Steve Rucinski

Wow, I did not realize how much time had passed since my last blog post.

I am doing a number of projects on this journey, sometimes to make money, sometimes to learn, sometimes to support someone and sometimes just for fun. Here is an update on a couple of recent projects.

Church Consultant New Website and E-Newsletter

I have been working with fund-raising counsel organization by the name of Evans-Davis on a new website and email marketing strategy. Up until recently they have mostly been paper and phone call driven in their new business generation activity and they wanted to change and get into the internet flow.

The fun part of this project is they have decades of experience and stories to bring to their prospects now I had to help them start to capture and present it through a website and e-newsletter. Of course in this type of scenario I really had to practice patience with the client as they had a very steep learning curve about how things worked and what is possible.

I think I received the ultimate feedback via voicemail yesterday when Michael Davis left me a message exclaiming, “I love it, this is great, this is perfect.”

Vestry Retreat Planning

I became Senior Warden on our church Vestry (like a board) at the beginning of the month. One of the first things we always do is have a retreat with the Vestry members so I am helping plan what our activities will be.

The challenge (or opportunity) is to come to agreement with our Priest/Rector on what the focus of the retreat will be. Of course we always worship, pray and share fellowship with the other members but the majority of time is spent work-shopping on a topic, problem or situation.

This year we have chosen leadership as our key topic. What is it? How do we do it? How do we know how well we are doing it? How do we help each other do it? How does church leadership differentiate from church membership?

Our meeting is February 24-25, we would love your prayers to help us have a good retreat.

Job Interviews

I was blessed over the last 5 weeks or so to have two in-person interviews with two very successful companies. Interestingly enough the position description for each was very similar but they are in two distinct businesses.

The positions are labeled Business Development with a specialty in Digital Technology. What this means in reality is a combination of strategy development and selling while also having SME or Subject Matter Expertise in the latest Digital Technologies and their associated business models.

I think both firms are trying to Pivot effectively insuring they are maximizing for themselves and their clients the latest in technology and the trends evolving in the new digital world.

I am waiting for feedback on their hiring processes as to where if at all I may fit as a candidate.

When you are pursuing your next career adventure like I am one of the things you do is talk to a lot of people. Of course I talk about my business experience and my desire to make a positive difference in the world. But…

I have found myself using a new term for me, I like to say in the realm of technology that I am an ‘applied technologist’ meaning what I really care about is what you can do with a technology and not so much the technology itself.

So I thought I would throw on my blog here a photo of my home-office tech rig (Click it to enlarge). What you can see is my 15″ Dell laptop, a 22″ Acer Monitor, a Motorola Xoom tablet and my Livescribe pen. Not present is my DroidX phone which is busy take the photo.

Comments on use of each:

The laptop is my main typing device, I still use it portable occasionally if I know I will need to type a lot. I have found the Dell to be a great machine, 2 years old and runs flawlessly.

The large monitor I use when needing to edit something or just want to be able to have mulitple displays of some content at the same time. I find have two monitors really ramps up the pace of which I can do work on the computer.

The Xoom tablet I got last year as we (AWH) were starting to push our software development into the mobile world, I found it easier to speak with employees and clients about applications if I actually had a device as the hub of conversation.

The Livescribe has really come in handy when I have only have pen and paper, with it I can capture notes, record the conversation and easily review and share it with others, it also turns out the Livescribe is also a software platform and all for $99.

My DroidX (not shown) has become a real workhorse, it is my primary email device, phone of course and reading platform, documents, kindle books, dropbox files and there are apps for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+, not to mention camera, camcorder, scanner and more. It is getting a little slow so later this year I hope to upgrade to a faster processor.

Ok, friends, family and visitors there’s a brief look at the tech stuff you all chide me about.

One of the things I have discovered over the last few weeks is that I have learned over the past few years how to strategize, plan and build websites.

I started off doing it for myself and then sometimes for others and now I am doing a few websites as an income providing step on the journey to my next career adventure.

As it turns out I am pretty good at using WordPress as the CMS and know a good bit about design, SEO and user interfaces that help insure the sites I am building will be effective for their owners.

Here is a link and sample image of one of my first websites which I sold a few years ago to the small business maven Anita Campbell. www.smbceo.com

I started this site in 2004 when I had my own consulting business, blogging was just picking up in popularity and Anita (a great mentor of mine) encouraged me to give it a try.

The experience of writing was great AND I made a world of new connections around the world.

Today Staci Wood is the editor and works alongside Anita in helping the site continue to grow and serve its audience.

I use url www.stevesplayground.com for test and development of the various websites I am working on.

Right now I am working on a new site for Youngstowngranite.net (see current site).

