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Feature Story
Answers: The Incredible Momentum Builder
It's hard to stay passionate and enthusiastic about anything when you feel lost and without a roadmap. In the cold market conditions prevailing over much of the U.S. real estate market, that’s exactly the dilemma many real estate agents are facing, however.

Greg's Tip
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Side of Teams
It seems that no matter where you look, teams seem to be the rage in real estate right now. Agents are forming teams all over the place for all kinds of reasons. The real question to ask, "Is a team right for me?"

Don's Tip
How Gift Giving Speaks Volumes About Your Ability as a Marketer
Over the last month, I spent quite a bit of time hunched over jewerly cases with both of my favorite jewelers in the world. You see, not unlike many women, my wife, Barbara, loves jewelry. For Christmas, I wanted to get her a new ring, but it couldn’t be just any ring I chose for her.

Manager's Memo
The 5 Biggest Misconceptions Agents Have About Real Estate
What are the five biggest misconceptions your agents have about the real estate business? That's the question we posed to managers and leaders from all over the U.S. and Canada at the most recent Hobbs/Herder MegaManaging seminar. And it sure stimulated some spirited conversation.

Coach's Corner
To Bloom or Not to Bloom
I was in my living room the other day and I saw a package of spring flowering seeds that my daughter had left in a little bowl. The seeds were spilling from a tear in the package, ostensibly on their way to being planted, but apparently something or someone got in the way and she forgot to plant them. So there they sat. And it got me thinking.

Feature Story
Executing a Killer PowerKard Strategy
Here at Hobbs/Herder, we try to provide the agents we work with as much information and guidance as possible to help them execute powerful marketing campaigns. But it seems no matter how clearly we think we’ve spelled things out, we still witness errors in execution both large and small once agents take the plan and run with it.

Greg's Tip
How to Succeed in Today's Marketplace
My e-mail and voice mailboxes have been overwhelmed recently from agents expressing fear about the future, and asking me when I thought the negative news about the real estate market would stop and when the marketplace would return to normal?

Don's Tip
10 Signs You Might Be a Workaholic
(And Why That's a Bad Thing)
I’m not going to go so far to accuse our parents of lying to us, but they definitely perpetuated a dangerous myth. And some of us took them at their word. When we were all little kids, they told us something along these lines: "If you work hard enough, you can achieve anything you want in life."

Manager's Memo
No Apologies: Here's a Sales Pitch to Heal Training Budget Woes
There are a lot of conundrums in business. The stock market goes down and everyone sells. The real estate market contracts and agents constrict their marketing. Times get tough, company budgets get tight and the first area slashed is training.

Coach's Corner
How To Create Your Own Luck
Do you think that Tiger Woods just shows up in Augusta on tournament day and blindly approaches each hole simply hoping to hit the green by luck? Or hope that luck is on his side when he approaches the final putt?

Feature Story
Baby Steps to Life-Changing Accomplishments
Angie Ramirez has been a licensed real estate agent in Southern California for nine years. But looking back, she feels like the first six years hardly count. That’s because it wasn’t until three years ago that she discovered a whole new approach to her business that revolutionized not only her career, but her life as well.

Greg's Tip
The 2008 Real Estate Outlook
No matter where I go I am constantly asked, "What do you think the real estate market is going to do?" "Has it bottomed out?" "When will prices start going up?" "Is now a good time to buy?" I wish I had the crystal ball that could tell the future.

Don's Tip
It's NOT the Economy
In the 1992 U.S. presidential election, Bill Clinton campaign strategist James Carville coined the term, "It’s the economy, stupid." I'm here today to tell you that while the economy might have serious implications on a presidential election, it cannot make or break your real estate career.

Manager's Memo
One-on-One with a Prominent Real Estate Leader
The two discuss Arquette's ascent through the ranks, the strategies used to attract agents, the unique perspective he’s gained since being named GM, and much more.

Coach's Corner
Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life
We spend our lifetimes trying different paths, different attempts at success and different ways of doing business. But there comes a day when we decide to stop trying to recreate the wheel, and we look to the experts to see what has worked for people just like us.

Feature Story
Battle Stories from the Front: Agent Victories in the Face of Market Adversity
In today's down market prevalent throughout much of the U.S., it's easy to make excuses for non-production and simply hope you survive until the market heats up again. The agents we talked to for this month's feature story took a different tack, however, and now they're reaping the rewards of their proactive marketing.

Greg's Tip
How to Turn a $100,000 Drop in Your Home's Value into a $200,000 Gain
As you read this article, imagine that you are a consumer reading the negative press about the mortgage meltdown and watching what is happening to real estate prices in your neighborhood.

Don's Tip
The Flipside of the Law of Attraction
I want to begin this month's article by sharing an anecdote about something that happened recently. I was visiting some relatives, one of which is an extremely nice person who never has a bad thing to say about anyone. Well, except for one person, that is – herself.

Coach's Corner
If It's to Be...It's Up to You!
There finally comes a day when you look in the mirror and your life suddenly makes sense. It all comes together. You finally get it. Where you were once gripped by fear and the insanity that brings, you faintly hear that small voice in your head getting louder and louder before it finally cries out, ”Enough!”

Feature Story
A Man in Search of a Plan
Reaching the pinnacle of your profession means never settling for “good enough.” Just ask Scott Abell. This Oakdale, Calif. real estate veteran has been among the top selling agents in town since 1997. Scott was a top producer who could have very easily thought he had it all figured out and settled for making a decent living. But instead, he continued to view his career in real estate with the opportunistic eyes of a rookie, always hungry to learn more and grow his business.

Greg's Tip
Cultivating a Successful Mindset
Growing up, whenever I was having problems, my parents would always tell me to think positive. The problem is that they never taught me how to think positive, when everyone and everything around me kept feeding me negative messages.

Don's Tip
The Amazing Personal Assistant That Is Too Affordable to Pass Up
If you’re an agent who believes in running your real estate career like a business, there’s no question that you simply cannot do it all yourself. I’ve written in this space before about the importance of having a personal assistant, and yet when I talk to agents, I often hear the same old story: “I just can’t afford an assistant right now.” My typical answer is that if you’re serious about your career, you can’t afford not to have an assistant.

Manager's Memo
Improving Your Recruiting Starts with Defining Your Standards
For most real estate managers, recruiting is the most difficult part of their jobs. You have to have a marketing plan and a sales plan, and you have to execute both consistently and with discipline. It’s plain hard work.

Coach's Corner
Are You Living Life Out of Balance?
Our coaching department here at Hobbs/Herder takes our clients’ balance and well being very seriously. When people talk about wanting to be successful, are they willing to lose their family or their health in the name of professional success?