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Jimmy Newson is unstoppable as it gets. However, his mindset came over time through lots of learning, trial and error. In this episode you will meet a man who discovered that life is more then what is in our own back yard. Jimmy had the opportunity in school to be confronted with challenges to expand his horizons and he decided to take advantage of what his teachers offered. He will tell you about how he became the person he now describes himself as, “The Impact Influencer”. His business and marketing adventures have taken him far and wide geographically and experientially. He even came to value the need to promote accessibility and inclusion. Please let me know how you like this show through ratings and your email comments to michaelhi@accessibe.com. Some directories do not show full show notes. For the complete transcription please visit https://michaelhingson.com/podcast About the Guest: Jimmy Newson is the founder and CEO of Moving Forward Small Business, a membership-based digital publishing company on a mission to save a million small businesses from failure by 2050, leveraging technology, innovation, and business strategy. He is also the senior advisor for the New York Marketing Association. He presents workshops and trainings regularly with the Start Small Think Big, NY Public Library, SCORE, Digital Marketing World Forum, DC Start-Up Week, and multiple international SaaS companies. About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes
Michael Hingson 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson 01:23 Well, hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset, the podcast where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet and I think you've seen on all of our episodes, any of that can happen. Kimmy Newsom is our guest today. And Jimmy is a very clever guy. He founded moving forward small business and he has done a number of other things. I met Jimmy through AccessiBe which is another company that we have talked about some on these podcasts, it makes internet websites more usable. And Jimmy is an AccessiBe partner. But we're here to talk about Jimmy today, and what he's done and why He's unstoppable. And I suppose AccessiBe might be a part of that. But really, it is just part of Jimmy's life. So Jimmy, welcome to unstoppable mindset. Jimmy Newson 02:13 Michael, thank you for inviting me, I'm excited. And I absolutely love the name of this podcast. And it's it's it definitely puts puts the mind in a position to understand there's a lot more at stake than what you might even think of on a regular basis. Michael Hingson 02:31 Well, and I, I think that it's it's a name that evolved. When I started looking at what to do during the pandemic, I had thought about the concept of creating a list and writing a book called blinded by fear. Because people in general are blinded by fear when something unexpected happens that you can't deal with, you just can't make decisions. And what I realized along the way is that that is because people are being blinded or just totally overwhelmed with fear, and they haven't learned to control it. It's something that was a factor in my surviving the World Trade Center, although I didn't know at the time, but I have been developing techniques to control fear, which isn't to eliminate it because fear is a very valuable thing. But you can control it, which helps to make you unstoppable, which is how we got here. I love it. Love it. So tell me a little bit about you. And you know where you're from early, early life that might be relevant and how it got you to where you are. Jimmy Newson 03:35 Oh, okay, well, Michael Hingson 03:37 how's that for an opening? Jimmy Newson 03:38 That's an opening that leaves me a lot to paint here. So let me get my paintbrush. Um, you know, I mean, it's, I've always thought a little bit different than my family. My friends, I looked at life, I wouldn't I remember I wouldn't wear brands when I was a kid. Because I felt like if I wore brands that I am endorsing it, not that I knew that that was the word. But I'm not sure why I even thought about that. So I would buy the most generic clothing as a kid just so I didn't look like I was patronizing anything or anybody. And I don't sure how far that went. And I it's funny because I'm now mostly most of my most of my structure is around marketing, which is all about branding. So, it's like I did a whole 180 or 383 60 or whatnot. And as early as seventh grade, I mean, I had entrepreneurial tendencies, but I didn't really know what that was either because that wasn't something in my, in my household in the area I grew up in, you know, either either work for someone or you weren't working. You know, it wasn't about owning a thing or building for something better or looking at the current situation and then determining how can I make this better? It's just what this Is it this is what it is. And so we roll with it. As I started getting a bit older, I got lucky enough to start to be put into classes and say in middle school in high school that were more like advanced classes. But the problem is I was the only one in my neighborhood that would be putting these classes. So I got kind of separated from my, from my crew from my clique. And but I started to learn all these new things and see how the how the world really was not necessarily in my neighborhood, but on a larger scale, statewide, across state lines, and I was like, wow, there's a lot more to this whole life thing than what I see in my backyard. And as I started to grow, things started to make more sense, I started to be introduced to organizations, people programs, that really started to help me amplify what I was thinking, but it gave a name to how I was thinking. And so it was just about matching what I felt what, what, what, what could actually be done in life. And, you know, and that's helped me throughout a good majority of my life, and I still practice a lot of this strategy and structure today, and looking at, you know, can I really change the world? Can I really do things I've never done before. And when you talk about that fear factor, I'm now I'm doing a lot more that I've never done before. And I will tell you it is it is scary. It's fearful, because I'm like, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if this makes sense. What is the guidelines for me to say yes or no, you know, and after wow, I just realized, I'm not even gonna worry about that anymore. Just like your podcast was born out of the pandemic, so was my my newest organization, we were in for small business. Because I it was the same thing people were all of a sudden, they were just frozen in this in their space, because they didn't know what to do, because everything around them was crumbling, in regards to what the pandemic was doing to their business, to their professional life, their personal life. And I said, let's figure out a way to create some, some actionable steps that can help them become I'm paralyzed. And they can actually at least take a small step forward. And they take another small step forward. So it's not about trying to eat the whole elephant, let's take a couple small bites, and continue to do that over and over again. You, you really Michael Hingson 07:24 tweeker a question in my mind, and that is that you are talking about moving forward, you're talking about doing stuff? Why is it? Well, two questions, one, why is it that more people don't do that? Why is it that people just accept the way things are, if you will mediocrity or whatever? And why did you really decide or what, what caused you to decide to take the step of, okay, maybe it really is broken, we need to fix it, or at least I can move forward? And I don't