Carl Setzer

I just read "Fake followers are hard to shake" over at AdAge . Yeah, buying followers is tempting. Sure, it might look good on the surface, to have hundreds or thousands of followers. I've had many, many people ask me about buying followers. I think is a waste of money. First, why? If your social media efforts are for a business, fake followers aren't going to come to your store. They don't engage. They don't add any value. Then there are all the recent efforts to purge fake accounts. If your follower count drops massively after one of the follower purges, you're outed Lastly, as this article points out, there are fairly straightforward ways to determine how many fake followers you have. If your goal is to become an influencer, or gain business leads, tools are coming that will out the buy followers tactic. I expect that, in the not too far distant future, the various algorithms will easily detect copious numbers of fake followers. And I expect that...

My team is reading Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. Just read a line about young SEAL leaders in training who "often try to develop a course of action that accounts for every tingle possibility they can think of".  I get stuck in that thinking, too.  Besides creating a exceptionally overly complex plan that's very hard for everyone to understand, I found that this comes from a place of fear with me. I develop these mammoth plans as I try to build a counter for everything my fears percolate out. Faith and trust in the mission, for me, has always built the simple plans.

Here’s the job description below. We’re a dynamic and fun team looking to make something really great in the local construction market. Residential Home Detailer Wanted for Growing Construction Company  (Snohomish County) Compensation : Depending on Abilities Employment type :  Full Time This person will report to our construction manager We are looking for a highly motivated, energetic, enthusiastic, and hard-working person to help us maintain our jobsites throughout Snohomish County. Responsibilities include but not limited to: Walkthrough prep for new homeowners Complete punch lists Follow-up on warranty items Landscaping Fencing Pick-up work Requirements: Ability to learn quickly Transportation Great “can-do” attitude Able to follow instruction and meet goals and deadlines Well rounded skill level Minor Carpentry skills from millwork to framing Ability to do drywall repairs, patches, texture & paint Some knowledge of landscaping...

So, hey, I'm biased. However, bias aside, I think this is a great proposal. The judges do, too, as she's a finalist. Please give her a listen, and, if you're so inclined, a vote! Save The World One Purchase At A Time: by JoHanna F.

Was just reading this piece over at Business Insider: Teens are ditching Instagram for Snapchat at a stunning rate . Well, this reinforces one of my underlying assumptions: that what we've currently labeled "social media" is a highly unstable sector. So, we see that Twitter is falling in relevance; that's been prognosticated about forever. And the same with the Facebook and it's sidekick Instagram . But we're seeing growth with Snapchat . Again, the focus of this article is teens, but I expect they'll be the leading edge of social media trends. They have two graphs that really capture things: And this guy, which I think is more telling: So, the world is shifting and shifting rapidly. It'll be good to dive into Snapchat, if you're not already there.

Was just reading a lending market update which included a note about the puzzling behavior of the stock market last week. Faced with a number of positive economic indicators, the market sold off pretty heavily. Well, with my time at Fortune 500s, I’ve seen this before. I learned a long-time ago that Wall Street, the stock-markets and prices of such things is driven, on a day-to-day basis primarily by emotion. This also feeds into the quarter by quarter mentality of most stock valuation. Time and time again, in most markets, it’s those with long-term views and understanding that do well. This is true in real estate as well. If you can shift your view out 5, 10, 20 years in the future, you can escape the variability of these emotionally based fluctuations.

Working in Real Estate, I'm currently dealing with a distinctly frustrating lender issue. The other agent (we represent the sellers) has been great. Also, the lender's mortgage staff have been great and responsive. But we have an appraiser who the descriptor "slow" is a glorious understatement. So, a few points of frustration on this. One is obvious: everything is backed up due to the sluggish progress of one individual. However, the bigger point of aggravation comes from this appraiser's routine failure to produce documentation in a timely manner. Being on-time is the rarity, as confirmed a few discussions. It's easy to be frustrated with the appraiser, however, that's not entirely fair. When routine incompetence isn't addressed, that's a management failure. I understand that banks and appraisers need to maintain an "arms-length" relationship. However, a documented pattern of failure shouldn't, well, can't be tolerated. It is t...

