Hi Ashley,

What a coincidence, my first blog client is migrating from Albuquerque to Claremont and here you are, my first comment on this post.  Funny how things work sometimes. 

Take care, may you get many blogging clients of your own, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

Hi All,

Thank you to everyone who has expressed their support and good wishes. I am very pleased to be able to share good news with all of you.

Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

Hi All,

Gary - Yes, yes it was :-)

Michelle - Thank you for the kudos.

Richard - Good for you.  I hope your meeting goes very well.  You are quite right when you note that having a blog is a useful tool.  I am finding new applications every single day!

Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

Hi Penny,

Wow, to say that I am touched, honored and neigh on speechless by your praise would be an understatement.

In response to whether or not I have been published, the accurate answer is not really/sort of/no. 

Have I been published in a venue where what I was writing was being read because I authored it.  Not really, I did write an inter-company newsletter off and on for a few years that had a circulation of about 50,000.  But that was very different than writing something that people buy because you wrote it. 

Have I been paid as a writer or for things I have written?  Sort of, My job title at the aforementioned company was "Writer" and I have done some incidental technical writing here and there, but I haven't bought anything better than a latte or the occasional dinner out, with my earnings thus far. 

Have I written anything you could buy yet?  No, but there is always hope for the future.  I do plan to finish at least one of the several different books that I have started at some point in the hopefully not to distant future and will then try to shop them around and see what happens.   

Thank you so much for your support, interest and endorsement.  All mean a great deal to me.

Take care, help lots of people and have a nice day!

Tisza

Hi All,

Kelly- I may own Claremont, but you are about to own Rancho Santa Margarita!  Congrats to you on getting first place in the week five Project Blogger judging.  I am thrilled for you!

Doug - How right you are.  I will be tackling that very topic on my site Route66living.com as soon as I finish responding to all these kind messages.

Laurie - Thank you.  I don't think you will ever fully know how much our conversation the day after the first meet-up at the beach meant to me. 

Sandra - How very kind of you to say that.  I am pleased to see that who I am is coming through so well in my writing.  And you are quite correct, I would take great care of any client that I am honored to have referred to me.

Christy- Yes, it is beyond cool to find out that what you have to say, people actually seem to be interested in hearing.  I am amazed that I never found blogging sooner.  This whole experience has been an absolutely wonderful experience for me from day one!

Vickie- A very big THANK YOU!  I appreciate all the good wishes and will keep everyone apprised as to how this transaction progresses.

Carolin - It is always wonderful to hear from another member of the Keller Williams family!  Thanks for the kudos!

Andy - What a nice thing to say.  I must say that it sure is refreshing to find that there is a venue for my random thoughts, rants and raves and other assorted brain droppings to be shared with, and enjoyed by others.

Mary- I think you may be on to something there... I am already working on a book about a cemeteries so maybe a book about ghosts would be a natural and if you were involved as well how could it be anything but wonderful!

ARDELL - What can I say, I am patterning myself after the best...

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read, enjoy and respond to what I am writing.  I appreciate each and every one of you.

Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

Hi All,

Joddie- To borrow a phrase here "There are none so blind as those that won's see".  I am fast coming to the conclusion that blogging is the Henny Penny story played out in real life.  No one wants to plant or tend the crops but they sure will want to be there to reap the reward.  Good for you for seeing the value in the entire process.  I wish you good fortune with your experiences as well.

Pete- Keep blogging away and I am sure it will come.

Leo- That is so true... I think that one of the real beauties of blogging is that you see the reward almost immediately by way of the community, gratification and information you acquire.  And then, just when you think "Wow, this is totally awesome" you see the reward by way of business beginning to be generated as well.  This really is a gift that keeps on giving.

Phylena - I sure will!

Steven - From your lips... I hope that I can not only get them, but soon be able to give them as well. 

Katrina - Suggestions?  Well, I am still pretty new at this as it will only be two months on May 30 when I found and joined Active Rain and this is my first referral so I am by no means an expert but I will share what I believe. 

I think that blogging within the Active Rain community, speaking professional to professional is exactly like participating in any other networking opportunity.  You can be a member of hundreds of "networking" organizations, but if they never see your face, never hear your voice you won't get diddly out of them. 

I don't remember who said it but I think it is very true "Half of success is just showing up".  As for belonging to Women's Council of Realtors... Absolutely, this is valuable.  Regardless of your gender, joining this organization is worth every penny. 

