Riffs Archives - The Winding Road

How Podcasting and Clubhouse Have Made Me Better at My Job

by Travis L. ScottApril 12, 2021April 12, 2021

Context: My Podcasting Story Back in 2019, I started a podcast called The Winding Road. I didn’t really have a clear idea of what it would be about or who would listen to it. I mainly wanted to see what all of the podcasting hype was about. Since I learn better by immersing myself in something, I decided to spin it up and see what happened. The First Version Will Always Suck I haven’t listened to my first episodes and may never do that. I already know they won’t be as good as the last one I did, and that’s …

You’re a Marketer. Why Are You Still Writing Your Resume Like It’s 1959?

by Travis L. ScottApril 4, 2021

Recently, I was helping someone with their resume. They’re a budding, talented marketing copywriter ready to make the jump into a role that will allow them to leverage their talent. Knowing this person and their work, then seeing their resume, I was surprised at the disconnect. His resume was stiff, formal, robotic—nothing like how he usually writes or talks. How did this kind of writing pervade resumes and CVs? How is it that even talented writers are falling into this trap of crappy, impersonal resume writing? It’s also surprising how the ancient myth of keeping your resume to one page …

How to Turn AI, Competitors, and Alternatives into Your Professional Advantage

by Travis L. ScottMarch 4, 2021March 4, 2021

If you begin to think about what you offer to an employer or client, depending on the career path you’ve chosen, there are always alternatives and competition. There will always be alternatives. One alternative is that your client could do the work themselves instead of paying you to do it. For some apps or software platforms, a free Google spreadsheet is an alternative. If you make money providing a product or service to your clients, there will always be competition. For some, the threat of artificial intelligence, or AI, is already here and impacting how you work. What does this …

Is Your Commitment Phobia Preventing You From Being a Successful Solopreneur?

by Travis L. ScottFebruary 25, 2021February 25, 2021

“Look at that stack of books by the bed and tell me that you’re the kind of person who can be happy focusing on just one niche?,” said my wife as we were talking about my career when I told her I need to narrow my focus when it comes to marketing. I’ve never been a niche guy with anything. My music taste is eclectic as hell. Take last Friday evening for example. We started listening to 40’s music (one of my favorite genres), then moved to the ’80s, then the band America, then the band ELO. It ended with …

Want to Build a Personal Brand? First, Slow Your Roll

by Travis L. ScottFebruary 12, 2021February 12, 2021

Everybody seems to be talking about building their personal brand these days. It’s becoming such an overused term that it’s bordering on cringe-worthy when someone mentions it. Personal brands aren’t new. They’ve been around since humans have. In pre-hypermarketing times, about 20 years ago, it was known as your reputation. The only difference is now we can influence, at scale, others’ perception of our reputation through a nauseating choice of social media platforms and other chest-thumping forms of communication. We live in a time of scale and reach unlike any other. The barriers to getting your message out to hundreds …

Three Easy Things You Can Do Today to Balance Your Career, Learning, and Life

by Travis L. ScottFebruary 4, 2021February 4, 2021

I say ‘easy,’ because the things I’m proposing are decisions we can make. We can either decide to do them or not. However, I realize that it may be an easy decision, executing may take some effort. But, what I’m proposing is not difficult. It’s really not difficult at all. It just takes focus and planning. For some of us, the COVID pandemic provides ample time to learn and practice getting better at things like writing, creating videos, or anything else you want to work on. For others, the opposite is true now. You now have a second job – …

Want to Level Up Your Career? Hint: It Won’t Happen by Changing Companies

by Travis L. ScottJanuary 28, 2021

Summary: I’ve laid out 3-1/2 steps you can take to level up your career and none of them involve changing companies. In fact, changing companies will likely result in a lateral career move. What’s your next career move? Do you have the skills and experience you need to make it happen? Do you even know what you’ll need? The sad truth is that if you are hoping to level up your career and climb the next rung on the ladder by changing companies, that’s highly unlikely. Why? Because it’s risky for the company that would hire you. Interviews are imperfect, …

Is False Abundance or Scarcity Around Your Knowledge Holding You Back?

by Travis L. ScottJanuary 20, 2021January 20, 2021

Abundance and scarcity are interesting concepts to me and something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately – especially when it comes to sharing knowledge and teaching. Sometimes we’re hesitant to share what we know. We want to keep it to ourselves because we feel like it creates some sort of scarcity. As if we’re the only ones who know it and if we let it out our value instantly decreases. As if we can somehow maintain our status by keeping it to ourselves. Knowledge does not accrue interest by staying in your head. In fact, it loses value. Knowledge …

The Most Liberating and Brave Thing You Can Say to Your Content’s Critics

by Travis L. ScottJanuary 12, 2021

The world is a noisy place, and that extends to the professional world. People keep telling you, “you have to create content,” “you should start a blog,” “become active on LinkedIn and share your content there.” Whether you’ve been in an industry and profession for 15 years or 2, it’s still scary to write a blog post and share it out on LinkedIn or Twitter. Creating a short video of your thoughts, perspective, or experience you’d like to share is scary. Imaginary Critics We always hear this imaginary critic in our minds who tells us we’re a fraud. “They” tell …

Do You Want to Make a Meaningful Career Change? Then Ditch Your Resume

by Travis L. ScottDecember 14, 2020December 14, 2020

Yep. That’s right. If you’re looking to change your career, your resume is worthless. Somehow, we’ve become so attached to the concept of a resume that we think it’s the key that will magically open doors. Get us noticed. The bad news. Resumes aren’t magic keys, and they won’t open doors. They’ll just give you a chance to go through a door that’s already opened, and then it’s only a chance. I’d like to share a story of how I landed my current role (and career change) as a Director of Marketing with a B2B company in Denver, CO without …