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It is interesting how sometimes you think you know a person or situation and maybe you do not.  There is an old saying that gets thrown around, “never judge a book by it’s cover” and you know what it is true.  Especially when it comes to people and when it really counts.

It is extremely easy to get caught up in the surface level of a person.  Especially if you are in a situation that is not normal like say a weeklong winter weather dumping all things precipitation!  People are stuck, maybe without adequate supplies and are tense.  It is easy to feel less than open to people that you do not know.  I would urge you to be open and look deeper.

Sure, in a situation like I used as an example safety first.  However, I have seen the good in people during this situation.  We have seen the Facebook messages of people opening their homes to friends and that is wonderful.  What I am talking about however are things like watching a TV camera man push a man in a wheelchair up an icy hill so he could get to where he needed to go safely.  A group with Jeeps running essential workers to and from jobs just to do it.  Neighbors who maybe do not talk regularly, offering help in clearing driveways or offering to pick up items from the store.

So, we have reached the point where I know you are thinking “nice JMAXX, but your point?”  I will tell you; it is a key in surviving a pandemic, weather, tensions, and what ever else 2020 and now 2021 is throwing at us with out loosing it.  That is to look deeper for what is good in people NOT to get caught up in what is wrong.  Throughout history there have been good people and bad people and that is never going to change.  I believe what has gotten us through the bad times is the good in people.  Looking deeper to know what each person you meet is about and not judging them on surface level things.  You will never know a person unless you are open to really knowing them.  That girl with the pink hair and tattoos might be one of the smartest, creative, and funniest people you know.  That 6’4 275-pound black man might be a poet and have one of the kindest souls you ever met.  Key is you just never know those things unless you openly and honestly get to know them.

So, introduce yourself, be open to learn and ask questions, be honest and let them get to know you too.  If you do that then it will flip from “you just never know” to now you do know and you are so much better for that because you have gained wonderful people and influences to make a much fuller life for you and them.  Shine Bright People and Much Love!

-JMAXX

I mean seriously doesn’t it seem like just when you think you are catching up on that “to-do” list, BAM!  Whether that be something breaking, not going the way it should or a new major project due tomorrow, it just never seems to end.  The extra fun part is that it can and does happen from both ends of your life, personal and professional.  You finish that 14-hour workday and just want to go home and relax what always happens is either something breaks that needs fixed right then and there or someone is sick.

Life right?

Well, that is true, cannot stop things from popping up but what you can control is your planning and with that your reaction to those things.  I can hear you, shut up JMAXX!  Haha, sure some of it is a dream because there are certain days where your brain says no, not going to happen but if you can take care of selected items that can be scheduled ahead, do it!  Example is your regularly scheduled content for your business’s social media.  You do not want life to get in the way of that causing things to drop on your channels because you do not have what you need done on there, so instead of working for you when you cannot think about it, things are falling short due to lack of content and those fun little algorithms.  If you can spend a reasonable bit of time pounding out the graphic and copy for that new sale, motivational thought, or product launch and get those scheduled out how much easier will that be?  Be honest you know what you need to do, say, and sell in the next month so get your social media set up to do that now so you do not have as much stress about it.  That does not mean do not post the real life, trust or influencer marketing pieces that come up each day or so but the things that need to get out there on your channels no matter, go ahead and get those done and use your social media management tool to schedule them up and then take a deep breath. 😊

Same thing applies to your email marketing, you know what you need to say, announce, and premiere and when so get those templates built and copy written before the month even starts.  You know what you need to tell your clients so get it taken care of and schedule them on the proper release dates.

I hear you I have just TOTALLY contradicted myself, right?  Life happens so how am I going to get all these social media posts, stories and email marketing drafts set up and scheduled.  Well certain things you need to time block off your calendar and do that with some thought.  Do not plan to do this on the last Friday afternoon of the month, try a Wednesday say a week or two before the month ends for next month’s content.  That way if you do not finish you still have time, but it might be a great time to break up the week from your day to day and get creative for an hour or two.  Who knows you might come up with something AMAZING!  Do not force it though, if you are not feeling it work on part and move on because if you have scheduled it with time to spare you can work on it in phases.  I hear that final question, what happens when the content or copy needs to change?  Easy, you can change scheduled posts in your social media management or email marketing management tool.  If you are doing it a couple of weeks before the month starts most likely it is 90% of the way there so slight copy or image changes will be WAY better than trying to rush because you are starting from scratch and it needs to go out tomorrow.

