Tag: Adam Albrecht

How a strong brand voice helps you stand out from the crowd.

I love the song We Are The World. It was one of the biggest hits of my early childhood. It is up there with other timeless classics like Karma Chameleon, Rhinestone Cowboy, and Pac-Man Fever.

We Are The World, was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy (Don’t-Call-Me-Adams) Jones. The song features 50 of the biggest musical acts of the 1980s, plus Dan Akroyd.

The iconic song was recorded after the 1985 American Music Awards show and was released by the supergroup USA for Africa. It is catchy, beautiful and poignant. It tells listeners that it’s time to help aid the people of Africa who were suffering from devastating food shortages because of famine. I’m guessing it’s one of the most uplifting songs about starving ever recorded.

Listening Now

When I hear the song today, the thing that stands out is that I can instantly recognize each of the singers’ voices. Despite the fact that there are 21 soloists in the song. And each of them only sings a line or two. So why is it that nearly 40 years after the song was released I can still identify each voice?

Different is Better Than Better

Because each singer’s voice is unique. They all sound distinctly different. When you listen to the song you realize that one reason these singers became popular is that they have their own unique sound. Which makes them special and easily identifiable, even when they aren’t wearing their signature glove.

Developing Your Voice

If you have a business or work in marketing or advertising, you have to think about developing your unique brand voice. It is how you get recognized and remembered. It is how the Search & Rescue team spots you in the Sea of Sameness. You need to position your brand as different from everyone else. Unless you are a counterfeit brand. If that’s the case you should study every move your model brand makes. And every breath that your model brand takes. I’ll be watching you.

Study To Stand Out

Know what others in your category do and say. But then either do or say different things, or do and say the same things differently. And say, say, say what you want. That’s how you stand out. Like Paul McCartney and MJ.

Your Personal Brand

If you have a personal brand, and we all do, think about developing and nurturing your own unique style. This could be your own unique way of talking, walking, acting, or dressing. You can distinguish yourself with all of those things or anything else that feels unique and interesting to you.

Through my blog posts and books, I have developed my own writing style. Which is typically laced with pop culture references and random things I think are funny. Like the bones in my elbows.

My personal goal is to help everyone who reads my writings learn a little, laugh a little and lift a little. (Lift as in spirits, not dumbells.) I believe this is why I receive so many requests for speaking engagements. (But it could just be that other speakers are unavailable.)

Through the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry, I help brands create their own unique voice every day. I highly encourage you to find your way of standing apart from the crowd. Positive differentiation will ensure that more great opportunities find you simply because you own a distinct space in the minds of the opportunity holders. And that is a valuable place to be.

Key Takeaway

Discover and develop your unique brand voice. This is true whether you have a business brand to nurture or a personal brand to perfect. Stand apart from the crowd to get noticed. And people will be much more likely to recruit you to be part of their supergroup.

*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.

My first book turns 1 today! Here are some highlights from the year.

A year ago today my first book went live on Amazon. It was crazy to see What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? on the virtual shelves at Bezos’s Books n’ More! So I ordered one right away. It came the next day because Bezos makes things happen.

The first time I held my paper baby.

I had no idea what to expect over the next year. The people who pre-read the book told me it was really good. But I didn’t consider that an accurate predictor of public reception. After all, the pre-readers were either friends or part of my publishing team. And the friends were selected specifically because I thought they would say good things. Because sometimes you need support more than you need honesty. (Sometimes we really do notice that zit but there’s nothing you can do about it.)

But the real-world feedback has been amazing. The online feedback has been extremely positive too. (Except for guys on GoodReads named Zac, or Zach or Zak.) A year later I can confidently say that people (other than Zacs) genuinely enjoy the book.

Here are some book-related highlights from the past year.

Gifters: The number of people who have bought 5, 10, or 20 copies (or more) is a total surprise to me. Numerous people have bought many copies to give as gifts. I am honored and humbled every time this happens. And I’m thrilled I haven’t been asked about my return policy.

Speaking Opportunities: I have been giving regular book talks throughout the past year. I love being able to share the lessons from the book live. The follow-up interest in the book after the talks tells me that we are talking about important lessons and ideas. Another upside to the book talks is that I kinda want to have a hot mic faux pas that will circulate on YouTube and lead to my 15 minutes of fame. (The Hot Mic Faux Pas sounds like a bestselling book. Or maybe an album title.)

