San Antonio's Rockstar Turned Realtor®

Did I just see what I thought I saw?

Last night I was watching the ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, catching up on the usual tidbits - the oil spill, the hurricane, and the Russian spy case.  As a kid who grew up in the 70s/80s and someone who has been to Russia several times, I'm interested in this sort of stuff.  I actually had a former KGB agent as a bodyguard while traveling through Russia and saw the changes in Russia between my visits there, so you can imagine how fascinated I am with the Cold War tensions between our two countries.

As I watched Brian Ross' report about the alleged spies, a familiar site flashed across the screen as Brian spoke about one of the accused spies ties to real estate.  Yes, although the photo is terrible, that is what you think it is - an ActiveRain account.  Seems one of the alleged spies set up an account, but didn't do much with it (she had 980 points).  I checked this morning and the account (a non-Rainmaker account) is still there and has only one blog post.

While it may not be of any importance to anyone, I find it fascinating that there was a (once again, alleged) Russian secret agent right here on ActiveRain!  I wonder if she ever read my blog?  Perhaps she has sent posts of mine direct to Vladimir Putin?  Maybe I'm being spied on right now because I'm typing this?  I love it - intrigue, mystery, and a dash of Cold War counter-intelligence.

Excruciating Pain.

I have yet to meet a real estate agent that is willing to state, "I love lead generation."  It's the one thing we all seem to hate.  Whether we dislike the rejection, the awkward silence on the other end of the phone, or just feel uncomfortable intruding; we all go through periods where getting us to call and convert leads (for the record, I hate that word) is akin to having root canal surgery with a rusty spoon and no Novocaine.

In Chapter 8, "Social Media and Lead Conversion", of Ben Kinney's ebook Soci@l (which you can download for free at the RainCamp page on ActiveRain), Ben discusses his aptly titled 10 days of pain.  When I first read the book, I chuckled over the title of this and thought of how many times I sat in front of the phone about to call a new lead.  Picking up that phone is like lifting a few thousand pounds on that first call.  It's painful.  Every time though, as the conversation begins, I find myself thinking, "why was this so hard to do?"  Conversing with people is something I can do.  It seems picking up the phone is the hard part.  The actual act of lifting the receiver is where the pain is.

The 10 days of pain campaign that Ben Kinney has developed gave me three things to think about - 1) how am I at converting leads, 2) a funny way to describe it (a little humor makes everything slightly less painful), and 3) actionable steps that I can implement (often I find there's a lot of talk about how to convert, but not enough substance in the form of a simple how-to).  While I won't attempt to summarize the 10 days of pain here (you can read about it for yourself), I do think this is something I can personally implement.  One of my goals this year is to really buckle down and get the conversion part of the business a bit more refined.

How much are you willing to give?

Ten days sounds like a lot at first.  That's more than a week!  Immediately after reading the chapter, I thought about it for a few minutes.  Am I willing to through 10 days of pain to get one day of closing?  The answer is obvious?  Of course!  Ten days of pain beats thirty days of pain because I have not closed a transaction.  In my recent time away from real estate, I had the ability to truly look at my real estate business and analyze what I liked, what I didn't like, as well as what was working and what wasn't working.  I was able to step back and look at my business from a new angle - one which didn't require me to deal with the daily work of being an agent (it's easy to get distracted from the tough questions when you're working hard).

Once I compared the ten days of pain to one day of closing, I began to think of it in a different light.  Ten days suddenly seems a little easier to swallow.  We all want more closings, yet we all struggle to do the things necessary to get the leads turned to clients that will get us to those closings.  Tom Ferry and I have been building a plan for the year for myself (thanks to the free coaching calls I received via ActiveRain) and I can already see how implementing Ben Kinney's 10 days of pain will help me implement some of the work that Tom and I are discussing (more on that later).

Looks like I'll be experiencing a painful year and somehow, that's exactly what I want.

photo courtesy of Racchio

This blog post is a review of Soci@l: Attract Friends, Followers and Connections to Your Business. Soci@l is a free download written by Ben Kinney in conjunction with ActiveRain and Jay Papasan. In exchange for downloading the free copy of Soci@l and writing this review, I have a chance to win a free iPad and I'm getting 2000 ActiveRain points.

Download a free copy of Social here and find out how you can have a chance to win an iPad and be guaranteed 2000 ActiveRain points.

Always good to read a post like this!

So it appears I've won a month of coaching thanks to my post "I hate Tom Ferry. - My Life! By Design."  The post was actually fun to write and to learn that Tom had the humor to not take offense to my declaration of hatred towards him made it even better.

