Life Is Like a Box Of Chocolates...

I've had many trainers over the years approach me about how I got my training practice off the ground, made the contacts I needed, developed the products that I sell, got my website ranked and my book published.  It's not something I can sit down and teach someone in a conversation over dinner, it's a process - and a long one.  But I've become convinced that there is a need for people to have help in developing their training businesses.  So I've decided - on a VERY small scale - to help a few people on an apprentice-style basis.

I will take on up to three apprentices in the coming year.  I say "up to" because I'm not willing to work with everyone.  

 

THE REQUIREMENTS

There are so many people who say that they want to be trainers but when I ask them how many houses they've sold, they tell me a number somewhere between 2-10.  That's insane.  You can't train if you've never done it.  

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->My requirement is that you have sold at least 50 houses before I will help you become a trainer.  It takes that many to have enough stories and experience to keep you from getting eaten alive by your audiences.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Also, you have to be willing to put a minimum of 20 hours a week into building your training business - preferably full-time if possible. 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->You MUST have decent writing skills and be able to write a blog.  

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->You must NOT be technology-phobic because we will be dealing with aLOT of technology.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->You MUST be willing to pick up the phone and call people you've never met.  You'll never get anywhere in this business if you don't make contacts.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->You MUST be disciplined at follow-up.

 

MY STORY

I started working on getting known in the national real estate scene in 2004.  I had trained locally and state-wide, but never done anything on a national scale. Within a year, I had a book about to be published and a national training business with affiliates across the country.  Within two years, I was a columnist for Realtor Magazine and my book was published.   If anyone can tell you how to get known in this business, it's me.

 

THE BENEFITS

Below are the list of things you'll get from working with me.

Create and market your own, signature training programs

Personal support in helping you craft and market your own line of real estate training products.

Help in Designing and Development of a website that sells

Identify and connect with key partners to help you get the word out about your training and products

Cross-marketing with other trainer(s)

How to build a following on Twitter - including access to a list of over 2500 followers already in place

How to identify the "Hot Topics" that different events want trainers to talk about

Access to Important Contacts in the industry 

Focused coaching on improving your presentation skills and developing your signature style and seminar culture

Support in writing YOUR real estate book 

 

THE DETAILS

 

This is a year-long mentoring program.  I will work with you to get your business up and running on all levels.  I will help you make your contacts and develop your signature brand.  I will help you to understand how to rank on Google and how to get traffic to your website.  I will help you find the affiliate partners you need to help market yourself effectively.  

 

This is a one-on-one mentorship designed around your needs.  It is not a precreated program where you are shoe-horned into someone else's agenda and passed off to a "trained coach" who isn't the person you thought you were hiring.  You will have regular phone and email access to me directly.  I will personally show you how I got known in the real estate training world.  I will help you with personal introductions, guest blogs, and more.  In this, you will be my protege - which is why I can only take on three people.  

 

 

THE COST

 

I have been in the real estate world since 1993 and I have NEVER seen a trainer offer this kind of mentored training.  To my knowledge, no one has done it.  This is a unique opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the real estate training world from someone on the inside who knows.  Plus, you have the added benefit of working with someone who has been an internet entrepreneur - selling products over the web since 2004.  Add to this my background in brand creation and marketing and you are in a unique position to acquire a HUGE amount of knowledge in a very short time frame.  The secrets I'm going to teach you in the next year took me NINE YEARS to amass.

 

If you're someone who likes to figure it out for yourself, then this is not the program for you.  But if you're someone who can see the value in learning the ropes from someone who has mapped the course and knows where all of the pitfalls are, then you're in the right place.  I would have KILLED to have someone willing to mentor me when I started.  It would have saved me several years of struggling and countless thousands of dollars in costly mistakes.  

 

To learn about internet marketing alone would take you countless hours in classes and somewhere between $10,000-$15,000 – and then you'd still have information that is mostly outdated since the internet morphs how it works every 18 months or so, such that all the training programs you would buy are normally obsolete by the time they hit the market.  If you were to hire an expert in internet marketing to give you real-time, customized advice like you're going to get from me, it would easily cost you over $25,000 – and it wouldn't be real estate specific!

 

Then there's the public speaking training you'll get.  If you were to take one of these programs (none of which are NOT specifically going to teach you about talking to Realtors – a unique breed), it would cost you another $5,000 -$10,000 – and it wouldn't be as good as what I'll teach you since I bring not only my public speaking experience to the table, but also my theater and energy work backgrounds.

 

And then there's the product development and branding that we'll do together – which would cost you another $3,000 - $20,000 (depending on how many products you develop and who you hired) and again – that advice would not be real estate specific. 

