Archive for October, 2009

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Intero Cool Apps: Be a TubeMogul!

By John Thompson | October 30th, 2009 2 Comments

tubemogulWe’ve talked a lot about the value in promoting yourself with online videos, or video blogging. It’s a great way for people to get to know you, another way for you to express yourself or show your personality.

Like anything else we do online, though, having the ability to track how successful something is, is a powerful thing. There are lots of analytics packages available for your blog, but now there’s something that is made specifically for tracking the effectiveness of your video postings.

Enter the world of TubeMogul.

TubeMogul is the first service of its kind. It aggregates data from multiple video-viewing sites, such as YouTube or Vimeo, and gives you a better understanding of which sites are the most effective, where your viewers are located and how often your videos are being watched.

With TubeMogul, you’ll know where your efforts are succeeding, and where they’re not. And the service generates easy-to-follow reports that can be shared with partners or coworkers, so you’ll all know where to focus your attentions. You’ll get to know your viewer base better, so you can create more targeted videos and provide content that’s relevant to them.

Another great benefit of using a service like TubeMogul is that you can host all of your videos there, and with its universal uploader, it will post your videos to LOTS of sites, not just to YouTube, which saves you time (and that’s always a good thing).

One upload. Distribution Web-wide. Easy-to-understand results. TubeMogul. It might just become one of your most indispensable tools.

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Enjoy the Spirit of the Season, Not Just the Food!

By Tammy Parkinson | October 28th, 2009 0 Comments

If you read this Monday’s Mojo, you might have taken the age test!  If you did, one of the questions was asking if you ate candy…often!  Often, being a few times a week!

Well, I don’t need to remind you that this time of year, there are candy jars on every desk in every office.  Not to mention, if you have children, they will be bringing home candy after their Halloween jaunt and you’ll be keeping candy around your home to pass out!  How is one to keep lean during this time?!

At the end of the day, it really comes down to determination and discipline.  But, here are a few tips which can help you just a little bit in having that edge:

  • For the candy you pass out, choose sweets that don’t tempt you (for me that’s sweet tarts, jolly ranchers, nerds, gummy bears)
  • Set a challenge for yourself that you will let yourself have 1 tiny candy a day (like a mini Hershey’s (which is = to about 50 calories) OR you will not have any and save your calories for a cookie (e.g. a Starbucks cookie = 500 calories approx) 1x during the week
  • Keep healthy snacks in your car or at your desk so if you are tempted by the candy dish on your neighbor’s desk, you have “safe” food at your own desk
  •  Set a weekly health goal, print it and post it in an area to remind you NOT to have the candy
  • When your children bring home candy, let them have their pick of 10 pieces, then put the rest in a bag and donate to the homeless shelter the next morning…just past go and do it! 
  • Remind yourself that the Holidays season is truly 4 days…Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years eve!  So, if you want to indulge…pick these special days instead of the entire 2 ½ month period!
  •  Hire a personal trainer or professional to keep you accountable to your weight and goals
  •  Recruit a fitness buddy to keep you accountable.  Not your best friend because they might let you “cheat”!!

Most of all, enjoy the spirit of the season, not just the food!

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Tags: , , , , , , , ,      Categories: Wellness by Tammy Parkinson

Monday Morning Mojo: Will You Make the Change?

By Tom Tognoli | October 26th, 2009 0 Comments

So, here is the question: If people won’t make small changes to save their life, how in the world will people make small changes to make more money, have better relationships, have a better business, or have a better life?  That is the bazillion dollar question and if someone can figure out the answer you will make the founders of Google look like chumps.  Here’s a thought: Maybe in order to start making more money, having better relationships, having a better business and having a better life we need to start by making the most important thing we all have better…our health.

If I told you that I could give you some tips on things you can do to live longer, maybe even live to be 100, would you do it?  Would you make the changes? I hope the answer all of us would say is YES!!!!!!  Well, here’s your chance.  Go to www.livingto100.com and do the LivingTo100 Calculator.  At the end of the “test” it will tell you, based on your answers to the questions, how long you can expect to live.  It will also give you some tips on things you can do to live longer.

Here’s my prediction: If you take the test and if you make the necessary changes to live to 100, you will not only live longer, but because you will feel better and be more fired up that you are doing all the right things to give yourself a shot at making it to 100, you will make more money, have better relationships, have a better business, and just plain and simply have a better life.  

Let’s start by making some changes in the most important area of our life and it will help us make some changes in the other areas of our life.

Here’s to making it to 100++++

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Tags: , , , , , , ,      Categories: Goals, Monday Morning Mojo

Intero Cool Apps: Never sweat a big file again with DropSend

By John Thompson | October 22nd, 2009 0 Comments

dropesendAhhh, email. You’re so cool. You make things so easy. You’re just the best. Wait. What’s that? What do you mean, you can’t send my video? It’s too big? My 45-page contract is too big, too? Oh, c’mon, email! You used to be so good to me.

