Will the real Randy Jackson …
The Realtor
The Idol
American Idol is a phenomenon that reaches far and wide. With a name like Randy Jackson, you can’t get far into a conversation without someone making a comment and Realtor Randy Jackson of Coldwell Banker Walter Williams knows what that is like.
“I can’t believe how many people actually watch the show because a lot, I mean a lot, of people make comments about my name, which they never did before the show started,” said Jackson.
From the photos above, you see, he looks nothing like the real Randy Jackson, one of the American Idol judges.
“Not in the slightest,” he said. “Maybe if I did, I could make some money being his look- a-like at parties. I can think of a lot worse gigs.”
But, that doesn’t keep people from making the connection.
“I never bring it up too much because I usually don’t have to,” he said. “About 75 percent of people initiate a response. For example, they’ll say ‘What’s up, dog?’ or ‘How’s Simon?,’ silly stuff like that. Even if a person doesn’t say anything, he or she will likely just smile, so I know that they know.”
He hasn’t used the Randy Jackson angle for his marketing, but did find a way to incorporate his name. His tagline is “Jacksonville starts with Jackson every time.”
Jackson has been in real estate for five years. He initially worked for Watson Realty for approximately two years and Lifestyles Realtors for three years after that. When Lifestyles and Coldwell Banker Walter Williams Realty merged. he stayed on.
Before real estate he was a paralegal.
“I decided that I wanted a job with more flexibility both in terms of schedule and income,” he said. “That was when the market was a bit different than it is now. The last year or so has been challenging but I feel optimistic for the future. I really do.”
A Realtor is an author
The Realtor
Realtor Ben Walker of Country Club Real Estate of Ponte Vedra has written a wonderful tale of intrigue and mystery mixed with a history lesson of sorts on slavery and abolishment set deep in the South during the 1800’s.
It’s “Winds of the South” and it’s available at bookstores and at amazon.com.
Walker’s main character, Zimri Rhodes, is based on a real person, Simri Rose, who founded a newspaper in Macon, Ga. in 1823.
The book
Rose is Walker’s great-great grandfather and the paper exists today.
“The idea of for the book originated with a copy of my great-great grandfather’s journal that he kept while traveling to New York and Connecticut in 1830,” said Walker. “He was going home after 10 years in Georgia to attend a friend’s wedding. Most of what is recounted in the story is very close to actual events in the journal.”
Walker said it took him about 18 months to write the first draft of the book and another six months of re-writing and editing.
“I did a great deal of research, mostly reading books about that period, but also biographies of some of our Founding Fathers and Andrew Jackson,” he said. “I also spent a couple of days in the library in Macon reading microfiche copies of my great-great grandfather’s newspaper going back to 1823.”
Walker said he wrote the book with the intention to entertain as well as educate.
“As far as what I want people to take away from the book, I have to say, first of all, that they have been entertained at a higher level than what they might expect from lesser works,” he said. “Second of all, that they have learned something about our shared history both North and South and finally, that they have gained some insight into how difficult and complex the challenges were that faced our ancestors. Had we been in their place, would we have behaved any differently?”
Walker has already had a couple of book signings, one in Beaufort, S.C., and one in Jacksonville.
“I’m always working on one book or another,” said Walker. “I’ve got several just sitting in my closet that I’ve worked on for years, but which may never see the light of day because I’m not satisfied with how they’re going.”
He said some books, like “Winds of the South,” simply fall into place and take relatively little rewriting, but others take more work.
“I’ve written several plays. One won the 1997 South Carolina Playwrights’ Conference Competition, and another was produced in San Francisco in the 70’s.”
Congratulations to ...
... Portland Stuart of The Parc Group on her marriage last month to Chris Swan and yes, she will be changing her name to Portland Swan. You’ll also remember her as the director of the Sales and Marketing Council.