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Welcome to Episode 467 of What’s Your “And”? This is John Garrett, and each Wednesday, I interview a professional who, just like me, is known for a hobby or a passion or an interest outside of work. To put it in another way, it’s encouraging people to find their “and”, those things above and beyond your technical skills, the things that actually differentiate you when you’re at work.

If you like what the show is about, be sure to check out the book. It’s on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, a few other websites. All the links are at whatsyourand.com. If you want me to read it to you, that’s right, this voice reading the book, look for What’s Your “And”? on Audible or wherever you get your audio books. The book goes more in depth into the research behind why these outside-of-work passions are so crucial to your corporate culture. I can’t say how much it means that everyone’s reading it and now listening to it and writing such nice reviews on Amazon and then more importantly, changing the cultures where they work because of it.

Please don’t forget to hit subscribe, so you don’t miss any of the future episodes because I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week, and this week is no different with my guest, Brian Streig. He’s a tax director at Calhoun, Thomson and Matza in Austin, Texas, and now he’s with me here today. Brian, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?

Brian: Hey, John. Glad to be here. It’s a nice day, so I’m glad I’m here.

John: No, I’m excited, and March 2nd is a special day for you. Right?

Brian: It is. It’s Texas Independence Day. What better day to have me on your show.

John: Right? That’s higher than July 4th, for people in Texas. That’s as good as it gets. That’s awesome, man. I have rapid-fire questions. We’ve hung out many times, and yet I’ve never asked you any of these questions. Maybe I should have actually, now that I think about it. We’re going to have some fun here. I’ll start you out with maybe an easy one. Star Wars or Star Trek.

Brian: Star Wars just because as a kid, that was just the favorite show.

John: Yeah, definitely. I agree. Me too. How about your computer, more of a PC or a Mac?

Brian: Oh, man, a PC all the way. No Macs at all.

John: Right. I don’t even know how they work, to be honest. I really don’t. I’m not even sure. How about your first concert?

Brian: It was Elton John. My mom took me. She was going through a divorce. My dad wasn’t going to go, so she took me, and that was my first concert.

John: That’s a legend, man. That’s great. That’s super cool. That’s awesome. How about puzzles, Sudoku, crossword or jigsaw puzzles?

Brian: Probably jigsaw puzzles, but I’m not good at any of them.

John: At least you’re honest, man. At least you’re honest. That’s hilarious. How about a favorite color?

Brian: Well, burnt orange, of course.

John: Right. Which leads me to your least favorite color.

Brian: Well, you know that maroon is so blah.

John: Right. I knew it was going to be a red of some sort. Either way, it’s red.

Brian: Crimson isn’t too bad.

John: Yeah. Right. Right. How about, since you’re a Texas guy, tea or sweet tea?

Brian: Well, sweet tea, of course.

John: Okay, but you have to make it right. You’re not just adding packets after.

Brian: Oh, no, no. You have to sit it out in the sun, and it has to just cook and bake into itself. That’s the best cut.

John: There you go. Yeah. Getting the regular tea and then adding packets after, it’s like, what are you doing?

Brian: No, no, no, no.

John: That’s not the same. That’s totally crazy. How about a favorite Disney character?

Brian: Oh, that’s a good one. Probably Mickey Mouse, of course.

John: The classics.

Brian: The classic.

John: Yeah, absolutely. There’s like a million now that they own all the movies of all the kinds, but I love the classics. Yeah, I’m all with you on that. How about a favorite cereal as a kid or adult, whatever.

Brian: I know that nobody else likes it, but Grape-Nuts.

John: Grape-Nuts. Okay. It’s always available. No one else is buying it.

Brian: Yeah. That one came from my dad. He would work late at night. I was set to see him when he came home from work, and he always had a bowl of Grape-Nuts. He gave me some of it.

John: That’s cool. Awesome. All right. How about balance sheet or income statement?

Brian: Income statement. That’s the only thing that matters because that’s how you pay taxes.

John: Right. You can’t pay rent at a balance, liabilities and whatever. It’s like, no, no, cash, the end of the day. Are you more of an early bird or night owl?

Brian: I’m a night owl.

John: Night owl.

Brian: I don’t do mornings.

John: Right. It’s a good thing it’s afternoon right now. We’re good.

Brian: Exactly. Yes.

John: We’re doing good, Brian. Actually, it feels like morning for you probably because it’s early afternoon. Just finished breakfast and.

Brian: Yeah.

John: That’s awesome. How about a favorite number?

Brian: I don’t know. Maybe four. For some reason that just always comes out.

John: Yeah, that’s a solid number. That’s a good pick. Yeah, yeah. This is a question that I ask now because it was something you brought up, so I feel like it’s only fair to turn it on you. If you had to choose, Harry Potter or Game of Thrones.

Brian: I would have always thought Harry Potter, but once I saw Game of Thrones, that was it. It’s Game of Thrones.

John: That was it. Okay. All right. Yeah, because we were hanging out, up in Breckenridge, when you guys were up here, and you were like, what about this? I was like, love it. I feel like if I didn’t ask you, it wouldn’t be right. How about when it comes to books, audio version, real book, or e-book?

Brian: I think the real book. I just like the paper and turning the pages and flipping through and looking back. That’s just me.

John: Yeah. No, I agree. I’m the same way, kind of old school like that. How about, three more, chocolate or vanilla?

Brian: Chocolate, of course. There is a wrong answer.

John: Right. That was awesome. You were almost offended. That was great. You were like, what? How about a favorite actor or an actress?

Brian: Yeah, Matthew McConaughey. I always liked him, growing up, watching his shows. He kind of delves in the political sphere and is big into UT and the soccer in Austin. He’s like a big deal there.

John: All right. No, that’s a great answer. The last one, the favorite thing you have or the favorite thing you own.

Brian: Oh, well, I guess my computer because I can take it, the laptop, because I can take it with me to Breck and work there. I can work from anywhere and still get my job done, but still be able to get out and go hiking or go do something in the afternoon.

John: Right? Okay. No, I love it. That’s a great answer, and talk to me, so, even better. There you go. Forget about the work part. Come on, Brian, get your priorities straight. No, but that’s great because, yeah, you can be flexible, and you can travel and still get the work done and all that.

Brian: Yeah. A decade ago, you were stuck to a desk with a desktop, and you couldn’t do anything like that.

John: Yeah, it’s hard to drive to Colorado with a whole desktop in your trunk, just pile it in. I guess you could, but that’s weird.

Brian: Yeah, that’s weird.

John: Right. Right. Yeah, so let’s chat. That dovetails perfectly into several of your “ands” of just, I mean, foodie, for sure is, I mean, on social media, you’re always sharing what you’re cooking or making, what you’re smoking, whatever, all of that stuff. Was that always something that you were into, growing up as a kid?

Brian: No. I grew up as a kid, it was open the can, pour in the pan, heat it up, and that was dinner. Just, my mom didn’t enjoy cooking. It was just something you had to do.

John: Sure.

Brian: Yeah, I didn’t grow up thinking about food at all. As I got older and had time and met Kurt, we just started cooking a lot and exploring different types of foods, some Asian, some Italian, Mexican, like Central Mexico rather than just like Tex-Mex stuff. Go to a restaurant, like something, go home and keep working on it until we figure out how to make it, type of thing.

John: Okay. Yeah, that’s awesome. Do you have something that you’ve made that was a bigger challenge, where it was like, oh, wow, this is crazy that we’re even trying, type of thing?

Brian: I think the hardest is lasagna from scratch, making the noodles, making all the ingredients, putting it all together, getting it all ready. To me, that’s hard in terms of time-intensive. Each step is pretty easy, but it’s a big ordeal.

John: Yeah, that’s going to fill up your whole time sheet for the week.

Brian: Oh, yeah.

John: It is. It is an ordeal, and it makes you appreciate it more when you eat it because it’s like, man, this has been at least eight or 16 hours you’ve been working on it. This is a long process.