have to accept things necessarily, just as they are. Jimmy Newson 08:07 Yeah, and I can answer both of those questions. The first one I, I have my personal opinion on it. And I think is, I think it is when people can experience or see a situation that they didn't know was possible, especially in, in, in relationships to where they currently are in life, who they are the type of person they are, it's easier for them to they when they view it, or they experience it. Now they know it's possible. And when you don't have those, it's almost like that dinner table talk, you know, one dinner, one, one talk at one person's dinner table is you know, the the the mom, the dad, whoever is at the head of the table there, the conversation is around growth, business, maybe relationship building, because they're exposed to that. And so the the the the everyone else around that gets to benefit from that. But when you're not having those conversation at the table, it's not that you don't know that you can go further, you don't know it's possible to go further. And the only reason I knew is because I started getting put into these programs. If it wasn't for those programs, I would not have known I probably would definitely be on another path. And it wouldn't be this one, it wouldn't be the one I'm on because I saw it. I experienced it. So then I realized it's possible. I remember once when I was in Texas working with a colleague back in 2014, and you know, entrepreneurs, so jump forward, entrepreneurs have a tendency of working 90 hours a week and think and think that's normal. And but these entrepreneurs I knew were very successful, extremely financially well off, and they all had time to be family people and and so that was confusing to me because I hadn't seen it and every entrepreneur I know is like a maniac working like crazy. So I want To see, I realized the only way I could understand how I could get that type of balance in my life was to experience it through them. So I went to Dallas where they were, and I spent a week or two with them. So I could go, how are you able to be so successful, but then have time to go home for dinner at 5pm? You know, and so it is about that, you know, you need to be introduced to it. So and let's even take my culture, the African American community or other underserved community areas, and even disabled what take that, when we're able to see other people that are in our position doing these things, we can relate to it better, and then we know who I can do that, because I'm like that person. You know, but you need that. And you need that you need that, that opportunity to see it. Michael Hingson 10:47 What did you discover that they were doing that you weren't? Jimmy Newson 10:51 Is it really about time and here's an example, we think that we as entrepreneurs have to do everything, we think we're the best person for the job. And at the end of day, we're not, you're great at, we're great at certain things. And, and we should focus on that. And what we have to let go of is to control to give other people the ability to help take our dream and take it further. And I remember one of my mentors, he did an interview with the with the gentlemen who started this a restaurant called Fuddruckers, down the more southern based, and he interviewed because I was recording, I was doing a lot of video production. So I was recording the interview. And he goes, Hey, what happened to that incredible program, you are going to use talk that was so amazing, because yeah, I didn't do it. And he looked at him was surprised he goes, Why would you not do something that was so incredible, he goes because I couldn't find the right team to do it. He goes, No matter how successful I am at when I come up with a program or project, if I can't find the right team to run it, because I already know I don't have the time to do it. It doesn't go until I find the team. And that's what we don't do as entrepreneurs, we think that we have to do it. So we have three companies, and all three companies are depending on us feeding it. And when we don't feed it, they don't move. And three years later, we still got these three companies, but none of them have moved an inch. Michael Hingson 12:19 What we don't tend to realize is that we're not feeding it with the right food. And I understand exactly what you're saying. I know I learned along the way in sales, and sales management, that unlike a lot of people who are in those positions, my job should not be to boss people around to tell them what to do. Because they may do it, which is probably a sign of weakness because they don't have enough strength in their own convictions. Or they won't do it because they decide that they're right. And it doesn't matter what I decided that and realized I needed to do was to add value and to figure out how I could enhance what they did as the manager. And so one of the things that I eventually started doing was telling people I hired, I'm not here to boss you around, I'm hiring you because I believe you have convinced me that you can do the job, I will always be a second person on your team. And the result is that what I need to do is to work with you to figure out how I can best add value to you, which does mean that I need to know what they do. And I need to to experience what they did by learning, sales and so on. But as the team manager or the company leader, I have to step beyond that and figure out with them how to add value. And if they can't figure that out? Or if we can't figure that out on their resistance, then we have a different problem. Jimmy Newson 13:56 Yeah, absolutely. And so that, so that was a great eye opener, because it i Of course, I had a number of businesses. And I was definitely that guy. And after that I really started to reinvent my tire structure to even right now, moving forward, small business is my main focus. And that never would have been before. But I understand the value of this type of focus, because the success of that organization will give me the resources to still go into other areas of entrepreneurship, but only focus on what I do best and support that new organization with that and then go What's the rest of the team look like? Michael Hingson 14:34 Yeah, and how can you work with them and and help them to find their roles? Jimmy Newson 14:40 Absolutely. Yep. And it's good to when you had that buy in? I think it's stronger for you. Because it's not just you come up with an idea with others validating the fact that this is a good idea. Michael Hingson 14:54 Yeah, and when it gels, it really gels and you expand Jimmy Newson 15:00 Yes, yes, absolutely. So it's so that those are some of the lessons I've learned and, you know is is you can still have, you can still have your cake and eat it too and be in a number of different places, you just have to structure yourself. So it makes sense. And everybody gets in everybody can win in this scenario. Michael Hingson 15:19 Yeah, which, which is the way it really ought to be everyone should be able to win, which is why it's so frustrating watching what's going on in our world today, where there's so much fracture occurring, and nobody is listening, and no one seems to be, or very few people seem to really be looking for solutions. Because people aren't really looking for solutions. They just wanted their way or nothing at all. Jimmy Newson 15:46 Yeah, we call that we call that radio station wi I fm. What's in it for me? Yeah. Michael Hingson 15:53 And the reality is, if people work together, there's so much more that's in it for them, and they will win. And that makes it so difficult today. Jimmy Newson 16:02 Yeah, absolutely. Michael Hingson 16:04 So how did you get to start this latest business that you have. Jimmy Newson 