hanging with a friend w/cam goedde, product marketing manager at dell

full transcript

auto-generated from the audio, so expect a few typos. the audio is the source of truth.

Hello, hello. Thanks for listening to Guidance Counselor 2.0. Listen, I want to give you a quick rundown of what this podcast is and what you're about to get into as you listen to these episodes. We had Guidance Counselors in middle school. We had Guidance Counselors in high school, but we didn't really have Guidance Counselors in college and now as professionals, we don't really have anybody to turn to to ask a quick question to learn something about the job search or to navigate your career. And so that is what I want this podcast to be for you. I want it to be a tool for you to navigate the job search and your career.

So that being said, I hope you enjoy this episode. And if you need to reach me, Taylor at vaco, VACO.com is how to get in touch with me, old fashioned email, social media at tdssent, d-e-s-s-e-y-n. And finally, please rate and review this in the app store because I want this to be discoverable for others so they can navigate their careers. Hope you enjoy the episode. So Cam, give the people kind of a quick background about yourself. Who are you? What do you do? And then obviously we'll just dive in and start your show. Yeah, cool. Thanks, Taylor. Thanks for having me on. Cam Gady, last name sounds nothing like it looks.

So we'll just address that right up front. I'm gonna be honest with you. I still know how to pronounce your last name. I didn't even know it was Gady? Gady, yeah. Gady, I thought it was Gady. My wife, that would be amazing. I'm very European. Yeah. Life didn't happen until we were engaged, I think. So she's like, okay, now we're committed. So what is, I, I, I, I, I, I, maybe of Ashley's is Gaby. What is that? Like what's your origin is that German and I'm Belgium. So like you and I are just like cousins basically. Basically. Yeah. A little Irish sprinkled in obviously. Well, I, yeah.

The red in our, the blonde hair makes my beard just a little, a little darker, which is why I went blonde. Anyways, I'm so can't keep going. What do you do? Yeah. So I worked at Dell Technologies. I'm a product manager. So I manage our high end compute devices, the mobile workstations. So think about like, like your crowd, engineers, developers, people that are doing like AutoCAD, graphic design, that kind of stuff, they need higher powered systems. So I manage a line of four different notebooks within that realm. And it's been eye opening. I definitely don't have a background in this. It's been one of those jobs that I navigate in my way into.

So eight months in and just like, you went back to feeling like an idiot again, which is what I needed. You know, like, you should thing up. And so I'm working with people much, much more talented, much smarter than me in these areas. And just learning a ton, which is really cool. So again, I want to talk about that a little bit. Because I think a lot of people have problems with kind of switching jobs and the imposter syndrome, right? I mean, I think you know, I've talked about that. Like, hey, you know, I've dealt with imposter syndrome probably more in the last two years than I ever have, but really looking back at it, I've probably grown the most in the last two years.

So what's your advice for people? Because I mean, obviously you're going through right now, kind of in this new job and this kind of product-focused role. I guess what's some advice to people that maybe something that you're dealing with? Yeah, I think like you got to do it. There's so many excuses not to do it. I feel like you're going to flip this back on me later in the conversation. Sure. So I came, I started in sales, Adele, and then I moved into a field marketing role. So I was a product specialist. I worked with customers and sales teams a lot. I got a really got good at like describing technical things in a conversational manner to really like, you know, advise people on what they should be buying and so to move from that like where it's basically just communications into a role where I now have to deal with finance and inventory and supply chain and like, and how we can a merchandise products.

I'm like, man, there's so much I don't know. And so what I felt like coming into the role was that, oh my God, like, I am the least qualified person to do this job. And when I look across peers, you know, I've got a ton of super smart MBA grads, people that come, you know, from finance and understand like analytics. I'm like, what in the world do I bring to the table? And so like, there was a good amount of time where like the discomfort was was that not only am I not qualified for this job, but I don't even know why they wanted me to do this job.

And ultimately, like, it's I had to figure out like, well, where are your strengths? What were you good at? And like, me bringing that customer centric that sales facing mentality to the job that's proven to be like that my sweet spot. Yeah, I was going to ask you like, you know, that's something I've been working through too, right? Within posture syndrome. And again, a few more people to do Justin and Marcia. It's great to see all this morning as always. You know, one thing that when I deal with imposter syndrome, I really try to, I really try to put blinders on and focus on what I'm good at, right?

