Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan - #233: Take The Risk & DARE To Fail! With Andrew Metz Sales Leader & VP Of Sales At Zywave
Episode Date: July 12, 2022In This Episode You Will Learn About: Making real connections with customers Tackling imposter syndrome Scaling your business with TRUST Resources: Website: www.andrewmetz.net & www.zywa...ve.com LinkedIn: @Andrew Metz Facebook & Twitter: @Zywave Overcome Your Villains is Available NOW! Order here: https://overcomeyourvillains.com If you haven't yet, get my first book Confidence Creator Show Notes: Create intimacy with each sale you make, and start leading with risks! When you’re able to open yourself up and be vulnerable, people will trust you MORE. Release your insecurities! Only then can you truly be yourself and do your best. Sales expert, Andrew Metz is here to help us find ways to keep a personal touch to our businesses while still scaling and growing. STOP being scared to fail! Failure is an opportunity to learn, so remember, it’s not what you’ve been through, but how you react to it! Advocate for yourself because you ARE worth it, and don’t need to second guess it. About The Guest: You asked and I listened! This week we have Andrew Metz on the show, a passionate sales leader who grew his way into the role of Vice President at Zywave, where he oversees all market sales for small and mid-market spaces. He's here to share the ups and downs and ALL the insights he’s learned along the way on his sales journey. Most importantly, we’ll tackle how to get rid of the imposter syndrome and work at our BEST level yet! If You Liked This Episode You Might Also Like These Episodes: CREATE Strong Connections With Your Cues! With Vanessa Van Edwards The Lead Behavior Investigator At Science Of People Title How You Can Create Confidence In Your Business Relationships With Heather! How To CULTIVATE Your Community And Watch Them Advocate For YOU with Kacia Fitzgerald
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I actually think LinkedIn has created some level of intimacy with me and my sales team.
So one thing I've found that's been really interesting, and I don't see a lot of leaders in
corporate America taking risks on LinkedIn or being vulnerable.
I think this comes back to insecurities is this shield of I'm perfect kind of a thing.
And I've found, as I've talked about, alcohol use in corporate America, I've talked about
being let go from an organization.
I've talked about things that people maybe would go, I don't know if you should talk about that.
And I've gained a lot of traction with kind of doing the opposite of what people have told me in some cases because people feel like I'm a real person.
And at the end of the day, we write more of our own story than we realize.
But no one's going to do it for you.
You've got to go do it for yourself.
I'm on this journey with me.
Each week when you join me, we are going to chase down our goals.
We overcome adversity and set you up for a better tomorrow.
I'm ready for my quota.
Hi and welcome back.
I'm so excited for you to hear what.
went down this week. As you know, every week we have one guest a week and then we have our solo episode.
If you haven't been checking out the solo episodes, check them out. They are fire. It's just you and me
hanging together. But today, we have a new guest on the show, but it happened in a way that is so
unique and different. And as you know, I am always listening to the signs that are coming or
the signals out there. And it was funny. I had put a post up on link. And it was funny. I had put a post up on
where I always am. If you're not on LinkedIn, follow me there. But I was on LinkedIn. I put a post up.
I don't even remember what exactly it was. It was something about the podcast. And all of a sudden,
I had people commenting, hey, Heather, you need to interview Andrew. Hey, Heather. Andrew's got to be a guest
on the show. And I've never had a group of different people advocate so strongly and aggressively for
someone to be a guest on the show. They were listeners of the show so they know the
show. So I listen to the signs. I take the signals as direction. And we've got Andrew Mets here today.
Andrew, thanks for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Good to hear there's fans out there.
That's awesome. That's always great, right, to know that people have your back. And so that's what I want
to learn a little bit about today, why they thought you were such a great fit for the show. And as I did
some digging into your background, it looks like you've had a series of highs and lows. And I was hoping you
we give everybody a little bit of insight into what that looked like. Yeah, I appreciate that.
