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Millennial Leader

The Millennial Leader: How the US Will Prevail Beyond the 2016 Election

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Today is Election Day 2016. If you’re yet to vote today, vote your conscience.

“But what if I really vehemently despise one candidate and feel that I have to vote for the other major party to help make sure they don’t get in office?”

Well, that’s totally your decision. If you don’t like either major party’s nomination like I did, then it’s ok to vote 3rd party.

Either way, this is quite possibly the last election that the Boomers are going to have candidates in. And that means that a lot of us non-Boomers are going to have to step it up.

That means Gen X’ers just as much as it means Millennials.

So, for this week’s post, I thought it’d be important to look to the future and discuss how Millennials can set themselves up to be leaders in the years to come.

Who are Millennials, Really?

Over this past weekend, I found myself going to the 40th wedding anniversary of my neighbors from my hometown.

40 years – wow. For any marriage to make it that long anymore seems to be almost unusual.

Which is unfortunate.

Personally, I think it’s awesome that they’ve stuck together. So often, anymore, you hear that when the kids leave, the parents end up going their separate ways because they realize that they’re both different people than who they were when they were married.

Especially if they were married in their 20’s. In today’s world, many people aren’t considered real adults until after the age of 25. (I mean, there’s got to be a reason why the Obama administration decided that it would be ok for kids to be able to use their parents’ insurance until the age of 26, right?)

In this couple’s case, despite the fact that he’s a good 20 years older than her, I think a good reason that they have stuck together is that the husband was about as young as you could be in being part of the Greatest Generation. The generation that grew up during World War 2.

Also, I know that the wife’s parents had stuck it out over the years as well. In fact, they were so close that when one passed away, it wasn’t much longer that the other followed.

I had a great aunt and uncle that were the same way. They passed within a year or two of each other.

It’s hard to tell if that affection has rubbed off on younger generations. But one thing is certain, that generation rarely divorced.

Why?

millennials-dont-like-socialism

While Millennials don’t understand what the word Socialism means, they reject the idea of it.

Well, maybe because they were in tune with themselves enough to know what they were looking for when they picked a spouse. Or maybe they had principles that didn’t allow them to divorce.

Millennials are Actually Pretty Conservative

Whatever the reason is, most members of the Greatest Generation were pretty conservative in their beliefs compared to their kids and their kids’ kids.

Interestingly enough, us Millennials might behave more like the Greatest Generation than many think. They fought socialism in World War 2 and studies are starting to show that while many Millennials don’t really understand what it is, we don’t like the idea of what it really means either.

In fact, we’re trending more conservative than our parents.

I mean, it makes sense. So many of us are embracing simpler lifestyles. Having companies like Apple, Uber, Google, and Tesla around have given us that ability. Can you imagine those companies being run by the government? Ha!

We’re Trained About Participation More than Winning:

When other generations talk about millennials, we’re often referred to those head in the air, good-for-nothings that think they are entitled to things without working for them. They continue to say that we don’t take responsibility for our actions in what we do or do not do.

Many times they’re right.

But here’s the truth – they, our parents and educators, made us this way. They taught us what it meant to be unique and shoot for the stars. That anything was achievable.

But they also rewarded us for putting in very little work. For many of us school was fairly easy – just show up and you’ll get a C. Do the least amount of work you can do and get good at taking tests and you’ll get a higher grade.

For many, sports were even easier. In the past, people got rewarded for winning. We were the first generation where you started hearing about participation trophies. Whether or not you trained hard to actually win or did very little didn’t matter. We got rewarded for just showing up.

Some of Us Learned the Hard Way

College (or the military) was the first real learning curve for many of us. It was the first time that many of us had to learn how to really work hard to move up. But even that has gotten worse as I found out as a graduate instructor (and Maria has found out as a higher ranking soldier).

Whether we were doing something to win it or just to feel good about ourselves, Millennials have learned that participation counts. Limiting our growth potential in the world after graduation has made many buck the system. The difference is how we’ve responded.

