My Path Revealed…

So there I was at 7 this morning, having a fantastic cup of coffee with Will Acuff, Operations Manager at Centresource Interactive. We were talking about faith, and the call to serve our fellow man.

If you don’t know Will, he’s an amazing guy; very devoted to inspiring change in East Nashville.

As he laid out a myriad of service needs and opportunities in my favorite part of Nashville, the hazy vision that’s been kicking around in my noggin for the past few months finally started to sort itself out.

That 20 minute car ride from Germantown to Green Hills might have been one of the most significant moments of clarity I’ve experienced in my adult life.

Backing up for the newcomers in the crowd, I am a residential real estate consultant. My business is the Silva Real Estate Group. Our mission is to go beyond simply helping people buy and sell houses.

In addition to providing amazing service, we strive:

  • to connect neighbors
  • to build communities
  • to inspire a sense of neighborhood unity

Over the past 6 months, building community has become my modus operandi. I’ve been seeking opportunities to do just that in every arena of my life. One could say, it’s become something of a passion. Life is infinitely better when you can share it and experience with others.

Getting back to my moment of clarity and what may very well become my life’s work….

East Nashville is known as one of Nashville’s most ‘up and coming’ neighborhoods. On the east side, you’ll find amazing culture, restaurants, architecture, parks, and more. Spend a day immersing yourself in the culture of this urban neighborhood and you’ll see everything it can and will be. You’ll get a glimpse of the overwhelming sense of community and ‘neighborliness’ of all its citizens. This is the East Nashville I love.

Unfortunately, some areas of East Nashville still suffer from crime, gang violence, homelessness, drug use, and prostitution. A variety of societal, economic, and educational factors contribute to these issues.

These are the problems that make people think twice when you mention visiting the area.

These are the problems we need to address.

How Do We Do That?

Lots of ways. There are a ton of great programs already on the ground in East Nashville doing amazing work. Tutoring programs, after school activities, adult learning centers, community outreach, and so on. Neighbors and volunteers need to pour in to these people’s lives. We need to grow change from the bottom up.

What I’m talking about here is, you guessed it, community! Neighbors helping neighbors. People loving people.

So, how do we build community? I’m still figuring that one out. There’s no set recipe. No playbook. Just honest interaction and mutual effort. It’s not easy. Not even a little bit. You can’t make people get along. You can’t make people care for one another. To take a cue from Ghandi, you must be the change you want to see. Going one step further, you must lead by that example, and let people see it.

What if every business owner in the area took an active role in leading by this example?

What if every community leader inspired those around them to dive in and get their hands dirty?

What if each one of us came together, owned the problem, and worked to solve it?

So here’s my mission, as revealed to me this morning:

To organize and mobilize the business and community leaders of East Nashville into specific, meaningful action that will bring about significant economic, educational, and social progress.

I’m not exactly sure what that looks like just yet. I always identify time-flexibility and increased community involvement as my two favorite parts of being in the real estate business. Now, it’s time for me to put those benefits to good use. I plan to spend a lot of time with people much smarter and more experienced than me so that I can find out. I plan on getting in the middle of the mess and finding ways for us to truly inspire change. Do you have an suggestions? Ideas? Advice? I’ll take all the help I can get.

In the end, we’ll have a neighborhood beyond reproach. No one person will be responsible for it. We all will be. That’s how we build community.

So, who’s coming with me?

On New Names…

Tada!

I’ve changed the name of this blog to ‘The New Art of Human Service.’

Read a few posts. It’ll make sense.

Now back to our irregularly scheduled programming…

Transparency in Business

Here’s a tricky issue I’ve been facing lately. In any personal service industry where your business and brand are inextricably intertwined with your personality and core belief system, you inevitably face the following dilema:

“Who are we?” versus “Who am I?”

I run a residential real estate business, the Silva Real Estate Group. This business revolves around my own personal brand as a REALTOR, a servant, and a friend.

The business is my personality, and my personality is the business.

As a responsible entrepreneur, I have a business plan, models, systems, tools, and all that important stuff that goes into running any successful endeavor. I’m also responsible for crafting our mission statement, our focus, and the vision for how this business will be a force for good within the community.

