This past May, I along with a couple of great friends were lucky enough to make the trip out to the farm for their first ever Barn Dance concert. This small gathering was for some of the folks who had helped contribute to the making of their new album “Meet Me at the Edge of the World.” Many of the songs were written about that little piece of land and to get to hear them performed on top of the earth that they grew out of was something really special. They’re beautiful songs too. But hearing songs that have meant so much to me over the years like “Go Down Easy” and “Ohio” echo through the countryside left me feeling like I’d just witnessed the most beautiful music I’d ever heard in my life-and left very few dry eyes in the house.

At the very end of the show I decided to take a walk around the farm, along the tree line and under a big big sky as they closed with Latter Days-a wrecking ball of a song in it’s beauty and heartache- taking just those few moments to be alone, to walk and breathe in as much of Nowhere Farm as I could before heading back east.

The rest of the trip was spent with great friends, eating, drinking, laughing and making pictures as we explored Cincinnati- a city that I really came to fall in love with. It’s got a lot of heart, wonderful people and a great sensibility about it. The video below is a collection of photos the three of us shot that weekend and the gallery below are my attempts at learning to take a passable photograph. Thanks to Kylie Wilkerson for all her photo help and expertise and to Karin and Linford for hosting such a wonderful event.

I’ve seen tons of his keynotes that have been posted on the web as well as a few in person at SXSW, so being able to ask questions about topics that are typically not covered in a GaryVee keynote was a real treat.

Check out the full, unedited audio below of the interview as well as some quick highlights from our conversation. We talked about becoming a better salesperson, scaling relationships, doubling down on your local community and much more.

FULL AUDIO

Interview Snippits

…On being asked for career, personal and business advice by people he’s never met in real life.

“It feels like a blessing really. Its very flattering and then I also answer it very carefully, tiptoeing because you’re right, I don’t have enough context, but I have a thesis and I have things I believe in and I think..you know that I’m very to the point, honest and truthful. I don’t sugar coat it, and so I think I’m able to give high level advice but never deep enough because you need more context to be able to give very specific advice.”

…On being a natural salesperson and becoming a better salesperson or brand advocate:

 “Number one, I’ve always believed in what I’ve been selling. Baseball cards and sports were my passion so that was easy. Wine, I started selling it before I was an expert in it but I had a passion to learn it so it felt appropriate. You know, I got better as I became an expert. Business advice, or business thoughts or innovation, you know I think people forget that I was 30 before I started one episode of WineLibrary TV and I was 33 before I even started talking about business in any way and had already built a $50-$60 million dollar business. So I think I stay in a very small lane of things that I know and things I feel comfortable with and that gives me enormous belief in what I’m selling. I’ve never sold anything I don’t believe in, ever.”

“Sell something that you’re passionate about or something that you really know well. You might know everything about guitars but it might not be your passion, but if you have a passion to be a good salesperson that would at least be a start.”

…On building something great in your area (Utica in particular):

“I remember a feeling the I have now and it’s re-bubbled up. I think you have an enormous passion for your area and I gotta tell you it’s very obvious to me from afar that you should build there and build up that area. I actually truly believe that if I heard you became the mayor of that town, it would make a ton of sense to me. Like it’s very clear that you care about it and so what I think you need to do is to start putting out content. A funny thing starts happening when you start doing things. If you start videotaping on your iphone the stories of every small business downtown or the general area [focusing on] small businesses…if you start interviewing college kids or young entrepreneurs in the area that are still there but are thinking about leaving, if you start telling stories I think that would matter.”

How do you know when to ask for help? Who do you ask?

“You know, that’s probably my biggest flaw. I tend not to ask for help at all. I’m very within myself and have a lot of pride in figuring it out. I don’t know. I’ve always been lucky that I’ve been working with my family and you know, my dad is my mentor in a lot of ways. My mom is an emotional mentor in some ways, but I always feel like I’m the leader. Even when I was a child, I always felt like I was the guy, that I was the Captain. That there was no one to look to – that it was up to me. So I think that’s a flaw of mine but it’s also a gift of mine.”

…On using a ton of social media tools and platforms…

“I trust my intuition on products so much that I try them all to see if there’s value in them and continue to use them. …. I tend to use things if I believe in them and if I think that consumers are going to eventually be there, so I use a lot of things to get a taste.”

On a personal note, I got to speak with Gary very briefly while at SXSW this past March and asked him about his thoughts on opportunities in upstate NY vs NYC or larger cities as well about extending your own personal brand. It was a brief conversation and one of what I’m sure were hundreds that he had during the conference. When I got the opportunity to interview him I wanted to revisit that topic of localized opportunity, and I was really impressed that he remembered our conversation in Austin (as you’ll hear in the interview), because it really drives home to me the importance of actually listening to people and the effect that creating context around even small interactions can have. I didn’t expect him to know me from Adam, and the recognition of that previous conversation really makes me respect the effort that he puts in to actually create a meaningful connection with members of his community.

