Twelve Steps to being a good active rain addict! (edit/delete)

The Active Rain 12 Step Program to being a good, active addict

By: James Ward, addict

As a newcomer to Active Rain, I'm uber surprised as to how often I already find myself obsessing about the site and my status every....single....waking....second.  What's worse is I can freely admit that while also being addicted to American Idol, I'll be jumping off the sofa the instant a commercial jingles its way on to the TV, ya know...just to "check stuff".  We all know what we need to check; I may have vaulted a few ranks in my county, I may have been inexplicably awarded 50,000 points for having the dumbest pic in a profile (though I clearly think I'm cool enough).  Whatever the reason, I find myself living, breathing, eating, and relieving http://www.activerain.com/  And YES...I'm hoping that link will somehow give me more points, that's why its there.  And YES, jerking around on this site counts as work since it has to do with real estate.  As I sift through these veritable ‘who's who' profiles, I realize that this addiction probably isn't going to ever stop.  Half a million points for some of these folks?  Ha!  I'll have that done before the weekend is over; these people got nothing on me!  I shall continue to pretend I'm not impressed (relentless losers, damn them!) and check eBay for any points that might be for sale.  No such luck.  So why a 12 step program?  To figure out a way to wean an addict away from the site?  No way...  A 12 step program to enjoy being an addict as efficiently as possible.  So without further ado,

The Active Rain 12 Step Program to being a good active addict: 

STEP 1:  Obviously the first step is to first admit you are in fact, an active rain addict.  Say it to yourself, and no cheating!  Say it out loud.  Look in a mirror, admit your addiction, take responsibility, feel the weight lift as you realize this sensation, this deep breath...is acceptance.  Boy do you have lots of it in the name of associations, but now you can have it with yourself.  Bonus points if you emailed yourself this admission as you truly are what this 12 step program is all about (or aboot for you northern folk).

STEP 2:  Time to log in!  You can't succumb to your guilty pleasure without first visiting http://www.activerain.com/ and signing in, duh!  Now if it takes a half hour to load up for no reason whatsoever do what I do.  Scream and slam your mouse.  Just kidding, open a new window and try again and viola!  It will work instantly for some reason.  What truly needs to be invented however is a ‘gimme' button on the keyboard.  Better yet, call it a ‘gimme a frickin break' button cause when I type activerain.col by accident, it should really know what I meant to do in the first place. 

STEP 3:  Log in finally successful so time to explore the vast array of knowledge made available to you free of any cost.  Yeah right.  Its time to check your score.  Any random people accept any of your invites?  Usually the 18^th time I send somebody one they give in.  Booya, 60pts.  Hopefully, you are climbing the ranks in your locale every single day.  Are you featured in your home town?  How about County?  Good golly, where do you rank in the state?  Better keep plugging away fellow junkies, ya know ya got it in ya!  Oh yes, all's you need is time.

STEP 4:  Since your score will never be high enough, it's time to quickly check and update your profile.  Hell, since you are convinced you are actually working; ya may as well make sure your current listings are updated as well.  Don't want anyone to think you are being lazy now do ya?  Also, it seems like the more links you have the better you are.  Your profile page should look like a wikipedia entry...blue letters everywhere.  If someone clicks their mouse accidentally, anywhere on your page...another entirely separate page should attack their screen with more information about YOU.  That's why they are there you know...give your visitors what they want:  as much repetitive gobbledygook about yourself you can think of.

STEP 5:  Speaking of links, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  As is your profile and in due course...your all important score.  The more websites you have that feature a link to active rain the better.  If you can manage to have a link on a home page, that's huge.  Are you marketing on other websites?  Do they give you a special webpage?  You may not even be aware of it but many in fact DO!  Your primary glossy magazine such as Homes & Land gives you a web page.  As does homes.com and very likely a myriad of others.  (by the way, I got "gobbledygook" in the above step from the thesaurus, but not "myriad", I knew that one already).  Anyway, put this:  http://www.activerain.com/ on all the websites you can.

STEP 6:  Moving right along, you should now be ready to soak up all sorts of invaluable information from your very own peers.  Yes, its blog-readin' time!  What is a blog?  It's kind of a play on web log.  Web and log.  Blog.  Cute.  Kinda like FSBO but not nearly as annoying.  Every addict should be a sponge, readily devouring letters and numbers.  Until that is, you find something you can comment on...

