By way of ProBlogger, this image is from 901am. It nicely illustrates the idea I called The Third Career when the BloodhoundBloggers were interviewed by Dustin Luther of Rain City Guide:
Q: How does blogging fit into the overall marketing of your business?
A: [….] Greg Swann: Practically speaking, it doesn’t, but I don’t think that way. What we’re really up to is an idea I call The Third Career. Most of us came to real estate from something else, and, as we are wise, we know this is not our last stop in the world of work. My immediate goal for BloodhoundBlog is to make it the best-read, most-rewarding real estate weblog in the RE.net. Further out, I want for our contributors to be so well known that they can pursue other opportunities: Public speaking, freelance writing, books, seminars, television shows, etc. I don’t know that we will attain this, necessarily, but the goal itself is definitely attainable: Witness Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit.
None of this is of immediate importance. Right now, we are dancing as fast as we can to do the jobs we get paid to do — even as we build this weblog, becoming better and more widely known with each passing day. Witness: BloodhoundBlog contributor Brian Brady will be speaking at Inman Connect. That’s two of us — so far. The chart illustrates the opportunities we can hope to exploit as we become better and more widely known.
Muestrame el dinero? It can wait. I’ve mentioned that I’m interested in repurposing the Weblogging 101 content as an ebook. I expect that, once I’ve done it, that will turn into speaking opportunities. Whether or not those are worth any money is less interesting to me than the opportunities themselves. If I can do a job often enough to get good at it, I can find a way to make it pay.
Here’s another, similar example: Steve Leung, whom I have praised in the past, has released a free 69-page “Silicon Valley Home Buyers Book”. The book is in PDF form, hot-linked throughout, so it’s actually more practical as a net.wired document, rather than as a dead-tree artifact. In fact, the book contains a link to its own most-recent version, so users/readers can make sure they have the freshest news.
This is bread cast upon the waters: You don’t have to surrender your contact information to get the book. But Steve is a very good communicator of very important ideas, so it’s reasonable to suppose that any motivated, qualified buyers in his market who download the book will turn to Steve when their real estate needs ripen. In the mean time, he is their enduring benefactor, giving without demanding anything in return.
So: What’s next?
More.
I had a better idea for listings videos yesterday morning, and Cathy and I have been talking about taking all this podcasting knowledge we’re acquiring and using it to put together something with a closer relationship to actual production values. There will more ideas to come, but, in truth, there is no limit to what we might do from here.
Here are some important facts about New Media generally: Weblogging and related media deliver the true promise of a free press. Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one? That would be anyone, by now. But as the cost of publishing plummets, the value of an audience soars. We are no longer at the mercy of presumptuous upstarts who happen to have access to the megaphone. We are all upstarts now. But to be heard in the cacophony is a gift highly to be prized, and, one hopes, not to be squandered.
So where does The Third Career start? Wherever we want it to. You’re blogging now — and you colleagues look at you like a seven-toed cat. Steve Leung is repurposing his weblogging content into a book — and that book is enough, for now, to set him apart in his market, even among other weblogging Realtors. Each piece of this — writing, speaking, consulting, books, podcasting, broadcasting, even the pulsing blue orb of television — each piece is there for us to grasp, as much as we want, as much as we can handle.
I’m interested in this for me, first, and for the amazing people who have set their shoulders beside mine at BloodhoundBlog. But every bit of this is available to each one of us, in those precious minutes not lost to sleep.
What are we blogging for? All we can get…
Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing
Kris Berg says:
Nothing says Good Morning like a great Venn Diagram! Unfortunately, my little bubble is off to the right, sailing (flailing) outside the orbit of all the action. I’m working on my subset – I just don’t know what it is yet.
You are building something great, Greg, and I continue to be in awe.
May 2, 2007 — 8:05 am
Sock Puppet says:
I think the idea of an eBook is a very sound one for RE bloggers. After all, if you’ve churned out steady content, well duh, an eBook is 80% already done. The majority of your content isn’t being read much anymore either as not many people deep search your blog.
An eBook is midway between “just another blog” and “an actual published book author”. Don’t have 200 pages of book to publish, but do have 40-70 pages. EBook time.
Don’t limit yourself as “a blogger”, expand yourself as “a communicator”.
I don’t doubt that many of our “RE Blog Class of 2007” will go on to bigger and better things than our blogs.
May 2, 2007 — 8:59 am
Drew Meyers from Zillow says:
Greg-
You are definitely on the right track to join the bloggers referenced in your diagram. At the current pace, I think it’s only a matter of time before the Real Estate industry truly embraces blogging as the tech industry has — and you’ll certainly be at the head of the pack when it gets to that point.
May 2, 2007 — 10:29 am
Susan White says:
There is actually one real estate blogger who is well known as a blogger but is better known as a writer under a different name. His long term goals is to sell real estate when he retires so that he will not go insane sitting around the house, so he blogs about real estate just to keep sharp and to practice his writing skills but according to this unknown blogger, blogging does very little to help him with his writing as a novelist as he can easily sit down and pen a 5-6 page blog but to write like he is capable of, he has to lock himself in a room for days at a time. Blogging to him is research while writing is like a dream. The poor guy literally has to close his eyes and type while locked in his room. And believe it or not, he is a Bloodhound reader.
May 2, 2007 — 3:42 pm
Arlingtgon Virginia Condos -- Jay says:
This was one of the most powerful observations I’ve read in awhile,
“Here are some important facts about New Media generally: Weblogging and related media deliver the true promise of a free press. Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one? That would be anyone, by now. But as the cost of publishing plummets, the value of an audience soars. We are no longer at the mercy of presumptuous upstarts who happen to have access to the megaphone. We are all upstarts now. But to be heard in the cacophony is a gift highly to be prized, and, one hopes, not to be squandered.”
And what are the consequences of weblogging in terms of current events & polities around the world. It is exciting to think about.
I definitely feel like an upstart, and to be heard by so many now (compared to just a year ago) with thousands of visitors a week and views of my posts is exhilarating. But is it the best use of one’s time or is calling my leads a better use? The weblogging is bringing in monthly business without the latter. But if calling the leads aggressively on the front end came before my writing would the leads die out? Which should be my priority? This real estate 2.0 adventure is a journey that could end up anywhere….I would venture than a number of realtors who read the leading RE blogs and then do it at their own amateur level like myself are dealing with those questions. Although in my market (DC metro and Northern VA), I only know of one other “agent 2.0”. This amazes me and I’m thankful for it.
May 2, 2007 — 7:07 pm