May 31, 2023
“Someone will help them.”
These four words pass through people’s minds more than we probably could ever imagine. How could I make a difference? Let me explain. You’re scrolling through social media and comes upon a post about a family that just lost everything in a house fire. You’re moved by the situation but then you think, “someone will help them”. You walk into a store and see that location is raising support for a young child that is battling cancer. You listen to the employee share about how the child is needing treatments and the family needs help with expenses to travel back and forth. Same thing; You’re moved by the situation but then think, “someone will help them”. I would say if we are all honest, we have all thought this at some point in our life.
Now let me first say I’m not “coming down on” anyone. I’ve been there. I have been the person thinking these four words. I have been the one that saw the need, was moved by the need, and then absolutely knew in the moment I was supposed to do what I could to help meet that need only to walk away thinking “someone will help them”. Let me also say with 100% certainty that we can’t meet every need. There’s no way any one person has the time or the resources to be able to invest in every single situation. I get that!
Ask yourself this question: Am I doing what I CAN to make a difference when I CAN? And really, this can be broken down into two questions. What CAN I do? When CAN I do it?
What CAN I do to make a difference?
So many times I think people base this answer on how others are helping in a situation. For example, you hear of someone who gave a family $1,000 to help them after they lost everything in a house fire. You are moved by their situation and honestly would love to help but you think “well, I can’t give that much so can I really make a difference?” To a family that’s lost everything, $1,000 is a lot of help. But so is $20, $10, or even $5. Or maybe it’s cooking a meal to take to take away the stress of wondering how or when the next meal might come. Or maybe it’s simply stopping by to check on this family, letting them know they are not alone. What I CAN do will never be about what someone else does!
When CAN I do it?
The simple answer to this question…when you feel led to. Again, no one can meet every need. That’s unrealistic to say the least. But we all know that feeling. That feeling in our heart that says “I need to help” or “I have to do something”. And I can promise you that when you get this feeling, you will have what you need to be able to help the way that you can. Maybe that will be in the form of a big check. Or it’s just rounding your change up to the nearest dollar to give to a fundraiser. Maybe you’re in the drive thru line for your lunch and you decide to pay for the person behind you. Or maybe it’s simply giving your time to someone who just needs YOU to notice, to listen, and to care.
Every day at Russell Cellular, our RC Cares team challenges our company to look for the needs around them and then do what we CAN, when we CAN to help meet those needs. I always ask our team members to make sure and look with their eyes AND their heart. With our eyes we can see the need and together with our heart we do what we CAN to help meet that need.
How Russell Cellular has made a difference:
Recently, District Sales Manager Monica Turner and her team learned of Kye Hyatt. Kye is a young boy who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and is having to undergo multiple surgeries and treatments. Added travel and medical expenses were adding up and Kye and his family needed help. They didn’t ask for it in any way, Monica and her team simply saw a need and decided to do what they could to help meet that need raising over $3,200 to support this family.
At about the same time, District Sales Manager Jason Foster and his team learned of a need of the students of Clifford Nowlin Middle School in Independence, MO. There were kids that needed coats to help stay warm. So Jason and his team raised almost $1500 to purchase coats for these students.
Both Monica and Jason’s teams saw a need and they decided to do what they could do to help meet those needs. Not because they were asked to. Not for any type of recognition. They chose to do this simply to make a difference in someone’s life…and so they did!
So the next time you see someone in need, instead of just thinking “someone will help them”, ask yourself this question. Am I doing what I CAN to make a difference when I CAN? If you will answer it in the right way, lives WILL be changed…one of which will be yours! #careforeveryperson
May 30, 2023
Aha into action.
Actualization. Having the idea is only part of the equation. As stated previously, we get ideas all the time. We capture an idea, and we then step into a tension. Tension between the thought of it and then how it fits into what we actually have going on in our life.