STEP 7:  Comment your brains out!  Or, at least until you've commented 10 times.  The active rain addict is free to mechanically leave any vague, generic comment he or she pleases too, by the way.  Somebody write about what happened in their little town on this day in history?  Well the addict hopefully skimmed that little anecdote extremely quickly, and can now achieve 1 10^th of their goal by commenting something like, "Fascinating and very informative!"  Many addicts will also save even more precious time by abbreviating certain things.  We all know LOL means laughing out loud, but some savvy folk found a way to shorten active rain itself by cleverly coming up with "AR".  One of the first comments sent to me?  Welcome to the AR...  At first I wondered why I should be happy about being welcomed to Arkansas, but I soon realized... 

STEP 8:  Beginning the second half of the 12 steps to better addiction is the ultra rewarding step 8.  A lucky number for many.  Step 8 is when you post your own blog.  We all now know what blog means, but what to write about?  Your new listing you just got?  Or one you can't sell?  People definitely want to read about that.  How about 10 tips to do uh...whatever?  Maybe it was a slow week for that kind of waste of time reading, do it up!  Perhaps you could steal a tiny bit from one blog, another smidge from a different one...that adds up to an original idea, really!  Just remember to keep it short and sweet.  Your ultimate goal is of course to become a featured blog.  Not exactly sure how one meets this criteria, but the neater looking it is probably gets ya headed in the right direction.  

STEP 9:  Be well known.  Join many groups.  Join all the groups.  Whatever you can handle.  A real addict probably belongs to at least 30 groups.  A real addict probably made up half of them just cause.  Now something might be said for that whole ‘community' thing being somehow beneficial, but what's really important here is you pick the 5 most popular groups and post your blog to those ones.  This way, you are sure to get the exposure you crave and need for ultimate success.

STEP 10:  Be popular yourself!  Being well known isn't the same as being popular.  You need associations.  Not associates, associations.  That's when you want to be someone's friend, and they reciprocate by wanting to be your friend back.  You learned this very principal in kindergarten, it's not hard.  Now the active rain brass says it's entirely acceptable for one to ignore such a request and that if you are ignored, you should not at all be offended.  Silly blowhards...a good addict will never stop sending requests, NEVER!  The more associations you have the better.  More is always better, don't look at Oliver Twist and get nervous...you'll feel just spectacular after you've suckered in more associations, trust me.  Ultimately, these are the likely people that will subscribe to your blog, which at the end of the day...is just super for you! 

STEP 11:  Get in on the ground floor....or some other pyramid scheme jargon you can tell somebody, but invite, invite, INVITE!  A true addict will never stop.  Morning, evening, it's never the wrong time to send someone an invite.  Not only do you seriously think you're doing a good deed for the day, but you also get hella points!  10pts just cause they click the link in the email.  50 more when they actually confirm and solidify their membership!  But wait!  There's more!  You will receive 10% of allllllllll the points they attain.  Forever.  There is the exit realty concept, and then there is Active rain residuals.  I know what I want more.  More score, that's what.  Don't think being sneaky and not telling certain people will benefit you any way, shape or form.  Reel em all in yourself, you're an addict anyway, they won't be able to touch you!

STEP 12:  Get some rest as the cycle shall never end!  Take a few hours to perhaps eat, sleep, talk to your significant other.  Definitely remember to pay your bills...you don't want to be in the middle of writing your 10^th comment of the day and have your internet shut off do you?  Check your voice mails, check your email...you should have 100's of messages from active rain alone.  Anytime something happens, you get an email.  Most importantly, work.  That's right, even though we addicts would like for nothing more than to network on here until we get carpal tunnel, we are professionals...and more likely, dead set on being more successful than other certain someone's in this community.  Run your appointments as quickly as possible, be sure to call everyone you are supposed to, and above all else:

Remember these 12 steps, and you shall find yourself on the fast track to #1 status!  Just look at me, I've got my sunglasses on already...that's how cool I know I'm going to be.  Best of luck my fellow addicts, none of this is possible without us!  Now do your duty and leave me a comment and subscribe to my blog!

