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(eM+C)—In the early days of Apple’s iOS App Store, dozens of developers experienced a gold rush of success as iPhone users raced to download new releases from a small catalog of only a few hundred apps. Some of the best-selling apps even made a few developers into millionaires within mere months.

Mortgage lenders across the country have faced unprecedented challenges in recent years. From helping homeowners avoid foreclosure to showing buyers some of the best bargains in decades, lenders have sought to keep customer service levels high through it all. At Citi, we’re reengineering the way we serve our customers in many ways. Here are just a few: Better Communication: As a real estate professional, you know how communication builds trust. We’re rethinking how we communicate in order to create a better customer experience.

It’s certainly a tense time in business. The uncertain economy has many business leaders constantly poring over the financials, crunching the budget, and nixing every possible unnecessary expense. Unfortunately, says Dave Anderson, financial problems aren’t the only ones your company might be facing. He asks if you’ve recently taken a good hard look at the character of your company. “When you really think about it, many of the transgressions we see in business today, from CEO scandals to terrible customer service, boil down to a lack of solid character,” says Anderson, author of How to Run Your Business by THE BOOK—Revised and Expanded: A Biblical Blueprint to Bless Your Business.

(EMC)—Companies are now spending billions of dollars annually on social media to create brand awareness and lead generation. A significant percentage of this money will be spent on Facebook, with the goal of increasing a brand’s fan base through either Facebook page applications or Facebook ads.

Hopefully, by now we all can agree that social media has given consumers the most powerful voice they have ever had. And it’s universally accepted that word of mouth has always been considered the very best form of advertising. Since Facebook’s “Like” button was introduced in the spring of 2010, users can now show their approval of others’ photos, articles, ideas, discoveries, videos, products and services with just one simple click. In fact, it is estimated that Facebook’s “Like” button now gets more than one billion clicks per day!

The media world has changed in a very fundamental way in the past five years. In the old paradigm, the gatekeepers held the keys to the kingdom. Publishers and editors in print, program directors in radio, and producers on television got to decide what the rest of us read, listened to and watched. There was a bottleneck on information in media, and unless you had great contacts, or got very lucky, you were going to be ignored.

Real estate professionals invest a lot of time, effort and money into marketing themselves, “but when it comes to video, it’s not all about you,” says Stephen Schweickart, co-founder and CEO of VScreen, an Internet video services provider within the real estate

In a perfect world, “work” and “home” would balance out neatly. We’d work from 8 to 5 each day, take an hour-long lunch, and then come home and spend uninterrupted time with our families. But for those of us here in the wake of the Great Recession, firmly entrenched in an “always on” society, this notion seems hopelessly outdated. Most of us are working longer, more stressful hours, and work is spilling over into evenings and weekends. No wonder a recent survey of North American employees found that 87 percent of respondents say their work/life balance (or lack thereof) is negatively affecting their health.

Several years ago, when I was managing an insurance office, I was interviewing a perspective sales rep who I felt had great potential as an agent. Throughout the interviewing process she was articulate, impeccably dressed and demonstrated excellent people skills; I was convinced that I had found a real superstar. Shortly after she was hired, my new agent invited me to attend her son's high school football game. When the referee called a questionable foul on her son, my superstar jumped to her feet and let loose with a flurry of curse words that would make a sailor blush. Everyone, literally within shouting distance, was as shocked as I was to hear such profanity come out of her mouth.

This week’s headlines from the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® include: a personalized brochure emphasizing the benefits of working with a REALTOR®; September-only super savings from REALTOR Benefits® Program Partner, Dell; and RPR

We all know the mantra...you have to change to survive these days. That said, how many people are stuck in the old paradigms and not doing enough of the right things because they are afraid of upsetting the people around them?

Greg Rand (@gsrand), CEO of OwnAmerica, the host of Rand on Real Estate on 770 WABC, asks the question "Why didn't the Great Recession happen 10years ago today?" The circumstances were ripe for a major recession. We were already in a minor recession; endured the evaporation ...

In my column last month, I chronicled the harrowing sequence of events that led to my epiphany and examination of the concept of mental preparedness. People are regularly faced with adversity and unpredictable challenges. One of the key differentiating variables amongst people is how we handle and adapt to these events. Although you cannot plan for every possible event, you always need to be prepared.

Most real estate professionals find hiring assistants challenging. There is a process, however, that increases the odds of hiring the best possible candidate. Step 1: Job Profile – Skills and Style You are destined to hire badly unless you are clear on the job profile. That is, the skills that will be required and personal style that is best suited for the job.

In today’s world, we’re constantly sabotaged by nonproductive energy wasters. There are emails to read. Facebook statuses to update. Receipts to locate for that already-late expense report. Dishes to be washed. Files to be organized. And on, and on, and on. These are the easy, albeit often unproductive, tasks that make us feel good. They may not get you any closer to accomplishing your greater goals, but at least you’ve checked a couple of things off your to-do list.