Episode 55: Reclaiming Freedom with Jim Love

In Episode 55 of the Reclaiming Man podcast, guest Jim Love shares some insights gained on his journey of Reclaiming Freedom by pursuing his passions, overcoming challenges, and integrating his professional pursuits with his life mission - to reach as many people as he can through motivational speaking and enabling his listeners to do the same. Check out more on his website: https://www.goauthenticyou.com/ as well as find him on LinkedIn.

Transcript

Michael: 0:05

Okay, great. Welcome to episode 55 of the reclaiming man podcast. Good night. Myself, Michael Beckwith, is on, accompanied by a guest Jim Love. Jim is becoming a close friend of mine, I'll say that. Met him relatively recently, at a work conference, and things have really been, I feel like just Fascinating conversations, great mind, great human being. I think he has a wonderful story that really ties well into some of the stuff that we've been talking about on the show. And so, just looking forward tonight to diving in, hearing a little bit more about his story. And with that I think we'll just kick things off with an open ended question here for you, Jim. Tell us a little bit about your story. Before anything else, before work, before, your future and everything like that, tell us a little bit about your background, yourself, some of the things that are most important to you.

Jim: 1:00

Awesome. Well, first of all, for having me. I've been a fan of the show for a while, ever since July. It's been a joy and a blast to know you and hear all about what you're doing. So, my name is Jim Love, as you said. I'm originally from the south side of Chicago. That's a very long time. Full snippet. Community in Chicago, that's about 15 minutes Southwest of downtown. So when people ask me if I'm actually from Chicago, the answer to that question is yes, I am, and not many people are able to say that. So there's usually a suburb or, something thrown in there. And I pride myself on that, but born and raised there parents, brother and sister, I'm the youngest, which means I want to be the center of attention and that is Couldn't be more true, so I have that going for me, but I had a really normal childhood, for all intents and purposes. I had a great family, super close knit. One interesting part about my Extended family is what we all live within about 3 miles of each other. And that's my mom's side. So, we call it an overdone close family, but that's what our group text is named, but in a very good way. But it was really unique having that growing up is my aunts and uncles were around the corner. We were at my grandparents house, every weekend and I was used to that. It was great and just super close and that continues to this day, frankly. So I had that and in the, my, my dad's side was similar and we get together a lot. And so that's always been my big on family, big on faith. That's my two main things and family, faith and football. No, I'm kidding. I would say just those first two for sure. And then I went to college out in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, went to Marquette University and I have an amazing experience there and actually have since never really left Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So I've called home and and I graduated a little over 10 years ago. And since then have been living and working here and got married here. I bought a house here, I bought a dog here. So you could say that this is, this has now become home. And The way I'll describe Milwaukee it's like Chicago's cool little sibling, which is myself.

Michael: 2:57

Yeah, totally agree. Totally agree. I think I told you my family's from Milwaukee. Yes, fairly certain. I did. So I have so many fond memories of Bayview, that's Parents grew up and also spent a lot of time on the shore of lake Michigan, growing up and holidays and whether that's equally bad as Minnesota is, but surrounded by good people and great memories. So, cool that, is your family still all. In Chicago area.

Jim: 3:21

Yes. So my extended family is my immediate family. My brother moves to Michigan a couple of years ago. So my parents are there. My sister lives about five blocks from my parents and then the rest of them. I'm not as all there. My dad's side is a bit more scattered, but but yeah, they're still within, a couple of miles of each other. And it's unique. It's very South side. I will say that a lot of. Not many people leave the South Side of Chicago, I'm one of few, which makes it great, honestly, it's a ton of fun, you go home, you get to see a lot of people, and it's a very unique, close knit community that has each other's backs, I would say that's the best part about it, so I really enjoy that, I certainly like living in Chicago. Here and enjoy my space here. But when I go home it's it's, it feels right. It feels normal when it feels like it's for the weekend. And then I head back home.

Michael: 4:06

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's good to have family close by at least, close enough where it's within driving distance and same for me, I think it's a. Huge part of what my goals in the future are, too, is just to continue, some physical proximity with as many of my family members as possible. But yeah, Milwaukee. And you said you're, you're still there. So tell us a little bit about what's kept you in Milwaukee apart from, the dog and the place that you live. What are some of the The things that have really kept you there.

Jim: 4:33

Yeah, just the dog. No it's really right away. I felt like Milwaukee was a spot for me. It's a very welcoming, like hard nosed, work hard, work hard, play hard, I'll call it in a way where like people. People like to celebrate, they like to really, look out for each other. You it's a small community here. We call it small walkie for a reason. And a lot of people know a lot of people. And if you're connected to a couple of folks, you're connected to everyone. And it's very philanthropic, really just charitable. It's an easy place to live. That's what I found. And then certainly my career has brought me here. And I started off working for a life insurance company when I graduated from college that I interned at for three years and then was hired. Full time, I was there for about 5 or 6 years and then I moved into the career I'm in now and it's all been based here. And so obviously my, my, my job kept me here, but but I can't imagine, not living here. And actually, a lot of my friends from college stuck around and even the ones from Illinois are here and live within a few miles of me. So it's got a. It's just cool vibe. And this place is very giving and it's, it's been, it's for my twenties was an incredible spot for my thirties. Now has been just to relax, go at your own speed. And whereas I'm, I think of Chicago, it's like folks walking down the street with sunglasses, the ear pods in, not really paying attention to Milwaukee's very like. Intentional, you can have a conversation with anyone and I love that. I had a lot of fun with it. So those, that feeling and that vibe really kept me in that certain career.

