I was down in Austin TX this week at the spring IAMC (Industrial Asset Management Council) conference. I don’t do a lot of events like this yet (definitely need to do better with my networking!) so it was a great learning experience, both in the classroom and from the interactions with others in the industry….
The Dangers of Proprietary Solutions
There are many real estate organizations that focus on “their” proprietary solution. They use the old fashioned mindset of trying to lock clients into them by “licensing” them software to do what needs to be done. But if the client ever wants to leave they have to start from scratch with someone else. This is…
A Funny Thing About Communication
…in order for it to work you have to engage with people. To engage with people means you have to say something or pass something along. To say something opens you up for so much more. When a team is involved, communication is how all of the tasks come together successfully. Sitting on something you…
Adding up to 100
When you estimate the time you will be spending in a week across various tasks, how often does it actually add up to 100%? If you’re like me, your week probably starts at closer to 150+% and you know going in that you’re going to be setting a lot of expectations daily. Starting that high…
8 Rules for this, 10 Rules for that, 5 Ways to do something else
Stop following “the rules” of blogging. If you really think that some set of rules is going to make your blog successful you really aren’t clear on this whole thing. Following the rules is the quickest way to become just another “me too.” It can also be a deathblow to creativity. Yes, there are a…
Sometimes you fight the battle to lose.
You can’t win every fight you get into. At some point you will be under prepared, out maneuvered or you may not know that a battle is underway. And then sometimes you enter a fight with the intention to lose. When you are on a winning streak it can sometimes get into your head. Suddenly…
Iteration and Success
Most of the time you have the opportunity to try something, get it to 80% complete and roll out a prototype for market testing. Once you collect some feedback you can go back to the garage, fix it up a bit and re-release (hopefully capturing a huge chunk of market share). Lather, rinse, repeat –…
Are you that client?
Or maybe you treat all clients as if they are “that client.” If you haven’t ever read through the posts over at Clients from Hell then you really don’t know what you are missing. It’s not real estate clients, but all of us from service industries will see the same personality types at work. Sometimes…
Take the road less traveled
When faced with a location decision, at some point you will be faced with the question of do you want to be near your competitors or off on your own? For many retailers they often choose the route of being near others with similar businesses. Furniture stores often want to be within less than a…
Following the theme of dramatic change…
The QWERTY keyboard layout was originally invented to slow down typists so that they wouldn’t jam the keys on a typewriter. How many decades later is it since that need disappeared? How long ago should the US have moved to the metric system to be in alignment with the rest of the world? Change is…