How to Choose a Direction

It can sometimes be paralyzing—not knowing which direction you should take your business.

Should I specialize in a niche?

Work an area?

Work a demographic?

Often, the fear of taking the wrong direction ultimately means that no direction is taken at all.

PLG Estates and I are somewhat known by some to be social media savvy. We are constantly on social media, creating content and engaging. How did we come to that decision? How did we essentially choose that direction?

It’s Called “Instinct”

I see a lot of people paralyzed with fear about making the wrong choice. They are constantly wondering what they should do. Much of the time, people become so scared to make a decision that they stay in the middle.

Here’s what I’ve taught myself: I get that little flutter in my stomach regarding a direction (the "That feels right." Or, "That sounds like a good idea." feeling), or in other words—instinct. Instinct kicks in and says, "Pete, that's a great idea," and every time, the head comes behind as the accountant in the background saying, "Well, I don't really think that's a very good idea,”

How do we latch onto that momentary moment of excitement—the thrill of the chase? The key is one word: quickly. When you get an idea, jump on it quickly. We have those sparks of intuition (sometimes divine intervention, if you will) for a path or a strategy—and these aren’t necessarily huge revelations. Sometimes it can be like a chess game; it’s small, strategic moves.

Run Fast and Run Hard

When we get that divine intervention or when instinct comes knocking, the trick is run straight away. Don't ponder on it, don't think about it, and certainly never get obsessed with figuring out the ROI. That is the absolute murder of any great ideas. All great ideas can be shut down with immediately worrying about the ROI. The key is to move quickly.

How did PLG Estates get to our strategy of creating and executing hip and edgy social media accounts? Well, I got it wrong a million times. That’s how we got to where we are today. I got it wrong. When we started PLG, we started at ground zero. There was no rule book or guidebook. We had instinct and street smarts.

It was really daunting. But what I think we managed to harness was our attitude. Cindy and I both believe the worse that can happen is we get it wrong. You’ve heard me say this before, “I’d much rather run a thousand miles an hour at a brick wall and hit it because then I know I can cross that direction off the list.” Instead of overthinking or, even worse, over-talking to others about it. Nothing will murder your ideas faster than talking to other people about your ideas because they will either get diluted or shot down—and you will begin to forget what the original idea was.

If it's yours, own it. Own it and run. And when you run at it, you might get lucky and score straight away. But look at Edison. Edison had to burn through a thousand light bulbs to finally find one that came on. Never be afraid to fall flat on your face. And if you need to spend some money deploying a strategy, especially with social media, it is cheap as chips. There's a great article on Inman about how to keep in touch with your sphere for a dollar a day. It costs more to park. There really are no excuses.

50-hour weeks

I differ on this next topic from Gary Vee. I respect and admire him, but for me, I don’t think we need to be putting in 18-hour workdays. I believe it’s important to have a social life and interests outside work. Those things take equity (time) away, but I’m here to call everyone on their shit a little bit. Are you putting in eight solid hours a day (not counting lunch)? If you put in eight, you can put in ten.

If you are building your business, you do have to be obsessive about it. You can’t switch it off. If you are in the first 1-5 years of building a business, you’re like a mother lion, sleeping with one eye open—watching your cub. When I was a brand-new real estate agent, I never turned it off. Anytime someone spoke about real estate, I was listening. If I saw the opportunity, I would try to strike up a conversation. I see a lot of entrepreneurs roll in around 10 and leave around 4.

Those hours can be productive, but if you are putting in 50 solid hours a week (not including breaks and lunches) charging at your idea from divine intervention—you’re going to make a dent. Or, you’re going to find out that’s not right direction and you’ll pivot. And you’ll keep pivoting until one sticks. And then you just run that son of a bitch as hard as you can.

And when it does work and when you make a deal, it’s not time to go on a week-long celebratory vacation. If you are in the beginning stages of creating a business and building a career, and you feel that you’ve finally gotten the wheels off the runway, and you’ve had a success or two, don’t sit back. Dive in. Success begets momentum.