“Just Nancy” – Strategies for Success

Young Man In Graduation Gown Holding Certificate On Green Background

This month has been a month of changes for my team who also happens to be my family. In fact, my entire family works in my business now. My husband is our IT guy and proofreader and all four of our children work for the business in many different categories.

My assistant and my oldest son just graduated from college on Saturday with a semester grade point average of 3.8 and cumulative GPA of 3.017. That is excellent work for an older (mid 20 year old) student who was not successful in college the first year and then took a four year break. With a crushing schedule his senior year and intensive capstone project now completed, we are proud that he has achieved his goal and now ready for a career on his own.

As my administrative assistant and AdWords assistant, Chris will be phasing out his service with my firm and launching into his own new career. I am very excited for him!

My other three kids, triplets, have completed their first years at college with GPAs ranging from 3.8 to 3.1 for the year. They will be cycling in to take on more job responsibilities this summer gearing up to learn more and do more for my  business.

My words of wisdom for young people and their adult mentors is that motivating, boosting, and pushing kids is key to their success. Help them to understand that a GPA determines their employability and that it is a real discriminator is important.  They would like to believe otherwise.

Dig a deep hole, with a low GPA because they have not been serious about school, and it may take them three years to dig out. Get under a 3.0 and their resume may not even make it to the hiring manager’s desk when they start looking for a job after graduation.

My younger kids are already seeing that to get an internship, you’d better have a 3.2 to 3.8 GPA to even be considered.

The bottom-line is to not be a helicopter parent or mentor, but to demand accountability and encourage good and early study habits at college. Lay down the law if you are paying for college that bad grades really mean they won’t go back but need to take a break and work as a cashier or waiter for a few years to gain maturity. These may be some of the hardest decisions you as a parent may make, but will benefit your kids and better prepare them for future employment.

Congratulations to all college graduates and we are wishing you much success in your future endeavors.

Why I Love the Amazon Experience

Nancy McCord
“Just Nancy” – My Point of View for Today.

I love Amazon, but I think my husband loves it more than I do as he shops more. We have been Amazon Prime Members for years and I have used a Kindle Fire since they were first launched.

We are an Amazon family and our kids each have Amazon Prime Student accounts and I just bought 4 Amazon Fire tablets for family members due to the fabulous Amazon experience and ease of use with integrated books, music, apps, and shopping. I guess you could say that our family is an Amazon advocate.

What is it that makes the Amazon Experience so great?

  1. Ease of use.
  2. Integration of desktop account management and integration with Kindle Fire.
  3. Exceptional customer service that shine when there are problems; infrequent as they are – hey it’s life.
  4. One stop shopping experience, due to my shopping habits, Amazon is typically the place I will start a purchase.
  5. Free shipping with same day or two day shipping from the Amazon Prime Membership.

What can you learn from Amazon to improve the experience on your own website and earn advocates.

  1. Free shipping will make you stand out from competitors.
  2. Exceptional customer service that is easily reachable when a consumer has an issue. The ability to phone and talk to a real person is very important.
  3. Ease of shopping experience across all devices is super important.
  4. Have a wide selection of products that meet consumer needs at competitive prices.
  5. Excellent results with every purchase – are you consistent in delivering?

Now it’s time to think about what you deliver when it comes to your own services in  your own industry. Do you provide an experience and results that makes your own customers become your advocates?

Find out what our own customers say about their experience with us.