Bob Haywood, www.BobHaywood.com

Sometimes you just need to chill out and take a break. It's called Chillaxin! This is Lexie, one of our dogs. I took this picture the other day of her just chillin in the bedroom.

She looked so laid back that I got to thinking about rest and down time.

Right now I am guilty of not taking a day off on a regular basis. I thank God that I'm that busy, but I can feel it wearing on me too. So I'm going to do better at taking some down time because every time I do, I come back refreshed and relaxed.

So how about you? Do you take down time?

What do you do to chillax???

For the most complete information on the Owasso and Greater Tulsa Oklahoma housing market, be sure to check out www.BobHaywood.com

The information, content and pictures in this blog are the property of Bob Haywood. You must obtain written permission from Bob Haywood if you would like to use any of this content. Opinions expressed are those of Bob Haywood and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of other brokers, associates or home owners. Blogs may be used in their entirety using the reblog feature within Active Rain.

When you're thinking of a great place to live, think Owasso, Oklahoma! Owasso means end of the trail!

Speechless Sunday - Cherry Blossom in the Warm Laundry

For the most complete information on the Owasso and Greater Tulsa Oklahoma housing market, be sure to check out www.BobHaywood.com

The information, content and pictures in this blog are the property of Bob Haywood. You must obtain written permission from Bob Haywood if you would like to use any of this content. Opinions expressed are those of Bob Haywood and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of other brokers, associates or home owners. Blogs may be used in their entirety using the reblog feature within Active Rain.

When you're thinking of a great place to live, think Owasso, Oklahoma! Owasso means end of the trail!

The Things You See When Showing Houses

I was out showing a house in the country (over by Claremore) this evening. The clients were a bit delayed, so I walked around the property a bit to get familiar with the place. In the back pasture I came upon this scene after walking up a hill.

Believe it or not, I took this pic with my Blackberry Curve 8900 cell phone camera. After uploading it, I touched it up using Picasa. Not too bad for a cell phone camera!

If you're thinking of getting into real estate be prepared for a crazy career. You'll have long days, lots of busy work, great friends and clients, some folks who will burn you and a great way to make a living.

And you'll have those occasional evenings when scenes like this happen.

For the most complete information on the Owasso and Greater Tulsa Oklahoma housing market, be sure to check out www.BobHaywood.com

The information, content and pictures in this blog are the property of Bob Haywood. You must obtain written permission from Bob Haywood if you would like to use any of this content. Opinions expressed are those of Bob Haywood and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of other brokers, associates or home owners. Blogs may be used in their entirety using the reblog feature within Active Rain.

When you're thinking of a great place to live, think Owasso, Oklahoma! Owasso means end of the trail!

Speechless Sunday - A Hint of Fall in Tulsa, Oklahoma

For the most complete information on the Owasso and Greater Tulsa Oklahoma housing market, be sure to check out www.BobHaywood.com

The information, content and pictures in this blog are the property of Bob Haywood. You must obtain written permission from Bob Haywood if you would like to use any of this content. Opinions expressed are those of Bob Haywood and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of other brokers, associates or home owners. Blogs may be used in their entirety using the reblog feature within Active Rain.

When you're thinking of a great place to live, think Owasso, Oklahoma! Owasso means end of the trail!

Let's Get Non-Techie! Here's a great non technical way to connect with people!

I love that Social Media thing. Give me Facebook and some Tweets and let me text my "peeps" and a blog or two a day and I'm a happy camper. Business is good using these tools...even in the recession.

(Disclaimer...I live in Oklahoma...business slowed down here but never really died).

Ah, but many protest, "You forget that not everyone who is successful in business uses Social Media," they say.

And they are correct.

I get my butt kicked everyday by agents in the Tulsa area who outsell me...sometimes a 100 to 1 (that's an inside joke, right there!)

One guy who does a great job with Social Media of a different sort is my neighbor and friend, John Tooley.

John has established a presence at a couple of local restaurants in our town. He eats breakfast or lunch in these businesses and meets with clients regularly there. The waitstaff and owners know him by name.

And they respect him.

When John first started doing this, I thought it was a waste of time. Today I no longer think that. Today, I see that John is connecting with some folks in our community to whom I am invisible. Uh-Oh. That's not good.

So what does he do and how has he been effective?

1. He visits several restaurants in our town for breakfast and/or lunch regularly. It's not an every single day thing, but he is there often enough that they know him on a first name basis. I tell him that he's got his own table at these places. And he laughs and smiles, because he does!

2. Because they know John on a first name basis, they also happen to know that he is an insurance agent. John has picked up one of the businesses as a client and several people he's gotten to know as clients also. And he did this because he was willing to invest time in the relationships. And investing time in relationships is what our business is all about isn't it? Whether you use social media or other types of business activities, if you are not connecting with people, you are not going to be in business for very long.

3. John doesn't force his insurance business on anyone in the restaurant. Instead, he is the insurance guy who is a regular customer. This is my opinion of how Facebook works best. This is a Facebook principle at it's finest. Sharing with others without being too pushy.

4. Finally, he introduces people he meets with to the restaurant folks who are his friends. What that means is that the next time you go in there, you've got some new friends. You know their names and they know your name. I recently was able to get to know the owners of one of our local authentic Mexican restaurants called El Fogon because John already had a relationship with them. And then I was able to write a blog about their business in the last local business challenge that Bob Stewart ran. That was fun.

So there you go. For all the high techie, tightly wound, city slickers like me, this kind of activity is a reminder that it's not ALL about the technical side of life. Getting out from behind the computer can be a great way to do business!

And that's saying something...at least for me!