The 4 Mindsets of a Businessperson

Welcome to another edition of Mike Ferry TV. My name is Tony Smith. Happy as always to step in for Mike occasionally on Mike Ferry TV. Okay, so I wrote down a question: How important today is the strength of your mindset as a business person? Okay, have you ever read any book from anybody that’s a big thinker, an entrepreneur, a master of industry that has not said that mindset is a critical factor of you succeeding? Every book I’ve ever read said mindset is important. I want to take a little different twist on it today though. I want to look at this as a business person.

There are only four mindsets that you could be in, and you can only be either in one of these mindsets or in the process of transitioning from one of these mindsets to another. So I want to go through these all, and I want to have you really make some decisions today about what is the right mindset for you as we progress going forward.

Okay, so the four mindsets of a businessperson. I learned this from Mike Ferry probably 15 years ago, and it has stuck with me ever since. And there have been times in my career that I’ve found myself possibly drifting from one mindset to another. It’s kind of a little checkup, if you will.

So the first mindset that you can be in as a business person is in expansion mindset, expansion mindset. Now, by definition, I wrote it down: to become or make larger or more extensive. So to expand means to make larger or more extensive. If you’re in business, you can be literally in the expansion mindset. Some examples would be I need to expand the base and the knowledge of my skills. I need to expand the knowledge of the market stats and how to deliver them to the public. I need to expand my sources of business. I need to expand maybe my geographic area that I work in service. Maybe I need to expand just my pipeline. I need to carry more listings and more sales. Maybe I need to expand my knowledge about the business, or just business in general, or I need to expand the number of contacts I make each day. Expansion mindset. That means to make larger or more extensive, pretty solid mindset to be in.

The second mindset that you might find yourself in or be in on purpose is called the protection mindset, to protect. By definition, keep safe from harm or injury. Okay, if you fall into the business mindset of protection, it means things like if I could just keep paying my bills. I have the sources and the area I work. I’m not going to go anywhere else. I’ll just keep practicing the skills I already know. I want to just stay comfortable. I don’t want to do anything to rock the boat, right? I want to protect what I have. I just don’t want to lose anything or give up anything. That’s protection mindset.

How about the mindset? The third one, which is the mindset of retreating. Okay, now we’re getting a little more intense here, which retreating by definition to withdraw from enemy forces as a result of their superior power or after a defeat, an act of withdrawing or moving backwards, to retreat, to basically back up. There are many businesses that you’ve seen, not necessarily Real Estate, but Real Estate in general too, that have you seen them retreat, scale back, cut back on their staff, start cutting expenses, start removing the, you know, people from their scope of business, start shrinking in, tightening in, you know, during the pandemic times, there were a lot of people that we were forced to retreat into a smaller space, right? We couldn’t operate the way we were. Some people have not gone back from that retreat. Right. I’m looking for the magic answer. Working less hours. I just want to scale back. Maybe if we could just, you know, take a smaller vacation next year. Maybe we won’t buy the new car. This house is fine. Let’s just stay in this house. In fact, maybe we won’t do the renovations that we thought about doing. Retreat mindset.

And then the fourth mindset. Okay, now this is the one I have the hardest time with. I’m hoping that none of you watching this today are even have this cross your mind is called surrender mindset. Surrender by definition is to give up. Give in, quit. Throw in the towel. Okay, we’ve noticed and you’re probably seeing it in your own market that there’s thousands of agents that are surrendering every day. By nature, our industry, one out of three Real Estate agents, doesn’t make it. The first year they quit, they surrender. And then when a market shifts or gets a little tougher out there, the environment’s not quite right. We watch thousands and thousands and thousands of agents surrender, give in, throw in the towel. And I know that many of you applaud that at times because it’s less competition, but have any these thoughts crossed your mind about surrendering. Gosh, I sure hope not.

Now, what I want you to think about from a mindset perspective. I want you to be honest. What mindset have you been currently operating in? Have you been in the expansion mindset? Have you slipped into the protection mindset? Have you had thoughts about retreating? And gosh, I sure hope you haven’t thought about surrendering in any way, shape or form, okay.

But what I’d like to challenge you in is what mindset serves you best financially. What mindset should you move into now to grow your company? If you want to do that, if you want to protect your family, protect your finances, grow your business, shouldn’t we get into the expansion mindset? An expansion does not mean spending more money. Expansion could be advancing our skills, advancing our geographic area that we work, advancing the sources of business we work, advancing the amount of time we work, expanding.

I would like to suggest, if you want to have a strong mindset this year, that you really consider staying in the expansion mindset. Your family will appreciate it, your broker will appreciate it, I know you’ll appreciate it. Take these thoughts to heart. Be honest with yourself. Let’s all go out there and grow our business. There’s a lot of business to be done.