Podcasts about my gpa

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 15, 2024 is: cavalier • kav-uh-LEER • adjective Someone described as cavalier shows no concern for important or serious matters. Cavalier also describes attitudes, manners, etc., that show the same lack of concern. // The company provides regular training about the dangers of being cavalier in sharing privileged information. See the entry > Examples: “I'd failed math and chemistry the previous quarter; my European history teacher had decried—in front of the class—my ‘flippant and cavalier attitude.' My GPA was a 1.8. But the night before the assignment was due I wrote a play about the thing that I—and Holden Caulfield—both passionately hated: The phoniness of organized structures, the way that religious belief was—in my fifteen-year-old mind—nothing but pretense and emptiness. … The next day, class began with a flourish. Ted Sod, the visiting playwright, stormed through the door. We'd all done good work, he told us, but one play—in particular—stood out. … And then, to my inestimable shock, he pointed at me.” — Pauls Toutonghi, LitHub.com, 5 Oct. 2023 Did you know? Mount up, fellow language caballeros! We think you'll agree that the origins of cavalier make a great deal of horse sense. The noun cavalier—which traces back to the Late Latin word caballārius, meaning “horseback rider,” and even further to the Latin word for “work horse,” caballus—originally referred to a gentleman or knight trained in arms and horsemanship. The adjective trotted into English just a few decades after the noun, first describing those thought to embody qualities of gallantry and suaveness associated with such soldiers. However, the English Puritans later applied the noun with disdain to their adversaries, the swashbuckling royalist followers of Charles I, who sported longish hair and swords. Their use undoubtedly contributed to the adjective's “flippant” sense, which is now the most common. To saddle someone (or their behavior, attitude, etc.) with the descriptor today is to say that they do not demonstrate the expected or required care for serious matters.

Harout Markarian, founder and CEO of MARKBOTIX, shares his journey from Lebanon to the US, transitioning from a professional basketball player to a skilled roboticist. He discusses his educational background in mechanical engineering, robotics, and business, leading to the creation of MARKBOTIX. The company develops GRACE, an assistive robot for the elderly and disabled, aiming to reduce falls and improve quality of life. Harout's passion for engineering and helping people drives his mission to enhance independent living and accessibility. Guest links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haroutmarkarian/ | https://www.markbotix.com/ Charity supported: Save the Children Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at podcast@velentium.com.  PRODUCTION CREDITS Host: Lindsey Dinneen Editing: Marketing Wise Producer: Velentium   EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 039 - Harout Markarian [00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world. [00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them. [00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. [00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives. [00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives. [00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I am so excited to introduce to you as my guest today, Harout Markarian. Harout is the founder and CEO of MARKBOTIX, an innovative assistive robotics startup focused on transforming care for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Harout, a skilled roboticist with multiple patents, holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, a master's in robotics, and an MBA. His professional path has been marked by significant leadership roles in engineering at top firms, including the Boeing company, where he designed the air refueling flight controls algorithm for the Boeing C 17. At MARKBOTIX, Harout's team is developing GRACE, Ground Robotic Assistant for Care Enablement, robot designed to reduce risks of falls, hospital readmission rates, and caregiver burnout, while providing support for everyday tasks. Under his leadership, MARKBOTIX has garnered significant interest, including over a hundred letters of intent from various facilities and is currently involved in beta testing with organizations like the VA Hospital. Harout is also a published author and speaker, advocating for the right use of robotics to improve independent living and accessibility through his book, "Mobility and Inclusion." His work extends beyond business as he actively contributes to the community, particularly through support for organizations aiding the elderly and individuals with mobility challenges. All right. Well, welcome Harout. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited to talk with you. [00:02:23] Harout Markarian: Likewise. [00:02:24] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. Well, I wondered if you wouldn't mind starting off by just telling us a little bit about who you are and a little bit about your background and maybe how you got into medtech. [00:02:36] Harout Markarian: Sure. So I, I am an immigrant from Lebanon, a former professional basketball player, danced ballet for a little bit, and at one point ,my parents decided to immigrate to the United States. Needless to say that my academic career was a tremendously suffering when I was busy with the basketballs and the ballet dances of the world. So, so when they decided to immigrate to the United States. States. I was strongly against it, but deep down I knew that my parents always did things for the benefit of me and my sister. So, unwillingly I followed them. I came to the United States in 2008. I was 23, about to be 24 years old. And at that time, basically everything that I knew disappeared from my life. Everything that was normal to me disappeared. So I had to do something. I had no money. My parents didn't come with money. So I had to support, I had to help, so I worked full time as a waiter and I was also going to school full time to continue my undergrad in mechanical engineering. Mind you that I already completed three years of engineering back in Lebanon. When I got here, they said, "Oh the institution that you attended is not accredited." And my luck, I guess the institution got accredited a year after I left. [00:04:02] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, no. [00:04:05] Harout Markarian: But it was a blessing in disguise. As I said, I wasn't the best student at the time. So the grades were reflective of that too. So, now that everything is no, no more distractions were in my life, I focused on my studies, finished three years of undergrad in mechanical engineering in a year and a half. My GPA went from 1. 8 to 3. 5 by the time I graduated. And during my final year when I was developing the senior design with my team, I experienced a tremendous shift in my life because I was part of this project where we built a six foot tall, fully autonomous robot. And we won the first place internationally in the autonomous unmanned system vehicle international competition. And that was a really a shift in my career in the way I viewed engineering, I viewed education, because up until that point, it was just to satisfy my parents. I'm like, "Here you go. This is the paper you wanted. Get off my back." But ,but right after that, it was like, okay, I want to know more about this robotics world because I really enjoyed it and I'm very curious individual. So robotics has different disciplines, sub disciplines I should say. So there's a mechanical design team, there's the cognition vision team, there's the electrical team, there's a navigation team. So, and I wanted to learn it all and I got involved with everything. And I really enjoyed it. So I ended up pursuing my master's immediately right after I graduated my bachelor's degree. I pursued my master's in robotics, and I was the only one in my cohort or not just cohort, in that year, that opted out of the, the comprehensive exam and wanted to do a thesis dissertation. Because I really enjoyed it. For me, theory alone doesn't mean anything. I need to see it in application. And that's kind of how I pursued it. I was able to build a stair climbing wheelchair. And that's a scale prototype of a stair climbing wheelchair that I presented it to my thesis committee and I learned a lot. I learned a lot and I graduated, but mind you at this time, I'm already working, I'm five years into my, my career in aerospace and defense. So things are going well. Really nothing medtech or healthcare related in my life yet. Except for that stair climbing wheelchair. And, and the reason for that is because I had the opportunity to work with a severely paralyzed person on brain computer interface technology that allowed him to propel his wheelchair through his thoughts. And when I got signed up to this project, I said, "Oh, moving things with your thoughts. That's cool. Let's do it." So, but I was approaching it like so mindlessly, if you will, because I didn't understand the impact that could have on individuals, especially individuals with disabilities, individual with limited mobility and elderly and everything in between. So while we were testing this technology with this individual, it required some training, basically. It's like an electrode that attaches to your skull. So it's a helmet that you wear. And as you think thoughts, it transfers to electrical signals that moves, that propels the wheelchair, moves the motors, right? A very simplistic way of explanation, of course. And, I was trying to test it by myself. So wearing the helmet, trying to move this wheelchair one way or the other. And it was very difficult because it's not second nature to me. I don't, I'm not a wheelchair user. So I, that's not a thing in my mind, but for this individual who was a paraplegic, it was, that was his legs basically. So for him, it was very second nature, right? So, and he got on there and I put the helmet on, set up everything for him and he was driving his wheelchair like I drive my car. That, that, that's how second nature it was for him. And for a moment there, I felt like I was the one with the disability. I couldn't even move a freaking wheelchair with my, so that was a big lesson for me in terms of understanding how limited we can be in, in different aspects of our lives, right? So, at that point I was, that was the first time I realized when I saw how independence and accessibility, what it meant to that individual. That was the first time in my life I said that I want to start a robotics company to help people become more independent. So, so to, to make their environment more accessible for them and to o for the elderly, to have them age with dignity. And that was the purpose. But nothing happened. I just continued with my life, with my job in the aerospace and defense industry. And then sometime later I decided, okay, I think I have a decent background in the technical side of things. I don't know much about business. Let's go get an MBA. So, so, so I went back to school. I did MBA at Pepperdine University. And I loved it because Pepperdine, at least the cohort that I was in and the teacher that I had, everybody was industry professionals and had their PhDs in their respective fields. So it wasn't, I wasn't just learning theory. I was learning how to apply that theory to real world problems. And that's how I learned that. That's where I thrive, right. And once, once I graduated with my my master's degree from Pepperdine, I, next day I went and incorporated the company. Literally the next day I went there and I was like, "Okay, I'm going to incorporate the company." And that's how MARKBOTIX was born. I'm not a hundred percent medtech. I'm approaching medtech from a different angle, if you will. But part of that, when I incorporated the company, I didn't really know what products or service I was really gonna offer. I knew who I wanted to serve, who were the people with disabilities, elderly, people in home cares, assisted living facilities. But I didn't know how to best serve them and with what. So I took a year and a half of going around and talking to people, basically doing customer discovery. And part of that customer discovery session, I stumbled upon the Ground Robotic Assistant for Care Enablement, which we call GRACE now. And all that robot does it initially, at least all that it did, was to pick items up, retrieve items for individuals so they don't risk a fall and then now they're in back in hospital or they injured something. And we're talking about fragile people, right? So when they injure something, the repercussions from it is really could, it could be hefty basically. And as I kept on talking to people, I built this prototype that retrieves items initially, and I tested it with over 300 people, and the more I tested it, the more apparent the need was. People were actually helping me feature up. So, we started with item retrieval, it went to real time video and audio interaction, remote operability, and other stuff that were included in the robot that right now is in development mode. And that's brings me to today where we're raising our first round of funding to bring this to life. We have a bunch of letters of intents from assisted living facilities and somewhere along the way that the DOD got interested in it. We got in contact with the Veterans Hospital. So everybody seems very interested in working with us. So we're, so today we're raising our first round of funding to bring this to life. [00:11:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh my goodness. That's incredible. Well, there's so much to your story. I'm so excited to dive in deeper. But first of all, congratulations on your company and its success and the interest, and I'm so excited because I know you're going to be helping so many people and there's such a need for it. So kudos. [00:12:18] Harout Markarian: That's the goal. Yep. Thank you. [00:12:20] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, okay. So your story is so interesting and it has so many different twists and turns. And I'm kind of curious, especially knowing, you started off with basketball and ballet and you did your academics of course, but maybe that wasn't quite the focus, could eight year old you have ever pictured you now doing what you're doing? [00:12:44] Harout Markarian: No. So two things. So I knew I wanted to be an engineer, even though I didn't know what that meant at that time. Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to be an engineer, but I can confidently tell you that I didn't know what that meant. I just, my dad was a mechanic body shop person. He was an entrepreneur. He has his own place. So I thought that was, that's what I was going to be doing if I studied engineering. So that was stupid I was. The other thing is that, no, I mean, my dad was also a professional basketball player. [00:13:15] Lindsey Dinneen: Okay. [00:13:15] Harout Markarian: So, so having those two in mind, eight year old me would never picture me being here today, let alone leaving the country, right? [00:13:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So, do you still do anything with either basketball or ballet or has? [00:13:29] Harout Markarian: No, I don't actually want. So once I left both ballet or dancing in general and basketball, I just completely abandoned it. [00:13:40] Lindsey Dinneen: Ah, okay. Fair enough. Do you miss it? [00:13:43] Harout Markarian: No, I don't, because I mean, it was good while I did it and I did it for a long period, I mean, relatively long period of time. So I did dancing for about 10, 12 years. And basketball, I did it from 16 when I went to professional to 23 years, 23 years old. I mean, relatively short career. But for me, my biggest passion was basketball. Just seeing my dad play, and then me being in that world. It was the biggest passion, and when it was taken away from me, or however you want to look at it, or I gave it up. I didn't give it up. I didn't want to give it up. Even long after it was over, I didn't want to accept that was not part of my life anymore. I was passionless for a while. So, finding that robotics world where I'm interested in something again, was a big shift for me. [00:14:36] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. That's a really big deal. And that is hard, but I feel like it speaks a lot also to your resilience and your willingness to, to change and to pivot, as much as that word is overused. But you know, the thing is you have such a growth mindset, clearly. I mean, you're such a lifelong learner, you've gone and done the things that you wanted to do, but those aren't easy things that you've decided to do and you've had such a robust career so far. I mean, I love the fact that I think you're such a great testament to the ability to keep learning and keep enhancing your skillsets and keep going even when it is frustrating or you feel like you've lost this crucial part of you, but you still are able to keep going and do something amazing with your life. I think that's... [00:15:24] Harout Markarian: Absolutely. [00:15:25] Lindsey Dinneen: ...courage. [00:15:26] Harout Markarian: I mean, I mean, you have to do that because the only constant in your life is change. So you either adapt or you just fall behind and become miserable. And everything bad that goes, that follows that, right? So, if you don't change, time is moving forward, so you're just falling behind. [00:15:43] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You started off in your career working for others and you had a amazing experiences, it sounds like, with very well known companies and brands, and then you switched to starting your own business and I know you got your MBA and I'm sure that helps you feel more prepared, but I do feel like there's often this-- once you actually do it, how much you have to learn on the job, so to speak. So I would love if you wouldn't mind speaking about your entrepreneurial journey and how that has changed and grown over time. [00:16:15] Harout Markarian: Yeah, so, so I'll tell you that college education doesn't mean that you're going to be able to thrive in the business world, right? Whether it's a technical side of thing or the business side of things. Unless you dive in there and do it yourself, you're just going to be dumber than a bag of rocks. So, I'm sorry for the expression, but that's that's how it is. Basically what engineering taught me is how to figure things out. They didn't teach me to find a job and hit the road running with that job, right. So everywhere I went, every company I worked for, I had to restart from scratch, go into my baggage of tools that college education gave me and depending on these knowledges, just figure out how to do my current job today and how to learn more. Because what you learn in school is just a baseline thing. It's just nothing really. And nowadays you can learn anything and everything online. I would even argue that nowadays, unless you're a doctor or an engineer a lawyer, maybe you don't really have to go to school. Everything else can be learned online. And there's a lot of resources today that back 10, 15 years ago, we didn't have. So on the job learning is the most real thing anyone can ever think of. Pepperdine came really close because I did my actual business plan to the company that I'm building today, I did it at Pepperdine. So it was a benefit for me because I studied, I got my education at the same time I worked on my business, so that's why I liked it a lot. But don't think that you're going to go to college and you're going to take a job. And all employers know, by the way, all employers know that they're going to teach you a lot when they hire you, they're just hiring you based on, I don't know, your enthusiasm, the willingness to learn, willingness to be adaptable, your demeanor, your behavior. That's what they're hiring. And I'm a Director of Engineering right now at different companies. So I hire people all the time. So that I don't hire them. I don't expect them to know things. I expect them to know basic things, but I don't expect them to hit the ground running regardless of where they are in their career. [00:18:30] Lindsey Dinneen: Sure. Sure. So when you stepped into this, this entrepreneurial journey, and you're the owner of a company, you are the leader of this vision-- did you find that to be a relatively easy transition because of the past experiences that you'd had? Or was that element of stepping into this high leadership role, was that, yeah, difficult in any way? [00:18:56] Harout Markarian: In different things that I tried in my life, I felt like I was always adaptable. I was always willing to learn. And I never quit. I failed a lot, but I never quit. Right? So I feel like that definitely contributed to, to how I'm managing myself in this role. Is it easy? It's not easy at all. It's difficult. Whoever tells you starting a company, building a company is easy, it's out of their mind, especially in the beginning stages. Because having other people get on board and see your vision, it's the toughest challenge a founder can embark on. So if you overcome that, then you definitely have what it takes to lead a company. [00:19:44] Lindsey Dinneen: Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. And so are there any moments that stand out to you as you've started this company or even prior to that, where it just kind of confirmed to you, "Yes, I am in the right industry, at the right time for a purpose." Was there like a moment that you thought, "Wow, this is why I'm here." [00:20:05] Harout Markarian: Well, first and foremost, I pray to God every day. I asked God for his guidance. If it's not part of his plans, please give me a sign. So I just go do something else, right? And till now he didn't give me any sign to abandoning it, but or I'm that, I'm just that's too but that i'm not realizing it but no, that's that's my first go to right? I always embark on my day, on my journey, by asking God to guide me through it. Having said that, the countless numbers of interviews and research that I've done-- and this, mind you, this is not leveraged research-- this is me talking to people one on one. So over 1000 interviews over the past year and a half, or almost two years talking to people, it was reassuring to me that, okay, this is needed and I'm going to be helping a lot of people. And that's really what kept me on this journey. Just now I feel responsible for all the people I talked to. I have a responsibility to see this through. If I focus on the competitors, the market, the investment, the investor, then I would give up long time ago. Then that's not the right way because the market, the investor, the Investment, they didn't do the work I did in terms of talking to the end user and how it's going to benefit them. So they don't really know that, they don't understand that. So it's my job to, we talked about vision, it's my job to clarify the vision to the investor, in this case. So it sees that how many people is going to benefit from this. So that was the reassuring factor. Conducting that customer discovery was so important. Because that sets the expectations for myself and everyone I talk to. [00:21:58] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. I think it's helpful, so helpful to have those moments, something to hold on to when it does get hard because it's inevitably going to get hard and frustrating and discouraging at times. So being able to go, "Oh, wow. But I know this is impacting people. And if I don't do it, will anybody else?" That's, but that's powerful to motivate you. [00:22:22] Harout Markarian: Yeah, and I mean, I want more people to do what I'm doing because the market supports it, right? Just, we're talking right now, a little left brain, right? Logic. The market supports it, there's gonna be more people older people. The elderly population is increasing, is going to get bigger. So there should be more companies like mine addressing the same need because one or two or three companies are not going to be able to close the gap. [00:22:50] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. So what are you most looking forward to both perhaps personally and then professionally with your business? What is on the horizon that you're excited about? [00:23:02] Harout Markarian: Personally, I just want to enjoy my family, enjoy my wife, my kids, my parents before they're gone, because of everyone, everyone's going to leave at one point. So I would love to have some quality time with my parents, with my kids, with my wife. That's on the personal side. That's what's really meaningful to me. On the business side, I just want to add value to people. Hopefully this will be the vehicle, how I'd be able to do that. And as I said, I feel like I have the responsibility right now to see this through just because of all the conversations that I've had with people with different disabilities, with different challenges that this technology could help them overcome that. [00:23:45] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. And it's exciting. You're in a really exciting growth phase too. So there's a lot to, a lot to be joyful about, I suppose. [00:23:54] Harout Markarian: Yeah. [00:23:55] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, that's amazing. Well, pivoting the conversation just for fun, imagine that you were to be offered a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want. It could be in your industry, but it doesn't have to be. What would you choose to teach and why? [00:24:12] Harout Markarian: For them to be connected with God more because I feel like, and I don't know if I'm the right person to teach that, right? But because everything else doesn't matter. Everything else is temporary. I think the divine is, is the only thing that is not temporary. Your spirit, your soul is the only thing that is not temporary. Your challenges, your difficulties, your tough times, your good times, your money, your lack of money, all of that is temporary. What's not temporary is your soul and spirit and what happens to it afterwards. So, a lot of people today are behind social media and the fakeness of the world. And that's what I want to separate myself from, and see if I had the opportunity, I would just teach people to be more authentic and more connected to God. [00:24:59] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. And then how do you wish to be remembered after you leave this world? [00:25:05] Harout Markarian: I don't know if I want to be remembered, but if I do good to people, if I serve people in this world, in my time here hopefully I'll I please my God. And that's what's important to me, because pleasing God is serving others. So that's what it means to me. If I do that, then hopefully I'm pleasing God and helping people in the way. That's my thing. I don't know what being remembered means really who's remembering me, right? That's the question that I always ask and I wasn't always I didn't always think this way. I didn't always think this way. I always said to myself, okay, I want to be remembered like this great athlete, for example, right, when I played basketball. Or I want to be remembered like the person who founded the biggest assisted robotics company in the world. All that doesn't mean anything, because all that is material stuff, in my humble opinion. And I'm not saying I'm right, right? This is how I think. As, as long as I'm serving others, I'm helping others, hopefully doing it in a gracious way, that's what I'm looking for. [00:26:04] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that's incredible and that's, I frankly wish that more people felt that way. So I think that's a, I [00:26:15] Harout Markarian: Well, I, it's a hard thing to do and I'm not saying I'm doing it perfectly. Sometimes we have a lot of distractions. That's not the norm So if we follow what's around us, then we're not going to think that way and I struggle with it too. So I constantly strive to keep myself true to what I just said right now. [00:26:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yep. There you go. And then, final question, what is one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? [00:26:42] Harout Markarian: Oh, my kids. My son is five, my daughter is two ,and they're hilarious, even when they're a pain in my ass, so. So, sometimes the things they say is, and then, I like to also I'm a light guy. I like to think that I'm a light guy, so everything is a joke to me. I don't take a lot of things seriously. So I'm always giving people hard time kind of in a humorous way. So I like to pick on my wife, pick on my sisters. So these kinds of things make me smile. Sometimes it's stupid. Sometimes it's makes others smile to you, but it's just light stuff. I just enjoy my life, enjoy the time I have with the people I love the most. [00:27:20] Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. That's fantastic. Yeah, well, first of all, again, thank you so much for sharing your story and your insights. And, it's so interesting to me how you have had such resilience and a growth mindset and now discovered this sense of humor as well. I mean, I'm sure that helped exponentially as you had to go through so many different iterations or stages or seasons, whatever you want to call it of your life. And some of them sounds quite difficult. So I just want to say thank you for sharing that story and thank you for talking about it and giving inspiration and hope to somebody else who might also be in maybe a transition period or something like that, where it might be a little harder. So I, anyway, just... thank you. [00:28:05] Harout Markarian: And I, I don't downplay the challenges, right? Of course I recognize them, but I just choose to take it lightly because as I said, nothing is permanent. Everything is temporary, so don't think too much about it. Just, pray and move along. [00:28:23] Lindsey Dinneen: That should be on a t shirt that you sell or something. [00:28:26] Harout Markarian: Yeah, that's a good idea. I might I'm that might be merchandise. I'll say I sell on MARKBOTIX's website. [00:28:32] Lindsey Dinneen: Please do. That's amazing. I love it. Oh my gosh. That's so fun. Well, this has been such a great conversation. I've enjoyed it so much and I'm very appreciative of you spending some time with me today and talking, and we are so honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today. And that is to Save the Children, which works to end the cycle of poverty by ensuring communities have the resources to provide children with a healthy, educational, and safe environment. So thank you for choosing that charity to support, and we just wish you continued success as you work to change lives for a better world. [00:29:11] Harout Markarian: Thank you so much. And thank you for your time as well, Lindsey. [00:29:14] Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. And thank you also to our listeners for tuning in. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I would love if you would share this episode with a colleague or two, and we will catch you next time. [00:29:25] Ben Trombold: The Leading Difference is brought to you by Velentium. Velentium is a full-service CDMO with 100% in-house capability to design, develop, and manufacture medical devices from class two wearables to class three active implantable medical devices. Velentium specializes in active implantables, leads, programmers, and accessories across a wide range of indications, such as neuromodulation, deep brain stimulation, cardiac management, and diabetes management. Velentium's core competencies include electrical, firmware, and mechanical design, mobile apps, embedded cybersecurity, human factors and usability, automated test systems, systems engineering, and contract manufacturing. Velentium works with clients worldwide, from startups seeking funding to established Fortune 100 companies. Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.

