We Can Make A Difference Just Like Grandma Did

Growing up, I was blessed to have an amazing, close knit family. The ring leader of our clan was my Grandmother. From the day I was born, as explained by my family, my Grandma and I had the most unbreakable bond you could have. We were best friends right from the start.

I learned some of the most meaningful lessons in life from Grandma. As a young guy, I was pretty observant. One thing I noticed time and time again was that she was always doing things for others. Whether it was helping people she went to church with, spoiling everyone on Christmas, baking something for a neighbor, working with charities or countless other examples, she was constantly giving or helping. Being the inquisitive kid I was, I finally asked Grandma why she was "always busy with other people?" I will never forget her answer. She said, "Eric..honey...I get more joy out of putting a smile on someone's face than anything else I can think of." As I got older, I understood that was Grandma's way of telling me we can all make a difference in someone's life.

Taking her lesson, I believe that anyone can make a difference in somebody's life. It doesn't matter what your current lot is. Rich, poor or somewhere in between, YOU can make a difference. You might even be able to make THE difference. There are any number of ways to do that. You can volunteer to be a coach as many people I know do. You can volunteer to work at a hospital. Get involved with a charity. Be a Big Brother or Big Sister. You get the point. The idea, just like Nike says, is to "Just Do It."

From my own experience as a youth basketball coach for the last 13 years, I can say there is nothing that fulfills me more than working with kids. Seeing them grow as young adults knowing you had a little something to do with it is truly amazing.

All the communities in which we live need help. Even under the best of times. Get out there and find a cause or something to do that you could be passionate about. There is a smile waiting to be had. A person waiting for you to reach out to them. Just look around, giving is all around you.

My grandma definitely made a difference in many peoples lives, including mine and my family's. I could never thank her enough for teaching me it is far better to give than receive. Far better to see someone smile than anything else I can thinking of. Just know Gram, you are my motivation to do my part to make sure your tradition continues.



"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

-Winston Churchill


Written by Eric for sytesee.blogspot.com

A Little Advice from Dad Among Other Things

I make a habit of always including a quote at the end of one of my blog entries. I do this to offer something uplifting and motivating. Also, I do this to make people think. Today's quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson has definitely made me think from time to time. This is a quote my Dad shared with me long ago that has always stuck. The quote is as follows.......




"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters.....compared to what lies within us."

What a powerful message. Short. Sweet. To the point. It doesn't so much matter what someone has accomplished or has the potential to accomplish. What is most important is the kind of person you are at your core. I am proud to say that I am surrounded by "good" people in life. I can also say that this quote has never made me judge someone by what they have or could possibly have. What they do or what they don't do. It has allowed me to judge someone on what lies within. Thanks for reminding me what's important, Dad.

I have attached a link to an excellent post from Mashable.com. It discusses your brand's social media health and how to gauge its success.

7 Steps to Measuring Your Brand’s Social Media Health

Event Planning for Dummies

What are great idea! Let's have an event to benefit a charity! Sounds great when you say it. Sounds great when you write it down just like I did. Then the realization sets in and you say, " What in the world did I just sign myself up for." That's shortly followed up by feeling the anxiety of not knowing where to start. Is this what you get when you decide to combine your love for social gatherings and doing good for other people? If the Event Planning for Dummies book exists, please point me in the general direction...ASAP! Event Planning for Complete Idiots would be sufficient too.

What makes this even more exciting is...... I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE! Thankfully, this event will not be brought to you by Jim Jones' Event Planning Services. I definitely won't be doing business with anyone with a tag line of "Kool-Aid tastes great, but it'll kill ya." His last event in Jonestown didn't exactly go swimmingly.

I have learned some pretty good lessons thus far. I have learned you better have a good cause. Your venue is extremely important. You best have a trust-worthy, dependable caterer and have something fun for your guests to take part in while they are there.

In my limited experience, the most important part of this quite possibly is promoting it. Luckily, I would like to think that could be a potential strength of mine. If no one knows about your event, it doesn't matter how great it is. There are countless examples to give. Then you have situations like the Tampa Bay Rays. Everyone know about them, but they still don't have any fans in the seats except when the Yankees come to town. Cleveland knows how that works too. Are the people that market the Rays that bad or are there too many things to do on a random weekday in Tampa/St. Pete? I know I'd be busy with other things instead of sitting in that sorry excuse for a baseball park and I'm a baseball fan! Note to public officials in that market....If you build it, they will come!! Where I'm going with this is you need people to know about your event and it should be at a worthwhile destination. If your lacking either of the two, the chips are stacked against you.

