#13 Adam Marx: The Master Relationship Builder of Zero to One Network

[0:00] let's begin
[0:01] so first of all thank you so much for
[0:04] accepting my request for this interview
[0:06] this is a personal initiative that i
[0:09] have started few months ago before that
[0:11] i've been writing on medium.com for
[0:14] about three years i saw you very active
[0:17] in linkedin
[0:18] almost every day right you have uh
[0:21] i try to be every day yeah you get
[0:23] engagement a lot of engagement i i read
[0:26] your post about 2020 review it was an
[0:30] amazing post i didn't
[0:32] i'm expecting a similar one for 2021.
[0:36] thank you i i have to get on on writing
[0:39] it because it you know it takes more
[0:40] time to
[0:41] to compile all that stuff than it does
[0:44] to actually write it format it so and
[0:46] what i try to do in this interview is to
[0:49] ask very simple and basic questions what
[0:52] you wanted to become in high school then
[0:54] your career journey and then your goal
[0:56] setting and time management and things
[0:58] like that so the structure is very
[1:00] simple
[1:01] but
[1:02] every time
[1:03] whenever i go through these interviews
[1:06] um either a person or a situation or a
[1:08] thing that come up that shaped that
[1:11] person life and career right
[1:15] so
[1:15] with simple question we
[1:18] we uncover some of the things that other
[1:20] people can
[1:21] use or get inspired by
[1:23] i wanted to start this interview
[1:26] by giving you an opportunity to share
[1:29] with the audience what you do so i'm
[1:31] very um
[1:32] happy and and humbled to be here for for
[1:35] people who are in your audience who are
[1:38] not familiar um with my content or my
[1:41] orange sunglasses
[1:43] um
[1:44] my name is adam marks i'm based here in
[1:46] atlanta
[1:47] um and
[1:49] yeah i what what i do now
[1:52] is um
[1:54] people know me as the guy with the
[1:56] orange sunglasses or the zero to one
[1:58] networker i mean really what i do is i i
[2:00] go out i help people either individuals
[2:03] or corporate teams
[2:05] um
[2:06] learn how to become
[2:08] powerhouse networkers learn how to how
[2:11] to build
[2:12] relationships that are long-term
[2:14] magnetic mutually beneficial
[2:17] based around tactics like empathy value
[2:21] creation patience you know and and
[2:24] things that go into that are um skills
[2:26] around communication skills around
[2:28] writing skills around leveling up those
[2:32] uh those
[2:33] characteristics and qualifications so
[2:36] that
[2:37] when you go out there
[2:39] you are building relationships that
[2:41] could last
[2:42] years and years right and could be
[2:44] beneficial for everybody involved
[2:46] because i want people to understand that
[2:48] they can build an amazing community and
[2:51] and network
[2:52] off of personal traits so humor humility
[2:56] things like that
[2:57] um which people don't often associate
[2:59] with business
[3:00] and
[3:02] and yeah i do i do coaching i do
[3:05] speaking
[3:06] um
[3:07] i teach people how to level up their
[3:09] writing i basically joke that i
[3:12] i sit somewhere in between a therapist
[3:14] and a personal trainer
[3:16] right oh this is awesome yes but
[3:19] my job isn't to sell you my
[3:22] black book of contacts because they may
[3:25] not even be valuable for you i mean i
[3:27] don't know anybody in sports management
[3:29] or stuff like that you know
[3:32] my job is to
[3:34] help you
[3:36] retrain your mindset
[3:38] so that you wake up and go i can network
[3:40] with just about anybody
[3:42] and i can get in front of somebody and
[3:44] build a relationship
[3:46] and something good will come from it
[3:48] don't know what yet don't have a crystal
[3:50] ball but 10 months down the road
[3:52] people will pick up your phone call and
[3:54] answer your email that's what i teach
[3:56] people how to do thank you for sharing
[3:58] that when you was in high school in your
[4:00] early college
[4:02] what you wanted to become at that point
[4:05] i've always enjoyed learning i enjoy
[4:07] history class i ended up doing a um i
[4:10] have a degree in history i have a minor
[4:12] degree in art history
[4:14] maybe i would be an academic you know
[4:16] follow an academic track and be a
[4:17] professor
[4:19] um
[4:20] i was raised by attorneys so
[4:22] law and politics have always been of
[4:24] interest to me
[4:26] um
