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In 2015, Verizon came together with other partners to pave the way for 5G Home Internet. First launching 5G Home Internet in 2019, the ultra-fast and ultra-simple wireless home internet has the potential to transform everyday life for you and your household.
Growth
Verizon has been steadily expanding the availability of its 5G Home Internet service. The company has added several new cities to its coverage map, including Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, Providence, St. Paul, Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis, Washington D.C., Phoenix, Panama City, New York City, Dallas, Omaha, Houston, and Boston. Since 2019, they have more than tripled the number of cities offering 5G Home Internet. With no plans on stopping, Verizon also announced plans to expand its service to more cities in 2023 and beyond.
The growth of Verizon’s 5G Home Internet service is driven by the increasing demand for high-speed Internet access, especially in areas where traditional broadband infrastructure is lacking or outdated. The service has been well-received by customers, who appreciate the convenience and speed of a wireless broadband connection.
Availability
As of 2023, 5G Home Internet is now available in approximately 2700 cities. Verizon also announced plans that they are continuing to expand its service to offer more coverage for everyone. You can find out if there is coverage in your area. If you don’t find your city on the map of availability, it is always good to check back because it might be coming to your area.
5G Home Internet Promotions
Get Verizon Home Internet for as low as $25/mo. with autopay and select 5G mobile plans. The 30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee makes switching easy.
New or existing mobile customers who sign up for 5G Home Internet on the 5G Home Plus plan can get 12 months of Walmart+ on Us. Plus get $300 off either Stream TV Soundbar with Bang & Olufsen Audio ($399.00 retail value) or Stream TV Soundbar Pro with Bang & Olufsen Audio ($999.00 retail value). This offer is valid at the time of writing and is subject to change. Find a location near you with our store locator to see if there are any other available offers.
Walmart+ Benefits
Free shipping.
Free delivery with $35+ purchase.
Member pricing on fuel at select stations.
Use of mobile scan & go, which allows customers to scan items as they shop in the store; streamlining the checkout process.
Walmart+ members also receive Paramount+ included in their membership.
“Investing only in yourself gives you the opportunity to change one person. Investing in others at the same time gives you the opportunity to change ‘your’ world.”
This was a quote I came up with several years ago. It has become a staple in how I try to live daily. To break it down, it’s about investing in my life while at the same time investing in others. One problem I found several years ago was that just choosing to invest in one or the other, was leaving so many opportunities on the table. Not only become a better person, but also help someone else do the same.
For example, I unapologetically invest in my own life. Whether it’s learning, growing, or simply shutting down and getting away, I intend to become a better leader, a better husband, a better father, and a better friend. Honestly just a better person. When I do this successfully, then my goal to change in a positive way is met. If I only choose to invest in myself all the time, then I miss an even greater opportunity to help others as well.
Coin Toss
Flip the coin. If spend all my time investing in other people, I might see lives changed around me, but eventually I will begin to suffer. Which will ultimately lead to no investments being made at all. Let’s be honest, we live in a time where the message of “I” and “me” have escalated above the message of “we”. Now trust me, I work hard at becoming a better version of “me” and you should too! But when we choose to invest only in ourselves, what have done to help create a better world around us?
Russell Cellular Leaders
We have some great leaders at Russell Cellular and we spend much of our time and resources providing opportunities for them to invest in themselves, growing not only as leaders but also as individuals. It’s vital and it’s essential. At the same time we spend our energy and resources making sure that those same leaders are investing in others, caring for every person, for the sole purpose of making a difference our world. One of many examples comes from Regional Director Kevin Ropell’s team. Every single day his leaders are investing in themselves as individuals to become better in every way they can. Whether it’s training, role plays, or simply conversations amongst themselves. They are doing what it takes to become a better “me”.
Investment
That investment has paid off, leading them to become the #1 region in our company last year. At the same time, every single day this same group of “me’s” chooses to be “we” and invest in others around them. Since July of 2018 Kevin’s team has raised over $135,000 to support community outreach projects nationwide. They have helped build homes, worked with Toys for Tots, and helped small families who are dealing with emergency and tragic situations. As well as fellow RC team members facing life-altering situations of their own. In the picture below, they recently chose to support families through the Springfield Ronald McDonald House. Raising over $10,000 to provide emergency lodging and care for families who have children facing incredibly serious medical situations. Choosing to change their world by investing in themselves and investing in others at the same time.
Today, I believe you will be given the opportunity to invest in yourself. To change your life for the better in whatever way you choose. Make the most of it because you are worth it! I also believe you will be given the opportunity to invest in others at the same time. Make the most of it because others are worth it! Do both simultaneously and “your” world will change which means lives will be changed…one of which will be yours!
This is one of those lines from a movie that sticks. It’s from the James Cameron 2009 sci-fi film, Avatar. Simply said, this movie has many layers of allegory. One hidden in plain sight is that its indigenous inhabitants, the Na’vi, have a saying, “I see you”. It’s more than just the physical seeing-ness. It’s deeper. A sign of respect, and conveys that the one sharing the greeting values the one receiving it.
