Author: Adam Albrecht

Adam Albrecht is the Founder and CEO of the advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry. He believes the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human mind. He is the author of the book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? He also authors two blogs: the Adam Albrecht Blog and Dad Says. Daughter Says., a Daddy-Daughter blog he co-writes with his 16-year old daughter Ava. Adam can be reached at adam@theweaponry.com.

Why I completely changed my mind on a very important decision.

I never wanted a dog. I didn’t have one as a child. And there were a variety of factors that discouraged me from wanting one as an adult. The Big 5 for me were:

  1. The expense of dog ownership
  2. The damage a dog would do to my home and my slippers.
  3. The added work and responsibility of caring for a dog, given that I didn’t have enough time for the 4 other humans in my home.
  4. The cramp a dog would put on my personal freedom, especially related to travel, and staying inside on cold January mornings in Wisconsin. Woof.
  5. My wife and kids already provided my recommended daily allowance of cuteness.

Yet despite my well-founded reasons for not wanting a dog, my kids wanted a dog. And my wife wanted a dog. That didn’t matter to me. My reasons were better than theirs, which included things like, it will be fun. And, they are so cute.

Getting a dog was a non-negotiable issue for me. Despite all the negotiating my family brought to the non-bargaining table.

Until One Day…

However, 3 years ago I changed my mind. All of my reasons for not wanting a dog were still valid. But new information entered the decision.

One day, while reflecting on my life, I recognized how much my wife had supported my choices to help me live my ideal life. She didn’t flinch when I told her I wanted to become an entrepreneur and launch The Weaponry, the advertising and ideas agency I founded in 2016. She supported the additional work and isolation required when I wanted to start writing books. She supported the additional time and attention needed away from our home when I decided to coach my children in youth football and high school track and field.

In recognizing that my wife and family were supportive of the inconveniences that came with me living my ideal life, I recognized that in their ideal lives, they owned a dog.

We had room for a dog. We could afford a dog. And there were 4 other humans in my home that were willing to care for said imaginary dog. Yet I was preventing my wife and kids from having the life experience they all wanted.

So I changed my mind on something I never thought I would. Not for me. But because it was so important to them.

So in the winter of 2022, after much research and online shopping, we drove to South Carolina on a weekend, picked up an 8-week-old Border Collie named Strawberry, who we renamed Amicalola, and now call Lola for short. And we became a family of 6.

Today, with a year and a half of experience, the benefits of having a dog in our home are obvious. It has changed our family dynamic, mostly for the better. The rest of the family really does a lot to take care of her. And Lola loves me. Because Lola loves everyone. And she didn’t know that I didn’t want her in the first place

Key Takeaway

Don’t be afraid to change your mind. Changing your mind is a great sign of growth, learning and increased intelligence. Your decisions and opinions are made with the information you have at any given time. More information should alter your perspective. And eventually, that information may even change your vote.

We all make difficult decisions by sorting through a complex set of contrasting dilemmas. Whether you are weighing gun legislation, abortion rights, or whether or not to add a pet to your household. These are never black-and-white issues. They are grey issues because there are valid points both for and against both sides of every issue. The more you know about life the more you will adjust your view on most issues. Even if you don’t change your final vote, it will change your perspective and appreciation for a differing opinion. That’s a sign of increased intelligence.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why it’s smart to reach out when you don’t need anything.

I recently experienced a suspicious outreach. That happens when someone you don’t know very well or haven’t spoken to in a long time reaches out, suddenly eager to talk. Typically this means they are newly unemployed, have something they want to sell you, or a judge has asked them to let you know there is a sex offender in your neighborhood.

This person who contacted me and I have never met in person. He initially reached out to me a few years ago, but after his original introduction, there was never any maintenance to the relationship. In fact, he acknowledged his deadbeatness in his outreach. But suddenly he was eager to talk. Like a close-lipped criminal after being granted legal immunity. I could tell from the note that whatever he was selling at his Tupperware Party would be far more valuable to him than to me.

I don’t mind hearing about what you have going on or what you are trying to sell. But I am much more interested in talking about it if we have spent time talking about other things first.

A Rule of Thumb

Don’t meet and sell on the same day. Don’t do it on the second interaction either. Instead, create a base for your relationship before you develop your base for sales. As a good rule of thumb, meet, email, or call 3 times before you start asking for a transaction. Better yet, provide value to the other person first. Find an article or book they should read. Connect them with another person they should meet. Let them know if they have spinach in their teeth. You know, be helpful.

