Convention Adventures

March 12, 2011 in Family Life with 0 Comments

Vendors 11photo © 2009 Bill Ward | more info (via: Wylio)
This weekend, my family is selling Bethlehem Books at a homeschool convention. We’ve sold books for them at conventions for 9 years. I love their books.

Sometimes, we’ve travelled to Indianapolis and southern Illinois to sell. It’s a family adventure, and our kids are integral to our sales team. You never know what will happen next.

Memorable adventures:

  1. Once in Indianapolis at the RCA dome, the line for vendors to park was too long. Richard idled our station wagon while we got the cart out on the sidewalk, loaded the boxes, and the kids helped me push our inventory uphill while he waited in line. By the time he got into the convention hall, we had set up our display.
  2. Our daughter loves to read and would charm visitors, as she told them the story lines of her favorite books.
  3. Our son was the reluctant bookseller. In his early years, he dressed in costume (Pioneer Boy)  He would sit with his toy guns behind our vendor area, crouch behind a chair, and pretend to shoot our customers. They took it in good stride.
  4. One year in Indianapolis, while we were rotating showers that night, the pipes thumped as walls vibrated. The shower head spigot broke while on, spraying water full force over the bathroom, at 10 p.m. It took an hour for them to get it fixed and cleaned.
  5. Because the RCA dome was so large, we used 2-way radios. Our son was most colorful on the radio. As I took him with me on a bathroom break, he grabbed a radio and broadcast. “Mom has to pee. We are going to the bathroom. When we find it. We’re almost at the bathroom. Now she’s going to the bathroom. I’m waiting on Mom to finish going to the bathroom.” His play by play broadcast at our booth, to the snickers of our customers.
  6. Conventions offer interesting souvenirs. There’s the time my son bought a skunkskin cap (a la Davy Crockett) at the pioneer booth. My kids always cringed when I bought owl pellets or animals for us to dissect. My biggest scare came the year our son bought a 6 foot long toy wooden rifle. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t carry it that night as we walked from the Convention Center to our hotel. When we packed out at convention close, I disguised the toy rifle by wrapping it in tablecloths and nestling it in our book boxes.
  7. Pioneer Boy (my son) discovered Gameboy and Nintendo. If you wanted to find our booth, you would just look for the booth with all boys in the whole hall gathered around him and his games. If there had been a vendor booth for video games, he would have been a natural sales guy for them.
  8. Then there was the convention when vendors were kept out of the keynote and the vendor hall was closed. Vendors’ kids started playing. My son and some Mennonite boys took a trebuchet toy and lobbed balls with it across vendor hall floor. Until a ball crashed into a vendor display and knocked everything over.

Now that my kids are older, our adventures are milder. But I will always treasure our Convention Adventure memories. And I’ll appreciate the lessons my kids got in salesmanship, inventory, setup/displays, and computation of sales with tax.


Hire or Train: What’s in the Budget?

March 11, 2011 in Business with 0 Comments

This post is by Nick Carter, author of Unfunded: From Bootstrap to Blue Chip Without the Fuel of Round-A Capital. This is the story behind the story, untold tid-bits that didn’t make the book’s final cut.
—
Of all the unknowns in business, there are two things you can know for sure: your business needs technology, and technology costs money. It does. It costs a lot of money, in fact. I am learning more and more each day just how expensive technology can be. But it’s not the zeros and ones that cost money. It’s not the silicon chips, the powder-coated metal boxes, the buttons, the switches, or the plasma screen displays. It’s the knowledge that costs the most.

I learned early on that you cannot buy Photoshop and suddenly know how to design. In fact, I tell our customers all the time that just buying our CRM software doesn’t make you any better at selling. The real power in technology is in knowing how to use it. But that know-how comes at a cost. You can get training, and that costs money. You can forego training and just hire someone else to do it, and that costs money. Or you can buckle down, resolve not to spend a dime, and teach yourself how to do it. That, of course, costs time. You know what they say about time, don’t you. Time is money.

Actually, that last little maxim is a valuable tidbit when you’re considering whether to hire or train. There are two basic options for filling technology knowledge gaps on your staff: hire or train. And, at first glance, training seems cheaper. It seems so obvious, in fact, that a few hundred dollars on training is cheaper than hiring someone (either contract or full-time) that you may wonder what more I have to write about. Well, listen up.

