Have you ever stood at the precipice of a year's end, feeling the weight of accomplishments and missed opportunities alike? I sure have. That's why, as we wave goodbye to the old and usher in the new, I'm pulling back the curtain on my personal and business reflections from this past year. It's a mix of candid confessions and strategic insights, from overcoming the after-holiday slump and reinvigorating our drive, to striking that ever-elusive balance between professional victories and personal happiness. I don't skirt around the tough stuff either; maintaining self-care and a positive mindset is a battle I know too well. But it's not all introspection – get ready to learn how comprehensive goal-setting can not only refine your path forward but also draw in the connections that mesh with your vision.
Now, let's talk about the lifeblood of any venture: relentless marketing. Every day, I'm out there, pounding the digital pavement through social media, and let me tell you, the seeds are starting to sprout. From the first signs of growth in property inquiries to the phone ringing with potential deals, these are the real-world outcomes of consistent online engagement. This isn't just shop talk; it's about laying a foundation for future success, one post, one call at a time. So if you're looking to keep your business in the spotlight and attract the right clientele, tune in. I'm sharing the nitty-gritty of what it takes to build momentum as we charge headlong into a year of promise and potential.
I hope you had a great holiday season, whether you celebrated Hanukkah, christmas or any other holiday. I hope you guys are doing well. This week on True Talk, I wanted to talk about rounding out the year. We're at the end. We really have six days left in the actual year and what have we done? That's the question I'm asking myself. I'm not asking you, I'm just telling you guys out loud. I'm asking myself what have I done? When I say we, I have to look at our businesses and we move things along nicely, but we still struggled in many areas, and I think that's where everything boils down to is embracing the suck, getting through the struggles and making sure we can get to the other side and I know a little bit of that is survival. But I don't want to just survive, I want to thrive and I know if we continue to be able to push ourselves in the direction we want to go, life changes.
Speaker 1:
It's Tuesday after Christmas and I've got a serious case of the drop-buts where I don't want to do anything. I've got a lot to do, but I also know I'm tired and I've got to recharge my battery. So I'm going to finish out this video, put out the podcast and then I'm going to relax today but I'm going to be back at it tomorrow because there's plenty of things that can be done. I don't want to limp into 2024 and say, oh yay, it's all over and it's a new year. Guess what? I didn't do anything to get into the new year. I limped in and basically held it together for the last part or whatever. I know that's a mindset shift and it's a struggle, because a lot of people have shut down for the rest of the year and they're just like, yeah, I'll just start back up in January. But if you're not out doing the work today, how are you expecting 2024 to kick off the same way? It won't work, and I had some time yesterday with family just to think about the things that are valuable to me and that boils down to family, friends, being able to recharge your battery.
Speaker 1:
But if you're not focused on balancing out that part of your life along with your work, and it's all or the other, whether it's all work in no play or relaxation, how are you supposed to get ahead in life? It doesn't work. You could be so successful at business and have a multimillion dollar company, but your personal life sucks. You have very few friends, you don't have a partner, you're not married, you're not kids. All of a sudden you become 50. And it just becomes.
Speaker 1:
Can I turn this chip around? And I think that's my struggle is, I have my goals outlined, I've got the people that I want to put in place, I have some ideas of what I want to do with, some business ideas and run those past my business partners, but also people I'm doing business with and then I have to really outline my personal life. I need to have goals for myself, but also for my year and also my mental health, because if I'm not strong in the head, I don't think I can actually do anything, and I know that's where I've fallen short and that's a consistency and a persistency thing that I need to do better at. I can do very well at being consistent on the job front and making sure I get marketed out and I'm out pushing ideas and getting things done, but when it comes to myself it's a real struggle and I don't know what else to say other than I think I've failed in that space of my life. So a lot of my goals I wouldn't say a lot, majority are around mindset in being able to take care of myself. One, to attract the right people into my life, personally and professionally. And three, I need to make sure that I'm taking care of all aspects of my life, not just my business side. I've got to take care of my personal side and once I can really round those out and find the give and take, because there's times where I'm going to work more and there might be times where I work less.
Speaker 1:
But if I don't address it, how am I supposed to get better in life? I don't know. That's a struggle and I've had those conversations with others and that seems to be a reoccurrie theme, as people are struggling with finding the balance, but also I don't know how to describe it how their life is supposed to look, and I don't think there's any playbook that tells you how to do that or what it should look like. It's all going to be dependent on you in how that plays out. But if you don't put the time and effort in to figure out what one you need to do two, how you're going to do it. And three, how you're going to complete it how is how we supposed to change as individuals and I know this is deep and I've gone a little bit longer than normal. But at the same time, I rather just be upfront and honest with myself and know that I have struggles in many aspects of my life and if I don't address them, how am I supposed to get to the top of my game of life? And this is just me pondering some thoughts today, guys, putting it together. It's something I struggle with, but it also is part of my identity, because when I struggle with it, it also pushes me to find another level, and I don't know if that level is going to help me balance it out quickly, or am I going to have to struggle at it for a little bit longer and be on that struggle train and then move myself forward, or is it going to give me clarity, peace of mind and then be able to move even further forward?
Speaker 1:
Because, as we go into 2024, I want to do more things with business. We have true community, our nonprofit that we're going to launch. That's going to be a handful in itself. We have true vest. We're developing 13 properties. We have true lending, which is going to be all about lending for first-time homebuyers. We also have access to over 200 lenders so we can work with investors. We can work with any type of homebuyer. But those are just three aspects. I also want to go out and get licensed to be a realtor so we can actually focus on keeping our whole transaction under one roof and give that customer experience excuse me, that customer experience that we know we can do.
Speaker 1:
When we move part of that customer experience out of our brand, it tends to struggle and I think that is an issue. And as we continue to grow on the development side, we need to do a better job of handling our customer experience, creating that experience that you want to put your grandmother through. And I'm not saying ours is bad, I'm saying it can be improved. Any business that says their customer service is spot-on and it doesn't need improvement is just completely wrong. And in the last piece, guys, I know we're only several days away from the new year.
Speaker 1:
If you have the ability to go hard the last several days of the month and really set up your 2024, do it, because the extra time that you put in now is going to start helping in 2024, whether you're in real estate or whether you're in a W2 position or you want to start a side hustle while you're in your W2 job. If you're not putting in the time now how you're supposed to expect change but also results. It just doesn't work. You can't wish it into 2024. Then, all of a sudden, you start the new year fresh and all of a sudden, everything's ready to go. You're behind the curve. After Thanksgiving. You should have been hitting it hard, knowing that there was three solid weeks that everyone's shutting down as we got closer to Christmas and you would be standing out from the crowd. Doesn't matter what industry you're in.
Speaker 1:
If you're out marketing, you're putting yourself in front of people. The eyeballs are going to see you. It's going to start driving traffic and that's what I've been doing. It's driving traffic. It's helping get us eyeballs. It's helping us drive the business further into 2024, to where we could have people lined up to buy our properties. We could have people lining up to get financing. Is it happening right now? No, but I'm getting more calls on a daily basis from people that want these things because they're seeing our properties, they're seeing our marketing on social media because every single day I'm posting. Every single day I'm interacting with people. I'm staying consistent on that front and that's the only way I know how to do it. All right, guys, I hope you have a good one. I'll talk to you guys later. Be safe.
