Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Including positivity and optimism in your business
13 Plays2 months ago
🎧 Welcome to Thoughts For Rent — the podcast where real estate gets real (and local)!
Hosted by Jenni McKenna, a Las Vegas born and raised seasoned broker, and Owner of McKenna Property Management, this show is your inside look at what’s really happening in the Vegas property management and real estate world. With over 20 years of experience herself - Jenni brings not just knowledge, but heart to the conversation.
Whether we’re talking market trends, property tips, community happenings, or just the everyday quirks of Vegas living, this podcast is all about keeping you in the know.
💬 Real talk. Local stories. Professional insight – provided from a company who has their boots on the ground and hearts in the community.
In this episode, we’re covering how to avoid negativity in your life and how to change your perspective to become more optimistic.
McKenna Property Management, proudly managing Las Vegas homes since 2005 (and loving every minute of it).
Hit subscribe and comment down below to join the conversation! 💛
✨ Stay connected with us!
Instagram: @mckennapropertymanagement
Facebook: McKenna Property Management
TikTok: @TheMcKennaTeam
Website: McKennaPropertyManagement.com
Phone: 702-434-HOME (4663)
Owner/Broker: Jenni McKenna B.29819
#ThoughtsForRent #McKennaTeam #LasVegasRealEstate #JenniMcKenna #PropertyManagement #MarketTrends #PropertyTips #Community
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hey everybody, it's Max and Jenny with Thoughts for Rent, Realtors Keeping It Real, our podcast coming to you live from Henderson, Nevada. Actually, it's not Henderson,
00:00:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, the address is Henderson, but we're located in the city of Las Vegas. So we're not Henderson. We're not Vegas. Are we incorporated in Clark County? I don't know what we are. Anyway, we're here.
00:00:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
We're here to talk to you guys about life and everything that involves it. And I'm Max Zerflew. sales broker person for the McKenna team at Keller Williams here in the Las Vegas Valley.
00:00:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
Who are you? You make me nervous with your radio voice. It's fine. you You get all deep. I'm Max Zerflu. I'm the owner of the McKenna team. I'm Jenny McKenna and I'm the owner broker of McKenna
Self-Perception and Voice
00:01:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
Property Management. And you make me nervous all the time. just a my wife My voice is not a radio voice, but we'll just deal with it because I've had it for 54 years. I guess I'll just keep it Nobody likes the way they sound as a rule.
00:01:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
I know. I imagine Howard Stern. You think he likes the way he sounds? Probably. As a rule, everybody says they don't like their voice, but I don't think you hear your voice the way that other people hear you. What are we talking about today? What are we doing? What's going on in life here? What's the, what's the haps, Jenny? What, what's on your mind?
The Role of Optimism in Success
00:01:35
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, so there's a lot going on in the political environment world. And I thought to myself, I would like to talk about optimism because optimism, I really believe, is a strategy for success.
00:01:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
And so there's a couple things that I know I'm sitting next to the most positive person in the whole wide world. So maybe we can get some pointers on how you stay so positive.
00:02:01
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then maybe how we can correlate it into when you're running a business, how important it is to stay positive and optimistic. So the fun thing is, is I was listening to a podcast and you know that brand, the t-shirt brand that says life is good.
00:02:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
Love it. Actually, Max bought some of them right when they came out. I thought you bought me one for Father's Day. Sure. Well, you were like, I love that saying. It's great. And then you've just collected hats and shirts or whatever.
00:02:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
But, you know, they were started by brothers, Bert and John Jacobs. And part of the podcast I was listening to is they were asked, how did you get into, you know, life is good t-shirts?
00:02:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they said they grew up in ah very... Scary environment. Their dad was um loud, aggressive, ah angry all the time, depressed all the time.
00:02:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
And the mom was really instrumental in both of their lives on making sure that they stay optimistic. And one of the things they did is at the dinner table. Um, before they would have dinner, she would ask, Hey, Brett or John, what's one good thing that happened today? Cool.
00:03:13
Irelynn Zurflueh
And it would set their mindset and it would set for a much better dinner, you know? atmosphere.
