Exercise and Sparkles

20 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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It’s no secret that exercise plays an important role in the lives of the most successful people. When I lost my sparkle last year, part of the problem stemmed from my loss of motivation to work out. I’ve worked out consistently for most of my life. It makes me feel good and gives me time just to be alone with my thoughts. Sweat and the treadmill create a great problem solving environment.

Recently, I was chatting with a very successful friend of mine. We were openly talking about the good and the bad and discussing options for improvement. When I got to how unhappy I had become with my lack of drive to exercise and excessive weight gain, she said these super simple words. “Well, that’s what walking is good for. Should we be digital accountability partners?” A few days later I re-joined the gym and starting making the effort. I also started reading a book she recommended called The Miracle Morning. It served as my necessary reminder that exercise is not just important, it’s crucial.

It’s absolutely crazy how much better I feel. There hasn’t been an ounce of weight loss yet, but the energy, drive, confidence and commitment have been so welcome.

I think it’s safe to say that another little piece of my sparkle had been found. Remember, you are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with. I have some amazing people in my life that I forget I can lean on when I need to.

Stop telling people you’re fine! Open yourself up to receive advice and encouragement.

Add Some Sugar: Cooperative Emailing

02 Thursday Jul 2015

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Years ago, during a real estate convention, I heard the incredible Tim Sanders speak about goals, being cooperative and always giving everything you can. It lead me to start following him and reading his books. I was intrigued to find someone with the same values as me that had experienced so much success. The first book I read, Love Is The Killer App confirmed that it’s really okay, even better, to be what he endearingly calls a Lovecat. There’s been times I’ve been told I’m too nice to succeed—which was a shock to hear. If I have to choose values over money, values win every single time.

Lovecat vs. Tyrant

As a managing broker of a small, but busy, real estate office, much of my job is advising the agents on working through their transactions. Trust me, when it’s the biggest transaction of a person’s life, there can be issues on top of emotions on top of issues. Most days, you’ll find me at my desk or hovering over an agent’s computer reading an email that usually trails a phone conversation about details. Why am I taking the time to do this? Well, when you’re conveying a difficult message, it’s easy to talk on the phone and in person and hear voice inflections of the other party and read when they’re concerned about something. You keep your voice calm and pause as needed to help manage and diffuse. However, there are times when messages have to be delivered or re-stated via email, so all parties can understand the same message. This takes tact. I love that the agents trust me to help them with these delicate messages. My personal “Lovecat” advice phrase is: You’ll need to add some sugar.

I completely believe that the tone of an email or text can break deals, just as it can break relationships in your every day life. I receive an average of 75+ emails a day. Rarely does anyone take the time to stop and consider how the person on the other end of the web will feel when they read an email. How can I tell? There’s just no personal touch. There’s no sugar. There’s no please’s or thank you’s. Simple directives can come across as demands. Lighthearted jokes can offend. Short, quick responses can come off as cold.

Whether my agents are emailing a cooperating agent or one of their customers/clients, the importance of finding the right words remains. Reputation is of utmost importance in the service industry. Some well placed SUGAR goes a long way.

Be. Here. Now.

07 Wednesday Jan 2015

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This post is a little over 2 years in the making. I didn’t feel like I deserved to write it until now.

Be. Here. Now.

For the last few years, I’ve heard this phrase more than I care to admit from my best friend. Be with ME, present in this moment right now. Experience this with ME. Make ME feel important. You see, social media can become an addictive drug for some. It certainly sucked me in. While at dinner, I would check my email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Not just at dinner. Every second of every day. I had to know what was going on in my online world. What my digital friends were doing at all times. While this addiction gained me some very important friends, knowledge and Klout points; it lost me almost as much. I had to be stopped. I needed an intervention.

Be. Here. Now.

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Learning, Growing, Pursuing

13 Thursday Nov 2014

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I’ve just returned from the 2014 National Association of REALTORS Conference, which was held this year in New Orleans. Every year I’ve attended, I’ve worked to find some tidbits of information to share with the agents back at the office. This year, however, NAR granted me access to the recordings of all the sessions and I felt free to focus on my own personal growth as a broker/coach/accountability partner.

