3 Lessons Green Day Can Teach You About Loving Your Customers
Some bands put on live shows that are fun in the moment, but quickly forgettable. Green Day is not one of those bands…
Read MoreWhat a 17th Century Swedish Warship Can Teach Us About Marketing
What did marketing in the 17th century look like in Sweden? An infamous Swedish ship – the Vasa – is actually a great example…
Read More“Play Gloria!” 10 Life Lessons from the 2019 Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues
Earlier this month, my hometown St. Louis Blues won their first Stanley Cup in their 52-year franchise history. In true St. Louis sports fashion, their road to the Cup was nothing short of magical. On January 2, 2019 – halfway through the season – the Blues were dead last in the league. Their head coach had been fired in November. The team lacked a cohesive identity and looked more competitive when they were fighting each other at practice than when facing their opponents on the ice. The idea of the Blues even making the playoffs was simply laughable.
Then on January 7, a rookie goaltender named Jordan Binnington stepped in front of the net for his first NHL start and recorded a shutout…
Read MoreThe “No Excuses” Guide to Starting Your Own Video Series
About twice a month, I get a phone call, email, or text from a friend or someone in my network with a similar question:
“Hey Chris, I love the work you’re doing on your Pubcast and Manufacturing Happy Hour videos. Looks like you’re having a lot of fun! I’ve been thinking about starting something of my own. Can we chat sometime?”
I am always happy to have this conversation, and in every case, I share the same advice: If you just get started, you’ll be ahead of 99% of people that have an idea, but never take action. If you stick with it, you’ll be ahead of 99% of the people that got started, but quit too soon.
Read MoreWhy I Started "Manufacturing Happy Hour"
It was a random Saturday afternoon in October 2016. I was sitting in my home office in San Francisco, on my computer catching up on a recent company video newsletter. Yeah, I know…that’s a pretty lame way to spend a Saturday, but I promise you that’s not the norm. Regardless, it was the start of a new fiscal year, and as an Account Executive in the manufacturing technology space, that’s always when I’m thinking most creatively about how to grow my business, and better serve my customers.
I’d been toying with the idea of starting a video series for a while. I knew I needed a more frequent, personal way of reaching my clients, and that a standard HTML newsletter would likely get lost in the mix of my customers’ inboxes. Thanks to that internal video newsletter, the idea finally synergized that afternoon: Why not start a video series for the manufacturing sector that also made this “old school” industry more fun an approachable?
Read MoreThe Best Mobile Podcasting Equipment
For just over a year now, I’ve been running Pubcast Worldwide, the podcast where I get to interview interesting people over beverages at some of the best bars and breweries on the planet. Now – with over 20 episodes, more than a dozen cities, and 4 different countries under my belt – I’m starting to hear the following question more and more often:
“What equipment do you use to record an on-site podcast?”
Great question, and it’s time to give you an answer! In an effort to distill this as clearly as possible (yes, that was an alcohol pun), I’ve put together this brief blog post to outline the equipment that I use to make and produce Pubcast Worldwide.
Read More12 Ounces of Coffee & Punk Rock: Picking a Morning Routine that Works for You
I have a lot of energy. Too much energy if you ask me. My never-ending, often arbitrary enthusiasm is pretty much a hallmark of who I am. I often get the question “Do you ever sleep?” And the answer to that is yes. I sleep roughly 7 hours a night, which – compared to some go-getters – is a pretty good amount. Even in the morning, I’m jacked with energy, and it’s not because I’m overly-caffeinated. It’s because I subscribe to a slightly different morning routine:
I describe it as “12 ounces of Bulletproof Coffee paired with punk rock.”
Let me explain…
Read MoreWhat an IoT Hackathon Taught Me about the Internet of Things
It’s Friday night. Typically, I’d be gearing up to play a show, throwing back a few craft beers at a dive bar, or cozying up to a glass of Chilean wine paired with whatever self-help book is the flavor of the month. Not this weekend! I’m rolling up to 1446 Market Street – a warehouse-like event space in San Francisco – ready to make some tech!
Last month, I attended my first hackathon – an IoT hackathon to be specific – because I needed a reset. I’ve been watching the “Internet of Things” evolve through the lens of the manufacturing industry for the past few years now. It was time I took a look at it through a different lens: the lens of the Bay Area tech community.
Read More6 Ways Long-Term International Travel Makes You a Better Businessperson
In just over a month, I’ll be hitting the road again for my first international excursion of 2016: Brasil. Not only will I be checking the Olympics off of my bucket list, but I’ll get a chance to explore the Amazon while saving some time for spontaneity around the Rio de Janeiro state.
