Author: J Cleveland Payne

My current podcast hosting service had been a customer service nightmare from the beginning of our relationship.

This stems mostly from it being a European based company that does a lot of business with the US.

That translates to pretty good service (meets most of my needs) but terrible customer service (no phone support, prolonged email support, very few answers when emails do come in).

I am at the point where I would love to drop them, but the pain of reorganizing a dozen podcasts (yes, some are dead, but I’d like them to be still found) at a new place is not something I want to get into at this moment.

I am having similar hate with my home internet networks. Because of a slew of unfortunate events, various devices decide whether they want to be connected to the network living off the phone company provided router. So, I bought one of those easy setup plugin home networking systems, only to find I must physically erase the old network out of each device and reinstall to the new network. Also, not a chore I am chomping at the bit to get on.

This is more of a gripe session that a lesson to learn, but do you have some daunting tasks that you know you have to work on to fix some nagging problem that you just don’t want the hassle? Could you email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com to discuss?

A common saying around network marketing is the fact that network marketing works.

And this is true. Networker marketers are great at getting sales . . . to other network marketers or people who are desperate and attempting to trying their hand at network marketing.

The bulk of the people who get pitched via typical network marketing tactics do not buy, just like regular sales.

Some buy out of curiosity but find it’s not for them. Some like the product and put up with the promotion just to get it. Some like the person and put up with the promotion (and the product) despite it all.

There are fewer advocates for the network marketing system and the product than you are led to believe.

A firefighter’s job is to be ready to assist if a call comes in on a fire or medical emergency.

A help desk operator’s job is to be ready to assist if a call comes in on a problem.

The fire marshal does not complain about his firefighters and their lack of production when there are no calls coming in for fires to fight from homeowners.

And the call center supervisor is probably complaining about his help desk operators and their lack of production when there are no calls from the customers with issues they think need solving.

Are you an employer? A supervisor? A coach? A mentor? Do you think of the people you lead as firefighters, always on the ready and earned respect? Do you think of the people you lead as help desk operators, disposable and barely worth the ultra-low salary they agreed to take for the job?

Let’s discuss. Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com.

Being different is hard.

Being different is hard. It should not be, but it is

Not trying so hard to be just like everyone else should give you a sense of getting a break. Instead, not falling in line with the status quo is mostly an additional stressor.

Yes, being different is hard. But being unique is worth the hard work.

Ready to get to work? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com and lets partner up.

I have spoken on the record (and been called out in public) about wishing the circumstances of my life and employment would allow me to be ruder.

It’s not that I am a coarse person, but not worrying about people’s feelings and societal norms would selfishly allow me to get more done in less time.

Yes, I will also say on my death bed that I would have wish I would have worked more, but I’ll put my foot in my mouth over that one later.

But what happens thankfully enough to keep my more productive rudeness from taking over is the need to slow things down to a crawl because of my co-workers.

This week, everyone that worked on campus had to sign up to take a Covid-19 test before returning to work next week. A simple process: go to a website on a computer, fill out your info, wait for an email to confirm your appointment.

Only our cleaning crew don’t have daily access to a computer. No problem, we have spare laptops for train days we can set up.

And most of them aren’t good at navigating computers and typing. No problem, it’s slow because most staff is working remotely. I can help them fill it out.

And some don’t have email because they have no want or need for email. Okay, we can make up one for the occasion just to get this task done. No problem.

There were a few more and’s to deal with, and all of them were extremely doable at the moment. No real problem, other than me not being able to put on an air of impatience with people who were extremely patient with me as I helped them put in their paperwork.

On this Thanksgiving, despite the consistent suck that has been this year, I am thankful that I am not dealing with the extended suck from last year. And the year before that. And the year before that.

I am also extremely thankful, oddly enough, of the many time daily. I am reminded that my desire to be more of a jerk is not going to fly. While it does make getting stuff done a lot harder to accomplish, it keeps me humble and human. Two things that many people that are living in this moment are having hard times doing.

What are you thankful for today? Send me an email at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com and let me know.