The Value of Your Values-Creating a Strategic Identity for Your Appraisal Business

Welcome back to the real value podcast, the podcast about business, life, success; about finding value in anything and everything, and about creating absolutely as much of it as you can with the time we have! Good morning my friends, my name is Blaine Feyen and I am your host for this and every episode of the always sponsor free real value podcast, the weekly podcast for real estate appraisers, agents, and lenders looking to elevate themselves personally, professionally, and mentally. If you want to take things to the next level in your life and in your business, in addition to proper exercise and healthy nourishment for your body, you absolutely MUST be exercising your mind and taking in healthy nourishment and supplements for your mind and spirit! The real value podcast IS one of those healthy supplements and we strongly recommend taking it weekly with a healthy meal and washing it down with a big cup of get off your butt and do something different! You all know the working definition of insanity, doing the same thing but expecting different results. If you want some different results, it might just be time to start doing things a little differently. Hopefully, if you’ve listened to this show for any period of time, you know that we do things a little differently around here and we don’t keep that a secret. We have a built a very successful set of businesses around a small set of principles and practices that, if copied, can be applied to almost any business anywhere in the world.  ​

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I get calls and emails all the time from listeners and coaching members asking if the same principles and practices would work for them since they are different people with different personalities and different skill sets. The answer is always the same, and its ‘of course’. That’s the very nature of principles, values, practices, and methodologies. They work regardless of the individual employing them because they are based on things that almost every human being can relate to. When it comes to specific practices and methodologies, yes, some practices and methodologies are better suited to one person over another in some cases, but that doesn’t change the efficacy or importance of the methodology or the practice. For example, if I say that you would do well to follow a simple daily practice that I encouraged in the last episode, which is a simple morning gratitude exercise. The practice will help raise your bio-electrical vibrations to a level that will help you become more attractive and magnetic to more of the very things you tell yourself you are grateful for. You have a wide variety of ways to carry out the practice. I said morning ritual or practice, but that’s just what I do because I like how it sets my mind, body, and intention throughout the day. It puts me in a mind frame of being grateful right from the start of the day so I tend to be on the subconscious lookout for and in the heart space of other things to be grateful for and, low and behold, they tend to show up for me throughout the day…imagine that! However, it’s a practice that can be done whenever it works best for you. Maybe you prefer to do it before bed. Maybe it’s best if you do it while you’re driving to keep you from giving those spirited one finger salutes to your fellow travelers as you make your way through traffic. Maybe you like to stop midway through the day when your energy starts to drop. It doesn’t matter when it works best for you because the important thing is the practice. I also talked about a simple methodology for doing it which, if followed, will work for anyone and everyone because it’s a simple three step methodology. You may decide to change the methodology to one that works best for you and that’s ok. The main thing is to apply some kind of methodology to some kind of practice if you want to get something done. And if you want to experience some kind of growth or change, hopefully in the positive change category, the vital activity is finding a methodology you want to employ and then turning it into a practice. That’s the very essence and nature of developing certain practices and utilizing or developing methodologies.  
  
Principles and values are a bit different in that they represent fundamental truths and universal understandings how or why something should be done. They are the fuel and the drivers of practices and methodologies. Principles and values are the reasons why you should, for example, have a daily gratitude exercise, or thank every client every month for the business they send, or send out handwritten thank you notes each week to your specific list of people you’ve developed over the week. The way you’re choosing to thank your clients or the people you’re sending the notes to is the methodology and the act of writing and sending the cards each week is the specific practice. The practice and the methodology is driven and fueled by the principles and values you have developed in your life and business that tell you that is the right thing to be doing. The values and the principles inform you about what is right and wrong, and then you choose a set of practices and methodologies that help you employ and transmit those values. Once you have this system understood and you get some practice employing it in some areas of your life, you’ll find yourself employing it everywhere in your life.  
  
