I Did It My Way…I Hope

Posted: June 8, 2013 in Posts
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

I was wondering:

  • Should I send this text now
  • Should I send an email to question timing on a deal
  • Should I respond to an email just because the person is influential and wants to meet with me
  • Should I schedule the meeting even though I know the outcome is something I don’t want
  • Should I send flowers yet or again
  • Should I  delay launch again because I’m afraid I don’t have the best product ready
  • Should I wait for her to call or text me first
  • Should I apologize every time I feel guilty about not getting back to someone sooner
  • Should I…

Yup I know this list can go on and on and it’s a daily list we go through personally and professionally everyday and we all have one!

I don’t have to do much I’m an entrepreneur… I could wake up late, miss a meeting, take a day off to spend with my special someone, play pinball, I could send every call to voice mail, I could ignore any email I want and I can stop time that’s my super power. Well the real power and freedom is knowing I can do all of these things so I work that much harder on my life and my work.

However I will not progress, I will not beat my competition, my company won’t grow, I will fail, but I succeed and fight the fight because I know if I really wanted to I could stop time for a moment and all can be ok. This freedom is a gift that I must use wisely and share with only the most special people and parts of my life.

So how do we decide what we should do, I have thought about this a lot and sought advice from many but my friend James really broke it down to me by enhancing Einstein’s law of relativity to his own law to be announced by him. James and I agree a lot in business I’m his protege and business partner but more importantly his friend. I respect his advice.

Choosing whose advice to follow in life is very difficult in business and personal so I came up with my own rules on whose advice to listen closely to and sometimes follow. Also keeping in mind advice from others can be just a piece to of the advice we need to give ourselves.

Business Advice: This one is a bit easier for me because it’s more mathematical:

  1. What has the person done right and wrong in their career?
  2.  Do they admit and embrace their errors more than their accomplishments?
  3. What experience do they have on the topic or problem I need advice with?
  4. Knowing the difference between someone bragging versus just using a past experience as an example?
  5. What do they have to gain by giving me this advice?

Personal Advice: Comes down to just a few MAJOR rules/questions I have:

  1. My relationship with this person and how we have been there for each other over time?
  2. Never listen to any advice when someone says, you better take my advice
  3. When someone says, you don’t have to take my advice I am just trying to help
  4. When someone says, I know you are probably not going to take my advice but…
  5. When someone says, here is my advice but you will and need to do what is right for you and no matter what you do I will support you

The gut…what does that mean, do we grab our stomach and ask it what to do, do we wait until we think about something so much we throw  up and then boom there is the answer in the toilet bowl we are hugging?

My gut is my heart and every day I look closely at what I do to see if I followed my heart’s  guide me and then look at the outcome of all those things all those “shoulds” and how it made me feel emotionally and physically.

It is tough the anxiety that comes with this way of following your heart. My heart knows my brain well they have been working together a long time so I trust them. My decisions now come from a conversation between my heart and my brain that turns into heated arguments sometimes as my heart fears nothing sees no risk and my brain is concerned with emotions and how that may affect me, in the end they are both trying to protect me.

Emotions are tough, smiles, tears, butterflies in our stomach and fear sometimes all at once.

I feel so tough saying this as if I can handle any emotion and just move on…total opposite I am nervous wreck, I worry about my list of shoulds, I worry if people like me, I worry if I can’t close a deal in time, I pace for hours at times to think of all these things I can’t control but need to understand, I stay awake for hours worrying about other people, finances, product, family and love. This is because I care and when I am passionate about something or someone I must give my all…my best.

I am able to keep a lot of these emotions to myself or oddly feel they are meant for someone special to only know about so I can either scare them away or feel safe that they know my crazy side and still like me. So they can be the same with me and feel safe that I appreciate even their crazy side.

We are all “crazy”, we are all afraid of our feelings and we all just want to be loved for who we are…we all bleed.

My heart guides all of me and with my brain helps me have spirit so I can feel the decisions I make, so I can take risks to be me, so I can show the right people the right parts of me so I can obtain freedom and share it.

After 38 years I thought nothing could feel that new I was wrong everything is new everyday so treat your first like your last and your last like your first.

Listen to your heart and argue with yourself, you know you better than anyone.

My Flower

Posted: May 20, 2013 in Posts
Tags: , , , ,
0

Today feels different and only I and a few know why I am not the same Brian I was last Monday when I woke up, had my coffee, did some reading chatted with my girlfriend and then began my work day.