If you didn't enter, I would still suggest you read through the contest post and do the exercise, I found it to be rather helpful.  I look forward to experiencing coaching (never had a coach other than my dad at Little League) and as I'm sure you've guessed by now, will blog about my experiences - good or bad.  I'm sure Tom will make sure I have a good experience though, because he knows I'm always upfront with my thoughts, especially when I'm giving a review of a product or service.

Congratulations to the other winners and participants!

PS Tom, you nailed "Stigliano" and believe me, I've heard it butchered more often than not!

UPDATE: I just received my signed copy of "Life! By Design: 6 Steps to an Extraordinary You" (Amazon affiliate link)in the mail, so expect some blog posts to start appearing as I make my way through the chapters. My coaching with Tom begins in a few days as well, so I'll be updating everyone on that. You can also check www.tattooedRE.com for posts and updates.

Tattoos and Real Estate.

Two things that don't sound like they have much in common, but based on several late night conversations via Twitter with some of the agents I know, not as mismatched as one might think.  Tattooing is an ancient art that has really come into its own over the past decade.  I come from a family that has tattooing in its blood - both my father and brother being Marines who have several well worn tattoos between them.  Real estate is a passion for me, but so is the art of tattooing.

But this post really isn't about tattoos.  It's really just about me and a new project I've started to toy with called Tattooed Real Estate (or TattooedRE for short).  You can read all about how it started as a bit of a joke amongst some of the inked up industry people I know, but it wound up turning into a sort of side project for me.

So far, it is in it's very early stages, but essentially, I want to make it a place for my personal thoughts and experiences with real estate, especially technology.  The tools I use, the tips I've learned, the things I like to pontificate about.

Sort of a catch all for all the blog posts that float through my head and I can't find a home for.  A place as assorted as the art of tattoos and the opinions of real estate agents.  Eventually, I may take on some other writers so the opinions are a little wider than just my own, but for now, I'll be writing all the material when I have some spare time.

I'm also going to be experimenting with some affiliate marketing and reviews of products with a real estate focus - something I don't think is well served on my RErockstar blog.  I'll probably use it to rant and rave about things outside of the industry as well (such as the blog I'm writing about the Philadelphia Flyers that I hope to post tomorrow), perhaps I'll even do a post on some of the tattoos out there in the industry.

So, if you don't have enough blogs to read, stop on over to tattooedRE.com and say hello.

photo courtesy of *fotu

Have you heard a single word I said?

Immediately after reading the title, I suspect everyone will think that I am talking about me, but I'm really just making a generalized statement here.  It occurred while reading a post by a fellow ActiveRain member that (strangely enough) was a re-blog of something I had written.  I had forgotten the post, so I quickly re-read through the re-blog.

The fellow blogger had written a great intro to my post and shared some of their thoughts and feelings about what I had written - in my opinion, the only way re-blogging should really be done.  It was encouraging to see their opinions of what I had written about which took me further into the post and down into the comments.

I love comments and will always consider them a part of the post as a whole.  I'm very particular about commenting and what it means to me, but that is neither here no there.  The comments in this particular blog were a mixture of thoughts and feelings about both my original post and this particular member's introduction to the re-blog.

Then came the comments that distracted me from the post and had me over here tapping away at my keyboard.  Two comments in particular, both with the same issue: the comments were about the events in my post, but directed to the re-blogger.  In this particular case, it was quite clear that the commenters had read the post (or at least part of it) and attributed their "congratulations" back to the re-blogger.  In reading just the introduction, it was quite clear that this person had not done the things I wrote about in my post, but yet somehow these two people had just skipped over that fact.

Read it and react to it.

I don't really care about the pat on the back that they handed to someone else, this isn't an ego competition for me.  What concerned me was that someone used up a piece of their day (an albeit small one I would hope) to say something that had absolutely no meaning behind it, because they didn't take the time to read and comprehend what the post was about.  Were they ActiveRain point seekers, looking to pass their next milestone or were they just skimming through posts, assuming everything in between the lines on their own?  Either is dangerous from where I stand.

Posts take time and effort for bloggers and from my experience, most bloggers have a tendency to put their heart and soul into their efforts.  When someone comes along and ignores those efforts and just comments for the sake of throwing their name out there, we all suffer.  There has been a lot of talk about the value of the community here at ActiveRain in regards to the recent downtime...is there really strength in the community if we're just commenting for commenting's sake?  Of course not.  Adding value through commenting is a core concept of any blog, but in particular a blogging community such as ActiveRain.

