I used to watch the ABC Reality show "Extreme Makeover" whenever I needed a little bit of a "feel good" cry.  The why my emotions would be worked in that 2 hour segment is amazing.  In the back of my mind I always had the thought "How can the family afford to maintain a house like this?"  I guess my thoughts were right. 

In the Wall Street Journal today, there's an announcement of one of these "extreme" housing hitting the for sale market.  As I read the story I was saddened to hear the trials of this family. 

I do remember, a few years ago, of an episode of the show in which the family got an incredible house and the non-profit arm of my company Keller Williams Cares paid off the mortgage on the home in full.  Thus hopefully allowing the family to only have the obligation of property taxes and maintenance. 

In my mind that's the only way this show would be considered a success to me. 

Click here for the WSJ article.

I always love when someone shares a great story....this might be a little bit of a shameless plug...but what the hey!

Here's a broker comment line from our local MLS:

So here are my questions:

1. Is this statement in the best interest of the Seller?  (A short sale seller I'm told)
2. Are the statements of this broker risky for stating future value?
3. How about the business hours of this brokerage--truly in the clients best interest?

I'd love to hear your comments.

Ok... so I'm going to vent just a little this morning.

I had to travel to Bozeman, MT for a meeting today.  I arrived at the airport 1 hour before the flight was to depart.  This is usually more than enough window of time in my small town airport (Dane County/Madison WI).  My flight was with Delta, er, Northwest, er Delta Northwest or NorthDeltaWest...whatever they are calling it these days.

I traveled 1 week ago on Delta to Atlanta.  In my airport, 1 week ago there was a Delta check in desk.  Today the check in desk for Delta is gone.  It's now combined with the check in desk for Northwest.  OK, merger must be moving further forward, I thought.  Then I saw THE LINE OF PEOPLE trying to get checked in!  It was outside the maze and down the hall.  This was a 7:15 a.m. flight.  Not the first of the day and check in was going to take over 1/2 hour.

Now I know many of you who travel through large airports are feeling no sympathy for me but remember, I always have to travel somewhere first, change planes and then get to my destination.  My offset for 2-3 legs on every trip is the convenience of the small airport.  Well Delta is trying to change that by seemingly understaffing their check in counter in Madison.  Thus increasing the "inconvenience factor" to levels of the large hub city airports.

I've been known to operate my businesses from time to time under the "ready, fire, aim" methodology but this seems a bit extreme for what's now being touted as "The World's Largest Airline".  How difficult would it be to realize that when you combine 2 businesses, don't significantly reduce the number of flights that both had combined, it might take an adequate staff to move people through? 

I could go on but I'm trying to find the lesson here for me.  Does anyone know what it might be?

Haven't heard of it?  Well it's a magical tool that allows me to virtually be throughout all of the web 2.0 at 1 time. 

It's really a tool that allows you to 1 stop post and autofeed that out to many different sites at once.  From Social Media sites to blogs to Microblogs--all in 1 spot and from your web browser or your smart phone.

How do you set it up?  Go to http://ping.fm.  There you can create a free account and cross reference which sites you are a member of and how you might want to post to them. 

Sound easy?  It is.  Remember your opportunity to leverage tools like this will allow you to increase your Web 2.0 prescence without spending all day at your computer.  We all know that doesn't get us much business by itself!

So here I sit.  In the Sam Adams Pub in the Atlanta airport on a Sunday night.  Yep, for the next few weeks I'm a road warrior.  I don't mind travel.  In fact last year I spent 114 nights in hotel rooms (love the Hilton Honors Points!).  But sometimes looking at the forlorn faces of the weary airline traveler can bring you down.

Not tonight!  America's Funniest Home Videos is on the TV in the cafe!  People are laughing!  People are having fun!  All around everyone seems to be having a great time! 

It's amazing how simple something can be that makes a difference in people's attitude.  I love the solace of this cafe for the moment.  That is, until I have to brave the faces of the traveling Zombies as I head to my gate in 3 minutes! 

Pray for me!

Since I entered the real estate business in 1989 I quickly learned that success in my business had as much to do with how I was thinking as it did with the daily actions and tools I used in my business.  I constantly sought out trainers and training techniques.  From Mike Ferry's organization for real estate sales to the work of Tony Robbins and that of the Landmark Forum and it's curriculum for living.  When I joined Keller Williams Realty in 2003 and became a broker and operating principal for the company I got to then see how real estates agents work and think at a different level. 

I quickly realized that real estate was an equal opportunity/unequal earnings business.  What do  I mean by this?  Well, we all get licensed and yet what makes the difference for most from that point forward?  From being a mediocre sales agent vs. a superstar?  In some cases there were external factors but for those that made it long term it had to do with how they think.    Seeing this I began to seek out tools and techniques to not only help me become the best I could be but also to be able to share with others who want the same thing.

In July of last year I met a woman named Kim Ades.  Kim owns a company called Frame of Mind coaching.  In our brief encounter last July I hired Kim to coach me for 10 weeks beginning in September of 2008.  Once the program began I realized I'd stumbled upon something pretty incredible. 

The piece I've found simply amazing is the daily ritual I now have of writing in a journal.  This sounds too easy doesn't it?  What would you write about daily?  Might be the other question some of you may have.  Here's the deal, it doesn't matter what I write about.  I've discovered that the act of getting out of my head and, in this case, online, is helping me find HUGE breakthroughs in my professional and personal life.

This weekend I'm in Atlanta at a conference for professional speakers, coaches, trainers and consultants.  Just this morning I had the chance to meet an amazing your woman named Michelle Prince.  Michelle has written a book that just this week hit the top seller list called "Winning in Life Now".  I just bought it from her but in our discussions this morning she stated that she has been journaling since the age of 18. 

So my brief lesson this morning, even top selling authors know of this technique to get what they want in life.  Hmmmm...must be something of value there.