The Place: Uno Cafe

The Cup: Coffee for me and a decaf mocha for Joe.

Background: You’ve heard of Pareto’s Principle, aka the 80/20 rule, right? Well it turns out this mathematical law applies to my blog. Specifically, 80% of the introductions I get seem to come from 20% of my former strangers. And of those introductions, 80% have come from Cup 5, Steve Harper.  He didn’t get the title Mr. Ripple for nothing!

So, I’m sitting at my computer a few weeks back and an email comes in from Steve introducing me to his friend Joe and suggesting the two of us have coffee one day soon. He alludes to the fact the he and Joe have had lunch and Steve has shared with him an overview of my project. It’s a lovely email introduction and of course, I’m excited to meet this Joe fella. But there’s a line in the email that gives me pause. Something about “now that she’s part of the family…” I read it to hubby Dave and he says, “What’s his name?” I tell him, “Joe Williams.” He says, “Not THE Joe Williams – the other half of Keller Williams – you don’t think?” “Uh…probably not. Well, maybe. Could it be???” Turns out, “Yes! It is THAT Joe Williams!”

A few months ago I joined Keller Williams here in Austin, TX – where the firm is headquartered. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Gary Keller speak a handful of times in the last year and even met him once, very briefly. But now, I was getting the chance to sit down for coffee with the other half of the KW founding fathers. And I was thrilled!

Joe is one of the most incredible human beings I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. He’s brilliant, humble, kind, generous and funny, funny, funny! Before we get into his story, let’s cover some:

Common Grounds

1. What’s a food you can’t live without? Anything from my wife’s kitchen which would include wild duck and pheasant gumbo, jambalaya, or her crawfish étouffée. She’s French and she’s an amazing cook.
2. What is your favorite way to unwind? Shooting things or sailing.
3. What is the last thing you fixed? I rebuilt my gas grill.
4. What’s the best place to eat in Austin besides your wife’s kitchen? Mann’s BBQ. Everybody who knows anything about BBQ goes there. It’s all incredible.
5. What is the best gift you ever got? That’s easy. When I graduated from high school my mother gave me Lead The Field, a six-cassette set from Earl Nightingale. That was probably the greatest gift that was given to me of all time. I packed it away and then after I graduated from high school I opened up a box and found them. I dusted them off and listened to them. Earl was the master motivator. I still give it as a gift to kids when they graduate from high school. I give them that and a copy of Failing Forward by John Maxwell.
6. What is your guilty pleasure? Peach hand-spun shakes at Chik-fil-a.
7. What is something you’ll regret not doing if you don’t do it? Traveling. I need to travel more. I’m busier now than I ever was in my 40’s or 50’s.

Joe Williams is about as down-to-earth as they come. Sitting across from him, as he shares with me nugget after nugget of incredible advice that will, no doubt, change the way I do business, I am struck by this. He is just so real – talking straight from his heart and holding nothing back. I don’t know what I expected, exactly, but I am delighted by the surprise.

One of the first questions I like to ask people is “How did you get here?” Everyone interprets that a little differently, but for most it’s a chance for them to give me their history – Cliff’s Notes style.

When you are the co-founder of the largest real estate firm in the country, much of your story is already out there. But hearing it first hand was powerful.

A native Texan, Joe was born and raised in San Antonio. His dad worked in a warehouse and through dedication, managed to work his way up. When Joe was just 10 years old, his dad died and suddenly, Joe, the oldest son, became the man of the house. Joe says this was a seminal moment in his life. From that day on, things changed in their house. Everyone went to work to help compensate for the missing wages of his father. Joe remarks that everybody working “Wasn’t a bad thing.”

His senior year in high school, Joe had the choice of a three-hour study hall or a half-day work program. Not surprisingly, he chose to work. The program was tied into the Interscholastic League, which held competitions for budding sales/business leaders. Joe managed to make it to the state level in that competition. His mother, who managed beauty salons, was proud of her son. So much so, she enjoyed telling the ladies in the salons about the good work he was doing and that he had become quite the salesman. Many of the successful women in the beauty shop were in real estate, and they encouraged her to talk to Joe about getting into the business.