We are looking to make it much more visually appealing as consumers of granite products care all about how it looks, not just slabs but installed.

The website when completed will serve to help the consumer see the various granite looks, edge types and installation choices all through the use of image sliders and different lightbox technologies.

Ok just one more, I built this site about 18 months ago for my church, St. Paul’s Episcopal in Medina, OH.

Our church has a huge collection of content, missions and schedules to communicate and also the user population tends to be a little older so we wanted visually appealing and rich for new visitors combined with a simple way of sharing today’s pertinent info for current members.

In reality the key challenge on this site is content related as there are at least 25 different sources of information about the various aspects of the church.

I guess like most personal posts this one is part reflection and part commercial.

If you or your organization are looking for a new website, want to possibly save some money on the project and don’t have mission critical deadlines then maybe I can help.

Feel free to get in touch through the Contact Me link above.

I took the accompanying photo (click photo to enlarge) in downtown Cleveland yesterday, I was walking up the street and from a block away all I could see was the street based cloud.

As I got closer and stopped to watch for a bit it dawned on me to think about:

Who are the guys working in the hole?

What are they doing?

What makes the steam happen?

How did they learn how to do this work?

How long have the pipes down in the hole been around?

Do all of us appreciate the workers and the ownership taken to solve these types of problems?

I for one am thankful for the millions of workers of all types who daily work on the invisible structures that we come to rely on in our world. From wireless carriers to ‘cloud’ data storage companies to understreet water departments. It is truly a miracle that it all seems to continuously work pretty well.

My Thanks…

I am working with a friend on learning and exploring the Daily Deal business model and how it might be applied in new ways. But one of our problems is our lack of experience in this arena.

We have been in touch with a few VERY experienced organizations like Deal Current and they have been very generous with their time helping us learn. But we are kind of in a situation where we don’t know what we don’t know and we want to accelerate our learning from both a time and expense perspective.

This is where my friends and contacts may be able to help, what questions should we be asking to gain the right amount of knowledge about the Daily Deal model?

If you have suggested areas of knowledge let me know!

What are the questions I am not asking?

(I am already crazy into LinkedIn Groups and industry media)

First off I am well over 30 but I and some older associates are cooking up new business ideas and we are drawn directly or through recommendation to consider using some of the new business incubators that exist in our home state.

However we are finding the structure of the incubators difficult to access for individuals our age with some pretty critical financial responsibilities, you know things like mortgages, car payments, health insurance, college expenses, food, heat, light, water, you get it.

While we think the incubator model is great, and the process is great, the financial funding provided by most entities while incubating does not support older entrepreneurs who have these types of financial responsibilities. It might be enough to support some core living expenses and work progress on your idea but the lack of enough funding to care for familial responsibilities serves as a barrier to older entrepreneurs.

Here are a couple of the descriptive lines of one of our states, taxpayer supported incubator entities:

“Accelerating Young Entrepreneur Start-Ups” or 

“10 Young Entrepreneurial teams will be selected from within”

That begs the question what does ‘Young’ mean? Maybe we should just start an incubator labeled, “Accelerating Mature, Seasoned Entrepreneurial Start-ups.” Not all great business ideas come from the young but it seems we think innovation can only happen at a certain age.I think innovation can happen at any age. Of course maybe I am a bit biased…

I am a very trusting person, I tend to think that most people I meet and come in contact with are trustworthy, it has been my instinct to always trust quickly.

The problem is I keep getting burned by allowing this trust instinct to guide my actions, and every time I get burnt my friends and family frequently scold me, ‘you should have gotten it in writing.’

The problem with trusting others within your work or career situation is that when the trust is broken it can be catastrophic, the impact can be a tsunami of financial and emotional impacts which then ripple their way through our lives. I am sure many of you like my friends and family think I am naive to be so trusting.

As I write this I am in the middle of the process of finding a new career adventure. Of course this means meeting new people, connecting with old networks and relationships, you know the drill.

I have decided this go round that I am implementing a new strategy to help me make good decisions around those I come to trust and any accompanying items that ‘should done be in writing.’

I am building a personal advisory board.

I have asked 4 people from wildly varying backgrounds that all know me from different perspectives to be on my career advisory board. I expect the board to ask me tough questions about my thinking and decision making. I expect them to be my personal guidance system and accountability team as I get closer to choosing the next great adventure in my career.

I will let you know how it goes, however I am not going to change my basic instinct to trust easily, I will use my board for help on things that are consequential to me and my families future.

I happened to have a meeting this past week with the Episcopal Church’s Bishop of Northern Ohio (www.dohio.org) Mark Hollingsworth to discuss the Capital Campaign our church is doing. I and three fellow members reviewed with him our case elements, attendance figures, pledge rates and other facts and figures pertinent to raising a million dollars.

