Change Someone's Life for the Better

What does it mean to "Change"?

change

verb \ˈchānj\

: to become different
: to make (someone or something) different

: to become something else

I have not accomplished everything I have set out to in this world, and I am not the "Most Interesting Man in the World", but when it comes to change, I am well beyond the skill set of novice. Change is not always the easiest thing to do, but it is accomplished by completing a few tasks:

• Make a decision! Decide what you would like to do if nothing were standing in your way.
• Determine the obstacles standing in your way.
• Enlist someone's help to overcome the obstacles or to give you support. You did not invent the wheel and it is highly likely that you already know someone who has crossed the same hurdles you need to overcome.

Easier said than done, right? Well take this for example...A young man from Fayetteville, Arkansas has a dream to become a great musician. OK, he is already a great musician...but he wants to make it in the music business. He has a loving family, great kid, and teaches at Fayetteville Highschool. For as long as he can remember he has had a passion for music and he surrounds himself with other talented people to help him accomplish his dream of making it big in the music industry.

The musician I am talking about is Barrett Baber and the people he surrounds himself with are people like Aaron Schauer, and all of you who have been part of his family in music, church, school, or in life. Barrett has decided to compete in a contest to win the Gig of a Lifetime, which will afford a fortunate artist the opportunity to play at the Grammy's! The idea of going to the Grammy's, forget playing at the Grammy's, is something that most of us can only consider in our dreams, but for Barrett it could be a reality. There is so much more to learn about Barrett that i cannot put into words and it would defeat the point of me trying to because this blog is intended to be about change!

Barrett has decided that he wants his music to be heard and why shouldn't the whole world hear it! He has determined the obstacles standing in his way, and he has enlisted our help to overcome these obstacles. We can all help Barrett by voting for him to win the Gig of a Lifetime. You can vote the max votes for him on Facebook and on Twitter by including #BarrettBaber #SurfaceGRAMMYGig in your tweets. For most of us, this will take a few minutes and when the contest is over, we will be the same, but for Barrett it will change the stars and help his dreams come true!

If you gain nothing else from reading this post try to consider, if you had the power to change someone's life and help them reach their dreams would you do it? I know i would! I am thankful for all of the people in my life who have helped me to love, to learn, and to laugh! Thank you for helping my dreams come true. 

New Year's Resolution!

At some point in our lives we all have regrets. Some people regret not trying hard enough, others regret not having lost the right amount of weight. These are normal things to make one feel regretful.

What concerns me isn't the regretful moments, but rather those people who manage to skate through ann entire year withut a clue or care in the world of the people they had to step on or step over to acheive bliss in their fish bowl of a world. They have no regrets, because regret is a feeling that resides beneath them. In their minds regret is something reserved the people in the world who work hard for a living, who are always at work on time, and for those people who care about the product they create. we see these people all the time...These are the people who never talk to you throughout the year, but will send you a Christmas card with a family photo printed on $12 card stock. Really?

With this in mind I have a created a few New Year's Resolutions for myself, because I do care about the work i do and the people i impact:

1- Change someone's Life for the better!

2- Start a Business with some Friends that will make $15,000 a year, then double it next year.

3- Develop a Healthier Lifestyle, including food and activities.

4- Kill the family of moles that have invaded my yard. 

5- Spend more time with my Friends and the People who matter in my Life

6- Be kinder to animals, except for the moles!

7- Write a Book, fiction would be better.

8- Drink a bottle of Scotch with other's to celebrate their successes

9- Control my temper when the Recycle and Trash people fail to pickup my waste on time.

10- Love my Family, Love my Friends, and Love my Neighbor, because regardless of how crazy they are, they make life worth living!

I will try to stay on task this year, but will definitely need some help to stay on point. If all else fails, i can just drink the scotch!

Government Shutdown, or Government Bullshit?

For some of us, when we were young, our parents taught us the value of a dollar! Most parents had their own method of teaching this, but almost all of them had the same end result, which was you can't spend $2 if you only have $1.

So the United States Government is undergoing a "partial" shutdown. This means that all non-essential government functions are being temporarily suspended so Congress and the President can work together to get the Country's spending under control. There are a lot of thoughts out there about who or what party is to blame, but it is clear why we are in this predicament. We are in the midst of a partial Government shutdown because the Harvard Business School, Yale, and Stanford graduates who are representing the American people in Washington have forgotten the value of a dollar! What is even worse is that they have all forgotten why they are in Washington! This is not about being Republican or being Democrat and this is not solely about healthcare. This shutdown is about selfishness and ego.

