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Business Leader Mark Mears on Purposeful Growth & Writing Habits · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Daily Writer Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: For more resources, including your free Daily Writer Starter Kit, visit DailyWriterLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Before we get to today's episode, I want to share an incredible opportunity for you to grow as a writer.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, listening to podcasts, reading emails and books, and getting on Zoom calls is fantastic, but there's nothing quite like being in a small group of other writers who are making their writing dreams come true by publishing books and building their business.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's what the Daily Writer Retreat is all about.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: On May 2nd through the 4th, we will gather in beautiful St.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Charles, Missouri, just outside of St.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Louis, in a historic home to help you take a giant leap as a writer.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: We'll start with a classy dinner on Tuesday night, followed by two amazing days of connection, planning, teaching, and masterminding together.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: But don't take my word for it.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Listen to what one of our members, Andrew Wood, had to say about his experience at last fall's Daily Writer Retreat.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Andrew, tell me what it is that you like about being at the Daily Writer Retreat and being an introvert at a Daily Reader Treat specifically.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: I really am an introvert, and that's one of the reasons I'm a writer and I like to work from home and my mom.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: But I spend all my time home alone, and sometimes, you know, I just go to the grocery store just so I can talk to people, and it feels kind of silly sometimes to do it.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was friends with Kid though, and I know that I really like kids a lot, and I look forward to the chance to come to the retreat and hang out with him and spend more time with him.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um what I wasn't expecting so much was how how quickly and easily I would make friends with the other people in the group.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I just found so many people here just really fun, really interesting, they're all introverted, but somehow or another when we all get together, we all become extroverts.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how bad it happens.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I really feel comfortable.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel drained, I feel really energized, and I'm getting a lot of ideas and um just enjoying seeing all the different ways people are finding to use their writing talent.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of ideas that I I hadn't thought of before, so it's pretty exciting.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much, Andrew.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, if you need a creative boost and you want to grow your writing into a part-time or full-time business, the Daily Writer Retreat is for you.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: The cost is just$475 and includes registration materials and all meals on Wednesday and Thursday.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this is a smaller retreat and spots are really, really limited.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: So head on over to dailyriderlife.comslash retreat to grab your spot today.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: There will be a link in the show notes, but again, that link is dailyriderlife.com slash retreat.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's get to today's episode.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: You know, most of our podcast guests come from a background of writing or creative work, as you probably know if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: So today I'm excited to feature a conversation with a renowned business leader who recently wrote his first book and is on a mission to help others experience purpose and growth.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Mark Amirs is a number one best-selling author, keynote speaker, consultant, and visionary business leader.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: He has a significant track record of building shareholder value, and he's driven innovation and profitable growth among world-class high-profile brands such as PepsiCo slash Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Frito-Lay, JCPenney, NBC Universal, and his Cheesecake Factory.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: And my guest is you probably recognize all those brands as I do.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: Today Mark serves as Chief Growth Officer for Leaf Growth Ventures LLC, a consulting firm helping individuals, teams, and organizations find purpose in fulfilling their true growth potential while making a positive, lasting difference in the world.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: Mark is also a member of the Senior Leader Network within Conscious Capitalism Incorporated.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: He recently released his new book, The Purposeful Growth Revolution: Four Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: And in today's conversation, Mark shares his background in corporate America and the turning point that led him to writing his first book.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: You'll learn the habits behind his writing a draft of a 400-plus page book, how to achieve your writing goals by overcoming fear and uncertainty, and lots of strategies for taking action to get what you want and grow in ways you never thought possible.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: You can connect with Mark at markamirs.com.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's markameers.com, where you can also download his free purposeful growth self-assessment.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, this was a fun conversation.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: I learned a ton, and I know you're going to be really inspired by Mark's writing and his business success just as I was.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: So here's my conversation with the amazing Mark Mears.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Mark, it is a pleasure to have you on the Daily Writer Podcast.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so glad that we have connected and I'm really enjoying your book and am so intrigued by what you're doing with writing and how that is advancing your career in a lot of different ways.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: So, first of all, welcome.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for being here.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you making time to do this.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Kev, thank you.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate you asking and looking forward to our conversation.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: So this is a little bit of a different conversation for this podcast because most of the time I have people on the show who kind of have always been in the creative slash writing circle.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: These are people who maybe have always wanted to write books or they come from a creative or a musical or maybe even a church ministry or a college type of background.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: Those are all areas where I sort of have come from.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: But this is a little fun.