As a native Californian I’m not really used to the traditional winter. Yet, earlier this month we took a trip up to Anchorage and survived the bitter cold. We were even “snowed in” and couldn’t leave the house one day. One activity that is much more common up there is having fun with a snow machine. I rode a smaller version for the first time. Here is a video of my brother-in-law in Alaska at Lost Lake being a bit more adventurous.

Today Apple announced their new iPad (a third category of mobile device with the other two being phones and laptops). I my initial reaction was that this could be a really interesting advancement for sales people of all kinds but especially the Realtor.

They have already created an updated version of Keynote for the iPad but you could also use digital reports such as those from Cloud CMA in customer presentations (listing or sales). But what if we took it a step further… What if you handed the device to your client and while you drove they could be exploring the next property, comparable sales, or even school district data on their own terms. Would that improve the customer experience? Would that speed up the decision making process?

Another likely scenario would allow for the review and execution of documents in the field in a digital format. An elegant device that is easy to read and use might be appreciated (especially with aging baby-boomers who might need digital magnification of the fine print).

The implementations of MLS information, workflow improvements, and connectivity solutions for mobile devices has not yet met my expectations. Maybe with a new category of mobile device that will start to change. Time will tell.

I have a lot of content to share with everyone…but instead of trying to write a bunch of articles to end 2009 I have decided to head in a different direction. I’m taking a digital holiday. I plan to blog less, tweet less, check e-mail less, and read less aggregated news. Even my new Google Wave account is going to have to wait.

It can be exhausting to maintain personal and corporate brands in the new media space. Frankly, I need a break and I’m giving myself permission to take the rest of December off. I plan to return in 2010 refreshed and engage once again. Until then, I hope that you too will find ways to enjoy the precious moments that we have with friends, family, and perfect strangers. The main thing that I want to learn from this holiday is how better to say “thank you”. I’ve realized that I have not said it enough in the past (and when I did I didn’t always truly mean it).

Cherry Republic said that their favorite photographer is Paul Mobley.

He will be back in the region for a book signing.  The event is at 7 pm on Friday, November 20, 2009 at Brilliant Books in Suttons Bay.  Cherry Republic will be there serving tasty little cherry tidbits during the signing. Paul spoke yesterday in San Antonio, TX about his book.  He also recently did a photo shoot of Willie Nelson while he was down there as well.

305 St Joseph Street, Suttons Bay, MI 49682  |  231-271-READ (7323)

COSTA MESA – Rhonda Rohrabacher from Huntington Beach will be our guest speaker today, November 17 at MOTM in Orange County. Rhonda is the Director of Internet Strategy and Interaction Design for Congressman Rohrabacher (CA-46) and uses technology to shake things up in the political world and beyond.

The topic for conversation will be how technology has changed the political landscape and how the lessons learned impact strategy, marketing, and communications in all industries. With the convergence of political data and ubiquitous crowd sourcing in the real time world we now live in it is critical to have engaging interactive design and a consistent communications strategy. Rhonda has been a catalyst for change in the political world and we look forward to having her as our speaker.

Rhonda Rohrabacher is focused on the current “Government 2.0″ convergence of political, tech, and art worlds. She lives, eats, and breathes technology and spends her free time tracking latest tech trends and apps that are constantly emerging. She is keenly interested in using this technology to shake things up in political world and beyond. Rhonda is lifelong surfer and mother of five year old triplets.

Inspired by President Ronald Reagan, Rhonda has been running political campaigns since she was a teenager. She managed dozens of political campaigns and grassroots operations in Orange County in the 1990′s.

After studying German in Austria in 1999 she developed a love for electronic music and the new medium of mixing visuals with beats. Ultimately she became a club DJ and VJ with residencies at clubs on both East and West Coast as well as guest gigs in clubs in Moscow, Beijing, Dubrovnik, Manila, and Dubai.

From 2000-2002 she was a columnist/blogger for United Press International and wrote underground travel guides for dozens of cities around the world, as well as tech reviews, video game and electronic music reviews, and the convergence of the colliding tech worlds that began to emerge in the early 2000′s.

In 2003 while pregnant with triplets Rhonda set up the OC grassroots operations for Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s successful bid for Governor of California. Six months later, in 2004 Primary she ran Dana Rohrabacher’s re-election campaign, while on pregnancy bedrest for five months, and gave birth to triplets one month after he won the primary.

While raising newborn triplets, Rhonda became active in web design/development and rebuilt her husband’s campaign website from scratch. Running political campaigns morphed into online political strategy and handling her husband’s new media communications, internet strategy, interaction design and consulting for other political campaigns.

