In addition to making funny faces and dancing like a fool to Canned Heat by Jamiroquai, I talk about creating value by interacting.

People need people.  Social interactions with your customer or fan base, whether online or offline, are vital opportunities to build your brand.

Maybe you legitimately don’t have the time to keep up with all your fans or customers … but don’t be too big to interact with at least some of your followers!

Interaction can make all the difference in the world … even if it’s just a little reply.  I’m going to go over two quick examples.

One celebrity made it a practice to read all of the tweets about her.  Even though she couldn’t reply to every single one, she still took the time to make several at replies on Twitter and even video responses.

People would reply back to her with things like:  “OMG, I can’t believe you replied to me … you just made my day!”

Regardless of whether you’re a company or a celebrity/person, your interactions can have an impact.

For the second example, here’s a personal experience I had with a company, Staples.

I mentioned them in a status update on Twitter (StaplesTweets) … in particular, that I bought an office chair from them.  I started following them on Twitter; then, they followed me back and sent a Direct Message … but it wasn’t a canned response.  It was actually personalized and took into consideration that I purchased a chair from them: “Thank you for the follow – we hope you enjoy the new chair.”  The person’s initials were included at the end of the message.

This shows that even big companies can take the time to interact with their customers!

Try not to be too busy for your customers or fans.  Listen to what they have to say about you or your company; this way, you can get a pulse or feel for what’s on their minds.

You may not always be able to reply to every single remark or read through every single e-mail, tweet, etc., but at least take the time to make a difference!  It can make an impact.  (Repetition for emphasis)

Create a community around your brand.

We’re living in the age of communication, so use this to your advantage.  In addition to e-mail and social networks like Twitter, take advantage of video.  There are video messages, video responses on YouTube, and video streaming/broadcasting sites, just to name a few.

Videos are a very powerful means of creating a personal connection.  Instead of sending a blanket e-mail response back with text or words on the screen, your viewers can see your facial expressions, gestures, etc.  (If you’re handsome or pretty, you have the added “bonus” of people developing an increased unhealthy obsession with/crush on you.)

Use live video broadcasts to interact with your followers.  Examples of video streaming sites include Justin.tv or Ustream (Ustream, Istream, we all stream for … ok, enough of the jokes).

How are you interacting and creating value?

Besides making crazy faces and dancing to Galaxy by War, here is a written copy of the joke I shared in this video.

There are three (3) priests, each of which has their own unique way of splitting up the donations they receive from their members.  They decide how much of that money goes to the church and how much they keep for themselves (i.e. how much goes to their own pockets).

The first priest has a straightforward method:  50/50 – half goes to the church, and the other half goes to him

The second priest has a more complex method:  He draws a line along the exact center of a table, which effectively separates the table into two halves.  He then throws up all the money in the air – whatever lands to his left of the table (to his left of the line) goes to himself … whatever lands to his right (to the right of the line) goes to the church.

The third priest just throws up all the money in the air (no table or any special tricks involved here).  Whatever stays up in the air (floats) goes to God/the church, and whatever lands or falls goes to him!

Nothing to see here … just me acting like a complete dork by dancing in the “privacy” of a bathroom stall at T.G.I. Friday’s. (“Privacy” because I recorded and uploaded this footage for the whole world to see…) The diaper changing station and toilet refused to move or dance to the music.

It’s random and spontaneous (to say the least)!

^^ A mechanical & aerospace engineer balances a salt shaker on the table at a pub … but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to perform this bar trick.

^^ Watch as Fritz the mini schnauzer howls.

^^ Against his will, Bob (the cook at the nursing home) is caught on video and shared on the worldwide web.  “Oooh … let’s not ruin a nice mornin”

Put your game face on!  Personally, this song reminded me of a an epic journey which leads to triumph.  You may pick out different things from the melody or composition.

So how am I going to tie this into business or money?  You’ll notice that some parts of the song are more intense than others.  Just as in life, there are a roller coaster of emotions and experiences … sometimes things are calm and, other times, they are more intense.

Embrace what comes rather than allowing it to stifle you.  Be determined.  It’s easier said than done, but it’s all about developing that mindset and putting it into action.  You have the power to determine how you react to situations … you can either embrace challenges as a learning experience or allow the same obstacles to keep you down.

Be a game changer … make your own game.  Some of the most innovative products and businesses have come out of the need to be different or improve on mainstream solutions.