Eddie showed up to the session with two guys whom he met the previous night through Twitter – no, not two guys that work AT Twitter, but two guys he just met through Twitter. How? He ran out of weed of course (click the images to see how it all went down)…

It starts w/ Eddie sending out an SOS tweet letting the world know that they’ve just run out of weed at VICELAND and seeing if anyone could get the party started again. Within seconds that problem got solved. Great example of social media solving problems in real time, right?

And that’s how Eddie got his co-presenters.

Top Takeways from Eddie’s session:

• Brands start out as rebellious and that’s what is appealing…then they see what it is like to be accepted. They water it down and that’s when they lose it. Remember what you are about and don’t change it.
• We just want a blank slate to be creative. Eddie got two cameras and some money from VICE after being offered a show and then promptly dropped from a cooking channel. They wanted someone edgy-but turns out not THAT edgy. When big companies see what edgy is they get scared. They also wanted to control every part of the product: the blog, the book, the social media presence.
• You need someone in your life that makes YOU face YOU, and assess the parts that make you uncomfortable. Someone that makes you grapple with yourself.
• We like the Internet because of the stuff that is kept out of regular media. We like weirdos. We want to read about T. Boone Pickens arguing with Drake about a million vs a billion
• Whatever job you have, you are a writer. Always think in three acts, always think in the story arcs. Who are you?  Use Venn diagrams to see where ideas intersect.

As I go through this list, I can’t help but see that Eddie Huang and Seth Godin are a lot alike. They’re speaking to very different audiences, and in VERY different tones – but the message is the same, especially as I just finished Seth’s latest book ‘The Icarus Deception’. Make Your Art. Pick Yourself. Stop Waiting For Permission. Be Awesome. Be Fearless. Be a Rebel. Follow Your Dreams. Start Now. Ship.

Trey has popularized a style of photography called HDR (high dynamic range) and has made a name for himself not only by making great work but by sharing his knowledge and building a pretty amazing online community on his website and through Google+.

So, what the hell is a photo walk? It’s basically when a group of folks meet up at a given location, walk a route and create photographs of anything that inspires them around that route. Typically the photos are compiled and shared across a service or platform (see our #AustinPhotoWalk2013 photos here). For me, it was a great way to learn a little more about photography, meet some new friends and take time to see Austin in a different way. I’m amazed at how many beautiful and unique things you miss when you’re not looking for them.

Turns out though, it’s not really about the photos – at least it wasn’t for me. I’m very happy with what I was able to shoot, but I was part of something bigger. Even for two hours, what I was experiencing was essentially being part of a flash-community. Of contributing to a micro-project. I’d estimate that there was over one hundred of us amateur photographers (and some not so amateur photographers) shooting with everything from lytro cameras to high end DSLRs to iPhones wandering through the streets of Austin together, snapping away and getting to know each other. This had a couple interesting effects:

1. It solidified and grew Trey’s online community as he was the catalyst for making this particular event happen. After participating in the photo walk and seeing his session at SXSWi I’m much more likely to continue to follow his blog and become an active member of this photo community.
2. I made new friends. Everyone was willing to share their knowledge, compare Instagram and blog feeds, give advice or just talk about where they’re from and what they were doing in Austin. Check out a couple of their feeds here and here.
3. It provided permission. The sight of a hundred photographers coming down 6th street brought out the best in all sorts of street performers, musicians, and just folks having a great time. It was a spectacle in and of itself. It gave all of us permission to shoot anyone and anything – including each other.

What I noticed after reviewing my own photos was that with a few exceptions, most of my shots were of buildings or objects and NOT people, certainly not any kind of portraiture work. I think this is partially because didn’t want to bother anyone or stop them to ask if I could take their picture. I’m not a photographer really – I don’t know if what I shot would be any good – and I noticed that this was an uncomfortable thing for me to ask even though there was no shortage of people who were unique and beautiful in their own way. But as I have been reviewing the shots from the other folks on the photo walk I’ve noticed that my favorite shots were those that were of people. Random people. I’m going to get better at this in the future.

But seeing all of the photos next to each other – hundreds of them – in different styles and different subjects is a wonderful souvenir of the event and a great representation of the power of community that something as simple as a photowalk can generate. Can’t wait to do this again.

My photos from the Photowalk

Last year, brands split their focus on Twitter and Facebook with eight mentions each. This year, brands recognize that Twitter is where they need to try to attract the online conversation around one of the world’s biggest events.

They even took to Twitter for some quick and clever “blackout bowl” newsjacking when the power went out in the Superdome during the third quarter. And, as Twitter’s advertising staff revealed, it only took four minutes for Twitter advertisers to start bidding on “power outage” as a search term.

There was also some great comments about MgGee’s post by Bobby Grasberger, which John Gruber brought to my attention.

All 26 of his (MgGee’s) “Twitter mentions” included hashtags. But many of the hashtags were platform agnostic: not accompanied by a Twitter logo.

In fact, by my count only 3/26 of the hashtags were accompanied by a Twitter logo. That means the other 88% (23/26) could just as easily be credited to Instagram, Google+ or, most appropriately, all three major hashtag-supporting platforms.

