Owned and Operated by Tallahassee Women! You gotta love these ladies who provide entertainment and know how to run a business as well!

Executives, professionals, moms by day and terror on skates by night!

“The Tallahassee RollerGirls is a group of women ranging in age from 20 to 50 years old from a variety of backgrounds each possessing a unique set of talents. These ladies utilize and integrate these talents to successfully run the business that is The Tallahassee RollerGirls. These women are not paid for the time and commitment involved, but do so for the love of the sport. Business aside, the women vigorously train while living and breathing skill and strategy to not only bring the full-contact, fast-paced sport of Roller Derby to Tallahassee and North Florida, but to bring the area a team to be proud of.” from Tallahassee Roller Girls Website

Today, June 5th is their Fan Appreciation Carnival from 3 – 6, followed by a “RollBot Attack” bout with the “Jailbreak Betties” at 7pm at the Leon County Fairgrounds.

For more about the Tallahassee Roller Girls, check out their calendar.

I’m heading there with some friends.. will post some pictures later for sure!

One of my real estate customers, and another friend are on this team and I can’t wait to see them in action ~ Off for my first Tallahassee Roller Girl experience!

Tallahassee Roller Girls on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tallyrollergirls

Tallahassee Roller Girls on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&gid=39982058194

Tallahassee Roller Girls on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tallyrg

Did you know that a Realtor is bound to continue their education according to the National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics?  Ethics training is paramount and after this comes all that goes into maintaining knowledge of every aspect of an industry that changes more than just about any other industry. Changes in market conditions, real estate law, financing and underwriting, zoning regulations and even building codes to name a few. Few customers realize the amount of education required of Realtors, not just for continuing education, but in achieving designations and certificates of study.

If that is not enough, learning how to effectively market properties, utilizing the latest technology and tools available keeps one not only ahead of competition, but enhances all listings by giving them greater visibility in todays marketplace.   We are moving toward technology in every aspect of our lives, who knew Realtors would need an understanding of technology to be effective marketers?  It is mind boggling considering most Realtors, when they began their careers had virtually no marketing experience. Many veteran agents have time under their belt, but do they use current marketing tools? It is a question customers must ask of their agents prior to listing with a Realtor.

Todays agents must be masters at listings, sales, and marketing.  All of these things are imperative to success. All of these change often, and all are changing with advent of social media avenues. Avenues for finding buyers and sellers and investors have changed.  Marketing methodology has morphed. A good Realtor will know what is working and what is time-worn and ineffective.

Over the past two years my marketing strategies have changed. I’m an avid reader and have been watching trends move from print advertising to the tools that today’s buyer and sellers use on a daily basis. I have attended seminars online and in person on marketing strategies, employed these in my new website, and expanded my visibility into social network environments by providing information about Tallahassee in hopes of attracting residents to our area and in obtaining buyers while establishing credibility with local sellers.

Learning about social media and marketing has helped grow my business, establish my brand, and has given me inspiration to help others learn what I have over the past few years. I have held technology seminars and continue on this path. tomorrow I will be hosting a Virtual REBarcamp webinar education seminar at my office where area agents will learn from some of the best in the business. Together we will learn, discuss and implement new marketing strategies for the upcoming year. The schedule below is what we will follow during this Virtual REBarCamp.

Keep in mind all that goes into your Realtors business and how they utilize the tools of technology along with their knowledge of all that is imperative to know in our industry. Give your Realtor a pat on the back for all that they put into your listings, your home search and your investment analysis!

Virtual REBarCamp Schedule for January 4, 2010.

FloridaSunSales, Debbie Kirkland, Realtor

So  you want to  know what Twitter is all about?  TV, radio, newscasters,.. even Oprah is on twitter now!  My kids ask me what the big deal is… imagine that.. My kids asking me about twitter! Suddenly I feel 24 again.  Anyway…Twitter.. no it’s not just 72 characters insignificant things that  people that talk about their walk to the car, or that they are leaving for work. or arrived at work or that are bored at work. It’s the messages that contain a personal message to NEW acquaintances that share something in common. Whether for a moment or longer engagements between those who converse in real time about a deeper subject matter, or even a common interest in music, there is always something to talk to someone about. These messages turn into conversations with other “Tweeple” who “tweet” with a purpose.. or sometimes just to share a laugh. 

