Growing Without Pain

They say if you're not growing, you're dying (I don't actually know who says that besides my Dad who repeated it often)….but these days, I'm definitely living because I'm growing!

I wasn't planning on growing. In fact, I emphatically said to many people that I don't WANT to grow my business!  But I started to change my perspective after reading EMyth late last year. Since then, I've been noodling on their ideas about purpose, vision, blah, blah, blah. The primary message of that book (for me) is that when you get clarity on what you want out of life, you can get clearer on what you want out of your business...and when you get clearer on that, you begin seeing how so much of what you're spending your time on is not getting you more of what you really want. 

So what I really want is to have long-lasting relationships with awesome clients. And to conduct really cool research with them so that we're all learning…and growing. 

And to do that flawlessly, I am finally realizing I can't do everything by myself. I need help.  Wow, I said it. And, a few months after deciding this, I DO have help…in the form of 2 full-time employees. And, it's awesome. Yippeee!!! I know not everyone has awesome employees but I can honestly say that for all the waiting and grumbling about having them, I am pretty darn blessed, lucky, whatever you want to say. Because I found 2 who are extremely bright, responsible, and passionate, and they're helping me grow in ways I wasn't expecting.  

Meet my new team:  

Mayuri Joshi, 

whose official title is Research Magician because she's helping me magically turn consumer learnings into insightful stories with recommendations. 

And Talia Short, 

who is my Chief Wrangler and manages the important details that make or break a project as well as my daily office happenings. I'm loving their fresh passion and hard-working spirit.

AND, I've been working on defining a business plan amidst a busy research season and found this slideshare powerpoint, which has provided more motivation and information about how to go about taking a business a small business to the next level from Adele Barlow.

Now, back to work and on to more growth!

QRCA Texas Meeting - Project Butterfly presentation

Last year, I started a QRCA Texas chapter with 2 of my colleagues, and we had our second meeting down in Austin a few weeks ago.  Guest presenter, Daniel Berkal (VP of Research and partner at The Palmerston Group), spoke about his immersive research study, Project Butterfly. I attended via FocusVision, and Mayuri (my awesome new employee) was able to attend the event in person!

Daniel's research study began when his clients tasked him with a multi-city project to understand the factors that contribute to social interaction and involvement. The research required Daniel's team to submerge themselves into real-life communities and situations to chronicle social behaviors.

He talked about the "speedfriending" experiment as a part of the study.  It involved Daniel and his team recruiting respondents off the streets and asking them to spend a few minutes with other respondents, likely from very different backgrounds. Each person was then asked whether or not he/she would want to be friends with the new person person they met. Interestingly, most people answered "yes," which indicates a willingness in society to become friends with strangers even after meeting for only a short time.

David and team sought to find people who were "social butterflies" in real-life, as well as people who were "hyperconnectors" online. It was interesting how "social butterflies" and "hyperconnectors" differed when approaching social situations. The "butterflies" analyzed crowds, found similarities, engaged, and then gauged interest.

On the other hand, the "hyperconnectors" made highly charged statements and gauged responses in terms of quantity, not quality. Also, "hyperconnectors" were actually not social in-person. The online world did not seem to mirror reality, and those online "appeared to be playing a character."

But what does this mean for brands? The insights Daniel found apply to brands that are trying to interact socially with their audience -- it's much more important to maintain connections than just focusing on building numbers. 

Anyway, it was interesting stuff, and always great to reconnect with the QRCA community!  Wish I had been able to travel to Austin, though:( 

Qualtrics Roundtable Event in Dallas

A few weeks ago, my staff and I had the pleasure of attending a Qualtrics roundtable event here in Dallas at the Gaylord, and it was great!  

For those of you not familiar with Qualtrics, it's an online survey platform that enables companies to gather real-time insights.

One of my clients has a license to the platform for in-house tracker surveys, but not enough bandwidth to create and run these surveys consistently. So, since we've been helping this client create, monitor, and report results via Qualtrics, it was great to meet some of the faces behind their very attentive support staff.

The more we have been using this tool, the more we appreciate its robust capabilities!

New Year's Food for Thought

A quick excerpt I enjoyed reading from My Fit Foods  in their Tip of the Week. Love their quick, to the point suggestions on living a healthier, happier lifestyle.  It motivates me...and I'm all about being motivated after a crazy 2012 4th quarter and busy Christmas!  

 Be "un-perfect". 

That may be the best made up word and New Year’s resolution ever!  Perfection is a trap.  If you wait until the situation/weather/way you feel is perfect then you will find precious days and years will pass you by.  Now is the time to dance in the rain.  So many times in life, we want to wait until the storm passes until we make a change, start something new or just enjoy life.  You are in control of the choices in your life, and now is the best time to start achieving your goals.

Here are 5 simple ways to start making the most out of life!

