Snatching Bloggable Moments

By Brian Copeland

I’m consistently reminded by my peers “you’re online too much,” “you can’t possibly get any work done,” or “you must not have a life to do what all you do.”  Every time, my blood boils inside, and I find myself breathing harder to calm down and smile kindly.  My response is then, “Yeah, I manage,” then I simply shut up.

What most of my fellow-market-REALTORS® don’t know is that while they are paying $0.25 to $0.45 for postage, spending hours of time fishing in an abyss of non-measurables and spending hours chasing potential, I’m sitting back every day with free leads coming through my door with no money spent and minimal hours worked. Why?  I know how to capture my bloggable moments.

Posterous, iPhones, and quick boot laptops have made our efficiency soar in the recent years. I can work any time in those gaps in my days.  What are the bloggable moments you are missing or not even noticing in your own business?

Being chauffeured. I’m writing this entry while riding in a shuttle from a Canadian airport. While not all of us travel a lot, if you’re stomach can handle it, you’ve likely got a 30 minute ride when you arrive somewhere on business.  Turn that idle time into productivity.

Waiting on healthcare. Doctors, pharmacies, and health providers are notorious for being behind schedule.  If you simply plan ahead to bring a keyboard device, you can turn that inconvenience into a victory.  You don’t Internet connection there?  Big deal.  Open a Word (or like product) document and start typing.  The joy of the cut and copy lives forever. Read more

Keep Your Schedule Sane With A Little Time Management

By Kelly Reark

Do you want a sense of accomplishment? Do you want to be a highly effective person?  Are you feeling like there are just not enough hours in the day?

With all the fun ways to waste time every day, it is imperative to learn time management. I used to think that by sitting down once a week to plan my week was a waste of time. Now I know from practice that it is the biggest benefit to my time. Like many of you, I have a smartphone where I keep my schedule and it kindly reminds me of where I need to be when I said I needed to be there.

My smartphone is just the tip of the iceberg. I use it for appointments and commitments. However, I have a full-size day runner that I keep with me at all times. I have yearly, monthly, weekly, and even daily goals.  Each month, at the end of the month, I make a list of the projects and goals I have for the coming month. I review my past month and grade myself with imaginary gold stars on all I have accomplished. Anything I did not accomplish becomes a priority for the following month.

Each week on Sunday night, I block out my time and tasks for the week.  Solid blocks are set up right away for each of my lives. Your lives may be different than mine, which include my family life, health life, artistic life, spiritual life, work life, social life, and financial life.  Some of these lives I only address once a week or less. Some have daily blocks of time committed to them. Whichever the case, I make sure I have time for the things that are important for my life to remain balanced by blocking them in first.

What I find when I block in my time is that I have a lot more time than I thought I did.  Read more

Finding The Time To Blog

By Travis Broadwater

Dear Blog,

I must apologize for my lack of commitment lately. Between prospecting for new clients and trying to keep my closings on track I just haven’t had time to fill you in on my day-to-day activities. I promise I can change, can you forgive me?

Sincerely,
Travis

Now that I have taken care of the apologies, lets get to the point! I often find myself “blogging” great topics in my head, unfortunately I must admit, not even half make it to my laptop and ultimately to the internet where they belong. My problem lies in finding the time to actually sit down and just get to work.

Well this year I have finally decided to make blogging a priority as so many of you already have. In my “planning” I have made a list of three ideal times and places where I might be able to sneak a few paragraphs without effecting my day dramatically and I would like to share them with you. Read more