How Do You Define Success?

I have been thinking about the definition of success ever since I watched Sheryl Sandberg on 60 Minutes. I do believe that there should be more women in the top positions in business, politics, sports, etc, but only if they want to be in those positions. I don’t want to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. There was a time where I thought that was what I wanted, but now I enjoy both of my businesses.

I especially love the one that allows me to share running a company with my 8 year old daughter. I want her to know that she can do anything she puts her mind and hard work towards. Do I dream for her to be an CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Only if that is what she wants. I want her to find what makes her happy and fulfills her definition of success.

As usual, Maya Angelou puts into words exactly what I have been trying convey.

This weekend we adopted a puppy from the Lab Rescue. The foster family gave us a little package from Iams with some information and coupons. I noticed in the top corner that there was a barcode, this one using Microsoft’s Tag. Seriously, how cute is that paw print?

The code takes you to Iam’s main website and not a mobile site. As you can see it still looked good on my iPhone.

Last week I was at a speaking engagement and decided to grab a cup of coffee before we got started. When I picked up the cup, I noticed it has a 2D barcode on it. This one is a Microsoft Tag code rather than an QR code. Once scanned the code took you to a video explaining how there product is made from plants and not oil. Not only was it a good use of a barcode, but also provided a great demonstration for the presentation.
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Last week I was at a speaking engagement and decided to grab a cup of coffee before we got started. When I picked up the cup, I noticed it has a 2D barcode on it. This one is a Microsoft Tag code rather than an QR code. Once scanned the code took you to a video explaining how there product is made from plants and not oil. Not only was it a good use of a barcode, but also provided a great demonstration for the presentation.

Yesterday in the mail, we received our monthly coupons from Costco. On the back was an ad for Kingsford with a barcode. It was not a QR code, so I had to download another application to scan it.

The site it sent me to was a mobile site with videos and links to recipes. One cool feature, if it had worked, was a link to a BBQ Grilling inspired radio station on Pandora. Problem was when I clicked the link, it only took me to the Pandora site where it told me to download the app. I have the app installed on my phone, so was disappointed that it didn’t automatically launch my app and start playing the music.

Takeaways from this are: 1. Use a standard barcode that most applications can scan, like a QR code and 2. Test your mobile site on an actual mobile phone. If they had, they would have noticed the Pandora link didn’t work the way they wanted.