Posts by Christopher Lochhead
031 Men’s Athleisure w/ Vuori Founder Joe Kudla
How do you bootstrap your way to success? On this episode, Joe Kudla joins us for a conversation on taking action based on insight. How do you design a new athletic clothing niche for men and be known in a category so large?
“I’ll be totally candid. I had no idea what it took to run a successful apparel business.“ – Joe Kudla
A Very Personal Brand
Athletic apparel has been around pretty much since the creation of the fig leaf. So why did Joe think of building a brand in this particular niche? It started out of a personal need.
Joe was an athlete who would beat himself up playing football his whole life. About ten years ago, he began dealing with a lot of back pain. That was when one of his friends suggested that he do yoga.
Beyond the Mass Produced
He was taking yoga classes daily when he looked around and realized that he never got to know what dudes are supposed to wear to yoga. It was this question, this puzzle, that set him and his associates to this whole path.
Massive brands flood the athletic apparel market. Some have buckled up the channel with better material and construction and more tailored, modern fit. But Joe wanted more than apparel exclusive for the gym.
“We’re the anti-gym guys. We’re going to the gym but we just didn’t connect with that culture around it.” – Joe Kudla
Creating Diverse and Versatile Athleisure
Joe looked at the space and came across the stats of people practicing yoga versus those who go surfing and gained valuable insight.
“When I really looked at the brand that we were gonna create, it was inspired by much more than yoga. It extended to this diverse, versatile active life.” – Joe Kudla
No one can deny the appeal of premium active apparel that performs better. But even better are clothes you can sweat in and wear to the beach or when you meet a friend for some beer. And so he built a brand that is casual and can be carried around throughout the day.
To hear more about the inception of Vuori and the story of finding love in poop from Joe, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Joe is the founder/CEO of Vuori is an active lifestyle apparel brand that draws inspiration from the aspirational coastal California lifestyle, an integration of yoga, surf, sport, art, and a strong visionary spirit.
Vuori makes products that stand the test of time and hopes to inspire others to be healthy, vibrant and live their dreams.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Joe Kudla on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
030 Outer Order, Inner Calm w/ Gretchen Rubin
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How do you become happier in life? On today’s episode, four-time New York Times bestselling author Gretchen Rubin joins us for a fun, insightful conversation. How do you turn feeling envy and lying into tools for our own growth?
Relationships for Happiness
There are two ways to achieve happiness, depending on the mental framework that you use. One of which is that to be happy, we need to have enduring, intimate bonds.
“Ancient philosophers and contemporary scientists would agree that relationship is key to happiness.” – Gretchen Rubin
We have to feel like we belong, be able to confide a secret, get support, and give support. Anything that broadens or deepens our relationships is something that would make us happier. When we look at people who say they’re happier, they tend to have more relationships.
Self-knowledge is also Key
From a different vantage point, you can also say that the key to happiness is self-knowledge. We can build a happy life on the foundation of our own nature, interests, values, and temperament.
“It’s really by knowing ourselves that with this knowledge we can shape our lives to better reflect what is true for us.” – Gretchen Rubin
It should be fairly easy to know oneself when you hang out with yourself all day long, right? But the truth is that it’s not very easy at all. This stems from how we sometimes wish that we were different from who are or from how we are different from what other people expect or want us to be.
Envy and Lies are Helpful
Gretchen is keen on finding questions or indirect ways to help us understand ourselves better. For instance, whom do we envy? People don’t want to admit they feel it, but envy is actually helpful because it shows us what we wish we had.
Another question we must ask ourselves is, what do we lie about? Oftentimes when we lie, what we do doesn’t match up with what our value is and this is really important information to reflect on.
“The fact that you’re not being truthful about it means that somehow, you’re not comfortable with what your real answer is and that’s a sign—hey, maybe I need to get my actions and values into better harmony.” – Gretchen Rubin
To hear more about how we can achieve inner calm and peace from Gretchen, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Gretchen Rubin is a writer who relentlessly explores human nature to understand how we can make our lives better.
She believes there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for becoming happier, healthier, more productive, or more creative; when we know ourselves and what works for us, we can change our habits and our lives.
She’s the author of the bestselling books (The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, Better Than Before, The Four Tendencies),
And she hosts the award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin,
The New York Times calls her “the queen of the self-help memoir.”