16:11 And that's, you know, as, you know, my, my, my transition over the last maybe 15 years or so I started in the music industry. From there, I went into video production on the corporate side, because they had budgets that was fairly nice to get paid. And then then we went, then I went into marketing, because I realized a lot of businesses I was working with, didn't understand how to leverage the video. So I had to give them marketing skills. So I had to up my game. And then as I started giving them marketing skills, I realized their marketing wasn't working is strong if they didn't have a strong business structure for their organization. So I ended up in, in business advising and consulting. And this was at the the the ask of my small business clients, who would go Why don't you just become a consultant? I'm like, why would I do that. And then after hearing that a few times, I would step my game up again, get get whatever certifications or whatever knowledge was necessary to step up to that next stage. And then the next, you know, depends, you know, my focus was heavy on digital marketing, digital marketing is was hot Dan is extremely hot now. And you know, with me selling digital marketing services, you either convincing businesses to get online for the period, or you're showing them that they're not doing it right, and you can help them. So you've got those two types of individuals that you're dealing with or in organizations. And when the pandemic hit, those that weren't online, were basically invisible. And those that were online and weren't doing it well, weren't getting any traction, because they really hadn't put any real focus on being successful online, whether their business was 100% online, or they were brick and mortar looking to add an online component. So as I saw them struggling, I said, Okay, what can we do to help them and that goes back to that fear thing, they just kind of deer in headlights now, because they just didn't know what to do. I caught up a few of my colleagues and said, Hey, give me like, five or 10 minute real simple videos. And the only thing I want you to make sure is in that is an actionable step. So they can take a small step. And it could be in any aspect of digital, whether it's advertising, SEO, online personality, optimizing your Google My Business, which is now I think, Google business profile, now, just something. So I got about 15 to 20 people that do that. And that was kind of like the pre birth. Moving forward, small business, it was more of an initiative. And we started pushing it and promoting it and going, Hey, here's some quick videos, you can watch. If you're just stuck, I started reaching out to some bigger organizations that we were hoping would partner with us so we can spread it out to more businesses. And that's a whole nother story there. And then, and that was that that was probably around April of 2020. And then by next year, I decided that maybe we can take this to a whole nother level because of course, I'm still working with tons of clients and not putting a lot of focus on this but it's still kind of there. And as I saw demand for businesses that needed a lot more information and infrastructure, I decided to turn it into an organization so I put a lot more resources in it built the site started building partnerships with organizations that had the same target small business audience. And now I'm in the midst of some some great partnerships as of today with with the with the likes of like MasterCard and NBA to pull together programming because in addition to being online and making sure you're doing it right now this whole there's this whole push around inclusiveness and economic inclusion and diversity. And everybody wants to play in it. And now we positioned ourselves in a way that we can be a conduit because we focus on one thing, education and how to. And so we are the people don't pay for the work they pay for the house. And we're working on being that how Michael Hingson 20:22 do you find? This just popped into my head? As a curious question, do you find a difference in businesses that are run? Or chiefly involves younger people, as older people or older people more resistive? Or are you finding that people across the board are curious enough to want to explore how to become more successful? Jimmy Newson 20:48 I think I they're all curious, what's what has to be consistent is the language you use? I think, you know, I see a lot of businesses, they try to use a single talking point for all of these different, let's say, levels, levels and genres of people. All right, you're going to talk differently to us as an entrepreneur who's in their 20s, and 30s. To someone who's in their 50s. And 60s, you know, they have different motivations on why they want to be in business, they have different motivations on on, on what what that means to them, they have different motivations on why they end up actually starting it. And they have different expectations on what they expect to get out of it. So you have to determine either I'm going to focus on, you know, when we decide to focus programming, we have to, we're now starting to label it. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, early stage, you know, an even age group, I had a conversation today with someone who focuses on small business owners, individuals who are retiring, and looking and looking for something new to do, you know, and they might want to go into business ownership at this point, they have a lot of experience, and they may lack the ability to understand technology. So they have a different set of problems than then someone who was in the 30s. And they grown up on this technology, they just lack experience. So but at the end of day, they all want to be successful. But it's really, if you're going to try to help them then you have to position your message that it makes sense to why they should work with you. Michael Hingson 22:28 So of course you were, you're now working in a time, where you're incredibly fortunate. You haven't had to teach older people how to run VCRs, right. Jimmy Newson 22:41 I had my share a VCR as I had to do a VCR is to record one tape to the other tape, and then give that to a friend. Michael Hingson 22:49 I have we still have a VCR here. And we actually have to, but near the end of the VCR era. I actually found one that verbalize so I could tell when it was was on and the buttons talked, which was really nice. But yeah, it was. But now everything is digitized. Although vinyl is coming back and I have a whole record collection. So I'm glad to see that that vinyl is doing well. Jimmy Newson 23:17 Yeah, I don't think it ever go out of style. It's easily compatible. You know, I say it looks like I'm looking at your vinyl collection behind you now is that is that your vinyl? That's some of it. Some of it Oh, you might you might you might you know you you're you can do that oh, DJ thing when you're done with this? Michael Hingson 23:35 Well, I also collect old radio shows as a hobby, and I have a whole bunch of reel to reel tapes. But now most of what I have is is in digital form, which also helps. But I've heard a couple of people say that the value of vinyl is that the audio is really better than all the other stuff. And I think that's especially true because as people digitize things, if you don't do it with a high enough quality, then the audio won't be as good as it should be. But even so, vinyl is is true to the audio no matter what you do, and you're not cutting it off as you as you digitize it in any way. Which is which is kind of the way you would think it would make sense to be but it's a lot of fun to do that. So I collect shows and have a lot of fun with it. Right? See, I asked the question