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's a lot of fun, but it's also a little different because you come from a corporate background and you never really set out to get into the writing game.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: And this is a relatively new thing for you.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm wondering if you can walk us through a bit of your story coming from corporate America and then deciding that you wanted to write a book because the book world was kind of something that you probably never intended on getting into.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: But here we are, and you've written this amazing book and have all these cool things planned.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: So walk us through a bit of your story and how you wound up in the writing space, if you could.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Kim, thank you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um my author journey uh is uh probably um dissimilar to most of your listeners.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh again, you're to your point, I I never got into um you know the the writing of this book um with any other intention than to fulfill what I felt was a calling.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh having been in corporate America, I've been uh um everything from internal up to the CEO and some some pretty big companies, and and and some you may have heard of, some you may not have heard of, but um the the idea of writing hit me um on the morning after a very significant life event happened where my company was part of a broader global uh enterprise, publicly traded, and I was brought in to help turn my brand around and get new capital to help it grow and long into the future.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, two years into it, uh the board decided to move in a different direction and uh put us up for sale.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: We had turned the brand around from double-digit negative sales, we had put a new brand positioning in place, we had established a new concept, uh, and they like what they saw so much that they decided to sell and strike while the iron was hot.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the new buyer came in after months of courtship and telling me and my team we're all going to be uh you know retained and this is gonna be a great new partnership, and we're the parent company you've been looking for.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: The deal closed on a Friday.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're drinking champagne over the weekend, Monday morning at eight o'clock.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm supposed to meet the new CEO to kind of plan our week and our future together.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, the series of meetings with our joint executive committees.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: And at 8:05, I'm out the door.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: We've decided to move in a different direction.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, what, over the weekend?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it was only 8.05, it would have been 8.01, but it took me four minutes to get my jaw off the floor.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: I can imagine.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so we were living in um Southern California at the time, and uh this was uh late February, and um, depending on where you are in the country, uh, that's probably not going to be spring in most places, but there were the first signs of spring starting to emerge.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: So after a fitful night of sleep uh that night when I got home, I took the dog out the next morning early and this uh got as my witness cat as the sun was coming up over this wall we had in our backyard.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: It shone on this fig tree that was barren from the five or six weeks of winter that we do get in Southern California.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: And there on the end of one branch was this little tiny green sprig of a leaf just starting to bud.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it was there in that moment I got this epiphany that a leaf is a symbol of growth and rebirth, a metaphor, also, if you will.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: I had this idea and I took the dog inside, started, uh, went to my office, started banging out of treatment on my uh computer for this idea of leaf is a symbol for growth and rebirth.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: And oh, by the way, also an acronym.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it stands for leadership, engagement, accountability, and fulfillment.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I started mapping this out as a four-circle bed diagram because they're all interlocked and revolving around purposeful growth.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_02: That fig tree only knows how to be a fig tree, and its purpose is to grow fig tree leaves where all growth happens through any plant uh or or tree through the leaf, right?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_02: Did the magic of photosynthesis, but also fig fruit.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: And the fruit is good for sustenance for animals and people, but also it has seeds to help in the reproduction process.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I started kind of thinking through this and how it would parallel to a corporate environment where I thought of leadership as the seed and root system, which you have to have strong leadership in any company, right?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: Engagement is then the uh prompt, the branches, and the system of nourishment, which I learned is called savia, which in English translates to life blood.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what's the lifeblood of any organization?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's people, and you want to engage them with their heart, head, hands, and habits.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then accountability represents the leaf and the fruit.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: In that case of the fig tree, again, fig leaves, fig fruit.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: In an organization, that would be the outcome of what matters most, and what you're in business to accomplish, right?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then finally, fulfillment represents the ecosystem, the sun, the soil, and the rain that allows that photosynthesis to occur and allows that plant or tree to be the very best version of itself.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like in an organization, we would call it a culture, right?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: You want to be in a nurturing environment where you can be your best self and feel like you belong and give of your best self.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I started working on this treatment.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: And at first it was a bit of a cathartic hobby until I got back on the executive track.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: But the more I wrote, the more I shared it with people, the more they said, wow, there's there's really a cool parallel.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: I've read a ton of business books, but I've never heard something like that.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's a unique take on something that you know many of us are trying to do is become better leaders.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I got to thinking about that tree and further the notion of it's not just about the growth of that tree and then it dies, but the fact that it lives a living legacy or leaves a living legacy through the scattering of its seeds to help others along their growth journey.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I started writing this thing and I went back to a job and then I kept writing it, went back to another job, and finally, literally about a year ago, I decided I gotta finish this.