Mourning the loss of a great man.

Many of you may remember me talking about Clint Miller here or on Twitter and Facebook. A good friend, who I know through social media, Clint passed away on December 11, 2011 after a hard fought battle with cancer. Clint never once seemed daunted by the fight and even hopped on line last week during some of his toughest moments to chat on Facebook and update his friends. Clint meant a lot of things to a lot of people, and to me, he was a giant among men. His passion for life, his family, his friends, and helping and mentoring real estate agents was gigantic.

I met Clint online and we never had a chance to cross paths in person. His love of social media as a means of connecting was second to none. I commented to a friend last night that I loved the way “Clint humanized social media.” Clint, who worked for an internet lead generation company, made waves with his way of connecting and assisting real estate agents with their business. He never gave the hard sell to push his product. In fact, he never asked me once about it…but after getting to know him, I wound up being a client because I trusted him. Friends first, business later. It was always intriguing to me to see how he gave first…and received business later because of it. If there were a Social Media Hall of Fame, I’d certainly vote for him.

Clint used to call me randomly to check in on me, to ask how I was. He knew lots of details of my life, sometimes knowing things I don’t tell most people. He’d ask how I was, he’d tell me a funny story he heard, ask me to read his latest blog post, or just shoot the shit about life. We shared a lot of time on the phone and via blogs, email, and social media. We talked about music a lot.

It’s terrible to know that his family is now coping with a major loss, but they have been amazingly strong. His wife, Angela, has been on Facebook updating all of us whenever she could find a second, which can’t be easy to find, when you’re caring for a family as your husband fights cancer. She’s incredibly strong and I’ve come to have a great love and respect for her too. She’s become family to many in the real estate industry, as have Clint’s kids.

I could ramble for a long time about my memories of Clint, but there’s so much in my head right now it’s hard to make sense of it all. I’m sad and angry and happy and frustrated and relieved. It can’t be easy to go through all of it, so I’m happy he’ll finally get some peace and comfort, but I hate that cancer has removed someone like him from the world. No one deserves the pain of cancer yet we all seem to know someone who’s affected by it. It angers me that cancer is not yet curable. I pray that it will be in my lifetime.

Jay Thompson wrote (and filmed) a beautiful piece about our friend and he’s great at making lists of blog posts that relate to a topic…his list of Clint Miller posts is wonderful to read through as everyone shares their thoughts and feelings. I recommend you read through some and then go tell you family how much you love them.

Many have asked where and how to donate, so I include the information below. Even if it’s just a few dollars, every bit helps. Many of us are working to gather as much as we can for the family and to help them through this incredibly trying time.

Mail checks, money orders, cashiers checks (payable to: Christina Ethridge -she is coordinating the collections and 100% goes directly to the Millers) to
Christina Ethridge
110 S. Riverwood Court
Post Falls, ID 83854

Please text Christina at (208) 819-2965 when you mail a check, so that she can watch out for it and make sure it arrives.

If you prefer online payments, Nikki Beauchamp is collecting those via PayPal. Simply log in to your account and send a payment to email hidden; JavaScript is required. If you have any questions, you can contact her via Facebook.

Why do we do what we do?

As I make my transition to my new role at Becker Properties, I’ve been encouraging agents to spend more time thinking about blogging (and social media). Asking them the question, “what do you want to get out of it?” As with all things, this set me on my own path of thinking – why do real estate agents blog?

Blogging can be a rather time consuming effort and there are days when you feel like there is nothing left to write about. It’s not always easy and the words don’t always flow as easy as the post before. Sometimes, when you’re finished with a post that you thought would be spectacular, you reread it and decide you’re the worst writer on the planet and that fact seems confirmed by the lack of hits on that particular post. At times, you feel like you might as well just accept that while waiting for your table at the internet, you’re eventually going to hear them call out, “Blogger, party of one.”

Regardless, we real estate agents soldier on and continue generating content, fixing widgets, changing formats and layouts – toying, perfecting, and testing. We want ours to be the greatest real estate blog ever written. We’re driven to find the best combinations of words to help our local areas, generate business, and make new friends.

