Tag: Disneyland

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Participation Trophies In The News.

After everything that has been in the news recently about the idea and value of participation trophies I spent a few minutes looking around my children’s rooms.  My children were active in pursuits like Soccer, Football, Media, Track & Field,  Lacrosse, Cheerleading and Swimming.  I was looking for any remaining “awards” they are proud of for just showing up.  I found none!
Upon closer examination what I did find was a varsity letter my son earned as a Varsity Swimmer for Elk Grove High School, my daughters awards for Academic Excellence, Academic All American and a Cheerleading award she was given that was voted on by her Cheer team at Pleasant Grove High School and my Step Daughters awards from the Media Communications Academy at Center High School where she excelled and set the standard she would use as a Cast Member at Disney .  Not one of them kept awards for simply participating.  I don’t think this is a mistake.
My Son recently was awarded the title “Customer Experience Expert” from Mazda Corporation.  This is an award based on sales, experience and customer service ratings where Mazda calls the customer to drill down about their experience.  This award comes with a title and a monetary bonus.  In short, it matters and is earned.
My Daughter was recently placed into the management training program with Safeway Corporation based on effort, hard work, management approval and again the biggest factor is customer feedback.  Feedback matters.  I would add that my daughter will earn her certification as a welder in December and takes pride in maintaining the highest grade level and skill level in her class because this allows her to be the leader she knows she is.
My Step Daughter has recently been elevated at Disneyland from Cast Member to a manger based solely on Direct Customer feedback.  At Disney direct feedback means that a guest captures someone’s name and has to go to a specific office near the main gate and write out what the Cast Member did to make their day memorable.    Many Cast Members never have this happen and she has had it happen twice in the same week.  Her name is Sammy and she is in Disney California Adventure and I promise you that if you seek her out it will be an experience your children will not soon forget.  Disney expects that once you hit the stage you are all about the guest experience and this is difficult at best.
Each of these now adults were given participation trophies and each of them say that none of them mattered.  What matters to them are the results they produce because that is a life trophy and one that matters

My name is Steven Clauson and I coach people who want to come out of the stands and onto the field or are already on the field and demand to maximize their efforts.  Are you in the stands or on the field?  Winners are on the field playing full out. These are people for whom results matter.  Tired of results that are less than you know you can produce?  Call me at 916-230-0176 or visit www.stevenclauson.com

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Who Creates Your Reality?

Who’s responsible for creating your reality?  The word reality is defined as the way things actually are.  With that being said the News people insist on watching is supposed to contain reality and what it really contains is grey areas of opinion and spin.  Our lives happen just like this.  Most of what happens comes down to opinion and spin.
Someone’s reality often comes down to their Response Ability in every given situation.  Losing a parent, winning a football game, going through a divorce, filing bankruptcy and even getting an inheritance are examples of things that show your response ability.  How will you respond in any given situation is what reality is all about.  I know people dealing with each of these situations right now and the differences are stark and not what I would have predicted.
What I know to be true and a fact is that success is our duty, obligation and responsibility.  We need to take it seriously.  It matters!  The last few days with a sick parent matters.  Winning a football game matters.  Divorce and the destruction of a family matters.  Filing bankruptcy and having the chance to start over matters.  Getting an inheritance and becoming the steward of someone’s financial lifes work matters.
Each of us holds the final definition of what reality means.  When you choose to be part of the solution your ability to respond rises.  What’s your current Response Ability?      
My name is Steven Clauson and I coach people who want to come out of the stands and onto the field or are already on the field and demand to maximize their efforts.  Are you in the stands or on the field?  Winners are on the field playing full out. These are people for whom results matter.  Tired of results that are less than you know you can produce?  Call me at 916-230-0176 or visit www.stevenclauson.com

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The 4th Quarter Is When We Win Or Lose… And Your Choice Is?

 I am a serious football fan.  I am serious to the point that I think baseball should conclude Labor Day weekend so we can all focus on Football.  There are lessons from football we can all use to push what we do forward.  Ignore these lessons at your peril.
Today starts the 4th quarter.  In football this is when teams get tired and mistakes happen.  In short this is often when the game is won and lost.  The 4th quarter is when mistakes are made, focus is lost, disappointment sets in and the winner is determined.  Most games aren’t really won in my estimation, most are lost.  Whenever you have a team that has prepared for the 4th quarter it shows and typically they prevail.
When it comes to people in business, the 4th quarter has 2 schools of thought that are most common (There are others for low performers and putting time into these is not worth the effort).   For the 4th quarter of 2015 the thing to decide is are you going to work toward your quota or work to your potential?  These are different and what the 4th quarter is all about.
You should love the 4th quarter because while most are getting ready for the Holidays you have a very real chance to dominate your market and work to your potential.  Holiday parties are a blast and while your competition is working on going to parties and making quota you remain focused on simple domination.  You are the ONLY person that knows your potential and when you get past all the B S quotas and work to your potential you lead the pack!  Keep in mind that is you aren’t the leader the view won’t change.
My name is Steven Clauson and I coach people who want to come out of the stands and onto the field or are already on the field and demand to work to their potential.  Are you in the stands or on the field?  Winners are on the field playing full out and dominate. T For these people results matter.  Tired of results that are less than you know you can produce?  Call me at 916-230-0176 or visit www.stevenclauson.com

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Your Mom Was Wrong… Start Talking To Strangers

  

Many of us were told by our Mom and Dad to not talk to strangers.  This is very good advice when you are growing up and it becomes very bad advice around the age of 14 or the day you start playing team sports for many reasons.  It is also around this age that many of us start to show a sincere interest in the opposite sex and if you aren’t willing to talk to strangers you are bound to remain lonely and confused.  When you enter the world of being employed the problems multiply!