Brian: Yeah, the smoker’s the same way. It takes all day. Sometimes we’ll smoke two or three turkeys the day before Thanksgiving so that we have one for us to keep at the house, one to take with us to the family. It’s like an all-day affair.

John: Yeah. That’s awesome, man. Because you’re so invested in it, do you look forward to eating it more then?

Brian: Oh, yeah. Yeah. That’s why we almost never go out to eat anymore, just because we enjoy the process of cooking and making it and tasting it. We’ll always put our spin on it. There’s always like, some pepper in there, some red pepper flakes, jalapeno, serrano.

John: A little extra kick.

Brian: Yeah, we’ll make it our own somehow.

John: Yeah. No, that’s great, man. I love it. It’s experimenting. Worst case scenario, it doesn’t work and then we order a pizza, whatever. Or you just chunk it down, and we do better next time.

Brian: Exactly.

John: I’m sure you guys have it dialed in pretty well now.

Brian: I think so. There are a few times we’ve tried some Asian dishes that didn’t turn out quite like we thought. Maybe we put in a little too much garlic or put in too much of something else. It’s like, oh, I don’t think that was it.

John: Right. Well, you just don’t do it again, and we’re all good. Also hiking and just being outdoors, that’s a huge part of being in Colorado, especially, when you guys are up here.

Brian: Yeah. Colorado, it’s so pretty. There are so many trails. In Austin, it’s great. There’s hiking there. We go down to Towne Lake all the time. When you get up to Colorado, it’s a completely different scenery. The air is thinner. It’s more challenging, in a sense, in that regard. It’s just a lot of fun just to get out there, take the dog, let him off leash and go. If there’s a stream, he’ll go straight in and go swimming and playing around. It’s just a great way to get out and do something. It’s not as strenuous as biking. If you ever see Tony Nitti, there’s no way I could do the stuff that he goes down. I’ll just take a leisurely stroll and meet him up the next day.

John: Yeah, right. I’ll catch you on the way back.

Brian: Yeah, you can lap me a couple of times.

John: Right. I’m good with it. I’m totally cool with it. Yeah. Colorado is so awesome in that regard, where in the winter, there’s the snowboarding, and that I know you do, and then in the summer, there’s the hiking and the trails and all that. There’s always outdoorsy stuff to do. It’s funny because when I travel, people ask, well, are you really outdoorsy? I was like, well, Colorado outdoorsy or, because that’s a whole another level. My hands don’t have calluses all over them. I’m outdoorsy to an extent, but not Colorado outdoorsy. That’s the next level, live off the grid for who knows how, I’m like, no, I’m good.

Brian: Exactly.

John: Cool to look at, walk around in a little bit, and then head back home. That’s always good.

Brian: Exactly. Yeah.

John: Yeah. No, that’s awesome, man. Do you feel like any of this bleeds over into work at all, as far as a mindset or a skill set?

Brian: I think it does, especially open stores, especially in Austin, because so many people come up to Colorado to go skiing in the wintertime. That’s a nice icebreaker. Oh, yeah, we go up to Breckenridge, and they’ll say, oh, yeah, we go to Steamboat. We’ll start comparing stories and talking about car drives back and forth. It’s just a way to really break that ice and get to know somebody and what they like to do.

John: Yeah, and so many people from Texas come to Colorado. It’s wild. It’s so many.

Brian: Yeah. Especially off-season, most of the parking lots seem to have more Texas licenses than Colorado licenses.

John: That’s amazing. I totally believe it, from just being here for the last four years or so, four and a half. That’s awesome. That relatability, how much does that matter? Because it’s like, well, I’m getting the work done or whatever. How much does being relatable matter?

Brian: Oh, man, I think it matters a whole lot because then you’ve got that rapport, an additional level of trust that’s already just inherent because you have this commonality with somebody. It does go a long way of smoothing over something if it were to come up later on.

John: Yeah. No, I agree, but a lot of people are like, well, we get paid to do the work. We don’t get paid to get to know each other, or we don’t get paid to socialize. It’s like, well, you kind of do, actually, because that’s how business happens.

Brian: Exactly.

John: There are humans on each side of the table on this.

Brian: Yeah. You can always bring up food. Especially in Texas, you talk about the smoker. Oh, I’ve got this kind. Oh, you’ve got a trigger. Oh, yeah. What kind of wood pellets do you use? Oh, we don’t use, oh, no, no. We use cedar. There’s always something that you can get into.

John: Yeah. No, absolutely. Yeah, you’re right. In Texas, food’s always good. Then going to Colorado is awesome. They’ve been at least once, if they’re from Texas, for sure, once last week. I love that and how important that is and how crucial that is. I would imagine too, does any of the food prep translate to, especially the tax work, where there’s kind of a science to it, a little bit?

Brian: I think it does. If you think about making something from scratch, it’s the same as putting together a tax return. You have to get all the ingredients together. There are processes and steps you have to go through, or it’s not going to turn out correctly. Yeah, there’s a lot of similar thinking and processes as you do that.

John: Yeah. I just thought it as we were talking, and I was like, oh, wow. Yeah. Then you just add a little pepper to both and then everybody wins.

Brian: Exactly. Exactly. Or some Parmesan.

John: Right. Why is this in the mail? That’s weird. Pepper flakes. What? That would be awesome. Is this something that, I mean, clearly you do talk about at work, have you talked about, all your career, food or hiking or other outside-of-work interests?

Brian: I don’t think so. I don’t think, until I got to this place in 2007.

John: Oh, okay.

Brian: Before then, it was more, everybody was just robotic, going through the motions. When I came to Calhoun, Thomson and Matza, a lot of that changed. It was more open, and everybody did start talking about stuff outside of work and interests and sharing those kinds of things. It makes a better environment.

John: Is it the tone at the top sort of thing?

Brian: Oh, yeah, definitely. Rich Matza who ran the Tax Department, he was really big into that. It really made a big difference and filtered down into just how we all get along. Every staff meeting usually starts off with something about that. What did you do this weekend? What did you cook? What are you making this weekend? type thing.

John: Okay. That’s awesome. I love how you’re lighting up. I can see you’re smiling, and you’re happy about that. I’m like, well, can you tell me the latest tax update? Probably not as big of a smile. Well, you know what they changed last week? They changed it again this week.

Brian: Probably while we’re talking, they’ve changed something else.

John: They changed it back to one from six months ago. You’re like, we could have just left it. What is going on? Yeah, but I love that concept of how the partner that ran the Tax Department just, that was how it was. When you joined, you were like, oh, okay, that’s what we do here. It’s literally that easy. That’s what we do here, and then everyone does it.

Brian: Yeah. It makes a big difference. I think you can tell, just in the turnover that we’ve had, or lack of it, compared to industry standards and norms, that it does make a difference in terms of feeling welcomed and feeling like you fit in, type thing.

John: I love that. That’s awesome. Yeah, because I imagine, I was going to ask what the difference was from places you had worked before and then here, when you started. It’s almost a black and white, night and day situation.

Brian: It is. To me, in my head, it’s like prehistoric times versus modern times. You and I both came into accounting in the pre-modern era.

John: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Brian: You just went in. You ground as hard as you could, as late as you could, and went home and crashed. You started the next day and did the same thing. Somewhere in the 2000s, people got smart and said, that’s just not the way you can live.

John: It’s not sustainable. Yeah.

Brian: Yeah.

John: For sure.

Brian: It’s like a gradual thing. My firm felt like an early adopter of some of that stuff, but I think over the last decade, you’re really starting to see it. It’s really starting to differentiate, and firms that are adopting it really do seem to thrive better than those old styles firms.

John: Yeah. The technology is certainly a big piece of it, but it’s also just the mentality of, we have humans that work here. We hired the whole human. We hired all of Brian, not just the tax accounting part of Brian, and so let’s shine a light on and celebrate these other sides of him that are cool. As long as it’s not illegal or taboo, then let it rip.