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Gretchen Rubin on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
029 Legendary Marketing Lightning Strike Dave Gerhardt Drift
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In this follow-up to Episode 20 with David Cancel (DC) the founder and CEO of Drift, Christopher talks with Dave Gerhardt (DG), the head of marketing for Drift and fellow podcaster.
They are co-authors a of brand new, number one best-selling book called Conversational Marketing: How The World’s Fastest Growing Companies use Chatbots to Generate Leads.
In this episode, we unpack how Drift is designing a new category and we go deep into the strategies and tactics Drift is using and how they executed this most legendary lightning strike centered around the new book.
If you’re into marketing, there’s a ton of gold in this episode.
- You’ll get insight into how to get a massive amount of attention for your category, brand and point of view.
- How to execute an approach called the Multiplier Effect so that each component of your marketing mix multiplies the value of the other components.
- How to make your company and your category undeniable.
- And, how to do my favorite kind of marketing which causes your competition to have emergency board meetings.
“Whether the (category) name is sexy, good or not, you have to name it.” – Dave Gerhardt
Almost two years ago, Dave was introduced to Christopher through his book after Sequoia invested in Drift, Pat Grady sent him five copies of his book Play Bigger and said he needed to read it. Dave was blown away that how much was in the book was what they were doing without really talking about it. Play Bigger clarified what they were working on.
Hurdles to Overcome
The team at Drift knew they were building a category but didn’t’ really know about category design. During their efforts to write the book and get a publisher, Dave and David discovered that thing, that category that they were building meant nothing until they named it.
“In order for us to win, we need to elevate the category of Conversational Marketing.” – Dave Gerhardt
They had a little traction but not enough. They needed a following, big investors, and the social proof. Fast forward to early 2018. They spent the year writing the book and published on January 30, 2019. After a month, it’s a top 20 business book in the US and in the top 1.5% of all books being sold on Amazon.
Why Competition is Good
In order for the book to succeed, Dave wants competitors and people in the conversational marketing space. They don’t want people to just think of Drift when they think of conversational marketing.
Dave compares it to a part of Play Bigger. Apple didn’t invent the tablet but they created a category that elevated it. That’s Drift’s goal; to elevate the category of conversational marketing.
To hear more about Dave’s legendary marketing strike, download and listen to the episode.
Dave Gerhardt Bio:
Dave Gerhardt is a B2B marketing leader, brand builder, and copywriter.
As VP of Marketing of Drift, he’s helped grow Drift from $0 to over eight-figures in revenue in just two years, and his work has been featured in 100+ news sites and publications, including Forbes, Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, and Harvard Business Review.
He also co-hosts the popular Seeking Wisdom podcast with Drift CEO David Cancel, and he’s the co-author of the definitive book on Conversational Marketing.
Links:
Linkedin
Drift.com
Podcast: Seeking Wisdom
iTunes Seeking Wisdom
We hope you enjoyed Dave Gerhardt on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
028 Dorie Clark Reinvent You
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What exactly does reinventing yourself entail? Expert Dorie Clark joins us today for a conversation about designing one’s new identity, why social proof matters, and a lot more.
Winning Over the Team
To reinvent oneself means giving in to the want to go toward a certain direction. Once you figure this out, you also need to realize that a lot of the process is about winning over the internal team. Who you surround yourself with as you begin reinventing yourself matters a lot.
“Ironically in the reinvention journey, the people closest to you are gonna be the least supportive initially.” – Dorie Clark
People you’ve built relationships with are more tied to who you’ve been than you are. They come from a good place, not to mention that they have the most at stake in this reinvention. You need to develop a strategy to help them understand your intentions and see your determination.
The Power of Dormant Ties
Since reinvention involves established relationships with people, you must also grasp the concept of ties. These include strong, weak, and dormant ties. Dormant ties come from strong bonds shared with people who have gone off in directions completely separate to yours.
Dormant ties can be particularly powerful when rekindled, especially with the positive connection and thoughts that come with them. That you have some form of contribution to each other’s success makes it a lot easier when you reunite. With ties like so, you will find people to root for you in your process of reinvention.
Creation of Content
The other key component is proof that you can muster to support your new identity. People are skeptical, and you have to hammer it home that you are serious about them. This is where content creation around your new subject area comes into play.
