Escape From Cubicle Nation Podcast

I think it was fate that Michael Port released his new book The Think Big Manifesto within a few days of the release of mine.Becoming comfortable with thinking big and gathering the courage to leave a "safe" life in a cube behind walk hand in hand.So I interviewed Michael about his book in this 20-minute conversation, where we talk about:Why you need to unhook from the "gurus"How your kids can push you to do your best workWhy it is important to think big about what you do and how you operate in the worldThe benefits of collaboration vs. competitionOur shared passion for martial arts, and the connection with thinking big

I will never forget reading Tom Peter's article The Brand Called You in Fast Company Magazine in August 1997.  Growth in Silicon Valley was sizzling hot, and the fresh perspective on personal marketing was totally new and exciting.25-year old Dan Schwabel felt the same thing when he read the article, although it was many years later, when he stumbled upon it on the internet.  According to Dan, it summed up what he had been doing in his own education and career since Junior High.  So he made the decision to become the personal branding expert for the new generation.Today, Dan releases his first book on the topic, called Me 2.0:  Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.I interviewed him in a 23-minute podcast where we discuss:How to build your own personal brandCan you still build a strong personal brand if you are no longer a young whipper-snapper?How to maintain focus on brand building in a busy lifeHow to start small and grow your visibility in national and global markets We can all learn from Dan'

I spent many years speaking to groups across the country, and even teaching presentation skills to hundreds of salespeople and engineers.It was always fascinating to me since it combined so many favorite subjects:  motivation, communication, fear, physical movement, design and creativity.In today's conversation with Nick Morgan, I took my learning to a whole new level.  His new book, Trust Me:  Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma integrates a lot of new research about the brain to help speakers become truly masterful.  We talk about:Why you do need to practice to appear spontaneousHow your brain drives your body language which can make you lose credibility (or gain it) before you even open your mouthThe specific steps to build great trust and credibility with your audienceWhy the "Tell em what you are going to tell em, tell em, tell em what you told em" presentation structure that has been the standard for years is totally wrong.  (I gulped a bit on that one, since I used to teach this)How to structure th

Just about an hour ago, Daniel Kehrer asked me (on Twitter of course!):  Are you finding lots more folks going freelance because of the economy? Glad you asked Daniel! In today's podcast, I talk with Michelle Goodman, author of the new book My So-Called Freelance Life.  It is chock-full of information for people who are considering freelancing on the side, or as a full-time pursuit.  Michelle and I talk about all kinds of nuts and bolts questions about freelancing including: How in the world do you get your first client when you work full-time in a "real" job?Should you ever work for free to get started?How to you contract for work appropriately to avoid scope creep?Should you bother to list your services on the "bidding" sites like Elance or Guru?When can "competitors" be a great source of referrals for your business? I think one of the best ways to test the waters of entrepreneurship, even if you are not ready to leave your job for a few years, is to do a freelance project.  Enjoy the co

I may have set a new record for the shortest time from concept to production for a podcast:  20 minutes ago, I shared on Twitter that my best friend, Desiree Adaway, set up a personal board of directors last year and just sent me her annual report.Desiree is the Senior Director of Volunteer Mobilization for Habitat for Humanity, and felt the need to get expert advice and insight from people she trusted and admired.Many people were interested in hearing her story, so I called her up and recorded a podcast on the spot.  I hope you enjoy our conversation in which we cover:What is a personal board of directors How to choose good membersHow to make sure the relationship is mutually beneficialHow to get the most out of the mentoring relationship Desiree and I learned of the concept from Jim Collins in Good to Great.  Here are a few articles which expand on the topic:BusinessWeek:  Good to Great ExpectationsIn Jim's own words from the Fast Company Design Conference in Phoenix, 2000:  Why have a personal board of di

Who doesn't love the film Rocky or hearing about how J.K. Rowling lived near destitute while her Harry Potter manuscript got rejected by scores of publishers right before hitting it richer than the Queen of England? A lot of our view of failure in popular American culture is romanticized.  The fact is, while you are failing, it feels really awful and does not become the enlightened lesson that you share until you have ten years perspective between you and the excruciating experience. Author and speaker Barry Moltz addresses this topic in his most recent book called Bounce:  Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success. He shares a lot of great insight into things like: How to view failure not as a deep lesson from above, but as an integral part of starting a businessHow to not stay stuck in emotional wallowing right after blowing it bigHow to make sure you are connected with why you are trying new things that sometimes lead to failureHow to bounce quickly from failures so tha

