Risk & Associates - August 2022

Risk & Associates - August 2022

COUNTYCIVIL.COM

AUGUST 2022

August kicks off a flood of ads about back-to-school season. I’ve certainly seen my fair share of businesses advertising their school supplies to help students prepare for their fall semesters. After seeing these commercials, I realized that business owners could also use this month to prepare their businesses for what lies ahead. Here are four ways you can use August to build your business. 1. Launch a new item. You don’t have to wait until the start of a new year to launch products or services. Instead, take advantage of this month by brainstorming ideas for a new item. You can go ahead and plan what’s missing in the market, how you will advertise and brand the item, and who your targeted audience is. If you wait until January 2023 to release new material, you will have a lot of competition, but later this year, the market will be less competitive. So, start planning the hottest new trend today! 2. Plan and prepare for the fall. Are there pesky tasks you’ve been avoiding? Well, now is the perfect time to go ahead and complete them. Instead of waiting until the last minute to achieve results, save yourself some time (and stress) by getting projects out of the way. If any maintenance issues need to be fixed, start creating a game plan regarding how you can repair those now. For example, if your heater isn’t working correctly, you don’t want to wait until it begins to get cold to fix it. If nothing needs to be repaired right now, take this time to set goals, write a program, or review budgets. 3. Make public appearances. Remember the back-to-school advertisements I mentioned earlier? These allow businesses to stay at the top of their customer’s minds because they know who to go to when they need supplies. You can do this too by making public appearances. If you don’t want to schedule a time and a location to speak, social media is a great FOR YOUR BUSINESS! It’s Back-to- School Season

August is known as the dog days of summer, but with these tips, this month will help you stay motivated throughout the fall.

way to connect with your audience virtually. You can go live on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok and showcase upcoming events, news, launches, and much more. These appearances will help you create a relationship with your customers and keep you and your business at the top of their minds. 4. Take some time to relax. As a business owner, your days are filled with meetings, imperative tasks, and various projects. But don’t forget to insert some time into your busy schedule to care for yourself. Sometimes, you may feel guilty about taking time off, but allowing yourself to relax can actually help you in the long run. You will be refreshed, inspired, and ready to take on your projects if you’re well-rested. So, take some time to do what makes you happy. Your body and mind will thank you for it. August is known as the dog days of summer, but with these tips, this month will help you stay motivated throughout the fall. In the same way that students prepare for school, you and your business will be ready for what comes next with the help of these strategies. I hope you will have a happy and safe August. Summer is almost over, so let’s take advantage of the warmer weather and preparation time while we still can. -Rick E. Risk

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UNDERSTANDING THE STREISAND EFFECT

DON’T THROW A FIT

If you want to avoid getting unwanted attention in a situation, it’s best to not make a big deal out of it. But if you’re an international superstar, like Barbra Streisand, a seemingly small reaction can become much more than intended. The Streisand Effect The Streisand Effect is a phenomenon that occurs where an act of suppressing information can make the information more widespread. In 2003, photographer Kenneth Adelman of California Coastal Records Project took an aerial photograph of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu estate. Adelman was documenting California’s coast for a project that would provide over 12,000 photos for researchers and scientists to study coastal erosion. But at the time, Streisand believed the photos explicitly showed people how to gain

access to her private residence, so she sued Adelman for $50 million.

Ralph Lauren has fallen victim to the Streisand Effect. An image of a horribly photoshopped model was posted on two blogs: Photoshop Disasters and Boing Boing. Ralph Lauren caught wind of this and took action by sending cease-and-desist letters to the blogs, claiming that it was a violation of copyright law and should be removed. But the image fell under fair use, which allows usage for news and commentaries. Ralph Lauren apologized for the distorted ad but still received backlash. The best way to counter the Streisand Effect is to avoid aggressive tactics when faced with negative information and think carefully and calculatingly in your response. So, if we learned anything from Barbra Streisand, don’t throw a fit if something doesn’t turn out the way you want it to.

The photo of Streisand’s residence was originally seen a total of six times — twice by her lawyers. Her outburst brought in news outlets who reported her outrage, and in turn, the photo of her residence got blasted everywhere. Not only did she do the exact opposite of what she wanted, but she also lost the lawsuit and had to cover all of Adelman’s legal fees. Examples of the Streisand Effect During the 2013 Super Bowl, Beyonce executed an energetic show and BuzzFeed posted photos of the “Fiercest Moments” from her performance. Beyonce’s publicist asked BuzzFeed to remove some of the unflattering photos, and instead they created a new post titled, “The Unflattering Photos Beyonce’s Publicist Doesn’t Want You To See.”