 

Add to this the connections I'll make for you which no one else can make and you've got something that is simply priceless.  So you could spend upwards of $55,000 and many years learning what I will teach you in one year with a targeted approach that doesn't require you to learn anything more than you need to make your business a success.

 

This unprecendented access into the back halls of the real estate training world with targeted, industry-specific advice and personalized help in getting your real estate training practice off the ground isn't going to cost you $55,000 or even $30,000 – not even $20,000.  This program, with everything you need to be successful will cost you only $15,000 for a full year apprenticeship.  This isn't once a week or three times a month for 30 minutes - this is an apprenticeship, which means I'm working alongside you.  We'll schedule the time you need - whether it's 15 minutes or three hours to get you up to speed.  Together, we'll set the schedule that works for your business needs.  

 

FYI - I don't expect to ever offer this mentorship again.  Because of the way my business is structured this year, it works for me to offer it, but next year at this time - if things go as planned - I expect my business schedule will look very different.  I don't expect to have the time to do this again - ever.  So don't hesitate. 

 

 

HOW TO APPLY

 

As I said - I'm not taking on just anyone.  After all, I'm going to be using my name to get you access to resources.  I want to make sure you're someone I'm willing to bet on.  So there is no link to a payment page here. Only this invitation to have a conversation with me.  Write me an email.  Include the following information (and please be careful to include it all - I'm testing your ability to listen and follow directions with this request - I can't help you if you can't listen):

 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Your Name, address, phone number and email address (yes, even though it's on the email)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->The number of houses you have sold in your career

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->How long you have been in the business and what companies you have worked for in that time

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Your experience (agent, broker, mortgage lender, buyer's agent, listing agent, specialties, etc.)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Your designations 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->What experience you have (if any) in training

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Do you have any courses you've written - if so, please list the courses and include promotional materials you've used to market them in the past as well as how many times you've presented them and whether you've gotten paid for those presentations or not

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Are you a certified trainer in your state?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Do you have any products you've created?  If so, list the products and promotional copy for selling them.  Have you sold any of the products?  If so, were those sales online or in person?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Have you published any articles in the major real estate magazines?  List articles and links to articles.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Do you have a blog?  Include link.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->If you have a video or audio of your presentations, please include a link to it.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Is there anything else I need to know about your training business that I haven't asked?

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·    <!--[endif]-->Why do you want to be part of this apprenticeship?  And why should I choose you over other applicants?

 

Please don't take it personally, if I don't select you to be part of this process.  I'm looking for the right people with the right fit and if I don't find them, then I won't do it.  But I have the feeling that those three special people are out there.  Maybe one of them is you.  I won't know until you get in contact with me.  Send your email to ksparta at Sparta Success dot com.  If your email makes me feel like you'd be good for the program, then we'll schedule a call to see if it's a good fit personality-wise and take it from there.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Dear President Obama,

I recently received an email from my friend, Carol Johnson at the Recruiting Pipeline.  She sent me the letter as part of a mailing to the leadership in the real estate industry asking us to consider how to solve the problems of the current housing crisis. 

How To Solve The Current Housing Crisis
I spent several weeks chewing on the thought.  What would I say to you if you were to ask me how to solve this current crisis?  I had mixed feelings on it.  What it came down to for me is this: it’s not about saving the banks from bad investments, and it’s not about digging borrowers out of holes that they got themselves into.  As a benevolent parent, the governments’ job is to stave off the catastrophic results the housing downturn is having on the economy as a whole and bring it down to just enough pain that we don’t do something this stupid again.  At the same time, the government has to remember that not everyone is in the same situation and you have to be responsible to those who were not caught up in this buying frenzy as well.  So, with that in mind, here is my thought. 

Buy The Land Under The Houses
In most markets, we have fee simple land ownership that conveys with the house.  On every street card, there is a value placed on the land and one on the building.  If we’re going to bail people out and make things more affordable, then let’s do it by reducing the principle owed on the property without asking the bank to take a hard hit and without the owners losing their houses.  The deal works like this:

• The banks would have to forgive all late fees and rewrite the loans at no cost (after all, they are getting the benefit of not having to foreclose on a bad loan).  They also have to agree to continue to collect the taxes on the land from the homeowner and pay them with the taxes on the home.  
• The government issues bonds to investors to raise the capital and then buys the land at current appraised market value.  
• The homeowner gets a deeded option to repurchase the land at a later date at the original price paid by the government or current market value – whichever is greater.  
• The money paid by the government would go to the bank to pay down the principal balance of the loan, allowing the bank to convert an impaired asset into a performing asset which boosts the bank’s asset rate and lessens reserve requirements, strengthening its balance sheet. This makes the bank more stable, reduces the stress on government resources, and ultimately increases the availability of funds for consumer loans.  
• The homeowners would then get a new loan issued by the bank for the lower principal amount and have to pay a reasonable monthly lease (1% per year) on the land.  The homeowner would also still be responsible for paying the taxes on both the land and the home.  
• The bonds issued by the government for the purchase of the land would be backed by the land with dividends provided by the lease payments. 

