Jab, jab, jab, right hook

The title is a book written by Gary Vaynerchuk. I love the way the book looks, but I found the book itself to be very boring. Still love Gary, though.

The principle is that you hit people with lots of free content, videos, fun stuff, and engagement to build a rapport with them.

After doing the work upfront you ask for the sale and make lots of money for your company while actually providing value to people who support you.

The principle is really solid and is applicable to nearly every aspect of life.

In fishing, we let out the line and reel back in bit by bit.

In teaching, we offer lots of interesting and fun stuff before hitting students with the more difficult stuff.

We do lots of nice stuff for a person before asking the difficult question.

My little daughter will come to give me a hug and tell me how much she loves me... before telling me she broke the new TV.

When you learn the principle, you'll start seeing it everywhere.

It's funny though that in the world of YouTube videos people will start to get pretty uncomfortable with your content if you start selling a product in every video or only make sponsored content.

Web users have grown up with the idea that content should be free online.

As a content creator, I find myself creating multiple videos NOT promoting anything and then every few days offering a sponsored video.

But isn't it funny that we're still willing to sit down and watch a TV show or football game that is 40% commercials? Where would that ratio get you with a YouTube video?

Funny how we adapt to different mediums. We all have to adapt constantly to what our customer or viewer expects. I'm still working on finding the best balance.

George Washington didn't ask for permission

Leaders are forged, not chosen. So stop asking for permission to be special.

Martin Luther asked nobody for permission before nailing his 95 theses to the church doors. George Washington didn't ask for permission to carry on the American Revolution. Bill Gates didn't ask for permission to revolutionize the way personal computing would work.

These leaders had faith in what they believed in. That faith is critical to anyone who wants to make a change. Without faith, there is no "leap" and without the leap, there is no change.

Have faith that you can do it and that even if you fail it won't be the end of you.

Lasting change won't be made by asking for permission. You need to do and figure out the rest of the stuff later. While those who have faith are willing to be martyred, they're also fit to be glorified.

Lurking in the shadows is crippling

Do you lurk or do you interact? We all seem to have a natural inclination to put ourselves out there or to withdraw and observe from a distance.

Those who put themselves before the crowd are more natural leaders, those who observe from a safe distance are more naturally lurkers.

Being a lurker isn't a bad thing, but it will make it more difficult to be a naturally strong leader.

How do you increase the chance that something good will happen for you by only watching what unfolds?

Are you more likely to be discovered (or have your work discovered) by sitting back and watching?

It's easier and feels much more safe to NOT put yourself out there in front of the crowd where we can be rejected or mocked. But we also prevent yourself from being discovered as well.

But instead of changing, we find excuses to rationalize our unwillingness to step out of hiding.

Make the choice to overcome your fear and desire for safety. Make the choice to do something. Make the choice to be noticed.

We don't all make it to 50

It's easy to talk about what you want to be doing in your fifties, but nobody wants to talk about what they'll be doing when they're 100.

It's easy to assume we'll make it to 50, but nobody really believes they'll make it to 100. Most don't make it to 100, but many don't make it to 50 and yet we all assume we'll be going strong at 50 years old.

So I'm going to start saying "WHEN I'm 100 years old, I want to be doing X, Y, or Z..." It's easy to do that for age 50, but I want to be more optimistic. So "100" it is, maybe "105" just to keep things interesting.

Eating crab legs in a Bentley

They want you to fit in. Doing things differently makes you a marked man. It takes courage to be yourself. Fit in! Don't fly too high! Don't try to be too special! They will laugh when you fail and they will scorn when you succeed. But I say that doing things differently is the mark of someone who is more likely to succeed.

I heard a story yesterday from a guy who was appalled as he cleaned out a Bentley (you know, the very expensive car) at the dealership where he worked. The owner of the car had been shelling and eating crab legs in the car and dropping the shells on the floor. The smell was awful and the idea that anyone would do that to a $250,000 car was worse!

The car belonged to then-NBA-star, Allen Iverson. He and a group of friends would drive around while indulging in crab legs and throwing the crab bits all over the car.

