Chandler

Don’t THINK it, INK it! Goals for 2014

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jan 012014
 

In December 2011 I jokingly sent out a message to Diamond Dallas Page via Facebook that “if this really is DDP, I’d love to have you on my show to talk about DDP YOGA and setting Goals for the New Year”.

It turned out that DDP does indeed run his own Facebook page and after a few messages back and forth, DDP gave me a call on December 31, 2011 to talk about the goals that I had posted for 2012. One of the things that DDP liked about my goals was that I wrote them down AND made them public. I’ve been doing DDP YOGA ever since, adding it to my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training and I was even invited out to Atlanta, Georgia in 2012 for a DDP YOGA success story get together.

Since then, I have posted the goals that I have for the year, and while I may not knock all of them out over the year, I strive to achieve as many of them as possible.

Here are my goals for 2014:

01. Take care of my will.
02. Get the family to Arizona without using credit cards
03. Dine at 12 Restaurants in Bloomington-Normal that I have not dined at in 2013. (3 of 12)
04. Motivate someone to set goals for themselves. – DONE
05. Compete in 4 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournaments and MEDAL in TWO.
06. Go on TWELVE Dates with just my wife – we now have 4 amazing sitters for the girls. ( 2 of 12)
07. Take my girls bowling every month. (1 of 12)
08. Train 250 Hours with Henry Brazilian Jiu Jitsu- Team RMNU
09. Get Diamond Dallas Page to town of a DDP YOGA Workshop
10. Hit 185 pounds.

I’ll be updating the GOALS SECTION of my site as the year goes by so if there is something that YOU want to Accomplish this year, like my pal DDP says “Don’t THINK it; INK it!”

Tattoos & Marketing

 Copy Writing, Marketing  No Responses »
Dec 122013
 

I had a great conversation with a friend the other day about Marketing and Tattoos; that’s when it hit me that they are both one in the same.

You wouldn’t rush into a tattoo parlor, grab the first artist you see and expect them to knock out the amazing piece of work you have envisioned in your head within the next two-hours. So why would you expect to get amazing results from your marketing campaign within the first week, month, or 6-months of getting your message out into the public?

Another way marketing and tattoos are similar is that the really good ones are one of a kind. Again, do you really want to have the same tattoo that someone else has or do you want to share your ideas with the artist and allow them to use their skill to bring your idea to life? Keep this in mind when it comes to your marketing. Does the message in your ad sound just like your competitor’s ad?

If it does, don’t approve it.

Besides being on the air, I use my knowledge to write copy for businesses here in town as well as all over the country and world.

My first question I also ask my client: What is the goal of your ad?

If I don’t know what their goal is, I can write 100 scripts and never hit on the message that they want delivered. I need to ask them questions in order to deliver not only a commercial, but the first step in their advertising campaign.

My clients also understand that I’m not just looking for their money for the service I am providing them. They know that I’m looking at building a long SUCCESSFUL relationship with them. I know that when they like my work, see results, and are in need of new ideas, they will come to me for my services. When they succeed, I succeed.

Just like a great tattoo, you cannot rush a great marketing campaign. You need to understand going in that it will take time and be aware that there will be some pain. However, if you planned properly and are working with someone that is skilled and understands what YOUR are looking for as an end result, you will be pleased with the results.

 Permalink  Marketing  No Responses »
Dec 112013
 

Relay150

Tomorrow marks the EIGHT-YEAR Anniversary of my wife Molly discovering the lump in her right breast that turned out to be Breast Cancer.

I am currently looking for business owners that would be interested in partnering with me and who be willing to donate a percentage of their sales to my Relay For Life fundraising. The Fundraising Date will be promoted on 96-7 I-ROCK and we would drive our listeners to your business that day to make purchases that will also be helping a great cause.

The goal is to have ONE business featured each week leading up to the Relay For Life of McLean County in June.

If you are interested, please contact me.

Making your dollars go further.

 Marketing  No Responses »
Nov 232013
 

So you have dollars to market your business or product, but are you using them wisely?

You need to have a SIGN in front of your store or on your building.  Is spending the money to WRAP your building with additional signage that screams your name and the various sales doing you any additional help to increase your traffic and sales?

After all, the only people that will see the sign on or in front of your shop, not to mention all of those sales signs are the people that are driving past your location. After awhile, your building and signage become a blur at 55mph.

So you’re stepping it up by hiring “Sign Holders”.

Again, the only people that are being exposed to the sign holder are the ones driving past them, and unless they are at a red light, they cannot read all of the words that are on your 3′ X 5′ sign.  Effective Billboards are not cluttered with words and use a font that is large enough to be read from a distance and just like your building: are only seen by those driving past it. Continue reading »

Bullying: Part 2

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Nov 142013
 

I wouldn’t be setting the right example if I did not follow up on my first blog concerning the bullying issue.

The following night Molly took Breanna to her gymnastics class while I stayed home with Kelsey.  When they returned home, Breanna came up to me and informed me that she wanted to tell me something that had been bothering her since the night before.

She told us that SHE was the one that called her friend names and that she wasn’t bullied into doing it. She said that at the time, she felt if she blamed someone else, we wouldn’t be mad at her.  Then she said that she realized that she hurt two people and even got the other girl in trouble.

