by Kirby Hasseman
It’s July 4th and (in the United States) that means it’s Independence Day. For many of us that means cookouts, family get-togethers, fireworks and cold beverages. That is great. But as the halfway point of 2018 is here, Independence day also reminds me of a few more things. 1. Freedom to chase my dreams.2. Freedom to create my life intentionally.3. Freedom to give.4. Freedom to be happy. I find that halfway through the year is a great time for me to re-evaluate my goals for the year. How am I doing? Am I on track at all? This holiday in the middle of the week is going to serve as an opportunity for me to reflect on my goals…and how I am doing to create a happy life for me and the people I care about. My hope is, you are doing the same. So here’s to you! I hope you have a great holiday…and work to create real independence in your life. Good luck. Make sure you never miss an update by signing up for our email newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
It started with a car ride to dinner. Several of our friends were driving together in a car for a night out. It was, unfortunately, after one of the many school shootings this year. It was a serious conversation, of course. And at one point, my friend Bill Potter said, “There has to be some thing we can do.” And after a lot more conversation, meetings and planning…we believe there is. P.A.S.S. is an organization we started to work with the schools to help make our children safer. Thankfully, our local school district (Coshocton City Schools) was already working hard to make the local high school safer. Principal Grant Fauver had a specific plan of action when we met with him. They were already poised to take some significant action (with significant cost). So we asked him: “What is the one thing you want to do, but don’t have the money to do right now?” Grant immediately replied, “Security cameras.” So that’s where we start. Our first project as P.A.S.S. will be to address those needs by adding 80 security cameras covering the inside and outside of the school. While this project is certainly on the radar for CHS, the funds to do this are not immediately available to them. We (P.A.S.S.) are committed to making this a reality as soon as possible through local support. The organization will be doing a formal fundraising campaign where we ask our community for funds to make this happen. As we have said, we feel that we have no greater responsibility than to keep our children safe. So we will be reaching out to major donors to help. But we want to give everyone a chance to participate. So we have started a GoFundMe page. You can give as much or as little as you want! If you feel the urging, please join the cause. Oh…and don’t forget about your chance to win a 55″ TV! My lovely bride Amy (and daughter Skylar) were on the Ellen show. You can see that below! While they were absolutely awesome on the Scary Go Round, they won this TV. Amy decided to donate it to the cause! You can buy tickets to win the TV AND support this cause as well! Buy some tickets. Give to the GoFundMe. Write a check. However you want to help, please do. Thanks for your consideration! Make sure you never miss an update! Most of the time we will NOT be asking you for money! We post new content here each day…so sign up for our VIP list here.
by Kirby Hasseman
The Delivering Marketing Joy Podcast is back! Our goal here is to attack 2018 with a vengeance! The Delivering Marketing Joy Podcast will provide some inspiration, motivation and education to make it happen! Consider this your 10 minute “kick in the pants” to get your week started off right! This week on the podcast we tackle a topic that happens to all of us. Sometimes we are just “not feeling it.” That lack of motivation can keep us from starting…and that keeps us from finishing. So today I discuss this real issue and what to do when you “are not feeling it. Listen in here. So those are my tips. But what do you suggest? Do you have other “go to” moves when you lack motivation? Let me know! And keep coming back to the Hasseman Marketing blog each day. We are working to post a brand new piece of content every day. Make sure you never miss an update by signing up for our VIP newsletter here. We do a weekly update with content and specials!
