Randy Clark's Blog, page 20

Take My Wife

The mid-century stand-up comedian, Henny Youngman explained his joke, “Take my wife (comedic pause) please,” as a misinterpretation. He once took his wife to a show and asked the usher to escort his wife to her seat. However, the usher thought it was a joke and laughed, after which Youngman used the line so often that it became synonymous with him. I don’t know, maybe the explanation was true, or perhaps he was trying to appease his wife. Regardless, it doesn’t help me because there’s no explaining away my wife jokes. It’s the origin of I think I’m funny, and it gets me in trouble all the time.

Take My Wife, PleaseShe’s a Saint

My wife Cathi is a saint in so many ways, one of which is putting up with my inappropriate sense of humor for more than 30 years. I hesitate to tell you some of the horrible jokes I thought were funny. So, please don’t hate me. I know better (mostly) now.

I’ll start with the worst. Cathi is my third wife. It took me three tries to find someone who could tolerate me. When we had only been married a year or two, I introduced her as my future third ex-wife. Sigh. I know, I know, it’s horrible, and it’s not funny. I don’t know how she put up with me.

30 Years and Going 

I told people I’d been married thirty years, and when they congratulated me, I’d say yea, that’s not bad. It took me three wives to add up to 30 years, but who’s counting? Sigh again.

My first wedding proposal was, “You’re what!?” We had a daughter seven months later,

On the day of my second wedding, I told my soon-to-be wife, “You know we should cherish this moment because we’re only going to do this three or four times in our entire life!” I couldn’t make this up. That marriage lasted two years.

Blessed

I am truly blessed to find my soulmate, my BFF Cathi, and even more so that she stuck with me despite my adolescent sense of humor. And to prove I’ve matured, I’m not ending this story with a joke!

 How Can I Help You?

I like to help people and organizations, but I have three criteria I consider before taking an assignment – I believe in what the organization stands for, I know I can help, and it looks like fun. If you have any questions, Contact Me. 

Does your business have a management training plan? Businesses and universities use my book, The New Manager’s Workbook, a crash course in effective management, as the basis for their leadership development program. I’m also available to conduct training.

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

The post Take My Wife appeared first on Randy Clark Leadership Training.

Are You Holding Your Business Back?

So, are you holding your business back? Most entrepreneurs would only attempt to start a business familiar to them. If your background is shipping, it’s unlikely you’d consider starting a web development firm. It’s doubtful you’d have the connections, hours of experience, and know-how of a web developer. But knowing your product and service is only a small part of running a successful operation. There’s more that can hold your business back.

Are You Holding Your Business Back?Just Because You’re Good at Your Job…

Unless you’re a solopreneur, recruiting, inspiring, and leading your staff will be crucial to your success. In business, not knowing how to lead or recognizing and recruiting those who can, is as big a mistake as not knowing your product or service. We may chuckle at the idea of a shipping expert opening a web development business, but what about the web developer who’s never been a manager attempting to recruit and motivate a staff?

Is the Lack of Leadership Skills Really a Problem?

If I asked what’s the biggest obstacle holding your business back from growing, would your answer be funding? In this Small Business Trends Poll, finance was the leading answer, with 718 of the 1188 surveyed responding that money was the biggest challenge. The second and third biggest obstacles were recruiting and leading, which may surprise some, but shouldn’t. Lacking the ability and experience to recruit, manage, and motivate a talented staff is a major hurdle to growth and the overall success of any venture.

How Can You Learn to Lead?Let someone pay you to learn. Before attempting a start-up, why not let someone else take the risk while you learn the ropes? Take a management position in an existing firm.Seek out mentors. If you’ve been fortunate enough to have a great boss, seek their advice regularly. Look to successful business leaders for help. Many are open-minded to mentoring.Take leadership courses. Your local community college, most chambers of commerce, and the Better Business Bureau offer or can recommend courses.Read, then read some more. There are so many great books on leadership it’s hard to pick just a few to recommend. Leaders who have influenced me include Ken Blanchard, John Maxwell, and John Wooden.Learn from your mistakes. This is the toughest lesson, but we all make management mistakes. Don’t waste the opportunity to learn. Analyze what you could do differently to improve your management skills.Read the Leadership category on this blog. Pick and choose titles that fit your needs.