Some of the folks that maybe were advocating for me were people I've directly worked with over the
years and been very fortunate to have a similar kind of climb through corporate America like
you have as well and being promoted several times. And through that time, you build trust
of people as you get to work with them. And I served with a team of six and grew it to a team of
20. And now I'm overseeing a sales org of 100 people. So it hasn't happened overreesome.
overnight. It takes a lot of time, but it's been a fun run. And I think that creates, you know,
the more time that you can exceed expectations of your promises, the more trust you're going to
create with people. Yeah, and not only in sales, but just in general, trust is really that
missing element in so many relationships that bridges that gap between, you know, just knowing of
someone and really doing business or partnering with them. I was just having this conversation
yesterday. So I'm glad that you brought that up. One of the topics that I know you've spoken on,
which is interesting because most of my male guests never touch on this. I really want to go down
this road because it is such a popular topic these days is imposter syndrome. Yeah, what I've found,
and maybe this is just me being brutally honest throughout the process, but I think because I've had
shriek credibility of my organization going through the ranks, I started as a BDR. For people who don't know
what a BDR is. Can you explain that? A business development rep or might be known as a sales
development rep, but it's a fancy term for cold callers. As I like to tell people that enter the org,
I say my first year, I made cold calls and clean the toilets, which is partially true. And I've
always had a lot of confidence in what I was good at. And that was originally cold calling.
And then I sold for my organization. And then I was a front line leader and a second line leader and
so on and so forth. But I also was never afraid to admit what I didn't know. The real buzzword out in the
LinkedIn world is vulnerability, right, in the last couple of years. And I think I was doing
vulnerability before it was cool. It was just my way of not overpromising and under-delivering.
I wasn't going to tell someone I knew something that I didn't know. And the thought of
imposter syndrome is simply the feeling that you're unworthy or you don't exist. And everyone
has that to some degree. I have that talking to you right now, right? It's like, what can I bring
to Heather Monaghan's world? So I certainly appreciate the opportunity, but there's also a
voice inside of all of us that should encourage us to dampen that because when you get that
imposter syndrome feeling, it really means you're out of your comfort zone. It means you're doing
something you haven't done before. And usually when we're proud of an accomplishment or an experience
we had, it was something that was uncomfortable initially. And we look back on it going,
hey, I wasn't sure if I could do it, but maybe I failed or maybe I succeeded. But either way,
you've got to give yourself credit for taking the shot. Well, just your own journey,
starting out as someone jumping into the cold calling world, which, p.S., hey, I've been there as well.
You know, I'm sure on day one, you weren't the best cold caller with the best closing rates, you know, out of everyone.
Of course. And that's part of it is having the thick skin to take the rejection and really being okay with failing,
looking at failure as the opportunity to learn, right? The cliché is it's not what happens to us.
it's how we respond. But that's true in a lot of cases. And, you know, sales is a good microcosm of life
where you're going to go scrape your knee a little bit. And it's how do you, how do you react?
And are you going to change your approach next time based upon what you learned? And from that,
you build confidence from there to approach it differently the next time. And you also figure out that
failure is not as scary as people think, right? People are embracing for, oh, God, how bad is it
going to be or the rejection. And once you find out that the show goes on the next day, it gives you
a little more perspective to have more confidence to take more risks.
So true.
It's like anything, the more times that you're at bat, the more comfortable you're going
to get when you steps into the batters box, it is no different with failure.
Although I definitely had a very different opinion of it, you know, when I was back in
quote unquote corporate America.
But I want to jump in a little bit more to the imposter syndrome to hear your thoughts on.
My experience with imposter syndrome was I remember I was advocating for myself to
be promoted from executive vice president to chief revenue officer. And I remember thinking,
am I even qualified for this? You know, I don't have a master's. I'm younger. Back then I was younger
than the other people at the C-suite level. I didn't have as many years experience in the company
is aided. So I second guess myself, but there's something probably from the competitive nature of
who I am that pushes myself into these situations, even though I don't know if I'm qualified.
So there was always that trepidation and fear.
What if they actually say yes, then what?
And so they ended up saying yes.
