Mike McGavisk

Who loves being on conference calls? How many times do you really wish that you didn't ever have to be on a conference call again? Do you ever feel like some conference calls don't serve a purpose and tend to be unneccesary?

Sometimes that happens - they don't really accomplish their intended purpose, it's true. Sometimes people drag on and on about stuff we don't think really applies to us. They can be time consuiming and put a damper on your day especially when you are busy with all sorts of things.

Here's the truth about them: you will get exactly what you expect out of a conference call. If you go into it with a terrible attitude, it will not be productive for you. If you go into with a great attitude and expect to get something out of it, you probably will learn something valuable! Try taking a postive attitude into all conference calls!

Even if you aren't really happy with having to do a conference call, you can still pull some information out of it and be productive. If you have to run errands, go run a few while the call is going on and put your phone on mute. Maybe write a blog while you are on a call! Double up on time-consuming activities that don't require too much thinking, just your time!

Tell me about your favorite conference calls!

Today is an interesting almost "debateable" topic of whether or not people should take advantage of privacy trees, fences or both.

Fences are nice, and they get the job done for the most part, but they aren't always nice-looking and do require maintenance every five years or so. My fence can't even keep our dogs in our yard! Those dogs are escape artists!

Now I also have privacy trees, and they were started by the former owner of this house. I like them a lot more than I initally suspected. About 10 years ago, someone bought the piece of land immediately behind our house and built a large 2 story colonial. Thankfully, because of our privacy trees, we cann see the house at all and the backyard still feels personal! These trees can get expensive too, especially if they do not take when you plant them. We have only had that happen in one part of our yard, but it still looks fine.

Now, I don't have a yard with just privacy trees and now fence, but I can imagine I wouldn't like it. Especially with my dogs being able to get of our fenced yard easily, I just know an unfenced yard would not work out very well! However, for someone who does not have animals, this might be a very nice touch!

What do you guys think would make your backyard the nicest personal area for you and your household?

Man, somedays you are just out of it. All the tiredness of a crazy weekend can really finally catch up with you on a Monday morning! I have a nice large coffee with me right now trying to help me get through the morning right now. I am usually fine, but today it has just gotten to me! Phew! Here's goes nothing today!

Stress Management. This is an ongoing battle that every person in every profession fights. What is the best way to handle the stress that each of us encounter every day? People try everything - yoga, exercise, candles, perfumes, energy bracelets, gems, prayer, deep breaths, massages, ignoring it, yelling at people, blaming other people; is there one solid answer?

Yoga and exercise are proven stress relievers. At the very least, they help you get your mind off of whatever is bothering you for a while while you are exercising. They also can provide you with the time needed to take a step back and think about what is going on and take a minute to think about whatever is stressing you out at the time. Also, burning the calories of exercise and stretching your muscles both actually help to alleviate stress in the muscles where we carry most of our stress we feel!

Candles and/or perfumes and/or some form of pleasant smells. These can help, but they don't actually physically remove stress from the body. The pleasant smells do effect the endorphins found in the chemoreceptors in our nose, so that does help with helping a person to feel "better." Endorphins are chemical signals sent from our brain telling the body "this is nice" or "pleasant feelings." Exercising and yoga will also stimulate the body to release endorphins.

Energy bracelets and/or gems and/or prayer. These very based on your personal belief systems. There is no "proof" that any of these physically work, but it cannot be denied that in some cases they appear to help people. The truth may simply be the power of positive thinking. I am using this method, and I know it gets rid of my stress; therefore, I will be less stressed. Then it works! There will never be any physical proof to these methods, but I personally pray on my more stressful days and I know I do feel better.

Deep breaths - what do you think? Getting more oxygen to the brain definitely triggers the opening of air passageways and allow the blood to receive more of "the good stuff" you and me both need! More oxygen means more blood flowing and can help us unwind when something gets you so worked up. I like to take deep breaths in pressure situations, just simply because it allows me to have a few extra seconds to process a solution to a problem. It also just feels good to relax for a few seconds while all you are focused on is breathing. A minute or two to yourself will no doubt help!

Massages - what wonderful things that we all know make us feel better! The do physically help alleviate the stress that builids up in our muscles - particularly in the shoulders and lower back. Did you know that after the shoulders, our lower backs hold most of our bodies' stress? No wonder so many Americans suffer from lower back pain! (lower back pain is the second highest complaint to doctors - anyone know the first? I do, but let's see what we can come up with!) Anyway, the masseuse physically works out "knots" in our muscles to help reduce our stress in a physical manner. I am referring to a true massage by the way - not a sweedish feel good massage that barely truly does anything. On another note - always drink tons of water after a massage or you will be in pain - this is a scientific fact! A massage is no different than exercise in the sens of drinking water!

Ignoring stressful things, yelling and/or blaming other people. We all know that these ideas can't be the right answer. Sure, sometimes people do things that are clearly their fault, but we need to address this person in a calm professional manner after some time and thinking has gone into it. We don't want to hurt someone's feelings only to create more stress for us at a later time! That would defeat the whole purpose of removing the stress! Ignoring stress can also stress us out more, because we know we are thinking about something on a subconscious level and it is creating more stress about the topic. Don't ignore the stress - figure out a way to deal with it!

So is there just one way to solve stress issues? Absolutely not - we don't always have time to practice yoga or engage in exercise, but they do tend to prove the best relievers of our stress. Having candles and other pleasant smelling things nearby might be helpful to alleviate stress temporarily, but they shouldn't be solely relied on. Deep breaths will really help out in a bind, so don't forget to stop, breathe deeply, and take a few seconds for yourself! Massages can be expensive, so don't rely soely on those either! But don't be afraid to treat yourself every now and then! Don't ignore your stress - solve it!

Cell Phones. You can't talk about real estate without noticing that reealtors are notoriously on their cell phones. As cell phones have evolved with the business, I find that we use our cell phones more and more everyday. These new phones seem to break a lot easier than former phones did, don't you agree?

It seems that while cell phones are capable of doing much more these days, and yes it is nice to get emails on your phone, the phones come up with all sorts of new problems as well! The phones randomly shut off, randomly make strange noises, freeze up...you name it! Battery life seems to be getting shorter with each new phone, and they want to make you purchase extended life batteries or all sorts of chargers, so you can charge them wherever. These companies are being smart when it comes to products, but it really hurts Realtors as the consumers!

Considering we've been their customers since the time of car phones and bag phones, you would think they do more for realtors! I mean, at least Verizon offers some discount to Keller Williams employees, but still, there is just so much business out there from Realtors! Almost every single one of us has the unlimited plans from whatever company we use. Maybe we should just agree within the NAR to all use the same provider, that way all calls to all other Realtors are free! But that probably isn't neccesary since we all pay for the unlimited plans anyway.

What do you think? What's the best way to approach the cell phone game in real estate?