Of je nu oud of jong bent, een gebroken hart komt overal wel eens voor, waarschijnlijk nog de laatste weken toen jij hoorde dat KINK FAST stopt met wekelijkse afleveringen. Daarom speciaal voor jou een aflevering met muziek voor de gebroken harten.    Dit met flink wat muziek van o.a. Hawthorne Heights, Mom Jeans, Tigers Jaw, Fall Out Boy, Mayday Parade, Lagwagon en Knuckle Puck. Daarnaast duiken Bart en Lesley weer in de tijdmachine, dit in 2015 het jaar dat het album That’s The Spirit van Bring Me The Horizon uit kwam.    Vergeet verder niet dat het deze week de stemweek van de KINK FAST TOP 100 is, dus zorg dat je voor 2 december jouw stem uitbrengt op www.kink.nl/voting. De KINK FAST TOP 100 hoor je iedere maandag van december op KINK DISTOTION.    Wil je KINK FAST live beluisteren op de radio, dan kan via DAB+ (blok 7D) op maandag om 16.00 en zaterdag om 17.00 op KINK DISTORTION.   Playlist: 01. Machine Gun Kelly ft Halsey – forget me too 02. Mayday Parade – Miserable At Best03. BOYS LIKE GIRLS – Love Drunk 04. Knuckle Puck – No Good 05. Tigers Jaw – Never Saw It Coming 06. Hawthorne Heights – Ohio Is For Lovers 07. Lagwagon – Razor Burn 08. New Found Glory – My Friends Over You09. Fall Out Boy – Thnks fr th Mmrs 10. Mom Jeans. – Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA 11. Bring Me The Horizon – Throne  

Of je nu oud of jong bent, een gebroken hart komt overal wel eens voor, waarschijnlijk nog de laatste weken toen jij hoorde dat KINK FAST stopt met wekelijkse afleveringen. Daarom speciaal voor jou een aflevering met muziek voor de gebroken harten.    Dit met flink wat muziek van o.a. Hawthorne Heights, Mom Jeans, Tigers Jaw, Fall Out Boy, Mayday Parade, Lagwagon en Knuckle Puck. Daarnaast duiken Bart en Lesley weer in de tijdmachine, dit in 2015 het jaar dat het album That’s The Spirit van Bring Me The Horizon uit kwam.    Vergeet verder niet dat het deze week de stemweek van de KINK FAST TOP 100 is, dus zorg dat je voor 2 december jouw stem uitbrengt op www.kink.nl/voting. De KINK FAST TOP 100 hoor je iedere maandag van december op KINK DISTOTION.    Wil je KINK FAST live beluisteren op de radio, dan kan via DAB+ (blok 7D) op maandag om 16.00 en zaterdag om 17.00 op KINK DISTORTION.   Playlist: 01. Machine Gun Kelly ft Halsey – forget me too 02. Mayday Parade – Miserable At Best03. BOYS LIKE GIRLS – Love Drunk 04. Knuckle Puck – No Good 05. Tigers Jaw – Never Saw It Coming 06. Hawthorne Heights – Ohio Is For Lovers 07. Lagwagon – Razor Burn 08. New Found Glory – My Friends Over You09. Fall Out Boy – Thnks fr th Mmrs 10. Mom Jeans. – Scott Pilgrim vs. My GPA 11. Bring Me The Horizon – Throne  

Practicing Your "Just A Minute" Habits, with Willie Mekki. A lot of people dream of winning the Powerball lottery in the U.S; however, around the world there is another type of lottery called a visa or green card lottery which allows one to travel and create a new life in America for one's family and that happened to be the story of this individual. Willie Mekki was born in Athens, Greece after his parents left Sudan to study and live abroad. Once his family came to America the only advice heard was to become a lawyer, doctor, or engineer in order to succeed in today's society. After finishing up with a degree in civil engineering from ODU, Willie accepted his first full time career in construction management and quickly realized that 1 income stream cannot do what 1 income stream did back when his parents were his age. Today Willie has a successful marketing business he runs online and exemplifies the quote of “The greatest charity in the world is eliminating the need for charity by teaching self sufficiency”. In his late 20's he teaches professionals how to to take advantage of the online paradigm shift going on around the world and it starts with mastering yourself and your mind. Tune in to hear this young entrepreneur's journey and the thought process behind how one can change the direction of their life. 2:11 Jam stands for just a minute. And what that means is do just a minute of something you really believe in. 4:40 Now I can play like Pirates of the Caribbean and stuff that I don't even I don't even know how it came to be. But it was because of those small little increments every single day. And just really taking that principle to life. I feel like that So I could really change someone's life from like point A to point B. 12:08 I always love doing things, not because of the thing itself, but because of the people and the memories created while doing whatever thing that it was. 15:48 You know, mistakes are the accelerant to learning. You actually. You had that point seven. My GPA after my first semester was 1.2. And when the staff called me in and asked me, invited me to leave, they said we'd like to give you the chance to excel elsewhere. And I said why? 22:49 If I were to go to any grocery store and buy milk, most people will check the expiration date first. But the issue is people don't do that with their goals. Because me I want to be successful and help my parents yes. But at the path of engineering, I realized, I'll still be able to do that. But maybe not in the timeframe that I'd like to. Because what I found out is just to retire as a millennial USA Today. So it's like 75 to 85 something crazy, because it doesn't account for inflation. It doesn't account for a lot of different things going on in the world today. 28:41 So with the expiration date mentality, it's not just for our goals, it's for ourselves as well. So it made me take life seriously. But that's also sometimes a negative because if you take life too seriously, you tend to overlook and I kind of walked that path as well.

Bart en Lesley zijn nog vier weken op vakantie! Helaas pakken ze niet de Route 66, maar hebben ze jullie wel achtergelaten met een Top 66. In deze lijst komen de leuke nummers uit de afgelopen uitzendingen voorbij. Deze aflevering nummer 66 t/m 50 en geniet je van o.a. Paramore, The Swellers, Real Friends, No Use For A Name, Olivia Rodrigo en meer!! Playlist: 01. Koyo – Moriches 02. The Swellers – The Best I Ever Had03. Turnover – Humming 04. Bowling For Soup ft. Hanson – Where’s the Love 05. New Found Glory – The Last Red-eye06. Plus 44 – When Your Heart Stops Beating 07. D.R.U.G.S. – If You Think This Songs Is About You, It Probably Is 08. Real Friends – Nervous Wreck 09. A Day To Remember – The Downfall Of Us All 10. Mom Jeans – Scott Pilgrim vs My GPA 11. Glasses & Mustaches – The Argument 12. Cleveland Avenue – Stuck 13. No Use For A Name – International You Day 14. Fiddlehead – Million Times 15. Paramore – Ignorance 16. All Time Low ft. Pale Waves – PMA 17. Olivia Rodrigo – good 4 u

Bart en Lesley zijn nog vier weken op vakantie! Helaas pakken ze niet de Route 66, maar hebben ze jullie wel achtergelaten met een Top 66. In deze lijst komen de leuke nummers uit de afgelopen uitzendingen voorbij. Deze aflevering nummer 66 t/m 50 en geniet je van o.a. Paramore, The Swellers, Real Friends, No Use For A Name, Olivia Rodrigo en meer!! Playlist: 01. Koyo – Moriches 02. The Swellers – The Best I Ever Had03. Turnover – Humming 04. Bowling For Soup ft. Hanson – Where’s the Love 05. New Found Glory – The Last Red-eye06. Plus 44 – When Your Heart Stops Beating 07. D.R.U.G.S. – If You Think This Songs Is About You, It Probably Is 08. Real Friends – Nervous Wreck 09. A Day To Remember – The Downfall Of Us All 10. Mom Jeans – Scott Pilgrim vs My GPA 11. Glasses & Mustaches – The Argument 12. Cleveland Avenue – Stuck 13. No Use For A Name – International You Day 14. Fiddlehead – Million Times 15. Paramore – Ignorance 16. All Time Low ft. Pale Waves – PMA 17. Olivia Rodrigo – good 4 u

Episode #711   SHARE THIS EPISODE with a student that you care about! At one point I was thrown out of my university because my GPA plummeted to 1.8! But then I received some phenomenal advice. My GPA turned around immediately and I went on to be at the top of my class in my Master's and PhD programs. I share a little bit of that advice in this episode. It works.