How can this be about selfishness and ego? Ask yourself one question, "How can people, educated at some of the finest institutions in the country, manage to spend trillions of dollars more than our country has in the bank, blame each other for the overspending, and try to work with the leader of the free world only to be met with a resounding "this is not negotiable"? The answer is selfishness and ego! Ask yourself another question, If the partial Government shutdown is not the result of selfishness and ego, why are the national monuments, memorials, and National Mall being barricaded to prevent people from walking through them"? Keep in mind these places are outdoor structures that require no maintenance, in-fact it took work to barricade these places! Check out the video http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Monuments-Mall-Could-Close-Tuesday--225874741.html

Websites are being shutdown, cameras are being turned off, memorials like the WWII Memorial are being barricaded and all because some selfish, egotistical people in Washington forgot the value of a dollar. They forgot the reason they were elected. You are all on notice! The legacy Congress and the President leave will not be one of hard work, it will not be that they rid the world of terror, that they stopped global warming, or that they stopped childhood hunger. The legacy this Congress and the President leaves behind is that the egos and selfishness of the few outweighs the needs of the many. The legacy they leave is that the American people are only needed for elections.

Our Country will survive this. It is what we do! You childish, selfish, pretentious, egotistical types in Washington just need to get out of the way!

Private Sector.....Out!

Red Foreman, The Hero

Everyone has those days where everything they touch or have touched seems to go wrong...Your pens run out of ink, You have cereal but no milk, and the project you have been communicating to your customers grows legs of its own because your supplier did not understand everything you were asking for! What is definite in this world is that if something has the potential to go wrong, it usually will not fall apart until you decide to leave the office or go onn vacation.

Let's face it, accidents happen and people make mistakes....However, when you are working with someone who perpetually makes the same mistakes over and over, it makes it difficult to be sympathetic to the fact that even though accidents happen this person is a complete moron. Let me make one thing clear before too much judgement is passed, I do not think everyone is an idiot and i do not think I am the smartest person in the world. That said, I believe Red Foreman, from the hit show "That 70's Show", characterized my thoughts best when he referred to people who posessed little or no sense as "Dumbass"! 

Red Foreman is my hero! Sure, he does not have many friends but he has a family who loves him, collegues who respect him, and some of the best damn war stories you will never be able to get on HBO! Red says what is on his mind and I cannot help but believe he goes to sleep every night with a clear mind. The truth is, Red would never be able to exist in the society we live in today. Today we are foreced to communicate through phone calls, E-mail, text messages, Twitter, Facebook, and intra office memorandums...Even with all of these communication tools, people still manage mess things up or worse they claim to have never been informed!

I am not obsessive compulsive about communicating but when it comes to businness, i communicate through phone calls and through E-mails. I begin with a phone call and follow-up with an E-mail, usually because the people I talk with over the phone are not good at listening! This routine i have for communicating happens regularly with the people i support as well as with my suppliers. Despite my routine efforts to clearly and repeatedly communicate, I am still met with blank expressions or worse, exceptions or modifications to the plans i put into motion. Another thing you need to know about me, i like my routines but I adapt to change rapidly and effectively, if the change is logical. When something does not make sense, i stand my ground annd even though i try to find the pat of least resistance, i will not compromise what is right for something else. Communication people.....The reason something is communicated is to educate parties involved, ensure success of the objective, and prevent failure in the event something does not go according to plan. In otherwords, i do not communicate for the sole purpose of converting oxygen into carbon dioxide!

Pay Attention People and ask yourself one question today, How did we get to the point to where it is acceptible to repeatedly make careless mistakes? 

Politically Correct? Who Cares?

Politically Correct? Who Cares?