And I'll tell you, this was a game-changing moment for me, Andrew, was when I finally was appointed to the C-suite position and my first big executive meeting as a C-suite executive, I realized, wait a minute, this is the biggest scam going.
I get paid more.
I have more resources.
I have more autonomy and control.
wait a minute, it's easier at this level. It truly was. It was actually easier. And it is the biggest
scam going. And so that's one thing I want to impart on everybody. I was so wrong. I was overqualified
for all the reasons why I thought I wasn't because I was bringing my unique skill set to this table that
needed it, desperately needed it. And I was actually already doing the work just with a more junior
level title. So a lot of this stuff is just, it's not real. It's built up in our minds. Have you seen it
that same way? Well, yeah. I think you bring up a good.
good point is the real hard work comes from those that are on the front lines. And I've always kind of
living through the lens of gratitude because I was on the front lines for so long. I made cold calls for
for almost two years before I took a meeting. And then I carried a bag, as we say, which means
you're out in the field carrying a quota for three and a half years. And so I know how hard it was.
And to your point, those are the people that are really moving the needle. Once you kind of move up
the corporate ladder, you kind of mentioned peeking behind the Wizard of Oz, the curtain a little bit,
like, oh, so what do you do here kind of a thing? And there's a tremendous amount of responsibility.
And I don't want to downplay that. But to your point, I think there's other folks that if you keep them
engaged and you show that you care about them and you continue to challenge them and invest in them so that they can grow in their career,
they're going to be really loyal to you and the leadership. And I think when leadership kind of gets that ivory tower out of touch or they don't understand how hard it is and they're kind of making these a
to, hey, make more cold calls, do this, do that, without that layer of empathy. I think that's when
they lose, they lose the trust in the team. And that's something, I'm, I mean, I just did a,
I did a one-on-one meeting with one of my 85 reps yesterday that I do monthly. It's hard to scale
that. But my biggest fear, as I've moved through the ranks, is that I get out of touch with
what's going on in the streets. Because I think once you do that, that's a quick way to lose
the respect of your team. And, you know, in this market, we're an extremely competitive market.
People will, people have a freelance mentality, which I think is good. It keeps leadership honest to go,
just like a salesperson goes, what's my unique value prop? I'm asking myself all the time,
what's our unique value prop as a leadership team that people want to continue to work here
and really comes down to showing that you care and there's incentives and comp and all that stuff.
But it's really about an investment quality in, I'm going to make you a better seller,
whether you leave here tomorrow or six years from now,
you're going to be a better seller because you've been on my team.
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The biggest most epic fails that I saw at the highest levels and companies was when they were detached from reality and they would only see things as numbers on a spreadsheet, which truly, in my opinion, is the most epic fail. And you know, you can look at the results as well. When leaders like that take over, it is a fail. So to that point, how are you able to, because you brought up the point, it's tough to scale. I was running marketplaces all around the country. And like you, it was so hard to scale. I was on a plane every single week.
trying to get that one-on-one face time with people, trying to find out what was happening
the streets of Las Vegas differently than what was happening in Philadelphia.
Because there are differences, right?
And you have to acknowledge them.
As much as you want to say, it's a numbers game, it truly isn't.
And leadership's different in different marketplaces and competitive situations are different, right?
So as much as we want to say, it's one simple strategy.
It never truly is.
So how do you find ways to keep that personal touch and scale?
That's a challenge.
It's been a challenge as I've moved through.
It was easy with six people, it was harder with 20, and it's almost impossible with 100,
at least on a weekly basis.
I think about leveraging my time in larger platforms, but intimate settings.
So I did a lunch this Tuesday with our BDR team, and there's 12 people that are on the team.
And to do a Q&A for an hour and, you know, we talk about my career and cold call strategies
and all that stuff.
It's small enough where they feel like they get to know me, but that's hard to do in a one-on-one
setting. I actually think LinkedIn has created some level of intimacy with me and my sales team.