“It’s a way of simultaneously demonstrating your expertise. It enables you to have a networking vehicle. It allows you to create these sustained reminders.” – Dorie Clark
To hear more about Dorie’s expert advice on reinvention, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Dorie Clark is “an expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives,” says The New York Times. She’s an adjunct professor at Duke University and a bestselling author.
Her book, Stand Out, was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. Magazine. She’s also a regular contributor to HBR.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Dorie Clark on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
027 David Osborn Wealth Can’t Wait
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How do you overcome a compounded fear of failure to become legendary? On today’s episode, author, entrepreneur, and real estate investor David Osborn joins us in a conversation about making money, building capital, and so much more.
“You go to work for capital so your capital can eventually go to work for you.” – David Osborn
Thinking Big, Not Delusional
David started out as a realtor, working under his mom’s team for three years. Over time, he realized he no longer wanted to sell so he ventured out into setting up franchises. With the right company, time and work ethic as well as a dash of mistakes and failures, he and his team have sold billions.
When you focus on the delta of where you are and where you want to be, it becomes clear that making the first million is way too hard. But it’s just as important to think massively big, and not delusional, to get started. It takes so much longer and harder than people can imagine and be willing to admit, after all.
“People always look at the credit and the money that an entrepreneur makes and they way underestimate the amount of risk and amount of failure.” – David Osborn
An Idiot Prior to Success
David first opened up a franchise in 1996, and it took ten long years before he could make money. It was a sweet two years, until the massive crash of 2008. Luckily enough, he had a great company to support him through it. But not all entrepreneurs are on equal footing.
An entrepreneur that has to scramble all the way up will look like an idiot for ten years before they get rewarded. And sometimes, the rewards could be more than they probably should get.
“The reason is you spent those ten years where every day there’s a chance you could have nothing the next day.” – David Osborn
Overcoming Fear Through Crazy
It takes experiencing hurt and failure for fear to manifest. We find punishment, pain, and psychological difficulty so aversive that we steer clear of ladders going up.
Even the most successful entrepreneurs get afraid. But it’s finding the crazy force to drive you through the journey that spells all the difference.
To hear more about David’s views on free will and capital building, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
After sticking out his thumb and traveling the world, David returned home to Austin, Texas broke and unemployed, at the age of 26. Though his travels may not have yielded wealth, they instilled the key motivation that he brings to every part of his life to create it — freedom.
Because to have everything you ever wanted takes the opportunity to design your life and believe it can happen.
Through this intention, David began to test his entrepreneurial merits alongside his business-partner mom in the world of real estate. The results were nothing short of remarkable. In less than 10 years, David would go on to build one of the top real estate brokerages in the world, founding over 50 companies.
Yet, more than anything else, the inherent freedom derived from his success awards him the time to focus on the importance on what matters most: being a proud father of two beloved daughters, a son, and husband to the wonderful and talented Traci Osborn.
Today, still rooted in his boundless sense of adventure, David continues to travel the world not only to be enlightened by new experiences but to share his insight and expertise with others so they, too, can truly be free.
Links:
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow – Amazon
We hope you enjoyed David Osborn on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
025 Courage to be Different w/ Vineet Jain, Founder/CEO Egnyte
How do you carve out a counter-intuitive niche and be successful at it? On today’s episode, Vineet Jain joins us for a discussion about how he charted a path different from every other tech person’s. He also shares how it all paid off, ten years later.
Swimming Upstream to Grow
Vineet has built a business that has seen nine consecutive quarters of records. They did this against a landscape of massive competitors who at one time looked like they might really threaten Egnyte. And to achieve this, they had to niche down.
“Indeed, this company of ours has grown in the big shadow being cast by some of the players who had a lot more funding.” – Vineet Jain
Financing Against the Trend
Year over year, Egnyte had a compounded growth rate of 30-35% and wasn’t raising much money. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter of 2016 that their cash flow turned positive. But Vineet knew that this wasn’t enough to keep the company afloat.
In August of 2018, he pitched that they raised financing. This was despite the general trend that tech companies observed. Sure enough, Vineet’s confident promise was met, and Goldman Sacks came into the picture.
Divine Luck and Difference
Egnyte had a size disadvantage against other companies in their category. They had a little over 600 employees, so they had to figure out how to play to this asymmetry. Ultimately, they decided to focus on their product and the economics of customer acquisition.