Positivity in Work Environment and Public Figures
00:03:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
So it's got to be the same thing in our daily lives. If you continue to only look at the negative, then you're going to breed negativity.
00:03:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think that people will feel that in your office space. The clients that you work with will feel that. Um, I'm you're thinking about people that I that know are negative. Start running through your head all the people you know that are always Eeyore and oh no and we'll never get that contract on or we're going to miss the flight.
00:03:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, let me ask you this.
00:03:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
You've read, you've listened to, you know. i would like you to tell me someone that in history well known well known And they are a negative person. It's kind of putting the pressure on me here. Well, I'm just kind of wondering, do you know anybody that is made something that people would know their name that is a negative individual?
00:04:19
Irelynn Zurflueh
No, I mean, I don't know that I know a lot of people personally that are famous and have created something that people like. So I wouldn't know if they're negative in real life or not. So it's hard to say.
00:04:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think most of those people, their negativity might actually be motivation. So it might be worked into their personality that way. So I don't i don't know if a famous person who created something is ah Good way to look. i don't Do you know somebody? Well, no, I don't. I could i was thinking in my head. So you're trying to say that if you're really optimistic, you're probably going to be successful?
00:04:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'm saying now let's flip the question. How many well-known successful people that you are aware of, that the world would be aware of, that you know as you've seen them being interviewed or you've read their book, tend to look at the world being a little bit more optimistic?
00:05:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
It's a great question. Do I have the answer? Sure, you do. I don't know that I do because, again, i don't know these people personally. And I see them in front of a camera. are they And they exude optimism, then it might not be real.
00:05:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I don't know. Hard to say. Let's assume that it's just in front of the camera. But what they've learned is if you are more... positive in front of the camera, then you're going to give something to that audience. And then that audience is going to want it more.
00:05:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
They've definitely learned that they're not going to sit in front of the camera and go, woe is me. The world is falling apart. And people are going to be like, yeah, I want to keep watching them. no i want to read their book.
00:05:48
Irelynn Zurflueh
So it's just a DNA. it's It's in our system and we gravitate to individuals that are exuding positivity.
00:06:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. I would pull Adam Sandler out of my back pocket. Okay. Because he's obviously funny, highly successful. i think he's worth like half a bill. And he, if you see him on the street or out and about,
00:06:15
Irelynn Zurflueh
He always seems to be happy and just enjoying life. No stress. You know, somebody had a video, posted a video of him walking around New York eating a bottle bottle of pickles, yeah there's a jar of pickles.
00:06:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
But he's always, and he smiles and he laughs and he engages with people. And he's highly successful. And I would look at him because I like to exude humor in my life and positivity all the time.
00:06:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yes. But that's just one example of
Family Traditions and Optimism in Leadership
00:06:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
how you can be positive. I like the way our family does highs and lows. when we go on vacations. okay And I know there's a lower there at the, at the end of that sentence, but you do highs and you say, what was your high today? What was your high food over the last four days on this vacation?
00:06:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
And it reminds you uh, the great things you experienced. And it reminds you about the positive things you've had. And then when you get down to the lows, you go, i don't know if I have any lows, or if you do have a low, it just kind of reminds you how great the good thing was.
00:07:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
Or sometimes we end up just laughing at what the low is because you think about it and you're like, oh my gosh, can you believe that happened? Can you believe that she put her nose in the Diet Coke and said, oh this Diet Coke.
00:07:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
So sometimes the lows end up just being comical when they're not in the moment. so yeah For me, positivity helps in your life and in your physical, in your mental.
00:07:35
Irelynn Zurflueh
Let's take, for example, a flight that is delayed. Okay. By six hours. Yes. Any recollection of that happening? Yes. Oh, a couple weeks ago. Happened to us. Yes. So, you know, you and I, we have we had cribbage cards and we played games and we had places to sit and we were lounging about and we dealt with it.
00:07:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
However, my, let's be honest, my approach to it is a lot more positive than yours. I would have to admit that. yeah I did pretty good, though. No, I think you did good. but But there was a couple of, this is ridiculous.