Joe recalls his mother asking him, “Have you ever thought about real estate?” He chuckles when he admits to me that he’d never even heard of it. His mom explained real estate was what they called buying and selling houses and land. He hadn’t thought about it, but now he was interested.

For years, Joe worked a retail job for a nice man who owned a chain of toy stores. One of the regular customers who came in often with his son to buy hobbies was in real estate. He decided to ask this man, Tony, to talk to him about the business. Tony was happy to talk with Joe and after their chat, Joe decided real estate was for him.

By this time, Joe was 19 and attending junior college. Tony offered to help Joe with his real estate application and when they got to date of birth, they had a problem. Joe answered the question and after some quick mental math, Tony said, “You’re only 19! You have to be 21 years old to get your real estate license in Texas.” Disappointed, Joe wondered if there was anything they could do. Turns out, after a phone consultation with a attorney friend, there was. Because Joe’s mother was a widow, there was an exemption that allowed for the oldest son to become licensed at 19. Bingo!

And that’s the story of how Joe Williams became one of the youngest licensed real estate agents in Texas.

Joe went on to get his BBA in Real Estate from the University of Texas – which is how he got to Austin and once here, he couldn’t see any reason to leave. Joe describes the Austin he moved to as a “sleepy little college town”. Not exactly an accurate description today, but it still has that magnetic attraction drawing in hundreds of new people every day. 170 new people moving here every day – was the last statistic I heard.

Joe and Gary and a handful of others got their start with JB Goodwin. In fact, in the eight or so years they were there, they helped the company rise to the #1 spot – where it would stay until a new company, Keller Williams, would unseat it. 1983 was the year Keller Williams began with the mission to build careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.  And the company has been on an impressive growth trajectory ever since. Today, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the largest privately owned real estate franchise company in the United States, with approximately 700 offices and 88,000 associates around the world. Not bad!

A career worth having and a business worth owning – obviously Joe has check boxes next to both of those items. A life worth living…oh yeah! He’s got that too!

The love of his life is Janine and he knew instantly she was the one for him. Sixty days after meeting her, he asked her to marry him. He said he was a little worried about how her parents would feel about her getting engaged to a fellow they’d only laid eyes on twice, but thankfully, they loved him as much as she did and it’s worked out for over 32 years now!

When Joe tells me stories about Janine’s father – about the successful career he had as a farmer/rancher in Louisiana, or about him hitchhiking at age 15 to LSU to put himself through college, or about him serving in the 29th Division during World War II – he talks with the pride of a son. It’s obvious that when Joe married Janine, he didn’t just get a lovely bride, he got an extended family and those bonds are special indeed.

One incredibly special memory that Joe shares, calling it the most moving moment of his life, came on a trip his father-in-law arranged for his four children, their spouses and several grandchildren for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. They traveled to Normandy and spent nine days traveling with members of the 29th Division. Joe recalls that although most of these men kept their war memories to themselves back home, they shared openly and freely during this trip. It was as if being back on the soil where the memories were made allowed them the freedom to feel the feelings and share the memories. I imagine that being amongst their fellow soldiers and loved ones allowed for a feeling of security that perhaps they didn’t have back home.

The entire experience was moving and emotional, for everyone. One story Joe shares from the trip was especially so.

They visited the grave sites – at Omaha Beach and about 10 other locations. Joe described the hallowed grounds as rows of graves marking fallen heroes – a grave with a cross on it is next to a grave with the Star of David on it. As they stood amongst the graves, they sang The Star Spangled Banner. Visibly emotional about the experience still, Joe looks at me and says, “When we got to the last line of the song – ‘and the home of the brave’, there we stood, surrounded by “the brave”. Thousands of those brave never made it home. In that place, I challenge anyone to complete that song. I never could.”