Brian: Exactly. Well, and that was one of the things that Rich always made a point of, is, if people had kids, that they left and went to games or recitals or something, because he said when he was working his way up through one of the Big Four, that just wasn’t something he could do. He just felt like he missed out, so he made a point of almost running people out of the office, if he knew that they had something for their kids that they were going to miss if they didn’t leave.

John: Yeah. It’s so great because it’s the opposite of what you hear from other people, which is, well, that’s how I had to do it, so you have to do it, too. It’s, no, that’s how I had to do it, and it sucked, so you’re not going to have to do what I had to do. That’s somebody that you want to stay with, and you want to work for. That’s a leader, not a manager. It’s not somebody you have to follow. You want to follow them. That’s cool to hear, man. That’s awesome. No wonder you’re still there. That’s great.

Brian: Yeah. He retired, so I try to keep up the same standards in terms of doing the same thing for the staff and reminding them, hey, you need to leave. You were talking about this event that you wanted to go to, so, go.

John: Right. Yeah, and then tomorrow, when you come in, tell me about it. How was it? Then they light up. They’re excited, and there’s that emotion in the workplace. I know you guys do a lot of remote work as well. Does that help keep those connections?

Brian: It does, and it doesn’t. We’ve started to lose some of those connections because we’ve been remote since COVID started.

John: Right. Wow. Yeah.

Brian: We actually closed down our office, end of May 2021.

John: Oh, wow. Okay, fully remote. Okay.

Brian: There are some differences. There are people that work for me that I’ve never met in person or just through, like, a lunch, but it’s never like worked in the office next door and could just walk over there and get those little chit chats when you go get coffee or go to the printer or something. We have to make efforts to try to recreate some of those informal conversations with Slack and Zoom and team lunches, when it’s possible.

John: Yeah. Definitely. Because in person, we’re humans, at the end of the day, we want to be around each other. We definitely want to do that to some degree, and you get to know somebody so much better just being around them for eight hours, instead of popping onto a Zoom call for 20 minutes, and then off, or Teams meeting or whatever it is. It’s like, we didn’t even chit chat or some water cooler talk, just that normal stuff that humans need, type of thing. It’s cool to hear that you’re at least trying to bring some of that in, when you can.

Brian: Yeah, yeah. It’s a learning process. There’s a balance, but, yeah, we’re trying our best to find a way to make it work.

John: Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you have any words of encouragement to anyone listening that has a hobby or a passion, but they feel like no one’s going to care because it has nothing to do with my job?

Brian: Yeah. I just think don’t even worry about if they care or not, just start talking about it. Because if they don’t care, does it really matter? It doesn’t. They’re not going to fire you because you’re talking about how you like to go to concerts. The chances are, they’re going to talk about, oh, yeah, I’d like to do that too. Or I went to a concert for this band. Did you see it? It’s a very low risk type of a thing to start talking about.

John: Exactly. I love it, man. Yeah, because 99.9% of it is in our head. Then you share it, and then all of a sudden, it’s cool. Everybody likes it, and they’re now talking about it. You’re now the smoker guy. What are you cooking? What are you making? That’s awesome. You actually know who I am.

Brian: Yeah, and if you follow the tax Twitter group, there’s some people that do knitting. That’s actually really cool. They’ve shown some stuff and like, wow, that’s really neat. I would have never thought you would do that. It’s so cool.

John: It’s like adult show and tell, sort of, except for we have adult money, and we can do really awesome things now, instead of bringing in a Matchbox car in first grade. It’s like, this is awesome, type of thing. It humanizes you too. Especially when you’re a director level, it’s hard to remember, when you were coming out of school, what it was like to talk to a director.

Brian: Oh, yeah. I remember the Big Four, you just cringed when a partner director got in the elevator with you. You were the only two, and you’re just trying not to act like a dork.

John: He didn’t probably even notice that you were even in the elevator, which is what’s so sad about it. Yeah, they’re like, whatever. That’s awesome, man. Well, that’s such great words of encouragement. This has been super awesome to have you be a part of this. I feel like it’s only fair, since I rudely asked you all those questions at the beginning, that I turn the tables and make this the first episode of the Brian podcast. I’m all yours, man, whatever you want.

Brian: All right. American football or European football.

John: Oh, man, that’s a tricky one actually because I do like both. I guess I’ll say college American football. It’s very different than the professional. That being said, soccer you can turn on anytime, and it’s usually, although American MLS is not always fun to watch. It’s kind of frustrating to watch, honestly. They’re all good, but they’re just not the same.

Brian: It’s not the same.

John: Yeah, I’ll go college football, college American football.

Brian: Mountains or the beach.

John: People ask me that all the time. I feel like I’m spoiled from living in Colorado. I see the mountains all the time, so I somewhat take them for granted, I guess. That’s why I think beach because if I’m on a beach, I’m on vacation. I got on an airplane, and I had to fly there. I think I’m going to go with beach on that. It’s also usually warmer, usually, if I’m at the beach, that beach.

Brian: That’s the exact opposite of mine. The reason why I would say mountains because I’m getting away from the heat, and I’m getting to somewhere that I’m not around all the time.

John: I guess, I, a little bit, take it for granted, for sure. You’ve got one more?

Brian: One more. Hamburger or hot dog.

John: Hamburger. Easy one. I’ll get super confused if they make hamburger meat into a hot dog. I don’t know what I’ll do then. Hamburger for sure, easy, easy, easy. Well, Brian, thank you so much for being a part of What’s Your “And”? It’s so awesome to have you be a part of this.

Brian: Hey, thank you for having me. This has been a lot of fun.

John: Everybody listening, if you want to see some pictures of Brian in action or maybe connect with him on social media or follow him on Twitter, be sure to go to whatsyourand.com. All the links are there, and while you’re on the page, please click that big button, do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture, and don’t forget to read the book.

Thanks again for subscribing on iTunes or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread, that who you are is so much more than what you do.

Welcome to Episode 315 of What’s Your “And”? This is John Garrett, and each Wednesday, I interview a professional who, just like me, is known for a hobby or a passion or an interest outside of work. To put it another way, it’s encouraging people to find their “And”, the things above and beyond your technical skills, the things that actually differentiates you when you’re in the office.

I’m so excited to let everyone know that my book came out yesterday. I can’t believe it. You can order it on Amazon, Indigo, Bookshop, a few other websites, so check out whatsyourand.com for all the details. Thank you so much to everyone who’s already ordered it and has even left a review. It means so much. I look forward to hearing how much it changes your workplace cultures, going forward.

Please don’t forget to hit subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week, and this week is no different with my guest, Georgia Green. She’s also a recovering CPA, and is now the CEO of BEU in Dallas, Texas, and she’s with me here today. Georgia, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?

Georgia: Hey, John. I’m so excited to be here. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.

John: Of course. It’s going to be so awesome. I’m super excited. We have my rapid-fire questions. Let’s get to know Georgia on a new level.

Georgia: All right, let’s get started. Fire at will.

John: Simple one, favorite color.

Georgia: White.

John: White. Okay. Yeah, I don’t get that often.

Georgie: I argue it’s a color.

John: That works. I think, one other time, I’ve had that. That’s awesome. How about a least favorite color?

Georgia: Purple.

John: Purple. That’s super hilarious to you and me.

Georgia: Yes.

John: Everyone else, if you hate purple, good for you. All right, here we go. How about a favorite cereal?

Georgia: Favorite cereal. Okay, there is a protein cereal that I love. It’s just made out of protein. You can, yeah, just Google it. It’s amazing.

John: Oh, my goodness. Okay.

Georgia: It’s like School something.

John: That is the opposite of frosted flakes. That is very different.

Georgia: It’s like a Fruity Pebbles equivalent but healthy-ish.

John: Okay. I’ll give it a try. I’ll give it a try. How about pens or pencils?

