Tips For Finding, Hiring, and Working with a Career Coach

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It’s November and many people’s minds are on winter coming up. I know as I’m looking out the window, it’s already that wintery gray with occasional yellow leaf still hanging on a tree. While gazing out there, I find myself asking, “Didn’t we just have winter? What happened to summer?!?”

For many people, the changing of the seasons suggests that change is needed in their lives. They could be thinking a number of things. In fact, you might place me with the bunch that says “I’m not taking another one of these! It’s time to move south!” However, some people actually make the jump.

Another jump that might be made during the change of the seasons, and more specifically in the fall, are career changes. For whatever reason, people regularly change careers in the fall. (Personally, I don’t know why that is. Any thoughts? Is it related to the fiscal year ending?)

Like many transitions in life, there are professionals that are available for hire that can help you with your change of career. These people are called Career Coaches.

Signs You Need a Career Coach

You know, I believe that if you want to be someone you’re not, then you’re going to need help to get there. There are different types of people who can help you get to the next level. Those that are direct and those that are indirect. Examples of people who are more direct in helping others are teachers, managers, and leaders. Examples of indirect helpers would be counselors, mentors, and finally coaches. Coaches being the most extreme of being indirect. To me, a coach is someone who can take another person where they can’t take themselves. I say this because I think people can teach themselves how to do stuff. However, I don’t think they get out of their own head and look at a certain situation from another perspective too well.

I mean, wouldn’t it be nice if we could fix mental blocks we might have and be better at something? To give ourselves that extra push to get out of a particular comfort zone? The truth is that while we like to believe that we’re great at making ourselves better, more often than not, that isn’t always the case. If we knew what was keeping us from going to the next level, then doesn’t it make sense that we would have made that adjustment already and gotten there?

That said, here are a few signs you should be able to recognize as a signal that it’s time to get a career coach.

  • You feel like you’re spinning your wheels in your current career or position.
  • You feel like you’re not given a chance to prove the person you believe yourself to be.
  • You feel like you have problems with meeting new people in professional settings.
  • You’ve been out of work for a long time and feel that you might run out of runway to get another job, or start a new career.
  • You feel like your job and your co-workers jobs are possibly about to be cut.

While this list isn’t extensive, I believe it kinda gives a valid barometer of the things you should be asking yourself “Do I feel…”. If the answer is yes, then it’s time to start looking.

Choosing A Coach

Just like there are many kinds of doctors, there are many kinds of coaches. And believe me, they come with all kinds of shapes and sizes. While many of us can help with general stuff (resume and coverletter writing, interviews, networking, etc.) many us specialize. For me, I like working with millennials who want more in life and are thinking about eventually doing their own thing. Other coaches might focus with people with ADHD or people interested in a STEM field. Yet others might focus with women or those who are thinking about being semi-retired after they leave their current position.

So think about what kind of person you are first. Then think if the coaches you’re looking at fit that description.

Next, think about what you want to get done. What do you want them to help you with? As I said, I like working with people my own age who are wanting to be an expert in the work they have a passion for. And while I can help you do general job hunting stuff, it’s not my bread and butter. In fact, when people want to acquire a job in a field I have no clue in, I generally pass them on to other coaches.

So get a list of 5 coaches that might be able to help you with what you want to get done.

Once you have that last part figured out, you need to interview them. Many of us offer discovery sessions if we expect to be working with people for 6 or more sessions – so that would be your opportunity. (If they’re only going to work with you for 3 to 6 sessions, you might need to find another way.)

Questions that you might ask during this interview include:

  • What should I expect from working with you?
  • Can you share success stories? (Focus on whether they’re describing you in these stories.)
  • What’s your fee structure like? (Find out if they charge by session, by hour, by month, or a combination of the three.)
  • How would you describe your coaching style? (Again are they more direct like a teacher or are they going to help lead you to your own answers? Which one do you have time for?)

Working with a Coach

Once you have selected your coach and it’s time to start working with them, there’s a few things that you ought to do to make your time count with them.

Prepare for every session. You’re paying for this session. So think about how you’re going to get the best of it.What kind of learner are you? Do you like to write notes? Do you need to record the sessions? Maybe you should get any resumes or past documents you’ve prepared in getting a job. Come prepared with a list of questions, ideas, and/or notes you’ve been thinking about.

Keep communication lines open. If you have any personal challenges with something, let your coach know. Are you having financial issues? Perhaps you’re going through some relationship problems. Or maybe you’re struggling with something the coach said. These are things that they need to know to help you craft the best plan possible. So let your coach know about them in a tactful way.