I also would highly recommend having a plan B, C, and D when you go through your event planning process. Everybody wants their event to have all of the finest things, but maintaining a responsible budget is important to most. One of the benefits of having an event to raise money for a charity is that venues and caterers will give you a price break because they understand you are not profiting on your event. They also want to be associated with people that are trying to do good for the community. Another reason to have multiple options for your event is quite simply your prospective venues, caterers and bands might have prior commitments on the day(s) you want to have your event.

This truly has been an education and it has just begun! I can't wait to see what will become of all this hard work. As I continue to plug along, I get my motivation from the thought of touching someone's life and putting a smile on their face. That's how I measure success.



Written by Eric for sytesee.blogspot.com


"Success doesn't come to you, you go it." - Marva Collins

SYTEsee.com Welcomes CityMade

SYTEsee.com would like to welcome CityMade to our website. Recognized in 2008 by KeyBank as the Honoring Excellence Most Innovative Company of the Year and in 2007 as Business of the Year, CityMade is a premier, national online provider of:

• Consumer, corporate, tournament, and specialty gift baskets
• Gourmet and high-demand regionally based consumer products
  

CityMade designs and produces exceptional gift products and provides the means by which they are effectively marketed, sold and distributed. Their individualized services and the exceptional manner in which they provide them have contributed to their diverse client portfolio. Corporations, universities, media outlets, sports entities, country clubs, convention & visitor bureaus, conference centers, hotels, foundations, festivals and charitable organizations have partnered with and relied on CityMade to effectively further their divergent, strategic goals. Affiliate partners include Wegmans Markets, Lornamead/Yardley of London, Milk-Bone/ DelMonte Foods, NanoDynamics/ NDMX Golf, Hyatt Regency Hotels, Entercom Radio, and Citadel Broadcasting, to name a few.

CityMade currently offers local products from Buffalo as well as many other cities on the East Coast. Look for CityMade shortly on SYTEsee.com.

1st Annual Fundraiser Benefiting Make-A-Wish Announced

Today we would like to announce our partnership with Make-A-Wish Foundation of WNY. On October 27th from 5pm until 9pm, SYTEsee.com will be hosting the first annual "Seeing Wishes Come True" fundraising event to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation of WNY at Soho in downtown Buffalo. Performing at this event will be Canadian recording artists Killin' Time Band.

Over the last 30 years, Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted more than 180,000 wishes to children so they get the chance to live their dream. Remarkably, they grant a wish every 40 minutes! The goal of Make-A-Wish Foundation is to make sure each of these wish kids experiences the same happiness that brightened their very first wish kid.

Make-A-Wish Foundation grants wishes of medically eligible children who are older than 2 1/2 and younger than 18 (at the time of referral) and haven't received a wish from another wish-granting organization. They are there to help children with life-threatening medical conditions that have placed a child's life in jeopardy. A wish experience has the power to put a smile on a kid's face, as well as a bright spot in the lives of everyone involved.

We here at SYTEsee.com hope to play a small part in assisting wish kids with our annual fundraising event. Children are a huge part in all our lives and they are our future. It is our duty to be there for them in their time of need.

In the coming weeks, we will have more information about our exciting event, prizes we will raffle off, and how you can donate. Please visit wny.wish.org for further information about Make-A-Wish Foundation of WNY and how you can help them reach their goals.

So you're from Buffalo...

Why is it that every time someone says that to me I feel like saying, "Yeah.... you got a problem with that or somethin'?!" I've noticed lately that I have an extreme chip on my shoulder when someone asks me if I'm from the wonderful "City of Good Neighbors".

I really can't put a finger on why my defense mechanisms kick in even when someone says it in the nicest of ways. Am I on guard for the next question? Might it have something to do with the constant mention of snow storms and people thinking we're right down the street from the corner of North Pole Avenue and Arctic Boulevard. I mean Chicago Cub fans hearing jokes about not winning the World Series in 101 years think that's old and played out. Wait...that's another sore subject with me. Maybe it's hearing about our Buffalo Bills and losing four Super Bowl's in a row? A pretty daft feat. Quite possibly could it be hearing about our slow economy or that great new waterfront plan? When I hear all this, I find myself wishing the lake was on fire again in Cleveland so you can get off of our back.

After doing a little soul-searching, I think that I'm a little misguided with my thoughts. What my initial thought to the "So you're from Buffalo?" question should be is "I sure am and I'm proud of it."

