Julien Smith

Last Wednesday morning, I gave up my usual bowl of granola for some scones and coffee at Cafè La Bistrote in Montréal.

I joined some social media friends at the 10th edition of Social Media Breakfast Montreal. The event was billed as a conversation with Julien Smith, and it was precisely that.

If Research shows that eating a nutritious breakfast supports learning and academic achievement, then having Julien at breakfast can make you a bloody genius!

If you know who Julien is, then you know that he’s a no bullshit kind of a guy who has a reputation as being brutally honest and annoyingly brilliant.

His long and successful experience in the social media and business world is reflected in his best selling books and appearances at conferences all over the world.

Thanks to my iPad and autocorrect, I’m able to share my notes with you.

I’m also providing some links to further information on topics and people mentioned.

The notes are broken down into two categories: Personal Growth and Business Advice.
I’m listing them in point form because:

  1. There’s a lot of tweetable content here.
  2. There’s also a lot of good ideas for blog posts (Thanks Julien)
  3. I’ve included a reading list of books that were referenced during the talk that I had earlier posted on Google+

Hope you enjoy.

Personal Growth:

  • People will only remember the things you do well
  • Think of the worst possible scenario. – Then how will I recover from that?
  • Fuck It!
  • What you do now won’t get you into the future – break habits
  • The natural state is dead.
  • Children grow by trying new things
  • When assessing risk , step aside and remove emotion; trust instinct
  • Assumed risk is usually much smaller than it actually is.
  • Be the disruption not the reaction.
  • What obvious truths do you know that aren’t obvious to others
  • Really care about what you do and care more about it than the other guy
  • Go to where what you do is magic
Photo by Luis London

Checking into Foursquare before Julien starts. (photo: Luis London)

Business Strategy:

  • Hopping onto platforms when they’re at their highest amount of growth then grow alongside it.
  • The Web is dying and is to be replaced by apps.
  • Apps are currently undervalued.
  • The time to use social media for business is when everyone else is not there.
  • Look for companies and industries that are getting ridiculed. Invest in them.
  • Increase online status (influence) to a level where you’ll be paid
  • You monetize your future by building influence now
  • Business can it do well in disruptive times.
  • If your business doesn’t deserve to survive, it won’t
  • Follow lead of Venture Capitalist. The see five years ahead and place their own resources at risk.
  • Large companies need start ups in their own company
  • Look at what could destroy us right now if a competitor created it, then build it yourself – even if you have to cannibalize your own company to do so. (Steve Jobs)
  • People can always compete on price, don’t forget the human aspect of equation
  • We’re social media saturated
  • Go where your market is. Find a niche and serve it.
  • You are a writer so act like one. (Jeff Goins)
  • More aggressive asking for subscriptions
  • Create emotion

Systems.

Fragile: systems become hurt when damaged
Robust: systems recover from damage
Anti fragile: Anti-fragility goes beyond robustness; it means that something does not merely withstand a shock but actually improves because of it. (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)

 Reading List: (affiliate links)

Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite - Paul Arden
The Gift of Fear - by Gavin de Becker
The 4-Hour Workweek – +Tim Ferriss
The Black Swan – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
For more information on Anti Fragility: (Nassim Taleb Outlines the Anti-Fragile Future)

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant – W. Chan Kim
The Writer’s Manifesto – +Jeff Goins
The Flinch – by +Julien Smith
Trust Agents - by +Julien Smith and +Chris Brogan
The Lean Startup – by Eric Ries
Tribes - by +Seth Godin

Social Media Breakfast MontrealThank you to Jeff Taylor, Luis and Andrew at Kai Design, Fabrice and La Bistrote for organizing an amazing event.

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About Ray Hiltz

Ray Hiltz is a Social Media Strategist with management roots in restaurant, hotel and performing arts. A strong proponent for the power of collaborative communication and "humanized" digital networking, Ray writes about social media, social business and Google Plus. His clients include hotels, restaurants, consulting firms, entrepreneurs, writers and individuals just trying to make sense of "social". Ray is a popular speaker on Social Media, Social Business and Google+.