I’m still traveling this week, but like everyone else, I was horrified to learn of the tragic devastation that occurred in Japan. I lived in California for many years, where earthquakes were a fact of life. But I never experienced anything like the quake that hit Japan last week. And of course, the tsunami took a bad situation and made it even worse.

I won’t attempt to give advice to the people of Japan right now. What they most need from us is prayer and relief efforts. But one thing I do know is that they will need to be creative in overcoming the difficulties they are now faced with. And we can all benefit from becoming learning more about that topic. So let’s talk a little about creativity.

To face the greatest challenges of life, we need to cultivate creative thinking. In times of crisis, you need to tap into every good idea you have. Of course, the best time to increase your creativity is before the crisis occurs. This can be done by establishing the discipline of creative thinking. Here are a few ways we can do that:

1. Spend time with creative people.

Make a habit, both inside and outside of work, of spending time with creatives. Let their way of thinking challenge and influence yours.

2. Look for the obvious.

When problem-solving, many of us make the mistake of looking only for the “big” solution. Creativity means exploring all ideas, even the obvious and seemingly insignificant ones. Often the simplest solution is the best solution.

3. Be unreasonable.

Logic and creativity can work together quite well, but sometimes rational thinking gets in the way of being creative. Be willing to look at unreasonable ideas. Often they expand your thinking and lead to breakthroughs that you might otherwise miss.

4. Practice mental agility.

Creativity requires flexibility. Rigid, bureaucratic thinking is in direct opposition innovation and creativity. So make a habit of considering every idea, no matter how difficult it might seem to implement or how much change it may require.

5. Dare to be different.

Being creative means standing outside of the norm. You must cultivate a willingness to challenge every rule and assumption.

6. See problems as opportunities.

Sometimes the only difference between a problem and an opportunity is the word you use to describe it. Whenever you face a problem, take a step back and ask how it could be described as an opportunity—to innovate, build, and improve.

The discipline of creative thinking will change you—and for the better. As jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.”

My prayer is that people who have spent years cultivating creativity are already at work in Japan – and the Middle East, and around the world – to serve people and bring solutions to hurting nations. May we keep them in our prayers.

For more from John Maxwell, visit his blog:

http://johnmaxwellonleadership.com/

For great blog posts and more information about Pink, you can visit his Website. Click here for more information about Family Reunion.

Enjoy!

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QR Codes are essentially old technology becoming new again.  Think of using a barcode that could be scanned by any mobile phone with a camera that would take the user to a mobile website, video, or simply have it automatically add your contact info directly to their phones address book!

Take some of the most popular mobile devices right now, iPhones and Android smart phones.  All the user has to do is download a free QR Code Reader and once installed they simply point their camera at the QR Code, the app scans it and sends them to wherever the QR Code tells them to go.

How would this work in real estate?  This of this…  Create a sign rider that with a QR Code that points to the virtual tour on YouTube!  Add a QR Code to your print advertising that would allow your potential clients to add you to their phones address book or let them submit their contact info to receive your free e-book on purchasing Distressed Properties.  Do the same thing on your property fliers so they could visit your site to view all of your listing inventory.

(Courtesy of Jack Pratt Signs)

Here is my new business card.  When you scan the QR Code it takes you to a mobile site where you can add my contact info to your phone right there, check out my blog or connect with my facebook and twitter social profiles.  Everything you could possibly want to pass to your new contacts in one quick scan of the code.  The best part is that if my info ever changes, I simply change the site and the Business Card is still completely valid!

Visit this site to play around and make your own QR Code!

As most of you know, I work for the MOST AMAZING real estate company in the world (yes, I am biased) Keller Williams Realty.  One of the things that I admire most about this company is the core foundation on which this company is build… The Associate.

Being in the real estate industry I am hearing a lot about the “Next Gen Office.”  I am challenged with that right from the get go.  Who ever called it the “Baby Boomer Office?”  The reality is this, the way we work has been evolving from day one and that simply isn’t changing.  So we are not looking at the next gen office, we are simply allowing ourselves to flow with the times and not get caught like some car and airline companies have in the past.

What does this new workforce look like?  Interestingly enough, they look a lot like the people that are currently in our workforce today AND those that will join our ranks in the future.

When I look around at some of our mainstream real estate conventions they feel an awful lot like when I launched my first dot com in 1999.  We raised $4 million on our passion and were set on changing the status quo.  We found ways of doing things that hadn’t been done before on the simple fact that nobody ever told us we couldn’t.  And if they did, we simply didn’t listen.

We were out to change the way people think and enlist people to challenge our thinking.  That is what I LOVE about our current environment in real estate.  Like I said, it feels a lot like the good ol’ Dot Com days where creativity and innovation ruled.  People were collaborating and sharing ideas which only caused us to create even cooler products and services (some of which were shut down and are only now seeing the light of day).

