Motivation
After applying for an internship at Quicken Loans, a major mortgage company in Detroit, I was scheduled a pair of phone interviews. Interviews are nothing really new to me, I have been through my fair share and sat on both ends of the table. Throughout the interview process, there was one question that really has stuck out in my head.
“What motivates you?”
Both times I was asked that question, I responded with an answer that was generally conservative, but really represented what I felt to be true. I am self-motivated. I like the feeling of accomplishing a project and seeing the effect it has on those who can witness and partake as a direct result of my hard work. I much prefer to be behind the scenes, doing the grunt work, and smiling knowing that I did the best I could and people enjoyed themselves.
My answer has since changed.
I was unfortunate in that I was not granted the opportunity to work for Quicken Loans. When I received the phone call, I could not help but be disappointed. I had built myself up, thought about how great it would be to work in the city of Detroit. About how great it would be to live so close to my family and friends, neither of which I have spent much time with since moving away to college. I had watched videos, read articles, and talked to professors about how great of a company Quicken Loans is and how amazing it is to work there. Then when I received the courtesy call explaining that they were continuing with other prospects, I was crushed.
It was then that I realized what truly motivates me.
I am motivated by my failures. I recently finished the book “Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success and Influence” by Erik Qualman, and in it, he discusses ‘failing forward’. That is, when you fail, as we all must from time to time, use that failure to learn and move on. My recent experience, while devastating to me at the time, has really sunk in with me. After telling my family and close friends that I would no longer be moving back downstate, it dawned on me. If they don’t want me, fine – but it will be their loss, not mine.
There are many things that this process has taught me. Things such as not getting your hopes up, not putting all your eggs in the same basket, and multiple other adages (all of which I should have known). But now, more than ever, I am motivated. Motivated to become the best I can be at what I want to do; motivated to prove to my doubters and naysayers that they are wrong about me; and, most importantly, motivated to make sure that I never feel the kind of disappointment that comes with the rejection I just faced.
Motivation can be difficult to determine. But now I know what motivates me. Do You?
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[Republication] Developing a Social Media Presence for Michigan DeMolay
This post is a little old, but I felt that it is important to republish, especially as I have transferred my material to a new site. The original post was made in December 2011 for my JRN 397a class at Central Michigan University. The class is over, but I remain a member of the social media staff for Michigan DeMolay.
For my final project, I decided to help create a better social media presence for an organization that I have worked closely with for many years, Michigan DeMolay. The organization, whose members consist of young men between the ages of 12-21, is a non-profit that aims to build better leaders and better men out of the members that come through. One of the big missed opportunities that they have had thus far are connecting the alumni and the active members, and then using that connection to their benefit.
My goal for working with them was to not only better their presence on social media, but to show them how using social media can help them accomplish their goals as an organization.
The first thing that I set out to help them do was to set up their Facebook account as a brand page. Prior to this project, they operated a Facebook page, but as a personal page, which presented a few areas for concern. Among those was the ability of Facebook to delete the account for violating the terms of service. I was able to convert the profile page to a user page, but at first the friends didn’t transfer. This was a major area of concern for me as the page had upwards of 2,000 friends. I was very thrilled, however, to find that all the friends were likes by the end of the day. This was a huge relief for me, and I am excited to see what this type of page can do for us.
One major area for improvement for this organization is their Twitter page. The organizations Twitter page has not been active in well over a year. While, at one point, the Twitter was extremely active, and a great place for the organization to spread its message, it has since been irrelevant. I have begun working with the organization to regain control of the Twitter. This is preferable, however, if this is not possible, they will begin to implement a new Twitter profile.
One page that I set up for the organization was a Google+ page. While not many people are on Google+ at this point in time, I expect that, in time, Google+ will begin to take off. I did run into a few problems with Google+, however. One of the big problems I ran into was that you cannot connect with people without them adding you to a circle first. Being a small, non-profit organization, there are many people (mainly members and advisors) who are members and would probably like to connect with Michigan DeMolay on Google+, but without them adding the page first, we are at an roadblock. Another problem that we have run into is that Google+ currently only allows for one administrator on each page. Having been the one to set up, I am the only one update the page, which is difficult as I am not as connected with the organization as I once was. However, from what Mashable tells me, Google+ will allow for multiple administrators by years end. The last of the major problems that I ran into was that there is currently no way to update a brand page using the mobile application. With working 40+ hours per week, and having 12 credits in school, much of my updates on my own social media sites are from mobile applications. It would also be helpful if Google+ were available on Hootsuite, however that is still in beta testing.
