Motivation | Lovescott

Posts Tagged ‘motivation’

My Thanks…

Tags: "Love Scott & Associates", Advertising, advertising agency, blog, Des Moines, Inspiration, Iowa, marketing, Mission Assist, motivation, non-profit, West Des Moines
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments 11/26/2010

In honor of the holiday, this post will simply be one of thanks. While we give employees the Friday after Thanksgiving off, I like to take advantage of the quiet office to get things done…like write a blog post. When I was brainstorming what to write, I just kept reflecting back to a comment made by a member of the staff last week about being thankful for working with truly good people. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did, and I’ve thought a lot about it since. I’m not shy about proclaiming how much I love my job, but I don’t often say why. So here are the reasons I’m thankful for where I’ve landed:

1) I’m thankful for truly talented staff. There is not one person in here that I don’t trust to do their job, and do it well. I’ve experienced the opposite before, and it’s not fun. It’s incredibly comforting to know that I can do my job without worrying about what everyone else is doing.

2) I’m thankful for the good people working around me. Not only do I trust everyone in here to do their work…I trust everyone in here. Period. We’ve surrounded ourselves with great people. Honest. Genuine. Caring. Committed. I’m proud of our team, not for who they claim to be, but for who they really are (and trust me…we’re small enough to have seen the good, bad and ugly from all!)

3) I’m thankful for a shared vision. With the addition of Mission Assist to our service offerings, which took a year to develop and required an incredible amount of patience, I feel blessed that everyone understands the purpose and feels the passion. I believe it was divinely inspired and could only have happened with the support and conviction of the whole team. It was literally a leap of faith…and each time someone from an organization actually gives me a heartfelt thanks for what we’re offering, I am grateful for a team that believes in a mission bigger than ourselves.

4) I am thankful to be working in Des Moines, Iowa. This town is a great place to live and work. I’ve worked in Phoenix and St. Louis, and there’s no comparison. The connections, the loyalty and the enthusiasm of Des Moines businesses and their employees cannot be matched. It creates such a sense of community and goodwill. I’m willing to overlook the blustery winters for this fact. And coming from someone who hates cold…that says a lot.

It’s a short list of thanks, but these are at the very core of why I love my job and the people with whom I spend 50% of my life. What are some things about your job you’re thankful for? Hopefully there’s a list…or you better be moving on

Life Lessons from Car Repairs

Tags: "Love Scott & Associates", advice, communication, Des Moines, good marketing, Inspiration, motivation, real life situations
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments 11/11/2010

Car trouble over the past few weeks has consumed me. Having to rely on others for transportation, learning to drive a stick shift (sad, I know.) and just trying to coordinate schedules when there are two people sharing one car is a HUGE pain, but it sort of works itself out. The biggest surprise has been my experience working with a mechanic who sent me to the Dealer. What mechanic sends work AWAY from their business? Looking back, this situation segued nicely with some life lessons we should all be reminded of now and again. Let me back up and tell the story from the beginning.

I’ve been having some dashboard lights going on in my car recently. I took the car to an auto shop to get checked out. They said everything was fine. Took the car home, the lights come back on, wash, rinse, repeat. In fact, I took my car back to the same auto shop three times!!! Each time they told me it was nothing. I was doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

Lesson one: If you keep trying the same thing, you’re going to get the same results. Try something different if you want something else to happen.

Two weeks ago, I t car repairs ake the car to a mechanic who specializes in my make of vehicle. He tries a few things out, then tells me if the car isn’t running funny the lights are nothing to worry about. But he gives me a warning, “as soon as your gas mileage changes or the car doesn’t seem right, call me!” Well guess what happened one week after I took the car to him? I took it back. Insanity, right? Not exactly…the lights were still on, but the car started to act funny – pardon my lack of proper mechanical terminology – but it sounded like my car was going to explode when it was in idle. I take the car immediately back to the mechanic.

Lesson two: Know what red flags you need to be watching for…and when you find one, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Don’t wait, act!

