Archive for August, 2005

As we take our dream from the creation stage to the next level, the addition of passion or feelings will keep the dream alive. It’s the “why” behind the dream. The force that looks beyond ourselves to the greater good. It’s taking a black and white picture and adding color and action and bringing that photo to life. It’s the sights and sounds, and most important, the feelings of the moment.

Do you have a dream like that?

I did a little research online and looked for keywords about success. What dreams are people pursuing? I wanted to look deeper than self centered, sometimes selfish goals to those that had real meaning. What is the why in all of this?

I looked up the following topics and found some interesting pictures..

Academic Success: Helping others to get an education.

ORAL LEE BROWN – HELPING OTHERS
In 1987, Mrs. Brown made a tremendous commitment towards giving something back. She adopted the entire first grade class at Brookfield Elementary School located in East Oakland. She deposited $10,000 into a trust account and created the Oral Lee Brown Foundation. She continued to deposit $10,000 each year into the Foundations trust account, making a commitment through1999.

The money will go towards the college tuition for each student. Not only is she supporting the children financially for their future education, but she meets with the parents on a regular basis and mentors the students. Mrs. Brown sponsors an annual Scholarship Gala and celebrated the graduation of the OLBF scholarship students this year. Of the original twenty-three students, nineteen graduated and are currently enrolled in college.

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Passionate Success: Adding Feeling to the Dream

Have you ever been so busy that you couldn’t write in your blog? That has been my story for the past two weeks. I work for a school district and school has just started for the fall semester. As one of the Technology people I find that things are getting busier every year. Almost everything revolves around data and computers anymore. When you have 20,000 students and have to put together schedules, assessments and attendance just to open the school, it can become overwhelming.

When things get this busy even the smallest disruption can become a problem. Customer service is magnified many times either good or bad. When you have a little problem and it can’t be solved it can become a monster very quickly. Stress levels elevate and tempers flare. You become a firefighter with lots of little fires and one stubborn one that just won’t go out. In my previous post I talk about just this type of scenario. But just as the “bad” things can be magnified so can the “good” things. Unfortunately when things are so busy it is often hard to say “thanks” to the good people. Those people that go the extra mile and not only take care of the big things but the little ones as well.

This post is about four customer service miracles that I have been a part of over the last couple of weeks. These are the people that have put sanity back into my life. They have given me renewed faith that there are still great people who really do care about others. I just want to say thanks…

1. As school started this year, I had to fly out of state to attend my daughters wedding. The combination of these two events caused a blur in my life. I had to prepare for a trip and delegate things to others on my job. One of the little things that became a concern as we were leaving was where to park our car at the airport. I know this is a little thing but a concern none the less. We were flying out of San Diego Airport and we drove down the street from the airport passing long term lot after long term lot. The prices got cheaper the further we went. It started at $14 per day, then $12, then $10 and finally there was a bright shiny lot with a sign that said $9 per day.

The $9 lot was different from the rest. It looked nice and had a big sign saying free shuttle to the airport. My wife and I were a little early so we pulled in and figured we would have to wait a while for the shuttle. Were we ever surprised when a large shuttle van pulled up behind our car as we parked and the driver helped us get on with our bags. The driver was very personable and quickly drove us to the Alaska Air terminal at the airport. The driver helped us out and even helped us carry our bags inside the terminal. He told us how to contact them when we returned and gave us his card. This was so unexpected. When we returned the following week at 1 in the morning a quick call had that shuttle van there witin 5 minutes. A different driver again helped us in and out with our bags and even offered to put them in our car for us. All this with a smile as well.

Compared to all of the usual hassles of modern air travel this was a welcomed surprise. The people of Park, Shuttle, and Fly $9 dollar parking should be commended for going the “extra” mile.