Getting trained doesn’t just cost a few hundred dollars for a class. It also costs time. No, not just the time in the class either. If you become trained on a new technology then you become obligated to your business to enact that training. Training on a new process, a new program, a new platform, or any form of new technology means you are now the go-to person for that technology. Whatever it is this technology is expected to deliver for your business, you are now solely responsible to execute. So the question becomes: can you afford to be that person?

The simple fact is that technology never stops. If you’re learning a program’s current release today, you’ll be learning the next upgrade in a year or less. Learning never ends. Last August, I finally made the decision to hire an in-house technician. His job was not only to know how to do what I did not and to do it, but his job is also to continue knowing. He has the responsibility to continue learning, to stay abreast of new technologies, and to keep our company forging ahead. Can you do that job yourself? Maybe. But for how long, and at what cost?
—
To read more about Nick Carter’s framework for startups, visit www.gounfunded.com/unfunded-book/.


Teach Your Kids To Be Prepared

March 10, 2011 in Family Life with 0 Comments

joyful and chaotic music from first ever concertphoto © 2010 woodley wonderworks | more info (via: Wylio)
Caution: I was frustrated when I wrote this blog, and it probably shows.

If you have your kids in an outside program, music group, or sport, please help teach them a simple lesson: Be Prepared.

I write this after 15 years of having my kids on sports teams, music groups, clubs, and classes.  Yes, I’m sure your week was busy. So was mine. But there are times in life we still get things done during tough times.

Let’s imagine there is an activity with 10 kids. Then imagine of those 10 the following:

  1. 1 is always late
  2. 2 never practice
  3. 1 tries to practice the night before to make up for skipping the rest of the week
  4. 1 never brings the right tools or equipment
  5. 1 has a terrible attitude.

If those roles rotate from week to week, that means the teacher, leader, or coach has 40% of those involved on time, practiced, prepared, and ready to go. The other 60% hold those who did what they were supposed to back.

A music class cannot play harder music if half the class refuses to practice. If your kid is in a group music class, and you don’t make sure your kid practices every night, then the whole group plays simpler music. Then MY kid doesn’t get what I paid for – a challenging, fun music program. It could be music or anything else.

I understand different families have different standards. However, when I pay for opportunities for my kids and your kids’ failure to prepare drag down the bar of expectation, I grow frustrated. When I’m the teacher or leader of such groups, I’m doubly frustrated because I know what the kids were capable of, prepared for it, but we can’t get there.

What are the secrets to success for a great class or activity? Be:

  1. On time
  2. Practiced
  3. Tools ready to go
  4. Attitude ready to focus and work.

Parents can impact their kids’ future work ethics. It can be a positive or negative impact.

If you take the time to schedule an activity and get your kids there, and often to invest in it, doesn’t it make sense to make the most of the opportunity?

Kids who know to be prepared are better prepared for life.


My Big Fat Getaway Thanksgiving

March 5, 2011 in Family Life with 0 Comments

Thanksgiving Turkeyphoto © 2006 Rich | more info (via: Wylio)
This is a Biever travel Thanksgiving story the year my mom won free hotel rooms in Nashville, Tennessee, several years ago.

Richard and I researched information, coupons, and maps and packed following our checklists. Welcome to my spontaneous trip.

We met at the hotel Thanksgiving afternoon. “Give us your hotel key,” my kids said. “You’ll lose it.”

When we reached my mom’s room, a crash slammed the door. In rode my sister, riding the luggage cart pushed by my brother. “Anyone wanna ride?”

For Thanksgiving night dinner, we went to Hard Rock Cafe. As we ate, Elizabeth pointed to a man outside, “Mom, why is he lying on the sidewalk when it’s night and 30 degrees outside?”

“I think he’s drunk.” He left a few minutes later.  Bruce Stringsteen screaming was the fa-rararara of my Thanksgiving story.

The next night, we went to the Melting Pot. Suddenly, my sister looked sick. I thought she was about to choke on bad food. Big sister mode in gear, I told her, “Spit it out. We’re family. It’s ok.”

She spit it out – the stem of a cherry, tied into a knot. Then she did the same to 3 more cherry stems and told us, “When I used to bartend, this guaranteed great tips.”

When we left the restaurant and got to the car, I realized I had lost my keys. So I raced back. The new guests tried to help, using their cell phones as lights. I found 2 napkins, plus the Santa pin from my coat, but no keys. Then Richard found my keys in my purse. He took them for safekeeping the duration of the trip.

