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February 19, 2016  

Working The Second Shift

By Cheval John

Most entrepreneurs begin their businesses while they are working full time for their respective companies.

When they finish their duties for the day as an employee, they go to work on their business for the better.

Dr. Harold Arnold describes these part-time entrepreneurs who are building their businesses in the term of working the second shift.

He came out with the book, Second Shift, and shared about how he wrote the book on “Starve The Doubts,” with host Jared Easley, where I served as one of the co-host of the show along with fellow co-host Renee Groskreutz for this episode.

Professional athletes are in a lot of ways like part-time entrepreneurs because they are competing on a daily basis compete in their respective sports.

Everyday on national media outlets like ESPN, NBC, we hear from pundits on what these athletes did or did not do to help their team win.

Their identity are immediately connected to the sports they play.

And most of these athletes are working in their second shift when they are building their very own businesses during their off season.

They understand that they have to do something different once they retire from their respective sports.

So in a lot of ways, part-time entrepreneurs can relate to professional athletes.

And there is nothing wrong with starting your business on the side while you are an employee.

As long as that businesses does not conflict with your place of work either in the sports industry, public relations industry, etc.

February 16, 2016  

The Flexibility of An Online Business

By Cheval John

Soccer (as the world calls football) is one of the most unique sports ever created.

The sport is played in all of the 193 sovereign countries and all of the about 50 territories of the world.

Soccer’s success can attribute to a lot of tournaments that includes the FIFA’s World Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

For the athletes that plays soccer, it allows them to build a foundation that can set them and their families to break the poverty that the majority of them grew up in.

Another benefit that athletes have in playing soccer is the opportunity to travel the world.

They can interact with a new culture that is different than theirs and also improve their soccer skills that can benefit their respective national team.

In a lot of ways, creating an online business can allow you to work from anywhere in the world.

According to this 2014 Internet Retailer article, they are between 12- 24 million online businesses in the world today.

That makes it easy for a business owner to work from anywhere in the world and run their business.

And to add on the fact that social media has made it more manageable to interact with their prospective customers everyday, the business owner can succeed from any location in the world for the better.

Now if you have a business and you are not on social media, you are very invisible.

The reason being is that your potential customers are already on social media and are making their decision of whether to buy from a business or not based on what they see from their peers on social media.

Another reason why a business owner should be on social media is because half the world are on social media according this Fortune article.

Ahna Hendrix, who is the founder and CEO of Arch Digital Agency, was very smart in building her online presence while she was in college before creating her business.

Ahna shared with me on What’s The Word? about how her travels indirectly helped her to form her business and why many people should embrace social media.

She also chatted about her podcast, “Behind The Brand with Ahna,” which she records on the live streaming platform, Blab.

In conclusion, the internet has opened doors for anyone to run an online business and build strong friendships through social media.

If a person uses social media correctly, they can have a long lasting business that will allow them to travel and also make the world a better place.

January 23, 2016  

Established Companies Needs To Engage On Social Media

By Cheval John

In the age of social media. it is important to build trust with your audience if you want to succeed.

There is no more putting out advertisement in hopes of making a sale like it was before social media.

Unfortunately, many businesses have not got the message that engaging with your audience on social media is the only way to be successful.

The only time you would see them on social media is if they have something to sell to their followers.

In a lot of ways, I understand why they believe that they can do business as usual because they are already established in their respective industries.

For example, Coca-Cola has been in business since 1886 and they have built a strong brand throughout the years.

Take a look at this tweet that documents Coca-Cola’s relevancy in the world

That is why when they or any other established organizations like Pepsi, American Airlines or celebrities join any social media platform, they have a large following very quickly.

Now what would have happened if social was around in the 19th century or the 20th century when these same organizations like Coca-Cola was starting out?

Would they have been doing a lot of self-promotion about their products or services?

No, they won’t.

What they would have been doing is building trust and friendships with people in order to gain business and be profitable for the better.

One could believe that what they were doing before the age of social media.

