Going the Distance: Finding Success in Real Estate Through Sports

The sun is just starting to peek over the horizon. Waves are softly lapping along the shore and the faint splashes of a surfer paddling out to sea can be heard. Six thousand miles away there’s a rhythmic patter of feet running along a boardwalk. Two RE/MAX associates – two athletes – on opposite sides of the world start their morning.

Chris Morris, an agent with RE/MAX Dolphin in Ballito, South Africa, is the epitome of resilience. Competing in a sport that will literally knock you down and drag you under, he keeps getting back up. At 69 years old, when Morris isn’t selling homes, he’s a competitive longboard surfer. Longboarding uses a nine-to-10-foot board to catch smaller waves. And just this summer, Morris won first place in the South African Longboard Competition for his age group.

An ocean away, Diego Gonzalez, Broker/Owner of four RE/MAX Consultores offices around Lima, Peru, and Director for the South Region of RE/MAX Peru, not only splits his time between responsibilities but also sports. As a competitive Ironman athlete, Gonzalez regularly trains for the three main tracks of a triathlon: swimming, biking and running. At incredible distances of 2.5 miles, 112 miles and 26.2 miles respectively, he knows a thing or two about staying the course, having just completed his second full Ironman in Texas this past fall.

These RE/MAX affiliates don’t do it for the potential accolades or prize money, and they don’t do it out of health or habit – they do it out of an appreciation for where it has brought them and what it has taught them. The skills developed along the way support their sport, but also their profession.

Morris’s Rewarding Recovery

A lifelong athlete, Morris has been through his share of physical ups and downs. In recent years, he’s had both shoulders reconstructed and, after eight long weeks in a sling, he says his training was heavily concentrated on recovery.

“In surfing, one of the hardest things to do is pop up on the board,” says Morris, a RE/MAX Lifetime Achievement award winner. “When my sling came off, I could hardly lift my arm it was so weak. I went to physical therapy and did a ton of push-ups to regain my upper body strength.”

His resilience and the extra time in the gym paid off. 

“This was my first major win since university!” he says.

Along with physical strength, Morris says one needs good balance, a lesson worthy of the longboard and life.

“You need to balance things out. I got into real estate 18 years ago and I didn’t take a weekend or holiday off for my first two to three years. I got sucked in,” Morris shares.

He says it’s easy to fall off the board if you don’t keep your weight equally distributed, likening how one can easily burn out in real estate if you don’t maintain a work-life balance.

“Now I realize I need to plan my life appropriately. I get up early to surf to make time for me, so that I can give dedicated time to my clients. I find it more rewarding when I feel balanced,” he says. 

Not all the hard work is physical, adds Morris. He notes how the sport requires mental strength just as much as physical.

“I think the similarity between real estate and longboarding is that you need patience. When I’m out on the ocean, I’m waiting for the waves and the right conditions. And when I’m working with clients, I’m waiting for them to make a decision, or to think things over. I can’t get angry or disappointed, it’s the nature of the game,” he says.

But as he does with longboarding, Morris remains patient, balanced and resilient. He gives his clients the time they need and he follows up. Whether he’s riding a literal ocean wave or the figurative wave of real estate, he knows the most important thing is to keep pushing yourself and power through.

Gonzalez’s Three-Sport Feat

Like Morris, Gonzalez also understands the art of powering through. Building up the endurance for a full Ironman takes a lot of training and plenty of discipline. Gonzalez, who says he’s not a natural athlete, started his training nearly a decade ago when he began running and, on a whim, signed up for the New York City Marathon.

“After I ran my first marathon, I started to train more seriously and hired a coach,” Gonzalez says. “He was the one that pointed out that I live in an area perfect for triathlons – the ocean for swimming and the boardwalk for biking and running. I have everything I need right outside my door.”

Gonzalez, who trains six days a week, runs two hours each morning, swims three nights per week and bikes four to five hours on weekends. It’s a lifestyle of discipline that parallels his career in real estate.

“Discipline is the most important thing. If you are disciplined, you are also consistent. And in order to succeed in real estate, you need to be consistent,” he says.

What helped Gonzalez become so consistent is learning to love the process – not because it’s easy, but because when you find a process that works for you, it allows you to set goals, make a plan and push past any hurdles. Whether it’s following a training program for an upcoming run, or a schedule of making cold calls and sending note cards, Gonzalez understands that if he finds joy in the process, he can always push through.

But again, the success of an Ironman – or a real estate professional – is not only a physical conditioning, it’s a mindset.

“Training for an Ironman is exactly like preparing for a career in real estate,” Gonzalez explains. “Everything revolves around how you manage your energy all day long. If you go so fast swimming and biking, you burn out and can’t run. You hit your cap. It’s the same in real estate. If you go all out your first few weeks, months, year, you’ll get tired and start to fade. Your business is an endurance test, step-by-step, week-by-week.”

Gonzalez has learned through years of consistent training that you slowly build your endurance so you can face each milepost with a plan and a goal – be it a finish line at a race, or passing off the keys to a new home.

Morris and Gonzalez keep waking up, testing the waters, hitting the pavement, and finding success thanks to their resilience and discipline and the many lessons learned from the sports – and career – they love.

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