Archive for May, 2009
Hear Valerie Fitzgerald – Agent to the Stars!
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
What do you do when you have a chance to hear how a struggling agent goes from zero sales to $160 million/yr? —You listen, very very carefully!
We are proud to announce Valerie Fitzgerald as our next Guest Expert as she shares how she started out in this business making as many (or more mistakes) as anyone and not selling a single thing her first nine months. She will then cover what she did to radically turn this around to become a multi-millionaire sales professional, corporate executive, philanthropist, speaker and coach all while raising her daughter as a single mom.
There are so few opportunities to experience “the real deal”, and this is one of them. If you want real world experience on how to change challenge into opportunity and build a business that serves you, DO NOT MISS THIS SESSION!
IMPORTANT: You must register to view the live Webinar. Just go to the following URL: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/448680696 and complete the registration form. The registration confirmation e-mail will give you instructions on how to login to the Webinar.
When: Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 – 7:00pm (EDT)
Call In: Will be given at time of registration
NOTE: This Webinar is part of the regular Online Dominance Live Group Coaching Guest Expert series which is usually for Online Dominance members only. However, since Valerie is a personal friend of mine I have decided to open this up to Mr. Internet News subscribers as well.
Freedom From Fear and Worry
Friday, May 29th, 2009
Remember the old Janis Joplin lyrics “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…”. Man, if there was ever a time where this applied, this would be it. (Historical Anecdote: while in high school I lived 110 miles from Woodstock and was invited to go –I said “Nah, I’ll go to the next one.”)
Think about this for a moment. As you read this 77 year old GM just filed for bankruptcy, the US economy recorded its steepest rate of contraction in five decades, some of our best economic prognosticators say we will see hyperinflation at the same level as Zimbabwe (currently at 231 million %/yr), North Korea is getting really good at growing mushroom clouds, the Taliban is about to join the nuclear club and invite all their terrorist buddies, Israel is just itching to turn Iran into a glass parking lot, California is so indebt it has to close most of its state parks and oh yes, let’s not forget about swine flu predicted to come roaring back with a vengeance. Did I miss anything?
Now, you have a choice. You can choose to focus on “what may happen” and go out of your mind with worry and concern. Or choose to realize that everyone one of us really have “nothing to lose” and are already quite free …
Imagine being free from worry. Imagine being free from the grip of fear. Think of all that you could accomplish. Think of how much more energy and enthusiasm and creativity you would have.
In fact, you can be free from the worries and fears. You can be free from them in an instant if you choose. For worry is your own creation. Fear is nothing more than a response you have chosen. Freedom is sweet, and energizing and powerful.
Ralph Marston
We can’t control what happens around (or to) us. We have total control however, of how we respond. Constant worry and fear is just our primitive brain’s way of “preparing us” for the worst. It causes us to constantly be on guard and brace for impact. Whew! That’s an exhausting way to go through life, and completely unnecessary. No one can predict what is going to happen in the next few years. We can say with absolute certainty however, that every person has inside them the ability to chose to cope and adapt to just about anything life can throw at us. And that is the one thing we can never lose.
Comfort Zone or Jail Cell?
Monday, May 25th, 2009
Here’s a question for you: How can a person be both comfortable and miserable at the same time? Think about it for a moment. We actually see this condition in the faces of so many people we meet every day, and perhaps even the person we see in the mirror each morning.
As human beings, we naturally gravitate towards things that are known, comfortable and well-worn as it were. Of course that’s just another way of describing a rut. Staying in your “comfort zone” is akin to keeping yourself in jail. Then again at least you have a cot to sleep on, three square meals a day and interesting conversation with your “roommate” to help pass the time. That is often not nearly as scary as flinging open that jail cell door and striking out into unfamiliar territory…
Most people prefer the certainty of their misery rather than risk the misery of uncertainty.*
Mr. Internet
One of the biggest comfort zone traps for real estate sales people is to fall back into “busyness” as an excuse to stop working on their business. It feels great (i.e. very comfortable) to furiously work deals when activity picks up. While that may feel awesome for the moment, it will eventually slow down again (there are cycles, always) and when it does, you have nothing to fall back on.
Don’t give up your long term freedom and possibilities by using busyness as an excuse to not build and work on your business. You were made for great things, avoid the expensive mistake of short changing yourself by simply staying “comfortable”.
* It’s fairly certain that I’m not the first person to say this, however I’m the only one I’ve ever heard or read use it 
)
Free Virtual Hard Drive
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
A few weeks ago I shared a free online file storage and sharing service called DropBox. This week, we have another entrant into this growing field with ZumoDrive. ZumoDrive is a free virtual hard drive that you can install on any PC and it works just like any other drive on your computer. Anything you can store on your regular hard drive you can also store on your ZumoDrive.