Those Millennials that continue to spin their wheels looking for the easy reward are part of the Lost Generation. One book that they might need to read is “Who Moved My Cheese?“.

Those of us who are trying to figure out how to win are part of the next Hero Generation.

The Hero Generation

The Hero Generation is one of four generations that come and go throughout time. The other three being the Artist, Prophet, and Nomad generations. They are responses due to 4 types of events that happen in every cycle called Turnings. I first learned of these turnings when I saw a documentary a year or so ago called Generation Zero, which was released in 2010.

If you want to find out more about the four turnings or their associated archetypes, you can do so in Wikipedia here. If you want to go deeper, the two books that the authors Neil Howe and William Strauss are most well known for are here:

The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy (1997)

Millennials Rising (2000)

If you want a Crib Notes version, here’s a video for that:

Signs of Heroism

Now, if we really are this Hero Generation, would there not be signs that we’re trying to save this world that is falling apart around us?

I think there is. I think it’s this growing boom of creatives that are starting businesses and sustainable social enterprises.

As I said, Millennials don’t know how to wait to be successful. Those who have played the game to win are going to keep winning.

They are replacing the old employee and non-profit mentality. Both of these mentalities were popular but never sustainable. A company could fire an employee at any time. A non-profit could eventually lose their funding.

In fact, I remember a episode of Home Improvement where they made a joke about Tim’s brother who called himself an entrepreneur.

Most small businesses and social enterprises are designed to be self reliant. This means that no one person can control the livelihood of another.

And it’s also what the AoL Podcast is all about. Finding and talking with those individuals who have made the switch to lead their own career and finding out how they made the leap.

One such Millennial that displays our form of Heroism is Dane Maxwell, who my co-host Daniel and I got to interview in session 56.

Leadership is Learnable

Many of those who have taken this leap are considered experts in their field.

Whether it’s deserved or not, experts are looked at as leaders. This makes sense, though, right? Experts can lead others to the answers they’re looking for. So many times we call them thought leaders.

And what really is leadership?

As defined by John Maxwell, leadership is Influence.

Because of this, he has always said that leadership can be taught. So if you find yourself having problems influencing others, then perhaps it’s time to start learning about influence and leadership. John’s work would be a great place to start.

What Type of Leader are You?

Being an expert or Thought Leader, like John, isn’t the only way to lead people. Maybe you’re not interested in becoming the next guru in a particular field of study. There’s still something that you can lead in.

There’s three other types of leaders:

  • Courageous Leaders
  • Inspirational Leaders
  • Servant Leaders

Courageous Leaders

These are people who set an example by pursuing a vision in the face of considerable opposition and risk. Typically, they’re known to have strong convictions about their mission (purpose), vision (long-term goals), and values (right and wrong). They usually set the example by speaking up for their core beliefs and fight for their values, even when their stand is unpopular.

Some popular examples of this type of leader might be Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln were definitely example of this. Yet, some would even say that Edward Snowden is an example.

Inspirational Leaders

Many people compare Donald Trump to an anti-Ronald Reagan. While Reagan’s actions usually brought people together towards a common goal, many folks believe that during his campaign, Donald did the exact opposite.

Ronald was an example of an inspirational leader. He promoted change by being able to look forward to the future and help others commit to ideas and ideals.

Yet another example is MLK, Jr.. Like Reagan, he was able to envision a future and unify others behind him for that future.

Servant Leaders

This is the example of leadership that so many of us know and hear about. Usually these are the types of individuals who are discussed on the evening news for going out of their way to do something.

Typically, these folks become leaders by asking “How can I help?” and then following through.

There here have been some really big names over the years that might give you a visual.

Mother Teresa, Oprah with Harpo Inc., and Eleanor Roosevelt’s work in human rights.

Generally these people ask for very little if nothing in return – but, as you can tell, get plenty of publicity.

Who Are You Going to Lead?

Now with all of these examples of leaders, you might be wondering how you can set forth on your own journey of becoming a leader.

It’s actually fairly simple. Ask yourself which of those 4 types truly fit you the most.

For me, as an example, I’ve always seen myself as a teacher. So I’m a natural fit for being a thought leader.