Michael: 6:01

Yeah. And I feel like it's less common for folks to have the history and the background, the breadth of experience with a single company. And so you've been, I think for a while now with the company that you're at, do you want to share anything about that specifically? Or.

Jim: 6:19

Yeah, totally. I've been there for going on six years in about two months and it's been wonderful. I've been in four different roles and have really jumped around. And the leadership there is awesome. Just good people. Really good people. And being. The headquarters is in Milwaukee, and that's been really significant for me to get to know some of our leaders, our presidents here, our CEOs here. It's just a really great place, and I've been able to meet a lot of people Exhibit A folks, and that I, share a lot of values in common and really pride ourselves on putting people, and it's a fun time and it's a rewarding time and yeah, I can't imagine my life without it. It would be, it's, it was, it's been a lot of fun and I've learned so much and my goodness. So much. So it's been that's been a real pleasure.

Michael: 7:07

Yeah. I just one of the things I was struck by right away with you, like we were. Yeah. At an industry conference. And I feel like we, we talked very little about industry. So don't it's interesting, and we've spoken since. So I've, leveled up on my knowledge of what you do and things like that. And so I don't necessarily need to get into too many of those types of things, but just in the context of what you're trying to accomplish in life. And, the direction that you're going, what, how does that fit into, to that picture? And, I guess at this point, I'm just curious to, See if you might share a little bit more about some of the other types of things that you've been pursuing simultaneously and, talk a little bit about what that journey has been like and just yeah, pursuing multiple things multiple dreams and how you're finding it.

Jim: 7:48

I love that. I'm a serial side hustler is the way that I'll call what I do. But at my day job, I'm a solutions director, right? And my job is to help folks come up with solutions that will help solve their workforce issues which is great. And I love doing that. And it's all about relationships. It's just about meeting people, understanding them. And to your point Michael, I love. I just like talking to people and I'll talk about whatever topic it might be. And we just so happen to share the same interests. So it works out obviously really well. But a lot of my kind of life is really based around usually speaking about leadership development, about finding your voice, about authentic leadership. And so I really got my start in this whole leadership journey when I was 16 and a sophomore in high school. And I was nominated to attend a leadership seminar. And That really was, I would call it intense and really challenged me to accept who I was as a leader and then act on it. And so when I left that, I was like empowered, ready to rock. And I came back every summer and helped out at the seminar. And then now 17 years later, I'm speaking at that seminar. I'm the opening talk, closing talk. And then I also have my own sort of company on the side where I go to high schools, to conferences across the country. And speak about what it means to be a leader and just try and develop future leaders. So I like bread and butter. It's like a 17 year old kid who's a little bit maybe lost, but definitely a leader and they have potential. Now I've spoken to 88 year olds and I've spoken to eight, but if I had to pick like, the one that would be it, but I'm a big fan of human beings is what it comes down to. And if I, if you'll give me a microphone around some of those folks, I'll do it. But I, a lot of my journey was started when I experienced someone who made me feel empowered. And I really wanted to give that to other people, if I had to boil it down that's what it comes down to. So the feeling of being on a stage or speaking to a client, whatever it might be, and they feel like they have the tools that they need to go forth and to be successful. That's it. That's what I would smile. Well, I love

Michael: 9:46

that. Well, I love that for sure. I feel like just getting the good fortune of hopefully gaining some of those wisdom, that wisdom, in tonight's show. In tonight's conversation here, because a couple of things that you touched on there, I think are really important, especially when it comes to both reclaiming your mind and reclaiming freedom. And a couple of different aspects of it, just stood out to me as far as finding your voice. And so could you elaborate a little bit on that a little bit?

Jim: 10:09

Totally. So I Actually my whole life I've been a person who stutters. So I've had this adversity that I faced growing up where I, I didn't want to speak on the phone. I was really shut down. I think I was actually early, like developing my own voice. And so as time went on I really started to realize what my voice was and it was to empower, to try and inspire. So maybe be obnoxious, whatever you want to call it, but that was what I was called to do. And so my whole journey was really like, it's funny. This is obviously specific, but was like doing student sections, like in high school and college. Like I led all that and I loved it. I loved every minute of it, like going nuts at games and those types of things. But what it taught me was that if I could put this in a scenario in a space where I'm around people and trying to empower. Them to use their voice, which, and when I say voice, I don't mean like the physical voice, but like something that you're passionate about, something that you really wanna pursue. Yeah. So that became really important to me. And so a lot of my talk, frankly, a lot of like my keynote that I gave is around that. Is around finding who you are, what your voice is. I use this term called era, like ERA and ERA stands for enthusiastically, relentlessly, and authentically. And using your voice in that was something that I actually came up with two years ago, headed into this talk that I've been doing for 10 years now. But but it really became true. And I've recognized that if you're going to go after something that you feel passionate about, you need to be enthusiastic, relentless, and authentic. And those three things really stuck out to me. So what I do and the way I found my voice was certainly. Taking that adversity head on, I would say in becoming a speaker and, all those types of things. But but finding myself in the sense that it became my superpower versus anything that really actually helped me back. So that is part of my journey, but it's 1 where I love sharing it because a lot of students are like, no way. And I'm like, yeah you probably have 1, 2 I'm not the only 1. I think

