At 8:00 a.m., when we arrived at Bonneau Ansley’s residence, we found him rocking on a white wooden recliner on his front porch. With his laptop over his lap, Ansley, the owner of Ansley Real Estate, conducted a phone conference before his matutine boxing workout.
On that misty mid-September morning, the song of crickets and cardinals played in unison throughout Buckhead. Ansley’s light blue eyes observed reflectively the passing by joggers and early commuters.
Ahead of us, we had an exhausting day of filming with Ansley, with seven different properties to visit.
As the number one realtor in the South (personally selling over $375 million YTD) and CEO of Ansley Real Estate, Ansley has learned to make each minute of the day count.
“Every five minutes of the day are scheduled,” remarked Ansley. “You have to schedule to be a good father, to be a good husband, to run a business, to sell houses, to invest in startups, and everything else.”
Joining Ansley in his morning boxing routine allowed us to appreciate the habits and mindset of one of the most influential American real estate tycoons. As we observed during our morning with Ansley, running a successful real estate company requires giving value to each moment of the day.
Ansley explained that he wakes up at 5:45 a.m. each day. After awakening, Ansley uses the first hours of the morning to prepare a minute-to-minute schedule for the rest of his day.
“There is a lot you want to accomplish during one day; you cannot have 30 minutes just wasted. You must create a schedule and hit those time points every day and all day,” stressed Ansley.
On the morning we visited Ansley’s home, he had spent the early hours of the day conducting phone conferences with his team and responding to emails, like he habitually does each morning. Right after Ansley’s last phone conference, Eddie, his boxing coach, arrived at the house.
Over the past three years, boxing has become an essential part of Ansley’s morning workout routine. Three to four times a week, Ansley trains with his personal boxing coach. When asked what brought him into boxing, Ansley answered with a full-lipped smile, “you gotta try everything.”
After Eddie’s arrival, Ansley stood up from his recliner and closed his laptop.
“Let’s do a short version today,” said Ansley to Eddie. “A 20-minute session, shower, and we can roll out to film some properties.”
We moved to Ansley’s backyard, where he habitually performs his boxing workout. Ansley and Eddie went under the gazebo beside the pool, where Eddie wrapped Ansley’s hands.
As the two men prepared to start, Eddie recalled how Ansley would push himself to the edge of vomiting when he began training him three years ago. Yet, despite the exhaustion, Ansley would keep punching frenetically.
For Ansley, boxing has given him multiple opportunities for self-reflection. Through boxing, Ansley has learned to view adversity not as an obstacle but as an opportunity for growth.
“When I am reaching my limit, Eddie always says that I must embrace the darkness, but he is wrong,” said Ansley. When you reach that point of exhaustion, “it is not a dark place; it is bright because it is a privilege to be there.”
As Ansley did his workout, his energy was contagious. At the end of each set, Ansley turned toward our cameras, and, with sweat pouring down his face, he would give us a slight smile and wink.
Despite his Hollywood-star attitude in front of the cameras, Ansley takes his morning boxing workouts highly seriously. Over the years, Ansley has learned to utilize boxing to energize himself before a long day of showings.
In real estate, “you always gotta give 100% of yourself,” said Ansley. “You cannot give less than 100% and expect to succeed.”
After finishing his workout, Ansley went inside the house to prepare for the filming day ahead.
Joining Ansley in his morning boxing workout was a fantastic opportunity to observe the motivations and mindset that allowed him to become a successful real estate entrepreneur. The focus, drive, and charisma Ansley displays daily at his work derive from his empowering morning routine.
“I believe how you do anything is how you do everything,” concluded Ansley. “How you greet people with a smile in the morning, how you take your dog out, how you have breakfast, and how you work out each morning reflect on everything else.”
By Juan Sebastian Restrepo
with Artistic Initiative Agency
