It is now "soon"

For the past couple of years, my website has had a big ol’ “Gone Fishing” sign hanging on it. When I let my license go inactive, I would have just closed it down all together except that the domain hosts were also taking care of my email servers, and I just didn’t want to figure that out, too. So I just left it there, awaiting the day I would come back and dust the place off, getting it ready for another go-round.

So here I am. When last I looked at the old site, there was not much more than a cryptic message that “big changes were coming soon.” Well, “soon” has arrived (finally), and I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last couple of days sprucing up the place. I know a serious internet marketer would be appalled that I am using a template site, but I have reasons, so I’m sticking with it. Flash site or not, it was a conscious decision to stay where I am – for now.

In honor of basically restarting my career, I’ve thrown a new template on the site. In general, I like the layout and appearance, but I can’t help but wonder what the developer was thinking with the little fairy bubble that floats around. Another case of "just because we can doesn’t mean we should." Unfortunately, I can’t make it go away. It’s part of the code that I don’t have access to. I know, I know, that’s “proof positive” that I shouldn’t be using a template site, but I look at it as an annoyance rather than a deal-breaker. I like the look of the rest, so far; we’ll just pretend it’s the spirit of the website, OK?

I’ve also been adding a few things that folks might find useful and/or interesting. My new company, Equity Colorado, provides me with a newsletter service. Once a month, a new edition is put out, and I will be uploading them to the site, ready for anyone who desires to download and enjoy. I’ve added a few back editions, also, and I’ll be adding more as time goes by and I find a few free minutes. If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you’ll know when the new editions are ready.

A really big addition to the site will be the financing calculators. I’ll be adding those as I go. Each one is worthy of a blog post, so I’ll be doing a series on them, too. These calculators are a handy way to help with the decision process when buying and selling real estate. Some will mainly be of interest to buyers, some to sellers, and some to buyers and sellers both. There will eventually be some just for analyzing real estate as an investment. I’ll let you know when new ones are added.

Go take a look at the “new” site. It’s still a work in progress, and always will be. It’s just one of the resources I have available for your use. Definitely let me know if you want to see something else added, and I’ll look for way to get it there.

The best performance improvement is the transition from the nonworking state to the working state. ~J. Osterhout

Changing directions



 I had started this post talking about the paperwork that I needed to complete in order to get my license reactivated and transferred to the new company, but before that little essay was polished, the transfer came through. Frankly, it gave me pause more than I realized it would. Suddenly, the name of the company I was working for was not my own. It’s been a long time since that was the case.


Those who know me well know that I am, to put it lightly, of the entrepreneurial sort. I like calling my own shots. Those who don’t, shall we say, respect me so much, say I have a problem with authority. Long story short, I don’t really like being told what to do, or how to do it. I would much prefer to make my own way in the world, making my own mistakes along the way and learning from them. I have always liked the freedom of being my own boss. Now, with this new arrangement, there is technically a new boss above me. Why would I do this?

In a word, efficiency.

Trust me, my new broker and I had a conversation about how independent I could be. It’s important to me to be able to deal with my clients as if I owned the business, because really I do.

Part of owning a business, of course, is making it run. There is only so much that one person can do before the time or money is depleted. The harder one works to make the business run, the less time there is to get the clients to work with. It’s a vicious cycle. Doing all the jobs is almost a guarantee that none of them will be completed well.

That can be very frustrating, when one has a clear vision of the business he hopes to build. The destination is always on the other side of a canyon, and the bridge is always under repair. That’s why I was so excited to come across this new firm, Equity Colorado. Their vision of what a real estate brokerage should look like meshes closely with mine, and what’s important is that they have already built it. All that was left for me was to join them, and let them take over all the back-office stuff that was consuming me. Now, I can focus on working with clients, which is what I should be doing. This new arrangement is like finding a brand-new bridge over the canyon, allowing me to get where I want to go with my real estate business.

Yes, it means that my name will no longer be “on the door,” but it means that now I can point my focus where it rightfully belongs. Sometimes, we just need to go a different route to get where we are going.



The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn. -- David Russell

Getting back to work

To say that it's been a while since I last posted would be a bit of an understatement. So, do I apologize? Do I go into a lengthy explanation? No. Sometimes, life gets in the way of itself, and that's just the way it is. Does it mean that all the things I said so long ago no longer apply? Again, no; those words still apply. In their deferment, they might even have more import now. If you really want to know all about the last two years, let me know. Maybe we can go get a beer or two while I fill you in.

So where am I now? The same as before, only two years later. My license is currently inactive, and I am working on completing the requirements for reactivating it. While that is going on, I am developing several strategies to help build up my business. This blog is one; my facebook business page is another. My website needs to be updated and slightly restructured. There are so many things to do, and so many opportunities, that sometimes I literally cannot sit still.

One thing that is firm is that when I do get back to work, I will be "hanging my license" with another brokerage, instead of remaining completely independent. I am an entrepreneurial sort, and the appeal of running my own show is substantial. When I found a company that is aligned very closely with what I am trying to do, and would end up costing me less in the process, I couldn't say no. Gone will be the back-office headaches, which will allow me to spend more time with clients. So, I will very soon be associated with Equity Colorado. I think this will be a winning situation for all of us.