Escape from Cleveland

You have to think of your brand as a kind of myth. A myth is a compelling story that is archetypal, if you know the teachings of Carl Jung. It has to have emotional content and all the themes of a great story: mystery, magic, adventure, intrigue, conflicts, contradiction, paradox. - Deepak Chopra

What do Chopra’s words mean in a context of the story that is to follow? We all have our personas and our personal brands that we create, craft, mold and distribute online - across social media. I think it’s important to document your life through a creative lens filled with magic and adventure and generally something a little more substantive. 

And now begins one such adventure that happened not to long ago in a city not too far away…

In this piece, I've promised to tell you the story about how in a 36 hour period I sprinted through an airport and onto my plane with minutes to spare, got robbed at a gas station, enjoyed free drinks at the United Club at LAX, slept 1 hour on a red eye flight, fit in my triathlon training at 6am at a small gym in Downtown Cleveland, went through 8 hours of advanced Content Marketing workshops, got to see my all-time hero Casey Neistat speak at Content Marketing World, closed two huge deals for my business and how my Uber driver asked for a bribe twice in order to make my flight back to Los Angeles! 

But first, I need to give you a little bit of backstory: 

MAKE IT COUNT

You see it was all about making the commitment to make it count. About a year and two months ago, while researching the Youtube industry, I ran across a video online that changed my life forever. It was called MAKE IT COUNT: 

The movie was made by Casey Neistat and Max Joseph - the premise, incredibly simple: take their Nike commercial budget and instead use it to travel around the world and document their adventure. I remember the first time I watched the video, I was so emotional about the whole thing. It truly captured this adventurous ethos -- and here I was, trapped in a startup prison, working so hard like a hamster on the wheel, sacrificing my need for adventure for our client's gain. I wanted to get out and explore and as Casey gets tattooed on his arm in the video, I wanted to "Do More."

I also knew that I had just witnessed the future of advertising. I had effectively just watched a 5 minute Nike commercial and had made a choice to change my entire life. 

I had effectively just watched a 5 minute Nike commercial and had made a choice to change my entire life. 

This video introduced me to a world which was Neistat's daily vlog, where this brilliant filmmaker and tech entrepreneur documented, observed and made use of the format of vlogging in ways that no one else ever has. Each episode (day) more artistic than the last, weaving together this magnificent journey of humble beginnings and the hustle that lives inside of all of us. I rushed to get to the office every morning at 6am to make sure I could watch that day's episode as well as a few of Casey's past movies to start my day. I was absolutely inspired and felt like I was gaining a new friend and role model in entrepreneurship despite being separated by 3,000 miles of country. I started moving again, I signed up for my first triathlon, started to plan small adventures with my wife, started to live the life that I wanted and started to make it count. 

 I rushed to get to the office every morning at 6am to make sure I could watch that day's episode as well as a few of Casey's past hundreds of videos to start my day. 

THE JOURNEY

I really wanted to see Neistat speak, to see this person that I had been looking up to for so long -- I don't know, maybe just to make sure he was real. Content Marketing World in Cleveland, Ohio was happening just a month later and guess who one of the keynote speakers was? You got that right, Casey Neistat. The problem was I didn't have enough money for the $1,500 ticket price and the plane ticket and a hotel and all of the things that come with travel. So I did what I knew how to do best, I started talking. 

The problem was, I didn't have enough money for the $1,500 conference ticket and the plane ticket and a hotel and all of the things that come with travel. 

The Audience

Being the leader of a network of 8,000+ active tech meetup attendees does come with a lot of hard work. Over the past 3 and a half years, I've worked everyday planning and scheduling events, putting people together, networking, working on partnerships and sponsors, vendors and relationships and all of the things that go behind the scenes. And we've been very fortunate to have a community that continues to grow! You can see the network here: https://www.meetup.com/pro/amplify-network/

The Ask

I decided to reach out to the organizers of Content Marketing World and write to them to see if there was some kind of way that we could partner on an audience level / promotional level so that I could earn the opportunity to attend the conference for 1 hour (yes, you read that write, I was willing to put in time writing, promoting and creating to attend the conference for the 1 hour that Casey was speaking). 

After a few emails back and forth, we had reached an agreement where I could attend as a member of the press because of my audience promotion and because of my affiliation with Youngry.com (media/millennial startup/entrepreneurship network). 

How would I get there? 

All that was left to do was to figure out how to get there. I had a $100 United credit from a previous flight when I was coming back from my Tony Robbins UPW event in New York. Apparently the in-flight entertainment wasn't working that day and everyone on the flight got a $100 travel credit. 

I applied that $100 toward the ticket price and my net was $86 for round-trip from LAX. My plan was to take the red eye the night before the event, get to Cleveland at 5am, stay awake, find a place to shower and attend the event, the reception, the after party and then to head back to the airport and work there on my laptop until my early morning flight to avoid having to pay for a hotel (crazy right?). 