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's been chasing me.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's a calling, and I want to help people live more purposeful lives, not only outside of work, but inside of work.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's good.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: That's really good.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: I I love that.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: I just I really, really love that story.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I appreciate you sharing that.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: And man, did you ever write an incredible book?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: And it's a it's a substance of book, too.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: This isn't just a you know, a 45-page pamphlet that you put out there.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: The book is like 400 some pages, correct?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it was a lot longer, believe it or not.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I worked with a uh wonderful editor um who helped me uh really hone it into what I wanted to be.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I had other people who looked at it saying, Mark, this is really, you know, two books, three books in one.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, no, this is the epiphany that I received.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: This is the book that I want to write for people in various seasons of their life.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: So this whole plant or leaf metaphor is carried throughout the book.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: And why I say four ways to grow from leader to legacy builder is that there are four different kinds of major seasons.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: You start with the first is about um cultivating your field for purposeful growth.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I now live in Kansas City area and grew up in Kansas, and we're a very agrarian state, and you just don't rush out and plant a seed in the ground.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: You've got to till the soil, you got to fertilize it, you got to make sure it's fertile ground for that seed to grow and thrive.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then the second is about planting your seed for purposeful self.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: Now, this is all about you and and how to build a better you based on the seed you've been given.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: The third section is really uh the instructive section where it uh ties to four ways to grow, kind of growing you forward for purposeful work.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that's where the leadership, engagement, accountability, and fulfillment piece comes in.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then finally, it's scattering your seeds for purposeful life and talking about how you can leverage your time, your talents, your treasures, and your triumphs and travails, which I call experiences, good, bad, or ugly.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I've had all, but how you can help others along their growth journey that creates this virtuous cycle of reciprocity, or what I call the book, paying it backward, uh, which is a major theme uh of mine.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so it it it needed to be packaged in its whole form for it to truly have the impact.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: It is not something you're gonna pick up in the airport in Los Angeles.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: And by the time you get to Chicago and land, you finish the book.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: But while it has that many pages, I've made it purposely, maybe because I'm I'm getting older, but the type size bigger and it's it's got some good air to it.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: So it actually reads a lot faster than maybe it looks.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so uh that that was the that was the reason why maybe uh it's a bit more substantive is I wanted to package my 35 years of experiences, my observations of those whom I admire or best practices that I found, a curation of um scientific research and subject matter experts that are you know thought leaders and influencers that can go a lot deeper in certain areas than I can.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: So think of it as you know, me being a museum curator and you having this experience that you can come back to and see different things every visit.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I want to compliment you, Mark, on on this.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And this was your first book, correct?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, sir.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: I want to compliment you, and and I'm really sincere in saying this, that you did a fantastic job in thinking about the reader experience when you were crafting this book, because a lot of writers don't they don't really think of how is the reader going to actually go through this book, what is it going to be like for them?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: So the the the fact that you were thinking about even even more granular things like the print size and leaving white space on the page and having having some room to breathe, that really speaks to your, I'm not sure what what word is that I'm searching for here, but uh I guess thoughtfulness as an author as to what the reader's experience is going to be like as they go through specifically the print book.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Because man, a lot of a lot of writers just don't think about that.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like I've had a lot of conversations lately with with writers and authors because they just don't think about the formatting of their book when they're crafting it or when they're having it for you know formatted or printed or whatever.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: So great job with that.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's a really meaningful thing that a lot of people miss.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I appreciate your compliment, Kent, because you're an expert and I'm a novice.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And what I will say is this book is not about me.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I wrote it with my voice, as if you and I are talking like we're talking today.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I want to make sure I come across as talking with you as opposed to talking at you.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, huge difference.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and so not everybody's gonna have the same kind of corporate experience.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I I did my best to kind of tamp down on some of the jargon and in you know, acronyms and lingo and and and whatnot, but it is designed to again curate a reader experience.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: I carefully found and crack and and and crafted spaces for quotes that would uh complement my messages and give it even more richness uh that someone could could literally experience the book and not just read the book.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: Can we dive into for a moment or two your actual uh practice of crafting the book?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because again, this is not a short book, and I know this took a long time to put together.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: And because this is a podcast about writing habits specifically, uh, I'd love to hear what kind of of daily or weekly habits that you had to put into place in your life to get a first draft of this book done and then go through the edits and the publishing process.