Mistakes

Correction Respect

Garth Beyer

Sometimes words come out our mouths before we think about them. After spewing them, we think what we should have said instead.

If you want to be respected, don’t think how you’ll say the right thing next time, don’t think how this won’t happen again, say what you should have said.

Correct yourself out loud.

When you fail in any shape or form, it doesn’t make you better to not make the same mistake twice, it makes you better to correct the mistake you made in the first place.

You’ll be surprised by how others respond and how you feel.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Wait To Say The Right Thing

In The Box Podcast

Episode 13: Mistakes, Habits, Disorder And More – Podcast

Garth Beyer

On this episode of In The Box Podcast, we explored how to process mistakes, being in front of a PR (crisis) story and how to handle disorder. We also talked about a daily habit that gets us energized for the day, if less is really more, and a tad about superstitions, which turned into a discussion about Parkinson’s Law.

If you’re digging the topics, don’t forget to subscribe.

Episode 13: Mistakes, Habits, Disorder And More

Superstitions – Do you believe in any superstitions?

Less – Is less really more?

Habits – What is one habit you’ve developed that is critical to your daily success or energy for taking on the day?

Mistakes – How do you process mistakes?

In Front – How important in PR is it to be in front of a story vs. letting things develop and then responding?

Disorder – How do you handle the role of disorder in your own life?

 

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Unlocking Potential: Q&A #8 With Zachary Lukasiewicz

Unlocking Potential: Q&A #8 With Zachary Lukasiewicz

Garth Beyer

Zachary LukasiewiczThe only direction Zachary Lukasiewicz knows is forward. He’s never in the same spot twice and he never backtracks. He’s a dreamer and a doer who understands progress. Through hustling, he sweats passion.

After connecting with him on LinkedIn, we had a Random Call where we chatted entrepreneurship, tackling fear, and staying positive. He’s a cool cat to know. One that’s going places.

That is why I chose Zachary for my eighth Q&A in my Unlocking Potential series.

Welcome, Zachary.

Q: In just a few sentences, tell me about yourself, better yet, what would others say about you if asked?

Zach has a passion for hacking together community-focused subscription-based products and growing companies through social media and content channels.

Q: What do you do?

I start conversations that revolutionize products and raise profits. Currently I’m working with Think Digital (ad agency) on building a product to creating more knowledge leaders via LinkedIn, and working with Hatchlings (Facebook application) to optimize customer funnels for conversion.

Q: How do you define marketing?

The total defined experience and interaction with a product – from search optimization to purchase behavior to delivery to my favorite part – building evangelists through continued customer interaction. Each piece is essential, and without any a product is destined to fail.

Q: What is one of the most valuable experiences you’ve had?

Putting myself through a $3,000 copy-writing course taught by expert John Carlton. A friend and I went through the course in a week, and it taught us how to frame components of your product to create a beautiful sales page and create compelling content that converts.

Q: What are two habits you deem necessary for any entrepreneur?

Habits change, but the mindset that you need to maintain has two major themes, summed up in the following quotes.

– Imagine that there is someone working 24 hours a day to BE BETTER THAN YOU. If you don’t believe that, then entrepreneurship isn’t for you.

– You should always be embarrassed by your first iteration of your product. While it isn’t perfect, its miles ahead of most “wantrepreneurs”.

Q: What are three life lessons you’ve learned a long the way?

– Stand on the shoulders of others. Learn from their mistakes and don’t make them yourself.

– Your network is like a muscle. Stretch it, and it will grow and strengthen. But atrophy will take its toll if you don’t exercise enough.

– Have others build your product. Humans by nature are always willing you to tell you what’s wrong. If you can solve that problem, and they are willing to pay for it, then build it. REMEMBER: Validation isn’t when the problem exists, it’s when you can get others to pay you for the solution.

Q: What are some common mistakes marketers make and how could they resolve them or prevent them altogether?

Most marketers don’t give a darn about anything yet have an opinion about everything. Learn to break through the clutter and you will be successful. This leads directly into my next point.