Here’s how it would work in an example case:
Harry Homeowner has a house that he is behind on his payments on.  He is in danger of foreclosure.  The bank has charged him hundreds of dollars in late fees and there is no way he’s going to get on top of things again.  What he needs is a fresh start. 

Harry’s loan is for $300,000, but the property is only valued at $225,000 in the current market and he can’t sell it.  The government offers to buy the land under Harry’s house.  The land is valued at $85,000.  Harry sells the land to the government and pays down his loan to the bank, leaving a balance of $215,000.  The bank agrees to forgive the late fees and rewrite the note.  It issues a new loan to Harry on the house only in the amount of $215,000 at a lower interest rate taking Harry’s principle and interest payment from his previous payment of $1871.61 at 6.375% down to a new payment amount of $1073.46 at 4.375%.  Harry pays an additional $70.84 per month (1% per year of the purchase price of the land) in addition to his mortgage to cover the lease costs on the land.  This makes Harry’s total monthly payment (not including taxes and insurance) $1143.51, saving him $728.81 per month.  This savings allows Harry to keep his home and the bank to avoid foreclosure. 

Ten years pass and Harry wants to sell his home.  He puts the house on the market and finds a buyer who agrees to pay $350,000.  Harry then exercises his option to repurchase the land from the government. Current appraised value for the land is $110,000.  Harry’s attorney does a simultaneous closing on the property, with Harry purchasing the land back from the government for $110,000 and conveying the house and the land to the new owner for $350,000.  The bank gets its loan of $215,000 paid off, the government gets the $110,000 and Harry Homeowner gets the balance of $25,000 (less closing costs).

The Results

Win:  The bank didn’t foreclose and got the full amount of its loan repaid. 

Win:  Harry didn’t lose his house to foreclosure, saved his credit and came out the other end with a little money in his pocket. 

Win:  As an investment for the taxpayers and bond holders, the $85,000 has matured into $110,000, for a $25,000 increase.  In addition, the government has also received interest in the form of lease payments on the land in the amount of 1% or $850 per year.  Over ten years, this totals an additional return of $8500 for a total profit of $33,500, an ROI of 3.38% per year which is a better return than the 10 year Treasury Bond rate which was 2.77 as of close of business Friday last week. (Obviously, this is a little more complicated than this, but you get the idea.)

What Happens If Harry Homeowner Still Forecloses?
In many areas, affordable housing is a big issue.  It's all local towns and municipalities can do to get developers to include affordable units in their developments.  Those towns could change their local regulations to state that the affordable housing unit doesn't have to be in the development itself - it can be provided in the same town but in a different location within that town.  This would make developers tremendously motivated to buy any of the properties served under this plan that go to foreclosure since they would cost the homeowner up to a third less than the local area prices.  Even if the builder had to take a loss on the purchase and resale of the home to get the monthly payments into the "affordable" level, it will likely be less than the gain of an extra new unit selling for full price.  It's a good trade. 

This Plan Has Several Benefits

1. It will reduce the principle of the loans for the current homeowners allowing them a payment level they can afford to sustain.
2. Banks only have to eat the cost of refinancing the loans at a lower interest rate and forgiving the late fees, not the cost of foreclosing and reselling.
3. The payments from the land purchases to the banks would allow them to convert impaired assets into  performing assets. This boosts the banks' asset rates and lessens their reserve requirements, strengthening their balance sheets. This makes the banks more stable, reduces the stress on government resources, and ultimately increases the availability of funds for consumer loans. Freeing up additional funds for new loans and opening up credit lines for new spending would be a boon for the economy overall. 
4. Property values won’t suffer as a result of the plan since any subsequent purchase of the property would be made including the land when the current seller exercises his/her option to purchase the land back prior to conveying it with the property. 
5. It’s a purchase backed by real estate, which means it’s not going to contribute to the deflation of the dollar. 
6. It provides a stable investment for older investors who need some way to hedge their bets in this uncertain economy.
7. For the purchases that don't get paid for by bonds, the tax payers will see a return on their investment as the economy recovers and property values improve.  At the very least, we are guaranteed to get our money back with the land lease payments as interest.  At the best, the appreciation and the land lease costs will provide a tidy profit for the use of taxpayer monies. 
8. It’s not a free ride for anyone.  The banks lose out on the refinance and late fees as well as taking only a slightly more than break-even interest rate.  The homeowners lose out on the appreciation of their land and have to pay conveyance taxes and closing costs on the land multiple times.  In short – those who made bad decisions get a chance to pay for those bad decisions without being destroyed by them.

