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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Do More with Less, Just Add Water
February 24, 2013
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The eighth core value at Zappos is Do More with Less. This is an essential philosophy to make it in the world now. Using what we already have is a first step to achieve better results. Recent economic bubble popping has shown us how wasteful and risky spending can have dire consequences. As household and government debt grew so did people’s expectations that the prosperity could never end. Now that the economy is reorganized. People look for value and efficiency like never before. Many have embraced thrift over extravagance as a necessity.
Floatli does more with less by versatility. It uses the common floatation noodle, which is easy to replace. Since it works in all kinds of water, including a jacuzzi, it provides a new activity or sport to pools and natural bodies of water. From light to heavy work can be done, by everyone from elite athletes to those recovering from injury. That is another reason Floatli is the perfect official sport for Zappos. It works anywhere there is water, and will be really fun in Lake Mead in summer.
Passionate and Determined
February 18, 2013
Feet of Culture Clown
Zappos Insights
The number nine core value at Zappos is about passion and determination. This one may be the determining factor in my quest to make Floatli the official sport of Zappos. I am positive that many have, are currently, and will pursue a spot in Zappos future. In order to make my offer stand out in a giant crowd I accept the challenge of showing more passion, and ultimately more determination, than others who are vying to be the provider of the official sport of the company.
With any luck I will be the only one applying for this position. Zappos is full of healthy employees who enjoy working and playing. The presence of the company coach supports this balanced lifestyle. Employees can schedule coaching sessions for work or personal reasons. The popular program is much utilized, therefore a waiting list exists for appointments with her. I admire this kind of development program because a passionate determined employee is a content and personally fulfilled employee.
Zappos Education Dept
As the most insightful capitalist venture I have ever seen, Zappos screams sport. The minute you walk into the place the vibe is all about personal expression and fashion extravagance. The team spirit is overwhelming. My guide, Culture Clown, told us how she and her firefighter husband enjoy Lake Meade and participation in outdoor fitness events. She had completed a tough mudder with Marines that impressed me greatly. The reason Floatli is the perfect team sport for Zappos is that it is non competitive. What gravity does, Floatli remedies. The more you wear shoes and play tough games on land, the more you need to reverse that action. Floatli downshifts the joints and prehabilitates the body to do more sports without risk of injury. Summer is hot in Vegas, but they still have a big beautiful Lake Mead, as well as millions of pools.
I want the chance to to market Floatli with Zappos. More fun even than that would be to organize an exciting alternative fitness program that enhances staff levels of health and satisfaction within the company. The integrity of the company comes from taking care of the employees so they can deliver happiness to customers. I want to deliver some happiness to the discriminating employees to give them a new way to chill and stay fit. I am passionate and determined to get an audition.
Design and Deliver Happiness
January 12, 2013
The all around good time, right livelihood, and value vibe created by Zappos is a result of excellent design. The products we buy from Zappos are of high quality. What is perhaps more important is that they are steering capitalism in a healthy direction by upgrading the way business is designed. Feudalism, slavery, share cropping and all other adverse forms of employment feature happiness for shareholders only. This short-sighted vision produces more unhappy servants of the apparently happy owners of companies than it does loyal customers. With the contentment quotient working in reverse, quality, innovation, and value erode and vanish. I think this erosion is occurring in the public service sector. If Vets kill themselves there is a clear indication that something essential is missing in the overall design of our public business.
How can we make the business of government switch from a stagnant vessel of inefficient service to a lean mean contentment machine? Are there ways to practice the Zap happy values in public service and politics?
- Deliver WOW Through Service
- Embrace and Drive Change
- Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
- Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth and Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
I do see a little weirdness, but far too little. The WOW Through Service is just not happening. Imagine the government being passionate to do more with less, or be humble. These core values are created for the benefit of all. Happiness compounds daily, as does negligence. My dream government applies these guiding principles to create a better world. Imagine, gentle reader, a government that makes us as happy as Zappos does, all while being creative and open minded. We can dream.
Zapping to the Beat of a Different Shoe
January 3, 2013
Day at the Office
Ahoy Help Desk
Shoe on Duty
Visitors Score Books
Culture Clown and Stats
Zap-Benefits
I am deeply enamored of the Zappos core values because they distinctly resonate with my own. On my visit to the Henderson office I fell even deeper under the spell of Zap-happiness. The very professional Culture Clown guided our lucky group of only three visitors around the facility. The happiness is palpable, and the systems only function to amplify existing joy.
- Deliver WOW Through Service
- Embrace and Drive Change
- Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
- Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
- Pursue Growth and Learning
- Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
- Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
- Do More With Less
- Be Passionate and Determined
- Be Humble
While I could use work and practice in all these areas, I have consciously embraced these same core values for my entire business life. I learned that most products that are marketed by Zappos are studied carefully for potential compatibility, as one might expect. I also learned from Culture Clown, my guide to Zap=systems, that most companies hand in spreadsheets to be considered. I have no spreadsheets for multiple reasons, the most obvious of which is that I have not yet made a profit. I will be pleading my case by using core values 1-10 and explaining how believe I can deliver happiness to/at/with/and for Zappos. It is a worthy exercise no matter the outcome, so I plan to zap on.
