…The Last One Wins.

Heath Evans, Super Bowl Champion with the New Orleans Saints, said the most significant difference between the Patriots and all the other teams in the NFL.

The Patriots were playing to win multiple championships while the other teams were playing to have one great season.

The football fan will argue purely because I mentioned the Patriots, but that doesn’t eliminate the fact that the Patriots were playing to win a lasting legacy, not a Lombardi Trophy.

Warren Buffett is not the greatest investor of all time. There are plenty of investors and hedge funds with better year-over-year returns than Berkshire Hathaway.

However, Warren and Charlie Munger have been promising investors for 80 years. This longevity has made them the wealthiest duo in the World, and they are not stopping!

Morgan Housel, the author of The Psychology of Money, wrote about compounding and Warren Buffett…

Once you accept that compounding is where the magic happens and realize how critical time is to compounding, the most vital question to answer as an investor is not, “How can I earn the highest returns?” “What are the best returns I can sustain for the longest period?”

These principles hold in all walks of life.

We see agents, team leaders, and owners come and go that chase the ultimate year in the real estate industry.

They want to be recognized at the yearly awards ceremony as a top whatever and reach it but didn’t build something sustainable. They found a hack, trick, or tech that worked in one market but not in another.

It pays to have a target, and top performers must have goals. I’m not saying that. But, you see, the greats are there year after year after year because they have a different target.

George St. Pierre a UFC Hall of Famer and arguably the best.

“I want to leave a legacy, and the only way to leave a legacy is by performing in the Octagon. I try to be the best I can be inside the Octagon, be a good role model, and be the best I can be outside the Octagon.” – St-Pierre.

GSP’s goal wasn’t to get to the top. It was to stay at the top.

“IT’S HARD TO BE CHAMPION; IT’S HARDER TO STAY CHAMPION” – GSP

Because his goal was to stay at the top, he had to train to stay at the top. He had to become a champion the UFC had never seen before, which meant he had to prepare like one.

His competition had no chance because they were training to make it there. Even if they got lucky as Matt Serra did by catching GSP with a shot at UFC 69, they wouldn’t be there long. GSP immediately got his revenge and dominated Matt in their next bout.

In real estate, an agent, team leader, and broker/owner will succeed in a seller’s market and a buyer’s market. During a housing boom and bust are the legacy champions.

The true champions are the all-weather businesses that improve continuously despite the external factors and challenges they face.

A mentor of mine once told me, “If you were planning a 30-mile road trip, it would take less effort, planning, and strategy than planning a road trip across the lower 48 States.”

Business is a journey, not a yearly accomplishment. Plan, Strategize so that the journey will never end. The Last One Wins!

Thanks for reading,

Nick McLean