Blog Stories Living Room's Best Business Investments

Living Room’s Best Business Investments

By Jenelle Etzel, June 19, 2018

Forbes.com contributor recently asked entrepreneurs to share their best business investments from the past year and I was happy to share our two biggest investments at Living Room Realty.

“Making the right investment in your small business can mean the difference between growth and stagnation. What that right investment is – marketing, training, technology, labor, personal development – will vary from business to business and owner to owner, depending on a variety of factors.” Dinah Wisenberg Brin

Staff are Living Room’s biggest asset and investing in training and development of our staff. We invest in our people by sending them to executive trainings and paying for membership to peer-to-peer organizations that support executives’ personal and professional development.

We set aside five percent of our budget each year for trainings and consultants for our employees. Employees have an education credit that renews each year. We don’t say ‘no’ to any request for learning because we feel if our employees are able to pursue their passions and what brings them joy, they are more likely to be productive and stay with a company that supports them as whole beings. We spend a lot of time reminding staff that they have this credit and encourage them to use it.

We also invest in creating fun and intentional joy. At our most recent annual state-of-the-union meeting, we hired a local celebrity cat rapper– yes, a guy who raps about his cats. It’s as silly as it sounds and the ROI to create the unexpected joy for our agents has returned dividends all year long.

Read the full article at forbes.com.

Jenelle Etzel

President & Owner, Licensed Broker OR

She/Her

What does being lead singer and guitar player in a female punk band have in common with starting a real estate company in the middle of a recession? Not many people can answer that question...
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  • jenelle@livingroomre.com

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