ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Ask What Works?
- 12/22/21 01:29 PM
Can you believe 2021 is wrapping up?
And with year end comes an excuse to do something that you could do any time of the year: assess what does and doesn't work for you and your business.
This is a YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) business. What works for me (blogging and IDX search pages) may not work so well for you so it's critical to understand the source of your success (and maybe the cause of your failures).
It's easy enough to assess the source of your business and closings.
I keep an Excel workbook with a tab for each year that at a … (12 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Got A Question?
- 12/21/21 12:35 PM
Once upon a time if you had a question in the Rain you'd just find Brad, Bob or Kerrie and ask. The community was still fairly small and those people were very visible on a daily basis.
Obviously those days are long past so if you've got a question, so you're going to have to seek answers from a different source.
The good news? There's a wealth of information in this community and the culture promotes sharing.
Depending on your time here the answers to your question might be easy.
You know who works with probate.
You know who knows GREEN homes.
You know who specializes in … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: The Rules of The Playground
- 12/14/21 07:46 AM
I grew up with merry-go-rounds, see-saws, monkey bars over hard ground, and hot metal slides in blazing hot Southern sun. We played Red Rover and dodge ball and other games that would never fly in modern times! And while it might have seemed chaotic, there were rules of the playground. Don't cut in line, stay inside the playground fence and you can't beat gravity. Break the rules and there were penalties.
Fast forward a handful of decades and my playground has changed, more often virtual than physical, but there are still rules for each playground.
Here in ActiveRain there are some written rules … (22 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: You Are The Billboard
- 12/04/21 07:37 AM
Ever run a quick errand when you're "scruffy"? In the middle of a home project and I have to have ONE THING RIGHT NOW to finish so off I go, unshaven, beat up sweatpants and a sweaty T-shirt. Pop in, pop out, get back home. That's the plan anyway. But you know how this works, right? I can go to the store a dozen times in my usual khakis and polo and see no one I know, but that one time I'm scruffy I'm going to see someone who knows me. Murphy's Law at work.
And so it goes with our online … (18 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Do You Know The Back Roads?
- 11/23/21 03:18 PM
The highways are great for travel, until they're not.
Twice in the last 24 hours the fastest and most direct routes weren't available to us and there really wasn't an option of not going out. A quick look at the OhGo.com travel app showed back-ups for miles, so we needed a plan B to reach our destinations.
And one of the perks of being a real estate agent is you get to know your way around and know alternate ways of getting anywhere local. So that's what we did, Plan B last night, and today it was Plan B that morphed into Plan … (13 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: A Muffuletta Moment
- 11/22/21 09:00 PM
When I was a senior in high school we had a school trip to New Orleans, I can't recall how I knew to go there, but there's a place called Central Grocery Company that makes a sandwich called a muffuletta, and that's where I headed to grab lunch. The sandwich was "to go" and I walked over to Jackson Square and sat on a bench. It was a nice sunny May afternoon and the sandwich was everything I could have wished for, and more. Over the years I've gotten to try a few imitators of the sandwich, and they've all failed … (14 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: It's Personal
- 11/16/21 06:15 AM
There are some places where I think personal is good.
In the right circumstances, in the right amount, personal can be a very good thing for us personally, and for our business.
At the closing table I often mix the personal with business.
While our garden has been a disaster of weeds and clutter over the last couple of years, it still offers me opportunity to take some pictures that I enjoy sharing on Facebook. Each year I'll pull what I think are a dozen of my best/most interesting photos and use Shutterfly to make boxes of note cards to give as closing gifts. … (18 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: How Long To Get Blogging Results?
- 11/01/21 09:07 PM
"I'm new to blogging. How long will it take to get business?"
And the answer? The ever popular...
"It depends".
There are more than a few variables that directly impact your timeline to gaining business.
1. Do your blog posts have an opportunity to be seen by the public? Hint, if you're a Rainer and not a Rainmaker on this site, you can write the world's best public facing content and you'll get nada, zilch, zero publicity to your potential clients. Without a Rainmaker account, your work is not submitted to the search engines. No search engines, no consumers.
2. Are you writing content that meets … (17 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: More Than Just a Blogging Site
- 10/19/21 03:04 PM
Some members leave the "more" out of ActiveRain.
They use ActiveRain as a blogging site and nothing further.
And while that may be enough for them, it's a missed opportunity.
If you've been here more than a little bit, you'll start to notice there's something special about this community.
Unlike some real estate Facebook groups I've seen, the brawling here is at a minimum, typically no worse than a mild corrective shock if someone tries to break the community rules :)
People here are willing to help.
Over the years I've reached out to various members when I needed specific expertise. Probate, VA loans, short sales, Wordpress … (27 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: What's New?
- 10/12/21 01:33 PM
Real estate income can be a bit erratic.
Our local market is a classic bell curve, with heaviest activity in Spring/Summer and then tapering down as school starts back up. There's still plenty of activity outside of that peak time, but once the all the leaves are gone and snow starts falling it's generally only the serious sellers and buyers active.
So how can you offset seasonal slowdowns?
Understanding your local new construction opportunities is one path to consider.
In our case, there's a fair number of new construction opportunities in the Cincinnati to Dayton corridor with a small handful of production builders responsible for … (8 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Do You Have The Solution?
- 10/05/21 11:55 AM
Blogging can serve many different purposes. Maybe pure business, maybe social interaction, or some combination of the above.