But at the same time, I’ve always thought that I might get into politics somehow, and now that I’m 35 – I feel that I might just have enough experience to start looking at that a bit more seriously.

It’s ok to be more than one of these 4 types – in fact, most leaders are. But you can always tell if someone is better at one than the next.

Action Steps:

Now that we’ve looked at why Millennials are perfect to be leaders, you might be wondering how exactly you’re supposed to figure out what type of leadership role you want to be a part of.

If you have no idea, just go be around extracurricular groups of people that discuss things you have some sort of interest in.

Maybe you’re in a good sized town. If that’s the case, there should be some meetup groups near you that you can attend. If you’re in a small town, then perhaps you can join the local Rotary Club or perhaps get involved with the Masonic Lodge. Many leaders have been involved with both of these during our country’s history.

Once you find something that you think you enjoy being a part of, start applying for leadership roles within that organization. Start low and work your way up – unless you think you’re qualified to start at a higher level.

Other than that, all I have to say is get out there and meet people. If you think you might want to run for political office one day, start small and work your way up there too.

Here’s a neat little wiki that can get you started on a plan.

How to Inexpensively Start a New Podcast: Exporting and Distribution

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In this third and final installment of this beginner’s podcast guide, I’m going to be discussing the final parts in starting your podcast: exporting and distribution. Of course, if you’re new to podcasting and are wondering what the other installments are about, you can find them here (Equipment and Software) and here (Planning and Production).

Also, just a reminder, we’re loosely using Pat Flynn’s 2012 video tutorial as the backbone of this tutorial. However, we’re focusing more on doing it for less than what Pat recommended at the time.

So let’s get started…

Let’s start with Pat’s video in where he shows how to export your podcast in Garageband:

Logic User Differences:

Again, I’m not sure if Pat still has his team use Garageband to produce the SPI podcast or not, but I do know that if you’re an audiophile – you’re probably using something a little more professional.

If you want to go the more professional route right out of the gate, Logic is a good choice. You’ll have to pay for it ($200 at the Apple Store), but you’ll definitely learn a lot more along the way about production – if you want to.

Again, Chase talks about them in his tutorial on Fizzle.co (that’s a link for free trial to Fizzle) because he uses Logic to produce the Fizzle Show.

But to save you some time, here’s the export settings that you’ll want to configure Logic to export or “bounce” your project to:

Logic Bounce Options

My Logic X Bounce Options

Now, when you do this, you’re going to have a rather large file still as you’re publishing to a raw audio format. Most podcasts are in mp3 format.

“Why not go with mp3 here?”, you ask.

Well, you could and I’m sure many people do. But in Chase’s video he explains that your audio is more than likely going to be in stereo if you export directly from here.

There’s nothing wrong with that if you like to have your audience feel like one person is on the left and another person is on the right and so on.

Like Chase, I prefer to have the audio in mono because it shrinks the file size of the final file by half.

Here are the settings that I use in Compressor ($50 via Apple) to shrink my show to small files (because it’s mono) but still reasonably good quality audio:

Compressor Settings

The settings I have for Compressor

You should know that Compressor is typically used for video files (specifically Final Cut Pro files) but you don’t have to have Final Cut for it to work.

Normalizing and The Levelator:

One of the things that Pat mentioned in his tutorial that he used to do is use the Levelator to bring all his voices and sounds to the same volume level.

It’s a great simple solution.

However, if your show is designed to have manual fade-ins and fade-outs, or you purposely alter the volume to censor cusses, or anything that changes the volume, then using the Levelator is not going to be your best choice. It will basically destroy all those fine tunings.

This has been my case.

I use Fade-ins and outs to transition from one part of the show to another. The Levelator destroys those transitions.

So for the longest time I’ve been struggling with making sure that everyone sounds good on multiple speakers. In my office, many of my shows sound great, but when I got them to my car which has a much different setting than my office, my side of the conversation would sound much fainter.

