Damian Mason, author of “Do Business Better” and speaker, shares how respect is a key component to every step along the road to success.
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DAMIAN’S BIO:
Damian Mason is an entrepreneur, speaker, farm owner, author, podcaster, and self -made business person. He’s actually lived and accomplished what he talks about.Damian delivers insights and information to inspire individuals and organizations to Do Business Better. Audiences positively respond to his real world examples, straight talk, and smart, comedic edge.
Details About Damian:
- Has spoken to nearly 2,000 business audiences in 50 U.S. states and 7 foreign countries
- Is a Certified Speaking Professional – less than 1,000 professional presenters hold the designation granted by the National Speakers Association
- Screen Actors Guild member – yes, he’s acted in two major motion pictures alongside stars like Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, and Leslie Nielsen
- Owns and manages DaLoRosa Farms – a combination of timber, rental crop land, hay, and a small beef operation
- Prior to starting his own business, was a sales rep for Cooper Industries, now part of Eaton Corporation-Resigned his corporate post at age 25 to become a political comedian
- Started his own window cleaning business at age 19
- Had his first job at age 8 on the Indiana dairy farm where he was raised
- Degree in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University
- Studied scene writing and improvisational comedy at Second City Chicago
- Youngest of nine children, slept in a crib until age 6, refuses to share now!
- Damian lives with his wife, Lori, and their dog, Jack between their Indiana farm and a winter home in Arizona
LINKS TO DAMIAN:
- www.damianmason.com
- Damian Mason Professional Speaker on Facebook
- Damian Mason – Linked In
- @damianpmason Twitter
- damianmasonspeaker Instagram
BOOKS DAMIAN RECOMMENDS:
YOUR HOST: Mike Domitrz is the founder of The Center for Respect where he helps educational institutions, the US Military and businesses of all sizes create a culture of respect throughout their organizations. From addressing consent to helping corporations build a workplace free from fear (reducing sexual harassment and helping employees thrive by treating them with respect every day), Domitrz engages audiences by sharing skill sets they can implement into their lives immediately. As an author, trainer, keynote speaker and coach, Mike Domitrz loves working with leaders at all levels. Learn more at http://www.CenterForRespect.com
READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPTION of the EPISODE HERE:
Mike Domitrz: Welcome
to The Respect Podcast. I’m your host, Mike Domitrz from mikespeaks.com where
we help organizations of all sizes, educational institutions, and the U.S.
military create a culture of respect, and respect is exactly what we discuss on
this show. So, let’s get started.
Welcome
to this week’s episode. We’re going to right into it here with our guest,
Damian Mason. He is what happens when an entrepreneurial business person from
an agricultural background collides with a comedian. He’s funny. He excels at
business. He works like a farm. And he possesses a keen sense of the
marketplace. And he speaks at events throughout North American while managing
his farm properties. So, Damian, thank you so much for joining us.
Damian Mason: Well,
thanks for having me on, Mike. Appreciate it.
Mike Domitrz: Oh,
absolutely. To give everyone a little understanding of where you’re coming
from, because you come from a farm background and you make the point that you
went into entrepreneurism, so tell us about that.
Damian Mason: Yeah.
I was raised on a dairy farm. You’re from Wisconsin, so you can appreciate
this. Your basic, Midwestern dairy farm through the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I came
of age during the bad 80s. The economy for agricultural America was terrible during
that time. I went to Purdue and got a degree in agricultural economics, but,
again, it was a bad time in the early 90s, so I started selling lighting
products.
1993,
I won a Halloween costume contest dressed up as Bill Clinton. I was working in
Southern California for my company as a lighting fixture sales rep. My company
started using me at trade shows and sales meetings where I would have to dress
up as Bill Clinton and be the entertainment for the employees, the customers,
whoever it was.
Then
I decided in 1994 perhaps I could quit my job and make this my job, my
business. So, I took the leap of entrepreneurism in 1994. I had three gigs
lined up for the rest of my career, totalling twelve hundred dollars of gross
revenue, and invented a business as a political comedian. That’s how the whole
thing started, and as everybody that goes through show business, it’s not that
whole thing about, oh, you got discovered. No. You just work your ass off, and
you save and scrimp, and you try to make this whole thing happen.
