Scott Fogleman, Witt-Fogleman, Inc. Bedford, Lynchburg, and Roanoke VA

Last year was a good year for us in Bedford VA, but I have often thought how busy we were and how hard it was at times. Even though we had a good year selling real estate in Bedford VA, we didn’t meet our sales goads. So I wondered how difficult would our business be if we sold twice as much.

Last month, Wendy and I attended Keller Williams Family Reunion 2012 in Orlando. There was so much great information but one of my big a-ha moments came when Gary Keller said “If you can sell three million, you can sell 20 million, you just have to have the right leverage!” 20 million is considerably higher than our goal for the year, but I have to wonder what it would feel like to sell 20 million in Bedford Real Estate.

That statement has really stuck with me as we want to move to the next level. I have been thinking a great deal about how to leverage ourselves and started putting the pieces and parts together… I have decided to take a twofold look at how we run our business. Where can we cut waste and inefficiencies? I want to cut things we are not using and look for ways to make us more productive selling Bedford real estate.

This month DocuSign in sponsoring a contest called Eliminating Inefficiencies in your Real Estate Business. So I thought I would share what we are changing. We looked at our current processes and looked for ways to do it better. We had been using an in house server; we switched to a cloud server. Bedford County is very large, we could easily drive for an hour and still be in our area working with clients, previewing homes, whatever. What happens if you needed something from the server? You could drive back and forth.. Now all we need is an internet connection.

Electronic signatures, we much time can you save by emailing documents to clients to get them to sign. DocuSign is the leader in the industry on this solution. Talk about getting offers in fast, what about amendments, or corrections. You can type the offer and send while you’re still showing the home…

Just putting those two pieces into place will save us some time and money. We are looking for more ways to leverage ourselves.

Bedford 1st Annual Blossom to Bottle 5K Run is April 14th, 9am.

Imagine a 5k run/walk through two wineries and the pastoral lands that surround them and its all for a good cause.

The Run benefits the YMCA Oncology Wellness Department.

This is a great way to raise some money and have fun. People of all levels are training for this run already.

Taken from their website "THE RACE WILL HAVE SOME HILLS AND VALLEYS AS THE RUNNERS (WALKERS)
TRAVERSE THE VALLEY FILLED WITH BLOSSOMS AT THE FOOT OF THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS. THERE WILL BE SOME BRIDGES AND STREAMS TO CROSS AND LOTS OF FARM ANIMALS TO SEE IN THEIR PASTURES WITH THEIR NEW BORN BABIES"

Bedford isn't just a small town between Lynchburg and Roanoke, its an area where small business are opening and thriving. Bedford is a place with few chains. The big box retailers have stayed away and small business are opening to serve the needs of the local residents. So far this year, 4 new business have opened in Centertown Bedford and in Bedford County 37 new business have opened their doors. Compare this to the City of Lynchburg where 34 new business have opened.In a "bad economy" this is no small achievement.

Bedford County Economic Development Director Traci Blido often mentions many of the benefits but one of the best is "We have no business license here, so businesses don't have worry about that. And we have no merchant's capital tax." Small business often face many challenges in the first year but "If we can keep them growing and keep them strong they will end up hiring people and they will make a bigger impact on the economy," added Blido.

The County of Bedford and the City have many free resources for those who want to start a busienss.

Furthermore, Virginia has been winning awards as the best place to start a business. Several years ago, Governor Tim Kane developed a website to help small business get started.

Lynchburg VA Mayor Joan Foster announced a new, year long initiative called

Live Healthy Lynchburg

The city created a website to help support this initiative, the site has lots of great information such as what to eat, where to go, and things to do outside.

Did you know that 30 minutes of exercise dramatically improves the health of an adult?

Or that children need 60 minutes of exercise per day to help be healthy?

Where to start? Take a look at the website, there is so much great information. Such as what are healthy proportions, where to buy fresh food, places to go for fun and exercise. Did you know that Lynchburg is rated as one of the best places to love for outdoor life. There are so many things to such as the blackwater creek trails for walking/bike riding, we have mountains, swimming... all sorts of activities.

Furthermore, Mayor Foster challenged the people of Lynchburg to lose 12 tons!

Register on the site and track their weight loss and distance traveled during exercise. This will help everyone know how much weight Lynchburg is losing!

Edit-Several people have made a comments about 12 tons being so much weight, so I thought maybe I could add a little perspective. An estimate of the population in the greater Lynchburg area is 250,000. How many people will participate, I don't know but here are some numbers.

1 ton is 2,000 so we are looking at 24,000 pounds.

Sounds daunting, right? Not really!

if only 2,000 people take the challenge they would have to lose 12 pounds

5,000 people equals 4.8 pounds.

20,000 people equals 1.2 pounds.