That Time of Year Again, Part 1

If you're tired, sleep. If you're awake, do something. I read that recently, I figure it's good advice. So I'm here at my office in the afterhours, working off a single cup of half-caff at a party earlier.

I'm working on my list of New Years resolutions. It's instinctual you know, to do this, every year, and it typically starts right about now. So here's part 1.

1) Spend less money. I've been in a cashflow crisis for the last couple months, and it's no fun. You remember the old addage "the more you make, the more you spend", well it's easy for a business to do that. Expense management is a new skill I will learn in 2010.

2) Time away every month. My wife still works part time as a nurse. Eventually she'd like to stay home. Really, she'd like to be working casual by this point, but we're not quite there yet. (I hired another employee instead) What I do have, is time. And in 2010, I'm going to start using it, for my family. A couple Fridays a month should do nicely.

3) Learn how to manage my team. I've got a team with a lot of raw talent, but I've not been guiding them. I basically hired them and turned them loose. This year, I need to learn how to set goals with them, motivate them, and then hold them accountable to their goals. I move at 100 miles per hour, but it's time to discover where the brakes are- I need to stop and manage occasionally.

4) I want to run- okay, this is an emotional knee jerk response. I'm still riding high off my recent finish of Born to Run by Chris McDougall. To say I'm inspired does not quite do it. Ultra marathons, probably not in my future, but work up to 5 miles a couple times a week, maybe.

5) Have friends over to our house semi-regularly. When Cara and I bought our house, we had a vision of using it for entertaining. It's a humble house, but it has a cool fire pit on the back patio, and a sunroom off the back of the house. We just haven't had people over much, and that bums me out. Time to use our house. Maybe a marshmallow roast in the near future. Don't be surprised if you get an invite.

More to come. I'd love it if you comment, and link to your blog with your resolutions. Cliche, I know, but still constructive.

Hello, can I speak with Mrs. Business Owner? This is the Young Pros calling.

Hi, my name is Chris and I am with a group here in town called Young Professionals. Each month we meet at a different venue in Corvallis. We'd like to come to your venue next month for our event. We have about 300 or so on our email list and we routinely get 30-65 young pros at each of our events, just to give you an idea of what to expect.

We don't ask for much, in fact all you have to do is feed us something and give us a special deal on drinks so we feel loved. You can woo us as much as you want though. If you'd like to hang out with us during the event, test new menu items on us, have us taste new drinks, or otherwise treat us like VIP's we likely won't forget it, and will find ourselves compelled to spend more money at your venue in the future. We'd probably bring friends and we'll likely write about it on Twitter and Facebook for hundreds to see.

Please however, don't treat us like an afterthought. Don't make us feel awkward as we arrive- don't make us explain why we're here or make us ask you where everyone is at. Make us feel like you've been waiting for us, like you've been looking forward to it. Treat us like a date. We're here to get to know you and to put money in your pocket, tonight and in the future- if you play your cards right.

Please take advantage of us while we're here. We expect we'll get sold- you've earned the right by hosting us. It's okay to passionately tell us about your favorite new menu items and remind us why you started your restaurant or store. We expect you'll ask us to come back, and if you give us a coupon to help us remember, that's okay too.

My Daily Web Top 10

After more than a year of really engaging online, I've settled on a handful of tools and sites that I'm referencing every single day, some of them many times a day. I'm always keeping my eye out for new tech and content, but here's the current ones:




1) Hootsuite- a super simple dashboard for my twitter activities.
2) Facebook- becoming a more significant communication tool for my Agency.
3) Gmail- still the best and most easily searched email platform.
4) Google Alerts- This is where I "listen" to what people are saying about important topics to me.
5) Amazon.com- shopping and researching galore
6) SethGodin.com - Godin is a great daily read for fresh insights on the new business paradigm.
7) Anywho.com - a great search tool for phone numbers.
9) HARO- HelpAReporter.com - Looking out for PR opportunities for my friends and clients (and myself)
10) WeLoveCorvallis.com - a local blog where people who love Corvallis gather to candidly discuss important topics/questions.

Any tools or sites I should check out that you use daily (or hourly) ?

Crusted Banana Pancakes- An epic kitchen encounter.

Chocolate goes with pancakes right? And coconut, well that's a no-brainer. That's what I thought this morning when this epic kitchen encounter took place.

Here's the recipe along with a couple photos :

1 1/4 cups sifted wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Dash of salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk - you can sub in 50% half and half if you feel like it
3 (or 4) tablespoons butter- real unsalted butter. Never sub in margarine or other fake spreads.
1 1/2 fresh, but ripe bananas cut into slices (or chunks if your 4 yr old is helping)



Now for the interesting stuff:
Raw organic unsweetened coconut flakes - fine, not big flakes (Notice the recycled Adam's PB jar. You can buy this stuff in bulk at the Co-op)
Green and Black's dark baking cocoa- or whatever brand you prefer.

