Disney Drive

Hello all! 



I normally don’t get on a soap box, but I was feeling especially dirty and in need of cleansing............

I was watching some Christmas Disney movies with my son the other day when something struck me.  The spirit of Disney is the entrepreneurial spirit. 

Every Disney movie has the you can do it drive.  The impossible is possible notion. 

The movie that brought me to this idea depicted Mickey Mouse as a poor Christmas tree laborer (yeah right!  Mickey poor!) trying to do whatever he had to in order to get Minnie a gold necklace for Christmas. 
He had a horrible job with low pay, but he had a goal and a dream.

How many of you say that something is a must like Nemo finding his way home or like Simba reclaiming his throne?

Whether your 4 or 40, every single Disney movie is the life of an entrepreneur.  The world against you.  Odds so high you can’t see over them.  People doubting your every step from rise to rest. 

It was in that moment that I really saw the genius and soul of Walt Disney.  Although he is long passed, he was just a man that wouldn't quit.  Decades after his passing his movies still show that tenacity.  Just when days seem their bleakest and darkest, the hero pushes through a breakthrough. 

How close are you to getting your Princess Jasmine even though you’re a beggar?
How much more passion do you have to show to get a beauty if you’re a beast?
How many people have to tell you that you can’t be “real” before you change your wooden reality?

Whenever your situation gets you down you may not have to pop in an inspirational CD.  Just go through a child’s movie collection!  Think of it.  We teach children to dream from the moment they can see, but somewhere around puberty we forget to do that. 

Be a child.  Be foolish.  Be a dreamer.
Be that person who pulls the sword out of the stone when hundreds before you said it can’t be done.

Be Disney.

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It won’t happen to me,……..right?

The world we live in today is riddled with ways to die…………With that being said, we have more technological advances in medicine now to survive these things.

Daily I deal with people and their future.  It’s amazing the things I hear from them though.
For some reason, all people think they are impervious to cancer or a heart attack won’t happen to them. 

Some will even say “if I die I die” or they will pray so it doesn't happen to them. 
Sadly enough, a lot of these people either have family members that have had major diseases or they themselves have the warning signs of them.

61% of people say they would rather die of a crippling disease than live with it because of the money…………..

1 in 2 men will develop cancer in their lifetime……….

1 in 3 women will develop cancer in their lifetime………..

Over 1,900 people a year die of heart related issues…………

These stats come from the American Cancer Society and CDC, not my logic.

With all of this evidence around, why are we in more denial than ever?

Quite simply, it’s the money.  People hope that nothing happens to them because they can’t afford it.  It therefore creates a culture of “I don’t want to jinx myself” or “if I don’t talk about it or think about it, it won’t happen to me.”  If only that were true.

This post is a cry for help.  Not for me, but for America.  It goes back to the old saying, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. 

People work too hard to get where they are and it’s a shame they can lose everything in an instant just because they weren't prepared for an event.

If saving money is extremely hard for your situation or your staff’s you really need to look at some new strategies to help deal with some of life’s inevitable tragedies.

 I don’t mean to be a downer, but it’s better to be a little uncomfortable thinking about this now than when something happens and you have no- way to deal with it…………..

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Your Family or Your Staff???

