Looking at others in black and white just doesn’t work for me.
Since I’m having a hard time thinking about real estate, here’s something else. Here in the US, many of us are finding it hard to concentrate on mundane things like work or the usual social media distractions. Now, I’ve pointed out elsewhere that I have friends from all walks of life and ways of thinking (please read my thoughts if you have a moment). We work with people from all socio-economic groups, races, and countries of origin. Real estate is a business where you need to work with people you may not agree with in other areas. We do it. Do you?
Whenever something really bad happens in this country, people feel an urge to lash out, and people who aren’t like themselves are a very convenient target. Well, let’s make that groups of people, nameless, faceless groups of people you don’t know, who you firmly believe hate you back and want to take something away from you. You get quite worked up calling these groups all kinds of nasty names, especially if you like to share things on social media.
Do you know the background and beliefs of your fellow investors? Does it matter?
The thing is, we think we are sharing just among our like-minded “good guys,” but remember what I said above. Real estate investment and redevelopment draws all kinds of people in. Many of them may know you on social media via organizations, groups, and other networking outlets. Do you want to identify these people and eliminate them from your sphere of acquaintance? Maybe, but I don’t recommend it.
Instead, TALK to individual people (notice that I said “to” and not “at”). No matter what group of people you have negative opinions about, you might find that you can talk to that liberal/conservative person about many things other than real estate. You might find out how this individual with a face, a family, and a story came to believe the way they do. You might find that you share ideas and beliefs, even if you came at them from different directions. I guarantee you this:
Everyone you talk to can teach you something.
You won’t know this unless you talk. And listen. How do I know? Because I DO it. And I’m lucky enough to know people who talk and listen to me.
Let’s see what we can learn from each other. Talk.
Everybody wins here. We might even be able to come up with new ideas that make the world better for all and let us make some money while making the world a better place for everyone. I assure you our team is willing to work with you and talk to you about what’s important to you. We’ve done it before with business partners and contractors who voted differently from us, came from another country, had different religious beliefs, and so on.
We can’t fix things we can’t control. But, how we treat others is under our control. It may take more energy and effort to stick to your media that encourages hatred of large swaths of society than to just talk, especially when we try to leave name-calling aside and actually listen. But it works.
Let’s buy and sell some houses and put our energy into something positive we CAN control.
Hermann says please like and share!