Mechanic spends several hours trying to figure out what’s wrong with the car. Calls me and tells me he has no idea. He’s stumped. He actually recommends I take the car to the dealer. I’ve NEVER had a private mechanic recommend I take a car to the dealer.

Lesson three: Know when to give up. There is no shame in admitting you’re stumped or don’t have the answers.

So I take the car to the dealer. The dealer gives me an estimate for repairs. I get detail from the dealer on exactly what they think is wrong. I call back the specialty mechanic and ask him if the dealer sounds like they’re legit. I also ask him if he wants the work. He tells me the dealer is legit in the diagnosis, and he doesn’t want to do the work because it’s outside his area of expertise.

Lesson four: Check your sources when you feel like something might be “off.”

AND lesson five: Know when something is outside your area of expertise and communicate that to the person you’re trying to help.

Picked up the car today…and it purrs like a kitten! So who gets my future business – the original auto shop, the mechanic or the dealer? Well, as much as I loved my old auto shop, the mechanic is taking this one. Not only did he try to help me (without charging me when he couldn’t find/fix the problem) he let me know when he couldn’t help me AND he sent me to the place that could. Because of his actions, I’ll remember him as someone I WANT to do business with in the future.

Lesson six: Honestly and integrity will always win in the end.

We’re up to Something Good!

Tags: "Love Scott & Associates", advice, Bill Love, blog, expectations, good marketing, Inspiration, Meals from the Heartland, Mission Assist, motivation, non-profit, Public Relations
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments 10/12/2010

I just returned from a mission trip to the Navajo Indian reservation just outside Gallup, New Mexico. It was not my first trip there. In fact, I have been there 12 times in the last four years and intend to continue going as often as I can in the future.

During these weeklong mission trips, we work to improve, however slightly and temporarily, the lives of Native Americans living on the Navajo reservation. The area where we do our work in New Mexico is situated in the second or third poorest county in the United States, depending on who’s doing the talking. So we do what we can… fixing holes in roofs; replacing broken windows; building handicapped accessible entrances to homes; chopping wood for winter warmth; running electricity to replace a single extension cord powering an entire house… the needs are endless and the effect eye-opening and life-changing. Each time I go, I come back with a crystal clear understanding of how blessed my life has been and how uplifting it can be to serve others.

But another thing the mission trips have taught me is that you don’t have to travel to Gallup, New Mexico, to find need. There is no shortage of opportunities to serve right here at home. Many of these needs are currently being addressed by non-profit organizations that are unselfishly making a very real and significant difference in the lives of others.

It was this realization, and our experience as the pro-bono marketing arm for the past two years for Meals from the Heartland, that prompted us to start an effort at Love Scott we call “Mission Assist.” Simply put, Mission Assist is an effort to help non-profit organizations better tell their stories, enhance their missions, and increase their funding. Mission Assist provides complete, coordinated marketing and development assistance to non-profit organizations at a substantially reduced charge.

It is headed by an individual who has spent 30 years in the non-profit sector, many of them at the top level of various non-profit organizations. He completely understands the problems and opportunities common to non-profits. This level of knowledge and experience, combined with Love Scott’s 40 years in marketing, results in Mission Assist having a lot to offer non-profit organizations seeking to rise to the next level of effectiveness.

But the most rewarding aspect of Mission Assist for me has been the excitement it has generated among our staff. It turns out they have generous hearts for helping advance the work of non-profits. They have embraced Mission Assist with enthusiasm and seem to get an energy boost when their talents are turned toward helping a non-profit be even more effective.

Last March, we brought a couple dozen Navajo youth from New Mexico, who had been identified as having leadership potential, to Des Moines for a week of intense leadership training. On the last day, after they had worked several afternoons for non-profit organizations serving various needs around the city, we asked them if they were surprised at the level of need in our city. They answered that they weren’t particularly surprised by the level of need, but they were surprised by the number of local organizations actively involved in addressing those needs.

I think that says something really good about the caring nature of the people of Greater Des Moines and the great work being done by so many area non-profits. It’s a pleasure for us to be able to partner, through Mission Assist, with the important work they’re doing.