Assessments aren’t everything. If you know me, you should know I’m a huge fan of personality assessments. The main reason is because I think they helped me realize what I should have gone to school for. However, I need to make sure I emphasize “helped”. Everyone is different. And just because you have the same personality type, or the same believes, or the same values as someone else, doesn’t mean you have to be a carbon clone of that person. You’re going to have different experiences, skills, and thoughts than that other person. Let all of those combine to figure out what you’re true calling is.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. When building a skyscraper, construction companies will spend just about as much time building the foundation as they do building the actual building itself. Why is that? Because it needs to support all that weight.

This is true of coaching (and many other processes in life that are worth pursuing), too. Sometimes we’re building something so big we won’t realize it. We’ll hit a plateau and be frustrated one day, and the next we’ll feel that we’re making great strides in our life. The thing is that there’s so many variables in making a career transition that it’s really hard to tell exactly how long it will take for any particular individual – let alone everyone. So results will vary.

Expected Results vs Actual Results

Again, results will vary. Everyone is different. Realize that just like a player on the field will accumulate 120 yards one day and another receiver in that same system will go only 15, there are many different variables as to why that happened. Perhaps the player didn’t have as many opportunities to catch the ball. Or perhaps he dropped one or two of the passes that were sent his way. At the end of the game, they’re on the same winning team and they still won.

Likewise, your coach is putting you through the same system they’ve put others through before as well. However, you’re going to be starting from a different starting point and have different motivators. While your coach is giving you the strategies and guidance to make great plays, in the end is up to you to be that MVP. You’re the one that has to complete what is asked of you.

Homework:

Like all my other posts, here’s something for you to do right now with what you’ve just finished reading.

I want you to think of 3 things that you’re happy about from your current position. Then what are 3 things that frustrate you about your career.

Now, from those 3 things that frustrate you, what is one thing you’d love help with? List that one thing below. We’d love to see what kinds of things you guys are struggling with. Hopefully we’ll be able to help! (If you want our help in particular, you can find out more about our services here.)

Exercise Your Personal Freedom

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Happy Election day! In the United States, we’re having elections today. It’s not a big one like next year’s will be, but it’s still something to take notice of. Personally, I’m close to an interesting mayor race in Indy. But for the most part, I haven’t seen too much more being advertised than that… not even in my hometown!

One thing that I believe that politicians really need to start addressing is the shrinking middle class. Here’s some data on that:

How has this happened? How has the top 1% gained 40% of all the money in the country? Well, for starters, big company jobs have been taken overseas. The jobs that are available don’t pay as much as they once did (with inflation in mind), and frankly, we have way too many people taking advantage of government run programs that were initially designed to help those in need. People honestly don’t work enough hours so that they have “benefits” form the government. (Yeah, really. As an HR professional, Maria can tell you all about it.) I’m sure I’ve just scratched the surface on what’s going on, but you get the picture.

As a nation, what are we doing to right the ship?

Not much, it seems.

That can change. Here’s how.

Two Things You Can Do To Exercise Your Personal Freedom

Elect Representation That is in Favor of Your Freedom

For the middle class to grow, two things need to happen. The first is simply the fact that politicians need to reform regulations that are currently holding our markets hostage. One such market is the housing market. After hearing that most of the cost of a house is due to the regulations on that house, I had to look it up. What I found was crazy. I came across a few articles that suggest that anywhere from 40% to 60% of the cost of a house is based on regulations. (Here’s one source for San Diego in April.) It seems that we keep electing people who add more and more regulations on various markets. How many times do we need to shoot ourselves in the foot?

We need to listen to the candidates for next year. Do they talk about taking money from group and giving it to another? Do they talk about restrictions and more control? If you hear any of those things, change the channel or run away. Whatever they’re planning on doing to the 1% (which I agree is part of the problem), it’s not going help the rest of us. The wealthy need to be incentivized to bring back jobs and wealth. Not be punished. If we try to take their wealth, they’ll simply outsource more of it. Or worse yet, move away and take their cut of the nation’s money with them.

What you can do is educate yourself on who’s running and then vote on whether that person is for big government of small government. Look at their voting record. Listen to other sources’ reviews of them. If they want smaller government, it means you have more freedom. Larger government equals less freedom for you as an individual. Exercise your personal freedom and go vote.

Get In the Game: Do Meaningful Work You Love

Having the ability to be free is just one part of the equation. The other part is actually being free.

