Tribute to my dad- Happy Fathers day!

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In light of fathers dad. I would like to have a tribute to my father. Even though it has been rough and extremely hard for me to write this.

I would like to thank my dad for everything! I would not be the man I am today without his help.

I do not remember that much about my childhood but other people told me I was extremely happy and that there was a lot of happiness present when people saw me with him.

Ironic, I was watching the movie trolls yesterday and the whole movie was about an instance where he the main character blamed himself for everything and then there was a point where he was he true authentic self after just discovering love.

Similar, I think sharing this story will shed a lot of light into the things I do and why I do some of the things I do.

Pretty much my whole life, I have been striving for something. Always looking for mentorships and looking for validation to prove my worth. (Because I didn’t have a father to tell me my worth).

I have discovered coaching through having a really inconsistent not stable life. Through these breakdowns I have found that you cannot have breakdowns if you are not truly committed to things. For instance, my own self worth and discovery is a breakdown I have really have often and is a really big breakdown.

My commitment to love and finding my beautiful and amazing girlfriend Samantha. There is nobody in the world I know for a fact that will ever provide me with the same amount of unconditional love as Samantha. Her being with me when it comes to love is unlike anything I have ever seen before. My perspective and perception of love changes as I start to discover my actions of thinking of her and putting herself before my own self at times. Wow, there is more to life than just yourself.

My father was a very charismatic guy. It really does scare me a shit ton because there so many so qualities that he has that is very similar to me. He was a natural born sales guy. He is very likable. He likes to talk a lot and is also can show love. I do recall him buying us a ton of candy and cooking us spam/ with ramen noodles which I actually really liked at the time. He even influenced me being a Nutrition major and wanting to help the world in that way at some point.

He taught me how to do sales, how to “Hustle” how to be passionate, with all of the energy and emotions. He taught me that math was important, that school was important. Honestly, I probably even have gone to college if he didn’t drill in my head how important school was. I would have probably tried to be an entrepreneur or go straight sales if it wasn’t for my father.

Basically the reason and purpose of this share is that there is always a silver lining and purpose to everything that happens in life.

My purpose of helping people and believing in others greatness stem from that fact that throughout my whole life I was trying to find my meaning in life. I have spent a good portion of my life trying to find it. All of the wonderful and amazing relationships I have built because of my relationship with my father. The breakdowns that occur because I was pushing and struggling because I “didn’t want to be like my dad” has given my the opportunity to do the things I do. Now that I do not resist being an amazing sales person that does add a ton of value to everyone’s lives that I touch. I can be more authentic, more just Davidson.

I appreciate everyone taking the time to read this.

Happy Fathers day to you, dad!

I do wish the best of you and I have debated whether or not to even invite you to my wedding and I would because I have realized that there is no use in bitter resentment. There is no purpose and my energy can be freed up to do other things in my life that can serve me and the world in a much more impactful way.10398423_822358060779_1168399_n

Why I became a coach?

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Story time!

People often ask me how you got into coaching.

To summarize my childhood, there was a lot of comparing myself to others feelings of inadequacy lack of self-worth and just a whole lot of self judgment.

Growing up living off of food stamps, I always had the scarcity mindset. I think my love for food and why I became a Nutrition major in college was that I felt like I never had the proper Nutritional knowledge to eat healthy. I did not value my health as much. Part of it was I just didn’t have the knowledge to even learn what saturated fats were and how your body works.

I became obsessed with learning, reading every book I possible can. People that know me when I become passionate about something whether it’s cross fit, coaching or whatever I put my mind to. I do with a ton of passion and ton of energy.

I have always struggled with money, money was a topic that was tough for my family.

My dad left us when I was young, I think 12 or 13. I can’t even remember. I just remember that the day it happened, everything in my life changed. I had to work 40 hours a week while putting myself through high school and college.

Anyone that knows me knows I always had 3 different jobs while going to school full time, whether it’s waiting tables, selling knives in high school, knocking door to door selling Verizon Fios. I have done it all. I am proud of myself coming a long way from working at Quizno’s to having the privilege to sell Enterprise software.

This is pretty embarrassing for me to admit, but even though I seem to show a lot of my success on Facebook and social media.  My life is a wreck financially. I am doing a life coaching program that really has changed my life. Everyone that knows me knows I am a true giver. Like in Adam Grant’s Give and take. I am always helping out others. Whether it’s random people that reach out to me or people asking me to help them with their resumes. I never ask for anything in return.

But I am at a place in my life with 90k in student debt plus maxed out credit cards.