I was having a conversation with someone at lunch today and the typical topics began to surface such as sports, politics, and work. Nothing out of the ordinary, but i noticed that someone was eaves dropping on our conversation! Keep in mind this is mainly small-talk, nothing to do with corporate secrets! I could not help but wonder why this lady was interested in our conversation, so I asked her "Would you like to pull a chair up to our table?" Direct confrontation has the tendency to take most people off guard and this was no exception. The woman responded, "I just could not help but hear you refer to that football player as a black man". Having had a pleasant lunch interrupted by this comment put me in a defensive position pretty fast and I was not in the mood to argue, nor did I have the time to educate the woman on restaurant etiquette. So i thought about it for a moment and I asked the woman another question "How would you describe me"? She seemed a little perplexed by this and responded "You are a middle aged white man who probably works in a professional environment". It was like shooting fish in a barrel, i asked the woman my last question "Now you don not hear me correcting your use of the word White, do you?". Her expression was priceless! She responded to my last inquiry by saying "I am not sure I understand what you mean", to which i responded, "You should not worry about other people being politically correct if you are not going to give your own mouth the same kind of attention"!

I think you can probably guess the woman promptly finished her lunch and walked out of the restaurant pacing a vengeful glance at me on the way out. The guy I was eating lunch with asked me "Why i did you feel it was necessary to confront the woman for listening inn on our conversation"? I simply responded "Calling her out for listening to our conversation is not what prompted the confrontation, it simply expedited what was already going to happen and it allowed us to enjoy the last 30 minutes of our lunch in peace"! 

People who look to inject themselves into the conversations of others will undoubtedly do so, and those people who want to find something to correct, will always find what they are looking for. The trick is to notice these scenarios before they happen and move these people along their way because if you do not, it will likely result in frustration, for everyone except the person who is looking for trouble. For those who want to find what is wrong with other people, stop and take a look at yourself. Are you setting a proper example. And lastly, Stop being so damn sensitive. If i stopped to tell everyone about the stupid shit they were doing, it would be my full-time job and I think Jeff Foxworthy does just fine calling people out!

Here are some last words to live by, "Political correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical progressive minority, and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end." Remember that the next time you feel like correcting someone for saying something differently than how you would like to hear it.

Stupid People + Problems with Tech Support = Hulking Pissed Off Rage

For the mathematicians out there, complex variables can and do exist in real life, specifically in corporate America! I work in a world where the most complex variables are stupid people and tech support....To understand how these are variables you only need to look at how problems are created, or if problems are inherent you need to look at how the problem hit your desk. Conclusion, you solve for X or Y and you usually come up with one of two variables, Stupid People caused the problem, or Stupid People could not solve the problem, either way it is up to me to fix it!

Fortunately for the world, the emergencies that cross my desk do not come in the form of a human body and I do not work in an Emergency Room nor do I operate heavy machinery or surgical utensils! However, I do solve problems and I associate with people who are as equally talented at solving problems...Back on topic...This is a story about someone who solves problems...

It was a busy day yesterday and on top of the problems this "Problem Solver" is responsible for solving, he received a call from a Variable with a problem of their own! Apparently, a database that was designed and constructed by the Problem Solver was experiencing a problem. For this Problem Solver the wheels immediately start turning because it is an extremely busy day and last thing he needs is another Variable adding to the load. So the Problem Solver asks the Variable, "What seems to be the problem?", keep in mind the Problem Solver is a business and logic oriented person who happens to be very skilled at designing and building information systems, not a programmer. The Variable responds "I can't see the database on my screen", immediate the Problem Solver acknowledges that there is not a problem with the database but rather a problem with one of three possible things; 1)The Variable is not accessing the correct database, 2)The Variable is using an external monitor that is not turned on, or 3)The Variable is using an external monitor that is not plugged into the computer. The Problem Solver understands that the easiest solution should always be the first one to try so he asks Variable "Do you see a light on your external monitor?", Variable responds, "Yes". Problem Solver asks "What color is the light on the monitor?", Variable responds "Orange"...Problem Solver says "Plug in your monitor to the computer and you should be able to see the database"!!!!

The problem in this particular case was an interface issue of the most basic kind, the interface between the chair and the keyboard was faulty!!! If i need to explain it then you could be a Variable. The whole scenario for this Problem Solver was a complete waste of time and ultimately resulted in the Problem Solver going into a Hulking Pissed Off Rage because he had only reserved enough patience for the bullshit he was responsible for solving. Lesson to those Variables out there, Think before you Speak, Look before you Leap, and if you have a problem on a Monday Figure it out for Yourself!! Lesson to those Problem Solvers out there, We are utterly and completely outnumbered and the more patience you have with Variables is not indicative of how strong you are but rather a marker that your cup has yet to overflow. By the way, The world only changes and Variables begin to be Problem Solvers when the cup overflows!