[4:27] the the kind of law that my parents do
[4:29] is civil rights law so diversity um
[4:32] discrimination law that kind of stuff is
[4:34] very motivating to me but
[4:37] ultimately i think that i was bit by the
[4:39] music bug i really am a creative person
[4:43] and um
[4:45] there was a point at which i was going
[4:46] to be a rock star right
[4:48] and then there was a point at which
[4:51] i wanted to be a journalist a music
[4:53] journalist and
[4:55] and develop relationships with people um
[4:57] and then just enjoy writing
[5:00] and um
[5:02] i think that what has always been
[5:04] underlying all those things is a desire
[5:07] to create and be entrepreneurial so
[5:10] whether it was going into law and
[5:13] starting my own small firm or
[5:16] being entrepreneurial as a as a musician
[5:18] or entrepreneurial as a journalist
[5:20] that's that's a bug that i've always had
[5:23] um so getting into tech and startups and
[5:26] and now doing consulting seems to fit
[5:28] really well with that
[5:31] um
[5:32] that part of my personality
[5:35] my suggestion always
[5:37] is to just keep going
[5:38] at least finish bachelor and then you
[5:41] may go through many career changes
[5:44] before you
[5:46] probably gonna find what you want to do
[5:48] yeah and i mean that's very true and we
[5:50] can kind of break that down but i think
[5:52] in addition to that
[5:54] it's okay to change what you want to do
[5:58] it's okay to be on a track for something
[6:01] and decide
[6:03] you want to do something else or decide
[6:05] after having done it for a while you
[6:07] know i
[6:08] maybe i was a doctor for
[6:10] for a few years and i did all the
[6:11] schooling and all this kind of stuff and
[6:13] maybe it's time to try something new
[6:15] maybe i want to open a business maybe i
[6:18] want to do something else and
[6:20] there's nothing wrong with that
[6:22] um i think that we're more and more in a
[6:27] in a social paradigm where
[6:31] people don't have to make one choice
[6:36] right i mean even i mean think about it
[6:38] even if you decide
[6:39] to go into a very structured path like
[6:43] medicine
[6:44] or you're going to join the armed
[6:46] services and and
[6:48] you know become a professional soldier
[6:50] some people decide that's the decision
[6:53] they want to make
[6:54] those people can still have
[6:57] a desire to have a side business hobby
[7:00] that maybe turns into a side business i
[7:02] mean
[7:03] it may have absolutely nothing to do
[7:05] with your your job
[7:07] right you could be a soldier
[7:09] that's your job or a doctor
[7:12] but decide that you love food right and
[7:15] you're invested in the small food truck
[7:17] business or you're you you do food
[7:19] writing when you're not
[7:21] um
[7:22] performing your job and
[7:24] and i think that for
[7:26] for people in our age group and
[7:28] high school university age group it's
[7:31] it's okay to try different things right
[7:33] it's okay i mean that's that's that's
[7:34] how i got to where i am it was just
[7:36] talking to a lot of people i didn't wake
[7:39] up one day and say
[7:41] okay i'm gonna do this and this and this
[7:43] and this like i always loved writing but
[7:45] i never thought i'd be a professional
[7:47] journalist it was more just like
[7:50] i enjoy writing music reviews
[7:52] i know i'm probably never going to write
[7:54] for rolling stone it was just something
[7:56] for me to do the fact that i'm a
[7:59] published tech journalist is like
[8:01] mind-blowing because i didn't go to
[8:03] school for that i just enjoy doing it
[8:05] and
[8:06] one day somebody reached out who's now a
[8:08] good friend of mine
[8:10] and he was like hey you are very
[8:13] curmudgeonly and you have a lot of
[8:14] opinions and i was like you're correct
[8:17] what can we do
[8:20] it just started as
[8:21] a single one-off piece it wasn't like
[8:23] here's a job here's a salary it was
[8:26] a single one-off piece
[8:29] it was a good experience they were nice
[8:32] enough to pay me for my time and my
[8:34] expertise and it just turned into more
[8:37] when people open themselves up to
[8:39] opportunities
[8:41] um you don't know what's going to come
[8:42] through the door
[8:43] full concept of passion and purpose
[8:47] and
[8:48] there are time when peop
[8:51] i guess everybody's life that when they
[8:53] start thinking if i have purpose and i
