Raul Colon - photographer, digital marketer & writer living on the beach in Puerto Rico.

I support causes by supporting individuals.

3 Wishes…

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5162199274_ea215f2884 3 Wishes…

I am not a big fan of celebrating the holidays. I knew I had to visit the hospital but I thought it was going to be for Daniela’s arrival. Daniela has decided to start misbehaving and not meet her first deadline (being born on December 23rd), which as a new father worries me (I’m just kidding). I am at the hospital visiting my Grandma and the best gift I got today was seeing how much she has improved in the last two days. I want to thank all of you who sent good vibes via phone, Twitter, email, text messages, or even telepathic good vibrations. They are definitely working.

Last night minutes after presencing a small earthquake I had the opportunity to see a shooting star (something even more special on christmas eve). I did ask for a wish and I quickly got want I wanted seeing my Grandma a lot better today.

What do you wish for when seeing a shooting star?

For the last few months I read about @hardlynormal’s blog http://invisiblepeople.tv/ (@invisiblepeople & @wearevisible )He helps homeless people in multiple ways and does a great job. In essence I think the best thing he gives them is a lot of hope.

I originally wanted to post a fun Christmas video but I rather share this video that was posted on http://invisiblepeople.tv/ so you get a bit of what @hardlynormal is getting accomplished and also meeting Precious.

Precious requests two great wishes. What is even more awesome about her is that she wants the best for everyone especially the people around her in the same situation as her? She is so humble that she only had two wishes which both where for everyone to have a House and a Job.

Following Precious example I am going to give out my 3 wishes. I wish that at least one person that reads this blog tells someone else about @hardlynormal’s effort, donate to his effort, or help out someone in need today and at least once a week for the new year.

What are your three wishes? Are your wishes aligned to your well being or the benefits of others?

Enjoy your holiday weekend and be Grateful of what you have and the great moments you spend with your family members.

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A+ for being Social! Tourist or Mystery Shopper?

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marriott1-december2010 A+ for being Social! Tourist or Mystery Shopper?
Ocean View from our Room @sanjuanmarriott

I have not been as active online as I usually am for the past few days for the following two reasons I am very grateful for
1. Lots of New Opportunities
2. And I took two relaxing days at the @sanjuanmarriott.
A few days ago I wrote a post on how I really think our Puerto Rico Tourism industry (How does Puerto Rico Grade in Customer Service?).
Last year during December the @sanjuanmarriott ran a contest via twitter which via my @twitpuerto (Spanish based blog on how to use twitter ) account I won a 3 night and 2 day stay.
On my last post I decided to use my stay as an experiment to gauge how well is Puerto Rico doing in Customer Service from a tourism perspective as an insider acting as a tourist for a weekend.

I have had terrible experiences at the Ponce Hilton in Ponce and other tourism related business which I will mention in other posts.

We arrived at the @sanjuanmarriott and our check in was pretty hassle free. A few tourists who where trying to BS the check-in counter representative where making ruckus to get an ocean view (First Picture). I really admired how the person at the counter acted at the ridiculous requests these Frugal guests (I will call them frugal so I don’t have to use other words i would prefer) decided they did not want to pay for an upgrade but acting nasty with the person at the counter they where going to get one for free.
Once we got into our room to my surprise we got a room with an ocean view. Which made the stay even more Amazing (who doesn’t like looking out to the Ocean).
We went for dinner at our favorite Indian & Thai Restaurant (on the island) a few steps away from the @sanjuanmarriott.
We returned from having a great Indian dinner and when I am about to hit the shower we got a knock at the door from room service. I had not ordered Room Service but the hotel Management very kindly had sent us a very special gift including some wine, delicious crackers, awesome cheese, fresh fruit, and a some other Swag like post it notes.
marriott_gift A+ for being Social! Tourist or Mystery Shopper?
The hotel staff member who brought the gift quickly realized that @lucymfel is expecting so he offered us other non-alcoholic refreshments ( a very thoughtful gesture by him and even a quicker response on his behalf).
The next day I went to a very unattractive conference at the Local ISACA Chapter which I have decided not to return again. I will leave that for a future post (just as a preview it was such a waste of money and time I could not even recover the money spent on @starbucks coffee to stay awake “NO Return on Investment”).
marriott_sticky A+ for being Social! Tourist or Mystery Shopper?

