Welcome to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of March 17th. We have a very special guest today. Miss Sabrina Ferry is with us, and I’ll let her tell you what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to accomplish with all of you. Sabrina.

Thanks, Mike. So as many of you know, this is the year of the 50th anniversary of the Mike Ferry Organization. And in July, during our superstar retreat, we will be celebrating this amazingly big milestone. And we’re so proud of everything that you have accomplished, Mike. And it’s just amazing to think it’s 50 years already.

I’ve been doing it longer than most of our clients have been alive.

Actually, that is true. We’ve gone through some of these things, and we’ll make references to things that happened 50 years ago, and people will just look at you and go, what? So, you’re quite right. That is the case. And for those of you who have been following along already, you know that we’re doing what we’re calling celebration gifts. So, each month we are offering one of our older cassette programs. That’s what it was at that time. And you can see that for the month of March, we are doing 253 questions and the answers. So, Mike and I are trying to figure out when exactly this was recorded in. Our best guess right now is about 30 years ago. For some of you who’ve never seen the old cassettes, this is what it looks like. So. And the cute thing about this one for me is this was actually mine when I met Mike ferry. I was a real estate agent in Ontario, Canada, and that’s where I met him. And I ended up buying all of the cassette programs, all of the different things. So, what we do with these celebration items is when you register for our Superstar Retreat, and we hope you are all going to join us in July to celebrate. This is you get whatever the celebration gift is at no charge. You will also get the celebration gift for April, May and June. Also free to you when you register early. So, let’s get into some of these questions because as the title said, 253 different questions. And I want to ask some of them of you again.

Good.

So, we’ve just picked out some random questions. And the first one is what do I need, or how do I need to overcome complacency in my business? And that’s still a question that you’re asked all the time.

Well, complacency is when you’re satisfied with the status quo, you’re satisfied with the home you live in, the car you drive, the income level you have your money saved, your lifestyle, and you’re not willing to do anything to change it. The only way to overcome that is to set goals that take you out of your comfort zone. And when you set goals that take you out of your comfort zone, you start to stretch a little bit. You have to add things to your mind, so you know what to say to get by. You know the roadblocks that you have set for yourself. So set goals that make you uncomfortable. Set goals that cause you to stretch. Set goals that bring you to another level of production, income and thinking. And if you do that, complacency is never a problem. But I will tell you that the majority of the best agents we know at various stages in their career suffer from complacency. Some of them are very complacent. With $2 million a year in income, some are complacent with $20,000 a year in income. So, you’re going to make the decision if you’re stuck at a certain level, and then you have to make the decision what you’re going to do to get out of it.

So, Mike, how often would you suggest we look at our goals? Or because it seems like complacency just kind of sneaks up on you, and all of a sudden you find that several years have gone by or a long period of time has gone by, and you’ve become complacent. So, as I’m listening to you, would you recommend that you have a goal planning session every six months or.

Well, you have everybody should have a business plan. Yes, they should have something written what they want to accomplish. And I said to somebody recently, Sabrina, that if you’re not keeping your business plan on your desk where you see it every day, you’re probably not going to achieve it. And then whether you touch it or look at it or open it, just the visual reminder that is there is going to accelerate your business either in a positive or negative manner. Some people get mad when they see their business plan because they haven’t done anything in their business plan. Some people get excited, but we can’t predict your reaction. But we can predict that in most cases you’re going to take some action, positive or negative, if you keep it handy and in sight. So, it’s going to be up to them to decide how much time they want to spend in planning and goal setting. But the problem with complacency is half the time, agents don’t even know they’re complacent. So, the answer to the question is, how do you know? Is are you maintaining a certain level consistently of production and income? And if you are, you’re probably complacent.

So, when things just sort of start coasting, you know, you’re complacent.

Correct.

And it’s time to set a bigger goal.

That’s right.

Perfect. Well, that brings me right into the second question, which is how do you become a bigger thinker?

It’s all based on exposure. I told somebody a couple of days ago on a call that I was on is that in my office, I have two pictures of Earl Nightingale, and in my home office I have a picture of Mike Vance and Günther Klaus, and these three guys really helped me formulate my ability to think beyond what many people say is normal. I’m accused of being abnormal, and I’m happy that I’m accused of that, because that means you’re thinking outside of what is comfortable and what is most people’s progress in terms of moving forward. So, whether it be reading books, watching podcasts, being involved in a mastermind group, having stronger role play partners, accountability partners, exposing your mind to things that make you uncomfortable, and exposing your mind to things that are going to draw you out of your comfort zone is how you change your thinking.