If you’ve ever read anything by Robert Kiyosaki, you know that he has a passion for teaching people why they need to wake up about money. If anything, in the book he released with Donald Trump in 2006, he mentioned why he believes that we should be interested in being “rich”.

Basically it’s this: the government is going to go bankrupt. (It kinda has already. Several times, in fact. When we raised the debt ceiling and printed more money.  Also, there’s that part about China bailing us out again and again.)

Essentially they’re saying, “If you don’t have the money to keep up with the inflation and higher tax rates, you’re going to sink lower and lower.”

Think about it for a second. People still make the same amount that we did back in 2006, but things are more expensive. This is why McDonald’s workers want higher pay. They literally can’t survive on those wages where they live.

In other books by Robert, he talks about the real reason you need to be interested in being wealthy. It simply gives you options in life.

McDonald’s was never designed to give a person a wage for the rest of their life. I’m sure the percentage of people who want to flip burgers as a career is very small. Historically, who has worked there? People in their first or second job. It was a resume builder for high school kids.

That’s actually not the norm anymore. In fact, where you used to see high school kids working, you just don’t see them anymore at all.

Where’d they go? Well, I’m not certain where they’ve all gone. But I can tell you that some of them have gotten creative! I mean, check out this video for just an example:

 

You can’t tell me that’s not creative! How many kids do you see with YouTube channels? Kids teaching how to do stuff (anything really) on there? Teaching technical stuff about software or hardware? Having a series about dinosaurs? Kids are figuring out the new economy before most “grown ups” are. It’s insane. I mean, even kids in my hometown are getting on the news for selling salt at school. Really? Why can’t we figure this stuff out?

The thing is, though, is that we are figuring it out. Even if it’s slowly. People are getting out of their dead end jobs and doing things they love. Be it a dream job in an organization they care deeply about or starting their own thing.

When we were growing up, we didn’t hear much about entrepreneurs and business owners. Our parents didn’t know anything about it. (Why would they? Jobs were bountiful most of their career.) In fact, I remember a joke on Home Improvement (I think that was the show) that someone was made fun of for being an entrepreneur. I think it was Tim’s brother. He said something about it and was asked “Don’t you mean, professionally unemployed?”. <Insert laugh track>

Entrepreneurs were a small silent minority. Now, we have TV shows like Shark Tank and Undercover Boss that feature heads of companies engaging with the everyday person. We’re slowly being reminded that these people, who were once “untouchables”, are actually people too.

Case in point:

So just remember, this is a free country. We can be anything we want to be, it’s just a matter of taking the right steps out of our comfort zones.

The hard part is that first step into the unknown.

Once you get on the field, you’ll be addicted.

Homework:

It’s November. 2015 is almost gone already. Was this the year that you were going to apply for that dream gig? How about start that new side business? Or even go full time with the one you’ve been working on? We’d love to hear about any of the activities you’re thinking about moving forward with.

Share below with what you’ve been putting off. We might be able to help!

AoL 007: Personal Branding: Not Just for Business Owners with Ryan Rhoten

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When was the last time you cared about what you looked like? If you’re like most people, probably this morning before you headed off to the office. The image that you give of yourself is highly important. It’s all about first impressions, right?

So you know you should be aware of how you’re making a first impression in the real world. But what does the internet say about you? Have you done a search on yourself recently to see what comes up? If you have, and you didn’t like the results, how can you change that?

That’s where our guest, Ryan Rhoten, comes into play. Not so long ago, Ryan didn’t think about his online persona either. In fact, it wasn’t until he didn’t get a promotion that he wondered what what was going on. Soon, though, he realized that he didn’t look so good on the web. In fact, there were other Ryan Rhotens on the web… one of which that wasn’t too flattering.

Today, he helps others figure out what their stance is on the web. He does that by helping them hone their personal brand. Yeah, that same personal brand that many celebrities and business owners have to be aware of.

If you’ve recently been denied an interview or promotion that you thought was a sure thing, then you should listen to what Ryan has to say. Even if you’re a business owner and you’re not exactly sure you know everything about personal branding, you should definitely check this talk out too. It just might mean the difference between you getting that next job or client.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How Ryan got started as an online Personal Branding Expert.
  • Why he doesn’t consider himself a “entrepreneur” quite yet.
  • Why it’s important that you go to events when building your brand.
  • What’s an expert exactly and how you can find out what you’re an expert in.
  • What are common practices of recruiters of using social media to find talent for an open position.
  • Why Gen Xers naturally struggle when it comes to their online presence.
  • Some common mistakes people make when developing their personal brand.
  • Why it’s important to do things out of your comfort zone on a regular basis.
  • What a Klout score is.
  • …and much more

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Checklist for building your online presence on LinkedIn.

