By Alan C. Fox, an Overdrive contributor, and author of PEOPLE TOOLS FOR BUSINESS: 50 Strategies for Building Success, Creating Wealth, and Finding Happiness

In his famous poem, “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost declared that he preferred to take “the road less traveled by.” I take that idea not only as a useful philosophy for life, but also as a better guide for business.

When I began to buy and sell commercial real estate in 1968, I was told that the market had been weak for years, and that I was foolish to even consider that kind of investment.

Luckily, my father raised me to be a contrarian.