Learn how Successful Women put Personality into Business

Does your business reflect your personality? My business, Real Living, does—it’s spunky, like me! And it is part of a new eBook that was recently released, called The Personality Project: “Women of Personality”. This free eBook, by Rohit Bhatgava, author of Personality Not Included, features 20 women who have successfully melted their personalities into their businesses.

Find out how they did it by downloading it from the Personality Project Web site.

Bhatgava is currently accepting submissions from women to be part of the second edition, scheduled to launch in early June. To submit yourself or someone you know, send an email to pnibook@gmail.com or post a short introduction to yourself on the wall of the Women of Personality Facebook Group.

Incorporating Your Vision into Your Marketing

When creating your company’s brand, you’ll need a vision statement. Some people get this confused with a marketing position statement. To explain, your marketing is external; your vision is an internal message.

Your vision statement works as your game plan. It lets your employees know where you are headed. In the vision statement, highlight what direction you plan take the company in—its future. When everybody is on the same page, it’s much easier to move the company forward.

For instance, at Real Living we started with what I call essence words. We chose three, and I recommend you do the same. We’re all about family, innovation and results. So, we incorporated those three words into our vision statement: To become the nation’s leading entrepreneurial, agent-centric, consumer-focused network of real estate professionals built on family, innovation and results.

From our initial planning meetings to today, our vision statement allows us to share our vision with everyone, and sharing our vision with consumers was done through our marketing plan.

Creating a vision statement takes time. Don’t get frustrated. Just take the time to sit down and really think about what you want your company to be in the future. Focus your thoughts. Try creating a brand board and filling out at Real You chart to help find the heart of your company.

Share your brand boards with us!

Hard Work Does Pay Off

I have some great news to share. I was recently awarded the 2008 Stevie Award for Women in Business in the category for Best Entrepreneur.

Thanks to my amazing team at Real Living and all of our phenomenal agents and franchisees who continue to grow our brand throughout the country. Without your dedication and passion, this would not have been possible.

Remember that you can make your dreams a reality. With vision, steadfast determination and a great support system, you can achieve anything!

The real world is online

Your goal should be to grow closer to your female customer, to know what she likes and what product or service you can offer her to make her life easier. Now take that a step further and determine how you can delight her online. So, imagine a day in her life. From start to finish, what does she do, and what does she need to accomplish her daily tasks? Find out where she’s going online—and be there. What does she read online? Where does she spend her time? But perhaps most important, subscribe to blogs and e-newsletters within your industry, and keep current with what’s out there. Things are moving fast, and you and your business need to be a part of it in order to meet her needs.

At Real Living, we developed a series of quizzes for customers to discover their decorating style, housing types and more. We did this to make life easier for women who are searching for a home. The process of choosing a house can be daunting. By providing her with the tools she needs to simplify the process—like a consumer portal where she can organize, personalize, save and share her favorites properties with friends and families—we’ve helped her accomplish one of her tasks—and best of all, we’ve done it online. You, too, can bring this concept to your business. The real world is online. Be there. That’s where you’ll find your customers.

In addition to meeting customers online at RealLiving.com, we’ve created a forum of women entrepreneurs online as well. Learn what other women are saying and doing online, and share your story!

The Power of the Purse in Real Estate

Real Living has been marketing to women for 7 years now! In fact, Real Living was the first women-focused brand in real estate. Why market to women?

• Women make or influence 91% of all home buying decisions.
• Women guide 94% of all home-furnishing purchases.
• Two-thirds of real estate agents are women.
• 78% of engaged women say that while they already have furniture, they’ll replace most or all of it when they marry.

This being said, I presented at the national Marketing to Women (M2W) conference in May about the tremendous purchasing power women hold in this country, but more specifically in real estate. It was a great learning experience! The M2W conference attracts brands from across the country that understand the influence women have as consumers.

M2W asked Real Living to put together a video highlighting more great statistics on the purchasing power of women. It’s now featured on the M2W site. Click here to view the video!

Spouse and Business Partner: Making it Work

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. At Real Living, my husband is the CEO, and I’m the president. Being a husband-and-wife team has its ups and downs, but for the most part, it’s a great opportunity. You’re sharing your business success with the same person you plan to spend the rest of your life with.

But the road can be bumpy if you don’t take the time to define your individual roles. Determine from the get-go who has the final say on decisions and who’s responsible for various functions in the company. That’s a must.

Then there’s the issue of financial and emotional risk. When you’re both involved, that obviously increases. But there’s an awesome tradeoff that you simply can’t ignore: When everything is running smoothly, it’s doubly rewarding—and you’ll be able to enjoy that together.

Do you have any great success stories about working with your spouse? We’d love to hear them! For more tips on working with a spouse or business partner check out Life Lesson Five in Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs.

Technorati Profile

If you make your female customers happy, your male customers will be happy, too. We are the demanding ones.

MAKE IT HAPPEN: Schedule a regular time (monthly or quarterly) when you and the members of your team can discuss how to touch base with your customers. During this time, talk about what’s working and what’s not. Consider what you might do differently—or better. Remember, your goal should be to stay one step ahead of her. Now, get moving! You have no time to waste.

TIP IN ACTION: Women are world-class consumers, making or influencing 85 percent of all purchases and 91 percent of home purchases. Given these statistics, don’t women deserve a little attention? In the 1970s, women were purchasing with his money. Today she is purchasing with her money. Knowing that, it’s no surprise that women are dramatically changing how products and services are designed and marketed. Call it what it is: the unstoppable trend of women’s buying power. At Real Living, we created the first residential real estate company built with women in mind, from the logo and font treatment to the consumer-friendly Web site. Look around you. No doubt you’re surrounded by other companies that are following a similar course of action.

Share your best practices for connecting with consumers.

For more on connecting with female consumers, check out Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs.

Jump-start your personal brand today

Whether you like gardening, ballroom dancing, pushing the envelope or flying under the radar, your innermost traits should be exhibited in your own personal brand. This being said, I challenge those of you who haven’t used a glue stick in awhile to create a brand board that displays your personality and passions.

What’s a brand board? It’s a poster board that you transform into a montage of pictures and images that accurately represent your personality. Are you calm and green; fresh and blue; or vibrant and red? My board is predominantly red and full of things that make me happy, like daisies (hence the cover of my book). I also took parts of my personal brand to my business brand. At Real Living, we’re red, round and real. You can read more about that on page 84 of Real You Incorporated.

Grab some magazines and start clipping images that exemplify your personal brand. Put it on paper and display it for the world to see. At my company, we make an effort to post our brand boards in our workspaces.

So put your apprehensions aside and give yourself permission to enjoy some arts and crafts. You may be surprised what you discover about yourself.

Need an example? Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/25342810@N08/ for brand boards that some of our readers have sent in.

If you’ve completed your brand board, share it with others! Send a picture of your board to brandboard@realyouincorporated.com, and we’ll post it on the RYI flickr page.