You've probably heard the saying “new year, new you”, but have you thought about the saying “new year, new yard”? The new year is a great time to take on new projects and to better yourself and space around you. Here are some steps for planning your new yard: Gather Some IdeasThe first step to planning your new yard is to get a good idea of what you want for your space. You can do this by looking around for inspiration. Start with your friends and family; has anyone you know done any lawn makeovers recently? Was there anything specific that you liked or wanted to include in your space? You can also go online to look for inspiration. Look at websites, like Pinterest, and galleries of landscaping companies to pick ideas that you want to include in your space. It is a good idea to keep a compilation of your thoughts and photos or links to things that you may want to add. The more organized you are with this part of the process, the better off you will be when it comes to executing your landscaping. Evaluate Your Wants and NeedsThere are certain things that need to be included in your landscape- space for pets and children to play, adequate lighting, safe walkways, etc. There are also things that you want to be included in your space such as pools, water features, and gazebos. Write a list of all of your needs and a list of all of your reasonable wants, and start planning on what you can reasonably fit into your space. It is important to be practical and to understand that not everything will fit into your yard. You will need to prioritize what you think will most benefit you, your yard, and your family. Once you have a concrete list of what you do and do not want to be included, you can start planning. Look into Local LandscapersOnce you have an idea of what you want for your yard and the different aspects that you want to include, it is time to look for a good landscaper. To do this, it is important to ask around for recommendations and to read online reviews. Reviews are a great way to get honest feedback and first-hand experiences about what people were happy and unhappy with in regards to their landscaping experience. Make sure to look for photos of past projects and to seek out workers with good reputations and beautiful work. The better the company you work with, the better overall experience you will have with creating a new yard for the new year. Build a TimelineNow that you have your ideas, your wants, your needs, and a trusted landscaper to work with, it is time to create a realistic timeline. Some landscaping projects are going to take longer than others. For instance, a pool installation will take much more time than adding some new foliage. Plan your timeline accordingly. If you want to enjoy your brand new patio for the summertime, make sure that you are making the plans to build it in the early months of spring. Having a timeline established will ensure that you get the absolute most out of your backyard remodel. Fill Out Our Vision PlannerWhen you know what you want and when you want it, the next step is to fill out our Vision Planner. Your Vision Planner will help us to understand the details of your project and will help us get an idea of the total price of your remodel. The vision planner tool is thorough and effective and will help us to get on the same page as you so that we can begin your landscape transformation. You can fill out the Vision Planner here. The new year is a time of new beginnings, and your yard should be no exception. 2019 is the year to get the landscape of your dreams, and we are here to help make that happen. If you are interested in learning more or have any questions about our services, please do not hesitate to call us at (440) 543-0500. The post Planning Your Yard for the New Year appeared first on Cleveland Landscaping and Snow Removal.
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Pantone's colour of the year for 2019 is Living CoralIt has been announced 'Living Coral' is the color of the year. This color is vibrant yet warm. It is full of life and energy. Living coral is bright, bold, optimistic and joyful! Coral is the perfect blend of natural beauty and it is one of my personal favorite colors especially in the hot summer months. Living Coral in the HomeThis bright tone might seem like a strange choice for the home but it is a beautiful color. It works beautifully with white and grey, navy blue and metallic tones – it adds a fresh and bold pop to nay room. I personally love it in a bathroom or outside space but my absolute favorite spot for this hue is in a girls bedroom or nursery. I love this color because it is a bit unexpected from the typical pink and I like that it grows nicely with a baby to a teenager. Photo credit: Project Nursery Living Coral in Beauty and FashionI also love coral when it comes to beauty and fashion. It is a beautiful and flattering hue on everyone. It is perfect on toes, fingers, lips and cheeks. It is bright but just a small touch will add so much life to your face. It is my go-to pedi color – I wear it all summer long! A number of years ago, I was a guest at a wedding and coral was the colour of the bridesmaid's dresses and it was such a fresh pop of color in that July wedding. Photo credit: Beauty 411 Shop Living CoralHere are some of my favorite Living Coral pieces for the home but also in fashion and beauty. I think you will find this tone to be very flattering and it will add life to your look (home and fashion).