Joe feels that the greatest issue facing society today is a lack of responsibility. Again referencing his 95 year old father-in-law, he says, “The ‘Greatest Generation’ created America. They came home from war and they got to work, they raised their families with values and integrity, they did business ethically, they got involved in their communities and in politics.” Joe says that today, people complain about how things are, but no one wants to do anything about it. There’s a “not my problem” sort of attitude. Or worse yet, “I’m just one person, what can I do?” Joe says, “Everybody needs to take responsibility for their own actions. Just doing that would go a long way toward fixing things around here.”

A book Joe read recently that he found impactful was Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander . Joe tells me that religion is something he sees young people struggling with, and he’s sympathetic. Joe says most people have to experience some sort of miracle or proof that something bigger than them exists before they become true believers. “It’s like Charlie Jones used to say, ‘You can live in a garage your whole life, that doesn’t make you a Chevrolet.’ Simply going to church doesn’t make you a believer.” Amen!

Joe is a true success story! Does he have a secret to his success that he would share with all of us? Why yes – yes, he does.

Joe operates from a Hot Sheet. And the projects he’s working on all have a place on the Hot Sheet. His charge every day is to make forward progress with each of them.

When Joe is working with students or real estate professionals or business leaders, he does an activity. He asks them to think about what it takes to run a great restaurant. The answers are always: great food, fair prices, good location and terrific service.  Then he asks them to name all the places they can think of that have been in business for at least 10 years that have nailed all four areas. Joe tells me that no matter what city he’s in, no group gets much higher than a list of eight.

Why? Because it’s not easy to be good at all four. It’s not impossible. Really, it’s not even hard. But it does require effort.

The same is true in any business. There are going to be 3-4 things that you need to be good at in order to earn a place in people’s minds as the “go-to” in your area of expertise. Joe says, “Those specific areas have to operate well, almost in balance with each other to be operating at optimum efficiency. It’s like the guy spinning plates – you’ve got to keep the important ones spinning.” Because we are in Texas and because football season is upon us, Joe gives this analogy. “Think about football. You’ve got coaching, defense, offense and special teams. If one of those areas is operating poorly, you might win a few games but you aren’t going to win any championships.” The man makes a good point.

Joe’s Hot Sheet is all about planning. He looks at his lists at the start of each day and puts a star next to each item he intends to accomplish that day. Then he goes to work accomplishing them. Joe lives by this axiom – “I will have the success that I have planned.” Wow, that’s so simple, and so true. Another truth Joe learned a long time ago that’s been a huge factor in his success is from Earl Nightingale who wrote The Strangest Secret in 1956 – You’ll become what you think about. I think it’s a safe bet that Joe knew early on that he’d enjoy amazing success.

What would Joe say if given 30 seconds to make a speech to the world? “At the end of the day, remember, we all want the same things. We all want to enjoy our lives, enjoy our families and to have good jobs where we feel productive. Everyone wants the same things. If we’d just remember this, I believed we could eliminate all wars.”

While Joe’s life is so much bigger than the company he helped create, his closing remarks remind me again of the Keller Williams mission – to build careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living.  Joe has achieved all of this and more. He selflessly works with others to help them achieve it all as well. And when he says, essentially, that globally, we all want these things – we all seek to create lives worth living – I know he’s right. 

Perhaps because of the current state of affairs in Syria and the idea that we may be getting into yet another war, I flash to the image of Joe and his family standing in Normandy in a field of white graves, marking the lives of the brave that we sing about at baseball games. We all want the same thing. Lives worth living. Many never got the chance to live out their dreams. But they died fighting for a cause. Fighting for a country that stood for something. In a time when people trusted the government to look out for the good of the whole.

This is not a platform for political opinions. But Joe’s point, that we all want the same things, has really got me thinking. Thinking about the people of Syria who need brave heroes and thinking about the brave young men and women of the US Armed Forces whose families need them. There’s not an easy answer. But it deserves our attention and our thoughtful consideration. And that’s the least we can do.