Conspiracy to tell a story

Conspiracy theories amuse me.
It is easy to look at a series of historical events to identify patterns, whether real or fictious.

Did JFK get assassinated by a lone gunman or was Oswald a patsy?
Did planes really cause the Twin Towers to fall or were they rigged with explosives.
Did the Gulf of Tonken actually happen?
And what about the Superbowl? Did the New England Patriots fairly win this year's Superbowl.

It is easy to associate patterns with a group people who benefit from the actual outcome.

Have you noticed the Superbowl in recent years?
There's always an amazing catch toward the END of the game to decide the winner.
David Tyree catches a pass off his forehead to force the last drive to continue and ultimately helping the New Giants to win the Superbowl,
Hines Ward tip toes at the very back of the end zone to win the game in the final moments for the Steelers,
Malcolm Butler intercepts a goal line pass to end the seemingly unstoppable Seattle Seahawks.

Almost every year, there are a new set of heroics, almost like the "best-ever" has to be outdone. It's highly improbable that best ever can get topped every year, but somehow it continues to happen.

This years Superbowl has the biggest comeback in championship history.

It was the greatest game ever.

My gut thinks it was too great to be true.

The only thing this year's Superbowl didn't have was Hulk Hogan lifting his finger in defiance of defeat.

There was a time when the Superbowl was referred to as the Superbore.  Games were decided in the first quarter because of the huge mismatch. Mysteriously enough, the game has evolved. The points have gotten closer. The game mostly gets decided in the fourth quarter.

Is it possible that million dollar advertisers felt ripped off when people starting changing the channels when the game got out of reach?
Is it possible that the game had to be closer to make more money for the league?

There is a difference between sport and business.
My high school football team played a sport.

The NFL, as well as any professional sport, is a business.
Business is money, customers and entertainment.

Entertain someone and they'll give you their attention while they open up their wallets.

Because of the business aspect of professional sports, we are seeing the emergence of storyline. Business is about stories. Stories entertain. They keep us coming back for more.  Brands are stories embedded in the mind of the market.

The story mezmorizes us into thinking that everything is real, when it's not.

The New England Patriots value has increased from $571 million in 2002 to a staggering $3.4 billion in 2016. They won 5 championships in that time but it's still a growth of 595% in 14 years.

The average differential in points at the Superbowl has gone from 18 points in the 1980's to 8.28 points in the 2010's (excluding the 2014 game, which was the only blowout in 12 years).

Too many Superbowls have gone by with too many "best catches" ever. It can't always be better than the year before.

Can it?

I'm seeing the same thing in other professional sports. NFL is the worst offender, but the NBA, MLB and NHL are all teetering on the improbable forcing the final series closer to 7 games year after year.  The NBA in the 2010's averages 6.14 games in the final series. The NHL boasts 6 games in the finals whereas they used to average 5 games in the 1980's and 90's.

As long as fans believe it to be true, then it shall be.

I think about the ancient gladiators fighting in the Colosseum. Was this about sport or were the combatants fighting against a stacked deck?

I believe we are living in a time where the professional athletes of today are playing against that same stacked deck, in the spirit of wealth generating storylines.

I'm probably wrong, but the theory is interesting none the less.

By the way, I'm a huge New England Patriots fan so please no hate mail about the Tom Brady heroics. It's just an observation that gets reinforced every year.

What do you believe?

I work with entrepreneurs who want to grow their business.
Most entrepreneurs don't see the actual problem.

They struggle and call me to help them with marketing support.

We sit and discuss over coffee everything about their business.
I ask them questions not related to their business, more of a personal nature.
They look at me confused.

The real problem, in their blindspot, is what is holding them back.
In discovering their personality, the real problem is hiding in a dark corner, where no one wants to go.

Identifying the problem, I can help with a real solution.

But there's a catch.
When I find the real problem, I can't tell the potential client what it is.

Do you know why?
They won't BELIEVE me.
They are so close to their business, they aren't willing to see it, can't see it, don't understand how the rest of the world perceives them.

