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May 20, 2016  

Giving Your Fans Unique Access To Your Business

By Cheval John


The Sevilla Football Club (FC) made history a couple of days ago in Basel, Switzerland.

The Spanish club defeated Liverpool F.C. 3-1 to win their third consecutive UEFA Europa League Championship and also the only club to win the title five times.

Sevilla again qualified for the UEFA Champions League season for next year.

They also have another opportunity to play for the UEFA Super Cup against the winner of the Champions League final that is set to occur next Saturday in Milan, Italy.

Some will probably not make a big deal out of Sevilla’s dominance in the Europa League because it is not as well known to the casual fan like the Champions League.

It is comparable to the fact that North Dakota State, who became the first collegiate team to win 5 consecutive national championships, because many view their competition as inferior due to the level that they play in, the Football Championship Subdivision, (FCS).

But the thing is that Sevilla is one among the most storied soccer teams in this century because they are finding ways to win tough matches.

In this year’s championship, Sevilla was down 1-0 entering the second half.

Then they scored three goals in the second half to steal the title from Liverpool.

This matchup was widely broadcast on television stations around the world especially on Fox Sports, the spanish equivalent Fox Deportes and ESPN Deportes.

For those who wanted to watch this matchup probably did not have access to these channels because they could not afford the cable channels above.

What would have happened if these sports teams give their fans a unique access to championship matchups by using the live streaming apps like Periscope and Snapchat?

I have a feeling that these sports teams would have built a stronger and deeper following like the North Carolina State Wrestling Team.

I heard of how the NC State Wrestling used periscope to give the alumni and fans access to the NCAA Wrestling Championships from Jennifer Hoverstad, livestreamer, Operations and Project Manager for 03.

That is truly awesome because the NC State wrestling team knew that most of their fans would not be able to watch them compete on ESPN3.

Also, the team listened to what the NC State alumni wanted and were able to solve the problem by giving them access to the NCAA championships.

This is why businesses should take the time to listen to what their audience want and not just try to sell to them whenever they have a chance.

When the businesses and sports teams follow the example of the NC State wrestling team and Mrs. Hoverstad, they will be one step closer to being extremely successful in their business.

May 3, 2016  

Leicester City Proved Their Doubters Wrong

By Cheval John

Nobody believed that Leicester City was going to win the English Premier League (EPL) title when the season began.

They had every reason to believe it because the club, who are nicknamed “the foxes” barely survived regulation by finishing 14th in the EPL.

Leceister City had a 5,000 to 1 chance to win the championship and those who made a wager on the team were probably believed to be foolish.

The clubs who normally win the EPL are the top teams who have the budget to sign the elite players to help them achieve the championship.

Leicester City achieved the impossible and won the EPL title after Tottenham finished their matchup in a 2-2 draw against Chelsea F.C.

This historic win has garnered international media and social media attention.

Even if you are not a soccer fan, you have to appreciate the magnitude of this historic title run by Leicester City.

The club was founded in 1884 and have once finished second during the 1928-29 season in the English top division of football (EPL was formed in 1992).

This historic championship run also proved to be a statement for their head coach Claudio Ranieri.

Twelve years ago, Ranieri was told by the Chelsea F.C. ownership during his firing that he would never win a EPL title.

And the fact that he led Leicester City to a championship is poetic justice.

They did not complain about the “lack of resources” or the “lack of talent” that they had compared to the teams like Manchester United and Chelsea F.C.

Leicester City had the mindset to believe that they could compete in the EPL.

They were to a large degree the ultimate underdog in the EPL.

This story of Leicester City applies to us who are in business for ourselves.

We might believe that we can’t compete with the large businesses because it seems like they have all the resources to market their products or services.

Not only can we compete against the large businesses with the lack of resources, we can win too because we are creative and we understand how to build a loyal customer base through social media.

If we can share valuable content and be human in our story telling, we can win over customers and succeed for the better.

Just like Art Jones, Jed Record and Kristy Gillentine who shared with my audience on What’s The Word? about how they use snapchat to tell their stories of running their businesses.

So you don’t need money or the resources to succeed in your business or win a championship if you are a sports team.

All you need is the growth mindset to believe that you can succeed in your business and life.

When you have the unlimited belief that you can succeed in your business, you will achieve unlimited success and bring inspiration to a lot of people like Leicester City did to their fans.

April 9, 2016  

Building Your Audience Through Twitter Chats

By Cheval John

Carrie Morgan

Carrie Morgan


Professional sports teams have used traditional advertising through television and radio in order to build a loyal fan base.

If you are an entrepreneur and are thinking of writing your first book, you should focus on having a loyal audience first.

Most publishers will not take you on as an newbie author if you don’t have that audience because they are in the business of making money.

