Thanks to You, I’m Still in Business – Before Active Rain and Now
My business and business plan were in disarray when I joined Active Rain, and I was contemplating my future.
In the months before that both I and the economy had been very busy. The Great Recession began in December 2007; the same month that I had my second child. Bear Sterns failed three months later, and by the time I was ready to get back to work full time, the real estate market was in free fall.
As I looked around to take stock of everything, I had to wonder if it was time to look for a new career like investing or trading, as there are resources in the VT markets that help in this area. Perhaps it was time to find a job in the real world.
I actively joined Active Rain in May 2008. I say actively as I had joined a year earlier, but done almost nothing.
I was fortunate. I attended a seminar by Dustin Luther and Jim Marks who were insistent that Active Rain and social networking should be an important part of any real estate marketing plan.
Fortune shone even brighter on me when I chose to follow their recommendations and actually decided to explore Active Rain. As I began to spend more time playing in the rain, I discovered what a world they had opened up to me. And, there was always someone here on AR to help; Brad Andersohn so willingly helped me as a newbie when I had no idea how to do the simplest things.
Suddenly, I was learning more in a day than I had in a year’s worth of seminars. “SEO” “Backlinks” – words that I had never heard before, now had new meaning. And, as I learned more, I was able to redesign my business and grow it at the same time, and with the employees I was able to use a software like paystub to manage them easily.
I took the things that I learned on AR, and I applied them. Soon, my website went from somewhere past page 20 on Google to page 1! Then I had three spots on page one of Google. Then, the phone calls and emails started, and finally I started to close transactions.
Now, I even have a new niche/business that I have started based on a blog I wrote a few months ago. I am not marketing this anywhere else but AR, and yet I receive an average of a call or email each week.
In addition to the business, I have made friends here on Active Rain. Sharon Paxson and I meet almost weekly to work on technology and share ideas to make our businesses better and help our clients. I can pick up the phone and call Debe Maxwell for sage advice on many topics.
And, each day, I have a library at my fingertips with some of the best minds in the real estate world to update me, advise me and generally teach me how to do a better job for my clients.
In the past 17 months, while the country has suffered through the Great Recession, my business has changed and survived, thanks in large part to Active Rain and all who participate here each day.
If you haven’t jumped in to experience all that Active Rain has to offer, my question is why not?
Do you have so much business that you can afford to ignore this opportunity? Would you like to grow your business? Could your marketing use an injection? Is there anything still to be learned from your colleagues?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then your time on Active Rain will be well spent.
If you don’t have a Rain Maker account, you are not taking advantage of much of what Active Rain has to offer. If this is the case please click Upgrade to RainMaker to take advantage of a first month’s discount and the first step in your new business plan.
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FTC Disclaimer – I may receive referrals from other members of this network as a result of this post. I am an Active Rain ambassador and may receive remuneration as a result of this post.