I think I’ve fixed that as of session 59. Per Chase’s advice via the Fizzle forums and Podcast Master Cody Boyce’s help, I’ve started altering the output level of the entire track. Hopefully this will be a welcome chance to those of you who listen in your cars as well as your headphones.

After Exporting but before Distribution

Tagging:

Ok, so getting back on track here. The next thing that Pat talked about was tagging your new mp3 file. (We’re at the 15:13 mark in the first video in the process if you’re wondering where we’re at.)

Only thing I’ll say here is that Macs have it easy because you can do it in iTunes. However, if you don’t want to get iTunes on your PC, you can use Mp3tag to do it. It’s free, but if you use it quite often, you might want to consider a donation. 🙂

Here are the tags that I use for my show (depending on who my cohosts are):

podcast-tags

Tags for the Angles of Lattitude Podcast

Artwork:

You probably noticed that as part of my tags, I have my “generic artwork”. Artwork is huge. You can’t forget it – and unfortunately, many podcasters do.

You want to make sure that you have some sort of generic piece that you’ll be able to post on all of your shows.

dane maxwell unplugged

Feel free to make personal cover art for your guests!

Pat used and continues to use one piece of artwork for his podcast. If he’s changed it since then, it wasn’t much.

That said, I change mine every show based on who I’m talking to. I give each one of my guests their own individual “cover art”. And when you have a template going like I do, it doesn’t take too much longer to add this personal touch.

 

The artwork that is in the tags is usually what the player will play in your listener’s player – unless it uses the generic artwork provided to the place where people are downloading your show from.

I know that you can’t change Stitcher and Google Play’s artwork as they overlay the generic artwork that you’ve chosen to register with them. On the other hand, iTunes, SoundCloud, and any player that actually downloads the file to your listening device, will more than likely use the artwork you provide for that particular file.

So my recommendation is definitely have a generic artwork image that you use per show. But if you have an interview based show, feel free to give your guests a little more appreciation by giving them their own cover image!

Distribution:

Ok, now we want to get our podcast into the world. How do we do that? The best way to do it is to use a remote host to do the work for us. Pat will explain this in detail here:

Through my experience, Libsyn is a great option for all the reasons Pat mentioned.

Another thing to note is Libsyn is set up in a way that you can upload it at one point and then it will become available whenever it is published. Before it is published, you get a link for where it will be linked from.

This means that you can get all your show notes all ready to go before the actual launch of that particular show. Essentially you can set it to go off and then work on getting your marketing ready to go.

This is a great thing.

However, the more bang I can get for my buck, the more I’ll want to use a particular option. For Chase and I, we both use SoundCloud as the host for our show.

And while we can’t actually set it up before hand like Libsyn (SoundCloud only gives their file link after it’s published – and even then you have to look for it in Settings > Content. Then copying and pasting the rss feed URL to another tab and then searching for “URL=” in that page of code to find your files. Ugh.), all the metrics that comes with Libsyn’s middle pricing tier is available through the basic tier of SoundCloud.

So, I’ll say this. If getting your content ready to go ahead of time is priority and you don’t do things at the last minute like Chase and myself, then you’ll want to definitely go with libsyn. If you just want to go the least expensive route – SoundCloud is currently the way to go.

That said, everything else as far as setting up Blubrry hasn’t changed – so I’ll leave Pat’s last video here:

Action Steps:

Alright, guys. There you have it. That’s the basics of how I do my podcasts. Again, mad kudos to Pat and Chase for their help in teaching me this process.

Now it’s time to start your own show.

I hope this gives you a little more insight into the behind the scenes of doing a show so you can start yours or make your current process a bit more efficient and/or easier on the wallet.

If you have any questions regarding this process, feel free to contact me using the contact page. I’d be glad to help you out in any way I can!

sara divello interview

Sara DiVello: Finding the Courage to Step Out of a Rut and Get Noticed Nationally (AoL 052)

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If you want to inspire others to take a certain action in their lives or simply get out a message, eventually you’re going to have to start that journey.

Simply wanting to help others isn’t going to get you anywhere.

However, when you do start your journey, you might come to find out that getting your message out there is somewhat harder than you might think.

