http://www.openworldmag.com/98-michael-margolis-interview/

Michael Margolis | Left Handed CEO and Blogger

I first came across Michael Margolis on Medium.  His blog came up in my homepage feed in the "Based on Your Reading" section.  I first glanced at his profile and found that he was left handed.  Okay, now, I'm ready to read!  Y'all know I love left handers! I typically have pictures of my lefties in action, but I was only able to grab a screenshot of his profile.

Michael Mongolis

So, I casually read the blog and quickly got engulfed in the information.  The name of the blog was "The Resume is Dead, The Bio Is King."  This caught my eye because I'm currently revamping my own resume, albeit I've been a tad slow.  I'v really got so much going on, if I put everything on it, it'll be all over the place.  

When he says, "Share what you care about," I felt that.  I don't know if any other bloggers feel this way, but when you write about something you could care less about, that's the longest article in freaking history.  I mean, it'll take me hours to write it.  And when I do a word count, it'll only be at freaking 100-150 words.  And when you re-read the article yourself, you can tell the heart was not in it.  What I mean by the heart?  You ever read an article and you can actually feel and see how the author is feeling? You can see their souls? You actually can smell the atmosphere of the country they are currently visiting?  You can taste the food that they are trying for the first time?  

This is one of the reasons why you constantly hear find you a niche that you care about.  Because if you're in it for money, it's over before you start.  People are not stupid, they can tell that you're not really into what you're saying.  The heart is not there.

Believe me, I've tried blogging about crap I don't care about.  Ahhh, the agony my friends, the freaking agony of it all.  You spend more time googling than pouring your feelings out.

I love when Michael Margolis says,

"If you’re having trouble being heard, recognized, or understood, it’s probably an issue related to your story and identity." 

I think it boils down to you yourself really not knowing who you are or what you care about. I think what you care about finds you, you don't find it.  Or you're mixing your business or professional persona with who you actually are.  A career persona and the real you are sometimes two totally different things. Especially if you're in corporate America.  You must separate the two or at least recognize the difference. Check out this funny Youtube skit:

Even though this is a skit, check out how "in character" the primary actress was.  But, when she steps out of character, she was extremely passionate.  That's the same thing that happens in writing or entrepreneurship.  If you don't care about your topic or your business, it will show.

People code switch when moving from informal situations to formal situations in every race and cultural.

Code switching is a real thing recognized by Dictionary.com, Britannica, Wikipedia and other reputable sources. Here's what Wikipedia says about code switching:

"The term "code-switching" is also used outside the field of linguistics. Some scholars of literature use the term to describe literary styles that include elements from more than one language, as in novels by Chinese-American, Anglo-Indian, or Latino writers. In popular usage, code-switching is sometimes used to refer to relatively stable informal mixtures of two languages, such as Spanglish, Taglish, or Hinglish. Both in popular usage and in sociolinguistic study, the name code-switching is sometimes used to refer to switching among dialects, styles or registers. This form of switching is practiced, for example, by speakers of African American Vernacular English as they move from less formal to more formal settings. Such shifts, when performed by public figures such as politicians, are sometimes criticized as signalling inauthenticity or insincerity."  

Check out this funny Key and Peele skit about code switching:

What I received from Michael Margolis' article may not have been his intent, but I found it very readable and relatable.  It's perfect for entrepreneurs moving from the corporate world or bloggers trying to find their niche. When people have been doing the same thing over and over again for years and years, they tend to become the person that they created. Michael says to address the below 5 questions.

  1. Who am I?
  2. How can I help you?
  3. How did I get here (i.e. know what I know)?
  4. Why can you trust me?
  5. What do we share in common?

In order to do this, you MUST know who you are.  Soul search and realize and recognize your identity and own it.  Incorporate YOU in your path to success.  You can effectively separate the two if you know the difference, because let's be honest. We all gotta eat and get loans from the bank to get the things we need, so code switching is necessary in this judgmental environment. Sad but true.  But, the key thing is to know what they are and separate the characters.

Check out Michael at Get Storied.

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