Even if you’re of the best health you’ve probably had some kind of conversation or read something about healthcare reform this year.  If not, here’s some news for you!
Starting October 1st, 2013 the people of the United States will have the opportunity to  apply for medical benefits facilitated by the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare as the media has coined it.
This is so significant to small business owners (which are the majority of businesses in the US) because a lot of them have been leaving their staff out when it comes to medical coverage. 
All too often I hear business owners say “I don’t offer my employees benefits, but I’m all taken care of.”  When did this divide happen?
It’s been gradual, but now according to the Kaiser Family Foundation about 56% of employees are covered by health plans offered by their employers.  At the same time though, most of these plans come with a deductible of $1,000 or more, but these same workers statistically have less than $1,000 in savings (about 51%) and 60% of people say they live paycheck to paycheck!₁
So what do we do for 44% with no coverage or the 40% living paycheck to paycheck?  That is what the ideal of ObamaCare is.  Yet, why do so many small business owners not care to educate their staff on what is going on?
69% of small business owners are either not prepared or don’t know that to do for the October 1st deadline set by the Department of Labor to simply educate their staff₂. 
So why is their family more important than their employee’s family?
Once their was a time when your employee was family.
Now I’m not asking every business owner to invite their employees over for brunch, but at least realize they are your most valuable asset.
Yes, you are the visionary, the drive, and the force, but they are the business. 
It’s like a great composer is nothing without an orchestra.  At least tell them where to get instruments……..
60% of employees look to their boss for information about benefits₃.  If you’re not going to offer any benefits then at least take this milestone as a chance to improve morale. 
If you just show an employee “hey, I can’t pay for your benefits, but I’m going to try to help you find the best thing for you and your family” it will speak volumes to them.  Heck, it may gain you an employee for life.
Do something different with this huge change.  Don’t follow the herd.  Mainly because the herd thinks that this whole thing only applies to companies with 50 employees or more.
WRONG!!!!!!
Read for yourself and be a real leader to your staff.
1.http://www.creditdonkey.com/increase-savings-2013.html
2.http://ifawebnews.com/2013/03/28/small-businesses-confused-about-aca-will-need-help-moving-into-2014/
3.https://sell.aflac.com/Training%20and%20Resources/Business%20Insights/HCR%20Page.aspx

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3 Things The Zimmerman Trial Taught Me

This is a very controversial and emotional topic right now for many, but I need to weigh in the importance of some of the things I personally learned from this trial.

The stage was already set for a firestorm when a case of a young black teen is slain by a half Caucasian adult and the state wants to sweep it under the rug.

Interestingly, when the stage is set for trial finally, you can see some masterful marketing and psychology at hand.

1. Know Your Audience
• 85% of court cases are won at jury selection according to Herald Price Fahringer in 1993.  Why is that?  This is simply due to the fact that either side of the court room can use demographics, education, gender, income, etc to pick a panel that can best understand “their side.”  Marketing needs to do the same process.  If you know who can best benefit from your products or services than you can present their needs in the best light.  This is where you start seeing what people say on your social media channels or even what your competitor’s customers are saying.  If you don’t know who needs what you have then you’re pretty much doomed…….
2. Fear Of Loss Is Greater Than Desire To Gain
• The jury had the task of basically deciding if Zimmerman sought out to kill Martin.  Not if he did it because that is evident, but if he planned or chose to do it maliciously.  With that task they can gain the joy of Martin’s family getting justice or have the Zimmerman family lose their son and the jury having to hold onto that loss of freedom.  Not to say one choice is better than the other, but the defense did an excellent job of instilling that point.  Approach your customers this way.  Nobody likes making a decision to go forward with a financial decision and then losing money on it.  MAKE SURE THEY WON’T LOSE ANYTHING!!  If they are, then tell them.  You may not earn any business then, but you will gain their respect and possible future business. 
3. Use Emotions To Your Advantage (Ethically)
• One interesting thing to note from Anderson Cooper’s interview with juror B37 is the fact how she kept referring to the defendant as George.  Not Mr. Zimmerman or Zimmerman as most of us know him.  The women felt sorry for Zimmerman or felt horrible about what they had to do.  Think about how your prospective clients feel about you or your product.  You have to know why or how they will feel good about a decision to accept what you offer.  Communicate with them with that in mind at all times.  Use it to help them come to a conclusion that will make them happy.  That’s how we gauge decisions.  We want to feel good about decisions.  If you have to bring up how sad someone will be when they don’t work with you (ie not having life insurance when your spouse dies……) then that is ok just as long as you turn it into a positive and you first and foremost know you will benefit them with your offering. 

This tragedy will go down in American history for many reasons.  I just choose to look at things from various angles.  Ultimately what I witnessed was great application of psychology from the jury selection phase to the verdict.  That is my way of taking something positive from such a long and drawn tragedy. 

