Play Your Position

Jeff McManus grows things. As the Director of Landscape Services at the University of Mississippi, he grows plants...he grows people...he grows ideas. Jeff is a problem-solver, understanding that doing more with less is a 21st century mandate. He developed his GROW-theory into an impactful management and professional development leadership program for his staff and has been recognized nationally for it by the Princeton Review, PGMS, Newsweek and every faculty, staff, student and visitor who has walked onto the Ole Miss Campus. His message rings true for any industry leader or manager looking to grow a high-performance and dedicated workforce.

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Like millions of people across the United States, I watched the solar eclipse. But I have a confession. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't interested in the solar eclipse. Like, at all. It wasn't until my dad started talking about it when I was on vacation with him in Maine earlier this month that I realized my non-interest was stemming more from not liking all the hype surrounding the eclipse rather than the actual eclipse itself. Today's Bonus Audible is all about my experience getting ready for this once-in-a-lifetime event, along with some actual raw audio footage minutes before the moon nearly obscured the sun in my little part of the world in Oregon. It's a piece of living history, and the whole experience turned out far cooler than I initially imagined. Some interesting and unexpected things happened during it, so pop in those head phones and take a listen to today's episode of PYP! Connect with PYP on Twitter Learn more about the show here

Chances are good if you've been on Facebook lately you have seen a chatbot. A chatbot is an automated communication sequence inside FB Messenger, on your website, or an on ecommerce site that allows the user to drive the experience while interacting with your chatbot to get questions answered, get content, make orders, etc. -- instantly and 24/7. Today's guest knows a few things about chatbots and unpacks their potential for Team PYP. His name is Peter Lisoskie and he spends his time helping early adopters in business capitalize on new trends in tools, technologies, and marketing strategies. He's discovered that many early adopter companies want chatbots developed for leads, inside sales, content delivery, information gathering, ecommerce, customer service and more. With Peter's extensive background in product development he can help your company develop and deploy a chatbot strategy to support your brand and deliver a winning customer experience. Peter is a proud geek: He runs a business incubator, hangs out with neuroscientists, and has been known to write a line of code or two if it brings a product to life. Get ready for a lively conversation about the future -- it's closer than we think!

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Mark J. Podolsky (AKA The Land Geek) is widely considered the country's most trusted and foremost authority on buying and selling raw, undeveloped land within the United States. He has been actively investing in real estate and raw land since 2001 and has completed over 5,000 unique transactions. Mark's company, Frontier Equity Properties, LLC, is an A+ rated BBB real estate company. Mark has achieved this level of success largely due to his core business philosophy – "Happy Customers Guaranteed." I would add his success also comes from the fact that he chooses to use a treadmill desk. "Sitting is the new smoking!" he reminds us all. Mark is also the host of one of the top rated podcasts in the Investing Category on iTunes aptly titled "The Best Passive Income Model and The Art of Passive Income." As if he wasn't already busy enough, Mark hosts "The Land Geek Podcast- Work Smart. Earn More. Learn How." You can check those out on iTunes and wherever else great listening is enjoyed.

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This week's audible title is inspired by the latest book I listened to called "The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work and Confidence with Everyday Courage" by Mel Robbins. It's a fantastic listen and I share my review of this book along with six others I recommend for your Summer 2017 reading/listening pleasure. While summer is typically a time to slow down and take some time off, we can continue feeding our minds with great stories and inspirational content so that when things ramp up again in the fall, we are empowered and powerful. Enjoy!

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Jane Jackson and I have never met in person. In fact, I "met" Jane Jackson via a video she made as part of an online course I took in June. I live in Oregon in the US and she lives in Sydney, Australia. I was so impressed with her message and presence, I reached out to her on LinkedIn and the rest is history. That's the way it works today. I often comment to my guests each week how we never would have connected were it not for this phenomenal thing called the Internet. It has literally opened the world to all of us and the looming question is: how will you leverage it today to get the ball of your life, business and/or career into the end zone? Now one thing about Jane I want to mention is she knows nothing about American football, yet was such a terrific sport throughout our conversation as I tossed out one football metaphor after another. We laughed a lot, and at one time she even called a time out!

