As I was driving back to Las Vegas after a full week of hanging out with the Bloodhound crew at Unchained, my mind was racing to get a grasp on all of the new real estate marketing possibilities that I could achieve by the end of the year.
The confidence I gained through the relationships built at Unchained was all I needed to fully execute my online marketing plans.
I believe that everyone is an expert at something, and we all have a ton to learn from each other.
The Scenius sessions at Unchained were a great example of this concept:
- After a full day of building blogs, Eric Blackwell, Ryan Hartman and I stayed up until 3 am discussing some SEO strategery for Battleback.com.
- Greg showed me how simple it would be to syndicate my mortgage content on all of my real estate agents’ blogs with just a little bit of technical savvy.
- Brad Coy and Brian Brady helped me figure out how to easily integrate a Twitter or Facebook presence into my weekly relationship building routines without having to spend too much time being social.
- Al Lorenz and I talked about the benefits of owning the social media platforms that our clients and referral partners participate on.
- Sean Purcell’s brainstorming session over a $100 casino chip got me excited about top of mind sales and branding tools.
- Kerry Melcher’s “Small Town Phoenix Living” reminded me of how important it is to connect with the emotional needs that may impact our clients’ decisions to do business with us.
- Scott Cowan and I compared our local markets and shared similar opinions about how much online social networking really matters in the long run.
- Scott Schang and Mark Green opened my eyes to the power of holding online webinars for the purpose of building a loyal database.
I could go on and on about all of the great conversations that I had at Unchained.
My main objective for that week was to fill in a few technical gaps with my blogging skills. As Greg has mentioned many times, real estate professionals have a publishing problem.
There are so many ideas that I haven’t been able to execute simply because of a lack of knowledge. However, I now have the tools that will give me the freedom to fail or succeed on my own time and dime.
I know that the 12 die hard real estate bloggers who stayed up until 12:30 am for my “Pimp Your Blog” class understand where I’m coming from.
Basically, if I want to launch a new blog tomorrow, I don’t have to wait around and pay someone else to do it for me.
Do I run the risk of breaking things? Probably, but I’ve already built failure into my business model.
Either way, as Brad Coy has already demonstrated, help is only a post away.
Bottom line, friends keep friends in the business, and I’m sincerely grateful to be part of this community.
Scott Schang says:
The amazing thing about BHBU is that yes, everyone is an expert at something (sometimes I think i’m an expert at learning what not to do!) and the magic happens when all of those people are willing to share that expertise.
That’s the reason why my head still isn’t on straight…i’m still a little dizzy with the ideas and innovations I was exposed to for those 3 action packed days.
As I start to sort out the “do now” action items and continue to build a santa-like list of things i want to do, I know that i can just place a call or shoot an email to anyone in the group and get valuable feedback from a sincerely intentioned expert that truly wants to help me “get it”.
Thanks for reminding us that we’re not alone out here and help is just a post, email or call away.
May 15, 2009 — 11:07 am
Joe says:
Ok, I’m reading your post Mark and I’ve got a few (actually several) folks from Unchained that have put so much on my plate I’m overwhelmed, as I should be. Things I should have been doing I’m not implementing.
Looking forward to the next Unchained. I wonder if lifetime memberships are available? [grins]
Btw, Colleen is now a celebrity! 🙂
May 15, 2009 — 7:46 pm
Joe says:
“Things I should have been doing I’m not implementing.”
Should be…
“Things I should have been doing I’m NOW implementing.”
Perhaps Greg should install a plugin that allows us slow folk a few more minutes to edit! 🙂
May 15, 2009 — 7:50 pm
Greg Swann says:
Bravo, Mark. Excellent first post.
But it go me to wondering… Who haven’t we heard from, among the new Bloodhounds…?
Not being a punk. New contributors are often intimidated by this place, but everyone rises to the challenge. The next post will be that much easier.
May 15, 2009 — 8:32 pm
Brad Coy says:
Welcome to BHB Mark. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm and experience in Phoenix. It made working a little more fun.
May 16, 2009 — 12:42 am
Don Reedy says:
Mark,
Wow, there was so much “Back to the Future” in your post that I had a relapse and found myself not able to sleep more than 3 hours last night. Stop it!
No, really, thanks so much for coming into my life, sharing, and opening up new friendships, partnerships and brainstorming barn burners! You rock!
May 16, 2009 — 5:22 am
Eric Blackwell says:
Hey Mark;
Hanging out with you at BHBU was a treat! (Yeah even until 3am!) Funny part was, I went to bed and thought “Uh-oh, the folks at the office (East coast time) arrive in two hours, oyyyyy….”
Great first post! And here’s to much more fun and late night world conquering sessions!
Best
Eric
May 16, 2009 — 6:13 am
Cindy DiCianni says:
Hi Mark!
I was “one” of those die hard 12:30ites who stayed up trying to learn as much as I could out of the 3 days of the Unchained event! In some ways, I now am chained to all the new ideas to do…but freed from the unconventional real estate ways of doing things! On the trip home, I came up with over 30 ideas that I wanted to implement. Plus a mulitude of other items that needed to be changed/corrected from previous mistakes. Yes, the great people we meet at these events become friends! Look forward again to the next one!
May 16, 2009 — 8:49 pm
Mark Madsen says:
@Scott – I’m way excited to integrate the webinar piece into my blog marketing schedule. Thanks for that phone call last week, I’ll let you know when I’m close
@Joe – Implementation and execution are good things, I dove right in and started making things happen when I got back as well.
@Greg – Thanks again for the invite to write here
@Brad – Thanks for the welcome. I’m looking forward to learning a little more from you and Brian about how I can use FB with my blog group
@Don – It was great to meet you as well at Unchained. Congrats on becoming a contributor here as well
@Eric – bwahaha – that was my evil laugh. We need to get that plan together for battleback
@Cindy – I’m proud of you for staying up late and learning. Looking forward to hearing about your 30 ideas. Please call if you need any help.
May 17, 2009 — 8:40 pm
Erica Ramus says:
I have been blogging at active rain for almost 2 years and just found this site. I have an AR blog + outside blog. I am trying to figure out how to host my blog. I want to take it off AR and host it offsite. I am thinking I need a wordpress blog, then post what I write here, or on AR. If it’s consumer oriented, I need to feed it to my company website–but not the agentonly posts. This is getting way too complicated!
May 18, 2009 — 4:53 pm
Sean Purcell says:
Mark,
It was such a pleasure to finally meet you Mark. Your post only serves to reinforce the tremendous passion you bring to our business. I can’t wait to read you next post.
May 18, 2009 — 11:23 pm
Kevin Sandridge says:
Damn sorry I missed Unchained Phoenix. Will do my level best not to miss another one. The event sounds like it hit you as hard as it hit me after Unchained Orlando.
May 20, 2009 — 6:49 pm