Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Josh Ellis - Editor-In-Chief of Success Magazine

Episode Date: July 6, 2021

Welcome to this week’s episode on The Radcast! Get ready for Josh Ellis, the Editor-In-Chief of SUCCESS magazine.In this episode on The Radcast, host Ryan Alford talks with guest Josh Ellis about the definition of success, how it has changed dramatically in the modern social media-driven world we live in, and shares professional highlights of his career at SUCCESS and more.Josh also has a quick take on RAD or FAD trending topics;Online CoachesClubhouse and/or "Social Audio"TikTok for MainstreamZoom Call'sSeltzer BeersTo learn more about Josh Ellis, follow him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajoshellis) and Instagram (@ajoshellis). Get the magazine updates (https://www.linkedin.com/company/success-magazine/)If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, let us know by visiting our website www.theradcast.com or leave us a review on Apple Podcast. Be sure to keep up with all that’s radical from @ryanalford @radical_results @the.rad.cast If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

It's a really, it's a high stress, pressure filled, there's no safety net. You know, when I was a younger person, it was all just, that was who I viewed as successful, as people that had a lot of money. And finally, silts or beers? Rad. We don't need fewer types of alcohol, we need more. It has to start somewhere. It has to start sometime what better

place than here what better time than now hey guys what's up welcome to the latest edition of the rad cast hey guys what's up it's ryan alford welcome to the latest edition of the rad cast we're getting radical today we've got the editor-in-chief josh ellis from success magazine what's up josh welcome to the show ryan glad to be here thanks for having me yeah man hey i think everyone that listens to the rad cast is all chasing the same thing i think we're all chasing success every day. So I'm just glad we can talk about the magazine and what you guys going on. And maybe you, do you have the formula for success? Are we going to get down to the absolute magic formula for success today? Can we promise that yet? That's right. I'm the only person that has it and I've patented it and we're going to be selling it. We're bottling it up and selling

it. E minus four squared times hustle equals some form of success. You've been looking on my notes. I did. I did. Well, cool, man. I know you're the editor-in-chief at Success. I know you've done some things with the Cowboys and TV. We talked pre-episode a little bit about your Ole Miss SEC guy. But let's tell everybody that doesn't know Josh Ellis personally a little bit about your background and what brought you ultimately to Success Magazine and kind of where things are at today. You know what I, when I was a kid, I was,

I was, uh, I was just, I was just like a pretty good writer. Um, and I owe that to, uh, like a fantasy wrestling forum that I stumbled upon in like a sixth grade

where we would do, um, now it's, it's very clearly nerd stuff, but, but back then it seemed pretty cool to me uh where we would do playing you'd type you'd write out like wrestler was his uh his diss track to the other pretend wrestlers and so i wrote a lot um as a kid and i I'm, I'm thankful that, uh, those, those haven't been saved anywhere on the internet.

Um, but just being your average, like teenage boy, I wrote about my interests. And so I wrote about football and wrestling and, and, you know, stupid stuff. And, um, the opportunity came along when I was like looking for a job as a 16 year old. My first one was, was to haul, um, quick creep sacks around. It was very heavy and hot in East Texas where I grew up and that sucked. Um, and he came along to write for the local newspaper, um, covering like the junior varsity volleyball games and soccer and stuff that, that the, the actual professionals didn't want to bother with. Um, and so I got even more writing experience and I, I, I decided that I wanted to go into sports writing. Um, so I went to college for journalism in full intentions of being a sports

writer, did it. You mentioned for the Cowboys, that was, uh, that was my first kick out of school. And, um, after a few years, just kind of felt like I, um, you know, what I was doing and writing about was trivial and, uh, there wasn't much room for me to grow. grow, you know, when you're writing the injury report most days and talking about how they, you know, blew a fourth quarter lead or fell apart in December again. And so I started looking for ways to grow as a person through my work, but then also just professionally. It was success. Happened to be in North Texas, happened to have an editing position. I happened to get it

and was very lucky to get to evolve and develop as an editor and become the editor-in-chief back in 2015 and been really enjoying that ever since. Love it, man. It's rare that people follow, it seems like more and more, people don't know what they want to be when they grow up,