Today I feel a bit frozen and I am trying to get into a routine but I just don’t feel that inner strength that all entrepreneurs need to begin their day. I want to just sit on the couch, watch some TV and think through why I am feeling less inspired than usual…even though I know why.

I will probably then just watch the clock and wonder if something that probably won’t happen will because I am thinking not only for myself but for others as well trying to send signals and solutions to them that I feel are not selfish just come from experience…from the scars I have of life. That should bring happiness to both of us versus us both wondering what the outcome of some space alone may bring.

I am in a situation that I have somewhat limited abilities to help the outcome other than remaining distant and quiet and allowing a flower to grow on its own versus nurturing it a bit more, I’d rather give that flower a bit more care to help it blossom to where I would like it to be but then that flower may not feel it blossomed on its own and that’s what seems to be what this flower needs.

No matter how much I think about that flower and not go about my day probably not much can change so I should be aware that my life must proceed and trust that this flower knows I am here whenever it needs me…so much easier said than done. In fact my flower may grow more by knowing that I am still strong and will be through it all.

We are all very different but yet all very the same we want to be cared for, we want to be held and we want to not be lonely. Labels have led us to believe a person can only be this to us when they are labeled a certain way especially in relationships but unfortunately these labels come with other baggage.

They remind us of past relationships and what went wrong or right with them, they make us feel we need to change things about ourselves for another person, give up parts of our lives that we feel make us happy or question if our own goals have now been altered.

This a I disagree with, to me a relationship is supposed to be the enhancement to who we are and how we live to make us better inside and out and be proud to be cared for. We are able to surrender ourselves as ourselves so that we have at least one person that cares about us no matter what we are going through, how we look one day versus another and believe in us from close and afar.

Maybe it’s time for me to change this label to something as simple as you are my flower and I am yours, will this change maybe the outcome of together who we are I don’t  know but I do know this label can just be ours.

The good thing is this flower knows it is the most beautiful flower I want to see grow

This poem inspired me…

Woman With Flower

By Naomi Long Madgett

I wouldn’t coax the plant if I were you.

Such watchful nurturing may do it harm.

Let the soil rest from so much digging

And wait until it’s dry before you water it.

The leaf’s inclined to find its own direction;

Give it a chance to seek the sunlight for itself.

Much growth is stunted by too careful prodding,

Too eager tenderness.

The things we love we have to learn to leave alone.

My Birth Anniversary

Posted: January 30, 2013 in Posts
1

I don’t work on my birthday it’s an entrepreneur rule I created, we fight the fight every day, we work like we are at war in a jungle, we take risks not many would take, we tax our family and friends for so much support as we ride the roller coaster but on this day we as entrepreneurs have the ability/power to say…”Not today!”

So today I celebrate the 13th anniversary of my 25th birthday, I chose this year for a few reasons but mainly because as a young business owner it was the year I got really lucky and started being “successful” by working for myself and having that freedom. I was able to have fun and work and have fun working that feeling has not left since so that is my year forever.

Where and how I grew up birthdays are meant to be a special day for immediate family and the friends that are fam.

It’s the day and night you spend with the ones you trust the most, that would do anything for you and you would do anything for. I have a few brothers from other mothers and some people that have been there for me through the best and worst of times.

As I get older of course I have spent my birthday with significant others but it was always planned around when I would be with the “fam” first. It’s out of respect and acknowledgement that we go through this life meeting many people and sometimes acquaintances become friends but the history is not there and the feeling of…yo I would do anything for this clique I am with today.

Sure we get older and wives and children must come first but they know how we feel and what it means to us to share our day together sometimes because of responsibilities of being “adults” this becomes more challenging but that challenge allows us to show each other how we still hold this ritual of respect dear to our hearts.

This year I decided to spend my day/night with someone new in my life that I know cares, it took much thought and a little concern mainly because it was my way of showing how much I cared and that I felt this person was part of that special trust we only share with a small few in life so that we always know who in our lives means the most and we should commit more of our good intentions, time and actions to. It is important to realize when it’s time to open up to someone who has earned our trust and whose trust we have earned.

It’s all good! I really thought this through well and I am psyched because the effort and care is evident and mutual so I look forward to the fun, the moment and the memory.

I question some stuff on the morning of for the sake of self-reflection and maturation of myself so that I may learn from my mistakes, enjoy my life, wear my heart on my sleeve bravely and work to be a better human (or alien not sure yet) and to enjoy the ones that with their heart live in my life.

