I was just thinking the other day how much vulnerability there is to my entire operation. I write everything down on loose leaf paper and place it in a 1″ binder. If a competitor were to really try to trump me, all they would need is that folder and they could really throw me for a loop.
Of course they would also have to be able to actually read it, but nonetheless, most of it is decipherable.
I find myself writing a lot of notes and ideas in it most of the time. I have my marketing toolkit from the PaperSource in plastic with highlights on the areas my business focuses on the most. The rest is a bunch of gumbo, nothing very congruent. I am the type to come up with so many ideas I forget them 5 minutes later, and onto a new one. So as I get them, I write.
Along with my hair-brained ideas, I have printouts of marketing materials, website links, and recently, a blueprint for the new shift I’m doing. It helps me focus on the business more, even if for the entire day all I do is write in it- I still feel as if I’ve got work done.
Of course there are others who work very differently. Not everyone thinks about marketing a business structure as much as I do or maybe they do but just don’t scribble everything down (some of the scibbles I’ll admit are irrelevant). Some prefer to buy new marketing programs and glean what they can from them. Their model works and they don’t have time (or make it) to pull a 180 with the chance of it not working.
Nothing wrong with that, you can learn a lot and you can run a note business from that mold. I did this for a while as well. I would suggest newer brokers do the same to get their feet wet.
But keep in mind that your competition has access to the same material and at the end of the day, if you both follow it to a tee, you both will be the same. Besides, mold is for cheese.
