Animal Traks Blog

Animal Traks featured in Baylor Alumni newsletter

2007-04-19T11:54:00.000-06:00

I was interviewed for the March 2007 issue of the Baylor Alumni newsletter called Between the Lines. You can read the interview here:

Between the Lines - On Trak interview

Shane

Virtual thrill

2007-03-16T09:35:00.000-06:00

My favorite change-agent marketer, Seth Godin, posted his take on seeking thrill vs. fearing change. The thought hits so close to home that I have been thinking about the post for 2 days. The whole concept of "loving growth and learning" vs. "accepting mediocrity and not changing" is a battle I fight each and every day with people around me. It's a battle of Covey's 7 habits with seeking first to understand and then be understood. Grasping the concept that "most" will avoid change is one that is not easily accepted by my own personal work ethic and belief system.

Problem is, in my opinion, growth is part of the DNA God created in us. Look around and people exhibit the desire to grow and be thrill seekers. But what we have "manufactured" with our our human abilities in the option to seek a "virtual thrill", meaning we now don't have to "really" risk physical, emotional or spiritual defeat, per se, we can just start the adventure over by pushing the reset button and trying again.

It's much more difficult to face the reality of growth pain that comes with being a true thrill seeker. So most, unfortunately, will opt for the "virtual one" which is no replacement for the real.

Shane

Impacts made on children

2007-02-16T15:33:00.000-06:00

I saw a friend of mine at our church's missions conference, World Mandate, a couple of weeks ago. Matt was sharing a story with me about two Russian girls who came up to him and asked if he remembered them. Thinking carefully, yet still drawing a blank, Matt replied that he was sorry, but couldn't remember. The two Russians said enthusiastically, you came to Ulan Ude with the sports camp and we played American baseball with you!

Matt smiled as he shared the story... Shane, I was blown away man. I mean we were in Siberia doing those sports camps for only a couple of weeks and only a week in Ulan Ude back in 1999. Now, here, eight years later, these two girls were impacted by me throwing some baseballs around and teaching them the game.

That, my friends, will absolutely make you think about your impact you can have on the lives around you, and those around the world.

Matt, my wife Vanessa and I and a small team traveled with Bill Adams to several places in Russia (Siberia) back in 1999 to provide sports camps for Russian children and to share the love of Jesus with them. It was quite an incredible experience. Now GO!

Shane

It's hard to have a bad day when...

2007-01-24T08:14:00.000-06:00

This morning I was saying my goodbyes and giving kisses to my family. I retreated to my office to collect my bag for work and then headed to the door to the garage. On my way to the door, my oldest son, Aedan says, "Hey Daddy, have a REMARKABLE day!" with a big smile on his face.

And today, if only today this week, I WILL have a REMARKABLE day.

Shane

Parking lot adventures with a 5-year-old

2006-12-19T00:37:00.000-06:00

We had a mission, my oldest son and I, to get the Christmas gift list knocked out. So off we set, after I picked him up from school. The first thing was "Daddy, I want to get a gift for Zach (younger brother). Then we can get a gift from him to me too..." Aedan said. "You mean you want to buy yourself something too?" I asked. "yeah, from Zach."

We were at Richland Mall in Waco driving to a spot when all of a sudden this car pulls across the parking lot rows right in front of us and before I could do anything, right into a parking spot. "Wow, that was awesome, that car ran right in front of us and landed in that spot safely!" was the roar from Aedan coming from the 3rd row seat. "yeah, pretty awesome," I said.

Shopping tires me out, but provides for some seriously funny material from the kids.

Have a blessed CHRISTmas.

Shane

When the best is but the worst wins

2006-12-12T23:26:00.000-06:00

The National Basketball Association (NBA) season began in early October in turmoil. The most important part of the game in a highly contested debate between leadership and the "workers". It's not about salaries, playing time, arenas, jerseys, logos, or Christmas bonuses.

