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Real Estate Services by Jon Griffith

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Blog Because They Do, Epic Fail

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My first experience with a blog was sometime around 2002 when I discovered Oblivio.com by Michael Barrish. If you choose to visit the site, you’ll have to Google it, as the content is rather raw. It’s also outdated. It doesn’t look like he’s posted anything since December of 2007.Lemmings.jpg

I was intrigued by the fact that he had managed to chew his fingernails off to the point of not being able to grow back. Not sure how this happens, but I saw pictures and had an in depth e-mail exchange with him regarding the topic.

I was immediately intrigued by this world of blogging. The platform of the day? MoveableType. I don’t use it anymore because WordPress has taken over as the world’s leading platform. I was so intrigued that I learned how to install the software and utilize it for my own benefit. The problem was that I was more interested in spouting off or ranting about things that nobody cared about than I was in providing valuable content, and it really didn’t turn out to be a benefit.

I looked at starting a blog as a way to move my personal journal online so I would never lose it. Not a whole lot of people care about what we have to say about ourselves as much as they care about us listening to what they have to say. People care about what we have to say that will help them do what they want to do.

I posted, and posted, and posted, not knowing a whole lot about why I was posting. I was in the middle of a pretty heavy breakup and I found it quite therapeutic to rant about my broken heart. I have since read some of those posts, many of which are basically cries of help to get me out of the emotional pit I was in, and they are radically pathetic, and very personal. It’s like those letters you write to a lost love that you need to write just to get the information out; not something you want to re-read, nor have others read, nor have her read. That’s a pending disaster.

So, my cleansing period ended, and so did my desire to blog. My desire to write, however, did not end. I have always been a creative writer. it was one of my chosen electives in high school and I’ve always enjoyed the writing assignments…the creative ones. The topics that require research bore me to death. So, I write about what I’m feeling, but I try to put an informative spin on it so it doesn’t sound too much like I’m talking about myself. This article could be an exception…I’ll let you decide if you want to keep reading.

Fast forward to 2005, New Valley Church, pre-Facebook. There was a period of time where everyone who was anyone had to have a blog because it was the cool thing to do. He starts a blog, so she starts a blog, and they start a blog, and blog blog blog. Vomit. Blogs about everything that nobody wanted to read. Family news blogs, personal journal blogs, “look at me” blogs; blogs that the blog-owner would write because they told themselves that they would write at least once a day but never did because they didn’t really want to do it.

And so…

First Rule of Not Blogging: If you don’t like to write, you will not like to blog. I don’t care how dedicated you think you are to keeping a “journal,” you will not write with the frequency you expect of yourself and you will let it slide, and it won’t matter, because you don’t have a passion for writing.

Second Rule of Not Blogging: If you don’t like to write, you will not like to blog.

Need I list anymore rules? Blogging needs to have purpose, and if you spend time writing, you need to spend time telling people about it, otherwise it’s sitting out there in the blogosphere with nobody watching.

Don’t start a blog just because you’ve been told that you should start a blog. If you intend to provide value through experience, and perhaps promote a product or solution to someone else’s problem, then publishing your expertise online is definitely a must in today’s world. But if you don’t really have anything to say, or share that is truly worth at least someone’s time then blogging about it isn’t something you would want to waste your time doing.

One of my closest friends expressed how discouraged he was because nobody interacted with him on his blog about Turkey Hunting. Now, I don’t profess to be a hunter, and although I would enjoy it thoroughly, I don’t have the time to get into hunting right now. Chad Taylor knows about Turkey Hunting, extensively. He knows so much about it that he could actually make a difference in the hunting world with the information his brain is carrying, and he could do it through a blog, and he could make money doing so. That is where the true value of his knowledge lies. When you publish your passion online, thoughtfully, intelligently, and with purpose, and you promote it with hours of hard work (big secret), you will find your audience, and you will be able to monetize the interested parties.Spr+Hunt+06+-+Chad.jpg

The difference between the published content that the gate-keepers control, and the content that the individual controls, is measured by the quality and relevance to the intended audience. We’re in a world where anyone can publish anything online, and I’ll remind you that we’re also in a world where some people are good at writing, and some are not. Those who have a knack for telling a story, or conveying an idea, or providing a solution or tutorial in a clear, concise, intelligent way will be the ones who draw an eye and establish an authoritative presence.

If you simply blog because they do, you will fail. But hey, failure is how you learn, right?

I’d love to know what you think about this article. Please leave a comment below.

My Daily Toolbox: Microsoft Outlook

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Quite honestly, this topic could go on for hours, or days, so I may be breaking it up into multiple articles, and as time progresses, I’m certain that a new tool will be discovered, or an old tool will be abandoned. The pursuit of cutting costs has become number one priority these days, and it shouldn’t be that way. What I mean, is that we always need to be cutting costs that weigh us down, on easy street, and on skid row.

Managing Contacts

Much of the corporate world uses some variation of Microsoft Outlook, whether the latest and greatest version, or an outdated version, to manage Contacts, Appointments, Tasks, and E-mail.  I recommend Microsoft Outlook as a basis by which you manage your contacts and communication to your contacts.  I’m speaking of the full blown Outlook, not Outlook Express, the kid sister to Outlook.  Outlook express comes with your computer free.

How to Get Outlook Free

A little known secret in the IT world is that you can get Outlook for free.  How?  Well, firstly I’ll explain one major condition that you must meet prior to choosing Outlook as your “Dayplanner.”

Outlook is a corporate level software application.  It’s a big deal.  It does all sorts of things that the average user is unable to take advantage of.  You see, Outlook was designed with bigger things in mind.  Outlook really shines when it is combined with Microsoft’s Enterprise Server product, Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange unlocks the most treasured features of Outlook and allows you to really collaborate with other team members.