After
about a year and a half, two years, things really started to click, and I
started doing more corporate events. So, that’s how the whole thing happened,
and I started amassing my knowledge and my business 25 years ago. It was skinny
starting out in the early 90s with my thing. You know, you’re doing $300 gigs,
and then if you make $300, you spend 200 of it on marketing materials, head
shots, business cards. This was before the internet, so you had to mail stuff
out. So, that’s what we went through a long time.
Being
a political comedian taught me quite a bit. It taught me about observing the
marketplace. It taught me about running the business. And I was always a
business-minded guy. I point out in my book that one of my friends gave me a
great compliment back in my early days. He said, “I’ve seen your act a
bunch.” He said, “You’re about a B act, but you’re an A at your desk
of running this business and making this thing happen.” And I’ll take
that. I think you can be … You can be a B+ product if you have an A at your
business acumen, and you treat the customer right, you sell, you market, you
invest in your business, and you keep making yourself better. I think that’s
really important.
Mike Domitrz: That
goes right into what we talk about here, which is respect. How do you think
going up on the farm … How did it impact you as far as treating your work
with respect, that work ethic, everything you were just bringing up?
Damian Mason: Yeah.
Well, by the way, I’ve got a ton of stuff on your topic. I actually am so glad
you reached out to me, because I’ve got a ton to talk about in terms of
respect. First off, the one thing that … Everybody talks about your farm boy
work ethic and all that. There’s plenty of lazy farm kids I’m sure out there,
but maybe less percentage-wise than there are from non-agricultural background.
I
think that the one thing that’s always been a big influence for me is … I say
that honor roll is way not important, whereas perfect attendance is. You’ve got
to show up, and you’ve got to put in the work. Being a livestock farmer …
This is back in the old days when me and my brother and mom and dad did the
work. We didn’t have a lot of hired laborers and all that sort of thing. It’s a
daily thing. You just understand that every single day this thing has to happen
or the cows will die. And then when the weather is shit, you put up hay, and
you put hay in the barn.
I
talk about that now. I still talk about when you have a fat month, you put a
bunch of money aside, and that’s called putting hay in the barn. There’s a
reason that you get ahead, and that’s because you save, you invest, you live
below your means, and you put the work in every day. So, yeah, we said giving
the work the respect that it deserves. You don’t have to be the brightest bulb
in the ceiling. If you’re responsible, take a little bit of risk, and put some
hay in the barn, you’re going to be successful.
Mike Domitrz: And
you went right out of the farm. At first, you went to the factory job, and
maybe that’s the place you were referring to earlier. What did that teach you
about respect specifically?
Damian Mason: Yeah,
I put myself through college. I paid my own way, and that was through being a
landscaper, being a bartender, and also being a factory worker. That’s back in
the industrial Midwest when we still had a lot of factories around here. One
thing that you learn … When you work the night shift at the ceiling tile
factory, you work with people that maybe didn’t get out of eighth grade. There
are some ex-convicts and maybe some people that have been through … They’ve
been through the ringer. The wrongest thing you can do is been an arrogant
little prick and talk down to those people, which, because you’re a 19-year-old
college kid and you think you’re smart.
I
never had that because I was a blue collar kid, farm boy. My dad worked nights
on the railroad, so I was always around a blue collar element. All my friends
growing up on the wrestling team with me were blue collar kids, so I always had
a respect for that. I find it really interesting, the sort of country club set
that’s fourth and fifth generation away from where the money was actually
earned and how little regard they have for what it takes to be a blue collar
person and what you do to get ahead.
So,
I think the respect that I had for those people was really, really a helpful
thing for me to get along. You’re a 19-year-old kid working alongside some
pretty hardened people, but you don’t talk to those people in a disrespectful
manner. So, that’s an important thing about being a blue collar kid. I’ve
always respected … Anybody that shows up and does the job deserves a dose of
dignity, whether it’s the night clerk at the grocery or the person at the
ceiling tile factory or the janitor.
I’m
always really friendly to those people. I still, today, when I’m in the
airport, and I see these business travelers hustling through and on their
cellphone and bumping into the guy that’s in the restroom picking up the trash.
I always say, “Excuse me.” I acknowledge them in a respectful way,
because I’ve been the janitor.
Mike Domitrz: Absolutely.
And you probably got to see in those moments–you know, you said they were
criminals and all–that a lot of times how we perceive people, like, “Oh,
that’s a criminal,” that that could be an incredibly wonderful person who
made a bad choice. Treating them with respect and dignity, you get to see,
“Wow, I’m not that far away from the possibility of me being in that
situation.” Anybody could get there, depending on the circumstances,
potentially. Did you find that to be true, or was it like people have these
stereotypes, “Oh that’s a a criminal,” and you just stayed away?
