We all recently celebrated Thanksgiving, spending the day focusing on what we’re grateful for. But it shouldn’t end there. Gratitude is not a moment, not a day, not a week, but a way of life.

There are obvious things to feel grateful about – food, shelter, family, friends. But don’t stop there. Be mindful. What does being grateful really mean? Where did the feeling come from?

According to The Gratitude Experiment, focusing on gratefulness and expressing gratitude raises our level of well-being and happiness. In an experiment, a test group was divided into three, with one group directed to journal gratitude, one group directed to journal the things that irritated them most during the day and one group was allowed to choose their focus. Not surprisingly, the group focusing on gratitude had a much greater sense of well-being. Statistics show that cultivating an attitude of gratitude increases overall happiness by 5%.

Dr. Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at University of California, Davis is leading a research team to quantify the causes of gratitude and its effect on health and well-being. They feel strongly that it begins with children. If we can raise grateful children, we are way ahead as a society.

Our friends at The Gem also focus on gratitude as part of their recommended daily regimen. It has a place of honor in the daily GEM journal distributed during their “Day in the Life” series. In fact, it is part of the mentality surrounding their brand. As an element of integrative nutrition and holistic living, gratitude is near and dear to the heart.

There is always something vying for our attention. The holidays bring commitments and distractions, professional to-do lists are ever-growing, our culture of connectivity brings with it no shortage of dismal world news, anxiety over the economy and political positioning, and the responsibilities of our home lives loom large. But take a moment at the end of each day and reflect on at least a couple of things to be grateful for. Some days it will pour out. Some days, you’ll be lucky to be thankful for the roof over your head. With practice, it becomes easier.

As a member of the rockin’ team on the Porch, we are actively and mindfully grateful for our wonderful clients and the chance to have an impact on their business and grow with them.

What are you grateful for?

She arrives early at Starbucks for our first meeting, is already working on the first item of our Front Porch Marketing orientation “to do” list, and impresses me with how eager, engaged, and talented she is. An SMU undergraduate student majoring in marketing with a minor in advertising, she is ready to learn, ready to work, ready to rock it.

Folks, if you hear someone rambling about all of the flaws they see in the next generation, make a positive choice – don’t listen to them.  In fact, I won’t list any of the negative commentary I read while researching Gen Y, because there is no reason to give it any cred. Here is what you need to know as you consider making our future leaders a part of your business team – They are:

• Energetic
• Tech-savvy
• Intelligent
• Cost-effective
• Bilingual
• Flexible
• Eager
• Civic-minded

Take a quick peek at Wikipedia and you will learn that Millennials, also known as Generation Y, were born between the early 1980’s and the early 2000’s and are sometimes referred to as the Echo Boomers, because estimates of the number in the U.S. exceed 80 million. Read a bit further, and you will discover that authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, who wrote specifically about this generation in a book titled Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000), predicted this group would become “civic-minded” similar to our great G.I. Generation.

Interns Rock!

It doesn’t matter if you work for a Fortune 500 company, manage a nonprofit organization, or own a small business – there is benefit to hiring this generation of interns. In my previous sales management career with a Fortune 250 company, some of our most successful regional sales leaders made the business case for bringing on part-time interns to provide local sales support, and markets where we hired tech-savvy millennials to join tenured teams produced the most amazing sales results.

Nonprofit organizations can also benefit greatly from these hires. With tight budgets, extensive workloads and purposes great but challenging, nonprofits can bring in unpaid interns from high schools and colleges to help out while engaging them in an important cause. A family member of mine runs a foundation for exceptional children specializing in autism therapies, and has numerous interns on board helping to assist these children and their families. It is life changing for these interns and the families in need, and some of these interns have made this their career and purpose following graduation.

For a small business, an intern can make a real difference, and Front Porch Marketing has been rocking it successfully with student interns for several years!  As experts in unlocking the social nature of brands for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and franchisees, we make certain our clients are getting access to experienced marketing and advertising professionals, while utilizing young talent to provide a social media view and analysis when we need it. Rocker Interns on the Porch are part of our culture – it’s just how we rock n’ roll.

We are excited to welcome our Future Rocket, Rachel McMains!

One more fantastic intern on The Porch…ready to rock it.