Michael: 11:58

a lot of people do, but it's so cool to hear that story, man. And so. Gosh, it's moving because I feel like, so many different folks that I am inspired by as I listen to their stories, they have a similar type of experience in the, in their background history. It's like some trauma that could be, It could be framed as something that stops you or prevents you from getting where you want to in life, but, flipping it on its head and using it to your advantage and then turning it, into something that you're so passionate about. It reminds me actually of thinking Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, and I'm not sure if you remember in, in that book, but the author was. He was basically tasked to, interview 500 of the most successful people in the world that at that point, who were still living and then interview other people who were unsuccessful and just to figure out and distill what is the sort of recipe, the, the, all the different components of success and. Interestingly enough, he talks about his son and one of the components that he talks about how his son was born deaf and he wasn't born deaf in the sense of like, what's the right way. There's two different, basically, I think there's two different types of deafness. He was born with physical deformity in his ear, but he was still able to eventually as a result of that deafness, he was able to turn it into a career built around. Hearing aids, and so he was 1 of the 1st people who discovered that, like, with vibrations, you could still hear sounds even when your ears physically were closed. Effectively, he was born with, the ear canal was much smaller or closed. And so it was something where, he turns this, Physical defect in many ways in a way into a not only just something that was a strength, but it was something that, he built his career on, he ended up working for all of these these companies to help them bring hearing to people who were like him. And it's just such a really cool story. And I think very similar in the way that. You've approached at least this part of the side hustles, if you will. So just curious, do you have any thoughts about making that a bigger percentage of what you do is that what's your end game look like with it? Or is it just to,

Jim: 14:08

And it's, I do want to go back to something, we talk about freedom of mind and that is absolutely something I had to work on to to get my mind free of being afraid of going up and. Being in front of an audience. So that was a really significant thing. And that was something that spoke to me. I would say right now I really like it being a side hustle. Cause it's exhausting to be honest. It's one of those things where when I gave a keynote, it's for, it's very deep. It's very intentional. I go nuts on stage. I have a lot of energy. So some people say too much I'll let everyone else be the judge of that. But I can, I really I go nuts for an hour when I am done. I am done and like I have to get an hour to it's almost like going to therapy session, but like a thousand people are listening to your therapy session. That's the best way to describe it. So, cause I talk about a lot of stuff to talk about. I mean, that's one of many things that I speak about and I love it. I love every minute of it, but it's one of those things that when you do it so much, it becomes part of your subconscious again. So just for example, I give a couple of stories about challenging relationships in my life. Right. So that I learned a lot from and what I took away and those are now like, it was 10 years ago and I still have dreams about them because I talk about them a lot. So that's a consequence of going out there and doing it as much as I do, but I'd probably do it. Maybe 10 to 15 times a year, depending on what's going on. I have friends that do it like full throttle and I, I just, I don't think I could do that. It's just, it's a lot of work. I, cause I love actually having both things. I love growing my normal career and kind of this, but one impacts the other all the time. And I'll have every now and then I'll just get an email saying like, can you come out here and I'll just go do it. And it's a lot of fun and it's a nice break, from the routine, but I would say, and along with that, of course, I started my own podcast a couple of years ago, which was fantastic. So like I have that, and that's about people with side hustles as well. So we just meet a ton of folks and it's a lot of fun, but I'm going, one thing I'm going to look into, and I was just talking actually tonight, I was talking to my wife about this when we were walking our dog is a lot of people. Like want to become speakers. I get this all the time. And I am thinking about making that part of an offering that I do is train and develop speakers and like, that will go and then impact the world and whatever they want to do. Yeah that I think is the next kind of natural step that, that doesn't take. Like the travel, it doesn't take nearly as much like logistical things. It could just be a phone call, whatever it might be, but that's something I have a structure I use. I'm ready to consult on that, like right now. And so that, that seems to be a good step and people need it. I've had a lot of people reach out constantly that they want to do this. Where do they start? And I may not get them their gig, but I'll get them ready for their gig. That's what I would say. And there'll be in a spot where they feel comfortable to deliver. So that's something that's been on my heart pretty recently.

