Jeff Hilimire's Blog, page 2

The most powerful question in the world

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Hello friends,

I’m going to get right into this one.

I write a lot about the importance of finding your personal Purpose. It comes up in this newsletter, in my books, in my talks, and especially, in my companies.

In my opinion, not having your Purpose figured out for your life is like trying to drive somewhere without the use of a GPS system. Can you imagine? (Many of you, like me, can imagine because that used to be our life! “Take a right on Memorial Drive, go for about five minutes until you see a Blockbuster Video, then go right for about a mile until you get to a 4-way stop, then turn…”. Insanity.)

Your life, like your driving, needs direction. And that direction comes in the form of a personal Purpose.

The only question you’ll need to find your personal Purpose

Ok, so you’re on board with the idea that you need to have a defined personal Purpose. Or, even if you have one, this exercise might be something that can help you ensure you’re on the right track.

Think long and hard about why you might be on this planet. I like to start by analyzing what I’m really great at. Or, if I can be so bold, what is my superpower?

Spend a lot of time on that. You’re great at stuff! Maybe you bring joy to people in surprising ways. Maybe you’re a great problem-solver. Maybe you’re an inspired artist. You know what you’re great at, don’t be so modest over there.

When you’re done, think about the change you want to see in the world. Do you want people to be happier (like we do at Dragon Army)? Do you want people to live their best lives? Do you want no child to be hungry? What really drives you?

Everyone has a passion for doing good in some way, and it’s critical to your personal Purpose.

After you put those two things together, you’ll be at your starting point. You should have some kind of statement (or statements, which is totally fine) that seem to hint at why you exist.

The next step is to ask a very simple question:

“Why?”

Asking that question over and over again is the key to getting to the root of why you’re on this planet.

When I did this — asking myself “why?” over and over again — I eventually landed on my Purpose which is to have an outsized, positive impact on the world. That’s why I’m here. That’s my “why”.

Asking “Why?” will help you solve so many problems

Asking “why?” doesn’t only work for finding your personal Purpose. It can work on most problems as a way of getting to the root cause.

Feeling unfulfilled in your career? Ask yourself, “why?”.

Then ask it again.

And again.

Do this until you get to the root answer of the question.

“I feel unfulfilled in my career.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not doing the things I really want to be doing.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m in an industry that doesn’t excite me.”

“Why?”

“Because… I guess I started off in this industry out of college and never left.”

“Why?”

“Because I started making good money and didn’t want to start over.”

“Why?”

“I placed too much emphasis on the importance of money and material things.”

Bingo. So the real problem isn’t that you’re unfulfilled in your career, it’s that long ago you placed too high a priority on finances and not enough on your own happiness.

The point

We all deserve to be fulfilled and happy in our lives. My friends who have found their Purpose are some of the most grounded, secure, and happy people I know.

Go out and find your Purpose. And if you already have your Purpose, please share it with me!!

The post The most powerful question in the world appeared first on Begin the Begin.

YouTube thinks I’m a stoic…am I?

(listen to this post)

This might surprise you, but YouTube is one of my favorite media experiences. I probably watch or listen to more YouTube content than any other platform. In fact, I pay for YouTube Premium ($12/month) in order to a) not waste time with ads, but mostly because b) I can listen to it without having to see the screen. This means I can drive my car and listen to YouTube content, which I do. A lot.

You’re probably ready for me to get on with the rest of this post, but I feel like I need to explain this YouTube obsession a bit more. YouTube has SO much great content. Ted Talks, sports highlights, news clips, podcast clips, movie clips, Seinfeld clips – they’ve got all the clips. And honestly, the older I get the more I appreciate a good clip. Show me that scene where Kramer creates his own talk show and I’m in. I don’t need to see the entire episode to be laughing my face off.

I’ll add videos to my Watch Later list, and when I’m doing dishes or other chores, driving to pick up a kid, or anything where my brain has a few minutes of downtime (God forbid I don’t have something keeping my mind busy at all times!), I’m YouTubing.

Here’s a great example of a clip from an interview with Jon Stewart and Bryan Stevenson, and it’s INCREDIBLE. Please watch it:

Note: Yes, I do listen to Audiobooks, but only when I’m running outside or on a long drive. Or when one like Will or The Master Plan completely grab hold of me and I can’t stop listening, in which case my YouTubing time goes dramatically down.

So, am I a stoic?! YouTube seems to think so.

Admittedly, I watched a few of Ryan Holiday’s ‘Daily Stoic’ videos. So I can’t completely blame YouTube for this.

With titles like, ‘8 Stoic Don’ts For a Better Life’ and ‘The Stoic’s Guide to Better Parenting’, how do I not click on them? The guy makes solid content.

