My Campaign Coach Minute

Here’s today’s tip: If you can’t tell someone why you’re running in 30 seconds or less, don’t run. One of the first things we talk about in our free online course is how to answer three questions: Why Me (why I’m the right person for the job), Why Now (why THIS is the time for me to run) and Why This Office (why THIS is the job for me). Anytime somebody asks you a question on the campaign trail, it always comes back to those fundamental questions. You’ll start out with pages of notes. Take some time away by yourself and just get everything you can out of your head and on paper. After some copy-editing, these pages will be the genesis of your campaign messaging. Once it’s boiled down to it’s essence, those three questions form the answer when somebody asks you, “Why are you running?” A succinct, confident answer to this question is one of the hardest things you’ll create. Spend quality time on it and get feedback from your team. I think about it in terms of, If I was pitching somebody for a million dollars and only had 30 seconds to make or break the opportunity, how much time would I put into preparing those 30 seconds. Well, in this case, we’re talking about a 30-second answer that you’re going to use repeatedly and it’s going to determine whether you get elected. Prepare well and don’t run if you can’t make a strong case for why you’re running in 30 seconds or less. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: If you can’t tell someone why you’re running in 30 seconds or less, don’t run. One of the first things we talk about in our free online course is how to answer three questions: Why Me (why I’m the right person for the job), Why Now (why THIS is the time for me to run) and Why This Office (why THIS is the job for me). Anytime somebody asks you a question on the campaign trail, it always comes back to those fundamental questions. You’ll start out with pages of notes. Take some time away by yourself and just get everything you can out of your head and on paper. After some copy-editing, these pages will be the genesis of your campaign messaging. Once it’s boiled down to it’s essence, those three questions form the answer when somebody asks you, “Why are you running?” A succinct, confident answer to this question is one of the hardest things you’ll create. Spend quality time on it and get feedback from your team. I think about it in terms of, If I was pitching somebody for a million dollars and only had 30 seconds to make or break the opportunity, how much time would I put into preparing those 30 seconds. Well, in this case, we’re talking about a 30-second answer that you’re going to use repeatedly and it’s going to determine whether you get elected. Prepare well and don’t run if you can’t make a strong case for why you’re running in 30 seconds or less. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run fo...

Here’s today’s tip: Handwritten notes are one of the most powerful tools you have. And they’re cheap! Growing up, it felt like pulling teeth when my mom made me write thank you cards. For some reason I hated it. I was grateful for the gifts but something about it...laziness probably, just made it a process I really disliked. Far too many times, I didn’t properly express my gratitude.

Here’s today’s tip: There is no greater enemy to your campaign than your own ego. If you’re running for office, you’ve probably got a pretty healthy ego. Otherwise you wouldn’t be telling everybody that you’re the best possible option for the job. While ego rightfully carries a negative connotation, it’s an important part of each of us and when kept in check, can be a positive force. But good lord I’ve seen it wreck campaigns. You’ve probably thought of several examples since I started talking from times you’ve seen a person’s ego lead to failure. Jobs, marriages, children, friendships. Every facet of our lives can be compromised if our ego gets out of control. When you run for office, so many of your normal ego-checks are no longer in place. At least they’re often less effective. Your best friend may have always been able to pull you back when you were getting to full of yourself. But now that you’re a candidate, it’s easier for the devil on your shoulder to tell you, “He just doesn’t understand campaigns.” Or, “He’s just getting jealous of all the attention I’m getting and the cool title I’m fixing to have.” I totally understand if you’re listening and saying, “No, Raz, that’s not going to happen to me.” But even that reaction is an example of your ego getting in the way of learning. The only way to keep yourself in check is through practiced humility and a strong system of accountability. You need to make humility part of your daily life and ensure that you’re surrounded by people who can call you out and get your attention. People who can pop the bubble. This lesson is closely tied to the one we discussed in Episode 9: Never be too busy to listen. You may win a campaign in spite of losing control over your ego, but you’ll just be getting further down a dark path. At all cost, control your ego. Uncontrolled, it is your worst enemy. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: There is no greater enemy to your campaign than your own ego. If you’re running for office, you’ve probably got a pretty healthy ego. Otherwise you wouldn’t be telling everybody that you’re the best possible option for the job. While ego rightfully carries a negative connotation, it’s an important part of each of us and when kept in check, can be a positive force. But good lord I’ve seen it wreck campaigns. You’ve probably thought of several examples since I started talking from times you’ve seen a person’s ego lead to failure. Jobs, marriages, children, friendships. Every facet of our lives can be compromised if our ego gets out of control. When you run for office, so many of your normal ego-checks are no longer in place. At least they’re often less effective. Your best friend may have always been able to pull you back when you were getting to full of yourself. But now that you’re a candidate, it’s easier for the devil on your shoulder to tell you, “He just doesn’t understand campaigns.” Or, “He’s just getting jealous of all the attention I’m getting a...

