austinklee

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be posting a series of blog posts this week that will contain major news!  So, stay tuned to the blog or sign up to receive my posts via RSS!

Haven’t had much time to blog this week.  I have been too busy working on the new Chooseaneed Facebook Fan Page.

One of our biggest donors has agreed to help me out with our first social media foray!  He has agreed to donate $1 for every fan we have on October 31 up to $1,000.  I would love to call him that night with a $1,000 Trick or Treat!

So, if all the Forward Momentum readers will head over and become a fan it would be great!  Also, take some time to check out the Chooseaneed website.  There are lots of needs out there just waiting for you to help us meet them!

And don’t forget to follow Chooseaneed on Twitter!

There have been several really great ads about the difference between PC and Mac.  The premise of the commercial is to show that buying a Mac is better than buying a PC through conversations that exploit the presumed weakness of the PC as compared to the Mac.  The PC is played by an overweight, balding gentleman wearing a plain looking suit and tie, while the Mac is portrayed by a young, thin, stylish gentleman.

The point being that PCs are old, slow, not as reliable, and not as stylish.  I have owned PCs my entire life, until this week.  I bought a refurbished Mac after counsel by @jeremiahstingl, @scottim, @charlieoliver, @side3, and of course @jackalopekid!  After using it for three days I realized that those commercials were more than hype!  I love my macbook!  It is so much easier and intuitive than a PC, it took less than 5 minutes to get it turned on and set up right out of the box, and I actually felt more creative just looking at it!

It got me to thinking, aren’t we just like PC and Mac?  It was very easy to personify the foibles of the PC and the wonderful attributes of the Mac because we as people are just like that.  So, are you a PC or a Mac?

• Are you user friendly?  – Do members of your family, team, organization feel you are open and warm?
• Do you crash frequently? – Are you easily angered, rude, impatient?
• How many security alerts get in the way? – Do people have to jump through hoops to get your attention or affection?
• Are you cutting edge? – Are you open to new things, experiences, ideas?

I hope that I am a Mac in my life.  And if you want to have a Mac in your life go here!

This book is a follow-up to the very successful “Same Kind of Different as Me”. Contained in the book are stories of people that were touched by the original book and some of the actions they took to reach out to those that come from different backgrounds or socioeconomic backgrounds.

Unfortunately the book wasn’t great.  It seems like it was written very quickly and the parts of the story that were added really didn’t cover much new ground.  There wasn’t a good story-like flow and it seemed very disjointed.  The personal stories from readers of the original book were great and in my opinion were the best parts of the book.  Had the authors collected more of these stories, they could have published them in a “Chicken Soup” style book and had a better product.

The book is not bad, but its not great.  I would recommend borrowing it from a friend, but only if you read the original book and are curious to pick up more biographical information on Ron and Denver.  The attempt to add to the original wasn’t necessary and for me it seemed as if Ron was trying to make the story instead of allow the story to develop around him.

One of my Twitter contacts @jackalopekid posted this today about choosing between the thousands of charities for donations.

I make my living working with Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) and with so many Non-Profit Organizations (“NPOs”) needing donations I thought I would provide Austin’s Guide to Donating. I will attempt to provide practical ways for you to determine whether or not you should give to a certain organization.

1. Set a budget. The goal here is to be responsible with the gifts that God has given you. So, you should determine how much of your income you can donate. Start with your 10% tithe and add on from there.

2. Do your homework. Charity Navigator and Guidestar are great resources for information on the financial health of NPO’s. Remember that some organizations are not “Christian” on purpose because of the greater amount of work they are able to accomplish without the negative connotation that some people have toward Christians.

a. For those with larger pocketbooks I would encourage you to contact The National Christian Foundation. They assist in setting up donor advised funds and make sure that your funds go to great organizations. Another option is to contact Calvin Edwards and Company they provide gift planning, research, due dilligence, etc.

3. Select your NPOs. I segment NPOs into 4 categories: Place of Worship, Health/Social, Education, Cultural. I select one NPO per category (maybe more for Education).

a. My personal list: Buckhead Church, Chooseaneed, Mars Hill College/Auburn University, Atlanta Opera

4. Get involved. The more you work with an NPO the more you will feel comfortable in giving them money. Not only that but being involved really makes your monetary gift more valuable. (This is also a good way to decide if you want to give to an organization or not!)

5. Tell others. If you have found a great organization tell everyone you know, invite them to volunteer with you. This will increase giving to the organization even if you cannot personally increase your contributions.

As the title suggests, Max Lucado’s new book is about fear.  Whether fear about the economy, the end of the world, death, school, etc., the message is that as a Christians we do not have to be held hostage by our fear.  Lucado leads us through many biblical examples of Christ imploring his followers not to be afraid and accents those Biblical references with real world examples of fear.

Max Lucado once again tackles a difficult yet pertinent issue facing all people, this time: Fear.  Lucado hit the nail on the head with this book.  Interesting and engaging from the first page, Fearless, reminded me that my temporary discomfort here on Earth is just that, temporary.  I was challenged to reaffirm my faith that the God of the universe is bigger than the fear in my life.

There is a great section in the book where Lucado lays out an 8-Step “program” to combat the fear in your life.  The book is worth buying just to get your hands on that list.  None of the steps are groundbreaking, but his description and PEACEFUL acronym are great for a note-card reminder on your desk or in your car.

An easy read, filled with great insight! I recommend this book wholeheartedly!