by Kirby Hasseman
I preach the power of consistency. A lot. I talk about it content marketing, sales, building a business, fitness…and life. We need consistency and patience. Intuitively we all know it’s true. Sure…some people might take off like a phoenix to success. But most people have to “show up” over and over and over before an audience starts to notice. It makes sense and I know it’s true. But knowing it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Let me give you an example. I decided about a month ago that I needed to double down on my content marketing efforts for Hasseman Marketing. I even blogged about it (here) at the beginning of the journey. “We are a media company, and we are going to start acting like it.” I also decided that I wanted to be unreasonable and I talked about that here. So I did. I started to post a blog on the Hasseman Marketing website every day. One of my goals, as you might expect, was to increase traffic to our site. I looked at our web traffic for the year and took a snapshot to see what that looked like before the journey. We had had one month in the past year where we had the most traffic by far (it was because of one post) and the previous month (May) was our lowest traffic month of the year. I knew that if I posted every day, we could have a significant impact on our website traffic. I just knew it. Right? About 10 or 12 days into the month I decided to take my first look. I was on vacation and I had time. So I decided to check on the progress so I could brag about the difference I was making in our online presence. What did it look like? Well by posting each day, our traffic (at that point in the month) was lower than May. That’s right. The traffic was lower than our worst month for the previous year. I know…it was only 10 or 12 days in…but I would be lying if I said that didn’t hurt. At that point it would have been easy to say “screw it.” It’s not working. But instead I decided I wanted to see the experiment through. Spoiler alert…I was glad I did. By continuing to post each and every day, something cool happened. Though I did not have any “hits,” the cumulative effect of showing up, started to work. Each day the numbers started to climb. People on Linked in might comment on a post that I had put online a week ago. And with each passing day, there are more posts for them to find. Over the next few days the numbers went past our worst month and worked their way up the list. We continued to track up…slowly but surely. By the end of the month, the best month’s traffic was in range. Did we pass it? Yes. And we did it with no “viral hit.” It’s hard to see the progress and the impact of a goal while you are grinding toward it. That’s the reason to focus on the daily list of tasks. We all want a quick hit to the top. But in the end, it’s slow and steady that still wins the race. Make sure never miss an update (or any piece of content!). Sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
I have a place here in town where I love the Pizza. It’s old school and it’s great. You even have to go and pick it up yourself, if you can believe that. And when you call it can often take between 30-45 minutes (because they are always busy). It’s really good pizza. But every once in a while, I am in a hurry. I want that particular pizza, but I show up early. I go in and look at my watch. I pay early in order to let them know I am there…and I am waiting. So they rush to try and get me taken care of faster. And when they do…it’s never quite as good. It’s still really good, mind you. But it’s not quite the same. It’s not cut quite as perfectly. The cheese is not quite as melty. The crust is not exactly as perfect. It’s good…but not quite as good. And it’s totally my fault. The Pizza Maker is an artist. Yes they are in business. But they have perfected making a pizza that is exactly the way I like it. They have a process. They have a time that this process takes. Quality takes time. The only variable changing this transaction, taking it from “perfect” to “very good”…is me. I changed the transaction. And I end up disappointed. We do that sometimes, don’t we? We have our “go to” pizza place, hair salon, realtor, or whatever. They take care of us just they way we like it. We like their process. We like their style. Then we ask THEM to change for us…and we are disappointed. It’s our fault. When I got in business in the Promo industry a wise teacher told me once that “there are three ways you can get it. Cheap. Fast. Correct. You get to pick two out of three!” There is certainly wisdom in those words in our industry…but in most others as well. For me I am going to take this to heart. When I find someone doing things the way I love it…I will try and play by their rules. I am going to make a pact to not rush the Pizza Maker. Let me know what you think! Agree or disagree? Either way, make sure you sign up for our VIP newsletter here. We keep you up with all of our content and we have special offers as well.
by Kirby Hasseman
Want to make the world a better place? You can. Whenever you feel like you, as only one person, can’t make a difference, remember this study. There is a chemical in our bodies called Oxytocin. It’s a good chemical. It makes us feel good, decreases stress and, generally, makes us happy. From Psychology today: When we hug or kiss a loved one, oxytocin levels increase; hence, oxytocin is often called “the love hormone.” Oxytocin is the hormone that underlies trust. It is also an antidote to depressive feelings. A study was done that measured the amount of oxytocin in people that do a random act of kindness to another. As you might expect, the person who receives an act of kindness gets a boost in Oxytocin. Makes sense right? But the person who gave the act of kindness got an equal boost of Oxytocin as well! Very cool. Now here’s the best part. An observer, a person that had nothing to do with the act, but just saw the act of kindness, got an equal boost in Oxytocin as well. That is great. You can make a difference. But how? What can you do? How can you push kindness out into the world? With words. Here are just a few things that you can say to people TODAY that can do that. These are things people never get tired of hearing. 1. Thank you.2. You look nice today.3. You are a hard worker.4. I appreciate your help.5. You make this place better.6. You make me want to be a better (fill in the blank). 7. My day is better when you are in it.8. You make me laugh.9. You make me think.10. You are talented. And these are just a few. Make people feel loved and appreciated and you make the world better. Feel free to give us more. What else can you say each day to make others feel special? Go. Do that. Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP newsletter here. We would appreciate that!
