So many of my FB friends as well as customers are not on or don’t use Twitter. It is a mistake from a business standpoint, but also from a personal standpoint. Read this blog below for a well stated reason.
What is the One Terrific Reason to Join Twitter? | Jeffbullas’s Blog.
You can follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Totalbroadcast
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The big lie about the American Dream is the concept of upward mobility through dedicated effort to a career and a job. Statistics and surveys indicate THAT just doesn’t happen any more in America. The fact is great economic upward mobility comes from those who work not only harder, but smarter.
An article in the Seattle Times yesterday made us all aware of how bad things have gotten. “Problem With Paychecks” took much of its content from Parade Magazine’s annual “What People Earn” survey. Here are just some examples of what the story reported. The following list names the person, their location, and their annual income and descends from highest to lowest:
…11. Lorri Froid, Seattle
Office manager
$49,000
12. Heather Murphy
Woodinville elementary school teacher
$39,032
13. Anne Fogarty, Kirkland
Event planner
$37,760
14. Mary Purdy, Seattle
Dietician and adjunct college professor
$36,000
15. Nan Lammers, Skykomish
Forest services snowshoe ranger
$33,414
16. Curtis Hodgson, Burnaby, B.C.
Lacrosse player
$26,500
17. Ned Whalen, Seattle
Car sales professional
$26,000
18. Cara Sullivan, Seattle
Barista
$15,000
19. Betsy McPhaden, Seattle
Artist
$2,000
I didn’t list the Top Ten on the actual Seattle Times list since most of us are not them; i.e. Major League baseball pitchers, NFL running backs, CEO’s of billion dollar corporations, etc.
I know the income that my wife and I earn, and I know how much we struggle to meet our bills and live in what could only be described as a middle-Middle-Class lifestyle (8-10 years ago I would have said upper-Middle-Class, but that’s another story). Nine years ago when we bought our home in the Seattle suburb of Renton, WA it’s purchase price was exactly what the King County Association of Realtors was identifying as the median-price for homes being sold in King County at that time.
Some up-grades may have pushed its price slightly above the local median price/value; but for the most part it serves as a pretty evident measuring stick for middle-Middle Class. My point is…for the people listed above…I don’t know how they make it.
The American Dream as it is defined by one on-line dictionary is as follows:
a·mer·i·can dream
Noun
The traditional social ideals of the United States, such as equality, democracy, and material prosperity.
The term was coined in 1931 by historian James T. Adams. It’s changed over the years but basically came to represent:
Owning a home and a car or two
Raising a family, with kids that grew up to do much the same as you
Working 40 hours per week for 40-50 years in a job or career
Taking 1-2 approximately week-long vacations every year to Disneyland or the big regional beach
Retiring in comfort to regularly play golf, bingo, and visit the grandkids once in a while.
It became:
Leasing (buying) your home from the bank who charges you a low-interest rate for the right to do so; a home of 2500 square feet or more, 2-3 cars, and an RV.
Have kids raised by someone other than Mom or Dad who are too busy at the office to be home for dinner, let alone after school (whether as a family or not is optional); or raised by your 55-inch tv, or by Facebook. Pay $15,000-$20,000 per year per kid for 5-6 years for them to get drunk at college.
Work 50-70 hours per week for a wage capable of allowing you to save for retirement, or (as with the people listed above) 40 hours per week to barely scrape by and have zero retirement.
Vacation every year for 2 weeks in some exotic location, paying for all of it on your credit cards.
Retiring in your 70s with a reverse mortgage praying the 20-30% equity you’ve managed to accumulate in your primary residence is enough to maintain your lifestyle.
That’s some lifestyle. That’s a lifestyle in which children are sacrificed in favor of “stuff” and “status”.
Today working a job that keeps you from your family, or your recreations, 50-70 hours per week is something people wear like a badge of honor. Why? Wouldn’t you be better off working only 30-40 hours per week, making as much money or more, and devoting the rest of the time to your children, your wife, your husband, vacations, etc? The obvious answer is, yes. And you can do it. But the key is to get money working. Get multiple streams of income. The earlier mentioned Seattle Times article points out that median hourly income has rose only 11-percent since 1973. Additionally, in 2011, wages for males with college degrees were JUST 5 percent greater than in 1979. For men with only high-school degrees, entry-level wages were 25 percent lower than in 1979. Your single-solitary job is making you poorer and requiring you to work more hours. The 1-job, 1-career American Dream doesn’t work. You need money coming in from elsewhere.
We used a very large sales-commission check to buy our first home in 1994. Two years later being home owners allowed for us to borrow enough to move-up into a bigger house and keep the other house as a rental. We did the same thing again in 2003. My wife and I acquired nearly all our most valuable possessions, went on our most expensive vacations, and spoiled our kids during the time we had the additional income stream from owning rental property from 1996-2006. Warren Buffett, among others, is one who cites multiple streams of income as key to being successful.
