"Never give a party if you'll be the most interesting person there." - Mickey Friedman
Even if I'm not giving a party, I still don't want to go if I'm going to be the most interesting person there. That's why I accepted the Project Blogger invitation. Look around at the other invited guests. I may just be the wall flower of the group! Yeah, that's my kind of party. That's why I'm here.
I'm here because I like a challenge. I'm here because I have some ideas that I'd like to try. I'm here because having a guinea pig to try these ideas on is always better than trying them on yourself. It hurts less when they fail and you still get to take credit when they succeed. Talk about win-win!
I'm here to prove that good blogging will work to bring you business, even if your are a brand new real estate agent. Not just someone who hasn't gotten a lead from their blog yet, I mean a brand new real estate agent.
I was told by everyone I asked that this was a bad idea. Literally, every person said, "Jeff, you are going to be putting yourself at a huge disadvantage if you pick someone who is new to blogging and new to the business." But if blogging is all we think it's cracked up to be, then it has to be able to work for the inexperienced as well as the experienced real estate agent. If it can't work for a brand new agent, then it has no staying power.
That's why I chose Julie Ferenzi as my "apprentice."
Julie is a mother of four and just recently, February, received her real estate license in Illinois. She was recommended to me by my wife. They had connected on CafeMom.com. My wife talked about this "Julie" from Chicago all the time. I had no idea she was in real estate and I had never spoken to Juli, via email or otherwise, until I got her on the phone to ask her if she was up for a challenge.
Julie had never heard of ActiveRain. In fact, She didn't even know blogging was something you would do relative to real estate. She thought is was just for personal journals.
Athough Julie is a new real estate agent, she is NOT new to real estate. "My first real experience in real estate was when I was 17-years old," Julie told me. "I ordered the Carlton Sheets program for $100 and charged it on my very first credit card! I bought it after watching an informercial. LOL"
Life got in the way of her initial real estate interests.
"I became interested in real estate again when my husband and I bought our first home. We could barely afford it at the time," she said. "But five years later we made $100,000 profit on it"
I'll let Julie tell you the rest of her story. It's an interesting one. She's passionate, motivated, articulate, and willing to learn!
She has written a few posts on ActiveRain already. I wish I could tell you I told her to do so, but I didn't. They day after I asked her to sign up, she posted. She said, "I just couldn't wait!" Her second post, It's All In The State Of Mind, was featured and the AR community did it's job of helping her work through a tough listing decision. Her third post, Can You Help A Newbie Out? FSBO..., was featured as well. Again, you were all there for her, just like I knew you would be. I may be her "coach," but it takes a village. I don't think she could have imagined how helpful this ActiveRain village was going to be. Thank you!
I'm excited to be working with her and believe that this party is going to be worth the effort! I have a profound level of respect for the other coaches. We're all bringing various skills and backgrounds to this "competition" Julie represents the newbie. In many ways, so do I.
Hey! There's a party going on. I hear music in the background. Anyone care to dance?
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Hey, I know Julie! Well, I commented to her anyway. This is going to be great -- you two are really going to challenge the rest of the group! She's a little Smartie and she's already using your Real Estate Shows in a very clever way -- and telling us about it! Very good start, don't you think?