She and her partners are currently deploying startups (Informed Patriots and Patriot Tools) which design and develop interactive sites and apps for political campaigns. Current projects include: Revamp of OC Republican Party website, OC Tea Party, Save Voter Choice, and other grassroots initiatives. Her other projects are: Grafika Kolektiv, Rootless Cosmopolitan, and Shtetl Projekt.

This is sure to be an engaging evening as Orange County leaders gather at the Center Club in Costa Mesa at 7pm. The meeting will include hors devours and valet parking. Free to attend*.

*RSVP required.

If you think that you should be on the guest list and have not confirmed either use the link you received online or you MUST CALL 800.717.8591 x76 to confirm in advance.

IF NO ONE ANSWERS LEAVE A MESSAGE AND THEN WAIT FOR CONFIRMATION BEFORE COMING TO THE CLUB. WE’RE NOT TRYING TO BE A JERK ABOUT IT BUT WITH A VIP SPEAKER AND A PRIVATE CLUB WE DON’T WANT TO WASTE YOUR TIME BY HAVING YOU COME AND BE TURNED AWAY.

The good news is that even if you can’t come, or are not invited, The Bui Brothers, will be on site and providing an inside look with photography to be published by the end of the week. (Link to be published at: paulmobley.com)

Business Week has selected CitySourced as on of the 25 most interesting companies. The article was just published online and will be included in the Nov 16 issue. This is a really nice validation of their innovative business model that was introduced to the world at TechCrunch50 in September. Regular readers already know about Kurt Daradics and his company but if not read some of the previous articles that I’ve written. I love the fact that I was writing about CitySourced before Business Week (but they are better writers).

[UPDATE 11.17.2009 - My information was incorrect. This is an online article only. I did not see it in the print version (unless I'm blind, stupid, or both).]

The National Association of Realtors has taken a major step towards a property centric MLS. The Realtor Property Resource (RPR) is not intended to become a national MLS system but it has the potential to provide vast amounts of property centric data. This is big news that has not yet been covered by the major press or tech news. Yet, this has the potential to be a GAME CHANGER in online real estate. So far the best information has come from blogs like 1000watt, Agent Genius, MLS Tesserat, and The Notorious R.O.B. and for real-time comments see #RPR.

To discover the what and why I went to the source and found some documentation by NAR leadership:

The Opportunity: Collectively Realtors® know more than anyone else about individual properties, communities, local trends, regulations, and other factors related to local real estate. If this collective knowledge (sometimes called “the wisdom of crowds”) could be organized and archived in a single industry sponsored and operated database, Realtors® could share their expertise and leverage their collective experience to provide broader, deeper, and more timely and accurate information to their customers.

The Solution: Creating a property or parcel centric national library or archive that has robust and useful information on virtually every property in the US.

Source: NAR Whitepaper (May 2008)

According to one of my sources, the NAR09 Conference next week is going to be the “first and best place for RPR related information”. I’m trying to find as much information as I can as soon as possible. This is supposed to be a major value proposition for brokers that is “industry-friendly” allowing us to be a reliable and “trusted advisor”. To date millions of dollars in Realtor dues have been spent on this initiative and it has now finally being unveiled. Time will tell if it was money well spent.

While the specifics are vague, I believe that RPR has the potential to be a very important development in real estate. At a minimum, it is moving us towards better, more accessible, data on all real estate properties (not just those currently for sale or lease). It should, in theory, make life better for the consumer. However, before we get there we’re going to have to deal with a lot of growing pains.

The Web 2.0 world has released a surge of content and challenged the status quo. Yet an increase in quantity doesn’t automatically equate with quality. Just because the barriers to entry have been lowered for journalism, graphic design, copy writing, photography, and songwriting it does not mean that we now have better news, better design, better writing, better photography, and better songs. On the contrary, generally it’s worse!

Crowd sourcing is all the rage right now for tech companies. An army of free workers providing lots of content seems like an attractive business model. On the flip side, there are plenty of case studies of bloated content companies, like newspapers and record labels, that are having difficulty adapting. Does this mean that commercial enterprises should not be paying for the content that produces their revenue? Do newmedia companies have the magic formula for making money for nothing?

Path forward I believe that viable companies will take a hybrid approach. There will be much more content but the stuff that is valuable will not be free. They will have to pay for it in some way. Writers will be paid for their contributions. Songwriters will receive royalties for their music. The pricing and revenue sharing models will be adjusted because long-term paying for quality will result in a better customer experience.

Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo.com, reported today that they paid 100 writers $40,000 in October. He understands that quality content and an engaging customer experience will make them successful long-term. With so much bad content out there it is nice to see that some people still value the good stuff enough to pay for it.

COSTA MESA – For several years now, the place to be once a month on Tuesday nights was at Meeting of the Minds (MOTM) in Westlake Village. Kurt Daradics and Baron Miller created something special that, at it’s core, could be summarized as starting a conversation. In this context many collaborations, innovations, and relationships have developed. People were attracted to MOTM from as far away as San Diego and the Silicon Valley (with the occasional out of state guest). The biggest complaint has been the distance for those people who live and work in Orange County, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

On Tuesday, October 13, a new conversation began in the OC with twenty-two distinguished guests who met at the Center Club (a prestigious private city club for Orange County’s social and corporate leaders). In a reversal of roles Kurt Daradics was the speaker and was interviewed by Baron Miller and Paul Mobley. Kurt shared with the group about his entrepreneurial adventure with CitySourced powered by FreedomSpeaks that was introduced to the world at TechCrunch50 in September.

The caliber of folks that showed up that at the inaugural event clearly demonstrated that MOTM OC is going be the premier high tech networking event in Orange County. We were especially honored to have Rhonda Rohrabacher, wife of US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, contributing to the conversation. Plus the venue at the Center Club is sublime and located in the heart of Orange County at the steps of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

We invite you to join the conversation. The next MOTM OC is Tuesday November 10th, so stay tuned for more details.

CitySourced was selected as one of the top three concepts at TechCrunch50 2009. While they didn’t receive the top prize (a check for $50,000) they did make a big splash at an event with lots of noteworthy tech innovators. Both the judges and the press loved the concept (including CNET). Keep your eye out for CitySourced to show up in the iPhone App store soon.

Check out the presentation on UStream

Jason Kiesel & Kurt Daradics (center) - Photo by Chanaye Thomas

Publishers Weekly, the leading magazine on the American book business, predicted another big hit this fall from the makers of American Farmer. The new offering by Welcome Books is Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town. This oversized hardcover by photographer Douglas Gayeton is a tribute to rural Italian life and charming local characters whose livelihoods and shared culture center on the growing, preparing, eating, and everyday pleasures of food.

Lynn Andriani, the columnist for Publishers Weekly, reported today that the slow food book has already gone back for a second printing bringing the total to 25,000 copies (which is impressive since the book won’t be released until next month). Lynn issued a “sleeper alert” encouraging the publishing world to sit up and take notice.

Welcome Book’s publisher Lena Tabori has continued the a tradition of complex, fascinating books with human truths at their heart. Books that tell the truth, speak with integrity and come from passion. American Farmer by photographer Paul Mobley was a perfect example of of this type of passion and you can expect Slow to keep the tradition alive.

Social media, outsourcing, and other new tactics have been described within the real estate industry as proof of a major change in the business. People talk about them as the magic bullets for an industry that is in crisis.

Most people will agree that the real estate industry in 2009 is in crisis. However, I don’t believe that it is because of short-sales, foreclosures, or the mess in the financial industry. It is my thesis that the real estate industry is in a crisis of identity. Realtors don’t know what role they are supposed to play in this new world so they search for answers to explain why things are not working like they did ten years ago.

A recent study by the California Association of Realtors said that people are using the internet to research properties for 8-12 weeks BEFORE they contacted a Realtor. This new behavior lends itself to some of the methods used in social media and outsourcing but it doesn’t answer the question of why.

I believe that Realtors are no longer the gatekeepers of information and that we can either fight against this shift or adapt to it and benefit from it. To adapt to a changing industry, Realtors will be expected to become local leaders and aggregators of useful information. A greater percentage of the work will fall into these two areas with the individual transactions becoming a much smaller aspect of the business.

Tomorrow, August 25, 2009, Matt Brouwers’ new record Where’s Our Revolution will be released by Universal / Indie Extreme. Since I’ve been friends with Matt for over a decade I’ll acknowledge my bias and leave the review to some else.

When I first listened to the record about nine months ago I was really impressed. I knew that it was really well produced and then I found out why… it was produced by Grammy award-winning producer, Michael Omartian. There were at least three radio singles that I noticed including: Please Say, Beautiful Now, and Sometimes. Have you heard them on the radio yet? Sometimes is the official single but Beautiful Now has also started to make movement on the charts.

