As I’ve been spouting off for years, “People do business with people they know, like, and trust.”
If you’ve received my recent email, you’ve gotten to know a little about me.
Here’s your chance to jump into the Agile’ community, and let me and others know a little bit about you – whatever you’d like to share. Just comment below.
When I talk with prospects about time management and SMART goal setting, I often get some variation of the question, “What’s the difference between goals and tasks? Aren’t they both something I have to get done?”
Well, not quite. Goals and tasks are distinct but related elements of planning and achievement. A goal is a broad, overarching objective, while a task is a specific, actionable step needed to achieve that goal.
A task is a piece of work that needs to be accomplished. Most people’s daily to-do list are made of tasks – often unrelated to their goals. Tasks often make up the steps required to complete a larger objective; often called a project.
A goal is the desired result a person envisions, then plans and commits to achieve.
A SMART goal, remember, is one that is –
So, a SMART goal is a mini-process or system, while a task is simply an action step – a mile marker on the way to achieving a stated goal.
Owning a good goal planner – and actually using it – can help you set goals, and achieve them by completing the tasks of which the goals are made.
I’m interested in hearing your feedback! Please post your comments below.
What do you do after you connect with someone – IRL or on a social media platform? Here’s a few ideas.
Five years ago, a small family-run diner opened near my house, half an hour north of Syracuse, NY. I already had a couple clients in the plaza, so I visited it fairly often anyway. I ate at the new diner, and found it was pretty good. The owners, a husband and wife team, asked me to help with their social media.
In addition to making regular posts on Facebook and (at that time) Twitter, I also contacted a few media outlets on their behalf. Although none of the local papers or blog sites deigned to write about them, they developed a steady stream of regulars. Closing during the pandemic actually helped their numbers. They often had people standing outside their door, waiting for a table to become available.
Bill was a retired truck driver. He and his wife Fran opened the diner as a place to earn more income for themselves, and a place to employ their daughters and grand daughters. When they found that many of their regulars were veterans, they put together a display of photos and name plaques on one long wall of their restaurant, honoring the regulars and other visitors who supplied pictures and info about their service.
This Wall Of Honor is the only thing that inspired a story by the media. Even then, they relied on pictures I took, and made a phone call to interview Fran and Bill – from Iowa. Amazingly, the journalist sold the story to a news outlet in a small city close to us.
Just as the restaurant was recovering from the after effects of COVID, Bill began having coughing fits. He went to his doctor for a checkup, and was diagnosed with lung cancer. Since the diner was run by family, it was often understaffed, or even closed, while Fran and her children took care of Bill.
The disease progressed rapidly, and within eight months, Bill passed away, and the diner was closed for over a week. Shortly after they re-opened, their daughter-in-law announced she was pregnant and would soon be leaving to stay home with the baby.
With all the time being closed, regulars began to slip away. The diner closed first on Tuesdays, going from being open seven days a week, to only six. Last fall, they began to close on what had been their busiest day – Sundays.
Still, my efforts to entice the media to visit were being ignored. Even a regional “food review show” that charged restaurants for promotional visits told me they weren’t interested.
Just after the first of January, Fran took me aside and told me she’d made the difficult decision to close the diner. She would be shutting the doors after business on Saturday, January 27th. I offered to help her find buyers for the diner’s equipment. I made a single phone call, which hasn’t yet been returned.
This week, there have already been three stories on the diner closing it’s doors – one in a local paper, and two stories on local media websites. Amazingly, they focused on two things: the fact that the closing was a hard decision, and the hours the diner was open.
People have been crawling out of the woodwork to like the (about to be terminated) Facebook page, and to message Fran about how the diner will be missed.
As a popular meme says, “Don’t bother to cry at my funeral if you couldn’t be bothered to visit while I was alive.” I find it jaw-dropping that the diner, on the eve of it’s impending demise, is suddenly popular with people who couldn’t be bothered to visit, or write about it’s impact on the local population. And why would you want to make sure you posted the hours of operation for a restaurant about to shut it’s doors?
So, what am I trying to say with this article? A couple things, I suppose.
First, if there’s a local place you like doing business – or have thought about visiting – then by all means, go. Take a friend. Tell your family about them. If you like the place, buy gift certificates to pass out to people in your circle. These places are run by people just like you, who need to cover housing and utility bills. They’re folks following their passion, trying to live their best lives.
Second, that the media – and people in general – are more interested in celebrating a death than they are celebrating a life. And I think that’s pretty damned sad.
I was honored to be a judge for the finals of the Launch It! entrepreneurial competition at SUNY Oswego this year. Here are a couple pix from the Friday afternoon finals. One with all the students (including one telepresenting from Yonkers!), educators, and judges (except for me). 2nd pic is the winning team, Anonymous Athlete, plus School of Business assistant dean Dr Irene Scruton and Dean Prabakar Kothandaraman.
RELATIVES are the people to whom nature ties you by blood and birth, marriage and DNA.
FAMILY are the people to whom you tie yourself with laughter, tears, experiences and love.
For years, I thought I was one of only a few people who didn’t own and use a planner. For over 20 years, my wife would buy me various planner systems, and I barely even looked at them. I was surrounded by people who used planners, spent money on planning seminars, took physical and online courses on what to plan, how to plan, and how to set and accomplish goals. I believed I was a lone holdout.
After my “conversion” (a story too long and sordid to get into here), I began to realize that The Planner People were not a solid majority. Many, many people didn’t use a planner, set goals, or even keep track of future appointments. Yet again today, I was reminded that there are plenty of folks who keep shooting themselves in the foot because they don’t keep track of appointments. I showed up at a new business to HAND OVER CASH, after setting an appointment with the owner 2 weeks ago. The place was closed, his phone went to voice mail, and he didn’t answer a message I sent him.