That brings me to my point. Allen Iverson, one of the great players in NBA history and one of the most prolific scorers the league has ever known was eccentric and very different in many ways. I'm not saying that destroying the interior of your Bentley will make you great at whatever you do, but I would argue that whatever it was that led him to be OK with this crab situation was a contributing factor in what drove him to greatness in the sport he played.

Those who play to blend in never stick out. Kind of redundant, but it's true. If you always try to blend in it will be 10x harder to become great, to stick out, to make a difference.

So be you, be different, embrace what makes you different, awkward, and weird. That's the special sauce that nobody else has. Don't let special be choked away trying to appease others and blend in.

Can't knock out Tyson from your couch

Always show up. Always show up with your best. Always show up with your best even when you doubt yourself or everyone around you doubts you. Actually, don't ever doubt yourself. Reach inside and find a true belief that you belong, that you're able, and that you're good. You'd never believe somebody if they told you the sky is actually orange. You couldn't believe that. Find that belief in yourself and always demand the best of yourself and you won't fear a person or situation on earth.

On February 11th, 1990, Mike Tyson was set to fight Buster Douglas in Japan. Most oddsmakers in Vegas wouldn't even let people bet on the fight and the one place that did take bets made you bet about $35,000 to win $1,000. Everybody knew Mike Tyson would crush this guy like he had been doing to everybody. Mike Tyson was undefeated at 37-0 heading into the fight, having knocked out 14 of his last 16 opponents.

Buster Douglas could have been crushed by the hype, the doubt, the entire world sure he was just the latest victim for Tyson, but instead he came out and fought confidently and knocked out Tyson in the 10th round. It still remains one of the most improbable underdog victories in the history of sports.

He believed in himself even when nobody else did and he did it against the greatest odds imaginable. You're probably not under threat of imminent knockout, so why can't you believe in yourself? You can’t knock out Tyson from your couch. Show up confidently.

Change comes from the inside

When we find that thing that distracts us from work or pulls us away from our diet, or keeps us in bed for an extra hour in the morning (snooze buttons!) we willingly get pulled away from our goal.

The snooze button doesn't press our finger, the car doesn't refuse to drive us to the gym, and Netflix doesn't descend from the heavens and autoplay against our will.

After begin distracted from the things I need to do, I get angry at myself as if I wasn't the one who opened that YouTube video, or browsed twitter for an hour, or found something else to distract me from my work. There is a part of me that thinks "if I can just block more of these websites I could get more work done!"

Wrong. The change does not come from the outside, the change comes from the inside. I make the choice to suffer the pain of self-discipline now or suffer the agony of regret later. At the moment, I choose instant gratification rather than foregoing entertainment now for the longterm success of my project. I should get angry at nobody but myself.

So that's it. This is more a post sending a message to myself. Sacrifice today and be proud of what you did today, tomorrow.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes ever by Lord Chesterfield:

“A MAN is fit for neither business nor pleasure, who either cannot, or does not, command and direct his attention to the present object, and in some degree, banish, for that time, all other objects from his thoughts. There is time enough for everything, in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year if you will do two things at a time. This steady and undissipated attention to one object is a sure mark of a superior genius.”

— Lord Chesterfield

They will mock you

We laugh at the person who takes the risk and fails instead of respecting the willingness to take that risk in the face of possible failure. They write stories about his failure and how stupid he was for daring the challenge the accepted norms of "the rest of us." When the risk that is taken fails, he had better have thick skin because they will mock.

Many risk-takers don’t fail. The few that do get a lot of air time. We hear all about them. It's our reminder to stay in line, blend in, and remain mediocre.

When the risk-taker succeeds, they look for reasons to discredit or accuse him of cheating. It is a thankless process. Take risks for yourself, not for the accolades.

For the rest of us, these jeering crowds remind us to stay in line and keep our heads down. And most of us do for fear of being labeled or criticized. We shun risk like it's the Black Plague. We would rather reject innovation and exciting new technology, or something new for fear that we will be criticized if it doesn't work. “The old way was slow, but it works and it’s safe.”

But who are these critics? Have they any value in your life? Do they care about your well-being or are they looking for a cheap laugh? The people who respect the risk, the leap, the moment you stepped out onto the edge are the ones who matter. Ignore the masses who've been conditioned to avoid risk and start the new thing today.