Since it is online, you can also give other’s permission to use it as well —perfect for document sharing among your virtual support team. ZumoDrive is free for the first 1 GB of storage. If you want more it will cost you some nominal amount each month. For example, upgrading to 10 GBs of storage is just $2.99 /mo. This service is a great example of something called “cloud storage” which means your virtual hard drive is located among many different servers around the world, creating massive redundancy yet delivering great performance (for uploading and downloading). Let us know what you think of it!
DISCLAIMER: Always investigate any third-party products or services to your satisfaction prior to using them. RUSSER Communications, its officers, staff and consultants are not responsible for any damage or liability you may incur as a result of using products or services mentioned herein. If you do not agree to these terms do not use the product or service mentioned.
Heart and Sold —Diary of a Winner
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
I’m very excited to tell you about the new book from my friend Valerie Fitzgerald. It’s called Heart and Sold: How to Survive and Build a Recession-Proof Business. Endorsements and advance reviews sound fabulous. Larry King calls it, “A great read” and Vanna White says, “After reading this book, you will feel that you too can accomplish anything your heart desires.” Valerier is a long time friend and student of mine whose personal story is the classic rags to riches with a great deal of warmth and wit thrown in to boot.
Heart and Sold recounts Valerie’s personal journey from unemployed single parent to entrepreneur, philanthropist and renowned corporate executive. The book is a must-read for anyone in business looking to take their game to the next level. It’s a practical and illuminating guide with tips and strategies that are remarkably easy to implement. Leeza Gibbons says, “Heart and Sold is inspirational for any woman–or anyone–struggling to build a business of their own. Valerie’s personal triumph will make you feel like you can do anything.”
To order the book, simply go to: http://www.valeriefitzgerald.gesprojects.com/promo
A Special Gift From Valerie to You
In celebration of the book launch on May 19th, Valerie is providing a free Heart & Sold reflective workbook to anyone who buys the book. This workbook is a compilation of summaries and reflective questions for each chapter in Heart & Sold. To order, click here: http://www.valeriefitzgerald.gesprojects.com/promo.
Please forward to anyone you believe may benefit from hearing about Valerie’s amazing story of re-invention and her guidance on how to attain lasting fulfillment and success.
Convert PDF to Word —For Free!
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
PDFs make life so much easier in the digital world, turning anything you can print into a universally viewable document. However, they are not easy to modify and sometimes you really, really need to convert them to a Word document so they can be edited or repurposed. Now there is a new way to convert PDFs into Word that is so faithful to the layout of the original that it blew me away the first time I tried it.
PDF = Particularly Difficult Format
If you ever tried to edit a PDF document, even with some of the best tools available (including Adobe’s own rather expensive Acrobat Professional), then you understand why PDF can stand for “Particularly Difficult Format”. And other software that purports to convert PDF to Word has failed miserably in my experience, until now. Enter PDFtoWord.com which is a free online service that is as simple as 1-2-3:
- Upload the PDF you want to convert;
- Indicate whether you want a .doc (Word) or .rtf (Rich Text Format) conversion (TIP: stick with the .doc);
- Give your email address where you want the service to send you the converted document.
That’s all there is to it! After a period of time (usually within 15 – 30 minutes) you will receive an email with your PDFtoWord conversion as an attachment. I converted three very different PDFs into Word using this service. If you right-click on the respective thumbnails below you can download and compare what the original PDF and resulting Word document look like.
The first test is a single-page flyer with graphics and several different styles of text. Notice how PDFtoWord very faithfully preserved the positioning and look of the various fonts and styles. My only complaint on this one is that the main graphic seems to have dropped one or two colors.
The second test is a PDF report from the California Association of REALTORS with the results of their 2008 online consumer survey. This report is over 60 pages and contains many different types of charts and tables. PDFtoWord duplicated everything extremely well with the exception of 2 or 3 bar charts. Other than that I was completely amazed at how great a job it did. Once again however, the first page graphic looks like it had several colors dropped compared to the original.
The last test is very complicated series of forms which I honestly didn’t think would convert successfully. Check it out for yourself to see just how well PDFtoWord did. The only thing I noticed in this particular test is that the software seemed to be confused about the font case in some instances.
Needless to say, PDFtoWord is going into my special box of cool “must have” tools. Chances are you will agree whole heartedly once you’ve tried it as well.
