Lesson of an Old Entrepreneur
Last night our Christian Millionaire group had a special guest. Jack Chamberlin is the 83 yr old founder of Westland Realty & Investment, Inc., a Christian man, an entrepreneur, and a salesman who was mentored by his tiny single mother or four boys, a purveyor of rabbits and veal during the depression. A great success story!
Jack told our aspiring business people about the importance of goals. His mantra while he was selling auto insurance was “2 and 10” and he would stand at the mirror and repeat it over and over every morning. His daily goal was to sell 2 new policies and 10 units of insurance. He was always a top sales person in his region. “You have the keep your goal in mind every day!”
He told us that he fired his entire staff of 25 real estate agents because of their lack of a work ethic. “They would come into the office at 11am, push papers around on their desk for half and hour, and then go for a two hour lunch!” They did not treat their work like a real business. Jack did. He was a business man who happened to sell real estate. He worked his business every day. So when he realized that he was carrying half the production in the 25 sales person office he fired all those slackers!
Jack attended a Christian men’s prayer breakfast every Thursday morning in those days. He surrounded himself with positive, successful, faith-filled men. He kept up on the best training available, and he kept it positive, even in the down cycles.
I’ve been to a lot of sales training events, read a lot what’s available in sales and marketing books and when I heard Jack talking it was listening to Earl Nightingale all over again.
There is nothing new under the sun. We like to think that new technology and contemporary techniques are essential to success in the world. But listening to Jack I was reminded that the old fashioned ways of having great goals, treating your business like a business, and having faith and keeping positive are essential component for a successful business and life.
I love you – Bryan Martin