So read the posts, react to them, start a discussion, agree or disagree.  Don't just throw out the "well done" and "I agree" comments.  Be a part of something.  On my own blog, I have begun to limit the responses to comments.  I used to reply to everyone, but now I try and limit my "thanks for stopping by" comments in order to focus in on what I believe to be the more important part of blogging - the exchange and flow of ideas and opinions.  So while I may comment back to you, it may not always happen.  Not because I'm not thankful that you stopped by, but because I want us all to build off of each idea and see where it leads, not spend our days telling each other how great we're all doing.

I have a bigger mission than just stroking my own (or anyone else's) ego, I hope you do too.

photo courtesy of ganesha.isis

Has the darkness ended?

Obviously, if you've been on ActiveRain for more than a minute in the past few weeks, there's been a lot of talk about the dreaded downtime that has made ActiveRain an aggravation at times.  I've been blogging here since late 2008 and have had an up and down relationship with ActiveRain.  On one hand, I love the opportunities it has provided me and I have enjoyed the many people I have met through the network.  On the other hand, I have been frustrated by the reoccurring problems and sometimes have been forced to wonder if the SEO benefits of ActiveRain are quite what they're cracked up to be.

SEO what?

A lot of you will immediately question my devaluation of the power of ActiveRain's SEO power, but my experience with Google ranking has been up and down here at ActiveRain.  Sometimes, it seems the post is immediately powered through the search results of Google, other times a post seems to never quite get the rolling push it needs to become a strong ranking page.  Most people's immediate response would be that I must be doing something wrong and not taking care of some of my own self-created SEO power within the post.  I would counter with the fact that I do the same sorts of things for posts here as I do for my site at RErockstar.com, which has typically outranked my ActiveRain posts in terms of Google placement.

Is that reason enough to be done with ActiveRain?

I don't think so.  I enjoy ActiveRain.  Although I'll be the first one to stomp and shout when things are not working, I don't hate ActiveRain.  I will speak out about what I see as problems, much like I did recently at AgentGenius with my post, "ActiveRain experiences growing pains, users consider leaving" (if you read that, I suggest you read Benn Rosales' followup post, "ActiveRain problems mounting, hopes apology is enough").  Although I may be critical at times, I am also supportive.  I truly hope ActiveRain is able to put the worst behind them and move on to bigger and better things.  I still think Localism has amazing potential (although I think it is not being utilized to its fullest by members or the staff at ActiveRain).  I haven't seen much out of the ActiveRain referral system, but personal relationships have led to referrals incoming and outgoing.  What I have received most from ActiveRain has been new friends, some great "food for thought," and a chance to increase the effectiveness of my blogging efforts.

I feel I was trained as a blogger here at ActiveRain (as well as AgentGenius, as that was my first writing opportunity in the real estate realm).  I learned from some excellent real estate bloggers and even taught them a thing or two here and there.  There is a collaborative spirit here which is a definite bonus to membership as it allows for opportunities to learn from a wide selection of schools of thought.  That is something I truly appreciate.  There are tons of great posts on "how to" in order to help you improve your blogging skills (as well as your general real estate knowledge and skill).  It's a library that's open twenty four hours a day (yes, I see the irony in that statement).  There is most definitely great things you can get out of ActiveRain and I don't feel the bad outweighs the good.

I do however have a suggestion.

You know me, I like to add my thoughts to many issues and this is no exception.  My post at AgentGenius says it best, but for those of you that won't click through to it, I'd like to share what I think is the most important part of that article.

Don't be afraid to step outside of ActiveRain.

While there are many benefits to being here, they (like everything else in real estate) are not a cure-all.  Expand your horizons and start your own blog outside of ActiveRain.  Go where the consumers are.  While they do visit here, they're also out there floating through the internet...looking for you (or your competition).  My own self-hosted Wordpress blog brings in about 4,000 visitors a month.  I didn't do anything special except that I made it a mission to blog constantly and to publish the highest quality content I could muster.  Sure I picked up tips and tricks along the way (many of them here at ActiveRain), but I truly did little more than type out my opinions and discuss current issues involving real estate with my readers.  No fancy SEO marketing that cost me a fortune, no Google AdWords, no paid links from popular sites - nothing out of the ordinary.  Just content.

You can do this yourself as well.  It's not as hard or scary as it may look.  Moving outside of ActiveRain can work well in conjunction with your efforts here.  They don't have to be mutually exclusive.  Do you only market in one place?  Of course not.  You work to be seen in many places.  Use that theory to your advantage and use ActiveRain as a tool to compliment the other tools you're using.

Dear ActiveRain...

