Geez - This has got to be one of the weirdest discussions I've read in a long time.

Here are some observations on my part: 1. My husband is British. Two of his relatives (mother included) were literally killed by their medical system. The mother was experiencing kidney failure (which was very obvious to us), and the kind folks abroad decided to have her wait until things got better. 2 -days later she was dead. Worked well, huh?

1. I was in a car accident in Canada. I was taken into the ER of the nearest hospital up-island from Victoria. The person told us as I was wheeled into the ER that I would have to wait to receive triage "until these other people can been seen since they have appointments they set months ago." In an ER? That was weird. Came home days later and was treated in a US hospital. Muuuuuch better service.

2. My husband I live on my little tech salary. Last corporation I worked for, had an HMO sort of insurance. When my husband went was hospitalized, I quit looking at bills once they exceeded $250,000. I paid zero.

3. Now I work for a company that has the 80/20 plan. I pay bloody prices for both of us. Why is it that Swedish Hospital has one price for insurance, but I have to pick up the difference after the negotiated rate? Happens with all the docs. Last visit? $80k.

4. What if my company decides to cut back hours or no longer offers insurance? I'd be stuck using the Government Plan, if there was one. Right?

5. If I pay directly for service, I understand I'll be penalized for having better service than the Government Plan.

6. Please don't tell people what they can eat or not or whether they should exercise. Where is the "pursuit of happiness" for folks in the enforcement of these goofy rules over our lives?

Dunno. The propsal our leaders have been discussing doesn't appear to have win-win on it. More like, "we're gonna cram it down your throats cuz we know better".

I want lawyers out of the mix if at all possible. The docs visiting my husband charged $200 per 10 min of seeing him whilst at the hospital for checking his pulse and asking how he felt. Whad up with that?

Seems that fees should be less (and could be if docs didn't worry about getting sued every 5 minutes) and that only the unemployed or truly indigent have access to a plan to see certain docs if they need help. Leave the rest of us alone if we can scrape enough $ together to pay premiums and the remaining 20% of that huge bill...

Pete - Email me ASAP when/if you can hold one after-hrs and in the general Seattle area.

P.S. Don't I know you and your wife from Mary Morrisey? Rita

Thank you, Bryan, for hosting this event again. I am sooooo looking forward to your Pearls of Wisdom. I've been struggling w/a plan and I might be overthinking the process. Need advice about sources for things too.... R

Having attended the Unity Church a few times in Seattle, I am familiar with this concept and would be interested in a group such as Phil has suggested - one to work on a business plan - especially if the leader was good at helping work thru various bits.

Pete - Would you be interested in starting a 4-8 member group? I too would donate or pay a fee toward a class. Maybe we could do it on a Friday after work when we don't have to get up the next day to go to work... (wink) Keep us posted!

Greetings from Capitol Hill in Seattle!

Yes, I used to help out an organization which provides interim housing specifically for homeless families. They have an old barn where they store their supply.

What they do is provide a house, fully prepared with product for a term of 90 days, at the end of which the family is given entry to the barn to select furnishings for their next apartment or home. Works well

Contact: Tonya 425.432.6766 The group's name is "The Way Back Inn". I used to be the Secretary of the Board.

Best of luck and thank you for sharing of your time and treasure! Rita Harris

Yes please, Corbet. Do another one fairly soon, but right after work, say 6pm somewhere? To try to get away during the busy work-day is hellish and I'd be able to pay closer attention if I knew I didn't need to immediatley get back to solve another fire....

Many thanks for the work you do, Rita Harris

I'm throwing in my 2 cents too.

I work in a real estate corporation with a number of RE professionals. It never ceases to amaze me how intoxicated they are with their own verbosity when putting together marketing materials, say, a postcard. I say "Less is more" and let the headline do most of the selling. Nooooo. Instead I will be handed paragraphs of text to include!

Personally, in a world of info overload, I want photos and headlines to do the attention-getting and then give me juuuust enough info so I might call you. Otherwise, you've given me enough reason not to call or hop out to your website.

I'd love to attend an evening workshop on how to think up killer headlines and the process that professional writers go thru to dream up this sort of thing. Maybe you could do one just for all the real estate agents of biz nik so it could be industry specific and everyone would be on the same page. Just an idea... Thanks again for the good article!!! Rita

A suggestion for a location up North: Shoreline Convention Center. Used to be a school, has massive different sized workshop/classroom spaces.

A Central location: Lake Union Boathouse (might be called Lake Union Crew) or possibly the Officer's Training Center at Lk Union. I've been to seminars at both locations.

A South location could be The Georgetown Ballroom. I have a link to the guy on my website: http://www.situseattle.com/Shanghai%20Lily's%202008.htm Scroll down and look for the hyperlink.

