Change needs to be embraced in world of real estate

Harvey was born Dec. 20, 1868, on his grandpa’s farm in Ohio. After graduating from high school, he went to work for his uncle Clinton at Columbus Buggy Company. CBC, at it’s height, boasted about being the largest buggy manufacturer in the country, employing 1,000 employees that made, sold and serviced all kinds of horse-drawn buggies and carriages. Harvey worked hard and was promoted to sales manager of the Michigan territory. Harvey had ambition, sales talent and a knack for coming up with new ideas. At just 21 years old, he was considered the golden boy of the company, thus my nickname of Buggy Boy. He dominated the Michigan market and after a couple of years he soon was just considered the Buggy Man. He sold baby buggies, low-cost farm buggies, middle class no-frills buggies and fancy high-cost buggies for the wealthy that featured comfortable leather seats, roof protection from the harsh weather and even shock absorbers for the bumpy dirt roads. His clients were loyal and appreciative of his product and his service and referred all their friends and family to the Buggy Man of Ohio and Michigan. Harvey was inventive and developed a method of using rubber to soften the wooden and steel wheels and eventually patented his rubber wheels. As the turn of the century came, the automobile industry caused fear and loathing for many folks in the buggy business as they saw sales begin to dwindle. Harvey saw this coming and focused on his specialty, the wheel. While many of his competitors saw Henry Ford as the man that would ruin their business, Harvey became friends with Ford. Columbus Buggy went bankrupt after Harvey left to focus full time on his wheel business and in 1900, Harvey founded Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison became close friends and all became very wealthy because they embraced change rather than fight it. The real estate business is changing along with every industry in America because of advancements in technology. The one thing that will never change is what Firestone exemplified since he was an 18-year-old golden boy at Columbus Buggy Company: The person that works the hardest and helps the most people get what they want will always be the most successful.