Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
What? Two Blog Posts in a Day?
I used to be funny and clever in my Blogs. Now, suddenly, I’m all about deep thinking and changing lives and hoping I might motivate others while motivating myself.
I like Brendon Burchard (and wish his last name wasn’t so difficult to remember how to spell, but then again, as a guy with the last name “Kowalewski” and who named his blog “kaleidoscopic” who am I to tell anyone about making their name or brand more memorable?).
But let’s face it, Brendon and Brandon are interchangeable and if you say “Burchard”, if you don’t see it written down, you’re putting a “sh” sound in there.
Note to self: Change my last name and the name of my blog.
OK. This post is posted because we all have bad days, bad weeks, and bad months. They’re called “slumps” and just as you can get into a slump, you’ll come out of it, but only if you keep positive and keep acting and doing.
Brendon says it perfectly in the first 4 minutes of this video (before he gets to his sales pitch).
Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m off to the grocery store for healthy fruit and veggies, and that’s a “power move” because what I really want is a burger from Five Guys …but no! I’m rising above.
Early to Bed, Early To Rise…
I think I need marriage counseling. No, not really, but I wonder – am I the only guy on earth who operates at his peak when he gets to bed around 10:00 p.m. and then wakes at 5:00 a.m. with a solid seven hours of sleep? Am I the only guy who does it in a house full of teenagers and an educator wife enjoying the summer off?
Why do I point that out? Because when I go to bed at 10, nobody else is even close to being ready for bed. It’s like I’m the child.
It’s a lonely life. Albeit, it’s an optimized and energized day with the good sleep habits, but it certainly makes me feel like I’m avoiding the family. If you know me, that’s the furthest thing from the truth as can be. If I won the lottery and didn’t need to get up for work, I’d absolutely stay up late and sleep in.
Does this early to bed, early to rise, and all the health, wealth, and wisdom that comes with it come at a cost?
I guess it’s about what I do with the time I have between work and bedtime. Gotta approach it with gusto and passion. I gotta pretend when I get outta work and head home, that each day is as exciting as the first days of my marriage or the first days after my children were born when I couldn’t wait to come home and hold those little babies in my arms.
I should (we should) attack everything that way, shouldn’t we? If I took on my to-do list at work as-if it was my first week on the job, wouldn’t I do more and get more out of work? Wouldn’t people marvel at my passion? Then, when the day ends, I could leave work at work and race home with joy.
If we have to do things, we should do them with joy.
Mid-Year Review is Almost Here
For anyone who might’ve stopped keeping track, we’re 14-days away from the start of I Love Don Week and 21-days away from my birthday.
If I may ask one thing for my birthday, is that you don’t scroll back through my Blog posts and don’t ask me about #Project44 and please don’t ask me, “how is your book coming along?” Phew. We all know if you don’t ask, then I don’t have to feel guilty about still weighing too much and still not writing my book.
How easy would either of those things be? I mean, come on, Don. You started the year and you made easy resolutions. The list wasn’t even that long. The simple promise to do things daily around the number 44, which happens to be how old you’d be on your birthday.
I’m blogging in third person talking to myself. That might be early signs of madness.
I was going to do the following:
- Exercise for 44-minutes a day
- Lower my weight to 144 pounds.
- Write for 44-minutes a day
I’m sure there was some other stuff, but if I had been able to stay focused on those three things, wow, how amazing would it be right now just two-weeks away from my 44th birthday?
I guess there’s no time like the present. “Present” = gift. I’m going to give myself a birthday gift and recommit to my #Project44. How much can I accomplish in 21-days? Hey, and I don’t have to have everything done by July 11th, right? I have the entire year.
This Blog entry was supposed to be funny but, dang, it got serious. Well, that’s OK, I guess, because it’s time to get serious.
Are you ready to get “serious” with me, while also having some fun? It’s mid-year for me and it falls in line with my birthday, but it’s mid-year for everyone. Companies re-focus and re-set goals. Bosses usually introduce something new and exciting. Sales people are forced to come to grips with their quotas and budgets and commissions year-to-date.
Let’s all conduct a mid-year review and re-evaluate.
Thinking Thursday…
Isn’t the Blog title great? I’ll bet I could make that my personal brand and send a newsletter out each week on Thursday and thousands and thousands of people would subscribe and wait on their weekly dose of amazing stuff from Don.
Like this . . .
“You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.” –Toni Morrison
And then I’d talk about an App or book or item that’s changed my life. Like, for me, it’s been installing Grammarly on my computer. If grammar and spelling are important to you, and you write many email and correspondence, install it. In real time, it offers corrections and tips. Quite amazingg. Yes. I know I added an extra “g” and Grammarly caught it right away.
So, what am I “thinking” on this Thinking Thursday?
I think we’re too partisan as a society. I think I need to figure out a way to make lots of sales very fast so the second half of my year catches up to my annual budget. I think I need to take daily action steps toward compiling my past writing into my book. I think I feel great and empowered today because I actually dragged myself outta bed at 5:00 a.m. sharp and took a brisk walk with stops every 8 minutes for push-ups and dips.
