Business Advice from the Nametag Guy

One of the best marketing tactics I have ever seen is from Scott Ginsberg, aka "The Nametag Guy." Scott is a young entrepreneur who writes books, gives speeches and creates e-learning materials for businesspeople who want to make a name for themselves - one conversation at a time. Scott made a name for himself by wearing a "Hello my name is Scott" nametag, 24/7. He even has one tattooed on his chest! Radical!

Scott's website and blog are a plethora ($50 word!) of information. Everything from articles, to ebooks on marketing, networking, and simple business advice. He even has a cool podcast. Really worth a listen. After spending some time on his blog, I thought I might share some of his 27-year-old wisdom.

His e-book, 66 Priceless Pieces of Business Advice I Couldn't Live Without, really intrigued me. Each of the 83 pages is written on a nametag. There are 66 simple wisdom statements that every leader, every human being, should live by. Some examples:

• Be confident enough to be humble.
• Imagine your ideal day.
• Validate your existence on a daily basis.
• Don't be selfish with your knowledge.
• Act like you already are the person you want to become.

The very first piece of advice really captured my attention, as well as my heart. Humility is one of the principles I teach and coach in servant leadership. We often mistake humility as putting ourselves last or worse, putting ourselves down. Humility is neither. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.

Someone once said that humility is nothing more than a true knowing of yourself and your limitations. It means that you know who you are in the Divine and you take your rightful place. To know who you really are does take confidence. It may be easier to not know oneself because it does away with the responsibility of acting upon who you really are.

True leaders know who they are and they aren't afraid of their limitations. Knowing our limitations, creates the space to allow others to pick up where we may fall short. This is called teamwork. No one person has all of the answers or all of the skills. Knowing this allows for greater team building, which creates a more trusting work environment.

Scott is truly an example of great confidence and great humility. I am proud that someone at such a young age has set a standard of turning conversation into a marketing tool. Conversation involves listening, and sadly listening is a lost art and skill. In the age of emails and instant messaging, there is no need to practice the art of listening anymore. This greatly saddens me. Because there are still those in the professions of coaches, counselors, and therapists who are paid to listen. But that's another post for another time.

Check out Scott's website, blog, and podcast. All are guaranteed to strengthen your marketing, networking and conversational muscles.

To lead is to serve,
Coach Carolyn


Scott's tattoo!