I became licensed as a REALTOR® at the end of November. I got some systems set up in December and wrote handwritten cards to over a hundred of my friends and associates, then took the second half of December and first half of January off for the birth of my son. Since getting going it took me 34 days to get to 120% of what I now consider to be a full client load and still deliver what I consider to be great service.

It’s time for me to revisit my business plan and make sure I’m ready to deal with what I think is coming.  This book is helping to transform how I run my business, both as a REALTOR® and an investor. Rework is changing how I look at the Real Estate industry, and how I achieve the goals I’ve set for myself and my family.

For the next several weeks I’m going to do shorter posts reflecting on the chapters of Rework. The book itself is a series of very short (1-2 page) stories, making it very readable and utterly brilliant. To quote from one of the reviews (emphasis mine):

Its 270 pages are mostly white space and tangential illustrations;you get about 100 pages here. It doesn’t go into any depth, simply skimming the surface of very many different notions. Nothing here is new, it is 80% common sense and you can read most of it for free on the Signal vs Noise blog.

And yet I highly recommend buying and reading it. It will only take you a few hours and will enrich your business life. Why? Because you are stupid.

Its okay though, I’m stupid too; we are all stupid. We constantly forget what we know; we backslide; we lose courage. We listen to overpaid overfed corporate execs and their ghost-writers and don’t listen to what our sensible grandmothers tell us, and heck those grandmothers would never have let the economy go crunch.

So we need books that remind us what we already know to be true, and reiterate it a distinctive and friendly way so that remember it for a little while longer than normal.

This book does this so well that it sets the benchmark for slapping yourself in the face. Along the way it reminds you that you wasted several hundred dollars on wordy business books that told you what to do and how to do it, by authors who did a 180 a couple of years later.

If you don’t already own it, I’d suggest getting a copy, following my posts and also checking out their Signal Vs Noise blog. You can buy Rework on Amazon in hardcover, paperback or audiobook.

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I’m starting my hunt for the right brokerage for me to work with. Picking a real estate brokerage is even more complex than picking a realtor when you’re going out to buy a property because I’ll likely be tied to them for at least a year or two. Some brokerages take as much as half of your commissions, and while I’m ok with that if I get the right support, I’m not interested in making my broker rich off my fees. Here’s some of my thought process.

What I bring to the table

• ~15 years at a property management firm doing everything from sweeping parking lots and painting fences through reno projects, leasing and doing high-stress and high-value evictions.
• 3 years as a professional internet marketer, focusing on SEO, web analytics and social media.
• 4 years personally investing in Edmonton real estate, learning the REIN system inside and out, and networking with Edmonton area investors.

What I want from a brokerage

• Someone who doesn’t eat their young. I’m not an uber competitive sort of guy, and I don’t want other agents going through my recycling to steal leads.
• Training, mentoring and a chance to work with some very experienced agents
• Proven technology solutions. I don’t really want to have to figure out the best options for tablet PC’s, paperless offices, lead management/CRM, etc. I have my own ideas, but I want to work with an existing system, without becoming the de facto IT guy.
• Advertising flexibility. I want to try weird custom signs, interesting online stuff and generally be outside the box. Particularly if they’re not full fluent in internet, I want to be able to run with it and not have a broker harassing me. Also, don’t make me use your sign supplier, or at least don’t mark the cost up.
• Fluent about or accepting of Joint Ventures. There are brokers who get freaked out by the idea that I might do some JV investments with clients.
• Flexible commission structures and desk fees. I want a broker who does more than just sell desks.

Who I’ve talked to and who I’m talking to:

• Sara and Sheldon at Coldwell Banker Johnson
• Art Valerio at Royal LePage ARTeam
• Bill T. at Realty Executives Polaris
• Jody at Schmidt Realty
• Bill Briggs at ReMax Edmonton Central

There’s more, but my questions are:

Who else should I talk to?

What else should I be looking for?

What do your favorite Realtors do that you love? What drives you crazy?

Photo Credit: neubie on Flickr

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It’s been nearly a month since I decided to become a Realtor, and Dad suggested that I blog a bit about the process and what I’ve learned about it thus far.