I have seen a version of this in the workplace. One of my peers uses the phrase, “I appreciate you”. When I first experienced her using this, I have to say, I heard it and lifted an eyebrow. It sounded a little cheesy. And then I saw her face, and how she delivered it. She offered it with absolute regard, respect, intention, and wholeheartedness. It floored me. What a tremendous way to share value with the people we work with. Every day I do my best to use it the same way as my peer: to genuinely share appreciation for others.
Employers need to see their employees. They need to appreciate the value they bring to the health and well-being of the organization and the day-to-day performance. And the employees need to do the same. We are not higher or lower; at least, we shouldn’t be. Instead, we are alongside one another. We need to see and appreciate each other and lift up the value we provide both ways.
This series has been a follow-up to the series that came before it. The Great Realization series elevated the employee’s point of view and looked at the job along the path of the employee’s life cycle. The Why People Stay series was the perspective of the employer and what leadership can do to engage and invest in making the employee experience matter.
At this point, the two perspectives converge. The job, and how each of them has influence. Here are five places where convergence matters.
1. Cause
Purpose should never be one-sided. The argument may be that it’s up to the organization to establish the mission of the business. I contend when the mission is fully shared, and everyone has a stake in the value proposition, that’s when performance takes off. I have always said if the goal identifies profitability as the only measurable, then the business suffers. The job has to have purpose, and every team member has to feel like they are contributing to the greater good. Beyond the business and into the communities they serve, the teams must feel like they are all striving to somehow make a difference. This isn’t anti-capitalism, or that paying attention to the bottom line is bad. Profit is still a goal. Just not the only goal.
2. Clarity
One of the most effective ways to ensure people are thriving in their job is to ensure that the expectations given are clearly defined and communicated. Ever been told to do something and not told how, or maybe even more importantly, why? How’d the success go? How successful was the business when everyone tried their best to figure it out inconsistently as they worked through the day? The simple approach here…when something needs to be done…state clearly, what, why, especially how, and to what extent. If I’m the leader, what’s the gap? If I’m the team member, same question.
3. Coaching
Feedback, insight, advice, and correction are all gifts. And when there is a defined and regular time when all leaders and team members can talk about the job, people get better. Relationships get better, and that impacts the business. If I know I get to talk regularly about what’s happening, why, and how, then we move forward together toward success, and control is elevated. Even if the conversations are about failure, as well as success and keeping things real, then I feel like I’m growing with others. Not just trying to do my best, isolated, and on an island doing my own thing.
4. Connection
What are the ways we all come together? Is it team meetings? Is it the platform where everyone communicates? How are we plugging everyone into the flow and direction of the organization? Live streams, summits, virtual platforms, collaboration sessions, and team-building opportunities? Leaders and team members thrive when they get to connect. It’s not just the information or nature of the business, it’s the power of community. Peer-to-peer engagement makes everyone better.
5. Culture
The bottom line, everything flows downstream from culture. Belief, especially collective belief, is a fuel for organizational health and well-being. It stimulates drive, innovation, ownership, empowerment, and a sense of belonging. We are all walking the same path together doing what we do in our jobs, or we’re in silos doing our own thing. Call it family. Call it being part of a clan or tribe. Are we better together or just doing the best we can, as we can, separately?
The constant will always be the job. Selling the product. Managing the inventory. Taking care of the billing and cash receivables. Ensuring the technology is working. Each job with a specific function. It’s the variables, though, that make the job worth doing or can make it feel like a day-to-day grind. All the things put into place to support the leaders guiding it and the team members getting it done. It’s the value we place on it being done, and being seen as valuable doing it.
Why People Stay and the Great Realization are saying the same thing, albeit from two different perspectives. The job is important, but it’s not the main thing. It’s how we apply meaning to what we do and how we do it…as a leader and as a team member. And the greatest part of the journey, whether it’s getting an employee to stick around or realizing what’s important in our career, is ultimately how we get closer to figuring out who we are and who we are becoming.
“Little things can make the biggest difference in people’s lives.” I’ve said this for years and seen the truth of this statement lived out more times than I can count. It’s because of those occurrences that I am the way I am today.
Outreach in Nicaragua
The photos below are from one of many outreach trips I’ve have had the honor of taking to the country of Nicaragua.
We were working in a village in the mountains outside of Matagalpa. The little boy in the first picture saw that I had a phone and came up to me. He wanted me to take a picture with him. This led to other kids running up from all over the village and wanting their pictures taken too. As you can see from the smiles in the second picture, they were very excited. Something as simple as taking a picture from a cell phone made a difference in their life that day.
Joy Manipulated
I think it’s safe to say that most of us aren’t impacted in this same way by a picture from a phone. I mean, buy us a new car, a new boat, or drop $100 in a birthday card and we might get excited and smile for the camera. But just a simple picture…not sure we would run all the way across our “village” for a quick snapshot.
