Cowboy Real Estate

I always liked working with cattle So I will call this cowboy Real Estate.
For a few years I had the opportunity to take care of some registered Romagnola cattle for a Doctor friend of mine who lives in Brooksville Florida.Romagnolas are a breed of cattle from Italy, which are white, but have dark pigmented skin, are able to thrive in a tropical climate as well as the cold are double muscled fine looking cattle that have all the attributes of the Brahma but are gentle ,really gentle. I taught A bull calf and a heifer calf to be halter broke so that we could take them to Houston Texas for the Houston livestock show. Whenever we were to work cattle Dr Bounds would line up some help and ask me what time I was going to pin the cattle ,so the help would be there ,Well after the first Rodeo that we had I learned to tell him a half hour later than when I was actually going to start. When they showed up all the cows would already be all penned up.
What I had learned was that you could get a bunch of guys to come in there with horses and hoop and holler and chase the cattle around and pen them in two hours, and have the cattle totally stressed out; or I could go out with a bucket with a few rocks in it to make noise and I could lead the cattle into the pens in fifteen minutes. And when everyone showed up they would all be calmly munching on hay in the pens.
Working with your people helping them find the home that is just right for them, Is the same, as penning cattle. All the fast talking,tamborine shaking, drum pounding high pressure antics, will make them run in circles not sure where to go afraid at every step, and totally stressed to the max.What they need is ---Soft quiet reassurance, leading them to make the decision they want to make,---that Is what they are desperately crying out for. Lead with self confidence and they will follow you anywhere.
David Shriver

competence

Something almost naturalistic happens whenever the Real-Estate market takes a correction move. It really gets down to the survival of the fittest, or should I say survival of the competent. I feel that I was greatly advantaged to have started out in my Real Estate career on a steady market( of course I was selling Farms and raw land) . My point being ,I was never exposed to the easy money ,the order taking, the I will put you on the waiting list for a Pool home ,that we had only a few years ago. No I didn’t have to walk two miles to school and back in the snow both ways uphill ---But I did have to learn the basics to survive I had to learn to list, I had to learn to handle objections, And yes I had to learn to close. I was also blessed to have a broker who took me under his wing and became my mentor. He stressed sales training and got us involved with training seminars, and had motivational sales meetings once a week. He told me one day” don’t worry about making money selling Real Estate You will never make any money selling ;Real Estate .Where you will make your money and lots and lots of it is in Helping People. Let me repeat You will make your money Helping People. That’s why we are here, that’s the whole Idea, Help people, and you never have to worry about the money. The thing I love about Real Estate is that unlike the automotive industry, Motor homes insurance,mortgage,you name it No other field give us, as great an opportunity to honestly help people become financially secure by leading them with competence.
David Shriver

Gratitude Rocks

Even in trying times try to be a source of good things. Try to cultivate the attitude of thankfulness in your everyday life.
Make a list of things from large to small that you are thankful for every day from the beautiful sunrise, the green light on the way to work, the smile of a co worker, the gifts of your senses sight,smell,touch.Tune in on the beautiful, the fragrant, the pleasant touch, your cats fur,the leather upholstery in your car.
Overwhelm yourself with reasons to be thankful, and then share that feeling by giving. Giving a smile, a phone call to a friend you haven’t talked to in too long, random acts of kindness ,do remarkable things to our attitudes, and it is contagious,it effects people around us and brings out smiles which beget more smiles. I always carry a small flat stone in my left pocket . It is my gratitude rock, whenever I reach in my pocket for my keys I touch it and it reminds me of what it is there for .Gratitude will brighten your day as well as the people around you. It will help you receive the good things in life that you deserve.Gratitude really rocks!

Positive influence

I suppose the greatest influence on my Real Estate career in the beginning was the book Think and grow rich by napoleon hill as it gave me the seed for change .The concept of anything the mind of man can conceive and believe coupled with a burning desire he can achieve. Took me and my spirit totally. At the time I was working as a skilled trades welder at Ford Motor Company. The fact was unknown to me at the time ,but I was the youngest highest paid welder at ford motor company. I had reached my plateau at the age of 27 time to find new goals and mountains to climb. After obtaining my license I had the blessing of a mentor(Ron Spencer) who guided me helped encouraged and taught me the ways of Real Estate and the ways of success. We studied the Tom Hopkins sales techniques practice drilled and rehearsed. In the middle of the 70,s we probably sold more farms in the Midwest than any other small brokerage. I learned the power of positive thinking, the secret, and of course the I never see failure as failure but only as a learning experience I never see failure as failure but only as the negative feedback I need to change course in my direction; I never see failure as failure but only as the opportunity to develop my sense of humor; I never see failure as failure but only as an opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance; I never see failure as failure but only as the game I must play to win . Tom Hopkins wrote it I believed it. In these times it might benefit us all and remember the basic truths the things that got us where we are and helped make us who we are.

Route 66 and how I got into real estate

Back in the late 50,s early 60,s two young good looking guys made a lasting impression an a young farm boy from Illinois as they gypsy across America in a brand new Corvette. The television show of course was entitled Route 66 ;every week these two guys would drive into a different town, find work, couple of good looking girls(always) and stumble in and out of one adventure after another. As well as probably selling more Corvettes for Chevrolet than all the add campaigns combined ;That hour long TV show every week captured the imagination of countless boys and girls across America, I know that I had A dream of My cousin Allen and I Following exactly in their footsteps. By the way I was going to be Buzz. Of course Viet nam came along ,Then Allen met a girl from San Diego and got married then I met a Midwestern girl; who’s dad worked at Ford Motor Co. I went to welding school, got married ,and got on at Ford then made it into skilled trades as a welder. It seemed my life was pretty much laid out for me .Of course you never know
My young bride Karen and I started out buying a nice older house in town, I used the gi bill and things were going along pretty smoothly farm came up for sale that my dad said would be a good investment so--We sold our home and bought 100 acres, we were off to the races The farm had a real nice ranch style home with full finished basement .I bought some farm equipment at farm auctions and worked at ford night shift we were really doing great our first daughter was born then a second ,I made a camp ground atmosphere around the pond and our in-laws and friends would all camp and cookout down by the pond life was pretty good .I was getting a little restless and a little disenchanted with the factory life, and started looking for some more land The reasoning was to eventually have enough land that I could farm fulltime and leave the factory. I found 80 acres for one thousand dollars an acre and bought it .I moved to third shift midnight to 8 in the morning this allowed me to get more farm work done.
All this time I had been racing a stock car on the local dirt tracks ,I had an ingrained need for speed, And this satisfied it .I had raced my Mustang stock car at Findley on Sunday night and got into an altercation resulting in my rear differential being torn loose and my rear axle being askew a wrecker lifted the car on the trailer and I brought it home. Bright and early Monday morning I went out got the tractor and was standing beside the race car trying to figure out how I was going to get it off the trailer when a car drove in Did I say a car? --well it wasn’t just a car it was yes a brand new corvette.
A guy got out of the vette not much older than me and said If you were a little more careful loading that car and weren’t so rough with it pulling it on there It would be a lot easier to unload What a smart ass I thought. Well he introduced himself seems his name was Ron Spencer and he sold Real Estate.