Could not have said it better myself

I had a chance to connect with a recent graduate from FHSU (Graduated this December) this year. He was having some problems finding a position and his way. I wanted to end the year with some advice from me in Nanshan's words

"now I just found myself a room to live in Flushing area in Queens ($350 a month, the cheapest room I could find so far) and was able to focus my mind on this letter..


Now that I got a place to live, the next step would be finding the internship and preparing for applying graduate school. Even till now, I still think the conversations I had with you beneficial and influential. Being honest and also being confident.. Always get done what are promised to do.. networking with people and being persistent...I can't thank you more for teaching me those things.."

Sometimes in business we forget what we know and more importantly to pass it along.

Nanshan, I wish you the best in NY and in your experiences. I still cannot imagine coming from the other side of the world to Hays KS and then finally on to NY City. (Heck, NY would scare me now!)

The lesson for me next year? Do something really scary. (I always preach doing something scary) Do something Nanshan scary.

What have you been up to?

I know, it has been a while since I have posted and I am positive that next year I will get back on the consistency wagon.

Like every year I have hours and hours of holiday time building Lego's, games and toys. It all started here with the Batman helicopter. Caden built many of his own Lego;s himself however this caused him some problems.

Then came the marble thing. 3 1/2 hours building this thing. Carsen has been entertained for quite a while. It is in need of some repair now.

Last came the robot. A few hours and programming via USB. It just walks, talks and identifies colors. But it is just a start.

And of course the free build, the tower.

Jim Collins

Had a chance to see Jim Collins present at IT Nation and this alone was worth the entire week. If you do not recognize Jim Collins name you most likely recognize his books like; Good to Great, Great by Choice, Built to last. And much, much more.

I thought about posting some of his amazing thoughts on business. However I really feel that you would be missing out if you do not read his books. Many of the finding in the books goes against standard thoughts in business. The unique thing about the books is that the findings are confirmed with facts over and over again.

If you are in business you would be doing a favor by investing in all Jim Collins books.

A great trip

We made a trip down to Disney world for 7 days. There were 6 of us. Jenifer and the boys along with Jenifer's parents. We started everything at the parks on October 30th for a half day. One thing that in my mind cannot be argued is the quality and attention to detail that Disney puts into the entire experience. We stayed at Radiator Springs (Art of Animation) where the entire Car's world was recreated.

You can see in the above photo that we spent Halloween at the Magic Kingdom. What a great night. We trick-or-treated Disney. This will be a Halloween that both boys will remember for life.

We then moved on to Christmas on November 1st. Most of the park was transformed overnight. We had character meals, went to all parks (Many twice)

Everyone went home and I stayed another 6 days for a conference. I am finally caught up from being gone that long.

I really wanted to hate it...But I didn't!

As you know I have been a fan of the iPad for some time. I recently had the opportunity to get a iPhone4s at no cost. I jumped in.

It is pretty much superior in every way.

1. Visual Voicemail. (Easy to see who it is from, simple to play and more)
2. Screen. (I had a larger screen on my Droid and the smaller Apple screen is brighter and higher resolution) I don't miss the larger screen at all.
3. Simplicity. Easy to use.
4. Mail interface is better! And yes, I tried all the free and paid apps for the Droid!
5. Messaging interface is better!
6. Siri. Sweet!
7. Touch response is better. Even the smaller keyboard works great (On screen)
8. I kinda like not having this huge brick to hold when making a call.
9. Speaker on this is great!
10 Apps are great!

The down side? A few.
1. Apple land is limited but controlled. If you want to work outside the box, this is not for you.
2. Widgets. No such thing on the Apple.
3. Battery. Look, I really have had this one day and by noon I was looking at 50% battery. I have spoken to other and they are not having the same luck.


I really wanted to hate this thing...OK I love it.

Thought this was great advertising

It was at least interesting and entertaining. Something lacking in lots of marketing lately.

A new perspective

I am in the process of re-reading Good to Great. It amazes me how my perspective has changed over the years. This book almost feels like a new read.

I now wonder how many other good reads that I may need to revisit. I think I will at least go back and look at some of the best and skim again.

Jenifer pointed out

That I have been such a Blogging slacker. It is true.

Sure, we have been busy with Larks games, summer fun and generally going here and there. Now that things are getting ready for school and things are slowing down I am making a commitment to get back to this.

While not blogging, I have been doing a lot of reading. Really reading information on management, company growth and innovation. Through all of this reading I have been impacted quite a lot when it comes to challenging things I thought I knew.

