德州2021十大正规彩票app经纪人® Chairman Jef Conn believes in your unlimited potential. He wants you to seek out a mentor or leadership program to learn from longtime practitioners. He wants you to join a committee—any committee—和 gain as much knowledge as you can. Most importantly, he wants you to exp和 your idea of what’s possible.

为什么? Because he knows that there’s room for success for everybody. “You may not be one of those agents doing $100 million in sales a year, 但你可以做到,他说. “这是一个学习的过程. There are limitless opportunities for you to be successful.”

康恩也相信自己的潜力. If he wants it 和 works hard enough toward it, he believes he can achieve it. 他澄清说,这不是不劳而获的自信. It stems from his type-A personality 和 abundance mindset.

这种态度是他成功的秘诀. Conn赢得了William C. Jennings Award for commercial transaction of the year in 2016. 他是2017年值得关注的德克萨斯州2021十大正规彩票app经纪人®, the same year he served as president of the Lubbock Association of REALTORS®. The Lubbock 协会 named him REALTOR® of the Year in 2018.

Now, at age 37, Conn is the youngest chairman in 德州2021十大正规彩票app经纪人® history. And don’t get him wrong: the leadership roles 和 recognition are great. But the awards, the accolades, 和 the accomplishments are not what drives him.

他说:“我很想知道自己能走多远。. “我不限制我应该卖多少钱, 或者我能把生意做多大, 或者我们能创新多少. 我对我周围的人也有这种感觉. 我总是鼓励他们.”

商业地产——一个完美的选择

Conn于2007年5月15日开始他的2021十大正规彩票app职业生涯. He was intrigued by real e状态 conversations with his friend, who was working as an assistant to a commercial broker. He liked what he heard 和 got his real e状态 license.

商业 real e状态—specifically office 和 industrial—was a good fit for him. 康恩是个擅长数字的人, so commercial’s returns on investment 和 dollars per square foot appealed to him. Plus, the commercial sector typically sticks to regular business hours.

He went to work for Coldwell Banker 商业 in Lubbock. Dwight Thomason, the firm’s broker who specialized in industrial, took him under his wing. The first property Conn ever sold was a red metal barn in Plainview. “Dwight asked me if I wanted to h和le it,” he remembers. “We had these interactions with the client, 和 I had no idea what I was doing. 我很感激他每一步都在我身边. 我不得不说,‘让我给你回电话’,很多次. 这是一次很好的学习经历.”

Those early years taught Conn the importance of nurturing personal relationships. “It’s about checking in when they don’t need something,他说. “It’s about being a sounding board even when there’s no transaction going on. It allows me to become my clients’ go-to person in the real e状态 world.”

Repeat business is an essential component of Conn’s business strategy. That long-term lease or initial property use may not stay the same forever, he reasons. Several years down the line, when those clients have real e状态 needs, they will remember him.

“我和我的客户谈了很多. 我尽量一天开三次会. When there’s a gap, I might stop by a former client’s unannounced 和 chat. 我可能会说,‘带我看看仓库. 你在市场上看到了什么?“在COVID期间,问题是供应链. 现在是你是否有足够的员工. 我问,‘痛点是什么?’”

The people are Conn’s favorite part of commercial real e状态. He loves working with salt-of-the-earth folks, the kind of people who wear their name on their shirt. “Industrial is not the sexy type of real e状态,” Conn jokes. “这是肮脏的. 很热. 你打开了头顶的门. 有时你会经过危险物质. When I got into it, there weren’t many people doing that work. 但我还是坚持了下来. In industrial—as well as office—the people you meet are just so nice. Plus, I get to see how the widgets are made for the oil 和 gas economies as well as agriculture. 太有趣了.”

Sixteen years later, Conn remains with Coldwell Banker 商业. “我为这种一致性感到自豪,”他说. “我没有跳来跳去. We have a great team we built here 和 we have respect for each other.”

He is constantly learning 和 growing in his profession. Conn got his Certified 商业 Investment Member (CCIM) designation in 2010. He then earned the Society of Industrial 和 Office REALTORS® (SIOR) designation in 2018; that really opened doors for him.

“I’ll get calls saying, ‘We see you have this designation.“我曾与特斯拉和亚马逊合作过. 这些公司都有全国性的经纪人. 我会得到非常重要的客户, but also a milk factory that you’d only know if you were in the industry. 这个称号确实能建立你的声誉. In my market, there may be 25 CCIMs, but only three or four SIORs. 列表变小了很多.”

“自由时间? 我想我听说过……”

工作和生活的平衡对康恩来说一直很重要. When he isn’t working on his business or helping his industry, 康恩喜欢和他的伴侣在一起, 车道, 还有他们的两条狗, 金毛多犬科尔和拉布拉多犬宾利. “我们带着狗去公路旅行,”他说. “You can find us hiking 和 fly-fishing or on a beach in Mexico.”

康恩要感谢志愿者领导人的家属, adding that the 协会’s work could not be done without them. “Without 车道 taking care of life at home, it’d be impossible.”

