Tracie Hitz

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out other people.  Should I call to follow up on the resume I sent?  Should I text that guy one more time to see if he’s interested in me?  But from our #PDBookClub discussion today from “At The Heart of Leadership”, there was a point made that you need to figure out yourself.  What makes you tick?

Knowing this first is helpful when trying to figure out other people.  What works for us in communication isn’t always what is best for someone else.  Some people want job applicants to call them to follow up because it shows initiative.  When I’m hiring for a position, the last thing I want is 200 people calling to see where they stand.  I communicate with everyone via email throughout the process so there’s no need to reach out to me for more information.

The same is true when a guy is trying to get my attention.  If we’re just getting to know each other and we made plans to talk in two days, then I’d rather he not call me before then.  Let’s stick to the communication plan we laid out.

Once you have that first interview or first date, then the plan is adjusted based on how well it went.  Communication is at the center so paying attention to how people like to communicate gives you a shot at building the relationship.  It’s tough to figure out at the beginning, but being too clingy or not interested enough can knock you out of the game.

I had a call with a friend today who has a job interview.  He’s extremely prepared so I just reminded him to listen to what the person is asking.  He knows what he wants to tell them, but it needs to fit into the conversation.  While saying some of these things is impressive, if you aren’t answering the questions at hand, it could affect whether or not they feel you are qualified for their position.

You don’t need to broadcast everything.  Build the relationship by knowing who you are and by learning about the other people.  What works for one person doesn’t always work for the other, so pay attention to what’s going on and make adjustments.

Holiday weekends are prime for stirring up trouble.  The cops are out in full effect trying to keep us safe by giving tickets for speeding, not wearing seat belts and of course DUIs.  This got me thinking back to my days of online dating.  People put some interesting things in their profiles.  I’ve talked about people who don’t make it personal.  And over the weekend, I was reminded of people who share too much.

I suggest treating your profile like a resume.  I tried to put the best information, the best photos and of course the best jokes in there.  It was a good representation of me, and they could find out the rest later if they contacted me.

I understand people might not know what to write in the profile.  It’s hard to “brag” about yourself.  I overlook misspellings and grammar mistakes, but it’s difficult to get past the photos.  Since moving to Oklahoma, there have been a high number of photos of guys posing with deer they just shot.  

Regardless of location, there are tons of photos that were taken with cell phones in the mirror.  I was also surprised by the number of people who took photos of themselves sitting in their cars.  Almost always with their seatbelts on.  Why not ask your friends to take a photo?   If you’re embarrassed, you don’t have to tell them what the photo is for.

But then there was the guy whose friends took photos of him getting arrested, which I can only assume was for a DUI from the looks of the photos.  Not only did his friends take the photos, but he then posted them in his dating profile.  And those were the only photos he posted.  Six total photos.   Four wearing handcuffs. 

I’m all for honesty, but that might be a bit much.  If you’re going to post photos drinking in a car, you might want to stick to the ones where you’re tailgating.

I spent the holiday weekend with friends and co-workers.  I often combine work and fun. Even with the trips I take.  They usually start out as one or the other, but then my mind gets planning on how I could get the absolute most out of my time on the road.

I also bring a professional development book and a fun book with me so I make sure I get a little bit of both.  The same was true this weekend as I enjoy the awesome weather while reading the next #PDBookClub selection, “At the Heart of Leadership.” 

The Book Club has been great to keep me on track to read, as well as exposes me to books I might not have known about otherwise.  I’ve gotten great ideas from the discussions, which have made reading even better.

Several people reach out and say they want to join in, but they usually don’t finish the book in time. That’s the best part.  You don’t have to read the books to join in.  Pete and I lead the discussion about the main points of the book, but the questions are asking for members to share experiences in their lives that pertain to these points.  

We’ve learned a lot about using social media, generating revenue and marketing strategies in general so I’m really looking forward to hearing what people have to share about their leaderships styles and those of their former and current supervisors.  If you can’t pop into the discussion at any point on Wednesday from 11 am- 5 pm Eastern, I’ll send out the transcript after we wrap up.

