Building Better Developers, the Develop-a-Noor podcast

This is Building Better Developers, the Develop-a-Noor podcast. We will accomplish our goals through sharing experience, improving tech skills, increasing business knowledge, and embracing life. Let's dive into the next episode. Well, hello and welcome back. We are continuing our season of interviews, and this episode we're going to actually wrap up. This is sort of a bonus. This is part five of our Sam McNeil of Song Division interview. We've had some great conversations with him in these first four parts. And in this one, we start right away into the Insta-Hit. We finished up the prior episode talking about some questions that he asked. And we pick up there where I'm going to vamp for a few minutes and talk about really this Insta-Hit and point out some things that I've noticed about it. And at the time I'm talking about it, it's before I've ever actually seen it done. And then he provides an Insta-Hit and puts together a neat little song. And I think you'll see, even though he complained about his voice and such through this, he's still got quite the voice and a little bit of talent maybe showing through all of this as well. And it's just one of those choice little moments. See where you can take something that makes what you do different, that customizes maybe even without necessarily customizing. Although it definitely is. But there is a, it's not really cookie cutter, but there is a sort of like a rhythm, I think, that you get into. No pun intended. When you do something like this, so that you are, maybe you're flexing some muscles that you might otherwise not use as much. And in so doing, it becomes easier to do that. It becomes easier to put yourself in a position where maybe you have to think on your feet, much like Sam does in this example. I think I've teased it enough. So it's time for us to go ahead and dive into it and we'll come back and wrap it up. And here we go. So Sam's off doing this. And I do want to point out this is a neat little thing that sort of goes back to the idea of people having a, maybe if you've got something, a talent or something like that, that may be in line with your business. Maybe not. As he said, this is something that is, this is not a core product or anything like that. But I think you'll find as we're going through this, because I'm expecting it will be, is it something that's very memorable? And sometimes it goes back to the idea of being able to communicate something through a story versus just maybe a slide deck or a business card or a couple of bullet points or something like that. Is that you have something in this case, it can be team building because you can have a group get together and throw out some ideas. And in this case, for this song, you also see this sometimes when people do, there's improv groups and things like that where you see people write, will write some little story or do a little poem. There may be something like that. Maybe you could. If you're a technical person, say this would be maybe a good business idea or name for him or something that you maybe you can, maybe you can, you've got some artistic skills for drawing or some sort of personal communication to them some way to advertise or market that draws them in. And this goes to from the web world, the idea of personalization all over the place, whereas you walk into a site that says, you know, hey, hi, Rob, this is the last time you last time you came here was such and such a time. Hey, this is what you ordered last time or this is what you order every time. Would you like to reorder that? Or based on what your orders are or your history or what we know about you. Here's some things that you might be interested in, and you may not even let them know that this is based on data that you've gathered on them, but just a here are some interesting things. These sorts of personalized communications are perfect for brands and building out that relationship that is key to a brand and selling a product and getting people to to join in to be part of that team or that community or whatever it is that you're building. As much as you're getting here is that as they go out, this may not be the thing. And this is just about guaranteed. This is not the thing in most people's mind that is going to be the reason they come back to song division. But it may be something that is going to be memorable to them. And it's going to be in a case much more than maybe a name or a corporate color or maybe even a business name or things like that. Is finding a way to walk into a situation and have something that makes it memorable. And usually it's going to come from having that person as part of building them into it, whether it's a pitch that you get their specific situation in, or something similar maybe around their life or something personal. From a business point of view, from a technical side, this is what we talk about a lot is walking into a customer and ask him what, what is it that bothers them? What are their pain points? What is their problem? And talking through that so that you get to the point where you can actually speak that problem back to them. And also the solution that you provide includes specifics to them. If you go to a demo, this would be things like including some of their data, maybe some of their business names or their locations or pictures of users, whatever it happens to be so that it becomes something that connects to them. It's not just some corporate thing, which is what he could easily do is you could have a song that you put together that is, hey, here's an example of what we do. But that's not the same as having something that's personal. Sounds like I am back. I am back. I was writing that, but also just somehow, which I'm not very good at because I'm male, but I was listening and I was just resonating. You've just hit that. Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head again. You know, like this isn't necessarily what we do. It's not our bread and butter, but it's something that yeah. And clients actually, funnily enough, yeah, you know, we do event tech live in London and we do things where they have a booth and they know what they're selling might not be the most exciting thing in the world. So they get us on the booth to drive traffic there. You know, we're writing songs about people as they walk past. You know, and that's not me trying to pitch to your audience, but there are always ways that you can make what you do more appealing and engaging and interesting and fun, in my opinion. So I really resonated with a lot of what you just said. Exactly. Good. I'm glad I could do that. Congratulations on doing two things at once. Being male, that's very rare for me. But yeah, you were you were you were nailing it. Okay, so I'm ready when you are, man. All right, go for it. Here we go. My song for Rob, my little insta hit. Now they always a little bit of a have a bit of a love song vibe to them because I think it's funny and it makes it a bit creepy and weird. So just heads up. Here we go. Give it up for Rob. He's my new best friend. I think I love you and we haven't even met. So I thought I'd write a little song for you because I think that you're so damn cool. California born Memphis raised, but Nashville's aware he likes to spend his days. That hockey rink is where he likes to be, but he's dying to head to Italy with Tim, Ian, Ben, Beck and Tom. Where he can stare at the stars all day long. Yeah, he can eat that pasta till he passes out. Oh, I love you Rob. I think there ain't a shadow of doubt. Come on. So I said give it up for Rob. He's my new best friend. I think I love you and we haven't even met. I want to say thank you for having me on your show. Cause this friendship of ours is one that can only grow. That is awesome. The crowd goes wild. I should have. I have a fake applause sample. I should have done that. You can edit one in. Yeah, that's something you don't need to do. That I'm used to that. Maybe have some people going crazy. Maybe a couple of encores. I know I should have done it. There you go. No, I'm used to people not applauding my songs. It's fine. That's awesome. That's one of those things that's a bonus that I get being in so many musical areas that I've been. You see that kind of stuff on a regular basis where there's that joy of mixing it up. I mean, you love as a musician, you love playing and love entertaining. And it's I know it's got to be monotonous for people that would do the same song over and over and over and over again. But fun to play around with a little bit. And that's always that makes it special for that audience, especially when it's something beyond just, you know, hello New York or hello Detroit. Yeah, it happens to be where it's something that that they're like, hey, that means that we're the only ones that have ever heard that. Yes. Yep. And that's what we that's another not it's not one of our values, but it's something we've done, believed in at our core from day one. We can make people's events unique and unforgettable, not because we, you know, have to do it. We don't have to do anything. What we have to do is because we're creating original songs about that specific event, no two song will ever be the same. So it's always going to be unique. And being unique is what makes it memorable. And that's what the musicians also love about our jobs because they are doing like, you know, on the road with Florence and the Machine doing, which, which would be an incredible experience. But you're doing six nights a week of the same set. And it is hard to not fall into a rhythm or functions bands that play six nights a week or in hotels, you know. They love our gifts because they're like, we've got no idea what's going to happen because no one does. Yeah, that is that is and it's I think it's a little challenging to do that sometimes too. Yeah, go in there and you just say, okay, I know I've got some skills. I'm not exactly sure how they're going to be used. So let's dive in. Yeah, it's a it's like I said, it makes it memorable for everybody. That it's even, you know, even the people, the performers. Oh my goodness. Me. They all we all remember every event and we all remember every song. You know, we might need them to sing a bit of a melody to me and be like, and then we, we, we, I had people, someone from Spotify came up to me in a pub like five years after an event and grabbed me quite drunkenly. I thought he was trying to attack me and he started yelling this Spotify chorus that we'd written in my face from five years ago. Mission accomplished. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night singing these songs. It's yeah, it's I know I've done a good job. Excellent. Well, I first I want to thank you so much because I know you went a bit long. I know you've had a long day already. No, no, no. Sorry. Thank you. You moved the original time for me. I was a bit nervous. I'm sorry. Oh, you weren't. And it was, it was, it was every but as entertaining as I hoped it would be an informative and really it's a, this is a great conversation. So I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. I appreciate it. I love talking about what I do. I love talking to people like you. So I hope I provided some value and I wasn't just a rambling mess. Oh, you weren't. And it was, it was, it was every but as entertaining as I hoped it would be an informative and it's really a, this is a great conversation. So I, again, like I said, cannot thank you enough