Russel's Blog

As a Marketing & Business Consultant, I love to deconstruct things to see what they are made of (there's that pesky preposition ending again, so I'm adding this parenthetical text). After all, deconstructing the human psyche and trying to determine what makes it tick, what makes it buy, what makes it sell, what makes it choose me over someone else, is simply fun. With apologies to the Beach Boys, "I'll have fun, fun, fun, 'til my Client comes to take me away."

I've only been here at ActiveRain a little less than a month, but for ActiveRain newbies, almost-newbies, and anyone else who is wondering where to get points, here's what I've found so far:

• 100 points for activating your real estate profile.
• 100 points for adding your primary phone number. Apparently no points for alternate phone number and no points for fax number.
• 175 points for short description in your profile. You're limited by the number of characters, so use them all.
• 100 points for your first feedback or suggestion to ActiveRain.
• 200 points for including your photo in your profile.
• 200-600 points for linking to Active Rain. I linked all four of my web sites to Active Rain using their 600-point logo on my home pages for 2,400 points.
• 400 points maximum for testimonials in your profile. If you have less, get busy. Be wordy. Don't abbreviate. If you have a testimonial from a Client named Viswanathan Anand (for all you chess fans), and you live in Truth-or-Consequences, New Mexico, put that. Don't put "Mr. Anand." If you have a billion testimonials, then you can abbreviate. But re-write or add if you don't have 400 points yet.
• 400 points maximum for "areas of expertise" in your profile. If you have less, get busy. Be wordy. Don't abbreviate. If you have a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, put that. Don't put "B.S., Texas A&M." If you have a long résumé, then you can abbreviate. But re-write or add if you don't have 400 points yet.
• 400 points maximum for "about me" in your profile. If you have less, get busy. Don't be afraid to delve way back into your history: "I was born in Kingsville, Texas. My first interest was music, and I was practicing piano, violin, and voice before I was 10."
• 50 points the first time you view someone else's points summary.
• 100 points for your first feedback or suggestion to ActiveRain.
• 25 points for each blog comment you make, as long as it's either 10 words or 50 characters, apparently.
• 4-9 points for each comment from someone else in your blog. These are the only points that you don't seem to get awarded immediately. I guess there are Active Rain Blog Trolls (ARBTs) who visit every new blog and then push the magic button that awards points. I've not been able to determine what affects the number of points awarded. I was thinking that it probably had something to do with how many comments you get within the first few minutes, or how many comments you got while your blog post was still on the blog scroller. Nope. I'm currently leaning toward the opinion that you'll get more points if an old-timer has enough interest to comment on your blog, fewer points if lots of newbies common on your blog. I've seen blog posts get no additional points above the initial 200 and then, weeks later, along comes an ARBT and, boom!, 72 extra points. Really weird. I have determined that old blog entries with new comments get updated at midnight on Saturday and midnight on Tuesday.
• 225 points for a blog entry if you complete Channels. Without Channels, it's 200 points. You can get an automatic 2,250 points by doing 10 blog posts per week. The ActiveRain week starts at midnight on Saturday/Sunday (for you military people, that could be 2400 on Saturday, or 0000 on Sunday). You are not limited to 10 blog posts per week. You are only limited to an automatic 225 points for each blog post up to 10 per week. Whomever the Powers That Be are can award you 225 points for blog post #11 on if they deem your blog post worthwhile, and you will always get credit for comments (see above).
• 200-275 points if your blog post is "featured." 
• 25 points if you re-blog someone else's blog. Haven't yet determined if there's a maximum number here.
• 25 points if someone else re-blogs your blog. Haven't yet determined if there's a maximum number here.
• 250 points if someone accepts your invitation to join ActiveRain.
• 10% of the points that your iinvitee earns. This is where you can get big-time points if you invite big-time people or Actively play in the Rain. I've noticed a couple of over-300,000 pointers here don't "actively" participate anymore, yet they get 500-1,500 points per day because all the people they invited are still Actively Active.
• Bonus points. Awarded as deemed appropriate by the ARBTs.
• Contest points. These can range from 200 points just for entering the contest to 500 points for placing, and 1,000 or 5,000 for winning.

Again, you get rewarded for being wordy in your profile, so do it, but do it properly, as I've explained above with abbreviations and your personal history. If you don't have anything to say, check your own web site for content.

There might be others that I haven't found yet. As I find them, I'll keep you posted.

 

"Let's Go Play In The Rain"

I recently commented on someone else's blog about

participation at Active Rain and what one gets from it.

 

By far it was the longest comment I've ever made, and I was tempted to just do my own blog entry and then go back to his blog and say, "see my comments here" with a link back to my blog. The I figured, why not do both? That way I could comment on some of the comments already there at his blog, and expand on things in my own blog. So here goes.