The Gas Station

So I was ready to go. I was in the car. I had left my office in Irvine, all I need was gas. I pulled up to the same gas station that I'd been going to since I moved to the area. I check both ways, I checked up and down and sideways and every which way you could possibly check. And then the strangest thing happened. Somebody literally pushed a rusty, empty, broken basket in front of my car and then started shouting at me. Woah. I stopped right there, got out of the car, pretty unsure of what just happened. I got them to agree to quit shouting at me for a minute while I pulled into a parking space on the side of the gas station. My mistake. When someone threatens to call and lie to the police, and sue you and does so in a very loud manner, and all you want to do is get to the airport, you'll do anything to get the heck out of there. 

You see I found out later when I went back and talked to the owner of the gas station, that this person was conning people into giving them money or threatening to call the police and sue you for damage to this rusty basket they probably found behind a trash can somewhere. And I fell for it. 

They stood behind my car and wouldn't let me leave unless I gave them $100 in cash. I was already anxious about getting to the airport in time and nothing was going to get in my way. So I ponied up the dough and got out of their. The con artist, happy with their take, clearly wondering how much they could get from the next sucker. 

And that's how I got robbed at a gas station. No, not with a gun. No, not in a bad neighborhood. Yes, with a rusty, broken basket. 

The United Club

Now freshly out $100 and back in the car on the 405 freeway headed toward El Segundo (LAX), I felt kinda broken. The experience at the gas station had really shaken me and my thoughts about humanity. How could someone be so malicious to shake me down for a hundred bucks? How did I manage to fall into that trap? The part that I didn’t like the most was that this was my favorite gas station — 

I arrived at the airport with about 2 hours to spare before my flight. My wife had given me Two United Club passes that she gets from having a special kind of credit card. My plan was to use the first pass before the flight to get some last minute work in before the flight. I went through security which was surprisingly short and walked through into the United terminal. To the right, you see this sign that says United Club. 

I had always wondered what it was like inside one of those and today I was about to find out! I walked up to the counter after being greeted by these awesome frosted glass automatic sliding doors. Everything was new and modern and they greeted me as Mr. Decker and I presented the pass to them and was granted access to airport Mecca. I walked up the ramp and that ended at the nicest airport experience I have ever had. There were plenty of comfortable lounge chairs, couches, complimentary reading materials, a buffet, a full bar (with unlimited free drinks!), awesome views and most importantly, power outlets. I noticed that there was such a drastic dichotomy between the airline clubs and the general terminal area. And from I could tell, I would totally be willing to pay the $50 for entry next time to get into the United Club — the value totally apparent - food, drinks and a quiet, awesome space to work? I’m sold. 

I settled in at a table and powered up the laptop, after hitting the buffet and getting a whiskey on the rocks. It was time to power through a proposal that I’d been putting off for a while. Total focus and concentration. Noise-Cancelling Beats headphones, totally in the zone. Writing, typing and crafting the proposal that later would be accepted to one of our biggest clients to date at Hundred. 

The Flight

I keep falling into this trap. The last time I had taken a crazy red eye like this was when I was flying to Boston to meet with the founders of iRobot to work on their crowdfunding campaign for an underwater lion fish zapping robot. 

Every time I get on one of those flights, I either have grandiose plans to do a ton of work or sleep or generally not stay awake counting down the minutes. Maybe it was because I was so excited for the day ahead or that I was crunched in the middle seat in between two people bigger than me, but I just couldn’t sleep for longer than an hour the entire flight. And the plane landed at 5:00am. “Welcome to Cleveland!” 

Titans Gym Cleveland

You see, I was faced with an interesting problem. I was in my uber headed to downtown Cleveland from the airport frantically calling every hotel in the area. I had read online that some hotels have a gym and locker room with showers that you can get a day pass for. I hadn’t really thought about needing a shower. I called every major fancy downtown hotel and every one of them thought I was crazy. And then it struck me — why not a gym? They have day passes and showers, right? I did have a pair of shorts after all, so I could fit in a quick workout. 6am. 1 hour of sleep. Why not just have a pre-workout drink, get super caffeinated and fix myself up with some cardio? 

After a few calls, I arrived at Titans gym in downtown Cleveland where I got a day pass for $10. Since I had a triathlon in Laguna Beach that coming weekend, I was in a period of rest called the taper where you’re supposed to reduce your training load. So naturally, I hit the row machine for about 1,000 yards and then the treadmill for an easy 4 mile jaunt. And yes, the gym had a shower! 

The Conference

I was the guy with the backpack, the camera, the backwards hat and a lot of enthusiasm. And I stood out! The convention center was massive and you used an app to plan your track of workshops that you wanted to attend. I chose a lot of the advanced courses for SEO, Content Marketing and Project Management. But first, the intro keynotes! 

There were absolutely thousands of people in this space with such a massive stage — so much excitement and energy and I did what I always do. I walked straight to the front of the room and found an empty seat. Ever since college, I’ve always liked to be in the front of the room. 

Linda Boff, the Chief Marketing Officer of General Electric was an amazing speaker. 

You’re not going to believe what she talked about! 

And the rest of the adventure was sure something to behold, from what the conference was like, who I met, getting to see Casey speak, the Uber driver fiasco and barely making it back to Los Angeles!