Yep, I'm a dad. but am I a good one?

Approaching my 40s, a few more pounds on the scale, ok ALOT more pounds on the scale, not as athletic as I want to be, usually tired, but still a dad.

I LOVE being a dad! I have a beautiful 8 year old daughter who is the light of my life, and an awesomely challenging 3 year old son who despite the gray hairs and possible stomach ulcers he's caused me, I love unconditionally.   Being a parent is no easy task, but it certainly can be rewarding to say the least.  As parents, we all know what starts to happen as the kids grow up.  Soccer, cheerleading, music, theater, baseball, basketball, the list of extracurriculars goes on and on and on.....  We work all day, then we get home and pull some kind of pseudo meal out of our asses, sit at the table as a family, (if we're lucky for longer than 10 minutes), clean the dishes, supervise baths or showers, squeeze in that last tv show to wind down, read a little story, kiss the kids goodnight, and then proceed to melt into the sofa trying to decompress, without downing a whole bottle of Jack Daniels to do so. While all that is going on, do we really take the time to enjoy what we have?  Or is it just about survival?  I'm not sure.

What I do know is this, I want to take that time to enjoy it.  I want to create memories for all of us.  It's REALLY hard to do, but it has to be done!  My dad worked ALOT, things were simpler then though.  I didn't have a whole lot of stuff going on outside of school besides playing, riding my bike, listening to music, whatever I was into at the time.  We had dinner together, we talked about our day, sometimes dad missed it, but not all the time.  We made it work.  I don't know that I can say the same now.  Is it laziness? Or is it really that hard nowadays?

I have to take the time to give the kids stories to tell their kids about!  Make every moment count.  Create memories, laugh together, sing together, drag my fat ass off the sofa and throw a ball around.  It's these little acts that will make my kids remember dad fondly, not the $15,000 vacations or the size of our house.  Working to make a living and provide for my family is one thing.  I realize that I need to earn money to be able to have the things we need.  But will it allow me to leave something behind when I go? doubtful.  I will leave my mark on this world through my kids, not the work I do, by the memories they have of their time with dad, not by the cars I've owned.  My kids are my legacy.  I have a responsibility to them.

Abington Hospital, Holy Redeemer, Chick-Fil-a, oh my!

Here I go again, another rant!  This is NOT POLITICAL!  I am NOT getting into the religious, moral, or ethical side of these issues.   I am here to talk about how companies and institutions need to look at PR, and Social Media, so stick with me here.

We get news faster now than ever before.  Twitter, Facebook, linkedin, etc. have clearly changed the way we live.  When was the last time that you actually heard a piece of breaking news on TV that you hadn't already been made aware of by your friends?  Companies that fail to get out in front of their most engaged brand advocates will fail to remain in business, plain and simple.  Controlling the message is at the very core of a business survival plan.

look at the Abington Memorial Hospital/Holy Redeemer merger news.  Don't you think it's possible that there were components of the discussions that were not made public while the media was latching onto the fact that they would no longer perform abortions there?  I am confident that is the case.  But, no more abortions was the one thing that was latched onto and the biggest issue that was being discussed in the media.  By the way, Abington Memorial Hospital performs an average of only 50-80 abortions A YEAR.  I didn't hear anything about the opinions of the physicians at the hospital, or AMHs promise to never abandon their secular approach to healthcare, or to provide offsite alternatives within their network until the merger was already basically dead.

Look at Chick-Fil-A now.  Again, POLITICS ASIDE, they fucked up!  When Dan Cathy made this statement in the Baptist Press "We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that." He gave no thought to what the fallout would be.  Fast forward 2 days and what happened?  facebook posts, boycotts, twitter rants, etc.

If you live in this world and you do not embrace social media and it's ability to make or break your business, you are already dead in the water.  Control the message and you control your destiny!

Beware! Heavy Jewish stuff here!

I have a secret for you... it's something you'd never guess... are you ready?  I'm Jewish!  Not a big shock to most of the people reading this since most of you already know me.  In fact, all of you probably know me because the only people that read this are people I'm friends with on some social network site, and you all know me!  But there is a reason for me writing this post. I recently became the Youth Committee Chairperson at my synagogue which is the synagogue I have belonged to forever.  Alot of you know how active I was in the youth group there.  In fact, that's how I met about 90 percent of you.  Insert nostalgia here: When I was in BOFTY (Beth Or Federation of Temple Youth)  go ahead, roll your eyes, it's ok... it was one of the most successful and thriving youth programs in the region.  Today, unfortunately, it's a very different story.  I have outlined a plan for the Youth Committee this year to begin to revitalize the program and it will definitely be an uphill battle. This is not news to any of us who are still actively involved in our congregations.  It's not something that is unique to Beth Or by any means.  It is a nationwide issue for the Jewish Community. 

Let's face it, people are busy, involved in a million different activities.  Why then is the synagogue such an integral part of my life, but so far off the radar of so many others that it's not even a thought?  In my mind, it's easy to answer.  I, like so many others, slipped away from my involvement in the synagogue starting in college.  I know, I know, the bigger issue here is the kids that disappear from synagogue life after their bar/bat mitzvah. I can't speak to that because it didn't happen to me.  It didn't happen to me because the synagogue was still relevant to my life and to the lives of my parents at that time.  The thing that made the synagogue relevant to me again was my children.  My daughter started Sunday school and the flood gates opened for me again.  Sarah is a member of the Jr. Choir, and active in BOFTY activities.  She feels as comfortable and at home at our synagogue as I was all those years ago when I was a kid. 