So you might wonder, “How will I ever get this thing to go big?”

Today’s guest, Sara DiVello, has had the opportunity to not only start her journey, but she has been able to take it nationally in just a few years after launching her book in 2013.

She has appeared in many outlets including, Forbes, ABC, The Boston Globe, USA Today, Boston Magazine, Marie Claire, Redbook, MindBodyGreen, and Dr. Oz’s The Good Life Magazine.

Today, Laila and I get the opportunity to chat with Sara about what it took to get noticed at a national level and also how she found the courage to leave her 6 figure PR position behind.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to get out of your rut and go big with your message, then Sara’s insight might just be what you’re looking for.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why and how Sara got the courage to leave her big PR position, where she was making 6 figures, to find more fulfilling work. 9:45
  • Why including “The Meat” and the culture of her office was an important part in relating her book to other women. 19:58
  • Where Sara decided to follow a path in yoga. 19:18
  • Why having a strong differentiating brand is so important from the beginning. 25:25
  • If someone was wanting to get well known nationally, what’s a strategy she would use to start getting recognized? 51:12
  • What would she tell people who want to get recognized on local TV network affiliates? 58:55
  • What’s her thoughts on utlizing HARO to get noticed? 1:01:03
  • What kinds of things does she have lined up for 2016 and Q4? 1:01:57
  • Who are her favorite influencers in her life? 1:06:08
  • What’s something that she believed as a 30 year old but now things is bogus? 1:06:30
  • What she was to put an ad in any medium, what it be and where would she put it? 1:07:50
  • Three truths she’d share with others 1:08:14
  • When she thinks of the word success, who comes to mind and why? 1:09:34
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Where in the OM am I trailer:

Sara on CBS:

Jacob Cass on Building a Foundation for Personal Branding:

Adam Leipzig on Finding your Life Purpose in 5 Minutes:

Sara on Victoria Kirin’s Podcast, Degrees of Separation:

Veronica Kirin

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

 

building a long term business

AoL 048: Building a Long Term Business through Relationships, Metrics, and Family with Brandon Northwick

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It’s no secret that the way we run our business is based on how we approach the world. Is our business about us helping others with what we think they need help with, without hesitation, or do we see it more as a way of helping others in any way they actually need help? Meaning, we find those problems that they’re actually having and help them there.

To me, this latter method is, I think, how you build true relationships. Not necessarily trying to force what you do on people, but just making yourself available if they need help implementing a particular strategy or tool into their business.

In this rare episode, I dig down into the nuts and bolts of how Brandon Northwick runs his business. I find out how his wife Sara functions in the business, how he uses attraction marketing to get his clients, and how he builds trust with people through that process before getting the sale.

If you’re having problems with closing your service based sales, then you should definitely check out this straight-talk chat.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why you should careful when you using applications like Crowdfire 30:45
  • How do you standardize what people pay you for your services? 34:30
  • Why should people interested in their metrics and when? 36:51
  • How was Brandon’s wife Sara brought into the business world? 38:43
  • What does Sara do in the family business? 40:19
  • How does Brandon’s video strategy enter into his traffic strategy? 41:24
  • What you should do if you feel that your work life isn’t interesting enough to make videos for your business. 43:20
  • How does he generate leads from traffic? 47:09
  • What’s an example of a good opt-in? (The answer is not what you expect!) 49:26
  • What Brandon thinks about having to build trust with a customer before they buy. 52:32
  • How he uses attraction marketing to get his clients. 56:14
  • What kind of people have influenced Brandon’s ability to help people. 57:16
  • What he’s excited for in the future. 58:18
  • Three truths that he would share with others. 1:00:07
  • Three favorite podcasts 1:00:36
  • Something he believed when he was 20 years old, but thinks is bogus now. 1:00:57
  • When he thinks of success, who comes to mind? 1:02:42
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Business for Breakfast – #1 Myth in Building a Lasting Business:


How to Get More Engagement with Social Media

How to Know Where to Sit at a Poker Table (I didn’t know this was a thing…):

Business for Breakfast – Being Guru Centric VS Client Centric:

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

skill hack

AoL 047: How to Skill Hack and Stay Engaged In Your Creative Work with Stephen Robinson

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On the show today, 2 friends and a host share what it’s really like learning for a living. That’s right, I said LEARN for a living.

