I think that working anywhere for five years is admirable. Before I went to work for myself, I never worked anywhere for that length of time. The life span of most assistants to a driven, easily-distracted and highly impatient business owner is probably less than two years. So when someone like Margaret Smith works for someone like me for five years, it should be reflected on, heralded, and written down to share with others. Here are the top 5 things I’ve learned from Margaret in 5 years:
- Power of Positivity. Most people, when asked, probably think that they are positive people. I know a lot of negative people in a battle for their mind, so they find positive things others say and post them like temporary tattoos on their social media accounts. Raised by a wonderfully positive woman, Margaret has been steeped in the power of positivity, and it’s something that she lives and breathes daily. When I hired Margaret, I prepared her that she would be the energy battery of our team – the light and the sunshine – and that she would need to except this as her role from the start. The worlds of real estate is full of lovely, and flawed, people – so Margaret’s ability to stay above it all and to not give into the darkness and the drama is unexpected. Sometimes Margaret’s light dims a little, and she adapts. She now does daily affirmations, and is quick to leave environments that aren’t going to feed her good energy.
- First to help. Margaret is absolutely the friend that will donate her compact car and her muscles to moving a friend in need. She will volunteer for the most ridiculous things that she has no proficiency in, only because she knows that she can figure it out and implement faster than most, and obviously someone needs her help. My market center owes her much, as she attends every team meeting and is a ready volunteer to champion anything to improve the culture of our office.
- Gets Things Done. The main reason that Margaret and I work so well together is because she gets things done. I’m the idea man, and she’s the put into application woman. I don’t ever tell her what to do, don’t tell her when to come to work, and only sometimes tell her to go home. She will do the heavy lifting, the running, the designing, the calling, the recruiting, the follow-up and still find ways to make my life easier.
- Embraces fear. Margaret is afraid of many things, and scared of none. Margaret bought a duplex as her first home on her own because her lender told her that she should. And she did a rehab loan to do it. She became a landlord, home-owner, house flipper and long-term real estate investor all at the same time. She had never done public speaking or teaching, and she developed a class for real estate agents and their assistants and committed to teaching it around the country.
- Anything worth doing is worth doing enthusiastically. If you’re around Margaret, get ready for a lot of high-fives, hugs, fist pumps, exclamations of “Yes!” and perhaps several phrases or words used incorrectly but said so enthusiastically you don’t want to correct her.
In a card celebrating her anniversary, someone said that she was as much a part of Pickett Street as I was. And they spoke the truth. Happy 5-year anniversary with Pickett Street Margaret!