What you can learn when I make a fool of myself
August 6, 2008 | 18 Comments
I recently went to the Albemarle County Fair with Kari, my brother Bryan, and my mother-in-law Patsy. We all like fairs, and one of the great things about living in an area that is as rural as ours is that during this time of year, there is a county fair close by just about every week.
One of the things I did while at the fair was try out this really interesting ladder game. Basically, it was a rope ladder strung out across an inflatable platform. At one end of the ladder was a bell. The object was to climb the ladder and ring the bell. Sounds simple. It is, except for the fact that the ladder is attached to one point at the end that rotates freely. This means that the ladder very easily flips over, knocking you off.
My brother went first. He didn’t make it. Being a brother, he challenged me, of course. I gave it a shot. Before I did, however, we asked the guy who was operating the game how many people actually do it. He promptly jumped on the ladder, climbed right up, and rung the bell. It looked pretty easy he did it.
So then, I got on. Here is the result:
How does this matter to you?
Aside from the fact that you probably got a good chuckle out of watching me repeatedly fall over, this whole experience relates to business as well.
When a lot of folks look at technology, they look at it like most folks would look at the ladder game– impossible. They watch others try and give up, or try and fail, and they think that it must be too hard for them, too. Then, someone comes along and makes it all look easy, and it gives them confidence. Enough confidence to try it out, at least.
So, they do what I did. They try to duplicate what they have seen others do, and maybe it doesn’t work out just right. Maybe they fall down a few times, and then they just give up.
Don’t just give up
The fact of the matter is, though, that I know the ladder can be climbed; just as I know that technology can benefit real estate professionals. I watched the carnival guy climb right up that ladder, and I have watched more than one real estate agent reap the benefits of things like blogging, twitter, Facebook, etc.
I am sure that the carnival guy didn’t climb that ladder on his first try. I couldn’t do it in four tries. But, if I could put in more time and effort, I’m sure I could do it. The same is true of technology.
Because one of the professed benefits of technology is that it will make your life easier, people expect it to be easy. That isn’t always true. It usually takes some combination of effort and time for you to really see the benefit of using any given technology. It certainly takes time for you to appreciate the benefits.
So, give it a try, and don’t give up on it. I mean really, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like your family is going to stand around with dozens of strangers and laugh at you. 
(If you want to see some of the photos from our fair experience, they are on my Flickr page.)
I’ll be a judge in the first-ever My Tech Opinion video contest. . .
August 6, 2008 | 1 Comment
The folks over at My Tech Opinion have cooked up quite an interesting contest. They are asking for video submissions from folks that answer the following simple question: What technology product or service has made the biggest impact on your business, and why?
All you have to do is make the most interesting and creative video you can that answers that question, and then send them the link by August 31, 2008. They’ll compile all the videos, and pick a winner.
How will they pick a winner? With judges, of course!
I get to be one of the judges, along with Lani Anglin-Rosales, Mike Price, and Jeff Turner
It should be a lot of fun, and the prizes are pretty darn cool, so check out My Tech Opinion for all the details, and get working on those videos!
RE Barcamp and Beer With Bloggers were a blast!
August 1, 2008 | 7 Comments
Wow.
I got home from Inman Connect SF 2008 on Saturday (finally), and between all the pictures I took, and getting caught up on work, I am just getting around to posting about my experience. It was awesome.
The whole thing began on Tuesday with RE Barcamp and Beer With Bloggers. RE Barcamp was a very interesting experience, since it was a completely ad-hoc gathering of industry folks to talk about everything from blogging to photography. The topcis were diverse, the discussion was lively, and a good time was had by all. Brad Coy, who was one of the chief organizers of the event, got my thoughts in an interview just after everything wrapped up for the day:
One of the things that I took particular joy in doing was sharing with everyone the RE Barcamp Surprise. I worked together with Grant and Gia from RealSeekr.com to put together super hero trading cards for folks who were able to get their information to us. It was short notice, but we had about 75 people participate. Here are the cards just before they were handed out:
Handing them out was a lot of fun, and people even traded them amongst each other. They were quite a hit, and Nick Bastian shared his collection with everyone:
Bill Wendel was there and caught some of my presentation on video:
The whole thing was a very memorable experience, and I can’t wait to see everyone again in NYC. In order to save all those memories, I took as many pictures as I could (I actually took a lot more, but user error resulted in some blurry photos). You can view the entire set on my Flickr page.