Most marketers will waste – yes, WASTE years, possibly even decades stumbling to learn how to market and sell products that others create. Be remarkable YOURSELF – Create your own product, learn from others and become your own legend.

Q: Anything else you want to add that starting entrepreneurs should know?

Befriend the most successful people in your network. Then shut your mouth and take in everything. Then take what you’ve learned and apply it to yourself and your company. If you do this correctly, your network should change every 6-12 months. If it’s not, you either aren’t stretching yourself, aren’t reaching out to enough successful entrepreneurs, or aren’t following the advice that you need to be following.

ps – There is a simple solution to get rich: Find out how the rich got rich.

Q: Where can people find you and your art?

Follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn . That is my social network, my blog, etc.

 

Stay Positive & Get Out There And Make A Ruckus

Take The Time To Provide Feedback

Take The Time To Provide Feedback

Garth Beyer

You're Doing It Wrong (Feedback)

Feedback is one of the many practical, but often difficult practices of a leader, manager or the alike. It’s often ignored because it’s an uncomfortable practice to criticize someone’s work meaningfully; to provide legitimate advice that doesn’t pain the emotions of the one being critiqued.

To sit down with a person and carefully show them all that they’ve done wrong is not something anyone – whether  they are in a leadership role or not – looks forward to, which is why so many resort to sending an email instead. I plead you refrain from that method.

Providing in-person feedback is vitally important for the future success of those needing the critique. Not only do you both work through being uncomfortably vulnerable and leave having learned from mistakes, there’s also a behind-the-conscious interpretation of feedback on the receiver’s end.

By receiving feedback, they know they can keep improving, that you believe there’s more to them than what they’re showing, and it gives them something to strive for.

Consider this perspective: What are you telling them when you don’t provide feedback? When you don’t provide feedback, you communicate that you don’t think they can do better, that they can’t learn from their mistakes, that you don’t see them as capable of improvement. Is that how you want your employees, partners, friends to feel?

Feedback. Provide it.

 

Stay Positive & It’s Time Well Spent, It’s An Investment, It’s Worth It

Photo credit

Awesome By Accident

Garth Beyer

I wrote about voice yesterday. When a group of mine (who did the same activity) commented on my short essay, they expressed how crafty I was by neglecting indentation. As you will read in my response about voice, I talk about not needing to be perfect because it takes the humanity out, the voice out. They went on to say how not indenting made my writing flow better and drive home my point. To be forward, I simply forgot to indent.

Goes to show many might love what you thought was a mistake. If that’s the case, might as well try making a mistake on purpose to make your writing or your work more alive. An accident isn’t always a bad thing, and an accident on purpose may be just what you need.

For those interested, you can read my short essay on voice here. (3-min read)

 

Stay Positive & Give Your Work Some Voice

What Comeback Success Stories Forget

Garth Beyer

We have all heard the good stories. Someone who starts with nothing ends up becoming successful. Someone who starts with something, but loses it ends up working smart enough to earn what they lost plus some. Someone who grew up in poverty broke the family tradition. Someone who had nothing growing up, started a successful business and now gives back to the community where they struggled.

The stories are all remarkable, but each person I’ve heard tell their comeback story forgets to note the most important factor.

You don’t need to fall down to make a comeback.

To be as successful as these people, you don’t need to make the same mistakes.

 

Stay Positive & Make New Mistakes To Talk About

How To Become Wise

Garth Beyer

While at the polling place to vote, the chap before me completed his ballot and stuck it in the nearest machine that looked like you stick ballots in. A woman rushed over to him (by this time I was waiting in line behind him) and stated that particular box was not the tabulator. She directed him to the correct box and I, nonchalantly, removed myself from the line and headed toward the correct box to submit my ballot.

“Thanks for making the mistake first so I knew where to submit my ballot,” I said to him.

To which he replied in a goofy but true way, “That’s how we become wise. We make mistakes.”

 

Stay Positive & Had I Known His Name, I Woulda Voted For Him