Bright Shiny Objects and Other Things That Glitter
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
This past week alone I had conversations with the senior management of two medium-sized real estate companies that hammered home just how desperate some firms are getting. They each mentioned how they were thinking of training their sales associates on how to use social media (i.e. FaceBook, Twitter, etc.) which of course “everybody” is doing. When asked if their sales people were even responding to the online leads they already had, the answer in both cases was an unsurprising “no”. Hey, if our sales associates can’t figure out how to make it in today’s market, let’s give them some bright shiny objects, at least it will take their mind off the fact they’re drowning…
Giving a Ritalin deficient sales force yet one more thing to distract them from the disciplines of doing real business, is like giving a crack addict a brand new pipe. Social media is not some kind of silver bullet that will solve all their problems. In fact, for most of them it will substantially add to their frustration and probably hasten their exit from the business. “RDR” (Realtors Don’t Read) is common refrain. And if you believe that is true, consider the natural sequitur “RDW” (Realtors Don’t Write). Social media certainly can complement one’s marketing efforts, if (and this is a big IF), one is a very good writer with some semblance of a unique and engaging “voice”. Out of the million or so Realtors still in business I wonder how many fit that profile.
This is just one more example of how typical real estate management responds to desperate times with desperate Hail Mary, spaghetti-on-the-wall measures, rather than with something so few seem to exhibit —leadership.
The Real Crisis in Real Estate
Imploding housing values, constricted credit markets, skittish consumers and an overall deep recessionary economy are simply part of a cycle. A nasty one for sure, but just a cycle. Barring an extinction level event, people will always buy and sell real estate. Currently, sale volumes may be lower and the methods of how we help them with the process certainly change, but business will continue.
There is indeed a crisis in the residential real estate industry, but this current cycle does not define it —it instead has revealed it. Boom times tend to mask flaws. And as Warren Buffet so aptly put it, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.” This market has made it very clear that skinny dipping has been a favorite pastime for the management of most residential sales companies.
Getting caught with your pants down during a market down turn is due to one primary factor —lack of strategic leadership. Having been intimately involved with residential real estate for over 33 years, it has always been clear to me that this is one of the most reactionary industries there is. Strategic thinking and execution are so rare that it almost takes my breath away when I am fortunate enough to witness it.
The very foundation of successful strategic thinking and its execution in this industry is sales force accountability. It doesn’t matter how brilliant your ideas or how shiny the new objects you provide your people. If you don’t hold them strictly accountable to implementing your strategic vision you will fail, every time. Yet accountability is the anathema to the body-shop model of hiring and managing sales associates found in the vast majority of companies. And it is precisely these companies that find themselves in dire straits and most likely to name the economy as the source of their woes.
It was interesting that one of the brokerages I spoke to actually bragged about how they hold their salespeople accountable and explicitly denied providing “bright shiny objects”. Yet when I asked them how they expected social media training would convert to new business for their people, or how they would even measure it, they responded with “We don’t know.” Hey, if it glitters…
The current market cycle is an incredible once-in-a-generation opportunity to take significant market share if only because so many are frantically reacting. To do that requires strategic thinking, superb execution and holding your salespeople accountable. They need to understand that this is a serious business, not a pastime. You can give them that perspective and the means to thrive even in the worst of today’s market. However, if you fall into the trap of providing solace through the glitter of bright shiny objects, you are merely forestalling the inevitable.
How Failures Are the Stepping Stones To Success
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Last week we were most fortunate to have Kevin Tomlinson (KevinTomlinson.com) as our featured Guest Expert. In addition to having his best years ever in the worst of markets (Miami High-Rise Luxury Condos), he had a great deal of wisdom to share about success in general.
Here are some of the things he said that really stood out:
- Get smaller to get bigger (i.e. specialization works!);
- Success online is not rocket science, but it is a constant state of tweaking and improvement;
- If you say you are the expert (in a niche) then you had better be THE expert;
- If you currently are not THE expert —fake it till you make it!
What really came through loud and clear is that he is always learning and never afraid to try to improve what already works well. Instead of looking at failures along the way as roadblocks, he sees them as stepping stones to ever greater success…
Success is not the absence of failure. Success is what happens when you choose to move on beyond failure. Learning what not to do is an important part of knowing what is most effective to do. Every mistake can spotlight a way to improve.