1. People are motivated by money. Statistics show that after you pay people well and you give them tasks that are not basic (Require thinking) that people are motivated by being autonomous, challenged and getting better. This in some way goes against all I thought I knew about sales and commission plans. However I am at a point in my career that this is true.

2. Good leaders of companies are not egotistical and showy. Again, statistics show that great leaders are out for what is best (Almost to a fault) are strong and are more than willing to take a back seat (While watching others excel). There are many examples of this. And sure some of the most successful leaders you can think of are showy, but for how long and did it last?

I have more but for right now this is a good start.

Macon Georgia

I spent a couple of days in Macon Georgia at Infinity Networks this last week (Yea, that is why I have been so quiet). What a great company down there. One thing that I have always known is how important company culture is. While knowing how important it was it is very hard to define and even harder to know when it is right.

Infinity Networks has it right. The people at this company without question are the most dedicated, engaged and loyal I have ever seen. The leader of Infinity Networks is Robert Betzel. He is where the Culture starts. However every employee there really shines the culture (Without exception)

One thing that I found out from that team is that Robert wrote a book about culture and I have just ordered it (You can find it here) It is called The Company Culture Challenge. I will give everyone the update once I have a chance to read it. I have no doubt that it will be great. I had a chance to see what that culture looks like, now I want to know how it was built.

Ice cream Sandwich

Finally Lenovo released the 4.0 upgrade to the Thinkpad Tablet. (No mom this is not about food. Ice cream Sandwich is the code name for Google's Android OS (Operating System)). Not sure why it took so long and it came the same day that they released Jellybean ie 4.1 Nice I am still behind and I am sure it will take another forever to get this update.

Anyway the upgrade was painless. Took about 45 minutes to download and install. Nothing I really had to do other than to say upgrade. Everything came back up. I had 3 apps that were not compatible, or at least didn't work and I deleted.

Overall the unit functions quicker, the browser experience is faster and interface is cleaner. Not much change otherwise.

So I use the Lenovo for business and the iPad for home. I have to give the edge to the iPad. However for almost double the cost, if I add that in the Android is a great experience. Now this fall Windows 8 comes out and should be a game changer!

Hope for the future generation.

It feels like every time you hear about the next generation (Speaking specifically about that generation in college right now) all you hear is gloom and doom. They are lazy, can't put their electronics down and do not know how to interact.

I would like to say that I have hope. My first glimmer of hope comes from teaching college class. Sure, there are some slackers and those who won't make a passing grade. My guess is that this is no different now than it was when I was in school. Lets even go further to say that many of my teachers would have suggested that if I found success it would have been at avoiding work. I have seen many of this generation I have not only seen success from but even suggest they will exceed those in the business world today.

The second way I know is because of Blake (Our Larks player this year) he has been considerate; says thank you any time you do anything for him. He has been respectful; if he says he will be there he will and probably be early. He has been responsible; he takes great care of our boys and they idolize him.



Here Blake is yesterday pitching until all the neighbor boys (And our own) were content (OK it may have turned dark first) They got to brag to all their friends they hit off a Larks Pitcher. (Now to be honest he said he was throwing 10% power but the boys don't know the difference)

We had a chance to meet Blake's parents last weekend and it is not hard to figure out why he has all of the above traits. His parents definitely showed him right path. Heck even his sister Megan (Valedictorian - I had to look up how to even spell that) (Not Leah Jenifer) may have contributed a bit.

This has been our second year hosting a Larks player and both years have been great. Both players have really added to our summer fun.

Best part? I have yet to be beat by a Larks player in Golf!

PS If you happen to run into Blake you have to ask him about his nickname. "Chicken on the bone"

Credit where credit is due.

Jenifer helped me with a computer! Ok, lets be more specific. She helped me with Facebook. I had all kinds of people asking me for some birthday thing that I did not want to do (MOM). She showed me how to disable "Apps" Now to be honest I did not know I was running "Apps" I was running some 20 "Apps" Now I am "App" free.

Thanks Jenifer...Facebook Queen

I have come to realize that I only access Facebook via the iPad. That has definitely influenced my Facebook experience.

Yea, I have been slacking

Posting on the blog. So I will try and catch up.

Last weekend we made a trip up to KC to see the Royals. It started with a night stay at my sisters house and we had a chance to see her boys.



Saturday morning began with some storms in the morning which made the morning cool. We had a great time early exploring the stadium. The boys loved it.



The game definitely warmed up ending in the mid 90's and felt like 100. We had great seats and a wonderful time.

OK I checked

Even Death Valley is cooler than Hays this week. Maybe I need to check the surface of the sun.

Good conversation about interesting

We were discussing some marketing yesterday and one thing that we all agreed about (For a change) was it at least had to be interesting. Nothing drives me more crazy than boring marketing.