And if I’m being real, I am challenged what to write. Not because the topic is difficult to understand, it’s how it needs to next take shape. How similar is that feeling when we have the light bulb moment – energized and inspired – and then laying out how to approach applying it with everything else going on.
Where does the idea fit?
When we reach this moment, it really does take some significant time to figure out how this plays out in our day-to-day.
Obviously, something got triggered because of a need, gap, or opportunity. It is linked to an aspect of your life. Maybe it’s a new coaching tactic. Or a way to increase connection when communicating with others. Could be a health and wellness activity to begin putting into action. Maybe it’s simple, maybe it’s complex. And maybe it requires some practice. Perhaps it will require time to get going.
The idea came. It flowered as a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of actualization with a particular aim or purpose. Now, it becomes a “scheduling” dilemma. With a potentially, already jam-backed day, the mental push-back may creep in, challenging the idea even before it begins to take physical shape.
How will I fit something obviously important that I haven’t crafted as second nature behavior into a practical, immediate, next action given my current scene?
Aspiration into Visualization.
I recently shared some considerations with a group of young leaders about creating change. Call it a bit of checklist as one visualizes transforming a thought into action.
Start with your motive. Why are you doing this? What’s the purpose? What need is this fulfilling? Know this without question. You have to believe this idea is being built on purpose, for purpose. Bottom line, if you know your why, you’ll figure out the way.
Know yourself. With a willing, honest, open and vulnerable heart and head, identify your strengths and opportunities. What will give you energy and what will trip you up? Make a list – mental or physical – and clarify your skillset and mindset.
Gather up support and resources. What will you need to make this real? Will you need further instruction, training and practice to figure out the best practices? Who might provide insight and guidance?
Figure out your flow state and your body rhythm. Know the best times to engage in this idea. When are you the most productive? When does this make the most sense given other requirements and priorities? Leveraging that time is where you will benefit the most with your effort as you engage your skillset and mindset.
As odd as this may sound, commit ahead of time to the potential failures and successes. Be okay with not getting it right before getting it right. Accept a “progress, not perfection” state of mind. Also, I have found that ideas are not total failures or successes…they usually entail varying degrees of both.
Visualization into Actualization.
Be, Do, Have.
I have always stated this as the last thing before going into action. This is all mindset.
Decide what you want to be. This is about wanting to actually be the person that this idea inspires. Then, identify what you need to actually do to achieve actualization. And lastly, make very clear what you will actually have as a result of doing it. It’s a process of believing it as you see it in action and outcome.
Ideas are thoughts. The process of making them into actions requires belief. Having that, wholeheartedly and intentionally, will move us into behavior. That comes next.
May 8, 2023
Aha.
Ideation is the process where you generate ideas and solutions. It’s when we process information and then plan how to put everything into action. It starts with some type of stimulant or influence towards a desire goal or outcome, and, in that moment, we see or feel importance, relevance and impact. So much so, we decide that it is something we want to consider moving forward in our own spheres of influence.
Take note that Ideation can be visual, concrete or abstract. It produces a value possibility into something we do or oversee as a means to come into some type of desired outcome. Maybe even with any uncertainty and doubt about circumstances, mindset, or skillset, the thing becomes a target. In general, we project an energy towards doing one thing to get something.
Ultimately, Ideation Begins with a Proverbial Light Bulb Going Off
Rather than ask you if you have ever had a moment when the light bulb goes off, the question I want to ask is, what do you do when it does go off? You know, someone says something or something happens, and you internalize, “That’s a good idea. I should or could do that.”
Ideas Come and Go.
I cannot tell how many times I have come into an idea, not written it down in the moment, then tried to reform it later in my memory, and felt frustrated I could not recall all the details. It was frustrating because I knew it had a purpose in that moment and was probably pretty extraordinary. We all have moments like that.
The idea came. It flowered as a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action with a particular aim or purpose.