KISSmetrics_official_logo

14-Point Checklist to Dominate Your Personal Brand on Google

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, and/or Podbean. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

AoL 006: Helping Veterans Become Entrepreneurs with Joe Crane

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Imagine you have been groomed to think and act a certain way for several years. Most of us have, it’s called formal education. Now imagine that you voluntarily signed up for this training to be part of something bigger than yourself? That you wanted to serve your country in the best way you know how? That’s what our veterans have done.

Now think back to when you first got out of school. I remember that it was a difficult time. I didn’t have the job that I was supposed to have. Nor did I have the network that I should have had either.

The same can be said for many of our vets as well. Many of them have lived a life that is cut off from the rest of society. The time that they do have off, they’ve spent with their family or friends. Why not? Their job at the time was pretty much 24/7 and they might have never seen those people again.

In today’s podcast, we speak with Joe Crane who is a veteran of the Marines. He spent over 20 years in the Marines as a Super Cobra pilot. Today, he is a commercial pilot, but while he’s not doing that, he hosts a podcast called Veteran on the Move.

Not only does Joe help fellow veterans adjust to civilian life, but he has a focus in helping those veterans become entrepreneurs. He believes that many of the skills that he learned in the military transfer very well to owning his own business, so he hopes that other veterans can see that in themselves as well.

Are you a veteran who’s wondering what your next step in life is? Or do you know a veteran who is kind of treading water after getting out of the military? Then check this session out and see if Joe can assist.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How Joe’s many transitions in his career helped him to see things differently.
  • Why Joe started podcasting in the first place.
  • How he helps people make the transition from being in the military to being an entrepreneur.
  • How he’s able to live a balanced life between being a dad, a pilot, and doing his podcast.
  • Why he uses SMART goes to get things done (check out session 5 for a definition of SMART goals)
  • What he feels the difference is between having a J.O.B. and being an entrepreneur is.
  • What skills he has obtained as a Marine which have helped him succeed as an entrepreneur.
  • His advice to those who just gotten out of school or the military who are struggling with their identity.
  • …and much more

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRA:

Are you a member of the military now or a veteran? Joe wants to let you know about a program that might be a fit for you to get ahead in your career. It’s called American Corporate Parters’ Mentoring Program. He and Brian have both been able to get mentors that are where they want to be in their careers. Personally, I’m a little jealous! Sounds like a really great resource. So check it out!

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, and/or Podbean. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Breaking out of the Scarcity Mindset By Applying the Law of Abundance

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“Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you first see inside of you.” – Wally Amos

A Few Definitions:

(I’ll meet you on the other side of them.)

Law of Attraction:

States that you attract what you focus your attention on – whether positive or negative. Think of ways that the law of attraction affects your life right now. Do you regularly think of how you fail with the opposite sex? This will result in you continuing to fail.

The same is true of wealth, happiness, success in your career and anything else you focus on.

Your mind has the power to manifest that which you strongly believe. When you focus on something strongly enough, you make it a reality, so our goal is to harness that power to create a better life.

Law of Scarcity:

An economic system cannot produce all goods and services that consumers want, and most consumers do not have the resources to purchase everything they want. Furthermore, choices must be made about how limited resources (time, money, etc.) are used.

Law of Abundance:

A sub-law of the Law of Attraction. It states that there is enough wealth in the world for everyone to have enough money and resources to live fulfilling lives.

First Thing’s First

I want you to know that this particular post might be confusing. In fact, I’m writing the thing and I still find it confusing. However, if there’s anything I want you to get from this post it’s this:

“Whatever the Mind can see and believe, the Mind can achieve.” – Napolean Hill

Of Nature and Man

“The Creator did not intend for us to be scrubs, and certainly that is not the example that he sets for us.. The essence of the Law of Abundance is that we must believe in abundance.” – Sterling W. Sill

When the Founding Fathers made the Declaration of Independence, they wrote Man had certain Rights. Specifically they wrote, “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

Now let me pose a question to you.

Since many of us believe that Natural Laws are how the Creator governs, wouldn’t it make since that what goes for Nature should be good for Man?

I’m not saying that we should go total caveman and not have laws that Man makes up as we go. Instead, I’m simply saying that Nature’s laws are the foundation of how the world works and Man’s laws fill in the gaps from there. We can’t change how Nature works – so why try?

