Training Gary Matthews Jr. for his MLB comeback.

Once again we return to our So You Want My Job series, in which we interview men who are employed in desirable jobs and ask them about the reality of their work and for advice on how men can live their dream.

You’re a guy who’s passionate about health and fitness, and you want to make that passion a career. You’ll probably start out being a trainer, working with clients at someone else’s gym. But after years of that, you might want to take it to the next level and create an environment you completely design and run yourself. By opening up your own gym.

That’s what Brad Davidson did. After gaining experience as a trainer, Davidson opened up his own gym: Stark in Orange County, California. Today he shares his advice on how he’s turned his dream into a premier gym for high-level athletes and clients.

1. Tell us a little about yourself (Where are you from? How old are you? Describe your job and how long you’ve been at it, etc.).

I was born in Honolulu, HI, where my father was stationed in the Navy, and then spent my childhood growing up in McMinnville, Oregon.  I am 36 years old.  I am co-owner and Head LEAN Braniac at Stark–“The Coolest Little Gym in America”–located in Irvine, CA.  My job consists of developing results-oriented training, diet, and lifestyle programs for successful business men and high-level athletes who want to get lean and enhance their competitive edge with optimal performance.  I’ve been enhancing the lives of executives and athletes for the past 13 years.

2. Why did you want to become a gym owner? When did you know it was what you wanted to do?

I’ve been fascinated with weight training ever since my dad bought me my first weight set and taught me how to lift weights in my room when I was in 6^th grade.  The fascination stuck through high school when I tried using weights to give me an athletic advantage when I was small compared to my competition.  By the time I was in college playing sports, I began to quickly see the shortcomings in our strength coaches from all my own studies.  I remember arguing with a professor in an Exercise Physiology class about a theory I knew didn’t work in the real world through trial and error.  That was the day I knew I was going to dedicate my life to enhancing others through health and fitness.  I wanted to help people squeeze the most out of life with proven methods–not these ridiculous theories that are still running the commercial gyms today.

3. I imagine that starting a gym comes with many of the same considerations as opening other kinds of businesses—finding a location, getting a loan, etc. Are there any considerations unique to opening a gym that would-be gym owners should know about?

The most important thing I think would-be gym owners should be cautious of is going big too soon.   I am a true believer in starting small and growing to the point of blowing out your seams before opening a larger location.  There is going to be growing pains, and the only reason we survived was by maintaining a low enough overhead to make it through those times. I see it over and over–a trainer opens an amazing gym but doesn’t have the business to support it and the clients don’t show up soon enough, leading to an inability to cover the overhead.

4. Here where I live, it seems like a lot of the independent gyms started by trainers and bodybuilders open and then close relatively quickly due to mismanagement, while one of the most successful independent gyms is owned not by a fitness guy, but someone who also owns a bunch of restaurants. What’s most important in running a successful gym—fitness experience and enthusiasm, or business savvy?

I hate to say it, but you can be the greatest mind in the fitness industry but if you don’t possess business savvy you are doomed!  This is where a majority of gym owners go wrong–they have no real clue how to run a business.  I’ve notice most high-level trainers (this included myself years ago) think we know everything there is to know about running a business because we have read all the books on it, but I got lucky and partnered up with a great business man after barely surviving for 5 years, and it was amazing the difference it made in our success.  Funny thing was the first 6 months of changes were strictly business stuff (cash flow management, proper pricing etc.), and yet we doubled our bottom line in that 6 month period without adding any new clients.

5. What are the keys for successfully competing against the big gym chains?

To be successful against the big gym chains I believe you must have a niche and you must produce results!  Our niche is enhancing high-level executives and athletes by getting them lean first and providing a competitive edge in their careers.  We measure and monitor everything they do every month.  We are paid to get a result and we get the result!

Training Olympic Hopeful Ryan Mertens, USA Bobsled Pilot

6. What’s a typical day like for you?

My days are long and start early, but it truly is what I love doing in life.  I get to play with my passion all day every day, and I am now surrounded by the who’s who of Orange County.  I usually train clients from 5:30 am to 1 pm and will mix my own workout in there somewhere.  I have lunch at 1 pm and then spend my afternoons studying ways to get clients more efficient results and overseeing the development of all our clients’ program layouts.  My main role is to make sure everyone in our system is progressing and the team we have constructed–which is actually scattered throughout the world–does an amazing job meeting each client’s individualized needs and desires.

7. What is the best part of your job?

Best part of my job is watching people’s lives transform.  There is nothing better than watching someone look, feel, and perform at a level they never dreamed possible.  It’s also really cool to watch men enhance their lives at a deeper level; they become better fathers, husbands, employers etc. from being through our program.

