How to Use Twitter to Get Up Close to the Pros?

Twitter & Ironman

Twitter can get us up close with the pros that we follow.

If you use Twitter correctly you can have personal interactions with athletes, authors, musicians, and speakers, etc.  Let me show you how.

Have you ever watched the Hawaii Ironman on TV?  It’s nuts right?

Swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, bike 112 along the wind swept coastline, and then run a marathon (26.2) in the sun baked lava fields.

In 2009, I had the privilege of playing the role of support crew for one of my buddies, Neal Oseland, who earned his way to race this world championship event-Ironman Hawaii.  When the gun goes off and the athletes begin their quest to finish before the seventeen (17) hour cut off at midnight, it is powerful.

You’ve seen the images on TV, athletes thrashing in the water, swimming over top one another.  On the bike, there are crashes and coastal headwinds demoralizing even the strongest of riders.

All day long the athletes make their way through each discipline, as a spectator you are two feet away from them as they pass by.  The proximity to the professional athletes is unlike any sporting event I have ever attended.

The Run is where you get close to the action.

When I worked an aid station at mile 12 on the run I was as close as you can get to the action.  I would hold out a cup of water or Gatorade offering to every athlete that passes.

What you begin to realize is that every single one of them, pro athlete, amateur, young and old welcome encouragement, “Number #1063, You can do it!  Keep going.”

A spring returns to their step, a refocus, a reminder to their internal self  “Yeah I can do this“.  While working this aid station I was up and personal with Chris McCormack (@MaccaNow), Craig Alexander (@CrowieAlexander), Norman Stadler (@normanns), and others.

Eye ball to eye ball, I was able to lob a few ounces of “go get ’em” into their tanks.  Being at Ironman Hawaii is a powerful experience and truly helps to restore your belief in humanity.

Chris McCormack chasing down Craig Alexander
Craig Alexander 200 yards from winning in 2009

What does this have to do with Twitter?

Using Twitter is like being at the Ironman in Hawaii, like the Ironman you can have direct interaction with the Pros.

Most of the time in life, take a concert or a sporting event like football, the closest you are going to get is the front row.  But even then you are very far from actually being in the game or on the stage.

Twitter affords direct interaction with those famed icons that you follow. (click to Tweet)

Direct interactions with the real people, not just their “contact me” page.

Lance Armstrong (to keep with the athlete theme), you can send Lance a tweet and he might reply back to you.  So while he is pulled over on his bike in the Pyrenees checking his iPhone he sends back “@yourname thanks. Live Strong”.

Try doing that with his “contact me” email form on his website.  Good luck, no way will he personally be checking and writing reply messages via email.

Twitter enables direct access to the individuals that you esteem as “smart, rich, powerful, eloquent, fast, cool, and influential”. (click to Tweet)

Where else do we have that kind of VIP back door access to these people?

Here are some examples of my Ironman like interactions on Twitter:

Lance Armstrong:

‏

@lancearmstrong Hey Lance. I’m good friends with (name) and (name). Warm Aloha’s to you today. Look forward to a Queen-K ride.

Reply: @lancearmstrong
@aarondmchugh coupla great dudes. We can’t wait to return to (vacation spot). Be there soon.

Who is Lance Armstrong?  …… 🙂

Michael Hyatt:

@MichaelHyatt I am planning to link to this article. Is this your best example of why “Ship it” now?


Reply: @MichaelHyatt
@aarondmchugh I would check this one too: http://mhyatt.us/Mmrghw 

Who is Michael Hyatt?  He is a New York Times best selling author.  His most recent book Platform-Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Chris Guillebeau:

@chrisguillebeau Great post yesterday. “I am no Guru”. That is the exact humility that compels people to follow up. Count me in!

Reply: @chrisguillebeau
@aarondmchugh glad to have you around.

Who is Chris Guillebeau?  He is on a quest to travel to every country in the world.  His recent book, $100 Startup has sold over 75,000 copies.

 Hugh MacLeod:

@gapingvoid Hugh im driving thru South TX thinking about your meet packing story from Evil Plans.

Reply: @gapingvoid
@aarondmchugh Hurrah!

Who is Hugh MacLeod?  Hugh is a cartoonist and author.  His book Evil Plans has helped free many people to start their own revolution.

Be genuine, be kind, be encouraging and be yourself.

I don’t know these guys.

I didn’t pick up the phone and try and get past their secretary or meet any criteria to get a reply.