You never know what you’ll find when you open a book.  Literally.  I bought the book used on Amazon so when I opened it, I found it was an autographed copy for a fella named Ralph.

I know people were surprised when I left Northwestern after 13 years.  But they were even more surprised to find out I was moving from Chicago to Oklahoma.  It was definitely an adjustment, but ultimately the reason I left was because I wanted to be more creative.  I wanted to have the time and the resources to come up with great ideas more often.  

That’s why I knew going to another university wasn’t going to make a difference.  I wasn’t running from anything at NU.  I was ready to hit college athletics from another angle.  A lot of people come to me for advice about their next job.  Sometimes they are running from something, which is when I remind them that there are challenges everywhere so sometimes it’s best to figure out another way to conquer them rather than trying to leave them behind.

At our staff retreat on Friday, Zac said, “We’re not brain surgeons, but what we do is important.  We contribute to sports moments that people remember their whole lives.”  He had us recall our favorite sports moment.  We all had trouble narrowing it down to just one.  Mine are watching the Bears win the Super Bowl with my Dad in my Fridge jersey and the first Northwestern game after Coach Walker died.

The elements we provide for teams are part of what makes an event even more memorable.  And each year we need to get better at it.  We need to come at them at a different angle each time.  As we head into a new season, Zac gave us copies of the book “Imagine”, which is about being creative.  It suggests that when you see a challenge, to take it out of context and put it into something more familiar to see what solution you come up with then.

That’s what I’ve been doing with this blog.  There have been several challenges with the transition to Oklahoma, but I love facing them.  This blog has been an on-going attempt to tackle the world of dating.  Things are different here … less guys overall, fewer opportunities to meet them and I travel a lot so then I meet great guys who don’t live near me.  

The similarities between marketing myself and marketing a team are definitely there so I’ve been pulling from my real-life experiences to apply that to marketing our teams.  In fact, a friend sent out a group email on Friday right after our retreat asking for an idea on how to showcase stories about his fans, so I suggested starting a blog.  I’ve found success sharing that way and feel he can do the same.  And now he’s considering it.

Another example is staying in shape.  Since I moved from Chicago I eat less and definitely go out way less and yet I can’t get back to the weight I was when I lived there.  Part of that’s because we drive everywhere in Oklahoma.  People here drive two blocks to go to lunch.  So instead of doing what everyone else is doing, I go another route.  I walk everywhere I can now.  I take advantage of the warm weather … I can run outside 10 months out of the year instead of just the four months in Chicago.  But in Chicago I would wait until after work, but here it’s blazing hot then so I have to adjust.  Tackle the workout as soon as I wake up, which gives me more energy all day.  

And it gives me time to think about what I have to do that day.  I come up with some of my best ideas when I run.  And I don’t spend the day thinking about how much I don’t want to workout after a long day in the office.  But if I don’t get up, I have surrounded myself with people who are also big on staying in shape so I’ve gone to Jazzercise with Tricia, trained for my first half marathon with Megan, ran stadium stairs with Katie and have Dustin run me through is college track routine.

I’ve found another way to make up for the everyday things I used to do in Chicago, like walk two miles to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game or walk three miles to the bar.  I rode my bike to the beach and then played volleyball for hours.  I played rec soccer two nights a week.  I was always on the move.

When the surroundings changed, I changed with them.  If they stay the same, Imagine how you can make them different.  Make them better.  We’ve added a lot of new faces to the our team, so mixing the old with the new promises to be a very creative year.

Lots of friends in the sports industry are getting married this year.  Several are getting married today!  One of my favorites is Brad Wurthman at Cincinnati.  He is one of the best at social media and he’s marrying a girl who’s great at it too.  I’ve never met Brad’s fiance, Shannon, but we’ve been following each other on Twitter for awhile so it feels like we know each other.  Just another reason why I love Twitter.

Then, today I found another reason … live wedding updates.  I would expect nothing less from sports marketing pros like Brad and his co-worker/sidekick/friend/groomsman, Greg.  They created a hashtag and the updates have begun.  Greg tweeted a photo of the view from the Groomsmen’s Headquarters, Brad tweeted to get #WurthmanWedding trending and Shannon shared that the bridal party song is “Forever” by KISS.