Zig Ziglar once said that timid salespeople have skinny kids and experience has shown he’s right.  Whenever you miss the chance to meet someone for the first time, otherwise known as talking to a stranger, your world has the chance to expand dramatically.  There are degrees of separation and meeting new people changes those degrees and that separation.  We know that statistically each of us knows 200 people +/-.  If you were to meet 1 new person per day and took weekends off at the end of a year you would know 450 people +/-.  If you sell anything you are going to make a lot more money and impact a lot more people.  Stay in touch with these people and remind them how you met, who you are and what you do.  Do this frequently and with a purpose.

I know that as I have aged I need to make it a point to stay in touch with people more often.  To start with I don’t know when they won’t be around anymore and most people are like me in that they get busy and prioritize in different ways… ways that don’t always work.  These people you know matter and make life richer in more ways than one!

If you don’t have a plan to meet these 5 new people per week call me.  We will design a plan and I will show you how to stay on top of that plan and what you can make out of it.  My name is Steven Clauson and I coach people who either want to come out of the stands and onto the field or are there and want to maximize their efforts.  Are you in the stands or on the field of play?  Winners have to get out of the stands.  Tired of getting your ass kicked?  Call me at 916-230-0176 or visit www.stevenclauson.com

 

 

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What Failing To Hit The Target Looks Like

 

A compelling article came across my desk today and I want to condense it and share what I see.  Did you know…

  • 68% of Americans say they receive too many brand e-mails.  You are reading one now.
  • 48% of Americans consider personalized e-mails from companies they do business with helpful.
  • 17% of Americans cannot handle the current volume of brand e-mails
  • 56% of Americans willingly share personal information to receive relevant offers.

Americans say they receive very relevant information from;

  • 33% Credit Card Companies.
  • 29% Supermarkets
  • 29% Banks
  • 18% Fuel Companies.
Americans do the following with poorly targeted communications;
  • 70% close accounts or unsubscribe
  • 60% un follow on social media
  • 59% opt out of future e-mails
  • 57% block phone numbers
  • 54% delete apps.
       Irrelevant communications cause consumer loyalty to waiver and that’s something we can ill afford.  The days of Facebook postings simply for the sake of content are over.  People are getting over run with electronic communication.  They are tired of it and fighting back.  We must be more relevant today than ever.  When we send an e-mail or post a blog it has to be thought out and has to matter.  To do anything less is electronic suicide.

This research was completed by the AIMIA Institute and they are a data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company.         

I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of and what to eliminate and help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

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Problems Don’t Age Well

 

       Like many people who read this newsletter I enjoy wine.  The wine I enjoy has aged for a while and that time spent aging adds to the bouquet of the wine and enhances the taste.  While I don’t pretend to understand the mechanism I can tell you that I like the result and encourage winemakers when I have the chance.  Problems are different in that they don’t age well.
When I had my private practice I knew that certain people had certain problems that defined them as a person.  Removal of the problem meant nothing more than they had to go find or invent another problem to further define them.  The Entrepreneurs I work with are quite different in that they don’t need to find issues, rather the issues find them.  While this is not helpful it is the nature of the beast.  The entrepreneurs that rise to the top deal with these problems in an on point manner as soon as they arise.
There are 2 ways to deal with a problem and only you get to decide which route you take.  If you can declare that a problem is a non-issue and walk away from it you are doing well.  If you have a problem that you cannot walk away from your best response is to overwhelm the issue and go at the problem from several different angles at the same time.  The longer a problem is allowed to exist the harder it is to solve.
In cage fighting the goal is to get the opponent on the ground as rapidly as possible and go for the submission.  In football you want to strike for the end zone as fast as possible and then score and score often.  In business you must figure out what the actual problem is, confront it and put it to rest.  Move fast, be focused, get help, don’t change the subject and act like you are killing an ant with an assault rifle.  Solve your problem with everything you have and then move on.
What is the problem you have to solve today?  You have to solve it for either you or someone else and leaving it unsolved brings an unacceptable cost and angst.  Overwhelm the issue and get to the other side.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of and what to eliminate and help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

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Now/Today Is The Right Time!

