Jon Acuff's Blog, page 38

If they came for me, there’d be nowhere to hide.

Every day was different, but the general feeling was the same.

Sheer panic and gigantic burritos.

The burritos were courtesy of a place called Willy’s. The trick to ordering a burrito is to ask for the meat and let the person finish placing it before you ask for double meat. If you ask for double meat up front, they give you two scoops that aren’t that big instead of two honest full sized scoops. If you wait though, you’ve set a simple but effective meat trap that will ensure you get a real deal portion.

The burrito was the least of my worries that year though.

It was 2008 and the economy had cratered. Every day at work brought rumors about layoffs.

I worked for a huge company but my team was only 6 people deep.

One day, we had a big meeting and someone was missing. I’ll call her Jill. She was the most tenured member of our team. We all thought she was sick until we got back to her desk and realized it had been cleaned out.

Jill was gone.

A few weeks later, the youngest member of my team was laid off. I remember her tears as she packed her desk next to me. She was a really smart writer and losing her job caught her off guard. I talked with my manager about it and she was concerned for the future of our team.

A few weeks later, my manager was laid off. They removed the entire level of managers, like deleting a line in an excel spreadsheet.

That’s the hardest thing about layoffs. They often don’t take your skill into account. If you’re a middle manager and they decide to eliminate that level, the layoff doesn’t care if you were good or bad. You’re gone.

Have you ever lost a job?

I have, three times.

The first time, I got fired and deserved it. I applaud that company for that decision.

The second time, the company closed and there was nothing I could do.

The third time was terrible and absolutely brutal, but …

You only need to lose your job a time or two before you start thinking about a side hustle.

We live in the side hustle economy. With the Internet, almost anyone can freelance. After losing my job a second time, I started to write on the side. It wasn’t much. I made $500 here and $300 there, but something weird happened. I wasn’t just making money, I was hiding fire extinguishers in my house just in case it caught on fire someday.

Let me be real honest with you right now.

You will lose your job.

Maybe it won’t be your fault.

Maybe you’ll crush it as an employee.

That’s great, I’m happy for you, but when another company buys yours and closes your office, your history as an employee won’t matter much. When an account executive loses your client, you’ll get a box of stuff and a pat on the back as they walk you out. When the economy dips and dollars dry up, the cost of your division will be found to be exorbitant.

I believe in the side hustle and you should, too.

I believe in the side hustle and you should, too.
Click To Tweet

It saved me the last time I lost my job.

It was hard. It was, but by that point I had a few more tools in my toolkit. When I lost my main hustle, there were side hustles waiting for me.

This January, I’m teaching a brand new course called The 90 Days of Business Hustle. The course is designed to help you turn a side hustle into a full time hustle and if you’re already killing it full time help you build a business juggernaut.

The businesses who have already signed up range from side hustlers making $0 right now all the way up to major companies making $14 million a year.

If you fit somewhere in that range, from $0-$14 million, you need to check this video course out. The lowest prices end this week. You should sign up today.

Not everyone reading this will join the 90 Days of Business Hustle. I am well aware of that, but I promise you, that everyone reading this will experience a job loss.

When yours comes, even if you haven’t taken my course, I hope you have a ferocious side hustle to keep the wolves at bay.

You’re going to need one and it’s going to save you. I promise.

Never doubt the power of a good side hustle.

The post If they came for me, there’d be nowhere to hide. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

5 ways to survive Christmas Shoes

If you’re not familiar with the song, “Christmas Shoes,” then enjoy this ornament we have on our tree, give a short thank you prayer to our Lord and Savior and skip this post all together. That’s a pretty charmed life you’re living friend. Savor it.

If, though, you have experienced the melodic tale of the boy who wants to buy shoes for his dying mother because he wants her to look nice when she meets Jesus, I have some good news for you.

Here are the 5 best ways to survive, “Christmas Shoes.”