“You cannot pick a fight with an enemy who has picked your weapon of choice.” – Vineet Jain
Even with how they tried to show how they were different, they didn’t escape being lumped with 100 other vendors. But the confluence of two factors helped them rise: the expansion of the category they belonged to and the adoption curve becoming mainstream. With a product that fit the market at an interesting period, they got higher demand.
To hear more about how Vineet worked to build Egnyte to reach its pre-eminence and raised a $75M-funding round, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Vineet Jain is the CEO and co-founder of Egnyte.
Prior to Egnyte, Vineet founded and successfully built Valdero, a supply chain software solution provider, funded by KPCB, MDV and Trinity Ventures.
He has held a rich variety of senior operational positions at KPMG and Bechtel. He has 20 years of experience in building capital-efficient and nimble organizations. Vineet earned a BS in Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and received an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Vineet Jain on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
024 Brand Activism: Christian Sarkar
Why is it so hard for these companies to do what is right and fair? On today’s episode, activist Christian Sarkar joins us. He talks about brand activism and why business leaders need to embrace social causes beyond making money.
Uncontrollable Capitalism
Christian says that we have reached a point where the government can no longer control capitalism. There simply isn’t a set of rules to regulate it. This is peak irony, given how guard rails were put up to prevent a repeat of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression.
“We have created a culture of governance that is very weak and, by design, has no teeth.” – Christian Sarkar
We have the free market and companies have to play by set, agreed-upon norms. The problem, however, persists. Nobody is addressing the things that endanger not only the economy but the society at large.
Paying Attention to Society
Christian co-authored Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action with Philip Kotler. The book espouses brand activism, something that most companies forget about in their pursuit of capital gains. Capitalism doesn’t pay attention to society enough.
Everyone is so concerned about getting the stocks up, but nobody knows about the three major problems that even the government can’t solve. These include the environment, income inequality, and population control. Neglect these three altogether, and you spell the end of not just your business, but also of the world.
Adopting Brand Activism
It is certainly difficult to create a brand that can lobby for causes that could save the world one person at a time. They don’t teach you charity and social responsibility in a business school. Every time, it is all about maximizing shareholder value.
There are companies who appeal for government funds to protect themselves from the backlash of climate change. The catch is that they have highly contributed to it. It’s time that business leaders choose between stepping up or sitting by the window of this freight train in a collision course.
“This is the problem with market-driven capitalism—that’s just blindly following the pursuit of value extraction.” – Christian Sarkar
To hear more about progressive brand activism and its importance, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christian Sarkar is a Consultant, Author, Entrepreneur, Publisher, Artist, and Activist. With Philip Kotler, he co-authored (“The Father of Modern Marketing) of the bestseller “Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action”. He is also the editor of The Marketing Journal.
Links:
Amazon – Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action
We hope you enjoyed Christian Sarkar on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
023 Sex & Intimacy w/ Allana Pratt
How does an orgasm relate to the birth of a planet? Intimacy expert Allana Pratt joins us on this special episode. The podcaster slash author shares how she unlocked her sexuality, why sex is sacred, and why our sexual energy is key to a life lived happily.
From Nerdy to Naughty
Allana hadn’t always been the naughty, confident woman that she’s now known for. She started off as the nerdy, insecure girl who always felt out of place. Eventually, she hopped on her uncle’s 18-wheeler semi from British Columbia to Los Angeles to follow her dreams.
She moved to the States and has been a dancer since she was five, doing jazz, ballet, tap, and theater. And instead of taking over their family’s pharmacy, she moved to Tokyo. On her very first show, 19-year-old Allana had to wear a G-string and fishnet tights—something she has never done before.
Coming to Terms with Sexuality
She ought to have enjoyed the experience of her first Tokyo show. But at the time, she hadn’t figured out the sacredness of sexuality just yet. And neither did she own the power of her radiance.
“I believe that our sexual energy is life force energy.” – Allana Pratt
To Allana, a person’s sexual energy is the same energy that spins the planet, blossoms a flower, and creates the birth of a child. And the energy of an orgasm? It’s the very same energy that births a planet.
Beyond the Bedroom
At the core of it, sexual energy is as pure as everything else that makes the world what it is. It’s the root of existence itself within our bodies. When people learn to let go of all judgment to sexuality, they also learn to feel a lot more authentic and safe.