2. When we arrived in Seattle for the wedding we stayed about 10 miles outside the city at a Hampton Inn in the city of Tukwila. I have never stayed at one before, but I was very surprised at the service, cleanliness and personable staff at the hotel. But the thing that put it over the top was the great breakfast bar and 24 hour gourmet coffee. The food was always fresh and hot and the area was kept spotless. This may be a little thing but it made all of the difference. The attention to detail and the smiling happy faces at the Hampton Inn of Tukwila made our stay in Seattle a memorable one.

3. As we returned to work after the wedding it was back to the usual commute. My wife drives daily on the 91 fwy on her drive into Orange County. This last week she had a rear tire blow out on the FasTrak lane coming home. This is a very high speed lane separated from the rest of the freeway. Luckily she was able to pull off to a protected area in the center of the freeway. She called the Auto Club but before they could arrange for a tow truck the Customer Assistance Patrol Specialist for the FasTrak lanes pulled up. He changed the tire in a few minutes and she was on her way. This service turned a very dangerous situation into a quickly resolved one.

I took her car into America’s Tire on Saturday to get the tire fixed. Their customer service rep came out and looked at the tire. It could not be repaired so we went back inside and he arranged for a replacement. They were very busy and he said it would be about 90 minutes to get it replaced. The tire had about 30,000 miles on it but they replaced it for free. Within 30 minutes I heard my name called in the showroom. My car was done, the spare was put back, and all of the other tires checked and aired up. What great service! Every time I go to America’s Tire I am pleasantly surprised at the friendly, professional service from a tire store.

4. As one of the technology people for our school district I am responsible for a huge amount of student data. Every year this responsibility grows larger and larger as the State of California finds more things that they want to track. Luckily our district uses a student management software called “Aeries” by Eagle software. This software is constantly updated to the changing demands of the state and federal goverments. But with these changes comes a learning curve. This is where the customer service people at Eagle software really shine. Their customer service people are some of the best in the business.

I had a data problem this week that was giving me a really bad time. With the back to school rush their customer service reps are really busy and they try to get problems solved quickly so they can get on to other people. They will usually list out how to do something and have you try it once you get off the phone. While this usually results in success, if it doesn’t work it can be frustrating to have to make another call. That is where Janet of Eagle Software came in. She helped me with two nagging problems and led me through step by step until the problems were solved. It took her a little extra time but it really solved a huge issue for me. That extra 5 minutes made all the difference.

If you work for a school district I highly recommend Eagle Software for Student management and I want to say “thanks” to Janet for going the extra mile this week!

As you can see from the list above, it’s the little unexpected things that make all of the difference. On our jobs it’s good to remember that we can help others be a “success” today by going that “extra mile”. Thanks to all of you who do that on a daily basis!

Rosa Say over at Talking Story has a great post about customer service today. She talks about her experiences trying to check in to a Hotel Room she booked in advance in Prescott Arizona. As the experience goes from bad to worse you can feel the text on the page get bolder and bolder. Rosa has always been an inspiration and a gentle voice of compassion and calm. To feel her anger you know the experience must have been extremely frustrating.

The title of her post is “Be right… or do right.” As the frustration dies down she asks the question…

Why is it that people have this need to be right, instead of just doing the right thing for other people? Why try to teach your customer a lesson? What good will it do? Hey, even if you don’t care about the customer at all, why give yourself a miserable day in the process? Why not be mea ho‘okipa, a gracious hostess, and give your guest a reason to cheer for you, and a reason to appreciate you? A reason to be your biggest fan?

I can really relate to Rosa’s question. I am in the middle of the worst customer service nightmare of my life. I echo Rosa’s inquiry: Why can’t some businesses treat people with respect instead of disdain and anger?

My problem started two months ago with my domain and hosting company. I received a strange e-mail saying my domain e-mail address had been changed. I couldn’t log into my account and when I contacted my credit card company realized my domain account had been compromised to the tune of thousands of dollars in bogus domain names and high speed hosting accounts. I found this out on Saturday and it was Monday before anyone at the domain company could help me. My credit card company closed my account and issued me a new card. It took a week of calls (being on hold at least 15 minutes each time) to resolve the problem. At least I thought it was resolved.

