Jul 12 2015
2 Comments
Successful Kids

If they’re old enough to spend they’re old enough to earn!

One of the readers of this blog, a client contact, sent the following note:

I am curious to read about the experiences of teens getting into the job force – either part-time/full time, IT/Non-IT. With your four boys – I am sure you might have something interesting to share on this front. Love to read your perspective. Now, I am seeing my son go thru the job hunting process 🙂

My immediate response was to point her to the series of posts on “Landing a professional job“, to get things started. However, there is so much more to the question 🙂

Here we go…

I recall as a youngster, on my way home from school in the winter, with snow falling, commenting to my friends: Look at the money falling from the sky.

You see I had “clients” at a very young age who depended on me to shovel their walkways.

During the summer I cut our lawn and trimmed the grass around the house with hand clippers: weed-whackers weren’t yet invented.

I didn’t earn very much, but it certainly helped me to understand the value of a dollar – at a young age.

After I turned 15 my dad took me for a ride to our local Shop ‘N Save, where he introduced me to the store manager. Within seconds I found myself completing a job application and getting started the next day.

What just happened? 🙂

I’ll never forget my first day on the job. I learned how to properly “sack” groceries and assist customers to their vehicles. Then, after the store closed I learned how to stock and “face” shelves. “Facing” involves making sure all products are pulled forward to the edge of the shelf and stacked as neatly as possible.

Guess what section I was assigned? Baby food…

Do you recall those little jars? Not sure if baby food is still sold that way, but they were in my day. These things didn’t stack very well and when they were stacked they were definitely not stable. I knocked over and smashed at least 3 jars on my first night. During each breakage I had to do the walk of shame past my co-workers, to the back of the store to grab the mop bucket, walk back to my area, clean up the mess, then repeat the process to return the mop. How humiliating. I can still see my co-workers (many, buddies from high school) snickering the entire time 🙂

I thought for sure I was going to be fired, never again being able to re-enter the workforce. I found out later that this was expected (my initiation). And, I didn’t break as many as my predecessors had. So, I did pretty well after-all 🙂

After working at Shop ‘N Save for a couple years a buddy of mine, who worked for a mason and roofer, asked if I could cover for him while he was away on vacation. I gladly did so to haul in some extra cash ($5 per hour, under the table).

Little did I know how hard this work was going to be: mixing cement by hand, lugging cinder blocks or bundles of shingles up a ladder to the roof and whatever other miserable task that needed to be done…

However, 90% of the work was outside which I loved. And, more importantly, I was developing muscles 🙂

I ended up dropping the Shop ‘N Save gig and continued working as a mason’s helper each summer while I was in college.

Fast forward to current times…

The process of encouraging and helping (they would say “forcing”) our boys to get a job involved a slightly different tact for each.

Like me at that age, most teenagers really, really, REALLY do NOT want to walk into an establishment, seek out a manager, ask for a job application, complete it “on the spot” and then ask the manager for an interview to discuss job opportunities. It is just WAY too painful an experience.

So, what’s a parent to do, if they don’t do it themselves?

We must walk them through the entire process and get them a job!

This can involve visiting (with your teenager) the establishments you frequent (e.g., grocery store, Dunkin Donuts, Marshalls, gas station, etc.) or contacting your friend who is a general contractor.

I can tell you from personal experience, there is NOTHING like working for a general contractor to make a teenager realize how badly they need to go to college. They quickly come to this realization after they’ve been ordered to dig the “umpteenth” hole in the ground. Right boys? 🙂

A big thanks goes to Pete of Professional Building Services who, incidentally, runs an outstanding general contractor business in southern NH and northern MA.

Sometimes this search process will result in an application being filled out and the hiring manager saying to your teenager: “We’ll get back to you.”

At this point you can hear the teenager’s deep sigh of relief and imagine the words going through their head: “Phew. We’ve done that and my parents are now off my back.”

They’ll then say something like: “I’m heading out now to hang with my friends.”

You see, once they’ve applied for a job they think they have it. It could be days, weeks or months away, but they are satisfied.

WRONG!

We go by the following guideline: You don’t have a job, until you have a job.

We then press on: Who are “we” going to contact next, until you are employed?

The good news is that through a combination of Cindy, myself and one of the brothers, each has found the other a job.

And, once they start hauling in their own cash they are hooked on the new freedom it provides. We, parents, then get to step aside 🙂

Finally, some may ask the following questions:

  1. Why is this so important?
  2. What is their motivation in this process to find and then work hard to keep their job?

My thinking is as follows…

Kids must learn the value of a dollar at a very young age. If they are old enough to spend it, they are old enough to earn it.

If they only spend, but don’t earn, they are a prime future candidate for the entitlement system, as they expect everything to be given to them. Totally unacceptable.

And, what is the motivation? Well, we “pretty much” ONLY provided the essentials to our boys:

  • Food
  • Decent clothing
  • Shelter
  • Health care
  • Anything we felt was educational

If they wanted the hottest new video game or toy, they could buy it with their own money. This also applied if they wanted a shirt, pants or sneakers that we felt was more costly than reasonable.