May I not get too self-involved during hard times, may I never forget those who stay by my side and most important let me thank all old and new so they know I am grateful for all that share their heart with me and their trust we shall take care of each no matter what in this life.

To all celebrate you on your birthday and be grateful to those that aid in that celebration from their hearts, keep the circle small and save parts of you for a few that deserve more of you than random people that pass through our lives, trust me this means a lot.

“Fear not when, fear not why, fear not much while we’re alive Life is for living, not living up tight, see ya somewhere up in the sky…” Jay Z – Forever Young

 

Some Of What Makes Me

Posted: January 11, 2013 in Posts
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

It seems like yesterday no wait stop

I know the past is how the future become but
There is so much I have to let go so I need to start again
Open up my heart let all thoughts come and go
I will find what I need as history and the future pass through my brain sometimes at lightening speed
So I let those thoughts pass and even get at me but the present is all I need just these moments not much more
It’s been so long and I saw all I want but I still want more
This time I have had it’s been fun but not enough
Call myself greedy then I reflect and know what I want more of what makes me happy
So here we are I needed inspiration from a source I could trust
I needed to be in someone’s arms so I could keep going strong
This is not weak I can’t be wrong it takes a smile, some care and then my mind goes on
I must admit because it’s heart it’s passion and it can’t be stopped
So tell me I can’t think this way and they are wrong it’s a good woman for me to charm
If I have someone that I can trust then she trusts me and look what I and she  can be
For all that think being this honest is too risky you’re right but I like being wrong
My dreams and what I want I will get as long as I stay this way and so do they
I keep them close because they take care of me and I got them taken care of we
As for karma I respect you sir I know I get what I deserve so bad with good but good will win
Simply because I got me first and with me you are
I speak of one and a few more the circles small and I know where I belong
So thank you to you all you know who you are

The Power Of A Smile

Posted: December 15, 2012 in Posts
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

It doesn’t take very long when someone gets to know me a bit to learn I’m pretty unfiltered and honest about just about anything…I hope this is a good thing.

So recently more people are telling me I look happy, I’m smiling more.

If you remember the Patch Adams film with Robin Williams there is a great scene when he is testing and demonstrating his smile theory:

As Patch and Truman wander around smiling and greeting strangers, we as viewers smile, too.

patch

For some time I had been extra sensitive about letting anyone into the inner circle of me, we have all been there when someone has hurt us, betrayed us, or just turned out to not be the person we thought they were, or things just didn’t work out and the hurt that comes from this discovery. A hurt that feels like it may never go away. This is not just in a relationship it could be anything we had high hopes and expectations about and it didn’t turn out positive, things just didn’t work out.

I wasn’t sure how much time it would take or what it would take to allow me to open up and listen to my heart versus being so over protective of myself and not having the opportunity to let someone be closer to me and for me to enjoy me more. Then it happened and It was a smile!

Well that’s where it started and now is still one of the biggest reasons I have opened up to caring aout and trusting someone. I know just a smile doesn’t seem to be enough but there is more to a smile than one immediately thinks. So much more.

Her smile melted me, then her kiss opened me.

For me in the beginning it was the ability to see her smile with just a close of my eyes, then it was being able to feel the sincerity of her smile and how much more it was saying, most importantly when someone smiles and looks you in your eyes they are telling you something only meant for your eyes and heart…it’s doesn’t need to be said.  There is a special connection forming when this starts happening it’s usually when you realize you care about this person, how they feel, if they are OK  if they are happy, you want to make them happier, you want them to know you care.

I’m not saying two people need to be falling head over heels in love, could be dating, seeing each other or some other kinda label to have this connection this could be just a moment, but a moment that you want to last for as long as you choose to want to keep smiling, be happy and trust. Two people can form their own unique relationship around just being happy on each other’s personal terms and honesty no rules need apply. Just keep making each other smile inside and out.

I’m happier and I’m smiling more and happy with me and I notice other parts of my life family, friends, and work are progressing and evolving all positively. I hope it’s for the simple reason of I’m smiling and someone is smiling at me, because it can and should be that simple we don’t have to over complicate it.

My work is a major part of my life and my time so it’s usually the people I work with that pick up quickly that I wear my heart on my sleeve and I hope notice that I do this so that it defines me and I am someone who can be trusted and stand behind my words.