People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy. Give others a chance to approach you about your offering first. If you develop a real relationship, and they are a good candidate for your offering, there is a good chance they will bring it up first if you just give them a chance.

Key Takeaway

Develop relationships first. Add value first. Once a good relationship is established the sale, donation or vote may come without an ask.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The great power in pounding away at your goals every day.

In 2016 my family and I moved from Atlanta to Milwaukee. While Atlanta is a great city, it also has its not-so-great parts. By that I mean the ridiculous traffic problem. One of the things I love about living in Milwaukee is the lack of traffic. That and cheese curds 24/7.

However, right now, the 17 miles of I-43 that I drive on my commute to work every day are all under construction. They are adding another lane to the interstate in both directions over that entire stretch. Which means they also have to tear down and rebuild every bridge that crosses over the interstate to accommodate the wider freeway. I haven’t seen this much bridge destruction and rebuilding since I stopped watching The Real Housewives or Orange County.

One of the upsides of the slow-moving traffic is that there is plenty to look at. My favorite piece of equipment that I pass is the massive pile driver near Nicolet High School in Glendale. Every day I see and hear it pounding away in the median between the north and southbound lanes. It’s driving pilings for a new bridge support deep into the bedrock like Fred and Barney would do.

A non-WWE style pile driver, like the one I see on my commute.

A Role Model For Success

As I slowly drive by the loud, methodical bang, bang, banging of the pile driver and watch it make its mind-numbingly slow progress, I find myself inspired. Because that machine shows you exactly how you drive results in anything.

You just keep hammering away.

• Life has taught me that if you want to get stronger, you have to hit the weights, day after day, after day after day.

• If you want to create a successful business you have to keep pounding away at the fundamentals of business development, customer delivery, and employee support, day after day after day.

• To be a good parent you have to share the importance of good habits and good morals day after day for a minimum of 18 years. You also have to remind yourself not to run away and leave those children behind every day.

• To read a book you have to read word after word after word for days, weeks or months. There is no other way.

• If you want to write a 50,000-word book you have to write word after word after word. And then rewrite the book over and over again, like Nelly and Tim McGraw said.

• If you want a successful and happy marriage you have to work at it day after day after day until one of you dies.

• Athletic success requires you to put in the practice and training day after day for years and years.

• You become wealthy by steadily saving and investing your money and letting that interest compound day after day after day. (And if you accumulate too much you can always share it with me.)

Key Takeaway

Keep pounding. Success doesn’t come easy. Results don’t come overnight. The outcome you are after is built through a slow and steady accumulation of effort. Be patient. Be persistent. And just don’t stop. That is the simple yet proven formula for all great accomplishments.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The best thing to do when you don’t feel ready to face a daunting task.

Earlier this week my daughter Ava and I were at the gym lifting weights. She is hyper-focused on smashing her high school’s 44-year-old discus record next spring. (She was only 2 feet off the record as a junior.) I was in the gym because I don’t want Hans and Frans to pick on me.

Ava had a leg day workout, and she had reached the most challenging part of her training week. She had already done 3 sets of power cleans and had finished 2 sets of squats. Which meant that her last and heaviest set of squats was next. If you are the type to throw up while working out, this is a good time to have a garbage can within spewing distance.

At this point in your leg day workout, you are as tired as you ever feel in the gym. Yet you still have one more set to go. It’s the toughest part of the day. The toughest part of the week. It’s when you search your music playlist for your most Eye-Of-The-Tigerish song to help you Rocky up.

I asked Ava, ‘Are you ready for your last set?’

She shot back, ‘No, but I’m going to do it anyway.’

As Ava’s Dad-Coach, I swelled with pride. Because that comment, those 8 simple words, demonstrate that Ava has the mindset required for great success.

Go Anyway

Life does not often present ideal conditions. And when you’re trying to do hard things, you often put yourself in positions where you feel not yet ready for the next task. But to be successful you have to go anyway.

I know that mindset. I had to rely on it in athletics when I entered major competitions after a rough week of practice. When I was fatigued, sore or mentally drained.

I have tapped into that mindset at work after promotions that stretched my skills and abilities. And when I was about to undertake a daunting Blair Witch-type project.

I embraced that mindset when I wrote my first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Because I didn’t know anything about writing books, or how to get a tiny printer inside a fortune cookie.

And I certainly adopted the not-ready-but-I’m-going-to-do-it-anyway mindset when I launched The Weaponry, the adverting and ideas agency I started in 2016. Because the key to entrepreneurship is taking action even when you don’t feel ready to entre or preneur.

