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Jeff Hicks, MAI
President
Dohring Group RealWired! |
Most of us probably wear seatbelts when driving, we feel more secure and in 32 states it's the law. However try this experiment. Unbuckle your seatbelt for one day and drive around. I don't want to facilitate you getting a ticket or injured in an accident. I just want to prove a point about risk. You will likely feel less safe, unbalanced and a little disconcerted.
Texas leads the pack with a $250 fine for the driver, depending on the age of the occupants. Most states charged $25-$50 for those that ignore the seat belt bondage requirement. Shaving, reading the newspaper, working on your laptop, texting and eating a burrito are not too far behind to being a "no-no" while your vehicle is in transit.
Many feel that the United States has lost its competitive entrepreneurial edge due to risk avoidance. The litigious atmosphere of the US certainly puts a damper on pushing the envelope of a service or product that has any potential to go awry. In addition, excessive legislation has snuffed out original thought, inventive and ingenious activity, especially in our young folk.
As a group, most appraisers are risk adverse, myself included. However as Peter Drucker so aptly said, "People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year."
So what risks do you take? How about in your social life or in your appraisal career? Do you take the risk of education to work towards your MAI, risking your time and forego appraisal production cash? Do you take the risk implementing software solutions like work flow management, comp management and reporting writing solutions in your appraisal office? Do you take the risk and hire additional admin staff and fee appraisers to grow your business? Do you take the risk and create systems to automate your office?
The point is to take calculated risks in your life. Otherwise your mind may become recalcitrant, unbending to the market forces that are pushing us to be more productive. Standing still, doing things the way you always have is no longer workable in our commercial appraisal world. Our scope of work has changed but we haven't. Our intended users have changed but we haven't. Our purpose of the appraisal has changed but we haven't. Take some risks, what can go wrong?
In my position, I am fortunate that I can take a look at how our industry has evolved. I often wonder how companies are able to maintain their fair share of the pie by continuing to do the same thing. It seems for the most part, everyone is having trouble finding the time to keep up with what needs to be done. Everyone has the same pain points of tracking bids, or reviewing reports or even just the basics of what is the forecast for monthly production. What I find to always be the case is the larger firms have embraced what technology has to offer, and they realize the return on investment far outweighs the initial expense of the investment.