Listen for Opportunity. The Story of my Naked Parents and a $100 bill.
"Don't think or judge, just listen."
About every 2 weeks I go to a medical office and get poked, prodded, and usually shot.
It’s overkill, I know, but I have plans on living to 114 years of age and I think constant monitoring of my health is a pretty good idea.
A couple of weeks ago I visited the office and met a new doctor. He told me they were looking to expand and were starting to look for a building.
It was a random piece of information, but in my mind, that doctor told me that for a reason.
I have a friend that does medical office development. He builds it and then leases the real estate back to the medical providers.
I called him, told him I was going to reach out to the CEO and see if I could connect the two together. Before I did, I wanted to make sure he would have an interest in the project. He said, “I’ll talk to them!”.
I jumped on LinkedIn, researched the company, found the CEO and sent him an email.
It was short, sweet, and offered my services as a commercial developer. I do develop commercial real estate with my brother Ronn, but I’ve never messed with medical offices, but again, I have a friend that has done this with success multiple times.
I didn’t get an email back, I really didn’t expect to get an email back. It was a shot in the dark, I do that occasionally, but I’ve found that sometimes shots in the dark pay off.
I returned yesterday to the office for my check up and my new doctor popped in, sat down, and as we were talking I remembered the email I sent his CEO.
I shared my little email with my doctor and said based on our conversation I took a leap of faith and sent this to your CEO.
He said, “did you get a response?” I laughed, “No, I’m sure your CEO is way too busy to respond to an email from someone he does not know”.
He looked at me and said, “would you like to talk to him?” Thinking he might be able to connect me directly I said: “yes, I would like to see if he might need our services”.
He said, “he can probably hear every word you are saying, he’s in the next room”.
The medical provider I use has offices all over the United States. It’s a men’s focused health lab that has services for men that want to strictly manage their physical health.
The chance that the owner of the entire company was within 10 feet of my geographic location blew me away.
After a brief chat with my doc, a shot in my ass for good measure, I walked out of my room and there to my right was the CEO. He was on the phone, busy of course, but I waited.
An associate of his was standing outside, I introduced myself and told him I was a developer. I was looking to meet the CEO. Since he was tied up, the associate and I had a nice chat about what they look for in a location, the important of parking, road access, etc.
As we were talking the CEO walked in and said: “Hi I’m Bill”. I shook his hand and said, “My name is Anson and I sent you an email a couple of weeks ago”. He snarled “I hate email”.
I further explained “I own a few businesses, one of which is a development company. I’m pretty sure you are outgrowing this location and are going to need a new home”.
He smiled “yes, that’s true, are you doing any local projects”. We are, “you should probably talk to my partner about our approach and see if it fits your model”.
With that, he said, “hold on”. He took off, grabbed one of the other doctor’s business cards and wrote his cell phone. Have your partner give me a call I’d love to chat.
The CEO, by the way, had been in 3 states yesterday. He was going from clinic to clinic doing what CEO’s do, and I just so happened to catch him during my visit.
What are the odds? What are the odds that we will actually do a project for him? Pretty damn small, but if you think about all the things that had to line up for me to meet that CEO, it’s a unique series of fortunate events.
I left the meeting, called my friend that does the medical office development. I shared the story, shot a photo of the business card to him and he will follow up with my new friend today.
As I was leaving the CEO said: “do you have a card?” I did not, but I did have a $100.00 bill in my wallet. I handed him the $100.00 bill and he opened it. Inside the $100.00 bill was a photo of my parents naked.
He laughed, “Well this is cool!”. I said, “that’s a marketing piece from my insurance operation”. That is actually my mother and father naked.
The CEO will remember me and he will know when my friend calls who I am and he may or may not take my friends call.
My friend is an expert in cap rates, long-term leasing, and works with medical offices eliminating their worry about the real estate side of their practice allowing them to focus on their medical services.
There is opportunity all around us. Listen. People will tell you things for a reason. Do not be afraid to reach out to people you do not know and offer your services whatever those services might be.
You never know, you might just find yourself face to face with that individual and be given an opportunity to have a conversation that may prove beneficial to both parties.
God, the Universe, and the Force sometimes conspire together to help you do some amazing things. Listen, be smart, and maybe with time you will be rewarded for your unique set of skills.
"Don't think or judge, just listen."