After watching a few of his videos, I started getting bombarded with stoic content because Google’s algorithm ain’t no dummy.

So, it begs the question: am I a stoic?

Which begs another question: what is a stoic?

Let’s dive in.

The general principles of stoicism are that one should live in harmony with nature, accept what one can and cannot change, and be tolerant of the events that occur in life.

Ok, I can get on board with that. I generally accept what I cannot change, believing that what the world throws at me is how it is. I don’t spend time lamenting bad news but instead, look for a path forward based on my new reality.

Stoicism teaches that one should be indifferent to pleasure and pain and have a sense of detachment from the material world.

Huh. This one’s a bit odd sounding. Seems more like what a robot would say about ‘feelings’.

Wisdom is the root virtue. From it springs the cardinal virtues: insight, bravery, self-control, and justice.

This definitely resonates with me. Gaining wisdom is why I read so many books and have guests like Terence Lester on my podcast. This allows me to build empathy within myself, which hopefully leads me to fight for justice. In fact, it’s how I came up with the idea for The A Pledge.

Apathea: Since passion is irrational, life should be waged as a battle against it. Intense feeling should be avoided.

Uhhhh, not so much this one. Sure, I think that too much passion or emotions can impact your ability to react rationally to something and make solid decisions, but who want’s to go through life trying to stifle their passion? Not me.

The Stoics believed that the best way to deal with difficult situations was to remain calm and rational.

Yes, I can be calm in the face of difficulty and I do try to think things through rationally before taking any action. This feels like me for sure.

Verdict: I’m maybe kinda sorta a stoic…sometimes?

The point

I like to think of myself as being on a constant path to self-improvement. I try hard to look at other cultures and viewpoints to see how I can better myself, and yes, sometimes those new ideas come from Google’s creepy-yet-effective algorithm.

The general principles of stoicism do seem like they would help a great many people navigate their way through life. I find that people who have a hard time absorbing life’s changes are often the ones that struggle the most with anxiety and depression. And I get it, life can be hard, and watching a video about stoicism isn’t necessarily going to help.

But you’ve got to start somewhere, and maybe an entertaining YouTube video is just what the doctor ordered.

I hope you’re happy,

The post YouTube thinks I’m a stoic…am I? appeared first on Begin the Begin.

Over-index on generosity

I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of generosity. I don’t have a favorite color (unless black counts, which I’ve been told by people who choose colors like ‘chartreuse green’ or ‘mauve’ that it definitely does not), but I do think I have a favorite word.

Empathy.

To me, empathy is the missing ingredient in almost every argument, bad policy, or war. If people had the ability to see the other person’s viewpoint, at the very least they’d be sympathetic to their cause. But too many times, people are solely focused on their problems and their vision of the world.

I like to believe I’ve always been an empathetic person, but after going through Leadership Atlanta I realized just how singular I had been in my views. And that experience is what led me to find my personal purpose.

Without empathy, I don’t think you can truly be generous.

I was reminded of this when I recently finished an audiobook that will go down as one of my favorites. I know I said the same thing with Will Smith’s autobiography, and I still rank that book the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to, but The Master Plan by Chris Wilson is unreal (hat tip to Kat Cole for the recommendation). An amazingly inspirational story (he reads the audio version), and without spoiling too much I’ll just say that he enters prison at age 17 on a life sentence and shortly after decides to commit his life to being generous, and…well, you’ll have to read (or hopefully listen to) the rest.

Over-indexing on generosity

I have to start by saying that I learned about the power of being generous from my mother. She showed me at a young age that being generous is a way of life. If anyone ever needed help, she was there. And she’s continued to be that person, even more so I think, now that she’s a grandmother.

I find that I never feel better than after I’ve been generous to someone else. Whether it’s sharing advice to an entrepreneur, lending a hand to a friend, or going out of my way to help a nonprofit overcome a problem they’re dealing with, I always feel energized afterward.

And this applies to both my personal and professional life.

At work, I try to over-index on generosity: making time for people who want advice or a meeting, giving away as many insights and lessons as possible in public talks (rather than holding them back), and sharing what we’re learning from our customers with the whole company.

I find that it has been very beneficial to my career development to be as generous as I can. But the important thing is that I’m not doing it for that reason. I’m doing it because it’s what I wish everyone would do.

In my personal life, I’ve been trying to be more generous with people who need my time:

friends and familycommunity leaderslocal organizations that are doing good in the world

Even writing this post is an attempt for me to be generous by sharing things that might be helpful in your life.

(Actually, one of the things that always kicks me out of slacking on writing this newsletter is when someone sends me a note about how a previous post positively affected them. That always gets me back on track.)

