Bud Bilanich | The Common Sense Guy

It's Never Too Early to Register Your URL -- Or Is It?

The other day, I saw an article in The Denver Post entitled, Newborns Entering Internet Domain.

It seems that some parents, like Mark Pankow, checked with GoDaddy to make sure that the url BennetPankow.com was available before naming his son Bennet.  Mr. Pankow said, “One of the criteria was, if we liked the name, the domain had to be available.”

The article went on to say, “The trend hints at the potential importance of domain names in establishing one’s future identity.”  Warren Adelman, President of GoDaddy, the largest domain name registration company says, “It (your domain name) is the starting point for your online identity.  We believe the domain name is the starting point on which all the other internet services are based.”

Some parents who haven’t gone as far as registering a domain name for their children have set up a Hotmail or Gmail account for them.  Melissa Coleman set up a Hotmail account for her two kids.  The kids’ grandparents send e-greeting cards to these accounts.  Ms. Coleman sends thank you notes for gifts in her kid’s voices.  She logs in once a month to keep the accounts active, and plans to save the messages for when her kids get older. 

I don’t know about you, but this seems to be a little much to me.  Of course, my name is Bud Bilanich.  There wasn’t a lot of competition for the BudBilanich.com url. 

When I look at this from a common sense perspective, I am of two minds:

1. Factoring in the availability of a url when naming your child, sounds a little crazy, and somewhat obsessive to me.  Not everyone will need nor want a url in their name.
2. Setting up free e mail accounts for your newborns is kind of a cool way to store a lot of early childhood memories that are likely to get lost otherwise. 

That’s my take on this.  What’s yours?

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Lead by Example

John Maxwell is a prolific writer on leadership.  Recently, I saw an article in Success From Home magazine that was a reprint of an article on his free monthly e newsletter, Leadership Wired (www.INJOY.com).  The article, made some simple common sense points about the importance of integrity. 

In these days of corporate and political scandals, I thought it would be a good addition here. 

Dr. Maxwell says, “Integrity if all-encompassing.  It’s not something you demonstrate at home or church and put on the shelf at work.  People of integrity don’t live bifurcated lives; their morals, ethics, treatment of others and overall character are the same wherever they are, whatever they are doing.”

This is an important point for leaders.  If you act with integrity, people will follow you willingly and completely.  As Dr. Maxwell says, “People do what people see.”

He suggests that by behaving with integrity, a leader can motivate, train, and mentor the people he or she leads. 

Here is some of his advice:

• “If you want to motivate people, get motivated to grow and develop yourself.”
• “If you want to train people, constantly acquire new skills and competencies yourself.”
• “If you want to mentor people, be open about your successes and mistakes so people can learn from them.”

The article ends with this common sense advice.  “If you want to lead by example in a positive way, you must be committed to living a life of integrity.  When you’re right on the inside, you lead correctly on the outside.  If you want to be a successful leader in turbulent times, live with integrity and lead by example.  Remember – people do what people see.”

I really like the concept of getting “right on the inside”.  To me, that is a great definition of integrity.  As Willie Shakespeare said, “To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the day the night, thou canst be false to no man.”

Think about it.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Blog Wild!

I’ve been writing this blog for over two years, and I really enjoy it.  I began blogging as a way to promote my speaking, coaching and consulting business and my books – especially 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  It’s been fun, and I’ve met some great people.

In 4 Secrets, I suggest that among other things, all successful businesses build strong relationships with their customers.  Blogging is a great way to do just that.  I think that every small business should have a blog.  In fact, if you were to ask me what I think is more important, a blog or a website, I would say a blog.  A blog gives you all the advantages of a website, with the added ability to update your content easily.

Lately, I’ve realized that I am not taking full advantage of the power of my blog.  So yesterday, I picked up a copy of Blog Wild by Andy Wibbels.  I’ve been familiar with Andy and his work as I read his blog frequently, but I had never picked up the book.  The subtitle of Blog Wild! is A Guide for Small Business Blogging: Get Online, Create Your Blog, Grow Your Business.

That says it all.  Andy has done an incredible job of telling everyone how to get online, create a blog and grow business.  I particularly liked this book because Andy is a big proponent of TypePad the blogging software I use.  Because of his focus on TypePad, Andy is able to deliver some great, common sense, targeted advice. 