about older people because you know, we, we hear so much in the industry today and in the world. Well, you know, it's time for you to retire. You're too old, you're out of step. And I reject that I don't think that people are out of step. They may not know how to take the next step. But it doesn't mean that they're really out of step and don't want to take it. Jimmy Newson 24:44 Absolutely. And I agree with you 100% And that's why I was having the conversation today. Because you know for moving forward small business we want to be able to address every every part of our of our audience, and you have that that the group of and this is we're talking we were talking 60 plus 60 years of age plus, you know, because these they have so much still to give. And the it's just about, you know, what did they fit in, if you're not going to give them a chance, and I'm talking these newer companies, if you're not going to give this older generation a chance, then this older generation needs to grab the bull by the horn, and create their own opportunities. And just say, and so the same that applies to a younger individual that we're going to look if no, if you feel like you're not getting the respect, just go out there and try to do it yourself. It applies to everybody. Michael Hingson 25:34 And look at the knowledge that older people can bring from coming up with companies that really doesn't go out of style, the rules haven't changed, the process may have changed. But the rules haven't changed. Jimmy Newson 25:48 Well, I'll tell you some really funny, I just started working with score. And so I'm doing a ton of digital training for them. We just scheduled some, some programming for them coming out next month, and in April. And I'm educating not only the mentees, if you're familiar with score, if not, I'll just say for those that are listening, you know, score is an organization backed by the Small Business Administration. And I forget what it stands for, but it's just, I can't remember what score stands for. Yeah, but the last two letters of score is retired executive. So these are very experienced individuals who most of them who have ran very big companies, so their brains are full of knowledge. But the one thing and they confided in me that you know, is that a lot of them came out of the court out of the world, and then went into of course, mentoring, because that's what they're doing. But they didn't have a lot of digital wasn't a thing when they came out. So digital is now a thing. And, and they're able to talk to these mentees about digital, but they're not able to go deep. And now I'm educating them on that side. And then I'm in it. And I'm working with the mentees as well on how they can make sure that they are digital ready. So So organizations need to, to look at, you know, there's so much training, there's so much places where you can get great training to level up, no matter where you are on the spectrum of I know enough about this, and not enough about that. And vice versa. You need to assess yourself and figure out where am I weak? You know, and where am I weak in regards to the things that need to be known. And then go seek some info and get that information. So you can leverage it to take yourself and your business to the next level. Michael Hingson 27:33 Yeah, and I worked with score back in 1985, when we were doing this small business and got a small business loan, and very much appreciated the guidance that these Retired Executives gave to us because it it taught me a lot. Of course, part of the issue is also being willing to learn. Jimmy Newson 27:55 Absolutely. I won't work with I have a few people that I've walked away from when I give them a little bit of advice. And I immediately get Yeah, but yeah, but then I go and they go. So when we go, what should we do next? I'll go look, just keep studying. Because I'm like, I don't want to fight you. Michael Hingson 28:16 Yeah, I'm in. It's amazing. And that is also the other part of it is that some people tend to be resistive to training and to change. And either they're going to learn or they're not. And of course, what we're really talking about here this whole discussion, in part using the vernacular of this podcast is we're teaching people and you're teaching people to be unstoppable. Jimmy Newson 28:41 Mm hmm. Absolutely. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's so funny you say that, because I actually have pictures of a number of people in my head, that I walked away from it just because I go, you're not teachable? And yeah, it's not worth my time and energy. There's so many more people that can use my services or use my advice. Why am I going to waste it on you? Michael Hingson 29:05 Yeah, and hopefully, people are willing to take the time to learn. And it's so much more important that we teach people to grow and learn. You know, I'm, I don't know about you. But I remember to this day, various things that happened to me in my life that I think made an impact. And one, for example, was I it was a science teacher in high school. And there were a couple of snippets that he said that always stuck with me and one was that he said that he had read the other day, which is a long time ago now, but about a professor in college who gave a test to his students. It was their final it was a philosophy test. And he said you've got Two hours for the final. And I'll grade you when you're done. So the test started. And he looked around the room and he saw everybody's looking at their papers and then vigorously starting to write. And he saw this one student who looked at his paper, wrote something down, and brought the paper up to the professor and said, I'm done and left. And that student was the only one who got an A, the question was, why? And the student said, why not? And that was the total answer to his question. Jimmy Newson 30:37 Ah, I love that. Michael Hingson 30:39 Yeah, and it's, and it's true, why not? It is our job to investigate and to think, and why not? Well, and maybe we'll find an answer. Why not? But we won't know until we look. Yes. Jimmy Newson 30:53 Yes. You don't know when to get in the water is in start? Oh, it's kind of cold. All right, maybe I need to, now I can adjust myself to this. Michael Hingson 31:02 Or how do I heat up the water? And you know, there's so many ways you can go, but you're absolutely right. It's, um, it is a matter of choices. And as I said, I, I don't know about you. But I remember just like that various things in my life that occurred. And oftentimes things that people said, that just resonated with me for one reason, and I guess part of it is because I did listen. And I didn't focus on other stuff. I wasn't as easily distracted. I know, some blind people who are, and some blind people who are not easily distracted and will focus. I know, sighted people who are the same way? Well, yeah. But I will say there are a whole lot more of all y'all that are tending to be distracted, then, then then should be and there's, there's relevance and observing, and learning from observation. Jimmy Newson 31:52 Yeah, this is learning are two huge skills and traits. That will definitely take you far. Michael Hingson 32:00 So how long have you been conducting these kinds of workshops and so on, and you go all over and do workshops and, and work with companies? Jimmy Newson 32:08 Yeah, it's, it's, it's funny, because as I battled between owning a business, and being a teacher, when I was a kid, when I was trying to debate on what I wanted to do with my life, and of course, I chose business, because I'm like, I want to make some money. You know, I want to do some stuff, you know, don't make that much teachers, unfortunately. And they should, because they shouldn't know they