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4 Reasons Why You Need the AWESOME Google+

Ok, I have a Gmail (awesome), use Chrome as my browser (double awesome), and I use an Android phone (double dipped awesomeness).
You may say I'm a little biased in my loving the Google+ update, but here's why you will love it (if you don't already)

1.Currently, Google+ is bigger than Twitter with 359 million active users!

• I always talk to business owners who don't understand the point of Twitter.  For a lot of business types, Twitter doesn't help much.  On the contrary, everyone needs a Google+ account to link to their former Google Places entry.  At 2 billion searches a day you need to be as integrated with their platform as possible to be included in the searches.  In 2010 it was found that 94% of web traffic from Google comes from being ranked 1st on a page.  Plus with the +1 feature, if any of a person or their friends +1 your page then you are more likely to show up in their results (recommendations from a friend are more relevant than a stranger).

2.The Layout is the best combination of Pinterest and Facebook (I call it PinBook!)

• Pinterest is the fastest growing social network ever and Google noticed.  Only thing is it is not very "social".  The comments are pretty much buried in the stream.  The new layout is clean and engaging.  Any business owner can arrange their products in a very clean professional way without needing a fancy web designer!  Plus, your posts will directly link to your Google+ Local listing.

3.If You’re in Any Business With High Quality Imaging This Is A Must!!

• Google+ is now going to be your darkroom!   In an all cloud based system Google can automatically enhance the color and contrast tones in an image, remove read eye, make your plush greens really pop, soften skin, sharpen certain parts of an image remove noise, create an HDR from a set of images, and toggle back and forth any changes easily!  The greatest feature is called Awesome.  Basically, if you ever upload a series of images, Google+ will try to animate them in a GIF automatically………..If you take a bunch of family portraits it will stitch together the best possible one………If you panorama it will create the best from your batch………..This is all on autopilot people!!!!

4.Lastly, The Hashtag System is  A Marketing Dream

• Ok, everybody knows what a hashtag is.  It can be a great marketing tool to tie into a niche, but many don’t use it.  Honestly, before the update I only used them on Twitter and Pinterest.  Google has them beat! 
• Basically, you can set your own hashtags or Google will set one for you based on the context of the post!
• Behind the scenes Google will identify and rank any relevant conversations across the network.
• When you click the hashtag, it flips the post over and you can see related content within that card!!  That is live SEO and potentially far more successful if done correctly.   Gee wiz!!!
• This system gives you an extremely easy way to be found in someone’s interests as long as your posting relevant content that others find useful. 

 

In short,

 

Google+ has arrived!

 

There are a total of 41 improvements to Google+, but those are just my top 4.

Photo credit:  www.myviralweb.com

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You’re Going To Lose A Lot Of Money

Did you know that since 2005, more than 80% of all credit card breaches have occurred at a small business?

Sounds like a horror movie doesn’t it?  Sadly, it is reality. 

Everyday I see more and more businesses being “sloppy” about PCI compliance (Payment Card Industry if you’re a little more than sloppy……).

• Some have all of their clients credit card numbers on an Excel spreadsheet anyone can get to……………
• Some have a binder with all of the customer’s credit info so they can charge them on a recurring basis without having to call…………….
• Some even have to get a customer’s credit card number written on a basic invoice with one of their technicians who later brings it to the shop to be charged………..

All of these are a big no no that can result in fines anywhere from $90 to $500,000 and possible civil litigation from the consumer on top of that!!


In 2006, 40% of businesses that reported breaches had them come from contractors, employees, and business partners……………..

So how do you protect yourself?

1. Protect stored card holder data
1. If you have to keep customer’s credit info, do it the smart way.  This means no paper records or folder full of the info.  Use the computer.  It's kind of a useful tool............
2. Encrypt the data
1. The easiest way to do this is to have a payment processing system that has encryption with it already.  Preferably one that has a web based system of storing the data.  That way it is never physically in your possession. 
3. Assign a unique user ID to each person that may have access to the data
1. This does 2 things.  One is that not just anybody can access the data.  Two is that if something does happen, you can more readily find the culprit.

In short, if you’re keeping your customers’ credit info do an assessment of your security.  If it’s still “old school” you definitely need to upgrade to a safer and more modern system for your customers and your protection. 

