makehope

Talent & Personnel & Lumber

[Professor] Godin did it again as he so persistently does -- his take on Talent vis a' vis Personnel vis a' vis  Lumber is dead on. He appropriately cautions... 

"The reason this [changing the vernacular] makes some people uncomfortable is that it seems like spin, like gratuitous double speak. And, if you don't change what you do, that would be true. He goes on to ask, "What if you started acting like the VP of Talent?" 

Photo courtesy of Clarke Historical Library

Now, think about your co-workers, your staff & your customers as Talent -- Wow for for me the view changed -- I started thinking about people in terms of their particular talents, their skills | what are they good at? hapless and frustrated at? [me|accounting]  Then, of course it follows are they in the right roles? Human Resources [yes the words alone] denudes our unique, potentially remarkable talent(s).

Steward vs. Flight Attendant -- Did you ever stop to consider how "PC" being "PC" really is?  We can, We must...Think [very] different.

What Motivates Giving?

What motivates giving? | Motivated asking!

Giving is but one half of the equation. I work with a number of different causes and all sorts of fundraising events and methods. It would be hard, no impossible to make a case for one cause over another they are all worthy and passionate in their quests. So what is a giver to do? How do you differentiate? Give a little to each? a donation to juvenile diabetes Research this year & Susan Komen the next? And just how does one choose Susan Komen over Avon over American cancer Society over Lance?

So how do charitable organizations breakthrough? What motivates giving, to you? [That's the real question right?]

The answer is stories, you have to help people tell their stories. Make their stories part of your cause!

Here is a story from a young women Nicole Kenney who participated in her first Heart Walk in Charlotte NC September 2007 on the Bank of America team...her story in part

I thought it was a great idea to make [photo] buttons to wear on the day of the walk.  I knew just which picture I wanted to use. And you took the time out to find out exactly why I was walking and why I wanted to get the buttons made, which made me excited that people actually cared about my story.  It was a nightmare that my family went through in losing my brother, but I finally felt like something good was coming from it: being able to educate others on the dangers of heart disease. The walk was a big piece of that, but so were the buttons. My mom even cried when she found out that I was getting buttons made. Both my mom and I wore two buttons each – one on the front, and one on the back, holding our sign in place (see the pictures for a better idea). Now, my mom wears her button almost everywhere with her, and I wear mine pretty frequently too.

Nicole had a story to tell. The photo buttons of her brother Bill were a powerful tool, a tangible expression of emotion. Nicole's and her team raised I think over $6000 because she had a story to tell and we helped her tell it. Motivated asking, it is the answer. 

Photo Buttons Serve Many Causes, Focus on People

I am honored to be chosen as South Park (Charlotte NC) magazine's Snapshot for March 2008! Buttons of Hope is my passion & I hope this helps everyone understand just how powerful custom photo buttons & putting a face on your cause can be! | read full the article here

This would be a good time to give a nod and thanks to some remarkable organizations --  I am honored & excited about working with the following groups in 2008:  Charlotte Catholic High School | Lance Armstrong Foundation | Live Strong Challenge |NC Special Olympics | Memory Walk South Carolina | Polly Klaas Foundation (missing children) | Kristen Foundation (missing adults) | Memory-Of.com | Memory Jar |  Adopt A US Soldier | Free to Breathe | Hope & Hearts | Carolina Breast Friends | Mother's day Central | & 24 Hours of Booty cancer fundraiser.

Buttons of Hope are Simply Powerful

pushmi-pullyu | deja vu'

It's been driving me crazy. This blog recently has been a little lonely and ignored ...no more. I'm Baaaacccckk!

(Dr. Doolittle & pushmi-pullyu I presume)

So. My other blog Behind the Button will focus on everything to do with my Buttons of Hope "business." You'll find stories from my customers, innovative fundraising ideas using photo buttons , buttons as powerful memorials, buttons as personal billboards to help find missing people and of course lots of thoughts on active charity fundraising for events like JDRF Walk to Cure, Relay for Life, Race for the Cure and more...

For all the rest of my right brain musings like my recent (ongoing) infatuation with Skitch, my Squidoo network, my new blog/squidoo consulting biz YouBlog and some random rants and raves about stuff like girl scout cookie sales, stuff that interests me -- that will be over on Behind the Button .

Will there be overlap -- sure (this one) -- occasionally I might even post almost the same post on both blogs -- but this is mostly for you the reader -- maybe the easiest way to explain it is makehope is for me & Behind the Button is for you!

So enough about me, what do you think of me? haha

Makehope is now Behind the Button

Ooops I just realized I stopped posting here and gave my fans no where to turn --well now you have the opportunity to hear more of me in my newer blog Behind the Button. Please take  look -- more of the same but a year wiser I think!

A carbon face plant!

My savvy friend Nedra is talking today about unintended consequences. Even when we try to get it right we in a way get it wrong -- especially when we try to do it BIG! I would suppose the rock stars will be jetting in to the nine "greenefit" Live Earth concerts in decidedly un-green private jets. OK well maybe not Fall Out Boy.

