In the past two weeks we’ve sold our house and bought a new one. It’s kind of a dizzying experience as you literally swap thousands of dollars back and forth with each offer and counter-offer. We did manage to sell our house in 30 days in a very slow market, so I’m thankful.

But much like my recent reflections on online banking, the record industry and confrontational sales people, everybody else is wrong and I know it all. In this case, I think the real estate industry is broken. Maybe not broken (it did work for me) but missing out on a major opportunity.

Continue reading How to Improve Real Estate →

I’m not a very confrontational person. Even before making Minnesota my home I lived the concept of ‘Minnesota Nice.’ I’m just not comfortable in confrontational situations.

When those situations involve salespeople, it just gets ugly.

Two examples to make it a little more concrete:

1) Realtors.
This weekend we went to a few open houses and interacted with some realtors. The second guy was typical but he asked the standard question as we left and suddenly it bcame confrontational: “So, what’d you think of the house?” Frankly, the house sucked. Not what we wanted, terribly boring, shoddy craftsmanship. But I can’t say that to the guy. I mumbled something about not having what we needed, and then thankfully my cell phone rang (never thought I’d enjoy that interuption).

But it was the first realtor who was the worst. Awkward. Annoying. Painful. Rather than being a typical pushy salesman, he had the awkwardness of a poor public speaker. He followed us around the entire house, pointing out the obvious features like a kid trying to show off his toys: “How do you like these high ceilings?” He never gave us a moment’s peace to privately tell each other what we thought. I just wanted to scream, “Back off!” I managed to honestly tell him what we didn’t like about the house (bad location) but what I really wanted to tell him was that his demeanor was enough to send buyers screaming for the hills. I imagined his only business came from friends and relatives who felt obligated.

Continue reading I’m Too Minnesota Nice →

One of the clients I work with is the cause marketing agency Personality™ in Los Angeles. They’re all about bringing businesses and non-profits together so everybody wins. It’s Bono’s (Product) Red, where products like the iPod Nano on Converse sneakers donate a portion of the purchase to the Global Fund. It’s the percentage Target donates to the local school of your choice when you use your Target credit card. It’s a cool little concept and I’ve had fun blogging about it on the Personality™ site.

What I think is especially cool about it is that philanthropy is changing. It’s not about wining and dining old rich guys anymore. It’s about getting all sorts of people involved in helping good causes. It can happen through partnerships like (Product) Red, where your purchase suddenly has a greater purpose. It also happens through new forms of fundraising that go so far beyond pledge drives and door-to-door begging.

People want to change the world, but it no longer ends with a simple donation. We want more. We want to know how our money is spent, we want to see lives changed, and we want new ways to give (not always straight donations). People want to be more involved, and that’s a good thing for causes. And a good thing for businesses–I’d rather buy from a business with a conscience.

Speaking of Veggie Tales, you should head over to Phil Vischer’s blog if you get a chance. He has a great series of posts chronicling the downfall of Big Idea. I summarize it over at Think Personality. It’s a good business lesson in how not to run a growing entertainment empire.

Check out these 17 lessons from a freelancer. The author is a self-employed illustrator who’s been at it for 17 years. Plenty of good tips for the self-employed, the kind of stuff they don’t teach you in school.

I like to write. I think I’m fairly good at it (or at least people willing to pay me think I’m good enough at it to keep on paying me). I like to blog. I seem decent enough at that. I like to play around with the code on my blog, but I’m only good enough to be dangerous. I like to design and create, but I know I spend more time mucking than actually making. I like the idea of public speaking, of sharing my ideas with a group of people, but I suck at it.

As I get more and more into the professional world it seems like everybody has to be good at everything. But at the same time everybody knows how stupid that is. The number one piece of advice a small business owner will hear is to hire professionals to do the things you aren’t good at. Lawyers, accountants, graphic designers, techies, writers, etc. Let a professional do it so you can get back to what you’re good at.

But then every writer or marketing wonk has to be an excellent public speaker. Every blogger thinks they can be a podcaster, or worse, a vlogger. Every pastor has to be a best-selling author. You end up with a lot of mediocre.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t experiment and try new things. I just don’t understand why everyone expects you to be good at everything. Just because you have the opportunity and the platform to do something, doesn’t mean you should.