Here’s today’s tip: Every facet of your campaign should be infused with a sense of urgency. No lollygagging. A lot of people equate urgency purely with speed. Speed is obviously important in campaigns but just looking at urgency as a tempo measurement comes up short of what I’m talking about here. I mean that you must be purposeful. If you’re needing to knock doors or put up yard signs, speed and urgency may be synonymous. However there are plenty of campaign activities that may require urgency at a slower pace. More deliberate and thoughtful. You’re still being purposeful but the manifestation of urgency looks different to the outside observer. Think about Special Operations forces and how they work. They are so incredibly swift but they would be the first to tell you that, “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” They understand that you need to be urgent with every action but that speed is only one component of being effective. As it turns out, the easiest way to increase speed is to get good at something while practicing at a slower rate. The great thing about this is that the beginning months of a campaign are perfect training for the frenetic pace of the last few weeks. If you use that slower time to polish your machine and hone your abilities, you’ll be just fine when the heat cranks up as you near the finish line. Be urgent, purposeful, in everything you do. Set an example for your team! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Every facet of your campaign should be infused with a sense of urgency. No lollygagging. A lot of people equate urgency purely with speed. Speed is obviously important in campaigns but just looking at urgency as a tempo measurement comes up short of what I’m talking about here. I mean that you must be purposeful. If you’re needing to knock doors or put up yard signs, speed and urgency may be synonymous. However there are plenty of campaign activities that may require urgency at a slower pace. More deliberate and thoughtful. You’re still being purposeful but the manifestation of urgency looks different to the outside observer. Think about Special Operations forces and how they work. They are so incredibly swift but they would be the first to tell you that, “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.” They understand that you need to be urgent with every action but that speed is only one component of being effective. As it turns out, the easiest way to increase speed is to get good at something while practicing at a slower rate. The great thing about this is that the beginning months of a campaign are perfect training for the frenetic pace of the last few weeks. If you use that slower time to polish your machine and hone your abilities, you’ll be just fine when the heat cranks up as you near the finish line. Be urgent, purposeful, in everything you do. Set an example for your team! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials,

Here’s today’s tip: Don’t just ask winning candidates for advice. Losing teaches lessons winners may never see. I’ve interviewed and talked to more candidates than I can count. Each of them has unique lessons they’ve learned but some of the most valuable advice I’ve received has come from men and women who lost. The biggest reason behind this is that most winners don’t spend time reflecting on what they did wrong. They won! So how bad could they have been? When you lose, you spend a lot of time thinking about what you could have done differently and why you came up short. Even if it’s not a full-blown After Action Review (which I ALWAYS recommend), this time spent mulling over the defeat often leads to some rather poignant lessons. When you’re seeking out advice, don’t just listen to the winners. If they haven’t done a strong campaign post-mortem, they may not even really know WHY they won or the things that nearly cost them the victory. Go back and listen to our interviews with guys like Representative Matt Krause. He lost his first race and learned a ton. On the second go around, he won a tough race and has won every race since! The second lesson is that whether you win or lose, you need to perform a good After Action Review. This should be a no holds barred series of meetings with your core team and some outside observers. You need to know went well, where you were weak and make a plan for how to do better next time. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Don’t just ask winning candidates for advice. Losing teaches lessons winners may never see. I’ve interviewed and talked to more candidates than I can count. Each of them has unique lessons they’ve learned but some of the most valuable advice I’ve received has come from men and women who lost. The biggest reason behind this is that most winners don’t spend time reflecting on what they did wrong. They won! So how bad could they have been? When you lose, you spend a lot of time thinking about what you could have done differently and why you came up short. Even if it’s not a full-blown After Action Review (which I ALWAYS recommend), this time spent mulling over the defeat often leads to some rather poignant lessons. When you’re seeking out advice, don’t just listen to the winners. If they haven’t done a strong campaign post-mortem, they may not even really know WHY they won or the things that nearly cost them the victory. Go back and listen to our interviews with guys like Representative Matt Krause. He lost his first race and learned a ton. On the second go around, he won a tough race and has won every race since! The second lesson is that whether you win or lose, you need to perform a good After Action Review. This should be a no holds barred series of meetings with your core team and some outside observers. You need to know went well, where you were weak and make a plan for how to do better next time. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com.