1. If it comes on the radio while you are riding in a car, don’t forget to tuck your shoulder when you open the door to roll out into the street. If you can, try to time your roll when the car is going slowly and let your back take the brunt of the landing. If you’re driving, this is still valid advice. Your car might ghost ride for a little while, but you can always buy a new one. You can’t always unhear this song.

2. Don’t try to negotiate with it. Much like fear, the Christmas Shoes song cannot be beat with logic or rational thinking. Don’t waste time with questions like, “Where is this kid’s dad? Does he have a dad? Why shoes? Why not a Christmas dress? Why not a delicious bowl of queso? Why not a copy of Do Over (now in paperback!), maybe that kid could help two families at once, his and mine? Has an 8 year old ever successfully purchased a women’s shoe in the history of mankind?”

“I wanted a necklace.” What the mom says at the end of the full version of Christmas Shoes.
Click To Tweet

3. Forget trying to make it an “acquired taste.” This song isn’t like algebra, it doesn’t get better once you get used to it. Don’t think that listening to it on repeat will solve your problems. The only way this song could be worse is if they pandered to the troops too. “Sir, I want to buy these shoes, I just came back from Afghanistan. Bald eagles!”

4. Keep it out of any Christmas playlist. I know what you’re thinking, “Jon, I’ll just hide it in the middle of a 100-song playlist. No one at the party will notice.” They will and so will you when you notice people are leaving your party.

5. Stop being friends with people who say it’s not a bad song. They’re wrong. Those people have terrible judgment and probably prefer unfrosted pop tarts as well. Stop doing life with them.

The 5 best ways to survive the song, Christmas Shoes.
Click To Tweet

We’ll get through this friend, I know we will, but it’s going to take a village.

What is your best tip to survive Christmas Shoes?

The post 5 ways to survive Christmas Shoes appeared first on Jon Acuff.

5 things you didn’t know about the 30 Days of Hustle

You’ve been hearing me talk about the 30 Days of Hustle Challenge for over a year now, and if you’ve been expecting me to announce that we’re moving on to something else, you couldn’t be more wrong.

WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED.

A new round of the 30 Days of Hustle Challenge kicks off in January, and as of right now the Early Bird registration window is open for a small 3-day window for you to join at the best rate you’ll ever get.

Think you know all you need to know about the Challenge? You don’t. In fact, here are 5 things about the 30 Days of Hustle Challenge that I bet you don’t know:

1. Our most recent launch was our best ever.

We’ve done four launches of this Challenge and each time we make tweaks that make it better than the last. In our most recent launch we offered 3 levels of access (Quick, Premier, and All Access) and the response was overwhelmingly positive for all three.

If you’ve never done the Challenge but you’re thinking about it now, congratulations, you’re going to get the best version of it that we’ve ever offered. And yes, we are bringing back all three access levels so you can join at the level that’s right for you.

2. Our refund rate is less than 1.5%

We offer a 30-day, money back guarantee because we know this program works but sometimes life is unpredictable and your 30 days get derailed by something unexpected.

In our last launch we had 17 people (out of 1,150) ask for refunds and they all received 100% of their money back. That’s a 98.5% satisfaction rate, a number we’ve seen remain steady throughout every launch we’ve done because the Challenge works. (Speaking of satisfied customers, here’s what people like you have said about it.)

3. If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner we DON’T want you to join.

If you own a small business, are an entrepreneur, or want to be one, we’ve got a brand new course designed especially for you. The 30 Days of Hustle is great for business-related goals, but we now have something even better.

It’s called the 90 Days of Business Hustle. (and right now you can join and save $50 with an End of Year discount.)

I guarantee it will help you make more money and have more fun in your business than you ever have before. You can learn more about it here.

4. We are delivering the course in a brand new way with this launch.

I mentioned earlier that we improve the Challenge with each launch and for the first time ever, members of the 30 Days of Hustle Challenge will gain access to a new online hub we’ll be using to deliver content, videos, updates, and more.

If you’ve been holding out on us, you picked the right time to join.

