mike in tucson: How Do You Do That? Poetry & The Sales Profession
- 09/14/07 06:06 PM
Words are previews of things to come. What you say will likely become what happens. Here's a unusual exercize to expand the part of your brain that has to do with the structure of thoughts: Write a poem. Let a phrase rattle around in your brain, then put it on paper. Here's how it works for me; read slowly, and tell me if it works for you: It starts with a thought,But the thought's just a seed.It lies dormant in plenty,And then sprouts when there's need. Need is the seedbedOf poems, it seems;An essential componentOf versified dreams That flow from the tipOf my Pelikan … (20 comments)
mike in tucson: You Might Want to Consider Moving to Tucson, Arizona!
- 09/13/07 05:58 PM
An intrinsic value of holding title to Real Estate is that one owns the sky above it. Spectacular cloud formations move into the Southwest as the June sun heats the desert floor. I like to think that the towering clouds drive before them flocks of the Lesser Hardy Snowbirds. They seem to leave en masse. One day they're there, chattering like magpies about cabins, and lakes to the north. The next, they're gone! This seasonal migration provides a necessary period of tranquillity for Tucsonans. True desert denizens, we settle in to enjoy one of the true delights of desert living--the summer monsoons. I'm no economist, but … (21 comments)
mike in tucson: HONESTY...a Parable
- 09/12/07 08:43 PM
It's called Honesty, and it will grow in your garden. Google "honesty" and a plant pops to the top of the charts! Or the front of the page. Or something like that. The plant comes in two varities: an annual version, and the perennial version. The annual version will grace your garden for a season, so long as it is warmed by the sun and caressed by the rain. When winter comes, annual Honesty shrivels and dies. The perennial version of Honesty also graces your garden during the good times of sun and rain. Unlike its abbreviated sister, however, it is firmly … (22 comments)
mike in tucson: Post More Blogs About Real Estate! Active Rain is on Page 3!
- 09/06/07 03:31 PM
Google "Real Estate Blogs." I did, after reading TLW...ROAR's post yesterday. Active Rain (my favorite forum) is listed all the way back on page 3. If I had a bigger screen, maybe it would have been at the bottom of page 2. Maybe not. The point is, as an entity, Active Rain's web presence isn't where it needs to be. It was listed at number 27 as of 4:30 this morning. Inman is number 5. So what, you ask? With nearly 47,000 members--many of you the best and brightest in our industry--we can change that with a little focus on two … (32 comments)
mike in tucson: REALTORS®: Do Lenders w/ Real Estate Licenses Threaten Your Livelihood?
- 09/06/07 01:40 AM
It's Kate Bourland's fault. "West Coast Kate" is a lender with New Key Home Lending in Redding, CA. You can see from her Active Rain photo there that she stirs up a lot of fun and mischief. I'm betting her parents went grey prematurely. I particularly like to read other lender's blogs. Kate's is one of my favorites on the Active Rain Real Estate Network. She's thinking, she says in her latest post, of joining Redding's Multiple Listing Service as an Associate. She wonders if this would be worthwhile for her. It got me thinking. I'd like to ask the REALTOR® community a bigger question: Do … (35 comments)
mike in tucson: Will The Client Choose You? "For Better. For Worse. Never Static."
- 09/03/07 07:41 PM
I didn't choose my darling. Oh, I bought the ring and posed the question. But even though she responded to my "marketing campaign" in the affirmative, it would be a mistake to think the relationship was my choice--that I decided, and it was so. She did the choosing. As in love, so in business. The choice is not ours. The parallels are striking. Here's our usual marketing mindset: • The success of my business is up to me. • I designed the ad campaign. • My dollars paid for the marketing. • The web page, the clever tag line, the appealing graphics-all … (47 comments)
mike in tucson: She was afraid... to go out... in the water...