Michael: 16:45

Oh, that's really cool. Definitely. So many different formats and options that you have these days to, to build a course or content online, recorded pre recorded videos and a series with interactive exercises in between, or like you said, the actual live counseling itself, but there's lots of different ways that you could do it to make it more scalable, I think. And then. To your point, I mean, just it spreads your impact. That's the ripple impact for sure. It's just the ripple effect rather where little things that you're doing now, some of the people that you impact in small ways. Well, then, maybe in the 17 years, they'll be leading the the classes,

Jim: 17:20

that's my goal. I mean, if I could speak to a student, let's say, Okay. That in 10 years, they're speaking to, like, the same group like that's it, that's the story. That's what I want to write. And there are folks that I've talked to that could absolutely do that and make it happen. But that's what happened to me. I guess I should probably preface this by saying the guy who spoke to me when I was 16 and had my first experience in leadership development. He mentored me about 10 years later. And and that was the reason why I got into speaking. So like that giving back part is so critical to me. And he did that for me for months, mentored me on how to do it, what it means to speak, to motivate. And and that's what I love doing. And now I have the tools, I've been doing it for 10 years now and it can it can, can bring it back and help out.

Michael: 18:01

So that, that would be awesome. Yeah, I, so you mentioned the mentorship. I think that's a really important part of growth and development. We've talked a lot just about growth mindset, things that we can do ourselves, but sometimes when you're looking at, paths to accelerate learning and not in an unhealthy way, but just to help move things a little bit more quickly, I think the mentorship is something that at least I was overlooking pretty heavily until the past couple of years, actually. Yeah. And have found amazing benefits in it. Do you have any from that mentorship or from others? Do you have anything, things that you've gleaned or just through lines, things that you think are really contributing to your success right now?

Jim: 18:44

One thing to me was that I had some validation and I, let me say that I'd usually check. Like a new mentor every year, just someone that I can learn from and I've picked them intentionally. And one thing I've taken away is that, like, I don't have to learn. How many, how do I say this? I don't have to like change anything about me. Like, like, like that's where I think we all go into mentorships to see if they're going to teach you something that's like so far beyond, like, you have to reach this or it's always like small things. And the people who I look up to a lot, like I'm almost there, like where it's like you just keep going. And I've loved that. Like, like those share ways that they approach something in, in the way they did something, but there's never been a moment where I was like, I am so far away from what this person did that like, and so I think a lot of people are going to realize that pick a mentor that, that like, like actually think about someone who inspires you, that you have access to and ask them. It's a mentor. Yeah. That's really good. That's what I did. And trust me, no one's going to say no to that. If you get someone reaching out to you, ask them like, yeah, you're going to be like a hundred percent for you. And one thing that worked out for me, actually we have someone who, you know, very well from my company that we were at dinner with recently was a mentor for me for a year, about three years ago. Yeah. I remember you mentioning

Michael: 20:01

that. Yeah. I

Jim: 20:01

got to know him really well. And that was just such a gift of a relationship. But I specifically was like, you are really cool. And I want to learn from you. And then like from those, I was like, wow, we're pretty similar people. And I just need to have more confidence in what I can do. That's what I've learned a lot is, like we're not missing some glaring thing that like, if you do that's going to bring you to the next level, you probably have what it takes. It's just a matter of getting an approach on it and the confidence from someone that you look up to. But that's been a huge thing. I generally. The concept of mentorship is so critical. We it's underutilized. We don't do it like nearly enough. You can really pick out some folks that that impact you pick out someone that maybe for whatever reason you wouldn't talk to typically and just see what they teach you. And there's a lot of joy that comes from it. And you either, you may have a formal one at your company or you just make one. I just, I, we actually have one and I don't even follow that one. I just reach out to someone on my own. I

Michael: 20:53

know that's interesting that you say that the first person that I informally asked to be my mentor was a, a guy who I realized I rode the train with to, to work. Right. And he's senior engineering manager. He was in supply chain coincidentally, where I sit in the organization, except he's in the nuclear side of the company, which is. Separate company, almost within a company. And really interesting though, right. Just cause I was talking with him and I was just like, ah, this guy has a wealth of experience. He's been here for like 20 years. He's he knows all the people he knows, generally at least on the nuclear side, but I was like he's going to be a great person to learn from. And so I just. Approached him about it. We did it for about six months and then ended up just pure, purely coincidentally, like through our work program, assigned his manager as the next mentor I had. So, a director level individual in supply chain and And then the next one that I've been assigned to is another senior leader in our organization, again, within supply chain. So it's been a really good progression just to go after it first informally. And then on the, the formal side of it's basically they just make sure that you. Connect every couple of times a month and give you a couple of ideas of things to do. And

Jim: 22:09

In the same token I serve as a mentor for like my college for a market for the alumni association. That's been a real gift to get to know some students who are awesome. So it's cool having both sides. Like I'm getting the mentor experience and also a mentee as well. And I encourage that too, that people need folks to look up to you and and people listening to the show are probably the type that would want to do that. And it's a lot of fun to be a novelist. So, yeah, I like both sides.