5. We’re not raising the price of the Challenge…for now.

My team and I have decided to offer the January 2017 30 Days of Hustle Challenge at the same price points we offered it at in 2016, even though we’re making it better. This may not be true for future launches of the Challenge, so don’t miss this opportunity!

For just 3 days only, today through Friday December 2nd, you can join for up to 45% off the regular price that we’ll be offering next month during our official registration window.

The 30 Days of Hustle is better than ever and now is time for you to jump in and commit to starting off 2017 right. I hope you’ll join me at the access level that’s right for you!

For more info and to register: The 30 Days of Hustle Challenge (Early Bird Offer)

Let’s do this!

Jon

The post 5 things you didn’t know about the 30 Days of Hustle appeared first on Jon Acuff.

7 things to do if you don’t like your job

According to Gallup, 70% of people don’t like their job.

Did that statistic shock you? Is your mouth still agape with unbelief? I doubt it. The idea of hating your job is so commonplace these days that the people who love what they do for a living stick out like sore thumbs.

Statistically speaking, most of you reading this right now don’t like your job, and I think that sucks. I believe enjoying what you do for a living matters because anything you do for 40-60 hours every week for 40-60 years of your life matters.

So what do you do if you don’t like your job? Complain about it to anyone who will listen? Suck it up and clock in every Monday morning hoping your eventual retirement will be worth it? Quit the rat race and move to the woods of Northern Maine to see how long you can survive on Ramen and baked beans?

Those are all options, but I’ve got what I think is a better idea. Seven ideas, actually, and they look something like this:

1. Figure out which of the four major transitions your career is currently in.

2. Discover which of the four investments your career needs most right now.

3. Develop your relationships.

4. Hone your skills.

5. Work on your character.

6. Increase your hustle.

7. Add it all together.

It’s hard to lay these ideas out in a blog post, so I laid them out in a free video series I put together called “7 ways to love your job.” The video series is free, but it’s only available to folks who pre-order the soft cover version of Do Over by January 3, 2017.

What’s Do Over? I’m glad you asked!

I wrote Do Over to help people just like you rescue Mondays, reinvent your work, and never get stuck. It was published in April 2015 but it is re-releasing in soft cover on January 3rd. Seth Godin called it “…the best career book ever written,” and comedian Jim Gaffigan said it was “funny, insightful and well written.”

So if you don’t like your job and you’d rather not eat beans in a tent north of Bangor, here’s my offer to you: pre-order Do Over before January 3nd and you’ll not only get the “best career book ever written,” you’ll also get my 7-day video series on how to love your job. (Just order at any retailer and fill out this quick form!)

And for those of you who DO love what you do for a living? Pre-order Do Over as a gift for a friend! You’ll be able to send them the book and access link when they become available, and we’ll even send you a PDF certificate you can print out before Christmas to give to them to let them know that a gift is coming.

I’m so excited for you to check out this video series, but you’ve only got until next January 3, 2017, to pre-order Do Over and get access.

How do you get the bonus video series on these ideas when it releases in January? Just follow these two easy steps and I’ll send you the whole series on January 3rd so that you can have an awesome 2017!

STEP 1 – Pre-order the paperback using one of the following links

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Powell’s | BAM | Hudson Booksellers | Indiebound | Target | Walmart

STEP 2 – Apply for the pre-order bonus

(Have your retailer name and order confirmation number ready and click the big green button.)

You don’t have to hate what you do for a living. You can have a Do Over, and it starts right now.

The post 7 things to do if you don’t like your job appeared first on Jon Acuff.

Never let people who won’t, tell you don’t.

This January, the paperback of my newest book, Do Over, comes out. Here’s the cover. (Please note the sleeves rolled up to show you that I’m approachable and relatable.)

The shirt I wore isn’t wavy like this photo. I assure you.

Every time I release a book, I think about the handful of times people told me “don’t.”

The truth is I haven’t had a large group of opposition in my career. We sometimes like to dramatize or exaggerate the obstacles we face so we seem more important or victorious.

But here’s the thing, a little criticism usually feels like a lot.