Daytimes were culture clash. We scheduled  a museum, science center, zoo, and Parthenon. My siblings shopped. In the middle of the museum, my daughter complained, “Why don’t we get to go to the mall?”

“Malls make me cranky.” So I compromised. We went to the mall, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. My sister took my daughter shopping, and harmony was restored.

We had interesting family conversations with our kids afterwards. I assured my son tying a cherry stem into a knot in his mouth was a life skill he would not need.

That Thanksgiving will be memorable – the one without a turkey but lots of memories. My kids learned many other useful life skill, including how to take a trip without losing hotel keys, jewelry, and car keys.

That alone should be proof that God exists, and He is good.


Don’t Forget the Special Touches

March 4, 2011 in Social Media with 1 Comment

Today’s Feature Friday blog is a guest post by a good friend I’ve made this year by way of social media:

by Nancy Myrland of Myrland Marketing/Strategic Social Media in Indianapolis

Today I ran across a post I sent to the LMA, or Legal Marketing Association, listserve on December 5, 2008 in response to a post my friend and colleague Ross Fishman posted.

Ross was talking about how special it made him feel, in the midst of what was then an overflowing inbox, when a Partner at his former firm sent him a hand-written note saying “Congratulations Ross!”

He still had that note a decade later because it meant so much to him that the Partner took the time to hand-write the note.

I replied to Ross and the listserve that I had to smile when I read his post because it reminded me of a dear former colleague in the Customer Service department at Time Warner where I worked for just short of 10 years in the 80s and 90s.

My response to Ross continued:

“At Time Warner, we were given anniversaries and birthdays in the monthly newsletter, so I tried (I wasn’t always successful, but I tried) to write an anniversary note to employees on their anniversary.  I can’t tell you how touched (humbled really) I was when years later, John, my dear Time Warner friend, told me he still had my note!   I think that meant more to me than to him, but I’m not sure.”

I found it interesting that in December of 2008, I shared:

“I believe we were entering an age when it is rare to communicate by the written hand, or even by mail.   This can be a time when a person, company or firm has the opportunity to stand out from the crowd, to really differentiate itself by adding a written and/or mailed component to its marketing strategy.

I’m not discounting new media, and think it can also be incredibly powerful if given careful thought, but the marketing mix is just that, a mix, not a single shot marketing tactic we hope will accomplish everything we’d like. When the crowd all seems to be going one way, think about where they aren’t going, and see if it might make sense to go there all by yourself.

Bottom Line: You might call it “old media,” but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be included in your marketing mix.”

Whether 2008 or 2011, my feelings have not changed.  We are living in an incredible time when we have so many options and tools with which to communicate.  Even so, don’t forget the special touches, those methods you can use to reach out and really touch someone, and try to do it in a way that your recipient might just find pretty rare these days.


3 Terms of Facebook Endearment

March 3, 2011 in Social Media with 2 Comments

Many who use Facebook forget or unaware of their Terms of Service.  They try to do Facebook “their” way, breaking the rules Facebook has in place.

Bad things happen when Facebook learns you’ve violated their terms. They will disable your account(s) without notice. You can appeal or request reconsideration, but it is not an easy process. The most common ways I see people violate Facebook’s terms of service:

  • Multiple identities. It’s called Facebook, not Peoplebook, because the rule is 1 profile per person. Some try to maintain a personal profile with a separate professional profile. 
  • Business or not for profit as a person. A business tries to run itself as a profile instead of as a page. If Facebook finds out you are not a real person, they will disable your account. Take that a step further. Sometimes, a business creates a separate profile and then uses that profile to create its business page. Now imagine Facebook discovers it’s a phony profile and disables it. Imagine what happens to the Facebook page of an administrator who loses rights to Facebook. Then imagine what that does to your business if it happens. Facebook is equally unforgiving of people who try to market their businesses by way of their personal profiles. You can get reported for spam and have your account disabled.
  • Under age. I know of 9 and 10 year olds who are on Facebook. Federal statute forbids websites from collecting personal data of anyone under age 13. That is why Facebook asks your birthdate when you first sign on. In order for a youth under age 13 to sign up for Facebook, it is necessary to lie about a birth year. Encouraging and allowing children to lie about birthdates at the age of 10 through 12 can plant ideas of engaging in other under-age activities later. Bad idea. Another new feature of Facebook is if you are under age 18, you can’t change the year of your birth. If you attempt to change it too many times, it might result in a red flag with Facebook.