Birthdays and Christmases were an exception.

In closing, if they didn’t have the money, well – they had to earn it!

All the best!

Jul 11 2015
1 Comment
For Fun!, Travel and Adventure

Are you prepared to live without technology?

After reading the prior post some may ask: Man, is this guy schizophrenic? He just hammered on the importance of leveraging available technology.

Just having some fun, and hoping to get you thinking.

Here we go…

Have you ever been involved in a power outage lasting multiple days? NOT a totally uncommon occurrence in New Hampshire (and other territories as well). In the 21 years we have lived here there have been several multi-day power outages, mainly due to snow. And, if I recall correctly, the longest in duration (for my home, at least) was 5-6 days. In other parts of the state it lasted longer!

For those who haven’t lived through a power outage, here are just a few things you live without, unless you are prepared:

  • Running water – To drink, and you’ll soon find the importance of the kind that refreshes the toilet 🙂
  • Heat – And, if the house temperature drops below 32 degrees the water pipes freeze, explode and cause damage.
  • Cold – The refrigerator no longer chills and items in the freezer thaw out.
  • The ability to cook resulting from no working stove, microwave, toaster or coffee maker
  • Other things we take for granted – Lights, TV, hair curler, etc.

What is a person to do?

We realize that power outages can be a hardship, even dangerous, for some. However, my family actually enjoys these experiences. It is an adventure, right at home! While it may not be quite as comfortable as when we have power, it is VERY close.

Why? Because we are prepared.

When the power goes out we simply start the generator, which powers the home essentials, and during the winter months fire-up the wood furnace.

One year, we also had the task of removing a large oak tree which had fallen across BOTH of our trucks. Was that a bad thing? No way. You should see all the firewood we reaped from that incident. We are still burning it 🙂

Now, the above steps (powering the home essentials and keeping things warm in the winter) are easy enough for a short term outage. But, what happens if it lasts multiple days? Things to consider include:

  • Fuel for the generator
  • Food and other supplies

First, we maintain additional supplies on-hand, including:

  • Several tanks of gasoline
  • An extra propane tank for the grill
  • Stocked cupboards (comes naturally for a family of 6 🙂 )

Even so, the above will become depleted over time…And, additional scenarios one must be prepared for include the possible added “inconvenience” of the local grocery stores, gas stations and other service providers not having power as well. This has been the case on more than one (power outage) occasion, simply adding a little complexity to the adventure. Some related twists may include:

  • The grocery store being open, but unable to process electronic transactions. No problem, if you have some cash stashed away for just such an occasion.
  • Gas stations, on the other hand, require power to pump the fuel out of the tank in the ground. As such, this requires a bit of travel to find a facility with power to do so. However, the roads may be in bad condition making it difficult to travel. Again, no problem. This is a lot of fun, with a 4 wheel drive vehicle 🙂
  • Often, when power outages occur landline telephones go down as well. To that I’d respond with: who cares? In all the years we’ve lived in NH we have NEVER lost cell signal during a power outage. I’m not saying this couldn’t happen, but it hasn’t – yet.

The above highlights how a family of 6 has smoothly sailed through a number of short-term adventures (I mean power outages).

Oh, and for those who are thinking they now know where to get all their stuff during an outage, I’ll let you know that we have guns – lots of guns 🙂

Now, what if there was a long-term outage lasting multiple weeks or months? Could you deal with this – at home?

I know, I know…Some will say: That is a very unlikely scenario. And, if it were to occur I’d simply be in the same boat as everyone else.

Perhaps.

But, is this REALLY your line of thinking?

For many of us, there are very simple steps we can take to be prepared (as outlined above). Why do I say “many of us”? Because, those who live in an apartment building or in a city are “pretty much” dependent on someone else for many of the basics we take for granted. And, I’d dare go so far as to say that things would very likely become VIOLENT in a city, during an extended power outage! Not a place I’d want to be…

What is a person to do?

Get prepared. And, prepare your young-uns!

How? Well, if you’ve never had the opportunity to experience living off the land or in the wilderness, do so! Because, there are many parts of the country where you can actually sustain yourself indefinitely without electricity – if you know how. Realize, we mere humans did so many years ago. Some still do.

I am so glad I encouraged (they would say forced 🙂 ) all my boys to go through Cub Scouts. Not only is this a solid, character-building program it also serves to provide basic, pragmatic skills for survival that every human being should know.

We may not be anywhere close to the caliber of a Bear Grylls, but we are fortunate enough to live in an area and have the knowledge and experience to sustain ourselves off the land.

How about you?

Always remember: We are responsible for ourself!

I write this as I sit in a beautiful home on Moosehead Lake, in Maine, which is adorned with 3 deer heads, moose antlers, a bear skin, stuffed pheasant and several other animal pelts (fox, etc.). And, plenty of firewood!