So one thing I've found that's been really interesting, and I certainly don't have the audience
you have, but I don't see a lot of leaders in corporate America taking risks on LinkedIn or
being vulnerable. And once again, I think this comes back to insecurities is this shield of
I'm perfect kind of a thing. And I've found, as I've talked about, you know, I have three young kids
under the age of 10. I've talked about, you know, alcohol use in corporate America. I've talked about,
you know, being let go from an organization. I've talked about things that people maybe would go,
I don't know if you should talk about that. And I found the, you know, I think I've gained a lot
traction with kind of doing the opposite of what people have told me in some cases because people
feel like I'm a real person. And then, you know, I go on a podcast or do an interview with someone or
I meet with someone for the first time. Like, I do a lot of interviewing and the crazy thing about
LinkedIn that I didn't have five years ago is because I put out content, people that are interviewing
me feel like, you know, just like you. It's like they hear your, you know, your podcast,
or they see your LinkedIn content, or they've read your books and they feel like they know
you before they've met you, right? So we're kind of scoring points before the game starts.
And for me, it's been an invaluable tool for recruiting and leadership and that sort of thing.
So once again, it's how do you scale it, but how do you keep it real? And to me, there's still
taking the time. I focus on what's a meaningful activity I'm going to do because just like everyone
else, you know, there's 24 hours in the day. I have a busy family, personal life, just like everyone
else. And I much rather spend time one-on-one in conversations or in the field or in the office
having meaningful conversations, even if that just talking life, than sitting behind a spreadsheet
or refreshing dashboards and barking at people. I so agree with you. And you're cracking me up.
Okay, a couple of things I want to point out guys that Andrew brought up there. I think are super
important. Number one, when you're trying to scale and have more of an intimate real touch point
with people to get to know them to build that trust, it's such a great idea to do what you
describe, which is bring a lunch group together or a dinner group where you have more real
conversations. And maybe it's not just one-on-one. Maybe it's one in 15, right? Or you're sitting
down 15 or 20-year-taught people. But that is so smart. I actually just did a record a podcast episode
about this and about the right strategies, the right questions to ask to really.
engage the room to open it up, make it more emotional and full of gratitude. And I think you are
spot on, right? That is such a smart strategy. If you are listening and you are trying to be more in
touch with your teams, definitely try this approach. It works. And I will find out what that other
episode is because I never know which week anything is launching. And I will put it in the show
notes, super interesting stuff. Okay, so that's number one. I love that approach. And number two,
to your point around vulnerability, I very rarely see anyone show up very vulnerable. When people,
do on LinkedIn, those posts go viral. And it's for a reason, right? My most viral post I've ever had to
this day, which got millions of views, was the day I got fired and I posted, hey, I've just got
fired. If I've ever helped you, I need to hear from you. Now, I will put a sidebar footnote on this,
right? So for me, the day that I decided to take, you know, that cover off or that bail of corporate
BS and lean into just being the real me, that's when my social media exploded. And
Yes, you create community so much faster. People completely think they know you. It's incredible.
Anyone who isn't forward facing and being a bra and brown social media, you are missing a huge opportunity.
You will regret it. If yesterday was the right time, today is the only time. Get on there and do it now.
Now, here's my one caveat. So funny that this actually just happened today, a friend of mine was setting me up and connecting me to someone they wanted me to go out on a date with.
And I never thought about this.
As much as people know me from a business sense, you know, a transparency sense,
somebody that would be knowing that they were going to be potentially taking me out,
could Google me and start seeing all of my content.
And it was the funniest thing to hear someone that was asking me on a date to say,
oh, I heard that your feet are smelly, Heather.
That's so interesting in one of your talks.
And I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, this is the first time ever that this information is being used in this way.
It's actually pretty funny.
So 99% of the time it is amazing.
to show up with vulnerability on LinkedIn.
So thank you so much for bringing that up.
All right, talk to me about building confidence in your teams,
confidence in your people, not in yourself,
but how do you uplift and build confidence within others?
Yeah, so a lot of who I work with, I would say,
is professionals earlier on in their career,
and they might be in their 20s or 30s,
and it's usually not their first job,
but maybe their second, third sales job.
