The Zebra has landed
July 21, 2008 | 7 Comments
Today, I arrived in San Francisco for RE Barcamp and Inman Connect SF 2008. This is the first time I have ever been to San Francisco. The first thing that I discovered is that it is much colder than I expected, or dressed for. Oops.
I’ll be here all week. If you are going to be around for Connect SF ‘08, here are some tips to help make your experience a good one.
And here is a video I made while my flight was landing. Really, it was just a way for me to test out our new point & shoot digital camera: the Panasonic Lumix TZ5. It shoots HD video. I also took some still pics.
The video is 4 minutes, and it isn’t exactly riveting, but I think the commentary is pretty decent 
How will you spot a Zebra at RE Barcamp and Connect SF ‘08?
July 18, 2008 | 6 Comments
My head is gonna start spinning any minute now. . .
On EARLY Sunday morning, I hop a plane and head to San Francisco for RE Barcamp and Inman Real Estate Connect SF ‘08. I know that I am going to see a lot of friends, and meet a whole lot more people for the very first time. Wanna know how to spot me, take a look:
Monday will be spent at Inman HQ. I’ll be meeting in person all of the fine folks at Inman News that I have been working with over the past weeks. I’ll see if I can get some pics and video to give you guys an inside look at Inman.
I’ll be spending all day on Tuesday at RE Barcamp, and then heading to Beer With Bloggers, sponsored by Zillow.
On Wednesday, I’ll be at Bloggers Connect, learning and speaking on a fabulous panel. After that, it is off to the Inman booth to answer questions from folks, help people, and meet some more people on the exhibition floor. Wednesday evening, I hope that I will be able to make it to Truila’s party, among other gatherings.
Thursday is a full day of Connect SF ‘08, floating around between sessions and the Inman booth. I’m sure there is more to do on Thursday night, but I haven’t really gotten that far yet.
I do know that I will be leaving on Friday morning; probably one very happy, very exhausted zebra.
I can’t wait.
Of course, I’ll be Tweeting the whole thing– personally, and on my Inman alter-ego.
I will try to blog as much of it as I can, as well, but I’m not sure how much I will be able to get posted during the week. You can bet that I’ll have plenty once I return.
See you in San Francisco!
Focus is everything
July 8, 2008 | 1 Comment
In the real estate business, there are a lot of different things that can demand our focus at any given time. There are clients to respond to, inquiries to answer, agents and vendors to speak with, and that list doesn’t even include the various aspects of the actual business that need attention (marketing, service, lead generation, etc.)
Even though knowing where to apply your focus will change from time-to-time, focusing in the right place at the right time can often spell the difference between success and failure. This is a lesson of which I was very vividly reminded during my recent time at officiating camp. . .
Learning About Focus the Hard Way
It was just after 8:30 am on Sunday, the last of the three full days of basketball games. The early morning time, coupled with the mental and physical fatigue of constant officiating was bound to take a toll at some point, and boy did it ever.
About 3 minutes into the game, my crew and I were a bit off. We just weren’t working together as smoothly was we would have liked. Fatigue will do that. One one trip down the floor, I missed a rotation, meaning that I was out of position. I noticed it, and then I broke a cardinal rule of officiating– I took my eye off the player with the ball, who was MY responsibility. I shifted my focus from where it should have been. Instead, I took a glance at my partners so that I could figure out what the heck I was doing and get myself where I was supposed to be.
In the instant I shifted my focus, it happened– the player who I should have been watching hit the floor, holding the ball.
THAT got my attention. I caught just the last instant of the play, and when he hit the floor, the whole place went silent. It went silent because everyone was waiting on my to blow my whistle.
I blew the whistle. I had NO idea what to call. None. Completely blank.
I did the only thing I could think of that quickly– I called a jump ball and went to the possession arrow. In that situation, it was the least of many potential evils.
The coach, who was standing right behind me and did see the whole thing (just my luck), almost went apoplectic. Had it not been 8:30 on a Sunday morning, he probably would have, and I would have deserved it.
I did the only thing I could with the coach. I went to him and said, “Coach, I missed that one. You saw it. I didn’t. I lost focus. My fault.” Luckily, my admission diffused him as much as I could hope for, and the game went on. It could have been much worse. My momentary lack of focus could have really messed up the game for myself and my entire crew.
Focus is Everything
Just as in officiating, focus can mean everything in business. Where you direct your time and attention can have a tremendous impact on how the rest of the game plays itself out. As business people, we have to carefully consider what activities require our focus at any given time and concentrate on those activities 100%.
Sometimes, our focus must be on improving our marketing, other times on improving our service or education, and other times on meeting the immediate needs of our clients and customers. It is a good idea to take stock of your business on a frequent basis so that you can help determine what area might need your focus at any given moment. If I would have done that on the basketball court, I would have realized that my focus needed to be on the play in front of me, and not on the position of my partners.