-James Ward

new_jersey_shore_realtor   james@ward-realty.com

The Active Rain 12 Step Program to being a good, active addict

By: James Ward, addict

As a newcomer to Active Rain, I'm uber surprised as to how often I already find myself obsessing about the site and my status every....single....waking....second.  What's worse is I can freely admit that while also being addicted to American Idol, I'll be jumping off the sofa the instant a commercial jingles its way on to the TV, ya know...just to "check stuff".  We all know what we need to check; I may have vaulted a few ranks in my county, I may have been inexplicably awarded 50,000 points for having the dumbest pic in a profile (though I clearly think I'm cool enough).  Whatever the reason, I find myself living, breathing, eating, and relieving http://www.activerain.com/  And YES...I'm hoping that link will somehow give me more points, that's why its there.  And YES, jerking around on this site counts as work since it has to do with real estate.  As I sift through these veritable ‘who's who' profiles, I realize that this addiction probably isn't going to ever stop.  Half a million points for some of these folks?  Ha!  I'll have that done before the weekend is over; these people got nothing on me!  I shall continue to pretend I'm not impressed (relentless losers, damn them!) and check eBay for any points that might be for sale.  No such luck.  So why a 12 step program?  To figure out a way to wean an addict away from the site?  No way...  A 12 step program to enjoy being an addict as efficiently as possible.  So without further ado,

The Active Rain 12 Step Program to being a good active addict: 

STEP 1:  Obviously the first step is to first admit you are in fact, an active rain addict.  Say it to yourself, and no cheating!  Say it out loud.  Look in a mirror, admit your addiction, take responsibility, feel the weight lift as you realize this sensation, this deep breath...is acceptance.  Boy do you have lots of it in the name of associations, but now you can have it with yourself.  Bonus points if you emailed yourself this admission as you truly are what this 12 step program is all about (or aboot for you northern folk).

STEP 2:  Time to log in!  You can't succumb to your guilty pleasure without first visiting http://www.activerain.com/ and signing in, duh!  Now if it takes a half hour to load up for no reason whatsoever do what I do.  Scream and slam your mouse.  Just kidding, open a new window and try again and viola!  It will work instantly for some reason.  What truly needs to be invented however is a ‘gimme' button on the keyboard.  Better yet, call it a ‘gimme a frickin break' button cause when I type activerain.col by accident, it should really know what I meant to do in the first place. 

STEP 3:  Log in finally successful so time to explore the vast array of knowledge made available to you free of any cost.  Yeah right.  Its time to check your score.  Any random people accept any of your invites?  Usually the 18^th time I send somebody one they give in.  Booya, 60pts.  Hopefully, you are climbing the ranks in your locale every single day.  Are you featured in your home town?  How about County?  Good golly, where do you rank in the state?  Better keep plugging away fellow junkies, ya know ya got it in ya!  Oh yes, all's you need is time.

STEP 4:  Since your score will never be high enough, it's time to quickly check and update your profile.  Hell, since you are convinced you are actually working; ya may as well make sure your current listings are updated as well.  Don't want anyone to think you are being lazy now do ya?  Also, it seems like the more links you have the better you are.  Your profile page should look like a wikipedia entry...blue letters everywhere.  If someone clicks their mouse accidentally, anywhere on your page...another entirely separate page should attack their screen with more information about YOU.  That's why they are there you know...give your visitors what they want:  as much repetitive gobbledygook about yourself you can think of.

STEP 5:  Speaking of links, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.  As is your profile and in due course...your all important score.  The more websites you have that feature a link to active rain the better.  If you can manage to have a link on a home page, that's huge.  Are you marketing on other websites?  Do they give you a special webpage?  You may not even be aware of it but many in fact DO!  Your primary glossy magazine such as Homes & Land gives you a web page.  As does homes.com and very likely a myriad of others.  (by the way, I got "gobbledygook" in the above step from the thesaurus, but not "myriad", I knew that one already).  Anyway, put this:  http://www.activerain.com/ on all the websites you can.

STEP 6:  Moving right along, you should now be ready to soak up all sorts of invaluable information from your very own peers.  Yes, its blog-readin' time!  What is a blog?  It's kind of a play on web log.  Web and log.  Blog.  Cute.  Kinda like FSBO but not nearly as annoying.  Every addict should be a sponge, readily devouring letters and numbers.  Until that is, you find something you can comment on...

STEP 7:  Comment your brains out!  Or, at least until you've commented 10 times.  The active rain addict is free to mechanically leave any vague, generic comment he or she pleases too, by the way.  Somebody write about what happened in their little town on this day in history?  Well the addict hopefully skimmed that little anecdote extremely quickly, and can now achieve 1 10^th of their goal by commenting something like, "Fascinating and very informative!"  Many addicts will also save even more precious time by abbreviating certain things.  We all know LOL means laughing out loud, but some savvy folk found a way to shorten active rain itself by cleverly coming up with "AR".  One of the first comments sent to me?  Welcome to the AR...  At first I wondered why I should be happy about being welcomed to Arkansas, but I soon realized... 

