The Duncan Fremlin Blog

Social Media 101

As I've written here before, I'm a devoted member of the Cabbagetown Chapter of Business Networking International.  I'm grateful every day to have this group of quality professionals working for me and I'm thrilled to be working for them.  We all work hard to help each other be successful.  They're my business family.

Once a week, a member has 10 minutes to speak about a topic of their choice.  Last Wednesday morning, it was my turn.  Darned if it wasn't recorded on an iPhone.  I spoke about the value of social media in business and particularly when it's used in a group setting, much like my Cabbagetown group.

The meetings are help at Merry Berry at 559 Parliament Street.  It's one of the best French cafes in the city and most certainly make the best pain au chocolate.  Check it out.  

 

Real Stories, Real People

I have a friend who rants about the need to limit immigration to this country.  Apparently, in his world, our national policy of welcoming people from around the world is the source of all our problems.  He figures all the unemployed naturalized Canadians would automatically find a job if the foreigners were sent back to where they came from.  The racism in this sentiment is too obvious to even question.

The fact is, the exact opposite is true.  I can't help but think of the clients I've helped over the years who tell harrowing tales of what they had to do to get here and be successful.  Consider how important that spirit has been to North America since people first landed here.

My favourite story is the Vietnamese family I assisted a few years ago.  

After the Americans left South Vietnam, the Communists took over and reassured the residents that if they identified themselves and registered with the new government, they would be allowed to go free.  My client did just that and he was immediately incarcerated.  Meanwhile, his wife and two baby daughters were left to fend for themselves in post war Vietnam, not a hopeful scenario.  

The young couple had agreed that if anything were to happen to him, the wife would take the kids and try to escape. She did just that.

As we were inspecting houses one evening, she told me the story, tears in her eyes.

She set off one night and began to walk, both kids (2 and 4) in hand.  She walked through the entire country of Cambodia to the coast where she entered a refugee camp.  From there, she was sent to England.  Once arriving, she worked hard to earn enough to make it to Canada where she had some distant relatives to visit.  She also began a letter writing campaign to Amnesty International asking for the Vietnamese to free her husband.  After a few years, she was successful.

When I met them, he had been free for 5 years and they had saved enough money for a down payment on a house.

As I've been telling my friend, we need to welcome more people like this.   

 

Take Back Toronto the Hard Way

Yes, I'm a glass half full kind of guy.  A bit of an idealist.  There is always a bright side to every bleak landscape.  Must be my good Scottish genes.

Rob Ford!  Now there's a bleak landscape, particularly if you're a downtown kind of person. Perhaps Etobicoke residents feel differently about this guy. I don't know and I sure as hell don't care.  All I know for sure is he's the wrong mayor for the City of Toronto, regardless of what decade we're living in.  

Mel, Bad Boy Lastman was god-awful. I'm desperately trying to find the good that came of his tenure.  But Ford?  That's a different matter.  Some good might actually come out of his time at the job.  There might actually be a political discussion that is long over due.

I'm thinking that 3 more years with this buffoon might lead us to the promised land, that is, a decentralized city government.  There was another stooge who recked havoc on our city.  He created this mess with his centralized notion of government.  I'm referring to Mike Harris.  He's the reason we have Ford running our affairs.  This would not be happening if there wasn't amalgamation.  I'm thinking that it's time to take our city back from the suburbs and let us run our own budget and our own affairs.

 

 

Family Peace Can Be Very Expensive

Here's a real estate story that repeats itself often each day pretty much everywhere.

Mom and Dad die and leave the kids the house.  Worst case scenario:  all kids are appointed as executors (shame on the lawyer for allowing this to happen).  Fighting between the 55+ year old "kids" begins over the contents of the house (amazing how important that crappy dining room table is now) and continues onto the decisions surrounding the sale of the house.  Local Realtor with a terrific track record in the area is called in (as in me) and makes a presentation describing how best to get top dollar for the house.  Sibling #2 has her own idea on how to sell the house and calls in out-of-town Realtor who happens to be a friend of her ex-husband's step aunt twice removed.  And of course this Realtor is cheap and knows nothing about the area where the house is located.  

Responsbile sibling worries that if she doesn't defer to the out of town sister, the family will disintegrate (there has been lots of threatening phone calls late in the evening).  So, the house gets listed by Realtor #2 and sells for $100,000.00 less than what it should have sold for.

Yes, family peace can be very expensive.  It just happened last week.  

Wildlife Abounds in 2011

Besides being a wonderfully hot and sunny summer at the lake, it's been the most active summer in terms of wildlife.  Where have all these critters come from?

Unlike past summers, there have been more bear sightings, a few porcupines (I thought they were gone entirely), a herd of squirrels and chipmunks, water snakes on the rock, wild turkeys, a huge bird that is yet to be identified (looks like a huge downy woodpecker), blue heron, frogs, and turtles (large and small, one with a fish sticking out of his mouth).