“You must look inside you, Sure books can guide you, But your heart defines you” Jay Z

I’m not exactly walking into meetings and anywhere with a kool-aid smile on my face…I’m smiling inside as well, that for me is when I know I’m really happy with me and feel I can accomplish so much more and give so much more of me to someone special, my loved ones, good friends and the things in life that enjoy my happiness and I look forward to making happy. This is part of my own personal definition of feeling successful.

As Mary Poppins said,  “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.”

mpoppins

Life is work, we work to be smarter, to have more freedom, to be successful however we define success, we work to make the people we care about know how much we care, and we work on being a better us. We can choose to have fun doing this and see the fruits of our labors in our smiles and the smiles we inspire in others.

We should stay open minded and have an open heart for the smiles around us from that special someone, friends, family and total strangers and the moment that you notice the smile you can immediately feel a need to smile and feel good things in your life with that smile. Call it smile inspiration, get and give smile inspiration and good things come, anxieties and worries will go away and you get to enjoy YOU more and more.

So thank you, you know who you are bella!

Opinion: GM makes drastic advertising decisions or GM VS Facebook

Posted: May 19, 2012 in Posts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
1

So Facebook is not effective although nearly 60% of FB users click on ads, over 3 million brand pages are there, it is the largest data bureau in the world. Study: Nearly half of Facebook users never click ads

GM to Stop Advertising on Facebook – was GM really advertising in Facebook?

Missing communications and social context.

Especially when slightly comparing it to the GM website

And now the Super Bowl is too expensive even with massive traditional and digital media reach as well as a wide and engaged audience…

GM drops out of Super Bowl advertising

Message to who, with what goal and how can reaction be expected here that would lead to engagement, word of mouth, or sales lift?

Advertising is now more dynamic than ever so I agree budgets, creative and marketing communications should move with the engagement and the goals faster. However for a brand like GM that has the budgets for Super Bowl and mass community management I think the decisions being made are not dynamic just drastic.

If GM were to  run a Super Bowl ad that led to an engagement campaign and reduced spending in other areas that are not as measurable, success could come possibly in a short period of time.

TV is still a huge advertising channel but for who and for what and why is what we need to know before planning a TV campaign for a client, especially with the reach, relevance and engagement available to us with digital video.

We really now have the exciting opportunities to iterate, personalize, and optimize ads based upon real human behavior and opinion via socnet. The data is enormous now but the data is enormous now, so that said I think the key is paying close attention to optimize all media up and down the marketing funnel, “arbing” properly the creative, content, context, media and goal.

Our minds are like parachutes, they only work when they are open, and allow freedom of thought minus the fears.

Think prospect relationship management is what I tell  my clients, try not to crash the dinner party get invited, deliver a message that is more natural, use the social windows properly and combine them with traditional media and methods.

GM There is plenty of opportunity for you here and I am glad to see a brand like you being sensitive to spends that is smart but try not to lose sight and focus on the “long tail.”

PS – I wouldn’t hide any cars in some odd place and try to get people to find them and don’t think more celebrity power, think influence, reach and seduction.

There is plenty of opportunity to be effective right down to the dealer and point of purchase level with engaging, efficient, unique, and seductive marketing communications. The data can lead you there.

 

Also published here: GM vs. Facebook by Brian Rice – The Fearless Group Blog – contributor

Blackberry – A Troubled Relationship

Posted: January 24, 2012 in Posts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Dear RIM,

(I hope you will receive this message via social media, since the decision you’re making has important consequences for your customers).

I’m speaking for myself and, to some extent, for all RIM customers. (Naturally, I encourage other customers to voice their own views.)

First, I want to thank you for the work you’ve done to date. I’ve been a loyal RIM customer and a brand ambassador when given the opportunity. Over the past two years, however, I’ve thought many times about switching to an iPhone or another competitor’s device.

While I continue to be happy with some of the features that sold me on you in the first place: amazing email functionality, superior security and your keyboard (I have a Bold 9900, and dig the device), I believe it’s high time RIM provides its customers some new reasons to remain loyal.

There was a great article in the NYT this weekend on Apple’s manufacturing which demonstrated the incredible emphasis Apple has on anticipating consumers’ needs during product development. It would be impossible for an Apple customer to read the article and not feel that Apple cares deeply about their product experience, considering even how their phone’s going to fare when placed in their pocket next to their housekeys. It’s a good read on American manufacturing that also touches on margins, work ethics and more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

I don’t have any special knowledge of RIM’s product development methodology and so can’t make a comparison. If RIM is working in similar fashion to Apple, planning a future with its customers based on their needs, I’d be glad to know about it. The way I see it, RIM and I are and have been in a relationship. I suppose I’m asking what RIM’s commitment to me is and what it’s done for me lately.

