HIT Piece 3.08.2016

The old saw went “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

This old warning is meant to indicate that believing in the efficacy of your own plans—and your human ability to execute them—is a form of hubris and arrogance, doomed to failure from the start.

More appropriate for these days might be, “If you want to hear other people laugh, tell them your plans.”

Other people believe (or disbelieve) in you accomplishing your plans, based on ideas, thoughts, and experiences originating in their lives. Their judgement on the hubris and arrogance of your plans may means more to you than that of a silent (at least to you making the plans) God.

Even more appropriate for our times might be, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him how you’re going to accomplish your plans without Him.”

Hubris and arrogance still run rampant, and many people are hoisted by their own social media feeds. Many others experience a species of schadenfreude when watching other people fail. But very rarely are people ridiculously prepared, ridiculously talented, and ridiculously driven to walking the will of God out in their lives.

-Peace Be With You All-

Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: jsorrells@hsconsultingandtraining.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HSConsultingandTraining
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesansorrells/

HIT Piece 3.1.2016

The value of strategy and tactics—and knowing the difference is two-fold:

You have to know what the map looks like in order to figure out how to get where you’re going.

You have to know what your strengths are in order to accomplish what you want to do.

Strategy (the map) and how to navigate the map (tactics) are not the territory. The territory is the field, the platform, the audience, the market, the brand, and at the furthest end, the horizon and the dent in the universe that you want to make with your life.

Internal conflicts come about because people often confuse the map with the territory. Or they, on purpose, use the language of principles to describe positions that are negotiable. Very few people speak and live in spaces and markets where they mean what they say, and they say what they mean.

When you’re launching a project, knowing the difference between strategy (the map), tactics (how to navigate the map), and the territory (where in reality you want to end up) can make all the difference between walking with authority and wandering with confusion.

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 2.23.2016 – The Book Trailer

My book, Marketing For Peace Builders: How to Market Your Value to a World in Conflict is one step closer to being completed today.

I recorded a book trailer (link here), laying out some important points from the book, and encouraging you to get on the pre-order list.

After you’ve watched the trailer, send me an email with the subject line: PRE-ORDER list and I’ll add your name to my list, no questions asked.

Then, closer to the end of February (which is fast approaching) I will be at the end of the proofing cycle and will open up pre-orders for people on the exclusive list only!

I’ve already got a few names, but I’d really like to add more, because I think that peacemaking and money making shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.

Because I think that getting the word out about a path to peace is critical and the only way that peace builders can do that is with a stream of consistent revenue and consistent clients.

Because I know that peace building is hard, marketing and business development is even harder, and that there are no “silver bullet” solutions—no matter what the Internet tells you.

Because I know that relationship based, permission marketing is the only way for the relationship oriented, peace builder to make a mark on this conflict-ridden world with their message.

And…

Because I know that you want to go along with me on this amazing journey, one step at a time.

So, send me an email. Join the pre-order list. And let’s make peace together.

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 2.16.2016

Here’s an update…

I listen to a lot of podcasts. A LOT.

One of the better ones out there for entrepreneurs, thougth leaders, and others that isn’t filled with Silicon Valley hype, or “unicorn” nonsense is the Stanford Entrepreneurial Podcast series. This podcast allows real entrepreneurs to advance their ideas, and increasingly has been a platform for venture capitalists and others to come to Stanford.

Mitch Joel continues to care about his industry, marketing, the changing nature of work, and innovation. His Six Pixels of Separation podcast is beyond interesting and it drops every Sunday. Oh, and he just had his 500^th episode. Talk about longevity in the podcast medium…

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is actually trying some revolutionary things with their branded content in the podcasting space. From Science Fridays to Stuff You Oughta Know, they have managed to brand their sound, their host approach and interview style, and even the types of questions that they ask. Public radio may be on the decline in cars, but it will survive (in one form or another) on the Internet. The podcast I listen to—and am consistently fascinated by—is Death, Sex, and Money. Hosted by Anna Sale, the podcast cuts to the heart of things left out of polite conversations.