Michael: 22:33

Yeah. And then, bringing it back to like one of the things that you mentioned earlier the A of ERA, the authentically part, I find that when I, and I just have started, I would say, To two informal mentorships, not by request, but just by the nature of our relationship and how they will ask me for assistance with various things or what my opinion and perspective is. And so I look at it very informally. So this is my opportunity to help impact, this person's direction in their career. And, one of them is he just came out of like an externship and we're both super passionate about data. And so it's just like so easy to connect with him on those types of things. And so I think that's one thing that's really an important attribute as well. And maybe it's a little bit harder in the context of a formal program where, you don't get to necessarily pick exactly who it is, but to your point, if you can find somebody that's inspired, like inspirational to you, that's, You have access to, like, Oh, there's one thing that we both are pretty passionate about based on what they've talked about. Like, I think that really increases the, the potential of the mentorship for having good results. And I've just been fortunate. So, so far, because the people who I've. And assigned to are also people I'm like, Oh, I like the way that this person, thinks and approaches this job. This is going to be really helpful. So that's really cool. So I was just thinking also, and not to get too disjointed in it before we, we break away completely from it, maybe we come back to it a little bit more too, but you mentioned, the one tactic that you had with regards to speaking, era enthusiastically, relentlessly, authentically. I myself have. Not as a by product of this podcast, but this is another example of it. Over the past couple of years, I have been trying to level up my speaking skills, communication skills in general. I've been trying to speak at a couple of conferences and just get more exposure to what, so many people associate as one of their number one fears, speaking publicly. Right. And I think I've really enjoyed it because it's made me so uncomfortable. I think even, the listeners of this podcast, the people who are in the audience, they can probably, I feel like they can probably tell like, Oh, he's not super comfortable, at least at first. But for that reason, I like it because it's pushing me to the edges of what I feel like is my comfort zone. But do you have like, I'm going to be speaking in a couple of weeks here at a conference. So do you have any, a couple of like top two or three things? I know you do keynotes on these types of things, but for public speaking, are there things that like other strategies that you have apart from era or could you just expand a little bit more on those, mostly selfishly, but for our listeners as well.

Jim: 25:14

I would say first and foremost if you're not nervous, there's something wrong, like everyone is nervous. Before I get nervous every time I go up and speak, like it's because you care. So like, I just recognize it's a very shared human experience for everyone. Even the people who are the most polished folks are going to get nervous because they care about the message. My nervousness now is more so that I hope that people are going to relate to me. But gosh, it took me years before I was not like. Chest pounding, heart pumping before I get out there. The best thing I would say is that when you start do something, that's really unique to you to quote unquote, break the ice and when I'm, so let me give you an example when I walk up, it's like, The kind of quick, nervous energy I do a chance. I literally lead a chance to start it off. Like, because it gets me into my mode. I'm full on and I literally put the microphone down and I do a chant, not for every group ever, if it's, if it's like our industry folks, that might be a little bit different, but I'm thinking

Michael: 26:12

about it. Yeah. Yeah. No, right.

Jim: 26:14

Fire it up. But it, that, that is, it's super strategic thing. Very strategic because I know I'm good at that. I'll do it right away. It'll get people like that guys weird, but like, that's the whole point. And also it just wipes away that, that kind of quick nervous energy and it really works. And so that's not for everyone, but I would just encourage you and other folks. Right. Like. When you go out there, don't just be like, hello, my name is Jim and this is leadership. Like start off with something funny or like just do something that's very uniquely to you and people catch on to what that is right away. So for like, when people listen to a channel, this guy's about to turn up and like, they're correct. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to, I'm going to have a day with them and I'm going to enjoy myself and do something that's different. And and again, like. That's super subjective, but I found that, that whatever that strategic thing is off the bat sort of wipes away, maybe that nervousness. And then when you get rolling, when you, I would say if you practice practice, and you have your thing down, the rest is beyond your control. If you know your content, if you care about your content. And you're out there and you're ready to roll. Like if your audience sucks a little bit, then they suck a little bit. Like there's not a whole lot you can do about that, and so control those aspects of it. Like if you're unprepared and yeah, it's going to be a heck of a day for you, but do that and leave the rest and recognize like you're going to be nervous. Like it's going to happen when you get started, that usually wipes away. But I mean, I go, before I go out, I am, I'm like a player entering a basketball game. Like I'm rolling and I'm like ready to go. And I really have to get into the space, right. Of doing it. And it's hard, but it becomes easier with time. And everyone started off the first one. I did my first keynote. You did your first talk, everyone starts somewhere and you're going to have to, and it's going to be a rough one. Like, it's not going to go well, but you always get better. And the last thing I'll say is you think it's worse than anyone in that audience does. You're your world's worst critic. And I'll come off and I'm like, that was awful. And I'll get 15 people email me after how much they enjoyed it. So you just don't know. You just don't know, but they probably enjoyed it a lot more than you did. And if you're having fun, sure as heck they are too.

