Big day over at Sixthman!  Check out the latest Sixthman.TV video:

Sixthman TV – The Male Assistant

Make sure you stick around for the outtakes at the end!

-Steve

Jump in and SWIM IN IT! Last week a group of 7 Sixthman ladies took a day trip to Philly.  We left Atlanta at 8:30am on Wednesday morning and touched back down around 1pm on Thursday afternoon.  Our visit to Philly included a quick stop at the hotel to drop bags and then on to the casino where the Geater with the Heater, the Boss with the Hot Sauce, Mr Jerry Blavat, was putting on his daily two hour malt shop radio show.  We met our partners from Time Life near the stage and began to emerse ourselves into the crowd that we were hoping to convince to join us on our upcoming Malt Shop Memories Cruise.  April, Barb and Michael from Time Life learned almost every dance from that era, as we watched couples and friends remember the songs and moves that they grew up with.

In between songs The Geator, our host for the cruise, encouraged his fans to come chat with us about the upcoming event.  With his help and their trust in him, slowly but successfully we were able to capture their attention and share information about the cruise. They wanted to know details, what they were getting, who would they meet, what was so special, all the questions and information we’d usually post onto a website they wanted to hear from us first hand.  And as we talked to them and made them more knowledgeable about the event we learned a very valuable thing ourselves.   We left the casino that evening feeling encouraged and aware that this was a crowd who wanted to be spoken to and who wanted to be convinced to spend their hard earned money on this cruise.  They didn’t want to go to a website and click around trying to figure out what it’s all about, they wanted us to look them in the eye and tell them why this is something they just can’t miss!

Andy has encouraged us as a company to do just this.  To get in and “swim in it”.  As our cruise roster grows, we’re beginning to work with artists and partners that have introduced us to new groups of fans and potential guests that we aren’t as familiar with.  With the growth we are going to be given the opportunity to get out there to meet and learn about our new potential customers, whether it’s at a casino radio show, a VH1 event or hanging out at a Lynyrd Skynyrd show.  So if it means a 24hr trip to Philly is part of the Sixthman job description, I’m game!  We made some new friends, hopefully gained a few customers, learned some more about our host Jerry Blavat as he treated us to a 3hr Italian dinner and have developed a new marketing plan for the event from it all.  Not a bad day at the “office”.

- melissa

How do you stay productive?

A co-worker mentioned to me earlier that cranking high-energy music really gets her going. Some people need a quiet space. Others need to move around frequently throughout the day to keep the juices flowing. For me, I really think it’s my To Do List. I employ them for my work stuff and my personal life. Sometimes I have several running lists that I make as I go, constantly thinking and adding. Then I joyfully cross things off the lists, combine them and keep charging ahead. I find it so motivating and rewarding to check off the tasks, that sometimes I add an already accomplished goal specifically so I can cross it off the list. (Is that cheating? C’mon, it feels so great!)

And then, there’s the reward.

Yes, I have put a reward system in place. It helps! Maybe it’s “Okay, finish proofing this huge document, then go eat a chocolate bar”. Or, “If you do 3 loads of laundry, treat yourself to a Frappucino.” Hmmm, now that I am writing this down, all my rewards seem to involve food or drink…No worries! I’m getting stuff done! True, true, having focus helps (I’m an Earth sign) and a little discipline does go a long way (Have I mentioned Sister Agnesca?) but overall, I guess that’s just how I am wired. Line ‘em up, zero in, and knock ‘em down.

To Do Listers Unite!

-Carla

Two weeks ago, I attended my 10-year high school reunion.  I met up with a few of my closest girls from those years before the party began, which set the tone for the night. For the entire 5 hours that followed, I indulged in everything I loved about high school, and never once thought about the things I hated.  I reminisced with friends I had a past with, and compared stories with those I didn’t. At the end of the night, my best friend and I were picked up by her (sober) husband, made a trip to “our” Krystals, and I crashed in their spare room.

I felt young and invincible.