Adam Carolla is building a pirate ship. All that means is if you don’t like his podcast, then it’s not for you. This is the best possible approach to building content with the tools that the Internet provides, particularly if you don’t want to be beholden to corporate sponsors, the whims of mercurial audiences, and the dictates of “good” taste. Listen to the Adam Carolla Show and find out what I’m talking about.

Podcasting is a medium of relationships, engagement, collaboration, and a place to build a brand, drip by drip. Thank you to all who are out there putting out their craft.

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 2.09.2016

There used to be a time when it used to be ok to be…just…well…OK….

That time has passed.

We are now in an era where being “the best in the world” is not an unattainable goal. “The best in the world” doesn’t mean the best in the whole global world, with a name, a product, a process, or a service on every lip, or at the top of every mind. “The best in the world” means the best in YOUR world.

YOUR world of 2000 daily blog readers.

YOUR world of 1500 unique downloaders per month of your podcast.

YOUR world of 10000 views on your YouTube Channel every time you post a video.

YOUR world of 500 buyers of your book that you self-published.

…drip…

All that effort–that “drip,” “drip”–is where mediocre, average, and just “ok” wind up dying. I wrote a couple of weeks ago that the work is the thing that matters. And if the work to gain an audience of under 15,000 people who will pay for what I do is the same as the work to gain 10 times that number, what do I have to gain by being just “ok.”?

The real rub is for those people for whom ok—or even average—is maybe the tip of their talent, drive, or engagement level.

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 2.2.2016

Changes are natural. As an entrepreneur, you have to be able to roll with them and adapt to them without losing your mind, your equanimity, or your focus on the end goal.

That’s hard, because with each change, the end goal shifts from being a long-term goal, to being a short-term need.

With each change, the entrepreneur’s perspective changes and shifts as well, and sometimes, the weight of those changes can force the entrepreneur into a mental, emotional, and even financial, dip.

Powering through the dip—and making it to the other side—without losing your equanimity, your mind, or your focus on the end goal, is the only work of the entrepreneur that matters.

The reason many investors, money men, banks, and governments, tend to ignore or overlook the lifestyle entrepreneurs (such as consultants, trainers, and others) is that yes, they don’t create scalable models, but, those entrepreneurs tend to quit in the middle of dip leaving behind debt.

I’m not quitting. And hopefully, neither are you…

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 1.26.2016

The noise of the world seeks to crowd out the silence of being alone. The modern world eschews being alone as a sign of some sort of pathology, but this is merely more crowding out.

A leader, thinker, or developer of any kind needs to be alone to be effective. In the silence of being alone, one can learn to motivate others and yourself. Schedules, calendars, emails, all of these create background chatter that move, push, and manipulate many people into feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and never done.

I love it when my character evolves, and is challenged, in the sounds of silence, which I seek to make more space for in my work life, even as my responsibilities increase. This silence—and creating and preserving the conditions for such silence to begin and endure—is where all the work is.

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 1.19.2015

When I’m blogging, I’m working.

When I’m recording a podcast interview, I’m working.

When I’m in a pitch meeting with a potential client, I’m working.

When I’m facilitating a training, I’m working.

When I’m designing a training for a client until 1am in the morning, I’m working.

When I’m surfing the Internet researching a business idea, I’m working.

When I’m on Skype talking with a potential client in another space, I’m working.

When I’m answering your email, I’m working.

When I’m making a follow-up phone call, I’m working.

When I’m at a networking event talking to you, I’m working.

When I’m reading a blog post, news article, or insight on my phone and it looks like I’m ignoring you, I’m working.

When I’m Tweeting, Facebook-ing, or otherwise engaging on social media, I’m working.

I’m not working when I’m at the movie theatre with my kids. Or, sitting on the couch with my wife. Or, when I’m cooking dinner and listening to jazz music. Or, when I’m reading a book.

I only actually get paid for one of those things on that list above. But without all the other things on the list, I can’t do the one thing well enough to add value to your organization so that you pay me.

Trust me…I’m working…

-Peace Be With You All-

Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT:jsorrells@hsconsultingandtraining.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HSConsultingandTraining
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesansorrells/

HIT Piece 1.12.2016

I was watching a documentary about boxing last night.

Boxing is based on four major assumptions that have stood it in good stead as a popular sport in America—until its relatively recent dethroning by MMA.