Here's what you do:
1)Mix equal parts of the cocoa and coconut in a small dish and set off to the side.
2)Mix all dry ingredients in a medium to largish bowl (to prevent over-splash)
3) Combine all wet ingredients in a Pyrex pitcher, (you know, the glass thing you measure milk and other stuff in) and whisk the egg til it's mixed in.
4)Melt the butter and pour into the wet container.
5) Mix the wet ingredients into bowl with dry stuff. Whisk until pretty smooth

The best thing to use for pancakes is a stainless steel electric skillet. (I may post a review on our Carico skillet that we got when we first got married, it's great.) Just make sure it's nice and hot.

Drop a couple big spoonfuls of batter in the hot pan, then place pieces of banana on top of the batter and let them sink in as it cooks.

Now for the fun part! Grab a couple finger fulls of the cocoa-coconut mixture and sprinkle over the top of the bananas and batter, then flip the pancake and push down slightly with the spatula. It should only need to cook another 20 or 30 seconds and then serve!

Be sure to flip it back over to display the wonderful golden bananas and brown crust from the cocoanut mixture.

Top with almond butter and agave syrup.

This makes for a delightful flavor encounter that kids and adults will love.

Please post your comments.

Thinking about subscribing to the GT after all

I had to use three Winco bags last night to get the fire started.

Made me think, where's this morning's paper when I need it?

Don't get me wrong. I like the writers at the GT. I know Matt N. and like he and his writing. I like Mike, the publisher, as well. The GT produces great content. I am one of the sets of eyeballs/unique visits on www.gazettetimes.com also.

I just would have found it really useful to have a GT on hand last night. I could have read the 6 or so local articles and the half dozen or so other local tidbits and then used the Associated Press content that makes up 70% of the rest of the paper for getting my evening fire started.

Newspaper is great for getting fires started.

I've been trying to get Mike and the crew at the GT to adopt a hyper-local model for the paper for the last 6 months or more. You can see my previous posts/comments here and here.

The reason I'm so emphatic? Because I think it'd be good for the community and ultimately profitable for the paper- it might even save them from the demise that papers around the country are experiencing en mass.

People like to read about themselves, their friends, their kids, their politicians, the companies they work for, and what's going on in their community . There are now a multitude of places a person can easily consume their national and international news and information from- on demand. Why fill the paper with redundant material? Does making it fatter increase the perceived value? (apart from fodder)

Isn't there enough stuff going on in our community to write about? People doing both awesome things and bad things. People moving, people shaking? Here's an idea:source articles from the many great staff blogs the GT has online. Better yet, identify some quality local blogs to source material from and put that in the hard copy paper.

Is $12 bucks a month too much to pay for a handful of great articles a day and reliable fire starter in the evening? As soon as our Winco bags run out, I'll decide.


*all posts should be taken with a grain of salt. They are not intended to provide business advice from which to make informed enterprise decisions. The above comments were made by an insurance guy with small children.

My Vibram Friends Forever

If you could be best friends with shoes... alright, that was shamefully corny.

Unpacked my Vibram Five Finger Shoes on Sunday. I've been waiting for these for a while. REI has an annual 20% off coupon that comes out every October, and I felt it was only responsible for me to wait til I received it to splurge on these rad shoes.

I wasted barely a day after getting the coupon to go online and buy them.

I wore them a bit here and there on Sunday, but today was my first full day in them, including a 1.8 mile run about 45 minutes ago.

Thing started out a bit rough- for the better part of the day, I couldn't help but notice my big toe crammed in the shoe. The rest of my toes felt fine. I expected this, given the large number of reviews online with the same gist. Supposedly this lessens over time. Overall, not uncomfortable today, but they didn't exactly disappear on my feet.

Now for the exciting news. My run in them tonight was nothing short of fantastic. First, I had the best run I've had since I started running again. I ran 75% farther and still wasn't out of gas. Purely anecdotal of course and obviously placebo, but nonetheless worked in the VFF's favor.

The first thing I noticed was that the VFF's made my calves extremely fatigued- almost to the point of cramping when I slowed to a cool-down walk at the end of the run. I'm going to have some serious beach calves before long.

Secondly, running in VFF's is very different from regular shoes. It feels more raw, a little jolting at first as you figure out your stride and foot strike. It feels like I'm having to relearn how to run- but in a good way. It's not jarring, but you definitely have to be conscious not to heal-strike and land more intentionally on your mid and fore-foot. (hence the extreme calf workout)

The last thing I noticed-my big toes didn't hurt at all during or since the run. These things stretch out and break in pretty quickly. They just feel dang good now (still have them on as I type) There's no driving need to get them off after your done running.

My experience my change, but first impressions are quite good. Infatuated you might say.

Do you have VFF's? Tell me about your experience...

How to Wow!?

When was the last time a business or friend, or your spouse absolutely BLEW YOU AWAY with WOW?

I think about "wow" a lot and how I can infuse it in the way I do business, love my wife and kids, and be a good friend. Sometimes it feels like a daunting endeavor. You don't want to just mimic a wow experience someone else delivered, but at times, depending on your business or relationships, it's hard to mastermind something on your own.

It's easy to engineer good experiences. Wow ones, take thought and preparation.

Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing provides a great list of "wow" components. Check it out, then act.

http://bit.ly/13rdRR


*Photo Courtesy Drew McLellan www.drewsmarketingminute.com

The florists are catching on...

