The People We Run Into

Garth Beyer

I do my best to socialize with anyone around. From the results, I encourage the same to anyone wishing to get ahead in their field of interest.  2250191764_7f4cc4a6d5

You will be continuously amazed at how many great ideas people have. You will see how relatable a random person is to you. And, worth remembering, everyone wants (needs?) a bit of encouragement – you’ll be surprised how the people who know you least, encourage you the most.

Most importantly, though:

You never know when you can be there to help them.

You never know when they can be there to help you.

 

Stay Positive & Thankfully, People Are Everywhere

Garth E. Beyer

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Anyone Can Design, Right?

Garth Beyer

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There are so many tools (free and cheap) that allow the most novice of designers to create something better than they can on Microsoft word or Minecraft. Take presentations, for example.

It began with Powerpoint. Outside of academia, I have yet to see someone present using Powerpoint. I have, however, seen users upload their information to Prezi or Haiku Deck, two (free!) fantastic and simply designed presentation platforms.

It makes me wonder why we need “professional” designers if – so it seems – anyone can design an adequate presentation.

Then I come across people like Nancy Duarte and her methodology to designing presentations. From there I visit her portfolio, my jaw drops. I – hopefully you, now, too – am astonished and impressed with her work. It is some of the finest design I have seen.

Sure, anyone can design, but very few can design like Duarte. I suppose that’s why I am so fascinated with design, simply because the moment you think everyone is a designer, someone steps it up a notch and raises the “average.”

I will tell you this: you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by keeping up with the average. I have said it already, design is in everything, no matter what career you have or are pursuing.

 

Stay Positive & Forget The Joneses, Keep Up With The Designers

Garth E. Beyer

Short Chronicle Of My Switch To A Stand Up Desk

Garth Beyer

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  • We put a lot of our weight on our heels. Go bare foot, watch your balance, or get more comfy shoes.
  • I learned that it’s easier to dance. Give yourself the space and posture to move, and you will. (HT Childish Gambino)
  • Standing up encouraged me sneak in some exercises. The problem with sitting at work is that once we sit, we feel like we need to stay sitting. Sitting makes us feel like we’re constantly working. As a result from standing, I’ve done some dips, some squats, and sit up crunches.
  • I sit down to take notes, make phone calls, and read while I snack (not online material)

Notice now that I’m not sharing time stamps, nor telling you for how long I’ve done each thing. The reason being is that you can’t duplicate my schedule. You might not be able to go and take a late afternoon walk outside as I do, thus, I exclude it. You may work through your lunch while I pause my day to read a bit while I eat. You may not get to listen to music and thus miss part of the dancing experience to having a stand up desk.

As it goes with following any idol, trying to replicate their daily routines is a waste. Seth Godin once said that no artist is ever consistent enough for you to do exactly as they do anyway.

  • Sitting finally feels relaxing again instead of a portal back into the work world. Downfall is, I had to get up to write this. Ah, well, so it goes.

Final statement: Give it a shot. Don’t spend money on a high tech one, just craft one for yourself to see if you can adapt to it. Oh, and try to have someone that will rub your feet at night.

 

Stay Positive & Read More About Stand Up Desks

Garth E. Beyer

A New Problem With Customer Service

Garth Beyer

Phone broke. It was a smooth transition purchasing a new one. Lost my unlimited data plan though. But, of course, had to connect with customer service.

Three days into having my new phone I got a text message from Verizon saying that I have exceeded my two gigabyte data plan. Keeping it short, I visit the store and they tell me to call customer service. So I do.

I called the customer service number and got an automated voice system that asked what I wanted. There’s a button for everything else you could want, payments, minutes, checking data, etc,. but there was no button to get in touch with a sales rep. It took four calls until I figured out that I had to say that I wanted a customer service rep after I pressed “4” and was asked to state why I was calling. If you’re going to provide a number for customer service, have it connect to customer service. Strike one.

After figuring out how to get ahold of a customer service rep, the automated voice system said they were receiving an extremely high volume of calls and it would take a while to get on the line with a customer service rep. I was on the phone with one in 5 seconds.

If you ever have an automated voice message system to take service calls, remember that there’s a difference between preparing for the worst and being honest. I would rather be told the truth of how many calls are coming in even if the volume is low. Anyone calling customer service expects to be on hold for a while, even if told otherwise. Lying was strike two.

I had my situation resolved in less than 10 minutes. He (I don’t even remember his name, explained in a moment) reset my data usage from the time I got my phone. Done and done.

Yet, there was still a problem. The third strike. I got to speak to a human, but he wasn’t very human. He avoided the question of how his day was and turned it around to if I had protection on my phone. Instead of sparking a conversation when silence ensued, he merely thanked me for my patience. Everything he said felt scripted. I couldn’t help thinking that I could have had a better conversation with the automated voice service.

Want to know a reason why Apple is the go-to goodie about customer service and not Verizon? They are human. They have a conversation. And you get a hold of an actual person when you call customer service.

 

Stay Positive & Lessons Learned For Future Business, I Suppose

Garth E. Beyer

Artists Without An Audience

Garth Beyer

I came across Shoshana Fanizza’s blog earlier today. In one of her recent posts, she mentions that she “went to a concert last night, a chamber music concert with Glass, Verdi and Wagner.  It was a great mix of new and old pieces that are rarely performed.” She goes on, ” I looked around, and GenX me was the youngest one there!  There were no millennials, except onstage.”

Confusingly, that’s both surprising and not. Not surprising because, it’s true, millennials have no time to be attending performances because they are out striving to gather an audience of their own. It’s a bittersweet tragedy, really.

Fanizza writes, “I remember asking a younger performer who was in town if he ever was able to be an audience member.  He replied that he almost never had the time.”

I say it’s a tragedy for the same reason why it’s surprising to me. How can you know what an audience feels at an orchestra, how they interact with the composers and each other, how they listen to the music, if you’ve never been an audience member?

This is, more or less, a shout out to all the artists out there: you can’t be a successful businessperson without having ever been on the other side of a contract, you can’t be a composer if you’ve never sat in the audience of another composer, you can’t be a phenomenal writer if you’ve never read a book, and you will never truly connect with an audience member without first being one.

Consider being part of an audience like visiting family. At times, it may drive you crazy and you may other priorities and work to do, but you still visit, because, in the end, it’s in everyone’s best interest.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Get Me Started On Standing Ovations

Garth E. Beyer