First, thank you to all of you who thought of me while I was away (a couple of AR associates even sent me emails).  It's nice to be missed...  :-)

The first week I was away because my new mother-in-law came to visit from Ohio; and my sister-in-law flew up from Del Mar, CA to surprise us.  :-) (I'm smiling with love...really!)  So that week really got packed quickly. 

The second week...

Well, let's be honest.  When real estate slows down or the market changes, many real estate professionals start to cut expenses.  Many times this includes marketing expenses.

For a VA, an agent cutting marketing expenses also means cutting VA hours from time to time...  So not too long ago, this got me thinking.

In my past life I was a Coach and Trainer for HouseValues.  I REALLY enjoyed Coaching and Training, and have often thought about ways of implementing this.  In all honesty, often times a VA does do some coaching (especially when agents find they need to get back to doing some things themselves). 

Technically, I've been a way from Coaching for awhile now, so I took the opportunity to get reacquainted.  I took a couple of new marketing courses, and I started a Coach Certification program.

I see this as a great compliment to Virtual Assisting, and I really like sharing tools, techniques and new strategies.  I'll let you know how it goes.  And hopefully I won't put myself completely out of the VA business!

Did I hear someone ask "what's a signature line?"  If so, that's ok.  If you don't know what that is, you will shortly.  If you know what it is, but don't have one...then you might be in trouble.  :-)

It's been several days since my last post (more on that later), but the topic discussed was ‘what's on the back of your business card'.  There were a lot of great comments and suggestions.

So now I have to ask, what's in your email signature?  Like the backside of your business card, it could say anything. 

In my case for example, it might read:  "To find out how a VA can help you grow your business, visit http://www.agentassistantnetwork.com/ today!" or ‘For more tips on growing you're your business, visit http://www.agentassistantblog.com/ today!"

In the case of real estate professionals, it might read: "For the latest new home listing, visit www.MyHomeListings.com today!" or "For your homes value FAST and FREE, visit www.MyPropertyValue.com today!

Once again, the key is to have a call to action.  Often times professionals place thier email address and or website in their email signature, but don't tell prospective clients why they should email or visit their website.

Don't leave anything to chance!  If you are looking for buyers, offer home listing or ‘10 tips on avoiding the top buyer mistakes', or whatever.  If you are looking for sellers, offer a complimentary CMA or a report on getting top dollar in today's market.  Just give them a reason to visit your website or send you an email.

So, the million dollar question is...

What's in your email signature?

PLEASE don't tell me nothing; or that it's blank!

Business cards are one of the least expensive and cost effective marketing and advertising tools available.  Exchanging business cards is an excellent way to pass along your contact information and to gather contacts for your database.

Agents on both ends of the spectrum have shared their thoughts on business cards.  I've had agents say they use a box of 500 every month.  They hand them out like candy; they leave them on tables at the restaurant; they leave a stack at the coffee shop or dry cleaners.

Then other agents have said a box of 500 will last them an entire year.  HUH??  Who are you keeping them for, or from?  I know, I know... business cards cost money.  I just ordered 500 business cards and it cost me about $50.  You can of course spend more or less depending on full color or foil or having a message on the box, etc.  But business cards are a cost of doing business.  Period!  Exclamation point!

But handing out cards in and of themselves may or may not lead to business.  So like all marketing, you need a call to action.  Maybe the back of your card reads ‘For a complementary Market Analysis, visit www.YourName.com' or ‘For the latest home listings, visit www.YourName.com.'. 

The back of my card reads:      "Ask how a VA can help you grow your business!" and gives my web site: www.AgentAssistantNetwork.com

Maybe they'll call me or maybe they'll visit my website.  Either way, the agent will learn more about me and my business, and how I can help them with their business.

If you have to purchase and distribute business cards anyway (and you do), you might as well make the most of both sides.  Otherwise, it's just wasted space.

So, what's on the back of your business card?  If nothing, then tell us what will be on the back of your business card the next time you order.  You will begin using the backside, RIGHT? 

My mentor, Claudia Wicks Real Estate Trainer extraordinaire, trains agents to do focus on income producing tasks.  She often asks the question, what is the highest and best use of your time as an agent; getting face to face with a client or filling flyer boxes.

If you are a brand new agent with few current clients and a very limited budget, the answer is probably both.  Yet as your business grows and your client list gets longer, the answer should change.

One pet peeve I've heard from the field is that sellers hate when the flyer box gets empty.  Some agents ask their seller s to call them ASAP if that happens, or simply fill it themselves.  For some sellers this is no big deal.  For others they think hey ‘I could be doing this myself'; they wonder why they would need you if you can't do something as simply as keep a flyer box full.