We also visited the hotel bar near the pool side where the staff greeted and treated us like family. Our last visit and stay at the @sanjuanmarriott was in August 2010 but the bartenders Leo and Carlos quickly recognized us. We had great service at the pool bar by them and another female bartender which her name I can’t recall.

After this experience I really understood this post “The Social and the Media” by @thebrandbuilder published September regarding a similar experience.
In conclusion I have to give the @sanjuanmarriott an A+ plus at being social.
Disclosure: We had one room at the San Juan Marriott @sanjuanmarriott. Our room was free as part of a winning a competition that the San Juan Marriott Resort held last. Even though our room was free (based on winning a contest open to the general public), we don’t feel that this influenced the writing of this article in any way.
I also want you to read @coqui2008’s post on his stay at the @sanjuanmarriott his blog is also a great resource for discovering Puerto Rico (he also helped me out with writing the previous disclosure). Fun in the Sun at the San Juan Marriott
What other hotels, restaurants, or other entities get an A+ in being social on your list?
For those of you who feel like giving a little during the Holiday Season I highly recommend you to donate to the @serpuertorico charity by visiting http://bit.ly/serDePR.
If you need more details on the cause visit my previous blog post.

Help Me Keep the Momentum for @SerPuertoRico

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Something that I find great about being connected online is the great opportunity that arises to get things done in a virtual way and cost effective way.
I was approached by @kolapse who handles @serpuertorico’s online presence to learn about their brand new digital campaign. I want to point out that Jorge from @kolapse manages @serpuertorico’s presence by donating his time and resources, it would be great if you send a tweet Jorge’s way thanking for the time he donates to @serpuertorico.

For those of you who are familiar with @serpuertorico in the past they use to sell stickers which where footprints with the donor’s name.  I guess that when you look at the costs involved printing the stickers they decided to move into a digital format.

When Jorge, from @kolapse initially spoke to me about the campaign I was really excited to see it online.
Today after a great weekend at the @sanjuanmarriott  I decided to check my email and I found the link to @serpuertorico’s Dale Movimiento which in Spanish means give it movement.
I really liked the Pin Wheel motivating people to keep the Campaign’s momentum by having people donate.

Once you finished donating it gives you a link which is unique so you can recruit other people to donate. Please visit this link (http://teletonser.com/) so I can recruit you in the effort!

 

It also keeps a tally of how much you have raised.

So similar to my Thanksgiving post a few days ago “It’s Not about the Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving” I really would enjoy having you guys donate to one of my favorite Puerto Rico Charities.
The site is in spanish so if you need any help running to the process feel free to tweet me at @consultantrc or Contact Me.

¿What do you think of the Campaign? ¿Did you already Donate?

 

It’s Not about the Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving

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1239833037_2e4793a037 It's Not about the Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving

This is my 5th Thanksgiving as a vegetarian. It is actually curious how here in Puerto Rico many people have such a hard time that I will not be having turkey today. I guess many people think it is about the Turkey and Blackfriday but I wanted really wanted to share my thoughts on Thanksgiving.

My first Thanksgiving without Turkey started in 2006 and I remember people had so many issues. I was very lucky that someone on my team was Vegan and at least at work we where ordered Vegetarian food for our Team Thanksgiving Lunch.

I guess most people are so focused on the Consumer aspect of Thanksgiving. During this week I try to give thanks for the opportunity of being able to live another year. I also try to payback helping out in some way for those who are not as fortunate as I.

I normally don’t share this but I quietly do random acts that might make someone’s day a lot easier or better. From paying for someone’s gas while they go back to get there wallet to make sure someone that lives in the streets has a meal (I do this year round).

A month ago I read this Amazing post “How You Could Help” by @chrisbrogan which really helped me focus on helping other during the last month. I had the opportunity to meet @chrisbrogan personally during the Inbound Marketing Summit he really made me feel at home during the Inbound Marketing Summit making sure to introduce a few people and chat with me (He really is a great person online and offline).

