Cops. Judges. Parents. Teachers. Clergy. Chiefs. Experts. Administrators. Gurus. Leaders. Presidents. Politicians. Soldiers. Scientists. Robert DeNiro.

These are the authority figures we’ve been taught to show respect TO and take advice FROM.

Now, for the most part, I don’t disagree.

The only stipulation I’d suggest is that you add one more person to your list of authority figures:

Yourself.

HERE’S WHY: The word authority derives from the Latin word auctoritas, which means, “Advice, opinion, influence or commands from a master, leader or author.”

What’s more, an authority figure is defined as, “a person whose real or apparent authority inspires or demands obedience and emulation.”

What if you did that for yourself? What if the advice and opinions and inspiration you acted upon … came from within?

Let’s look at a collection of practices for becoming your OWN authority figure:

1. Believe in the availability of your own answers. Expectation determines outcome. So, expect your intuition to be there for you. I learned this a few years ago when I started reciting the following incantation several times daily, “I am richly supported. I trust my resources.”

Since I started meditating on that, my ability to become my own authority figure has skyrocketed. I wonder what would happen if you regularly reminded yourself that every answer you needed lay within. What do you say when you talk to yourself?

2. Unintimidate yourself. When you see a cop car in your rearview mirror, you tense up. Or slow down. Or hide your drugs. The point is: Authority figures are intimidating. And if you plan to become your own authority figure, you can’t be. I read an excellent article from Students Helping Students on this very topic:

“Don’t intimidate yourself, however intimidating the situation might be. You didn’t get there by luck – but because you’re smart and good enough to be there. Feeling intimidated often translates into acting intimidated, and acting intimidated is not what you want to do. Believe in yourself. Understand your strengths. Focus on them. And learn to talk about them well. This won’t always lead to success, but you’ll be maximizing your chances rather than sabotaging them.”

Remember: If you intimidate yourself, you can’t put your best face on and won’t show up strongly. Are you beating yourself with your own inner billy club?

3. Try some vitamin Z. In Eric Maisel’s book, Sleep Thinking, he walks you through a system for uncovering answers while you sleep. One of the techniques I use regularly goes like this: Get into bed. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Then, repeat the following mantra silently until you fall asleep: “I wonder what I don’t want to know about myself.”

When you wake up, write down your thoughts immediately. You’ll be amazed – and potentially terrified – at what you learn about yourself. Remember: When you let your heart ask the questions, your life will provide the answers. How are you using sleep as your problem solver?

4. Formulate and memorialize your own decision-making system. If you truly want to convey a thorough understanding of yourself, if you honesty desire to create a good working model of your own identity, and if you sincerely want to maintain consistency and alignment of your actions, you need to consider how you decide.

A life-changing exercise to do is to create a governing document for your daily decision-making. I just stumbled upon this process about six months ago myself. And I assure you it’s one of – if not thee – most powerful exercises I’ve ever executed for creating becoming my own authority figure.

Remember: The only thing in this world you have ANY control over … is your choice. Map out how and why you make those choices. Doesn’t it make sense to start asking yourself, “W.W.I.D?” or “What would I do?”

5. Establish a daily internal dialogue with yourself. Ideally, by writing Morning Pages, the trademark technique of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. It’s simple: You sit down, first thing in the morning, and just PUKE. For three pages. No edits. No deleting. No thinking. Just writing.

I promise if you try this for a month, the following things will happen: You’ll develop honesty in your relationship with your words on the page, which will fuel you with the courage to stand up for yourself in the world. You’ll create mini gripe sessions where you work out your grudges. You’ll feel a greater sense of stability and intimacy with your own opinions.

What’s more, you’ll learn how to take accurate stock of your life, examine all aspects of your experiences and gain newfound inner strength and agility. You’ll learn to approach your challenges from an emotionally neutral or positive stance. You’ll teach yourself what you like and don’t like and move your closer to your authentic selves. You’ll get current, catch up on yourself and pinpoint precisely what you are feeling and thinking.

