Recently Scentsy has had a big push on embracing the millennials, meeting them where they are. That means doing business differently than we used to in the olden days.
I’m over 50 years old, so I can say this: I don’t always get the millennials.
This weekend I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Derick “Sandy” Hulme speak at Alma College. He was sharing successes of Alma students who went on to change the world and make a difference. One example he shared was how a group of college students did research and made recommendations to the U.N. (as in the real United Nations).
One of the students asked him how it was that a group of college kids could figure out a solution, but all the old folks (40 & 50 year olds) could not. He responded:
“Old folks can’t figure it out because they’re stuck remembering all the things that didn’t work”
Then it hit me. I AM ONE OF THOSE OLD FOLKS! I am having a hard time embracing this “whole millennial phenomena” because I’m stuck remembering all the things that didn’t work.
I’m old school.
I would probably still be using an IBM Selectric typewriter if that were an option. (Ask your mom what that is if you don’t know). I like to blog. I like email. I often still insert two spaces in between sentences.
I am not a fan of texting, making videos, or Facebook live (I’ve never used it, not once). I don’t have an iPhone or a Snapchat account. I do have an Instagram account but I mainly use it to look for memes when I’m procrastinating. I have an old-fashioned pedometer that clips to my belt, and no, don’t be silly, I don’t actually use it.
Up until a friend forced me to get a new phone on her BOGO account, I still had my Motorola-60 flip phone with an antenna, and I was happy with it. I still print off driving instructions from my laptop. (I did get rid of my desk top, so that’s one thing).
I expect people to say please and thank you, to receive a handshake when meeting someone for the first time, no matter what age, and to be looked in the eye when I’m speaking or being spoken to. These are values I’ve instilled in my own daughters. I don’t often get all that, but I refuse to lower the bar just “because no one does that anymore.”
Embracing the millennials.
I am mom to two millennials. I am trying. I really am. I’m easily frustrated with technology. I’m easily frustrated with lack of manners by that generation.
By the time I pick up on the latest hip and cool language, it’s already obsolete “Mom, please don’t ever say that again.” Mmmmk.
Realization
I may be slow to come around to the millennial ways. It’s not likely you’ll find me on Snapchat. I will always defer responding on my phone if it can wait until I’m near my laptop. But know this – I am smart enough to know that the millennials are here to stay, and they’re making a difference in the world. I know that we need 75.4 million millennials.
I am embracing those who were born in the early-1980s through the mid-1990s to early-2000s. Are you?
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