Random musings

Friday, October 7, 2016

The Friday Fishwrap

All the news that's fit to wrap around a dead fish

The week in review

Monday - "Defining moments" A wrap-up of this year's SendOutCards convention

Tuesday - "Networking events this week" A listing of networking events I'm attending this week

Wednesday - "Take time to manage your time" An article from Harvey Mackay

Thursday - "Just what does Oprah sell anyway? #TBT" How to network effectively

Interesting days

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Just what does Oprah sell anyway? #TBT

This is pretty timely since Casey Eberhart's Networking Riches event is coming up in just over 2 weeks. I'll be going again, just not this time. I went back in May (in fact you can see me in the group photo just before the testimonials...2nd from the left), so I'll watch the video of it probably during that weekend. Instead I'll be going to my 42nd high school reunion. I know, but what can I say...we like to party! It's the Skyline Class of '74 "Turning 60 in '16" Tween Reunion. Gawd...how did we get that old?!?!?!

But here's the blog post from this day last year:

At the beginning of his presentations, Casey Eberhart usually asks two questions: who is the most powerful woman in America and what does she sell?

According to Casey, his top 3 answers are Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. As you can tell from the title of this blog post, he usually concentrates on Oprah. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about networking like Oprah and today I'm going to talk about what she actually sells.

When he asks "What does Oprah sell?", the usual response is "Herself"..."So, she's a prostitute" is Casey's response. The audience laughs and says no. After a few more attempts, Casey reveals the answer: "She sells influence".

Oprah has a huge following and she has a huge influence on their buying decisions. When she recommends a book, millions of copies will be sold. When she recommends a movie, it'll be a blockbuster.

When she has a guest on her show, Oprah uses the formula OPC + TR = MC. If you're familiar with the term OPM, you've got two-thirds of the first part. Other peoples' content plus their reach equals more contacts. She has Tom Hanks on her show and he talks about his latest movie (his content), he shares with his fans on social media and TV Guide shares it in their listings (his reach) and his fans will tune in to watch the show (more contacts...or in Oprah's case more viewers).

How does this apply to you? Last week I wrote about "The Five People You Meet in Networking Events" and told you about making a video of the speaker, the organizer and the 3 yap jobs. When you create these videos you're using their content (the answers to your interview questions), their reach (they'll likely share the link to your blog or video on their social media) and when they do you'll have more contacts (viewers of your video or blog).

I hope this helps and as you can see I'm applying this formula. In fact, this post plus the two others that I linked to are all based on Casey's presentation (OPC) and when I post this I will post the link on Casey's wall (TR) and hopefully I'll get a few more readers (MC).

Interesting days

Today - Mad Hatter Day and Physician Assistant Day

Tomorrow - Bathtub Day and Frappe Day I've looked up the pronunciation and I've seen it pronounced frap and frap-pay. On the McDonald's commercials they pronounce it the latter way, so I think tomorrow I'll have a chocolate chip frap-pay (This year we can also add Random Acts of Poetry Day and World Smile Day)

Next Thursday - World Sight Day and No Bra Day Apparently I had the wrong day last year, all of the days were for the 11th and not the 13th

November 6 - Saxophone Day Listen to some sax right here. It's also Nachos Day I may have to see if I can find who has the best nachos in the area. Any suggestions? And this year, we'll also be celebrating Zero Tasking Day and Orphan Sunday

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Take time to manage your time

Here's an article from Harvey Mackay:

Have you ever wondered where all your time goes?

You’re not alone. People have been talking about time for centuries. Consider this excerpt from “The Book of Fate,” written by Voltaire in the 17th century: “Of all the things in the world, which is the longest and shortest, the quickest and the slowest, the most divisible and the most extensive, the most disregarded and the most regretted, without which nothing can happen, which devours everything that is little, and gives life everything that is great?

“The answer is time. Nothing is longer, since it is the measure of eternity. Nothing is shorter, since it is lacking in all our plans. Nothing is slower for him who waits. Nothing is quicker for him who enjoys. It extends to the infinitely little. All men disregard it. All men regret the loss of it. Nothing happens without it. It makes forgotten everything unworthy of posterity, and it immortalizes the great things.”