You know, Mike also leads for the company a group every Monday called Think Big and you on those calls talk about how to think bigger. And you and I recently had a conversation about what is your comfort level like. Could you go and buy a piece of artwork for $1,000, or does that make your heart beat a little faster? Could you go and buy a piece of artwork that cost $20,000? Where is the level? If $20,000 is okay, could you see yourself spending $100,000? And we talked about all of these different things, because that’s sort of a way of looking at how big can I think? Because, you know, I have to admit, for you, you would probably look at everything and go, yeah, let’s go do that for me. I’m a little bit more of like, have you lost your mind? How do you get to that where you see everything as possible?

It’s constant exposure. You know, I’ve read seven or 8,000 books in my life. I’ve met with dozens of people that are considered to be the most influential and way more influential than I am in my business. I’ve met with people that really, I mean, Günther Klaus had a home in Beverly Hills in Bel Air, and he had a maid and a couple of butlers and a driver and a full time gardener that worked on his property only. It was so big. It was next to the Hilton estate. And, you know, I’ll never forget going up on us. He called me and said, meet me at 11:00. We’ll have lunch. I need to talk to you. I said, okay. So, I drove up from Newport and I’d never been to his home before. Of course I was a minor partner in his business at the time, and I pulled into this long driveway, and my mouth, my chin and my chest were equal in terms of location, and I’ll never forget it because, you know, the butler meets me at the door. The maid walks me to the back of the house, and we sit down in a couple of chairs in the patio. He’s reading a book, and he’s got like, ten gardeners working on his property. And I said, what do you pay those gardeners? Now, this was back in the 70s, early 80s. He said he pays them like $12 an hour each. I said, Gunther, I’m not trying to be critical, but if you got out of your chair and did some of that yourself, you could save a lot of money. And he said, the difference between you and I is how we think of ourselves in terms of value. And I’m going to help you think bigger. He said I could do some of that gardening work and I would save 75 to 100 bucks. Or I can think of an idea to make me $100,000 in my business on Monday. You decide which way you want to go. So, you know, it’s those kinds of experiences that make a big difference in your life.

That would make a big difference.

Yes.

No question that that is a big hurdle to overcome. And yet people do it every day. Yep. That too leads me into my next question, which is what price do you have to pay or be willing to pay in order to build your business?

Well, it depends on what business you’re in. It depends on whether you’re an owner or a part time owner. It depends on whether you’re a manager or an employee is what is going to cause you to move forward. But the price is going to be what you’re willing to put out in terms of thought and effort. And it doesn’t mean working 18 hours a day. It means working 8 to 10 hours a day more effectively than you’ve worked in the past. It means that you have a better plan for the day. You know, on my desk, I wrote five things down that I have to get done. As soon as we’re through with this interview that I have to accomplish. And when those five things are done, I’m ready to go home and relax. So, you know, everything depends upon what you want. But then if you say you want it, are you willing to do what it takes to get it? You know, everybody wants to have a nicer home, a nicer car, a better family environment for their kids to grow up in. You know, everybody wants the same types of stuff. We just wanted different levels. And some people are willing to do what it takes to have it, and some are not. You have to decide which one you’re going to be.

You know, that reminds me, because those were the questions I have for today. But I would like to ask you to tell the story again of the concert pianist at Earl Nightingale’s home. That one time you told me about he was having a party.

Yes. So, Earl had lived in a in a tall condominium building on Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. He was having a private party at his home, and I was in town, so he invited me to it and he introduced me to a lady and I can’t remember the name. This was probably 1968, so it’s a long time ago, and this lady was a very famous concert pianist. That was a friend of Earl’s. And we were chatting, and a lady walks up to her and somewhat interrupts us in our conversation, and the lady pianist looks at her and says, can I help you? And the gal said, I would do anything to be a concert pianist. And as great as you. And the concert pianist almost snapped a little bit when she said, no, you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t spend 12, 15 hours a day, seven days a week from the time you’re five years old learning how to play the piano. You wouldn’t go through the exercise that I had to go through. You wouldn’t do the time that I spent when I could have been playing and enjoying and having fun. I paid a price to get here. Tell me if you’re going to pay that price. And if you’re not, thank you. And let you look back at me. Whoa. Well, it was true. Yeah. Everybody wants the results somebody else has that is above them in the steps of life. Are they willing to do what the person did to get to the higher steps?

And that’s always the key, isn’t it?

Yes, 100%.

It looks easy to everybody to see someone who’s been so successful. And yet if you knew the price that the person actually paid, there was a lot more to it.

Always.

Always. So those are the questions for this episode of Mike Ferry TV. We’re going to ask that you tune in next week because we will have the continuation of this. Thanks for your time, Mike. I appreciate it and thank you for letting me come on and do this with you.

Thanks for watching.