October 09th 2007
Transcript for Managing the Gray #41
“Calculated Risks and Taking Chances”
Originally Posted on September 12, 2007
C.C. Chapman: Top of the morning everybody. It’s C.C. Chapman coming to you from the new C.C. studios here. Yeah! I’ve moved since the last show. This is episode #41 of Managing the Gray and I’m very happy to be here. There are a lot of things going on in my life right now. So, today we’re going to be talking about everything from risk to happiness to career changes to all those things that I’m going through right now. I had several people email me including John Swanson who sent me a very, very nice message encouraging me to share this. He wasn’t sure if I was going to share this sort of things and I had planned to. I get a lot of feedback from a lot of people and I’ve gotten a lot of messages over the past couple of days. Wait. I realized some of you may not know the news.
So, I have resigned from Crayon. I am leaving Crayon, a company that I helped form and launch and get going. Maybe I didn’t help form it, but I helped get it launched and all that. It’s been a great year. It’s been an up and down year, but it was the right time to do it. It’s honestly something I had thought about for quite some time and knew that was going to happen, but with moving the house, putting down a gun for hire free agent on a mortgage application doesn’t quite work. So, I stuck it out and I’m leaving. I wish them nothing, but success. I know they’re kind of changing themselves now. So, I hope Crayon goes on to do success, the guys there, the ones that are left I really like. I really appreciate it. I hope they do great things. There are still a lot of great ideas there. So, we’ll see what happens and keep watching them at crayonville.com and see what they’re up to.
Me? So, what am I doing? I’m taking a chance. I’m taking a risk and it’s something that I think applies to anybody who listens to this show is the fact that risk happens. You need to embrace it and be okay with it, but there’s a difference between a calculated risk and just throwing it out there and hoping things work. You got to think about things like this, especially when it’s involving your career. You’ve got to really think about the long-term implications. You’ve got to think about where you’re going to go, what you’re going to do. Can you do this? I mean things like financially, can you do it? I mean I just bought a house and I’m still selling my old house. It hasn’t been sold yet. So, there were lots of financial decisions in this, but at the same time don’t think just short term. You’ve got to think long term.
What I’m trying to get at is these are things you need to think about for whether it’s a project you’re about to do, whether it’s a career change, whether you’re going to college and trying to take your first job. You got to be comfortable with taking a chance and taking a risk because let’s face it. Depending on how old you are, you’ve got plenty of time to fix it. If you make a mistake, we all make mistakes because sometimes mistakes happen or chance turns out to be bad or risk doesn’t work in your favor, in which case you just have to change it around, get going and going again. The key is that you can learn from it. We’ve all heard the thing you can make mistakes, just don’t make them twice. That’s true. Learn from them.
I know pretty much any project I’ve ever worked on, things haven’t gone quite the way I thought and you learn from it and then on the next project you don’t do that and you learn from it again. We’re all learning. Anyone who says they know all the answers is wrong because everyday things are changing it. I was talking to someone the other day and I was talking about what I’m very excited about where I want to stay freelance for a while is I get to help companies, people, individuals “get it.” Her response was, “Yeah and that means first realizing that getting it changes every two weeks,” and that’s very, very true.
If you’re thinking about doing a career move, if you’re trying out a new project, just calculate the risks, really look at the things and look at it from every angle, analyze it. What I always like to do is, “What’s the worst thing that could happen? What’s the worst possible thing that could happen? What’s the next worst possible thing?” Once I get those out of the way, I can really figure out, “Okay, how can I avoid those two worst things?” Then I can focus all my energy on the positive because if you’re thinking about taking a risk, there are always a million positive outcomes that can come of it, but think of the two worst. Look at those and then do everything possible to stunt them out and move forward. That’s my advice.
Now, I get a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls from you guys. Oh, I get yelled at when I don’t give the comment line out. It’s 206-309-4729. That’s 206-309-GRAY. There. I get a lot of questions like I’m not happy in my job, what can I do to leave. If you’re not happy, get out. There are so many jobs out there. There are so many opportunities out there. You can make your own opportunities. I’ve always had this rule that if I get up in the morning — if I get up for a solid week because we all have those days you get up and you’re just like, “Oh, I don’t want to go.” We all have those days, but I’ve always had this thing that if a solid week happens and I just don’t want to be there or I’m dreading it, wherever that job is, that means it’s time to get out. It’s not worth it. Happiness is way too important and life is too short.
