I just read an article in Newsweek about how much the housing market is crashing right now¹. Foreclosures were up 93% in July over last year. New single-home sales are off 22.3% from last June, and sales of existing homes are off 9%. Perhaps the most telling of all — there are 9.6 months of inventory for sale.

This makes it sound like it’s a bad time to be in real estate, the mortgage industry, new home construction, and related industries. But any down-market situation presents a real opportunity for forward-thinking and visionary firms to go beyond survival and actually thrive.

Here are 10 ways we recommend for businesses affected by the housing crash to thrive:

1. Orient your website so it provides the most useful and targeted information possible for your potential buyers. Go beyond the standard fare of linking to school reviews and community information: add information that will help people move and settle into the community once they’ve arrived (review stores and restaurants, publish information about trash pickup and parking regulations, blog about the “everyday things” people in town just know but will catch newcomers blind).

2. Blog regularly about community events and news and make your site the go-to location for what’s happening in your town. The more you’re an expert the more people will turn to you for finding the right home in the right neighborhood.

3. Focus on what makes you different. Do you have a keen eye on how to properly assess a home’s value? Can you figure out how to properly time listing a property? Can you use some home decorating skills to spruce up a home and make it more appealing during an open house and offer that to your clients free of charge? Promote all of this - heavily and repeatedly - on your site. Shout who you are and how you’re better.

4. Stay in touch with a real message. There are thousands of prewritten newsletters mortgage brokers and real estate professionals use. This is generic content and it reads that way. Write your own piece, give it a dose of your personality, and be real. That will connect with visitors.

5. Don’t hide the truth. Be honest and straight with people and weave this into the language of your site. Position yourself as a source of real information, not spin.

6. Integrate with MLS (or your own local listing service) and then augment that with more. Include direct links to Zillow and other resource sites. Do quick video interviews of neighbors and publish the best of those (a “meet the neighbors” clip). Record a podcast as you walk through the property. Anything to help immerse people in knowing about the home they’re going to buy. A new home is the biggest purchase most people ever make - go further than the grainy cell phone photos and list of stats to really present the home as someplace to love.

7. Host a seller’s party (the web part is promoting it online). As I drive around it seems that everyone is selling right now, and I’m sure they’re all in the same tough place. Get together and talk about it, hang out, and commiserate with others in the same situation. It’ll help to know that you’re not alone, and they’ll remember that you (the realtor) cared about them. Don’t worry whether or not it’s your sign in the front yard - building community is the right thing to do.

8. Use a compelling and high quality design. Design stands out, and the better an impression you make across your site (and all materials) the better you’ll be received in the marketplace.

9. Publish a sales celebration message. Every time you sell a home send out a quick e-mail note to people you’re still selling for and put up a blog article about it. Celebrate success both to keep you going and to keep up the spirits of your homeowners.

10. Use Basecamp. This simple and effective online communication tool is a great way to keep in touch with people and share videos, files, messages, and tasks related to a home. Give each buyer their own project and work with them to make their online customer experience with you easy and powerful.

Smart companies that work hard now are going to thrive during this slump and come out stronger on the other side. Build a strong site. Connect with buyers and sellers. Be real and communicate openly with them. Build a community. You’ll make it through this time and have a better time doing so.

¹http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20546324/site/newsweek/page/0/

We’re going through our normal cycle of equipment upgrades and are selling much of our used equipment on eBay. If you’re interested please check out the links below and, of course, bid often!

Epson Stylus Photo R200 w/Ink Cartridges
A good little inkjet printer from Epson.

• · 5760×1440 DPI
• · 6-color inks
• · Border Free printing
• · 20PPM plus
• · Complete product specifications from Epson

Epson Expression 800 Scanner
This trusted scanner has been in the 3000k family for seven years. It includes a SCSI cable to connect to your computer, and a transparency adapter (great for slides).

• · 800×3200 DPI
• · SCSI
• · Micro Step Drive technology
• · Transparency adapter
• · Includes SCSI cable
• · Complete product specifications from Epson

Apple iMac G5, 2GHz, 20″ Display
This has been a great design machine and has worked flawlessly for us over the years. A good machine if you’re still running PowerPC software (like Photoshop CS2 or earlier), or need to be able to run OS 9 apps.

