"I can't believe you just said 'Like, it's like.'"
Yesterday was Chris's 15 year wedding anniversary, and as he took the day off to celebrate, I took the day to...well. Do research for him in my pajamas, after sleeping in of course!
Chris wanted me to find and/or make a list of all the air shows in the US, and as overwhelming as that seemed, it took a grand total of 5 seconds for Google to pull up three very well put together lists of air shows all across the US. That was easy.
Today, I went in about 10:30 and got started transferring my lists to an excel sheet, and as easy as that seems, it took FOREVER. No, seriously. I left to get lunch around 1:30, then wasn't finished until about 4:00. I think I started to go cross-eyed from looking at all the links and spreadsheet cells.
Chris had gone off to meetings, but returned right as I was finishing up. "Great! We have a working list. Now, I want you to go through every site and find contact information for all of them."
Joyous Occasion. I get to spend another 10 hours of my life adding onto this horrendous spreadsheet. I got about 5 lines in, when I stumbled upon something, and decided to show Chris.
I should interrupt myself to explain why Chris wants a list of every single air show to grace the face of this nation. Well, it's simple. He designs the Central Texas Air Show Posters for the Temple Air Show every year, and he made a website to have them in 'gallery' of sorts, and hopes to sell them, for what little they are worth to other air shows. A) His posters are WAAAY better than others I've seen, and B) Chris wants to share his work, at a price, of course.
The link to his Poster Gallery is here!: http://www.airshowposters.us/
One of the links I had listed on my spreadsheet redirected me to a site that was under construction, but gave the link to a Facebook account. When I clicked, the first update on the timeline said: So and So has asked a question: "Which Air Show Poster should we use for this year?" and it proceeded to offer two different poster designs. I immediately showed Chris. Teaching Moment.
Chris looked at both of them for a minute, and then asked me which one I like better. I started explaining why I liked the second better, and what I didn't like about the first one. I really need to learn to stop and think about what I want to say, so I don't give Chris a reason to call me out on my speech fillers.
"I didn't even know that was humanly possibly. I can't believe you just said 'Like, it's like.' Did you even hear yourself?"
Seriously, I have a problem. Someone please help me.
We both started laughing, but Chris said quickly, I hope you don't think I'm picking on you, because I promise I'm not. But in this business, you have to have an opinion. People listen to you because you have an opinion. But you also have to be able to express that opinion clearly and with confidence."
After pointing out the obvious addiction I have to the word "like," Chris gave me a quick lesson in basic design, and I was listening intently, but Chris called me out again. This time for my posture. "I'm sure you're listening to me right now, but with your arms crossed like that, you are putting up a barrier, like you are trying to protect yourself from what I am saying."
Chris gave me a crash course in gestures, posture, and speech tones. "...so basically, the most important things to remember are: stand confidently with an open posture, speak confidently without fillers and with an opinion, and act like you know more than your customer, because you do."
With my crash course coming to a close, and 5:00 showing on the clock, we packed up our things, but got sidetracked once again when I told Chris that I had put "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" in my Netflix queue. He walked over to his bookshelf in the corner and pulled down a raggedy book. "If you ever are really really bored and have nothing else to do, you can read this. This book introduced me to the idea of generational cohorts and gave me such a better understanding of the marketing world and why we as consumers make the decisions we do."
I made a mental note that I should probably read it sometime soon, and as I was driving home, I even thought about quitting school and just paying Chris to teach me, because so far, he's been right. I'm not going to learn anything useful in college, and he is going to teach me more in six weeks than I would learn at school anyways.
Chris wanted me to find and/or make a list of all the air shows in the US, and as overwhelming as that seemed, it took a grand total of 5 seconds for Google to pull up three very well put together lists of air shows all across the US. That was easy.
Today, I went in about 10:30 and got started transferring my lists to an excel sheet, and as easy as that seems, it took FOREVER. No, seriously. I left to get lunch around 1:30, then wasn't finished until about 4:00. I think I started to go cross-eyed from looking at all the links and spreadsheet cells.
Chris had gone off to meetings, but returned right as I was finishing up. "Great! We have a working list. Now, I want you to go through every site and find contact information for all of them."
Joyous Occasion. I get to spend another 10 hours of my life adding onto this horrendous spreadsheet. I got about 5 lines in, when I stumbled upon something, and decided to show Chris.
I should interrupt myself to explain why Chris wants a list of every single air show to grace the face of this nation. Well, it's simple. He designs the Central Texas Air Show Posters for the Temple Air Show every year, and he made a website to have them in 'gallery' of sorts, and hopes to sell them, for what little they are worth to other air shows. A) His posters are WAAAY better than others I've seen, and B) Chris wants to share his work, at a price, of course.
The link to his Poster Gallery is here!: http://www.airshowposters.us/
One of the links I had listed on my spreadsheet redirected me to a site that was under construction, but gave the link to a Facebook account. When I clicked, the first update on the timeline said: So and So has asked a question: "Which Air Show Poster should we use for this year?" and it proceeded to offer two different poster designs. I immediately showed Chris. Teaching Moment.
Chris looked at both of them for a minute, and then asked me which one I like better. I started explaining why I liked the second better, and what I didn't like about the first one. I really need to learn to stop and think about what I want to say, so I don't give Chris a reason to call me out on my speech fillers.
"I didn't even know that was humanly possibly. I can't believe you just said 'Like, it's like.' Did you even hear yourself?"
Seriously, I have a problem. Someone please help me.
We both started laughing, but Chris said quickly, I hope you don't think I'm picking on you, because I promise I'm not. But in this business, you have to have an opinion. People listen to you because you have an opinion. But you also have to be able to express that opinion clearly and with confidence."
After pointing out the obvious addiction I have to the word "like," Chris gave me a quick lesson in basic design, and I was listening intently, but Chris called me out again. This time for my posture. "I'm sure you're listening to me right now, but with your arms crossed like that, you are putting up a barrier, like you are trying to protect yourself from what I am saying."
Chris gave me a crash course in gestures, posture, and speech tones. "...so basically, the most important things to remember are: stand confidently with an open posture, speak confidently without fillers and with an opinion, and act like you know more than your customer, because you do."
With my crash course coming to a close, and 5:00 showing on the clock, we packed up our things, but got sidetracked once again when I told Chris that I had put "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" in my Netflix queue. He walked over to his bookshelf in the corner and pulled down a raggedy book. "If you ever are really really bored and have nothing else to do, you can read this. This book introduced me to the idea of generational cohorts and gave me such a better understanding of the marketing world and why we as consumers make the decisions we do."
I made a mental note that I should probably read it sometime soon, and as I was driving home, I even thought about quitting school and just paying Chris to teach me, because so far, he's been right. I'm not going to learn anything useful in college, and he is going to teach me more in six weeks than I would learn at school anyways.