How Active Rain Made Me A Top Producer.

How Active Rain Made Me A Top Producer.

I really cannot believe it, but I managed to finish my 2nd year as a full time broker/agent in the top 10% of all agents in the 2 counties that I service.  I bet that many AR members are in the top 5% but I am very happy and I honestly started from scratch.  I never had the opportunity to work for a big time real estate brokerage and I received my real estate license initially for personal deals.  I stayed very busy managing my families retail business and real estate was somewhat of a conflict.  I did not show properties or work with buyers and sellers.  Unfortunately when the market crashed, the retail business was not able to support my family, so I transitioned into Real Estate full time.  This was about 2 years ago and many people told me that I was crazy.  I worked very hard to transition but I was truly blessed when I found AR.

How did I find AR?  I love the internet and I am fairly computer savvy.  AR was easy to find because whenever I typed something that was Real Estate related on Google, AR would pop up.  In the first months, I had no commission income and I spent most of my time reading blogs on AR, and reading books like the Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Shift.  Initially, AR was a training resource.  I found blogs on everything.  Anytime a question came up, I was able to find the answer on AR.  It was amazing that Brokers and Agents were sharing all of this valuable information and I soaked it all up.  I read hundreds of blogs and this really got me going.  Understand, I did not have other agents to learn from, but I found agents willing to share on AR and this got me to the next level.  Everyone was very helpful and I started to make a few new friends.

The Next Level.  After I learned the educational benefits of AR, I began to experiment with blogging and key words.  I started to blog about foreclosures and short sales.  My blogs targeted buyers and this worked very well.  I started to receive calls and emails.  I read in a blog on AR that you have to find a niche and put your self out there as an expert.  I took courses, purchased books, and read more blogs about short sales and foreclosures and within months I was helping many buyers acquire short sales and REOs, After that, I felt confident enough to work with short sellers.  I was able to find all the info needed on AR.  AR also led me to another great resource, www.shortsalesuperstars.com.  I would say that my entire business is in some way related to Active Rain.  It may be that a buyer or seller read my blog or it may be education that I gained from the posts that I found on AR about facebook, twitter, post cards, print ads, SEO, and how to sell real estate.  Not to mention, I have received listing and buyer referrals from AR.  You really cannot ask for anything more.

RainCamp - Please do not hesitate, Just go.  It is the most valuable training you will receive.  The folks at RainCamp get the deal and they will tell you the deal.  This really took me to the next - next level.

Where I am now.   I am now at the stage where I am at full capacity and It is hard to find time to blog, but here I am because it is so important.  I really feel that I am on track to exceed the numbers I did last year.  I have some great listings and my past clients and other agents are sending me referrals.  I am very close to 100,000 points on AR and I am not sure where I would be today if AR did not exist.  It really would have been hard to enter such a competitive market.  I think AR has something for everyone and I am happy to be a part of this community.