definitely, you know, well, I've got some of those story. But you in essence, I am a teacher, you and that's what the you know, what, all business and this is why I talk to business owners, I go, you're a teacher, you're a leader. You're Impactor. You're an influencer. And when you it doesn't matter, do you own a public plumbing company or you're you own a restaurant or you own a consulting business, someone's looking up to you, and then learning from you. And now if you want to take yourself to that next level, then you can internalize those, those ditional titles, and start to propel yourself to the next level. i be i started doing these workshops because I all of a sudden, I was good at it, because I had experience. But then I figured out how I can teach that, that skill or that experience to others and help them which is my, one of the biggest I didn't know what I wanted to do as a kid. But I knew I wanted want to do one thing. I wanted to be in front of a lot of people, and I wanted to help. And that is now what I do. I thought at the time it was entertainment. But now I went back into the business world. But I still educate and teach and help and train people all over the world. You know, I've got my first physical speaking event coming up in June in London. I'm ecstatic because, you know, I teach vert, virtually all over the world. This is the first time I'm going to put my foot down in a country and actually open my mouth from a training perspective, which, which excites me and you know, cuz I traveled but it's really been for personal pleasure. So but and when people find out about it, they want to have me come, you know, so it becomes this compound effect. And now you got to figure out what am I going to do with this. So that's the unstoppable part for me is, you know, is when you're doing these things, and you kind of have an idea of why you're doing them, all these other things start to present themselves to you, all these new doors start to open up that you didn't know. But you as long as you stay focused on your purpose, the vision and the mission of you and what you do and why your business exists. Now, all these other great things happen. And so that's just exciting. Michael Hingson 34:48 What do you think about and how do you respond? When you hear people say, well, one of the top five fears that people have is public speaking and standing in front of an audience and saying something or giving a speech? Jimmy Newson 35:06 I like this question, because I have an answer. Michael Hingson 35:11 Me too, but Jimmy Newson 35:11 I am. I'm an introvert. And if you get on the elevator with me, outside of business, I'm not going to talk to you. Because it's not in my nature. And I really don't care. And I don't mean that in the bad way. But I don't care. You know, I'm just like, I'm good, I ain't got to talk to you. But when you get me, if you hit me with a topic that I care about, you can't shut me up. And you're going to see a whole nother side of me, you're going to see this, you're going to go this guy is not an introvert, he's an extrovert to the to 10 to power. And, and we, as professionals, we specialize in something we're passionate about something. And when you can tap into that, that is what gets you going, and you come out of your shell, you just need the opportunity to do so a prime example is when I go to a live event, I go to a live event, if I'm in the audience, I'm very quiet. Yeah. But when I'm on stage, I'm crushing it is because I of course, I get to pick the topic. And it's something I'm passionate about, and I can go forward. And it's not really about public speaking at that point. It's about helping people based on what I know, and what I what I'm good at. And now that makes you look like it. But it's even better, because it's not, because it's passionate, that's talking, not the fact that you have to talk. Michael Hingson 36:34 And that's really it isn't it that when people talk about being afraid to stand up in front of an audience, they're not looking at it necessarily in the right way. And the reality is, most of us have things that we're passionate about. And when you are talking about your passions, you forget the rest. Exactly. I think there's an audience there, you don't care. There's an audience there. And you can continue to move forward. And there's, again, it helps you to be unstoppable. But we all are best with the things that we're passionate about. We can learn how to deal with other things. Have you have you ever, for example, gone to an event to speak or been involved anywhere in an event? And you're about to get up on the stage and you suddenly discover? I've been thinking about this completely wrong. And it's not what I thought it was, Jimmy Newson 37:31 as far as the topic itself Michael Hingson 37:33 as the topic or what you were reading what you need to talk about? And what you need to say, Jimmy Newson 37:37 no, no, because I need to be sure in advance, I know what I'm talking about. Because that is that would be at the point my biggest fear is to go up. And and I would consider that legitimate. So I need to confirm that I know exactly. I know enough to converse, and when I don't. And usually when if I don't know enough about this, usually, because I'm the moderator. So I'll learn enough about it to ask intelligent questions, and then position myself as a learner of that through the experts that I'm talking to, to go I don't know enough about this. So I'm looking forward to this conversation as well. Michael Hingson 38:17 I believe that a lot of speaking ought to be about telling stories. I think that I never want to talk to an audience. I want to relate to an audience and talk with an audience, which is also why I always love questions when we're done. But I one day, I actually got confronted with that very situation that I asked about. And I had thought going into the event that I knew exactly what I was supposed to talk about what was the speaker's bureau, who had me going to speak to an organization called the National Property Managers Association, and she says, Oh, it's all these people who rent and manage rentals of apartments and things like that. Well, I had some great stories about that. Because at the time, we owned a house that we were having a property manager manage because we had just moved to New Jersey. And I had stories to tell, but I got to the event late the night before I was supposed to speak. And I was the keynote speaker earlier and early in the morning. I got up and went down to breakfast and was sitting amongst these people and hearing them talk about things with the federal government and this and that and other stuff like that. And I finally said to one of them, what is the national Property Managers Association specifically to you? And they said, Oh, it's easy. We're the organization that manages anything physical relating to the federal government. Yeah, totally different. And I had 10 minutes to change. And I'm not bragging I'm saying that because I didn't dare let fear get in the way and I immediately thought about the fact that I had negotiated Small Business Administration contracts, I had put companies on to GSA schedules and so on, just shifted to a whole new set of stories I don't, and it worked out really well. But, again, we can easily let fear get in our way, rather than stepping back and going, Okay, how do we deal with this? Jimmy Newson 40:23 Yeah, and for me, I usually will, you know, you know, and I have a strategy, a structure in place now, you know, because I always remember when I do something, for the first time, I have to tell myself, that by the fifth time, you won't be as scared and nervous as you are right now. That cost and that coffee down. Because I'm just