You’ll carry a single sentence from a family member or even a stranger for a decade before you put it down.

An offhand remark about your photography, writing, small business or anything else can land like a ton of bricks.

I’ve been told I can’t write. I’ve been told I can’t start a business. I’ve been told I can’t make it.

I’ve been told don’t. And so have you.

But never let people who won’t, tell you don’t.

Never let people who won’t, tell you don’t.
Click To Tweet

Sometimes we don’t want people to chase dreams because we’re not. Misery loves company. More than that, misery recruits it, hoping that you’ll give up too.

Keep going.

More than that, build strong relationships, sharpen your skills, invest in hustle and have a firm foundation of character.

How? Read a New York Times Bestseller about those exact four things.

I have one to recommend. I think you should pre-order it today.

It’s the best way to start your January.

And I’ll never tell you don’t.

The post Never let people who won’t, tell you don’t. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

The Career Savings Account Event with Jon Acuff

It took me sixteen years to write Do Over. That breaks down to a brisk twelve words per day. But it wasn’t the writing that took so long, it was the working.

I had to work at big companies and small companies. I had to get hired and fired several times. I had to find my dream job, then walk away from it. But after all that, I can now say the following with absolute certainty: You already have everything you need for an amazing career. In fact, you did from day one.

Starting on the first day you got paid to scoop ice cream or restock shelves, you’ve had the chance to develop the four elements all great careers have in common: relationships, skills, character, and hustle. You already have each one of those, to one degree or another.

I’m hosting a fun, free event on December 12th in Brentwood, TN called The Career Savings Account Event to talk more about those four elements and how you can apply them in a new way by creating a Career Savings Account. This unique approach will give you the power to call a Do Over – whether you’re twenty-two, forty-two, or sixty-two.

The event is from 7am-8am so you can attend in the morning and then get on with the rest of your day. We’ll be meeting at the Well Coffeehouse in Brentwood. Though the event is free, attendance will be limited, so register to secure your spot.

Just as a bank account protects you during a financial crunch, a Career Savings Account protects you during a career crunch. You need a CSA to face the major transitions you’ll experience in your career, and I hope you join me on December 12th to discover how to do that!

The event is free, but you must register to attend: The Career Savings Account Event with Jon Acuff.

Hope to see you there!

The post The Career Savings Account Event with Jon Acuff appeared first on Jon Acuff.

What can you do with 1,000 candles?

That’s an interesting question.

If you’re just a random candle collector, the best you can do is probably terrify neighbors. Imagine how weird it would be to live next to someone who lit their house with 1,000 candles. And what if they were all the same scent? “What can I say? I like the smell of clean laundry. A lot. I like that scent a lot.” (There are 7 candle aficionados who just got mad on my email list.)

But I’m not talking about one person owning 1,000 candles, I’m talking about 1,000 of us each buying a candle from Thistle Farms.

For more than 18 years, they’ve helped women escape the bonds of trafficking, prostitution and addiction.

I’ve worked with them for years and starting today, we’re launching a “Stand on New Ground” campaign.

The concept is simple, more candles = more light = more women finding their way home.

I’ll never forget the story one survivor told me about her childhood. Her mom sold her to her drug dealer when she was 12. Can you even begin to think about what that’s like? As a dad of daughters, I will always use my platform to support organizations like this.

The candles are amazing and are such high quality that Whole Foods carries Thistle Farms. (I need to do a whole post on why having a big heart isn’t enough to be a great non-profit, you need big execution and excellence too!)

If you need a gift idea for someone or just want to do something kind for a stranger, buy a candle today.

My goal is to sell 1,000 for them. That feels like a lot but who ever said it was fun to play it safe?

Thanks for being part of this adventure with me. There are a lot of women in Nashville and other parts of the country who will sleep inside tonight instead of under highway passes because you cared. You gave them the chance to stand on new ground.

Buy one here!

The post What can you do with 1,000 candles? appeared first on Jon Acuff.

The dumb thing a famous person said.

I once saw a famous author say that if you didn’t love 90% of the things it took to be in your industry, you were in the wrong industry.

