Me and my blushing bride are going through a few life changes. Elaine retired at the end of September. We closed our long-term hotel office and moved in with the greater Avison Young Team in the downtown Atlanta office. I started drawing social security this month. Go figure. Lastly, we are adding onto and retrofitting our lake house (Lake Lanier) with plans to sell our long-term home in Eagles Landing and move to the lake full time around this coming January or February. Whew, that’s a lot

When changes happen in our life, we are generally faced with two options. Embrace it or resist it. The best I can tell, change comes for all of us, and we can stand up and welcome it or go down the rabbit hole of trying to keep life the same, knowing you really can’t.

In my line of work (hotel brokerage) I have a very unorthodox way of determining if it’s time to keep going or to hang up my cleats. I call it relevancy. How long does it take for clients to call you back or call you back at all. So far, I still have clients that will call me back but that too could change in the near future. I think the key to enjoying retirement is to leave when the music is still playing. Maybe not your peak season of life, but close to it.

Jack Ward was a mentor to me when I started in the business. He was older that all of us at the firm and I loved him so much. He taught us all how to do life while succeeding in the sales world. He told me once, sometimes the best time to sell, is the very time you don’t want to. For those of you in sales, you will know what that means.

So, regarding change, I am revved up for the future and I am choosing to embrace life’s changes while setting goals/objectives for the next dance. Me and my bride are on the dance floor and the music is still playing. KT

Until today, I have never “quote” worked from home in 34 years. Even during the pandemic, I continued to go to the office every day. Sure, I have hung out from home and answered emails from my phone or answered calls, but never brought my computer and dual screens home.

Last week we moved the hotel group in with the much larger Avison Young office in mid-town Atlanta. The hotel group has always operated out of a separate office in the Eagles Landing area. Now all the practice groups are under one umbrella and in one office. In doing so, I will be working from home most of the week and today was the first day of full on working from home.

I thought it would be terrible but what I discovered was pretty telling. The bathroom is down the hallway and never busy and you never have to wait in line. The Kitchen is 20 feet away and comes supplied with all kinds of snacks. My favorite coffee is always available. The breakroom (living room) comes with the big TV and all my favorite shows, ha. The workout room is downstairs, and the shower is just at the end of the hallway.

The best I can figure, if I time it just right, I can eat 13 times a day. I can work-out while I am answering emails, watch NCIS while I am on a zoom call, play with the dog at work, listen to Hot Rod TV in my office and the best part – no one can interrupt me with questions they should already know the answer to. In all, it was a pretty good day!

I am sure after several days the novelty will wear off but, it’s hard to beat having everything at your fingertips at the same time. KT

I gave two interviews yesterday with college students that are close to graduating with a degree in hospitality finance. One was from Cornell and the other was from the University of Texas. I don’t know how they found me, but they did. I guess all the smart people turned them down. Ha

In both interviews they asked the usual questions, how I got started, what decisions were made etc. etc. At the end of both interviews they asked if I have any other advice. I told them to be careful choosing who they listen to and to choose people that have actually been on the playing field of life (done something in business) and not just giving their opinions from the stands. I told them that their professors (most likely) have been on salary their whole career and have no concept of debt, stress and the risk of running a business.

Theories and suppositions are great in a classroom, but when you need real advice on real life, choose someone that has actually strapped on a helmet, put on some cleats, got a little blood on their jersey and actually played on the field. KT

Words of encouragement are never considered insignificant when you on the receiving end. Far too often we see the opportunity to give words of encouragement, but we hold back because we don’t think it will mean much to the recipient. Trust me, words of encouragement are never considered small and insignificant to the one receiving it.  

I don’t care how important you may become in life, when someone pays you a compliment, it means something. We never know what is really behind the curtain of someone else’s life and the struggles they may be going through. A sincere well-placed encouragement or compliment could really lift their spirit.

I have also found in life, business, friends and family, a real compliment (not fake or false) can really open up a relationship and mend a broken fence or troubled past. In business it is one of the most honest ways to bridge a gap and endear yourself to a client. Never give a compliment or encouragement unless you really mean it because it will sound hollow and actually work against you. Be real and if you sincerely mean a word of encourage, by all means share it.

I have this business acquaintance that I have loathed for two decades because of something he did 24 years ago. He probably feels the same way about me. I saw an interview he did a few months ago and I sent him a note telling him how great I thought the interview was. I really meant it. His response to me melted away 24 years of hard feelings all because of a sincere and honest well place compliment.

Give it a try, it may surprise you. KT  

True story – I had purchased four fast food restaurants in 1988 and by the early 1990’s I was down for the count. I was losing money every week and had no idea how to stop the bleeding. Over the next several years I had sold off three of the four and the last one was in downtown Columbus Georgia. No pun intended; it was eating my lunch.

From about 1990-1998 I would leave home at 5am and drive to Columbus to check on the restaurants and then around lunch rime, drive to the Atlanta hotel brokerage office. That is what I did several times every week.

In 1998, we had just gotten home from our annual 4^th of July family camping trip when my manager of the last restaurant called me. That is never a good sign. I answered the call, and he told me that on the night of July the 4^th someone had shot a firework off, and it landed on the roof of the restaurant and caught the building on fire. The worst thing that can happen to a failing restaurant is to close for several months for repairs.

I remember exactly where I was standing when I took the call and I remember exactly where I was standing when I ask the manager the following question. I ask him, “how bad was the fire?” He said, “Keith, it was total loss.” I said, “ok Rudy, I will be there in a few hours.”

When I hung up the phone, I had mixed emotions……. Joy and Happiness! Ha.

See, the restaurant was fully insured, and I could not have been happier because I was finally out of the food business. KT