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.

After WWII, a talented Italian Air Force mechanic named Ferruccio launched a tractor company. His company took off in the post-war boom. A gearhead at heart, he took some of his profits and started collecting cars. His favorite was a Ferrari 250 GT. But Ferruccio knew the car wasn’t perfect. Some of the parts were substandard, especially the clutch. 

Standing just 5-foot-4 and weighing a scant 140 pounds, “Wee Willie” Keeler was one of the smallest major league players in history. Yet, he played 19 seasons and entered the Hall of Fame with a remarkable .345 lifetime batting average. Keeler made a career of slotting batted balls through gaps. He could drop bunts in no-man’s-land. And he perfected the “Baltimore Chop,” where a batter chops the ball into the ground so hard they can leg out an infield single before the ball comes down. What did all of these legendary moves have in common? Keeler got the ball to open spaces. His trademark strategy of “hit ’em where they ain’t” is also how top real estate agents win market share in a shifted market.

One of the most valuable gifts you can offer is access to your professional network. If you don’t think of this as one of the core services, you’re missing an opportunity. But, how you do it matters. Connecting someone to your network can be done with a forgettable introductory email or with a memorable demonstration of professionalism.  

Every day our clients face an onslaught of disconnected market information and advice. The national news trumpets the latest rate hike or unemployment stats. Talk show guests debate recession and affordability. These bits of information are sliced into eye-grabbing videos and provocative headlines on social media. It adds up to an overwhelming amount of information that doesn’t make anyone informed. Meanwhile, your seller’s coworker shares how badly prices have fallen in the past few months in her hood. And their favorite podcaster prescribes renting over buying.

I hope you’re kicking off your year by building the  #1 habit I recommend.  I want to continue that theme this week. Here’s a fact: the team that wins the championship and the team that slumps into last place shared the same goal. They both wanted to win every game. They both set out to win it all. But one succeeded and one failed. What do champions do that others don’t? They focus on building habits and systems that naturally lead to their goal.

Our team at The ONE Thing  has helped thousands take the 66-Day Challenge™ to build powerful habits in their lives. Today, I want to share the most impactful habit we’ve found in the past six years.

We’re down to the final two weeks of 2022. That means just two more editions of the TwentyPercenter before 2023. This week, the call to action is to turn your experiences into insights. Next week, I’ll share the most powerful habit I’ve found to kickstart your year.

I thought that 2020 would be the year the real estate market crashed. When Covid hit, I bemoaned the fact that I’d gotten lax with my finances. I regretted that my database had been neglected. Eleven years of growth had led to sloppy habits and a messy business.

You’re making your list and checking it twice. Gotta figure out who gets what and at what price. Is gift-giving at work making you frown? This week, I’d like to share a hack to take the head-scratching out of professional gift-giving. That said, I have no answers for what to get your mother-in-law.