00:08:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
Oh my gosh. I can't believe six hours. And um my, I always try to adopt in my personality and in my persona, it's fine. It's fine. yeah We could be up in the air and maybe something that they didn't wait for it could go wrong. We could have a crash. We're sitting here. We're, we're having a soda. We're playing cards. We're good.
00:08:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
Everything's fine. Well, and that's why I pointed and said that I like this topic because you're kind of an expert on it, whether you know you are or you're not. I know that when we come into the office, if I'm having, you know, I just left an appointment that wasn't so good and I need a little pick me up, just that little something so that I don't dwell on that negativity.
00:08:47
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'll come into your office and you'll have something that'll make me laugh or you'll do something that just is so ridiculous. You just look at me and then you'll start laughing. And that right there changes. it it And that's why I started this podcast with, I believe that optimism is a strategy for success.
00:09:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because if you are going to run a team, if you're going to have anybody that is going to ah want to, you know, you're the leader and they're going to follow you.
00:09:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
i really believe you better hone in on the skill of being positive when you need to be. And yes, Max is right. When I was sitting there in the lounge waiting the six hour delay, ah probably wasn't super positive. Like, yeah I'm so glad that I'm sitting here doing nothing for six hours when I want to be in New York.
00:09:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
But in the same aspect, if you put me into a work environment, Or even as a mother raising my children, i would be very um careful in making sure that I stay positive and that that aura that I'm giving off is more of that positive aura. sure our children, who are now all adults, could talk about how tiring it was to hear you and i tell them that to be positive or have an affirmation or to talk about the good things and be positive and be positive. I'm sure they're like, whatever.
00:10:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, what aren't you? But we don't in business, we don't come into the office and do negative affirmations, do we? No. I mean, we've done many ah seminars and conventions and bold training in Keller Williams.
00:10:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
And you and I know that we're told be positive in your affirmations. Correct. And when you learn about that, you talk about the negative affirmations that someone, you know, has.
00:10:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
If you get up in the morning and go, oh, this is going to be a tough day. That's a negative affirmation. Well, and then you're just asking. It might be tough, but it doesn't mean it's going to be impossible to get through.
00:10:47
Irelynn Zurflueh
But when you say it's going to be tough, you're just setting yourself up to every step of the way. You're reminding yourself, oh, this is a pain in the butt day. yeah But if you wake up and go, it's going to great day. I'm busy. I got appointments.
00:11:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
God bless me for that. Wonderful. And then you go about it in a positive manner. I think you're going to have a lot more success or you're going to finish the day feeling a lot better. I think. Well, and one of the the cool parts of the podcast that i heard from and The individual who started that massive, successful company.
The 'Life is Good' Story and Positive Affirmations
00:11:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
The Jacobs brothers? Did you say name?
00:11:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
No, I was just going to go with the... individual instead of the name? Yeah. Well, and I only heard from one of the brothers. The other brother wasn't on the podcast, so it wasn't both brothers. We're a podcast talking about a podcast. I know. that crazy? Wow. So one of the things that I really liked was the fact that, obviously, this is 10 years later.
00:11:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
Their company is a huge success. um You could say life is good for them. Life is good for them. Correct. Correct. What I really liked hearing from from them is the fact that, you know, when they first started that company, it wasn't easy.
00:11:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
They sold t-shirts out of the back of their car in Boston. And they drew those, so they their mom taught them how to draw. And so all those drawings were done by the brothers. And so they were put in like the normal white t-shirt and they would have to go down and get it, you know, put onto the t-shirt and then they would sell it from the back of their car.
00:12:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
And that's hard. That's, ah that's day to day, just, you know, boots on the ground, making it happen. And they could have, any one of those days they could have woken up and they could have said, this is just too hard. This is not progressing as fast as I want. This is, you know, not what I'm envisioning.
00:12:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they could have quit. But instead, He said that he would get up in the morning and he would take just a moment and he would say, you know, life can be hard because it's true. Life is not supposed to be easy.