At The Heart Of Giving

Tags: "Love Scott & Associates", Advertising, advertising agency, Andrea James, branding, communication, Des Moines, Inspiration, Iowa, marketing, Meals from the Heartland, Mission Assist, motivation, non-profit, Public Relations, strategy
Posted in Advertising, Interactive, Media, Public Relations | 4 Comments 9/15/2010

Phew! Another successful Meals from the Heartland event under our belts, and it never fails to inspire and energize us all over again. It’s our second year of helping to promote Meals from the Heartland (MftH), a mass food-packaging effort that brings together more than 14,000 Iowans to package and transport more than 4 million meals around the world. When we took on MftH two years ago as our pro bono client, we never imagined the impact working with this group of people would make on our own business. The kindness, the genuine hearts, the “don’t expect ‘no’ as an answer” attitude, and the fearlessness…I am consistently blown away by what this group of volunteers produces. Every year I think they’ve topped the last, but I’m now convinced more than ever, this is still just the beginning

Don’t get me wrong – it’s a lot of work. I’m fairly certain our agency has never put this amount of time toward any other non-paying client. But when we made the commitment, we all agreed we were making a commitment. And trust me, we’ve reminded ourselves and each other many times that we are fulfilling a commitment that we made. Inevitably, it all comes around to remembering the end goal…a starving person receiving a nutritional meal. That’s what it’s all about.

My favorite moment of the last two years working with MftH is standing in the middle of Hy-Vee Hall during the event with literally hundreds of cheerful Iowans buzzing around me – young, old, every race and religion, working together to feed people they will likely never see or hear a “thanks” from, and I get chills as my throat tightens and eyes fill. I get teary just writing about it. It is SO WORTH the time and effort. It restores my faith in humanity, and even in myself.

This year made me especially proud of everyone involved. The special vignettes constructed by MftH volunteers who visited Haiti served as a life-size visual of how people are living there. “Tent City”, as we called it, brought reality closer to home for most of us who have only seen the images on TV. I watched as adults cried their way through the maze of tents, and children asked their parents “but where are the bathrooms? What about bedrooms?” and their eyes grow wide as they were told the truth. When the idea of building the vignettes was first discussed in a committee meeting, I remember thinking it’d be a miracle if it really came together…so much effort, so much work. But it did. And it was my favorite place to be while volunteering that weekend.

I’ve taken lessons from the Meals group on how to make things happen, even if the rest of the world (literally) deems it impossible. It is this experience that has led our agency to a new venture in our business. While we can’t offer this same free service to all non-profits and still keep our doors open, we can offer our expertise and hearts to these organizations through an affordable and practical program that provides fundraising and marketing expertise. We’ve spent a good portion of the last year brainstorming, developing, refining and polishing our Mission Assist program, and I’m proud to say my heart is wrapped up in the offer.

As I ushered people into Tent City last week, a little girl who couldn’t have been more than 6-years old, walked by me and said in a shy, sweet voice, “Thank you for helping people who need it.” THAT, my friends, was my payment in full.

Defining Your Area of Suckage

Tags: "Love Scott & Associates", ad agency, Advertising, advertising agency, brand, branding, communication, creative, expectations, funny, good marketing, Inspiration, motivation, strategy
Posted in Public Relations | No Comments 7/15/2010

I am a big Dave Barry fan. Not so big that I follow everything he writes – in fact, I just finished my first, and his latest, book entitled “I’ll Mature When I’m Dead”. It was funny. Like, sitting in bed laughing OUTLOUD hoping not to wake the kids kind of funny.

But tucked among the sarcasm, humor and self-deprecation, Dave actually incorporates little nuggets of wisdom, whether he means to or not. Last night I came across one passage that really got me thinking (one reason I liked this book so much right now was that, for the most part, it didn’t require ANY thinking).