• · 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5
• · 1.5GB RAM
• · 240GB hard drive
• · 20″ display
• · Mac OS X 10.4.10 pre-installed
• · Mouse, keyboard included
• · Complete product specifications from Apple

Apple PowerMac G4, Dual 867MHz
This machine has been upgraded (lots of memory and drive space) and served as our internal office server from 2003-2007.

• · Dual 867MHz PowerPC G4
• · 1.5GB RAM
• · 250GB hard drive
• · Mac OS X 10.4.10 pre-installed
• · Mouse, keyboard, USB cable extender, external speakers
• · Complete product specifications from Apple

Apple PowerBook G4 Titanium, 1.0GHz
This PowerBook was my main machine for over three years and worked great as a mobile office. We’re including a lot of extras with this like a PodiumPad, external mouse, and VGA adapter.

Updated: This PowerBook is sold as of Sunday, August 26th.

• · 1.0GHz PowerPC G4
• · 1GB RAM
• · 60GB hard drive
• · MacOS X 10.4.10 pre-installed
• · Mouse, Podium Pad, USB cable extender, VGA adapter
• · Complete product specifications from Apple

Sony alpha Digital SLR Camera
This great little digital SLR is really an amazing camera. Image stabilization, super-fast, and with a big memory card (we sprung for the 2GB card). We’ve been partnering with professional photographers on projects, recently, so no longer have a need for this and want it to find a good home.

• · Professional grade digital SLR
• · 10.2 Megapixels
• · Includes lens
• · Image stabilization
• · 2GB memory card
• · Padded carrying case
• · Complete product specifications from Sony

Today we had a “speed networking” event with members of our private sector network (as part of the InnerCity Entrepreneurs program). I met a gentleman with over 35 years of experience managing and growing companies named David Kimball who has a lot of great advice to share.

For the past few months I’ve been focusing on the steps necessary to grow 3000k into a larger and more sophisticated business. We’re growing our staff, focusing on our process, and delegating tasks and responsibilities. Mr. Kimball, in a 10-minute session, was able to offer great insight into this process. His advice: transition from being a craftsperson to a teacher/mentor.

What David was referring to is growing from an individual with a set of task-specific skills to someone who can teach others - employees, partners, outside contractors - and help them learn the process, skills, and knowledge to perform those tasks. I can’t grow the business and do everything at the same time. In order to reach the next level it’s vital for me to work with everyone here and make sure they become expert in their area and in how we do business.

I’ve been feeling this for months but Mr. Kimball was able to quickly and succinctly express what’s required. Great advice, and a testament to how indispensable experience really is.

At the most recent InnerCity Entrepreneurs (ICE) meeting we had the privilege of hearing thoughts from Joe Goodman, a co-founder of Bob’s Discount Furniture. Since the company started in 1991 they have grown from 8 employees to over 2,000 and now run a very successful furniture business across the Northeast. Furniture is a tough industry and this growth is no small feat, so naturally we wanted to know how Joe and the team did it.

One consideration at Bob’s was how to address “free” offers from competitors - such as “free” delivery and “free” financing. They decided they would not offer the same thing. Delivery and the interest on “free” financing are actually costs the business incurs, so they get built into the price of each product. Nothing is ever really free.

This has developed into the policy at Bob’s to educate customers about the cost of services like delivery and clearly separate those fees from the cost of products.

Joe advised us to try this exercise to find ways to differentiate our businesses. “We looked at what our competitors were doing and moved in the opposite direction,” he said. This led to key insights during the founding of Bob’s and many of the resulting policies stand to this day. Looking at the competition and considering opposite policies set them apart in real ways.

This is a wonderful lesson for any fledgling business: look at what your competition is not doing and consider that as a way to stand out.

We often think of our “team” as being the people we see every day, like the people in the office or in our department. I used to have clear buckets for team members - if you’re part of 3000k you’re on the team. Today I had an argument with someone who’s a partner of ours and realized that it wasn’t fair because we’re both working for the same goals. We are, in fact, on the same team.

It turns out your team isn’t just the people you see every day. It’s not the people you share and office or department or company with. Your team is the people who are working toward the same goals as you.