Michael: 28:21

Okay. That's a good question. Our, my next question is related. Do you. Do you generally script it or do you outline it or both, or what's your approach to delivering the content, because a lot of times what I struggle with is finding the balance of, if I have it scripted, maybe I start to, to go too quickly through it, or it sounds less, Authentic because it's scripted or just done as natural sounding. But what, yeah. What are your thoughts about that stuff? Yeah,

Jim: 28:49

that's, so that's evolved for me over the years, I would say I'm scripted to a point where I know what's coming next, but I can be, I can go off the cuff, as needed. So I use note cards. I always have. And what these note cards have on them is small phrases to remind me of what I need to do next. And actually I have five for each section. So I have a one hour keynote. Yeah. Break it down into three 15 minute halves, if you will, and or halves that doesn't matter. I knew what you meant. I knew what you meant. Yeah. Yeah. Let's, we talked about math right before we get on here. This is so I write on each one of those note cards, this five step process. And what that boils down to is how I do every talk I've ever written. And it's number one, state your point. Number two, say why it's important. Number three is give your story about it. Number four is give the solution. And number five is recap the point. And boom. That's it. That's every Oh, I love that. I've written speeches for presentation. Anything it is, and I have these notecards. And I'll actually say So if I'm giving a keynote, I'm like, Alright guys, like, leadership is great, and here's why. And this is why it's important. Here's my story around it. And here's the solution just to recap the point, like I'll physically read those out and that helps keep it structured for me. But some speakers use AV, some speakers have a whole thing printed out. Some speakers use none of those things, but it's all up to you. That's what worked for me was I felt the security blanket. I'm having the thing right in front of me and I actually have ADHD like pretty hard. So if I didn't have that, I would trail off. I have a time limit, so I can't and I make a joke about that by the way, I start off I'll be one of my talks. I'm like, Hey, here's the thing. I have this and I use no cards just to be totally real with you. And it, It sets a stage for, I'm going to be authentic with them. And it's also like a little bit funny. And so that, that's why it works. But but yeah, that five step thing is written on every note card I have. And I literally flip it over. I'll go back and forth. I don't look down as much, but when I need to, I do. And it helps me get me structured. And then if I go off the cuff, if you will, if I get really fired up about something and just keep going, then I look back down and I'm like, all right. So let's move on to the next thing. I know what was coming. That's just always what's worked for me.

Michael: 30:53

Yeah. Great. Well, those are really helpful. I'm going to incorporate some of them in. I've been working on putting the presentation together and I had started off scripting, intro and then an anecdote and an outro just trying to decide like how cheesy and quippy I wanted to be with it. Right. But no, but I appreciate it. I'm going to take it into consideration. And it's fine. I am.

Jim: 31:15

I was writing a new keynote about three weeks ago and I feel like I may have texted you during this, but it was a whole new talk for a whole new audience and corporate audience. And I had started writing on a Saturday and it wasn't going well. I was writing this and I was just like getting blocked. And then I realized I wasn't following my own structure. I was just writing down notes and I totally scrapped it. Three hours of work. I just threw out the window and did the structure. And it formed a whole talk within about six hours but like, I, it was a reminder for myself that I was like, I need to stay true to this process. It's been a while since I've written anything. So just like, go back to square one, like of the way that you did it. But it was a good reminder three weeks ago for me to be like, yeah, there's a reason why you have that process and why it works. So,

Michael: 31:54

Yeah, absolutely. And that's like, those are the types of things, those processes, like where. When you go and you talk to a mentor to come back to that briefly, like that's really great. They may have established this really easy to follow or simple way of approaching something that you thought was overly complex. And I think that's what I do a lot. I overthink things. I overthink the, the presentation I'm going to have, and then the reaction that people are going to have to it. And a lot of times I seem to forget that, Hey, this isn't even about me at all. Like they don't even really care. They're just. This is about them. Like, what are the, what do they need to understand from this? And really trying to flip the perspective to remember that anytime that I'm speaking, it's not for my benefit. It's not to sound good. It's to hopefully connect with the audience to, like you said, empower them to make some sort of change in their life. That's going to be beneficial. That's really what I'm. I'm trying to focus on as well. And one of the books I read this year that I thought was really good. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's worth your time is John Maxwell's 16 undeniable laws of communication. It's a long, it's a longer read. It's not like you sit and read it in one sitting by any means, but you know, just making your way through it. I feel like there's a lot of what you said that I think he's also Would agree with you on, so he

Jim: 33:09

was, he was my high school kind of guy that was, I've read all of it was I've had a leadership class in high school and he was like, he was the reason why the classes made. So he's only has like, what, 70

Michael: 33:19

books on it. So, yeah, he

Jim: 33:20

was, he was great. Now, a lot of my thoughts are really like correlated with some of what he put out. I basically just stole his work and just put it in. I don't know if it's stealing is,

Michael: 33:29

Maybe emulating, right. That's. Emulate a master is a really good way to find success with things. But so I guess. Really cool story. You've been building a successful career, from a corporate perspective on the side, you've pursued some of the other pieces that are helping you overcome some of what could be considered a liability or a weakness or whatever. You've turned it into strengths. You've turned it into, extra synergy for your career. Where does that take you? If you look in the next, in the future, like what is your ideal state when it comes to what you're doing to, generate income to, to live or things like that.