I feel like I am at a place in my life where all I can think about is my debts and it really has consumed my life.

I was at a place in my life with severe depression. I was living on my own in a random state in the middle of nowhere. (CT) didn’t know anyone and I felt like I was such a failure.

Until recently, I started to find my passion coaching and helping others really seeing the shift in their lives. It’s been so amazing! I am at a point where I feel purpose again.

I went on vacation this year for the first time in 4 years. Anyone that truly knows me, I have always had money problems. I have taken some actions to just be more self-aware like creating a budget and using spreadsheets.etc. I would love any help in conquering this area of my life.

It is scary for me to share you all my true insecurities, because I do at times seem like I have it all figured out.

Any amount at all. So I am going to post on my social media. If anyone just donates 1 dollar. It would mean the world to me. I would be able to continue my passion and my vision for spreading the message and help everyone believe in themselves. I think we are all connected and that I have recently found my mission in life. Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you are not able to donate, if you can spread the message and share I would be internally grateful for your help. Even reading this makes me feel better.

If you guys want to check out my blog about coaching related topics. Please click here.

https://davidsonhang.com/

These are some of the topics I talk about.

https://davidsonhang.com/2017/06/04/the-power-of-striving-for-no-judgments-whatsoever/

My goal is to be able to help others who have similar “stuff” that they would like to work on to become the person that they would like to be.

https://davidsonhang.com/2017/05/16/what-i-have-learned-from-writing-5-things-i-am-grateful-for-every-morning-for-over-a-year/

https://davidsonhang.com/2017/03/30/how-a-kid-with-serve-asthma-toughed-it-out-and-is-now-into-spartan-races-and-other-crazy-things/

Thanks again for taking the time out of your busy day to consider helping me reach my dreams and goals.

This is my coaching profile if you would like to learn more or would like to be interested in my services.

www.accomplishmentcoaching.com/author/davidsonh87/

I help my clients believe in themselves. My evidence is everywhere if you want some client testimonials, let me know and I will put you in touch with them.

The money would go to paying off some of my credit cards, the coaching program, marketing myself paying for the website, and my own email domain etc.

Please reach out to me if you have any additional questions.

https://funds.gofundme.com/dashboard/

 

 

What I have learned from Andy Cohen’s keynote speech at our Client Summit 2017

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Just to set the stage. Andy Cohen is a TV personality- American talk show and radio host, author, and producer. He hosts Bravo’s Live with Andy Cohen and is the first openly gay host of an American- Late night talk show and is famous for The Real Housewives Franchise.

  • Lesson 1– Do not be afraid to ask the hard questions. 

Andy talks about really challenging everyone he meets. When he is not given the opportunity, he makes his own opportunities. Life is about being bold and taking initiative. Fortune favors the brave. Andy did not let failure and rejection from reaching his goals.

  • Lesson 2- Do the things you love. 

Andy is really passionate about everything in life and his passions. You can tell from the way he answers the questions when we interviewed him. He always answers everything enthusiastically with conviction. People love people who are passionate about what they do for a living.

One quote that really struck a cord with me was that. “Everything I do, I think is important which is why I am so successful at many things, because I take it seriously and give it my all.” That was really powerful and really highlights his work ethic which leads to him being successful in so many different avenues such an author, a producer and a talk show host.

  • Lesson 3-  Be grateful, he talks about how he is grateful for everything opportunity and overall is just a super optimistic person. His contagious smile and all of his interactions are truly authentic. You can tell he is actually having a good time and doesn’t hold back and does not really get phased by what people say. When people criticize him and his show he defends his cast and what he stands for. It is amazing to see that level of commitment.
  • Lesson 4-  Use humor to diffuse any situation. A couple of time we tried to stump him with difficult questions but he always had some sort of witty response. It really makes the time pass by much more quickly and it is always just a good time with Andy.
  • Lesson 5- Putting out quality content and the rest will fall into place. 

This is important for marketers. We are drowning in content nowadays with social media and everyone fighting for out attention. This really just highlights the importance of quality. When you have quality content, the viewers will come organically. He does everything on the spot on his show and does not spend a ton of time preparing which leads to the show being much more authentic and real.

  • Lesson 6- Using data to figure out trends. 

Andy says he is data driven just like how Cheetah Digital is. Data is everything. It determines where the revenue is coming from and how to focus your energies.

