Note: This post is sort of the "back story" to a post I wrote earlier today. I could tell from some of the first few comments that were made... that the post was not making much sense to some. So... this post is offered as sort of an explanation of the back story of what has happened over the past four months... that led me to write the post just two posts before this one titled... Bowling For Tomatoes . Please read this first, then read the "Bowling" post. It will make more sense. Thanks for your patience.
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I have been a member of Active Rain since August 21, 2007. I had been blogging, posting, making comments, and just nosing around... reading everything I could about my new "find." I found it all very interesting, although I must admit I really did not know what I was doing.
And then... about six weeks into my blogging on Active Rain, it started to become obvious to me that if blogging was going to make a real impact on my real estate business, sooner or later I was going to have to get an "outside blog."
An "outside blog" is a free-standing internet site... similar in a way to a website, but different in that the typical real estate website is "static"... and outside blogs are much more interactive between the public, my clients and future clients... and myself.
So... what to do ? Where do I find out some answers ? I decided to do what some of the contestants did when using one of the "lifelines" on the TV show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." I decded to "ask the audience."
The audience, of course, was everyone on Active Rain. So... on October 7, 2007 I wrote a post titled Who Should I Choose... for my "Outside Blog....?" . This post turned out to be my first "featured" post. I was also totally blown away by the number of comments my post received... 76 comments. Nothing I had written before came anywhere close to getting that much of a response.
I learned so very much from all the comments and responses. After reading all of them two or three times, and researching many of the ideas offered in the comments, I finally decided on using "The Real Estate Tomato" as my outside blog.
The next thing I did... was email Jim Cronin at The Real Estate Tomato- . I think I received a return call the very next day. That surprised me. Yikes... someone who actually returns phone calls ! We talked, we emailed. Jim emailed me lots of stuff to read, and finally I decided to go ahead and get started.
Jim sent me a series of emails detailing all I needed to do to get started in putting together my outside blog, and also a series of "preparation" emails on all the things I needed to do... to choose... to decide on... in getting started.
I must admit... I am not a techie. Not at all. I can type. I can write posts. I can even read and spell. But my poor little introverted intuitive touchy-feely brain was just not prepared for all of this.
So... what did I do ? I pretty much panicked. What else would a touchy-feely introverted older chick do when faced with this seemingly endless mountain of techno-google stuff that I did not understand.
I called the whole thing to a halt. I just stopped it. I told myself I wasn't ready to do this. I told myself it looked like it was too painful a process to go through.
Four months have gone by since I chickened-out. But I am back !
What, you might ask, has changed ? Well... plainly and simply... I have finally come to the conclusion that in order for me to take my business to a level where I feel I am making progress and moving forward... after being in real estate for over twenty years... I simply felt that not going through this process... and letting my business stay where it is... was even more painful .
My two choices were 1) painful... and 2) more painful. It reminds me of the famous Anais Nin quote...
"Then came the day... when the risk of remaining tight in a bud... became more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
So... I have chosen to finally start the process. Here is a link to my post about getting started... called Bowling For Tomatoes .
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You go girl - you're going to be in full bloom soon - I have complete faith in you! Keep us posted on your journey. :)