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I have seen review-of-the-year slideshows and videos, so the idea is not new. Neither is the idea of thanking every one for a wonderful year.

Thank you. If I missed putting your picture here, I’m sorry. If we haven’t met face-to-face, let’s do it and take a picture. I can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!

The Little Kids Table

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Realtor.org stats

Interesting information. Not just applicable to buyers’ agents, but to agents as a whole, but it makes you wonder. The conclusion was this: 66% would use the same agent again and refer them to a friend who was moving.

2/3 is a large number, particularly if they will refer, because it opens up an agent’s business hugely.

Here is something interesting that I was thinking of, though. Yesterday, I had wanted to email a friend of mine who was working at a different brokerage. I Googled her name in combination with her brokerage: found NOTHING. I looked on Facebook and twitter, although I didn’t expect to find her there and I was right. I finally found her on LinkedIn without a profile, so to speak- although her email address was there.

So I will be able to get in touch with her, and I will. The question is this: would I have spent that much effort, as a consumer, to reach this agent? Even if I really liked the job that she did if I had not found her right off the bat I would have assumed that she was no longer in business and not bothered looking.

It is important to run your name through Google, Yahoo, and Bing searches. For the fun of it, I checked a misspelling of my name, because the last name difficult. I really feel like changing it to Diane RealEstate or something, but I am active enough in the social space so that even with a misspelling, Google autocorrected and found me in ActiveRain and on the community that I cofounded- the TwitterQueens:

Diane "Geurcio"

I know as long as they have some sort of idea what my name is- or my social media nickname HeyAmaretto- people can find me. In fact, if you search “Diane Amaretto,” which some people call me, the first result on Google is this blog’s address, with my name and the correct spelling right there.

Diane Amaretto

So this is kind of funny- but what does it mean to you? Whether you want to be known in the social media world or in the three-dimensional world around you, you have to make a plan and be there. And track where your leads come from so if you notice a drop-off, you can address the issue.

The point is: if the 2/3 or 3/4 of the clients that you have done business with can’t find you, it makes no difference how much they love you. They won’t use you again, and they can’t refer you. Let your past clients help you build your business.

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Nauseous-looking snowman

Christmas is always busy around here. Add the hub-bub to the usual workload imposed by being self-employed, and you feel nuts.

It is my favorite time of year, though, just because it is so pretty. I have it in my mind that people are kinder to each other this time of year, so they at least appear to be.

It is a rough time for blogs.

It is hard to find the time to add content if you are pulled in a million directions. You are celebrating- whatever- and the fact of the matter is that orchestrating a celebration requires a lot of attention. Traditions require attention. Cookies and children home from school require attention. One day you look up and see your beloved blog curled up by itself in the corner shivering, and you realize that you haven’t fed the poor thing in a week and a half.

There are two schools of thought. One is that you blog- and do any prospecting, for that matter- on a fairly strict schedule. Write it down right in your Google calendar, and set it up to remind you. “Ping”- sit down and write. I have to work somewhat like this or I would look up and see that two months had gone by with nothing done. Knowing I have two posts to write on Tuesday sets my mind to “Observation” mode so I plan them out prior- and I am not sitting down looking out the window writing something about the weather again.

I asked another (prolific) blogger that I know how he wrote, and he said, “I write when I have something to say.” That would be the second school of thought, and it works if you get your butt over to the computer as soon as you have something to say, which I am unlikely to do. This method certainly works for my friend, though.

Looking for ideas? Run a few Google alerts for news of interest in your area of expertise, and use that as the basis of a blog or two a week, interpreting the news for your readers in a way to make it meaningful to them. Once every couple of weeks, ask someone local to write a guest post for you. Local sports, a restaurant review, a holiday recipe that your family really loves- all are interesting.

I guess any method will work as long as you make a habit out of it, and keep in mind that your blog is a living thing that needs to be fed. Skip a few posts and you will see what I mean.

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Posted via web from heyamaretto’s posterous

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holly berries

The older kids have opened their presents; Jenny still isn’t home yet.

They all got what they wanted- short list this year. But they seemed as happy as older children are- who can still remember the magic of Santa Claus, who have walked through a city of bright lights that reminded them of the Christmas star- to whom magic and miracle are intertwined, and so close that they can smell them, but not quite recapture them.

Rebecca, in particular, had an eclectic list. She is in college, unable to find a job, and is on a tight budget because she depends on us for all of her expenses to be covered. She had requested a card to a local grocery store, in addition to a couple other gift cards. I got her one, but it felt strange giving her that, and I mentioned how I felt. This was her logic:

If I get a gift card for food, I can use it for the week’s groceries. Then I can use the college money that I get for clothes.