The experience also resulted in a lot of very interesting and enlightening conversations and ideas. You can bet that RE Barcamp and Beer With Bloggers is the inspiration for many posts to come. . .
How/Why Do You Use Social Media?
June 16, 2008 | 1 Comment
As you might imagine, I have been thinking a lot about community building recently.
Whether you blog for business, blog to inform, or just blog to amuse, we all want to build a community, don’t we? Or, if not build one, at least find one where we can be a useful, active member.
There are a lot of ways to go about doing that. Here’s some.
Sounds pretty good to me.
Spread the Love Day– June 18th, 2008!
June 13, 2008 | 7 Comments
What is Spread the Love Day?
We could all use a little more love, couldn’t we? My idea for Spread the Love Day was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, and Benn Rosales (among others).
The concept is simple– I want you do something for someone else that you wish could be done for you. It could be anything, business related or not.
Wanna learn something? Then teach someone something first.
Wanna learn the secrets to success? Share your secrets with others first.
Want more comments on your blog? You better get out there and start commenting.
In short, I want you to spread the love. You can’t reasonably expect to get everything you want without being willing to share with others, can you? Of course not. Call this addition by subtraction, call it pay it forward, call it helping others to help yourself– whatever. Just make sure you SPREAD THE LOVE!
When Should I Spread the Love?
Well, you should be doing it every day, but since the longest journeys begin with just a single step, I’m suggest that you make a concentrated effort to Spread the Love on Wednesday, June 18th. That gives you some time to think about what you are going to do. Once you’ve done it, I want you to share your experience with others. For bloggers, you can write a blog post about it. For those of you who don’t blog, just tell a family member, friend, business associate, whoever. It doesn’t matter who it is, but make sure you share with them your Spread the Love experience. That way, you can hopefully inspire others to do something similar.
I’ll Go First to Get things Started
I wanted to give an example and spread some love first, so I did it in the video above. In the future, I want to launch a RealEstateZebra.com store, with various items that people could buy and wear, use, you know– schwag. Well, if I want people to do that for me, I am going to have to be willing to do the same for others.
In the video, I am wearing a sweatshirt given to me by fellow Virginia real estate blogger, Jeremy Hart. It is a very comfortable sweatshirt, and its got his logo on it. Very cool. I am also wearing a sticker given to me by the fine folks at RealSeekr.com. I like stickers, and they have a very cool website.
I wanted to spread the love to Jeremy and ReelSeekr. Hopefully, when the time comes, they’ll do the same for me. In the meantime, I want them to embrace the message and spread the love to whoever they can think of.
So, what are you waiting for? Come up with those ideas for how you will celebrate Spread the Love Day. I can’t wait to hear your stories, so remember to share them.
What is the Next Level For Your Blog?
June 7, 2008 | 6 Comments
On July 23rd, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion at Inman Bloggers Connect. The discussion is entitled, “Growing Pains: Taking Your Blog to the Next Level.” I am humbled to be on the panel with some really great people:
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm
Growing Pains: Take Your Blog to the Next Level
Going the distance and maintaining your blog.
Moderated by: Jeff Turner, President, RealEstateShows.com
Panelists:
Jim Cronin, Owner/Author, Real Estate Tomato
Dustin Luther, Founder, 4Realz.net Consulting
Nicole Nicolay, Co-Founder, Effektive Solutions, MyTechOpinion
Daniel Rothamel, Realtor, Strong Team REALTORS; Blogger, Real Estate Zebra
The Next Level?
The title got me to thinking, what exactly is the next level? I just wanted to share some of my initial thoughts with you here, and I’ll probably spend a bit more time addressing this topic as the event approaches.
The entire lineup for Bloggers Connect is fabulous, and I hope that I will see you there!
