I had the good fortune of traveling to California this week. While I was there I had the opportunity to meet with two amazing women whom I admire greatly ... Cathy Lee and Lori Kim Polk. It was wonderful to meet them in person and get to know them even more than we had on the web. For as much as I enjoy the social media relationships I have forged, there is nothing that can beat a face to face conversation and really connecting.
As a stager it was interesting to me to hear about their staging businesses and the real estate climate in their areas. It is so different from my experience. That is one of the reasons I loved getting to see them - it gave me an opportunity to define the market and climate in my area. Something that has seemed rather muddy at times to me, suddenly became much more clear.
There is a natural inclination to compare business practices and real estate markets. What I realized though is that it is pointless to do that. While sharing ideas and exchanging business practices are really worthwhile, I realized that what works in California may not work in Kentucky and vice versa. The desire to create what works for stagers in other areas, may just not be feasible or desired in my own. The encouragement to keep achieving however cannot be underestimated.
This is another reason why I love AR. Not only would I have never been introduced to these wonderful women, but I have access to all kinds of people, tools and ideas. The point is not to judge what you do based on other people's success or failures, but to utilize and possibly incorporatenthe experiences of those willing to share. I enjoy learning what others are doing and love to share things that have worked for me. While one business model does not fit all, it is nice to be exposed to so many of them. The exposure to all them is like going to a convention and re-energizing everytime I log in.
The relationship building that blogging provides is so unique. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would make friends all over the world. I just happened to have finally met in person two of the more fabulous women I know, but there are many other people I have "met" only online. It was empowering to hear about Cathy and Lori Kim's successes, to learn from them and really get to know them.
What a blessing AR has been - not just as a business builder, but a relationship builder!
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