During the Royals game last night there was the always interesting Beef Jerky Sasquatch commercial. The more recent release can be seen HERE.

Has all the great elements. Product placement, you cant turn the channel and is funny.

The only other thing that I think can make advertising better is adding value to the viewer/listener. Make them aware and educate.

Keep it fun
Add value
Make it interesting

A song, game and a hero

It all started with the National Anthem sung by Garrett and Tammy Wellbrock. They did a great job. (Definitely something I could not do, nor would you want me to do it. Your ears would hurt)



Then we had a chance to see Blake throw a great inning with no runs.



Meanwhile in the background I had my award winning friend Gerard Wellbrock in the background calling the game. I kinda missed him during the game however. It is kinda nice having your own color man for the games.



Claudio then finished the game with no runs and even gave us a dance. (OK, it is just his follow through)

Right when you thought it could not get any better.



Carsen came BLASTING up the stairs with a bat from Ryan Busboom the one player (Outside of Blake, duh) Carsen LOVES. No matter where Carsen is, when Ryan's walk up song starts, Carsen stops to watch.



A super big thanks to Ryan for making Carsen's year.

Every house needs this!

USB ports on your outlets to power your phone, iPad or other electronic devices. I installed my first and have to say it was easy and now I need a couple more.

Jenifer was less than impressed but sure makes charging easier. Now a couple for the boys.

Don't over think it.

OK Do.

Just kidding.

One thing I guarantee is that I have never been accused of doing is over thinking things. I have been pretty good at gathering facts, analyzing them then acting without remorse. Recently it seems that I have seen quite a lot of people in business gathering facts looking then starting over and the end result is, well, nothing! A bad decision may have been better than no decision.

Lets face it, in today's information world, information overload is pretty easy. Facts and figures, people's opinion and noise are everywhere. Moving forward it is probably more important to be able to sort through information and identify key parts is crucial.

It is everywhere. We booked a vacation to Disney World and the amount of decisions were mind boggling. Which resort to stay, meal plans, ticket options, flights even which airport to use. I think you could get a masters in Disney!

Sometimes the Nike slogan is the best "Just Do It"

The Three year , six year warranty and the 2 year one year warranty.

Like usual it seems like everything is breaking. First Jenifer gets her car hailed on then it's battery dies. I checked the battery and it had a 6 year battery. Great, car is only 4 years old so at least some portion of the cost should be covered. Wrong. Because it was installed when the car was new it is only covered by the 36 month manufacture warranty. (Yea, that is logical) So paid full price.

Then my power washer stopped pumping at high pressure. It was a little over 1 year old so great, it had a 2 year warranty. Wrong. It has a 1 year pump warranty (The part that went bad) and a 2 year engine warranty. (Only can find that if you check the VERY fine details)

Bat Boy and Robin

OK there is no Robin in this story, just Bat Boy Carsen.



He had an absolute blast. It is all he can talk about this week. Not only was it good for him to stretch to new roles but also to take responsibility. He learned that when the umpire showed him fingers between innings he was to deliver that number of balls, after each hit to get the bat and guards, and of course he had to pay attention the whole game.

Afterwards the Larks players played around with him. Playing catch, allowing him to pitch to the catcher and more. I am sure this will be one of those moments he remembers forever.

Fly In

As you can see, it all started early. In fact even earlier than this, before the sun came up. It was in the upper 40's to get started which is a bit cool, however it was perfect wind wise which does not happen much. There were many cool planes that came in;



I believe that Caden's favorite was the military display



The helicopter rides were definitely a hit!



The remote control planes were definitely interesting. They go much faster than I thought was possible!



There were reenactments, Amelia came back to Kansas!



One of my favorite planes came later in the day.



No way am I going up in one of those.

There was definitely a crowd.



Everyone had a great time.

5 am came early

Headed out the door to the fly in early this morning. Other than early flights or trips to the Chiefs game I don't think I get up this early for anything. I will post some good pictures of the planes and activities later! All the planning for this one day.

Busy weekend coming up!

Starting today I will spend most of the day finalizing details for tomorrows fly in.

Tonight is the first Larks game.

Saturday begins early at 5:30 or so at the airport for the fly in. Lots of things going on there. From Blackhalk helicopters to private aircraft, dunk tank, remote control aircraft, rocket show, car show, motorcycle show, food, prizes, helicopter rides, Amelia Earhart reenactment, live radio remote, and so much more!

Then that night another Larks game. (Somewhere in there is a wedding)

Then Sunday slows down a bit. Only a Larks game but Blake (The Larks player staying with us) starts! Jenifer will be nervous.

