Those 12 words spoken by Jim Rohn on a Nightengale-Conant tape, and heard by me in the summer of 1982, utterly changed my life.  I was given the tape to listen to by a man who thought that it would help me improve my life.

Up until that point I was sure that my lack of success in life was due to the circumstances of my birth, the lack of a college education, the time spent in the Marine Corps when others my age were in college, where I lived, the clothes I wore, the car I drove, in short everything around me was holding me back.

Jim’s twelve words stood out so brilliantly that I scarcely heard anything else he said on that 1 single cassette tape.  It wasn’t until later during subsequent listenings that I learned much more from him.

Jim had a very clear way of taking complex subjects and putting them in a way that I could understand.  And the understanding allowed me to apply them in my life.  He said that profits were better than wages.  And that I needed to be working on profits instead of wages.  At the time that I heard that I wasn’t able to quit a job to start a business.  But he assured me that I could still start on building the foundation that would lead to a business.  And so I went to Santa Rosa Junior College at night, and my job by day.  Four years later I obtained a real estate license and my life was forever changed.

I met Jim at a seminar in San Jose in 1995.  I shook his hand and thanked him for the gift of his wisdom and the gifts that his wisdom had given to me.

I’ll never forget that day, and I’ll never forget Jim.

http://tribute.jimrohn.com/

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

A great light has gone out; Jim Rohn passed away today

Change comes to all of us in one form or another and in many different ways.

Change can be welcome or unwelcome. It can be embraced or it can be fought. It can also mean many things depending on whether it’s a verb, noun or intransitive verb (whatever THAT is!).

But, in my case, the change that will occur at 5 PM on Friday, October 30, 2009 is going to be welcomed and fully embraced. For at that moment I cease being an employee and will return to my entrepreneurial roots.

For most of my career in real estate I have been a manager, a director or a trainer. As a manager I have managed real estate offices for Merrill Lynch Realty, Prudential California Realty, Mason-McDuffie Real Estate, Alain Pinel Realtors and Pacific Union. I have been the IT Director for Mason-McDuffie and also the Training Director for Pacific Union. I have also listed and sold houses in both Sonoma and Contra Costa Counties.

In that time I have trained thousands of agents in northern California in the basics of real estate listing and sales as well as how to use technology in their businesses. While I enjoyed the IT and the management functions that I have performed, I have loved working one on one with agents, helping them grow their businesses.

As a California Association of Realtors Certified Instructor, I have trained agents in the GRI program from as far north as Rocklin and as far south as Bakersfield and from San Luis Obispo on the west to Oakhurst on the east.

As an NAR ePro Certified Trainer I have worked in Maui and all over California as I introduced agents to the value of getting an ePro Certification.

While at Pacific Union I developed over 15 different training classes ranging from Business Development classes like Prospecting, Business Planning, Listing Presentation and more to Technology classes and social media classes.

Along the way I became an instructor for SRES and WinForms. I have also taught classes on BrokerMetrics, AgentMetrics, Clarus MarketMetrics, DocuSign and AgencyLogic.

And if you are reading this, you know that I have authored a popular blog on technology tools for real estate agents with tips on how to use them from a business building perspective. http://RealtyTechBytes.com has been published weekly since late January of 2008.

So, it’s a natural for me to open my own training and consulting business. And that is what I am in the process of doing. I am looking for space to work from (I can’t work from home as I cannot walk past the refrigerator or pantry without stopping by for a lingering visit). I’m determining my business name, developing contracts, opening business accounts and generally getting ready for next Friday evening.

I welcome your comments, your thoughts and of course your business should you need help navigating the rapidly changing waters of technology, social media and real estate!

I hope to connect with you soon.

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

Change

You may be asking yourself “what is a REBarCamp?” For questions like this I usually head on over to Wikipedia. Unfortunately, they had nothing on REBarCamp, but here is what they have to say about BarCamp:

“BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants.”

OK, fine, but why BarCamp? Once again Wikipedia has this to say:

“The name “BarCamp” is a playful allusion to the event’s origins, with reference to the hacker slang term, foobar: BarCamp arose as a spin-off of Foo Camp, an annual invitation-only participant driven conference hosted by open source publishing luminary Tim O’Reilly.”

So we finally come to REBarCamp (which I will now abbreviate as REBC). The first REBC was held in San Francisco in July of 2008. It was organized by local real estate agents to share ideas and learn from each other in an open environment. Little did they know that they were spawning a nationwide movement. Since that first REBC, there have been 25 others, in cities all over the US!

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty skeptical about most real estate conferences, having been to many NAR, CAR, CRS, GRI and company sponsored conventions and conferences over the past 23 years. Although I have always learned something at each of them, I have always had to pay enormous sums of of money just to get through the front doors. And then once inside, I was subjected to a constant barrage of vendors trying to sell me things ranging from Realtor® jewelry (Seriously, who NEEDS a rhinestone SOLD pin?) to books, clothing, signs, software and on and on.

And don’t get me started on the overpriced Inman Connect…

The one thing of real value that I took away from each of these past events is the one thing that REBC has in spades, and that is the opportunity to connect with real people in a meaningful way.

Here is how REBCSF worked (and I am assuming that REBCs in other cities work the same way):

1. It’s FREE! That’s right, it’s Realtor® priced! Not bad for this economy. (That also included free bagels and coffee in the morning and a free bag lunch)

2. There are NO vendors trying to sell you anything

3. It’s run entirely by volunteers

4. Sponsors were solicited and received some recognition for their efforts

5. There are no paid speakers (Although I did see several professional speakers in the crowd)

6. When you check in you are asked if you would like to lead a discussion. Imagine that! Your input is solicited! You don’t have to lead one, but the opportunity is there.

7. You get the chance to meet people face to face from all over the country, all over the world, and right next door! I met people from New Zealand, Chicago, Boston, New York, Texas, Missouri and from Piedmont, CA!

8. Learning from people who are actually doing what they are talking about is so very different from being “sold” something.

Although most of the presentations were focused on social media and technology, there were sessions on generating business, staging, financing and other traditional real estate topics.

Many of the people I have been following on Twitter and Facebook were there and we met Face to Face (F2F) for the first time. It felt like we had known each other for a very long time even though we had just met (physically) that day. And there is one of my big “A-HAs”. Because we had been “tweeting” or Blipping” or “Facebooking” for months, the F2F meeting was a meeting of people who already knew and liked each other. The F2F meeting merely confirmed what had been developed online. And cemented the relationship. I am certain that the same thing will happen with you with future clients. (Not so subtle hint: Get Started NOW!)

Another really big take away for me was meeting so many people who were actually closing business based on clients that they had met through their blogs, tweets, blips and facebook activities. It’s not theory anymore. It’s the new reality. Yes, this crowd was predominantly young (heck, anybody younger than 60 is young to me) but there were plenty of my peers there as well, proving that old dogs still want to learn new tricks.

Finally, in an environment where openness and sharing are not only encouraged, but are the underpinnings of the event, you would expect to see some charitable happenings as well. And REBCSF had it’s charity that raised $2,500 for Housing for the Homeless, thanks to the efforts of Ginger Wilcox and others.

So here is the bottom line. You need to go visit the REBC website and learn more. You need to see where the next one is located, and if it’s near you, plan on going. If there isn’t one near you, why not plan one? All the help you need is there on the site.

Learning from your peers is priceless. Sharing your knowledge with others is one of the finest ways of giving back you’ll ever know. And hanging out with energized and fun real estate people for a day is not to be missed.

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

RE what camp? REBarCampSF!

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

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