I know, I know! Please don't berate, belittle or befriend (oh, I guess it is DE-friend) me, but in any case, I have known for over a year now that I should be blogging. I have told myself that I was going to do it - tomorrow! Well, after 365 or so tomorrows, I have put the gauntlet down and told myself that I am not going to procrastinate anymore. Why do you ask? What made the difference? RAINCAMP! Yesterday, I travelled a total of 300 miles roundtrip to travel from my home in Lake Havasu City, AZ to Las Vegas to attend Raincamp, sponsored by none other than Active Rain (woot)! I met one of my dear friends, Carra Riley (aka Ms. Cosmic Cow Pie), who ever so gently told me "DO IT!" She used to be a REALTOR in my area and knows the make up of the members and 'reminded' me, since she has been trying to get this thru my pea brain, that if I just embrace this blogging thing and really make myself the "Voice of Lake Havasu," it would easily catapult me into "stardom." Well, maybe she didn't promise me all that. I like to embellish a little just to make my life appear a little more exciting! But seriously, the benefits of coming from a small community (aka BFE) is that I don't have a lot of competition. I could be the first one in the area who really would be the one to turn to! I have really jumped aboard the Social Media bandwagon in all other aspects but blogging. Honestly, there is not another REALTOR in Havasu who I am in competition with when it comes to networking via Facebook or Twitter (the common comment - Twitter, oh yeah, I don't really get that).
I digress (maybe one of the reasons I felt I might suck at blogging)! What did I get from Raincamp? Lots of links, got to meet up with some people I know from the Vegas area and best of all, got to me Ben Kinney, Bob Stewart and Brad Andersohn. I knew of Ben because I am a Keller Williams agent and I knew that he helped write @Social with MREA coauther Jay Papasan and had a really super productive team in Bellingham Washington. I knew 'of' Brad just because of my use of Twitter and I knew he was in the re.net sphere. I only had the opportunity of knowing of Bob when I was looking for a deal (via Twitter, of course - did I mention I am a twitterholic) to attend Raincamp. I won a contest to get into Inman SF last year, so I know that there is always a deal to be made. Bob offered me a discount of $20, but fortunately, I had already received a free Premium ticket through Docusign (thanks An). Now, after spending the day with Ben, Bob and Brad, I know them better and now I can do what I like best - I can reach out to them on one of the platforms I am comfortable with, FB or Twitter, and interact and they will know who I am. What a concept! In the past year, I have done just the opposite! I have gotten to know hundreds of re.net people via Twitter and then finally through a RE Bar Camps (I went to Phx and San Fran) or Inman, I was able to meet sooo many of them in person.
Another tip I got is not be too wordy! You will bore your readers. So, if you aren't nodding over your keyboard at the moment, please take a 'nice' pill and leave me a comment. Give me some hints on what you have found that has worked for you. I LOVE learning from others!
With kind regards and Easter wishes -
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