Artisans United for the Development of Atitlan (AUDA) is dedicated to the economic and social empowerment of cooperatives of indigenous women and children around Lake Atitlan, in the Guatemalan highlands.

Update for September 2009

In July 2009, we learned of an especially difficult situation of a woman named Ana in San Juan la Laguna, who was beaten by her husband, after which she and her four children were abandoned.  To make matters worse, the husband decided to sell the house, leaving them with nowhere to go.  Ana proves to be a loving woman both to her children, and to the Mayan Tzutujil women’s weaving cooperative called Ajbatz’Bal’ in San Juan, so we found it necessary to fundraise for a home and help her in these circumstances.

Fortunately, with the help of numerous donors around the world, we were able to raise $1,400 for the purchase of construction materials.  Bobby and Freida Cox made a generous contribution to realize the $2,000 budget for the house.  In early September, a house was constructed in only four days for Ana and her four kids.  A group of wonderful young adults from South Africa, on their mission trip with Global Challenge Expeditions, worked hard with sweat and love to complete the simple building on the 10’ x 30’ piece of land.  Ana’s new home has a new tin roof, one large room in the back, a toilet with underground septic tank, a simple shower, space for a washbasin and stove, and a room in the front which may be used for the products from Ajbatz’Bal’.

AUDA is connected with three women’s cooperative groups around the lake, and recognizes various issues that arise with their living conditions or the need for scholarship money to send the children to school.

After visiting the women of the cooperative Artesanas Tzaput in Choa Cruz, we learned there is a need for replacement roofs and stoves in several of the homes.

In El Tablon, the women have expressed their hopes for latrines and a larger room in which the women can create the crafts together.

Ways you can help:

To support the women and children of the villages in San Juan la Laguna, El Tablon, and Choa Cruz, please go to www.audaguatemala.org/donate.htm

AUDA hopes to build pilas, a communal clothes washing site, for the women of San Antonio Palopo. A community pila would prevent the women from having to wash their clothes standing in the cold waters of Lake Atitlan, a process which has been known to cause the women extreme pain and arthritis and would help to keep the Lake free from soaps, detergents and other pollutants. Also, a pila is a more environmentally friendly.

Donate towards this project in San Antonio Palopó, Solola

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Social media are not widely used in construction and real estate based on our survey of more than 30,000 industry professionals.  According to the data obtained, most construction and real estate companies typically rely on old ways to market their services including advertising, direct mail, and cold calling.  Few seem to understand the potential marketing and branding benefits that can come from Inernet marketing and blogging. 

The survey also found that many construction and real estate companies believe that social networks including LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo, and others, could be effective tools for job searching, but few companies use these tools to identify top talent in industries where good people are extremely hard to find. 

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The attached post by Tom Acitelli in the New York Observer reports that the Federal investigation into the Lehman bankruptcy will cover investments that Lehman made in commercial real estate.

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The following post was referred to me by @jakrose on Twitter.  This post has greast visuals making it easy to understand social media concepts.  Some of these (i.e. networking, niche marketing)are probably already familiar terms to construction and real estate professionals. 

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Attached is a great post by David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR.  The big key with the new rules as is clearly pointed out by Scott is to think about the client you’re targeting.  In this case, for example, Scott points out that most people don’t rely on television ads when they decide on who to use as their realtor.  Why, then, would a company like Century 21 Real Estate LLC, want to continue using expensive television advertising?

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Texting or emailing during workplace meetings.  Last week, I heard of a case where a 20-something was texting during a client meeting. I could understand why his 50-year old co-worker was irritated. Texting and emailing during meetings is disrespectful to the other parties in attendance. Don’t do it!

Tardiness to work related meetings.   Showing up late for real estate and construction related business meetings is unprofessional. It shows a lack of disregard for everyone else’s time. Respect your co-workers and improve your chances of them respecting you.

Complaining without offering possible solutions.   Unfortunately, complainers are usually right when they whine about a problem, but few people are willing to grant credibility to those who are unwilling to offer solutions. Bring solutions to the table and improve your credibility with the older crowd.

Finally, avoid the temptation for isolation.  This often occurs when relying too much on electronic communication. Get up from the computer once in a while and have a face to face conversation with some of the old-timers. They have a lot of knowledge to offer and talking to them will help establish good interpersonal relationships with this group.

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The attached post by Vera Raposa offers great tips for marketers of construction and real estate services.  As a consultant to the real estate and construction industries, I strongly emphasize the following:

Developing a strategy.  Who will you be targeting?  How are you going to reach your target market?  What tools will you be using? 

Setting concrete goals and objectives.  Marketing without goals is like a having a quarterback throwing a pass with no receivers. 

Establishing a budget and measure ROI.  Does your marketing get results?  If not, Your Marketing Sucks as Mark Stevens  says. 

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Attached is an article published in the Boston Globe. Under a new program, people with updside down mortgages may qualify for refinancing through the FHA.

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Marketing does not have to cost an arm and a leg to be effective. In fact, some of the best marketers spend significantly less than their competitors and develop stronger brand recognition.

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Attached is an interesting post by Steve Thomas. Any construction or real estate company interested in attracting the search engines should focus on content. Perhaps this should be “evolving” content.

Keep your web site static with litle to no updates, see your appeal to search engines fall. Update your site regularly and see your attractability improve.

