Should Your Boss Go Undercover?

I can remember conversations at the water cooler when I was working for corporate America.  Some of the thoughts people had were good, their ideas were solid, and the feelings were mutual.  The problem across the board was that nobody was listening.  Everyone’s boss was too busy with meetings, functions and upper management blah blah blah.  There are many companies that have laid people off by the hundreds, even thousands.  Workers, employees, co-workers, family members and friends all want answers.  What do you think would happen if your boss went undercover? They spent time in the shoes you fill everyday, to learn your job, better your job and understand your day-to-day.  Well, it’s happened.

A new show premiered after the Super Bowl this past Sunday on CBS, Undercover Boss is billed as C level executives and large corporate company owners stepping into their front line employees shoes.  At first, I thought, “what a wonderful PR stunt/marketing idea and way to show America that corporate companies don’t exist to (blank) their employees over any chance they get.” After watching the first episode, I may have jumped the gun.  The idea does seem original and with the way of the world, it’s almost revolutionary.  Consumers, customers and employees are hungry for a connection and two way communication.  Today the world is more focused on building relationships than ever before.  It should be too, if they want to survive.

After Larry O’Donnell, President and COO of Waste Management’s first day as a front line employee it was real, as real as the back pain he felt later that night.  He saw that his employees work, work hard and after a week in their shoes he’d seen it first hand.  Larry took the time out of his busy day to day to start from the bottom.  He cleaned toilets, he collected garbage, he road on the back of a garbage truck, he listened and learned something nobody could have ever taught him…..to care. He may have well just changed the moral and feelings of his 45,000 employees for being a pioneer.

Do you think your boss should go undercover?  Would listening to your thoughts, ideas and ways to make your day to day change after they listened?  We can all hope that corporate America gets better, offers us the jobs they took away.  Heck, maybe they will even surprise us.  What do you think?

Justification, Thank You

This past year I have made many choices.  I learned a lot about myself, who I am, who I want to become, and where I want to go in my life. I have stayed true to the vision.  I’ve stayed true to the idea that something better is coming.  I have closed my eyes and focused on the little voice inside my head.  It’s guided me to where I am now.  This journey is not finished, not by a long-shot, but I feel good.  I believe that my direction and my compass are on course.  I have the needed faith to reach my goals and am no longer afraid to fail.

I just picked up a copy of Seth Godin’s new masterpiece, “Linchpin.”  I’m close to halfway through the book.  I have read several sentences, paragraphs and pages that give me the justification I’ve been looking for. The support and motivation from someone outside my circle (family and friends) to continue with my vision and goals.

I just wanted to say thank you for the justification.  Thank you for writing and sharing some of the things I’ve been feeling.  Thank you for giving me hope that my goal and vision is not lost.  If you feel lost or are looking for justification to continue on your journey, I suggest you pick up this book. It’s a brilliant read and will change the way you see your life and the goals you have set.

Again, thank you Mr. Godin.

How Do You Do It?

Do you have to be motivated to be inspired, or do you have to be inspired to be motivated?

In thinking about life, work, and getting ahead, I believe it’s important to know the answer to the question above.  I often find myself, like many, comparing my success or failure to others.  But why?  It’s hard to know other peoples’ goals for today, tomorrow, next week and in ten years, so why compare yourself? I think everyone is their own worst critic, I also think most people would agree with that statement.  I know I am.  Every morning when I wake up, I think to myself, how can today be better than yesterday?  How can I use each breath I’ve been given with purpose? I know I don’t ask myself very often, but I do know WHY I’ve been asking myself.

It all comes down to motivation and inspiration.  I’m motivated to be inspired, but I’m not inspired to be motivated.  Another way I could word that, I’m motivated because I’m inspired and if I’m not inspired, I’m rarely motivated.  This is a problem I’ve known since I was in elementary school and they told me I had a learning disability.  Fact: I had a grand mal seizure when I was a kid.  Thankfully there was no brain damage, but my hand-eye coordination was way out of whack, meaning if you gave me paper and a crayon, I would draw all over the table.  The part of my brain that deals with concentration and focus is a bit slower.  Let’s just say I can space out like an astronaut when and if I feel like it.  The great thing about this is that I allow myself to get lost in thought and internal creativity.  This also means I get bored easily and constant stimulus is always a plus.

I’m always looking for the next big something – the next hit album from a new hot band.  Always on the hunt for the next book that will spark interest, thought and inspire action.  I can create these things internally, but I love reading, listening, and seeing other peoples’ prospectives on the world we all live in. It allows me to take off my shoes and try on someone else’s.

In closing, I think it’s important to know who you are and why you look at the world the way you do.  What motivates you?  What inspires you?  What do you do if your not motivated or inspired?  How and where do you look for motivation and inspiration?