At this point, you’re wondering why does the title of this article pit Matt Brouwer vs. Coldplay? The reason is that a recent AC Music Research study did just that. The test looked at 30 singles by different artists including Matt Brouwer, Pink, Coldplay, Shakira, and Green Day. The research looks at objective test data that’s both demographic (appropriate age range) and psychographic (targeted to those adults prefer to listen to adult contemporary radio).

Out of thirty singles, including Sometimes by Matt Brouwer, only two were recommended to be added to the radio station playlists. The two were Matt’s single Sometimes and Pink’s single Please Don’t Leave Me. This means that Matt’s song BEAT Life in Technicolor by Coldplay and a bunch of other proposed singles.

(Source: The Adult Contemporary Music Research Letter dated August 3, 2009, Vol. 26. No. 11)

If you haven’t heard the single yet you can buy Sometimes (Radio Edit) today on iTunes for $0.99. Or even better, call your local A/C radio station and ask them to play the song!

Tomorrow you can buy the full-length album at your favorite place to buy music. If they don’t have it yet don’t leave until you ask the manager to order it. Mention that you heard the single and you would have purchased it from them if it was available. Tell the manager that you don’t want to special order it but that they should carry it in-stock. Then you too will know what it feels like to be one of the first to know about a record that is likely to go Platinum.

It is clear to me that the next big trend is to use the internet as a way to leverage community and re-establish accountability. It’s both a beautiful and scary time because the traditional definitions of community have changed. The problem is that most people online are involved only in quasi-community and they seldom build real relationships with the people in their lives.

We are more accessible due to technology but often less real. Living on he west coast I have found myself falling into this trap. I’ve been focused on what is important to me and sometimes forget to stop and have a conversation with someone without an agenda. Willing to listen. Open to new ideas. Able to change. Engaged in the moment.

In a world where people have been taught not to trust each other… where it’s just as easy to create a fake world that is built on lies so you can take and never give back… you can obtain a distinctive brand and corporate good will from talking the hard road. By admitting when you’re wrong or when you don’t know enough. By saying, I’m sorry and actually meaning it.

We forget that corporations and movements are made up of people. In a world where employees are doing the wrong thing in the name of ‘corporate policies’ it is important to ask, why? If you were held personally responsible for your actions would you still act in the same way?

It used to be much harder to obtain limited-liability protection. Today, it just requires filing a few forms, paying some fees, and maybe using an attorney. Maybe that should change. Maybe we should revoke corporate charters if they don’t act in the public good. Maybe we shouldn’t bail out corporations who took big risks, but because they are so large, have no accountability.

When people used to look their customers in the face, and knew their names, it was much harder to take advantage of them. If you did, they would tell their friends in the community and your available customer base would decrease. We should do that again.Technology can be used as a tool to make our world more transparent, and therefore, a better place to live.

I am blessed to work along side a few of the many people who are helping to redevelop community. People like:

• Kurt Daradics at FreedomSpeaks.com :: Their goal is to facilitate transparency in our government by empowering the community to hold elected officials accountable for their actions.
• Paul Mobley (NYC) of American Farmer :: By documenting the hard working Americans who keep our country feed and reconnecting urban society with powerful images and stories of real people.
• Dane Sanders of Fast Track Photographer :: Who is leading a group of photographers, not by showing them the latest tricks with the camera, but rather by helping them identify their true potential as people with resources such as the pDNA.

All three of these people have one thing in common. When they identified a way that they could make a positive impact, then they cast aside the fear, and took action. None of these stories was accomplished by them alone. If they had not been supported along the way and encouraged to continue you would never know their story. They found great people to partner with and created excitement about their vision, not themselves.

I’m taking action in community redevelopment. Are you?

I’m glad open-source technology exists to help shape our future. If not…

Thanks to everyone who took the time to check out the Pinkberry challenge and provide feedback online and off. There were a lot of professionals who were unable to participate due to their production schedules (which I understand). However, I think that some others were scared to show how they do their magic (which is a little short-sighted).

Danny Kern provided me with the most detailed description of his process and the best resulting image. He is a photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area and is very knowledgeable about post production work. Check out his comment on the original post to see how he went about getting the best out of the raw image. P.S. Don’t forget to call him when you need professional photography in the Bay Area. Not only is he a very talented photographer… but he is also a really nice guy. Thanks Danny!

PROCESSED BY DANNY KERN

UNTOUCHED CANON G10 IMAGE

Derek Sivers, the head of CD Baby, said, “It’s so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. (People who want me to sign an nda to tell me the simplest idea). To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.”

The book Getting Real gives a wonderful description of the value of an idea. Unless you execute on that idea the value of your idea is basically worthless!

