Why I do What I do

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After an amazing interview I did with Neil Patel (Link) last year, I realized what I truly had been doing for the past few years.

Working very hard to put a smile on people’s faces.

Yep, that’s my main goal.

I’m going to brag just a bit here, but I do so to help explain my point.

I’ve helped amazing entrepreneurs earn a lot more money:

• Danielle LaPorte – Author
• Barbara Sher – Best Selling Author
• Steve Kamb of NerdFitness.com – Online Entrepreneur
• Jenny Blake – Online Entrepreneur
• Glen Allsopp – Online Entrepreneur
• Amy Porterfield – Online Entrepreneur
• Michael Port – Best Selling Author

I do this because it amazes me that these people choose to work with me. I feel blessed.

I have a list of entrepreneurs that you’ve probably never heard about, but they get me just as excited to wake up in the morning as the more famous ones.

It all started with a passion project.

Work Happy Now

I started a blog to help businesses create a happier work culture for their employees because I hated every job I’ve ever had. As I’ve developed the blog, it has shifted to help people with their careers.

Work Happy Now was my 5^th attempt at a blog, and my first real attempt at starting a business.

Since 2008, I’ve published 521 articles on Work Happy Now. That’s a lot of time researching, reading and breathing work happiness.

As the years passed, I enjoyed connecting with people on Work Happy Now, but I also missed writing about business and helping companies. I needed to unleash my connecting superpowers. I had a degree and a lot of experience in marketing, but I wasn’t utilizing this knowledge.  So I started a marketing blog (Party Biz Connect), which revolved around helping companies throw Twitter parties.

Twitter parties were a cool way to help launch their cool stuff. (Not sure what a Twitter party is click here.) The basics are… I get a really cool experts on the phone and they talk about concepts that help small business owners grow their company. I engage people on Twitter asking them questions, and the people the tweet in response get a chance to win some cool prizes. It’s turns into a really cool domino effect on Twitter.

It’s a win-win for everyone. The audience deepens their knowledge and connects with the expert. The expert deepens their connection with their audience and as the tweet on Twitter their message tip into their friends bringing more people to that part.

I used to hate marketing, actually I should say I dislike traditional marketing. I earned a marketing degree and went to work to help companies grow, but I didn’t like many of the tactics the companies used. It was about pushing out a message in print media, TV, radio, and billboards and hoping people liked the message. It was mostly a waste of money. Then social media came around and businesses started realizing the importance of connecting, engaging, and building relationships.

As I grew the Domino Connection of my business, I met some wonderful people, but once again like work happiness it was hard to monetize Twitter parties. This was after 9 months of hard work. And then I found a lump in my right testicle.

Evil Stone

I discovered I had cancer. I was scared, angry and confused, but I had the loving support of my wife to help me through and it taught me a lot.

Fear and stress dominated my life, even though I wrote about how to deal with it on Work Happy Now. It was a funny irony. I guess we research and write about the topics we need to learn.

My urologist told me that I needed it removed the next day. I went into surgery, still in shock. I remember holding my wife’s hand before I went into surgery, I tried to be tough, but I couldn’t hold back. The whole situation overtook me and I cried like a little boy, and as I look back on everything, I really did fee like a little boy at the time.

After I had my testicle removed, they tested everything and the doctors said I caught it early. I’ve been free of cancer for 2.5 years and hope to stay cancer-free for another 50 years. As I knock on wood.

Over the next year as I recovered, I began to feel less burdened by life. I stopped letting that inner negative voice hold me back. I started living my life more fully.

Have you ever had a life-altering event that changed how you view life?

Now I didn’t quit my job and travel around the world. I had a wife and child to help support, but I did live in the moment. I made choices on what I wanted, not what other people wanted from me.

As I began to let the real me open up, that’s when my boss told me I was getting laid off. I was free and very afraid.

What should I do next? Find a new job?  That’s what I tried to do. I was afraid to go after my dreams.

You’ve probably looked back on your career and wondered how you’ve got where you are. I’ve done this countless times. I actually try to do this with my gratitude journal every day. This reflection helps me stay focused.

As many of you know, I’m a huge advocate of unleashing and leveraging your superpowers. It’s how you really learn to love what you do.

I began to be more contemplative as I looked for a job and nothing came. I sent out resume after resume, went on interviews, but nothing clicked.

I couldn’t find a job because deep down I didn’t want a job. I wanted my own business.

The Next Leap

As I continued to help entrepreneurs throw Twitter parties, I began to see my company’s flaws. People were coming to me at the end of their launch instead of the beginning. I had to turn a lot of people away.

As I’ve built this business up, I’ve learned so many valuable lessons. Why relationships are so important, why relaxation is a must in everyone’s workday, how marketing can be fun instead of tedious, and how to be happy with my work. It’s been a MBA degree like no other. It’s why I think a MBA is actually a waste of time. You need to apply your superpowers out in the real world, mess up, fix it, alter the direction and keep improving until you’ve hit your sweet spot.

When I stopped focusing on finding a new job, that’s when I began to trust my superpowers and use them to help other entrepreneurs.

Shifts

My journey has taken me to meet some amazing people. It’s helped me grow my business and as a person.

It’s these shifts that have made me into the business owner that I am today.

I’m going to continue to help people be happier at work because I love it. Work Happy Now is a passion project that I hope to maybe turn into a non-profit some day.

Life should be about engaging in projects that excite you, not work that bores you. You have to love what you do, otherwise you end up burning out and hating life. That’s no way to do great work.

That’s why core values should be the cornerstone of every business. When you connect your core values with your work, the work stops feeling like work and becomes playful.

You connect with people through shared interests.

That’s why the interview I did with Neil Patel was so important. He became a vital part of my domino set that I will always consider a turning point.

I realized that I could deepen my superpowers and best utilize them by helping teach entrepreneurs the process of…

Closing Their Connection Gaps

This has been a huge turning point in my business.

When I figured out that I help businesses close their connection gaps, so they can reach more people, everything clicked.

It’s why I do what I do.

This sentence that you see above took me years to figure out, but it’s what separates me from other marketers. I prefer not to think of myself as a marketer because connecting and deepening the connection is where most business should put their communication efforts.

If you aren’t looking at the whole sales process from first connection to what leads to a sale you are missing out on new customers. You have to make sure every step of your communication process tips and builds momentum for you along the way.

A lot of what I’ve learned hasn’t come from books. I like getting my hands dirty. Trying something, testing it and seeing what happens. The frustration of missing my target makes me more motivated to figure out the solution.

What gets you more motivated to succeed?

Look back on your career and see how everything has dominoed to today. You have been putting dominoes in place for many years, connecting with people and learning skills that no one else can copy. Now it’s just improving your systems so they tip into each other.

Your tipping point is coming and I can’t wait to see it happen.

Your Turn

Tell me a little about yourself. Why do you do what you do? Just leave a comment below. The person with the best answer (judged by me) will get a free 1 hour strategy session.