And finally, you’ll miniaturize irrational worries and underscore legitimate concerns in a sorting process. That sounds like someone who acts as her own authority figure to me. What did you write today?

6. Be open to ideas from everyone, but deliver the ultimate verdict yourself. You have to, as my friend Chrissy Scivicque says, “Eschew the judgments of others and do what makes YOU happy.” My suggestion is to fully become your own partner. To employ only the approval of your heart. To learn to rely on your own counsel and to take resourceful refuge in your inner teacher.

And, to muster the courage to abandon external instructors and find out things for yourself. Do you have the courage to follow your inner guide even if you look like an idiot and risk alienating those who don’t understand?

7. Get out of your head and into your heart. First, identify the angry voice of your ego that is making it difficult to hear the subtle voice intuition. Second, dive down inward, lower the veil and await the truth. Third, listen up. Consider yourself data. See, it’s not that your intuition doesn’t exist – it’s that you’re not listening to what it’s whispering you. Finally, decide in the solitude of your own consciousness. Whose opinion are you bowing to?

In conclusion, I’m reminded of the wise words of the great philosopher, Eric Cartman, who often remarked, “Respect my authoritah!”

I challenge you to modify that to, “Respect YOUR authoritah!”

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you your own authority figure?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “26 Ways to OUT Brand the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

Tune in to The Marketing Channel on NametagTV.com!

Watch video lessons on spreading the word!

Every Thanksgiving, I take a Gratitude Walk.

Usually through Forest Park in St. Louis. It’s spectacularly crunchy and colorful in the fall.

This past year, I took a break about halfway through my walk for a brief sitting meditation on a nearby park bench. As I sat down, I noticed a gold plate fastened to the top. It read the following:

“In memory of Benjamin Harris Wells. The world will not see his equal.”

Don’t you just want to meet that guy? Just to see what he was like?

I even googled him, but couldn’t track anyone down. Oh well.

STILL, HERE’S THE QUESTION: Will the world ever see YOUR equal?

While you’re alive, after you’re dead? Will another person come along that does what you do?

Since Thanksgiving, I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea. And after a great deal of reflection upon the people I’ve encounterd in my life that I’d consider to be “unequalable individuals,” I’ve written a collection of practices to help you become utterly unequalable yourself.

1. Allow yourself to be known. To become unequalable, you absolutely CANNOT be afraid of bigness. Otherwise the selfhood on which you stand will not support the platform that being known requires. What are three places in your life that you are playing small instead of playing big?

2. Be circumferenceless in your compassionate with yourself. Give yourself a fighting chance. Remember: You are an ongoing do-it-yourself project. Are you listening to the way you speak to yourself when you make mistakes?

3. Be enough now. Because nothing will ever make you happy in the future. As I learned from Anthony DeMello, “There is not a single moment in your life when you do not have everything you need to be happy.” Try this: Once a day, recite the following mantra as you breathe deeply, “I am enough, I have enough and I do enough.”

Sound cheesy? You’re right – it is. And the reason I’ve been reciting that meditation every morning for five years is simple: Because it works. After all, you can’t be unequalable if you’re not “enough.” What do you say to yourself every day?

4. Be not become perpendicular of your Personal Constitution. The word “constitution” derives from the Latin constitutio, or, “ordinance.” Therefore: Your constitution is the composition and condition of your character. Your constitution is the established arrangement of your non-negotiables. Your constitution is the system of fundamental values governing your behavior.

And, your constitution is the aggregate of personal characteristics comprising your foundation. The best part is: It’s a living document. It’s amenable. And as you grow and develop personally and professionally, various elements of your Personal Constitution reserve the right to modify. Have you found a good place to practice your values?

5. Being honest isn’t enough. The other half of the equation is being courageous and vulnerable enough to admit when you’re full of shit. Remember: Being true rarely means being comfortable. Take your pick. Comfort is rarely a constant in the equation for success. How many times you step out of your comfort zone this week?