They are inside a bottle and can't read the label as Roy Williams, from Wizard of Ads, would say.

Although I can see the issue, I have to let them see the issue for themselves.

And sometimes it's hard.
They won't open up and make themselves vulnerable.
They are afraid the world will discover they are "winging" it and be found out as a fraud.
They are unsure of how this can help.
They don't trust me.

I ask for a set of "BELIEF" statements, which are really core value statements. They usually end up looking like something like this:

I believe in honesty.
I believe in treating people fair and just.
I believe in integrity.
I believe our products are the best in the industry.
I believe in reliability.
I believe the customer is the most important person in the organization.
I believe the employee is the most important person in the organization.
I believe actions speak louder than words.

Then I ask for non-cliche statements, which gets me an odd look.

Each business is different. Each person is different. Talk like you would with your friends about what you believe in. All these statements, although valid, don't say anything about you. They say more about what you think is important or what you've read in a book.

If the person opens up and starts writing from the heart, the beliefs come out.

Within those heart felt beliefs, we find a core value.
Using the core value, we create a message that describes the company to the core of the entrepreneur.

Most advertising fails because of the following:
1. Poorly crafted message ignored.
2. Well crafted message without TIME to work.
3. Well crafted message not aligned with the customer experience.

As the Wizard, Roy Williams, also states, good advertising speeds up the inevitable.

So if you want advertising to work, you need a well crafted message that aligns with the customer experience and is given enough time to take root with the audience.

The right message isn't a clever ad. It's one that comes from the heart. It's one that speaks to existence of your organization.

It starts with a belief.

Once I get to the heart of the beliefs, I can use examples from the business and show the client how the beliefs and the actions aren't lining up (the real problem). It's easier to sell the problem to someone when you use their words to help them BELIEVE you.

What are your business beliefs?
Don't use cliche sentences.
Use your everyday language.

Look for things that make you different.

Its hard to do.
It's a skill the Wizard teaches his clients and partners.
I'm so happy he taught it to me.
It makes my work so much easier.

Identify them and you'll discover your unique message, campaign, and advertising strategy.
And because you believe in the message, you won't switch the message too early because the cash register isn't ringing.

You won't change what you fundamentally BELIEVE.
That makes my job easier...

Rick Nicholson is a Wizard of Ads partner. You can reach him at ricknicholson@wizardofads.com to discuss development of your marketing strategy.

How do you motivate employees

How do you motivate a minimum wage employee today?

They barely show up to work. They're lazy. And when they do show up, they spend half the day on their phones. 

I'm tired of today's kids. We're in trouble as a society.

You either have a problem with your hiring process or your management process. 

There's never been a time in history where kids were respected. 

They are always going to do things differently from their parents and because of it, they will be seen as wrongly done.

You either hired a poor fit for your company or you treated the right person poorly and demotivated them.

You don't understand. Kids will quit on the spot. They don't care. They will leave you for 25 cents more somewhere else.

Let's do the math. 25 cents over a year is roughly $500 before taxes, if the job is fulltime. After taxes, the pay raise is closer to $350. Understanding the fear of the unknown, very few people make a change to an unknown company for very little increase in pay.

They leave for some other reason. They don't like the management style. There's someone in the organization who's pushed them to leave. They don't like the hours. They don't like the job.

They may leave for a better paying job if they don't feel fairly paid. But it won't be for 25 cents. 

Back to my question. How do you motivate them?

It starts with belief. You can't motivate someone who doesn't want to be motivated. You have to find people who believe in the same things the organization believes in. When you get a group of people believing in the same things, greatness can be achieved. Groups working on a common goal, in the same direction will motivate themselves. 

Worry less about motivating your employees. Worry more about identifying what your company believes in. Worry more about finding people who believe in those same values. Worry more about holding everyone accountable to those beliefs. And worry more about celebrating achievements according to those beliefs.

Never lose sight of the values of the organization. Putting them up on a wall and forgetting about them creates nothing. 