What does mean? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Ginger joins me again in this one and we talk with one of her friends that she’s met in her travels – Stephen Robinson.

Stephen is founder of 52Skillz, a YouTube channel in where he discovers, learns, and shares a new skill weekly.

With so many “leading learners” out there, there’s a lot of conversation in how to do it.

While Stephen has had plenty of inspiration, he wants to make sure he does it his own way. He does it by one-upping people that are already out there.

So, is it as easy as it sounds? Or, as we ask him in the chat: How do you stay engaged and up-to-date in your work?

The answer, and the story of where 52Skillz came from is what we lay out for you today on the show.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How Stephen chose his major in college 10:42
  • How to not get your business lost in the ether of the internet. 14:37
  • Where the idea for 52 Skillz came from. 17:00
  • Does Stephen feel he was inspired by Tim Ferriss? 19:46
  • Does he feel like there’s any favorite skills that he’s learned? 21:53
  • Where he would recommend that people start if they wanted to start learning skills quickly. 29:02
  • How Stephen has a constant flow of content coming for his YouTube channel. 33:13
  • Does he do his own video production? 36:08
  • How he has the ability to work on a passion project while at the same pay the bills. 40:58
  • What’s a strategy that Stephen would recommend to transfer to do something they love? 44:34
  • How does Steven stay engaged in his work? 48:17
  • How he got ready for his TEDx talk 58:33
  • What is Stephen’s thoughts on having deadlines? 1:00:22
  • What’s Stephen looking forward to in the near future? 1:03:24
  • 3 Favorite Influencers 1:07:00
  • 3 Truths to share with others 1:07:18
  • What’s the message he’d put on social media? 1:08:42
  • What’s one thing that he used to believe but doesn’t anymore? 1:09:38
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Ginger comes through on her promise in learning to juggle!!:

Stephen’s TEDx Talk:

How He Prepped for his TEDx Talk:

Zephan Blaxberg Interview of Stephen:

Alexis Hillyard’s “Stump Kitchen” Crossover:

My Favorite Video of 52 Skillz:

 

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

 

10 Entrepreneur Movies that will Give you Peace of Mind and Help you Share what You’re Doing with Others

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Many of us solopreneurs start our entrepreneurial careers in some sort of MLM. Whether or not we succeed in that MLM, isn’t so much the point. More often than not, a lot of us come away with some pretty good experiences from being it in.

In fact, last night I was watching a movie with Maria where a small part of it at the beginning reminded her and I both of an MLM-like motivational speech at a convention. Sure, the commentary was a little more colorful than I remember, but it was interesting how close they got it. Surely, whoever came up with the scene had to have been at an event at some point in their life!

As I was thinking about that, I started remembering how when I was active in Amway and LTD, we would watch movies in a way that I hadn’t watched them before.

I started watching them not necessarily for entertainment but to also see if I could use them to help me define my why. In other words, I started using them to not only use as motivation for building a business but to see myself in the protagonist’s shoes.

The Breakdown

So, getting to the point of this week’s post. I want to highlight a few movies that you can use as model of what you could do with your own passion based business, and maybe help you combat the questioning of friends and loved ones as you get started.

I’ve broken the list up into various subgroups.

The first group are movies that will help you fine tune why you’d be interested in starting your own business. Knowing your why helps you persevere when times get tough.

The second group consists of movies that will help you define what taking action in your business looks like. It’s always nice to have an idea of what someone else did to climb the ladder of success – even if it is fiction.

And the third group is of movies that discuss big names in the business world. Everyone has heard of these names and if you can express that you feel a need in yourself to do something similar to what they did but with your own signature, they might have a better understanding of what you’re attempting to do.