STEP 8:  Beginning the second half of the 12 steps to better addiction is the ultra rewarding step 8.  A lucky number for many.  Step 8 is when you post your own blog.  We all now know what blog means, but what to write about?  Your new listing you just got?  Or one you can't sell?  People definitely want to read about that.  How about 10 tips to do uh...whatever?  Maybe it was a slow week for that kind of waste of time reading, do it up!  Perhaps you could steal a tiny bit from one blog, another smidge from a different one...that adds up to an original idea, really!  Just remember to keep it short and sweet.  Your ultimate goal is of course to become a featured blog.  Not exactly sure how one meets this criteria, but the neater looking it is probably gets ya headed in the right direction.  

STEP 9:  Be well known.  Join many groups.  Join all the groups.  Whatever you can handle.  A real addict probably belongs to at least 30 groups.  A real addict probably made up half of them just cause.  Now something might be said for that whole ‘community' thing being somehow beneficial, but what's really important here is you pick the 5 most popular groups and post your blog to those ones.  This way, you are sure to get the exposure you crave and need for ultimate success.

STEP 10:  Be popular yourself!  Being well known isn't the same as being popular.  You need associations.  Not associates, associations.  That's when you want to be someone's friend, and they reciprocate by wanting to be your friend back.  You learned this very principal in kindergarten, it's not hard.  Now the active rain brass says it's entirely acceptable for one to ignore such a request and that if you are ignored, you should not at all be offended.  Silly blowhards...a good addict will never stop sending requests, NEVER!  The more associations you have the better.  More is always better, don't look at Oliver Twist and get nervous...you'll feel just spectacular after you've suckered in more associations, trust me.  Ultimately, these are the likely people that will subscribe to your blog, which at the end of the day...is just super for you! 

STEP 11:  Get in on the ground floor....or some other pyramid scheme jargon you can tell somebody, but invite, invite, INVITE!  A true addict will never stop.  Morning, evening, it's never the wrong time to send someone an invite.  Not only do you seriously think you're doing a good deed for the day, but you also get hella points!  10pts just cause they click the link in the email.  50 more when they actually confirm and solidify their membership!  But wait!  There's more!  You will receive 10% of allllllllll the points they attain.  Forever.  There is the exit realty concept, and then there is Active rain residuals.  I know what I want more.  More score, that's what.  Don't think being sneaky and not telling certain people will benefit you any way, shape or form.  Reel em all in yourself, you're an addict anyway, they won't be able to touch you!

STEP 12:  Get some rest as the cycle shall never end!  Take a few hours to perhaps eat, sleep, talk to your significant other.  Definitely remember to pay your bills...you don't want to be in the middle of writing your 10^th comment of the day and have your internet shut off do you?  Check your voice mails, check your email...you should have 100's of messages from active rain alone.  Anytime something happens, you get an email.  Most importantly, work.  That's right, even though we addicts would like for nothing more than to network on here until we get carpal tunnel, we are professionals...and more likely, dead set on being more successful than other certain someone's in this community.  Run your appointments as quickly as possible, be sure to call everyone you are supposed to, and above all else:

Remember these 12 steps, and you shall find yourself on the fast track to #1 status!  Just look at me, I've got my sunglasses on already...that's how cool I know I'm going to be.  Best of luck my fellow addicts, none of this is possible without us!  Now do your duty and leave me a comment and subscribe to my blog!

-James Ward

new_jersey_shore_realtor   james@ward-realty.com

hanks to this amazingly fast progressing fad of internet community, networking etc, I feel more productive spending my days updating and managing my blog sites, myspace sites, real estate show's but what am I really accomplishing exactly?  Hopefully, I find out and the end result is $ in my pocket...  What I really wish, is that I could go back in time and invent this craziness as opposed to becoming yet another addicted computer geek.  Anyhoo, my name is James Ward and I'm a Broker-Sales Associate at my very own family owned and operated Real Estate office.  Started by my great grandfather over 80 years ago, I'm honored to continue that tradition of Service, Courtesy & Results while adding my own blend of today's innovative technologies and tools.  Sellers, Buyers, even vacation renters can all enjoy the attention received at any small family office but make no mistake, no other agents match the exposure and attention I am able to provide my listings for sale or rent.  The best of both worlds?  If there is a such thing, I am confident I'm there!  I look forward very much to thinking of things to write about here, and even more so do I look forward to anyone actually reading any of it. 

  Email me:  james@ward-realty.com