The point

I think we can all agree that the world could use more generosity. So let’s over-index on it. Let’s be so generous that it becomes our defining quality as individuals. Let’s do good not because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the right thing.

I promise, if you do that, you’ll be happier and healthier than you ever thought possible.

I hope you’re happy,

The post Over-index on generosity appeared first on Begin the Begin.

What’s your life plan?

(This post was originally sent in my email newsletter – sign up if you haven’t already!)

Well, I finished the first draft of book #4. This one will be called, The Culture Turnaround, and unlike books 1 – 3 (which focused on leading like an entrepreneur, leading during a crisis, and building a great team), this one will focus on building what I’m calling an Undeniable Culture.

In six weeks I’ll open the first draft up again (hopefully with fresh eyes, hence the six weeks) and look to revise it down by about 10%. Then a lot (A LOT!) of editing, some publishing magic by the amazing Ripples Media team, and the book should be out in October or November.

In the meantime, consider picking up a copy of the book that Ripples Media published most recently: What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?. It’s doing incredibly well, with some people (including me) buying multiple copies to give as gifts!

The importance of having a plan

Last year, my 12-year old daughter was struggling to win tennis matches. She has all the skills necessary to win – solid groundstrokes, good movement, an ability to focus, and, most important at this age, an actual desire to win – but she couldn’t put the pieces together.

After watching her lose yet another match, I realized the problem – she had no plan to win. So, before her next match, I gave her a basic plan:

#1 – Try to hit as many forehands as possible (in tennis we call this ‘running around your backhand’). I wanted her to do this for two reasons. First, her forehand (like most people) is stronger than her backhand. And second, it would force her to constantly move her feet.

#2 – Hit as many balls as you can to your opponent’s backhand. I figured, 90% of kids her age still struggle with their backhands, so why not attack that side of the court relentlessly.

Simple, yes. And, while certainly not foolproof, it was a plan.

She dominated her next match and the one after that. In the second match, I got worried because the girl she was playing had a much better backhand than forehand. But it didn’t matter because my daughter had a plan that gave her confidence and focus. Executing that plan cleared her mind of all the other distractions that might have popped in her head. Each point, she was able to think of those two things – hit more forehands and hit the ball to my opponent’s backhand.

What’s your life plan?

I would argue that I could have given my daughter any plan and she would have immediately been a better player.

Hit the ball high over the net, and take a deep breath before every point. That could have been her plan. It really didn’t matter what the plan was, the important thing was that she had a plan.

This same concept works even better when applied to your life.

My life plan is the combination of my personal Purpose + my Areas of Focus. Here’s how it works:

My personal Purpose is to have an outsized, positive impact on the world.

On top of that, I have Areas of Focus, which continue to evolve:

Here’s how my life plan works.

When I say “yes” to something, it needs to be something that I think will a) help me achieve my Purpose (to have an outsized, positive impact) and b) matches up against one (or ideally, more than one) of my focus areas. (You’re not being strategic until you say “no”, by the way.)

The sweet spot is that green circle in the middle. When I can do something that hits all four of my focus areas at the same time, I’m doing life right.

I color-code my calendar so that when I look at the week ahead I can easily see which buckets are being filled. I have a color for each focus area, and I even have a color for things that don’t fit into any bucket. It’s that color that, when I see too much of it in my calendar, makes me cringe.

I’ve used this formula – Purpose + Areas of Focus – for the last five years. It’s helped me to write four books, launch three companies, read a ton of books (56 last year), and run a marathon during that time. I say “no” to so many things in order to say “yes” to the things that matter the most.

The point

In life, we need a simple, focused plan. When you don’t have a plan, you’ll never feel fulfilled because (guess what) you don’t really know what is going to fulfill you!

Life is tough. Having clarity of why you’re on this earth and where you should be spending your time will give you a sense of peace and belonging that you’d never feel otherwise.

Spend the time to figure out your life plan. Revisit that plan every time you’re deciding what to say “yes” or “no” to. Every time you have a tough decision to make. Every time you find yourself in a seemingly impossible decision. It’s worked for me, and I know it will work for you.

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I read 56 books in 2021, and here are my favorites

So I read some books last year

(If you would prefer to listen to this blog post, you can do that here.)

In 2015 I made reading books a priority in my life. Since then, the least number of books I’ve read in a year is 33, and this year I broke my previous record of 52 by reading 56 books. I have a basic 5-star rating system, and usually, there are a handful, maybe seven or eight, that receive all five stars. But looking back at this year, I almost quadrupled that number.

