Last year Stefan Swanepoel collected and had us vote on the 100 most Influential Women in Real Estate.  On a lark, I looked that up this year (actually was looking for one of my influencing woman) - HEY, is influencing a word?

Anyway, I asked Stefan if he would do that AGAIN and he said YES!!!!!

Click Here to see last year's survey

Come on folks, let's find those top 100, and let's vote.  Don't know how he intends to start, but I'm guessing if a few email him to help or with suggestions, Stefan will move a little more quickly.

Let's show that we can repeat the success from last year while honoring those who've contributed to our industry - ESPECIALLY in these tough times.....

I know LOTS of people may write about this.

My post is short.

No matter WHAT you think of Michael Jackson, his music shaped a lot of our culture over the last 40 years or so.

On a day that we loose Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and the same week Ed McMahon die, we see MANY decades of our pop culture flashing through our lives.

God bless you all for the joy you brought to us, Lord have mercy for all the pain in your lives, may you rest in peace.

God (and humanity) forgive them for whatever personal issues they had based on human pressure, parental pressure, excess, whatever.

2 reason really.  I've not logged in much for the last 8 months.  Office growing, had a fire, website stuff, etc.  Got on yesterday after a friend of mine forwarded a VERY offending blog post (Said she was selfish, wanted to keep all the money for herself, just look at her picture).

What a change.  One of my OLD posts from 3 years ago had some very strange comments, and a link to a site that sold hebal products and talked about sizing...

Worse, someone I've LONG admired for SEO intelligence had changed their blog.  This person could dispense SEO advice that bordered on a GURU of SEO.  Mature, helpfull, insightful, etc.  I so admired this blog, it was one of the first places I went.

Now, I'M NO PRUDE.  7 years in the Army (25 years ago....) and I can cuss like a sailor.  CAN is the operative word.  I don't cuss at my brokerage, and NEVER in front of clients.  I think we Realtors should try very hard to project to the public something a little more professional - a little more respectful.

SO - Went to my SEO guru's blog, and there was a video in it.  I played the video to see what it was about.  The video is a happy birthday, and the wish is "Happy F****** Birthday".  WOW.  I was floored.  I lost respect.

I suppose I shouldn't.  I'm getting up there in years (53).  I go to movies, I have kids.  Geez, I LOVE George Carlin and how words are just words.  Yep, I'm a christian.  Republican, but a little on the liberal side.  And I was shocked.

Shocked to find AR wasn't about SEO and helping Realtors as much.  Shocked that spammers were running through our blogs.  Shocked to think someone would disagree with a post, and attack someones looks over the content.

I guess I'm Naive.  Maybe I just haven't changed with the masses at AR.  I'll keep coming for now, but this isn't the AR I knew last fall....

I'm a pretty good broker.  Been around a while, active at the board.  I admit I'm an "out of the box" thinker, but we ALWAYS try to do the right thing.

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE yesterday.  One of my agents (Lets call her Agent A) calls me.  She wants to know what to do.  She's ready to list a home.  The SELLER has looked at another home 5 times, and wants a buyers agent now (for the purchase of the next home).  Buyer wants representation.  PROBLEM - my agent IS NOT PROCURING CAUSE.  she wants to know what to do.

I explain (and she already understood) that if she (Agent A) writes the contract, she WILL be providing representation and protection, but MAY not be paid.  Agent A is fine with that.  I ALSO tell her to call the Listing agent (Agent B) to explain the situation, tell Agent B that she is caught in this, but the client asked.  IF Agent B wants to give you a referral, GREAT.  If Agent B does not want to, no problem.

SO - Agent A makes the call, trying to find solutions.  The assistant at Company B tells my agent how much they like the phone call.  Most agents don't bother, and she will call Agent B.  She's so happy that we're being up front.  Agent B never calls back.  6 hours later, I call Agent B's broker (Broker B).  Broker B tells me of 3 phone calls the assistant has had with Agent B.  Tells me he likes that we've called, and is sure we'll work it out.  Appreciates that we're trying to work with them and believes we're doing things the right way.