The first assumption is that all good boxers come from backgrounds of poverty, violence and crime, and that they work their way out of those situations through force of will.

The second assumption is that the audience is electrified by the external fight against the opponent in the ring; whereas each individual boxer is in the ring to see if he can “go the distance” and win the internal fight.

The third assumption is that the business that supports the boxers and the economic system built around the fighter who is taking all the risk, is an inherently corrupt and unethical system, built on deceit, lies, and greed.

The last assumption is that boxers are going to get injured (concussions, Alzheimer’s, broken bones, etc.) because the inherent nature of the sport is brutality for the sake of spectacle.

The boxers featured in the documentary, from Evander Holyfield to Bernard Hopkins, all lived out either some or all of these assumptions in one way or the other and became changed by all of them. And it got me thinking:

What assumptions am I operating under?
What fights are the audience watching me “win” publicly, when the greatest battles are the ones that they don’t ever see?
What words were spoken over my life when I was a child by my parents, the neighborhood, the friends I had, that influenced me to get to where I am today?
What is the economic system that supports (or hinders) the business that I’m in of making peace?
What am I risking (physically, financially, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, etc.) in order to “go the distance” and can I do it, or will I declare, just before I would’ve won the fight “no mas”?

There’s no “Old-Timers” Day at the retirement home for boxers. Many end up broken—physically, financially, and spiritually—but for those individual men, fighting was the only way out of death.

-Peace Be With You All-

HIT Piece 1.5.2016

Well, it’s a New Year and here are some new hits:

It’s time to start saying “no” more often: This doesn’t mean that I’ll be saying “no” to every opportunity that comes along, but it does mean that there is going to be a newly instituted “three strikes and you’re out” mentality and behavior moving forward. It’s amazing to me that more professionals don’t say “no” when they are treated shabbily by large clients. Integrity and respect matter more this year.

It’s time to clean out my email inbox: With two (and upwards of three) different email accounts I juggle daily; last year was a time suck of epic proportions around email. I have started 2016 by deleting 19,276 emails from my “promotions” tab in Gmail. And that’s not an exaggeration.

It’s time to write more often: After working with an editor on my upcoming project, I have become more convinced that second drafts of blog posts are the way to go, rather than what I did last year too often. As a matter of fact, this is a second draft right here…

It’s time to read more books (that relate to where I want to go, versus where I am right now): Last year I read a lot, but this year, I’d like the reading to be more targeted, like The Consulting Bible by Alan Weiss. This book I started over the holiday and it’s been kicking my butt.

It’s time to be done by 6pm (or 7pm): The nights that my kids are home (and I’ve been at home grinding all day) I should be done by 6pm. Yes, I know that Gary Vaynerchuk and many others promote the grind and the 8pm to 12am philosophy of working, but I get up at 5am, so….

It’s time to be more “real” in my blog writing (and to get someone else to build a website/manage it for me): I spent an unconscionable number of hours last year on the back end of the website that supports this blog. But I’m not a webmaster, web designer, or web consultant. I’m a conflict engagement consultant, corporate trainer, and social media marketer for peace builders. It’s time to outsource the rest of it.

It’s time to “get real” about video, streaming and otherwise: Yes. I know about the upside down economics of working on YouTube’s farm. And I realize that less than 2.5% of the country has even heard of Periscope, Meerkat, Vine, Twitter Video, Snapchat Video, or realizes that Facebook rolled out video on their platform in the 4Q of 2015.

But I know.

And I know what they’re about and the utility (or lack thereof in some cases) of the applications to my business.

It’s time to travel more—for business: Last year, I logged close to 10,000 miles in travel. Just around the state of NY alone. I need to expand beyond the state of NY and expand into air travel, which means more targeted focus in the last area.

It’s time to meet my audience (both in person and digitally) and to engage with them more: The audience is everything and I need to meet them more. I know who my fans are, and I know what they like, by virtue of which blog posts they share, like and comment on. So, I’d like to meet them in person, to grow the network, grow the engagement and to talk with them about the upcoming projects and products, I’ve been developing and will be launching in mid-1Q, mid-2Q and mid 3Q. Stay tuned…

-Peace Be With You All-