Goldilocks in Business
January 3, 2013
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Three Bears and Goldilocks
My story in business since I returned to commerce now seems like Goldilocks and the Three Bears to me. While learning inbound marketing and social media I attempted to find the right marketing partner. I understand how this works because for years I was the marketing partner for all travel providers (travel agent) , and fancy spas sold my services as a teacher ( employee). Commission is something I have always paid happily, even back when I was young production potter paying a gallery to sell my pots. It is fair, and it keeps overhead where it belongs.
My first guess about the perfect partner was focused on Watsu. I decided that the Watsu people maintain pools which are not fully booked, therefore Floatli would give them something else to sell in their pools. I wandered around from hot spring to hot spring looking for the right one, but this combo was not going to happen, for whatever reason.
Next, I decided that mermaids naturally combined with Floatli and were trending. I learned about the people who are into mermaids, and organized a weekend at a hot spring for mermaids to meet water fitness enthusiasts. This was not the match I had imagined either. I did not suffer terribly through these experiences, mind you. I simply found no appropriate fit for a marketing vehicle.
My digital wanderings had exposed me to Chris Brogan and Anthony Innarino who taught a workshop on sales last year. The well presented course provided the piece that had been missing in my technique. They carefully explained the process of qualifying customers. I had clearly demonstrated that deciding myself that the customer needs my product was the wrong initial step to take. Then they gave me the secret to reverse all errors made in the mama bear’s bed and the papa bear’s bed. To qualify a potential customer you first ask if they want to have a conversation with you about whatever you are pitching. Proceeding without taking this step is the number one way salespeople turn others off forever. The interest as well as the ability to execute has to be there, or you are wasting time. Thanks, Chris and Anthony, that information arrived none too soon.
My target now is Zappos, which fits perfectly because Floatli is the exact opposite of shoes, and Zappos is very sporty. This time, however, I will proceed armed with my new information, and ask the Zapsters if they want to have a conversation about marketing Floatli. That is why I will send this post to them in hopes of a positive response. I believe I can show how we belong together in business, for the benefit of all sentient beings. Gravity meets weightlessness, outside the box (but inside a Zappos box). Please say yes, Zapsters.
Culture Clown at Zappos
All God’s Children Got Shoes
December 18, 2012
— 2 Comments
This song has been going around in my head as I focus on my goal for 2013. I plan to convince Tony Hseih that Floatli is the perfect official company sport of Zappos, so he will want to market it with me. Normally they take already developed products being sold elsewhere and market them. I want the Zapsters to partner me to refine and package it to perfection with me as well. What I can offer is an international trademark on the name Floatli, my expertise, and a fun versatile product that works for sports as well as therapy and training. It is a perfect match for Lake Mead, or the inevitable pool for employees downtown that will be in the future. When I visited them I was really happy to know they can pull off such a pure and direct match between the core values and the results. Floatli also works from the core, and is fun. I came within a few yards of Tony as I was leaving in my Zappos shuttle back to Vegas. I had a giant urge to blurt out my intentions, but I thought better of it. Now I have thought about it, and I am clear. I want to Zap, and believe I can convince the Zappsters of the merit of Zapping with Floatli. We will work this from the ground up, starting with the most important of all things, shoes. Once I know which shoes to wear, then I will enumerate the core values and how we align perfectly, fluidly, and even geographically. Yo, Tony, I am going to convince you, and you will like it. I want to Zap with you for the benefit of ALL the sentient beings. Resistance may not be futile, but Floatli is a lot more fun (one of our mutual core values).
He’s Got Shoes
Newton’s Third Law Goes Shopping
November 24, 2012
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In case you need to refresh Sir Isaac Newton gave us some basic concepts that we use today. He broke down movement and energy to define inertia. The third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This may be easy to imagine in terms of tug boats or bumper cars, but how does this law pertaining to matter have significance we can use to make smarter purchases? When we play billiards we consider the angle, the trajectory, the speed of the ball as we direct it on its way. Do we ever think about the economic repercussions we create with our spending decisions?
Today is shop local, Small Business Saturday. At the same time the mega retailers are bringing in customers with loss leaders to hunt for extreme bargains. Santa is in business all over the country promoting the concept that a big spending binge is healthy, cheery, and designates the participants as Christians. Giant light displays and seasonal music beckon to those who are attracted to all that. Office parties with cocktails and perhaps secret Santa designate this month as Slack for Seasonal Cheer time. Monday while employees are paid to be working, a day to shop on line will be granted by workers to workers. Only a Grinch or a Scrooge would interfere with Cyber Monday. Culturally this is the time to allow employees to take it easy around the office as a reward for doing their jobs for 11 months. What equal and opposite harm can come from that?
Meanwhile over at Zappo’s every single employee is brushing up skills, checking them twice, because it does not matter if you are naughty or nice….you will be answering the phone and delivering happiness to customers during this busiest shopping season. The core values that run the best retail experience on earth include full collaboration from all staff all the time. When needs of the customers’ shift, they shift to accommodate. They do not carry the myth that by giving them a party in December the company fulfills the promise to make employees happy. The Zappsters know that an overall commitment to serve the happiness of both customers and staff is in place and being improved constantly. Their benefits, their work environment, and their personal satisfaction are at the very foundation of the success enjoyed by the company. I do enjoy on line shopping, in spite of the fact that it does not support my local economy. Since I am a speed shopper, I am not so much into the comparison of prices as I am into a superior selection and customer service. The happy Zappsters deliver, so much more than shoes. I like the idea that my purchase contributes to a happy healthy workplace if not to my micro economy.
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