For example on page 117, Andy tells you how to customize your TypePad blog About Page.  The About Page is the page that shows your profile to readers of your blog. 

1. Go to Control Panel > Profile > About Page.
2. Check the boxes that relate to the information you want to show on your About Page.
3. You can also change the style of your About Page.
4. Click Save and Publish.

You can see my About Page by clicking on the word “About” just above my picture. 

Focusing on TypePad is a huge benefit for TypePad users.  Other blog books like Blogging for Dummies try to focus on all of the different types of blog software – with mixed results.  They are more comprehensive, but do not make blogging as easy as Andy does with his focus on TypePad. 

I like TypePad, so this is a great book for me.  I am using a lot of what Andy has to say to drive more traffic to my blog.  For my www.CareerSuperStar.com blog, hosted by Know More Media, I use Movable Type.  I think TypePad is easier and more intuitive.  WordPress is another popular blog software.  I haven’t used it, so I can’t comment on it.  However, it has the reputation of being more difficult to use that either TypePad or Moveable Type. 

In short, if you are thinking about blogging to build your business, pick up a copy of Blog Wild!  Read Part Three, pages 63 – 99, and I guarantee you’ll have a TypePad blog up and running in less than an hour.  TypePad will even give you a 14 day free trial.

If this post sounds like an ad for TypePad and Blog Wild!, I guess it is.  TypePad is great blog software and Blog Wild! makes it very easy to use TypePad.  Even an old dog like me learned a few new tricks. 

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Our Stereo -- A Rocking Marketing Machine

In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I list four things that all successful businesses have in common. 

1. Successful businesses develop and communicate a clarity of purpose and direction.
2. Successful businesses build engaged, committed workforces.
3. Successful businesses skillfully execute what’s important.
4. Successful businesses build strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with important outside constituencies.

You can get a free ebook version of 4 Secrets by clicking on the picture of the cover to the left and following the link.

Customers are an important outside constituency.  Yesterday, while shopping at a local Borders, I opened three different business books and found a business card inside the front cover.  After I noticed this, I started picking up business books at random, and found the same card in the same place, inside the front cover.

“Pretty clever,” I thought; “a nice piece of guerilla marketing”.  And it is.  The card belonged to a company called Our Stereo.  They are located here in Denver and offer branding and other promotional services for businesses.  I was impressed enough with their sweat equity marketing – it had to take some time to put cards in all those books, and their creative approach to getting on customer’s radar screens that I thought I’d give them a plug here.  You can check out their website at http://ourstereo.com.

I’m not endorsing Our Stereo's service, just their creative marketing.  I don’t know them, or their service, but I think I’ll give them a call, just to tell them that I appreciate their clever marketing.

You can't build relationships with customers until you can communicate with them.  Our Stereo’s unique marketing approach is pretty cool.  They are being proactive in initiating the communication process.

What cool and creative marketing ideas have you come across?  I’d appreciate it if you would share them in the comments section.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Power Coaching

In my book 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations, I argue that all successful businesses have four things in common.

1. Successful businesses establish and communicate a clarity of purpose and direction.
2. Successful businesses build an engaged and committed workforce.
3. Successful businesses skillfully execute the things that matter.
4. Successful businesses build strong, lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with important outside constituencies.

Coaching is a great tool for building an engaged and committed workforce.  In their book, Unleashed!, Gregg Thompson and Susanne Biro point out what they call The Four Power Tools of Coaching.  Whether you’re an entrepreneur with one employee, or a leader in a large organization with hundreds of people reporting to you, these tools are solid common sense advice that should be in your toolkit.

Four Power Tools of Coaching

1. Acknowledgment – Recognize the people who work for you and what they accomplish every day. 
2. Big Questions – Ask provocative questions like “if you had an unlimited budget for your work, what would you do with it?”
3. Intuition – Share your ideas, thoughts and gut feelings with the people you lead.  This will help them make good decisions on their own.
4. Silence – Be quiet and let your people hear themselves think.

