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

Support Bridget Blythe in her Facebook battle against Mike Randall

Please support Channel 7 Anchor Bridget Blythe in her battle against Mike Randall to see who can accumulate more friends on Facebook. The instructions are as follows.... go to Facebook, type in Bridget Blythe in your Facebook search box at the top of the page, find this beautiful picture directly to the left and send Bridget a friend request. Time is running out and Bridget hates to lose. She even told me I'll be fired from her marketing team if I don't manage to come through with new friends for her. So in order for that not to happen, get to it. NOW!!

Look for my post later today discussing the many benefits of social media and how it is helping businesses around the world.


"There's only one way to succeed in anything and that is to give everything"

-Vince Lombardi

We can all learn from John Wooden

John Robert Wooden was born on a Friday morning, October 14, 1910 in the tiny town of Hall, Indiana. At that point in time, who knew that was a mere beginning to one of the most incredible lives lived. 10 NCAA Basketball National Championships. 7 of which were consecutive. 16 Final Four appearances. Most all time. 88 consecutive victories from 1971 through 1973. Yep you guessed it, most all time. That was just as a coach. As a player, he won the Indiana State High School Championship in 1927 and was a three-time All-State selection. Then came his career at Purdue University where he won the 1932 National Championship and was the first player ever to be selected three times as a consensus All-American. All of that that put him in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach. He was the first one to accomplish that feat. That's quite a bit of winning.

You see, it was never about winning to the coach or the player Wooden. That was simply a by-product. It was about the commitment and discipline to do the right thing. All the time. It was about the preparation. One of Wooden's great maxims is "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." How true in anything you choose to take part in.

I don't think it can be argued that John Wooden was more successful as a man than he was as a coach or player. He was a family man who had one of the sweetest love affairs with his beloved wife Nellie, whom he met when he was 16. They were inseparable from the day they met until death did them part when Nellie past away on November 21, 1985. Even after her death, he remained faithful. Coach Wooden visited her grave on the 21st of every month, and then wrote a love letter to her. After finishing the letter, he would place it on her pillow with all the other letters that he wrote to her. Coach only stopped writing those letters the last few months of his life because of his failing eyesight. He also was a father figure to many of his players instilling those same values that his father instilled in him. Not to mention, being a father of his own two children. Wooden was a man of faith, reading the bible every night. We certainly can't forget his service in the US Navy for three years during World War II.

Mr. Wooden's lasting legacy might be summed up by two things that have the ability to be past along from generation to generation. Two things that are applicable to sport, business, and your personal life. The first is the Pyramid of Success followed by the Seven Point Creed. The Seven Point Creed was given to John Wooden by his father upon his graduation from grammar school and is made up of the following...

• Be true to yourself
• Make each day your masterpiece
• Help others
• Drink deeply from good books, especially the bible
• Make friendship a fine art
• Build shelter against a rainy day
• Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

Sounds like some pretty good advice to live by. Coach Wooden walked the walk when it came to the Seven Point Creed. Many people have developed better lives for themselves because of those values.

The Pyramid of Success might be his greatest work. Wooden said, "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." Below is a link to view the Pyramid of Success.

http://www.coachwooden.com/index2.html

The Pyramid of Success is something I have on my wall next to my desk. I fully believe that if you follow that road map, you will find your self-satisfaction. One common phrase that Coach Wooden used was "Be at your best when your best is needed." Coach, you certainly were. I think you gave us all something to shoot for.



Written by Eric for sytesee.blogspot.com

And we're off.....

"Just another manic Monday...wish it was Sunday...'cause that's my funday." I think The Bangles were onto something when they coined that hit back in 1986. So many things to do and accomplish today.

First, we'd like to welcome everyone to our blog. This is our self-narrative of what it's like to build an internet-based business starting out on the ground floor. We promise to keep it fresh, interesting, entertaining and motivating.

Let's talk about how this thing got started. One word...... observation. This a changing world we live in. One thing that has changed greatly is how companies go to market with their products and services. I'll give you and example. Go grab a phone book that is say 5 years old or so........I know you have one. Dust it off an take a look. Now compare that phone book to this year's version. I guarantee that this year's version is smaller. That doesn't mean more people are keeping the pine box companies in business or moving. That means businesses are deciding to spend less money in print advertising. So much so that The Talking Phone Book is now called LocalEdge.com. Notice the dot com. Today, many companies feel they can reach more potential customers with web-based advertising and for less $$. This is where SYTEsee.com comes in.

Quick side note, I just looked out of my window and noticed this 10 year old Cadillac DeVille taking up not 2 but 4 parking spots in the bank parking lot across the street. Wow...I've seen bad parking jobs, but that's a first. How do you walk away thinking you did a sufficient job parking your car. How's that conversation with yourself go? Wonder if it ended with "Yep...looks good."

Ok back to business. The goal of SYTEsee.com is to offer a different way for companies to reach more potential customers or clients. We do that by offering companies an extremely cost-effective way to advertise bright and colorful ads, of their own design, that navigates directly to their website or to our unique SYTEsee Profile pages. Those unique SYTEsee profiles pages are especially great for businesses that don't have a web presence. That page can serve as your companies web page. An example of a profile page would be the one we created for the Ken-Ton Chamber of Commerce. To view it, please go to www.sytesee.com, select the Buffalo photo, then scroll down to the ad for the Ken-Ton Chamber of Commerce. Pretty cool, huh!

In our future blog posts we will be discussing how social media is helping to advertise our product, updates of success stories, tails of failure that our audience can learn from and some funny stories along the way. We hope you decide to follow along as we go from Grassroots to Global.

From my manic Monday to yours...... Make it a good one!

Eric