So who fills the flyer box?  Depending on how hot the neighborhood and heavy the traffic, the flyer box could be empty every other day.  So you or your assistant have to stop by very regularly.  Depending on how busy you are and how many listings you have, this may not be a good use of time for either of you.

Personally, this isn't a service I offer to my local agents.  Filling flyer boxes isn't the highest and best use of my time or their budget.  Of course if someone wanted to pay my hourly rate, I'd be happy to do it. :-) 

But what if you hired a responsible high school junior or senior and paid them $10 an hour for a few hours per week?  Or, you found a college student who needed a part time job and paid them a set fee per property? <shameless plug for my niece at UA in Tuscaloosa, AL>  They could swing by a few times per week.  Or maybe you have a 17 year old in your own home looking for some extra cash.  You could welcome them to world of small business.

So, what is the highest and best use of your time?  Who fills your flyer boxes?

A friend just sent me a link to ProBlogger.net (thank you Rob), and I love it.  I'm not sure how I missed this excellent resource, but clearly I did until now.  Before I write a blog on any topic, I always do a quick search to see if it's been done (or over done) on AR.  And yes, this awesome site has been mentioned numerous times but it is such a great resource that I have to mention it again.

One of my favorite posts on ProBlogger is Imagine Having 48,000 Subscribers by Midori Miller.  From her post she apparently also loves this site.  And from her many excellent posts, she is clearly following Darren Rowse tips (or maybe she's a fantastic writer on her own). 

Plus I learned about online crushes on this thread.  I also have online crushes, but never knew it had a name.     Who knew??

David Patterson is also a fan, and shares an interesting take on blogging with radical opinions in Are You a Darren Rowse Fan?  Plus he shares other good links here.

ActiveRain Video even posted a video of Darren Rowse discussing blogging and emerging trends.  You can view the video here.

And then there were a couple of other great posts that really went into depth on some Darren Rowse topics.  While I may have missed some (and my apologies if I did), here is a list and link to those I did come across.  I hope you find them as helpful as I did!

Extend Your Content with Mind Mapping by John Novak.

What We Can All Learn From a Great American Inventor by Candis Hidalgo

Happy Blogging!

There are MANY great groups on ActiveRain.  While we don't have that many Virtual Assistant groups, there are a number of great VA groups on AR as well.  There are VA groups for us to share ideas and tips such as Assistants Corner and the Real Estate Virtual Assistants Group.  There's even a group for agents to post their VA needs and requests.

Now there is one more group...  Ask A VA!   

The Virtual Assisting industry is relatively new.  Depending on who you ask, the VA industry has been around for 10-12 years.  Although I've seen a number of experienced VAs who say they ‘were VAs before they knew there was such a thing.'

Personally, I get a number of calls and emails asking questions; some basic ‘what can a VA do" questions, others more specific to the agent or team.  So I though I would start a group where real estate professionals could ask any and every question that has crossed their minds concerning VAs and the VA industry.

Then I thought about it a little bit more, and wondered if we couldn't create a sort of VA FAQ area.  Agents could make a post to start a topic.  Or a VA could make a post to start a topic on a question they often get.

So I started a new group, Ask A VA!  First I did a Pre-Launch and posted it in the VA groups in the hopes of having some VAs start the ball rolling with some of the questions they get asked most often.

Now I'm sharing it with all of ActiveRain!  I'd like to invite each of you to stop by for a visit, take a look and hopefully Ask a VA a question you've been pondering.     

Feel free to leave a comment here or on one of the basic topics I started.  Or better yet, you Ask A VA a question and start a new thread of your own!

OK... now for the article I was actually looking for when I wrote my post earlier this evening.  I came across this article yesterday but forgot to bookmark it.  Now that I've found it, I feel like I need to write about before I lose my thoughts on the topic.

Of course we've all heard of social networking and social networks.  But what about niche and micro-niche social networks?  When I say niche, I mean niche!

Yesterday I came across an article on MSN.com: The Web's 10 Weirdest Social Networks.  Now I'm not saying we would necessary do a lot of prospecting or networking on these; then I guess that depends on what you are looking for.  But I did get a little chuckle so I had to pass it along.

Love hamsters?  Visit Hamsterster.com.  Looking for a farmer to love?  Meet your mate on FarmersOnly.com.  Really into "Second Life" and avatars?  Well, Myrl.com is "Connecting Worlds." 