Dave was talking about kids’ sports these days and how parents are so involved, sometimes a little too much. He cites examples like screaming on the sidelines and convincing kids of being really great at something they actually show little ability to grasp. Of his own athletic abilities as a child he said,

“I learned, for example, that even though I was not as big, or fast, or strong, or coordinated as the other kids, if I worked really hard—if I gave 100 percent and never quit—I would still be smaller, slower, weaker and less coordinated than the other kids. In other words, I learned that even though I enjoyed playing sports, I sucked at them. And understanding that you suck at some things is useful information in life. The world would be a better place if people were fully cognizant of their areas of suckage.”

Amen. I’m known for being fairly straight-forward, and will readily admit when I’m really not very good at something – math, computers, miniature golf, and swimming for any purpose other than not drowning. And it’s funny, and sometimes incredibly frustrating, when someone tries to convince me otherwise. “Oh, I bet you’d really like mini-golf, and are probably really good at it, if you’d just try.” Ummmm, no. I’ve tried many, many times, and I a) don’t like it at all, and b) really suck at it. TRUST ME.

I started thinking about this in professional terms. How many times have I come across someone who thinks they can do everything for their business? They know what their customers like, they know how to reach and sell to them most effectively, they know how to write copy for things ranging from newsletters to ads. There’s little they don’t know, and by golly, they sure don’t suck at any of this! That’s their business!

No it’s not. Their business is to make a profit (or, in the case of non-profits, to keep the organization going and growing). They are where they are in the business because they know how to do certain things really well. There are areas where they excel, and areas where they really aren’t very good. We all have these. The best thing to do is to admit what you’re NOT good at, and find someone who is good to help you! There is nothing wrong with admitting that. In fact, I admire people who do it.

I’m not going to get specific because everyone is good at different things. I just thought I’d start the reflection process for others as Dave started it for me. What are you good at? What are your areas of suckage? Are you trying to convince others that you’re really good at something you’re not? Why?

Andrea James
President

Become the Biggest Loser

Tags: Advertising, biggest loser, bob harper, branding, fund-raising, Inspiration, jillian michaels, marketing, Mission Assist, motivation, non-profit, reality tv, shed weight, strategy, support, television
Posted in Advertising | No Comments 5/27/2010

I am a die-hard Biggest Loser fan, never miss an episode. It usually gets a little dusty in the living room when the show starts following a story line of someone working out and changing their Biggest Loser Finale Michael Ventrella life all set to contemporary music. As I watched in awe of the people on the finale Tuesday night, I couldn’t help but compare it to my own experience. I can identify with the people on the show and their struggles to improve their lives. I watched each contestant step on the scale to reveal how much weight they’d lost in 4 months and just revel in the joy that it brought them to see their “change.” It’s not just a physical change, for many it’s a complete mental conversion with a new outlook on life. However, these contestants were at one point wondering what to do about improving themselves, and how they had let themselves get to whatever point they were at in life. Someone, something had to spark change in them.

There are two trainers on the show – Jillian and Bob. Bob is the gentle supporter. Jillian the tough love challenger. No matter who you prefer, both of them inspire dramatic change. Sometimes all of us need that coach or trainer to believe in, push us and walk with us as we try to improve. When something is weighing you down, its hard to make yourself or your company actually DO something. We all get caught up in our daily routines and tasks at hand and lose sight of the bigger picture. Sometimes we just don’t have the resources or time to do more than what we already do. Sometimes a gentle helping hand can make a change. Sometimes its a tough love “shove” in the right direction. Someone you trust can tell you your faults and what you need to do to see results. They can even give you plans of action and be right by your side as they help you grow.

At LoveScott, we’ve found something that inspires us to do what we do. Its a program we started called Mission Assist. It’s a unique program that combines the skills of marketing and development professionals to help non-profit associations better tell their story, share their mission and increase funding. In other words, we see a lot of non-profit organizations that aren’t “fit” in their marketing departments or developmental goals. Scott Brunscheen leads the Mission Assist program at Love Scott. As a long-time non-profit director, he is uniquely in tune with the challenges and opportunities a non-profit organization faces. Combine that with Love Scott’s forty years of marketing experience, and you have some knowledgeable coaches willing to help a non-profit get into shape. We’d like to be the “coach” that gives you a shove in the right direction. We’ve had some experience watching non-profits wondering what to Jillian & Bob Biggest Loser do next, and weighed down by limitations. We’ve been able to work with non-profits as a partner to not only improve their marketing strategy and brand, but increase funding and create new funding streams. Its been some of the most rewarding work we’ve done. Through helping them shed the weight of “what to do”, we’ve seen them revel in the joy of accomplishing their missions.