 

Active Rain is like life in general.

 

It might be a real estate networking community, but everything I've seen here indicates that the diversity of people, emotions, and opinions reflects life in general. And I believe that is just as it should be. That's what's so great about Active Rain.

 

Over 114,000 members of all persuasions.

 

There are a lot of people here with whom I disagree, but I still visit their blogs, read them, and occasionally comment.

 

If the first three pages of their blog

are exclusively religious or political,

I don't comment.

 

I might read—might—but I won't comment.

 

The same applies to politics.

 

In fact, my Partner and I have a set of

GUIDELINES

for commenting on the blogs of others.

 

I stay out of political and religious frays, mainly because it is quite possible that a prospective Client might see my name associated with that blog, and if my prospective Client is Muslim, well, the last time I checked, he was using good ol' American dollars to pay me for my services, so I don't want to be associated with someone else's ranting against non-Christian religions, which is what I usually find.

 

 

It's one thing to have an opinion,
it's quite another to have an impolite, unprofessional,
just out-and-out nasty opinion.

 

I don't want to be associated with that, Republican, Democrat, or otherwise, again because my prospective Client could be of any political ilk. As long as he's using American dollars, I don't really care. If I find that his politics are extremely opposite of mine, I'll take his money for my services and donate it to various charitable organizations whose views I agree with.

 

In many cases, what they say just reinforces my own correct opinion. LOL

 

 

 

The fact that there are people here who don't participate anymore is okay, too.

 

They are missing out on what we have to offer,
and we really are not privileged to know why they are not participating.

 

They might have found a community more to their liking.

 

They might have moved on to a different profession.

 

They might simply have posted their résumé here so that they are the first John Doe here, or so no one else can assume their name here and post erroneous information. People post their résumés all over the Internet. It's what my Partner calls the NBA. No, not basketball, which really disappointed me when he first mentioned the NBA approach. It stands for the Nuclear Bomb Approach: Put your name everywhere and the fallout might get you a few hits.

 

Most of them are hoping for a hit, and sometimes it works. After all, of a prospect sees your résumé everywhere he looks (Active Rain, Linked In, Merchant Circle, Twitter, etc., etc.), then the natural assumption is that “he must be good.”

 

They might have wanted instant success, not found it, and moved on. Everyone wants instant success. That's why lotteries are so successful. Excepting lotteries, many people will give just about anything a try and when they don't see an immediate result, they give up on it.

 

I used to be the same way, but my Partner of 14 years has taught me to

 

take just a few things and do them well,
do them persistently and consistently well.

 

That persistence and consistence is the only reason why I’m still in real estate in this market since I got started in May 2005, at the peak of the boom here.

Dr. Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI, might have said it best with the title of a recent book of his:

“Givers gain.”

 

Many of us learned from our parents that "you get out of something that which you put in."

 

I have been Active here for only three months and have one buyer under contract as a result of my persistency and consistency here. I have almost 50,000 points.

 

My Partner, who has two company profiles here at Active Rain (home inspector and marketing & business consultant), has 6 home inspection referrals and 19 new clients for his M&B business. He’s so busy that he’s not taking any new Clients for the rest of the year.

 

One of the comments that I read in the other blog was about it being difficult for professionals other than Realtors to get points and see a huge response. As far as points go, everyone gets the same points for commenting and blogging. Build up a friendship circle of Active Rain friends, and you’ll get 100 instant comments when you blog, too. Those comments are worth points. But those people have been here for over a year, so newbies won’t be in their league until they’ve put in the effort.

 

Put the same effort into Active Rain,
persistently and consistently,
that they have done,
and in one year I can guarantee you that you'll have
100 instant comments to any post of yours.

 

It should be easier for other professionals to see a response due to the mere fact that not everyone buys a home every day of the week. However, a painter here would be much more likely to pick up business and referrals from the public and from the Realtors themselves. Lots of people are staying put and merely painting their homes instead of selling and upgrading in this economy. Some can’t even afford the paint, so they are just buying some new furniture. Uh, where are the furniture sellers? They should be here. This is a real estate networking community. Guess where you put furniture? That’s right. In real estate! Duh.

 

I regularly read about Active Rainers not being able to think about something to blog about or they are afraid that it won't be interesting to anyone else. As my Partner would say,

That's just an excuse

Let’s go back to the Active Rain community being just like life in general. If something interests you, blog about it because I can guarantee you that it will interest someone else. Just look at your statistics to see how many people read your blog entries on the blog scroll and how many click through to your blog. You’ll be surprised. I was.