Damian Mason: Oh,
I don’t know. I mean, you’re in there. You’re working 12-hour nights with these
people in a dusty, dirty, loud place that’s 110 degrees. So, I notice that they
always had a certain amount of respect for me. They didn’t think that … The
kid that got coddled and favored that was the boss’s kid had a harder time than
the kid like me that was over there busting his tail, and so I guess that’s the
important part is there was some mutual respect in that.
Mike Domitrz: Yeah,
absolutely. So, now you’re in the factory. Age 25, you’ve now started doing the
comedy.
Damian Mason: Right.
I graduated with my degree in agricultural economics, and I did not really use
it in that regard back then. I started selling lighting products, and then I
quit my job when I was 25. So, I’m in my 25th and about to start my 26th year
of this, created the business as a political comedian way back when, and I
don’t do that at all anymore.
Mike Domitrz: Okay.
You don’t do which part anymore?
Damian Mason: Political
comedy. That’s a distant past.
Mike Domitrz: All
right. So, let’s go there though. You did break out on your own. You mentioned
that earlier. And ironically, your own company discovered you, which is
hilarious, which provided you the opportunity to break out on your own. What
were the lessons you learned in that? You talked about you make 300 and you
have to spend 200 to get the next even to make 300. So, what were lessons that
you learned along the way that also brought a respect level for you about
certain aspects of life or business?
Damian Mason: Yeah.
Well, that’s an interesting part, because when I was preparing for this
interview, I was thinking through this. You know, with a background in comedy,
one thing that is really apparent is that it’s a profession that doesn’t get
the respect it deserves from anybody. If I went to a party, and let’s say I was
at a mixed company event, or whatever … There’s shifty people there. Oh,
okay, Joe over here is a plumber, and Bob over here is a carpet layer, and then
Cindy over here … She owns a fast food restaurant.
If
they come around to me and then if I were to say I’m a comedian … And again,
I’m not anymore. I want to make sure the distinction is that I’m not anymore.
But I have been. It’s interesting the level of respect … And these people
don’t think they’re being respectful. They say, “Oh my god. You’re a
comedian? Say something funny. Do something funny. Say something funny.
[inaudible 00:09:27]
funny.” And you don’t do that to somebody that says,
“Hey, I own three Arby’s franchises,” or, “Hey, I have a carpet
laying business.” It is tremendously disrespectful that this profession
…
And,
you know, if you are good, and you are making a living and creating a business
out of it, you are doing something right. The old thing about there are
hundreds of people that show up every night across America and doing open mics
night to try and be in comedy. If you create this business, you create this
livelihood, you create this product, and you’re doing it, and then you show up
and then these people in mixed company act like you should just be giving that
away, it’s a tremendously disrespected business and profession.
Mike Domitrz: That’s
always interesting. Some people hear that and go, “How …” And I
know because of fortunately being around enough people that … Similar line of
work as yours. But a lot of people don’t understand though. They’re like,
“What do you mean it’s disrespectful? You’re an entertainer so actually
love what you do. So, I want to see you do it.” Can you explain to people
why that feels disrespectful?
Damian Mason: Okay.
Let’s just say there’s a professional football player, and you say, “Hey,
you know what? Go out for a pass. Go out for a pass. Go out for a pass. Yeah,
I’ve got …” Like, what the hell? “I’m a professional football
player at a cocktail party. No, I’m not going to go out for a pass.”
That’s what you’re asking him to do.
“Oh,
you have an asphalt business? Hey, run over here and start fixing the parking
lot.” “No, I’m not here to fix the parking lot. I came to your kid’s
graduation party.” So, they’re asking you to do what you can do, and you
can say, “Oh, well, they’re just having fun.” I’m like, “All
right. Great. It’s also disrespectful.”
But
there’s a bigger part of it that nobody thinks that it’s an actual job or
business. And again, I was making hundreds of thousands of dollars when this
thing took off, per year, doing these really big gigs all over the place, and
people might respect that you had this thing, but they still didn’t really
treat it right.
I
was just telling my friend last night about this. You would walk off stage
after … I’m at some conference, and I’ve rocked this room. Say it’s a bunch
of Midas Muffler managers or whatever. You’re at this gig somewhere in Kansas
City, Las Vegas, or Orlando, or whatever it is, and you just rocked the room.
