Day Twenty Nine,
"Honestly speaking Xavia, I don't have the foggiest idea about how much is enough for me since I am not a big spender by any means." chuckled Buzzwordy.
"An eccentric character like you is going to live forever so I think you will need a couple of million dollars to get through your life. Am I correct?" inquired Xavia.
All of a sudden, Buzzwordy felt like his boss was trying to get involved with his future well being. It was sort of nice but marginally intrusive. For him to further their discussions, he would need to work out his family expenses, figure out all his investments, and project how long he and his family were going to live. Just a load of work for a busy guy like him.
"Listen Buzzwordy, you need to know what you want in life so that you can design a plan to make your life work to your advantage. You're the kind of guy who loves to explore new things and gets bored easily by mundane stuffs. As your boss, I think I can read you pretty well. Anyway, I have given you a dollar figure to get you moving in the right direction." suggested Xavia.
"Thanks Xavia. Once I have a chance to review my financial situation, I will be in touch with you again." nodded Buzzwordy.
"Not a problem. When you get back to the office, please call a meeting with our marketing communication team. I want to review the 3D graphics that they did for our latest widget last week." requested Xavia.
Buzzwordy acknowledged and picked up his speed as he headed back to the company building.
Both Xavia and Buzzwordy were staring at the 3D graphics of their latest widget and getting terribly confused. They understood Bif's idea of saving money in print, but calling the widget graphics a 3D design was ludicrous.
"JJ, you got to help me out here! How come the widget graphics is not done in 3D? I've been staring at it for a while and this is a 2D design only!" questioned Buzzwordy.
"Buzzwordy, a widget is a widget so it really doesn't matter if you do it in 3D or 2D. I think it can still communicate the right message to the audience." giggled JJ the marketing communication manager in her usual dreadlock hair design.
"JJ, please don't start this again! How can a 2D design truly represent our widget? We got to add the Z dimension for a real-life object. I think this is just plain and simple!" demanded Buzzwordy in a stern voice.
JJ looked puzzled and wasn't sure how to respond to Buzzwordy. Her giggle continued as she left the meeting room without telling Xavia and Buzzwordy where she was going.
"Xavia, let me tell you straight. I think Bif is behind this insane madness! I can just picture what Petro is going to say." complained Buzzwordy.
"Bif just came up with this 90-10 rule. He is 90% correct all the times and 10% correct some of the times!" whispered Xavia.
"I heard someone mentioned my name!" shouted Bif as he stormed into the meeting room with JJ.
Will the situation worsen? Lets reconnect on Day Thirty!
Buzzwordy
Day Twenty Eight,
The back of Bif's neck was crimson red and Buzzwordy was able to tell that a couple of veins were abnormally engorged as he walked behind his CEO.
Xavia appeared to be somewhat annoyed by Bif's unprofessional behavior, nevertheless, he kept quiet as the three of them made their way back to Bif's office.
"So tell me Buzzwordy, who is this Professor Sandie anyway and what kind of deal did you make with him?" asked the perplexed Bif.
"Bif, I ran into this guy at the local bookstore in my neighborhood about a week ago. He was obnoxious and antagonistic in every conceivable way. Let me just ....!" explained Buzzwordy.
"Enough! You and your smart brain always get my company into a world of hurts. Remember, this social media nonsense is not going to fly in my company! If you want to impress this guy, you're on your own and don't embarrass me or there will be consequences!" screamed Bif.
Buzzwordy took a quick peek at Xavia and did not see any reaction from his boss. Xavia managed to keep himself out of the discussions by burying himself in reading and responding to emails on his BlackBerry.
"Bif, I understand your concern and will deal with Professor Sandie myself!" acknowledged Buzzwordy.
"Not during the office hours and get out of my office now!" shouted Bif.
This little saga with Bif had basically ruined the precious lunch plan that Buzzwordy and Xavia had initally planned for. Feeling morally down and defeated, Buzzwordy couldn't pick himself up and was just about to propose to Xavia to call off their lunch meeting.
"Buzzwordy, I think this social media stuff is really going to blossom because it helps build communities so rapidly. It can scale infinitely if you plan it right. Bif is from the old school and he can only be convinced by data. You know that!" uttered Xavia.
"So Xavia, are you still in the mood for lunch?" asked Buzzwordy.
"Lets do it now since I'm starving!" confirmed Xavia.