What do you think of the 2019 color of the year? The post 2019 Color of the year – Living Coral appeared first on interiorsbykiki.com. You've probably heard the saying “new year, new you”, but have you thought about the saying “new year, new yard”? The new year is a great time to take on new projects and to better yourself and space around you. Here are some steps for planning your new yard: Gather Some IdeasThe first step to planning your new yard is to get a good idea of what you want for your space. You can do this by looking around for inspiration. Start with your friends and family; has anyone you know done any lawn makeovers recently? Was there anything specific that you liked or wanted to include in your space? You can also go online to look for inspiration. Look at websites, like Pinterest, and galleries of landscaping companies to pick ideas that you want to include in your space. It is a good idea to keep a compilation of your thoughts and photos or links to things that you may want to add. The more organized you are with this part of the process, the better off you will be when it comes to executing your landscaping. Evaluate Your Wants and NeedsThere are certain things that need to be included in your landscape- space for pets and children to play, adequate lighting, safe walkways, etc. There are also things that you want to be included in your space such as pools, water features, and gazebos. Write a list of all of your needs and a list of all of your reasonable wants, and start planning on what you can reasonably fit into your space. It is important to be practical and to understand that not everything will fit into your yard. You will need to prioritize what you think will most benefit you, your yard, and your family. Once you have a concrete list of what you do and do not want to be included, you can start planning. Look into Local LandscapersOnce you have an idea of what you want for your yard and the different aspects that you want to include, it is time to look for a good landscaper. To do this, it is important to ask around for recommendations and to read online reviews. Reviews are a great way to get honest feedback and first-hand experiences about what people were happy and unhappy with in regards to their landscaping experience. Make sure to look for photos of past projects and to seek out workers with good reputations and beautiful work. The better the company you work with, the better overall experience you will have with creating a new yard for the new year. Build a TimelineNow that you have your ideas, your wants, your needs, and a trusted landscaper to work with, it is time to create a realistic timeline. Some landscaping projects are going to take longer than others. For instance, a pool installation will take much more time than adding some new foliage. Plan your timeline accordingly. If you want to enjoy your brand new patio for the summertime, make sure that you are making the plans to build it in the early months of spring. Having a timeline established will ensure that you get the absolute most out of your backyard remodel. Fill Out Our Vision PlannerWhen you know what you want and when you want it, the next step is to fill out our Vision Planner. Your Vision Planner will help us to understand the details of your project and will help us get an idea of the total price of your remodel. The vision planner tool is thorough and effective and will help us to get on the same page as you so that we can begin your landscape transformation. You can fill out the Vision Planner here. The new year is a time of new beginnings, and your yard should be no exception. 2019 is the year to get the landscape of your dreams, and we are here to help make that happen. If you are interested in learning more or have any questions about our services, please do not hesitate to call us at (440) 543-0500. The post Planning Your Yard for the New Year appeared first on Cleveland Landscaping and Snow Removal. Hey everyone, Noah Winkles here from New Life Painting. This is going to be our first annual Pain It Forward for Ezra Lionheart. We are doing this in memory of Ezra, my best friend, Eric, and his wife, Sarah who are a part of a program called Angels Foster Care, and they had Ezra for about seven months, and he had passed away a year ago. So what we're doing is we're going to do a Paint It Forward in his memory. We worked with Angels to get Cindy and Wally Hernandez and we're going to be painting their house today. We chose them just because they have worked with Angels for about six years. They've had 15 kids through their house in the foster program and so we're super thankful, and really happy to work with them and paint their house. I want to thank Kelly-Moore Paints and Lalo at Kelly-Moore for donating about 25 gallons to repaint this home. We want to just say thank you for that. There's plenty of folklore out there about the most efficient way to convert real estate leads. But the awful truth is that 79% of marketing leads never convert - usually due to a lack of lead nurturing. At Follow Up Boss, we like real-world examples of what does and doesn't work. And Ryan Melville, leader of The Melville Team, has generously shared his proven process for hyper-focused follow up that successfully brings in more deals. Read on for our practical step-by-step guide for how to develop the same habits Ryan and his rockstar team use to connect with hundreds of leads every day. A killer combo of time blocking and focused follow upThe days of notecards and Rolodexes are well behind us. But unfortunately, too many agents still rely on their memories to guide their daily prospecting activities. Not Ryan and his team. The leading Arizona real estate team has a clear process to determine the exact frequency of their follow up. “For us, it's important to have a strong morning ritual when it comes to this,” Ryan explains. And he's right. A great time management system can work wonders for your business (and life).
“We're talking about a live list here,” explains Ryan. Tags are flexible and easy to add so you don't feel like you're locked into a set system. If you decide you want to move a lead from a daily to weekly follow up cadence, you simply remove their 'Daily' tag and add the 'Weekly' tag, which automatically moves them to the desired list.