And I think they're always trying to find their ground and their footing.
And one of the things that I really focus on is,
you know, you can rah-rah people and you, yeah, you should go congratulate them when they're having
success and, you know, you should give them direction and challenge them when they're not doing
what they need to do. That's all part of coaching and leadership. But one of the things that I found
that is gained a lot of traction is once someone kind of establishes their footing is creating a mentor,
mentee situation where even if they just know a little, teaching someone something they didn't
know builds your confidence a lot. So we actually have a formal mentor mentee set up in
organization. So if a brand new seller comes on, they go through a boot camp training,
which is eight weeks, but they're also assigned a sales rep that's a mentor. And that mentor
doesn't need to be there for 10 years. They can be there six months. But the idea is once
people learn that I just need to know a little more than the next person to be helpful,
that helps establish a level of, ooh, I can help someone, right? So there's an opportunity there.
I think the other thing that I've really tried to focus on in my leadership career that
that I received early on was, you know, catch them in the act of doing something good.
I think people are usually waiting for managers to, you know, yell at them for not, you know,
for missing the quota and not making enough calls.
And I periodically like to go look at stats or we use technology like Gong where we can
record demos and try to find things that they didn't know I was looking to say, hey, I thought
you did an excellent job here.
And I think that gives people the confidence level to go, I didn't know someone was looking
over my shoulder, but the fact that they're complimenting me.
gives me a lot of confidence that I'm doing the right thing. So I think those are simple strategies,
but helping someone with something that they didn't know, especially as you're trying to gain your footing
and then from a leadership perspective is complimenting them, catch them in the act of doing something
good. I think they're usually waiting to be maybe a little more gun shy of being corrected and just
a pat on the back when it's unexpected goes a long way. I love that idea of catching someone doing something
good. That is not the norm out there. However, that is why people are advocating for you to be on this show for sure.
All right. Share some tips with us around how do you get up and give a strong presentation when you're not feeling your best or you're feeling uncertain. What are some of the strategies that you lean on to make sure that when you're presenting, when you're actually in there holding a meeting, that you show up and do the best and most powerful job you can do?
one of the things I like to do that I don't see enough is not just participation with the audience,
but I like to reference people in the audience of past things they've done. You know, there's something to do a
Q&A or go, what do you guys think? And you get people, but I like going, I just saw last week,
so-and-so do this and, you know, so-and-so does a great job of this. And I think using people's
names, keep them engaged. But it also shows you're paying attention, you're listening.
And it feels good when a leader has acknowledged you, especially if it's something you weren't aware that they were aware of.
So it kind of shows that like you're keeping an eye on things.
The other thing I would say is, I mean, I've never been a big overly scripted, no person.
I'm kind of big into that improv aspect.
But definitely having some bullet points of what I'm talking about.
But I'm big into trying to use humor in a comic relief setting.
I think corporate America is too stuffy in general.
I think people take themselves too seriously.
I grew up in a blended family of six.
I was the fourth.
And, you know, I was always looking for attention.
So to me, the comic relief of this feels too serious is good.
And I think people want to work in an environment where you can joke about yourself a little bit and not take yourself too seriously.
I think that's refreshing.
And I don't see it enough.
And I think when leaders appear out of touch or arrogant, I think it's a very unattractive quality.
Oh, my gosh.
It's the worst.
those are always the people that are the most insecure.
If you're trying to show up and pretend you're perfect or pretend you're better than others,
it's because you actually are suffering so much inside.
And I remember, I don't know why people didn't tell us this when we were younger,
but I remember, you know, when I was younger, working for people like that and thinking,
oh, gosh, they've got all the answers.
They've got it together, you know, cut to a few years later when I pulled that curtain back.
And I saw, oh, no, they're actually the ones that are so scared of,
what everybody else thinks. So for everyone listening right now, that person that you think is perfect,
that you think is so arrogant, know that they are struggling so much more worse than you. Try to have
a little empathy or compassion for them because that's got to be a really painful situation to be in.
