Destination Different

Real life FIFA. That's the only way I can describe what Joe Calafiore has been up to over the last 5 years.

In 2016 he was working for Major League Baseball when he decided to pull together a business plan of what it could look like to bring a professional soccer team to Hartford, Connecticut. A couple years, countless hurdles, and a number of major milestones later, Joe and his team of owners did just that.

They brought a professional soccer team to Hartford. 

Hartford Athletic played its inaugural game in the spring of 2019 and has earned a spot in the United Soccer League playoffs in just its second year of action.

In this episode we talked about building a soccer team from the ground up, rebuilding an iconic Connecticut stadium, and Joe's 20-year dream of bringing professional sports back to Hartford.

You can follow along with everything I'm up to right here:

Twitter - @ry3dunn

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Some day there will be people chomping at the bit to get on this podcast. I mean, practically throwing themselves at me to be interviewed on THE Destination Different.

But for now that is not the case....

Far from it, in fact. You may have noticed the last few weeks have been on again off again with guests and no guests. This is one of those no guest weeks. I promise you it's not from a lack of trying either. I've pretty much exhausted my inner circle of friends, friends of friends, and cousin's girlfriend's sister's roommates, so now I've resorted to messaging strangers on the internet.

In this episode I discuss my approach to DMing total strangers and how I have a 25%-ish success rate. I talk about how I structure my messages, the importance of knowing how you can help the recipient, and I BEGGGG you to introduce me to some new guests.

Hope you enjoy! Stay weird.

You can follow along with everything I'm up to right here (and send me guests for the show!)

Twitter - @ry3dunn

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What do you call a guy who has done a little bit of everything...?

You might just call him "Tom Fabbri."

Bankrupt, divorced, and in and out of jail in his 20s, Tom has managed to turn his life around in a big way. Having never initially graduated high school, nevermind college, he eventually earned himself a captain's license, flying planes and helicopters for the likes of Michael Jordan, Ralph Lauren, and Morgan Freeman. After that, he went on to win Mr. Natural Universe at the age of 52. Add in the fact that he has authored two books, invented his own patented fitness product called Total Motion 360, and has climbed the highest peak on 6 of the 7 continents, and it's safe to say Tom really has experienced enough for 10 lifetimes.

Awesome episode and it was incredibly refreshing to hear from someone who has quite literally experienced some of life's greatest highs and lows. You can keep up with everyone Tom is doing over on his website at tomfabbri.com or on Instagram at @lifewrangler.

You can follow along with everything I'm up to right here (and you can hit me up on Twitter to tell me what you'd like to see with the show)

Twitter - @ry3dunn

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I'm fresh off vacation and the mountain air put me in a clear headspace to think about the podcast. 

Growing anything from scratch isn't easy. I'm fully aware that it takes lots of time, commitment, and a whole lot of talent to make anything big on the internet. This is still the very early days of Destination Different, but I'm a competitive guy and there are plenty of ways I can make it bigger and better.

In this episode, I took a moment to celebrate some of the podcast's wins...

- Hitting 2,000 downloads!

- Not saying "uhmm," "uhh," "right," or "gotcha" 10,000x per episode like I did in the first few shows

And also looked at how I could improve the show...

- Balance the ratio of creation / distribution. NEED to spend more time trying to get the show in people's ears

- Get clearer on the audience and mission. Every great media network is super clear about their who and their why. I need to do the same

Overall, I'm excited about the signs of progress, but even more determined to make this thing bigger and better. 

Until next week... stay weird.

You can follow along with everything I'm up to right here (and you can hit me up on Twitter to tell me what you'd like to see with the show)

Twitter - @ry3dunn

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Chrissy Hofbeck isn't just a regular mom... she's a coooooool mom. Honestly, one of the coolest moms I've ever met. 

In the fall of 2017, after SIXTEEN years of applying, she had finally been accepted and was flown to Fiji for Season 35 of the hit reality show, Survivor. Chrissy didn't just show up to participate, either. She came to win. 

Her Survivor run ultimately ended in a second place finish, but along the way she went on to win the most immunity challenges of any woman in the show's history and was widely celebrated for the way she played the game.

Outside of her Survivor appearance, Chrissy is a renowned actuary, public speaker, and as of September 8th, a first-time author. Her new book Winning Conditions: How to Achieve the Professional Success You Deserve by Managing the Details That Matter explores how people succeed not simply because they deliver a winning work product or idea, but also because they deliver their product or idea in a winning way.

If you want to keep up with EVERYTHING Christine is doing, check out her site at christinehofbeck.com and follow along with her life over on Instagram at @therealchrissyhofbeck.

If you're not already, be sure to follow along with everything I'm up to right here:

Twitter - @ry3dunn

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I don't think it can even be argued at this point that Destination DIfferent has the most eclectic collection of guests in the history of podcasts...

This week we've got Yasmin Saadi who is the founder of Vgn Bites, a brand focused on making the easiest vegan recipes for you to create at home. Yasmin is a 36-year-old mother of two boys and after spending her entire life living in Israel, she packed up her bags 6 years ago and moved to Italy. No friends, no family, no job, no knowledge of the language; nothing. 

Now, she has created a full-time income creating delicious recipe content on the internet.

Vgn Bites first started as an Instagram account where Yasmin simply wanted to share photos of the dishes she was making. Pretty quickly, a community began to form around her creations and she expanded the operation to Pinterest, YouTube and her own site vgnbites.com.