The Missus and I have finally re-learned what we knew before. In our case AdvoCare is already giving us a new income stream. Based on the $20-25-thousand per month incomes our friends achieved with AdvoCare in just 3-years, we expect it to be a sizable stream, growing into a river. We’ve met many others who also are earning over $1000-per month with AdvoCare while working a mere 5-10 extra hours per week. And it’s a growing business. And it has the added benefit of paying us while we aren’t even doing anything. It has the added benefit of only paying us when we genuinely help other people. And it has the added benefit of being a continuing inheritable business and income stream, meaning should my wife and I die the income generated by our AdvoCare business becomes our children’s. Then they will have multiple income streams too.
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Click to go to our AdvoCare website.
A new day dawned on the forest. And two woodsmen together headed into the forest to ply their trade of cutting and splitting wood.
The two had not worked together before, but it mattered little. In swinging an ax through the day splitting rounds into firewood there was very little working together that took place. Each man would chop and split as many logs as each could manage.
This day the sun bore down on them and made them long for recreation. The first logger stayed on the hillside, swinging his ax, splitting the rounds, and throwing the results of his efforts into a pile. He was a strong man, blessed not only with strength but endurance. He could withstand a long day on the hillside making firewood. He prided himself on his work ethic.
Throughout the course of this long day the first logger continually noticed his cohort walking away from his labors and taking a break from the work they each had. Several times he noticed the second logger casually walking with his ax back to their truck for what he presumed were periods of relaxation. He always returned to work. But it seemed clear to the first logger that this second woodsman lacked his endurance, or at-worst, had a weak work ethic.
When the day ended the first logger made his way across the hillside to the place where the second logger had been toiling through the day. As he came upon the second loggers wood pile he was surprised and astonished. The second loggers pile of firewood far exceeded his own efforts. He was dumbfounded. And he asked the logger how this was possible. “I worked throughout the day. I never took a break, and I never slowed down. But you were constantly walking away from your work and constantly taking breaks. And here, I find your wood pile far exceeds my own. What sort of magic did you perform to accomplish this?”
The second logger merely smiled and said, “What you didn’t see when I was taking my breaks is that I was sharpening my ax each time.”
I was told this parable many years ago. From what it originates I have no idea. But it was always a story from which I need reminding. See, I am far more like the first logger than the second.
The lesson from the story is simple. You must continually sharpen your ax as you work. If not it becomes dull and your work becomes harder. Whatever you do in life you must take the time to educate or re-educate yourself. Motivational speaker and sales trainer Zig Ziglar
The late Zig Ziglar speaking at the Get Motivated Seminar at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.
said it best “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Besides motivation, you can also apply the same lesson to education and training. Our brains are like a slowly leaking bucket. If you are not continually refilling the bucket it will eventually be empty. But as long as you’re refilling it you will always have a full bucket.
One of the best ways you can sharpen your ax is to read. Traditional or online newspapers and magazines, articles and blogs are good. But books are best. The best sales trainer I ever heard was Brian Tracy. This millionaire businessman says of reading, “If you read one hour per day in your field, that will translate into about one book per week. … Regular reading will transform your life completely.” If you are not in the habit, it’s hard to do. Like physical exercise you have to make it a priority. If I didn’t work-out when I first get up in the morning I would never do it and I would be a soft, flabby, unhealthy person. Reading has to be the same way. Find the time. Schedule it into your routine. And keep it a high priority.
So take the time to read and re-fill your leaky bucket. Sharpen your ax and see the chips fly and your wood pile grow. You’ll thank me later. I promise.
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A peanut butter and jelly sandwich
August 1982 my brother and I packed up our pick up truck and I left home for the first time to go to college at Washington State University. We arrived on campus 3 days before the dormitories opened. For two nights I slept on the golf course. It wasn’t so bad, at first. It’s pretty warm, even at night, in August, in Pullman. A dorm administrator took pity on me when I went to visit my soon-to-be home, and let me in to register one day before anyone else in the building. What little money I had was being saved for my books; and the only thing I had to eat those two days were a couple of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches and carrots I’d packed with me when I left my Mom’s house. I have never been hungrier in my life then when they finally opened the dormitory’s cafeteria three days after I had arrived on campus.
I made the decision to arrive on campus three days early in order to find a job before all the other students arrived. It worked. I was hired to work in the dormitory cafeteria. It was a job that barely paid my living expenses during my time in school. I wonder how many kids today would make such a sacrifice today.
Years later after leaving college, attending and graduating from a broadcasting-vocational school I was hired for my first radio job in a little town called Raymond. It paid me only $600 per month and I was paid only once per month. During the one year I held this job I lived on my own. I had no phone because I couldn’t afford it.
Obviously there was no internet back then, so I had virtually no contact with my old friends and family. I lived on Cheerios, Top Ramen, and Mac & Cheese.
Having meat of any kind was maybe a once a week treat. Months later the first time I returned home my Mom cried when she first saw me saying, “You’re so skinny!”. During this time I sold all of my ski equipment to pay for food and rent. I was very lonely. I went to sleep by myself listening to one of the only 3 radio stations that could be picked up in far-away Raymond. Dave Niehaus was my Summer-time pal as I drifted to sleep in my room, in the dark, listening to Mariner games from far away.
