by Kirby Hasseman
At the beginning of this year, I made a commitment to do more video. The goal was to provide value through content in new ways. It might be to entertain, educate or inspire. And though we have been super active with this blog (and I want to continue to be), I felt like video is another way to reach out. So I wanted to share a few videos that you might not have seen so far this year. Oh…and if you want to make sure don’t miss, you can subscribe to my Youtube channel here. My goal is to increase my number of subscribers…so you can help! Delivering Marketing Joy: As you may or may not know, I have been doing a web show called Delivering Marketing Joy for several years now. Every Wednesday, I interview a new marketer, entrepreneur, author or leader…and I have done that for over 220 episodes! Today I talk to Jason Lucash from Origaudio, and you can watch that here. Motivational: I have also tried to make a commitment to inspire more this year through video. This recent video for the New Year is an example of that. Watch this and let me know what you think! Remember, if you want to have a better year (or week or month) you need to take action! Day in the Life: In addition, I started a vlog series that I call a “day in the life” that follows me around in different areas of business. This is from a recent trip to Vegas for the PPAI Expo. The goal is to entertain and inform…and there will be plenty more to come. Community Support: Finally, I want to help support things in the community that inspire me. That’s why I created this video about Kids America and this short video about helping the homeless. Either way, my hope is I will be creating some video that you enjoy. As I said, if you are interested, feel free to subscribe to my Youtube channel here. And of course if you want to make sure you never miss any content, you can sign up to be a VIP here.
by Kirby Hasseman
We do a lot of video for ourselves and for our clients at Hasseman Marketing. In doing so, I get the chance to interview a lot of smart people. It’s one of the perks of the job. On the other hand, most people I talk to don’t WANT to be interviewed. Don’t get me wrong. They are okay with it. They are even quite good at it. But most of them did not wake up thinking “I can’t wait to put a camera and lights in my face so I can answer random questions!” That means that, no matter how passionate and smart they are, sometimes people get stuck. They know what to say. But in that moment, they struggle with how to articulate it. As a person that talks on podcasts, videos and presentations, I totally get it. Sometimes the words just don’t come out right. In these moments I try to redirect the conversation with the same basic question. It starts with “What’s the best thing about…” I stumbled upon this trick early in my career as I was fumbling for questions. When I asked people about “the best thing” about the project they were working on, they brightened up. They were able to re-frame the conversation in their mind and look at it from 10,000 feet. The question also seemed to allow them to think about their project from a pure passion perspective. Now I know the science backs this up. By resetting their mindset about the project (no matter what that project is) so they think about “what is best about” they insert a layer of positivity into the discussion. They are reminded about why they are working on the project in the first place. It also gives them the simple gift of getting them out of the weeds. So the next time you want to take a conversation to the next level, you might try this technique. Want a job? Ask the interviewer “What’s the best thing about working here?” Want to learn more about a prospect? “What the best thing about working in this position?” You get the idea. It will get the person talking and the conversation going…and you might be more interested too! P.S. Need more questions? I wrote this blog about 20 great questions to ask. Make sure you never miss an update. Sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Today was a snow day. I know, that’s not a huge revelation on February 1st in Ohio. The winter that had started out very mild, has turned more harsh over the last couple of weeks. So when I got the call this morning to alert me that school was cancelled, it was not a huge surprise. The call came a about 15 minutes before my scheduled alarm was set to go off. And, as I processed the information, I realized that my morning appointment had cancelled yesterday. My morning had just opened up. I stood up and turned my alarm off. Then I crawled back into bed and snuggled under the covers with my lovely bride…and smiled. It was a “little moment of celebration.” In business and in life, we are taught to celebrate the huge victories. If you win the big game, land the huge client, graduate, get married, or get that job, we throw a party. These are special moments and they should be celebrated. But moments like that are, well, special. That means they are (by definition) rare. They don’t come along that often. And while they are fun to celebrate in that moment (and great to shoot for) they don’t provide many opportunities for satisfaction. In the middle of grinding for a big goal, I think it’s important to give yourself reasons to celebrate along the way. These moments of happiness and gratitude can help to boost you when you need it. In addition, they can help to provide some level of fulfillment along the way. These “little moments of celebration” can help you with that. Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not a daily time to be lazy. It’s a simple time to take a breath and take stock. Then, after reflecting on how far you have come, or how much you have to be thankful for, you can get back to work. Make sure you never miss an update or a chance for a “little celebration.” Sign up to become our VIP! Each week we send a list of the content we have created to provide you value. Sign up for that here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Do you ever wake up stressed in the middle of the night and struggle to fall back asleep? Your mind starts to race about things that happened yesterday or are due tomorrow and you just can’t shut it off. Asking for a friend. I think most of us have had a night like that. Many of us have more than one. But for me, when I wake up and start to work on the problem, my anxiety goes down. The challenge might still exist, but my focus changes from all of what could happen to what I can do about it. I have shifted to my “circle of influence.” Stephen Covey talks about this concept in his amazing book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” Covey explains that everyone has a circle of influence where they have direct control. Inside this circle, they can have a big impact on their day, and ultimately, their life. The challenge is, many of us spend a lot of our time focused outside of that circle. We worry and we fret over the economy, the President, other people’s opinions, and even the weather. These (and so many other things) are outside of our circle of influence. They create stress and worry and (most importantly) we can’t do ANYTHING about them. It’s a waste of time and energy. This is the inspiration for today’s VLOG. There are 3 things that I don’t pay any attention to. They are outside of my circle of influence.
That’s why, when people ask me, “what’s the weather supposed to be like tomorrow,” I can honestly say “I have no idea.” I found that the weather forecast was a source of constant frustration for me. That may be silly, but I either didn’t like what was supposed to happen, or it was not what was predicted. Most importantly, I couldn’t do anything about it. So I shut it off. What are those things in your world? What is a source of frustration for you that you can’t do anything about? It might be time to focus on your “circle of influence.” Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up to become a VIP. We send out one email per week to catch you up on all of the content! You can sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Every community has a story. Every community goes through its ups and downs. There are times when things are booming and times when the economy is tough. It’s the nature of things. Things go up and then come down. But with hard work and perseverance…things can go back up again. For many years, Coshocton County had it’s share of downs. A community that had an embarrassment of riches in manufacturing, saw several plants close down or leave. People who wanted to work were forced into different jobs and sometimes had to look for jobs outside of the community. For sure, that was part of the down. The challenge I think, for a community (or even an organization), is when they start to identify with the downs. They make that become a part of their identity. They start to think “that is who we are…and what we deserve.” I think that is what has happened (with a group) in Coshocton County. This group spends a lot of time and energy “celebrating” the negative. They continually look for the challenges and the injustices and hold them up. “See I told you so. This place sucks.” But over the past couple of years, things have been slowly working back up. There is an enthusiastic group in leadership that is working together. If you were looking, you could see the positive shifts happening. There is an improvement to a park here. The streets get paved there. These are subtle, but foundational, changes that improve the community. Now the signs are starting to become more obvious. This week the Mayor of Coshocton announced a healthy investment in the community. A company focusing on digital currency is going to be investing up to $100 million and creating up to 100 jobs on the site of a factory that was closed. In addition, the cry that “there are no jobs” is officially silly. Each and every day there are more and more jobs posted to the OhioMeansJobs site for Coshocton County. Oh…and there are even more just outside of the county. As a matter of fact, most companies are struggling to hire fast enough. And if you are worried that our workforce does not have the training for these new jobs, I give you…COTC. Central Ohio Technical College recently announced a program where they are offering free college for anyone in Coshocton County coming from a household where the income is less than $60,000 per year. It’s free college my friends…check it out. These are just a few obvious (and amazingly positive) signs that things are moving back up in Coshocton County. But as with any organization, the members of the community are the best and most powerful pieces of the marketing team. So what story are you telling? Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP newsletter here. Each week we send out one email to keep you up on the content!