I found the i in TEAM

Over the years I have been told by pretty much everyone that they are Team players. Yet we know many of these people are full of it. So I recently stumbled on where they foun

d the i. Look in the A

Just hit the ball.

Spent the weekend at my parents lake house and of course Dad and I hit the course today. OK the wind was 40 mph and the heat was on. One thing that we decided was that instead of trying to hit harder and control everything just take a relaxed swing and relaxed pace. It seems that when you do this the ball goes further and where you want it to go.

I think in sales this is also true. Be honest, take a natural pace and do the right thing. You might be amazed how well it goes.

Dear Mr. Highway Patrol Man

Why do you think it is ok for you to go 60MPH in the Passing lane when the posted speed limit is 75 MPH.

Trying to cause an accident by backing up traffic or are you just trying to make us all have road rage?

Now for those people who would not pass him. Thanks for holding us all up.

OK done venting.

Hey Google what the heck?

So I have started to use Google's new blogger interface (The thing the blog you are reading is wrote in) and if you haven't noticed there are no spaces in my paragraphs or bullets. Not sure why. Today I am trying the "Press "Enter" for line breaks mode and seeing if it fixes the issue. Why would you not

Want

This.

I am hoping

for

The

BEST!

I can't open my hand

This is the way that Carsen started his weekend. (His hand fell asleep) He must have been laying on it and when he woke up he was a bit concerned.

Last Day of School

I can barely remember that great feeling of being out of school for the year. However look into the eyes of my boys and their mother and you will see the joy once again. Going to bed late Sleeping in Going to the pool Relaxing no HOMEWORK (For parents and the kids) Baseball Wait, I think I am ready also!

In my Inbox this morning Truth in Advertising?

Yep, nothing to add to this!

HTG Day 3 & 4

Meeting days in Dallas. Both days went well, in fact we were even out early. The Sponsors room was open Wednesday night and we had a chance to catch up with old friends and see where technology was taking us. No real surprises this quarter. And like all HTG events the evening ended in the bar. However this year I did not over indulge. Now just for a long trip home.

HTG Day 2

Wow do mornings come early. I spent most of the day in sessions learning about sales and solutions. I came across many new ideas and cannot wait to try them in the field. I did present with a couple of other people and to be honest I felt the content was a bit weak. It is hard to present with others and have synergy with them when you do not have time to spend with them putting the information together. I do feel like we did give some value to the audience it was just a bit weak. The day ended with dinner and we could have fed another 50 people with the food left over.

The first image is a steak (20 oz with Onions on top) Tasted like gravy. Good at first, too much later! Then cake. WAY TOO MUCH! Working on that 10 pounds again.

HTG Day 1 on delay

Today was mostly driving. A relatively uneventful drive down to Dallas. However the pace definitely picked up once we got there. We had to check into the motel, HTG and the catch up with pretty much everyone. Nothing like walking into an event and knowing almost everyone in the building. We started with an event put on by SonicWall and Dell. Just drinks and catching up. The evening ended with a quick trip to Outback Steak House for some Cheese Fries and burger. Last year at this event I almost put on 10 pounds in a week. This is a good start to the same. Tomorrow starts a very busy week of learning and sharing. I look forward to it all.

End of a long week

Spent the week in Dallas at HTG Q2 meeting. I will be posting this week about that week. Mark and I drove and really the trip went quick. The trip back was a little more exciting with it raining half the way. After getting home Friday night we went to a party put on by Jenifer's work so Friday went fast. Saturday I chopped down the forest that was my yard, Detailed Jenifer's car (Wanted that for Mothers day and to be honest I hate paying for that since you spend more than $100 and I do it better myself) and many other general yard things. Anyway, great to be home and get caught up.

I have some advice

The older I get the less topics and certainty I feel like I can give advice. Almost always, no matter what the question I have to say the answer "Depends" It depends on where you are at, what your goals are, what you want to get accomplished and the entire situation. Should I buy a Ferrari? It depends. If you need to drive 200 mph and have an annual income above $2 Million? Why not. I have also noticed many people giving out advice. They are giving it in certainty. Not asking many questions, just here is the answer. Lets face it, this is easy to digest. Simple and to the point, yet most of the time inaccurate to your situation. Now, I do have one piece of advice I can give for certainty. (And stolen from a song in the 90's) WEAR SUNSCREEN. (See previous post) I have never (And I mean NEVER) regretted wearing sunscreen. I have, however, regretted not wearing it. I am hoping tomorrow I will stop regretting this as much tomorrow. As for today it still hurts. Bottom line, be careful who you get advice. Make sure you have an open conversation path and each party understands the entire situation. Then take your time in understanding the advice. There is no magic pill. Just magic sun protection.