I learned this from my Aikido and Zen teacher, Mr. Toyoda, when I was living in Chicago studying leadership, aikido, and zen. We used these four things everyday as a something of a set of filters to develop the best way to transmit whatever its was we wanted or had to teach to the students each day. Everything we wanted to teach or transmit went first through a principles and values test, of sorts, or a set of filters whereby we would ask ourselves, ‘what are our values and what are the overarching principles that we that we want to convey and transmit to the student beyond just physical technique?’ Over time we developed very solid answers to these questions and those answers drove and informed the practices and methodologies that we would eventually employ on the mat each night during class. So, for example, if we wanted to teach a particular physical technique we would first ask ourselves, ‘what are the values and principles we’re trying to convey with all of our techniques and all of our training?’ Of course, at the very core of the answer was the values and principles handed down to us by the founder of Aikido and the principles and values that almost all Aikido practitioners were trying to imbue their training with. Beyond that, however, we had to have our own set of values and principles that we wanted students to leave with so that we set ourselves apart from all of the other schools teaching similar techniques, we set the student up for more thorough future growth, we made sure we were developing future leaders and future high quality instructors, and we wanted students to understand that it was never just about a particular technique. The technique was always part of a bigger whole and a bigger practice that enhanced every aspect of their lives. So those were the principles and values that helped inform the development of specific practices and methodologies that we’d end up employing each night on the mat. If we were going to teach a specific wrist twisting take down and pinning technique, we’d first ask the principles and values questions, and then we’d breakdown the technique into a defined number of easy to remember steps and movements that would teach the student not just how to do the technique, but why to do it in that way on that given night and what the underlying principles and values are that had us teaching it that specific way that night. The more they understood the principles and values, the easier they would eventually pick up the practices and methodologies we used for all of our training. The student would eventually begin to see a pattern and that meant they were developing their own set of internal principles and values filters with which to run every new technique through to test it for validity. If something about the technique didn’t meet the standards of the principles and values they’ve been taught previously, an internal alarm would hopefully sound and they’d ask some questions. One of the foundational values and principles of Aikido, for example, is non conflicting energy or force. So if pushed, we teach the student to step back and go with the energy of the push. If pulled, we teach to step into the pull which effectively negates the conflict of that particular action or energy. You don’t meet force with force because the greater of the two forces will always win. That’s as true in life and business as it is on the Aikido mat.  
  
As it happens, that’s exactly one of the principles and values we wanted to pass on to students through their aikido training. The Aikido practice, then, becomes more than just physical self defense practice, it actually becomes a physical practice that helps your body, mind, and spirit more fully understand the principles of non contention, or the futility of using force against force, and the benefits of having conflict resolution tools at one’s disposal. The principles and values were ultimately what the student leaves with each night and they get those through the practices and methodologies.  It’s exactly why having principles and values informing your practices and methodologies is so important. At the end of the day, I never cared all that much about how much or how well the student was learning the specific physical techniques because everybody is different, everybody learns at a different pace, everyone has slightly different values and things that are important to them, but more importantly, the physical techniques are merely a vehicle through which the guiding principles and values make it into your body so that you could become one with them. I know that may sound a tad ‘out there’ so I’ll give you a slightly different example. I’ve talked about my oldest son in prior episodes and some of the struggles he’s had with school, focus, attention, anxiety, and, in general, the typical pains and struggles that come with growing up. He was a skinny, lanky kid growing up, not super athletic, although I coached him in soccer for many years, he played junior high lacrosse for a season, and he’s tried a few other sports. He just never really excelled at any of those sports and that was ok. I was happy he was involved in something and learning how to be coachable and be part of a team. Nevertheless, he never really fit in with any of the teams and when you’re not a standout, especially as you move into high school where the athleticism can really sore with some of these kids, you’re destined to sit on the sideline. He decided sports and sports teams were not his scene. When he got himself into a little trouble with typical high school experimentation, I immediately got him into martial arts classes with me. Although it was something of a punishment at the time, I knew the value he’d get from it and he didn’t have the choice to quit with this one so he stuck it out. I made him go to jiu jitsu classes with me for one year, and let me tell you it was probably one of the best lessons he could ever receive and I’ll tell you why because it pertains to the point I’m making about values and principles.  
  