[8:55] fire passion everything else will align
[8:59] and it's true to an extent
[9:02] but at the same time
[9:04] if you just wait and kind of
[9:08] try to find your purpose and passion
[9:11] it's not going to come to you you have
[9:13] to
[9:14] try several things something that
[9:17] can hold people
[9:19] for a long time
[9:21] and not let them move forward because
[9:23] they don't know what
[9:24] where they're going what's their purpose
[9:26] what their what their passion is
[9:28] well i mean and i think it's something
[9:30] else too which is
[9:32] um
[9:34] when i closed my first startup which was
[9:36] a music tech company
[9:39] i
[9:40] felt
[9:42] that i didn't know what my identity was
[9:45] anymore because i had been like the
[9:46] music guy
[9:48] you know the music tech person that was
[9:50] how i
[9:51] identified it's how i crafted my persona
[9:53] for others and for myself and so
[9:56] when i went through this tough time of
[9:58] closing it and saying it's time to move
[9:59] on something new i didn't know what that
[10:01] something new was and that was very
[10:03] scary it was scary because i didn't know
[10:05] but it was also scary because i didn't
[10:07] know who i was
[10:09] how to present myself i didn't i felt
[10:12] like i couldn't be that person anymore i
[10:14] felt like i didn't know what kind of
[10:15] person i wanted to be and it took a lot
[10:18] of soul searching to realize that music
[10:20] and tech was
[10:21] was what i did at that time and a big
[10:24] part of who i was but not
[10:26] not all of who i was
[10:28] and
[10:29] through a lot of conversations with
[10:31] close friends and and you know core
[10:33] support network i realized like what i
[10:36] what i brought to the music tech
[10:38] intersections in that community and
[10:40] those dialogues was a lot of
[10:42] content around
[10:45] building relationships and how to
[10:48] um facilitate
[10:50] conversations between people and how to
[10:53] you know bring people together i guess
[10:55] we call community building we use all
[10:57] these really nice buzzwords um
[11:01] but i just considered it to be what i
[11:03] enjoy doing and in in fact i didn't
[11:06] understand that it was even something
[11:07] that other people struggled with
[11:09] i was like oh yeah go out and talk to
[11:11] people yeah it's always that way people
[11:13] who are good at things you don't realize
[11:15] other people need help with it
[11:17] um certainly i'm not the best computer
[11:20] programmer i mean that's for for sure um
[11:23] and so once i realized that other people
[11:25] were struggling in this area and really
[11:27] wanted to learn how to get better
[11:29] that started to give me new purpose and
[11:32] maybe i can write about this
[11:34] and
[11:35] i don't know if you know there's no
[11:37] magic bullet
[11:39] but
[11:39] these are the experiences that i've had
[11:41] these are the strategies that i've used
[11:44] to improve
[11:45] maybe they'll help other people
[11:47] if if those people want to try them out
[11:49] maybe they will see improvement
[11:51] so that's kind of how i started
[11:53] moving in the direction
[11:55] that i'm moving in now
[11:57] the closing the music company you did a
[11:59] lot of sword searching if you can
[12:02] highlight some of the steps or process
[12:04] of what you did to
[12:06] during that time
[12:08] um
[12:11] wow um okay i tried a whole bunch of
[12:14] different things
[12:16] and each one i thought was gonna be like
[12:18] the next thing right so like in in 2017
[12:21] alone
[12:22] i had like three or four major flame
[12:24] outs
[12:25] because
[12:26] you know i closed my company
[12:28] um
[12:30] and then i got involved in a
[12:33] it was a crypto thing that makes it
[12:34] sound very sketchy certainly not sketchy
[12:36] just was a company that just didn't
[12:39] didn't go anywhere in it all right
[12:41] but that was one
[12:43] um
[12:45] i spent part of 2017 into 2018 editing a
[12:48] book
[12:49] for a client else are you okay right no
[12:52] somebody else i'm actually a published
[12:54] editor as well but it's
[12:56] it's um
[12:58] you know we decided to to uh
[13:01] so we finished the project and then we
[13:03] moved on right it wasn't like
[13:05] you know terminating the project it was
[13:07] finished finishing um
[13:09] and so i tried a number of things
[13:13] and i wasn't sure
[13:15] where i would go i mean i