That is so dumb.

That sounds nice on the surface and since she said it on Instagram she didn’t have to back it up with any degree of reality or fact.

That’s the nice thing about social media. You can just post a photo of Leonardo Dicaprio’s character from the Wolf of Wall Street with the caption, “Circle got smaller and the yacht got bigger,” and no one will bat an eye. (It’s scientific fact that the less friends you have, the bigger the yacht you’ll own. Lonely people have gigantic boats.) But there’s a problem with the idea that you’ll love 90% of what it takes to be in a certain industry.

Let’s run the math on that idea. In a 40-hour work week, that means there will only be 4 hours you don’t enjoy. For 36 hours each week you will be lost in bliss, dancing about your office with unabashed joy on your face, love drunk on the work you get to do. That’s ridiculous.

Most people have commutes that take longer than four hours each week. I’ve never met anyone who said, “You know what was awesome? Filling out my LLC paperwork!” I’ve never met anyone who said, “My favorite part of the year is when we have to prepare our budgets for the next year! Pulling together the numbers for the entire year and predicting with accuracy what next year will look like, knowing that the CEO is going to grill me on each line item, is heaven. I especially like that it happens at the end of the year so that Thanksgiving and Christmas taste like Excel!”

I work for myself and enjoy what I do, but I’ve never had a single week where I loved 90% of the things I did.

One day I had a 7PM book signing in Austin, Texas. I showed up at the airport for my 8AM flight and they told me it had been cancelled because the tower was flooded. (How the tallest facility at the airport got flooded is confusing to me.)

I called customer service and they said they could get me on a flight that left at 9PM. Given that I’d miss the book signing by a mere four hours, I had to come up with a different solution. Instead of flying to Austin, I had to fly to Dallas and rent a car.

I then proceeded to drive 220 miles across the plains of Texas. Because the rental was last minute they gave me a Toyota Yaris. It had crank windows. I didn’t even know they were still installing those on new cars. When I leaned down on the arm rest I just kept falling to the floor. There was no armrest, that’s also apparently a feature.

The third dial in the dash was empty and just said “Yaris.” One can only guess what info that was supposed to contain. There was no cruise control so for 220 miles I just had to constantly stay on the gas so that I could propel this sewing machine like vehicle across the desert.

Who knew that for all these years I had been driving luxury vehicles? I had no idea that when I used my push button windows and fancy armrests in my 2002 Toyota 4-Runner I was balling.

At no point during that drive, did I think to myself, “I am living the dream! This is what it’s all about right here! I love this!”

No, that sucked. It did. It took me about 24 hours of work to do a two-hour book signing.

If judged my day by the famous person’s standard of 90% love, I would have failed. A lot of weeks would be failures if I used that as my measuring stick.

But you know what?

Chasing a dream is hard.

It’s not all fun.

It’s not all enjoyable.

It’s not all delightful.

But, it all matters.

That’s the difference. Even the sucky parts matter when it’s something you care about.

Author Simon Sinek said it better than me:

“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.”

He’s right and more than that, it’s important to remember that great lives are very rarely created in great comfort.

Great lives are very rarely created in great comfort.
Click To Tweet

Some days, it’s going to be rough. Some days, it’s going to be heartbreaking. Some days, you get the Yaris.

Keep going. We need what you’ve got.

And, if you’re an entrepreneur, I dare you to do this with me.

The post The dumb thing a famous person said. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

Don’t waste your anger.

I’m sitting in the Richmond Airport as I write this. It’s a small airport, but it might be an international one, which often means they fly to Canada and Mexico.

They are playing Chicago over the loud speakers. Usually, I like Chicago. Who doesn’t like Peter Cetera? That dude crushed the theme song for Karate Kid 2. I am the man who fight for your honor!

Today though, I don’t.

I almost jumped on an early flight home. I could have been home at 5pm instead of 9pm.

As a dad, that’s a big difference because it means I get to see my kids.

Why did I miss the flight?

Because I booked the later flight.

