Not surprisingly, the question I get asked the most is “Are you crazy posting on social media? What if… they don’t like what you say?! What if… they blackball you?!”

Well. ‘They’ might.  But truth be told, this is who I am, faults and all.  So whether I post on social media or not – I’ve always called it like I see it and I won’t back down from a respectful discussion.  I wear my heart on my sleeve, defend the principles I believe in and the people I care about.  My man CGJr said it best: No heart!? I’m all heart, motherfucker!

When I first posted more than a year ago, I had 200 views the first day and had absolutely no vision that the #htotd would ever be more than a creative, if not a little outrageous, outlet for me to process what occupied my busy mind.  Today, it gets 30,000 views a day and it feels like it’s time to do it for real.  With the book almost out, we are launching a website and a podcast and we are going to take calling a spade a spade for a spin (thanks to all that commented on the logo: I hope you love it as much as I do) I love the movie ‘‪Jerry Maguire’ and in particular, the Goldfish scene. His accidental mission statement/memo was called “The things we think and do not say”.

I’m gonna keep saying them, just louder.  Who’s coming with me?

People ask “What’s the deal with the alien?”.

It was November 2018.   We had just sold OneEnergy Partners and I was transitioning with Franklin Mountain Energy as COO, who had bought the last part of the company.  I had always wanted to publish the book which until that point had been a manuscript sitting in a file folder on my computer that I would email to people if they were having a career change/life event as sort of a “been there, hope it helps” gesture.

I had set a goal of publishing the book by the end of 2019 and talked to a publisher.  She said “I like the book but there are 4,000 books published a day.  Do you have a social media following?”  No. “Twitter or Facebook?”  No. I hate those things.  “Well, you need a public profile if you want to get a book published.”  And I had this LinkedIn account I hadn’t used since 2008 that I only opened because it was suggested while doing my MBA.

To separate the “media personality” from the work me, I chose a picture that I had taken in Roswell, New Mexico outside the IHOP.  To me, it embodied the “keep separate” and as a LinkedIn picture, appropriately reflected my world view.

And THAT is the story of the alien and how it came to represent the #hottakeoftheday