Jim interviews Ekaterina Walter, a Social Innovator at Intel and author of the book “Think Like Zuck.”

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Do You Like To Connect?

Ekaterina Walter’s bio starts with the following sentence: “I love building connections with other people. I am passionate about social media because it allows me to do just that.”

After spending less than an hour on the phone with her, I’d say she hit the nail on the head. A lot of individuals that you’ll meet in your life will utter the phrase, “I’m a people person.” If that’s truly who you are, in the digital age it is now easier than ever to say it (say, in the About Me section of your website) and to prove it (through social media channels).

Another catch-phrase that is tossed around is “follow your passion.” Once again, if you’re genuine about it, it really shows. I’ve been told that I sometimes “talk like a hockey fight,” meaning I have an idea or a topic and I talk as fast as I can until I am tired out and then I just stop and someone else jumps in.

My conversation with Ekaterina was more like a game of bowling… I just kept setting her up with questions, and she’d rear back and knock ‘em all down. But it was as if the ball return just kept giving her ammo again and again, and she just kept throwing strikes until we moved on to a new subject.

What really shone through was her passion for social media. When you’re genuinely that excited about a topic — which you have to be to make it your full time job AND write a 250 page book about it — it comes gushing through on the phone. When that information is backed up by knowledge and experience, then you’re really on to something.

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Jim interviews Helen Todd, CEO and founder of Sociality Squared to talk Facebook, Pinterest, MySpace and Mobile trends – and pet peeves.

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Social Media Trends for 2013

Every once in awhile I record a podcast interview and am not sure how it turns out. You’d think I’d have this figured out after talking to around 70 people, but I had a few things working against me… it was late, I had just taught a class for 3 hours, and I was pretty tired. I felt like the show might have wandered a bit and was a bit too slow to my liking.

Fortunately, the person I was speaking with was Helen Todd, the CEO and founder of Sociality Squared, a social media agency proudly located in Manhattan, New York (more on that later).

For when I listened back and edited the interview a few days later, two things became apparent.

The first was that the pace of the show was actually great, and probably even a welcome change for my listeners when they get a Jim-Only rush of audible caffeine. Perhaps it was Helen’s direct and simple pace, and perhaps it was having a good friend on the show that made me kick back and relax as if it was a dinner conversation and not a radio-style interview, but I thought the back and forth banter really worked.

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Jim interviews relationship photographer and creative producer Parris Whittingham.

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Telling your story

I sat down with Parris Whittingham, relationship photographer and creative producer at From Parris with Love and talked about his business and his new, unique guide for brides called The Fearless Bride.

As with all my interviews, it is best to listen to the podcast above or subscribe on iTunes to get the full interview, but below is a highlight of the things we talk about.

- Parris’ background and how he got to where he is now
- The unique story of his experience as an exchange student that led him to photography

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Jim interviews entrepreneur, actress, and video storyteller Monica McCarthy of Show and Tell Stories.

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Time for Show and Tell

It’s really quite simple… take the fact that the new media world we live in is evolving and people are becoming their own brand + the meteoric rise of video on the web and you have Show and Tell Stories, a company that uses video to help people tell the world who they are.

I sat down with Monica McCarthy, the founder and creative director of the site to, well, hear HER story.

As with all my interviews, it is best to listen to the podcast above or subscribe on iTunes to get the full interview, but below is a highlight of the things we talk about.

The Big Picture

I feel there are 2 massive trends that are going to change everything: Mobile and Video. On the mobile side, there are 5 billion people that own cell phones but not smart phones, and a $20 Billion underutilized ad opportunity to reach people on those devices.

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The conversation continues as Jim is interviewed by Mike Andrews, a typical listener with common questions on how to get started as an entrepreneur (part 2)

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The conversation continues

Last week we tried something new. Rather than Jim interviewing a guest, budding entrepreneur Mike Andrews asked Jim the questions about his experience as he was starting out. Mike dubbed it the “Sensei Sessions,” and is still amazed it only cost him a lunch to get as much information as possible out of Jim.

Since the interview went long, we split it into two parts over two weeks.

In case you missed it: Click here to view Part 1 of the Sensei Session interview.

As usual with interviews, your best bet is to subscribe on iTunes or play the entire show from the links above. But here is a summary of what we covered:

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