Gettin’ Geeky With It – May 25

Those of us that fall into the category of “geek” tend to wear it proudly. Why? Because we don’t care what anyone else has to say about

it and, well, frankly…. because we can 🙂

This morning I received an email from my favorites at IMSD about May 25th being “GEEKY Day” and inside of it were the Top 10 Rights to Being a Geek. I had to share!

Here are the Top 10 Rights of a Geek! (note #10)

–The right to be even geekier.
–The right to not leave your house.
–The right to not like football or any other sport.
–The right to associate with other nerds.
–The right to have few friends (or none at all).
–The right to have as many geeky friends as you want.
–The right to be out of style.
–The right to be overweight and near-sighted.
–The right to show off your geekiness.
–The right to take over the world.

Invite friends and join us on our bonus webinar on May 25th as we celebrate Geek Day!

Found: Random Travel/Training Shots

Many of you follow my escapades from airport to airport, class to class, hotel to hotel via my personal FB profile. Well, honestly there is still a lot that you never get to see. I am a photo junky. That’s right. I love pictures. I visually document most of my life and rarely do you get to see the whole thing. Yesterday I was going through and cleaning up some space on my iPhone and realized that although none of you want to see ALL of the pics that I take through my trips, some of you may find it fascinating if they were all just easily located in a blog roll and NOT flooding your FB streams. So here you go…. This was April. Enjoy.

We start in Denver (actually… this was mid March, but you get the point) Then.. lets take a quick jump through a few more airports and make a stop in Cary NC and then my favorite city… Austin TX.

Stik.com – The Real Estate Referral End of Things

The story continues with Stik.com – As many of you have been following the updates since my original post (Blocking Stik.com – Easier than you think!) venting about agents overuse and spam our Facebook wall with their “recommend me” tool you may be interested to know that the referral end of Stik.com has responded. Response below.

Liz, my name is Philip and I am Broker of Record for the real estate referral arm of Stik.com.  This is still in alpha phase, so it will be some time before this reaches wide spread access.  We are sharing this advance peek with your readers to offer an incentive to *not* block the stik.com messages.

We have been testing functionality that allows brokers to refer leads to those they are connected to via Facebook.  We recently sent an actual buyer referral to 6 brokers in Portland, OR, and only 1 responded.  2 more responded when we followed up with direct email messages, saying they assumed the original message was spam.  The other 3 never even knew that they missed a qualified buyer referral who has since submitted an offer.

As a broker myself, I am very dialed into the prolific claims around ‘lead generation’, and we are working VERY hard to provide a high quality and lucrative experience for members of the Stik network.  Stik has failed at times to avoid pitfalls, and there is still much work to be done.

However, blocking all messages from Stik will prevent you from receiving referrals through the network once it is up and running.  For your readers who may choose to block the referral request messages, please check back periodically on the status of the referral network capabilities, as these are leads coming from fellow brokers in your network.

Finally, please feel free to contact Nathan (who posted above) or me (philip@stik.com) with any suggestions on how to make the experience better.  We are working hard on the areas that we know, and are always open to new ideas.

Regards,

 

So I pose this to my friends and followers who have been having issues with Stik.com. Will this, along with the other updates that Nathan spoke about in his response cause you to unblock the tool and give it a second try?

Stik.com Replies to Complaints

On March 24th I wrote a 2 minute blog (seriously… took 2 minutes) out of sheer frustration for Stik.com. As I stated in the blog, I have nothing against the product and it’s not a bad concept. However, it is a SPAM MACHINE! Well, after several hundred shares and RT’s to match… last night Stik.com has finally reached out and responded. Here is their response from one of their founders, Nathan Labenz. Which I think we will all be happy to hear. Thanks Nathan.

Hi Liz,

My name is Nathan Labenz and I’m one of the founders of Stik.com. I just wanted to comment here to let you know that I’ve read your feedback and that we are taking it seriously. We are planning to introduce upgrades to the site tomorrow that will make recommendation requests more personal and meaningful.

