Man, you know you are from a different generation when your nine-year-old daughter has to remind you that November is National Blog Post Month (a.k.a NaBloPoMo). And as I yell down to the den to ask her the name for the month, she has to inform me that it is now three days into November and I haven’t posted anything yet. She truly leads the life of Ryan in a way I could never have imagined in my childhood as the youngest of nine children. She has it soooo good!
NaBloPoMo is simply the month that bloggers, lame and heroic alike, commit to posting a blog a day (minimum) for a full month. While I have already failed at that, I am announcing on this 3rd day of the month that I am going to attempt to be successful at this ambitious endeavor from here on out.
Let’s be honest, I am probably not consistent enough to be a blogger at posting, but at least I try! I was put on this earth to help people sell and buy real estate, not write a real estate blog (hopefully you don’t think I am being too serious there). Some have said, “You haven’t posted in a while. Aren’t you worried you will become irrelevant? You put a lot of time into this end of marketing yourself…Why are you being so inconsistent with your blog posts?” Well, they didn’t really say it exactly like that, but…
Here’s the truth. All realtors are being bombarded in professional-type periodicals and to start blogs as a way of marketing one’s self to potential clients. Fair enough. That is kind of why I jumped on the blog bandwagon, but in the truest sense, I think my mission has always been a little purer than soft marketing, and each day I see this blog as less about where my standing is on activerain.com and more about being honest and forthright about just how challenging and pecuiliar the Athens Regional Market is to navigate. And it is enjoyable. If customers come out of it, so be it. Dana, the tech guru, and I talk about the other RE bloggers here in Athens, and invariably we end on the same low note. Lots of fluff and little guts. Sorry. It’s out there. I said it. And with that last comment comes the attendant responsibility to be a little more gutsy.
I feel like every time I have to stop and consider who I might accidentally offend as a potential buyer or a potential seller is a moment that keeps me from being who I am. Joe P., the Athens Real Estate Guy, who might or might not sell you a house or help you buy a house, but a guy, who will always lean toward listening to you and telling you his honest opinion rather than some concocted stance based on being desperate in business. Seems the more honest I am in my personal life and in business, the more those two areas of my life improve. Go figure.
In my past as a realtor and other professions, I have experienced too many times the urge to say something I don’t mean or agree with simply to generate business. When it comes down to it, shouldn’t we conduct business in a way that reveals tact and personal constitution? Align who you really are with the business you are involved in and success is bound to prevail. And for crying out loud, the Athens Area is small, so be who you are…
And now on to the challenge: A blog a day until November 30th. Blogs from the heart but blogs that educate.
See you on the other side, but what I would really love is to build a community this month, one that might last longer than these 27 days left in November.
JP