So, that’s the crux of the idea, Mr. President.  It seems to me that it would work.  I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss it with you.  I also have some ideas on how to make it easier to be self-employed if you’re interested.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kelle Sparta
Author of The Consultative Real Estate Agent 
National Speaker, Trainer and Coach for the Real Estate Industry

 

(If you'd like to help spread the word to get this to President Obama, please Digg, Stumble Upon, etc. this article and post a comment about it on your blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter with a link back to it.    Thanks!)

 

Have you ever considered growing your mailing list? 
I'm sure you have.  However, finding people interested in buying a home now or in the near future can be challenging.  But what if you could grow a list of people who wanted to hear from you?  People who may not be looking right now, but who could fill your pipeline for years to come?  Would you be willing to invest time and a little cash into that option?

Home Life Perks
Have you heard of Home Life Perks?  It's a relatively new (about a couple years old) tool that helps agents reach out to their clients in ways that are relevant to the clients - even when they aren't quite ready to buy or sell.  It's a system that uses social media to offer your clients discounts on a variety services, products and restaurants in your area - all courtesy of you - their favorite Realtor, of course!  And best of all - you don't have to DO anything to get these deals (although if you do get some deals, you can really leverage that as well, but more on that in another article).  Home Life Perks actually negotiates with national retailers to get the discounts and you come out looking like the good guy! 

Expand Your Influence
But here's where it gets good.  Yes, using this tool will help you keep in touch with your current clients in a more relevant way - awesome.  But it can also help you grow your mailing list of potential clients really quickly.  Here's how.  Using your Home Life Perks account, you can expand your sphere of influence pretty easily – and all within your target market area.  Rather than running another open house or ad in the local paper (does anyone do this anymore, really?) why not consider running a Facebook ad about your Home Life Perks?

Getting Opt-ins
It's not practical to advertise your listings on Facebook or Google – there just aren't enough buyers looking right now to make that worthwhile - but your Home Life Perks?  That's worth advertising.  It's something that a lot of people will want to opt into and the more they see you, the more you will be top of mind when they are ready to buy and sell.  

Facebook Ads
The benefit of using Facebook over Google Adwords is that Facebook is far more targeted.  You can specify age range, location, gender, and even specific keywords in Facebook.  This allows you to really target your ads to the right population.  So if you know that your market is generally technology workers in the town of Springfield who are already homeowners, you can target that market in your ads.  You can have your ad show up only to that marketplace, so you only pay for the clicks from those people.  And, even better, the cost per click is generally really low – much lower than Google Adwords. 

Budgeting
If you've never done pay-per-click marketing, you might be surprised to know that it is both really cheap and easy to budget.  Cost per click is usually between $0.01 - $0.25.  To avoid spending too much, you can set a daily or monthly budget amount for your marketing and the system automatically turns itself off when it reaches the limit.  No fuss, no muss, nothing to remember.

Landing Page
The key to making sure that your marketing is most effective is in creating a great landing page that encourages people to opt-in and share the information with their friends – which is why I recommend setting up your landing page on Facebook.  When you do this, you can not only get your opt-ins, but you can also ask them to "Like" the page which makes it show up on their feeds and spreads your offer – free of charge this time - to a wider audience with an implied endorsement from the person who "liked" you.  This is really leveraging the value of social media marketing. 

Don't Clutter It Up
Now you may be tempted to include marketing materials about yourself – don't.  The more information you offer people on a page about multiple things, the less likely it is that they will sign up for anything.  If you already have a page on Facebook you can use that to set up this offer, but put it on its own page and make sure that the ad you place clicks through to that page – not your Facebook homepage.  In fact, consider setting up the Home Life Perks signup AS your homepage.  You may be pleasantly surprised to see your conversion rate improving as a result. 

Write In
If you decide to write ads, don't forget to try out different wording, offers, and (most importantly) pictures.  Then let Home Life Perks know which ones worked the best for you.  Send in your results to Paul Golec at Home Life Perks (he just started a blog here, so be sure to go over and comment for him to welcome him to the Active Rain community too!) here: http://activerain.com/paulgolec.  He'll compile a list of the best ones and share the results on his blog.  

Oh, yeah, and they've got some free webinars coming up that you can check out too!

Cool, huh? - I thought so!

