Unexpected Gratitude

Never forget how much saying a simple "thank you" can mean to someone. Especially when it's unexpected.

Take, for example, events at my house last night.

Let me start with some background. My 8 year old son, Logan, is one of the pickiest eaters of all times ever. He lives on a steady diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples/apple sauce, and ramen noodles. Occasionally, he'll have some scrambled eggs, but only if you make them all in one piece and call it an "omelet" even though it's not folded over and has no filling.

He doesn't like cheese (seriously - who doesn't eat cheese?) or french fries (or potatoes in any form). And last summer when he began eating a hot dog and a bun, at the same time, we considered it a major step forward in meeting his nutritional needs.

Because of his many food aversions, I often find myself playing the role of short order cook at dinner time. I cook something for the rest of us to eat, and then I fix Logan his food. And yes, I've tried giving him no other options but what we're having. I found out it hurts me to watch him starve much more than it bothers him to not eat dinner for days at a time.

Which brings us to last night. Stressed and tired, I decided that everyone could eat what I made for dinner or else.

Of course, Logan barely choked down one bite.

But then when we excused him from the table, he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I didn't care for dinner. Thank you for making it. You did a good job."

So what's Logan having for dinner tonight? Ramen noodles or peanut butter and jelly.

His choice.

Who will you thank today? I'm sure it will be worth your while.

Failure is the secret to success

Look how Honda has been reading my blog:

Customer service saves the day

I had an amazing customer service experience a week or two ago.

I was trying to get something done on one of my websites that's hosted at GoDaddy.com. I couldn't figure it out, and I was getting frustrated. I wanted to make the most of the time I had, but couldn't get anything else done until I completed that task. I decided to call them.

They didn't have a 1-800 number, which made me angry because now I was going to have to waste cell phone minutes calling long distance. When I called, there was a 7 minute hold time.

Totally livid now, I hung up the phone and entered an online help request.

Of course, because I revert to the maturity level of an immature 8 year old when angry, I went on Twitter and complained really loud about GoDaddy.

Within 10 minutes, Alon from GoDaddy did 3 things:
1. He tried to call me to help, but the number that was in my record was outdated.
2. He sent me a message on Twitter, in an attempt to get a new number. (Rant over, I had already closed Twitter out and didn't get the message)
3. He sent me an e-mail with easy to follow instructions so I could complete my task.

Wow.

Not only did I feel a little sheepish (ok a lot), but now I had to tell everyone about how great GoDaddy's service had been. And I did.

What will you do to make people tell stories about your company's service?

Start something up

I spent last weekend in the company of some amazing people. Seventeen of us got together through a neat event called Startup Weekend, and over the course of three days, figured out how a web solution for solo-preneurs would work. (I wrote about what actually happens at Startup Weekend here, at the TechLife Columbus Blog).

It was pretty close to my dream environment for ideas. Everyone felt free to shout out ideas and opinions. No one acted as an idea killer or a nay - sayer. We focused. We worked as a team. We laughed. A lot. We ate excellent food and drank caffeinated water.

If I hadn't missed my family so much, I might have stayed forever.

It was truly amazing how much we got accomplished. I believe that's the power of a safe place for ideas.

Do you lead a team? Take a minute to make sure that everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas, and shut down your idea killers (even if it's you). I guarantee you'll get a lot more done, and everyone will have more fun doing it.