I do wish you the best in getting this solved.  Bob and I chatted briefly the other day about it all and I could hear in his emails the stress and strain that this has placed on him.  I'm sure you're all overworked and getting more than tired as you work to rectify the situation and (hopefully) put safeguards in place to prevent this from becoming a common theme.  I wish there has been more communication during all of this and I hope you'll take that into consideration, as it seems to be the most common complaint I'm hearing.  I'm sure it's not easy to be in your shoes, but I do hope you take some time to see it from our shoes.  Again, best of luck and thanks for everything.  I'll see you soon.

photo courtesy of muha...

photo courtesy of peyri

Why subscribe to a quiet blog?

Some of you may remember me lamenting about my blog's status as a "ghost town" and really not much has changed on that front.  I've been busy as you can imagine with my own site and blog, RErockstar.com, which has been going great.  When I logged in to ActiveRain today, I did notice there were quite a few new subscribers to my blog, which intrigued me a bit.  Who are these people and why did they pick a quiet blog to follow?  Seems like an interesting choice to me.

I do intend to get my ActiveRain schedule a little more fixed in the coming weeks, but as of yet, haven't solidified my plans for it.  Just thought I'd give you an update in case you were a subscriber or had just recently subscribed.

In the meantime, feel free to check out one of my other blogs: RErockstar.com, I saw it in San Antonio., or AgentGenius - The Stigliano Chronicles.

It wasn't easy.

I wrote a post about a week ago (Wednesday, January 6, 2010 to be exact) and just clicked publish on it this morning.  It wasn't easy to write.  It was even harder to publish. It needed to be written though and I feel the world needed to see it.  Especially the real estate world.  I'm not going to cut and paste it here (you can click the graphic below to read the whole post) and I think AgentGenius deserves all the credit for giving me the opportunity to post it.  Lani and Benn has been instrumental in my life as a Realtor®, but they've also been instrumental as friends.

I don't want to write a million word essay about the post, so I'll just leave you to decide if you want to read it.

photo courtesy of Mispahn

No one ever said blogging was easy.

I haven't posted here tons recently.  For a guy who managed to dive right in to blogging, I feel like I've neglected my ActiveRain blog a lot recently.  Sure, there's been holiday parties, me tearing an ear drum, me pulling a muscle in my back, and the usual things that get in the way of our blogging activities (we call them "life"); but none of that usually stops me.  To be technical, none of that has stopped me either.

Lately, I've been concentrating a lot of my writing efforts onto my main site, www.RErockstar.com (as well as my simple as could be San Antonio photo blog using posterous).  I've also been plotting and scheming for 2010 and where I want my site to go and how I want my business to grow.  So here ActiveRain sits, collecting a bit of dust.

I still love ActiveRain and what it is, but lately I'm finding that it's not as consumer-centric as I'd like.  Granted, my posts vary from consumer-based, to agent-based, to fun and goofy at times, so the consistency is not quite there in one firm category; but I'm not seeing the numbers I would like to out of ActiveRain (my outside blog rarely turns up in Google, which concerns me and when compared to my main site, the numbers look even worse).  So, I'm going to step away from the keyboard for short spurts as I work out what direction this blog should take.

That doesn't mean I won't post, it just means that this place may continue to seem like a ghost town as I revamp all my decision making in preparation for the coming year.  I want 2010 to be my break-through year.  The one that you always look back on and say "that was the year I really started to become a real estate agent."

In the meantime, I will continue to visit and read as much as I can.  There is no doubt that there are some great writers out here and way more knowledge that should ever be contained in one place.  Keep doing what you're doing and enjoy your time.  I hope you all have built great business plans for next year and I can't wait to see what the market will be like through 2010.

image courtesy of my Twitter account and @LaniAR's tweets

ActiveRain helps me get quoted.

Late last week I received a call from California.  I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other end of the phone.  It was Jenna V. Loceff.  She explained she was a reporter for the North Bay Business Journal and wanted to speak with me a bit about social media and real estate.  In researching her article, Jenna, had a few mentions of Flickr and while googling away, she came across my article, "A stern warning (or lack thereof) - Flickr is watching you."  She asked me quite a few questions and I explained the whole story of what happened between myself and Flickr.  We then spent a few minutes talking about real estate and social media in general and parted ways.

On Monday morning, my tweet stream lit up with congratulations and links.  I wasn't even 100% sure what everyone was talking about and then, once the sleep cleared from my head, I remembered that Jenna had told me the article would be published on Monday.  I found the link in my Twitter stream and clicked on it.  There I was.  Quoted.  The best part is that the article focuses on California, but here I am, all the way in San Antonio being quoted.  The article is an interesting find, regardless of my appearance as well.  Just look at the chart within the article to see what I mean.

You can read the entire article, "Residential Real Estate: Agents, brokers venture into social networking" online.  Stop by and leave some comments.  Who knows, Jenna might find you next.