Greg is best known as The mobile marketing expert and for his brand Mobile Mixed. He is host of the Mobile Mixed podcast and formally of the Leaving Corporate podcast. He also blogs about his journey at greghickman.me. He is also a speaker and business coach.

He was my business coach for a few months and was instrumental in helping me finally launch the Second Half Comeback podcast.

We began today's interview with a quick overview of his story and background which included some mobile marketing consulting, starting a text messaging marketing company and even returning to the corporate world to work for a large national outdoor retailer while working on building Mobile Mixed on the side.

Mobile Mixed is a blog, podcast and training company that teaches small businesses and entrepreneurs how to use mobile marketing to generate leads and sales.

Mobile Mixed eventually led to speaking gigs, coaching and numerous other opportunities including leaving his corporate job to work on his business full time.

Ironically, after Greg left the corporate world to work on his own business full time, He found it was a struggle to stay focused and consistently work on the important "stuff" in his business.

Since then Greg has really become a student of productivity, workflow, and daily rituals. He is always experimenting, tweaking and learning the best systems and rituals to get the important shit done in his business and life.

We spend the rest of the interview talking about Greg's workflow and systems with a specific focus on his morning ritual.

Greghickman.me

Mobile Mixed

Greg's Workflow

Evernote

Asana

Sunrise

Text Expander

Virtual Staff Finder

Welcome Back to Second Half Comeback and the much belated Episode 14!

In this solo episode I take some time to explain why It's been a couple weeks since my last episode.  More importantly I talk about the big plans I have for you and the show for the rest of the year.

I spend the first part of the show doing my best to be honest about some personal challenges and transparent about some struggles with the direction, purpose and growth of the show.

I caught myself falling into a negative mindset where I was giving up on this year already and starting to think about next year!

"Next year I'm really going to get my shit together. Next year I'm going to buckle down and give this podcast everything I've got….."

Ridiculous!

Thankfully I caught myself! I realized there was still 100 days left in the year. Essentially, we were just getting ready to enter the fourth quarter.

It's not time to quit on this year. It's time to adopt a "fourth quarter mentality" and finish strong!

I spend the rest of this brief episode talking about my plans to bring you the Finish Strong Challenge.

We are going to spend the next 90 days making sure that we finish strong and make this the year that changed everything!

More details to come…but in the meantime I just want you to listen to the episode and take some time to ponder….

What could you accomplish in the next 90 days that would allow you to look back at 2014 and say "That was the best year of my live"?

Who could you become in the next 90 days that would enable you to look back at 2014 and say "That was the year that changed everything"?

It's time to think big, adopt a 4th quarter mentality and Finish Strong!

The email newsletter is going to play a vital role in this 90 day Finish Strong Challenge so please take a minute to sign up! It's free and a great way for me to send you additional resources that will help you execute your own Second Half Comeback!

I start the episode with a blunt disclaimer that I am no guru or role model. I'm just a regular guy struggling to improve my life and fighting for my own Second Half Comeback. I've been thinking about this "thin thread" lesson for several years now and still struggle to incorporate it into my daily life on a consistent basis.

Full disclosure: I lived this lesson. I believe and understand that my life hangs by a thin fucking thread and I still struggle with procrastination, fear, uncertainty and just general laziness. This doesn't make the lesson less valuable. It just means that redesigning your life can be difficult and we need to figure out a way to incorporate this mindset along with other key lessons into a well rounded game plan for executing our own Second Half Comeback.

So honestly, I feel like this is one of those episodes and lessons that just needs to be heard. Please just take a listen and then take a few minutes to ponder the message and what it means for your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5aY6rMbOBo

That's It! Listen to the episode. Take the lesson to heart. Be thankful for everyday that your still breathing.

If this episode and this podcast resonated with you, please share it with the world or leave us a rating and review in itunes so others can find our show!

As a reminder, Akshay is a U.S. Marine and war veteran as well as an explorer and outdoor adventurer who is on a mission to run across every country in the world! We pick up the conversation as Akshay is telling us about a few of his daily rituals. His rituals tend focus on health and energy. He likes to incorporate green smoothies and daily exercise. He also journals and uses a few different reminder and to-do apps to help him find clarity in his day. He goes on to talk about “priming” your subconscious and truly striving towards clarity of lifestyle.

We talk about the importance of adding elements of “higher mission” to your life as well as focusing on leaving a legacy. Akshay is starting a non-profit foundation that will partner with organizations in each country where he is running to leave a positive impact on the local community. That way his run is ultimately a Higher Mission that will leave a legacy. We talk about the value of using a “meditation on death” philosophy to live your life to the fullest.

“Most of us live our lives as if we are never going to die then we die having never really lived”.

Finally we talk about what’s next for Akshay and his mission. This September he will be running across 5-7 countries in Europe. He gives us some great advice about tackling a large, intimidating mission. Do the smaller pieces first as you learn the necessary skills and build confidence. For example, He is starting his runs in Europe in the smaller countries while he learns how to manage the logistics and then he will run the larger countries. Also, “ find somebody who has done what you want to do and ask them how they did it”.