If you have children, grandchildren, or interact with students, getting them exposed to planning and goal setting at a young age will truly help them throughout their lives. If you can’t teach them, point them towards someone who can.
I spent years forgetting the lesson of, “Test before committing.” I’m creating the card I’m planning to send out in January, and I had one test version printed at double the cost I’ll pay later on. Not only were the sides printed in the wrong directions (tops didn’t match), the images didn’t have enough white space around the edges – so the text on one side, and pix on the other, was cut off.
I’ve created a 2nd version, and ordered one more sample card – again, at double the regular price. If I have to, I won’t even mind printing a 3rd version.
For the first 10 years of doing this stuff, I would have wasted money and just ordered the entire print run. Lemme tell ya: being overeager is like sticking a long, dull knife in your own eye. Starting early and having patience alleviates that situation.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines collaborate as: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor. Personally, I’d modify that a bit. I’d add something like: working towards a common goal, with a shared reward.
Over the years, I’ve had a number of people wanting to connect on LinkedIn who use the word “collaborate.” As in: “I want to collaborate with you on X – let’s connect.” Now, I’ve messaged most of these people back, asking exactly what they meant by using that word.
Here’s my first complaint – I never heard back from most of those folks. Frankly, I never hear from most of the folks to whom I’m connected. Let’s be honest – most people who reach out to “connect” on LinkedIn are collectors; they simply want to be connected to an ever-increasing list of people. That is to say, they’re more interested in the list than the people on it. Those who are interested in the people they’re connected to, want to sell to their connections.
And that’s exactly what the people who get back to me say. When they use the word “collaborate,” they simply mean “sell to (me).” They’re not interested in whatever goals I may have, and they don’t actually want to work on something together. They simply want to sell their service or product to me, have me pay, and promptly disappear.
Most of the folks who have replied to my questions have no idea of what Agile’ does, or what I might need. This is EXACTLY like walking up to a stranger and asking them to marry you.
When I see the word “collaborate” in a connection request, I read it as “screw you over.” Because, in my experience with connecting requests, that’s what it means on my end. “Hi! Let’s connect – I want to screw you over.”
I have a friend who is a professional model. No, not a supermodel – just a regular Jane Doe who has a decent body and some makeup skills, and is happy to spend her days playing dress-up. For cash. I’m unhappy when I see the phrase, “I’d like to collaborate with you” – but not as unhappy as she is.
Basically, when a photog says that to her, it means something similar as it does to me, but much more dastardly. When they say “collaborate,” they mean they want to waste her time and talents, make her travel across the country on her own dime, treat her like dirt, and then not pay her anything. In the end, they get all the images, and she gets. . . [wait for it!]. . . the experience. Wow, you know what they say – after 15 years of working in my field, the one thing I need is unpaid experience!
So here’s what “collaborate” means when I use it: if Agile’ collaborates on a project with a client (or any other company, for that matter), we work together on a shared project, towards a shared goal. We share the risks and expenses – perhaps not equally, but equitably. After the results of the project are in, we share the fruits of our labor. For instance, we often get clients who are looking to increase their marketing list, increase the number of sales a customer makes or their average purchase amount, or even increase their profit margin. We often collaborate with clients on those jobs. If our efforts don’t move the needle, they don’t pay. If our efforts meet the goals we mutually set, then they pay a certain fee. That fee is usually based on ROI – the larger the return, the more they pay.
Agile’ offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and I prefer it if everyone we work with does the same thing. You’re happy, or you don’t pay.
If you have questions, reach out. Comments? Post ’em below!
I use an Epson WorkForce printer in my office. I bought it a number of years ago, when it was first released. It’s very handy, because it can print on paper up to 13 x 19 inches. That means I can make mini-posters for clients right here, instead of having them printed elsewhere.
Lately, I’ve been having trouble with the printing. Specifically, the black print head has been leaving blank streaks, and what is printed is faint. I’ve replaced the ink cart twice, and it still wasn’t any better. I went online to look for a new printer.
I don’t need a scanner or a fax machine, so the closest thing I could find is a refurbed version of the next model up. Cost? $500 – and that was for the “cheap” one.
While I was looking, I came across something I hadn’t really considered – a cleaning kit, consisting of an oral medicine syringe and some “special cleaning solution.” That and the instructions would only set me back $15. Oh – and a week’s wait for shipping.
Now, I’d wanted to reach under the head and wipe off the nozzle, but for some reason, I’d never considered washing it from the inside. And now that I knew about it, I didn’t want to wait, either.
Somewhere, we have an oral syringe we got for giving medicine to our cats. Couldn’t find it. So I looked online again. Most places had them for about $8 – plus a week’s wait for shipping. Damn!
Just for the heck of it, I looked on the Walmart site. Found a kid’s syringe at my local store for only $3. After a 20 minute trip, I was back. I went under my sink and grabbed a pre-mixed spray bottle of Simple Green. I poured that in a juice glass, and used it to give my black print head three squirts of cleaning goodness.
Today, my printer’s churning out some great-looking black pages. That means I can now send back a wheel that doesn’t fit my new car – that I waited a week for.
Yeah, I think we have a problem with shipping, at this point. But I digress. . .
Anyway, between gas, the syringe, and my purchase of a huge jug of Simple Green at some point in the past, I figure I spent at least the same on all the supplies, as if I had ordered the cleaning kit. So by spending $15, I didn’t have to spend $500 for a refurbed printer. Total savings: $485.