Interview with New Media Producer Franklin McMahon on Meetings Podcast

This week I was on the Meetings Podcast and host Mike McAllens and I talked a lot about my career, video production, podcasting, photography, Media Artist Secrets, Rumor Girls, social media, Willard Beach TV, acting, Millimeter Magazine, Maine and lots more. We also went over some of my career development tips and how to be a rock star for your business.
If you get a chance check out additional episodes of this podcast, very informative and Mike has great guests such as digital marketing guru Mitch Joel of Twist Image and Six Pixels of Separation.
Lots of fun, enjoy! (click the play button below to listen)
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Link to Meetings Podcast and Interview Transcript
How Desperate Decisions Can Destroy Your Business
One of the most powerful skills you can master is decision making, especially when it comes to your career. Many books have been written supporting the fact that impulse decisions, that is going over the facts and then deciding rapidly and affirmatively, is a good way to proceed. The argument is that even if you spend hours going over the pros and cons, ultimately the best path is the one you initially lean towards. We all know people who can decide quick and move on, who don’t second guess themselves. One of the things we hear more often is that to get better at decisions, just make more of them.
Portland Pecha Kucha Video Presentations
A few weeks back I hosted the Portland Pecha Kucha Night featuring 10 creative presenters. Each person had 20 slides, 20 seconds each to tell their story. It was a great night and lots of fun, now we have the presentations from the night up on YouTube so you can check them out. Visit the page below and then click on the videos down the right side. Lots of great perspectives from many different creative careers, hope you find them as inspiring as the audience did that night.
Ian Page/Portland Rockumentarian
John Swan/Painter
Marcia Feller/Retail Display Techniques
Kathleen Kelly/Cyanotype Photograms
Michael Shaughnessy/Sculptor
Erin Curren/Portland Playback Theater
Thomas Hillman/Brand Designer
Luke “Lukaduke” Fuller/Painter
John Stass/Furniture Maker
Greg Daly/Diorama

Bonus clip:
This one is actually from the previous Pecha Kucha but I liked it and thought I would include it here. It is from Dave Poole, who I have had as a guest on my Creative Cow Podcast…very talented guy!
Willard Beach Episode 3.2
I act in a series called Willard Beach, it is shown on broadcast TV around the US and you can check out all the episodes on the web here and also in iTunes. In this week’s episode you can see my character Sebastian having a run-in with the pool guy. As well as a run-in with the guy who stole my girl.
You can also check out another episode with me in it, as well as an interview with the producers, right here.

Here is a little behind the scenes clip from shooting that day with Karla Gilbert and Krystal Kenville
When is it Time to Stop Networking?
When is it time to stop networking? When it no longer is working for you. Networking, meaning in person, runs a spectrum from uneasy to comfy. You may attend a regular networking event for the first time and you may be a little apprehensive. Lots of people you don’t know, the location is unfamiliar, you have to make fairly cold introductions. But you get to know people and it becomes easier. In fact perhaps you attend the meet or function on a regular basis. You have now gone to it for months and you know everyone. You have made a lot of great connections, gotten new clients, but now it’s more like meeting with your friends.
Willard Beach The Real Story Series Catering
Here is a behind the scenes video of Toni Fiore of Delicious TV preparing food for the cast of the show Willard Beach. I play Sebastian Couture in the series and there is a brief clip of me in this video from an upcoming episode I am in. I am mad at my pool guy…
Social Media Leading Not Learning – How to be a World Class Chef of Content

Producing content has been a common theme I have discussed here before. Production of content is important, not so much in what you produce, but the fact that you actually do produce. Your audience is hungry for info from you. They are circling your world, looking for your next idea, tutorial, blog post, video, really anything. They are not too picky.
Of course a strategy needs to be in place. So you may be reading books, attending training, webinars, really soaking in a lot of info designed to get you prepped for getting yourself out there. But what if all you do is absorb the knowledge and not put it to use? What if you focus primarily on learning and never really have time to put things in action, or to produce content to get out there?
Embrace Your Ego and Become a Rockstar for Your Business

It’s funny, I almost think everything I learned about egos I learned from doing fashion photography. I mean the whole industry is rich with egos, both in front of the camera and behind the camera. But that’s half the fun. It’s talent mixed in with a lot of posturing. Sometimes it’s about attitude, sometimes it’s about confidence. Often both. But how does that apply to your business? Well a lot of it can directly apply, especially there days where “you are your business”.
Everyone has an ego. Some are humble about it and some want to shout everything from the rooftops. Some have alter-egos. Superheros for example. That is when you have a plain, more generic, ego or identity and then you have one that is really out there, powerful for the world to see. If you start to examine people who have really achieved a lot in their career, you start to see a lot of egos on display. These could be business people, sports figures, entertainers, notable web people and so on. In fact you may see some who have more ego than talent, they are driven to the spotlight so relentlessly that the spotlight becomes the mission.
Leo Laporte Makes $1.5 Million Per Year from Podcasting
Oh man I just love this! I have been speaking so much lately about podcasting, doing seminars and working with clients, and it’s so great to see one of the pioneers of podcasting step out and convey that it really is a huge market. It’s extremely lucrative for many in the industry and one of the most powerful ways to get your brand out to a global audience.
Leo has been a constant inspiration to me as I’ve built my own podcasts over the years, he’s a great guy, fantastic resource in the business and always quick to help out when you get into a technical jam. I have patterned a lot of my branding of shows and marketing on his branding and marketing techniques with his own network. Leo, as well as the Podfather Adam Curry, have been so inspirational to me and great mentors in this amazing, and relatively new, field of communications.
Great to see him enjoying continued success through podcasting!
Check out the video below as Leo reveals a lot of his strategy when it comes to podcasting.
An Evening of Creativity – Pecha Kucha Night Maine – October 8th

I’ve been involved in the creative arts community for many years, so I am especially excited about Pecha Kucha Night in Portland, Maine on October 8th. If you are not familair with Pecha Kucha you can read up about it on the official website or on the Maine website. I will be hosting that night and we have 10 very talented, creative and dynamic creative aritsts who will be presenting. The hook is each person has 20 slides and 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell their story.
You can sign up for the event via Facebook right here and join the fan page
Pecha Kucha Maine
Here is the concept:
Pecha Kucha Night, devised by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham architecture), was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
But as we all know, give a mike to a designer (especially an architect) and you’ll be trapped for hours. The key to Pecha Kucha Night is its patented system for avoiding this fate. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.
Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a demand that seems to be global – as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over 100 cities across the world.
The event will be held at Space on Congress St. in downtown Portland, I encourage you to get there early for mingling beforehand, as it does tend to be a who’s who of creative people in Portland. If you can make it, I look forward to seeing you (come over and say hi) for what will be a really fun and inspiring night.
October 8th Presenters
Ian Page/Portland Rockumentarian
John Swan/Painter
Marcia Feller/Retail Display Techniques
Kathleen Kelly/Cyanotype Photograms
Michael Shaughnessy/Sculptor
Erin Curren/Portland Playback Theater
Thomas Hillman/Brand Designer
Luke “Lukaduke” Fuller/Painter
John Stass/Furniture Maker
Greg Daly/Diorama
Franklin McMahon (MC)