As you’ll see from checking these out, many of the books I loved this past year dealt with race, a topic I’m still (and assume will always be) studying. I listed the books in the order in which I read them during 2021.

The best books I read in 2021

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America This book, by Ijeoma Oluo, is one of the most impactful books I’ve ever read. Don’t be scared by the title (talking to my white male friends), it’s a must-read for us.

Caste Another all-timer…the amount of highlighting I did in this book reminded me of college. Heavy topic, for sure, but undeniably necessary.

So You Want to Talk About Race This was Oluo’s first book and, while I liked Mediocre better, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t one of the best books on race that I’ve ever read.

Good Company I’ve long been a fan of Arthur Blank, and this autobiography of his business journey did not disappoint.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Why it took me so long to read this, I’m not sure. Hat tip to Rachelle for recommending it.

Braiding Sweetgrass This book was one of the most recommended books from my podcast guests, and I know why. Brilliant deep dive into Indigenous wisdom and culture, and the way they love and protect our earth.

My Exaggerated Life If you are a Pat Conroy fan, this book is a MUST…otherwise I doubt it will be too interesting. But since Conroy wrote my favorite book of all time, I loved reading about his actual life.

A Promised Land (Barack Obama) I listened to this – Obama reads it – and it was one of my favorite audiobooks of all time. He’s just…the best :)

When We Stand Not surprisingly, Terence Lester again writes a terrific, must-read book!

It’s in the Action A great look at Dr. C.T. Vivian’s life, in his words.

To Kill a Mockingbird I decided to re-read this book (I think I read it in high school?) and it really is a work of art.

The Way of Kings So freaking pumped to know there are three more books in this series, and then many other spin-offs…was a truly epic fantasy novel. And I’m not a big fantasy guy, but this one grabbed me and never let go.

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race Exceptional and moving book.

No Country for Old Men I believe I’m about to be a huge fan of Cormac McCarthy after reading this one…

Moriarty Really fun Sherlock Holmes genre novel. I don’t read a lot of fiction, and they rarely get 5 stars from me, but this one was too much fun not to include.

The Road My second McCarthy book…truly exceptional.

All the Pretty Horses A third McCarthy book…does this guy ever not crush it?

They Called Us Enemy Brilliant, eye-opening graphic novel by George Takei about his family’s experience in the Japanese Internment camps. It led me to subsequently record this podcast with Kenji Kuramoto about his family’s similar experience.

Words of Radiance: The Stormlight Archive (Book 2) Absolutely in love with the Stormlight Archives series. Again, I’m not a huge fantasy guy, but if you are you should check these out.

The Diversity Gap Terrific first novel by local leader, Bethaney Wilkinson. I recorded a podcast with her about the book and her journey.

Becoming I listened to this as an audiobook, and it was so great to hear Michelle’s voice reading it.

Empire of the Summer Moon I’ve begun studying Native American and Indigenous history, and this book was the second into that journey for me (with Braiding Sweetgrass being the first). This book taught me a great deal, as, like most of you, I didn’t learn much about these stories in school.

All In (Billie Jean King bio) It’s possible a non-tennis fan wouldn’t rate this as high, but I loved hearing about her journey – and boy did she have one! Plus, she reads the audiobook and hearing her voice (her laughter and her tears) along the way was extremely moving.

Will Hands down the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to, and one of my favorite autobiographies. His story is very inspiring and he is extremely vulnerable in this book. I’ve already recommended this one to so many people.

What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Such a motivating, uplifting, and funny book by first-time author, Adam Albrecht. We recorded a podcast interview about the book. I’m already asking him when he’ll write his second book.

On Writing I re-read this hybrid autobiography / writing how-to by Stephen King before I write each of my books. So I guess that makes this the fourth time I’ve read it

What about you?

Did you read any books last year that I should put on my list for 2022? Please share as I’m obviously a book nut ;)

I hope you’re happy,

The post I read 56 books in 2021, and here are my favorites appeared first on Begin the Begin.

The launch of my latest venture: Ripples Media

I hope everyone is gearing up for the holiday season! For our Atlanta friends, we just took our family to ice skate at Atlantic Station and to see the lights at the Horse Mansion (yeah, I’d never heard of it before either). Both were lots of fun and highly recommended!

TL;DR

I got frustrated and quite frankly disappointed with the traditional publishing world and decided to start my own publishing and media company called Ripples Media. With this email, I’m officially launching the company, and I’m beyond excited to announce our first non-Hilimire author: The Weaponry Founder and CEO, Adam Albrecht!

His book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?, is brilliant, inspiring, and so, so funny. I really hope you consider buying it (plus it would make a great gift during this holiday season; I’m giving it to several people). It really is a special book and I’m so proud to have been a tiny part of helping Adam bring it to life.