When I was finally able to log into my account, I noticed over 50 new domain names. I called them back and they could not remove them. They just marked them “fraud” and left them in my account. The fraudulent hosting accounts were still there too. Instead of fixing my account they just patched it up. Why couldn’t they just open a new account and move my dozen or so domain names? Why was every experience with this company frustrating and fruitless?

After numerous calls and hours of time I was able to get most of my domain names repointed and my hosting set back up. Since my account was still messed up I thought about moving my domain names elsewhere, but I didn’t really know how to do it. Unfortunately I left things as they were.

Everything stayed the same for a month and then another strange e-mail arrived. This time saying my account was closed. All of a sudden my whole web empire was down. My hosting was inaccessible and all of my domain names were suddenly pointing at Search Ad pages. No warning, just everything down. I called them three times to find out that my credit card company has issued a credit against them. After checking with my card company I found that this company had double charged my account and had issued a credit for only half of the amount. The credit from the card company was for the additional half. Basically a complete draw.

This should be an easy fix. It should only take a few minutes to get transaction numbers and the problem would be solved. For some reason the domain company won’t talk to me or answer my e-mails. I’ve gone to the corporate level and still no satisfaction. Talk about frustration. I’ve done some research online and many other customers of this company are experiencing the same thing. Must be the lucrative ad revenue from other people’s domains?

I have school sites, Toastmaster sites and library sites that are now pointing at lousy search ad pages. And I can’t fix the problem. I’ve gone to the upstream domain provider and they can’t help me. Does anyone have an answer?

I’ve learned a few things through this whole ordeal.

1. Customer service is GOLD. A low price does not make up for bad service.

2. If you have a problem with a company and they don’t fix the problem, go elsewhere as fast as you can.

3. Do some research before deciding to do business with a particular company.

4. Be very careful of spam e-mail for domain and hosting companies. Phishing and other scams abound.

If anyone has any recommendations for good hosting and domain companies I would love to hear from you.

The company I used… when you register, it just don’t fly.

Sometimes in the course of daily living you stumble upon someone that offers really helpful advice. It may be a preacher, a teacher or a motivational speaker. They have something to offer that really makes a difference in your world. While I’ve had many supportive people in my life, one of the most recent and most helpful has been Steve Pavlina. Steve runs a blog at Stevepavlina.com that specializes in personal development. Steve has hundreds of posts on everything from time management to how to become an early riser.

Steve has a very down to earth writing style and really tells it like it is. He has shared many life experiences online, some that I can really relate to and say “I’ve been there and done that!” Steve asked in a post today what people may have learned from his blog and how it has affected their lives? For me it is a simple thing. His article on “How to triple your productivity” is simple yet profound. And it has really helped me see wasteful areas in my life.

This one simple little post has given me many additional productive hours. The premise is simple, write down everything that you do in a day and separate the productive time from wasteful time.

Steve Explains: Here’s how to keep a time log. Throughout your day record the time whenever you start or stop any activity. Consider using a stopwatch to just record time intervals for each activity. You can do this during only your working time or throughout your entire day. At the end of the day, sort all the time chunks into general categories, and find out what percentage of your time is being spent on each type of activity. If you want to be thorough, do this for a week, and calculate the percentage of your total time that you spent on each type of activity. Be as detailed as possible.

When I measured my time I found I was spending about 25% of my time doing useful work. This was quite a bit higher than the national average of 18% but something I knew I could improve. After following his advice I really saw a big increase in productive activities. I scaled my time back as he instructed and found that I was doing more things in less time. What was so profound was the simplicity of the whole exercise. I can now routinely hit 30-50% productivity without much thought.

