Formation
Twelve of us started the company as equal owners. This was an untried concept. We had no models to follow and had to figure it out as we went along. The Group has been a magnificent, 30-year laboratory for experimenting with group dynamics, teams, self-directed work groups, employee empowerment, and leadership. Many of these concepts, which are widely recognized and written about today, existed only in theory 30 years ago.

We started out in a 12’ by 14’ office on the 4th floor of the “Savings Building” (now called the Key Bank building). We had 2 staff people in this office and the salespeople just came in to pick up messages. Our original receptionist was Susie Ewing (age 22) who is now our Vice-President and manages our Mulberry Street Office.
One of our beliefs is to create an environment that allows people to maximize their potential and this includes our administrative staff. Many of our receptionists and assistants have gone on to become top salespeople or managers.

Adversity
We experienced quite a bit of adversity our first 2 or three years. Our concept of equal owners was new and we were trying to figure out how to make decisions. In addition our concept was a threat to the existing real estate establishment (some accused us of being communists or socialists!) and a few did their best to put us out of business. In fact, they complained to the Colorado Real Estate Commission that our legal organization of equal ownership was a violation of commission law and our license to do business should be revoked. The Commission had never seen a set up like ours and didn’t quite know what to make of us. In the end, they ruled that we were a legitimate business and our legal ownership was not a threat to the public (even though it might be to the other established real estate companies).

Many also made fun of our name – with one advertising agency asking us “do you really want to keep that name?”

We also experienced a lot of adversity in the early 80’s with a market that saw mortgage rates hit 17% and the prime rate hit 21%. A lot people went out of the business and many companies closed their doors. The Group, Inc. also took some hits and lost some people but most survived and the concept of the “Winter Soldier” was born.

The Early Days
In 1976, there were no computers, cell phones, internet or even plain paper copiers (everybody had “wet process”). There were hardly any women in real estate and in fact most firms at that time had a policy to “not hire women”. In fact, most lenders would not extend credit to women and it took an Act of Congress in 1975 to force lenders to count a woman’s income in qualifying for a mortgage loan.

Innovation
“How will they be selling real estate in the year 2000? Let’s start selling it that way now!” was the vision we wrote in 1976. The Group has always been a leader in innovation and as a result has changed the industry. Here is a list of “firsts”:

First company to advertise both the price and the address of listings in the newspaper. The philosophy of that time was to not disclose the price or especially the address of the home – thinking it would force the consumers to have to call the real estate company. Consumers hated this and so the Group’s very first advertisement in The Coloradoan listed all of our homes with their addresses and prices. The other brokers were furious and filed a complaint against us with the Board of Realtors for “unfair trade practices.”

First major real estate company to be open on Saturdays and Sundays.

First company to offer homebuyers a Guaranteed Sales Plan on their existing home so that they could actually buy a new home. (This really upset the real estate establishment and a group of them went to our bank and requested that they not provide us with the line of credit to operate this program.)

First company to have more than one office in town.

First company to see Northern Colorado as a region and take a regional approach with offices in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, and Windsor.

First company to hire a woman manager, Sharianne Daily, our current President. (Note: Currently 6 of our 7 offices are managed by women.)

First company in Fort Collins to have a plain paper copier (Xerox).

First company in Fort Collins to have an IBM Selectric II typewriter with the “correctomatic key”.

First real estate company in Colorado to have 12 or more equal owners. Today The Group has over 250 owners.

First company to collect market research data on housing with the intention of being “The Source” of real estate knowledge in our market.

First company to publish a monthly newsletter - “The Insider.” Current circulation is 45,000 per month.

First company to research and publish a Demographic Profile for Larimer County. (Interestingly, a County Commissioner often calls and asks when we are going to have the updated version of the county’s demographic profile done!)

First company to produce its own real estate publication to be inserted in the local newspapers – The Real Estate Source.

