Happy 4th of July!

Notable births, deaths, events, and other random things that have occurred on this very historic day:

  • July 4th is the 185th calendar day in every year – we have 180 days left – weird
  • In 1827, slavery was abolished in New York State
  • In 1845, henry David Thoreau left for his 2 year journey into the wildnerness
  • In 1886, the French offer the United States the Statue of Liberty
  • Ulyssess S. Grant birthday
  • Ann Landers’ birthday
  • George Steinbrenner’s birthday
  • Malia Ann Obama (President Obama’s eldest daughter) celebrates her birthday
  • Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe both passed away on this day
  • Joseph Goddard was born on this day – check out his blog in my links on the right side of the page

I am sure many other great things have happened on arguably the most badass holiday of the year. Post comments to anything you think should have made this list.

 

Have a great 4th of July Weekend!

 

See you all next week,

Sam Sawyer

Kap-pow!$!$!

How many of you out there have ever thought about inventing some sort of product? With Billy Mays passing away the other day, I figured a blog entry about little gimmicky products that make millions on infomericals could be appropriate for today’s blog entry.

Another reason I wanted to share my thoughts with you today about inventions comes from the fact that I have “invented” a product. I didn’t actually take the product all the way to the marketing/production stage, but I did apply for and receive a provisional patent 2 years ago. Some of my close friends and family know about this product which was dubbed “The Snooze Butler”. The Snooze Butler was essentially an alarm clock on steroids – if you are actually interested in hearing about the idea, please just send me an e-mail.

After going through this very tough, intricate, and confusing patenting process, I now have an utmost respect for the people who come up with the products that actually make it wall the way to QVC or other home shopping networks. You may think “oh who would ever buy that stupid Shamwow!?!? or why the hell do I need a little onion chopper?”, but contrary to what you may assume, these people are making some serious money with these gimmicky ideas. Since this time in my life, I constantly think about ideas and inventions. Instead of getting excited at what I sometimes think is the next thing that will make a quick million, I sit down and do considerable research on the internet (b/c unless the product is truly visionary or extremely unique, I have found that someone out there in our universe has thought of something similar to your idea). This is the reason only a select number of people in our society make millions of dollars off of product inventions!

 

I love sitting around and brainstorming with people about what the next “big thing” is going to be. Shoot me your ideas about a business model or a product invention, I would love to hear about it!

Live. Learn. Improve.

My blog post today has nothing to do with real estate or technology. It simply has to do with a little slogan that can be applied to all areas of a person’s life: “Live. Learn. Improve.”  These 3 words are so simple, but I feel like the short slogan can keep you focused when times are good or bad. As any person who has not been living in a cave or in the middle of the woods knows, the United States economy is in one of the worst periods in our country’s history. Many people are facing some tough times right now, and the faint of heart and mind  in today’s business market may not surive this recession(financially). I strongly believe that the people who take this time to learn about new things in their field or the people who try new ways to implement a new business practice will be riding high when the recession tides flow back to sea.

Voids and inefficiencies in all markets also become transparent at such a trying time in any industry. This period is also a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop new business practices and models that will be the future of our country’s business landscape.

In my opinion, this period is also a great time to invest in the stock market. If you have some time to save and invest money before you retire, you should see some great things happen over the next decade or so in long term investments. The United States may be tested and taken down at times, but we still are the most dominant superpower in the world – I feel like some people forget that sometimes.

I wake up everyday open to meeting new people and searching for new opportunites. You must live your life at 100%, learn from your actions and the actions of other people who influence you, then IMPROVE. If you “f*ck up” sometimes, you just need to roll with the punches and bounce back. It is very unlikely to succeed on the first try every time. Some of the greatest leaders in our country today would be nobodies if they had not learned from their initial defeat.

Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express, would not be who he is today had he had not learned from being defeated. Being a native Memphian, the story of Fred Smith has been ingrained in my mind my entire life. For those who have not heard about the remarkable story of Fred Smith, please continue reading.

Mr. Smith was asked to write a paper in an upper level economics class at Yale University. The assignment dealt with coming up with a new idea for a business. Smith outlined his idea for FedEx as a overnight package delivery service in this assignment. Mr. Smith received a C on the paper. As you well know, a C is “just getting by”. Mr. Smith was not slowed by this below average grade.