I first became familiar with him when I saw him give a quick talk at World Domination Summit and immediately thought he is a great example of someone making an incredible Second Half Comeback.

He begins by telling us about a time in his teens when he became heavily involved with drugs and alcohol and even lost two friends to that destructive lifestyle. Akshay was able to pull himself out of that world and it was actually a scene from the movie “Black Hawk Down” that triggered his desire for self improvement and a life of service.

He embarked on a journey of self improvement, joined the Marines and immersed himself in the world of outdoor sports. He served his country in  Iraq in 2007-2008 and then returned to the corporate world.

He quit that job and spent all his savings to take on the epic challenge of skiing across the second largest ice cap in the world in Greenland dragging a 190 pound sled for 350 miles!

He is now on a journey to run across every country in the world.

One of the key lessons we discussed was the importance of finding immense clarity of purpose when trying to redesign our lives. Also, taking 100% responsibility for our lives and developing successful habits were key factors found in most success stories. He mentions how daily exercise is a great stepping stone to building other positive habits.His story and his journey provide us with some valuable and actionable lessons for our own Second Half Comebacks.

10 Wes Chapman Pt. 2 on Self Reflection, Keeping it Simple and Building a Self Sustaining Community of Empowered Youth

In part 2 of my conversation with Wes Chapman, founder of A Human Project, We discuss a few more of the lessons he has learned as he transformed himself from victim to hero.

We talk about the importance of daily rituals and he discusses a few of his favorites including the importance of solitude and self reflection.

He emphasizes the benefits of daily simple meditation.

The role of writing to stimulate creativity and help you find clarity in your life.

The importance of disconnecting. He suggests turning off all technology and simply writing by hand with a pen and paper. This strategy helps you slow down and activates different parts of your brain.

He suggests a super unique, ninja trick for shaking up your writing routine...Try writing with your off hand! If you are right handed, try starting with your right hand but then when you get stuck or are trying to drill down deep switch to your left hand. This helps put you in a child like state because it helps eliminate your need for perfection and motor skill etc. It helps slow you down and process things differently. It can even help you release old childhood traumas!

Wes stresses importance of not over complicating your life and goals. Keep it simple. We mention The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy and The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson.

He also talks about the importance of celebrating and rewarding yourself for the small steps and successes along the way because it reinforces positive behaviors within your subconscious.

Then Wes tells us all about A Human Project. He begins by redefining what “H.u.m.a.n” means. He breaks it down into 5 categories”

Hope

Understanding

Making a choice

Action

Nourishing

The overall goal of the project is to create a self sustaining community of empowered youth.

We discuss how someone would actually go about joining the project if they needed help or knew someone who did. Wes pointed us to Join a Human Project.

Finally, Wes and I discuss how we (the SHC audience) can help at risk youth via A Human Project. He discusses the various ways we can donate, pledge and spread the word.

Call to Action

If this episode hits home with you and you deeply resonate with Wes’s story and mission of empowering at risk youth, as I do, please take action and make a donation or a pledge to A Human Project.

This single action will not only help at risk youth but could very well change the direction of your own life!

Finally If you enjoyed the episode, please give Wes some love on Twitter and let him know you enjoyed our conversation on Second Half Comeback! https://twitter.com/wesleydchapman

Thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you next time on Second Half Comeback!

A HUMAN PROJECT is a for-purpose organization with the mission to create a community of empowered youth. Giving youth the tools they need to create long lasting and positive habits. By doing this they give youth the opportunity to break the cycle of hopelessness many of them have endured. They believe that every child is created for a purpose and that each child deserves to experience ultimate joy.

Wes’s personal story includes being abandoned at one year old by his father and at six and a half years old by his mother. He tried to commit suicide twelve times before his sixteenth birthday. He was to subjected to terrible physical and sexual abuse throughout his childhood but he survived!

He tells his personal story in powerful detail in his founders story on the A Human Project website. I’ve included the audio in the beginning of this podcast episode and you can see the video here Founder's Story Video.

I can’t recommend highly enough that you watch this video. It gives incredible insight into his story and the mission of A Human Project. It’s truly a wake up call and the kind of video that will change your life.

Wes has also been an entrepreneur since he was 8 ½. His very first business made over $500 a day. He has crushed it on the world of business and also had some epic failures. He recently realized that everything that has happened in his life has happened for a reason and has brought him to this moment and his true purpose which is to empower at risk youth through A Human Project.

We will discuss more of the valuable lessons he has learned through his amazing journey and discuss A Human Project in detail.

Wes will explain the mission and philosophy behind the project and tell us how we can help.

If this episode hits home with you and you deeply resonate with Wes’s story and mission of empowering at risk youth, as I do, please take action and make a donation or a pledge to A Human Project.

This single action will not only help at risk youth but could very well change the direction of your whole life!

Melinda Yeaman is an online marketing veteran of 15 years who unplugged from her corporate career path to become an entrepreneur and to live an authentic, passionate life.

Her experience in graphic & web design, e-commerce, social and tech enables her to fuel success in her own brands as well as those of her clients and associates.

As an Outlier herself, Melinda co-hosts the Outlier On Air podcast, and assists in the growth of Outlier Labs, Magazine and Conferences to provide a springboard for startups.