When my son started taking jiu jitsu classes with me in the adult class he was 16 years old. He weighed in around 150 pounds, while I typically weigh in around 210 to 220. He was in a class with some big folks! Every single night he was getting smashed by the likes of me and 20 other students, most of whom were bigger, stronger, and had considerably more life experience. He was getting choked out, arm barred, leg locked, and twisted up like a pretzel every 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes it was difficult to watch as his father, and sometimes it was difficult to do as his father. You can have really stellar technique in any martial art, but when you’re grappling on the ground, there is almost always a weight and strength factor that plays into it so my 210lbs would almost always make it super difficult for his 150lbs to get an advantage. What he had going for him was youth and flexibility, which he quickly learned to use to his advantage and he actually became quite adept at many of the locks, pins, and chokes. What I also noticed over time was his attitude was changing. At first he’d leave class defeated, beaten, bruised, and a bit down. We’d talk about it, rationalize some of it, and I’d explain to him the benefits he was getting that he just couldn’t see yet. Over time, I started to see those benefits come in the form of confidence, expanding self esteem, strength of character, poise, and, of course, physical strength. He was starting to exemplify some of the principles and values that that kind of training builds into the student through the methodologies and practices of the art. Neither he nor I ever cared or aspired to the competition aspect of the art, we just showed up to class each week, got smashed by the senior students, and went home. What he was learning however, was that training, in many ways, is like life. You get beat up, you get beat down, you get choked out of opportunities and you miss openings in life. But, with flexibility of mind, body and spirit, you bounce back up, you give life a fist bump, you slap hands, and you do it all again. You get smashed again, you get up, straighten your training uniform and belt, you slap hands and you do it again. At some point, you find an opening and get an advantage over a training partner and you tap them out, much to your own surprise. You do it once, twice, maybe three times and your confidence starts to grow. The beauty of that particular art is that you can never get to full of yourself because, no matter how many times you tap somebody out, there is always somebody in class who can clean your clock and bring you right back down to earth. Your ego must always stay in check.  
  
Fast forward one year and my son’s commitment to the training ends. He decides that its not for him but I was extremely proud he stuck it out. He never complained. At first he always went to class with me but, after a while, he’d go to class on his own which was an indicator that he was maturing and becoming more confident in himself. Nevertheless, he met his commitment and at the end of the year he approached me and said, “dad, I’ve done a year, I’ve really grown and I love what i’ve learned, but its not for me.” I said, ‘ok son, great job on finishing your commitment and I’m very proud of how much you’ve grown. I really hope that you’ll take the lessons and values you’ve learned and apply them somewhere else instead of doing nothing.’ He said, ‘absolutely dad, I think I’d like to take the MMA class at the school.’ This was the class at the same jiu jitsu school where they did a lot of heavy bag work, tactical movement, kicking the bags and just generally learned how to do standup boxing and mixed martial arts type stuff. He did that for 6 or 8 months completely on his own. What he was also doing in the meantime, right from the beginning of his initial martial arts training, was lifting weights in our garage gym with me and Jolene. We have a killer CrossFit style gym in the garage with pretty much everything one would need to get ripped, stay ripped, and become a super athlete. And I can tell you that when I first started training him in the gym, he was a typical uncoordinated teen who didn’t quite know what to do with all of his body parts. His arms flailed around like noodles, his skinny legs couldn’t lift that much, and he’d frequently want to go inside to get a drink or go pee. He didn’t know how to focus, be a good lifting partner or spotter, how to put intensity into his lifts, nothing! He knew nothing! He had no principles or values to draw on yet so he just waited for direction and motivation to be given to him. Over time, however, and with the martial arts training and the values that were being pounded into his body every week, he started to develop into something of a focused, driven, super motivated workout beast. Today, he’s 18 years old, graduated from high school several months ago with the best grades he’s ever had in his whole school career, he’s a ripped, 7 day per week all natural workout animal, he doesn’t eat bread, pasta, cereals, or junk food. He doesn’t drink soda, eat pizza, or anything that doesn’t make him feel good or that might mess with his workouts the next day. He has a solid six pack that’s becoming an eight pack, the veins in his biceps that tell the world he’s lean and ripped, and he’s basically unrecognizable from the lanky punk kid he was just two years prior. From a kid who wouldn’t go to the beach with friends because he was embarrassed to take his shirt off to a young man whom we cant get to put his damn shirt on! He walks around everywhere with his shirt off because he can and because he’s proud of what he’s built. By the way, as an aside, he’s to the point now where he invites me to go to the gym with him and do whatever workout he’s on that day, which he’s always following some kind of program. He’s extremely disciplined and follows 8-12 week programs from professional athletes and trainers and he doesn’t miss a day. He has also wrangled my youngest son to start going with him to the gym and has become his defacto personal trainer. From a kid for whom I was writing out detailed workouts for him to do in the garage two years ago to a young man who is training his younger brother and some of his friends in an almost professional manner, the principles and values that were instilled in him over the last two years are coming out in a variety of ways. The martial arts techniques didn’t really matter because it was the principles and values I wanted him to learn, and he did.  
  
