MichaelW.Gibson's Blog

Tea Party activists make it an interesting First convention

michaelwgibson — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:40:36 +0000

I do not believe what is happening around me. I see some people rising up from their seats shouting towards the podium and I hear someone shout “rush the stage!!” Are you kidding me? Is a riot about to break out at the GOP convention? How did I get into the middle of this?
A few weeks ago during the Primaries, I noticed that there was an empty slot on the Republican portion for a Precinct Delegate. I joked with the ladies manning the polls that I would write myself in, and after she explained that there was a simple for to fill out, I did and won the position with a single vote, mine.
After attending my county convention, I was selected to go to the state convention to help choose who would be on the Republican ticket in November. A simple job at first, but now I find myself in a surreal situation.
When I arrived at the Breslin Center on the campus of MSU, I couldn’t find a parking spot, finally finding one 2 streets over. A 10 minute walk brought me to a line wrapping around the building that I stood in for almost 2 hours, apparently because of computer problems that delayed delegates from getting credentials. We were eventually just told to go in and credentials would be given later.
After a call to order and the swearing in of the people on the stage, business began with the first vote of the day. After the Lieutenant Governor nominations were made for Brian Calley and Bill Cooper, we were told that the selection would be made by a show of hands. Are they joking? How will they count the correct votes? Some of us don’t even have credentials yet. How would we know that the alternates or even guests won’t be casting votes? I feel like I’m back in high school answering questions from the teacher. Some fellow delegates are upset as well and are becoming more vocal about it. It turns out they are members of the Tea Party and feel their candidate, Bill Cooper, is being shut out. There are shouts for a roll call vote or secret ballot. Hank Fuhs attempts to call for a vote again, and again the floor erupts with shouts for a secret ballot. Seeing that things are becoming heated, a huddle forms on the stage to decide what to do. Hank comes back to explain that Calley and Cooper had agreed earlier to a show-of-hands vote. That just made the dissenters even more upset, and that is when someone on the floor makes a motion that we have a roll call vote, and it is quickly seconded. FortunateyA roll call of 2,100 delegates, some who still don’t have credentials, will take forever. The huddle continues on stage when someone from the right side shouts to “rush the stage!” I am sitting in disbelief. Are they serious about rushing the stage? Will a fight break out over how we are going to vote?
Bill Cooper takes the podium and announces he is withdrawing his name. Many loud shouts of “NO!” come from around the arena, and briefly you get the feeling that things are going to get worse. Bill asks that the delegates make a unanimous decision to accept Calley, its seconded, and the vote is quickly made to close the nominations. The situation is diffused and a type of disgruntled order is restored.
Rick Snyder makes his speech for Governor, a lot of uncontested races have meaningless nomination and seconding speeches waste a lot of time since I want to get back to Grand Rapids for the Metro Cruise and spend time with my boys looking at cool cars, not listening to egos being stroked. The 5 candidates for Secretary of State have their videos and speeches, then after 2 rounds of voting, Ruth Johnson is elected and I can go home after almost 10 hours.
For my first convention, it seemed disorganized from the start, that the delegates were not listened to, and that instead of a change that we are looking for, party politics is going on as usual.

6 Steps to Creating a Content Strategy

michaelwgibson — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:49:43 +0000

Your web site isn’t generating the right kind of traffic. You know it needs help so that it can help you make sales, but you’re not quite sure where to start. Having the proper content for your target market is essential. Here are 6 ideas to help you map out your content strategy.

