Are You Proud of Yourself? ⚡ Jay’s SCOOP | Ep. 473

0:00Welcome to Do This Not That, the podcast from marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. We are back for Do This, Not That podcast. And normally on this show, I come on, I talk about some tips and tactics you should try for email or social media or whatever. But also, every so often, I want to share what's going on in my brain, what I struggle with and what you may struggle with as well. There's a lot of podcast episodes that are out there that tell you, you know, you can do it.

0:40And then you see all these big, famous, important people saying all these things about how you can overcome and do and whatever. And I try to listen to a lot of those shows. I do. I listen to the Mel Robbins show. I listen, I mean, you name it, I listen to it. Because one of the things I think that's hard for everybody, doesn't matter if you are the CEO of a big company, if you're a solopreneur, if you're a marketing manager at some, you know, decent sized company, if you're unemployed, you're out there looking for a job. If you are spinning a million plates, you got a bunch of kids you're trying to take care of, or you have elderly parents or somebody that's not well.

1:20The thing I don't think enough that's talked about is how much everybody, and I do mean everybody, I don't care if you're the most famous person on the planet. Everybody's got a lot of stuff that they're dealing with. And while they may seem like they're just smooth sailing on the inside, they're not. They're not. And there are certain things that I've been able to realize that have helped me get through those moments that are sometimes harder than others. And I think during the holiday season and to the start of any new year, there's a lot of moments of reflection. How am I doing? Oh, no, I'm not doing great.

1:56I need to do better. I got to step it up. I can't do it. Self-doubt, negative self-talk, all the things. We all do it. But one of the things that I've realized, I guess kind of recently, that has helped me out a lot is this idea of almost looking at myself in different periods of time. What do I mean by that? So what if I said to you, what is one thing that you are grateful for that your past self had the courage to do. This is the thing that's been sitting with me a lot. There are things that I've done, I'll give you an example, that I've done years ago, that if I had not done those things, I would be in a much worse position than I am today.

2:46And when I look back at this, I say, wow, Jay, I almost want to high five myself from a few years ago and say, I can't believe that you stepped it up and you did that thing because had you not done that thing, we'd be in a really bad spot right now, but you did do it. And I'm grateful that my younger version of myself did that. I'm not talking about like 20 years ago. I'm talking about in the last few years. And why this is so impactful for me is that when you realize that that slightly younger version of yourself did certain things and those certain things, and you're so shocked that that version of yourself did them and they got through it and they made these strides, right?

3:30And then you say, wow, what am I doing now? What am I doing today that a few years from now, my older self, my future self is going to be wanting to high five me right now that I had the courage to do, that I wasn't too afraid to do, that I actually did that thing. I'll give you a great example for me. So when COVID was going on, you know, I have this advertising agency and I have a payroll, pretty big payroll every single week. And during COVID, all of, a lot of our advertising agency clients, you know, were freezing their budgets because people just weren't marketing the same way. And I really didn't want to, you know, let go of people.

4:16I didn't want to furlough people or any of that stuff. And it was a very, very difficult time for my business. And that is the moment where during COVID, where I said, okay, what else can I do? How can I generate more business? How can I meet a lot of new people? What can I do? And I said, you know, maybe I could put on a virtual conference and that will help me network. it'll be a new business for me maybe a new income stream I don't know and it was during COVID it was during that moment where I said I was on a walk with my wife and she had heard me talk about this idea of putting on a virtual conference for a long time and she goes well why don't you just do it what are you waiting for and I said well I've never done one I don't even know where to start I don't even have a name for this thing I don't even think people would show up I you know 100 difference i don't think and she said well what do you got to lose and that's how guru conference was born and for those of you don't know what that is that's this giant free virtual conference that's about email marketing and we did that conference it turned into other conferences and turned into a whole business a whole thing and i don't make it sound like it was all rosy when i first started guru conference it was not easy i didn't i when i say i didn't know what i was doing I did not have a clue.

5:36I didn't know where to begin. I was so far into this world. I knew nothing. Right. But every day I said, just take one step at a time, figure stuff out and try. And there were a lot of sleepless nights, very hard. And coming out of COVID, my agency was able to survive COVID. Okay. And the Guru Conference after year one really took off. And it's one of those things that I look back now and I say to myself from four or five years ago, I said, Jay, good job, dude. I can't believe that you were brave enough to do that. I don't think I'm brave enough to do that today. And I was like, really good job.

6:21And the reason that helps me now is that it fuels me to say, okay, what am I doing today, right? What am I doing today that my future self is going to be happy I did. And it doesn't have to be starting a giant virtual conference. Okay. I think the biggest mistake that people make about their business life, their professional life, their personal life is they think it has to be this monumental change. It does not. Okay. You need to be brave for 10 seconds, whatever it is. What do I mean by that? Okay. Let's say there's somebody you want to connect with on LinkedIn. Let's say there's somebody you want to email for that opportunity.

7:07Let's say there's somebody out there that, you know, you want to network with at an event. You don't need to be this brave, courageous person with this overall huge plan. No, you need to be brave enough for 10 seconds to send that LinkedIn connection with that custom note. You need to be brave enough that when you're at that networking event, do you walk up to the person at that event that you think might have an impact on your career, your business, your life, and say, excuse me, I just want to get a chance to meet you. I'm so-and-so. You need to be brave for 10 seconds. And then you can go back after it's over, okay?

7:44And you can be nervous and scared and be on your own, blah, blah, blah. I can't believe I did that. That was so uncomfortable, but you did it. You need to be brave for 10 seconds. It's the same thing in your personal a life. Okay. You're out somewhere. Oh, that person's attractive. I would like to meet that person. Maybe you're not one of those people. I certainly wasn't. I would just walk up to somebody and be like, Hey, Hey, what's your name? Who does that? Who actually does that? Other than people that are kind of weird and sketchy and whatever. But for 10 seconds, you can be that person and it's going to come off authentic because you don't do it all the time.

8:18And your future self is going to be so happy you did because that 10 seconds of bravery can lead to a new life, a new opportunity, a new relationship, a new everything. And so I've been giving a lot of thought about this idea of what am I happy that the slightly younger version of me did in the last few years that I want to high five myself. And then what am I doing today that a few years from now, that slightly future version of me is going to want to high five me today. And this kind of frames my mind to really want to try things to push a little bit harder, to have that 10 seconds of bravery.

9:10And in general, I know this episode is a little different. You're like, Jay, where's the subject line tips. Where is it all? When do I post on LinkedIn? I get that. And we'll get back to all that. But I do think that I need to do it all the time. And I like to be real. And I think it's helpful for everybody to know that we're all in it. Not every day you wake up like, yeah, I'm crushing it today. There are days that you wake up, you're like, uh-oh. You have this catastrophic mindset, which we need to get out of, right? It's something that we all deal with. It's something everybody deals with. And for some reason, it feels more comfortable knowing that we all deal with it.

9:49So you got this. We all got this. And listen, if this was the worst episode ever, I apologize. But sometimes, especially as we start out the year, I want to kind of reframe my mind. So that's what I'm thinking about. So thanks for checking this one out. We'll get back to the random tips and see you at the next one. You did it. You made it to the end, but wait, the party is not over. Listen, I want to keep hanging out. Subscribe to this podcast. And if it wasn't the worst podcast you've ever listened to, give it a five star review. Why not? But you know what? I want to do even more with you. Go to gurumediahub.com and we can partner there.

10:27You could find out about all of our free events, all of our stuff. and if you're epically bored, go to jschwedelson.com and we can stay connected. You can find my newsletter and everything else I got going on. Thanks for being here and hope you subscribe.