I also wanted to make clear that we are not automatically sending these requests. Our users have full control over whether or not to send requests, and to whom. We have been surprised by how many requests some people send and are considering imposing a limit in order to avoid annoying people like yourself.

Have a great day and let me know if you have any other feedback for us.

Best,
Nathan Labenz

Blocking Stik.com – Easier than you think!

We have all be annoyed beyond belief of Stik.com postings on our wall. Often from someone who doesn’t even interact with us. I myself almost went on a unfriending frenzy about this. Only to do a little research and realize that once a user signs up for Stik, they have virtually little to no control over those postings. So I backed off a little. But still want it to stop. So you will all be VERY happy to know that its easy as pie to make go away. My 2 second instructions are below……. You’re welcome!

Searching in Facebook go up top and search Stik.com (in FB search bar NOT URL)… go to all results (bottom of the window that opens up), left hand side click on apps. Then.. once in the Stik.com app window scroll down to left hand side and block app.

And… Wa la!

By the way. If you want recommendations from your peers or customers go to LinkedIn. This is the PROPER place for such non spamming activities.

Moving on up! #KWFR

Sitting in the Keller Williams State of the Company address. WOW! What an amazing two hours! 

eEdge has gone live! The revolutionary all in one system that handles from lead to closing it up and running. This is a game changer for the real estate industry.

It appears that Realogy is shaking in there boots! As we all expected an announcement for being #2 in the country today we are left unsatisfied. Why, you ask? Because Realogy is refusing to release their agent count numbers until March! Not that I am a conspiracy theory person… but I smell one working up here! Check out the video below to watch Mark Willis’s speach and announcement on where we stand… the UNCONFIRMED #2 REAL ESTATE COMPANY IN THE COUNTRY!

Where’s Waldo?? Where’s Liz!! #KWFR

I will be speaking on two panels this week at KW FR 2011! Come by and see me they will both be great!

 

 

Sunday 1pm – Room 210CD

Smart Social Media Strategies (facilitated by Beth Torrence)

Panelists: Liz Landry, Sue Adler, Jay Papasan

 

Tuesday 1pm – Room 212AB

Blogging For Beginners

Panelists: Jonathan Ossman, Liz Landry

 

Come on by and see us! There won’t be much seating so get there early if you can!

10,000 Agents head to Anaheim! #KWFR

Yesterday marked the first “official” day of Keller Williams Family Reunion!! It was great to wake up in a west coast time zone after the exhausting travel from my prior day. A 3 hour difference made my day!

Lots of exciting things to usher in the KW Crowd yesterday!

The morning started off with the KW Cultural Summit where the top culture agents and offices in the company were recognized for their contributions! Thank you for all that you do! I however was not able to make it the cultural summit due to an ATC Meeting (Associate Technology Council). Exciting things happening there! We got the first LIVE view of eEdge! I can’t even begin to describe how this is going to change the game of real estate! Keller Williams continues to push the limits on standards and what should be the norm in the industry! With the roll of eEdge this week at the State of The Company address, we are expecting quite the show.

Chris Smith of TechSavvyAgent.com rocked the house at 1pm with a “What Happens on Facebook Stays on Facebook” class. Standing room only in there ladies and gents. The biggest highlight you should know about from there is a very cool video software that is CHEAP… yes… very cheap! Check out HDHat.com for video editing, stabilization, narration and more starting at just $29. Thank you Chris for your time here with us this week… our agents love you.

RainStorm (hosted by ActiveRain) took place last night at Heat Ultra Lounge! Needless to say, KW painted the town red last night and partied like only KW agents can!

I hosted the Social Media IRL Mixer at the Hilton – Thank you to everyone for the amazing turn out! You guys rock! Jason Hardy and I perused the crowd for donations to KW Cares by hosting a 50/50 raffle and we are happy to announce that you guys antied up nearly $600 in just under 30 minutes! KW Cares thanks you!

Of course in true KW fashion the party didn’t stop and the Hilton Lobby was the hopping place into the wee hours of the morning! But I wouldn’t know that because I was at home in bed early 🙂

As for now I must depart because a familiar tune of “Back in Black” just came on in the main hello… Hello Gary!