like, Oh, my God, I'm going to do this on every day. And I'm like, remember, by the fifth time you do it, it's gonna be a walk in the park. And I go, Yeah, okay, fine. Let's go. You know, you gotta you gotta have these things in place. But even when I'm speaking, you know, I am definitely I want to find out as much about the company as possible, the organization, the target audience, who's in the audience, because as a marketer, these are things I need to know anyway. So being a marketer is great for me, because I use a lot of that, no matter what the situation is to do, to to dive deep into understanding every the, as much as I can about it. So I'm prepared as much as possible. Michael Hingson 41:20 Well, in in our particular case, I hadn't realized that I should do something that I now do. And that is, the speaker's bureau said, Well, you don't need to speak with them, they don't have time, they just want you to come and do it. I will never do that I go to do any speaking engagement, without personally interacting with the people at the event. Now, as I said, I was very new to the process, when absolutely heard, but I won't, I won't go to an event unless I can speak with the people ahead of time. And oftentimes, I find out that the people who are arranging the event, for me, are totally clueless about what's going on because they don't know how to ask or don't ask. So it's so valuable, because I believe that I do the best job of speaking. When, like you, I understand what it is that I need to do, who it is that I'm doing it for and what the event is all about. Mm hmm. Yep, Jimmy Newson 42:19 absolutely. Yeah. Then if it doesn't match up, I'll tell him I'm not the right. I'm not the right guy for you. Because it's just it becomes a waste of time, you know, in the last thing you want to do is waste anybody's time, whether it's the promoter, the event, organiser, organizer, or the or the attendees, okay, holding well for you. Michael Hingson 42:39 And I've had that happen to me where not in speaking, but in sales opportunities, it became pretty obvious our product would work. But I use the opportunity to educate people about our product, and then say, here's why it won't work. But here's what will work. And here are the differences. And almost every time that I've done that, the companies have come back later. And they said, You really educated us very well. We have another project and we know your product or work, give us a price because we're not going to put it out to bid you convince us a long time ago, yet, which is part of the whole point. Jimmy Newson 43:17 And there's that helpfulness your leading foot with with with help. And it just it goes such a long way. You know, this week alone in setting up a number of programs, I remember to literally two different promoters were like you are so easy to work with. I go because this is a team. We know we may not work for the same company. But we're still on the same team. And anything I can do to make your your job and your life easy. I will do and that will come back tenfold. Michael Hingson 43:51 Yeah. And it's, it is so fun to be a teacher. Jimmy Newson 43:58 Yeah, because it's natural. Now you just do it, but you're doing it in a non condescending way. And I think that's the other thing is one when you walk around with a chip on your shoulder, and I know everything and I'm the best. But it's another one you're being very aware of the other person, their their mannerisms, their feelings, and you're being authentic about helping them and understand that someone corrected me the other day, you know, and I was like, Oh, wow, glad you caught that. Thank you. I appreciate that. Let me keep that in mind. So you never too. You're never too old, you're never too experienced to still learn something yourself. Michael Hingson 44:35 For me when that happens. What I like best though, is then being able to go back to the person who who corrected me and that happens and it's perfectly okay. But actually show them how I put what they said to practice because I recognize that whether they thought about it as much or not. They're being a teacher and I want them to be rewarded for good teaching. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, which is, which is so much fun. So for you in your life, what are some of the key moments that brought you to being unstoppable? Maybe some of you haven't talked about yet? Jimmy Newson 45:13 Yeah, it's, I think, as I've grown, I'll be, I'll let everybody know, I'll be 53 years old this year. And so I've lived quite a bit. And I've experienced quite a lot. And I think over time, things have changed between my what I wanted what I thought was important in my 20s, what I thought was important in my 30s. And now let them forget about my 40s. Let's just go straight. Michael Hingson 45:38 I'm 72. So there you go. Jimmy Newson 45:41 Are you look good, you look good. You got it. Now, right now. And so I operate on themes, yearly themes now. And so I can even look back now into my 20s and 30s. And say, you know, and kind of theme up what I, what I what I wasn't, what I didn't realize I was doing, but what I was doing. Now I purposefully theme up. And this really helps me determine what what was valuable for me as I grow. And so I'll give you the last few years, 2020 2021 and 2022 2020, was all about USP unique selling proposition of me. So and that started because I got to, you know, a colleague of mine said, Hey, why don't you submit yourself to be a writer for entrepreneur, because that can be great for your career? And I was like, Yeah, that sounds good. And so I got the, the form, and I saw everything that they were requiring, I was like, Okay, I gotta, I gotta go back and clean my spleen up my image, you know? Yeah, you know, my act. And not that I had a bunch of it, I had appropriate stuff on Facebook, I just needed to, to make everything, put everything in an alignment, my LinkedIn profile needed to match what was on my website, which need to match what was on my Facebook. So I needed consistency. You know, and I, so I start to clean it up. And then I have my bio rewritten and I started looking at my relationships. So I, I literally did an audit of my professional life. And when I finished, I was like, Holy crap, this is actually pretty cool. And then I started to seized, I was impressed. I was like, Who's this dude? Like, oh, crap, that's me. Okay, let me introduce myself to me, so I can learn some more. So that was the first year. So what happened was I submitted after that, I submitted it to entrepreneur, and the process is they'll, they'll, they'll get the submission, then they'll call you, they'll, they'll vet you. And then if they like, what they what you what you're about, then you can become a writer, I didn't get any of that, I got accepted. That's how thorough the structure I put together, and I created a program out of it. So my soul and so that was a great stepping stone. Next year was about relationships and partnerships. So 2021, I started focusing on building better relationships and partnerships, on top of the document I created around myself as a leader. And then so that when when I started building, I was proactive about going after specific organizations that matched who I was, and what I was about. And then this year, is about impact and leadership. So now so as you can see, I'm starting to stack these on top of each other. And, and it just, it just gives you so when I send these, these documents out that are that are really purposeful, the response is always in my favor. So so that's something I'm going to always do, and I teach a lot, because it really helps you understand who am I? And why do people should people care? And, and, and and then I teach from a