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As the summer of 2025 approached, things were coming together for me to exit the brokerage I had founded in 2002. With my family’s trip to Japan coming into view, I was excited about the opportunity to spend an entire month being truly present. No crises to handle, no deals to save, just dad time.
Our first morning in Tokyo, I had one mission: don’t think about work.
I got up early, slipped out for a walk, and told myself: “Berenbaum, this is your month with your family. Start it right. Don’t think about work.”
You know what they say about not thinking about pink elephants.
What started as a walk…
Thirty minutes into that Tokyo morning, coffee in hand, watching the city wake up around me, my brain had other plans. Instead of clearing my mind, I found myself seeing, with crystal clarity, a framework that could allow me to continue my life’s work, coaching real estate agents, while still moving on from my brokerage.
My post-exit business plans were, at that point, deeply conflicted. My passion for positioning agents to optimize their lives was at an all-time high, but my partnership had run its course. I had “soft-launched” a product, This Iberian Life, to help Americans buy homes in Spain and Portugal, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea that I wouldn’t be coaching agents anymore.
I had planned my route that morning to take me by one of the few coffee shops that was open. As I waited for them to make my Flat White, my inner voice, which sounded a lot like Sam Harris, kept encouraging me to acknowledge my work thoughts and then quickly move on.
Scenes from a walk in Kyoto, Japan.
A continuation, not a rebirth
As I turned the corner, leaving Boardwalk Coffee behind me, I remember feeling deeply grateful for my situation. For the three years prior, since my family and I moved to Spain, I had been navigating complex life changes. This time, when that Sam Harris voice popped in to say no business, Eddie, it dawned on me that the success I was experiencing in my personal life was directly tied to the detailed business plan I had been executing.
That’s when it hit me: the changes I’d experienced in my own life over the past three years weren’t about where my body was physically, they were about where my mind was mentally. Best of all, I had the formula ready to package! The fact that I soon wouldn’t have a brokerage to share it with seemed immaterial. It was an “If I build it, they will come” type of moment.