New friends in Missouri.

Meeting new people: People (and smiling) are my favorite. I have met countless new people this year thanks to my book. (I tried to count, but a woman in Cleveland kept moving, which threw off my tally.)

Me and my friend Jonathan Taylor, who said he would write the Foreword to my next book.

The Impact: We all have our own unique life experiences. By sharing 80 life lessons with the world, I knew that each lesson would speak to readers in different ways. Hearing the impact or value that specific lessons have had on readers has been insightful and rewarding. But the true impact of the book will not likely be known for years. Or even decades. So I’m eating right and exercising to be around to see it.

The ultimate copy of my book.

The Markups: I love seeing books that have been highlighted, underlined and filled with stickies. It shows me where people found value. And it makes me wonder why all valuable things in life are not made in highlighter colors so they are easier to find when we lose them.

My guy Adam Emery reading in St. Croix.

The Oreo Style: There are several different ways to eat an Oreo Cookie. I twist the cookies apart, scrape the filling stuff off with my teeth, then eat the chocolate-ish cookies individually. (Usually just before walking into a dentist appointment so that I get my money’s worth.)

I’ve also found that there are several different ways people read What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Some people read it all in one day. Some people read it steadily over a week or month. Some people read one chapter each day, like an advent calendar, and spend time focusing on one specific lesson. While other people simply pick up the book, open it randomly, and read whatever pops up, considering the lesson presented as a sign from the universe. Or at least a message from the world of physics and book-binding science.

The Morning Blend Over the past year I have been invited to appear on The Morning Blend talk show 4 times. The show is the primary morning show on NBC in Milwaukee. I love talking to hosts Molly Fay and Tiffany Ogle about positive lessons from the book. Plus, it’s a good test of what kind of humor I can throw out on the fly on live TV without getting zapped by the censor.

Podcasts: I have been invited on several podcasts to tell my story and share lessons from the book and about the writing process. I love being able to share the stories behind the stories. Plus, someone else has to do the editing, which to me feels like dining and ditching.

Travel: The fact that this book led to organizations paying me to travel to talk at their events amazes me. It combines a few of my favorite things. Kinda like brown paper packages tied up with string.

The pictures: Receiving pictures of people with my book from all over the world has been a great bonus that I didn’t imagine when writing. To know that my book and the lessons I have shared have migrated to all corners of the United States, and countries all over the globe means that my paper baby has seen things I haven’t. #bookenvy

2X Olympic discus thrower Kelsey Card sporting a cool hat and a copy of my book. Both of which she could throw very far.

The Giggle Reports: Readers regularly write me to tell me they keep giggling while reading. Which prompts those around them to ask ‘What’s so funny?’ That may be my favorite feedback of all.

Signings: Nearly everyone who buys a book from me asks me to sign it for them. At first, I thought this was weird. Because I thought only famous people signed things. But I have quickly warmed to the ritual. Now a year into this author thang, I have signed hundreds of books. Including 35 in the past week.

Just as it took me a while to dial in my personal writing style, it took me a couple of books to find my book signing style. Now I write in the book as if it were a high school yearbook.

  • I write: To (name of book owner):
  • I add the day’s date for context.
  • Then I write a brief message, summarizing some of my most important lessons within the book.
  • I finish that note with my initials (-AA).
  • Then I sign my name right under my printed name on the title page of the book.
  • Finally, I put my initials (AA) on the table of contents next to a few chapters I think will be valuable to the reader. Readers seem to enjoy this. Here’s an example of a response I received via Twitter about my AA-marked chapters in the table of contents:

I received this special delivery from my good friend and partner in doing hard things creatively, @annenormsen! Thanks so much Adam for the signed book, note and guided instructions—I am reading the AA asterisked lessons first—and they are exactly what I need! @adamvertising 

@telisayancy. (AKA Telisa Yancy, President of American Family Insurance)

Key Takeaway

I wrote What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? to have a positive impact on the lives of those who read it. But the person who it has impacted most is me. It has fundamentally changed my life. I have received more positivity and support than I ever imagined. It has inspired me to write, share and do more for others. If you are thinking about writing a book, do it. Start now. Develop a regular writing habit. And by this time next year, I may be reading your book.

