Jonathan Vaudreuil

One of the more rewarding things I do is bridge the gap between our company's President and CEO and my marketing team.

Most of what I do is manage our campaigns based on the information I get from my team and my bosses. Sometimes what I have on my hands is a disconnect between members of my team and what my bosses are looking for. It happens everywhere.

Ever found yourself wedged between two sides?

My advice is to listen to everyone before assessing the situation. Start with the person who has the most responsibility and then talk to everyone else. Ask them questions about how they perceive things and let them talk.

The person with the most responsibility should be able to give you the guidelines for the situation. Look for that person's expectations and actions. Compare their actions with everyone else's experiences. What are the possible problems in this situation? Not just one, look for as many as you can. What's not working here?Read more

I met my soon-to-be wife on eHarmony.

The site's claim of matching people up based on some compatibility questionnaire is absurd. I was on the site twice, each time for about 6 months, and I was matched with 3,000 people. The power of an instant deep connection, which they prophesize in their ads, is thrown out the window as soon as you're bombarded with 10 new matches every day.

What matters at this point? First impressions.

Both her and I said we were excited about each other's profile. How often do you think I felt that? Maybe one out of every 100 profiles. I saw profiles I liked, I started communicating with a number of women, but only 1% of my matches made me excited and hopeful.

How is this important?

You could use your first impression to make yourself presentable to the highest number of people possible. You can get your foot in the door right away with ease.

On the other hand, you could use your first impression to snare the people you want and get most everyone else to go away. You speed up the process by doing this.

I'm glad my profile snared the right person in the end.

We live in our own reality. Each of us has this one area we dwell in, and to us it's reality. End of discussion.

Everyone trying to sell to you should want to understand that reality, or a reality similar to yours, so they can position their products and services in a way that makes you want to buy them. They should understand you are bright enough to make solid decisions. Should. Key word there, should.

That's not always the case.

To quote Drucker (from The Essential Drucker):

Manufacturers are wont to talk of the "irrational customer." But there are no "irrational customers." As an old saying has it, There are only lazy manufacturers. The customer has to be assumed to be rational. His or her reality, however, is usually quite different from that of the manufacturer.

This is the difference between success and failure, or success and market dominance. It's what takes an organization to the level they are trying to achieve.

Understand who you are targeting.Read more

This is the third week I've been in my adjusted role, and life is good.

As much as I was looking forward to working out of our main office five days a week instead of being split between our office and working on site with one of our customers, I had some apprehensions. Was this the right move for the company? Would I make a worthwhile difference? How would I find the time to listen to new music without being able to sit in front of a database for hours on end? Would the person taking on my database role do well?

As much as I pushed for this change I still had to make sure it was the right move.

When we made the decision to go for it, I was excited. Except it took up most of my time for over a month, between hiring new people for our office as we grew, a new person for our database work, and then training all these people. I smiled the whole time, though. I knew the tough part was temporary, the reward on the other side was worth it, and I could do this. I just had to neglect my Internet world for a short while.

By knowing how things would likely be on the other side of this shift, I had enough purpose to keep pushing.Read more

It’s been a month of deep thoughts so far.

Even as my role changes and I push forward in my career, I have toyed with the idea as to what I should be writing about on this blog. Should I bring work into the focus more? Should I write more about perspective? There is a large intersection between the two, somewhere comfortable, yet I have been unsure if that’s where I want to dig deeper.

A conversation with my fiancée the other night convinced me as to what I want to write about: perspective. We were discussing right and wrong, and I pointed out that while her and I will never agree with certain things people can do, there is a perspective which disagrees with us. Even if allowing such a thing is detrimental to society, there is a way to justify it as right.

I’m returning here with this in mind, as my fuel and guiding light. I’m looking forward to hearing all your thoughts on what I have coming up.

Years ago I made a promise to myself: no more New Year's resolutions.

If it's important enough to do, just do it. You don't need an excuse like New Year's to change things in your life, you just need a reason. Big reasons tend to work best.

I know the New Year seems like a fresh start. It's no different from today, or a week from Tuesday, or April 11. All it is? A new day. The big number at the end of the date my change, but it's still a new day, just like all the others.

If you want to embrace change, look at each new day as a chance for a fresh start.

With the year closing out, it's time for me to take a little time and review the past year.

I do this type of reflection twice per year in different ways. My Spring review is about the big picture, and my end of the year review is more about the details. I go over my projects, my finances, my career progress, and my personal progress to see what I did right, what didn't go as I planned, and why things either worked out or didn't.

It's fascinating to look at. A year is a large enough block of time to see changes, trends, and progress. It also puts all the holes in my plans on display for me to pick at and think about.

So I make new plans, adjust and tinker, and set out again.

What are you reflecting on as the year comes to an end?

One of the most popular and passed-around sites right now is People of Walmart.

Go there and you’ll find new pictures posted every day of the absurd people and things others saw at Walmart, along with some witty caption for each post. People are dressed in ridiculous outfits, bring pet monkeys into the store, and decorate their cars with little plastic dinosaur toys. Most of it is funny satire.

What gets people riled up about the site the most? When they make fun of people who look stereotypically poor, uneducated, or uncultured. When the comments are anti-gay, or insulting to people with obvious physical handicaps.

It made me think of a lesson I learned from the service manager at a car dealership.

The dealership he worked at was split into two separate buildings next to each other: one Dodge, one Subaru. Since I was looking for a job he told me the difference between the customers at the two dealerships. Dodge customers expected their current car troubles to be fixed when they drove their car home from the shop. Subaru customers did not expect their cars to have problems.Read more

How long should you take when making a decision?

Think of it this way: how is this decision going to impact your life?

Measure it in a few categories. The amount of money it will cost is important. So is how much of your life will be affected by this decision. If the differences between your options are quite distinct, you may want more time.

Huge purchases, such as houses and cars, should involve a lot of time. When I bought my fiancee's engagement ring the jeweler told me people spend more time looking over rings and diamonds than they do houses they're about to buy. That's a frightening thought. A condo where we live can easily go for more than 100 times what her ring cost, nevermind a house with a yard.

What about jobs and careers? If you're going to spend all those hours working, you should spend the time to figure out what you want out of a job and company. See if you can get as much of what you're looking for as you can. The more you think about what you want out of life and how to get it, the more of it you'll get in the end.

When should you spend little time?Read more

I've been on a quest for the perfect sleeping bag and tent.

Like any product or service, I had to consider qualities in different areas and decide what's most important to me. I could buy the lightest one person tent out there, which would cost over $400. If I'm willing to buy one that weighs just under a pound more I could spend as little as $90. Would I be comfortable every night in that $90 tent? Not really.

After a few hours of research I decided I liked a particular tent, as shaving extra weight tends to cause the price to skyrocket. Then I picked a sleeping bag on a new set of criteria. Done.

In the end, I stayed away from the latest and greatest ultralight gear while finding some fantastic items. I go camping a handful of times each year, with just once or twice being times when weight matters.

At the end of all this, I realize this is who I am and this is not what the world is.Read more