The Need for Rest | Inspect the Inputs | Goggles? | Prayer Requests
Happy Friday!
Woot Woot! I am going to do some sleeping, some rib cooking, some TV watching, and ……. well, what I mean to say is I am going to do whatever my wife tells me we are doing. Ha! I still have my laptop finishing touches to do, which shouldn’t take long, but I do hope to do all the things mentioned above this weekend. I have learned that the longer and harder I work my brain (and body), the more I need to be intentional about rest and recovery.
I am my best when I am not worn down, and if I go too far it takes much longer to recover. True story – I got so worn down from work once (perhaps about 8-10 years ago) that my wife and I went on a beach vacation for two weeks and the ENTIRE time we were there I never turned the TV on, and we went hardly anywhere – I just laid on the couch staring at the ceiling or sat on the porch watching the ocean. For two weeks. I was that bad off. I let myself get way too far gone from being too overworked.
Since then I have learned that I tend to work in sprints. I will go really really hard for a few months, and then either need a vacation, or a season of going much slower. It’s near super human when I am sprinting but I have to recharge. What I seem to be experiencing now, at age 41 (soon to be 42), are batteries that don’t seem to be charging back up as fast as they used to. Maybe “When you get my age” is really a thing – haha.
Inspect the inputs:
Over time we have tried to build leading indicators and funnels to understand and predict outcomes. Instead of looking at invoicing, which is “staring out the back of the bus”, we look at booked revenue, preceded by a list of other things that begin at activities and actions (like Google Adwords impressions) all the way through site traffic, conversion rate, cart abandonment, etc. It’s scientific, it removes a lot of guessing, and it’s real time. In fact, we have charts that show average site traffic by hour over the last several weeks compared to actual site traffic by hour TODAY. We can tell throughout the day if an hour is off (up or down).
Business was pretty slow this week. Of course we look at the data and it was site traffic that was down. Site traffic leads to page views which lead to conversions. Avg number of orders X avg order value = booked revenue. Even though we can see that site traffic was down, we have no idea why as it was across the board from all sources.
Sometimes the leading indicators are not enough info to tell you what you need to know. That leads us back to guessing. People must have been taking some “last chance before school starts back” vacations. Or something about the summer being crazy with COVID so far and this being the last week of the month they slowed down or took off. We are still scratching our heads. Got any ideas or insights?
All that being said, we can have all the data in the world and still not control the outcome. Sometimes things just don’t go the way you want them to go. With that said, our company purpose statement is:
To model for and inspire others in how they build and run their companies—to seek first the Kingdom, Acknowledge our position of stewardship, Seek the LORD’s guidance, and trust Him for the outcome.
We have to walk in the light that we have, give it our best, and trust the Lord for the rest. Do we want to grow and have great profitability? Sure we do. But whether we do or not, we will trust the Lord.
From Joe, our friendly Safety Supplies Product Marketer:
It’s Friday! We made it! I don’t know about everybody else, but time has been flying by for me. So much information is being thrown at us it in reference to Covid-19, it almost feels like every week we have a whole new method of protecting ourselves against the virus.
Yesterday I was reading an article that talked about goggles and face shields being a helpful source of protection against Covid. Obviously, masks are the most crucial, but they don’t protect the eyes, which unfortunately is another avenue where viruses can enter your body. While goggles or face shields may be a bit overkill in everyday life, if you’re in an environment of constant human contact, you might consider adding an extra level of protection against this invisible enemy!
Prayer Request:
First of all, thank you for the prayers for my friend Mike! He got his feeding tube today and will be starting Chemo soon. After a while of that they will do surgery to remove the cancer.
I also got several replies with some prayer requests and I want to share them with you …
Chad shared that he has two friends named Dave that have cancer as well.
Wallace shared that his wife Monica (72) fell while in a hospital and has a brain bleed.
Please pray as the Lord leads you for these folks as well. Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for sharing your prayer needs with me!
I hope you are enjoying these emails. If you are, I appreciate it when you let me know! If not, or if you have ideas for how to improve, by all means please let me know! Sometimes I “can’t see the forest for the trees”.
As always, please let me know how I can be of service to you. If you need assistance with something, advice, or even if you just need someone to pray for you, I am here and listening.
Blessings,
Craig Haynie – CEO
CablesAndKits
P.S. Don’t forget to go follow us on Facebook here: CK Facebook Page.
Main Safety Supplies Landing Page: https://www.cablesandkits.com/c/safety-supplies
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Face Shields:
Re-usable / Disposable Face Shields – Quantity discounts available. Can be custom printed.
Goggles:
Vented
Non-Vented
COVID-19 / Business News for Today:
- Over 10,961,000 people worldwide have recovered and over 2,285,000 people in the US have recovered! The death toll in the US stands at 155,300.
- Herman Cain, a former pizza chain executive and Republican presidential candidate, died after testing positive for the coronavirus.
- President Trump visited the American Red Cross headquarters on Thursday and urged people who have recovered from covid-19 to donate their plasma to help others fight the disease the virus causes. Click here to find a location near you to donate blood or plasma and help save lives!
- Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies announced that two staff members tested positive for the coronavirus. No Phillies players have tested positive, but the team’s three-game series this weekend against the Toronto Blue Jays has been postponed.
- The SEC, that Tyrannosaurus rex of college football, announced Thursday a narrowing of its season to 10 games per each of its 14 teams, all within the conference, beginning near the end of September rather than the outset. With that, it became the fourth top-tier conference to enter the national rescheduling fray that owes to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- The Supreme Court on Thursday shut down a lower court’s decision that cited the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to ease the rules on gathering signatures for a citizens’ ballot initiative.
- Wisconsin residents will now have to wear face masks indoors under a new order that Gov. Tony Evers (D) announced Thursday in response to significant community spread of the coronavirus.
- Lowe’s became the latest company to give employees another round of coronavirus bonuses, recognizing the efforts of front-line associates who don’t have the luxury of working from home during a surging pandemic.