- 09/03/07 11:43 AM
Isn't this situation a little ridiculous? Roy H. Williams, my all-time favorite "Wizard of Ads," asked the question in his Monday Morning Memo: "Will Fear of Risk Blind Your Client to Opportunity?" It got me thinking about my own clients who have pulled in their horns, so to speak, because they're afraid of investing "before real estate bottoms out." These are the same real estate investors who absolutely mock stock market "timers."Later in the day I was reading another favorite of mine--economist, author, actor and lawyer Ben Stein. You really ought to read his entire article in the September 3rd … (26 comments)
mike in tucson: Creating Value: "How did you know my brother?"
- 08/30/07 06:19 PM
"How did you know my brother Jonathan?" I've never used the past tense before with this question. Standing at the head of the casket, I greeted my brother's friends and colleagues as one by one, they paid their last respects. That's Jonathan on the left, 40 years ago, listening to an Indian patiently explaining something to a three year old. Jonathan had interrupted a conversation--notice the other man's hands, patiently folded while he waits for his friend to answer the child's question. Jonathan's success in sales had a lot to do with the way he was raised. More on that in a minute. … (42 comments)
mike in tucson: Ordinary Stuff--Extraordinary Resource
- 08/29/07 12:50 AM
Stumped for ideas? Here's a 10 cent way to generate $100 content for your blog: Back up a bit. Kate Bourland's "members only" post got me to thinking about writer's block. We struggle--she and I--with the desire to post interesting, useful content. I've found something that works for me. See if it works for you. I take a legal pad, and spend five minutes listing things I experienced today. My blog posts come out of a list of ordinary, mundane stuff: * an underwriter conditioned me for something I couldn't get. * on my way to my first listing appointment, I drove past a mountain that seems insurmountable. … (13 comments)
mike in tucson: Impossible? Your Perspective May Need to Change!
- 08/25/07 06:15 PM
"I'm too old for this !$%#%!" Complaining loudly to no one in particular, a hiker came into view 50 or 60 feet below me. "How old are you?" I called. George (79) and I (55) were coming down from the summit of Picacho Peak, the site of the western-most battle of the Civil War. We were walking. The only mountain climbing gear we had were walking sticks made from the stalks of an agave. The photo to the left is deceiving. You'll get a sense of the height and size of the mountain when I tell you that those tiny vertical … (29 comments)
mike in tucson: Tatoo: The Unforgettable Brand
- 08/25/07 05:37 PM
Our local chapter of BNI has about 30 members. We're fanatics about referring business to each other. Last year, 35% of my business came from first, second, third and fourth generation referrals from this group. Our massage therapist resigned, leaving an opening for a new member for that category. (BNI chapters have only one member for each category, e.g. REALTOR®, P&C Insurance Agent, Lender, etc.) Invited to apply for the category, this young business woman came prepared to make an impression! Her tatoo is her brand. I had just written my Active Rain blog "Brand Yourself." My camera is always … (11 comments)
mike in tucson: I'm a Googling Law Breaker!
- 08/24/07 04:10 PM
I waited in line patiently for more than 20 minutes. My turn came, my name was called, and I approached the counter with all the confidence of a sinner at the pearly gates. Four weeks earlier, Elouisa (not her name) and her REALTOR®, agonized over the offer of $150,000 for a manufactured home listed at $165,000. Moving out of a small condo into a home with more than an acre of horse property was a dream she hoped would come true. She signed the offer. A day later, she was in escrow. Things went downhill. The appraisal came in at $130,000. … (20 comments)
mike in tucson: Paint Your Success with Words: The Powerful Canvas of the Mind
- 08/21/07 04:38 PM
I visited Technorati's Tag Page to see what the world outside Active Rain is talking about. The biggest topic of concern in the English speaking world this hour is PHP (lots of techies on line right now,) followed by SHOES, RINGTONES, Diet and Weight. Discount the techie types, and Shoes rule the blogosphere. Ringtones are being downloaded by the zillions. Moms are worried more about their figures than about the Real Estate market or the pricing of a jumbo loan. That's pretty wonderful! It gives me a hopeful perspective on my business. Tomorrow, I'll spend three hours prospecting--something I've let fall … (7 comments)