Here's what else you will want to know about Jane Jackson -- she is a career coach, author, speaker, podcast host, image consultant and workshop leader who is committed to helping all of us live a life less ordinary. Her book, Navigating Career Crossroads: How to Thrive when Changing Direction, is a #1 Amazon bestseller and definitely worth the read. Even if you aren't going through a career transition right now, Jane's book has useful tips and exercises that you can use to fine tune your current position. She's got sections on values clarification, choosing a suitable wardrobe and how to connect effectively with key decision makers on social media platforms like LinkedIn. She's been featured in all kinds of great publications including the Sydney Morning Herald, the Huffington Post, and Cosmopolitan. Mother of two beautiful daughters, Jane lives in Australia where she runs her international business and brings a lot of class to everything she does.

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Andrea Jordan is a business strategist who is living a life many people dream of: seeing the world while working remotely. As a digital nomad, she is currently travelling throughout Latin America, enjoying the many sites this region of the world has to offer. She earns her living supporting creative entrepreneurs who want to live a life less ordinary, just like she's doing. With a rare combination of expertise in corporate law and business coaching, together with a degree in accounting, this woman knows her stuff! When she's not working with entrepreneurs, you can find her with a camera in hand capturing the beauty that she sees and volunteering at animal shelters. Be sure to follow her on Instagram to see the many spectacular photos she publishes there regularly. Ultimately, Andrea wants to live in a world where everyone looks forward to Mondays and living a creative life is the norm. I think many of us here at PYP heartily support that vision!

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Most of us have heard a variation of the popular Vince Lombardi quote:

While that meme may have worked back in the mid 20th century when the world was very different, it's not so relevant today.

Winners actually quit all the time, and here's seven specific ways those quitters win:

1. Quit holding on to the past. Mistakes. Coulda-shoulda-wouldas and the like are barriers keeping you from moving forward. Let go of what has already come and gone.
2. Quit thinking you can't do something. I get it. These days with the prevalence of online everything, it's easy to compare ourselves to everyone else who seems to be doing so much better than we are in every category imaginable (e.g. health, wealth, relationship, career). Believe me, everyone is struggling in one way or another. You can do things if you decide those things are what you want, even if it seems scary or impossible. Do them anyway.
3. Quit watching so much television/Netflix/sports/porn. See #6.
4. Quit waiting for someone to give you permission. No one is coming to rescue you. No one is coming to say, "Hey, you're the one we desperately need!" As Jim Rohn loved to say, "For things to change, you have to change." That includes picking yourself to be the next whatever it is you want to be.
5. Quit putting yourself down. Negative self-talk is the bane of human existence. The sooner you quit going dark on yourself, the sooner you will experience the spoils of the winner's circle.
6. Quit turning to over eating/drinking/shopping/gambling to escape from facing the truth about your life. They are tempting. At every turn, something promises to take away the pain of being human. The question here is, do you want to go through life numb and dumb? Or are you willing to accept that cuts, scrapes and bruises come with achievement and excellence?
7. Quit thinking you can do it all yourself. You can't. No one can. Figure out what you do best and hire the rest. This can be applied at work and at home. A predominantly DIY culture grounded in two very powerful principles called self-reliance and independence makes us believe we are losers if we can't announce at the next dinner party that we did it all ourselves. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be handing out business cards of my caterer than rushing around trying to restock the crudite plate or refill wine glass.

Quitters win every day. You can often see them sipping champagne from their yachts as they sail yet again around the Mediterranean.

Isn't it about time you stepped into the quitter's circle, too? Quit something today! It's amazing what can happen when you do.

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Become a PYP MVP

"The Internet still has a voodoo quality to me, even after all this time," laughs today's PYP MVP Matt Miller. Old school through and through, Matt loves the physicality of peeling a sticker off its backing and then sticking it on something, like the cover of his laptop. Matt is the first guest to make a second appearance on PYP, and we had a ball catching up on where he's taken his franchise-based business School Spirit Vending since the last time he came on the show in 2015. If you've ever wondered how much a company can actually grow in 18 months, pay close attention to what Matt shares with us on today's show. Matt Miller proves that when old school meets newschool it's possible to not only prosper, but have a lot of fun, too.

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