Have faith in yourself, plan it out and do not be afraid to be creative.  You got this!  Shine bright and Much Love!!

-JMAXX

Whether it is because you have seen the Bill Murray classic film or you just expect ol’ Punxsutawney Phil to always say it is going to be 6 more weeks of winter this time of year can really make life seem like it is on an endless cycle of rinse, lather, repeat doesn’t it?

As adulthood looms large it seems like sometimes life takes over and we lose our sense of fun or adventure because hey who has the time or the money for anything else right?  There are always bills, business or healthcare expenses or those new shoes the kids seem to need every 6 months, a never-ending cycle.  It always seems like you are running the same obstacle course from work to chores and errands for the house and family to trying to catch someone’s game or recital (I know those things aren’t happening now or are virtual, but you get the point 😊).  You feel like you blink, and a day, week or months go by in a heartbeat and you wonder where did the time go?  You might also stop and think for a minute and cannot remember the last time you took a minute to enjoy something for yourself.  Sure, I get it watching your kids grow and learn is truly a gift and amazing as well as personal accomplishments at work being so cool, but I am talking about for you and only you.  I hear you, nice thought but reality does not give me time for a vacation to relax and my daily schedule is 12 hours long on a good day so when exactly or what exactly am I going to do with those 5 minutes that I can conjure up?

Well first off, I would say that if you really tried you might find more time to yourself, maybe even 10 minutes…haha!  Second, I would say you do not have to think so big picture, you do not need to jet off to the Caribbean to treat yourself, maybe just kick it old school to recreate some fond memories.  What am I talking about, right??  Well say for example as a kid you LOVED root beer floats, ask yourself when is the last time you had one?  That could be your 10 minutes just for you, make a root beer float and do not down it to get to the next thing on your list, enjoy it.  Whether that be to drink it with some favorite music on or catch the end of that show you have recorded while you enjoy.  I think if you did that or something like that just for a few minutes each day or every other day you would be amazed at how revitalizing it might feel.  That you have reconnected with yourself a bit and can take a deep breath when life is in full affect.  You deserve to enjoy your life…I will repeat…you deserve to enjoy your life.  I know in the social media picture driven version of life we see each day it might feel like you are “behind” or “lacking” but you are not.  You are right where you are supposed to be, making choices that are best for you and your family so enjoy your ride because it is the only one you get.  Do not spending it running to keep up with the Joneses, in the immortal words of Coach Brooks “Play Your Game!”  Shine bright all and much love!

-JMAXX

It is interesting sometimes especially as you start to get older to think about how your life has played out like a movie.  Maybe you even see it as different movies, a prequel for those younger years possibly?  It is easy to do that as you reflect on what you have done, learned and who you have interacted with over the years.  The scenes and memories play in your mind just like a movie sometimes, the good, the bad and quite possibly the ugly.

That makes me think about something different with movies.  The 10 minutes of “Coming Attractions” trailers that you must sit through before you watch the movie you purchased.  As you watch them all clipped together to give you a feel for what each movie will be like there are some you like, some you think nah and some are scary.  So, what would you do with the ability to see the coming attraction trailer for your life?  Maybe as a teen if you would have been able to see those short clips of your young adulthood or now to see those images of what the next 10 or 20 years look like.  I know right now a lot of you are saying nope, nada, do not want to.  Look back at my question a couple of sentences earlier I did not ask if you would want to, I asked what you would do with it.

Sure, the easy answer is to say, I would not watch.  Like many things in life, I urge you to take a deeper dive and think about what it would be like to see it.  Maybe you might grasp onto an opportunity that is in front of you now that you are unsure of, it could give you the courage to go for it.  It is possible that you could see how some complex relationships turn out and give you the courage to talk to someone or stand up for yourself.  It really is interesting if you think about it for a few moments.

What is more interesting still is the fact that you do not need the coming attraction trailer to act today.  We look for guidance in a lot of circumstance where really, we have the ability and instinct, we just need to trust ourselves.  For those fans of NCIS, we need to trust our gut just like Gibbs 😊.  So, if you are not sure even though it sounds like a great opportunity go ahead and do it, you will learn along the way.  Relationship complex?  Have that conversation or if that is too hard to start by writing out what you want to say.  Reconnect over lunch and enjoy each other.  You do not need a glimpse into the future, spoiler alert…you make you future!  Shine bright and much love!

If I was truthful I probably have more than one question, cause hey that is how we get to know each other right?  Today though I want to focus on a particular question, one that I am asking myself today as I try to push through those fun mental roadblocks that pop up, why do you do what you do for a living?