Last weekend I was supposed to have AT&T’s U-Verse television and internet service.  I say supposed to because the installation did not happen last weekend.  The technician was supposed to be there between 1pm and 3pm on Saturday.  I went online to check the status at 3:05pm because I had not received a call from them.  The customer service representative was helpful and after I asked for compensation gave me $75 off of my first months service.

The technician called me around 4:30pm to say that he would be at my place at around 6:00pm and he only missed his estimate by about 45 minutes.  However, he forgot to bring his tools.  A pretty big oops in my book.  I had waited around for about 7 hours for an install that did not happen.  The technician told me that I would receive 2 months of free service because he would have to return on Monday evening to complete the install.

Okay, that’s the time-line.  The technician was very kind and apologetic and the first customer service representative I spoke with was helpful and kind as well.  I called the customer service number provided by the technician to get my 2 free months of service and that’s when I ran into a road block.

I explained to the representative the whole story and told her what the technician said about 2 free months of service.  Then she got an attitude with me and insinuated that I was not being truthful.  It was a major blow to the good customer service I had experienced.  I was simply giving her the information that was given to me.

It got me thinking about what my Dad always said as I walked out of the house: “Remember you are a Lee.”  No matter what happened I had to remember that I was representing my family, not just myself and my attitudes and experiences.  This customer service representative conveyed to me that AT&T does not trust their customers and assumes they are trying to get one over on them.

Do you feel that its important for your employees/volunteers to represent your organization well?

Do you convey mistrust to your customers/clients?

Use your negative experiences with other organizations as a teaching moment for how your organization operates.  Chances are if you do not like being treated a certain way your customers/clients will not either.

Remember that customer service means actual SERVICE.  You are there to serve your customers/clients not the other way around.

“Smart men learn from their own mistakes, wise men learn from the mistakes of others.” – I do not recall the author of this quote, however, it is not bad advice.

I went to Mexico when I was 15 with a group of adults from my church to play guitar, entertain children, and run the sound board on a singing tour.  One of the most amazing experiences was shopping for souvenirs in the open air market in Oaxaca (wah-HA-ka).  I just wanted to buy my dad a chess set and my mom a blanket.

I took Spanish I in the eighth grade, which meant I could ask where the bathroom was, a couple of dirty words, and the word for pencil sharpener (sacapuntas).  I was completely unprepared for the way the market worked.  I was caught at one “store” for about 20 minutes because the sales guy would not take no for an answer.

He wasn’t listening to me as I patiently explained to him in broken Spanish that I did not want to buy his necklaces and would he please tell me where the pencil sharpener was located.  Lucky for me one of our translators came to my rescue and we spent another 5 minutes trying to break away from this guy.  Not only was he not listening to me, he wasn’t listening to someone that could speak his language.

He was thinking that if he kept it up long enough he would wear me down and I would buy something to get him to shut-up and leave me alone.  I hate that kind of sales tactic.

If someone doesn’t want to buy something you should listen to them.  That doesn’t mean you can’t circle back later and ask again, but you risk alienating someone from your business or products forever if you push and push and push.  It tells your targets that you are not interested in their needs, only in making the sale.

I see similarities in the way that Congressional representatives are handling these town-hall meetings in their districts.  Instead of reading the polls that tell them that a VAST majority of the voters in the United States are completely against the version of health-care reform that is currently in draft, they just ignore it.

This causes their constituents to get angry and show up to the meetings and YELL their NO’s.  But the representatives keep right on selling.  Its getting to the point that the people of the United States wonder, “Do they care more about passing a bill or listening to the people that they represent?”

Do not make this mistake in your business.  Listen to your customers, they will tell you everything you need to know.  Push too hard and they will feel as if you care more about the sale than them.

I was working with a client recently and we were talking about the direction of their organization.  In the midst of relocating their headquarters this client is dealing with a significant downturn in revenue.  The leadership shared that a meeting was called with major donors and stakeholders within the next week to share with them the specifics of the downturn in financial condition of the organization — WITH NO ACTION PLAN.

In every action movie thriller the main character seems to get themselves in a jam while rescuing someone in distress.  Just when it looks hopeless and the rescued character is about to give up the hero says, “Its okay, I have a plan.”  Instantly the rescued character is calmed and the hero can focus on the task at hand.

My immediate advice to my client was to do whatever it took to pull together some sort of action plan to include in the presentation, something to assuage the fear and uncertainty I knew would appear within the donors and stakeholders.  Just like a movie: employees, donors and/or stakeholders NEED you to have a plan; something they can point to to calm their fears.  Someone in leadership needs to get a plan together and communicate it.

If you are in leadership: Be a Hero.  Use your position and influence to continue your mission and move your organization forward by communicating your plans to deal with crisis.

Twitter was down today for several hours and while it was down I realized that there are many people I interact with on a regular basis, but I wouldn’t be able to contact them if I was without an internet connection.  Whether its via Facebook, Twitter, or email, I have to be online to connect with them.  I always keep a phone list with me written on paper of key people in my life.  (Wife, Parents, Brother, Office, Management)  If my phone dies or I can’t get on the internet; I always have a way to get their information and contact them

Leaders: Do you have alternate contact information for your key volunteers/emplopyees?  In an age dependent on technology would you be able to contact these key individuals if you were unable to use the internet?  Would you be able to contact them if your iPhone or Blackberry died?

Staying connected seems to be more important than ever these days.  Take some time today to write down the names and phone numbers of key volunteers or team members and keep them in your laptop bag.  Then ask those key people to do the same with your information.