A second social network that I set up for this organization was foursquare. There was a very big opportunity using foursquare that I felt could help the organization. What I did with foursquare was create a brand page and leave tips at different places. The locations where I left tips were Masonic Temples, which is where each individual chapter meets. My tips stated when the chapters met. I also created a list of all of these Masonic temples and the tips I added. One problem with this was when the certain chapter’s meeting places were not on foursquare. I have a plan to go to each of these places so that I can add them to foursquare’s list.
The final social media presence that I created for Michigan DeMolay is a company page as well as a group on LinkedIn. One of the biggest assets of any fraternal organization is the built in networking among people. Generally people who are connected with a fraternity will give others connected to the same a leg up. Using a professional social networking site, such as LinkedIn, helps to make this easier. Connecting people on LinkedIn will allow Michigan DeMolay a few opportunities that other sites cannot. Mainly, it gives those people who work in a position where they are able to hire employees, the chance to promote a job opportunity in their group first. This is one of the goals of Michigan DeMolay’s social networking: assist the members, both active and senior, even outside of the organization.
During this project, I ran into quite a few problems. One issue that I ran into was that when working with a volunteer organization, getting stuff done quickly is difficult. When people volunteer for an organization, their work there generally takes a backseat to other priorities in their life. Another problem I faced was some of the organization’s policies. Being a youth organization, there were very strict policies set forth concerning the privacy of the members. A status update could not contain the members last name, pictures cannot be updated by the organizations page unless they, and their parents, have signed a release form. The privacy issues of it’s youth members is a big concern of the organization, and working around that was a difficult task.
One major concern of mine came in relation to the Michigan DeMolay Twitter Account. The account, which up until about 1 year ago, was extremely active. It promoted events and pushed relevant information to its followers. But it has since been lost, and the organization is unable to find the current owner of the account. I have been working to resolve this, and while it has not yet happened, I believe that I am on my way to resolving this issue, and hopefully we can prevent it from happening again.
Michigan DeMolay has the mission statement of “Building Tommorow’s Leaders Today”. Their philosophy with social media is to continue this ideology and to help support the organization. The organization hopes that social media will accomplish a few things for them. First, they hope that it will allow them to better promote their events. As kids today spend most of their time online, and on Facebook in particular, it would seem like the best place to promote an event would be on Facebook. They have used Facebook events in the past, and continue to use them, but using them more effectively is something they are working on. They also hope that social media will allow for better communication. One major secret to success of any organization is communication. With email slowly working its way out as a mainstream communication tool, and the postal service way gone, everyone, including Michigan DeMolay, is struggling to find ways to better communicate. Social media will give them that opportunity. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ will allow them to communicate with their most active members, LinkedIn will allow them to communicate with a large portion of their alumni. The biggest thing that they have to remember when communicating with their audience is that most of them are still youth. They, and myself in particular, must remember that while it is important to get the youth excited, it is equally important to make sure that their parents are aware of what is going on.
One of the advantages I have is that even after this semester is over, I intend to work closely with Michigan DeMolay, specifically with regards to their social media devices. The youth leadership of Michigan DeMolay changes every August, and I intend to be working with those young men, as well as the advisors, to help the organization thrive.
~Update~
Since the original post, Facebook has updated their brand pages to incorporate the new Timeline format. Michigan DeMolay has changed its page to accommodate the change. This new format provides Michigan DeMolay with many opportunities. Among them, it gives us an opportunity to tell the history of the organization as well as to highlight some of the key moments in our history. The full potential that the new format offers has yet to be fully utilized, but I am confident that it will help us to better promote our organization.
Tebow stole it from DeMolay
Tim Tebow has made a name for himself since going to college at the University of Florida. Recently, the hype surrounding Tebow has grown exponentially. In part, it is because of his play on the field, but it is also because of some of the antics he pulls.