8. What is the worst part of your job?

Worst part of my job is the focus on detail and paperwork.  Detail is the major difference between great client results and meager results.  It has to be done, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. :)

9. What is the work/family/life balance like for you?

Work/ family/ life are very easy to get out of balance with this career.  I’ve really had to put a lot of effort into this area now that I am married with kids.  It is very easy for me to get swept away with research and trying to meet our clients’ needs.  I have forced myself to leave the office every night by 6:15 pm to give my kids plenty of dad time and my wife relationship time.  I also have forced myself to not check my phone or email once I pick up the kids until after they go to bed.  The funny thing is I actually get more work done with time restraints than I ever did working crazy hours.

10. What is the biggest misconception people have about your job?

To be honest I hate telling people I am a trainer–they immediately throw me into this stigma of meathead womanizer.  I know the majority of male trainers at the large commercial gyms use their role as trainers to meet women, but there is a small group of us that really take pride in what we do.  My family’s livelihood depends on my gym’s ability to change people’s lives.  There is a lot at stake when a client walks into my gym.  Some of us take your health very seriously!

11. Any other advice, tips, commentary or anecdotes you’d like to share?

This career is incredibly rewarding but is very hard to stand out in.  Be patient and do whatever you have to do to stand out from the crowd.  You walk into most gyms and you will see the same things going on.  Be different and you will be noticed.  Get results and you will be noticed. I am a true believer that one of the things we do well that helps us stand out is the use of technology.  Most trainers don’t document anything they do with their clients. We not only document everything a client does, we have it all built into a cloud system and we use iPads.  So the first thing you will notice at our gym is all our trainers walking around documenting sets, reps, and weights with iPads.  This is a very simple use of technology and an incredible way to stand out.

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A few weeks ago, we published an article on study tips to help you ace your exams. In that post, I mentioned the possibility of doing a follow-up article on note-taking, and many of you requested that I make that happen. And I’m happy to oblige. Below, I’ve provided a primer on note-taking strategies, many of which I personally used during my academic career. A lot of this is fairly basic stuff–there are no “secrets” to note-taking success. But hopefully a few of these tips will help you start taking notes more effectively.

Note-Taking Tools

Laptop

For most of your classes (especially lecture-heavy social science courses) I recommend taking notes with a laptop. You can type faster than you can write, it makes organizing your notes easier, and your notes will always be in legible type instead of the chicken scratch you call handwriting.

Use a note-taking program. While you could just use your computer’s default text file editor or word processor program, I recommend using a program specifically designed for note-taking. Below are two that I’ve used with success.

Evernote. I used Evernote during law school for taking notes. If you’re a student, I highly recommend you use it too. Evernote is a robust, free(!) note-taking application that allows you to remember and organize everything your professor throws at you.

Notes you take on the Evernote desktop app automatically sync with your Evernote account online. If your laptop crashes or gets lost, you’ll still have your notes sitting safely in the cloud. If you like to handwrite your notes, but would like to store them digitally, Evernote makes it possible. Just scan your handwritten notes into Evernote, and Evernote will use the magic of image recognition technology to allow you to search for your handwritten notes within the app. It also lets you record your professor using your computer’s microphone (just make sure to ask your professor first if it’s okay to record him or her).

OneNote. OneNote is Microsoft’s note-taking program. I used it as an undergrad before Evernote came out. OneNote is a decent program, but it’s got a few drawbacks. First is the cost. You have to buy Microsoft Office in order to get OneNote. That will set you back $119. Check your school’s IT department to see if they sell MS Office at a discount. I remember being able to buy it for $20 in law school. The other problem is that OneNote doesn’t sync as nicely as Evernote. Bottom line: Go with Evernote.

Learn to type (faster). If you don’t know how to touch-type, then learn. It will make keeping up with your professor much easier.  There are plenty of free, online programs out there that teach you how to type, so start using them. My favorite is keybr.com. It’s free.  If you already know how to type, work on getting even faster.

Become familiar with keyboard shortcuts. As you take notes during class, you’ll probably want to bold, underline, or italicize certain points and words. Instead of using your track pad to move to and click the “Bold” button in your toolbar, save time by simply using a keyboard shortcut.

Here are a few keyboard shortcuts that every good note-taker should know:

To bold text: Control+B (Command+B on Mac), then type what you want to bold
To underline text: Control+U (Command+U on Mac), then type what you want underlined
To italicize text: Control+I (Command+I on Mac), then type what you want italicized

To create a bulleted list: Depends on the platform-

• Evernote/OneNote: Control+Shift+U (Command+Shift+U on Mac)
• Word: Control+Shift+L (Command+Shift+L on Mac)

To create a numbered list: Depends on the platform-

• Evernote/OneNote: Control+Shift+O (Command+Shift+O on Mac)
• Word: Control+Alt+L

To find text: Control+F (Command+F on Mac) This is handy whenever you’re reviewing notes and want to find instances where you wrote about a specific topic.