If you’d like to pick up a copy of the book for yourself or as a Christmas gift you can find it here.

  • If you’d like a signed copy of the book (or the secret hardcover edition) please contact me directly at adam@theweaponry.com.
  • You can also find a copy of my new book The Culture Turnaround, co-authored with Jeff Hilimire, on Amazon or at Ripples Media.

What life has taught me about the importance of organizational culture.

On Monday my friend and former coworker Jeff Hilimire and I released our new book, . The book shares 9 proven ways to create an undeniable culture. A great culture is the X-factor that both magnetizes and propels an organization. When you get it right, you create magic. When you get it wrong you create the Los Angeles Lakers.

The “Before the Book” podcast

One of the most enjoyable experiences in the process happened last week. Jeff and I sat down to record a podcast talking about our life and career experiences that have taught us the importance of culture.

I loved recording the podcast. But it was weird how the book & phone floated near Jeff’s head the whole time.

This fun 30-minute-ish podcast covers:

  • Engauge: (How we found our momentum after highly disruptive mergers)
  • Weness: How it fuels culture. (So follow your weness.)
  • My Family’s 5 Most Things: One of them surprised and delighted Jeff.
  • Our families: I find it interesting that Jeff and I both have 3 sisters and no brothers.
  • Sports: We were both college athletes. (I talk about my college track experience and my high school football team.)
  • Bad bosses: (They teach us so much. Like the importance of finding a new job)

You can listen to the podcast here now.

If you are still looking for a great gift for people in your life, you can find The Culture Turnaround here. And you can find my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? 80 Life lessons the universe is trying to share with you here.

My new book, The Culture Turnaround launches today!

Good morning!

I am thrilled to announce that my new book is available today!  The book is titled The Culture Turnaround. It shares 9 Proven Ways to Create an Undeniable Organizational Culture. 

I have always been a huge believer in the power of culture. It is the secret ingredient that magnetizes humans to each other. Culture is what helps make families, teams and businesses greater as a collective than they are as individuals. (Plus, you can’t make yogurt without it.)

I first experienced the transformational power of culture through team sports. In high school, I was part of a state championship track & field team. And my high school football team made it to the state semi-finals twice. #GoMarauders! In college, I was a member of the University of Wisconsin track and field team that won Big 10 Conference championships in both my junior and senior years. #OnWisconsin!

In business, culture is one of the most important and least understood ingredients of success. My co-author Jeff Hilimire and I worked together at Engauge after our previous advertising agencies merged in an acquisition.

Instead of letting territorial battles ruin the new organization, our leadership team purposefully created a new culture based on ‘weness’ and high performance. As a result, Engauge flourished and began a new business win streak like I had never seen before. (#streakingthequad) This ultimately led to Publicis acquiring the agency.

I went on to launch the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry, and Jeff launched another great agency called Dragon Army. We also both started writing books to share our learnings with the world. (Which is easier than buying the world a Coke.) 

Today, Jeff and I share insights about what we helped created together at Engauge. The Culture Turnaround is a fictional story that shares how you can change the trajectory of an organization by focusing on its cultural foundation. The book offers 9 practical ways to improve your team culture or establish a great culture in a new team.

The book is available in paperback and on Kindle. The piece of wood is not included.

Where To Find It.

If your organization could use some help in the culture department, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of the book at Ripples.media/shop or at an Amazon website near you. The book also makes a great gift, which is good to know if you have any major gift-giving occasions coming up in the next, say, 13 days. #hohoho

I also encourage you to check out Jeff Hilimire’s first 3 books in The Turnaround Leadership Series. The first book focuses on leading like an entrepreneur, the second on leading through a crisis, and the third on building a great team. Then, along came The Culture Turnaround.

Let’s Talk!

If you would like to learn more about how to implement a great culture within your organization, please let me know. I’d love to talk.

*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.

Your future is the greatest mystery of all. But you get to write it.

I stopped into a bookstore at the airport in Minneapolis yesterday. Since publishing my first book 11 months ago I look at bookstores differently. Now I study them in great detail.