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It’s been a while since I was single, but I remember those nights where I’d go to a singles bar with a number of male friends looking to meet women. I have to give some of my male friends’ credit. They’d walk up to women they’d never met before and ask them to dance. Sometimes they’d be successful, but most of the time, they were coldly rejected and it was painful. Who wants to go through that experience? Fortunately, networking does not have to be this difficult. Here are some tips that will work even for introverts like myself:

Join Trade Association Committees. Go to a monthly breakfast meeting for the Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office properties and you may see 500-people in attendance. Many of these people have been long-time members and have known each other for years. For me personally, it can be pretty intimidating to attend a large function filled with people I don’t know and I’m guessing that many other people feel the same way. This is where committees can be helpful.

Committees have smaller groups of people. The settings are less intimidating and working on a committee provides an opportunity to develop new friendships. You’re also showing support for the association and its causes by taking an active role. These types of friendships then make it easier to meet new people at larger functions because your friends will often be happy to make new introductions on your behalf. Can you get warm receptions by simply introducing yourself to strangers? Sure, but referrals improve your odds. Give me a referral over cold calling any time. Author, Tom Stanley, has a lot of good information on this topic in his books, Networking with the Affluent, and, Selling to the Affluent. Stanley is also famous for his best selling book, The Millionaire Next Door.

Preparation. Have an elevator speech ready when you go to meet people at small and large functions. This is simply a short introduction stating who you are and what you do. Be ready with an open-ended question for the people you meet. Open-ended questions focused on the other party are great in these situations because it requires the other person to talk and allows you the opportunity to learn about them.

Listen. After using the open-ended question, it’s important to listen to the person on the other end. Use eye contact and paraphrase when the person responds to make sure you understand the message they communicate. Understanding the message often paves the way for follow-up questions and demonstrates that you’re interested in what this person has to say. Too many people approach networking as an opportunity to push their own self-serving agenda and that approach is like trying to mix oil and water. It just doesn’t work. There is an excellent book by Robert Bolton called, People Skills, for anyone interested in reading more about listening.

Follow-up after meeting the person. Sending people note cards or emails saying that you enjoyed meeting them are very effective in relationship building. Also, don’t forget to put the person’s contact information along with what you learned about him/her into your database. This helps you remember the interests and motivations of this individual for future correspondence. If you remember that your new friend is an avid golfer, sending an occasional article about golf can do wonders in solidifying a bond and friendship with the other party.

Relationship building is not something that happens overnight. Attending one trade association function and expecting to win all sorts of new business is not realistic. It’s a long process because it takes time to get people to trust you, but when it happens, people will start calling you with new business opportunities. That sure beats cold calling in my opinion.

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David Meerman Scott offers great tips for Construction and Real Estate companies willing to take the plunge into the world of blogging. 

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Goleman describes the following common characteristics of people with high emotional intelligence (EQ):

Self Awareness.  High EQ people have a strong sense of security about themselves and their surroundings. They tend to be confident and have high self esteem. Emotionally intelligent people are able to handle criticism without feeling less of themselves.

Control of Emotions. This is a tremendous skill present among emotionally intelligent people. Even when others can’t control their feelings, High EQ people are able to maintain control and awareness of their situations. This does not mean that they don’t ever feel happy or sad. High EQ people are simply able to control these feelings. Skilled negotiators are often high EQ people because they can resolve conflicts and control their emotions even when others can’t.

Empathy.  Ever go to a networking event and get approached by some salesperson who insists on rambling about how great their products or services are? These people usually make others look for excuses to get away from them. The reason for this is that the seller is only thinking about him/herself in this case. Good networkers understand that caring and understanding the thoughts and viewpoints of others is key in relationship building.

Goleman feels that emotional intelligence can be learned so there is hope for the people who struggle with interpersonal relationships. Personally, I believe that relationship building comes naturally for some while others have to work hard at it everyday. Beginner golfers will probably become better golfers after many hours of practice combined with lessons. Few, however, will ever become as good as Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson.

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The attached video presents a great explanation on how the credit crisis is affecting home builders.  One of the problems with the bailout bill that should be addressed is making sure the money starts flowing from the banks to the people who need it.  

Last year the Fed made a series of rate cuts, but most of those cuts did not help consumers.  Credit rates did not change much because the banks held onto the larger spreads instead of passing this money through. 

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Most construction and real estate people we speak to every day tell us that new business often comes to them via referrals from happy clients or “word of mouth.” Most executives in construction and real estate love getting business through word of mouth because it’s usually cheaper and far more profitable to win work from referrals or from existing clients than it is to win new business from people not familiar with their firm. Social media are Internet tools that can be used in the brand building process to increase referrals through word of mouth marketing.

Another new buzz word is “viral marketing.” The concept, however, has been around for many years. The Grateful Dead, for example, was a band that really capitalized on this concept during the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Unlike most bands, The Grateful Dead, often allowed their fans to tape their concerts. These bootleg tapes were then shared with friends and played at parties, in cars, at the beach, etc. More people became familiar with the band from hearing all these bootleg tapes and even though the band did not have a top 10 hit during its first 20+ years of existence, it already had a tremendous following when they released a top hit in the eighties.

Developing a good reputation and getting a following for your services should be a goal for any business. Many construction and real estate companies looking to create larger followings through marketing should consider taking advantage of social media.   An easy way to start would be to start researching various social media including blogs and news sites like Digg, Delicious, and Diigo. They’re powerful marketing tools and they’re not going away.

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Recently, Matt Gentile, Director Public Relations and Brand Communications for Century 21 Real Estate challenged David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, to come up with 10 ideas for Century 21 to implement the new rules of marketing and PR. 

David Meerman Scott posted 10 ideas for Century 21 on his blog.  Many people commented including yours truly in this blog.  Two days after the top 10 ideas were posted, they were indexed at number six on Google.  The results are incredible and don’t discount the cost.  As Scott points out in his latest post, one blogger was able to help Century 21 reach the first page in a Google search result. 

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