Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Tis the day that Hallmark, Nestles, and Telefloral live for! The day of Chocolate, Cards, Chocolate, Roses and Chocolate. As most of you know, I have a bit of a thing for chocolate. I even own www.INeedChocolate.com, and while I don't have anything up on the site right now, I am researching some options and identifying what it is that I want to host there.

So, another love of mine, is of course, Apple. I came across this YouTube video and thought I would share for those of you who might not have seen it yet.

So, chocolate is my simple pleasure. When stressed, happy, sad, whatever, a little piece of chocolate picks me up. OK, so perhaps a little piece, let's say......the size of Vermont would do the trick. For some people, it is Starbucks, a massage, a pedicure, etc.

For the past couple of years, I have kind of had this theory about work-life, which stemmed from reading the 5 Love Languages book (see reading list) and how that relates to our work-lives. The book primarily talks about how we deal with our love ones and our children, but I believe those same theories can be applied to those who we work with as well.

The five languages are; words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Each person may have more than one "language" that make them feel appreciated most, or a combination of several. Mine, is quality time. Look around you office, can you spot some of them?

Those who love to receive gifts, are typically those who give gifts as well. Do you have someone who proudly displays trinkets people have given them? What about those who desperately are seeking your praise, and affirmation of doing a good job. If you look closely, I bet you can identify almost everyone you know into one of these categories. So, what does that all mean, what do you do with it? Well, if you can identify what "language" your employees are speaking, that is how you reward them, make them feel a part of your team.

Quality time people, want regular meetings, lunches or one-on-one sessions. For those who value words of affirmation, they want praise, be it vocal or written, maybe write them a note thanking them for their work. You may have noticed that hard-cold cash wasn't on that list, and not all managers have a lot of that to offer, so why not try finding your teams love languages and see how they respond?

What a woman wants...

As Valentine's Day approaches, the question on many mens minds is what to get my loved one for the blessed day. Flowers, the good old standby, are fine and appreciated, but the prices have ballooned out of control. A dozen roses delivered is now nearing the price of an ipod Nano, let's compare the two.... dead in a week (roses of course) to hours of coolness and entertainment (which of course she could share). Now, are electronics romantic, well....load the puppy up with "your song" or her favorite video and you are good to go. Other thoughts might be my personal favorite Chocolate. The good stuff. I am not talking about picking up a bag of peanut M&Ms and calling it good, well...unless she REALLY likes them.

Or, I know this is a novel idea, ask. What is wrong with a simple discussion, heck, you could slip it in over a commercial break, over breakfast, over the phone, even over IM. And as women, shouldn't we know what we want, and not be afraid to ask for it? I know that flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but why not? Yes, go ahead and use the argument of "If he really loves me, he will know what I want." I don't buy it.

Recently, I had watched the movie "The Secret" and one of the principles they discuss is asking for what you want, create a vision board of the things you want and focus on them each day. So, cool I thought, I can do that. I sat there for several minutes, what do I want? Sadly, I didn't know. Surely I could have listed a number of things, mostly coming from the Apple store, but is that really what it would take to make me blissfully happy? Would they alone do the trick? Once I got them, then what? What things would really make a difference in my life? Is it cash, if so what would I buy, and then what? Why is this so hard?

So when it really came down to it, what I wanted most was time. Time with my family and friends, doing the things that I love, and the things that challenge me. Having never encountered someone who was magically given an extra 4 hours per day, I focused on things that would help me in those areas, and why not dream big while we are at it. Here are a few things that are on my vision board; a vacation home, an art studio space, a gallery showing of my art, the HGTV dream home, $52 million, and an easel. I am sure that list will change and grow, but if I had such a hard time with the things that really matter to me, and wasn't sure exactly what I wanted, how can I expect someone else to know.

Personally, for Valentine's Day, I already made my request, an artists easel for my office. Wanting to spend some time working on other artistic pursuits, this is a tool ya just can't live without.

So, for Valentine's Day, or just for life, what are the things on your vision board? Do you even know?

Does Membership have its privledges?

Last week, in the mail, I received something quite interesting. A pretty typical CD mailer, maybe 5x5. Nothing spectacular from all outward indications; generic white with my address on a little printed label, but it felt a big weighty. Curious, I opened it anticipating I would find a CD with some software they I just couldn't live without. Much to my surprise, I found a beautiful little mailer, a little die cut bee design with a "snot dot" holding the mailer closed. As I opened the piece, I noticed it was a beautiful duplex stock, with gold foil printing. Ah, the Patron (tequila) Social Club sent me a beautiful little silver keychain, held in by a green ribbon, the same ribbon found with its arms wrapped around the neck of a bottle of Partron Silver Tequila. The inscription on the card reads:

Thank you for contributing to the Patron Social Club.

As a member we hold in high esteem, we've sent you a little something extra. Exclusive benefits may be attached so be sure to hang on to it. We look forward to hearing from you, both on the site and in the clubs. Stay social.

Partonsocialclub.com


Beautiful, and man do I feel special now, due to the being held in high esteem and all. So what is this all about. A month or so ago, I had found online on some list of "cool sites" the Patron Social club, so I decided to check it out. I signed up and kind of snooped around the site for a while, pretty cool indeed. Complete with a little bartender who stands there and talks to you, welcoming you to the club. A significant consumer of Patron Silver, not quite, however I do find it quite enjoyable, but just a tad out of my regular budget for liquor consumption. Someday, perhaps.

So, what about it, it brought back memories of a presentation that a friend of mine and I gave presentation to college leadership group on marketing your organization. One of the key points was to create "exclusivity" for members. Make they feel privileged to be a part of the group, and offer benefits only available to those who are members. This accomplishes just that.

Are there other companies out there doing the same kind of thing? Tons, and some of the smarter ones too. You see more and more social environments being created, Facebook and Myspace being two, but the number of big businesses creating these social environments grows richer every day. Why? Loyalty and sticky content. Sticky content for their website. It keeps you there, keeps you coming back over and over again. Coke does it, with their mini me environment where my little avatar can probably be found hovering under the table rocking in the fetal position due to lack of attention. But for some, this is their alternate life.

Another company that does this well is Webkinz. Having two girls 9 and 11, Webkinz are the center of their vitrual world....aka...social life. First you purchase a stuffed animal which comes with a "special code" which you go to the site and log into. Now, you have this virtual pet matching the one you are holding in your hand. You play games, get jobs, earn Webkins cash and then you buy your pet things. I posess, too few digits to count the number of times I have seen a bright shiny face busting with excitement proclaiming they have purchased a new "bed" or "room" for their virtual pet.

It isn't all bad, they are learning, reading, and developing computer skills, but at what cost? Maybe their "real" social skills? Who knows.

So, what are my "exclusive benefits" of the Patron Social Club? I guess we will just have to wait and see. For now, I will just sit and admire a well done print piece and a the marketing genius behind it.

Food for thought....

As I am home from my trip, and about 7 pounds heavier, I am looking to drop some of that vacation weight, and in the midst of valentines day, I came across this site. http://food4thought.bhf.org.uk/ which tried to educate children about junk food. I believe the hosts name is "sick rick" and they have a number of little 3D game-type activities. I am attaching a photo of one of the videos where they have two kids eating hot dogs while what actually goes into the hot dogs is rolling past them on a conveyor. Well, not long and they are both hurling. I wonder if we knew what was really in our food what we would be eating, yes, that is "pig bits" rolling past the kids. Pig Bits? Now there is food for thought....