Cleaning Out The Junk

by Scott Howard | Feb 17, 2025 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

When was the last time you cleaned up your business?

Got rid of the junk you don’t need anymore?

Back in January I saw a lot of memes and social media posts from people resolving to clean up their lives in various ways.

Like getting rid of all those miscellaneous power cords and adapters that have outlived whatever they were originally used for.

Or doing a purge of email? My wife had a couple thousand unread emails and decided to go all in and wipe them all out with my help.

She didn’t just want to get rid of the unopened emails, she wanted her entire email account emptied. Even the trash folder where old emails hang out for 30 days.

So I did it. She started 2025 with an empty Gmail account. So far there’s only been one email that she misses. Sort of.

For me this year, I cleaned up this website a bit. Simplified the design, removed some of the extra form-fills and scaled it down.

I’ve also been slowly but surely cleaning up my home office of the stuff I brought home in 2023 from my “office” office.

As the weather gets warmer, we’ll be doing more in the garage and outdoor areas to declutter and remove stuff.

Business wise, what junk do you need to get rid of?

My primary radio station WOWO is celebrating its 100th birthday this year and you might think that we probably have 100 years of memorabilia, but we don’t.

10 years ago, on WOWO’s 90th birthday, our program director did an excellent job of creating a History of WOWO podcast series that also includes video clips, photos, old audio and a lot of stories from the people who were part of WOWO’s history… and that’s good because many of the people who were a part of the first 50 years of WOWO are no longer around to tell those stories anymore.

As you move forward with your business this year, or your life in general, take time to get rid of the junk, saving what you really need, and updating what should be updated. Not only will it make your life and business less stressful as you declutter, its a gift to those that follow you to not have to do it when you’re gone.

You have permission to Clean Out The Junk, and keep the very best.

A Few Personal Thoughts for August 2024

by Scott Howard | Aug 1, 2024 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo

It’s the first day of August 2024 as I write these words of an extra article on this website that is a personal reflection, marking a moment in time as we enter the final 5 months of the year. Usually, most of my articles are related to Media, Marketing and Personal Insights. This one is just the last without any Media and Marketing stuff, sort of like what I used to do before I launched this website in 2011 and these writings were being published on my ScLoHo Really? blog. Also there is no podcast episode for this article.

Most days I don’t wake up to an alarm clock, unless I really have to be up earlier than normal. I wake up naturally between 5 and 7am at the latest. Today, I was out the door at 7am with a goal of enjoying the morning time before work and taking in some of the Sights Of The City.

The reason I capitalized Sights Of The City is that is the title of a series of Facebook posts I’ve been sharing deliberately since last summer. These posts feature a picture I’ve snapped with my phone and often there is no explanation just a pic. Some people comment and some try and guess where the picture was taken if it’s an unfamiliar shot. The City happens to be where I’ve lived for the last 26 year, Fort Wayne Indiana.

Usually when I leave my home I swing by the nearest Taco Bell where I get a breakfast burrito for a buck fifty and a large Diet Dew, but they changed their hours from opening at 6:30 to 8am so that means I have some extra time beforehand. Today I visited a few spots in town to take some more pictures and soak up the sunshine, plus get a little walking exercise along with the numerous others doing their early morning jogs and dog walks.

Before I was doing the Sights Of The City, I had another routine of grabbing my Taco Bell breakfast and heading to a park with water and posting those photos each day. That was particularly helpful for my mental health during 2020.

As you recall, starting in March 2020, Indiana was shut down as a preventative measure to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Like many of you, I was now working from home so to get out in the morning before jumping into my workday, was a great way to start my weekdays.

I’ve also noticed over the years that I enjoy spending a little bit of time around water. I don’t need or want to live on a lake or river, but the opportunity to make a stop in my day to sit for a bit by a body of water is refreshing to me.

2020 was also a transition year for me. Our company had some management changes that included my boss and friend Ben, to be promoted from General Sales Manager of WOWO radio, to VP/General Manager of Federated Media Fort Wayne. With Ben’s promotion, he needed to replace himself as General Sales Manager and in mid-February 2020, I took over as the GSM for WOWO. Now instead of being one of 5 members of the WOWO advertising sales team, I was the leader, manager and coach of my former teammates which requires a very different skill set and revision of the application of my talents. Fortunately, our company has an ongoing training and support system for this, but due to the pandemic restrictions, even that was upended as we adjusted to a video/virtual world instead of in-person meetings.

