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Not Sure What to Believe

I’m sure you’ve seen seen the headlines. I wanted to understand the numbers better.

According to Mortgage News Daily, mortgage purchase applications are down 18% and refinance applications are down more than 85% in 2022 compared to 2021.

We weren’t expecting this to happen so quickly, were we?

This can be scary, especially for those who aren’t sure how this will affect their livelihood. I’m thinking of those who have made, or planning to make, mortgage signing their full-time business.

It’s easy to throw our hands up and give up. But we know that if we allow this way of thinking to creep into our mind, it can take control.

I’m going to follow the trends of course but I’m also going to try my best to…

Pay Attention to Triggers

It’s not usually just the feeling of overwhelm that might be associated with not knowing what to believe when it comes to the impacts of the housing market. It goes deeper than that. Does this mean that it would be hard to sell my house in the next few years?

And I realize that that there is also fear about how some of you will ultimately pay future bills or how you will be able to leave your 9-5 job.

I get it.

And I know that differentiating the two is important because although we can’t control the impacts to the housing market, we can come up with a Plan B’s.

Practice Self Compassion

This may be one of the hardest things to do but I’m really going to try.

We are all guilty of talking to ourselves negatively. But when times feel so uncertain, we really need to have compassion for ourselves and we need to speak kindly to ourselves.

Staying as positive as possible will help keep the feelings of fear in check.

Remember To Take Control, Do Things Differently

I’ve make a lot of decisions in the last 10 years to have more control of my life and I’m guessing you have as well.

Personally, to help keep a certain level of control, I am looking to do things a little differently and increase my income streams. And to make that happen I know that I need to focus more.

I’m back to meditating every morning, monthly and weekly goals, and a daily to do list.

For mortgage signing agents, maybe instead of constantly looking for the latest opinions about the economy or checking email for new assignments, brainstorm other ways to use your commission and/or skills to make money?

I have always been a believer that if it seems as if the original plan won’t work, try something new.

We may not have the ability to stop what is going on with the economy but each of us has the ability to tweak the original plan. Becoming an owner operated business, self employed means you get to make decisions…including decisions to change the course.

Social Media Marketing – Connect and Get Discovered

Chief Marketing Officer, Communication

Marketing is a somewhat broad term. There are subsets and even subsets of the subsets. Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing. Its approach is to obtain branding and marketing communication goals through the participation in various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube as well as anywhere else content can be shared. The goal of each social media marketing campaign can vary from business to business. But usually it includes brand awareness, increasing visibility and subsequently selling products.

Social Media Marketing As A Tool

Social Media Marketing has become a foundational tool for connecting with customers and optimizing an online presence for most businesses. Social media meaning is often contextual but it generally refers to the tools, websites, and platforms, folks use to publish, converse and share content online. In order to use social media effectively, you first need to understand your target market. This knowledge is the basis of your overall marketing strategy. For example, if your target customers are professionals who commute, then a podcast that can be downloaded may be the type of content you choose to deliver.

Connect

Videos, podcasts, blogs, discussion boards and social networking sites are all tools that solopreneurs can use to build relationships with their customers and keep them on websites longer. One of the most important things you can do with social media is to use it to help you build relationships with your target customers and existing customers. This is important and something you’ll want to do on an ongoing basis. Social media help you to add personality to your brand. This can especially be done by your blog since you generally have the most control there out of all the sites and platforms. Your blog posts give insight into who you are as a person and not just information about the products and services you offer. This helps folks to connect to you. Social media encourages visits to your site. So keep adding content to encourage customers to come back to see what is new and ideally comment and share with others.

Get Discovered

Social media provides a variety of opportunities for folks to present optimized content. And better yet, this content is indexed by search engines which can ultimately improve your site rating. Video is increasingly becoming more and more popular. If you choose to use video, there are few things to know about video. Some advantages that might even make those who haven’t tried it yet to possibly reconsider. – Posting video content on YouTube is a great way to improve your position in Google’s universal search results. – YouTube viewers can view your video and easily share to their own websites and social networking profiles. – YouTube is a great way to reach more folks and if done properly you can generate buzz around your new products. This is especially true if your product is visual. Social media platforms are often the first thing that comes to mind when folks think of social media marketing. But it’s more than than. Your blog posts are also shareable and you decide if you want to allow commenting. Using social media can help you build interest and loyalty among customers and, at the same time, if you decide, can also improve your search engine optimization rankings. There are various mini goals social media can help you with…it’s a great tool. So how do you use social media?

3 Social Media Myths

Chief Marketing Officer

Social media is a powerful technology but it’s also often misunderstood. In its simplest form, social media is a way to connect with old friends from childhood or college and a way to share pieces of your daily life. In its more complex form, social media is a unique way to market your business and products to the world in a fairly short amount of time. While you can take months or years to study the ins and outs of social media and craft corresponding business strategies, there are three common myths about social media that solopreneurs can dispel today.

Myth #1: You must use every single social media platform.

Expanding your reach is certainly a goal for solopreneurs as that generally gets more sales, which should equal increased profit. However, a question to ask before signing up and using every platform is: where is my ideal customer? Using Facebook just because it has over 1 billion users doesn’t mean those 1 billion users will find you and start purchasing. Identify your ideal customer and find out where they hang out. Those are the platforms you should use.

Myth #2: Aim for every post to go viral.

It’s fun to see a post go viral as they are usually entertaining or thought provoking but of the viral campaigns you’ve noticed recently, could you say what company sponsored them? I can’t either. Aim to provide value in your posts mixed in with some of your personality as opposed to aiming for shock or entertainment value. Your ideal customer wants to learn from you so your valuable lesson will be heard and remembered long after the latest viral video fades away.

Myth #3: Having a large number of followers equals increased profits.

It can be an ego boost to see a large number of social media followers but are these followers interacting with you? Are they liking or sharing your posts? Are they leaving comments? If not, then chances are they aren’t your ideal customer and chances are they will never purchase anything from you. Evaluate your own posts; it’s quite possible they’re boring and that’s the reason for no response. Be more creative with your posts and watch for audience interaction. You’re not appealing to everyone; you’re appealing to a small fraction of the world’s population. Pay attention to finding that demographic and the number of engaged audience members will follow, as will the profits.

Put the Social Back in Your Social Media Marketing Plan

Chief Marketing Officer, Managerial

Do you want to save time during your day? Do you wish you had an extra 18 hours to accomplish everything on your to do list?

Most folks would answer, “Yes, most definitely.” to those questions because [Read more…] about Put the Social Back in Your Social Media Marketing Plan

Social Media Bootcamp: Building Trust

Chief Marketing Officer

I’m a firm believer that consistency is a key element in the success of a business. Of course, there are other important factors but consistency is what will create name and brand recognition. Consistency is what will build your tribe so you can [Read more…] about Social Media Bootcamp: Building Trust

How Is Your Social Media Plan Working For You?

Chief Marketing Officer, Organizational

Social media. It’s one of my favorite ways to interact. This is also true for a lot of folks. They use it to interact with others around the world and to market their products and services.

Some people get great interaction on social media platforms while others are posting day in and day out with very little engagement.

What’s the difference between the super star and the person who struggles? [Read more…] about How Is Your Social Media Plan Working For You?