By Danny Thompson, director of Keller Williams Publishing

Some said being “green” was a fad that would pass, just like bell-bottoms and MySpace. We all witnessed organizations jump on the bandwagon and proclaim green-ness, attempting to leverage the opportunity for profits. Due to some “green-washing” (the term adopted for those who exaggerated their commitment to environmental conservatism) businesses that were truly committed to making a difference were not taken seriously. Personally, I believe the tide has turned, and our sensitivities to our environment have simply become a way of life. At Keller Williams Realty we do not have a green department because our values are green.

I remember hearing the phrase, “God, family, then business” for the first time as Mega Camp 2001. Gary Keller, in stating the Keller Williams values, articulated in four words something I had wrestled with for years: how to balance my faith with my work. These values have helped me stay focused on what matters most.

I believe the call to a healthy, money-smart, and sustainable living in Green Your Home, our second addition to the Keller Williams Realty Guide series, is in perfect alignment with “God, family, then business.” You need only read the book to see what I mean. Let’s look at the three green priorities of the GYH model in light of these values. Continue reading ‘Red Is Green!’

Do you have a Green Thumb? Is your market center working toward a completely paperless office? Maybe you’re an expert on green living for your community and your clients.

Monday, Nov. 14 through Friday Nov. 18, Keller Williams Realty is excited to announce that we’ll be celebrating our company’s growing environmental initiatives and the release of KW’s latest guidebook Green Your Home during “Green Week!”

Keller Williams Associates: we want you to help us celebrate our company’s focus on building a healthy, money-smart, and sustainable life worth living!

Here’s how you can participate:

1. Decorate your Facebook and Twitter Avatar with a Green Week Twibbon!

2. Dial into Webinars focusing on green subject matter including: Building a Green Lead Generation System, Getting Green with Google and myTransactions Advanced. Register here.

3. Post your green tips and get a few extras on the Green Your Home Facebook Page. These will contain awesome tips you can share with your sphere – that’s a week’s worth of Facebook posts already done for you

4. Come back HERE (the KW Blog) for more great stories on creating an eco-friendly life for yourself, your clients or to see what Green Week is all about!

Plus – we’ll be sharing an exclusive excerpt from the Green Your Home guidebook and posting awesome articles focused on generating leads by establishing yourself as a green expert in your local market. If you’re not 100 percent convinced of the green movement, that’s okay! This is merely an opportunity for you to educate yourself so when you have a client with specific green needs, you can be their source of information!

About Green Week: Since our founding, it has been our company’s stated mission to build careers worth having, businesses worth owning and lives worth living. We realize now, more than ever, that a life worth living is one that is healthy, money-smart, and sustainable. And over the past three years we have been actively working to create a platform for our associates to leverage the green movement in their businesses.

We look forward to celebrating Green Week with you!

Last week, Ignite, Keller Williams University’s (KWU) newest course, launched in more than 400 Keller Williams market centers across the United States and Canada.

The response among trainers and associates was that this course is all about getting into action immediately.  The first part of the class is dedicated to mindset. Then attendees learn the skills, scripts and strategies to get listings. This includes lead generating on the phone during class giving attendees the chance to hone their scripts and secure appointments. After a successful week, our associates took the Keller Williams Facebook Page to post their pictures and videos. Here’s what caught our eye!

Ignite has a single objective: to propel agents into immediate productivity. To achieve this goal, the course contains a wealth of fundamental and foundational real estate content, enhanced by productivity-based exercises, an online tracking system (MyTracker), practical job aids, and powerful scripts.

Join the company-wide launch of Keller Williams Realty’s latest course by talking to your Team Leader today!

Be sure to post your videos, pictures on Facebook and tag Keller Williams Realty

Or post directly to the Keller Williams Realty Facebook Page!

Learn more about Ignite on the KWU Website.

For most entrepreneurs and independent business owners, fourth quarter is a time of reflection on the past year’s successes and an opportunity to put together a solid business plan for the next 12 months.

As you might imagine, Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman, Keller Williams Realty, Inc.  goes through a rigorous planning process. Below is an email exchange between him and Todd Butzer, regional director, North Central on creating the “Master Plan.”

-----Original Message-----

From: Todd Butzer

To: Gary Keller

Subject: planning question

Gary –

I am pretty sure you go through a specific planning ritual this time of year.

Wonder if you would mind sharing any part of it?

T

Todd Butzer

Regional Director

North Central Region

-----Original Message-----

From: Gary Keller

To: Todd Butzer

Subject: RE: planning question

hey !

i work from a simple concept:

1.   i start with the end in mind:  i envision my life at the end of it and ask myself what i want to have done.  i then mock up a simple 5 year look (in

kind of a grid form with the years to the left and along the top the categories – like health, giving, john, mary, mom, business, writing,etc…) at what i should be doing to be on track and then i look at the first year.

that creates my goals for the year.

2.   i then take each goal and ask one question:  what is the one thing i can do that by doing it everything else that could also be done to accomplish this would either be easier or unnecessary?

3.   last, i go to my calendar with that answer for each goal and i time block out the year to make sure those things get done.  first, i time block all my time off – vacations, days off, short days, etc.,  so that i make sure they don’t get left out.  if i intend to work hard then i’ll need this time to renew.  next is, my meetings with the people who report to me. next, i make sure i have my time to plan out every week. (i’ve done this so long on a sunday night that i don’t even block it anymore), usually an hour a week on a sunday.  then it’s all about work.  so, for example, if lead generation is your number one business action then you time block it for 5-6 days a week for 3 -4 hours a day before noon.   for me it’s writing so my goal is to just make sure that gets done – then i’m open to the possibilities of everything else.

my motto is “until my number one priority on my list is done each day all else

is a distraction”!  ALL ELSE!  as such, i guard my time when i’m on a priority task fiercely and without apologies.  it’s my life and i answer to no one as to my time. doesn’t always make me highly visible or highly social, but that isn’t the goal when i’m doing what i want my life to be about.

hope this helps.  feel free to share.

onward……

garykeller