My coach is coaching me from a distance, via e-mail, and the sole fact that I have a routine to follow for actually keeping myself healthy is a wonderful thing. I have purchased the right shoes. I didn’t realize there are different types of running shoes for any type of foot. I have gone to a local sport apparel shop and I have found a very competent young man who got me walking and swinging and standing still, and who by the sole observation of my gait was able to determine what was needed for me.

This is the kind of professional service one expects from any type of business. The competence must be so high that by only looking or listening to your costumer you should be able to know right then what is good for her. And as a matter of fact the shop where I went to buy my running shoes is always busy, despite it being relatively small, kind of hidden inside a secondary mall.

People today chose by word of mouth, so you don’t need necessarily a prominent location or a lot of visibility if you have a product or service that is differentiated enough and if people are willing to talk about it and IF your present on the Web. I go to the store myself following the advice of my friend and partner, Daniele Bogiatto, who was visiting Florida from Italy during the Christmas season and he had found it on the Internet.

Daniele is the very person who has introduced me to my running coach, Fabio, and so it was natural that I would go and buy my running shoes in the place he suggested. But there is more to these shoes than just running: I have the project to participate with Daniele to the New York Marathon but I am definitely overweight and unfit, so now I have a big enough goal to dedicate to this project with enough determination and intensity. I will get my body in shape while I will also continue to dedicate myself to my family life and to my new business with all my might.

Going back to “The Art of Money Getting” and its twenty golden rules on how to make money by P.T. Barnum, I quote rule number 5: “Whatever you do, do it with all your might” and “Depend upon your personal exertions”. You cannot count on other people to build your dream. It is your life and only you can live it to the max by giving all yourself in what you do when you do it. The old proverb applies here: “Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well”. But don’t fall into the perfectionist trap either (I have many times). Whatever is worth doing, is worth doing now, and if you will have to fix it later, do it with all your might and you will succeed eventually.

Still quoting out of “The Art of Money Getting” we have an apparent contradiction of terms: “Be cautious and bold.” That is you plan with caution and execute with boldness.

Roberto Mazzoni

Running out of trouble is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

…

It is the clear signal that you need to do immediately something otherwise other people will give you the value they think you have without actually knowing what you can do. You will get into more and more explanations and you will eventually lose money by providing services or products maybe priced lower than you can afford.
I know this because it has happened to me a few times and in the last ten days I had to prevent it twice, that is why I am bringing it up to you. My business model is based on something unique: I have created a safe conduit, a bridge, for European investors that want to come to the US and invest in real estate or in any other future business that would make sense.
…

It is a bridge that can also be crossed in the other direction, bringing remarkable people and products from America to Europe, with the assurance that they would land in the right places and with only the right people.

I have built a very strong partnership with my “twin alter-ego”, Daniele Bogiatto, who works on the European side of the bridge. We are so closely in agreement as to the standards and the means of doing our project that even before talking about an issue we take independent actions that go exactly in the same direction. That is why I refer to us as “virtual twins”.

We take care of all aspects that could be required: legal, taxes, operational, marketing, public relations, networking, whatever. We want to anticipate any kind of issue by first testing the waters ourselves and then involving others. Therefore we are not eager to jump just on any deal that could be attractive, but we take the time to be familiar with the market, with the deal, with the person that is bringing it to us with all the rest.

We have proved over and over again that we don’t care how much money we could make, we rather not do anything if we feel it is not safe enough and it doesn’t meet our basic standards. This is invaluable in my opinion and once I explain it to people, and give them evidence of it, then any argument about pricing and value ceases right there.

People want to work with other people they trust, that make them feel cared for and important, that bring value to them: not only in terms on money but also of emotions, ideas, new perspectives for the future. The “commodities” market is losing importance with the arrival of the Web and social networking and we see that we are the most successful when we focus in describing the value we put around the product and not only the product itself.

Roberto Mazzoni

Articulating your value is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

There are a lot of implications connected to this statement. First of all, being yourself you will not be able to satisfy everybody. Some people won’t like you and some people will love you, and that is the way it is always going to be. By the time you try to please everybody you will eventually displease all, including yourself.

I get almost every day comments on my Twitter accounts from people who don’t like what I do and what I say, but also I get many more that simply love it. So I know I am on the right track. I have enough difference in me to elicit the complaints of some and the praises of others.