My Brother Riffs About Online Reputation Management
June 7, 2008 | 3 Comments
As much as it pains me to say it, my brother, Bryan, is a pretty cool guy.
He is currently a Senior at High Point University. When he’s not studying, he’s also a blogger. Right now, he is taking some summer classes, and preparing to spend next year as a Resident Assistant. I came across his latest post in my RSS reader, and wanted to share it with you all because I think he makes some very good points about online reputation management. Reputation management is a subject that all professionals involved in social media should pay attention to. The internet never forgets, and you should always think about what you are putting out there for the world to see. I could go on and on about it, but Bryan gives some very good real-life examples of what NOT to do, so you can just listen to him.
My brother is a pretty smart dude, especially for a 20-year old. He can see the importance of social media reputation management. If it is important to him, you can bet your reputation that it should be important to you.
So check out the advice from my brother (you can skip the first 30 seconds, unless you really want to know what is going on at High Point University):
If You Are a Blogger, You MUST Watch This Video
June 6, 2008 | 6 Comments
The following video is from Gary Vaynerchuk. If you like inspiration and blogging, check him out. If you like wine, even a little, then you should definitely check him out.
Every blogger (real estate or otherwise) should take this lesson to heart. The faster you can learn this and act on it, the more happiness and positive change you will bring into your life.
Ricardo Bueno and Daniel Martin are Two Mortgage Professionals Delivering Value Through Blogging
May 31, 2008 | 2 Comments
There are A LOT of real estate blogs. I don’t know how many, but it is a pretty big number. There are a lot LESS mortgage professionals out there blogging. Why is this? I have no idea. I do know, however, that I have been very impressed with two mortgage bloggers that I met recently.
Ricardo Bueno and the Industry Report
The first is Ricardo Bueno. Ricardo is out in Los Angeles blogging his brains out about the mortgage industry. This is good stuff, so check it out. Ricardo was also kind enough to join into the conversation on a recent episode of ZebraTalk about REBarcamp ‘08. A few weeks ago, Ricardo compiled the talents and thoughts of some folks around the industry and put together a free e-book entitled, “How to Build a Community Around Your Blog.” Ricardo asked me to contribute, and I was happy to do so. You may want to check the book out. More importantly, I suggest that you print it, email it, share the link with anyone you know in the industry who you think could benefit from the information. I think your colleagues would appreciate it, and so would Ricardo.
Daniel Martin Lives in a Mad Mortgage World
Daniel Martin is a mortgage professional in the mile-high city. Daniel is working on a very cool web resource for the mortgage industry, MadMortgageWorld.com. It is a comprehensive free resource for mortgage professionals that is designed to help them in this Web 2.0 world. He has compiled some great podcasts, and a series of conference calls, one of which he did with yours truly. It was a lot of fun, so check it out, and take a look at all the other great content that is on the site as well. Like I said before, make sure you share the links, share the podcasts, and share the love with anyone you know who might be able to benefit from the information he has gathered and shared.
Good To Know Guys Like Ricardo and Daniel
Lord knows I have had my share of trials and tribulations with the mortgage industry during my time in the profession. It is good to know that their are good folks like Ricardo and Daniel who are willing to take the lead and help improve their profession. My advice would be to take advantage of the information and insight that they offer, and if you get the opportunity, you might want to take advantage of their services as well.
Oh, I almost forgot, you can also follow both of them on Twitter (@RicardoBueno, and @MadMartin)
Catch the Zebra on Real Estate Radio USA Tomorrow at 4:30 EST
April 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Tomorrow is May Day. I don’t think I’ve actually celebrated May Day since the 5th grade. Tomorrow, however I’ll be bringing in the month of May with the Barry’s over on Real Estate Radio USA.
I’ll be on at 4:00 EST, but the show gets rolling at 4:00pm. You can listen in, or if you miss it, there will be an archive version as well.
Oh, and if you were wondering where they got that great bio for me, it is part of the Zebra Manifesto.
-
Connect With Me
-
Listen to ZebraTalk
-
Read the Zebra on AgentGenius
-
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.
