Gary Carpenter

4 Ways To Keep Yourself Focused

 

Here is an occurence you see too many times before – you start off your day by telling yourself that you will get (insert amount) of task done today. As determined as you are, you might end up having blunt conversation with your friends, replying and sending out e-mails and of course, get really busy on social outlets. 

 

So how do we avoid all these evil attention seeking, unnecessary task and make sure we accomplish what we should be accomplishing on the day itself? Our minds are easily wavered and affected and it becomes extremely hard to realign your focus with items that you need to get accomplished. Today I want to share with you 5 ways to improve your focus in Real Estate and how you can possibly discard activity that can divert your attention. Now these tips can be subjective but it may be effective for you!

 1. Work In Chunks

It’s a scientific fact that our brains can only be attentive on a limited amount of information for a limited amount of time. Making sure the appropriate information in mind is the one that lines up with our activities in Real Estate is where the difficulty is. To lighten the load on your brain, it is better to segment your work into small manageable pieces. The idea is you do not want to spend an entire day working on one task non-stop. Breaking it up allows your brain to ‘breathe’ and it will reward you later with effective work. So work in small portions then leave your desk and if your lucky go outside breathe in mother nature.

2. Reward Yourself For Your Determination

It’s not really a bad thing to visit sites like Facebook, Meebo, or Twitter to get your social updates, but it’s important to not spend huge amounts of time on them, especially when your activities for the day are not complete. What I tend to do is create a set of tasks that I need to complete before I can visit any of those sites or leave my desk. I will work awhile, complete a task, then reward myself with some time catching up with a friend. This strategy relies on sheer perseverance and strong will. If you cant stick to goals that you set try another one of these methods.

3. Go Incognito

If all else fails and you just cant seem to get away from the Facebook and pesky co-worker emails, you have to hide yourself. Go invisible on the instant message clients, set the away message to “BUSY, DON’T BOTHER ME”. And for those people who love to stop by your desk, throw on those head phones so they dont feel inclined to spark up a conversation. I often have to close my door and put up a Prospecting Sign so that I can get my work completed. It seems the moment one person starts talking to me that the floods of people come. I’ve learned to never put myself in conversational positions while trying to be focused or make sure that i’m in control if I am in those situations.

4. Be Interested/Passionate About Your Work.

Finally the best way to be productive is to truly enjoy and be passionate about what your working on. We go to great lengths and hours of work for things that interest us. Yet we lose focus instantaneously if what we are doing is not important. It might take sometime finding interest in the work you do, you might have to just think about the big picture.

 

IPhone 4 Tips: 10 Things New Users Should Know

I don't know about you but I LOVE my new iPhone 4 and don't know how I functioned before I had it! ;0) The following blog is a mixture of a few things – mainly tips, tricks and some guides for those of you who just bought an iPhone 4. If you are skeptical about the reception and other potential problems the iPhone 4 might have – don’t worry – you are not alone. I am also going to share some hands-on experience regarding few potential iPhone 4 problems, so read on.

 

1. Update All Your Applications

First things first, check for application updates. If you have lot of applications installed in your previous iPhone 3G or 3GS, chances are they will need to be updated again so that they can take advantages of the new iOS4 features and iPhone 4 capabilities. So before you start trying out your existing applications on iPhone 4, take a moment to check if they need to be updated.

2. Where’s Facetime?

This is probably one of the first thing you’d like to explore on new iPhone 4, but where’s the Facetime app?Facetime is actually not an application, in fact, it’s an option available (for now) only when you make a call via WiFi to another iPhone 4 user.

Facetime is turn off by default. To turn it on, go to Settings → Phone and turn Facetime on. Carrier activation might be required. Learn more about Facetime.

3. You’ll Need A New Wallpaper

With retina display, everything on iPhone 4 looks amazingly vibrant and high quality. The screen supports up to 960×640 pixels at 326ppi, approximately 4 times higher than the resolution in a iPhone 3Gs. In another words, it makes your current wallpaper looks weak and you’ll need to look for a higher resolution wallpapers :-)

4. Try IMovie For IPhone 4

iMovie for iPhone4 is a light version of iMovie for Mac and it’s awesome. It allows you to edit and share your recorded videos on the fly. And did we mention all videos recording with iPhone 4 are in high definition (HD)?

iMovie for iPhone 4 cost $4.99.

5. Tap To Focus Object – Video

Even the smartest gadget can use a some human touch. While video recording, you can tap on different objects on the screen to have iPhone focus on them.

