Build a Business that Runs Without You

A fuller life will follow with Fred Sed, Owner/Operator, Fred Sed Group

When Fred Sed of Orange County, California’s Fred Sed Group, and his family started talking about taking an epic cross-country RV trip, it felt like a distant dream. Fred rarely took even a week off; this trip would be for weeks on end — during peak summer sales season.

Part of what attracted Fred to partnering with PLACE was the opportunity to use real estate to build an experiential life, and to gain some much-needed leverage to enjoy true business freedom. Both benefits became reality this summer, when Fred completely unplugged for nearly two (consecutive!) months. He shares what he learned, how he did it, and why you should, too.

Define Your Why

One of the reasons I took the vacation is because, personally, I wanted to set business aside and focus completely on my family. Professionally, I wanted to purposely pull myself out of the actual day-to-day to see if I had a business that could function in my absence.

List Your Tasks

I wrote down everything that I do to run the business and lead my team of 20, as well as my activities for real estate sales, because while I still handle about 40 homes a year, the team does more than 200 units. I assigned someone to handle each of my own tasks, giving each of them complete ownership.

Prepare Your Mind

I had amazing coaching conversations with Ben Kinney and Chris Suarez about the importance of mindset and how to mentally prepare for what my business should look like when I returned to it.

Heading out of town, I was at a crossroads about how to make the biggest difference in this industry’s future: continue selling real estate or start changing the lives of people in my organization. The latter’s where I really want to excel in the next five years; helping 50 to 100 agents or staff members sell enough homes each year that they, too, can experience financial and time freedom.

Look For The Gaps

If you’re running (or want to build) a team, you must understand how it ticks and what the gaps are. Then, coach the gap so you can close the gap. Time away quickly helped me see our problem areas:

• Lagging conversions

Our team was doing a great job with the number of dials and conversations, but we weren’t converting. Stepping back helped me easily identify this problem. Since, we’ve been working on conversion nonstop and took more listings in the 35 days since I’ve been back than we did all year previously.

• Lacking leadership development

Even before my departure, I knew I needed to boost investment in my leaders to help them excel. That’s why I’m thankful for the unlimited training opportunities we have at PLACE. I strategically place members of my team in classes and calls so PLACE can help train them, rather than drawing from my own limited time. Vacation taught me:

• Your business doesn’t have to depend on you

I pulled myself out entirely: no calls, recaps, meetings, training, deals, problems… nothing. When I came back, I realized I was doing so much prior to leaving that actually didn’t require my oversight. My team handled it all beautifully, and continues owning it, which naturally gives me more of my own time back.

• Power in partnership

We’ve succeeded because we take what PLACE offers and strategically (and consistently) implement one thing at a time. Implemented knowledge equals wisdom.

As I turn to growing leaders, I can confidently say a lot of my team members at the Fred Sed Group would not be able to surpass their opportunity goals on their own without PLACE partnership. I would not be able to help them nearly as effectively alone. Because of my partnership with PLACE, I can guarantee any opportunity my team members want. You can, too.