Today ONLY

Living Social is doing a special deal -$10 to get $50 worth of printing - postcards, business cards, note pads, etc.  You buy the voucher and then you use it $50 credit when you need it.  Here's the link to the deal - but don't delay - it only works for today.  Tomorrow it's gone!  I got mine!!!

https://livingsocial.com/deals/34322?ref=personalized-link-box-8979952&rpi=8979952

When Running Is Worse Than Standing Still
I know that these articles haven't been coming at their normal pace.  The reason for this is that I have been waiting for inspiration.  Most days, she's sitting on my shoulder whispering sweet ideas into my head all day every day.  But for the last few months, she has been mostly silent.  Perhaps it's the exhaustion I was feeling from the last year and the loss of my mother.  Perhaps it was the inner work I've been doing on myself.  Whatever the reason, she was silent.  And my feeling is that if I don't have anything valuable to say, I should keep silent.  Your time is far too precious for me to waste it with drivel.  And so you've guessed it, since you are now receiving this article, I feel like I once more have something important to talk to you about.  Thanks for reading.

Where Are You, Right Now?
I think one of the reasons why inspiration eluded me for so long is that I was running so much.  With all of the details to handle from my mother's estate plus my normal workload and launching a new women's empowerment program (if you want to know more about that, just ask me), I've been busy.  But what happens when you get busy is that you often forget that there is anything more to life than the details of the work in front of you.  You spend most of your day mentally in the next part of your day thinking about what you need to do next rather than being where you are now.  It's really no wonder that we can't seem to find peace.  It could be sitting at our feet and we wouldn't see it because mentally, we've already left the room.

The Adrenaline Rush
The other thing that comes with running all the time is the adrenaline rush and a vague sense of panic.  The former can be a issue since it is easy for some people to become addicted to the rush of the adrenaline surge and so they put themselves in situations over and over again that give them that feeling.  The problem with this is that it will eventually wear out your adrenals causing fatigue like you've never experienced in your life.  In other words, it's a short and perilous road. 

A Vague Sense of Panic
The panic, on the other hand is even more insidious.  It gnaws at you in a non-specific way that is kind of easy to ignore in the beginning.  If you're really good at ignoring it, it can sit, undermining your confidence and draining you of your convictions for a good long time.  But eventually, it will amp up and start to overwhelm you.  This is when people get panic attacks or get depressed or have huge feelings of being totally, crushingly, horribly overwhelmed.  It's not the overwhelm that's getting you – it's the panic.  

 

We Can't Stop Running
The solution is to stop running.  Take a break.  Breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe.  But when you're panicked, it's hard to think to do this.  You don't want to admit you're panicked because, really what is there to be panicked about.  Your rational mind doesn't want to accept it.  Your reptilian brain on the other hand is screaming – oh no!  I'm panicked, it must be time to RUN!!!!  (Or, if those around you are really unlucky, then your brain believes it's time to fight and you're getting angry about everything.)  So we keep running because our physiology is demanding it.  And the worse part is – we did it to ourselves. 

A Vicious Cycle
You see, our programming is such that our bodies and brains know that these two things go together.  It doesn't matter which one comes first, your body or brain will supply the other one – they don't exist in separation.  So if you are running in a flurry and you're worried, your brain will happily provide both the adrenaline and the panic to go along with it.  Or, if you're panicked with your adrenaline running, then your body will immediately want to flee (or fight).  These are hardwired responses from millennium-old instinct patterns.  We can't change them.  

Break the Cycle - Breathe
What we can do is utilize other hardwired responses to break the cycle.  For instance, it is physically impossible to panic and breathe deeply at the same time.  So if you focus on your breathing and you keep it deep and steady, then eventually, the adrenaline has to give way and allow you to relax.  Drink water too, it helps clear the adrenaline from your system faster and it slows your breathing at the same time.  Do slow, stretching movements to loosen your muscles – relaxed muscles are another way that the body knows it is out of danger.  Make sure you've turned off your phone and your email and don't let anyone barge in – it's important not to train the body to think that just as you get to relax something else goes horribly wrong.  If you train it into that pattern, it will never relax.  

Keep It Down To A Dull Roar
And then, once you get things under control again, you'll need to keep on top of things.  If you find yourself worrying or thinking forward too much, come back to breathing.  If you find that you are rushing, take a couple of minutes and breathe.  If you are being pulled in too many directions, close your door, turn your phone off and take a 5 minute vacation – and DON'T think about anything you have to do.  Light a candle if it helps and stare at the flame.  For so long as the candle is burning, you don't need to think about anything else.  If you really do only have 5 minutes – set a timer to go off so that you don't have to keep checking the time.  You can sneak in a vacation from your stress anytime you like.  It's just a matter of changing your attitude to change your latitude.