A lot of people in a corporate job will look at their time off of work as a “vacation” – an escape from the daily grind – but I look at my time abroad as one of my most important development experiences of the year. While the word “vacation” brings to mind thoughts of temporary escapism, the word “travel” makes me think of something completely different: leaving what’s familiar to you to approach daily life with a heightened sense of your surroundings and a thirst to explore.
Read MoreHow to Use Twitter to Build Real Connections
You don’t need to be paying that much attention to social media to realize that Twitter is no longer the “in” platform. It hasn’t been for a long time, as competitors like Instagram and Snapchat have niched down in areas where Facebook and Twitter were once the only games in town. But even before then, only a small minority of Twitter’s users understood the best, most mind-blowing aspect of the platform: the ability to connect and converse with anyone. Yes…anyone!
Read More2 Criteria for Finding a Great Mentor
Mentorship is a word that is all too commonly thrown around in the business world. There’s no doubt that a great mentor can help accelerate your career and help you achieve your business or personal development goals. But, the word “mentor” has become watered-down, and many mentorships fail to reach their full potential – for both the mentee and the mentor – or worse, they are not the right fit to begin with.
Read MoreThe End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom without the 9-to-5 (Book Review)
Are you enjoying that "job" of yours? Are you where you want to be? Or would you rather be hanging out with a bunch of globe-trotting entrepreneurs at an Irish bar in Bangkok, that are running their 6- and 7-figure web-based businesses from wherever they want?
Taylor Pearson's 21st-century entrepreneurship manifesto The End of Jobs takes a look at the how the rapidly-changing face of technology and globalization have created a significant paradigm shift in wealth creation, and will undoubtedly have you asking yourself some of these questions.
Stan Kroenke is a Businessman, but not a Business Leader
Great. Another St. Louis Rams relocation article. Seriously, this happened a week ago! It’s like beating a dead ram at this point.
Rest assured, this article is different…
Last week, the NFL finalized the approval of the St. Louis Rams to relocate the franchise back to Los Angeles, capitalizing on a lucrative L.A. market, and stripping St. Louis of its professional football franchise for the financial gains of a small handful of billionaires. Rams’ owner Stan Kroenke led the effort, with help from his rich but lower-relative-net-worth cronies in the NFL league offices, bringing to an end a long, deceptive, and corrupt relocation process. Now we’re dealing with the media aftermath, characterized by a barrage of articles from news outlets across the country, sharing the news, sorting through the emotions, and debating the ethics (or lack thereof) exercised by Kroenke and the NFL.
Read More10 Things I Learned in High School that I Still Remember 10 Years Later
Today, I am flying back home to St. Louis, MO to celebrate my high school 10-year class reunion, and I for one couldn’t be more excited. The 10-year reunion represents a time when, theoretically, people have started to find their place in the world. They’ve completed their graduate degrees, have gotten into the groove of their careers, and maybe even accomplished another thing or two like getting married or having a kid. Yeah, a few of them may still be doing exactly what they were doing 10 years ago, but that’s probably the exception, not the rule.
While high school brings back nothing but fond memories of Friday night football games, backyard summer parties, and dances with the various all-girls schools across town (yes, I went to an all-guys high school…and no, it wasn’t weird…that’s just what you do in good ol’ STL), it was also one of the biggest developmental periods of my life. Sure, it’s easy for your teenage years to get overshadowed by the freedom and growth that going away to college provided, or what you learned about your path in life during your first years in the “real world” as a 20-something. But I would argue that my time in high school (specifically DeSmet Jesuit…Go Spartans!) laid some critical foundations that shaped my worldview and impacted the choices I’ve made in my life and career...
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Actionable Reflections and 5 Takeaways from the 2015 World Domination Summit
Thursday, July 9, 2015, 8:55AM–Touchdown! Minus the exclamation point...the plane had landed, but I was still barely awake. Walking off the jet bridge, I stepped on to the tacky, oft-Instagrammed PDX carpet, and began my way into the city. After a quick MAX ride, a painless check-in at the hostel, and a sunny walk downtown, I was at the Gerding Theater. The anticipation of the last 8 months since I had bought the ticket was almost over. The 2015 World Domination Summit was finally here.
If you’re unfamiliar with the World Domination Summit (or WDS as it is often called), it is an annual conference in Portland, OR hosted by author/adventurer/all-around-good-guy Chris Guillebeau, and is billed as a gathering of those that want to live an unconventional life in a conventional world. As a result, you get one of the most open-minded collectives of creatives, entrepreneurs, travelers, digital nomads, and those simply looking for a weekend “reboot” attending this event. The extended weekend is full of world record attempts, meetups of all sorts, and inspiration talks from renowned speakers, artists, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. If you’re not leaving with some sort of intense energy high, you were probably at the wrong conference…or you may have just been lost inside of Powell’s for the course of the weekend. Either way…
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