This Blast from the past is one that helped me develop my marketing mind. It brought to my attention that I need to think about who’s listening to my story, instead of how great I think my story is. Take a look and tell me your thoughts. (This post was originally written on October, 1st 2007)

Marketing (in the form of advertising) affects who it affects…

Words following this statement might be something like this:
Duh…
No, Really…
Wow, That’s deep (with a hint of sarcasm)…

But it is so true and simple that we (especially myself) forget about it.

I was with my mom watching television last week and we saw an Alltel (cell provider) commercial that has the 4 guys (they represent the other cell phone companies) and “Chad” (from Alltel). The four guys always do something silly or stupid to make Alltel look like a better company. My mom loves these commercials (absolutely loves them…) and I…not so much.

So, I think to myself that this commercial is a waste of time and money and that if I were to do it, I would do them a different way (I don’t know everything about commercials, but I know my own tastes and what effects me). The interesting part is that my mom loves it the way it is, maybe my way wouldn’t effect the people that it currently does in a positive way.

Using myself and my views as a basis to judge whether all marketing is good or bad, is an incomplete way of looking at it. I need to view it (marketing) from other’s points of view (my mom and people like her), as well as from my own. This combined point of view is the middle ground that every non niche company tries to find. It requires more work and is more time consuming, but it is the area that I need to be shooting for.

What I learned:
1. Look into marketing deeper (my own, other company’s and individual’s)
2. Don’t judge what works or doesn’t off of 30 seconds of thought (I need to push myself to grow).
3. Don’t forget about the customers / partners / investors that don’t think like me!

I hope you enjoyed this Blast from the past & have an Amazing Day!
~Chais Meyer

This Blast from the past is one that Really helps me think through what types of things in my life are growing and helpful, and what things actually hurt me and are painful. Take a look and tell me your thoughts. (This post was originally written on October, 9th 2007)

Distress is Bad, Eustress is Good…

Below (which I found to be amazing…) is from the book, The 4-Hour Work Week.

“Unbeknownst to most fun-loving bipeds, not all stress is bad….There are two separate types of stress, each as different as euphoria and its seldom-mentioned opposite, dysphoria.
Distress refers to harmful stimuli that make you weaker less confident, and less able. Destructive criticism, abusive bosses, and smashing your face on a curb are examples of this. These are things we want to avoid.
Eustress, on the other hand, is a word most of you have probably never heard. Eu-, a Greek prefix for “healthy”, is used in the same sense in the word “euphoria.” Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress–stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.
People who avoid all criticism fail. It’s destructive criticism we need to avoid, not criticism in all forms. Similarly, there is no progress without eustress, and the more eustress we can create or apply to our lives, the sooner we can actualize our dreams.
The trick is telling the two apart.”

I Hope you enjoyed this post & have an Awesome Day!
~Chais Meyer

Hello All,

I was paroosing through an old blog that a buddy of mine and I started a couple of years back. The blog was called iDreamBusiness (i don’t remember if we started it with an “i” like everything else at that time, “iPod”, “itoy”, etc. or if we were talking about our selves… I don’t know). There were so many good posts made (at least I thought they were good) and I would like to bring some of them back.

So as DJ’s say “let’s start things off with an oldie”.
“Giving, Getting, & Selling” August, 2007

I just got back from Texas today after visiting my in-laws. We decided to fly on American Airlines there and back. Along the way we learned a lot about companies, marketing, and employees.

The first flight we took went from Omaha, NE to Dallas Fort Worth, this flight was your standard AA flight with your choice of a complimentary beverage. The second flight from DFW to Odessa, TX was on the American Eagle Airlines (owned by American Airlines). This flight was very interesting to me, it was the first flight that I have been on where instead of offering you a pillow (when your tired), a blanket (when your cold), or a bag of munchies (when your hungry), they would only sell them to you. Now I can understand the munchies, that probably does add up with 80 people on a plane at a time, but the pillows and blankets? If I’m cold and tired however, tough luck. I am not a master at business or marketing, but I know my point of view as a customer. I would rather be offered the pillow and the blanket and spend my money on something else, like a portable DVD system (that you can rent for the flight) with 10-20 DVDs to chose from (limited quantity of each disc, first come first serve). I would spend $5 on the player and $3 on a disc to entertain my self and my wife for 2 hours. I realize that not everyone would utilize this service, but I believe it would be a much better option than a pillow and a blanket that you can “Take with you!” for $5. I also would rather spend an extra $3 on my plane ticket for munchies (and feel like it was complimentary) then have to buy it while on the plane.

Take a look around you, if you see something that looks out of place or doesn’t seem to flow very well with that businesses commitments, think about what they could do to change it or make it better in some way. This will help all of us be more creative and look at any future business from different eyes (the end customer’s eyes).
~Chais