The Real Estate Revolution (REREV)

Forecasting

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:14:01 -0500

It's that time of the year again when we all must lock ourselves away for a few days and make our 2009 forecasts (well, most of us, anyway, need to lock ourselves in a room). But for a small percentage of us, this process is fairly automated and doesn't really take much time at all. That's where you need to be.

Most of you don't even take the time to forecast and the only thing this does is aid me in my efforts to branch out and become a Millionaire Real Estate Agent, because if you dont know where your going and how to get there, you'll soon choose to leave this incredible business.

You have to forecast. That's it. You need to know what you can do, what the market is suppose to do, what you need to do if you're wrong, what the rest of your Team must do (and hold them accountable, which will be another topic later) and how to pull it all together and follow the road map to your forecast goals.

If you think it takes too long, is too hard or you don't understand it, you're not alone. It's really not a big deal. Just figure out what you NEED (not want) to make, then, with a few calculation steps and looking at some of your previous numbers you hit from last year, you can easily back that number into how many appointments you need to go on to hit your forecast goal. There...not hard at all. Keep it simple. We always make these things too hard.

I can offer some help, if you are so inclined to ask...if not, it's all found in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent book...look it up...it'll be the best investment you will have made for your Real Estate career...

Shifts of the Real Estate Business - making your business solid

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:20:30 -0500

Wow...that title packs a punch...

First off, is my Real Estate career really a business...how do I know? Well, does it make (or lose) you money? Is it full time (a career) or part time (a hobby)? Do you really like it or not? Well, none of these questions matter to find the answer.

Yes is the correct and absolute only answer to the business question. You need to treat your Real Estate career like a business in order to survive (especially in these times). You need to have goals. You need to have dreams. You need to dig deep and drill down on both of these to the core and define, crystal clear and without a shadow of a doubt, what your goals are and why they are where they are. You need to have a clear road map for the path that will lead you to achievement of these goals.

You need to dig deep into your dreams and define them. You need to know why you want them and then dig deeper. The "BIG WHY" as we call it. There are a number of little "WHYS" on the way to the big one, so don't think small. When you think you've gotten to your "BIG WHY", ask yourself what happens when I get there? Now what? If there is still more to do or more to live for, them you have not gotten to your "BIG WHY" yet.

Goals and dreams. The strength of these determine your success or failure. If you want success, be strong, bold and unafraid. Aim high and don't compromise. Good luck and God speed.

Look in the mirror - do you like what you see? (follow-up)

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:30:40 -0500

The last time we talked I detailed a number of items you need to do to get your own house in order before you try to get your business in order. The next step is to go back, after you have "analyzed" or "changed" yourself and look at you again from your friends or clients eyes. I'll bet you still need to make some changes.

What I am getting at is the fact that this will be a constant and continuous regimen you will need to add to your daily, weekly and even monthly "to-dos". As we grow, we are changing. As the market changes, we must change. If you choose to do this less often or believe that you can continue doing what you are doing because it works for you now, get out of my way. Cause I'm going to blow right past you.

If you're not changing, you're standing still. If you are standing still, get out of the business because you're taking up and wasting too much room. Make the changes you need then make your next moves. In that order.

Just remember to look in the mirror daily and determine (before you meet the public and/or your Team) if you like what you see...

A little piece of trivia...a dime has 118 ridges around the edge...

Look in the mirror - do you like what you see?

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:21:01 -0500

Before you do anything in or for your Real Estate business, evaluate yourself. Not your Team, not your spouse, not your relationships, just yourself.

Do you like what you see? Why? If not, what's wrong? Now go fix it. Then take another look and go deeper. If you still have doubts, drill down to find out why. Ask friends to be brutally honest with you about you, your personality, mannerisms and everything else that makes up "you".

Don;t get me wrong, this will take a long time. And if you look in the mirror and don't see anything that needs changing, you're wrong. Ask someone you trust for an honest opinion.

I am not talking about just your looks. I'm talking about you, as a person, your character, the way you hold yourself, treat people, your drive, ambition, motivation, tenacity. What makes you, you.

Don't think you can build something of value or something successful on or around a platform that isn't strong (you). Fix you (the foundation) before anything else.

Therein lies success.