I served as General Sales Manager for close to 4 years including adding 3 more stations on an interim basis for the final year. Me and my team were responsible for around 70% of the revenue for our Fort Wayne operations. Deciding who was going to be on my sales team was one of the most important duties. With WOWO, after a few months, I decided to let one of our underperforming sales persons go. He was in his 4th year but performing as a Sophomore, not a Senior to put it in academic terms. I was willing to help him get on track but he decided to refuse my help.

That was H. During my management years, I also added and subtracted M.; W.; B.; G.; T; R.; T.; M, H. That’s 10 people. Two were hired by someone else and started the same week I took over in management. Two of them quit on their own. Two of them I hired for the radio station the Bear last summer (and one of those is still there). Another in that list actually quit after I left management.

Despite helping two of my WOWO Sales Team reach new heights, we were starting to miss team budgets because of not having enough of the right players on our team. When I moved to management, my role selling diminished. The year before I moved to management, I won our company award for Account Executive of the Year and then spent the next couple of years transitioning nearly all of my accounts to others so I could focus on helping my team, not competing with my team.

In 4th quarter 2023 I stepped back from management and back to active sales on the WOWO Advertising Sales team. We hired back a long time former Federated Media sales manager who initially took over the stations I was Interim General Sales Manager of, and then he also took over GSM duties for WOWO too.

A couple of big benefits for me is I’m not responsible for anyone other than myself again. Instead of looking at spreadsheets and coaching our sales team, I get to spend my time working for my clients on my schedule. Previously I had at least 9 weekly internal meetings, some weeks that ballooned up to 12. For someone that is used to setting my own schedule in the office, that’s a lot of office time.

I used to brag to friends that there are only two hours a week that I needed to be at the office, and now that I’m back in active sales, that’s mostly true again. Which leaves me with time to visit the various Sights Of The City, or a park with water, or take time off when needed.

Most weeks I am done by 3pm Friday because that’s the deadline for getting ads scheduled for the following Monday. I’m usually putting in around 50 hours a week starting Sunday afternoons and some late evenings but most weekends start Friday around 4 and include all of Saturday as non-work time.

My wife and I have taken two long weekend vacations this year and I’ve got another trip planned for the end of this month to spend time with family because despite the fact I enjoy my work, it’s family I value above that, and while we can do video and voice, nothing beats a few hours in-person.

Speaking of family, both my wife and I have had daughters move out of state this year. All of our 5 kids are from our first marriages, I had three, she had two and there are at least 11 grandkids ranging in age from preschool to in the Navy. As an only child, I find it amazing that we have all this family!

I know that there is a whole lot of political news and international conflicts and all kinds of other things that take up space in all of our lives right now, but keeping ourselves centered is key to daily life.

Everyone of you and us have something going on in our lives “below the surface” that isn’t public. For that reason alone, give others a little slack and grace. And give yourself some grace too.

The 64 year old ScLoHo has a lot more insight and perspective than I did when I was 32. There are a lot less big, life changing moments that we go thru than we think as we are going thru them. There are a lot of little, life changing moments, and you and I get to have a lot more say in how our lives play out than we probably realize. Spend your time on this planet wisely and that includes living a balanced life. I get to serve as a volunteer again with some non-profits like I did before I was in management, perhaps that’s something you could do to? The most recent was being a tech volunteer at our church running camera and powerpoints during some of the services this summer. Other ways I serve are to use my professional experience in media and marketing and apply it to some non-profits that need my expertise. The last couple of years I’ve resumed being a special guest speaker at area colleges and universities.

You have talents and abilities that you can give away too.

Even if you don’t sign up for anything, there are people around you that could use a friend, or at least a friendly ear. Not always to be their problem solver, but just to listen as they verbalize what’s going on and as they talk, they actually figure out their own solutions. Can you do that?

Once in a Lifetime Eclipse

by Scott Howard | Apr 29, 2024 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, ScLoHo's Fort Wayne, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo

It’s been a few weeks but on April 8th millions of us in the United States were in the path of a solar eclipse.

Here in Indiana, the main event was shortly after 3pm as the moon blocked the light from the sun for a few minutes.

Where I live, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, we were in the 99.9% of total blackout and I was going to attend a rooftop viewing party locally.

However a few days before, my daughter who lives in Colorado told me she and her husband and kids were making the trek back home to witness it first hand and they were going to a rural spot south of Ft. Wayne where her in-laws lived and could we join them?