Always knowing where each and every one of your leads stands translates into money in pretty much any business - but for real estate, it's everything. In terms of how much time to spend daily on follow up, Ryan suggests blocking a chunk of two hours every day: one hour for lead generation and another one for actual lead follow up, to make sure you stay on top of all leads. “Two hours are distraction free - anything else that comes in during that time is left until I'm finished,” Ryan emphasizes. And if you ask us, that's the kind of fully focused commitment it takes to really drive results. One thing that's very important to Ryan is to have a system that guarantees no lead ever slips through the cracks. For that, he uses a “catch all” Smart List to exclude all of the lead tags and make sure there are no relevant leads who are not in on one of his active follow up lists. If you're a Follow Up Boss user and you need help setting up Smart Lists, you can click on your name in the top corner of your screen and go over the help docs by doing a quick search for 'Smart Lists'. (And here are some more tips on how to manage your Smart Lists, just in case.) Under each contact, you can easily see how many calls and messages were exchanged so you can work on a stronger follow up strategy if you feel your team is not being persistent enough. Ryan reached a point in his business where he felt the overwhelm of having to follow up with more than 100 leads each day. He was using task automation through action plans, but this made his agents hate their CRM because every time they logged in, it showed a terrifying amount of work they hadn't yet done. Imagine coming back from a holiday or day off and getting immediately smacked in the face by tons of backlogged leads. Not great for productivity. Psychologically, task automation through action plans reduces the impact of what a task means for someone. If they're constantly getting assigned hundreds of tasks every day, it's only natural to freeze under the pressure. After switching to Smart Lists, two crucial things happened in Ryan's business:
Remember, the system you design needs to reflect the needs of your team and your customers. The Smart Lists inside Follow Up Boss can be customized to organize leads depending on how often you want to fire them up with emails and messages. Ryan's unique approach is not based on mass messaging: he will either call, message or email a lead individually. And that matters to prospects. Research shows that personalized emails generate up to 6X more revenue than generic emails. How automation dramatically reduces your workflowAutomation and integration play a big role in Ryan's business. He uses Zapier to connect Follow Up Boss with his Real Geeks account. By simply adding the tag 'Real Geeks' to his leads, the system will automatically pull out the leads and add them straight into the listing site. The team uses the Follow Up Boss dialer so that all communications, from texts, phone, email and direct mail are coming from the same system. According to Ryan, it “completely changes the speed of the follow up process.” Ryan has also integrated a sign call system called CallFire. The idea is simple: he has a normal office phone number that rings his team, which is also the main number on the listing site. But he also has an additional sign writer recording 24/7 that sends any leads who call a direct link of the listing they're interested in. Cool, huh? But what about mailers? Let's say it's Christmas (great timing!) and you want to send a nice postcard to your contacts. Ryan uses the Direct Mail Manager via Zapier to launch campaigns like sending postcards to clients or a simple thank you note to leads for taking the time to talk with him. And of course, if you're not using a built-in calendar system, it's always a great idea to integrate that too so you never miss an important call or meeting. If you want the full walkthrough of how Ryan and his team are using Smart Lists plus smart integration to follow up with more leads in less time, you can access the full video masterclass right here. Smart prospecting is a journeyThis is the success story of a team who's doing an ace job of making technology work for them (not the other way around). Ryan's system makes sure all their contacts are being nurtured in a relevant way by a living, breathing, caring human - and that's what makes the difference. Ryan's been in the real estate industry for over a decade and he's learned a lot along the way about how to make your processes more efficient. Because of the way he uses tags to manage his and his team's ongoing follow up, he's turning tasks into something more meaningful. Remember, every time you see a task in your system, it's not just another follow up to cross off your list - it's a real person you agreed to get back to. And they're expecting to hear from you. Take the time to set up a system that lets you serve leads well, and the success will come as a natural byproduct of your efforts. And if you want more examples of how smart automation can skyrocket your business, check out Barry Jenkins' stellar success story of how he doubled his business while working just 25 hours per week. According to Barry, it's all about replacing the things that are getting in your way. “With tools like Follow Up Boss and Zapier, there is no reason you can't buy back a significant amount of time in your business and personal life.” Landscapes without the right kinds of drainage can be very detrimental to your home and property. It may not seem like the most pressing concern, but good drainage is a critical element in any successful landscape design, but most importantly to avoid the effects that water can actually create. If you're concerned about whether or not you need to change your approach, or need assistance with any Water Management, waterproofing, or drainage issues, call Rhine Landscaping and read on below! Effects of Bad DrainagePuddling of water on your lawn can lead to a few things, including:
Why Tackle This Issue?As you can see, the effects are pretty dramatic. The biggest reason to go after poor drainage is the amount of money and time it could waste. You've already spent the hours making your landscape look how you want, with all the proper trees, flowers, and shrubs, and you're really proud of your hard work. That can all be taken away just by some puddling water. Don't let that happen to you, if you notice puddling, do something! What Can You Do?Issues involving how your landscape is draining are often best left to professionals. You'll want to either get a proper system set up within your existing landscape or do a complete redesign. Either way, you'll need things like French drains, downspouts, or even basement waterproofing. Landscape Design from Rhine LandscapingLeaders in the industry, and serving the Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore County areas, we provide a wide array of professional landscaping, hardscaping, pool, masonry, and construction. Learn more by perusing our website and project galleries. If you're ready to call for help, give us a call at 410-442-2445. We've got the knowledge your landscape needs! You can also contact us on our website. We can help you plan, plant, and create the yard of your dreams. You can also check out our blogs to stay on top of landscaping trends and tips. Follow us on Facebook The post Proper Landscape Drainage for Your Home appeared first on Rhine Landscaping. Here we are, at the end of 2018. Another year come and gone. Isn't it neat that Christmas ends up right at the end of it all? Kinda like a big, beautiful celebration to just end the year right! And with Christmas eve in full swing today, this will of course be my last post […] The post Christmas junk home tour appeared first on Funky Junk Interiors. |
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January 2019
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