Tim Miles, Wizard of Ads | The Daily Blur » Meatloaf

Forever: This Week's Desktop

Tim — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:38:27 +0000

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Nerd Alert: January 27th

Tim — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:40:56 +0000

Sweet Sisters of Splashing Tablet-y Mercy … this is the first Apple themselves have hinted at something new. Engadget has the story …

Small Business: Make It Easy to Measure and Reward

Tim — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:07:55 +0000

It’s not that hard. Was talking with a client about yesterday’s rebooted resolutions. The very first one is:

I will ask every employee for one suggestion on how we can make it easier for our customers and prospects to do business with us. I will reward those employees whose suggestions we use.

You want to really accelerate your internal and external growth this year?

Constantly encourage your employees to go through their days thinking of ways for you to make it easier for customers to give you money.

Easier – that word’s important for the purposes of this discussion. Maybe it involves the use of new media. Maybe it involves some capital investment.

Heck, maybe you can’t implement every suggestion this year.

Measure and reward all serious suggestions – no matter how crazy. Make it your company’s internal mission to come up with as many suggestions as possible. Evaluate them. Measure their impact on the company.

Then (and why is it so many companies – including one I used to work for – want to avoid this last part) offer crazy rewards for their success. Offer crazy rewards for efforting to increase the numbers of ideas. Make the ideas available for everyone to see. Crazy ideas often lead to other crazy ideas. Keep reinforcing this throughout the year.

Roy Williams taught me long ago: “You cannot increase what you do not measure and reward.”

Encourage. Measure. Reward. Reinforce. Increase.

There – I just made it easy for you.

Small Business New Year's Resolution Reboot

Tim — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:24:08 +0000

We’re two weeks in, how are those New Year’s Resolutions coming? If you’re struggling, let me give you a few suggestions to reboot your resolutions and focus on more manageable-but-valuable promises to yourself and your business:

I will ask every employee for one suggestion on how we can make it easier for our customers and prospects to do business with us. I will reward those employees whose suggestions we use.
I’ll learn how to use social media to become a better listener and find like-minded people and businesses.
I will include more than senior staff in brainstorming sessions for a fresh voice.
I’ll form a customer feedback group – inviting some of our best customers to dinner to give us unfiltered feedback about what we could be doing better.
I’ll look for ways to develop a more evocative, generous referral program. Maybe I’ll start by asking my newly-formed customer feedback group …
I will immediately ask my receptionist(s) what the 5-10 most often asked questions are from people calling, and I will make sure those questions are answered (and easy to find) on our website.
I’ll ask my employees what charities matter to them, and we’ll find then focus on ways to help them.
I will consider a professional website assessment.
I’ll interview five senior citizens and five teenagers to get their views on how the world’s changing.
I’ll use a news reader to push at least five articles a day towards me I should read but would never have the time to find on my own.
I’ll make it a point to introduce two of my professional friends to each other if only because I think they’d dig each other.
I’ll encourage my employees to each submit one idea for how our company can be more generous to local charities next year. I’ll reward the best ideas.
I will conduct review sessions of each major initiative or promotion immediately following its execution to start planning how to improve it the next time we do it.
I will charge someone to research media channels other than TV, radio, outdoor, and newspaper.

I could continue – but these are all simple and cheap and smart. Hope one or more of them find their way home to you.

It’s not too late to get started. The best day to get started was yesterday. Luckily for all of us, the second-best …

Another Snow Day for Science

Tim — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:32:26 +0000

Yesterday, the boy and I dug deep into the world of science with help from a bunch of experiment videos from PBS.

Today, the mad scientist continued to advance his field with ‘will it sink or float, daddy?’

Next stop, Stockholm.

Snow Day Play

Tim — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:52:12 +0000

No school today. Snow day. There is some rejoicing. The boy actually likes going to school.

Our son’s gotten into science and cause/effect in a big way thanks to a free online video series over at PBS Kids’ Curious George pages.

The videos are each only a few minutes and present subjects like making music, how to organize stuff, planets and orbits, and making paper mache. They demonstrate experiments throughout.

Last night he and I tackled paper mache. This morning, our project didn’t work out the way we had planned because we used too much water.

“That’s okay, daddy. It was an experiment. Today … we should use more flour. And we should do one with more water to see what happens then.”

Okay, buddy. Sounds good. I’m in.

No videogames. No TV. Just experiments, curiosity, and the occasional mess.

There’s a video on snow that we may have to check out since school is cancelled.

How about you?

Where do you turn when it’s time for snow day play?

Speaking of …

Tim — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:10:04 +0000

Miscellaneous recent thoughts and conversations involving a happy-but-road-weary holiday traveler:

Gifts v. Presents: There’s a difference. But sometimes the separate circles intersect. I’m not sure the specifics, but in the intersection of the two, you find grace.

Speaking of grace, babies make grandparents downright daffy. Maybe a baby’s abundant gas contains some sort of special pheramone that inhibits the rational thinking receptors in grandma and grandpa’s brains. I’m reasonably certain they didn’t hear a word Dee or I said from the moment we arrived and Sarah smiled her first clock-stopping smile in their general direction.

Speaking of focus, come first of the year Dee’s going to start training for another half marathon in May. She needs to formally schedule the workouts. If they’re not written down, they’re too easy to put off. Next thing she knows, it’ll be middle of April, and she’ll be in no shape to run, and it’ll be too late to do anything about it. I started thinking all development’s exactly the same way. I purchased several online training courses last year, and they still sit waiting in their folders. Sure, we had a baby, but there will always be reasons to not work on something important (vs. merely urgent). I’m going to be scheduling equal time to work on my own skills.