This article listed 10 weird ones, but I'm sure there are many more.  If you have a few extra minutes and need a laugh (or a shock), check it out!  <as far as I can tell, none of these are "adult themed"> 

What's the weirdest social site you've come across?  Did you join? 

Happy social networking!  Thank you NING!  Or...maybe not...

Tonight, as so often happens, I was researching one topic and came across another.  I ran across an article on MSN.com entitled Class War: MySpace vs. Facebook.  The article was actually about how high school kids are leaving MySpace in droves and heading over to Facebook.

Personally, I'm on both sites.  MySpace is kept private because I mostly visit with family (primarily my nieces age 13-20) back in Alabama, and because we get pretty silly sometimes.  And as I mentioned in a couple of previous blog posts, I tend to keep my silly side hidden; maybe a little too much, but you'll have to read What's your attitude for more on that.  <shameless plug>

Facebook is used both personally and professionally; the girls have been warned to keep cool on that site.  I've reconnected with lots of friends from high school, and meet many new friends on my recent vacation to Berlin (most of who are in the acting business and live in New York) and this is how we keep in touch.

That fact takes me back to the point of the article.  The article basically details how the kids are leaving MySpace and heading over to Facebook, with the important realization that this switch is happening along class lines.  It goes on to discuss the implication of advertising dollars for both sites, which isn't important to me; with estimated ad revenues of $125M/yr for Facebook and $525M for MySpace, I think they'll both survive.

The take away for me, is the splitting into class demographics.  And what, if anything, this means to me, my clients, and you the reader because most people are on both sites.  MySpace is now the "cool working-class thing", while Facebook is where the "goody-two-shoes, jocks, athletes, or other ‘good' kids" are going.

So my question is, if the kids are splitting along class lines (I read this as economic lines), are the parents?  Are the parents (i.e. the bread winners, potential clients) even on these sites? 

Is Facebook more ‘professional' than MySpace?  Does our being on both or either of these sites say anything about us professionally? 

Do you even use these sites for prospecting?  Or are you using them to reconnect to friends and family to grow your sphere?

There are a number of great Virtual Assistant Groups on ActiveRain.  (Hey!  There are MANY great groups period on ActiveRain.)  There are VA groups for us to share ideas and tips.  There's a group for agents to post their VA needs.

Personally, I get a number of calls and emails asking questions; some basic ‘what can a VA do" questions, others more specific to the agent or team.  So I though I would start a group where real estate professionals could ask any and every question that has crossed their minds concerning VAs and the VA industry.

Then I thought about it a little bit more, and wondered if we couldn't create a sort of VA FAQ area.  Agents could make a post to start a topic.  Or a VA could make a post to start a topic on a question they often get.

So I started a new group, Ask a VA!  I'm posting it in the VA groups first in the hopes of having some VAs start the ball rolling with some of the questions they get asked most often.  Then I'll share the group with the rest of the AR community.

What do you think?  Good idea or bad?  

Feel free to leave a comment here or on one of the basic topics I started.  Or better yet, start a new thread of your own!

Back to Business!

I'll admit, my blog has gotten a little off the normal topics of tools and tactics.  Lately they have been more motivational than practical.  Maybe they were even a little therapeutic for me (OK, they were)...

So it's time to get back to sharing more tools, and less Tracie.  At least for a little while...

We all know there are many great tools available to help keep us organized and on track.

One of my favorites is Jott.com.  Jott.com has been mentioned on AR a number of times, so I won't go into too much detail.  According to the website, you "Simply call Jott and tell us where you want your message to go. We capture your voice, turn it into text, and send it to the destination you chose."

Suffice to say, with a single phone call it allows you to:

• Create Voice to Text Notes
• Create To Do Lists
• Send Group Messages
• Send and Receive Email & Text  Reminders

It is great for those of us who get some of there best ideas when they aren't sitting at a desk or in front of a computer.

Another tool I recently came across is IWantSandy.com.  I'm still in the early stages of testing this out, so I haven't formed my opinion just yet.  Now, I will say that I don't see Sandy replacing your Assistant or your Virtual Assistant, but I can see this tool keeping you both up to date and on the same page. 

Sandy says:

"I'll remember the details so you can focus on what's important.

• Kick off your morning knowing what's on for the day.
• Keep your day moving forward with reminders right when you need them.
• Books to read, people to call, your cousin's birthday - I'll remember it all.
• Stay organized with everyone in your life - effortlessly.

All without leaving your email inbox."

As I said, I'm still getting a feel for IwantSandy.com, but I'll share my thoughts soon.  

Who else is using Jott.com?  Has anyone tried IWantSandy.com?  What do you think?  How have they helped you?