Hurry Up and Wait

After my time with Enquiro ended, I has some stuff to do, like finish the renovations on a house we’re now selling and do some consulting. Beyond that I had lots and lots of time and was prepared to devote myself to the Real Estate Associates Program (REAP) full time. I register for the short online Phase I course, and it takes a couple days for them to send me a login. You took my payment instantly, why does it take anything more than minutes to send me registration info?

At the conclusion of the Phase I course, which is a ‘pre-licensing’, learn about the industry, complete joke course, I’m supposed to write an exam according to everyone’s websites and the course material. I call AREA and the Testing Center, and finally discover that the test has been abolished. Good to know. Good to know that Realtor folks are up on the importance of the internet and having timely, accurate information on their websites.

Phase II – Real Realtor Info

Just to put everything into context, there are three phases in becoming a Realtor. The first one is a tiny online course which I really should have skipped. The next two are more substancial, and are broken into sections. Phase II has six phases and an online course, then an exam. Phase III covers the different area of practice, each with an exam, then an online course and finally the Provincial Qualifying Exam.

Here’s the flow chart of the progression:

As of today I’m on Phase II, Section III (and I’ve done the Environmental Issues online course)

Getting registered for Phase II was a gong show, and I’m seriously unimpressed with AREA. That’s a sentiment I gather is echoed throughout the industry. I’m still waiting on a refund they said would be coming through over 2 weeks ago, and an interesting conversation about a $150 administrative fee.

The content of Phase II isn’t bad. There will be more posts to come with tidbits of new/interesting things I have found in the content.

I’m working to approach this without thinking my experience has given me more than it has, and without any pre-conceived ideas, but really I’ve seen ~90% of this before. Oh, for the days when you could challenge the exam.

The Old Days

Speaking of challenging the exam, I had a good chat with Dad about when he did the exam. He was the last group who could challenge it, back in 1991 or so. Then the course was much shorter, didn’t include the extra modules and the Commercial/Residential/Rural areas at the end were optional instead of covering all three. It appears to be a much more comprehensive course now than it was before, and I have hope that when AREA is no longer the provider the courses will be even better.

Road Bumps?

So as I sit in the middle of Phase II, with little else to occupy my days (not actually, but I’d like to get through the course as fast as possible), I have one worry.

There’s at least four points to come where I have to register for a new phase, take an exam or wait for AREA/RECA to do something. If I have to wait for 3-5 business days between each step, this may take almost a month longer than I’d planned. And that, my friends, would suck.

In the mean time, I’m doing some freelance SEO/Social Media/Analytics consulting, renos, family and shopping for Brokerages. I’d like to get my designation sorted and start helping people out. If you’re planning to move or sell, and would like to chat once I’m licensed, give me a shout.

I’ll be easy to find. I’ll be the one behind a book in a Starbucks.

Photo Credit: Billselak on Flickr.

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The last few weeks have been very busy both personally and professionally.

I’m no longer working at Enquiro. It was part of a long realization that search marketing, while interesting, isn’t what I want to do, nor do I think it’s what I’m meant to do with my life. Working remotely since I got back from Ireland at the start of the year had been becoming more and more difficult, and some of the changes at the company were making it even more difficult for me. I wasn’t doing my best work and wasn’t enjoying the work I was doing. Megan and I had already talked about it a bunch and decided on a plan of action before Enquiro and I decided to part ways.

So What Next?

I’m becoming a Realtor. Similar to February 2008, I feel like I’m accepting my destiny in returning to an industry I know very well, focusing on the areas I love (education, working with people) and exploring an industry professionally that I’ve been very involved in.

I’m going to focus my business on first time home buyers, although I expect I’ll also do a fair bit of business with investors as well. Several of my friends recently bought their first homes or first revenue properties and I truly enjoy helping them learn about buying properties, figuring out financing and ensuring they’ll be able to do the things they want with their lives.

Until Then

I’m working essentially full-time on my Realtor courses, but I am taking on a little more freelance SEO and Social Media consulting. I’m spending more time with family, working on renos and enjoying life.

Photo Credit

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I moved into a new house last weekend. I chose Shaw for phone, TV and internet for a variety of reasons, but primarily for the phone and internet as I work from home.

