Procrastination at its Finest

I like to think of procrastination as an art. Actually, I find I do some of my best work at the very last moment. I'm not saying it is something to brag about, but if you're going to be something, you might as well be good at it. And I my friends, am a procrastinator.

I find it almost crippling at times. It seems that when I am actually doing the required work, the time crawls by - oppositely, all the random crap that pulls my attention away is the biggest time suck ever. As my procrastination sees peaks and valleys, I occasionally plan on refining my time management skills and making a genuine effort to break the habit, but those little distractions always seem to get in the way.

When it really matters, I get it done - sometimes by the skin of my teeth. I can't really offer any advice as I have been procrastinating sine the 80's, but I did take the time to look up some articles on the subject. I intended to read them, but didn't get around to it ... remember? Procrastination!

Overcoming Procrastination

How to Stop Procrastinating

Hardcore Loyalty - Coke vs. Pepsi

The REAL Differences Between Pepsi and Coke Drinkers

The above article should be taken with a grain of salt ... although entertaining and potentially true, I do not believe that we can divide the world by what soda a person prefers. I do however have some first-hand experience in dealing with the extremely loyal Coke and Pepsi drinkers.

I was bar tending in Big Sky, MT one very busy night when a woman sitting at the bar asked me for a Diet Pepsi. Being in the busy rush I was, I filled a glass with Diet Coke and moved on. A little while later, she asked my coworker for a refill on her Diet Pepsi, to which he replied "I can give you a Diet Coke, but we don't carry Pepsi products." You would have thought we had mortally wounded one of her children or spoken ill of her entire family. Her reaction was one of irate disbelief that we would lie to her and trick her into drinking Coke.

After my coworker had assured her that she would not have to pay for the Diet Coke, she calmed down and finished her food to a glass of water instead of soda. Being the cynical person I am, I had to point out the fact that she drank the entire Diet Coke and asked for a refill. Call me crazy, but that does not sound like a person with a disdain for Coke products.

The takeaway from my experience - brand loyalty does not always have to do with taste preference, but rather what a brand says about you. So when companies need a brand makeover, they usually start with message and appearance - rarely is the product itself the problem.  

Soul Food for the Resume

One great way to boost your resume is to volunteer and show that you have an investment in your community. One of my good friends took a position with the Bozeman nonprofit, Thrive, that works with parents and children in the community and works closely with the public school district. Knowing that I needed some substance on my resume, I allowed my friend to talk me into volunteering as a mentor for Thrive.

The program is called CAP (Child Advancement Project) and they create matches between students and adults in the community. There is a national statistic that claims that students with the same mentor for more than two year are 3.5 times more likely to graduate from high school, and even more impressive statistics follow that. Some matches are academic, meaning the student needs help with school work, and other matches are purely social.

My mentality entering the mentorship was that I had something to offer a student in Bozeman. Little did I know, I would get just as much, if not more, out of the relationship. I was paired with a 7th grade girl in August of 2012. The first academic year of our relationship we played games, made crafts, learned sign language and performed just about any other task that meant we did not have to fill our entire one-hour-a-week with conversation.

I can proudly and unexpectedly say that I have come to love, understand and support my CAP student. Her little successes have become my successes and I feel a genuine sense of pride when the Thrive coordinator tells me she has A's in all of her classes. I even feel proud when she tells me she won her softball game over the weekend or her school's jazz band won a state competition.

Our weekly hour is now filled with delightful and comfortable conversation. We discuss the future, how tough it is to be a kid, and the expectations that society and peers put on each other. I like to think I have some wisdom and advice to offer, as I suffered from similar expectations and challenges of being a teenager. My goal with my CAP student has been to increase her confidence and self respect. However, I have found that my own confidence and self respect has increased through trying to help her and I have learned a great deal about myself.

The point ... get out there and volunteer. If you are at a loss for where or how, simply visit the Thrive website for mentor applications and information. I can not guarantee that you will fall in love with an incredible student like I have, but I can promise that you will meet a really cool kid, make a difference in your community, and feed your soul and resume.