I commended her on her coming forward with the truth and asked her if she felt better, but she shook her head “no’ and started to cry.  She said that she wanted to go and apologize to the other girl that she blamed.  After dinner Molly took her over to the girl’s house and spoke with her dad and the girl, informing them that she made up the story and that she was sorry that it caused the girl to get in trouble.

The girl’s father told Breanna that he too was very impressed and proud that she had come forward with the truth and that it is a hard part of growing up.  We all agreed that it would be best to give the girls some space and they could start playing together after the holidays.

Breanna has been grounded, but I’m happy that she came forward with the truth as quickly as she did.  Hopefully she has learned from this experience.

Hopefully.

 

Bullying

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Nov 122013
 

Tonight we needed to address a situation concerning my 5-year old daughter getting bullied into bullying a friend of hers.

There is an older girl that lives near us that plays with Breanna from time to time as there aren’t that many kids in the area.  Well today this older girl bullied Bre into calling her friend names, even after Bre kept saying she didn’t want to.  The older girl said that she would stop playing with Bre and wouldn’t invite her over anymore.  My daughter finally gave in to the peer pressure and started calling the boy names while they waited for their ride.

To make things even worse, this boy is a friend of the family and one of Breanna’s best friends.  When she saw me she was crying and telling me how bad she felt for making fun of her friend.  We spoke to the boy and he said that it was Breanna’s older friend that was telling Breanna what to say and how she would’t play with Breanna or invite her to her birthday party if she didn’t say it. Continue reading »

Customer Service: Deliver on Your Promise & Make a Phone Call

 Marketing  No Responses »
Nov 072013
 

ChaChaChandler Lebeda LogoIt’s 2013 and throughout the years there has been one form of advertising that has and always will trump every form of advertising:  Word of Mouth.

Whether is was good or negative experience, people will always listen to someone they know over a paid for advertisement; on TV, in the paper, or even on the radio.

I’m also a believer in ending on a positive, so I will start with the terrible experience that we had in just ONE week.

Our washing machine was acting up to the point were you would have thought it was twerking all over and when the load was done, the washing machine was nowhere even close to where it was when we started the load.  This was going on for some time, so we set up a service call for a technician to come out to the house.  With both of us working full time and our girls in various activities, we are on a pretty tight schedule; so when the service technician said they would be by between 3-5p, with a phone call thirty-minutes prior to their arrival, we’d have time to meet them at the house.

Guess what?  No phone call.

I came pulling up on the drive to see the service truck, and I assumed that my wife had let him in.  Turns out she wasn’t home and he had been waiting for 15-minutes.  As it turned out, the washing machine was fine, but neither one of us received a phone call that was promised. Continue reading »

RMNU Training Camp

 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu  No Responses »
Oct 292013
 

logoOn October 24th I flew to Florida for the opportunity to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with several Robson Moura Nova União Black Belts and roughly 100 students from that association that ranged from White to Brown Belts over the course of the weekend.

I thought it would be a nice surprise to visit with my parents while I as in the Sunshine State so the PLAN was to stop by on my way back from Tampa on Sunday.  Little did I know that my mom had made homemade pasta and was waiting for my plane to land to hatch her plan.  Once I landed I sent a text to my family to let them know I landed and was gearing up for the 2-hour drive to Tampa.

My mom called to ask what I was doing for dinner and when I told her that I was going to pick something up on my way to Tampa; she replied with the fact that she and my dad are on my way to Tampa.  So I agreed to add an hour to my trip to go 20-minutes off my route to visit with them for 20-minutes so I could be at the hotel around 12:30AM Friday morning. Continue reading »

O’Brien Mitsubishi Sunday Night Football Giveaway

 Copy Writing  No Responses »
Oct 182013
 

Chandler OBrien Mitsubishi

96-7 I-ROCK capped  off our Indianapolis weekend getaway with O’Brien Mitsubishi in Normal, Illinois on Wednesday October 16, 2013 with Mary Forbes of Bloomington winning the weekend getaway.

I’m always trying to come up with different ways to giveaway large prizes and after 12-years in the business, I was pleased to hear that this giveaway was won of the best ones from start to finish.

The concept was simple:  Allow listeners to text the various keywords that were given out over the airwaves as well as sign up through our on-line database and join us at Qualifying Broadcasts during the Five-Week long promotion. Continue reading »

Customer Service

 Marketing  No Responses »
Oct 082013
 

bjj tampaDon’t wait for you clients to call you with questions.  Be proactive when you are aware of an issue.

In April I placed an order on-line and a few weeks later I received part of my package without any explanation as to why the rest of my order was not included.

I needed to contact them.

I received an reply that the item in question was out of stock.

In July I followed up with them again and received another reply that the demand for the product was so high, that they were still trying to complete other orders.

In October, I found another site offering the exact same product and placed my order with them.  I was informed that that my order would be shipped to me within 3-business days.  I immediately went to the manufacture’s site to see if I was able to order the product that I have been waiting for since April.

Sure enough, I was able to order it.

I followed up my original e-mail, informing the business that I was able to order their product from a discount site and it was being shipped.  I also told them that their site did not indicate that it was still sold out, but rather the items were in stock.

They e-mailed me to let me know my order was now being processed.

Communicate with your clients.  Keep them in the loop, especially if they purchased something and it is currently out of stock.

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