We live in a world that has manipulated what we think it takes to bring us joy and make a difference in our lives. Because of that, it has changed the way we invest in others. It’s almost like if we can’t do something “big” then is it worth doing anything at all? I can promise you that this way of thinking causes us to miss so many opportunities to truly make a difference in “our” world.
Local Outreach
For the second year in a row, our home office team came together to provide small gifts and personalized cards for residents of local nursing homes for Valentine’s Day. Warm, fuzzy socks and simple Valentine’s Day cards were delivered by my team members Brittany Russell and Gavin Goss to residents here in the Springfield, MO community. For some, this may seem like a small and rather insignificant gesture. Although to the residents the fact that they were being thought of and celebrated on a day, where to be honest most wouldn’t, brought smiles to faces—where maybe one hadn’t been in quite some time. It didn’t cost a lot of money. There wasn’t any hoopla surrounding the event itself. It was simply taking the time to share our hearts in a way that made a difference in their day.
I don’t share either story above in a way that says, “look at me or look at what we’ve done”. I’m as humble a person as you’ll find and need no recognition for anything. I share both of these stories to encourage and inspire you. Pictures, socks, cards, encouraging messages, smiles, or just your time. The little things will make the biggest differences when they are given directly from your heart. And in the process, lives will be changed…one of which will be yours!
After so much has gone into establishing our job and all of the efforts along the way in our employee life cycle, we do reach a place where we start to see something take shape in our future steps. Maybe it’s a snapshot into the future about how we plan to grow into the organization. Maybe it’s feeling like, “Now that I know what I know, I am ready to take a step into a new direction, doing something completely different.” Or maybe, the future looks like exactly where you are, developing your influence, and investing in the job culture and the people around you. If and when you realize it’s not a job, but start envisioning it as a career path, you start to treat the job a little differently.
Let’s go back a bit. Have you ever been asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I have never been a fan of that question. Not about its intention; I understand that. It’s more so about how hard it is to answer. We live in an immediate gratification current scene, and seeing what we may want to be doing in one year, let alone five, can seem daunting.
If we have started the job, fully engaged in it, and leveraged to grow ourselves in our position, it stands to reason our confidence in the future elevates. And when that elevates, so does our ability to see, even a little bit more clearly, what we see ourselves doing. This job, maybe another job, creating a new job, tapping into our passion, being entrepreneurial, or encouraging others in their path…it’s all possible.
Asking the Question
Two types of questions; internal and external. One that challenges what we need to do next or what we want to evolve in ourselves and the job. In a way, it’s unpacking the five-year question of where we are. The next is the one we ask our boss about how they see us evolving. This might be a tough question to ask; either there’s nothing obvious or maybe you don’t want to seem pushy or ungrateful. It’s about growth and pushing your capabilities…they need to know your interest and drive.
Crafting Your Brand
How do you see yourself and how do you want to be seen? When time, tenure, and confidence elevate, I contend, this is when you start to stretch. You need to stretch and begin defining who you are, who you are becoming, and what gifts and value propositions you offer. Personally speaking, after doing the consulting and facilitation thing for a while, I began to see my niche. I began to craft the best things and greatest attributes I could offer others focused on that. Turned “I can deliver anything and everything you want” into “I deliver this and will provide value here”. I branded my strengths.
Mentoring Others
I believe the true test of competency and confidence is when it is seen by others, and they ask, “How would you handle this?” Or “I’d like to pick your brain about how you have done ‘x’…tell me about your story.” I also believe there is time in your job when it’s time to develop others; either out of necessity (succession planning for the next-gen) or out of a heart to help others and lift them up (servant leadership, even if you’re not a leader by title). Either way, our future may be about others so they also can begin to envision the future.
Taking a Small Step
We’ve tagged taking risks in an earlier share. Well, that is also a prominent aspect of envisioning forward. To see yourself doing something – maybe something untried, unexpected, or unbelievable, and then taking a small step of action to start doing it. Maybe it’s something you are passionate about, and then aligning it with your job. Or maybe it’s taking some research of interest and applying it to your day-to-day. It could be presenting a case study to expand what you do. Just to see what happens next.
Painful Realization
The reality is, we may very well come to the belief and understanding that it’s time to move on. While yes, the impression is, if we do all these things in the employee life cycle, we will become one with our current job, that is not always the case. We may conclude, it is time to move on to the next chapter of our professional journey. And, by the way, it may not be such a bad thing for all parties, just a necessary one.
You know, I wasn’t sure what to call this episode. What comes after leveraging and expanding our job? Then a colleague shared a word: envision. The definition…to imagine a future possibility. To visualize or expect something to happen, appear, etc. in a particular way. Envisioning the job, more specifically, seeing the future seemed to make sense.
Five years seems like such a long time. And yet, think about the last two years, and all that has happened. What might we have said about our job before COVID and all the ripples it created? Is it conceivable that all of that changed our trajectory and did it force us to realize what we really wanted and why? I am not sure if my five-year vision for the future changed, but how I engage in it has. At least, that’s how I see it.
