My titles include Bellhop (my first job), Door-to-Door Salesman (my first unreal job) Camp Counselor, Union Construction Laborer, Speed-Bump Painter, Typist, Shuttle-Bus Driver, Customer Service Representative (phone jockey), Quality Process Analyst, Team Leader, SAS Programmer, Marketing Analyst, Financial Analyst, Segmentation Leader, Innovation Director, and Consultant. But never was I a Spammer!

Until recently.

As my thoughtful and caring readers already know, I was recently diplaced from my role at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. “Displaced” is another word for downsized, reorganized, right-sized, re-engineered, moving in a different direction, and “It’s not you; it’s me.”

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bitter. Really. I’m not. I’m just giving background.

So, when you’re displaced, you have to find a new job. You do this in order to have a happy wife. And, as the old saying goes, “Happy Wife = Happy Life.” And, I’m all for having a happy life.

Time to get to work. My career counselors at Right Management are quite good, and they say that the jobs in the job market fall into two segments. You have the “reactive” segment of jobs which are those posted on job boards like Monster and Career Builder. Right estimates the reactive segment to be about 25% of the jobs. The “proactive” segment is made up of jobs that are unadvertised, or they haven’t been created yet. Much harder to find, especially in the current economy, but proactive jobs represent 75% of the market. Knowing this, I came up with a 3-Step Plan.

Step 1 – I, being really good at math, decide I will spend most of my time looking in the proactive market.

Step 2 - Write a funny letter to my friends.

Step 3 – Get a job.

It turns out there’s a lot that goes into Step 2. The first parts are easy (2a – write the letter, 2-b send the letter), but the part right before Step 3 begins (2c) is complicated, so I’ll leave that to the end of the blog.

Part 2a was fun. I copied the idea from another letter I wrote to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I know the last thing people want to hear from newly-displaced people is “Woe is me.” Even if I felt like, “Woe is me,” I’m not letting on. The letter had to have an upbeat tone, give people something to laugh at , and it had to give them a way to help if they wanted to. Here’s a link to the letter I sent. I sent it out in waves of 50 at a time through my GMail account, so I could keep track of the responses. I didn’t want to get too many Out of Office and Bounce responses at one time because it would be hard to make all the changes to my address book.

The 11th time I sent out the e-mail to 50 people, I became a Spammer! How awful. That’s right up there with the Biblical version of the tax collector.

Apparently, if you send out more than 500 e-mails in one day, Google blocks your e-mail account for 24 hours because it thinks you’re a Spammer! This action is taken regardless of the nobleness of your cause.

Long story short, I got the rest of the e-mails sent out the next day, and it has been a rousing success. My favorite recruiter told me she liked it so much she read it to her family and friends at Thanksgiving. I highly encourage anyone finding themselves in this situation to do the same.

Step 3 is still not accomplished, and that is where the complexity Part 2c comes in. This is the part where after I send the letter, I have to corral all the suggestions, make a thousand phone calls, send hundreds more e-mails and practice being patient.

So, please keep thinking about me. Let me know if you know of someone I should meet or if you have a suggestion for me. I really appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!

Carey

**

Hi There and Happy Holidays,
Well it happened. I’ve joined the ‘Career Transitioning’ crowd.

The reasons, while interesting over drinks, are not particularly new or provocative. Please just know that I’m moving on, I’m happy, and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.

You may be asking yourself, ‘Gee, how can I help you, Carey?’

You are so smart. How did you know I was going to ask? Actually, it’s really simple, and you can absolutely feel good about being able to help.

Here’s how it works. I’m going to tell you what I want to do for a living (some of you have wondered about this for years), and I’ll give you some examples of companies that do this type of work.

All you have to do is tell me if you know of anyone who works at any of these companies or similar companies. Or, maybe you know someone who does similar work and can give me some tips.

It’s OK if you can’t think of anyone because here’s the best part – you can give me advice. I love to give people advice (solicited or otherwise), and I’d love to hear what you think I should be doing better. I’ll keep a record of all of the comments and report back later on how I used them.

So, here’s my plan. I want to continue to help companies identify and develop cool ideas to grow their businesses. My qualifications are in the attached resume, but I’m a QFD Black Belt, and I have deep knowledge of both health care and financial services.

This role can be a ‘real job’ inside a company, or it can be done as a consultant. Both are good.
There are lots of companies that are looking for new ideas and for people to develop them. I’ve done this type of work at AT&T, Citibank and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, but lots of smaller companies are looking for new ways to grow their businesses as well. In Jacksonville, these companies may be:
- Healthcare firms like PSS World Medical and Availity
- Financial Services like Fidelity, Bank of America, etc.
- Any of the logistics businesses like Landstar, Ceva, etc.
- Any of the new technology companies

Do you know anyone at any of these companies?

Do you know anyone at another company that’s interested in growing?

Do you know anyone that does a similar type of job?

Do you have any advice for me?