Today the node that powers my neigbourhood went down, taking my phone and internet with it. Since all my work is online, this was a bit of a problem. It’s not like I can just take the rest of the day off. After a ~5 minute hold I got someone from Shaw on the phone. They were average as far as call center employees go, but then they did something great.

I asked how big the problem was, concerned that if I went the 4 blocks to a coffee shop their internet would be down.

He told me just how many people were affected.

I asked how long it’d be out (which was actually a dumb question), and he didn’t know the answer. But then I asked if he thought it’d be worth it to pick up and go find somewhere else to work.

He said yes.

That’s a big deal, beacuse tech support isn’t really supposed to tell you that their service is all screwed up, and that you should go use a potential competitors’ service. It could almost imply that their service is unreliable. This did the complete opposite.

Honesty let me keep working, reduced my frustration and gave me the ability to get on with my day. And 2 minutes after I walked out the door I saw 4 vans and 8 guys working to fix the problem.

I’d be way more pissed off if they’d told me it would only be a 30 minute outage. Instead I’m glad they were honest, and I got to spend the afternoon working at Second Cup. I’ll keep giving them my business and a reasonable number of people read this blog. That’s pretty good impact for just having honest employees.

Photo Credit: ChrisofDavies on Flickr

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In about 48 hours I’ll be getting on a plane and returning to the Great White North, which gives me cause to reflect on the past 3 1/2 months. I’ll be doing some more of that in the next few posts (as I’ll have a lot of time in airports to write them), but I’m going to talk about Continuous Improvement for a bit.

This weekend I finally wrote the test to become a Google Analytics Qualified Individual (GAIQ). For those who aren’t familiar with Google Analytics (GA) it’s a program which lets you see how much traffic is coming to your website and what it’s doing there. I’ve used it with huge sites making millions of dollars through e-commerce, and I’ve used it on little blogs like this one. The test was $50, which isn’t a trivial sum for a certificate which looks like they copied one used by a kindergarten teacher, but that’s not the point.

The point is that for the last three months, I haven’t just been fruitlessly searching for a job, roaming the European countryside on vacation and drinking the fruits of Ireland. I’ve been working to improve myself. Some of it’s been little stuff, like changing this blog over to the Thesis theme and starting to learn about WordPress hooks and CSS.

Then some of it’s taken more time, like the Google Analytics exam, or the reading I’ve done. You can see some of it in my Google Reader or my Delicious bookmarks. I’ve done a little writing for friends (see my story on an iPhone worm at WebAnalytics World). I’ve released another rental site ranking whitepaper and put on a free webinar on internet marketing.

In everything I do, I’m always looking for ways to improve what I do and how I do it, from sailing, to work, to music, to my marriage. I work to cultivate a spirit of continuous improvement, always trying to do better, in everything I do. Sitting on a beach for more than a week or so just isn’t in my nature.

I’ve been offered a position back at Enquiro. I know things have changed there in the short time I’ve been gone. I hope they find that I’ve changed too.

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It’s been a busy and turbulent week.

On the plus side, Megan and I found out that our Irish work visa have been approved and are winging their way to us now. They should get here early next week. We’re heading back to Edmonton around the 22nd and we take flight on the 29th of August.

On the down-side, on the same day we both gave notice at our respective jobs. Megan’s been working at the Kelowna Women’s Shelter and also at a local addiction treatment center. She likes her work, but she’s not tied to it.

I, however felt both sad and weird giving my notice at Enquiro. I’ve been there for over a year and a half, and it’s like leaving my family. I’m still going to be doing work for them as a contractor while I travel, and when I come back I have every intention of returning to work with them again. They’re amazing people to work with, great friends and an absolutely industry-leading firm. I know people there understand. One of our core values is ‘every day is a gift’. That’s a core part of why Megan and I are taking the time to go on an extended-working-vacation to Ireland. We’ve been blessed with this time in our life and we want to make the most of it.

I’m sad to be leaving friends, a career, and having to put some aspects of my real estate business on slow-motion. But I’m beyond excited to be traveling and spending a year in a cool country with the woman I love.