Twila Weder, a friend and client of mine owns a successful florist here in town call Expressions in Bloom. (www.inbloom.com) She got the following best practices from a florist forum she follows. Despite the fact there's a glut of tutorials, lists and instruction manuals for social media, it's good stuff to read and review periodically. We're all still learning this new paradigm. A good primer to maybe pass along to a newbie- Chris

1. Avoid automation. People instantly unfollow people who write like bots. Demonstrate that you’re human by writing each of your tweets. It’s one thing if you write them and schedule them to go out later, but don’t publish automatic prescripted tweets.

2. Be personal. Personal tweets let people see who you are. If your tweets are just about your niche, then followers may think you’re just a robot. Lesson: Post occasional tweets that aren’t strictly about your niche.

3. Be a copywriter. To write effective tweets, learn about and use fundamental copywriting techniques. Write tweets so effective that even you would want to click on them.

4. Adopt it. Tweeting is a new form of writing, so make your own conclusions as to the fastest way to improve. But one great way to develop your own writing style is by adopting great techniques you see in others’ posts.

5. Be familiar. After you’ve mastered how to get people to click on your links, standardize your writing style so that your followers become familiar with your voice. When followers know what to expect, reading your tweets can become part of their daily routine.

6. Big message in small ways. If there’s a big event going on – a big launch maybe – the best way to promote it is to direct your followers to your blog. On your blog, you can update as much as you like. Twitter is not the place to publish updates every half hour.

7. Branch out. Use Twitter as a tool in your marketing toolbox, not as a complete business model.

8. Slide in. Twitter is great for opening up dialogue with big names in your niche, even JV (Joint Venture) partners. JV partners are effective marketers who can help launch your products. Ease your way into relationships with them by answering questions they ask in Twitter. In responding to them by tweet, you are helping them gain popularity.

9. Build better business partners. When you follow people you become familiar with their views and interests. Reading people’s tweets will help prepare you for meeting people face-to-face. You will discover common ground for discussion and relationship building.

10. Appreciate Twitter culture. Follow Friday is an example of how to use Twitter quirks to strengthen your relationship with your followers. Follow Friday is when members recommend other Twitterers to follow. Try recommending four or five people who you feel others will get value from following. Participating in Follow Friday is a great way to fit into the Twitter community.

11. Email it, blog it. Include your Twitter URL in the signature of your emails and blog posts.

October 1st Retreat

Me and the Chris Nordyke State Farm team are going off site this thursday. (Francesco's downtown in fact). We'll open the office at 830a like normal, pick up messages and return calls, and then head downtown at 930ish. We'll return to do the same at 4ish.

Our plan is to focus like a laser beam on two things for our business: Improving our followup, both from a sales standpoint and for better service quality, and improve the experience our clients have in our office and over the phone. There's a variety of ways we can unpack those objectives, and we plan to, over the 7 hours or so we have during the retreat.

I'll have my phone with me, and the ringer on loud. If you have an injury accident, a death claim(no joke), or a structure fire, don't hesitate to call it. Here it is: 990-8050. Otherwise we'll check messages and return your call quickly.

Here's to a growing business and an even better experience for our clients... Cheers.

Trade Show *Reminder

A liar for $12.99?

I was called a liar yesterday, and it turned out to be an expensive mistake for the Red Lion. Here's the story:

Yesterday afternoon I headed to Eugene for a gathering of agents. We were supposed to have dinner together and then attend a continuing ed meeting today. The dinner plans more or less fell apart, but I was already down there, and unfortunately you can't actually camp inside the Eugene REI. I thought about just driving home and then driving back in the morning, but I decided to call a few hotels instead.

The Red Lion Inn was the first one I called. (At about 845pm) I explained that I might just drive back to Corvallis, but was curious if they had any "last minute" kind of deals. We settled on $79.00- not bad to avoid a 2 hr round trip. The guy at the counter was nice, and also gave me a $20 voucher for breakfast in the morning- now that was a deal! The place was simple, but clean and didn't smell too bad. So far so good.

I have a great time reading the newest Dan Brown book, and end up having a good night sleep. The next morning, I go to the lobby to check out and get breakfast, but realized I left the voucher in the room, along with the room keys. I asked for a new one. The manager looked at his computer, and said he didn't see a voucher on my room receipt.

I told him the man at the desk last night gave me one with my room keys. He then proceeded to scan the computer screen some more, finally looked up and tells me he's sorry but it looks like I got the "walk in" rate and there's no record of me purchasing a breakfast voucher. I guess the guy last night did me a favor by giving me a voucher despite the special cheap rate.

I then realize I didn't have the keys to go back and get it. I asked again if he could just give me a new voucher, that the original one is back in my room. Instead he gives me a new key. I mutter under my breath as I turned to walk away, " so you're saying I'm a liar?". No response. I go back to the room and get the voucher and then proceed to have a decent $12.99 cafeteria-like breakfast. No sign of the guy- apparently he'd moved on, happy that I hadn't been lying.