6. Choose wisely whom you allow to influence you. There are certain people whose energies you DO NOT want to infiltrate your reality. My mind will not be invaded, you say to yourself. Keep your distance from people whose sole function is to bring noise to your head.

Release those who impede you, drag you downward or take away from what you could have been. Instead, make room for the relationships that matter. Remember: Saying no strengthens character. Are you being fair to yourself by continuing this relationship?

7. Don’t become locked in your posture. Rigidity is the great ruiner. Instead, exert flexibility when the unexpected enters and focus on the fulcrum of the possible. That’s what my yoga instructor constantly reminds us, “Focus on your best effort for today – whatever that feels and looks like to you.” How flexible are you?

8. Make sense of the world in ways others cannot. This was a key ingredient to achieving success, according to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Putting orderliness to the chaos that surrounds you. Refining your ability to see on subtler levels, then translate what you’ve absorbed.

And, jolting people out of their assumptions, thus becoming the alarm clock they don’t realize they desperately need. That’s how you turn ordinary encounters into moments of instant reeducation. Do you refuse to lead an unexamined life?

9. Televise the indestructible fidelity of your character. Channel surfing will become non-existent. People won’t be able to take their eyes off you. You will become the example that penetrates the whole world. Are you spending time increasing your talent or increasing your character?

10. Find out what doesn’t look good on you so you know what NOT to wear. After all, success is just as much about knowing who you AREN’T and what you DON’T want. How are you defining the whitespace around yourself?

11. Use every challenge as a growth spurt. As long as you ask yourself questions like: “What am I supposed to be learning from this?” “What is the opportunity for growth in this loss?” and “What universal principles of growth or change can you distill from this experience that can be passed on to others?”

Remember: Use every situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve, not to beat yourself up. Ultimately, the goal is create the best possible circumstance in which your growth will be supported, enhanced and fulfilled. Regardless of the challenge. Now that you’ve experienced this challenge, what else does this make possible?

12. Commit yourself to a path you believe in. Especially the path that chose YOU, not the other way around. That’s how it works: Paths choose walkers. The next step is to create a mental picture of the life you want to live while navigating that path. Literally. Become a master of creative visualization. (I suggest you read everything ever written by Shakti Gawain.)

Also, to reinforce your commitment to that path, consider making a vision board. Post images of the people, experiences, things and realities you would like to experience along this path. Look at it everyday. You’ll discover that like a camera, your life develops that which is focused upon. What path has your soul chosen for your learning process?

REMEMBER: You are the agent of your own future.

Within reason, ability and the laws of thermodynamics, you can achieve (pretty much) anything you’re willing to pay the price for.

So, if you’re wondering how long it will take to become an unequalable person, it’s hard to tell.

If I had to guess, I’d say, approximately, the rest of your life.

But who knows?

Maybe someday a park will dedicate a bench to you.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
When you’re gone, will the world ever see YOUR equal?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “26 Ways to OUT Brand the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

Tune in to The Marketing Channel on NametagTV.com!

Watch video lessons on spreading the word!

1. Attention without conversion is narcissism. Attention for the sake of attention feeds your ego. Attention for the sake of conversion – that is, building a following through your permission asset so your movement (not product) can make people’s lives better – feeds your wallet. The choice is yours.

Remember: It’s not about the number of eyeballs that see you – it’s how much clearer those eyeballs can see because OF you. How good are you at attracting, converting and multiplying attention?

2. Mattering is the best marketing. Mattering means people’s lives are significantly better because they know you. Mattering means the energy in the room rises to a more beautiful level when you walk in it. Mattering means what you do solves a pervasive, expensive and urgent problem for people.

And, mattering means complete strangers email you out of the blue – not to tell you how great you are – but to tell you how their world has improved because you’re a part of it. That’s what matters. And the best part is: People and companies who MATTER and don’t have to SPLATTER their advertisements all around town. Do you?

3. Platform is the great galvanizer. In the book-writing world, publishers don’t care about an author’s product – only his platform. His brand. His following. His fans. His marketing machine. His way of reaching the world. You could have the greatest manuscript in the history of modern literature, but without a platform, you may as well be winking in the dark.

