Pro/Vision Coaching, Inc. Partners with IMPACT Professional Management Training | Will Teach Social Media Workshops in Omaha

Originally posted at Pro/Vision Coaching.

Grant Mathey, President of Professional Management Training, Inc. (PMT) has hired Philip Stalnaker at Pro/Vision Coaching to run workshops for his clients. PMT focuses on helping middle to large businesses invest in their employees through continuing education. Wanting to create a partnership with PVC, he saw an opportunity to expand his reach and add expertise on crucial subjects.

I will be teaching two 3-hour workshops around social media. Developing expertise in social media since 2004, I’ve designed and ran many social media campaigns for numerous industries. I’ve also given lectures and seminars on the Web 2.0 world, as well as basic websites and search engine navigation.

One day, I’ll tell you all my favorite social media story, which centers around a Facebook ad campaign I ran for a small university that was able to reach 1.6 million qualified leads for a grand total of $175.00. You’ll have to come to the workshop for that, though. Listed below are the courses and dates for the social media workshops. Courses will be held at the University of Phoenix building at 132nd and Dodge, Omaha.

Social Media for the Business Professional Running May 4, from 8:30-11:30am, Social Media for the Business Professional is a general overview of the Web 2.0 world. During this 3-hour course, your eyes will be opened to a world of social media few know and understand. You will learn how to navigate this world, find what is most useful to you, and how you can benefit those with whom you connect. You will learn ways to both heighten your own understanding and growth as well as bring profit to your company, helping you to increase your value at your current company. You will hear about the pitfalls, mistakes, and fatal flaws of individuals that have given social media a controversial name, at best. Once finishing the course, you will be able to properly navigate your way through social media, with the confidence to participate in any way you choose along with the wisdom to make smart online decisions. At the end of this course, you will understand:

• The Web 2.0 world and its breadth of offerings
• What makes Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn different
• The world of smaller social networking sites
• How they can help your job/career, as well as profit your company
• How, if not careful, they can destroy your personal and career paths
• Proper workplace usage

LinkedIn for the Business Professional Running May 25, from 8:30-11:30am, LinkedIn for the Business Professional takes the ideas of Social Media for the Business Professional and focuses solely on LinkedIn and how it can impact your personal and professional branding. We will discuss how a proper LinkedIn image can help your company as well as yourself, along with how to use it as a valuable business tool – why it should be as accessible to you as your stapler and phone. We will cover what to do and what not to do, helping to ensure that you make wise online decisions with your communication. You will learn the ins and outs of the website itself, giving you a solid understanding for navigating the site yourself and how to get the most out of all its offerings. At the end of this course, you will understand:

• What makes LinkedIn uniquely different from all other social media sites
• Whether or not  you should participate
• How it can help not only your job/career, but also profit your company
• The difference between the free and paid versions and how to choose what’s right for you
• Appropriate levels of public communication
• How to use the site in its fullest extent

Power Talk Live Profits from their Passion with Pro/Vision Coaching, Inc’s Philip Stalnaker

Originally posted at Pro/Vision Coaching.

I was once told that it is better to be poor and happy than rich and depressed. It makes perfect sense, but I have always wondered why someone couldn’t be rich and happy? And if it is possible, what is the key?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=PO9z8b3mrMo

Karen Floyd came to us a business owner who was not enjoying her trade. Unfortunately, not only was she not happy in her business, but she also wasn’t getting the revenue she needed. In the process of developing a Guerrilla Marketing program with her, we discovered that her pre-supposed target audience was not who she wanted to be around, let alone sell to. The need to sell her business amongst people who she did not feel comfortable with was causing angst and providing negative results.

As a business coach, there are few things that make me feel better then when the light comes on for a client. Karen realized through the coaching process that the target she was reaching for—even if they bought from her—was not going to get her to her goals. In order to sell to her original target, she would have only been able to sell one of her many services – the one she happened to enjoy the least.

Though it was a significant stretch for her, she decided to reformulate her services, change her target, and pick the people she wanted to sell to. Before then it was like playing a symphony, but missing the middle notes. Now she was playing the right notes, and it all came together very quickly after that.

She is now deeply rooted in her passions and loving her role as the business owner. And her joy and passions are able to bring her profit now that she knows exactly who her target is and that they want the full breadth of her services.

To learn more about Karen and her services, visit her at Power Talk Live.

The Mantra of a Man

I’ve often closed my eyes and pictured myself in my father’s place huddled inside a bunker under enemy fire during the Tet Offensive of early 1968. I can visualize, as if I were there, the barracks, the hangars, and the tool box my dad worked out of as an enlisted mechanic. I could probably make the argument I was there – biologically, at least – but obviously have no idea what his eyes truly witnessed. I’ve made up scenarios and situation that made him out to be the hero I always pictured, but I’ve always been good at embellishing what actually happened; and truthfully, I am embellishing my interpretation of his stories of what happened, so as in the game of telephone, I am probably much father off than I think, but oh well.