绰绰有余

康恩坚信要鼓舞他人. 在他的主席就职演说中, he told members to speak up when they see something positive in their workplace, 协会, 和行业.

“I believe there’s more than enough to go around for everybody,他说. “我追求富足,而不是匮乏. 感恩,而不是消极. 把人扶起来更有趣. I want to promote volunteering 和 leadership as an uplifting 和 beneficial experience. I want to hear people say that their year in leadership was the best, not that they’re glad it’s done 和 they don’t want to do that again.”

Just because he’s convinced of his potential doesn’t mean he never doubts his abilities. “I feel like I’m constantly in this cycle of I made it 和 I’m a total imposter, you know? 我有信心,我也做了功课. 我知道我该知道的. 每笔交易都增加了我的知识和技能水平. 我时而谦卑,时而祝福, 和思考, 等着下次会议的结果吧.”

He had heard some REALTORS® say you couldn’t be successful in 协会 leadership 和 business at the same time; the business would suffer. When he got into leadership, though, he took it as a personal challenge to prove that idea wrong. “It is possible to close a deal 和 then show up to the board meeting,” he asserts. “这两者并不相互排斥.”

Conn于2019年毕业于NAR领导学院. “I stay involved 和 made lasting relationships with my fellow graduates,他说. “我每天都和他们说话. They’re not only great friends, but if I need to talk through something, I can reach out.”

志愿服务对企业的好处

Conn first got involved in volunteering for the REALTOR® 协会 by serving on the commercial committee of his local 协会. 他开始在他的市场中建立联系.

After a while, Conn attended 状态 meetings 和 signed up for committees. “我真的很享受这个过程,”他说. “我周围都是非常有才华的人. 工作人员非常乐于助人,给我们提供了指导. I kept enjoying the relationships 和 continued to serve 和 just kept coming back.”

Conn has also been active with the Young Professionals Network. “这个团体是包容的, 友好的, 和有趣的, 和 it’s a great entrance into what service is at the local, 状态, 国家层面,他说. “这对我来说是最好的事情. I was with some very successful agents, 和 they helped challenge me.” It also taught him how to serve as a volunteer leader while honing his craft 和 taking care of his business.

Conn went on to serve on the YPN Advisory Board at the national level. Getting involved with NAR was a whole other level for Conn. “There are hundreds of different ways you can serve,他说.

Volunteering also taught him a lot about running his real e状态 business. “I’ve learned more about marketing 和 building relationships,他说. “当我去参加会议时,它就像一个家庭聚会. You shouldn’t just see these people a few times a year. 你得打个电话联系一下. 关注他们的社交媒体. 每个人都知道一些你不知道的事情. 在某些方面,每个人都比你聪明. 他们的做法有什么不同? 志愿服务改善了我的生意.”

在NAR工作期间, 他从事通讯工作, 包括NAR的“That 's Who We R”活动, 和 that taught him about the consumer side of marketing. Conn enjoyed his experiences learning about NAR’s finances while on the NAR Finance Committee. He currently serves on the Real Property Operations Committee, 由谁来管理协会的商业地产.

乐观展望未来

康恩2024年的首要任务? “别搞砸了,”他笑着说.

他并不担心. Conn is excited to work with the talented 2024 领导 Team: Chairman-Elect Christy Gessler, 秘书/司库詹妮弗·沃霍, 前主席马库斯·菲普斯, 以及总裁兼首席执行官特拉维斯·凯斯勒. “我们是一个团队,”他说. “会员是我们的全部关注点. It’s a great environment, 和 the members will be well-served.”

今年将面临许多挑战. Late last year, 德州2021十大正规彩票app经纪人® was named in two lawsuits, QJ团队等人诉德克萨斯州2021十大正规彩票app经纪人协会等人马丁等人诉德克萨斯州2021十大正规彩票app经纪人协会等人. Conn sees an opportunity to be a great communicator for the 协会, ensuring the 协会 communicates 和 explains what is going on to members.

他希望交流是双向的. Conn feels it’s important to have a commercial point of view at the table. “There’s fewer of us commercial members 和 we’re not always involved in leadership,” he explains. “我们有点独来独往. 当有人在领导的时候, commercial practitioners may feel comfortable enough to call if they have a question. 他们知道我会理解的.”

Conn hopes to bring his positivity 和 enthusiasm to everything he does this year. “So often we encourage people to say something when something’s wrong,” he notes. “但我们不会分享积极的想法. 我们不采取额外的步骤. I remember that when I received a compliment on my work—especially when I was just starting out—it made me feel like a million bucks. 我们都很忙,压力很大. If we take the time to share a kind word 和 gratitude, it opens doors 和 builds relationships.”

康恩随时准备为您和这个行业工作. 但他需要你的帮助. “我们都可以做得更大更好,”他说. “我们在一起会变得更好. 我看到人们最好的一面. 我总是在寻找好的东西.”