And is that kind of what you've had to do? It's like, listen, like I'm working with these these really smart people, but you know what? This is what I can bring to the table. This is what I'm gonna focus on. I mean, is that something that you really try to do? It took me a minute to hit that. Because I mean, there was like, the first couple of months was just like, oh, I was transitioning from the old gig to the new thing I was doing, but it was just crazy busy. So it was very tactical. What do I have to learn to like, very minimum, like get through the day-to-day the job?

And then as I started to cover that, that's when it hit me, I was like, oh no, I don't know what value you bring. And so it probably be two to three months to really take a step back and identify, like, you know, just get out of the weeds, which is so easy to do. Sure, sure. Yeah. What, what, now I do want to talk kind of like, kind of the next thing is about content, right? You and I, you and I've chatted up a ton about content. Talk about, talk about your journey with content, maybe some struggles you've had, and kind of how you view content now.

Because I think a lot of people watching, I come at it obviously from a job search, put things out on the internet, people don't care, you're coming at it from a more remarketing background, but also to just do our conversations. Like I know that you've wanted to start, you maybe try to overplay in a little bit, right? So talk about your journey, because I think your journey will resonate with a lot of people. Well, it's gotta be perfect before we start. I would not think I'd have all the details nailed down. And I know what it's going to be. Well, that's what's going through my head.

Because literally, we have been talking about this for years. And so yeah, for anybody watching the show, you have been doing this and talking about this for years. And so I think one of the difficult parts is by the time that you notice people are doing it or who's doing it or whose message resonates, they've been doing it for a long time. And so it's that don't compare you or beginning to someone else's middle mentality, which is very easy to do. And so that like that's happened to me. I have dipped my toes in the water with content a couple of times and gotten really good feedback.

And I think that like for me, I haven't really known exactly where I wanted to go with it. I've tried different things. And so like without that clear vision, that's really like that's prevented me from going all in on it. And I realized it like that. I'm never gonna have that clear vision. I'm never gonna have it. And so what's relevant now, what do I want to talk about now, and just let the thing evolve. So you always comment on this video. I mean, like two, three years ago where I dumped it all. Yes, I've got you right up. I'm so glad you've right up.

I talked about this video all the time. Go ahead. Yeah, well, we've had a whole line of education-specific notebooks. So kids are going to spill things. So they're extra durable. They're still resistant. And so I had a short, maybe 20 second video, slo-mo water There was a music in the background and just like that was it. And it was nothing and no big deal. Didn't take long to do. And it's been in the forefront of your mind for three years now. So that's a great example of like, I don't know. I don't know any better. So I should just do, right? Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

And I also think too. I mean, I think the content thing is, and I'm not talking about even the person. I'm talking about the mindset shift, right? I think a lot of people are like post Instagram, post TikTok, post Twitter, post Facebook. I think people can get so in the weeds, but I think there's a mentality around content that I think cripples a lot of people. And I think it's crippled you from friend to friend and that's totally fine, because I get crippled sometimes as well, even believe it or not. I even deleted a post yet last night and I was like, what am I doing?

I'm literally deleting a post when I, and I practice, like I was like, don't ever delete a post, right? I could resonate with one person, and here I am deleting it. So, and I'm curious to your thoughts on this. I feel like the idea of content, the mindset is, it doesn't have to be perfect first, like you said. But also, you have to iterate on it as you go. And I think so many people in today's world try to make it, try to make anything perfect for me to go. I'm not gonna go to the gym until I get in shape. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, what, where are you gonna get in shape at then?

I don't know, right? And it's just this mentality of that. And so what are your thoughts? I mean, I think there's a bigger mentality that I think people can apply into their job search and to their daily lives around content. I think that could actually help them. Yeah, one thing that when you brought up the, getting in shape, you know, analogy, that really resonated, like, That's how we met, right? We met at the gym, you know, you're on the first site. But like, I went through my own fitness health journey. Like when I left college, I was 85 pounds heavier than I am now, which is wild to me.

