At NLR, We play by the rules.

Playing by the rules can mean a lot of different things, but for Forrest During, it means getting up every morning and wanting to do the right thing, always being honest and consistently following through.

“The golden rule is honesty and ethics. Just saying and doing exactly what I say I’m going to do. I do forget, I’m human. So, I constantly carry a notepad with me. I write down who I talk to and what we talk about and reference it, so I can do what I say I’m going to do for that client.”

Forrest is a Land Professional out of our Gulf Coast office in Alabama. He was raised in Chelsea, Alabama, where he grew up an avid fisherman, hunter and outdoorsman alongside his father, a forester and lumber broker, and mom.

Forrest actually wrote a piece for our blog in 2017 on tips for new land professionals. Being one himself back then, he had tremendous insight and great advice for any new agent or broker joining the NLR team. So, when we asked him this time around, Forest said his one piece of advice for a new agent/broker would be two-fold:

1: “Make sure you have a good broker to shadow. To me, that’s been critical – having a broker that cares about his employees.”

2: “Develop relationships. The more relationships you have and the more you stay in touch with your current and past clients, the better you’ll be. I’ve actually gotten more listings than ever in the past three months because of referrals from old clients.”

You can clearly see the dedication and passion Forrest puts into his profession as a Land Professional by the exponential growth in his success with NLR. He’s truly a great example of our culture. So, when we asked Forrest what culture meant to him, he said,

“Culture is everything to me. You have to have a positive work environment in order to grow and be successful. It’s different for everybody, but to me, it’s always having that someone driving me or if they’re doing something, why can’t I do it? We have a positive work environment. We’re a team. Yes, we compete against each other internally, but we want NLR to succeed as a company down here. The culture as a team is everything. I want to have good, positive people around me.”

“The culture at NLR is a faith-based organization that’s surrounded by teamwork, quality people, and good ethics. We all strive for the same thing every day. Whether it’s helping a team member or a client out, or an individual that we don’t know yet, that’s what the NLR culture means to me.”

“I strive every day to be a better Forrest. I look in the mirror and see myself and see that I got better. If you do good things for people, it comes back and pays in the end. You might not see it in one or two years, but in three years you will. I’m a firm believer in that. What goes around, comes around.”