 

Even if you’re into “cats that like to eat rats and then regurgitate it for the family dog as dog food to get even with the family dog,” I can guarantee you that there’s at least one other person who is into “cats that like to eat rats and then regurgitate it for the family dog as dog food to get even with the family dog.” The rest of us would read it because it just sounds so unusual.

 

I read the paper each morning, and there are always at least five things that I could blog about. I have a huge list here. Think about what you do each day, your conversation topics with family, friends, and business associates, newspaper headlines or television sound bites that "got your goat." The only way I can believe that you don't have anything interesting to say is if you can tell me that you have no family, friends, or business associates.

 

So get busy.

No more excuses!

Let's go play in the rain.

 

"Let's Go Play In The Rain"

 

Some of Jim's blog entries

1. It's Halloween, and that means it's Black Cat Month 
2. It was 57 years ago today: I Love Lucy
3. A tour of Cancer Survivors Park in San Diego
4. How much sleep do you get each day?
5. Are you an educated, big mouth friend?
6. It's only true if I say so
7. 10 ways to get rich, courtesy of Warren Buffett
8. Home safety for children: Why let them be injured or killed?
9. Buy-and-bail loan fraud
10. Is it okay to climb a tree on someone else's property?
11. Is 13 YOUR lucky number?
12. Representing two buyers on the same property simultaneously
13. Slow down, look around, and pay attention
14. Are you as drunk as a bee?
15. Are you a food label reader?
16. Pets are wonderful support, but not very good drivers
17. Do you prefer roses or rotten eggs?
18. San Diego Plant Atlas is now online
19. The common sense gene is missing from the gene pool
20. Is there a conflict here?
21. You mean I've been subsidizing the sports stars?
22. We could learn from history if we'll just take time to study it
23. Excessive furnishings and storage create fire hazards
24. Is Active Rain trying to tell me something, or am I just weird?
25. Make every Friday "Backup Friday"
26. STOP THE INSANITY!
27. If you can't get to it, you can't tell how old it is
28. Your digital camera can do so much more than just take pictures
29. It's hard to believe Zoey's already been here a year
30. It's hard to believe Sophie's been gone a year
31. Is THAT the house?
32. Don't trust, do verify
33. Please help me identify this type of architecture. Craftsman? Victorian? Modern?
34. Southern California fire season is just around the corner
35. Welcome to my home
36. If you could easily get rid of your child, would you?
37. Wow! Nice underwear
38. There obviously is no financial crisis if Zoey has been pre-approved for a $5,000 credit card
39. Is there trash in your trash can?
40. Private, gated, fenced, coded subdivisions
41. What's in a name?
42. Location, location, location? Ha! Views, views, views
43. Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam
44. Did you put that on the disclosure form? "I didn't think I needed to."
45. If you needed to hide from someone, could you do it in today's world?
46. A home is like a child
47. Should I stay or should I go now. Remodel or move?
48. Water, water everywhere, or is it?
49. Always on the lookout....
50. Are you prepared for an emergency?
51. Four secrets to getting and keeping online customers
52. Holding an open house with fleas
53. Tuesday laugh session with the "treadmill kitty cats"

Just over a month to go until registered voters in the United States elect a new president. Presidential elections are often met with mixed emotions. Elections definitely energize the general public. Big elections can get those who might normally pay no attention to politics to sit up and take notice, and those who are normally political may  become hyper political. Issue of every type are discussed by candidates, media pundits, and the average person. The negative to this is the frequent bombardment of the general public with negative and often nasty ads. The political mudslinging is a sad commentary on the election process. While it is easy to become distracted by the circus that is national politics, it is designed after all to grab your attention, this is a great opportunity to shine a light on some issues that don't often make the front page.

One such initiative is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Cat vs. Dog '08. This initiative is an easily accessible way to explore eight issues that are vital to the protection of animals. The issues range from puppy mills and "Dangerous Breeds" bans to dog fighting and horse slaughter. These issues are presented in an animated debate forum between Mittens-the-Cat and Rowdy-the-Dog. The format is a successful attempt at not browbeating readers and supporters into signing a petition to whoever the soon to be elected president may be. According to the ASPCA website, the petition will be given to the newly elected president shortly after the election. The goal is one million signatures; as of this writing there are 372,264 signatures. The petition only requires a first and last name, an e-mail address, a city, and a zip code. If you are an animal lover, I would encourage you to explore the the important issues they are highlighting and sign their petition if you agree.

About the Author

If you are in the market to purchase a home or even refinance an existing loan and you want a loan officer that will walk with you every step of the way, then contact Danny or Rich of the Thornton Team at Home America Mortgage today. We can have you pre-approval in as little as 4 hours. You can visit our website or send an email to thorntonteam@homeamericamortgage.com or call us @ 865-951-0522.