Jarrod Davis (Photo by Ryan Parent)
By Connie Adair
Riding a bicycle from Sebring, Fla. to Ottawa might seem a daunting and even impossible task for most people, but not for Jarrod Davis. The real estate coach practices what he preaches. Breaking large goals into more manageable increments can make them easier to achieve, he says. “Anyone could do one day of what I did.”
His mission was to teach agents the power of choice in reaching their goals a step at a time, and the importance of living each day with purpose. “Otherwise you go through life on autopilot. Making choices is not passive,” Davis says.
During his ride, he told agents, “Anyone can do anything they set their minds to. Don’t buy into limiting beliefs that you can’t reach your goals.” He says he found a lot of similarities between tackling a ride and working in real estate.
Some agents talk about a goal of making $120,000 or $130,000, yet have no concept of how to do it. By determining the tasks that need to be done each day to achieve the end goal, it becomes less daunting, he says.
Davis, who joined Keller Williams Solid Rock Realty in Ottawa about five years ago as a team leader and coach, took the ride one day at a time and then repeated the task 22 days in a row. In addition to offering inspiring talks to agents, he raised $3,100 for the charity KW Cares through sponsorships and t-shirt sales.
On his first day, Sept. 25, he rode 87 miles. Getting back on the bike on day two was tough. “It was a painful choice, but it was my choice to get up and do it again. It was not comfortable but I was prepared to be uncomfortable. When you’re uncomfortable, you grow. It was never as bad as I expected it would be,” he says.
Davis arrives at the Keller Williams office in Ottawa with broker Marcel Carriere, who accompanied him from the border.
That’s not to say he didn’t have challenges. The second to last day was the toughest, he says. “I was riding across the top of New York. It was cold and rainy and the wind was in my face. I didn’t go faster than 11 miles an hour. I couldn’t feel my toes and my fingers were frozen. But in hindsight, it was not as bad as I thought it was.”
He was met at the Canadian border by Marcel Carriere, a broker at the Ottawa office. Carriere accompanied him to Ottawa. They arrived on Oct. 20. Davis rode an average of 80 miles a day, for a total of about 1,800 miles.
The idea for the journey all started earlier this year, when Davis weighed 250 pounds. “My goal to lose weight really began in January,” says Davis, who vowed to lose 50 pounds. If he met his goal, he promised himself that he would ride from Florida to Ontario. The problem was, he made his statement publicly on the Internet, he jokes. “Sometimes Facebook is not your friend.”
When he lost 50 pounds (he met his goal by June), he posted a picture but had forgotten about the ride. His Facebook friends didn’t waste any time reminding him about what he said.
Davis talked with his real estate coach, Terrie Foster of the MAPS coaching program. “Terrie said that if I was going to prepare and go through it, that I had to make it about other people,” Davis says, who lined up talks and fund-raising opportunities.
Davis has trained lions for magicians and opened an exotic animal rescue.
What Davis realized in hindsight was that his real estate coach suggested the talks for accountability reasons. If he had to teach, he had to get up and ride his bike. “I didn’t think of it at the time, but my coach is smart,” Davis says.
Next Davis decided on a five-week training period, and began to search for a fitness coach. All of the coaches told him five weeks wasn’t long enough. Davis hired Matt Schult, who specializes in training people for triathlons. He was the only fitness coach who simply said, “You have a lot to do in five weeks.” He never said that it couldn’t be done, Davis says.
Davis was also buoyed by a conversation with a 69-year-old man who did a similar ride and encouraged him to go for it. “Everyone told him he was too old, but he did it. He told me that I’d get in better shape as I went along,” Davis says. “I never had the attitude that I couldn’t do it. I got stronger every day.”
Would he do it again? “Absolutely,” he says. “My wife (Michelle Davis) enjoyed it and my son had a blast.”
Michelle and two-year-old Connor travelled in an RV, driving each day to Davis’ destination and awaiting his arrival. “It was great family time,” Davis says.
He encourages agents to forget about their own and other’s limiting beliefs and to make positive choices. “Agents lose track of their goals. Always think of beginning with the end in mind. I never believed I couldn’t make it to Ottawa. The choice is up to you, and your choice can change your life.”
Davis has been in real estate for 12 years, first getting his licence and buying and renovating properties as an investment. With a degree in animal science, he also trained lions for MGM and for magicians Siegfried and Roy. When the animals needed a refuge, he started a non-profit exotic animal rescue (www.tailsofthewild.org) in Florida in 2001.
“Tigers bite, but agents talk back. I’m not sure which is worse,” says Davis, who has also owned a brokerage. He no longer sells real estate but works as a real estate business coach with Keller Williams in Ottawa and is broker of record for a Keller Williams office in Florida.