Last week, I was in the office and a close teammate of mine had their 4-year-old daughter in the office. For a short time in the afternoon, Melissa and I drew pictures, raced down the hallway (her on a hot pink bike, us on foot), took photos from our computers, and laughed like little kids when making goofy faces at each other.

I felt young and innocent.

This past weekend, I road tripped with my same best friend, Misty, her husband Kelly and their 4 month old daughter, Hazel. We went to Jacksonville, FL and took Hazel to the beach for the first time.  I was ecstatic for her to feel the sand and soak her feet in the ocean water. She smiled and gasped and I laughed harder than I have in a long time trying to see what would incur the biggest reaction.  And in the process, I got incredibly sandy and wet, which made the morning even better. Hazel loved it… but not as much as me.

I felt young and silly.

Yesterday, I was emailed a link to the new Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers video. If the previous examples didn’t  help ignite the child inside of you, then watching this video might just be the trick.

Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers – Shady Esperanto & the Young Hearts

This band – both SK6 and the marching band – prance around a football field dancing and singing and playing instruments, on what looks to be the best day ever.  Merely watching this made me smile, and get chills, and want to watch over and over again.

I felt young and alive.

I wish I could say these are rare occurrences for me… feeling young and feeding the child that lives within me. But as most of you have witnessed first hand, our cruises provide the same experiences. So, I feel blessed enough to feel like a ‘kid’ most of my days. I just hope outside of the events you may attend, that you – our guests – get to live like a child, or feel like a child, every now and then.

When’s the last time you felt young?

-Ape

Dear band,

As you sit backstage preparing the set list, we are out in the audience excited to see a great show and there are a few things we want to share with you before the curtain comes up.

We aren’t here because we had nothing else to do tonight.  We bought the tickets as soon as we heard you were coming to town and have been listening to your music even more since then to get ready for tonight.

Our hope is that you will take this opportunity to make us fans for life by showing us that you realize this is a “moment of truth” in our relationship where we will either leave here tonight a “champion” for your band willing to pay more the next time you come to town and bring our friends or go home feeling like we wasted our time and money.

We will be looking for the following things as we make our decision.

Are you excited to be here or is it obvious you can’t wait to get back on the bus?

Are you giving it your all or phoning it in?

Are you functioning as a true unit or do you each stay in your own area and refuse to interact with each other on stage?

Will you have the courage to try new things in your set, even if you stumble and get back up, or will you play it safe?

Are you genuine between songs with your banter or is it the same story each night?

Did you prepare your parts and blow us away with your performance or did you have to rely on hard drives, loops, backing tracks and fancy lights?

Every show is an opportunity to build momentum for your career and we hope that our decision to spend our time and money tonight will inspire you to push yourselves.  If you do, you will be one step closer to Madison Square Garden and the cover of The Rolling Stone.

Andy

Check out the latest video on Sixthman TV: Andy Barters for Everything

Sixthman TV: Andy Barters for Everything!

Happy Friday!

-Steve

Have you ever been faced with a decision that you just don’t want to have to make?  Do I take the job?  Will that mean I have to move?  What does that mean for the kids and their school?  Is the money worth it?  Fill in the blank with your own situation and questions – I know you’ve faced a though decision before.  Here’s some advice that I recently received from Andy Stanley regarding tough decision-making.

• Am I being completely honest with myself?

You are an expert at selling yourself on the things you really WANT.  You say, “Well, this new car gets better gas mileage.”  And, “This job is going to pay way more money.”  There will always be reasons/excuses that we can create to justify our actions, but take a moment and think – why am I REALLY doing this?

The real reason I’m buying this is…

The real reason I’m taking this job is…

• What story do I want to tell?

Every decision you make becomes part of your story.  Do you want to be able to tell your whole story to people, or are you going to have to leave certain parts out?

We are faced with hard decisions everyday – business decisions, family decisions, and many others.   Someday, the current situation you’re in will be nothing more than a piece of your story that you’ll share with others.  How do you want to impact them with that story?  Will you have to lie in order to make it sound better?  Believe it or not, your story will impact other peoples’ story, just as others’ stories have impacted your story.

