Shifting Sand - The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock. After a recent challenge to read the book, SHIFT by Gary Keller, I pulled the book out of one of my drawers (where it had been sitting for approximately 9 months) and I decided to read it. After digesting several chapters, my mind quickly wandered to my childhood years. I was raised by a single mother, who was stricken with Multiple Sclerosis for the better part of my life. We were poor welfare kids (and we knew it), who lived in HUD rentals, and waited in line once a month for free cheese and butter. As a child, I remember feeling embarrassed by our unfortunate circumstances. As an adult, I have learned from these experiences and I have gained an awesome sense of appreciation and determination to succeed.
After reading the book, SHIFT, I found that the chapter, Re-Margin Your Business - Expense Management, really resonated with me. Once again, my thoughts shifted back to my childhood, remembering a song I used to sing in Sunday School; "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock." Some of you may be familiar with the origins of this song from the Biblical passage, Matthew 7:24-27
"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. And when the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, it did not fall, because it had been built on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."
Perhaps this profound passage written thousands of years ago is still relevant today. In his book, SHIFT, Gary Keller draws a striking parallel for building a solid foundation for your real estate business by controlling your expenses. In a volatile real estate market, if is often unpredictable and impossible for us to control our income. However, by cutting the "bloat" from our expenses and by watching the bottom line more carefully, you can become profitable in a shifting market. Just like building a house, a good business requires a set of plans and a solid foundation. "Protect your margin and get smart with your money... when you lead from a position of profit, your world is full of possibilites," says Mr. Keller. Sounds like great advice coming from the wise man who built his house upon the rock!
Click Here to purchase Gary Keller's book, SHIFT, How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times
This is good advice. Shift is a good book and we can all benefit from reading it.
Good stuff Melinda TY!
I need to pull it out and read it also.
Bonner
Melinda, Of all the posts written on "Shift" .... this is the best one. I have been busy baking, but now, I am going to go read the book.
Thanks for your encouraging comments everyone... now read the book :)
Melinda, I agree with Rebecca! Very well written post. Your style of writing encouraged me to "finish" the post, lol!
Hi Melinda,
This blog really hit home for me!
I was a single mom, food stamps two babies all alone in the Methow Valley, and living on HUD. I went on to be a teacher in the employment office sharing and modeling my story of success with other single moms woven into classes about job skills and technology courses.
My current situation is that I own my house outright, have no debt, two kids in college, happily married, and a realtor in a partnership business.
In the real estate business, I am the frugal one wanting dollars to be spent very wisely. I am going to bring this blog to the meeting and read it to my partners.
There was a saying or a song about how we are all like seeds thrown on the ground, some land in rich soil, some land in sand, and some land on cement, yet we are all expected to grow up the same.
I've really been examining my business expenses. I may even go to doing my own transaction management as that was about $5,000 this year!
the wise man built his house upon a rock
this is vital today, but not just today, as it is, and has always been true.
how many people do you think would like to go back to the days where there appeared to be more opportunity and income generation was easier, but they were not necessarily responsible with their expenses.
hopefully as we all rebuild our foundations that we will remember to stay on track in the future.