Where this all gets sticky is in defining the line between my personal beliefs and my business’s beliefs…

My Own Personal Business Heresy: That line does not exist.

To me, that’s the essence of transparency. Let your business and its culture materialize around who you are and what you stand for. After all, that’s the reason why you’re in business for yourself, isn’t it? I know that’s my main reason.

My business. My vision.

This philosophy has led me to be bold in defining our core values and our focus on service. I have a strong belief system rooted in my Christian faith. Those beliefs inspire the vision for a business that is heavily engaged in serving the community and its people.

Mentioning faith in an increasingly secular business world is, what some call, a risky practice. I’ve had this conversation with several others who express a real fear of alienating potential customers.

For the record, we don’t need to share the same faith.
To me, serving God means serving you, no matter who you are or what you believe in.

This discussion leads us back to that over-arching concern over where to draw the line. In case you missed it earlier, that line doesn’t exist. At least, for my business, it doesn’t.

Here’s the $60,000 question:

Are we building houses in the sand, or are we building them on concrete?

Try and build a business using an affected set of principles that you think your potential customers want and it will fail every time. Pretend to be something you’re not and you will fail, guaranteed.

Here’s the challenge:

Build your business and its culture upon a strong set of time-tested
values that come from within. If you can do that authentically,
then you will have built a business that is truly worthy of success.

What’s your take? Do you see this approach as the ticket to a revolution in corporate responsibility and business ethics? Or do you see it as a good way to alienate  a few would-be customers? Be honest.


Why are We Different?

This is a repost from the Silva Real Estate Group Blog.
I’m trying not to do that too often, but it truly belongs here.

Why are We Different?

There are thousands of REALTORs in Nashville just itching to help you find a home or sell your current one.

Some are great, some not so much.
Some close 100 deals a year. Some don’t close any.
Some could sell a popsicle to an Eskimo. Some couldn’t negotiate their way out of a wet paper bag.

So why would YOU choose ME?

Because I’m an honest, trustworthy, and upstanding citizen?

No. Everyone’s “honest.” Everyone will tell you to trust them. Tell me the last time you met someone who incorporated the words ‘I’m a liar’ into his or her sales pitch. Of course I’m an honest guy and lying is not part of my moral code, but if all I have to offer is honesty and trustworthiness, you’re better off getting your Uncle Joe to represent you in the purchase of your home.

Here’s who I am and what my business stands for:

I come from a long background of customer and public service:

9 years of retail and internal customer service experience.
3 years of experience as an emergency medical technician.
3 years of military service.

I’m no stranger to stress and I specialize in getting the job done, no matter how difficult. The customer and client are number one in my sight. Their satisfaction is my utmost concern.

You may credit Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A with the concept of “second-mile service,” but he got it from the same place where I get the guiding principles and ethics that form the foundation of my business.

If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.” – Matthew 5:41

If a client asks me for a good deal, I’ll find him a great deal.
If a friend needs advice, they’ll get the best council I have to offer.
If a stranger needs a hand, I’ll give him both.

That’s the kind of service we offer around here.

Couple that service commitment with excellent market knowledge and painstaking attention to detail and you’ve got a REALTOR you can trust to protect your best interests and save you time, stress, and money. Sounds good right?

For more information about my unique take on customer service, visit http://kenny.thesilvagroup.net.

Keepin’ the Love

If you follow me on Twitter or we’re Facebook friends, then you know that I start everyday off with some scripture. It just puts me in the right head space before I get going with my day. Today I chose the following:

Kenny Silva - Customer Service - Road“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

- Proverbs 17:17

Everybody settle down, I’m not about to start preaching.

How do you feel about those words? Did you nod your head and say ‘absolutely?’ Or do they make you feel a little convicted?

My point?

Let’s be good friends. Love at all times, even when they give you tons of reasons not to.
Let’s be good brothers and sisters (to all.) Hang tough through adversity.

What does this have to do with serving customers? Everything.

