Douglas Karr: Hold Yourself Higher | The Business Blast Podcast #61

Alright everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast Podcast. This is your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have a very special guest. His name is Douglas Carr. He's the CEO of DK New Media and founder of MarTech. So welcome to the show, Douglas.

Thanks for having me on.

Of course, man. Well, we'll dive right in. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Well, it's the best, but it's not my favorite, but I'll say it's my best. My dad actually passed away from leukemia a few years back, and one of the things when someone close to you passes away like that is you have time with them to ask them, you know, those end-of-life questions. So I asked my dad, you know, do you have any regrets in life? And he said, yeah, he said, I worked my whole life I worked my whole butt off my entire life and I got everything that I ever needed and now I don't have time to enjoy it. And so the message there obviously was, you know, take time, take time to enjoy what you have. It's, you know, we all run like, you know, there's no tomorrow, but sometimes there isn't a tomorrow. So enjoy it today.

Thanks for sharing that. The next question is, what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Well, uh, marketing is not easy, and I know, I know that sounds like a, a cop-out or whatever, but you know, you're in this industry as well, and I think that when you, you reap the most rewards in our industry when you work the hardest, when you do the research, when you just lay the groundwork, you plant the strategy, when and then you work it. And everybody's always looking for the silver bullet, but it's really when you put the effort in. And so I'm not afraid of effort anymore. Now I approach every project and I think, you know, how can I work on this a little bit harder and squeeze a little bit more out of it?

And so your answer to that might tie in with this, but what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.

Well, my best piece is run away from, you know, people that don't appreciate your value. I think we all make decisions sometimes based on cost or based on, you know, price. And the problem is, is that while you're working your butt off on a project that isn't paying you worth it, what you're worth, there's a project sitting out there that would have paid you 10 times more than that. And it's always, always, always a temptation to take the easy money instead of waiting for the big dollars. And what I've found over 10 years of business is wait for the whale, you know, just wait for it.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Oh, that's a great question. It would be don't listen to anybody. And what I mean by that is every— everybody's got advice and everybody's got— and you're going to be surrounded by wise people, um, but, but there's a lot of people that are really going to put you down and they don't understand what is in your heart. They don't understand how much drive you actually have, how much excitement and passion that you actually have. And so I see a lot of people in, in our industry crush people's dreams by telling them that you can't or it won't work or anything. And it does a disservice because it absolutely could work. They don't know any— they don't know you, you know, they just don't know you. And they don't know what you're capable of. And so it's really important to start ignoring people around you that are trying to stop you from achieving what you want to and start surrounding yourself with people that believe in you.

And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

My happiness comes from helping other people. I can't get enough of it. It's not dollar signs, it's not buying the next iPhone, it's not, you know, it's not anything like that. I really do just get a kick out of, you know, taking a company and helping them grow a notch. There's nothing that makes me happier.

And what's the best book you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from it?

It would be Marcus Buckingham, First Break All the Rules. And the number one thing that I learned from it is that some people are good at some things and bad at others. And it's a— it's as a leader, it's your job to figure out which person is good at what. It's not your job to try to fix everything that's wrong with a person. And so you wouldn't use a screwdriver to hammer in a nail. Why do you do that with employees? And it's the same here. If you're leading people, find out what people's strengths are and guide them to the jobs that are perfect for them. Quit trying to fix what's wrong with them. It's never going to work.

And what's your favorite quote and why?

Henry Ward Beecher. He said, hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than 'Anybody expects of you, never excuse yourself.' And I love that quote because no matter who is looking at me and no matter what expectation they set, I know mine is always higher. And so I'm comfortable with whatever they're thinking.

I love that. Thank you for coming on, man. And the last question I have is, where's the best place for people to find you online?

Well, you can Google me, you'll find me everywhere. It's Douglas Karr, K-A-R-R.

So Perfect. Thanks again for coming on, man. We really appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

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