All right. So I know that you mentioned that you're a parent. So how does leading your children
and building confidence in your children differ from your teams at work?
That's a good question. Maybe you can help me. I've tried to
implement some of the same sales strategies and leadership strategies on the home front, it's different.
I have a 10-year-old and 8-year-old boys. Actually, I have a son named Dylan. I think you do too.
And I have a 3-year-old Luna, my little girl. And I've tried to allow them to, they have to be good people,
they have chores, they have responsibilities, they've got to hold the door for people. There's things
that are deal-breakers for me. But when it comes to sports activities, musical instruments,
hobbies. I really want them to just find what they're passionate about. And I've tried really hard
not to push. And I think to some degree, I've set some pressure expectations of what I do in my
own personal life, but I don't want them to feel like they have to live up to something, not to say
I'm so great. But they've seen me, you know, I've kind of gone through my own transformation in the last
five years and, you know, out of shape and kind of stagnant my life to, you know, becoming a
marathon runner and quitting alcohol and doing a bunch of things that they've seen me go through that
journey. And I think one of the things that I really want them to do is find out what they're
passionate about at an early age. And that could be my 10 year old just said, I don't want to play
the violin anymore. And I don't want them to quit on things if they committed to it. But we went
into this going, let's see if this is the instrument for you. And if it's not, then let's,
we can find something else. So I'm tried to allow them to find their own way. My sales approach was
always, I'm not going to hard, close people. I'm definitely aggressive and I'll definitely challenge people,
but I want people to buy. I don't want them to feel sold. And in my space, I sell two salespeople.
And I always think about how I buy myself. I go, yeah, I don't want to be sold. I'm the sales guy.
I'm going to, I'm going to sell you kind of a thing. So there's a little reverse psychology.
There's a little bit of you want what you can't have to some degree. But in parenting, to me,
It's about leading by example myself.
So my actions speak louder than my words.
And they see how I treat my wife.
They see how, you know, we were at Mount Rushmore.
And there was someone with a Vietnam War hat.
And I just said, thank you for our service.
And, you know, this guy was very complimentary.
Oh, enough people don't say it.
And then my eight-year-old at the time was asking me why I did what I did.
Right.
So it's, I'm not preaching to him.
He's seeing me do things.
And I'm explaining to him why I carry on.
But I didn't say you have to do this, right?
I just, if he thinks it's a, that's a good way to live your life, then they're going to follow.
And I think I've had that same mentality in corporate America, too.
I just think your actions are always going to speak louder than your words.
It's very cliche, but it's powerful in real life.
And when people say to do things and then they don't back it up with their actions,
that's a way to demotivate people.
So you brought up something interesting that you had this big personal transformation,
made some very significant changes to your life over the last five years.
What was the catalyst for that? And how have you learned from that situation? How can you apply it to when you see other people in challenging situations?
Yeah, to me, the catalyst was stagnant feeling of life, career, health. I thought of myself as a good athlete. I was voted best athlete in my high school class of 360, which you would laugh if you would meet me because I don't look like anything special. And then I had, you know, I had this moment at the corporate 5K where I'm walking.
the 5K. And, you know, I've just kind of slipped into the Midwestern softball, beer drinking, dad,
overweight. And, you know, there's just these moments. And I don't know, rock bottoms is a dramatic
statement. But there's these moments where you kind of look in the mirror and you're like,
is this what we've become? Is this where we're at? And, you know, I think the really cool thing is
there's a, there's a victim mentality out there in the world. And there's a whoever's president,
you know, dictates my life or, you know,
Texas or policy or whatever. And I just think a lot of that is bullshit. I think a lot of it is based
upon your own decision making and what you want to make of your life. And it started with running.
So I hadn't ran in years. And about 18 months after that 5K, I ran a full marathon. And that was
really empowering. And, you know, alcohol was part of the story as well. And to me, it was just more
of a habitual, you come home, you drink three or four beers. That's what we do in the Midwest. I live
in Milwaukee. So that's kind of the prototypical, you know, changing that cycle of my life and that
habit is just opened up a lot in terms of not only productivity, but emotions of life. I found that
you got to embrace life, the good and the bad. And if we're numbing it every day, we're actually
kind of cheating ourselves a little bit. And then in addition to that, professionally speaking,
I had this climb through the corporate ranks and had a great story, but I was kind of plateauing.
