Noting the success of author/lawyer John Grisham in spotlighting his profession in fiction, C.M. Nevill thought it was about time real estate took the dramatic stage of the action-adventure novel. His first book, Due Diligence, 
follows the trail of Sam Reid, a struggling newbie real estate professional in Houston, as he unwittingly becomes involved with an international drug cartel.
Nevill, a residential salesperson with Jim Stewart, REALTORS®, in Waco, Texas, talked with us about finding the inspiration and time to write, the difficulties of publishing a first novel, and how aspiring authors in real estate can follow his lead into the literary world.
Due Diligence is an action-adventure novel, but the story is still firmly entwined in Texas real estate. How much do you draw on your everyday life to craft Sam Reid’s world?
Nevill: I have a really wild imagination, and it’s very easy now in today’s world to actually get involved in just about anything you want to by getting on the web. You can pretty much find out any information that you want simply by Googling. And, so as far as my own personal involvement in the story, maybe a few little odds and ends, but mainly it’s just creative imagination.
How did you get started?
Nevill: Real estate really comes first in my life, and in real estate you sometimes have some down time. A lot of people go out and they play golf or tennis or fish or something like that. But I like to read. And it just occurred to me that, you know, a lot of this reading that I do, I could probably get involved in writing too.
From reading John Grisham, he involves lawyers in a lot of things, and I thought, “Well, we ought to be able to come up with something that would involve a young real estate agent.” And so, my creative juices just started coming together. Continue reading »
By Erica Christoffer, Multimedia Web Producer, REALTOR® Magazine
Do you want to shake things up, build a powerful brand, and attract more clients? Drop the “business-as-usual” mentality and find inspiration in Andy Stefanovich. Let’s face it, with a title like Chief Curator and Provocateur at Prophet, a branding and marketing consulting agency, Stefanovich commands creativity. His mantra is LAMSTAIH (pronounced lamb’s tie) – Look At More Stuff; Think About It Harder.
Stefanovich explains LAMSTAIH in his new book, “LOOK AT MORE: A Proven Approach to Innovation, Growth, and Change,” (Jossy-Bass/Wiley, 2011) though a framework called the 5 M’s: Mood, Mindset, Mechanisms, Measurement, and Momentum. Each section is brought to life with stories of business innovation in action.
The following is an excerpt of Chapter 3 – “Mechanisms” – where he shares a number of examples regarding his work with the chamber of commerce in Richmond, Va., to revitalize the downtown area.
EXCERPT:
There are a variety of methods for exploring opportunities, but an essential first step is to create lists of the characteristics that define the issue or objective. This isn’t a counting-things-up kind of inventory. What we’re doing here is assessing three types of characteristics to find the components with the most opportunities for delivering growth and change: Continue reading »
By Vanessa Sibley, REALTOR® Magazine
How many times have you discovered the perfect solution to a problem after the meeting or the deadline? Floyd Hurt knows the difficulty of initiating creative thinking. For more than 30 years, he earned his creative wings as a frontline producer in sales, marketing, and advertising at his own agency. Hurt has written a book–more of an instructional guide–to help you close the creativity gap and stimulate new ideas when you need them, not weeks later.
Rousing Creativity: Think New Now! (Menlo Park, Calif.: Crisp Publications; $17.95) involves you in the creative process with work sheets and exercises to expand your thinking. Here are a few of Hurt’s ideas:
- Break the ice. You can change the entire attitude of a meeting with a mind-teasing task to encourage teamwork. For example, solve a problem by role-playing from the perspective of a well-known person. Tap into the mentality of the Greek god Eros, baseball great Yogi Berra, or comedienne Lucille Ball to approach the obstacle from a new and entertaining direction.
- Have the willingness, if not the passion, to change. It’s essential to the creative effort to pull yourself out of old habits and take risks.
- Any action you take causes a reaction from others. Hold a brainstorming session with colleagues and clients for idea gathering—a roomful of minds is more productive than one.
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