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Tom Peters’ 48 Quick Tips on Being a Better Manager

1. “Thank you.” Minimum several times a day. Measure it.
2. “Thank you” to everyone even peripherally involved in some activity—especially those “deep in the hierarchy.”
3. Smile. Work on it.
4. Apologize. Even if “they” are “mostly” to blame.
5. Jump all over those who play the “blame game.”
6. Hire enthusiasm.
7. Low enthusiasm. No hire. Any job.
8. Hire optimists. Everywhere. (“Positive outlook on life,” not mindless optimism.)
9. Hiring: Would you like to go to lunch with him-her. 100% of jobs.
10. Hire for good manners.
11. Do not reject “trouble makers”—that is those who are uncomfortable with the status quo.
12. Expose all would-be hires to something unexpected-weird. Observe their reaction.
13. Overwhelm response to even the smallest screw-ups.
14. Become a student of all you will meet with. Big time.
15. Hang out with interesting new people. Measure it.
16. Lunch with folks in other functions. Measure it.
17. Listen. Hear. Become a serious student of listening-hearing.
18. Work on everyone’s listening skills. Practice.
19. Become a student of information extraction-interviewing.
20. Become a student of presentation giving. Formal. Short and spontaneous.
21. Incredible care in 1st line supervisor selection.
22. World’s best training for 1st line supervisors.
23. Construct small leadership opportunities for junior people within days of starting on the job.
24. Insane care in all promotion decisions.
25. Promote “people people” for all managerial jobs. Finance-logistics-R&D as much as, say, sales.
26. Hire-promote for demonstrated curiosity. Check their past commitment to continuous learning.
27. Small “d” diversity. Rich mixes for any and all teams.
28. Hire women. Roughly 50% women on exec team.
29. Exec team “looks like” customer population, actual and desired.
30. Focus on creating products for and selling to women.
31. Focus on creating products for and selling to boomers-geezers.
32. Work on first and last impressions.
33. Walls display tomorrow’s aspirations, not yesterday’s accomplishments.
34. Simplify systems. Constantly.
35. Insist that almost all material be covered by a 1-page summary. Absolutely no longer.
36. Practice decency.
37. Add “We are thoughtful in all we do” to corporate values list. Number 1 force for customer loyalty, employee satisfaction.
38. Make some form of employee growth (for all) a formal part of values set. Above customer satisfaction. Steal from RE/MAX: “We are a life success company.”
39. Flowers.
40. Celebrate “small wins.” Often. Perhaps a “small win of the day.”
41. Manage your calendar religiously: Does it accurately reflect your espoused priorities?
42. Use a “calendar friend” who’s not very friendly to help you with this.
43. Review your calendar: Work assiduously on your “To don’ts”—stuff that distracts.
44. Bosses, especially near the top: Formally cultivate one advisor whose role is to tell you the truth. Regularly!
45. Commit to Excellence.
46. Talk up Excellence.
47. Put “Excellence in all we do” in the values set.
48. Measure everyone on demonstrated commitment to Excellence.

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Last night I caught a great talk by Mike Rowe on Ted.com.  First, if you haven’t heard about TED, you need to go check it out. Some of the most amazing people on the entire planet speak there, and watching their talks is like crack. Watch one good one and you’ll be completely addicted. (Or maybe I’m a big dork)

I really agree with Mike about work and how the perception of manual labour has changed.

And yes, I have castrated more than my fair share of lambs, and a couple of cows. There’s also no happier place on the planet for me than renovating something with my parents. Manual labour is a great thing.

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I’m writing this on my iPod Touch at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Amanda and I bumped our flight up because there’s supposed to be 6-8″ of snow tonight and I want to get to Edmonton for Grandpa’s birthday dinner tomorrow night. We managed to find an earlier flight to Seattle and the nice people at the Hilton switched our reservation.

Gotta say, the staff at the Northbrook Hilton are amazing. They were super-helpful our entire stay, rooms were immaculate, their free shuttle was great and the cost was pretty reasonable. (AAAAA1! Would stay again)

We’ll see how the rest of the weekend goes. I get to hang out in Seattle Saturday morning, then go to Grandpa’s party in Edmonton, then back to Kelowna on Monday morning. After that, it’s off to Vancouver on Tuesday to go see Brad Paisley with Megan. It’s time to get some frequent flier miles going on!

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