The discovery that scared the bejesus out of me however is seen here.  I vow never to check my oil again.  After much research, I've concluded that this is a fox snake and they can grow to be over 9' long.  This one is about 5'.

The old guy who lives by the railroad tracks was visiting yesterday and he told me the trains have been killing lots of elk and coyotes, though I haven't seen any.  There are no fox around because of the mange disease.  This old guy saw one recently and it had no hair and was starving to death.  

Yes, it's a busy time with lots of activity up north if you take the time to look for it.

Lots to Admire about Politicians

That heading will attract all kinds of attention, most of it disbelieving.  "What the hell are you talking about?" is the likely thought.

Quite unintentially, I've been taking my lead from these professional social networkers for many years now.  If there is no election within sight and they don't have any political gains to earn, a good politician has a lot to teach me about networking and keeping in touch with my clients.  They do it better than most, as part of their daily routine.

I'll use a Toronto city counsellor I know from high school as an example.   Paula Fletcher and I attended Sir James Dunn C&VS in Sault Ste. Marie in the 1960's.  Even though she is not my representative at City Hall, I support her nonetheless.  She's an honourable person and she works her rear end off on behave of her constituents.  She's also a master of getting reelected (or as I prefer to think of it, rehired).  How does she do this?  

Well, she began early in her career meeting and greeting and helping her neighbours.  She seems to really care and very much enjoys this aspect of her job.  She has a presence in every local publication, regardless of how small or large.  She hosts seasonal events such as Christmas skates and Environmental Day recycle drop off points.  She rallies citizens to get involved and express their views on issues that are important to the city.  She supports local initiatives that are good for the city, regardless of where it originates.  She keeps in touch by mail and email just the right amount.  I never drown in her material and.... there's always a point behind her messages.  Yes, sometimes the point is self serving ("I'd like to get reelected, please donate to my campaign") but more often than not, it is about helping make our community better.

As I write this and think about Paula's work, I hope that I can say the same about my messages to the community.  I guess in that sense, I am a politician too.  

This Guy is Wired!

I enjoyed the speaker who put on quite a show at our company meeting last week.  His name is Gary Vaynerchuk and he's  a successful entrepreneur, a wine expert in fact.  His goal in life is to own the New York Jets.  Go figure.  If you click on the link you'll see a video of his talk.  

He's a Social Media for Business guru and while his words were enlightening, his energy was exhausting.  If you're unsure about the ever changing phenomenon call social media, you'll learn a lot from this video. 

I try not to get discouraged or overwhelmed by the details of this new business tool.  That's what it is by the way,  Yes, we use it to communicate with each other but mostly, we use it to sell something.  We may not be selling "things or services" but we are at the very least selling ourselves.  After listening to Gary, I feel less intimidated now and I'm a little closer to appreciating the benefits.   I'll certainly never have the time to make it a part of my life as the young people do.  I might be a twit but I don't want to spend the time advertising this to the world of Twitter and beyond. 

I would guess Facebook and Twitter and the like are probably easier to embrace or even understand if you were born around 1985.  However, I do appreciate the value that it brings and dare I say, even sort of, maybe,  just possibly get the overall impact this has on the way we all do business.  

Gary obvioulsy "gets it" and uses it in a way most of us can only dream about.   He grew his business quite dramatically thanks to Social Media and this video shares some of the tools he used.  

Surround Yourself With The Best

We had our company meeting yesterday.  Hundreds of associates and friends assemble once a year and learn what's new in real estate, in the company and in our lives.  I've known many of these fine folks for 25 years and it's always a great visit.  Lots of gossip and that's mildly amusing for a few seconds.

The company leader, Broker Owner Ken McLachlan, spoke as he usually does.  He's now a cancer survivor so he told us that story and stressed the need to always be vigilant with our health.  He also spoke about the importance of surrounding ourselves with excellent people.  He mentioned this in passing but this is worth more than just a few words.  He could easily have devoted his entire time to this subject.  It's that important.

I joined RE/MAX many years ago on the urging of a trainer I was studying under.  It was a nerve wracking decision because I was comfortable with the under achievers I was working with.  Then I remembered how good a musician I became when I began to play with people much better than me.  The decision was made.  I've never looked back.  

If you want success in your life, whatever that might mean, then I'd suggest you ditch the self-help books, turn off the motivational tapes and take a day or two to analyze your friends, family and associates.  Ask yourself, "are they good for me?  do they make me a better person?  do they make me better at my profession?  do they make me feel good about myself?"

If the answer is no, delete their number from the speed dial list on your cell phone.  You don't need them!  

One final thought.  If you always win when you play tennis or golf or whatever, find a better partner to play with.