June 5, 2013 · 9:04 am

The Worst Paying Majors

I read an article the other day that I found kind of disturbing and I thought I’d share it with you.  The piece is called the 10 Worst Paying College Majors.  In brief, OMFG.

 

English: There are no symbols that represent s...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

I’ve written this screed a number of times this last hour but I guess this is really the gist of it.  If you’re going to college to study a “best paying major” you’re even more lost than most people your age.  College is (was) a blessing – it was four years (up to six for some of my close friends) in which one figures out how to take in a lot of information, synthesize it, and form cogent opinions about the world and one’s self.  It not about how to get a degree that will pay me a crap-load of money.  I’m not really a New Testament guy, but even I understand the meaning “gaining the whole world and losing one’s soul.”  It’s an intellectual sanctuary within which we get to spend time with great works and not with a focus towards how to study that which will earn me the most money but deplete my psychic bank account.

 

How many of the issues we all face revolve around a focus the bottom line and not on the things that make each day worth living?  I am a raving capitalist, but not at the expense of losing my ability to seek out facts and blend them into a 360 degree view of the world  and the people who inhabit it.

 

Here is where I come out.  Yes, go to college.  Learn critical thinking.  Trust no one but the self you’re going to become.  If and when you  find something in which you believe, follow your calling.  The worst-paying college majors may just be the most satisfying things you can ever do in your life.  I studied English, Education, and Music.  I”ve never worked a day in any of them but the critical thinking skills and the ability to express myself were an integral part of those four years.  I would not trade any of it for a nice paycheck but I earned quite a few of them because I possessed those skills.

 

You?

 

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June 3, 2013 · 8:40 am

Social And Small Business

I’ve mentioned before that I keep a “blog this” file which contains articles that piqued a thought.  I went through the file over the weekend and came across a press release from the folks at Constant Contact.  They do a study about the state of small businesses and the ways they connect with and grow their audiences.  Results include responses from respondents across a range of business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries.  wkL_ccWhat piqued my interest was this:

While small business interest in, and appreciation for, social media is on the rise, small business owners continue to lack confidence in their social media skills.  More than half (54 percent) chose social media marketing as the marketing activity they need the most help with, which might explain why their frequency of use with social media is not where it needs to be.  Only 13 percent of survey respondents post to Twitter daily and ten percent post weekly to LinkedIn.

Aside from the obvious point that clearly I need to make my phone number and email address more prominent (I can help – call me, you guys!) that research shows me that these folks are being smarter than others.  They recognize that value of the various platforms and aren’t shooting the messengers due to their inability to capitalize on what those platforms offer.

Social is a conversation.  If you’re only engaging on an irregular basis (once a week) and only a fraction are even engaging that often, it’s not going to work.

The study is unclear with respect to how they’re defining social media marketing.  The owners were asked “which social media platform is the most effective for their organization” and that’s kind of nebulous.  Is it paid advertising and the “effectiveness” is measured by responses?  Or is it some other engagement metric?  One hopes the respondents can answer how they’re defining “effective” but I suspect they can’t.

Social media is not like any other form.  It requires commitment and resources far beyond what many folks have experienced buying print, TV, radio, or even display ads.  Doing it badly can do more than be ineffective – it can hurt your business (no one likes to be ignored!).  Can we agree on that?

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May 31, 2013 · 8:26 am

Remoulade

Foodie Friday Fun time! Today our topic is a sauce many of you have had with crab cakes, french fries, cold beef filet, or many other dishes called remoulade. Other than spelling, and the fact that it’s good, that’s about where the agreement ends.

Français : Sauce rémoulade faite sans mayonnaise

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was chatting with a dear friend and fellow cook on the topic (we had dined at a place with excellent remoulade years ago and were trying to figure it out) and realized that we didn’t even know where to start.  Unlike many dishes, remoulade is a bit of a chameleon, changing itself based on its enviroment.

Cajun remoulade is different from French, which varies from Belgian.  Is it mayonnaise-based or more of an aioli (I know – splitting hairs bit still…)? Is there ketchup in it or not? Anchovies? Do we use French cornichons or a dill pickle? Capers – in or out (is that a master’s thesis topic or what)?  In fact, maybe it’s more of a condiment than a sauce?  Tell a cook to make a remoulade and you’ll get one of several things, each of which is “right” based on the cook’s background.  It’s unlike one of the “mother sauces” which are very specific. Which is the business point.

Most business issues are like remoulade – there is more than one right answer.  As my friend said, “there are so many different ways and you don’t know which one is right for the job, maybe you should just give them a list of options and let them pick the one that suits their needs the best.”  Good advice for consultants like me and other business folks like you.  What can hamper our business success is thinking that there is just ONE way to accomplish the goal.  We need to focus on “a” right answer, not “the.”

We haven’t quite deduced how this restaurant made their remoulade – they’re out of business now so we can’t go back and ask – but we’ll keep trying.  What we do know is that their answer to the remoulade question was unique and worked for them with their food.  That’s just like the answers to most of your business questions are.  You with me?

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