Know your buyer persona. David Meerman Scott states in his seminars that you need eliminate the vague idea of who your target market is and create a buyer persona. His idea is that this persona should have physical characteristics as well as demographics, socio-graphics, and psychographics, that enable you to interact as you create the proper content for your e-marketing program.
Make your content educational. Don’t go for the self promotional sales pitch; educate them about the industry, the various products out there, and how problems are solved and sometimes generated by these products and services. Be honest about industry shortcomings and how those are remedied…or not.
Make your content sociable. Don’t ask for registration before giving out white papers, e-books, or case studies; make it easily accessible and shareable. Most people don’t want to give out personal information before investigating a solution to their problem and some even give false info just because they are annoyed that they were asked in the first place. Do you want to capture one potential lead that may not be accurate, or have people share information about you? Add “like” and sharing buttons in the content to make it easy to send to others. In the comments section, make sure to answer all comments, good or bad, quickly.
Thoroughly integrate all of your marketing efforts for maximum impact. Your 9-month Marketing Calendar should include when you plan to: release new blog posts and the topics, add content to the website, and upcoming events that are both seasonal and industry specific. Marketo has a Social Media Plan Template available on their website. Go to www.marketo.com and click on the resources tab, then social media to find it.
Find out the keywords your target market is looking for. Find out what keywords your competition is using. This doesn’t have to be expensive. On-Target SEO has free analysis available at www.on-targetseo.com. They also can give you insight on how your site ranks to the competition and how to improve your standings.
Find your own voice. Don’t try to copy others or make up a false online persona. Wal-Mart tried to boost its image several different ways that were utter failures. One of these was having RV’ers stay in Wal-Mart parking lots across America. When it came out that the people recording their cross –country trek were being paid by Wal-Mart, the lack of openness and honesty came back negatively for the company. Be honest about your company’s values and communicate that throughout all of your channels.

Now that you have some basic steps to follow, send me an email about your progress, or any questions you might have at michaelwgibson@businessintersection.net.

Taking Back Our Responsibility

michaelwgibson — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:36:05 +0000

It seems that the American People are upset that the companies that were bailed out are paying outrageous bonuses to some top employees. We are upset that the administration is not doing enough to create jobs. We are also concerned that the Federal Deficit is reaching an all time high. We blame the greed on Wall Street for creating the financial problems, we blame the politicians for not creating enough jobs, we blame the banks for not lending. I propose that these institutions and people are but symptoms of the problem. The problem lies with us, the people.

We get to vote the politicians into office, but there is a much more powerful vote that we exercise every day, not every 4 years. This vote is with our money. We determine which companies and industries succeed or fail by putting our money into them, either through investing in them or purchasing their products. If the management makes decisions we don’t like, we pull our money out and stop buying. This sends a message that can’t be ignored by the company president, the board of directors, or the other investors. They will know that something is not right and, if they are at all concerned about long term growth and health of the company, will work to correct it. The key is to look to the long term, not short term gains.

We blame the Wall Street greed for the problem, but didn’t the management of these so-called greedy companies just do what we asked them to do? We said to make as much money as possible without thinking of the consequences. We made them give us the highest return on our investment without considering ethics or the long term effects of investment products that have no real value. We told them to do this because we gave them our money. If we didn’t want these things to happen, we should have taken our money elsewhere. But we didn’t, we left it with people and expected them to take good care of it and us. As a society, we seem to have that tendency, to let others take the care and responsibility of what we hold dear.

We drop our kids off at school and expect them to be taught how to read, and then complain when that doesn’t happen. We are responsible for giving our kids the best education, that is why we check out the school system and the teachers. That is why we attend parent-teacher conferences, PTO meetings, and help them with their homework. We put time and effort into making sure our kids are taught properly and that they have all of the tools needed to succeed. That is what we need to do, but often we just let other people take care of it for us, using the mentality that we pay for it with our taxes. We forget that we are the project managers and have the responsibility to keep everything moving to achieve the desired outcomes. It’s our responsibility to keep tabs on everyone to make sure they are doing their jobs properly.

We put our money and trust into the health care field the same way. We accept the diagnosis without getting second opinions, we expect all of the best tests without thinking of the costs, unless we have to pay them out of pocket. We complain when our employer raises the co-pay, but don’t ask the questions of “what are we really paying for?” or “why do we need this coverage?” We go along with whatever HR tells us. We go along with whatever the doctor tells us. We need to ask more questions and become more educated about how the system works and how we work.