standpoint of now that you know who you are. How do you use that to help people? How do you use that to create Win Win relationships, and then you leave with that still not with you. Because at the end day, they still might not care about you. But if you're putting it in a way that it's a win win for them first, now you catch their attention. Michael Hingson 49:16 And it's a long way to 2023 so it's probably a little bit early to say what do you think the plan is gonna be for next year? Yep. Jimmy Newson 49:23 And that's an A Yeah, and I don't know it is far away, but it will present itself. Michael Hingson 49:29 Do you do a lot and I think I know the answer to this, but do you do a lot of introspection, especially on a daily basis, maybe at the end of the day about what happened? And do you use that kind of a tool to help you learn as you go forward? Jimmy Newson 49:44 Actually, not. I if I did, I probably be even more productive. I'm definitely not your typical I hate mornings. I know a lot of entrepreneurs are up at four or five in the morning. I mean, I hate mornings I can do it. I just don't like it. And so I will structure my day, I'll still plan out my week, I'll plan out certain things that have to happen throughout the week. And I'll use my weekly calendar versus a daily calendar for for for my structure. And I work sometimes till midnight, two o'clock in the morning, because I work I work better there. So I thought about switching over to and using some of these other strategies. But what I'm doing now is working. So I go, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unless you decide you want to do it. And I'm now 53 years old I will be so I'm kind of okay with the way things are going. Michael Hingson 50:42 And that's okay. I, I don't hate mornings, but I like time in the morning, even if it's just a few minutes to kind of reflect and at the end of the day, I like to reflect just for a few minutes to think about what happened today. And what did I learn or or something that didn't go right? What could I do to make it better? What could I have done to make it better? And I asked myself those questions, because that makes me at least think about it rather than just Well, it happened I can go on now. Jimmy Newson 51:17 And I think it's for me, it's actually just part of the way I think down. Yeah, I reflect a lot. So it's, it's, you know, and I'm looking at my notes here and my structured, I'm pretty well structured, I have a amazing system, at least I think it is in every aspect of everything that I'm doing in my life personal and professional in, in Apple, Apple notes. And I can find anything and everything and in one to two search searches. So that helps me keep my focus, I don't have to remember everything, I can go back to something I can go back to a conversation I my conversations with you are documented. So I can remember if I don't talk to you for six months, I go there and I and I'm like, Okay, I know where we left off less, I can pick up there even if you don't, you know, so I so this really helps me maintain, you know, not have to remember everything. And it makes it easier for me to move around and, and bounce from project to project and not feel lost. Michael Hingson 52:18 One of the things that I do, I use Outlook, a lot in all my dealings for a variety of reasons. But one of the things I do when I schedule meetings, is if there are correspondences and items relating to the meeting, I put all of it in the notes of the meeting request or in my copy of the meeting acceptance. So I have them right there, I do the same thing as you I think it's important to do that. I like to to be prepared. I also know that there are things I'll learn along the way. But I like to be prepared, and make sure that I'm ready to keep up with what they're doing and what we need to do. And it does best when I can immediately have access to all the documentation. Absolutely, absolutely. And I have a lot of fun with it. For how I've got to ask, did you get involved with accessibility? Because that's a whole, in a sense, it's a little bit different than what you're, what you're doing what you've been doing, and so on. Jimmy Newson 53:24 Sure. Well, you know, being in the digital marketing world, you know, at some point, you're going to be dealing with individuals dealing with clients and corporations, websites, and I forget how I ended up on on the thing. But you know, for us in the United States, I think it's probably bigger outside, you can correct me if I'm wrong, like UK, whatnot, it's still a mystery about understanding that you need to make sure your website is accessible. And it's an actual law. You know, and when you know, so I recently started going alright, well who's responsible for that? Is it the web developer? Is it the is the person who owns the website, because it can be pretty expensive. Especially for those who have websites that were built before. This was a thing because now you know, I'm built I finished a website for a client recently, it was pretty much accessible ready, and but we still added the accessibility plugin on it to just pick up anything that was missing. But now for me, not only as a business owner, but as an organization owner who wants to help small businesses do better online. I saw this as when I so you know, when I ran across accessories platform, and I decided to try it out. You know, I look at these tech companies and I'm like, Well, what is their support around the small business community and I saw, you know, they have, you know, the ability to work with you and help you with your clients. And so I'm like, okay, so this is great because Now I can understand more about accessibility. And make sure that that the the, the clients have even more security when it comes to having their websites, their online presence protected, and also available to as many people as humanly possible, you know, so it became a, it was a no brainer. And then they were just such a great support. And Rafi who was a friend of mine, who's a friend of yours, as soon as we met, you know, his great support to go, you know, how can we help you help the small businesses also be prepared, because there's so many things you have to look look at when running a business, and you just don't have time to see everything. And accessibility is one of those things that you probably overlook? Well, we bring it to it, we bring it to the forefront, Michael Hingson 55:50 AccessiBe or not, why should businesses make their websites accessible? Jimmy Newson 55:57 Besides the law itself, which is funny, one of my clients that I consult for other things, not her website, called me up because she was being sued for her website not being accessible, at the same time, I hooked up with AccessiBe. So it was, so it was meant to be that the websites need to be accessible. And that's really just the bottom line, you're ignoring a specific, a very specific audience. So and you don't want to do that. And too, you can get into trouble. If you have to get caught out on it. You know, it's just like not running your business properly, not being a form, you know, running your business, but not being not not not being incorporated. There's no protection for you, you know, so it's just the right thing to do. Michael Hingson 56:51 And that's really the answer. That is, I think, most appropriate, it is the right thing to do. For a lot of reasons, either we are an inclusive society, or we're not, I think there's a lot of arguments that we could make for many people who are not inclusive. But the fact of the matter is there are between 20 and 25% of all people in this country who have some sort of a disability, and many of them are excluded from using a lot of websites, because of the way