From 0 to podcast in 2 days
03 August 201072 hours ago I was a normal guy with a ton of audio and video equipment in my apartment. Several friends and even a few family members made fun of me for the obnoxious set up I had. Over the course of the last 3 days I blurted out an idea I had for a podcast and got such a supportive reaction from the community that I think that they would be upset if I didn't produce the podcast. Now I have 21 interviews lined up for the month of August and I've started the conversations with potential sponsors. There's something about great, simple ideas that people gravitate to. My recommendation for folks is to take their original idea, even if it's a different version of a currently respected and known idea, and boil it down for a while until it becomes so simple that anyone can understand it in under a tweet. 140 characters is all you need to get a concise and complete idea across. As my friend and role model Gary Vaynerchuk communicated in his 2008 speech circuit, if you think you have a feel and you know you have the knowledge you have to take a shot now ...
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Just do something interesting
31 July 2010This afternoon I wanted to sit down and write some more of the mystery ebook I've been working on in earnest for the last 3 weeks. I plopped down at my laptop turned on the music and proceeded to write exactly 8 words. One single sentence. Not one to force my writing (and probably the reason why I always sucked in timed writing assignments and tests in school) I looked for something to do. For some reason, the thought crossed my mind to watch "Lemonade" since I hadn't seen it since the week it premiered on Hulu. It's especially timely given the fact that the economy appears to be losing the minimal gains we've seen since the start of the year. More and more people are losing their jobs and I like to think that "Lemonade" is part of the rehabilitation process for not only those who get fired but for us as a nation and community. There was one clear scene in the movie that jumped out at me that I will end up referencing in the ebook -- one of the interview subjects talks about just doing something, anything, interesting with the time that they've been given by ...
Why today isn’t the best time ever to be an entrepreneur
22 July 2010[caption id="attachment_130" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="credit: flickr genbug"][/caption] This morning Milind and I got to talking over IM. Our conversation revolved around downloadable content and entrepreneurialism. Milind echoed a statement that has been said by many industry pundits. He said, "It's an exciting time to be alive." It's statements like that which always leave me a little miffed. I typed back "Do you think that people didn't think that it was a great time to be alive when TV was 5 years old?" People see the world the way that they want to. No one wants to think they lived at the worst time ever. Even those who lived through the Great Depression didn't believe it to be the worst time ever. Our conversation then made a stronger move toward entrepreneurship. Milind echoed a point that the barriers are now gone. Our mutual friend Gary Vaynerchuk has said may times. Once again, I wanted to challenge Milind's beliefs here because I think his statements show he's thinking about only his own experience. Given his own experience, he's perfectly right. There isn't a ...
Running the marathon daily
21 July 2010My good friend Sam Taggart posted something on the Vaynermedia blog today that has me thinking about things. Here's a quick quote from Sam's post: No matter your profession or your spot in life, it’s important to remember that we are all running our own marathons (so stop trying to get to the finish line in two hours). As with anything, success takes hard work, a good team, a little bit of luck, and time. It takes most of us eighteen years to even be in a position to leave the comfort and security of our parents’ homes. Life is not one big get rich quick scheme; it’s a process, and it’s important to remember that from time to time. As someone who very much agrees with Sam and his boss, friend and mentor Gary Vaynerchuk, I understand that being patient and willing to consistently work is something that is required to complete the "marathon." What always interests me is how people break down their super high level goals into steps that they can take daily. For instance, let's say you want to become a known brand in a given space. Following Sam's advice you can create compelling, ...
Marketing is not the father of Social Media
20 May 2010Given the types of blogs I subscribe to I get a lot of "Social Media Marketing for your small business" posts in my feed reader. I am starting to believe that if you're treating social media as an additional channel for your marketing that you simply don't get social media. Before the hater-pants come on, I'm not saying that you can't market your business using these social platforms but rather that it's not the most effective way. When I first learned about marketing in my undergraduate program all the methods to speak to a potential user base were one-way: company to consumer. All was well in the world of TV, radio and print since companies got to keep control of their brands. Social media was in it's infancy right as I was graduating. It's been chronicled on many blogs that social media has allowed customers to now define any company's brand as they see fit. These consumers have the capacity to create more content online than a Marketing department ever will. A couple weeks ago I began looking at social media's DNA and where it would fit inside an organization. I've come to the conclusion that Social Media isn't the child of Marketing. ...