Is your lack of leadership skills detrimental to your business? If you’ve made numerous poor hiring decisions, lost valuable employees you shouldn’t have lost, and been unable to maintain a motivated culture—you may be what’s holding your operation back. If you think your lack of leadership skills and training may be problematic, I’d happily listen to your challenges and offer advice.

How Can I Help You?

I like to help people and organizations, but I have three criteria I consider before taking an assignment – I believe in what the organization stands for, I know I can help, and it looks like fun. If you have any questions, Contact Me. 

Does your business have a management training plan? Businesses and universities use my book, The New Manager’s Workbook, a crash course in effective management, as the basis for their leadership development program. I’m also available to conduct training.

Photo by Derek Coleman on Unsplash

The post Are You Holding Your Business Back? appeared first on Randy Clark Leadership Training.

Our First and only RV Vacation

Story by Trina Hargis. This is the story of our families first and only RV vacation. The story you are about to read is true. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent.

Our First and Only RV VacationSaturday, June 13th, 2009

My Dad, Roger, brought his 2006 Islander RV to our house with their Saturn SUV in tow. It was to be our new home for the summer.

Our Family, my husband Chris and our children, William 13, Audrey 10, Luke 13 months, and me, Trina excitedly packed our clothes, food, and personal belongings. We were ready for an adventure of a lifetime exploring the western states of America. It was to be our first RV vacation. We became familiar with the RV set up and could hardly wait to leave the next morning.

Dad gave Chris a crash course in RV driving. He told him not to worry, have fun, be safe, and that he trusted us to take good care of his RV.

Before going to bed, Chris discovered the turn signals and brake lights weren’t working. Kevin, the mechanic at Chris’s shop, came by the house to look at the hookup and fix the lights. The kids and I went to bed. We had an early wake-up.

While the rest of us slept, Chris and Kevin worked until 2 am but finally got the turn signals and brake lights working. Yay! We could now travel safely and were ready for our RV vacation!

Sunday, June 14th (Flag Day)

The family left our neighborhood at 11:30 am destination South Dakota! We made it 11 miles to Brownsburg. The first order of business, lunch at Applebee’s. I noticed the air conditioner wasn’t cooling too well. So, Chris drove to a KOA in Rockville, IL. That bill was only $52.00

Monday, June 15th

The next stop was at Thompson’s repair ($200.00) and were on the road by 4:00 pm. Next stop, Neola, Iowa. Our crew arrived at 8:25 pm and stayed the night at Arrowhead ($12.00). It rained all night.

Tuesday, June 16th

It was on to Camping World for more repairs to the RV. Rhonda, my stepmom, had called ahead to find a place that had the part and could work on it. We lost a day’s travel in the waiting room of the service center. We left at 5:15 after spending $2,058.49 on a new inverter. An inverter converts 12-volt DC power from your RV batteries to 120-volt AC. Without it, almost nothing inside the RV would operate.

We drove to Family-E-Fun campground ($22.00). Our 13-month-old son, projectile vomited his last bite of sweet potatoes and applesauce. I blamed it on motion sickness. We arrived at 10:15 pm. When all settled in and had cleaned up the projectile vomit (you wouldn’t think a 13-month-old could cause so much damage), we looked at our next destination.

Our 13-month-old had a fever. Only two days into our RV vacation, and we have our first sick family member. Thankfully, I had packed a mini drugstore. The RV was headed west.

Wednesday, June 17th

We arrived at Crooked Creek Resort in Hill City, South Dakota, one thousand ninety-eight miles from home. As the RV progressed west, we ventured from campgrounds to Walmart parking lots for a night’s stay. It was free, other RVers usually joined us, and it was convenient for groceries and essentials.

Friday, June 19th

Next was Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. We arrived at our reserved campsite and settled in. The first order of business was to unhook the Saturn and park the RV on the pad. We pulled over and parked just beyond the check-in station and got out of the RV. Chris unhooked the Saturn as the kids, and I watched it roll backward. He forgot it was in neutral. He didn’t put it in park. Chris ran to grab the front bumper while yelling for William to jump in and put his foot on the brake. Whew, it was quite a show. Little did we know this would be the least of our mishaps on our RV vacation.

So, we settled in, set up camp, and made dinner. The kids got to stretch their legs and play at the camp playground. Later we all laughed at the great car get-a-way. As we got ready to shower and go to bed, Audrey opened the shower door and discovered poop standing in the drain. She gagged. The putrid odor spread throughout the RV. We all gagged.