And
then, Mike, while you’re standing there after your program, because I always
did the thing when I did some photo ops and whatnot afterwards, there’d be no
less than a half dozen people walk up and say, “Hey, you were really
funny. That’s a really good show. You know what? You’re actually smart!”
So, you answer me. Does that sound like a respectful thing to say?
“Hey,
I really appreciate you coming and fixing my furnace. You know what strikes me?
You’re actually smart!” Nobody would say that to their accountant or to
the person that fixes their furnace or brings them their dinner, but they fully
thought that it was something you could just do is to say, “Hey, that was
a good act, but you’re actually smart,” like somehow it surprised them.
Mike Domitrz: Yeah.
I think what happens is they think that you … Where they lack the
understanding is what you said earlier that this is a business is that it takes
work to be funny on stage. And they think comedians are naturally funny. So, to
say, “Be funny,” to them is like, “That’s just you speaking,
right? Just say it. It’s natural.” They don’t realize how many hours and
hours and hours and days and months, years sometimes, can go into a single bit
of comedy that somebody does on stage.
Damian Mason: Of
course you probably are naturally funny. I make points to this all the time.
I’ve got friends that are still in comedy. I’ve got friends that teach comedy,
and I always say, “If you’re going to teach comedy, maybe you should also
give them a class on how to be tall.” Because being funny is like being
tall. You either are or you are not, and it’s going to be evident by the time
you’re an adult. That being said, I could teach a funny person to be funnier. I
can’t teach a librarian to be funny to begin with.
But,
yeah, the idea that it somehow is not work … That’s still not even the point.
Again, the naturally big, gifted athlete fast kid that then you act like he
should just be running around doing sporting events for you for your
entertainment. So, it’s a disrespect to the industry. It’s a disrespect to the
person. And somehow, it’s always so accepted. And, like you said, along the
lines of respect, Mike, if it happens that you’re at some event and you just
happen to be saying some funny stuff, then people think that you’re always on.
That’s
another issue of respect about the business. They’d say things like, “Oh
god. He’s just over there doing his act.” Then my wife like, “Doing
his act? This isn’t his act. He just was actually reacting to you and saying
some funny stuff because he’s a funny guy.” So, that’s another issue of
respect, when you then are actually engaging and being humorous, because if you
said something at a dinner table, I could probably make fun of the topic, the
subject, whatever, and make it humorous. It’s not doing your act. So, again,
there’s a level of respect there that somehow if you are being funny that
you’re trying to get everybody’s attention. There’s a reason comedians become
jaded, by the way.
Mike Domitrz: Right.
Right. And you mentioned there a few times that you don’t do political comedy
anymore. So, for all of our listeners, what are you doing now?
Damian Mason: Yeah.
I completely got out of that quite a while back. The thing changed. Obviously,
my act was based and predicated on Bill Clinton. I was dressed up as Bill
Clinton. So, the early 2000s started to change. I went through some real
setbacks. Some of my business and my investments tanked.
Then
I was still doing some political comedy, but I really then turned into being an
agricultural speaker, because I’ve got the agricultural background. My degree
is in agricultural economics. I’m a farm owner. So, I started doing
agricultural meetings. Maybe instead of Orlando, you’re working in Omaha. And
people say, “Oh, you … Farmer meetings.” Well, remember,
agriculture’s a lot bigger than that. You’ve got the food processors, the
canners, the meat people, the marketing people, the machinery, finance,
insurance. I could go on and on. Seed, chemical. There’s so much of an industry
there.
I
really started doing a lot in the way of ag and then started putting more and
more business message in there. With a comedy background, it’s not difficult
for me to put a presentation out that’s 25% funny, and that means that I’m
delivering the message, talking about business or issues in food and
agriculture in a funny way, but also delivering content, whether it’s market
issue, consumer preferences. So, I do a lot.
The
one thing about my background as a comedian taught me to be a very astute
observer. So, now, I take observations on food businesses about trends, and
then put that together as a package now, and I get up on stage, and I talk
about issues in business. I have a couple programs. I have one that’s more
agricultural, and I have another one that’s not agricultural at all. It’s just
for business people about business reinvention, and that’s … In fact, I’ve
got a book out now that just came out last month called Do Business Better to
support that.
Mike Domitrz: You’ve
now had decades of experience on stage. What has it taught you about respect,
just being on stage and sharing from the stage?