It is easy to be ignored.

I’d recommend that just like at your favorite sporting event, don’t heckle anyone or tell them how to play the game.

They are people too.

They too wonder if anyone reads their stuff, or appreciates their accomplishments.  Just like a Triathlete rounding mile 16 on the run course, 12 hours into the race, they too would love to hear “Way to go-keep going-you can do it!”.  Trust me on this.

Give it a try.

What are a couple of pieces of advice you would offer when engaging people you don’t know on Twitter?

*Disclaimer-I share these interactions that I have had by way of example.  Please be respectful.  Thank you.

*Neal Oseland finished in 10:03 and was 309th in the world.  

Why we should become like both a Mercenary and a Missionary

I first heard of this contrast between a Mercenary and a Missionary from Mike Rowe-Dirty Jobs .  I find it fascinating.

Mercenary-Paid to fight, without the requirement of involving their heart.

Missionary-Making a difference that flows from their heart and beliefs.

These are over simplifications but let’s start here.

A Mercenary is compensated for a battle won, a hill taken,  a conquest, an enemy defeated.  They are not required to care about the reason for the fight, nor believe in the mission.  They offer a robotic allegiance.  “Give me money and I will give you a result”.

A Missionary is fiercely committed to the cause and is sustained by the deep belief inside of them.  They transform the world they live in by caring for those they feel called to serve.

Both the Mercenary and Missionary are prone to go to extremes.  An extreme willingness to conquer and an extreme commitment to provide relief.

What if our work should be a poetic combination of both?

What if you offered the conquest performance of the Mercenary combined with the heart of a Missionary?

Leaving behind the shortcomings of each.

How would this transform you?  Your world?  Your team? Your customers? Your life?

5 Reasons Why the Social Media Frontier is like the Wild West?

Today’s Social Media era reminds me of an old western film.

Like one of the classic John Wayne cowboy films.

The dusty little towns are booming with new enterprise and Pioneers are always risking their life savings in hope of a better life.

Like in those old depictions of the Wild West, the new Frontier of Social Media is full of possibility and promise.

There are outposts of success, rumors and stories of veins of gold being discovered.

But it is far from settled.  It is still wild.

Photo Montana State University Library

1)    New tools keep us in a constant state of discovery.

I am sure if you are like me you are finding this a challenge.

Just when you settle in on a software tool suite to use there are three new one’s that pop up that you have never heard of.

The ease of creation of new software tools has never been easier.
And the Social Economy rewards artists who can create a better mousetrap than the next guy. (Click to Tweet)

I suspect this is the new landscape of the world we live in.

There are so many choices (x) the speed of creation = constant invention.

It also depends on who you ask.  Here are a couple of great examples:

Expert Insight: By Clay Hebert

“There will always be more and more new tools to get distracted by. The key is to not get distracted by them, understand how they work and how to apply them to your specific goals and objectives. People think the right new hammer will build the house (and throw the housewarming party) for them. Of course, it doesn’t.”

2)    There is Gold in the Hills.

During the mid-to-late 90’s the mantra for the Internet new frontier was “build it and they will come.”

The dot bomb era was full of arsenals of venture capital investment enabling the next college kid to become a CEO.

The challenge was no one had figured out how to monetize the traffic beyond banner ads.

I see this same boom town trend today. 

Like in the Old West when there was a hint of gold in the hills above, a town popped up to support the prospectors.

My guess is the biggest winners of those stories were the saloon owners.

Two Business Models Today

Today there are two distinct business models driving successful companies.

1)       “Freemium” is based on the premise that we use the free version of the software/ap and then upgrade to the paid for version.
Most companies are experiencing a 2-5% conversion rate.
That means if you have 10,000 people using your free version, 200 to 500 will pay to purchase your product.

The Challenge:

The challenge for these companies is to define a product/service that customers derive enough perceived value from the use of the Freemium product.  Then even the best of products have to be marketed and sold.

2)      Advertising-Anything that is free is being paid for by advertising.   Today’s rates vary based on how targeted an audience is to whether the ad is served on a desktop browser or on your mobile device.  They can range from $.60 to $40+ per 1000 impressions.

In the 90’s these ad rates were sky rocket high, but came crashing down to smaller CPM rates (cost per impression).  Will history repeat itself here again?

Like with any new frontier, there are winners and losers.

