What I’d tell the next generation of brokers:
Brokerage is all about developing expertise and then filtering whom you share it with. Period.
From Day 1, you should be absorbing, studying, and processing so much information that you’re on track to become an expert.
At first, share it with anyone who will listen. Give it away. Teach it. Don’t hold back.
Once you’re an expert in your geography or product (you’ll know when), you start filtering the people who get the goods...
People begin calling you for information (free advice). But now you hold your cards close.
Where you once spilled your guts, you give them 7-8 polite minutes and offer to start building a relationship. Nothing is given away.
The few who make it through the filter become trusted clients.
Europeans are brainwashed into thinking it's morally superior to play small.
A UK startup headhunted me for a sales role, aged 26.
The founder asked about my life goals.
I replied, 'I'd love to be a founder one day'.
He cut the interview short.
20 minutes the recruiter called me back.
He was furious.
'Why did you tell him you want to be a founder?'
This founder viewed me as a threat, simply because I shared the same life goal as him.
He expected me to be his serf. Forever.
That's the European mindset: Landlords and serfs.
That's why 90% of my clients are American today.
Total strangers in America encourage my dreams and celebrate my work more than anyone in the UK.
I have watched my European friends and family members switch to working for American startups.
They all become bigger, braver and more confident.
They realise they can build products, sell their skills and start companies too.
The best bit is when you see how furious Europeans back home are, because they can no longer control you and pressure you to play small.
@JamesDula82 This is a good list, but you can comfortably get by on 40 to 45 gallons per day per person for water. This does not include irrigation for gardening. I know this because I tracked water usage before I had a well and I had to have water delivered.