One hour later - SELLER calls my agent - leaves a message that her services are no longer needed.

I call Broker B, he tells me he'll look into it.  Still waiting for that phone call.

I just CAN'T imagine, that we can't find a way to treat each other with respect and honesty.  A simple phone call back.  Tell the truth.  If what the other agent tells you makes you angry, tell them.

Clients can have representation.  If requested, it should be honored.  If you don't like it, talk about it.  If you don't want to pay, argue procuring cause.

I believe you ALWAYS TAKE CARE OF THE CUSTOMER FIRST ~ work out the money stuff later....

I've been away for months.  Office fire, 2nd office, growth from 16 to 45 agents in the last 12 months.

SO - today, I've had 2 comments on an active, but old, blog post.  Both promising to increase.... well you get the drift.

A good friend of mine recieved a post questioning her on a very personal nature.  Calling her selfish, that her she appeared to spend TOO much on food by the looks of her picture (not true by the way), and a drama queen.  All over a posting about how hard REO's were 3 years ago.

What's going on in the Rain.  Things change in the last 6 months while I was gone?

Spammers getting in?  Agents making personal references?  WOW.

Guess I'll be watching this a lot more for a while.

Jeff Turner, you still out there?  Mary McKnight - are you still here too?

Guess I'm going to search for my favorites for a bit...

OK, I know Alltel is now Verizon (sort of).  In December we (as a company) moved to a Alltel cell phone system for our Realtors.  From that, I tripped over their system of "Voice2TXT".  GREAT system, and only $6 per month.

It works like this - someone calls my Cell, I don't answer.  They leave a voice message, a computer converts the VM to a text message and sends it to my cell.  Now I can READ the VM whether I'm in a meeting, or when I get up in the morning.  Maybe I'm out showing clients and don't want to retrieve my messages.

NOW, if I can't call back, I can send a text message back to them.  If they don't have text service or the return number is a land line, the same computer converts my text mesage to a "Voice" message.  If they answer at the other end they hear the message, or it will leave a recording for them.

Cool stuff, not very expensive, and REALLY increases my productivity.  Even in a class or meeting.

I Really Have.  People talking in public, the way they look on the ear, never really knowing if someone is on the phone or talking to me.

Hated the Echo or road noise too.  Wind?  YECH.  Bad sound too.  Plus, I've never found one that fit right in my ear.

Lately, I've had second thoughts.  I find myself fumbling with my phone while driving.  And now that my Windows Mobile 6.1 supports voice commands, I'm thinking MAYBE it was time to look into a better Bluetooth headset.

I actually ordered a Jawbone 2.  Had some reservations tho.  I think the microphone should be near the mouth (Look at pro singers, the microphone ALWAYS is near the mouth).  The reviews on the Jawbone said the controls were a little tricky, and I still had the problem of "How do people know when I'm on the phone".

I ran across this Headset yesterday.  Zivio by Joby.  Many of you have heard of Joby because of their Gorillapod camera - well tripod doesn't describe it well enough...

I'v ordered one of these, and I'll let you know how it works, but for starters, CNET gave pretty good reviews.  Big "+" and "-" buttons on the side (I'm guessing for volume), plus a third button for other stuff.  MUCH easier controls.

But the REAL kicker is the Boom.  Microphone on the end.  Close to my mouth (like the old headsets use to be), but thin - light - and yet sturdy.  When I have this extended, people will know I'm talking, and I can retract out of the way when not.

The reviews tell me the outside noise is pretty controllable, and even whisper works because of how close the microphone is to the mouth.

I'll still try and restrict use to my car - for safety and legal reasons - and I may use it some when around others.  Really looking forward to seeing how this works, and I'll post again once I've used it for a week or so...

I'm reading a book called "God is my CEO" at the moment.  The above is a title from one of the chapters and talks about Football coaches:  do you win one game no matter what the cost, or do you build a program that increases your chances of winning LOTS of games.

