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The tale goes like this. A new bride is preparing a pot roast for dinner. She carefully crops a few inches from each end before putting the roast in the pan to brown. Her husband asks why she is trimming away so much. “It’s grandma’s famous recipe,” she replies. “I don’t really know why.”

When something you want is within your control, you must act. When something you want is controlled by someone else, you must ask. Sometimes, the difference between a “no” and a “yes” is what you’re willing and able to do. To find out which, you have to be willing to ask. 

Bank runs used to be called “panics,” and they were a heck of a lot more common than they are today. The recent collapse of SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) makes this topic relevant again. In this edition of The TwentyPercenter, we’ll break down what bank runs are, why they happen, and how you can keep your money safe. 

My big break in publishing came when HarperCollins hired the former deputy editor of Esquire, David Hirshey. One editor gushed, “He has the ‘Golden ROLODEX®.’ He knows everybody!” When Hirshey hired me to be his editorial assistant, one of my many tasks was to keep his ROLODEX® up-to-date. When Hirshey’d return from a networking lunch, he’d dump receipts and business cards on my desk on his way to his office. From each business card, I’d type a ROLODEX® card (with a manual typewriter no less.) If it was someone cool, I’d make two. One for David and one for Jay.

Texting is one of the few mediums where we can have quality sales conversations at scale. I’m not talking about impersonal mass text blasts. With one simple hack, you can host dozens of personal conversations concurrently. That hack is text replacement. 

Summer camp for me was a visit to my Aunt June’s dairy farm in Mississippi. We’d rise early for breakfast and then bring in the cows. I would slop feed into the troughs with my cousin Greg while my uncle James Royce managed the milking. Chores were nonstop until noon. And we didn’t always approach them with cheer. June would sometimes scold us when we loafed, “Start it like you’re gonna finish it.”

Last week more than 10,000 KW associates from 57 countries gathered in Anaheim for our 2023 annual convention (aka Family Reunion). Since my 2022 MegaCamp recap was met with cheers not jeers, here are some top quotes, aha’s, and takeaways from our big event. 

In a 1975 paper, British economist Charles Goodhart wrote, “Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.” This provided the genesis for Goodhart’s Law, which is commonly stated: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. Anytime we use a number as a proxy for an outcome, we risk creating a host of unintended consequences. This appears to be especially true when it involves incentives. 

Tomorrow, we kick off our 2023 Keller Williams Family Reunion in Anaheim, CA.  It’s our annual convention. Over the course of five days, we’ll showcase multiple keynote speakers, a dozen mainstage presentations, and over 180 breakout sessions led by our top agents and faculty. It can be the ultimate opportunity to level up as a real estate professional — provided you take the right approach. 

It’s almost Valentine’s Day. If you haven’t gotten that special someone a box of Sweethearts®, you still have time. If you have an ex who just won’t bug off, you also have options. The San Antonio Zoo’s annual  Cry Me a Cockroach Fundraiser  is here to help. You can have a cockroach named after them and fed to a pack of hungry meerkats. For a bit extra, zookeepers will capture a video that you can email your old flame. The program has proved both clever and lucrative. For the past four years, the San Antonio Zoo has raised tens of thousands of dollars and generated a mountain of free publicity. Why? Because it’s funny and everyone needs a good laugh. Humor can pay off.