It would seem, something attracted interest, or connected in an aspect of reality. Some idea, tip, tactic, or concept made sense. So much so, we made some mental note. Perhaps it’s connected to a very specific aspect of what we have to do or regarding a person where the idea seemed to make the most sense. Maybe it validated a hunch or feeling about something that needs to get done. Or it was something we learned in the moment and was excited about adding to our day-to-day tool belt.
Identify Those Moments
Upon reflection, I believe there are three pretty basic types of moments we come into our ideas:
- One, it’s the unexpected moment. We are in the midst of whatever we are doing, it just happens.
- Two, we schedule reflection, and even call it navel-gazing, we plan for thinking through things we have in front of us and project some thoughts on moving forward.
- And three, we are part of a collective, and collaboration stimulates pathways and actions that will deliver a desire effect and impact.
Whichever method produces ideas, the call-out in this early stage of ideation is capturing as much as possible to begun forming what it is, what we want, why, and maybe even somehow elements in living it out.
Consider each of those potential ‘light bulb’ moments, how are we capturing the details? I am really bad at stopping and jotting down my thoughts. I believe if we lose that moment and the details, we lose the idea. Life is happening at high speed, and if you do not make notes when we are in the moment, we may very well lose the thing that stimulated our thought. We can forget the essence, behaviors, and outcome.
Create Some Type of System
So, work in the method that makes the most sense:
Capture what you can so that when you have a pause and moment to breathe, you can collect your thoughts and figure out the scope of the idea. What it is. How it applies. Why it matters. How much it needs to be in play. Bullet out the fine points, or even the ones we’ve yet to completely cross out.
Having it down, or listed in some way, makes your idea real. Real-ish. It, at least, makes the thoughts around your notion closer to being something to do rather than something to guess at.
Ideas come and go, and, being real, not all of them are worthy of energy, effort and resource. Sometimes, though, they are exactly what we need to keep moving forward. They remind us that we are involved and engaged. Aware and awake.
What we do with them…that comes in the next installments!
Apr 24, 2023
On April 13, 2023, just before 7:00pm CST, Russell Cellular hit $1,000,000 raised through our RC Cares program. One million dollars! That seems crazy for me to just say those words. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a milestone I knew we could and would hit eventually. I actually set a goal of reaching that mark in 5 years. We started that journey in July of 2018 selling RC Cares Products, taking donations from customers and actually donating to both projects and our Employee Emergency Fund ourselves and with over 2 months to spare here we are celebrating reaching this goal.
Russell Cellular Cares
The heart of Russell Cellular has always been to give back, to our RC family, to our customers and the many communities we serve all across this country. Not for sales, not for recognition, but just to simply make a difference in people’s lives. Jeff and Kym Russell have made this a staple since beginning this journey almost 30 years ago. In fact, before I started my journey working for the RC Family, the Russell Family was investing in outreach projects my wife and I were leading in our hometown of Ava, Missouri. One in particular was the school supply project we helped start several years ago. Everyone knows how expensive school supplies can be, especially for parents that have multiple children in school. My wife Lacey had it on her heart to help so we launched a supply drive to help elementary kids and their families in our community. The very first year we approached Jeff Russell about helping us. He donated $500 and we thought that was the most amazing thing. That first year, between Russell Cellular and our church, we provided school supplies for 50 kids. For the next 11 years RC was always our largest investor, donating thousands of dollars over that time and what started as RC and one church providing supplies for 50 kids turned into RC leading over 50 businesses and individuals supplying school supplies to thousands of students from multiple schools in southwest Missouri year after year.
Projects From the Heart
This is just one example and trust me when I say I could share so many more. This is the heart of our company because this is the heart of our owners and our leaders. And again, we don’t have to do any of this…We get to! Since July of 2018 we have hosted over 1600 Russell Cellular Cares outreach projects that have impacted thousands of lives by providing both financial support through the money we raised as well as showing the heart of Russell Cellular by caring for and supporting those in need. We have invested in students and teachers and school districts, active military and veterans. We’ve been able to support families going through tragedy, individuals battling serious illness and local organizations trying to better their community. We have helped build homes through Habitat for Humanity, helped provided Christmas for kids and families through Toys for Tots and volunteered our time in countless locations across our country. During this we have supported 498 RC Team Members through our Employee Emergency Fund giving, helping team members who have lost their homes to fires and natural disasters, team members who have battled cancer and faced emergency medical situations, team members who have lost immediate family members, and helped the families of our RC team members who passed away during this time.