Motivation comes from leadership. Are you leading your team from your values position or are you expecting everyone to just do their jobs?

When you don't live and breathe your corporate values, an underlying assumption gets created. That assumption becomes default. 

Each individual's values supersede that of the group.

What are your limits?

Do you know what you are capable of doing.
     - if you're child was stuck under a car?
     - if a simple choice was the difference between life and death for you?
     - if you no longer had a paycheque and had to figure out how to survive?
   
You probably don't know.
You are an extremely capable person. But as long as those limits never get tested, you live in a cloud of security and limited growth.

You're potential is limitless.

I've seen a mother go from complaining about her life to a superwoman taking control of it.
I've witnessed a drug addict bum become an entrepreneur worth millions.
I've been a victim in my own life to become a hero, and back to a victim and back to hero again.

I believe opportunity is everywhere.
I believe your future is limited by your own thoughts.
I believe the future generation is going to be better than ok. I think they are going to do awesome things.

I'm tired of hearing about millennials and how they need everything done for them.
Millennials are too connected to technology.
I'm tired of listening to my peer groups lament about the kids of today.

Every generation complains about the generation coming behind them.
Every generation thinks the next one is messed up.
Every generation, as it comes of age, thinks kids are worse than when when they were growing up.

Here's what I know to be true.

-The 1970's was the decade of peace, sex and drugs. It also saw television sets installed in almost every home by the end of the decade. Too much television was going to ruin all kids. (My parent's generation).

-The 1990's was the decade that we were all going to die from AIDS. Hip hop music became mainstream and the Internet exploded with computer sales going exponential. (My generation).

-The 2010's is the decade where sexual promiscuity, synthetic drugs and smart phones are the rage. The Internet is portable. Sexual partners are multiple and drugs are getting freakier. This generation jokes about "Netflix and chill", snap chatting naked pictures, and being in a connected world without understanding the true art of conversation.

Is this generation any more messed up than the others? I don't think so. Their potential is still unlimited. They will take their place amongst the old foggies as they mature, while they complain about the next generation of kids.

The world our grandparents grew up in died with the invention of television.
Our parent's world died with the Internet.
Ours died with Smart phones.

The future generations will make the new world whatever it will be. We are along for a ride. Hoping not to get kicked off too soon.

But if we realize that our potential is still limitless, we can still accomplish great things knowing that Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter is just this generation's version of Internet, Television and Radio and Electricity.

Get off the fence...

When I lived with my parents, our farming neighbour had a barbed wire fence bordering around my dad's property to keep his cows in the field and off our lawn. 

My sister and I used to sit on the fence posts. This is a story about fence sitting...

We all have ideas.

Some of them are bad.

Others are good.

There are a rare few that are really good. Maybe even borderline great.  

I like all ideas for whatever it's worth.

I'm a idea guy.

They get my blood flowing, and my brain working.

I look at an idea with my own interpretation.

My thoughts are not always the same as would be entrepreneurs. 

There are no right answers.

That's the thing with ideas. They come from the right brain, where creativity lives.

Right and wrong belong in the left brain.

I get into trouble when I interpret an idea to be greater than the idea generator.

It's not my idea.

So I won't be doing anything with it.

I'm asked for my thoughts.

And I get excited about the potential,

without having to worry about the consequences.

It's hard for me to not get caught up in a good idea.

But there are few reasons why the best ideas won't get done.

  1. The person is afraid to dive with both feet into the opportunity.

  2. The person doesn't see the real opportunity.

  3. The person will take too much time and will self demotivate.

When I hear a good idea, I push with the following statement.

"Let me know when you decide not to do this. I'm going to do it".

I have no intention of taking the idea.

I am busy enough.

By pushing the idea generator, it creates urgency. 

Recently, the person asking me for my advice, told me to take the idea.

Within one hour, she was ready to abandon her baby.

And gave it to me, free and clear.

Her level of commitment to the idea was worthless.

And she wasted my time.

I can't help someone like that.

The idea was really good.

Here's what she didn't know. 