Think of the last few things that you bought, big or small—a new phone, a pair of yoga pants, a new car, a pair of shoes, even a food item. All of these products have one thing in common: the company you purchased them from is selling you a lifestyle.

So what is a lifestyle brand?

Webster defines a lifestyle as an individual’s whole way of living, and a brand as (a) an identifying mark or label (b) the make of a commodity or (c) a special kind.

Wikipedia’s says: A lifestyle brand is a company that markets its products or services to embody the interests, attitudes, and opinions of a group or a culture. Lifestyle brands seek to inspire, guide, and motivate people, with the goal of their products contributing to the definition of the consumer’s way of life. They often operate off an ideology, hoping to attract a relatively high number of people and ultimately becoming a recognized social phenomenon.

In Forbes article A Survival Guide For Symbolic And Lifestyle Brands, they point out “(Lifestyle Brands) deliver strong social benefits through which a consumer will be able to subconsciously answer the question, “when I buy this brand, the type of people I relate to are…” they create a sense of belonging or disrupt the status quo. So, Nike aligns people who want to push their limits. Club Med connects those who wish to communicate; The Body Shop, those who value nature.”

If you are a lifestyle brand or if you aspire to be a lifestyle brand, you must fully grasp the lifestyle your customer aspires to and you must reflect it in thought, word and deed. You need to clearly communicate that you embrace the same ideals as your customer, but also define your product.
Consumers have started referring to brands as if they have their own personalities. Have you found yourself saying “That doesn’t seem like them” or “That was off-brand”? Case in point: a brand whose red cup can wage a war on Christmas.

In today’s constant barrage of communication, people want transparency, authenticity, and honesty. They want to admire and trust the brands they bring into their life. To create a lifestyle brand, you must:

1. Discover Your Brand: What do you want people to feel about your brand? Determine what lifestyle aspirations your brand fulfills, and communicate accordingly.
2. Create your Brand: Clearly define your brand personality. Your identity needs to be holistic. What is your brand’s whole way of living?
3. Communicate Your Brand {with confidence}. Be conversational. Our friends and family enhance our lives with their adventures and personalities. Consumers expect that from a lifestyle brand. Create experiences. Share your personality. Form connections. Express your personality on many different platforms.

“In designing a lifestyle brand, you have to know more than just designing clothes,” Tommy Hilfiger

Here on ‘The Porch we are making brands rock your lifestyle daily.

Friends, it may be time for a branding and marketing intervention: We love you. We value you. But sometimes, you need to recognize when it’s time to play in your own sandbox. 

We say it all the time on The Porch, “Branding and marketing are more an art than a science,” and our rockin’ Front Porch Marketing Team has spent more than a combined 80 years honing this art form to make a difference in our client’s businesses.

But we can only make a difference if our clients let us.

Our best clients are passionate, excited about their work, and open to new ideas that will enable them to leap ahead. We tell our prospective clients that we work best when we are partners, not vendors, and are treated like a member of their internal team. We believe in direct conversation and diving in the strategy debate while getting our hands dirty.

So … in the spirit of direct conversation (which is a foundation on which The Porch was built), here are a few recent examples of when you, Ms./Mr. business owner, leader or department head, should rock away from the branding and marketing table … rock far, far away friends:

1. You scribble your logo ideas down on paper and/or mock them up yourself on whatever design software du jour. Design software and a favorite font do not a creative director make. Our team of creative professionals work with our clients through a formalized branding process that crystallizes the brand’s vision and ensures that the brand puts itself out there in the best way possible.
2. You recommend a CMS platform for your website because that is the platform you use to manage your child’s sports team and its schedule. We develop and re-design websites constantly for our clients and their brands. We know what works and what doesn’t. Trust us to make these decisions that will accomplish your business needs and goals.
3. You are going to hire an intern or an admin to manage your social media. Both of those positions are vital to a company’s operations. But neither are qualified to take on something as important as social media. Why not go ahead and have your financial manager do it??? (See what I am trying to say here?)
4. You call a half day meeting with your business consultant, VP of sales and VP of marketing because your VP of sales doesn’t like a showroom sign created by the marketing department. Give the power to the people and let sales and marketing handle their feud that has lasted longer than the Hatfields battled the McCoys.