Storefront Window Offers Sunlight and Sparkle for Ames Jeweler

With the harsh winter weather Iowa has to offer, anything you can do to stay or feel warm always helps.  Looking out the large storefront window at Melissa Stenstrom Fine Jewelry in downtown Ames, it’s easy to see why she picked this space.  The large window offers a great view, allows a lot of natural light and welcomes in the winter sun.

The local artist moved into the space to be able to display her original and custom jewelry, and wanted a space that she could meet with her customers.  Melissa likes being accessible, and only  a short distance from home.  While at the shop, Melissa keeps busy creating custom pieces, from rings to necklaces, earrings and more.    Moving into her own shop a year ago from COSA, an Ames based creative art studio, allowed for business development and the opportunity to continue to build relationships with other local artists by being featuring their art in her store.

Melissa started creating jewelry in high school and then became more active with it in college.  After school, Melissa worked as a jeweler, doing bench work and repairs.  She has since taken her traditional approach and mixed in non-traditional materials and techniques.  Melissa works with silver and gold, and a variety of gemstones and minerals.  She utilizes the non-traditinal techniques, such as hammering and forming, and materials such as wire and sheet metal.

You can visit Melissa’s store and see all the original and custom pieces.  Her store is located at 507 Main Street Suite 1 in downtown Ames, IA.  Melissa’s hours are 9:30am-12:00pm Monday through Saturday and 1:30pm-3:45pm on Monday and Friday.

Earring photo and logo with multiple rings photo provided by Melissa Stenstrom.

Ames Tattoo Shop Focused on Community and Atmosphere

Ask someone who has a tattoo “why” and wait.  The answers are across the board and sometimes you may only get a blank look.  Try the same question with a tattoo artist and what do you get?  Well, that’s what I wanted to know.  The tattoo shop in downtown Ames,  Heroic Ink Tattoo & Piercing is new, different and may challenge the status quo.

Tattoo artists Hugo and Mump worked at The Asylum in Ames together for eight years, before going into business with each other.  Hugo just recently sold his half of The Asylum, which he ran with then partner, Hot Rod, for thirteen years.  When I visited Heroic Ink there were many differences from other tattoo shops, that have now been considered the norm. For starters, they didn’t have a couch full of people just sitting there.  They had music, but not at the level where you couldn’t think.  The art on the walls was not cluttered with your everyday poor taste and metalhead-inspired nothing.  What did cover the walls was some of Hugo’s artwork, photos of past tattoo successes, and a wall hanging of tattoo ideas.  The overall design and atmosphere was clean, simple, more adult, and professional.

The building they are in used to be a music store.  They have added hardwood floors, fresh paint and chest high walls to allow privacy while tattooing and piercing.  When they created the walls that allow for privacy, they left small holes in the floor.  They plan to add 21″ flat screen TVs in them, for their clients who have long appointments of tattooing.  The new location allows for a new way of doing business and being perceived.  Both artists, being from the ISU campus area, are glad to be downtown.  They have shaken loose from the stigma of being in the area to take the college kids money and feel more legitimacy now. Building relationships and tattooing is a commitment, and both artists agree that they enjoy being in an area with a community focus.

I found it almost ironic that one of the guys getting tattooed while I was there was working on his Spider-Man inspired sleeve.  The guy being tattooed is from Iowa and now lives in Maryland.  He works with Hugo’s schedule and makes it a point to visit and get work done when he can. If you’re in the business of building lasting relationships and getting tattoos, Heroic Ink may your place. If you’re looking for a tattoo shop that’s challenging the status quo, I’m sure you will feel right at home working with Hugo and Mump.

Store hours and info.

11am-7pm during the week and 11am-9pm on the weekends.  Heroic Ink Tattoo & Piercing is located at 409 Douglas Ave.  For directions, information or appointments you can give them a call, 515.233.0033

Be Okay With Crap

This past week I met with “The Blogfather”, Mike Sansone.  I needed to get advice and thoughts on the world.  He’s a brilliant man, with great ideas and big heart. It was no surprise to me that the advice I wanted, I got, and more.

Apart from the great advice and seeing the world different from my angle he also brought up a great point.  I’m not sure what context he meant it, but I felt he was on to something.  “Be okay with crap.”  That was it.  I was amazed and shocked at the same time.  It was like meeting God.  At that moment in time, that’s what I needed to hear – something real, genuine and honest.  That was it.

Take this little lesson and run with it.  I believe it will translate to different things for different people, but maybe it’s the answer to all the questions you have.  Don’t be afraid to fail.  Don’t worry about what others think or say, you can’t control it anyway.  “Be okay with crap.”