Just discovered this video by Sofia Ashraf about Unilever's "response" to mercury poisoning in Kodaikanal, India . I found it powerful. I, being me, did a little digging through this. Here's a piece describing the background , and why Ashraf was recruited to the cause. The global pressure seems to be working, as Unilever today announced efforts to resolve the situation . We'll see. 

I've seen some creative uses of PDFs, Adobe's ubiquitous document tool. My favorite lately: printing out the fill-in PDF form, filling it in on a typewriter, then scanning and resending. A rather unique blend of old and new technology. This got me thinking about how important the PDF has become. In real estate now, the PDF is used for most documentation. And our transaction forms (at least in Seattle) are all fill-in PDFs. The ability to edit and manage these forms is critical to business. Fortunately, there are many tools for this, and one isn't bound by the brutal Adobe pricing structure. I fully recommend this investment for every business.

Inc. has a great piece looking at Taylor Swift and her uber-successful social media dialog with Apple. I've been very impressed with Ms. Swift. Her savvy social media execution has helped build her into a powerful brand. This is a woman who will have a powerful impact for years to come. The article sums up the tools she used for success in this case nicely. She maintained a respectful tone in her dialog with Apple (I'm reluctant to use any other term as she made a statement and Apple, extremely wisely, took the advice). They also look at the way she's managed her relationship with her fans, with which I think she's done an exceptional job. And I adore the way she's poked fun, in a very positive way, at the media speculation and harassment that follows her. Ms. Swift is a bright, talented and engaging woman, who I think has done an exceptional job to date managing her brand, life and business interests. There's a lot to learn from her savvy, no matter the se...

Consider: discontent with self-image feeds huge profits to the billion dollar beauty-industrial-complex, and significant misery to millions. We in the business world talk at great lengths about value-add. The only way I see "value-add" by this sector requires a very short-term focus. I wonder if there's a place for the beauty businesses in a world of high-functioning people with great self-esteem. So I think of many women who use these products without demonstrating any lack of self-confidence. Are they simply hiding a deeper misery, or might there be something deeper that I simply cannot see. Probably the later. Probably. We should consider who we can extract the more egregious agony from this sector while keeping the (presumed?) benefits. So much to meditate upon.

We agents have been getting blasted with information about the big online sites: Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, mainly. It's really ready to get caught up in the dialog. These sites are charging how people relate to real estate. But they're but likely to change the relationship with agents. People still value the one-one connection. The changes seem to be more about information, and it's accuracy and timeliness. Zillow, et al, are not perfect, and that's the opportunity for agents. But we have to be in our game, know the current market, what's influencing it. It's also good to know what Zillow and such say, do we can be better able to engage and educate. So, no threats to us agents. Unless we aren't willing to stay current, keep our knowledge fresh. And, perhaps, if that's your mindset, failure should not be unexpected. I'm not sweating it, nor is my team.

Was just told about a real estate agent who regularly dumps files on their admin, without any explanation or discussion, because they're "so busy" . They'll just figure it out. Ugh! If you're "so busy" , then you really need to take the minute or two it takes to give an explanation of the file, or task you've dropped onto your staff. Expecting folks to just "figure it out" is a near guarantee for re-doing/un-doing work, which is duplicative and wasteful (which should be obvious). Reminds me of one of my father's adages: "you might think you're too busy to do it right, but you won't be too busy to do it again". Slow down, folks; take the time to set your staff, and, thus, yourself, up for success.

I've been reviewing leadership and innovation. I see fear and creativity are inversely proportional. Creativity is critical for innovation. This reminded me of a Steven Covey story (from "7 Habits..."). A group of execs, are asked how to best motivate their staff. One quipped "hand grenades". I'm sure it's meant to be clever. However, that really captured a mind-set I've seen in stifling, bureaucratic environments. Fear, autocracy and micromanagement are the dominate tools. That's the realm of uber-short term thinking, and the antithesis of innovation culture. You can get mindless efficiency: no more. You'll get no creativity, no innovation, thus no agility. One can't bully your way into a culture of innovation and leadership.

