Learning

Still Discovering, Learning, Making A Fool Of Yourself

Garth Beyer

“I don’t mind looking stupid. I don’t know everything.”

Those were the words of a well-seasoned PR pro after asking what “lossless images” were during a meeting.

While she thought she was making a fool of herself, I was thankful she asked because I had no clue what lossless images were either. In fact, it sounded like they were saying lostless images, which made it even more confusing.

It’s a fairly natural situation that if you have a question about something, someone else in the room has the same question, but so follows the tragedy of relying on someone else to ask the question.

Please learn that asking questions that help you discover or learn something new — essentially asking questions that make you feel you’re making a fool of yourself, have the exact opposite effect.

It shows you care. It shows you’re humble and can embrace humility. It shows you believe you can still grow.

 

Stay Positive & We Get Better When We Continuously Feel Like We’re Making Fools Of Ourselves

Unlocking Potential #16: Q&A With Chris Brogan

Garth Beyer

chrisbrogan-2014-Credit via Raul Colon

I have to admit, I squealed a bit when Chris’s assistant emailed me back stating Chris would be game for a Q&A as part of my Unlocking Potential series.

Chris is full of wisdom, insight, and complete passion when it comes to marketing and living life to the max. His way of working and writing has gotten me to expand my mindset to be a bit more okay with being a bit more weird.

As Chris would agree, weird is good.

Without further ado, please welcome, Chris.

Q: What’s your story in three sentences?

I started out by writing a blog that got more popular. I helped many businesses figure out how to be human at a distance. I continue to help people find ways to build their business by understanding where they belong and how they can better serve those people.

Q: Alright, that was rude of me. Use some more words to explain. How the heck did you build such a strong tribe?

I rarely need more words. The people who I’ve surrounded myself with are people who seek to be of service and who seek to connect others. Growing capabilities and connections. It’s an easy model.

Q: What have you come to find are the two or three most effective ways to get people to share a product, a story or a blog post with one another?

I find that people share what they feel resonates with them. Where most folks get it wrong is they seek numbers, not resonance. Why try to get “everyone” to see what you do? Share it with the folks who feel they belong in the circle with you. They are who want the information in the first place.

Q: What are three qualities you think every person aspiring to be a successful entrepreneur need to have? Why these three over all the other qualities?

I think entrepreneurs need to be service-minded, need to be brave, and need to be eager to share their resources at every turn where it makes sense. I think these three are great because they set up a simple framework for persistent growth of the self and of one’s networks.

Q: I asked John Saddington, who was my 11th Unlocking Potential interview, this same question. What is the biggest challenge you’re seeing today’s entrepreneurs facing?

I think most of the people calling themselves entrepreneurs are actually just people trying to make and sell things without the mindset of serving a particular group of people. They lead with the question “How can I make money” instead of “how can I help someone else succeed?”

Q: Would you tell about the most recent time you had faced a huge challenge yourself and how you did or didn’t overcome it?

I face challenges daily. I think the theme recently is, “Be willing to be even more humble and learn what you aren’t fully understanding.” That lesson keeps being introduced to my life, so I’ll keep learning.

Q: What are you afraid of? Really. Emotionally.

I’m afraid of sharks. I’m afraid of not being able to provide. I’m afraid that my ability to serve will somehow miss the people who most need what I can do to help.

Q: What are a few habits you’ve developed that were essential to your success?

I’m an expert communicator, so that serves me well. I’m very driven to produce. I’m very disciplined. Those really all help.

Q: What is something you haven’t shared with your tribe yet about yourself?

It’d be really hard to figure out what I haven’t shared. I’ll talk about anything. Poop. Sorrow. Depression. Whatever. I’m a fairly open book.

Q: Right now, in the present moment, what would you do or create if you had unlimited resources and time?

Another universe.

Q: Where can people find your remarkable work and what is the best way for someone to reach out to you?

I’m pretty easy going. chrisbrogan.com is a good enough place to start. Grab my newsletter and hit reply. I write back. 🙂

 

Stay Positive & Learn What You’re Not Fully Understanding

Invested Time

Garth Beyer

I don’t tell people “thank you for your time.”

Instead I say, “thank you for investing the time in me/with me.”

Are you using people’s time to get off the hook? To make your life easier? Or are you using their time to learn, to give back 10-fold, to help you do the work in a new way?

It’s not just wording something differently, it’s thinking about things differently.

When you acknowledge someone is investing in you, you’re bound to do work that matters.

 

Stay Positive & It Also Makes Them Feel Good About How They Spent Their Time

Age Matters, But Should It?

Age Matters, But Should It?

Garth Beyer

Steve Jobs has more experience than me, but if I have read up on every single lesson he has learned from all his experience, then does he actually know more? or do we know the same amount? or do I still know less?

I’m toying with the concept of age and why it matters so much. I’ve had a number of experiences where I could do something, but my age got in the way.

While still in high school I applied for a newspaper job, a job people go through four years of college to do and number of internships to get, but I knew I could do it well enough or at least learn fast enough to do it as well as anyone else.

No surprise, I didn’t get the job. I was too young.

I wanted to run a seminar on finances, but was told not enough people would come because what 40-year-old is going to believe anything a 19-year-old has to say, regardless of the fact I’ve written more than 200 articles on money management, started selling at age 6, bought a Corvette at the age of 15, and graduated without any debt and studied everything all the financial gurus put out there.

Even with the experience, I was still too young.

Knowledge is power…so long as you’re at an age people will believe that

I’m constantly blogging about business, startups, and public relations concepts. I’m spitting out things I know to be true, part from experience, part from obsessively studying others’ success and failures and learning from other people.

