Neil Hernandez's Blog

Cook with Love

Neilski — 2009-11-11T10:44:32-06:00

My mom, dad, brother John and a local parishioner from a picture taken in the last 1970's.

When I grew my father always told me that you need to cook with love. You see he loved to cook and could cook all day. He was the type of person that could do all the steps of preparing a chicken - from it being live and walking around to being cooked on your plate. He cooked for the pure passion of it. Like many kids I hated to do chores. So when my dad asked me to help around in the kitchen, often times I was more preoccupied with wanting to watch re-runs of Threes Company on the TV than to properly skin the carrots or make sure the rice does not over boil. I started out as a reluctant cook. But years of watching my father cook finally stuck on to me. I acquired his passion of cooking. Now, when I cook, I do it with passion. From choosing the ingredients at the right market -I avoid the large the commercialized grocery stores - to picking the right ingredients. I do every step with love in mind. That is to do the cooking so that I come up with the best possible product in the end. One which says this is me, this is what I love to do, and this is a reflection of me. I think if you cook with love, you can only make a good thing.

(Notice, I say cooking, but cooking can easily be replaced with other words like art, marketing, recruiting, writing, or anything else that requires using your God give ability to create something remarkable).

Live Blue Crab

Neilski — 2009-11-09T06:55:23-06:00

There is a new grocery that opened up about 30 minutes from my house. I went there on a Thursday morning to buy some head-on shrimp. This grocery store had the largest fresh seafood options I have ever seen. Fresh Barracuda, shark, head-on shrimp, whole grouper, live Blue Crab...it was remarkable. There are only a few places I think of in the entire Chicagoland that offers live Blue Crab and I've never seen Barracuda sold anywhere around here. The store was packed. On a Thursday morning! By contrast the bigger , more established grovery store Dominicks has a small selection of boring (and questionable if it's fresh) seafood section. The usual farm raised salmon, farm raised tilapia, and frozen shrimp. Dominicks has become boring - and the result is that no one goes there any more. Over the years, Dominicks developed the policies and procedures to create less downside (Unions, regular boring products). Upstarts spend their time making products that have an upsside.

Settling

Neilski — 2009-11-07T10:41:54-06:00

In these economic times, be aware of the tendency to settle. Settle for a job with no long term future for the sake of money. Settle for staying home and watching TV because there are no good opportunities out there. Settle to take on a gig that pays the bills but does not build the type of clients you are looking for.

Don't settle. Know who you are, don't be afraid of who you are, act on the things you really believe in, and don't settle.

Faith is better than Hope

Neilski — 2009-11-04T08:44:54-06:00

When I think of the word hope. I see a player on the sidelines of a football game hoping that his team will catch up even though he is down by two touchdowns.

When I think of the word faith. I picture a man having faith that despite the fact he has no job, has been laid off, and the economy is going down the drain, he has faith that things will pick up.

So what is better faith or hope.

I had a discussion with my wife on this topic. We came up with the conclusion that faith is a much stronger attribute to have. Faith is about belief, hope is about evidence. Faith is empowering and makes you almost invulnerable no matter what the external circumstance. Hope has an implication that your internal feeling depend on an external result. Faith is eternally optimistic - under any circumstance.

There is a major difference in having the FAITH that something is real versus having the HOPE that something is real.

Everyone's a journalist now

Neilski — 2009-11-03T06:50:35-06:00

The journalist were easy to spot before. They were the ones who wrote for the newspaper. They were the ones with the press badges. They were the ones who interviewed people. They were the ones who reported the news. Of course nowadays, everyone could be a journalist. All it took me was to type a few words, press publish, and poof! My writing can be seen by the world. Every day I can choose to either build fans or I can turn off fans. Everyday, the people in your organization can build fans or turn off fans. Everybody can be a marketer and advertiser nowadays. Everybody is giving a message of your organization. It is not just your marketing, advertising, or PR department. The difference between now and then is that your customers or potential fans are more likely to listen to everyone who writes real and relevant messages, then the made up message from your marketing department.

Find 10

Neilski — 2009-10-31T06:12:07-05:00

It would be great for everyone to believe in your cause. But, that's not how it works. Would you rather have a mediocre message spread out to millions of people or ignite the passionate few? Seth Godin, in his blog post first, ten describes the secret to the new marketing:

Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need you/listen to you...Those ten people need what you have to sell, or want it. And if they love it, you win. If they love it, they'll each find you ten more people (or a hundred or a thousand or, perhaps, just three). Repeat.If they don't love it, you need a new product. Start over.Your idea spreads. Your business grows. Not as fast as you want, but faster than you could ever imagine.

People think that when they launch their product, it needs to be marketed to the masses and launch off like a rocket ship. No, the focus should be to build a fantastic product that really instills the passion of a few people. If you did a good job and they love it, they will spread the word for you.

$5 less than cost

Neilski — 2009-10-27T06:30:42-05:00

Seth Godin points out that Wal-mart is now selling best selling books at about $9 or less each, or about $5 less than cost. Why are they selling a product at a loss. Because they know that a customer that buys a book is a luxury item buyer. If you can get this luxury item buyer in the store then guess what he will likely buy more than just that product. See, Walmart realizes that there are different types of customers and treats them accordingly. In this case, cater to the luxury item buyer in the hopes that he begins to love your store and buy more.

Likewise, in the world of marketing and sales, some customers are different than others. Some will be worth more to your business. But only if you recognize them, satisfy them, and help them spread the word.

A good pruduct is an infection

Neilski — 2009-10-23T10:24:45-05:00

"Art is an infection" said Leo Tolstoy. What did he mean by that? Tolstoy meant that in order for something to be considered art, it must affect you and have an impact on you. In other words it must infect you. Furthermore, the infection must be immediate.

Likewise, a product in order for it to be good, must be an infection. If you see the product, be it a website, a movie, a book, a person, or whatever and it takes time for you to decide it it is good, then it is not a good product. If you have to say, let me think about it, let me read it, let me absorb it, let me sit on it, let me test it for a while before you finally say I like this, then it is not a good product. For you at least. It might affect someone else, and thus be good for them, but for you it is not a good product.

So the key then, is if you are making a product is to design the product for only those who see it and get affected by it. Then cater and build to those who are infected. Your job is not to try to convert those who are uninfected. But to infect as many people as you can. Then create a tribe from those infected. Create personal, relavant, and carefully crafted anticipated messages and other products to those infected.

Share to Gain

Neilski — 2009-10-22T09:45:28-05:00

Mitch Joel brings up a good point when he says: "There is a simpler way to not only make your mark using social media, but to get ever-more comfortable with new media: You can simply start sharing content."

In other words, you do not have to create new content all the time in order to be successful in social media. So your blog, your twitter updates, your Facebook posts, do not necessarily have ot have new original material up there.

I know a guy who has thousands of Twitter followers just by tweeting a quote on love and motivation every day. It is not his quotes or his content, he just delivers it and builds a tribe of fans looking for a message from him every day that is relavant, personal, and anticipated.

Be Like Van Gogh

Neilski — 2009-10-19T09:47:43-05:00

"I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners," said Vincent Van Gogh. He loved the world and he loved simple things. He could see beauty in all. He would write letters to his beloved brother and when he saw a beautiful starry night, he would capture it in a sketch and send it to his brother.

Ironically, Vincent Van Gogh was an artist before the world knew him as an artist. He drew and created art for the love and sake of creating art. He did not do it for fame, he did not do it for money. He did art for the sake of creating art.

Can we all learn from Van Gogh and create something you love for the passion of doing it.