For when life moves you

Intermixed with the daily struggle of running a company that is grasping for revenues, in what seems like a never ending attempt to bridge that last little gap to profitability, I am blessed with inspiring messages from the members of this network about how ActiveRain is impacting their lives.

My most recent inspiration came from an article authored by Russ Ravary and the accompanying comments on it. Whenever I am in a certain mood, and read one of these posts, I am reminded that ActiveRain is something greater than just a business. I am elevated above the grind-level view of daily operations, and if only for a few fleeting minutes, I recognize the incredible opportunity we have in front of us to change, and improve, the way an entire industry operates. Indeed we are doing something even more than revolutionizing an industry in need of change; we are enriching the lives of our fellow colleagues and creating one of the greatest caring communities in the world. 

We are a part of something that is quite rare, something that is both exciting and humbling at the same time.

I am often charged with answering the question, "What is ActiveRain?", and now even after years of running the company I haven't been able to articulate an answer that seems sufficient. ActiveRain is clearly more than just a business; It seems to mean something powerful and slightly different to everyone who embraces it and makes it a part of their lives. Recognizing this, I would like to turn the question over to the individual members of this community to answer in the comments below.

My hope is that in the future when someone wants to know "What is ActiveRain", I can point them here.

What does ActiveRain mean to you? How has it impacted your life. How has it helped your business?

Next week I will be speaking to the NAR Strategic Planning Committee in Washington DC.  The committee consists of all of the NAR top brass and other influential leaders.  I am putting together my presentation this weekend and I want to reach out to our membership to see what types of things you would like addressed with our leadership.

Please think big. My sole focus in going to Washington DC is to speak on behalf of our members and I am not afraid to be bold.

To learn more about the NAR's current Strategic Plan click here: http://www.realtor.org/research/research/strategicplanning

ActiveRain moves fast.  So fast that I know of only a few people who really have a clear picture of everything that ActiveRain has to offer.  AR is now averaging a site upgrade at least once a week.  To put that in proper context, most software companies are on a quarterly or 1/2 yearly deployment schedule. 

We've done five separate deploys in the last 10 days alone, so I thought it would be beneficial to do a high level overview of the different products and services available on ActiveRain, while focusing on our core business components.

1. Blogging:  There is a major shift from the traditional way real estate is marketed and blogging represents this new paradigms epicenter.

In the past advertising options included post cards and newspaper advertising with canned messages, listing magazines with latent information, nothing that provided any real testament to who the real estate professional really is.   ActiveRain continues to evolve a social media publishing (or blog) platform where real estate professionals can share their expertise and knowledge while creating a conversation with potential clients.

Our blogging platform will focus on empowering our members to syndicate their data to as many consumers as possible, involving integration with other highly trafficked sites.  Some of the sites I would like to see us work close with this year include: the major real estate brokerages, Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo, and Microsoft.  

(This feature of ActiveRain is Free)

2. Referral Exchange: Best ActiveRain resource that you haven't heard of. 

The basic premise behind the Referral Exchange is, you guessed it, a marketplace where real estate professionals can exchange referrals with ease and efficiency.  We launched it over a year ago without much fanfare as a fix for the frustration I experienced when needing to personally refer business out of state.  Finding a hard working and appreciative professional was a lot harder than it should have been.  The Exchange recently reappeared on my radar after I heard a series of fantastic success stories.

Using the Referral Exchange is simple and free.

Once a referral is added to the system an email is sent to all members on ActiveRain that have an alert set up that matches the parameters of the referral.  New members are setup with a basic referral alert at registration.  To change your alert settings click here

(This feature of ActiveRain is Free)

In the next few months we plan to implement a new element to the Referral Exchange product that will require all outbound referrals to be screened before it hits the board to eliminate any spam.

3. Profile:  You don't get a second chance to make a first impression...

For those who don't believe in the power of the ActiveRain profile, take a moment and Google your name.  Unless it's Brad Pitt, (or you've been on ActiveRain for just a short while) you will likely find your ActiveRain profile on Page 1 of your search results.  And even if it doesn't show up on page 1, it's information that consumers are highly interested in.  Take time to make your profile read and look beautiful.  When I practiced real estate I always considered myself unemployed and on a never-ending quest to find a new job. Your profile is your resume. Treat it with the respect it deserves. 

(This feature of ActiveRain is Free)

4. Individual & Team Blogs: Almost 10 years ago I created the first Search Engine Optimized IDX website that used listing content to generate long tail search results.  This innovation eventually allowed my team of real estate agents to generate over 5,000 leads a month and sell well over $100 million dollars in real estate a year. 

I believe our new ActiveBlogs are as powerful today as my SEO IDX website was back when I first created it. If used correctly, ActiveBlogs have the potential to revolutionize personal, team, office, and/or niche real estate production.  

The core value proposition of our blogs is an infrastructure that we call RAIndexing, or "Real Area Indexing".   Simply put, your blog turns into a long tail Search Engine Optimized website. Similar in nature to the SEO IDX website, the primary difference being the IDX website uses static listing content whereas ActiveBlogs utilize much more potent unique, fresh content.

