As we were traveling down there to pick him up and bring him home with us, Cruz was so excited. He was showing everyone our photograph and telling his friends, ‘My family is coming for me. Here’s my mom and dad.’

That was on a Friday. We flew down on Sunday.

Unfortunately, Cruz ended up in ICU that day with pancreatitis. We visited him in the hospital, where he died.

Despite this major loss, my wife and I continue to say ‘yes.’ There are so many kids out there who need a home and someone to love. We are in the process of another adoption and will be bringing home another boy or girl from Colombia.

In real estate, it’s easy to work non-stop and forget why you’re doing what you’re doing, but I believe there’s a bigger calling. If you don’t create a bigger why in your life, you’re just chasing after the what.

For me, my personal why is increasing awareness around adoption and mentoring businesses in third-world countries. We’ve traveled to Honduras to help train entrepreneurs how to start a business and, in turn, train other trainers. We teach them everything from identifying the basic business idea to sourcing financing and creating a marketing plan.

One woman started a hair salon and now she’s providing for her family. She’s hired other family members to work for her and is also mentoring new entrepreneurs.

We’ve also visited and volunteered for Village of Hope, an orphanage in Guatemala, where my wife Kate and I first traveled in 2011. Recently, Kate and our oldest daughter Adalyn returned to the orphanage to deliver food.

In real estate, you can grow your business so much and still not find that personal success internally. We all have passions and, fortunately, in our industry, it all stems back to real estate and technology like dotloop that empowers us to work smarter.

This world is bigger than selling real estate. I say, ‘Life is a story. Enjoy the journey.’