My 40th birthday by Tony Green

My 40th birthday came and went a few weeks ago. The big 4-0. Many people asked if I feared turning 40. In short, being forty years ago is simply more justification that life moves along. Let’s take a glance at my life on the anniversary of my birthday in ten years intervals from today.

My preoccupation forty years ago involved my birth. On a clear evening my mom gave birth to my brother and me at the University of Pennsylvania hospital in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, I do not recall much from that evening :)

30 years ago I was a fifth grader at Lansdowne Friends School in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania which is outside of Philadelphia. I recall I started being interested in girls, of course, I had no idea where to start.

20 years ago I was matriculating at the University of Delaware as a Chemical Engineering undergraduate student. Like many college students who went to Delaware in those days, opportunities to party seemed to never subside. I was not of legal drinking age for the bars but I remember vividly partaking and having a good time. Moreover, I do remember many late nights which resulted in hangovers in the morning. In summary, the focus of my efforts did not center on my studies as much it should.

10 years ago in the later portions of my service in the U.S. Navy. I had been married for about a year and my son would be born in less than two weeks time. My memory does not recall what occurred on this particular day but since almost 300 days of the year either at sea or on-duty I am sure I spent my birthday on the submarine in one way or another.

All told, my life has been an interesting trip through the decades when I sit back and reflect. I do not believe appear to be 40 years of age. Assuming my life expectancy is 80 years then I am only half way through. ;) Where will I be ten years from now? Let’s worry about age fifty when the time comes.

Cure cycle and my commission by Tony Green

In any sales position salespeople are paid on the amount of sales they generate.
Selling industrial products is no different. Customers are attained and maintained if they get value for what they pay for and the value is communicated in a consistent manner.

The promotion of these products are the same as any product because the customer is still a person but different since the ultimate value is dependent upon the benefits that they received.

In many industrial fields, Chemistry in particular, the value comes from the actual properties and behavior of the chemicals in the customer’s application.
Case in point, I work in the chemical industry. My primary function is to market and sale epoxy chemicals to our customers. The electrical and heat resistance properties of epoxies find many uses as sealants, adhesive agents and in various other applications.

Epoxy polymers are cured by a process which is referred to as cross linking. Heat applied causes the molecules to form a three dimensional network of molecules. The time the reaction takes to complete is known as the cure cycle.
How does this relate to sales? Part of my job is to understand what the customer values. From my experience customers require as a short time as possible for curing to occur for their applications. There are many instances where this time can be shortened without loss of performance.

In the end, understanding the details of the cure cycle allows you to move the sales process forward. It will allow you to understand and communicate the customer requirements straight to your company who will use its expertise to provide the best possible solution. This does not turn out in the sales persons favor all the time. At times other polymers are better suited to the customer’s application. My training allows me to be to supply engineering support to our customer while the engineer does engineering.

In short, my perspective on chemical sales may be different due to my roots as an engineer prior to thinking about entering sales. In my view if you are already technically inclined why not have total control of your sales process? After all it is my commission.

Now everyone has personal website by Tony Green

Nowadays almost everyone maintains a personal website. A website is similar to having a mobile phone; a person may not need one, however, no one wants to feel excluded by not owning their own Universal Resource Locator (URL).

The only problem is since you have no idea what launching a website involves where do you start?

A good place to start is a name. Your given name works best. In the event it is not obtainable due to the (URL) being taken by someone else other options are available. Examples include if you are a senior or if you hold a title such as Ph.D.
Once a name for the domain is chosen it will need to be registered. There are many wonderful Web hosting programs to take care of this. Some include 1-on-1,Go-Daddy, and Yahoo!.

Assuming the chosen name is accessible and you encounter success in registering your domain a plan of what you want your website to be think of the following question: what do you like people viewing to find out about you?
This will, as you would expect, lead to the content you will include within the website. In the end, the material you write will pull readers in at first and keep them coming back. The best material to include is anything you may think someone else may find interesting. Examples of content would be ideas you are passionate about, your life story, hobbies, jobs, family, etc.
Now we will need a format to present this information. Infinite ways exist to arrange the contents. Regardless, the one item which needs to be established is home page. This is the first page a viewer accesses and gives visitors and idea of what your site contains. Some good things to add are your picture and links to everything else that is included.

No hard rules for material, although within the sections enough information should be enough to get to know a person. Popular choices include professional background (breathe life into your VC), Fast Facts (public associations, and schools and universities attended). Add a resume for kicks, or a video of yourself to complete the package.

Whew! All done! Now the fun begins on maintaining the website by updating with new content……..

I maintain a personal web site if you wondering …..http://www.tonygreen.name