I'll never stay at the Red Lion Inn again and I won't be urging friends or colleagues to stay there either. All to try and save $12.99. This guy just didn't get it. Even if I had been cheating him out of a $12.99 breakfast, he'd have been better off taking that chance and giving it to me.

Ken Blanchard captures this truth in his book Raving Fans- Don't punish 95% of your clients for the bad deeds of the other 5.

I mentioned my displeasure not just to him, but to one of his staff later. Then, just before typing this I called down there to try to give him one more opportunity to apologize. Apparently he'd gone home. The manager asked if he could help me. I told him that I wanted to give Ian one more opportunity to apologize for the bad experience I had before blogging it. The guy just chuckled and said Ian normally leaves at 3:30.

Too bad. The internet is forever.

Name Your Price- Really? Is that good for you?

Just heard one of the major auto insurance companies touting their latest promotion "name your own price, only at __________". On the surface, seems like a great idea. Reminds us of the auction-style buying we came to enjoy on E-bay or other auction sites. All of us would probably love to say "I'll pay $50 a month and that's it."

The trouble is, (name of big insurance company, starts with a P) plays by the same rules all the other companies do- We can't change our rates to sell to the highest bidder, or charge what someone wants to pay. So how do they manage it? Well, they take the amount you're willing to pay, and give you a coverage level that corresponds with that number. What this means is you could end up with coverage that feels great in your budget, but doesn't protect you properly. We'd all feel pretty foolish if we took a policy just to save a few bucks, but in the long-run led to bankruptcy because we weren't covered properly when a worst-case scenario materialized.

This ad campaign, in my opinion, is a disservice to clients. What people ought to do is talk to an agent they're comfortable with, to determine what kind of liability limits they need, and what kinds of additional coverage make sense for their situation. Then, if necessary, work backwards from there to get as close to the needed coverages as their budget will bear.

Oh for a local newspaper again...

Myself and a number of community folks got to hear from Mike McInally, the publisher of the Gazette Times in Corvallis at a recent Leadership Corvallis class. Mike graciously donated his time to come speak to our group and put together a fun activity to show us what his news staff goes through on a daily basis to decide what stories make front page. We all had a good time and left with a better understanding of what goes into the daily paper we often times take for granted.

During his talk, Mike admitted to having a strong bias toward local news. I share that bias, and frankly wonder who exactly goes to the GT as a source for anything but local news. One could assume, that even if someone does look to the GT for national/international info, are they likely the demographic (probably over age 65) that the GT really wants to reach out to long term? Do the majority of their advertisers want to reach out to that crowd? Seems to me that the large majority of readers read the GT for local news and info, and then go to their google reader, yahoo news, the huffington post, salon.com , wsj.com or other online venues for their regional, national or international news.

I read the GT online to scan for people I know and local interesting stories. Unfortunately, despite Mike's bias toward local material, over half the paper appears to be supplied by the Associated Press. In fact, today's local business section didn't contain a single local story? Is there not enough going on in Corvallis to fill 5 or 6 pages? Is there not enough staff to manage the different beats for daily stories?

I'm not sure why local papers like ours continue to fill their pages with AP material, but it seems to me going to an all local model would be hugely profitable and generate a great amount of loyalty. Why not allow local people to contribute stories? Why not source local blogs? How much do the AP fees run, and could that instead be used to fund another local reporter?

A great example of this intense local focus working in a small town newspaper comes from the book "Made to Stick". Here's an excerpt.

Dunn, North Caroline, is a small town about 40 miles south of Raleigh. It has 14,000 residents and its workforce is primarily blue-collar. The local diner is packed in the morning with people eating big breakfasts and drinking coffee. Waitresses call you "hon." All in all, Dunn is a pretty normal place, except for one fact: Almost everyone in Dunn reads the local paper, the Daily Record. As a matter of fact, more than everyone in Dunn reads the paper. The Daily Record's penetration in the Dunn community is 112 percent, which is the highest penetration of any newspaper in the country. What explains this remarkable success?

The Dunn Daily Record was founded in 1950 by Hoover Adams. Throughout his tenure as publisher, Adams has believed newspapers need to be relentlessly local in their coverage. In fact, asked why the Daily Record has been so successful, Adams replies: "It's because of three things: Names, names, and names." In 1978, frustrated by what he felt was an insufficient focus on local issues in the paper, he wrote a memo to his staff, explaining his views. "A local newspaper can never get enough local names. I'd happily hire two more typesetters and add two more pages in every edition if we had the names to fill them up."

Look at how Adams communicates his core message. He says he'd hire more typesetters if the reporters could generate enough names. This is forced prioritization: Local focus is more important than minimizing costs! He also speaks in clear, tangible language. Is there a staffer who won't understand what Adams means by "names"? Adams can't possibly be involved in the vast majority of decisions at the paper. But his employees don't suffer from decision paralysis, because Adams is clear: "names, names, and names." Do we run the inspiring human interest story from the wire service, or the boring city council meeting with public testimony on the roadway bond issue? The boring city council story. It has more names, so it wins.

If the GT would head in this direction, I'd be a hardcopy subscriber, daily reader, and more consistent advertiser. Who wouldn't? Hoover Adams was right- people like to read about people and businesses they know. Names, names, names please.