Paint A Picture or Just Smile and Say Cheese?

One of the things I love the most about being human is having an imagination.  I’ve always been a day-dreamer.  I have spend countless hours looking out the window just thinking.  When I was younger I painted pictures in my head of what school would look like, who my friends would be, my first job out of college, my whole life.  I’m not sure what was better, the picture I painted in my head, or when I just smiled and said cheese.

We can spend a great deal of time running through the chapters in life of how things will play out.  Once we start to live them in real time are they different?  What about when you look in the mirror?  What do you see?  What do your friends and family see?  Have you painted an unrealistic picture of yourself, dreams, goals, and life?  Sometimes I think people go past creative with their paint brushes.  I believe that some people polish the cracks, the smudges, and parts they don’t want you to see.  People believe that certain specific things say something about them and they don’t like it, so they change it.  Is that being real?  Perception is reality, but I say there is no perception, there is only reality.

With the wonderful tools the internet offers and social media channels, you can be anyone.  Are you true to yourself or are you painting a picture?  I think many people want to be seen one way, and why not?  You, as a publisher, have the control to show people only what you want them to see.  You make the decisions to share or not share.  In this day in age, I think one way to get ahead is to be blunt and brutally honest.  You can say you have all the money in the world, drive a Ferrari, are married to a former Playboy model, and clam to “know what your talking” about, but what’s really true?  I think it comes down to a fear of acceptance.  You want people to accept you for who you are, but do you even know who you are?  Please grab a map and find out.  I bet that the real you is much more fun, smarter, cooler, and has much more to offer than you think.

Several worst case scenarios can happen in life.  You can be called out on a flat lie, you can fall on your face, or you can be you and tell people to deal with it.  Why is everyone so worried about being themselves anyway?  I love the media, news, and MTV, but honestly, 90% of the people in the world don’t have that kind of money, jobs, car, or body.  Here’s the bottom line with painting a picture vs. just smiling and saying cheese: people always want what they can’t have.  That’s a fact.  Don’t believe me?  Ask me about the several hundred worthless, superficial, objects I’d love to have.  Go ahead, ask.  It’s all a joke.  It’s all to make a statement to TRY and get people to think what I want them to think.  Time is money.  How much do you have?  How much do you have to spend to tell your story, show the picture you painted, or your cheesy smile?

Sometimes I worry that as a society and a world, we are lost.  You have to have something that defines you.  I believe a lot of people don’t even know what it is that defines them as people, as friends, as family and as great people.  What about looking inside yourself to find it?  I’m not sure if people are doing that anymore.  It does take time and patience, but why not invest and give it a try?  You don’t have much to lose other than finding out more about yourself than you ever thought possible.  How is that a bad thing?  I love to learn.  I always try to look inside myself.

I know I can paint a wonderful picture with words, pictures and objects, but I also love my cheesy smile.  How are you at painting pictures?  How do you feel about your smile?  If you had to choose, which would you choose?

Shipwrecked, A Short Poem

In my eyes I see an ocean between us.

I feel the sand at my feet and salt in the air.

Shipwrecked and all alone, my thoughts wonder.

What was, what is and what could have been.

What was, what is and what could have been.

Blue abyss surrounds my as sand and shells disappear.

Giant white clouds like war tanks gunning to expose me.

Driftwood reminds me of the broken pieces I left behind.

What was, what is and what could have been.

What was, what is and what could have been.

Fresh fruit in abundance, like a candy store for the starving.

Colors I can’t name and have never seen blind me in the sunlight.

In the distance I hear echoes, Sirens calling me to the deep blue.

What was, what is and what could have been.

What was, what is and what could have been.

Letting go I jump off a small cliff in hopes of finding freedom.

Beautiful liquid ice cradles me in silent serenity.

Life alive like I have never seen, shadows exposed from spears of light.

Above the water the sun dries me like a weightless giant towel.

Walking up the beach, and endless spread of glass behind me.

Bending down to grab a large sea shell, I let out a heavy blow as if calling an army.

The trees shake and birds fly as I let out my overwhelming call, like a lion before battle.

Birds fill the sky in all directions like lost arrows on a broken compass.

I am alone with my thoughts like a crowded subway car, crowded with many.

What was, what is and what could have been.

What was, what is and what could have been.

Shipwrecked.

Focus On Value Not Numbers

I remember when I first started in the various channels of social media and more specifically, Myspace.  My impression of Facebook was that it was only for college students, which didn’t interest me at all.  Keep in mind this is several years ago and I’ve learned a lot since then.  After writing my last blog I was inspired from the comments I got.  I decided to dig a little deeper into the misconceptions and underlying issues that could be the misunderstanding of social media.

