Hey Readers! I have started a newsletter called Adam’s Good Newsletter. You can cheat code to the newsletter right here, right now, like that arena hype song says. But if you want the backstory first, and who doesn’t like a good backstory, you can find it below.
The Backstory
The spring of 2020 was a dark time in America. COVID-19 was creeping across the country like a lung-infecting fog. Race-related issues were boiling over. And our presidential election was unfolding as one of the ugliest in American history.
The events of that spring scared the crap out of Americans. Which helped turn toilet paper into gold. During that dark and stormy time I recognized that we could all use more good news. So I committed to sharing only good, positive, uplifting stories, ideas and perspectives here in my blog.
As a result, I saw a surge in readership. People called, emailed and texted me telling me how much they appreciated the positive outlook I was sharing here. They told me they looked forward to my posts as a bright spot in their day. And they asked if I knew where they could find toilet paper.
Then, without telling anyone what I was doing, I started writing my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? I was committed to writing a book that would help readers learn a little, laugh a little, and lift a little.
18 months later the book was published and my life changed for the better. Suddenly I had speaking opportunities, TV and podcast interviews, and more interesting things to talk about at career day at my kids’ school. Readers sent me pictures of my book all over the world. Well not in North Korea. Or Antarctica. Or the Gulag. #BookGoals
Now, I had a blog and a book. But I became obsessed with a third vehicle for sharing positivity. Because somewhere between the simplicity of a blog post and the intensity of a book lies the newsletter. For years I wanted to create a fun newsletter to spread good news, ideas, recommendations, motivational quotes, photos, and a little more humor.
But I couldn’t find the time in my schedule to start the newsletter until June of this year, when I finally started publishing Adam’s Good Newsletter.
Please message me at adam@theweaponry if you would like to be added to the mailing list. (Also message me if you have found The Fountain of Youth or a Wonka Bar with the golden ticket.)
On Saturday morning I was sitting at home when Lola, my Border Collie, started barking like there was an intruder. A moment later my doorbell rang, and I understood why Lola was going off. I got up and walked to the front door. I could see through the glass there there were two pleasant-looking middle-aged women standing on my front porch, with what looked like ‘materials’.
I unlocked my front door, while Lola lost her canine mind. Then i opened the door just enough to slip out onto the front porch without Lola following me. I pulled the door shut, then turned to face the two strangers on my steps.
What the ladies at my door didn’t know was that I just returned home from coaching a football game that morning and was still in full Coach Albrecht mode.
I boomed in my energetic youth football coach voice,‘GOOD MORNING LADIES!!!HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY?’
The women were clearly surprised, and delighted by the enthusiastic, greeting they received.
They both smiled and inquired, ‘Are you a coach?’ Clearly, the women picked up on the fact that I was still wearing my team cap and polo, both of which featured our team’s Cardinal mascot.
I boomed, ‘YES I AM! AND I JUST GOT HOME FROM COACHING OUR GAME THIS MORNING! WHICH WE WON!!! BETTER YET, I AM THE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, AND WE WON OUR FOOTBALL GAME 2-0! AND MY SON MAGNUS SCORED THE SAFETY!’
The women, Ruth and Chris, both smiled broadly and offered warm congratulations. (I may have just thought those were their names because I was hungry for steak.)
Then I clapped my hands loudly, dropped into a linebacker-stance and said, ‘HOW CAN I HELP YOU, LADIES?’
The women revealed that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses. And they were there to invite me to study the bible with them.
I responded like Matt Foley giving his van down by the river speech, ‘LADIES, I ALREADY HAVE A BIBLE! AND I AM GOING TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY (this month)! YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ME! NOW I WANT YOU TO GET OUT THERE, LADIES! AND GET EVERYONE ELSE ON THE TEAM! CAN YOU DO THAT FOR ME?!?’
The women lit up and laughed at my over the top response to their sales pitch. They thanked me for sharing my energy with them that morning. Which I am sure is a welcomed departure from the typical response the JWs get on their Ding-Dong-Divinitiy Tours.
As they waved and wished me a good day, I shouted out one last bit of coaching, ‘NOW MAKE SURE YOU GO TO CHURCH TOMORROW! YOU’VE TO GOT TO PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH, LADIES!‘
And with that, they left with big bright smiles on their faces.
Key Takeaway
When you feel happy, energetic, or optimistic, share it with others. Brighten the day of those around you. We can all use a little more of the good stuff. So when you having a great day, break off a little piece and pass it around. You never know who might need what you have.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Once upon a time, college athletics was where amateur athletes competed for bragging rights, trophies, t-shirts and gaudy championship rings. But today, college athletics has been deamateurified in a major way thanks to the rules changes related to NIL.