So, even if you’re not a writer, think about the takeaways from that trend: How strong is YOUR platform? How many followers do YOU have? And how leveragable is YOUR brand? If you want to galvanize profitable opportunities for your career, platform is the answer. How strong is yours?

4. Positioning is the great budgeter. In the classic marketing book, Positioning, Al Reis reminds us, “Positioning isn’t what you do to the product – it’s what you do in the mind of the prospect.” The cool part is, positioning (when done right) saves you heaps of time, money and energy.

Advertising? Ha! A thing of the past. Direct mail? Pshht! What a waste. Positioning pre-empts all of that by creating a force of attraction as a function of value-forward deliverables that brings people to YOU. Remember: Every time somebody hears OF you is one less time you have to spend money making people hear FROM you. What are you known for knowing, and by whom?

5. Reputation is the great revenue creator. The word reputation comes from the Latin reputare, which means, “to repeatedly reflect upon.” Interesting. Makes you wonder how people feel when they repeatedly reflect upon YOU. This reminds me of the famous quotation by Bob Marley: “That’s the great thing about music – when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

What about you? What do customers feel when your brand hits them? It all depends on your reputation. And if you have one based on a foundation of uncracked character, it WILL become your #1 revenue creator. How much money is your reputation worth?

6. Serendipity is the best strategy. It’s not an accident. It’s not luck. It’s working your ass off. It’s putting yourself in the way of success. It’s making the world say yes to you by engaging your Yes Muscle and becoming a more yessable person. It’s increasing the probability of success by making yourself more successable. It’s creating an ongoing, market-wide hunger for you.

It’s victory through unwavering vigilance to your vision. It’s being at the right place at the right time by being in a lot of place. It’s learning to positively leverage everything that happens to you by killing two stones with one bird whenever possible. It’s finding out where the rock created the ripple – then going back and throwing more rocks.

It’s recognizing that opportunity is already knocking, all day, everyday, then making the choice to sprint down the stairs in your pajamas and answer the door every time. And it’s ensuring your luck by affirming to yourself every day that lucky things are already happening to you. Are you doing the correct things in the success process?

7. Service is the great differentiator. In a commoditized world of infinite choices where everyone makes quality products, service is all you have left. The question is: How are you BRANDING your service? My suggestion is to physically write out your Unique Service Philosophy. Your Approach to Business. Your Way of Treating Customers.

Then, post it on your website, print it on your literature and make every employee memorize it and live it. Now, if you’re having trouble getting this exercise started, try asking yourself this question:

“If everybody did exactly what I said, what would the world look like?”

That’s the crucial question for uncovering your Service Philosophy. And it’s the key to differentiating yourself among the eight million other people out there that do exactly what you do. Why do customers come back to YOU?

8. Soliciting without permission is trespassing. If business were a conversation, most people’s marketing would be the equivalent of punching customers in the face. Literally. That’s not just annoying, that’s violating. And I’m sure your customers would be happy to switch to a provider that treated them more respectfully.

Remember: Marketing without respectfulness is malpractice. Is your marketing is an interruptive, paper-wasting assault on your customers?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How will you carry your brand further into the marketplace?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “26 Ways to OUT Brand the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

Tune in to The Marketing Channel on NametagTV.com!

Watch video lessons on spreading the word!

1. Insecurity is the great inhibitor. Insecurities are growth opportunities. “I don’t care how self-aware you get – there’s always more to learn,” says my coach Dixie Gillaspie. Once you get out of your own way, what else will be possible?

2. Mediocrity is the great deception. I hate to admit it, but sometimes mediocrity rises to the top. You can suck and still be rehired. You can be average and still be bought. Not very often, but frequently enough to annoy the hell out of you. Especially when your competitors are the ones whose mediocrity is taking the lead.

Being mediocre IS deceptive in that it makes you contemplate whether or not to lower yourself to that level. My suggestion is: Don’t be seduced by the comfort of average. Be ridiculously patient. Because mediocrity, while it may rise to the top initially, will eventually crumble underneath the weight of your awesomeness. Are you willing to forego normalcy?