You’ve got things in your life that you do that do make you happy. Mine, it’s my family. My family comes before everything and they make me happy. If I’m not happy, then I know something’s wrong. I mean I knew I made the right decision to move on when two days after I resigned, we were sitting in the living room and Laura looked at me and I go, “What?” She goes, “I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.” When your wife notices something like that, that shows you that I made the right decision. I know I did. So, really look at your happiness. Figure out what makes you happy. Know what you want and what you don’t want, especially if you’re looking to move to a new job because let’s face it, right now, I mean I’m not going to lie, I’ve gotten some offers for jobs already and I’ve turned them down because I know what I want and more importantly, I know what I don’t want. For me, I’m a driving guy so a commute is like the ultimate hell for me. I hate commuting, especially like a long commute. It’s such wasted time and wasted opportunity in your life and it’s such a life suck. I hate commuting. The other thing, the rule I’ve told everybody and I’ve done this when all things started going crazy, I won’t leave New England. It’s just not an option. That’s just my personal rule. I mean those are my two rules. I don’t want to commute and I won’t leave New England. Those are my two rules. I won’t leave New England because it’s where all my family is.
It’s funny. I remember I had a company courting me a couple years ago and they were like name my price. I’m like there is not a single dollar value on this planet that will get me out of New England and it’s true. I just won’t because there are too many things that are more important than money and no job is worth leaving the things that are important to me. Think about that for you. Maybe it’s right down the list. I mean I keep a paper journal. I write down things all the time. It’s the old pro and con sheet. Again, this can work for projects too or company strategies. Think about these things. Life lessons, baby. It all ties back together. It has to do with business. It has to do with new media. It just does it all.
One thing too is if you’re thinking about leaving a job or you’re thinking about taking a risk, be realistic. I am not one of those guys who can just throw caution to the wind and just jump out of a plane. I’m going to check the parachute. I’m going to check the airplane. I’m going to make sure I know what I’m doing. Just think about the big picture and think about the long-term implications of what you’re doing. Sometimes a little risk can snowball out of control and the next thing you know, you’re drowning, you’re just going insane. You don’t want that. I always like to think long term. I like to think, “If I make this decision now, how could that affect things 6 to 12 months out or even further?” I can’t do the five-year plan anymore because stuff is changing way too fast. I’m lucky if I have a 6- to 12-month plan because things are changing so rapidly and the technology changes every month, day, whatever you’re talking about, but really be realistic. Look at it objectively. One of the neat things that I’ve always been able to do is take the creative, take the crazy rainmaker idea, go crazy, and then look at it from the realistic side of things and say, “Can this happen? Is it the right thing to do?” I did a lot of those thinking over the past few weeks, a lot of those things.
If you’re going to take a risk, especially if you’re doing it on your personal side, you’ve got to have the buy-in of the people you love and care about. I could not have made this decision without Laura. Plain and simple it wasn’t. We talked long and hard about it. She’s funny. She had the ultimate faith in me. It’s kind of crazy to have two mortgages and suddenly quit your job with nothing lined up. We’re talking about risk and taking a chance, but I knew it was the right thing and she was okay with it because we talked about it. She knew why I was doing it. She knew the reason. She knew where I was going. It’s funny. I thanked her. I said, “Thank you for believing in me,” because it’s a leap of faith on her part to believe in me, but what she said came back to me. It blew me away. She said, “You’ve never given me a reason to not believe in you.”
That meant a lot and that’s kind of personal. Yeah, this is showing I’m kind of wearing my life on my sleeve, but that’s what I’m about. I mean C.C. Chapman is an open guy and I share you guys and I’m hoping you’re getting something out of this and I’m hoping those people out there who said, “C.C., we’d really want to hear your side…” If you’re looking for dirt, you’re not getting it here. Just get out of the way because I’ve had plenty of people ask for that. Really make sure the people around you, your support network whether it’s your friends, whether it’s your family, make sure they’re involved and they will help you. I know right now, if you’re listening, I know that there’s like one person you could think of outside of your direct family that you’re like, “I could go to them and ask.” I have those people.