The Promise:

The promise of being a winner, finding the mother-load, keeps us all picking away in the dirt.  Yet, the companies, the investors, the individuals investing their time, effort, energy and resources into this boom town promise may not last.

Expert Insight: By Clay Hebert

“Companies like Twitter and Facebook are selling their users / eyeballs / impressions to advertisers. I can’t remember who said it but the quote goes like this, “If you’re not paying for the service, you’re not the customer…..you’re the product being sold.”

3)    Converting Followers to Customers.

It is great that your company may have 50K followers on Twitter.   In order for the followers to become customers, we still need to remember to provide something of value, something compelling.

Content is King

These days they say “Content is king” and more than 90% of what is provided by companies through Social Media are facts, “We are open from 8 am to Midnight today“.

Distributing facts is temporarily interesting.

Inserting your company voice, personality, culture, mission, struggles, and ideas into the Social Media megaphone is much more compelling. (Click to Tweet)

Chris Guillebeau says that 95% of his followers never purchase anything from him.

For most people they are not willing to put in the amount of time and emotional, intellectual investment to
give away 95% of what they create for free.

It is only those few like Chris that will survive this new frontier.

Check out Chris’s new book, The $100 Startup.

4) The Territory is Large.

Sustainable success can be found in a couple of easy to acknowledge industries.

Retail Restaurants: If you are not using Yelp or a competitor to Yelp, then you can add one more reason why your restaurant may struggle.

The new frontier demands that you engage your customers.

Your comment cards that you put on the table?  Yeah, go ahead and throw those out.
Every customer who walks in your door is carrying a comment card in their pocket, their iPhone. (click to Tweet)

But how will a law firm use Social Media?

Will an attorney tweet “Kicked their zzz” after they leave the court room?

How about a big three accounting firm?  Will the lead partner tweet about the K-9 they just filed?

We know the answer.

Not every industry is as clear as to how it will maximize the opportunity of Social Media, yet.

Expert Insight: By Clay Hebert

“I agree that the territory is large but I tell clients / people to not to even think or worry about “mapping it all”. Nobody ever will, nor should they. They’re worried about understanding every item in Home Depot (and what next season’s catalog will contain) when they should be using the saw and hammer they know how to use to build their house.   Some people have already built a wonderful house (or a few) while others waste time waiting for the next new tool catalog.  Stop waiting. Start building.”

5) There are high rewards for Pioneers.

In the old world, if you were an author, speaker, musician, software company, etc you needed big money behind you in order to succeed.

Today, we each own a factory, a publishing company, a record studio, a software development team-Your computer.

CD baby-Derek Sivers flattened the world for musicians.
He created the “buy now” button for musicians to distribute their music to their fans through a central location (distribution) CD Baby.

Derek was a pioneer uniting the tribe of independent musicians who would not have made the cut in the world of big record deals.  He was faithful in providing his fellow musicians a platform to be heard by new customers.

And they rewarded him for it.  (Read his book)

How else do you see that the Social Media Frontier is still wild?  

Walking the Precipice While Pursuing Your Art

photo by ashokboghani

Have you ever stood on a precipice?

In the high mountains of Colorado you can find them.

They can be very steep, rocky, catwalks across the sky.  On one side the ledge gives way to a thousand foot drop over a series of connected troughs and boulders.

On the other side, a sheer drop hundreds of feet down.  Most people would rather have a rope connected to them and a belay as they carefully pick their way across the precarious terrain.

This dance across the sky might seem like a stroll that you would never do.

Let me increase your vision.

You are already doing this and without a rope.

Each day that you step forward, pursuing your Art or new business venture or athletic feat you are walking the precipice.

Great beginnings always start with risk.

You stand on the edge of a great beginning with the hope of reaching your goal, accomplishing the mission, building the team, raising the money, finishing your first marathon (the other side of the precipice).

You are more courageous than you realize.  With each step you take you are exposing yourself to either side of the precipice.  On one side, there is a chasm of your own fears of failure.

On the other side, everyone else’s fears of your potential failure (your family, your friends, your boss, your investors, your partner, your team mates).

Don’t listen to everyone else’s fears.

Let’s see if any of these may sound familiar……

“It can’t be done”.

“You’re too old”.

“Don’t waste your time and money on that”.

“Nobody will pay for that”.

“What will your boss say”?

Keep walking.  Keep stepping forward an inch at a time.  It’s even worth taking in the view, as scary as it may seem for a moment.  Feel your pulse pounding in your throat.