Damian Mason: Yeah,
25 years and probably a couple thousand audiences. It’s still something I
enjoy. I can’t say I particularly enjoy the travel. But there’s this thing that
I like, and it’s the energy part of it, it’s the interaction part of it, it’s
that it challenges you. I see people that are professional speakers, Mike, and
they are still doing the exact same program with the comma in the exact place
and the exclamation point in the exact place and the exact same delivery that
they were doing 30 years ago. I would shoot myself. I mean, I have changed my
program. Every single time I’ve gotten up there, I do something a little
differently, because I want to keep things fresh. I challenge myself to put in
new material, new content.
I
also challenge myself to be a little bit of a contrarian. Forever, you can hear
the people that are the slimey, fraudulent kind of ra-ra church stand preacher
type, and I refuse to be that. I keep things very authentic and real. I’m like,
“Hey, you may not like hearing this, but, boom,” and it’s a
straightforward approach.
So,
you said something about respect. I respect the audience. In comedy, they teach
you this, and obviously in speaking, which I’ve been doing this for probably a
couple thousand audiences. You must always appreciate the fact that you are
unnecessary. They do not need me. They do not need you. You don’t need most of
what we sell. You don’t need most of what we have in the United States of
America. You don’t need Amazon. You don’t need a Cadillac. You don’t need air
conditioning.
So,
in a world that really has very few necessities that are now businesses, it’s
important to understand that you give that audience a product. You give that
audience a feeling. You give that audience some knowledge and some emotional
takeaway, and every single time I get ready to walk on stage, I think to
myself, “Remember that without them, there’s no need for you.” That
is the deepest level of respect, I think, when you always realize that there’s
no need for me if there’s not them.
Mike Domitrz: Yeah.
It’s a beautiful respect of putting things all in the right frame, the right
foundation. It’s great. And earlier you talked about the fact you’ve got to
show up. You’ve got to be there. It’s more important than the honor roll is
being there. If the honor roll kid’s skipping all the time but gets As, that’s
even the kid who’s maybe getting Cs but shows up every day doing their best.
We
love our listeners to be able to get a little takeaway, some skillsets they can
use in their lives every episode they listen to. What do you think it takes to
be successful that people can listen and go, “Yeah, I want to add that to
my life,” or, “I want that to be more consistent in my life.”
Damian Mason: It’s
about habits. It’s really just habits. Habits, when you think about it, Mike
… You talked about respect. That’s the whole theme of your podcast, and I
think that’s fantastic. Well, you said respect the work. You’ve got to give
respect to the work, you’ve got to respect people who do the work, and you’ve
got to have a level of respect for what it takes to be successful. There’s
people I would say that were born on third base and they mistakenly think they hit
a triple. I didn’t come from that. I’m pretty self-made, and I didn’t come from
much, and I’m sure a lot of your listeners are the same way.
Give
yourself the respect of what you’ve built. My wife says this all the time. She
says, “God, you still get so wound up sometimes. Just stop sometimes and
smell the roses, and realize how far you’ve come and how good things are. And
we have a winter home in Arizona, and there’s a reason we’ve done all
that.” I said, “Yeah. I just don’t want to be …” So, the challenge
now is content without complacence, to be happy with where we are, which I am,
but not still having that angst. So, that’s an important thing.
What
about takeaways for your people? I’d say it mostly comes down to habits. Bad
habits don’t generally kill you all at once, unless maybe it’s like some kind
of a drug habit. Bad habits kill you over time. Good habits make you rich over
time. It’s kind of like compound interest on investing. If you put aside $1 a
day or $5 a day, it has a big cumulative effect over 10 years. Well, it’s the
same way with your work and your business.
I
am not much of a vacationer, but I also don’t work 40-hour days. I mean, I’ve
worked my whole life, but I just think you should put a little dose of vacation
into your everyday. The one thing I do is every day I think about my business
and I think about betterment, and so that’s a good habit. Every day, I try to
do something creative. Every day, I exercise. So, those are the kind of things
that your listeners … And that comes down to respecting what it takes to be
successful, respecting what it takes to be prosperous and to have a life and
business by choice. Because if you respect what it takes, you’ll do what it
takes.
Mike Domitrz: Yeah.
It’s so, so important. And you have a belief on the importance on simplicity
and the simplicity of success. What is that?
Damian Mason: Yeah.