As anyone in any service industry can tell you, some customers will ride you like a little pony at the state fair. They’ll beat you down until you get into that deep, dark place where you don’t even know why you’re doing the work you do. It’s easy to lose heart. I’ve been guilty of it far too many times.

Do you carry that on to the next customer? Do you find yourself getting annoyed by simple, reasonable requests? Again, me in a past life.

Stop and reset. Take a minute to focus. Get back to loving on the people who are paying for the food on your table. (Don’t take me too literally there.)

This is a two way street. If you’ve got to give them a lesson in customer etiquette, do it! Some people honestly don’t know when they’re disrespecting your craft.

If they do know and they just don’t care about you, maybe it’s time to find a new customer to serve? Like I said, it’s a two way street.

When was the last time you wanted to give up on a customer, client, or friend? Did you?

Photo Credit: Stuck in Customs.

Stories Win. Silence Loses.

In this new era of hyper-communication and social media, it’s not enough to be average. It’s simply unacceptable to provide an ordinary experience.

Our generation of media is ruled by the “sneezers,” as Seth Godin would call them; those with the power to broadcast their experiences to countless observers with something as simple as a tweet.

Kevin Smith - Director

Kevin Smith

If you’re wondering how easy it is to do some serious damage to a brand in a matter of minutes, look back to the Kevin Smith fiasco.

On the other side of that coin, social media brings with it a power to build a brand that we’ve never seen before. Traditional advertising is dead. Word of mouth has been converted to word-of-tweet. If a customer absolutely loves the new pizza joint down the road, it’ll probably hit their Facebook wall.

Friends will see it and ask. Conversations will happen. Buzz is born.

As a business, you can’t buy that kind of advertising. You can’t force it either. So, how does your business get there?

Stop being average. Start being remarkable.

This isn’t rocket science. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

My solution is to create stories.

Give your customers an experience they can’t help but talk about. You do that by going above and beyond. It’s not always easy for those doing the work, but it’s absolutely critical. You don’t just need your customers to come back; you need them to send friends.

Recently, I went into a somewhat local bbq spot and left with a story to tell everyone I know. Those people told other people. Tweets were re-tweeted. Blogs were written. Free advertising for Bar-B-Cutie.

Speaking of stories, read this article from the NY Time about how Amazon.com, a few years back, helped a customer save his Christmas. Not only did they win a customer for life, but they created an infectiously viral piece of brand marketing that will undoubtedly earn them the business of everyone who is touched by it.

In summary, you need to give your customers something to talk about. (cue the Bonnie Raitt)

If they leave with nothing to say, you lose. If they leave with a story, you live to fight another day.

The New Art of Customer Service

I was born to serve others. I spent my high school years as an emergency medical technician at Naugatuck Ambulance in Naugatuck, CT. The next 3 years were spent serving in the U.S. Air Force. After that, I attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA; working full-time in a local restaurant to pay my rent. Followed by an all-too turbulent career in music; much of which was primarily financed by full-time restaurant work, I settled in to my current occupation.Kenny Silva - Real Estate Consultant

I am a real estate consultant with the Silva Real Estate Group at Keller Williams Realty in Nashville, TN. This current position is the culmination of 10 years worth of service-related occupations in action. Nurturing a God-given passion for helping others get what they want in life, I draw upon my breadth of experience to give clients the best experience possible while helping meet their real estate needs.

But why a blog about customer service? How does that apply to your life?

Customer service goes beyond typical business situations.

When you agree to do a favor for a friend, is that not a consumer transaction?

Sure, no money is being passed and you expect nothing in return, but haven’t you agreed to provide a service; subject to your own standards of quality? Life is a series of transactions in which we serve ourselves and others.

This blog is about the new art of serving customers, clients,
friends, acquaintances, and even complete, random strangers.


To truly serve another person is a fairly abstract concept. If you bring a guest in a restaurant a basket of bread, have you served them? Well, yes, you have.

What happens when you go one step further?

What about when you look your guest in the eye and let them vent about their horrible day? What if all you did was care?

Could the simple act of listening to your customer and ministering to their needs make a significant impact in their day, perhaps their life?