Georgia: Pens but only if they have a specific type of grip and weight to them.

John: Oh, okay. All right. And weight by…

Georgia: Yes.

John: … The pen itself as opposed to the line it —

Georgia: Yes.

John: Okay, so you’re getting a workout as you’re writing. I like that.

Georgia: Yes, exactly. It’s good when you’re really heavy in thought.

John: Pun intended. I see what’s going on. How about puzzles, Sudoku or crossword?

Georgia: Crossword.

John: Crossword. All right. How about a favorite actor or actress?

Georgia: I’d have to say Angelina Jolie for the role she plays and her humanitarianism. She’s like this badass but still feminine, sort of, going out, saving the world sort of thing.

John: Right. Yeah. In movies and outside of the movies.

Georgia: Yeah.

John: Are you more of an early bird or night owl?

Georgia: Annoying, level 11 morning person. I wake up at 4:00 a.m., I’m hitting it, but 8 pm and I’m like a child. You just need to put it out for a nap.

John: That’s hilarious. All right, how about Star Wars or Star Trek?

Georgia: Never seen either one of them. So, fun fact, I have not owned a TV for 12 years.

John: Holy cow. That’s amazing. You’re like Amish. That’s impressive.

Georgia: I didn’t know what’s going on. Ignorance is bliss.

John: Yeah. Okay. How about when it comes to books, mine being out, I’m excited, Kindle or real books?

Georgia: I have to go with real books. They smell good, and the texture. You have to touch them and pet them and love them.

John: Yeah. Right, there you go. Talk nice to them.

Georgia: Yes, yes.

John: All right, I think I know why you don’t have a TV anymore. You’re like talking to your books.

Georgia: That’s right. You know I’m the first one on your book. I’m just going to pet your book.

John: Right. You’re just in the airport, random strangers. That’s awesome.

Georgia: It’s a conversation-starter. Nobody says, “What are you reading on your phone or your Kindle?” They say, “What are you reading in real life?” It opens conversation and connection.

John: And having just gone through the publishing gauntlet, if you will, all kinds of fonts, all kinds of pages, weights, all of it that goes into a book. It really matters. It’s a work of art. It really is. How about, you have the accounting background, favorite number?

Georgia: 11.

John: 11. Is there a reason?

Georgia: Because I see ones all the time, like when I happen to look up at the clock, it’s either 1:11 or 11:11. They just appear, so I decided that one-ish, 11 was going to be the number. It chose me. I don’t know.

John: There you go. Okay. All right. How about heels or flats?

Georgia: How about no shoes?

John: Oh, okay. I’ll take that.

Georgia: If I can wear a suit dress with bare feet and rock that in a corporate setting, I totally will. I might start making that a thing.

John: I think you probably could, actually. There we go. All right, here we go. Oceans or mountains.

Georgia: Mountains, 100%. I have to climb something. I’m much more turf than surf.

John: All right. How about a favorite adult beverage?

Georgia: I would have to say champagne.

John: Oh, there you go.

Georgia: I believe that life is worth celebrating, so you can drink it all the time.

John: You can drink it all the time, exactly.

Georgia: We’re celebrating. It’s 6 am. Woohoo!

John: There you go. I like that mentality. That’s good. That’s very good. How about your computer, more of a PC or a Mac?

Georgia: Definitely PC.

John: Yeah, me too.

Georgia: I have no clue. When I look at a Mac, it’s like what am I supposed to — I don’t know what I’m doing.

John: I have no idea what to do either. How about — we’ve got three more, three more — favorite ice cream flavor. I’m a huge ice cream junkie.

Georgia: Vanilla. Is that a nerd?

John: No, that works.

Georgia: It has to be slightly melted. It’s like an ice cold milk, and if you put it in coffee like an affogato, that’s the best.

John: Now, that’s some next level right there. Because that’s the cream and the sugar at once.

Georgia: Yes, yes

John: Right, right. How about, again, with the accounting background, balance sheet or income statement?

Georgia: I would definitely have to go with balance sheet because I think cash is king.

John: Okay. All right. There you go. The last one, favorite thing you have or the favorite thing you own.

Georgia: I’m a minimalist actually. Literally, I own two plates. There’s not a lot that I do own, but my baby is I hand-made a custom-built bicycle that was engineered, specifically handmade for my body or weight, and I built every single component on it in order to bicycle 4,000 miles. I built it, made it. That thing is useful for only one purpose, and I love it.

John: That is incredible.

Georgia: It’s a work of art in my living room.

John: Yeah, that is incredible. Well, you spent so much time designing and building it, you might as well have it in your living room. That would be crazy not to.

Georgia: Yes. It’s like my Michelangelo.

John: That’s awesome. That is so cool. It’s a one of a kind, literally, and it’s for you. That is awesome. That, I guess, dovetails into your passion of just adventures in general. You can’t drop, cycling 4,000 miles, without me being, that sounds really far.

Georgia: Yeah.

John: They have airplanes now, but building an airplane is harder, so I built a bike.

Georgia: It requires no certification.

John: Right. Was it in one ride, or has it been over time?

Georgia: I did it all in one ride. I was kind of climbing the corporate ladder. I had everything everybody thought was successful. I had the house and the picket fence and all the toys and the house full of this stuff. I kept saying, there’s got to be something more. What is this? They teach you — you’re indoctrinated into this thing. You go to school. You pick your career. You have two kids on average. You get to a certain point. There’s nothing that they teach you until retirement. There’s this giant gap. Nobody says how you fill your gaps. I was in that moment of like, I’m filling my gap. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I thought to everything I said I was going to do. So, it was one of those moments where I said, okay, I’ve got to do something different with my life. What do I enjoy doing? What am I — just going out and experimenting. I thought, what can I do where I can still work and still run a company and still get out and do the adventure side? So, I had this bike custom-built and then did 4,000 miles all in one trip, just went from campground to campground and sat at the picnic table and did some work.

John: Okay, so you were doing both.

Georgia: Yeah.

John: 4,000 miles, I have no idea. Where is that from? Where to where?

Georgia: Yes. That trip went from Grandy, North Carolina and then went down the coast to the tip of Florida then back up and across to Texas. That part’s really interesting and played a big part of my journey and how I ended up moving from Minnesota to Texas, which is a whole other story. I remember when I crossed the border into Texas, this woman came running out on her porch. Now, mind you, okay, I have 150 pounds of gear on the bicycle and 100 pounds towing, with two dogs in the trailer that is custom-built.

John: Oh, wait, you had dogs too.

Georgia: Yeah, I took two dogs. So, it looks like this covered wagon, and here’s this woman pulling this covered wagon of dogs who were sticking their head out the trailer like they’re talking about, having a great time. This woman comes out her porch, and she comes flying out. Her arms are spread wide, and she’s goes, welcome to Texas. I was like, these are my people. I love Texas.

John: There you go. That is very Texas.

Georgia: Yes. I remember that, and it really — what’s interesting is, that was the first time that I had ever done some big giant adventure, and it really gave me the momentum to do other great big adventures, like my hike. We’ve talked about my hike across the country and different things.

John: Yeah, which I’m not going to skip over, that’s for sure, because that’s equally exciting. So, did this lady, when she ran up to you, also give you a Texas flag? Because I feel like that’s protocol for Texas.

Georgia: What’s interesting about that is the bike is not easy to miss. It is literally a covered wagon towing behind a bike. I had the yield signs that are reflective and lights everywhere. What I found was people were more welcoming when I have their state flag going and billowing out the back. Otherwise, they might be annoyed that I’m holding up traffic or whatever, like this cyclist getting this orientation. It’s like taking up the whole lane. Well, I can’t not take up the whole lane when I’m hauling two dogs, right? So, if I have the state flag behind, people are honking and cheering, but when I hit to Texas, and I had the Texas flag behind you, let me tell you how insane that was. It was like a Fourth of July party. Everywhere I went, people were just cheering me on. It gave me momentum. It was so powerful to have — really the lesson there is who do you have cheering for you? Because it’s not easy. Life is not easy. Doing anything is not easy, and doing anything challenging is not easy, but when you have people who are just throwing gas on it, and they’re like, woo! Okay, this is easier and I’ve got it.