And so like people ask me a lot, like what should I do to get into shape? And my advice always back to them is what will you do? Like what will you actually do day to day? And then like change it from there, But like you got to you got to instill the habit of actually doing something physical changing a habit day to day And I think that that applies back to content is like what will I actually like? Yes, I have all these ideas of like right could be I don't even have the knowledge how to pull it off or the resources yet Or I don't know all the ways but like I know how to make a video I know how to like this is how I have meetings every day now, so there's no reason to do something and then and just like go like get in that hat mindset.

You told me maybe like closer to the beginning of your content journey was that like your brain switched, right? Like what you're going to think about what to talk about to like now it just flows in because that's just how your mind is working. Because that's still- It's a complete mindset shift, right? And I think too, I think, you know, I want to talk mindset shifts, right? Because you said something and then you said this. I want to touch on this. And I've had some few people comment and tune in. Abdison Ricardo, it's great to see you. Yolanda and my girl, what's going on? Rochelle comes in and says, great reminder, don't compare your beginning with someone else's middle.

I do this every day. So I'm glad you said that, because I need to be reminded, Alicia, it's great to see a big dog. Matt comes in, I've dealt with imposter syndrome for years and the absolute best thing I've done for myself is to continually self-invest my own passions. Help me move past some burnout. So two things, I wanna talk about this real quick and your thoughts on this, because you have a lot of side hobbies, right? You do lots of things. Talk about how kind of your side hobbies slash hustles maybe has helped you with burnout like Matt said. Yeah, like getting away from like the screen has been really important for me.

Oh dude, I've started to get really big into that man. Go ahead and go ahead. Yeah, yeah. Like before COVID, like in my role, I was traveling a bunch. So like I had changed a scenery a ton. I was, you know, flying to different cities, working in the office somewhere, home some. So like true hybrid. And then once COVID hit, you know, I was used to the remote aspect of working, but man, I didn't account for like just how much time I was going to spend behind the computer. And so it's been important to me to get away from that. Like I grew up very like blue collar family.

My family owned a like a plumbing company, like commercial, you know, building hospitals and schools and stuff. I landscaped for years. So like I just love like physical labor. Like what I feel like I haven't gotten from my job in a long time and like I'm starting to think about how to get it from it. But like seeing what you did in a day, you know, I communicate a ton. But like when I leave the day, I'm like, I don't know necessarily what I did. And when I do some landscaping like go out in the shop and build something. I know what I did here.

Like immediate gratification of the output. And so how do I get more of that in my current job is important, but that's only going to be limited, right? So I know that I'm always going to be outside of work to do to build, to make, kind of keep that. Have you started? I have so many thoughts right in my head. And of course, to ask you, have you started to maybe put some things in a practice? Like, here's what I did to make yourself feel better. Like, try to maybe a self reflection at the end of the week of, here's what I've done because because knowing you, right, I mean, you and I've had this conversation off air.

You said, you know, if it was up to you and you had the ideal world, you would literally just build, build shit. Yeah. And, and, and so my question to you is because of that, would you say that you are trying to be a little bit more tangible in your successes from a week to week? Have you thought about doing that? Probably not nearly enough. I have one little habit that I started doing where I've got my checklist of things to do for the day. If I do something that isn't on that list, I will write it down and cross it off. You write the thing down to only cross up, but I think there's validity in that.

I think for people who are watching this, I think You gotta do what's best for you. Like you have to find things that motivate you, right? Cam builds things with his hands. Literally Cam came over like fun fact, Cam came over to my house and was a rental husband for my wife and Cam tore down a wall in my home. Right, Cam tore, I did, Cam did, because Cam wanted to learn, right? And that fuels Cam's kind of side, you know, his passion on the side. And so I absolutely adore that about you. that you have the things that keep you motivated outside of work.

And there's a lot of people, actually, I think we have a nerve with imposter syndrome here. Imposter syndrome is letting the negative thoughts of yourself take over. The moment you notice them coming in, change yourself, talk, remind yourself things you're good at, and keep learning. I absolutely love that. Alicia comes in and goes, I'm happy. The imposter syndrome, my embrace, and I'm an imposter. That doesn't matter as long as no one else finds out. He goes, if I'm still full in them, then I'm waiting. So Morgan comes in and goes, I do that too. The little kick of endorsing or door friends cross off to do this is the best.

