Shellie Carter

Today I had a casual meeting with a young woman about twelve years younger than me. She came to me to discuss a real estate transaction, but in getting to know one another we began talking about her business. When I shared my marketing experience our conversation quickly shifted to marketing ideas for a project she's planning.

This young woman has big dreams and big hopes - but - she didn't plan for the big picture. She explained to me that she was going to become the premier service provider in her area by planning one event a month. When I asked her "what's in it for you?" she didn't have an answer. She didn't understand why I was asking.

I told her if she was only planning the events for the money she was missing something. (my opinion)

Her approach is very unique and in my opinion, she is going to be a huge hit - but she was not looking into the future. She did not recognize that in addition to earning great income that she was about to miss the chance to:

• Build relationships with nearly every not for profit in the city
• Have an opportunity to partner with the city to accomplish her goal
• Secure media attention - createa buzz and drive attendance
• Connect with local charities to recruit interns to work on her project
• Mentor young/men and women through internship process
• Prepare those interns to move forward to career positions
• Guarantee the attendance of many local VIP's
• Use the success of her event to build new events and duplicate her efforts; and
• We focused on short term and long term financial planning, and budgeting

She was only focused on making money and didn't focus on building sustainable relationships and financial security.

Talking with her was great for my ego - she was all smiles, asked one question after another, and made sure she understood how one step effected the next. The conversation was going great, then she said something that made me switch gears. [While we were talking I told her about multiple projects that I was working on]. She asked me "How do you keep it all together?".

I realized I had not really addressed my hardships. So I took a moment and assured her that I was no smarter than she was. I told her "I keep it together because I have to" - I made sure to tell her that failure is painful, but I have learned from mistakes and use my experiences to plan for my future... more specifically I told her what my father used to tell me.

I'm not smarter than you... I've just lived longer.

Throughout my career I've always freely shared information and ideas. Sometimes being so open has hurt me - more often it has enriched my life and allowed me to build beautiful relationships. Today I believe I built a beautiful relationship.

Times are tight and we are all looking for ways to cut our overhead expenses - BUT - cost cutting doesn't mean that you have to loose a features. Using some of the tools below may help you cut your telephone bills, paper expenses and the cost of ink/toner! This is another reason for me to love Active Rain - NONE of my friends care anything about this information ... they hate listening to my techno-babble!

[PS: I have been using some of the services below for more than four years now]

Ad Trakker Phone System (15 Day Free Trial) This lead capture system is designed exclusively for realtors and bankers. This is more than just another toll free system - built in business tools to help you with your business. Ad Tracking, forcasting lots of serious tools for those working toward top producer.

Ring Central Phone System (30 Day Free Trial) Try this fax and phone system is one of the most popular phone and fax systems on the market. They have several plans and a fantastic back Office.

Phone Power Turn your high speed internet into an additional phone line in your home or office under $20.00/mo.

My Fax (30 Day Free Trial) to try a low cost internet fax service that lets you send and receive faxes through your email. And of course you can always sign up for a Skype account.

Are you wasting money on credit reports? Clients know when their credit is questionable - when those cases come to me I refer them to Equifax or My FICO for a copy of their report. I am not blowing them off - I am involving them and making them responsible for their own credit [only the bad credit clients].

Wasting paper and ink? Using my Lexmark sheet fed scanner - MyFax and PDF Machine - I have cut my paper use by 80%. My ink lasts 5X as long because I receive my documents online - reorganize them with PDF Machine - and get them faxed where they need to be through my Ring Central account.

If you're using a flatbed, you are wasting time and will love a sheet fed machine. Take a trip to your local Staples, Wal-Mart, Office Max, blah, blah, blah! Trust me -you will love your new machine. It will be easier to scan, save or fax all of your documents. Over time you start scanning more and printing less. may begin to eliminate the amount of paper in your office by keeping files electronically. It is important that you plug into a solid back up plan - many people keep a separate hard drive. If you are a client of ALAMODE you can store documents on their secure websites!

Converting to PDF is easy with PDF Machine. You can print any document into a PDF. You may also take multiple documents and combine them. They are a low cost solution to give you manageable Adobe documents. If you don't care about being able to combine documents you can use Cute PDF... it's free.

Last on the list is office space... not only is this a naturally delicate issue - we have lots of compliance issues. More and more people are working at home! For those of us that want or need office space we can make use of business centers such as HQ Business Centers. Or you may consider what a local attorney has done. He purchased an older house and divided it. The front door leads to one office, the back door leads to another office and he just finished a renovation of the sun porch which is now a third office. So the realtor - attorney and mortgage broker all have their separate - compliant - office space.

I hope you'll share this with others... we all need to save.

All the best to you!

Shellie Carter
Residential and Commercial Mortgage Loans
info@shelliecarter.com
www.shelliecarter.com
888 222 1230

Seeking referrals in NY | NJ | PA | CT | VA | MD

For the last year I have been immersed in New Jersey Loan Modification. It didn't take me long to realize case preparation and patience were the most important elements of my job. Through the year I've had to fight my way through wrong fax numbers, faxes that were never received, last minute requests for documents, apathetic customer service agents and hours of illogical conversations... BUT... despite the difficulty, loan modification is definitely something you can do yourself. I recommend you check out the Do It Yourself Loan Modification Kit and the Home Affordable Mortgage Program HAMP).

If you change your mind and decide that you want to have an attorney handle your loan modification for you give me a call. My team of attorneys are offering loan modification and debt settlement solutions in all 50 states.

Shellie Carter
888-222-1230

I am here to develop professional relationships - earn referrals - give referrals - and generally learn how to be better at what I do. I have big ideas about co-op advertising and other methods of new business development that I want to discuss with you. With just over ten years of working in this industry I understand one thing - I STILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN. So feel free to contact me if you ever just want to have a chat about what's going on - maybe you have news about a new ruling that effects our ability to do our job - or you found a way for all of us to have our phones ring off the hook - whatever the reason I welcome you with an open mind and no ego.

I am in the Newark, New Jersey area, but my bank writes in 17 states and I have partnerships in place to service all 50. I'm recruiting new business partners, considering radio advertising, getting ready for a telemarketing campaign (blah, blah, blah). I'm open minded - let's talk about how to make it through these challenging times.

Until then...

Shellie Carter
info@shelliecarter.com
www.shelliecarter.com
888-222-1230 Direct

Mortgage Brokers... With so much technology at our fingertips, why do so many of us still take take two and three days to tell our clients if we can help them or not? Until we get a DU approval or conditional approval from our lenders we don't really have a deal... but if we study our products - and our mistakes - we can over time become more accurate and effective. With a battery of FHA - VA - 203K - Reverse and Conventional loan products to keep up - I don't claim that staying ahead of the game is easy - but if we want to be steady producers - it's required!

From the moment we receive a referral we need to start wroking on the next referral. I think that comes from doing our job very well. Happy clients are clients that make referrals. Learn your products. Work with lenders that give instant approvals. Learn from your mistakes so that you can be proactive in the future.

Much success!

Shellie Carter
Residential and Commercial Mortgage Lending
New Jersey and New York Home Loans
info@shelliecarter.com
www.shelliecarter.com

888-222-1230