Tebowing has taken off to be the new fad that people are taking pictures of themselves doing. Just like planking, the practice of laying down in an akward place face down as though to mimick a wooden plank, tebowing is the new game on the internet. Kids have been caught tebowing everywhere from golf courses to school hallways. Some students even got suspended for tebowing in a hall at their school, which school officials claim was a fire code violation. Even other NFL players have mimicked the move (although the motives are probably far different than that of a kid).
Recently, #Tebowing has begun trending on Twitter. (Tebowing refers to kneeling on your left knee in prayer, which Tim Tebow has been photographed doing at all points of games). But, at least to me, the Tebow kneel seems eerily similar to another kneel: the DeMolay kneel.
For those that don’t know, DeMolay is a youth organization for young men between the ages of 12-21. During meetings, the chapter prays twice. During these prayers, all active DeMolays (that is to say, young men in the organization) kneel. This kneel dates back to 1919 when the organization was formed, a good 68 years before Tebow was even born.
I don’t know if Tim Tebow ever saw a DeMolay kneel or if he just picked it up in his time growing up as a devout Evangelical Christian. But I know that these two kneels are alike, and it is hard not to draw a comparison.
~UPDATE~
Wow, this post has really taken off, but I have been noticing a few common themes in comments, so I felt that I should address them.
- I do not really believe that Tim Tebow “stole” his kneel from anyone. I recognize that Tebow has kneeled on both knees in the past and that kneeling is something that has been around since the time of Jesus and even before. The title was mainly to bring in more readers, and it appears to have worked.
- I am so glad that so many Senior and Active DeMolays have seen this post. It was originally intended for my own purposes. I love social media and the potential it offers, and I felt that keep a blog was necessary for my future career. This post was just some of my thoughts, and for a few days became an internet phenom.
- To anyone who is curious, I have my credentials listed in the resume section of this site. Listed is a brief experience of my work with Michigan DeMolay, however, that does not even come close to explaining the extent to which I have worked. If you have any doubts as to my knowledge on the subject of DeMolay, feel free to shoot me an email, I would be more than happy to answer any questions.
- This post has the potential to bring about a lot of good will upon the order of DeMolay. But posting things such as this cannot be the only form of promotion.
On My Own Again…
This past semester, I enrolled in two clases revolving around social media, one with regards to business, the other with regards to journalism. For each of these classes I had to maintain a blog.
After some thought, I decided that maintaining a blog was the easiest way to keep myself in tune with the world and to spread my thoughts in more than a 140 character setting. I chose wordpress over tumblr because, to me, it seemed more “clean” and less like your everyday social network. It seemed more like a website.
But now that I sit down to publish a post, I find it a little more difficult to write posts. But why? My other wordpress blog, which was my social media and Journalism blog, was all my assignments for that class, so that was all I wrote about on that one. And my Business class blog, which we used Tumblr for, was pretty open. We could write about whatever we wanted, as long as we also wrote about the prompts that the professor gave us.
So why do I have trouble writing these now? Well, The internet is a battle. A battle of relevance, of content. (In fact, I just read a Social Media Today article about The Great Content Challenge). It appears that I am among the few, but I don’t want to be one of the people cramming the internet full of junk, but rather of useful information.
My intention with this blog will be to pass or convey relevant information. No junk. No spam. Just stuff that I think people would like to know.
Welcome To My New Blog
The Fall 2011 semester is finally over. I had two clases revolving around social media, and there is one thing that they both taught me for sure….. I really like having my own blog.
So this will be my new blog site. I will maintain both my old Social Media & Journalism Blog on WordPress as well as my Social Media & Business blog on Tumblr. While neither will be posted on actively anymore, they have some key insights into how I got started on blogging as well as how far I have come in my uses of such an amazing technology.
These blog posts will be many things. They will contain my ramblings about the world, they will have cool new things that I discover, they will be about the things in life that I enjoy most, but most importantly, they will all be about what I me and my opinions.
I hope that this blog provides as much for you as it does for me.
~David A. Bodine
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