We asked the office for a tank pump but we were out of luck. The office closed at 6:00. Desperate, Chris offered $100 for an emergency pump. At 10:00 pm, we became the main attraction at the park as all our neighbors watched us receive the emergency poop pump. After a good night’s sleep, with the windows open, we were up for an outdoor breakfast and our next RV vacation adventure.

Another $190.00

Chris and I were securing the grill and supplies in the storage bin when we noticed one of the hubcaps was missing. Fantastic! Add another $190 to our bill. Had we encountered a hubcap bandit, or had it come loose rolling down the road!? I thought surely; we’d be done with bloopers for a while. I was wrong.

We drove to the nearest gas station to refuel and wash the day’s bugs from the windshield. William and Audrey enjoyed doing this because they got to stand on a ladder and use a long-handled squeegee as their little brother watched from inside. All was going well when Chris called out, “Who has the gas cap?” No way. Is he serious? Is he joking? Nope, not a joke. Today’s first RV vacation adventure—find a replacement gas cap.

Coming out of the hills after leaving Mt. Rushmore, Chris asked, “Does anyone smell something burning?” we all agree. Yes, something is burning. The smell is alarming. William is told to grab the fire extinguisher. Chris pulls to the side of the road. We discover we’ve burnt up the brakes because we didn’t properly use what we now know as the “Jake Brakes.” After another call home to my dad, a retired truck driver, he says, “I never thought to tell you how to use the Jake Brakes, oops.” Sigh.

Closing Up Camp 

After another night of solid rain, we got up the next morning, closed up camp, packed our outside gear, and secured the stuff inside for another day of travel. The team had gotten pretty good at locking things down so they don’t roll off tables and such. Trying to be helpful, I pushed the button to roll in the bump-out, so all would be ready when Chris was done outside. As we rolled the area rug, making room for the bump-out to “slide” in, I heard a terrible metallic tearing sound.

I looked outside and then at the floor to assess the damage when I noticed the wood trim has ripped off the wall in the kitchen and the bump-out. I couldn’t keep moving it because it was stuck on the captain’s chair. What have I done? As I quickly reversed the room to slide back out, I tore the chair’s metal brackets and bolts from the floor. What was once a comfortable leather chair accidentally had been ripped into becoming a rocking chair.

Just then, Chris opened the door and said, “DIDN’T YOU SEE ME!?” Shocked about my accident and confused by his question, I see him standing there soaking wet. His hat, clothes, and face look like a water hose has been turned on him. I thought, “What? How is he all wet?” Chris says, “I was standing right there when you rolled the room in. ALL THE RAINWATER DUMPED ON TOP OF ME!”

Apparently, our closing up communication still needed improvement. I could ask, “All clear, captain?” I was sure we’d get better (my fingers were crossed).

Black Residue 

Chris pulled the RV into the rest stop because looking out the side mirror I could see black residue all over the Saturn. The hood, windshield, and front of the car were covered in black oil.

Chris inspected the engine compartment to see what the problem was. He was lying on his stomach, covered with a mixture of sweat and motor oil. The 89-degree heat and heat from the engine were brutal. As he crawled out, he burnt his leg on the exhaust. He jerked his leg, and broke the bolt to the bracket that held the Saturn to the RV.

An Answered Prayer

I said maybe God would send someone to help us. I caught an expression of doubt on Chris’s face. Just then, I heard the rumble of an RV pulling in beside us. The driver got out of the car and walked directly to Chris, “Looks like you folks could use some help.” Amazingly this retired surgeon had the tools and a spare bolt to match the broken one. I looked to the heavens and whispered, “Thank you.”

Back on the Highway, our sights were set on our next destination. Chris asked for a drink to cool down. I unbuckled, walked back to the fridge, opened the door, and out falls a can! It busted as the top hit the floor, spewing sticky diet coke in a four-foot radius all over the furniture, floor, carpet, and cabinets. Everyone  scurried to clean it up.

Pro tip: When opening the fridge in a moving RV, do so very slowly. Very, very, slowly.

As the evening set in, a fever set in Audrey, all the nearest immediate healthcare facilities were full, so I looked for a hospital. She had a virus. We contacted our family doctor back home to get a prescription filled. Her fever lasted two days. It was our second sick family member.

Tuesday, June 23rd

Yellowstone, here we come! I got pretty good at calling ahead for overnight campsites as we traveled. I had confirmed our next stopover on the phone.

