OK, so I wrote Part I over 2 weeks ago... 

In that post, I wrote about the risk that Brad, Mike and crew took.  As I said in that post, the change was perfectly timed for me, but not for everyone.  And in fact, I have spent the last few weeks working more ON my business than IN it.  I have been deciding exactly where my focus needs to be in order to rebuild. 

In this post, I'm going to talk a little more about WHAT they did for RETSO Refocus... 

What is 'Refocus'?

I come from a background in professional photography (among other things).  One thing that professional photographer HAVE to do is control their focus.  And often, what you are aiming AT is NOT what you are focused ON.  Sure, you are focused on your subject, and your subject is in frame, but it is certainly not always in the center of your picture.  But you are always watching that subject, and ALWAYS adjusting your focus to keep it sharp on the subject. 

But, too often we see our focus drift.  And just as often, we don't recognize it because we are too busy managing day to day affairs to see that we aren't even pointing the camera in the right direction anymore.  To top it off, one of the issues that I personally face is that I LOVE the tech tools.  I can get so distracted that I walk away from the 'camera' that is my business in order to play with the latest toy. 

So, HOW do we Refocus?

RETSO introduced (for some of us, others were well familiar with it, I'm sure) a tool called the "Business Model Canvas".  It is a fairly simple 9 panel box that allows us to see the relationships of the various aspects of our business.  And it brings each of the most important segments to the forefront. 

Instead of being wrapped up in which tech tool or sign solution would 'save the day', it forces us to look at our 'Customer Segments' and 'Value Propositions'. 

As you can see from the video, the tool is pretty simple to grasp.  However, it is FAR from a simple process.  The questions are easy.  The answers may be anything but easy. 

Can you tell me YOUR value proposition?  Why should someone do business with you instead of the 4 other agents they have talked with? BTW, answering along the lines of "honesty", "integrity" or "I'll sell your house for the most money in the least time" aren't giving value propositions... that is spouting empty rhetoric.  There are millions of agents that say the same things... 

What Next???

There are LOADS of resources devoted to the Business Model Canvas.  I'm not going to explain it all in a simple blog post.  I'm not even going to try.  Instead, I'm going to give you one of MY resources.  As I've been working in my personal BMC, I have assembled a lot of information.  As I continue the process, I am editing the notebook, adding new sources and culling out things that I can replace with better information. 

Lane's BMC SpingPad Notebook

If you are a SpringPad user, please feel free to follow this notebook.  If you aren't you are welcome to visit and look around.  Feel free to comment or suggest alternatives.  I'm trying ot distill information that is especially pertinent to real estate agents and brokers while they assemble a canvas of their businesses. 

There are also Android Apps available for free... and just a few bucks for iPeople.  (I think that is really funny... free on Android but you have to pay for Apple products...) 

Good luck.