When I was ready to make this decision, there were two people that I knew I was going to call and chat with and I did and I talked at length with them. It helped reaffirm my decision and that’s not a bad thing. If you’re thinking about taking a risk or a chance, reach out to somebody. See what they think. Tell them because they might go, “Are you insane?” but then when they realize it’s a really truly good idea or good risk, they’ll embrace you, they’ll help you, they’ll give you ideas because that’s what true, true friends are about. They may be Internet buddies. They might be lifelong buddies from school. It doesn’t matter. You know who your trusted people are. Talk to them. Work with them. Chat about what’s going on because sometimes just getting it out of your brain — I find it very helpful to just get the idea out of my brain and just bounce it off to somebody. Just see what people think about it. That’s important.
Now, one thing I am going to push. Things are not going to be given to you. You have to make your own opportunities. I’ve heard from so many people over the past year doing this podcast where people say, “Oh, C.C., I want…” they expect things given to them. There is no such thing as a free lunch, right? Well, I’ve had free lunch before, but let’s face it. You need to make your own opportunities. None of this stuff is given to you for free whether you’re talking about growing a podcasting audience, whether you’re talking about influencer outreach to get your product out there, it’s not going to happen overnight by magic. Yeah, once in a while, Tinker Bell swings by and dusts it with pixie dust and all kinds of cool things happen, but in most cases you’re going to have to work very hard to make your opportunities. I’ve worked my butt off these past few years, really getting myself out there, getting my brand to where I want it to be and I want to take it to the next step and you’re going to see things in the new future taken it to the next step, but that has been a lot of hard work, a lot of hours, a lot of late nights.
You guys ask how I get things done. It’s late night. It’s the Mac on the couch with a beer at midnight going, “Okay, now, what do I need to do?” You’ve got to work hard. Opportunities sometimes will present themselves and, yeah, I’m finding out now that it can be out there. Sometimes just raising your hand will get you noticed, but you’ve got to work hard. Make your own opportunities. I cannot stress this enough. You’ve got to do it. Get out there. Reach out to people. Reach out to your network. Actually, use a social network for what it’s really used for. Find people. Interact with them. Make friends. Have a dog that barks in the middle of your podcast, things like that. Just work hard. It’s amazing what a dog will do to distract you.
So, I think this is a perfect time. I want to play a comment from Paul Colligan.
Paul Colligan: Hey C.C. It’s Paul Colligan. I just listened to your show about are we selling ourselves too short, new media selling itself too short. Yes, we’re doing that. That’s the problem and the problem is if we don’t get together and prove what our value is, scream what our value is, shout what our value is, then the traditional media is going to keep thinking they can buy us off for a case of beer or something like that. So, what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to realize the value of what it is that we have. Now, the [unintelligible] changed in a number of ways. It used to be we associated value with the equipment that produced the value. Movies are better than home videos because the movies were produced over a multimillion dollar budget, whereas, the home video is a $300 Handycam kind of thing. Let’s face it, podcast, like you said, they’re basically free. So, what happens is a lot of times we associate the content as being basically valueless because it’s created basically free.
That’s not the case anymore. The technology is becoming ubiquitous. That’s what we wanted, that’s what we dreamed for, but the value of what we do with the content, the value of that information, that’s where all the power is. Second Life, one of your favorite hangouts, the technology is great, yes, but it’s what the people are doing with the technology that gives Second Life all its value. It’s the exact same thing as podcasting. So, what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to realize how much value we have. We’ve got to only charge for that value. We’ve only got to let people purchase what we have to say at the value that we’re worth and then these things will change. It’s scary sometimes to realize, to charge what you’re worth. It’s scary that someone will say no. It’s scary that someone will invalidate you. Whatever the term is you want to look for, the fact of the matter is new media is worth it. Let’s stop selling ourselves short. Great show as always, man. Sorry I’m a couple of weeks behind, but it’s just too good not to call it on. Talk to you later, sir. Bye.
C.C. Chapman: Thanks Paul. Thanks, Paul, for covering up Roxie barking. You’d think with the new studio that I’ve got here, I’ve got doors on this studio, I’m just not used to shutting them so they are now shut and the bus went by so hopefully she’ll be quiet. What Paul was saying, it plays into it too. It played into the whole value discussion that we’ve been having for a while, but also plays into your worth and determining your worth. I’m having to face that now. I had someone yesterday call me up and say, “Hey, C.C. I want you to do this and this and this and this. How much is it going to cost me?” I stopped and I realized, “Crap! I got to think of these things now. I need to think of rates and things like that.” How do you determine that? Sometimes in today’s world, it’s not just based on talent or experience. It’s based on a lot of things. You can ask 10 different consultants and they will all charge you totally different things. It’s kind of interesting and that’s a problem I’m dealing with right now and I’m going to figure it out, but it is definitely something that, like Paul was saying, it applies to podcast, it applies to everything. I think you’re going to see a lot of discussions about this.