Imperfect Laws of Man

If Nature is so abundant (which it is, take anything that produces fruit for example), why is it that we limit ourselves to a world of scarcity? I believe it’s because we choose not to live by Nature’s laws but instead, by Man made laws. (In fact, we’ve been moving farther and farther away from Natural Laws.)

The problem with doing that is because Man, as we know, is imperfect. And because he’s imperfect, he’s going to make imperfect laws. Most laws that we create will ultimately cause some other problem that we’ll have to create another law for OR we’ll have to get rid of the previous law all together (Prohibition anyone?).

Take the tax code for example. It could have started off simple but as years go by, it has gotten larger and larger. Why? Because tax, in itself, isn’t natural. So we’ve had to fill in ever smaller and smaller gaps.

Another man made law that’s obviously imperfect and that we’re all familiar with is segregation. Whoever thought that separating people because of their skin color was a good idea was just straight out wrong.

Scarcity is one of these laws as well. Does Supply and Demand makes sense? On the surface it might. I mean, as supply goes down, demand goes up. Wait a second. Was it that when demand goes up that supply goes down? That doesn’t seem right either.

Hmmm… well let’s take a look at an example we’re familiar with: gas prices.

A few years ago, gas was hovering at nearly $4 a gallon here in the States. This was because OPEC wanted as much money as they could get. Demand stayed the same, supply fell, thus the price rose. Ok. Makes sense for them to cut the supply from their perspective. However, now at $2.25 a gallon, we’re seeing OPEC produce like there’s no tomorrow. Why is that? Many sources say it’s because no one can agree on a universal price point. Others might say that they want to cripple other countries around the world including Russia, China, Canada, and the US.

Either way, it’s human intervention. Just by definition, it’s imperfect if not downright confusing!

(Actually, I might go out on a limb and say that Scarcity isn’t a law in itself, it’s actually a lack of law or lack of understanding in how the Law of Abundance works.)

Applying the Law of Abundance (or Attraction)

Now that we’ve looked at why Natural Laws are the laws that we should have high interest in following and why Man made laws are just plain ridiculous at times, let’s look at how we can actually APPLY the Law of Attraction in our lives.

For one, I’m not about to tell you that you simply need to focus on what you want in your life. If only it were that simple. I mean, I love Napoleon Hill, but dude, c’mon. Just thinking about something all day is called day dreaming. Besides the focus, you have to act.

So what kind of actions am I talking about?

First, you need to create a Vision Board (or have a REALLY good idea of what you’re looking for). Not sure how to make one? Next, you need to create a plan to get there. After that, you have to do that work. (If you’re just doing work to do work, then you better be following someone else’s plan or you might find yourself going in circles.)

Scenario 1 – The New Graduate: Let’s say you want to start simple at getting a good job out of school. What is it going to take to get you there? Four things: Good grades in college, a good resume and cover letter, and… NETWORKING! You’ve probably heard of all of these at some point and yes you have to do them all, but the one you really need to create a plan for is networking. If you’re desired job is to work for say… Facebook, how are you going to get there? It’s just not going to happen. Who do you need to talk to? Get that Vision Board going (start with a big ol’ picture of Facebook HQ) and then start working back to where you are now. This is going to involve research in who you should talk to and what job fairs you need to go to, but it’s totally doable.

Scenario 2 – Career Transition: Alright, you’ve had your first job and you want to make a larger impact. What next? Wait to be promoted? Leave the company? Start your own business? Join another startup first? There’s different ways you could go here. Let’s say we want to start our own business but we don’t know if we can handle it. Great, let’s join another startup for a couple of years and get some experience. (Hey, it’s what I did!)

Preferably, you shouldn’t join a company that does what you want to do. Otherwise, you might burn some bridges when you leave (if that’s your plan). But just like the first time, let’s get that job with a plan. Another thing you might consider here is if you want to be a full time employee or work as a 1099 contractor. As a full time employee you’ll have benefits, but you’ll have less options to do outside work. As a contractor, you’ll be in charge of ALL your taxes, but you’ll be able to write off expenses. There’s pros and cons in both.

Scenario 3 – Start Your Own Business: Time to start your own business! Some things to consider here: what kind of business is it going to be? How much would you like to be making? Are you looking at a deep foundation (like I am with New Inceptions)? Are there any similar businesses out there that you can model after?