Adventures in Traveling #KWFR

3:30am – Alarm sounds to get up! Finally! Time to head to Keller Williams Family Reunion!

3:45am – Look at clock and wonder what I was thinking booking a 5:30 flight

4:00am – Wake up my ride to the airport (thanks Em)

4:05am – Calm dog who is now howling because I’m leaving.

4:06am – Get to parking lot and realize I forgot my toothbrush on the counter int he bathroom. Dog finally stopped barking. It’s a lost cause. I’ve gone too far to go back – I’ll buy a new one in the airport.

4:15am – Sit comatose in car for 30 minute drive to airport. Emily may be dozing off at the wheel. I’m too tired to tell.

4:45am – Airport!

4:46am – Check in issues at kiosk – special services desk here I come!

4:50am – Waiting impatiently in line…. wondering if I’ll get through security and catch my flight before it takes off at 5:30.

4:55am – Still waiting

5:00am – Up to the service counter “Hi. The kiosk isn’t pulling up my information for my 5:30am flight. Here is my confirmation number”

5:01am – Overwhelmed be stress and anger as the following words are uttered “I’m sorry ma’am. Your flight is booked for MARCH 18th at 5:30. It was changed last week”

5:02am – I stare at service desk representative blankly as I talk myself out of lunging across the counter and wreaking havoc in an airport. Not even I am stupid enough to get myself on a no fly list.

5:03am – It is explained to me that I called last week and switched my flight to March 18th instead of Feb 18th. Which is far from the case. I switched my flight from 6:30pm on Feb 18th to 5:30am on Feb 18th. It’s amazing how when ONE KEY is hit (likely because of someones fat fingers) that my entire day goes wrong. More so, neither me or the original rep noticed because March 18th is in fact a Friday, just like Feb 18th.

5:05am – Desk representative hands me a card with a 1-800 number and says to call. “Next please”

5:06am – Mild nervous breakdown.

5:08am – On hold due to high call volume

5:30am – Its official – I missed my flight. Still on hold

5:45am – A representative picked up, then put me back on hold.

5:50am – Representative tells me since it is a Delta error they can get me on the 11:45 flight out (better than nothing!)

5:51am – Rep says that she can’t override the $1200 fee… she needs to transfer me again and they will be able to.

5:58am – I am sitting on hold still – laptop open, typing a blog staring at the lady at the counter. I know it’s now her fault, but I must give my enemy a face. Sorry Rosa.

6:02am – Lack of caffeine is taking its toll. I should be descending into ATL by now. Still on hold.

6:07am – New rep picks up phone. No idea about the last hour of conversation I’ve had. (breathe Liz. just breathe)

6:20am – New rep gets me a flight out of Jax!! BUT – I don’t land in LA until 5:30pm 😦

6:40am – Visit Starbucks and dose on the caffeine… it’s going to be a long day ladies and gentlemen!
The thing that makes it all worth it is the face that in 12 hours I will be with my favorite people! They say being with people who understand you…. priceless.

Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali #KWFR Style

Its Thursday morning around 6am. For those of you who personally know me, you know this is a far cry from the time I would prefer to wake up. Or for that matter function normally. More so, I’ve been up for an hour and a half already. Thank you Mountain Dew!

As I am sure you are wondering what this has to do with anything. So let me tell you. Tomorrow morning at 5:30am my flight takes off from Jacksonville to Los Angeles for Keller Williams Family Reunion #KWFR. Enter the world of caffeine, adrenaline and 18 hour days! This is our main event, our biggest convention where I will join 10,000 of the best agents in our company for training, masterminds, laughs, drinks and dinners.

Being that there are 10,000 agents going… that means that there are about 70,000 who are not going to make it!

So stay posted ladies and gents! You will be getting an overdose on what a week at convention is like. Blogs with all the highlights of the events. Must know news, pics, tweets and random updates as well. Final preparations start today! Its going to be a whirlwind of a week and you’ve got ringside seats via my blog, twitter and fb!

(PS. Look for the pic above as it will accompanying all #KWFR 2011 Blog Posts I make!)