We believe collaboration is key. Bringing team members in from other departments for planning meetings and brainstorming sessions can add new perspective, create different ways of thinking and spark new ideas. Says Pharrell:

Remember, however, we branding and marketing peeps like to work “in a room without a roof.” So let’s work together! We are fully vested in getting your business the desired outcome. After all, if you aren’t successful, neither are we.

Rock on friends.

Chief Rocker Julie Porter can be followed on Twitter and Instagram and so can her company. Follow Front Porch Marketing on Twitter by clicking here, like us on Facebook by clicking here and follow our LInkedIn company page and Instagram fun.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I lay in bed gazing at my newborn daughter, then just 2 months old, who was sleeping in the bassinet beside me. My husband had left hours earlier for a business trip, and I sleepily turned the television on.

The chaos and confusion in New York was just unfolding. And as the hours passed, it became worse. And worse. And worse.

What I didn’t know then was that my husband was supposed to be in a meeting at the World Trade Center that morning. The meeting had been moved a short time prior to his office in midtown, where his co-workers watched the unfolding scene in horror from their conference room window.

I often think of how my family narrowly avoided tragedy that day. My daughter didn’t lose her father, but 3,051 other children did lose parents. Wives, husbands, friends, neighbors, employees, public servants – such a heartbreaking loss of life.

But what rose in the aftermath of those horrible events was a tremendous sense of community and service. It made us all proud to be Americans. And today, on the anniversary of September 11th, Americans will unite in service in the same remarkable way that so many came together following the attacks. This National Day of Service and Remembrance honors all that this day has come to represent.

It doesn’t take much to take me back to those days and feel the tragedy, the sadness. But what I want to remember more is the bravery. The fighting spirit. The selflessness. The coming together. The service.

Those are the things I want to walk with me. Today and always.

Your brand’s reputation is among the most valuable assets your company has so how are you protecting your brand? It defines your company and helps it stand out from competitors.

As Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it.”

This is especially true today with social media – what used to be a 24-hour media cycle is now a 24-second social media cycle.

Unfortunately, even with diligent, proactive risk management, a crisis can happen at any time. No company is immune to misconduct by employees, the sudden resignation or illness of a key leader, product recalls, accidental injuries/fatalities, natural disasters, etc. So, you need to prepare, anticipate and plan ahead – because it’s not a matter of if a crisis will occur, it’s a matter of when. The cost of a crisis to a company can be huge, and most crises require attention within the first 24 hours.

What can you do to prepare?

Create a crisis management plan to ensure a rapid and adequate response, maintain clear lines of reporting and communication and set rules for crisis termination. You must protect your brand.

Crisis management is NOT THE SAME as risk management. Risk management serves to minimalize and hopefully avoid crisis. Crisis management is actually dealing with a crisis.

To create a crisis management plan:

• Research your company’s record
• Identify all potential crises
• Create and prepare your crisis team
• Schedule media training sessions
• Stage regular crisis readiness simulations
• Assess and update crisis plans

Want to learn more?

Come hear Front Porch Marketing present on “Protecting Your Brand” at Danger Zone 2: Active Shooter Seminar presented by FBI Dallas Citizens Academy Alumni Association this Thursday, September 3, at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX. The seminar is designed for individuals, business leaders, school teachers and administrators, church leaders and anyone seeking to gain knowledge should you ever encounter an active shooter in the workplace.

As a country, we are averaging one active shooter every three weeks. No location is immune from these events happening. Danger Zone is a great program with a proven track record of success that will greatly increase your chance to survive the ordeal.  For more information and tickets, click here.

A special shout out to our friend and advocate Rod Fullenwider at D&L Entertainment for including us in this event. We appreciate your continued support Rod!

I _______ summer!

Jumping into summer!

If you have children … there are two clearly defined summer camps. Working parents either love it or loathe it. ‘Tis the season for sleepaway camp, trips and being our kids social directors. You have sleepovers and playdates. Camps and sports. Staying connected to friends (as important as family time). Relaxed routines. The list goes on. We on the Porch have watched and listened to these two groups …

From the LOVE camp we saw lots of pictures, “100 activities to do this summer” lists, happy emoticons and summer forever, summer needs a speeding ticket and summer lovin’ taglines. I LOVE SUMMER.

From the maybe not so much love camp, the conversation was about sibling squabbles, last minute requests for supervision, open letters and sarcasm – Worst-end-of-summer; Enjoyable Summer Sarcasm.