Money Talks: Understanding Your Health Insurance

Tuesday, June 9th
5:30-6:30pm
Madison Ave Collective

Health insurance can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. At Money Talks this month we'll go over the basics of health insurance and how you can be sure you have the right coverage.

Bring your policy paperwork to receive individual consultation during the Q&A session. Post questions beforehand to the Facebook event wall or send them directly to me.

Afterward head over to the Darkside Cinema to catch a 7pm movie. Money Talks attendees will receive FREE admission, courtesy of Chris Nordyke State Farm and the Darkside. Movie listings can be found at www.darksidecinema.com.

Your RSVP (via Facebook or hello@workwithrebecca.com) is appreciated. Attendance is limited to 20 people.

Benton Furniture Share Raffle

Michelle Maddux sent me this about BFS's big fundraiser for the year. I've enjoyed getting to know Michelle as a client and hearing about a lot of great things Benton Furniture Share does for low income families in our community.



For more info on BFS, go here.



The fundraiser this year is a raffle for 2 tickets to the Oregon Jamboree. Whether you're into country music or not, the tickets routinely sell out and go online for $250 plus EACH. So if you're a country finatic or a crafty Ebayer, support a great cause and take your shot at a pair of tickets.



Here's more info about the Raffle.



To get tickets from Michelle or to donate furniture, call 754-9511

Money Talks for Couples- May 12th

Most couples don't have the bandwidth to stay in touch when it comes to financial matters. One person handles this, the other handles that. Maybe you've figured out how to make this work. For most of us, it takes being a bit more intentional to really make financial headway.

I'm putting on "Money Talks for Couples" because most of our marriages need a pause button, an excuse to stop, reflect and maybe change tactics. Even the savviest of couples can benefit from a cooperative financial refresher course. Money Talks for Couples will cover topics ranging from understanding your health insurance at work and investing principles, to online personal finance tools and homeowners insurance. Each month we'll have a different focus.

The sessions will begin with a light buffet style dinner from a local restaurant, followed by a 1 hour learning segment, and lastly a 30 minute Q&A. Babysitting will be provided for the duration. Money Talks will be done by 7ish.

The May 12th session will provide an intro to the series, with an overview of family financial planning principles, and a tutorial on Yodlee.com a free personal finance tool.

Future topics will include:
Teaching our kids about Money
Life Insurance- Planning for What Happens Now?
Saving for College- What educational savings accounts make sense for you?
Investing- Maxing out the Roth and keeping your 401K in Check

This month's session will be held at the community center at Willamette Landing. Space is limited to 10 couples, so pre-registration is strongly encouraged. We need to plan for the right amount of childcare and food as well. Please RSVP to Rebecca Badger. You can reach her via Twitter @rebeccabadger, email rebecca@workwithrebecca.com , or via cell phone @ 231-6428.

ROI on Social Media? Not so fast...

A friend of mine sent me this link. The article is about whether or not social media improves the bottom line. Does it increase sales and productivity or does it ultimately become a time-trap? Having spent most of my career in sales and business development, it immediately piqued my interest. Have a look:

http://snurl.com/fyzzc

The opening of the article is "... companies are struggling to locate enough social-media-generated revenue to justify the time and resources expended on them...". This sort of pragmatic approach doesn't really work when it comes to social media and the business 3.0 paradigm we're moving in to. The whole premise of the article assumes that engaging in social media is an option. I think we're going to see that in coming months and years, it will become a pre-requisite to many, if not most new business relationships.

Here's my take: social media is a by-product of GenX/Yers hungering for more authenticity. The line between our personal lives and professional roles has become permanently blurred. With social media, it's less about the polished image and scripted messaging, and more about the true grit of what someone is bring to the table. Good, bad or ugly, at least you know what you're getting.

Social media personalizes and legitimizes your marketing and branding efforts. Someone has to actually care what you have to say, for your messaging to have impact. Things have changed. There's too much noise for simple TOMA strategies or old skool sales 101 alone. People now want a more personal experience and it begins with social media (and face-time).

Stein makes a great point though, as it relates to sales success. "The challenge is, once a connection has been made through channels such as LinkedIn or Twitter, salespeople still need to have the knowledge and resources to follow through to conversion...If I don't have the skills, the tools, or [the] people...then that sale will never happen," Stein is right, social media doesn't somehow negate the need for good salesmanship or technical ability. Social media is simply the setting in which credibility is established and trust is created.

So there's an insurance guy's take. Social media doesn't sell insurance policies. Social media simply provides a powerful and authentic medium for new relationships, and relationships are where all good sales are made.

School Appreciation Day @ Coffee Culture

Here's a quick press blurb for the event we're doing tomorrow morning:

Free Coffee Tomorrow!

School Appreciation Day- Free Coffee at Coffee Culture Café (By Woodstocks Pizza) Tuesday, March 10th, 7-8am

Chris Nordyke, a local State Farm Agent, and former Jefferson Jaguar would like to provide free coffee for all Jefferson Elementary staff. This is part of a series of coffee events Chris' agency is holding for schools around Corvallis.

