The 5 Things I Learned This Week: 2/10/17

This has been a super busy week! Thankful for being blessed with a passion as an entrepreneur. Great meetings with large brands and start-ups, excellent discussions regarding the state of social media platforms, and a little downtime to chill out / keep the balance.

In keeping with my weekly articles, here are the 5 things I learned (or remembered) this week:

1) Honor the Past

This is a phrase that I've used for decades. I came up with it when consulting for Andersen Consulting (back in the day). The purpose behind it is simple. Don't be a jackass by insulting decisions which were made in the past. You weren't there, you have no idea what happened and you don't know the situation the team faced at the time. The results of that decision may not be ideal today, however respect the decision and move forward. Tearing down, laughing at, belittling a group decision from the past does nothing but negatively impact your credibility with those who originally made the decision. Honor the past and improve on it with your charisma moving forward.

2) Turn Left

A few people this week asked me about tough situations from my past. They seemed to be amazed with my responses because I didn't give them a negative story or take the time to blast a previous colleague. That doesn't do anyone any good. Another phrase I coined is, "Turn Left." It comes from experiences driving a car. See, when you leave a job, bad boss, tough situation many people hang on to those emotions. I say, "Turn Left." In a car when you pass something it shows up in your rearview mirror. You can still see if if you glance now and again. However, when you turn left, it leaves your rearview mirror and you can no longer see it. When you don't see it any longer, you can move on. There is so much positive beauty in the world - focus on that instead.

3) Know When to Pivot

Einstein said, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." As an entrepreneur with this business, self reflection has been important. We started out the company with a desire to build one, global brand - VOTOCAST. Things launched very well - receiving downloads in over 30 countries in a short period of time. VOTOCAST is a free video contest platform for brands, events and topics of interest. When I started pitching sports teams, musicians, etc. about having their own version of VOTOCAST, people became quickly confusing - as did investors. So in December, we broke the brand apart, keeping VOTOCAST but starting [newkleus]. [newkleus] is our B2B platform that we private label for anyone with a passionate fan base. Guess what, that pivot has cleared up tons of confusion and we're seeing great results. Pivot when things aren't working. If you don't, you may not survive.

4) Use Analogies to Explain Complex Topics

With [newkleus], it's the first time in my career where I'm trying to sell something other than consulting or advisory work. It's crazy tough. This week I reflected on what's working and not working. I've taken a very cerebral, consulting-like approach to messaging and to be honest, it's not working. I met with several marketing executives that I respect and asked them for help - independent of each other. In the end, each of them said, "It sounds amazing, but I still don't really know what you're selling." That's tough feedback to hear, but it's true. As a result of those different discussions, the take away was to try and figure out an analogy to use - people understand analogies. I'm working on several now...stay tuned!

5) NET is Mind-blowing Stuff

About 10 months ago I met a gentleman named Dr. Howard Cohn. He's a founder of Seven Point 2 and his wellness clinic, The Cohn Institute. We became friends and I started regularly attending sessions at his clinic - myself and my family. The results have been amazing. Little did I know that I had a ton of stored heavy metals in my body. So I did a heavy metal detox and felt like crap for 10 days. Now, I feel amazing. But more importantly, I experienced the amazing results from a mind and body approach called NET (neuro emotional technique). I have to tell you, it's incredibly effective and important to getting yourself right. With all the physical and emotional stress of life, then add more for being an entrepreneur - you need to clear the bad stuff out that is limiting your confidence and success. #gratitude

Thanks for reading. Hope this helps a little and happy to connect at any time to discuss your company or strategize about options that might help ([email protected]).

Previous week's articles:

• The 5 Things I Learned This Week: 2/3/10
• The 5 Things I Learned This Week: 1/27/17