I can’t take credit for the following parable but I think it’s something we all need to heed as we head into the heat of summer and one of the more challenging real estate markets we have experienced in years. The original source is unknown but I read it once in The Real World of Selling Real Estate by the late Joe Klock, Sr.
For some reason, I grabbed that book off my bookshelf today and found one single Post-it note sticking out from the pages. I curiously opened to page 252 and here is what was written…
How’s Business?
Said the whining bantam rooster, “Things have gotten awfully tough;
Them there worms are gettin’ scarcer, and I just can’t get enough.
What’s become of all those fat ones is a mystery to me;
There were thousands through that rainy spell – but now where can they be?”
…
The old hen heard him out, but didn’t grumble or complain;
She’d been through lots of dry spells after happy days of rain;
So she hopped up on the grindstone and gave her claws a whet, as she said, “I’ve never seen a time when there wasn’t worms to get!”
…
She picked an undug spot; the earth was rather firm.
The bantam rooster jeered, “New ground? That’s no place for a worm!”
The wise old hen just flexed her feet and dug both fast and free.
“I must find the worms,” she said. “The worms won’t hunt for me!”
…
The rooster vainly spent his time – through habit, by the way –
Where juicy works had passed in squads on that last rainy day;
When nightfall found him supper-less, he moaned in accents sad,
“I’m hungry as a bird can be – conditions sure are bad!”
…
He turned then to the hen and said, “It must be worse for you,
For you’re not only hungry but you must be worn out too.
I rested while you scratched the ground, so I feel pretty perk;
But look at you, without worms, too, and after all that work!”
…
The old hen rested on her perch and closed her eyes in sleep,
Then murmured in a weary tone, “Young cock, hear this and weep!
I’m full of worms and happy, for I’ve dined both long and well.
The worms were there, as always – but I just had to dig like hell!“
…
I guess the moral of the story Mr. Klock shared was this…
Instead of getting cocky, just get to work!