  • Lesson 7 –Creativity is king
Andy is creative on his approach with his Sirius XM show called Radio Andy. He does not stick to just one avenue which is always smart to diversify because you never know with how things are quickly changing in our current world of technology. Hs is currently touring with Anderson Cooper on a national tour called AC2 to raise more than $240,000 for the OneOrlando fund following the Orlando Nightclub shooting.
All of the influences are all using their fame to spread a positive message of peace, love, and unity. It is really powerful to see how media can be used for good.
 

What I have learned from the Rebranding from Experian Marketing Services to Cheetah Digital

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Just to give everyone so more context as to what happened recently this past week.

So my company was purchased by a Private Equity company called Vector Capital. They are a PE fund investing in a portfolio of technology companies. Martech being one of the hottest and innovative sectors, it is a great investment for both parties. We are rebranded as Cheetah Digital.

Lesson 1- You have to adapt or else you will get left in the dust. 

I aim to read a book a week and one of the biggest trends I hear is that successful people and companies are always innovative and quick to adapt to fit the needs of the market and their consumers.

We are able to incorporate mobile into our technology because we understand the market. Even though email marketing is still our core business, it is wise to incorporate mobile, AI and really get to understand what our clients want. Cross-channel marketing is being able to access the data to make the data actionable is extremely important. Yes, having data is amazing but if you cannot truly capitalize on the data what is it good for?

Lesson 2-  Having an Identity. 

This rebranding bought us back to CheetahMail roots. I have only been here since January but I always hear stories about the amazing journey and the stories about the client successes and referrals we get on a regular basis. The Cheetah name has brand value to many marketers that have been around for awhile. We are still one of the biggest ESPs in the space sending over 350 billion permission-based emails for our clients.

It is important to be proud of your company and sometimes it takes time to build your identity which brings me to my next lesson.

Lesson 3. – Optimism is a powerful quality to have in leadership. Matt Seeley our COO is an extremely optimistic leader. He really does a great job at being transparent and builds trust by sharing his vision and enrolling everyone else into the greatness that is sometimes undefined but can be good if leveraged correctly.

During times of change which is expected with any company purchasing another company especially one as big as ours with over 1600 employees. It is important to have leaders share the company vision and being able to communicate and connect with each employee to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Lesson 4-  Relationships and human interaction is still the key to success. Yes, there is Artificial Intelligence and big data taking over our lives in business and with everyday consumers but seeing everyone connect and witnessing people having a good time is even more important.We are all human beings and there is something magical about putting 1600 marketing professionals together in a room to build connections all striving to learn something new and make people go outside their comfort zone.

Everyone talks about data, yes data is important but people work and do business with people they trust. The quickest way to build trust is to have face to face interactions in real time in real life. In this digital world, we always try to take the quick way out which can via telephone, social media, webcam, skype, and even video conferencing. Being able to see who you are working with and talk to your peers is so powerful.

Let me know if you are interested in learning more about our offerings.

We at Cheetah Digital is a company built by marketers for marketers and we consistently have the best support and service in the industry.

 

 

 

What I have learned from Aly Raisman’s keynote speech at our client summit in Vegas

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For those of you who do not know who she is. 
Aly is the capital of both the 2012 and 2016 US Women’s Olympic gymnastics team. She was interviewed in front of a crowd of 1000+ people at our event last week. 
  • Lesson 1– Everyone has insecurities no matter how successful you are. She is one of the most decorated gymnasts in the world and certainly in the US. 
She was picked on by men because she was stronger than everyone else. She was self-conscious of her body image being very muscular and obviously fit her whole life. 
It is okay to be insecure but be careful about making fun of others. We live in an age where people can hide behind a computer screen and the words you are saying can be very powerful effects on others. Learning how to be able to not take what people say about you so seriously is a skill that can be worked on.
  • Lesson 2– Using her fame to spread a positive message. She constantly stated that she goes to school to school to talk about bullying and really to be able to accept your body no matter what. 
We live in a world of social media and perfection.Everyone posts about all of their vacations and perfect moments but not many take a step back to really enjoy the journey. I have noticed that people that work extremely hard appreciate and enjoy the journey which makes the training not so tedious. It is really just a matter of changing your mindset. 
  • Lesson 3– Just have fun with life. She is extremely genuine and really knows herself well while being on stage. You can tell she is speaking from her heart and everything she does is purposeful. It is really inspiring to see her lift both men and women to come together to have millions of people watch her after years and years of training. She did not have a social life and really the dedication is such an inspiration on its own. 
  • Lesson 4– It is okay to take rest. She talks about taking a rest for 6 months after training for 3 and a half years straight after the games. Listen to your body. People kept asking her when she is going to start up her workout routines again but she respects her body and truly gives it the rest it needs after the thousands of hours of continuous practice. 
I can certainly relate to this because I tend to get burnt out after working out at Crossfit 5 days a week my body just needs a rest and I sometimes do not listen to it so the recovery process is much slower.  
  • Lesson 5– Trust the process. Yes, it is important to look at the big picture but like with anything else in life. It takes time, energy, and consistent effort to be able to become great at anything in life. She was always the hardest working person in the room even at a young age she says.
I hope you enjoyed my little lessons for the day. 
Be grateful, spread the love and really find out why you are doing the things you are doing. It helps you be more intentional about your life. 

