Our team had a blast at the Ohio Growth Summit last week. Not only did we learn a ton at the conference and meet a lot of great people, we also got to spend time with each other in person for the first time ever! It was great. We ate an abundance of delicious food and even found time to take a Segway tour of downtown Columbus (don’t laugh – it was insanely fun).
During the Summit, we got to hear a lineup of amazing speakers on a range of topics including SEO, blogging, digital advertising, sales, PR and more. But there was one overarching theme that seemed to appear over and over in the keynote presentations: Be authentic. In this week’s video, I share my thoughts and reflections on this idea and what I took away from some of the speakers who shared on this topic.
Moving Beyond Average to a Life of Intention
Here are a few of the keynote speakers who touched on the theme of being yourself, doing what you love and not comparing yourself to others.
Heather Whaling of Geben Communications talked about the importance of defining your all, rather than letting others define it for you. She spoke about deciding what you want your life to look like as it relates to family, career, investing and philanthropy. Heather encouraged each of us to “own your work” whether or not you are the boss – meaning, find a way to be connected to and fulfilled by your work.
Author, marketing consultant and self-professed freak Chris Brogan talked about getting attention in the digital space. As he put it, “the time for average is over. We can buy average at Walmart,” and instead challenged us to be real, human and authentic in our storytelling and community building efforts online.
Another excellent keynote speaker, Jason SurfrApp, told the story of how he took what seemed like a crazy idea and turned it into a profitable business that generated over $1 million in revenue. His point? Don’t ignore the crazy ideas, and don’t be afraid to go after what you want. He spoke a lot about living a life of intention: identify what you’re passionate about, and then figure out how to make a living from it.
As I explain in the video, the overarching theme of the conference was clear: be yourself, follow your passion and don’t worry if it doesn’t look the same as what everyone else is doing. It was an inspiring message for our team and we hope it challenges you, too!
What inspires you to be yourself and go after what you want? How do you stay motivated and avoid the pitfalls of worrying about what others will think?