So, why am I talking so much about principles, practices, values, and methodologies? Well, primarily because they are extremely important if you want to build something long lasting and profitable. I didn’t say they are required, I just said extremely important. There are many companies selling products and services that do not operate via any discernible principles or values that make a lot of money. They have practices and methodologies for delivering their product and service, but no recognizable values and people still buy. Having principled practices or values that inform your business is not a requirement to start or maintain a business. I’m simply recommending developing some to build an extremely valuable business that attracts the type of clientele that will stay, say, and pay more for what you offer. Having values and principles that inform your practices and methodologies more or less ensures separation and elevation from any competitive forces in your market and sets you apart from everybody else. Not to mention that having a very clear set of values and principles to help inform all of your daily decisions just makes life easier. When you’ve taken the time to really hone in on what your operating principles and values are, your business decisions become much easier as well because you can run everything through your values filters to see if doing something meets the standards you’ve set in that regard. If there is a way to do something that can meet your set of principles and values then you can begin developing a set of practices and methodologies that allow you to do that particular thing. If the thing you’re trying to decide on does not meet your standards in the values and principles categories, then you have some decisions to make. Either you modify your principles and values to allow for inclusion of the new thing, maybe you find a way that doing or accepting the thing DOES or CAN meet your principles and values, or you simply say, ‘nope, its not for me, thanks though.’ We do this in our office on daily basis, as I’m sure many of you do, when it comes to, say, AMC work, or bidding for orders, or lower fee work, or hybrid work, or whatever it is that you’ve decided is or isn’t for you based on some set of values and principles. I’m not telling you to do something or not to do something, I’m telling you that you MUST have a well defined set of principles and values that inform your daily decisions before you can develop solid practices and methodologies for doing things.  
  
One of the key documents we make all of our coaching members develop at some point, and there are 3 of these key documents, is called the Strategic Identity Document, or SID, which is a document that clearly states to everybody involved with your business, which includes your clients, what your core values and principles are that inform all of your daily decisions. I know what some of you will say, ‘Blaine, I’m a one person show and I know what my values are so I don’t need any documents to tell me so!’ To which I’d say what I always say to people who think they know what they’re doing but don’t, I say ‘cool, carry on, off you go!’ You obviously have it all figured out and could probably teach your own classes and coach others how to run their business just like yours. Best of luck! The industry is absolutely filled with people who can teach you how to do it just like them and they can do it in 2 and half minutes with a stick in a dirt driveway. ‘Here’s the plan!’, a couple X’s and O’s with some hook patterns and a down out with a Hail Mary as the backup strategy. Great! If you’ve got it all figured out, then I’m not really teaching you anything and you can just listen to my melodic voice. Hopefully you’re getting some additional value from the show. But for those who do want to be more, be better, do more, be more profitable, have more time, get better clients, charge more, and potentially build a business that is duplicatable and potentially salable, whether you choose to sell it or not, then there are some principles and practices, values, and methodologies that have proven themselves extremely valuable for doing this. When you take the time to look at your business from this standpoint, whether you’re one man or woman, or 50 men and women, it is imperative that you have something that sets you apart from everybody else providing appraisal services. Your pretty face and car door magnet aren’t going to do it alone! And when it comes to truly separating yourself from the pack at the level of pricing and doing business on your terms, it is absolutely vital that you have these things figured out. Now, let me tell you what the next group of people will say. The next group of people are the ones who’ve been doing this for 20 or 30 years and have nice little businesses that take care of them quite well. They’ll say, ‘ahhh, you don’t need all that shit! I’ve been doing this for 27 years and I don’t have any of that shit and I’m busier than a tick in a bowl of blood pudding!’ Be careful when you hear these kinds of statements. First of all, you have no idea what that means in terms of volume, fees, expenses, what their needs and wants are, or anything about the quality of their business. What if all they need is 3 appraisals per week because they live in a camper in the KOA campground and they're essentially already retired? What if they’re happy with 5 appraisals per week because their house is paid for and that’s enough to keep a tee time at the local golf course. If you’re somebody who needs 10 per week and you’re competing for the lowest fee work just to stay afloat, this is not the person to be taking advice from and, of course, they’ll never share their P&L statements or their personal balance sheets with you. They’re just really good at throwing out advice and the advice is usually along the lines of, ‘just be good, do good, support your adjustments, blah, blah, blah…’ and that’s not business advice at all. Those are called platitudes and common sense tactical advice for our profession. It doesn’t speak at all to a specific set of principles and values, techniques and methodologies for building a scalable business that is worth something and that will take care of you long into the future.  
  
