Connecting Through Our Word

Good morning,

So, it’s Thursday, and usually I post these on Tuesdays.  A friend once told me an apology comes without ‘ifs, ands, or buts,’ so I apologize for the two day delay of this blog. 

Yesterday, I had such  an awesome customer service experience that I wanted to share it with you.  Several months ago, I bought a pair of jeans at Eddie Bauer.  Last week, the back of one of the knees came out of the dryer shredded.  Eddie Bauer stands behind all of their products with a 100% no excuses guarantee, so I decide to try that guarantee out.

Last night, I walked into a local Eddie Bauer.  When the sales lady greeted me, I held up the pants and told her the story.  She looked at the tears, asked me if I wanted to look for another pair.  After I said yes, she said she would hold the ripped pair behind the counter.

A few minutes later, after I found my size, and tried them on, just to be on the extra safe side, I brought them to the front counter.  The guy behind the counter asked me if I had a receipt. Thinking that my lack of a receipt would get me something like a $25 store credit, which would leave me with a bill of $25 or more, I admitted to my lack of a receipt.  He said ‘no problem,’ continued on with the transaction, asked me if I wanted a bag (As a Green travel writer, my conscious and my mouth said no), then handed me a receipt.  I thanked him and walked out of the store with a brand new pair of Eddie Bauer jeans no questions asked.

Few people know the history of Eddie Bauer.  Few people know that he was the first person to use Down in jackets, which he provided to our soldiers in World War II.  Few people know the story of the guy who brought a tennis racket (When Eddie made tennis rackets) back to him, said it got ruined, and Eddie restrung the racket in spite of examining it and determining that the racket got ruined in the rain. 

One thing everybody who buys Eddie Bauer merchandise knows is that years after Eddie Bauer’s death his legacy lives on.  Eddie Bauer made a name for himself by standing behind his products, an he demonstrated that by naming his store Eddie Bauer.  Yesterday, they earned themselves another life long customer.

If you want to connect with people, be a man or woman of your word.  Among many others, one of my mottos is, “If I can’t be anything else, I can be a man of my word.”  I created the concept of People Connect because I want to connect with people who realize if they can’t be anything else, they can be men or women of their word.  Today, I encourage you to connect, but I encourage you to connect by standing behind whatever service or product you offer.

As a nation, we have come to a place of absolute desperation, because we don’t know whom to trust anymore.  And we don’t know who to trust because we’ve become a nation of isolationists who stand within the shadows rather than by our word.  If we’re going to get out of this economic slump, if we’re going to learn to trust our teammates, we need to connect with each other.  That means we need to hold each other accountable, and we need to be men and women of our word.

 

Until next week, keep connecting.

 

 

Erick

Your Anchor

Family is awesome। Okay, my family is awesome. My 16 year old Nephew just walked into my room to use my bathroom, so he can head off to his first day at the local high school. Across the hall from me, my brother and sister-in-law, who flew to California from Minnesota with their family, sleep off another long day of keeping up with their four kids and one granddaughter. Over the weekend, my household went from three to 15, which happens every few years. Sometimes it gets up to about twenty, but my sister Kristina went to Cancun. Since neither of her daughter’s drives, they can’t come down here. Though, there is not shortage of laughter.

I cherish the summer days that my brother and his family spend with us, because while they do not happen that often, they happen। For several years, my brother Tom and his family never came to California. I don’t know why, but I assume it always came down to money. During those years, if I wanted to see him, I had to fly to Minnesota; and since all of my money went to paying for college, rather than taking leisurely trips, I went for several years without seeing my brother and his family. In fact, his two youngest children reached and passed several of their childhood years before I met either of them. Now, when Tom and his family fly out here, all of my surrounding family from southern California, Arizona, and Nevada takes a week off and joins the festivities.

For an entire week, we play card games, throw each other in the pool, update each other with stories about our life’s happenings, and eat brawts। Yesterday, Tom told me he is thinking about moving out this way, but he said right now the slow economy keeps him in northern Minnesota। Last night, after we finished the dinner my sister-in-law Mary cooked for the family, we celebrated my niece Brittany’s upcoming 15th birthday with Cake (my brother John forgot the ice cream), then five of us sat around the dining room table and shared more stories. After we finished our series of stories, we took our plates to the kitchen, I swiped a finger full of cake frosting onto my finger, wiped the rest of the frosting into the garbage, and set my plate and fork on the counter. Standing behind Tom’s wife Tammy, I reached out my cake frosted finger in front of her, and smeared it on her face. She called me a ‘dork,’ told me to sleep with one eye open, and went to clean her face. Our days of laughter, story telling, watching each other’s children grow into young men and women, and enjoying each other’s company will end.