We send our money into 401k programs and expect it to make money then complain when it loses money. We need to become more educated on how the system works so that we can benefit from it, not just go along for a ride and hope we end up at the intended destination. Imagine climbing into a cab or a bus and telling the driver, take me where you think I should go. Does that seem like sound decision making? Does that sound like a person who has a well thought out plan? Then why do we do that with our kids and our money? Let’s learn how to take back the responsibility that we have given to others and become the educated project managers that will direct us to the level of success that we desire.

michaelwgibson — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:57:59 +0000

Testing Your Core Stability
Exercises that test a person’s core stability and remedial exercises to promote core strength.
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If problems didn’t exist

michaelwgibson — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:59:52 +0000

If problems didn’t exist, most of us wouldn’t have a job.The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.-Theodore Rubin, American psychiatrist and author

Demand the Impossible

michaelwgibson — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:19:41 +0000

We need to have hope for the future regardless of what circumstances show us. That is where faith happens. Regardless of appearances, take your stand. Make your confession of God’s Word and hold fast to it in the face of apparent impossibilities; for faith doesn’t ask for the possible, but demands the impossible. Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children, but they had faith in God’s Word. When asked to sacrifice Isaac, There was faith in God’s Word. When the Isrealites were leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, there was God’s Word. When the armies of Moab and Ammon swarmed around Jehoshaphat and all seemed lost, there was God’s Word. Don’t talk doubt or unbelief, have your confession of faith be about what God’s word says you have, not what you believe you do not have. Go forth and be more than conquerors.

Dream Big

michaelwgibson — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:22:44 +0000

A person with big dreams is more powerful than a person with all of the facts. If the dream is big enough, then the facts don’t matter.

Is that your best offer?

michaelwgibson — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:32:47 +0000

Is that your best offer? In the realm of sales, this question is often given when the buyer senses that there is not enough value being given for the price asked. It usually means the salesperson needs to concede a point in the negotiation process and lower the asking price. The first reason for the price question being asked is that the salesman did not create, demonstrate, or otherwise promote the value of the product or service, and the second reason is he did not communicate value he brings to the table through his knowledge and skill sets.

But what if the question is asked outside of the sales arena? What if the question is directed toward your value to your employer? When you do your job, is it with your best offer?

How about your family relationships? Do you give them your best offer, or do you hold something back in reserve? Do you bring value to the relationship? Are you constantly improving your skill sets with the same drive and determination that you have for your job?

If not you already know what you have to do to make the needed changes.

michaelwgibson — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:27:39 +0000

Leading a Cub Scout Wolf Den
A suggested outline and several tips on how to run an effective Cub Scout Wolf Den.
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Starting Out

michaelwgibson — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:39:03 +0000

It’s hard work to start your own thing, even if it is something that you enjoy and are passionate about. The struggle is to get items in place, like the web site that is functional and attractive. Like the blog site that can be monetized so that there is some form of income coming in to support your writing habit. Like the Facebook and Twitter accounts that let you know if you have something to communicate that is worth the effort. The attack to the ego, the self-doubt, the lack of immediate , tangible results, all combine to destroy what you are trying to create. What you do to overcome the obstacles, how you handle the pressures that come against you, that is what separates the success story from the failed attempt. So what am I made of? How will I handle the pressure? What will I do to overcome the obstacles? How will my attempt at success be remembered, how will it be talked about by my kids? I would like my children to know that their dad was a man of prayer. I run to God with my success as well as my trouble. I talk to Him several times a day about what is bothering me, what I like, what I wish would happen, and what to do next. I talk to Him about what I am afraid of, all of the things that bother me and cause me anxiety. I talk about what has hurt me emotionally and spiritually, and ask Him how I can be healed. I talk to my heavenly Father just like my kids talk to me. I receive answers I don’t like just as they do. I am told how to work some things out on my own, and to wait patiently, just like them. And I am led, one step at a time, through situations that I thought were too big for me to handle, that cause me to change, to grow into my place in this world, and be able to lead my family in the direction that has been destined for them.