We have a giant office whiteboard full of improvements that will continuously be released for the ActiveBlog platform.  For example, we just added the ability for people to add a Listing Router search widget to ActiveBlogs. In the next few weeks look for "New Theme Friday's", and a widget integration.  To sign up for an ActiveBlog click here.  

(ActiveBlogs cost $19/mo and $79/mo for an Individual and Team license respectively)

5. Localism: Localism is designed to be the worlds most complete Neighborpedia. 

Members may sponsor communities, cities and even sub-divisions on Localism.  The concept is based on a verb we call "localised", which is the process of adding location based meta-data to content, whether it be text, pictures or video.  The website is designed to exclusively feature 'hyper-local' real estate information for consumers.  Focused hyper-local content from an established and trusted website ranks inherently high on search engine result pages, like Google

Localism thus becomes a powerful resource for real estate professionals because it allows them to leverage their very local knowledge of a given area to potential clients that otherwise wouldn't know about unless they visited the area personally with a seasoned guide in tow. 

The long overdue feature of making Localism open for consumer and local merchant contribution is scheduled on our internal project board for completion in the next 30 days.  Relative content from local neighbors and businesses coupled with real estate professionals knowledge and expertise will benefit all participants, providing an engaging and comprehensive experience.  I'm confident that the sponsoring professional will reap the substantial rewards Localism was meant to provide from conception.

(Localism sponsorships are less than $10/mo per sponsorship.  Price breaks are available with multiple sponsorships)

6. Listing Router: Leads are dead; 2009 is all about the "click".

Early in the decade well-funded companies utilized marketing budgets and technology that was largely out of reach to individual real estate professionals to generate huge quantities of 'leads' at a much lower cost than an individual was able to.  Many real estate professionals felt that they got burned by these lead generation companies as a result of excessive long term contracts and poor conversion rates.  As a result the concept of buying a lead conjures up a foul taste for most practitioners in the industry. 

Today, many of these lead capture technologies have become cost effective and subsequently made their way into the hands of individual practitioners.  As these points have crossed, a fast growing alternative to 'lead reselling' has manifested called click marketing.  Our entrance into this field is a product we call Listing Router.  Foundationally Listing Router is very simple: ActiveRain members can buy clicks from ActiveRain consumer traffic and route them to specific locations (web-pages) of their choice.  We've taken a novel approaches with Listing Router by sharing a portion of the click revenue with the member who's post and content drove the traffic.

In the future we hope to become the central market place where real estate professionals buy clicks, and Search Engine Marketers sell clicks.  To set up your Listing Router account click here.

(Clicks range in price from $.89 to $3.89 per click.  AR members with high point total are automatically given discounts on the per click price.)

Bonus: Spellcheck: This has been the cause of almost as much headache to ActiveRain members as has been the dreaded Proxy Errors. In the future we plan to add the words: blog, Localism, Raindex, and ActiveRain, to our dictionary.  It irritates us as well.  For some reason this is not an easy technical fix.

The real estate brokerages website traffic represented in this chart that are not dropping off a cliff are all of the online, "non-traditional" variety.

Little tiny 100 person company Redfin is about to surpass Coldwell Banker?  Zip Realty has almost as much traffic as the next three largest brokerages combined?  What does this mean on the local level? What are the big brokerages doing to correct this?

They must recognize this is a serious problem and innaction is not an option.

(Note: Please don't talk about what you charge for commissions or what should be charged on ActiveRain. Price fixing is illegal, M'kay?)

For years I've been a believer that it was best to "Work smart so you don't have to work hard". 

Lenn,

I am sorry to hear that you've been unsuccessful in your endeavors to not have to work hard. Obviously you are extremely successful, but even after all of your success you are still one of the hardest working people I know.  Surely if you were as smart as you are a hard worker, you would be one of the smartest people in the world. Any observant person can see that you are one of the hardest working.

Let's take a look:

1. You are in the top .001% of top point earners on ActiveRain.  In fact you are #1 out of over 100k people.  It takes a lot of work to achieve at that level.

2. You are up bright and early, 6AM, writing a blog post on ActiveRain.  You are an SEO maven and know that blogging on ActiveRain is one element of work that generates SEO results. You would be surprised how few people start work at 6am. I would bet hard cash that you don't clock out at 5pm either.  We're talking 12 hour days and 60 hour weeks.  Definitely hard work.

3. You generate a ton of buyers on your website homefinders.com.  Now a smart person would just sell or refer those leads outright.  But you take the extra work to speak to nearly every prospect and set them up as slam dunks for your referral agents.

4. You registered homefinders.com in 1995 and have doggedly stuck with it for over a decade. I bet the first few years were lean. Lots of hard work investing in the internet when the smart money was on telemarketing.

5. I also understand that you programmed most of your website. I'm guessing that you don't have any formal training as a computer programmer, but you needed it programmed so you just did it.  Doing the dirty work that you should have just outsourced allowed you to learn first hand how to increase your SEO. How's that SEO knowledge working out for you now?