The secret to success is not to be fully prepared. It is to be fully prepared to go anyway. To go when you don’t feel good, informed or ready.

Simply stepping into the arena, conference room, or squat rack will force you to focus and summon your best effort.

Remember, it isn’t always Ready, Set, Go. Sometimes it is Set, Go, Ready.

Oh, and not only did Ava crush her last set of squats, she added extra reps too. Because big goals and strong desires are great fuel. Especially when you are running on fumes.

Key Takeaway

You won’t always feel totally ready for the challenge in front of you. Go anyway. The challenge of the moment will often ready you as you go.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why my last speaking event was more rewarding than usual.

In January of this year, I got a fun email from Miriam Crosby, the Director of Superfoods at The Peanut Institute. In her note, Miriam invited me to speak at the USA Peanut Congress, where leaders from all sectors of the peanut industry get together to discuss all things peanut. The event is kinda like that scene from Forrest Gump where Bubba talked about all things shrimp. But for peanuts.

The Peanut Institute had a slot for a speaker at the event and they wanted me to come and share some life and career lessons from my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? I was thrilled and thought I might even get to meet Jif, Skippy, and Mr. Peanut.

Not only was I excited about the opportunity, and honored to be invited, the location was going to be amazing! The event was on Amelia Island in Florida at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. And the Ritz people are even better at making Carlton hotels than they are at making crackers. Which is pretty amazing.

Sunrise at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island, starring the Atlantic Ocean.

The Event

The event was in mid-June. And it was incredible. The entire peanut world was there. The Weaponry, the advertising and ideas agency that I lead, has several great clients in the peanut industry. So I knew a lot of special people at the event. And I met a whole lot more.

Me sharing life lessons and telling the audience that in Milwaukee I eat peanuts with my left hand.

My talk was titled Nutrient Dense Life Lessons. I talked about how the little peanut, packed with energy and full of goodness, sets a great example for us all and has inspired me since I was in high school. #TrueStory

Adam’s talk was inspirational!  He is such an engaging, high-energy speaker…the audience was on the edge of their seats waiting for the next life lesson to drop.  Well done!

–Miriam Crosby

The audience was great. The team from The Peanut Institute, including Miriam, John Powell, Samara ‘Dr. Peanut’ Sterling and Kirsten Collins from the American Peanut Shellers Association were helpful and supportive. The room itself at the Ritz Carlton was perfect. Did I mention the food was outstanding? (It was!).

What Was Even Better!

But what made this experience even greater was that my wife Dawn was able to join me in Florida. The timing of the event in mid-June meant that my kids were out of school so Dawn could come with me. After the thousands of hours I have spent alone writing blog posts and books over the past 7 years, it was great to be able to have Dawn enjoy the rewards of both the work and sacrifice.

Dawn and me enjoying the Ritz Carlton. Check out my fun straw that looks like the Hilton Head lighthouse.

The Evolution of a Passion Project

I started writing this blog when I first launched The Weaponry. No one asked me to do it. It was a passion project. It allowed me to share my experiences, observations and lessons. 5 years after I started the blog I published my first book. Writing the book led to speaking engagements all over the country.

It is interesting to see where your passion projects take you. When you deeply care about what you are creating and offer value to others first, you will receive value in return.

Thank you to The Peanut Institute for inviting me to speak. Thank you to the USA Peanut Congress for putting on such a great event in such a beautiful setting. The whole experience created a fun new memory for both me and Dawn.

Key Takeaway

Pursuit your passion projects. You never know where they may take you. And if they take you somewhere good, be sure to bring your loved ones along for the ride.

*If you are looking for a speaker to bring energy, fun and valuable lessons to your next event, shoot me a note at adam@theweaponry.com.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why it’s so important to take action before you need to.

My home project this morning is cleaning out our gutters. We recently had roofers replace the worn and missing cedar shingles on our house, in the middle of our street. They then treated the roof to extend the life of the cedar shakes. In the process a lot of little shingle slivers collected on the roof. After a recent rain, those slivers and bits washed down and collected in our gutters. Which is why my mind is in the gutter this morning.

Today is a beautiful, sunny day in Wisconsin. There is no chance of rain. Or snow. So the accumulated debris in my gutter won’t create any dam problems today. That’s why today is the perfect day for this eager beaver to clean the gutters out.