I began my graduate school journey with an F in a class. Yes, you heard that right. My GPA starting out was 1.7. Here is my story.

The totally vanilla episode.  This week Wyndy the Witch and Glenn with Three N's discuss "Best Buds" by Mom Jeans and drink some classy beers and there's definitely no funny business whatsoever. Actually: Wyndy the Witch loses her 40oz virginity, Three N Glenn finishes in his model hand, and there's minor ASMR with the sound of hands being taped. Beer list:Olde English 800 - Miller Brewing CompanyPurple Haze - Abita Brewing Company Song list:Edward 40handsGirl Scout CookiesDeath CupScott Pilgrim V. My Gpa

My family was first generation immigrants from Poland and Ireland with my grandparents all coming through Ellis Island to the New World. Although I didn’t feel it, my parents often reminded me how their parents were discriminated against in the early 20th century and how they had banded together in small ethnic pockets in upstate New York even practicing their religion at a “Polish Catholic Church”.I moved in 9th grade about 20 miles away to a bigger town and never felt discriminated against by my new friends. Being in a college town, there were many “strangers” from the faculty that came to teach and the wide variety of students that were attracted to a top-notch State University in Geneseo, NY.When it came time for college, I took a turn the summer after graduation and knew I wanted to be a pharmacist. Instead of going to my intended school (St. Bonaventure), I decided to work as a pharmacy clerk and attend SUNY@Geneseo where I was a chemistry major for two years with the intent of transferring to SUNY@Buffalo, the state school that had a pharmacy program.When the rejection letter came from SUNY@Buffalo, I wasn’t totally shocked. I’d had a mediocre freshman year in an accelerated 3-year baccalaureate program and had not realized that SUNY@Buffalo had changed their pre-requisites to prepare to offer a Pharm.D. program. My GPA met the minimum but could have been better. And I lacked one class in anatomy that was a prerequisite in the new curriculum. There was some good news: they had agreed to take me in “University College” where I could make up my deficiencies and then potentially be a shoe-in for entrance into pharmacy school a year later.My mother was disturbed at the rejection letter and the possibility that I would need to go out-of-state if I wanted to start my pharmacy schooling that fall. So, she did what she felt was best: she called our State Legislator to complain that our family had paid taxes for over 50 years in the State of New York and she wanted him to place a call to SUNY@Buffalo admissions to get me admitted to the pharmacy school.I was appalled when she told me what she had done. If I didn’t meet the requirements, I didn’t want to go.As God’s perfect plan unfolded, I don’t know if the call was never placed or ignored, but I didn’t get into SUNY@Buffalo with political intervention. Instead I was recruited by out-of-state schools that turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened.I was recruited by the University of Oklahoma for pharmacy school and they were holding tryouts for a new Women’s Varsity Golf Team (under Title IX). So, being not-so-privileged has its advantages when we are called to follow God’s plan instead of our own.I made life-long friends at the University of Oklahoma.I got to play Women’s Varsity Golf and was named Most Improved Player my last year.I’ve had an incredible career in pharmacy in Oklahoma, Texas and now in Tennessee.And moving from New York to Oklahoma brought a diversity to my life I would have never known if I had spent all my time in New York. I learned to talk slower, to trust people a little more, and to honor the value of diversity, especially honoring the Native American population. I’m thankful that my Mom, even with the best of intentions, couldn’t get me into SUNY@Buffalo Pharmacy School. Blessings, my friend,Agatha

