After The Bell Rings

Cases of abuse can be all around you whether you see them or not. These red flags I encountered stunned me and could have ended up badly.

They shut down our smoothie bar, but they didn't shut us up.

When plan A doesn't work, you have to go to plan B. And sometimes you must employ plans C and D.

My #1 goal in my professional life is to ignite a fire and empower a group of teens. My #2 goal is to help you build up your teens. I do this the same way you chop down a tree... Bit by bit. Eventually that tree will fall.

We use several FREE Marketing Moves and Tactics for our smoothie bar. Here are 5 that have worked for us. Hint: One is illustrated in the episode picture.

One of my teens has a tendency to give up easily on tasks. I saw an Instagram post that inspired me to help him not give up on his dreams... using a cool Halloween theme.

This new format is designed to keep kids engaged no matter what their schedule or their interest.

Become part of the community. Your relationship with the community goes way farther than just a $5 smoothie.

One little girl brought a smile to my face when she zoomed by our stand as we were closing. She yelled to her mom, "I want a Mango Tango!" Because we've been consistent in our schedule and our products, we're building relationships with members and guests.

I've just made my program 10x better simply by asking my Teen Leader what he wants to do. His answer was simple but impactful.

Every paremt or mentor has a fav mentoring story. Here's mine. A huge boost in self-esteem came from a simple game of catch.

Somebody posted this question on Quora. I chose to use a current experience to answer the question. I recently started coaching for the first time, but it felt like I'd done it 100s of times before.

There's no way in the world this kid is a leader. I know him. I know he's not a leader. He's shown me no leadership skills. But who am I to deny him the opportunity to be a leader?

We interviewed teen candidates for our smoothie bar, and ALL the candidates (3 - 13, 14, and 17 years old) were professionally dressed WITH resumes. Words can't express the hope I feel in these kids. The future looks bright around here. Who has a good deal on sunglasses?

In a recent interview, former Bulls guard BJ Armstrong said teammate Michael Jordan always approached the game as if it was tied 0-0. Each possession was 0-0. For those of us who don't have 6 NBA Championships, rather than get comfortable with our accomplishments, we should approach the day like its tied 0-0. We still have work to do.

After I ordered something using GrubHub, I went online to give a review. They laughed at me SO HARD for reading and writing reviews. Why do they only give "star" ratings and not value others experiences?

One of my teens is managing our smoothie store. He talked to the membership director inside the building and was incredibly nervous. What he did after the conversation was simply amazing. I felt like after proud big brother.

After a brief exchange with an adult, one of my teens told me he's tired of people "who don't work with teens" taking them for granted and not taking them seriously.

Few teenagers want to learn how to sew - and mine definitely didn't. But when they actually sat down to learn, ALL of them LOVED IT!

Allow your students to have creativity to call an audible. If you plan something, allow them to put their own spin on it. As long as you reach a mutual goal, let it ride. They'll appreciate you for accepting their creativity.