Life Is Like a Box Of Chocolates...

OK - So I wrote you guys a few days ago about pimping my Twitter profile background.  I used the one that I referenced then (Twitbacks.com), but it just wasn't ENOUGH for me.  You know how that goes? 

So I was touring other people's sites and found one I liked that said:  This background created with MyTweetSpace.com, so I checked it out.  Sure enough, there were a LOT more choices for cool things to do with my background.  So, yet again, I repimped my profile.  You can see it here:

KelleSparta

I also did the profile for the FreeRealEstateTrainingBlog that I run.  You can see that one here:

FreeRETraining

Limitations
It does have a section where you can enter text, but I wasn't able to find a font where most of the text I entered was readable.  Ultimately, I opted to not have the text.  Plus, is you have too much text, it doesn't show the logo at the bottom of the sidebar.  (The background doesn't scroll with the text.)  BUt, still, I think it's pretty cool.

Pretty Cool Huh? 
I like this one a LOT better.  Let me know what you think...

Have you noticed recently that the world seems to be delayed? 
I placed an order on Amazon.com for my Thai Deoderant Stone (great product BTW - before I dropped the last one and shattered it into many, many pieces, it had lasted me for over 5 years), but my order didn't get shipped for a week!  It still hasn't arrived and I ordered it on the 13th.  Then there's my custom vitamins that I get.  Those haven't arrived yet either and I run out in two days.  Those are the minor details of life, but annoying nonetheless.  Plus, deals that I've put together and partnerships that are pending seem to be stuck in transit as well.  My doctors' appointments are being cancelled or rescheduled, I have to find a new dentist for my new health care plan and I can't seem to get several projects that I'm working on completed.  As fast as the world is moving and as fast as new opportunities are arising, the details seem stuck in the mire.

Patience Is a Virtue - Bah Humbug!
Yeah, I know - be patient.  I have to tell you that patience has never been my strong suit.  In fact, I suck at it.  I want it yesterday!  You too?  Yeah - we're in this together.

What To Do
My answer to this dilemma is to keep plugging along.  I'm making progress towards my goals even if I'm not at completion.  My theory is this:  if I keep making progress, eventually completion is guaranteed - no matter how long it takes.  (Soon, I hope!)

Hang In There! - I know I will.

I sent out a tweet today with Lily Tomlin's quote "Forgiveness is giving up all hope of a better past."  I love that quote because it's so true.  Forgiveness isn't saying that it's OK something happened.  It's not saying that you'd want it to happen again or that you're willing to be a doormat, kicking post, punching bag, etc. in the future.  It's simply saying that you've come into acceptance of what happened as being true - without value judgement - and stopped putting energy into being outraged or angry or victimized by it. 

Where Are You Putting Your Energy?
When we don't forgive, we are the ones who pay the price.  It is in the letting go that we regain our equilibrium and our power.  And think about all of the energy that you are holding onto in feeling upset about the past that could be rechanneled into new items.

Where Do You Get Your Energy?
People ask me all the time where I get my energy.  I seem to have boundless amounts of it.  And, yes, I would say that I am a more energetic person than most people.  But I've also learned over the years how to not fritter my energy.  I avoid drama and I try to forgive quickly and often.

I Feel Deeply, But I Also Move On Quickly
Being the intense scorpio that I am, I feel very deeply.  People's comments, positive or negative, can affect me - especially if it's someone close to me.  I can be incredibly hurt or incredibly loving in the flash of a moment.  I love my emotions, but I've had to learn to take control of them over the years lest they sweep me away in a torrent.  I used to think that in order to forgive someone, it meant that I had to put them back into a position of trust again.  This is not true.

Forgiveness is NOT a Lack of Discernment
To forgive someone doesn't mean you have to trust them again.  Trust is earned and betrayal takes time to become trust again.  Forgiveness is just getting over it - not letting it happen again.  To be honest, forgiveness is getting over yourself.  I find that I have to get over myself a fair amount (especially when I'm hormonal).  It means taking responsibility for the part I played in the situation (if any, but probably I played some part) and moving on from being upset.

Finding Fault - Huge Waste of Time
I want to be clear that I'm not saying that everything is your fault.  What I'm saying is that fault is irrelevant to moving on.  I take responsibility for my part because it allows me to feel empowered to avoid the same situation again in the future.  I do NOT beat up on myself for the mistake.  It was a mistake and I'll learn from it.  Move on.

Move On
What do you need to move on from today?  Are you blaming the economy, your mother, your spouse, or "those people"?  The moment you can stop blaming and start focusing on the future instead of the past is the moment that you can make real change in your life.  Are you ready for it?

Setting Expectations
When my business partner and I decided to start selling houses together, we also decided that having a partnership agreement in place was a good idea.  We figured that the more we spelled out in writing, the more we identified who was responsible for what and what the expectations were, the better off we were.  We also wanted an agreement in place for how we would deal with jointly acquired leads and past clients if we split. 

