Eleven Years of Quitting as a Small Business Owner

Every year on April 1st I sit down and read a book called The Dip by Seth Godin and reflect on the past years business wins and fails.  I have spent the last eleven years quitting as a small business owner things that do not work and I highly credit it to much of my success.  So each year as I read through The Dip I stop and think about some of the things I should have quit to focus more on the ultimate goals and things I am going to stop doing to make for an even better year.  Below are 3 of my favorite quits over the years.  I hope that everyone else has things they can quit to get dialed in for 2020.

1.  Quitting an expensive brokerage – Everyone has heard me rant about how bad I think the traditional brokerage is but in my case I had a strong reason to quit.  I didn’t want to rent space, subsidize a back office or send part of my earnings to a far away headquarters.  I wanted to be an owner of my own business and I knew that many people also wanted to act like an owner and pay a minimum fee for this.  I quit Century 21 and started WKRP Indy.  Looking back there is no question it was the right move for me.
2. Quitting the Bullshit – “I’m a flipper, I’m a developer, I help people fulfill their dreams and on and on”.  Nope I am a Real Estate Broker and my goal is to find a buyer for every listing and a seller for every buyer.  Getting caught up wanting to be famous or dropping cute terms you heard on HGTV won’t ever build your business and having 10,000 fake followers on Instagram doesn’t make you close more listing appointments.  Just focusing on the real product, service and market was the only way I was going to move the ball all the way down the court. 
3. Quitting waiting – I am a sales and marketing professional.  I had to quit thinking a call was going to come into my phone that would change things.   It never did and I am glad I was able to learn to go sell and market as hard as anyone to gain business.  I understand the “sell the sizzle” mindset but that was just more time taken away from activity pursuing new leads and business.  No more waiting.  

I absolutely love this time of year and even more so being able to spend a little more time with family during this Corona Virus Crisis.  I am excited to find more pointless tasks to quit in 2020 and see where we can get WKRP Indy in 2021.  

Curt has been in the Indianapolis Real Estate business for over 10 years and spent his first years learning all aspects of commercial management and brokerage.  He has had great success in managing existing commercial projects and new retail and office developments.  Curt specializes in building owner representation and purchases in the Westfield Indiana market as well throughout the Indianapolis Metro area.  Curt is passionate about growing the local Westfield community and in his free time  volunteers with Westfield Student Impact and raising 2 children with his wife Jennifer