So going, I want to talk about changing your mindset, right? Because one thing I've admired about you is, I believe you're very disciplined, right? And even if you're not, I view that you are, right? You spend time to work out. I really, Jackie, my wife, has been really big on the health journey and her, her fitness journey is very similar to yours, lost a lot of weight to get where you're at. And, you know, I've struggled with kind of eating clean and staying on a diet and not even a diet, but just eating well, right? I hate the word diet. But what I've realized is that really taking care of yourself is almost one of the hardest discipline in my perspective.

Like work is easy. What I put in my mouth is hard for me. And so, Cam, can you talk about just the mindset shift and also too, because like what I've I've had to realize with COVID, it's like I wake up, I've had to completely re-engineer my morning. You and I were talking before we were live and like I'm up at 5.30 now. If you talk to me before my daughter, or even before pre-COVID was before my daughter, so we had already during COVID, I would be like whatever, dude, I'm getting up at seven and I'm rolling out and going to work. I'm up at 5.30 in the morning.

And it was a mindset shift. So I mean, can you talk about your weight loss journey and the mindset shift that needed to happen? Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. Like it's like all planning aside and projections of what you think, like how are you gonna instill a new habit? Like it doesn't matter unless you actually do it. Like the action is the most important part. And when I think about like the weight loss stuff, like I had a moment where I was just like, it was a holiday, it was a holiday as to my wife's parents, Italian and Polish family. So lots of carbs, lots of carbs.

And I think, yeah, and then like week and a half that I spent there, I put on like 10 pounds. And I was like, that is enough. Like I need to do something. And I didn't have a plan. But I just decided like I found a group on to go to a crossfit gym. And I win. I have no idea what this is gonna be like, but I need to do something. I just need to start. It's a starting on that. That like, that then propelled me like, oh, well, here's this group of people that has the same mentality, they work on like towards the same, you know, ultimate goals.

And so then it was community. like that came, you know, and then it was results. And so you're like, oh my gosh, like had I not just like done this one thing this one time, like it may not have stuck, paler. Like I went through cycles of losing weight, like going on a diet and then down to your like your goal. And then you're like, you phone it in. And that's not, well like you got to change habits. And that like getting in that motion of the cross-pane whatever it is for anybody else, it doesn't matter. But like for me, that kept me shown up every day, how to give people with similar mindset, and then that community really like helped me keep going and like really instilled the daily discipline.

I can do it on my own now because of the years and doing with other people. Right, but it took years. Yeah, yeah. For me. And so what's your biggest advice for people who are struggling to get started, whether it's their morning routine, whether it is their physical fitness, whether it is maybe starting a side hustle, Yeah, I think you just have to do it. I think you have to start doing it. Like in like the worst version of it, because that's what you know. Which is content, which is the content mindset. I told you you're gonna flip it on me. Yeah. Which is the content mindset.

Yeah. You see how it all comes back to this? I knew you were doing it. Yeah, you're good. But yeah, like the worst version of it, like I would love to see a video of me at my first workout just to see what it is to probably make me feel better to be totally honest. It's working out next to you as brutal. But what did I look like? What do I think that I felt like, why did I come back the next day? It was brutal, but I think for me, and it's more than just once, right? And this is where I've gotten hung up on the content journey, is that I'll make something and I'll feel good and then I won't make the next thing and then I won't make the next thing.

And then before too long, it's like, oh man. You're out of habit. It'll hard to do. Yeah. And it's not. It's not. Well, and I've just become fascinated with kind of morning routines just because of the last two years for myself and changing habits. I've talked about this in previous shows before, but changing your habits is very hard. There's a ton of books out there about it because it is a hard thing to break and my recommendation as well is change just a little bit of something every day. I am such an all or nothing person. I mean, you know, for me, it's like I'm going to go really, really hard on working out and eating clean or I'm going to eat 16 cheeseburgers of the day.

There's no middle ground whatsoever. Right? And so, you know, I think one thing that I've had the engineer and I think for everybody watching this, my suggestion to you is if you are trying to obviously build something in your routine and start small, right? For you, Cam, it's posting one piece of content a week on LinkedIn, one, one. Right? my recruiting team to start posting more on LinkedIn and to create more content. And everyone's like, well, I don't know how to work it into my schedule and it's like exactly, take the time, create the calendar invite. I sat down with my recruiting team years ago, when I were not years ago, Jesus, like four years ago or two years ago.

