Hello FROM Lee Milteer!

Sometimes I wonder if life presents me with the same situations over and over until I actually learn the lessons from them.  I am sure most everyone realizes this after dealing with certain unpleasant situations repeatedly.  Likely you can see a pattern that you have not been your own Advocate in various business practices.  The challenge for you is the ability to see patterns in your behaviors that are not serving you and causing you to lose power in some way.  All that programming we have received since early childhood to listen to The Advice from Experts is not always Truth, or even for our highest and best good!  Clearly, we have to have some discernment of who has a tainted agenda and who is coming from integrity. The Goal is to discern what information and data is beneficial to us and what is not beneficial.

Case in point

Last week was the End of an Adventure with my Commercial Office in Virginia Beach, Va.  I put it up for Sale in October 2020.  Several Commercial Real Estate Agents, so-called “Experts,” told me that I had no chance at all of selling my small commercial building for the price I listed it for due to Covid-19 panic.  These “Experts” also asserted that I would be lucky if I could sell it at the price I purchased it 16 years ago.  The obvious reality is that in October 2020 I did not have experience in predicting the outcome since no one in our lifetime had gone through such lockdowns, restrictions, working from home, and a gloomy prediction that commercial prosperities would flood the markets and be hard to sell. NO ONE has a Crystal Ball that could show the real future since the external world was shifting so fast.  The best I could do was do all my due diligence and proceed forward on my desired goal to reinvent the way my Publishing Company operated.

Out of the blue, several unsolicited Commercial Real Estate agents, strangers, saw my listing and proceeded to force their opinions on me that I was either misinformed or delusional for listing my building at the price I did and that I should lower it right away for any chance of selling it.  Admittedly, all this uninvited advice really rattled me for a few days while I pondered if they were right and whether I was deluded about my prospects.  After some very serious meditation and inner questioning, the answer to my inner predicament presented itself.

Time to Cash In Some Chips

I reached out and called in some favors to do some more in-depth research and comparables of commercial property in my area.  I found not only a recent sale that justified my asking price for the property, I actually discovered that there were only two Properties in a six-city area this size, for sale, with the right frontage visibility, business zoning, parking and physical building in excellent condition, and you could move right in. My property was unique and perfect for individual businesses such as lawyers, health care offices, or service-type businesses that wanted to own their own property and no longer rent.  In spite of the SO-CALLED EXPERTS’ dire warnings that I overpriced my property listing, I conducted 35 showings of the building within a three-week time period!  I had displayed a building sign that said:  For Lease OR Sale.  Only two inquiries were about leasing the building, and both were incredibly weak and clearly not the kind of tenants I would even consider.  The Governor of the State of Virginia recently passed a pandemic-related law prohibiting the eviction of tenants who did not pay their rents.  This news development drove me to a clear business decision it was best to sell versus rent.  So what did I do??  I listened to my inner knowing and did exactly the opposite of the so-called experts.

 I RAISED the price of the building $25,000!  I SOLD the listing in two weeks AS IS without any monetary offsets or additional work on the building! Was this luck?  Hell NO this was not luck.  This resulted from my clear determination and intention to honor myself for all the many years of improvements and upkeep on that property that made it so attractive to a new owner.

Saying Thank You to the (Not So) Nice Experts

In hindsight, I wish I had kept the phone numbers and email addresses of the so-called EXPERTS who felt the need to not only inject themselves into my business and take it upon themselves to try squelching my own intuition, knowledge and abilities to succeed in my own goal to sell my commercial property.  WHY do I wish I had kept these people’s contact information?  So I could THANK THEM for challenging me to RETHINK my positioning and do more research!  Their disbelief in what I could manifest in life was a huge GIFT!!  They actually made me mad and told me I could not do something, which only compelled me to additional action and investigation!

I can only guess there had to be some emotional pushback from licensed commercial Real Estate agents (which I used to be many years ago before I went into the speaking and training business).  Maybe they disliked me breaking the rules and literally listing my property on a site to sell commercial property that caters almost exclusively for commercial agents. Most professionals dislike outsiders coming in and breaking the rules, since that undermines their Positioning.  Maybe the Realtor’s scolding solicitations sprang from hopes to come in and offer me a low-ball price and flip the property, since they had tried to undermine the value of it in my own mind.   Other people’s views and limitations and restrictions are not mine.  I operate from a position that I can figure things out and learn what I need done.  I operate from the position in life I can find people and data to assist me to make decisions when I need them.  I have never followed other people’s paths.

DIY When You Can

For those who do deal in Real Estate, it pleases me to share I also paid NO commission on either side of the deal. I performed all the work and found a buyer who used only his own lawyer.  I also invested massive hours of planning and construction work since my original purchase of this building 16 years ago to completely overhaul it with renovations into suites to make it the gem it is today.   I clearly possess the ability to sell, so why would I not take the first swipe at keeping my hard-earned profits by selling the building myself instead of just turning it over to someone else to profit from?