Speaking of development, my brother-in-law recently earned his Doctorate. Dr. Butler’s going to help change the way schoolteachers shape the lives of exceptional children. I’m in awe of his discipline to endure and sacrifice and accomplish.

Speaking of accomplished, Michael Hyatt commented on one of my posts. You can read it down at the bottom of the post. I’ve never met Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, but he’s been a big influence in my so-called worklife. It would probably be akin to Kristofferson commenting on someone’s songwriting blog.

Speaking of songwriting, have you seen the Jeff Bridges movie yet? I can’t wait. I love his work, and it’s great to see him getting his due for a role like this.

Speaking, again, of songwriting: Oh Holy Night – What a song … the words, I mean. I’ve made a to-do to research its origins. I heard a new song on a PBS Christmas special the other night, A Baby Changes Everything, that’s really, really good. Craig Wiseman wrote it with Tim Nichols. Is it bad to say I wish it wasn’t Faith Hill singing it? I was really trying to hear her friend, Lori McKenna, singing it. Or Patty Griffin.

Speaking of music, I’ve been using some Stereo Bluetooth Headphones – I’ve got these bluetooth headphones from Motorola (S9-HD) that sound great. I adore the absence of wires and cables in my life. That said, the little rubber ear thingies keep falling off. And it has syncing problems with my computer. Bittersweet. Do you have a pair you love?

Speaking of thingies, this is as good a time as any to admit I like simplifying my life, but I’m certainly not a minimalist. I like stuff – at least stuff that makes my life more efficient or adds delight. David Pierce has a really great blog where he, too, thinks about and writes about such stuff. He reposted a bunch of great content for the holiday season.

Speaking of blogs, Google Reader tells me I’ve got more than 900 articles to catch up on. You know what’s fun sometimes? Pressing the [Mark All As Read] button. It’s okay. You’re allowed. No one’s going to come and eat your pets.

Speaking of not eating pets, same holds true for tweeting and facebooking and socialing and networking. I haven’t put anything on twitter and only a couple pics of my kids on facebook. I haven’t missed it at all. Godin just focuses on his blog. I may just do the same in 2010.

Speaking of 2010, both sets of grandparents now have wireless internet in their homes … … … … listen closely … … … that’s the clock ticking on dial-up’s demise. Last person with a modem be sure to turn off the lights, okay?

What have you been speaking of this holiday season?

What? Would you prefer I’d written: Of what have you been speaking this holiday season? That’s just dumb. Speaking of which … sorry for going all Larry King on you.

My Son on ESPN Magazine Cover

Tim — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:08:56 +0000

Or your son … or your daughter. Can’t resist. Put ‘em on the cover, or in highlights on Sportscenter.

This was too cool not to share … when was the last time a Kansas City Royal made the cover of ESPN?

Linus & Luke: This Week's Desktop

Tim — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:55 +0000

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Simmons: Children, White Lies, and Cotton Candy

Tim — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:25:32 +0000

I took my 4-year-old daughter to the Clippers-Magic game Tuesday. Every Clips game turns her off on the NBA just a little bit more. After all, dead crowds and sloppy basketball isn’t exactly a hook. She spends most of her time rooting for the cotton candy guy to walk by, asking if various players have “permanent tattoos” and listening to people in our section yell at the refs and Mike Dunleavy. Not the best way to develop a fledgling NBA fan.

In the second quarter, one official made a horrible call against the Clips that got a groan from our section. The guy behind us even screamed “Donaghy!!!!” My daughter was confused. “Why did he scream that?” (I explained that Donaghy was the name of a really bad ref.) “Is that Donaghy right there?” (No.) “Why was he a bad ref?” (Because he just was.) “But why?” (Now I’m debating whether to dive into the Donaghy scandal, ultimately deciding to repeat that he was just bad.) “Daddy, I want to know why Donaghy was bad.”

Needing an answer she would understand, I fibbed and told her Donaghy was a bad ref because he punched the cotton candy guy once. She couldn’t believe it. “He punched the cotton candy guy?” (Yup. And nobody got to eat cotton candy for the whole game.) “Are you making this up?” (Nope. That’s what happened.) “Well, he’s a very bad ref,” she decided. “You shouldn’t punch the cotton candy guy.” (I agree.) And with that, she let it go and started watching the game again.

Please note that if you don’t like this or don’t get every reference you will not like Bill Simmons, and you should avoid Bill Simmons at all costs.

I took my 4-year-old daughter to the Clippers-Magic game Tuesday. Every Clips game turns her off on the NBA just a little bit more. After all, dead crowds and sloppy basketball isn’t exactly a hook. She spends most of her time rooting for the cotton candy guy to walk by, asking if various players have “permanent tattoos” and listening to people in our section yell at the refs and Mike Dunleavy. Not the best way to develop a fledgling NBA fan.

In the second quarter, one official made a horrible call against the Clips that got a groan from our section. The guy behind us even screamed “Donaghy!!!!” My daughter was confused. “Why did he scream that?” (I explained that Donaghy was the name of a really bad ref.) “Is that Donaghy right there?” (No.) “Why was he a bad ref?” (Because he just was.) “But why?” (Now I’m debating whether to dive into the Donaghy scandal, ultimately deciding to repeat that he was just bad.) “Daddy, I want to know why Donaghy was bad.”

Needing an answer she would understand, I fibbed and told her Donaghy was a bad ref because he punched the cotton candy guy once. She couldn’t believe it. “He punched the cotton candy guy?” (Yup. And nobody got to eat cotton candy for the whole game.) “Are you making this up?” (Nope. That’s what happened.) “Well, he’s a very bad ref,” she decided. “You shouldn’t punch the cotton candy guy.” (I agree.) And with that, she let it go and started watching the game again.

Now, if you thought this was funny and got the references, consider Bill Simmons my holiday gift to you.

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