After a rather brief lunch outing, the two of them hopped back into Xavia's car and headed back to the office. Buzzwordy was disappointed since there was no discussion about Xavia's financial achievement during lunch. His boss set a world record by finishing his ham sandwich and a bowl of red bean soup in less than 3 minutes.
"Buzzwordy, do you want to be rich or just work as a marketing stiff for Bif for the rest of your eternity?" probed Xavia as he was pulling into the company's parking lot.
"Are you referring to how to maximize your wealth from the stock market?" questioned the inquisitive Buzzwordy.
"Making money is a secret that you keep to yourself. It is like asking a magician to teach you his grand money-making tricks. It just won't happen!" cautioned Xavia.
"I'm confused Xavia. What are you trying to tell me? Are you saying that I need to develop my wealth optimization plan or will you teach me the dark secrets of financial freedom?" asked Buzzwordy.
"How rich do you want to become Buzzwordy?" grinned Xavia.
Buzzwordy was frantically seeking for a number in his mind but couldn't seem to settle on the right one.
I will be back on Day Twenty Nine.
Buzzwordy
Day Twenty Seven,
Buzzwordy still had another week to go before he had to stop by at Professor Sandie's marketing class to spread his wisdom in social media marketing. Since meeting the professor in his local bookstore, he managed to catch up with his social media reading, developed some provocative ideas, and debated with his colleagues regarding which age group should be the ideal candidate for promoting a crazy and fun-filled social media site. As always, his position was uncompromising at first, but he tended to back off from antagonizing his peers once the debate started to get out of hand.
It wasn't the social media debate that bothered him but the fact that he was caught in the discussions concerning the most qualified age group for promoting the social media site really made him think about the usefulness of a traditional brick-and-mortar marketing role. He believed that a well-run company would need talents and multiple disciplines from many different people in order to be insanely successful. If his conviction was correct, then, even for a crazy and fun-loving site, different age groups could participate and contribute accordingly.
"I know that not all the young professionals are cut out for the social media world. On the contrary, there are some pretty creative and energetic old dogs out there who will run circles around their young counterparts on any given day!" smirked Buzzwordy.
Whenever he had some free time with Xavia (his smart and impatient boss), he tended to nudge him to share his financial wisdom with him. Despite his temper tandrum and a lack of respect for many things, Xavia had a unique gift for numbers. These are not the numbers in the company's revenue projection or balance sheets, but the numbers which he masterfully grew in his investment portfolio over the last 5 years. On a good day, Xavia would love to brag about his success in picking winners from losers in the turbulent stock market.
The week prior to his visit to Professor Sandie's class was unusually slow and rumors were flying around in his company regarding a potential re-organization which Bif had been architecting for quite sometime. After a brief revenue update meeting with Xavia and the other marketing and sales people, Buzzwordy proposed to invite his boss out to a quick lunch with the intention to get some financial advice. Xavia immediately agreed.
"Buzzwordy, since we still have another 15 minutes to spare, let me share this story with you so listen up!" proposed Xavia in a sort of relaxed manner.
"Have you ever heard of the story about {Earl and Martha}?" asked Xavia.
"No, never!" replied Buzzwordy readily.
"OK, this is how the story goes! Earl was a retired Wall Street executive and his wife's name was Martha. When Earl retired, he managed to sock away $1B in his bank accounts. 5 years later, he filed for bankruptcy and Martha was nowhere to be found. Do you know why?" quizzed Xavia.
"Why?" shrugged Buzzwordy.
"Simple answer. Earl earns and Martha burns. That's why!" chuckled Xavia.
Buzzwordy was somewhat puzzled by Xavia's rhetorical monologue, however, he knew that his boss was onto something so he kept pressing forward.
"Do you mean that Martha spent all of Earl's money and skipped town without a trace?" asked the inquisitive Buzzwordy.
"Trust no one but your own inner sense Buzzwordy!" replied Xavia with a cold stare.
"I see Xavia. Lets head out for lunch now!" nodded Buzzwordy.
As the two of them started to walk towards the lobby, they saw Bif (the CEO) charging towards them with an angry look on his face.
"I need both of you in my office right now. I got a call from this guy who called himself Professor Sandie. What's with this social media marketing crap anyway?" shouted Bif.
Buzzwordy rolled his eyes and began to follow Bif to his office.
The tale will continue on Day Twenty Eight.
Buzzwordy
Image via Wikipedia
