This is cheating somewhat, because this photo wasn’t taken this week, but back in August. However, my dad took this one and I just saw it for the first time when he was staying at our house this week for some work related training here in Nashville. It’s pretty safe to say that Brooks likes his balloons.
Today at All American Pest Control Erin hosted an Accelerent seminar led by John Boyans on building sales, referrals, relationships, and overall Accelerent partnership. I’ve started making a few of these but today was a bit different since it was our home turf & it was in our brand new addition’s training room. My primary responsibility was tech emergencies.
John had a few quotables & thoughts that stuck out to me, but the one that stuck the most was.
“People will buy You first, your Brand second, and your Product third.”
I am very inclined to tell folks that they are their brand, and their brand is their communication.. Which pushes on his thoughts a bit.. Then I pieced together the difference. It is the sale, the commitment that make because of the relationship with you. That relationship is real, ie. they actually know you, or perceived, ie. your brand is strong enough that they feel they know you.
What does this mean?…
It means that your mom knows you and loves you and will buy your product no matter what. Even if you tell your mom that the book you were writing has no real value to her what so ever [personal experience confession]. It is why whenever you start something new, you plug the ‘low hanging fruit’ of people who “know you” not necessarily your brand.
It can build on itself as well.
I have no physical product to sell… at least right now.. But I am trying to bring about change. For me this means that my personable relationships are king right now in bringing change. My brand is directly affected and plays a role in these relationships (many times as the introduction to a personal relationship) and how I keep these relationships builds my brand. It is a wonderful cycle
So understand this, whether you are a CEO, Pastor, Writer, Intern..
This Post Originally Written for YouthWorker Movement
Much has been made out in the news of late with the suicide deaths of gay teenagers and young adults due to ongoing bullying. I am, in part, am upset by all the media coverage because it is not just the gay teens who are committing suicide due to bullying, we have have straight teens & young adults who are bullied to the point of suicide as well. So let us take a little time amongst this conversation to highlight many of our “least of these” who are persecuted incessantly.
I carry this paraphrased quote with me from Tony Campolo, “democracy isn’t where the majority rules, but where the minority is safe.” This quote might be based around a politics of the country, but walk with me here & you’ll see, it extends deeper.
Bullying can be defined as a habitual badgering and intimidation of smaller or weaker people. And to me that hits on not just a cultural thing, but a spiritual & relational ministry issue. Jesus Christ, as I understand him was not about the high & mighty folks, in fact was (dare I say bullied) crucified by a stronger (earthly) entity. Jesus was about showing compassion and standing up for the “least of” the people in society. Check out that incident with the adulterous woman. So as a Christian man, a follower of the Way of Christ, I cannot help but feel compelled to stand up & be on the look out for the least of these in my community.
What takes us in the wrong direction?
Coming back to the majority/minority quotation. To me that has a profound effect on how we live our lives together in the USA. We have a polarized political climate, wrought with winners/losers and examples of putting people down. It is not hard to imagine that we actually promote a culture where bullying is accepted among our adult communities. We utilize/victims of mob behaviors to excite fear to scare individuals into brutish behaviors. What do our children see, hear, and learn from us? Is it a Christ like strength that stands before the mob on behalf of the beaten down & bullied?
Kasserian Ingera?
The Masai, and African tribe, is noted sociologically for unusual greeting (considering they were a fairly fearsome fighting tribe) of “Kasserian Ingera” or translate “How are the Children?” This question permeated the land and became a marker for the health of that tribe. If the children were living in a peaceful, safe, and provided for environment then they were considered to be a thriving tribe.
How are our children? In regards to bullying in suicides, they are two linked epidemics (along with depression a third player in the epidemic) which threaten the mental health & lives of so many of our teenagers & young people. Suicide can account for around 4,500 deaths a year in teenagers, some 100 attempts for each “success” and 1 in 6 of those suicides are related to bullying directly. So how are our children?
My hope..
My hope is writing this is not to denigrate peoples efforts to raise awareness about the bullying of gay teenagers & young people. In fact, I hope you see a spiritual reasoning to educate and strengthen yourself & your youth community into standing up for those in minority positions, whether that be sexuality, gender, idealism, religion, social standing, race, etc. (the scenarios of a person/s in a position of power over a weaker person/s is vast). I’m concerned that in speaking so vocally about gay teens & young adults we gloss over those others who are bullied.
One group that I’ve worked with the past in educating our teenagers about suicide and the breakdown of their piers that led to suicide as ‘the option’ is the Jason Foundation. Here is a list of resources to educate yourself on & tips as a youth worker. Check out the US Health Service & Resources initiative of “Stop Bullying Now” to help educate on bullying. Facebook is also chipping in to help stop cyber-bullying.
What are your thoughts, suggestions, resources for helping bullied kids
This post originally written on YouthWorker Movement
I will never forget this one day at youth, I pulled out my reasonably new cell phone that was all cool with a horizontal flip technology and enhanced screen, and one of the teens spouted out “Oh My Gosh! How old is that?” Now truth be told it wasn’t more than 6 months old, but it seemed that the day after I bought it the new improved version (way slicker than mine) went onto the market with a ton of advertising. So before I put in my wife’s phone number it seems my phone was outdated.
Up to that point & certainly since I’ve been fascinated with what I call the “ill” of our nation. Consumption.. and specifically how it affects our youth & young adults. Was totally into thinking like Branded & Story of Stuff, so it was not a real stretch to draw towards a title of “Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools, and the Culture of Consumption.”
This is not a ministry book in intent, but the lessons drawn from its research are totally applicable into today’s youth ministries. Teenagers behaviors exhibited in how they treat others and place themselves into levels is totally ingrained in them & plays out in our youth communities (not to mention likely in our ‘big’ church environments).
As a sociology research piece it has a lot of dry reading, footnotes & research references are not my favorites to continually read through. The nature of the reading is not captivating as one might find some fictional writings. But, in between these pieces there is a ton of great insight into teens motivations to their behaviors. If you are wanting a break & challenge from the normal ministry book, this is a good choice to make.
If you do think of purchasing, go for a used version, or do like I did, get the Kindle or other electronic format. The price is always the big pain in purchasing research based writings.
As I’m mining through the photos from last weeks “work” trip to Hawaii, this one jumped out to me as a real gem from the week. This is our little man Brooks standing in front of the Marines Corps list of names at the USS Arizona memorial in pearl Harbor. Brooks by all accounts didn’t observe the silence rule that we were given by the park ranger. That made for just another interesting stop along the way with a 14mo old.