Personally, I'd like to have an evening thing say, around 7p so I can just leave work for the day instead of interrupting the day.

Thanks for doing this.... Auntie Rita

Inspirational. Clear in intent and execution. Well done.

"Oh yeah! Oh Yeah! JP's our man!" (See my pom-poms waving and I jump up and down?)

I'm always a cheerleader for Jean Pierre. How 'bout the next time giving us plenty o'lead time prior to a presentation so we can clear our calendars for an evening presentation?

Smiles from one of your biggest fans - Auntie Rita

Okay, so I've GOTTA jump in with my own 2-bits worth at this point.

1. I'm carrying over 350 emails presently and deleting quickly. Seems that when one is out, 3 more come in. It's the nature of my biz unfortunately. Therefore, deletion is top priority.

2. Some of us operate on a server with others in the company and therefore have limitations on storage for the email's "inbox". Mine happens to be 50 megs which is more than most companies that limit their employees and mgt to 20mgs.

3. For those who use Outlook and like to have emails to reference back to important data found within, I have a suggestion how to save your emails: a) Create a folder out on your "My Documents" area that you'll call for example, "Emails Saved". In that, you can then have sub folders for each client or business.
   b) Now, go to your Outlook. While you are in the "Inbox", LEFT CLICK one time to highlight the specific email you wish to save. c) Do a "File", "Save as" and browse for that Emails Saved folder, open it - WAIT!!!! d) MAKE SURE you change in the little drop-down menu box at the bottom, the format from HTML to "Outlook Message Format". Otherwise, when you delete the email from your inbox (thinking the email copy is now safely in the folder), all the attachments will be stripped off.

Why do I do this? Well, I happen to set up events, parades, marketing pieces, etc., pertaining to specific groups of people. I can now more readily go back to the folders instead of hunting thru "Archives" on Outlook and delete the emails when I'm ready from there. In the meantime, my Inbox is cleaned up and I've saved what I really needed to keep for a while in a logical place.

Of course, the "Duuuuuh" thing to do is also get off your friends' lists for political, jokes and the "send this to 8 friends" sorts of emails. Amazing how many Barack and McCain emails I've been getting from both sides trying to convince me of the virtues or foybals of the other.

All the best for a prosperous 1/4th quarter!!!!

Hi Gang - I read this article with interest and liken it to an experience I've had outside of my professional real estate/tech/marketing industry.

An historical costuming social group of friends to which my husband and I belong, had been in existence for nearly 30 years. Despite wanting to encourage new membership, they only had a blk/whi printed brochure. (yawn) They never had a fun website or business cards. It was so dismal that they seriously thought about having one last big party and disbanding.

Then I came along. I understood the kind of person who enjoys historical costuming (especially Victoriana sort of feel) and my marketing background gave me the know-how to bring new members into the fold.

The business card I now order is on heavy cardstock, glossy one side ("Greenies" forgive me) and I order them thru OvernightPrints.com for cheap, cheap, cheap. I started with 250 as you say, and literally BLEW thru the stock. Next order was for 1,000 We now hand them to people who are in fabric stores, at parades, everywhere, just as your article sugests. The website draws a large number of people from beyond the Seattle area and gets happy reviews. Go figure - I'm not a website pro either.

If you're curious, the group is called "Somewhere in Time, Unlimited", membership is $10 a year to cover a newsletter. The website is: www.CostumingInSeattle.com Enjoy.

Thanks for writing a great article! Rita (a.k.a. "Lady Victoria")

Firstly - Feedback for Hsuan-Huan:

From my personal perspective, the sentence is too short, airy/fairy, sounds political-speak, or whatever - but that's me.

On the flip side, when I go to your personal profile page, the opening comment is GREAT and I have a MUCH clearer understanding of what I'm buying when I hire you!!!!

Only minor change (which I will attempt to put into " " marks):

I coach small business owners and leaders to develop their businesses "by developing" business plans "," goals, and action plans in order to fulfill their vision "for their businesses".

Secondly - Steve, you have a really great article. I too would love to have been able to attend a presentation or class but alas, during the business day isn't going to work for me personally. I'd love to attend an evening function, even if it's at a library. Keep us posted when you can schedule another class. Bet you'll have a slew of small business owners who want to staulk you for your next guru thoughts (wink).

Have a great summer!

Thank you, Miss Lisa, for sharing your time, talent and insight with each of us at this particular evening's event. It was highly appreciated by the small group you had before you.