So when do you feel you’ve really served someone?
Do you stop at the bare minimum? Is what’s simply ‘expected’ really enough?

That’s what we’re going to talk about….

One Word That Will Get You Everything You Want

Keep in mind, this isn’t going to be a slam post by any means.
That’s not how I roll.

So there I was, using this snowy day as an excuse to stay home and feed my Facebook addiction when a complete stranger starts up a Facebook chat with me. Not sure how we’re friends, but that’s cool; I actually enjoy talking to strangers. I’ll spare you the entire discourse, but suffice it to say:

  • His first line (in place of “hello”) was “What kind of contacts do you have?
  • His response to my confused reply was “I want to be a model. Do you know any famous people?

The ensuing conversation was silly to say the least, but it got me thinking about how many of these type conversations I’ve encountered here in Music City. You know what I’m talking about…

“Hi. How are ya? What can you do for me? Anything? No? See ya later…”

Obviously, this is more of the exception than the rule, because from my experience most of the people in Nashville are sweet as sweet can be. However, we’ve each had our weird encounter with the shameless self-promoter, bless his or her heart.

So where am I going with this? Here is where:

What if you asked this question at the outset of every conversation:
“What can I do for you?”

Ask it internally. Ask it externally. I’m serious. What if, from this day forward, you focused on giving rather than receiving?

Tom Ziglar writes a wonderful blog based on his father Zig’s teaching. If you don’t know Zig Ziglar, he’s one of the most motivating people you could ever listen to. A few months back I read one of the most important quotes I’ve ever read from Zig:

“You can have everything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

There it is. The holy grail. The secret to networking and business success. Give, give, give and you won’t have to take. Give first and it’ll be given, right?

So, next time you’re having one of those mildly awkward yet highly necessary conversations at some networking event or social gathering, don’t obsess over what that other person has to offer you, your business, or your career.

Make a friend, be a friend, and build a relationship. Find a way to help your new buddy and they’ll find a way to help you. You won’t have to ask. It’ll just happen. If it doesn’t, the only thing that’s happened is you’ve injected a little more good will into the world.

Come from a place of contribution.
Give willingly and generously.
Live the Golden Rule.

There’s the secret. Now, go and be successful.

If you missed it, the ‘one word’ I was referring to is GIVE!!!

Photo Credit: Dominic

The People of PodCamp Nashville 2010 #pcn10

So Dave Delaney totally beat me to this post… That’s what I get for being “too busy to blog” over the past few days.PodCamp Nashville 2010

I had the privilege of attending Podcamp Nashville this Saturday at Cadillac Ranch. I got to sit in a lot of really enlightening sessions and learn some great things.

Nerdy education aside, I got to meet and learn from some really great people that I think you all should know about.

Gavin Richardson

Gavin is a pastor, social media participant anthropologist, and all around cool guy. I was glad to get to know Gavin and also learn about how social media is affecting human relationships from his presentation entitled Sex, Lies, and Social Media.

Angela DeYoung

Angela is a wonderful interior designer with an impressive portfolio. She loves what she does and is quick to share her enthusiam for designing your space.

LaDonna Bowers

LaDonna knows a lot about a lot. Just ask her about some light bulbs. ;)

Daniel Morris

Super intelligent guy with a sharp mind for business. Look for his up and coming podcast.

Rob Robinson

Rob’s a great guy that I’ve been lucky to meet before, but didn’t get to talk to very much until Saturday. Check out his blog. Rob is very in tune with all things Nashville.

Will Norton

Super cool guy who I hope to never have to call… (Will’s an attorney.)

Dave Delaney

The life of the party, Dave is the social media coordinator at Griffin Technology. He lives with his finger on the pulse of all this new technology we geek-types love to talk about.

Lucas Hendrickson

The man with the plan. Lucas made sure that the day went off without a hitch. Bravo!

Courtenay Rogers

Fearless leader of the volunteer crew. When I got there (at 6:45 AM, boo,) she immediately scooped me up and put me to work. She really got things done… Not to mention she gave a great presentation on Social NETiquette and how not to be a networking shmuck, a topic I really enjoy.