3. Passion is the best alarm clock. I start work early. Very early. Between four and five. Every day. And I do this for several reasons. First, because successful people get up early. Second, because my best writing time is when the rest of the world is cold, dark and quiet. Finally, I get up early because my undousable passion and inexhaustible love for life and every moment that I’m awake prevents me from wasting time sleeping.

Now, sure, I still have those lazy Sundays after adventurous weeks when I’m totally spent and need to sleep in. Who doesn’t? The point is: When your passion fuels you, your alarm clock becomes irrelevant. You’ll be up, ready to rock, ready to take on the world. Awake without assistance. Ignited without dependence. What time did you get up today?

4. Passion without purpose is pointless. Otherwise your passion becomes nothing but blazing fire that burns you and everyone you touch. And nobody has that much aloe. Here’s the reality: The word “passion” comes from the Latin passio, which means, “to suffer.”

The questions you have to ask yourself are, “What are you willing to suffer for?” and, more importantly, “What would cause you suffering if you did NOT do it?” The answers to those questions represent the intersection of passion and purpose. Is your passion pointless?

5. Patience is the best shortcut. As long as you keep affirming to yourself, “It’s only a matter of time.” Because it is. Even when the jerks seem to be getting ahead. The cream will rise. As I learned from the book of Galatians, “Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we will reap a harvest if we faint not.” It’s only a matter of time. It’s only a matter of time. How patient are you willing to be?

6. Persistence is the great separator. The last two seconds of most yoga postures are where 80% of the students give up. (Myself included.) Students figure that half-assing the end of asana won’t hurt anyone. Which is true – it doesn’t. The difference is, the remaining 20% don’t just stay in the posture – they push even harder. Because they know that the only way out is through. And that’s what separates veterans from masters. Which one are you?

7. Purpose is the best bread. Bread as in “Daily bread.” Bread as in, “All I need.” Bread as in, “That which provides sustenance for the day to come.” THAT kind of bread. Regardless of your spiritual practice, here’s my guarantee: When you eat a nice, crispy piece of purpose every day – possibly with grape jelly – you always receive the nourishment you require.

The challenge is tracking your bread down. And in order to do so, here are my suggestions: Cooperate completely with the choir of your heart. Follow your own inner dictates. Accept your divine curriculum. Go the whole hog. And as you do, don’t back down from who you are. Be shamelessly enthusiastic about your calling. You’ll never go hungry again. What did your soul eat for breakfast today?

8. Significance is the best success. Sure, you’re making bank – but do you matter? If not, maybe it’s time to reorchestrate your priorities. Because when you get down to it, mattering is what really matters. That’s all what humans want: To feel needed. Important. Useful.

In fact, the word “matter” comes from the Latin material, which means, “substance from which something is made.” So, the question is: What kind of substance do YOU provide to the world? That’s your mission.

As Counting Crows lead singer (and my hero) Adam Duritz once told Rolling Stone, “Happiness would be nice. Sadness would suck. But insignificance is the worth thing of all.” Why do you matter?

9. Stress is the best educator. The secret is to change your relationship with your discomfort. Recognize it. Rename it. Love it. Then, partner with and learn from it. Don’t be so severe with yourself. Your constant state of contraction will only help the stress grow stronger.

As the Tao De Ching reminds us, “Any over determined action produces its exact opposite.” In short: What you resist persists; but what you accept lessens. So, instead of trying to eradicate your stress – attend TO your stress. Turn toward its bid. Consider it a gift. A mini-education. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn from it. And the tuition is free, too. If you asked the five people closest to you if you were stressed out, what would they say?

10. Stupidity is the best mentor. Most people maintain a narrow definition of the word “mentor.” It derives from the Latin mentos, or, “intent, purpose and spirit.” So, mentorship isn’t about an individual, per se. It’s about openness to evolving yourself. It’s about viewing every aspect of life as an education and purification opportunity.

