stripes)
• Is there a Phil Collins in your group destined for greater things? – For those who do not know the story, Phil Collins was the drummer for Genesis. When the band’s lead singer left, Phil was tasked with helping singers audition for the band, assisting with the lyrics, phrasing of the words, etc.  After listening to Phil do this with tons of singers, the rest of the band said, “There’s our singer!!” and the rest is rock history.  Instead of looking elsewhere for that next great hire, do you already have someone in your group ready to take the mic and belt out your next great success?

You get the idea. Use this time of the year to prepare for what I believe will be an awesome 2018.

– George