Facebook is a lot easier to use if you start off using it right.

If you need help fixing your Facebook so you follow their terms of service, contact me.  Or if you would like to start off right or improve your Facebook strategy, I can help.


4 Leadership Lessons From George Rogers Clark

March 2, 2011 in Business with 0 Comments

George Rogers Clark is an unsung hero of the American Revolution. Few know the tale of how he led his army on an impossible mission and defeated the British at Fort Vincennes in Indiana. Because of his victory in the frontier, the militia could focus on defeating the British in the colonies.

Clark and his men walked from near St. Louis, Missouri, across Illinois, to Vincennes, Indiana in the middle of winter in 18 days. They walked through a record-breaking flood, doing without food, and wading for entire days in waist or higher water. When they reached Vincennes, they tricked the British into surrendering without a battle. How did Clark achieve such success?

  • Inspiration. Clark said if you gave troops a cause to believe in, a song to sing, and a joke to laugh at, they could accomplish anything. Have you given those around you the same?
  • Vision of the Big Picture. In those days when his men struggled through cold, flooded plains, Clark had his drummer boy ride on a soldier’s shoulders near the front to keep the men marching. He would call the whole time they just had a little further to go. He kept the men focused on going just a little longer until they had reached the other side of a flooded shore. Do you encourage those around you to keep going when they are cold, hungry, and exhausted?
  • Savvy Choice of Battles. Clark did not rush into battle just to fight. If he could finagle a surrender with a bluff instead, he did. When you face a confrontation, do you decide when to go head on and when to do an end run?

Sadly, the fourth lesson from George Rogers Clark does not have as happy an ending.

  • Paperwork Matters. As Clark outfitted his troops, he signed personal guarantees to merchants for supplies. Unfortunately, when he submitted the receipts for reimbursement to Washington, D.C., they were lost in transit and never reimbursed. He was held personally responsible for those debts by merchants who had extended credit. Clark and his family, including his famous brother, William Rogers Clark, spent the rest of his life trying to clear Clark of his debts and restore his good name. Pay attention to rules, regulations, receipts, and paperwork, or bad things happen.

Nevertheless, all Americans owe Clark a debt of gratitude. He’s the best example I’ve ever found of how a boy who could not sit still in school channeled his talents and helped others in extraordinary ways.

If you would like to learn more about George Rogers Clark, visit his memorial in Vincennes, Indiana. Each Memorial Day weekend, they host a Rendezvous of reenactments and live demonstrations. I highly recommend it.


9 Keys to Strong Leadership

February 28, 2011 in Business with 1 Comment

Keys to Leadership

“You’re not leadership material. You’ve got the brains but lack the personality. But you can help leaders with your ideas,” I was told decades ago by a family member. As a brownie dropout who wasn’t involved in clubs or organizations, I believed it.

When I did get involved, that advice stayed with me, so for years I happily helped as secretary for organizations.

Six years ago, I was thrown into a leadership position. My kids were in the Evansville Children’s Choir, and their parents’ group needed a president. I had some ideas of where I would like to take the group. So I was elected president and was so scared I nearly peed my pants on the way home after that first meeting.  I was their president two years.

Then I became president of  Vanderburgh County’s 4-H Leaders and just finished two years as their president.

Along the way, I discovered that I could lead and organize. Maybe I didn’t have the experience of prior leaders, but with the mastery of certain keys, I could manage the job.

What makes a successful leader?

  1. Setting. Find the right venues, and be prepared to work a lot with setting up and tearing down tables and chairs.
  2. Dependability. Show up for the job – not just the big splashy ones but the ones that require work, generate sweat, and involve dirt. When you’re willing to tackle the dirty jobs, so are others.
  3. Communication. Use multiple channels of communication – printed agendas, email, social media, and telephone. You get the best results if you reach people where they are at. If you are recruiting volunteers, use mail merge for personal emails to get the best results.
  4. Inspiration. When you give people a cause to believe in, a song to sing, and a joke to laugh at, they will do great things. At every meeting and in every email, include at least one line of the big picture to remind everyone why we work together.
  5. Careful Stewardship. Count every dollar and make every dollar count. Spend money on yourself and your comforts last. Focus dollars first towards accomplishing your mission. When others see you have integrity, they will contribute more of their time, talents, and treasure.
  6. Organization. Maintain calendars so people know when activities are happening. Bylaws and organizational structures help an organization extend beyond personality-driven leadership.
  7. Delegation. Always train your replacements and help others develop the skills to continue after you. Watch like a lifeguard in a pool at events and spot those who seem to be flailing – help them find their niche and contribute their skills.
  8. Humility. Be willing to admit your faults and apologize when you’re wrong.
  9. Fortitude. If you’re the president, that means the buck stops with you. You sometimes have to make the tough calls and have the rough conversations. You’re the one who sometimes has to say no. You set the tone and the boundaries.