Oh, and you can hear more about the book and why Adam wrote it on this podcast episode we just recorded!

With Adam being our first new author, we’re excited about the first six months of 2022 when we will help these amazing leaders publish their first books: Alex Gonzalez, Jo Ann Herold, and Michael McCathren.

Now for those that want to follow along, below is the story of how we got here…

My (failed) attempt to find a publisher

Way back in 2018, after I finished the initial draft of my first book (The 5-Day Turnaround), I started the process of looking for a publisher. Going into this process, I thought it’d be tough, but not impossible, to find a publisher that would be interested in taking me on. After all, I had built and sold two businesses, had been writing a fairly successful blog for a decade, had a decent amount of followers, and gosh darn it, people like me :) I kinda thought I’d be interviewing them.

Boy, was I wrong.

Not one publisher even responded to my outreach. I then started reaching out to authors to find out how they did it. About half told me that self-publishing was the way to go, the other half advocated for a traditional publisher, but they all said the same thing: you can’t get a publisher without an agent.

So that’s why the publishers never got back to me (I naively thought). As you might expect, I then set about looking for an agent. In this case, only about 90% of them failed to get back to me, so things were looking up. Of the 11 that responded, ten of them turned me down flat, but one agent, after hearing my pitch (and maybe seeing the desperation in my eyes), decided to sign me.

We worked together on a book proposal, which she then sent out to all the major publishers and a dozen or so smaller shops. And whether it was through a short, concise email, or an actual phone conversation, they all said the same thing:

“We don’t think you can be a successful author.”

(If you can believe it, the thing I heard the most was, “You’re from Atlanta, and we don’t think that’s a big enough market.” Say what?)

One publisher actually said that he liked my premise, but first needed to believe I could sell 10,000 books on my own. (I know, why would I need a publisher if I could sell 10,000 books on my own?) So I tried to convince him that sure, I could sell 10,000 books on my own, but he wasn’t buying it (literally). He then said, “Here’s what I’ll agree to. You buy 10,000 copies of your books from me at $12.50 a book, and you try to sell them on your own, and I’ll take you on as a client.”

Hold up a minute. You want me to write YOU a check for $125,000 in order for you to take me on as a client?! So I guess an advance is out of the question?

Obviously, I didn’t take that deal from him. And, as you can imagine, the entire process turned me off a great deal. I thought back to my earlier conversations with authors that had used a traditional publisher and they all said essentially the same thing: they’ll help you produce a great-looking book, but they aren’t going to do much to help you sell it. You still have to do all the hard work to market and sell your book.

(I should point out that I do have friends who have had very successful book launches with publishers, and it can work out great. But my prevailing thought is that the industry overall is outdated and ill-equipped to sell books these days (everyone I spoke with was easily in their 60’s, and I doubt they’d know a Snap Chat from a hashtag), and even if they do take you on (assuming you’re from an important city like New York or L.A.), they’ll do little to help you sell books…until your book takes off from your own efforts. In which case, why do you need them?)

When an unstoppable entrepreneur meets an immovable object

It didn’t take me long to realize that I simply needed to find some experts and self-publish. Only, I knew that having a publisher on the jacket of my book would help certain people take it more seriously (conferences, press, my mom…kidding). So I decided to start my own publishing company for that reason, thinking that at least it would appear that I have a publisher. (I’ve never lied about self-publishing, but I can’t help it if people judge a book by its cover.)

My team at Dragon Army (and some crafty contractors we found) helped me figure out how to publish the first book, and then in 2019 something unexpected happened. Dragon Army acquired a brand and content agency called Watchword Brand, and Rachelle Kuramoto and her team became dragons. What I did not know was that a service offering that the Watchword team provided for clients was book editing.

In 2020 I wrote my second book, The Crisis Turnaround, and suddenly I had an internal team that was very, very good at all of this. That book was published much more efficiently, and we were able to use the learnings from my first book and Rachelle’s team to do a much better job marketing it.

It was around this time that I started hearing from some people I knew who wanted to write books, and they sounded like me back in 2018. Unsure even how to approach the process, and unclear about the benefits of publishing vs. self-publishing.

Rachelle and I started talking about the possibility of taking what we were then calling Ripples Media (originally I called the publishing company Ripples of Hope Publishing, but we ultimately opted for the more concise and less limiting Ripples Media) and making it an actual publishing company. You know, one that didn’t only publish books written by yours truly.

