Devin & Ken vs. the world

Through a fortunate fluke in space and time, the past two days found me eating with two of the most successful PR pros I know. You can learn much by comparing this week’s conversations to those I had with them years ago.

They’re successful not because of their income or resumes (although they both easily check those boxes). They’re successful because they’ve worked creatively to build the lives they really want to live.

You’ve probably heard me talk about Devin Knighton. He’s the guy who strung together enough creative media splashes to eventually earn a seven-figure cash out on his employer’s IPO. We had breakfast Tuesday and talked about his first year in a Ph.D. program at Purdue. He has five kids and his wife doesn’t work, but he’s still able to pursue his dream of being a college professor without taking loans and while spending time with his family.

Remember Ken Li? He became so valuable to his Chicago agency that he “bought the farm” in Indiana, told them he was only available in the office one day a week, and they felt happy to hold on to him. Last night I was in Chicago on his “one day a week” and we had dinner.

Looking across the restaurant table at these guys took me back in time. When I first met them, they had people in their lives who doubted them, and sometimes those other voices won out. They both struggled with the same inexperience and lack of confidence that plagues everybody. In many cases, they had no idea what they were doing.

I wondered: What’s the difference between Devin/Ken and most of the other PR pros on Earth? What is it about these two that allowed them to arrive at this most wonderful place in life?

And the answer came clearly – they are doers. They didn’t wait for someone to show them the way, they went out and found it.

Devin quasi-snuck into one of my first workshops when he was just out of college – he found out I was beta-testing it for some experienced professionals and just showed up.

Ken was much more experienced, and he pestered me for months to take him on as a coaching client. I was booked up and not taking new clients, but his earnestness wore me down.

Later, they both signed up immediately when I rolled out what was then a fledgling, unproven program called the “Inner Circle” eight years ago. And they constituted about 25 percent of the membership until it got rolling 🙂

Not only did they invest the time and money in honing their skills, they acted on what they learned. Devin walked out of that first workshop and pitched the WSJ the next week. Even though he was young, he went against the grain and followed the 80/20 principle I teach about how to allocate your media relations efforts. As a one-person shop at three different companies he crushed the results of competitors who employed large agencies.

Ken was a self-proclaimed workaholic, so the productivity and work/life balance lessons I coached him on didn’t come naturally to him. Over time he applied them at his own pace, until he ultimately found himself able to “let go” of doing everything himself all the time. Instead, he focuses on the most important projects and tasks that brought the highest payoff for his clients, his agency, and his life.

Achieving the life you want, like Devin and Ken have done, isn’t complicated. The path is clear (although, like anything in life, it’s never easy).

Learn, then act.