And even if you are a self-published author, you must market in order to have a lot of book sales.

You might be thinking, “How do I build a loyal audience?”

One tactic that you can try is hosting a twitter chat.

When you host a twitter chat on a particular topic like public relations, you will be interacting with a lot of like-minded professionals who want to help each other to succeed.

Carrie Morgan built her audience through her #prprochat, got a publisher and launched her first book, “Above The Noise” which was endorsed by social media influencers like Gini Dietrich, Jay Baer and Ann Handley.

Ms. Morgan chatted with me on “What’s The Word?” about how she came up with the idea for her book and also why she went the entrepreneurial route.

Here is the interview below:

March 11, 2016  

The Explosive Growth Of Podcasts

By Cheval John

It was during the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) National Championship matchup between Sam Houston State and North Dakota State that I had a true idea of what podcasting was all about.

I was covering the matchup for the blog of the school newspaper and a colleague who was working for the Huntsville Item at the time chatted about the beginning stages for his podcast.

Before the matchup, we did a podcast along with the sports editor of the school newspaper about the keys that both teams needed to win the national championship.

I did not think more about podcasting for a while until I saw an article by Eventual Millionaire host Jaime Masters on Social Media Examiner about why a person should start a podcast

That was when I realized that I needed to begin a podcast.

The problem was that I did not have enough money for podcast equipment.

Then when I saw about hosting your very own radio show on BlogTalkRadio with just a computer and a phone courtesy of Chelsea Krost‘s show, I knew that was where I was going to launch my podcast.

Since then I have been growing my show steadily and using blab to record my show which later appears on BlogTalkRadio.

And many entrepreneurs are now reaching potential customers via podcast.

This infographic below by CopyBlogger explains the rise of podcasts and why now is the time to have your very own podcast.

From 2003 to 2016: The Astounding Growth of Podcasting [Infographic]

Like this infographic? Get content marketing advice that works from Copyblogger.

And to finish this article, here are a couple of podcast episodes from What’s The Word? featuring guests Janette Speyer of Web Success Team and Natasha Davis of Impact Branding Consulting.

Janette Speyer

Natasha Davis

Have you thought about podcasting? If so, how has podcasting helped your business? You can leave a comment below.

February 24, 2016  

Everyone “Benefits” From Oil And Gas

By Cheval John

February 23rd, 2016

Photo Courtesy of Art Institute.edu

Photo Courtesy of Art Institute.edu


Houston has it advantages and disadvantages of being the energy capital of the world.

One of the advantages is being the location of 26 Fortune 500 companies behind New York City.

The other advantage is being the host of the 35th annual IHS CERA Week at the Hilton-Americas Houston hotel in downtown Houston.

The conference brings together executives, policymakers and government officials from around the world to discuss about the future of energy and the inconsistencies of the oil and gas industry.

One could say that this conference was timely because of the drop in price for oil in recent months.

Some quotes from the conference on Twitter includes:

For the ordinary consumer, this would be seem to be like great news because of the low cost of gasoline in most of the USA.

They would believe that they deserve a huge break after the years of paying high prices for gasoline.

What they fail to understand is that the recession in the oil and gas industry have an indirect effect on other industries as well.

Case in point, Houston.

The Bayou City had grown over the years due to the oil and gas industry.

Marcellius Foster, a former resident of Huntsville, Texas, became wealthy due to his investment in the discovery of oil at Spindletop and founded the Houston Chronicle in 1901.

And when the recession hit most of the country, Houston was able to offset the recession because the oil and gas was able to boost up their local economy.

And over those years, those who become millionaires due to the oil and gas industry gave the city of Houston their own respective sports teams like the Houston Astros (1962), the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans,) the Houston Rockets (1971) and the Houston Texans (2002).

But when the oil bust happened in the late 80s, Houston felt the worst of that failure because the majority of their economy was in the oil and gas.
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And though Houston has diversified their economy since the oil bust, businesses will still experience the sting of the oil and gas industry indirectly.

An example would be the restaurants and coffee shops.

And when most of the employees gets laid off from most of the Fortune 500 companies due to the current recession in the oil and gas, it affects them because they cater to these same employees.

So in the long run, everyone is affected by the oil and gas industry.

And if they want to avoid the affects of the oil and gas industry, they will have to build a strong online presence by sharing valuable content through their blogs, podcasts, video etc. about their expertise in the oil and gas industry.

They will also have to be as transparent as possible and participate in group chats on social media platforms.

Because when they have a strong network that they built while they were working in the oil and gas industry and have a loyal audience through social media, they will have a 80% chance of gaining work whether as an employee or an entrepreneur when the layoffs happened to them.

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