How stupid can I be?

It has been over a decade since I have made this big of a mistake. However to be honest I at least had an excuse when I owned a jet ski. for those who don't know the problem with a jet ski is the water is constantly washing off the sunscreen on your feet so I had some of the worst burns there. Wearing shoes used to be horrible. This time I just missed the feet. I must have at least covered the right foot a little bit because it is not as bad. The right however is not so good. I did at least wear shoes today. Anyway, me and the boys went and saw grandma and grandpa in Council Grove Saturday for grandpa's birthday. We had a good time fishing, boat driving and of course baseball.

A good night sleep

When I woke Carsen up early this morning "Feels like when I was sleeping my head didn't touch anything" Now that is a good night sleep

A fun time golfing

Golfing with Bob from the print shop and Mike and Boomer from the radio station at the Chamber golf tournament. I will say that 90 Plus is a bit warm for this time of the year but still had a great time. We will not speak of the score.

Setting Expectations

Is probably one of the most forgotten steps in selling. Have you ever had customers that when your project is done and you meet with them or send them a survey the installation went poorly? Many times I see companies try and diagnose why their technical staff failed. However they should be looking at where the sale starts, with sales. Were the following expectations set; Time to install The bill (What exactly will it look like and what is covered) Where are points that may be problematic What things may need to be extra? When will you start? How will the process start? How long will I be down? Who do I call if there is a problem? What will be ongoing expenses, warranty? Just a few things to look at when setting expectations.

I want to be...

Carsen had career day at school. He wants to be a Baseball player because they rock! They will make $1,000 a week. Not too bad for a 6 year old. There was a wide variety of jobs; Fireman Policeman Animal Doctor Nurse Doctor It was nice to hear why most of the kids want to be some of those things. "Because I want to help people/animals" Deep down that is why I do what I do. I want to help people understand Technology (My passion) Yet, none of the kids want to be a Salesman. Bummer. More work to do.

Award winning writer

It took me into my 30's to be published. Carsen does it at age 6. First in his age bracket.

Where do you come up with that stuff?

I was talking about someone at work who had a small accident and knocked down a fence with their car. Carsen "I guess we know who let the dogs out" (We had listened to the song the night before) NOW THAT IS FUNNY STUFF.

Ready for the season

Someone is definitely ready for the Baseball season to start. I can't even finish dinner and here he sits patiently waiting to play catch.

Inaccuracy in advice? Trust.

I recently had a screw in the tire of my Vette. I took it in instead of removing it myself. If it would leak air quickly I would have had to pull the tire and such. What a pain. I took the car into the local tire shop and when I picked it up I was told that if it would have had a hole (It did not, screw was not that deep) they could not have fixed the tire because it was 6 years old. They will only replace tires of this age. So I did some quick research on the internet when I got home to find out that this advice is questionable. It seems that tire age is relevant to storage and more particular the most common age I find that they suggest replacement is ten years. So will I trust the advice of this shop in the future? Nope.

Shopping for jeans?

OK to be honest it has been a while since I have shopped for jeans. However last weekend I went to JC Pennys looking for some new jeans and wow, I was a bit overwhelmed. Boot cut straight Sits low on the waist Sits on the waist Just to mention a few options. Then there is the torn, un-torn and different varieties of such. Last is color. Dark, light, faded and tinted. I am sure I have missed many options. I think I need someone to help me with this. Add age into the factor. Is it strange for a middle aged man (Wow that feels weird) to wear these? One thing I am real sure of. Skinny jeans is not ok on a man. EVER.

Number 1000

This is my 1000th post. Wow, that is a lot. I was trying to think of some inspirational blog, however I have nothing. I have been ask why I do this. To be honest I have a couple of reasons. 1. I think it will be neat that the kids will have a chance later in life to see what was going on when they were growing up. 2. Legacy thing. Like it or not this will be around forever. 3. Maybe I have some bits and pieces of advice that are worthy of reading. 4. It really is a focus thing. Take some time every day (OK not every day) to think. Maybe not inspirational, however if you do not have a blog it is a nice way of keeping your thoughts. And no Facebook does not qualify.

Ah Spring

Man I love this time of year. Grass is green, flowers are in bloom.

Another one from Carsen

"Mom, no tooth has losted me"

Ah, the worries of a 6 year old.

I enjoyed this one

Thanks Tammy for sharing!

I like to debate

I was watching Undercover Boss and the show ended with "I like to debate, maybe I should debate less and listen more"

I would take that even further to say that we are automatically put into defensive mode. Focusing on the message is important. Then you have to break down the message. Is it factual, is it coming from the right point of view, is it shaded with different light?