Boom, what's going on everyone? This is Steve Larsen. This is Sales Funnel Radio, and today I'm gonna talk about my greatest asset and my college transcript.   What's up, guys? Hey, today's a little bit different.   First off, I wanna apologize. The last few episodes that went out, we found out the mic on the camera was busted, and so that's kinda why they sounded a little bit weird.   Thankfully my super-ninja sound dude was able to take out a lot of the stuff, but we apologize for that. He's the man. You guys'll all get to meet him another time when we all feature our content team again.   But, what I wanted to do, this episode's a little bit different, and you'll notice it's a little bit longer, but what I wanted to do is...    I did a Facebook Live to my group, and it's a little long but the lessons are huge, and it frankly is how I went from completely failing out of college; I had no idea how to learn. Did not know, right? I really didn't know how to learn. Even into my early 20s, I had to figure out how to learn.   In fact, the first thing I show you is my college transcript  - you'll see the huge difference between when I learned how to learn, and when I had no idea how to learn. And how that's blessed me in my life and frankly, everything else that I do.   Anyway, so it's a little bit of a different episode. We're going to cut over to it now. It's the recording from me in my group The Science of Selling Online. And so, we're going to cut straight over to that.   If you have any questions or whatever, please reach out.   The group itself had a great discussion about it afterward, and by the time I was done over 900 people had already watched it. And then a few hours later it was 1500.  It's been really, really cool.   There's some real talk, please go in with some thick skin. If you are easily offended, maybe don't watch this one. But anyway, let's cut over to it now and I'll see you in that episode.   I've spent the last four years learning from the most brilliant marketers today. And now, I've left my nine-to-five to take the plunge and build my million dollar business.   The real question is: How will I do it without VC funding or debt? Completely from scratch? This podcast is here to give you the answer.   Join me and follow along as I learn, apply and share marketing strategies to grow my online business using only today's best internet sales funnels.   My name is Steve Larsen, and welcome to Sales Funnel Radio.   Hey, I just want to share with you guys probably one of the most important assets that I've ever created. It's something that took me, probably, two years to develop. Um, of actively trying to do it, okay? And I want to show you this real quick though, hold on, let me; just pulling it up right here so you guys can see it.   I want to walk you through what I've done and why it means so much to me. And frankly, I know it's one of the major reasons why I am where I am right now. And it's because the lesson was so painful, okay? So let me share this with you guys...   Alright. Okay, check this out. I went through, and I found my college transcript. It's not like anyone has asked me for it, ever. Russell certainly didn't care. But I'm glad for what it taught me.   I'll never, ever regret going to college. Although, I you don't learn how to learn. You don't learn how to make money in college, right? But I'm glad I went.   Check this out. I'm gonna show you my transcript, okay? And I'm going to show you something. This is funny...   I graduated from college when I was 28. Right, and it's because I did like a two-year mission for my church; I took, frankly, a year and a half off. This was before I knew what I wanted to do. Before I tried enough things to know what I wanted to do. Right?   I took a couple of semesters for army stuff. You know, going to basic training and a whole bunch of things.  So it was a long time, okay? Much longer than normal people usually take to get through college, but I mean I had a family. We had kids; we had a different scenario and everything.   Anyway, check this out. Okay, I'm going to show you my transcript. No one laugh, but totally feel free to because I'm going to.   Let me make sure you guys can see this. Look at that first semester right there. D plus, A, F, F, F, F. That's the first semester. Okay, check that out.   I got an A in Apartment Leadership because it was a two-hour thing. I just sat down and did it one day, when I realized how screwed I was at the end of the semester. My GPA was literally .00017, okay?   I had no idea how to learn. I actually got kicked out of college. I got kicked out - and frankly, you have to go to class to stay in it. That's kinda funny.  I kinda stopped going to class about halfway through. But the issue was; I didn't know how to learn. Okay?   I had no idea how to learn, I didn't know the process it. I  barely graduated high school, okay. I'm not just saying that; I got straight D's in science every semester; in math, every semester; in English. I certainly did in foreign languages. Spanish, straight Ds.  And half of it was just because I didn't know how to learn. Right?   I was always interested, and at parent-teacher conferences, it would be like, "Your son seems really, really interested in this, he just hasn't applied himself." And that's what they said every freaking parent-teacher conference - from when I was in the fourth grade all the way through! Until I finally went to college and removed my parents from the notifications list for the school. I didn't know how to learn.   The thing that I went and I figured out was, "how to learn." So  I thought it would be kinda cool to share my process for learning with you. Cause there's a process, and it's active.   Let me share with you guys the difference though... So I ended up having to apply for college again four years later. Okay, four years later, I went and said, "let's go finish this thing; I gotta figure out how to do this."   I did not learn how to make money in college. I did not learn how to be a marketer, even though I have a marketing degree - which is really funny. I didn't learn how to do any of that stuff in college. It was all my own side hustles going on, you know. I had actual clients going on, on the side.   But anyways, let me show you this. Okay, check this out. Alright, so that's the semester that I got kicked out, okay?   Then check out that row right there. A, B, A, A, A, A, A, A, B. A, A, A, A, A, A. B, B, B, A, A, A, A, A. A, A, A, A, A. I didn't get a single C the rest of the four and a half years that I was in college. Straight A's, a few B's here and there. Ended up with a 3.83.818, okay? That's crazy, that's crazy. And the difference was that I learned how to learn.   This was such a powerful lesson to me.  I remember where I was. I was over on the east coast, living in North Carolina.  I was on a mission, and I started learning how to learn.   I completely believe that God had every bit to do with it, okay? For some reason, kinda opened and expanded my noggin. But this is what I learned. This is the process that I learned. This is literally what I go through to learn.   It's no different, no different than what made me able to sit next to Russell in Build Funnels forum. It's no different, the exact same process.   In fact, even when I was sitting next to Russell, and he'd say, "Steven, go figure out how to hook up deadline funnel. Steven, go figure out how to do this. You got two hours to learn this whole software and integrate it into this funnel, go." Same process, okay, same process.   In fact, most of the time when I am coaching - I've brought 1600 people through this process now. Many of them became millionaires. Many became hundred-thousandaires, and lots of people made money for the first time in their entire life. It was by applying this process.   If I was sitting in Quantitative Marketing Research; blah, blah, right? I hate that, like; oh my gosh, that's terrible, right? I hated that stuff. Accounting!!! If you guys like that stuff, that's great. I don't, I'm not good at that.   In fact, my first major was CIT, blah. Coding? I'm not good at that, I hate coding okay? I do not know how to do it, I understand pieces of it, but my brain doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. And so, I had to learn how to learn.   The stats all say that every CEO is reading a book a week, at least, right. You gotta learn how to learn. And you gotta do it at speed, right? And that, if you guys go to; I'm not promoting or anything, but if you go to doublemyreading.com - it's the worlds fastest reader...   Every year Russell goes and does a promo with him.  He's got a course, it'll more than double your reading speed. If it only doubles, he gets mad about it.   I got to meet him. He read Expert's Secrets in five minutes. It was the craziest thing, I sat right in front of him, and I watched him. And then he had an in-depth conversation for an hour with Russell about all the details inside.   There's so much information around, the first thing you can do is be really picky on what you consume.   Stop listening to every podcast show that's out there. Choose the top two or three guys and go deep with them.   Stop reading every book. Choose the one or two topics that you want to get really good at in your lifetime, and that's it. Only do those things. Don't worry about the others, you're not going to get good at them anyway.   The first thing you can do is do what Tim Ferris teaches, and have a low-information diet, okay? And then you go deep on that thing.   I prided myself for a long time for being a Renaissance man. I could do ad copy, I could do the actual ad. I could do the actual funnel, I could set up the integrations. I could do the actual video, I could do sound editing. I could do all of it! And I was a one-man show and, frankly, for a while before you build a team, that's a great way to go so you know at least who to hire and who's good.   But after a while, stop learning everything. Okay? Cut it out. It's what's killing you. You just dive deep on just one or two experts that you really, really like. And you study 'em for years. That's the reason why Clickfunnels is literally three miles away in that direction, right over there. It's three miles away. Even though I was next to The Man that long, he is the silo that I have determined to learn and study from long term. I'm never not going to study deeply from him.   When I find out there's something that he is just freaking out about, and is super excited about. I read the same book. When I find out there's something; I still do it! Even though I had a massive brain dump just sitting next to the guy.   Anyways, what I want to do real quick is; I wanted to share with you the process...   The very first step, if I needed to go learn something that I didn't want to learn; I had to find a way to become curious about it. I had to become curious. I had to seek information, okay?   I looked at all the guys who were in my marketing classes, who were in my entrepreneurial class. Pretty much 99% of them were not doing a dang thing outside that class to learn on their own.   They literally surrendered all, all learning, All Learning, ALL LEARNING - to the teacher! That's crap! Don't do that! Okay, don't do that! You should be going and just getting extra little pieces done by that teacher.   If I'm coaching somebody (or somebody is in some program of mine), and they leave every single step up to me, I know they will fail. I'm that strong about it. If they have no drive,  if they do not learn on their own, if they've never opened up freaking Google or YouTube and typed in, "how do I _____ ____? I know they're not going to make it. Bar none! Done, right there - gone. Will not make it. Will not make money because they have zero drive.   Look, all these things that we're teaching you guys. Everything that we do is a formula. It will get you to the 90%. Okay? It will shortcut, save years of your life, Tens of thousands of dollars of you testing on your own. But that last 10% is up to the athlete. Right? It's up to you, right?   It's up to you; "Hey, this is how you do an econ funnel." Sweet, but I'm not going to go make an econ funnel specific to your exact product. So there's gonna be that last little 10%.   You'll make money during the 90%. You'll figure out how to be successful doing the 90%, or get leads doing that 90%, but it's that last 10%!   For the guys who can't stay up a few extra hours; who can't get up a few extra hours -  who can't and won't do it on their own... They surrender all of their learning to another person and say well, "But Steven didn't teach me how to do it with my product." Bullcrap! Not my fault. Not my fault, okay!   I realized when I sat down in college that people were literally leaving all responsibility for learning up to the teacher. That's when I realized; oh crap, it's actually freaking easy for me to be apart from everybody else.   That's the beauty of it guys. Study for an hour on your own. No one telling you to do it.  I'm preaching to the choir for a lot of guys on here right now. I know I am, but let me keep ranting, okay?   If you do just a little bit extra; in only a year's time... Six months guys! Six months from the time I built my first successful funnel was when I met Russell and got a job offer from him. Six months! It's because I dove deep.   Step number one, you've got to be self-sustaining. You've got to be diving deep, you have to be curious.   If there was something that I needed to go learn, I found a way to be curious about it. You must be curious. You must learn for the sake of wanting to do so. Reading is not enough, okay? Which leads me to step two.   As I was learning,  (and this was weird, okay), but I did this actively in college...   When there was a subject that I did not want to learn, you can see, I almost got straight A's. I got a 3.18 the rest of college after that. From straight F's? Right? I just showed my transcript to ya. What did I do?   One of my tricks was that I always "learned for two." That's the phrase I always say inside my head." I'm gonna learn for two, I'm gonna learn for two, I'm gonna learn for two." Meaning: As I'm learning something, one of the easiest ways for it to sink inside of my head; whether it has to do with funnels, right; or a script strategy...   Right now,  I am actually in funnel script.  I'm building out the webinar for funnel builder secrets to go do with all these cool JV's with Russell. Super cool, cool stuff. So anyways, that's what I'm doing right now. But, I'm learning for two...   Every time I watched Russell - even before I met him in person; before he ever knew who I was - I always learned for two.   Let's say there was some topic which I didn't want to learn it. I would sit back, and I would go: "How would I teach this to somebody else?"   I'm 100% convinced the reason I have this status right now is because of that principle.   It was weird guys; I would sit back, and I would say to myself: How would I teach this to somebody else?  For some reason I always imagined myself teaching it onstage. I don't know why but I always did.   I felt a little weird, little conceited even, doing that. And this became the basis for me to begin to publish - even though I didn't want to. Because in my head I'd future-paced myself enough times. Id think, "How would I say this onstage?" If I was gonna teach this; how would I simplify it? How would I draw in a picture so they can understand?   I'm not trying to sound super smart. I'm trying to sound "simple" - because it's actionable.   One of my favorite quotes... You know I'm starting my quote wall again, which I'm really excited about. I think it's that one right there. It says, "The purposeful destruction of information is the essence of intelligence." Okay?   I'm not trying to sound all smart and crap. I'm a "geek out," guys. We go some deep concepts for marketing, right? The different psychology and ask, "what's actually going on in the noggin?" If you guys followed me in affiliate outrage, then you saw me do that a little bit while I've been building it.   So step number one is; be curious, seek. You've got to be able to deep-dive without anybody telling you to do so. Freak out over it, obsess over it. Be unreasonable over the amount of information you're consuming on it, okay?   I have mastered this to such a level that I feel like already that I could teach a master class on any subject if you gave me two weeks. I just dive, dive, dive, dive, dive.  You will be ahead of so many people, it's ridiculous.   So that's step number one, okay. You have got to deep dive. Find a way to be interested. Find a way to be curious. Seek, seek, seek, seek, seek actively.   Number two is, "learn for two." And more specifically, you need to learn how to document what you're learning, okay? Write it down, I don't always write stuff down.   I used to write a lot of stuff down, which is why I showed you guys my funnel journal. Which is a previous Facebook Live.   If you haven't seen that one. I showed you my funnel journal and everything I was learning. I just showed Russell like two days ago, and he's freaking out about it. Which is awesome. It'll be on a Funnel Hacker TV episode soon, which is cool, cause he was really impressed by it. But that's how I used to do it.   Other ways I would document, though;  let's say there was a subject I didn't want to go learn. I actively would find somebody after class, I didn't care who it was. There were strangers I did this to many times.   I would walk up to 'em, and we'd be getting on an elevator or something like that. And I'd be like, "Hey, this is gonna be weird, but can I just tell you what I learned in this last class?" And they'd be like, "Yeah, I guess." And I'd be like, "Cool! This is what I learned, isn't that interesting?" They'd be like, "Yeah, that is interesting."   I would go back home, and I would teach my wife for that purpose, guys. It was an active thing that I would be doing. I would take that piece back, and I would go and tell it. I would teach it to my wife so that it sank in my brain. If you can teach it, you know it.   Those are really the two steps, okay?   Now the way you teach it matters. You know what's funny is with Sales Funnel Radio; do you guys watch Sales Funnel Radio at all? I don't know if you guys watch it at all. Sales Funnel Radio is freaking amazing. Love the group. Hey thanks, Adam, I love the group too. Sales Funnel Radio is epic.   What's interesting about Sales Funnel Radio is everybody just wants the nuggets. Okay, they want the nuggets. It's funny cause I was totally surveying people and this is what they say.  It's funny, they'll tell me things like, "Steven this is a really good point, I wish you just got straight to the lesson though." And I'll be like, "Oh, interesting!"   So at the beginning, when I was first doing Sales Funnel Radio, you can hear a few episodes where I did that.  It was pretty straight tactics. Straight to the point, right to the nugget. And you know what's funny about that? Nobody ever remembered it. No one remembered the nugget. Nobody applied it. It didn't mean anything to them. After two episodes, I stopped. I was like, crap, that didn't work.   They want the nugget, but if I go straight to the nugget, no one remembers it. And frankly, you won't remember it either. And so you have to wrap your nuggets in stories. Okay? You have to wrap the golden nuggets in stories. That's how people learn, it's how what sticks in the brain.   It's what also assigns the value to the nugget. Alright? It's what gets people to go, "Oh my gosh, that was so cool!" It only happens when I wrap things in story. When I do 80% story, 20% nugget. So watch what I'm doing in those episodes. Okay, and again; 80% story, 20% nugget. When I do it that way, they're like, "Oh my gosh, that was such a sick episode!"   When I go straight tactical, and it truly is stuff that I would charge a grand for at an event to go teach. They're like, "Hey, that was cool!" And then I never hear about it again. When there is a story though, there's an emotional response that people will remember forever. So what does this have to do with anything?   So again, here are the steps. Number one: you've gotta be able to dive deep and be a self-solver when it comes to your education.   I hate it, hate it when people reach out to me and they're like, "How do I add a new funnel?" I'm like, "Freaking A! Did you even google it?!" I get so mad about it. Are you serious? Google it!! Right!   Did you do anything on your own to solve that question on your own? No! Therefore, I'm not even gonna help! That's my response to it, and I get pretty animated about it, which you just saw.   When people reach out, and they're like, "Oh my gosh, Steven, how do I write a Seinfeld series?" "Did you even google it?!" Right? "Did you look at Dot Com Secrets? Did you read the scripts? Did you even YouTube?" Someone already has the answer.   I have a YouTube education. No one taught me how to do what I'm doing. No one taught me, okay? My very first education was a YouTube education.   For a long time, I would go, and I would get these people to say yes to me.  I would turn around, I'd say, "Look, I know you don't know what these funnels are, and in fact, I actually don't know how to build half the stuff myself." I wouldn't say that. I'd say, "Do you want me to go rebuild your website?" And they'd say, "Sure."   All I knew was that there was a guy out there, somewhere in the ether, who had some little tutorial on how to build a website in WordPress. And I would say, "Sweet!" And I would dedicate two days; guys, I'm not joking.  I would say, "Yes, I'll go do it!" What I was really saying was: "Let me go figure it out."   I would grab whatever asset I found on YouTube; I would go grab 'how to build a website' and I'd have that on one screen. I'd do it in the library, guys. I didn't even have a computer sometimes.   One of the things that I would do is I'd say "yes" to people. And I would be like, oh man, I just said yes to filming that guy's thing; I don't even have filming software. You know, editing software. Oh cool, libraries do. And I would go edit everything in a library.   Or I'd say,  "You want me to come to your event and film a thing? Yeah, I could totally do that!"   I didn't know what I was doing for a while. I was in my age of exploration. I was just learning crap, okay? I was doing it on purpose. Just saying yes to stuff and figuring it out as I went.   Build a parachute as you're falling. Funny enough, the ground never comes, okay.   So I went out, and I would go, and I would say things like, "Hey, let me say yes to you on that and then let me deliver it to you in about two weeks." And I would literally just go and grab, I would just go and grab a tutorial and press play for 15 seconds and do what the dude did over on WordPress before Clickfunnels existed.   When Clickfunnels came out, I did the exact same thing in Clickfunnels. Guys, I probably read every support document that they ever had out. It's not a joke.   Two to three times a day, I would be reaching out to support asking questions. I was "THAT GUY!"  I knew that, and I was fine with that. But I was that 'oh crap, it's this guy again.'   That's how they knew who I was when I actually showed up to a Funnel Hacking Live event. That's why I got five job offers by the time I actually got there. They knew who I was because I was dedicated to educating myself. I was a self-solver.   This topic for me drives me nuts. I absolutely hate it. When people come, and they say things like, "But Steven, I just don't know how to find a product to sell." Google it! Right? It's like right there! There's so much information! Google it! Right! Are ya feeling me?   I know I'm totally preaching to the choir here. You guys are all; you're in a group called Science of Selling Online, right? This is like me going deep in innermost thoughts of my noggin, okay? But I'm trying to help everyone see like, nothing is stopping you!   It is not a matter of "how do I?" anymore. How does this happen? How do I do that? Is this what-- Is this how this works? Is this how I do this over here? It's not a matter of that anymore! Freaking YouTube and Google are amazing! Just go there! And do it! That's why I get so frustrated about it.   When I'm in a course for someone. Or there's like this little tiny contingency that only matters for the smallest little deep, darkest corner of their very scenario -that happens on a Tuesday, after a full moon... And I'm like, oh are you kidding? Just go google it.   I'm freaking just yelling right now. And I know, and I totally get that. But it's because it's a passionate thing for me. I just showed you my college transcript. I failed my entire first semester. They kicked me out, I literally had to reapply for college. What I learned in that scenario, was how to learn.   How to learn is never on anybody else's shoulder. If you don't know how to do anything it is nobody else's fault; it's no one else's fault - BECAUSE Google exists! YouTube exists! Guys like me, who are willing to teach you, exist! The 80 20 principle totally applies.   When I was doing 2 Comma Club coaching, and I was the only coach, there were 600 students. I was the only coach for a full year. How did I do it? You wanna know the honest truth? It's because the 80 20 rule still applied, and 20% of the 600 weren't even doing anything. Okay? You getting info is not what gets you results.   If you go out and you start saying things like... (I know you guys don't do this, okay), this is my rant to the world as if everyone can hear it. I should stand on my roof and yell, "Do crap! Just look it up! The answer is already there."   It has nothing to do with 'how do I?' anymore! How do I "X"? How do I "Z"? (I forgot "Y") How do I "X" ?; How do I "Y"? How do I "Z"?  "How do I one, two and three?" That's no longer the issue. The issue is always: Have you taken the freaking time to answer it on your own? Are you in a group? Are you in a course? Did you pay the dude who's taken a lot of time of his life to learn it some money so that he can show you how to short-cut it? Have you done those things?   If you do that, and you actually get in those courses. And you do it, and you apply it; that's like half the freaking battle. Just being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there.   In the army, there was a phrase; "You guys wanna know how you're not gonna get jacked up in this life? And you wanna know how you're gonna stay the course? It's simple; Be where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be there, in the uniform you're supposed to be in." And that's all they would say.   If you're supposed to be up at a certain time studying your craft, be up! If you're supposed to stay up late; be up! If you're like, "I don't know how to do this," make it your number one thing that day to figure it out. That is why I sat next to Russell Brunson. I am a self-solver, I am a self-teacher. God had everything to do with it.   When I asked him, "Will you please help me learn this because I'm kind of an idiot right now." Right, and I failed out that first semester of college, he helped, okay? And when I went out, and I said, "Look, I'm going to try and be curious about this." Rather than my attitude of like, "ugh I've got to learn freaking dream 100 again?," (Which is what I know people say), I was like, "Cool. How can I be curious about this? How can I seek the knowledge? How can I seek information and how can I get myself results? How can I self-solve and self-teach?"   There's no one else who's to blame except for myself if I don't learn this. Even the expert, even the guy teaching it. It's not his fault, it's always mine, okay? For my successes and my failures, never the expert's fault.   Number two, what I was saying is that you have to build a document somehow. I always follow the adage of "learn for two." Meaning, how am I going to go teach it? Either on a podcast or by writing somewhere? Am I gonna teach some random person on the street? Which I was doing to a hair-cut lady the other day as she was cutting my hair. She had a really terrible attitude about trying new things in life. Okay, anyway... You feeling me?   I don't care if the internet was to blow up; I'd be totally fine. Because I've learned how to learn. Does that make sense?   There's been a few times in my life;  a few projects that I've been on... This was true if it was a school project or a business project... Where if something changed the way we were running the business. And somebody started getting, "Ah, who moved my cheese? Ah, wait, am I gonna be taken along in that ride? Where am I gonna get mine?" It was always because they weren't a self-solver.   They always had the attitude of like, "Is, is this guy gonna remember; am I gonna be remembered? I'm gonna die in a gutter, blahhh!" And they would start saying that kinda crap, and you could see it. Their attitude would go that way, and they'd get a little more cut-throat. And we'd be like, "Dude, relax! We're still like fleshing out this thing. First of all, yes; you're still gonna be cut in this thing, it's okay."   I'm not gonna name a very specific project I'm thinking of, but it was always because someone didn't know how to learn on their own. They had no idea how to learn on their own. They had no idea how to self-solve. They had no idea.   There was a challenge that I used to run in the 2 Comma Club group called "The Self-solver Challenge." It's funny that I called it The Self-solver Challenge - all they had to do was just do the things I was teaching them. It was so ridiculous how many people wouldn't even do that. I'm like, "Are you committed to this?"   It's almost like Bourne Supremacy, you remember the Bourne movies, the Bourne Supremacy? "Will you commit to this program?",  Maybe a vague movie reference, I don't know? But I'm obsessed with Bourne movies. That's all I was asking for; "just freaking commit to it." And if they went and did what they were supposed to do in the program, I would go and do this special critique with them, or something like that.   There are two lies with this game. Especially in the info-product game. The first lie is that most of us start to confuse action with achievement...   Sorry, my hands shaky, I'm yelling too much...     If you're learning things, that's great. But if you're not learning with the intent to solve a problem, that's a distraction, right? It's the reason why I have so many books on my shelves that I haven't read. I have no reason to learn what's in those books right now.   People are like, "But you're supposed to read a book a week." Alright, maybe the equivalent of that I'm learning through listening to a ton of podcasts and a few other things that I do. I'm still learning like an animal. But I'm learning with intent.   This is how the game works...  I don't see beginning to end, and it's the reason why most people don't get started. What happens is they sit back, and they go, "Steven, I see how this funnel game could work," right? And some of you guys have said that "I get it, I get it."   These are like the two lies, okay. This is the first lie; the lie is that someone says, "I must see from beginning to end to get started in this game," but this is always a false belief.   I know this by taking 1600 people through this process. 1600, okay, I think it's more than that now. I think we're nearing 1700. The door is about to open for more, I'm really excited...   See, I teach people how to do for themselves the very things I'm teaching them how to do to their customers. I say, "What are your false beliefs about this very process I'm about to take you through?" And I, one of those beliefs is always, "Steven, I can't see the whole path."   Engineers and designers are always the worst because they want to see beginning to end before they ever start a project. They're always the worst.   Every time I'm gonna go teach on stage, I always look and see who the engineers are. If I know who the engineer is, I'm like, "Crap, there's the logic person who needs to see every step before they'll do anything." There's nothing wrong with that, it's a different skill set, just be aware of it   I'll sit back, and I'll say, "Okay, wait a second, that's not how it works. We see the peak! I always see the peak. I know exactly where I want to drive the ship. You all do, too. I want this kind of thing; I want this success. I want this kind of outcome; I want this kind of life. This kind of revenue or profit or whatever it is. We all know, right, you guys know what your peak is.   The reason I found that most people don't get started, and the reason that I found that most people who were taking time was because they could see the two or three steps in front of them but there was this area that was totally dark. No lights on, completely black. And they're like, "Ugh, okay, I see how to build the funnel, but I don't know how to get traffic?' And I'm like, "What!?" Month two hasn't even happened! Right? That's not how the game works! That's not how the game works!   There's as much faith in it as in anything else. You sit down, you say, "I'm going for that peak." You look down, and you say, "I see the one step in front of me, and number two, number three. I don't even really see number four." I don't even see number four in my own business. I see the peak, and I know the major milestones to get there, but in-between it's completely, completely dark. It's totally black, I have no idea what's there. No idea, no idea.   If you're nervous about solving problems in entrepreneurship, like get used to it, or learn to love it because that's all it is. So all you have to focus on is step number one.   Don't worry about step number three until you've taken step number two. So many people are trying to put every little asset, every little thing in place. All these little pieces; "I'm not gonna be a good speaker. I'm not good at the funnel building. How does the offer go? How does this happen?" And they're like, "Oh my gosh."   Just start moving, and take step one. Don't worry about step two until it's completely there. You take it slow, and your speed increases over time. But you put that foot out, right there. You just put the foot out, and you place your foot as perfectly as your foot can be placed. Then you start to put a little weight on it. Lift up that back foot and get ready for step number two. And you hold it above, and you place that step as perfectly as it can be placed. And then the next one, and the next one. And you know what's funny is when you take the first step, a new third step always appears and begins to become visible.   The issue happens when people get distracted by it. "But how do I bill an affiliate product?" Man, you don't even have a product, who cares? And, "What's my affiliate program gonna be? I haven't set up backpack yet." You're not even selling your normal products on your own anyway, who cares?   Don't even worry about it until you get there. Don't even worry about it. Right, boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. That's like the first lie of the info-product, actually entrepreneurship game in general. Well, the first lie that people believe is, "Oh my gosh, I gotta know all these steps, I gotta know all these things. I'm not gonna be successful unless I do. I'm don't see from beginning to end." Okay, no one does, nobody does.   You guys know when we actually started the funnel for this book? Two days before the launch. Okay, that's some scary crap. I would not encourage you to do that. Okay, it's some scary crap, and we had a very pro team pulling it off, okay? But what I'm saying is execution is what matters. Done is the new perfect. Stop needing to see beginning to end, stop needing to be perfect.   Most of the time it's just a pride thing that the person is experiencing. "I'm gonna look like an idiot if this fails!" You mean when. When it fails - it will. Just get over it. When it fails, okay.   But because so many people are so scared to take action, if you just take a little, you're already ahead of 80% of humanity. Okay, that's why I can stay ahead. That's why I'm doing it the way I am. I already know it's not gonna be perfect. Right?   That's the way I started treating my learning. I didn't need to learn every little piece of detail.  I dove deep with it, right, I dove deep with it. I found step number one, just as I was talking about. Step number one. How can I be curious about what I'm learning? How can I dive deeply?   Then number two: How can I teach for two? I mean: How can I learn for two - so I can turn around and teach it to somebody else? Somehow document it. Somehow go around and turn around and be like, "Check it out, this is how it happens!"   Okay, anyway. There's some real talk there. Oh, that was lie number one. Lie number two is that "when I purchase something the problem is solved." That's the other lie that people believe.   How many you guys bought a treadmill and never used it? That's a perfect example. We've all done that. I'm not poking fingers. We've all done that, every one of us. That's fine, okay? But you have to buy with intent.   I buy stuff to funnel-hack it or to use it. There are times where stuff sits around. I'm totally guilty of that as well. That's the second lie of this game that people believe. When I go purchase something, it scratches the itch. And therefore I'll be successful, and we begin to confuse action with achievement.   So just to recap, cause I just said a butt-load of stuff and that was way longer than expected and I went into things that I wasn't planning to. That was gonna be like a five-minute little thing.   Number one, right? I showed you my college transcript. I literally failed out of college. I had to learn how to learn. I had to literally reapply, they kicked me out. Like, for real, okay?   Four years later, I went back in, I learned how to learn. Got pretty much straight A's, graduated with a 3.8 the rest of college. And then, then what I started learning, right.   The big difference between a straight A's and me failing out of college, which totally applied to me everything funnel-building-wise. And which is why I am completely convinced is why I'm doing what I'm doing now, right. In college, I learned how to learn, okay? I asked God for help, I learned how to learn.   I turned around, and I figured out how to get curious about things that I needed to learn but didn't want to. "How can I get curious about this? How can I seek, how can I ask for help? Who has the biggest cheese? Who can I go run after? Who's that person who that'll take me in to shortcut as much of the process as possible?"   Number two, I always learned with the intent to teach somebody else. I learned for two; learn for two; "learn for two, learn for two." It's like this constant thing that's going on in my head.  There have been awkward moments where I walk up to random people and say, "Look, I know you don't know who I am, this is gonna be weird, but I want to teach you what I just learned, so I remember it, is that cool?" Sometimes I would just tell them anyway. That was weird, a few times. But it worked   When I started funnel building  - the exact same thing, right!   The fastest time I ever built a funnel was in 11 minutes. I walked out of a 2 Comma Club coaching event.  Russell goes, "Dude, oh my gosh, good! You're out. This thing's launching in 11 minutes. Can you put it out?" I was like, "What?! Oh my gosh!" Right, whew! Right, say 'yes,' build the parachute while you're falling, funny enough the ground doesn't even come.   And then the two lies, right? Lie number one is that when I start anything, I believe I need to see beginning and end to be successful. That is a lie. That is not true. Nobody ever does. Get used to it.   Step two should never even be thought about until you've put a step in step one. I'm not talking about thoughtful planning. I'm talking about just executing and getting crap done.   The other lie is that when we purchase something we believe that the problem is solved. Like buying a treadmill and it just sits there, or buying into a member's area; we never do anything with.   The 80 20 principle sadly applies to everything that I've ever sold, ever. 20% of people do stuff with it. The other 80% will not. Some of them will come in, and they do stuff, and they get what they need from it. Or they'll funnel hack me, which is fine, too.   Guys, hopefully, this has been helpful. That was a lot, you guys commented like crazy. I haven't even read any of them. But that's my greatest asset. That's why I believe if something was to go to crap, it'd be fine. Because; let's say the internet exploded. I'm probably going to go into real estate, and I'm going to spend two weeks learning all the strategies and who has the biggest cheese, right? Who has the biggest cheese? Sausage number one, in the real estate game! And then I would go, and I would dive deep with them and do exactly what they said, right.   I'd find a Mr. Miyagi, which is why I have this thing. "Little Mr. Miyagi bobble-head," I gave one to Russell. I was like, "Dude, you're my Mr. Miyagi." You tell me to do things I don't want to do a lot of times, but when I do, money comes in. So that's why I do it.   It's not about what you think. Sometimes you think too much, sometimes you feel way too much.   (COMMENT FROM PEOPLE WATCHING STEPHEN LIVE ON FACEBOOK:)   Javier said, "Did you get kicked out for partying too much?" No, I literally just stopped going to class.  I didn't know how to learn. I'd go to class, I wouldn't know how to do anything afterward. I literally had no idea how to learn.   Anyway, hopefully, it's helpful. It's kinda some real talk, I guess if you want to call it that.   The YouTube education thing is huge, absolutely Billy. It's Tuesday, roar.   That's right, John. Google that crap, learn from my kids. Exactly.   Actually, funny, I used to use this as an insult and um, please take it as a learning thing if I ever do it to you, or do this in the group...   But if you're like, "Stephen, how do I make funnels?" Or how do I do this, how do I do this? Man, there's a site called let me google that for you dot com - It's the acronym for it though. Let me google that for you dot com, you type in lmgtfy.com   Anyway, what's funny about it is that you can go in and  I could type in 'how do I build a funnel. And it creates a little video gif, and you can-- It pops out a link. And you can send it.   In fact, I'll do it, I'll do it after this, okay? I'm gonna go drop it in so you guys can see what I'm talking about. And anytime that someone needed to ask me a question that was frankly stupid, or I could tell them, or I could tell that they had done no thought to think about the answer on their own, alright? This is what I would do.   As soon as the video is over, I'm gonna drop one for you. So you guys can see what I'm talking about. And it's not me saying, "Hey, I won't coach. Hey, I won't help," it's not me saying that at all. What I'm saying is; let's solve the greater issue.   If the person doesn't know how to learn. If they're not a self-solver - they literally have no responsibility for their own education. And they're putting it on everyone else? It doesn't matter if I even answer it, cause they're gonna come back with the next question, right?   This game is a series of questions. So I'll answer that one, and they'll be like, "Cool, I built a funnel! How do I change button color?" Are you kidding me?!   You know what I mean, oh my gosh! Like, you know what I mean? And so I want to solve the greater issue. I want you to be self-solvers.   Anyway, 100% responsible. 100% real talk.   FB COMMENT: "Stop yelling, you're scaring me." Good! It must be the Tony Robbins hat that's getting me kinda, hopped up on goofballs.   You guys are awesome. Good watching you as always.   "Great to see another veteran smashing it." Hey, thanks, Nathan.   Leslie, ha I just did it, fun stuff.   Awesome, cool guys. Hey, I'm gonna drop an LMGTFY for you, so you know what I'm talking about.   Please, please, please keep sharing the group. It means a lot. I know there's a lot of voices out there, and having built a lot of funnels; I think besides Russell, I think it's okay to say: no one else has built as many funnels in the world as I have. I mean, really.   People clone them, or stuff like that. But, and um... it feels weird to say that... I'm not trying to showboat. But it is a reality.   I'm trying to be a voice of clarity in the funnel world - and teach you how to sell crap on the internet, where you're not having to compete on price. I hate that. I don't compete on price, I sell for full-value. In fact, I mostly sell for premium values. And I'm trying to teach people how to do the same.   So if you guys like the group, it's my goal to go live in here daily. And it means a lot to keep sharing it. We screamed to over a thousand people so fast. I can't even believe that.  It means a lot.   So anyways, thanks so much for your involvement. I appreciate you guys being in the group and it means a lot.   Hey guys, I'll talk to ya later. Bye Ah, yeah.   Hey, wish you could geek out with other funnel builders and even ask question while I build funnels live.  Wish granted! Watch and learn funnel building as I document my process in my funnel strategy group. It's free, just go to thescienceofselling.online and join now.