"I prefer to spend our marketing budget on creating fun experiences for people",Chris explained. "These coffee events allow us to thank our current clients, connect with future clients, and show our appreciation to schools in the Corvallis community."


If you're a Jefferson Elementary staff member, simply go to Coffee Culture on March 10th (Tomorrow!). All 16oz coffee drinks are free. Order your favorite- every category and flavor is free.

Come one, come all, the coffee’s on me,

Chris

Positive Writings from Grandpa's Journal

My late grandfather was a voracious reader (a love I fortunately inherited) and a wonderful motivator. He loved to read books by authors like Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Robert Schular, Og Mandino and many others. Any books that highlighted peoples ability to acheive via a positive attitude and determination. He was one of those people who everyone loved, because he always made you feel good. He spent most of his career as a teacher here in town and I still have past students remark about the impact he had on them...

Over the years, he compiled excerpts of these books into a handwritten journal. About a year before he died, I asked him if I could have it and he happily turned it over to me. By that point, his Parkinson's had virtually made it impossible to write or read- two things he loved desperately. You could see throughout the journal the progression of his handwriting. It got worse and worse, until the final entry remained unfinished. This book has become a precious possession that I read through periodically, either for my own inspiration or for an opening thought at one of our team meetings.

Periodically I plan on sharing some of his journal entries. Some from authors you might recognize and some sayings or truisms my grandpa coined or picked up over the years.

This first entry is by writer Og Mandino. Og was a World War II pilot and friend of actor Jimmy Stuart. The two flew together in the war. Og later went on to be a writer of business fables, one of them "The Greatest Salesman in the World". In it, he pens the Ten Scrolls of Success. Here they are in all their glory.


Scroll I - Today I begin a new life.
Scroll II - I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Scroll III - I will persist until I succeed.
Scroll IV - I am nature's greatest miracle.
Scroll V - I will live this day as if it is my last.
Scroll VI - Today I will be master of my emotions.
Scroll VII - I will laugh at the world (Keep perspective)
Scroll VIII - Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
Scroll IX - I will act now, I will act now, I will act now.
Scroll X - I will pray for guidance.

I spent the night last night at the men's homeless shelter here in Corvallis. Had a good time chatting with the guys and overall the night was pretty uneventful. Probably 30 plus guys at the shelter on a pretty regular basis. I hate to say it, but last night felt like a bit of a token volunteer effort. I get to go back to my comfortable warm house, and probably won't get time to stay at the shelter again for weeks or maybe even til next winter.

Prior to last night, I rarely paused to think about the homeless or poor people in our community, subconsciously marginalizing them and their situation, judging homelessness as simply a product of bad decisions. Sure, I care and give to causes and organizations in town, but how often do we actually connect with other people's plight and consider them as we consider ourselves? After getting a chance to hang out with them a bit, I realized the real lack of distance between their life and mine. Most of us are only a few bad decisions, an illness, or a job loss away from many of these guys' reality.

A song this morning stirred me, so I googled the lyrics for you to read. It's called Give me Your Eyes, by Brandon Heath. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in an ergonomic chair with clean clothes, a breve at my right, my blackberry at my left, food in my stomach and a mortgage that is paid on time. At the very least, let's be grateful for what we have today, and have open eyes to others that are in a tough spot. Here's the song.

Look down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touch down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work,
He's buying time

I’ve been here a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
I need a second glance
Give me a second chance
To see the way you’ve seen the people all along

A Passenger van could make the difference

I joined the current Leadership Corvallis class more out of peer pressure than anything. Several good friends of mine were signed up, so I signed up. I'm not going to lie, it began as kind of a "me too" thing.

Leadership Corvallis has turned out to be one of the most enriching programs I've ever participated in. A great concept that has, and I think will continue to develop passionate leaders for Corvallis.

One key element of the class is the service project. At our first or second day-long class, we saw 5 or 6 project presentations from area non-profits. Then, we each picked our top 3 and later were grouped into teams for each project. My number one pick was Parent Enhancement Program. They wanted us to raise money to purchase them a passenger van. I figured this would be a good challenge. It definitely has proved to be. Thankfully, it was the only fundraising project for the 2009 class.

In our initial meeting that day, we learned more about what this van would mean to the community. Parent Enhancement Program overwhelmingly serves young, poverty level mothers and their young children. They provide nutrition and parenting classes, help these young women get their GED's and give them rides to critical destinations such as doctor's appointments, school functions, the library, and the grocery store. I'm of course abbreviating, but we got the gist of the organization and it's mission.

Our group has since connected with the project on a much deeper level. What we realized, is that this passenger van can mean some normalcy for the children in these mostly single-parent homes. Without a special mode of transportation, many of these kids would not go to their school events, get to doctors appointments, or visit the library to check out books. Most of us have never experienced a world where mom simply has no way of getting the kids to the library.

We started the project with a plan of pre-selling advertising on the van. Simply get 12 or 15 businesses to give us $1000 for us to put their logo on the van. Then get a graphics/vinyl company to donate a vehicle wrap. Pretty easy, right. Well, given the economy, we've shifted gears a bit and implemented more of a community plan. We figure, if we can get 300 people in Benton County to give $50 each, there's $15K for a van. Throw in some grant money, and we've got a van with a maintenance fund.