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3 Things All Small Businesses Should Do

So you've been in business for a while.  Things are going pretty good.  You're paying your bills.  Your doors are still open,............but you're they're all the time!!  

Are you running your business or is your business running you?  And when I say "run" it I mean being the most efficient with the least amount of your most valuable resource, ………..time.  

Owning your own business is supposed to provide you the greatest luxury of owning your time.  A poll in 2009 poll concluded that out 39% of small business owners work more than 10 hours per day.  Struggling businesses are probably closer to 70% working more than 12 hours a day! 

So how can you stop this conundrum? 

By being more efficient. 

There are a lot of missed opportunities for marketing and sales in small businesses  that some know about and some never thought of.

1.  Social Media

I can't stress this enough.  For some reasons businesses think they don't need social media.  Take Twitter for instance.  Stephanie Wagner says "Twitter not only facilitates real-time businesses-to-consumer communication, but it also facilitates business-to-business and consumer-to-consumer communication. Twitter has transformed the platform of business communication. " That is marketing gold.  Plus,
ALL SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE FREE!!!!!

2.  Get customers’ emails (if you’re not already)

Email is one of the biggest revolutions in marketing today.  Even if you’re not a great marketer, it provides great opportunity.  Jay Baer concluded from a study that 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email.  In 2012, 85% of the world uses email…………So basically, if you get all of your customer’s email addresses you may be able to get 1 extra sale from 44% of them!  That’s potentially huge!!  Don’t miss the chance.  The easiest way to get their emails is to use it for their receipt or invoice.  If you’re not paperless, then hurry up!

3.  Watch your competition

This may seem like common sense, but I don’t mean just watch the competition and hate them.  If they appear to be doing more than you, see why.  Are they using more social media?  Is their page better placed on search engine results?  Are their online listings more complete than yours?  There’s nothing wrong with learning from your competition.  There is something wrong with being obliterated by them for simple reasons though!

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Don’t Tweet Like A Twit

Hi guys!  So let’s start off with a few updates on social media’s impact.  Namely Twitter. 
Last year, Twitter was the number 2 tool for social media branding at 53% of businesses using it.  Facebook was number one at 83%, but that is a different strategy.  I want to talk about a few quick tips for Twitter, because I see a lot of businesses make these mistakes. 
Top 5 tips:

1. Know that you’re tweeting!
1. You’d be amazed about how many companies don’t know what or when they’re tweeting and then have the gall to say, “I don’t think Twitter helps my business”…………  You definitely need some automizing to help your tweeting, but if you don’t know when or what it’s helping you with then you’re kind of wasting the web’s time….
2. Stop talking about yourself all the time!
1. You know that friend you hate to talk to because the entire conversation is about them?  Don’t be that guy on Twitter.  So many people get surprised that they don’t have followers when all they talk about is specials and promos.  There’s only so many times someone will want to see you say thing are half off before they’re all the way gone…………
3. Be helpful!
1. Try to provide your audience with some knowledge you’ve gained from your industry or life experiences.  Sure you want to gain sales from these people, but social media is like a Hanzel and Gretel situation.  Give people a few crumbs to lead them to the real meal!
4. Get to the point!
1. Yes twitter allows 140 characters, but don’t do the long sentence … thing.  People don’t respond to those that often unless you have a very compelling 137 characters.  Try to leave something hard hitting and a quick take away with a link attached.  If you expect everyone to read all of your “extended” tweets you’ll have a lot of extended alone time.
5. Be fun!
1. Last year 91% of mobile internet access was spent socializing.  Not self promoting!  Talk about fun things sometimes.  Provide cool news articles related to your field or how you help people.  People will read this a lot sooner and you develop a subliminal link with them.  Then you’re able to slip in  very small marketing things here and there. 

Social media is very much a cat and mouse game.  You  cannot expect quick techniques to work or not spend any time planning.  You have to be likeable especially when you consider how short the shelf life of a tweet is. 
Definitely get familiar with sites like Hootsuite, Tweetcaster, and Buffer.  They’re 3 of my favorite social media tools and greatly help. 

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