Hello again, I hope you and your family are doing as well as possible given all the challenges in the world these days. In this latest episode of What's Your Excuse? I sat down with Tyler Watson Vice President of Sales for Dan-O's Seasonings. I met Tyler as part of being an affiliate and advocate for Dan-O's. Mainly because their seasonings are no-salt, low sodium, and packed with flavor. Discovering their products allowed me to give my younger brother Patrick, an arrhythmia surviver, the gift of good tasting food. We became friends after he wrote an amazingly honest post about the struggles he has gone through in his life before getting to where he is now in both is professional career and personal life. You know I love story tellers and great stories, and Tyler provided both. Plus he is one of those rare people in business who doesn't believe he has to hide who he really is or where he came from in order to be successful. As you know this is something I believe in completely. Telling my story authentically is how I built my brands. And I tell others constantly that sharing your real self is great for business. So, we bonded over authentic personal story telling, and I just had to have him on my podcast. Well, I don't want to give it all away. Disclaimers First, I do not edit my podcast. This is partly because I am horrible at it, but mostly because I love the feel of sharing a recorded live interview. Second, I sing on the intro of my podcast. It started out of necessity, but people like it and miss it when I don't sing. So, you will be treated to me singing part of What's Your Excuse on the intro. On With The Show Support My Sponsors blubrry.com provides both financial and technical support to my show, to Shredding For Gold, and for the wyexcuse Podcast Network. I couldn't do it without them. I also want to thank Chip and Pam Edwards at Create My Voice for keeping my show on Alexa, Google, and Seri so you can listen by simply saying play What's Your Excuse. Reach out for help with your audio branding strategy. And to the folks at Crystal Creek Organics for keeping me supplied with CBD oil while I have been struggling with knee pain. Some days have still been too difficult, but thanks to them there were more good hours or days than bad ones. Key Points He shared about being a young person with a baby and no real job. We spoke about his being a dish washer, failing at sandwich making, and going into selling shoes on the advice of his wife. We talked about how understanding the needs of the customers who came into the store lead to him being a rockstar salesman that lead to his becoming the manager for stores in three states. We followed his path to Dan'O's both earlier in his career and since he returned to the company to be part of their continued growth. We talked about his battles to gain custody of his young child and how that lead him to take jobs in different parts of the country just to be close to his child while working his way through the courts. I shared with him my equally nervous state concerning how until my nephew was of age we constantly worried that some day there would be knock at the door and we would lose him. You can hear the joy in his voice concerning his family now including repaying his wife for supporting him and being able to spend more time with their latest child. We talked about clothing. Him accepting that he could be successful without hiding tattoos or putting on a suit. Me talking about how wearing a suit has become part of me thanks to help from friends. Throughout the conversation we kept coming back to the idea that being honest about who we are doesn't hurt your business or your career it only strengthens it. I can't tell you how many potential podcast interview booking clients have told me Max I can't be as honest as you or people won't want to hire me.