Use text expander programs. If you find yourself typing certain phrases or words over and over again, save yourself time by using a text expander program. Text expander programs allow you to assign predefined keystrokes to complete words and phrases. Whenever you type that keystroke in, the text expander will type out the complete word or phrase.

For example, when I was taking Torts during my first year of law school, instead of typing out “intentional infliction of emotional distress” every time my prof mentioned it, I programmed a text expander so that whenever I typed “iied,” the output would be “intentional infliction of emotional distress.” Pretty cool, huh?

Here are some text expander programs for the various operating systems out there:

PhraseExpress (Windows 7)

Texter (All other versions of Windows)

TextExpander (Mac)

AutoKey (Linux)

AutoHotKey (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Pen and Paper

To keep students from surfing around during class and force them to actually pay attention, some professors are starting to ban the use of laptops during their classes. If you find yourself in one of these classes, you’ll need to use the note-taking tools your dad and grandpa used: good old fashioned pen and paper.

Even if your professor doesn’t ban laptops, there are some classes where it’s actually better to take notes by hand. Classes that are heavy on numbers, equations, and formulas–calculus, chemistry, physics, economics, symbolic logic, etc.–are best suited for handwritten notes. It’s just too hard to type out that sort of stuff with a keyboard. I also found that pen and paper works best for language classes. Oftentimes you’ll be copying down conjugation tables from the blackboard, and handwriting these are easier than typing them.

Notebook for each class. Have a separate notebook for each class. It keeps things organized. Plus, if you keep all of your classes’ notes in the same notebook and you lose that notebook, you’re pretty much SOL.

Write clearly. If you’re going to handwrite your notes, make sure you can read them later. PenMANship. It’s got the word “man” in it, so it’s manly.

Before the Lecture: Prepare for Effective Note-Taking

Do the assigned reading. The best way to prepare for class is simply doing the assigned reading. Being familiar with the material will better enable you to understand the professor’s lecture and separate out the important points. As you read, take notes of what you think are the main ideas. Highlight, underline, and write in the book’s margins. Write down questions that come up as you’re reading.

Arrive 10 minutes before class and review the assigned reading and notes from the previous class. Try to get to class a few minutes early. Grab a seat near the front of the class and get everything ready. Scan through your reading assignment and the notes you made. Write down any questions you had during the reading that you’re hoping to have answered during the professor’s lecture.

Turn off wi-fi card or block the internet. Surfing Reddit during class will not help you pay attention. Turn off your computer’s wifi card or use one of the internet blocking tools that we covered in this previous post.

During the Lecture: What to Write Down

Only write down the main points of the lecture. Don’t write everything down! Your goal isn’t to transcribe your professor’s lecture word for word, rather it’s to extract and record the main points of it. The trick to successful note-taking is learning how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Your professor will likely go off on tangents during the lecture and spout off stuff that won’t be on the exam. You don’t want to waste your time writing down and studying info that you won’t even be tested on.

So how do you know what the professor’s main points are? Pay attention to cues your professor gives off either consciously or subconsciously. Here are a few cues your professor may give during the lecture. Whenever you see them, it probably means he’s saying something important, so write it down.

• Anytime the professor says, “You need to know this,” or “This will be on the test.” Duh.
• Anytime the professor repeats himself.
• Anything the professor writes on the board or includes in a Powerpoint slide.
• Anything the professor repeats very slowly so that it can be taken down word for word.
• If your professor starts talking more quickly, or loudly, or with more emphasis.
• Watch for language that shows relationships between ideas. These sorts of points are often where professors get their exam questions from:
  • first, second, third
  • especially, most significant, most important
  • however, on the other hand
  • because, so, therefore, consequently

Write the professor’s summary at the end of class and his review at the beginning of the next class. At the end of the class, your professor will often summarize the main takeaway points. Write this down. Your professor is basically telling you the main points she wants you to know. At the beginning of the next class, your professor may give a quick review of the previous class and then provide a preview of how those points are related to the day’s lecture. Write that down.

Write down any examples or hypotheticals the professor gives during class. This is especially important for math and science classes. Also, if you’re in law school, write down any hypothetical issues your professor may present. You’ll probably see a similar hypothetical on your final exam.

If you didn’t get a point, make a note of it, and wait until after class to ask.  Don’t be this guy. No one likes him. If you missed a point, make a note to remind yourself to ask the professor about it after class. Show some respect to the professor and the rest of your classmates.

After the Lecture: Review, Clarify, and Synthesize

Review and clarify notes right after class. Organize your schedule so that you have some time right after each of your classes to review your notes. During this time, go through your notes and make sure you actually understand what you took down. I don’t know how many times I wrote a note in class that later left me scratching my head and wondering, “What the heck did I mean by that?” If you don’t understand a note, clarify it by reviewing the reading material or by asking a fellow classmate or the professor. Reviewing your notes after class also aides in memory retention.