As the Founder & CEO of the advertising and idea agency The Weaponry, and as a former college athlete at the University of Wisconsin athlete, I love working with both athletes and marketers on endorsement deals. Throughout my advertising career, I have spent a great deal of time working with athletes including:
NFL All-Pros
MLB All-Stars
Olympic Gold Medalists
PGA Championship Golfers
Top NASCAR Drivers
College Athletes and Teams
Today, in the NIL era, I see one specific mistake made repeatedly by college athletes. And, no, it’s not getting arrested. (Which might land you a sweet deal endorsing handcuffs or mugshot makeup.)
What the NIL is NIL?
NIL is shorthand for the NCAA rule change related to Name, Image and Likeness. The rule change is not about athletes actually having a name, image or likeness. University athletes have always had those things. (Except maybe athletes who play for the Nevada College No-Names, the Florida Tech Phantoms, or the Delaware Institute Dislikes.)
The real change to college athletics in the NIL era is about NCAA athletes’ rights. And the right that is right at the heart of the issue is the Athletes’ Right of Publicity. This is a particularly interesting topic because universities have always loved using athletes to get publicity for the school itself.
Before 2021 the NCAA ruled that athletes did not have a right of publicity to promote a product or a service and get paid in the process. Which is a pretty crazy thing to declare in a free-market society. That is probably why Brian Bosworth wore that National Communists Against Athletes t-shirt at the 1987 Orange Bowl. But as of 2021, the world has decided that college athletes do have the right of publicity, which allows them to promote products and services.
Name, image and likeness (NIL) are simply the three elements that make up “Right of Publicity” and allow NCAA athletes to be compensated. They are like the Earth, Wind and Fire of ROP. They just aren’t as much fun to dance to at weddings. #DoYouRemember
Boz, before he got his endorsement deal with Dr. Pepper as the Sheriff of Fansville.
The NIL Problem
The rule is intended to allow college athletes to cash in on their well-knownness.
The problem is that many college athletes refer to their engagements publicly as NIL deals.
NIL is simply the name of the rule that allows you to work with brands that, in theory, you love, use and endorse.
When you say you have an NIL deal, it is kind of like saying you have a ‘Freedom of speech’ deal. Or a ‘I have legal rights’ deal. Or a ‘I get paid to talk about this stuff’ deal. Or a ‘You can’t stop me’ deal.
Advice to College Athletes
Don’t reference NIL when you talk about your opportunities. No one other than NCAA athletes talk about opportunities this way. It’s an amateur way to think about being a paid Spokesathlete. Talking about a relationship as a NIL deal cheapens the work you are doing.
When a brand pays you to endorse a product, place or service, you have a job. That job is as a promoter, endorser, representative or spokesperson.
The audience you are paid to help influence doesn’t want to hear you have an NIL deal. They want authentic partnerships and collaborations.
They like ambassadors. They like relationships.
They like a good old-fashioned endorsement. In fact, the widely accepted ratings and review system that is so popular on the interwebs is an endorsement system. We all gravitate toward products, places and services that are endorsed by the people who have tried them.
So college athletes, tell us that you use, endorse and recommend products, services and brands. Tell us that you are collaborating with your favorite fill-in-the-blank because it is your favorite fill-in-the-blank in the whole fill-in-the-blank-ing world, and you want everyone to know.
But remember, endorsement relationships are most impactful when the compensation element is not discussed. The more you highlight the compensation the less credible and convincing the endorsement is.
LSU celebrity spokes-gymnast Livvy Dunne, loving her some Vuori.
What To Do Instead
Partner with brands, products and services that you really use, like and recommend. Focus on your positive feelings about the brand. Focus on promoting the brand, not on the fact that you are a paid promoter.
As athletes you want to feel like you are winning. And it is easy to think that you are winning by telling the world you won an NIL deal. Or that you are getting paid because you are such a good athlete. Or because you are cute and have a nice body.
But don’t.
You win by having the brands you work with want to do more work together. You win by having other brands recognize the great job you do as a promoter, which makes them want to work with you too. Just keep the compensation behind the scenes.
Key Takeaway
If you have the opportunity to promote brands, products or services as a college athlete the best thing you can do is think like a professional athlete. Enthusiastically promote, support and endorse the things you like, but keep the compensation part low-key. Professionals recognize the importance of the marketing work they do as a key part of their livelihood, so they approach the work as professionals. College athletes need to do the same thing. It’s the best way to keep your opportunities going long after your college days are over.