More Effective When We're Calm
And if you're thinking that you don't have time for all of this stuff (and, who are we kidding here – those people have stopped reading long ago, but you can share it with them), then consider this.  We make better decisions when we stop long enough to consider all of the consequences.  We communicate more effectively and create less drama that we'll have to clean up later when we take a breath before we open our mouths.  And, when we are mentally in the room, we notice little details that could turn into big problems later while we still have time to head them off at the pass.  In short, we are more effective when we are calm.  Go figure.

 

Speaking from Experience
I'm in a unique position right now to speak from experience about how an out-of-state-seller picks an agent since I just had to do it twice.  My mother passed away last year and I hired an agent while I was in the height of my grief.  I picked someone who seemed to be successful from his approach and demeanor, but honestly, I didn't do any homework on him.  I was just too tired.  I did do one thing smart, I refused to give him a year listing.  I wasn't willing to have the house on the market that long.  I did sign a 6-month listing but I told him I wanted it sold in two and he should make that happen.  I gave him the price he asked for and two months later, I insisted on a price reduction.  At the end of 6 months, nothing had happened and I had heard from my agent a total of about 6 times.  I was a very motivated seller since the house costs me $2K per month to maintain.

The Search for a Good Listing Agent
So I was faced with picking new agent.  I went into the marketplace online since this is how most buyers will find their house.  I searched for houses in the area that my mother's house was in and I started pulling up listings.  I found a few agents in the area with listings that might cross-promote nicely with my mom's house.  So I started making calls.  Not one of them answered their phones.  In fact, not one of them went to a cell phone.  They all went to office answering machines.  (Can you tell my mom lived in a rural area?)  So I went back to the computer again.  And I did another search based on the lake that my mother lived near.  This time I got better results.  The top items in the search were from Homes.com.  So I started digging through and the strangest thing happened.  

No Profiles Filled Out
Almost every listing that I looked at had information about the house on it, but very little or nothing about the agent.  So I checked to see if the lack of a profile was price related and discovered that you can actually fill out a profile for free on Homes.com.  It costs you monthly to post your listings.  Which means that the agents whose listings I was perusing had paid (likely $29 per month - their base fee) to post their listings, but had completely failed to fill out information that was free to enter and which made it easier for me to find them as a seller.  Can you say "missed the boat?"

The Stand-Out Choice
And then I found one where the profile was not only filled out, but the listing was an enhanced listing as well.  The agent also had several other listings in the same area.  He also had an 888 phone number that I knew would follow him to wherever he was.  There were signs that this was a professional agent!  

The Test
And so I decided to call and see how he was on the phone with potential buyers.  Because we know that if you can't convert a buyer call, you're not likely to make the sale yourself.  He answered the phone himself.  He answered questions about his listing (although he did have to look some stuff up - he had 30 listings after all).  He was professional.  So I came clean and told him that I wasn't a buyer, but a seller and I needed some help.

Quick Response
Despite the fact that we had a couple of weeks before my last listing expired, he got right on the job of providing me with a new market analysis and staying in contact.  Given that my last agent barely spoke to me, I found this to be refreshing.  He works with a partner and he told me about her.  

Introducing the Partner
If there is one thing that I would have liked to have had happen that hasn't yet, it's that I would have liked to have gotten a phone call from his partner to introduce herself.  This way when he's not around and she needs to talk to me, she won't be coming in cold to the relationship.  

Off And Running Again
So here we are, off and running again.  The house is up on the market with another (this time dramatic) price reduction.  We'll see how good of a choice I made this time.  It certainly feels different.

Wanna Buy A House?
Oh - and in case you're interested (or have some investors or buyers who are), the house is listed here.  I am a VERY motivated seller.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8422-402nd-Avenue_Town-Of-Genoa-City_WI_53128_M74845-61841

My assistant got a request today for information about what I do as a coach.  I liked the response so much, I thought I'd share it with you.  Here it is:

Let me tell you a bit more about what Kelle does.  Kelle is not an accountability coach like most coaches are.  In other words, she’s not going to assign you homework and then check in to make sure you did your homework and that you’re on track.  What she does is the strategic level coaching and helping you bring that plan into form at the tactical level.  For instance, she’ll help you create and build a brand and then put in place all of the procedures, staff and training that will support that brand image.  She’ll help you develop a comprehensive marketing plan and then find the best ways to implement that plan.  She’ll help you achieve a work/life balance with skills, training and staff that will keep you at your peak performance level.  She’ll help you develop and hone a team to grow your business to the next level. 