Sam for taking time out of your busy day. busy day and you know if you're ever back in the States and around the Nashville area and need some some touring or he actually if you in Memphis I still have friends there. I'd love looking for some places to hang out. I would love that. I would love that. I'll take you up on that. I'm obsessed with the US. I love it. I think it's I guess I just think it's a great country so full of diversity. I'll definitely be going back to Nashville. Memphis was amazing as well. I did the Sun Studios tour and all that jazz so don't you worry I'll be I'll be hitting you up for any contacts like that. Excellent. Alright well I will go ahead and wrap it up then and I'll let you get back to your busy day and yeah definitely we'll keep in touch and see if we can ever cross paths again or continue talking because I think this is yeah we've got a couple of those I think both of us could could spend hours on a few of these topics for sure. Yeah I will thank you so much mate. Stay safe. Everyone else out there listening stay safe and big love from me and the and song division. Sounds good thanks a lot you have a good one. No worries bye for now. Alright bye. And that's a wrap that will conclude our multi-part episode of interviews with Sam McNeil. We will come back next time around with a new interviewee but before we move on I want to point out some key things that particularly now as I interview them and then have gone back and relistened to these different pieces. The personality that Sam brings to the table is very noticeable and very memorable. It I think probably is highlighted in the little story about the lady that always wants his always puts him to the answering machine because she wants to hear his recorded messages as opposed to maybe more so than talking to him but definitely that's why she'll call this because then he will leave a message and she always finds that entertaining. That is part of loving what you do of bringing excitement to the table and I think everybody has that in them. You just have to be in the right environment or have the right topic. Some people do it more than others some people are very narrow and what excites them some people are very broad. Understand who you are and what it is that excites you and if you find a way to gravitate towards that or at least leverage that in your daily job you will find success. There is something very attractive or memorable however you want to look at it about somebody being excited about anything. You think about it if it's a newscaster or sports analyst or you know writer or podcast speaker or actually general speaker anything like that even amongst your friends the ones that you enjoy time with the most or maybe the environments where you enjoy being with them are gonna be where they're excited to be there they're excited about the topic. If you hang out with people that are maybe you know so it's a Bears fan and you know that hey if I'm gonna go to a Bears game I want them going with me or maybe you know somebody that is a bicycle a fan of cycling and hey if I'm gonna go out cycling I want to go with them if I'm gonna talk about cycling I want them there because they bring that excitement they bring that level. If you love your job bonus then you get to you have that excitement or at least you should and that should carry through you people should be able to sense that or feel that through all that you do. If not you know maybe it's something where your what does excite you can somehow be brought into your conversations or your work and maybe there's a you have themes around what you do that are you know callbacks to whatever it is that you enjoy. I think if you find that find a way to work that in you'll find a way to attract essentially a bigger audience or have people more interested in what you have to say whether it's your your team at work or if you're trying to go out be a public speaker or something along those lines. Something to think about which gives us a challenge for these for this interview for this series of episodes. What excites you? What do you love to consider ponder share talk about and then how can you maybe bring that into more of your life? Maybe a deep one maybe a philosophical one maybe something you already know but definitely a challenge worth considering. But as always go out there and have yourself a great day a great week and we will talk to you next time. Thank you for listening to Building Better Developers the Developer Noor podcast. For more episodes like this one you can find us on Apple podcast, Stitcher, Amazon and other podcast venues or visit our site at developernoor.com. Just a step forward a day is still progress so let's keep moving forward together. There are two things I want to mention to help you get a little further along in your embracing of the content of Developer Noor. One is the book The Source Code of Happiness. You can find links to it on our page out on the Developer Noor site. You can also find it on Amazon search for Rob Rodhead or Source Code of Happiness. You can get it on Kindle. If you're an Amazon Prime member you can read it free. A lot of good information there. It'll be a lot easier than trying to dig through all of our past blog posts. The other thing is our masterminds mentor group. We meet roughly every other week and this is an opportunity to meet with some other people from a lot of different areas of IT. We have a presentation every time we talk about some cool tools and features and things that we've come across things that we've learned things that you can use to advance your career today. Just shoot us an email at info at developernoor.com if you would like more information. Now go out there and have yourself a great one.