What’s in this for you?

It is one of my favorite questions when evaluating concepts and business opportunities.  What does your idea, concept, business plan, or product offer the user?  And does its value rise to the level of compelling them to act on your request?

In beginning to brainstorm new ventures on several fronts, I asked this favorite riddle, and then remembered, its not even about what I think you want.  That falls short on several points when, in fact, it would be more appropriate for me to simply ask you!

So, reader, what is weighing heavily on your mind that no other business blogger, Tweeter, or LinkedIn master networker is talking about?  I am not promising you I have answers, but someone else reading may have a creative solution.

So I hope you will consider this my gift to you.  I just want you to tell me what you want!  And we will see where we end up.  Have fun.

Trying out SocialVibe’s approach

How easy is it to support an important cause?  I spend my life creating relationships and nurturing those who will ultimately support an important cause: Lynchburg College and the students being educated there.

Personally I tend to support organizations that benefit either education or children.  And now WordPress is offering the ability for bloggers to use their sites to generate support for a cause.  There are only a handful available right now, and the one I chose is Children’s Miracle Network.  You can find out more about the organization and support an important cause.

Part of my reason for choosing this charity also relates to the fact that I have a friend whose children are beneficiaries of CMN’s fundraising work.  In other words, its personal.  It’s local, if you will.

So please take a moment to click the link on the right column of my blog.  And let me know what you think of what CMN does and how they build support and engage you.  You will NOT be asked to buy or donate anything.  Just click and read.

Thanks.  I am hopeful that I will have lots of “balloons” when I check back in.  That will mean that I have influence with you, that I have created interest in CMN, and that Upper Deck, the sponsor, will be making meaningful contributions to CMN because of your and my actions.

Cola’s first grooming

Cola, our 12-week-old Bichon-Poo, had his first grooming today, and he looks great.  Though the traditional Bichon Frise cut is blunt and round, we really like the texture of the curly, less-tame look.  He is still cuter than any other puppy on earth, don’t get me wrong.

Anyway, I just wanted to document that we reached another milestone.  And let’s be honest, I wanted to show off another picture of our little dude.

Cola doing his best Michael Jordan impression

Who is training whom?

As we approach the one-week mark for Cola being part of our family, I am humored by this concept of us training him to GO POTTY, SIT, STAY, HEEL, stay DOWN and SETTLE.  Those capitalized words are never yelled, as my poor internettiquete might suggest.  I only use emphasis to point out that they comprise the entire vocabulary of commands we use in trying to teach him the most important life lessons.  I guess you could say this is his kindergarten.

But it occurs to me, perhaps six times a day — that term being used generically to indicate anything from 5 a.m. until 2 a.m. — that we are not training the dog.  Instead, he is training us.  While he may learn a few things about how to conduct himself, and his bladder control will continue to improve for several months, it is pretty clear that he is simply being a pooch, while two adults and two children work tirelessly to ensure his natural tendencies don’t win out over decorum.  We seem to be growing more obedient and subservient to his every need by the POTTY break.

I mean, I don’t even recall being so quick to respond to even my kids when they were infants if their cries came at the ungodly sorts of hours Cola’s come.  I am fairly certain my Grown Man Selective Hearing disability seems like a distant past at that early morning hour when the first peals of whining from his crate cause me to leap groggily from my lair so he doesn’t soil his.

So yeah, for someone who is notoriously laid back and slow to respond in the face of other peoples’ needs, I must tell you, we don’t train our pets.  Our pets train us.  Now excuse me while I go analyze his every wiggle, pirouette, and wimper to figure out whether he is playing or telling me its time to do my job and get him outside for his private moment.

Do puppies lower your blood pressure?

This past weekend, my wife made easy work of one of the most selfless and loving acts I have witnessed.  Yesterday, she became the family hero — again — when we picked up our new puppy at the Richmond airport, which I still prefer to call Byrd Field.  A throwback to an era I never even knew . . . that’s the kind of guy I am.

But back to the point.

A puppy probably caused my wife’s normally-low blood pressure to skyrocket.  You see, she is, to use a litote, not a huge fan of the canine persuasion.  And yet, she handled it like Hubert the Bloodhound, in Best in Show.  She seemed unflappable on the outside.  And she conquered something most people never attack: fear.

PAUSE for some trivia: The dog’s real name was Champion Quiet Creek Stand By Me! NOW back to your original program.

So I just wanted to give major recognition and appreciation to my wife for overcoming a phobia she has held since early childhood: she was simply petrified of dogs of all sorts and sizes.  Oh, she avoided cats and steered away from other dry-land household pets, but she had a special place in her pooper scooper for dogs.  So it was with some credulity that I parked our westbound Toyota Sienna at . . . Byrd Field’s . . . cargo delivery area on June 14, 2009, and picked up a tiny crate full of 10-week-old furball.  So yes, she really did it.

We have added three pounds of furry, jet black Bichon Frise-Poodle puppy to the family because our daughters — particularly an impressively-determined eight-year-old — begged for one for months.

So as I applaud the girls for their stick-to-it-iveness, I also have to be astounded at how difficult it must have been for Teri to respond so lovingly.  She led one of the most exhaustive puppy searches — more than six months and several false starts’ worth — in post-Lassie America; earned most of the money to pay for it through an office Biggest Loser contest and SAVED it in the face of other needs; and then commited to being the pup’s Alpha person.

Seriously, who does that?  Not only will that raise your blood pressure, it could cause resentment in mere mortals.  But not for Teri.  She stepped up her game like Jordan in Game 7.  And I speculate she worked up her nerve because she has always put others before herself.  What she did is the stuff kids will talk about when they’re remembering the best of their childhood.  This was a parenting hall of fame move in my book.

So they say puppies cause your blood pressure to nose-dive?  I would say for her, it had the opposite effect, and yet she never wavered in her commitment to fulfilling this promise to our two girls.  I never thought the day would come.  In fact, I am still waiting on the next plane arriving from Hell so I can find out whether there were flight delays due to icy conditions.  So as I maintain my constant search for inspiration and motivation, I am compelled by her role model.

I learned a ton from watching her selfless act, her initial discomfort, her unflinching commitment to making this happen; and I appreciate her for it.  If motherhood is about those things, and being a giver, she is one amazing mother . . . I will shut my mouth.  I think her blood pressure has returned to normal already.  Now to work on mine.

So where is he?!  I give you . . . . COLA!

Minutes after seeing his new home for the first time.

We welcomed him home with an unnecessary bath.