For anyone that doesn’t know Hugh Jackman, he is an Australian actor that is blowing everyone away - from “sexiest man alive” by People.com to hosting the academy awards back in February.  All that may impress anyone, but judging by the tweet above made Monday - Hugh has a HUGE heart.  I can sit here all day and tell him why Mothers Fighting For Others is the perfect non-profit organization to donate the $100,000 to but the truth is, when all is said and done, that any organization will be lucky and what counts here is the fact that he is making a difference.

Some of us have the oportunity to donate time and sweat, others can donate money - I ask you to reflect on the fact that you have the ability to make that difference and the world will reward you for your efforts.

But since I’m here and Hugh Jackman is asking us to convince him - let’s show him what MFFO is all about.  Rocky Turner, the founder and brain behind all of this couldn’t have said it better when she wrote these words:

HOW IT STARTED

with a very simple mission:

Mothers Fighting For Others is dedicated to providing orphans and vulnerable children with opportunities their parents would have provided, if they only could; a loving and nurturing environment and a quality education, so they can learn, thrive and achieve their highest potential.

and 2 ongoing projects:

Inspire The Child:

Inspire the Child is the future of Mothers Fighting For Others. We want to to continue to grow and continue down a path to help and educate orphans around the world, starting with Kenya. This is just our beginning.

Underwear for Africa:

Underwear for Africa is a ongoing project that seems silly to some but necessary to others. Underwear is something that we take for granted, while others see it as a luxury. We have witnessed it first hand in orphanages and IDP camps, where happy faces meet us as new underwear is passed out.

Rocky is also on her way right now to Kenya to find land to build an orphanage - there have been tweets all day to @RealHughJackman trying to convince him to at least meet with Rocky at Heathrow Airport in London - please join me in tweeting and retweeting reasons why you think MFFO.org is the right organization for those $100k.

I also urge you to look through the pages of this site that will take you to the lives of each one of these orphan girls, will also show you all the volunteers involved, all the people that are constantly helping and donating and how grateful we are to the universe for giving us the power to make a change for the better.

I am so happy to announce that Shores Pediatrics recently had its Grand Opening in Miami Shores!  Dr. Laura Fernandez-Ortiz re-opened her office on February 2nd, 2009 at 9715 NE 2nd Avenue in downtown Miami Shores and her new phone number is 305.757.8040 - there is plenty of free parking in the back of the building and we now have a local Miami Shores Pediatrician that is not only trustworthy and experienced, but also accessible and convenient….. don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting for this for years.

So what makes Dr. Laura different than the other pediatricians?  and why am I such an advocate for her?

Easy….. she’s one of us!  Not only does she have children of her own, she’s involved in the community and you can bump into her at school, Publix or the fields at any given time.  It’s so great to see the “human” side to your doctor, the one you entrust your children’s health to.  Dr. Laura will treat your child like it was one of her own and she will give you the time you need to understand any health concerns or questions you may have.  Dr. Laura is down to earth and approachable and you can’t beat that in a doctor.

Here’s what Shores Pediatric’s website says about Dr. Laura:

Dr. Laura Fernandez-Ortiz is a pediatrician practicing in Miami Shores, Fl.  She has been in private practice since 2001.  She graduated from the University of Miami with a B.A and a B.S. and from the University of Oklahoma with a medical degree. She completed her internship and residency in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is board-certified in pediatrics.  She is excited about opening up her own office as a solo practitioner and strives to always offer the best medical care possible.   She is so excited about opening up her office in her own community of Miami Shores.  She is also a wife and mother of three beautiful girls.  In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading and exercising.

In the photo above, you have the whole office staff:  (from left to right) - Rosa Ramos (front desk/receptionist), Lilly White (office manager), Cynthia Malena (billing), Dr. Laura and Phyllis Barnes (medical assistant).  The office is magnificent and your child should feel right at home.  From the moment you walk in, friendly murals and a circus ticket counter welcomes you and there are themed patient rooms for every child’s taste.

Here’s what a patient, Lorraine Nowakowski, has to say about Dr. Laura Fernandez-Ortiz and Shores Pediatrics’ Grand Opening in Miami Shores:

Dr. Fernandez is a great physician in the sense of her medical expertise combined with her love of children - add to that her compassion and empathy and you have an outstanding pediatrician. She is always available and has an open door policy and visiting her office is always a pleasant experience, one that I have never felt in any other doctor’s office.

Shores Pediatrics
Laura Fernandez-Ortiz, M.D.
9715 NE 2nd Avenue
Miami Shores, FL 33138
305.757.8040
www.ShoresPediatrics.com

**original blog-post written at Miamism.com **

One month after Inman Real Estate Connect, most of us start forgetting what we learned and go on with our routine.  A post like this one that tells you about my presentation may sound like any other Yada Yada Yada…..but listen up - you may get something from it. This is the last of the series and although I posted it at Agent Genius on Monday.....I almost forgot to share it with my Active Rain Peeps (how dare me?)