When I founded my tech company (that’s what I called it for many years after the dot com bust) we rented executive suites complete with a cyber cafe and all.  So when I hear chatter about the Starbucks feel, I cringe because that is so 1999.   The new office environment combines the best of both Jack Welch and the dot com era.  Think of a virtually flat hierarchy for the organization with collaboration occurring at all levels.

A friend of mine and his close buddies have launched a successful Coworking space in Santa Cruz called Next Space (www.nextspace.us).  Wikipedia defines coworking as “the social gathering of a group of people, who are still working independently, but who share values, and who are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with talented people in the same space.”  To me this sounds a lot like the environment that already exists within a Keller Williams office.  So we have the cultural environment and now we need the physical environment.  (p.s. the culture was there at Next Space early and strong to the point that people were working on milk crates and doors on saw horses until the real furniture showed up… they couldn’t wait to be a part of it!).

This is much greater than a simple cyber cafe, being wi-fi and mobile, or going green.  This is an ENTIRE OFFICE that is built around the collaboration of people that believe “People have walked before us, so why reinvent the wheel.”  Space that not only supports masterminding, but encourages it at every turn.  A place that associates truly believe that a rising tide raises all ships.

Keep in mind, the next generation doesn’t buy a Prius because it is better for the environment.  They buy it because it is better for the environment AND is also more fuel efficient which saves them money.  Try selling a Prius if it only got 1 mile per gallon at $3.45 a gallon!  Smarter, not harder…

While all the ideas I have heard are great, most of them I have had for years (even in my own home).  So it’s not so much where is the workforce heading as much as where we already are.

After all the greatest point of creating a collaborative environment is not to make it easier for real estate agents to be more mobile, but to do that and create an environment that the truly believe their business is better because of where they work and who they surround themselves with.  Where are they getting fed, building relationships and growing their business?

In closing, what I really want to know is this…  How do you see a real estate office truly embracing the innovation that is occurring RIGHT NOW?  What gets you excited about that?  Let’s not simply talk about it, let’s be about it!  Let me know (good or bad) in the comments!

Goupon is a service that will email you coupons for your geographic area every day!  Restaurants, stores, and more!

For example, today in Sacramento, Groupon is promoting a HALF OFF subscription to SacTown Magazine.  That means a 1 year subscription will cost only $6 and not the full $12 annual fee.  Here is another option, why not subscribe your SOI to SacTown?  A $6 expense that will have them thinking of you every time the magazine is delivered!  Why send a postcard when you can send a magazine!!

There are a ton of great deals on Groupon.  They will email you daily and you can simply forward the email to those that you think would be interested.  A simple, easy and effective way to touch your clients and add value… not to mention make yourself the local expert!

Click this icon to check it out!

Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, the authors of “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” discuss how the Economic Model applies to the market of 2009

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Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, the authors of “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” discuss how the Budget Model applies to the market of 2009.  This is based on the results of Gary personally reviewing the P&L’s of over 100 of our Top Associates.

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So as I am sitting here with some of the most talented people in all of real estate, and is a great Q&A session. My greatest ah ha right now is that at almost every single question asked by the group, Gary is litteraly flipping open to a page of his book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. It actually got to the point where Gary asked the group, when was the last time you read the MREA? Because I swear I wrote a book that answers all the questions you are asking.”

So this leads me to a question for you as much as me… When was the last time that you read the MREA? The answer should be very simple… NOW!

Anyway, I am flying down to Austin to join other Keller Williams real estate agents and leaders for the regular mastermind sessions. This is an amazing event where not only do I get to learn from some of KW’s top associates and leaders, but I get to catch up with them in a small setting.

One of the first things I realized in running a business is that you need to surround yourself with other like minded individuals. That said, one of the things that I do to make sure that I am getting the most value out of events like this is that I make appointments outside of the general sessions. I look for people that are succeeding in areas that I want to grow in and ask them to breakfast, lunch or dinner. Honestly this is where I get the greatest value out of most of my trips.

This week for example, I am having dinner on both nights with some of the top team leaders in the entire Keller Williams system. I am having lunch with Stefan Swanepol who is an industry leader in real estate trends. I also have a few more people on my target list to meet while I am here.

While I strongly feel the attending events like this are an incredible value, you don’t need to travel across the country to build a group of like minded people. Who do you admire for the results they have gotten in their business? Who do you admire for the balance that they have I’m their life? Why not call them and ask them to lunch or coffee?

After all, if you want to catch a cold, hang around someone that is sick! If you want to have success in life, why strike it out on your own when you can get a tremendous head start in 30 minutes and over a $4 cup of coffee?!

I think that there are a ton of great points to be made in this video regardless of what industry we are in, be it technology, real estate, etc.

The bottom line is that no one is going to save us and there is no magic bullet to climb out of this hole. Big companies will survive because…well, they are BIG. They will cut expenses (layoffs) and wait for the bottom. The problem with this is that the longer we wait, the longer we fall! If we don’t change the way we do things, the bottom will never come.

At the end of the day, the worst that could happen is that we do nothing. Take ownership, implement change and drive the revolution!

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