What dreams may come.

Much has been said about streamlining businesses. But, what's equally important is to optimize ourselves so we can get whatever our heart desires. Here are my two cents of how we can get to our own yellow brick road.

Please close your eyes.

Assuming that anything is possible, what do you envision yourself to be doing right at this moment?

Please open your eyes and write down your answer.

You can keep your eyes open for the next question.

If your answer is different from what you are doing, what’s stopping you from living your dream?

Please write down your answer.

Thanks, guys for participating in this exercise.

You may put your pens away, and just sit back in your chair and enjoy the speech.

As individuals, we are gifted with the only non-replenishable treasure of all: time. But, how is it that some individuals are able to live their dreams, while the rest of us have cast our dreams away to a land long forgotten?

Today, I will explore some possible factors such as faith, persistence, and optimism that may have attributed to the great divide between these two groups. In doing so, perhaps we may gain a better understanding of how to achieve our dreams.

Everyone can agree that having the conviction is a prerequisite to accomplishing your fantasy. But keeping the faith during challenging times is critical to the realization of your castle in the sky. Steve Jobs of Apple is a perfect example. This daredevil introduced a graphic interface for computers and created a demand at a time in which we, the consumers did not even know we wanted it. Then, Steve followed up his own act with bug-free Macs, user friendly ipods, and the revolutionary iphone. This visionary excelled at not just believing in his own fancy, but successfully converting a good portion of us into diehard apple fans. It is no wonder that once you owned an apple product, you will never go back. Although seeing the light is key, some people may argue that persistence is quintessential to accomplishing our fantasies.

The name Albert Einstein is synonymous with the term genius. In fact, if we divided the number of his scientific and non-scientific works by his age and assumed that he started innovating at the tender age of 20, this man produced eight works per professional year of his life. Besides being the father of creativity, Einstein was a preacher of revision. In fact, he openly admitted that often, his ideas weren’t so brilliant to begin with. With revisions, however, these thoughts transform into awe inspiring works of wonder. Now, if Mr. Creativity had to hone his concepts over and over again, then we too, must burn the midnight oil, use elbow grease, and frankly, whatever else that we can get our hands on to get to our yellow brick road. At times, however, the road may seem windy, and riddled with unfathomable challenges. It is at times like this that we need to (put on the prop) put on our rosy shades as we continue chugging along on our odyssey.

Some say that the glass half full appeal lies in the fact that honey attracts more bugs. Others say that if you really want something, the universe will conspire to make it happen. I can only speak for myself. This belief allowed me to see opportunities that I would have otherwise not have been privy to. After recovering from a work related injury, I was having trouble finding work in a deeply contracting economy. It was at this time, that I recalled how my friends were always suggesting that I sell my handmade jewelry. Thinking what the hay, I set up my online shop. A month later, I made an international sale, and the rest is history. It was my hopelessly optimistic nature that got the ball rolling, my passion for handmade wares that fueled the fire, and my doggone perfectionist nature that kept my hands busy. And I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything.

I will leave you with a quote from Anatole France that summarizes my speech. “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.” I challenge you to remove what is most often the biggest roadblock from your path: yourself, and start building the ladder to your castle in the sky.

Long live brick and mortar

Though the title may sound like blasphemy to marketers, but its not. Its rather an intriguing observation regarding offline retailers like Ross Stores and Ambiance who are successful despite not retailing online. Even a person like me who is predisposed to shopping online for the supposed efficiency and efficacy, have turned a new corner. Not only do I get to exercise, enhance my mental health, and spend time with loved ones, I get a reprieve from my computer.

First, according to WebMD, I burn 90 calories by shopping for 45 minutes. Better yet, if I pushed a cart, that's an additional 50 calories in it for me. Just to put all this in perspective, dancing for the same amount of time will only help me expend 40 more calories than if I had shopped with a cart. Just when you think it can't get any better, it does. Not only does shopping in stores keep me physically fit, it help me to conserve my mental energy.

Offline retail saves my brain from being confounded. As we all know, online retail offers an unlimited selection of products 24/7. Although that sounds good in concept, its not in reality. More choices lead to a higher likelihood of indecision, which strains your brain. As it has a limited amount of mental energy, it wants to conserve it, naturally. So by shopping in brick and mortar stores, you are doing your body and your mind a favor. If you had shopped with a friend, that's the cherry on top! No offense to my computer, my year long companion, as our conversation can only go one-way.

In conclusion, I am turning in my dreaded claw hands (resultant from scrolling through pages after pages of products) for a healthy dose of vitamin D (thanks to the sun), trim body and stress-free brain. Won't you join me?

Delighting Your Customers

During these economic times, its critical for companies to maintain, if not grow their customer base. The question is, how?

If we look at examples of companies that are successful at doing this, it seems like it boils down to one simple thing: they "delight" their customers.

What does that mean, really? Well, it means that the brand recall is positive, really. To make that happen, its all about leaving your customers a wonderful impression through your products and services. We all heard about the die-hard Apple and Nordstrom fans. Here's a company delighted me recently, Comcast.

During the past weekend, I called the customer support for Cable issues. After informing me about the unusual long wait in the phone queue, the IVR asked me if I am interested in a call back. Not only would I keep my place in the "line", I don't have to listen to droning commercials.