If it fails, let them laugh. For yourself, you can rest assured they would not have had the fortitude to set out on such a risky journey as you. They would settle for less and be content in their safe bubble. You want bigger, better, faster, stronger. With that comes risk. Embrace the whole package.

A highly recommended practice

Yesterday I got together with a few fellow YouTube "creators" and had a no-holds-barred sit-down discussion to talk about business development, content creation for youtube, making money in that business and more. It was a fun few hours bouncing ideas around and exploring how other people do work similar to my own.

It has been about a year since I've really sat down with other creators and talked about these things. It reminded me of how valuable it is to hear the voice and perspective of others and see where that applies in your own life or business. Talking to other people is highly recommended.

The F word

One of my favorite books of all time is "The Icarus Deception" by Seth Godin. It's a fun mix of self-help-sounding quotable bits mixed with things that it'd be nice if we had been taught at an earlier age.

Sometimes I feel like my fear of either failure or criticism will lead me to a position where I stand in the middle of the road, walk with the status quo, or be mediocre. I think I can be comfortable being brown cardboard. Useful, but nothing special. That's pretty terrifying to think about. I kind of hate it.

The fact that I hate it makes me happy, though. I know that I need to do more to stick out and be different. I need to do more to challenge the normal proceedings. I need to make that artwork that garners criticism. Boring business is ignored, boring people are ignored, boring artwork vanishes. Challenge what makes people comfortable and the status quo and you'll make the biggest difference.

Make artwork. Make business. Make speeches. And make them all so that they are worth criticism. Love it or hate it, make work that people can't ignore. Don't be afraid, it will consume you and lead you to a safe, boring life of punching the clock and longing for the weekend. Be fearless, be interesting, be notable.

Less is more

I talk a lot and I overexplain almost always. On this freezing cold Wednesday morning (in Philadelphia) watching snow blowing across the ground in waves like little soldiers of fog and ice drifting here and there (very beautiful to see). I'm sitting here thinking about the concept "less is more" and I'm trying to pound it into my head and make it the way I do the things I do.

Too much of a good thing isn't really a good thing. Less is more.

Ignoring what you have for what you want

Too often we get stuck looking for the next big thing, our next break, the promotion we want, etc... and we miss what's happening right in front of us.

For me, I can sometimes get caught up in the chase for more fans, more website users, or more new customers and I start to neglect the amazing fans, users, and customers I have already.

That's what I wanted to share today. Take care of the awesome things that you already have instead of looking for the next break or the next big thing. You'll end up losing the great stuff you have and never getting the things you're chasing.

Foster & love your community, clients, and fans. They love you now, but nothing bites worse than a scorned lover. So don't scorn them, respect them.

Making pressure evaporate

The other day I noticed that the stress and pressure of writing these daily blog posts have completely evaporated. I like to preach the fact that if you just do something for a few minutes a day, it doesn't take very long before you get better and better at that thing.

In this case, taking 10-20 minutes a day to write a blog post has made getting started with all of my writing projects much, much easier.

I'm wondering if I should be shooting a portrait a day, design a logo a day, make a video tutorial a day, etc... etc... to get really fast and really proficient at doing these things.

Start today and set a goal that is very attainable. Something easy that you can do for 10 minutes a day and you'll look back in a few months and realize you've gotten much better at it.

Now I have to keep it up. Hopefully, this blog post isn't a jinx, but I feel pretty good about the future of these posts. More to come!

Sometimes thoughtfulness is cheap

Just back from a week-long trip to San Francisco and one evening while downtown, I saw a city street janitor who was sweeping the streets was keeping two cans of garbage, one for the trash and one for the food scraps he found.

I watched him move from homeless person to homeless person and dish out the food he'd found and set aside. Politics aside, it was a little reminder to me that sometimes doing something thoughtful or kind for others is very often free and just a matter of us thinking ahead a little bit and trying to help out a little more.

It was cool to see a guy doing as much as he could in his particular position. It inspired me to try to be more thoughtful in everything I do.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

...but if it is broken keep trying until you fix it.

Too often we repeat the same comfortable process and we convince ourselves that the outcome will be different. Almost always we're wrong.