Taking stock might mean that you review and prioritize your tasks for the day. It might mean that you review your business plan quarterly or even monthly to track your goal progress. Try to get in the habit of self-evaluation so that you can easily determine where your focus needs to be at any given point. Once you have done that, all that’s left is to FOCUS. CONCENTRATE. Give it 100%. You’ll be surprised how much more motivated you feel when you know that the work you are doing is the most important work to be done.
My momentary lack of focus had ramifications that lasted only minutes. In a different situation, it might have determined the outcome of a game or a team’s entire season. Like I said, I got lucky.
You don’t want to rely on luck. Focus now. Develop the focus necessary to lead you to your goals. Learn to direct your focus appropriately. I know that basketball coaches appreciate it; and so will your bottom line.
Wanna see what it’s like to live with the Zebra?
July 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Well, then check out this article in the local C-Ville weekly.
It was a lot of fun to be interviewed, but it couldn’t have happened without the help of our wonderful designer, Andrea Phillips. She receives well-deserved mention in the article, but what it doesn’t say is that she was able to pull together a design for our house in less than a week.
How it started
Phone rings. . . voice answers:
“Hello, this is Erika.”
“Hi Erika, this is Daniel Rothamel, you called me about featuring me in your “A Room of Their Own” series.”
“Oh, hi Daniel, thanks for getting back to me.”
“No problem. I listened to your voice mail, and the first thing I thought of was my car. I mean really, my car is the place I relate to the most. See, my wife and I recently moved into our house, and we really haven’t gotten around to decorating all that much. It’s kinda spartan.”
“Hmmm. . .that’s a little far afield for this type of story. I’m sure we can do something on your house. It doesn’t have to be extravagant.”
“Well, I guess I could figure something out, when do you want to do the interview?”
“How about next Wednesday?”
“WEDNESDAY! Today is Thursday.”
“I know, but we had someone else cancel.”
Moment of terror. Then an instinctual response.
“Sure, I guess that will work. Come on over.”
As soon as I hung up the phone, Kari and I looked at each other and said, “oh, crap. We are going to need some help.”
Luckily, Help Came Fast
Kari called Andrea next. Andrea lives in our neighborhood, and we had already talked with her about helping us out with our interior decorating. In fact, we had talked with her weeks before the interview, but we hadn’t really committed the way that we should have. We desperately wanted to have a home that reflected our style, but we just couldn’t find the time to make it happen. We work so much that we need our home to be a sanctuary, we just needed some help getting there. This interview provided the perfect occasion and motivation to get it done.
That is where Andrea came it. Kari and I are very good at helping people buy and sell homes, not so good at decorating them. For Andrea, however, It is something that she loves doing, and had done before for friends and family. We love her and her sister Laura, who is our fabulous real estate assistant). We also know a dynamic duo when we see one ;-). Andrea told us that she and Laura could get it done, so we told her to go for it, and that she had less than a week.
“No problem.” she said.
Boy, was she ever right. She met with us and asked us what type of style we were looking for, things that we liked, things that we already owned that we wanted to use, all of those types of questions. We told her. She asked how much we wanted to spend. We told her. She did the rest.
What she was able to pull together over the next few days was nothing short of a miracle. She decorated our entire main living area. The only pieces we provided were the couch, chair, tv, entertainment stand, dining room table, some shells, pictures and shell postcards we had bought in Florida. She did all the rest. She did it on time, and under budget (and that budget was not large by any means).
The result was magnificent.
She took us from having a house, to having a place where we feel at home. As I said in the article, every day we say, “man, I love this house.” It is all beautiful, and we couldn’t have gotten there without Andrea.
Help us thank Andrea
We can’t thank Andrea enough. What we can do, hopefully, is help her do what she loves, designing rooms and decorating them for people like us. So, if you are in the Charlottesville area, and you need help with your interior decorating (admit it, most of us do), then call me or send me an email. I’ll get you in touch with Andrea. You’ll be glad you did it. I know we are.
If You Want to Learn More About Blogging, a Little Participation is Required
July 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment
One of the things I have heard from bloggers is that they wish they knew more about other blogs. They wish they knew if what they were doing was working, or if others are working better. There is little to no data about blogging as far as how they relate to each other.
Enter the first CREST Blogging Survey.
This survey is intended to gather data about real estate blogs so that hopefully, we can all learn something about blogging and use it to blog more efficiently. It’s only a few questions long, only takes a few minutes, and all of the data is completely confidential. What have you got to lose?
If you want more information about it, you can see the discussion generated at AgentGenius, or listen to an interview with Ben Martin by Mike Price of MLBroacast.
I took the survey, so what are you waiting for? In order to have good data, it is going to have to come from somewhere, right?
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Disclaimer
My name is Daniel Rothamel. I am a licensed real estate agent in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a member of the National Association of REALTORS. As such, I adhere to a strict code of ethics and all laws with regard to equal housing, which is reflected in the content of this blog. My broker is Strong Team REALTORS, 86 Joshua Lane, Palmyra, VA 22963; (434) 589-5800. My VA Real Estate License number is 0225 077325. All of the opinions in this blog are mine, unless otherwise noted.