**Yes, you can add ‘Paid Partnership’ to your social posts when you feel it is necessary to be transparent. Just don’t add NIL-deal. Deal?
*If you know a college athlete who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
This has been a 7 Sentence Sunday Post. Just 7 sentences. (At least just 7 sentences before the little 3-dot divider thingie.) These are quick thoughts before church. Or after church. Or before football if you don’t mark your Sundays with church. Or, if you don’t do church or football, it’s simply 7 sentences before Monday. (Plus this rambling descriptor of how simple the post was supposed to be before I overcomplicated it.)
I had a pretty bad day on Saturday. I coach 8th-grade football on Saturday mornings. And we lost. Like nothing-went-right lost. Like The-Bad-News-Packers lost. Like that-TV-show-about-the-plane- crash-on-that-island lost.
Then I couldn’t get myself motivated to do anything productive the rest of the day. By Saturday night I felt like I not only lost the football game, but I lost the rest of the day as well. Unfortunately, when you lose a day you never get it back, Jack.
But on Sunday, I bounced like Flubber. Before I went to bed Sunday night, I reflected on my day. And I realized that my Sunday was as good as my Saturday was bad. I had created an Onion Day. A day with layer after layer after layer of good stuff.
Then my family and I went to the 9am church service. (God knows that service helps you get the most out of your morning.)
We took the slow Sunday drive home along Lake Michigan, avoiding the usual interstate route. It’s the automotive version of stopping to smell the roses. Although you can’t actually smell roses at 25 miles per hour.
I cleaned out a significant part of our basement that had become cluttered with random stuff during the renovation we did on our home over the past year.
I watched some of the Patriots -Bengals game, and watched my Pats look like a real team again for the first time since Tom Brady left to spend more time looking at himself in the mirror.
I helped my son Johann think through a writing and research project for an AP class he is taking.
I took a long walk with my wife Dawn, son Magnus and dog Lola along Lake Michigan. Which looks like an ocean, but is unsalted and shark-free.
I picked up fun food for dinner for the family, because I was too hungry to wait for the ribs Dawn was planning to make for our Sunday dinner. (And apparently, a commercial I watched during the football game worked on me.)
I broke down game footage from our team’s ugly loss so we could coach the team on how to do things better next time. (If they don’t do better I will cry myself to sleep every Saturday night until November.)
I talked to my daughter Ava on the phone on the last day of her 18th year and caught up on her day at college.
I worked out, like LFMAO would say.
The Reflection
I looked back at my day. And I realized that I had a near-perfect Onion Day.
I created
I churched
I meandered
I familied
I worked
I taught
I explored
I treated
I coached
I connected
I exercised
It was a great Onion Day, a great way to bounce, and a great example of time well spent.
Key Takeaway
The best days are Onion Days. Those are the days when you layer in as many of your favorite and most important activities. Know what your perfect Onion Day entails. Then work to create as many of them as you can. That’s how you build a great and rewarding life without regrets.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
In fact, some seeds get packaged in a bag and sent to a ballpark to be chewed up and spit out before they get their chance to blow, like Eminem said.
The key to growth, happiness and success is to plant your seed in soil that supports you.
Then sink your roots down deep, and bloom baby bloom!
So if you aren’t thriving and blooming, onion, it’s time to find new soil.
& This has been a 7 Sentence Sunday Post. Just 7 sentences. (At least just 7 sentences before the little 3-dot divider thingie.) These are quick thoughts before church. Or after church. Or before football if you don’t mark your Sundays with church. Or, if you don’t do church or football, it’s simply 7 sentences before Monday. (Plus this rambling descriptor of how simple the post was supposed to be before I overcomplicated it.)
Your network plays a critical role in your success. It is your safety net when you fall. It is your advisory council when you need advice. It is your feeder system of opportunities. And it is how you find a white Ford Bronco when you are running from the law.
Your network helps you tap into the wisdom of wicked smart people with great experience, ideas and philosophies. It has been said that your network is your net worth. Which means that if you don’t have much of a network you likely don’t have much money either.
However, developing a great network of friends, relatives, and acquaintances that can support, guide and share opportunities with you can be hard. It takes time and energy to develop and maintain your network. And your network-developing capabilities can be severely limited by your geography. Just ask Siberian Sergey. Who is Siberian Sergey? I don’t know. He lives in Siberia. Which is why neither of us know him.