[13:18] i knew i needed a break from tech
[13:20] twitter for like two months or so you
[13:23] know i just needed to take a step back
[13:26] and assess
[13:27] how i was seeing myself and how i was
[13:29] seeing my new trajectory and it was
[13:31] actually during that period of time that
[13:33] a good friend of mine was a big linkedin
[13:36] person said you know you should get on
[13:37] linkedin
[13:38] um there's some interesting stuff going
[13:41] on some really interesting people who
[13:42] you may not have run across
[13:45] and
[13:46] so i started getting very active on
[13:48] linkedin and then
[13:50] one day somebody turned around to me
[13:52] and said oh you're great at the personal
[13:54] branding thing i was like what are you
[13:56] talking about i'm just and oh the orange
[13:58] sunglasses and this and this i'm like
[14:00] okay i guess i'm doing personal branding
[14:02] now i never really set out to do it it
[14:05] just was
[14:06] something that that came across my
[14:08] virtual desk
[14:10] and then like i said when the pandemic
[14:11] hit what i really wanted to do was start
[14:14] specializing and move away from the
[14:17] personal branding thing because you know
[14:19] i don't do logo design website design i
[14:21] leave that to other very talented people
[14:24] um i really am
[14:26] motivated and love to work with people
[14:29] on how do i
[14:30] get you to the point where you as an
[14:33] individual or you as a corporate team
[14:36] you feel that you can build
[14:37] relationships with anybody
[14:39] in a good positive way that's what
[14:41] really motivates me and so once i had
[14:44] that aha moment it was okay i'm gonna
[14:46] start shifting my content but it's like
[14:48] turning a shift it doesn't happen like
[14:50] bam overnight you gotta start to
[14:52] you know change course a little bit at a
[14:54] time how did you find that aha moment
[14:59] i have no idea actually i think i
[15:02] honestly i think what it was is
[15:05] there are a lot of really talented
[15:08] really successful personal branding
[15:11] experts on linkedin many of whom are my
[15:13] friends
[15:14] um
[15:16] i think really what it was was i
[15:17] recognized that there were parts of
[15:19] personal branding
[15:21] where i
[15:22] didn't fit the expectation
[15:25] and and that's okay like i j i just
[15:27] don't do logo design i know lots of
[15:29] amazing people who do
[15:31] i can recommend people until the sun
[15:33] goes out that's just not what i do
[15:35] i don't do uh website design lots of
[15:38] talented people i know do website design
[15:40] but i realize when people heard the
[15:42] words personal branding they tend to
[15:44] think of like a media package
[15:46] yeah and that's fair that's kind of what
[15:48] i think about too
[15:50] i was searching for a way to express and
[15:54] explain to people what i specialize in
[15:57] because i i also i'm not the person
[16:00] who's gonna say okay i'll 40x your
[16:02] follower count
[16:04] that's not what i'm concerned with there
[16:06] are lots of people who are very good at
[16:07] that very talented and i'm happy to let
[16:10] them
[16:11] you know focus on that
[16:13] what i focus on is teaching people
[16:17] and and corporate teams how to
[16:20] develop
[16:21] the strategy and the mindset to get in
[16:24] front of just about anybody you want to
[16:26] get in front of it's the same tactics i
[16:28] used to get in front of venture
[16:29] capitalists and tech it's the same
[16:30] tactics i used to get in front of press
[16:32] and media you know journalists a lot of
[16:34] these people are my friends founders
[16:36] potential customer demographics
[16:38] potential partnership opportunities
[16:40] these are the same tactics that have led
[16:42] me to build
[16:43] relationships networks communities in
[16:45] the music world the tech world in the
[16:48] linkedin world and the politics world
[16:50] you know just
[16:51] you know things that
[16:53] that i enjoy
[16:55] and so i wanted to teach other people
[16:56] how to do that so that they could
[16:58] be more successful have you ever done
[17:00] that dot
[17:03] picture so sometimes you work on the
[17:05] left side sometimes you work on the
[17:07] right side sometime in the middle side
[17:10] and at some point you see the picture
[17:13] uh kind of coming together
[17:15] and that's when you realize that you