The Podcast and New Media Expo, newmediaexpo.com is coming up at the end of October. I know there’s going to be a lot of chatter about that. The Association for Downloadable Media is having its first public meeting there. I will definitely be in that. Profitable Podcasting, there’s going to be a meeting by Paul. There’s going to be a lot of great sessions, a lot of great conversations. Trust me. There will be lots of things going on there both in the Expo floor, in the Marriott and just all around. Homefry Breakfast, by the way, any Managing the Gray listeners, we’re going to have breakfast at the Spire on Friday morning down the street, basically have breakfast before the conference opens and you’re all invited. I can’t believe I’m going to say this. The invitation’s on Facebook. Wow. Email me and I’ll get you details.
So, there are lots of opportunities going on. There are lots of conversations going on about how do you value your content. I just got back from PodCamp Philly a couple of days ago. What was interesting was there wasn’t as much talk about that there because most of the people there weren’t even into podcasting yet. Me, Mark Blevis, and Linda Mills did a session on highly effective new media and one of the first questions I asked was “how many people is this your first PodCamp” and easily, easily 90% of the room, 80-90% of the room raised their hands and I asked “how many people have never done a podcast” and it was a little bit less than that, probably 70-85%, but it was still a lot. So, there was a lot of new people coming in and learning about the technology and figuring out “does this work for me or does it not.” They’re going to be asking the value question before you know it, how to get sponsors, how to get…
There is so much talk about that and I think you’re going to see a lot of changes. I’m curious what gets announced at the PME. There are always big announcements happening. I know a couple that I’ve heard rumbling in the background so it will be interesting will anybody get more money, will people be joining new networks, will companies be merging, will there be new technology. Who knows what’s going to go on? I’m looking forward to it because it’s a business opportunity for me too now. Going the gun for hire route, the mercenary role now, I’m looking for work. I don’t have one. As of Friday, two days from now, I don’t have a paycheck anymore so it’s going to be kind of interesting to see where things go and I’m excited. That’s what I want you to think about is get excited about what you’re doing. If you’re not excited about what you’re doing right now and you want to do something more exciting, do what I was talking about earlier. Look at the risks. Figure out what’s important to you, what’s not important to you, what drives you nuts, what sucks your life blood away. If it sucks your life blood away, you don’t want that and whatever you moved to. You don’t want to work with that. You don’t want to play with that. Do you see a project coming down the pipeline that gets you excited at your company? If so, go after it. Raise your hand and say, “I want to be part of that.”
If you see one that you know is just going to suck every living day out of you, avoid it like the plague. Try to get away from it, but when you see something that excites you, go after it. Work hard, work very hard and make it work. Make it yours. Make your opportunities. Take the chance and just get out there, kick butt and have fun doing everything you’re doing. Be passionate about it. Passion is what drives everything or it should. Passion drives everything I do, everything I do, everything I live, breathe, and do whether it’s making dinner last night, spoiling my wife, or it’s recording this podcast, or it’s seeing a movie, or it’s painting a painting, or it’s writing my book, which I finally get to do more of. I wrote a bunch on the train the other day. It felt good. Chase your passions. Use that energy. Figure out what makes you happy and just go do it. All right? I can’t stress that enough. Seriously. Right now, write down what you hate and you love what you’re doing right now. That’s your homework. Just go do it and think about it. I tell you, if the side of the hate is longer than the love, you’ve got something you got to think about.
Call me up, 206-309-4729, or drop me an email at managingthegray@gmail.com. I would love to talk to you and hey, you want to hire me? You’re not going to hear me say this every time, I promise. Cc-chapman.com has got all the contact information. I would love to hear from you. I would love to work with you and if you think you’re too small, don’t. I’m very much excited about working with people, individual bands, movies, companies, whatever it is, other agencies. Heck, I’ll come in and do a pitch with you guys or facilitate brainstorm sessions. Whatever it is, I just am excited to work with such a variety of new people. That has me giddy with glee. Giddy with glee, C.C.? I don’t think so.
Anyways, guys, you take care. I will be back very, very soon. Until next time, swing on by managingthegray.com. All right? Go out. Be passionate.
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