“Can you rephrase that, please?”

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by Paulette Costa.

How many ways can you express your thoughts? Dan Roam gets us thinking about expressing our thoughts in pictures in his book Back of the Napkin. It’s a great concept and use this type of simplistic art to demonstrate ideas and concepts often and it works well, especially when I’m communicating with visual thinkers who, according [...]

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Dig Up Your Passion and Energize Your Enterprise

Posted on 11. Feb, 2010 by Paulette Costa.

I’ve observed a disconnect in our business recently. Like the economic debacle we are experiencing, it didn’t happen overnight. It was a long and winding road that sidetracked us – from home ownership advisors to contract writers; from proactive to passive prospectors, from excited drivers of business to expectant and sometimes even complacent riders on the [...]

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Agents of the Future … Today

Posted on 21. Jan, 2010 by Paulette Costa.

A friend’s Facebook post announced her successful completion of the real estate licensing exam. She is enthusiastic and anxious to get started at her new firm. Any firm would benefit by having her.

Agents of the future are entering the business today. What words of wisdom would you give? My message to her follows.

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Embracing Change

Posted on 18. Dec, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

Who Moved My Cheese? We’ve all read it. Dr. Spencer Johnson’s book featuring the ever-famous Hem and Haw and Sniff and Scurry characters- a national bestseller that is still used in many corporations today to educate and prepare their organizations for change.
In Leading Change, by John P. Kotter, the author says “By any objective measure, the amount [...]

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Bridging the Real Estate Generation Gap

Posted on 05. Oct, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

Are you experiencing a real estate generation gap in your business and if so what is its impact on your agents and their productivity?
As a professional real estate trainer for nearly 25 years, I have the opportunity to come face to face with agents across the spectrum of professionals in our industry – an industry [...]

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Fourth Quarter Game Plan

Posted on 24. Sep, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

According to Wikipedia, in American football, The Hail Mary refers to a now legendary pass by Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Roger Staubach that resulted in the Cowboys’ last minute upset win in the 1975 NFC Divisional Playoff Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, played on December 28, 1975 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. [...]

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You know you’re tech savvy if …

Posted on 03. Sep, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

Or, better yet, what is “tech savvy”?
The word technology sends a chilling tingle of fear down some agents’ spines.  ”I’m not computer savvy” excuses are often followed by the nervous chuckle that translates to please don’t hold that against me. The enabler in me wants to tell them it’s okay, I did’t grow up with [...]

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Happy Birthday America!

Posted on 04. Jul, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

Each year we celebrate Independence Day with picnics, barbecues, beach parties, and fireworks. Humor writer Erma Bombeck once said, “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but [...]

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Icing on the Cake

Posted on 26. Jun, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

Whether filling my gas tank at a full-service station (whatever happened to the man who squeegees the windshield?) or dining handsomely at a five-star restaurant, my service expectation does not waiver. I’ll admit it, I’m a service snob.

I had the pleasure of dining at Scalini Fedeli in Tribeca, New York last Saturday evening. The restaurant had been recommended by a friend so I asked around, read reviews and visited their website. Everything I heard and read piqued my interest and raised my level of anticipation for a wonderful dining experience. As always, the real test is always in the actual experience and everyone at Scalini Fedeli lived up to my expectations and more, delivering one notch above throughout the evening.

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Are You Deterred or Determined?

Posted on 28. May, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

Not much surprises me. I’m a Jersey girl, born and bred. No one has to convince me the Paterson Waterfalls should be a National Landmark and “How you doin?” rolls off my tongue naturally. I did witness something recently though that literally stopped me in my tracks.

My normal driving route to the gym takes me along a strip of the Passaic River in the pre-dawn hours. The mist was heavy over the murky waters this chilly morning and I noticed movement through the fog. I slowed my car and watched a figure take shape. First, the reflective vest outlined a silhouette, then a vessel came into view. A lone canoeist gliding across the water in the pre-dawn hours is not commonplace by any stretch of the imagination. I pulled to the side of the road and watched.

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A One Size Fits All Straw Hat of Real Estate Services

Posted on 27. Apr, 2009 by Paulette Costa.

On a recent trip to Exuma, I strolled to the straw market not far from my hotel. I was on a mission to find a straw hat.
The dilapidated building, painted colors representative of the full spectrum of the rainbow, appeared to be constructed of leftover lumber held together by rusted nails and broken hinges. [...]

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