[17:18] actually not
[17:20] kind of leaving these things you was
[17:22] working on different areas you was
[17:23] building your skills overall now you
[17:26] have a big picture
[17:28] that you can go after
[17:30] well and that is
[17:34] the mindset
[17:36] that i like to teach people to to
[17:38] utilize because that's how i see
[17:40] networks i have had experiences where
[17:43] i've had people from my music network
[17:47] and i see that they're connected with
[17:49] people in my tech network or people in
[17:51] my tech network are connected with
[17:53] people in my you know film network still
[17:56] trying to build that one up but i know a
[17:58] couple of people and when you start it's
[18:01] like
[18:02] you get the feeling of everybody knows
[18:04] everybody
[18:05] and
[18:07] of course that's you know that's a
[18:09] hyperbole but but it feels that way and
[18:11] once you
[18:13] can be in the middle of all these things
[18:15] i think the very most powerful thing
[18:17] that i try to teach people is it's good
[18:19] to sit in the middle of lots of
[18:20] different communities
[18:21] it doesn't mean that you can't commit
[18:24] it doesn't mean that you're unable to
[18:27] to focus on one more than the other at
[18:29] certain times
[18:30] but it also means that you're able to
[18:32] create a unique
[18:34] value proposition for those communities
[18:37] because people in community one
[18:40] they don't necessarily know about people
[18:41] in community too it's not that they're
[18:43] objectively avoiding those people or
[18:45] vice versa they're just
[18:47] they're not aware
[18:49] of those people on a daily basis and if
[18:51] you can help bridge that gap you can
[18:54] become a conduit for lots of different
[18:57] value
[18:58] person a and person b may say wow we
[19:01] could do something really cool together
[19:03] or
[19:04] i just enjoy consuming your content i'd
[19:06] like to support more of it something as
[19:09] simple as that
[19:10] um
[19:11] being at the at the intersection of that
[19:14] is is so powerful
[19:18] great we spent a lot of time on this
[19:20] topic uh on the journey part and it
[19:22] clearly indicate and illustrate that how
[19:25] passionate you are about this topic so
[19:27] i'm i'm
[19:28] i'm
[19:29] seeing that energy i'm feeling that
[19:31] energy from you um adam so moving to the
[19:34] next segment um
[19:36] where um how do you set your goals and
[19:40] dreams
[19:43] i do tend to be more of a big picture
[19:46] there are a lot of people who are
[19:50] better
[19:51] at the day-to-day short term like how do
[19:53] we get there
[19:54] um
[19:56] those are skills that i'm still
[19:58] improving for myself you know
[20:00] understanding what are the best tools
[20:03] um
[20:04] and the best strategies to use in terms
[20:06] of
[20:07] breaking down big goals into small
[20:10] parts that can be achieved
[20:12] um but by and large i look at something
[20:14] and i say okay this is what i want
[20:17] how am i going to get there so for me
[20:20] part of what my happiness looks like is
[20:23] time freedom i want time freedom and
[20:26] flexibility
[20:27] to work on the projects that motivate me
[20:30] to work with the people who i really
[20:32] want to work with and and the clients
[20:34] who i really want to help and and be
[20:36] able to give them the necessary time and
[20:39] focus
[20:40] to help them achieve what what we're
[20:42] trying to to get you know the level
[20:44] we're trying to get them to
[20:45] um
[20:47] but also to have balance for my own
[20:49] health my own home life things like that
[20:51] so time value is is a big deal for me
[20:55] and then it becomes a question of okay
[20:56] how do you get there
[20:57] and you get there by saying
[21:00] um
[21:02] then i'm not going to be put off by
[21:05] sometimes you have to have multiple
[21:06] plates spinning at one time
[21:08] you know you have to balance that with
[21:10] mental health and balance that with with
[21:12] other priorities but
[21:14] sometimes you're gonna have a busier
[21:16] time it's not gonna be you know like
[21:17] every two weeks you get your paycheck
[21:19] that is a fundamentally different
[21:22] um
[21:23] paradigm and that's okay so some people
[21:26] are very happy and they're very
[21:27] successful that's cool um
[21:31] but for me
[21:33] how i define goals and how i define my