What is this talk of proud you ask? Well for starters, I'm proud that we have a great community with great people that will rally around each other when rallying is needed. I'm proud of the character of our neighborhoods. Places like Kenmore (my hood), Elmwood Village, Allentown, North Buffalo and South Buffalo to name a few. I'm proud to say we have some of the best festivals and endless things to do in the summer. I'm proud of our amazing collection of restaurants. If you like to eat, this is the city for you! I love that we have four seasons. If you're into the arts, what an awesome place to be. We have some of the best hospitals in the country right here in our own backyard that people from all over the world come to get treated at for various health concerns. I think it's great that I can talk to anyone and find out they know someone I do. I love that I can be anywhere in 20 minutes. Take that Los Angeles! How about having a Tim Horton's, Dunkin Dounts or Starbuck's seemlingly on every corner in town.

This city has so much to offer if you take the time to look. At SYTEsee.com, we absolutely love being apart of this community. We take pride and will continue to take pride in sharing great local businesses for you to support. One way we are going to give back and show our support for this area is through the SYTEsee.com launch event that we are currently planning. We will be teaming with a local charity for this event to raise money for their cause. Our philosophy, like many people you come across in Buffalo, is to be a giver. This event will be held towards the end of October. Once we work out more details for the event, we will be sure to pass them along.

Buffalo is a way of life. Buffalo is a spirit that we can handle anything that gets thrown our way. So, puff out your chest the next time someone asks about Buffalo. You have tons to be talking proud about.


"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

-Confucius

The Social Media Phenomenon

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content." My definition of social media is "a group of Internet-based applications that you better not live without if you want to compete in today's business climate." It is simply a must have. There is a reason that Facebook has over 500 Million users. There is a reason that billions of dollars are spent as a direct result of social media. There is a reason that there's an average of 1.4 Million tweets on Twitter per hour. What is the reason you ask? It works. Throughout the rest of this blog posting I will talk about some key advantages of social media marketing.

Personally, I think the biggest advantage to marketing your product through social media is the low cost/high return factor. This is especially important for us at SYTEsee.com. As a start-up company, we don't have the money to spend on big advertising campaigns right now. That means we need to be creative as we build our product. The biggest way we reach people is through social media. We love it because it doesn't cost us anything. It's free! All of us have our own Facebook pages plus our Facebook page for SYTEsee.com. We have a fan page for SYTEsee.com as well. We've created Twitter accounts...which we don't use as much as we should. We've recently created this blog for you to follow along as we build our business. Shortly, we will be using YouTube as another way to promote our product. We aren't stopping there as we continue to find creative ways to reach customers. I can't begin to figure out how much capital we are saving while we build our business.

Another great reason to become involved with social media is your message gets out faster and reaches more people. Rapid sharing. Say you want to place an advertisement in the Sunday newspaper. You need to create the ad, get your ad rep involved, then it needs to be proofed. Then the paper sends you back what it will look like....I'm probably missing steps....but you get the idea. That will take all week. Social media on the other hand, allows for instantaneous dissemination of information. As a side note, say "instantaneous dissemination" 10 times really fast. I just did and it was kind of fun. This is one of the reasons why magazine and print publication readership continues to decline at a decent pace. I love reading the Sunday paper in the morning on my couch, with some breakfast, while I multi-task and watch ESPN as much as the next guy. Those days could possibly come to an end in my lifetime. I'll probably be using an iPad before long to read that newspaper.

Social media gives you better ability to "brand" your product. We all have some advertisements that we know by heart that we love to hate. A product that has been beaten into our heads. The nice way to say that is we have been "branded". You may be in the market for a lawyer. Who's the first one that comes to mind? Probably the one that you change the channel of your radio or TV every time the commercial comes on and say "if I hear that #%&#@& commercial again I'm gonna....". We've all been there. Social media, especially blogs, can be an extremely helpful tool to make the public aware of your product and/or image. Also, this helps companies get direct feedback from their audience. Obtaining their likes or dislikes allows them to intelligently alter or control perceptions.

Lastly, social media allows you to build excellent report with current and potential clients. Most people prefer to do business with people they know, like and trust. Quite often, that allows you to make a little more money. Don't miss understand what I just wrote. I'm not promoting taking advantage of your friends. You could very well be in a position that your product is higher in price than that of a competitor. Chances are someone will spend a little more to give you the business because they like and trust you.

Social media is a powerful tool. A powerful tool if used creatively.


"It's never too late to become the person you might have been"

-George Elliott