Synthesize notes into a master outline. In the comments on the study tips post, someone asked me what I meant by “synthesizing your notes.” It simply means combining your lecture and reading notes into a coherent whole.  This is a lot more difficult than it sounds. It requires you to look at different bits of information, figure out the main ideas and how they relate, and organize them in a way that makes sense.

One of the best ways to synthesize your notes is to create a master outline. The very act of creating an outline forces you to combine all your notes into a congruent whole. For more advice on creating an outline, see our article on study tips.

Note-Taking Styles

Over the years, professors and learning experts have suggested various note-taking styles to help students organize their notes. I’ve tried them all, but I always end up using my usual method. Below is a quick summary of the various note-taking strategies floating out there. Experiment with them and use what works for you.

Rough Outline Method

My typical note-taking style is to simply create a rough outline of the lecture using bullet points. If there’s a sub-point, I’ll just hit “tab” and create a nested list. I’ll bold or underline important points. It’s not the most sophisticated note-taking method, but it works for me. This format makes organizing your notes later into a final outline much easier.

Cornell Style Notes

This system of note-taking was developed in the 1950s by Cornell University professor Walter Pauk. It’s a way to organize your notes to make reviewing easier and more effective. Here’s how you do it.

Divide your page into two columns. Label the left-hand column “Keywords” and the right-hand column “Notes.” Beneath those two columns, mark off a section and label it “Summary.” It should look something like this:

During the lecture, write your notes in the “Notes” column. Write notes as you normally would. Again, the goal is to capture meaningful facts and the main points of the lecture.

After the lecture, write keywords in the “Keywords” column. Immediately after the lecture, review your notes in the “Notes” column. Try to reduce each line or segment of notes into one keyword. Write down that keyword in the left-hand “Keyword” column. For example, if you had an entire paragraph of notes in the “Note” column about the 1961 Civil Rights Act, next to the section and in the left-hand “Keyword” column, you would write “1961 Civil Rights Act.”

Test your recall using only the “Keyword” column.  Cover the “Notes” column with a sheet of paper, but leave the “Keyword” column visible. Looking at your keywords, try to recall as much of your class notes as possible. Talk out loud if you want or just write down what you remember. When you’re done, uncover your notes section to verify what you said or wrote down. This is to help with remembering the information.

Write a brief summary. When you’re done doing the recall exercise, write a brief summary of the day’s notes in the “Summary” section.

If you take notes using a computer, you can download templates for Cornell Style Notes. Just Google “Cornell Notes template” and pick one that you like. Here’s a pretty good one for MS Word.

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a visual form of note-taking. Instead of typing or writing sentences in a linear format, with mind mapping you draw your notes. Advocates of mind mapping argue that the non-linear, visual format of mind maps allow students to find connections they’d otherwise miss when using traditional note-taking strategies. Also, because mind mapping is a somewhat creative activity, by engaging both the left and right spheres of your brain, learning retention is supposed to improve (a claim that some brain researchers dispute).

To mind map a lecture, you simply write the main topic of the day’s lecture at the center of a piece of paper. As the professor makes new points, write those around the central topic. Draw lines connecting different ideas. Feel free to draw images instead of writing words. Mind mapping is a visual activity after all.

Here’s a colorful example of a mind map drawn by Philip Chambers:

I know people who swear by mind mapping. I tried it a few times during my academic career, but never found it very helpful for recording lecture notes. I’d always end up missing important details because I was too caught up with drawing and connecting ideas. Also, the non-linear format makes organizing your notes difficult.

For more info on mind mapping, see The Mind Map Book.

Charting Method

If your professor’s lecture will be focused on comparing and contrasting two or more ideas, you might consider using the charting method. Create a table in the note-taking program you’re using. Make as many columns as there are categories that you’re comparing and contrasting. Label each column with a category. As you listen to the lecture, record the notes under the appropriate category.

There you have my tips for note-taking success. I’d love to hear more note-taking strategies from the gentlemen scholars out there!

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Photo by Alex Harris

Once again we return to our So You Want My Job series, in which we interview men who are employed in desirable jobs and ask them about the reality of their work and for advice on how men can live their dream.

Do you love to listen to yourself talk? Wouldn’t you love to not only make other people listen to you, but to get paid bookoodles of money to do it, all while traveling the world? Such is the sweet, sweet life of the public speaker. I know this is a job that a lot of gents aspire to, so I’m really pleased that Alex Hunter graciously offered us a fascinating and comprehensive look behind the scenes of this line of work. You can read more of Alex’s musing on his blog; for a fee he’ll even read the entries out loud to you!

1. Tell us a little about yourself (Where are you from? How old are you? Describe your job and how long you’ve been at it, etc.).

