By Teresa Boardman on April 22, 2009
View From the Office Window
Crazy busy and a little crazy
It has been a busy couple of weeks for me which is why you have not seen me so much on agent Genius. Business has picked up in a huge way and less than two weeks ago I moved to Saint Paul Home Realty.
It was an easy move. I own everything associated with my business. All I had to do was change some logos. My phone numbers, email address and web sites all remain the same.
I changed my logos and it changed my life
I changed my logos a…
Posted in RE Moments, Real Estate | Tagged Brokerage
By Teresa Boardman on April 10, 2009
Take the gloves off
Business is hard
For most of us the real estate business isn’t easy these days. We find the clients or they find us but not all of out listings will sell and not every buyer will result in a closed sale. I don’t have a problem admitting that my numbers are down. I know I am a good agent and I know why my numbers are down.
I know too many good agents who are beating themselves up when the economy is beating us up. Agents are dropping out becasue they can’t pay their bills. Only the…
Posted in Real Estate, Realtors
By Teresa Boardman on March 25, 2009
Family Farm
Story telling is an art
People love to tell stories and they love hearing them. A good story can impart wisdom and some times teach a lesson. Before the written word was invented the story teller was an important member of the tribe. He or she was responsible for collecting tribal history and wisdom and passing it along to the next generation.
Photos tell stories
I like to tell stories with my photos. Right now the biggest story in my life has to do with my job and the foreclosed properties in my area. Especially the vacant historic homes around…
Posted in Economy, Living | Tagged Economy, photography
By Teresa Boardman on March 18, 2009
Unplug
Disconnecting
A few days ago I did something that I have not done in many months. I disconnected. What I mean by that is I stopped checking email, looking at twitter, answering the phone and going through my feed reader to read the latest news on the internet. I even managed to leave the house without my cell phone. Once I got past the brief panic attack I found it liberating.
With all the technology at our disposal it if easy to stay connected to clients, friends and the world all day, every day. Being connected is nice, in my…
Posted in New Media, Social Media | Tagged Technology
By Teresa Boardman on March 11, 2009
Top secret
I recently agreed to give a four hour presentation as part of a technology day that is being put on by our local association of Realtors. When I met with the event coordinator to get the course approved for continuing education she asked a question that I have been asked before.
Why would I teach direct competitors how to create blogs, market properties on the internet and use social media? Aren’t you worried that by helping them you will lose business?
The Play book
I am not worried at all. Since 2006 I have been showing other agents how…
Posted in Coaching, Highlights, New Media | Tagged competition, professionalism
By Teresa Boardman on March 4, 2009
Full service
I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a full service Realtor. It doesn’t seem to mean the same thing to all agents so I thought I would outline what it means to me.
Buyer pulls up to a listing and I meet them there. The first thing I do is get my tire gauge out and check their tires for air pressure. Then I open the hood and check the fluid levels.
When my clients ride with me it is in my limo driven by Charles. They sit in the back and I serve…
Posted in RE Moments, Realtors, Service
By Teresa Boardman on February 25, 2009
Victorian
Writing every day is a challenge
It isn’t easy to crank out a blog post every day and there are times when we all struggle to find content. Most of the 1500 or so posts on my local real estate blog come from my every day experiences but that isn’t enough.
Over the years I have assembled a small collection of books for my blog. They are a great source of blog posts. I don’t copy articles from the books I use them for ideas and for information.
One of the books is for tourists and it has a lot…
Posted in Coaching, Social Media | Tagged blogging
By Teresa Boardman on February 18, 2009
All T All Day
More than two years ago I started a mobile blog, jsut for fun. I guess the best way to describe it on the about page:
“An experiment really. The places I go the things I see via camera phone, with real time posts to the internet via MMS. Kind of like watching paint dry except slower”
The blog is on the free blogger platform, and I use MMS, short for Multimedia messaging service. The technology is similar to the SMS, (simple messaging service) that we use for text messaging. Posts can also be sent to the…
Posted in Social Media, Tech | Tagged blog, mobile
By Teresa Boardman on February 11, 2009
Ouch
Plans
I don’t have a plan. I make a business plan every year, and I create a budget and a marketing plan. I even have a plan for recovery if my computer fails. My blogs are backed up and I have a copy of my web site. I have a spare phone that I can use if mine should break.
There is one thing that I don’t have a plan for and it makes the rest of my plans useless. I am a sole proprietor and I work alone, not on a team.
On the job injuries
If I were to…
Posted in Coaching, Living | Tagged injury, professionalism
By Teresa Boardman on February 4, 2009
Towels
Writing titles has always been a challenge for me. In this case I gave up because I spent more time trying to figure out what to use for the title than I did writing the post . . which will become apparent as you read it and follow me into the twilight zone if you dare.
Folding the towels
There are many things in life and in business that we do without thinking about. Sometimes it is the little things that we don’t think about that can have the biggest impact.
The other day when I was folding some…
Posted in RE Moments | Tagged Real Estate
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