And we were trying to recreate everybody's morning routines to be more effective. And literally, we went, some people went as granular as setting calendar invites for every 30 minutes of their morning to remind them to do something. Like that's how granular some people on my team got because it takes so much effort, but I will tell you this man If you can if you can change your habits to make them more positive for you, it's a game changer It's an absolute game changer. I like you're you're caught about scheduling That's like that's why I struggle with my my job is like very operational It's just a lot of stuff that comes in the inbox and I got a yeah doing a dress That's part of the gig.

But like if I let it that will be my entire day Correct. No, like the day's over and I like I don't feel like I've done anything besides just Yeah, and like yeah, but I noticed when I when I was traveling a bunch and I had less time to do that Like I got much more efficient with huh with that stuff. So like Like I know I know Technically if I build in the blocks of like the creative time for those those core tasks Like I'll figure out how to get the rest of the stuff done and I'll probably figure out how to do it more efficiently than you.

Absolutely. Ben comes in exploring making content has been great for me because I've really, because I've been really integrating it into my daily ritual. I've been thoughtful every day to share it with others. It gives me a boost with every other routine I have. Again, yes, totally good. I think integrating it habits being, being intentional, I think is incredibly important. So, Cam, I want to finish it out by talking about the Bookie Man, which is NFTs. You're the only guy in my group, even with all the tech people that I know that have, you know, have, have, Dovin NFTs, has been successful with NFTs. Any general thoughts or kind of tips right now for people, I mean, obviously, the markets crashed.

But you know, talk, talk about a little bit what we were talking about before again, about how we kind of knew this was going to happen. Yeah, I mean, great time to learn right now, because there's not that we could do, you know, like, like, look at everything. Everything's, yeah, everything's on sale, as we would say in space. Like, now's a great period of time where people can, can talk a bunch of trash about crypto and NFTs because everything's kind of tanking. But like, you know, it's not so dissimilar from the stock market either. So I think like keep that in perspective. But like something that we talked about kind of throughout this NFT journey that kicked off for me at the beginning of 2021, was that like there's a ton of activity, a lot of excitement, a lot of new projects launching different pieces of art.

Like, is there going to be utility or not? Like most of them are going to fail because you don't actually have a talented quarter of people that are building something long-term. And Gary talked about this a lot. And it happened. It happened because throughout all of 2021, people were making money in a verfist. There was a lot of activity. There was a lot of community was huge because everything was going so well. Everything was increasing in value all the time. And once that started to decline, then you really found out who the imposters were, like what projects you have meet behind them and what projects did.

And one thing we talked about earlier is that a lot of these projects that kicked off were anonymous, anonymous dev teams, anonymous, just people kicking them off and running them and marketing them. Which was kind of cool and very niche for, and if T-World, crypto, decentralized, But ultimately, if you're going to invest in something, and I kind of look at it like NFTs as you're buying stock in a company, and we'll see what he does. Like how much stock would you buy in a company where you didn't really know anything about? That's so good. That's so good. I've never thought of it that way. So looking at that now, you see kind of the blue or chip projects rising to the top, or maybe not rising to the top now, as much as they're just still alive and building.

So like, are there any projects right now that if somebody's wanting, and again, this is not financial advice, I think every podcast is supposed to say that. But are there any projects that you keep an eye on right now that maybe others could maybe look into? Yeah, I think ones to pay attention to are like look at Bordeaux Bioc Club and just like what they did and like how it, the blueprint. It's the blueprint. And so many people copied that blueprint. Like literally, let's take that code and apply to our thing and then roll out our version of the exact same thing, but they didn't have division behind it.

Like the smarts, the chops to actually, like what are we gonna do with this once people buy this digital thing? They did a really good job of putting on events, they're building out land, they're going somewhere long-term. And so even though things are down now, they've kind of set the blueprint for that. I think projects like V-Friends is great. Gary V has been very public about his belief impact from behind NFTs and also where he wants to take a long term. So invest in long term vision kind of things. Like the quick flips, cool 18 month stretch, but that's gone now. So. Do you think those quick 18 month stretches are done now?