So I did. Less than 5 minutes later, I got a callback and resolved my issue. If only more companies chose such an option. Yes, there is a cost to this technology, but just think about all the phone costs saved! Not to mention the opportunity to delight, and thereby retain your customers.

Hats off to the cable giant in listening to its customers.

For additional reading materials, check out this article from American Express.

Jumping on the bandwagon

For the past 3 months, I have been fielding LinkedIn's questions on Internet Marketing and Business Operations. What's interesting was the palpable fear and confusion regarding digital media. Every week, there is one person who asks if he or she should get into digital media, what's the best way to go about it, etc.

While it is true that digital media is "in" right now, it doesn't mean that its right for everybody, or every company. Regardless of the hype, you need to think about the basics of marketing. Is the hype a fit for you or your company?

The answer to that question lies in one simple fact. If, and only if your target segment is involved in the hype, then you may consider getting on the bandwagon. However, you have to be very clear about the purpose of your involvement. Are you there to build customer engagement, sell your products or build brand recognition?

Some purposes are easier to achieve than others, while some may just not work given the channel in question. Remember, its not just about adding another channel to reach your customers. You also have to think about how to integrate this new channel into your existing channels, and how to make sure your message is seamless across this spectrum.

Bottom line. It all comes down to your customers, and your objective for that new hype. Hopefully there's a fit between the two.

Lessones learned from managing 8 volunteers

In the past four weeks, I have been moonlighting as a general manager for a production company that is producing two events in the upcoming weeks. Although my title is "Marketing Manager", I am doing everything from recruiting, sponsorships, project management, the works. I have a couple takeaways from this, and they are as follows.

• Making the best out of what you have: As a former consultant with a type A personality, I push myself to produce my best. I have beat myself up for things out of my control. Since I am managing seven volunteers across two continents, there are things I just have to do what I can given my resources
  
  
• Bucking up: Because of the exposure of this position, I am having to work with clients, teammates, you name it, most of whom I don't know. This allowed me to be bold in calling up cold contacts for my job search efforts, which I was dancing around with before
  
  

Since I am working with a team of 8 volunteers, I spend more time than I normally would in a professional environment in getting them to deliver. There are two things that are essential in making this relationship work: commitment, and communication. Everything else is icing on the cake. I am happy to support you, as long as you are committed to the production. And I will work with you to make you successful, even though you may be new to this game. For instance, one of our sponsorship team members scored an advertising deal, thanks to the prospect materials we put together, might I say, I am a newbie too.

I will be passing on the torch in two weeks, but, am definitely grateful for this experience.

Helpful, and the Not So Much Job Search Features

Since I am hunting for jobs, I come across many so-called job sites. What was interesting to me was that not one site had all the most user-friendly features to job seekers. What do I mean by that? Some might ask. Well, a feature that would help the job seeker in economizing his time, and provide helpful info. Below is a list that I whipped up, along with the site that provides it.


THE GOOD

• Aggregated job search results: Most of you have more than one job agent set up with one job site. But, Monster is the only one that combines all your results, broken down by different search criteria, in ONE single email
  
  
• Sneak peek at competition: Careerbuilder shows you how much competition do you have per suggested job requisition graphically, along with its interpretation of how good of a fit is it between you and this position. Its an awesome way to gauge your chances for the position
  
  
• De-duped results: Although aggregator sites are great, its even better when they hide similar job titles as the ones shown... meaning you don't have comb through 300 job listings, only to find out that half of them are the same. For that reason, SimplyHired is a step up from the rest
  
  
• Full job details included: I also set up job agents with the companies that I am interested in working for. Its great when I get announcements of new job postings fitting my search criteria, that the full job req is included. Kaiser Permanente is great at doing that
  

THE BAD (For obvious reasons, I have omitted the job site names)

• Magnifying glasses required: I have gotten some job notification emails that are not readable to the human eye. The fonts sizes are tiny, or that the entire job posting is one long run-on sentence. Although I understand that's helpful to the web spiders, its not helpful to us humans
  
  
• A song and dance without a "skip" option: I like a good video when I want to be entertained, but I am not looking to be entertained while applying for jobs. Yes, this means that I prefer to bypass your video, and just get to the good stuff... the jobs themselves
  
  
• A fragile search feature: I like a site that I can slice and dice the jobs to my heart's content, within reason of course. That means that I have useful filters, i.e. dates, job sources, etc. within my command. A note of suggestion, it will be great if I can filter out specific job sources

That's all for now. Hope this helps.

What is business excellence?

Business excellence is a business management technique that drives company performance by leveraging systematic process management, relentless customer focus and innovation principles.

So, below are the key to achieving business excellence.

• All for one, one for all: The company's strategies, people, technology, processes are aligned to obtain company's objectives. Executive support is key in making this happen. Apple comes to mind. Its no wonder that once you are an Apple customer, you are forever in the family
  
  
• Its all about the customers: The company is relentless in the pursuit of its customer's happiness. Customer profile, and target persona are key in making strategic decisions. Trader Joe's Flyer recent "Save Some Money" meal guide showed that its customers that it is with them every step of the way
  
  
• Change is good: Continuous process improvement, and test-and-learn culture are key to innovation and growth for companies, regardless of their size. A great process improvement example comes to mind. Thanks to the project, a CEO is no longer signing checks for invoices over $25