I really like these coaching power tools – especially number 4 in combination with number 2.  Too many leaders think that they have to have all of the answers.  When you ask provocative questions of the people you lead, you get them thinking.  Don’t ruin it, by giving them your answer.  Sit quietly and let them think things through for themselves.  You’ll be surprised at the good ideas they’ll come up with – if you just give them time to think things through.

The common sense point for today – ask the right questions, but more importantly, let the people you lead answer them.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

How to Identify Unengaged and Uncommitted Employees

I saw an interesting piece in Smart Supervision called Eight Phrases That Expose Underachievers the other day.  I’m posting it here because good leaders should treat these eight phrases as red flags. 

Don’t write off employees if they utter one or two of them.  However, be wary of the people you lead who use these or similar phrases often.  These statements are indicative of change resistors.  In my experience, change resistors tend to be unengaged underachievers with little commitment to helping your business become a high performing organization.

Eight Phrases That Expose Underachievers

• We’ve tried that before.
• That will never work.
• They’ll never let us do that.
• Yes, but…
• That’s not how I would do it.
• Nobody else does it that way.
• We have more than enough good ideas.
• Whose idea was this anyway?

All of these phrases point to one of two things – a negative attitude (it won’t work anyway, so why bother trying?), and an over reliance on convention (the not invented here syndrome).  Both are characteristics that should raise red flags for leaders. 

The common sense point here – pay attention to what the people you lead say when you bring up ideas.  If you hear a lot of the statements above, work hard on your change management skills.

I always advise the leaders I coach to manage change by asking and answering three questions:

• Do the people I lead understand the change and what it means for them?
• Do the people I lead accept the change and what it means for them?
• Can the people I lead do whatever it takes to succeed in the changed environment?

If you can answer “yes” to each of these questions, you’re on way to successfully dealing with change resistors.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Remarkable Leadership

A second post today...

If you're a regular reader, you know that I seldom do two posts in one day.  However, I make exceptions for important things.  Today is one such exception.

Kevin Eikenberry is a friend of mine.  He has just released a great book Remarkable Leadership. 

Kevin was kind enough to send me an advance copy.  I really like this book and want to recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving his or her leadership skills.

Kevin has an abundance mentality.  He is offering several bonuses to people who buy his book today -- August 22.  I think the book is worth it without the bonuses -- with the bonuses, buying it becomes a common sense no brainer to me.

To buy Remarkable Leadership and get the bonuses, go to www.remarkableleadershipbook.com/campaigns/bonus.asp.

I highly recommend this book.  Buy it and see for yourself.

Best wishes for your continued success.

Bud

Good Customer Service is Good Business

I saw a no-brainer headline in USA Today on Monday: CEOs Say Customer Service Drives Growth.  Duuhhh.

Of course it does!  People like to do business with companies that treat them right and provide great service.  That’s only common sense, right? 

I guess not.  It took a study by the New York Stock Exchange to figure out that one. 

According to the article, “More than half of the executives surveyed, from 240 leading companies across 24 countries and 20 industries said that they would budget more for customer relationship management in 2008.” 

That’s great.  But my fear is that these dollars will go toward the purchase of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems.  Don’t get me wrong, CRM systems are very helpful in keeping up to date with customers and following up with them regularly. 

However, customer service is an up close and personal endeavor.  Here’s an example.  Last week, I was staying at a hotel.  I cut myself in the shower.  The lever to turn the shower on and off was broken, and my finger went to a sharp spot as I was turning off the water.  No big deal.  I had some antiseptic and band aids with me. 

However, when I went to the desk to tell them about the broken lever with the sharp edge, the manager on duty was much more interested in filling out the insurance form than she was my finger or the cause of the problem itself – the broken lever.

I understand that she needed to complete the incident report for insurance purposes.  However, all I wanted at that point was a little empathy and the promise of fixing the lever so other guests wouldn’t have the same problem.  However, completing the form took precedence over everything.

And that’s my concern with CRM systems.  They might tell you when you last visited a customer, what that customer bought the last time, what his or her concerns with your product or service are, and what he thinks of your competitors’ products and services; but if you don’t use this information in an appropriate way when you are face to face with your customer, you won’t be delivering great customer service. 