Relationships involve getting better at what you’re already really good at, learning what the other person really wants from you and then working on being more of whatever that is. For RIM, this should involve embracing niche markets and developing more of what they want.

I’m not going to give a full list of what I need from RIM right now but there are undoubtedly areas for improvement that benefit us both. These have to include merchant abilities (possibly in the works), a secured merchant app so I can have outside sales reps for my software company accept payments. One new reason why this is important is that Square, one of the most popular services, isn’t available for Blackberry https://help.squareup.com/customer/portal/articles/140388-can-i-use-square-with-my-blackberry- This would really make us both happier. Mobile merchant services is not a bad look considering…

I feel we aren’t communicating well. Maybe you have plans I’m not aware of—things that would allow me to worry less and be more enthusiastic about our future. I know, financially, you’re stressed out right now. Frankly, it’s that way for a lot of companies, so know you’re not alone and you’re in a better place than many others, I’m here to support you for the long haul. However, you can’t ignore that I’ve made plenty of sacrifices to be in this relationship. It’s time for you to reciprocate by making some compromises of your own.

I think it would be cool to see you working on a highly publicized incubator to build enhancements to the Blackberry experience. Make it fun, challenging (independent of your existing culture) and really focus this on utilization of existing customers; score us and the ROI on each of us.

You can’t be everything to everyone, so prioritizing our relationship right now is pretty important. Think beyond startups. Look for mobile companies and software that will really benefit your customers and help them provide products to us (Right now, they’re almost all very focused on Apple IOS and Android, understandably so). When I say “highly publicized,” I don’t mean a reality show, I mean publicized on social media and communicated to me and my friends and then their friends…because that’s how it works. Think Kickstarter concepts for RIM (not literally); source the interest from me, don’t be afraid to ask. You haven’t asked about me in a long time.

Another idea, Vlingo! I used the Christmas credit you gave me (thank you!) so it was free. That was cool because I was already testing the free trial, is there a way to work more closely with them? Are you already doing that? They’re the same company as Siri, right, but I tested Siri and, well, Vlingo needs work but has potential. I would just be cautious on advertising it too soon, I think there’s a way to find out what help Vlingo may need, what challenges they have, and what it would take for Vlingo deliver the best version possible to Blackberry users and then make it happen!

Well RIM you know how to reach me…

Cheers –

Brian Rice

Being Grateful…I am still really learning

Posted: November 24, 2011 in Posts
0
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite “holiday,” for many reasons here are a few:
– At least one day we are all tasked with looking at positive versus negative and researching what in our lives we should be grateful for
– A holiday that doesn’t burden us with over commercialization and pressures of finance that take from the meaning in our hearts
– It’s on a Thursday and gives me a few days off from work (this reason kicked in after starting to work full time at 18)
– The opportunity to help others find or be given something to be grateful for
– Seeing all my family and hearing how their year has been and what’s making them happy versus what they would change which seems to be the topic of New Year’s
– The lessons I have learned are usually more clear to me the morning of Thanksgiving
– I find internally and externally many reasons and thoughts to calm my everyday worries that create anxiety and fear

There are more but these are the dearest to  me.

Some years back my business partner and I launched Operation Feed NY which started feeding a few shelters and developed into shelters in 3 states…this is not self promotion. I miss being involved in this but once it grew my passion was having to be run like a business with all the politics of business attached to it.

Operation Feed NY also required seeing less of my family for the holiday and working double time for 3 weeks before. Sacrifices not really…I loved what we were aiming to accomplish and the folks we were helping. It was my priority.

Now I look back and sometimes feel that I myself didn’t know how to see and be grateful for many things and I looked and received much happiness by experiencing that through others less fortunate  as well as dedicated supporters of the cause to end hunger. But I was missing something here.

Does that mean I was taking my blessings for granted? Was I or have I been ignorant to how blessed I have been? Have I been so self involved at times I expected too much and didn’t learn what to be thankful for?

Due to bureaucracy, financial changes, and more I have not been active in the fight against hunger and homelessness in my area for a couple of years and I miss it. However I think I have since started really looking deeper into my life for what to be grateful for good and bad, not just things that met or exceeded my original expectations.

