The FIGHT to get MY Name Back

It was a Friday evening at 8:59PM when I suddenly remembered Facebook was giving away vanity URLs in one minute. I assumed the demand for facebook.com/niman wouldn’t be very high, so I let my friend Katherine go first (she was lucky, she got facebook.com/katherine). Claiming facebook.com/Niman was pretty easy, since my only competition for claiming that name is Bill/Nicolette Niman (Niman Ranch), and Henry Niman (swine flu guy).

A few weeks later, I noticed a lot of folks had matching vanity URLs for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. I had 2 out of 3 (facebook.com/niman and twitter.com/niman) so I decided I should also get my LinkedIn URL. So then I go to LinkedIn to claim /Niman… AND I AM NOT ABLE TO…. The first thought I had to myself was “Darn it, some other Niman beat me,†and I just had to see who it was. When I found out who it was, I went nuts!

As it turned out, it was someone named Nima. I started thinking to myself “Why did Nima have to take /Niman when he could have taken /Nima,†and I decided Nima would just have to give up that URL!

Then I began writing to Nima. It started off as an angry letter, demanding that Nima change his URL to /Nima so I could claim /Niman. It ended up turning into a really nice and compelling email pleading for his humble graciousness. Then, right before I could send the email, I realized I couldn’t send it!

LinkedIn has a 5 character minimum. Nima doesn’t have /Nima, because he can’t. He took /NimaN, because his last name starts with “Nâ€

NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I thought to myself….. Now I can’t tell him to change his URL, because I don’t have a reasonable suggestion for what he can change it to!

At this point, I am suddenly back to where I started, and angry at the world because by now this had consumed over an hour of my life.

Then I started to laugh about it. I started thinking to myself about how much this stupid URL was messing with my mind. I decided that this story was just too funny to remain untold, and that I had to share it with someone. Who do you think I chose? You guessed it!

And now, the pleasant surprise: He did it! My name is mine now! linkedin.com/in/niman

So what is the moral of the story?

Many things in life will not land in your lap, and you need to be proactive if you want something to go your way. As I reached out to a complete stranger, I was truthful, humble, and I had no problem with humiliating myself. In return, he did me a huge favor, and I’m sure it made him feel good to do so.

Can you do the same with your clients? How do you reach out to real estate investors? A lot of people seem to have forgotten what a real life conversation can still accomplish these days.

My suggestion: Co-Brand free real estate tools for your clients, send monthly newsletters to your prospects, and tell them about your Property Management Software !