Outlier is a entrepreneurial company that helps people start, grow and scale their business. The Outlier brand not only includes Outlier Magazine but also a co-working space and destination conferences.

She started working a corporate job in college to help pay for college but it ended up pulling her away from college and she never finished college.

So she went on to get married and have kids. She first ventured into the entrepreneurial space because she wanted to be able stay home with her kids. She tried to negotiate with her boss at her corporate job so that she could work from home but the president of the company wasn’t onboard. She worked out an arrangement to leave the company to start her own business but was then able to land her old company as her first client.

Over time her client base continued to grow until it grew to the point where she had to decision.She had to decide whether to go all in on that business and hire a large staff to run the business or go back to the corporate world where she could theoretically have a more manageable work life and not have work consume her life. She dove back into the corporate world with the attitude that she was going to make as much money as possible. She had great success, worked her way up the corporate ladder, made great money and basically worked herself into the proverbial “Golden Handcuffs”

She started to feel the pull of the entrepreneurial life again. She was planning her exit, listening to podcasts and so unhappy that she literally prayed for an answer. The very next day she got laid off! She viewed it as a sign and her permission slip to go after her dreams.

She went back into consulting but this time for larger clients and really focused on networking within her own community. It was at one of these local networking events that someone mentioned how she should connect with Ever Gonzalez. She "said yes" to the opportunity and called him that night. They met the next day and Outlier was born!

In this solo episode, I talk about a long forgotten promise. A promise that you made and broke.

It is the unspoken promise that you made to yourself and your family that someday you will become the man you were meant to be.

Have you noticed lately when you tell your family and friends about your “Comeback”, your dreams and aspirations, they seem unimpressed maybe even skeptical?

It almost seems like they don’t believe you or don't care.

Well, the reason your family, your wife or girlfriend, your close friends don’t fully buy into your dreams is that they don’t trust you. They don’t believe you anymore.You made an unspoken promiseto your young family. You made an unspoken promise to yourself...and you broke that promise.

You promised them a certain kind of life, certain dreams. You promised them that you would become the “Man” that you were meant to be!

When you were first starting out, you made an unspoken promise to your family. “Stick with me through these hard times and I promise that I will become the man you believe I can be”. “Trust me, someday we will have an extraordinary life”. “Believe in me and I promise that I will bust my ass everyday until we are living the life of our dreams!”

I Broke this promise. You broke this promise. We basically lied to the people we love most, to the people who trusted us the most. That is why they don’t trust us completely. That is why they don’t fully buy into our dreams anymore.

The reason YOU don’t even believe in your dreams is that you don’t trust yourself.

But they haven’t given up on us. Deep down, they still believe in us.

It’s time to acknowledge that you broke this promise and more importantly It’s time to take action and make good on your promise to the people you love most.

Listen to the episode now. It has a few action steps to help you start following through on your promise.

Drop me a comment below and let me know what you think. I’ll read and respond to all comments.

Episode 06 The Secret Sauce of Building Your Winning Team is basically a part 2 to the previous episode The Biggest and Worst Kept Secret to Transforming Your Life and Business. In this episode I recap the importance of surrounding yourself with amazing, supportive, like minded people who are doing the things that you dream of doing.

I also emphasize again the importance of finding online communities in your “Niche” to make initial connections and then attending live conferences, seminars and meet-ups to cement these relationships through shared experiences. This is what I call the “Secret Sauce of building your winning team.

After this short recap, I spend most of the episode giving you actionable tips to help you accomplish both of these steps. Topics discussed include

Finding your online tribe

How and where to search for online communities in your area of interest.

Should you fork out your hard earned money to join paid courses and communities?

I share numerous tips for engaging with people in these communities including several proven methods for becoming know as one of the most helpful, giving, action oriented super stars in the community. these tips will help draw people to you like a moths to a flame!

How to use these communities to find and prioritize the best live seminars, conferences and meetups in your niche.

How to leverage these online relationships to ensure that your conference experience is incredible and full of shared experiences.

Take your online relationships to the next level with shared experiences.

How to use pre-conference meetups to ensure that you feel like a rockstar during the rest of the conference.

How to stand out by offering to be of service to fellow attendees

The importance of saying “yes”.

How to employ the “DG” Method of simply outlasting the crowd to ensure smaller more intimate connections and memorable shared experiences *(Hint: this method works best if you have a solid alcohol tolerance and little need for sleep. Not for beginners or light weights but trust me this one fucking works!)

the importance of having a system in place to remember connections made and follow up after the conference. I suck at this and welcome any and all listener tips!

As always, the episode ends with a call to action. Take the first step now and search for your tribe online. Then take the leap and start connecting and offering value to the community.

Remember you’ve already found one community of amazing, like minded people who are fighting for their own second half comebacks!

Join our team. ...sign up for the email list now!

Thanks for listening! We’ll see you next time on Second Half Comeback.

P.S. Would you help other friends find our team and join our community. Take a minute and give us a quick rating and review in itunes. Reviews are one of the ways itunes determines if this show is worthy of “New and Noteworthy”.

Thanks for taking action!

DG