These are all things you’ll need to think about. If there are similar businesses out there, see if you can’t do some research in how they got from point A to point B. If it’s an online business, use the Way Back Machine to see if you can get some clues in how they started. If you’re doing something new or just want a community to help you, you might want to consider joining Fizzle to help you out. If you’re planning on going old school brick and mortar, do some market research first. Is there an interest in your area of what you’re doing? Would it be best if you started elsewhere? Maybe start online first and then go brick and mortar? Lots of choices.

Either plan you go, you need to put in the work. And we’re here for you anytime you need help in figuring out the next step.

Homework:

So which scenario above best describes you? If you don’t think any of them do, let us hear what your particular situation is. Also, feel free to let us know how you’ve used the Law of Abundance (or Attraction) to get ahead in the past or how you’re currently using it!

Top 10 Podcasts You Could Be Listening To (and 5 You Can Start On!)

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Inspired by Cam’s video above, I thought I’d share with you all the podcasts that yours truly listens to as well. I mean, one of the things that we want to do in the newly created New Inceptions Masterminder group on Facebook is feature other people’s work. Not only does it build community when you promote others, but it also helps people find things they might not have known about in the past.

One of the things that LTD talked about all the time and that you might have heard is the phrase Leaders are Readers.

And I think that phrase has it’s merit. I believe to be a leader that you constantly have to be learning. When you’re learning, you’re moving forward. Likewise, if you’re not learning, you’re moving backwards.

However I believe that in today’s age many people don’t read as much as they used to. For example, while Facebook is full of text, it’s the videos that tend to go viral – not posts. For me, I’m naturally an audio person. I feel that videos and books must have your full attention to leave an impression. However, with audio (radio, podcasts, books on tape) I feel that you can be doing something (driving, walking, working out) and still be somewhat engaged in the material that you’re listening to.

So audio, I believe, is the one medium that every expert or online business person should be utilizing to build their audience. I’d imagine that podcasters would agree with this.

 

If you’ve never listened to a podcast, it’s never too late to start. Podcasts are generally free and can range in all kinds of topics, as Cam mentioned in the video above. I’ve been aware of them since I first had an iPod (2007’ish) but I believe they’ve been around longer than that. The reason you might not have heard too much about them is because they’ve been in somewhat of a rollercoaster of popularity over the years, but I think this current swing is a fairly large one.

So to help you get started (or maybe to just give you some more options), I’m going to share with you 10 podcasts that I’m currently listening to on a regular basis. And then, I’m going to give you my top 5 that I recommend that you should definitely add to your list whether or not you currently listen to them or are a newbie listener.

I will point out that I don’t expect you to listen to all of these all the time. Unless you commute daily and consider your car to be a mobile university, my recommendation would to pick topics that interest you.

The Top 10 Podcasts I’m Currently Listening To:

Smart Passive Income (Average Run Time [ART]: 45 minutes) – This is the first podcast that I ever started listening to. Over the years, Pat has done remarkably well with it. While I don’t visit his blog as much as I once did and don’t find myself regularly checking out his other material (which includes 2 more podcasts, a regular programmed YouTube channel, and “playing” around on Periscope), I do keep coming back to the original podcast. I think the main reason is his wide scope of guests that he has on the show. While he does manage to get big names on there from time to time (Gary Vee and Tim Ferris to name a couple), I think his real bread and butter is highlighting normal people who have successfully built an online business.

Solopreneur Hour (ART: 1 hour+) – Michael and his show recently came on the radar a couple of months ago when he was interview by Pat. I completely love his style of talking with people very casually. Just in the little bit of time that I’ve been listening, there have been HUGE bombs of wisdom dropped that I’ve used in either mindset or just getting things done. His background is definitely interesting in that he’s had big swings in his success. He’s killed it recently in the MLM world, but before that he moved from one place to another, struggling as he went. Oh and he loves his dog.

Joel Osteen Podcast (ART: 25 minutes)- This particular “podcast” helped me quite a bit when I lost my mom back in 2011. I was going through a transitional time in my life and having her pass just added to all the emotions of leaving college and entering “the real world”. While Joel might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I do think that certain people that are on hard times can be picked up by his inspirational message. Generally Maria and I will listen to this one together. (Also, there’s a video version of it as well as it’s simply the recording of his weekly televised show.)

The Charged Life (ART: 12 minutes) – Not as spiritual as Joel’s podcast, Brendon’s podcast is a quick message that he delivers about certain topics related to getting his listeners out of what he calls the “Caged” and “Comfortable” life. Like Joel’s podcast, there’s a video version of this one too which you can find on YouTube.