My friends, many of the listeners of this show have good businesses, solid appraisal practices, multiple appraisers that work with or for them, and are doing a lot of things right. And when we start digging into the business we often find that they’re not much different than the 1 or 2 person appraisal businesses in how they operate, their lack of stated values and a strategic set of principles that inform the whole organization on a daily basis on every activity in the business, and they seem to run just fine. The reality, however, is often quite different. The bigger the business, the more resources they often have to cover inefficiencies up. They can basically paste over things with dollar bills and never have to address them. And many of those businesses are in the biggest danger of extinction because they have greater overhead and daily operating requirements that somebody with a solid set of operating values and principles, not to mention more efficient practices and methodologies, god forbid superior marketing and a greater value offering, will start to eat into over time. How do I know? I’ve done it multiple times in multiple markets and I’ve been teaching it appraisers in markets all over the country. Our marketing, our value offering, our speaking and teaching, our well defined values and principles, followed by our practices and methodologies, make us a force to be reckoned with in our market and the same practices and methodologies work in every market we’ve operated or coached in so far. Why? Because they’re based on values and principles, not on gimmicks or tactics and not on fluff like ‘support your adjustments.’ Again, that’s not a business principle, a marketing technique, or methodology for getting better business at higher fees, that’s an appraisal self defense concept. If you don’t want to get beat up by a reviewer, underwriter, or state board, know how to extract and support adjustments in your reports. Great! Now go try to sell that to your local lenders and real estate partners. They don’t give two shits about your supported adjustments, they care about your value offering and it better be more than what they’re paying for it if you want to get their business and their referrals.  
  
You want to be the best in your market? You want to command the highest fees and the best business? You want to be able to pick and choose your clients and the orders you accept? You want to be able to turn away work and clients because you simply don’t need them or they don’t meet your principles and values strategic identity document’s set of client filters? Then you MUST start thinking about your values and the well stated set of principles that get you out of bed in the morning. It doesn’t matter if you know them. Most people have a vague idea of what drives them and what they wont accept. Until you take time to really articulate your values and principles on paper, however, you don’t really know. And until you do that, you have no idea how to articulate those values and principles to your market beyond saying, ‘I’m good, or I’m the best, or ‘I support my adjustments’, which means nothing whatsoever to your market. In a sea of noise and marketing messages bombarding our faces on a daily basis, somebody screaming they’re the best gets drowned out with all of the other screaming going on. Long term, a well defined set of values and principles written out will help you begin to develop a well defined and written out set of practices and methodologies. Until then, you’re simply flying by the seat of your pants and as soon as somebody comes along with a better value offering, a better message, a better process, and the confidence that comes from knowing very clearly what they’re values and principles are, your lunch starts to get eaten by somebody else. Take the time in the next couple weeks to sit down and write out your values and the guiding principles that govern your daily activities. Even if that document never goes anywhere else but your living room or office, the exercise will be invaluable for you and your business. Trust me on this one my friends, you’ll begin to attract a different set of circumstance and results. Don’t give me excuses and flack for why you don’t need it or cant do it. Just do it! And then send them to me for review if you’d like. After that, I want you to begin tracking your results and the changes that begin to occur in your business. A business not being run by a well defined set of values and principles is one that has no rudder, no steering wheel, no keel, and will be tossed about by the wind. Get your values and principles out of your head and out into the world and see what happens.  
  
