OK so its been some time since I last blogged about my interviews with successful people. Yes I am still trying to take successful people out to lunch, most of the time they end up buying me lunch. I just haven't had much time to blog about what I am learning. So to get back on track, lets talk about Doug. I have known Doug for a few years now and a few months ago I wanted to pick his mind. We met up for lunch. Doug is a VP for Coldwell Banker. He has been in the Commercial Real Estate world for over 25 years. He pushing a ton of square feet and he makes some good money doing it. Besides from his beautiful home and going to lake powel every other weekHe graduate from BYU in Finance and decided to go in the direction of Real Estate and has never looked back.
As we were talking the tables turned and he began asking me questions about what I was doing and where I wanted to go. The idea and theme that he kept coming back to was having a college degree. He placed a huge importance on having a degree. Those of you that know me well, know I am not a huge fan of college and to be honest I feel like its a joke. I have a 100 plus credit hours that amount to umm, nothing. So it was tough for me to swallow. But as I put down my "hate college" wall . I began to be inspired. I will come back to this thought in a minute.
I asked Doug how he has stayed busy even with all the issues with banks and the real estate world turned upside down. He attributes his success to being in the industry for 20+ years. Simple as that. He has built some amazing relationships with developers and everyone just know him. So there is something said to staying with it and never giving up. We continued our conversation with the idea of someone brand new coming into the commercial world and he responded with he would never do it right now and even though things are improving and changing its still tough to make a living at it. He shared a story about a co-worker who has been in the commercial real estate world for a few years. This individual said that if things don't picked up and/or change that they would have to go find a new and different job.
Of course there are a few people out there who are making it just fine but for the majority the market is still slow and down. Not to be the one to tear any one's dream of making it big. I say go for it! Whats the worst that could happen?
Ok back to my issue with college. I will make it short and sweet. Gain an education. Having a piece of paper does not make you educated. I know and have many friend who have a degree in something but work in a completely different field.
Things I learned from my visit with Doug:
- get an education
- find something you love to do and do it for a long time
- just because someone make a ton of money doing something doesnt mean you will
- build relationships and network like crazy
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