Insight from the Brett Farmiloe, Author of Pursue the Passion
Hi Brett, thank you for taking the time to do a Q&A with me, Jennifer Hartnett, for Success Strivers! First of all, can you tell me a little about yourself and your background?
I’m a published author, company founder and have a history of bringing unique ideas to life. My first company, Pursue the Passion, was a career education startup that took three friends and myself on two cross-country road trips to interview people about how they found passion in work. Since getting off the road, I’ve delivered over 100 speeches from Alaska to Miami Beach and authored the book, Pursue the Passion. I’m also the founder of an online marketing company in Scottsdale, where I create online campaigns and executes social media strategies for cutting edge ecommerce companies.
How do you set goals and how do you accomplish them?
In a very analytical way. It’s all about math. I set an objective. I then create as many tactics as I need to mathematically achieve that objective. Then I go do everything on my tactic list and gauge whether that objective will be reached.
What are your ambitions for your career?
I love marketing. I love working for myself. If I stay true to those two things, I think I’ll go interesting places.
How did you figure out your passion?
Oddly enough, on a cross-country tour I dubbed “Pursue the Passion.” I interviewed over 300 people about their career path and made some observations about each one of their stories. This tour also garnered a lot of media attention – we were driving a 28-foot RV around the country, so we were hard to miss. I think we made about 40 media appearances to talk about our tour. What I realized from the media and the tour was I’m passionate about inspiring movement – specifically through marketing campaigns. Because in the end, that’s what Pursue the Passion really was – a campaign to inspire people to think about, and go after what they enjoy in their careers.
What should everyone do to pursue their passion?
Some of the best advice we got on tour was to pick a costume, put it on, and be it. If that costume doesn’t fit right, take it off, put on another costume, and be that. You learn about what you’re passionate about through experience, and less by sitting in a chair. So go out and have experiences.
One of the best experiences you can have, by the way, is doing face to face interviews with people you want to be like. Those experiences will bring reality to fantasies.
Do you have a strategy for pursuing one’s passion?
It’s tough, which is why 70% of the American workforce doesn’t like what they do for a living. The minority of America enjoys what they do because the process is difficult to get to a place where you enjoy what you do. The strategy isn’t magic. It’s as simple as taking ownership on an idea, making calculated risks when necessary, and working hard until you get there.
What continues to inspire you?
Growth. I love seeing a concept of ours go from theory, to specific tactics, to tangible results. Since our marketing company deals so much with ecommerce business, I’m inspired by the growth our clients and our company experiences.
How do you stay true to you’re passion?
Money helps. When you get paid for doing what you love, it’s easier to stay true. But when I was working with no salary and redeeming vouchers for free Hot Pockets to survive…those are the times where you need a clear objective to continue on. Objectives give you significance. Tactics give you a way to measure how close you are to your objective. Both significance and measurability are things you need in your back pocket when you go on a journey.
What drives you?
I mentioned earlier that I like inspiring movement. If I had to sum up why I do what I do, I like being in a position where I can inspire movement to “the good life.” The good life is a better life than you’re living now. Our clients offer products that make lives better. That’s why our job as marketers is fun. We get to help people improve their lives. And of course, if we do our job well, our lives become better as well.
How do you stay motivated?
I enjoy seeing if stuff works or fails. Every day we get to try something new to see how people respond. That’s pretty motivating.
What advice do you have for the community to stay motivated?
Do stuff. Motivation stems from excitement. Doing stuff is exciting.
What would you recommend others do different?
Auditing. I majored in accounting in college. My first job out of school was being an auditor. The job is full of checks and balances to make sure the overall picture makes sense. I audit everything – finances, activities, focus – just to make sure things are going the way I’d like them to. It’s a great activity.
Is there a perfect way of living life? If yes, what is it?
If there is, I haven’t found it.
How do you influence people in a meaningful way?
Numbers is how I’m able to see if what I’m doing is meaningful. If I give a speech, I might include my email address on slides to see how many people email me afterwards. For an interview like this, I’d include a link to my website – http://markitors.com – and see if what I had to say here inspired people to go check out other things I’m up to. There’s always a way to measure influence, and measurements lead to meaning. At least for me.
What works for you to keep striving for success?
I think the answer is in the question. It’s to keep striving.
Will you write another book soon?
The last one took four years to produce. I don’t know if I have that in me again.
What advice do you have for Success Strivers?
Only advice for Success Strivers is to start building up that email list. That’s how people will stay up to date with you. Email is the best form of marketing delivery around.
More from Brett Farmiloe on his Ted Talk here:
(This video is embedded with permission)
That’s Jennifer Hartnett for Success Strivers, thanks for reading and thank you Brett Farmiloe for your time! Best wishes to the Success Strivers community in finding your passion if you have not already! If you have, please do share it with us! Learning from others can make all the difference in your success and the success of others! Thanks for reading, and we will be posting much more soon!