We finally arrived! Chris parked just short of the check-in station. I got out and walked up to the gate to get our reservation confirmed. I was told the park was full. What? This can’t be! I looked at the attendant pleadingly and said,” Ma’am, my husband is going to kill me if I walk back and tell him we have nowhere to stay tonight.” I begged her for “anything.” After waiting patiently for what seemed like ages but was only a few minutes, she found us a makeshift spot. I thanked her repeatedly, turned, and walked back with the good news.

We had the smallest slab of concrete in the park. Our 38-foot RV barely fit, and the Saturn was in the road. By the time we set up, it was almost 8 pm. YIKES! I had been told explicitly, “NO GENERATORS AFTER 9!” We hurriedly made dinner, cleaned up, and settled in for the night. Our family mission, get a good night’s sleep in the hot summer temperatures without our generator. Good luck.

A Fudgesicle

After exploring Yellowstone, we were hot and thirsty and decided to visit the gift shop and snack area. Ahh! The air conditioning was such a relief. I noticed popsicles and Ice cream bars in a cooler and decided on a fudge pop. While the rest of the family was exploring the gift shop, I took the first bite of my fudgesicle. Except, it wasn’t a full bite. It stuck to my bottom lip. Well, this is embarrassing; a fudge pop was stuck to my lip.

No one I knew was in sight. I thought about going back to the clerk to buy water, but I couldn’t with this chocolate torture device stuck to my lower lip. I thought I was okay because it would eventually melt. It didn’t melt, so I pulled at it, and now I’m missing skin off my lower lip.

Later, Chris and William hiked a mountain. About 100 yards from the top, a storm rolled in. On the map, it said to find the trailhead, look for cans. They looked and looked for aluminum cans to no avail. Finally, they met someone on the trail. His name was Marty, and he explained cans were rocks stacked atop each other. They instantly made a new friend in Marty and hiked the trail together. Marty said there was a lot of iron in the rocks, and if lightning struck, it could kill you! The trip down was much faster than up. By the time they reached the bottom, William was suffering from altitude sickness. Chris and William both got nose bleeds.

July 2nd – 4th

Snowy Peaks RV Park, Bueno Vista, Colorado, is about to be the site of the biggest and most devastating of all our accidents making the others look small in comparison.

We were checking into the RV park. An older gentleman who worked there guided us into our designated spot when Chris heard a loud noise on what appeared to be the top of the RV. Chris opened the sliding window and asked the man, “Is everything okay?” The man motioned Chris to keep backing up. As Chris backed up, the noise continued. A branch was cutting the fiberglass edge of the roof, opening it like it was a can of corn. Chris asked again, “Are you sure everything is okay?” The man reassured him it was, so Chris continued to our spot. Chris got out and climbed the ladder to the top of the roof and saw the damage. Sigh. It would definitely be our last RV family vacation. Ever.

PostScript:

I’d like to add that I called home to apologize to dad for all of the accidents & mishaps. He was very understanding.

You see, I had to work up the courage to call because my dad kept everything perfect when I was growing up. Clean, neat, and as close to brand new as possible. He was a bit of a neat freak when I was a child.

Surprisingly he said, “As long as you are all okay that’s all the matters.” It was a big relief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why Are You so Behind and What Can You Do about it?

Why are you so behind? I might have an answer and solution for you. It’s helped me and others who have felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day. It could help you.

Why Are You So Behind? 

I worked with a team leader who, along with many of his responsibilities, had the important task of processing customer invoices. The invoicing process was slow and mistake-prone due to “urgent” interruptions that “only he” could handle.

Sometimes You Have to Say No, Not Me, Not Now

When I suggested the team leader stop to ask, “Do I need to do this, and do I need to do this now?” More often than not, he learned that he could work on properly invoicing clients instead of running to the urgent emergency, putting out the fire “only he” could correct. Instead of being behind time, he was getting ahead.

I have observed this urgent vs. important dilemma in every type of organization, department, and position.

For my purposes here I define important tasks as those that help achieve long-term organization and individual goals. And Urgent tasks as “sudden fires” that do little to achieve long-term goals and may interfere with them.

