Part 1: Heeded Advice & My Inspiration

I published my first LinkedIn article on 4/20/19 as the conclusion to my five-part Cannabis series. I still believe in today’s business climate and political climate, “there is no other industry that better epitomizes the interweaving of relevance and controversy.”

After writing that article, I experienced an instantaneous, fundamental, and visceral change in my persona. I’m now passionate about authorship, and when I see one of you have read my articles, it’s a huge compliment—even if we are adversaries.

Fast forward a month later to mid-May 2019. I’m sitting at the same quasi-trendy white marble bar, only now it’s a muffled 8:41 AM. My barista Courtney is waiting for the next customer as instrumental string music tranquilly plays in the backdrop. My current habitat starkly contrasts the trendy commercially infused buzz that the W in Midtown Atlanta manufactures on weekend nights. It draws in the poor woman’s Instagram models & hipsters. They do an outstanding job BTW, line out the door for some free, pink mimosa-looking drink that ladies who carry around bling-bling Chihuahuas would like.

I was imbibing a glass of prosecco at the bar, and overheard two jovial gentlemen in the adjacent barstools, conversing with the bartender in an Australian accent. I recently vacationed with my girlfriend (I was waiting for her at the bar) in Sydney a few months earlier and decided to strike up a conversation because they seemed intriguing. I immediately recognized that they were a very charismatic and engaging couple and learned they were here on vacation from Sydney.

I had trekked the Sydney Bridge, and he mentioned that the Sydney Bridge is his client? (insert confused face). I asked, “How is the Sydney Bridge your client?”. He provided clarification that collectively, they own a company that offers high-level social media, website, and geofencing services. I showed him the Archon website, different functionalities, and my personal LinkedIn. He selflessly gave me some of the best career/tactical advice I have ever received—I am still immensely appreciative to this day.

*Sydney Harbour Bridge Picture Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

After some jovial banter regarding how they didn’t come to Atlanta to work, these two gentlemen gave me more than advice. They inspired me! The next topic and I knew I needed to button things up out of respect for their time, was about digital authorship. We discussed trends in the Zeitgeist, his opinion on publishing blogs for my personal/company brand, and if he would read my second thought article.

I saw they realized that I was passionate about digital authorship, and he more than willingly agreed to read my article. I saw a few nods of affirmation, and it alleviated my concern that he was bored reading my article. His boyfriend had a smile that elicited sincere enjoyment, not just of the article, but of the entire interaction. After a quick five minute read, in a complementary, yet foreboding tone, he said, “This is great, but everyone has 1-3 of these articles. Do you plan on writing more?”

Even though I attempt to be emotionally intelligent, I sometimes can’t control my inner thought dialogue. I fleetingly thought, “I’ll walk up to up my room right now and write five more articles right now MOTHA*****”. I quieted my mind and said, “I’m going to write often, consistently, and my goal is to be a LinkedIn Thought Leader in my industry (CRE).” He then replied,

“If you consistently write content like this new digital realm, you will have a significant advantage over your competition.”

Final Thought:

Interrelated communication is fundamentally changing, the barriers to entry into publishing and have shifted and short-attention-span-reading is virulently trending as a dominant and convenient source of niche information harvesting. If you desire to be an industry leader, thought leader, or share knowledge, there are numerous online resources. CRE marketers have a dynamic, innovative, interconnected, zero-cost marketing conduit at their fingertips that directly connects to their B2B customers. There there are two types of boats in this regatta, the windward who recognize and adapt to the permutating marketing tides and the leeward that will drift into a zone of communication insignificance.

*Thanks to my new Australian buddies, I hope someday we can reconnect. My thoughts were running so quickly, I didn’t get your contact info. I have a feeling I’ll track you down soon.

**Courtney my barista, was sweet enough to snap the picture below. Thanks soooo much!

***Cliffnote, I had one of those pink drinks, it was free and honestly, kinda refreshing! Also, that’s definitely not my dog!

****Also, feel free to reach out to me directly if you would like to learn more about my creative process and how I write blogs. Full disclosure, I am relatively new to this, self-taught, but get inspiration an inner circle of dynamic mentors. Some of whom I have met or reconnected with recently.