And, I’ve made it through another day without losing my clip-on shades. Win!
For the Love of All Things Lost!
Any Catholics out there know which Saint is Patron Saint of Lost items? Or Patron Saint of Not Losing Things?
Here we go with round three of my clip on shades for my trifocal glasses. Co-worker A.B. laughs at my old man glasses and my clip-on frames, but she can laugh all she wants – I’m the hit of my Metal Detector Club.
I just can’t figure myself out. How do people not lose things? In the past year, I’ve lost my favorite thermal travel mug, my clip-on shades, my 6-iron, my golf glove, a set of ear buds, and my wallet. The wallet, interestingly enough, fell outta my pocket when I was working on the roof in the early spring of 2016, and then was found at Thanksgiving time when I went back on the roof to hang Christmas lights.
I’m sick of losing things.
Now. Behold the clip-on shades and we’ll see who’s laughing.
Great Quotes to Start the Day
Here’s the quote I’m pondering today . . .
“Don’t wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.” –Jim Rohn
Last night, I went to the park with my son and he hit 100 (might’ve been 200) balls. He started the baseball season hitting everything. During the first 5 games, he could do no wrong. Then he went 5 games without getting his bat on the ball. So, I said, let’s forget the last five games and let’s get to the park and remember how to hit the ball.
I want to write my book. I want to write my screenplay. I want to mass produce my salsa. I want to grow my billing.
For, oh, let’s say 24 months, everything was clicking (like my son’s 5-game hitting streak) and then nothing was clicking.
I gotta get to the park and remember what it feels like to hit the ball. I did it before. I’ll do it again.
My guess is you have done some great things and if you’re in a slump, like a baseball player, it’s only a matter of time before you (and I) break outta our slump.
Borrowing this mantra from Josh Hind’s blog: “Today I’ll do my best to leave the path I take just a little better and brighter than I found it.”
Don’t take it from me, take it from UB40 (and how happy am I to discover they released an unplugged best-of?). Yes. I realize this song has very little to do with the daily grind, but I like it and it kinda fits.
Many rivers to cross
But I can’t seem to find my way over
Wandering I am lost
As I travel along the white cliffs of Dover
Many rivers to cross
And it’s only my will that keeps me alive
I’ve been licked, washed up for years
And I merely survive because of my pride
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone
It’s such a drag to be on your own
My woman left me and she didn’t say why
Well I guess, I have to try
Many rivers to cross
But just where to begin, I’m playing for time
There are times I find myself
Thinking of committing some dreadful crime
Yes, I’ve got many rivers to cross
But I can’t seem to find my way over
Wandering I am lost
As I travel along the white cliffs of Dover
More from Josh Hind.
Information or Confirmation?
I start every day with the Darren Daily. He’s a guru/life coach and I take everything free he gives me. And if I had some extra scratch, I would quite likely take one of his courses.
This morning, he talks about how we consume information. He makes the case that we like information more as confirmation of what we already think more than we like to actually learn and be informed.
Who isn’t guilty of that? He points out the way you consume news (Fox or MSNBC, New York Times or Drudge Report) is proof of this. Believe it or not, I have a theory that you need to watch Sean Hannity and listen to Rush Limbaugh, and then watch Rachel Maddow and Stephen Colbert, then read articles in various publications and only then can you find the middle, the truth, and form your own opinion.
Gasp. I have my own opinion? Well, I try.
Darren’s lesson, however, wasn’t political. It was about our work, personal, and spiritual life. For me, I need to apply it to my work life.
Very soon I will celebrate 20 years in radio advertising sales. I’m an “old dog”, yet I want to learn “new tricks”. I desperately want to work with the energy, optimism, and open-mindedness of a guy (or gal) just breaking into the business. I want my mind to be free of the “we’ve never done it that way ” or “you can’t do it that way” mentality that creates roadblocks before I even try.
A guy on the staff “cold called” via Facebook Messenger and landed a great big account. Before he did that I would probably have said everything is about seed-letters (by mail) and cold-calls (using an actual phone).
But good lord! It’s 2017. A “cold call” is an old term. It’s more philosophical than literal. If someone gets a random email, or Facebook Message, or LinkedIn message, or Tweet, or we connect on SnapChat and I start telling him about what I do for a living and how I might be able to help his biz …it’s still “cold”. And think about it …someone pointed out we all hate getting phone calls because we …dont’ …have …time.
That “we hate phone calls” concept came from Gary Vaynerchuck as did this…
Gary Vaynerchuk, another guru type guy, has a podcast and last week (listen here) he addressed “sales” and scolded his audience for having dozens of extra ways to “cold call”, prospect, and make sales and yet when he asked for a show of hands from the audience on who’s using LinkedIn, Twitter, SnapChat, YouTube and other connecting apps and networks, he laughed at the lack of raised hands.