I have a saying that I’ve often used – “Killing time isn’t murder; it’s suicide.” We all start out in life with one thing in common; we all have the same amount of time each day, each week, each month and each year. Now it’s just a matter of what we do with it.

I’ve seen estimates that the average person spends seven years in the bathroom, six years eating, four years cleaning house, five years waiting in line, two years trying to return phone calls to people who aren’t there, three years preparing meals, one year searching for misplaced items and six months sitting at red traffic lights.

That’s nearly 30 years and doesn’t include a lot of what you might need or want to do. Prioritizing your time should be a top priority.

Getting more done doesn’t always mean doing more things. Sometimes it’s about doing less. Don’t try to schedule every minute of every day. When you make and prioritize your to-do list, leave yourself some flexibility to handle interruptions and unplanned tasks that are bound to come up during the day. You should block out segments of your day for important tasks, but be sure to reserve enough time so that you don’t have to rush through things. Taking your time can sometimes be the best use of your time.

Do you need to manage your time better at work? Who doesn’t? One of the first things you have to take control of is your time. It always seems like there’s not enough time to accomplish everything when you’re working hard, but Bob Nelson in 1,001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work, says there are some steps you can take to rescue your time.

Here is some of his advice:

When you get to the end of your day, make a to-do list for tomorrow. Put whatever’s most important to accomplish at the top of your list. That way, when you walk in, you’ll know just what you need to do and where to start.

Make a commitment to arrive at work a half hour early every day. Then you can get started on whatever’s most important and work without interruption for that period of time.

Don’t jump down on your list to lower priority tasks until you have made sufficient progress on your higher priority tasks.

Use a calendar and plan. It will organize you, and you won’t have to spend time asking what you’re supposed to be doing. You’ll already know.

Go through your in-box at least once a day and prioritize it.

Say goodbye to unimportant meetings. If you don’t need to be there, don’t go. It will waste your time, and your list won’t get any smaller.

Focus on what only you can do. Then, when possible, delegate to others.

Take a couple of hours every week to sit down and look at your big picture goals. Are you making progress? Set or reset goals appropriately.

Learn to say no. Be polite, but firm. Otherwise, you won’t have the focus or energy to attain your goals.

Benjamin Franklin famously said, “If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves.” A minute doesn’t seem like much, but the cumulative value of those minutes determines the quality of a lifetime. Don’t waste another second!

Mackay’s Moral: If you want to have the time of your life, make the most of your minutes.

Interesting days

Today - Balloons Around the World Day, Country Inn Bed & Breakfast Day, World Teachers Day and Chic Spy™ Day

Tomorrow - Mad Hatter Day and Physician Assistant Day

Next Wednesday - World Arthritis Day, Emergency Nurses Day, Take Your Parents To Lunch Day, Old Farmers Day, Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work & School Day and Pet Obesity Awareness Day

November 5 - Gunpowder Day

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Networking events this week

There are a few networking events coming up this week, a couple in the Modesto/Turlock area and a couple in the East Bay.

Coming up today is an event with my new friend and insurance agent, Kim Eyerly. I don't know if her new group has a name but it meets every Tuesday at noon at El Rosal, 3401 W. Monte Vista Ave, Turlock, CA 95380. Which is very fortunate since today is Taco Day.

There are two events tomorrow in the East Bay. First is the Hump Day Happy Hour at Laptop Lounge in Walnut Creek. This is an event that I usually go to...but not this month. This month I'm going to Whiskey, Wealth & Wardrobe in San Ramon, which is an extension of the Whiskey and Wealth event that I went to a couple of weeks ago.

Coming up on Friday is a Lunch n Learn event where you can learn about effective networking from another new friend, Kimmer Sue.

It's going to be a busy week but where else can you get paid for eating or drinking whiskey?

Interesting days

Today - World Animal Day, Improve Your Office Day, Ship in A Bottle Day, Vodka Day and Taco Day

Tomorrow - Balloons Around the World Day, Country Inn Bed & Breakfast Day, World Teachers Day and Chic Spy™ Day

Next Tuesday - Face Your Fears Day, Coming Out Day and Ada Lovelace Day Ada Lovelace is credited with being the first computer programmer even though she lived in the 1800's. She even has a computer language named after her, Ada.

