5 Insights From My Reader Survey

In December I launched my second annual reader survey.  This survey is meant to, ultimately, serve the reader. It is through this survey that I can know who you are and what type of information is most valuable to you.  I am then able to create the content that you want.

Some of the questions that were on this years survey included:

• Do you work within the private or public sector?
• What industry do you work in?
• What do you need ongoing support for?
• What is the #1 challenge in your business today?

"Original" survey crew - US Geological Society 

By collecting and analyzing your responses to these questions (and a few others), I was able to find answers to the following 5 questions:

1. Who are you? You, the participants of this site, are evenly made up of private and public sector personnel.  As many of you work within municipal fire departments as work for private companies and organizations.
2. What do you do? All industries have a need for fire protection and life safety professionals.  Some specific industry sectors that were options included: industrial, manufacturing, aviation, educational, and facilities management.  However, the two top professions that you are part of is, municipal fire departments (fire inspectors, fire officers, firefighters), and fire protection/life safety consultants.
3. What is your biggest challenge? Some of the biggest challenges stated had to do with manpower, finances, and communication.  But the common response was the need for quality and effective training for personnel and  community/client education.
4. What specific training do you need? The training most requested is explanation and in-depth education of specific codes and standards, and resources and guidance on new construction and plans review.
5. How often do you want to hear from me? You would not mind to get an update or e-mail from me once a week.

What does this mean for you? TheCodeCoach.com will continue to provide great (and improved) content for the fire protection/life safety industry.  My posts and products will be more focused on the needs of municipal fire prevention personnel, and individuals within the consulting industry.  I will write more about specific codes and standards, systems and processes, guides and checklists; and will write less about career development and leadership topics. I will also be providing this content by utilizing different mediums, instead of a blog only, I will be adding a podcast, video content, and interviews. 

If you want to get these weekly updates, you can subscribe to my e-mail list .

If you participated in the survey, thank you for taking the time to do that. I consider it a gift.

2014 Year End Reading List

Here's what I was reading in 2014:

1. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, Austin Kleon
2. Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reactions, John Taffer
3. Fire in the Hole: Stories, Elmore Leonard
4. Calvary Chapel Distinctives, Chuck Smith
5. Fire Strategies - Strategic Thinking, Paul Bryant
6. No Cape Required: A Devotional: 52 Ways to Unleash Your Inner Hero, Kristen Parrish
7. Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness, Jeffrey Gitomer
8. The Racketeer: A Novel, John Grisham
9. How High Will You Climb?: Determine Your Success by Cultivating the Right Attitude, John Maxwell
10. Real Leaders Don't Do PowerPoint: How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas, Christopher Witt
11. The Bible on Leadership: From Moses to Matthew -- Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders, Lorin Woolfe
12. Building a Ministry of Spiritual Mentoring (A Romans 12 Disciple), Jim Grassi
13. The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters, Albert Mohler
14. Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service, Ken Blanchard
15. It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy (revised), Dr. Michael Abrashoff
16. Million Dollar Launch: How to Kick-start a Successful Consulting Practice in 90 Days, Alan Weiss
17. ARMY FIRE FIGHTING: A Historical Perspective, Leroy Allen Ward
18. The Bookstrapper Guide to Marketing Your Book, Tucker Max
19. The Daring Heart of David Livingstone: Exile, African Slavery, and the Publicity Stunt That Saved Millions, Jay Millbrandt
20. Speaking On The Side: The Definitive Guide To Earning Money & Happiness Without Quitting Your Day Job, Jeff Greene
21. Take Command: Lessons in Leadership: How to Be a First Responder in Business, Jake Wood
22. Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams, Jeff Walker
23. MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom, Tony Robbins
24. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, Michael Gerber

Related Posts:

• 2013 Year End Reading List
• 2012 Year End Reading List
• 2011 Year End Reading List

14 Most Popular Posts of 2014

Here are the most popular posts of 2014, from TheCodeCoach.com:

1. Understanding Pre-Action Sprinkler Systems
2. How to Conduct NFPA 80 Inspections
3. Introduction to Passive Fire Protection
4. Firestop Training On-line
5. Doorway to Hell - an Analysis of Potential Fire Sprinkler Performance
6. What in the HDPE is going on?
7. NFPA and Aircraft Hangars
8. Top Training Videos on Training
9. How to Persuade
10. Protecting Your Pets - Understanding NFPA 150
11. 13 Changes to NFPA 13
12. Building Fire Stations
13. How to Obtain Building Occupancy
14. Building a Car Wash

What post was your favorite?  Why?

Merry Christmas - 2014!

Merry Christmas from TheCodeCoach.com!

Video provided by, Fire Risk Consultancy.

Reader Survey and FREE Stuff

I could really use your help, right now. In an effort to make this blog more relevant to your needs and interests I have created the 2014 Reader Survey. 

Would you please take a couple minutes and fill out the brief survey?  By doing so you will be helping yourself, by helping me create more interesting and relevant content.

Your input is important to me.  The survey is less than 10 questions, and should take less than 5 minutes. Also, there are no 'required' responses to hang you up.

For those of you who take the time to fill out the survey, you will be entered into a drawing to receive a package of fire prevention tools and resources. You must enter you e-mail at the end of the survey to be eligible for this.

Thanks in advance for your assistance in this!

Top Posts for May

Below are the 5 top viewed posts for the month of May:

1. Firestop Training On-line
2. Understanding Pre-Action Sprinkler Systems
3. Introduction to Passive Fire Protection
4. Top Training Videos on Training
5. Significant Leadership

Key West Fire Academy 2014

Check out the below post and information from Paul Bryant, fire strategist, engineer, author, and owner of Kingfell.

Following the publication of my book Fire Strategies-Strategic Thinking, my plan was to set up specialist fire strategy workshops around the US and elsewhere. However, after setting up a second home in Key West and meeting a number of enthusiastic fire professionals there, we realized that setting up a series of workshops in "Paradise" could be an attractive alternative.

What type of workshops?
The idea is to bring the world of new and innovative fire engineering thinking to US fire professionals and to anyone who can take out two or three days to get there. Initial subjects will include the concept of strategic thinking when preparing a fire strategy. Other subjects will be structural fire engineering developments, fire engineering for transportation hubs and tunnels, and fire training techniques. Speakers will initially be from the UK, Egypt, Germany and Ireland. This will increase as the Academy develops. 

The venue?
Workshops will be held in the Firehouse Museum in the centre of old Key West. 
http://www.keywestfirehousemuseum.com/

Next steps:
The website is being set up which will provide more information on courses and speakers. We are also seeking NFPA accreditation for each of the courses.

Join the Key West Fire Academy LinkedIn group:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Key-West-Fire-Academy-7422355?trk=my_groups-b-grp-v