The response has been fantastic thus far. We've had several $100 donations, a $400 donation from New Business Generation in Albany, and dozens of $50 donors. We've got over $2500 raised so far. This project will happen. We just need some more people to partner on it.
Our "money in" date is May 1st. The van will be purchased during the week of May 18th.

Please consider how you can participate. All contributions are tax deductible. Please make checks out to Parent Enhancement Program. Checks can be dropped off at Chris Nordyke State Farm by Albertsons, or Downtown Citizen's Bank.

Ignite Corvallis- Powerpoint doesn't have to be lame.

Last fall, Jason Prothero of Proworks Corp, emailed me and asked if I wanted to be involved in the upcoming Corvallis Ignite. Not knowing much about the whole Ignite concept, I googled it and found a bunch of Youtube videos from the Portland event.

I perused the videos, and frankly was a bit intimidated. Many of the presentations were hilarious and had the audience roaring. I wasn't sure if I could pull something like that together at all, much less with all the other things I was busy with running a new start-up. I already told Jason yes though, so I was committed. I would look pretty lame if I backed out now.

First bit of advice- start mulling over your slide deck as soon as possible. Don't wait until a few days before the event. It is much more challenging than I thought, to put together a compelling/funny/persuasive deck of slides, when you've got exactly 20 to work with and they're auto-advancing every 15 seconds. So take your time, review it with friends or your spouse, and you're guaranteed to change it up at least 10 times before the event.

There were a ton of people at the event, and yet there was a great (dare I say) forgiving tone to the room. Everybody was excited, and in a way, living vicarously through the presenters. They're less spectators, and more participants. But it is a spectacle none the less. I was scheduled right in the middle of the roster. Fortunately, before my turn, there were several funny presentations to loosen up the room and also calm the nerves in the dugout.

I think my presentation went o.k. It was a bit dry, I wandered off script a bit, and got lost in some "uhs, ahs, and umms". Overall I'd give myself a B-. The cool part about it, was it really didn't matter how I did. People remembered the ones they loved, and the other ones just sort of faded into the background. It was a great platform to practice a skill that has enormous value to any artist, entrepreneur or technologist.

For those of you waffling a bit- Just go for it. Ignite is not only a great way to meet new people, but a safe venue to stick your neck out a bit and have fun trying something new.

I plan on presenting again, if the organizing group will have me. Maybe not this next one, but definitely in the future. I think I'll probably title my next presentation "Why Guy Kawasaki Rules", or maybe "How Local Biz Can Twitter their way to a Profit".

See you at the next Corvallis Ignite.

Everyone loves free coffee

Today I'm hosting my third school appreciation day out at Jamocha Joe's cafe in Adair Village. Each month during the school year, we host all the staff of a Corvallis area school. Any 16oz drink is free of charge from 6 to 8am.
I'm surprised this hasn't been done before here. This has been a fun way to spend marketing dollars. Not only is it a great way to thank existing clients, but a nice way to get our name in front of people, and help a locally owned coffee shop in a down economy.
I've already got schools booked for March and April. If you'd like me to host your school of choice, just let me know and we'll get it on the calendar.
If you have any other creative marketing ideas that would not only help us connect with new clients, but serve the community or a local business, please leave a comment. We're always looking for high-touch, connective ways to build our agency.



www.MyCorvallisInsurance.com


This message composed via Blackberry handheld. Please excuse poor formatting and/or spelling errors.

Learning from the Lost Customer

I'm pretty proud of the fact that we rarely lose clients. Sure, we have a percentage of clients who are purely driven by price, and they bounce around from time to time. For the most part though, we intensely care about the relationship we have with clients and we try to be creative and intentional about the service we provide. Recently however, I lost a client because they were disappointed in the experience they had with me. I thought it might be constructive to journal the experience, as it might give pause to other business owners and be an opportunity for us all to reflect. From time to time, all of us will screw up, but how can we gain something from such a downer as losing a client?

In this particular situation, I was really fortunate to get very detailed, candid feedback as to why they were leaving me. I had to beg for it, but they eventually sent me a lengthy email detailing their dissatisfaction. Here's a sanitized excerpt from the email (so as to protect the identities of the innocent:) This makes for a long blog post, but hopefully you can learn with me from the situation.

"Per your request, here is some detailed feedback. Note that I have no real reason to spend the time doing this, other than that I have managed people for the last 14 years and know how hard it is to get (or give) honest feedback. Maybe you will return the favor to someone else someday. Note also that I did not share any of this with [other agent].

We select the people we choose to do business with, not the other way around. We have longstanding relationships (>10 years) with our dentist, eye doctor, doctor, dental hygienist, hair stylist, etc. In contrast, you were picked for us, replacing someone who we knew well and were quite pleased with.