If you’d like to learn more about the Mission Assist program, please head to our home page and click on the Mission Assist logo at the bottom of the page. If its something you could benefit from, give anyone at Love Scott a call and we will make sure you are taken care of. We’ll get you on a program to shed the weight of “what to do.”

-Adam Jensen, Vice President / Creative Director

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Tags: "Love Scott & Associates", a different kind of ad agency, Adam Jensen, Alice in Wonderland, Challeneges, courage, Creativity, Disney, Impossible, Inspiration, Lewis Carroll, motivation, relevant marketing, Tim Burton
Posted in Advertising | No Comments 3/24/2010

Let’s see… what did I do before breakfast today? Got up, got showered, got dressed, got my keys, got into my car, and got out of my driveway-unscathed. Six things. Most would say those things are routine. But I’m telling you, at least three of those things are minor miracles. I did the impossible. I may be exaggerating.

The Love Scott team recently went to a 3D showing of Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland.” I thought it was visually amazing, and the 3D effects were well done when CGI was in play. Visually stunning is to be expected from director Tim Burton, though. I don’t know if it utilized 3D as well as Avatar, but the story was a different take on the original – in a good way, and overall it was an entertaining film. It did include some of the core ideas of the original novel by Lewis Carroll such as the characters, subtle visual cues and even many of the quotes. One quote that stuck out to me was repeated several times:

Alice: There is no use trying. One cant believe in impossible things.

The Queen: I dare say you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed in as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

(quote as applied in the movie version)

The challenge: to be creative, and to find the courage to do what others won’t. I think everyone can take that lesson to heart, especially when it comes to marketing. Alice had let the “real world” tell her what was impossible, and in this version of “Alice,” she had grown up, become realistic and forgotten what she was capable of. Believing in herself and having the courage to break down walls gave her the confidence to conquer her inhibitions. Have you found yourself not believing in what you or your company can do and where it can go? Has the status quo overtaken your marketing plans? Has the economy hampered your budget, making you believe that progress is an impossible thing?

At Love Scott, we believe in the power of relevant marketing. We find the possible in the impossible. It’s one of the things that makes us a different kind of ad agency. We work with budgets, we don’t let them constrain us. We see potential for creativity everywhere, and no project is meaningless or cookie cutter. We believe that if a company wants to find new heights, we can help them achieve that.

As a creative director, I’m charged to be creative every day – it’s in the title, can’t avoid it. Believing in the impossible and making it happen are a part of what I do. I also believe that making it out of the driveway unscathed every morning is pretty remarkable, too. So before you sit down to breakfast tomorrow, I challenge you to start believing in yourself and start dreaming of what you or your company could achieve if you let yourself get creative.

So, here’s my challenge to you: list six things that you think are impossible for your company today. Can you see a way to defeat your own Jabberwocky? Are you looking for the first step in fighting this battle? Then, give me a call so we can fight it together.

Adam Jensen, Creative Director

Archive

Posts Tagged ‘motivation’

My Thanks…

Life Lessons from Car Repairs

We’re up to Something Good!

At The Heart Of Giving

Defining Your Area of Suckage

Become the Biggest Loser

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Subscribe to our feed via email!

Who is Love Scott, anyway?

Tweet with @Love_Scott !

Recent Posts From Love Scott

Recent Comments From Our Friends

Community

Archive

Posts Tagged ‘motivation’

My Thanks…

Life Lessons from Car Repairs

We’re up to Something Good!

At The Heart Of Giving

Defining Your Area of Suckage

Become the Biggest Loser

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Subscribe to our feed via email!

Who is Love Scott, anyway?

Tweet with @Love_Scott !

Recent Posts From Love Scott

Recent Comments From Our Friends

What Are We Talking About?

Community