I harmed my career and my brain by staying in Lansing, Michigan.

My advice for people getting started in their career - from someone who thinks advice is BS.

Bill Hamilton & Travis Stoliker

Note: Sorry for the poor audio on the podcast. I’m on vacation and don’t have access to my usual studio setup.

Lansing is a fine city. I love my family here, I love my in-laws here, and I love my friends here dearly. But it is unquestionable to say that I hindered my career and my intelligence by staying in Lansing, Michigan.

One of the truest things ever said about relationships is that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

From my perspective, that is unquestionably true—not just for me but for the friends and family that I observe.

It’s hard to develop good habits if you’re around people with bad habits. It is very difficult to develop high-quality thinking if you are around people with low-quality thinking. This is not to suggest that the people in Lansing, Michigan, have low-quality thinking. I am not saying that at all. I love the people here, and I have invested in the people here as much as I possibly can.

But when you are trying to pursue a specific career or industry, it's very important that you surround yourself with the best thinkers in that industry. Whenever possible, it is critical to be around the founders of companies that have invented revolutionary technology in that industry.

For example, Lansing, Michigan, used to be one of those areas when Ransom E. Olds helped invent the auto industry here around 1900-1930. Lansing became a beacon of hope and a bright light, attracting the best thinkers and workers from around the world to join in on the truly revolutionary effort. They aimed to mass-produce the automobile, invent the mass manufacturing line, and literally change the world.

All the best and brightest workers thinking about the problem of transportation flocked to Lansing. If you went out to a bar or went to the lake with your friends, by default, you were around the smartest people in that industry. You were around the top minds thinking about how to revolutionize transportation for human use. Even a casual conversation over coffee could be one of the smartest conversations happening anywhere in the world on that particular topic.

What is truly marvelous is that it didn't have to be the CEO or the founder of the company that you were talking to or interacting with. When you are inside a company doing truly revolutionary work or even in the same city as that company, even if you are a new low-level employee just getting your start or just a citizen in the city, it is possible that you are still in the top 1% of thinkers on that particular topic.

In the example we are using of Lansing Michigan during the 1900-1930’s, the conversations happening in Lansing about revolutionizing transportation and the manufacturing process - were some of the most important in the entire world as it relates to that topic.

People don't realize this, but even the secretary at Google usually knows more about how search engines work than some people that I meet who own search engine optimization companies. That’s just how it happens when you’re in the right rooms and surround yourself with the right conversations.

Surround yourself with the best and brightest thinkers on whatever topic you want to learn about.

It seems obvious and we already recognize this about sports: If you want to be the best, you have to play against the best. It's strange that we don't understand this and embrace it in our professional careers enough. I certainly wish I would have realized it earlier in my career.

I don’t want to diminish or take away from the amazing fortune I’ve had and I want to give credit to the amazing influences and mentors I’ve had.

• From Big Dan Crimin, who taught me how to sell for the first time when I was working at Big George's Home Appliance Mart.

• Donnie Hoppes, Jason Spencer, and Jen Sumaraki, who taught me how to run the audio board and camera to produce the NBC Nightly News.

• And Mr. Schneider at Schneider Sheet Metal, who taught me how to make ductwork for homes.

But there is one simple fact that changed my trajectory and, I think, literally saved my career and taught me how to think.

That was because Bill Hamilton founded TechSmith Corporation and kept it in the Lansing, Michigan, area. I was fortunate that my high school friend Jenn Veldman Middlin happened to work there and was sitting across the table from me at my first interview. Without that, I probably never would have gotten the job. One of the reasons I love Jenn so dearly, even though we disagree on politics so severely (lol, I love you, Jen), is because I credit her with almost single-handedly changing my life.

But Bill Hamilton at TechSmith will always be like a second father to me.

TechSmith makes the software applications Snagit, which take screen captures of your computer screen, and Camtasia Studio, which made videos of your computer screen.

I didn't really know what software was when I was hired, and I certainly had no idea what it meant to invent a software application, do the coding to develop it, market it to customers, to become a multimillion-dollar product. TechSmith was one of the most beautiful companies I've ever worked for, comprised of some of the smartest people I've ever met in the world.