I work a lot, this is not bragging at all. I work so much my mind drifts into work when I am not working and well this causes me to enter a zone that I have been told removes my mind completely from my physical place at times. I worry because my lover has told me she feels I am not paying attention or being concerned enough about our life and world as a priority, “you are not here right now, where are you Brian?”

I do love her so much and she brings much joy to me, my family, and all the lives around her. Her entire life she has been receiving joy by helping others, putting the concerns of everyone she cares for in front of her own personal concerns and passionately working at delivering happiness. She is so dedicated to this very rarely do I believe she realizes how amazing she is and how much good she brings to others lives, mine so included.

Last night I had a dream I was hanging with Bill Gates just chopping it up and I really kept asking so many questions about his career and the foundation and how he has handled it all. I will talk more about this another time because it is the most interesting dream to date I have remembered.
But through the dream he kept giving so much credit to the love and support of his wife, from what I remember each answer from software to antitrust to education and health included “my wife” and/or “my family”

What was this dream telling me…this is my life too and expressing the gratitude for my love and her support and my family is something no matter how many times I have done it, it’s not enough!
I hope to eliminate all the ungrateful behavior that goes on in my world because I watch the love of my life pay no mind to that and continue to be grateful for the littlest things that I would normally take for granted.

I have learned many things from many people and continue to but I am blessed to have an amazing teacher right here at home so I may learn more and more how to be grateful and embrace the blessings of what I may overlook or have taken for granted. I feel more love for her as I concentrate and execute on this so it’s a win win :  )!

I am so grateful to have her in my life and for her love for me, I know I even make that a challenge. It’s the very thought of her that brings me love and joy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Social media and decisions with consequences: BOA & Netflix

Posted: October 23, 2011 in Posts
0
After reading this article:
by: Kyle Arnold for  Tulsa World

All just my perspective, all easier said than done all very possible though.

So much data is being optimized on the advertising side of these brands, social, traditional, mobile…if it’s media they’re in! How can we influence more people to influence more people? Now how do we clean this mess up?


Netflix & Bank of America Decisions and Consequences  – My work & my customer hat on here –

  

The data is so obtainable the largest focus groups in the world are easily accessible for brands to form and react to, no longer a  .001% segment from a panel sourced with incentives…it’s real time, it’s intimate now and it moves fast and it wants to be listened to and seduced.

In FB alone (700+ mill audience) the ability to pretty much predict trends between topics & engagements to brands is available with technology. Visual data is just awesome! After years of databases and queries producing reports only engineers and stats guys wanted to see now it’s pretty we have infographics and chartbeat and so many ways to make data pretty. Everyone from sales to marketing departments to customer service can see it and relate to it but is there a plan to make that data actionable?
Advertising networks are optimizing and profiting more now by analyzing brand data on an aggregate level and then optimizing across all media and other brands, are the brands profiting? Is there a net net positive in this relationship?
Since this is part of my work I use the word profiting because that’s the goal BUT it should be a net net positive effect for the customer of the brand then the brand then the services…arbitrate-optimize.
IMHO Netflix and BOA could have created interesting ways to engage with all of their customers and basically tell their customers that they have a problem and solving it can help them and the customer and here are a few options…what do you think may be best for you?
Now of course it’s safe to assume all of those options are solving a problem for BOA and Netflix there maybe some options that just don’t solve a problem for the customer. Unless they created something unique and thoughtful for the customer.
My opinion is follow and embrace the data..math doesn’t lie! Minimize the risk because what’s happening now is and is going to be even more expensive for the oops in Netflix’s case, BOA is such a different situation..banking.
Banking is a bit o’ mess currently and there are certain customers that count to BOA and then certain the math just doesn’t work for but really it doesn’t work for BOA or their customer and that may be OK depending on how that break up goes down, maybe they can part ways as friends and that could create a net net positive effect for both BOA and those customers.
I say this because I believe there are a very important % of BOA customers that understand the cost to provide certain services and unique financial functions needs to go up maybe the fee on the debit card was not the place to go for it or maybe that is actually the exact place because BOA has some great technology for businesses and customers and I am sure it’s not cheap, good tech shouldn’t be ; ).
But was this the best way to handle these cost issues?
 I listened to some of the customers and both sides of the story are compelling from customers that the dollar amount is irrelevant to and those that it is very relevant to each side had understanders and customers leaving. And maybe that’s what the BOA goal is to make the costs work 80/20 type stuff, but this is not going to be a “friendly” beak up now…that’s expensive! Brand value neglected. Netflix I don’t have a theory on their decisions other than quite possibly fear.
Netflix and BOA work with  some really smart companies and have some really smart people sometimes decisions are not so mathematical between service providers and clients especially in advertising and now it’s advertising /+ technology so this is an understatement and a half.
Some of the most advanced modeling looks something like..OH YEAH that makes total sense…duh!  At least when it’s done right but it’s not easy to source it all together at least not yet for a lot of brands. So IMHO social media (Facebook analytics alone) + prospecting/branding media have that data readily available that could indicate quite well and reliably the decision making process across all other media channels  and big changes could/should now have less risk and a more net net positive results.
It will be very interesting to me at least to follow how both of these company’s decisions play out and what new reactions and actions come.

