jonwashburn: Jonathan Washburn (ActiveRain Corp)

We've recently tried on a new look for our local pages (state/county/city), and to much of our chagrin it has been received by some in our community with a thumbs down. I'd like to let our community know that we are reading every post written on our network about this change, and following the comment stream intently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our members needs are our #1 priority.  Every change we make is always done with the goal to bring value to our community.  In this instance our primary goal was to increase relevancy to these pages and add valuable information to consumers landing on these pages. We also needed to make these changes to prepare the foundation for some exciting changes coming to ActiveRain in the near future.

However with that said, we hear you all loud and clear and now understand that having a points based directory by state is very important!

For everyone who is trying to catch up on this debate, I've included an image of the state page before the change, and after. Please let me know in the comments below which you prefer and why. 

Before:

After:

"I don't feel comfortable about committing to ActiveRain, or any other platform that I don't own. What if ActiveRain gets bought by Google or they change the price or terms?"

First off, thank you Harj Gill for bringing up this issue and addressing it in your own blog post today. I'd like to echo your statements, and add some of my own.

"With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are in the midst of the worst housing recessions in history. The actual job of selling real estate in today's market is extremely difficult. When I sold real estate in the late 90's and early part of this decade I viewed my job as 90% marketing to get the clients, and 10% actually representing my clients. Listings sold themselves, oftentimes just hours after they were put on the market. Buyer clients were in such a frenzy they nearly always bought on the first tour, and getting a deal closed was always a cinch. No money? No credit? No job? No problem! Now it seems that with the complications brought by REO's and short sales, the real work starts after the buyer finds the home they want. 

However, there are silver linings. One of which is the marketing revolution that blogging has brought to the industry. This is a unique time; a gold rush of sorts. A motivated real estate professional can sign up for ActiveRain at noon, write their first blog post by 1pm, and have a top ranked article on Google by 1:15pm. The reach, authority, and power afforded by this medium is immense, and yet, the percentage of RainMakers taking advantage of this opportunity is very small when compared to the number of professionals in the industry.

We know the site works; I'm constantly hearing success stories that blow my mind. ActiveRain has changed lives, and saved careers. 

Yet, we don't know what the future may bring. Today, ActiveRain is Google's golden child, but who knows what will happen tomorrow. Today, ActiveRain costs $39 per month for RainMaker access. Might we change our mind and start charging $199 for the same service tomorrow? Does it matter? 

"If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is." 

In a few years everything will change in this business, just like everything is different today than it was three years ago. Today ActiveRain represents a golden arrow for you business. Use it up. Squeeze every last drop of success from it that you can. 

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough." ~Albert Einstein

"I learned that the most important decision I could make was which table to sit at.

~from Delivering Happiness by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh

 

This statement has been rustling through my subconscious for the past few weeks. It's profound and life changing. I seem to find myself navigating through life, and making decisions, based on a few guiding principles; and this concept from Tony is cementing into my mind as a defining guide.

 

This concept isn't new. There's no doubt you're familiar with the phrase "In the right place, at the right time.", or perhaps you've read Donald Trump's declaration that "Everything in life is luck."  

 

Table selection, is a phrase used in poker to describe which table you sit at. It's an important part of the game because each table brings with it a unique set of characteristics; competitor strength, stakes, game type, and betting structure.  

 

It seems that the more I study success and people, the more I realize that table selection plays (amongst) the biggest role in determining success. In other words, it doesn't matter how well you execute if you are in the wrong business, in too small of a market, or the timing isn't right. Contrarily, even the dumbest person will find success if they are in the right business at the right time.

 

Fictional character, Forrest Gump, ("Stupid is as Stupid does") became wealthy after investing $25,000 in a shrimp boat that became the sole surviving boat after a hurricane. Before the hurricane, his boat was a financial failure.

 

Another example of changing tables and finding success is found in the biography of Guy Laliberte. He is a professional poker player, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, and a self made billionaire. However, before changing tables and creating Cirque du Soleil, he was a broke street performer.

 

In poker, table selection isn't something that is done once (when you first select your table before you start playing). It is something that a good player is constantly doing, because like in business and life, the dynamics of the table is always changing. 

 

When was the last time you candidly assessed the table you've chosen?

"Do you know any good real estate agents in <your market>?"  

That is the money question. The conversation we all wish we could be a part of.

These type of conversations are increasingly taking place online, and with this shift comes a new way to prospect for business.

Below is a screenshot of a tweet from a venture capitalist looking for an 8 bedroom home in Palo Alto. He made this tweet less than one hour before I published this blog post. (Talk about a hot lead!)

