18 Sep When it gets hard – go hard!

Everything is tested when you’re operating in a tough market. You will be tested, your systems will be tested and you’ll learn more about yourself as a consequence.

Topic – The best and worst of tough times

Mentor – Milton Rendell

• You have to love what you do
• Giving up is a habit
• Just keep going

Property Management Matters with Kasey McDonald – Today Kasey covers the Essential property management KPI’s – the importance of having performance targets in place for your PM team as well as your BDM. She shares some benchmark examples of what to aim for.

Transcript:

Kevin:   Well, yesterday, I introduced this topic to you that I want to discuss this week, and it’s not an easy topic to talk about, I can tell you. It’s about working through tough times. Milton Rendell is my guest.

Kevin:   Milton is the owner of a business in Western Australia, and that’s all you need to say. Western Australia’s like a bloody cot case. Milton, I know we laugh about it now, but you probably couldn’t have laughed about it six months ago.

Milton Rendell:   No, we’re still in the middle of it don’t you worry about that.

Kevin:   Yeah, that’s true, yeah.

Milton Rendell:   I tell the guys, “In your darkest moments is your greatest growth, but shit mate, I’m enormous at the moment.”

Kevin:   Yeah, can I ask you, at these times, you do learn a lot about yourself.

Milton Rendell:   Yup.

Kevin:   What have you learned about Milton? What’s the best of you, or what’s something good about this, that’s helped you grow?

Milton Rendell:   Mate, I tell you what. I think what it does is, one is, it makes you reflect, and I’m really a person who looks forward, generally. But what it has is brought back to me is probably something like core things that I’m strong at, and persistence is my, actually, my middle name, according to my wife. I actually don’t know how to give up, and really, I’ve had to work on that really hard.

Milton Rendell:   You know you have to chin up every day, ready for the game, and be ready to fight every day.

Kevin:   What do you do at those times, Milton, when you think “God, am I, is this really the right thing? Should I just pack this up and sell it while I can, out of it, and move on?” Did that ever occur to you?

Milton Rendell:   Maybe for a second, but that’d be the only amount of time I would give it. I will not give up. That’s not who I am. Mate I’ve spent many, many years building this thing up, and I’m not going to spend five minutes giving up and giving it away.

Milton Rendell:   So, it’s not got much to do with the monetary side of it, as it’s do about,

Kevin:   Oh, okay.

Milton Rendell:   About me as a person.

Kevin:   Help me understand this, though. Someone listening to this now, and not in your position, don’t have a business, don’t have a long track record. They’ve been in real estate for, maybe six to 12 months, pretty tough time, and they’re sort of saying, “Is this really right for me?” Should they be asking themselves, “Have I given it everything I’ve got?”

Milton Rendell:   Well, that’s the thing is this, I’d rather go home exhausted, knowing I’ve given everything I’ve got, than going home relaxed and giving it sweet FA during the day. So, but that’s how I approach everything that I do. There is opportunity out there. Whilst others are giving up, that’s creating opportunity for you. Whilst the others are making less phone calls, that means, you’ve got more people you can get to. You just got to talk to more people, that’s as simple as that.

Milton Rendell:   Also, the other part about it is that, it’s a good time to dip into your past, and pull on a few favours from the past. I mean, I’m pulling on favours from guys from years ago. I sold a property the other day, and it, purely, if it wasn’t pulling on an old favour of someone that I knew, and knowing them, but I may not have to go dig deep and think about what I’m doing every day.

Milton Rendell:   The creative part of real estate’s what I love. That’s why I’m in it. I mean, you can create an income, but you also can create a lifestyle, and you … mate, it can be bloody exciting. It really can. Even in the dark days, it can be exciting, and I think this is probably what’s made me revisit some of my goals each day.

Milton Rendell:   I’ve said that earlier, but I still, I’m still, I’m coming to work early in the morning now. But you know what? I come to work early in the morning, because I believe, I have to be in the starting blocks, earlier than everybody else.

Kevin:   Yeah.

Milton Rendell:   While the others are getting on their starting blocks, mate, I’m already running down the road. That’s how I look at it, and I think, that’s what you have to do.

Milton Rendell:   Real estate, whether it’s real estate or anything else, giving up is a habit, and if you give up on this, you’ll give up on other stuff. If this is the fifth different occupation you’ve tried, well, you’re probably going to end up with 20 different occupations, and you’re probably not suited to any of them.

Milton Rendell:   Mate, you’ve just got to get up in the morning, and decide whether you want to be proud of yourself, and proud of what you do during the day, or, you become a victim? It’s pretty simple.

Kevin:   Yeah, and our guest, in the shows last week, Daniel Gonzales, who is also from your part of the world-

Milton Rendell:   Yep.

Kevin:   Made the point that, this is what he does. It’s all he knows, it’s what he’s good at, and he’s not going to give it up.

Milton Rendell:   Yep.

Kevin:   It’s self-belief.

Milton Rendell:   Well, absolutely, and look, I love what I do. And I think if you want to talk about anything, you still don’t love what you’re doing? Stop doing it.

Kevin:   Yes.

Milton Rendell:   But, yes, you have to fall in love with it. Love seems to find a way, doesn’t it? Apparently, anyway.

Kevin:   It does. That’s enough romancing for today, mate, going to catch you tomorrow.  I want to continue this conversation. I want to learn, from you, what you’ve learned about others in tough times, people on your team.

Milton Rendell:   Ok.

Kevin:   Okay, he’ll join us again tomorrow morning. Thanks, Milton. Talk to you then, mate.

Milton Rendell:   All right, I look forward to it.