Good Planning Pays Off
This was the smartest thing we did as partners.  Because a year later when we determined that we weren't a good fit as business partners and our joint business together went up in flames of anger and upset, we knew that we had an agreement to fall back on if we couldn't be reasonable in the moment.  Thankfully we were good friends first and business partners second, so we worked it out amicably.  But having that agreement in place made all the difference in having peace of mind as we negotiated our way through the process.

Thinking of Partnering Up?
Think carefully.  Having a business partner is a great thing. It means:

• You're not alone in the business
  
• You can actually have a day off
  
• You can go on vacation and not take your cell phone
• You can do more business
• You can likely jointly afford to hire an assistant

It's awesome.  It's also dangerous. It also means that:

• You are on the hook for anything your partner promises
• You are liable for anything unethical or illegal that they do
• You have to cover for them if they just disappear
• You'll be smoothing things over if they don't get along with a client
• You'll have to deal with the issues if your partner isn't good to your assistant or abdicates responsibility for them

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
You see, for every upside, there is also a downside.  Add to this that if your values don't match, there is a whole other level of challenges that you have to face.  And, even if the two of you get along, if your partner and your broker don't mesh (which is one of the things that happened with my partner and myself), you;ll be faced with moving companies too.

Look Before You Leap and Lay Out a Cushion At the Bottom
This is why you should lay out all of the details before you go into business with someone.  Write down, in clear, unambiguous terms, exactly what is expected of both sides and what the hierarchical structure will be (especially important if there are more than two people on the team).  Who had the final word?  Who has creative control?  Who is the promise-keeper?  Who is the problem solver?  Who gets to decide how to spend money?  Who is on the hook if you go over budget?  These things are more are important factors.  And, just in case, have a plan to part ways so that you have the advantage my partner and I had all those years ago.

I was reading Chris Brogan's newsletter recently and he referenced a great tool that I am now using.  It's a downloadable egg timer.  Basically, you set up the amount of time you want it to count down and it will do that until it reaches the end and then it makes a sound of your choosing (I chose "Yabba Dabba Do!")

So what I do when I want to stay focused is that I start the timer for about 30 minute intervals.  Then I get down to the task at hand (a specific task).  This week, I'm updating my popular First Time Homebuyer Seminar.  I don't stop working on it for anything (calls, people, emails, etc.) until the timer goes off.  It's stunning how much you can get done in a half an hour.  Last time, I outlined all the things I would have to do to update all of my products and to pick out a new fulfillment company.  It's crazy effective.

Try it out for yourself:

Egg Timer Windows Version

Egg Timer Mac Version

Oh, and don't forget to make your $5 donation.  I guarantee that using this program will yield you more than $5 in return.

Enjoy!

I've heard people say that losing faith in God (or whatever higher power you believe in) is the worst thing ever, but I don't believe that's true.  It's bad, yes, but even worse than that is losing faith and trust in yourself.

Are You Trustworthy to You?
When we make bad decisions or when things aren't going our way, we often begin to question whether we are capable of choosing wisely.  We wonder whether we can be trusted with the important decisions.  And since it's our life, not being able to be trusted in those decisions becomes a problem because without it, we are left with two choices: 

1. Rely on others to make our decisions for us (leaving us at the mercy of their opinions, beliefs, limitations, and more).
2. Do nothing because we are too afraid to choose unwisely again.

Not Making a Decision Is Still Making One
The problem with not making a decision is that choosing to stand still (even if it feels like unwanted paralysis) is still making a choice.  It's a choice to not use our gifts and talents for fear of not being received or being sabotaged by ourselves or others.  It might even be a fear of being incredibly successful and then being afraid of the very public fall that could come after success is met.  Whatever the fear - it's real and it's keeping us from getting where we want to go.

Letting Go Of The Past
In order to have a successful new beginning in our lives, we need to be willing to let go of what no longer serves us.  We need to be willing to make space in our lives in order for something new to arrive.  The old MUST fall away - no matter how comfortable or friendly it might seem.  We have to step out on a limb and risk it breaking beneath us.

Choose A Direction - It Doesn't Matter Which Way You Go
When you are standing in valley with no knowledge of what lies outside of the valley, the only way to determine the path out of the valley is to start climbing out.  When you reach the rim of the valley, you'll have a new perspective that will tell you which direction to go in from there.  But if you insist on knowing the "right" direction before you set out when there is no way to have that knowledge, all you do at best is go walking around in circles, at worst you sit on your hands and claim to be a victim of circumstance.  So pick a direction and start walking.  The way will become clear as you get further up the hilll.

Course Corrections are NOT Mistakes
When you get to the top of the ridge, you may find that your new perspective tells you that it would have been faster to go up the opposite side of the valley.  Oh well.  You know that now, but you had no way of knowing it then.  There is no need to rebuke yourself for choosing the "wrong" path.  Instead delight in the fact that you have a better idea of which way to go now and at the worst, at least you are out of that stupid valley.  Airplanes on autopilot make constant course corrections.  Did the computer make a mistake to put it off course?  Of course not!  The winds blew, the earth moved, and the environment acted on the plane.  We cannot control the outside world - only ourselves.  So course corrections should be assumed to be part of the process.