Jim: 34:07

Totally. Well, I want to, there are a lot more humans that need to be motivated and I plan on hitting everyone. I will speak until I can't speak anymore. That's what I will do. And that's where I'm really called to be. I, it's a vocation. And I take it, I don't take it, I wouldn't say take it seriously, but like I have a lot of fun with it, but I know that's where my talents are. And that will only continue to influence it. My, my day job, if you will. And I will continue to do that and connect with people and help them out as much as possible and do it on a personal level, as and it's just that's what I enjoy doing. And I think the rest will, we'll figure it out from there and I'll keep both, I'll keep both going. And and I definitely, this podcast I have is year number three now. And it's been a blast and I want to continue to grow that and just meet a lot of other entrepreneurs and grow it a bit more. And I think it's I know I mentioned going this like mentorship consulting routes a little bit more to, of just starting to help speakers that want to hit this, be in this world and what it takes and. And really bring people along on the journey because it's fun and it's science. Like it's hard, but but it's worth every minute of it. So I will continue to do that. And as well, as long as people will give me a microphone, I'm going to take it. And my hope, Michael, is that the next time you and I are at a conference together, I want to be speaking. That's one of my goals is to I just wrote that new talk a couple of weeks ago is about culture. And yeah, it would be really relevant for a lot of folks that we know within our industry. And my goal is to deliver that somewhere on a stage in the next couple of

Michael: 35:34

months. Oh, I like it. Yeah, that's really cool. And I think it's evident to me that, the passion that you have definitely can come out in so many different ways. There's just different ways that you can use communication apart from on a stage. Obviously that's one of the goals is, just to. Sort of what the evidence that supports that you are reaching levels of growth in those skills as well as relationships that you have to build in order to get to those types of opportunities. And so I think at the core of everything that you're doing, it feels like, there's that element of building relationships, building connections with folks and in your podcast. You've said you've been doing it for three years now obviously some really cool people, I bet, that have come on to this show and, any sort of key takeaways or things that have stood out to you in doing that show and why do you keep doing it? Are you planning on doing that? Indefinitely. What does that look like? I love that.

Jim: 36:28

Yeah. Biggest key takeaway after interviewing, I want to say it's been like 80 people now is that we are really interconnected as humans that, that is like, I've heard so many stories that are very similar of just why people go after what they do. And everyone has a passion, which is up to us if we want to follow it. So I love that part. The thing I love most about it is different. It really requires active listening. It's something that we are all not wonderful at all the time. And so I have to put my phone down and I got to listen to the people that I'm talking to. And I react in the moment. I connected back to earlier conversations. I ask questions because I'm genuinely curious. It's a fun time. I just enjoy that. I have an amazing co host who frankly is a lot better at intervening than I am. So I'm able to be, I have him around and he's great. He's just so, he's so gifted at just like coming back to earth, if you will. And so we love doing it. We got sponsored by Marquette this year, which was a ton of fun. We did some live shows. I know I was telling you about that on campus and, That's been a blast. And we get a lot of students about, we have like a following now there. We'll go there and 30 people are waiting there for us to come in. So it's been a lot of fun. And I can, I want to do that as long as we have guests there's actually a program called pod match, which is like Tinder for podcasts. And so you swipe right on people that you may connect with. And we've gotten a lot from that. I mean, almost too many, which has been awesome. So we'll continue that. And. Yeah I will, as long as I've got folks to talk to who have a passion, we'll do it. And gosh, if we do that for 10 more years, I'll be fine with it because it's a ton of fun. I just get a lot of joy from it. It's a really, it's a really cool.

Michael: 38:02

Yeah, that's really cool to hear. And honestly, like every little part of this conversation, I'm jotting down notes and things, cause I'm just, I'm learning a ton from you, which is great. I love to, I think that's my primary reason for enjoying these conversations. Whether it be with, somebody who we're interviewing, which we're just getting into this year, but even over the past year, just like building the relationships, building the connections with Preston and Scott obviously then, or maybe not, obviously, but as a result of those are byproduct of those types of conversations, like there's just this different level of connection that you have with people in general. And I feel like it's just awakened this. Different like hunger in me to know people more to understand people's stories and what you said, about like how everybody has a passion, but not everybody follows it. I feel like it's, less common that we will talk about those things unless somebody is like actively prompting us about it. Almost like we're. Not ashamed of our passions, but I think ashamed that we've given up on them,

Jim: 39:05

right? And

Michael: 39:06

and so that's something that I've been thinking about a lot You know as I look at my career and I look at what I'm doing and the amount of time that I spend on various Things, we talk a lot in the show about routine and habits and you know what whether it's a 75 hard challenge or something all of these things they take a lot of time and So that's one of the other pieces that I was interested in just hearing, like how you balance some of the competing time priorities. And, have you found that that's a skill that you feel like better at as a result of managing these multiple things, or do you still feel like things are pretty chaotic or

Jim: 39:41

I'm not good at it. I will say I, I mean, I have some times that are sacred, for me, like, Like usually, like evenings past a certain time or like weekends. But I, I try, I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot going on, it's demanding, but the thing is I am wired to be busy. Like, and I, that's, I, like, if I wasn't running around doing a lot of stuff, I'd be really bored. Like, I remember the first, two weeks of COVID, right? Like. I was like, oh, my gosh, what am I supposed to do, and I was already starting to lose it. And I know that was obviously difficult for a lot of folks, but I'm very much I enjoy being, being busy and having a lot to do and going from one thing to another. But yeah, to time management wise, I would say that I just I pick and choose my times where I'm super productive and just really utilize those. And that's that's what happens when you have like, with some ADHD stuff, like you just have moments where you can really turn into it. And I take advantage of those. I'm like, if it's a Saturday at noon, then it's a Saturday at noon. And that's when we're going to do it. And I'm feeling productive. And so I know myself really well. And I know when I'm going to get some stuff done and I get a lot done in those moments. And I'm like, well, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, all right let's go sit down or do something else. And then come back into it. But yeah it's, it works, for me, I'm not, it's definitely not one of my strengths, but I make it work, I guess is what it comes down to.