[21:36] ability to reach those goals is really
[21:38] run through
[21:41] run through the lens of
[21:43] ultimately this is what i want
[21:46] and sometimes you got to climb
[21:49] unpleasant mountains to get there i mean
[21:50] i guess it's the same in any job
[21:53] you know somebody who wants to be a
[21:55] doctor is going to have to take many
[21:56] many many more exams and tests than i
[21:58] have taken in my life and 10 years
[22:01] yeah i know 10 10 years of school i mean
[22:04] that's after and after school i mean so
[22:06] every job every profession has their
[22:09] their mountains the mountains for me are
[22:13] you know you're entrepreneurial
[22:15] you're not gonna have a consistent
[22:16] paycheck um
[22:18] yeah i work weekends i work nights i
[22:22] work birthdays some days like it's just
[22:24] it's just another day um
[22:28] but i'm able to take time off like when
[22:29] i'm not feeling well or when i have a
[22:31] family event so there is a balance
[22:34] how do you manage your time how do
[22:36] what's your task management time
[22:38] management method look like
[22:40] and i'll be quite honest that is
[22:43] something i'm trying to get better at in
[22:44] the new year
[22:47] uh but there are a lot of people who are
[22:49] much better at it than i am i spend an
[22:51] enormous amount of time on twitter i
[22:53] spend an enormous amount of time on
[22:55] linkedin
[22:55] [Music]
[22:57] talking to people building relationships
[23:00] generating potential revenue streams
[23:05] it doesn't mean that they all turn over
[23:07] to be revenue streams immediately
[23:09] some of them turn over to be great
[23:11] introductions it turns over to be other
[23:13] kinds of benefits
[23:15] it's always good to know people and have
[23:17] good relationships
[23:19] but the day-to-day is get up you know i
[23:22] have a cup of coffee i send out as many
[23:25] uh response messages uh as i can
[23:30] usually it's
[23:32] about 30 minutes 35 40 minutes try to
[23:36] write a linkedin post um
[23:39] although it's the holiday time i've
[23:41] gotten quite slow with that
[23:43] um
[23:45] so try to do response comments you know
[23:48] if i have written something try to get
[23:50] back and engage and make sure that other
[23:52] people feel that their time is valuable
[23:54] too
[23:55] um
[23:56] and
[23:57] i have writing on the side that i'm
[23:59] doing
[24:00] um try to spend some time writing the
[24:03] longer text that i'm working on
[24:05] you know whatever those projects might
[24:07] be
[24:08] and uh i mean it's it sounds like it's
[24:11] very
[24:12] disorganized it is more organized than
[24:14] i'm making it sound
[24:15] it's a lot of writing a lot of uh
[24:18] yeah it's creative organized
[24:20] right yeah
[24:22] but you know that's like like like i
[24:23] said like there are a lot of people who
[24:25] do
[24:26] a much better job
[24:28] and i'm trying to identify the people
[24:30] who do very good jobs and learn from
[24:32] them so so a big part of my day is also
[24:34] identifying people who i can learn from
[24:37] and taking a step back and trying to
[24:39] absorb their material and and improve my
[24:42] own skills there but learning takes time
[24:45] what's your message to my audience and
[24:47] my audience are people who are in the
[24:49] early career
[24:51] i would say that one of the one of the
[24:53] biggest pieces of advice i have and this
[24:56] is something i will tell clients
[24:58] and anybody who will listen um
[25:03] people i believe
[25:05] stop themselves from building networks
[25:08] for a host of very common
[25:11] very understandable reasons that they
[25:15] should really try to
[25:19] to not do frankly and i'll give it and
[25:21] i've done this myself
[25:23] um
[25:24] people stop themselves from having
[25:26] conversations or dialogues because they
[25:29] don't want to feel stupid right they
[25:31] they don't leave that one comment
[25:32] because what if i what if i sound dumb
[25:34] they don't put that one tweet
[25:36] what if i sound stupid and it's totally
[25:39] normal
[25:40] absolutely normal i'm the same way but
[25:42] what i had to learn
[25:44] was
[25:44] you don't have to be the expert in the
[25:46] room 100 of the time because there's a
[25:49] huge difference between
[25:52] okay you you're not the expert in the
[25:54] room but you're there you're learning
[25:55] and you're absorbing and you're not part
