I posted this comment on Jay’s “The Value Add of a Real Estate Agent” post, and thought I’d repost it here:

I think a lot of what this comes down to, unfortunately, is that many agents (and the majority of people in general) are lazy. Everyone wants the “EASY” button. Instead of actually going and “doing something” like interpreting the Case Shiller market stats, writing a blog post, running your own MLS queries to generate unique market stats, building links, emailing your past clients, paying for SEO, etc — agents would rather sit around and bitch and whine about how unfair what everyone else is doing or why they can’t succeed. You know what…no one cares. Zillow is not the reason you aren’t doing well at SEO. Trulia is not the reason you can’t sell your listing. Realtor.com is not the reason you only have one buyer lead in the last 60 days. And on down the line. No one wants to hear it. One thing matters, and one thing only. Execution. And execution starts, and ends with DOING.

Go DO something. Go do anything.

And let me reiterate – this is not just a flaw of agents. It’s a flaw of the majority of the population. Further reading - http://www.drewmeyersinsights.com/2012/01/24/focus-on-doing-if-you-want-to-spend-your-time-with-other-doers/

**Photo via Nao

how often do you hear college students say “I don’t know what to do with my life” and professionals say “I’m not in love with what I do.” Fuck that. There’s a better way to live.

I changed my major 3 times, so that was certainly me in college until I finally figured it out REALLY late in my senior year (a month or so before I graduated). And I hear from professionals seemingly everyday who hate their jobs and would rather be doing something else with their lives.

Yes. There is a better way. It’s called find your passion and follow it.

• Drunk on Social Media Attention
• Kenya Exposed More Than Just My Emotions

In truth, I could probably share every single post Jeff Turner has ever written without feeling bad about it — every post he writes is thought provoking. And that comes back to his focus on “adding value”. He doesn’t post content just for the sake of putting up content, which is refreshing in this day and age of seemingly endless noise.

On the topic of disconnecting, I completely, 100%, utterly agree — disconnecting from social media is good, and necessary, from time to time. Vacations are good. If you work nonstop, you’ll eventually burn out — 18 hour days are not sustainable for long, extended periods of time. Which is large reason I’m choosing to live the life of a digital nomad at the moment (currently in Cambodia) rather than working 15 hours a day, 6 days a week staring a computer screen in an office somewhere in the United States. I still need to work enough to pay my bills (right now, that’s with ESM Exec Designs), but beyond that, I don’t need to make much money — and it’s liberating. At any moment, I can stop working by closing my laptop, and wander out into the great unknown called the world like I did last night to watch the sunset.

And no one can reach me via Twitter, Facebook, email, phone, or otherwise — at least while I’m disconnected. But, once the laptop opens again, I’m right back in the thick of things.

That said, I’ve certainly cut down my social media time (particularly Twitter) since I left the states — and I doubt anyone aside from a few very good friends have noticed given all the noise they see everyday. Which is fine by me.

Take a clue from Joel and go DO SOMETHING. Heck, DO ANYTHING.

As you know, like minded individuals group together. There is a reason every single one of my friends loves to travel. There is a reason I have many friends interested in microfinance. There’s a reason all my close friends are doing amazing things. It’s because I choose to associate with others who share similar interests — and who choose doing rather than talking.

Hanging out with doers certainly makes for a more interesting life, don’t you think?

Click here to view the embedded video.

I consider all those who spoke in that video good friends. Neil, Kyle and Ryan were pledge brothers of mine (and Neil a roommate of mine for a quarter). Adam Zitzman, one year my elder in Sigeps but the same age in school, was one of my closest fraternity brothers throughout my 3 years. Zach was one of the first 4 pledges to go through the balanced man program.

That migration to the Balanced Man program was not easy. There were many hard executive meetings. Numerous emotional chapter meetings leading up to it. Some rough board meetings. 90% of the house quit or was kicked out. We lost an entire pledge class during that migration. But we got through it as a close cohesive unit.

What did I learn by going through the process? The biggest lesson is that housecleaning is good. Whether in life or in business, totally cleaning house every now and then is often needed. The more time that passes, the more bloated any individual or business becomes. For individuals, it largely means relationship strains. For businesses, it largely means inefficient processes and poor-performing team members. We all know everyone hates change — often times, starting from scratch with a clean slate is much easier than trying to change established norms slowly over time. I can tell you for certain that migrating slowly to the Balanced Man program would have been exponentially harder with a larger group — and it would have been a poor example for future brothers to allow poor performers to stick around.

From what I hear, the house is now back up to 100 members and doing phenomenally well on all fronts. The traditional pledge system and partying non stop was certainly a fun once in a lifetime experience, but I firmly believe the Balanced Man program is the way fraternities should be, and will be, run in the future.

- Drew, PC’02

WHY?

It’s an important question. Unfortunately, most people have no clue as to what the answer is. I’m still beyond blown away with the number of people who go through their whole lives not knowing why they are doing what they are doing.