00:12:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
Life can be hard. and what up And what I'm going to do is I'm going to make sure that I do something today that is positive and will help my business grow, no matter what it is.
00:12:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
And it's just like a flip of a switch. And then from moving forward, whatever things hit him, and he said lots of things hit him. It wasn't like, oh, my day was perfect. But whenever something would hit him, he would just take a step back and he would say, life is good.
00:13:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then he would go on with... Well, life is good. And I think that changes your mindset. I think that keeps you going. Obviously. You and I know someone in our life that is one of these people that I don't hear a lot of positivity from.
00:13:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
And we've always said that when this individual speaks about whatever it is, the negative thing that is happening or hasn't happened yet actually happens because it's almost like they will it to them.
00:13:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, that goes back to the secret. If you're being negative and throwing negativity out to the universe, it's going to come back to you If you throw positivity out, positivity will come back to you. That's what that is. And that happens all the time.
00:13:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
There's so many examples of that happening. So you're the you're my master of positivity sitting right next to I'm the MOP, as you would say. Absolutely. Master of positivity. So when you're a mob.
00:14:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
Mop. That's right. You're right. Mop. I'm a mop. Not the
Tools and Strategies for Maintaining Positivity
00:14:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
mop, mop. What's your woman? Well, you obviously have life hit you with some things that obviously bring you down. It's not exactly what you envision.
00:14:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
How do you get yourself out of that rut? And let's speak professionally. So in your world of being the owner of the McKenna team. Well, I... yeah The positivity is I'm lucky to have it. I think I don't know that I control it as much as it's just inside of me.
00:14:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
However, I work with a lot of people who can be very negative. you can be yeah You can be on a phone call with either a client or another agent or discussing something. And it's just, you just want to reach through the phone and shake. No, stop it.
00:14:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
And, I think people get off those phone calls or those conversations and let that control their body and their psyche for the rest of the day.
00:15:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
And my trick is to just move on and smile and go, well, there you go. Cause there's no rule in life that says people are going to be nice to you or they're going to understand what you're saying or they're going to have common sense.
00:15:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
Correct. It just doesn't happen. Correct. So you have to be able to hang up the phone and go, well, there you go. Okay. What's up next? Yeah. And i don't know if it's it's not a trick or a tool. It's just what it's just how I react.
00:15:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think it is a tool. What you just said is a tool. You get off the phone and rather than going to five people in the office oh and reenacting the negative phone call and then making it even a bigger negative phone call than it really was – That's just feeding the negativity. And now there's been two hours wasted of that energy. You got to move on. That's your tool. Your tool is you hang up the phone and you go, well, that's what, it that's what it was. I'm not going to take it personal.
00:15:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then you go do something else that you wanted to do in that day. Or, you know, a lot of people around me that ah in my career have always been like, oh, that, that person doesn't know what they're doing. Now in a real estate, we work in a cooperative environment where we're going to help each other.
00:16:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
get to the end of the deal, create a win-win situation for not only the seller and the buyer, but for us. And if we have to help that person, that's that's great. But I know people that they see an incompetent, that's probably a bad word to use, but an incompetent agent or someone who's inexperienced, and they they they make that the theme of the rest of their day.
00:16:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
And everybody they run into and said, guess what this agent did? Guess what they put on this addendum? Guess what they told me they would do, but they shouldn't have told me? And it's just like, no, let's forget that. Let's help them.
00:16:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then we can just move forward. I think moving forward is also very important. right You don't stay right here, especially if it's a negative thing. Just turn it and Charge the storm and, and you know, fix. I also am very transactional in my life as well.
00:17:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
If I have 10 things I got to do, I'm going do them. Then I'm going to move on. I won't. i don't want people things to hang over my head, you know? Yeah. And I think that helps to be positive when you go, okay, I finished that. It's fine. It's good. Let's move on. Let's not think about it anymore.
00:17:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
People think about stuff too much, I think. And in my brain, when I look back at the people that I find to be successful, whether it's the amount of money that they're making or the way they've raised their family or just the way that they are as an individual with friends, I look at them and none of them, Max, none of them are negative.
