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“Well, do you want me to coach you up a little bit?” This was how my first ever virtual sales mentorship began earlier this afternoon. I had just called a person I’ve come to know as a friend to ask for some advice, and when he realized the depth of information he would need to convey to me he offered his infinite wisdom up in the form of 2 weekly training sessions. Just like that. No catch. No money up front. No money at all, in fact. No request for referrals later on down the road. Just that: I’ll help you out by passing along some tricks of the trade from the past 25 years of my experience and hopefully they will help you succeed. As I enter into one of my first real mentorship programs, I wanted to pass along some ground rules that will hopefully shape your next mentorship program to be as beneficial to you, the apprentice, as possible: Set the terms up front: Imagine this is like dating someone new — except you’re 100% honest with them. Agree to number of sessions, frequency of review and types of information you’re going to cover. Set ground rules so that you don’t overwhelm your mentor with questions, ideas and information. He or she has agreed to help you out — NOT to be your personal Google anytime you have a problem. Shut up and listen: You need to be doing the bulk of the listening, so shut up and stop speaking RIGHT THIS SECOND. If you possessed the wealth of information your mentor had, you wouldn’t need to lean on him/her as a mentor. So turn your mouth off and soak down all the information they pass on to you; you’ll have all the time in the world to act on the advice in between sessions. Allow for wiggle: Since most mentorships are free programs, don’t turn on your Jedi master if he or she needs to bail on a couple sessions. That mentor has gone out of their way to help you become successful, most likely for no monetary gain on their part, which means the apprentice needs to be grateful for any wisdom they can pull from their sessions. Thank your Jedi master profusely: Wait until you hit big milestones, and then pour on the praise. For example, when I close my first deal using my new mentor’s advice, I plan on shipping him a couple hundred bucks worth of wine / whiskey / beer (whichever poison he prefers) with a big fat ‘Thank You’ balloon. It was his advice that showed me how to close the deal, so I want to show him that I truly appreciate all the time and effort he/she has invested in my success. Keep in mind, the apprentice is going to reap the bulk of the reward in this mentor/apprentice relationship. So as the apprentice make sure to act gracious, write EVERYTHING down and go out of your way to make it easy for your mentor to pass his valuable brain data along to you. — Aside from being the CEO at MKG Media Group, Mike is a dark beer aficionado with a healthy appetite for travel and pushing personal boundaries. A proud graduate of Washington State University, Mike currently calls San Francisco home. Twitter // Google+ //...

A 2012 Tear Jerker, Sob Story Thank You Post

By Mike on Feb 10, 2012 | 0 comments

A lot has happened in the past two years since I graduated from college two short years ago, and by now I figured it was time to reach out and say ‘thank you’ to those who have helped propel my life in the correct direction. So without further ado … Thanks to … … Supportive parents, who have watched me move three times in the past two years and always been behind me 100% of the way. … My friends in LA and Seattle, the past two cities I’ve lived in, for making the time I spent living in each of those places so special. … Friends in San Francisco, who have been waiting for this move to become a reality for almost a year now. I told you I’d make it! … To those who doubted this move — secretly, proving you wrong was a small reminder to myself that I couldn’t back out of this third scary move in two years. … The most awesome-ist (yes, I’m trying to push this as a real word) business partner, who helps counter balance my pie-in-the-sky mentality as well as doesn’t throw fits when I decide to leave the country for weeks at a time in the middle of big pitches. … While we’re on the subject, thanks to the friends I met during my time abroad in Japan and when I lived in Europe. Without you, the ri-donk-u-lous stories & experiences would not have been made a possibility. … To my passport, for allowing me to get from Point A to Point Amsterdam (insert other cities here …) and not complaining when I drop you on the floor or spill beer on you. To the...

Entrepreneur: The Scariest / Most Awesome-ist Word Around

By Mike on Feb 3, 2012 | 0 comments

For those of you who do not know, I recently started a business in July 2011, quit my day job and took off for a 2 week vacation to Japan in January 2012 and am moving to San Francisco on Monday. Yes, a lot of change is occurring in my life. I’ve been self-employed now for the past 20 days (15 of which I’ve been on vacation) and upon my return it’s finally starting to hit me: Being an Entrepreneur is REALLY Hard Jason Hilton, founding member of WDFA down in San Francisco, gave me the best quote I’ve heard to date about starting your own business: You must be absolutely crazy. So far, that advice has just about summed it up. Every day I’ve worked harder than ever before to generate new opportunities. Every day I wake up completely energized (hence writing blog posts at 7 am on a Friday) and excited to hit my to-do list. Every time I experience success, I jump for joy. Every time I experience failure, I curse the gods and slowly punch a one-way ticket to hell with the horrible curses I wish upon my competition (or something like that …) And every day I think about quitting. So What Keeps Me Going? Well … The fact that I’ve successfully removed as many moving parts between myself, the work & the client, leaving good work as the only currency of success The fact that I can wake up at 6 am (like today) or 11 am and the only person who will yell at me is myself (which I do) The fact that my fear of failure drives me to work more efficiently, as my income is no longer billed on hours but instead of the amount of business I’m able to generate The fact that my professional mentality has changed — if I fail with MKG (my new company — knock on wood we don’t), I still can’t even fathom a universe where I went back to a ‘normal’ 9-to-5 work day I Now Have the Emotional Capacity of a Pregnant Woman In a single minute of each day I feel happy, sad, angry, confused, and terrified all at the same time. It’s these feelings that help remind me that I’m human, but these same feelings create a drive to succeed like nothing else I’ve experienced in my life. So, want to join me as an entrepreneur? See you at Starbucks tomorrow at 6 am to get...