If I’m not talking to someone about the marketing industry or a business idea either of us have, I have buds in my ear listening to others share their stories via podcasts, if not that, I’m lifting weights while thinking about trends or talking to my girlfriend about the next thing I’m going to chase. I’m a carrot guy, not a stick guy, and I’m still not as trusted as Steve Jobs, Seth Godin or Chris Brogan because, well, they’re older than me.

Knowledge, wisdom, insight are all very subjective matters. I’ve worked heavily the last year and a half to convince others I have all the above despite my (in the grand scheme of things) minimum amount of experience. Through that process I’ve lost connection with a lot of my readers. After an email from a blunt friend and conversation with my girlfriend (likely to be posted on my blog tomorrow), I’ve realized I stopped doing what I preach others to do: be personal.

Age matters, and fighting the perception others have is an uphill battle I’m exhausted fighting. Instead of sharing what I know, I will again be sharing how I came to know it. I’ll show how I’ve become a 22-year-old with a 30-year-old brain and why I find myself saying “I’m such an old man” more often than I like.

I invite you to stop by GarthBox more often. There will be more about my suffering, anxiety, nervousness, uncertainty, risk-taking, and lying to myself, and, of course, how I’ve overcome it all.

 

Stay Positive & Stick Around For The Ride

*In lieu of this sort-of announcement blog post, In The Box Podcast will be available on iTunes beginning of March. My cohost Michael Langlois and I chat about 6 themes, which you’ll know about in advance of each podcast so you can listen to just what you want to hear. I hope you find them all interesting and…personal.


					

	
	



			
				



	
10 Ways To Make A Difference (Lessons From Cambodia & Thailand)

	

		
10 Ways To Make A Difference (Lessons From Cambodia & Thailand)


					

				Garth Beyer			

			


			

			
Cambodia


1) Smile at people until they smile back. Not much is more universal than a smile. And nothing so simple can change the day for someone.


2) Provide the most selfless service you can when you can. It’s one of the beauties about Cambodia. Unlike here where we have to work to be selfless, there it comes natural. Surely it’s something we can work toward and achieve.


3) Observe the little ways you can make the life of another easier. Sometimes carrying the luggage of someone else is all you need to do. It’s difficult to change someone’s life in a huge way. It’s quite easy to make a lot of people’s lives a bit easier. Let’s face it, we can all use a break with this or that.


4) Always suggest the scenic route. You won’t ever regret it. I mean that. They say let the fear of not doing something scare you more than it not going as planned.


5) Put yourself in a location where others are making a difference. It’s sometimes difficult to make a difference on your own, but if you go where the movers and shakers are, there’s no doubt you’ll make the impact you’ve dreamed of.


6) When in doubt, play. (Particularly with children) There’s not much explaining to this one. You’ll experience and learn why this is a way you can make a difference once you do it.


7) Give thanks to three things a day. If you’re thankful for something that involves someone else, let them know directly. Gratitude is the dictator of attitude.


8) Travel. Period. When you go out into the world, doors to making a difference open every minute.


9) Teach someone how to do something or fail at something new together. The deepest impact you can make with someone or yourself involves learning.


10) Keep an open mind while observing ways to give and receive love. Corny, yes, but ultimately underrated. Also, emphasis on the “receive” end of it. Those who only give and never receive deprive others the satisfaction of sharing an experience, of making a difference.


 


Stay Positive & Impact Others To Improve The World (And Your Own)

					

	
	



			
				



	
Where To Find Your Muse

	

		
Where To Find Your Muse


					

				Garth Beyer			

			


			

			
Find Your Muse, Stay In Your Flow


The feeling of boredom comes to every linchpin, artist, and entrepreneur from time to time. The reason is quite clear: actions have become easy, challenges are few and far between, and there is less need of a growing skill.


As a result, the impresario seeks out larger challenges that require focus, additional connections, and an incessant need to learn new skills to accomplish the goal.


But once the artist sets down that path, she realizes she has set too lofty of a goal, too large of an expectation of herself, too tough of a challenge, so she returns to the start of this post, desiring a calmer path, a quieter challenge, an easier goal.


As Peter Turchi writes, it’s a cycle of satisfaction and frustration. To find our muse we must find the flow between the anxiety of a difficult practice and the boredom of an easy task.


The real problem isn’t doing what it takes to stay within your flow, your muse; it’s noticing when you’re outside of it, when a task is too easy or a challenge too large. Both of which are slippery slopes that lead to failure and resentment.


 


Stay Positive & Be Aware Of Your Flow


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They Weren’t Always The Way They Are

	

		
They Weren’t Always The Way They Are


					

				Garth Beyer			

			


			

			
Conversations And Opinions Change


Richard Branson. Bernadette Jiwa. Chris Brogan. These idols of ours, they weren’t always this remarkable, this flawless, this all-knowing, this helpful.


Jump back to page 400 of Seth Godin’s blog and notice how different the style of writing is.


Listen to the first few podcasts of Debbie Millman or James Altucher and notice how different their conversations are.


Watch some of Tim Ferriss’s old YouTube videos compared to what he rolls out today.


They weren’t always the way they are now. Through falling, failure, and feedback, they’ve come a long way. However!


If we asked any one of our idols if they are happy with where they are at, they would say there is still room for improvement, that they’re still tweaking things, still trying new ways of communicating, of growing.


The way they are now won’t be the way they are 20 months from now either.


You can’t glide at remarkable, you can’t plateau at incredible, you can’t pause at excellent. These labels are only stamped on those who keep moving forward. It doesn’t do anyone justice when we just accept that someone is talented.


Nor does it do us justice to think we can’t also work to where our idols are at now. They’ve made it to remarkable and work to stay that way. Why can’t/shouldn’t/won’t we?


 


Stay Positive & Let’s Do It


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