Part I of this series talked about rewarding your sphere with your online influence and it reminded you to keep it real.

Part II talked about being creative, branching out your blog and creating a brand that makes an impact and is remembered.

In Part III I want to talk about taking all those efforts and actually focusing on F2F (Face to Face) meetings that will strengthen connections and make your efforts tangible.

Easier said than done

Tweet-ups are HOT now and someone somewhere is trying to arrange some kind of Twitter get-together now.  Let me tell you that it’s easier than it looks and it doesn’t matter the size of the group either.  With the help of TweetDeck I have managed to group my Twitter followers into different categories and this helps me follow different types of conversations at the same time.  I have my local followers, I have my close Twitter friends and I recently created an architecture group to follow even another type of conversation.  (Rick does think I’m crazy, just in case you were wondering).

So one night I posted a photo of a mojito on TwitPic and a local follower said, “when are we having mojitos, Ines?” - one thing lead to another and we arranged a Miami Mojito Tweet-Up 3 days later.  10 people showed up and we had a quaint but very powerful get together at a local bar in South Beach.

What’s amazing about this small event is that I felt so much closer to each one of these individuals.  Their tweets were meaningful, I went out of my way to re-tweet and pay more attention to what they had to say and our relationship was strengthened.  This applies to any F2F type of interaction.   From this small tweet-up I received a call to participate in the local social media events, to participate in a case study on the use of social media for business and was even featured in a business directory in the UK….and the best part is that we enjoyed mojitos and had a great time!

F2F can be achieved from any of the social media outlets - think of individuals with like-minded interests and make it happen.

No Face to Face Effort is too Small

The next type of F2F interaction without actually sharing the same physical space is video.  Although we are seeing more people use video today than we were seeing 6 months ago, I cannot stress how important and how easy it is to use video on a day to day basis.  There are so many platforms out there that make this possible and you have no excuse NOT to use these.  Here’s a few:  Seesmic, Skype, Facebook, TokBox, EyeJot….please go take a look, you will be surprised how easy it is to use these.

Jeff Turner was telling me a few months ago how surprised he was that Facebook Video was so underutilized - I began following his lead and leaving Happy Birthday Video Messages and from one message to a Venezuelan friend from my childhood I actually sold a vacation home here in Miami…..that easy!!  Video happens to reinforce that connection when actual F2F is not possible.  (I personally don’t know what I would do today without Skype…..we video chat with people from all over the world….a truly amazing tool).

What are others doing?

Linda Davis from Eastern Connecticut Real Estate Blog and who has had a well established real estate business sends a newspaper to over 6000 homes in her market area.  Because Linda’s customers are not web savvy, her blog provides content for her newspaper.

Linda was the same person who said in the last Bloggers Connect in San Francisco, “If your Real Estate Business sucks, blogging is not going to help!” - ( I *heart* Linda).

Our own Mariana Wagner, with powerful on-line as well as off-line marketing, incorporates some traditional methods with technology.  She has a newsletter that pimps out her blog, she still does door knocking in her neighborhood, has neighborhood picnics and if you haven’t received or at least seen a “@MIZZLE sticker”…. then you should consider removing the rock from over your head.

St. Paul’s only Teresa Boardman could not be left out of my presentation.  If you know anything about T, you know that she loves photography and will find her with camera in-hand at all times.  Teresa has managed to document the whole city and gets called by her community to use and display her photos.  In addition to that and with the use of Flickr groups, she goes on “photo walks” and achieves F2F with like-minded individuals (or at least people with the same passion for photography).

Joe and Rudy accomplished the ultimate F2F event ever with their Blog Tour USA in 2007.  To think that they actually toured the US and met hundreds of bloggers from all over the place.  I personally felt a connection when they came to Miami and was so glad we got to spend quality time together.  I’m not telling you to go tour the US, but I am telling you there are no boundaries.

And finally - Agent Genius Extraordinaire himself, Benn Rosales.  Benn admitted to me that he uses no print media at all.  His efforts vary from coffee socials small in scale and he uses social media to help others and in return they often pay it forward.

It goes back to the concept of using your on-line influence to help others without expecting anything in return.  The ultimate goal for anyone using the Internet and Social Media to market their business is to achieve some sort of real, live connection.  Social Media is about keeping it real, about being genuine and about not having a hidden agenda.  Transparency has reached a new height and you will be outed if your motives are contrived.

**original article posted at Agent Genius: **

Taking your Online efforts Offline - Part I

Taking your Online efforts Offline - Part II

Here’s part 2 of taking your online efforts offline - I’m still getting a lot of feedback from my presentation at Inman Real Estate Connect in New York - it’s great to see that I have sparked creativity and people are seeing ROI in a whole different light. It's great to see the feedback and reactions here on Active Rain - I have to admit that I missed the interaction.