I’m not a sappy person; I usually am the guy who makes fun of people who boldly share their heart. Having a cynical nature can be freeing that way. The truth is, my father does not talk much, especially in matters of the heart. He is not the father that never said, “I love you”; in fact, he has never been afraid to say that at all. He has also been clear that he supports me and is proud of me. He just keeps a lot of things inside, and it can be hard to read him, or to really know what’s going on.

I may be the only person who thinks this about their dad, but it is hard to see my father as aging. Even though his hair is grayer (what’s there), there are more wrinkles, and he complains a bit more about his back pain, he still looks to me the same as he did when I was five and he wasn’t that much older than I am now. Because of that, it can be very hard to accept his limits.

I have been up to my armpits in home improvements, renovations, car repairs, and all the other manual labor-type activities that all us husbands live with, and—as per the nature of our family—I don’t like to work alone. With my dad in the same city, he makes an easy candidate to ask for help. Not so much that I need his strength in tightening a bolt, or arm length to reach something high up, but I like having him around. His wisdom (a lot of these type projects are new to me) and experience are nice qualities to have around while I am trying to take off a water pump for the first time, or lining up exactly where I’m going to hang the kitchen cabinets.

Don’t get me wrong, he has his faults. He has been known to gripe on occasion, and has the tendency to get annoyed when things don’t work the way they are supposed to (a trait DEFINITELY passed on to me), and sometimes he gets focused more on getting the job done, thus lending him to take the job over and do it for me. Again, these are traits I share too – but this is the one I truly hope has passed on – he is willing to admit that he made mistakes and is open to change. When confronted with that exact take over mentality last week he quickly recanted and was a great team player.

Ok, so I’ve shared some of my father’s weaknesses, but that is not the reason for this. What I hope comes through this LOUD and CLEAR is that my father has always been there. Never once has he declined to help on a project, regardless of how much pain he may be in, or the fact that he just spent all day at my brother’s house doing the same thing for him. Whether it was a swim meet, a ride to youth group, money for a trip, working on the car, etc… He has always jumped when asked, and never turned any of us away while in need (even when we only THOUGHT we were in need).

He has been instrumental in projects that I gladly take applause for – the basement, the kitchen, etc…and he would never even dare to take the limelight, for that was never his mantra. His mantra, was, is, and will be always to roll up his sleeves and make sure that those he loved had everything they needed. For that, Dad, thanks. I love you.

Don Stalnaker in his early 20s after enlisting to go to war in Vietnam.

Dangerous Distractions | Small Business Owners and Technology

Originally posted at Pro/Vision Coaching.

Since we are a firm of business coaches, I feel a burden of responsibility to warn you all of potential threats to your business. Our goal is to ensure the longevity and success of each small business owner with whom we work, and because of that, there is a vital news item that I must warn you about.

I have become convinced recently that the game Connect 4® is evil. You may think I have completely jumped off the cliffs of reality here, but do you know how many grams of carbohydrates are in each piece of that game? Ok, seriously, it is evil, and not just for the carb content. The effects of that game pull itself out of the fun and light-hearted past and into the scary present of the adult world in which we live and work. Take the story below about a guy named Rod Jones-Swatrzburg from West Spencer, Virginia, as published in the Secret Adult Gamer’s Monthly Circular.

“The online app version of Connect 4®, known to smartphone users as link4® has become quite a crazed sensation. With the ability to play games against live opponents any time of the day or night, countless people have succumbed to its temptations. At the center of our story is former business owner Rod Jones-Swartzburg. He started a fly-fishing business five years ago, specializing in fancy lures. His business was surviving, despite his self-admitted ability to market, and he was even getting close to being ready to hire his first employee. That is, until he downloaded the link4® app on his phone. Though the games only last a minute or so, he found himself losing hours at a time on his device. Hours turned into days; days turned into weeks; and unbreakable habits formed. Before long, no more lures were being made, supplies dwindled, and his store closed down. When interviewed next to the cardboard box he currently calls home, his only reply was, ‘May I borrow your phone for a minute?’”

This is obviously a tragic story of senseless over-obsession is a smart phone, but the temptation is real. The scariest part is that game is known as a “gateway game”. In other words, people that participate in the link4® world very easily find themselves deeper than they ever imagined, some even going all the way to the World of Warcraft® stage. According to a local gaming-health expert, “If a person walks through the online gaming door, it is rare that they are able to go back. There is a reason why the gaming community is growing exponentially (and gets used), while gym memberships grow exponentially, but never actually get used.”

Time is a precious thing, and it’s only worth spending in the right ways. It’s not renewable (such as money, carpet stains, and Charlie Sheen’s temper tantrums) and therefore must be treated with respect. Guard yourself, keep a constant watch on your profits, and never turn down a free apple pie. For these are where the rewards come.

That’s interesting, I just got a notification on my phone that someone wants to play a game…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Oyfvj5rkteE