Jon Griffith

It was July when I received a call from a prospective client while I was sitting in the very coffee shop that I'm sitting in now writing this post. She said, "I'm not happy with how my current realtor is handling my home. It hasn't sold yet. I need someone to sell my house."

I asked her where she found me and it turned out that I was on call that day, and the call had been forwarded from my office. I set a listing appointment date and started assembling the information that she would need to make an informed decision.

4 days later, there I was heading to her house to present my marketing plan. Given the market conditons, and what the media is telling everyone, I was expecting two things. 1) I was expecting to get the listing. 2) I was expecting it to be difficult to do so.

I did not get the listing that day...but, I did something that 4 other realtors who interviewed with her must not have done. I followed up. I persisted. I continued to send valuable information to her, and I showed her what was going on in the marketplace.

Week after week I would contact her, first with a phone call which was not taken, nor returned, and then with email, which was received, but I never received a response.

Then, last week, I decided to go all in with my last e-mail, and it went something like this:

Good afternoon <client>. How are you? I’ve always been told that persistence pays off which is why I haven’t given up on helping you sell your home if you’re still in the market. In fact, since I have a renewed interest in working your area more often, since it is near where I grew up, and in light of the condition of the economy, I would like to propose a lower listing commission rate than I had originally discussed with you. If you’re still interested in using me and my technical expertise I will not let you down. Thanks so much for your time.

What have I got to lose right? I figured I probably wouldn't hear from her again.

Today this prospective client called me. She wants to start the process. I've gained her trust and now I can show her how to sell a house. My next challenge is to lead her to price the home properly for her market so it doesn't sit vacant anymore.

Persistence pays, even if it means risking rejection. For I would rather have risked it all than not to have done anything. It's a lot like love. When you love someone, no matter what, go for it. Go big or don't go and then leave the rest to the rest of us...we'd be happy to have her.

Firstly, let me express to you that I am not a developer. I don't intend to design any applications for the web, nor do I intend to contribute to the open source movement which has just received a shot in the arm by Google's new browser: Chrome. Today is the first day that I've had the pleasure, yes the pleasure of using it. In fact, I'm writing this post inside of Chrome now.

History of the Browser

The reason you may not know anything about the history of the browser is because you entered the internet arena too late. Netscape, Internet Exploder, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and now Chrome are a part of my browsing experience, pretty much in that order. And that represents my evolution through time over the past 13 years. (Excuse me while I zone out for two seconds listening to "Between Us and Them" by Ulrich Schnauss.)

I'm back.

There are so many users on the internet today who rely on Internet Explorer as their primary browsing tool. When asked, "what are you using to browse the internet," it's expected that a majority of the users out there will say something like, "my computer," or "microsoft," or "XP." In all cases, they are correct, usually. The problem is that the question wasn't specific enough...and even when it is, the specific question of "what browser are you using on your computer which is running Microsoft XP?"

Blank stare.

Right. You know why? Because Microsoft embedded the browser inside of the operating system. When you boot your computer, it's one of the free applications that you already have. That is why it dominates most markets. It has taken over so vastly that corporations whose applications cost millions to develop are stuck using older versions of Internet Explorer until they spend additional millions developing for a better browser, which has been, arguably, until today, Firefox by Mozilla.

Now we have something new. We have something by Google, and we all know that Google is taking over the world...and most of us don't really care, because they are so good at what they do. Google released today the newest in the browser arena called Chrome. Do we need it? Probably not. Will it cause development issues? Probably. Will it seed the internet for expansive growth beyond our wildest imaginations? Absolutely. Introducing open source technologies (that's where the community at large contributes to the design and programming of applications) is what fuels this massive machine of exploding growth.

Is it overwhelming? You bet. But, the coolest tools we've seen emerge over the past 5 years have been a result of open source projects. Mind you, it's also a source of great frustrations at times due to the fact that some programmers are good, and some are not, and sometimes their work is supported, and other times abandoned. But, since it is open source, others can run with it and make it better. It's essentially the least expensive way to hire brilliant talent without spending a cent.

So here's the problem. The median age of licensed realtors today is around 51 years. This places them in a unique position, which is atop a technology fence. Most kick and scream until they fall off the wrong side, but some of the leap with glee to towards the future, embracing change and understanding the nevver ending innovations that come about. Since Microsoft embedded Internet Exploder in its operating system years ago, the majority of these people use it so much they don't even know they use it.

Why do I like Chrome?

Well, I have used it to open less than 20 web pages so far, but in doing so, my keyboard habits seem to be understood inherently in the features offered. CTRL-T opens a new tab, just as expected, to the far right of all of the other open tabs.

If I CTRL click a link, a new tab is opened, but the great feature in Chrome that I haven't experienced before is that it inserts the tab to the right of the tab from which you CTRL clicked, keeping them right next to each other. This is very important for someone who utilizes CTRL-TAB while browsing. CTRL-TAB switches from one tab to the next in succession across the top. Shift-CTRL-TAB reverses the direction. Another cool feature is the visual effects and accessibility of downloaded files. Try it. Right click an image and watch where it goes and how easy it is to access the file without leaving the browser. Brilliant. Setup was simple and took less than 2 minutes, importing not only all of my bookmarks (shortcuts for you old timers in IE), but also all of my saved passwords. Until I have a bit more experience with it, I'll keep my mouth shut about it, but so far I expect it's going to handle everything that I need it to do, much better than its competition.

Thank you Google!

Every day I have the opportunity to meet people, to present my ideas, and to be successful. Every day I also have the opportunity to fall victim to what many of us do when we have a vision for something great. We wait for perfection. A perfect website, a perfect presentation, a perfect, a perfect, a perfect.

Not going to happen.

The word perfect has been defined in many ways, but for the most part, the common understanding of perfect indicates absolute conformity with a standard or ideal, unimprovable, accurate or correct in every detail, etc. It's just impossible to be perfect.

I supposed one can expect to be perfectly imperfect in everything they do, which is why waiting around for that perfect performance, the perfect document, the perfect way to say something is only going to keep you from experiencing failure, which is what forces you to improve. Without failure, you become stagnant, and without input from others, you'll miss growth opportunities.

If you are on the cusp of a breakthrough but aren't able to make that next step towards success, ask yourself if you're holding out for perfection. If you are, throw it aside and just take the leap of faith.

Whatever it is you're working towards, you must expect to fall short from time to time. Surround yourself with people who understand this, practice this, and can offer you constructive criticism to help you get better at whatever it is you fearlessly attempted to do, imperfectly.