Laying upon my couch this lovely sick day, Twitter has been a dear friend (autocorrect changed "sick" to "suck"; might be something there). Yet, there's a tyranny present. I grab my tablet to look up self-publishing options (Kobo vs. Amazon). Then I came back to myself some time later, trying to remember what I was doing. Just one tweet popped up, and my mind was gone. So, exploring those options, I struggle. Amazon has a larger audience. However, do I want to align myself with them? What are my expectations of a company? I interviewed with Amazon a few years ago, plus I did several projects with them back in the mid-90s. So clearly I find then tolerable. Yet, they are getting gargantuan, which I suggested find concerning. Writing-wise, at this point I'm planning on assembling a collection of my poetry. It's been requested of me, and it sounds rewarding. Plus, I've been meaning to put side short-stories out, too. So I think this would be an interes...

I'll write more about this later, but I wanted to share some notes from the past week at KW Family Reunion. First, modern real estate lives on smartphones. It's nearly impossible to imagine doing this work without a smartphone. I'm using my trusty Samsung S5 and LG G tablet. The majority of phones I've seen this week are iPhones. iPads are prevalent for the heavier lifting begging for tablets. I've been surprised, and pleased bug the number of Surface devices (former Microsoftee here). I'm pretty sure that will be my next "laptop". So many people crowd the relatively few outlets around the Orange county convention center. Finding plug-in spots provided some challenges. I bought an external battery pack/charger. Wise. Charging my phone waking around, never having to find room at one of the charging stations, nor find an outlet somewhere: priceless! Just a few lessons for you. Cheers! 

Tomorrow, dark and early, I head off to Seatac airport for my next journey: off to Orlando and Keller Williams ' " Family Reunion ".  TLDR, it's a convention for real estate agents part of Keller Williams. However, it's apparently, much more. This company's agent enthusiasm has been amazing, and it will be on bold display. I'm both excited and, well, displeased. I absolutely hate air-travel anymore. Fortunately for everyone, my motion sickness is nicely managed by Dramamine. The masters of misery, a joint collaboration between the TSA and most major airlines, have crafted excesses of discomfort rarely seen this side of a crimes-against-humanity tribunal. Gloriously, I get to donate about 16 hours of my life over the next week to this exercise in packed unpleasantness. More powerfully, I loathe time away from my family. My absence distresses my son. Hopefully, the boost in grandparent time will compensate. Now, after all that, the surprise: I'm ex...

Some more thinking on trust: Building trust, creating relationship is slow, laborious. Counterpoint:  i t's erosion is fast, with frightening speed. Years to build and moments to ruin. As an entrepreneur, one must be ever vigilant against this erosion of trust. The downward slope is far steeper than the assent. When your customer feels commodified, that they're ONLY a revenue stream for you, the connection will be destroyed.

Just read " Karmagate : 3 former Microsoft women discuss Nadella and what should come next " and came away with one key idea. Mr. Nadella has an opportunity for boldness and vision. My respect for him would grow if he publicly acknowledged the painful ignorance of his "Karmagate" faux pas (which he somewhat has done) and aggressively seek to change the inequalities in the tech sector . I have the deepest respect for those who not only acknowledge mistakes, but use them as leverage points to affect positive change. Nadella has an opportunity to go from good to great. I hope he takes it. (* my first response is here )

I heard a great deal about Mr. Musk today, what with all the buzz about The Big D.  A few thoughts really strike me: When was the last time that an automotive announcement created such buzz?  How many CEOs (in any industry) can say, publicly, that they're colonizing Mars and not be laughed off the internet? Both of these got me thinking about Mr. Musk, the leader. Clearly, the greater world is invigorated by his style. He generates "buzz", and gets people talking. And audiences wait, eagerly, to eat up his words.  Additionally, he inspires confidence, to the point that disbelief is suspended. Outlandish claims, dreams, aspirations are considered with a level of seriousness I've not seen since Mr. Jobs. And this delights me. People inspired, innovation held up as wonderful; these are great things for us, for our culture. Things that bring our gaze upwards, cause us to think bigger are critical. Birthing happiness within me.