What do you think are the most important traits for a leader? Share them in the comments.


A Christian Who Pranks

February 27, 2011 in Inspiration with 1 Comment

“Mary, you’re different than I imagined,” a new friend noted as we shared coffee. “I thought you would be quiet.”

There was a time he would have been right.  As a young child, I filled a place in the perfect family photo op on Sunday morning: perfectly curled hair, church hat, dress, patent shoes, lacy anklets, and lacy gloves complete with a corsage at Easter. We could go to hell and back on the drive to church, pull into the parking lot, and I could give a big smile without letting a soul know what had just been screamed at me. Yes, I behaved from sheer terror of the consequences. On the outside – inside I treasured mischievous thoughts that kept me sane.

Later, when the reign of terror ended, I ventured from the church and God. I could do better than hypocrisy and Sunday morning straightjackets.

Mary Biever, International Woman of Mystery

Eventually, with the love of a good husband, I discovered it was possible to go to church sometimes dressed up and sometimes not, be real, and love God while keeping my sense of humor. When my son gave me mongo pink sunglasses as a prank Mother’s Day gift, I wore them. In public.

When I read where Jesus says there are many mansions in his Father’s house, I breathe a sign of relief. Surely one of those houses is a funhouse. If so, I hope there’s a room where they shoot off fireworks.

I wonder sometimes whether my knack for pranks is a talent or a cross to bear. If God created kangaroos with pouches and knew what He was doing, then surely He did the same with my humor.

Whatever happens in life, lyrics from a gospel song or show tune will play in my head. Sometimes, I sing them out loud, sometimes in public, to the chagrin of my children.

Life can be hard. Laughter and a song to sing can be a gift from God to make the tough stuff easier. As Auntie Mame said when she lost everything in the Depression, sometimes we need a little Christmas now.

How can you use your humor to make life easier for you, your friends and family? And encourage your friends to nurture their own humor? Here’s my take from Godspell‘s “All for the Best”… What’s yours?


City Chicken Slicker Flood Adventures

February 26, 2011 in Chickens with 3 Comments

Two years ago, my daughter got her first chickens. Yes, we’re urban chicken owners. 

She loves animals, is in our county’s 4H Livestock Club and Future Farmers of America, and hopes to someday work in food and crop science.

She brought home 5 Rhode Island Red chicks that were three weeks old. We kept them in our utility room, in a bucket with a window screen on top. That spring, we weaned them outside to a backyard coop and run.

Then came a heavy spring rain of 6 inches in a single day – flash flood warnings abounded. That night, I waded through our backyard to see if they were alive. The coop was above water, in the highest part of the yard. 

I could hear loud peeping. When I opened the coop, the chicks were peeping frantically on one side, and a young possum was sitting on the other side. The young possum had somehow found its way into the coop with our birds.

“What do we do?” I phoned a farm friend.

“Kill it. If you leave the possum in there, the possum will eat the chickens alive, from the butt to the front.” We had no cage or alternative, and no stores were open.

My family joined me as we tried to figure out how to get the possum out of the coop. We grabbed tools from the garage. Richard caught the young possum with the kids’ old butterfly net. As he was pulling it out of the coop, the possum escaped through a hole in the net and began racing around the flooded yard.  We splashed around the yard with our flashlights, trying to find it.

Billy Crystal in City Slickers had nothing on us when we caught that possum.

“Found it!” Richard yelled. It was under the rock on which he was standing. “I think it’s dead.”

“It’s not dead! It’s playing possum!” I hollered.

My daughter lugged an ax from the garage, saying, “Here, Dad.”

The possum didn’t bother us again.  We splashed around the coop and run, flashlights in hand, trying to fill gaps in the fencing with rocks to prevent another possum attack before daybreak.

We still have hens. And we’ve had lots of eggs. But no more possums.

Lesson? As our kids follow their interests, if we let them, they’ll take us on unforgettable family adventures. Some with good eggs.


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