What Can You Do about it?Answer the following to determine if the task is important or urgentHow does this task affect long-term goals?What will happen if this task is not completed?What are the benefits of completing this task?Why am I considering completing this task, and why now?Before jumping from one task to another, stop and analyzeWho should do this?When should it be done?If I complete this task now, what tasks are being interrupted, set aside, or left incomplete?What tasks will help me achieve my goals?What tasks will interfere with my goals?Which tasks should take priority?

The next time you spend two hours in the morning answering emails when you planned to make ten new sales calls (and didn’t), stop and consider if you are working toward your long-term goals or are you operating by the seat of your computer.

When you ask distribution to rush one package to a one-time customer — interfering with important shipments, stop and think, should you have asked distribution before you promised it would be shipped same day (and created an urgent task for distribution)?

When you ask production to interrupt a project to manufacture a Christmas product in July because the customer needs it now, STOP and ask yourself, is this important or urgent? So why are you behind?

How Can I Help You?

I like to help people and organizations, but I have three criteria I consider before taking an assignment – I believe in what the organization stands for, I know I can help, and it looks like fun. If you have any questions, Contact Me. 

Does your business have a management training plan? Businesses and universities use my book, The New Manager’s Workbook, a crash course in effective management, as the basis for their leadership development program. I’m also available to conduct training.

Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

 

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Why Small Biz Owners Need Mentors

Why small biz owners need mentors should be obvious but it doesn’t seem to be the case.  I meet a group of friends monthly for dinner. We talk about an area of our professional lives we could use help with, and the group brainstorms, offering advice and ideas. One friend said, “I don’t really have anything this month.” We suggested areas of improvement for our friend to consider. He said, “I guess I need help just talking about my business to someone. It’s so easy to keep it all to myself.” Last year, he quit his day job and went out on his own. He’s a solopreneur and doing well. Except, it gets lonely. He longs for interaction, idea sharing, and human contact—more than once a month at our dinners. Several small business owners at the table offered to mentor him.

My friend stopped by my home the following Sunday, and after the Colts game (we won!), we discussed his progress. He’d met with another friend, a small business owner, over lunch and had a great meeting. They discussed potential problems, pitfalls, and visions for his business. He had found a mentor.

Why Small Biz Owners Need MentorsYou’re not the first to face the problems you face. Learn from othersYou don’t have all the best ideas. Seek adviceDiscussion stimulates creativity. Brainstorming by yourself isn’t as effectiveSometimes, you need to be told everything’s going to be okay or notYou occasionally need a friendly nudge to take the next stepWe’re not meant to face this world alone, join a tribe and learn from its elders

Getting caught up in the daily battle of managing a small business is easy. There aren’t enough hours in the day, and there’s always another bill to pay. In the meantime, you’re insanely busy trying to find your next customer. There’s no time left for a mentor in your hectic and chaotic business life. Ah, but there’s the rub: an hour every so often with an experienced, helpful mentor may save you many hours of inefficient activities, hours of dead-end initiatives, and hours of sleep. Are you a small business owner? Do you have a mentor? Have you mentored others?

How Can I Help You?

I like to help people and organizations, but I have three criteria I consider before taking an assignment – I believe in what the organization stands for, I know I can help, and it looks like fun. If you have any questions, Contact Me. 

Does your business have a management training plan? Businesses and universities use my book, The New Manager’s Workbook, a crash course in effective management, as the basis for their leadership development program. I’m also available to conduct training.

Photo by Kevin Curtis on Unsplash

 

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The post Why Small Biz Owners Need Mentors appeared first on Randy Clark Leadership Training.

3 Ways Understanding Parkinson’s Law Leads to More Productive Meetings

Are you ready to conduct more productive meetings? Whether virtual or face-to-face, meetings can adversely drain your organization. Not only as a time waster but also as a culture deflator. Have you attended meetings that you thought were a waste of time? How did that make you feel about the organization and its leadership? It may be more important than you know to make meetings more productive.

“We surveyed 182 senior managers in a range of industries: 65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work. 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. 64% said meetings come at the expense of deep thinking. 62% said meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.” — Harvard Business Review — Stop the Meeting Madness

3 Ways Understanding Parkinson’s Law Leads to More Productive Meetings

So, are you familiar with Parkinson’s Law? In 1955 the British historian and author C. Northcote Parkinson stated that “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

Understanding Parkinson’s Law can help you and your team stay on task, save energy, and accomplish more. It will help you save time and keep meetings from being a source of negative vibes that spread throughout your culture.