The power of striving for no judgments whatsoever

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This is a lesson that has served me well. The last couple months or so I have been on a mission to keep in mind whenever I am making any sort of negative judgments at all to refrain from doing so.

A huge shift in my life has happened. I really stopped caring about what others think of myself and I have a much higher regard for myself in return.

Life is so amazing that when you just change just a little tweak in your life the relationships and people all around open up to you and you, more importantly, open up to others. I am at a point in my life that pretty no matter what anyone says to me. I already know my own worth and I do not need others approval to determine my value. It is such a great feeling and a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders. We live in a world where TV shows and social media paints a picture of perfection and that no one has any insecurities. Confidence is an attractive feature on TV. In reality, the vulnerabilities are what makes you human. We are not robots, there is no such thing as perfection. The more we seek it, the more problems you will see in life because there is no such thing.

A went to a friends engagement party yesterday and really just was able to just be and it was an amazing feeling because able to connect to people on a much deeper level than if I was back to my old self constantly judging myself and watching what I do to make sure I didn’t mess up. Instead, I was just able to see the greatness in everyone and as a result, the connections were more real and authentic.

I hope everyone has an amazing day ahead of them! The weather has been perfect and Nick Bilton’s book the American Kingpin- the story of Silk Road’s founder is such a thriller and I highly recommended for anyone who is interested in learning more about bitcoins and the dynasty he created. I can’t believe it’s a true story. It really goes to show that anything is possible with the right amount of work and just truly believing in yourself and not caring about what others think about you.

What I have learned from doing my first podcast episode

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Yesterday was a really fun and interesting time for me. I interviewed one of the Reddit sales moderators in the forum.

His name is Trey King. It was a really fun experience and after listening to it over again. I realized I have a lot of work to do. Being that it is the first one I realized and had so many insecurities in regards to using a lot of filler words such as you know, hmm… and just random words. I noticed that I have an awkward laugh. You can imagine that this carries into my sales calls as well.

But I did learn a lot from that experience as well.

Some of my key takeaways are below.

Everyone has nervousness during their first calls especially if you have a technical product and you have no technical knowledge. Similarly, with myself. I have sold some highly technical products to CIOs, CTOs, and IT directors.

He said to befriend a technical resource and really able to partner with them to help you because you cannot do anything alone especially depending on technical the product is and who you are speaking to.

His product is an in-memory software application that is a middleware product that speeds up applications for developers.

His big break was when he closed Barclays Bank and realized the long term potential. The lesson was you really have to put in the work and there is no such thing as a shortcut or what people consider success to be like to be linear. It is more like peaks and valleys and really not what people think it would be like. It is also not as glamorous as people think it is. There are tons of sales memes that show how quickly you age in the high-pressure world of sales.

There are of course a lot of advantages as well. Some of the ones that Trey has mentioned are being that he is still only 23, most people with degrees are not making the type of money he is making.  Just being in sales for 4-5 years, he has learned so much and is gaining skills with knowing how to set expectations and really manage the sales cycle internally.

Some of the other big takeaways that were really powerful was the ability to be an advocate for his clients and really thinking about his customer first.

It is easier said than done. Most people would read this and say no crap you should think about your customer first but most salespeople….. A lot of the ones I have studied throughout the years are putting themselves first and not truly being able to put the customer first but at the same time, you do not want to be a doormat just having the perfect balance of doing just that is a skill that separates the best from the middle of the pack.

He is just very conversational and is able to adapt to who he is speaking to. Truly knowing your audience and being adaptive to the different skills and pace depending on which region you are speaking to and people’s personality profiles.

Also being very consultative, aka not the bad representation or of a manipulative pushy sales person. He is pretty much the opposite of that. I did notice a very confident man. One beyond his most professionals his age. I am much older than him and I have noticed that he has the confidence of someone double his experience.

I have noticed that he is great at managing his emotions and not dwelling on negative thoughts. I think too often people let the emotions take the best of them and it does not serve you in sales. Especially in sales, because the stakes are higher and the opportunity costs are higher being that commission is why people do sales.