[25:58] of the conversation if you're not part
[26:00] of the conversation
[26:01] you don't exist
[26:03] and that's that's not a mean thing it's
[26:04] just that's just how it is what i really
[26:07] like to do is talk to
[26:10] um people who
[26:12] feel that they can't
[26:14] be the networking entrepreneurial types
[26:17] and for the record being entrepreneurial
[26:19] is not the same as saying i think you
[26:21] need to be an entrepreneur go run out
[26:22] and start your own company
[26:24] when i say entrepreneurial what i'm
[26:26] really talking about is
[26:29] seeing opportunities
[26:31] where other people may see barriers
[26:33] and feeling like this is doable so it
[26:36] could be being entrepreneurial could be
[26:37] identifying a job promotion that you
[26:40] want in your company or in your industry
[26:43] or identifying um a project that you
[26:46] want to work at at your company and how
[26:48] do you have the conversations to
[26:50] communicate to your co-workers and your
[26:52] boss and your organization that you're
[26:54] the right person for this
[26:56] that's being entrepreneurial
[26:58] even if it's even if you're working in a
[27:00] very big company that's still being
[27:02] entrepreneurial
[27:06] this is so powerful
[27:08] well i mean and and i always tell people
[27:10] because i run across this with some of
[27:12] my own friends
[27:14] i think certainly in our society people
[27:17] are taught to believe this next thought
[27:19] which is
[27:22] if you're not
[27:24] loud and extroverted and expressive
[27:28] you're not a good networker you're not a
[27:30] good entrepreneur
[27:32] or you wouldn't be
[27:34] and i tell people
[27:38] who identify as shy or introverted i
[27:41] mean people identify the way they want
[27:43] to identify that's okay
[27:45] for the record i don't see myself as a
[27:47] full extrovert like i would rather watch
[27:50] netflix than go to the club you know
[27:52] then personally that's what i'd rather
[27:53] do um
[27:55] but i've seen people who identify as
[27:56] introverts build and sell 20 million
[27:59] dollar companies i've seen people who
[28:01] identify as shy introverted people
[28:04] become the face of their podcast become
[28:06] the face of their company become the
[28:08] face of a book that they're writing
[28:10] um or or a course that they're putting
[28:12] together and i would
[28:14] i would sooner work with somebody who is
[28:17] shy or introverted who says i'm having
[28:20] some trouble here
[28:22] but i really want to get to this level
[28:24] right
[28:25] i would sooner work with that person
[28:27] than somebody who is arrogant and says
[28:29] basically in their communication like i
[28:32] have nothing left to learn
[28:34] what could you possibly you know they
[28:35] don't value other people's time you
[28:37] don't value other people's expertise
[28:40] personally i don't know how to teach
[28:42] somebody like that because they're not
[28:43] interested in learning
[28:44] they're interested in getting the sale
[28:47] as quickly as they can
[28:48] [Music]
[28:51] that's just been my experience
[28:53] and so i i want to explain to people who
[28:56] are still building their persona it's
[28:59] okay
[29:00] to try different things and it's really
[29:02] really really important to also
[29:04] try different things outside your
[29:07] your lane
[29:08] yeah you know i will talk to anybody
[29:10] i'll i mean i don't know anything about
[29:11] the construction industry i'll talk to
[29:13] people who work in construction i don't
[29:15] know anything about
[29:16] um
[29:17] you know the medical industry
[29:20] but i'll talk to people who who work in
[29:22] that i'll talk to people who work in
[29:23] real estate or people who work in food
[29:25] and you know restaurants i don't even
[29:28] think about running a restaurant i know
[29:29] how to go down and sit down and order a
[29:31] meal
[29:34] so when you open yourselves up
[29:36] to lots of different
[29:38] people
[29:39] um
[29:40] you don't know where it's going to take
[29:41] you
[29:42] yeah
[29:43] if somebody want your service
[29:46] then how can they approach i'm in the
[29:48] process
[29:49] rebranding rebuilding doing all that
[29:52] lovely housekeeping stuff so right now
[29:55] they're not gonna find something that's
[29:56] all pretty and nice um the best way to
[29:58] get into contact with me