The cool part is, anyone (or any THING) can be your mentor. Like stupidity, for example. That’s my favorite mentor. Probably because it tends to be around a lot. Which reminds me of what Homer Simpson once complained: “Why do the things that only happen to stupid people always happen to me?”

Well, the difference is that I don’t complain about the stupid things I do – I give thanks for them. I document them. I write out the lessons I learned from them. And then I share them with other people so we can evolve together through our mutual stupidity. That’s MY mentor. Are you willing to look like a complete idiot on the road to immortality?

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How indispensable are you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “26 Ways to OUT Brand the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

Tune in to The Marketing Channel on NametagTV.com!

Watch video lessons on spreading the word!

There are no cover bands in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The same goes for business: The more imitatable you are, the less valuable you are.

That’s why imitators never make history – only originators do.

Your challenge is to honestly ask yourself if the personal brand you’re building is (truly) an amplification of your uniqueness … or just an echo of somebody else’s marketing.

Because if you don’t display your own creative originality, your brand will become (yet another) interchangeable mediocrity, fading into the multitude of sameness.

Like a needle in a stack of needles.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of money to build a rockstar brand…

Don’t be fooled by headlines like, “Coca-Cola spends ten million dollars on a thirty-second Superbowl spot!” or “Macy’s takes out front page ad for $50,000!”

Branding doesn’t take money – it takes imagination. Just because a brand doesn’t take millions to create doesn’t mean THAT brand can’t create millions.

AS LONG AS YOU REMEMBER: Your personal brand is the price of admission. It’s no longer a novelty – it’s a necessity.

And I’m not talking about all that superficial, low-level advice you read from so-called “branding experts” about how to “dress for success.”

Branding isn’t clothing.

Branding is identity.
Branding is what you’re known for knowing.
Branding is the best, highest version of yourself – and how other people experience themselves in relation TO that self.

THAT’S branding.

And without it, you lose.

“Be branded or be stranded,” I like to remind my clients.

Are you willing to stick yourself out there and make your own music?

Good. Because most marketing just makes noise. For example:

Think of the most horrible sound imaginable.

Maybe it’s fingers on a chalkboard.
Maybe it’s a baby screaming in pain.
Maybe it’s someone choking on a piece of broccoli.
Maybe it’s turning over the ignition on your car when it’s already started.

Yecch! Makes your skin crawl, huh?

That’s the effect noise has on people.

Now, let’s try something else.

Think of the most beautiful music imaginable.

Maybe it’s a song from an opera.
Maybe it’s one of Mozart’s symphonies.
Maybe it’s an ambient mix of keyboards and organs.
Maybe it’s that first song you slow-danced to at your wedding.

Ahhhhhhhh. Puts your soul at ease, doesn’t it?

That’s the effect music has on people.

So, music versus noise. Which one does YOUR marketing make?

That’s precisely the problem. The majority of the marketing out there isn’t music – it noise. And customers are tired of it. Their ears are bleeding, they’re not your little targets anymore, and THEY are the ones who choose how much attention to give to you.

The question is two-fold: (1) Is your marketing making music or noise? And (2), If you ARE making music, is it YOUR music, or are you just playing a cover tune of somebody else’s?

REMEMBER: Be the O.G. or be R.I.P.

YES, you can always play someone else’s material, but it won’t sustain you. It won’t challenge you. It won’t expand you. And it certainly won’t guarantee you success.

YES, sometimes it’s just easier to play other people’s stuff. It’s quick, it’s safe and it’s guaranteed to garner applause.

But you know what? Receiving a nice round of inner applause feels a hell of a lot better.

If you truly want to build a rockstar brand without breaking the bank, you better make music and not noise; and you better be sure that music is your own.

LESSON LEARNED: Don’t march to the beat of a different drummer become the drummer yourself.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
If your personal brand was a cereal, what would it be?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “26 Ways to OUT Brand the Competition,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

Who’s telling their friends about YOU?

Tune in to The Marketing Channel on NametagTV.com!

Watch video lessons on spreading the word!