I am curious to know more about everything. The categories. The book cover designs. The titles. The displays. The shoppers. The best-seller list. The people who work in the stores who don’t look like they spend a lot of time in the sun. Or play sports.

Yesterday I was drawn to the mystery section. I noticed it was where the rockstar authors were. And the big names each had multiple books on the shelves. It was in the back corner of the store. The mystery books were clearly the smelly chunks of cheese that the owner placed at the far corner of the store to lure travelers through the bookstore maze to find the delicious story they want to read on their next flight to Des Moines or Myrtle Beach.

People love a good mystery. I used to read a lot of mysteries too. But now most of what I read is focused on self improvement. Because I discovered that the most interesting mystery of all is me. And my mysteries are endless.

  • Where am I going?
  • What am I going to do next?
  • What am I learning?
  • What plot twists lie ahead?
  • What is going to happen with all of these other characters in my story?
  • What kind of success will I have.
  • How much money will I make?
  • What don’t I know yet?
  • What am I about to figure out?
  • Where will I go?
  • How long will I live?
  • Who can it be knocking at my door? (Go away. Don’t come round here no more.)

Key Takeaway

Your future is the greatest mystery in life. You are both the reader and the author. Write an exciting next chapter staring today. Make yourself the hero. Add great characters. Surprise everyone, including yourself, with an amazing ending. Make it a story that inspires others to achieve their own greatnesss. But don’t wait. Because time is ticking.

*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 new book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

My new podcast interview is out. And we talk about everythang!

There are 2 main reasons that people want to hear you tell your story.

  1. You have experienced success and others want to hear how you did it.
  2. You have failed in a spectacular way and people want to hear how you did it.

I’m not sure which category I fall into.

But I was recently invited to sit down with the great Justin Honaman to record an episode of his ContenderCast Podcast. Justin interviews entrepreneurs and people doing interesting thangs. I either qualified or found a useful loophole.

Like you, I was not born an entrepreneur. In fact, I spent 19 years working for someone else. But in my early 40s, with a significant mortgage, 3 kids and a wife that I really wanted to keep, I switched from Team Employee to Team Entrepreneur when I launched the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry.

When I started the agency I also started writing the Adam Albrecht blog, which now has 775 published posts. Most recently, I published my first book called What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Did I mention I also juggle? (And jiggle.)

If you want to hear more, check out the podcast. I share my backstory that led to my front-story. I talk about a lot of different stuff. And Justin asks great questions.

Things I talk about on the podcast:

  • Growing up in Vermont
  • My track & field success, setbacks and comebacks
  • My college track & field experience at the University of Wisconsin
  • My advertising career
  • My real-life advanced degree in business
  • How the universe turned me into a mid-career entrepreneur
  • How you can become a mid-career entrepreneur
  • Launching The Weaponry, the advertising and idea agency
  • The inspiration behind the name The Weaponry
  • The technology we used that made us pandemic proof
  • Sharing financial information with our team
  • The No A-Hole Rule
  • How and why I started the Adam Albrecht Blog.
  • Why blogs are amazing platforms for sharing ideas
  • Recognizing the power of positive messages
  • How I wrote My new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say?
  • My next book on organizational culture with Jeff Hilimire
  • If you’ve read this far you might as well just listen to the whole podcast
  • How to continuously upgrade your thinking
  • Why I collect keys
  • The first thing I do every morning
  • The 2 questions my wife uses to inspire my career progress.
  • Much much more!

If you want a quick and entertaining recap of my story you can hear the podcast here. Or look for the ContenderCast Podcast from your favorite podcast dealer.

Have a great weekend!

-AA

The amazing moment that made writing my book worth the effort.

In December of 2021, I published my first book titled What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? It takes a lot of effort to birth a book. The process is like running 3 marathons back to back to back. There is a writing marathon, a publishing marathon, and a promoting marathon. And the promoting marathon only ends when you quit. And I’m no quitter.

Is all that work worth it?

I wrote my book to help share the best life lessons I have learned with anyone interested in growth and self-improvement. I didn’t write the book for money. I didn’t write it to become famous. I simply felt that I had accumulated a valuable library of life lessons. And I felt that by sharing those lessons I could make my own valuable contribution to the world. Because teaching the world to sing and buying the world a Coke were already taken.

