Book Is the Hook

On today's episode of the Creator Institute podcast, let me introduce you to Brian Wong - the co-founder and CEO of Kiip (pronounced “keep”), a category-creating mobile rewards network that is redefining mobile advertising through an innovative platform that leverages “moments of achievement” in games and apps to simultaneously benefit users, developers and advertisers.

What do you do if your boss tells you "no" -- no you can't launch a podcast or book or video show on your own time?

For Aaron Watson, his first step in being told "no" that he couldn't launch his podcast (well actually he said "no, and we can revisit in 3 years) was to go out to his car and scream.

But from there, he stepped back, refocused and built a new plan that has led him to become a dynamic force in media and content through his agency Piper Creative, his own podcast and his Going Deep annual conference.

On this conversation we look at the emerging craft of Podcasting, particularly through the lens of a 20-something building his own voice, and he shares some of his core takeaways when life doesn't turn out the way you'd planned.  Link to the full episode in the comments.

What's your hedge?  How can you be more strategic about covering your downside? 

For Justin Nguyen, on the surface he looks like a gigantic risk taker. But dig a little deeper and you'll see its quite the opposite.  He's leveraged the 'strategic hedge' to build his own path.

Today he's become one of the top voices on LinkedIn, runs his own firm and produces content on his podcast and beyond. 

So why does hedging often get a negative impression?

Justin joined me on the podcast to chat about his own path and how he's leveraged content creation to convince himself (and his parents) that what looks like the risky path is the right path.  It's a fun conversation and big thanks to him for sharing his story. Full episode linked in the comments.

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On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Harry Campbell -- CEO of Durrie Vision and Author for Get-Real Leadership/Culture -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

Harry S. Campbell has raised nearly $750,000 for cancer research.

When his wife was diagnosed with brain cancer, Harry felt helpless. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to help.

So he decided to raise money to support cancer research -- and took stock of how best to do it. He decided he could raise money for cancer research organizations by giving speeches -- and if he had a book people would pay him more. So he wrote a book -- not about the cancer -- but about what he knew: authentically leading high performing people across his time a multiple billion dollar companies.

He's donated every penny from the book and speeches to cancer research raising nearly $750,000. Having this important reason for writing a book about leadership pushed him to write a better book, to share the message further and to continue to "support" both his wife and the cause near to them both.

It's a powerful lesson about why we create -- for Harry it was to showcase his commitment to his spouse, to raise money for something he cared about and spread his message. You really can win with Generosity.

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Sarah Peck -- founder and CEO of Startup Pregnant, a media company documenting the stories of women's leadership across family and work -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next.

As they say, it's not the destination... but the journey.

For Sarah Peck, she thought her destination was publishing a book -- a project she undertook with her typical gusto -- but along the way she learned that the conversations she was having with other ambitious women were just too good *not* to share.  As she thought long and hard about what to do with it, she leapt and launched Startup Pregnant, a podcast designed to build a community of women sharing their stories of pregnancy, motherhood and balancing it all in startup, innovative and high ambition jobs.

My conversation with Sarah came as she was evaluating her own path -- she decided to take her passion project of the podcast and work to turn it into a business venture.  And not to be outdone, she was doing this while pregnant (and as the journey continued with another small human in her home).  The thoughtfulness of Sarah's own thinking and evaluation is something each of us can learn from -- it's certainly not easy to change what we think we are doing especially when it's to an area we know very little about.

But that constant sense of re-evaluation and alignment is what has made her succeed along the many twists and turns.  It's a fun conversation and really dives deeply into why sometimes we need to change the medium to best align to our message.

Does making a choice mean you close the door on the choice you *don't* make?

That fear of making the wrong choice can hold many of us back researchers say -- described as the paradox of choice.  But Greg Gottesman offers a perspective that says quite the opposite: making a choice -- and always staying curious regardless of that choice -- can actually open MORE doors than you imagined.

I've had the good fortune to know Greg for the better part of a decade, and yet in our conversation I realized that my personal experiences with him -- seeing him operate as a partner at one of the top venture capital investment firms, launch a pet company at a weekend hackathon that has gone on to become a unicorn, and to leave venture full time to start a startup studio creating multiple startups under one umbrella -- is just a microcosm of Greg's history.  He's always been one to jump into an experience and commit fully, but to be aware of the unique opportunities that it presents.  He's operated in top law firms, top investment banking, venture capital and now startups.  And we share how much of that interest may have been spurred early in his career while a college student who published a book about -- college.

It's a fascinating conversation that offered the opportunity to look at the power of curiosity to open more doors than you ever thought possible. 

On this bonus "library" episode, you'll hear what Allen Gannett -- founder and CEO of Track Maven which was acquired in 2018 and the author of the critically acclaimed book the Creative Curve -- is reading, writing and thinking about creating next. 

How did you market your book?

According to Allen Gannett, he basically didn't.  Allen realized that today most people don't *really* respond to marketing. Sure, it's helped people recognize him, trust him and see him as credible.  But when it came to actually selling copies of his book... well, as he admits in our conversation, that was all about creating one-on-one relationships with the thousands of people who'd eventually go on to buy his book.

Many of us wrongly believe that posting on social media or doing advertising will get people to act.  However, research has proven time and time again that while these sorts of actions can make us more likely to purchase or engage, there isn't anything quite like the human touch to drive action.  And as Allen shares throughout this unique and engaging episode recorded the week of his book launch, a marketing maven who runs one of the largest social media analytics companies, recognized that our ability to connect with humans is rarely one to many... but one on one.

Allen is the founder and CEO of Track Maven which was acquired in 2018 and the author of the critically acclaimed book the Creative Curve. Plus he's a friend I'm proud to have had many rounds of breakfasts with in the startup ecosystem.