But we do know is that they established themselves with old school advertising in newspapers and television stations in order to gain recognition.

That is why most large companies can get away with promoting their products or services on social media because they have an established audience.

One could wish that most larger companies will take the time to engage with their audience to build a deeper trust with their brands.

The good news is that some larger companies are taking the initiative to adapt to the changing times of social media and live streaming platforms like most small business owners, entrepreneurs or solopreneurs.

Examples of larger company who are doing well with social media are Applebee’s.

Applebee’s are doing the same thing in buying ads and using social media to promote their different type of foods on social media like their competition.

They were the official sponsor of ESPN‘s Monday Night Countdown which get fans ready for the already established Monday Night Football between teams that are part of the National Football League (NFL).

Applebee’s could have said, “We don’t need to do more because we are already recognized by millions of people.”

But they didn’t because they understood that if they were going to succeed in social media, they had to engage with their audience.

So they went the extra mile and participate in different social media group chats and even host their own Twitter chat every Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. eastern, noon central called #livelunch, where they chat about different topics related to food.

People who are food lovers can interact with each other in the #livelunch chat and share about their favorite foods.

In turn, Applebee’s wins because they build a deeper trust with their audience because of their transparency.

Take a look at this tweet from AppleBee’s in asking Marsha Collier to be a part of their #livelunch twitter chat and Ms. Collier’s response to their invitation:

This alone shows why Applebee’s will be fine in this social media age.

Another thing that is happening is that most of these larger businesses are hiring people who are succeeding at social media to teach them how to succeed with social media.

One of the influencers that larger businesses are hiring is Tamara McCleary.

Mrs. McCleary is one of the most influential person on social media because she showcases her personality and brings a positive energy that draws people to her speaking engagements.

Tamara also provides insights to why people cannot separate their personal and business lives because they both are interconnected with each other.

Her signature trademark, “Relationshift” showcases that if you are going to be successful in your business, you must know how to treat people correctly and uplift them to be better people.

When people do the above, they will be successful.

Her Maverick Mastery Group program gets to the root of helping people to figure out what they want to accomplish in their lifetime so that they can make the world a better place.

That is why many businesses like IBM have brought on Tamara to work with them on how to be better organizations because she uses the same methods from her coaching program that have made them better businesses

And I know this because I am a part of Mr. McCleary’s Maverick Coaching Program.

You see, she has earned my trust because she always bring valuable content everyday whether it is through social media with uplifting quotes or her uplifting content from her blog.

And she has also shared her story of how she became a national speaker on my show What’s The Word?” that has inspired me and the listeners to continue to be better people and make the world a better place.

So in the end, a business must provide uplifting content that will allow them to build trust with potential clients if they are going to succeed for the better with social media.

Even if they will not become your customers, they will spread the word about your business to their friends and family about how your business made their lives better which in turn, made the world a better place.

January 12, 2016  

College Football Playoff’s Impact on Phoenix

By Cheval John January 11th, 2016

Tonight, the nation will see who will win the College Football Playoff National Championship matchup between No.1 Clemson Tigers and the No.2 Alabama Crimson Tide in Glendale, Arizona on ESPN.

Everyone will expect Alabama to win their 11th national championship in the sport of football and fourth in seven years because they have a tradition of winning.

Many can almost compare Alabama to an NFL powerhouse because of the way their head coach, Nick Saban run the program.

No one would expect Clemson, who is seeking their second ever national title, to beat Alabama despite being the lone undefeated team in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

History have a way of repeating itself.

Clemson’s last national title in 1981 has some similarities.

In that year, they opened the season against Wofford, an Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent en route to their first championship.

In the 2015 season, the Tigers opened their matchup against Wofford.

Just maybe, Clemson will pull off the shocking upset.

What is really interesting is the way the coverage of the national championship game has been displayed leading up to the matchup.

ESPN, the world wide leader in sports, have been broadcasting the events and interviews with the football players and the coaches today.