Until next time, OUT!

What Does it Mean? "A Pirate's Life For Me"

When I tell people what I do, they often tell me that I must have one of the greatest jobs in the world! Obviously I'm not talking about taking hostages, making people walk the plank, and the other bad stuff associated with being a pirate. The truth is, they are right, I do have one of the best jobs in the world! I get to be creative, work with interesting people, and learn about how companies work inside and out.

OK, it doesn't sound as glamorous when worded like that...How about...I develop strategies, learn the weaknesses of people and corporations, and determine methods of discretely accomplishing tasks without anyone knowing about it! There are many names that can be associated with what i do, Captain Jack Sparrow or Jason Bourne. Regardless of what you call it, I figure things out and get things done!

So what have I accomplished? A simple question with a difficult answer.To understand what has been done you first need to know a little about what it is that I do.

Let's say that you have a remote control that controls everything in your life. This remote control allows you to pause, rewind, and speed life up. It allows you to record specific events into your memory and skip the parts of your life that you want to get through. The remote control comes in custom shapes and sizes, has back-lit buttons, and a battery that lasts forever! Even better, this remote control can be purchased just about anywhere for a low price, but unfortunately the product comes with batteries not included.

The batteries that operate the remote control can only be found in one place, "The Battery Store". Clearly this is a fictitious name, but for the sake of examples let's say the Battery Store is a modest corporation and the foremost expert on batteries that last forever. Everyone  who buys one of the remote controls must get their batteries at the Battery Store and since they are the only corporation that sells batteries that last forever, the prices for their product is outrageously high, $300 for a single battery. This is a problem for most people who want to own the remote control because in order to use the remote, you must use Battery Store batteries. Additionally, the Battery Store batteries are only sold at one of their five locations in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Denver. In other words, unless you live in one of these major cities or visit these cities often, even if you did have the money to buy one of these batteries you would not be able to access the product because you would physically need to be in one of these locations.

What a great scenario! We have a life remote control that can do anything that requires a battery that will last forever. Problem, the batteries are expensive and they can only be purchased at one of five locations. This is where I come in! I know that if i can secure some of the Battery Store batteries and put them in other stores, or on retail websites, that I will be meeting the needs of the people who cannot go to the stores to purchase the products. I also know that if i can figure out how to get the batteries for a price below the price of $300 I should be able to meet the needs of people who cannot otherwise afford the batteries. My first train of thought goes to Battery Store...The remotes are retailed everywhere, but the batteries are not...Are there any places where the products are sold together, perhaps to government agencies, national corporations for corporate retreats, or cruise-lines for people wanting to take vacation on the great blue ocean? Come to find out, the remote controls are sold with batteries included to corporations and organizations that plan on using the product as a service rather than selling the product for retail. I determine that most of the remote controls that are sold with batteries included are sold to hair salons and hospitals. The products are sold to hair salons to pause life and allow the stylist to complete the hair style, pedicure, and massage in less time. The products sold to the hospitals are used to pause, slow, and speed up procedures to allow doctors to perform surgery and speed up recovery.

Hospitals can be tough to get through so my way in to get the remote control with batteries included will be to go through the salons. Salons have regular turnover and every time someone leaves the salon they take one of the remotes with them. To help the salons, who are probably the largest account for remotes with batteries included, I decide to create a company who will buy the remote controls and hold the inventory for the salon. The benefit of the company I created is that i can reduce the number of remotes the salon needs to buy each year by half. The salon sees the opportunity of reducing their annual expenses by half and they jump on the opportunity! The company I created is now the sole distributor of remote controls with batteries included and since I am buying the products directly from the manufacturer, and reaping the benefits of the volume discounts of buying in bulk, I can secure the remotes with batteries included for $100 per unit. Now we have a solution to the problem that will allow everyone the opportunity to have a life remote control with a battery that last forever.....but how do i ensure my supply is protected? How do I make sure I am following all of the rules established by the manufacturer? If you had discovered a large fortune, you wouldn't just leave someone breadcrumbs or a map of how to get to your treasure would you?

You see, figuring out how to get the product is only part of the game. A good pirate knows that in order be the fastest boat in the water, you always need to have wind in your sails.... I will tell you more about protecting your treasure next time....