“Do you know how many of you have a point-of-view on what Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook can do for your business and you’ve never used the fuckin’ product?” -Gary Vaynerchuk
In my day-to-day worklife, it’s time I, too, embrace change and seek out information that is less confirmation and more instigation, aggitation, and frustration. Only then will I grow. I will shake up my own comfort-zone to eliminate complacency and a victim mentality.
Send me a Snap or Instagram DM. Please. Together let’s get outta our old-timer comfort zones.
I’m Good at (and I like) What I Do!
If you have a business and thought about using audio (radio) to build your company, you should call me. For the third time in the past 6 months, a new client has called to say, “Don, we need to trim back on our radio a little bit because we can’t keep up.”
One medical practice is booked through the end of July and last week, even tho they weren’t on-air and nothing was running, people called, and when asked, “where did you hear about us,” they said, “on the radio.”
That’s the power of radio/audio branding.
Another client called me Thursday, an HVAC company that put their faith in me and launched a rather large, 4-station branding campaign (with a modest and understated call-to-action) combined with some well executed digital, and he, too, wondered if we could “back off” because he needs to hire another seller and a few installers because they, “are having a hard time keeping up and the phone is ringing off the hook.”
I keep reading articles about how advertisers are returning to the “mass media” becuase as we’ve walked down the road of one-to-one digital marketing, we’re missing the “spill” and the unintended target. Just because you say, “I’m after a Male between the ages of 35 and 54” (which is me), what about my wife who has a say in every purchase I make? Wouldn’t you want to be whispering in her ear, too? Even if quite by accident?
Sorry. Was drifting into another topic. For now, let’s focus on these two things:
- I love what I do (sell advertising).
- I’m good at what I do.
If you’ve even thought about “trying radio” or doing something different and big with your advertising, we should talk. Leave a comment. Find me on any social media and let’s start a conversation.
What’s the Deal with Borax?
Ever heard of Borax? Until a couple of months ago when my daughter needed it to make slime (the hottest thing with kids and girls 10 and under), I’d never heard of it. It’s a laundry detergent “booster” and it says add it to your load of laundry (and the laundry detergent you’re already using) and everything will be even cleaner (I’m paraphrasing). The box and their website also boast a dozen other great ways to use it (i.e. cleaning your bathroom, arts and crafts, and odor controls).
Seems like a miracle product I should’ve been using for my whole life. It’s been around my entire life (I’m 44 years old). If a miracle like this exists on the earth, why ain’t I using it? Why didn’t my mom use it? Why didn’t my mother in law use it?
What’s the deal? Is it hype or heroic?
I started using Borax about a month ago and to my eyes, I swear my laundry looks better. I’ve done some research (reading Mommy Blogs, like Crunchy Betty) and most seem on board the Borax train (that sounded naughty). Yet there’s still some haters claiming it to be poison and cancer causing. I’m not listening to the haters.
I’m also not going to deliver a definitive answer here, but what do you say about Borax? I’m currently on board (a hundred Mommy Blogs can’t be wrong) the Borax train.
Sharpening the Blade
You probably think the title is going to be something around the quote by Abe Lincoln (I think it was Honest Abe, but I’m not going to look it up) when he said something about if he had only an hour to chop down a tree, he’d spend most of the time (or some of the time) sharpening his axe (or saw).
Feel free to use that if you can understand what the f’ I was trying to say. If only there was some sort of machine and network where I could find that exact quote.
Nope. Why am I excited about “sharpening the blade?” It refers to my lawn. I’ve reached the Memorial Day Weekend and I always mark that weekend as the weekend I sharpen both my mower blades to Japanese sword precision, and the lawn really starts to pop.
What about your blade from April until Memorial Day, you ask?
Well, with all the crap in the lawn (sticks, pine cones, weeds), for the first five weeks I use a nice, sharp blade but it’s an enhanced mulching blade. Now …I start to create the carpet.
You have your fun your way. I’ll have my fun my way. I like to think my obsession with my lawn speaks to something inside me, some amazing trait, that transcends simple lawn maintenance and reveals an inner greatness. Like, maybe it shows my attention to detail on the simple things means you can trust me on the big things? Or maybe it shows that I demand perfection, or strive towards it, in everything I do.
Of course, I realize, it could be some sort of misguided escapism where I have “control” while the rest of my life is spinning out of control, and yes, I put in noise cancelling earbuds and listen to audio books and Podcasts while mowing my lawn (1.25 hours / week) and really enjoy that “me time” so maybe I am hiding from something.
Or maybe it’s good exercise, it speaks to my homo Sapien roots of working the earth and the land, and humbles me? Yes. I like that psychoanalysis.
Mowing my lawn and maintaining my landscaping makes me feel one-with-nature.
I also like pulling down the street and seeing my house and lawn looking so good – gives me great pride.
Either way. It’s going to be a great, sharp Saturday.
Don Kowalewski 