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: Because this was this is not a not just a little, you know, sit down for one week and get it done kind of a thing.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's this is a lengthy project.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm curious if you can if you can share with us any details about how did you actually get through, especially getting a first draft of this thing done, because I'm sure that wasn't easy.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: No, it it took hours, days, months, years.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm I kid you not, I I this has been chasing me for the last I don't know how many years.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so I felt like I had to get some discipline in place.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I, you know, maybe would wake up early or I would work on weekends, or maybe sometimes late at night, but I always wanted to get uh, you know, um, as Don Miller says, something on the plot and advance it uh to you know a new and different level.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then um, you know, someone who does a lot of traveling, I spent time on planes or in airports.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: And also um the research portion of this was intense.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um finding articles or doing research that that could take this thesis that I had.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: For example, my background is marketing and uh executive management.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: It is not botany, right?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I literally had this idea and I had to do research to make sure that that it that it really hung together and that I wasn't gonna get exposed as someone who's come up with something that you know is way off the mark.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so I met with some professors at the University of Kansas who were environmental um biologists.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: And as I was articulating my thought pattern, they were like, oh my gosh, yes, that fits.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: And have you thought of this?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: No, what's that?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: And we went and talked, and I got more research.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: And and so, you know, it it's it's interesting that um, you know, uh uh nature, which is all around us every day.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we can't, you know, we can't walk out of our homes without seeing a tree or a plant or grass or whatever, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's growing in nature, and yet um it's almost like you know, the old adage, you can't see the forest through the trees, right?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um to stop and notice, you know, and then do the research, it it took a while, but I was driven, uh driven to overcome my thud.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: What's that?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's an acronym that I've created that stands for fear, uncertainty, doubt, and delay.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: The fear of failure.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not a writer.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what if it stinks?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the uncertainty of giving up an maybe an unsatisfying status quo uh to fulfill this epiphany, this dream of creating a movement.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: This isn't just a book I'm trying to write.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's a movement I'm trying to create towards purposeful growth, which is why it's the purposeful growth revolution.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so uncertain about how that's going to be received.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then doubt are those background voices that we all hear from time to time, you know, that uh, you know, nobody knows who you are, you're not good enough, you've never written.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Before.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, those are uh, you know, imposter syndrome voices that then sometimes like wet cement beginning to harden, uh, become kind of self-sabotaging.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then with all that, you have delay because who wants to deal with that?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just put it off and come back to it later.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so the good news is through this process, Kent, and there's a chapter on this, uh, which is called Get the FUD Out, um, is is I found the antidote to FUD and that faith can overcome fear, hope can overcome uncertainty, and belief can overcome doubt, and action, indeed, purposeful action, can overcome the paralysis of delay.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: So you have to have faith in who you are, in the idea you have, you have to overcome uncertainty with uh the hope that you have uh for its success, and you have to have the belief in yourself, the belief in your story, the belief in your idea, um, and the belief that it will advance some cause or enrich the reader in some way.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then take action, purposeful action to overcome the delay.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's so easy to say to someone, I'm writing a book.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I heard a statistic somewhere that um of the hundred percent of people who say they're writing a book, only 2% actually finish.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that sounds about right.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, it's this idea of continuing to move forward, take purposeful action.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it goes in spurts and you get inspired, or you have time, or maybe you're on vacation and you just think, you know, you've got to get this, you know, this idea out of your head and onto paper.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, other times people take a more disciplined approach.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: I have not found that personally to work for me.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm a little bit more like maybe the rabbit um or the hare versus the tortoise in that way, uh, because I I will you know get inspired and write you know two chapters over a weekend, and then it may take two months off and life gets in the way.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's gonna be different for everybody.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: You've got to find what works for you, and uh, but but have goals and set milestones to where when you hit those milestones, you you know, you celebrate.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because the bigger picture is Kent, as this is the first book, and I don't know if I'm gonna write anymore for for a while now, but uh I'm sure I will.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um the sense of satisfaction that I got when I got my first book shipped back to me from Amazon, and it came to the door, and I opened it up just like I was opening it up had I, you know, been a reader who bought it.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: I can't put that into words.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so what I'll say is it's a difficult process, but it's worth it.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: It is so worth it to complete a published work, and whether it's a book, a poem, um uh a musical score, whatever it is, when it comes to fruition and it comes across even better than you thought possible, that sense of satisfaction will be something that I'll remember for the rest of my life.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: We'll get back to the interview, but I want to take a moment to thank today's sponsor, Vellum.