Why Builders

I’m Fine, Thanks:

One of my favorite documentaries to date about unplugging from culture and seeing the world differently. Back in 2012, Pat Flynn mentioned that he had been interviewed for this movie. Again, being a fan of his since 2010, I figured that he knew what was up and that I should definitely check it out on Kickstarter. It’s a movie about being tired of the same thing over and over – day in and day out. But so many of us feel powerless to get out of the rat race.

As you guys know, in 2015 I made the leap to finally start my journey with building New Inceptions. I hope this movie inspires you to do something similar.

As a note, I did end up pledging enough that I got Maria and I into the credits BEFORE we were married in 2013. Needless to say she liked that present and I think you’ll really get a lot from seeing this movie

 

The Abundance Code:

This documentary just came out just a couple of weeks ago and I was lucky enough to get noticed about it’s pre-launch where it was viewable by everyone and anyone for free!

Yes, just like many books are starting to be introduced for free so they can drive up the reader reviews on Amazon, so are these grassroot movies.

This particular piece touches on why people are fearful to leave the caged or comfortable life that society programs us with and some ideas to help us combat that fear.

The one tactic I think I’ll use for the foreseeable future is thinking about what I loved to do as a kid and use that as a vital part of my business.

If you’re struggling to figure out why you think that many entrepreneurs treat life as a game, then maybe you should check this one out.

 

Office Space:

This one is a classic. I really think that this is one of the movies that woke me up to entrepreneurship when I first started learning about it. I had this movie in the back of my head and it had always struck me how I was going to get out of a life like the characters had in it.

Doing my own thing was the answer.

This is a mainstream movie that starred many celebrities when it was released in 1999 including Jennifer Aniston and John C. McGinley (who is actually in the next mentioned movie, too!).

 

Examples of Taking Action

Get a Job:

This recent mainstream movie didn’t get great praise by critics, but what does these days? It stars a whole bunch of well known entertainers playing the main roles all the way down to the owner of a shady motel.

The protagonists are young millennials with the world in front of them but they’re just squandering it playing video games and smoking weed. Well, life hits them quite suddenly when they lose their TV and are forced to go out into the world and “make it happen”.

If you’re a younger millennial or just out of college and wondering if you got what it takes to start your own business, then you might want to give this a look.

 

The Intern:

Two age ranges are dealt with here. The Baby Boomer and the older millennial / Gen X’er. I particularly loved this one because it shows that anyone at any age can learn something from someone else regardless of age.

While I really appreciate Anne Hathaway’s character’s tenacity for running her business, I love how they show the in’s and out’s of the life that she leads. While it isn’t perfect, it definitely is a sign of the new norm for professional women – including stay-at-home dads.

Robert DeNiro’s character does a really great job of helping hers find her center and, in the end, having a happier and more balanced life.

 

Chef:

If you’ve ever thought about starting a restaurant or maybe you’ve had a career taken away from you and you’re having to start from scratch, this is a great example of how virally things can grow for you if you just go out of your comfort zone.

It’s important to note that your results will vary – you don’t have the reach that a world renowned chef has. However, I want people to notice how they had ideas and then implemented them fairly quickly that they made due with what they had available. Sometimes that’s what you have to do! It can’t all be perfect!

 

The Pursuit of Happyness:

Another one of my all-time favorite movies AND it stars Will Smith at the peak of his popularity. In this “inspired by actual events” movie, Will plays the part of Chris Gardner who went from being homeless at one point with his kid to getting a job at one of the biggest financial firms in the country.

It’s pure Hustle.

Sometimes you have to hit bottom to truly be able to reach for the stars. When you hit bottom, there’s no other options than up. This movie (and book) are for people who think they have it bad and don’t see a way out.

 

Inspirational Stories of People Who Made It:

The Aviator

The story of Howard Hughes is pretty mysterious. But one thing is definitely true is that he completely subscribed to the theory of “Whatever the Mind of man can Conceive and  Believe, it will Achieve”.

His vision was second to none and his OCD really helped him in carrying these visions to fruition. Purely remarkable guy.