I remember when I first got my Myspace page up, I had several goals in specific I wanted to attain.  At the time when I heavily used Myspace, I was recording, mixing, and producing music.  I was also working with local artists and musicians helping them promote, market and manage their material, name and brand.  I wanted to be a producer, badly.  I  wanted everyone to know my name and think of me when they thought of good music.  How do you gain such fame you ask?  It’s simple: numbers.  The more people you connect with, the more people know who you are, what you do and why you’re awesome!  Well, that’s at least what I thought anyway.

I spent a lot of time building my own personal brand around the idea of becoming a profound music producer.  I had the ear, the artists and the time.  I made a large effort to reach out to anyone who wanted to hear what I had to say.  I was focused on numbers.  I didn’t care if people liked me, disliked me or didn’t think I would ever become a music producer.  The numbers don’t lie.  I was so focused on getting friends, fans and people to check out my page that after a while I lost it.  I lost the connection, I lost even interest in meeting and talking with people.  I would come home and for hours send out friend requests.  I would comment on artists and bands pages.  I would point out the artists and bands I was working with and urge people to check them out.  I know now that I had little to no idea what I was doing.

Not only was I focused on the numbers of friends I had and the number of people who knew me, but I didn’t even have numbers that were valuable.  I don’t even know if half the of friends I had even liked music.  I think that’s where many people get it wrong today with social media.  From a business stand point they think, “the more people the better, right?”  Well, to a degree, but no at the same time.  Here’s a question I sometimes have to still ask myself, “would you rather have 10,000 friends or 100 people that actually care?”  That’s what it comes down to.  You can be a personal brand or a business using social media and have all the friends you could ever want.  The question I ask you then is why are you so fixated on the numbers?

If you can find a handful of people who are really excited that you are who you are, accept that, and nurture that, then build it from there.  Don’t be so focused on having the most friends, because at the end of the day, how many of those people really care?  Surrounding yourself with people who you can learn from, better yourself because of, and be you is the best way to have the best of both worlds.  I myself would rather have a handful of very smart, wonderful, selfless people to learn and grow from.  I would also love that handful of people to be honest with me.  If my ideas are bad, tell me.

The other way to look at this value vs. numbers is this.  The more people who are friends with, fans of, etc. the less time you have to devote to creating connections, relationships, learning and growing.  You will spend more time sending off friend requests and checking email than anything else.  Don’t sell yourself short.  Focus on the value of great people.  Focus on creating, seeing and building from value.  The numbers will follow.  If you can reach out and touch people, inspire people, teach and learn from people.  Create value and your numbers will follow.

Are You A Twitter Snob?

As we all know some aspects of social media have become more common than others.  You will hear on TV shows, radio and even movies about Myspace, Facebook, and now Twitter.  Many participate in these social media channels to network, talk with friends, have fun or just tell people how they feel about anything and everything.

While I was out a couple weeks ago handing out flyers for the #DMZombieWalk, a girl at Hot Topic said, “OH sweet, they are on Twitter, I’m such a Twitter nerd.”  I told her, that I also was a Twitter nerd.  I use the word nerd in a good way.  I think being involved with technology is a great thing.  There are great jobs in “this” field and those around it.  Apart from the technologies and toys that surround us in the world of Web 2.0, I’m a nerd anyway.  After leaving Hot Topic I turned to my wife and said, “I never would have pictured her to be into Twitter.”  She kind of looked at me, somewhat agreed and we went on with our day.   Later in our conversation she told me, that she believed me to be more than a Twitter nerd, but a Twitter snob.

After an explanation, which to some large degree does sum up what I know, who I am and how I feel about Twitter, she was right.  I am a Twitter snob.  I feel that I’m an elitist who looks down upon those less than me in the world.  I don’t mean to, it’s not in my nature to care if I’m better than anyone for any reason.  I just want to be me, be happy and live my life.  As much as I didn’t want to admit it, she was right.  I had become a snob.  Some use social networking as means of entertainment, enjoyment, friendship and nonsense.  I do those things as well, but I also use it as a tool.

I had never thought about what my wife and I talked about that day.  I’m glad she brought it up, it was a fun and interesting conversation.  I really don’t consider myself to be better than anyone.  I don’t want to be.  Not only that, but I don’t have time to be.  It takes a lot of work for me to be good at anything, let alone be better than another person at whatever it is I need to be the best at.  The world always looks different from another persons perspective.  I have always loved to hear what peoples impressions of me are.  If I ask, it’s only because I want to better myself when I’m around you.

So, are you a Twitter snob?  Leave your comments and thoughts below.  I’d love to hear what thoughts you have.  If you have the choice, would you rather be a nerd or a snob?  Please provide reasons why.  I can’t wait to read your comments, thoughts and ideas.