You don’t have a rope.  And it’s halfway forward or halfway back.

You might as well go forward.  It’s the same dangerous distance in either direction.

In the mountains, we wear a rope when crossing these sections of a route.

In life, there often isn’t a safety net.  Stand tall.  Don’t listen to the swirling echo of the wind coming up either side of the precipice.

Your almost there.

What catwalk in Life, Business or Adventure are you walking today?

“Don’t Worry Be Crappy” Ship It Anyway

Photo by Guy Kawasaki

Have you ever shipped a new blog, software version, music track, speech, design, (your art) knowing it wasn’t perfect and you sent it anyway?

Like you, I am an artist, an innovator constantly fielding new ideas and rumblings.

That means there is always another idea waiting for me after I ship this one.

Let’s explore why shipping early and repairing later is actually better than waiting for perfection.

Real Artists Ship.
Steve Jobs

Fellow heretic Guy Kawasaki

Formerly Guy was the chief evangelist of Apple.  I am very partial to one of his first books, Rules for Revolutionaries -The Capitalist Manifesto.

In this twelve year old book Guy lays out nine rules for revolutionaries to follow.  (See all 9 here).

Don’t Worry Be Crappy.

Yep, that is what Guy said.  And you should too.

I’ve spent the past seven years in the software world.  Software is never perfect.  As a result you have to determine the impact of the imperfections.

Sometimes you hold back and conclude that would be a mess.  Other times you hit the publish, upload, send, compile button and hope you are right.

You never will know if you were brilliant or foolish until it’s out the door.

Will your customers, prospects, colleagues, friends, followers share the same belief that your defect was only “minor”?  Or will they berate you for your lack of professionalism and excellence?

Michael Hyatt has a great post on this topic related to his blog writing and readers finding mistakes.  Also check out a second post from Michael about Embracing Permanent Beta.

Alpha is worse than you think.

Each time I ship a new version of Alpha software I learn a lot more when it is in the field.  The benefit is that you receive the direct benefit of quickly finding out what is flawed.

The Market Will Tell You.

Shipping early means you gain the benefit of your market, customers, followers, tribe, telling you what you’ve done wrong.

I believe it is better to ship 75% of the right solution to the market than waiting until you have 90% and you are late.

You will never be able to address all of the market needs from inside the walls of your company.

Microsoft has mastered this art of Don’t worry be crappy.

Every second Tuesday of the month they ship us a new Windows update, they know the market will instruct them on what’s crappy.

It’s crappy, now fix it.

Guy’s Rule # 2 is Churn Baby Churn.  Once you ship then you hear what is broken, the clock begins ticking.

Fix it fast.  Equally important is communicating with your customers, tribe, prospects or followers.

Straight from Guy 
Churn, baby, churn. I’m saying it’s okay to ship crap–I’m not saying that it’s okay to stay crappy. A company must improve version 1.0 and create version 1.1, 1.2, … 2.0. ….. Innovation is not an event. It’s a process.

Being Nimble is your advantage.

I have a friend whose son is a Marine.  He was explaining to me about how in battle, the commander is always making decisions with 70% of the available information.

The battle happens too fast to have 100% clarity on what is occurring on the actual battlefield.

The ability to have real-time course correction is the safety net to not knowing if your decision is correct.

The difference between us and Microsoft is that we have the opportunity to revise quickly.

Their big organization moves slow.  It is hard to turn around or quickly change course .  Not us, we are nimble.  

With a phone call, a bug fix delivered to the Cloud, an Elance job, email, Asana task to our virtual assistant-DONE.

Mean What you Say.

The promise that you extended to your customers or your tribe I’m reliable. We care.  You can call the CEO with a problem.  

All of those previous statements now are tested.  What will you do?  Do you care?  Will you fix it?  Do you have an answer at all?

Mr. Customer, I know this looks crappy.  And it is.  It is worse than we thought and we’ve got a team on it.  We will call you each day or email you with a close of business summary of our progress and findings.  Here is my personal cell phone you can call if you ever want an update.  I may not know the answer but I can find it.  

How fast you revise is critical to your survival and integrity in the market.

And if you can’t fix it, say so.