The Way I Heard It (ART: 5 – 7 minutes) – As being a fan of Mike Rowe since he started Dirty Jobs, I feel like I’m kind of in the same boat as him. Especially when it comes to how he is amazed by interesting people who do interesting things. This particular podcast was talked about during his interview with Tim Ferriss, and I thought I’d give it a go. Really glad I did! If you liked Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story, then you’ll love this – which is done in the same fashion.

Unmistakable Creative (ART: 55 minutes) – This show originally started out as the Blogcastfm.com show which was geared pretty much towards to what Pat talks about. In fact, Pat had Srinivas, the host, on his show back in 2013. However, around the time that Srini was on Glenn Beck’s show, was when the podcast was changed to it’s current form. At any rate, I’m still a fan of Srini’s and love the guests that he has on here.

The Fizzle Show (ART: 1 hour) – Another podcast and group I heard about from Pat’s podcast. While I love Pat, having three hosts on a podcast sounded very unique to me. While this format works well on the radio, not many people have used it for pure podcasting – at least not with the ones I’m familiar with. It’s because of this show that we decided to go with format that we did for the Angles of Lattitude Podcast. (Also, remember, that you can get your first month of being a Fizzler for free by going through this link here.)

Art of Charm (ART: 15 minutes to 1 hour) – Jordan Harbinger and his pals started the Art of Charm as a coaching service to guys who wanted to be better men. For a long time, that was the focus of the show. However, as soon as I started listening to the show regularly in 2012-2013, they started changing the focus a little more on just finding out how interesting guests became their current successful self. I will say that if you’re anyone who needs to work on your self image or confidence, that this might be a show worth your time to listen to. Guests on the show include upper tier successes.

StarTalk Radio (ART: 50 minutes) – I think this was the 2nd podcast I started listening to. It’s funny, but Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of my favorite popular scientists in today’s pop culture. He was the 1st host of the recent Cosmos (there might be future seasons from what I hear) and he’s also known for his phrase “We have a badass over here”. So it seems fitting that he hosts a show (typically with a comedian co-host) where they talk with guests about pop culture and science.

The School of Greatness (ART: 5 minutes to 1 hour+) – Like many other podcasts that release multiple times a week, the School of Greatness by Lewis Howes has long shows and a short show on Friday. Personally, I picked his podcast up in 2013 when I heard that he had started it. Being familiar with him by him being Pat’s podcast (where else?) and talking about webinars and LinkedIn, I thought he might be interesting to listen to as well. Fast forward a couple of years and I think he’s more known for doing the show now than he was with those previous topics. Types of guests that he has on the show typically are pretty successful, but a lot of the time he tends to mix in some pretty good topic editions (those are normally his short ones).

My Recommended Top 5 Podcasts for the Podcast Newbie

If you’re just getting into podcasts, I wouldn’t recommend subscribing on iTunes to all of these just yet. Honestly, there’s a crap load of information coming from these folks and I don’t want you to get hammered with too much all at once. If you’re finding my list, there’s a good chance you have an interest in improving your career. So, what I’ll do for you is give you the ones I think would help you out the most in that quest. Then later on, you can come back and subscribe to the other ones I listen to for edutainment.

These are in order of how relevant they are based on where you might be in your career. The first three are for anyone while the latter two are geared more towards people who want to be experts in their field.

  1. Art of Charm – Basically just teaches people how to crush it all around – in their jobs, in their relationships, and in life. Jordan is very engaged with his guests which is interesting. You can tell he does his homework. He comes across as a fan of everyone he talks to.
  2. School of Greatness – Like the Art of Charm, however, Lewis lets the guest talk way more which definitely makes it a different show.
  3. The Charged Life – I think more people need to be aware of Brendon and what he offers. Ideally, at New Inceptions, we’re trying to help you move from a Caged or Comfortable life to a Charged Life as well.
  4. Smart Passive Income – I think it’s important that people know that there’s a way that you can make an income on the side using the skills that you already use day in and day out. While Brendon does that for a premium (he can, too – he shows you EVERYTHING you need to do to be a success in expert space) Pat shows you how to do it all for free. He’s also exposed so much of the world to me in general, that I couldn’t not post his show.
  5. Solopreneur Hour – I like his technique. It’s hard to say how much he actually researches his guests, but I think that adds to his style. He and Pat say that they don’t research their guests too much because they want to sound more authentic when finding things out. However, he does seem to know a lot about most of them. I like the conversation effect that this gives his show.

