My New PR Theory-For Personal and Business

It’s a well-known fact that a common advertising tactic is to make you feel like you need a product in to be good enough or to be a better person. MY theory is this: What if you made someone fell like they already are on top of the world?

I can’t take all the credit for this idea. I recently read How to Win Friends and Influence People  by Andrew Carnegie. It’s a pretty famous book that I’m sure you have heard of at least once. In there, Carnegie repeats a quote (gained from an interview with Charles Schwab) throughout the book, and when something is repeated often then it means you should listen up. The quote goes, “Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” I can personally guarantee that this will improve all aspects of your life if applied. All sorts of fun surprises will start coming up.

So does it work? As you know my last post was about the business Liveacre. I received an email (from the founder herself! SQUWEEEEEEEE!) sharing very sincere appreciation. Did I appreciate this act of kindness? Darn tootin’ I did! I’ve been floating on top of clouds ever  since! Does Liveacre have a new loyal follower? You betcha!  Is this new loyal customer going t spread the good word? Pshchya! (That means yes.)

Making the world a better place requires the world. The world starts with your neighbor.

So does this work on a personal level? Do I have an example? Better believe it. I am involved with my schools student government. In the past I have devoted a lot if time and effort into it. This semester, not so much. I am a Fine Arts committee member. One of many. So I am not as needed as I was last year. We have a very talented and able group. There have been many times when I have thought about bowing out. Something keeps me there though. Every now and then, I get a personalized message from the committee chair. This not only makes me super happy, but I always want to help out and do more then I was before.

I have been on both sides of being “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” It makes life a whole lot better. For more about it read the book or try it on your own. Experiment!

Review of “School” Smartphone Apps

We all have a phone. We all use them during school. We might as well use them for something useful and productive.

Thinking of buying your student a smart phone for Christmas? Hoping it will somehow change their school experience? My mom sent me this article shortly after this semester started. I got a smart phone just before school, and I was pretty excited at the suggestion that this piece of technology could help me stay on top of things. I have an Android Galaxy S, so I was only able to try two of them out.

First off, let’s tackle Evernote. My first encounter with this program was it’s inability to download itself. Kind of important, wouldn’t you think? Assuming I could somehow get it to work on my phone, (I just tried again and it downloaded) I need to create an account. I’m guessing this app requires connection to a server since you have to log-in with your account every time you use it. Other than that, it’s a pretty cool app. You can take pictures of the board, of your homework, of whatever and put it into your notes. I find taking notes on my phone kind of bothersome, but if you’re any good at it, then I suggest this app for sure! It looks nice to boot!

Remember the Milk is the one I used more. It didn’t last very long. I have an Android Task Killer on my phone (whenever I click on the green dude, it kills all the apps that I’m not using but are still running) which pretty much doubles my battery life. This creates a problem with Remember the Milk since it has to be running to work. And by running I mean a cow pops up on the top of the screen when you have something due. A cool thing about this app is that you can put it as a widget. I had it next to a picture of my niece on my third screen. Remember the Milk is pretty much like the calender that comes on the phone. I didn’t use it for long. I will say this: I miss the picture of the cow. (Sorry Evernote! Remember the Milk’s icon just happens to be bigger!)

Out of the two, I would go with Evernote. However, we all have different minds that require different methods of organization. You may  end up liking Remember the Milk better. I ended up using a small notebook to write an ongoing to-do list. Lucky for me, both of these apps are FREE!

Dear Rachael Ray,

My dearest Rachael Ray,

Remember that one time my mom introduced me to your magazine and got me interested in you? I do. I know that was a long time ago but your recipes have treated me well. Remember those hours we spent together after I got my wisdom teeth pulled out? We spent days together. You made beautiful food while I sang songs about my medication. Good times.

Yes, you served me well. Like that time I made the giant cupcake and I made it wrong and it just turned out weird and I could hear you laughing your laugh from afar. You may have noticed the lack of attention I’ve been giving you recently. Let me explain. I am now in college, and I am growing into an adult. Yes! I said it! I am becoming an adult! Please try to understand. I now live in an apartment with new friends, new adventures, and new responsibilities.

I know this will be hard for you, it will be hard for me too. This new lifestyle just has me in a time crunch. Watching you gush over your pooch makes me miss the cute, fuzzy friends I left behind. I’m sorry… This relationship was doomed from the beginning  and I know you know it.  My roommates and I are hard-working full-time college students. We don’t have time to make your oh so yummy meals, even if they are half an hour. We do not have the gazillion spices and seasons you require, nor do we have room or the hundreds of dollars.
However… my mind can still be changed. I would not be opposed, and I’m sure my roommates agree with me, to you coming into my humble kitchen and making college appropriate meals. After cleaning checks of course.