I’m 32 years old and currently split my time between the middle-of-nowhere in England and Northern California. I was born in the US to British parents and have been fortunate enough to live all over the world. I started my career in the web world with an airline in Hong Kong before moving back to California. I worked my way through various jobs before landing the sweetest gig of my career, running digital marketing for a startup airline, Virgin America. After 2 years of doing that I was called up to the big leagues and asked to run the global digital strategy for the entire Virgin brand back in London. A couple of exhausting years later, I turned 30 and decided to take some time off and then go out on my own. And that’s where I am today: an angel investor, branding nerd, and career public speaker. I speak about marketing, branding and brand psychology, loyalty, the startup world, and travel. I officially love my job.

2. Public speaking seems like a job opportunity that only opens up once you’ve become successful at something else. Is public speaking something you’ve always wanted to do, or something that came along unexpectedly in your life?

Completely and totally unexpectedly. We were doing some cool things at Virgin at the time and a guy called Ryan Carson (a fellow American in the UK) was just starting to ramp up his outstanding conference company and, well, he took a chance on me. He asked me to speak at a small conference to talk about what Virgin what was working on. I was actually in New York on business at the time and flew in to London on the day of the conference. I got straight off the plane and onto the stage. I opened with a joke, it got good laughs, and I was completely hooked from then on.

3. Once you’ve become successful in something, how to you segue into public speaking? How do you go about getting the word out that you’re available and start getting your first bookings?

The easiest route is to get in touch with conference organizers via email and introduce yourself. Give them a quick sense of who you are, what you’ve done, a brief synopsis of what you’d talk about, how their audience would benefit from your expertise, etc. Oh and that you’re willing to talk for free! You’d be surprised how often this works as conferences are always looking for fresh, new speakers to include in their lineups. Getting that first gig is always the hardest but it gets much easier after that because an audience has heard you, reacted to you, tweeted about you. The word about you is now officially out.

4. When people invite you to speak, how do you know how much to charge for your rate? What is the average rate of pay for speakers?

The very first thing I do is determine if the event organizers are willing to pay anything at all. A lot of conference speakers are happy to speak for free for a number of reasons; their employer doesn’t allow them to take a fee, they’re just starting out in speaking, the value of the exposure to their company or product is worth doing the speech for free. That’s not the case for me as I don’t have a service or product to promote so I get no value from “free publicity.” After that, I take a look at everything from the size of the event, where it is in the world, how many days I’ll have to be away from home, the topic, and the industry.

To be completely honest, once you’re established, public speaking can be very lucrative. I know people who charge anywhere between $25-40k for a single appearance. Some former CEOs, politicians, retired athletes, and “celebrities” charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single appearance. But it takes years and years of speaking and a hell of a reputation before you can start charging that much. If you’re curious, browse some of the speaking bureau websites–they often have price ranges listed for each speaker. Oh and just to be clear, high fee does NOT equal great speaker. I’ve seen some lousy speakers who charge an absolute fortune on the back of their previous career or accomplishments.

5. Some speakers are represented by agencies that book gigs for them. Do you recommend this?

When I first started out speaking professionally (i.e. being paid to speak) I was doing everything myself. Finding gigs, responding to inquiries, negotiating, planning travel, invoicing, chasing payment, etc. It was time consuming and really frustrating, especially anything to do with money. I didn’t know what I should be charging, how to structure the contracts to protect myself, when to say no to a gig, or what to do if an event organizer didn’t pay. The latter happened often, surprisingly–I’m still owed a pretty sizable fee for a gig I did 2 years ago.

Lesson learned. But for the last year I’ve been represented by a London-based agency called JLA (JLA.co.uk) who are awesome. They were recommended to me by a friend who is also represented by them. They take care of everything for me: finding gigs, negotiating on my behalf, all the contractual work, taking care of logistics, etc. They pay me directly, too, so I never have to worry about not getting paid.

6. How does getting representation work—do you reach out to them or do they reach out to you?

I got in touch with JLA, mentioning my friend’s recommendation, and we arranged to meet at their office. The meeting was mainly to see if my speaking style, content, etc would be a good fit for their client base and whether I felt they would be a good fit for the market I was going after. It’s been a fantastic relationship since Day 1.

All that said, I’ve been approached a number of times by other agencies who either want to represent me or want to feature me on their site. The latter happens often as agencies work together to cross-promote speakers. So it can work in both directions, but the key is to find an agent or agency that you can have a good, honest, open working relationship with and who really understands your style and content.

7. How many speaking engagements do you do a year?

My busiest year was 2010 when I did close to 30 engagements all over the world and racked up 103,000 miles of travel. I pulled back dramatically in 2011 so I could spend time with my newborn son. Right now I do about 1-2 paid events a month. That includes everything from full-day workshops to keynote speeches to MC’ing events for private organizations.

