309. Surviving the 2008 Recession and Thriving: Person-by-Person, Day-By-Day

After college, Chris did the requisite year of surfing and partying in California. Back east, he landed a job in banking in the Washington, DC, area. “I was working for a bank doing sales, bringing loans and business into the bank. It turned out to be a really good base of knowledge to move forward into other things.” At the bank, he followed a daily discipline, and watched how other people operated, both the ones who were top performers as well as the ones who were not-so-much top performers. All the while he was learning how real estate and personal and company finance works, how sales and marketing works–getting sharper at all these things.

In late 2007, Chris and his friend, Jason, became business partners, along with a somewhat older, wiser “silent partner.” He and Jason left their banking jobs and took the plunge, opening their own commercial lending company. Much of their financing involved real estate, so in 2008, “Real estate was down the tubes. Jason and I, both in our twenties, had to raise millions of dollars in investor capital for real estate investment deals. It was a great time to start because everything was at the bottom.” Through sleepless nights and lots of stress, Chris says they focused on the business “person-by-person, day by day,” and toughed out the recession.

“Americans are obsessed with the notion of ‘hard work.’ I say that term in quotation marks because I don’t even know what it means. A lot of what we talk about in “The Whiteboard,” is the focus on results, on actually getting where you need to be. The point is to focus on real, productive results every day, and not on the ideal of ‘hard work’ as some kind of badge of honor.”

1. Cultivate emotional intelligence (EQ).

2. Emulate the people who are doing what you want to do.

3. Use the roadmaps and blueprints that are out there—books, podcasts and people. It has all been done before.

4. Pass along what you are learning, especially through your own actions, to family and friends. Your actions, attitudes and achievements speak louder than words.

5. Take the leap, work your plan.

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