We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris D. Bentley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris, we’re really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
My purpose wasn’t my purpose for a long time. Let me explain. When I started my real estate sales journey, I was young, living with my Mom, working at a Chevrolet Car Dealership as an ASE Certified Auto Technician during the day, and working at a bar at night. My fellow employees at both jobs would say to me all the time, “You should quit this job.” “You’re so much better than this.” “Why are you even here?” At the time, I just wanted to make some extra money so I could afford parts for my muscle car that I street raced against my high school friends on the weekends. I’m a very competitive person at just about everything.
My grandfather had a real estate brokerage in the past that he closed. My grandfather was the person I looked up to when I was young and I always wanted to make him proud. So, I figured if I got my real estate license and started a brokerage (that didn’t close) he would be proud of me (I hope he is).
My father passed when I was young and he always wanted to get his real estate license but he was too busy managing a restaurant this was before the internet and online real estate courses, so the only way to get the classroom hours needed was to take the real estate exam was to attend in-person classes at school and they were only offered at night.
My mother recently passed and she wanted to help me in my business, so she attended the in-person classes at the local community college but she could never pass the final exam to graduate. She was always frustrated that she failed the final exam no matter how many times she took it and eventually she gave up.
At the end of the day, my purpose became their purpose. To be successful selling real estate for them.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was young. When I first started my entrepreneurial journey, I didn’t even know it was a journey, and at that time being an entrepreneur wasn’t some buzzword people use today. I was just a kid trying to buy cool toys like automatic squirt guns and have some money for the ice cream truck. At the time, I didn’t have an allowance from my parents (Mom later remarried) so I had to find odd jobs to do around the neighborhood to earn money. These jobs started with me knocking on neighbors’ doors to see if I could sell them on me raking their leaves in their yards, shoveling their snowy driveways, mowing their grass, and washing their cars. I realized at an early age that people would pay me money for doing things that they didn’t like or want to do. One night, my step sister taught me how money worked and as the lightbulb in my head flickered on, I quickly learned the concept of earning money.
From that night on, I would spend countless hours trying to find what people would pay me for and how I could create a company around it.
Fast forward to the present day, where I own and run multiple companies with multiple people to manage. Instead of spending countless hours thinking about building companies, I spend those same hours watching and learning from other entrepreneurs in not only the sectors that I’m involved in but others I’m interested in as well. I watch their mistakes, see where they are successful, and make my business decisions based on that information. I observe a lot more than people realize and I use that observation along with online research and trial and error to get better in general: both as a business owner and as a person. My focus is finding new ways to win.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three biggest things that were the most impactful in my journey and still are to this day are learning how to sell to other people, the belief that I could be anything I want to be with enough time and hard work devoted to it, and last is my belief in God. That he didn’t bring me this far to leave me.
For people who are new to sales or aspiring to be a business owner, I would research and find those individuals who are where you want to be. Envision yourself as being them. See if you can meet them or people similar to them. Sales is a must-have skill for everyone. You must be able to sell yourself in a job interview the same as you would sell yourself to someone who wants to purchase a home and use you as their agent.
It is also crucial that you have a mentor. Your mentor will have your best interest at heart and be honest with you about your shortcomings. The person who I learned real estate from allowed me to shadow him as much as possible. I attended his client’s home showings, listed appointments, attended his closings, and listened to his client’s phone calls. Honestly, if he called me up at 3 a.m. to go get breakfast tacos after a night at the club, I would have done it. I covered for him while he was on vacation. Whatever he asked, I would do it. From then on, I was able to step in and start selling homes on my own. I didn’t need him as much. That’s how I learned the business. By doing it. Not by reading out of some textbook with a bunch of theories or paying for classes being taught by someone who couldn’t close a door let alone a real estate transaction.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
Traveling to places I’ve never been before. Seeing things in-person that I’ve only seen in travel magazines. Experiencing other people’s culture and looking at the world from their point of view.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chrisdbentley.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisdbentley/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.d.bentley
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdbentley/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisDBentley
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BentleyFineProperties/
Image Credits
P-R Images David Mogray
