Foggy Drives and Sunny Mornings

I’m over at my Dad’s in Sandpoint, Idaho this weekend. For a variety of reasons I headed over early yesterday, like 5:45am early.

I love the drive East, the beauty of the mountains, the way my shoulders relax when I hit the wide open spaces of Eastern Washington, all of it. Yesterday I drove into the sunrise, and it was beautiful. Watching the sky change colors, the mist lift off the ground, the sun coming up over the horizon. Stunning. It was like watching a Maui sunset, in reverse.

But on parts of my drive, the mist would turn to dense fog, and then suddenly it would dissolve into the most glorious sunshine.

This happened several times, and it got me thinking about where we are at right now.

There is the typical end of the year dance between confidence and uncertainty for the coming year. And then you add in interest rates, inventory levels, buyers agency and class action law suits. Before you know it, any rosy outlook you had has vanished and your stuck in a fog bank not sure which way to turn.

And so it goes. One minute you’re basking in the warm sunshine of possibility and the next you are stuck in a fog bank of caution. The question is, how many fog banks can you go through before you start to wonder if the trip is worth it?

Here and my take aways from yesterday:

Fog is legit, when you drive through it, you can’t pretend it isn’t there. Your focus sharpens, you have to be very clear about what is happening around you and your ability to react to it. Our market and environment are different than they have been. Trying to apply the same tactics to your business next year that you did 3 years ago will not work. But there is a path through it. Now is the time to get educated, have a plan and work the plan.

The fog never lasted long. My immediate thought whenever I hit the fog was ‘how long will this last and much is this going to slow me down’? I’m an ‘I can’t drive 55’ kind of gal, so taking my foot off the gas on a road trip is never fun, but sometimes necessary. (For the record, I made it to my Dad’s in record time yesterday. The fog didn’t slow me down at all.)  When things happen, it’s easy to shift our focus from moving forward to worrying about the impact. If you keep moving forward the impact will be minimal to none. Yes, you might take smaller steps or move more cautiously, all of that is okay. But keep moving forward, don’t get stuck in the fog.

On the other side of the fog was the most spectacular sunshine. Every single time. I do believe that there are sunny days ahead for our industry and us as agents. It’s cliche, but this is truly our time to shine.

Keep going. Know that you got this. NOW is the time to build your tribe and work you plan.

To your success!
Nicole

Feel like you could use some help with both? Join the encore session of Energy + Systems = Business Planning Success that Diane Terry and I are doing December 12th.