Joeann's Tuesday Tip - May 8, 2007

On The Personal Side.....

		Mother's Day is this Sunday (in case you've been under a rock or got one of my personalized calendar's that had it listed LAST Sunday!) and I want to mark the occasion. My own mother died 44 years ago of liver disease, but her memory, zest for life and encouragements are part of the woman I grew up to be. I wish she could be here to see her two beautiful great-granddaughters that epitomize her genes, determination and feistyness. They each have a teddy bear made from her mink coat named Clementine, after her. I am sure she would approve that I cut the coat up!
So, if you still have a mother, I hope you connect with and appreciate her this week. If yours has passed, like mine, let's think of our fondest memories and share them with someone or journal them. And, if you are a mother, know that what you give to the world by raising a child is an incredible contribution. I say this because I talk to many women who worry about not being able to be who they want to be in the business world and be the mother they want to be..... I believe when we express our joy and love in either place, we are modeling for our children what true success is. When you give the world your unique gifts, that's all there is to do! Have a Happy Mother's Day!

Tech Tools & Trends Part 1 of 3

This is the first part of a message I shared this month with the WCR Scottsdale Chapter

What are the trends to watch and tools you need to be effective in 2007 in technology?

Here are the four areas that you'll want to keep an eye on:

1. The Absolutely Necessary
2. The Smart Tools For Your Peak Effectiveness
3. The Changes That Web 2.0 Requires
4. The Consumer Driven Want

1. USB Drives - Sometimes called Thumbdrives. There are lots of uses for these.They make it very easy to transfer information from one computer to another. Over the past couple of years, the prices have dropped and the size of the memory has increased, so you can find more and more ways to get creative with them. Some ideas include carrying around your listing and buyer presentations, your virtual tours, giving the seller or buyer all of the contracts, reports, tours and other documents from their closing. Don't leave home without one!

2. Easy Backup - Wow! this should go without saying, but I would guess fewer than 25% of the people I speak with are not on top of this. If you are not backing up regularly, do not make another tech purchase until you get this handled. Like Thumbdrives, the size has increased and cost has come down. I recently bought a 500 GB Maxtor External Drive for about $150 at Costco. It backs up my computer every Monday night at 8. It came with a program and I had nothing complicated to do except plug it into the USB port and tell it when to back up. If your computer hasn't ever died, it will......BACKUP!!!!

3. The Small, Portable Storage - We are also seeing a lot of very small external drives that are somewhere between these two. In a recent ad, there was a 40 GB external drive that was 3" x 5" and cost $50. If you do not want to clog up your computer with lots of pictures, tours and tunes, these devices are the perfect way to store.

4. Permanent Email Address - Just a look at my newsletter mailing list tells me most of you are not using a permanent email address. For heavens sake, you are in business and hopefully not a YAHOO!!!!!There is a place for those impermanent addresses(but it isn't your business mail. Buy a domain name (or many of you already have one on your website and you are not using it for your mail). Point the domain name to your current mail host and you'll never have to change your address again! Start branding yourself-not your ISP. If you need any help with this, my friends at the Internet Crusade have the best mail programs available. For more information, take a look at eMailPlus here. You can also see if the domain name you want is available there.

5. Become an e-PRO - I know many of you have taken this great course, but there are still the majority that hasn't. It is the one thing you can do that will give you the overview of the whole arena of what you need to know about technology, allow you to do it all online over a six month period and then wrap it all up in you designing your own technology plan. Talk about a way to save time and money...when you have a plan, you won't be tempted by programs and money vampires you don't need. There is a great, short video about it here, you can sign up here (and because you are on my list, you'll get a $25 discount using code 4477) or come see me on May 17 at 3 PM in DC at the NAR Tradeshow! This will put more money in your pocket this year!