I think most real estate agent-bloggers would agree that one of the strongest pulls is the desire to educate. To help people understand the purchase (or sale) they are about to make and give them comfort that they’re not alone with all the questions bouncing around their heads. Most of the blog posts come from questions and real life experiences we agents have with our own clients. So we share those thoughts in order to help alleviate the stress from the next buyer or seller’s minds.

Of course the age old question, “what’s in it for me?,” inevitably comes up. Very few people in this world enjoy doing something for free (or without some sort of benefit to themselves). We blog to bring real estate related traffic, so that people will search for homes and pick up the phone and call us. We do it so that someone will see our latest listing and say “that’s the one.” We work tirelessly on SEO and worry about Google rankings so that we can be found in the sea of sites that exist. We want to be found and hired.

We also blog to connect – to make friends and meet new people. While that can lead to business, there is something about most real estate bloggers that I know that is a bit more than that. A desire for camaraderie; whether that of fellow real estate agents or that of locals in our town. I know I’ve made some great friends through blogging and the interest in those people and their lives can be quite a strong pull, regardless of where in their personal buying and selling cycle they may be.

All of these thoughts lead me to one more question – why do you read blogs like this one? Are you thinking of buying a new home in San Antonio or are you just curious? Do you enjoy my writing style or are you my mom? Each person will have a different reason, but each one is important enough to consider.

So what is it that compels you to bookmark this site and come back to read each and every day/week/month?

photo of Jay Thompson courtesy of Dru Bloomfield – At Home in Scottsdale

Hockey Rules!

Our good friends at Freetail Brewing have always been good to us, but after Game One of the Stanley Cup 2011 Finals (Boston Bruins vs. Vancouver Canucks) we have decided to salute them once again for their tireless efforts at being one of San Antonio’s best places to relax and have a cold one. Great food, excellent beer, and one of the friendliest staffs this side of Friendlyville, Freetail Brewing is definitely the place to go for “Hockey Night in San Antonio.” We’ll be working with them to continue the fun through the rest of the Stanly Cup Final (Go Bruins!). You can also follow the San Antonio Hockey Crew on Twitter at #sahockeycrew. Don’t know much about hockey? That’s fine, we’ll help you learn the game and teach you the finer points of the fastest game in sports. Game time tonight is 7PM.

photo courtesy of Giovanni Spina

Thanks to my heroes.

You may not recognize the three men (well two men, one boy) in the photo, but (from left to right) that’s me, my dad, and my brother. Despite the fact that I’m a lot younger in the photo, I remember this photo being taken. As it’s Memorial Day, I thought I’d take a moment to thank my father and my brother, both who served in the United States Marine Corps. I’m thankful for all those that have served in the armed forces, but these two guys are definitely my heroes. My father served in Vietnam, my brother during peacetime, but both deserve my gratitude for doing what I could never imagine. For me, it’s part of what makes America great – an all volunteer military (other than our times of using the draft) – where people join, knowing the risks and accepting them, to serve out country. I’d also like to thank the support of the loved ones at home, who miss their families, friends, and loved ones. Particularly in times like these, where so many have served multiple tours of duty overseas, I often think of those that are left behind to deal with so much. It takes a special kind of person to do it and just from my constant traveling in the past I have only the slightest sense of what they go through. So add my mom to the list of my heroes too. Thanks Dad, thanks Tom – even though I was never a Marine, I still feel as if I was always part of it through you and your stories. You’re both people that I am extremely proud to be related to, both for your service to our country and for just being awesome family.

May 2, 2011

I had a busy day yesterday. In addition to my work, I had a lot on my mind as I read the news about the death of Osama bin Laden. I wanted to write something all day, but just couldn’t seem to find the words and now as I sit here, I’m afraid I’m struggling with them once again. I guess I wanted to write something more as a historical marker on this blog, rather than some long diatribe about my feelings over the death of a terrorist. Regardless of the function, I still struggle.

For me September 11th was a day of many memories. So many things come rushing back into my head when I hear the words mentioned or see the images that I don’t think will ever leave my brain. As a frequent flyer back in those days, the significance of what had happened was certainly not lost on me. As a son of Vietnam War vet, the invasion of Afghanistan worried me. I wondered a lot about what the troops would face there, in a country known for its long standing traditions of facing down much stronger invading forces. I wondered a lot in those days. I sat glued to my television as the bombs began to fall and embedded reporters began sending back snippets of the war. I watched and read and studied the reasons for, the history of, and the main characters of this newly declared war on terror. For almost ten years, I waited and began to think the US would never find bin Laden. You can imagine my surprise when I read the news.