It’s up to you now. Love, Aubz

It’s October! You know what that means!

It’s October! The only month that I will voluntarily wear pink. I’m not really the kind of person who dresses up for anything. I’ll dress for an occasion, yes. But I will not wear green and red for Christmas, I don’t like dressing up for Halloween, I will not wear pink or red for Valentines Day/black for Singles’ Awareness Day, and I do not put in an effort to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. However, this is a special cause. One very close to me.

My Mom and Dad: Photo by the talented Katie Higbee

My Mom’s mom (Grandma Irma) came to Long Island during WWII when she was 16. She left her home in Prussia as a child with only the things she could fit into her pack. (See Mom, I was listening all those years ago.) She married and had 4 kids (3 boys, 1 girl. My Grandpa joined her the first week of this month.) She was a lover of art. She sang and played the guitar very well and worked as a ceramicist. She was also a skilled painter. She played sports and valued education very much. All this I know from my mom because cancer took her life. It all started as Breast Cancer and spread to the rest of her body. Things are a lot different in this day and age. Back then, it was still known as the “C” word. Girls. Ladies. It’s never too early or too late. I have written countless reports on this subject. If a young healthy athletic woman can get it, so can you. You’re at as much a risk as I am.

On a lighter note! Ladies… this is for you. Pay attention.

If that doesn’t catch your attention then I don’t know what will. Like most marketers, the American Cancer Society knows you and just how to target you. They have hit you from the serious tear-jerking side for a while and now they’re coming at you with this. This commercial (I guess that’s what it is) was brilliantly designed for woman of all ages. In my mind, it’s everything a commercial should be! It should function to inform and entertain and it did indeed. Hopefully we won’t need anymore reminders in the future, but if that isn’t the case that I can’t wait to see what the ACS comes up with next.

TLC

The Challenge

Challenge: Create a “professional” blog.

Goal: To do better than my teacher.

How: You. Of course. 

So here’s the deal. For a class assignment, I must create a blog. Although similar to my current blog, the focus is a little different. I will still be keeping up this blog so don’t worry about that. I need you’re help though! Share with your friends, give me tips and ideas and whatever advice you can give! Comment! Like! ReTweet! Whatever you can do, do it. That’s it. That’s all. This blog is about you anyways. Wish me luck!

Mary Poppins the Radical

So this week I got the opportunity to see the Broadway touring group perform Mary Poppins. I am proud to say I went with other college students and I was enchanted. The musical alone was spectacular.  When you add thought to it, as is a habit I developed because of a high school Japanese teacher (the skilled author Greg Park), Mary Poppins steps into a new light.

Once upon a time, right after they invented the car, I was a little girl. Like most kids, I watched Seasame Street, PBS kids, etc. But I LOVED to watch Disney movies. One of my favorites was Mary Poppins. What I didn’t catch on to then is that Mary Poppins is a radical. The most obvious example would be her interview. In both the play and the movie she claims references to be “a very old fashion idea.” And yet she’s conservative at the same time. 

So what’s the point? I’ll tell you! In the second half of the musical, the father’s old nanny comes into the picture. She is often referred to as “The Holy Terror” and she lives up to her name. I won’t give away any more of the play but I will say this; the battle between Mary Poppins and The Holy Terror mirror theories (Thanks again to Mr. Park) into a modern dilemma. New vs Old. Hard vs Soft. and so on. What I got from this play is that just because somethign is new doesn’t mean it’s bad. Other things I learned:

• Sometimes you got to let things work themselves out.
• Sometimes, ideas are not flawed, the person trying it is.
• “It’s hard to teach someone who already knows everything.” (This goes with the above statement.)
• Although there is no such thing as magic, there can still be magical moments. (The set was incredible! And the magic tricks! Still trying to figure it out.)
• There will always be people there to step in just in time. The clip is a little long but so worth it.
• Nothing is as good as the real thing.
• My Mass Media teacher is right. There is a message and purpose in everything media.
• Anything can happen if you let it.
• Kite flying is for everyone.
• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is a really really good word to have in your vocabulary. It also works in every situation.

Mary Poppins still continues to blow my mind and change my life. Don’t wish to be younger ever again. We’ve had our time. I prefer to be an adult then a child. Every time I watch a movie a get something different. Here’s a challenge for you. Watch a movie you loved as a child that you haven’t seen for a while and see what new things you catch or learn that you didn’t before. If you have a blog, write about it! Leave a link in a comment below! Do it! And love it! Anything can happen if you let it.

aubz out.