When I first started Twitter, within days some of the Tallahassee folks I was following announced they were having a “tweet-up” – the modern day get-together.  I attended, and met 8 very unique, different, quintessential people who were much more versed than I in what was completely foreign to me.  They gave me the low-down on who some of their cool connections were and where to find great applications to make tweeting easier, etc. They also spoke in “twitter-ese,” and I made notes as fast as I could.. but, that really wasn’t necessary.  All I really had to do, was read, connect to the social media gurus,..examine the applications they talked about.. and before you could say “tweet,” I was up and tweeting with the pros. 

Life changed after that.. I am realizing a dream come true soon. I am going to be hosting a series of social media classes along with 4 young men who are fun, exciting and some of the most brilliant minds in the social media and marketing business. I met every one of these young entrepreneurs right on Twitter. I watched them for a long time.. read their material and examined what I thought were their business strengths, etc. We have even met a few times for talks.. about business and at a few more #Tallahassee Tweet-ups. Next month, We will be teaching Realtors and small business owners the power of social media and what it can do for their businesses.  Things seem to move a little slower here, but more and more folks are catching on to Twitter, to Facebook.. now if I can just persuade a few to devote time to blogging, a new concept to many.

Business-wise, I can tell you that twitter has been responsible for 5 real estate customer referrals and resulted in 3 sales so far. Several more are in the pipeline just waiting to close.  Social networking is as much a part of prospecting as the personal telephone calls I make during the week to past customers and my sphere of influence. Devotion of a little time has certainly been productive, educational and mostly, entertaining!

Happy Tweeting… follow me…..@FloridaSunSales!

Dont Just Watch... Tweet!

I’m sure everyone has them, dreams that keep you up at night, thoughts that are born as you sleep. Did you know that babies dream about 8 hours a day?  That thought brings back many memories of watching my little ones.. smile, coo in their sleep, sometimes even cry. Wondering what, where and how an infant brain with little to no life experiences would possibly have entertaining their young minds.

My dreams are usually ideas, strategies, marketing themes, and random screens. Sometimes,. its’ chapters. A book in my head, a theme I hear over and over. Sometimes full lyrics. funny thing is, I can’t remember actors names, movie scenes, etc. Couldn’t tell you what I said someone yesterday sometimes, much less last week or month!

I’m in a period of my life.. the second wind. I look back on my teen life.. and wonder what I did with all that time, what I wasted it all on. they say a mind is not fully developed until your early twenties, I believe it. I’m a thinker now.. in my teens I was an action figure,.. my twenties a manufacturer of children, my 30’s were a mix of emotions and obsessions. the next decade seems to be a microchip.. on fire. I can’t fuel the fire of the desire for knowledge fast enough, nor sufficiently add to the bank of knowledge, nor quench the desire to experience, to see it all, to do it all.

I’m reflecting as I met with a potential business partner tonight who is near my age.  Amazingly, we share some of the same thoughts and have pumped each other up over the possibilities for our new venture. I’ve noticed it, have you? The connections people have at different times in their lives. Over the  past few months, I’ve met a litany of women who share the same interests, wisdom and humor on, of all places, Twitter. (#Twitterqueens). Who would have thought, me , on the Internet more than my kids. Funny thing is, my kids don’t get it.  My 19 y/o thinks I’m losing it as I literally laugh out loud when talking to the Twitterqueens at midnight. My kids are in their twenties.. the action/emotion stage.  They are not in the micro-processor stage yet I suppose. They just don’t get it.

Social networking has opened up chapter after chapter of experiences, of outlets for sharing thoughts, dreams and general BS that no one else close to you really wants to hear, (aka children). So, with journal by the bed, the lights are off for tonight,.. but the flashlight is handy, just in case a thought has to be recorded.

“Channels are blocked in the mind, from the day.  Lie down in blackness of night, forgotten remnants rush to the mind, or creeping slowly appear in the dreams. ” ~Nathaniel LeTonnerre, translated