I can’t stress enough the need to be GENUINE and not sales pitchy….remember that with everything I tell you.

I already mentioned an official launch and complementing your on-line and off-line marketing efforts.  Also mentioned the opportunity to reward your sphere of influence with your online influence, but now it’s about taking action and being creative.

Where can series posts lead?

Paul Chaney is going to get tired of me giving him credit, but I give credit where credit is due.  (BTW, he is writing a book on Social Media…..shameless plug for him).  Paul, as my mentor, suggested that creating a posting schedule for your blog is often a good idea to keep juices flowing and content fresh - he mentioned that many had series posts like fun Fridays or photo Mondays…..that’s when MIAMISM FRIDAYS was born! (have I said thank you Paul?)

Here’s what’s interesting - we started posting videos and photos of Miami to promote our community.  But later realized that not only could our readers contribute to the brand but they would be part of it.  People like recognition and will share posts with friends and loved ones and WILL remember you.  We created a Flickr group and constantly invite people to collaborate - the posts always give them credit and link love - so once again we are using our online influence to promote their business while they build our brand.

What’s important about this concept is that you need to be open to new ideas and be willing to open doors.  Test different things, be creative and keep in mind that you do not have to be a great writer, a great marketer or even a techie (I’m neither of the 3).

Branch out your blog

With the idea of promoting our city and the help of a techie friend, I decided to create a photo-blog - taking impromptu photos from my phone directly to the photo blog.  I usually go back later and include addresses and contact information.  It’s a city resource of places to visit - nothing fancy.  Interesting opportunities have come out of this blog:  A Swedish TV channel featuring Miamism in their show, photos used for Airline Magazines with credit to us and local organizations contacting us for help.

Taking a crazy idea into the Twilight Zone

Here’s where it gets wild - hold on to your seats - it shows how a trivial idea can turn into a great one.  December of 2007 I was doing some keyword research and found that “mojitos” was the number 1 searched keyword in Google at the time.  I decided to try out an experiment, told Rick to get his mojito ingredients and we would shoot a quick “how-to” video for our blog (no fancy equipment and no editing skills whatsoever).  That single post has over 32,000 views and has led to “mojitos” becoming our staple.

It doesn’t hurt that we love mojitos and it creates great conversation - but most importantly, that great conversation has lead to F2F meetings where the ice has already been broken.   The fear of negative connotations related to an alcoholic beverage being unprofessional was superseded by the powerful social implications it has brought to our business.

We get emails on a regular basis from readers of our blog saying “we feel like we know you and can’t wait to have a mojito with you” - or Twitter comments “I had a mojito last night and thought of you”.   If people are thinking of us when they think of mojitos, it is very likely they will think of us when someone mentions Miami Beach Real Estate.

From there we have created a Flickr Mojito Group, a Facebook Mojito Group and Mojito411 with reviews of mojitos from people all over the country.

I mentioned at Inman that I really don’t know where this idea will take us and don’t even know if I’ll drop it in a couple of months.   What’s important is that we are seeing positive results and making connections because of mojitos and that’s ultimately what is important.

Understand that you are capable of grabbing a simple concept and turning it into a conversation piece - conversation leads to engagement and that leads to making an impact.  Don’t discard small notions….roll with them and make them powerful.  It’s up to you to build a brand that works for you and showcases what you represent.

…..stay tuned for F2F efforts

**original article posted at Agent Genius:

Taking your Online efforts Offline - Part II **

A lot of you know that I just spoke at Inman News Real Estate Connect in New York and I have to tell you that it was an amazing experience.  After the presentation, a lot of people approached me and thanked me for inspiring them to do things differently and to go above and beyond and not settle for average.

Because I was asked to share the presentation, I decided to write about it at Agent Genius (that's where you will find the original post), and share it here at Active Rain.  The whole concept of New Media is that you can take a small idea and make it great.  There are no rules when it comes to Internet Marketing and the more creative and open you are, the better.  As long as you are genuine and have no hidden agenda, there are no boundaries.

Official Launch

The first thing I will share with you is that you must complement, link and find a balance between your online and offline marketing efforts.  I’m not just talking about the obvious, like including your blog and social media efforts in all your print advertising (a lot of us have done away with the majority of print due to the high costs and weak results).  I’m talking about doing an official launch of your efforts, your blog and your brand.

You can achieve this with a press release (both online and offline).  We had a professionally written press release done when we launched Miamism.com and sent it not only to the local media (small and large publications, news channels, magazines, etc), but also to PRWeb where it was picked up by a lot of different sources.

We’ve also found that press releases are helpful when you change something in your marketing, whether it’s a fresh new look to your blog, announcing a new team member or even an upcoming speaking engagement.  It’s official, local media channels are now looking to local bloggers for content.