While I disagree with Steve on some spiritual things and I could never restrict myself to his vegan lifestyle, I do find his blog to be a real source of inspiration. He has posted articles on everything from “How to get off coffee” to “Improving microwave efficiency”. One of his recent posts reached a tipping point and his blog ended up high in the rankings on Technorati.

For a productivity boost, check out StevePavlina.com today!

I’m finally back. I’ve been on vacation for a week visiting beautiful Seattle, Washington for my daughter’s wedding. The wedding went well and the bride and groom are getting ready for their honeymoon. The wedding was a wonderful study in getting to know people. I met all types of people, young and old, students and professional. The interesting thing was everyone had a common focus and everyone got along well. I think weddings usually bring out the best in people. Everyone dresses well and most are thoughtful and pleasant. Because of a singular focus (the bride and groom) most trivial things are left behind.

I used to do wedding videos for people and I noticed that most went well. Even some long time feuds were set aside and families were able to heal. I think the aspect of a common goal has a lot to do with it. It is similar to what happens in a community emergency such as an earthquake or tornado. Most everyone has a common focus and a helpful attitude. While there is always an uncle or cousin who is too mad to participate, such individuals usually stay away from an event such as a wedding.

One lesson I can take away from this is to align yourself with like minded individuals set upon a reachable goal. Toastmasters and other success oriented organizations are wonderful places to set aside differences and strive for excellence. When people of one mind come together you often have synergy, where the outcome far exceeds the individual efforts.

For my daughter and her new husband, I wish you a wonderful life together. With your combined talents there is no limit where you can go. Congratulations!

As I was sailing around the Blog-O-Sphere this morning in my search to better understand people I noticed a blip on my radar screen. Here I was in the middle of the ocean and the radar alarm started to go wild. “There can’t be anything here,” I murmured as I hit the radar unit to reset it. But it kept beeping and the blip on the screen was getting louder. I finally went down to the galley and grabbed my binoculars. I scanned the horizon and I didn’t see anything. The beeping got louder and I was getting real paranoid of running into something. I grabbed the binoculars again and did a slow sweep. “Whoa what was that?” I exclaimed as a small green speck came into view.

I was getting interested now. What could possibly be out here in deep water miles from anything else? I grabbed the wheel and headed in the direction of the green speck. As I got closer I could see it was a small island with a small hill on it. On top of the hill was a small building of some kind. I increased throttle and the building came into better view. It was a simple thatched roof hut with a sign on the side. As I pulled in closer I could read the small letterboard. It said “Lifehut“.

I quickly wondered who might live on this tiny Island? I scanned the entire 1/4 mile long volcanic rock but I didn’t see anyone. I pulled up into a tiny cove and dropped anchor. I searched again but did not see anyone. I got into a rowboat and headed ashore. As I pulled up on the beach, I found the island to be a rocky outcropping with small brush and palm trees. The only thing that suggested life was the hut on top of the Hill. I gathered my courage and set out for the hut.

As I climbed the hill I found a well traveled path. Someone had been here before… many times before. Yet the hut looked rather new, like it had just been assembled. As I crested the hill I found the hut to be deserted. It was obviously built by a professional builder. It was definitely built to code and everything about it was sharp and clean.

I looked around and didn’t see anybody. I walked into the hut and noticed that it looked like an information booth, with pamphlets of all types laid out on the railing. I picked some up and found some really useful information…

There were titles like…

How to properly mow a lawn

How to keep your environment clean

How to be a cool and responsible parent.

This was some useful stuff… but who wrote it? Who was responsible for the hut?

I looked around and noticed an ID card that had dropped to the ground. The name was rubbed off but I could see that the person who had been here was 24 years old. Hmmm… this was really strange. There was a lot of information but no author was listed… just the name “Lifehut”.

I gathered the useful brochures and headed back out to my boat. The only other identifying information on any of the literature was a vague reference to a 9rules network. As I sailed off I marked the island location on my navigational chart. I’ll have to stop back this way again. Maybe I can meet the mysterious “Lifehut” person next time.