One Little Spark: One customer's response makes all the difference to one mom

So much of what we read these days is negative, with a capital NEGATIVE. Add in a presidential race and the negativity seems to escalate.

In hopes of offering something different, I wanted to share this with you. It is a story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from Aisha Sultan.

In this story, you will see how one customer's response made all the difference in the world to a mom with a high-functioning autistic child. It gives us all something to think about and my hope is it encourages each of us to proactively look for ways to bring a little spark of encouragement to someone this weekend.

houston@figment-consulting.com

92% benefit academically, according to K12

The press releases sent out by K12 look impressive: 92% of parents in Utah Virtual Academies agree they benefited academically

It is even conducted by Edge Research, so it must be impressive. I mean, 92% is an overwhelming percentage in agreement. And, we all want kids to 'benefit academically.'

Take a closer look at the survey and the results begin to unravel. Let's look at the details:

1. 92% is actually based on the number of parents who responded to the survey, and not an overall percentage of families. That means the survey was conducted as a response survey. This typically means you will receive biased results because it is not representative of the overall population but rather dependent upon the response of the participants of their own volition.

2. According to the survey, to achieve a 100% response rate, the UTVA survey should have received 1,510 responses -- that is how many parents there are in the UTVA database of families.

3. How many responded? 1,000? 800? 500? -- actually, only 142 parents responded -- that equates to a 9% response rate. You read that correctly, only 9% of the potential population base responded.

4. A more accurate assessment would be 92% of the 9% of parents who responded agreed their children benefited academically from the curriculum (130 of the 142). 91% of parents in UTVA did not respond to the survey.

5. This means the headline of the press release is, at best, inaccurate. At worst, well, I will leave that one alone.

What does this mean overall? K12 is working hard to write a story, and they hope you only read the headlines.

It's time to stop blurring the truth. It's time to spend less time on press releases, and more time on crafting a story worth writing that leads to one worth sharing.

houston@figment-consulting.com

I Am Free

'I Am Free' is the debut song of former American Idol contestant Terrian Bass. It is a beautiful song from a wonderful young lady whose story is an inspiring one.

We here at Figment were proud to be part of Team Terrian and the launch of her musical career. And while the story we have to share with her continues, the beginning of the journey was a huge success.

We invite you to visit her re-imagined website www.terrianbass.com, download her debut song for free, and become a part of her story.

Figment handled:

* Website re-imagining
* Marketing strategy and development
* Public relations
* Lyric video development
* Social media strategy
* Overall messaging strategy

At the end of the day though, her success is due to the beauty of her song, and the message it holds.

Thanks Terrian for allowing us to play a small role.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Walk the thought

I know, it is supposed to be walk the talk.

But, we can deceive ourselves and others by saying one thing -- something that sounds so wonderful -- yet not actually doing it.

However, when it comes to walking the thought, well that is absolutely what we do each day, whether we believe it or not, like it or not.

Whatever we believe about ourselves manifests before us. Whatever stories we tell ourselves show themselves in our lives. Whatever thoughts dominate our minds display themselves in our daily walk.

If you desire to change your walk, don't start with your talk. Instead, begin with your thoughts.

houston@figment-consulting.com