Have you ever had a conversation like this inside your head? (It’s OK. We know you have. We won’t tell.) Email is great, right? You can get in touch with friends, clients — whomever you like — on your time, they can respond in kind. Definitely one of the greatest innovations in the last 30 years.

But sometimes, it can be a real hassle.

Case in point: you’ve just spent hours drafting documents for your client’s review. It’s great. It looks just how you want it to. The only problem is that the file is disproportionately large. Your email server just can’t handle its size. What to do? You can’t fax it because that’d take all night and, besides, all of your hard work and design would get fouled up in the transmission. You need a file-sending superhero.

You’re in luck, because now, there’s DropSend.

DropSend is a web-based tool made specifically for this kind of situation. With it, you can send files up to 2GB in size (and if you’re not the technical type, that’s REALLY big). That’s not all, though. You can send emails with MULTIPLE files … and each can be up to 2GB. So, if you’ve got that massive document, plus a video clip and maybe even a few pictures that you took at your last broker tour, you can send it all. In one email.

DropSend works like this: simply upload your files to DropSend, then select the files you’d like to send. DropSend will send your contact an email with a download link. They don’t even have to have a DropSend account to read them. When your contact gets the email and clicks the links, you’ll be able to see which files have been looked at (neat, huh?)

Another really, really useful thing that DropSend does is store your data in an online storage “bank”. This is a great solution for having backups of your really important files. If anything were to happen to your computer or its hard drive, you’ll always have copies of the important things stored safely in your DropSend inbox.

DropSend is web-based, and there’s no software to download. Plans are free to start, and are nominally-priced, even for their most expensive option.

Email is great, and it’s certainly changed the world in its time, but it’s time it had a little help. DropSend can most certainly handle the job!

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Monday Morning Mojo: Will Smith’s Wisdom on Life

By Tom Tognoli | October 18th, 2009 0 Comments

Funny, I would not think of Will Smith as being an inspiring leader, would you?

When you watch him on the TV or the movie screen he just appears to be this talented actor who got lucky.  Wow, after I watched this, I have a totally new appreciation for him and who he is.

Grab a cup of coffee and watch this 10 minute video as Will Smith shares his wisdom on life. Then after that on a scale of 1 to 10 rate yourself on the list of things he discusses below. Are you doing them? Do you believe them? Are you willing to die for them? Then start with the ones you ranked yourself lowest on and get to work on changing it.

  1. I have a GREAT TIME with my life and I want to share it.
  2. I LOVE LIVING and it is infectious.
  3. GREATNESS exists in all of us. It is not this elusive God-like feature that only the special among us have, it is in all of us.
  4. It is simple – this is what I believe and I am willing to die for it, period. It’s that simple. Don’t make it anymore complicated than that.
  5. Don’t think that where we are is where you are going to be, or where we are going to end up. Where you are almost does not matter.
  6. There is no shortcut to success. There is talent and there is skill. Talent we have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours of beating on your craft. I love this – Will Smith says he does not consider himself particularly talented…he says where he excels is his ridiculous, sickening work ethic.  While the other guy is sleeping, I am working. While the other guy is eating, I am working. No matter how talented you are your talent is going to fail you if you are not skilled. You have to dedicate yourself to being better everyday.
  7. The only thing distinctly different with me is I am not afraid to die on a treadmill. You may have more talent than me and you might be smarter than me, but if we get on the treadmill together you are getting off first or I am going to die, it is that simple.
  8. You don’t just try to build a wall – you say ‘I am going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid’ and if you do that every single day soon you will have a wall.
  9. Focus on making a difference – if you are going to be here, there is a necessity to make a difference. I want the world to be better because I was here. I want my life to mean something. Your life will become better by making other lives better.
  10. I want to represent an idea. I want to represent possibilities that you can really make what you want. I can create whatever I want to create.
  11. You have to believe! The first step before anyone else is going to believe, it is you have to believe it. You can’t have a plan B because that distracts from plan A.
  12. There is a delusional quality that all successful people have to have – you have to believe that something different, than has happened the last 50 million years can happen.  Confucius said that ‘he who says he can, and he who says he can’t, are both usually right.’
  13. Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What is the point of being realistic? The second I decide it is done, it is already done.
  14. Our thoughts are physical in the universe. Don’t let the universe push you around – bend the universe. Make a choice and don’t be at effect of the things that are happening around you. Just decide and the universe is going to get out of your way.
  15. To be as successful as I want to be, it takes a desperate obsessive focus.
  16. You cannot be scared to die for the truth. The truth is the only thing that is going to be constant.

