Brooke Wolford
By Brooke Wolford
I recently attended and volunteered at the Minneapolis RE BarCamp. I was a BarCamp virgin. I knew the concept and felt excited about it. I also anticipated excitement among fellow agents. I didn’t, however, realize how amazing the atmosphere would be.
Agents came in early and could wait to view the session board. I saw many popping in and out of sessions just so that they could get a taste of everything. You would see excitement in their eyes once they realized the concept. The event was free and you learned way more than you normally would learn in the traditional CE course.
This made me look back at educational events I attended throughout the year. I remember just a few months ago realizing that I didn’t have all my continuing educations credits even though it seemed like I was constantly training throughout the year.
I chose the events that I attended based upon what I would learn. Not the CE credits I would receive. Many of the events were not even focused on real estate at all. I chose them to learn something I didn’t know or because of who was speaking.
My point is, don’t focus on your continuing education hours. What you learn should benefit you and your clients. Look into other business areas. There is a ton you can learn from other industries. Don’t be afraid to step outside the box!
Brooke Wolford is a real estate practitioner with Edina Realty, Hastings, Minn. Follow her blog at adventuresinrookierealestate.com.
Stefanie Hahn
By Stefanie Hahn
I’ve been teaching quite a few Twitter classes lately. I’m not sure if it is because I continue to push Twitter as a social-media-piece-of-cake or if agents are just starting to come around to micro-blogging and the benefits it can bring to their business. I imagine it has more to do with the fact that they are seeing, “follow me on Twitter” everywhere under the sun…and that’s okay, too.
I understand that Twitter is not for everyone – quite frankly, I have a love/hate relationship with the whole thing as well. I have come to realize, however, that Twitter has helped me professionally. How? I am now connected with real estate and social media trainers from all over the country – all of whom I can reach out to over the medium. I have met and befriended agents from all over the U.S. and abroad from whom I have learned more than I ever imagined. As a bonus, I have made new friends locally – something I wasn’t exactly expecting, and my mother is so happy she can now follow me and know what I am doing between those overdue phone calls. Finally, (since it is the metric agents always measure) I have even received a few referrals as a result of my work with Twitter.
If you are thinking about jumping into the deep end of the Twitter pool, listen first. Go to twitter.com and lurk there a bit. Try out the search box – type in “real estate,” your local market area, or anything else you are interested in reading about on Twitter and just follow along.
You don’t have to have a twitter account to see an unprotected twitter feed. Go ahead, lurk … http://twitter.com/ypn you can read all of the posts by the poster (in this case YPN) without ever logging into Twitter.
Finally, learn – even if you’re just going to lurk, you need to know some of the lingo. Here are a few key phrases: Continue reading »
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