To say it's been an interesting year has been an understatement. 12 months ago...

- we were experiencing a slow down in real estate sales that had really begun the previous December

- the talk in the economy was of 'overheating' with the 'inflation' genie being 'let out of the bottle'

- few of us had heard of Bernie Madoff, Fannie & Freddie, Twitter, IP TV...

- last year, we'd all had quite a good year, (perhaps our best ever?) and were looking forward to more of the same in 08/09

- the stock market had taken some hits (down from its highs at 6800), but was respectfully making a comeback around the 5400 mark (it's been less than 4000 now since November, touching 3000 in March)

- oil was US$150/barrel (has since fallen back to almost $30, and is now creeping up at $70)

- interest rates had had 8 successive rises to stand at 7.25% (it's now 3% ... and could fall further?)

- aussiehome's logo was a hills hoist, and they had no blog, TV show, twitter or facebook account!

The only constant these days in change! And long may it be so... however none of us has seen such turbulence, uncertainty and in some cases, unwillingness to move (literally). It's a year we'll look back on with wonder, and perhaps pinch ourselves. In fact, the period 2001-2008 is probably a period we'll look back on in years to come with wonder, with all the highs, excesses, fun and crazy excess that booms bring with it.

We've (all) survived, and as they say 'what don't kill ya, only makes you stronger'. Not all businesses survived 2008/09 though, but then again some were also created.

What of 2009/2010? Probably less turbulence, but also probably less growth than we've been used to. In the internet world, the continual shift from print to online advertising will continue. If you're looking to save advertising dollars, then it has to come from old traditional media, and be chanelled wisely into the new.

How to make money in tougher times? Read on...

A passion of us all here at aussiehome.com is to return the media power to our clients.

When we began our journey in 1999, it was the internet itself (portals, and then your own web site) that could give you the power of a media in your own hands. Allied to this are the 'new media' , or social media (Web 2.0) of such sites as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.

TWITTER - seemingly ridiculously minimalist (but that's its core strength) this site allows you to profile yourself and braodcast for free to as many followers as you like, short text message of 140 characters in length.

You can 'tweet' (for that's what the short messages are called) yourself, you can tweet as a company, and you can blend your messages with your new listings, what you're up to, point people to your site, blogs, facebook profiles, events... whatever is on your mind.

Following on from our Social Media Bootcamp in May, and yesterday's Facebook Business course, we are putting on

TWEET YOURSELF TO SUCCESS (how to become a twitter superstar!)

THURSDAY 23rd July, 9.30am-12.30pm OR 1.30-4.30pm

UWA Business School, Computer Labs

Strictly ONLY 20 places available

with Charlie Gunningham & Peter Fletcher

$150 + GST, includes workbook, cert and 2 experts

aussiehome.com attended a thought-provoking talk from Australian marketing guru Siimon Reynolds (yes, 2 'i's) when he visited Perth recently.

You can make MORE money in a recession! Here's the highlights of his talk

1. Get Referrals from existing clients (have a "testimonial mountain" .. on video!)

2. Try different, unusual media (including the new social media, like facebook and twitter)

3. Raise Prices! (customers complain about prices, but they'll pay for VALUE)

4. Frequency and Recency (have a system to stay on touch with prospects, often, but not in a bothering way)

5. Focus on your Brand (the ultimate is to have a 'tribal selling proposition')

To download my 2 pages of typed notes from the talk (pdf), with 12 ideas on how to make money in a tough times, please CLICK HERE.

Warren Buffet recently noted that he would not buy a newspaper stock at any price. He sees it as a failing business model and one he is not going to touch.

I'm sure you'd all like to turn off having to use newspaper advertisements as soon as possible (you've probably already reduced your spend this year), but here are 5 FREE things you can do to grab some FREE media power for yourself right now. Each one takes but a minute or two:

1. Comment on the aussiehome.com blog: http://blog.aussiehome.com  (don't forget to add in your web site address to force yourself up Google ranking). Do this regularly - you borrow our traffic and get more for you! and you start to use blogs.

2. Start a Twitter account (or do a tweet if already set up) - http://twitter.com and choose your name (such as http://twitter.com/aussiehome) - there's only one name per person, so get yours now; even if you don't use it yet. Then book in for our course on 23rd July!

3. Get a Facebook Profile - http://www.facebook.com - sign up for free, wait for the confirmation email, click on it and start adding photos, comments, bios on yourself, and begin finding friends to contact. Choose a user name, and link it to your profile (mine is http://facebook.com/gunningham ). If you're already on Facebook, write a comment, comment on others comments, tag a friend in a photo ... get involved!

4. Join the aussiehome.com Facebook Business Page - brand new thanks to Jo and Sarah yesterday! Join other business pages, and think about starting your own one. Yesterday, we saw the birth of several real estate Facebook business pages at our course.

5. Upload a video to Youtube, and tag it with specific words (such as "perth real estate") so it is found easily in the search. Create your own Youtube community, again with its own specific web address (ours is http://www.youtube.com/aussiehometv)

Don't wait for others to do this - do it, and keep doing it. And let us know how you're going!

What's in it for us? We just want to get you putting the media power back in your hands - that's motivating for us; and if we can help, please let us know!