Make every day a game day!

It was all caught on video on the phone.  A rocket scientist/mechanical & aerospace engineer talks about adding rocket boosters to a wheelchair (wheelchair races anyone?).  In the meantime, Buzz “Lightyear” (who was a mechanic but not an astronaut) tries to get in on the action even though he’s in bed at the nursing home.

This arrangement/medley (shown in the video above) was a combination of bits and pieces of seven (7) songs.  I learned how to play all of these by ear, so it might not sound exactly like the original.

1.  Phantom of the Opera (Main Theme)

2.  All I Ask of You (also from Phantom of the Opera)

3.  Sweet Remembrance of You (by William Joseph)

4.  It’s All Coming Back to Me Now (Celine Dion, written by Jim Steinman)

5.  Forever and For Always (Shania Twain)

6.  Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler, and also in Beaches)

7.  Jurassic Park theme (John Williams)

Here are two more examples of some great mashups.

This arrangement is a vocal and instrumental mashup of Nothin on You (B.o.B ft Bruno Mars), Airplanes (B.o.B ft Hayley Williams of Paramore), and Billionaire (Travie McCoy ft Bruno Mars).  Tori Kelly, AJ Rafael (vocal + keyboard/piano), and Andrew Garcia perform in this video which combines three (3) songs and three great singers:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpllKX00904

If you haven’t seen this already, Jon Schmidt composed a piano arrangement which combined Love Story by Taylor Swift and Viva La Vida by Coldplay:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRZYmR9Zukk

So how am I going to tie this into business or money?  It’s time to improvise a medley of thoughts (corny, I know) on this topic to make it seem like I know what I’m talking about …

Well, just look at the effect of teaming up with other people and combining your talents and strengths … with passion + a clear purpose + all of your combined talents put into action, this is a recipe for a killer team, whether in business, life, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

On another note (bad pun intended), you can even apply this principle of “killer combinations” to selling merchandise.  Here’s a true experience from what happened to me one time when when I sold a bunch of my old electronics all in one auction on eBay.  I combined several items in the same auction – it was a grab bag or assortment of miscellaneous electronic items (in as is condition).  Different people liked different items from the mixed assortment, and this fueled more bidding.  I wouldn’t exactly call it a “killer combination” of electronic items; nevertheless, it seemed to attract a lot more attention and bidding than if I had tried to sell all of these items individually.

Those were just a few points that came to mind.  So please feel free to share your medley (couldn’t resist the corny reference again) of thoughts and comments on this topic! 

In conclusion, here’s another medley that combines Music of the Night (from Phantom of the Opera) and All of Me by Jon Schmidt.

You might have received an American Express gift card (or Visa gift card), but instead of spending it at a merchant that accepts Visa or American Express, you want to convert it into cash that can be deposited into your bank account.

There are some ways to do this … but I am going to focus on one way … and it involves PayPal.

You will need:

• Two (2) PayPal accounts, preferably both belonging to you, one can be personal and the other a premier account for example
• A bank account (linked to at least one of these PayPal accounts so you can withdraw received funds )
• Your brain or some form of thinking ability (the ingredients get more obvious as the list goes on)
• Your American Express or Visa gift card with an available balance on it (that always helps)

1.  Add your gift card as a new credit/debit card to one of your PayPal accounts.  This can be done through My Account | Profile | Add or Edit Credit Card (or by clicking here).

2.  After completing Step 1, a temporary authorization charge of $1.00 (from PayPal) will appear on your gift card statement.  This pending transaction of $1.00 [shown as a debit, or ($1.00) on your statement] will stay for 7 days.  So, for approximately one week, your available gift card balance will be $1 less … for example, if you had a $50 gift card, it will show a $49 available balance until that $1 authorization charge is cleared.

3.  After waiting for about 7 days, your available balance will return back to normal … using the example in Step 2, your balance would return back to $50.

4.  Initiate a payment/send money from the account where you linked the gift card.  This can be done through Send Money | Send Money Online.

5.  Enter all of the information … To (the e-mail address of your other PayPal account), Amount (the entire balance of the gift card), and you could select one of the options from the Personal Tab (e.g. Payment owed, other, etc.).

6.  Click Continue.  When you get to the next screen, make sure that you change the payment method to the gift card that you added.

7.  This is the fun part … if you like fees, which most of us don’t.  Make sure that you uncheck the box that says “I will pay the fee.”  (Otherwise, if you’re sending the entire balance on your gift card, you’ll end up getting charged more than your available balance, and that won’t work.)

