Apples and oranges

A few days ago the new iPad2 was announced.

Lighter, faster, more was the theme but the theme was not a new one for Apple or its founder and CEO, Steve Jobs.

In the face of serious global competition the guy just keeps on going and never looks back.  Despite noticeable health issues, Jobs is driven to constantly be better and to never stop, to go even when faced with the threat of new products from others trying to catch him.

I attended a program last night here in Orange County.  The speaker was Seth Godin.  The center of his talk was based around one question.

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

I don't know about you but when I watched Steve Jobs announce the iPad2 I thought he was talking about something new.   The iPad and the iPad2 were like apples and oranges.  Something with a whole new purpose, use, utility - essentially an entirely new device.

Then I turned my thoughts to the residential real estate industry.  Where''s our iPad2?  For that matter, where's our iPad?
In residential real estate I really can't remember anything that was done for the first time for a very long time. 

No apples, no oranges just one big soggy fruit salad.  According to Godin, that scenario creates the perfect time to strike and GO.

Godin's newest book (as in three days old) is titled, "Poke the Box".  An early read indicates that he believes you try something and continually "poke" it to see what it does until you discover what that something that works - something with new potential.

Something new is always a puzzle and the only way the puzzle can be solved is by a constant effort made to adjust and try new things and then to measure the result. 

Change - measure - adjust and change more - measure and so on - forever!

I think the key is not to invest a lot of time exploring what we did yesterday but what it is we intend to do tomorrow.  As soon as we accept what is given - we lose all power to influence.


So the question I have now is here's the iPad2 in the real estate industry?  Not sure but what the heck let's go round-up some sacred cows, poke them a bit and see what we can find.