Scott McIntosh

I didn’t get to meet Scott personally, but he taught a down and dirty comprehensive session about setting up your “broadcasting channel”, a.k.a. all your social media stuff. I got a few cool little nuggets of it. I was more impressed by the kind of stuff he’s been working on. Check him out!

Kate Gallagher

Sad to say I didn’t get to meet Kate either. Media director at Paramore|Redd, she taught us all about how she develops social media strategy with new clients such as Backyard Burgers and Chase Amazon. It was a really great primer for people looking to develop a strategy for either themselves or a client.

Justin Davis

Another super cool guy. Justin presented on developing “user experience.” In a nutshell, he taught us how to develop web pages that are simple and attractive. He gave me a lot of nice little ideas for making this website much more usable. Stay tuned for those improvements.

Josh Oakes

Josh offered a contrarian view of social media and how it’s altering human interaction. Really cool stuff with a heavy call to action at the end… Basically, we only get one shot at this, so let’s no fudge it up.

Mitch Canter

Hot-shot website designer who can bend WordPress to his every will. Since I use WordPress, I really enjoyed his presentation and look forward to implementing some of the things Mitch talked about.

Georgia Cross

Marketer extraordinaire/social media butterfly. ‘Nuff said.

Taylor Vick

Really cool girl with a really cool blog. Go on and check it out.

Nate Baker

Nate’s a trip… Search #flashfest2010 and see for yourself… Seriously, though, Nate does some really great things in the community. Check him out and prepare to be impressed.

Scott Stephens

Scott can bang out 10 push ups much more quickly than I can. Physical exercise aside, Scott’s a big thinker and a great guy. He also goes to the same church as I do. (Cross Point shout-out!)

Jessica R. Murray

Jessica can watch Scott do 10 push ups and hand him a prize afterward. In addition to that, she co-founded Social Media Club Nashville and does all sorts of other cool stuff!

There you have it! I’m so sorry if we met and I neglected to put your name on the list! Send me an angry comment and I’ll add you right away ;) .

Wednesday Night in Nashville – Why Life is Cool Here

So here’s what happened in my world last night.#flashfest2010

I was having dinner with some friends at the 12 South Taproom & Grill, during which I get a tweet from @flashfest2010 about going to Mt. Richmore and assaulting John Rich’s gaudy new palatial estate with a barrage of light…

For more information on why anyone would do such a thing, visit the Nashville Scene.

Juvenile? Maybe. Powerful? Definitely. Before Twitter, how could a grass roots movement arise out of the dust within a matter of hours to combat rampant celebrity shmuckery? I wish I could have went, but I hadn’t seen these friends in quite a while and I didn’t want to leave them hanging.

One of these friends was Jeff Allen,
an amazing artist who you need to check out immediately.

After dinner, we headed over to the Cannery Ballroom to check out Randy Rogers Band featuring Wade Bowen, two of my most favorite Texas artists… You don’t spend the better part of 7 months in a van (like me) driving back and forth through Texas from gig to gig without picking up an affinity for Texas music.

Randy Rogers BandThe show was amazing. Randy Rogers and his band absolutely killed it. I ran in to a few friends I haven’t seen in a while and had a blast listening to some gritty, driving Texas country.

After that, our little crew headed on over to the Bridge Bar at Renaissance Hotel for the usual CRS week festivities. Music biz-types were out in abundance, glad-handing and networking like busy little bees, but it was still a really fun time. I got to reconnect with a lot of musician and business types that I haven’t seen in forever, as well as meet some really cool people (no name dropping allowed.)

CRS is going all week. Here are a few of the artists who will be playing and attending: Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, Jason Michael Carroll, Bucky Covington, Jake Owen and Taylor Swift. Pretty cool event for all you Nashville music-types to go and check out.View From The Bridge Bar in Nashville, TN

So that was my night in Music City. If you’re not from here, it sounds pretty exciting. If you live in Nashville, then it’s business as usual.

That’s why I love this city so much.

Wanna move here yet?