In the first chapter of his book Parkinson’s Law, published in 1957, he explains that adding more personnel to any organization doesn’t mean more work will be completed. Often the work is made more difficult, needs multi-channel approval, and is duplicated – all to fulfill Parkinson’s Law. One of the most misused methods of filling time is meetings. He shares real examples of larger employee bases accomplishing less. (Side note, I’m a proud owner of the first edition paperback published by Houghton Mifflin in 1957.) Here are three ways to use Parkinson’s Law to improve your meetings.

No Later Than

Survey after survey tells us that meetings are among the most disliked activities in any organization. Why is that? Is it because there are too many? Could it be because the meeting needs more structure? Is it due to the meeting becoming a rambling lecture? Yes, to all of the above.

I have an answer that will have a tremendous impact on your meetings. Not only on saving time but also on making your meeting more acceptable and enjoyable. It is more appreciated if the participants view the meeting as a focused, task-accomplishing session.

Open your meeting by sharing Parkinson’s Law. Explain that there’s a start time and a “no later than” time allotted for this meeting. For example, you may have the conference room for an hour, but if you don’t need the hour, don’t “fill” in time. If you finish 15 minutes early – end the meeting.

Recently I attended a meeting with a guest speaker. The speaker had 45 minutes but finished early. He asked the audience for questions. Answered a few, then with 10 minutes remaining, he looked at the audience and asked, “What else do you want to talk about?” The room was silent, so he repeated some of what he had shared earlier. You might think it was only 10 minutes wasted, but it wasn’t. There were more than 20 people in attendance. When totaled, that’s more than three hours wasted. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But how often does this happen in your organization?

Don’t Try to Talk Things Done

Set a goal at the beginning of the meeting that actionable takeaways will be decided upon, scheduled, and followed up. “How many meetings, training seminars, and planning sessions have you sat through that were inundated with great ideas, only to realize later that little was done or nothing was really accomplished? And how often have you conducted, led, or facilitated the same without creating a plan of action? Ideation is important, but what good are ideas without action?” — You Can’t Talk Shit Done: Adding Actions to Words

End the meeting with an action plan chosen and agreed upon by the group and then commitments from all attendees to follow up.

Plan More Than You Can Possibly Get to

At first, this may sound counter-Parkinson’s Law, and in some cases, it could be. However, if you have enough valuable content to share in a meeting, training session, or seminar, one way to get more done is to plan more than you can get to. Let me share an example. I conduct leadership training based mainly on my two management/leadership books, The New Manager’s Workbook: A Crash Course in Effective Management and The Manager’s Guide to Becoming a Leader. 

I outline every meeting. I’ve done these meetings enough to have a good idea of how long they will take. But occasionally, it goes quicker than I anticipated. Expectations are the seminar will fill the time allotted. So, what can I do? I don’t want to waste time. At the end of my meeting outline, I add “Additional or Next” that I can share. For example, if I were sharing a meeting on giving meetings, I could also discuss how training compares to meetings.

Are You Ready to Make Meetings More Productive?

You can do many things to make meetings more productive, but applying these three points is an excellent place to start. Create a no later than time to finish the meeting and end it when the purpose of the meeting is accomplished, have additional valuable information to share if needed, and add action to your words. Please let me know how it works for you.

If you enjoyed this post you might also like Unplanned Meetings Are a Waste of Time.

Image by Ronald Carreño from Pixabay

 

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Burning the Weeds

So, here’s a true story about burning the weeds. More than thirty years ago, I owned a home on the near west side of Indianapolis. I had been there for several years when a new next-door neighbor moved in. The short street of homes was all two-bedroom bungalows that shared driveways. At the end of the driveway were detached garages. Our garages were only about a yard apart.

My New Neighbor

My new neighbors were boat people from Vietnam. In case you’re not old enough to remember, thousands of Vietnamese fled Vietnam by boat when the South Vietnamese government collapsed in 1975. Left to fend for themselves, these brave souls crowded into small boats, where they were preyed upon by pirates and suffered dehydration and starvation. Many drowned. It took a strong person to survive.

My new neighbors were the most industrious couple I’d ever met. They both worked full-time jobs. She worked days while he worked nights. Once they settled in, they opened a restaurant, each working opposite their full-time job shift. They worked 20 or more hours a day.

Only the Strong

Whenever I hear about an influx of immigrants hurting America, I think of my neighbors. We were lucky to have them. I don’t care what or where the border is. Weak immigrants seldom make it this far. The strong-willed people make it here, and yes, we are lucky to have them.