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

p.s. The idea for this e-mail came from a different e-mail campaign I used to raise $1,500 for charity. Read about it at my blog, Bold City Innovation, and please feel free to use any of the tips I provided.

p.p.s. I want to stay in Jacksonville for the next few years, but I’m happy to travel.

p.p.p.s. Click here if you’d like to be RickRoll’D.

All the best,
Carey W Hepler
904 707-2326

Follow me on Twitter.com/BoldCityInnovat
LinkedIn.com/in/BoldCityInnovation
Yovia.com/Blogs/BoldCityInnovation

So, I modified an idea I heard on a pledge drive from NPR’s podcast of This American Life. I love this podcast, and the host, Ira Glass, does a great pitch to raise money for his podcast. It’s great because he starts out by asking for $1. Who doesn’t have $1? Then, he says, If you pledge $5, you’ll cover four of your lazy friends. Great humor.

So, here’s the e-mail I sent out:

Hey There,

I’m doing something cool and good at the same time. I’m running through six miles of mud to support MS.

Can you spare $2 to support me and MS?

I know it’s a terrible time to be hitting people up for money, but I’m not asking for much. Just $2. MS is a tough disease, and every dollar we raise will help bring it to its knees.

So, why $2? Well, I’ve got a lot of friends like you, so, if everyone gives a smidge, we can raise a bunch. So, will you be a mensch* and donate $2?

Added Bonus: If you donate $5, you’ll be a total sweetheart, and I’ll buy you a beer the next time I see you.

Super Bonus: Donate $10 or more I’ll buy you a beer , AND I’ll write your name on my back as an “Official Sponsor” for all the fellow competitors to read as they eat my dust (or mud – as the case may be).

That’s it. Thank you for your support!

Please use this link:
http://www.active.com/donate/mudrunjax/CareyHepler

You will receive email confirmation of your donation and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. I thank you in advance for your support, and really appreciate your generosity!!

Thanks again!

Carey

*(Mensch (Yiddish: means “a person of integrity and honor”). It’s a good thing.

I sent this e-mail to about 230 people whose e-mail addresses I had through work or through LinkedIn.

Here are the results. About 80 people donated, I raised $1,500, and I was the Top Individual fundraiser. 80 people responding meant that I had about a 35% response rate, and most people donated $10 or more. In the first day, I sent out the e-mail, I raised $400. I was blown away the efficiency and by people’s generosity. Raising money was so much easier than I imagined.

Conclusions
I did not delete anyone from the list because I thought it might be inappropriate to send to them, or I thought he/she may not want to donate. I left that decision to each person to decide.

People whom I barely knew contributed. Some people have an affinity for giving to charities. It will be more than your best friends that will help you.

People with ties to MS through a friend or a relative with the disease were especially generous. I didn’t know who these people were ahead of time.

The idea of starting with a $2 level made giving accessible to everyone. I doubt anyone felt like they couldn’t afford it. The tier system made it compelling and more fun to contribute more.

My Jewish friends loved it that I used the term, ‘mensch’ in my letter. An unintended happy consequence.

Finally, this was wayyy easier than I thought it would be. You can do it to.

I guess I’ve known about the law for some time, but it was jaw-dropping to see it for the first time. To put it succinctly, there are TONS OF CALORIES in fast food! I know what you’re thinking – Duh! Who didn’t know that?

The troubling part of the experience was that these giant calorie counts didn’t seem to be diminishing demand during my visit. A recent study by Health Affairs showed that while 27% of the people said it influenced their choices, the amount of calories consumed by people went up 2-3%!

I was inside food court at Laguardia airport, so I could walk around and easily compare Burger King, Sbarro Pizza, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, etc. In all of these places, my intended dinner (what I would have normally eaten) did not correspond with the amount of calories I would have thought they would be.

I was thinking that I ought to take in no more than 700 calories for the evening meal because I already knew I’d eaten a pretty good breakfast and lunch. Normally, I might have gotten a Whopper with a large fry and a Diet Coke (to negate the other calories). This combination would have been around 1,200 calories, and I just couldn’t do it.

1. People underestimate the number of calories they take in, and they overestimate the calories they burn. I would bet that most people don’t even know that the recommended daily intake of calories for adults is 2,000. No clue.
2. Fast Food is a bad setting. Some people really want to eat healthy, but when they put themselves into the position of being hungry and rushed at the same time, it’s a bad combination. If they had more time to think about what they were going to eat and more time to eat it, they may make a healthier decision.
3. These are brands we trust. I grew up eating at McDonalds and Burger King. I have always trusted that they’re not trying to kill me. It seems like it would be in their best interests to keep me alive and a loyal customer. This is not the case. I think they still like me, but they no more about the food that I crave than I do. Bad smartness.
4. It’s cheap. If you think about food on a Calorie per Dollar basis, you can’t beat it. It’s true that the wealthier are healthier because they can afford to eat better. The United States needs to get invested in producing healthier food at a lower cost, or the obese will get obeser.

So, what to do? For me, I thought the menu information was fabulous, and I wish it was on every menu. I’d eat smarter and better. I’m going to continue to read books like, “Eat This, Not That.” Fantastic, easy-to-understand format for dining out and for dining in.