The feedback I have received has been extremely rewarding. Readers as young as 15 and into their 80s have told me how much they have enjoyed the book. I assume the 90+ crowd is too busy to provide feedback.

Leigh Peine

Shortly after my book was first published by Ripples Media, my client-friend Leigh Peine, Senior Director of Marketing and Client Solutions at Education Credential Evaluators (ECE), contacted me to say that she wanted to order copies of the book for her team to read like a book club. She then requested that after they all read the book we gather for a book talk.

Fast Forward

We gathered for our book talk 2 weeks ago. The ECE marketing team brought their copies of the book with them for me to sign. It was amazing to see a team show up at a talk with copies of the book that they had already read.

The questions asked by the group were different and deeper than they are at talks where people are first introduced to the book through the talk.

But the moment that stood out to me was when I saw Marybeth Gruenewald’s book.

Marybeth and her Technicolor Dream Book.

Marybeth, the Director of Global Initiatives at ECE not only read the book, she made the book her own. She flagged new and interesting ideas that stood out to her. She made notes. She highlighted lines. She turned the book into a beautiful piece of art. And her liberal use of Post-it Notes will likely impact 3M’s Q3 revenue numbers.

I was absolutely stunned when I saw Marybeth’s book. Not just because it was so interesting to look at, which it was. But this copy of the book visually demonstrated where a reader found value. Where they encountered ideas worth remembering. Where a new thought had reached them. Or where a new phrasing of an idea connected.

This book visually represents what I hoped would happen to people as they read. Their minds would light up and expand. Their brains would grow and add dimension, depth and texture. Their thoughts would brighten, and lighten and lift. (Oh my!)

Marybeth’s copy of the book is beautiful. I wish I owned it. (Perhaps I will make a replica of it in art class.)

Thank you Marybeth for bringing your copy of the book to the talk. Seeing it was one of the great pleasures of my author’s adventure.

Thank you Leigh for sharing the book with your team and organizing a talk. It was more rewarding for me than I can express. (Although I suppose this blog post probably expresses it fairly well. I’m just a big fan of hyperbole.)

Thank you Greg Haag, Leigh Peine, Melissa Ganiere, Marybeth, Zak Holochwost, Whitney Mosby and (joining via Zoom) Kimberly Hejec for your time and your interest in the book!

Key Takeaway

Share what you know. Pass along your lessons and learning and ideas. If it works for you, chances are it will help others too. We can all benefit from hearing new and differing perspectives. If you lead a team, find ways to introduce new ideas to keep your team learning and growing. Like Leigh Peine did for her team at ECE.

*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 new book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

I had a totally messed-up travel day. And it was amazing!

On Monday I flew from Milwaukee to Cleveland for work. I was excited about the trip. And not just because I have seen all 3 of the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos. (If you haven’t seen them before take a moment now. You’ll thank me later.)

The trip had been planned for 5 months. And you know what they say about the best-laid plans…

Here is a list of things that went wrong with my travel:

  • My Sunday morning flight from Milwaukee to Cleveland was canceled.
  • I was rebooked on connecting flights 24 hours later.
  • My return flight from Cleveland to Chicago Monday evening was delayed by 4 hours.
  • I missed my connecting flight from Chicago to Milwaukee.
  • I arrived in Chicago at 11pm Monday night.
  • All rental cars were sold out.
  • There were no buses to Milwaukee
  • I had to spend the night in Chicago.
  • On the way to my Chicago hotel the cab driver kept taking wrong turns and turned a 15-mile cab ride into a 25-mile ride.
  • I had to sternly talk to him about his mistakes and let him know I wouldn’t pay for them.
  • I checked into my hotel at 1am
  • Tuesday morning I had to take a bus from O’Hare Airport to Milwaukee’s General Mitchell Field.
Getting my work on, on a bus!

That Was Interesting

It’s easy to say I had a terrible trip. But it was amazing! I would do it all over again in a second. Here’s why.

1. The Talk

The travel to Cleveland was for a speaking engagement. I got to talk to teachers, and teachers of teachers, at the NAEYC 2022 Professional learning Institute. (To know what NAEYC is just click the link.)

Here’s me and one of my slides. Which is not as fun as a slide on a playground.