No matter what, the key is to just listen and not get immediately defensive. Lets face it, the odds of changing someones point of view is very hard to do. It all begins with listening.

A little quite time this weekend

Jenifer and the boys are headed to Wichita to see their cousin (Not Uncle Josh). What will I do during this quiet time. I could do some yard work, maybe finish some inside work. Nope, I am months behind in my reading so I am going to try and do a little catching up.

So no calling, texting or emailing. Just some quiet catching up.

Another Carsenism.

Sitting in the bathtub tonight Carsen was real quiet and he all of a sudden says "I like being little a lot." Uh, what makes you say that. "Because the big people have to wash and make the food." OK why you all of a sudden say that? "The music tells us that!" Uh what? "In music the song tells us that" OK what song.

He tells me that the song title is "I like being little a lot" So I reference youtube

He says "Thats what I am talking about"

39 coming on with a "Ouch"

Enjoying my birthday weekend was great on the golf course. However I started to have some pain in my right arm. A week later and it still hurts. (Ok I over did it last weekend and made it worse)

Anyway, I thought the body was supposed to go at 40. I guess I am getting an early start. Hopefully I will be able to get back on the course in a couple of weeks.

I need to create a better story for hurting the arm than golf. I am going to go with Lion Taming.

How I HATE LOL!

What?

Just to define my terms first, LOL Laugh Out Loud.

More and more I see people using this term in email and texting. While in the beginning it used to mean Laugh I would suggest it now means I just said something that was mean, stupid or insulting and I am going to follow it up with LOL and of course a :) that way you shouldn't be upset.

Well, I am not laughing neither should you.

Technologically spoiled!

Carsen is technologically spoiled! We are watching the show Modern Family and a commercial comes on. He yells at the TV "Skip" What is that all about? He thinks all TV's have DVRs and all commercials can be skipped. If that isn't enough he thinks that the TV is like the XBox Kinect. If you don't know about that you can speak to it and it will do what you want.

I am sure this will be coming soon. However not yet.

Lionel Richie

I like the new album. Lets face it, it really is a remix of some of his greatest hits. He has been on TV a lot lately and I like to hear him speak about writing the songs and the inspirations.

Now with that said, the only drawback is that all the new people he sings with are country. I would like to see Lionel do some of his classics with Nelly, Akon or better yet Usher! Now that would be GREAT!

Here is his new album just so you do not have to Google it.

A good Birthday

Had a good birthday today. Golf, Dinner and family.

Thanks everyone for the wishes

Get the heck out of Dodge

For those readers from outside Kansas and have heard the saying get the heck out of Dodge, this one is for you!

A new Sales Card Game

They were negotiating the sales leads from an event!

Followup to the TV Experience

As I posted earlier, I bought a TV through Amazon. And yes, I would have liked to buy local but that was not an option.

I placed the order on Wednesday night and Thursday morning I received a call from Chris. He verified my shipping address and gave me some details like a free upgrade to a newer model and what to look for on delivery. He was very detailed and wanted my experience to be great! Along with all of this he followed up with an email with all the details that we discussed and the tracking information which would be updated daily (Via web and an email update)

As you can see the TV arrived just like explained. The driver of the truck called and gave me a time. He even helped Jenifer put it into the garage. (Not expected) This was easy to get into the basement. The entire package only weighed 125 pounds. Thanks to Kevin next door we were able to get it down stairs that evening.

I want to share who I bought this from on Amazon. It was Walts TV

Thanks Chris and Walts!

It was good to get together!

Chad Tepe and Loren Vonlintel were my first and only roommates. When I moved to Hays some 15 years ago I spent my first year in a 8 plex. Then moved into a house with these two guys. We had some great times together.

Things are a bit different now. We are all happily married (all for a decade or so) Kids and successful in business. Surround yourself with success and it breeds success.

We had a great time 4wheeling at Loren s and tearing up the mud. We must do this more often.

Customer Service (Only one chance to get it right!)

Went to pickup some paint at a locally owned store today. Jenifer had taken in what we needed earlier in the day so all I needed to pick up the order. I went directly to the paint department and some guy behind the counter ask what I needed (In almost that tone) and took off to the front without a word to me. He returned a few minutes later and took my paint to the front without a word.

Just a few words would have turned this from a poor experience to a positive one. Simple acknowledgement would have been nice.

After 3 birthdays he is 6

I think Carsen had three birthdays in the last week. It all started last Saturday with his family party. Then we had to celebrate the actual day of his birthday which was Thursday the 15th. Then we finished today with his friend party. 9 kids running round. I have to admit they were all very good.