Get Ahead To Get Ahead

Success requires you to do the work when you don’t need to. Not when you do.

It is the off-season work that makes the difference in sports.

It is the relationship-building you do when you don’t need anything that makes the difference when you really do need a friend, favor, job, or sale.

It’s the regular dental cleaning that prevents the cavity. And the accompanying Cavity Creeps.

It is the process that you create and implement that ensures that all future jobs are done right, every time.

It is the money you saved and invested that accumulates interest while you sleep, Van Winkle.

It is the colonoscopy that prevents the polyp from becoming colorectal cancer. And you don’t want anything going bad with your colorectals.

Key Takeaway

Take action before you need to. Your preactions are far more valuable than your reactions. Preactions accumulate and create opportunities and success, while your reactions focus on problems that already exist. Often those problems could have been avoided or minimized by acting earlier. Remember, hard work is the easy work you didn’t do when you had the time. Get ahead of the work and you will get ahead in life.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why it’s smart to think about your relationships like fires.

Do you know how to start a fire? Can you use the materials around you to build a useful fire to keep you warm or cook your food? I’m not talking about a Tom Hanks Castaway fire. You can use a match, a Zippo or a lantern and Mrs. O’Leary’s cow if you like. Even Billy Joel knows how to start that kind of fire.

Social fire.

Starting a relationship works just like starting a fire. You first create a little spark. Typically with a question or a comment to another person. Where are you from? Which kid is yours? Do you have any Grey Poupon? Or, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter.

That little spark is all you need to start a small social fire. From there, the valuable skill is to add more fuel to the fire. Ask bigger and deeper questions. This is like adding bigger sticks and logs to the fire. They provide more fuel. More heat. More light. Through this process of feeding the flames with your questions, comments, and conversation, you create your relationships. (My Grampy also used diesel fuel, and sometimes car tires to create his fires. Which today would be a good way to start a relationship with the EPA.)

The fire analogy is also useful because if you stop asking questions, stop reaching out, stop getting together, stop texting, calling, or DMing, the fire goes out. This holds true for personal, professional, romantic, and familial relationships. Zzzppp.

How Are Your Fires?

Are you maintaining your fires? Are you tending to and adding to your relationships? Or didn’t you realize you needed to?

It is okay to let some fires die. It’s fair to stop feeding social fires that require too much work to maintain. Especially when they don’t provide enough heat. And when you can’t find more sticks to throw on the fading embers. In that case, let it go, Elsa.

Spend your time feeding the fires that provide great light. The fires that are warm and nice to sit by. Feed the social fires when others are feeding them too. Keep those flames dancing to the end.

Key Takeaway

Relationships are like fires. They need a spark to start. Then they need a regular influx of fuel to burn warm and bright. Recognize which social fires are hard to maintain, and give them less fuel. Or let them go out. Feed the best fires. The ones that kick off the most heat, the best light and the least smoke. Fuel the fires that are the most enjoyable to sit next to. Those are the greatest inventions in human history. Just ask any caveman.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to become a great entrepreneur without going to business school.

I was listening to a podcast over the weekend while mowing the lawn. I always listen to something educational while doing yard work. I imagine that I am a professional landscaper, working for the man, and I plan to bust out of my lawn jockey job by learning as I mow.

In the podcast, the interviewee told the host that he went to business school to get his MBA because he wanted to learn how to start and run a business. When I heard this I laughed out loud. In fact, I laughed so loud that I heard myself over the roar of the lawn mower, despite the fact that I was also wearing ear protection.

The idea that you need an MBA to start a business is hilarious. I launched The Weaponry, the advertising and ideas agency I lead, 7 years ago. I studied Psychology and Journalism in college. I took only one business class at the University of Wisconsin. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

The Knowledge You Need Is Everywhere

There has never been a better time to start a business. There are countless books on the topic. There are only slightly more countable podcasts. (Although it is odd to compare the relative countability of countless things, no?)

You can follow the blogs and social feeds of entrepreneurs to learn from them. And many you can reach out to directly through social media by slipping into their DMs.

Entrepreneurship is not a secret club you get into by attending to an Ivy League business school. You can learn everything you need to know through self-directed education. And through a little trial and error.

Adam Albrecht’s Entrepreneuerhsip 101

If you really want to become an entrepreneur here is what you need to know:

To start a successful business you need to:

  1. Offer a product, service or experience people want or need.
  2. Learn how how to sell the thing you offer.
  3. Spend less than you make.