DSCN4773 It's Not about the Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving

I have been reading @chrisbrogan’s blog & bought his book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trustir?t=cis02-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0470635495 It's Not about the Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving which I have enclosed as an Amazon Affiliate Link for those of you who are interested in getting a copy (I highly recommend it).

I want to thank @chrisbrogan for being a great mentor during this year. For this reason I want to share @chrisbrogan’s ten tips on how you could help (to read the complete post click here).

HOW YOU COULD HELP

  • Donate a few bucks to Skip1.org, and then ask your friends to do the same.
  • Refer jobs you can’t fulfill to others so they can get some work.
  • Read to your children. That helps me immensely.
  • Tell people they’re loved, especially people who don’t feel very loved.
  • Send movies to people recovering from chemo.
  • Buy a few extra books and give them to your local library.
  • Watch a few episodes of Invisible People and put a $5 in someone’s hand next time.
  • Comment on the up and comer’s blogs with as much kindness as you do on mine.
  • Share with your significant other how much you appreciate him or her, for all that she or he does to support your efforts to grow.
  • Make something. Anything. Use your thoughts and ideas and your abilities and make something as opposed to commenting or reflecting. Do something.

This list really helped on my side I have completed most of them. I am still working on the Following and I am sharing my plan:

  • I have not been able to donate to Skip1.org, because they have no option for individuals residing in Puerto Rico. So I will make sure to donate to two local charities I recommend you also to donate:
    • @sasfapr ( A No Kill Animal Shelter in Puerto Rico)
    • @serpuertorico (An organization which focuses  on helping people with disabilities)
  • I have not read to Children. I guess when Daniela Finally arrives next month that will help me out.
  • Send movies to people recovering from Chemo. There is also a Local Puerto Rico @GoGogoFND charity helping kids with Cancer. I think probably buying a few children’s movies and sending them their way would be a great idea.
  • I am still lookin for a local library to donate a few books.

I will also quote @chrisbrogan when a few days ago on a twitter Chat he shared the following words.

If you don’t have Money Donate Time!

If you don’t have time then Donate Money!

Even by creating awareness with others about good charities that need help you are doing a lot more than most people.

What things to do you do to give thanks? What other charities do you think I should include on the list below?

And for those of you that still think I should be having Turkey during Thanksgiving. Please Watch the following video (Thanksgiving Vegetarian Humor for you)!

Getting People Involved In Giving

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Creating a Need Both Ways

I am currently involved in working on the online presence of a non for profit the Women Leadership Network (My Company CIMA IT Solutions has been hired to serve as community manager and helping them with their social media strategy).

One of the greatest obstacles is to get people involved. Most of the time it is difficult to get people interested in giving or participating in charity events or non-for profits.

While reading a tweet from @rohitbhargava on a post of his blog which caught my eye given my latest post (Step 1: To Improve Puerto Rico’s Economy) on the Milestone our Local Beer Medalla currently accomplished. 

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/rohitbhargava/status/22653903048″]

I really enjoyed his post but what really caught my eye was the following video which gave me a few ideas or at least starting points on getting people involved:

I think that other than really making a great commercial and implementing humor into it, we can learn a few things on how to effectively run a Charity Event or Non-For Profit Effort:

Lessons Learned:

Free Item (in this case beer) for every article you donate

When genuine altruism is absent we might need to have something to trigger a donation. We really need to sell the benefits of why you need to donate if all that fails try to get discounts or agreements with locally based companies. Maybe creating a special event with at a venue who can serve as sponsor might be a great idea.

Find a Common Interest in Your Target Audience (they all wanted Beer)

If you find something that many people can relate too they will eventually all be part of it. Then you get leverage and interaction from people other than you to reach those goals quicker.

Get More People to Invest or Sacrifice for Others ( you did see someone sacrifice their last piece of clothing to get someone else a But Light)

Since there was a common interest some people where willing to sacrifice themselves to ensure that everyone was involved in the benefits of donating. If people see the benefit they will eventually give a bit more even if they don’t receive the direct benefit.

What other good qualities did you see from the humorous ad?

 

Can you bring other ideas which can help people involved in a charity event or a non-for profit effort?

How are you giving towards the many efforts and how do you convince others to get involved?

Please Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments area.