Mikel Erdman

Today I want to share with you a great website to find out where your milk comes from. I was introduced to this website through a good friend of mine Ric De Luca who is an awesome real estate and management coach. He sends out a weekly group of technology tips and interest items and this was one that I found interesting in a Trivial Pursuit sort of way.

Many times I look in the refrigerator, sometimes late at night, and when I find something that I want to eat or drink a goes through my mind, "where in the heck did this stuff come from and how did they make it?"

Well here is an answer for those of you looking to find out where your milk was produced. Just go to www.whereismymilkfrom.com and you will be able to find out the dairy where you're milk was produced.

Just follow the video that I've posted below and it will show you exactly how to do this.

I hope you enjoyed knowing where your milk comes from, and if you ever have questions regarding real estate or mortgage marketing ideas please feel free to call me at 360-450-3551 or e-mail me at Mikel@MikelErdman.com.

I attended the ActiveRain Rain Camp in Portland, OR today. I learned a lot of great marketing tips that I’ll be sharing over the next couple of weeks. I’d highly recommend attending one of these workshop events as they are well worth the very low cost to attend. You will learn all sorts of great real estate and mortgage referral marketing strategies focused using social media.

One of the tools that was introduced at the event made it easy to generate buyer leads from people posting to Twitter. This tool is free to use, but also has a subscription option which gets you fresher leads right when people post to their account. Here is a video that is a basic introduction to DemandSpot.com .

I played around on the site after I finished this video and was pleasantly surprised at the depth of information that you can get on a real estate purchase prospect. There are also many apartment hunters that this service provides, so anyone in property management might use this tool to generate renter leads for their investment properties.

What do you think about this service? Have you used it with any success?

I’m providing a prize to the best comment within 7 days!

With all of the talk about being environmentally friendly, green certified, and Eco-chic I thought I'd take a moment to share a bit about energy conservation. A great place to start is with your home insulation. Heating and cooling a home account for about 56% of the energy use in a typical U.S. home, making it the largest energy expense for most homes. Adding insulation is one of the least expensive ways to boost efficiency to save energy, protect the environment, and save a chunk of money in the process.

R-Value measures insulating power.

Insulating your home can dramatically cut down on home heating and cooling costs. When you shop for insulation, always look for the "R-Value" - the higher the R-Value, the better the insulating power. Be careful not to mistake thicker insulation as better insulation. Thick insulation does not necessarily mean higher R-Value.

To find the R-Value you need, check with your local utility company. Recommended levels vary depending on where you live. Remember, if you install more insulation than necessary, you'll be wasting money. If home contractors install your insulation, be sure to discuss what R-Value is best for your home.

Ask retailers and home installers for a fact sheet on insulation before buying. This fact sheet, required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), tells you the type of insulation, its R-Value, and the area it will cover.

If home contractors install your insulation, they must give you a contract or receipt showing the insulation's R-Value, coverage area, and thickness. If loose-fill insulation is installed, the number of bags used also must be included.

These are just a few things to consider when adding or upgrading the insulation in your home. As always, consult with a local professional in order to uncover any additional regulations for your area. Your real estate agent will likely be the best resource for a qualified referral to a contractor in this area. Give them a call and ask for their advice. They will appreciate your call and ensure that your needs are taken care of.

This information is included in the Ultimate Home Journal, the best home diary available on the market today. This high quality, 160 page book is the place to keep all of the who, what, when, why and how's of your home.

You can receive a FREE copy of the Ultimate Home Journal by becoming our Fan on Facebook.

Here are a few more e-terms for you:

Carbon footprint
A measured amount of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide which are released into the atmosphere by manufacture, transport, products, materials, activities etc. Footprints are described in CO2 equivalent grams.

Close the Loop
To buy a recycled product which has been remanufactured / reprocessed / reused on more than one occasion. This eliminates waste and creates a complete product cycle.

Eco-chic / Green Chic
The trend and fashion of being environmentally conscious and buying 'green’ products.

Eco-elite
A person who is environmentally conscious and who has the finances to support their environmental preferences.

Green Building / Sustainable Building Design
Building design and construction which uses methods, systems and materials that have a lower negative effect on the environment than conventional building design. Typical features are energy efficiency, daylighting, renewable energy, water conservation, waste management, eco building materials and brown land use.

Holistic Interior Design / Zen Interior Design
A complimentary way of designing interiors based on achieving a balance between; design principles, human health and well-being and our natural environment.

Post-Consumer
A product or material which has been recycled or reused after its original purpose has completed. An example would be PET plastic bottles which have been recycled into new plastic bottles. The label may say “made with 95% post-consumer waste”.

What is your favorite e-word or phrase. I'm awarding a special prize to the funniest, best, most entertaining reply!

I've subscribed for a few years to a great daily email from a tremendous success story. Jeff Young continues to overcome the personal tragedy of his diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease) in 1983. He does an outstanding job of commenting on the success quotes that he sends out and is on a mission to gain 10,000 subscribers. He doesn't use the list for marketing, this is just a way for him to reach out and touch others lives.

Please visit http://www.friendsofjeff.com for more information.

You can subscribe from his website or by sending a message to warriors-on@friendsofjeff.com

"A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it... Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph."

- James Allen, As A Man Thinketh

When you get sky-high and charge into a new endeavor, what do you do when your objective starts to push back? Most people fold up their tent and quit at the first sign of resistance. Do you not know that you must suffer temporary defeat in order to learn the requisite lessons and build the necessary character to conquer your goal? I don't know what your goal is, but the bigger it is, the more wisdom and character will be required. Translation- the grander the objective, the more temporary defeat necessary.

In the late 1980s, John Elway and the Denver Broncos suffered three crushing Super Bowl losses and were the butt of endless Super Bowl loser jokes. I will never forget Mr. Elway's response when asked if maybe it would be better to lose the week before the Super Bowl rather than to keep suffering the personal ignominy of these cruel barbs. He insisted he would rather go back again and again and keep swinging until he finally won one. He didn't win one, he won two. It took until the final two seasons of his sixteen year career, however, for that to happen.

Victory is usually accorded the last person standing. This is usually the person that gets up after being knocked to the floor one more time than his competition. It is a lot easier to accept temporary defeat and keep getting up when you realize that it is absolutely coming but only need be temporary. Be like John Elway; get up again and again until you are the last person standing.

For more information on building your real estate business with high-quality, low-cost marketing tools visit the Ultimate Home Journal website today.