The common thread between the two camps was that they had a plan. A SUMMER plan! Where the kids would be and when, who was watching them, vacations and a screen time system.

If you own a local business … again there have been two definite camps this summer. You have either thrived or you have suffered from the dreaded North Texas summer sales slump. If sales were swinging – congrats! If they were slow, perhaps there is something you can learn from Summer Mom. Have a plan. This can include anything from a summer sale to a special event, new product introduction or staffing change. Once you have it – rock it and chill!

Successful summer promotion from our favorite GEMs

The Porch rocked our brands this summer, but we were watching others. We saw some interesting approaches, which ran the gamut from closing the doors to aggressive promotions to strategic affiliations. There’s no escaping that the kids will be at home and families will travel during the summer months, so a dedicated summer marketing plan is always a rockin’ idea.

As for me, sign me up in the I LOVE summer column! I also LOVE fall. They are all my favorites.

I am at my happiest in the summertime. The days are long, the schedule is loose, the feeling is decidedly relaxed. I can always talk someone into a fun night of chips and salsa on a patio over a margarita. But my body had been feeling the effects of too many jaunts on the patio, a beach trip was around the corner, and a big tennis tournament was in my future.

It was time to clean up. Cleanse.

Enter The Gem. They are our client and friends, and I believe wholeheartedly in their mission; but more than all of that, I’d done their 3-day cleanse before and felt great, so I decided to do it again. I enlisted the partner-in-crime-mentality of my friend Wendy, who had just returned from vacation and was feeling as sluggish as I was. And off we were.

Day One

I wake up, and instead of grabbing my usual Diet Coke, drink … water. Lots and lots and lots of water. And then some more water. I head to the Gem to pick up my first day’s 6 pack. I open the door, and smell the juice. It is fragrant and fresh, and I am officially excited.

Grab my cleanse and chat with Mary Kathryn, who looks ridiculously lovely and is happy and friendly. Side note: is she ever NOT lovely, happy and friendly???

Drink my first Green Glow. Yum. How can a green beverage be so delicious? Second Green Glow on my way to tennis. I’m so healthy! Yay me!

First stumbling block: standing post-drill lunch with my tennis team. They are all ordering our usual tostadas, and my third juice, the Ruby Slipper, is at home in my fridge. Tactical error. Thank heavens Wendy is doing this with me – we order water. With lemon. Mmmm, lemon. We pretend it’s delicious and filling and escape without incident. I run home and drink my juice.

It’s afternoon and time for the Clarity Lemonade. Wowza! Spicier than I remember. I feel like I’m sweating on the inside. I can feel my metabolism revving up. More water.

Maybe it’s the heat of my son’s swim meet, maybe it’s the lack of caffeine, maybe it’s the lack of food, but I have a killer headache. I know I’m supposed to drink some more water but I just can’t. I do remember this first evening being the hardest, so I go home and drink my last Green Glow, and I feel slightly better.

Dinner time and I’m hungry. Thankfully my husband has agreed to handle food for the kids, so I lock myself in my bedroom with my Cashew Milk, which is actually very delicious. But I want whatever my kids are eating, which smells divine. Feeling weak, I text Wendy for reinforcement. “Don’t do it! Go to bed,” she says. Good advice.

Day Two

I wake up and I feel clear-headed and fantastic. The headache is totally gone, and the scale tells me I’m down three pounds. Excellent! Although weight loss isn’t my primary goal, it’s always nice to drop a few. My resolve is newly restored, and I’m off and running.

I drink my water (the hardest part for me, although I don’t exactly know why) and set out for The Gem. The impossibly chic and funny Leslie Needleman is there to give me my juice this morning. I’m dressed in tennis garb, and she eyes me suspiciously, “Are you playing tennis Jacqui?” I know I’m supposed to be kind to my body and take a break from strenuous activity while on this cleanse, so I blather on about something irrelevant and run out of the store.

Hmmm, should I not be playing tennis? I have a tournament to prepare for and so I push this thought aside and down my Green Glow on the way to my club. I don’t know if it’s the juice, my attitude, or the aligning of the stars, but I play great. “I feel like Wonder Woman!” I tell my tennis pro. I’ve officially crossed over into obnoxious-ville but I don’t even care. I smugly drink another juice.

