We’ve been talking about Chick-Fil-A this week. This past Monday we talked about Chick-Fil-A putting their emphasis on leadership (rather than investing), and Wednesday we interviewed my brother-in-law, Brad Burkholder, an operator. Today we’re going to talk about how we don’t have to be on the clock 24/7. So many Realtors feel they must be on the clock 24/7—always answering their phone, always available. But this isn’t the case. I have a cut off time where I no longer answer calls for the night, and I often sleep in because I stay up late working in the evenings. It all goes back to setting boundaries. Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sundays. Truett Cathy wanted his employees to be able to go to church and spend time with their families, so he was committed to being closed on Sundays. He got a lot of flak for it with people telling him he wouldn’t make money or that he wouldn’t survive, but if you look at the numbers today, Chick-Fil-A is making more money in less days per week than the other restaurants. I really feel like a lot of this success goes back to the operator and the fact that they are often involved in supporting their community. When a business supports the community, the community wants to support them. That’s something that can be applied to your real estate business as well. If we look at some numbers, we find that the average McDonald’s franchise does about 3 million a year in net sales. Burger King does around one and a half million a year and Wendy’s brings in about 2.17 million. So, McDonald’s brings in the most of the three. If we compare McDonald’s with Chick-Fil-A—the average freestanding Chick-Fil-A makes more than 8 million dollars in sales a year. Many of the operators I personally know who own stores bring in way past 10 million, but even on the conservative side of 8 million a year, Chick-Fil-A is doing more than two and a half times the volume of McDonald’s. Wendy’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s are open seven days a week, sometimes 24 hours a day and don’t bring in the sales Chick-Fil-A does while being closed Sundays and being open less hours daily. So, when you get frustrated as a Realtor and feel like you have to work constantly to have success—think again. Chick-Fil-A’s business model has shown that you don’t have to work 24/7 to be successful. Even if you’re only open six days a week and have limited hours, you can have a lot more success than your competitors. I hope you can think about this with your real estate business and learn to say no to working all the time. You need that balance. Thanks for listening to the podcast and I’ll see you guys on the next episode.

Resources

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Podcast edited by Kenny Carfagno.

Show notes and blog posts are created by Jennifer Harshman and RealtorEmails. John Schuchman is a licensed REALTOR® in Lancaster, PA, with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty and a part of the Andrew Welk Group. The opinions shared on this show represent the opinions & values of John Schuchman and do not necessarily represent the opinions & values of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Homesale Realty. The opinions & ideas shared in this podcast do not guarantee or promise any results of success to the listener.