There’s a ton of great software and apps out there today, no doubt about it.
Every day it seems something new comes out that’s designed to make our lives (and our businesses) more efficient, less stressful and generally funner (that’s right FUNNER).
Today I’d like to share with you a couple of truly tasty apps specifically for your Gmail account – and I gotta say, I’m in love with these things. Not only are they going to make your contacts and inbox heaps easier to manage, but they won’t cost you much (or anything) at all to use.
Ah…inexpensive… easy to use… like a perfect storm of efficiency.
Don’t Have a Gmail Address?
Or stuck on your old AOL account, and don’t want to change addresses with all your old-school Realtor buddies who can’t remember how to update Act!?
Not a problem. Just setup a Gmail account here (it’s free) and you can forward your other emails to your Gmail account if you want.
One thing that makes Gmail so superior to other emails is how it can support multiple email addresses and also allows you to send out emails from within Gmail, while showing your previous email address in the ‘From:’ line. Here is an article on exactly how to set all this up if you like. So for any current non-Gmail users, this’ll help you avail yourself of the awesome apps I’m about to drop on you, while stil keeping your [email protected] address in play.
Ready? Let’s do this…
Tasty #1: "Your Own Personal NSA" App
That’s right, the same government snoopers who are blatantly reading and cross-referencing your email, your Facebook updates and that mobile phone call you made to Amazon customer support yesterday.
Let’s take a page from their book… maybe not so much the unwarranted snooping... but the crazy-awesome cross-referencing...
Wouldn't it be great to quickly, instantly, effortlessly uncover all manner of information on your contractors, attorneys, house sellers, house buyers, Realtors, accountants and everyone else you come across with your real estate investing? Now you can (for free) with a handy app for Gmail called Rapportive.
Rapportive will show you everything on the internet about your contacts. You can read their profiles and what they have posted on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social media. You can easily follow, connect or comment on their pages right from your Gmail account.
If their picture is out there on one of the profile pages, Rapportive automagically imports it in to your Gmail contact list – poof! You can even take sneaky notes under all their profiles that will help you remember things about them later.
Learning all you can about your different contacts can really help see who’s an ideal fit for your real estate business model, and who’s not. You’ll really impress the ones you want to impress because they’ll think you spent a heap of time looking up information about them and that you actually cared enough to do so. Sneaky, sneaky. :- )
Bear in mind, Rapportive doesn't work in Internet Explorer (anybody really surprised by this?), but it does work in all the cooler, better browsers, like Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
All you need to do to install it is go to the install page here and press the button. Then just follow a few instructions and it automatically adds the features to your Gmail.
If you want a visual look at how Rapportive works, here's two great little videos about it yanked right from the YouTubes...
Ba-bam!...
Ka-pow!...
Tasty #2: The “Don’t Bug Me With Trivial Emails” App
As a mogul, you want to spend as much time as possible “living large”, right? Hanging out with the ladies (or gents)… vacationing in exotic locales… mixing it up with royalty, right?
Well maybe not quite yet. But you’re on your way.
While you make your way to Easy Street, you've probably realized that checking your email six times a day is not the best way to get there.
But you don’t want to miss that important email, do you? The one from your Realtor saying the seller’s accepted your ridiculous offer of 50% off the asking price, or the buyer who wants to pay twice the asking price.
What’s a mogul to do?!?
Before now, you had to wade through all the “One weird trick that will make supermodels want to date you” emails to find the good ones.
Not.. any.. more.
Now you don’t even need to check your emails. Thanks to this sexy new app for Gmail called AwayFind, you can receive specific alerts when important emails come in.
AwayFind makes managing your emails a whooooooole lot easier. Once you've installed this baby, you can:
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Set alerts for both important people and important topics, so you receive an alert when either type of email arrives
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Input a cutoff time to say that an important email is only important for a finite amount of time. After that time the alert is automatically cancelled.
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Be notified if any emails come in that affect calendar appointments
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Intuitively gauge the importance of emails based on how quickly you typically reply to different people
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Receive a text, voice alert or instant message when an important email comes in
With AwayFind, you really can set your email and forget it. It’s like artificial intelligence for your Gmail.
Here, take a look at this video demo and you’ll see how awesomely it works…
Imagine how great it would be to only receive notifications for the important stuff… Seriously, how much time would this save you every day? For some of us…several hours. Way more than the $5 measly dollars (One email address) or $15 only slightly less measly dollars (Five email addresses) AwayFind charges for their monthly plans.
You know good and well your time is worth a whole lot more than that.
Oh, and did I mention that AwayFind also works for Outlook, Exchange, Android and iPhone applications as well?
Bottomn line, AwayFind will really simplify your life. Combine AwayFind with Rapportive and the time it saves not researching people, and suddenly you’re buried in extra time…extra time all up in your face!
Investigate – Creating a Gmail account if you don’t already have one. Google is always coming up with new ideas to enhance the email experience. You can also use your Google id to sign in to lots of other websites. Gmail can really make you more productive.
Download & Use – Awayfind and Rapportive.
Play Around – With all the different apps Google has for Gmail, you might find some great ways to increase your productivity. More productivity = more wealth! If you find something worth sharing, by all means post it for other Mogul members to read below.
Manage Your Contacts – Finding great deals starts with having great contacts. You get great contacts from networking. Make sure you have some system to keep track of your contacts and follow up with them. That way when a great deal comes along, they think of your first.
Spend Some Time Each Week – Thinking how you can be more productive. Put systems and processes in place to free up time so you can focus on the most lucrative activities. People get so caught up in the day to day that they never figure out ways to really grow their real estate empires. Technology is a great resource for doing this – figure out ways to use it!