The Great Substitute
The best substitute for a strong real-life network of helpful human folks is a great library of books. Think of the authors and the people profiled in the books you read as part of your circle, like Edie Brickell.
Authors generously share a lifetime of accumulated knowledge, experience and wisdom with you for $15- $30. That is a bargain you should snatch up whenever you can, Toucan Sam.
Biographers share the great life stories, lessons, paths, philosophies and mistakes of some of the most successful people to ever roam the planet. So add the biographized to your network. They often have the most to teach. And when you wonder What Would Walt Disney Do? you can quickly get the answer by reading the great biography, Walt Disney by Neal Gabler.
It may be a small world after all, but this book is big. And full of mice.
I have books in my library about Walt Disney, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Steve Jobs, and Ted Turner. They have all provided valuable guidance. And not one of them has slapped me with a restraining order for getting my nose in their business.
The first book to buy when starting your own business, or once you realize you should have bought a book when you started your own business.
Just look at who reviewed this book for the cover.
The great authors and the biographized icons are ready to share with you what they know. They are never too busy for you. They provide amazing counsel and examples for you to follow. And if you have any subject you want to learn more about you can simply search the topic on Google or Amazon and find the book you need in your network now. (Although you can always buy said book from an independent bookstore in your community. Unless you live in Siberia.)
Key Takeaway
Your network is one of your most valuable assets. But when you need guidance that you don’t yet have in your human network you can often find a great substitute in books. Collect great titles on a great range of subjects to strengthen your network and inner circle of knowledge. And when you find books you find helpful, share them with your real-life network. It is one of the best things we can do for each other.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
Happy New Year! That’s right, Tuesday September 3, 2024, is the new New Year’s Day. I know you’re wondering, what the Dick Clark is this guy talking about!?!
Allow me to explain.
January Ain’t Even Right
Americans traditionally celebrate the new year at the worst possible time. In January you are stumbling out of the most hectic and stressful time of the year. Which makes it a poor time to set new goals, quit bad habits and reinvent yourself.
New Year’s is a great time for drinking. Not for resolving.
Think Fall Once And For All
The simple fact is that the fall, not spring, and certainly not January 1, is the best time for new beginnings.
It’s Grow Time!
If you were a tree, today is when your next ring would start to grow. Preschool starts in the fall. So does kindergarten, middle school, high school and college. Which means fall is the start of the next chapter for kids, parents and teachers alike. In fact, the day after Labor Day is the first day schools everywhere are back in session and fully engaged.
We’re all back to school now like Rodney Dangerfield.
Back To Full Strength
When summer break is over for kids, summer vacations are over for adults. Which means that starting today, we are all back to work. Our businesses are operating at full strength for the first time in 3 months. Factories are humming. Offices are buzzing. And farms are farmy.
Let’s do it, do it, do it.
Can I get An Amen?
Churches now begin their regularly scheduled programs. So if you see a church, and see a steeple, open it up and you’ll see all the people.
Take me to church.
The new television season starts now. (Remember television?)
Both NCAA and NFL football kickoff now too.
This is a great time of year.
100% Battery Life
For those of you who used your summer vacation days well, you are hitting September 3rd fully recharged. Not only did you take the last three months to fill up on Vitamin D, travel, relaxation and inspiration, you got a three-day weekend to top it all off. #noexcuses
This is where we are right now.
Go Team Go!
At The Weaponry, the advertising and idea agency that I help lead, we are fully engaged. We’re all primed, rested and ready. Your team should be too. Let’s push hard. Have fun. And make this the best year ever. And here you thought today was just another Tuesday.
Key Takeaway
Fall is the very best time of year for growth and development. Now that your tanks are full and you are refocused, it is time to treat this like the new beginning you almost missed. Set new goals. Drop a bad habit. Pick a new challenge. Plan your next chapter. Grab that next rung. Or build your own ladder.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.\
That’s why I have 2 rules that govern my expectations of art.
1. It must have a strong conceptual idea.
or
2. It must have taken a lot of time or effort to create.
This means a simple glass of water sitting on a desk is not art.
Unless that glass of water is filled with your own tears.
This has been a 7 Sentence Sunday Post. Just 7 sentences. (At least just 7 sentences before the little 3-dot divider thingie.) These are quick thoughts before church. Or after church. Or before football if you don’t mark your Sundays with church. Or, if you don’t do church or football, it’s simply 7 sentences before Monday. (Plus this rambling descriptor of how simple the post was supposed to be before I overcomplicated it.)
Adam Albrecht Blog 