Almost ten years have gone by and much has changed – within our country, in the constant battle to stop terrorism, and even in my own life. It’s all a bit heavy when you stop and really consider it – almost ten years. Nearly a decade.

This chapter is over, but there will always be new faces and new battles. It’s the way of the world it seems. Living in a military town like San Antonio, you gain new perspective on the everyday lives of soldiers around the world. I wish them all peace, safety, and success in their missions and hope one day they’ll all be back home.

photo courtesy of lrargerich

Lance Armstrong – Thank You!

You’ve heard me talk about Clint Miller and his recent fight with cancer. The recent news coming from his wife (and him) has been nothing short of amazing and we’ve all been thankful to see his progress. None of us ever doubted for a moment that Clint would stay strong and we’ve kept the thoughts, prayers, and love heading his way. The other day, I spotted a tweet from Mike Mueller about Clint’s desire to meet Lance Armstrong – like many others, I spread the message as far and wide as I could.

By the end of the day, I found myself seeing status updates regarding Lance Armstrong and his video message to Clint. Huh? I immediately scrolled through the stream and found the video. Twenty four seconds of Lance’s day that wound up meaning the world to Clint and his friends. I could go on and on about how this made me feel about Lance and his LiveStrong organization, but I’ll let the video speak for itself.

photo courtesy of internets_dairy

The Lones Group

**UPDATE** Daniel Rothamel has written a blog post detailing and explaining his decisions in regards to the lawsuit.

Up until yesterday, I had never heard of The Lones Group (much like Jay Thompson, I refuse to link to them). Some of you might not know Daniel, but he is know amongst real estate bloggers and his clients as the Real Estate Zebra. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Daniel in real life as well as interacted with him many times online via the usual social media channels. I’ve read his blog and learned a lot about branding through him as I watched. Daniel Rothamel, like me, was taking an unconventional item and focusing it on real estate. He has the zebra, I have the rockstar. In that sense, I have a special bond with Daniel.

Trademarks and lawsuits

Apparently, The Lones Group has been using zebras in their marketing and at some point came across Daniel and his zebra-infused branding. They chose to file a lawsuit. As usual, I have to explain that I am not a lawyer nor am I an expert on trademark law. What follows in less about the law and more about social media, marketing, and what in my opinion will become an excellent case study for future branding issues in the world of internet marketing and use of trademarks within that space.

You can read the whole complaint, “The Lones Group v. Daniel Rothamel and Strong Team Realtors, Inc.” (courtesy of the Zebra Defense Fund).

When the complaint was filed by The Lones Group, I’m not sure if they knew much about Daniel and what he has done in the world of real estate – particularly within blogging and social media. The Real Estate Zebra as many of us know him isn’t just a guy with a good idea for marketing himself – he’s a well known authority on blogging, branding, and social media within the real estate industry. I met him a couple of years ago and because of my awareness of him from reading his blogs and speaking to him online, we started an immediate conversation. You know my thoughts on how social media connects us.

The lawsuit has had an immediate effect in real estate circles. Many Realtors® that were unaware that The Lones Group existed now do. Goal accomplished! Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of awareness that one seeks to attract. Now, there are thousands of us reading blogs about the lawsuit and coming to the “defense” of Daniel Rothamel and Strong Team Realtors®. While it will be up to the courts to decide the legalities involved, the case is being tried in the court of public opinion as we speak. This is the new way of the world. Your actions will be viewed on a mass scale, particularly when you make an unpopular move in a close knit industry. As The Lones Group sells marketing services to real estate agents, this is not the kind of publicity they want. I, along with others, were potential clients of their services. By showing their true nature (in my opinion lawsuits of this kind are ridiculous money-grabs), they have revealed to me a company that I would not choose to do business with. Daniel Rothamel is a friend and in an industry like ours, we look out for each other. I am proud to know the Real Estate Zebra and count him amongst my real estate friends – online and offline.

Donations are being accepted to help Daniel with his legal defense costs at the Zebra Defense Fund. Any money above and beyond his costs will be donated to charity.