John: Yeah, because the adrenaline gets there. That’s super cool. Yeah. You referenced the hike, literally, across the country. Where did you start and end?

Georgia: Yeah, so that one was at the border of Mexico, to Canada, through California, Oregon, and Washington. The bike trip was cool. Don’t get me wrong. It was a great experience. It wasn’t easy. But on the bike trip, I had the security of knowing that I was only one ride away from something that could get me to help. I can ride my bike to the grocery store if I needed food. I could ride my bike to an emergency service, and I would be fine. This specific one was, I chose this adventure to actually research fear. It was actually a more — whereas, the first one was like an adventure for fun, this one was — and more sense of safety — this one was intentionally to put myself in a place where I’ve never done anything like this before, was harder to manage. It was a lot more logistics, a lot more financial commitment. Here I am, a woman in the wilderness with a 54-pound backpack going into the woods. I’m a giant target. So, I had to figure out how to navigate all of that, and once you’re in, you’re in it for five to seven days before you get to a road that you can even hike out and then hitchhike to get to a town to get resupplied or whatever. It was truly an intense, scary commitment, and I intentionally did that on a quest to overcome fear, based on the research that I was doing.

John: Wow. That’s incredible because you’re shipping things ahead of time, I guess, and then trying to map out, well, how far am I going to get to it? Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, or whatever. Every time, you’re just tweaking and dialing it in and then getting it down. I’m sure by the time you were in Washington, you’re like, I got it down to a science.

Georgia: Yes. You know what’s interesting? I love that you said that because — so there was a lot of research. There was eight months’ worth of research. I had to figure out what my burn is when — who has walked 12 hours a day with a 54-pound backpack in the mountains? How do you develop with that? How do you carry that on your back? What foods can you eat that are not heavy and that are not perishable? I also owned a business, so I had to time my investor calls. I had clients. I had board meetings. I had all this that I had to hit at certain days and times. So, I had to calculate out, this day I have to hike this many miles. If I didn’t make it, for injury or whatever, a fire, I had to reroute several times due to fires; how do I still make those commitments? I never missed a deadline even once.

John: That’s impressive.

Georgia: A lot of times, it was like, okay, I’m killing myself. I did 26 miles one day just to get to my deadline on time, and you call up ahead of time. So, I’m calling at a gas station and saying, “Okay, I know this sounds weird. This is a weird ask. Can I ship a box to you which contains my laptop? Can I ship a box to you and come and pick it up? Here’s what I’m about to do.” They’re like, okay, yeah, that’s fine.

John: Are you going to buy a Slurpee while you’re here? Are we going to make a business transaction?

Georgia: Yeah. So, a lot of logistics went into it, but I loved what you said about, by Washington, you have it figured out. I think the lesson there for me was, when I started in California, I had to do the Mojave Desert. It was awful. It’s 108 degrees. It was intense, and I was just starting out. I was new at it. I can tell you, I’m the type of person where I do what I say, so there was a lot of ego in it. I can’t quit because then my name is attached to being a quitter. So, it was a lot of just getting through it and surviving it, but by Washington, I figured out that it’s not about getting to Canada. It’s actually about enjoying the journey. So, somewhere along that line, I actually started having fun, and it was when I decided to let go of the outcome and just start enjoying it. Knowing that if I just put one foot in front of the other, I would eventually get there, so stop pushing so hard.

John: Yeah, and what a great analogy for professionals, in general, of just, we’re always pushing ourselves so hard, and we forget about, there’s life. There are these other things that are outside of work that are also important, and to enjoy them too, or even enjoy work while you’re at it. Clearly, this came up in calls because you’re still doing work while you’re doing the cycling, while you’re hiking from Mexico to Canada. Was there ever a part where you were like, hey, people are going to judge me as being not very good at my job or not dedicated or whatever, or you didn’t even care?

Georgia: Yeah. No, that was a huge one. When I first went to my family and friends and said, this is what I’m going to do; well, first of all, they were like, are you having a midlife crisis? Are you okay? Then I have a lot of people who were my close advisers, my inner circle, who said, “Georgia, you’re committing career suicide because nobody does this. You don’t get to be a business person and an adventurer. The adventure type is for the young people who are just out of college who are trying to figure out their why. This isn’t an adult, grown woman in the middle of your career sort of thing to do. You have to pick one or the other and that people are going to judge you.” If you’re in the CPA world, investment banking world that I was in, or later, went into organizational development, that sort of consultative work; the only option for you was golf. No hiking across the country and living in a tent for five months. They were concerned about, like you said, how do you trust that you’re going to hit your deadlines? How do you have that sense of, am I working with an actual professional when I show up on video and I’m covered in who knows what? You’re just lucky you can’t smell through Skype.

John: Exactly. Yeah, but then no one cared, come to find out. Or I would imagine it was the opposite where everyone was excited.

Georgia: Yeah. What’s interesting about that is it took me a really long time. My bike trip was four years ago. My hike was three years ago. For a time period, after both of those, there was almost a shame that I didn’t want to tell people. Other people would tell my story to people. You can’t believe what she did, and they would look at me like, you did that? Because I’m in a suit, and they’re like, I’m having a hard time picturing this because it’s two totally different things. It’s opposites. It’s paradoxical.

So, they would tell my story, and I would almost like hide my eyes. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it. This was this huge accomplishment that I did that I was ashamed of, in the business setting, and suddenly, people started saying, “Let’s talk about that.” Then they started to realize that the skill sets needed to do something that huge, actually translated into a business setting. It challenged me to make those connections and realize that I was a different person when I came out of it. I do feel like it opened me up. It taught me a lot of things. It showed me who I am. I started talking about it more, and the more that I did, the more people wanted to know about it because I think it freed them up. Because I think their stuff, like everybody wants to do this, they want to do something, maybe not hiking across the country, but they have something in them that they want to do, that when they hear other people doing it, it frees them up to say, okay, there’s a possibility for me. That’s the hope that I see in their eyes now when I talk about it.

John: That’s so awesome to hear that transformation that you went through, that you had this mindset going in because — it’s probably why you thought this way is because others told you. You can’t do this. This is career suicide, as you said, and whatever, but it’s clearly not. You’re here. You’re better than ever. Actually, yeah, like you said, those skills translate, so you’re actually better at your job now because of that “And” or that outside of work experience.

In the book, I talk about how we define expertise so narrowly. Our expertise is our college degree and our continuing education. It’s not. There’s other expertise that we have that, clearly, you’ve been able to display, so it’s cool to hear that that’s true and that I’m not making it up. Also how it impacts others that hear your story, and hear everybody’s stories on here and stuff like that, as well.

Georgia: Well, I think the most important thing, from a business perspective, for a business to be successful is to have creative, innovative, passionate people who can’t not do what they do. They’re in it because they love it. When you do that, it’s limitless, but in order to do that, you have to challenge that narrowness that you were talking about. So, when you get pigeonholed into that — and I think that comes from — Georgia-only philosophy here — I think that comes from way back in the day when you were a blacksmith, your kids were going to be a blacksmith, and your kids’ kids will be blacksmiths. You didn’t do anything else. Your identity was tied to what you did, and that created certain skill sets, and you get stuck in a sort of rut. We’re even taught that. You have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life, and you’re 18 years old.

John: Right.

Georgia: You barely know who you are, let alone what you will be doing, right?

John: Totally.