Homework:

I’d love for you to check these out and let us know what you think. If you’re a podcast newbie, take a listen to my recommended top 5 and let us know which one sounds the most interesting to you. What did you like about them? What didn’t you like about them? If you were to make a podcast, what would you focus on? If you’re already a host, please let us know about your podcast below. Be sure to tell us why you started it and what your focus is. Let yourself be heard!

How to Be More Influential By Adding Great Value to Others

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“Happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.” – Dr. Ben Carson

“People don’t know how much you know until you show how much you care.” – Dr. John C. Maxwell

Two of my favorite quotes. You know that people will listen if you share knowledge that helps them. Want to go a little further and get some influence? Add some value to their lives. In today’s post, we’ll be talking about how you can be more influential with people by bringing them value.

So what did you learn from that? Hopefully you got the impression that giving value is important in sales. You say you’re not in sales? O contraire! You definitely are!

Did you know that every day people are selling themselves? Whether it’s a salesperson doing a direct sale or an engineer with a proposal for a project, or a mother trying to get her kid to eat vegetables, everyone is selling. Everyone is thinking about how they’re going to influence their audience (the customer, the client, or kid) to buy their product or services, or eat carrots.

One of the largest difference makers in making that sale is whether or not that person has influence on their audience.

As Jeffrey said, he tries to give value first… and that’s what gets you influence.

Which is much different than what a lot of people do today. Instead of looking for the win-win, they’re looking for the “how can I use this person”? The person who is looking for the win-win is looking how to give value. The second type is taking value. The first one is the influencer while the second one, I think, is the persuader… the manipulator.

Giving Value in our Daily Lives

Before we talk about giving value in our professional life, let’s just make sure we get a better idea of what giving value means for sure. Something simple. Nothing drastic.

If you were to give value in something that you’re already doing right now, how would you do that? You might be thinking that you’d have to start thinking and acting differently than you currently do. But would you really? I’m sure there’s things in your life that you’re already doing for others that give them value. For instance, while I’m the guy of the household, and traditionally men supposedly don’t cook, I know that I can bring value by being the person who cooks dinner on a regular basis.

Think about something you might be good at that you could use to benefit those around you. Believe me, it’ll help later.

Giving Value In our Careers

In the professional space, you might think that people are looking to get ahead of each other by beating each other down. By stealing ideas and contacts. It’s total competition out there – even in the same company. People are trying to beat each other for that next position. So you have to take what you can get! When the boss asks you a question, you better respond with a “Yes, sir!” response.

Right?

Wrong.

First off, that’s not a very confident mindset. People will notice that you’re afraid of the workplace if you have that kind of perspective. So let’s try to look at things from another perspective. One of collaboration.

For one, instead of using that quick to respond with definite answers, let’s try to answer questions with questions. Obviously we don’t want to make it obvious. But let’s try to dig deeper for something that will be a better solution instead of something that’s a quick fix. The more you know about a certain subject, the more thorough you can be about about your solution.

A way you can do that, for example, is enter any meeting that you have with 4 questions that you want to get answered:

What are the goals (short and long term)?

Who is the audience?

What is the capabilities of your group and/or department?

How do you measure success?

As you become a person who helps think things out (as opposed to going to the know it all quick fix), people start coming to you for help.

Another way that you can add value to people is being what’s know as The Connector (as Malcolm Gladwell calls them) or the Linchpin (as Seth Godin refers to them).

The idea of this particular person is that they’re a main hub of a certain network of people. They’re the ones who can carry out a conversation with someone from one year to next without ever acting like time has passed. Generally speaking, these people know where they met someone and what they were doing at the time.

If this sounds like you or you want to become one, I recommend reading The Tipping Point and/or Linchpin to find out more.

The third way that you can add value, or even if you’re unsure, is to ask yourself these three questions:

Is what I’m doing or the acts that I’m performing different but also includes ideas that other people from the group have thought about? (You don’t want to come off as being too maverick!)

Is this a great contribution? Is this work something I’ve strived for excellence in? (Don’t half ass your work. Remember the Agreement: Always do Your Best)

Do I really care about what I did? Did I see this in perspective of helping other people? (Again, think about the quote at the beginning of this post.)

 

Homework:

The next time you want to influence your peers, family, or audience, think about how you’re going to add value to them. What is something only you can provide to the group? A perspective? Experiences? Make sure you’re providing that information not because you want to manipulate but because you want to truly help. You’d be surprised what will happen as time goes on.