Episode #010   SHARE THIS EPISODE with a student that you care about! At one point I was thrown out of my university because my GPA plummeted to 1.8! But then I received some phenomenal advice. My GPA turned around immediately and I went on to be at the top of my class in my Master's and PhD programs. I share a little bit of that advice in this episode. It works.

I went to Washington DC last week. I met a girl who does a show called "Good Grief." She started recording her podcast after he died and she found out he had a second family with two additional children of which she was one. Woa. I also got to meet Darwyn Dave who does the show Dealing With My Grief. Darwyn's Dad was murdered. Damn. Like straight up murdered. So I listened to these shows on the way home. This lead to some strange thinking, and emotions bubbling through. Emotional Triggers I focus on the weirdest things lately. My brother got pretty sick a little while ago and he had a weird situation where he was sweating under a bunch of blankets because he was freezing. He had lost a lot of color, and looked bad. It was spooky even though I knew he would pull through. The bottom line is we are out of Grandparents, we have a few Aunts to play, one Uncle who is 94, and then we become the next generation in line. You know and I know that it's going to get here sooner or later. There is nothing we can do about that.  Maybe it's because my brother and I were estranged for years, and now we're not, that the thought of us being apart can cause my eyes to leak.  And when I start to grieve, I feel like I have a buy one get one free. That I have leftovers that have been sitting in the pantry waiting to be consumed.  My Mom died in 1989. That's a while ago. My finals at college were the next week and yet I still had to take them. I cried. I wept. Then it was back to school. I was now running a house as my Dad was still a long distance truck driver, and my sister..... while she has never been diagnosed I think she has assburgers.  She doesn't like any change in her routine. I remember trying to get her to write things on a shopping list. She would say, "but that's not how Mom did it." I would have to answer, "I know, but Mom's not here." It was a strange relationship because I was the little brother taking care of my older sister. When my Dad got home on the weekends, I would fill him in on the bills, house, and get to my homework.  I remember my last semester. I took more credit hours than I have ever taken because if I didn't graduate I was going to lose my mind. It was graduate or die trying. My GPA took a hit, but I got the piece of paper and moved on.  Being That Guy My Mom died when I was 24. Looking back, I was a baby. I thought I was an adult, but I was pretty young. It deeply affected me. I became a workaholic. I still am. I've never wanted that to be my calling card. Hello, I'm Dave Jackson and my Mom died when I was 24. Yet, it is part of my history. It left a scar. It shaped me. I just don't want it to be my definition.  I Asked God For a Kid and He Said No I spent myself into bankruptcy trying to have a kid. It didn't happen and instead, my wife became an alcoholic and cheated on me. Pity party for one, again...  The last episode of Good Grief, Sam has her Dad (the man who raised her ) explain what it means to be a Dad. He explained how it changes you. It transforms you. It makes you complete. It was like a bad horror flick where the person rips out your hear and holds it in front of you.  Again, I don't want to be that guy. When I got to meet my friend's nine-month-old son it was awesome. He is the sweetest kid. This doesn't bother me. I don't ache to have my own, but I do have a major fear of missing out. If having children makes you complete, then I'm not. Am I broken? I dunno. I like me. I think I'm ok... confused.. Playing Ball With My Dad My Dad was not a bad Dad. He just wasn't around. He was on the road four to five days a week and would come home and sleep and then repeat. My brother bought me my first baseball glove. My brother was pushing the bike that I learned to ride. My Dad did take me fishing once. But it was that ball thing. Aren't you supposed to go in the backyard and toss the ball, any ball around? It never happened. Now here is the stupid part. We played ping pong on a regular basis. It was fun. We laughed, and battle hard. I'm not sure why this doesn't count for me. I guess cause you don't see it on TV or in the movies... I was at the park walking through the woods. The woods opened into an opening with a baseball field. There it was. A boy about age seven or eight pitching the ball to his Dad playing catcher. My heart just jumped out of my chest. It was like looking into a store window of something you will never be able to buy. I wanted to run out on the field and go, "DUDE, do you know how LUCKY you are?!" Then I got mad. Like any child who doesn't get what they want. Why did everyone get to play catch but me? Pity party for one.  When I was young, some of my oldest memories are sitting on my Granpa's living room floor. My Dad would argue with him Mom about something stupid, and eventually, my Grandpa and my Dad would go outside. I'm assuming they talked. They had a father and son moment, some sort of discussion. I'm assuming this is why we came over. My Dad wanted to hang with his Dad. This again pisses me off. My father and I had chit chat. We talked about my weather. For most of my life, my father was confused about what I did for a living. I was a corporate trainer teaching people software and he still thought I was fixing copiers. Actually, he thought I was fixing printers. He's open a Best Buy advertisement and say, "David here's your stuff." I got tired of correcting him.  I remember after my first divorce, and I thought I need to try to play catch up with my Dad. We weren't close, and the only way to fix that was to spend some time together. I asked my Dad if he wanted to go to an Indians game. I was going to buy some tickets, and he could get to see the new stadium the team had built. He turned me down. He said you can see things better on TV. To this, I can't argue. It's true. But it wasn't about the game, it was about spending time with your son. I would go over to his house and watch a game with him, and we would exchange chit-chat. This an often open the door of anger. Like why did you not want that? I had more "Mentoring talks" with my oldest stepson about women, school, life in the eight years I was in his life than my Dad and I had in the 50 years I knew him.  When he died I mourned what I lost, but I mainly mourned that what never was and never would be. I mourned a blown opportunity. It was classic cats and the cradle. He was busy, then I was busy. Then his mind left before I could pick his brain.  Closing the Hallway Doors As I go through life, I feel I'm OK. My life could be so much worse. I have a job I love, a cool apartment and the freedom to do pretty much whatever I want whenever I want. But there are times when I'm left alone with my thoughts, or I'm listening to a podcast about grief that I hear the drips of grief. I hear a door stressing against the pressure of what is behind it. I turn the knob and a river of tears covers me. I'm not surprised but still shocked. What is up with this? I struggle, I push hard, and finally, the door closes. I few more steps and sometimes the weirdest thing will set off another door. It glows orange from the anger behind it. When I crack the door, the heat blows back my hair like opening an oven. I fell it engulfing my body, but I don't want it. I push and push with all I have and eventually, it closes.  What Happened to Time Heals All Wounds It's been decades. What is up with this? I read about Grief, and I hear how some people can't move on. I've moved on. I work, I eat, I laugh. I accept that this is the new normal. This is as good as it is probably going to get. My Dad burned two things into my brain: The world doesn't revolve around David Jackson The world is not fair (which is somewhat of a rerun).  So when I didn't want to do something, I did it anyway. When I wanted something, and couldn't have it. I had to suck it up. I remember on the few occasions when my Dad had to spank me it was always the most conflicting of actions. He would put me on his legs, smacked my butt and then I would cry. This would last for about 10 seconds, and my Dad would then tell me to go get a warm washcloth and bring it to him. Not wanting to get spanked, I would do that. He would then take the cloth, put on the back of my neck, shoosh me and tell me it was going to be OK. It worked, and I calmed down, and in many cases that's all my parents needed me to do.  But When Is This Grieving Thing Over? I thought time heals all wounds. Well, I guess if you count that I can function a win, I guess it's true. When you read about the seven steps it always sounded like when you got done with the last step you would be back to normal.  As I don't want to be "That Guy" I looked into this and found an article that seemed to make sense. Here is a paragraph The misguided notion that grief is a process that allows a final working through of a loss is likely the fault of my own profession--mental health professionals who have promoted this notion in their work with grieving individuals. Clinical data makes it clear that any significant loss, later and repeatedly, brings up longing and sadness. Is it because these people have not achieved closure by traversing prescribed stages of mourning or because they have not "worked through the loss" as some therapists boldly claim? No. It's because you never get over loss. As time passes, the intensity of feelings about the loss will lessen, you might also find ways to sooth or distract yourself, or you can partially bury grief-related feelings by creating new memories. But you're not going to get over it because that's impossible: you cannot erase emotional memory. Besides, it's not about achieving closure. Instead, you have to figure out what you are going to do when your emotional memories are later triggered.  (Full Article) This is good and bad. It's good that I no longer feel like I'm broken because I still miss my parents. It's bad, because grief is like a website design. It's never done. You always need to tweak it. It might be fine for years, but something will come along and you will need to tear it all down and rebuild it. A website is never really done, and apparently, you cannot erase the emotional memory.   

