@mbrewer
Multifamily #Trust30: Good Fortune
Day 21 of the #trust30 challenge..
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you could picture your intuition as a person, what would he or she look like? If you sat down together for dinner, what is the first thing he or she would tell you?
(Author: Susan Piver)
Short answer
The person would be avuncular in nature…steely gray hair, leathery hands and a deep thundering voice.
He would tell me to get the character piece right.
Your always striving contributor,
M
Multifamily #trust30: Courage
Day 20 in the #trust30 challenge –
Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Who is one person that you’ve been dying to connect with, but just haven’t had the courage to reach out to? First, reflect on why you want to get in touch with them. Then, reach out and set up a meeting.
(Author: David Spinks)
Multifamily NAA – In the spirit of #NAAeduconf
The year was 1996 and the NAA conference was being hosted in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton just off the strip. I was fresh into the multifamily industry and right out of residential sales. And, I was excited. It was that kind of excitement where you wanted to read everything, try everything, meet everybody and learn all that one could about the industry and what made it tick.
I’ve told this story a couple times outside of this blog and it seems appropriate to memorialize it in light of today’s prompt. Lisa Trosien was an industry hero of mine and I just so happened to run into her in the hotel gift shop. I recall standing in the aisle looking for something I did not need just waiting for the moment to say – “hey, I think you are great.” At that time, I was star struck as I had a great deal of admiration for what she was doing for the industry. And, I felt like a clumsy child trying to navigate a new found task.
It took awhile but I worked up the courage to talk to her. My icebreaker? Michael Jordan [Also, a person I would love to meet]. Lisa was picking off every magazine that had Michael Jordan on the cover. I started by asking if she was a Michael fan, she replied that her husband was a huge fan. I shot back with some remarks about how great I thought her afternoon session was and she took the time to prod me on what I was going to take back and apply. And, that was that. I had conquered the courage dragon and she made it worth the work up.
People are people and they want to connect
Fast forward a to the year of social media – I recall asking Lisa a question on her blog and three minutes later my phone rang. And, it was Lisa. Ha! I was speechless.
The fact is that everyone in the world wants to connect. And, more times that not with just a bit of wherewithal and mild assertiveness; you can talk to anyone. And, they will talk back.
Your encouraging you to reach out to your hero contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: Happiness is an Inside Job
Day 19 of the #trust30 challenge
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
How can you bring MORE enthusiasm into your work? What do you have to think or believe about your work to be totally excited about it? Answer it now.
(Author: Mars Dorian)
A number [bigger than I like to admit] of years ago a mentor of mine said to me that, “If you ever stop having fun doing what you are doing, go do something else.” He went on to suggest that being happy started with me. And, along those lines I later heard that happiness is an inside job.
Multifamily Happiness
It took me while but I have come to believe those words. And, in the context of today’s prompt, I believe that Enthusiasm starts with being happy in who you are. In my head it gets back to character. In fact and in contrast to Mars prompt, I don’t think work is the prompt that gets you juiced. Rather, YOU are the catalyst. YOU bring more enthusiasm to YOUR work by working on YOU!
Your believing that Happiness is an inside job contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: Tiger by the Tail
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
For today, trying asking yourself often, especially before you make a choice, “What do I know about this?”
(Author: Jen Louden)
It’s an attention economy and there are a plethora of messages competing for your interest every second of the day. Not only that marketers are getting more creative and more clever as it relates to sucking you in. Marry in some ADD or ADHD and you have the ingredients for never having to think for yourself again.
Multifamily Think
Anyone who has worked for or with me in the multifamily space knows that I expect you to think for yourself when it comes to running your business. Early in my career someone said, “I am handing you keys to a multi-million dollar business, I expect that you know how to tie your shoes.” Made a ton of sense to me then and it still does to this day.
Anymore whether it be a hiring agent or me personally, you better believe the homework will been done. That is to suggest the background has been explored, the questions have been asked and the references have been checked. And, while I don’t use FB or LinkedIn as a part of the hiring process, I do look you up.
The over-riding point here is that I expect to think for myself and I expect those that come to work for me to think for themselves. And, asking yourself what you know is just half the battle. The even more important part is believing the answer. Even on the tough stuff. I expect to fail fast. I expect people to fail fast. I expect to learn fast. And, I expect people to learn fast. 
What I don’t expect is to light fires – if I have to do that then it’s time to move on.
Your always looking to catch a tiger by the tail contributor,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: One Sentence
Day 17 to the #Trust30 challenge –
Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
…How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.
(Author: Liz Danzico)
Multifamily Sentence
Fail forward fast, learn, grow and press for excellence in all that you do.
Your taking it from the gut today contributor,
M