8. What do you think are the keys of being a successful public speaker?

You have to know your stuff. Inside and out. And I don’t just mean your subject matter, I mean your material. You have to know every slide, every transition, every image. That way you can present without notes or prompts which makes you seem conversational but knowledgeable– which is what all good speakers should be aiming for. It’s also super important to have simple, clean slides. In my most recent keynotes, over 80% of my slides only have one line OR graphic/chart on them. That way you’re not asking the audience to listen to you AND read an essay at the same time. Speaking of essays, avoid reading from a prepared script–so many people trip up on this one. They spend hours and hours writing out every word of their speech and then stand up and recite it verbatim. Snoozefest. It’s also lazy and a disservice to your audience and to you as a speaker. Finally, have fun! Relax, enjoy, go a little nuts and march around the stage–people will dig your energy and enthusiasm.

9. What is the best part of your job?

The people. I can’t think of many jobs where I would get to meet such a broad range of people in such a short space of time. And I’m not just talking about job roles or even industries, I’m talking about entirely different cultures. Whenever I go to an event I make it a point to hang out with as many people attending the event as possible, and I’ve made some great friends as a result. Another great thing about my job is that I’m exposed to a broad variety of new subjects. Each time I speak I spend several days researching the industry, the country, the attending companies, etc and since I speak at trade events for industries I know absolutely nothing about, several times a year I get to learn an entirely new subject. They have all been, without exception, fascinating.

10. What is the worst part of your job?

Apart from being away from home, I would say the worst part is the unpredictable nature of the speaking industry. You never know when your next event is going to be, so it can make it quite hard to plan around, both financially and logistically. It’s hard to factor in speaking work to your annual budget because while events pop up throughout the year, it would be a mistake to assume you’ll get a certain number of events during a given period. I’ve been doing this professionally for 2 years now and haven’t seen any patterns to how and when events come my way.

11. What is the work/family/life balance like for you?

It’s a series of extremes. Since I work from home I get to spend a lot of time with my wife and 15 month old son. But speaking frequently takes me all over the world, and I’m certainly grateful for that, but being away from my family really sucks. It got so bad that I started trying to figure out the shortest possible amount of time I could be away. So I’d fly from San Francisco to Singapore for 20 hours or back to London for a day and a half. Not healthy or fun. But I’ve been working on that and try to bring my wife and son with me when I visit new places or just turn the gig down if I think I’ll be gone for too long. On the flip side, the income means I can focus on other projects (my latest project is here www.plonkr.net) and not have to worry too much about paying the bills, as long as the speaking events come in reasonably regularly.

12. What is the biggest misconception people have about your job?

People are often surprised to hear that I’m paid a fee to speak at events. They assume that my expenses (travel, accommodation, etc) are covered but that the only people who are paid to speak are celebrities and ex-politicians. They’re even more surprised when I tell them the upper fee range that some people in the industry are commanding. But the world of professional public speaking is absolutely open to anyone who is knowledgeable and passionate about their subject. If you can relay your thoughts with enthusiasm and clarity, people will pay good money to hear what you have to say.

13. Any other advice, tips, commentary or anecdotes you’d like to share?

A couple of years ago I wrote down 10 tips for being an engaging public speaker. I live by these and they’ve served me well so far. You can find them here: http://thinkvitamin.com/web-industry/10-kick-ass-presentation-techniques/ To ultimately be successful as a public speaker, you need to be an entertainer AND educator. You have to hold hundreds of people’s attention for 30-60 minutes while giving them interesting, useful information to go home with. I won’t lie, it’s exhausting. But a hell of a lot of fun.

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September 15, 2010

From: Matt
To: Colin, Charlie

Here’s a thought… we all have a reasonable amount of disposable income to invest.  I say we push this talk into a seriously productive conversation and put our money where our mouth is.  Let’s START A BUSINESS.

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This was taken from an actual email that I sent out to my friends, and now business partners, just over a year ago.  At the time, all of us were at work, and in the process of catching up on life via email.   We started out with the pretty typical topics of conversation: weekends, women (or lack thereof), and sports.  However, as shown above, the dialogue quickly turned.  This topic was born out of a frustration of sitting on the sidelines while success stories kept popping up around us.

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I’d love to see where WE could go in 1 – 2 months if we actually started brainstorming and developing an idea, investing, and letting it roll… I mean, how nice would it be for all of us to earn some extra bucks on the side for the very same amount of time we spend staying in touch. We need to get off our asses and put something together.

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It was a simple challenge: stop talking and start doing.  Within two hours our group had thrown out more than a handful of good ideas.  By the end of the day, the foundation for an investment in ourselves had been established.  After all, daydreaming is the fun part: it costs nothing, demands little, and the possibilities are endless.