November 4 - Use Your Common Sense Day and Love Your Lawyer Day

Monday, October 3, 2016

Defining moments

That was the theme of this year's SendOutCards convention that wrapped up yesterday in Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, I didn't make it this year. I've made it every other year so far but I'm going every year from now on.

And as usual, CEO Kody Bateman wrote a song about the theme of the convention:

There were quite a few announcements and I've heard about a few of them but hopefully I'll be learning more over the next few days. Tomorrow's SOC Corporate webinar should have a lot of information! The webinar is at 5:00 PM PDT. Click on the link above to register, whether you're a distributor, customer or innocent bystander.

The first announcement is the upgraded version of the SendOutCards app, which includes a new layout and an easy way to download it onto your phone, whether it's an Apple or Android...you can even download the app onto your phone from your computer, just click on the link to download it. And if you're not already a SOC customer, the first card is on me! Click and try it out for free. And now it's even easier to share the app with your friends and family either directly from the app or computer. In the iOS app click Profile on the lower right and click Share SendOutCards. From the website click Account in the upper right corner and click Share SendOutCards. I'm not sure about Android yet, but I'll let you know when I find out.

Also new is the First Impressions kit, which includes the Custom Brand Manager and First Impressions campaign cards:

First Impressions Kit - six professionally designed campaign cards, printed on our new Signature Series Premium Paper stock - 3 on Premium Pearl and 3 on Signature Black Satin.

We've taken the guesswork and expense out of creating meaningful and memorable cards for your customers. They can choose a pre-designed card template, personalize it as much or as little as they would like, and we will handle the printing, stamping and mailing of their cards on their schedule! This service would normally cost thousands of dollars per year - we offer it at a fraction of the cost.

These cards are now available on the SendOutCards website under Main Menu -> Purchase Products.

Those are the big announcements that I'm aware of at the moment...I'll share as I learn more.

Interesting days

Today - World Architecture Day, Boyfriends Day, Techies Day, Virus Appreciation Day, World Habitat Day and World Day of Bullying Prevention

Tuesday - World Animal Day, Improve Your Office Day, Ship in A Bottle Day, Vodka Day and Taco Day

Next Monday - World Porridge Day, SHIFT10 Day, World Mental Health Day, Native American Day, Handbag Day, Cake Decorating Day, World Homeless Day and Hug A Drummer Day

November 3 - Jellyfish Day and Cliché Day. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Housewife's Day and Men Make Dinner Day are both on the same day. And it's probably not a coincidence that it's also Sandwich Day. The Art of Manliness has a free sandwiches ebook with nearly 500 sandwich recipes!

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Late blog post today

I don't have wifi at my place for a couple of days, so I'm at Starbucks. I probably should've done this yesterday but I didn't make it. But I guess it's better late than never!

Interesting days

Today - Name Your Car Day, World Farm Animals Day, International Day of Non-Violence, Change A Light Day and Custodial Worker Day

Tomorrow - World Architecture Day, Boyfriends Day, Techies Day, Virus Appreciation Day, World Habitat Day and World Day of Bullying Prevention

Next Sunday - Curious Events Day, Fire Prevention Day, World Post Day, Moldy Cheese Day and Beer and Pizza Day

November 2 - Deviled Egg Day and Stress Awareness Day

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Your weekend guide to interesting days

Today - Older Peoples Day, CD Player Day, International Coffee Day, World Vegetarian Day and World Card Making Day

Tomorrow - Name Your Car Day, World Farm Animals Day, International Day of Non-Violence, Change A Light Day and Custodial Worker Day

Next Saturday - Pierogi Day and World Octopus Day

November - World Vegan Month, Peanut Butter Lovers' Month and Novel Writing Month Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Here's your chance to write one in 30 days!

November 1 - Go Cook For Your Pets Day, Authors' Day, Extra Mile Day and World Vegan Day

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Friday, October 7, 2016

The Friday Fishwrap

The week in review

Interesting days

This week

Next week

Next month

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Just what does Oprah sell anyway? #TBT

Interesting days

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Take time to manage your time

Interesting days

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Networking events this week

Interesting days

Monday, October 3, 2016

Defining moments

Interesting days

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Late blog post today

Interesting days

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Your weekend guide to interesting days