The business of March Madness is here!

It’s a time where most of us fill out our brackets at work and wait to see who will win the office competition.

It’s also a time when we see the underdog win and overachieve on one of the biggest sports stages in the world.

For many early-stage entrepreneurs, we are lucky if we’ve even noticed that it’s almost over.

My first year in business has not included much time watching basketball games, that’s for sure!

The desire to provide an excellent experience, build quality relationships, while delivering it at a reasonable cost to our clients has not come with many days off.

This has caused me to think about ways that I can better improve our approach to serving our retail, restaurant, and B2B brands, while also making sure I stay in the best physical, emotional, and mental health.

As we approach our first anniversary, we are implementing several key strategies we learned from Trevor Hammond about building a better business and experience for the sake of our clients, while keeping our physical and mental health as a company important.

When we interviewed Trevor on our podcast, we discussed a few strategies he has implemented in his professional life that has allowed him to build a great business, while being able to take 155 days off from work every year!

If that’s not a major win in business, I don’t know what is!

CREATING A VISION

The first principle that Trevor suggests in building a great business is creating a vision that is greater than just making money. Trevor works in the mortgage industry helping people make better financial decisions, including how their mortgage fits into the life they want to create. By him creating a vision that was focused on the positive impact he wanted to make in the lives of his clients, he was able to do work that mattered to him and the clients he serves. Creating a vision also provided Trevor with the sustained energy and focus needed to create the quality content for his clients that helped them be more successful financially.

Talking with Trevor made me think about my life’s mission and the purpose of the Northwest Advisory Group. Like Trevor, I’m not in the financial services industry because I’m so in love with the products and services we provide, but rather for the opportunity to build a great life while helping our partners and clients protect and build successful businesses. Our vision is to be a key player on a great business team, helping them overachieve against the competition.

DIFFERENTIATION

The second principle Trevor suggests in building a great business is finding ways to differentiate yourself from the other brands in your industry. Trevor has done this by penning “Borrow Smart, Repay Smart”, A 7-Step Process For Building & Managing The Wealth In Your House, and managing numerous blogs, while also developing unique strategies for people to leverage their mortgage. By Trevor focusing on unique ways to serve his ideal clients, homeowners and other loan officers, he has positioned himself as the authority on how to make smart financial decisions and has built a great business as a result.

UNIQUE ABILITY

The third and final principle Trevor suggests in building a great business is by focusing on your unique abilities as an entrepreneur. Trevor, a student of the great Dan Sullivan, evaluated the key areas of his business that he did very well and decided to solely focus his efforts in those areas. He then hired people that were better in the areas where he wasn’t strong. As Trevor restructured his business around his unique abilities, he was able to perform at peak production levels while also being able to enjoy vacations with his family for weeks at a time, uninterrupted. 

CONCLUSION

In closing, I’d like to congratulate Trevor for, in my opinion, building a great vision, business, and career. He has built a roadmap that all entrepreneurs can gain great perspective and value from. As I continue to listen to the interview we did together, I continue to make improvements and adjustments to the message and vision of the Northwest Advisory Group.

I hope that you too are inspired by his message and take steps to grow your business to new levels of success! Make sure you check out his blog and forward it to anyone you think may find it helpful!