It's about the ball. Yeah. The leather basketball hasn't changed in 35 years. Now Spalding has tried to introduce an improved composite basketball that "testing performed by (manufacturer) Spalding and the NBA demonstrated that the new composite basketball was more consistent than leather, and statistically there has been an improvement in shooting, scoring, and ball-related turnovers,..." said David Stern, NBA Commissioner. full article here

Unfortunately, several of the NBA's star players, including LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal, don't care for the new ball and after voicing their opinions, have forced the NBA to return back to the old worse leather ball because it "feels" better.

Change is not easy anywhere, at anytime, with any group. After 35 years, people get used to the way of doing things and if it's working, then don't break it, people would say. But how then does progress occur? How do you get hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles when gasoline is "working"?

One would think that a major change to such a critical part of the game that has been a standard for over three decades would involve some strategic thinking. True leaders would pull in the vocal decision makers and influencers. They would solicit their input, get feedback and move forward based on the information. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a great book called The Tipping Point. The Tipping Point looks at "social epidemics", or sudden and often chaotic changes from one state to another. The NBA "leadership" would do themselves well to pick up the book and get a clue.

Arch allergen silently strikes

2006-12-08T09:26:00.000-06:00

Superheroes have arch enemies. I have an arch allergen. This time, it got me good. I wasn't in the woods, didn't roll in mysterious grass, wasn't climbing a tree. I simply moved some portable folding chairs in our garage up to the attic for the winter. And it attacked swiftly and in full force.

Poison Ivy is my arch allergen. And I'm pretty defenseless against it. I've had it terribly bad several times, enough to send me to the doctor for serious help. This time, I was able to identify and catch it in time.

Thankfully, my antigen is cheap and available. Epsom salt. Yep. I've tried everything from cheap to expensive. The only thing that will cure poison ivy is epson salt. Disolve it in warm water in a bowl and rub it on to the areas. In 2 days it will be mostly dried out and relief comes in a couple of hours.

Shane

California is a special place

2006-12-07T19:20:00.000-06:00

The other night on the way home from eating, we were discussing the meaning of Christmas as a family. I was joking with my oldest son Aedan, who is 5 years old, that we were going to "boycott" the consumerism of giving gifts for Christmas and were just going to celebrate Jesus' birthday with a cake that had 2000 candles on it. So we joked on and during the discussion, I asked Aedan where Jesus was born. "California," was the reply. Close I said... :-)

Shane

Shooting at the 5 foot goal

2006-11-21T00:02:00.000-06:00

This morning during breakfast, my 2-year-old son, Zach decided he wanted to get down and march over to the indoor basketball goal we have for the kids. Trying desperately to understand what he was "speaking," I made out that he wanted to have the goal raised from the 4 foot mark to the 5 foot one. "Zach," I was thinking, "That is awfully a big goal for someone is not yet 3 feet tall and can't make a 4 foot basket..."

Zach was persistent and insisted that I raise it, so I did. He still could not make the basket. But the most interesting part of this whole interaction came next.

I looked at Zach and said, "Zach, you can't make it." I wanted to see what he would do.

And the energetic 2 year old looked right at me, smiled a big grin, laughed and with a glimmer in his eye and all the determination he could muster, he kept shooting.

And as I said it again, "Zach, you can't make it." He would laugh even louder and he made a game of it.

To all adults out there, including myself... "Raise your goal."

Then laugh when someone tells you you can't make it.

Shane

Telling the world about Animal Traks

2006-11-16T15:40:00.000-06:00

We released our first press release today. We distributed via several different channels and are going to see which ones work the best. Here are a few links to the press release:

Animal Traks at PR Leap
Animal Traks at PR Free
Animal Traks at PR Log

I've also contacted the local Waco media and trying to be "viral." If you know of someone in the media, please forward them the info.

Shane

Confused grandma rescued by color change...

2006-11-15T09:15:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine, who shall remain anonymous, purchased 5 of our color change shirts as gifts for her grandchildren in Florida. When she arrived and gave them their gifts, she told them "these shirts glow in the dark." So the children all got their shirts on piled into the dark closet AND....

