According to a study done by Newsweek and Brand Spark a couple years ago, RE/MAX agents are the most trusted by Americans. Based on the data, consumers want trust, safety and inclusion in the companies they do business with—in that order. In this episode of Start With A Win, Adam unpacks three ways you can build trust with people and in business.

1. Build Positive Relationships

We all have those people in our lives who we call friends, but every time we talk to them, they're gossiping about other people. Which can make you feel like you wouldn’t want to share anything really personal with them because you don’t necessarily trust the communication that occurs in that relationship. Instead, when you have really trustworthy friends, those friends also typically have trustworthy friends. This develops a web of trust going through those relationships.
 
 Positive relationships also come from learning how to resolve conflict in a positive, reciprocal manner. 

2. Develop Good Judgement & Expertise

When people trust you, they're trusting that you make decisions that are mutually in the best interest of the situation. So you can’t one-sided, selfish or an egomaniac. And this doesn’t just affect you; it impacts other people, businesses, employees, your family, your reputation. You have to use good judgment in order to create trust. You're determining what is best for this situation. And often what's best for our situation is an everybody wins outcome.

And then when you've done that, you build expertise, and people trust expertise. Expertise is the culmination of your perspective, your opinions and your ideas based upon past experience. It’s important to develop your expertise by seeking it out—seeking the experience and the knowledge necessary to make you an expert on something.

3. Be Consistent 

If you're an executive in a company, one of the key aspects that your employees seek out is consistency. Why? Because they know what you expect from them. And they know what to do in the company. There's clarity in consistency, and both of those things create trust. 

It’s also about consistently honoring your commitments and promises. And being willing to go above and beyond for people by giving them more than they expect on a consistent basis.

Episode Links:

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

Referred to as “the most famous astronaut since Neil Armstrong,” Colonel Chris Hadfield became a household name as the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. A heavily decorated astronaut, engineer, and pilot, Hadfield’s many awards include the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Cross, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. Hadfield is also a bestselling author of four books, an acclaimed musician, and the host of two internationally acclaimed television series, including National Geographic’s “One Strange Rock.”  

The conversation kicks off with stories of Col. Hadfield’s out-of-this-world music career and viral performances, including his cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” performed on the International Space Station.

Col. Hadfield also talks about the moment he was inspired to become an astronaut as he watched the first steps being taken on the moon back in 1969 as a young boy. As a fan of science fiction and all things space, it was like watching fantasy come to life. It was that moment when he made the conscious decision at 9 years old to become an astronaut—and he’s been working toward (and achieving) that goal ever since.

When it comes to developing habits to achieve your dreams, Col. Hadfield believes it begins with having a few “right on the edge of crazy” goals you want to accomplish in life. You always have to have dreams or something you’re trying to accomplish. If you don’t know what your goal is, how do you decide what you’re going to do next? 

Then do personal inventory of what you don’t have or can’t do yet in order to achieve the goals you’ve set. Ask yourself, “What could I do now to learn a skill that will inch me forward toward achieving my goal?”

“It is a joyful thing if every single day you are shifting your life a little bit away from where you were toward [what] you really value,” said Col. Hadfield.

Adam and the Colonel also discuss how to stay motivated when pursuing your dreams. He reminds us to have the maturity and pause as we enter into a new situation and to always have our long-term dreams in mind. As you’re working toward your goal, find a way to make a daily living that is somewhere within that field or involving those things you find interesting. 

“Don’t let life randomly choose for you what you’re going to do. Be active in choosing your own life.” 

Episode Links:

“Space Oddity” Cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo

https://chrishadfield.ca/books/

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

We get better by changing and growing! If you want to get better, make growing and changing as natural as breathing. Accept change, accept growth, and go after it!

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos 

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

As a founder and the CEO of Vari, Jason McCann’s mission is to help companies create environments that elevate people. Jason co-founded VariDesk in 2013, and the brand quickly became synonymous with sit-stand desks. Today, the company name is Vari, and it has grown into a workspace innovation company that provides everything high-growth businesses need to unlock the potential of their workforce. Jason and his leadership have been widely celebrated over the years, including recently being named CEO of the year by CEO Magazine in 2021.

Adam and Jason start the conversation by talking about the origins of VariDesk and the sit-stand desk. Jason developed the product with his co-founder, and they started by listing the desk in Sky Mall Magazine. It quickly became the #1 selling item in Sky Mall’s history! After years of success with the original VariDesk, the company began to expand into other functional workspace products just for their own company. But when people visited their headquarters, most people said, “I want this!” Jason and his team realized it wasn’t just the products, it was the culture that had been created. This prompted them to elevate their vision and push into creating workspaces of the future.

Our bodies were designed to be active, and when we sit down, that’s when our bodies go into recharge mode. Over the last 50-60 years, we made it so easy to sit down, and we removed all of the things that encourage movement. Jason believes that innovation happens when people get to interact and move. So Vari creates “moving workspaces” where walls and seating move, transforming static offices into living, breathing spaces.

When people shifted to working at home when COVID first hit, people were sitting on futons hunched over a laptop. Chiropractors have had record years due to tech neck! So, through COVID, Jason’s focus has been: How do we create healthy, productive workspaces so you can continue to thrive and be at your very best when you need to be?

Considered an essential business, Vari’s team returned to their office in June 2020 due to the ability to have a moveable office that could be transformed into a safe working environment. Over the last 24 months, Vari has transformed over 2,000 offices across the country. 

When it comes to the future of work, Jason believes that flexibility is here to stay. We must continue to embrace change as leaders and adopt the mentality of “innovate or die." The ability to be flexible, moveable and innovative allowed the company to thrive throughout this season.

The company was addressing a pain point. First was back pain, then it was how to buy office furniture. Vari wanted to simplify and sell furniture direct. Today, more than 4 million uses of Vari’s products can be found in 120 countries around the world. And it’s all happened by listening to the customer and doing what’s right. Adam shared a study which found that customers are twice as likely to pay for something that stops pain than something that makes them feel good. 

The two round out the conversation by touching on the importance of leading with empathy, love and grace in this new season of business. Listening as a leader is more important than ever, and we have to put ourselves in our team’s shoes. We have to understand what they’re going through so we can serve them better. That’s what we as leaders have been put on earth to do.

Episode Links:

https://www.vari.com

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

It’s easy to lose focus with so much going on in the world today—between social media, streaming and the constant influx of news. We have so much coming at us, and it’s trying to steal our focus!

In this episode of Start With A Win, Adam dives into the topic of focus and how to become more focused so you can be more productive in your everyday life.

Focus consists of two things:

1. Will Power
2. Attention

Will power is our internal energy. Our will power can be stolen through criticism, burdens, distractions, lack of sleep and nutrition, etc. So how do we build up and maintain our internal energy? 

One of the best things you can do to ensure you have plenty of internal energy is to get enough sleep! When you wake up in the morning, do you feel rested? That determines a lot of your energy for the day. It’s also important to make sure you’re getting QUALITY sleep. You’re supposed to sleep when it’s dark, you’re supposed to be awake when it’s light! That’s what’s called circadian rhythms. And that means… Remove the blue light from your room! A good night’s sleep leads to a good energy level in the morning.

Ultradian rhythms are the cycles of energy throughout your day. Look for the times when you have the highest level of focus, and those are the times when you should plan to do your best work.

Check out Adam’s morning routine, beginning at 4:30am!

• Drink a glass of water, take vitamins and MCT oil, have a cup of coffee
• Work for an hour
• Go to the gym, listen to a podcast
• Creative time

Attention is a learned habit or skill. Figure out what you’re going to work on, and shut down everything else! 

The combination of will-power and attention is how you develop focus.

If you feel like you’re burdened and running around all day long, you’ve not found that window. You need to look for those times when you’re looking for a pad and paper because you’ve got an idea to write down. When those ideas are generating, your brain is saying it’s ready to go to work! 

When is your window of focus in your day?

Episode Links:

Circadian Rhythms: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/circadian-rhythm

Ultradian Rhythms: https://www.bluezones.com/2020/06/how-taking-breaks-can-increase-productivity-boost-energy-levels-and-help-you-show-up-in-your-life/

Adam’s Whoop Band: https://www.whoop.com

MCT Oil: https://www.webmd.com/diet/mct-oil-health-benefits-common-uses

Baroque Music Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4DvteColbVCrs7iIgc4r6x?si=33fc11a8997f4db6

Lo-Fi Beats Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/71d99pLh0TpbdIJESHAsDN?si=0be9d1740f6c4aa3

Bullet-Proof Coffee: https://www.thecookierookie.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/

Collagen Powder: https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Proteins-Collagen-Peptides-Pasture-Raised/dp/B00K6JUG4K

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

When you lead, you influence. So that means it's crucial that you take your role seriously as a leader!

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos 

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Ría, the Founder and CEO of RíOrganize, is a SoCal native who is loving life in Texas as a wife, mother, and business owner. She's always had a knack for creativity, but it wasn't until becoming a mom of 3 that she began to appreciate the stress relief organization can offer, which was the foundation of her luxury home organization business. As someone who is messy by nature, Ría loves sharing her tools with others. As she says, “You don’t have to be born with it—organization can be learned, practiced and perfected.” 

Since starting RíOrganize, her company has helped thousands of families transform their spaces and has equipped each one with the tools and knowledge needed to make organization stick long after the team is gone. She has also grown a following on Instagram where she loves pulling the curtain and sharing behind the scenes of her family life. 

Ría shares about her journey from a naturally messy person to owning a nationwide company that helps others organize their homes. Organization was something she had to practice and teach herself. After getting married and having children, she realized how prioritizing organization actually gave her the freedom and ability to be a better wife, mom and professional.

Ría started RíOrganize in 2016 as a side hustle after years in the commercial real estate industry. What started as a few jobs here and there for friends and family has now grown to a dozen employees and four locations across the country. She’s now had the opportunity to work with many celebrities, including Chrissy Teigen and James Charles. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter the money or fame, everyone needs organization in their life… It’s less about gifting people organization and more about giving people back their time.” 

Ría explains that the state of your home is going to affect you mentally. Organization systems and processes set you up for little wins throughout your day. Having systems dialed in are the most important part of that.

She also shares that one of the most important things you can learn is knowing when you can’t do something by yourself. It’s what helped her business scale—like knowing that accounting was just not her thing and hiring someone to help with that instead!

Episode Links:

Instagram @RíOrganize

https://www.RíOrganize.com

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

John Featherston launched RISMedia in 1980, and it has since become the leader in real estate information, servicing more than 500,000 of the residential real estate industry’s most productive and successful agents, brokers and related service professionals. 

A thought leader and frequent speaker, John was awarded the 2015 RE/MAX “On the Shoulders of Giants” Award, recognizing his longtime support of the real estate industry.

Whether you’re in the real estate world, or a completely different line of work, how information affects your industry is important. Information is currency, and information in the real estate sector has to be accurate, it can’t be speculative.

John shares about the beginnings of RISMedia when there were no personal computers. If you had information, it was difficult to parse it out and get it to potential clients. John understood that the value of information in real estate is not location, location, location; it’s the ability of purveying information to prospects. It’s also about proving to potential clients that you are the right person to be guiding them through the process.

John encourages listeners to spend time every morning looking for the latest, bite-sized piece of information that they can share with someone that day. He commissions us to be the purveyors of the information our neighbors want to know about the real estate industry. 

“You need to be up on what’s happening, and you need to be pushing [it] out to your sphere of influence, so they look at you as their go-to resource.”

John and Adam also explore the topic of good information versus bad information, and how to make sure you are always getting the best information possible. 

John also shares about the many tools and resources available through RISMedia that can equip them with the knowledge and information they need to be the best real estate professionals possible.

• RISMedia's CEO & Leadership Exchange, Washington, DC Sept 6 - 8, 2022
• RISMedia's Premier - exclusive content for members
• RISMedia's 2022 Real Estate Newsmakers, announced Feb. 1
• RISMedia's 2022 Power Broker Report, launching April 1

Episode Links:

https://www.rismedia.com

ACESocial

https://acesocial.rismedia.com

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/ 

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos 

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Brian Reese is the founder and CEO of VA Claims Insider, and he is one of the world's leading experts in veteran benefits. Through his company, he’s helped millions of veterans secure their financial future since 2013. A former active-duty air force officer, Brian deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. A veteran himself who personally struggled with the disability claim system, Brian started a company that coaches veterans through the claim process. Now, he has written the book, You Deserve It: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Veteran Benefits You’ve Earned.

Following his last tour in Afghanistan in 2011, Brian faced many mental and physical issues upon his return home. However, he didn’t want to talk about these things which led to some very destructive tendencies. However, it was through this journey that he learned how to open up and be vulnerable. Brian challenges listeners to ask themselves these questions: Are you being the real you? And are you being honest with family and friends? 

Brian’s true breakthrough was getting out of his own way by being honest about what he struggled with. Outside of his wife and children, his family and friends didn’t previously know  any of his true struggles. But when he started opening up, it was as if he saw his entire life open up. Eventually, other veterans started reaching out and sharing how much they resonated with his struggles and his stories. He watched that vulnerability lead to a movement of veterans helping veterans, paving the way for VA Claims Insider. 

Through VA Claims Insider, Brian’s team helps veterans get the benefits they’ve earned for their service. They partner them with an expert coach who will walk with them through the VA disability claims process from beginning to end, ensuring they are never alone and making what’s confusing very simple and easy.

Brian talks about the process of writing his book, You Deserve It: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Veteran Benefits You’ve Earned, which sold 10,000 copies in its first month of release! The book details all of the federal and state benefits as well as many other discount programs available to veterans and their families.

The two round out the conversation by talking about Brian’s journey as an entrepreneur and how he carried his military experience into a growing, thriving business. And his two pieces of advice to fellow entrepreneurs? Be a self-motivated self-starter and persevere through adversity by being willing to constantly re-invent yourself.

Episode Links:

https://vaclaimsinsider.com

Free E-Book: You Deserve It: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Veteran Benefits You’ve Earned:

https://www.youdeserveitfree.com/freedom1

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

Connect with Adam:

https://www.startwithawin.com/

https://www.facebook.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos

https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430