Last summer, after I'd gotten so out-of-shape that jumping on the trampoline for two minutes with my kids resulted in me being totally out of breath and my [too small] jeans splitting at the seams, I started looking for some way to regain my fitness.

This was a path I’d been down before.

I’ve done the “regular gym” routine at a dozen or more health clubs.

I’ve done the Body for Life program.

I’ve done P90X2.

Etc, etc, etc.

They all work, there’s no doubt about that. They just take so much time.

P90X, for example, took 60-90 minutes per day (not counting the warmup, if I remember correctly).

When I stumbled upon CrossFit & CrossFit-style workouts, I was drawn to two things. 1 - the simplicity: you can absolutely get started with nearly zero equipment. 2 - The efficiency - my average workout is only about 20 minutes.

The workouts are hard as hell, but it doesn’t take all day, and I wondered where this had been all my life.

I recently read Learning To Breathe Fire, which is about the rise and proliferation of CrossFit. It turns out that it was founded back when I was still in college. By the time I moved back to Monroe in 2006, they were already getting ready for the first annual Crossfit Games, which has since become a multi-million dollar televised event.

Wonder no more - all my life, it had been right under my nose. I’d heard about it, read about it, and even seen a few videos.

But, for whatever reason, it didn’t occur to me to try it.

As we move forward with building out the property management company, I have been looking for opportunities to do it better than everyone else. We’re looking for ways to improve the client service experience for our owners/investors and the customer service experience for our tenants.

This video is about some of those ideas, but as I finished up my notes in preparation for recording it, I came to a sudden realization. Over the last 15 years, we’ve sold dozens of investment properties, a good number of which are now professionally managed.

You probably see where I’m going with this, right?

If you want to find opportunities to improve service, what’s one of the fastest ways to discover what people love, what people hate, and what they want but aren’t currently getting from that service?

Ask them, of course.

I’ve spent the better part of a week researching the industry, reading blogs, and pouring over property management websites looking for areas that we can improve.

The time was not wasted; I’ve learned a lot. But at the same time, I could have been going straight to the horse's mouth. All I had to do was pick up the phone.

I guess sometimes the answers we’re looking for really are right in front of us.