This is what happens when people who plan sporting events everyday put on the biggest event of their lives.  And I love it!  Live updates and inside information is what Twitter was built for, so it’s cool to see it being done with something so unique.  Something special.

Someone just tweeted asking how long after the wedding Shannon will wait until she changes her Twitter handle to @ShannonWurthman.  Someone also tweeted to Piers Morgan who tweet to his 2.2 million followers “Congrats to Shannon and Brad on their #WurthmanWedding today!”  They also got tweets from Anderson Cooper and Soledad O’Brien.

At the end of the day, the messages with this hashtag are going to be a virtual guest book of this amazing day.  This is social media at its best. I would expect nothing less from this Bearcat Marketing crew and their friends.

At one point when I was working at Northwestern if you did a Google search, the first story that came up was “Sex Kittens (Men’s Basketball)”.  At first glance, not something you really want popping up if people are researching you.  This story was about a Valentine’s Day promotion I came up with to increase attendance at Men’s Basketball, but it was posted in the student newspaper, which apparently got a lot of clicks.

I thought of this the other day when I was reading an article about mistakes job seekers make.  They suggest to “clean you up your digital dirt”, which stems beyond just what you put on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram,Google+, etc.  My name isn’t very common, so it’s pretty easy to find information about me.

When you Google me now, the top stories are about me leaving Northwestern for Old Hat, followed by the main page to this blog, the “Fun Tracie” page, the blogs I write for Old Hat, my LinkedIn page, my Twitter page, my profile on NACMA and my bio on The Migala Report.  That is perfect because that shows a true representation of who I am through all of the things I’m involved in.  I couldn’t have planned it better if I had tried.

Having the perfect Google search helps with another tip they included, which is one I talk about all the time, “singing your own praises”.  Just like applicants do research on the company before they go to the interview, the employers do their research on social media outlets too.  Need to make sure what they find is the best representation of you.

But that’s still not enough.  We expect people to make the connection from our resume of why they should hire us.  When you get in the interview, that’s the time to market yourself.  Tell them how your past experiences will help them succeed. Tell them why you want the job. And most importantly, mean it.

I’m not saying you can’t have fun if you want to get a job.  Just suggesting that maybe you don’t need to share everything you do here on the world wide web.

You can control what people know about you.  Promote your brand.  Be known for something.

I’ve never really been told I looked like a celebrity, except with cheesy pick up lines.  A few times in high school, people said I looked like the Christian singer, Amy Grant, but I think that’s just because we both had the same big hair.

A couple of years ago, people were all about setting me up on dates and they would tell me that when the guy asked what I looked like, they would pick different celebrities for comparison (this was before Facebook was cool for people in their 30s).  The names they were throwing out ranged from Winona Ryder to Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  

I got to talking to Ashley about it and we decided to upload my picture to the celebrity look alike website to see what came up.  The top match was Kate Beckinsale, which I wish was true.

Then, the second match that came up was Hugh Grant.

Ashley thought this was funny.  She still calls me Hugh. So we tossed her photo in there. Her first match was Kate Bosworth.

But then her second match was Queen Latifah.

And she will forever be “Queen” to me.

This popped into my head today because I was watching that Betty White show, “Hot in Cleveland”, and they said, “You remind me of a gorgeous British movie star.  Oh, what’s the name?”

She responded, “Kate Beckinsale?”

“Nooo.  Who am I thinking of?”

Betty White says, “Hugh Grant.”

“Bingo!”

Who do people say you look like?

At our free dinner on Monday night, we got to talking about how people react to free stuff.  Like when I worked gamedays for the Chicago Fire, We started to get trampled as we were trying to pass out free bars of Irish Spring soap after the game.  A bar of soap.

There’s some of that same craziness in the dating world apparently. Tricia told us about a blog she read where a women joined Match.com so she could get free food for the month.  She went on dates with guys she had no real interest in.  Of course I think this is rude, but it also sounds exhausting.  I’ve been on Match and went on dozens of dates, over the span of a few months.  That was all I could really handle.  Having the same conversations.  Sometimes pulling teeth to get them to say something interesting.  Other times wishing they would stop talking.  It wasn’t worth a free meal, and typically I paid for my own.