The idea

As we brainstormed (hat tip to Alex Gonzalez for a lot of help with the strategic direction of this) we realized that we knew how to produce books that were of a high quality and well-written. And, wait, don’t we run a marketing agency?! It was our belief that the traditional way of publishing was too ‘old-school’ and that today, the way to properly promote a book is a combination of the following:

Promote the author (personal branding, writing counsel, and basically anything else the author needs to bring their words to life)Maximize current media channels (social media, word of mouth, podcasts, newsletters, etc.)Secure speaking opportunities for our authors to share their awesome-sauceAnd most important: Build a community with and around our authors

We know how to do all of those things, and pretty darn well. But it’s the community aspect that we’re most excited about. Imagine a collective of authors who support each other, rooting each other on and cross-promoting each other when a new book comes out. We also have visions of putting on our own Ripples Media annual event where we bring the community together and all of our authors speak.

We’re definitely still in the ‘wet clay’ stage of forming the business, but if there was ever an industry that was ready for disruption, I believe it’s the book publishing industry.

Introducing our first (non-Hilimire) author: Adam Albrecht! Adam and I got to know each other when my first company, Spunlogic, was acquired by Halyard Capital back in 2008. Halyard acquired the agency where Adam was a creative leader a few months earlier, and it wasn’t long before I decided that this was a guy I wanted to be friends with.

Fast-forward almost 15 years, and we’ve become good friends with a bunch of similar traits: both college athletes, both entrepreneurs, both just about the most optimistic people you’ll meet, and now, both authors!

I can’t say enough about how great What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? is. I know that, after Adam’s wife, I’m probably the most biased person in the world to be saying this, but it’s truly a terrific book. If you listen to our podcast recording talking about the book even for a few minutes, you’ll see what I mean.

Do me (and you) a favor and grab a copy of Adam’s book. He actually gives his personal phone number in the book so if you don’t like it, you can call him directly and tell him :)

I hope you’re happy,

The post The launch of my latest venture: Ripples Media appeared first on Begin the Begin.

The cheapest and most effective way to mail books

In 2019 I launched my first book. Then in 2020 my second, and 2021 my third. They’re all part of a series called: The Turnaround Leadership Series.

One of the first things you realize when you publish a book is that you’re going to want to mail that sucker to some people. Maybe it’s your mom, your high school old coach, or business prospects, but you’ll quickly find that mailing a book isn’t as easy as Amazon makes it seem.

After a lot of trial and error, I believe I’ve found the easiest and cheapest way to mail a book (in the US).

Step 1: Get the supplies

Packaging: If your book is standard size, then you’ll want 8 1/2 x 11-inch bubble mailers. Here’s an example of 200 envelopes for $44 on Amazon that would work perfectly.

USPS Labels: The United States Post Office, for all of its…challenges…, is by far the cheapest way to mail a book. They have something called Media Mail (more on that below) and you’ll want to print the label at home. These adhesive shipping labels on Amazon are currently $12.99 for 200 labels.

Step 2: Buy your postage

This was the hardest part to get right. It didn’t take much research for me to realize that the cheapest way to mail a book (in the United States) is something called, Media Mail, and it’s only available through USPS. Unfortunately, there is no way to purchase Media Mail from the USPS.com website.

I spent countless hours taking stacks of packaged books to the Post Office to get the postage put on my books to mail them and let me tell you, that’s about as miserable as it sounds. And when you bring a dozen or more packages to mail, the people in line behind you suddenly focus their resentment for having to be at the Post Office on you.

But, eventually, I found a sneaky way to print Media Mail postage at home!

Paypal, somehow, has an option to ship with Media Mail. Head on over to https://paypal.shipstation.com/ and, after logging in, click “Create New Quick Label” at the top right. Fill in all of the information on the left and hit Submit. For reference, my packaged books have these specs: 11in x 9.5in x .75in and .8 lbs.

Under ‘Shipping Services’ on the right-hand side, you will see the shipping options populate, and at the top you will see an option for Media Mail. Currently, this costs $3.19.

After you ‘Purchase Label’ at the bottom, your confirmation page will give you the option to ‘Print Label’. Make sure your labels are in the printer and print away!

Step 3: Mail it!

Stick that label on your package, and you’re ready to go. You can then either schedule a pick-up with USPS or drop it off at your nearest Post Office. I personally prefer to drop them off in the dropbox at the Post Office rather than have them picked up, but to each his (or her) own.

That’s it. Seems simple, but it took me a while to figure this out, which is why I wrote this post, so you won’t have to.

Happy book-selling.

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Here’s how I get it done

Here’s how I get it done

It’s just about another week before my third book, The Great Team Turnaround, is out! I’m hoping you’ll consider picking a copy up as it shares everything I know about building great teams

So I gave a talk the other day…

This past weekend I had the great pleasure to speak with an Executive MBA class at GA State on the topic of, what else, entrepreneurship. The class was made up of 35 adults already into their careers, with the hopes that this 2-year program would help them move up the ranks in their profession or give them the experience to move into something new, possibly even starting their own business.

