Some people fight change. They think it helps them avoid losing their way, falling, or failing.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Right?
Wrong.
I look at my competitors who are still using elevator music, editing on outdated software, or shooting with old cameras and these words come to mind:
“Today, you’re either going to get better or you’re going to get worse, but you’re not going to stay the same. So which is it going to be?”
- Joe Paterno
In a world of constant innovation and progress, staying the same is getting worse. Your position is slipping, even if you’re holding still. Everybody is changing.
Getting better is the only way to not get worse.
Lately, I’ve wondered if I’m slipping a bit myself. I’ve been seeing a lot of time-lapse imagery in TV shows and movies such as House of Cards, Gold Rush, and Art of Flight. We’ve used time-lapse before, but not at the level I’m seeing out there now.
Regardless of what industry we work in, we’re all going to change. That’s a fact.
Today I’m choosing to get better. I’m saying goodbye to the wife and kids, jumping on a plane to one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth, and we are going to master the art of time-lapse for our clients.
I want to be the best, and I need to keep moving forward.
As a video producer & director, I work with a lot of creative talent. I also work with a lot of business leaders and entrepreneurs.
I constantly hear talk like this:
“I’m waiting for my big break.”
“That giant order was a big break for his new business. Hoping I’ll get news like that someday.”
“I’m jealous of her because she got her big break before I got mine.”
After hearing it again today, I wanted to share a little insider secret.
The “Big Break” doesn’t exist.
Not only that, but it’s a damaging idea because some people are literally waiting for their big break. Instead of hitting the pavement each day, running for their life towards their goals…they are waiting.
They are hoping.
Every “big break” is really just a series of small steps. The person got better every day. They made more connections. They moved forward.
Then, they ran into the right person. Big break you say? Nope.
The right person isn’t Santa Claus, delivering big breaks. The right person doesn’t help people who aren’t right for them. They aren’t a charity.
You need to be ready when you meet the right person. It won’t be your big break.
I saw the graphic photos and the footage of the bomb going off at the Boston Marathon and it shook me too.
I had friends running that race.
Yet, here I was in Milwaukee. Powerless.
I couldn’t clear blast debris. I couldn’t carry victims to safety. The Red Cross didn’t need blood. I couldn’t chase down the cowards who bombed the race.
So I did all I could do.
I’m a video guy. I made a video, so that nobody would forget the heroes and victims…so nobody would minimize what just happened.
Nobody is powerless to help. We must all do what we can. Blog, tweet, share, pray, encourage. Whatever we can. We must.
The difference between a winner and a loser is your attitude.
Losers let losing define them. They let losing be their judgment, instead of their stepping stone. They spend the rest of their time trying to make excuses, instead of making improvements. Losers don’t win, because they see a loss as the end, not the beginning.
Winners see losing as a way to measure progress and know that they are pushing themselves. Losing means they’re not where they need to be…yet. Losing means needing to make adjustments. Losing is progress.
For my birthday (which is today) or Christmas, loving family and friends sometimes ask what they should “get” me. Last year, I asked for support in digging a well for a village in Africa. This year I’m asking for something closer to home.
I get to work with some of the most talented video artists on the planet. There are even more waiting eagerly in the wings, demo reels in hand. It’s my job to keep them busy and it’s never easy.
For my birthday, I’m asking my friends and family for their help.
Below are three ways you can help me and other entrepreneurs chase their dreams:
1) Seek to understand their chase
Just like it’s nice to understand that a farmer needs rain or an athlete needs to win, entrepreneurs appreciate being understood too.
Leadership can be lonely.
Many of them are risking their retirement, friendships, and health to follow their dreams. If you care about them, join them on the journey. Follow their business on Facebook. Subscribe to their blog. Have discussions with them more than once a year on their birthday.
(Personal note: this is my life goal if you want to understand what drives me every day)
2) Share their story
In the Attention Era, even well funded marketing campaigns get lost in the shuffle. Small business owners don’t have a prayer without help from their family, friends, and happy customers.
If you see a friend of yours doing remarkable stuff, share it. We all lose when we let great work go unnoticed.
(Personal note: for my friends looking to help, it will make my day if you share one of our videos with your network)
3) Refer people to them
In the “old days”, it would have been unheard of to travel to another town’s general store if your own town had what you needed. We have to stick together and referrals are one way to do it.
Since I don’t sell to consumers, I personally don’t ask my friends or family to buy our video production services. However, I do love when my friends tell their marketing friends about me.
Many people prefer to buy from people they know and trust. Help your friends know and trust your other friends.
Make introductions
Write Linkedin recommendations
Encourage people to shop locally
The entrepreneur in your life doesn’t need more sweaters, ties, or birthday cards.
They need you…to care more…not just on their birthday.
Call me crazy, but it still irritates me when people don’t see me or respond when I’m trying to get their attention.
Time to look in the mirror.