I would have supported her financially and operationally if she had showed more passion for the idea.

If you don't act on your idea, and if it's a good one, someone else will definitely do it.

So don't waste time.

Get off the fence.

Ideas are not rare.

They are easy to develop.

It's the execution that is the hard part.

But for would be entrepreneurs.

The first step of taking an idea and moving it along is the hardest.

So I push them.

"Get off the fence. Either do it or don't. Just make a choice and be happy with your decision regardless of the consequences."

Stop thinking about it. Just do it. Or don't.

I believe the decision to NOT do something is more important than the decision to DO it because there more things we choose to not do. 

Time is not on your side

You wake up one day and there's this vibration.

It seems like you're shaking. But it's really an energy of excitement.

You want to work for yourself.
You don't know where to begin.
You're not even sure what it means.
Some tell you it's risky and you should stay in the job you hate.
Others tell you it's crazy and if you are up to the challenge, anything can be accomplished.

You're about to find out there are three types of people in your life.
1. He, who is afraid of his own shadow and doesn't want you to get hurt.
2. He, who is afraid that you'll be successful and prove him wrong in being afraid.
3. He, who knows the risk and guides you through the process hoping the best for you.

Most pay too much attention to the first two advisors. While listening to these people, a little voice whispers in your ear triggering the fear of failure gene we all have.

And thus, you stall your decision. You wait for a better time. Only to find out someone comes along and steals your "idea".

I spoke to a friend this morning about her entrepreneurial aspirations. I gave her my thoughts on how she could fulfill her goal while limiting her risk. I liked it so much I told her to let me know if she doesn't proceed. I might open this business for me. It was a "no-brainer" in my eyes.

The thing we all lack is time.
The vibration goes away if we don't act.
The energy gets thwarted to new thoughts.
New thoughts push aside opportunities.

As time moves on, you get older.
The older you get, the less risk you want in your lives.
The less energy you have.

All odds are against you to succeed.
Friends, time, ideas, and energy.

If you don't stand up today and make a decision on this vibration, you could regret it for the rest of your life.

I believe regret is the only shame in life.

With what little time you have left, you have a choice.
Live it to the fullest or live it safe.

There's no such thing as safe.

WE ALL DIE!!!

So live it to the fullest...

We don't need no "education".

Many children will graduate from high school being told that the secret to success is an education.

It took me seven years and $70,000 to get two degrees from two different universities. 

According to Wikipedia, there are two definitions for education.

1. the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.

2. an enlightening experience.

There is too much focus on the first and not enough on the second. If you pursue the second, you know how valuable your life experiences have been. If you pursue the first, you learn from books and institutionalized professors who may be three times removed from the real world.

Before I upset all of the literati, it is important to ask why post graduates go to post secondary institutions.

I believe they get more schooling so they can acquire skills that help them get employment in their chosen field. A reasonable amount of time spent at centres for higher learning must "educate" students in the working tools of their profession.

I remember why I went to school. I didn't want to end up working in a fish plant like my parents.

I remember watching my "uneducated" friends get jobs, buy cars and clothes while I chose to remain poor, work part time, so I could become educated.

I went to school for a certificate.

I went to school so I could better market myself against the "uneducated".

I learned more in 6 months in my first job than I had learned in my first four years at university.

It wasn't school that educated me. It was life.

School was my marketing tool to get that first office job.

In a world where everyone has a degree, the thing that separates a post secondary graduate from the pack is their life experiences.

Every job requires a new set of skills most applicants do not have at the hiring date. They learn the job. They figure out the cheats. They ask a lot of questions. 

The three things that propelled me through every new job were:

1. Work ethic

2. Ability to pick up the phone

3. Willingness to learn

Life is a series of events (or experiences).

What are yours?

PS. The other problem with post secondary education is that we ask an 18 year old kid to DECIDE what they want to study so they can CHOOSE a career path. 

I believe most are not qualified at that age. Yet we force them to waste time and money to learn what they don't want to do.

Maybe the famous philosopher, Pink Floyd, was right, "We don't need no education", at least for some of us with Wikipedia's first definition.