00:17:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
So there's something to be said that really people gravitate to positivity. And if you are in maybe a slump, ah whether it be in your family, your business, or whatever it is, maybe look in the mirror and say to yourself, am I talking more negative than I'm talking positive?
00:17:58
Irelynn Zurflueh
Am I judging people harshly? where my rule is stay in curiosity and out of judgment. So just stay more curious and go with that. And with the environment that we're in right now, with everything on the news being like the world is falling, the sky is done, you know, everything is a mess.
00:18:19
Irelynn Zurflueh
I really think it's going to need to take the tools that you have just said to get you out of whatever that mind space is that you're in. i think you and i have this conversation a lot.
00:18:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
a lot of A lot of this stuff doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. i know you think it matters at the time. I'm in my... And that's the hard part. I'm middle-aged. There will be a time when I will probably leave this earth.
00:18:43
Irelynn Zurflueh
i think we all do. Sad for you to imagine this. And when I leave this earth, can you imagine all the things that I would have worried about that are just a waste of time? Yep.
00:18:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because there's nothing I can do about them. We have to control what we can control. I got to do it. I got to drop it here. i like this. I like this. I got to drop the Dalai Lama. He says, if there if you there's a something that comes at you, if there's nothing you can do about it, then don't worry about it.
00:19:13
Irelynn Zurflueh
He says, if you've got the solution, there's something you can do about it, then don't worry about it. So at the the end of each of those statements is don't worry. We worry so much and we waste so much time on worrying about little things, small things that we just need to let go.
00:19:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think we talk about so many things for so long that are not productive. So that's the other thing. If you really want to make a change in whatever part of the the you know realm of life you're in, business, family, friends, whatever, stop taking so much time talking about negative stuff.
Humor, Curiosity, and Worry in Positivity
00:19:48
Irelynn Zurflueh
It's better to be six feet above ground than six feet below. That's one of the things you can remind yourself. And you can always look back on Monty Python. Oh, what's that one? Always look on the bright side of life.
00:20:03
Irelynn Zurflueh
got a whistle.
00:20:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
What was that? where did you can Always look on the bright side of life. It's the best. It's the best for me. And so, you know, I usually tell myself when I'm starting to be concerned about something, I go, it doesn't matter.
00:20:19
Irelynn Zurflueh
It doesn't matter. If I can fix it, I'm not going to worry about it. If I can't fix it, I'm not going to worry about it. Yeah. That's my takeaway, Jennifer. I don't know. Well, and I think that... I just called you Jennifer. Is that what your parents called you when you were in trouble when you were younger?
00:20:32
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yes. Jennifer. But I do get in trouble with you sometimes, so you've called me Jennifer before. I don't think I'm in trouble this time, though. You're not in trouble. i just yeah It sounded cool. There you go What about you, Jennifer? I think ah i think we went over this, and and I really feel like it's kind of the secret sauce of when you want to be on the road to success, and so that's why I wanted to share it with our our listeners.
Closing Thoughts on Embracing Optimism
00:20:54
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah.
00:20:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yes, absolutely. was Was it Forrest Gump in his movie at one point? Did he have like a smiley face on his shirt? Yes. That he made famous? Yes. Was it? But then it went into a tagline that you're not really supposed to say.
00:21:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think he said it happens, but it was something else. But initially there was like a smiley face. Yeah, just a big old happy yeah face on the t-shirt. If we could just all walk around with smiley face shirts on, I think we'd be okay.
00:21:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
That would be fun. and if you were bad Hey, I bet the guys that create Life is... great. needed but Life is good. oh Life is good. Sorry. Life is good might create something that has a big old smiley face on it.
00:21:30
Irelynn Zurflueh
And you know what? When you come across a negative person, just go up and smile at them. Give him a hug. Say it's okay. It's okay. That's all we got for you today, folks. It's thoughts for rent. Realtors keeping it real and realtors keeping it positive today. Absolutely. Today and every day because that's how we roll.
00:21:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. Life is good. You guys have a great time. We'll see you next time on Thoughts for Rent. Bye.