I’d like to thank you for investing your most valuable currency with me again this week my friends and that is, of course, your time. Invest in yourself and your business a little bit more over the next few weeks by taking some time to articulate your values and the principles that you operate by. From there, you can begin the process of honing and modifying your practices and methodologies within your business, and your life for that matter. I know the value these exercises have, as do all of the coaching members, some of whom I have had to drag kicking and screaming through these exercise but today would swear by them and the benefits they’ve seen as a result. By the way, we get tons of inquiries each week about our coaching program and some of the upcoming workshops that I have mentioned in previous episodes and I rarely talk about them so I’ll take just a minute to tell you about some upcoming developments. The reason I don’t talk much about my coaching program or how to get into it is because, up to now it has been by referral only. I run my coaching programs and mastermind groups the same way I run my businesses which is that you have to be referred by somebody already in the program or a graduate of it to be considered for inclusion in another program or the advanced coaching. We don’t take just anybody and that’s by design because its not for everybody. Although almost everybody could realize benefits from it, not everybody is coachable, not everybody can afford it or is able to implement at the level we require, not everybody wants to be held accountable at the level we hold our students accountable, and we simply don’t have the time or interest work with people not ready to do the work. Up to now, the courses have always been private, closed to the public, and by referral only. I just don’t have any interest in changing most of those values because its how I work, its one of the values on our strategic identity document and coaching is not how I make my living. I run a very busy full time appraisal firm so I choose who I want to work with and I want to work with people who will value the training and do the work to elevate themselves and their business. However, since we get so many inquiries each week, we have decided to open up the coaching to a new class in October. We’re only offering it to listeners of the podcast, we only allow 20 people into each class, and its partially full already. If you have any interest in being included for consideration into the October class, just shoot me an email or facebook message and we can talk. Again, its not for everybody and everybody is not for it. What we will also be offering in October is what we’re calling our level 1 coaching which entails almost all audios, videos, pdf worksheets, and some group coaching calls. Level one is a considerably lower cost, considerably lower accountability, and, if you never want to have to talk with me personally or be yelled at for not doing your homework, this is the course for you. We completely understand that not everybody wants to be held accountable at a high level so we’ve developed the level one program to at least give you most of the great info we teach, just not with the hand holding, accountability, and access that our levels 2 and 3 members get.  
  
However, they’re not open to the public yet so no need to take up your valuable time talking about them here and this podcast is not designed to push anything on you as the listener. Have no fear, the podcast will not become a big advertisement for our coaching programs and mastermind group. I write this podcast to help the appraisal industry and share some of the principles, mindsets, and techniques that we use everyday to be successful in our market and that’s what the podcast will continue to be. The podcast is also an additional communication tool for our coaching students, however, so if you hear me talking about some of that, it’s because its something we probably just went over in a coaching session or something I want to hammer home to our students. I can always refer to a particular episode and the steps I go over in that episode when we’re going over something on a coaching call. So, If you have an interest in the October class that we’ve just opened up for listeners of the podcast only and Value Syndicate members, just shoot me a message and we can chat about whether or not the classes and coaching are for you. If I don’t think they are, I will tell you very nicely and maybe recommend the level one program or maybe another coaches program. As many of you know, there are, to my knowledge, two other great appraisal industry business coaches in my friends Dustin Harris and Roy Meyer. Not only are they both great teachers of what they teach, they’re both very high quality people with long track records of success and I recommend and refer people regularly to check both of them out. Why? Because they’re great at what they do, I respect them, and because I value the coaching and mentoring process as one of the most valuable relationships we have in life. Its not the only or the most valuable, but one of the most valuable relationships we can have. The point is not who you choose to learn from, its THAT you are learning from someone! Get into a coaching and business mentoring program regardless of who you choose! The coaches and mentors I’ve had throughout my life have been the key to the way I think, plan, act, earn, build, and grow on a daily basis. They are the absolute key to the successes I’ve experienced up to now and I wont go the rest of my life without having coaches and mentors in some area of my life. Value the process because, whatever the cost in whatever currency you have to invest in a good coach, it always comes back multiplied 5 to 10 fold. Get into one of Dustin’s programs, Roy’s programs, our programs, all three programs, and seek out coaching programs from other industries and disciplines. I’m going through a coaching program right now primarily for the real estate and lending industries but the lessons and mindsets are applicable across every industry.  
 
Alright, I’ll leave you with a quote from a man named Francis Crick, a molecular biologist who first theorized and proposed the helical structure of DNA. I first heard this quote from the great Christopher Hitchens, and then again recently posted by Tim Ferris in one of his emails and it is thus: “it is amateurs who have one big idea that they can never abandon. Professionals know that they have to produce theory after theory before they are likely to hit the jackpot.” Test, test, and test some more my friends, the work of creating and elevating is never over. Don’t get stuck on one through, problem, or idea. Keep creating and make that one of your key principles and values that get memorialized on your strategic identity document as one of the fundamental principles driving your success.  
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