Yet, starting a business is never easy.  With that being said, technology has afforded our generation the ability to create businesses much more efficiently and cheaply than ever before. By capitalizing on outsourcing and the power of the internet, creating a business in which you simply have to manage the moving parts is within reach for most of us.

Besides, becoming a small business entrepreneur has never been so enticing.  Let’s face it–in this economy it can be hard to find a traditional job, much less any job.  For those who have lost their jobs in corporate America, entrepreneurship can create an opportunity for financial independence by allowing you to become your own boss.  Even for those who have steady jobs or a main career objective, starting a business on the side can create another stream of income to help build wealth and give you options for your future.

In one of my earlier posts, I detailed my own model for self-publishing my book, Have Her Over for Dinner.  The positive feedback received from readers such as you made it clear that being open about the wins, losses, mistakes, failures, and triumphs of my own endeavors can help motivate you to push forward on your own goals and dreams.

So, here’s a look behind the scenes of my latest venture, Moonshine; a gentleman’s cologne.

(MONTHS 1 – 3)

IDEA/CONCEPT

Why cologne?  Good question.  I prefer being the underdog in a world full of corporate players that are “too big to be good.”  Similar to Brett–I’m sure many people balked at his idea of creating another men’s blog–especially considering the competition in the marketplace.  Two books later, and with hundreds of thousands of loyal readers and fans, his success is proof positive that being the biggest isn’t always necessarily the best.

Besides, I think wearing cologne is manly.  And despite what great marketing execs may say, I didn’t feel like I needed a big-time celebrity to tell me what I should smell like. Instead, we thought the market could support an independent cologne that smelled great, without all of the hype.

PARTNERS

There’s an old saying: “If you want to lose a friend, go into business with them.”  Before becoming involved with business partners (especially friends), you should be clear on each other’s personality types, business sense, and overall goals for the business.  Without exception, a legal contract should be executed by each party which clearly outlines responsibilities and rewards for each individual.   In my experience, most partnerships fail due to a lack of communication.  Similar to personal relationships, if you do not communicate with your business partners, issues are bound to arise.  One person feels as though he is putting in more work than the other.  The other person questions spending habits or business practices.  These issues can be solved with open and effective communication.  In the end, focus on the positives, and let business be business.   

With the idea in hand, my friends and I got to talking specifics.  It soon became apparent that we would need to be able to switch between friendship and business mode when analyzing what each person could viably bring to the table.

For this venture, I partnered with two friends from college, Colin and Charlie.  Colin is an attorney in Dallas, TX, so he was able to handle all of the business set-up and contract work that was required for such a start-up–saving us thousands of dollars.  Charlie sells insurance in NC and is also a part-time model.  He was able to acquire product liability insurance on the cheap, in addition to connecting us with other wholesalers in the fashion industry.  Me?  Well, I finally got to use my degree in International Business and French when it came time to sourcing cologne in France or products abroad.  In essence, we created our business, product, and partnership around each other’s strengths.

Yet there was one thing we were all lacking–knowledge of the fragrance industry.  Instead of worrying about what we didn’t know–giving us an excuse to NOT move forward–we worked through it.  In fact, it became a strength of our product to not constrain ourselves by what we deemed as the “status quo” in the industry.  If you want a celebrity endorsement or a half-naked man peddling cologne to you, we are not your guys, and Moonshine is not your cologne.

(MONTH 3 – 6)

RESEARCH/TESTING

It’s one thing to have a great idea, but it’s another thing to see if that idea is actually viable in the market. Technology allows us to quickly access potential competitors, markets, and opportunities.  A simple internet search will give you the opportunity to research all aspects of your business including potential suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, etc.–depending on your business model.  During this phase, you can also begin to estimate risk vs. return.  You should be able to accurately portray how much you stand to lose or win on an investment before moving forward.

Now was the time to start doing some research.  During our testing phase, we found out pretty quickly that most of our demographic (stores, press, critics, buyers, etc.) wouldn’t give our product a second look unless it was made in France.  Although quotes for producing the product domestically turned out to be much cheaper, in the end we decided to partner with a parfumeur in Grasse, France.  This provided credibility in the marketplace.

This is also the phase where you can afford to make mistakes.  We ordered samples from suppliers to test out potential bottles, caps, labels, etc.  After countless sample orders, we at last settled on a final product . . .

But something went wrong.  Our bottle supplier ended up running out of our choice of bottle before we could order.  It was a major mishap, as all of our packaging, labels, caps, and “look” of the brand had been built around the bottle.  After scouring the internet–and contacting suppliers around the world–we actually ended up finding a new bottle that we liked even more.  What boils down to two short sentences now, was actually two long months of additional cold calls, uncertainty, and frustration.  In other words, be ready for surprises.  Take on challenges one at a time and don’t let one issue steer the entire ship off course.

After getting final estimates on the cost of cologne, bottles, boxes, caps, and all of our other supplies, we put together a simple Excel spreadsheet to analyze our risk vs. return.