• 25:34
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• 25:42
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• 25:50
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• 26:02
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• 26:11
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• 26:15
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• 26:18
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• 26:29
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• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's trivellum.com slash daily.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now let's get back to the conversation with Mark Mears.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: Something I want to throw out there, and I hadn't really planned on asking this, but um all the things you're talking about regarding leadership, overcoming doubt and fear and so forth, this this really dovetails nicely into something that I have been thinking about a lot.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I haven't really come to any conclusions about it, but because this is leadership is very much your space, and you come from a corporate background, I think I think you would probably have some great insights about this.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: Something I have been thinking about is, you know, most of the people that I that I work with uh and spend time around are, I guess I would call creative types, artists, uh, writers, people who want to be writers, uh, people with very much a creative kind of a bit.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of times people, those kinds of people, and I'm including myself in that category, um I think it's fair to say, many times struggle with this concept of self-leadership, of being assertive and of taking action or thinking like a business person or setting goals?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: You know, those kinds of things that are are really common in the corporate space seem to be less common in sort of the creative space.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I hope I'm not being unfair to sort of my own people here, but I think most people would probably agree with that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, do you have any thoughts on how can someone who is an artistic or creative person by nature, who maybe tends to get distracted by projects all the time, who seems to be starting things because they're always curious, but they're never finishing things?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: How can someone who maybe is that kind of a person who is not necessarily like a big action taker, how can that kind of a person develop more of this drive and discipline and assertiveness or self-leadership?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, your book obviously is a great place to start, but do you have any thoughts for those kinds of people who may they want to create things and they want to take action, but sometimes that that sort of artistic or creative impulse almost kind of gets in the way of just deciding you're going to do something and going for it?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even sure if what I explained just even made any sense.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: No, absolutely, absolutely, Ken.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: I I would say as it's as as you were asking uh the question, I was thinking to myself, um, I'm a feel like I'm a creative person.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so even though I've got a corporate background, um, you know, in marketing, you have to be very creative.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so um as it relates to artistic creativity, because I believe I'm such a geek that a good business plan can be very creative.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, I hope so.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, there any any story you're telling in any medium, there's there's there's you know, usual, you know, you know, usually some key tenets that make for a good story, right?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I would say to answer your question of maybe lack of self-discipline or lack of maybe um, you know, seeing a bigger picture and knowing how to get there, ask.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: There are so many resources of people or coaches um or just friends that can help guide you along the process.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: For example, um I signed up with Christine Gale and the Unleash Your Rising uh author group that she put together.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I get a chance now to uh learn from other budding authors um the processes, the ropes uh of getting published and what makes for good stories and what you know, and any questions you want to ask can get answered either by Christine's group or the good news is you're now in community.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: For example, when we get off this call, I will be on my weekly author accountability group call that even though I'm published, I stay part of because this has now become a community.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so if I have any questions about anything, there are people that are you know published or maybe multiple books, um, and and I'm learning things that are new every day.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: And there are people that are still in the process, and uh where I was maybe six, eight, 10, 12 months ago.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so I love it when I get a chance to pay it backward to help others along their growth journey.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love that.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: So when you have, you know, uh something that you're really good at, you play to your strength.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: But when you have something that you need working on, get help.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and there's a lot of resources out there that could that that could hold you know that person accountable who could also serve as a bit of a sounding board for ideas and and maybe help them uh in in different ways, see that maybe it's more than a book or more than a song or more than a drawing or more than a whatever.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm just a I'm a connector, I love connecting people.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's a gentleman who did my uh video on my website.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, I I gave him a very detailed creative brief, but then he put it together, and he he he works in kind of this uh uh it's not rap, but it's more kind of voice-based poetry, right?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so I got him in touch with the guy that does watercolor paintings because they're both creative, and I felt like there could be something where this guy who does video might incorporate these watercolor opportunities.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so they two got together and are collaborating.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: And and and the guy that does the watercolor was uh an engineer by trade, um, and an architect engineer, and he gave it up to just now do watercolor and he's brilliant at it.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: But here's someone who had a very left-brain educational background, but now turned it into a right brain uh you know experience.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: And the the fact that you get people together who have different uh experiences or ways they can help each other.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I my CMO math is one plus one can equal five if it's done right.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: I love that, man.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that that is such an important part of our growth as people, it's just being a part of a group of some kind, yes, which is why I've been a part of mastermind groups for gosh, probably going on 10 years now.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a part of three paid groups right now, and you know, each of those meeting a different need in my life.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I lead my own mastermind for our Daily Rider Club and have the Daily Rider group as well.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, just being a part of that group is such a critical thing.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it really is that that could the the community support, but also practical advice and how to get from A to B to C when you know some of us would like to jump to F.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I would love to explore uh just for a moment as we start to wrap this up, Mark.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, what are some ways that you're using your book to expand your own business?
