ETG Podcast: Episode 22

For those of you not familiar with Penelope Trunk, she is a very successful entrepreneur, blogger, and is the author of the book Brazen Careerist.

If you have read her blog, you know she is about as no nonsense a writer as they come. She has built a fantastic community of readers with her wit, humor, and writing style. And a little media attention didn’t hurt either….

As you can imagine with a high profile person like Penelope, it was pretty hard to pin her down for an interview. From my initial contact, it took us about 2 months to finally get something concrete on the calendar. I knew it would be worth the wait, but I had no idea just what I was getting into!

If you read Wednesday’s post, The Truth About Being Remarkable And Giving A Shit, then you are somewhat familiar with what transpired on this call.

I was expecting a regular interview and initially it started out that way. Then I asked the question that turned the interview around and turned my whole thought process about my blog around with it. I was not expecting the turn of events that happened, and was completely caught off guard.

Another Reality Check…

After I got off the phone, I called a friend of mine, Marcus Sheridan and told him what happened. I sent him the interview and asked for his honest opinion. Honestly, I thought he was going to tell me that Penelope was crazy.

Here’s what he had to say:

I’ve listened to the recording and have put a lot of time thinking about how to respond to this, but I know you want me to be straight and real, so that’s what I’ll be, because I think you’re a heck of a guy.

Penelope is uncanny. She is direct, but she thin slices situations very well.

To be honest Steve, she is right. Her assessment is accurate. She kept drilling you for your goals, and she also picked up on the fact that your vision is very unclear.

Dude, do yourself a favor, and turn that interview into the turning point of your life. Take what she said, embrace it, chew on it, run with it, and be grateful she was willing to give it.

We all need to be talked to like that at times. All of us. And if we’re bothered by what others say, it’s usually because there is something within us that knows there was merit in the message.

I honestly did not disagree with anything she said.”

That email woke me up. I have a lot of respect for Marcus as an entrepreneur and as a person and what he said suddenly made so much sense.

Prior to this interview, I thought I knew the direction I was heading in. I thought I had goals. After the interview, I had to seriously reevaluate everything I am working towards and why.

The Interview

During the call, I felt like Penelope was personally attacking me and I was too in shock to take what she was saying for what it was worth. But looking back I realize that it was just what I needed. I’ve listened to this interview multiple times and realize that she did me a huge favor by calling bullshit on me.

I could easily write 3,000 words about this interview but I wouldn’t do it justice. I have also left it unedited (other than the intro) so you can get the full effect of the conversation.

Please listen to it and leave me a comment with your thoughts. Do you agree with what she is saying? Was she jumping to conclusions and judgements or were they just? I really want to hear your thoughts on this!

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