Art I’ve shipped that I knew was crappy

  1. This new website had some rough edges.
    I knew the comment section had some issues.  Yet I knew the overall design and feel was a massive improvement from V1.0.
  2. PriceAdvantage V1.0 gasoline pricing software Spring of 2005.
    This thing was riddled with problems.   One time all of the prices at the pump went to Zero $…..yes Zero $….FREE GAS.  And the store manager called our help desk to ask if she Should I refund the money of the guy who pre-paid $20 cash.  

Now it is your turn to tell your story.    

What project, product, Art have you shipped that you knew was crappy?

And what happened?

Would you do it over again?

Louis Zamperini and how our future resides in our daily thinking

zamperini-louis-skateboarding-4
Louis Zamperini-WWII POW survivor

Our mind holds power for our future.

In our daily thinking reside our success, adventure, happiness, peace, innovation, and hope.

In tandem, our mind can perceive or conceive of loneliness, anger, boredom, apathy and victimization.

Louis Zamperini -age 96, WWII Prisoner of War survivor is an example to be studied.

His story is being featured in an upcoming movie Unbroken.

We must own what occurs within our thinking.  

Successful fruit-producing people in Life, Work, and Relationships own the responsibility of their conclusions, actions, and interpretations.

Whether we were born wealthy and were cared for by nannies or poor and ate free lunch at school.

We all have an equal beginning in the battle for our mind, our beliefs, and understandings.

Even if we are justified, we can still choose life.

Unbroken’s Louis Zamperini learned to skateboard at age 72.

Lou is a World War II prisoner-of-war survivor.

In Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand describes the unthinkable, unconscionable atrocities done to Lou while in captivity.

By any account he would be justified to be a bitter and cold old man.

And who could have blamed him?

Yet in spite of the pardon for bitterness we would be willing to grant him, he is instead full of joy and hope (age 96 today).

Some people choose to carve out an alternative interpretation of their present challenge.

Some people choose to wallow in their plight.

Each of us have a story that should be told and listened to.

It may be a story of business success or failure.

Maybe it is a story of relational redemption or unraveling.

I have learned that I must not allow my interpretation of my stories to hold me captive.

Here are a couple categories to consider reshaping our thinking

  1. A boss that is impossible
    Release him/her to be miserable, but don’t join them. Spending our lives being miserable because someone makes us so is no way to live. I’ve found in difficult relationships like a boss that it is better to reshape my thinking. Acknowledge that they are actually the one who is miserable. I choose not to be a victim and release them from the responsibility of making me “happy”.
  2. Financial hardship
    The biggest mental enemy of this category is the phrase “I deserve it”.  Who enjoys being broke?  No one?  Personally, I’ve had little and I’ve had much.  I love what Dave Ramsey says about this, “If you want to be rich, hang out with rich people.” His point is do what successful people do.
    My experience shows that without a plan nothing will change. Most plans force us to do things we really don’t initially want to do. We have to conclude that our current financial pain is greater than the behavior that needs to change. Once we reach that conclusion in our mind, we’ve got a shot for our circumstances to improve.
  3. Health & Fitness
    I meet a lot of people who “wish they had time to exercise.” I know that seems true. Usually, the greater reality is we simply choose other things instead of exercise. And that is o.k. if we own the fact that we would rather watch a movie or work too much or volunteer with our free time. Either way, once we make up our mind that we are tired of being tired or weary of our aches and pains, change will come. I’ve found that even fifteen minutes of something is monumentally better than nothing.
    (Feel free to email me and ask me more about this theory-15 Min).

Like Lou Zamperini, we have a choice about how we interpret our life.

Most of which is up to us.

What interpretations and conclusions can you choose today?  

What Will Your Dent in the World Be?

I turned 40 a few months back.

We lost a child eighteen months ago.

And the clock keeps ticking.

I just read about the shooting in Aurora, CO 60 miles up the road from us.

For some the world stopped.  For the rest of us it keeps turning.

What will our dent be?

How will we change the world that we live in that is noticeable after we are gone?

We know we don’t have forever.

And we should leave the world with a noticeable dent that can be attributed to our life.

What part of the world, our community, our school systems, our companies, our businesses will be changed for good because of our place in the story?

Live on purpose.  Start today.