His birthday worked out great to be in front of spring break. He will have lots of Lego's to put together and many toys to break in.

Jenifers system is broke!

For years when the boys would get drinks with lids and she would put them back in the re fridge. We have hit a problem with the system. With Caden being 9 and Carsen being 6 these numbers look the same!

So we are working on a new system. Initials? CJR and CJR Oops.

Suggestions?

Are you waiting?

Many times I speak to people in the business world who are waiting for others to give direction. If you find yourself in this situation maybe you need to take the bull by the horns!

The best performers are doers not waiters. Many times I find it better to ask for forgiveness than to wait for someone else to tell you what to do.

I found out what true friends help you with.

Solving home network issues. Loren helped me for part of Sunday track down what was seemingly an impossible issue. It was cabling of all things? A bad patch panel. Who would have ever guessed.

Thanks Loren.

I am too chicken to make a Million Dollars

I had to put it in writing.

This feels even worse now.

Guilty!

Jenifer and I go down stairs Monday night to watch some of our DVR shows. To my surprise the TV will not come on. My 62" projector TV's HDMI Port went bad. (If your interested in a cheap big screen TV that everything works but the HDMI port, give me a call!)

So I began my search for a new TV. I checked all the local stores and I even made Mark take me by a place in Great Bend to check out some of their stores. Nothing I was looking for. All I needed was a large TV with an HDMI port and I really didn't need a slim TV.

So I found what I wanted on Amazon. A 73" DLP Projection TV for a reasonable amount including Shipping.

I usually try and buy local. This time I could not find what I was looking for. Tomorrow I will update you on how great the customer service has been so far.

Looks like the iPad 3 will be out tomorrow

So the question is, will I be buying it? Not this time. Sure, it is going to have a faster processor and a higher resolution screen. I can live without both.

I am holding out hope that Ice Cream Sandwich will make the Android everything I want. Google released its new store and it looks nice.

We will see...

Cyber Security scaring the "Heck" out of me.

This title from 60 Minutes discusses how a "Virus" was written to seriously disable the Iranian nuclear factories.

Quotes like "The next Pearl Harbor will be a Cyber Attack" "We use cyber weapons to create physical destruction" "We will suffer a catastrophic attack. The clock is ticking!"

Then I deal with businesses every day that don't believe they are a possible target. Attackers will go after single computers, networks or even your cell phone. It is coming. Take it a step further and think about this. Many new cars come with things like OnStar. You have a computer that controls key systems including ignition, navigation and more. This computer is connected to other computers at that manufacturers location. That could equal a significant threat?

Recently I saw a top ten list of threats for 2012. One of the top items were viruses that had been patched by Windows over 3 years ago. People were not patching their computers and this could cause significant threats.

Even the most basic practices can go a long way. Making you more secure than your neighbor. This makes them the best and easiest target.

If it hasn't happened yet. It will.

Dog House with scenic overlook

Guess JZ got tired of the Dog House without a view. She has now upgraded. You may wonder how she does this? She takes the stairs up and the slide down.

Update to Rockin

Thanks to Tammy we have pictures now!

Becky at Nex-Tech hooked Carsen up with the KISS Poster for his room. Next he wants to be KISS for Halloween.

Rock Paper Scissors / Positive Aggressive Smart

So Paper covers Rock

Aggressive covers Positive

Rock smashes Scissors

Positive smashes Smart

Scissors cuts Paper

Smart cuts Aggressive

I think it takes all of the above to be successful in business. Sure in moderation, but some of all is needed.

I want to rock and roll...

On Saturday night after the basketball game there was a tribute band that put on a show sponsored by Nex-Tech. To put it mildly, Carsen was in heaven. He sat on my shoulders and rocked it. I think he could have stayed there all night. Thankfully they only played for 45 minutes.

Now Carsen has many of the Kiss songs on his iPad. So next time you see him tell him "I want to rock and roll..." He will finish it for you.

How Pinterest killed the grill at my house!

Jenifer is now a huge fan of Pinterest. Dare I say that it has even dented the time she spends with Facebook? Well I am not positive, however I don't think the grill has come out of the garage since early January. Instead the Crockpot has cooked more things in the last 30 days than ever before.

Who knows, maybe Pinterst will make mowing fun next?

One skill I wish I had worked on in school.

To be honest I don't balance the home check book. Not now and not ever. Even back in the single days I would just make sure that I made more than I spent (Most of the time) Lets face it, Jenifer is much more qualified to do the accounting and I think she even enjoys it.