Somehow my afternoon juices become mixed up, leaving me drinking my clarity lemonade at 6 PM, when I’m playing tennis for the second time today. Um … not my smartest move. I am hot and palpitating and feeling very much like I might throw up. No bueno. Now I know why I got the Needleman side eye.

I go home, drink my Cashew Milk, take a long hot shower and fall into bed.

Day Three

Morning is my favorite time on this cleanse. I wake up incredibly bright-eyed, my skin looks great, and I feel like I can do anything. The scale tells me I’m down another three pounds, which makes me want to walk around unclothed on all day because honestly I haven’t looked this good in ages.

At this point, I know the drill and everything feels easy. Water, juice, water, juice, water, juice. I don’t even miss the food and I am becoming nervous about having to reintroduce it tomorrow and undo all the good things I have done.

It’s evening and I meet an old friend for dinner at Shinsei, which is my favorite restaurant. I am in the home stretch so I have a piece or two of sashimi and drink lots of cucumber water. The food feels good in my stomach and I decide that I will be happy to eat again tomorrow.

Day Four

Ah, lovely morning. I’m down another pound (Just a pound? Was it the sashimi?). I’m craving some juice, so I head to The Gem. Although I’m done with the cleanse, I am going to continue to incorporate these juices into my daily routine. I feel too good not to.

I’ve gotten used to feeling like Wonder Woman.

I admit it. I’m a bit of a black and white person. Figure it out, do what’s best, and move forward. “Moving on!” is a familiar refrain in my world.

So when we, as a family, decided it was time to sell our house and find a new one, I clipped along and got it done. Old house sold. New house bought. Packing. Moving. Planning.

Moving. On.

But what I didn’t count on in all my efficient trouncing forward was the emotional toll it would take on everyone around me. My children cried. A lot. My sweet, easy-going husband was wound tight as a drum and stomped around for several weeks. Even my animals became not themselves.

What was wrong? Didn’t we all want this? Weren’t we all excited about the moving on?

If I’d taken my moving on hat off for five minutes to really think about things, I would have realized that efficiency cannot take the place of closure. Recognizing the emotions associated with change, regardless of how positive the change is, is an important part of moving on. Perhaps the most important part.

What is true in life is also true in business. You must properly handle the endings to fully succeed in your beginnings. Clients. Employees. Jobs.

Pay proper attention to the things you are letting go.

Be gracious in your goodbyes.

I love what Ellen Goodman said on the matter, “There’s a trick to the ‘graceful exit.’ It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage or a relationship is over — and let it go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its validity or its past importance to our lives. It involves a sense of future, a belief that every exit line is an entry, that we are moving up, rather than out.”

Essential for moving on.

Recently I took a girls trip to New York. I. Love. New. York. What’s not to love about the largest, busiest, most exciting metropolis in the country (IMHO)?

We are not “double decker bus girls.” Our group had visited New York several times and had already knocked the tourist spots off our list. And other than securing tickets to a show, we didn’t have even a scratch of plan. Our plan was no plan.

We set out each morning just walking and allowed the city to take us where it willed, fully taking in the sights and sounds of New York. And it was AMAZING.

We experienced the glamour of Fifth Avenue, the reverence of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the grandeur of the public library, happy hour with local residents, spotting Sara Jessica Parker shopping in Gourmet Garage, rockin’ and shopping in the Times Square H&M at 10:30 p.m., and observing the nuances of the cultural pockets of the boroughs … WE LOVED IT ALL.

Bubble Man in Central Park

This great city is the entry point for our ancestors and the entrepreneurial spirit of our country. Entrepreneurs are abundant. However, there was one entrepreneur in particular that peaked my interest.

We found The Bubble Man in Central Park (side note – permits are not required to sell/collect money in the park as long as you are mobile). Here’s the concept: a bucket, soap, rope and stick. I absolutely was fascinated by this set-up and lingered a bit to see the interaction.

Parent after parent dropped $10 and $20 in the hat for their kids to play with bubbles for a couple of minutes in Central Park. Say what?!? Low overhead, easy execution, flexible hours, built-in audience. BAM! So simple. But so ingenious.

Simple models can have big results as long as you put on your entrepreneur pants and work it! Thank you NYC, the city of dreamers, workers, bankers, marketers, artists, actors and entrepreneurs. I heart you!