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: So before we hit record on this conversation, you mentioned that that your book was tying into some things like speaking, consulting, e-learning opportunities, and other kinds of things.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: I really, really love that because a book is not just a book, a book is a gateway to all kinds of other things that you can offer your ideal customer or client.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: Can you share some more about that and how your book can uh how your book is tying into lots of other things like that?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can't.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_02: I I um trying to create a movement essentially, help people uh live more purposeful lives, not only uh outside of work, but inside of work.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: We spend as adults a third of our waking lives at work and a third asleep, and then um a third outside of work.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so, why just use a third of our lifespan to kind of grow into a purpose that is fulfilling?
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Why not be able to do that at work?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so being able to use this book as the foundation for not just the reading experience, but for keynote speeches or workshops or consulting opportunities or uh uh kind of a masterclass e-learning platform that I'm putting together as we speak, it's designed to reach more people at different seasons of their life and in different applications.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: Some people just want to read the book and they they're ready to go.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: Others want to hear it and they want to, they want to dynamic speaker to kind of unfold it for them.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: Others want maybe the more deeper consulting at a corporate level.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: And others are either individuals or possibly uh members of the of a of a company who might want to take um the e-learning classes.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's designed to literally be a credible platform from which to build out a business enterprise that I'm planning to leave a living legacy to enrich the lives of others by donating a portion of whatever I make through any of those leaf growth ventures to four different charities that tie back to the leaf growth model.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so not only am I trying to walk the talk, but I'm trying to inspire others.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: So several years ago, I when I had that unfortunate situation where I'd lost my corporate position, I decided to physician heal myself.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: I put together a personal brand plan for my for me.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I came up with a purpose statement, which is I don't want to just make money and retire.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_02: I want to make a difference and inspire.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: That means making a difference in the lives of others and inspiring them to want to do likewise, or what I call paying it backward.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so the reason I say pay it backward and I emphasize it is because when I go to Starbucks, I'm a huge Starbucks junkie.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, as I go to the drive-thru, um, invariably I will pay for the car behind me.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I found that it creates that chain reaction that people tend to do likewise, and so on and so forth.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's part of the law of reciprocity.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I can't physically pay for the car in front of me, they've already gone.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: So paying it backward is both figurative and literal, and it creates a more provocative approach when someone says, Isn't that pay it forward?
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, there's several of those kind of points throughout the book where I challenge the status quo and I get people to think on a deeper level.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I connect dots where maybe um some don't even see the dots.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really what I'm trying to do in all those different forms is create a movement that will better the experience of a team member at work, but also it will make the that company better and it will do good in the community and indeed the world.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe that businesses have the power and the size and the resources across the world to make change where governments fail.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: Religious organizations can only do so much, nonprofits can only do so much, but businesses have the opportunity, and we know based on the idea of quiet quitting and what was called the great resignation, which I call the great repurposing, because I think it was giving us a time out to kind of reflect on not only what, but who matters most in our lives.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we find that people left the workforce because of toxic environments.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so here we are now saying, how do we change that paradigm?
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: How do we make purpose uh a common thread between the team members, the internal brand, the external brand, and the employer brand?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: And now what you've got is a whole brand where I call 4D branding, which is a conversation we can have at another time.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, so much good stuff here.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: Particularly for writers, artists, creative people who who may be struggling a little bit with making some forward progress.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I I just love how you have put it so succinctly, just the these concepts related to taking action of overcoming fear, operating by faith and having confidence.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_03: These are all such important things, not just for the corporate space, but for all of us who just want to show up in the world and do good work, no matter what we're doing.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's really, really vital stuff.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I think you know, not there's not one of us who could say that we don't have fear.