It seemed like circuitous logic to me, and I said so. I guess she felt that asking for two clothing gift certificates would be too much, I don’t know. I said that I could follow her thought process, but it wasn’t direct for me.

Then she said, ” ‘I’ll take the crust.’ ” I knew exactly what she meant, and those 4 words sum up the entire thought process of an adult, to me.

Maybe there is always such abundance that no one ever needs to eat the crust, or the tough slice of meat. But for an adult, most of whom most of the time would trade their own life to see their child’s life spared, filling up on crusts is a small token. And Becca has recognized this, maybe in relation to her boyfriend, or her other friends, or maybe because of finances in general.

So one has made the journey to adulthood.

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I have been watching little debates bubble up and subside on twitter and elsewhere as to how to appropriately be a well-wisher.

christmas snowman

Words are important, I will have to admit that. They can make us cry, they can make us laugh, they can both sever and heal relationships.

But I don’t believe that anyone who wishes me Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays is trying to discount my belief system or lack of it. Go ahead and wish me a Happy Kwanzaa – I will be honored.

I remember my sister-in-law telling me about her father visiting her in Africa when she was in the Peace Corps. The particular welcome party that they were at did not have access to ice, so the host served gin at room temperature in large tumblers to guests. This combination of warm gin and plenty of it did not appeal to my father-in-law, and he figured that he had better get it out of the way as quickly as possible. He bolted the drink, unaware that the host would take that as a compliment and refill his tumbler to the brink. My father-in-law learned at that celebration about the generous spirit and customs of the country, and that warm gin consumed in copious amounts triggered something akin to a suicide wish.

So for now I will place the question of hangovers to the side, and ask you to invite me to celebrate the Feast of Lights with you. I will, because you are special to me and I want to share your life. I will help you decorate your tree. I will participate in any tradition that you set before me, because I can understand you better that way- and you can understand me too, as we share the joy and the solemnity of your celebration.

I have made so many friends this year. I want to be happy with you- and mourn with you, if need be, because the weight of mourning is easier to bear when shared.

Oh, and please pass the gin. :)

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I remember an old Odd Couple episode. Oscar and Felix were fighting about something, and Oscar began to tear around the kitchen, opening the ‘fridge to make some food.

Definitely staged

Some people have a sense of what goes together in a dish- some people even may have a particular muse. How else would that first person have known to take that fermented wet flour, shape it into a ball, and heat it up over the fire? What I would call divine inspiration definitely exists for some people.

I would not say anything divine was behind the creative drive that inspired Oscar’s recipe. I tried to remember it, and saw several versions online, but I think this comes closest:

Fill salad bowl w/ sardines and pickles
Top w/ whipped cream
Garnish w/ crushed potato chips………..

I seem to recall Chocolate Syrup as well, but maybe it just seemed like it belonged. Oscar called the dish “Goop Melange,” and the name is appropriate.

Anyway, if I were to name this blog with absolutely full disclosure, it would probably be called “Goop Melange.” I started it a while back, and had had an ActiveRain blog for what seems like forever. I had also written personal blogs before, but this was to be more business oriented, and indeed I wrote about mostly real estate related topics.

I think as I got more comfortable with myself and who I was in the social media space I felt like writing about other things of more general interest- writing about things that interested me. If I was having a week of happiness or frustration, I am sure that at best you could sense it in my writing, and at the worse felt like recommending Prozac over Zoloft in a comment.

Last night, I was surprised- and thrilled- to find myself recognised with 11 others by Sellsius in this list: Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers 2009, together with Colleen Kulikowski, Mary Pope-Handy,  Dru Bloomfield,  Amy Chorew, Kaye Thomas, Jessica Riffle Edwards, Susie Blackmon, Elaine Reese,  Genea (Gena) Riede, Kim Wood, and Monika McGillicuddy.

So I thank you Sellsius- for thinking my Goop Melange worthy of being served at this incredible Pot Luck of online writing. I love writing, it HAS helped my business(es), and has helped me- with the rest of the social media package- to meet the best people in the world. And as you said at the end of your article, I am happy to share my Goop recipe with anyone. You can find me online ;).

Some of Diane’s other blogs are HeyAm’s Playground, The Twitter Diaries, a Posterous blog which acts as a portable file cabinet, and a couple others that are experimental. She is a contributor to TQI Consulting and gets a kick out of writing about herself in the third person.

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