"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge."  -Tuli Kupferburg

Dear ACRE®s:

Of all the industries that are susceptible to complacency, real estate is probably tops. When things are sort of "working" we get into our comfort zone. And folks, yours truly is no different. ACRE® has experienced tremendous growth since it was founded five years ago and while we could continue to do what we've been doing, I believe that in order for ACRE® to not just grow, but rather flourish and become a major force of change in real estate, it's time for a new beginning.

Therefore, after months of contemplation and soul-searching, I've made the difficult, but I believe, right decision to hand the baton of CBW - Chief Bottle Washer, (or for you more formal types, CEO) of ACRE® over to Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn.

I'm very excited about this change. Jennifer's SWS organization aligns and complements the consulting mindset beautifully. As I'm sure that she will detail more, Jennifer has great plans to enlarge the scope and reach of the merged companies while keeping the integrity of ACRE® intact.

Great Webinar today! Thanks so much to both Ron Stuart and Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn for serving as fantastic panelists. Ron, you do a wonderful presentation.

This is the video of my opening presentation which discusses my take on consulting with sellers. It does NOT include any of the rest of the session. Hope this gets the wheels turning!

This morning, ACRE® Cindy Wozney forwarded me a link to a video that was presented at CREA (Canadian Real Estate Association) in Ottawa. There are not enough exclamation points available to encourage every ACRE® (and ACRE®s to be) to watch this video!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/29669094?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=005695 

In fact, watching it was a sureal experience for me, as it almost felt like the speaker stole my stuff, but he said it so much better. Great follow up presentation by Stephen Swanapoal. As you're watching it, take particular note of the Yellow Pages example.

I just posted a new article that I've been pondering for a couple of weeks on the Times Community and Active Rain.

I hope you will take a few minutes to add your thoughts, particularly on A/R where your input has the exposure to make a real difference.

I'm so excited to share the cover article in this month's Virginia Association of Realtors magazine "What Does It Take? - The Skills Brokers Want, The Training Realtors Need" featuring Industry Partner Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn and me! Great article and great publicity.

Click the link below and for future reference, it's uploaded in the Library under Articles.

Even without the mention of Jennifer and me, it's an insightful article and a must-read for forward looking professionals. Let us know your thoughts!

VARArticleWhatDoesItTake10-2011.pdf

WIth the passing of Steve Jobs, there will be many tributes but in my humble opinion, there will be none as encompassing, nor one as important to the challenges we face in our industry as the simple recitation of his 1998 ad "Think Different":

You can read my entire post (which is incredibly short for me!) on:

The Consulting Times

Active Rain

For those of you who share my passion for needed change (which probably includes our entire ACRE® family), your comments are desired and appreciated.

Hi ACREs,

Glenn just put up a new video "Let the Buyer Eliminate the Risk". Really good job Glenn with the dialog - I hope ACREs take a few minutes to watch it and pass it along.

Another great new video from Simple Truths: One Choice.

Great webinar today to kick off our monthly "Skills Series" whose goal is to take the concept of consulting and apply it in the real world to gain more business.

I've posted a video of my opening presentation. We are working on getting the audio of the rest of the session so if you weren't able to make the webinar today, or you did and want a review, stay tuned!