Episode 5 - Cyrus Shepard

Most of us have a fear of public speaking, but imagine speaking to a crowd of over a thousand people in your second language.

That was the situation that faced Aleyda Solis in 2012, when the folks at Moz invited her to share one of the biggest and most coveted stages in marketing at Mozcon…

But let’s rewind a little bit first.

Early opportunities created many career options

They say timing is everything, but sometimes there is a little luck involved as well.

Aleyda Solis left her native Nicaragua to attend school in Spain. While studying engineering, she also took an interest in HTML on her own time.

Apparently self study worked well for Aleyda, because she soon won an HTML contest at the University, without even taking a class!

Soon, she became interested in an Internet based career, working full time while attending university. Not many 19 year olds have that type of opportunity, but Aleyda was fortunate to be able to do both. It is tough to work full time in college, while also going to school and socializing… but that type of experience is priceless.

Leaving college and surrounding yourself with successful people

After college, Aleyda went to work for a company lead by a successful entrepreneur. Learning directly from a successful entrepreneur would create opportunities for years to come.

“Surround yourself with successful people"

If you surround yourself with enough successful people, you will become successful yourself.

Episode 6 - Aleyda Solis

Episode 8 - Oli Gardner

For today's episode, we talk once again with a marketer who took a non-traditional path to find her career in the world of marketing. Today we learn how Sheena Schleicher became an accidental marketer, and how a freak accident influenced her career path.

Sheena Schleicher gained a lot of experience working in the world of content and SEO, with that experience eventually growing to the point where she was able to start her own agency.

She learned a lot along the way, and has shared her advice with others in a tremendously useful post on her blog: Practical tips for starting a consultancy.

During our interview, we learn about how Sheena grew her career in marketing, and how a surfing accident gave her a new perspective on where she should take her career.

You won't believe this story when you hear it!

Seriously, my jaw dropped when Sheena shared her health scare and how it changed her career outlook. It may just be my favorite motivation story yet.

You know what else? Sheena also has one of my favorite outreach stories of all time as well. You will love her story about how she turned a cold email into an anchor client for her agency (without even trying). You can't make this stuff up.

Episode 9 - Sheena Schleicher

Episode 10 - Darren Shaw

Lee Odden is an icon in my native Minnesota, both because of his agency TopRank, but also because he has built an international audience over the past 15+ years in online marketing. His contribution to the industry has not only elevated his profile, but also the profile for other Minnesotans as well.

Whenever I would tell someone I am from Minnesota, they would say “do you know Lee Odden?” It was always comforting to not have to explain to someone what Minnesota was and/or hear some joke about the cold. Thanks for being a pioneer, Lee!

You could say that I have been following Lee’s path throughout my entire career in online marketing. As I was getting started out in the industry, I first turned to local resources for getting started. Lee was one of the few examples that I had available to follow locally.

It was nice to hear Lee’s story. Of course, I had my idea of how things developed for Lee, but I also wanted to get a direct understanding of how things came to be along the way.

It is an honor to be able to talk with Lee to hear how he made the journey into a noted author, agency owner and keynote speaker. It wasn’t at all what I expected.

Episode 11 - Lee Odden

Episode 12 - Lea Pica

In the first episode of the second season of Jumpstart Podcast we bring you a story of a girl who challenged status quo in the digital marketing world. Perfection was her enemy, mediocrity – kryptonite. Each time she faced the wall she chose to stand up and fight.
 
You will also hear how to make your marketing solutions repeatable, what do you do when your first blogpost turns out to be unbeatable and whether it’s possible to improve a website in just four hours!
 
This is a must listen episode if you want to take your personal brand and marketing efforts to the next level. Plus it comes with a perk and I dare you to reveal it!

Episode 13 - Angie Schottmuller

Episode 29: Purna Virji

Having hobbies and developing skills outside of work. This is something that has been important to me for as long as I can remember, but I have fallen away from these hobbies in recent years. It's a shame, but I'm hoping that this episode will help me break out of that funk.
 
If you listened to episode 65, you heard me talking about spending a weekend with other entrepreneurs. At first, I assumed that weekend would be all about work. Working hard in business, sharing war stories, etc.
 
Turns out it was the opposite. I felt like the only workaholic in the bunch. Most of these successful people were not as work-obsessed as I have been lately, and yet they have accomplished so much. It was an inspiring shift in mindset and made me think about some difficult choices I will need to make in the future.
 
Tal Gur gave a talk about how he has spent the past 10 years chasing 100 goals. For example, one year he decided to run an ironman triathlon. Another, he decided to improve his social skills. It was fascinating, and it’s going to be the subject of a book he published in the future.
 
It got me thinking about how I started a similar approach in life a few years ago to master new skills. My thought was that you can develop a new skill at an expert level if you spend 1 year studying it inside-out. And that is how I have developed many of my personal skills over the years.
 
The best part is that these don't even need to be work related. Many are just skills that help me become a more well rounded person. That has always been important to me, to be a renaissance man of sorts. But lately, I have been working so hard, that skill development has sort of taken a back seat to growing the business. A lot has been sacrificed in the name of growth, and I’m hoping to shift the balance back to finish 2017 and into 2018.
 
Of course, as I say this, I am sitting in a hotel room in Casablanca, Morocco, and have a whirlwind travel schedule to end the month of September. Hard to focus on hobbies and skill development when you’re always waiting in a queue for an airplane.
 
In today's episode, I will share 10 hobbies or skills that I have worked hard to develop over the years, the utility of growing these skills, and how I feel about them now.

67 Developing Skills Outside Of Work

79 The December Slump

Digital Marketing expert who interviews the top minds in marketing. 

67 Developing Skills Outside Of Work

Jumpstart by Jeffalytics

Related tracks