CHANGE

Do you gasp for breath and feel your heart race when you hear the word “change”?  It’s kind of an involuntary reflex, isn’t it?  Change forces us to do things differently.  Change forces us to rethink our outlooks and procedures.  Change can be hard work and it can be a real pain.  Plus, we all know that change is not always good.  Sometimes it’s bad and downright destructive.  Change can be tricky.  Sometimes change looks like it’s going to be terrible and it ends up being wonderful.  No wonder many of us begin to break into beads of sweat at the thought of change.   

Let me tell you something you already know.  Look at yourself and your life today and fix it firmly in mind.  THE ONLY GUARANTEE WE HAVE IS THAT BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, THINGS WILL HAVE CHANGED.

 In 1983, I started a commercial roofing company from a bedroom in our home in Northern Virginia.  That first year we completed $22,000.00 worth of total work.  In 1986, we completed $ 977,000.00 worth of commercial roofing.  I sold my interest in the company.  It was time for a CHANGE.   

Later while working as a residential roofing contractor, the extremely cold weather in January and February gave me time on my hands.  I wrote a number of articles and short stories and a best selling how-to book on residential roofing.  That was a CHANGE! 

In 2002, I finished my eighth year in real estate working for a large brokerage here on the Outer Banks. I pushed hard for what I viewed as much needed changes.  Nothing happened.  Each month became more frustrating than the previous one.   

 In November, 2002 I became an independent broker working from my home office.  The experts were unanimous.  “An independent real estate broker working from home can’t make it in this competitive market.”  Rules of common wisdom are so ponderous.  Loyal clients stuck with me and new clients found me.  I almost doubled my total sales volume in 2003 while cutting my expenses by more than half.  That’s a CHANGE!      

I’m at the age when I occasionally glance back.  I think of what life would have been if I had let fear of change keep me in my first job as a civil engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation.  I never would have started two corporations.  I never would have written anything lasting.  I never would have moved to the Outer Banks and become a real estate broker.  Wonderful things have happened because of CHANGE. 

Things are going to change.  You may even need to cause the change yourself.  Change can be good or bad depending on how you handle it.  You can let the change be a disaster or you can turn it into a golden opportunity.  Take a calculated risk.  Make a CHANGE.  Remember if it doesn’t work out, IT’S NOT HOW HARD YOU HIT THAT COUNTS, IT’S HOW HIGH YOU BOUNCE!