When I was managing magazines some years ago, I always knew that there was something wrong when nobody would complain about my content: some reader or advertiser. I knew my content was not biting, it was not relevant, it didn’t gather enough attention from my readers to provoke a response.

The second concept connected with “being tru to yourself” is that you need to develop your own job, simply inventing it, and developing the system that will make it work. You can’t use somebody else’s system. You can learn from others what you need to get started and to improve and build your own business, but you need to be different.

Going with the flow doesn’t apply if you want to be exceptionally good and you need to be very good if you want to compete at all. I have been working hard in developing my business model and now it starts bearing fruits. The most rewarding aspect of it is that it is so different from any other out there that I fear no competition in the immediate future; so I will have more time to develop it further.

Finally you must be able to give up things that don’t fit you and your plans. Last week me and my business partner Daniele threw out of the door a very important proposal, that could have brought us a substantial amount of money, because we were convinced it was not fitting with the standards that we have chosen for ourselves.

We have been rewarded since because our refusal has brought to light some key problems that would have killed the project anyway. Not only we have avoided lots of trouble but now it looks that we have the chance of doing an even bigger project, just because we decided to be true to our own objectives and to the way we want to do business.

Going with the flow can be very dangerous because you never know if the flow is going in the wrong direction. Holding your position unwaveringly is much better because you know where you stand and you have things coming to you from which you can choose what you really want and discard all the rest.

Roberto Mazzoni

Be really true to yourself is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Daniele Bogiatto, Chris Krimitsos and Miranda Sorgente at the Dream Factory of the Wealth Building Annex.

So it was natural for us to bring the two things together and yesterday we organized a meeting with Chris at the Dream Factory with two key figures in corporate coaching and training in Europe: my partner Daniele Bogiatto and Miranda Sorgente. Just the day before the TWBA staff had been fully absorbed in the delivery of a spectacular event to the members of the mastermind: a presentation by Gary Vaynechuck on the future of the web and  social media.

So the atmosphere was relaxed but still full of the energy generated by the event. So the meeting flowed very well and it lasted much longer then expected. I believe we have set the stage for my company to become the conduit also for American speakers and trainers wanting to expand their action to the European market.

The right relationships are already there and I enjoy the idea of bringing over some highly powerful personality like Gary.

We are still at the early stages, but all the ingredients are already present, so we just need to move now. My original idea to spend most of my effort and time into establishing few strong relationships is paying back big time because now they start to work for me and in line with the natural evolution of the business I have created from scratch. Once again it is not important what you know, but rather who knows you.

Roberto Mazzoni

Europe gets to the Dream Factory is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

The visiting team from Italy (Vittorio, Miranda and Alessandro) with my business associate Daniele (to the far right) ready to tackle our first lunch together in Florida.

Two days ago, for the first time, a representative team from the investor network landed in Florida and today we had our first informal meeting and a tour of the most recent projects. The connection that so far has been carried through the Web and the legal papers backing up the fundings now has become a real one and these investors were able to touch the very properties they have been contributing to and this will bring about a major leap in the development of the network itself.

Time to open a personal bank account!

There were many special moments, from the initial lunch in the same restaurant where me and Daniele had our first “board meeting” in June of this year to the opening of individual bank accounts in the USA, to the actual tour of the properties.

The two proud and happy owners of the house we have rehabbed and just sold.

But the most remarkable moment for me has been when we arrived to one of the properties that has just been sold and the new owners where moving in right that minute. It was a very intense emotional moment since they showed an enthusiastic gratitude for the quality of the house they had just bough and how it felt “perfect” for them.

Two kids and a dog looking out of the window and smiling. They have just moved in the house.

A young couple with two little kids that will be using the house to its full extent and benefit from all the work we have done. And they were even telling that they found it was better than they expected now that they moved in. This is a real product coming to life, the full closing of a cycle and it was the best acknowledgment I could ever get in front of my investors.

Miranda and Alessandro who have contributed directly to several projects visit the house we just sold.

I still remember the two little kids looking through the glass o the big entrance window, smiling. That was the best pay I could ever get from my work.

Another house that is ready to go! The investor network is moving along very strong.

Now I know that every day those kids and those parents will wake up and go to bed in a house they love and that I have rehabbed with the help of my investors. Our skill and our work will touch the life of five people for several years to come.

Roberto Mazzoni

The investor network comes to life is a post from: Using the Web and social media to sell real estate