My original and only business plan for my company was based on a Dr. Suess book.  I wish I were kidding. Owning up to my liberal arts major and rebellious roots, I didn't think I needed a "real" plan.  And, for the most part, I did fine for a decade, securing lots of clients and making a good living. But honestly, I think that I was just not thinking about business planning the right way.  I imagined reams of paper, onerous spreadsheets and carefully crafted mission statements.  Yuck. Now, Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software and prolific blogger about all things startup, has come out with a new book called the Plan as You Go Business Plan.  Even though his company makes business planning software, Tim felt a bit frustrated by the perceived hurdle new entrepreneurs attributed to business plans.  When I asked him why most people didn't write them, he said: "What people normally give me, Pam, is “Yes, I’m going to tomorrow,” or “next month,” or “six months from now.”  And then there’s the variant on t

Find Part 1 of this interview here.I get a lot of questions about blogging from people who are considering starting a business and are new to the social media world.  So does my friend Nathan Bowers, who is a web developer by trade, and also an artist/musician and all-around renaissance guy.  Nathan and I connected on Twitter recently and started a whole series of offline conversations which resulted in this 2-part podcast interview.  We wanted to reduce anxiety for new bloggers, and also draw the connection between the importance of good technology crossed with good content.  As we both noted, there are plenty of popular blogs with crappy designs, mine included.Part 2 of this interview covers:Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Creating compelling content Interview notes:Wordpress All-in-one SEO pluginArt and Fear Anecdote from the book Art and Fear

I get a lot of questions about blogging from people who are considering starting a business and are new to the social media world.  So does my friend Nathan Bowers, who is a web developer by trade, and also an artist/musician and all-around renaissance guy.  Nathan and I connected on Twitter recently and started a whole series of offline conversations which resulted in this 2-part podcast interview.  We wanted to reduce anxiety for new bloggers, and also draw the connection between the importance of good technology crossed with good content.  As we both noted, there are plenty of popular blogs with crappy designs, mine included.Part 1 of this interview covers:Defining a goal for your blogSecuring an effective domain nameChoosing a blogging platformChoosing a blog hostMeasuring the success of your blogDesign basics Interview notes:Seth Godin's advice on namingNeutron LLC naming case studiesAs a side note, Nathan walks his talk and recently redesigned Fred Wilson's popular blog avc.com.  He made the connection

I have a pile of books to read and review next to my bathtub.  The Go-Giver:  A little story about a powerful business idea sat there for awhile, until I finally picked it up the other evening and started reading it.  I was drawn in by the simple story, and got more and more encouraged by the premise as the pages went on.A review of the book by Science of Mind sets it up well:"For anyone that has ever believed that attaining success requires a greedy, self-centered approach, The Go-Giver:  A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea, could be just what the metaphysical doctor ordered.  The beautiful message contained inside this book can help us develop a more pragmatic, big-hearted and ultimately successful approach -- both to business and to life."In my interview with the co-author, Bob Burg, we discuss five key principles covered in the book:The Law of ValueYour true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in paymentThe Law of CompensationYour income is determined by how many

I was really excited to do this interview with Andy Wibbels of www.andywibbels.com after I heard that he took a "day job" as Marketing Manager at Six Apart.I have known Andy for a long time and have always admired his candor, sass and brand, as well as his business sense.  Since he has done almost everything right to create an effective business, like:Create a successful blogDefine and own a particular nicheDevelop a huge mailing list of devoted followersTeam up with great partners like Darren Rowse and Michael PortWrite a successful book (Blogwild)Get mainstream press like the Wall St. Journal and USA Today I wondered what would make him decide to become an employee.I think his answers will interest you, if not challenge some of your long-held beliefs about entrepreneurship.My conclusion at the end of the conversation is that there is no work configuration that is inherently evil.  It is all about what you are looking for, what is important to you, what you are willing to trade off, and how likely you are to

For this week's podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Schoeniger, founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative.  Gary has a really interesting story -- from dead broke desperate handyman to successful entrepreneur. Over the last 15 years, he has interviewed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs to discover which skills are critical for starting and running a business.  Many are not what you think. My favorite advice from the interview:   "Find a problem.  Figure out how to solve the problem.  Find more people with the same problem and you have a business." I like that Gary's views make me think.  I have been in "do what you love (and work and work and work and work) and the money will follow" mode for so long that the "problem/solution" model was very intriguing.

My friend Alexandra Levit just wrote a book called "How'd You Score That Gig? A Guide to the Coolest Jobs- and How to Get Them."   Her book bubbled up from lots of conversations with friends at social gatherings where inevitably one person would describe a cool job that no one had heard of. Despite what you may think of my opinion based on my blog's name, there are certainly times and places for a "job," rather than striking out on your own.  If you have to be your own venture capitalist for awhile, you might as well do it in an interesting profession!  The more time that goes on, the more I see that feelings of liberation erupt from your own positive thoughts and beliefs, no matter your work configuration. I interviewed Alexandra for my podcast where we discussed not just the contents of her new book, but also what it is like to be a successful self-employed writer.  She gives some tips for choosing book topics that are not just interesting to write, but that may pique the interest of publishers.