Georgia: Here’s the thing that I believe, is when you’re a little kid and you try something and you explore something, then you’re discovering. When you grow up as an adult and you try different things, what is that called? Failure, right? We start. We’ve put this stigma to discovery as failure, and so we’re in fear of searching out that creative outlet and looking for the thing that we’re excited about. When you do that and you’re in fear, that’s where — fear is where innovation and creativity goes to die. That’s what’s happening to our companies. When you can have people explore the different components, the different parts of them, the different facets of who they are; it translates into the business, and you’ll see the business grow. So I agree with you. We have to get rid of that narrow mindset.

John: How much is it on the tone at the top to create that culture, or how much is it on the individual to just share, these are my outside of work interests, this other expertise that I have that I can bring to work? It’s probably a balance, but do you think one’s more important?

Georgia: I love this question. I love it so much. So, the name of my company is BEU Revolution. The reason that I added the revolution is because a lot of times, people think the tone comes from the top. That is only true if you believe that you’re limited by the beliefs at the top, but you’re not. I believe that true change in a company actually comes from the people rising up and starting a revolution and saying, “I’m going to be me, unapologetically. I either fear or I don’t.” I’m not going to be in fear that I don’t fit underneath whatever the tone at the top is, I’m either going to go where I belong, or I’m going to start this revolution and rise up.

The interesting thing when I talk to — so I talk with a lot of VPs and C-suites. Every single one of them believes the same thing. They don’t want this old school mentality of how business operates in this narrow-minded, pigeonholed tasking sort of thing, but I think everybody’s doing it because everybody’s done it. So, when we say tone at the top, it just really is every person has to start their own revolution, and it starts inside of you. The more you, the more that you are who you are, the more that you’re going to influence the company culture around you. Do not wait for the tone at the top to change. Do not force that tone at the top to change. Be more of who you are, and that’s going to create change.

John: I totally agree. That’s awesome. Yeah, because I remember in the corporate world, I just found myself starting to model behavior of people that were ahead of me. Then I realized, wait, they’re modeling behavior of people in front of them and then people in front of them. At some point like in the 1800s, there’s some huge dork that we’re all following.

Georgia: Yes.

John: No one stops to just be like, wait a minute, this is ridiculous. Especially when you become that partner, you become the C-suite, you become that, even a manager; it’s yours. You’re that person, so make it whatever you want it to be. As long as the work gets done, then it doesn’t matter if you make it whatever you want it to be. If people want to be a part of that, then great. If people don’t, then also great, but it’s creating what you think it should be, not what it’s always been. I love that. Just don’t be afraid to bring yourself to work, even if it’s a little bit at a time. It doesn’t have to be, open the floodgates, because that’s like, whoa, okay, hold on.

Georgia: Yeah. Try to be a good person and people might reject you a little bit but…

John: Exactly. This has been so much fun, Georgia. This is so encouraging to hear and inspiring. I feel like before we wrap up, though, it’s only fair that I allow you to rapid-fire question me since I so rudely started out, peppering you with questions. So, it is now The Georgia Green Show, Episode One. I’m the guest.

Georgia: All right, John. Well, welcome to the show. I have some very important questions.

John: Thank you so much for having me.

Georgia: Okay, so I’m sure all of your listeners want to know, stripes or polka dots.

John: Oh, okay. You know, that’s a good question. I’m going to go stripes.

Georgia: Okay. All right. Vertical or horizontal?

John: See, that’s tricky because I’m tall and skinny so, if it’s vertical, then I look even more tall and skinny, like a freak. Yeah, I’m going to go horizontal. I’m just thinking socks. We’ll go horizontal stripes.

Georgia: There we go. I like it.

John: Pinstripe — well, yes, that would be vertical, of course, because that would be — could you imagine a pinstripe suit with horizontal?

Georgia: You’re starting a new trend. See, that’s why I like you. You challenge the why, why you just want to go one way. All right, if I were to give you an elephant and tell you that you can’t give it away or sell it, what would you do with it?

John: Oh, wow, that is awesome. I guess I would have to start a circus because you’ve got an elephant. You can’t not.

Georgia: It’s an initial capital because you need some monkeys.

John: Yeah, I guess I would have to start a circus.

Georgia: All right, so then what would your second added animal be?

John: That’s a good question. Do trapeze people count?

Georgia: Yes.

John: Because those have always been pretty cool. I actually had a guest on the podcast who was in the circus, right out of college, so, yeah, I’ll call him up. We’ll just get that going.

Georgia: Give you some tips and training. You’re going to be doing some back flips, some flying trapeze.

John: Right. I don’t know if I’ll be one of them. I would probably be more of The Greatest Showman kind of guy, I guess.

Georgia: His director.

John: All of a sudden this just went from having an elephant to flying in The Greatest Showman. Hugh Jackman could come to my house and be a part of the circus.

Georgia: Very important question, favorite superhero and give me three descriptions as to why.

John: Okay, favorite superhero. I’m old school, like a Spiderman, just very unassuming. It kind of happened by accident, didn’t totally want the power but then did. It’s mostly at night, and it’s just on the hush-hush. Yeah, if you met him during the day, would be like, there’s no way that dude’s a superhero, not in a million years. Plus, he’s got the webs, and you can fly around, not creepy flying, but like swing. Then you get the adrenaline because it’s like, okay.

Georgia: Professional flying, not could be flying.

John: Yeah, not like I’ve got wings, or Superman. I don’t even know what that’s all about. That’s just weird.

Georgia: I believe that a person’s superhero and characteristics are actually what they identify in their inner self, so do you think that is representative of who you are?

John: Yeah, probably, just because, for a long time, I’ve been totally cool with being the best-kept secret, which is no way to be anything.

Georgia: Once your book’s out, the secret’s out.

John: Yeah, pretty much, so the secret’s out now. I guess I need a new superhero. I need something else that’s like showy and out there all the time.

John: I also realized that in my circus tent, there would be stripes. It would be vertical stripes. I had to think that through really fast. There we go. This has been so much fun, Georgia. Thank you. Thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”? This has been a blast.

Georgia: Yeah, I’m having a great time. Thank you.

John: Absolutely, end everyone listening, if you want to see some pictures of Georgia in action or connect with her on social media, be sure to go to whatsyourand.com. All the links are there. While you’re on the page, please click that big button, do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture. Also, while you’re on the page too, why not buy the book. It’s good. Trust me, I wrote it.

Thanks again for subscribing on iTunes or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread that who you are is so much more than what you do.

Welcome to Episode 242 of What’s Your “And”? Follow-up Friday edition. This is John Garrett. Each Friday, I follow-up with a guest who had been on the show a few years ago to hear what’s new with their passions outside of work and also to hear how this message might have impacted them since we last talked.

I’m so excited to let everyone know that my book is coming out so soon. It’ll be available on Amazon and a few other websites. So check out whatsyourand.com for all the details or sign up for my exclusive list and you’ll be the first to know when it’s coming out. Please don’t forget to hit subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every Wednesday and Friday. And this Follow-up Friday is going to be no different with my guest, Seth David. He’s the Head Nerd at Nerd Enterprises in California. And now, he’s with me here today. Seth, thank you so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?

Seth: Thank you so much for letting me in the door.

John: Absolutely, man. I mean you’d knocked for days. I was like, “Finally, I guess I’ll let this guy in.” But no, this is going to be so fun, man. It was so fun chatting with you before and just catching up. But I’d do my rapid fire questions up front now. Hopefully, you’re ready for this.

Seth: All right. Let’s do it. Look, good thing, I just released my bulletproof bookkeeping course. I’ve got my bulletproof vest on, so hit me with the rapid fire.

John: Here we go. Here we go. It’s a Nerf gun though, so it’s all safe. No Seth Davids were injured in this podcast. First one, if you had to choose, Harry Potter or Game of Thrones?

Seth: Game of Thrones, hands down.

John: Okay. What’s a typical breakfast?

Seth: A smoked salmon with cream cheese on a flatbread.

John: Nice man. That’s fancy. I like that. Being in Southern California, do you have a favorite Disney character?

Seth: I guess Mickey Mouse. I know that’s like the most boring answer ever. But that’s the first character that comes to mind.

