I’ve been feeling a bit uninspired to write, but that’s probably since I have been writing business plans. So some thoughts on business plans.

Several years ago, I worked with a friend on mine, Herb, on some strategic planning. He is the ultimate in organization and thinking through goals to action. What I really appreciated was BHAG. Not an acronym I was used to, but very relevant. BHAG stands for - Big Hairy Audacious Goal. It is defined by Jim Collins and Jim Porras (Of Built to Last fame) as:

“A BHAG engages people – it reaches out and grabs them in the gut. It is tangible, energizing, highly focused. People ‘get it’ right away; it takes little or no explanation.”

It seems when we come together as business people we can have lofty goals, superfluous statements that do not translate into actionable weekly data. Getting a BHAG defined, helps organizations give voice to the dream.  At the same time, while it creates focus, it enables the organization to define was is needed and attainable in the next 6, 12, 18 and 24 months.

Longer term and annual goals can be defined, followed by strategies and actions.  Once this is done, the BHAG is the back drop to say ‘ does this get us to where we want to be in the next 5 to 10 years.’  We may get their faster just having it out their.  Then again, the basics are in place as well.

Ok, that’s all I got.

Thanks Herb….

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This is not about marketing, but it is about conversations.  A friend of mine, Ted Osborn, rode this last week with a group who was completing the Flight 93’s mission…. to land at SFO, on time on 9/11.  The Ride with the Forty started………….

“On September 3, 2009, 5 Core Riders, to be joined by hundreds of others as we make our way westward will “Complete the Journey of Flight 93!” We will start by leaving Newark International Airport at 8:42am, the actual departure location and time of United Flight 93. We will point our motorcycles west and ride every mile across this great country and arrive at San Francisco International Airport on September 11, on or near the schedule arrival time of United Flight 93. We know this is not going to be an easy Journey, but to us, we know that Joey and the other 39 passengers and crew will be riding right along with us. So we will be “Riding With the FORTY”. You can join us and them by becoming part of this Journey.”

This group is raising money for the memorial which will be placed at the site of the crash in Pennsylvania.  Is you wish to donate, go to their site at www.ridewiththe40.org

To all those who have lost family, friends.  To all those that stood in horror as the world changed before our eyes, may peace be with you.

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I work with several non-profits, mostly putting my efforts into fundraising.  The summer is focused on the Courage Classic and HW Home Girls** who raise money for the Children’s Hospital. We  raise money, ride our bikes 180 miles and have a lot of fun. The HW Home Girls are known for our fundraising, as well as just being the girls. (We are sponsored by HW Home formerley known as the Good Times Girls)**. We raise about $50,000 a year between the 11 of us.

For the last 10 years I have mailed bright colorful envelopes with a letter and a pledge form to 200 of my friends, family and business budies. Each letter had a little hand written note. Over the years, the annual contributions were around  $4,000- 5,000. I sent an email right before and after the event, as well as hand written thank you notes.  

So, this year I went green and saved $200 by using Constant Contact.  I did have to mail a few, as I did not have email addresses for everyone.  The email prompted people to to to my Courage Classic webpage or mail a check to me for the donation.  So here are the results, so far. 

Time Spent? Slightly better for Constant Contact: I probably spent as much time getting the Contstant Contact list set up and the the format right as I did with the snail mail version.  There were lots of options on how to do the email, and I could play around with the layout. So, I spent more time.  However, the follow-up emails were a bit easier.  Besides, mu husband was relieved of the job of stuffing and stamping.

Cost? Less for Constant Contact: I spent 200 for color printing, materials and stamps with snail mail.  Constant contact was $25 a month for the unlimited emails.

Feedback? A tie.  I got lots of handwritten notes with the snail mail and almost everyone who contributed to the website sent me a separate email.  Very cool.

Quality Time? Score for the snail mail. My husband and I combined efforts as we wrote, stamped, stuffed and licked envelopes, usually with a glass of wine and a DVD playing.

Contributions:  The jury is out.  It is hard to compare last year when the economy was just starting to turn versus 2009.  I do know most donations last year were $100 .  This year a good deal of them are $50 contributions.  I don’t know if this is the economy or the methodology. I still have an email to send out after the event.  A lot come in August. Right now the total is $2495.

