I was at the Mumford & Sons concert at Fiddler’s Green and loved seeing the lead guitarist and vocalist, Marcus Mumford, step away from the front of the stage and move to the drums.
He seemed to be having a blast on the drums and it reminded me of my podcasting. Yes, I have a “main job,” evangelizing for the Colorado Chamber of Commerce. Podcasting gives me a chance to exercise other talents in a synergistic and joyful way.
I was on the return trip of a TOP 5 of my life hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. As I looked out over the majestic view I wondered, “can I think about work now if I want to?” I know, kind of weird, but I wanted to see how I’d answer the question in the moment.
I considered a current challenge: a powerful CEO who had made a commitment to a deal and is now ghosting me. As I looked at the view you see here, I thought to myself, “that deal doesn’t matter very much now, it won’t matter at ALL in a few years, and it will have ZERO meaning to the world.” If I had been sitting at my desk, I’d have been stressing about it. Here, in this setting, my mind became free to choose to meet new people with whom I want to want to engage.
I received this (paid) message on LinkedIn.
The ridiculous irony here is that it’s from a guy selling marketing services. His “proven method” offer is pure spam! Unless spamming is what he’s selling, he’s not doing a very good job.
Seth Godin famously writes about “interruption marketing.” I know when I reach out to prospective customers, I’m interrupting them.
I’ve been working harder to smartly engage people I’m interrupting with a thoughtful, highly relevant message that offers value. My rule of thumb is to ask myself, “Am I ready to make a call/send an email this person will want to receive?” If not, I work at it until I am. It’s hard – and it’s gratifying as fewer high-quality contacts are yielding better results.
In contemplating my most recent podcast with Matt Hyder, Founder of Recoup Fitness, it occurred to me that he’s come such a LONG way. He graduated from high school with a 1.9 GPA and failed at four businesses. Now, still in his twenties, Matt has a company that will grow from $850K in sales in 2018 to over $6 Million in 2019. Matt’s focus remains on learning and getting better – good thing.
His early career – Fresh Prince of Bellaire. Later in his career, brilliant, poignant acting.
Now that I have experience and improved skills, I have to remind myself that people don’t start out at their best and sometimes not even close to their best. Even harder than that, is the painful truth that I still make mistakes that beg, “shouldn’t you be better than THAT” by now?”
Bacon served during Modern Eater Show, theModernEater.com.
I really do.
And the bacon in this picture I loved even more. If this bacon were sitting on a plate next to regular delicious bacon, I’d pick this bacon every time.
I’m wondering, what more I can do to make my PROCO360 podcast the one people select when they have other delicious choices. I want PROCO360 to be like THIS bacon.