The couple had one teenage son, Benji. Benji was almost completely Americanized. Overall, he was a good kid. However, with his parent’s schedule, Benji was on his own a lot.

Burning the Weeds 

One day Benji’s mother came to my door waving her arms and talking rapidly. She was almost incoherent. She looked at me and said, “Come, please.” We walked to the rear of the space between our garages. She pointed at a large plant and said, “What this?” I looked at it and told her it was a marijuana plant. She pointed at the plant and asked, “This yours?” I explained it wasn’t, and she said, “Oh no, Benji, Benji, Benji!” She asked, “What we do?” I told her I’d dispose of it, and she asked me how. I said I’d burn it, which I did. It only took me six months. One joint at a time. Like Dave Barry says, I couldn’t make this up.

Post Note: I haven’t smoked anything since 1997.   

If you enjoyed this you might like, Breaking the Streak.

Photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash

 

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Pick One

I’m serious, pick one and only one. At the beginning of most leadership training sessions, which I facilitate, I state my goal. Everyone is to pick one action to commit to from the meeting. I recently realized I wasn’t holding myself accountable to being clear about only picking one and why only one.

Why Only Pick One?

Near the end of a recent leadership development class, I asked each of the six people in the room their takeaway. One of the participants held up her notepad and said I have an entire page of notes. A little later, she asked, “How do I keep up with everything Randy is teaching us?” I gave some vague answer that didn’t offer much help. At my next meeting with this group, I will try to answer her question properly.

Pick One and Get it Done 

That’s the answer, pick one and get it done before you go to two. Unfortunately, with this group, I’d gotten away from reiterating to start with one.

Have you ever been to a conference or seminar and taken copious notes only to find them in a drawer three months later with no action taken? I have, and that’s where my pick-one philosophy began. I found myself with a plethora of great ideas, so many that I became paralyzed and accomplished little.

To combat this, I developed a pick-three strategy. What? I know I said one, and now I’m saying three. It’s three, but one at a time.

Conference Notes 

“You might have a great capacity, but in the past, you may have been a “slacktavist” like me with a pad full of notes you did little with. If that’s the case, try just three actions. Begin the first immediately, the second in thirty days, and the third in ninety (ninety gives time for one and two to get rolling).” — How to Get the Most Out of a Conference.

Every Two Weeks

I meet with the team I mentioned every two weeks, sometimes a bit longer. Had I stuck to my pick-one plan and held everyone to picking one action to commit to, most could be accomplished, and many would become habits in two weeks. However, I didn’t hold to pick one, so I was asked. “How can we get all of this done?” When you have a page full of notes, you most likely can’t.

What’s Next?

The next time you attend a conference, seminar, or a meeting, pick one action to commit to. Start with one. Get it done and then move on or you could be like me and find your notes in the drawer three months later. Pick one.

How Can I Help You?

I like to help people and organizations, but I have three criteria I consider before taking an assignment – I believe in what the organization stands for, I know I can help, and it looks like fun. If you have any questions, Contact Me. 

So, does your business have a management training plan? Because if not, many organizations, large and small, use my book, The New Manager’s Workbook a crash course in effective management, as the basis for their leadership development program. Check it out.

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

 

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Fun at Work

You got to have fun at work, right? When I was younger not everyone’s definition of fun at work was the same as mine. You know the routine, I think I’m funny, blah, blah, blah. I’ve done some questionable things at work because I thought it was funny. Like when I was selling used cars and the lot person, who happened to be the General Manager’s son, became a pain in the you-know-what. So, I sent him to a paint store for striped paint, blue and yellow. I convinced him that striped paint was a thing.

Christmas Tree Lights  

One year when I was assistant manager at a Volkswagen dealership I had fun during the Christmas holiday. The  Christmas tree lights suddenly stopped working one day. I later discovered someone had inadvertently turned off the  switch to the plug where the tree was connected. This was 20 years before the movie Christmas Vacation.

One day when one of the salespeople walked by the tree, I flipped the fuse switch and turned off the lights. They looked and then started checking light bulbs. After a few minutes, I grabbed another salesperson, filled him in, and told him to go to the tree, look at it, twist one bulb, and I’d turn on the lights back on. He did. The other salesperson could only stare. We continued this for nearly a month.

