Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone: Recap

This is the final article in the "Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone" series. I have enjoyed researching, exploring new apps and doing a deep dive into many of the apps and programs that come on our phones right out of the box.

While doing these articles, I kept having flashbacks to almost 20 years ago doing Palm classes. Many of the things I learned to do on the Palm are still as important as the device I am using today. If you had good practices with the calendar and contacts, you should have brought that skill set with you as you moved through the new devices. If you were successful storing information where you could find it 20 years ago, you should be able to do it today.

I remember years ago when the Palm Treo was released, I was quickly asked to start traveling the country teaching agents how to use it. One of the groups that hired me called and questioned my ability to instruct people how to use the Treo, seeing how it was just released. Hmm, that call made me think, Why would I think I am prepared to show folks how to get the most out of their Treo? The answer was simple—it only had a few Palm operating system updates and a built-in flip phone. I went out and taught the Treo, adding new features offered by the Treo, which were new from the M515, Vx or whatever model you had before the Treo. New device, few new features, same technique to get the most out of the device—it was that simple until 2007, the birth of the iPhone, and 2008, the release of the first Android. For those of us with a soft spot in our heart for Palm Inc., they were sold to HP in 2010 and stopped production in 2011.

Before you buy an Android with operating system 10, which is the 17th release of the operating system, or you wait until mid-2020 for version 11, or wait to buy an iPhone 11, or put it off until September 2020 for the iPhone 12, it's about the basics! Start learning how to get the most out of the phone you have today. All of us, and me included, can learn and pick up tricks and techniques so when the next generation comes out, we have a better understanding of what we can get out of our investments.

For me, doing this 10-part series on smartphones has helped me remember or learn so much on how to maximize my phone. In case you missed any of the past articles, here is a list and links:

• Can You Run your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone? YES
• Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone: Text Replacement
• Real Estate Smartphone Tricks: Using Your Phone's Contacts as a CRM
• Real Estate Smartphone Tricks: Using Your Phone's Calendar
• Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone using Information Management
• Run Your Real Estate Business with an iPhone Using Email, Messenger and Text
• Run Your Real Estate Business with an Android Phone using Email, Messenger and Text
• Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone: Building Social Media Exposure
• Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone Using Video Conferencing
• Run Your Real Estate Business with a Smartphone Using Cameras and Scanners

As we roll into 2020, there are very big changes coming in mobile technology and even technology as we know it today! Let me quote Qualcomm, which is rumored to be making modems for a 5G phone to be released this year:

5G will redefine a broad range of industries with connected services from retail to education, transportation to entertainment, and everything in between. We see 5G as technology as transformative as the automobile and electricity.

Reread the last sentence: as transformative as the automobile and electricity! Starting with my next article, I will be learning and sharing about 5G. My plan is to have an article dedicated to 5G once a month. Let's all learn together and have fun doing it!

Dick Betts is a national speaker, trainer and consultant. Learn more at www.DickBetts.com