If you're just looking for social interaction then you can do pretty much anything you want that doesn't get you kicked off of your hosting platform.
But if you're looking to make some additional deposits in your bank account, you have to clearly present some fundamentals with your online presence:
1. What solution do you provide for the consumer?
What service or good do you offer that is going to fulfill consumer needs?
2. Where can you provide the solution?
Geography matters. Where is your service area?
3. How does … (9 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Trust Me, Trust Me Not
- 09/27/21 07:44 PM
Today was NOT a good day for others trying to earn my business.
I've got a basic premise: If I can't trust you, I can't do business with you.
Example 1: We have a water line leak at our home that needs a specialized repair because of its less than ideal location to access. We located a plumbing company that per their website offered that specific skill set. Long story short, the plumber that showed up didn't know a thing about that type of repair and instead wanted to reroute the entire supply line to the house and through the basement. And when … (20 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Wanna Get Stung?
- 09/07/21 04:40 PM
I've been blogging long enough that most of you know at least a few things about me. I don't hide my religion, that I'm a Navy vet or an engineer/real estate agent.
And while you might pick up some guesses where I stand on certain issues, there are topics you won't find anywhere in writing from me (although more than happy to talk one on one about most anything).
My Facebook page went "vanilla" a long time ago. Flowers, dogs, cats, honeybees and other nature shots of interest to me are 99% of my wall posts. I'm meme-less.
You want to argue politics. … (22 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Leading The Horse To Water
- 08/31/21 03:00 PM
You know the old saying about horses and water.
Many moons ago when we first started blogging Anita Clark offered me some great advice on how to turn sitting at the keyboard into opportunities for clients. The Cliff Notes version: get local with your real estate (subdivisions, new construction, niches, etc.) and tie to IDX searches.
The water was right there. I'd been shown it, but I didn't drink.
I was more mule than horse and continued to use my blog more for collecting points and comments than I did for gaining business.
But points don't pay the bills and while the social activities might … (14 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: The Glass Is Full
- 08/24/21 03:37 PM
Which glass is full?
This week I saw a T-shirt for sale that took a new approach on the glass is half empty/half full debate.
According to the T-shirt, BOTH the glasses above are full, each totaling 100% capacity of liquid and air, the only difference being the ratio of liquid to air.
Take that perspective from a T-shirt and replace liquid and air with positive and negative attitudes and understand that you get to decide the ratio in your glass. Full up bright and sparkly or just a few drops in the bottom?
ActiveRain isn't much different from the rest of my life. There … (21 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: I'm A Black Belt & I'm Going To Kick Your
- 08/16/21 07:51 PM
I'm a black belt, but you might not want me on your side in a fight! One kick to my bad knee and I'm probably going down hard!
Fact is, I'm not the hand to hand fighting type of black belt, but an engineering black belt. Once upon a time Six Sigma Process Excellence was all the corporate rage and my Fortune 50 company was no exception. I got the training and the medallion for certification sits on my desk.
Now you might not think engineering and process excellence have a lot to do with being a real estate agent, but there are … (15 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: How Do You Make Money In The Rain?
- 08/10/21 11:18 AM
How do you make money in the Rain?
Maybe you're just here for fun and the social aspect of this community is more than enough for you.
But let's assume your primary goal is to increase your business and put some more dollars in your pocket. How can you make that happen?
You have two primary target audiences that can lead to business:
1. Other agents. Work for referrals from other agents and members of this community.
2a. Consumer. Write for the consumer with unique, relevant information that is closely tied with "pure" real estate (listings, market reports, subdivision info, new construction news, long tail searches, … (20 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Do You Want The Honey Or The Sting?
- 08/03/21 11:51 AM
We're amateur beekeepers. In our backyard we currently have seven hives with hundreds of thousands of honeybees going about their business.
Once or twice a year we'll harvest some honey, although the honey isn't really the answer to why we are beekeepers.
When we collect the frames of honey, there are procedures to follow to minimize the stress to the bees and to protect us as beekeepers. Do it right and we minimize bee casualties, have honey to share and avoid getting stung.
Do I sometimes get stung? Yes.
When I get stung, it's typically because I did something outside the norm. E.g. collecting … (12 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Will That Post Bite You In The Butt?
- 07/22/21 04:40 PM
There is never a shortage of potential topics to blog about. Pretty much anything can be tied to real estate if you take the right angle.
But SHOULD a post be written?
Frankly, there are times I'm in the wrong mental state to be blogging. Tonight a buyer called me FROM THE LISTING AGENT'S OFFICE of a condo I showed them. You'll notice "my buyer" is not used in that sentence. I could go into a long rant post about the whole situation, but that post would fail a basic blogging premise for me:
Don't write what can bite you in the butt … (33 comments)
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ask an ambassador: Ask An Ambassador: Rainer Or Rainmaker?
- 07/20/21 12:25 PM
When you first join ActiveRain you have a decision to make:
Rainer or Rainmaker?
Rainer: a non-paying membership that limits your visibility to other members of the ActiveRain community (well except for comments and answers you leave on PUBLIC posts).
Rainmaker: a member with a paid account OR has passed 500,000 points OR was grandfathered long ago. And the choice you make has a lot to do with whether your blogging has any chance of paying off for you.
If you're just planning to use the community as a social site, interact with other agents and seek out referrals, then Rainer will get the job … (14 comments)
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