By the end of March 2021, I successfully closed and moved out of my building. The property now will evolve into a wonderful Dentist office next. I enjoyed 16 years of my Milteer Publishing Company there and lots of Adventures!  I have now moved to another building I own and established more efficient space for office operations.  During the past year when life completely flipped upside down, I find that I no longer needed that much space for staff, meetings, or product storage.  Literally I cut my space in half, moved towards more virtual staff, and released a huge amount of work each month that was tied to the old dream.  I now have a new dream that will create more resources for marketing and expanding my businesses with less building upkeep.  Last fall my intuition and instincts kept giving me signals that after 16 years I needed to reevaluate where my time, energy, and money resources were being used, and what ASSETS had now become LIABILITIES.

Know Thyself

What I know to be true is my inner knowledge has more power than my limited human abilities. When I follow these urges and promptings I always benefit.  When I do not follow my intuition, I end up losing and then mad at myself for not listening to what has proved so many times to always be correct.

Of course, sometimes you need Expert advice, and it would be foolish not to seek it out and pay for it when the subject at hand is not in your wheelhouse.  Since I had not been in commercial Real Estate for years and laws had changed, I did not go in my deal naked.  I hired a well-respected Real Estate Agent who also acts as an investor and a Coach to others in the Real Estate business to give me advice on current Virginia law and sound business advice on how to proceed.  He also read the legal negotiation agreements and helped in the process of creating the sales documents.  Instead of a commission I paid him a fair consulting fee and saved myself about $30,000 in commissions since I was doing all the grunt work.  Of course, Real Estate Attorneys joined us for closing, but they could not help me with the intricate details of good negotiations.  I created a Team of players to help me reach my goal without going through normal, standard channels since this kind of deal is in my wheelhouse and I know an opportunity when I see one.

Be Your Own Advocate and Don’t Leave Money on the Table!

The point of sharing this adventure is to remind you that you must be a powerful Advocate for yourself and not just turn over important things to outside people UNLESS you have had personal experience that proves they are the real deal and will work on your behalf for your highest and best good.  Also, to not leave MONEY on the table!!

This Selling of my Real Estate is not the first time SO-CALLED OUTSIDE EXPERTS have tried to interfere with my goals and success.  I could tell tons of stories about experiences with bad Financial Advisors, Lawyers, Accountants, Doctors, other Speakers, Coaches, Authors, Business Experts, etc. who all have at some time TOLD ME I WAS DELUSIONAL for thinking I could achieve a goal, and for NOT following their advice.  I always joke:  Clearly you have not met me!!  I actively now work hard to be an ADVOCATE for myself first and consciously only follow advice that my due diligence proves will be beneficial for me. I’m not just going to give away my power to make decisions because of someone’s opinion which may not be correct for me and my situation. This skill takes presence of mind and a lot of discernment. I am also aligned with what I call an Inner Circle Board of Directors who are happy to bless me with their wisdom when I need it.

Saying Thank You to the Nice Experts

Do not get me wrong, I have certainly paid qualified, aligned experts to give me advice that I have taken but ONLY after my Gut (my intuition) feels I have gotten sound advice. Again, I sincerely believe in everyone, before engaging EXPERTS, serious researching and exercising due diligence before taking any advice or actions.  I have in my lifetime given away my power too often listening to people who have their own Agendas. I have taken advice that has not only proved to be WRONG but also financially bad advice that cost me time, money, and heartache.  I’ve come to learn that discernment of who and what you listen to is beyond crucial to make it in a world of hidden agendas and some dark people who pretend to be good people.

Like you, I dislike leaving money on the table and missing out on opportunities. In today’s world of great illusions, deciding what to act on and WHO to trust requires careful thought.

It is imperative you LEARN to trust yourself before you take action.  Mistakes cost money and time and also weigh you down with the emotional baggage of knowing you got fooled by others you trusted, whose advice was not beneficial or profitable to you.

Lee Milteer

Performance and Productivity Coach

Millionaire Smarts Coach

www.milteer.com

PS

Take your life head-on with a seasoned, been-around-the-block Productivity and Performance coach Lee Milteer! Lee is the founder of the Millionaire Smarts® Coaching Program, as well as a best-selling author, and Award-Winning Professional Speaker. She has counseled and trained more than a million people throughout her career.

Book Lee to speak at your virtual or live events or leverage her Intuitive Skills to achieve your big Life Goals by signing up for some one-on-one coaching. For more information visit our coaching web page at www.milteer.com or email [email protected].