I've noticed that during the last few months of every year, agent list-serves and forums begin popping with posts regarding the newest and greatest software, tools, and must-have cool gadgets to buy for their businesses. This crazy rush to purchase the newest and greatest is in full swing by the NAR® (National Association of Realtors®) Convention in November and only seems to slow down when the realities of holiday shopping hit home - usually when the bills begin arriving in January.

And even this year, despite the slow market in much of the country, there seems to be no slowdown in our quest to obtain the newest and greatest. Let's face it - a lot of us are trade-show and gadget junkies. Think about it: how many of the 1,119,000 iPhones sold in the US as of October, 2007 were bought by people who REALLY needed a new phone? Or did we convince ourselves that the iPhone and other cool tools and gadgets would really bring us the new business that we so desperately need. After all, you have to spend money to make money, right?

May I suggest that our problem might be that we're always looking for the quick fix? With our business purchases, don't we tend to go "a mile wide (as in the quantity of what we purchase) but only an inch deep (as in what we actually utilize)?" We go to NAR® and get all excited about a nifty new piece of software or a set of glossy postcards that we saw demonstrated. They look fantastic. And we buy and buy, because when times are slow and business is tough to come by, the more we search for the magic bullet. Read the Rest of the Story...