By Ferrell Miller
The JC Breakfast Optimist Club met March 15 at the Hampton Inn for their weekly meeting. President Nita Miller shared that the YMCA needs contributions to purchase a divider curtain in their gym to provide play space and eating space for youth. The Optimist Club agreed to donate $500.00 towards the purchase of the curtain.
Lance Custer was the guest speaker. Lance and his wife Michelle have lived in Junction City for 24 years and have two daughters. He is a coach and trainer for people in the real estate business.
Lance asked club members what they knew about the real estate market in Junction City and then shared that in October of 2018 Junction City had 235 houses on the market, 58 pending and 278 sold in the last 6 months. On March 12 of this year there were 60 houses on the market, 93 pending and 237 sold in the last 6 months. The average price of a house in 2018 was $130,702 and in 2023 the average price was $174,524. “It is a builder’s market right now, but not enough builders are willing to take the risk because of the uncertainty of the economy and recent bank failures”, he said.
As a coach and trainer, Mr. Custer’s training sessions are done on zoom in half hour segments for people in the United States and Canada. For him to improve his sessions, he is monitored for the time he talks and the time the trainee talks. Lance stated that “The goal is for me to talk 10% of the time. I get feedback from the trainee and the monitoring system to measure the time spent talking and listening, an analysis of my conversations, alignment and communication and my empathy towards the client.” The goal is to listen more and talk less.
Lance recently attended a Phil Jones conference in California where the topic was “Exactly What To Say – Change your words. Change your world.” In the presentation he learned about ways to ask questions of a trainees to get them thinking for themselves to solve problems or issues. Some examples include “When would be a good time?”; “Are you open minded about….”; “You have three options”; “Help me understand”; “What happens next?” and others.
Next week the JC Breakfast Optimist Club will recognize a JCHS Student of the Month and a volunteer who has been “Making A Difference For Youth”.
The Club meets every Wednesday morning at the Hampton Inn at 1039 S. Washington Street in Junction City. A breakfast buffet is available at 6:00 a.m., the meeting begins at 6:50 a.m. and concludes at 7:30 a.m.