By now, you're thinking "what's his point here? I'm bored and I'm going to stop reading this now"  I get it, why do you think I call this blog "Am I Really That Interesting?"  So, here comes the point! Isn't one of the simplest solutions to the lack of engagement among the Jewish Community with their respective congregations just to make the Synagogue RELEVANT again?  What makes something relevant is completely different to every one of us.  Some of us are into fitness, exercise, some are into music, learning, reading, cooking.  The list goes on and on.  So how do we get so many different people to feel engaged with so many different needs?  How about the "Center" approach?  Jewish Community Centers (JCC's) offer a wide range of activities in a Jewish environment.  A Synagogue is about community, spirituality, prayer, learning.  What's missing these days is the community component.  Create a reason for people to become engaged, and they will become engaged.  Find out what people need/want and offer it. Making the synagogue part of the fabric of our lives is the key.

Sure, my focus is Youth.  I understand it, I live it and that is the key to my engagement.  But that is a small component of congregational life.  Maybe instead of going to your local gym and paying outrageous prices for a Zumba class, if one was offered at your synagogue, wouldn't you consider attending? What if that cooking class you've always thought of taking was offered as a benefit of your synagogue dues, you'd consider going there for that wouldn't you?  It's time to take a big step outside the box.  Once we have a reason to become engaged in congregational life, the opportunities are endless.  I'm not taking anything away from the spirituality, learning, prayer.  Once you have people engaged and once it is a RELEVANT, integrated aspect of their lives, the rest comes easily. 

Guerilla Marketing in the Digital Age

So, it's time for my first post!  I've been waiting for the right inspiration to hit and it's taken a while, but I finally got it!  I'm in Digital Marketing.  It's kind of like the whole "dot com" thing when it first hit.  There are people who have known about it for sometime now, and there are those who are rank amateurs.  I'm somewhere in the middle.  I've attended alot of conferences and seminars and I've learned a great deal from them and I'd like to share one of the more interesting morsels of information.

Traditionally, "Guerilla Marketing:" was a tasteful practice designed to attract customers to your brand that may not otherwise be aware that you even existed.  Distributing flyers, pounding the streets, and cold calling were a staple.  Afterall, a free market society is all about helping business grow.  But in this digital age of Facebook., Twitter, Youtube, Blogger, Tumblr and all of the other various social media sites, the rules seem to have changed.

Every rank amateur thinks that they can go after new business only by trying to steal existing business from the other guy.  Let me give you an example, I work for a very well respected car dealership.  This car dealership has been successfully in business for over 50 years.  They have a loyal customer base and are extremely well respected in the community.  Those positive attributes have made this dealership a huge success and well known throughout the automotive industry.

As any smart digital marketer knows, it is important to monitor your online reputation.  Thanks to Google Alerts I found out today that one of my "competitors" decided to write a blog post with the name of my business in the title and in the body of the blog post.  Normally a benign thing to do, however, they then included links from the name of my business in the post that when clicked, brought the customer to THEIR website.  Here is the blog post I am referring to:

Experienced the Keystone Volvo

 March 2, 2012 1:25 pm admin Business News

The new models of the vehicles will also function eye-catching detail and exclusive metal tires. Keystone Volvo is focusing on viewers of expert and beginner mariners and activities lovers who appreciate experienced sportsmen and extraordinary rivalry and individuals who regard the seafaring way of life. Keystone Volvo, the organization’s vehicle extra, is well-known for its strenuous protection requirements as the cars’ propensity to history higher than normal usage. You need to ensure that you take proper care of these traditional vehicles so that they are always prepared to run easily on the street. This way you can preserve your cash as you do not have to go to the stores for these modest issues.

Seeing that I am a class act, unlike the coward that wrote that post, I have removed the link to their website because I won't stoop to their level, but I highlighted for you the text that included the link to their website. Not only is it cowardly to do in the first place, but the actual post has absolutely NO relevant content value in terms of keyword relevance, therefore it will never even rank with Google in searches.  Hello, new age "guerilla marketing."  Cowardly as it was, My first reaction was to do the same right back to them.  But, alas, cooler heads prevailed and I decided to channel my frustration into my work.  The work that I do every day to remain the "Top Dog" in my respective market.

My company, Keystone Volvo is one of the top Volvo dealers in the country.  We've earned that reputation through hard work, a dedication to our customers, and the longstanding ideals passed down through three generations of the same family ownership for over 50 years.  We never had to skim off of someone else's reputation in an attempt to advance our own success, unlike that "competitor".

Marketing a business is about more than cheap tactics.  It's about learning what people want to hear and engaging people on an intellectual, fun, and productive level.  It's about being "top of mind" when our customers and fans need us.  I'll keep doing what I do, my company will keep outselling this particular "competitor" 3 to 1.  This other dealer can continue to think that they outsmarted me and that they have mastered the techniques to market their business effectively.  I'll keep WINNING, and they'll keep LOSING!