A big negative for me during our meeting was when you volunteered that you started the cartridge refill store in Corvallis. As you knew, my [spouse] and I are long time HP employees. We both work very hard to make HP as successful as possible. Our livelihood depends on HP doing well. HP drives much of the economy in Corvallis. Refilling businesses like this one negatively impact our company and our compensation. I would suggest you not volunteer this to your customers from HP. Note that [other agent's] office was full of HP equipment and [his/her] former employer was [high-end service oriented retailer] - a much better fit for us.

My son appreciated many aspects of his "New Driver" talk, but was quite surprised (as was I) that you volunteered how many bad things you personally did as a teen in Corvallis. He thought it was weird and hypocritical that his insurance agent did things he wouldn't even dream of doing. I would suggest that you tell stories about what your "friends" did, not you. You need to preserve your credibility as an adult and as an insurance agent.

I know you are supposed to try to sell financial products, but you should have assumed based on our professions that we were already well set in this area and didn't need anything from State Farm. You should have either dropped this very quickly, or not even brought it up. You should not have asked me to refer people to you who might be interested in financial products. I had absolutely no reason or motivation to do this.

The above left me with the impression that you weren't very mature and didn't have the best of judgment. These are 2 personality traits we value in our insurance agent. We are more comfortable choosing to do business with [other agent] and hope [he/she] is our agent for many years to come. Nonetheless, I hope you find this feedback helpful towards building a successful business in Corvallis.

Not sure how it reads to the detached third-party reader, but it hit me like a punch in the gut. One of those moments where you're overcome with embarrassment, then a bit of defensiveness, disappointment, and finally clarity. A bit of context for the above comments:

Regarding us being forced on them- this is true. We inherited their business from the outgoing agent. I understand this comment/criticism. Frankly, I feel like every day we interact with our clients, we have to earn their business. At the end of the day, they get to decide where to spend their money.

The angst over me disclosing having started the cartridge refilling store (Rapid Refill Ink) I get as well. I could have been more diplomatic, and completely omitted that business from my personal introduction. On the other hand, having run other businesses in the past, it's part of my story and body of knowledge and experience. I suppose the takeaway from this is, the first impression is a delicate moment. Better to proceed carefully and thoughtfully and over time become more vulnerable and candid.

The "New Driver" talk. This was a good gut-check as well. Helpful to put it in context though. I do a new driver talk with all of my young clients that are just getting their driver's licenses. Generally mom or dad come in with them, but the conversation is between me and the new driver. I present them with important things to consider regarding safety, how tickets or accidents affect their rates, and other critical topics around this new responsibility they're taking on.

I've done a handful of these talks, and I try to at least mention a couple stories of my own driving experiences or failings as a young driver. I am careful not to glorify my past foolishness, but rather present it in a regretful tone, highlighting the consequences I experienced and how the outcomes could have been much more tragic. My intent with including my stories into the new driver talk, was to engage them with real examples and help them make a connection between my actions and the very real consequences that followed.

However, after mulling over the clients feedback, I've come to a couple conclusions. First, my approach could be an effective and powerful one for some teens.(And I believe it has been for many I've talked with) Unfortunately, I think it's possible it might actually may be a stumbling block for some, maybe even making the teen more brazen like "my agent did stupid stuff when he was young, and it eventually worked out alright. Driving isn't really that serious of a deal. I'm not going to kill anyone". This is obviously the last impression, or takeaway I want to give my young clients. Secondly, being a younger agent, there's really not enough separation between myself and my young drivers. If I were a 50 yr old agent, this approach would probably be an okay one, given the expanse of time between my youthful folly and my current behavior and position. So, a good lesson learned. Time to re-tool the new driver talk.

Now, on the sales comment. This comment from the client kind of threw me a bit. I don't even recall the context. One thing that I can't help but zero in on, is this comment [he/she] made:

"you should have assumed based on our professions that we were already well set in this area and didn't need anything from [large national insurance company]"

This to me, is an unfair judgment. I'm of the thinking that as a licensed professional, it's critical I make no assumptions as to my clients level of savvy and planning. Doing so can (and has before) ended badly. The reality is, I've got many clients with PhD's and MBA's that rely on our judgment and expertise to help them make good decisions as it relates to our industry and products.

I do however, have a good takeaway from this feedback, and it centers around expectations. Without unpacking our philosophy a bit, our questions may seem outside the scope of service they expected. Most people are not accustomed to their insurance agency taking the kind of wholistic approach we try to take.

Now however, when we bring on a new client, we let them know how we approach our role as their agent, and what they can expect from us. Hopefully this will help us avoid people getting the wrong impression.

Finally (You can all breath a sigh of relief), the client's summary about my maturity and judgment- I think they assumed a lot from one 45 minute interaction from me. I'll let the verdict sit with those that know me best, and suffice it to say, all of us have room for growth and personal development, no matter where we are at in our career and achievement.

So, a bit long, but hopefully constructive for those who decided to read it. The moral of the story is that greater self-awareness is essential for a successful entrepreneur, and it only comes from reflection and periodic bits of candid feedback.

The Agency Values

Here's what we finished with:
1) We ask good questions, every time.
2) We always follow up.
3) We create great experiences for our clients and fellow team members.
4) We're transparent and candid with our clients and fellow team members.
5) We are consistently growing and maintain strong profitability.