Chris Rainey

Fear This

September 15, 2015 by Chris Rainey ·

This post was inspired by Andy Frisella. Andy is the CEO and founder of Supplement Superstores (and other companies) which has its world headquarters here in my amazing city of St. Louis, Missouri.

As I was I sweating my but Five Things You Should Fear

t off on the elliptical machine at Golds Gym this past Friday morning I was listening to Andy’s podcast on the things we should and need to fear. Within 15 minutes he plowed through five fears that have always been top of my mind for me when it comes to my life. Over the past 48 hours I haven’t been able to get these five things off my mind. I catch glimpses of Jerry Maguire writing his mission statement in his hotel room.

There’s no silver bullet here, but there’s definitely a cannon ball that will rock your world if you let it. Let down your guard and allow these five things to sink in. Fear these things and you will live the life you were created to live. Ignore these things and you will settle for much less.

Fear Mediocrity

Dictionary.com defines mediocre or mediocrity as; only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate: not satisfactory; poor; inferior. Is there any part of your being that wants to be mediocre? Do you want to be a mediocre husband or wife, father or mother, business owner or employee? Absolutely NOT!!

If living an ordinary or moderate quality of life is what you are about you need to spend time reflecting on your life. You were definitely not created to just get by and trudge along until you are six feet under. You were created and purposed for much more than that.

Fear Insignificance

No matter who or what you do, the bottom line is..you are significant. Deep inside each of us is a longing to make a difference, to contribute to our world. Most people want their lives to count for something. A father wants to know that he loved, provided, cared, protected and built a legacy for his children. A mother wants to know that she nurtured, loved, taught and inspired the sons and daughters she was entrusted with. An owner, manager, supervisor and employee wants to know they have given their best to their organization.

When you fear insignificance you are saying you will do whatever it takes to be significant. You will do what it takes to make a positive impact on everyone and everything around you. When you fear being insignificant you will rise early and stay up late doing whatever it takes to live a passionate life of purpose.

Fear Living a Life That Doesn’t Offend Anyone

It’s been said that if you aren’t offending someone that you probably aren’t doing or saying anything important. I don’t subscribe to that totally but I do believe that if we aren’t speaking truthfully with our friends, family, bosses, peers and those who report to us that we aren’t doing the best we can.

I do subscribe to the practice of telling someone that they have booger on their nose if they have one there. If you care about someone, your business or organization you are going to speak up when you see something that should or shouldn’t be there – boogers shouldn’t be there.

Fear Regret

If there is something that I struggle with on a continual basis its this thing of regret. It is absolutely a two-edged sword. From one side it’s living from the perspective of “if only” and from the other side its living from the perspective of being able to let things go.

Regret is a curious thing. It’s something that gets into your soul. Its something that magnifies the things we have or haven’t done or accomplished. And if we are living from the place that we fear it, that we fear regret, then it can be fuel to live a life that isn’t defined by regret.

Fear of Dying Alone

I want a lot of people at my funeral. I do. I don’t just want my wife, kids, grandkids and family members at my funeral, I want the people who feel I have deposited something into their life at my funeral. Seriously, I don’t want people showing up to look at my dead body just because they feel it’s the right thing to do. I want people showing up, looking at my lifeless self and thinking to themselves, “this guy inspired, encouraged, provoked and deposited something into me that changed me.”

Fear Not Fearing What You Should Fear

These aren’t the only things we should fear. I’m sure that as you read this post you started to create your own list of things you should fear. Let fear fuel you to live a life you and others will never forget.

Filed Under: Career · Tagged With: fear, leadership, regret, significance

How Do I Help You Grow Your Career?

May 19, 2015 by Chris Rainey ·

"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want - Zig Ziglar

Photo found at http://www.ziglar.com/quotes/you-can-have-everything-life-you-want

When our first priority is helping others amazing things can happen. As you focus on serving others, your organization and your customers good will come your way.

One of my favorite life quotes comes from the great Zig Ziglar who said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Since landing my first job at 13 years old delivering newspapers (remember those) for the Detroit Free Press to filling Vice President and President roles at different organizations I have been learning priceless career lessons. From education, resume writing, interviewing, management and everything in between I’ve been a part of it all.

So, how can I help you grow your career? Here’s where to start.

Start with your mindset

If you are always trying to figure out the next move to climb up the corporate ladder or positioning yourself for the next promotion chances are you will miss out on establishing a strong foundation. Approach everything you do with the mindset of serving, adding value and putting others first.

Always be networking

Networking doesn’t always mean cocktails at a mid-week meet up (although that’s not a bad idea). Connecting with co-workers in your department and outside of your department is critical to your success. Don’t underestimate the power of inviting someone to lunch or out for a cup of coffee.

Coaching – receive AND give it

No one ever arrives. It doesn’t matter how much education we have accumulated or how many awards we have won we can all benefit from having a coach or mentor in our life. Nothing beats having someone you can connect with for feedback and counsel. But if you can’t meet with someone in person there blogs, podcasts, books and an Internet full of “virtual coaches and mentors”.