Had I not been, the agent that referred me to his friend who needed help with her client (this passed through a lot of hands) might never have contacted me, would never have built that first connection and surely would not have thought of me when Claremont came into the conversation.  Contrary to popular belief, I am not actually the only Realtor in Claremont (shocking, I know) but true.  So, without the touchstone of WCR we might not have linked up and both the client and I would still be apart.

Jeff- Richard is a very nice guy.  I am very pleased to have made his acquaintance and yours as well.  Thank you again for organizing yesterday's event.  I had a wonderful time!

Amy - I am pleased to find that sharing this experience has been helpful.  I am sure that you will soon experience a similar joy.

Kimberly- Thanks for the compliment on the name, as for your questions, I am debating about sharing the answer's to them here as this answer is already lengthy, or writing a separate blog to fully address them all. 

How long have I been in the business?  I am currently in the start of my first year.  I got my license in late December, 2006 but did not join the board and thus have all my tools in place until February, 2007. 

I have spent basically almost all my time, free or other wise, since October, 2006 actively studying for my entry into this new field.  First it was prepping for the tests, then it was getting up to speed on contracts, sales techniques, foreclosures, data base management, WIN forms and heaven only knows how many others.  I was in classes of some sort a minimum of three days each week, usually four or five and sometimes morning, afternoon and evening. 

I have slowed that pace just a touch, and now attend classes once or twice a week, depending on the offering.  I also attend seminars like the one that introduced me to Active Rain.  I don't go to them all, but I go to quite a few and have learned heaps. 

Oh, and if you are wondering how much all this continued education and training costs, the answer, at least in my case, has been almost nothing.  The contracts classes I have attended at my board have had a nominal fee (around $10 each for a four hour class).  I did of course have to pay for my principals and state tests and the materials to prepare for both and I attended my company's annual convention.  But, for the most part, all the additional training including, classes, seminars everything has been free.  I take advantage of everything offered by my board and by my company.  Keller Williams has a very comprehensive training program that is available to anyone interested, free of charge, without having to join the company or even be an agent.  I actually started taking classes with them before I even decided to work with them.

How long have I been involved with AR?  I joined AR on March 30th, 2007 at around 9 pm PST.  I wrote and posted my very first ever blog shortly thereafter, having it show up date stamped as March 31, so my second month will conclude on May 30th.

As for tips, suggestions and lessons learned, to adequately answer this question it will take a whole lot more space than I have here.  I will fully address this in a full post.  Suffice it to say, that I have learned more than I realize and a whole lot less than there is to know.

Stefan - Thank you for the good wishes.  I am sure that it is only the first olive out of the bottle where business is concerned.

Take care all, help lots of people and have a nice day!

Tisza

Hi All,

J.R. - You are absolutely right on!  AR is a totally awesome site and the people on it are the very best part.

Joan - How wonderful to hear that you are getting calls as well.  I am very pleased to see that something that I believe so strongly in the value of is proving itself out for lots of people.  That is one of the best things about this activity.  When it works it REALLY works!

Esko - Yup, AR is the Tyson, Hollyfield and Ali and we are all the Don King's.  Pretty cool stuff.

Linda - I am glad you enjoy my posts and that I help to make you smile. I am really so thrilled to be in this business and in this community that I can hardly contain myself! 

Thanks everyone for the good wishes.  I wish you all a similar experience very, very soon.

Take care, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza

Hi All,

I am so sorry for the delay in responding to all your kind comments.  It has been a fun but busy weekend.

Cyndee - I am very pleased to identify another Route66Living.Com subscriber.  I am so thrilled that I have any subscriber's anywhere that I can hardly contain myself.  I am also glad that you are enjoying the site.  It is fun to produce and very gratifying to find that it is appreciated and enjoyed.

David and Tonya - I look forward to those happy, happy days.  I am focusing my time and attention almost exclusively toward the Internet as my primary marketing means.  I believe so strongly in it's value and power, that I find it very difficult to whip up enthusiasm let alone whip out the check book for anything else right now.  Thank you for your good wishes and for your kind comment.

Gene - Neither have I, but that is part of the beauty of the process, you don't need to be an instant expert, you just need to be a willing student.  Thank you for sharing and for the kudos.

Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day!

Tisza