So, why are you here on earth? Why are you still sitting in that cubicle you’ve hated for the past 3 years? Why are you NOT following your dreams?

Amber has a good write up on the topic of why that prompted this post.

I love this quote from Amber Rae:

happiness comes through self-understanding. It comes through an awareness of who you are, what makes you tick, and why you exist. The path of your life will obey the shape of your beliefs about love, value, and possibility. To make any lasting change in your life, you must first understand that which is shaping your beliefs right now. You can’t fight it, shame it, or ignore it. With openness and understanding in mind, you must get curious about why you feel the way you do. When you welcome your feelings and let the stories unfold, you’ll get to know yourself. Your true, naked self. The kind who lives a life full of pleasure, enjoyment, and adventure.

Do you understand yourself? Are you happy?

**Photo via ReleventStudio.net

Eliminate haters. If someone is hating or bringing me down, I immediately cut them out of my life. If someone lifts me up and makes me feel alive, I bring them closer. But I never, ever, get close to those who bring me down. I cut them, wish them well, and carry on. I rarely, if ever, provide an explanation. Explaining is draining. (I went through a period where I was obsessed with explaining and trying to help people understand where I was coming from. I thought it was the good and honest thing to do. In the end, this exhausted me and them.) Letting go and moving on is one of the most important rules I’ve implemented in my life.

More updates to come, but I’m trying to stay off the computer for the next week or so if I can help it.

I’m still going to need an income to fund my travels abroad, so what’s next career wise?

1. ESM Exec Designs – Custom (non real estate) WordPress sites, with focus on corporate and executive blogs. I’m going to be implementing an iteration of the One for One movement Toms Shoes has brought to the mainstream. For every custom site we build, ESM will give a laptop/computer to an individual or non profit organization somewhere in the developing world.
2. Oh Hey World – I’ll be spending a lot of my time building content on the travel blog I’ve had for two years. I’ll be honest — the site looks like garbage right now, but there is a total site redesign in the works that should be done late January or early February (update 1/25: here’s a preview).
3. Geek Estate – Geek Estate has been my baby since it was launched in 2007, and won’t be forgotten.
4. SEO/Social Media Consulting/Corporate Branding for Startups and and Small Businesses. If you’re interested in my help in any of these areas, let me know.
5. I’ll be staying on as a consultant with Virtual Results.

Thank you to Jim and the entire Virtual Results family for everything. Virtual Results is a tight knit group of dedicated individuals pushing the envelope of real estate website design. I’m proud of what we accomplished in 2011, most notably the creation and growth of the Agent Plus (formerly known as Predesigned Websites that Work) and Broker’s Choice offerings. It was a pleasure working with amazing clients like Lori Bee, Ric Dizon, Greg Dallaire, Maya Paveza, Kris Berg, Doug Heddings, and Dominic at M Squared Real Estate (see Broker’s Choice press release). I couldn’t have asked for a better surrounding cast to learn what it takes to build amazing WordPress sites — and certainly a lot of that learning will go into the ESM sites I end up building. 2012 is going to be a big year for VR, and I’ll certainly do what I can to help from abroad.

So, why am I doing all this? Because I can. It seems crazy to not travel now while I’m young with no commitments instead of wait until I’m retired to see the world. For those who want to do the seemingly impossible, the Impossible Manifesto is well worth the read.

Man, this is my second one of these “next chapter” posts (here’s the first), and I’m sure there will be others down the line. You’d think I’d be good at it by now, but nope. Goodbye posts are never easy.

It’s safe to say 2012 is going to be off the hook awesome…

PS – If you know anyone living in, or traveling to, Thailand or anywhere else in Southeast Asia in the next few months, let me know. I know I’ll meet a ton of people over there, but any added local guidance is always appreciated.

Going your own way is important. Don’t do what everyone else tells you to do — chances are more than good that doing so won’t make you happy.

[via Amber Rae]

Not everyone will to be happy about it.

Do it anyways.

Yes.

[via Blog of Impossible Things]

Tomorrow marks “black friday”, the busiest shopping day of the year. I can tell you for certain I will be no where near a mall or store tomorrow. I’ve come to realize there are things a hell of a lot more important than “stuff”. In lieu of blowing a bunch of your money, here are three charities I encourage you to support instead:

Kiva – those that know me, know I’ve been a fan of Kiva for a long time (2007 to be precise).

Lumana — Here are details for their Holiday campaign

Charity: Water

Click here to view the embedded video.

Happy holidays!

Love it. And totally, totally agree.

[via Amber Rae via Nick]

@innahamedia@drewmeyers Trying to identify what truly resonates with people…what are we hungry for – do you feel the shift?

Personally? I’m hungry for more relationships with people that give a shit. About anything. About everything. Too many people skate through life not giving a shit about a damn thing. And that’s sad.

If looking at this image doesn’t make you pause for a second and think something to the tune of “wait a minute, that is fucked up”…then please do me a favor and don’t waste my time on Twitter or anywhere else.