It is a big decision on how we work to make a living, a lot of factors go into that decision.  Also true is that those factors are different for each of us.  For some it might be a family business, others it may be based on a particular talent or talents you have, or you might have just come upon it or it is possibly a true calling or passion.  To venture from a job into a career I think it takes a combination of skills, education or training, desire, and determination.  It does not matter what your career path is if you do not exhibit that combination, I do not think you will last long.  Think about it if a doctor does not have the education and training combined with the desire to help their patients and determination to succeed in that I do not foresee them being a doctor for awfully long.  Like a carpenter who needs to learn the structure and integrity of what they are building combined with the skill and desire to make each piece look good.

Ok so we can see how someone maybe comes into a job and what it takes to make that into a career path but that does not answer my initial question does it.  You are present in your career but why do you do it?  More importantly why do you keep doing it?  I think the true answer to that is what keeps us going each day because let’s face it life is hard and can be messy, so it is easy to forget the why.  Kicker is you cannot forget it, especially in business because if you get away from that true answer then your business gets away from its mission and your brand well it is not going to come across as genuine or trustworthy.

Trust is 100% KEY in business and marketing, if people do not trust you or your product through your words and actions or personal testimony then well you are sunk.  So, if you feel like you are going through the motions or that you are doing or answering things in the way you think people want to hear then I advise you to hit the pause button.  Just for a moment and reflect on your why, the true and 100% authentic answer.  Once you have a hold of that, share it.  Let your customers hear your why, I am willing to venture a strong guess they will engage more with you for it.  Easily said I hear you saying, JMAXX what is your why?  Well thanks for asking, I will tell you 😊.  My why is that I like to solve problems and be creative.  I like to take those skills and desire to help others achieve their goals.  I find joy in helping others.

So, take your why, share it with others and build off it with your business and also personally.  If you do that, I guarantee you will shine bright.  Much Love!

It is true, while each of them might carry similar character traits you adapt who you are based on the circumstances or situations that you are in creating basically different personalities. Do not worry I am not suggesting we all have some sort of multiple personality disorder, but if you think about it the personality or persona you have at work is different than that when you are out with friends which is most likely different that the one you have for Sunday dinner with your family. Again, they all have similar character traits but maybe one of those traits is stronger in one situation compared to another trait in a different situation. For example, you may be more of an adaptive actress at work to get the job done while when you are with your friends your sarcastic humor comes more into play. So, I hear you thinking right now, ok makes sense but what is the point?

Well, I want you for a moment to consider the next level of this concept. It makes sense that you adapt who you are based on what you are doing because let us face it you cannot be a sarcastic smart mouth to your boss like you can to your best friend nor do you want to be working your sales personality to your grandma, right? However even with that adaptability of particular personality traits, I would venture to say that other personality traits are similar in each situation. For example, if you are super organized or if you are a visual learner, in every situation that you come across those types of character traits are probably the same. These character traits are usually about how you learn, how you see the world, and how you run the logistics of your life. I am also going to assume that by now you have noticed that they are probably not the same as they are for others you have met. What makes that remarkably interesting and sometimes difficult is because in those different situations we talked about earlier where you adapt the more social character traits you might just need to adapt these shall we call them learning traits as well. Why? Because let us face it we are all different socially even if just by a bit, but as I mentioned just a second ago, we are all different in how we learn and view/organize our world. You are going to come across people especially in work or organizational settings that you must collaborate with that have learning traits that are way different than you and that can be super difficult sometimes. I am sure that you can think of a situation that someone just drove you nuts, but you did not have a choice to work on that project with them. Maybe you are highly organized, and logic based, and they are more creative flow based. On surface level the potential for that to be an annoying work situation is strong, but I ask you to step back a bit and think of it on a broader prospective because I would venture to guess you were partnered for a reason. Together you make the perfect pair. They can see the big picture and maybe envision how what you are working on could work for people a year or 5 years down the road. You then can take that vision and plan it out logistically so that it can happen on time and on budget as well as preparing the presentation on it in a super organized and clear fashion to get your project approved.

So how do you do that when you want to pull your hair our right? I would say before you dive in deep to that project, recognize each other’s strengths and differences and have a positive conversation on how the project work is going to flow so that you bring out the best in each other and there for your project. If you are upfront, kind in recognizing what each other is good at and how working to those strengths will be best for all I think you will be surprised how well everything flows. Ask questions of each other, engage, respect each other’s abilities, and THRIVE! Much Love!