Your assigned reading starts with the great how-to book on entrepreneurship, The E-Myth by Michael Gerber.

To learn from other great entrepreneurs check out the How I Built This podcast wherever your favorite pods are cast.

Key Takeaway

You can be an entrepreneur without an MBA, without going to business school, and without going to college. You just need a strong desire to start your own business. The keys to successful entrepreneurship and business ownership are available at your local library, your local bookstore or your local Amazon website. Inspiring stories and examples are available on podcasts, in magazines, and in books. There are no barriers to entrepreneurial education. Which means there are also no excuses. If you think entrepreneurship is the next step in your career then get going. There is nothing stopping you but you.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

It’s not where you start that matters. It’s who you bump into.

Yesterday I played mini golf with my family. It was my son Magnus’s birthday, And it was a fun way to kick off his teenage years with more ball-rolling than eye-rolling. After we played 18 holes and returned our clubs we got to drop our golf balls into a Plinko game. If your ball landed in the right slot you would win free ice cream. If it didn’t you would save yourself 30 minutes of cardio.

Plinko is an interesting game of chance that was originally discovered by Bob Barker and a contestant who had come on down to the set of The Price is Right in the 1980s.

To play the game you drop a ball or chip over a grid of pegs. As the object falls it bounces off the pegs and is redirected several times until it finally lands in a slot at the bottom of the grid. What you quickly realize is that where the object starts at the top has very little to do with where it lands at the bottom. It is the collisions that keep redirecting the object and determining where you finish. Kinda like NASCAR.

Life works like a giant Plinko game. It is not where you start that matters. It is who and what you bump into along the way that matters. It is the pegs you encounter that have the greatest influence on your life.

Your pegs are:

  • People you spend time with.
  • Books you read.
  • Experiences you have.
  • Places you visit
  • The mom from Married With Children

Your pegs alter your course. They provide new influences and nudge you in new directions. Some are positive, and some are negative. Positive pegs tend to direct you towards even more positive influences. Although negative pegs can push us in positive directions too. Especially once you’ve encountered someone who turns negatives into positives.

Key Takeaway

Life is like a giant Plinko game. The people you collide with change the course of your life. So do the books you read, the places you visit, and the experiences you have. Seek out great pegs. They have the power to change your whole trajectory.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

If you are struggling to find your next great job, create it yourself.

In 2014 I moved to Atlanta. The amazing advertising agency I worked for had been acquired by a public holding company a year earlier and the new company wanted me at the Atlanta headquarters. I had been banana-splitting my time between Atlanta and Columbus for 3 years at that point. And I was happy to finally move to the ATL full-time. But I could tell the new holding company was going to make things very different. And I expected a plot twist. And I wanted to write the script for that twist myself.

Shortly after moving to Atlanta, I began looking beyond the horizon to plan for the next step in my career. I was looking for the next great ad agency to join within a circle of acceptability near my nearly retired parents and my mother-in-law (who was not actually a lawyer). After living in 3 states in 8 years I was making plans to set the circus down someplace where my 3 children could enjoy middle school and high school in one town.

I had conversations and meals with many different agencies. But like those guys combing the dessert in Spaceballs, I didn’t find what I was looking for. Not to say there were not a lot of great people and great agencies. But I could afford to be choosey. I had a new job. And a jar of Jif.

The conclusion I came to was that the business I was looking for in the place I wanted to live, with the culture I wanted, with the compensation I expected, did not exist. So I decided that I would create my own business. Within a year I had a full-fledged passion project on my hands. I spent my nights planning and building what would become The Weaponry. And it checked all my boxes. Because I designed it specifically so that it would.

Creating your own business means that you get to create your own dream scenario. Like Wayne and Garth. You get to decide what you do every day. You get to decide where you live, what the culture is like, and who you work with. Better yet, you never have to apply for a job, wait for a gatekeeper to reply to you, or wonder why some other employer didn’t like you more. Which is pretty fricken great.

Key Takeaway

If you are not finding the place you want to work, consider creating that place yourself. Don’t wait for someone who doesn’t know you or recognize your full potential to get back to you. Don’t let other people close doors on you. Take control of your future. And your income. And your happiness. It’s easier than you think. I started the advertising and ideas agency The Weaponry 7 years ago. Along with asking my wife Dawn to marry me, it was one of the 2 best decisions of my life. If you have questions about how I did it, email me at adam@theweaponry.com. Or reach out to me on the socials. I’m typically @adamalbrecht. If you know someone who really should start their own business please share this with them too.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.