1. • an enlightening experience.

Anyone could but no one will...

Please allow me to brag today.
I apologize in advance.
I want to make a point.
So I'll use my own experience to prove it.

Some call it bragging.
I prefer to chalk it to experience.

In 2005, I lost my job. My boss's boss called it a restructuring. I called it cowardly.

It's funny what happens to cowards. Eventually, they get what they deserve.

I wasn't the first to be restructured, nor the last.
The company is in pain today.
The owner is gone.
The execs have all been removed.
And with it, they've lost almost 20 franchises along the way.
No new growth.
Just restructuring the restructuring every few years.

When I lost my job, I didn't know what to do.
I had a mortgage, a car loan and line of credit.
Aline and I were in the final stages of international adoption.
With no savings, and no income, times looked bad.

We discussed putting the adoption on hold because we were worried we wouldn't get the $25,000 bank loan required to complete the adoption.
I thought about going back to work for another corporation.

But there was this taste of dissatisfaction in my mouth.
The corporate world had lied to me.
They told me to work hard, get a good education, innovate and I'd always have a job.

I decided that along with the addition of a baby, I was going to start a business.
Having worked for a restaurant franchisor, the logical step seemed to be in that area.

As we looked around, there were three restaurant franchises that attracted us in our hometown: coffee, sandwich and breakfast concepts.

The coffee business was monopolized by one franchisee and they weren't accepting any new franchisees in our market.
The sandwich business was monopolized by a few franchisees and were also not accepting any new franchisees in the market.
The breakfast business had one location in the market. There were 8 locations spread out in the same region my previous employer had operated 90 pizza franchises.

We chose the breakfast business. It seemed clear there was potential in breakfast.

Anyone could have done this.
We didn't have any money.
We didn't have an income.

The breakfast franchise's location in our town was busting at the seams. Every weekend, people were lined up outside like an amusement park attraction. The franchisee was an absentee owner but the staff were dedicated to providing a decent service. Every time we went, the demand was off the charts.

With experience in the franchise game, we figured it would be easier to buy out the current owner than build a new location. Through a long process, we couldn't put the deal together. So then, we proposed another idea.

"How about building a second location?". We thought the ability to alleviate the pressure of the current restaurant along with a new location and fresh management might be a good idea.

The franchise accepted our offer along with the money we scrounged together.

It took 22 months from the time I lost my job to the time we opened the doors to the new breakfast franchise.

Anyone could have done this.
22 months of pain, insecurity, mortgage payments, uncertainty, fear, no salary.
In those 22 months of waiting, we also brought two babies into our home.

It took 22 months because we went into a new construction. And construction got delayed.
When we opened, the sales weren't as expected.
We opened at the worst time of year: December.
By 8 months in, having hit summer, we were also busting at the seams on the weekends.

In 2007, there were two breakfast franchises in the market. Same brand. Same food.

Anyone could have bought a third location in the market.
There was room for more.
The third location was an obvious choice next to retailing superhero, Costco.
The third location was my first choice, but we couldn't secure leased space.
We waited for retail development to catch up to our vision.
And when it did, we built the third restaurant.

No one jumped at the third location.
Any one could have.
No one believed the market could hold another one.
Except me and the franchisor.
Even the banks didn't believe the market could sustain another one.

24 months later, I found a bank and the money required to build another franchise.
And overnight, it became the busiest of the three franchises in the market.

Anyone could've built the second restaurant.
Anyone could've built the third one.
But no one did.
There was nothing special about me, except a vision, an inability to accept no for an answer and raw determination.

I didn't have any money.
My parents did not invest in my business.
I didn't even have a job.
Plus we went $50,000 in debt to adopt two kids internationally.

Anyone could've done this,
But they didn't.
Instead, I hear that I was lucky.
That I was a visionary.
That it was a no brainer.

People are right when they say it was a no brainer.
But no one else did it.