Come on, don’t you wish sometimes you could go back in time and do something a little different?  Change your story just a little because you realize how dumb you were?  Take a moment to stop and think about the story you want to tell before making a big decision.

• Is there a tension that needs attention?

Do you ever hear that little voice inside of you saying, “Ummmm, I don’t now how I feel about that.”  You know, those “red flags” that appear in our lives that require us to stop and really think.  Pay attention to that.  If one of your options raises a little bit of a tension / hesitation, pause long enough to let it grow and sink in before you make the decision.  Sometimes your greatest regrets stem back to when there was a hesitation (maybe someone brought it to your attention) and you ignored it or made excuses.

I should have never taken that job…

I should have never taken out that loan…

I hope this helps your approach to making decisions in the workplace, at home, or anywhere you feel the stress of uncertainty.

-Mike

One of my favorite things about working at Sixthman is whenever we get to announce news that I know is going to make people happy. Contrary to popular belief, I like making people happy. If you’ve ever called our office and tried to pry information out of me about who we are going to announce on an event next (you know who you are), you may not believe me. Yesterday’s announcement of Uncle Kracker joining us on the Kid Rock cruise had me nearly giddy. Sometimes, I don’t know who we’re going to announce until literally a few minutes before you do, but I’d known about Uncle Kracker for a few weeks and not being able to tell anyone yet was killing me.

This past September a guy from Detroit known by most of the world as Kid Rock helped make Sixthman history by headlining the first cruise in our nearly10 years as a company to not only sell out in it’s first year as an event, but to do so in less than 2 weeks. Don’t let the name fool you, our office was doing anything but “Chillin the Most” for two weeks straight as the phone lines and website hits exploded and launched the little call center nook of the Sixthman loft into organized mayhem.

Did I mention that all of this happened before we added even one other artist to the bill? Headed into my third cruise season, I’ve grown relatively confident in guiding guests into which cabins work for them, what to expect on board, and even what to expect from most artists. I can also confidently say that although Kid Rock has been on my radar since my MTV watching days in the late 90’s and even more recently as his tour with Skynyrd has lead to multiple conversations with Simple Man guests about how amazing his live shows are, I was still completely in the dark about what to expect when we announced the Kid Rock Cruise. I wasn’t necessarily surprised at the fan response, I just didn’t know what to anticipate either way.

As we continue to launch new cruise events, we do our research into who we think will want to go on this new cruise. Who are the die-hard fans, the ones who will jump on board without thinking twice? Who are the secondary fans, usually the largest group, the guests we have to work a little harder at convincing? As we head outside our comfort zones as a company, one thing I’ve learned no matter how much research we do before the day a new website goes live is that no amount of research will ever tell us exactly what to expect.

One thing I do expect now is to have the time of my life watching a whole new group of Sixthman cruisers have the time of their lives this April.

See you on the flip side,

Joy

I absolutely love reading.

I buy books all the time, even when I can’t afford them, because I always in search of something new to read and something new to inspire me.  I think I’ve read three books in the past two weeks: Attitude 101, The Phantom Tollbooth (great kid’s book by the way), Next Generation Leader, and Outliers.  Yesterday, I was about two seconds away from hitting the “one-click” BUY button on my Amazon Shopping Cart (another $100 worth of books) when I realized that:

• I don’t have 100 bucks to spend on books right now.
• I’ll probably read these books in a few days and then never read them again.
• I’m trying to de-clutter my life. I don’t have room for more books.  In fact, I’m trying to get RID of my stuff, not acquire more of it.

I’ve discovered some solutions for both reading new books while also getting rid of old ones.  Why am I trying to get rid of everything?  Life is simply much less stressful for me when it’s less cluttered.  I even wrote a post a year ago about how a clean desk and empty closet made me much happier.  If you’re looking for tips on a simpler, minimalist lifestyle, check out Zen Habits.  Leo writes a great blog about simply doing less, having less, and being more productive and happier.  Now, what can I do other than buy more books:

The Library – After a quick search, it turns out there’s a library between my house and work.  Who knew!  The last time I set foot inside one was back in college, and even then I don’t think I actually took out any books (it was the only place I could study without getting distracted).  Tomorrow after work I’ll be swinging by my local library and seeing what they have.  Of course, they won’t have all the new releases and every book I’m looking for, but I’m willing to sacrifice 100% selection satisfaction for saved money and saved space.