While, to be sure, I love speaking to young people, a group like this is great because they ask real questions. Things like: How do I think about starting a business when I have a family to support? How do I manage team members from a values perspective? How do I find my Purpose?

Along those lines, I received a question during my talk that I often get when talking to “adults” once they hear the numerous things I’m involved in (founding companies and nonprofits, writing books, etc.), and the fact that I have five children at home that I love spending time with.

“So, seriously…how do you do all of that?”

The funny thing about my talks is, no matter how many companies I’ve started (or sold), or books I’ve written, or nonprofit boards I’m on, or anything else I’ve accomplished in business, the thing that gets the entire audience gasping is the fact that in the midst of all of that, I have five children at home.

Which usually leads another parent in the room to ask me how I get all of that stuff done.

And I get it, it does sound like a lot. But I wasn’t always good at achieving more than one thing. I feel like from age 14 to 21, all I focused on was tennis. And then from 21 to 31, I mostly focused on Spunlogic, my first company. And I essentially gave up tennis when my now 16-year old was born, because I didn’t have time in my life for more than two things: Spunlogic and Family.

Over time, however, and with a little luck, I’ve managed to become decent at focusing my time on things that are important. Here’s how I think about it:

Purpose

If you’re a consistent reader of my stuff, then you might be tired of me talking about Purpose. I get it, but trust me, it’s THE most important thing to help you decide how you should be spending your time!

Ever since I found my Purpose (yes, I always capitalize ‘Purpose’), I’ve known how I should be focusing my time. If it’s not allowing me to have an outsized, positive impact on the world, then I really have to think twice about doing it.

The most important thing I ever suggest to you will be to find your Purpose. I promise it will be life changing (and life affirming), and will help you accomplish more than you ever dreamed possible.

Focus

Once you have your Purpose, the next thing you need to do is decide what you’re going to focus on. I use a simple Venn diagram for focusing my time:

If I’m spending time on something that doesn’t hit at least one of these focus areas — Family, Dragon Army, or Doing Good — then I have to really question whether or not it belongs in my life. And when something hits all three at the same time, that’s the sweet spot I’m also extremely diligent about what ends up on my calendar (see below), because I know that the more I simplify and focus, the more successful I am.Here are some tips on how to figure out what you should be focusing on.And the most important aspect of this is…Learn to say “No!”

I love the concept of there being two answers to the question, “Should I spend time on that?”:

Heck yeah!No

The point being, unless something is a certified, “Heck yeah!”, then it’s probably not something you should spend time on. It has taken me a long time to get good at saying “no”, and honestly it is still something I struggle with. Deciding not to do something is a decision; deciding to do something is a commitment. Try to take control of your life, and start by saying “no” to things that don’t fit.

Time management and calendar hacking

Monday morning is typically when I write the first draft of this newsletter. Depending on how much I get done, I will do some editing and revising on Tuesday morning and then send it out, otherwise if it still needs a lot of work, it might go out on Wednesday.

But this Monday morning — like all Monday mornings — I first start by spending about 15 minutes looking at my calendar for this week and next week, scrutinizing every entry, making sure they’re color-coded to the right category so I know what kind of things I’ll be doing, and ensuring there are large gaps in my schedule throughout the week. Those gaps are important because you need space in your week to think, problem-solve, and catch your breath.

Delegation

The only way I’ve ever grown my companies is by giving other leaders in the organization a chance to step up and do, quite frankly, what they can do better than I can.

This, of course, requires that you have people you can trust around you, and that you’re willing to let go of some things. Every time I’ve done this with something important, the person I delegated to has out-performed my expectations.

Time Hacks

Lastly, look for ways that you can take advantage of your time in order to squeeze more into your week. Here are some ways I do that:

Washing dishes and watching shows. One of my jobs at home is to do the dishes, and with five children and a wife that’s an incredible cook, I spend about an hour every day washing dishes. So I set up my iPad and put in some earbuds and watch a TV show or movie while I unload and load the dishwasher.No Clash Royale until I’ve worked out. I like playing the mobile game, Clash Royale. I’ve been playing it for years, and even though the games are only three minutes long, it’s easy to get sucked in and waste a lot of time playing. I have a rule: unless I’ve worked out, I cannot open the app.Keeping books around and having a reading goal. I’m a pretty massive reader. I expect this year I’ll average more than a book a week (here’s what I’ve read so far this year). Because this is important to me, I always have books around the house, reminding me that, even though I’ve worked out that day and deserve a Clash Royale battle :), it is probably better if I grab a book and read a little.Listen to books when working out. Continuing with the reading theme, I also listen to a book while I run. In this case, I’m able to accomplish two of my goals — working out and reading books — at the same time. (And in case you’re worried about my safety, I now run with these headphones so that I can hear the traffic around me.)The Point

We all have the same numbers of hours in our day, though not all of us have the same number of hours we control. But for those hours you have control over, work hard to maximize them and focus your efforts in the right areas, and I promise you’ll end up doing way more than you thought you could.