Some of the motivations are that he is going to be a dad soon and really all of the hard work means he gets a big paycheck at the end of the day. Which translate to being able to support his wife and kids one day and to be able to live a comfortable life he is proud of. Sales people are some of the highest paid professionals out there because they add a ton of value to any organization. Whether you believe it or not, you should probably do some research.

He is very strategetic with how he approaches sales. I know some people are pretty much robotic and are using the same pitch for every single people. This is the easy way to do things. Of course, it is harder to truly cater your pitch to the know your audience technique that takes a long time to master.

Preparation meets opportunity and the humbleness. Just really being able to prepare and do your research but do not assume you know everything about your prospect’s business so actually asking them the open-ended questions and taking really good notes is key.

Active listening and really it is just whale hunting as an analogy. The deals can be lucrative but it takes time and grit(look up Angela Duckworth- she’s the one who made grit popular). In the end it is really just about building value. What is the pain? What is the driver behind why we are even speaking right now? Asking the prospect if you can record the call so you can build better self-awareness of how you are being if you are truly listening and so that you do not miss any vital information to help co-create a business case with your champion.

You never want to be talking more than them. This is the number 1 mistake that all sales people make. I cannot stress this enough. Loving your product and knowing that it is adding value is underestimated as well. If you just look at the dollar amounts and choose a sales career based on that. It is not going to be as powerful as loving your product and really thinking that is an extremely valuable product and that you are making other’s lives better. 

Being strategic about things such as giving your legal the necessary information and documents for instance if it is a healthcare knowing the complaince behind it and getting the legal team involved. Just a lot of these little things that help you navigate through sales much more easier. Managing expectations are important as well because you never want to oversell people can become skeptical or there is a lack of trust when you oversell. 

Being transparent and genuine seem to be Trey’s secret sauce that really serves him well. This goes back to building trust and just being yourself is key. If you are strong at certain qualities and have certain attributes and have a decent sense of self awareness you really want to leverage your strengths and then you can know what to work on as well in your free time or at least leverage your partners to off balance that weakness.

Practice makes perfect. Only 6 months ago he really started becoming extremely confident which is noted in his tonality and his calmness, poise while speaking especially when he shared with me that he did not like it when people are recording his voice but clearly he agreed to do this podcast so you know it is something he practiced on alot.

This is the part where most of my readers can get a ton of value from. I know for a fact that a ton of people reach out to me to ask how to break into software and/or technology sales. Creating a 30,60,90 day plan and really showing your sales manager your process will impress them 1. because nobody ever does it and 2. every manager appreciates someone who is process approach and is systematic about his or her job search with metrics, analytics, excel spreadsheet, etc.

The humbleness was a huge takeaway as well. He claims he is successful from sheer luck but really it is being at the right place at the right time. Choosing to move to Silicon valley because that is where the opportunity is knowing how competitive that space is. Really having a series of small wins throughout life. I was doing some research and saw that he is a chess leader in college so I am positive that really talks about how strategic his sales approach is.

Asking people for help and not trying to do everything alone is something I have noticed one of my formal colleagues Justin Wiley from Alphaserve technologies does really well. His uses the technical resources really well and builds strong relationships with everyone at the company from all departments so he has no problem getting the management levels to vouch for him and to expeditate things when there is a roadblock.

Story telling is extremely important and is a skill that is extremely hard to master. Even the best are working on it on a daily basis, but the best sales guys are humble like Trey because they know they can always improve no matter how on top of their game they are. 

IBM’s secret sauce is the creating a distinctive experience for your clients/prospects. This means really differentiating yourself and being an amazing story teller. He uses analogies to help break down more complex situations. I have observed that analogies really is a secret sauce I have personally noticed from sales reps that make over $200k a year.

Timing is really and key. That itself is a skill that takes patience and a lot of work to be great at. Prospects can hear the desperation in your voice if you are pushing your own agenda and not helping them with theirs. 

Last and certainly not least. Keep paying it forward. This overwhelming simple advice is something that have noticed all of the sales reps making over 150k a year have and implement on a daily basis.

Givers are the ones according to Adam Grant that the richest people in the world, ex: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Ray Dalio, Tony Robbins, Oprah. I mean I am sure you can think of hundreds of others.

Let me know if you found this blog post to be helpful. Even if you are not in sales this can be valuable. Even if you think you are not in sales you are wrong. If you a coach, consultant, lawyer, doctor, I mean basically anyone who has every interviewed at any job. aka everyone there are takeaways that can really accelerate your life.