Two sessions were especially meaningful to me. The first was from Bruce Gardner of Strategy Box titled Coaching Your Agents with the Seven Success Styles. Bruce hammered home the point we’ve all known for a long time—there isn’t just one successful type of salesperson. Different customers actually create a demand for many different sales styles and there’s a secret sauce to finding and coaching to each distinctive style. The other session that blew me away was from Trista Curzydlo of C4 Consulting titled Risk Reductions for Brokers in a Digital Age. When the session started, I felt as if I had a pretty good handle on what she was going to talk about. About 5 minutes in, I was pleasantly blown away. If you’re running a real estate company right now, it would be in your best interest to let Trista bend your mind a little bit with her challenging questions and tips on the risk and management of what she calls “New Media”. This girl isn’t just the smartest kid on the block, she’s also wildly entertaining with the ability to create fun where there’s usually fear and boredom.

On the Expo Floor I didn’t find a whole lot of new this year, but I did find a friend who’s launched a new product that seems like a great way to keep in touch with past clients. I was happy to find he expanded on the items we talked about last year and has created something that could turn out to be very valuable in a real estate transaction. Essentially, an active living history of a home—it’s called Home Diary. Don’t worry, the product is totally free and gives agents the ability to load their personal info and logo to the site. Once you’re set up, you can easily invite a list of friends or clients to create their own Home Diary. As the years go by in the home, owners can load information such as details on new appliances, extra work that’s been completed, receipts, warranties and more. When they go to sell the property they’ll simply share that info with their real estate agent and also have a reference to help fill out that dreaded seller’s disclosure.

As everyone knows by now, I’m not this serious worker bee all the time. Heck, we were in New Orleans, a place that demands you have fun—even the networking events were awesome. I was incredibly happy to have my real estate partner/husband with me this trip. Josh is one to turn every place he travels into his hometown and explore outside the tourist box. We became streetcar aficionados, honorary New Orleans Saints fans at the local spot Bamboula’s, part of the crowd at the Treme Creole Gumbo (Jazz) Festival, a bit of a blue crab eating spectacle in the French Market, Wild Thing singers on Royal Street and solid friends with a couple of locals. Here’s some fun pics from the trip.

Careful, Your Passion is Showing

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Bob Harvey, Quinn Harvey, real estate, real estate industry

Not long ago, I was accused of lacking ‘passion’ when it comes to my work, my everyday job in real estate.

For a second, let’s remember Maya Angelou and her beautiful words:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Me, lack passion? Every single second of my day is filled with a passion for the real estate industry, my company and the people I have the pleasure of working with all day. Real estate isn’t easy and there’s days it takes passion just to get out of bed in the morning. Often, we find ourselves in the middle of difficult situations and we have to be strong and calm in the face of the storm…..PASSION is what moves us through it.

Fast forward to this past weekend when I was out with the hubby and some friends. We had the opportunity to see one of my favorites The Bob Harvey Band which included Bob’s son Quinn Harvey. I’ve enjoyed Bob Harvey’s music for years and it’s been awesome to watch his son, Quinn, really grow as a musician. From his early days when he seemed almost timid on stage, to the bold and confident musician he is now…. (forgive the raw video)

So, as I was sitting and watching Quinn play with such passion, I said something about it to my friends. Of course, this made the word for the night ‘passion’. Well, Jo, was that enough passion for you? (I love my friends) All this brought me back to the idea that anyone can accuse someone of lacking passion. But maybe, it’s not the fact that the passion is lacking, it’s that the person just doesn’t want to (or doesn’t see the need to) share their passion with you.

Are you worthy enough for your friends to share their passion with you?

Real estate is a relationship business and everyone that has any sort of relationship with me, knows that I’m in real estate. Not part of the time, not dipping my toes in the water, not as a hobby—-real estate is a career I’ve been passionate about since October 2000.

It’s awesome to see someone’s passion come alive in a career and I’m super happy to have this avenue to share my passion about real estate with the world. If your passion for your hobby or your career is strong, you commonly feel like you can take on the world and forget the naysayers.

Whatever it is and whoever you choose to share it with, I say, GO and live your passion.

Nobody can take it away from you with their words or their actions. It will always be inside you ready to bubble out when you let it. Protect it as you see fit.

Social Media Miranda

01 Thursday May 2014

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Oh yes I did:

SOCIAL MEDIA MIRANDA

You have the right to remain silent. PERIOD.
Anything you post can and will be used against you in a court of your friends.
You have the right to think twice before posting to the public and to have friends in your corner during questioning now or in the future.
If you only have Facebook/Twitter friends and have no real friends, your defense of yourself will be null and void.
If you decide to answer any questions now, without your previous posts or friends present, you will be endlessly ridiculed for your un-tech-savviness.
Knowing and understanding your rights as I have explained them to you, are you willing to continue posting your mindless dribble?