Your thoughts?  So if you feel moved to contribute……Click Here=> 

**”The HW Home GIrls used to be known as the The Goodtimes Girls. Ateam of Boulder women sponsored by Colorado’s Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard chain.  They have been among the top teams in terms of total fundraising and average team member fundraising for each year they’ve ridden as a team.. Led by captain and 15-year rider Jamie James, Goodtimes Girls raised $82,000 in 2005 and $62,000 in 2006.”

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Yesterday was a 95 miler bike ride,  a training ride for the Triple Bypass. Given my pace, I had lots of time to think and relate life experiences to business. So what does the my bike have to do with marketing?  Read on roadies….  

Consistency - Nothing substitutes for repetition. This was my painful reminder yesterday as I crawled out of Estes Park.  Repitition in marketing we call it frequency. When biking it is called training. In past years this ride (Carter - Big Thompson -Estes - Lyons - Boulder), has been MUCH easier.  Why? Frequency.  I was on the bike hitting the pedals (aka message) with a regular, trained process. This year has found me inconsistent, so my customers (the legs) have no clue what is going on and what is expected.  My most successfull campaigns have been about hitting it hard and regular.  I think I need to get in touch with a trainer.

Hitting it hard - Yep, I have been out there spinning, but frankly taking it easy.  This year, I have forgone the intervals, latic acid training and all the other super duper training the elites in Boulder revel in. In marketing, there are times we have to go out with a storm.  Push hard and fast, to gain a market presence. There are times I have realized a prime competitor was vulnerable, and pushed for a program to capitalize. But to do this I needed the base consistency, the team to execute and willingness to make a splash with all at my disposal.  Hitting it hard, is not just pressing on the pedal, you have to have the engine behind that is prepped and ready to perform.

The Right Message - So when the headwind hit, and the road got steep there were certain messages flying. The wrong message and I would bail.  The right message and I found the power in the legs, heart and soul to say ‘!!*(&*.”  It is amazing the power of words and getting it right.  Aligning myself with the right words got me to the top. Spending the marketing training time for the right words that really say who you are, what you do and how you are different will get you over the top and winning.

So much for the road.. Just maybe I will be ready for July 11.

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WSJ published a commentary that is a great reminder about who we are and why we get up and work each day… For those of you who haven’t been watching, the guys in space were floating around repairing this magnificent peice of engineering.  They had a few problems with the bolts being stuck.  Below are a few snippets and the link to the full commentary:

The news inundates us now with daily battle reports from the low-grade war that is America’s politics. One cost is a national preoccupation with failure.

Politics always and forever is about the failure of others. President Obama appears before us daily, and that ensures we will hear again about “the failed policies of the past.” The laws of political physics then require that his opponents crack back at his manifest failures. To spend all one’s time with politics is to marinate in failure.

It becomes easy to forget that most people go to work each day to succeed, not fail. Still, it was startling last week to catch sight on TV of men floating in space. This was Servicing Mission 4, NASA’s long-scheduled flight to fix the space-based Hubble telescope.

On the Sticking Bolts, ya gotta love the humor of the situation…

“I don’t think it’s coming out, Drew,” astronaut Mike Massimino said to Drew Feustel on spacewalk four as he fought a bolt on a handrail attached to the Hubble’s spectrograph, which transforms light into colors that reveal celestial chemistry.

Mike Massimino did what you’d do; he sucked in his breath and muscled it. It gave. But you wouldn’t have had to then remove 111 little screws from the cover plate, and make sure none of them floated into space.

And the lessons to be learned

Lessons abound in what one witnessed during the 11-day mission to restore the legendary Hubble, which ends tomorrow when the astronauts land in Florida. Here’s one: Like the Hubble team, try to be lucky enough once in life to be part of a great project worked by great people — the early Microsoft or Genentech, the Manhattan Project, the 1927 New York Yankees, many now-gone Wall Street financial “shops” at the top of their game, or the Iraq surge. It’s an ethos of team-driven possibility caught in the famous title of a book, “The Soul of a New Machine.”

I’ve been part of great teams.  Nothing like it. 

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