Carbon footprint nothing that's a carbon face plant waiting to happen!

The thing is Al and others are trying hard to do some good and that is....good! I remember railing about sweatshop clothing and trinkets (remember Kathy Lee? yeah like it was all her fault!) so how could we let people work for a dollar a day or less -- close those shops down and close them they did -- Ooops! Thing is even at a dollar a day these folks were doing better than most relatively -- I still believe sweatshop owners, child slavery practitioners and the like are at the lowest of the scum meter -- they rationalize the relativity -- hey I pay more to make t shirts than the kids tearing apart old computers in the street -- so there -- I'm doing my part. Whoa!

Thing is like Nedra points out unintended consequences  are squirrelly -- they aren't neat! You know how to reduce the unintended consequences from all this giving and volunteering and causing -- don't make me go Mother Teresa on you! Go local -- really local -- Mother Teresa made a million little differences. She did not give "some portion" of proceeds to charity -- lucky if she kept any portion for herself!

That's neat.

So....got any tickets?

Do not pass GO!

The good news is I finally figured something out -- I now know what I want, what I need -- what is most important to me is a "chance for greatness". I am as the Think Different motto says, "..the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do!" I am an entrepreneur with vision.

So my friend and fellow cubicle escapee Pam Slim wants to know what it's like to transition...

Well first off, I did not have three months of salary salted away, I do not have college paid for (let alone next year's middle school tuition) and after some fretful attempts to negotiate a severance -- a lead parachute -- nothin'!  I did not even get to pass go!       

But I did have something most people don't have, infectious passion and an actionable dream -- my Buttons of Hope
Candidly the mix of passion for BOH and dispassion for flexible packaging sales probably led to my early retirement. I have known for a while that I "think different" than most of my peers -- and while I lament often about their corporate success, their promotions, their country clubs and beach houses -- I know in my heart I am not even in the same game, probably never was.

Over the past 25 years I have tried now and then to break free from the "cubicle" -- but not until Buttons of Hope did I feel like the opportunity was equal to the passion -- well nothing quite matches the passion but you get the point!

Buttons of Hope is me. For the first time in my life I do not consider my work, work. It's not easy being a lawyer, editor, geek, designer, blogger, button maker...not easy but I flat out love every minute of it, every minute! And yes it is all done in my garage -- I have the pictures to prove it! So what is buttons of hope -- well first it's not just about the button. What I do is make it easy and fun for people to personalize their cause by making a photo button to support or honor a loved one. Behind every photo button is a powerful story. It's these stories that inspire, motivate and engage people to take their fundraising and awareness to the next level.

So where am I in the process? A little north of scared to death and just south of jubilant! Or put another way...On August 20, 2002 I wrote, "The one thing I've wanted to do in my life is make a difference by inspiring other people."  With Buttons of Hope now I do this every day!

Watch the video of me and some friends talking about Buttons of Hope.

Think the Same? iPhone-Good, Cingular-Bad

Its not the phone stupid, it's the service. I expect the iPhone will be a sexy, slick transformational product ala iPod. And I think Apple could transform the communication biz like it transformed the music (and now personal entertainment) businesses! So I agree with Seth put me down for 2 million plus -- or basically as many as Apple can produce -- Oopps I forgot about...Cincular!!

Now I'm sure there are some very good reasons Apple had to partner with Cingular -- had to be else why would the consumer service darling slowdance with the ugliest guy at ball? Be honest, come on weren't you waiting for Mr. Jobs to say "and another thing", No contracts, calling plans explained in a few sentences and iPhone service at the genius bar. Apple's phone, Apple's game, Apple's ball!

Jobs did not let the music industry dictate the iPod, better hope the knuckleheads in the cell phone industry don't kill, sorry drop the iPhone -- or it might well end up in convergence hell right next to Newton! At least try to keep Mr. Sigman backstage!

Humanificate your business!

Hugh Macleod at gapingvoid read my mind. I know my buttons of hope project is going to be a winner -- now I have a word to describe my instinct....hugh's word humanification. Simply I have taken a good idea and approached it from a human perspective. I intend to change the world of fundraising by helping people connect with charitable causes by personalizing their fundraising through the use of a tool -- photo buttons. I plan to go and be where no one else wants to be -- small, very small.

My plan is to make it super easy for one person to buy one button for an event. Who wants to be there?

I DO. Reason? I plan to use some things I have learned from people like Seth Godin to actually build and run a business on a human scale. Look around very few people build businesses any more -- they merge them and hardly anyone runs a business anymore -- they pimp them looking for the next deal the next stock bounce. Think about it.

Hugh and Seth are right. There is so much opportunity out there for small humans. Those sticky rascals!
Watch me!

Blog for a Cure! Cancer Sucks!

Lazy Saturday of surfing and POW come upon a really cool and powerful site --

Blog for a Cure. Cancer Sucks! YES it does and I'll add Jill Midthun to the growing list of people (including me) who are sick of it and are going to do something about it!

And by the way this is Jill holding Phyllis Angel the VP!

makehope