 SO, I find myself in there with you guys (and football coaches apparently).  How many of us are sprinting to the next closing to pay the bills.  Then we have to sprint to the next closing, and so on.

 I say I'm there with you guys because we opened a 2nd office in the WORST real estate market in some time.  When you all have cash flow problems, so do I (since I get a split on your commissions).  We're OK, I've made deals, I talk to our suppliers, and I pay bills.  The problem we all have when these problems happen is we find ourselves sprinting to the next closing.

 Sometimes I have to resist the urge to advise someone to close something because I need the cash.  I know you guys have faced that issue as well.  In writing a contract, or forcing financing we know is problematic.

 In my belief, putting God first means putting the other guy's long term well being in front of my immediate need.  At the minimum, I don't believe we make someone else suffer for our difficulties. 

 Jeff Coors defines the Coors Corp value statement as:

 Respect for People

 Responsibility for Actions & Results

 Relationships with each other

 Respect for People - our clients, each other, our suppliers and vendors.  Everyone around us

 Responsibility for Actions & results:  Tricky one here, when our bank account is low, it becomes easy to blame the economy; "Buyers are Liars" mentality; other agents ethics.  Fact is, when we accept responsibility for our actions then we can quit giving free rent in our brain for hate, blame, fault.  By accepting responsibility we can begin to take action to better our circumstances (talking to people, mailings, calling past clients, etc).

 Relationships with each other:  In 5, 10, 20 years, what will you remember?  The $2500 in your bank account, or thank you note a client sent 3 years AFTER they moved into a home.  Better, a referral 5 years later.  It IS in the relationship that "who we are is" defined.

 We're defined each day by the actions we take, and how we treat our coworkers, clients, friends, vendors.  I'm going to stop blaming the banks, the economy, other Realtors, my employees.   Running with a purpose still means I need to move quickly and decisively - but maintain a Higher Purpose for LONG TERM success - Then I will succeed, my company will succeed, and more importantly, so will my clients succeed

I was talking with two agents today.  They want to form a team and we were discussing the logistics. 

Mid way through our discussion, I started talking about what kind of agents are attracted to teams, and what my "Standard" company split was.  I made a statement that I would NEVER try and recruit there agents to work for me, and that if one of their team members came to ME looking to leave, that I would insist the member talk to the team member and me (the Broker) TOGETHER about the proposed move.

These two agents looked at each other, turned back to me:  "Really?  Our last broker tried to recruit MOST of our agents from us..."

I hadn't expected that.  I'm thinking to earn someones trust, to convince them to bring their Real Estate practice to my firm, to allow someone to represent my company to the public, and then take food off their table.  How short sited.

How funny that those of us in this People Business could ever treat people so badly.  Or so short sited.  So many of us work HARD to earn the public trust.  Work to get the public to recommend us to their friends.  Treat folks the way we want to be treated.  Because we know that referral is the BEST source of our business.  By serving others, we gain so much more.

As a broker, I see my actions to be the example of how I want my agents to treat their clients.  The reputation I want my agents to build for me.  I hope I get back what I give.  I know the other broker did, his brokerage isn't around anymore..... 

I'm Humbled...

I go to work every day, and I think I have one purpose.  Serve my agents, and make their lives easier and more productive.  Most days I think I do alright, other days I think I'm not quite up to par.

There are times in our lives that reach into your soul, and give a man purpose, meaning, thankfulness.  Birth of your children; Marriage; Seeing the beauty of God's creations (whales, mountains, oceans, etc).

I just received such a moment.  My agents (whom I have the priviledge to serve) think I do a pretty good job.  I now have a foot tall crystal award that proclaims I've received the "Awesome Broker Award".  I'm to add the letters ABA after my name.

Wow.  Nearly speechless (not quite, I guess I'm writing this), certainly choked up.  Mostly, I know that few times in my life have I been recognized for my service to others, and to have my entire company tell me that I'm doing a good job for them.  Quite an honor.  Quite a moment.  Just hope I keep earning their respect, day in and day out....