Inspiring Those Around Us
Now please know, I don’t say of this to say, “look at what we’ve done”. We don’t do any of this for recognition. I say all of this to both inspire and challenge you. People can be difference makers if they truly want to. And that doesn’t always depend on how much money you raise or the number of zeros on a check. Yes, we raised $1,000,000. Yes, that’s an amazing thing. And while yes, we did have some bigger projects during that time that raised a lot of money, the majority of that amount came from a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred dollars there. It came from $1 donations from our customers, as well as team members donating $2 a month to our Employee Emergency Fund. See, more times than not, it’s not about the money at all. Yes, it helps no doubt, but the most important thing will always be that someone took the time to notice a need and then made a commitment to do whatever they could to help meet that need. Maybe that does involve a financial donation. Maybe it involves donating your time. And maybe it just involves you being present in someone’s life that needs you to just simply be there.
Brayden’s Fight
When I think about the $1,000,000 we raised, honestly, I don’t think about the money. I think about the faces of those we raised it for. I think about the families that were impacted. Like young Brayden in the picture below. Brayden is in the fight for his life, battling a rare form of stomach cancer. District Sales Manager, Audrianna Ediger and Regional Director, Krissa Shewey rallied their region to support Brayden and his family on his journey. Yes, they raised over $3,000 for his family and that is amazing! But more than that, they noticed. They noticed Brayden was in a fight and they decided to fight with him. They decided to do what they could to help Brayden with his need and that is worth far more than any check ever will be.
Sometime today or at least in the very near future you will be faced with an opportunity. Someone you know or come in contact with will have a need. The question is what will you do to help meet that need? As Audrianna said, “Together, through one small act of kindness at a time, we can change the world.” I’d say we all believe that to be true. But it’s when we put that belief into action that real differences are made. Give it a try! I can promise you lives will be changed in the process…one of which will be yours!
Learn More About RC Cares
Learn more about our philanthropic arm of Russell Cellular, RC Cares.
Mar 29, 2023
Verizon is a leading telecommunications company that offers a variety of products and services to customers across the United States. One of the many ways Verizon shows its commitment to education is by offering special discounts to students and teacher
Verizon’s student and teacher discounts are available to anyone who is enrolled in or teaches at an accredited K-12 school or college/university. The discounts are designed to help students and teachers stay connected with family, friends, and colleagues. While also providing access to education resources.
Student Discount
The student discount from Verizon offers savings on both wireless plans and home internet plans. Students can receive up to $25 off a month on unlimited plans, or up to $10 off a month on other plans. These discounts can vary depending on the device and plan selected but can save students hundreds of dollars over the course of their contract.
Teacher Discount
The teacher discount from Verizon is similar to the student discount, with savings on wireless plans and services. Teachers can receive up to $20 off a month on unlimited plans, or up to $10 off a month on other plans. Additionally, teachers can receive discounts on select devices, such as smartphones and tablets.
In addition to these discounts, Verizon also offers free access to premium content for both students and teachers. Including resources such as Discovery Education, providing access to a wide range of educational materials and lesson plans. Along with the Apple Music streaming service, which is available to students at no additional cost.
Overall, Verizon’s student and teacher discounts are a great way for individuals in the education community to save money while staying connected. By offering discounts on wireless plans and devices and access to educational resources, Verizon is helping to make it easier for students and teachers to succeed in today’s digital age. If you are a student or teacher, be sure to check out Verizon’s discount programs to see how they can benefit you.
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