So my two questions for the ActiveRain community are:

1. How can you find these type of tweets?

2. Once you are aware of a tweet like this, what steps should you take to earn their trust and their business?

 

 

You are doing a fine job in the critical assessment of the accomplishments of those who are out there doing something. Surely there is no shortage of critics who take jabs at great efforts, especially when those efforts fall short of the creator's vision. However, the world is rarely benefitted by discouraging the dreams of doers. If you must focus your energy towards criticism, it should be turned towards motivating those who take no risks, and do not venture towards greatness, but live a life without purpose or effort.

 

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?

All of these suggestions are free to implement and will generate very high quality incoming links and a pretty healthy amount of traffic.

You can use your ActiveRain profile just fine with each of these items but you will likely generate the best results with your own Individual Blog. (If you don't have an Individual Blog yet click here to get one.)

Please note that pretty much all of the items below require that you have a free account with the applicable website.

1. Submit yourself to Google Local. Make sure to put in your blog or profile URL in the website entry form field.

2. Add your blog to Local.Yahoo.com.

3. Submit your blog to Yelp! 

4. Create a blog post for everyone of your listings and submit the URL to Google Base.

5. Create a blog post for everyone of your listings and submit the URL to Craigslist.

6. Add links to your website, ActiveRain profile, and your Individual blog, on your LinkedIn profile page.  Your LinkedIn profile is second only to your ActiveRain profile in terms of Google Juice.

7. Add yourself to YellowPages.com. The search engines tap this database to populate their Local search results.

(The cow above looks very dominating; similar to the way you will look to your competitors if you implement these strategies.  In case you were wondering, that is why I chose it as the picture for this post.)

I started my first real mini-business in 1994 when I was still in high school. It was called Paradigm Interactive Media (pimedia.com) and we were a web site development company. Since I didn't know anything about developing websites, my job was to go out and sell the websites to local business; jewelery shops, hair salons, restaurants, etc. 

Every time I entered one of those businesses looking for a sale, I was terrified.

Right after high school, my family went through some financial setbacks and I wanted to do what I could to help, so I got my real estate license and started to sell houses. 

Every listing appointment and each time I met with a buyer, I was terrified.

After some time I got less terrified being a real estate agent and actually got kind of good at it, so I decided it was time to push myself one-step further and I recruited a group of my peers and created a real estate brokerage. 

I bootstrapped the brokerage and grew it while being incredibly underfunded. Because I didn't has sufficient credit, capital, or experience to license a franchise, I created the company as an independent; without any sort of support infrastructure I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Every day going into the office I was terrified, but I went in anyways.

One thing led to another and now I find myself running a business that is blazing a trail of innovation and yet at the same time foraging for survival. Everyday I am charged to do at least one thing that is well beyond my knowledge level, skill level, talent level, or experience level; often times it is beyond my level on all four fronts. But I do that thing anyways. I put myself into the position that I have no choice but show up and do my best. Calling in sick is not an option.

I show up to work and don't know what the day will bring. I try things where the outcome is unknown. I am terrified everyday, but I would have it no other way.

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

I asked our team to come up with a mission statement today.  Although they were not very happy with the short deadline, on a Friday no less, they all pitched in and came up with some good ideas. Now I am taking these ideas to our membership to help us refine what we currently have and hopefully eventually derive at the perfect statement that crystallizes where we will take our network.

The only parameters that I established was that it must be shorter than 30 words.

Here are some of the possibilities our team came up with:

1. ActiveRain is the Leading Social Network for Real Estate Professionals whose primary goal is to provide an effective platform that allows its member to generate quality consumer-oriented content, establishing their role as a knowledgeable local expert, and connecting them with potential clients.

2. To allow real estate professionals to connect with consumers by highlighting their real estate expertise and local knowledge while learning techniques that will make them successful in today's market.

3. ActiveRain is a Social Network that enables real estate professionals to connect with consumers and exchange ideas with peers through dynamic conversations about their local markets and personal expertise.

4. As the largest and fastest growing Professional Real Estate Network in the Country, it's our mission to provide a secure and professional platform for our members, and to be the Industry Leader in the markets we serve.

5. To help real estate professionals grow their careers, connect with peers and customers, and become respected local experts.

6. ActiveRain: for when life moves you to connect, share, and grow.

 

Mike, one of our developer's, offered this note along with his mission statement submission. I think he is very insightful so I am passing it onto you as a bonus of sorts:

"Our members clearly believe participating in ActiveRain is good for their careers.  They're right.  When they take an active part in our service (ActiveRain), they establish relationships with others in the industry, create a body of work through their blog entries, learn occupational tips and tricks, receive encouragement, get inspired, establish a reputation, even get occasional leads.  As long as we help them to achieve these things for themselves, we'll be successful and well-regarded.