When I started working with REALTORS® in 2000 my main goal was how the Palm Pilot assisted with how REALTORS® did business, mainly using a PC or paper system. This was the birth of mobile technology in my opinion.  Laptops have been out for a while, but in the early 2000s we started seeing agents carrying many of these huge monsters compared to what we carry today!

Some agents were early adopters of mobile technology, others fought it for a while, but finally loss as consumers raised the bar on technology in the industry.  So, my plan is to do a series based on the title of this article. As I am doing research for this article, so many things I was teaching REALTORS® from 2001 to 2008 is the backbone of running your real estate business with a smartphone.  For many reasons, the industry has taken a turn on how we do business, adding expensive, sometimes cumbersome, apps and programs promising results that are never achieved by the majority of users.

There is a reason REALTORS® are spending more on apps and programs looking for a better way to do business. I shared an article back in February titled “Time to Get Serious” explaining why.  The venture capital investment in real estate technology in 2012 was $31 million. By 2017 that investment number was $1.2 billion.  Real Estate Professionals are being bombarded with marketing ideas, programs and apps to change the way they do business. My goal is to help you use what you already have and, in some cases, improve the effectiveness of programs and apps you have decided to incorporate into your career.

Here we go! This entire series was started after hearing a company tell prospective entrepreneurs that they can build and run their entire business with a smartphone.  “No need for expensive computer equipment, no brick and mortar buildings, all you need is a smartphone.”  My first fact check took me to the U.S. Small Business Administration where I found an article explaining that, yes, you can start and run many businesses completely on a smartphone.  After reading a few other articles I am ready to start building this series.

When I read what “experts” say you should have available on your smartphone I thought, “WAIT A MINUTE! These are skills and practices I preached for the first 8 years of my career.” Gee, what goes around comes around, and luckily I have most of my presentation for as far back as 2001.  Don’t worry, I am not going to be teaching you how to beam your info from your Palm to someone, but I will cover how to Airdrop or Bluetooth the information.

At this time I am not sure how many articles will be in this series as I do a deep dive into best practices.  All the titles will include “Run Your RE Business with a Smartphone using (Text Replacement)”. Yes, that is the title of the first in my new series!  Let’s have some fun!