Happy hump day, readers. And by readers, I don’t just mean my beloved followers of REALTOR® on the road. I’m speaking right to my friends who love to read, learn and grow. There is a constant flow of information coming at us these days and as real estate professionals, we need to stay dialed in. If you’re anything like me, you can find the internet both inspiring but draining. Which is exactly why I turn to books to get my creative, entrepreneural ideas flowing. Yes, books. The kind printed on paper, with actual pages to turn. It’s both a way to decompress from the constant tech, but still keep your mind expanding and growing.
Without further adeu, here’s the book for August. It’s called “Think Out Of The Box” by Mike Vance and Diane Deacon. I first heard about it from one of my real estate heroes, Tom Ferry. He had some personal interactions with Mike and sang praises of the book – which was enough for me to run out and search for a copy. While plugging the book, Tom quoted Walt Disney as saying Mike Vance was one of the most creative people he had ever met. High praise coming from a man like Mr. Disney!
I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone with some free time on their hands. But I felt it was more of a “skim” situation. I am by no means an advocate of skimming books. I’m a very linear type of creative (somewhat of a contradiction, right?!) and like to read my books cover to cover, skipping nothing. But this book was a skimmer for me. Maybe it was a generational thing. An age thing. The book was written in 1995, at the cusp of technological advances and it lacks a certain something in that area… IMHO.
The value I found in “Think Out Of The Box” was in the anecdotes of situations where some very successful businesses took a totally avant garde approach to a problem or product. Thinking outside of the box is something I think the real estate industry desperately needs to embrace so I am all-in when it comes to that concept. I love that this book isn’t about real estate or by anyone in that sphere of influence because fresh (and foreign) concepts are something our industry has to have if it’s going to survive!
Some takeaways I had while reading this book:
- The stories on Thomas Edison provided by Jim Newton (all taken from a book entitled “Uncommon Friends”) will inspire the concepts of team work – something that’s been a buzz word in real estate this year. Teams are growing and thriving. More minds = more ideas. Research. Experiment. And above all, never give up. Keep trying until an idea breaks through.
- My absolute favorite part of the book is a story from page 43 titled, “Out of the mouths of babes.” It’s a story by Mike, narrated by Diane, about Mike’s 7 yr old daughter. She had an apple computer by Steve Jobs and at a dinner where he was a guest, he inquired of her as to what she thought of the computer. She shocked the room by telling him “Steve, it doesn’t smell very good. It smells like burnt plastic. I take scratch and sniff pages out of my scratch n sniff book and tape them to the keyboard when I’m working on it so it will smell better. You’re smart – can’t you build a computer that smells good?” More than just a funny party story, it highlights the concept that all senses should be considered when designing products, environments, etc. Something to consider as a real estate agent when you’re listing a property, designing marketing products, planning open houses, etc. Often we are so caught up in the lead generation or just getting the sale that we aren’t considering all the facets of how it will appeal to someone or how our marketing can be appealing to all the senses.
- The section of the book on how to actually get out of the box poses some really interesting questions and concepts that can easily apply to our industry. He starts with steps like assessing the way things are (establishing where you are so you can figure out where you want to go) and being realistic in our goals and thinking. When I think of the real estate industry and where we are, it’s in a non-creative rut where Just Listed/Just Sold cards are the norm and no one stops to be realistic about the fact that those are junk mail and a waste of money. He touches on creating a vision (mine is a real estate world where personal and property branding exceeds expectations and stays fresh, creative and relevant), asking why (because our industry has been doing the SAME EXACT things for 20+ years) and then becoming “change-centered.” Can I get an amen for the concept of change?! Embrace it. Embody it. Become it. Change is good.
Mr. Vance gets pretty deep into his “nine-point formula for success” which includes a lot of cheesy formulas and acronyms – and these were the sections I recommend skimming as they’re just not that useful in todays world. But definitely DO pick up a used copy somewhere and skim through this for some creative thought processes. I can see that there would be some real value to reading this book in small sections and taking time to use it like a workbook, almost. When it comes to the 9 steps for getting out of the box, sit and write them down as they apply to your real estate business. Be specific with what you write. What a great way to implement some new creative ideas into your marketing routine. I’ve created a worksheet with some business building ideas from this book and it’s free.
If you’ve read Think Out Of The Box, leave a comment below and let me know what your takeaways were. I love hearing from my colleagues. If you’ve read anything lately that you’d recommend, do tell. I need something fresh for next month!
As always,
Stacey