What if I don’t have a team? That’s okay, because using Outlook all by yourself, in conjunction with Microsoft Exchange Server will save you thousands of dollars in the future.  You could consider Exchange Server to be your Outlook insurance policy.  You don’t have to have a team to take advantage of the features.

How much does it cost?  Well, if you operate your own server, which 99.99% of you will not be doing, you would need approximately $5000.00 worth of hardware and about $1600.00 worth of software, and a few years of IT experience.  Alas, there is a solution.  There are many companies out there that allow you to “rent” a mailbox that’s operating under Microsoft Exchange Server, allowing you all of the corporate, enterprise features for a single user, and all for around $10.00/month.  That’s cheap insurance.

Why is it a big deal?

Jennifer, anothe real estate agent, recently contacted me to talk about how she could better manage her e-mail and contacts.  “The problem with Outlook is that all of my e-mail is on my computer and I can’t get to it without my computer,” she complained, “and when I try to go online to my webmail, the inbox on webmail doesn’t match the inbox on my computer in Outlook.”

A hosted Exchange account will solve this problem.  Here’s how it works.  You setup your e-mail account with a hosted exchange server company, like Exchange My Mail.  They help you configure Outlook to connect to the server, and Outlook displays all of your data on your computer screen through the interface you’re already familiar with.  Everything including your e-mail, contacts, appointments, and tasks are stored on the server, not on your computer, so that means you could lose your computer, but you’d never lose your data.

When you have your e-mail hosted this way, there is only one copy of everything, which means you read your e-mail once, and it’s read.  There’s no more deleting mail from to places, no more scanning e-mail that you may have already read on one computer, but not on another, etc.  If you have a Windows based smartphone or an iPhone, you can also connect to Exchange and view the same information, live.  Delete an e-mail message in Outlook, and it’s gone on your phone too.  Change a contact name and phone number, add a contact, or delete an appointment, and voila!  Every device you use is instantaneously updated.  Don’t have your computer or phone on you?  No problem, just login to Outlook Web Access anywhere you can use a computer that’s connected to the internet.  All of your data is there, and it’s all in the same place you left it, in the same status you left it.

Managing contacts, appointments, tasks, and e-mail has been made seamless and extremely efficient, and secure, and safe.  I recommend considering this as your primary method of managing this part of your business, and one of the best parts about it is that whenever you use a hosted exchange company for your e-mail, you get a free copy of Microsoft Outlook with your account!  That alone will pay for the service for about a year or so.

Is it a Virus, Infection, or well what!

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There’s a certain threshold in a given area regarding how much you should upgrade your home and how much it will make a difference in the competition. It would not make sense to put a $5000.00 stove in a $200,000 condomimium, etc. That’s just one example. So, when a prospective tenant or buyer is looking for a place to buy or rent, there’s also a threshold to their perception of value, and when something seems out of place, it won’t matter to them that you have the nicest property in the area, when it comes to considering the rent or price.

Most upgrades will increase the ability to sell or rent your home over the next door neighbors, but it won’t guarantee that you’ll be able to draw a premium based solely on those upgrades, especially if the area in which you’re renting or buying doesn’t warrant such upgrades.

For potential rental properties, if you ever find yourself saying, “I can’t drop the rent that low because my mortgage is more than that,” then it’s time to think about the cost of carrying a vacant property.

Let’s say your mortgage payment is $1500/month and your home can draw $1200/month in rent. That’s a loss of $300.00/month when it’s rented. If it’s not rented, it’s costing you $1500.00/month.  If you rent it for $1200/month for one year, you’ll lose only $3600.00.  Let’s see, $3600 divided by $1500 is 2.4.

You choose.  You can be realistic about your asking price and get the property rented and lose $3600 in 12 months, or you could hope and pray you get someone to rent your house at your inflated price and lose $3600 in 2.4 months.  Hmmm… 12 months versus 2.4 months.

If this is your way of thinking, it’s just not realistic and you may need to be innoculated from the virus, infection, or well whatever it is that’s keeping you from seeing the real market conditions.

Remember, time is money and the entire nation is getting a swift lesson in loss mitigation.  Most of us are in a “collection” mindset.  We want the full payment and we want it now, and we waste all of our time trying to hunt it down.  The best method is to mitigate your loss by getting something going…anything.

Why You Shouldn’t Wait Until It’s Perfect

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Every day I have the opportunity to meet people, to present my ideas, and to be successful.  Every day I also have the opportunity to fall victim to what many of us do when we have a vision for something great.  We wait for perfection.  A perfect website, a perfect presentation, a perfect, a perfect, a perfect.

Not going to happen.

The word perfect has been defined in many ways, but for the most part, the common understanding of perfect indicates absolute conformity with a standard or ideal, unimprovable, accurate or correct in every detail, etc.  It’s just impossible to be perfect.

I supposed one can expect to be perfectly imperfect in everything they do, which is why waiting around for that perfect performance, the perfect document, the perfect way to say something is only going to keep you from experiencing failure, which is what forces you to improve.  Without failure, you become stagnant, and without input from others, you’ll miss growth opportunities.

If you are on the cusp of a breakthrough but aren’t able to make that next step towards success, ask yourself if you’re holding out for perfection.  If you are, throw it aside and just take the leap of faith.

Whatever it is you’re working towards, you must expect to fall short from time to time.  Surround yourself with people who understand this, practice this, and can offer you constructive criticism to help you get better at whatever it is you fearlessly attempted to do, imperfectly.