Can you hear the loons?

Cindy and I are now going fishing, with the goal of hauling some trout out of the lake for dinner 🙂

All the best!

Jul 09 2015
1 Comment
Personal Success

Are you leveraging available technology?

Are you paying attention to today’s Sci-Fi?

Why do I ask this question?

Because today’s Sci-Fi foretells tomorrow’s reality. And, we’d better be ready 🙂

Just consider the following communication technologies which were considered OUTLANDISH when they were originally portrayed many years ago in the movies and on TV.

  1. Star Trek’s flip-phones which became reality in the late 90’s when Motorola introduced the Startec mobile phone.
  2. The Jetsons’ video calls which became mainstream in the last several years through online conference applications such as: FaceTime, Skype, Webex, etc.
  3. Dick Tracy’s watch that he placed phone calls from, which became reality this year with the introduction of the Apple Watch.

A more important question would be: Are you leveraging these technologies to streamline your life?

Many years ago I recall sitting at my desk lamenting over several different productivity devices I had been carrying around, which served to streamline my life. The devices included my:

  • Pager so I could be alerted when there was a customer impacting event that my team and I had to be aware of and respond to on a 24×7 basis.
  • Cell phone so I could take and make calls from anywhere, vs. being unnecessarily tethered to ANY location.
  • PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) so I had immediate access to my calendar, to do list, contacts and other key information that I may need at any point in time.
  • Voice recorder so I could record key thoughts and epiphanies while I was on my commute or when I awoke at night.

I sat there looking at these devices and said: “One day these will all be consolidated into a single device.”

Fast forward several years and BLAMMO everything those devices can do AND SO MUCH MORE is now possible on the iPhone.

I know, I know, I’ve heard the common objections to acquiring a smartphone:

  1. I don’t want to be THAT connected and reachable on a 24×7 basis.
  2. I can’t, or don’t want to, afford a smartphone.

To the first objection I’d respond with this question: Are you not aware of the absolutely amazing feature known as the off button 🙂 ? That is, we decide if and/or when to use this powerful communications device.

In addition, there are a number of simple settings that we can use to tune this powerful device to create the preferred experience.

Bottom-line: We are in control of our smartphone. It is NOT in control of us – unless we allow it…

To the second objection I’d respond with this question: Can you REALLY afford to be without ALL of the following at your fingertips, on a 24×7 basis?

  • Your calendar, to do list, key notes and ALL your contacts (people you know and how to reach them)
  • Up-to-the-minute financial status including all your bank and investment accounts
  • Information relative to your job (key statistics, alerts and/or general content you are tracking)
  • The weather for nearly every location on the planet
  • A GPS and map of the world (and sky, by the way)
  • Access to WAY more than the equivalent of ALL the encyclopedias on the planet, in every language they may be published in
  • A dictionary and thesaurus
  • The book(s) you are reading
  • Your music
  • A camera and ALL the pictures you’ve taken
  • A calculator
  • A world clock which provides the local time anywhere on the planet
  • A language translator (which will take typed and verbal input)
  • The ability to view availability and pricing as well as place orders for products and services from retailers like Home Depot, Walmart and Best Buy to name just a few.
  • Training and education programs for everything from a new language to golf
  • Oh yeah, a telephone, email and text messaging system
  • Plus so much more – most of which is 100% FREE

For those among us with no smartphone experience, the above “short list” is hopefully enough to encourage the immediate acquisition of one.

I’d suggest that in today’s fast-paced world you CANNOT afford to be without the above. You simply won’t be participating in the global community and therefore have just placed a glass ceiling over your career and personal life.

Consider one of my favorite guidelines: I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Said another way: BE PREPARED!

Realize this…If we aren’t taking full advantage of, or experienced with using, today’s technology it is only going to become increasingly difficult to keep up. And, for those of us with children, this is a very bad example. Why is this? Because technology and society continue to advance RAPIDLY – together!

Here is a very current example: and, a warning if you are traveling to New Hampshire. As of July 1st a Hands Free Law is in effect prohibiting the use of cell phones while driving, UNLESS you are “hands free.” Being hands free, while using a cell phone, requires that you leverage the technology known as Bluetooth (a wireless connection of cellular phones, computers, and other electronic devices). With Bluetooth technology we can connect our smartphone to a wireless earpiece or our automobile enabling its use without needing to occupy our hand to hold it to our ear.

The good news is that this technology now comes standard in many vehicles. And, if you aren’t up to acquiring a new car to abide by this law you can get a Bluetooth headset at Walmart, Best Buy or other retailers.

I realize that MANY people reading this already use Bluetooth technology.

However, there are some among us that are intimidated by technology. Note: you will, you MUST be assimilated (at least in NH) or you cannot legally use your cell phone while driving. Now, that would be a total bummer (I mean waste of good driving time 🙂 ).

In closing, get on board or get left behind.

All the best!

← Older posts
Newer posts →