Work - The Rowland Family Blog

End of July Update

Damn! We made it through July! I was crushed at work. I think I shot 45 houses in July. For 5 days straight I shot 4 houses everyday. That’s almost half for the month in one week. My back was killing me! It was fun and I worked some much needed overtime. Not much new on the COVID front. Still strange times. We really haven’t gone out since we returned from Utah. I’m getting a little concerned about how inactive Feiya is. She’s in good spirits. She get’s a way with things a little more. I don’t think this is a good time to push her. School is starting in 3 weeks. It’s online only, but I think that will be a good start. Maybe throwing them back into a herd all at once isn’t such a good idea. Other than staying safe from the virus, psychologically it could be like throwing a bunch of fish back into the ocean. Might be a little too much all at once. Maybe? Maybe not? It was good to busy at work this month. I think I’m hitting my stride and feeling pretty good about my work. Highs and lows. I just keep …

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Guy in the Mirror | I’m going to stop counting the posts here

Last day of June! We had to figure that June was going to be a rough month. Not as rough as it was weird. We’re just 1 day away from shoving off to Utah for a much needed extended weekend. As I mentioned before we’re going to stay in the Capitol Reef National Park area. We’re really stoked. Even though we’re not leaving until the day after tomorrow Dana and I started packing today. I never pack for a trip until the day before. It’s been over a year since our last vacation. Last year in 2019 we went back to Illinois to visit my family. A bitter sweet trip. My mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. It was the last time she will know who I am. It’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes. I have it easy though. My sister Cyndi deserves a lot of credit. She’s been doing all the heavy lifting. My sister Kit and brother Jim contribute as well too. It’s not an easy thing to be part of. So, cheers to my Illinoisan family! We took that trip 1 year and 2 months ago. I’m not sure if we could really …

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Cottage CCTV is a new web design project I've completed.

Cottage CCTV | My newest venture

Maybe this is a good reason I haven’t been blogging too much in the past month– Cottage CCTV. This has been an interest of mine for a couple of years now, flipping websites. In my case, cloning websites. I got the idea when I discovered the website, Flippa.com. If you’ve never been there, it’s a website for buying and selling websites. I bought a couple of starter sites to see how the process works. You might recall one of my past blog posts about Stellar Logo Design. I bought this website from a guy from India on there. His plan was that I buy the website and market the services and send the work to him. I had my own guys . So, I redesigned it and did nothing with it. I love working with clients and delivering what the want. I do this day and day out in real estate. Real estate agents like using me because they like what I produce. I create the same product for everyone.. They know exactly what they’re going to get. They like my work and how I work, so they keep coming back. Graphic Design is a little different. It’s much more …

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Guy in the Mirror | Vol I Post II

Changing Perspectives Kind of amazing how a week can change one’s perspective on things. These are uncertain times. Last week at this time I was just settling into the idea that things were getting back to normal. Why would I think any different? Last Vegas was coming back to life with better than expected crowds. Just 2 day earlier on Friday I received 6 orders for shoots the following week. Things were looking good! Here are a week later. It’s Sunday night and I only have 1 scheduled shoot for the next week. I haven’t received an order since last Thursday. There’s a lot of talk of making face masks mandatory on the casino floors. The numbers for being positive for the virus keep climbing. I’m not so sure that we should be putting so much weight into the number for positive tests, but that’s for a later time. So, I’m feeling a little nervous nonetheless. I talked to one of the higher producing agents last week and she said inventory is real low. Which is not an entirely bad thing. This keeps prices steady. I’m still optimistic and certain things will turn around. I just hope that with the …

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Mid June 2020 Update

Here we are, mid-June and the pandemic seems to be winding down. I walked into a grocery store without a mask or gloves for the first time since March. Not that I felt comfortable doing so, it’s just that I plain forgot. It wasn’t until I just hit the back of the store that I realized I was maskless. Which is to say after 2 straight months of doing so, I’m still in the habit of just getting ut of my car and walking into a store. I didn’t think to fumble around and find the Ziploc bag that has my masks in it and put one on. That’s a relief! Work has been slow the past couple of weeks. Which is a good thing for the market. The low inventory is keeping prices holding fast. Prices start to fall and it’s run for the hills time. Next week is looking like a busy week. With the success of the Vegas re-opening, I imagine that things will really start picking up for me. That’s the case next week. I already have double the houses booked this week than last. We’ll see where it goes. Today we cooked a French meal. …

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