People struggle with cat ownership for many reasons. One common reason?
“My cat pukes too much.”
Believe me, I get it. My cats are barf machines. My punk rock band name is Two Piles of Puke. We perform live, this Tuesday, at The Aragon Ballroom.
Because I believe that a happy cat is a healthy cat who lives in a forever home, I am participating in National Hairball Awareness Day.
If your cat pukes too much, take him to the vet. But you can be proactive, yo. A cat spends 30% of his life grooming. Domestic cats tend to shed continuously throughout the year, with peaks of activity occurring during Spring and Fall. And up to 2/3 of a cat’s shed hair can be ingested as they self-groom.
This is a battle. And you need to groom your cat.
We use Furminator tools because we know Scrubby‘s ginger furs can’t be digested. When it accumulates in his stomach, hairballs can form. They can lead to a number of problems, including regurgitation and vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, intestinal obstructions and loss of appetite.
Bottom line?
- Scrubby uses Furminator.
- And Furminator supports the SPCA of Wake County.
- And they have mobilized an army of cat lovers to comb their cats and make fur mustaches to support healthy pet ownership.
That’s pretty special and amazing. Enjoy!
Happy National Hairball Awareness Day!
PS — Do you want to win a Furminator? Leave me a comment and tell me about your pet. I’ll pick someone at random!
Last week, I went to San Diego for a business trip and missed two conferences and several parties.
That’s okay. I don’t miss the alcohol or the cupcakes. (Oh wait. I do.)
When I worked at The Starr Conspiracy, I planned a ton of events and fun meetings. I don’t mean that I ordered napkins and talked to the DJ — although I wasn’t above drinking too much at an event and telling the DJ to play more booty shakin’ music. For the most part, I worked on the philosophy of events. (That’s right. I got paid for that.)
- You throw a party to make a statement. You do it because you can afford to do it.
- You throw a party to say thank you to a community that may or may not include customers.
- You throw a party to tell people, “We are here, we see you and you matter to us as customers and members of this industry.”
And if you think through the mechanics of the party — goals, objectives, messaging strategies, WOM campaigns, email marketing campaigns, digital display advertising, influencer discussions, etc. — you can use the event to increase brand recognition, recall and awareness. Ultimately, a party is a great way to convert your targeted efforts towards awareness and interest in a company’s products and/or services. That’s part of something boring called demand generation.
Okay, are you out of your coma? Here’s where this matters to you:
- HR parties are great templates for team building activities.
That is 100% true. No one likes forced fun. If the event is planned with a heavy hand, it will fail. And nobody likes to do team building with a small group of their peers. That’s called work. You have to get the successful, cool and important people in your office involved.
And never plan a team building event you wouldn’t attend yourself.
So if you are a Human Resources professional attending a conference, take a look at some of the networking events and parties. Try to figure out what works. Skip the stuff that leaves you bored, cold and disinterested.
And remember to drink an appletini and have a little fun!
I’ve been thinking a lot about influence, lately.
As part of my old job at The Starr Conspiracy and my new project (InfluenceHR), I talk to software executives who have all sorts of questions about brand advocacy and an evolution in B2B marketing.
But lots of smart people (and companies) still ask me how to be liked and followed on Twitter.
I think you have to be young, blonde and have boobs. If you can do two out of three, you will be okay.
But that advice is impractical for anyone who wants to use Twitter as marketing channel. Or if you’re a guy. Or if you just want to be loved.
When people (or brands) tell me that they want more followers, I think they are telling me that they want to measure loyalty, improve brand recognition and increase their social capital. And in that regard, I like to follow the advice of David Ogilvy.
Here are my co-opted thoughts on being popular and gaining more Twitter followers without paying for it.
- Make your writing vigorous and direct. No one has time for your equivocation or bullshit. They want your best and they want it now.
- Be specific. Unclear tweets about brands, events or situations are for pussies. Leave the vague, emotional stuff for Facebook.
- Be honest. There are two problems when you lie about your intentions to sell stuff: Your followers won’t respect your heavy-handed attempts to move the market and you have no idea how to make shit viral. So just stop.
- Be inclusive behind the scenes. The DM function on Twitter is your best way to thank people and create goodwill without barfing on your feed.
- Be you, only better. If I wanted to be depressed, I would get off Twitter and talk to my family.
- Get smaller to get bigger. Do not try to be an expert on everything. If you are knowledgeable about a specific subject, tweet about it. Listen, you haven’t begun to dominate your market segment. Write for the people in your industry. Broader recognition will follow.
Also, one way to be famous on Twitter is to accomplish something in real life.
Crazy, I know.
Be first to market with a new product or idea. Be a successful businessperson. Be the voice of a really great brand. Or just stop worrying about being famous. No one wants to watch you have a depressing, unrequited love affair with yourself.
Trust me on that one.
Someone just asked me if I could recommend a good leadership course. I wanted to say, “No! The best training is life!”
But that’s not true.
Life can suck. Life can throw you a curve ball. And even if you’re a good person, you can make mistakes when you respond to opportunities and tough times. How many times have you blown a moment that should have been easy? How many times have you done or said the wrong thing at the worst possible time?
Ugh. Count me among the guilty.
The best way to be prepared for something is to train, but I can’t recommend any general leadership training programs related to the business world because I’m so far out of that loop. There are a million places to find training resources — many of them bad and dull. We used to send people to the Center for Creative Leadership. There’s always Disney. And a school like UNC offers short courses.
Hit the google, yo.
I know some old school people out there who think that life offers good leadership training. So do books, right? And there are HR nerds out there who want to send you to a course to avoid making mistakes at all cost.
I think there’s a happy medium for those of you who want a more effective way to develop good leadership (and listening) skills. I just don’t know what to tell you.
Maybe someone in my audience has a recommendation!