I argued 8 years ago there was still room for another breakfast restaurant in my town, but the franchisor didn't want to cannibalize any more sales. They went from $1.1 million in annual sales in 2005 to well over $3.4 million.

If I had owned all three locations, I would have built a fourth one.
But the absentee owner felt a third location would kill his business.
The other two did, so he was probably right.

We sold our restaurants in 2013. Having had a major disagreement with the franchisor and the absentee owner, we felt it was in everybody's best interest to move on.

Recently, I ate at the busiest of the three locations.

Here is what I observed:
The food is still awesome.
The customers still flock to it.
The staff have changed greatly.
Most importantly, I noticed the new leadership.
It reminded me of 2005 when I sat at the absentee owner's franchise.

Customers who lined up, got frustrated and walked out without being served or even noticed.
Customers had to wait, even though there were clean, empty tables.
Dirty tables remained uncleaned the entire 45 minutes I was there.
Staff didn't seem to have the same sense of urgency that I remember.

I'm sure sales are strong.
I'm told shareholders are happy with their return on investment.
I informed the service supervisor what I saw and then realized that I was being too critical.
It wasn't her business, nor was it mine.
She suggested next time that I turn my back to the action so I could enjoy my meal.

Ha! Next time, I will be there to observe again.
For next time, I may be on a fact finding mission.
Because this time, I saw an opportunity.
Just like I did in 2005.

There is still room for more breakfast restaurants in my town.
But I don't think anyone will do it.
Until I decide to do it again.
And I may just do it.

Because I can.

So when you're thinking about opening a business, worry less about what people might do and worry more about what you will do.

I was told about a lady who wanted to open a poutine restaurant. She got discouraged because someone else beat her to it.

There's always room for more.
One idea, if there is demand, will not be limited by one offering.
The market will sort out who's the best and reward them accordingly.

Don't let challenges stop you.
You cannot have what you want if you aren't willing to push through adversity.
It's God's way of asking you if you're serious about what you want.

You can run but you cannot hide anymore...

You sit down.
And then you're asked to move.
To accommodate other passengers.

Somebody thinks you're not as important.
Somebody thinks you'll go away.
You will place your tail between your legs and listen.
Force will be on you if you don't.

Cell phones capture the video.
And the world reacts negatively toward the injustice.

Interestingly enough, this wasn't the first time something like this has happened.
It's the first time, we saw it on Facebook.
It's the first time, it went viral on Youtube.

Injustices happen everyday.
Toward different races.
Toward different classes.
Toward different genders.

Cell phones have made these injustices more visible.
Social media have allowed them to be shared quickly.
And the world thinks that this is the first time?

When it has happened many times before.
It happened to a tired woman in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.
They threw her in jail.
And the world finally woke up to the inequalities of race.

It happened in 1991 to a man who was in a high speed chase with police.
They beat the snot out of him.
Someone filmed the beating.
And the world realized that civil rights was still a problem.

It happened in 2017 at a McDonalds in Moncton, NB.
A special needs teenager bumped into a Meathead fresh from his special juice bar.
The Meathead traumatized the kid with his size and menacing arms.
The kid cried.
The mother was speechless.
Everyone watched and no one thought to take a video with their pocket cameras.
The Meathead ordered his meal without reprieve.
The kid will have nightmares of this monster for the rest of his life.

And no one did anything about the injustice for fear of their own safety.
Not even a single cell phone video.
My kids saw it happen and they were afraid of what the Juice head was going to do.
I'm glad I wasn't there that day, but I secretly wish I would have been to take a video of it
My heart hurts for that kid.

Somebody thinks you're not as important.
Somebody thinks you're going to go away.
You're going to put your tail between your legs and listen.
Force will be on you if you don't.

When we see injustice, it is our job to capture the video.
The tyrants, whether they be law enforcement, bus drivers, bullies, meatheads or corporations need to learn the world is now watching them and holding them accountable for their injustices.

The beasts of our society should not be allowed to hide in obscurity when they treat others in an inexcusable manner.

Our voice may be lost.
Our courage may be squandered.
But our phones can record.