I was lazy when I picked the flight and didn’t realize I could get on the early one so I didn’t make the standby cut. So, I am sitting in the airport frustrated.

When we’re mad, it’s easy to take it out on other people. It’s not my fault. It was Delta. It was the gate attendant. It was the traffic on the way here. We have a thousand targets for our anger.

But here’s the thing, when you get angry you have two options:

1. Blame someone.

2. Fix something.

Anger offers you two options: 1. Blame someone. 2. Fix something. Choose 2.
Click To Tweet

Blame is easier and to be honest at first it feels better. It doesn’t cost you anything. You don’t have to change. You don’t have to do anything but point your finger.

The second option is harder, but infinitely better. In the second option you roll up your sleeves. In the second option you funnel all that frustration, all that anger, all that angst toward a solution.

In my, very tiny personal example, I decided to fix my next flight. I decided to make sure that I picked the earliest flights home. Instead of casually picking one, I’m going to become a machine of efficiency that carefully checks each detail.

What’s funny about that approach is that fixing something makes you feel better. That burst of anger leads to a burst of hope. Blaming others feels gross eventually, fixing just feels better and better the more you do it.

Get mad.

Get angry.

Get frustrated.

But when you do, use it to fix something, not blame someone.

P.S. If you’re an entrepreneur or want to be one, you need to do this ASAP.

The post Don’t waste your anger. appeared first on Jon Acuff.

Is Facebook dead?

Sometimes, people tell me Facebook is dead.

They say, “Millennials don’t use it anymore. It’s not growing like it used to be. It’s mostly for your aunt.”

Articles from experts have said this for years.

I can’t tell you how many new platforms have been labeled “The Facebook Killer.” This isn’t unusual. For years, NBA experts called people “The next Jordan.” Harold Miner, who played for USC, was even labeled “Baby Jordan.”

If you’re building a business, writing books, trying to be a photographer or doing any sort of freelance work, it’s important to put your best effort into the best social media platforms.

So, is Facebook dead?

Let’s look at some data real quick.

On October 13th, I posted a photo about Ken Bone, the mustachioed man in the red sweater from the debate. Here’s how it performed on Twitter:

I got 36 retweets and 71 likes. That’s not bad and maybe to be expected considering I didn’t actually post the photo into Twitter. Let’s imagine if I had, the results would have been five times larger. So, around 200 retweets and 350 likes is what we could expect.

How about on Instagram?

In addition to likes, there are three other things that Instagram measures:

1. Impressions

2. Reach

3. Engagement

Impressions = The total number of times your post has been seen.

Reach = Number of unique accounts who saw your post.

Engagement = Number of unique accounts who liked or commented.

On Instagram, my photo of Ken Bone was seen 48,600 times. Almost 34,000 unique accounts saw it. And there were 3,671 points of engagement.

 

 

That’s awesome! Remember, 36 people retweeted it. On Instagram, 3,671 people interacted with it. That’s a 100x difference.

Last, but not least, let’s look at Facebook.

It’s dead. It’s for grandmas and people who love cats, which is probably redundant.

How did the exact same thing do on Facebook? I didn’t change anything. In fact, when I posted it on Instagram it just automatically went to Facebook too.

On Facebook, it was shared 7,384 times. It was liked 18,000 times. And most importantly, it had a reach of 2,899,540 people. Let me repeat that. On Facebook, the post reached 2.8 million people.

If you’re an entrepreneur, ignore Facebook at your peril.

Facebook might not be the coolest platform, but it is the most effective.
Click To Tweet

Are there cooler platforms? Are there sexier technologies? Are there higher tech ways to grow your business?

Sure, but 36 people shared my tweet on Twitter. Around 50,000 people saw it on Instagram. And it reached 2.8 million on Facebook.

If you want to grow your social media platform, I’m teaching what I’ve learned in 15 years of online exploration in a new 90 Day Business Video Course. The lowest price ends Friday.

Sign up here.

The post Is Facebook dead? appeared first on Jon Acuff.