The Art of Networking

Networking is a word that people love to throw around in the business world ... but what does it really mean for students like us?

I met a gentleman in the Denver airport on my way to New York last week, and we had a really great conversation. It all started when I asked the United worker if I could use the power strip that was plugged in next to the desk. Well, it turns out that it was this gentleman's power strip and I had no business asking the woman at the United desk if I could use it. Needless to say, we had a good laugh about it and he allowed me to charge my computer.

We chatted through our layovers about my college career, what I wanted to do with life, and his career with BNSF. He had recently visited Great Falls, my hometown, for work and we chuckled about the characters commonly seen walking around the town. Little did I know, I was speaking with the recruiter from BNSF and that he saw me as a potential fit for the company.

I was shocked when he handed me a card and told me he would like to discuss a potential career with BNSF after graduation. He gave me his information as well as the recruiter that works in the Montana region, stating that my ease of conversing with a stranger and the way I carried myself stood out.

  

When I landed in NY, I told my mom and aunt about my meeting in the airport, to which my aunt replied, "good job networking." Ding! The light went on -- my simple meeting and conversation with a stranger was networking. It may not always be that easy, but it is everywhere.

My important takeaway from this experience was to always be your charming self and never underestimate the power or position of the person to whom you are speaking. I have already received an email from my new acquaintance, reminding me to stay in touch and not forget BNSF as a possibility in my future.

The following article offers some solid advice for networking and getting your foot in the door, as it is not always intuitive.

7 Tips for Becoming an Expert Networker

What - You Mean You Can't Believe Everything You Hear on TV?!

Disclaimer: If you think the above commercial is realistic and an applicant could obtain a job in this manner, you do not need to read further.

I find it hard to believe that contradicting the fundamental business practices of the company that is interviewing you is an effective way to show off your skills and knowledge. Interviewing is a balancing act between impressing the organization while appealing to their culture.

Top 10 Job Interview Tips and Tricks

The above article offers useful and easy to follow advice for interviewing. Showing that you have researched the company and have a knowledge of their day-to-day operations is a necessity in any job interview. I'm not saying that you can't offer suggestions as to how to improve the operations of the company, but the conversation should be entered into with thoughtful consideration and a great deal of respect.

So no, you can't and shouldn't believe everything you hear on TV ...

Appealing to the Masses

I had a strange experience this summer while living and working in Southern California. The necessity for new razors landed me at Target and like usual, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices. Thankfully, after years of buying various razors and ditching brands due to unacceptable results, I have my go to razor that never fails to please.

However, there was something very different about the Gillette package I usually beelined for. It contained the usual amount of razors in the familiar colors, the package followed the same color scheme I was used to, and it was shaped the same as always ... However, there was an additional bit of information offered on the package - scented razor handles. Seriously?!

I can say that genetics blessed me well in the upper-lip department and I lack the hair that most Basque women tend to grow. So, I must ask the silly question as to why Gillette found the need to scent the handles. I am not shaving my face, therefore requiring me to intentionally sniff the handle to enjoy the tropical scent embedded within.

As life kept me busy and I found myself back home working and attending my final semesters of college, I forgot about my strange scented razor experience. It wasn't until I bought a new package of razors and noticed once again the delightful yet strangely scented handles that it struck me that I had not noticed the scent disclaimer on my new package -- this was because there was no disclaimer. My immediate assumption was that Gillette had ditched the disclaimer on all of their packages. 

Out of pure curiosity, I asked my girlfriend to look at the packages the next time she was at Target or a similar store. Less than a week later, I received a text of the above picture and there it was, the disclaimer. So naturally, I can't help but wonder what it is about the market in So. California that appeals to the absurd idea of scented handles. 