I would also suggest you read Jay Thompson’s “The Lones Group v. Rothamel: A case study in destroying your on-line reputation” as it is an excellent look at online reputation and this case. Jay is also maintaining a list of posts regarding our industry’s reaction to the lawsuit (he’s great at keeping those lists!).

photo courtesy of Martin Pettitt with special thanks to Mariana Wagner for inspiration to find the photo

Condensing the format.

I’ve tried to decide whether or not to make the front page of the blog more short and concise for you, the readers. Sometimes, blog posts get lost on the front page because of the length of the other posts that precede them. In an effort to make the front page more readable and help you quickly find the articles that interest you the most, I’ve decided to make use of WordPress’ ability to present short excerpts of each article that appears of the first page.

Hopefully, this will not only help you find posts that you find interesting, but also help encourage you to dig deeper and read posts that you might have otherwise missed. Please take a few moments and view the main page and let me know what you think in the comments on this post. I’ll also be watching the site’s statistics to see how this affects the readability of the site. I’m hoping people will like the new look.

I’ll be going back a few posts to implement this immediately, so that you can see how it will look from here on out.

photo courtesy of eriwst

Everyone Loves Presents.

I wish I could be like Oprah and give everyone a brand new car, but I haven’t reached her heights (yet). In the giving spirit of the holiday season, I wanted to give you all a great gift, but didn’t know what size you wore. Plus, I know you’ll never wear the garish Christmas sweater I picked out for you. I never was great at picking out the latest fashions. So instead of buying you something you’ll never use, I’ve decided to give you an incredible deal on hosting services.

I’ve been with Dreamhost for longer than I can remember (even before this site) and they’ve been an excellent host over the years. You can read all about them on their site, I won’t bore you with the geeky details, but I love them as a hosting company. So in order to spread the love and give you a little something for the holidays, I’ve created a new promo code: ROCKSTARSPECIAL. Simply visit Dreamhost and order your web hosting. The link I provided will automatically bring the price down from $8.95/month (as of 12/03/10) to $6.99/month. Order a plan for two-years and save even more.

Regardless of what holiday you’re celebrating, I hope everyone has a terrific holiday season and a great 2011. I look forward to working with you throughout.

***UPDATE***: The links were not working properly and not showing the correct discount. I have updated the links and the promo code is working now.

Disclosure: CMP.ly 5

photo courtesy of sun dazed

Hidden Gem in Stone Oak

All puns aside, I recently stopped by Moses Jewelers off of Stone Oak Parkway in San Antonio (map) and was looking to get a few items appraised. I don’t do a lot of jewelry shopping (after being robbed I’ve sworn off ever buying expensive jewelry ever again), so on the rare occasions that I do go into a jewelers, I often take a look around and see what’s new, what everything is costing these days, and what kind of designs the store has. Moses Jewelers had some very beautiful diamond necklaces and earrings, the sort of things that I like (not for me to wear) and lacked, how do I put it nicely, some of the “tackier” jewelry I’ve seen in other shops.

In getting my stuff appraised, I actually met Moses himself and had a chat with him about the particular piece I was getting appraised, jeweler pricing (and mark up), and overall conditions of the market. Moses was a really nice guy; friendly and didn’t give me that feeling that I was a) unwelcome in his store or b) about to get ripped off. The particular piece I had was rather expensive when I bought it in Los Angeles and in talking about it’s value, Moses showed me some similar pieces at different price points to give me an idea of the value in today’s market. He was really good at showing me why the price was where it was at, instead of just telling me numbers off the top of his head and leaving it at that.

I wasn’t in the market to buy anything and Moses knew that up front, yet still treated me like I was in there to buy a million dollar ring and for me, that sort of treatment makes or breaks a business. If tomorrow I woke up and needed some jewelry, you can bet that my first stop would be his store based on the way he treated me and the informative nature of our talk. Check them out and tell me what you think, I’d love to hear some opinions from some people who have purchased from the store.

Moses Jewelers
19141 Stone Oak Parkway, Suite 103
San Antonio TX 78258
(210) 490-2404
www.mosesjewelers.net
email hidden; JavaScript is required

photo courtesy of Swamibu