Archive | December 2014

Focus On Fulfilling Your Goals in 2015

By Cheval John

shutterstock_220296967 (1)

2014 is coming to a close.

By the time of this writing, 2015 has already commenced in Australia, Japan and other parts of Asia.

People always make New Year’s Resolutions leading up to the New Year only to break them about two or three weeks later.

What they do is make those resolutions based out of shame according to brand strategist, Michelle Van Otten.

So how do you keep your “New Year’s Resolutions” if you keep on breaking them?

Michelle shared that an alternative to a New Year’s resolutions is creating a vision board.

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(Warning: It get’s a little explicit between 34-38 minute)

You might wonder what is a vision board?

A vision board allows you to map out your goals for the New Year and to be specific on how to achieve those goals.

Vision boards also allows you to be held accountable to anyone who have seen it because it forces you to actually fulfill those goals.

I had the opportunity to create a vision board before this year when I discovered this concept from a few people who have vision board parties.

I even wrote out my declaration for this year here

I will say that I did not fulfill all of my goals for this year.

Does that make me a failure?

Not really.

The reason is because I had made a whole lot of progress this year and even fulfilled life long dreams that were not part of the goals like:

-Wrote two books in 2014

-Called two collegiate softball games at my alma mater, Sam Houston State

-Witness the SHSU Bowling Team win the school’s first ever NCAA Division I National Championship

-Connected with amazing people on social media, especially Twitter (fulfilled that goal for the New Year)

-Discovered Twitter Chats and learning about the new trends of Social Media

-Heard Chris Guillebeau speak at a book signing event for his new book, “The Happiness of Pursuit.”

-Celebrated my 100th episode of “What’s The Word?”

-Interviewed Susan Campbell Cross, author of “The FabYouList”

-Interviewed Donny Most, formerly of “Happy Days.”

So even if you do not meet all of your goals, it still does not hurt to put together a vision board.

As Mrs Cross said and I am paraphrasing, “Though you do not fulfill your goals at a certain point does not mean that you fail. As long as you fulfill those goals, then you accomplish a lot.”

Now that you have seen an alternative to a “New Year’s Resolution,” my hope is that everyone will fulfill their goals and make this world a better place.

And to keep up with this tradition of vision boards, here is my vision for what I want to accomplish in 2015.

Wishing everyone a fantastic New Year.

What are your goals for the New Year? You can leave your comments below.

Photo courtesy of www.personalbrandingblog.com

Social Media “Rock Stars” To Watch In 2015

By Cheval John

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As we are about three days away from welcoming in the New Year, one might have to wonder what the future holds for social media?

We can follow the trends of where social media is going and how businesses needs to adjust their marketing strategy to be successful.

Even though, it is important to look at the evolution of social media, one thing will always remain: SOCIAL MEDIA IS ALL ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS.

Companies are slowly realizing that if they want to be successful with social media, they have to engage with their audience, especially with the Millennial population of 80 million.

According to a statistic that was brought up by Rebekah Radice, digital marketing strategist, in a Twitter Chat held by Buffer regarding millennials, “63% say they keep up with companies on social.”

The old way of doing business, “putting ads in front of prospective customers to close a sale quickly” is long gone.

If companies do not engage with their audience, they will end up losing valuable customers, which will affect their bottom line.

One suggestion I would make for businesses who want to get social media right is follow these people who are either rising or established “rock stars” on social media in 2015:

TAMARA MCCLEARY @TamaraMcCleary

Tamara McCleary is one lady I believe is using social media the right way.

Mrs. McCleary, who is a national speaker and the creator of the RelationShift method, grew her Twitter followers to over 36,000 since joining the platform about a year ago.

Tamara understands the importance of building relationships and engaging with your audience.

That is why she is someone everyone should be paying attention to.

BRIAN FANZO @isocialFanz

Brian Fanzo is a person who is probably the king of multi-tasking.

Fanzo, who is the Chief Digital Strategist and Partner at BroadSuite, attends so many twitter chats (some at the same time) that he understands the importance of building a community.

He has written a lot of guest posts for Daniel Newman’s Millennial CEO blog and recently launched and cohost a podcast called “iSocialTalks” with Mr. Newman.

RACHEL MILLER @RachelLouMiller

Rachel Miller is the Chief Listener for Pipeliner CRM, a next generation software that uses distinguished visual tools to help salespeople interact with and improve their sales pipeline.

Ms. Miller is the co-host of the Social Selling Hour #sshour (now #SBizHour), with Mr. Fanzo.

The Twitter Chat showcases the right ways to interact with your audience and also brings in guests from different industries who have been successful with social media.

The unique thing about the chat is that people can also listen in on the conversation because it is hosted on Google Hangouts in addition to Twitter.

That is why it has become so popular since it was launched seven months ago because of the innovation by Ms. Miller and Mr. Fanzo.

LORRIE GUERRIERI @MovyStream

Lorrie Guerrieri is the Community Manager at Joyce Co.

She helps build relationships with industry experts, investors and consumers for the company.

What is really amazing about Lorrie is her authenticity and willingness to share valuable information that will make other people lives better.

One of the ways she has made their lives better is with the product, Movy Stream.

This platform allows anyone to send personalized video messages to friends, family etc.