Being around those people made me smarter, no question—from Brooks Andrus who taught me all things “product”, to Betsy Weber on marketing, Michael Malinak, Paul Middlin, and Dean Craven on software development, Jim Hidlay on Sales, the Gardener twins, (Marty and Murphy) on insanely fast development, Daniel Park, Tony Lambert, Matt Ayo, Paul Wright, Jeff Kohler, Renee Badra, Amy Walsh, Carla Wardin, Tony Dunkle, and my all time favorite: Troy Stein: Troy taught me almost everything. (I know I missed many!!! SORRY!)

But the reason this all happened and the thing that brought us all together was Bill Hamilton.

Bill and his wife Susan created a culture where anyone could have any idea, and the status of the individual presenting the idea did not matter at all. The only thing that mattered was the correctness of the idea and how convincingly you could persuade others to your way of thinking.

I remember being a young punk kid, maybe 21 or 22, essentially doing customer service for sales calls. Even with my low level position, at TechSmith I was encouraged to sit in on some of the development and product marketing meetings for a software application that I knew nothing about. I had no expertise that qualified me to participate in those meetings. Yet, there I was.

I remember one meeting specifically a week or two into my employment that was about the Camtasia Studio’s non-destructive video editor. There were probably 10 brilliant people in the meeting, and me.

As the discussion went around the room and they discussed the product, I had a realization: I knew a little bit about the application because of my experience working at NBC Channel 10. I knew a little -- but not much —just enough to be dangerous.

I also had a chip on my shoulder from being fired from my previous job and after some prodding from Bill Hamilton, I got the courage to speak up.

“Do you guys realize this doesn’t function like any of the other video editing software on the market?” There was an audible gasp in the room as the youngest stupidest person at the table essentially disagreed with every decision that they had previously made.

The person who had hired me into TechSmith tried to get me to stop, but luckily Bill Hamilton was in the room. He embraced me, leaned in, and argued with me passionately. I argued back. I was certain I was going to be fired, but to my surprise, Bill Hamilton took me into the hallway afterward and continued the conversation.

He told me that he appreciated the feedback and welcomed it, and that I should continue to do it and sit in on more meetings. It was truly amazing.

Honestly, I don't even know if I was right about what I was saying. Looking back, I'm sure I probably wasn't, but that taught me the most important lesson of my life.

Surround yourself with smart people who want to hear your opinion regardless of your status, and people who judge you solely based on the content of your character and the quality of your thinking.

TechSmith taught me many things, but the main things it taught me were how to think, how to build companies, how to be skeptical of my own brain, it taught me strategies to disregard status in the search for truth, and taught me the importance of building high-quality teams of the smartest people in the world.

I am incredibly lucky that Bill Hamilton chose to keep TechSmith Corporation in the Lansing, Michigan, area. If it wasn't for that, I truly don't believe I would be the person I am today. That is not to say I am a perfect person. Far from it. But I’d certainly be a much shittier person if it wasn’t for Techsmith!

And this is precisely my point: because of my time at TechSmith, I know that perfection isn't an end state; it is a constant pursuit. The only way you can ever possibly get close to achieving it, which of course is never possible, is by surrounding yourself with smart people and continuing to push and challenge yourself every single day.

So, this concludes another love letter to Bill Hamilton, the founder of TechSmith Corporation.

So what do you do with this information? Probably nothing. Advice is mostly bullshit.

But what I can tell you is what I wished I would have known when I was getting started.

1. When you’re getting started, almost entirely ignore the salary. The reality is, when you’re young, to an amazing company doing important work you have no value at all. In most cases you should probably be paying them for the opportunity. So if you even get a small salary, be happy and jump at the chance.

2. Get yourself into rooms with the smartest thinkers on the topics you care about. With the advancement of the internet that could be chat rooms, zoom calls, forums, or networking meet ups. But don’t undervalue the importance of being in the great cities of your time. In 1900, Lansing was one of those cities. That’s exactly what brought my family here. But today, if you want to make the best BBQ - get to Austin or Kansas City. If you want to revolutionize finance with Blockchain technology, get to Miami. If you want to gain access to capital to scale up a software enabled startup, get to San Fran. (Even with all its recent problems)

Apologies to Lansing

I’m committed to Lansing and I don’t mean this post with any ill will. I hope that I can be a tiny part of hopefully reigniting the entrepreneurial spirit of this area. But I also have to be honest about how I feel or else I’m not doing a service to anyone including myself.

So if you’re mad at me for this post, blame Bill Hamilton, because I learned this at TechSmith. :)

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I’d love to hear from you. What do you think?