The Playbook With David Meltzer

Once you identify people who sit in a position you want to be in (or can help you get skills/knowledge/desire), reach out and ask for help. To me, mentorship is the accelerator of all accelerators. Having three mentors will help you avoid paying “Dummy Tax” yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask them for help, or input on your plan. Asking for help not only provides you with advice and insight, but it helps you stay accountable and stick to your goals.

On this episode of #ThePlaybook, Eric Tosi, Chief Marketing Officer for the Vegas Golden Knights, shares his insights on: [1:04] - How the “Vegas Born” campaign during the team’s first season supported their run to the Stanley Cup Finals [3:27] - What it was like launching the first professional sports franchise in the City of Las Vegas [7:49] - Why working for an expansion franchise enables them to take more risks and be more innovative [13:55] - How the Golden Knights are working to stay on the cutting edge of Las Vegas sports

Standing out is one of the toughest things to do in a crowded market. How do we go about it? I believe there are two simple steps to stand out when making yourself equal and making yourself different.Step 1: Make Yourself EqualThe first thing we have to do when marketing something, is make that product/service/individual equal to its competitors. This means identifying the ways that we are the same, whether we provide the same service, similar features, or solve the same problem.What you want to do is to make yourself equal and then distinguish yourself. This is not meant in terms of superiority, but in making a solution better than it was before. By this, I mean you’re providing extra-value or something extraordinary.This holds true whether you are talking about a competitive product or yourself. Make yourself equal to their value and then create a higher Penn Value. It is important to ask more open- and closed-ended questions because the more you can understand and align with the consumer’s value system, the better the certainty of success.Simply saying "I'm different" does nothing to convince others of your value. Prove it. Show them that you have the same benefits as your competitors. Show how you solve the same problem. Then, show them how different you are from the rest.Step 2: Make Yourself DifferentChallenge others to re-evaluate their perspective on what you are with the unexpected, as catching someone by surprise allows us to make a bigger impact on those with set expectations. Use this surprise in your favor by making it into a competitive advantage.Competitive advantage is typically broken down to two simple things: being cheap and being different. What will you be known for? With a differentiation strategy, a person seeks to be unique in an industry, selecting attributes that others in the industry perceive as important and positioning themselves to meet those needs.

On this episode of #ThePlaybook, Dane Cook, Comedian and Actor, shares his insights on:[2:02] - Why using humor is one of the best ways to deal with your biggest personal challenges[9:33] - How he got a game-winning pick-6 against the legendary Tom Brady[16:13] - His message for anyone struggling to get back up after low moment in their life[19:12] - What it was like to accomplish his childhood dream of hosting SNL

The More you forgive yourself, understand forgiveness and can learn to love those who attack you and create interference in your life, the better your life will become.In order to forgive yourself, you have to use your gratitude to give you perspective on what happened. Gratitude will tell you that your life is about lessons, and lessons will keep coming until you learn them. Reframe your problem with a grateful perspective and your feelings toward the situation will undoubtedly change for the better. To reframe your current situation, can think about the countless people who are worse off than you or consider the ways that you could be faced with an even more difficult challenge.

100% of the things you do now get done, which is why you should practice a Do It Now strategy.a) Create a repository – Have a place where you can organize and plan tasks that you are unable to do right now. This document, folder, or list is something that should be reviewed and updated daily.b) Focus and refocus – Treat focusing and re-focusing like two separate muscles that need to be exercised. Give tasks your full intention when working on them and practice refocusing when switching from one task to another.c) Try not to use deadlines – Telling yourself “X needs to be done by X time” creates resistance for you in accomplishing the task. Dedicate a minimum amount of time to the task each day (as needed) until it is done.Remember that prioritization is the antidote for procrastination. People procrastinate because they haven't figured out their What, Who, and How, so they don't know what to do Now.

There is more than enough of everything for everyone. The people who live with this perspective are those who see their past, present, and future as being more than enough. They are grateful, and they are forgiving.They see opportunity around every corner, allowing them to say, do, think and experience that the universe is in their favor. In this world, everything unravels in your favor. Those who believe in this principle will pursue their dreams without focusing on a self-imposed timeline to achieve them.This belief allows them to persistently and consistently enjoy the pursuit of their potential.

How do breakthroughs happen?One of the things I stress about why you shouldn’t quit is that you need to press and keep pressing everything to get the most out of the opportunities afforded to you. An analogy I like to use to explain this is a blade of grass pushing through the soil to enjoy everything the sun has to offer. The fragile bit of grass is beneath tons of soil and stone.It doesn't know if it is getting nearer to the surface and the sun, it only knows the direction it must keep pushing. Not until the instant it breaks through the cold soil into the light does it know the effort will be rewarded.A blade of grass, of course, doesn't suffer from the doubt and second thoughts that make our path seem harder as we get closer to our objective. In fact, so many times when we are just about to succeed and grow free in the light is when we quit because the dirt is just too hard.That isn’t what you want to do. In order to break through and become the person you want to become, you have to weather the layers of uncertainty and get through the “rocks” of life. Bet on yourself and the abundance of the universe with confidence knowing that when all is said and done everything the “Sun” or “light” has to offer will be worth the effort and trials. Everything will come in the right way at the perfect time ... just don’t quit.

On this episode of #ThePlaybook, Rob Riggle, Actor, Comedian, Writer, Producer, and Director, sits down to discuss:[1:12] - How listening to his urge to try new things led to where he is today[2:35] - How Rob became “the funny guy” on his high school’s radio station.[5:08] - Rob’s best advice for anyone pursuing a career in the arts and handling rejection.[11:38] – How his background and time in the Marines led to him becoming one of the top comedic actors of his generation[13:30] - The secrets to continue evolving as an artist and person

The first step of branding a person, product, or service is to find its frequency. What does that mean, “to find your brand’s frequency”? Whether it’s building a brand that is a person, place, thing, product, or service, it’s essential to find out what the “woo-woo” person in me describes as a “vibration”— in other words, an emotional appeal meant to reverberate with your target audience or market.A frequency can best be described by talking about it in terms of radio stations. If we want sports talk radio, we turn to a specific channel. If we want rock ’n’ roll, we’ll find a station whose music (and employees) have that vibe. If we want cool jazz, that’s an entirely different frequency. Only the people who are tied into that frequency will seek out or hear that radio station. The same thing holds true about branding.You want a brand that rings true to your audience, something aligned with their beliefs, desires, or aspirations. You also want to find a frequency that enough people listen to, right? To connect to others and take your message, product, service, or solution mainstream to the biggest audience, you first need to fully understand who you are, what you’re selling, how you’re selling it, and the value that it brings to others.You need to understand how your frequency, or that of your product, resonates with others and attracts them to the brand that you’re trying to establish.