Also, Movy Stream can help co-workers or entrepreneurs to collaborate on different work presentations.

Lorrie is a person that everyone should keep an eye on in 2015 because she is going to take her career and Movy Stream to the next level.

So hopefully, businesses will follow these people that are listed here in this post to learn about building relationships with their audience.

One thing is for certain, I am learning a whole lot from them and also getting better everyday with social media.

Who will you follow on social media to learn more about building authentic relationships in 2015? You can leave your comment below.

Photo courtesy of www.smrockstar.tumblir.com

Why Being An Underdog Is Great

By Cheval John

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Being an underdog can be at times frustrating because many people do not believe that you will succeed.

We see it almost every time in sporting events, especially in championship games where a team is heavily favored to win while many write off the other.

Of course, being an underdog happens in real life outside of sports as well.

Like when people label someone as not having a chance to succeed in life if they drop out of school and not obtain a college degree.

The truth of the matter is if you are an underdog, you are in a prime position to prove the doubters wrong.

Here are two examples of those who overcame the odds to be successful:

THE 2014 SAM HOUSTON STATE FOOTBALL TEAM

The Bearkat football team had a huge turnover in personnel leading up to this year’s season.

Most of the players who were apart of the most victorious team in program history had graduated.

The architect of the team who led the squad to two consecutive Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) National Championship appearances, Willie Fritz, accepted the job at Georgia Southern.

With a new head coach in K.C. Keeler and a majority of the squad being new including 17 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) transfers, the Kats were selected to finish third in the Southland Conference (SLC).

It seemed as if the predictions were going to come true as the Bearkats had a 1-3 start, including a loss to the eventual Division II National Champion, Colorado State-Pueblo, which ended a 22-game home winning streak at Bowers Stadium.

Even I gave up on the team for this season.

However, the Bearkats kept a positive mindset, believed in each other and won seven out of the final eight games in the regular season to clinch a share of the SLC title and the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.

Sam Houston kept their momentum going with three consecutive victories over three-top 10 ranked teams before falling to three-time FCS National Champion, North Dakota State at the FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota during the semifinals.

The Bearkats are more optimistic about their chances at making it back to the playoffs and even winning a national championship.

DARRIN BENTLEY

Darrin Bentley is someone everyone should pay attention to in 2015.

I had the opportunity to interview him on my show, “What’s The Word?” earlier this month.

Mr. Bentley is the founder and host of Big Wig Nation, a weekly show that showcases highly successful people in different industries.

The podcast has been on the air for five months.

But it already has close to 100,000 downloads.

What is really amazing about Mr. Bentley is that he is very transparent and authentic.

He shared in his bio of the podcast’s website that he is a high school dropout.

Now if a person don’t graduate high school and move on to college, they have a slim chance at having a successful career according to a report by The Atlantic.

However, Mr. Bentley overcame the odds and worked his way up from the mailroom to a 6-figure salary on Wall Street and now as an entrepreneur.

So if you feel that everything is not going your way or feel like no one believes in you, celebrate.

Because once you achieve success, the ones who doubted you before, will all of a sudden applaud you for overcoming the odds to be successful.

Have you ever felt like an underdog? You can share your comments below.

Video courtesy of The Bearkat Sports Network

Photo Courtesy of www.fm-base.co.uk

Twas The Flights Before Christmas

By Cheval John

Twas the flights before Christmas and everyone is trying to get home.

Some to see their family.

Some to see their friends.

Some people are going to distant places to escape the cold winter

While others are going to just recharge their batteries from a productive year.

If a person is flying to a different time zone like China and Japan, they made the decision to leave two days before Christmas.

Now if they decided to leave a day before Christmas, they will have the unique experience to celebrate the majority of the holiday on a flight with wi-fi and first class.

However, if they are flying to Europe to see the different cultures and the way of living.

They will have the luxury of celebrating Christmas with Belgian waffles in hand.

If you are living in one of the greatest cities in the United States like the Houston, Texas area, your Christmas present arrived early with the opportunity to see the arrival of Emirates’ A380.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

SHSU Defeats Prairie View 61-44

Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information

Jabari Peters went 5-of-7 from the field to score 12 points to lead Sam Houston to a 61-44 non-conference men’s basketball victory over Prairie View A&M Saturday afternoon.

After the Panthers scored the first basket, Sam Houston never trailed, building a 23-point lead in the second half.

Jayrn Johnson and Karim York each scored 10 points to lead Prairie View. The Panthers dropped to 1-10 for the year. Sam Houston, undefeated at home this year in five games, is 7-4 for the season.

The Bearkats out-boarded Prairie View 42-26 with DeMarcus Gatlin, Michael Holyfield and Aurimas Majauskas each pulling down seven rebounds.

The Panthers kept things close during the first nine minutes of the game. Sam Houston led by only two, 14-12, with 10:58 left in the half.

A layup by Aurimas Majauskas started a 14-1 Bearkat run. A jumper by Majauskas put Sam Houston up 28-13 with 3:38 left. The Kats went into the locker run with a 17-point lead, 34-17.

Sam Houston State now breaks for the Christmas holidays. Next action for the Kats is Monday, December 29, when the SHSU men play host to Howard Payne in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Johnson Coliseum.

The Bearkats open Southland Conference action Saturday, January 3, with a home matchup with Incarnate Word.