In the end, the numbers made sense (down to the dollar, actually).  It was time to move forward.

COMMITMENT

After careful deliberation, finding the right business relationships, and testing the viability and potential return of the idea–it’s time to put your money where your mouth is–seriously.  Until that money is laid out on the line, you will continue to let time, work, family, friends, weekends, and relationships push back a potential gold mine of an idea.  I actually learned this very important lesson in business from running marathons.  Until my money for the race was paid, I never actually trained that hard.  Same thing in business–once you lay out the cash, your instincts are to find a way to get it back.

We set up a bank account, giving everyone in the partnership access to the online banking profile (transparency).  In addition, our email account and websites were all set up so that we could all access each other’s profiles to view all of the “goings on” from each partner.  Of course, this is a personal choice–most of us travel so regularly that we wanted to be able to quickly access each other’s accounts if something was needed on the fly.  However, every relationship and business is different, and privacy and trust should be addressed and respected.

(MONTHS 6 – 9)

FULFILLMENT

It’s time to go to work.

We decided to base our operations out of Greensboro, NC (Charlie’s home).  We had access to free storage (Charlie’s parents’ basement), and Charlie’s flexible work schedule allowed him to take charge of fulfillment and shipping.  We determined that it was much cheaper to do the physical labor of filling, bottling, and packaging ourselves, so Colin and I flew to Greensboro to assist Charlie.   On top of that, this idea, this side business, this grandiose figment of a plan, had somehow transformed into more than just an investment of our money–it was an experience.  We all wanted to be together to bring that first bottle into existence.

Then there was the work–and lots of it!  After a long weekend of bottling product, shooting photos, building a website, and drinking a few beers–we were now in business.

LAUNCH/SALES/PUBLICITY

Now that you have a product and business, it’s time to go let the world know about it.  This is the time where you will hear the word “no” more than you’ve ever heard it before in your entire life.  I mentioned in my previous article that I set a goal of getting at least 10 “no’s” each day–that way I knew I was working hard enough.  Depending on your business, people are going to shoot down your ideas all of the time.  Use that negative energy as motivation to make something positive.

Armed with product in hand, we went to work reaching out to stores and press outlets.  Let’s face it–cold calling is tough, but it’s par for the course.  Remain persistent by following up with phone calls, emails, etc. until you get your yes–or no.

Fortunately, we knew this idea was going to be successful pretty early on.  Having set our sights on the top independent men’s stores throughout the country, we were only a week’s worth of sales calls in, and we’d landed our product in over 80% of our target stores.  Trust me, this was not due to slick sales tactics, rather it was the result of our tedious research and testing.  In the end, the hardest part of the sales process was simply finding the right buyer–not pushing the product.

Regarding publicity–I would argue that having a solid online campaign is more successful these days than the traditional route of magazines, newspapers, and television.  Of course, getting a spot on the TODAY show never hurts!

It’s important to also know your limitations.  Macy’s isn’t, and shouldn’t be, knocking on our door.  We knew from day one that where we placed our product was just as important as the product itself.  By defining success in attainable limits centered on branding, and not buyers, we’ve set ourselves up for those higher aspirations down the road.

(MONTHS 9 – Onward)

Once the engines are on and the boat is moving, somebody has to keep steering the ship.  A successful sales and publicity campaign can allow you to quickly recoup your investment and turn a profit.  However, things can turn south in a hurry.  Successful CEO’s, managers, and entrepreneurs are those that can manage the day-to-day tasks while also having an eye on the big-picture.  Building relationships, maintaining satisfied customers, and remaining innovative are all crucial elements for continued success.

Now that our venture is successful, we are hard at work on expanding our brand.  Realizing that a large order from a major supplier or partnership might take weeks to complete, we’ve created a contingency plan to handle the fulfillment through a third-party supplier.  In addition to working on Moonshine, we are in the process of developing our women’s fragrance, Speakeasy – An Intoxicating Aroma, set to debut next year.

The bottom line, though, is this.  I’m constantly reminding myself that success is what we make of it.  Sometime into the process, we agreed that if we could create something together that we were proud of, whether or not external influences agreed with us, it would be a success.  If we came away with nothing more than a great story of our semi-successful business venture, we were already a success.  Well, fortunately our little idea has proven to be more successful than we could have ever imagined–but our eyes still remain focused on the “big win.”  Sephora?  Nordstroms?  Time will tell.

In the end, we earned our success, story, experience, and so much more.  Chances are you’ve had an even better idea.  Today is the day to make something happen.  Take it from me, you’re worth the investment.

Have you started a venture or small business? Share your tips with us in the comments. Also, this is your chance to tell us about the great businesses you guys are trying to get going. Share your links and your story–tell us all about what you’ve been working on or hope to start working on!

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