Red Hot Austin Blog

While most of us would choose for more sales and business, I am so grateful for all the blessings we as United States citizens have in our beautiful country. When I think of the armed forces over in harms way, and the sacrifices they and their families have made and will make, I'm ashamed of ever complaining.

Yes, we may struggle with a payment or two from time to time. Commission sales are not for the weak of heart. Yet we live in a country where we have choices. Not everyone does. What I'm trying to say is be sure and thank anyone who puts their life in danger in order to help keep ours safe. That list includes the military, law enforcement and of course firefighters. It could and does include many, many others.

So thanks for letting me express my sincere appreciation in this public forum. I promise to contribute more related to real estate next post. xoxo Alice

Well last week was a real challenge for me.  I felt so many emotions and sensations due to one deranged engineer that thought he would change things by killing himself and many others.  It just so happened that it hit very close to home (office) for me. Right across the parking lot from my old office a small plane was used to demolish the IRS office in one of the Echelon buildings on the first floor.

You see, the previous weekend my company, Keller Williams Realty Austin, moved out of one of the Echelon buildings except for one group that was still located in the building on the 3rd floor. One of the co-founders of Keller Williams Realty, Joe Williams, was still there with his group as his lease was not up.

After they felt the building shake and the loud noise, they heard the screams from the people trapped in the building next door.  Without a thought for himself, Joe helped a man who was a glass installer that was passing by, get a ladder out and help some of those that they could reach out the glass windows to safety. I saw the shocked employees of Joes' afterwards and saw what something so awful like that does to people. Well if they were so shaken, and I who wasn't even there was so shaken, imagine what it was like for the poor people in that building. After all, they got up that morning, ate breakfast, got dressed, drove to work like they did every morning and in a blink of an eye everything changed.

The thing I want to point out here is that there are no guarantees in life. So laugh more, play more, eat more ice cream. There is no dress rehearsal. So kiss your loved ones more often. Tell them you love them every chance you get. Live every day like tomorrow could be your last.

We get so wrapped up in this business trying to make a living, that we sometimes forget to make a life. I wish more for you than that. Our company says: God, Family & Work in that order. I'm going to try to remember that more. I hope you will too!

Why is it that about the time I figure out one piece of technology, other types raise their heads to divert my attention from the original technological tool I was working on?

Do you sometimes feel that you will never be able to catch up and stay on top of the tools that are needed out there?

I'm a very quick learner and I work in a very technologically oriented city. Oh yes, we have lots of young people because of the University. So I'm feeling like I need an assistant just to blog for me though I would never want to do that because I want to get MY message out there, not my assistant's.

So how do you all deal with this facet of marketing and communication? I work full-time in real estate and part-time doing the compliance portion of work for my office. That means I check every contract and every listing agreement to see that all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed. We do this to help our agents and to help our office. Oh yes, I manage the licensing of all 350 agents as well.

Do you see why I'm thinking I'll never get it all together in the blogging, facebooking, twittering, linkedin arena? How do you carve out time to do it?

-Alice

Well, it's been a while since I posted to my blog.  I think we all understand how life gets in the way sometimes.  I was sitting here thinking about how things have been a little weird in the real estate business in general and in my business in particular.  Let's face it people are nervous about buying and selling real estate nowadays. I don't blame them even though now is a great time to buy.

I have been told all my life that God doesn't give us more than we can handle and that all experiences make us stronger.  Well, quite frankly my dear, I can't afford to be any stronger.  I mean, we work very hard for people to help them achieve their goals.  We find them the perfect house and they are qualfied. Heaven knows we all make sure they are qualified (don't we)?  I make sure they are qualified and that I want to work with them and they want to work with me (by signing a buyers rep). Then they pull out when I've accomplished what they hired me for. This has happened two times just last week with buyers and 5 times with renters.  It's enough to give a gal a complex.

Add to the mix that my dear daughter, Meaghan, is leaving in the morning for South Korea to teach english and I'm not having fun anymore. I know there are a lot of people out there with worse problems than I have, but allow me to be sad for a day, month or whatever. 

Okay... Now I've got that out of my system.  I feel better and a bit stronger already. I think it's okay to feel pain and sadness and then we have to kick ourselves in the derriere and move on.  I'm moving on. Hope you are too with any issues you are dealing with.  Until next time.... Alice

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.  In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

 In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl.  She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asks, "Tell me what you see." "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however.  After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

 "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?" Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?  Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

 Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

 IN CLOSING (the author writes)May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches. When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. It's easier to build a child than repair an adult. This is so true - may we all be COFFEE.                                (author unknown)