6. View Widescreen While Recording

If you swap from camera mode to video mode, you’ll notice that the objects are actually getting closer. That is because video recording is done in wide screen mode. To display in wide screen while recording – double tab the screen.

7. Search Web, Wikipedia On The Fly

By swiping right on the home screen, you’ll activate Spotlight. Type in something and scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll noticed two additional search options have been added, respectively the "Search web" and "Search wikipedia". Both search uses Safari browser.

8. Mirror, Self-Shot

iPhone 4 comes with an additional front camera. By clicking on the camera icon on the top right, the front camera is activated instead of the back. We thought this could be useful for those who want to use their iPhone as a mirror, or perhaps, it makes taking self-shots easier too!

9. The IPhone 4 Reception Problem

This is the question most people are most concerned about. To be fair, yes signal bars do dropped when gripped – they call it the Death Grip.

However, signal drop only happens in areas where receptions are weak, so it very much depends a lot on your service provider. The problem is mild, don’t get too worried about it.

10. Yellow Splotches On The Screen

Some users are reporting that they have been noticing yellow patches on the iPhone 4 screen. According tomacintouch, this is just a small temporarily problem as these yellow splotches are nothing but some bonding agents for the glass that will evaporate as the device is exposed to the air. You can relax now.

 

Four Simple Steps At Increasing Market Share So You Can Shift Gears and Head Straight Into Success!

If you’re a smart Realtor, you want to ramp up your business, get noticed and do it with a bang that makes your name pop out and stay in the memories of anyone looking to buy or sell a home or property. With a plethora of Realtors out there, all looking to do the same thing, how do you stand out and shine on your own? We’ve got a solution neatly lined up in four amazingly simple steps that will steer you toward achieving success – by shifting gears and driving business directly into your hands! Here’s how to narrow your focus:

When you zoom in on the specific focus points, you’ll find it easier and your goals more realistic to accomplish. By following these four strategies you can and will employ almost instant change in your business.

Decide What You Want

Knowing exactly what you want is a key factor in being able to achieve success. And the more specific you are, the better your chances of achieving your goals. By staying within reason of your specific goals, you don’t end up trying to be all things to all people – leaving you to focus on the important aspects of your career, and allocating a good amount of time to those things exclusively.

Whether it is wanting to sell a set number of homes per week, working a 20-hour workweek, controlling your volume and traffic or creating a certain quality of life – the idea is that when you know what you want, you will know what you need to achieve what you want, and you’ll also have a clear idea of the people you will need to be working with to be successful.

Decide Who To Target

If you attempt to reach too many people in too vast an audience, the ability to home in on a specific niche is taken away from you. By focusing on a group that you know you want to work with, you solidify your chances of greater success within that niche. An example of a targeted audience is move up buyers. This may be the ideal potential clientele for you to seek out, since they increase your sales price averages, take considerable less work and are a great source of long-term business leads because they are usually established homeowners with many contacts and potential leads. Regardless of which niche you select, the importance of honing on a target audience is paramount, as it will clear up the focus and allow you to concentrate on increasing your success.

Establish a Brand

Many Realtors make the common mistake of relying on their broker’s brand. To a consumer, everyone looks the same in the real estate business so it is essential that you create your own brand, unique to even your broker. This way the consumer, especially the ones who fall into your targeted audience bracket, can distinguish you from the rest of the lot, and recognize you for the services you can provide them unique to their needs. When you have established your brand presence within the niche you’ve selected for yourself, not only will consumers appreciate your services but they will also understand and value those services – resulting in them understanding that you are worth what you charge for your time.

Create a Specific Message

Once you’ve established your wants and needs, you have selected a target audience to achieve those needs and your niche has its own unique branding – it’s time to create a very specific message geared toward your potential clientele. The idea, again, is to stand out from the rest. By creating a clearly defined message, you are leaving no room for mistaking what exactly you have to offer; whether sharing your value proposition to potential clients, highlighting your experience levels or previous successes, the message is one that will drive traffic to your door and help you to reach the pinnacle of success, as you’ve defined it.

~

Following just a few simple, yet essential steps is key in establishing your goals; knowing who you need to pursue to achieve those goals and setting up the framework to do so in a way that is optimal for business – you can and will shift gears and increase your market share!