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When I was young, I admired clever people.

I came across this quote recently by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel:

What was funny to me was that at the end of my upcoming book, The Great Team Turnaround, I wrote something similar. Specifically, it says: 

My business “heroes” when I was a young entrepreneur were of the classic variety. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk.

And while those leaders have stories of incredible, mind-blowing success, the more you read about their stories and hear from their team members, the more you realize they did so by looking at their team members as resources rather than people. They created brutally competitive and destructive cultures, pushing people to or past their limits in order to beat their competition.

Everything changed when I started learning about a different class of leaders. Each one is a wildly successful and transformative individual who has launched and grown significant organizations. But they’ve done it with humanity and a higher purpose. This is the list of leaders I now hold up as the real exemplars—Yvon Chouinard, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Scott Harrison, and of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. These leaders put their heart into what they were doing, and through their passion and focus on making the world a better place, built incredible businesses and movements.

Seeing the difference between these lists of successful people was my first awakening to the idea that you could be successful in the classic sense while also striving to truly make the world a better place. And after much self-discovery, I landed on my personal Purpose of having an out-sized positive impact on the world, and have focused every day since on living into that as best I can.

The Point

I believe we all want to be better people, and maybe make some kind of positive difference in the world. The good news is that there are plenty of people in the world to look up to that are doing just that! 

And it’s not just the people you admire; it’s also the people you hang out with. The people you surround yourself with make as big an impact on you as anything else (I believe science backs this up). 

Reassess those that you look up to and those that you hang out with. And start being someone that makes the list.

I hope you’re happy,

Jeff

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I love picking up nails. And trash.

If you’re like our family and you have kids that have already started school, or are starting this week, I wish you all the best. This time can be stressful in the best of times, and this certainly isn’t the best of times.

I find that going outside and getting fresh air can help alleviate some of that stress.

And thus, I find myself on the streets a lot these days. I’m running 3-4 times a week, and walking my 9-year old to school each weekday morning. And when possible, I grab a kid or two and go for a walk in the neighborhood. If there was ever a time to work hard to remain active, it’s now. I don’t have any hard data, but I’m pretty sure that if I wasn’t actively getting out on the road, I’d be at least 25% less active due to working from home.

Nails, and screws, and trash, oh my!

One of my favorite things to do when on the road is to pick up a nail or screw that I find. I’ll often return home from a run with a handful of them, and not-gonna-lie, many times I forget and they end up in the washing machine, banging around, just as confused about how they ended up there as my wife is.

I love picking up nails and screws and other would-be tire-puncturers when I see them. Because it’s honestly one of the most selfless things I’m given the chance to do.

See, when I pick up a nail off of the street, that’s a nail that eventually would have found it’s way into someone’s tire (or worse). And let’s face it, getting a flat tire just makes for a bummer of a day. 

True, I’ll never get a chance to see that person’s day saved. I just get to imagine it, which might be even better.

Similarly, when I see trash on the road, I have to pick it up. And just like the nails, I often come home with a pocket full of garbage. 

In this case, I’m not saving someone the aggravation of a flat tire, but I am doing a tiny bit toward helping our planet, and that makes me feel just as good. (And I feel even more compelled to help our planet after reading the incredible book, Braiding Sweetgrass.

Where it gets really good

I was recently on a run with my 16-year old (who runs cross country and is wicked fast, so when he runs with me it’s more like a very light jog him, and I’m just glad he doesn’t run backwards while talking to me, Apollo Creed-style) and he saw an empty Sprite bottle on the side of the road. He picked it up mid-stride and we kept on running. 

I smiled, because I knew he did that because he has seen me do the same countless times before.

One of my great hopes in life is that my kids grow up to be empathetic humans. I talked about this on my recent podcast episode with Sequoyah Glenn, in fact. To me, empathy is what’s missing in the world (and it’s what is required for the promise of America to work, btw).

It’s up to us to model that behavior for our children, and for anyone who might be watching. So go out today and help someone who you’ll never meet. I promise it will make your day.

I hope you’re happy,

Jeff

PS – Turns out music in movies is more important than I thought

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