This interview, which was originally featured on my Marketing Speak podcast is so incraedibly relevant in these turbulent times of 2020. My wise and wonderful guest, Seth Godin, has been such an influential force in my business, and in so many others. 

Seth knows a thing or two about weathering the ups and downs of making a business succeed—he is an expert in prioritizing long-term survival over short-term profitability. He also knows a thing or two about unleashing viruses—no, not the awful kind that causes global shutdowns, I’m talking about unleashing idea viruses! 

He’s written books on these exact topics, in fact, and many others. I often remember Seth saying, “when in doubt, get back to the reason why you started a business in the first place.” Which feels like great advice for this moment in time. Stay tuned as I go deep and philosophical about marketing, compassion, and resilience with the man with the iconic yellow glasses.

You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with, according to my guest on today’s show, John Lee Dumas. Inspired by the idea of spending time with high achievers who he admired, John, an army veteran who had struggled with depression and PTSD, decided to embark on an entrepreneurial path to change his life and the lives of all his listeners. On his podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire, John has interviewed over 3,000 incredible entrepreneurs, including Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, Tim Ferriss, and many more, me included.

In today’s episode, we talk about John’s incredible journey and how he aspired to (and pulled off) creating a daily podcast that took off and became wildly successful. We discuss how John was able to distill the wisdom of his podcast guests and boil down common core, foundational principles that all entrepreneurs share, which became his new book “The Common Path to Uncommon Success,” a book that teaches financial freedom and fulfillment. John has always felt that in learning, you teach, and in teaching, you learn, so without any further ado, get ready for an episode that packs a lot of inspiration and heart!

When Leonard Nimoy edges William Shatner out as the new guy to be the voice of the company… It was one of my favorite spots for the incredibly successful travel site, Priceline, which my guest Jeff Hoffman helped build from the ground up. When the unknown startup managed to land Shatner, it started out as a coup for them, but after the wild success of Priceline, it turned out to be a huge coup for Shatner and it set the stage for startups to offer shares to land celebrity spokespeople. How’s that for brilliant dealmaking! 

Jeff Hoffman has founded multiple startups–he is also a published author and Hollywood film producer. Jeff intentionally got involved in the entertainment industry to learn the Hollywood marketing strategies that intrigued him.

In today’s episode, we delve into what he learned from Hollywood—one of the winning formulas was starting at the end with what emotional response you want to get from your marketing, and then establishing the action you want the visitor to take right at that moment. We also talk about the power of responsibility, the reward of taking long shots, the power of having a generous mentor, being a mentor yourself…it’s such an inspiring interview, so without any further ado, let’s get into it!