In 1970, Smith purchased the controlling interest in an aircraft maintenance company, Ark Aviation Sales, and by 1971 turned its focus to trading used jets. On June 18, 1971, Smith founded Federal Express.  In 1973, the company began offering service to 25 cities, and it began with small packages and documents and a fleet of 14 Falcon 20 (DA-20) jets. His focus was on developing an integrated air-ground system, which had never been done before. Smith based his development of  FedEx on the business idea of a shipment version of a bank clearing house where one bank clearing house was located in the middle of the representative banks and all their representatives(the packages) would be sent to the central location(the sorting hubs and airports) to exchange materials.

Mr. Smith is a prime example of the Live. Learn. Improve. lifestyle. “Live. Learn. Improve.” can be applied to all area’s of one life, it is not limited to strictly business practices. So next time you are down in the dumps or riding sky high, remember – there is always a time and a place to Live your life. Learn something new about yourself. Improve your business or lifestyle.

Have a good weekend.

Sam

The Up and Coming Game Changer

With the new iPhone 3g S set to debut on Friday, I figured it was appropriate to blog about an iPhone app that is laying down some serious treads in the real estate world. Trulia.com  – a real estate search database – has developed an iPhone app that many of you may have probably used before when searching for homes in your area (if not, search for the Trulia app in the App store). The GPS capabilities of the iPhone device coupled with the search methods developed by Trulia and implemented in the Trulia application allow users to drive down a street and get up to the minute data on a property that is for sale. The GPS enabled iPhone pinpoints your exact location then syncs with active listings on Trulia.com. The result is an at your fingertips, up to the minute description of houses for sale on your exact block and around your neighborhood.

The days of people cracking open the Sunday real estate section are slowly becoming a past time. I have noticed at my Open Houses that potential clients will show up with some info on the house that they printed off the INTERNET (they are not showing up with a newspaper and highlighter and their hand). I would be willing to bet that most of you reading this blog post, no matter what age you are, have started a search for real estate on the Internet before you consulted a local newspaper. People my age may check out apartments, people a few years older may be checking a starter home neighborhood with some promise for a good return, and other older readers who have purchased multiple properties most likely check out million dollar properties or vacation homes on line.

In my opinion, Trulia is one of most user-friendly, practical real apps for the everyday person checking out some houses in your neighborhood. You can get a good idea of PRICES in your area with this app, but I would suggest consulting your local agent to get a more informative CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) if you are considering putting your house on the market.

 

Good friends make great memories…

             After some reflection about my time at SMU, I can honestly say that the greatest thing I gained at SMU were great friends. Some people may take great friends and people for granted, but the people I have met at SMU will be some of my greatest friends for life.  Although SMU is situated in the heart of Texas, I have friends from all over the country and even some friends from other countries. A lot of people do not like to venture out of their comfort zone when leaving high school. I came to SMU in 2005 with 3 other close friends from Memphis, TN. We are still great friends today, and  all 4 of us have made some great friends and connections while attending SMU. One of my buddies, Andrew Robinson, has accepted a job with KPMG that starts in October. My other 2 good friends, Richard White and Josh Hall, will both be attending the graduate program in accounting at the Cox School of Business.

Since graduating, a lot of my good friends have ventured to other places besides Dallas. Some have accepted some awesome jobs in this tough economy, some will be attending business grad school, other will be going to law school, and some people are still trying to figure out what they are going to do. I am very proud to have such great friends and connections, and I have no doubt that a lot of these people will make a great impact on a local and national level.

A little personal motto of mine is : ” It is the people, not a place or any special event, that can make something truly memorable”. I hope you all are as blessed as I am to have such great friends. I encourage to keep in touch with old friends and make new friends everyday. No matter what happens in life, your friends will be there the whole way to see you through it.

“The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.” – Ralph Waldo emerson

Technology Tutor

I am using this blog post today to announce a new private tutoring service I am going to begin offering. I have not hammered down a name for my service yet (please post any ideas you may have), but I have put together a small business plan. I am going to offer a tutoring service aimed at older professionals and older people in general who do not pick up on things such as FaceBook, Twitter, blogging, or simply uploading some songs onto an iPod. People my age take these things for granted, but I feel there is a serious need to catch older people up to speed on the all of the technolgy that has developed in just the past couple of years!