Southeastern Oklahoma is home to some very rocky soil. Ranchers anchor their long barbed wire fencelines with "rock posts" because it's a whole lot easier than sinking anchor posts. It's cheaper, too. You don't have to buy the rocks; you just pick them up. My friend Dick Carson in Caddo has taken this to a whole 'nother level. He makes art out of his rock posts with different colored stone. He calls this one "Jack Flash." If you've seen rock posts like this, you may have been in Caddo once or twice. Judi Barrett over in Idabel knows Oklahoma real estate. Check out her Active Rain … (7 comments)
The Arizona Sonoran desert is surprisingly beautiful. Eons of wind and rain sculpt the granite backbone of the Tucson Mountains into amazingly intricate forms. My favorite is the Rock Angel of the Desert. Facing an outcropping opposite Cat Mountain, she stands silent, wings folded, head bowed, face obscured by its cloak. Her form is ethereal. For half an hour during the afternoon the sun paints the rock face with shadows, and she appears. As the sun inexorably moves on its way to evening, she disappears from view. No named trail leads you to her, but the location between Cat Mountain and Cat Back … (16 comments)
mike in tucson: Hiking The Tucson Mountains: Wasson Peak's Stairway To Heaven
- 08/18/07 04:50 PM
The Hugh Norris Trail to Wasson Peak is a 4.9 mile hike each way that gains and loses more than 2,100' in elevation. A portion of the trail is created out of the mountain itself. It's a stairway to Heaven! These stone steps near the beginning of the trail have been around since shortly after the depression that hit the US economy in 1929. They were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. (the CCC) I've hiked up and down the old steps since 1998 with my old friend George Mitchell. The summer before last, I was pleased and surprised to find that … (6 comments)
mike in tucson: It's the Weekend! Inspiring Story Just for Animal Lovers
- 08/17/07 12:07 PM
Glenn Dickens and his buddy Bo Warren felt like going fishing last Saturday. They were one and one-half miles offshore in the Chesapeake, trolling for stripers in 80 feet of water. The fish weren't biting. Trolling is lazy work. Overcast skies don't keep the heat away, and after a couple of hours staring at the water and the horizon--and no fish biting--you can begin to see things that don't really exist. Glenn didn't mention what sort of beverages they had on the boat, but he did say that the fish weren't biting. I'm thinking the boys were sort of bored. Then … (6 comments)
mike in tucson: MIKE'S TUTORIAL: FAST & EASY (DYNAMIC IMAGES)
- 08/15/07 11:10 PM
Okay, listen up. You're going to like this because1. it's useful2. it's easy3. it's effective4. it's an attention grabber5. it adds PUNCH to what you have to say6. it appeals to the little kid in you7. and #6 likes easy! Step 1. Go to Hetemeel.com and pick one of the dynamic images that you see on the website. Click on it. I chose Uncle Sam to create the image on the left. (Are you paying attention?) Dictionary is another of my favorites. You can create an image in Uncle Sam and import it into Dictionary. But I'm getting carried away here. … (16 comments)
mike in tucson: POWER BLOGGING DATES; NO WALLFLOWERS!
- 08/14/07 01:20 PM
Blogging can fall into a useless rut if the same people visit the same blogs and comment on the same stuff. I'm always looking for new useful content. It took me two weeks, but I figured out how to do this (1) quickly, and (2) oh, so easily! Here's how I find new AR relationships: 1. Click in the top right hand corner on the number of AR people on line, and a bunch of faces will fill your screen. (2) Ignore the ones you know. This is harder than you think. These are the people who know you, and like you, … (26 comments)
mike in tucson: Dealing With Change: Annie Grift, a Case Study
- 08/11/07 07:25 PM
Annie Grift It put her in her grave, it didThis drive to automate;It never should have come to thisBut that's the hand of fate. She haunts the mailroom yet. I know!I work the graveyard shift.And often in the wee small hoursI'll hear old Annie Grift. I hear her walking up and downthe halls, when no one's thereAnd belts fly off the new machine.It's Annie Grift. I swear! She died right yonder, sitting upHer eyes, a flinty greenStill staring, sightlessAt her nemesis--that damn machine. The new machine's not difficultThe job's not hard to do.But Annie harbored deep mistrustOf everything that's new. You … (3 comments)
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