Steve Jobs, we lost one

Posted: October 21, 2011 in Posts
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
0

The honesty and open communication in G+ (from those I follow and that follow me) has been really exciting and inspiring. So I thought I would share a pretty honest story about my morning and the thoughts that came to me this morning as I really took in all the different posts and shares related to the death of Steve Jobs and my own perspective. As well as the song that came to me through this reflection.

“When you combine passion and hard work, then success is always possible.” – Arte Moreno

The loss of Mr. Jobs (a business soldier) hit us all differently and some the same, for me reflection came. I got home to my love last night telling me she is concerned with my work ethic and my health. Thank you B I love you with all my heart and am so grateful you love me and all my insanities.

I have lost friends damn near family large in part due to my work priorities and ethics and no matter why or who was “wrong” or “right” I still miss them, success and money does funny things to relationships sometimes evil whether it’s the gain of wealth and success or the loss of them. Just when you think you’re intentions are good that could only be your perspective.

I quote Jay-z “Everybody wanna know what my Achilles heel is, LOVE I don’t get enough of it”

I woke this morning remembering vividly my Mom’s face and tears when she saw at 17 what I was really selling to pay the mortgage cause dad left, I remembered my best friend’s face when I fired him after 20+ years in each other’s lives. He was right there to watch my Mom cry that day and a big part of the company doing really well during its first 10 years. Damn dude you broke my heart and I was so mad for so long but I hope wherever you are you and your family are doing well. Please respect the truth and find peace.

“I have had all of the disadvantages required for success.” – Larry Ellison

Music Inspires Me – I am 36 and grew up in NYC, I was a DJ in my teens (for weddings, bad bars (think Road House), bar mitzvahs) so I learned to love classical music, pop, rock, all genres but I am a big jazz, blues and hip hop fan. That said my thoughts this morning led me to “Lost Ones” by Jay-z a must listen on the way in I thought.

This entrepreneur thing is not so easy most of the times regardless what some believe but Jobs, Gates, Hughes, Simmons, Jay Z and so many more (imho) all are inspiration to keep fighting and to find the balance. They gave and give it everything they have, their hearts.

“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.”- Jeff Bezos

I was one of many that watched the Stanford speech and then I watched Jobs and Gates during their rare interviews together…Awesome stuff!

Young, dumb, and too proud I turned down 2 exits years ago…if I knew then what I know now well I would’ve sold and been grateful. Didn’t see 2008 coming!

So if when I didn’t accept terms I didn’t really say thank you…A.M.C. and CBC Thank You for your consideration at the time.I follow closely and congratulate all your accomplishments since.

I wish all of them and all of us perseverance and humbleness and success. The troopers that make many sacrifices, the entrepreneurs doing it with heart may we all get to our goals and enjoy our lives…that’s good energy.

The sacrifices, the hours, the heartbreaks, the challenges I wouldn’t have it any other way but the only cost should be time, capital, and yes emotional but not so much friends, family, loved ones, and health.

“Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” – Vince Lombardi

So again thank you to those that pave the way, that falter in the public eye for the sake of others to learn from their mistakes, that consider our futures as they innovate, that can affect so many from their own accomplishments, that are willing to give it all for the many rewards and challenges that come from success and sacrifice.

So to my Love, my Mom, to all my family, my friends that support me to Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Howard Hughes, Eminem, Ray Charles, Shawn (Jay-z) Carter, +Larry Page , +Sergey Brin , +Mark Zuckerberg, the G+ers and so many more on my list that inspire, make me challenge myself, and work with heart Thank You.

Have a good day. – Brian

Older Entries
Newer Entries