Michael: 41:00

Sure. No, that's, it totally makes sense. I think, I mean, I've read multiple places that we have a lot shorter of an attention span than we think of, irrespective of ADHD or other types of things like that, because I think, and by no means to diminish like what you experienced, I feel like there are an increasing number of people who just. Didn't get diagnosed with it and, are also in the same way thinking like, it was stigmatized and this is something that instead of, just leaning into and finding those times when you're productive and then working extra hard to understand and recognize like, okay, I am, this is one of those times, like I can get this done. I'm going to work on it, maybe I'll take a little break, but I'm going to get this done. Cause I'm feeling productive. Right. So there's just, I feel like a lot has changed around the perception of ADHD and some of those other types of things that I think it's more common that people have them. So it's, one of the one of the techniques that I try to use in the work day actually to help combat that. I don't. Believe that I have ADHD, but I don't think my attention span typically lasts longer than about 30 minutes on something, unless it's music. I could just sink into for hours, but at work, I use this technique called the Pomodoro technique. If you heard of this, I have. Yeah. So, so that's something that I'll just, I'll mention that as like, maybe just something for the guests. The guests, the listen, the audience, the folks that are listening, not for you, but I guess it is indirectly for you only that you've already heard of it. But yeah, spending about like 20 to 25 minutes focused on something and then taking a break and, making sure that you set up basically, from four to eight things that you want to do tasks that are going to require your attention, but only spending, 20 to 25 minutes on it. Before you take a break from it and when you do spend that time, you shut off everything else, phone out of the room. Generally your email inbox is closed. You're, say you're working on a presentation, you spend 20 to 25 minutes on it. You get up, then you take a break. You do something that physically you're moving again, you get your energy level back up, come back and work on to the next thing, so. Toggle to the next thing. That's one thing that I've actually found to be very helpful. Of course, equally challenging to find like blocks of time, but by making it smaller segments like that not like the focus time has really respected that well.

Jim: 43:12

Right. Focus time. Yeah. But

Michael: 43:16

yeah, but that's where I've I've been trying to. Inject that type of practice so I can do like, two or three cycles or four cycles on some other things. I know in my world, that's unfortunately like contract review or setting up some sort of yeah, not fun stuff. But anyways, that's really Yeah good stuff. I definitely appreciate, everything that, just as far as what we've talked about tonight, I feel like we've covered a ton actually. And again, I feel like I've come away from this with some good things to try as far as my next public speaking engagements. And just encouragement to hear that, You are definitely seem to be following what your dreams are going after, bigger audiences, more impact on the world. And I think your aspirational target was every human being who needed motivation, which is no small feat, but but definitely possible. And the fact that, the longer that you do the podcast and the, That's going to be around forever, which is really great. That's one thing that's great about a podcast, but yeah, anything that you, you think just saying in conclusion or closing anything else you want to share.

Jim: 44:18

I just think this is a great show and what you've built, with you guys and it's just a real honor to be on it. And I'm definitely happy to connect with anyone who. Feels like they need a speaker or wants to learn how to speak to motivate and and however I can be a resource to folks. And then certainly anyone in the contingent workforce space, obviously, any of those areas I'm happy to touch upon.

Michael: 44:40

Yeah. Where should where should we direct folks? Like just LinkedIn, you think, or,

Jim: 44:44

Yeah. LinkedIn is perfect. And then I have a website for speaking is go authentic you.com, but LinkedIn and those two are the best places to find.

Michael: 44:53

Well, great. I'll definitely put those links in the notes for the show. Awesome. And definitely appreciate what you're, contributing and just sharing your story and some of the stuff that you're doing to I feel like, living the sort of. Really living the values that we're trying to promote with, staying focused on the things that you can do to positively impact other people around us, build relationships, connections, and, start to just fight the fight by doing what you're passionate about, which is, just sharing ways that you've obviously overcome things in your life. And so I think there's just. So much that connects with reclaiming our minds, reclaiming our freedom by doing what you are passionate about doing. So thanks so much for joining us on the show. Hopefully we'll bring you back in the future. You can share about some of the successes of your speaking circuit. When you're what you said next two months, I'm going to follow up with you. So I'll follow up with you and we'll see if we can get you to just share some of the process for how you made it happen. And Encouraged by the conversation. Thanks so much, man.

Jim: 45:52

Thank you, Michael. It's a pleasure to be on. I appreciate it.

Michael: 45:55

Awesome.