but to be writing at such a young age and following that passion and it leading to ultimately a career is really cool. And I think I was probably one of the rare people that was a marketing major at school and actually went into marketing. So it's kind of relatable on some level. And I knew I liked you, man. When you started talking about wrestling, I remember coming off the top rope of my parents' couch when I was like eight years old, like big elbow drops,

like pretending I was the macho man or something. I was an only child, so we just had a duffel bag filled with old clothes, and I did so many power bombs, choke slams, leg drops, Northern Lights suplex. I can go all day with the... Who was your favorite wrestler when you were a kid? It's embarrassing to say,

but he's still going now. Oh, my goodness. Chris Jericho. Oh, yes. He played a lot of different characters. Started like WCW days, then went to, you know, he made his hay in the, I guess, WWF, now WWE. I never quite got over the acronym change there, but understood it. Worldwide Life Fund went to Worldwide Entertainment.

As an adult, I have a much better appreciation for how hard of a job those guys have and what athletes and entertainers they are. What was it like right out of, writing for the Dallas Cowboys? You know, I know on paper it maybe sounds sexier than what it what it was having been in this industry. I actually did some work with the Cowboys myself in 2008 with Verizon and the NFL and all that agreement. But is it any fond memories from from writing with them or was it as sexy as it sounded or unsexy? I mean, it was a cool job. The pay sucked.

I mean, I made like, you know, starvation wages pretty much, which is when you work in professional sports. It's like, yeah, you have to work hard, but we can get anyone to do it because a lot of people do think it's sexy. And it was fun. It was a fun job. I got to travel and I got to, you know, talk about football for a living. And a lot of people would want to do that. And I have no regrets about it. The best thing that it did for me uh was it made me comfortable around sorts of people um and um

you know like as a kid growing up in texas um you know the the dallas cowboys are like this huge thing and their players and their ownership and coaches the front office these are like you know, huge celebrities. And so when I got there as an intern at like 20 years old, Drew Bledsoe would pass by in the hallway and my knees would tremble. And then, you know, over the course of several years of working around famous people, rich people, newsmakers, what have you, I just got comfortable. And so in my job today, I get to interview a lot of, you know, influential people and

people who have extremely high net worths or, you know, have done impressive things and I'm intimidated. I'm more comfortable around them and and that's anything that that that's what it did for me and kind of taught me to just see everybody as a person one-to-one um same same as you know same personal problems that we all have and um foibles and you know what have you i mean you wrote for wrote for America's team and now you're writing for America's version of what we define as success and entrepreneurship and all of those things. You know, you went there a little bit and it's interesting to hear you talk about, you know, the net worth and celebrities and being around people and how they have the same problems.

I had Tim Story on the podcast. It hasn't released yet, who's the life coach of the stars and Oprah Winfrey's personal coach and Quincy Jones and all these people. He talked about that very thing. And it's, hey, we all have to put our pants on in the morning and we all have the issues. And I think once you realize there's a human nature to all of us that some of that starts to fall down. But talk about, you know, success and, you know, the journey. I know the I think I believe in the last year the magazine is sold. Maybe talk about the evolution of the magazine and some of your favorite moments maybe for writing with the publication. Well, Success was founded in 1897.

So if anybody is unfamiliar with it, it's really just we're too new. We need a chance to break through. 2022 will be 125th year of the magazine in and out of publication several times over the years, different ownership groups, defunct here, brought back there, slight title change here and there, but the history goes back to 1897. And it was, it was founded by this guy Orson Swett Martin, who was like a preacher philosopher. And at that time by this guy, Orson Swett Martin, who was like a preacher philosopher. And at that time, the general philosophical idea that we had was that our fate was decided by the creator and and there was very little uh utility in in trying to uh improve your circumstances

and he disagreed with that and um so the magazine has always been for people who want to take control of their own destiny their own finances their own future uh and and that's that's that's what it is still today. Over the years, it really has become a magazine for entrepreneurs and leaders. Today, we really see it more as a solopreneur, like a real estate agent or an independent salesperson, anyone who is sort of sort of self-reliant for their income and their outcomes. But, yeah, it's a magazine that is not just about business and growing a company. We have a lot of competitors who do that on the newsstand next to Fast Company and Entrepreneur and Inc. and Bloomberg Business.