[30:01] is through twitter or linkedin
[30:03] um my handle on twitter is the same as
[30:05] my personal twin page it's at adam i
[30:07] would say in the description you're
[30:09] right so
[30:10] right now it is easier to just find my
[30:13] personal stuff because i'm
[30:14] in the process of doing all the the uh
[30:17] company branding and all that
[30:19] do you have any question for me
[30:20] i do i want to know because i'm always
[30:23] curious
[30:25] what do you find with your audience
[30:27] because you've had lots of conversations
[30:29] with people
[30:30] what do you find in within the context
[30:33] of this dialogue they seem to struggle
[30:35] with the most because that helps me
[30:38] understand for myself
[30:41] what can i focus on more and create more
[30:44] content and more value around do people
[30:46] struggle with linkedin do they struggle
[30:49] with twitter do they struggle with
[30:50] something else
[30:51] because ultimately what i want to do
[30:53] when i wake up every morning is
[30:55] put out a piece of content that somebody
[30:58] says that's what i needed that's going
[31:00] to help me get to that next level i have
[31:02] interviewed
[31:04] different sets of people
[31:06] i have interviewed directors in the big
[31:08] companies
[31:10] project managers and then principal in
[31:13] middle school high school elementary
[31:15] school
[31:17] the biggest thing that i have found is
[31:20] some of these people
[31:22] know
[31:22] exactly what they want from life exactly
[31:25] what they where they're going
[31:27] and then there are some people
[31:31] is struggling with the point that they
[31:34] don't know what next that they do they
[31:36] want to do
[31:38] and i think if we can
[31:40] figure out
[31:41] before even going to the technology
[31:43] piece before even going to the tutor or
[31:45] linkedin or the content piece is
[31:50] some way for them
[31:52] to go through the the the soul searching
[31:55] process that you went through adam but
[31:58] it's not about the tool or the method
[32:01] it's about
[32:02] whether or not they have the clarity on
[32:04] the next thing that they want to do
[32:07] yeah it sounds to me like a lot of that
[32:09] is around the idea of
[32:12] sometimes the best thing to do is not to
[32:14] overthink which is something i do all
[32:16] the time yes and to just say you know
[32:21] i'm not going to try to game the
[32:22] relationship i'm not going to try to
[32:24] game this i'm just going to go out
[32:26] and create value and be a part of
[32:29] positive conversations
[32:31] and and that's that is what i teach
[32:33] people how to do is how to have the
[32:35] mindset
[32:36] that
[32:37] you know business is important i'm not
[32:39] saying don't do business business is
[32:41] good do business but recognize that
[32:44] people are not commodities they're not
[32:46] like trading stocks on the stock market
[32:49] you're going to have to want to put in
[32:52] the necessary time and care to build a
[32:56] relationship builds dialogue
[32:58] and
[32:59] what i often tell people is
[33:02] you know you could charge that person i
[33:04] don't know whatever your rate is two
[33:06] hundred dollars an hour or three hundred
[33:07] dollars an hour whatever it is right for
[33:10] or
[33:12] and you may or may not get it depending
[33:13] on how long you've known the person
[33:15] or you can continue to have the
[33:17] conversation
[33:19] not rush that
[33:20] and see where it goes and that that 200
[33:23] that you would charge for that very
[33:24] first call off the bat
[33:26] that could turn into a project that's
[33:28] hey this is good for both of us we're
[33:30] bringing in five grand a piece in the
[33:32] door over a new partnership so learning
[33:34] to think like that
[33:36] isn't about saying don't get paid
[33:39] it's important to get paid and be valued
[33:41] for your time
[33:42] but it's also important to assess
[33:44] different kinds of
[33:47] you know benefits and different kinds of
[33:49] compensation
[33:51] money's important but introductions are
[33:52] important and testimonials are important
[33:55] and having a good reputation is
[33:57] important so
[33:59] learning how to assess and balance all
[34:01] those things
[34:03] awesome this is great thank you so much
[34:07] for your time adam
[34:08] thank you for having me this was a lot
[34:11] of fun
[34:22] you