Most people complicate it. Yeah, I’ve gotten some really good accolades, Mike,
on my book Do Business Better, and some folks that gave me the accolades didn’t
realize that I took it as positively as I did. I had a couple people say,
“You know, it’s pretty simple. Your book is … It’s a good read, it’s an
easy read, but there’s not a lot of complexity to what you talk about.” I
said, “Yep. Fine.”
Most
of what it takes to be successful is simple stuff. Show up, do the work, create
good habits. Learn, constantly keep learning. Sell your services. Every day try
to find new customers, because your old customers are going to die. Keep
reading. Manage your money, because we live in a country where 66% of the
people in this United States of America don’t have $500 if an emergency came
up. You’re like, “Come on, man. The average household makes 62 grand a
year, and you don’t have $500 laying around?” So, there’s a big money
component to it.
Again,
habits, respecting what it takes to actually be successful. Simplicity of
success is what, I guess, you asked me there. There’s no magic potion. There’s
no tips and secrets. It’s really pretty simple stuff. It’s habits executed on a
daily basis with discipline.
Mike Domitrz: I
love it. I love a simple formula everybody can follow and implement. I want
people be able to find you. Before we share where to find you, let’s talk about
that book. You just had that book come out, Do Business Better. What were some
lessons you learned by the process of writing the book and getting it out
there?
Damian Mason: Sure.
I’m an okay writer, and it makes you stronger to do the work of writing. My
wife said, “Damian, write the book you wish somebody had given you 25
years ago that would have saved you time and frustration,” and that was
really some good advice, because then it dawned on me. My buddy Larry Winget is
the forward writer, and he said, “You talk to business groups all the
time. You’re a self-made success.” He said, “For god’s sakes, you
know about business. Just write what you know and remember who it’s for,”
and I thought that was pretty good advice.
What
I learned was it’s not a problem with all the ideas, and it is more work than
people realize. It’s not like digging holes or building a fence or that kind of
thing, but it still is work. The structure part of it … Making sure to bring
it together as a cohesive, structured book was the part that took me a little
while to get it right in my head. I knew all the things that I wanted to say,
all the lessons or illustrations from the real world I wanted to plug in there
for the reader. I was a little bit conflicted, or shall we say disorganized, in
the beginning of what’s the structure, what’s it going to sound like.
That’s
kind of like you and I speak at corporate events. I always think, “What’s
it sound like?” I don’t mean what the words are; I don’t mean that. I
mean, what’s it sound like? What’s it feel like? And that was the part that,
once I got it, it gelled, and it was a snap.
Mike Domitrz: I
love that, and what I love about that is everybody can … Whether you’re
writing a book or not, when you stop and say, “When I’m sharing with
someone, what does it sound like,” versus, “Am I choosing the right
words?” … Yeah, but how is it being heard? What is the vibe and the
energy it’s putting off?
Damian Mason: Yeah,
you talked about … Again, and giving some respect to all the things that
you’ve done … That’s the other part of it. One of the things in here I talk
about, harnessing your talent stack, was actually a concept from Scott Adams,
the creator of Dilbert. You harness your talent stack. What we’re really
talking about, Mike, is every single thing that you’ve done–your background,
your experience, your upbringing, your education, all the jobs you’ve ever had,
every little course you ever took, every book that ever had an impact on
you–and you start stringing those all together, how do you get synergies from
those?
So,
that was a big thing that I have actually capitalized on, I think, for my
business. I don’t have a lot of A plusses, but I’ve got a lot of B plusses and
A minuses that I can string together, and that’s one of the takeaways from the
book that I like a lot. How can you take all your B plusses and A minuses to
string them together to help your business?
The
other thing that you had mentioned was the respect for the craft. When you
write a book … I always kept thinking was … I actually don’t want to waste
somebody’s time. I respect their time. A lot of books don’t get read. Books get
bought. A lot of people don’t read books after high school. I said to myself,
“If a person is going to do this, I want to be respectful to them and
actually give them takeaway.”
Some
of my fantastic reviews are, “This guy gives you a straight, no bullshit
approach on being successful, and I love the way it reads.” That was two
of my different reviews. I thought, “I will live with that. That sounds
like exactly what I want people to say. That’s just straight … There it is.
Yep, I can live with that.” And of course, it’s got some funny in it,
because I’m a kind of guy that likes to go to humor when I can.
Mike Domitrz: Yeah.
