Home Ownership Expo

(To enlarge via computer keyboard, hold ctrl key down while rolling mouse wheel forward/away from you)

Downtown Sonora, California 1961

Downtown Sonora the year I was born. :)

Posted by Sugar Pine Realty on Friday, 12 June 2015

Top 10 Remodeling Projects That Will Yield the Greatest ROI [infographic]

(click image to enlarge, then in new browser tab or window click again)


(To view infographic on its original site, click here.)

Don't Wait Too Long to Buy [infographic]

(click image to enlarge, then in new browser tab or window click again)

(To see this infographic on its original page, click here.)

How to Create Your Very Own eBook (simple version)

It's really not hard to create your very own eBook.

GRAB CONTENT

Of course, you need some original content to start with.

If you're a blogger, you could grab a list of common posts you've already written and combine those.

Here are two examples where I did just that: Social Media ~ Volume 1 (includes Blogging and Pinterest) and Social Media ~ Volume 2 (includes Facebook and Twitter).

GET CONTENT INTO WORD OR WRITER

Once you have your content, you need to get it into a Word document or you can use Writer from the OpenOffice.org program that is available for download for free from the web.

If you are going to be using hyperlinks in your eBook, you will want to use OpenOffice instead of Word.

When you are ready to save your eBook in OpenOffice, you can export it to a PDF file which will keep the hyperlinks "clickable."

On the other hand, if you are using Microsoft Word, what I do is I print the document to a PDF file using PDF995. Then I use the merge PDF function at FoxyUtils to combine pages especially if I have a cover.

CREATE COVER

I created the cover for both Social Media eBooks using Microsoft Publisher (see screenshot example). I then printed each of them to PDF files using PDF995.

UPLOAD TO WEB

The next steps include uploading the combined PDF (eBook!) somewhere on the web so it's accessible.

Dropbox.com is cool to use for this because they allow for a Public Folder that assigns urls (web addresses) to each file. This url (web address) can then be used, for example, in a status update on your Facebook page or in a tweet on Twitter. Your friends and followers will love it!

(Scribd.com is another hosting site where you can place your eBook and get a url ~ and it offers html code, too, so you can embed it on your blog or website if you like.)

VOILA!

So there you go. You have your very own eBook.

And I'd love it if you might send me a copy to check it out when you do your own. You can tweet it to me on Twitter if you like: @blogboy2 :)

You might also be interested in: How to Create a Picture Out of Any File or Website How to Create a Simple eMagazine

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A Week in a Blogger's Life

As resident blogger / social media specialist for Sugar Pine Realty in Sonora, California for the past five years (I just passed my anniversary), I thought I might share what I spend my week doing. (Of course, I have other "duties," too, that time won't allow me to mention.)

My thinking is this might be a helpful template to one or two of you out there who are either new to the social media in business thing or you've been doing it for a while and wonder how somebody else approaches it (who isn't one of the "gurus").

Just a couple of quick things at the start so you know my social media mission / philosophy...

MY GOAL

The goal of all that I do (my job description) is to drive traffic to our main real estate web site: sugarpinerealty.com and keep our company's brand in front of as many online eyes as possible. (I'm not perfect in it, but I do my best with who I am and what I have.)

BREATHING ROOM

The second thing I do is I try to leave some breathing room during my week. What I mean by that is I don't have every post written in advance and scheduled to go out at such and such a time, etc., and then never deviate from it. Quite to the contrary and as you'll see in just a little bit. I think the best approach is (and one I leave myself open to) is just writing "on the fly" as something comes up in my mind or as I see breaking news, etc.

With this in mind...

A RECENT WEEK

In a recent week (March 12th-16th) I pressed "publish" on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Monday I posted a video: What An Astronaut's Camera Sees. Wednesday I recycled a post for Saint Patrick's day (since it was coming on Saturday) and then on Friday I blogged: 7 Types of Managers.

If we dissect this week a little bit from behind the scenes...

VIDEO POST

I'm always keeping my eyes open for decent videos that might be of interest. I like to post videos on the blog from time to time (ends up being a "day off" from blogging and people really like videos).

RECYCLED BLOG POST

I recycle blog posts from time to time. Recycling old blog posts is really a good practice since you will have new readers today that may not have been with you yesterday. Recycling blog posts can include reproducing your content in infographics. (An example: 10 Mistakes People Make with Twitter [text] recycled into 10 Mistakes People Make with Twitter [infographic] ~ one of my top posts by the way.)