This is what defines a team in sports. Each player has a different role but everyone works together to win. It’s the same in business. Your company, partners, customers, shareholders, and vendors are all on the same team. You’re working together to become more and to win.

Funny how the world changes when you realize that Apple, Rackspace, and the insurance company are playing ball with you.

To Steve Jobs: catch!

We’re honored to be selected as a member of the inaugural Inner City Entrepreneurs Worcester class of 2007. Ali and Eric will be participating in this program over the course of the next nine months and will work together to build a growth plan and strategy to take 3000k through 2010.

The program offers four key components: classroom education, a peer-to-peer advice group, a professional services network, and one-on-one coaching. The goal of this program is to help provide a “streetwise MBA” to executives and key staff of Boston- and Worcester-based companies. Program participants tend to be post-startup stage firms that need to develop their human capital to continue growing.

We believe the success of 3000k is a result of our clients’ success - having strong sites, generating great results, and seeing the benefits of working with an integrated web provider. To continue enabling their success we’re reinvesting in our firm so we can offer better services from a better company. To this end we’re excited about joining I.C.E. and improving ourselves.

Huge thanks to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Citizens Bank, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Empowerment Center, members of various Massachusetts development organizations, and the other companies and individuals who have made I.C.E. possible. We’ll make you proud!

And, of course, thanks to our friend Jeff James at Red Galoshes for introducing us to the great people at I.C.E. and paving the way for us.

More about I.C.E.: www.innercityentrepreneurs.org
Red Galoshes: www.redgaloshes.com

We’ve found that looking for parallels between web development and other industries can be a great way to clarify our processes or best practices. We create websites; tradespeople create buildings. In either case experience, skills, tools, and raw materials are used to build something that meets certain needs. So what can we learn from the trades?

One key to success as a tradesperson is choosing the right tools and building a standard toolbox. Expert carpenters have well-worn hammers, saws, and drills in their toolbox. Ours just happen to be code snippets, libraries, and software packages instead of hammers, saws, and drills.

Working with the same tools and building mastery with those over time allows us to:

• Implement and build sites efficiently.
• Predict potential problems and know the solutions to mitigate those problems in advance.
• Manage sites in a more standard manner.
• Develop in-house expertise that’s easy to replicate on future projects.

Just as a carpenter wouldn’t buy a new saw every time he cuts a piece of wood there isn’t a good reason to arbitrarily change our software toolbox. We consider changes if the needs of a project won’t be met well with our standard tools. Typically these cases involve:

• Technical requirements our standard tools don’t meet.
• Availability of a new tool that’s substantially better than what we’ve been using (cheaper, faster, better).

The key for us is working to attain mastery with our standard tools. We’re proud of our work and understand that it reflects who we are, so we strive to do the best job we can on each site we build. Knowing our tools and using them to the fullest is one way we realize this goal.

On a yearly basis we, like many companies, hold performance reviews. These are private one-on-one meetings to clarify job responsibilities, recognize and appreciate a person’s strengths, identify their weaknesses and address strategies to mitigate or adapt to those weaknesses.

Traditionally this ends up being a rather one-way review which, in some situations, results in the boss preaching in a parental manner to their staff. I once worked for a boss who was terrible and failed to do his job well or to even understand what he should do, given everyone else’s tasks. He only recognized weaknesses that he also shared and hypocritically focused on those during reviews. When the staff gathered later for lunch or break this resulted in a lot of frustrated laughs and a lack of respect for our boss. There was very little change or improvement.

Our reviews at 3000k counter this by being two-way. As the owner I review a person’s performance and they do the same for me. We both prepare written evaluations with suggestions for improvement prior to meeting so we have documents to reference and benchmark against during future reviews.

I’ve found this to be an invaluable way to start a conversation with my staff about how I could improve my work, and how we can better work together to mitigate the weaknesses we’ve discussed. I often have as much or more to improve than the person I’ve been reviewing!

This process shows that I’m open to change and feedback, that I care about what employees think of how I’m working and want their ideas on how to improve, and that I want to talk about these issues. It then gives me a chance to set a good example by working to improve, or a good understanding of how hard it can be to change if I don’t alter my weaknesses and need to help staff with the same problem. We’re only human.