School Is Back in Session! 3 Tips to Prepare Your Child

Summer is coming to an end, and the kids will return to school soon. The weeks before school starts are always busy and stressful. So instead of starting the back-to-school season with no plan, let’s start this school year on the right foot. Here are three tips to help your child prepare for the upcoming academic year. 1. Start a bedtime routine. Over the summer, children won’t be in the habit of waking up early and getting ready for school. To make it easier for your children to get up early, develop a bedtime routine two weeks before school starts. Without a routine in place, the first few weeks of school may be difficult. Implementing a bedtime routine in advance will help your child get into the habit and ensure they are ready for their days in the classroom. 2. Plan your back-to-school shopping. Don’t wait until the week before school starts to buy your child’s supplies — it will be more stressful for both of you. Instead, plan a day to go shopping at least a few weeks before school is back in session. If you do this, you will have time to get everything

your child needs, and stores won’t be sold out of certain items. When shopping, allow your child to pick out which backpack, notebooks, and pencils they want. It may help increase their excitement about going to school and using all their new things. 3. Meet the teachers. If your child is anxious about starting school because they will have a new classroom or new teachers, see if you both can tour the school. Most schools will have a back-to-school night where parents and children can walk around the school, be introduced to their teachers, and meet other students. These events allow your child to become familiar with their new classroom, peers, and the school’s staff — which may reduce their anxiety about returning to school. In addition, you should introduce yourself to their teachers, so they know who to contact in case of emergencies.

It may take a few weeks for your child to get back into the swing of things, but by preparing in advance, you will set them up for success.

Happy back-to-school season, everyone!

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3 Strategies to Help You Stay Motivated LOSING STEAM DURING YOUR WORK WEEK?

Celebrate every victory. When looking at the big picture, things can seem complicated and overwhelming. Therefore, pay attention to the small things and celebrate every victory. For example, did you

August is known as the dog days of summer — the season is coming to an end, but it’s not fall yet. Even though the days are slowly getting shorter, the clocks haven’t changed yet; and because of this limbo, some people tend to lose motivation during this time. Although it can be challenging to stay focused, here are three strategies to help you stay motivated throughout the week and feel less burned out. Plan your week. Sometimes your tasks seem overwhelming because you’re not prepared for them, or you may not be in the proper mindset. To help you stay on top of your responsibilities, write out in advance everything you must complete for the week. If there is a project you’re working on that will be time-consuming, break it up into smaller tasks throughout the week to make it easier and less intimidating. By planning ahead, you won’t be surprised with your workload. Create daily to-do lists. If you have trouble managing projects to the point where you don’t have enough time for everything, begin prioritizing specific tasks. Although you planned your week in advance, it’s important to create a schedule specifically for each day. You can number your tasks from top priority to lowest because this will ensure your most important tasks are finished first. In fact, daily to-do lists will help you stay focused and enable you to concentrate on specific goals.

complete a section of one task? Celebrate it! Acknowledging these tiny milestones helps you stay motivated because you’re not concentrating on the big picture. Take one task at a time and recognize when you complete them. Then, move on to the next project, and repeat the process. You’re doing great! It’s easy to lose steam halfway through your workweek or through a long project — we’ve all been there. But with these strategies, you’ll easily tackle your weekly workload with more motivation than ever before. It may take some time, but if you stick with it, your weeks will fly by faster with less stress.

ADVENTURE DOGS

MOTORCYCLE MUGGY RELAXATION SANDWICH SWIMMING VACATION

FRIENDSHIP GLADIOLUS HEAT MARSHMALLOW

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2383 Tamarack St., Lake Odessa, MI 48849 616-374-7170 | COUNTYCIVIL.COM R isk & A ssociates

Rick Risk is Founder and President of Risk & Associates, a legal support service provider in Michigan, and has assisted hundreds of attorneys, municipalities, courts, Sheriff Offices, businesses, and others with their strategic process needs.

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1 2

4 Tips to Help Build Your Business

How Censorship Can Backfire

Don’t Wait Until Last Minute to Do This!

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August Is the Dog Days of Summer

It All Happened Because of a Cartoon

Fake News and Clickbait — FORMS OF YELLOW JOURNALISM

It’s everywhere — misleading articles and video titles that grab your attention and entice you to click on them. Media outlets even exaggerate the truth to gain more views. This kind of journalism has garnered the labels clickbait and fake news. But how did these methods of journalism come to be? It all started in the 1890s with something called yellow journalism.

World’s owner, Joseph Pulitzer, hired artist R.F. Outcault to create “Hogan’s Alley” (a comic strip) featuring The Yellow Kid.

Then, William Randolph Hearst entered the picture. He acquired the New York Journal and competed relentlessly with Pulitzer’s New York World. He exaggerated his reporter’s headlines and created misinformed and misleading stories to grab his readers’ attention and gain more profit. He also offered Outcault more money if he started working for his newspaper. So, the cartoonist went back and forth between the two papers and went with whoever would pay him more money. Ultimately, Hearst’s newspaper became more popular than Pulitzer’s in only a few years, but both men are credited with spawning this incredibly influential, over-the-top reporting tactic. Clickbait and fake news are basically the same thing and have their origins in “yellow” New York journalism. Who would’ve thought the name of a fictional cartoon character could coin an entire style of journalism?

How did yellow journalism gain traction?

Pulitzer originally wanted his newspaper to be more accessible to the working class

and discuss crime and corrupt governments. His reporters would go undercover to investigate labor strikes, shady business deals, and corruption and then write to influence

What is yellow journalism? Yellow journalism

and yellow press are terms for reporting

poorly researched or illegitimate news stories. It’s all about exaggerating news events, scandal- mongering, or grabbing attention through sensationalized accounts of news events. It got the term “yellow” when New York

change. Originally, The Yellow Kid had appeared in Truth magazine in 1894 and 1895, but Pulitzer ran the first color printing of the “Hogan’s Alley” cartoon in New York World in 1895, and it became a huge hit.

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