Truthful and transparent communication

Careers live and die on communication. Where truthful and transparent communication are a priority relationships thrive and your career is strengthened. It doesn’t matter if you are an extrovert or introvert you can be a great communicator.

Filed Under: Career · Tagged With: career, coaching, communication, networking

3 Things to Include in Any Pitch — And 3 Things to Leave Out

April 24, 2015 by Chris Rainey ·

In every area of life we are pitching something. We may put a different label on the “pitch” depending on the setting but a pitch is a pitch. Whether you are “encouraging” your two year old to finish her mashed up banana or “directing” your teenager to clean up his room.

It may be a “conversation” with your boss, a peer or a direct report. When you need to do get things done you are pitching your ideas because you feel they are the best way to accomplish a task or achieve a specific result.

DO:

1. Be specific

2. Mind the details

3. Share what you have learned throughout your career

Check out the full article that I have provided a link to down below.

In any given pitch scenario, there are things you can do to aid in your quest for the elusive partnership, as well as things you can do that will get in the way of success.

Source: 3 Things to Include in Any Pitch — And 3 Things to Leave Out

Filed Under: Public Speaking ·

Unless Your Last Name Is Zuckerberg…

July 24, 2014 by Chris Rainey ·

A few weeks ago news outlets and blogs were up-in-arms over an experiment Facebook performed without telling everyone they were doing it. The Telegraph reported, “Facebook altered the tone of the users’ news feed to highlight either positive or negative posts from their friends, which were seen on their news feed. They then monitored the users’ response, to see whether their friends’ attitude had an impact on their own.” If you are a Facebook user you agreed, when you signed up to use this free service, to terms that give permission to Facebook to do things like this.

I’m always amazed at how many people scream and seem so surprised, offended and violated by something like this. The bottom line is that unless your name is Mark Zuckerberg then you have very little privacy when using his free service. And I do think the key word is free. I don’t own Facebook, I don’t even rent Facebook – they let me use their service, software, platform, servers and technology at no charge.

If you don’t like Facebook (or Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+) knowing your business then don’t use the service. If you don’t want friends, family, co-workers and the rest of the world knowing your business either learn to use the privacy settings social media services provide or don’t use social media.

I have been involved with providing interviews to the media over the years. There is one thing that I learned early on and that is that NOTHING IS EVER off-the-record. You can apply that same philosophy to your online activity – very rarely is your online activity every totally private.

Unless you are paying for a service or have established a business relationship with an online organization you really can’t get too upset with how they handle your information.

If you don’t want social media services to experiment on you and your information here’s what you can do.

Don’t use social media
Become Amish

So what do you think?

And in the immortal words of Daryl Hall and John Oates, “Private Eyes – they’re watching you…”

Filed Under: Marketing · Tagged With: personal brand, privacy, social media

My 3 Words: 70 Days Into the New Year

March 13, 2014 by Chris Rainey ·

Several years ago I started following Chris Brogan. At the beginning of each new year he encourages his readers/listeners to choose three words to focus on over the course of the next year. For some reason this was the year Chris’ encouragement sunk in and as 2013 ended and the sun rose on January 1, 2014 I contemplated three words I would focus on over the next 365 days.

The three words I chose were: intentional, bold and generous.

During the first few weeks of the new year I thought about the areas of my life these three words could be applied – spiritually, emotionally, physically. I thought about how to apply them to my relationship with family, the team I lead at work and my health. I went a little deeper and thought about the “why” behind each of these words and the areas of my life I would apply them too.

So, I had come up with the three words but it wasn’t until after listening to a Chris Locurto podcast that the scales tipped and I put things into motion. On this particular podcast Chris was interviewing Rory Vaden and talked about Rory’s book Take The Stairs. I immediately downloaded the book and consumed it within a few days. This was the fuel I needed to push forward.

My health was first up because it impacts every other area of my life. Because I’m a reader and information addict I started identifying resources and tools that would help me achieve my health goals. I’m also competitive so I joined a couple of challenges to gamify my efforts including a citywide challenge – LoseToWinSTL.

My current Top 5 list of health and fitness blogs and podcasts :

Jimmy Moore – blog and podcast
Robb Wolf – blog and podcast
Ameer Rosic – blog and podcast
Dave Asprey – blog and podcast
Abel James – blog and podcast

Then I tracked down some tech tools and equipment to help me along the way:

FitBit is a bracelet that tracks my daily activity, including sleeping if I want. It syncs with my iPhone and I can also connect with others in the St. Louis area who are using FitBit so it adds a bit of competition to the equation.
MyFitnessPal is one of the best apps to track what you are eating along with your exercise (it syncs with FitBit) and your progress.

After 70 days I have lost more than 30 pounds, brought my cholesterol to normal (at least according to traditional medicine) standards and lowered my blood pressure to a normal, healthy state. My energy and mental focus has increased significantly. And although there have been challenges thrown in front of me – sickness, injury, stress – I haven’t let those things keep me back – I’m still climbing the stairs.