Activity Breeds Activity

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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Wow…I Hold On

This song resonated me on several levels this morning. I was on my way in, composing this blog post in my head while driving and it came across the speakers. What a passionate statement. I Hold On.

I was thinking about the practices of successful real estate agents and how activity breeds activity. For years, I’ve seen agents become more successful as they increase their activities. Now, I’m not just talking about the obvious door knocking, marketing, and cold calling activities. Personal activities count as well. As I watch them go on more vacations, join clubs, exercise, and continue their education, real estate business increases.

Activity breeds activity.

This career path can be as challenging as it is rewarding. But, as the years have passed and we’ve survived one of the worst real estate markets in history, I’ve seen them Hold On. They’ve held on to what they believe in, what they love, their freedom, their careers. When the successful didn’t have business, they increased their activities and Held On.

No matter the career path you’re on, if you’re looking to move forward and be successful, take my advice and increase your activity. You’ll get there. All you have to do is Hold On.

Learning from the Newbies

15 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in Liberty, Random Thoughts, Real Estate Career Advice

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I have to say, 2013 was a change year in my career as a real estate broker.

I’ve been coaching/training agents for about 10 of my last 13 years in real estate. It’s always fun to have new agents in the office. They bring an energy and a different perspective to our world. Let’s face it, we all tend to get complacent in our activities after we become successful. This year, everyone in my office got the benefit (fun) of several new agents at once.

Personally, I’ve learned a lot from our newbies. I always tell agents that in order to be successful, one needs to wake up early with a plan for each day. Block time for marketing, coaching, learning and selling. However, most of the time I’ve found the need to push them to do so and continually energize them, with some of them leaving before they’ve ever seen any success from it. Then…in comes our new crop of agents with an entrepreneur mindset I’ve rarely had the pleasure of witnessing.

Let’s take, for instance, Patrick McDowell and Gina Galloway. These two steadily work on and in their business throughout the week….like they’re running a business. Just over and at a year in real estate, respectively, these two put together a very successful client appreciation party. What?! This is an afterthought for some seasoned agents, but these two took the idea and ran with it.

Not only that, these two business-minded agents hold me accountable to holding them accountable to their goals. Sort of a, Joanna—please hold our feet to the fire, weekly pow-wow that I’ve started looking forward to. Their customers enjoy their expert knowledge of the Northland and Liberty and their fun, energetic approach to marketing and service.

Then there’s husband and wife team, Don and Joy Engle. These two have

shown our company that it’s possible to blow past sales goals, even as a newbie. Once again, that entrepreneur spirit shows through and is apparent in their customer service standards as well as their drive to succeed.

I’m so grateful to all the agents in my office this year for embracing every single one of our recruits and creating an unmatched synergy throughout. We saw great numbers this year with many goals met and surpassed. No longer is it acceptable to get a real estate license and just ‘see where it takes you’. You’ve got to take it, brand it, market it, mold it and build it into your successful business. From here on out, I will be looking for what I’ve seen in these new agents in every interview.

Congratulations to all of you for your 2013 successes and I’m certainly looking forward to 2014. Thank you for enhancing our office and showing me the only limit is the one we set on ourselves.

Christmas On The Plaza

13 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by JoannaGWilliams in MO, Random Thoughts

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I have memories of my father’s gloved hand holding mine while walking in the snow on the plaza when I was six or so after dining at McDonald’s. All the store windows were dressed up for Christmas and the toy store was like a fairytale land. This memory is forever in my heart, especially during the holidays.
Few things have a hold on me like the Kansas City Plaza lights at Christmastime.
Last night, I was blessed with the opportunity to stop and take a look at the lights from an upper view that was as romantic as it was breathtaking. This city has always been my home, but at Christmastime it takes on this magical power that transports me back to my childhood and all things wonderful.

I was talking to a lady last night about the plaza and she asked, “what’s the big deal? Why does everyone refer to it as ‘on the Plaza?” You don’t ever hear people say “on Zona Rosa” like it’s a big deal.

You see The Country Club Plaza has long been revered as a place of affluence. Long ago, if you bought something on the plaza, it immediately took on more value, and so did you. While we took in the sights, I was doubly blessed to be wearing something that not only has Plaza history, but family history as well—my hubby’s late grandmother’s coat. Just look at this label!

The plaza lighting ceremony dates all the way back to 1930. What used to be a single strand of lights over a doorway has become 15 blocks of beautiful lights, and a MUST SEE for anyone in KC during the winter. I’m sure there’s millions of people with similar stories about the plaza (and I’m sure many of you think of it as your special place), but it will forever be where my heart calls home.