Link to Will’s favorite book – The Alchemist – by Paulo Coelho

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Tags: , , ,      Categories: Discipline, Goals, Monday Morning Mojo, Positive attitude, Success, Uncategorized

Are the choices we make driven by our mindset?

By Tammy Parkinson | October 14th, 2009 0 Comments

Attitude; it’s the emotion which trumps and dictates nearly everything in our life!

For instance, have you ever experienced your paper jamming in your printer over and over again and on one day you are ready to take a sledge hammer to the printer, then on a completely separate day when it jams again,  you laugh it off and by that evening you barely remembered it occurred!

Take the day when you go out to dinner and you resist the chips and guacamole and choose a simple clean fajita sans guacamole, fried tortillas and no cheese. You enjoy the conversation and enjoy your time at the restaurant vs. focus only on the food. Then, there’s the following week when you go back to the same restaurant and can’t stop until you’ve eaten the entire basket of chips and will accept nothing less than something laden in cheese!

What happens here?

Why do we waver on our choices, our attitude?

Why is it so easy one day and so incredibly difficult the next time?   Could it be the way we choose to view the moment based upon our attitude?

I’d like to suggest this week you think about this when something you’ve overcome in your past (or want to overcome in your future) creeps up and becomes difficult in this new moment.  Consider your mindset, your stress and your attitude towards this event.   Consider that maybe, if you open your mind to the possibility that you can overcome it, even easily…you can!!

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Tags: , , , , ,      Categories: Breakthrough, Discipline, Positive attitude, Uncategorized, Wellness by Tammy Parkinson

Don’t look back too long you may be in for a major collision

By Tom Tognoli | October 12th, 2009 0 Comments

When you are driving down the road it’s okay to glance in the rear view mirror, but don’t stare.

Our eyes are supposed to be on the road ahead of us and if we look in the rear view mirror too long, we’re going to crash.  This analogy applies not to just driving a car, but to anything in life.

I can’t remember exactly what the circumstances were, but this was advice I received from my good friend and chairman of our company Bob Moles several years ago.

So many people live their life in the past. It may be in past successes or past failures. Many just can’t let go. If it was a bad experience – often it paralyzes them with fear to do anything. And if it was a good experience they hold on to it and can’t stop relishing in it, which also stops them from doing anything.

Not that we should forget the past completely – because that is not what I am saying. Our past experiences are the building blocks of our future, and they are simply that – building blocks.  Unfortunately, when people hold on to the past and aren’t willing to focus on the future and change, they’re in for a major collision.

I am 45 – and I know people who still can’t let go of things from High School, much less last year, last month or last week.  It is amazing. Look, I get it, I know it’s hard to let go of the past, but to grow and get more of what we want in life, is critical to future success.

So next time when you have a big win, take a little time to celebrate and then move on. And when you lose, take a little time to grieve and then move on.  Just don’t stare at it, or you will be in for a major collision in the future.

A side note from my son: Nick Tognoli (age 10)

“Hi, it is early Saturday Morning and my Dad is writing his Monday Morning MOJO.  I asked him to send you this video of ‘Beat It’ to fire all of you up today, and for the rest of the week.  ENJOY!”
Michael Jackson – Beat It

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Tags: , , , , ,      Categories: Discipline, Monday Morning Mojo, Success, Uncategorized

Intero Cool Apps: SCREENR

By Tom Tognoli | October 9th, 2009 0 Comments

screenrOne of the greatest challenges in our industry — or any industry, for that matter — is how to set ourselves apart from the pack. How can we make our websites, blogs and online engagement rise to the top and really stand out?

Sure, you could add Widget A and Shiny Object B, but would that really offer anything of value to your customers? Probably not.

One of the greatest benefits to getting involved in social media is engaging your customers. Letting them get to know what you stand for, what your credentials are … you want them to get to know YOU.

A really interesting way to show the real you is to post video blog posts, or VLOGs. Your customers can see you and hear your voice. You can be yourself, and that’s what social media is all about. You don’t need any fancy equipment, just a webcam will do. There are several applications available to help your production efforts, but one of the best and easiest is SCREENR.

With SCREENR, there is nothing to download. Nothing! All you need is to log in to the site with your Twitter username and password. Once you’ve done that, simply click “start” and you’re off to the races.

Talk about experiences with customers. Talk about what’s going on in your community. Ask questions. Get involved. With SCREENR, it couldn’t be easier, and you don’t actually have to write, which is one of the greatest hurdles for people who’re attempting to start a blog.

One of the greatest benefits, too, is that videos can be uploaded to YouTube with a simple click. Did you know that YouTube is second only to Google as the world’s biggest search engine?