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The Ren Men and SXSW
19 March 2010It's been a couple of crazy hectic weeks for me and I feel kinda bad about the fact that I've neglected this blog but hey, I'm sorry let's move on. The first bit of business I'm really excited to talk about is that I made an appearance on The Ren Men Show in last week's episode. I can not be more excited about this show and the principles that these guys are teaching and that's exactly why I decided to fly up to Las Vegas to interact with Alan and Grant and see if we couldn't learn from one another. My interview starts at 6:35 but seriously watch the entire episode. Episode 15 - The Ren Men Show from The Ren Men Show on Vimeo. These guys get lifestyle design and I couldn't be more excited about working with them in the future in some kind of capacity. Also a big shout out goes to Zach Daulton the Ren Men cameraman who I got to spend a little time with before he went to bed and the boys and I went on ...
Observe, Contemplate and Execute
21 February 2010Over the course of the last week I've found myself having to stretch to reach goals that I've put out in front of me. In return though I've found that I follow a pretty normal process to acquire new skills and the more that I think about this process the more I see it other people's behavioral patterns as well. Observe This is the first step after initial discovery. People take time to observe the landscape of a situation or how the results of an action look. This first section can also include reading a lot of books, articles and blogs. This is where most folks try to gain the knowledge so they can replicate the success that they have seen others have on platforms. Unfortunately so many people get stuck in the observation stage because that's what they're taught in school to do: acquire information and regurgitate it. Contemplate The next stage that people get to is the point where they either want to replicate the actions or an opportunity to do so simply presents itself. This is where people allow themselves to think about the possible consequences of their proposed action and it's in this place that a lack of self confidence ...
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Grateful for these folks in the start of my 2010
11 February 2010So if you've been following my twitter account (@kadedworkin) you've seen a series of tweets over the last 10 days basically lamenting the fact that I've been sick. It's been a long while since I've felt less than 95% for this long. That stated I've continued to be blown away by how amazing people are. The first person I'd like to call out is Annie Sorensen (@anniesorensen, anniesorensen.com). She's so elevated herself from being a work contact that I'm hesitant to even tell folks that I met her because of my job. Incredibly intelligent and she has the ability to do anything that she sets her mind to. Top that off with the fact that her husband Nate is one of the few people who I'm desperate to spend more time with. He possesses such a cool confidence that I wish I had more of. I suspect that I'll have to make a trip out to Kansas City to see them both before too long. The next group of folks that I have to thank for making me feel appreciated are the entire Polcyn family. I knew that Grady (@gradypolcyn) was a stand up guy but I had ...
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Now that it’s done…
01 February 201030 posts, 544 unique visitors, 1742 page views. Barring the last three days which have been absolutely crazy (and will require me to go back and write more substantive posts) I am going to call the 30 in 30 for January a huge success and the numbers show that. This more than anything proves that the idea of hustle and creating any content on a regular basis can grow an audience. Are there some things I would do differently if I were to do it again? You bet. Has this experiment changed the way I think about blogging? No doubt. Will it affect my future behavior on this blog? Without question. Should be fun to move this one in a direction that hopefully will help both you guys get value and get to know me a bit better.
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When things go wrong…
28 January 2010Today I got a random phone call that really made me angry. I worked incredibly hard to make a business deal happen and got everything all tied off....delivery made at the dock....ready to be trucked over to Vegas. For reasons unknown, 500 copies of a book never made the truck. In typical Kade fashion I got the books and resolved the problem my own way. Issue resolved. Anyway I got to go crank and make things happen with the crew.
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