8.  Click Send Money.

9.  Open up/log into your other PayPal account.  You should have received the funds that you sent from the gift card, minus any fees.  For example, for a $50 gift card, there is a deduction of $1.75 in fees for using a credit/debit card, so you would really end up receiving $48.25.

10.  While still logged into your PayPal account where you received the funds (and admiring the marvels of modern payment technology), withdraw those funds to a linked bank account.  This can be done through My Account | Withdraw | Transfer to Bank Account.

11.  In about 3-4 business days (sometimes less), those funds will have been electronically transferred/deposited to your bank account.

12.  I just felt like adding another numbered item here just to confuse you more … but seriously, if you have any questions, comments, complaints, cash … feel free to share them with me.  It seems like a drawn out process, but it’s actually pretty simple … it’s not rocket science, trust me!  (I really have to stop overusing that whole rocket science reference even though I’m nominally considered to be a mechanical & aerospace engineer.)

They say that time is money. However, no matter how much money we have, we’re all given the same amount of time in a day.

Consider the Pareto principle, which is named after an Italian economist.

It is the 80/20 rule of thumb, namely that about 80% of your results come from about 20% of your efforts.

It is a pretty powerful principle if you come to think of it. However, it is not always exactly the case.

Nevertheless, it may imply that you only have to put a little effort in to get a large portion of your results back … small input to get a large output.

You can create more time, and possibly even make more money.

For example, 80% of your income may come from just 20% of your efforts, theoretically speaking.  In theory, you might only have to devote a small portion of quality time to the most important part of a task to get a large portion completed.

As Hooman Radfar, CEO and co-founder of Clearspring stated:  “Think in millions, act in thousands.”

You don’t have to be a perfectionist … just put forth your best effort, no matter how small it may seem!

Feel free to share your input and comments.  Have you personally seen how you can devote a small portion of your resources to gain large results?

(For more information on the Pareto principle, you can always Google it … but I really didn’t need to tell you that now, did I?)

1. Be an honest, diligent, and reliable worker

Whether you’re working for yourself in your own business (technically you’re working for the client or customer) or for another company, it definitely pays to be honest, diligent, and reliable.

If you are one of the many who is currently looking for a job or a means to provide an income, be diligent in finding work and pursuing job openings.  There is a lot of competition out there since there are many unemployed individuals at the moment.

Also, work smarter and not necessarily harder … don’t let people take advantage of your valuable skills by trying to work you to death for peanuts.

Your persistence and passion can pay off, even in a tough economy.

2.  Avoid bad habits, such as wasting money on gambling, smoking, alcoholism, drugs, …

It’s bad for your health and bad for your wallet!

3.  Carefully consider or calculate the cost before buying something

Many people made huge purchases, such as homes, and took out mortgages that they really couldn’t afford to pay back.  Just take a look at all of the foreclosures and homes for sale as a result of people being unable to afford their homes.

If you go right into buying something on impulse, you will suffer the consequences.

It can’t be emphasized enough, but you must realize the basic importance of budgeting.  In addition, list your real needs and the costs associated with those needs.

4.  Learn to be content with what you have

Many are seeking to buy bigger homes and more expensive cars … not that there’s anything wrong with that in itself, but it can get to the point where it is unbearable and too much for you to handle.

In addition to the responsibilities that are involved with taking care of such items, imagine that you had all of your material possessions suddenly taken away or lost (for whatever reason).  Think of what happened when the economy went sour … or when natural disasters hit an area.  The general rule of thumb is:  the less you have to lose, the less pain and anxiety you’ll experience if you suddenly lose everything.

What really matters?  Only your true friends and family would stick close even if you were to lose your material things.  Don’t get more to try to please other people.

Learn to be content with the “simple” things.  We don’t know what could happen from one day to the next.

5.  Avoid the love of money and greed

Some want more and more and more … and no matter how much they have, it’s never enough.

We all need money, but don’t have an insatiable or greedy appetite.  Have a balanced view of money.

In a previous blog post (click here), the illustration likened money to a knife.

In the hands of a skilled chef, a sharp knife is a useful tool. But the same knife in the hands of someone inexperienced or inattentive can cause serious harm. Money is like a sharp knife. If you handle it skillfully, it’s a useful tool. But if you’re not careful, you can get hurt!