Just have to vent before I lose my mind

[Carol Kerr]

I'm deep in minutia and I'm about to lose my mind! 

I changed brokers the beginning of September.  Figured I should let people know where I'm at now.    And there's quite a few who have no idea I'm a Realtor.  I never did send that "oh by the way I'm now a Realtor so send me all your business" letter when I started in real estate.  Just seemed too cheesy and pushy.  Figured I'd rather let them know once I was wildly successful!  Besides I have other cool news to share... Stuff like Johnny has finally relocated to Austin from Louisiana and I have 3 adorable little Grandson Equivalents -- which is pretty darn cool considering I've never had kids!

Well, over 4 years in real estate and 6 years consulting before that and then about 10 years working here in Austin before that I've amassed quite a contact database.  Only problem is I haven't been very good about keeping it organized and updated.  So I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to get my poop in a group.  Besides, if I'm going to come across as a RCHB who sells real estate it would probably look really bad if I got their address wrong... At least for the neighbors...

So I'm all the way up to J...  In the process I've managed to call a few folks I haven't talked to in ages.  Sent a few emails just to say hi.  Sent an e-card or 2 to folks who I happened to notice had birthdays coming up.   Oh, I also wrote a letter reminding my past buyers to change their smoke detector batteries.  It's going out tomorrow, as soon as I go buy a bunch of 9 volt batteries to stuff in the envelopes.  Can you tell I'm not exactly a linear thinker??? 

In between I'm trying to finalize a new logo so I can get new business cards to put in the letters and have a sign to put in front of the house I'm supposed to list later this month.

I'm just not sure if I'm doing good things or avoiding doing the thing I dread... that reconnection letter... At this rate I figure I should be ready to send that reconnection letter out with the Christmas cards...

[Jennifer Allan]

Carol - you are SO one of us! You totally have the right attitude and approach - trust your instincts as you're doing all of this.

And yes, you will discover how many of your friends and acquaintances have no idea you're in real estate. You don't have to beg for referrals to let them in on that factoid and I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised by the postive reaction you'll get when you do fill them in.

And you definitely need to. But in a way that feels right to you.

Motivation? What if you find out later that 10 of your SOI hired some stranger to sell their house (or sell them a house) and really wish they'd known YOU were available?!

[RealCathrin]

Hi Carol & Welcome!
    I can think in a linear way right up until the fork in the road...which I always take.  I like to justify it by reminding myself how branching out and learning new things and having educational experiences is all worthwhile but I can't remember the last time I got past "J"!  Kudos!  Real Estate is all about energy in/energy out....you just never know when it will come back to you or how...but it always does.  <sigh>  Makes running a business called me tons of fun!  Anyway...I'm sure I'm going to enjoy your posts!  At least the holidays are great times for getting in touch for no reason...