You can at times have a sense of the atmosphere that the fans of both Clemson and Alabama are experiencing at the pre-championship football matchup events.

You might come to a conclusion that the events is almost like the Super Bowl.

And you can expect to see major corporations and non-profits capitalizing on the opportunities to promote their uplifting services and products during the national championship game.

Looking at these tweets below:

And even some are using this matchup to promote their causes.

Like this tweet from the U.S. Fish and Wild Life

And let’s not leave out the SEC Network:

And this tweet from the College Football Playoff

Now with all of the media attention that the national championship is getting, you can expect the Phoenix metropolitan area to benefit financially from this.

In a lot of ways, Phoenix is benefiting tremendously from the media exposure that they are receiving.

But from an insider’s perspective, the media attention that they receive is only when a major event like the Super Bowl or in this case, the national championship, happens in their surrounding area.

Monique Hoffmann, a.k.a. Q The Brand, shared with me on the live streaming platform called Blab, that many people don’t know about the positive offerings that the Phoenix area gives to businesses.

She also brought a bigger perspective on the fact that many large businesses are not taking advantage of social media to promote their businesses for the better.

She also mentioned that if they do use social media, they are looking for the quick return on investment (ROI) and not looking at the long term positive results due to their efforts from being on social media.

It is like they miss the boat on the fact that they have to build trust with their customers and fans if they want to be successful.

And the most interesting thing that was mentioned in the blab show about the College Football Playoff by Clair Wyant, a fellow Phoenix resident as Q The Brand, is that Clemson Athletics have been utilizing social media the correct way to build further trust and engagement with their students, faculty and alumni base.

So in essence, Clemson understands the true value of social media.

So if you can continue to use social media correctly to build a loyal audience, you can succeed in your business as an small business owner or solopreneur for the better.

As for my predictions regarding the national championship matchup, my intuition says that Clemson will pull off the shocking upset and win their second national championship.

December 19, 2015  

Creativity Always Outshines Talent

By Cheval John

When Air Zealand made it’s inaugural landing at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) on Tuesday, it became an historic event.

The reason is that Houston became the first city in North America and the 6th city globally, to have non-stop flights to cities in all 6 continents of the world.

Normally, an airport that has more airlines and space, like Los Angeles International Airport should be able to accomplish the feat.

That was not the case.

IAH has a total of 36 gates in their international terminals (Terminal D for foreign carriers and Terminal E for United’s International flights).

While the largest airports in the world like (Los Angeles) has more international gates.

So why is it that Houston became the 6th city in the world to serve cities in all 6 continents and Los Angeles did not.

Well, Houston was very creative in how they use their airport to co-ordinate international flights and the foreign carriers shares the ticket counter in Terminal D.

Meaning certain international flights from foreign carriers flies in the morning time (Asia), then others fly in the afternoon (European), while the rest flies in the night time (Middle East and some Asian flights).

That is why Houston was able to succeed with the limited resources they had.

When most people have limited resources, the first thing they do is make excuses on why they can’t succeed with their business.

They are not seeing it as an opportunity to use their creativity and in the process stand out from their competition in their businesses.

In the same way like IAH, the Kansas City Royals made their second consecutive World Series appearance and won it this time.

Kansas City does not have a huge payroll like the New York Yankees to bring in the most talented baseball players in Major League Baseball.

They used what was given to them in talent and developed their baseball players to compete year in and year out.

Plus, each of the Kansas City baseball players had the growth mindset and worked very hard to be the best and that is why they made consecutive trips to the World Series.

So if you feel like you have limited budget to take your business to the next level, don’t complain.

See it as an opportunity to showcase your creativity that will take your business to the next level and attract the correct clients to your business for the better.

Samantha Kelly, a.k.a. the TweetingGoddess, did just that and is now successful in her business for the better.

And to get more inspiration, listen to this interview on my show, “What’s The Word? with guest Maria Ross, founder of Red Slice.

First video is courtesy of Airways

Second video is courtesy of TEDXTalks

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