And those magazines are extremely valuable at what they do in helping companies grow. And what we do is we help the individuals who run those companies grow personally. So the thinking is that if you are a business owner, then you are the most important person, most likely, in your business. And the better you are, the more you bring to the table, the better off your business will be. We help people grow in their leadership capacity and their understanding of how they do business and their sales and marketing strategies and things like that. But we help them as much as anything in, you know, some soft skills and intangibles

and their personal happiness and their mental health and their, you know, feelings of growth and purpose in what they do. you know, feelings of, of growth and purpose in what they do. Um, that's, that's how we try to serve the reader and, and, um, you know, feel, feel that it's really important. I mean, these entrepreneurs are the people who employ America. And, um, so, um, you know, it's, it's a, it's a really important sort of societal mission, uh, to keep those people running strong. a really important sort of societal mission to keep those people running strong. And, you know, it's interesting to hear you put that lens on it. I read Fast Company, read Entrepreneur. I've read the last few issues of Success.

And that really did encapsulate it for me. And you spoke it so eloquently, like the difference of, because you read, even myself, I mean, I'm a solopreneur. But I read, and I'm in the industry and marketing and business and all these things. So I read certainly with a more educated, might not be the right word, but lens of it's my everyday job, a fast company. of it's my everyday job, a fast company, but it's, I go, you know, man, this is not really adding a lot of value to maybe the everyday small to medium business owner or something like that, other than just high level interest. But reading success and reading the articles and the tips and everything that goes into, again, nurturing maybe that perspective and the tips and the, and everything that goes into again, nurturing maybe that perspective and that mindset of the solopreneur really

does separate success from the others. It's a really, you know, those people like yourself, it's a high stress pressure filled, uh, exist where you have, um, you know, you know, there's no safety net. And there are, in a lot of cases, people relying on you. And, you know, so it's really important, we've found, to, you know, to provide something that they can, those readers can, you know, know that they're going to get something good from.

They're going to grow in some way when they open the magazine and give us 10 minutes or two hours to read it. And it's, as much as anything, hopefully it lifts them up. Hopefully it's motivational and inspirational. You see other stories in um, that, you know, you can, um, you know, take, have some takeaway from, but, uh, there's a humanity in the magazine. I hope that, that, um, you know, people can see that, that there are others like them who are going through it too and sort of see their own potential and their own capacity to reach the next level, whatever it is, whatever goal that they're after, that they've got it in them. What, you know, having written for the journal, I think you're approaching eight to ten years, correct, with the magazine and publication. Is it changed your definition of success or I'm sure it's molded in a lot of ways, speaking with the level and the quality of the people that you get to speak with, but is it, has it summarized or, you know, I guess I'm

getting back to that magic formula, but more, but more in a realistic like lens for you for now, maybe how you define not, not just for yourself, but in general, does it, does it kind of bring it all into, into, into crystal form, you know, like what success is? You know, when I was a younger person, it was all just success. That was who I viewed as successful, as people that had a lot of money. And I came from like a lower middle class. And, you know, so I just thought like getting ahead and having a good life for me is going to be like being more comfortable financially. Um, but, uh, you know, I, I, I do make a lot more money than I did when I got here and

I still have problems. Like, you know, life is, uh, life is better because of the people that I have around me not be my you know higher salary or like you know the the difference in my lifestyle so I think that you know what it's taught me is that you can make a lot of money like you know unhealthy and and you know not in good enough shape to play with your kid. Or you can, you know, I have viewed success as over the last few years as really like four basic tentpoles, and I ran through them a little bit earlier, but happiness, health, growth, and purpose. And when, you know, you can be in really good shape on the counter side of that,

but still be depressed. And so it's it's there's an alignment with the things that that. And the same token. Somebody can can give if what's your passion in life, like surfing and all you want to do all day is surf and you don't care, um, you know, that you live in like an efficiency apartment and, and all it takes to afford that lifestyle is to give like two hours of surfing lessons a day. And then you can surf for the rest of the day. If that's success for you, then it's for nobody else to define it for you. That's, that's all that you need. And that's all that matters. And so I think as I've