How long has it been since you tried something new? A new process, a new system, a new philosophy, etc...

If it's broken, tear it apart and fix it.

“Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results”

— Albert Einstein

Don't be uptight, leave room for creativity

I think I'm a control-freak. Anything that I can plan and meticulously arrange, I almost always will. I'll stress out trying to get presentations complete and just perfect (perfection is unattainable, though). I'll spend hours searching for just the right image, asset, brush, idea, phrase, "ism", etc... to present an idea and in all of this preparation, I lose a lot.

If I over-prepare I lose the freedom of creativity. The off-the-cuff spontaneity that will generate the best moments. Those moments of creative insight or creative brilliance will never be allowed to happen. Instead I seem to prefer operating in a comfort zone, knowing that the presentation will be just good enough to run smoothly.

Of course "just good enough" means it'll be vanilla and boring, but it'll go off without a hitch. I must force myself to fly free, risk crashing if I fly too close to the sun, but the reward may be an experience for the ages, something that changes me and the audience, something that stands the test of time or sets a new trend. Safe doesn't do that.

Be bold, take the risk, reap the reward or fail gloriously while trying. –This must be my new mantra for my own good and for the people who consume the content I create.

I will never give up, I will never give up, I will never give up

It's okay to fail. I'm in process of working out the first vlog that I've ever made and I have been able to fearlessly approach the process by learning to love the process and letting the process itself be the goal. If the final result is a failure, that's fine because the goal was to complete the process.

When the process–the learning experience–is the goal, just making it to the finish line is a success. If the project fails at any measurable level beyond that, it's okay. You've already gotten the benefit and next time you will be a little better and the time after that will be even better than that! Keep going! Don't let a little failure hold you back.

Does anybody like "semi-OK" video?

I'm on my way to San Francisco right now. I will be creating my first vlog on this trip. I want it to be good, but more than that, I just want to get it done and know that I did it. Talking to a camera in front of strangers, yes. Shooting 4x the amount of b-roll I think I'll need, yes. Not knowing exactly what the story is, but just shooting everything and finding the story later, yes. I'm also going to do that whole thing will my camera on full manual mode.

Speaking of manual mode, it's pretty much the most difficult way to use a camera–I have to balance the exposure for every shot, double check white balance, make sure my audio levels are good, and make any creative exposure adjustments I want before taking each shot–I will have all of that in my mind while also trying to line up aesthetically beautiful shots that lines up to tell a compelling and beautiful story.

I'm fully expecting the entire thing to be a colossal failure, but I'll try my best to succeed. The success of this vlog will be in the process and completion of a semi-OK video. If it's better than that, I'll be in love. Hopefully, this will spur on more of these vlogs. I want to shot them partly for entertainment purposes, partly educational, and partly for my kids and grandkids to see me when I was younger. Now that I've started, I kinda wish I had started earlier, like 5-10 years earlier. How cool would that have been?

Never wait to start something good. Damn the torpedos (the naysayers, too) and just do your thing.

Be the engine, not the caboose

To be a leader takes a little bit of courage, some guts, a little determination–especially when the task which you're setting out to complete is something that many would challenge because it's not in line with the status quo.

But this does beg the question: would you rather be the leader who is misunderstood or the follower who never lives to their truest potential? Would you rather be the engine or the caboose? Always leading from the front (also one of the traits of the most successful leaders), or would you rather be stuck at the rear dragged about by the fancy of others?

Often times the risk is worth it. The moment when you question everything you feel, or when the feeling is the direst, that is the moment when you're on to something good. Something worth your time. Something that may just leave a legacy.

So, ask yourself each day: Will I be the engine or the caboose? Sounds kind of silly, but silly is easier to remember.

Traveling to San Francisco

I’m kind of in a rush today. Packing, preparing, catching a flight, an uber, and getting settled in my hotel room. Lots of first world problems now that I’ve spelled it all out. How incredible is it that I will be able to board a metal tube and be launched across the country at 600+mph and arrive safely at a destination of my choosing?

Really makes me rethink complaining that there isn’t quite as much leg room as I’d like. Things are probably better than they seem, it just takes a little perspective to see it sometimes.

Safe travels, baby.