Stop “Filling Time”

By Mike on Jan 9, 2012 | 0 comments

I’ve bought the advice — hook, line and sinker. Earlier this month I began reading Tim Ferriss’s best selling The Four Hour Work Week. When I read the chapter that discussed how our current obsession with consuming media is just another example of filling time, or performing uneccesary activities that take away from our overall productivity, I scoffed. “Who … me?” I thought. “I’m AWESOME at working on multiple projects all at the same time.” What I didn’t realize was that I was filling time, or taking breaks before and during the task had been started. My common violations of “filling time” are usually things like: Reading the news online: CNN, then TechCrunch, then VentureBeat, then …) Watching TV: NCIS marathons are my personal kriptonyte Checking social channels: Facebook, Twitter, etc Instant Messager: Short of a nuclear fallout, I’m always reachable via IM to discuss anything from how best to photocopy your own face (see photo above) to the Republican Presidential debate All these activities are examples of filling time and usually go un-noticed. That is, until I thought about what kinds of activities they are replacing in my own life: Making important personal / professional phone calls: Yes, I noticed that I was avoiding making NUMEROUS important phone calls by simply logging in to Facebook and cruising around for a few minutes. A time sensitive analysis for a current client: By checking my Twitter feeds (which are ENDLESS), I completely ignored even starting an important analysis for a current client that was looking for additional data (i.e. MY ANALYSIS) to support spending more money with us (which was destined for MY OWN POCKET). The examples could go on, but for your own sanity (and my personal privacy) I’ll stop the list here. What I’m trying to say is, these seemingly insignificant amounts of time that I was spending consuming unhealthy amounts of media / social information actually added up to consume HOURS OF MY TIME. To test out my theory, I’m taking Tim up on his advice and banning myself from the following for the next 5 days: Watching TV Reading newspapers & magazines Facebook My favorite online blogs and information sources (including my beloved CNN iPhone app) Will let you know how it goes when I finish up … Wish me...

Power of Reflection

By Mike on Dec 26, 2011 | 0 comments

Earlier today I was digging through the contents of my childhood bedroom growing up and found a list of 5 goals that I had made my Junior year of high school. Reflecting upon the goals I had set more than eight years prior, I finally realized a couple of things: The power of visualizing your goals: Visualizing your goals allows you to simply and eloquently put your dreams into a time capsule that can be reviewed at a later time and date. What better way to track your progress over time than with a single sentence or simple picture? Think to yourself: Have you ever written or drawn out your goals, hopes and / or dreams? If yes, how often did you review these items to check your progress? The power of reflection: I tend to associate the word reflection with a spiritual connotation, although that’s not always the case. Periods of reflection can allow you to slow down, smell the roses and actually learn something from all the events we experienced on a daily, weekly, monthly, etc. basis. Life moves fast, and sometimes we don’t make enough time to sit back and actually reflect upon our experiences. Make time for periods of reflection so you can actual learn something from the events of your life. Take time to reflect upon your goals — as I was, I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results of your miniature soul searching...

What Does Freedom Mean to You?

By Mike on Dec 21, 2011 | 0 comments

What Does Freedom Mean to Me? Earlier this week, I watched Man vs. Debt founder Adam Baker speak at TEDxAsheville. For those who have not seen this lecture, I highly recommend taking a listen. During the course of his keynote, Adam brought up a great question that him and his wife asked themselves following the birth of their first daughter: What does freedom mean to me? Adam and his wife asked themselves this question because they felt like their life was being lived on a script that didn’t belong to them. They were new parents who were thousands of dollars in consumer debt and were looking to take on more in the form of a mortgage loan — yet they didn’t feel fulfilled by any of the “things” that they were acquiring. So they asked themselves, what does freedom mean to me? After months of conversation, their answer was simple: Sell all their stuff and go backpacking (toddler in tow) through Australia for the next year. Albeit a tough one, this decision allowed them to essentially hit the ‘restart’ button on their financial lives and start completely fresh. They were free from the debt that had weighed them down 12 short months before. And that freedom meant that they could start their newborn’s life off free and clear of the financial disaster that had weighed them down. So, what does freedom mean to...