John: That’s good. When you’re reading, Kindle or real books?

Seth: Nook, I read the nook.

John: Nook. Okay. Okay.

Seth: I’m a Barnes and Noble guy.

John: There you go sponsored by ding. Brownie or ice cream?

Seth: Can I have both?

John: Yeah, you can.

Seth: I’d get them on the brownie.

John: That was a trick question. You can have both. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Seth: All right. Perfect. Done.

John: Yeah. More suit and tie or jeans and a T-shirt?

Seth: Oh, definitely jeans and a T-shirt.

John: Yeah. For sure. The last one, this is maybe the most important one I’ve ever asked. Toilet paper roll, over or under?

Seth: I’m going with over on that.

John: Going with over? Absolutely. It’s how the patent is drawn, right? So the last time we talked on Episode 51, what so many years ago, it was hiking and you were the only one who’s ever done their passion while recording the podcast, which I thought was awesome. You were actually doing the hike when we chatted. Is that still a thing that you’re doing?

Seth: In a way, I was getting high during the podcast, right? I mean in the most literal sense. Let’s not spread any rumors here. I’m not talking about mind-altering substances. I’m talking elevation, right?

John: Yes, absolutely.

Seth: Griffith Park, my Nirvana, in all honesty, at this point, it’s faded out a bit. I haven’t been hiking lately. But it is in the plans to get that started back up again. As a matter of fact, as of this recording, it’ll be long passed by the time people hear this. But we’re going to be meeting at the Huntington Library — a group of us professionally actually — which is a beautiful place to come to if you’re ever in the area where I am in Southern California. Some are going to bring their laptops and get some work done and the most beautiful environment you could ask for to be working in. And others are just going to go around and enjoy the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden.

I do still get out of my nerd cave occasionally. But the time that I used to spend doing my hiking was generally on Saturdays. Earlier this year, I got very, very laser focused on developing a series of new courses starting with the flagship cornerstone course of all of it, which I already mentioned. It’s the Bulletproof Bookkeeping with QuickBooks Online. So I’ve laid my hobby has become my work, which I love. I can honestly say I love getting up to do what I do every day. And I know a lot of people will say that. But in most cases, it’s not actually true. In my case, it is.

John: But it’s more than just doing your work. It’s a different thing. I mean when you’re creating a course and teaching people how to do what you do, that’s not doing the work. It’s work-related, but so was hiking was work-related because it was bringing people together that way. So it’s really not that much different to be honest. It’s just maybe a little bit closer.

Seth: John, it’s a craft. It’s so different than doing actual bookkeeping work — creating videos creating content. Anytime the thought ever pops into my head that I think I know everything there is to know about how to record and edit videos, it’s a very quick fleeting thought because I’m constantly learning new things. Just last week, I was editing a video for the next course that I’m working on. I’m not going to bore people with the details. It won’t make sense to anybody. But the bottom line was I learned something new. And I learned it by accident, which is how I learned a lot of things by the way. Almost every Excel tip I could give you, like the really cool ones that not everybody knows, is something I learned by accident because I did something accidentally with my keyboard that I didn’t mean to do. Then I had to try and retrace my steps to figure out how I did it and then after a bit of trial and error, I would figure out that shifting the spacebar highlight the whole row. I’m like, “What? Wait. Then something else in the spacebar is better at highlighting columns?” And sure enough, it was the Control key.

So it’s very similar. Things happen when I’m editing videos. And I just learned a little trick the other day that has to do with when you’re trying to clip a section of the video. That makes it much easier to make sure that you’ve isolated the exact points from both ends that you want to clip the video.

John: That’s awesome, man. I mean because that’s a different skill that you’re exercising, that editing and shooting video. I mean there’s people that you pay to do that. But you’re like, “Nope, I’m learning it and I’m going to do it myself.” And I think that’s fantastic. Yeah. Do people know that you’re the one behind all this? I mean of course you’re the face on the video, but you’re not just the superstar. You’re doing all of it.

Seth: Yeah. I think most people know. It’s funny because a lot of so-called gurus or coaches or whatever they choose to call themselves this week have suggested that I should really outsource the editing part. I’m like, “Are you kidding? That’s my favorite part of all of it because that’s where you truly get to…” I mean, of course, recording this stuff and knowing what you’re doing, that’s obviously part of the parcel. But to me, the most rewarding part of it is knowing that I’m sitting there and creating the experience that someone’s going to have and knowing especially that — and I know this is going to sound dramatic, but it’s not even a question of, “I believe it’s true.” I know it’s true because of what people have reflected back to me. I’m literally creating an experience that’s going to change someone’s life.

John: You totally are. That’s so cool because, yeah, I mean for you to outsource that, you lose the magic. You lose your fingerprint on it, if you will. I think that’s great that it’s like, “No. I’m shooting the video so I can actually edit them. That’s really why I’m doing this.”

Seth: Yeah, because that’s where you really create the experience for someone. It’s in the editing. That’s really the experience that gets created. Shooting the video is the easy part actually.

John: If you shoot enough, you can edit and make it look amazing for sure. That’s really cool, man. That’s really cool. What’s your editing software of choice?

Seth: I wasn’t sure because you made the comment about Barnes and Noble. I was trying to be careful about mentioning brands, but —

John: No, no. You can. I was just teasing, man. Absolutely.

Seth: Okay. Fair enough.

John: No one sponsors the show. Everyone should know that by now.

Seth: Actually, I should also remember that if anything, being that it’s you and me specifically here crossing lines is what it should be all about anyway. Not doing lines — crossing them. Again, I want to be clear. We’re not doing any mind-altering substances here.

John: I think by the fifth reference of this, people are going to start to wonder, “What is going on over there?”

Seth: Well, that’s the point right? We just want to see who has nothing better to do with their time.

John: Exactly. Then start with social media.

Seth: So the software I use, it’s no secret. It’s Camtasia. I absolutely love Camtasia. I cringe because you’ll see a lot of threads in Facebook groups where people are asking about what software to use to create and edit their videos. And if it’s anything to do with something that’s happening on your screen, I don’t know why there’s even a question about it anymore. I know there are other programs out there that you can use and there’s free ones, but I just feel like if you’re going to do it, just do it. Go all in. It’s not that much money. It’s like 300 bucks at the most. That’s if you don’t get a coupon or promotion of some kind. Just use Camtasia. Stop.

John: No. You go nuts, man.

Seth: If you’re going to do it, just do it.

John: Right. There you go. But I mean that applies to everything. And it’s certainly the mentality that you bring to Nerd Enterprises when you’re dealing with clients and everything else. That’s really cool because I mean in the same way that you’re creating these experiences with the videos and changing people’s lives, you do the same thing in your actual bookkeeping business. So when you’re actually dealing with clients, you’re doing that there too.

Seth: Yeah. Although more and more these days, I’m trying really hard not to deal with clients.

John: Right. Yeah. No, that’s the end goal actually. That’s the end goal for everyone.

Seth: I’ll tell you something, John. This is just very honest and all joking of any kind aside. Again, as of this recording, my wife and I recently had to put two of our three dogs to sleep, two of them in the same one-week period.

John: Oh, man.

Seth: So it’s been a very sad time on the one hand. And on the other hand, career wise, it’s a very happy time. So it’s bittersweet because career wise, I’m closer and closer to spending substantially all of my time doing the thing that I really love, which is creating the videos. Luckily — I should say I hate to use that word in this vein, but the timing of when we had to put them to sleep was just before the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah. So I had planned downtime, those two days, which worked out well in that sense that if it was going to have to happen around now, that was the time because it gave me the chance to have a couple of quiet days.

