This is a guest post by Paul McLaughlin (Seattle University Village).
Ask yourself these two questions:
- What are your passions and/or hobbies outside of real estate and your family life?
- Using outside the box thinking, how can you convert some of these passions or hobbies into a contribution to your sphere? Paul Harvey McLaughlin has labeled this a “Passion Action™.”
My Story
Outside of real estate and day-to-day life, I am an avid skier, cyclist, motorcyclist, philanthropist, creative cooker and now a self-proclaimed budding singer/song writer (hah).
Over the past couple of years I have found how to convert two of my passions into three Passion Actions™ to stay connected with my sphere.
My Passion Actions
Action 1 – I make my own brand of smoked jalapeno hot sauce. I typically start with about 12 pounds of ingredients consisting of jalapenos, garlic, shallots and some other secret ingredients. This yields about 20, eight-ounce jars. Everyone that has tried it wants more of it. If I have a client or a friend that I know is throwing a party of some sort, I will drop off a couple of jars to their house to be served at the party. My only rule is that if you want more, you must return the empty jars for refilling on some future date. I also have a label on the lid with my own brand name so people know who it is from.
Result – Three or more additional points of contact with this person and/or persons who are interested in the hot sauce. The nature of the contact is often one of the following:
- A “thank you” for the sauce and to let me know how much everyone at the party enjoyed it.
- Wanting to make arrangements to get me the empty jars back. (habit forming).
- Inquiring about when I will make another batch because they want more (now an addict).
- Letting me know that a neighbor or friend really enjoyed it and would also like some (future addict).
Action 2 – I have only done this twice. A couple of buyer clients who recently purchased a home informed me they would be having a house warming party of 15-20 people. I offered to come over the day or night of the party and help cook, prepare and serve the food.
Result – I was able to meet several new people and both times I have landed new clients. It is a lot of fun and everyone at the party knows you were the broker that helped their friend purchase a new home.
My newest action (Action 3) – Since I recently started a new hobby in playing guitar and taking voice lessons, I decided once again, it was time to step out of the box and create a new “Passion Action.” Every time I get a notification on Facebook or I know it is someone’s birthday, I text them a Happy Birthday voice note where I actually sing and play guitar to my own original 20-second version of Happy Birthday.
Result – I realize this is not for everybody, but I have now done this about a dozen times and every time it results in a return phone call thanking me for the nice personal message. People love it and are always surprised that you were thinking of them and took the time to send a personal song. Believe me. When people ask them what they got for their birthday, they respond with the usual; new shoes, new car, shirts, skirts and ties, and oh, my real estate broker friend sang me my own personal version of Happy Birthday.
Hope you enjoyed the read and hope you also create outside the box ways of staying connected through your own Passion Actions™.