I shared lessons from my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? The audience was amazing. They listened intently, asked great questions, laughed at the funny parts, and they made the whole trip worthwhile, even with all the surprises. Thanks to my friend Jenn Koel for inviting me to speak.

Look, no one is asleep!
Talking to attendees and signing books.
Me and Jenn Koel of ACCESS. Jenn was one of the first people to request a speaking engagement after my book was published.

2. The Once In A Lifetime Experience

After my talk, I thought I would have an uneventful flight home. But my flight from Cleveland to Chicago was fouled up by the epic thunderstorms that rolled through Chicago like a Garth Brooks song on Monday evening.

If you know your Great Lakes geography (I know most of you don’t), you know that Cleveland lives a few hundred miles east of Chicago. And if you know your garden variety weather patterns, you know that weather typically flows from west to east.

This means that a flight from Cleveland to Chicago would pass a storm system traveling from Chicago to Cleveland like 2 youth sports teams high-fiving each other after a game. #GoodGameGoodGameGoodGameGoodGame

And that’s exactly what happened with my plane and that thunderstorm.

Once our 6:45pm flight finally left Cleveland around 10:30pm we started seeing flashes through the windows on the right side of the plane. However, I was in a window seat on the left side of the plane. Boo.

As a storm lover, I was eager to see what was happening on the other side of the aisle. (Kinda like a political pundit.)

When we first pushed back from the gate in Cleveland 4 hours earlier the plane was completely full. But because of the delays we returned to the gate and deplaned like Tattoo from Fantasy Island. Many of my flightmates were rebooked because of missed connections. So when we finally reboarded for The Windy City about 1/3 of the seats were empty.

I looked around and noticed the exit row on the right side of the plane was now empty. So I snuck down the aisle and slipped over to the window seat. I eagerly peered out the airplane window. And I was awestruck by what I witnessed.

I have been in a hurricane. I have seen the northern lights in Alaska. I have seen thundersnow. And I have seen lightning strike the same place twice within minutes, just yards from where I was standing. But none of the epic Mother Nature shows I have seen were as intense as what I saw out that little plane over Northern Ohio and Indiana.

The strobe lightning was non-stop until we reached Chicago. I filmed and photographed the storm so I could share what I saw.

On Tuesday, while riding the bus from Chicago to Milwaukee, I shared a video on Twitter. Fox News retweeted it. Then I was contacted by numerous media outlets asking if they could reshare the video. I have also been asked for interviews about the experience. Crazy right?

Here’s the video I shared. Note: that is NOT a time-lapse video. This all happened in real-time.

I assume someone below yelled ‘Rat Farts!’ on a golf course.

Here’s another video I took that you are seeing here first.

This pairs nicely with the song Thunderstruck by AC/DC.

The Twitter Activity

In 24 hours this has been seen over 14,000 times on Fox’s Twitter account alone.

Key Takeaway

Look for the good things in life and you will find them. Because of this trip, I made new friends, I enjoyed new experiences and I was able to share some of the best lessons I know with people who were eager to hear them.

Because of my flight delay going home, a window of opportunity opened that allowed me to witness the most incredible light show I have ever seen. (Sorry Trans Siberian Orchestra Pyrotechnics Director.)

After hours of delays, the view out of my window was so incredible and lasted so long, that I would have paid money and waited again just to see the show.

I will forget about the time I spend waiting for the plane. I won’t worry about the night I had to spend in Chicago or the bus ride back to MKE.

But I can never unsee what I saw out that plane window. So I’m not mad. Not even a little. I’m thankful for the opportunity, and the experience.

Remember to look for the great gifts that are wrapped in bad paper. And you will accumulate more rewards than you can imagine.

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

+If you enjoy a good life lesson, you’ll find many more in my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Special shout out to my new friends Vijay Shah and Apshara Ravichandran whom I met on my flight from Chicago to Cleveland Monday morning. #Row27Crew

Here’s what new graduates should do now to improve their careers.

Most high school seniors will graduate within the next week or two. High school commencement is one of the most exciting events in a human’s life. And with good reason. The best, most interesting chapters of your story start after high school. Unless, of course, you were in an epic high school-based movie. In which case, it’s all downhill from here.  (You can check the 50 Greatest High School Movies of All Time here to make sure you weren’t in one).

