The Millionaire Real Estate Agent

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Russell Shaw

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. – Isaac Newton What follows in this post may seem to some like Earl Nightingale meets Buddha – and maybe it is – but I think you are going to like it. Last week Matt wrote: I might have missed something in the post, but to say that all listings for the discounter were $299 is probably not correct. “58 X 299 = $17,342.”I see a lot of “Discounters” using low selling price as a tool to get people in the door, or on phone. $299

Shift Happens. Read This Book.

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Russell Shaw

This is the book I am telling all of my friends in the real estate business to get and read. It is so well researched that those of you who like statistics will be impressed just with some of the stats. Those who may have hit a rough patch and found their business in a bit of a skid will find it to be just what the doctor ordered. Those who are already doing just fine will find a very put together write up of what they are already doing. I haven’t found anyone doing really well who didn’t find

Do What You Are Doing While You Are Doing It.

Posted on November 24, 2008 by Russell Shaw

Have you ever had the remarkable pleasure of talking to someone who keeps checking their phone for new text messages while they are talking to you? Naturally, nothing you are saying could matter quite as much as the next fabulous text message they are pretty sure they are going to receive. The stupid idea of multitasking has spread throughout our society like a contagious disease. It isn’t simply a "bad" idea (as in unsafe, rude, counterproductive), it also happens to be physically impossible. One does not "multitask". Oh sure, you can think you are multitasking but you are not. What

Are You An Opinion Leader?

Posted on September 3, 2008 by Russell Shaw

photo credit: www.rishimodi.com Management is telling people what to do. Leadership is teaching them how to think. Opinion leaders tell people what to think. Despite various surveys indicating how low the general public ranks real estate agents, some agents are highly respected by their clients and peers. How does that happen? To understand how that is accomplished, first let’s look at the concept of influencing the opinions of others. Various studies have shown that media communication intended to change someone’s buying or voting behavior seldom works directly. The communication may be directly received by the person it is intended

A World Champion

Posted on August 19, 2008 by Russell Shaw

He made history. In the 112 years the Olympics have taken place, Michael Phelps was the first person to ever win 8 gold medals in a single Olympics. The crowd went wild when he won the 8th but nothing was more remarkable than his 7th win. He won that one by one one-hundredth of a second. To me, it looked like the other guy (he has a name but isn’t it interesting from a marketing perspective how it doesn’t just roll off the tongue?), Milorad Cavic actually won. 1/100th of a second difference took 1st place. That was the difference

A Talk I Gave to New Agents

Posted on August 13, 2008 by Russell Shaw

This was for new John Hall agents and the room was very hot, so I had two big fans going at the same time. Unfortunately, you can hear the fan noise. The talk is a bit over 90 minutes total and it has been split into nine parts. It is in mp3 format and clicking on each of the links will open the file in your computer. People who have heard me speak many times before said it it was very very good. Other than the fan noise, I agree with them. Talk from Russell on July 16th, 2008 part

Ninja Genius & the Enemy Line

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Russell Shaw

Okay, this is really, Enemy Line, part 2. Part 1 was here. The reason for the delay: I was in Orlando for Starpower and this is the first chance I’ve had since I got back to town. This post was prompted by the various questions I received in the comments section of that first post. Please forgive me for this: most of those questions (I received some in person as well) were prompted by people reading the first post and then NOT actually doing what that post said to do. This would be sort of like reading about an exercise

The Enemy Line

Posted on July 20, 2008 by Russell Shaw

Achieving success is primarily a mental thing. One can observe the physical actions and results but sitting behind those actions and results are thoughts. "Correct" thoughts. The right kind of thinking leads to the right kind of actions. In any meaningful and desirable activity there is an infinity of incorrect ways to attempt to accomplish the intended result. There are but a few "correct" methods. Correct is being defined in this context to mean it works. That kind of thinking will produce the intended result. Usually, even in what could be classified as a purely "physical activity" the difference between

Listers Last

Posted on July 16, 2008 by Russell Shaw

This post started as a comment in response to some of the comments to this post on Agent Genius. Russell, in a matter of a few minutes, can give you the names of dozens of listing teams across the nation doing equal or far more business than he does. He can’t, however, do the same for buyer agent teams. Correct. I am in the top 200 agents in the U.S. again this year. But I am not "the" top. Last year (2006 stats) I was number 25 in the team "sides" category. There were a number of people who beat

Which is Better: a Home Buyer or a Home Seller?

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Russell Shaw

It probably depends on your point of view. Are you looking for a quick nickel or a slow dollar? Do you want a job or a business? How about in "this market"? Isn’t it better to have a buyer than a listing now? I’ve written before that my expertise is in getting and getting rid of listings. In some of those posts I’ve seen comments to the effect that I forgot to mention working buyers. I didn’t forget. To sell a house you need a buyer. Each time and without exception. It just goes with the territory. But if your

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