  1. Leave no good thing left unsaid
    It is easy to say bad things, complain, point out shortcomings.  It is much more difficult to say good things.  What good thing are you leaving unsaid?  What phone call should you make?  What letter should you write?  Recently I’ve told my wife how thankful I am that she loves me in spite of my many flaws.
  2. Turn off the TV and create something instead
    Have you ever made something with your kids?  Don’t know where to start?  How about the Dangerous Book for Boys/Girls?  How about that hand-made canoe you’ve dreamed about making since Scout camp when you were 12 years old?
  3. Write down your inner thoughts
    That voice that you hear inside, those ideas and dreams, write them down.  Don’t let them drift away into yesterday’s list of “I should have”.  Translate those inner workings into pen and paper.  Then revisit them.  Befriend them.  Challenge them.  Dare to live them out.
  4. Get in the Game
    Teddy Roosevelt said, “the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena….”  Get in the game.  What game are you watching as a spectator that you know you should be playing instead?
  5. Stop waiting for permission
    No one is going to give you permission or an invitation to say “Hey that great thing you’ve been contemplating, you should go ahead and start it”.  We all wish that call would come, but for most it does not.  You have all of the permission that you need.  Get going.

What part of the world are you going to change today?

Key Strategies to Define Your Social Media Story

How do you determine which story you want to tell?   

On which channel(s)?  To which audience(s)?  

I’ve found if you ask ten people, you will receive ten different answers.

Here are the key questions that I started with and continue to revisit.

  1. Where do I want to tell my professional Story?  Personal Story?
  2. Do I have distinct boundaries delineating each Social channel?
  3. Do I combine them into a soup and they all intersect with each other?

What are you trying to accomplish using Social Media?

When I first started engaging with Social Media it was a result of peer pressure from a good friend @JonDale.  In his words this is the way the world works, get on-board or be left behind.

Am I trying to communicate strictly for fun with some friends about where I ate and what movie I liked?

Or am I trying to communicate thought provoking ideas and solutions to business problems?

Today, I have settled on a combination of both.

The pendulum of my Social Voice has settled toward thoughtful business ideas and innovations with a dash of personal interactions.

Which channels are reserved for different conversations?

Facebook-Personal

This channel for me remains predominately reserved for personal interactions with people I know.  If it were not for Facebook I would not be connected to people from High School, College and previous eras of life.

I never got involved in Multi-Level Marketing because I wanted my friends to be my friends and not my prospects.  I do include an occasional Blog post but generally I stick to personal topics.

Intersection of Professional & Personal

I am very aware of my professional relationships encountering my Facebook presence.  Therefore I generally don’t venture into any deeply personal topics in the open forum.

LinkedIn-Professional

In the same manner that I have chosen to keep Facebook for predominately personal interactions, LinkedIn is reserved for my professional relationships.  When I hear a speaker at a conference, previous co-workers or a new prospective customer, this is a great channel to maintain those connections.

I choose to add status updates related to professional topics: new customer’s we acquired, new job openings we have and some peppering of Blog posts added.

Primarily I have grown to rely on this channel as a professional rolodex.  It has become less about what we talk about and more about who I know and want to get to know.

Blog-HomeBase

This is my “HomeBase” as @MichaelHyatt calls it in his book Platform.  I control the interactions, the topics, the branding and the discussion.  The commitment level of up keeping this channel is much greater than on any of the other Social channels.

The beauty of this channel is the clarity of message you can control.  And yet if no one reads it then your level of influence is zero.

I have found that regardless of the perceived value of your content this channel must be marketed.

At the end of the day my goal is to create a level of influence in the Social dialogue about topics of building your own brand, entrepreneurship, getting started, and pursuing your inner Art.

For many this channel may start out being your smallest in terms of reach.  However, this channel is made up of allies.

This is your Tribe.  These are your people.  You think alike.  You talk alike.  You learn from each other.

Getting wrapped up in the numbers is less important than being regularly engaged.

Twitter-broadcast channel

Early on I was misinformed about my beliefs about Twitter.  I thought it was simply another tool for someone to show pictures of their cat in dress up clothes.  Yeah, I know…..who does that?

I spent over ten years in the broadcast media industry.  Today, I see Twitter like owning your own TV/Radio station.  Just like viewership or listeners, they are accumulated over years of curating quality content and connections.

My recent sentiment is to reject the “you follow me, I’ll follow you” nicety.  It seems like a willful resignation to receive spam on topics that you would never subscribe to.

Over time, you and I can become micro-brands broadcasting specialized content to engaged tribe members.

The best answer I received on this question was from @Webtherapist.  I am happy to share her insights.  Just ask.

How have you segmented your Social Voice?  I’d love to hear your story here.

How engaged is your team?