First company (perhaps still the only company) that requires our new listings to be offered first to our customers. (No Group partner can buy a new listing until 3 days after it is listed – the property has to be offered to our customers first.) One of the criticisms of the real estate industry is that “the Realtors snatch up all the good deals and the customers get the left overs.”

First company to create a Real Estate Forecast event – last year over 3,000 attended at the Budweiser Events Center.

First company in Fort Collins and Colorado to be recognized as the “Most Productive Real Estate Company in the United States” in terms of transactions per Realtor.

First company to write and produce its sales training materials (Ninja Selling) and have them adopted by the National Association of Realtors. The Group’s “Ninja Selling” course is taught throughout the United States by national instructors and was described in the Wall Street Journal.

Commitments
The Group has 5 key commitments.

Commitment to our Customers
Commitment to Mastery – being the best we can be.
Commitment to our Community – being a part of building a great community.
Commitment to being Leaders in Real Estate – always being the innovators.
Commitment to Each Other – we are all owners and we are in this together.
Commitment to Community

We are currently the only locally owned major real estate company. This is important because our goal is to invest in the community – our time, talent, and treasure. The goal of most non-locally owned companies is to export money out of our community – back to their home office. The Group makes substantial investments in our community through the various non-profit charities and CSU.

Four Group partners have been Presidents of the United Way, two have been Presidents of The Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, and one has been Mayor of Fort Collins. Many have been presidents of service clubs and organizations.

People
The Group has attracted and kept a premier group of people. Their talents are indicated by Realtor Magazine naming them “The Most Productive Realtors in the United States”. They have been together a long time and the turnover is very low. They enjoy each other both inside and outside of the workplace. They are friends as well as business associates. The Group is more than a real estate company for them – it is a way of life.

Mastery
One of The Group’s core philosophies is the commitment to Mastery, to being the best. In this regard, we believe it is important to read and meet with the most brilliant people we can find and to learn from them.

In 1984, The Group was the first private company to hire Anthony Robbins (then age 24) to come to our company and conduct a workshop for our people.

We also took him to Centennial High School to work with the students there.

In 1987, The Group helped bring Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence) to Fort Collins for a presentation to the business community at The Lincoln Center. Mr. Peters also spent time with Group partners at our Mulberry Street Office.

In the mid-eighties, Larry Kendall taught workshops with and became friends with Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad/Poor Dad). Robert did a number of workshops for The Group and in 2004 (after he was world famous having sold over 50 million books) he came back to spend 2 days with The Group at our annual retreat in Vail.

This past year Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup books, Power of Focus, and The Success Principles) joined us as well as John Goddard (Your Life List).

The Group partners believe that you are today the same as you will be tomorrow except for 3 things – the books you read, the people you meet, and the places you go. The Group provides an environment of learning, growth, exposure to brilliant people, and an energy that encourages people to maximize their potential.

Culture
The Group’s culture of openness and encouraging people to learn new things, to be exposed to new ideas and people, to commit to mastery, to be non-judgmental, to come from abundance and to encourage everyone to maximize their potential, led us down some very interesting and enlightening paths. It started with firewalking with Tony Robbins in 1984 and was followed by board breaking, bungee jumping, metal bending, sky diving and other assorted activities which taught us how to focus and to “step into the fear.” They also opened our minds to new possibilities. These activities led to us being featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine in an article on “Colorado’s Thriving Cults”. We took a lot of heat for the article but remain very proud of our culture, our beliefs, and our people. (The word “culture” starts with the word “cult”. A group with a very strong culture is often called a “cult.” We take that as a compliment.

Longevity
The Group has thrived and survived for 30 years. To put this in perspective, of the Fortune 500 companies operating in 1976, less than 100 of them are in existence today. A few years ago, an old, retired Realtor from another company was cleaning out some files and he brought by a list of Fort Collins’ real estate companies he found from 1976. There were 86 companies on the list. The only one still in existence is The Group, Inc.

Mascot: The Frog
Frogs are considered good luck in business by many cultures. They can only leap forward – never backward.