 

Keller Williams Realty Named Highest Ranked in Home Buyer Satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates for Third Straight Year

This is amazing 3 years in a row! How could not at least want to check out a company that is able to accomplish this on a National level.   AUSTIN, TEXAS (July 30, 2010) —According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Home Buyer/Seller StudySM, Keller Williams Realty, Inc., the third largest real estate company in the United States, has received the highest overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms for the third year in a row. The company also ranked second among home sellers in the study for the second year in a row. “We are incredibly proud of our associates for earning this distinction and want to thank them for their commitment to their clients and communities," said Mark Willis, CEO of Keller Williams Realty. “We see this honor as demonstration of our company philosophy that it is the agent’s brand that matters most and no amount of money spent on advertising can replace the influence and reputations our agents have in their local communities. Our associates have earned this on their own, by building relationships in their communities."  The study was produced by J.D. Power and Associates to measure home buyers and sellers customer satisfaction. The results of the home-buying experience were determined by three factors including the buyer’s experience with their agent, the real estate office and a variety of additional services. Keller Williams Realty performed particularly well in the agent and office factors. And, overall satisfaction of buyers for the industry was up over last year.   Additionally, the study noted that the importance of real estate agents has increased substantially in the past year, with buyers and sellers relying on the negotiating skills of their chosen agent and help in navigating the market.   “It is thrilling to see our firm, once again, get public recognition for its incredible focus on customer satisfaction from such a prestigious group. Our associates continually demonstrate that it is possible to deliver the highest level of customer service in one of the toughest real estate markets on record," said Mary Tennant, president and COO of Keller Williams Realty. “We feel incredibly fortunate to be in business with them, and want to congratulate them on their hard work and dedication."  In the past year, Keller Williams Realty has continued to grow despite the well-publicized turmoil in the real estate industry. In addition to becoming the 3rd largest real estate company in the U.S., surpassing RE/MAX®, Keller Williams Realty was ranked as the No. 1 real estate franchise on the 31st Annual Franchise 500 list by Entrepreneur magazine and was voted the Most Recognizable Brand of Real Estate Franchises and the Trendsetter of the year for 2009 in an industry-wide survey for the Swanepoel TRENDS Report.
Download printable version	For more information: Amber Presley 512/327-3070 Email

Keller Williams Omaha Trip to KC to Quantum Leap! Wow what a great experience!

All I have to say is WOW! Keller Williams Greater Omaha traveled on the VIP Limo Bus to Kansas City for the Quantum Leap event!. We all met at the Keller Williams Market Center at 5:45 am and made it back to Omaha at 7:30 pm. Again all I can say is WOW!  I could type out what how the event went but thanks to John Lorkovik I don't have to...watch the video.

Download Quantum Leap Notes

I would also like to thank the our sponsor's

Regent Financial paid for the Limo bus (Thanks Tad, Joe, and Brad)

Independent Building Inspections paid for the food (Thanks Steve Boy do we love food!)

KW Agent Leadership Council picked up $50.00 for each tuition (Thanks ALC)

Accountability Creates Results!

One of the things I love most about the Floyd Wickman program is the accountability that is built into each program. Agents that go through the program have a core set of activities they must complete each week: 

1. Actively prospect for 4 hours a week by phone in their office
2. Attend 2 For Sale By Owner appointments
3. Attend 2 listing presentations
4. Work thorough their week in an organized fashion - Floyd calls that a SMART Week
5. Show up on time, and don't leave early

If one of these things is not completed the student gets a strike (Accountability) and if they get 3 strikes they are asked to leave the program with no reimbursement! I know that sounds tough and I also know it's one of the main reasons our students produce like crazy.  Floyd has had a long-held opinion that many don't cut it in real estate because once you get that license, everything is optional.  EVERYTHING.  So when we work with our students, we not only teach, we hold them highly accountable and remove their option to fail.  And in so doing, this is what happens:

Keller Williams of Omaha just completed a Floyd Wickman Program with the following results:  

• 30 Agents generated 
• 130 listings
• 118 Sales
• 248 total transactions or 
• 1.37 transactions per agent per week
• 613 referral leads or an average of 3.40 per agent

Take a look at this video to get a peak inside the classroom!

How a graduate used Facebook to generate $13,000

How great is this?  I am splashing into the blogging world and how appropriate that my first post is about social networking. I've included a re-blog from my best friend and mentor Jason Edwards who has been poking and prodding me to create a blog.  Until now I did not feel I had a voice in the blogging world. Be nice.

Facebook has been the most fun form of FREE marketing there is and you can do it at home while in your pajamas! If I'm on an hour a day, I consider it lead generating- even if just "liking" or commenting on a status update (with no mention of Real Estate at all). I have had AWESOME success! Last year new business generated from Facebook totaled 13K in GCI! Today, over $1.2 million of my listing inventory is from Facebook.

via www.agentjason.com