What??
Did he just say that? Does he mean that? Or is he simply using a provocative headline to attract readers, first of all, and to set the mood for the post, the subtle shading and shaping that takes place to elicit specific feelings and the desired response from the audience.
The answer, naturally, is both. Earlier this week I read with interest as someone said a certain post had been written to elicit a certain reaction from the readership. My first thought? No kidding.
Did Hemingway not try to elicit a reaction, to create a mood, with readers of the Old Man and the Sea? Is the Mona Lisa debated ad nauseum accidentally or because da Vinci painted specific elements to cause a great debate that has lasted for centuries?
A blog post may not be a great novel nor an artistic masterpiece but it is art all the same. Well, unless it’s a featured post on Active Rain. (And yes, dear readers, that was gratuitous. Guilty as charged.)
Blogging Inversely Proportional to Work Load
Now to the larger point, for the few who happened to have noticed the silence coming from the Northwest Valley of the Sun. Last week was spent enjoying views such as the one above … the gentle sound of the surf, the splendor of the sun setting into the water (or at least the misty murk hovering above the water), the utter agony of Legoland. Six days with limited e-mail, occasional cell phone service, and very little concern about either situation.
This was in contrast to the sheer panic six weeks ago at the notion of spending nearly a week away from the business, no matter how much a break was needed by my wife, my kids and by me. The market didn’t much care that we needed time away.
In that respect, nothing changed. The market still doesn’t care whether I needed time off. But months of effort including – get this – prospecting via blogging and other Internet channels – led to six transactions in a span of six weeks, including the aforementioned week on the beach.
So now we’re entering July and I’m 40% ahead of plan in sales … and I’m nowhere close to satisfied.
A Child’s View of the World
On the History of Howard Stern broadcast on Sirius satellite, Stern said that when he pulled an 8 share in DC once upon a time he was disappointed. Why? How dare anyone listen to any other share. It should be a 100 share. It was, he said, “a child’s view of the world” but it was his.
It’s also mine to some degree, for better or worse.
And that desire to continually increase my own market share, to not only meet the stretch goals I set for myself but blow them away (not only this year, but next year, and the next, and the next …) has caused me to rethink how my time was spent not so long ago.
Twitter? Not so much …
I could be missing an opportunity. Maybe once the kids are back in school and I have more time to watch Twhirl twirl I’ll get back on. I miss some of the conversations but the conversations weren’t necessarily helping me toward my goals.
Facebook? LinkedIn? I need to get back to the latter and decide once and for all what to do for the former. But until I develop a coherent business strategy with concrete results … sorry.
And my rants?
Well …
Too Busy to Care
I’ve spent far too much time this year worrying about real estate’s snake oil salesmen who don’t sell but will tell you what you need to do to sell, endless cycles of circular arguments, the extreme use of Latin rather than Yiddish or the Fair Housing violation breeding ground that is Trulia Voices.
Do what you will. I don’t care.
Active Rain? Cheap shot aside, the introduction of outside blogs doesn’t mean a great deal to me. Post your content to four different blogs at once. Have a good time. And before I forget, “Great Post!”
Oh. And I don’t care.
Want to hear what’s been more productive? FIFA 2008 for the Playstation 2. Six minute halves and endless frustration trying to learn how to play after the relative ease that was FIFA 2004. Why 6 minutes? Because I can work away any accumulated stress in less than a quarter hour, or roughly two-thirds the time it takes for me to pound out a well-considered rant here on AG or my own blog.
It’s like seven-minute abs, but it’s six! (Bingo, man! And we DON’T guarantee the workout. And we don’t care!)
You can scoff at the thought of a soon-to-be 39-year-old (birthday’s Monday, shop now and beat the crowd … a Wii Fit would be most welcome) spending any time at all playing on the Playstation during business hours. But what I’ve found is sometimes a break can be productive.
Including an extended break from one of my favorite blogs.