gotten older and matured and been around a lot of people who define success for themselves, it really is up to us individually to determine what we're after. Well put. HHGP, we're going to have that in the show notes. Health, happiness, growth, and the P was purpose. Purpose. There we go. I love that. We're going to create something around that. I love that. Social media has been a blessing. I don't want to call it a curse. It's the foundation of my life in some ways with our business, with what we do. So I don't want to call it a curse, definitely not for myself. But we all know the pluses and minuses of social media and the lens that it's put success on,

like you said, money and cars and Lambos and all these things. Has it had an impact that you've seen? And obviously, social media has been around for 15 plus years now, but in a mainstream way. But has it impacted the magazine's view and lens with which the stories that you tell for success more specifically? the stories that you tell for success more specifically? Yeah, well, because as I mentioned, our readership, we sort of define as solopreneurs. It really is important for those people to market themselves and build a community or a sphere of influence, whatever you want to call it. And social media is the primary way that we do it today um if you

know if i'm looking for a um life coach and and you don't have an instagram or a twitter or facebook where i can find something out about you then then i'm probably going to move on just because i i'm people do their their homework these days right and so, and that is the new word of mouth is sharing posts and things like that. So that is how, um, you know, people, people grow businesses and gain influence. So it's, it's simple to, um, you know, understand it and, and use it rather than be used by it. Um, but I also think that, um, as, and we all are to some capacity, we're not getting what we signed up for.

I remember when Facebook came out and I was a freshman in college, I thought, this is great. What an awesome way to connect with my friends. And no strings attached? Are you kidding? How amazing. And obviously that wasn't the case. And we see it with all the other platforms these days as well, that not only are they just selling to us and marketing to us

or selling us really to the advertisers, but in a lot of cases they really don't make us happier or more healthy mentally. They don't help with our feelings of growth or purpose. They just drag us down. And so actually, over the course of the first half of this year, success has been trying to do something about that, trying to improve it. Yeah. And I think you have. It transitions perfectly because I wanted to get into what you guys are building. You guys are putting your money where your mouth or writing is, so to speak, and actually

building a community for all of this to take place. I think you guys have naturally been doing this anyway with your content and all of the coaching and all of the things that success does, you guys, but now it's kind of all coming together here with the Achievers platform, Success Achievers community. It looks impressive so far. I started to play around with it. I'm going to get signed up, but I really wanted you to talk to, you know, I think you just nailed, you know, really, you know, some of the pitfalls and some of the detriments of what's been happening on some of the other platforms and how, you know, there's kind of a lack of that, I don't know, ability to transition from just self-promotion or, you know, I guess the commerce aspect of other social media into the development portion that I think you guys are doing with Achievers. So I'd love to hear more about what you guys are doing with that. Yeah. So Achievers is the platform. People can check it out at

achievers.success.com or download the app success achievers community um and and like you said it really is meant to um create the community that we were supposed to get on those other social networks but um but instead we got um you know representations of who people are so so achievers is a mentorship platform. There's people who sign up are there to find mentors, people who have had the experience in their field or their lifestyle or their, you know, interests. And they're there to give mentorship to people who are a little bit people who are a little bit early. And so there's a give and a get. And, you know, we don't collect anybody's data.

We don't, you know, there's no ads on the platform. It's entirely a community. It's what we all expected, thought we were getting when we signed up for these other places. And it's, you know, it's still geared for the solopreneur or the entrepreneur, the person who's self-reliant for growth. That could be, you know, an intrapreneur in a company, just trying to understand how to get ahead in one way or another, but whatever your interests are, there's somebody in this community who you can learn from, and they may post, you may need to from and they may post you may need to ask them a question you may need to seek them out um but um that that's that's the idea to bring

like-minded people together and um you know it's it's um the magazine as i mentioned been around for 125 years and we have websites and podcasts and things like that now evolving as a digital media company but that's all like one directional content right we we create it push it out into the world you absorb it or don't and what we think the future of media is is these communities hubs for the people who would be our reader would be be our audience member, to gather and serve one another and ask for the help that they need on demand and just bring people together to create these positive collisions where they'll get actual value out of it, they'll get actual value out of it. Not just some place to neurotically doom scroll or to just waste time while sitting in a red light, but some actual growth from it.