WRITING "ON THE FLY"

And then lastly, that idea of writing "on the fly" ~ that really was how the "Manager" post came about. It developed out of a conversation with a friend where we were laughing as we brainstormed different management styles we'd experienced over the years.

VOILA

And so there you have it. A week in a blogger's life.

They're not always the same (of course), but they're always fun. :)

You might also be interested in:

• 12 Things Bloggers Should Expect in 2012 (plus 1 bonus)
• The One Mistake That, If Corrected, Will Get People to Read Your Blog Post Every Time

Back To The Future

What if you could go back? What year would you go back to? 2005? (The housing market was booming then.) 1999? (Many were storing food and water for the Y2K computer meltdown. You, too?) 1995? (The 49ers won their fifth Super Bowl, 49-26, over the San Diego Chargers. O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown, and Ron Goldman.) 1981? (Ronald Reagan was shot. Video: HERE) So what year would you go back to? Hmm?

And I guess the truth is sometimes we wish we could go back. We wish we could go back to a "happier" time. A time when things weren't quite as challenging. A time when (at least it seemed like) we didn't have to work so hard to survive. (Was there ever a time like that?)

And if I'm reminded about anything in this quick post about going back, I'm reminded that, sure there were good times in the past (Super Bowl wins, real estate booms), but there were tough times, too. It wasn't always so rosy, peachy keen, with a cherry on top in the past. (Right?) We worked through some hardships. We worked through some pain ~ and we made it. We made it to today. (We'll make it to tomorrow, too.)

SWAT Operation (and the stupid thing I did)

It was my day off. That's when it happened. My kids said, "Dad, there's a whole bunch of police cars in our front yard." I said, "What?" Sure enough, there was a SWAT team right outside our window in the street ~ about 8 or more of them all in formation, all ducked behind a shield. They were headed to the house two doors down. That's when the second thing happened. Boooooooooom! An explosion. It shook our house. Initially, we thought they'd shot the dog. (There was a pretty fierce pit bull in the home they were entering.) We found out later that it was "only" a grenade to disarm those inside. I told my kids, "Get away from the window. Do you think this is a game?" That's when I went outside to take pictures. (Yep. I did.) I would come in soon (my heart racing) especially after I saw three of the SWAT officers entering the backyard and heard another explosion. It really was dangerous. My kids would gather around me later and say, "Dad, you told us to get away from the window, then YOU WENT OUTSIDE!" And I guess the moral of this story is: Sometimes we tell others to be careful and then we go right out and do something stupid / put ourselves in the line of fire. Maybe it's time we (I) took our (my) own advice? (The story ended with 6 arrests and 25 lbs. of marijuana seized. Read more about it: HERE.)

No, I Am Not Your Next Sale

(Are you listening?) I have a personality. I have feelings. I have intelligence. I have ability. I have a family. I have a past. (Pause to reflect) I have ideas. I have opinions. I have soap boxes. I have pet peeves. I have hills to die on. I have points of view. I have perspective. I have insight. I have hopes. I have dreams. I am not your next sale. I am a person. (Sometimes we need to be reminded.)

On Black Friday (and Rudeness, too)

Some people's favorite day is quickly approaching. No, it's not Thanksgiving Day or Christmas. Instead, it's Black Friday.

"Black Friday" was instituted in 1966 (according to Wikipedia) and is the term used to describe "the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. More recently, merchants and the media have used it...to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit)."

My one and only experience with Black Friday found me standing in a line outside Walmart at 3:30 a.m. with probably about 500 others. (I live in a town of just under 5,000.)

That's when it happened.

At 5 a.m. the store opened and the 4,500 people hiding behind the cars in the parking lot rushed the door in front of me (the whole rest of the town).

No. Not really. Just trying to make a point.

The truth is there were a number of folks that popped up and cut in line (from behind bushes, trees, fire hydrants, rocks and lampposts).

And what is it about rudeness (especially during the holidays) that people don't get?

And why do people do things that are just plain rude, but you have someone act that same way (be rude to them) and they'll read you the riot act?