Doing the right thing

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:41:20 -0500

I recently had a personal issue I have been struggling with for some time now creep back into my life and it demanded that I do the right thing.

The decision that I wanted to make and was 100% sure (I thought) I should make turned out being based just a one-sided assumption which I thought to be correct. Had I let my thoughts go and made the move I thought I should, I would have ended a relationship. Thank God for perseverance and good friends to guide me to asking the right questions of the person I needed to hear the answers from.

I made the right decision, and saved a relationship. You can too.

Sometimes in our Real Estate world, we are faced with an overwhelming amount of crap to deal with. It all seems to come at once. I say "Bring it on!" Why, first off, it can't keep coming forever, so, when it's done, it's like you're on vacation. Next, it's okay to deal with it all at once. You seem to get "in a mode" that helps you through it all.

Making the right decisions is easy. We just make it tough. We read too much into the little things like "they already asked me to cut my commission, now they're not closing over $150" or "I really hate when my Buyers Agents are late, but I'm too afraid that if I say something, they'll get mad" or "it's easier to do it myself than to train someone...it'll take too long". I could go on and on, but you get the point. We all have these issues, some more delicate or important than others, but all of which need a black and white, correct answer...now. Not later.

If your problem looks like a Zebra, acts like a Zebra and has stripes like a Zebra, then don't decide that it's a horse with different colors. Don't make too much of any situation or issue. There is a simple, effective and correct answer for everything out there. No, I'm not stating that everyone's answer to the same question will be the same. We all have varying situations which make them different and, thus, require a different answer and outcome. Just don't make your decision based off what you believe is true.

Go to the source to verify your beliefs before you make your decision. If you can't, then you should have never been given the decision-making ability in the first place. Investigate, question, verify, decide. It's that simple.

Don't ruin a relationship. Get your information correct and get their side of the story before throwing anyone under the bus. You'll be a better person for it and you will reap what you sew.

Get back on that horse!

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:14:56 -0500

Well, well, well, guess who's back?

I'm sure we've all heard that line before. But this time, I;m talking about myself. Yeah, me. I've been missing for a number of months, using a plethora of excuses for not bloging, but none of them good enough to even argue any support for.

So, what happened? The same thing that happened to you. You got busy (or so you thought)...too busy to continue to share ideas, market, prospect, lead generate or whatever you should be doing right now to make you money and fill your prospect bucket.

Let me tell you the one thing that will make your business a bigger success than you can handle...lead generation. Yep, that's it. No hype, no gimmicks, just good old lead generation. Three hours a day. Period.

Now let me tell you something else. If you can't lead generate three hours a day, get out of the Real Estate business. NOW! Stop wasting your time thinking you're busy and not making money. Stop paying for all the fees you have yearly to keep your license if you're not going to use it to the fullest. Stop wasting my time telling me how great you are when you can't even commit to yourself and your own business.

That's right. It's your individual business...not your Brokers. You build yourself, brand yourself (or your Team), market yourself and pat yourself on the back because you are the only one who can have an influence on your business. If it sucks, well, so do you. If it's great, so are you. Goes hand in hand. Think about what you are building for retirement. What do you have? Your business. That's all. When you want to retire, can you sell it? Is it worth something to someone? Is it's worth obvious? And if you are at a place which doesn't let you brand yourself or your Team, let me know. I can help.

So GET BACK ON THAT HORSE and do what you are suppose to do to be successful...Lead Generate. Every day. Three hours a day. No excuses.

A solution to your PDF problems - Sun System's Open Office Free download

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:01:31 -0500

I have always been looking for the easiest way of doing things, not that I'm lazy, but I want to do as many profitable things as I can and be the most efficient. I had an issue with the conversion of some graphic documents (specifically Publisher files) to PDF's to send by email so others without Publisher could view them.

I was finding that, through Adobe, you could sign up for a trial conversion program, but that ran out too quickly. Plus, have you ever converted a document, then wanted to change it and couldn't get it converted back to the program you created it in?!? What a pain!

Here's the FREE solution - Sun System's Open Office...you can convert almost ANY file to a PDFin seconds...you can also change or manipulate PDF content from this program...