Right now, for you, she’d be best at helping you to develop your business plan with a focus on the goals that you have in mind.  This would include a complete marketing plan.  She can help you pick the right brokerage for your business goals, evaluate and negotiate your contract with your broker, and build a brand image that you can transfer to your own brokerage when you leave.  When you’re ready to open your brokerage, she’ll help you get focused on your core market, decide what kind of agents to recruit and get a package in place that will encourage them to come to you.  Once you have the strategic level work done, Kelle will refer you to an accountability coach to keep you on track if you want that. 

Because Kelle isn’t a standard accountability coach, she doesn’t sell her packages in a traditional monthly coaching format.  Instead, you purchase blocks of hours which you can use as-needed.   Many of her clients will use a block of 2-4 hours at a time doing the comprehensive strategic conference, an hour the following week to ask questions and clarify plans and then not use any time for several months and then do another block of time again.  Each person’s usage is uniquely theirs and this is the benefit of working with Kelle.  

If this intrigues you, please let me know.  I'd be happy to chat with you about how I can help you.

Do you have a Secret Santa Gift In Your Future?
It's one of those things - the dreaded Secret Santa gift.  Or even more difficult, the Yankee Swap.  What do you get for the person you hardly know or for someone random?  I'm a big believer in gifts that give back.  So I try to give a gift of knowledge and education.  After all, how many holiday mugs can one person own?  

Below Is a List of My Recommended Buys for Your Gift Giving Purposes

Becoming a Self-Centered Woman - eBook - Deborah Roth
Don't let the title of this one fool you.  If you have a woman in your life (or you are one) who needs to learn a little more about putting herself first to make her life more fulfilling, then this book is for her.  It's a spiritual journey into the art of becoming whole as a woman.  It's written by a very wise friend of mine and I can tell you, it's well worth the price.  It would be a great gift for your Secret Santa person - or for yourself.

Web Copy That Sells - Maria Veloso
This is a fabulous book for teaching you the art of online persuasion and relationship building.  She is the top person in her field talking about this and you should really listen.  

Content Rules - Ann Handy and C.C. Chapman
Written by one of the smarted, most connected and talented guys I know and a chick he believes is equally awesome, this book teaches you the dos and don'ts of social media relationship building.  C.C. Chapman has been a giant of the social media world for years.  I was lucky enough to meet him when social media was in its infancy and I can tell you that when I need social media advice, he's my first call.  His book will blow your mind.

The Wealthy Spirit - Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction - Chellie Campbell
If you've ever heard me speak or listened to my podcast, then you've probably heard me quote from this book.  I love it.  Chellie has managed to create a beautifully written, inspiring and focused look at how we look at money and how we can improve our outlook.  My favorite page is Day 3.  I can't recommend this book highly enough.

That's a wide variety of gifts of education.  I'll give you one more gift.  And this one's from me to you.  I'll give you a link that will take you to a web page that will give you $20 off my Expired Listing Postcards product.  This is the cheapest I have ever sold it - EVER.  In fact, they are so cheap that you might even be able to give one to a colleague for Secret Santa without exceeding the $ limit.  Happy Holidays!

Get Your Expired Listings Postcards

Bear With Me
I'm going to have a moment of seeing the negative right now.  I know, it's not like me, but sometimes you have to engage the darkness to find the light again.  Right now, we're standing in the midst of a country that has been demoralized.  It's been tough for everyone.  And we are some of the few people left in an industry that has been decimated.  Having come into the business at the end of the last decimation cycle, I can tell you two things. 

1. No matter how hard you've tried to keep a positive attitude, the energy of the negative nellies around you HAS affected you.
2. The best way to release the pent up anxiety of worry that has seeped into you over these last few years is to find new purpose in what you do.

Even in the best of times, being labeled "just another real estate agent" is tough.  It's hard to overcome the "you're a used car salesman" attitude that many people have.  You can spend the rest of your career trying to convince people that their first impressions are wrong, or you can change the game entirely.

Changing The Game
You're an experienced agent.  You know what it's like to play the game in the traditional fashion.  You know the ups and downs and, at this point, you could probably do it in your sleep.  Why not change it up.  Give yourself and your clients something to believe in.  Step out of the role of "just another agent" – no matter how good you are at that role – and step into a new paradigm as being the leader of your own personal movement.

What Is Your Mission?
You got into real estate for a reason, and it probably had nothing to do with fulfilling your mission on the planet.  But what if you could take this opportunity to build your mission into your business?  What kind of mission, you ask?  Good question!  For some people, their mission is about saving the environment, for others it's about connecting deeply with everyone around them and facilitating movement forward, still others are destined to bring large groups of people into consciousness about themselves.  Each person has a mission uniquely their own. 