For now, I enjoy them, because life will change. I tend not to hang around one spot for too long, so a year from now I may be in northern California or in a different state (I doubt it will be that soon). For now I enjoy the incessant noise, one or another of my nieces or nephews walking into my room and using my shower (I don’t even mind that they squeeze the toothpaste from the middle), my great niece looking wide eyed at the big people, and my sister Deb explaining the rules of Rummy 500 to me for the umpteenth time. Life may go on, but opportunities to enjoy today and the people who surround you today will end.

In all of your connections with people throughout your life, keep your family closest. I spent two years in Boston while my family enjoyed each other 3,000 miles away. And while I will always remember and be thankful for my time in Boston, the loneliness of holidays spent alone, birthdays singing ‘happy birthday to me,’ late night subway rides on the orange line hoping I didn’t get mugged, and breaking up potential bar fights between my Laker buddies and Celtic fanatics made me realize that of all of the connections I wanted to make in order to pursue my life goals, none of those connections mattered without family.

At the cost of sounding preachy, I am going to encourage you today to make your first and strongest connections with your family। All of those connections you make throughout your life are like a chain, but your family is the anchor that keeps your ship from drifting too far. You can make all of the connections in the world that will lead to wherever you want to get to, but without that anchor that is your family the ship that is your life will drift out to sea.

I am going to go enjoy my family। Until next week, keep connecting.

Erick

Quick Tips to Connecting People (Virtually)

Today, I’m going to write a crash course on my methods to connect people to people by getting people to your web site.  Right now, I am working on multiple projects.  Some of them have a little more steam under them than others.  Those that have steam, I fuel; those that don’t I fuel from the flames of those projects that have steam.

Go to SDgreenlife.com.  If you go to the about section, you will notice a guy who stole my picture and my name writes for that website.  I confess, it’s me.  We’re growing and getting some attention.  If you enter in the words ‘San Diego Green Life’ SDgreenlife is the second result.  Though, I’m sure we’ll go back to No. 1, since the UCSD link is date specific. 

Okay, so our site's listing on Google dramatically changes when you delete the word ‘Green.’  Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Erick, marketing isn’t your strong suit.”  Sure it is, and the numbers show.  The other night, I got an e-mail from the publisher, who said my efforts are paying off.  In the first three days of May, we already had 75% of the readership we had throughout the entire month of April. 

The first thing I did was find out who our competitors were.  After that, I did a little keyword research.  SDgreenlife is rich with such keywords as ‘Green,’ ‘Sustainable,’ and other words.  A little more than a month ago I started a Facebook page for SDgreenlife.  This last weekend I accepted our 100^th friend, so to celebrate I started Tweeting.  As of this morning, just 48 hours later, we have 80 followers all over the world.  Okay, so we’re no Ashton Kutcher, but he’s overrated.

When I started the FB page, I decided to focus on finding friends who would be the most interested in our project.  People in San Diego, who take an interest in Green issues.  Now, a little more than a month later, 73 of our 102 friends are here in San Diego.  This last week, I interviewed a couple of people from our Facebook page for articles that you will be able to see in next month’s issue.  I am using our FB page to get San Diegans involved.

Okay, so when I started Twitter, I focused on an exchange of information, rather than Green San Diegans.  For me, Twitter is like a news wire.  Like standing at a virtual water cooler.  Honestly, I neither have the time nor the interest in reading Tweets about the latest Hollywood gossip.  I am using Twitter as a news source, which I can pass on to other Green people.

You’re business relies on developing lasting partnerships, whether you find those relationships through Google, Facebook, your local church, or hiring a skywriter to write ‘Eat at Joes’ over the beach at sunset. 

Of course, this is my method and may not work for every person, or in every situation, but this is the one that works for me.  If you would like to follow SDgreenlife on Twitter or join our Facebook page, we would welcome your friendship.

 

Until next week keep connecting,

Erick