What impressed me most about Yasmin (aside from the fact that she just drips with positivity and optimism), is that everything she has built has been self-taught. She learned photography, videography, site building, book writing, growing a brand on social media. She has done it all. And to top it all off she wasn't a pompous know-it-all like some vegan foodies can be. She has her lifestyle and let's others live theirs, which was also incredibly refreshing to hear from her.

There are a TON of great lessons in this episode, especially for someone looking to start their own side hustle or launch a brand on social media. You can keep up with Yasmin over on Instagram @vgnbites_.

You can keep up with everything I'm up to right here...

Twitter - @ry3dunn

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Website - yoproco.com

Roll out of bed. Head on over to Yankee Stadium. Take actions shots of the all the best players in baseball. Go home. Repeat.

For many, that might sound like a dream, but for Alex Trautwig that is his daily reality. For the last 5 years he has worked as a professional photographer for Major League Baseball, attending all the biggest moments in the sport and capturing them on camera. 

From no-hitters, to historic World Series titles, to a stray line drive off the dome, Alex has seen it all. In this episode we talked about how he started photography at a young age and the value of being self-taught. We also discussed where he wants to take his work going forward, the effects of phone cameras on photography, and ohh, I don't know... this little ol' thing like his work making a Sports Illustrated cover.

If you want to keep up with what Alex is doing, be sure to follow him over on Instagram at @atraut or check out his portfolio www.alextrautwig.com. He says he responds to EVERY message. Test it out if you have any interest in pursuing photography.

You can keep up with everything I'm up to right here...

Twitter - @ry3dunn

Peep our new newsletter, Strange Brains. Sign up right here!

Website - yoproco.com

Today marks the big 4-oh. Episode 40 of the Destination Different podcast and I couldn't be more excited to have reached this point. As I did for Episode 30, I wanted to take this time to reflect on how the show has grown and offer up a transparent look behind the scenes into my world.

Over the past few months during quarantine I have had a number of people reach out to me about some of the more nuanced details of starting a podcast. What software to I use? What mic to I record with? How do I edit? Etc. etc. And it made me realize that I've never formally documented what it was like for me starting a podcast, so in this episode you'll get all of that. I am by no means an expert podcaster, and I take a pretty bare bones approach, but for anyone thinking of starting a podcast, I have been in your shoes before.

In this episode I outline the 3 key things I feel are necessary to get a podcast up and running, and then a bonus 4th section that I'm calling "All the things I know I should be doing and probably should be doing, but am currently not doing."

If you're even TOYING with the idea of starting a podcast, please please pleaseeeeee reach out to me. I have absolutely loved hosting the show and would love nothing more than to chat with someone who is starting from square one. Email is [email protected]. Happy to help in any way that I can.

40 down. 400 more to go. Hope you enjoy!

You can keep up with everything I'm up to right here...

Twitter - @ry3dunn

Peep our new newsletter, Strange Brains. Sign up right here!

Website - yoproco.com

A little bit of this. A little bit of that. That seems to be the motto for YeSeul Kim right about now.

The Korean-born, Guam raised, MIT graduate recently packed up her things and found herself in the quiet Italian town of Treviso with her husband and dog. YeSeul has her masters degree in urban planning, but it is the creative side of her brain she is channelling during her time in Italy. 

Since moving there 18 months ago, YeSeul has begun work on a book titled Business Love that explores methodologies and frameworks used in the business world and adapts them to personal and romantic relationships (you can pre-order the book here). She launched the first season of a podcast called Serendipity Stories where she has intimate conversations with people who have experienced serendipitous moments that have changed the course of their life (you can listen to it here). She has also unveiled a photojournalism project a la Humans of New York called "Gente di Treviso" where she interviews and photographs the locals of the historically conservative Italian town (you can see the photos here).

This is an incredible episode for anyone looking to experiment with their creativity and learn from someone who is trying out a million and one things. Thanks so much to YeSeul for joining! You can keep up with everything she is doing over on her website at yeseulmkim.com.

**Editor's note - In the intro of the show I said "Trevino" instead of "Treviso" Italy and for that I am truly sorry. I will never forgive myself.

You can keep up with everything I'm up to right here...

Twitter - @ry3dunn

Peep our new newsletter, Strange Brains. Sign up right here!

Website - yoproco.com

We've all been there. Fresh out of college, no job, no idea what we want to do for a living, so we hop on LinkedIn and start "networking" because it seems like the right thing to do.

But not all of us have been able to turn that "networking" into a flourishing online community and a slew of consulting opportunities. That's what Chris Russo has done. The 2019 graduate of Boston College felt like there was a lack of networking opportunities from his school in the media and communications space, so he decided to build them for himself.

Chris formed the Boston College Media Alumni Network to bring together like-minded professionals around an industry he was passionate about. He has since parlayed that into a weekly web show where he interviews influential alumni like Joe Sabia of Vogue's 73 Questions and Clinton Kelly of TLC's What Not to Wear.

Awesome episode with a ton of lessons about growing something from scratch, the idea of "chasing your passion," and the act of just doing. You can keep up with what Chris is doing over on LinkedIn, as well as follow along with the weekly web series over on YouTube (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram)

You can keep up with everything I'm up to right here...

Twitter - @ry3dunn

Peep our new newsletter, Strange Brains. Sign up right here!

Website - yoproco.com