As you begin down the yellow brick road of life you will constantly encounter new challenges and opportunities. You will find people who are trying to help you, people who need your help, and people who just want to steal your slippers.

You’ll benefit from as much good advice from those who have traveled the road before you as you can get. So please allow me to contribute a little worthwhile advice from someone who has been there, done that, and discovered some secrets to a successful journey.

An Open Letter to High School Seniors.

Dear Seniors,

Four to ten years from now, when you graduate from college, finish your military obligations, or give up on your Hollywood/Nashville/YouTube/Lottery dream, you will start focusing on your real career. When you do, everyone will tell you that you need to start building your network.

But they are wrong. You need to start building your network now. So before you throw your binders in the trash, your graduation cap in the air, and carve your initials into the wood paneling of the senior lounge, you should begin building your professional network.

WTH Is A Professional Network?

Your professional network is a collection of the people you know that may be able to positively impact your professional career. The people in your network, or community, will be able to help with career advice, finding a job, and connecting you to other people and businesses that are important to your career advancement. You will also be able to provide the same sort of help to others in your network. Because it takes a village to keep a child from moving back into their parents’ basement.

Who Are My Connections?

Your connections are your friends, your family, and your teachers. Your connections are your friends’ parents. They are the adults you know from church, and the extracurricular activities you’ve participated in. They are your coaches. They are the kids you competed both with, and against, in sports. They are the kids you know from camp (like that one girl who played the flute).

Starting A Connection Collection.

The best career move you high school seniors should make right now is to create a profile on LinkedIn and start collecting your connections. LinkedIn is an online social networking site for the business community. And right now is the best time to start collecting your network. By starting now, you will collect the most connections. And the more connections you properly maintain, the stronger your network will be. It’s kinda like being popular in high school. Only this type of popularity can dramatically impact your salary (your salary is the adult version of an allowance).

Grow As You Go

You will want to continue collecting your friends and acquaintances throughout college, trade school, military service, your walkabout, or your creative exploratory period. Every time you meet someone new, don’t just think about adding them to Snap or Insta.  Sure, do that too. But definitely add them to LinkedIn. Granted, the filters on LinkedIn aren’t as good as Snapchat. But having a good job makes you look better than any photographic editing or augmented reality can.

It’s All About The Network, (and the Benjamins)

Eventually, everyone is going to tell you to network and build your network, and that it is all about your network. That’s just an adult way of saying:

Stay in touch with the people you know, because it will connect you to opportunities, advice and endorsements that will prove highly beneficial down the road.

Why Start As A High School Senior?

You know a lot of people now that you are going to forget. Those kids you go to school with are going to do amazing things with remarkable organizations. And they are going to have opportunities for you, but only if you stay in touch. You are also going to have opportunities for them. Even better, in the real world, there are things called referral bonuses. Which means you can make extra money for helping your organization find good talent. #cha-ching

Monitoring Your Classmates

Adding your friends to LinkedIn is like putting a tracking device on them. It will allow you to collect intel on each person, like where they went to school, what they majored in, and where they worked after college.

It also puts a tracking device on you, so that others will remember your educational track, your career path and your special interests and activities. That way your connections will know when their opportunities intersect with your skills, interests and abilities.

The Adult Rock Stars Around You

Your neighbors, teachers and friends’ parents are more successful and connected than you know. Four or five years from now you could end up in a job interview with them. Or with their friends or relatives. When that happens, you will want every advantage you can get. Like a good endorsement from someone who knew you were always such a good kid. (You were always a good kid, right?)

Trust Me. I Know.

I started my career in advertising as a copywriter. But I always envisioned becoming an entrepreneur and someday starting my own ad agency. 19 years later, that’s exactly what I did. In 2016 I launched my own advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry.

Do you know who my very first client was? My friend Dan Richards, whom I have known since 7th grade. Dan is the Founder and  CEO of a badass company called Global Rescue.  Which means that Dan and I went from high school classmates, and football and track teammates, to summer job coworkers, to trusted business partners. We have helped each other launch highly successful companies.

Today, one of my important clients is Sarah Wilde at Sonic Foundry, an innovative technology company based in Madison, Wisconsin. But Sarah and I have also known each other since 7th Grade, and we grew up together in Norwich, Vermont.