At the same time, while I’m just in such a deep state of grief, I don’t know what to do with myself. So I found myself just — I shut the email off. I didn’t open any social media pages. I just spent the day editing videos for my next course. And it wasn’t like that I was being insensitive about the fact that — it was because of the grief. I needed to do something to get and stay focused on to keep my mind somewhat off of it. I found that once I got into the groove — and this is nothing new for me but it just stood out here because of the circumstances — that I was in such a state of peace during that time because my mind was quiet. I was just focused. I had some very peaceful music playing as I often do when I’m here at my desk. And it was just that. There was no noise in my head. Do you know what I mean?

John: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The head trash stuff that gets in the way. Yeah. I’m really sorry to hear that because your dogs, those pictures of them wearing the ties coming out of the dog salon and stuff, I mean I know you were really close.

Seth: Those guys were my life. We still have one left, Hercules. He’s the black one in that picture that you’re talking about. He’s the one with the black coat. Because that can, again, get taken way out of context, I’m not being racist here. His coat is black. You have to be so careful these days about what you say.

So Ralphie, who’s been such a big part of my life, he was the original dog in the original social media picture. We had updated it some years ago with him and Hercules, that’s the other dog on my lap, because we got the ties. So Ralphie and we also had his mother, Xena, who’s not in that photo. They were only a year apart in age. They were getting on. She was almost 17. He would’ve been 16 this coming Halloween 2019. They lived a good long life. But of course, it’s heartbreaking. He was such a big part of me both publicly and also privately in the home. It took such a big piece of my heart away, John. I honestly don’t know if or how I’ll ever truly recover from it. I don’t think you ever do. I think you have to go on in life.

John: Yeah. But you remember all the good times that you had and I mean all those crazy stories and the silly times and the ties and the things like that. I mean it’s a family member. But that’s really cool that, yeah, you were able to find peace and get in that groove and just — you’d be able to make other people’s lives better. So in a way, a little bit of your loss fuels so many people’s gain, which is really powerful.

Seth: Yeah. It really helped me. And I hope that everyone out there who’s listening has their version of something that they truly love to do. Because this is where I decided earlier this year to triple down on just creating courses and videos because I was finding, as often been the case throughout my career since I started my business, which was in 2003 originally, there have been so many times where I have — not I felt. I knew. I’ve known. I was spreading myself way too thin, right? I love the shiny new toy of course. I get ideas and I think, “Oh, this is a great idea. Let’s run with this and let’s run with that.” And next thing I know, it’s like — what I love to say about multitasking is there’s really no such thing as multitasking. What it means is that you’re highly unfocused on a lot of things.

John: And then nothing gets done.

Seth: Exactly. Then I was listening to a Gary Vaynerchuk video. And in that video, he said something. I’m paraphrasing, of course, but it was something like, “A lot of us are good at a lot of things.” But basically, the message was, “If you truly want to succeed, you have to find that one thing that you’re really good at, that you’re better at than any of the other things that you’re really good at. And you triple down on that one thing and you run with it.”

Earlier this year, I was just in that place where I knew I was spread too thin. One thing I was trying to build was frankly not going well. And just looking back, it had been more than a couple of years since I had been trying to put this vertical together. I was like, “No. It’s just not working.” And I heard the Gary Vaynerchuk video. And just to be clear because I know somebody there would go, “Well, what do you mean it’s a video? Were you watching it?” Actually, no, I listen to videos a lot in the background while I’m looking at and working on something.

John: Gary Vee is not a looker. So you can listen to the video just the same.

Seth: Exactly. Yeah, there’s nothing you really need to see. It’s usually just him talking and cursing, which is fine. I love his message. But I don’t need to see him to get the message. I just need to hear it. I really sat down and it wasn’t just one sit down. It was a probably over a series of time where I kept racking my brain thinking, “All right. What’s my answer to that? What’s my version of that?” Then once it hit me, I was like, “I can’t believe this wasn’t that much more obvious the first time I asked myself the question.” There’s no question. The one thing that I love to do more than anything else that I do, the one thing that I’m better at than anything else I do is not bookkeeping. It’s creating videos that teach people bookkeeping. And other things, not just bookkeeping but productivity at large. It’s creating educational videos based on productivity software. And it’s showing people how to be more productive, more efficient, more effective in anything that you’re doing that involves any kind of software.

What really lies underneath that, which is how I was able to get to that core when I really thought about it, was that a lot of people can be very knowledgeable in a subject. That doesn’t mean you can teach it, right? The trick to being able to teach something effectively is understanding it from the other person’s perspective. Probably the most important thing — I was just thinking about this the other day. The most important thing that makes a teacher a good teacher — and this is frankly what I feel is one of my superpowers — is having the ability to see it in a sense through somebody else’s eyes, but most importantly and most specifically, to understand what they’re not seeing. Because if you understand what they’re not seeing, then you know where to shine the light, so to speak. And that’s when you get those aha moments out of your students, out of your audience. And that’s what I love about teaching. Especially when I’m doing it with Zoom, which is what I use to log in remotely with people, and if they’ve got their camera on and I can practically, literally see the light come on in their eyes because they just got something because of that one little tweak I made and how I explained it, that’s the most rewarding thing I ever get to experience in my whole life, John.

John: That’s fantastic, man. That’s really cool. That’s really cool. I’m so glad you found it. Because when we met several years ago, you were mostly doing the bookkeeping. Yeah, you were creating some content, but that wasn’t really where the magic was. And now it is. Bulletproof Bookkeeping for QuickBooks Online. Yeah, man, I think that’s fantastic.

Before I wrap this up, though, it’s only fair that I allow you to ask me two to three rapid-fire questions if you would like since I so rudely started out firing away at you.

Seth: Oh, okay.

John: It’s your turn, man. Ask away anything you want.

Seth: I want to ask you one of the questions that you asked me last time around. Star Trek or Star Wars?

John: Star Wars. Yeah. I never got into Star Trek. Yeah. I just — I don’t know. But only the first three. After that, I haven’t seen any of the other ones. So I don’t want to ruin it.

Seth: All right. Favorite pizza topping?

John: Ah, that’s a good question. Yeah. All the meat and, yeah, pepperoni, sausage, ham. If I have to just choose one, it’d be pepperoni though. I’m just pretty classic.

Seth: Okay. Yeah. I’m totally with you there. There is a place near where I grew up on Long Island in Commack called Branchinelli’s, later changed names to Emilio’s. But they used to have — they called it the special pizza, and it had every possible topping.

John: Oh, wow. Wow. That sounds —

Seth: It was all the meats, all the veggies, everything.

John: All the veggies. Yeah. I mean there can be some veggies on there. That’s for sure. I’m not anti-veggie but usually at three to one ratio, meat to veggie.

Seth: It probably it was something like that because the meat definitely stood out. Their other specialty was white pizza, which is one of my favorites. But it’s very rare. You don’t see that at very many places. And even when you do, it’s often not that good. It seems like it’s hard to get that one —

John: Right. And by white pizza, you don’t mean Caucasian pizza? You mean it’s Alfredo sauce. People know that like —

Seth: Right. Yeah. It’s not racist, okay? Let’s be careful. It’s because it’s got ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese and it’s white. That’s the color of the pizza. Somebody out there is going, “Why is it got to be white?”

John: It just is.

Seth: I had another question for you, another rapid-fire. Cheeseburger or burger?

John: Oh, cheeseburger. Yeah. Put cheese on that thing. Yeah, for sure. As many calories as I can get into my face is possible.

Seth: Well, you’re very lucky because from what I remember seeing you, you don’t look like somebody who suffers from eating too much. You look pretty thin.

John: No, no. I appreciate that. Yeah. But I certainly do. It’s definitely a good pastime. That might be one of my other passions, I guess. Well, it’s definitely ice cream for sure. But that works, man. This has been great, Seth.

Seth: Have me back anytime, John. It’s always a blast talking with you.

John: I mean everyone listening, if you want to see some pictures of Seth in action or connect with him on social media, be sure to go to whatsyourand.com. All the links are there. While you’re on the page, please click that big button, do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture. Thanks again for subscribing on iTunes or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread that who you are is so much more than what you do.