Now I find it ever important to understand many aspects of accounting in my eveyr day job. From helping business understand financial impact to understanding cash flow, EBITDA and many other aspects of accounting. I have had to learn all of this from OJT. On the Job Training.

It sure would have been helpful to have had at least the basics in college. However I avoided those classes in efforts to, well, pass. Now I pay the penalties of not being engaged.

One skill I am glad I worked on in school.

Speaking in front of people was never a problem for me. I know many people have a fear of doing so. Sure, when I have a full room or even a small room my pulse races and I get some of those butterfly's.

In High School I did the Debate and Forensic thing which got me started into looking at what makes a good presentation. Then in college I took classes in which I could do more presenting and get feedback.

Finally I think the best training was at Radioshack where I spent pretty much every day presenting technology to people and explaining the benefits to them.

Building a process of presenting and tuning this process has been very helpful for me. Parts of this process include entertaining people adding value and leaving them with little nuggets that can be remembered.

Doing some home repairs along with painting.

Our house is 6 years old now and many small things are starting to fail. Water Heater (3 of them actually) Door knobs, faucets, outlets and more. I made a trip tonight to a local store where they had plenty of help. The problem was they were in avoidance mode. Finally I approached an employee that was the worst at hiding. (Picked him off from the herd) and did manage to get some help.

Are you avoiding your customers? Are your employees?

This company could have had half the employees, paid them twice as much and if they were truly engaged you could have had three times better customer experience.

When not to innovate?

OK I am a big proponent of continuous innovation. However I recently was dealing with a company known for innovation. However in this particular case the company was trying to focus on the future when the present was broke. Instead of trying to cure the current issues they were looking years down the road. Lets face it. If they do not get the issues resolved there will not be years down the road.

There is a constant battle between innovation and getting your current issues right.

Getting that balance right is the key to a successful business.

Speaking of Innovation

That I spoke of earlier this month, it has been 50 years that we first launched a person into orbit. Where are we at today?

The US right now does not have a ship to take astronauts to the international space station. Nope, we have to use the Russian? It just shows how amazing things can change in 50 years. From starting a space program to beat the Russians to now teaming with to explore space.

Thing is, when I was growing up I remember the amazement of space travel and the constant benefits it brought to our home. Velcro, Microwave and so much more.

What have we innovated lately?

Busy weekend

Basketball first thing Saturday morning then a quick trip to Salina and we ate at Spangles. Some supplies picked up at Sams Club where we waited in line to renew our membership which we were supposed to get a $25 gift card that ended up to be $10. Then off to Topeka to see my parents.

Caden spent some time in the woods trying to find Bigfoot
Carsen did a little dancing.
I rebuilt my dads computer and set up his new home theater system. A Bose sound bar and Samsung Blu-ray player. Once again, Bose is very expensive however delivers on its quality of sound and ease of use. This really small speaker system filled a large room with no problem.

Today we finished the trip to KC to see Chase (My sisters new addition) get baptized. Short time with family and then a trip home.

I like the new search idea

The idea is that your search engine utilizes things like Facebook likes to enhance SEO. You know, real people's opinions and likes to influence the top hits for search. This is versus people manipulating the system to make their interests at the top.

This is a good direction.

Now this makes it even more important that your business utilize social media.

HTG Vegas Day 2

After some of the members getting in late, some at 4:30 A.M. and some not at all. This caused a slow start. However that only lasted for about 10 minutes then the coffee kicked in. Well, all except Todd, he managed to get an extra 2 hours of sleep. (Yea, the alarm clock didn't go off)

Great day of communication, learning and challenging each other. Things really started to gel.

I look forward to Q2 and Dallas.

Why artists play the Superbowl!

OK Besides the obvious of going I have one more suggestion. The week after the event the 4 of the top 10 artists were M.I.A, Madonna, Cee lo and LMFAO. All played the event.

Guess even flipping off the camera becomes a good move. Nobody knew who M.I.A. was. Now is in the top artists.

Day 1 HTG

Had a great view from the room that got me ready for day 1 of HTG meetings. This was the second time we met as this group. Nothing like putting 10 strong personalities in a room to keep you on your toes.

Spent a lot of time talking about manager development. How long does it take, how do you mentor and what type of training is the best? Ont thing that we all agreed on is to disagree.

The best part about this day was the group decided how it wanted the facilitator to operate and some details around this. Very helpful. This day ended with dinner at Margeritaville then off to the Jabbawokeez This ended around midnight. Some of the crew went to the Intel party which led to many not going to bed at all. We will see how Friday goes.

Day 0 HTG Vegas part 3

It is our third year back to Vegas. I started with dinner at the top of Rio. Good meal with great wine with Tony from Desktop Resources.