Rich Bailey

In his book, Small is the New Big, Seth Godin asks, “How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”

On the surface, it’s easy to disagree. Sure, easy for Godin, because he is remarkable. But maybe he means people too often people simply follow the masses , attempting to exceed the existing standards of what is deemed remarkable by others. Maybe to be truly remarkable, you have to achieve according to a different standard. Like former NHL player Lyndon Byers.

NHL players are remarkable if they score a lot of goals, or have a long, illustrious career. Lyndon Byers was not a prolific goal scorer, and played in fewer than 300 NHL games. But I remember Byers as much as I recall any NHL player. And I only saw him play one shift.

Byers was a defenseman whose primary role was to help protect the Bruins’ star Ray Bourque. Fresh from the minors in a game against the old Minnesota North Stars, he took the ice and immediately skated hard into an opponent, resulting in a 2 minute roughing penalty. He picked up another two minutes for cross-checking while skating from the penalty box to the bench for a line change. So 4 minutes in penalties from less than 30 seconds on the ice. That’s rather remarkable, wouldn’t you say?

Byer’s final NHL stats: 279 games played - 28 goals, 43 assists and 1,081 penalty minutes. Nearly 4 penalty minutes per game for someone not even on the first line. That is also pretty remarkable.

I don’t condone violence in sports, though fighting is part of professional hockey, and we accept that. Behind every star is a goon watching his back. Most people won’t remember Lyndon Byers as remarkable like Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe. But in the 20 years since I saw him play one shift for Boston, I never forgot the name Lyndon Byers.

As a REALTOR®, you may never be remarkable through sales volume or closed transactions. But doing something remarkably different than your competition, or displaying one moment of remarkable service may endear you to your customers in a remarkable way, one they’ll never forget.

Originally posted at www.gopherfiles.com 1/19/11

I have blogged before about the importance of knowing your market on the hyper-local level. Understanding the intrinsic value of a neighborhood puts you ahead of those who would only assign value to a property based on bedrooms and bathrooms. I have cited access to local trails and natural features, and proximity to parkland and festivals.

Sunday  September 26th was a beautiful Autumn day in South Minneapolis, and we took a walk through around Hiawatha Golf Course. We were fortunate to see wildlife that normally are only reserved for more remote locations, but the preponderance of green space in Minneapolis provides healthy habitat for many critters. This spectacular pileated woodpecker was easily 18 inches tall, and pecking away at a neighbor's tree. The homeowner didn't even notice it, nor seemed to care about such an amazing bird in his front yard. His loss.

After getting ice cream, we returned home along Minnehaha Parkway, and saw a red fox making his way along the 13th fairway. Fox are not that uncommon in urban areas, but the brilliance of his red coat against the green grass was a beautiful sight. I've also seen mink at HGC, especially near #2 along Lake Hiawatha.

We finished our walk at one of several playgrounds within walking distance; this one at Hiawatha Lake Community Center has swings for little babies like Kaitlin. What a glorious afternoon with family. I cannot imagine a better place to be living.

Understanding the ability to experience days like Sunday can make you a better real estate agent with better knowledge and understanding of the communities you serve. Be the expert, be hyper-local. Your business can thrive from it.

Originally posted at www.gopherfiles.com on 9/29/10

I admit it. I love the Family Guy. I think Seth McFarlane is a genius, and I can't get enough of every crude, rude and tasteless joke, pun and double entendre. And occassionally, the writers show some really shrewd observations.

Take this clip from the Family Guy's parody of Star Wars. While exposing the design flaw that eventually led to the Death Star's destruction, Darth Vader and Admiral Motti (yes, I looked it up) go off on a tangent about the resale value of the Death Star in the current real estate market, and Vader's failed attempt at flipping a California Beach condo.

Pretty clever commentary I thought. What did you think?

We took Kaitlin on her first camping trip last weekend. Tabitha and I are experienced campers, and we were well-prepared for the heavy rain we had the first night.

But even the most seasoned veterans make mistakes. On our last night, I neglected to put the dry food bin into the truck before bed. A very opportunistic raccoon had a craving for junk food and coffee. Our normal "leave no trace" mantra was disturbed by a trail of Cheetos and snickers wrappers leading into the forest, and gourmet coffee grounds scattered all over our picnic table. I spent 20 minutes securing trash from the woods by flashlight, and putting the rest of our food away. The next morning, we scouted the remaining trash and food on the gound and cleaned it all up before heading home.

While even the most experienced real estate professional is capable of making rookie mistakes, it's how that agent takes ownership and corrects the problem that truly reveals their character. For your clients, you alone can choose how you confront a mistake. You can be the agent running through the woods at 2am to retrieve that empty Cheetos bag. Or be the one who stays in bed and leaves the site trashed for the next camper.

Originally posted at www.gopherfiles.com on 8/16/10

Recent heavy rains in Minneapolis found us walking along lower Minnehaha Creek to Minnehaha Falls to see the raging torrent. Minneahaha Falls Park was packed on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, as it has been for decades. Normally the falls are a trickle in mid-summer, and not nearly this dramatic. In a 1967 visit from President Lyndon Johnson during a severe drought, city officials ordered local fire hydrants opened up fully to create a more scenic waterfall via the storm drains that lead to the creek. Certainly it was nothing like this.

But the falls weren't the only attraction. The park happened to be hosting Swedish Heritage Day. Tabitha's maiden name is Nord, so she felt right at home in the Svergie blue and gold. We ate Swedish meatballs and lingenberries; normally we'd have to trek to Ikea for such a delight. And we heard an acoustic rendition of the Abba tune "Fernando", sung in Swedish. Who would have thought I'd be getting so cultured when I woke up that day?

We covered about 3 miles round-trip from our house to the mouth of the creek below the falls, where it joins the mighty Mississippi River to being the long journey to the oil-stricken Gulf of Mexico. Amazingly, only 3 blocks of our entire walk is on normal residential streets. The remaining miles are all along designated trails and paths as part of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation system. The pleasant walking, the great scenery and the accidental Swedish encounter reminded us of why we bought a home in this neighborhood.

Only a hyper-local expert can impart to their clients the intangibles of owning a home in a specific neighborhoods, and the opportunities for experiences like ours. Blog about it, talk about it, and learn your clients' interests so you can cater to directly to them. Your value as an agent rests largely on your local knowledge, and how you impart it to the greater community.

Originally posted on www.gopherfiles.com on June 29