Nothing. Notta. No fun. What kind of cruel joke is this grandma?

A couple of days later, I'm happy to report, the kids wore their shirts outside and BAM! color, color everywhere. They immediately called grandma and were all excited about their shirts.

Grandma was rescued from disgrace. Happy kids.

Send us your stories...

Shane

Trademarks, ideas, and viruses

2006-11-06T11:01:00.000-06:00

Seth Godin, writer and marketing guru, is one of my favorite blogs to read. I am an avid reader of Seth's books and FREE PDFs on all things business and marketing. I encourage you to check him out if you own a business or if you work for someone, it doesn't matter because in reality we are all marketers of something. Your favorite: restaurant, book, blog, car, whatever it might be.

Seth's riff on Trademarks was particularly interesting. As a small business start-up, David and I were concerned about our "idea" being taken. We didn't want someone's "R&D" or Rob and Duplicate department grabbing our idea before we were to market. So we filed for Trademark for Animal Traks (tm). We are waiting to hear back from the USPTO, but that could be up to a year. Both David and myself realize that "ideas" are fleeting and there really is "nothing new under the sun." But we still wanted to keep the honest people honest.

Seth points out that "protecting" the idea with a Trademark in the end doesn't protect your idea if you are sitting all alone with it. So we don't place all our confidence in the Trademark protection and we hope that our brand Animal Traks will be associated with a company that is in business to assist the non-profit foundations we support (Rafiki and The Wild) to care for the children and animals.

And as Seth writes, "If actively protecting your trademark is going to get in the way of making your idea spread, the choice is obvious--spread the idea."

I first came across Seth when he wrote an article for Fast Company magazine called "Unleash Your Ideavirus." What an incredible article for insight into how to launch ideas. Animal Traks is currently working the Ideavirus. Let us know if you are a "sneezer" by emailing us and all your friends and family.

It just vanished...

2006-11-06T10:27:00.000-06:00

It is gone. October that is. For nearly a week and I took a look up and realized that the Animal Traks blog had not been posted to in way too long. The main reason being that my wife Vanessa and I welcomed our third child and first daughter, Kyra Skye to this world on October 15th. I took a week off from work, went back for a week and then decided to take advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act. FMLA is a a federal law that allows for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for your family.

QUESTION: So Animal Traks isn't you and David's full-time job? No, not yet. We are starting up and hoping to grow quickly. (so buy some products for Christmas gifts and give the money twice on the same purchase; once to Animal Traks and then to Rafiki and The Wild).

So now I'm off trying to do all the things that I can't do with a corporate "day" job. It's been a week now... Starting on the 2nd week and it is refreshing to wake up and be with my family and then get the day going. I'm at Starbucks right now "working". This is a new adventure for me as I haven't had an extended break from the working a "real" job since 1993, and I'm really liking the working for myself.

Thinking Deficiency Disorder

2006-10-13T19:13:00.000-06:00

Most people use a fraction of their abilities while at work. I don't think this comes as any great surprise to most people in the corporate world. The primary reason for starting Animal Traks was to provide an avenue for David and I to live out our true callings. The Fast Company article, "Wise Up" by Margaret Heffernan is a strong reminder of what we have embarked on. Check it out, it's worth the 7.25 minute read.

No, I don't time myself when I'm reading. That would be silly. Just checking to see if you were paying attention... Most people only use 5-10% of their ability...

The Journey Begins...

2006-10-02T20:23:00.000-06:00

After 4 months of thoughts, planning, re-thinking, and building, we are introducing Animal Traks to the world. We look forward to what God has in store for us as we take a step out on the path that He calls us to. This is an exciting journey for us and we hope that you find the direction that we move this company in, is one of integrity and excellence. Thank you to those who have encouraged us and gotten excited about our adventure with us. We plan on allowing this to be a truly remarkable endeavor. Here's are a couple of quotes that motivated me during the process:

"Act as though it were impossible to fail."
- Winston Churchill

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." --- Henry David Thoreau, 1817

So here we go...

Shane