In the spirit of “real talk, always,” I’d be lying if I said we weren’t having to pull ourselves away from watching the Paris Olympics to do our jobs. It’s only been a few days, but give me headless, operatic Marie Antoinettes and an aria from Carmen, and I’m sold.

 

The Olympics show us not just the peak of athleticism, but also the apogee of specialization — it’s physical ability plus knowledge, skill development plus experience, talent plus training. There's an inspirational poster somewhere that says "champions aren’t born, they’re built."

 

✨ Like many other parts of life, when outcome really matters, you want to rely on the people who are capable AND ALSO especially experienced in the task at hand. ✨

Gold Medal Sport GIF by Team USA


Let’s think of opening a brick-and-mortar space like the 4 x 400m relay race.

 

The first big lap around the track is developing your real estate strategy and finding spaces, the second lap is negotiating the deal-breaker business terms in the LOI, the third lap is negotiating the lease language, and the final lap is the build-out of the space.

 

👟 Four long, exhausting laps. Four skill sets. Four areas of experience.

 

If you’re going for the gold in the 4x400 relay, you need the members of your team to be not just fast runners with power and endurance, but also knowledgeable in the specific relay skills of holding and passing the baton and navigating the rules of lane changes. 

 

🏊 So what might happen if you stick, say, Katie Ledecky in as one of your runners?

 

There’s no doubt that she’s an elite athlete and experienced Olympian. She has more athleticism in her left big toe than most people have in their entire bodies. But her specialty is swimming. She’s spent most of her childhood and her entire adult life honing her skills and developing her talent in the swimming pool. 

 

Is she probably a stronger and faster runner than 95% of people on the planet? Yes. Is she experienced in baton passing? Not to my knowledge.

 

After you’ve spent many months developing a solid real estate strategy, finding a great space, and negotiating a strong LOI, how do you ensure that the gains you’ve made along the way stick all the way to opening day? You pass the baton to specialists. 

 

🥇 You hire a retail leasing attorney to negotiate your lease — not your cousin Dan the tax attorney.

 

🥇 You hire a commercial general contractor with lots of experience in retail build-outs — not your college roomie Rebecca who renovates home kitchens.

 

By the time you’ve made it to the third lap of the race, the only way to keep your position and finish strong is to pass the baton to teammates who know exactly how to grip it and maneuver the final laps to the finish line. 

 

Even if cousin Dan is the Katie Ledecky of tax attorneys, his value doesn’t transfer when you take him out of the pool and stick him on the track.