Alliance 360

10/07/2023

“When I talk to managers, I get the feeling that they are important.

When I talk to leaders, I get the feeling that I am important.”

Don’t wait for a leader. Become one! When we think of strong leaders, either throughout history or within our own careers, we often fall into the trap of thinking that those leaders were born, not made. But people like Winston Churchill, Susan B. Anthony, Nelson Mandela, and so many more didn’t ...

09/10/2023

Leaders weren’t born into the world fully formed…they grew, struggled, failed, and learned how to step into their roles.

That means that leadership is a skill, not an inherent character trait, and it’s a skill anyone can learn.

Don’t wait for a leader. Become one! When we think of strong leaders, either throughout history or within our own careers, we often fall into the trap of thinking that those leaders were born, not made. But people like Winston Churchill, Susan B. Anthony, Nelson Mandela, and so many more didn’t ...

07/23/2023

When it comes to explaining the housing slump, INVENTORY is at the top of the list:

“Financing homes at 3%, then jumping to 6% is the same as burning them down from a supply perspective.”
- Sean Dobson, CEO of property powerhouse Amherst.

Inventory! That's been a buzzword for the housing market for more than a decade, but it's been especially prevalent in 2023 as the excuse for slower home sales.  How good of an excuse is it? B...

07/20/2023

When slower periods hit, it’s hard to maintain perspective. But business success is about persistence, not unbroken streaks of perfect conditions, and with the right attitude, you can create opportunities in even the toughest conditions.

The market may be down, but you don’t have to be! Intellectually we all know that the market — and individual businesses — go through highs and lows, yet when slower periods hit, it’s hard to maintain perspective. But business success is about persistence, not unbroken streaks of perfect con...

10/29/2022

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The 2022 housing market has had its share of ups and downs … but mostly downs. Home sales have fallen, interest rates are sky-high, and both homebuyers and sellers have taken to the sidelines. With sales volumes down, what can you do to ensure your business weathers the storm? In times like these,...

08/21/2022

Even a Masters champion needs coaching. Of course, it’s your call.

Caddie Michael Greller suggested laying up on a difficult bunker shot on Saturday, but the three-time major champion decided to go for the green anyway.

04/28/2022

San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Bill Walsh had a plan entering the 1986 draft. He wanted one of three players: Gerald Robinson from Auburn, John L. Williams from Florida or Ronnie Harmon from Iowa.

So with five picks remaining until his selection, he sat in front of a large desk near the end of the makeshift draft room and waited. Robinson went, then Williams, and finally Harmon.

Walsh needed a new plan.

Selecting talent is hard in any profession.

04/26/2022

Being intentional and competitive are musts when buying a home this season. That’s why pre-approval is so important today. Pre-approval from a lender is the only way to know your true price range and how much money you can borrow for your loan. Peter Warden, Editor of The Mortgage Reports, explain...

12/26/2021

“How we spend our days, is, of course,
how we spend our lives.”
Annie Dillard

This strange moment in history, when time feels so unmoored, might in fact provide the ideal opportunity to reconsider our relationship with it.
Older thinkers have faced these challenges before us, and when their wisdom is applied to the present day, certain truths grow more clearly apparent:

Productivity is a trap. Becoming more efficient just makes you more rushed, and trying to clear the decks simply makes them fill up again faster.
Nobody in the history of humanity has ever achieved “work-life balance,” whatever that might be, and you certainly won’t get there by copying the “six things successful people do before 7:00 a.m.”

The day will never arrive when you finally have everything under control — when the flood of emails has been contained; when your to-do lists have stopped getting longer; when you’re meeting all your obligations at work and in your home life; when nobody’s angry with you for missing a deadline or dropping the ball; - - - and when the fully optimized person you’ve become can turn, at long last, to the things life is really supposed to be about.

The more you try to manage your time with the goal of achieving a feeling of total control, and freedom from the inevitable constraints of being human, the more stressful, empty, and frustrating life gets.
But the more you confront the facts of finitude instead — and work with them, rather than against them — the more productive, meaningful, and joyful life becomes.

“Enough is so vast a sweetness,
I suppose it never occurs, only pathetic counterfeits.”
- Emily Dickinson

-from The Marginalian by Maria Popova

12/12/2021

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."

- Louis L’Amour

11/27/2021

Before you can make any kind of sale, you first must understand the customer’s wants and needs. What motivates them, what problems do they hope to solve, and what do they expect from you? Only then can you guide your clients to the best solutions and deliver an outstanding customer experience.

Here are 6 questions you can use to identify your customers’ needs quickly and succinctly.

It’s Get to Know Your Customers Day! Before you can make any kind of sale, you first must understand the customer’s wants and needs. What m

11/21/2021

Learned Helplessness

From A Brilliant Tribe by Tristan Ahumada

"When walking through an elephant camp, a man noticed that the elephants were only secured with a small rope that was tied around one ankle. He wondered why the elephants didn’t break free from the rope, as the elephants were certainly strong enough to do so.

He asked a trainer why the elephants didn’t try to break free, and the trainer responded by saying that they use the same size rope for baby elephants all the way up to adulthood. Because they’re too small when they’re babies to break free from the rope, they grow up being conditioned that the rope is stronger than they are. As adults, they think the rope can still hold them, so they don’t try to fight it."

It's so easy to go through life thinking that you can't do something just because you've failed at it repeatedly in the past. Often times we've failed in the past because our approach was wrong, we didn't have enough knowledge at the time, or who knows what it was...

The point is if you don't let go of your limiting beliefs you will have those beliefs hold you down for the rest of your life. Taking risks and being comfortable with failure is part of succeeding. Don't let one incident of failure deter you from the greatness you were born to live!