Sales & Marketing
It’s easier than it looks.
Real estate is a competitive industry. Take a look around and you’ll see hundreds of agents vying to sell any property they can. This game pays 100% commission, so an agent’s marketing skills better be top-notch.
I was a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty (KW), one of the nation’s most innovative real estate organizations, ranked eighth in RealTrends 2020 industry survey of the top 500 companies. Of all KW’s high-tech systems, to me, I found their off-line, low-tech touch marketing strategy was the one to beat.
I learned about Keller’s series of touch plans in a book KW’s owner, Gary Keller, co-authored with his partners, Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. I found their strategies gave my marketing operation a foundation. They forced me to plan in advance on an annual basis to make marketing easy and effortless. I felt confident and relaxed knowing that, while weekly mailers were dropped in mail and email boxes, I could focus on sales calls and closing deals. …
Elections
No more Games. Use a device (or computer) to cast your ballot.
It’s time to vote by mobile device.
In 2020, the election had the largest voter turnout in history. In the race between soon to be president, Joe Biden, and then incumbent, Donald J. Trump, close to 160 million voters cast a ballot.
The mood across the country as of this writing is anxious as President Trump took all media forms to claim election fraud that caused a insurrection by his supporters. By now we all saw what happened at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6th. And now we know why this election was the most critical we’ve seen in our 240 year history. …
Social Media
I don’t like where Twitter is going and here’s why.
Twitter makes me nervous. It’s been around since March 21, 2006 and has grown to nearly 330 million users. And while it’s fun to participate in all kinds of conversations, hear celebrity perspectives, and acquire new ideas from quirky bedfellows, I question Twitter’s motives and whether they’re helping. I think you should quit it.
Twitter is a social platform where people identify with and participate in conversations about any, and I mean any, topic. You can find videos of Fauci, follow Jimmy Fallon, see photos from DIY guys, read tweets from this guy, and react to cancel culture vultures.
While the first four serve a purpose, kind of, it’s that fifth one that makes me nervous. I hear about it and ask why does online opine put pressure to impact and influence what happens offline. Why is it that the destruction of one’s life, a sinister act, seems like a social sport? …
Election 2020
And the plentiful of reasons to do so.
The election is a few weeks away and the registered voter roll is 160+ million strong and what seems to be growing every day. Voters nationwide are either casting ballots by mail or going to the polls over the next few weeks, if not on Election Day. In 2020, this populous voting swell triggers essential questions about how we participate in our democracy.
For instance, why is voting so labor and capital intensive in the digital age? Why can’t we use mobile devices and desktop technologies to handle what would seem to be a somewhat simple product and process to get out the vote? I wrote this article using Google Docs, a cloud-based application that can be shared and accessed securely over any device. …
Because that’s the way you were made.
You were meant to do hard things.
Your body is built to last.
You were made to heal.
You were meant to do hard things.
You were meant for rigor.
Climb the mountains,
Run a marathon,
Push for performance,
Spread mulch,
Study the abstract or concrete, whichever is harder.
You were built to do hard things.
You were meant to learn discipline.
Put down the phone,
Get off the couch,
Sit down and write,
Learn to wait,
Live in the present,
And hold your tongue.
You were meant to do hard things.
You were meant to learn on your own
Learn to walk,
Learn to talk,
Say the wrong thing,
Break all the rules,
Live on the edge,
Don’t leave your bike in the rain,
You were meant to learn hard things. …
The road ahead looks winding and dark. And our way through requires listening, patience and understanding.
We’ve lost our ability to keep an open mind. We don’t acknowledge each other but instead look and talk past each other. With a little dialogue and consideration, we can move the country in a new direction by doing what’s necessary to demonstrate social understanding.
The first step is to listen to someone else. Show up knowing and believing that connection with someone else who needs an ear can make a difference and vise versa. Anyone that’s given such a gift will see the attributes and competencies that make you who you are. …
Parenting
We own this job
I’ve been staying at home long before Covid-19 infected the nation.
In 2005, my wife and I married, and 5 years thereafter, our son was born. And since The Great Recession receded my real estate business faster than my hairline, we reviewed our finances and agreed that she’d be the one to work. The next thing I knew I was swapping business suits for sweat suits while being baptized by the fire that is childcare.
In the beginning, I couldn’t help but feel derailed into a role. In 2000, I earned an MBA from Northeastern University, moved to New York, and thought I’d be in a corner office on Wall Street negotiating pipeline deals through Uruguay. …
1. I still hold super spreader events, but just with porn stars.
2. I’ll use the Trump brand to make best suit in history. I call it The Orange Trump Suit.
3. I cannot believe I was impeached over Lil’ Ukraine. You know what you know what, I should’ve asked Putin. I didn’t but I should have. Everyone says I went to Russia I should’ve just gone to Russia, Russia, Russia.
4. Melania, according to our prenup, if you divorce me, I get to deflate you and send you back to the ‘enia you came from.
5. One day, it’s like a miracle, I disappeared. …
Private Matters
Because who else are you going to ask?
10. Am I cheating if I look at porn?
It really depends on the time?
9. Am I a loser?
If you’re asking Google, what does that tell you?
8. Am I crazy?
See 9.
7. Am I in love?
If you’re so annoyed by someone else’s way of life that you decide to hang around, then yes, you are in love.
6. Am I pregnant?
Put your uterus in the search box and we’ll tell you.
5. Do I have ________________? (fill in STD here)
Again, see 9.
6. Why can’t I get laid?
Because you seek advice about matters of vulnerability from a unemotional, kind of crappy, but well marketed search engine. …
The Future
A random list of questions in no particular order.
When the pandemic ends? Who will you be? What will your life be like? What will you bring with you? What will you leave behind? What will change and what will remain the same?
Will you still paint everyday to relieve the stress or because you have time but never realized it?
Will you be weary of urban centers or will you embrace them? Will you show downtown some post-panny love? Will you venture into new culinary destinations, ride public transportation, and go to that museum you always meant to see?
What will you do with your mask? Will you keep it in a drawer as a momento or will it be nothing more than trash? Will you make more of them for medical professionals, perhaps donate it to a memoriam project? …
About