I’m not proud of it, but I miss a lot of important people or things that are right in front of me too.
It’s the same with your potential customers, employees, or others that really ought to know about you or your company.
Why are they ignoring you?
Why won’t people respond?
Why aren’t they seeing the updates, blog posts, tweets, videos, emails, etc you’ve worked so hard to create?
It’s because they’re not looking in your direction.
For better or worse, I sometimes miss what’s in front of me because I’m looking too far ahead. Other times, I’m intensely focused on something close. Sound familiar?
In the same way, your customers might be focused on cute cat videos instead of your funny commercial. Your email might not be returned because they’re looking forward to vacation.
We all have blinders on.
The key is doing something about it:
If they are focused on the future, write and share big picture content
If they are intensely focused on solving a problem, help them out
If they are addicted to cute cats, put cute cats in your videos
If they are focused on vacation, talk about their vacation pictures
In the Attention Era, you can’t change where people are looking. All you can do is move.
On the front cover of this morning’s USA Today, you’ll see my contribution in a piece called “Tweets, not résumés, are trending #icymi“. My fellow 8pm Warriors were the first sounding board for the idea back in 2011 when I wrote about my experience screening and hiring a social media manager based solely on tweets:
Since the experiment went so well, I honestly thought I would hear of someone else trying it. Nope. Not until years later, when Bruce from USA Today contacted me last week for an interview.
Why is that?
Twitter is very public and even though it makes sense for some positions, most hiring managers would be afraid to interview someone in public.
Not because they’re afraid for their applicants, but because they’re afraid for themselves. Afraid of everyone watching them.
Fear drives most business decisions.
Why else did it take so long for most businesses to get into social media? Same reason why it’s taking so long for them to follow the online video wave now.
Twitter isn’t the right tool for hiring most positions. However, we need to celebrate people that are boldly using Twitter.
We need to celebrate leaders like Vala Afshar, chief marketing officer at the tech firm Enterasys Networks, who is filling a six figure senior social media strategist job via tweets only (no resume accepted), or Kristy Webster at The Marketing Arm (part of Omnicom Group, a big advertising firm) who is filling five social media internships based on tweeted answers to five questions over the course of five days.
Cool times we live in.
What say you? Is hiring via twitter here to stay? Or, will we be back here in 2 years talking about it again?
I was super busy all week with two productions and just got to this.
Now that the dust has settled and the real facts are available, I wanted to quickly weigh in on the giant “Applebees Unjustly Fires Poor Waitress” fiasco.
I’d like to get your thoughts on it too.
Here are the facts before I get started:
1) An Applebee’s waitress received this stupid note from Pastor Alois Bell on the signed credit card receipt.
It says “I Give God 10% Why do you Get 18″
2) Chelsea Welch, a different waitress (not the one who served the customer), took a picture of that credit card signature receipt with her phone and posted it on Reddit.com along with the caption:
“We wish this situation hadn’t happened. Our Guests’ personal information—including their meal check—is private, and neither Applebee’s nor its franchisees have a right to share this information publicly. We value our Guests’ trust above all else. Our franchisee has apologized to the Guest and has taken disciplinary action with the Team Member for violating their Guest’s right to privacy.”
6) Applebee’s social media team tried to engage upset people.
People called them names and accused Applebee’s of hypocrisy for breaching their own privacy policy by sharing a customer’s “receipt” earlier in the year.
(looks like an informal positive comment card to me)
We’re witnessing an old-fashioned online lynching.
What we’ve got here is a company protecting their customer’s privacy (I don’t want my signature online) and being dragged through the mud by idiots looking to lynch Applebee’s.
The idiotic pastor’s note was truly stupid. Great servers deserve great tips.
However, it would take another true idiot to think it’s okay to post a customer’s signature (customer is the key word) online while mocking them, even if what they were mocking was indeed stupid.
No, I don’t think Applebee’s had the perfect response on Facebook.
No, I don’t think there is such a thing.
Yes, I’m calling a lot of names here.
Here’s why:
It’s not okay to hurt a business because you don’t understand how to run one.
It’s wrong to post nasty stuff about companies or people when you don’t have the facts.
It’s easy to play armchair quarterback when it’s not your business.
The local owners, people that work at Applebee’s, and their family members are real people who get affected by idiotic boycotts, 40,000+ nasty comments, and all the distractions this has caused.
But this isn’t just about Applebee’s. It’s about you and me.
I had something like this happen on our Attention Era Media Facebook page last year when we posted this video and asked if people liked their idea:
A large feminist group began saying we supported misogyny and tying women up for commercial purposes. It wasted a ton of time and hurt our new brand.
For what?
For entertainment.
People like to hear themselves talk on social media, especially if there’s an ignorant mob that agrees with them.
I know people that work for Applebee’s. This is not amusing.
This is not entertainment. Don’t kid yourself. Idiots hate Applebee’s and they’ll hate you too.
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