I was on my same regional vice president role for three and a half years.
And I loved what I did and I loved the people, but I was kind of asleep at the wheel in the sense that it was so easy in some ways.
And I left the organization last year about this time.
And I went and ran a 100 person sales org somewhere else.
And about six months after that, I got an opportunity to come back into my dream role with the organization that grew up in.
And I think there's some market validation that happened that, oh, shit, maybe Andrew Metz is good enough to.
to run our 100 person sales organization of this other company thinks, but you learn a lot about
yourself when you go and do hard things. And really, the fun is just in that journey and that next
check point that you receive. And I remember the day I ran six miles. Wow, I ran six miles.
And I remember my first half marathon. And, you know, all those things, it also creates an abundance
mindset to go, well, what else can I do? And I'm 38 years old. I still say I'm on the first half of my
career. I think I'm just getting started. And, you know,
look at someone like you, Heather, to be honest, I found your story so inspirational.
And the first time I heard of you was when you talked to Gary V. And I can sense in your
conversation that it was one of those moments where it was a milestone, right? And you probably
look back on that fondly to go, here we are, you know, talking to someone that maybe I didn't think
I was going to talk to. And I maybe heard that interview with you and Gary Vee three years ago.
And here I am talking to you, right? So it just feels so good to dream.
and not accept just where you're at today as the final destination, but continue to push yourself.
And look, it's going to be hard. People are going to doubt you. You're going to doubt yourself.
People are going to roll their eyes and think it's dumb. I mean, I have people roll their eyes and think it was
dumb that I was doing LinkedIn content two years ago, three years ago with 1,500, you know,
connections. It was like nothing. And you could still say my audience is nothing, but I don't really
give a shit. You know, it's it's therapeutic for me. It means something to the audience I have.
and at the end of the day, we write more of our own story than we realize, but no one's going to do it for you.
You got to go do it for yourself.
Well, one of the big takeaways that I just got from what you shared is it all starts with one thing.
For you, it started with saying, okay, I walk this corporate fight.
Okay, that's embarrassing. I'm going to try to run tomorrow.
You know, starting with the running.
So for everyone listening right now, just figure out one thing.
Maybe it's one thing that you used to have incorporated in your life that was positive, brought you joy,
and somehow along the way you dropped it.
I remember at the end of last year, I had just let so much, so many things pile up around my house.
I had a new book coming out. I had boxes of books everywhere, papers everywhere. I had let go of
staying disciplined around organization. And at the beginning of the year, I cleared this entire
house out. And mentally, I felt so much better. Was it easy? No. Was it exhausting? Yes.
Annoying. Yeah, frustrating. All the feelings, all the not great feelings. But I knew that I would
feel better if and when I could get it back to the way I felt proud.
about it, right? So it's about picking up that first box or picking up those first papers or
putting those sneakers on and going out for the run. Challenge yourself to do one thing today to get
started so you can start on a way to a better path. And quickly on the Gary B note, yes, that was huge.
I'll never forget when I got the calendar invite, but I will say this. That man talked over me
so much during that interview. It drove me cuckoo. And I need to go back on that show. But I
appreciate you saying that. Andrew, where can people find you? Clearly, you know a lot about
leadership, leading yourself, leading your family, leading your team. Where can people get your
content? Where can they get more from you? The main place I live is LinkedIn, Andrew Metz, M-E-T-Z.
You can find me on there. And I love interacting with people when possible. Scalability is a problem,
but at the end of the day, I'd love to see people there and interact with them there.
Well, Andrew, thank you so much for showing up as such a genuine leader. Thanks for leading for your
team. And now I see why they advocate for you. Guys, follow Andrew on LinkedIn and
Until next week, keep creating your confidence.