• 39:12
  unknown: Yeah.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: Or that we're uncertain, or that we have maybe we don't have any doubts.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, all of us do.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: And all of us uh are procrastinators at some level, some of us more than in others.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but the fact is that you can't overcome that.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: And if you really believe in in your purpose and and and it may be your life's purpose or maybe the work that you're working on uh creatively, is think about how someone's going to feel or act differently or better as a result of your work.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: And think of it as a gift that was given to you, and that it would be criminal for the world to wait another day to receive that gift that you uniquely craft.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_02: How cool is that?
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Mark, thank you for sharing your wisdom on this uh this episode.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: This has been a little different, but in a wonderful way, a really, really wonderful way.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: You're so inspiring, and it's obvious to you have thought a lot about these concepts because you can.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: I have a feeling I could just put you on a stage and you could go for three hours with no problem.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: Because you have so much wisdom and so and you've thought about these things so much and you can you can articulate them in such a succinct and memorable way.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that really is a gift.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm excited to see where this book takes you and all the cool opportunities that come as a result of it.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_03: One thing that I do want to mention is, or really one thing that I want to ask is uh share with us where listeners can find more about you in the book and your work and grab your free purposeful growth self-assessment, which is a really cool thing that you're offering to.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, thank you, Kent.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_02: First of all, uh for your compliments.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been called many things, and succinct is not one of them.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um so thank you.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there will there will be people who watch this and will be laughing.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and say, wait, is this the same Mark Mears that I know?
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh I you know if you go to my website, which is uh www.markamirs, M-E-A-R-S.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: So make sure you put in the A because it stands for my middle name.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um I couldn't get just Mark Mears, someone else has it, which is really um disturbing to that make you want to beat your head against the wall.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's another Mark Mears out there.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the world's not ready for one, much less two.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um so go to markameers.com and there, right there on the home page, um, you'll see a self-assessment.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it follows, it's like a companion for the book.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so it'll ask a series of questions that go through those four sections that I mentioned, and it'll take you about six, seven minutes to fill out.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you're done, you can download a report with your customized answers, the way you you know you answered, right?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: And and it'll it'll kind of allow you to see where your growth opportunities may lie.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then this might start a conversation as to how we might work together.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: I like that whether it's a speaker or a consultant or taking e-learning classes or whatever it may be.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh if you go to the website, you'll see that.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: They're also an area where if you want, you can download a couple of free chapters.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then the book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, um wherever uh you know books are sold, as they say.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I would uh check it out on Amazon.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: You'll see uh the uh the background, um, a little thumbnail.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: You can read some of the chapters there as well.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: And if you feel led, uh pick it up.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's available in um an ebook Kindle version, paperback, and a hardcover version.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll be doing an audio book uh at some point this year uh as well.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because I know the content is such that some people like you know, podcasts and business, you know, uh learning and and leadership type of things, and they would rather listen to it.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's fine.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'll have one of those available um soon.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: LinkedIn too.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_02: You can LinkedIn with me.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'd be happy to connect and uh you know set up time to get to know each other.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Mark, thanks so much for being a guest on uh today's episode.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: This has been an absolute blast, and I appreciate you taking time to share your wisdom and insights with us.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: So looking forward to our next conversation.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Kent.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_02: I really appreciate it.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_02: And to all of your listeners and uh viewers, uh, take heart, um, keep moving one step at a time, but always in purposeful action.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, sir.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I want to give a massive thanks to Mark for taking the time out to be a guest on this episode.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_03: I learned a ton, and I don't know about you, but I'm not a guy who comes from a business background.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned here on the show before, I came from the worlds of church ministry and education, which are not, you know, those are about as far away from business as you can possibly get in in terms of what kind of jobs those are.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: While I'm super grateful for my background in those fields, they did not really help me when it came time to build a writing business.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: So that's why I'm so grateful to have amazing business leaders like Mark come on the show to talk about their experience in the business world, but also how you can use writing to impact other people and to funnel all of your experience, no matter what field you come from, into books that can really serve people well.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_03: So, Mark, thanks so much for being a guest on today's episode.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, if you're listening, I want to encourage you to grab Mark's free purposeful growth self-assessment.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: You can grab that at markamirs.com and there will be a link in the show notes.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: As always, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.