Moneyball:

Visionaries come in all forms and from all industries. If it wasn’t for Billy Beane and how he introduced the idea of using stats to put together a team, major league sports would not look anything like it does today.

This movie is a great example in understanding how metrics can be just as beneficial if not more so than instinct when we’re building something.

The Social Network:

Ever wonder how Facebook got started? How it went from the idea of a kid at Harvard to being the hub of online communication that it is today? This movie does a pretty good representation of how it all went down. However, it isn’t completely dead on with the facts. (But none of these movies are. So take it in stride.)

Bonus: Pirates of Silicon Valley:

Before there was Facebook and the internet, there were actually still computers. They just did a lot less than their modern descendants and not everyone in the world relied on them as much as they do today.

That said, if it wasn’t for those old relics we wouldn’t have the connected world that we do today.

I saw this movie for the first time right around the time that I saw Office Space. I was blown away by the stories of the founding of Apple and Microsoft. Here you had two huge companies that essentially start out in people’s garages with a ragtag group of geeks. It was always my goal in college to meet people like that and learn hacking a bit more.

I never did meet my hacker community, but it did inspire me to Think Different.

Action Steps:

If you’ve heard of a few of these and haven’t seen them yet, I’d highly recommend checking them out. Once you’ve seen one of them, ask yourself afterwards, what are some takeaways that I got from watching this? How can I apply them to my business?

Also, I’d like to hear about movies you’ve seen that you believe have added value to your business. Let me know in the comments below.

 

ashley zahabian interview

Ashley Zahabian: Getting Through Difficult Times and Busting the Myth of Overnight Success (AoL 044)

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When it comes to success, many times we think that people are lucky and that success just happens. Even this past week with the launch of Pokemon Go, we’ve seen something take very little time to become really well known – even by those of us who have put very little time into it if none at all.

However, just like the creator of Pokemon, our guest Ashley Zahabian would tell you that there is no such thing as overnight success. In fact, when it comes to her story, she’s been on the public speaking path for several years already – which is saying a lot for a 21 year old!

In this session, Ginger and I dive into Ashley’s path and find out how an overnight success story is made. Join in as we discuss how she went from living a caged life to a charged one, what she has planned for the next few years, and how she stays consistent in her work.

If you’ve seen this gal on stage, Facebook or YouTube, this is a backstage pass that should give you hope in reaching for your goals and dreams!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why the struggles she’s had over the last several years have helped her become an “overnight” success. 10:39
  • What she’s been able to implement into her entrepreneurial career from what she learned in college. 15:34
  • Ashley’s take on Mr. Wonderful blowing up on Maneesh Sethi on Shark Tank 19:09
  • Why she thinks it’s important to work with your passion. 21:00
  • How she belives that she was able to move from living a Caged life to a Charged life 27:22
  • The feeling of what it was like to become an honest person. 23:34
  • The first thing someone can do to step into a Charged life. 28:37
  • How Ashley stays consistent in her work week. 34:38
  • What gave Ashley the idea to start doing her video series. 38:47
  • Why she doesn’t worry about using clips from movies in her videos on YouTube. 40:45
  • How long Ashley has been doing speaking engagements. 42:10
  • What she would recommend for people to do if they wanted their first speaking gig. 43:34
  • What she imagines that the next 5 years of her career look like. 48:19
  • Three truths that she would share with others. 51:25
  • Three of her favorite influencers in her life. 52:02
  • If she could have high school consume certain information, what would she prescribe. 52:41
  • What she would tell the 13 year old version of herself. 56:50
  • …and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS (Update – 5.16.2017):

Hey guys! Thanks for looking for the show note extras for Ashley’s interview. Unfortunately, a lot of her earlier stuff has been taken down. So I’ve gone and added a few other videos for you to enjoy of Ashley at work… including her TEDx talk!

Ashley’s Interview on Addicted 2 Success TV:

Ashley on her Experiences at the Feliciano School of Business:

Believe in Yourself (An Early Speech by Ashley):

Ashley is officially a TEDx presenter!

Ashley on the I Am the Average Podcast:

Ashley Zahabian interview

 

 

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