Sometimes I feel a bit schizophrenic, on one hand encouraging people to not stress so much about leaving their corporate job to start a business, and on the other hand feeling extremely uncomfortable about all the "start a business in 30 days in your bathrobe" nonsense that permeates the internet.Sparked by a blog post my good friend and fellow entrepreneur coach Philippa Kennealy wrote called Can you maintain your income as an entrepreneurial physician? , I invited Philippa as a guest for this week's podcast on realistic expectations for making money in your startup business.Like anything in life, you will have people at every end of the spectrum, some who get lucky making tons on money in their first year, and others who take a decade to make serious cash.In this 38-minute interview, I talk to Philippa about:Her own experience building both a coaching practice and a coaching business (there is a difference, which she explains!)What she learned by launching The Entrepreneurial MD, a coaching business focused

If you want to grow as a human being, you could climb really tall mountains.  Or run marathons.  Or study the great written works.  Or study yoga in an ashram.Or ... you could put your entire livelihood at risk and become an entrepreneur.I don't think running a business is for everyone.  But I do think that it is the best way on the planet to learn about yourself.In this episode, I list 5 reasons why I feel so strongly about this.Listen in to see if you agree or disagree, then share your opinion with me at the blog!  www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

You may notice that the closer you get to your right life and business, the more frequently coincidence, synchronicity and serendipity occur. Once thought the purvey of mystics and dreamers, more and more business people are embracing insight and intuition as a critical business skill. In this episode, I share: My own frequent experiences with synchronicity Some "rational" reasons why it may occur Resounding encouragement to stop being so stuffy and embrace the benevolent forces of the universe on your way to creating a great business. Don't worry - you won't have to buy a Grateful Dead album in order to enjoy the concepts, just have a listen and tell me what you think at the blog: www.escapefromcubiclenation.com. Technical note: This is the first podcast I am recording with my new iMac, and I saved the audio file in a different format than usual. Let me know if you have problems listening by leaving a comment here, and I will make sure to address it. Thanks!

Even the most optimistic and motivated aspiring entrepreneur will reach a point where frustration or anxiety grinds progress to a halt.  This is otherwise known as "hitting the wall."It can happen when doing things you hate such as:Making sales and marketing callsTrying to crank out a first draft of a book or productFilling out government or legal formsCreating a business plan What can you do to not let frustration derail your dreams?  My five recommendations include:Scream, whine, wail, swear and complainStep awayFind a source of immediate beauty or calmReconnect with the reason behind your entrepreneurial endeavorMake a very clear and specific goal to complete one task Let me know your ways of dealing with "The Wall" at www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

It is often tricky to know when it is safe to call yourself an expert in your field.  If you have done any research in marketing and PR, you know the benefits of an "expert" designation:  free press and the trust and credibility of potential customers, leading to more sales.But it can feel a bit presumptuous to call yourself an expert, right?This episode provides questions you can ask yourself to test your expertise, which go beyond the traditional formula of years of experience + number of academic degrees + number of books written = level of expertise.Please share your thoughts about when it is safe to call yourself an expert on the blog at www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.

I was stunned and awed this weekend when I read a great book on creative blocks called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.  Best known as a novelist of books such as The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War, and The Last of the Amazons, Pressfield writes a short but exquisite analysis of the source, purpose and solution to creative blocks.  It was published in 2002, but is a timeless classic for anyone who feels blocked from starting anything.I chose a few key concepts to explore, including:What is resistance?What is its aim?What is a quick way to overcome it? I share some juicy passages from the book, which REALLY got me fired up to stop procrasinating and get moving on long-stalled creative projects.  Here is a little taste:"Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work.  It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole.  Resistance is protean.  It will assume any form, if that's what it takes to deceive you.  It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine

People are drawn to entrepreneurship for a variety of reasons including work/life flexibility, the opportunity to contribute something meaningful to the world, the chance to make a lot of money or the platform to get known as an expert in your field.Regardless of your intentions, chances are you want to make money at what you do, and use the benefits of press and publicity to market your efforts.  In my shorthand, I call this getting rich and famous, even if in your humble definition this means being able to pay your light bill on time and getting a one-line mention in your local paper.Many first-time entrepreneurs struggle to balance the effort it takes to get rich with the effort it takes to get famous.  So in this podcast, I share 5 tips including:Spend time defining your niche So that you know exactly who you are trying to target, and which problems they have.Create a product road map So that you define what you are going to develop in what order and focus your efforts.Create the infrastructure to support