Yeah. I love it. I heard you talk about this on an interview, and we don't have to go completely down this path. But, like, that was the promise of LinkedIn on some level at some point. And it's turned quickly down, you know, more down the Facebook path, I think, than anything else of just content and, you know, individually trying to get our next job or our next opportunity. And certainly there's educational aspects, but I think what you guys are doing, like you said, is that nurturement and enrichment in things that are improving the person, improving people, and bringing them together to share those experiences is the real differentiator.

Yeah, LinkedIn is a networking platform. We did not set this up to be anything like a competitor for LinkedIn. People are on LinkedIn nakedly trying to get ahead themselves themselves create more startup business or find a job whatever um after we're we're there um achievers is is for people to um to to to give of themselves and i think that in my experience um the jobs that i've gotten the, you know, side gigs, speaking opportunities, so many of the good things that have come along in my life is because I gave with no expectation in return. what we're trying to create, um, you know, some, um, some, um, some love around is, is just to, to, um,

be offering of ourselves, um, on this platform. Um, and good things will come from that. People will see, uh, that we all have individually something, something to, to share. And, and, uh, I think that there's, you know, obviously the, the potential for, for it to, to mean mean huge for people if they use it in the right way. It's still very early in the platform, so we're paying a lot of attention to community management. People that are on there that aren't using it in the right way, we'll let them go. We'll give you a nice, polite warning at first that this is not what the community is for, but we'll be shy managing it to make sure that it's not abused. How are you guys attracting creators or coaches or maybe talk about any of the specifics around what people can expect and, and, you know,

the, I don't know the way with which interactions take place or those kinds of things. You know, I think it happens naturally. It's many, as much as anything, um,

the people that are aligned with that mission and they see me doing an interview or they see the content we created to explain it. If it sounds like something that they're into, then, uh, then they find us. It's, you know, Achievers does not have to have 3 billion users or whatever, like Facebook, to be, you know, valuable to our audience and a useful platform for us and to serve our mission. I think that there's a domino effect to the kind of content we put out when it makes the audience better or the kind of content that exists and is shared naturally on Achievers. When there are those positive collisions

and somebody comes away from it a little bit better, a little bit savvier, a little bit better leader from something that they learned from someone else there, then I think, one, they're more likely to tell a friend or invite a friend to it. And two, there's just positive developments that come from it, paying it forward in some way or another. Over time, we are working on sort of an affiliate program to where if you join our networks, then there could even be a financial incentive to it for you. But, you know, we use achievers to find talent partners in this community, to find voices of people that we'll feature in the magazine and on our podcasts.

So as much as anything, there is, you know, a chance to be seen and to have your voice kind of your way through our other platform. Yeah, I love it. Membership. That makes a lot of sense. And go figure, you know, a company paying it forward. You know, a media company, that is. It seems like it's all the way. I know people talk about and purpose marketing is

all the rage now but you know from a media perspective uh it seems you guys are really starting from from the right perspective um you know any like as we're kind of getting towards the end closing out here i mean any like personal highlights with success, like guys or people that you've interviewed or done articles on or anyone you'd want to mention that maybe surprised you or any just highlights that stick out like one, you know, above the others or something that someone might be surprised to hear? You know, I've, I lot of a lot of people that that uh some so many others consider like these real influencers in personal development or marketing you know life coach type people tony robbins and mel Robbins and thought leader, Simon Sinek, you know,

these types. Um, and they have something to teach of course. Um, but, but, but I think that if you ask the right questions, then, then everybody does, um, through their own experience. So, you know, somebody like expect to get much perspective from if you just judge off of the thin version of a personality that you see on TV. Somebody like Guy Fieri has as much insightful and deep things to say as Tony Robbins. If you know how to ask and if you get him out of his comfort zone. I interviewed DJ Khaled last week. And at the beginning of it, he's very like just on brand and like we the best and doing the whole shtick. And then by the end of it, he really opens up and you can learn something from him. And so, um, I think that that's,

