Mike's comments

Great article! It makes common sense. I remember a professor telling me common sense isn't common. I am just getting around to thinking about fixing my website after being told by my friends, clients and my two teenage sons for the last 2 years that it isn’t me. It doesn’t really reflect what I do and who I am. Of course now I have to figure out how to fix it. Your article will be extremely useful.

Thanks and have a great day,
Mike

Sorry I have to miss this event. I have some pressing person issues I must attend to today.

I hope we have the opportunity to meet in the near future.

Have a great meeting and a great day,

Mike

This is great information on these networking events. I guess there are a few of us who don’t like the venue; groups. We tend to shy away from groups and operate much better one on one. It isn’t because we don’t know what we do and why it is valuable. Many of us just are not comfortable in a large group. I managed sales people for years and many of my top sales people did not do well in large groups but excelled in small meetings and one on one. Some of my sales people brought me in to do the stand-up presentation rather than face a crowd. I would really like to see an event were the attendees gathered and spend a few minutes, maybe five one on one with each other getting acquainted. I’m not sure how this would be done, but maybe 10 small tables with people rotating every five minutes? I think this would benefit everyone and would provide each of us with the opportunity to really make a connection. If someone comes up with an event like this please let me know and I will be there.

Thanks again I enjoyed the article.

Mike

Okay you asked for it. I haven't had any real objective review of my website or my recently started weblog. I am web ignorant. I use a standard real estate web hosting service with a few web formats. Since you offered FREE advice I can’t say no.

My website is on my profile.

Please don’t spend too much time on this. I know we are all trying to make a buck.

Thanks, Mike

Well all great stuff (stuff being a technical term) but I guess my question has gone from how the rankings were done to do they mean anything anyway? Are people actually modifying their behavior to be ranked higher? I wouldn't say this is bad, just interesting. Do people make decisions based on a members ranking? Again there are always those competitive people who want to be number one in everything they do.

As far as rewarding people for time in grade, I have no opinion on that one. From the founders standpoint I would think members who bring other members to the group should rank at the top. Increased membership rewards everyone because it expands the resources available to all members. I vote for those who bring in the most members to be at the top, but only if they are over six feet tall and over 60 years old. Just kidding - I thought a little (very little) humor was called for. I know ranking is serious business.

This is one of the on-going issues for most small businesses. Sometimes the profession drives the billing approach. I came from the corporate world where hourly, daily and monthly rates were common for professional services. We also bids for projects, but even here all activities outside the scope of the project were billed hourly. In real estate it is based on a commission when the sale is completed. So the amount you make is subject to the market, sometimes you make a lot and sometime you don’t. I think flexibility is important to some clients. I offer the standard commission based services, but tell me what you want and lets work together to find a fee that works for us both. Not all clients or projects are the same.

George Carlin said words matter. I think certain words set people off – religion is certainly one of those words. I think 99% of all people are basically good and try to do the best they can to operate in an honest and straight forward way both in business and in their personal lives. We all have a set of principles we adhere to, some call them religious principles and some don’t. Honesty and truthfulness are not exclusive to religion. Some of the most religious people I know (based on the second commandment and the golden rule) don’t go to church.

Have a great weekend,

For those who would like to have a personal blog you can get one free at wordpress.com. Once you have your blog - go to zimbo.com and register the blog also free and you can publish you bold postings through this site. It gives you a lot of visibility on the web.

Good luck and have fun...

Mike

Craig's List is the best place to post the info along with pictures. Many people are looking for homes on this site. You need to post once a day and keep changing the pictures. I put all my listings on Craig's list and it works better than newspaper and real estate magazine ads. You should also post on Seattle Back Page daily and Zillow. I use them all, but Craing's is the best. All these are free.

Good luck...

Mike

Craig's List is the best place for the type of property, but you are welcome to use my website to see all rentals in the MLS, by neighborhood. This migth be helpful in seeing what is availbale and what the prices are in the neighborhoods you'd like to rent in. Just click on Property Search and then on the city you want and under property type click on rental. I don't do rentals but if you see something in the MLS you like let me know and I will give you the contact info so you can go directly to the party renting the property.

Have fun...

Mike

Thanks for coming to South Snohomish County. See you Wednesday.

Have a great weekend...

Mike

Wow...Thanks for the info. I doubt it will affect my behavior on the site or that of others, but it is good to know. I waited for a while to become a paying member to see if I would use the biznik network and I agree if you use it you should join.

I am still feeling my way and I’m not sure how best to use this great resource for my business, but I will figure it out sooner or later...

Have a great day,

First let me say I have no idea what ranking is or how it is established. I thought the order members are shown in, when you click on memebrs, was based on when they joined. I'm not sure rank is important, but then again I go back to my original point - I just don't know what it is or how it works or what it means.

Any help here would be appreciated.

Have a great day...

Great info and widely unknown. I just sent out two press releases - FREE and paid a small fee for a third.

Sorry I have to cancel. See you next.

Have a great day...