Own the outcome
No excuses, no finger-pointing. If it is your responsibility, the result is yours.
Personal notes
Twelve principles I try to live by.
Lessons from building businesses in real estate, sales and operations. Simple ideas, hard to practice every day.
Why write them down
Principles are only useful if you can remember them in the moment, when a deal is on the line, a tenant is upset or a decision has to be made by the end of the day.
Writing them down keeps me honest. These are the ones I come back to most often.
The twelve
Speed is a strategy
A fast, good decision usually beats a slow, perfect one.
Answer the phone
Responsiveness is the cheapest competitive advantage there is.
Know your numbers
Every decision gets better when you understand the math behind it.
Buy right, then run it well
Good deals are made at the purchase and proven in the operations.
Protect your reputation
It takes years to build and one bad decision to lose.
Relationships compound
Treat brokers, lenders, tenants and staff as long-term partners.
Walk the property
Reports tell you what happened. Buildings tell you what is happening.
Hire people better than you
Then give them room to work.
Fix small problems early
A dripping pipe becomes a flood. So does a small misunderstanding.
Stay patient
The best results in real estate come over decades, not quarters.
Keep learning
Every deal, every building and every mistake has something to teach.
Use them as a filter
When a decision feels unclear, run it through a few principles. Does this protect our reputation? Do we know the numbers? Are we moving fast enough? The right answer often becomes obvious.
Share them with the team
Principles work best when the whole team knows them. They become a shared language for making decisions without needing approval at every step.
Revisit them every year
Some principles prove themselves again and again. Others need sharpening. The list should grow with the business.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most important principles in business?
Ownership, responsiveness, knowing your numbers and protecting your reputation are among the most important in any business, and especially in real estate, where relationships and trust last for decades.
How do principles help in real estate?
They speed up decisions and keep a team aligned. In a business with constant small decisions about tenants, repairs and deals, shared principles prevent costly inconsistency.
Why is responsiveness so important?
Because most competitors are slow. Answering quickly builds trust with tenants, brokers and partners, and it often wins deals on its own.
How do you make principles stick?
Write them down, share them with your team, use them in real decisions and revisit them regularly.
Say hello
Thoughts, questions or a principle you live by? I would like to hear it.
Brooklyn, New York