Many of Allana’s clients come to her with shame or guilt, thinking they’re weird or broken because of their sexual desires or the way they choose to have contact. This, she says, is the very reason why she loves to be that safe space for people. When people drop into their bodies and do the work to forgive themselves, there starts to be a buzz that will flow through all aspects of their day-to-day.
“Yes, sometimes the ‘deliciousness’ has a ‘bow chika bow wow’ energy, like a real sexual energy when we think of sensuality in the bedroom. But sometimes, this delicious energy is tenderness, care, healing, patience, listening.” – Allana Pratt
To hear about more on intimacy and relationships and what it means to have Queen Energy, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Intimacy expert Allana Pratt inspires open-hearted living with delicious sass. Featured on CBS, TLC & FOX, this cum laude graduate of Columbia University is the author of 3 books. She’s a coach to celebrities and the host of the sexy empowering show “Intimate Conversations LIVE”.
After working with thousands of men and women who struggle to open their hearts again in the aftermath of a harsh breakup, Allana helps them learn how to date again and find lasting love.
She inspires women to embrace their sacred erotic nature to attract all the love and attention they can handle. She heals men’s emasculated hearts, cures their ‘nice guy’, and awakens their ‘noble badass’ so they can create hot, healthy intimate relationships.
Allana’s passionate devotion to helping men and women reclaim their joy, freedom and personal power is rooted in her own experience. Allana grew up insecure, ashamed of her body and afraid of men. She endured a brutal custody battle that threatened to compromise her joy, softness and feminine power.
Yet Allana sat in the fire embracing the experience as a spiritual teacher. She emerged more courageously vulnerable and radiantly loving than ever before.
Allana’s joy for life is contagious. She savors being a mother and pole dances for pleasure.
She challenges and inspires her clients to be unapologetically true to themselves and to bow in reverence to their exquisite spiritual and sexual nature.
Links:
AllanaPratt.com – Intimacy Expert for Men
We hope you enjoyed Allana Pratt on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
007 Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell – Secret Lives of Elephants
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Today Christopher talks with Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell the world’s leading expert on elephants. Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell explains how she discovered that elephants are just like us, they communicate through the ground and what all this means for human beings.
“Are (we) going to allow elephants to exist. Aside from poaching, it’s a land-use issue” – Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell
Recognizing Boundaries
Like the US/Mexico border issue, elephants struggle with similar issues. They recognize where it’s safe to be, when it’s hunting season and when to sneak into the cornfields when it’s ripe. Like humans, elephants know when is the best time to raid a resource.
“Like humans…the great leaders have an equal balance between carrot and stick. They are respected because they are tough but they are also soft.” – Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell
Historically humans have always put themselves above other species. We are now at a time in history where we must re-evaluate that paradigm. There are critically endangered species and it’s up to us to decide whether they survive.
Elephant’s and Their Value System
Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell says they have a value system but it’s also character driven. You have the confident matriarchs that help other elephants if they are in distress and then the young inexperienced ones will become nervous, scream and slap others away.
It’s a similar dynamic with the males, there are the aggressive brutes that others don’t want to follow because they are so aggressive. The leaders are the ones who have balance a good balance between strength and also the ability to be soft. Much the same as in human culture, the elephants with the best balance are followed.
To hear the rest of what Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell has to say about what we can learn from elephants and why they are so important to our future, download and listen to the entire episode.
Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell’s Bio:
She has dedicated the past twenty years of her research career studying elephant communication and how their societies are constructed and maintained, resulting in numerous scientific publications.
She is the author of the internationally acclaimed nonfiction science memoir, The Elephant’s Secret Sense (Free Press, 2007), which highlights a novel form of elephant communication as well as the elephant’s conservation plight.
Her photo book, An Elephant’s Life (Lyons Press, Fall 2011) conveys the complicated social lives of elephants through images, and her co-authored, The Elephant Scientist (Houghton-Mifflin, Scientist in the Field series, Summer, 2011), is designed to attract the 6-8th grader to a career in field biology.
Along with over thirty peer-reviewed journal articles, her essays have appeared in a number of popular magazines, including Smithsonian Magazine, The Writer and Africa Geographic.
Her work has been covered by multiple international popular magazines, newspapers, radio shows and documentaries.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Dr. Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