In the case of the hotel, great customer service – in order -- would have been 1) concern for my well being, 2) a promise to fix the problem and then 3) completing the insurance form.  In this case, the priorities were reversed. 

The common sense point in all this is simple.  Treat customers as the important people they are, and they will love you.  Software can tell you when it’s time to follow up, but the quality of that follow up is still a human interaction.  Because, as I’ve said, customer service is an up close and personal undertaking.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Building an Engaged and Committed Workforce

An engaged and committed workforce is one of the secrets I present in my book, 4 Secrets of High Performing Organizations.  Today, I’d like to share several ideas for building an engaged and committed workforce.

Important Words for Leaders

• Five most important: You did a great job!
• Four most important: What do you think?
• Three most important: I was wrong.
• Two most important: Thank you.
• One most important: We.

Remote Communication

If you have employees who work at remote locations, make sure that they hear any important company information, from a designated spokesperson within 48 hours.  If you go beyond the 48 hour limit, you run the risk of the rumor mill becoming the main source of information.

Communication Self Audit

If you want to know how effective your leadership communication is, ask the people who work for you these three questions at least once a year.

1. When I communicate, do you generally understand me?
2. Do I use the best communication medium to get across important messages?  Or, do I overuse one communication medium? 
3. What one thing can I do to improve my communication with you?

Listen to what they say.  Take their answers seriously.  Modify or change your communication style based on what you hear.

These are three simple techniques that can help you build an engaged and committed workforce.  Put them to use, and watch morale and commitment grow.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

13 Grandmothers Who Are Trying to Change the World

This is a business blog, but every once in a while I come across something that is so cool that I have to share it here. 

Recently, I read an article about a group of extraordinary women.  They call themselves The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, and that’s exactly what they are.  They are 13 women, all from indigenous cultures and from all over the globe.  They are united in a common purpose.

"WE, THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF THIRTEEN INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children."

The 13 Grandmothers include indigenous women from all over the world.  Here is a list, including their tribe and homeland:

• Aama Bombo, Tamang, Nepal
• Margaret Bhan, Arapaho-Cheyenne, Montana USA
• Rita Blumenstein, Yup’ik, Alaska USA
• Julieta Casimiro, Mazatec, Mexico
• Maria Alice Campos, Friere, Brazil
• Flordemayo, Mayan, Central America
• Tsering Gyaltong, Tibetan Buddhist, Tibet
• Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, Oglala Lakota, South Dakota USA
• Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance, Oglala Lakota, South Dakota USA
• Agnes Pilgrim, Takelma Siletz, Oregon USA
• Mona Polacca, Hopi, Arizona USA
• Bernadette Rebienot, Omyene, Gabon Africa
• Clara Shinobu lura, Amazon Rain Forest, Brazil

The Grandmothers are focused on peace, poverty and environmental issues.  They say, “We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth, the contamination of our air, waters and soil, the atrocities of war, the global scourge of poverty, the threat of nuclear weapons and waste, and the prevailing culture of materialism."

Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, a spokeswoman for the group says, “We pray for peace, which is not only the wars but in our homes and in our schools.  We need peace amongst the children.” 

“We will never have environmental sanity and health while there are so many people living in abject poverty.  We can’t expect people to care about the environment when they’re worried about feeding their children,” she said.  “Part of our challenge is to have a relationship with nature that makes it healthier and stronger, instead of weaker and depleted.”

The 13 Grandmothers, believe that their ancestral ways of prayer, peacemaking and healing are vitally needed today.  They believe that the teachings of their ancestors will “light the way through an uncertain future.”

I don’t know about you, but it sounds like common sense to me.  Western society seems to have made quite a mess of things – especially on the peace, poverty and environment fronts.  Maybe adopting some of the old ways, remembered by these 13 Grandmothers might help.

You can learn more about the 13 Grandmothers in a book called Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet.  The book was compiled and edited by Carol Schaefer.  It introduces these women, their views on relationships and women's wisdom, their ideas for healing the Earth as well as ourselves, their plans for ending war and poverty, for bettering life on our planet, and their revelations about the importance of prayer.  You can get it at Amazon.com.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the career and life success you are meant to be and to get a copy of my new ebook Star Power: Common Sense Ideas for Career and Life Success.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.