Archive by Author | Cheval John
October 1, 2016  

The Trend Heard Around Twitter #BOTPW

By Cheval John

The 91st edition of the Battle of The Piney Woods took place at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Saturday afternoon.

The rivalry between Sam Houston State University and Stephen F. Austin State University has become a part of the sports culture in the city of Houston.

Every year, the Battle of the Piney Woods has seen record crowds at NRG Stadium.

It really wasn’t a surprise that the Bearkats defeated the Lumberjacks 63-28 with twenty-eight of those points happening in the first quarter.

Maybe it was a surprise that SHSU’s quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe threw a Bearkat record of 7 touchdown passes in a single matchup against their rivals.

Or that the Bearkats (4-0 overall, 3-0 Southland Conference), also ranked No.2 in the country, had 653 total yards of offense, which was also the #botpw record.

If you were a Sam Houston State fan, you are happy to see this.

Even the people behind the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Twitter account have to agree.

If you are a Stephen F. Austin State University fan, you had to feel sick to your stomach as this lady pointed out in this tweet.

The biggest surprise is that the Battle of the Piney Woods hashtag #botpw was trending on Twitter.

I did not expect to see #botpw trending because normally college football matchups in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) would usually trend if these teams are colleges like the University of Texas, which of course trended after their epic lost to Oklahoma State.

The fact that a college football matchup between two FCS universities trended on Twitter shows how far this rivalry has come in the city of Houston.

Also, it shows how far the FCS has gained respect to a degree in the college football world.

You would only know about college football universities in the FCS level when national media outlets mainly ESPN would televised the NCAA FCS Championships.


Or if the FCS colleges are facing teams in the FBS.

The athletic administrators from the two universities along with the staff of Lone Star Sports and Entertainment were able to put together an awesome football matchup at NRG Stadium year after year.

And their hard work and dedication led to the Battle of the Piney Woods to stand out from the other college football matchups on Twitter.

This shows that if you want to stand out from the crowd, you need to put in the work and dedication to be successful in your business and career.

And also solve a problem for your audience because people will instantly trust you because you solved their problem.

September 17, 2016  

NDSU’s Win Against Iowa Is No Upset

By Cheval John

Teams from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) who scheduled teams from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) 95% of the time would get an easy win.

It would give them an opportunity to “practice” their football schemes in order to prepare for tougher matchups against competion in their respective conference.

Iowa thought they were going to get an easy win when they scheduled North Dakota State.

Even the analyst of ESPN gave NDSU a 9% chance of winning against Iowa.

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they lost to the Bison 23-21 in a walk-off field goal by Cam Pederson.

Maybe Iowa should have listened to Allie Davison.

I am not surprised that many are declaring this win by the Bison (3-0) an upset.

To be fair, it could be called an upset because football teams in the FBS has 85 athletic scholarships while teams in the FCS only has 63 athletic scholarships.

The win by North Dakota State should not be viewed as an upset because they are 9-3 against FBS teams.

They have the belief that they can beat anybody whether it is an FCS or an FBS team because they know their strength of running the football will wear them out.-

That is why it is no accident that they have won five consecutive FCS National Championships and could possibly win their 6th championship next year.

Small businesses must have the mentality that they can beat the larger corporations in the same manner that North Dakota State defeats FBS colleges.

Unfortunately, most small businesses do not have the winning attitude because they believe that they don’t have the marketing budget, the staff or the infrastructure to cdmpete against larger businesses.

If North Dakota State had went into the matchups with the mindset that they can’t win against the FBS college teams, then they would have wind up losing those football matchups.

Instead, the Bison believed in their strong work ethic and their strength of running the football and knew that they could defeat anyone.

Small businesses must understand that their strengths in building a loyal following on social media, putting out uplifting and quality content through their blogs, podcasts, live video streams and free reports can help them to stand out from their competition.

Most large businesses would not even consider putting out content about their industry because they believe they might be put out of business if their competitors find out their secrets that have made them successful.

When you have the mentality that you can succeed in your business with less resources, you will see the positive outcomes of your business.

And the masses will wonder how did you outlast the larger businesses who had the larger marketing budget to succeed.

September 4, 2016  

The Nation Is Recognizing #HTownTakeover

By Cheval John, September 3rd, 2016

The #HTownTakeover has officially been recognized by the USA.

It should be called the University of Houston potentially crashing the College Football Playoff party.

The reason is that Houston dismantled the defending Big 12 Champion University of Oklahoma 33-23 in front of a sellout 71,016 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

UH students, faculty, alumni and even the city of Houston are celebrating this epic win against a top-ten opponent.

The Cougars solidified the hype of possibly being the first team from a non-power 5 conference to make the four-team playoff.

It also makes a case for UH to be included in the Big 12 Conference.

Here is Elissa Rivas, a reporter and anchor of ABC 13 Houston responding to this tweet about the Big 12 proposal by UH

And the Houston Astros was watching the matchup during batting practice in preparation for their second game against the Texas Rangers

And UH President and Chancellor of the UH System, Dr. Renu Khator, echos the statement about the win against OU as a statement matchup.

So why is it that UH is all of a sudden the talk of the town

It has to do with their head coach Tom Herman.

Before Coach Herman arrived, UH was an above average football program under the previous head coach Tony Levine.

Coach Herman set a winning culture in the football team and even implored the college students to attend their home matchups.

And the #HTownTakeOver took root on the UH Campus and later in the city of Houston after they won the American Athletic Conference title, then the Peach Bowl against Florida State.

I can argue that former UH softball coach Kyla Holas built the program from the ground up and made them a powerhouse in collegiate sports.