In the early ’70s, I managed a Thom McCann shoe store. I had worked in marketing in their home office in Worcester, Mass, for three years. While there I’d read a survey about how people disliked shoe shopping. The people surveyed mentioned the store not having their size, shoes that didn’t fit comfortably, or they couldn’t find a salesperson. Fifty years ago, there was no self-service shoe buying. Not only were customers waited on, but they sat in chairs as store clerks took off their shoes, measured their feet with Braddock devices, and “tried” the new shoes on them.

 A Fun at Work Experience

I decided we’d make the shoe experience in our store fun. I hired young people with a good sense of humor. We threw shoeboxes across the store to each other while we cracked jokes. I put together a business plan for a fun shoe store and tried to secure funding but to no avail. I’ve wondered if the founders of Shoe Carnival read the same survey. However, we did become one of the district’s most successful and profitable stores.

I remember one time I came out of the back room, and two African American young ladies asked me where their shoes were when the young man waiting on them, both of us were blond, came out with their shoes. They apologized, and I said not to worry. We all look alike. Thank goodness they laughed. Yep, I think I’m funny.

 

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6 Ways to Update Old Blog Posts

Should you update old blog posts? How many blog posts have you published, 50, 100, 1,000, or more? I’ve published more than 5,000 on several sites. That’s a lot of content, more than two million words. Repurposed or not, the content helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but why leave it at that? Why not update your old blog posts to maximize their readability and reach?

6 Ways to Update Old Blog PostsCreate an eBook

“If you’ve been blogging about specific topics, posting one new blog per week, for one year—you already have an eBook or two just waiting to be published. For example, if over the last year, you’ve posted fifty-two blogs on four topics, then you’ve posted 12 to 13 on each topic. 12 to 13 posts on each subject can easily become an eBook. Here’s an example, The Fleet Managers Guide to Fleet Graphics. I compiled this eBook from previously published nineteen blog posts.” How to Write an eBook in 5 Easy Steps

Rethink the Links

Creating a list or category post is an easy way to link multiple previously published posts. For example,  6 Event Networking Hacks links back to 3 previously published blog posts. But don’t stop there. Add new links and update old ones. Here are three types of links.

Outbound links – Links to other sites. It’s essential to vet outbound links. I find it best to stick with resources you’re familiar with.Inbound links – Links to previous content on your website, such as older blog posts, images, or website copyBacklinks – These are links from other content providers to your content. The best way to get others to backlink your blog is to offer quality content that answers questions, solves problems, and shows your expertise. Commenting on other blogs, guest blogging, asking for quotations, and conducting surveys are ways to get noticed, which can lead to backlinks.” –7 Keys to Keyword Success Put it in a Guest Posts 

Okay, you don’t want to republish content on another blog site, do you? It’s not as frowned upon by Google as some would have you think, Google on Duplicate Content. However, if you’re uncertain you want to repost old content on another site, there’s a way to promote your archival content on another’s blog site without risking an SEO hit. Write 150-200 words of new content on the topic and then link to the existing post. Here’s an example, Is social media part of your marketing plan?

Add Video

Another way to take a new look at your content is to find your most successful blog post and create a video. This post, How Much Do Vehicle Graphics Cost? began as a short blog post, copy only. It became one of the companies’ top posts garnering fifty or more visits daily. After adding video, it averaged more than one hundred views per day.

Share and Promote Old Posts 

I promote archival blog posts five days a week on social media. I share old blog posts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. If I don’t have a new post that day, I share an archival one.

Edit Old Posts

I edit and update blog posts weekly, on this blog, and for two organizations. Editing includes improving flow, correcting grammatical mistakes, fixing broken links, adding newer information, raising the SEO score, and on some posts, resetting the publishing date to current. I’ve taken old posts that were sleeping on page five and brought them into the light. I’ve also found posts that it was time to say goodbye to and deleted them.

Are You Using All of Your Ammunition?

Are you using all your content? Or is it sitting in a dustbin after being published on your website and shared once on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook? If so, revisit your archival content and repurpose it. Find a way to reuse, reshape, and rewrite it to your brand’s advantage. Why wouldn’t you? Why did you write it, edit it, and publish it in the first place?

How Can I Help?

Let me know if I can offer any help or advice. If you’d like to learn more about business blogging, try How to Stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever. The book is full of action plans for creating a blogging/writing system that works for you.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like, Is Content Really King?  

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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