And, finally, I’m glad I didn’t get the Chili Cheese Fries at Nathan’s.

Good Googly Moogly!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113673324

I’m not an audiophile, so I wasn’t paying much attention until they mentioned the Black Eyed Peas new song, “I’ve got a feeling.” I like this group regardless if I’m not their target demographic. I saw them perform on Ellen DeGeneres’ show, and I remember thinking how simplistic the words are. Very catchy.

Plus, I recently saw the Oprah video of the group performing “I’ve got a feeling” in Chicago with a Flash Mob dance thrown in, and I was hooked. If you haven’t seen the Oprah video, it’s definitely worth a click.

Anyway, the interesting thing about the story is that a company called Music Intelligence launched a Web site for songwriters called Uplaya. The website allows songwriters to upload a song gives it a “success rating” based on a series of algorithms.

According to the article, the “software found that hits have certain common patterns of rhythm, harmony, chord progression, length and lyrics. A study conducted by the Harvard Business School found that the software was accurate 8 out of 10 times.”

The amazing fact is that an algorithm can predict success 80% of the time. What if your business had an algorithm that could predict the success of your new offerings 80% of the time? You’d be a huge success!

In the past, I’ve done conjoint analysis studies to find the right combination of attributes and levels to make a successful product or service, but a lot of people are turned off by the “mathiness” of the process. It seems too sterile for the non-quant folks. Maybe I can use stories like Uplaya to revisit some of the findings and generate new enthusiasm. I’ve got a feeling…

www.sawtooth.com

<click!>The Piano Stair Case <click!>

Tom Hanks and and Robert Loggia danced "Heart & Soul" and "Chopsticks" on the store's large floor piano.

What a great idea! Not just because it brings back memories the FAO Schwartz scene in the movie “Big,” but because it illustrates an imporatant Behavioral Economics principal. Delight = Compliance.

The problem with standard, text-book economics is that it assumes that people always act in a rational manner, and always make choices that are best for them in the long run. We know this isn’t true. If it were, we’d all be thin, we’d all have plenty of money in the bank for retirement, and we always would have prepared in advance for that mid-term exam.

In fact, we know that people tend to rationalize not doing the right thing. In this case, people know it would be better to take the stairs because it would give them exercise, save electricity, etc. But, in most cases, people take the elevator or escalator because it’s easier.

The genius in the video is making taking the stairs delightful, and, therefore people comply.

I have a former colleague from the bookfield that’s making a motivational speaking career out of getting people to, “Take the Stairs!” Check out his blog.

http://takethestairs.wordpress.com/

The same principle was recently applied to banking. A credit union in Michigan was having trouble getting people to save money, so they instituted a lottery! The idea was to give people a chance to win a prize for every $25 they invested in a Certificate of Deposit. The bank paid for the prizes by giving a lower interest rate on the CDs. Now, a truly rational person would never make this deal because the odds of winning don’t justify the lost interest. However, the promotion is a huge success. People like the short-term thrill of a lottery chance, so it makes the idea of saving money more palatable. Check out the full story.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124786612839159989.html

So, the bottom line is if you want someone to do something, find a way to make it fun!

http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/en/

http://www.thefuntheory.com

It's good beer, but why do people outside of Thailand drink it?

One of my QFD colleagues, Glenn Mazur QFD Red Belt(r), recently co-authored an interesting paper on the reasons people drink beer. Specifically, the paper discusses the reasons people drink Singha beer.

“We sell our beer in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, but we don’t know why they drink it.” – Singha

“Becoming aware of their unawareness, the top management of Singha decided to embark on research of their foreign customers to better understand their interests, motivations, self-image, and other characteristics they might share, in order to assure their continuous business success. The uniqueness of this project was purely to hear the inner voices of their non-Thai customers and how Singha Beer fits into their love of life. It was not to change the beer formulation, the logo or packaging, or any of the usual tangibles we see in common QFD and Kansei Engineering studies. “

http://www.qfdi.org/who_is_qfdi/newsletter_archive/recent_qfd_newsletter.html

I take particular interest in this topic because I was very slightly involved at the beginning of the project. You see, I was having dinner with Glenn and his beautiful wife Mayumi in a Thai restaurant in Orlando, and I ordered a Singha beer. It was at that moment that Glenn told me about the project he was embarking on.

He asked me if I’d had Singha beer before, and I told him “no.”

He asked me why I ordered it, and I said something like, “Well, we’re in a Thai restuarant, I like to try new things, and it has a cool label.”

A normal person would politely shake his head, but Glenn hears comments like those and translates them into “true customer needs” which is the basis of QFD. The true customer needs he came up with were something like:

• I want to have a drink that goes with the dining experience
• My drink makes me appear stylish
• I want a unique experience

Later on, Glenn refines all the observations and has customers clarify and prioritize the needs. All of this detail is in the paper. The grand idea is that you can take a rudimentary activity like drinking beer, define the key customer needs, and brainstorm solutions based on those needs to grow your business. Great stuff, and it’s about beer.