20 Things We Can Be Sure About

We're surrounded with uncertainty (in the housing and job market for example). And yet we crave just the opposite. We crave certainty. We want to be able to count on things. We want to be able to "take it to the bank." It helps with our feeling of security. It adds to our peace of mind. The saying goes: "There are two things you can count on: death and taxes." That is true. But there are other things we can count on / be sure about, too. (There really are.) For some of us, it's not in every area below, but in many of them, most of us can say, "Yeah. I can be sure about that." And so here's my list of...

20 things we can be sure about:
(what might you add to the list?)

1. The sun coming up
2. Family and friends standing with us
3. Our spouse remaining faithful
4. Phoenix being hot in the summer 
5. Minneapolis being cold in the winter
6. A baby needing a diaper change
7. Having bad breath in the morning
8. Money not growing on trees
9. Politicians lying
10. Somebody letting you down
11. You letting somebody down
12. Old Faithful erupting (pic above)
13. People needing someone to look up to (you be that person)
14. Kids needing to eat (if you have any)
15. Batteries not included with certain toys
16. Gas prices going up
17. Our hair needing to be cut
18. Somebody being tougher than us
19. The "Jone's (or Wilson's?)" having something we don't
20. There always being hope

(Picture of Old Faithful geyser in the public domain: click here.)

When Not Voting Is Voting

"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." ~George Jean Nathan

I saw the above quote in my twitter stream this morning. And as we’re hearing that the election of 2010 is going to be historic, the fact remains we all know somebody who won’t be participating. And yet by doing that they really are participating – by allowing others to decide for them – through the purposeful silencing of their own voice. There’s still time. Go to the polls on Tuesday. (It really does matter who's in office when it comes to the real estate and job markets.)

How the Wicked Witch of the West Was Defeated (3 F's)

This is just a real quick post to all "Dorothy's" out there. Don't forget how the Wicked Witch of the West was defeated...

1. Through refusing to become paralyzed by FEAR.

Wicked Witch: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"

2. With the help of FRIENDS who were discovered walking the path.

Munchkins: "Follow the yellow brick road." (Song from the movie: HERE.)

3. By putting out the FIRE of a burning companion.

Wicked Witch: "How about a little fire, Scarecrow? Huh?" Scarecrow: "No! No! No! No! Help! I'm burning! I'm burning! I'm burning!" Wicked Witch: "No, don't throw that water! Ohhhhh! You cursed brat! Look what you've done! I'm melting! Melting!"

(Picture in the public domain: HERE. Thanks also to Wendy's Wizard of Oz site for script quotes.)

Scary Times

Think of a time in your life that you were scared the most. (Got it?) I remember when my son needed surgery on his skull at four months old. He got sick and it was delayed. That was pretty scary. Then I remember the time of the first Gulf War, I had to fly back home from Minneapolis to San Francisco to see my mom who'd had a major heart attack. The airports were in lock down. That was pretty scary. Then there was the time when I walked my wife-to-be down the aisle and said, "I do." I was now a husband. That was pretty scary, too (in a different kind of way). The truth be told we can become scared at almost any time and in any situation in life - happy or not so happy.

So how does one handle the "scary" times? (How have you handled yours?) We get/got through them (right?) by continuing to do what was required, standing strong, having faith and relying on others (our family, friends) for encouragement and help. And we made it. (Didn't we?) We handled the times we were scared in the past. (We did. We did.) And we will handle the scary times of today and tomorrow the same way.

Unmasked

I have a confession to make. I went trick-or-treating in my childhood. (I know. You're appalled.) And just so I can get it all out in the open and off my chest (and to clear my conscience and the air), I want to share with you three different costumes I wore. (I guess the first two aren't so bad, but the third one I'm pretty embarrassed about.) The first costume was when I was real little. (I think my mom still has the picture.) I went out as Mr. Spock. (I was and still am a Trekkie.) Another year (and the second costume) was later in grade school and Junior High. I went out as the Big Bad Wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood." ("Grandma, what big eyes you have." "All the better to see you, my dear.") And then now the third one, and the hardest to tell you about. I was in High School and I went out trick-or-treating as (maybe you have something better to do than hear this?) ~ I went out as none other than (I can't believe I did this) ~ Snow White herself! (My buddy and I were trying to be funny. He was "Snow White," too. We would switch back and forth.)

And I'll bet you've worn some masks in your life that nobody knows about. (Hmm?) And when it comes to trick-or-treating, they can be pretty benign (non hurtful), but when it's in real life, that's when problems can arise with masks. Are you really who you're portraying yourself to be (even as a business entity or contract employee)? Take off the mask.