Ralph Marston
If you are truly engaged and committed to what you do and specialize in, then the things you try that don’t quite work out as planned are merely interesting stops along the path to success. Each one is a gift of insight as to what doesn’t work and a pointer to what likely will. There are no shortcuts on this path, there never were. As long as you let your passion and commitment be your guide, you will always be heading in the right direction, albeit with a few detours along the way. Learn to enjoy them because they are the most effective teachers…
Google vs. SkyNet
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
If you are scifi aficionado then you are doubtless familiar with the evil Internet-based artificial intelligence called SkyNet which is bent on destroying humanity (i.e. Terminator). While definitely not evil or conscious, the next major evolutionary step for the Internet IS here. It’s called Wolfram/Alpha and it is a major game changer for Google and a potential life changer for everyone else. Here’s why…
Google’s primary mission is to index the world’s information and make it immediately and freely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Many people on the planet use it every day because finding the information we want when we want it is really useful. However, we’ve actually had search engines since the early days (circa 1994) of the Internet. Google just happens to be the best at it. However, any search engine has limitations as to what it can do with the information it finds. In most cases it only returns references to documents that may contain the information you are looking for.
This is where Wolfram/Alpha provides a quantum leap over any search engine no matter how good (or rich). In addition to indexing the Web, it also curates the information and codifies it so that it is “computable”. That is, it allows you to ask regular human questions regarding just about anything that has a specific answer and it will provide you that answer plus abundant supporting information. Now this is where it gets really interesting, the answer may or may not be found anywhere on the Net, which is irrelevant because Wolfram/Alpha computes the answer in real time. Since all the indexed information in Wolfram/Alpha is computable, this also means you can ask questions about relationships between any number of things and it will spit out the answer.
The folks at Wolfram Research call it a Computational Knowledge Engine. This can be a bit tricky getting your head wrapped around this one (a typical malady associated with quantum leaps ), so here’s a demonstration video featuring Steven Wolfram (CEO of Wolfram Research) at a Harvard University gathering just last Tuesday.
Now Everyone Can Access Expertise For Free…
Google gives us information, but is not capable of really telling us much about that information and its relationship to anything else in the world. Wolfram/Alpha on the other hand gives us access to expertise that is limited primarily by our ability to ask the right questions. Now all the rapidly growing petabytes of information on the Internet has suddenly become a whole lot more valuable —in ways that no ordinary search engine could ever hope to duplicate. The technology behind Wolfram/Alpha is nothing short of astounding and represents hundreds (if not thousands) of man years of development in computational knowledge areas that are highly proprietary (i.e. Google with all its might and money is not likely to dupicate this one).
So how is this going to affect your real estate sales business. I honestly can’t say for sure at this time. But I do know this, it will affect your business and just about everything else we do from this point on. Information by itself is not knowledge. Instant access to expertise that understands nearly endless relationships between bits of information is the most valuable kind of knowledge. Wolfram/Alpha totally redefines the bromide “Knowledge is power.”
NOTE: Wolfram/Alpha is currently in restricted Beta but will be released to the public later this month. Keep an eye out in this blog as I will keep you up to date as I fully explore Wolfram/Alpha specifically with respect to it’s impact on the real estate business.
Invisible Chains That Hold You Back
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Remember the story about how the circus trains its elephants to never run away? As babies, one of their legs are shackled to a chain and post. Every time the baby wants to wander off, the chain will only let it move a few feet. Eventually, the baby stops trying. This is why huge adult elephants don’t have shackles, because they believe they are still there. In a way, this is what happens to most people in the real estate sales business…
A new sales associate starts out bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (or floppy eared) with the gleam of excitement and possibilities shining in their eyes. And then they start learning (either through training or watching others) that you must:
- do everything yourself if you want it done right;
- market “yourself” if you want to stand out;
- be available 24/7 for your clients or they will desert you;
- always work in (rather than on) your business otherwise you will lose what you have.
These are just some chains of limiting beliefs that hold back even the most experienced of sales people. In fact, the more experienced they are, the more difficult it can be to break free of these imaginary bonds…
It’s difficult to even know what many of your limiting beliefs are because they are so well entrenched. Yet day after day, they hold you back and obscure your view of life’s best possibilities. To set yourself free of those limiting beliefs, crowd them out with inspiration. The more inspired you are, the more easily you’ll dissolve the beliefs that hold you back.
Ralph Marston
Many of you have reported to me lately that this Spring is showing a bit of an uptick in business activity, which is awesome! There is a real potential problem buried within this good news however. You see, the temptation to go back to the old ways just because it is getting “busy” is a big one. If you abandon or even diminish your vision of working on your business in exchange for just working in it (because it’s “busy”) you are effectively forging the chains of limiting beliefs that will forever hold you back.
If things are starting to get busier, celebrate it with a doubling of resolve, inspiration and action to build a business that works for you no matter what the market, instead of you being a slave to its many ups and downs.