that's, what's really interesting to me about my job is, is, you know, going deep with people to uncover the, the layers of the onion, um, that, that can be insightful for our readers, successful people. Um, you know, they may not have identified the reasons for themselves that it is working out for them, but there's always something there deep down that allows them to get ahead or keep working hard or to come up with great ideas or to be a great partner for other people. So to ask the right questions, it's there with just about everybody. Well, nothing warms my heart it's there with just about everybody. Well, nothing warms my heart more than hearing you talk about Guy. I don't know what it is, but I find my wife and I watch every one of his shows

and I'm like, I like, you know, I think at first you think he's over the top, a little cheesy or whatever, but then I've really grown to like him, at least through the lens with which I get to watch his shows and everything. I'm like, I like this guy. So nothing warms my heart than to hear that he actually was breaking it down for you. He was on our cover several years ago, but like he's aware that people make fun of him.

He doesn't care. He's like, this is me. I'm happy being me. I don't want to be 80% of me that is more palatable to a wider audience. I want to be all of me. And he's happy with that. And he gets to eat some awesome food and drive around in a convertible. And how bad is that? I mean, I love, like, literally on Friday nights, this is how boring, I guess, our life's gotten. I'm going to, like, really open it up to our audience. It's actually really cool, but just pretend it's not cool. But Friday nights, like, literally with our kids and everything else, because, look, there's so much little television that you can watch with, like, your family now, which drives me crazy.

But I have kids under 10. But we'll watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, like, you know, for like seven to 10 PM, like every Friday night. Like, and I'm like, dude, this guy's got the life. He's just munching on food, driving his convertible and being himself.

Yeah. And, and, you know, that is the person, like that is the, the guy in the surf, giving classes,

right? Like there are other people who are like these highly respected French chefs who That is the guy in the surf giving classes, right? There are other people who are these highly respected French chefs. He wanted to be him, and so that's success. I love it. All right, you got time for our little rad or fad buzzword. So I'm going to give you one topic, and you can one word it, rad or fad, or you can add a little context if you feel it's necessary.

We allow either one for our guests. Okay. Okay. All right. Let's do it. First one, online coaches, rad or fad? Rad. I think that we could all stand to grow and we all need somebody to call us out on our BS. And sometimes people just having another perspective, like of somebody who is, you know, is not in our own heads can tell us what we need to hear. And so I think it's good.

Number two, clubhouse and or social audio. Rad or fad? Fad. You know, maybe in some future iteration where they could cut out the fat and just present the gold, then maybe it'll work out. But I can't stand it. Ding, ding, ding, ding. Smart guy. I know a smart guy when I meet him. TikTok for the mainstream, rad or fad? I will say rad. It's not for me, but there are millions and millions and tens of millions of people younger than me who consume content like that.

So I think it's not going away. Rad. Yep. Agreed. Zoom calls. Rad. We work from home now and, yeah, it just seems futuristic to me. I don't know.

I kind of love it. It is enabling a better life and potentially a different version of success for people. I agree. And finally, seltzer beers. Rad. There's room for, it's a big tent at happy hour, right? We don't need fewer types of alcohol. We need more.

Yes. All right. Very good. Well, cool, Josh. I really appreciate you coming on. I know you've mentioned it, but let's do it one more time for everyone listening. Where to keep up with you, where to keep up with success, and how to find the Achievers community. Yeah, you can find the Achievers community at achievers.success.com or download the app through whatever app store, achievers.success.com.

Find me there. Find the magazine on newsstands every other month. We've got a brand new issue that just hit in June, and we'll be back again with another new one in August for another 125 years. Maybe we'll be around for it. I hear we're going to live to 150 according to some article I read. I don't know. It might not make our generation.

The seltzer beers are the key to that. Yes, it is. Josh, brother, really appreciate you coming on. Hey, guys, you know where to keep up with us we're at the.rad.cast on Instagram the radcast.com and I'm at Ryan Offord I'm verified on all the platforms you can follow all of our content

there we really appreciate you we really appreciate Josh from Success Magazine we'll see you next time on the Radcast