The journey continues.

Filed Under: Health · Tagged With: fitness, health

Smart Brands Tell The Best Stories

April 26, 2013 by Chris Rainey ·

Seth Godin says, “Great marketers don’t make stuff. They make meaning.”

Image courtesy of http://video-commerce.org

It doesn’t matter if we are selling a product or service, promoting a service or brand…if we aren’t telling a meaningful story about who we are and what we do we shouldn’t plan on having a long relationship with our customers or constituents.

There’s a good piece on The Content Strategist that does a great job unpacking this entire idea. Here’s a snip from the article:

You’ve probably heard the big commandment of content marketing: Don’t talk about the brand. If you do, the theory goes, you’ll drive consumers away. After all, they want to read about the things they love, not about you.

But what about the people who are interested in your brand? What about the investors and potential investors? What about the employees and vendors with a stake in your success? Or, for that matter, what about the super-users who just can’t get enough? Shouldn’t you talk about the brand to them?

The answer, undoubtedly, is yes.

Do you think there’s a balance to how much you talk about your brand? Is there a line that you need to be aware of?

Filed Under: Content Marketing, Customer Experience, Marketing · Tagged With: content marke, storytelling

Role Models, Mentors & YOU

March 24, 2013 by Chris Rainey ·

A long time ago I realized I didn’t have all of the answers. Its not that I didn’t try to have them all or at least give the impression that I had them all.

Image courtesy of http://singfreely.com/blog/919979-you-have-a-unique-voice-that-we-all-want-to-hear/

This realization led me to looking to others who knew more than me. I found role models and mentors through books, in the organizations I was a part of and in my own family.

Early on I wanted to be just like those I looked up too. And I do mean “just like them” – I practiced talking like them, wearing the same clothes, listening to the same music, doing my hair like them, watching the same movies and multiple other things. My aspirations became what I saw them succeed at.

None of this was wrong, by seeing how other people “do it” we learn how to “do it”.

Where I missed out though was in developing my own voice. Because I wanted, so much, to be like those I looked up too I spent a lot of time and energy on imitating and becoming a copy. I should have spent that time and energy on discovering my unique gifts, talents and voice.

If we are to grow and mature we must have role models and mentors. Its essential for us to have those in our life that help us push forward, stretch and go beyond what we thought we could. A good role model and mentor helps you discover your uniqueness and equips you to speak with your voice.

Have you discovered your own unique voice? How did you do it?

Filed Under: Career, Leadership · Tagged With: career, leadership, mentors, role models

Authentic In Mission Is a Magnet

March 3, 2013 by Chris Rainey ·

People are attracted to others who are authentic – who are the real deal. That same attraction also carries over to brands and organizations that are authentic. When an organization is authentic to their mission others will be attracted to it.

Authentic: Mission

Why do you do what you do? Are you trying to be all things to all people or are you focused on delivering a specific product or service and experience to a specific group? There is an energy that is generated, when we stay true to our mission, that attracts others. When people see us and our organization passionately focused on a specific mission they want to be a part of it.

Staying true to mission drives every part of our organization from product development to hiring people to establishing processes. If you have ever been to a Whole Foods Market you know that everything they do and everyone who works there is committed to their mission. The culture of Whole Foods is soaked with their mission.

If an organization isn’t authentic and true to their mission and purpose their employees, customers and supporters will see it. When this happens trust begins to erode and eventually that shows up through lack of sales and financial engagement leading to the mission and purpose not being fulfilled.

What examples of brand and organizational authenticity have you seen?

Filed Under: Customer Experience, Leadership · Tagged With: authenticity, leadership, motivation

Customer Experience: How Do You See Your Customers?

February 26, 2013 by Chris Rainey ·

At a time when almost every product and service has become a commodity what is that ensures your customers will be loyal to you and your business?

Is it the quality of your product? Sometimes, but not all the time.
Is it your price? Sometimes, but not all the time – think $5.00 cups of coffee.
Is it convenience? Sometimes, but not all the time – think Magic Kingdom (unless you live in Orlando).

Customer loyalty is built on customer experience. What kind of experience do we provide when someone walks through our doors? What kind of experience do our customers have when we answer the phone or respond to an email or tweet?

Do the experiences we create fascinate or frustrate? Are we thrilled someone has chosen to connect with our organization or has the person we need to respond to interrupted our day?

One of my all-time favorite examples of a company that takes pleasure in serving their customers is Chick Fil A. It’s their pleasure because it’s their pleasure from the CEO to the part-time high school student on the front line. Each employee at Chick Fil A is trained to view each person who walks through the doors as an individual with a unique story.

What type of experience are you creating? Is it one that will keep your customers coming back again and again? Is it one that will turn your customers into evangelists for your business?

Filed Under: Customer Experience · Tagged With: chick fil a, customer engagement, customer experience, customer service