Ask the dumb questions.

Do you know why college students make such phenomenal entrepreneurs? It’s because they operate in an environment that expects them, by default, to not know things. Questions are encouraged and expected, while a strong work ethic is demanded. That combination creates a ridiculously strong business owner. It’s a shame that the second we walk off a campus, the dynamic shifts.

When I first began in Real Estate I was terrified to not know anything. In my mind, everyone expected me to have all the answers, immediately. Life was one big closed notes final exam. A couple years and a couple million in deals later, sanity prevails.

The real shift in my business happened when I was at my wit’s end, near a breakdown, working on a deal I was pretty certain wasn’t going to close ( spoiler alert, it did), when something magical happened. I lost my sense of shame, and I started asking what I thought were dumb questions. Things I thought I should know. Only to find out that more often than not, the majority of the room has no idea. The fear of looking like the weak link creates a chain of paper, rather than steel.

I think this is probably one of those things that you can hear over and over, but won’t make sense until it’s right for your journey, but I wanted to put it out there just in case. Ask the dumb questions. Take notes on the answers. Learn. Repeat.