001: Burn It Down with Scott Stratten of UnMarketing

Scott Stratten hated work. It was broken. So he decided to burn it all down and build it back up. How did he do it? By becoming unemployable. Join Laurie and Scott as they talk through his experience before and after burning down his career (multiple times) and what he did to make life and work better for himself. What can YOU do to burn down your career? Scott knew he wanted to be a speaker at age 12. For his 16th birthday, he asked for a textbook on HR standards because he realized that he could stand up for people through human resources. Pretty nerdy, right? Scott shares the story of when he was in HR for Goodwill and the ridiculous situation that made him realize he couldn’t do the job any more. It started with an employee stealing from Goodwill. That’s bad enough. But then she was given $5,000 to drop her grievance. Would you have done with Scott did? He went on to find another job training employees to sell bubble wrap, constant travel and ridiculous hours, which he quit with only 64 cents in the bank and a son on the way. His next job as an independent trainer didn’t go much better, but something happened that turned it all around for him. He created some viral content in the HR circle. Laurie makes a surprising observation about the American economy; the rug’s going to get pulled out from under us at any time. She asks Scott how he’s future-proofing himself and his business. Normally, business owners want to grow their businesses, but Scott’s answer will shock you. He’s willing to take a 50% cut in revenue. Not everyone wants to be a keynote speaker or online leviathan. Some people want to open frozen yogurt shops. Scott shares some sage advice on how to burn it down, or how NOT, to burn it down. The first piece of advice? Start building your other thing before you burn your current thing down. He even throws some ‘dad’ advice in there. You can find Scott just about everywhere; just search the term ‘unmarketing.’ You’ll also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. We hope your enjoyed this episode! If so, please subscribe and leave a review! Let’s fix work, together.