Marketing Class ZMET Project (Leadership)

In our marketing class during fall semester we had a big marketing project where we had to select a company or product, then interview several customers in the "love group" to get an in-depth view of the customers' core values and how the product satisfied those values. One member of our team was a big fan of Mastercraft Boats, so we decided to use them for our project. But there was only one Mastercraft dealer in the area (about 45 minutes away), and it was very difficult to fit an appointment into his busy schedule, and he seemed reluctant to give us any customer information. After several attempts we began to worry that even if we did get customer info from him, it would be an uphill battle to get the wealthy boat owners to commit to an hour of time to interview with us.
As we met together one day I commented to the group that it seemed like we were kind of in a dead end, and suggested that we start looking at other companies. But we only had a few days before we had to report on our progress, and we were supposed to have a couple interviews done already. We kicked around a few ideas--pianos, bikes, restaurants, etc.--then assigned different team members to investigate the different options.
Over that weekend I interviewed managers of The Awful Waffle and Brick Oven Restaurant. We discovered that the owner of Brick Oven was a friend of our professor. I sent him an email (through the professor) telling him about our project and asking if he would be willing to give us gift cards and/or T-shirts that we could give to interviewees as incentives for them to give us their insights. He agreed, and sounded very excited about the project. The gift-cards made it easier for us to get interviewees faster so that we were still able to get the project completed by the deadline.

New Years' Resolutions

So today is New Years Day, the day when we're all supposed to start over again, and get our lives back on track. So I had a few thoughts about the irony of New Years resolutions. First of all, it seems like the ritual of New Years resolutions, rather than making our lives better, more often just gives us a reason to put off life improvements. If you think of anything you'd like to improve within 3 months of the new year, you automatically make a mental New Years resolutions note, and then subconsiously (or consciously) do WORSE at it until then (kind of the Mardis Gras effect--sin as much as you can before the day of repentance). And then, if you actually start working on it after the new year, you usually keep your goal for less than the 3 months you had been putting it off! Secondly, isn't January 1st the WORST time of year to make resolutions? The magic of Christmas is gone, school starts up again, it's the darkest and coldest time of the year. How are you supposed to be motivated to exercise, or do anything for that matter! It's a depressing time of year! I propose that we start making Easter or Spring Equinox resolutions.

Potential tenants

So, as I mentioned in my last post, our house is up for rent, again...so here's a little story about some rental applicants.

We placed an ad on KSL, but only had one couple come to see it last weekend...and no calls since then! The couple is very nice, and they have 3 little kids. But there's one problem, they have terrible credit! However, we called their current landlord, who said they were great, and paid their rent on time every month. But...next problem--their current rent is $350 less than what we're charging. So I called the tenant (Desiree) up last night and told her the situation. I said that if they are having a hard time paying their bills already (and they weren't sure if they could pay the $1000 deposit), that it seemed to us unlikely they would have an extra $350 a month in their budget to pay the increased rent. She said she had just recently started working more hours. She said they needed a bigger place for their growing family, but after moving in they were going to fix up their credit and try to eventually buy a place. I told her about our situation of getting in over our heads with payments when we bought the house, and suggested that they might find themselves in a similar situation if they moved in, making it much more difficult to pay down their debt and rebuild their credit.

I thought I handled the situation very well. I didn't have a lecturing attitude...it was more of an empathy and concern attitude. I focused on OUR struggles paying our mortgage when we first moved in, (and I mentioned our current situation living in a small 750 sq ft apartment with 3 kids). I told her that we would put them on hold, and suggested that she spend another weekend looking at other places, and we would (hopefully) look at other applicants; then after the weekend we would get back with her, and if they were still set on our place, we might consider giving them a chance.

My conversation with her made me think of a conversation a boss might have with a difficult employee, in which, instead of firing the employee, they talk about how the employee is "enjoying" his (or her) work. It seems that employees who are performing poorly are often unhappy with their job. The boss helps the employee figure out that he might be happier elsewhere, and the employee decides to quit. This way the employee doesn't feel like he's being kicked out, but that he's making the decision to leave to find a better job.

Hopefully Desiree felt that I was not flat out rejecting her and her family, but that out of concern for her and her family, I was helping her realize that they might be better off in a smaller less expensive place.

Now we just need to find other renters who are just as excited about our place, but who can afford to make the rent payment!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well, this will be brief. We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We spent Wed-Sat at my parents' house (3 nights). We decided that would be better than driving back and forth, about 75 minutes each way. It was nice to be away for a few days...I needed the break! I took my backpack, but didn't get much studying done, other than listening to an audiobook for my operations class. We had a high school Madrigals reunion Wed night at Salli June Allred's parents' house (Andersons)--it was very informal...only about ten people showed up, but it was fun to see people again. We had dinner at my parents' house Thursday, then at Lisa's dad's house Friday. Also, our renters had moved out of our house the week earlier, so we had to do the inspection on the house Friday, then we went Sat to do some cleaning and repairs (change out blinds, etc.). We left Lori and Owen at my parents, and Brad went to a movie with Lisa's sister Julie and her kids while Lisa and I worked on the house. Lori was sick with diahrrea and throwing up most the day (I felt bad for my mom having to clean up after her). My dad came with us to help me with the blinds at our house. But then he started feeling sick. Luckily he had driven separately, so he went home early and joined the throw up party, while Lisa and I finished up. The rest of us have remained healthy so far.

We only had one couple look at the house over the weekend. I'll have to write about them tomorrow. I need to go to bed...my alarm goes off in less than 6 hours!

The beginning...

Hello! This is the beginning of my new journal writing effort. I am near the end of my first semester in the MBA program at BYU. The biggest thing that I have learned this semester is the power of storytelling. I am writing a paper about it right now for my leadership class. Maybe I will post the paper on here when I am finished with it. Anyway, early in the semester we were advised to come up with several stories about our past performance (usually in the workplace) that we can share in job/internship interviews. I have found this process very difficult. One of my biggest challenges has been remembering the details of events that have happened in the past.

Throughout the semester I have learned that storytelling is good for more than just bragging about your accomplishments and abilities in a job interview--it is also a useful tool in leadership, to provide interesting and effective instruction, inspiring guidance, and persuasion in the workplace, in church, and at home.

So I've decided that in order for me to become a better storyteller I need to start writing in a journal. As I record events in my life, I will be able to remember them better and use them to create stories in the future.

Rather than using paper and pen, which takes up space, cramps up my hand, and is not easily searchable, I've decided to create an electronic journal. I thought about using MS Word, but then comes the question, do you create a new doc for each entry, or just have one long Word doc? It just seems cumbersome. I looked at journal writing software, but they are mostly from obscure software companies, and who knows if they'll be around to provide support later on...so I decided to just do a private blog. I've made it only viewable to the author (me), so it's still like a locked up journal under my bed, but I can access it from anywhere (with an internet connection), and it's searchable, and I can post pictures, etc. I might make it viewable to the public eventually...I mean, it's not like I'm planning on writing a bunch of juicy details that I want to hide from the world or anything...and even if I did, who would want to read MY blog?

Well...I'd better get back to writing my paper. Goodbye for now!