As a real estate professional, you need access to data both quickly and easily throughout the day (and often beyond that).  While today's PDA's offer tremendous features designed to help you be more effective, the sad fact is that few real estate professionals know how to tap into even a fraction of their power.  Here's a way to change that.

Because so much of your time is spent on the road, you need a mobile phone system that allows you to manage your contacts in addition to your messaging. That’s why you’ve purchased a Blackberry, Palm Treo or other hand-held computing device that serves as a phone as well as a computer, but do you use it effectively and efficiently? Perhaps you don’t know what you don’t know.

Donna Gilliland, President of MOSTraining.com, specializes in training clients to effectively and efficiently use their hand-held devices. She has provided the following tips on using your mobile phone/personal digital assistant to its maximum capability. For Blackberry 7510, 7520, 7100i and others here’s a typing tip for you:

If you frequently use the same particular word or phrase when typing on your device, you can save time by using the AutoText feature to assign an abbreviation for the entire string. For example, you could assign a shortcut of amort to the words "Amortization Schedule" so that in the future, when you type amort in your message and press the space bar the phrase "Amortization Schedule" will appear. This can be set up in less than a minute.

Here’s how you accomplish the task of using AutoText to assign an abbreviation to a particular phrase:

1. Roll the trackwheel to the device options on the desktop (the wrench icon)
2. Press the trackwheel
3. Roll the trackwheel to AutoText and press the trackwheel
4. Press the trackwheel again to engage the menu
5. Roll the trackwheel to the New option, press the trackwheel
6. In the Replace field, type the shortcut you want to use such as amort for Amortization Schedule
7. Roll down to the With field and type the word you want to replace amort with when typed, such as Amortization Schedule. (Tip: to type a capital letter quickly, press and hold the letter you want to capitalize)
8. Press the trackwheel and choose Save to save your new shortcut
9. Press the ESC button (second button on the side of your Blackberry) twice to return to your desktop

You now have a shortcut of amort that will produce "Amortization Schedule". To test your new shortcut, compose a message and, while in the message, type your shortcut amort, and press the space bar, voila! the words "Amortization Schedule" appear.

Protecting the information on your device

Have you ever thought about what would happen if you lost your Blackberry? How can you protect the information on it? How would someone who knows nothing about a Blackberry be able to locate contact information about you to return your Blackberry? The answers to these questions are twofold 1) set your ownership information and 2) set a password for your device.

Setting ownership information:

1. Roll the trackwheel to the device options on the desktop (the wrench icon)
2. Press the trackwheel
3. Roll to the Owner option, press the trackwheel
4. Type a name in the Name field
5. Roll the trackwheel down to the Information field
6. Type in the contact information, such as who to contact and the number at which you want to be contacted (Tip: The Information field is a text field so if you want to type a number you must hold down the Alt key to type the numbers. REMEMBER, they have your cell phone so do not put your cell phone number as the contact number).
7. Press the trackwheel, roll to the Save option, press the trackwheel to save your changes
8. Press the ESC key to return to your desktop

Your owner information is now set. 

Setting a password:

1. Roll the trackwheel to the device options on the desktop (the wrench icon)
2. Press the trackwheel
3. Roll the trackwheel to Security, press the trackwheel
4. Press the trackwheel while in the Password field
5. Press the trackwheel on Change Option
6. Roll to Enabled, press the trackwheel
7. Roll to the Security Timeout field, press the trackwheel (Note: this is to specify the amount of time you want to expire before you are prompted for a password)
8. Press the trackwheel on Change Option
9. Roll to the desired timeout value, press the trackwheel to finalize your selection
10. Press the trackwheel to engage the menu, select the Save option and press the trackwheel (you will now be prompted for a password)
11. Type in a password (Tip: Numbers and letters are acceptable and passwords are case sensitive. Use a password you can remember, but one someone else cannot easily guess)
12. Press the trackwheel (you will be prompted to type in your password again)
13. Type your password again then press the trackwheel. (Your password is now set)
14. Press the ESC key to return to your desktop

In the future when you are prompted for your password, remember that you will have 10 chances to enter the password correctly. If you fail on all 10 attempts, the system will wipe your device of its information. This is for your protection.

The owner information you set will appear every time your system prompts you for a password. This will be helpful if you should lose your device since this information will appear on the screen once the prompt for a password kicks in. In addition, no one else can access your data once the password is active. Remember, the Security Timeout value you set controls how long the system waits before prompting you for a password.

There are many tips and tricks that save you time and saving time improves your productivity. By utilizing all the features of your mobile device, you will become more productive and make more money. Take the time to get the training you need to be a pro in the use of your chosen device. And besides, instructor-led training can be a much quicker and more fun method of learning to use all the nuances of your device than slogging through thick manuals.

Evy Williams is our VA QUICK TIPS columnist. She specializes in designing marketing materials to sell homes through her company, BrochuresByDesign.com. She holds a Master’s degree in Administration and is a certified Master Virtual Assistant, Military Spouse Virtual Assistant, Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant, Real Estate Support Specialist and is EthicsChecked. Contact her at Evy@BrochuresByDesign.com.

(NOTE: Mr. Internet, his company and staff receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors or service providers. Also any virtual assistant or consultant mentioned in this publication is not to be construed as an endorsement of their services by Mr. Internet or his company. Always remember to do a thorough due-diligence before hiring any kind of assistant.)