Finally at one point he asked us, “What Can I Do to Help?” So one of our responses was to pray for us, of course he said he would but then he added, “You know when you pray for others you are really praying for yourself.” This question, at the time kind of floated by all of us without much comment but ever since has been stuck in my brain and won’t go away.

On the way home a friend I rode with to the meeting and I actually brought up that comment and started to talk about it. My friend said of course when we pray for others it is for ourselves, what do you think God keeps a score sheet and whomever gets prayed for the most is paid attention to? Isn’t the hungry child we don’t know as valuable to God as the one we do know and pray for?

Is My Prayer for Others Just a Prayer for Me?

I can answer yes because it does make me feel better to have asked God to help others. Of course I pray directly for myself and my needs. I guess in both cases it reflects to me that I do believe in God and that I believe my prayer matters.

Maybe prayer for others is really just the first awareness of the things that we should be taking action upon and not just pray for. If I pray for the hungry what am I doing to feed them, if I pray for equal justice what am I doing to bring it about and so on.

What this really means and maybe why some people don’t pray much (even Christians) is that prayer is us surfacing to ourselves those things that we need to pay attention to in our life and is God’s way of making us do so.

So resisting prayer may really be a way of hiding.

Interesting…

In the movie Gladiator, General Maximus Decimus Meridius seeks to stir his cavalry to fight well in the imminent battle against Germania. Addressing his troops, he challenges them to give their very best. He makes this profound statement: “What we do in life echoes in eternity.”

These words from a fictional military leader convey a powerful concept that is of special significance to me at this time in my life. I am not here just to take up time and space on a rock that’s floating in the universe. I am here with the opportunity to make an eternal difference with my life.

Jesus himself said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). Having the perspective of living for eternity can make all the difference in the world, literally.

But how can I learn to set my mind “on things above”?

The book Our Daily Bread suggests that a good way to begin is to discover what our eternal God values. Throughout the Bible He reminds us that He values people above possessions and our character above our performance and these are the the truths that last forever. They suggest that embracing them can bring an eternal perspective to our daily living.

What is My Purpose For Living?

A profound question but one that demands to be answered, at least for me. I am in the middle of a change in my life and I am filled with earthly responsibilities, family, finances, friends, food and more. Yet I am called and pulled by this question, it seems I am close to understanding my purpose but it is just beyond my grasp, or maybe that is good old resistance rearing it’s head.

People and Character, People and Character, People and Character, keep repeating, does that describe my life? As they say in the movies, “The Adventure Continues…”

I have two daughters ages 17 and 14 and both are very musically talented. I am witnessing them participate in high school marching band this fall. (In fact they are at a competition as I write this) They have worked at least 8-20 hours per week on marching band since the second week of June this year right after school lets out. They perform every Friday (football games) and Saturday (competitions) for 12 straight weeks.

These Kids Love Playing Music

So, they love marching band, they play in symphony band the rest of the year and love it too. They take lessons every week as well and my oldest just signed up for the Medina community band. Obviously music is important to them. Did I also mention they are A students, exhibit good personal traits like tenacity, perseverance, discipline, absorbing critical feedback, teamwork, communication and leadership.

I think having music in their lives has been critical as they have grown to this point of pre-adulthood. Of course my wife and I have always encouraged them to try new things since they were little. I have been working to understand how did all this get started, what was the key thing that enabled this musically led life journey to evolve so nicely over the last 10+ years? I think I figured it out.

It All Started With A Used Piano

About 10 years ago we bought a used piano from a couple at church whose kids were grown and they wanted to give the piano a good home. Next thing that happens is my oldest asks to take piano lessons, she likes it and is good at it. Then comes school band starting in 5th grade, she takes up percussion and keeps up the piano, ultimately doing multiple recitals. Then the youngest comes along, starts school band and starts taking piano lessons as well, she too is talented and learns to play complete books of Beatles tunes.

I am so sure that the piano was the spark and genesis of this wonderful journey and result and have seen and know other kids who are outstanding musicians (and great students and young adults) that I am contemplating launching some movement or project whose sole purpose is To Put A Piano In Every Kids Home.

Am I Crazy

You know there are thousands if not millions of used piano’s sitting idle all across this country and that there are parents and kids in challenging circumstances, what if they could get a piano in their midst, maybe just maybe it might spark something in that home for the kids and the parents.

This is a new project idea that came to me just this week, I had to write about it as this post will help me overcome the resistance that will work to keep this from moving forward. The idea is not very advanced yet but I had to output some thoughts. If you have any to add shoot me a comment or an email to the address listed under the Contact Navigation button above.