Makeover2Takeover is giving me a swift kick in the pants. . .

. . .  and I am just the supportive mentor.

As my delightful partner on the M4 Team, Karen Moorhead completes her weekly tasks, I get to question why I do the things the way I do.  I can't wait to see what Rich has in line for us in coming weeks. 

When my husband, Dmitry, and I first moved back to the US and started selling real estate in 2001, the first thing we did was begin to compile the contacts for our database.  Not aware that there were other options for contact management, we spent days inputting our contacts into Microsoft Outlook.  Now, 7 years later, we still use that same system, even though I have looked at other options intensively since we began.  In the end, Outlook works for us and we've got it doing what we need it to do.  There is likely something better out there, but we use this.  Still, as Karen deliberately looked at options last week, I was forced to reconsider, once again, what we do.

My listing presentations have evolved considerably since we first began.  They used to be a few MS Word docs and CMA.  We messed around with a Power Point presentation until I canned the idea, deciding that if I was actually lucky enough to be sitting with a seller I did not want them staring into my computer monitor.  Just a personal preference.  Now we use ToolkitCMA and I can either email a slick looking PDF listing presentation or I can bind it into a hardcover book at the office.

Real estate is a journey.  Karen is doing a super job at seriously evaluating her options as we compete in Makeover2Takeover.  I have the feeling she is in this for the best reason, which is to establish a really sound foundation for her career.  I am impressed with what I am seeing.  Karen is doing things I have avoided.  When we talked about doing a video for this weeks' task, she jumped right on it and put one together.  Personally, I haven't even taken more than an hour of video of my beloved daughter who is nearly 5.  So I wouldn't have done what she did.  But maybe I should.

I am glad to have the opportunity to be part of Makeover2Takeover as it gives me the opportunity to reevaluate my own business!  Thanks for asking me Karen.