Since UH softball or any other women’s sports does not garner the attention like football and basketball, they are left in the shadows of the money-revenue sports of collegiate athletics.

With the above being told, they are a few lessons that anyone can learn from the recent success of the UH Football Team.

1. You Must Have A Winning Mindset

Though the UH Football Team did not have any top recruits like their counterparts in the Power Five Conferences, they developed the mindset that they could beat any collegiate football team in the country.

They understood that to develop that winning mindset, they had to work as a team

Dave Sanderson explained on my show, What’s The Word, that the passengers of the US Airways Flight 1549 survived the plane crash because they worked together to escape the sinking plane

In the same way, we must have the mindset that we can succeed in our business and careers because sooner or later, the success will come to past.

2. You Must Be Laser-Focused on Your Goals

In the midst of the noise that UH could go to the Big 12 Conference, the coaching staff reminded the team of their goal of winning the AAC championship this season.

They understood that they had to beat OU if they wanted the collegiate football world to take them seriously as a football team.

As business owners, we hear all the noise of the rise of a new social media platforms that can revolutionize our business and that we need to be on there.

We need to stay laser focused on our goals that will eventually lead to the success of our business.

3. You Must Surround Yourself With Like-Minded People

The UH Football Program would not have achieved their success had it not been for the administration under Dr. Khator.

Dr. Khator invested money into the athletic department that allowed them to improve the stadiums around the UH campus.

And since UH Football is the main draw for the university, they are determined to keep Coach Herman at the university as long as Dr. Khator continues to believe in the athletic programs.

You must surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams of a successful career or business because they will lift you up to the next level.

The places to find like-minded people is at conferences and networking events.

And you can jump-start the friendships on social media in group chats because you will be able to build trust with your potential customer or business partner.

As I conclude this blost post for better, here are a few group chats on Twitter to consider joining:

Twitter Smarter hosted by Madalyn Sklar

Biz Heroes hosted by Paper.Li

ChatSnap hosted by Kristy Gillentine

Viral Chat hosted by Post Planner

Influencer Chat, hosted by Rebekah Radice, Ann Tran and Diana Adams

HootChat, hosted by Hootsuite

VC Buzz, hosted by Ann Smarty

Media Chat, hosted by Aaron Kilby

Millennial Talk, hosted by Chelsea Krost

Dare To Be, Hosted by Andrea Sanchez

Blog Chat, hosted by Mack Collier

Lets Live Stream, hosted by Rachel Moore

August 27, 2016  

Building “Momentum” In Your Business

By Cheval John

Courtesy of mariaross.com

Courtesy of mariaross.com

I had the opportunity to chat with Maria Ross, owner of Red Slice on my podcast, What’s The Word.

Maria is a brand strategist and the author of “Branding Basics for Small Business: How To Create An Irresistable Brand, Rebooting My Brain, and The Juicy Guide Series For Entrepreneurs.

I had Maria back on the show to chat about her upcoming group coaching program, “Momentum“* which is set to begin on September 5th.

She has been one of a few people who made an appearance three times or more since I began the show over three years ago.

Maria is a lady who is on demand for interviews from national media, local media, bloggers and podcasters because she shares uplifting content that solves people’s problems.

Her story of becoming an entrepreneur is refreshing because she guides her audience through the ups and downs she faced when she was building her business.

And she will tell the truth like it is because she sees how marketing has gotten a bad reputation over the years because of a few people who cut corners.

Maria is one of the reasons why I host my show because I want to learn from entrepreneurs and business professionals who have succeeded in their careers without cutting corners to achieve their success.

And I know that entrepreneurs, sports organizations and business professionals will get valuable lessons from Maria Ross after listening to her interview.

Disclosure* I am not an affiliate of the Momentum program

August 20, 2016  

Choose Your Social Media Platforms Wisely

By Cheval John

It seems like every few months we see the next big social media platform that would benefit us.

It’s a mad rush to jump onto that social media platform because of the fear of missing out.

In the last year and a half, live streaming platforms like Periscope, Snapchat, Blab have changed the game of how many businesses market themselves.

Then Facebook’s subsidiary, Instagram “created” Instagram Stories” about three weeks ago to rival Snapchat.

And recently, Google announced that they are shutting down Google + Hangouts On Air and moving their users to YouTube Live starting on September 12th.

It is understandable of why so many people are jumping onto live streaming platforms.

The advertising dollars are now in live streaming according to this New York Times article.

You might hear from many telling you that you need to be on this live streaming platform or that live streaming platform because many of your fellow entrepreneurs or professionals are there.

So a person can wonder which live streaming/social media platform should they or their business be on.

The answer is “it depends on where your audience is and which live streaming/social media platform you feel comfortable using.”

For example, the Sam Houston State University athletic department are only on Youtube, Instagram (Facebook) and Twitter because their audience want to see highlights from the sporting matchups that their teams participate in.

Ashley Johnson, owner of Mouth Marketing, LLC, told me on my show, What’s The Word, that she is not using Instagram Stories because they integrated Snapchat like features in their platform.


Ashley also said that she does not use Snapchat and was getting used to Instagram.

And for myself, I only use Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and LinkedIn because I feel comfortable using these platforms above.

Plus, I am trying out the live streaming platforms like Firetalk and Huzza.io to see which one works well for my podcast recordings (I was using Blab before they shut down their live streaming platform last weekend).

You do not want to jump onto the next big live streaming platform because other tells you to.

What you should do is focus on the social media/live streaming platform that works well for your business and your personal brand.

If you try to be great at all of the social media platforms, you will wind up burning yourself out and create a bad digital trail of your social media presence.

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