At NLR, We see opportunity in every challenge.

There are times when challenges arise, and we get stuck overthinking it. We may not be able to see the countless opportunities in front of us because we’re too busy focusing on a potentially bad outcome that hasn’t even happened yet.

Seeing an opportunity in every challenge is not easy, by any means. But for Brad Smith, it’s something that he’s been practicing for a while, both in his personal life and in his career.

“I’ve played sports all my life – all the popular sports in junior high and high school – and baseball in college. Sports put you through all sorts of challenges, be it, a tough coach, a difficult teammate, competing for playing time, or playing through an injury. There are challenges at every turn. Through many trials, challenges and tribulations, I have learned much about the person I am inside. I’ve learned what I can and cannot accomplish or endure without having been put to the test. This is valuable information bought at a price, a price that money can’t purchase. When I am met with a challenge, a challenge that makes me stop to think how or if to proceed, I remind myself of what an old coach used to always say, ‘The toughest steel is forged in the hottest fire.’”

As a Land Professional, Registered Forester and Certified Prescribed Burn Manager in Louisiana, Brad’s faced several challenges, both big and small. One of the biggest ones was seeing an opportunity after the destruction from the catastrophic flooding in southern Louisiana in 2016.

“The ‘Great Flood of 2016’ was disastrous in our area but as a real estate agent, it brought new opportunities from every direction. Clients were looking to buy and sell all over the place. The rural land market was no different. Clients had insurance money and were looking to upsize or downsize their properties. Some were looking to move out of the flooding zones while others were looking to take advantage of the lower prices in the areas that were flooded and increase their acreage. I enjoyed being able to help my clients turn their desires into reality.”

Brad gave us another example of a time he chose to see opportunity in a challenge.

“About this time a couple years ago, I knew that I needed to get a drone pilot’s license. The FAA had set new regulations for drones to be used in conjunction with business. At that time, we were dealing with the fallout from the flood in south Louisiana, I had a newborn baby, and I couldn’t see how taking the time to get a license to fly a drone was advantageous. I hate to think how much further along I could be as a drone pilot had I gotten my license back in 2016.”

“However, I recently took the time to get my Remote Pilot Certification from the FAA. (That’s just fancy wording for drone pilot’s license) I could see the value in having the license, so I decided to go for it. As with most challenges, it wasn’t as bad as originally estimated. I learned the material, took and passed the FAA exam. What I learned far exceeded what I expected. I actually enjoyed the process of obtaining the license and I gained a new skill that sets me above the competition of other real estate agents.”

Challenges in the land industry can be big or small, but seeing the opportunity is sometimes just about putting the extra time and effort into something you may see as a difficult situation.

“When faced with challenges, I urge others, the same way I have to remind myself, to look behind the initial challenge to see the positives that lie at the finish line. It’s always darkest before the dawn. There might be a pile of hard work staring you in the face, but it’s seldom as hard, as long or as bad as it seems.”

“This isn’t one of those get rich quick or make easy money schemes. This work won’t be easy or convenient. It may not even happen quickly. It hasn’t happened quickly in my case. I’ve been putting in many hours a day since February, hours that previously seemed to be in vain, but are now paying dividends. People seem to call me “out of the blue,” asking for my help and I think to myself, ‘That was lucky.” But I remember the countless hours I spent researching and inserting comparable sales, making seemingly pointless cold calls or answering late-night phone calls when I realize it wasn’t luck at all. Just keep at it.”

At NLR, it takes a team of people who see opportunities in challenges and constantly help each other to build a culture of opportunity. Agents like Brad help cultivate it.

“I’ve been an NLR agent for almost a year now and have enjoyed every bit of it. National Land is a team of hardworking professionals. The term, ‘team’ can have a multitude of definitions, ranging from people under the same company umbrella to people who work together to make everyone better. I’ve been a part of many different teams over the years, from my years of playing sports, coaching and umpiring to business. The teams that are most successful are those where everyone has a role to play, knows his role and accomplishes his role for the betterment of the team, not himself. This is what I’ve seen from NLR. NLR has highly qualified agents and professionals dispersed around the nation that with the dial of the phone will be there to help me accomplish my task at hand for the betterment of the NLR team. This is the reason that NLR is the best in the business.”