On this week s episode, we re joined by Bill Kenney. His unyielding passion for design began at a young age, but has been developed and honed over his decade in the industry. As a business owner, Bill has developed both the design acumen and business knowledge necessary for success. He s the co-founder and creative director of Focus Lab. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why 201,344 website owners trust StudioPress, the industry standard for premium WordPress themes and plugins. Launch your new site today! In this episode Brian Gardner, Lauren Mancke, and Bill Kenney discuss: Bill Kenney’s path as a creative Running a creative agency The importance of team Using Dribbble to create a creative following Repurposing content across platforms Complementing a service based business with products Finding your tribe Listen to StudioPress FM below ... Download MP3Subscribe by RSSSubscribe in iTunes The Show Notes Follow Bill Kenney on Twitter Follow Focus Lab, LLC on Twitter Follow Made by Sidecar on Twitter Visit Focus Lab’s Website Made by Sidecar Follow Focus Lab on Dribbble The Transcript Leveraging Social Media to Build a Creative Brand, with Bill Kenney Voiceover: Rainmaker.FM. StudioPress FM is designed to help creative entrepreneurs build the foundation of a powerful digital business. Tune in weekly as StudioPress founder Brian Gardner and VP of StudioPress Lauren Mancke share their expertise on web design, strategy, and building an online platform. Lauren Mancke: On this week’s episode, we are joined by Bill Kenney, the co-founder and creative director of Focus Lab to discuss leveraging social media to build a creative brand. Brian Gardner: Hey, everyone. Welcome to StudioPress FM. I am your host, Brian Gardner, and always joined by vice president of StudioPress, Lauren Mancke. Lauren Mancke: Welcome back, everyone. Thank you for joining us. We are starting a new series on talking to members of the design community. Brian Gardner: Today, we’re joined by Bill Kenney of Focus Lab. His unyielding passion for design began at a young age, but has developed, and he’s honed that in over the last decade in his industry. As a business owner, Bill has developed both the design acumen and business knowledge necessary for success. Like I said, he’s the co-founder of Focus Lab. He’s also the creative director. Bill, it’s a huge pleasure to have you on StudioPress FM. Bill Kenney: Thank you. I’m excited to be here and talk to you guys. Brian Gardner: Yeah, this’ll be good. Lauren and I are huge fans of you and what you guys do there, so it’s always fun to have people that we really look up to on the show. I’m going to get started here. I’m trying to think back. From what I remember, I’m pretty sure the first time I ever came across your work was on Dribbble. Rafal and I have always had a back-and-forth chat session where we show each other things that are cool and really neat design stuff. I’m pretty sure he sent me a link back to the day and said something to the effect of, “Check out this Bill Kenney guy. I think you’re going to like what he does.” That was probably three, four years ago maybe. Can’t believe it’s been that long, but I know it’s been a while. Here’s the thing. You got to love getting to interview people who you look up to. For me, that’s something for sure we’re doing here. I don’t know. It’s kind of crazy, a little bit humbling to talk to you. I know we’re good friends. We’ve hung out before down at Circles Conference and so on. So for you, it might not be a big thing, but for me, it sure is. Anyway, funny how things work out. Let’s talk about Bill. Who is Bill? How did he become the creative director of what I call, arguably, the best creative agency on the planet? Bill Kenney’s Path As a Creative Bill Kenney: So much buildup. I need to live up to this now. I appreciate that. Oh boy. Who is Bill? At what point would you like me to start? Brian Gardner: What was Bill doing when he was three that was creative, and how did that just ultimately go through school and into where you’re at right now? Bill Kenney: Oh boy. At three, I can remember … this is going to sound like I was prepared for this question. I was not, and that was my own fault. I can remember distinctly what I would now describe as the beginning of my creative endeavors, kind of like scratching my own itch but not knowing it. I would go to my grandmother’s house. She would always have colored construction paper. I think that was so much fun to me. I would cut out all these shapes. I would make animals out of them. I would layer it. I would cut out the green stuff first because that was the background. That was the skin. Then I’d cut out maybe yellow for the eyes. You cut that a little bit smaller so that you can still have green trim around the sides of it. You glue it on. I don’t really remember much from my young childhood, and that’s not because I did a lot of crazy things in high school and college. That’s just because my memory doesn’t go back that far, but I can still remember things like that. Honestly, if I had to pick where it began, I think I would say all the way back then. All kids play with coloring pencils, and they like to doodle and stuff. But I always was drawn to that more than anything. That just stayed true forever. That stayed true through high school, through college. I wouldn’t consider myself an academic by any means. It was always creative stuff that really struck the chord with me. Brian Gardner: At what point, though, do you think you acknowledged the fact, “I am a creative,” and understood what that meant and really thought for the first time maybe, “Hey, this is something I want to either pursue further in school or actually want to become when I grow up,” that kind of thing? Bill Kenney: Yeah, I think when it got real for me, that would have been college. I still really enjoyed art class even in high school and such, and was sending things away — as the school does, not on my own — to competitions and stuff. One of them got into this Air Force art show. I thought that that was really cool. That wasn’t a career at that point. I wasn’t even thinking career at that point in high school. I just wasn’t one of those types of high school students. But in college, when I learned after two years of a liberal arts degree that I didn’t want to do math, I didn’t want to do science, I didn’t want to do history, and didn’t want to do any of those other things, I went, “Wow, I can become an art major. That’d be pretty flipping awesome. I could draw all day. I’d love that. I could take printing classes. That would be awesome. I could paint.” In a way, it was a little bit of the easy way out, I think at that moment. Subliminally, I was drawn to that, so I followed the path I was supposed to follow. At that point, once I became an art major, school became awesome for me. I really enjoyed it, and I wanted to go to class. I wanted to go early. I wanted to stay late, all those types of things. That’s really when it opened up for me. That’s when it became real. Brian Gardner: I wish I would have had that experience in college. Bill Kenney: It was late in college, mind you. Again, I did liberal arts for a while, still trying to figure out, “What the heck am I going to do here?” When that changed, then I flipped the script. It was that much better. Lauren Mancke: I had that kind of experience in college, except I took all those classes that you want to take right away because I really wanted to take them, all my art classes. Then my last semester, I was left with all the terrible, boring stuff. Brian Gardner: Like the black jelly beans, right? Bill Kenney: With my degree I went to University of Tampa in Florida. It’s not a big school in general. The art program is not big as well, but thank goodness, they had one. Who knows what I would have gotten into because I don’t know that I would have been just transferring around. I don’t know that it was that clear to me that, that was my calling. To get your BFA — which is a Bachelor of Fine Arts, which is what my degree is — you had to at least pass college algebra, and math was always my sticking point. I kind of fumbled along through all the other classes. I wanted to keep my GPA high, and that one was the one that was always going to derail me. So you wait till that last day before you can get a W, you can withdraw, and it doesn’t work against you. It’s very clear that there’s nothing you’re going to be able to do to bring that grade for the rest of the quarter, the semester. I actually botched that one all the way until my final semester of school. Then it was very clear to me, like, “Okay, here it is. I need to take it. My GPA is skyrocketing now because of all these art classes. I’m really excelling. I can’t let this one class bring it down.” I just really buckled down, and I ended up — this is not to pat myself on my back — getting an A in college Algebra 101. Brian Gardner: Outstanding. Bill Kenney: Yeah, is not outstanding by any means, but for me, for the class that I had always dodged and ducked, I was like, “I will conquer you.” I did save that one until the absolute end, and I won, thankfully. Brian Gardner: Yep, good job. Lauren Mancke: Let’s talk about Focus Lab for a bit. As you know, I used to run my own creative agency, so I bet we can relate a little bit on what you’re doing and how things are going. It’s been fun to watch you guys evolve over the years through social media, especially on Dribbble, which we mentioned, and we’ll talk about a little bit more. But fill us in. What’s the status of the company these days? Running a Creative Agency Bill Kenney: Focus Lab is going great. It’s the normal ups and downs of any business. It’s not always sunshine every day. We have the best team that we’ve ever had. We are the biggest we’ve ever been. Revenue is the highest it’s ever been. All these simple metrics, if you want to look at those, we’re doing really great. I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve been able to achieve, honestly, in the past six years now. I don’t know that I ever thought that we would get this far, honestly. We started in a little tiny town, Savannah, Georgia. Honestly, the only reason people probably know about it, that it gets its name, is just the big tourism and the history of it all, but it is a small town with not much going on besides the history. That’s really what roots it and gives it its name. We started this little design development shop there with aspirations to do great things, but I don’t know that six years ago I could have told you, “Hey, we’ll be 16 people, and we’ll be doing this. We’ll be doing that,” just all the other things that come with it. I think I would have been shocked, honestly, so I couldn’t be happier with where we are. We’ve always kept a clear mind on the idea that we want to grow slowly. Growth is not the long-term goal. A success for us is not determined by, “Oh, we’ve reached 40 team members, and we make this much money.” That’s not success for us. I would say that we’ve already succeeded, and we just want to continue to build on that, which is having the team that we’ve built, honestly. Being around the people that we get to be around, working with the clients that we get to work with, and the way of life and culture that we’ve created — that’s success for us. We’re in a wonderful spot, and it’s just constantly learning, iterating, and growing on top of that. Brian Gardner: That’s really good to hear and very encouraging. Lauren Mancke: Okay, we got to take a quick break. Did you know all StudioPress themes are powered by the Genesis Framework? Genesis empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress. Brian Gardner: Want to know why nearly 200,000 folks are using Genesis to power their websites? Here’s why. Lauren Mancke: Here’s a couple of the features Genesis has — search engine optimization, responsive HTML5 designs, unlimited everything, air-tight security, instant updates. Brian Gardner: On top of that — I’m going to keep going — it’s customizable and fast. We have multiple widget and layout options, and a community of developers you can trust. If you want a custom design, we have a list of talented, reliable designers who will knock one out of the park for you. For more … Lauren Mancke: I was going to just jump in. Brian Gardner: You’re so good. Lauren Mancke: I was just going to ad-lib that ending. Brian Gardner: Lauren, tell them where to go. Lauren Mancke: Go to StudioPress.com to get Genesis today. Brian Gardner: All right. Back to Bill. One thing I’ve seen from the outside is that people are important to you and Focus Lab as a whole. Your team matters to you. It’s clear to me that you value camaraderie in the workplace. You guys have Focus Lab retreats. You’re always sharing each other’s work on social media, attending conferences together, and whatnot. In fact, Lauren and I got to witness this team thing firsthand last year when we saw you guys down at Circles Conference in Texas. How accurate is this diagnosis that Focus Lab and the ethos in which you operate is really built around a team? The Importance of Team Bill Kenney: Team is 100 percent number one. To be fair, even to myself and the recognition that I get when people see, “Oh, he has a huge following on Dribbble.” They see these things, and that’s not just because of me. We all benefit from each other. We’re all growing. Even that metric, which is Dribbble following, I really have a good amount of that because of the team, because of the work that we all do. It’s not like I turn out all this stuff myself, and I don’t grow by myself. People don’t grow in a chamber. I’m surrounded by all these great people, and I grow in other ways, personally and all that, from the team. We all recognize that, so team is hugely important to us at Focus Lab. It’s very clear internally, and it’s nice to hear that it’s clear externally. Lauren Mancke: I think running a creative agency is really interesting. I know as creative director you have to wear many different hats. You get to take part in so many different aspects of the company, especially when you are the one producing creative work as well as running the business as an owner. My question is, what is your favorite part of running a creative agency? I know it doesn’t always come without challenges, but as I’ve had my fair share to deal with, I know. What is the most rewarding part of your day or week, and what makes you wake up each morning and say, “I love what I do”? Bill Kenney: Yeah, I guess that changes year to year. As you grow a business, early on what excites you most is new projects, bigger clients, revenue increases, and all those things early on in business. That is still all so new to you, and you’re trying to go from zero to something. That could be your biggest reward metric. At this point, it’s back to team. Team wins and team success for me is the most rewarding, so no longer am I most excited about, “Wow, I got such a great response from a client on a deliverable I sent or something I’ve posted online has been received really well.” I get my biggest reward — and this is going to sound a little bit weird — in a way that parents would feel happier for their kids when they’re playing sports if they won a championship, their kid hits a home run, or whatever it is, that same level of proud moment, I get that. That’s what I want now. That is when I’m at my happiest. I love team member success and when they get put up on the pedestal, if you will. A lot of what I do is to lift them up. I’m sharing all of our work through social media. I’m speaking about them. I’m shining light on them and making sure that clients know that this is not about me. Just because you happen to maybe find us or me on Dribbble first, we’re a team. That’s where my happiness comes from at this point and most of my joy. Brian Gardner: Yeah, I can certainly relate to that. On some levels, and it kind of comes and goes a little bit, people recognize me as the face of StudioPress because I founded it back in the day. Just yesterday, I had a Tweet exchange with somebody who made a comment about the newsletter we sent out, where we had sent him a bunch of traffic. He said, “Well, I knew Brian Gardner had something to do with it.” I kind of wrote back, and I was like, “Yeah, the old Brian would have said, ‘Yup. That’s right. It was exactly me,'” but sort of like what you were just talking about, I wrote him back. I said, “You know, no, it’s not me. It’s StudioPress as a whole,” because Lauren’s there. We’ve got an entire team from a support standpoint, from a development standpoint, a design standpoint, QA, all of that stuff. As you know, as you grow from one person to small company to bigger company with lots of customers and so forth, it does become so much more than just the person. I almost look for opportunities like that Tweet where I can kind of back myself out of it and say, like you said, just put the emphasis on the team. At this point, I sometimes feel the team does a better job at doing all of this than I do personally. Bill Kenney: Exactly right. Yeah, that’s 100 percent. We’re in the same exact boat. We’d have past clients that say, “I don’t want to work with anybody else but you.” I think they’re persuaded by what they see, so that’s like the social following is a little bit of a double-edged sword in that regard. But now, that is not the case. Thankfully now, [inaudible 00:16:16] works to make sure that that was not the case. No one can ever come in and just say, “I want to work with you because I think you’re the best.” That’s baloney. The team at this point is so strong. They are stronger than me in a lot of things, if not most things at this point. We’re constantly having that conversation internally. They know that. We all speak that way — to the point where, even when deliverables are sent out, even if only I, or Summer, or Alex worked on it that week, the signature at the bottom of Basecamp is still ‘Bill and the Focus Lab team’ or ‘Alex and the Focus Lab team.’ It’s pulling in that team all the time. That is where we get our strength. Regardless of whether I did 90 percent of the lifting in a given week or 10, it’s still the formula is team. Brian Gardner: I think Dribbble, and that’s where this next question is going, they really did us all kind of a service in this regard by opening up the idea of teams on that social media platform where you could take individual accounts and put that shot up underneath the team. When I look at the home page of Dribbble, and it’s always filled with Focus Lab things, I see Focus Lab posted thumbnails and not specifically from Bill Kenney. Bill Kenney: Yup. Brian Gardner: Yeah, Dribbble. That’s the big thing that especially with you guys, you personally have 33,000 followers, have posted over 1,200 shots, and each one of them, no doubt, makes its way to that front page. You’ve got that following, and people just always love your stuff. What’s the deal? How do you own them in the sense of … maybe it was just you guys got started early on, on top of just always creating awesome stuff. What’s the back story to Dribbble? More so than probably any other person or group of people that I know through the design community, Dribbble is really your sweet spot. I know that it drives a ton of leads — sometimes good, sometimes bad — but that’s where a lot of your stuff comes through, right? Using Dribbble to Create a Creative Following Bill Kenney: Yeah. Dribbble kind of broke us through the ice, if you will. Again, back to Savannah, this is not a knock to Savannah. Savannah’s a great city. Our headquarters are still there. Twelve of the team members live there, but it is not a thriving, West Coast, tech boom city, you know what I mean? The marketplace for growth and work for a design agency is going to be limited. What Dribbble allowed us to do was quickly bust into a world market instead of just a little local market. We relate a huge amount of our success to Dribbble, just for what it did. It was very clear, even if you look at the numbers year over year, from the year before we were on Dribbble, and then you look at revenue numbers the year after Dribbble. You’re talking about a spike that you could have never guessed at. To be fair, it may have been the following year because it takes you time to grow the following, to get the recognition, to drive those numbers up. But we can find that data to see like, “Wow, this is huge for us. Okay, let’s continue putting energy and muscle into this.” Basically we’ve never stopped. The game has stayed the same. To speak to the teams thing, the teams thing was a long time coming. I’m not an early bird to Dribbble, although I was in there earlier maybe than some, but not the earliest, earliest. I was in there, and we were building a following before team accounts existed. I remember that whole transition. Basically what happened is, we were having internal conversations about, “Okay, well, I’m posting stuff, but it would be nice to have a team feed,” so we talked about it internally, tried to figure it out how to hack the system in a way and say, “Look, okay, if we tag them all Focus Lab, people can search by tag. Therefore, we get a URL by tag. Okay, we can use that URL as the thing that we link to. Now we have a hacked team page in a way.” Then we would put that at the bottom of every shot, “Made with the Focus Lab team.” That was a link basically to just the tag that would show all of our shots. I’m not saying that we started this, but we were early in that game of people doing that, if not the first. I don’t know. Then a lot of people started to see like, “Oh, that works, and that works well,” so then a variety of people were doing that. Then eventually the teams accounts came around, which was nice. At that point, we had been doing it so long. It was like, “Oh, this is refreshing actually to have this now and not have to do it the other way.” That was a great addition, and Dribbble’s been doing great lately with all their new updates and stuff. Lauren Mancke: Yeah, it was really cool to see the team thing. My company, Northbound, got invited to do a beta test of the team aspect by Dan and Rich, and it was fun to be one of the first teams on there. Bill Kenney: Yeah, we were happy when that finally opened, opened up. We knew it was out there. We actually knew that people were testing it. We’re like, “Okay, we’re just waiting for this door to open,” because we’ve obviously been ready. We got this link thing here, and we’re faking teams, like a team account. Brian Gardner: Did you have to go back and update all those links, though, when the team thing came out? Bill Kenney: You know, that’s a good question. We put up so much content on Dribbble that any time you have to backtrack and change anything, that is so much work. I don’t know if we did. I kind of feel like we did, or maybe we didn’t. Again, we have so much volume that we’re going to push all that content so far back and down that it doesn’t really matter. Brian Gardner: Yeah, that’s true. Bill Kenney: It’ll just follow the new structure. Brian Gardner: All right, so you guys started out with Dribbble. It’s obviously done very well for you, but over the last year or two, I’ve seen you guys venture out into other social media platforms in what I think is a deliberate play at leveraging those as well. I’ve seen you guys do stuff more so on Twitter than you have in the past, but also you’ve made your way into Facebook and even have written some things and published them over on Medium. Now, you and I have had some conversations about content strategy. This led up to the whole Sidecar deal, so I had a little bit of inside information there. But how has that been going for you? I know that at Copyblogger and Rainmaker Digital as a company, we talk a lot about not digital sharecropping and investing your assets and resources in places that could potentially go down. Let’s just say Dribbble closed the doors and completely vanished. Your efforts, especially like on Sidecar with the educational pieces and whatnot, how has that piece of strategy gone since you guys started implementing that? Repurposing Content Across Platforms Bill Kenney: Yeah, that’s a great question. That’s funny you talk about Dribbble as the example because that’s real. If we think about that right now, what would happen if Dribbble was wiped off the face of the earth, that would be not great for us in some ways. It’s not as if we’d lose all that content. We still have it all. We still created it all. But the exposure, the eyeballs, the following, all of that stuff disappears, and then we have to populate it somewhere else and build all that back up — which is why when I talked to Dan three weeks ago in my podcast with him, I told him, “Don’t mess it up, Dan. We got a good thing going.” Yeah, we’re aware of that to the point we’re hyper-aware. To be clear, so Focus Lab, we have what we call ‘Quarterlies.’ What that means is we all get together as a team onsite for an entire week each quarter, hence the name, and we don’t work on any client work. We just work on internal projects. Each one of those has a focus. In the one that was Focus Lab specific focused, which was our site and how we’re marketing ourselves, if you will, we talked about what are the new platforms, like what’s the new frontier look like for us. Dribbble is basically stay the course, if not get more aggressive. You can always post more. The new frontiers would be basically Twitter, picking up volume there. We were already doing that, so that’s not really new. Medium would be a big new one. We don’t post a ton there yet, and when and if we do, and we will, that content will still come out first on our own platforms. So that content, if you will, to get back to the question, it is safe. It’s not like it would just disappear, but we would post it again basically through a channel like Medium for the added exposure. I’ve already seen that work personally when I took a couple of posts that I wrote for Sidecar that got picked up, 600 recommends, and just so much traffic that they still get the traffic, that it is just so fruitful to post out there. We learned that because Dribbble’s the perfect example. It is the example of we can post whatever we want on our own website, but that doesn’t do us any good. We need to basically go where the people are. Like you read in a lot of these books, you got to go where the people are, and then bring them back to what you want to bring them back to. Instagram has been another one. There’s been a very intentional plan for Instagram this year. We’ve gone from 1,000 followers to, I don’t know, today I think there’s like 16,000 or something. The team that focused on it, that’s been working on the Instagram account specifically, has done an amazing job with that. That will be more of a peer-facing platform, though. I don’t expect that really to drive a lot of work. We’re talking about that. We’re making plans in and around that, but Dribbble still carries the weight. We’re on Behance. Behance is a little bit of a different beast. It’s a lot of eyeballs, but it’s not the same as Dribbble. It doesn’t really drive work. Brian Gardner: Really, what you’re talking about is producing original content, putting it out on your own site, and then using some of these other social media outlets, kind of like in a syndication play, which is what Medium’s really known for, which is getting something that’s out there. I think Medium itself has even embraced the fact that that’s how they know they’re being used. They’ve allowed for canonical tags to go back to the original source and whatnot. That’s where the people are. You can take the awesome work that you’ve done originally, put it out where the people are, and then just drive them back to your site. It works almost in a symbiotic relationship there as well. Bill Kenney: For sure. We are organically creating so much content at Focus Lab that … you hate to use the word ‘repurpose’ because it sounds like we’re just spamming everything, but when you think about like a Dribbble shot, we can use that other places. That can then become an Instagram shot. It’s not as if we have to create original content every day for every platform. We have so much artwork that we’re creating in a weekly basis, and then Alicja capturing it, us screenshotting stuff, us building presentations for clients, we’re basically already creating all this content. Then it’s up to us to decide when, how, and where we want to post it. We still have it all. It’s still ours. Brian Gardner: Speaking of the content, and we’ve alluded to this thing called Sidecar, or Made by Sidecar a couple of times. Explain. Lauren Mancke: I think what Brian is trying to say is, what is Made by Sidecar? Why did you guys create it? I know we talked a little bit at Circles Conference last year, which was a few months after it launched, but can you elaborate on the mission of Made by Sidecar? Has the focus of it changed at all since you first launched? Complementing a Service-Based Business with Products Bill Kenney: Great question. There’s two reasons here. There’s a business aspect, and then there’s also the bigger mission. Running a creative agency and a services-based company, you are reliant on client work. That can be taxing year over year over year. You are totally at the hands of, “Did we get leads, or did we not get leads? Do we need to go out and drum more up?” whatever that looks like for a company. For us, we are blessed with the fact that we have a platform like Dribbble, and it drives a bunch through. It’s a lot more of just sifting through what’s coming through, but you’re still relying on that to live. That’s your revenue stream. We want to create a variety of revenue streams for Focus Lab. Sidecar is an easy first step to that, but the bigger mission is not really about us and just making money. It is very much about giving back to the design community and building a community within Sidecar, a tribe if you will, that does a couple of things. On one angle of Sidecar, we’re saying, “Here are the things we build for our clients that take us a ton of time, and our clients pay us a lot of money for. We can actually modify this, create it, and make it a template for you, and we can charge you X, which is nothing compared to the time and energy that we’ve put into it over the years to say that this works for us. Here’s your template.” Yes, $56 or $76 might be a lot of money in a template world for a younger designer out there looking for things. How much are they gaining? How much time and experience are they gaining from that one deliverable that they can now reformat and use for their own client work? That’s the simple, high level, what we’re putting in there and what we’re selling, whether it be photography icon sets, all that stuff. Really, the bigger greater mission for Sidecar, which will take years to play out, and it is in motion, which is the, how do we share knowledge? How do we teach? How does the community come in and help each other on a daily basis? We can build this really tight network of people that are willing to share information with each other, that are willing to encourage each other, that are happy to lift each other up, and do all of these things within the Sidecar tribe, if you will. The goal is to build a tribe there that is that close, that has a variety of skillsets, perspectives on life, and all of these things. Right now, we have our Slack channel, which is our private Slack channel, that we invite people to. We’re starting to build up that tribe behind the scenes, if you will, that doesn’t exist on the site. Right now on the site, we sell the products, and then we do all this free writing basically. We’re putting all this content in the journal of all the things that we know to be true, client experiences, and this is how we do this, this is how we do that. That’s our form of giving back right now, but really we want to blow those doors open and make it more of this community-driven, we’re all here for the greater good of design, if you will, to educate, to inform, to make us all better. That’s basically seeping through from Focus Lab. That’s how we interact with each other. We all want to grow. Even today at lunch, one of our team members gave a lunch and learn on one of the books she read. It has nothing to do with design. It has to do with conversations and how to get through. The name of the book is Crucial Conversations. Just that type of stuff, doesn’t have to be design-specific. I guess what I’m saying is Sidecar is now the outlet to do all of those things. Focus Lab still has to be what it is, which is a design agency. We can’t do all of the things that Sidecar will be able to do, so we’ve basically opened that up so that we can do that with Sidecar. I think that answers your question. I said a lot there. Brian Gardner: Yeah, it’s great stuff. The way I see it is that Focus Lab is the creative agency that drives the revenue. Social media is the outlet in which you do things like build authority, get leads, and so on, but Sidecar seems to be that middle piece, which may have been lacking up until it was created, where you can take some of the stuff that, as you say, learn and have figured out through your experiences at Focus Lab. Sidecar is kind of the distribution channel for sending that out to social media. Most of the stuff that you guys do on social media, that’s not necessarily just visual posting pictures, but more like the content side of it is actually through Sidecar and these, what you call, free writings, lessons, or tutorials where you’re really trying to help teach people. Not necessarily in a way that you hope that they come back and become clients, but just equip them as being tribe members of Focus Lab as a whole and all that. Bill Kenney: Yeah. Focus Lab is very much the client-facing. We have this give back part of who we are, all of us in the team, like in our DNA, but we can’t be so peer-facing as a design agency. We have to be appealing to the clients, so there’s a little bit of a conundrum there when you’re like, “We’re writing for the Focus Lab blog, but really it’s purely peer-facing.” It’s a little bit silly. As your company continues to grow, the company has a focus, and it’s driven by what it’s trying to achieve. Sidecar now becomes the peer outlet. In the Slack room, I’m in there interacting with all these people, and they’re saying, “Hey, can I call you up and just ask you this question about what to do?” Now they have direct access to us and to the team, which is awesome, because we want to be able to do that, but Focus Lab can’t function that way. Sidecar opens that door. Lauren Mancke: Fun question. If you had to pick one, just one social media platform, to build a creative business around, what would it be, and why? Bill’s Favorite Social Media Platform Is Bill Kenney: Well, I think the entire world knows what my answer is going to be to that. Brian Gardner: Okay, you can’t answer Dribbble. Bill Kenney: Oh okay, all right. We’ll take that out of it then [00:33:48]. Brian Gardner: This is not you as Bill. This is you, like what advice would you give to somebody who’s starting up? Aside from your own plot of land, what would be the most fruitful opportunity for someone to help spread their own word? Bill Kenney: I don’t know how it could be something else, honestly, and here’s why. I can say Twitter. That’s not a niche demographic there, so you’re going to have to fight your way through crowds, which is fine. I think you still want to be on there as well. You want to play amongst the different fields, but Dribbble gives you such a unique opportunity to the fact that it’s super-low cost. You have no price barrier coming in as a younger creative or someone that’s looking to start an agency. You have immediate exposure to both huge players and small players, people that you’re going to be immediately able to interact with on a peer level to say like, “Okay, I feel equal to you. You will interact with me. I don’t know if I can go interact with that person yet. Maybe I feel too shy. Maybe they’d be totally chill,” like I am, and I’ll talk to anybody. It doesn’t matter, but you don’t see that when you first come in. It couldn’t be anything else. I guess here’s the other thing. I am a little bit biased, and that’s fair. I can recognize that. You could do really well on other platforms, like Instagram proves itself really well for type designers. You see a lot of people get really far in type on that, and they actually get client leads and stuff. It’s just a little bit harder for me to speak to because that’s not been our path. Therefore, I don’t know that I could give that advice, but I guess if I knew if they were in a specific realm, I could point them in a different direction. As an overall creative, and if they wanted to follow a similar path as us, I paved the way. Basically just do what we did. We’re not magic makers. I didn’t come in with some secret sauce. I didn’t start with a ton of money and was able to get ahead and all these other things. We just got in and got our hands dirty, and Dribbble is the platform to do it. I do think that some people get ahead on Behance. I have a massive following on Behance. I have a couple hundred thousand followers on Behance, significantly larger than I have on Dribbble. I can tell you that it doesn’t even touch the return as far as revenue, and it doesn’t touch the connections I make on a peer level from all walks of life, junior designer all the way through to people that I would look up to and respect. I could try to break away from Dribbble and say like, “Okay, let me try to think of something else.” I think that would be bad information. I tell everybody, “As a younger creative, just get on Dribbble. Put some energy into it and make it work,” because we did, and I know it works. Brian Gardner: You know what, though? That’s kind of an unfair question, though, now that I think about it. We used the word ‘creative.’ We didn’t ask you specifically, what would you tell a designer, right? Because a creative is more than just a designer. It’s a guy who’s a photographer. He’s a videographer or a writer, and in that case, Medium is a much better place for a writer to go. Bill Kenney: Right. Brian Gardner: Backing up and letting you take the easy route with Dribbble, for sure, as a designer, that’s absolutely the place. I wouldn’t have even asked you to say something other than Dribbble just to answer the question because, yeah, designers need to go to Dribbble. If you’re another type of creative, obviously there’s different types of outlets like that that are probably better suited for you. Let’s not see a copywriter try to use Dribbble to expand their platform. Finding Your Tribe Bill Kenney: Yeah, for sure. When I am posed with that question, which is from anybody, “How should I get out there?” and even if we’re thinking about new angles or new things that we want to release, new products, or whatever, it’s still following the same model, which is go find where your tribe is basically. Focus Lab’s tribe just happened to be on Dribbble. It continues to be there for now. But depending on what industry you’re in, you’re basically going to go out and find your tribe, hang out amongst them, make yourself a name within that group, and then bring that tribe back to where you need them to come back to — whether it’s your personal site, whether it’s a book you’re releasing, or whatever. Yeah, you want to go out there and find your tribe, so whether that be Dribbble, Medium, whatever photography site, community. It’s just about the community. You got to find your own community. Brian Gardner: Yeah, let’s talk about that. Alicja, who works with you guys a lot, is a photographer. Let’s just use an example. Ironically, I think you guys did their logo design, the photography site that just recently you guys launched a design for. It’s sort of the photography version of Dribbble, right? Bill Kenney: Yes and no. To be clear, yes, we did do the branding work for 500px. They’re an amazing client, such a great team, and they are a really large community. It is interesting, though. I don’t have much experience on that platform in the sense of how we use Dribbble, so I don’t know if each community, if the result is the same. I don’t know that there are Hire Me buttons, CTAs, and stuff that really help to drive that type of action that come from Dribbble. But yes, I would always tell people in other industries to at least do what you can to find your Dribbble. I’ve said that many times to many people in different industries, even to developers. “I don’t know where it is. I don’t know what to tell you, but you need to find your Dribbble. You need to find your version of what I did.” That’s the easy first step as far as I’m concerned. All it takes is time and energy. If you don’t have time and energy, you obviously don’t care enough about whatever you’re trying to start or what you’re trying to accomplish. For every industry, it’s going to be different. I think that design is one that Dribbble specifically just worked out great. I don’t know that there is one for every industry. I think that’s really tough for other industries to figure out. Like, “Oh, I don’t know where the tribe is,” and there could be other huge barriers even if you figure out where it is. How the hell do you get into it, and how do you interact? Brian Gardner: It always seems like an opportunity, if those don’t exist for certain media, to actually be the person like … is it Dan Cederholm? He’s the one who did Dribbble, right? He’s got his co-founder, Rich? Bill Kenney: Yeah, but I think Dan seems to get the crown the most. I don’t know if that’s just because he has the most exposure. He’s actually on Dribbble with the big following up on the first page. But yes, it’s both of them. Brian Gardner: My point, though, is that even if you’re a creative, and we do this with our software at our company a lot, if it’s not out there and we need it, we build it. To the really, really savvy entrepreneur who’s a creative, if that medium or that Dribbble doesn’t exist within their niche, that’s an opportunity. It’s just an opportunity to go try to create that thing, be the next Dribbble founder or the next whatever founder. Bill Kenney: Yeah, absolutely. I agree with that 100 percent. If you’re a developer and you say, “I wish there was a …” Well, I think there have been some small attempts, but yes, I agree 100 percent. If you remember Forrst, Forrst was before Dribbble, right around the same time, but that was a play to designers and developers. You could actually post code and stuff on there. That was a little bit earlier. I don’t know that people were searching around and hiring as much as they are now from a client perspective. The community was smaller, just because that was a while ago, just like Dribbble’s community was smaller, but there seemed to be other kind of platforms that poke around, but yeah, if you had the opportunity to create one in whatever your space is, it works. That’s the only thing I can ever say to the path we’ve taken is it works. I don’t think I did anything magical. I think I set a course, and I said, “This is what I’m going to achieve, and I’m going to achieve that by doing A, B, and C.” I did A, B, and C, and it worked out. Everybody’s path is different, but it wasn’t rocket science, I can tell you that. Look, it took me until the end of my college career to get the college algebra thing crossed off. Lauren Mancke: Speaking of that, who are some of your heroes or people that you look up to, respect, and say, “I wish I could do X like X”? Who Bill Looks Up To Bill Kenney: Oh, that’s a great question. My answer is not going to contain names I would have read about in art school. The reason is simple. It’s not because I don’t respect what they’ve done and basically the foundation that they laid for design and art in general, and the history of the world, if you will. When I was a sponge and I was coming into the who am I looking up to when I was fresh into, deeper into the design world, if you will, it would have been all of a sudden the bigger names that I would have seen on Dribbble. I hate to go back to Dribbble, but that is such a big part of my evolution over the past six years. When I think about the people that I look up to or that I respect, those are the people I’ve been around the most and have seen the most volume from, week over week. They would just pop out in my mind to be the people that I would look up to. I can tell you typically what I look up to most, whether it be a big name or a small name, would be people that do things that I don’t do or that I can’t do. I love it when I see really great motion work come out of the variety of people that do motion work now. Motion’s really blowing up. When I see that stuff, and we have now a motion designer on our team, Will Kesling. He is awesome. That’s the stuff when you want to get down on your hands and knees and just say, “I am not worthy.” It’s like when I look at people that do the things that don’t cross my plate typically, which are going to be just amazing typography. I just started following these two girls on Dribbble. They do really awesome felt fabric figurines. It’s so obscure. I would never even known that I would have found that. I was just kind of trolling around on Dribbble, not to say that I’m a troll. I just found these accounts. I’m like, “Wow, people make little people, but purely out of felt.” They make little mini Pepsi cans, but the scale of it is like a fingertip. It’s all felt. That’s the stuff. That’s what inspires me. I’m like, “Holy crap. That is amazing. What is that thing?” To say that I look up to somebody, and this is in the most humble voice ever, in the branding space or even a web space, there are people that I’m like, “Wow, you do really great work, and I respect you,” but that’s not really what kind of tickles my feathers, if you will. It’s when I see the really funky stuff that’s completely unexpected. It seems like type illustration, motion work, new mediums, three-dimensional stuff, and blending platforms doing three-dimensional stuff with flat stuff and motion — all that stuff paired together. It’s crazy to me, and that’s what I really love. I think what you were looking for is for me to name drop somebody, but I haven’t done that yet [00:45:09]. Brian Gardner: Give me two or three names. Come on, two or three designers that you want to emulate, not copy, but you know what I mean? A lot of these people are on a much higher pedestal on my level than they are your level. For you, these might be peers, but I want to know two or three people that you say, “Man, that guy or that gal has just killed it in design.” Bill Kenney: Oh, man, that’s so tough. I’m such a people pleaser. It’s like, “Oh, I got to make sure I name the right people.” Let me think about the people that I know that constantly do great work, and let me also make sure that it’s clear that I would consider these people very good people, too. That is important to who we are and who I am. I would say Kerem is somebody that I’ve looked up to for a long time. Kerem can be found on Dribbble. He’s out of San Francisco as well. He’s West Coast at least. Kerem’s last name is Suer, I believe. He does really, really solid work, really great person. He was one when I first started on Dribbble, you’d look up and you’d go like, “Oh my God, I can never touch that level.” Then you finally get to meet them in person, and you have grown as well. Now they’re aware of you, and you’re interacting on a peer level. You’re like, “Wow, this is amazing.” I would definitely say that Kerem is one. You know who jumps out lately who’s totally crushing stuff is Bethany Heck. She just moved on from the IBM team, or I’m sorry, sorry, the Microsoft team. She’s moving on to her new position. I actually forget where it is, but the type stuff that she’s putting out. She just did this thing with Fonts.com when she put out all these baseball card posters using all this new type that they have for sale. That’s the kind of stuff. I saw that poster. I was like, “OMG! I need to have that. That’s amazing.” I would say that she is somebody that I’d look up to, for sure, to this day. Right now when I look at her stuff, I’m like, “Wow, this is really great.” That covers two platforms. That covers basically UI because Kerem’s more of a UI product guy. She does a lot, but a lot of type. What other funk do you want? I could throw out the cliché names, like Draplin. Draplin’s awesome. I love hearing him talk. He does rad work, but like everybody says Draplin. I don’t need to say Draplin. Who else? Who is on your list, Brian? I’m curious to know who you [crosstalk 00:47:38]. Brian Gardner: Well, there was one person, and I don’t know, I kind of assumed that maybe it’s just too obvious. I know that you not saying him isn’t in any way a form of disrespect. Maybe you just didn’t want to say it, but I was thinking GoPro. Bill Kenney: Were you thinking Charlie Waite? Brian Gardner: I was thinking Charlie Waite. Bill Kenney: Mr. Charlie Waite. Let’s talk about Charlie Waite for a minute. Charlie Waite will love this. He listens to all my stuff. Right, Charlie? You’re going to listen to this. Charlie Waite is a great person. That’s easy. You can say that. You can call me biased, but that is the truth. Brian Gardner: And full disclosure, Charlie used to work at Focus Lab. Let’s put that out there, so everyone who’s listening knows that this is all [crosstalk 00:48:17]. Bill Kenney: Right, which is why I’m biased. Yes, Charlie Waite, so Charlie Waite worked at Focus Lab for three years. You can call him number three in command. You have me, my business partner Erik Reagan, and then Charlie Waite was next in line. Charlie is an amazing, well-rounded designer. He’s amazing in two ways. I’m glad you put me on to Charlie because this is just good design discussion. We have this talk now all the time with like, “Should designers be able to code and design it all?” and all of a sudden, it’s like we’re supposed to be everything. Charlie, from a design perspective, taking code out, but from a design perspective, was extremely well-rounded. Projects come in, and they need all this illustration work. Charlie just whips it up. I’m like, “Wow, sh*t, I didn’t think you’d be able to do that much that good that fast. Okay.” UI work, he did branding projects. The well-roundedness of Charlie, and to be really strong basically when I worked with Charlie and Charlie got a project, and although I was his boss — we don’t even like to use that word — I had no fear. I didn’t even feel like I had to check in. Charlie just knocked stuff out. Charlie now works at GoPro, and he leads design over there. I actually just had dinner with Charlie and his wife in the city this weekend because they were on the East Coast. They came in. It was the first time I had actually seen him in a year since Circles, like we were just talking about. Such a good time to see him. Me and Charlie Waite are still the greatest of friends. Leaving a company is always tricky in any regard, especially when there’s friendship, too. Brian Gardner: You understood, though. You sent him off well because I know that he’s always been sort of a California, West Coast boy. You really embraced that, understood that, and knew that he was growing into a bigger position. That’s kind of important, though, right? Letting Your Staff Grow into Bigger Positions Even When It’s Not with Your Company Bill Kenney: Absolutely. Yes. That is important to us at Focus Lab in general. It’s easier said than done, but Charlie spent an amazing three years with us. He helped us achieve a lot as well. When it was time for him to leave it wasn’t as if he just said, “Oh, hey, I got this new gig. Thanks for helping my exposure grow on Dribbble, and I’m out of here. Good luck.” He hit me up all along the way as people … here’s the interesting dynamic that happens at Focus Lab. People join Focus Lab, they’re strong. I can see that they’re strong. They’re not at the level where all of a sudden Apple’s going to go out and hire them because their portfolio is not there yet. It’s not been proven to those types of companies. I can see they’re great people. They come into Focus Lab, they turn into even better people, not because I’m there for any reason. It’s just because the Focus Lab ecosystem is such an environment for growth because of all of us that are there. We all encourage it. We all want it. Followings grow. Exposure grows. Here comes the poachers, everybody. That’s fair. It is what it is. You can’t stop that. All of a sudden, all the team members get job requests from everybody because they see all the work all the time, the Instagrams, the Googles, the Pinterests, the Microsofts, everybody. Charlie was very transparent with that. He said, “Listen, I’m getting approached by a lot of people, blah, blah, blah. I don’t plan on doing anything.” As time went by, GoPro was the perfect storm for him. It was a great opportunity for a lot of reasons. He got to move back to the West Coast where he grew up. He actually lives in the town that he grew up in. His daughters now are going to the school that he went to school at. He’s a surfer. He was living in Alabama — time to get out of Alabama, time to go back to the West Coast, and take the great new job. Yeah, let’s put Charlie on the list. I wouldn’t have thought that initially just because it wouldn’t have crossed my mind. Honestly, right now, I would have been looking for the big names, if you will. Charlie is great all around. Lauren Mancke: Do you have any parting words for creative entrepreneurs or just entrepreneurs in general? Any secret tips or recipes for killing it online? Bill’s Secret Tip for Success Bill Kenney: Oh gosh. The secret tip is you got to put your hard hat on, go out there every single day, and bang it against the wall. Some days are amazing, and some months, some quarters, and some years are amazing. Some days, some months, quarters, and years are really a grind. I think the thing for me, and the thing for us at Focus Lab, it’s the longevity. It’s the stay the course. Course correct as needed. Motivate as needed. It looks all sunshine and like it’s all easy every day from the outside perspective. To be fair, it is 90 percent of that, but there are the days where you’re like, “Oh, can I post another thing here? Can I grind out another amazing deliverable on top of the one I just spit out?” That becomes quite a challenge. It’s being a creative on top of running a business and all of these things. It’s not necessarily easy. I think it’s the, can you weather the length of time that you may be doing it — whether it’s three years or 30 years — and can you also weather the storms when they come? Because they’re going to come for sure. When you get on the flip side of it, you’re a bigger, better, stronger person. But can you weather that? That would be my only advice. For me, it’s a time, energy, and intention game. If you put in the right amount of time, the right amount of energy, and the right amount of intention, you should be moving forward. That ball should be moving forward, and it should be growing for you. Just keep doing it. It’s the old ‘don’t give up’ speech, but it’s so the truth. Year after year, that starts to become pretty hard. Where do you find your motivation? Brian Gardner: Yup. Words of wisdom from little Bill Kenney of the big ship, Focus Lab. Bill Kenney: Thanks.