PaperbackSwap.com An interesting alternative that I discovered from The Simple Dollar.  You simply list nine books from your house that you wouldn’t mind loaning out (my guess is you have way more than that) and you get to borrow three books from their massive list in return.  As you read, swap, and return books you earn credits that you can use to borrow other books.  This service is free.  I’ll be checking here if my library turns out to be a dud.

Bookswim is pretty much a Netflix for books.  It requires a paid monthly subscription, but the selection is pretty vast.  You set up a queue of books, and then they send them to you as you finish and return previous ones.  My only concern with this is that the price is quite high considering sometimes I don’t get to read as much as I’d like and I’m stuck with a hefty monthly bill for not a lot of reading.  This is my least favorite option only because of the cost involved, but a great alternative for a heavy reader with some money to spend.

Now, what the heck do I do with all of my old books that I’ll never read again?

Ebay – I’d like to sell all my books on Ebay, as that would probably give me the most bang for my buck.  However, I don’t sell on there often, so I don’t have a good seller rating, and then I have to deal with packaging individual books and mailing them out.  Ugh.

Amazon Market Place – Similar to Ebay.  Apparently there’s pro-seller version that allows you to send them a box of stuff (books, cds, etc.) and they take care of all of that (more research required), but that costs money.

Sell back to a used book store – Because I’ve never done this, I don’t know what kind of margins I’ll get on my books.  I can’t imagine the return will be that good, but it will get the books out of my bookshelf, which might just be enough for me.

Tomorrow, I’m off to the library to get a library card.  This weekend, I’m going to sort my bookshelf into books I need to keep and books I’ll never look at again.  Do we have any other minimalist bookworms out there?   Any advice for selling old books as lucratively and easily as possible?

-Steve

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

I have so many things I want to say about Bridge Day 2009, but I’m not sure where to start. How do you process the spectacle of hundreds of people jumping off an 876 foot tall bridge over a river, in the middle of Fayetteville, WV, with nothing but a piece of nylon to catch the wind and hopefully glide them safely to the ground?

I’m not averse to adventure sports: I’ve bungee jumped and even once dropped out of a plane with a large Russian man strapped to my back. I am the type of person who will try anything, even if it scares me, just to say I tried it. However, BASE jumping is a sport I can honestly say I’m not anxious to add to my list of missions accomplished. I do respect BASE jumpers, though, and one only needs to observe their community to truly admire the BASE jumping lifestyle.

Quick fact: BASE is actually an acronym for Buildings, Antennas, Spans, and Earth (i.e., the things from which the jumpers jump). BASE jumping became a somewhat organized sport about 30 years ago, but today BASE jumping resources and guidelines are widely available. This doesn’t mean it’s widely accepted, though- in fact, BASE jumping is illegal in most of the world, and therefore often done under the cover of night or quickly and secretly. BASE jumpers make up just a tiny percentage of the population, but they are a tight community, and will travel the world together, risking jail, injury, and even death, for the thrill of the free fall.

At Bridge Day 2009 (it was the 30th Anniversary!), hundreds of jumpers came from as far away as India for the one day a year the New River Gorge Bridge (the longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere) legally allows jumping. The Bridge closes for about six hours, and 200,000 spectators come out to watch. This year it was freezing cold, windy, and rainy, but the jumping went on all day. The camaraderie amongst the jumpers was immediately evident as you watched the jumpers in line preparing to fly. These people were having the time of their lives, their faces painted with perma-grins. No one could take that moment from them, not even the park rangers making a list of names and faces for their database of BASE jumping “suspects”….

We can all be this happy if we learn to live a little bit dangerously. Have you taken a risk lately?