Yes was the answer and like many others we made a drive to see the world go dark in the middle of the afternoon.

It was a cool experience and likely the last solar eclipse I will witness first hand in my lifetime considering the next one for where I live is in 2099 and I’d be well over 100 years+ old.

There were plenty of crazy people predicting the 2nd coming of Jesus, or the rapture, or other things that most of us ignored. For the most part, this was an event for the masses without any political division or any other of the things that can divide people.

Instead, it was a day where all people could enjoy the same thing without a lot of spin. Oh there was a lot of hype and some news organizations went overboard warning people to be prepared for the worst.

But it really was nothing more than a natural, predictable occurrence that was available for anyone to witness first hand either in person like we did or on screens like many others did.

And that my friends, was a refreshing change from the multiple divisions this world seems to foster.

I’ll toss in a marketing tidbit… Be honest about how you promote things in your business. Once in a Lifetime can only occur once every 75 years or so. And remember the old adage of Underpromise and Overdeliver. This year’s eclipse was like that for me and hopefully you too.

Getting Personal with August Reflections

by Scott Howard | Aug 16, 2022 | Really? The Personal ScLoHo

I’m skipping my usual format for this week’s update and going to share some personal stuff instead. Next week’s update is already ready but a few things have occurred recently that I decided to share right now.

When this article and podcast goes live, I will be getting ready to have a meeting with other radio managers as we sit on a boat in the middle of a lake in northern Indiana.

There are over 1500 articles on this website that I’ve written and published over the past couple of decades and this is also podcast #278. The Scott Howard Genuine ScLoHo Media & Marketing podcasts have been updated nearly every week since March 2017 and when I started the podcast, these articles became more business focused and less personal reflections.

However the following year, I wrote about a couple of tragic event that occurred 4 years ago this month. In August 2018, my friend Charly Butcher who was the host of Fort Wayne’s Morning News on WOWO radio was on vacation and we got news that Charly has died. It was totally out of the blue, as he was one of the more fit people we knew. About the same time, one of my wife’s brother’s was taken to the hospital and within a couple of days, we knew that Mike was in his last days. I was contacting funeral homes to make arraignments for my brother-in-law, my wife was at his hospital bed, the radio station was in shock and dealing with the sudden death of Charly and it’s both a bit of a blur along with some very sharp distinct memories of that week.

Fast forward to August 2022 and I’m getting reminders from Facebook Memories about events from years past in August. First off, 2013 that same brother in law, Mike was in the hospital getting his jaw wired shut after being beat up and left for dead. He survived that and stayed with us for a few weeks to recover. Then the 2018 events I just mentioned showed up. Charly passed away on August 15th, which happens to be my Mom’s birthday. If she was still around, this week should would be 79. Mike passed away the following week.

In the past couple of weeks I was also informed of deaths of three friends. Mary, Dan and Jill, all unrelated have had their time on this planet come to an end.

Before you get all depressed or think that I’m feeling down, I’m not. Sad, that I can’t talk to any of those people anymore, but more reflective. 9 years ago I wrote the following words:

Days that Count versus Counting The Days. Because we cannot accurately count the days or years we have left, my goal is to live Days that Count. Live each day with open eyes, ears, and an open heart. Do not let opportunities to help, give, listen, serve to be pushed aside or ignored. Instead, weigh the opportunities and see how God wants us to respond.

Until next week, I’m Scott Howard, aka ScLoHo.

8 Principles to Improve Your Life and Business

by Scott Howard | Aug 11, 2021 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, Really? The Personal ScLoHo, ScLoHo's Collective Wisdom, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo, WOWO Fort Wayne Radio Advertising with Scott Howard

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article on Medium.com titled: 8 Pillars of a Satisfied and Happy Life. Here’s a link to it: https://medium.com/mind-cafe/8-pillars-of-a-satisfied-and-happy-life-847d98707e81

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon as I read it and decided that I wanted to add my spin on the 8 Pillars with both insights on how to apply this to you business and also reflections on how I do it personally.

On the business side of my life, I am the General Sales Manager of WOWO Radio, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I lead and coach 6 full time advertising sales people on our Local Sales Team. I moved into this position at the beginning of 2020, a few weeks before Indiana went into lock-down due to the pandemic. This is my 8th year with WOWO and I’ve been in the media and marketing world most of my life, although I do know how to drive a forklift and run a thermoformer too.

