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5 Ways the Holiday Season Reminds Me to Be a Better Entrepreneur

Brett Snodgrass
5 min read
5 Ways the Holiday Season Reminds Me to Be a Better Entrepreneur

In light of the fact that Christmas is literally days away, I wanted take some time to reflect on the holiday season.

You know, I think that this time of the year is truly one of my favorites. With the decorations, beautiful lights, and great laughs over delicious food, it’s always during this time that I find myself aware of how blessed I really am.

I always take some time to reflect on my life, my family and my faith during this season, and it was during that time that I realized the topic of today’s post.

There is so much that this season can teach us about life, about business and about real estate investing!

I know it may seem a little silly at first, and in no way am I trying to be cheesy, but the honest truth is there are a lot of principles about the Christmas season that overlap in how we should run our real estate endeavors throughout the year, and today it’s my goal to share them with you.

5 Ways the Holiday Season Reminds Me to Be a Better Entrepreneur

The following are the 5 lessons or principles that prevalent during the holiday season that correlate to your real estate business. I ask that you take time to sit and reflect on each of these as we enter into to the new year.

Ready? Let’s do it!

1. We Should Be More Generous

When it comes to the Christmas season, the very first thing people usually associate with it is gifts. It’s one of the most unique aspects of the holiday. Everyone buys gifts for everyone else and celebrates the joy of having loved ones in their lives.

What if you celebrated your employees this way? What if, when the business has a great month, you give everyone a bonus simply because they’re all a part of the team?

I think it rewards a culture where people personally do all they can to make the company succeed.

If you’re generous with your prosperity, your team will be generous in their effort and commitment to the company.

Related: 7 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Achieve a Better Work-Life Balance

Again, what if we, in the same spirit of Christmas, lived our lives throughout the year truly celebrating those around us, like we do our families?

What would happen to your relationship with your title company, your lender, or your competitors even, if you took time to celebrate them?

I think you’d find that people love to work with you and that your business would be bursting at the seams with opportunity!

real_estate_investor_gift_ideas

2. We Should Be More Other-Focused

The second thing that I associate with the Christmas season is that of being other-focused. It’s really the only time that I can think of where we as a culture take time out of our day to think of the needs and desires of others.

How many of you have that half-crazy relative that you frankly don’t like that much, but come Christmas time, you make sure to get them something nice and go out of your way to spend time with them?

It’s truly amazing!

What would happen if you ran your business that way?

What if when it came to dealing with motivated sellers, you put yourself in their shoes and you made sure they were fairly treated?

I don’t necessarily like dealing with motivated sellers, just like the majority of people, but in the midst of that dislike, could we make sure that they were treated fairly, and actually follow through with what we promise them?

If we did, I think our reputation as an industry would radically change!

3. We Should Set Aside Time to Celebrate the Simple Things

You know, in recent years, I feel like the Christmas season has become heavily commercialized.

It didn’t used to be like that when I was a kid. I remember a time where each person would only get one or two gifts each, and it wasn’t about maxing out all the credit cards to make everything happen.

I remember a time where things were a lot more simple, and you know what? I liked it a lot more back then.

Christmas, at least for me, is to supposed to be about celebrating the small, humble things in life, the things that truly make all the difference.

For example, when I hold one of my children and I see them sleeping like the angel that they are, there’s something that happens inside of me that is incredibly holy.

My insides get all warm and my love for them overwhelms me, sometimes to the point of tears.

Christmas is supposed to be a time to highlight these beautiful moments, the ones that make it all worth it.

And I think that these moments should be a daily part in our real estate business.

I have one of the best teams that guy could ask for. I work in a business that is solely my own and one that I truly enjoy doing.

I have a beautiful family, with a wife who believes in me and kids who love me.

What more could I ever ask for?

But so many times, I get caught up in the things that always need to get done that I forget to celebrate the joy of it all! I get bogged down by the routine and the stress.

We need to not just take the time to celebrate and experience those true moments of joy simply during the holiday season. No way! We must learn to take time to celebrate them year round, and if we do, we will find far more satisfaction in our work.

4. We Should Remember Our “Why”

A fourth lesson the Christmas season will teach you is one concerning your purpose. I won’t harp on this because I’ve wrote a lot about it already in past articles, but for me, once Christmas comes around, I can’t help but reflect on the reasons why I do what I do everyday.

I see my family, I attend extra special church services and it all reminds me of why I’m here, and why I’m in real estate.

Take time this season, while you’re enjoying your family and friends, to reflect on the reasons why you’re pursuing real estate. It’s the perfect time to do so!

family

5. We Should Keep Faith

For the final lesson that the Christmas season teaches, I’m going to go a little deep with you.

Regardless of your personal faith — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, what have you — this season for a lot of us is a time to reflect on our faith.

Related: 7 Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask Daily for a Better Business

In order to be successful at business, you have to have faith in order for it to work. There are no guarantees in life, especially in real estate, and without the faith to know that in the end you will be successful, you’ll find yourself disheartened and fed up.

Let this Christmas season ignite faith for your good fortune, your life and the success of your real estate endeavors.

Thank you so much for reading. Merry Christmas and I’ll see you on the flip!

What are you focusing on this holiday season?

Let me know with a comment!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.