I think there's cycles. I think there's cycles. I think that a lot of shenanigans that helps it make people rich over the last year, like won't play anymore. Like you've seen, you see it, like there's, it's like anything else. There's like, there's bad actors too. And so like, well, crypto and NFTs, like, you know, like those aren't bad inherently, but bad people will figure out how to use each other advantage. And they did. And it's complicated, it's new, it's new technology. Like the barrier to entry is like, well you gotta learn, you gotta learn about it and it takes time. So you can be taken advantage of much more quickly.

But again, I think Board API Club, I think V friends, I think Moonbirds, Kevin Rose, like that's people that are like publicly known what we're going and what we're doing. Like I would stick to that. If the dev team is anonymous, like for me, I'm not looking at it. I love that. I love that again, this is not financial advice. So I want to go back. So I asked this question, not go back. I wanna ask these questions, we wrap up here. Tom Fos, we're having fun, that flew by. Guidance Calcers in middle school, Guidance Calcers in high school, right? That's why the show is Guidance Calc 2.0 for tips and tricks.

What advice would you tell your younger self with where you're at now? And then also to actually answer that, and then I wanna go back on one more thing, because it just popped into my head. But what advice would you give your younger self for either your career, your life, whatever. Yeah, I think be more intentional. You know, like I've been really good at saying yes to opportunities that have come my way, which is great, but it's like one of those things where like you're climbing up the ladder, but is that ladder leaning up against the wrong wall? And if that's stolen also, like it's not mine.

That's so good, I've never heard of it. But I think that 40 years old now, it's more difficult to carve out, or like I can't just jump and do something completely different. And I do love so much about what I do, that I wanna figure out how do I integrate more of that into what I'm passionate about. But I think if I would have had some more intentionality early on in my career, it would be easier to get where I wanna go than having to fight through some current now, and it's just gonna take longer. So number one, be intentional. But number two, like, man, I'm 40.

Like I feel great. I feel great. I feel young. Like I feel energetic. I don't feel like I thought 40 would feel like. So like there is time if you're in your 20s and your 30s and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm so old and like, no. No, you're not. You're not like there's time. I love that. I love that. So last thing you want to wrap up. So there's an underlying theme that I want to tie back in. Talked about CrossFit in the community. Talk about NFTs in the community. Right, there's obviously, I think there's probably more of an emphasis now of community than ever before.

Why do you think that is? Well, thinking about CrossFit, I would describe it as like shared suffering, you know? Yeah. Like we were joking about Taylor after a workout. It's not. Yeah, it's not. I'm much better now because I've lost about 25, 30 pounds. Yeah, but I think that like even me being an introvert like anytime I can enjoy something or do something with a group of people I'll just get more out of it. Yeah And so like I don't feel as alone that imposter syndrome goes away because you realize that oh, I'm not the only one that feels like this And so I think community is just like it's realizing that you're not alone and all those things that you tell yourself about about all this, I'll speak to me like everything I tell myself about how I'm not good enough, I'm not educated enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not experienced.

Like, okay, well that's probably everybody. You know, realize that because people are telling me like, oh, it's me too. Like everybody that's popped up and said it too. Like, cool, you're not alone. I'm right there with you. So like, let's, we can, we can move forward together like that. I love that. I love that. Well, again, that's it. Thanks, Cam, to stay on obviously as we, as we wrap up here. But everybody who's watched it, thank you so much. Everybody who commented, thank you. We obviously hit a chord today. This is a little different episode. It wasn't about hiring, it wasn't about the job search.

Just more about just two friends, two introvert friends hanging out and talking about random topics. So, Ken, thank you again for joining. And thank you all for hanging out. Again, I'll be all for the rest of the week. And I will be back next week with a slew of guests. So again, y'all have a great rest of your week and I'll see you next week. See y'all, peace. Hey, you did it. You listened to an entire episode, and I am very grateful, because you know why? There's a lot of podcasts out there. There's a lot of episodes, and I myself rarely finish an entire episode, so I appreciate you so, so much for listening.

Quick reminder, please rate and review this podcast in the App Store. I want this to be discoverable to others, and the only way that happens is if you take the time right now and rate and review it. Please, like, right now. Unless you're driving, then don't do it. So, thank you again. If you need to reach out to me, Taylor at Vaco.com, or at Tdastin on all social media handles, and I hope you have a fantastic day.