Please contact me if you’d like to participate:
If you are reading this, then you are a potential future victim guest on the
AUGForums.com Real Talk Podcast (click here)
If you’re an Acumatica Customer, click here for the general flow that I like to follow. But this is not a rigid checklist. I’m happy to discard the flow and go wherever the conversation takes us. Here’s an example of a customer interview. You can listen below or listen on the episode page (click here).
We can even do things anonymously if you’d like. Here’s an example of an anonyomous interview with an Acumatica Customer. You can listen below or listen on the episode page (click here).
If you are not an Acumatica Customer, I’m still interested in your story. There are so many neat stories in our industry that don’t get told. How did you wind up in the role that you are currently in? What memorable consulting engagements were you a part of? Would you advise your kids to follow in your career footsteps or choose another path? How did you get involved with Acumatica and how does it compare to other ERP solutions that you’ve worked with? Your story, your perspective, that’s what I’d like to hear. Here’s a Welder from New Zealand who became an Acumatica/MYOB Consultant. You can listen below or listen on the episode page (click here).
Here are some details about coming on the Podcast:
First, I will send you a meeting invite with a Zoom link in it. The meeting invite will be for 1 hour because I like having longer, more in-depth conversations with time for any tangents that you’d like to take. I’ll record the audio from our conversation using Zoom. I don’t turn my camera on by default, but some people like to turn their camera on for more visual communication. If you turn your camera on, I’ll turn mine on too, regardless of what disheveled appearance I might have at the time. The recording does not include the video, only the audio.
Second, if one of our audio connections drops for a few minutes, then I can edit out the empty space before publishing the episode, but I try not to do editing if at all possible 🙂
Third, there are two rules: no editing and publish immediately. No need to be nervous about the “no editing” part; sneezing into the microphone, saying “um” 500 times, and sirens from a fire truck rolling down your street are par for the course. Actually, personally, I think that this lack of polish adds to the authenticity of the Podcast. That’s why I call it “Real Talk”. At the end of the recording, I’ll say this outro line: “Alright, well that’s it for now. We’ll catch you on the next episode of AUGForums.com Real Talk. Thanks for listening and take care.” After that outro line, I’ll stop the recording and we can chat for a few minutes about how we think things went and make sure that we are both comfortable with me publishing the Podcast episode. If either of us aren’t comfortable with how it went, then I won’t publish (note: this hasn’t happened yet, no pressure 🙂 ). I’m usually able to publish later that day because of the “no editing” rule.
Fourth, I like to include Related Links on the Podcast episode page. When I email you a link to the published Podcast episode page, it will have some Related Links on the bottom of the episode that I added, but feel free to reply to the email and suggest additions / changes to the Related Links. This is your creation more than it is mine.
Fifth, have fun. I like unscripted conversations and real stories so I don’t like to plan too much for these podcast episodes. This also allows me to produce episodes more regularly. We can go back-and-forth by email with some general ideas, but I have a high tolerance for tangents so if we take a completely different direction during the recording that’s no problem. When we get on the call, we can chat for a few minutes. With many guests, this is the first time that I am “meeting” you outside of email and that’s totally fine. Then I press record and we’re off-and-running. I like to get the real stories of people who are working with Acumatica: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have no contractual relationship with Acumatica so I don’t hesitate to “tell it like it is” and I don’t shy away from sensitive topics. I’m not that excited by the typical polished marketing gloss. I like to find out what’s under the hood. So, as long as you’re comfortable talking about a topic, I likely will be too. This is your opportunity to tell your story to the Acumatica community and talk about what you want to talk about.
Above all, I’m looking for your story. Stories are powerful.
The interview in the video below helped me to appreciate stories more. I watched this after watching the American Factory documentary which was recommended to me by Stephen Hennelly. At the time, Stephen was a consultant at JAMS which built the Acumatica Manufacturing Edition that eventually got acquired by Acumatica. Here’s the line that stands out to me from the interview:
We want to give voice to the people who don’t appear on-screen. Working people, their stories, their struggles, their hopes equally compelling to superheroes.
– Steven Bognar
If you think about the Obamas in that video, they have a lot of options. They are powerful people. Yet they are choosing to invest in stories. That’s pretty interesting.
I’m investing in stories too. The personal career stories of people who use Acumatica.
Please contact me if you’d like to participate: