Keep More of What You Earn

Hello Friends. I have been thinking a lot about last week. The news was heavy, and many of us felt shocked and a little raw. Whatever our viewpoints, loss has a way of reminding us how brief life is and how much our words and work matter. Take a breath with me.

Out of respect, we slow down for a moment. Then we keep going with more care. Families still need guidance, contracts still need clarity, and your business still needs a plan that supports the people you serve.

So today we will focus on what you can control. We will trim waste without cutting value, offer smart upgrades that truly help clients, strengthen team habits that share credit, and put a few simple exercises from Mindset into practice.

My hope is that we honor people by doing our work with kindness, clarity, and excellence. Coffee nearby? Good. Let’s get to it, together.

— Steve

ACCOUNTANT ANGLE

 Expense Trimming Tactics

Profit grows fastest when waste shrinks. Start with a 45-minute “three-bucket” audit: Keep, Renegotiate, Cancel. Pull the last 90 days of card and bank activity, then tag every recurring charge.

For Renegotiate, open each vendor’s pricing page and chat support. Ask for a retention or annual-billing discount, then document new renewal dates on your calendar. Review telecom, cloud storage, e-signature seats, photo editors, and social schedulers.

Next, kill overlap. If your CRM offers email automation, sunset the standalone sender. If your storage tier is oversized, right-size it. Shop insurance and merchant processing once a year; even a 10 basis-point drop on processing fees compounds.

Finally, add a simple guardrail: require a one-paragraph ROI case before any new subscription and a 30-day trial with a calendar reminder to decide.

Small trims, repeated quarterly, turn into real owner pay.

BUSINESS BOOSTER

Upselling and Cross-Selling That Helps Clients

Ethical upselling is about fit, not pressure. For sellers, package a premium launch: pro photography, 3D tour, and a social teaser reel. Price it transparently and share two short case studies where time-to-offer dropped.

For buyers, offer an after-close concierge menu: vetted painters, flooring, smart-home installs, and energy-efficiency upgrades. You are not pushing products; you are curating solutions that save time and regret.

Be clear about any referral arrangements, and list at least two options per service to avoid conflicts. Create one-page menus with pricing ranges, timelines, and before-and-after photos.

Train the script: “Based on your goals, here are two upgrade paths that usually add the most value.” Track acceptance rates and client satisfaction, then refine the menu quarterly.

Done right, upselling feels like white-glove service, and clients happily tell their friends.

COACHES CORNER

Team Wins Beat Solo Streaks

A strong team mindset rests on three habits: shared clarity, shared credit, and shared learning.

Start Monday with a 12-minute huddle. Each person states one weekly outcome, one metric, and one help request. That is clarity.

When a lead converts, spotlight the handoffs that made it possible. The ISA who booked. The marketer who cut the reel. The agent who closed. Public praise makes collaboration sticky.

Finish big moments with a five-minute micro-debrief. What happened, what helped, what we will do next time. Capture the best lines and checklists in a living team playbook. Rotate ownership so the playbook is everyone’s job.

As shared wins stack up, performance rises and egos relax. Clients notice the calm and the speed.

BOOK OF THE MONTH

“Mindset” by Carol Dweck

Dweck’s research shows that how we interpret struggle changes results.

Language swap. Add “yet.” “I do not have the perfect pricing script yet.” It keeps your brain in learning mode.

Process goals. For each big target, set one daily behavior and track only the behavior, for example two pricing role-plays per day. The outcome follows the reps.

Error log. After a miss, write three lines: what I tried, what happened, what I will test next. Then test it.

Praise the process. When you celebrate wins, highlight the tactic that led to the outcome, not “talent.” That builds repeatable confidence.

Finally, teach one idea to a client or partner this week. Teaching locks in the habit. Small shifts in language and practice compound into more resilient execution when deals get tough.

☝️ Go ahead and click the image to order the book from Amazon ☝️ 

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Residential Real Estate Market Snapshot — National Association of Realtors

Why You Should Read: Fresh national and regional data to anchor pricing talks this week.

Mortgage Rates Hit a New Low Before Fed Meeting — HousingWire

Why You Should Read: Rate moves can spark buyer urgency and refinance chatter.

Five Years of Change in Real Estate — Real Estate News

Why You Should Read: Use these trend lines to update your listing and buyer presentations.

TO-DO LIST

Your Next Move — Turn Insights into Action

✅ Run a 90-day subscription audit and cancel one non-essential tool today.

✅ Build a one-page “premium launch” or “concierge upgrades” menu.

✅ Schedule a 12-minute Monday huddle and a five-minute micro-debrief after your next challenge.

✅ Try the “yet” language swap in one client conversation.

✅ Share one article above with your local take in a client email.