So start a conversation. Have a two-way performance review and see what feedback you get from your boss, or have to give. It’ll make you both better at what you do and probably identify ways to work together you’ve never thought of that make the most of your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

Our office covers about 900 square feet in two connected rooms. We’ve used the smaller room as a meeting area and the larger room as our ‘production’ area.
 
At four people this was an ideal layout, but as we grew to five, six, and now eight people, it got too tight. The proximity of our desks caused interruptions and productivity and personal satisfaction suffered. So we decided to rebuild our office.
 
We used a process for this that’s very similar to the problem solving we do to help clients rebuild their sites, create a strong brand, or fix a marketing problem.
 
Step 1: Define the problem + state your goals
We started by identifying the problems we wanted to solve: too many people pushed together in too little space. Our goals were to provide more personal space, promote collaboration, diminish interruptions, and provide room for growth without another major office overhaul.
 
Step 2: Do research + assess the situation
Insufficient planning can derail a project, so we started by collecting the details of our situation: the office dimensions, space needed for desks, tables, chairs, bookshelves, and the kitchen area. We then took stock of our technical needs and human needs, like who needed to collaborate most often, who needed open wall space for working files, etc. On top of all this we looked at the pathways people use to get through the office and the proximity key staff need to work together on tasks.
 
Step 3: Develop + refine the plan
Our assessment led us to a draft of a new layout. To test it, we considered different scenarios, such as client visits, staff growth, or new equipment. We made sure to allow access to the printers for those who use them most. We considered lighting and how windows reflect on our screens during the day, and where the power outlets and network drops are.
 
With this in mind, we refined our sketches to put the final, better plan in place.
 
Step 4: Plan the implementation
It’s important to not just construct a plan, but also to determine how it will be implemented. Order of operations (and delegating responsibilities) is especially important. We determined who would move the desks, run the network cables, clean up, set up the computers after the desks were in place, and store everything during our “temporary” state. We split the time for this over two days - the first phase (break down the existing office) would take place on Thursday afternoon, the second phase, clean and rebuild, for Friday from 3pm until it was done.
 
Step 5: Do it
After our planning was done, we executed our plans. It was easy and there were few problems to deal with because we had already thought through our tasks and goals.
 
Step 6: Reward success
To help make the transition more enjoyable we picked up two office presents to improve our environment. The first is an Air-O-Swiss humidifier. We find the cold, dry winters are a drag on our breathing and skin. With the Air-O-Swiss we’ll all breathe a little easier. 
 
Our second gift was a Keurig B70 Gourmet Brewing System. This is a great little device that makes single cups of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Perfect for us or clients, no clean up, and no extra coffee to throw away at the end of the day. And these presents to ourselves help make the work worth it — there’s a reward at the end.
 
Step 7: Evaluate + refine
Over the next couple of weeks we’ll see how things work and make adjustments. Maybe one desk will be too near a door, a trash can will be too far away from the Keurig, or the paper will be too far from the printers. We’ll tweak the new layout until it solves the problems that prompted the change.

These steps are important for any problem-solving project, be it an office reorganization or building a website. Define your goals and objectives, assess the situation, develop and refine your plan, execute, celebrate your success, and keep at it in the long term to make sure your plan works to solve the initial problems as well as possible.

Reuters, the big international news wire service, announced yesterday that it’s opening a new news bureau. Ho hum, right? Maybe not. It’s opening that news bureau in Linden, the home of Second Life, which is an online video game (more or less).

A new bureau in a video game.

Reuters, a major international company probably not much disposed to flights of fancy or having their employees waste time on video games while at work, has assigned one reporter, full time, to cover the news and events going on in this world (it’s more of a world, really, than a video game. It’s an online simulation of real life).

This might seem a bit weird, or even irrelevant to your business, but it’s not. Second Life, you see, has ties to real-world companies and real-world dollars. In fact, according to the Second Life website nearly US$500,000 is spent in the in-game economy each day. Those are not virtual dollars, but real ones that users deposit to purchase in-game items like houses, investments, and consumer goods from real-world business.

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