One fine day last summer I was listening to Radio Margaritaville on SiriusXM when a song by Paul Thorn called Everybody Looks Good at the Starting Line came on the car radio. It is a fun, bluesy song and I drummed the steering wheel for all I was worth. But as I listened I realized [...]
I recently received an email request for a donation to the Appraiser Prosperity Coalition. I was not familiar with the organization, but I took some time to read up on who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. What I found was a group of well meaning residential mortgage appraisers fighting their latest [...]
Want success and happiness? Do these things: Smile. Say thank you. Be responsive. Be friendly. Take a personal interest in your coworkers and clients. Stick to your knitting. Not all work is right for you. Develop a list of professionals you trust and refer, refer, refer. The client you refer will be impressed with your [...]
As you know, The Ol' Prophet is keen on technology and productivity. Here are some recommendations that may help you get more connected and efficient: ToDoist This little gem of a Task Manager is worth its weight in gold. ToDoist works on all platforms: Apple iOS (there are iPhone and iPad apps), Android, Google Chrome, [...]
Most of the time we are busy, happily buzzing along, getting things done, doing our work, taking care of our families. But let's face it - we don't take enough time off. "Time off! Are you out of your head? The Johnson project is due next week. One kid has a recital and the other [...]
Gagliano & Company is a small business. A boutique firm, if you will. There are only three of us: Miss Sophia, Office Administrator, bookkeeper, preparer of paperwork and utility fielder; Miss Kim, Researcher extraordinaire, datakeeper, spreadsheeter and report ninja; and Yours Truly, the Wearer of the Turban. As a result, our capacity is limited. We [...]
Since the banking crisis reared its ugly head at the end of 2007, a raft of new legislation and regulation has been approved to prevent the darn thing from ever happening again. Among these efforts was, yet again, a crackdown on real estate appraisers. First an attempt was made to weed out the bad actors, [...]
There are times in every business when the ol' backlog gets a little, um, thin. Many business people at this juncture do one of two things: (a) panic or (b) slow down. Both responses are perfectly natural. Panic is simply our fight or flight response at work. Our ancestors would panic when they saw a [...]
...but are you damn good? Are you a trusted adviser? Do you give your clients what they ask for, or better yet, what they need? Do you deliver good work, on time? Of course you do. So don't apologize for your fees, or your payment terms. This is your business. Your family and your employees [...]
It all starts innocently enough. Telephone Call Number 1 is a pleasant exchange inquiring about our services. " I am thinking about selling my building and I am interested in getting an unbiased value before I list the property," says my prospective client. The proposal goes out, is executed, and comes back. I do an [...]
Mr. Smarty Pants had it all figured out. Two data backups. One onsite, one in the Cloud. What could go wrong? Well, it turns out that I was saving the data just fine, but I neglected to think through the recovery part. The Old Way - Onsite Our onsite backup was to an external hard [...]
Most of my worst professional mistakes have been the result of one of two bad habits: haste, or wanting to please the client. By pleasing the client I don't mean simply doing good work in a timely manner with a pleasant disposition, I mean the ugly side of this coin, people pleasing. My business can [...]
They spent billions building the place. They bought huge tracts of land and hired artisans from all over the world to make fantasy come alive. They took two dimensional images from comic books and moving pictures and breathed life into them. They spend a fortune marketing, selling, booking, maintaining, and staffing the place. Not counting [...]
Why is your fee so high? It’s just a little pizza parlor. On a corner. In the middle of a residential neighborhood. It is only assessed for $125,000. Because it is very difficult to appraise. Often the small and the cheap are the hard and expensive. So let’s compare the pizza parlor to a 100,000 square [...]
Working from home can be great. I roll out of bed, grab a cup of coffee and get to work. Two or three hours later I have the equivalent of a day’s worth of work done, and the rest of the day available to talk to clients and prospects. Years ago I discovered GoToMyPC and found that [...]
My ace Research Assistant, Miss Kim and I have struggled with tracking our projects and communicating our progress. For years we used the Task List in Microsoft Outlook, but we found it limited and sometimes the automatic updating was not so automatic. After reading Getting Things Done by David Allen and at the prompting of [...]
Seth Godin has been saying for years that scaling and mass-production are things of the past, for the simple reason that we have gotten so good at it. We can take any methodology or process and make it more and more efficient. What matters today, according to Godin, is art, honest expressions of individuality and [...]
In marketing, it sometimes helps to frame yourself based on what you are not (or at least how you do not want to be perceived). For example: "You know those contractors who never get back to you? And don't show up when they say they will? And don't finish the job on time? Yeah, we [...]
Now Pay Attention: Axiom 1: The person who brings in the business is king and should be fêted daily. Axiom 2: If you return telephone calls and e-mails, you will be successful. Axiom 3: About one in ten employees work out. This sucks for everyone involved. Axiom 4: Creativity is much more important than you [...]
It is a sad state of affairs in professional services. Many are real pros that use their ingenuity and creativity to serve their clients. Sadly, some professionals fall short. Here are some reasons why: They don't stretch themselves. If they haven't done it before, they don't want to do it. Or even hear about it. The [...]
In the lexicon of real estate investing there are three primary types of investments. In order of risk from he lowest to the highest they are Core (typically fully leased and cash-flowing), Value-Added (the real estate version of Streetcar’s Blanche Dubois, something of a a faded rose) and Opportunistic (visionary, big-picture thinking, but the bank [...]
In a effort to make my drive time more productive I started listening to podcasts. It has worked well, my head stays full of positive thoughts and I have learned a lot. I have had to create ways to safely take notes in the car (more on that sometime soon) but I have a treasure trove [...]
...the one who talks first loses.
Following up on my blog post last week in which I touted the virtues of the dictation software Dragon Naturally Speaking, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the tool that makes the whole thing work: the SAVI W710. The SAVI W710 by Pantronics is a wireless headset that allows the user to connect to the [...]
Hardknocks University I was thrilled to get the opportunity to interview Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of General Electric. We took a few minutes to discuss finance giant GE Capital's recent decision to stop lending to gun shops. HU: Mr. Immelt, GE Capital recently announced that it will no longer loan [...]
By far one of my favorite time-saving tools is the speech recognition program Dragon Naturally Speaking. I have been using Dragon for years and really love it. I pay for upgrades periodically, but through the updates Dragon retains my User Profile, so recognition has gotten better and better over time. And frankly, so has my dictating - I have [...]
Back in the 70's, the late, great Gilda Radner played a little old lady character on Saturday Night Live name Emily Litella. Emily Litella would appear on the news with an editorial reply, angry and confused about a news item that she invariably misunderstood. "What's all this I hear about Presidential Erections? I say it is best [...]
If someone claims to have a "surefire" marketing/sales system, walk the other way. Here's why: The system is unlikely to be a fit for your business. Or for you personally. The system will force you to do and say things that are unnatural for you. Even if she is not conscious of why, a potential customer will [...]
Everyone needs oxygen. Everyone needs water. Not everyone needs your product or service. That's a good thing. You can't reach the whole world anyway - it is way too expensive. Leave that to Coca-Cola. It is far better to find your niche and master it. Hone your skills until you are the "go to" person in your field. Have [...]