On the personal side, my wife and I have been married for over two decades and our 5 kids from our 1st marriages of made us grandparents multiple times. The people on my Local Sales Team at WOWO range in age from my age to my kids age and so I know most of what they go through both personally and professionally. The term, “Been There, Done That”, applies however the world has changed since I was a new Dad, some for the better, other changes not so much.

Pillar Number One from the Medium story:

1. Allow Yourself To Be Happy Before You “Succeed”

Absolutely. As you grow, you need to learn to enjoy the journey. Starting a new business is challenging all the time, not just in extreme circumstances. Give yourself credit for doing the work. One of the ways I measure the activity of the sales team I work with is the types of activity they are doing and how much they are doing. I know that if they do certain benchmarks, success will follow.

Similarly, my wife likes gardening and it makes her happy. It is hard work and the rewards take time to grow, but in the meantime, she is happy doing the work. How about you? Do you have benchmarks in your business or life that you use to measure success before the financial success comes in?

2. Have A Clear Vision

Goals need to be both short and long term. My team has a big picture goal that I shared at the beginning of the year, and then each month I break it down into smaller chunks for each person. Together I work with each of them to help guide them to achieve those smaller goals which will add up to the original long term goal for our team.

I’ve worked for others who had no vision or they were continually changing course which creates frustration and confusion. As a business owner, make sure your team understands the vision for your company too. When my wife and I plan a trip either for ourselves or to visit family, we agree on the important elements and then also plan the details. I learned several years ago how we best travel together and perhaps you and your spouse have learned what works best for you too.

3. Devote Yourself To Something Meaningful

I really dislike most advertising salespeople. At least the way they do business, too many are focused on themselves, not on their clients success. That has been the secret to my success. To help others succeed, using the wisdom, knowledge and experience I’ve learned. That’s one way I devote myself to something meaningful. I also am involved serving on a non-profit organizations board to give back to the community. How do you and your employees give of yourselves?

4. Become a Lifelong Learner

The day I stop learning is the day I stop living. My formal education is not documented with college degrees but I keep getting invited to speak at numerous higher education colleges and universities. Be curious. Learn from others, listen and ask questions and figure out how to apply it to your life, your business or the people around you.

5. Do Not Settle For Less

I’ve done this a couple of times. I’ve walked away from the world of advertising and took a break, but then I returned. Some people decide not to return to their dreams and by doing that they never know if they could accomplish what they once sought. On the personal side of life, this is very personal. On the business side, you are going to have to decide what is important and what isn’t. I used to work with an auto repair shop that was going to be open 24 hours a day. Then when the owner discovered that it wasn’t a sustainable way to run his shop, he settled for less hours. He also discovered how to merge what his customers really wanted with his vision and came up with a business plan that was unique, and he’s doing great now.

6. Remember To Have Fun

I took my WOWO Local Advertising Sales Team out for a morning of golf and lunch last month. It was a team building event but it was more than that. It was a time to set aside time to just have fun. It wasn’t a reward for hitting a certain goal, it wasn’t earned based on performance, it was simply a guilt free way to hang out on a day when others were working and have fun.

At work, at home, having fun is something we all need to include in our lives regularly, not just special events. How do you accomplish this?

7. Take Care Of Yourself

At the end of 2020, I decided to improve my health by dropping a few pounds and lost 20 pounds in about 6 months. I’ve maintained that and am slowing dropping a few more this year. Stress is the silent killer for everyone it seems. 99 out of 100 people you see this month have something stressful going on in their lives that you may never know about. You need to take care of your health, and encourage those who work for you to do the same. Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual health are all needing our attention. The H. R. Department at WOWO’s parent company, Federated Media sends out reminders about this and also provides resources that members of my team have made use of.

8. Cherish Those You Love

This is the last pillar from the Medium.com article, but it’s not the least important. I’m blessed to have loving relationships with my family and we work at making sure we stay in touch and express that love.

While the dynamics are usually different in a business setting, how would the culture improve if you really told your staff individually what you appreciated about them?

They need to know that they are appreciated and why. The companies that have problems retaining employees are the ones that have the worst company cultures. As a business owner or manager, you set the example. A genuinely positive work environment is also appreciated by your customers and clients too.

I hope you’ve learned a few things today, and perhaps go back and answer those questions I mentioned to see how 2021 can be even better for you and those around you.

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