Get the podcast on iTunes. Intro Music: "Free" - Mitch Langley Ruijing - What is your opinion on the breakdown of how much time to spend on the multiple-choice testlets and simulations for each section of the CPA Exam?   Lee - I got a 65 on my first attempt at AUD. I’m very disappointed because I thought I knew the information. Where do I go from here?   Lisa - I have taken AUD three times now. I don’t feel like I have time to rewrite the notes like I have on other sections. Do you have any advice for me?   Angela - REG is the last section I need to pass, but I have failed it three times now. Do you think a personal tutor would help me?   Samantha - I failed REG for the fourth time. My plan is to do more questions, take more notes, and focus on a few more areas. Is there anything else I should do?   Dury - I just graduated from college. My GPA wasn’t very good, and I have poor credit due to some large debts. Will these factors affect my chance of getting a job with a Big 4 company?   Richard - I have passed the CPA Exam, but I do not have enough hours working for a CPA to obtain my license. I do not want to take a pay cut to work for a CPA firm. Do you have any suggestions for what I can do?   Mary - Can you give me some insight on how the FAR simulations are graded?   Pam - If I take a governmental accounting job, will I only be able to take jobs in the government sector in the future? How marketable will I be if I move out of public accounting?   Carlos - Do candidates receive a score analysis if they receive a 75 or above on an exam?   Lauren - How long should I study for each section?   Brandon - I have passed all four sections, but my supervisors are all inactive CPAs. Do you have any ideas how to get my work experience requirement?   Free NINJA CPA Review Materials Want to Study Less & Get Higher CPA Exam Scores? Can I send you $162.12 of Free CPA Review Materials that will help you... Study Less Avoid Common CPA Candidate Mistakes Get Higher Scores Spend More Time with Friends and Family Finally Pass and Get On With Your Life?