What If I Don't Like The Rim?
You can always walk back down into the valley.  But usually, we find that there is a friendlier valley over one of the edges - larger and with more resources.  The exploration is usually well worth the effort.

Mistakes are NOT Bad
We have this horrible habit as adults of expecting that we have to know everything and get everything right the first time.  Somewhere between childhood and adulthood - my guess is during adolescence - we forget that there is a learning curve and that mistakes often come with unexpected benefits (the glue used for sticky notes, for example, was a mistake made by someone trying to make a super sticky glue).  In short, stop giving yourself a hard time.

Make a Decision
Are you stuck in a rut?  Do you not know which way to go?  Stop trying to figure it out and just try something different and keep trying new different things until something works or makes you happy or both.

Do you like the posts on personal growth and development? 
Would you like more?  I only post a few of these on my real estate blog, but you can find more on my personal blog at www.TuneInSite.com.  Subscribe there for regular doses of motivation and insight.

Remembering The Past
There's a pricing convention we all have that few realize where it comes from.  Being old, and having been in the business forever (since 1993), I remember.  You see many years ago, there was something called at "listing book".  It was a printed version of the MLS.  Most agents didn't go online to look up properties, they looked in the book.  Subsequently, agents started listing their houses at $499,999 instead of $500,000 so that they would be the first house the agent found to show. 

But All That Has Changed
In the intervening years, most (if not all) MLS services have discontinued the listing book in favor of online searches.  But, we didn' change our pricing conventions because agents knew that prices would be listed just below the even dollar mark, so we adjusted our searches to compensate. 

Here's The Problem
Buyer's just aren't (necessarily) that smart.  Today, most buyers are starting their own searches online.  They are using search engines that prompt them to choose even dollar numbers.  Therefore, your listing which would be at he bottom of the price range (and therefore most desirable) for the $500-$525K price search is now invisible because you priced it at $499,999 - oh what a difference a dollar makes.

Price On Even Dollar Amounts
This is why it's more important than ever to get your pricing right.  In his highly competitive market, you want people to find your listings.  Make sure they do by pricing them at the price points they are searching for.

I love learning new things, don't you?  Today I have been working on expanding my network for my new Twitter account that tells people about the Free Real Estate Training Blog and as I was following realtors and trainers across the country, I learned something new.  (I love this business!)  You see, I wanted to make my Twitter background interesting.  I tried uploading a photo, but it looked, frankly... well... lame.  So in reading what the other Tweeters were saying, I learned about a new (to me) application called TwitBacks.

Twit Backs

Using this program, you can create a custom background choosing from a variety of templates.  If you use picniks too, you'll be able to add text, stickers, do special effects to your photo and more.  It's a whole lot of fun. Oh, and did I mention, it's free?

So I have updated my Twitter background on my Free Real Estate Training Blog twitter site.  I guess it's time for me to upgrade my KelleSparta account too now.  I'll see you in the virtual pages!

Have you heard of Oodle?  It's a free classified for listing homes, cars, and other things online.  (Seems they are trying to compete with Craigslist.)  Regardless of whether they are going to be successful or not, putting your listings on Oodle gives you several benefits:

1. If you put a link to your website (and you'd be crazy not to), then it improves your SEO. 
   
2. Drives traffic to your website.
3. Is one more piece of evidence for your sellers that you are advertising everywhere possible (without breaking your budget).
4. It integrates with Twitter, so you can automatically tweet your listings making less work for you in the long run.

Check it out!

Are you terrible at keeping secrets?  FAAAAABULOUS!
Because this shouldn't be kept a secret!  If you've been following my blog and my tweets, then you know that I've been hatching a secret.  Well, it's finally fully hatched and I can tell you all about it. 

Real Futures
A few months ago, I called my friend Charlie at The Real Estate Training Center to ask him about helping to promote a series of free training programs for agents.  He said he'd been wanting to start something like that for a couple of years and within minutes, we had an agreement to work together on it.  He made a call to Stefan Swanepoel at RealtyU and to RIS Media.  I called my pal, Dorothy Boyer, at Agent Direct News and we were off and running! 

Getting People Involved
I've been having a great time getting people to come out and contribute events to the program.  I've been on the phone with many of the top trainers in real estate.  The conversations have been stimulating, the connections rewarding and the results are phenomenal.  Here are just a few of the people we've got on board with the program:

• Dirk Zellar
• Darryl Davis
• Carla Cross
• Verl Workman
  
• Amy Chorew
• Jennifer Allan
• And more...
  

What This Means to You
This means that you're going to have a brand new source for real estate training - free training.  All you have to do is subscribe to the Free Real Estate Training Blog and you'll get notified each time a new event hits our program list.  Plus, you'll get articles from the top trainers in the industry - all at no cost to you!

There Are Already Events Scheduled!
Come out to the Free Real Estate Training Blog to find out more.  Subscribe to the blog and get all the goodies for free!  Oh, and did I mention that starting in September, I'll be reviving my podcast and it will appear on this blog?  We'll be podcasting the best of the best programs.  You'll want to sign up for that too....