I want everybody to be able to find you so they can find that book. So,
damianmason.com. Of course, it’s going to be in our show notes also. The book
is Do Business Better. We’ll have that linked to Amazon also. You can find it
there in our show notes. Thank you, Damian, so much for joining us.
Damian Mason: Mike,
I appreciate you having me here. I really appreciate you having me on, and I
think that respect is actually really … It made me think a lot about it. I
made me that about my career. It made me think about looking at others and what
they do and how everybody that’s putting in the effort deserves a dose of
respect.
Mike Domitrz: Absolutely.
And on that note, our listeners, you know what’s next. It is question of the
week. Before I answer this week’s question of the week, I’d love to ask you a
question. Would you please subscribe to this podcast, The Respect Podcast with
Mike Domitrz? By subscribing, you can make a huge impact.
Now,
you might be wondering, “Mike, how does my subscribing to your podcast
make a huge impact?” Well, here’s how. For every person that subscribes,
it raises the rankings of the show on the search engines. So, for people who
care about respect like yourself, when they’re doing a search for podcasts,
they’re more likely to find the show, thus providing an awesome opportunity for
us to spread more respect around this world. And all you do is hit subscribe
under your podcast.
Plus,
the second benefit is, by subscribing, you automatically get every episode
right into your phone or whatever device you’re listening to the podcast on. It
happens automatically. So, subscribing also makes your life easier.
Now,
let’s get into this week’s question of the week. Oh, and by the way, you can
always ask your questions of the week by joining us on Facebook in our
discussion group. It’s called The Respect Podcast Discussion Group. Go there on
Facebook and ask whatever questions you would like me to answer and/or address
in this segment of the show, and then listen to each episode to find out when
your question is included.
This
week’s question is, “Mike, what was it like growing up in your home and in
your family?” That’s a personal question, obviously, and it’s one I’m very
comfortable answering. I’m grateful for the parents and the sisters that I grew
up with. I’m very grateful. And I know not everybody has a situation where they
feel gratitude about that, and so I very much appreciate and understand that. I
grew up in a home with two parents who were role models for really believing in
what you’re trying to achieve and going for it and really working to make that
happen.
My
mom, growing up, was a very successful coach, and she coached me. So, I got to
see her on a daily experience in club coaching, literally daily, and how she
upheld what she believed in her values and her core beliefs and how she upheld
that to her swimmers–and she was a swim coach–and to us and how true that was
at home. The alignment was consistent. I got to watch my dad continually be a
leader in his industry and to see how he worked hard in what he believed in. At
the same time, he was also there cheering us on at cross country or wrestling,
whatever sports I was doing.
My
sisters each were very successful at whatever they chose to focus on. They were
all very successful athletes, incredibly successful athletes. So, to watch that
set a standard of excellence. It put down a foundation of working hard for what
you believe in and creating that work ethic, and if you do work hard, here’s
what can happen. By the way, it doesn’t mean that I worked that hard at the
same age as they did at the same things. I wasn’t the committed athlete they
were. No way. Later in life when I found my passion and my commitment though,
there it aligned, and it showed. I had a foundation from growing up that
naturally just kicked in at that moment. I’m so grateful for that.
And
I’m so grateful that I was allowed to be me in my home. I was allowed to be
goofy and silly and hyper and energetic and supported along that process. If I
wanted to do theater, I did theater. If I wanted to do whatever interest I had
… I once auditioned for a TV show called … It was a lip sync TV show back
in the 80s to a song, Punk Polka, that a lot of parents would probably have
been looking at their kids like, “What are you doing?” And my parents
were like, “Okay.” So, incredibly supportive of which I’m very
grateful for.
Do
you know what I would love? I would love to hear your answer to this week’s
question of the week. So, would you please answer what your answer would have
been if you were asked that question today on the show. All you do is go to our
Facebook page. We have a special group where we have these discussions called
The Respect Podcast Discussion Group. So, The Respect Podcast Discussion Group.
And share with us what would your answer have been to this week’s question of
the week.
And,
if you take a moment, post us a new question for future episodes. What question
would you like to hear me answer in an upcoming episode? That’s all done on
Facebook in our special group, which is The Respect Podcast Discussion Group.
Can’t wait to see you there.
Thank
you for joining us in this episode of The Respect Podcast, exploring work,
love, and life, and this episode, like every episode, is brought to you by our
organization, the Center for Respect, which you can find at
centerforrespect.com. Of course, you can find me, your host Mike Domitrz, at
mikespeaks.com. Thank you so much for joining us.