A Letter from Chris Suarez
THAT’S A GOOD LOOKING BACKPACK
I recently took a few hours to backpack on a new trail. I’ve been trying to spend two or three hours in forest therapy each week (more on that in a future blog) while also just doing some training and conditioning.
The backpack is ultra-light and great for excursions of a few days into the woods where you need to bring supplies. It was built assuming you will have to keep everything on your back for a few days, while hiking about ten to fifteen miles each day.
On the hike I had some time to think about the marketing pitch of this backpack. It is said to be ultra-durable. The word “durable” was printed on the box, used in the marketing, and even stitched into the side of the backpack.
What makes it durable?
It can be used in any condition. I can take it with me in the rain, the snow, high heat, up mountains, into rivers, through extreme conditions.
Pretty much anything can go into it. It carries clothes, food, shelter, tools, supplies.
I need not be careful with it. I throw it in the back of my truck. I hang it on trees when camping. I toss it on the ground. I keep it inside or outside.
It will do what it’s supposed to do no matter what.
It begs the question, is our business as durable as our backpack?
*Can it succeed in any environment?
*Does the success of our business depend on the conditions of the market?
*Do you have to be careful with what comes in and out of your business?
*Can one deal, one client, one employee hurt the sustainability of your business?
Many of us have been hiking through the last few years of the most incredible conditions and environment the economy has ever seen. The industry gave you a paved road, blue skies, unlimited food, endless supplies, and some shade anytime you got hot.
To continue the analogy, you could have been using your child’s Frozen or Spiderman backpack and made it through just fine. Your business didn’t require durability.
But the true definition of durability is the ability to “withstand wear, pressure, or damage; able to exists for a long time without significant deterioration in quality or value.”
Is your business durable? Does it have what it needs to succeed under pressure? Can it make it through the storm that is approaching - the snow and sleet of the pending winter? The bumpy and rocky terrain of the trail ahead?
What contributes to durability?
The materials we use to build our business are the most important. The systems we use. The tools we have implemented and learned. The playbooks we have committed to and run. The economic model we have built and are accountable to. The people we have attracted and mentored. The promises we have made to ourselves and others.
Some have built their business with less than ideal materials. Along the way, they were thankful for the duct tape they brought on the journey. That stuff is so good for patching, for repairing, for temporarily fixing imperfections and closing up holes. But duct tape overtime begins to peel away leaving us with an inferior business model.
So many real estate companies, teams, and agents built “businesses” over the past 5 years that are proving to be non-durable.
They were not built with tough conditions in mind. A change in available revenue and the economic model proves to be broken. A change in the market and the messages of our business aren’t landing quite right. A change in the economy and our activities aren’t delivering the results that they used to. A change in other’s motivation and our energy level just isn’t quite high enough.
So put away those “back-to-school” backpacks. And make sure you are strapping on an adventure-pack to get you through the rest of the year and the new normal - filled with unpredictability, rugged terrain, and constantly changing conditions.
Chris