1. Put your mind to it.  Believe…such a simple word with so much power!  Think of your brain as fertile soil and your words and thoughts as seeds.  When you plant positive thoughts and beliefs, just like seeds, that is what grows.  Plant a tomato seed, grow a tomato. Negative thoughts and self-doubt act as weeds that can sabotage.  Each day, visualize your goals and believe you can achieve them.  "I am the greatest of all time."  Muhammad Ali said that thousands of times, and millions of people agree he was the greatest of all time.  He began that journey by telling himself first, and so can you.
2. Take action each day to form new habits.  If you decide that workouts are going to happen before work each morning, then schedule it like a business appointment. Each time you perform that action, it starts to become part of a routine.  Consistent routine then forms habit.  Picture this:… a 3 year old that had to get him or herself ready for school in the morning.  Alarm goes off and BAM! The race against time starts! Spring out of bed, teeth brushed, shower, hair, breakfast, news/traffic report, and off.  Not likely, right? For a 3 year old, heck, the process of just getting dressed in the morning without crying is sometimes an accomplishment!  But over time as we get older getting ready in the morning becomes simply “our routine.”  In starting new things, you sometimes can feel like that overwhelmed 3 year old just trying to get your pant leg on, but as you take action and stick with it, everything will simply fall into line…into your routine.
3. Label your actions in two categories:  Goal achieving & Stress Relieving.  Goal achieving activities are productive and move you closer to your goal and success.  Stress relieving activities (such as binging on junk food, gossiping, t.v., procrastination, and excessive alcohol consumption) all feel good at the moment, but waste time and derail you from long term success.   Make sure all your actions are goal achieving!
4. 30 seconds of willpower.  You ever notice that it is typical only “moments of weakness” that can start to unravel you.  Practice 30 seconds of will power to say no, distract yourself or find a healthy, goal achieving activity to keep on course.
5. Plan ahead.  In the battle of hunger and the bag of tortilla chips – the chips will always win.  Be prepared for the day with your meals and snacks that will keep you on track and feeling great.  Eat every 2-3 hours starting with a protein based breakfast.

Coca-Cola VP talks about Truth, Insights and Community

It is obvious that Stan Sthanunathan, Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Insights at The Coca Cola Company, loves his job.

He opened with 

"The marketing research profession is the best profession in the world....for one simple reason. Insight is the most critical thing." 

Well, he certainly knows his audience because most of us here at The Market Research Event agree with him...at least I do:)

Diane Hessan, President & Ceo of Communispace facilitated the discussion, and she told me prior to the session start that it would be worth blogging about...and it was!

This is what I enjoyed most about his presentation:

1. Visionary thinking...

"The responsibility of companies is to help create the future.....but you have to learn how to stop looking in the rearview mirror?" 

 2. Perspective on hiring

"Hire people that are not the same as you had before." He said that many of his "strange hires" have turned out to be "great hires." He also cautioned companies not to"outsource your thinking." 

3.Clear communication of the brand

"What makes coca cola what it is today? It's the community we have established..that we touch people on a daily basis." "It's a drink that promotes happiness." Check out what Coca-Cola is now doing with a program they call 5 BY 20.

Road Warrior Mommy

Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 months since Autumn was born!!

I am about to leave for my 3rd traveling research project. Does the travel ever get easier now that I have a baby at home??

Our newborn photographer posted this picture of our sweet cupcake on her blog--just saw it!

Interesting New Jewelry Biz--Bamboopink!

Bamboopink!

A friend of mine is working on the groundfloor launch of an awesome new, affordable jewelry line called Bamboopink by JudeFrances. There are three billionaires (not a typo) connected to the unfolding of this new internet jewelry launch. The jewelry line behind Bamboopink is called JudeFrances and it is an established, current fine jewelry line that's sold at fine retailers all over the country including Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue.

Bamboopink by JudeFrances has begun a grassroots marketing campaign to virally spread the news of their upcoming launch via the internet. The cool part is that we can win free jewelry just for signing into their website and passing it along to all of our friends. The company will track how many people that you send it to and reward you with jewelry- both Bamboopink and JudeFrances as well as other great prizes such as iPads and a great trip to CA. And you know how I feel about jewelry! A girl can NEVER have too much especially when it's FREE!

Wouldn’t it be fun to have one of the awesome diamond cuffs from JudeFrances as well? Check out all their jewelry at www.judefrances.com.

Good luck! I hope you win some fabulous new jewels!

Have fun!!

April

Top 10 Things To Do in Nevis

#1 -- Go sailing with Irene & Steve on The Star. Not only were they really cool and took us to the best snorkeling areas around the island, they also fed us a great lunch from their own organic garden. Seriously, it was fabulous!

#2 -- Drink Killer Bee's @ Sunshine's on the beach. Need I say more?

#3 -- Let Calvin Klein take you on a tour around the island....as

#4 -- Rent a scooter to tour the island but be careful of the stray donkeys!

#5 -- Eat lobster at Gallipot.

#6 -- Sing karaoke on Thursday night with the empty nesters and local staff at Nisbet Plantation.

#7-- Stay at Nisbet Plantation.

#8-- Keep your camera handy so you won't miss a good shot of the very fast monkeys lurking in the trees....everywhere!

#9 -- Lay in the closest hammock for hours and read.

#10 -- Be nice to EVERYONE because they all know each other in this island of 10,000 people. And many are related.

Dallas Home Renovations

Besides research, my life has been taken over with trying to renovate a home in Lakewood area of Dallas and I have decided...rennovating is not fun.

However, I have had several friends and family who have been

But if you're looking to renovate and trying to decide what to do, how to personalize AND make it ultra cool, here are a few things that others have taught me along the way.

With the help of a few of my friends who actually enjoy the hunting experience,

Local Dallas:
Dulce
Antiques Moderne
Lula B's

Creating "Delicious" Research

Carol Fitzgerald of BuzzBack and Amelia Strobel of Kraft gave their story of "Exploring Dimensions of Delicious with Kraft Foods" in the Explor Awards track this afternoon.

The project developed in order to build a corporate theme for Kraft. They wanted to develop a company positioning around the idea of: "make today delicious."

They wanted to know how they could communicate delicious and whether or not there was an emotional connection to a theme that tied closely to food.

They used a variety of techniques offered by Buzzback and found that delicious is: warm, intimate, and highly positive. They have extended "delicious" throughout their organization and are now sponsoring "Make a Delicious Difference Week" working with two organizations: Feeding America and Save the Children.