Sarah helped plan a couple of our Hanover High School class reunions. And I planned the most recent one. At that reunion back home in New England, we talked about potentially doing work together. Since then we have launched 2 completely new brands together from dust. As we would say in Vermont, that’s wicked awesome.

Note To Self

They say the best day to plant a tree is 20 years ago. And the second-best day is today. The same holds true for building your network. Start now by collecting your connections before you leave high school. But if you are already in college, serving your country, or in the middle of your career, and you haven’t been building your network, start now. (By now I mean after you read the next paragraph.)

Key Takeaway

There are amazingly talented people all around you. So start collecting them today. It’s the very best way to assure an abundance of everything you will need later in your career. By doing so you may help one of your high school classmates find their dream job. Or launch their own business. Or they may help you launch your dream business. I know. Because it happened to me.

-Adam Albrecht

Founder & CEO of The Weaponry

+If you realize that this is worthwhile advice, you might also like my new book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? It is full of more lessons like this. It features 80 of the best life lessons I have learned since graduation. Good luck graduates! It just gets better from here.

* If you know a recent graduate that you think could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

My book is 25% off for 25 hours on May 25th!

My book is on sale until on May 25, 2022! You can get it here now. But if you want the backstory of this promotion read on!

Making Things Happen!

I am a huge believer in the power of false deadlines. Your hopes, dreams, and goals will just float in infinite space until you set a deadline to make them real. The false deadline is my secret weapon to achievement. I’ve used it for everything from starting businesses, to writing books, to having babies. Ok, so I have never actually had a baby myself. But I am a member of a 2-person Baby Cooperative. And the co-op has resulted in 3 babies thanks to false deadlines.

The Book

During the Covid Lockdown in 2020 I gave myself an aggressive false deadline. I told myself that I would finish the first full draft of my first book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? by May 25. The book is a collection of 80 life lessons that have had a significant impact on my happiness and success. And lookie here! Lesson 33 is The Path To Great Achievement Is Lined With False Deadlines.

Why May 25?

I chose May 25 as my deadline to complete the rough draft for 2 significant reasons.

  1. It was the last day of the Covid lockdown in Wisconsin.
  2. It was my birthday.

Then I got to work. And just as planned, by May 25, 2020, I had the first full draft of my book completed. Thanks to that false deadline, I pushed myself to create a 50,000-word manuscript in just 2 months.

I then put the manuscript away for a couple months, as I was instructed to do by Stephen King in his book On Writing. This helps you gain perspective and come back to the manuscript with fresh eyes and a fresh mind. (And I assume it helps Stephen King figure out who should die next.)

Then, I set a second false deadline to finish the second draft of my book by the end of 2020. And just as planned, I finished that draft by December 27th. (My parents’ 51st wedding anniversary.)

Finally, I set a 3rd false deadline to have my book published by the end of 2021. And I hit that too. But it all started with the first deadline of May 25th. Because it’s the first step that matters most. (That’s chapter 9.)

This was the first time I held my book. Or maybe this was when I accidentally squirted lemon juice in my eye.

25-Hour Sale!

Now, to help celebrate this significant book day, and my birthday, I am having a 25-hour sale. Starting at midnight on May 25th and running until 1am on May 26th, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? will be 25% off.

That means that paperback copies will be just $12 on Amazon. You can buy up to 25 copies at that price! (Just kidding. You can buy 25 million copies if you like.)

Even better, the hard-to-find hardcovers are just $19.50. However, you have to contact me directly for those at adam@theweaponry.com. (You can also get the 1-day discount price on paperbacks from me too if you are in the Milwaukee area. (Otherwise Amazon is just as good.)

Author Adam Albrecht and NFL running back Jonathan Taylor. Or what I like to call A couple of Badgers and a book.

What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? is a great read of summer vacations. But it is also a great gift for graduates. So if you need to pick up something for that grad in your world, here’s a chance to do it for less.

Thank You!

Thank you for continuing to read my stories, ideas, articles and musings. Thank you for supporting my book and for helping share worthwhile ideas and inspiration. I hope you all have a Happy My Birthday!

Enjoy What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? for 25% off on May 25th by clicking here.