Are you a do-it-yourself-er? Do you use home remedies to battle insects in your house or treat the common cold? Would you rather try to fix your car or appliance, instead of hiring someone else to do it? We choose to sometimes do tasks ourselves, for a variety of reasons. It could be a hobby. Perhaps we need to budget our resources more carefully. And other times, we are simply curious about how something works, or want to prove to our spouse that we are useful. The range of do-it-yourself (DIY) tasks we can do at home is virtually endless. Should hot stones for massages be included on the list?

The school of life

Today, do-it-yourself-ers perform tasks that range from plumbing to painting, and from audio systems to aircrafts. But where did this trend originate from? Since the 1960s, the DIY movement has evolved significantly. Towards the end of the 1960s, society began to realize that many important “life skills” were not being learned in schools. In other words, schools were teaching abstract concepts, but few applications existed in the “real world.”

Bookmarks then and now

The first do-it-yourself projects were basic, focusing on the restoration of older homes. However, as time passed, informational “tools” such as journals, books, and classes; and concrete “tools” such as garden tools, carpenter’s tools, and mason’s tools, became the means for completing do-it-yourself projects. As the decades passed, magazines, television, and the Internet were added to the means of DIY instruction. In particular, DIY enthusiasts began to focus on personally improving their homes.

From the river to the heater

Today, as a do-it-yourself-er, you can create or fix nearly anything in your home, including hot stones for massages, with the right materials and tools. Well, you cannot make new stones, but you can prepare stones for the function of massage stones. Here is how:

1. Rock River. Go to a rock quarry, to collect river rocks. Some rock quarries and landscape companies actually sell river rocks to the public.

2. Size matters. All of the rocks that you select should be flat and relatively smooth in texture. You will need to select three sizes of rocks: small, medium and large. Choose eight small rocks whose sizes range from approximately the size of a quarter, to roughly the size of an egg. Next, you will need seven pairs of medium-sized rocks that are easy for you to grip in your hand. Finally, choose two huge oval stones. They should be roughly eight inches in length and six inches in width.

3. The heat is on. You will also require a heater for the stones. You can purchase a massage stone heater on the market. To use a more do-it-yourself approach, a slow cooker with a capacity of at least 6-quarts (to heat all of the stones simultaneously); or a huge tabletop skillet that includes a lid and sides of at least three inches tall, would be ideal.

4. Accessorize, accessorize. Accessories that you will need for the hot stone massage include:

• food thermometer
• massage rocks
• strainer
• tea towels (2)
• tongs

5. Get ready to rock and roll. Prepare the hot stone heater, slow cooker or skillet. Then clean the rocks and stack them in whichever warmer you use. Next, fill up the warmer until the rocks are completely under water. Lastly, position your hot stone kit and accessories on a solid surface, nearby an electrical outlet.

In our Information Age, do-it-yourself projects have become easier than ever. With the right equipment, some diligent studying and an innovative spirit, what we make or fix can include almost anything—including massage stones. However, keep in mind that these homemade stones can never replace the original and best smooth-as-silk hot stones!

Whether you've just started creating your own animated shorts or ready to go pro, creating machinima is very easy to do if you have the right tools at your disposal. From text-to-speech programs with avatars, recording skits with your favorite video game characters, to making everything yourself, there's a way to create your own show no matter which technique you use. As long as you know how to edit videos for YouTube, you can create an animated video with the right tools in your hands.

For those who can write a short script, but don't play video games or know how to draw, Xtranomal.com is a good place to start. Their text-to-speech program lets you create machinima videos using pre-made avatars, settings, and sounds. You can even change the camera angle to get specific shots if needed. As for the speech, the web-based program uses the same speech voices found on your PC. This means that your actors will sound like robots more than actual people. The web-based program is free, but the site also offers a desktop program that you can purchase downloadable content for extra avatars and other items that you'd like to use.

If you wish to film some stunts or skits in a video game, you'll have to do so by recording the action and using a video editor. All you have to do is either hook up a camcorder (or PC) to your TV's video output or by using a video capture card if you're using a computer game as the setting. As long as you know what to do and which camera angles to get, you can make a machinima video within an hour. For cameras, you'll need friends spread throughout the game world to look in certain directions. The video editing software will cost around and you can find help making these types of videos online on various blogs.

If you know how to make animated videos from the ground up, you can create machinima by using Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. Both programs can be used to create and edit videos through Flash and can be formatted to be played online or even on DVD. Some artists have even done videos using avatars just as detailed as their video game counterparts using just these two programs. You can get them both for 0 bundled or buy the pro version separately, depending on how far you want to go with your videos.

You can find all sorts of programs and editors to make your own machinima videos online. You can also find advice on various blogs and podcasts as well. They provide tips and techniques to those who wish to make animated shorts for the first time or to help take their videos one step further. Regardless of how you decide to create it, making these types of videos can be fun for you and your fans to create and watch.

In the 80’s there was a television show called Cheers that had a theme song which started off like this.

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name,

And they're always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see,

Our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

The years may have passed and Cheers may be only viewed in the land of late-night reruns, but the lyrics in the Cheers theme song still ring true today.

Your customers want to do business with an insurance agency where their insurance agent and staff knows their name. After all, people love to be recognized and appreciated. Best of all, people will pay more for goods and services when they feel their business is truly valued.

You, as an agency owner have the ability to influence the climate of customer appreciation and recognition within your agency by your words and the processes that you create within your agency. In other words, it is important for to you clearly communicate to your staff that it is essential to make each customer feel like they are your only customer.

Here are some steps to help you create the “Cheers Effect” in your agency.

1. When a client calls into your office, address them by the name they use when they call in and identify themselves to you. For example, Joseph Jones calls in and says “This is Joe Jones.” Make sure that you refer to him as Joe in your conversation instead of Joseph. This creates a warmer interaction with your customer.

2. When a client calls, make sure that you and your staff use a tone of voice that communicates that you are happy to hear from them. This is a perfect way to ask, “How are you today?” and “How can I help you, Joe?”

3. Once you have processed the customer’s request, be sure to look for any gaps in coverage or red flags that you would want to be made aware of if you were a customer of your agency. Here is an example. “Joe, I noticed on your Honda that you don’t have rental reimbursement coverage. If you were to get into an accident and your vehicle had to go into the shop for repairs would you need to have rental car in the meantime?” By communicating a potential missing coverage with a short example, it comes across that you are looking out for their best interest instead of trying to sell them something.

4. Be sure to ask your customer “Is there anything else I can help you with today, Joe?” This gives your customer the opportunity to let you know that you have taken care of their requests.

5. Once they tell you there is nothing else they need from you, be sure to thank them for their business. Find something that you feel comfortable saying. For example you could say, “Thank you for your business, Joe.” or “I appreciate your business, Joe.”

The idea is to create a positive and efficient experience for your customer. Passing along a process like the one above to your staff lets them know what you expect them to say to your clients. This gives more consistency to the customer experience in your agency.

In the end, customers who feel valued and appreciated are less likely to leave over price. This leads to increased agency retention and successful agency growth.