And a great point by Matthew Hunt:

The interesting part to me is hashtag = “you should talk about us”, vs. old “go here to see what we have to say”.

A great point – using simply the hashtag, while mainly associated with Twitter, is sort of platform agnostic as many other services (Vine, anyone?) are supporting it as a way to sort cotent. For those of us who were using the second screen while watching the game, did you have any conversations with brands or use any brand-centric hashtags for search or not? Why?

I’ve been slowly learning how to create Mashups and finished my first official track, combining JAY-Z’s Empire State of Mind with a song that I wrote back in 2005 and recorded with the band The Reuben James called “Middle of My City.” That track is probably as close as I’ve come to a local/regional hit.

A few weeks back I received an email from a man named Simon, who lives in New Zealand. He told me a story about how his friend is getting married on February 9th and the couple wanted to walk down the aisle to my version of ‘Galway Girl’ – which is actually a Steve Earle song that I covered a few years ago. He was writing to ask if he could purchase a copy of the song or obtain an mp3 from me to use at the ceremony (full disclosure: I’ve made no money from this cover or demo recording).

This is interesting for a few reasons.

1.  New Freaking Zealand – that’s cool in and of itself!
2.  How the hell did Simon from New Zealand hear my version of the song? I’ve never properly put it on an album (since it’s not my tune anyway). The only way they could have heard it was either via a soundcloud upload I did a while back, or if they had stumbled across my music website – again, not easy to find the track.
3.  The world is pretty small when it comes down to it.

I can answer number 2. He was kind enough to point me to a link to a YouTube video of my song (well, MY version of Steve Earl’s song). The thing is – I didn’t post that video! YouTube user Marie Ježková from who knows where, posted it with a still from the movie PS I Love You-where yet ANOTHER version of the song appears (not mine). At least she gave me credit. It’s funny how a song I appropriated w/out asking was again appropriated without asking. But it’s that sharing and remixing for free that got my cover to be played at a February New Zealand wedding, and I couldn’t be happier.

Message – whenever you can, enable users to share, remix and spread your art. Connections can be made, and good things can happen.

I loved this pep talk from Kid President.

Yes, take the road that leads to awesome.

To celebrate the past 5 years, owners Garret Ingraham and Robin Raabe took several notable local performers from their weekly open mic night, gave them sound, lights and a stage at a local theater, and threw a huge anniversary party.

But would people buy tickets and show up on a Sunday night, with an impending snowstorm to see local performers (many who are not very well known – but immensely talented) and celebrate a cafe? This could be a tall order in a city such as Utica, which is a tough town to be a musician, particularly if you perform original music.

What I discovered was that the answer was a resounding yes. The Tramiversary smashed though and surpassed all my expections. It blended music, spoken word, puppets and dancing into a remarkable 5+ hour variety show. But this shouldn’t surprise me. Why? Because of what the Tram’s business really is…

As I spoke with different performers during the night and some familiar patrons they all had similar responses when asked about the Tram:

• It’s a place that gives opportunities to artists and musicians no matter their level of experience and provides a place to hone their craft in front of an audience.
• It’s a place diverse groups of like-minded people go to gather to collaborate and talk about their passions such as poetry, photography, storytelling, filmmaking, politics, local issues, knitting, roller derby and more.
• It’s a place where people feel welcome and encouraged.

Interestingly, no one mentioned that they have the best cup of coffee in town, or great food, or that their location or hours is super convenient for them (though many of these things are true). No, what the Tram sells in addition to food and drinks is community. And what a community they’ve built. To galvanize and mobilize that community and put on a huge event, a great show – is something that I’m sure wasn’t in their core business plan and wasn’t a marketing tactic. It was about doing something awesome for their community. I know that the buzz surrounding the event, the photos, videos, facebook posts and yes even traditional press, should only help their core business as well.

To lay the foundation for a successful business I’d rather have 100 passionate customers who would walk through fire for you, and genuinely miss you if it were gone, than 10000 passive patrons who don’t know you from a Starbucks.

But the problem with building community as an integral part of your business is that it’s a long process. It takes inordinate amounts of time, effort and some even some luck. It’s about mutual benefit and lifetime value. It’s about providing a platform or an opportunity rather than simply a service and up-selling. That’s why most businesses (and people) give up on finding or fostering a community around their product, service, or location. Its really hard, but not impossible. Where to start?

• Identify – find your core customers, the passionate ones, the ones who will crawl through fire for you and ASK what they love about your business and what they want to see in the future.
• Make it Easy to Connect – Make it easy for your customers who have common interestes, issues or problems to meet up either online or offline. You can help foster that connection.
• Lead – Speak, attend and support local events, events in your industry and make those connections to help find ways to become part of other communities and hopefully introduce others to yours.
• Be Awesome – Step out on a limb. Do something uncomfortable. Ask for help. Involve your community. Make them the stars of the show. Be awesome.

If done right, it can lead to a lasting foundation and great success. And when you have a community, as the Tram has demonstrated, amazing things are possible and I for one wish all the folks there very much more success in the years ahead.

What do you make?