Finding Your Mission
We can find clues to our missions by looking at the past.  What it is that we do whether we are being paid for it or not.  Who it is that we have manifested ourselves to be.  Your mission is at the core essence of who you are.  It permeates everything you do.  Take a history of your life.  Write down all of the things you are most proud of, all of the ways in which you regularly look at and interact with the world.  All the services that you provide to everyone around you – whether they are paying you or not.  These are all clues to your underlying mission.

Energy and Excitement - Guaranteed
I'll tell you a secret about missions – when you uncover them, they come with a boatload of passion attached to them.  And passion comes with a ton of energy.  So finding and embracing your mission with automatically give you all the energy and passion you need to move forward with it.  So if you're getting old like me and you're thinking that you don't have the energy to start something new, think again.  It's waiting right there for you.  Wouldn't it be nice to be truly excited about something again? 

Turn Your Mission Into a Movement
Once you have identified your mission, it's time to turn it into a movement.  A movement is created by a leader and their followers.  It's a way to get people engaged in a process or a goal at such a personal, core level that they are also filled with passion for the cause.  You can go about this process by a variety of means and each mission is suited to different approaches, but the key is to get yourself on the track to a more empassioned tomorrow and to take everyone around you with you on that ride.

I'm reading a great book right now on the subject of creating movements that I think you'll love.  It's called Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements.  If anything I've said has resonated with you, you may want to get a copy.

Also, I've given you an idea for a movement that might just fit your personal mission in my latest article on Realtor Magazine.  Check it out.

Shopping for Bathing Suits - How Sad
I have been shopping for a bathing suit this morning thinking that there might be a hot tub at my hotel in New Orleans for the NAR Convention this weekend.  Happily, there is no hot tub, because I have found no swim suit.  What I have found is a whole lot of body hating websites.  Every site is talking about slimming this (sounds uncomfortable to me) and minimizing that and hiding the other thing.  For heaven's sake - why is it not OK to love your body just as it is?!!!??

Body Hate Everywhere
I had the most terrible time on these sites.  Not because I have issues with how my body looks, I love my body, thank you.  I had troubles because it seems that the websites have a problem with how my body (or anyone my size) looks.  I put in the search term "Plus Sized Bathing Suit" and the links consistently landed me on pages that were supposedly the plus sized suits, but all of the models in the suits were skinny.  Now how am I supposed to tell how a suit will look on my plus-sized body when I'm looking at a model who at her heaviest never passed a size 8?  Is it so terrible to see a plus-sized body in the suit?  Am I supposed to be so ashamed of my own body that I can't even bear to look at a model who is of the appropriate size to ACTUALLY model the suit?  What's wrong with our culture that this is true?!

One Shining Exception
The one site that I visited that didn't do this to me was SwimSuitsForAll.com  They did a fabulous job of showing real-sized models in the suits.  They also did something that the other sites didn't .  They told me how much the bust cups would carry.  Sadly, they only had three suits that would fit both my cup size and my suit size and I didn't like any of them.

Honorable Mention
There was one other site I found that wasn't too high on the self-hate scale and had a few photos of a real plus-sized model and this was SwimSuitsJustForUs.com.  This one seems to be a one-woman operation and she is the primary model.  But she's only in a small fraction of the suits and the rest are just empty suits - no way to tell what they will look like.  But she does offer shopping by body type and that's a bonus. 

Outside Judgment Needs to Stop
I have to tell you that I've rarely felt discriminated against because I was a woman.  But I feel discriminated against all the time as a person of size.  Somehow, in our incredibly PC world, it's still not OK to be large.  In fact, for two years in a row, one of my readers has sent me a birthday card with a lovely message on the top and a heap of judgment on the bottom that says "Remember, no matter how good the cake tastes, thin feels a whole lot better - party responsibly".  On My Birthday!  The one day that we are supposed to be able to eat cake without guilt and he wants me to make him feel better about my size by not eating my birthday cake!  It's not OK for us to pick on people for their gender or the color of their skin - how about we extend that to how big or small people are.  In fact, what if we gave up judgment altogether?  How would that be?  What would the world be like if you could walk around knowing that no one was judging you?  Pretty awesome, huh?

What's Wrong With Loving Your Body the Way it Is?
So here's where I put on my wise woman hat and say that the fastest way to eliminate judgment in the world around you is to eliminate it from within you.  Your body is the way it is.  It's the only body you have and if you are functional and relatively healthy, then it's doing a great job for you - especially given how most people treat their bodies.  Appreciate it, love it, revel in it.  Then, when you can truly love your body, you can do what I did when I got that birthday card and when I went onto those websites.  I didn't feel bad about me, I thought - wow, our culture has a long way to go!