2016 Recap & 2017 Tip

It’s now 2017 and so much happened in 2016.  Most of the people that read this blog have attended one of my classes and I wanted to take some time to say “Thank YOU”.  I have enjoyed traveling the country and meeting so many new people.  I taught 108 classes in 54 1/2 days and spent 39 days traveling with 14 days away at functions or on the road.  In case you are wondering, that is 107.5 days (29% of the year) on the road traveling and training.  I have now trained in 33 states, only 18 to go.  The 51st one is DC, I counted that as a separate location even though it is not a “state”, but it’s not in a state, so 51 it is!

I’m looking forward to a new year with more new friends to meet and some great places to visit.  While I’m on the subject, if anyone knows offices in the states I have not trained in and would like to help me reach my 2017 year end goal of training in all 50 states.  This list of places I am looking for contacts to reach out to is here: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Utah (I will be there next week), Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.  Thank you in advance for helping by emailing or texting me with any leads.

This is a tech blog, so I can’t go without giving you a tech tip!!  Since it is the year end and soon it will be tax time now might be a good time to give you want of my favorite tracking apps for my real estate and training business.  MileIQ and a link to a referral is here: https://www.mileiq.com/invite/IIPRG.  You may not know this, but years ago for an entire year I wrote emails (should have done it as a blog!) every week on “Apps” and every four weeks I did a “Four for Fun”.  Of course I explained how it works and what it does so this is like going back to that.  Here goes!

MileIQ, it’s Free to download, but only gives you 40 free drives each month.  It is absolutely worth it to spend the $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year for this!

What does it do?  It tracks everywhere you drive.  Yes it runs in the background, but doesn’t take up too much battery or data.  It will show you a map of where you started and where you ended.  Starting mark is green and ending is red.  It’s as easy as “swiping”.  Swipe right for “business” and left for “personal”.  If you swipe slowly in either direction, you can select from custom categories in either the business or personal side.  A couple of cool things is that you can “name” a location so that you remember were you are going.  I name my listings so that I know when I’m going to a listing or showing houses.  You can also select “auto classify” when it pops up so that you don’t have keep answering the same question.  It is super smart and when you are done it shows you a “star” in an award type badge that tells you that month is complete.  It can send you email reports of either a month or year end which makes doing your taxes a breeze!!  Another option is adding multiple vehicles and adding the odometer for each vehicle as well.  I have some screen shots to show you how it works.

App Store showing the logo on the app and the “Auto-Classify” feature.

Business items, and categories.  Notice the “potential” at the top right and naming the locations to any name that you want. (Swipe right)

Personal drives can be categorized differently as well. (Swipe left)

Monthly summary shows the amount of personal vs business drives and the year end totals show the graph of the milage driven.  You will notice that Jan is really short because I didn’t decide to use the “paid version” until February.  The nice thing is that it did remember the drives for a month, but not all the way back.  This is another reason why I’m telling you about this now.

I can be reached at CarolynTechPertise@gmail.com, by phone or text at 918-951-9020 or visit my real estate website at http://www.SearchTulsaHouses.com.  For technology training or consulting assistance visit http://www.iCarolyn.com.

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Every iPad needs GoodNotes!

Sometimes you don’t know you need something until after you get it! I know I typically write about Keller Williams specific items, but this one is SO worth sharing! There is an app my daughter discovered this app and got me hooked. GoodNotes is free, but the extras that come with paying for the full $4.99 version are worth it for your business.

First the free version of GoodNotes does almost everything the paid version does. It does just like it sounds and is a great app for taking notes. Not just any notes, but this app lets you add pictures, typed text, hand written notes and PDF’s!! You can start with an existing PDF or create a new one. Once you have started a note, you can add extra pages. The page options are ruled paper, squared paper, music paper, or plane paper. You can also select between standard portrait or landscape. It get’s better, you can add a notebook cover page with different colors!

This is great for taking notes for clients or in classes. Since you can start with a PDF or a blank page and then write on it with your finger or stylus. Oh, and if you don’t want to write the click on the page until the options come up and select the text option and type! And for those of you that want to see it larger, then it also has a box that magnifies the section you are working on or zoom in on the page. Let’s say you need to draw something out. You can do that too by clicking on the shapes button at the top and then draw the approximate shape and GoodNotes will refine the shape and make it look smooth.

GoodNotes Sample

One of the best parts about this app is that you can pull in a PDF and then export only the pages you want! That’s right, split the PDF’s!! You can export it to email, dropbox or another app like iCab. In case you are wondering, iCab allows you to upload your documents to a website using the “upload” option. You have to put the document you want to load into the iCab app first, but that is not hard. If you are in your email, push and hold on the document until the options appear for the apps to export it to and select iCab.

Ok, so let’s think about uses for your real estate business! What if a client sends you a large document and you only need the disclosures or a few pages to send separate? Pull the document into GoodNotes and then click on the boxes at the top left and then click the “edit” and select the pages you want to send, export, copy or print. What if you wanted to create a flyer? Add pictures, text and shapes to a blank document and then send it out to someone! What if you go to a training class and need a place to take notes? Start taking your notes, add a drawing, take a picture of something on the slide and keep all of that in one place!!

I’m not gaining anything nor am I a paid advertiser for this app, but it is a really great tool that I recommend for your business. Get organized and let me know how you use this app!

Find me on the web at SearchTulsaHouses.com or email at Carolynt@kw.com or call/text at 918-951-9020.