I made the decision to work in this low paying job in this tiny far-away town because I wanted to work in radio and they gave this squeaky voiced 21-year old a chance. After they agreed to let me be the broadcast voice of the high school football and basketball games I know I couldn’t refuse. It was a tough year, but I was living a dream come true. I wonder how many young adults would make the same decision in order to reach for their dreams.
It was a few years later when I was working as News Director of an AM/FM radio station in Moses Lake, WA when I was asked to make another huge sacrifice. I was 24 years old and had moved up in income and stature in the radio business and was truly on my way to making a career. But my life had taken on the responsibility of two others. I was now married and my wife and I had a baby daughter. During one of her weekend trips home to Seattle my wife had been offered a good paying job at a Seattle TV station. It was for more money than she and I could make combined in Eastern Washington. Though my resume was still pretty sparse and I wasn’t confident in my ability to get a job in the big market of Seattle I quit my job and moved back to Western Washington. The three of us lived in my in-laws basement for about 4-5 months until I could find work. When I finally did get a job it wasn’t in Seattle. It was at a radio station in Mt. Vernon, WA. We got an apartment in Lynnwood and for nearly 2 years I commuted North, while my wife commuted South.
I made the decision to derail my private career path in order to help build a better life for my family and to cure my wife’s home-sickness for her family and the city in which she grew up. Though I loved Eastern Washington and really liked my job and my career trajectory it wasn’t a hard decision. I knew it would make my wife happy. I wonder if today’s young people know to make similar sacrifices on behalf of the spouse to whom they promised a life together.
One of the most selfish things I ever did was start my own company. I left a job in which I had struggled to build an income that had grown to 6-figures. It had taken 13 years. Upon leaving the job I was faced with zero income, and no immediate clients. My family, which was now a family of five, had to learn to do without a lot of things to which we’d become accustomed. It took a couple of years of sacrifice before my company brought my income back toward previous levels.
I made the decision to start my own business because I knew I didn’t want to work for someone else the rest of my life and knew that I wouldn’t be able to leave anything behind for my kids when my time came to an end. I also wanted to give my wife the opportunity to get back to doing what she loved, radio voice work. She’d moved away from her talent in favor of jobs that paid well and provided a security the radio industry never has. She is now our primary voice talent for Total Broadcasting Service. 
My life has never been easy. My parents were lower-middle-income at best, poor at worst, and never provided me with anything outside of the bare necessities. After graduating high school they determined that I was a man and they never provided me anything else, ever. I know others have had it a lot tougher than what I have. Nevertheless, I’m proud of building a life that has allowed me to raise my kids and be happy; to enjoy some niceties.
They say 26 is the new 21. The same as 21 used to be the new 19. Twenty-six is now the age in which kids are becoming adults. Twenty-seven is the age Obamacare no longer allows parents to keep their “kids” on their health insurance plan. And 27 is now the average age in which guys and gals get married for the first time.
I think its sad. Kids have there colleges paid for by either their parents or by our overly generous (and broke) Federal Government. If they get work they expect a middle income lifestyle right away. Too many don’t seem to have any respect for authority. They believe every night is Saturday night. And I wonder if todays kids even know what sacrifice really means.
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I’ve seen it before and I always find it interesting. When my Facebook business page for my audio and video production company, Total Broadcasting Service, gets ignored the number of people seeing and viewing it and subsequently learning of and being reminded of my company, its products and services, diminishes. So learn from my experience and make certain that every day something gets posted on your business page. It only takes a moment. But being consistent with your efforts will pay off over time in the one area you desire more, more customers, and more money.
Total Broadcasting Service Insights to start new year.
The graph above is from the Insights Facebook provides for administrators of business pages. This shows the activity on my company’s business page from roughly December 20th through January 12th. My company is Total Broadcasting Service (please like us on Facebook). I didn’t work between Friday December 21st and New Years Eve December 31st. In that ten-day span only seven posts were loaded onto the company’s Facebook page, three of those on December 28th, which represents the bottom of the graph’s downturn and the beginning of its upturn. The difference in interest on the page is dramatic.
Our practice, which we do a pretty good job of observing, is to post something onto the Total Broadcasting Facebook page every day Monday through Saturday. At least one per day is easy and never time-consuming. If you run a business this is what you ought to be doing. And you should be doing it not only on Facebook but anywhere you have a business presence on Social media. If you are on Twitter, or on Pinterest or on LinkedIn you are making a mistake by not making your presence known daily. Consider this your minimum effort.
Inc Magazine published a study in November 2011 saying a survey of consumers found 7 or 10 of them were more likely to patronize a business or business person who had a social media presence than someone who does not. And that was 15 months ago! You can be sure that the influence of the internet and social media has only grown since then.
Where business owners and or people fail on social media is by failing to be consistent. Yes, they may have a presence on Facebook and other sites but if they remain static with no activity you might as well not have a profile/business page at all.
Your posts can be a simple as “Have a great Monday!”, to elaborately planned online contests. More important than the content is to do something. Worrying about content is for another post.
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