Expect good and bad press….it’s part of the equation - but always remember that the way you react to that press will set you apart from your competition.

Identify your sphere of influence offline &

reward them using your online influence

When you go to Realtor School (for the record….i am not trivializing this, although I should), the first thing they teach you is to hit your sphere of influence.   In my opinion there are good ways and bad ways of doing this.  You can choose to just mail them hand written cards from here to eternity, you can call them and remind them what a wonderful Realtor you are, or you can be different.

So why not use your online influence to help others?  We started with restaurant reviews of places where we know the owners and they take time to engage us (very similar to the way we do business).  We took photos of with the owners, made fun posts and later asked them to include simple window clings with our website somewhere in the entrance to their establishment.

We are also constantly looking around to see who can benefit from our online presence - our pediatrician, a new local business, local photographer…..you name it.  We help them and expect nothing in return.

New Media gives you the power to connect with your community at many different levels and in the words of Benn Rosales (who I thank for letting me attempt to fill his shoes at Inman) -

By using social media we are able to create what we call “the bowl” - we’re able to actively help others, and in return, they very often pay it forward.

….stay tuned for taking your brand to the next level

**Read the original post at AGENT GENIUS**

Everyone loves Jeff Turner!  There's something about him that draws you in and we get sucked up into trying tools and crap we never thought possible.  

And then today I get an alert that Jeff memed me and TLW with none other than a friendship ball!  Some of us don't know how to react to these memes, you feel good because you were "chosen", especially when it's my none other that TOOL BOY himself, but then you feel bad about having to put someone else through the excruciating pain.  (well...maybe I'm exaggerating a bit).

So after the thread on Jeff's post, it was agreed to turn this into a "why I hate memes MEME"...make sense?

I hate memes because:

• they are time sucking time bombs
  

• they make people feel uncomfortable and obligated
  

• they can be very impersonal and personal at the same time
  

• they remind me of useless chain letters

THERE!  I feel better already! (Thank you Jeff - I love you too!)

As for my victims friends, I choose:

Monika McGillicuddy and Ann Cummings - because they know I really love them! ;)

To think that tomorrow I get to see my dear friends who live in my computer (I love that Teresa came up with that).  I've been to some Active Rain gatherings and also to Inman in July and it's beyond overwhelming.  So if you have a chance to hop over to Orlando this weekend, do it!  (it will be well worth it).

NAR tools

Here are some things you cannot miss:

• To keep in touch while at NAR Orlando, our own Jeff "tool boy" Turner or as I call him, "aparatoso" or @respres - came up with a Twitter group NAR2008 - so make sure you go follow, turn notifications on and you'll get updates on your mobile phone.

• To share photos and for you to see familiar faces, Daniel Rothamel, bka The Real Estate Zebra made a flickr group:  NAR Orlando 2008

• The Active Rain Gathering has been announced, and although we know it's Saturday at 8:00 PM, we still don't know where (OK guys.....enough suspense already).  One thing you should know is that Brad has authorized me to slap him because he kept mispronouncing my name (don't worry Brad....I may kick you, but never slap you) ;)

MUST SEE sessions

Finally - 3 sessions you HAVE to attend because it's people we love (although I'm in 2 of those, I'm not conceited enough to say go because I'll be in them).

1.  Friday, November 7th at 12:30 PM - Driving Real Business with Blogs

• Moderated by none other than Dustin Luther - with the following panelists:  Teresa Boardman, Jim Duncan, Ginger Wilcox and yours Truly.

2.  Saturday, November 8th at 11:00 AM - Web 2.0 Panel hosted by Diamond Dwellings

• Moderated and Hosted by Diamond Dwelling's own Matt Fagioli - with the following panelists:  Teresa Boardman, Cyndee Haydon, Jeff Turner and yours Truly.

3.  Sunday, November 9th at 11:00 AM - Using Social Media to engage clients

• With Dustin Luther, Rudy Bachraty III and Jeff Turner - they have a great surprise planned for us....can't miss this one!

If I missed anything, please feel free to leave it on the comments and I will come back and update the post - let us know if you will be there as well - that way we can plan to meet while in Orlando.

Hope to see many of you there!

When you think about Poverty, do you discard it and think

"It doesn't involve me....there's nothing I can do?"

Think again - think of the Power of Intention and know that everything you do makes a difference.

Poverty is not only a pressing issue, it is a complex one. It's easy to think that there isn’t much an individual can do. Fortunately this isn’t the case at all. With activities ranging from advocacy and professional contribution to charity and financing, there is in fact many ways that we can act.

You can make a difference - if enough of us take the time to give back, we can change the world.  Here are some things you can do:

• Donate money to a worthy cause
• Volunteer
• get involved with local organizations like Habitat for Humanity
• help someone that needs you