People do not need to be embarassed that they do not even begin to understand the practicality of Facebook.com or how to upload some photos from a digital camera to their computer. They simply need an avenue to get all of their technological questions answered.

I have always been a huge technology dork – I think I was the first one of my friends to have a cell phone ( maybe 7th grade?). I love the Internet, and I have been an avid user of every cutting edge application that hits the web. I used to sell items on Ebay.com starting in the 6th grade. I am on Facebook; I use Twitter; I sell things on Craigslist; I love iTunes; I use Gmail; I have an iPhone and I use the applications  – all of these topics are things that every person can benefit from using whether it is in your personal or professional life. I am going to outline the rough business plan I have devised in a moment. I welcome feedback and comments on additional topics I should offer for my clients in the tech tutoring world. If there is something you struggle with that I have not listed , just let me know! I will add it to the list because if one person has a problem with one piece of technology there are bound to be others.

 

Social Networking Platforms

-          www.FaceBook.com

-          www.Twitter.com

-          www.LinkedIn.com

 

Cell Phone Tips/Advice

-          iPhone and BlackBerry tutoring

-          iPhone and BlackBerry application tutoring

-          Text messaging

-          Setting up and using e-mail from your phone

Blogging

-          Creating a blog for personal or business use

Real Estate Specific Web-Based Applications

-          www.ZingDing.com

-          www.Postlets.com

 Other computer skills

-          Uploading/sharing photos from your digital camera

-          Loading songs onto your iPod

-          General information about iTunes

-          Setting up an e-mail account on sites such as Gmail or other popular sites

  Other Web-Based Applications

-          www.Ebay.com

-          www.Craigslist.com

How many ways can we say “Hello” ?!?

How many ways can we say “Hello”!?

 My magic number is 7. Off the top of my head, I can think of 7 different ways I can contact anyone I need, anywhere in the world at this very moment.

1.  Facebook

2.  LinkedIn

3.  Twitter (samhuttonsawyer) – www.twitter.com/samhuttonsawyer

4.  A simple phone call

5.  G Chat

6.  E-mail

7.  Text message

 

15 years ago one could communicate with a landline telephone (what the hell is that?) or by sending someone a letter in the mail (weird). Now, we have uber amounts of communication pathways making people more and more impersonal with our communication methods.

 Facebook is a household name. If you are not on it, you certainly know someone who is logged in right now. What started as a side project at Harvard University, has become the most popular social networking sight in the entire world! I can remember growing up on AOL instant messenger. My friends and I, as I am sure millions of kids my age around the country, would log in every night to chat with buddies and girlfriends over the net. AOL’s core concept of instant messaging is one of numerous  features available on www.facebook.com

What started as a rite of passage for only college students, has now become a social networking mecca for anyone and everyone that wants to log in to the site. Facebook is much more organized and easy to navigate, which in my opinion, has propelled it past its arch rival , myspace.com. The fastest growing demographic on FaceBook is currently users over the age of 35!

 In today’s world, I wake up next to my iPhone with my work e-mails, check my text messages from the night before, text message friends throughout the day, chat on Facebook, exchange e-mails, and maybe just maybe pick up a landline to make some business calls.

I cannot predict the future, but I cannot even begin to imagine the ways we will communicate with one another 10 years from now?? Please post comments on any ideas or thoughts you may have about future communication, or if you use a communication method frequently that I did not mention in this little blurb.

Open House

I am hosting an open house from 1-3 PM tomorrow afternoon at my listing at 5516 Ellsworth! I hope to see you there.

Recent news article that appeared in Daily Mustang Online Edition!

http://www.smudailymustang.com/?p=12911

Great article about Twitter and its use by college students. Check it out!

ZingDing Tour for 5516 Ellsworth

Check out this great 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom Tudor in the M Streets area between North Central and Greenville at 5516 Ellsworth.

http://www.zingding.com/394752

This house is listed a very competitively at $439,000 – please e-mail me for a tour (ssawyer@rogershealy.com)

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