But I do support the idea of free samples when it comes to dating.  If I really like a guy then I usually plan something thoughtful.  If I don’t know them very well, then I use the ol’ standby … tickets to a sporting event, usually coupled with some sort of access at the game.  Who dat?

Most dudes like girls who like sports.  I want to date a guy who loves sports.  Someone who will sit at a bar drinking beer watching NFL games all day on a Sunday. That was pretty easy to find in Chicago.  I didn’t know it would be so hard to find that in Oklahoma.  But you can’t even buy alcohol on Sundays at the stores.  And most people don’t go to the bars because it’s family day.  Even Super Bowl Sunday is a ghost town in these parts.

But I’m up for the challenge.  So far I’ve overcome the obstacle by dating people who don’t live here.  I attend a lot of sporting events across the country so it’s easier to meet a guy who fits my criteria when I put myself in that element.  But calculating the ROI on those relationships, taking into account the money spent traveling to see each other and the likelihood that either of us will move for the other, is a blog for another day …

I’m a sucker for marketing.  Good or bad, I pay attention to gimmicks.  I like to see how they implement their promotion once they have my attention.  I have my own marketing techniques when it comes to dating too, so marketing plays a big part in my life.  I’m also the person who takes every flyer from every person who hands them out on the street. Whether I’m interested or not, I read the flyers to see what they are selling.  

I listen to quick pitches from people raising money for this or that because I’ve been there.  I’ve been the girl handing out Pigskin Classic brochures in the rain outside Soldier Field before the Bears game.  I’ve been at the mall trying to get people to buy tickets to sporting events.  I’ve sat in the Student Union for hours distributing tickets.

So last week when Aaron won a party at the Chuy’s that is opening up in Norman, I was thrilled he brought me along.  He was able to invite four people for a complimentary dinner and non-alcoholic drinks last night with the proceeds for liquor and beer going to charity.  A cool idea in general, but when I got there, I found out that this was part of their “training” for their staff for the grand opening.

This got me talking over dinner about how I fundamentally don’t like to give out free tickets. Unless there is a sponsor tie or limited way to earn the free tickets (e.g. Reading Program), I don’t like it.  It devalues the price of the ticket, especially for first-time customers, which is usually your target.  It sets the price for them, similar to when you purchase something unfamiliar.

Like a few years ago when I got my first laptop, I didn’t know the price of a laptop bag so I went with a friend who was also buying one, but there was only one left.  We grabbed that one for $20 and went to another store, but that store only had bags for $40. It looked the same as hers at $20 so I didn’t buy it. The value to me was set so that’s what I was willing to pay.

They had heard this story before, but last night I pointed out that free samples like this for restaurants are great because I would never walk into the place next time and expect my meal for free even though that’s what got me through the door the first time.  

It was a training day at Chuy’s, which is kinda similar to a nonconference game where we shake the cobwebs out from last season.  They were smart to add something extra that could be purchased.  And tying the drinks into a charity is perfect.  That always makes me feel good about drinking.

We also discussed using free stuff to get dates and how some people only go on dates to get a free meal.  I’ll share those tidbits tomorrow!

I saw a lot of tweets last night from people excited to see the performance of “Call Me Maybe” on the Billboard Awards.  A pretty simple song about a girl giving out her phone number to a guy wearing “ripped jeans, skin was showin’”.  She said she missed him before he even came into her life, which is probably a bit much.  Might be the reason he took his “time with the call.”

I can’t remember the last time I waited by the phone for an actual call. I’m pretty sure I was wearing a scrunchie when it happened …

Nowadays it always starts with a text or a Facebook message.  I’ve even gotten some direct messages on Twitter.  I kinda prefer that actually.  I’m a writer. I feel comfortable writing.  But that can increase the chances of miscommunication when the other person doesn’t know your style.  Or your personality.  Misinterpreting something you write because you don’t know them very well.

Similar to when you reach out to someone you don’t know in business.  You usually send an email to set up a call.  Establish an agenda.  It’s not often you get someone’s digits and just say, “Call Me, Maybe?”