they're programmed. Why is that? You know, it's it's education, it's perhaps just who cares. But the fact of the matter is that accessibility should be just as much a part of an a cost of doing business as having lights for sighted people to be able to function. I don't care about lights personally, you know, I don't, it's a waste of electricity to me, but my wife sure loves them. And, and, and I understand that, and I've learned over the last 39 plus years of marriage that it really makes sense to turn the lights on when it gets dark outside. And I don't even see that it gets dark. But I know when darkness comes. And so I turned the lights on if I'm closer to the light switches then she is because I like to help those who are disabled, they're like dependent, right? So it's perfectly reasonable to do but the fact is that accessibility should be for any business, just as much of a cost of doing business as having those lights for people, because they're both inclusive things, inclusive features that make the world a better place. Also, by developing that attitude. It potentially opens opportunities for people who have disabilities to be hired by those companies. Because if you're looking at it from the standpoint of what's the right thing to do, and why can't people do the same things we do? Well, we can we just don't do it the same way. Why shouldn't I have a better opportunity to get a job? Jimmy Newson 59:00 Right? Absolutely. Michael Hingson 59:03 And we we tend not to focus on that nearly as much as we should. But the fact is, there is another reason and you're right about the law, but I would prefer people not do it out of fear, but do it out of the fact that it's the right thing to do. There is another aspect of the whole issue with business. Nielsen Company, the rating company did a survey back in 2016. We've talked about it a little bit here on one of our episodes. The survey was about people with disabilities and dealing with websites and and going back to something you said near the beginning brand loyalty. And what the survey showed was that people with disabilities were extremely more brand loyal or more company loyal to those companies that were inclusive, and made their websites and their operations accessible. to them and others with disabilities, because for us, it is so hard to oftentimes go to a website and use it, it is so hard to do other things for my wife, she can't get into buildings where there are steps. And I realized that the law has some limitations. If you're in an old building and a stop and remodel, then there, there may not be an elevator. And the law doesn't require that you put one in until you remodel. But for newer buildings for let's take stores, then that have a brick and mortar facility where they have lots of stuff in the aisles. If they don't make the aisles wide enough for people in wheelchairs to be able to go up and down the aisles and turn and do the things that they need to do. One of two things is going to happen, they're going to be sued under the ADEA. And there is now legal precedent for you have to have the aisles wide enough for wheelchairs, or they'll just go away and not come back to your store. And they'll go find another one where you can and Nielsen found that people with disabilities are probably some of the most company and brand loyal people there are, because it's so hard to find places that really liked them and include them for whatever reason, but hopefully it's for the right reasons. Jimmy Newson 1:01:15 Yeah. And I can understand that totally. I mean, you know, when, why, why go somewhere else, when you know, you get what you need to get, and you know how hard it can be to get it? So yes, absolutely. Michael Hingson 1:01:27 What happened to your friend and her lawsuit? Jimmy Newson 1:01:31 I think she ended up having to pay because of course it was too late. But then we were we kind of work with her a little bit. And and you know, even though you have the tool, there's still things that you should fix on your website. So we started fixing some of the errors. So they would they were they weren't errors even with or without the tool. So then it's kind of like a happy marriage between the two. The problem is with a lot of sites, I think she was doing over 100,000 hits a month, which he had a pretty popular website, you know, and a ton of pages, it can be expensive. So you know, you got to figure out what can I fix it. And I think that's also the problem that a tool like it says to be really helps when you got a website that's got 1000s of pages, 10s of 1000s of pages. And now you have to go in and try to make that whole website accessible, you're looking at a pretty hefty check that you got to write. Michael Hingson 1:02:24 Well, accessiblity is also implementing some other tools under some new programs that people can learn about, they've been somewhat announced. But access flow, for example, which is a whole program that has tools so that people can will be able to once it's released, learn more about and deal with the accessibility issues that maybe the the widget doesn't do. And there'll be ways that they can learn about accessibility accessiBe is going to put some programs together to teach people. And again, this is whether they use accessiBe or not, is giving people the knowledge, it's teaching people to fish rather than just giving them a fish. Absolutely, absolutely. Which is, which is pretty exciting. Well, I think that we have talked your ear off and other people's ears off and so on for quite a while. But I really appreciate you being here. If people want to reach out to you and learn more about your programs and so on. How do they do that? Jimmy Newson 1:03:23 They can email me, Jimmy at moving forward small business.com They can google my name Jimmy Newson within in people use him a lot. And they end up with some other dude or a number of dudes. But if you do Jimmy Newson, ne ws o n.com. You're gonna get I own like a top five pages of you know, so you'll find you'll find me. So that's, and I love LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my favorite communication channel. You know, it's, it's so you know, it's easy to find me I'm very accessible. Haha. And oh, Michael Hingson 1:03:58 by the way, which is? Exactly. So Jimmy Newson 1:04:00 it's, you know, you can find me and I look forward to chatting with with anyone that you know, especially around the topic of small business and small business growth and impact for small businesses. Michael Hingson 1:04:14 Well, cool and perfect. I really appreciate you coming today. And I learned a great deal. And I would like to continue the discussion in the future. Let's do this again sometime. Jimmy Newson 1:04:25 Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm there. You got me. Michael Hingson 1:04:28 Perfect. Well, Jimmy, thanks very much. And I want to thank all of you for listening. Thanks for for dropping by. And please give us a five star rating when you have the opportunity to rate podcasts and this particular podcast. If you'd like to reach out to me you can do so by emailing Michaelhi M I C H A E L H I at AccessiBe A C C S S I B E.com. You can learn more about the podcast unstoppable Mindset by visiting www.michaelhingson.com/podcasts and of course, you can learn about me as a potential speaker for any programs that you have. We invite you to reach out if you need a speaker. And of course, we invite you to reach out if you'd like to talk about this podcast or if you or you know of anyone else who might be an interesting guests that we should talk with. Thank you all very much. Thank you for being here today. And we will see you again soon. Michael Hingson 1:05:28 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.