OpenOffice is made by Sun Systems and is a free alternative to Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Draw, and I think a few other MS applications normally found in Microsoft Office. The interface takes a little getting used to and some experimenting at first; but is relatively similar to their Microsoft counterpart and pretty amazing considering the whole software suite is free. They have versions of it for Windows, Intel based Macs, and Mac Powerbooks. Just read the Requirements area of the Download page to make sure it matches your OS.

http://www.download.com/OpenOffice.org/3260-20_4-101462.html (http://www.download.com/OpenOffice.org/3260-20_4-101462.html)

Please let me know what you think...also, if you know of anyone who may have a use for this, please pass on this Blog and have them view it...

Always bringing more to life...

Niche's

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:30:54 -0500

The niche should be your ultimate goal...not what you can do with it...it's ultimate because it is perfect, well defined and unquestionable...when you have it, the rest will fall into place and be automatic...

It's like marketing...you define your target area (prospects) and you systematically set up an automatic, timely way of reaching all those people...your automation of this does the rest...once you have your niche, the rest is automatic...

Thanks for the great comments...please pass this onto anyone you think might be interested...I never thought about the newbies in Real Estate and maybe making a difference in helping them out...

One question for anyone out there...I am posting these to a general post...how do I target a handful of specific groups when I'm inspired to write these?

Thanks and have a great day!

The Real Estate Revolution (REREV)

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:55:11 -0500

It occurred to me this morning, when I was messing around updating my profile and settings for this Blog, that there is a sort of oxymoron between the traditional definition of "niche" and that same idea or need to be singular. Let's dig deeper in this for just a few words.

Direct from Wikipedia, a niche is defined as "...a focused targetable portion (subset) of a market sector." This being said, how do you know what to focus on and where does that focus need to be? Where do you need to start to define your "niche"?

I believe any and all niches are defined from the most broad overview and research available, encompassing much more that just the topic, item or product you are marketing. Niches are chosen, carved and cut just like diamonds. You need to start by looking in over a massive area, spending countless hours digging through useless material, until you find that special something.

You're no different from anyone else if you just stop there. You must examine what you've discovered. You must reshape and redefine your find until it is perfect. Then and only then will you have a true niche...a true leg-up on the competition. But you cannot stop and rest on just this one you have found. There are countless others out there and, as soon as someone finds/develops a better niche than yours, you'll be history.

So, don't stand still...your competition can't hit a moving target...

The Real Estate Revolution (REREV)

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:48:32 -0500

Motivation...it's what most of us lack and some of us, just a very few, create our own. It seems to be an elusive thing, this motivation...sometimes it's with us, but most of the time we can't find it anywhere. For those of you who don't have it, change your mind set. That's all it is. A mind set. Change the way you look at things. Change the way you approach things. Look at life and what it has to offer from a different angle, a different perspective. More on motivation later.

We have. Our Real Estate Team is taking on the traditional Real Estate world and Leading The Real Estate Revolution in Southeastern Minnesota. Sure, we still subscribe to some traditional marketing and training, but we're different. Everyone has some sort of designation, be it ABR, GRI, ABC or whatever. The unfortunate thing is, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF THE REAL ESTATE WORLD KNOWS OR CARES WHAT THESE MEAN! (unless you are a vendor to the Real Estate world and offer training or something).

We've taken these designations one step farther and added our own...TWD (Total World Domination)...we've got it on everything, and we're not afraid to explain to anyone what it's about. Yeah, it started out as a funny joke when this discussion of designations came up. Now, it's a motto we live and work by.

At first, it may seem harsh, but let's break it down. If you look at this and see the entire world (sphere) and universe as we know it, then yeah, it's stupid. But what if you took a look inside, at just your world (or what you wanted your world to be) and decided for you that you were going to take control of it, own it, run it (not let it run you) and committed to making your world better than you could ever imagine. That would be your Total World Domination. Who better to change it than you?!?

The Real Estate Revolution (REREV)

Bruce Domaille (The Kelly Domaille Team at Keller Williams Premier Realty) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:37:22 -0500

Welcome to the kick-off of my new Blog, the REREV...

My goal is to under promise and over deliver with interesting, innovative, time sensitive and (hopefully) fun material which is meaningful to most of us in our Real Estate careers.

This will be short, but in my next post, I will give you a little background (show you my world, if you will) and some insight into why I do what I do.

Come back often, get to know me and, if you like what you see, leave me a comment and we'll chat!

For now...