SCREENR is absolutely free. Videos can be sent directly to your Twitter feed, so people who are following you will know immediately when you’ve posted something new. You can embed the videos directly into your website — nothing more complicated than copy & paste — so your content is centralized.

Give your customers and friends great content. Interesting content. Give them you. With SCREENR, it couldn’t be easier.

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Follow the Commitment

By Tammy Parkinson | October 7th, 2009 0 Comments

How many times have you wanted to begin a fitness regiment or a weight loss program, but you simply thought it was too hard?  We see this often!  For some, it just takes a little push, others it takes a long term commitment.

What I see that’s very interesting, is to begin say, a fitness program, we might challenge a client to walk one day on their own…just 20 minutes.  It sounds easy when the commitment is made but the day arrives and that 20 min is just not scheduled and not easy (familiar, a “habit”), so it doesn’t happen.  What evolves afterwards is really interesting.  The client then goes into a guilty spin of why they didn’t do it; wasting hours of beating themselves up!

Another example is getting on a healthy nutritional program.  Maybe the challenge is to go 3 days without having desserts.  Well, day 2 happens and that cookie just was too tempting…then the next 2 days are spent beating themselves up again!

The energy spent on feeling bad completely outweighs the actual moment of following the commitment, yet somehow we connect more with feeling guilty than trying something new, something possibly a bit uncomfortable.  Why is it we are comfortable in negative feelings?  Interesting, isn’t it?!

So my thought for you today is to commit to something which in the moment might feel a bit uncomfortable because it’s different; but know that the ripple effect of this new habit won’t waste hours of guilty nonsense but instead establish a comfort zone over time!

Tags: , , , , ,      Categories: Discipline, Positive attitude, Wellness by Tammy Parkinson

The Wave Theory

By Rick Soukoulis | October 6th, 2009 0 Comments

What does the surfers Wave Theory have to with the old jingle Happy Days Are Here again?

Surfers used to say that there would be three waves, each bigger than the previous one, and that it was always the 4th wave that would be the perfect one to ride in on.

As hard as it might seem to fathom, the $700 billion Rescue Bill might just have been the 4th wave that signals the start of calm seas, that all the turbulence or the first three waves has been flushed out to sea.

Using that analogy, let’s look at the financial crisis in terms of waves.

  • The First Wave was the sub-prime crisis, a term that almost seems quaint and irrelevant now.  Its victims were Indy Mac (back on July 11 of 08) and the quick and ferocious failure of mortgage companies across the country.  Shortly thereafter, Bear Stearns failed but was partially bailed out by governmental assistance.
  • The Second Wave came later in the summer and early fall. We saw FNMA and Freddie Mac put into conservatorship by the government, Lehman Brothers failed, the BofA announce its intention to take-over Merrill Lynch, and AIG kept afloat with an $85 billion government loan.
  • The Third Wave was at the end of the first quarter of 09 as, within days of each other, Washington Mutual failed and Wachovia sold itself to Citigroup in a desperate effort to avoid bankruptcy.  Wamu was the nation’s largest Savings & Loan and Wachovia was the fourth biggest bank in the country.  Combined, they had over a trillion dollars worth of assets!  That’s a helluva lot of banking assets to essentially fail in one week.

Although we all pretty much know who has been affected, the First Wave had the most immediate impact on the real estate industry.  It clobbered mortgage originators, Realtors, and anyone trying to sell a home or qualify for a mortgage.  This was Main Street getting taken down big-time, and it hurt.

The Second Wave impacted Wall Street more directly, but Middle Class America started getting nervous.  If these giants companies weren’t safe, who was?

By time the Third Wave hit, nervousness turned to fear, with banks failing across Europe and mainstream magazines like Time featuring covers asking if we were headed into another Great Depression.

With mortgages and other debt instruments being the root caused of the current crisis, we can see how the devastation has swept through different communities of interest. 

  1. First to be devastated were the people and companies that created and originated these mortgages. 
  2. Next to be hit were those who packaged it, securitized it, rated it, insured it and sold it.
  3. Finally to feel the impact were those who held it.  These include giant banks and insurance companies, pension funds, and indeed, FNMA and Freddie Mac themselves.

It seems very clear to me that the boil has been lanced with the $700 billion Rescue Plan.  Everyone even remotely involved in the Crisis has felt the pain. The three huge waves described above have taken their toll, and the fever seems to be breaking.

There’s no guaranty that the Rescue Plan is working exactly as promised. But quite obviously a lot of bad things have been flushed out, and calmer seas are very near at hand.

I’m not ready to start singing Happy Days Are Here Again, but I can already hear it softly in the background.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,      Categories: Mortgage Matters

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