 

Now is the only time you have and urgency matters.  Now is the only time that is and now matters.  The perfect time to do anything will never come along and waiting for that moment is a fools game.   In fact, when is the perfect time to:

  • Get married
  • Have a child
  • Have another child
  • Go to school
  • Quit a job
  • Buy a house
  • Retire
  • Un-Retire
       There’s no perfect time to do any of these and there’s nothing other than a perfect time to do these.  The time you do it is the perfect time because that is when you did it.  No other reason need exist.  This time is the time.  Acting now is at the very least the most powerful and self affirming thing that you can do.  Investing in you and your success is the best decision you can make now.  Most everyone waits for the right moment to do something and then never bother to define what the right moment looks like in detail.  Nursing homes are full of people waiting for the exact right moment to do something.  What do you need to solve today?  You have to solve it for either you or someone else and leaving it unsolved brings an unacceptable cost and angst.  Overwhelm the issue and get to the other side.
In the words of Werner Erhard “Most people wait for
the decisive moment, whereas people of power are
decisive in the moment!”
     I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of and what to eliminate and help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com
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I Recently Met One Tough Mudder…

 

I was having lunch Thursday with a new client who related a story to me I have shared several times over the last couple of days.  This is s story about something called a “Tough Mudder”.  For those that aren’t in the know it’s a race where the runners spend the day up to their eyeballs in mud and assorted obstacles and there aren’t really winners, just survivors.  While I might have tried this 20 years ago, not now.
He was sharing about one of the obstacles that had been altered from the previous year from a half pipe to a modified quarter pipe.  This change required that most participants needed help getting over the edge and continue on.  A few could do it on their own and most were sunk without additional help.  This is a lot like life.  Most of us need help from time and time. Precious few admit they need help so they don’t look weak.  I’d invite you to quit being so concerned about how you look and ask for the help.
When I was taking Graduate Level Anatomy and Physiology there were aspects I was not getting no matter how hard I tried or studied.  We had a Graduate Assistant for just this reason and I fought asking for help.  When I finally got rid of my ego and asked for help the material  became simple and in fact I ended up teaching Anatomy & Physiology at the College Level the following semester in large part due to the help I got from him.
It matters little if you are running a Tough Mudder, taking a class or trying to build a business… we all need help.  Some repair cars, some do estate plans, some do cosmetic surgery and I coach.  We all help in our own way and when you consider for just a second that 100% of the participants on American Idol have coaches as do 100% of the players in every professional sport you’ll see that you’re not alone.  I have 2 coaches named Martin and Crystal.  Both Marines and both scary in their own way.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of, what to eliminate and then help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

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What Is A Used Book Really Worth?

 

Earlier this week I took 78 books from my personal library to the local used book store in the hopes that someone else can put them to good use.  This is not a consignment store, rather a store where they sell books at a discount and you never know what you will find there.  I donate my books there and I love this place!
As I was making several trips from my car to the store to bring the books in the woman working the counter wondered out loud how great it would be if I could have the money I spent for these books back in cash.  My initial response was Yes that would be great and after reflecting for about 2 nano-seconds I reversed my initial opinion and told her I would decline the cash in hand for the knowledge in my brain.  All of us have the opportunity to learn in different ways and those ways change as we mature.  I am a dinosaur in that I still read hardcover books and I even read the occasional Kindle book.  I know others that attend window university and learn while behind the wheel of their car or learn from video based productions.  No matter how you learn school will never be out for the professional.
I am down to about 1000 books in my personal library and not too long ago that number was closer to 3000.  I know people who have audio libraries every bit that large and others that have large video libraries as well.  The key is the not the size of the library but using the material and handing it off to others so they might learn.  I am often surprised to see who wants to learn and at times saddened by those unwilling to do so.  Learning and applying information is critical and in the words of Frank Zappa “It’s not getting any smarter out there!”
       What have you read or listened to recently, what did you get out of that and would you recommend it to someone else?  I want to share your information because we are all in this together!  Shoot me an e-mail by clicking below and everyone will get the benefit of what you learned.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of, what to eliminate and then help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com

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Thought Assault…

 

Voltaire, was a French writer and public activist who played a singular role in defining the eighteenth-century movement called the Enlightenment. At the center of his work was a new conception of philosophy and the philosopher that in several crucial respects influenced the modern concept of each.  One of my favorite quotes from Voltaire is “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”  This is true of every issue humans have both personal and professional.
Thinking is also the hardest work we ever do and that is the reason so few people ever bother to do it.  So many other things are easier!  Counselors and coaches are a great help because we are not emotionally involved in the problems we hear about.  The lack of emotional involvement means that we never hear that inner voice that tells them to do the easy or comfortable activity. The process is helped along by asking the following question and then listening and acting on the answer you get.  “what if this was someone else’s problem?  What would I advise them to do?”  The follow up to that question is “What are 10 ways I could solve this problem?”  Don’t quit until you have written those 10 ways down and have taken action on at least 1 of them.
I coach people and help them determine what action to take, what to do more of, what to eliminate and then help them to effectively demonstrate what makes them special and why their customer should be using them over any and all other options they might have.  I show them how to produce results that are uncommon for most.  Call me at 916-230-0176 or e-mail me at steve@assaultmarketing.com