The most successful people in nearly every industry are not so smart.  To rise to the top you need to do things differently than all of the other smart people.  You need to take risks that smart people think are ludicrous. You are a top producer now, but don't forget what it took to get there. You are doing our members a great disservice if you tell them that becoming great is going to be possible without an extra helping of stupid-hard work.

Years ago, when I first began my career in real estate,

one of my associates, gifted as he was connecting with clients and of delightful demeanor, was easily breaking 6 digits every year. He was new to the industry, but exceptional with clients and a great fit for the industry. In that one year where we both worked for the same company, I saw my associate purchase one new luxury car, and then another (owning two simultaneously), a luxury home, a new wardrobe, and the list went on and on.

I set up my associate with a charming girl friend in my social group, and the two hit it off and became an "it" couple. It seemed to me my friend had everything.

There was only one thing that was troubling to me. My associate talked endlessly about what he was going to purchase for himself.

As I sit here contemplating, asking myself what life is really about, what Christmas is really about, and as I have pondered this year the same question, I've thought back to how Christmas came to be. A little over 2000 years ago, a baby boy was born into the world, grew up, and his public life changed the course of the world to follow. What was his basic premise?

Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:28-30

I spent years of my younger life working hard to acquire. Acquire, pay bills on what is acquired. Acquire more, pay more bills to maintain what is acquired! I had bought into the basic premise my associate believed. More things would make me happy, more things are what I needed. More = success! Success equals others thinking well of you. And that equals...happiness...? But there was no rest for my soul. I became depressed under this burden. There had to be more...

Bono of U2 volunteered in Ethiopia with World Vision. Bono promotes volunteering as the cure for depression. How can he do this?

How can someone propose giving of oneself to others as the cure for loss of purpose, loss of meaning in life?

Jesus, that little boy who grew up to forever change the world, had something to say about this. When a rich young man asked Jesus what he must do to to have eternal life, Jesus responded that he must keep the 10 commandments. The young man replied,

"I've obeyed all these commandments. What else must I do?"

Jesus told him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, and follow me."

But when the young man heard this, he went sadly away because he had many possessions. Matthew 19:20-22

The United States is panicking, now.

What is in the future? People are losing homes, and many are hording money. Fear is seeping into nooks and crannies. What happens if we lose all those possessions that we deem so crucial for our "happiness"? What hope is there?

Let me pose another question... What is the purpose of our life? Is it to live, acquire, and die?

Some asked, upon hearing of a rich man's death, "what did he leave behind?" The grim response...... "all of it."

How can we make our life meaningful, purposeful, and enriching? How can all our toil amount for something?

No matter what you believe about Jesus' teachings, I challenge you to something...

"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means caring for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refusing to let the world corrupt us." James 1:27

What are you willing to do with your life, your money, to shake off the "more stuff, more stuff" mantra and to give something or help someone that will leave a lasting legacy? What burden are you tired of carrying? What exchange, from burden to joy, do you want more of?

In the true spirit of Christmas, Merry Christmas everyone!!!! Merry Christmas. May your heart be light, and your walk be gentle, and may you be blessed as much and more as you bless others, and may your cup "runneth over" with true and lasting joy.

With love,

Sara Washburn

A way to make a difference...

This weekend marks the 25th Annual Seattle Goodwill Glitter Sale !   

All year long the good folks at the Seattle Goodwill set aside fabulous donated fashion items and save them up for a weekend event called the Glitter Sale !  This event has become a weekend "must do" for "Budget Fashionistas" to score some fabulous fashion finds. 

To kick off this years Glitter Sale, Goodwill launched its' 1st Annual Glitter Gala on Thursday November 13th, 2008 in the Metropolitan Ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel.  This years' Glitter Sale is Saturday and Sunday, November 15th & 16th from 9am to 6pm and there will be a line of dedicated Glitter Shoppers!

There will be designer, retro, vintage, dresses, gowns, jackets, tops, handbags, belts, shoes, jewelry and more!  "Stuff" will often be sparkly, sequined, gold, silver, beaded, fringed, silky, velvet, leather, feathered, brocaded, embroidered, embellished....and will absolutely satisfy your inner "Dress-up Girl" with Fun Fashion and Glamour Galore!   

A few years ago I went to the Glitter Sale with some friends and we had fun in the fashion frenzy finding a few new favorites to add to our collections.  So, if this seems like your kind of fun....check out the Glitter Blog for shopping tips and enjoying Betsy McFeely's posts on some of the finds she has highlighted and more.  While the Glitter Sale is a wonderful event everyone attending, there is a purpose to all that Glitters...helping people through Goodwill's job training and education programs .  

Today, Betsy took me on a Pre-view tour of all the wondrous LOOT that will make up the Seattle Goodwill Glitter Sale and I have put together a slide show of what I saw...and ooooh how I would have loved to have been able to shop right then and there!  Many thanks to Betsy and all the people at Goodwill who have worked so hard to organize and merchandise all the wonderful things that kind, and thoughtful people have donated  to help fund Goodwill's job training and education programs.