Gallup Study: Engaged Employees Inspire Company Innovation

Asking yourself this question is very enlightening.

Here is a quick back of the napkin assessment:

A Not-Engaged Team might look like:

  • If you stood in the exit doorway at 5:00 pm would you be run over by the stampede of people leaving?
  • Do you hear people say “I don’t know anything about that you’ll have to ask someone else?”
  • Does your team bring new ideas to meetings or simply criticize other ideas and how they will “never work“?
  • Do you hear phrases in your office like
    • “Thank God it’s Friday.”
    • “Try not to work too hard.”
    • “It’s a Monday.”

An Engaged Team might look like:

  • Everyone needs a set of keys because they come in early, stay late and work weekends.
  • You have to order laptops for everyone because a desktop workstation would not allow them to create and invent while sitting up in bed watching the news.
  • Your customer’s ask for people by name.
  • Your competitors call to see if you have any job openings.

What is this costing us?
If 100% of your payroll was “Engaged” what could you accomplish?

-80% Engaged/20% Not-Engaged what is the effect?
-50% Engaged/50% Not-Engaged?

Can the momentum be shifted? 
Start with a one-on-one conversation and ask the question “Are you happy?”  You will be surprised what you may hear.  Often times once we can vent and be heard, our disagreements and misunderstandings can fade away.

Let them off the bus
Sometimes you simply need to let them off the bus at the next stop.  Don’t delay.  You’ll sleep better and your engaged teammates will thank you.

*Source-Gallup Business Journal for employee study.

Are You Willing to Put in “Junk Miles”?

Have you ever stopped to plot where you are on the continuum of the Law of 10,000 Hours?

Where are you in time, experience and performance? Are you at the beginning?  Are you in the middle or are you approaching arrival?

Are we willing to put in the “Junk Miles” to get there?

I have considered three categories of my professional craft and sized them up against this idea:

  • Sales and Marketing
  • Leadership
  • Writing

Sales and Marketing:  Arrived @10,000 hrs

I can say with confidence that I know what I have to offer and how rare it is.  I have almost two decades worth of experience including both the mistakes I’ve made and successes I’ve earned.

Leadership:  Half Way @5,000 hrs

Leading people in a formal workplace environment is still new to me.  I love being on the front of the boat steering the ship.  And I rely heavily on others around me to make sure I don’t steer it into a sand bar.  I have just enough to claim that I am not a novice but I am no master either.  More hours are needed.

Writing:  Just Beginning @200 hrs

Although I have been writing privately for years, writing in public is much different.  You have to take into consideration things like voice, tone, audience interest, and theme.  You receive feedback and comments and conversations at dinner parties about it.  I am putting in the miles and I am accepting that I have years ahead of me.

Plotting your place

Whether the 10,000 hour mark is mathematically exact or not is not important to me.  What is important is the principle that there are no shortcuts to mastery.

You have to put in the time and log the hours.

We have to embrace the premise that practice is required.

Tim Ferriss would disagree with the idea that it takes time to become an expert.  In his book The 4-Hour Workweek, a lot of which I love, he details how he had discovered methods and peripheral rules or inside tracks to success.  

In 1999, he became national champion in Chinese Kickboxing.  He found that he could win by shoving his opponents outside of the ring.

He won because he found a technical method to win by.

For me, I am not interested in achievement or success by way of technicality.

I’d rather be a genuine artist, writer, athlete, craftsman, sales and marketing guru.

Putting in “Junk Miles”

In running there is a term they use for logging foundational miles during a training program “Junk Miles”.  Although a depressing category name, they are fundamentally important when training for long distance running events e.g. Marathon (26.2 miles).

These miles are done at slower paces and are aimed at helping an athlete build up his aerobic endurance.  Mile after mile your body learns to perform, to process nutrition and your mental toughness increases as well.

If you attempt to skip these miles you will decrease your overall time on your feet.  In turn you will decrease your chances of meeting your goal or even finishing.

Our crafts require “junk miles” as well.

Unless we are looking for the loophole to success, logging hours, days, weeks, months and years helps us flush out our mistakes and misjudgment.

Mile after mile, as we do the work, refine our approach, learning from our errors, we become like a seasoned athlete ready to take on a race.

I meet a lot of people who want to become runners.  I meet very few people who want to put in the miles in order to become a runner.

 

What area of your life have you achieved reaching the 10,000 hour mark?