Just like real estate, the way a property is developed determines it’s value, and those that can see the highest-and-best use usually win.

Value, and thereby profit, comes from the multiplier effect between the IDEAS and ACTION. Basically, if you’re not taking action then your idea is worthless!

The little that I know about photography is that you’re goal is to capture good light in a way that tells a great story.

As mentioned in the previous post I purchased a Canon G10. This camera has got me excited again about photography because it’s basically a professional’s point-an-shoot. David Studarus recommended that I buy it and I’ve liked it so much that I also bought a second one as a gift.

Here is the problem… Now that I have great high-resolution images I don’t know what to do with them in post (i.e. photoshop, lightroom, etc) to make them look their best. Without the ‘processing’ step I’m missing out on the best representation of the story.

Here is the challenge to all you pros… The raw image of Pinkberry at The District in Tustin, CA is here. Download it and show me how you would make it look and give me a brief description of what you did in your workflow. You have my permission to post your results on your own blogs, websites, or forums but I just ask that you link back to this original post and tell me when it’s been done. If you have photoshop actions or something that you sell go ahead and mention that too.

This is your opportunity to expose an entirely different audience to portion of your workflow. Hopefully you’ll all get some additional work or sales out of it but at a minimum you’ll be teaching someone who is interested and willing to learn.

Next weekend, August 15-16, 2009, I’ll chose my favorite version and post the results here at paulmobley.com

Thanks in advance… and have fun.

Photo: © 2009 Paul Mobley, MBA in Orange County, California

This post is dedicated to [b]ecker and all of the other great photographers who always out play me in Texas Hold’em. The short list also includes: Jessica Claire, Mike Colon, Dane Sanders, and many more.

Paul Mobley had the cover image and a feature article in Rangefinder Magazine in July 2009. How do you like them apples?

You thought I was just a business guy, right? Amazing what you can do with the new Canon G10. I’m going to steal all your booked gigs for 2010 by under-cutting your price!

You don’t believe me do you. You’re right I don’t have the cover image but my namesake in New York City does. We were talking about the accomplishment and I was trying to get something that I could use to brag about him. Yet, the only thing that he wanted to talk about was his subject. I think it’s great when you guys focus on the people in front of the camera instead of behind. In my opinion, that is often one thing that is common between all of you… but doesn’t get talked about much in the books, blogs, or seminars.

Paul Mobley from New York, NY told me, “The guy is a Texas farmer who just turned 100. He works everyday. One of the most delightful subjects on my American Farmer journey. His name is Catarino Romero, from Mineral Texas. He’s been married 80 years!”

Paul was nice enough to send over an extra image of Catarino and his wife. (A paulmobley dot com exclusive).

For all of the professional photographers and the amateurs like me it’s a good reminder that what is important is the people in our lives. Even if we only meet them for a few minutes they have a story to tell and it is the photographers responsibility, no mandate, to tell it with respect.

David Studarus and I went out a week ago Friday to get some images for the Live Near The Beach and Live Near Work brands. The light wasn’t very good that day but we did happen upon the US Open of Surfing with some really nice waves. Then we went back down PCH and up Newport Blvd to Irvine. Before the day ended David met my son Jude. This was a fun day of work!

What if you were given the opportunity to have lunch with Seth Godin or Donald Trump but you could only pick one. Who would you dine with? Would the choice change if you were paid $5,000 to sit down with Donald but it would cost you $5,000 with Seth?

If given that choice I would chose Seth gladly paying the $5,000.

Why would I make that illogical choice when I could have been PAID $5,000 to have lunch with Donald Trump? Because it’s not about them it’s about me.

I would chose Seth Godin because he has had a bigger impact on me and my business. In my opinion, he is also more humble and approachable. I believe that I can become like Seth but it would be very hard to replicate the same business playbook as Donald Trump. I can start a website that makes money by connecting people. I can’t, and don’t want to, build a 50 story skyscraper in the OC and call it Mobley Tower. I think that best way to make your first billion today is different than when Trump did it. Maybe that belief comes from the fact that I’ve done experiments with Seth’s teachings but I don’t have a lab that would work for doing trial and error in major real estate development projects (once again all about me). I can have a feature page on Squidoo but becoming the next “The Apprentice” isn’t high on my priority list.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a bash Trump and praise Godin post. They have written two of my favorite books (All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World & Trump: The Art of the Deal). The both are successful entrepreneurs and I’d like to meet them both in person some day. I’ve learned a lot from both of them and I will continue to in the future. The same decision might be different for you and that’s o.k. because when it’s your choice it’s all about you.