Build a Business Around What Matters Most

By Justin Stoddart

There’s no shortage of advice about how to build a bigger real estate business. We spend a lot of time talking about generating more leads, closing more transactions, growing teams, and increasing market share. Those things matter, but at some point, I think we also have to ask what we’re building the business for in the first place.

I sat down with my good friend Justin Bosak, a successful real estate professional and brokerage leader in New Jersey. I’ve known Justin for years, and what has always impressed me is how clearly his business reflects his priorities. His faith, family, and service to his community aren’t things he tries to fit around his career. He has intentionally built his career in a way that gives him the ability to prioritize them.

Purpose Comes With Tradeoffs

Justin has made decisions throughout his career that might seem unusual if you measure success purely by production. He has passed on travel and industry events so he can be present for his family, and he has brought partners into his business who can take greater ownership of its day-to-day operations. That means giving up some control and some of the financial upside, but it has also given him the freedom to devote more of himself to his family, church, and charitable work.

I think there’s an important lesson there for those of us in real estate. We often approach growth by asking what else we can add to our businesses, when sometimes the more important question is what we’re willing to give up. If you want deeper relationships with your family, greater involvement in your community, or simply more control over your time, there will probably be opportunities you have to turn down.

Justin knows this from experience. He described himself as a former workaholic and explained that one of the most important changes he made was learning to train and trust other people to do work he once believed he needed to handle himself. Building leverage in this way isn’t simply about making a business more efficient. It allows the business to support the kind of life you actually want to live.

Take Ownership of the Client Experience

What I also appreciate about Justin is that creating more space in his life hasn’t meant taking less responsibility for his clients. In fact, he takes a broader view of what our responsibility as real estate professionals should be.

Buying or selling a home involves far more than the transaction itself. Our clients are dealing with lenders, title companies, contractors, movers, insurance providers, and other professionals, often without knowing whom they can trust or how the entire process works. Justin believes that if we have the knowledge and relationships to make that experience easier, we should use them.

That philosophy is one reason our work together on the Homeowner Concierge has been such a natural fit. The platform gives homeowners a place to find vetted professionals for the needs that come with homeownership, allowing the real estate professional to remain a trusted resource long after closing.

We aren’t making decisions for our clients or telling them whom they have to hire. We’re giving them a trusted place to start. When we know someone who consistently does great work, there’s value in being willing to make that connection rather than handing a client a list of names and leaving them to figure it out themselves.

Build Around What Matters Most

Toward the end of our conversation, I shared a story I had recently heard about a son remembering his late father. What stood out to him was that he could tell his dad genuinely loved being their dad. As a father of six, that made me think about whether my own children feel the same way about me. Do the people closest to us experience the priorities we say we have, or do they only hear us talk about them?

I think we can ask a similar question about our clients. When they look back on working with us, will they remember someone who cared about getting the transaction completed, or someone who genuinely took responsibility for helping them through an important period of their lives?

There will always be another opportunity to grow, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to build a successful and profitable business. The challenge is making sure that business continues to serve the things we’ve decided matter most rather than gradually replacing them.

Justin’s example is a good reminder that building a purposeful business doesn’t mean abandoning ambition. It means becoming clear about what that ambition is for and then building your business accordingly.

At ProInsight, we help professionals build a referral engine for their business. Apply here to see if becoming a Homeowner Concierge™ Select Professional is available in your area.