To answer this questions, one must dive into the difficult process of defining customers' needs and wants across expansive segments and cultures. A quality that one segment finds enduring and value adding, another might find ridiculous and unnecessary. From someone like me, I wonder if adding scent to the handles raises the cost of the product and ultimately making it less appealing. However, some expert must have uncovered the fact that in select areas scented handles add value and should be marketed as such. Even the thought of putting together that puzzle is exhausting, but a necessary part of branding and marketing.

Branding and Packaging Article

Quality Over Quantity

There is something to be said about talking too much ... and I would like to say it. Allow me to prelude this rant with the fact that I have been, am and always will be a talker. My fourth grade teacher once told me she was going to put a muzzle on me. Not only did I talk excessively, but I did it at an almost incomprehensible speed. Being ADHD, or so I have been told several times, accounted for much of this problem. However, thank you to drugs and learned self control, I have the issue mostly under control.

The most irritating kind of talker is one that seems to only ask questions or make comments because they think it sounds intelligent or clever. Often, this type of talker relates almost any topic to themselves, alienating and confusing their audience. These are dangerous qualities to posses when entering the professional world, as there is little time to spare and always something else on the mind of the interviewer.

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/interview-preparation/dont-talk-too-much/article.aspx

The quality of what you say is much more important than how much you say, and key to being heard. Don't stray from the subject and be mindful of your audience. Are you allowing them to be a part of the dialogue? Is your exchange equal and have a natural flow? These are things that I must be conscious of everyday and have worked on for years. Maybe this is the reason I have little patience for those who speak with reckless abandon ...  

Missing the Mark

Almost 100 million people born between 1982 and 2004 (ish) make up the millennial group. This group is becoming more and more influential as they enter the workforce and begin making household decisions. As a part of this group, I have experienced firsthand the campaigns that have missed the mark.

McDonalds had a series of commercials that showed friends in their mid-twenties eating burgers and laughing. I believe it is the integration of the motorcycles that makes this my least favorite commercial. With little focus on the product, viewers like myself have too much time to pick apart the ridiculous scenarios presented in the commercials.

People choose brands because of what they believe the brand "says" about them. Companies can alienate consumers when what they want their brand to say about their customers and what the consumers think the brands says about them are different. This is another example of how McDonalds failed to convey the right message.

When McDonalds stopped focusing on convenience and price and tried to emphasize the quality of their ingredients, they neglected their target market and started speaking to a market that wasn't willing to hear it from the brand. People concerned with healthy and fresh ingredients, are not likely going to McDonalds.

It's hard to combat one extreme with another.

Bleeding Time for the Red Cross

Our class had the unique opportunity of hearing Matthew Price, from Oracle, speak about customer journey mapping. In the month since his visit, I have found myself relating the process to my own experiences. The most interesting and frustrating path I have mapped was my experience donating blood with the American Red Cross.

I donated on campus at the ASMSU blood drive. The entire process took an hour and a half, six minutes of which I had a needle in my arm, and I had made an appointment ahead of time. However, the ordeal began months before I made said appointment ...

The phone calls began sometime during the end of December. It was always an '800' number and they never left a message-- It took about five calls before I finally answered. When I did answer the phone, I was informed that there was a blood shortage and that I was eligible to donate in three weeks. I had donated too recently and would not be able to give these people blood for at least 21 days, yet the phone rang almost every single day.

The morning of my appointment, I received one phone call from the '800' number and two from ASMSU, one asking me if I would like to donate that day and another to remind me of the appointment I had made weeks before. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed from the beginning.

After checking in and waiting, answering what feels like hundreds of questions, waiting some more, getting stuck with the needle and donating, I was out the door and extremely relieved to be on my way. I dread seeing that all-to-familiar '800' number on my phone and I resent the Red Cross for having such an absurd process. I'm willing to bet that if the company took the time to customer journey map, it would change its donation process and improve its relationship with donors. I  have been donating blood since I was 18 years old-- as a kid, I always admired my dad for donating blood and loved when he would come home with the sticker on his shirt. So please Red Cross, fix your system because this last experience is almost enough to turn me into a blood hoarding ex-donor.