What did I learn? Firstly and importantly, that REGARDLESS of where you are in life, your "dream" or "heart's desire" IS attainable and that by following the strategy you outline in your class, there is a scientific and reasonable way to bring about the results. I am even MORE inspired to continue on the course I had already set. It brought "wind" to my sails again. Thank you. Really. Thank you.... Rita

Dan - I was thinking that perhaps there would be a way to use the Meta Tags people already use as a way of finding other professionals.

For example the "home stager" professional - In the real estate industry, I flip to the rolodex section or the company's website ("Vendors We Love") that lists "Stagers". To me, anything other than that is fancy talk for the same end result. There IS a difference between a Stager (who brings in furniture for a vacant house), A Designer (much wider range of opportunities and licensing), and someoneone that reorganizes the space of say a living room using the client's own furniture to make the LR look pretty to prospects and on film.

Sooooo, I guess if you want to be called a Super Duper Something-or-other Expert-Fancy Title, fine, but in your meta-tags, write all the possibilities so I can find you in simple language on the web or in a roster, even if you have multiple ways of finding you. Me? I Happen to do I.T. as well as Real Estate Marketing. Imagine MY problems!

Have a wonderful day! Reet

Tonya - Greetings from the Cap Hill Coldwell Banker location!

Not sure how JLS operates, but at Bain, we have discounted services thru Advanced Access, Superlative and a few other web possibilities that are specific to our industry.

Could you use Wordpress? Yes, but few agents have the time, knowledge or patience to diddle-around with creating and worse yet, maintaining a live site. You are constantly looking for updated content, loading photos of "featured homes" and the like. Do you really have the time when you're supposed to be out showing and preparing docs, to maintain this important piece of marketing? Do you have an assistant? Does s/he speak like you do so that the information appears seamless in a blog or on the site? Something to consider.

In our specific office, my boss has hired me to do the marketing for 65 agents. This means flyers, postcards, photos, fix computer related issues and oh ya, WEBSITES too! Perhaps your office has someone like me to do this for you and you won't have to deal with it at all.

I can only personally encourage you to choose something that is specific to our industry as it will have already built-in sections specific to the trade and the templates are going to be easier to use than those without the trade specialty or language built-in.

Very best of luck to you... Rita

WELL done, Mark! Thank you for cutting to the quick on this issue. Real estate agents and other "sales" people such as car dealers, travel agents, etc. frequently find themselves in exactly this position. For example, the client is thrilled about the home they just bought, the real estate agent gave outstanding service, EVERYONE at the client's work knows the client is moving and how happy they are with their agent and promises to contact the agent because they too are thinking of moving, and then - nothing....

I think it is very much a sign of the times. Pretty much gone are the days of the "good-ol'-boy" network where the men gave referrals and introductions directly to each other at "the club" or on "the course". Yes, it may still exist, but let's face it, your description of the business world is far more accurate for today.

Thank you again for some great, simple things to remember!! Rita

Great refreshers! All too often younger sales people think that they have to use a soft-sell approach that doesn't include a call-to-action. If this were true, why exactly are we in Sales???

Thanks for your article. I'm forwarding it on to all my real estate agents in this office.... Rita

Excellent reminders for sure.

Personally, I'd love to find a network of people who would like to brainstorm once or twice a month to help get past the block. Sometimes if you have to explain it to someone else, they break down the information differently and feed it back to you in a way that you hadn't thought of before.

Maybe we could get our Fearless Leader to help organize a meet for a glass of wine & nibbles with a small round-table of folks (willing to be the sounding boards) while we're all working on business plans or marketing strategy, web development issue, creative writing or, or? This could be really influential in networking...

Smiles from Cap Hill - Rita

Here are a few of my "two bits" of information:

1. Find the economic group with which you wish to mingle. No slam on the Stranger or the SeaTimes, but if you just advertise out to the masses, that may be who contacts you as well. If you advertise in publications or area that your target audience reads, that is far more targeted than buck-shot.

2. Consider schmoozing with The Receptionist in businesses where your clientele is likely to work and want to also work with you. For example, in the office I spend my time, the Receptionist knows everyone's business and even reminds them when they need to buy that special someone a bouquet of flowers or book the dinner, whatever. Might be a hook-up potential.

3. Who said it had to be targeted to men? Women are hugely overworked with children, elder parent and household responsibilities. By the time I get off work, I can't think straight let alone plan a weekend activity! Hey, where's that glass of wine I deserve?

4. Shoot me a PDF of your brochure, a biz card or three, something that I can hand out to folks here. Word of mouth is still the cheapest and most reliable...

Smiles, Auntie Rita! 206.720.7606

Sarah - I have requested the referral from one of the agents in my office. He had substantial amount of damage after the rains this winter and used someone that he liked. When I hear back, I shall email you with the info. In the meantime, you can keep my email address handy in case you need to reach me: ritaharris@cbba.com Smiles, Rita