Here’s today’s tip: You need to Work harder AND smarter than your opponent if you want to win. A good plan is awesome and burning a combination of sweat and shoe leather is important but there’s a limit to how far you can get if you can’t combine the two. When I talk about working smart AND hard, I mean that planning AND execution are important. A good plan that’s not executed is wasted time. So is activity that’s not thought out. If you want to win, you need to constantly balance planning and activity. You should start planning at the polls closing on election day and work backwards through time. Give it as much detail as possible and then start identifying the inputs that you need in order to keep that machine fueled. Those will primarily be volunteer hours, dollars, endorsements and your focused time as a candidate. Planning is how you make sure that your activity is purposeful and will move the needle in your favor. Then give it everything you’ve got. From knocking doors to meeting with donors and attending events. You need to make sure that your activity level is consistently high. You’re the one who is setting the pace for the rest of the team, so show them how hard you want them to work through your own individual work ethic. Nobody is going to work harder on your race than you are willing to. Working smart OR hard won’t get you very far. If you work smart AND hard, your planning and execution will form the basis for a strong campaign. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: You need to Work harder AND smarter than your opponent if you want to win. A good plan is awesome and burning a combination of sweat and shoe leather is important but there’s a limit to how far you can get if you can’t combine the two. When I talk about working smart AND hard, I mean that planning AND execution are important. A good plan that’s not executed is wasted time. So is activity that’s not thought out. If you want to win, you need to constantly balance planning and activity. You should start planning at the polls closing on election day and work backwards through time. Give it as much detail as possible and then start identifying the inputs that you need in order to keep that machine fueled. Those will primarily be volunteer hours, dollars, endorsements and your focused time as a candidate. Planning is how you make sure that your activity is purposeful and will move the needle in your favor. Then give it everything you’ve got. From knocking doors to meeting with donors and attending events. You need to make sure that your activity level is consistently high. You’re the one who is setting the pace for the rest of the team, so show them how hard you want them to work through your own individual work ethic. Nobody is going to work harder on your race than you are willing to. Working smart OR hard won’t get you very far. If you work smart AND hard, your planning and execution will form the basis for a strong campaign. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to

Here’s today’s tip: “What orators lack in depth, they make up for in length.” – Charles-Louis de Secondat It’s hard to be concise with our words. It takes work. If you give me an hour to talk and a topic, I’ll have no problem filling the time and I probably won’t need to spend more than one or two times the alloted time to prepare. However, If you give me 5 minutes, I’m going to spend 10-20 times my speaking time to prepare. With today’s shrinking attention spans, whether in person or on video, it’s important that we work hard on communicating within tight time constraints. We need to be concise and it takes significant effort to achieve that. The first place you start this is by answering the three why questions which your campaign revolves around: Why Me, Why Now and Why this office? For each of those, get all your thoughts on paper. Scratch them out and just word-vomit onto the page. Once that step is complete, begin organizing your thoughts. Pick the points you believe are most persuasive and hone their presentation. In the end, you’re going to want a few different presentations of that information: A 30-second elevator pitch, a 5 minute appeal and a 10 minute stump speech. Each length should have a specific utility and be focused on the type of audience that you are appealing to. You’ll then customize these stock speeches as necessary for the individual event. Don’t ramble and think that it’s going to make you sound smart. By preparing well before a speech, you’ll communicate much more effectively and stand out among your competitors! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: “What orators lack in depth, they make up for in length.” – Charles-Louis de Secondat It’s hard to be concise with our words. It takes work. If you give me an hour to talk and a topic, I’ll have no problem filling the time and I probably won’t need to spend more than one or two times the alloted time to prepare. However, If you give me 5 minutes, I’m going to spend 10-20 times my speaking time to prepare. With today’s shrinking attention spans, whether in person or on video, it’s important that we work hard on communicating within tight time constraints. We need to be concise and it takes significant effort to achieve that. The first place you start this is by answering the three why questions which your campaign revolves around: Why Me, Why Now and Why this office? For each of those, get all your thoughts on paper. Scratch them out and just word-vomit onto the page. Once that step is complete, begin organizing your thoughts. Pick the points you believe are most persuasive and hone their presentation. In the end, you’re going to want a few different presentations of that information: A 30-second elevator pitch, a 5 minute appeal and a 10 minute stump speech. Each length should have a specific utility and be focused on the type of audience that you are appealing to. You’ll then customize these stock speeches as necessary for the individual event. Don’t ramble and think that it’s going to make you sound smart.

Here’s today’s tip: Never say or write anything you don’t want on Buzzfeed. It’s incredible how social media and the internet have changed campaigns! While there are plenty of negatives associated with these evolutions, one of the things I like is that it makes it much easier to catch candidates in lies. Even outside of campaigns, we see corporate HR departments reviewing applicants’ social media presence for liabilities. A quick google search will reveal plenty of examples of candidates, their families or staff saying things on social media, even private messages or texts, that hurt the campaign when they came out. This isn’t just an issue for what you say DURING the campaign. For instance, I’ve been on Facebook since 2004 and on Twitter since 2009. During that time, I’ve posted tens of thousands of statuses. I think I’ve done a reasonably good job to stay aware that those are always out there but I have no doubt that many of them would be used to attack me if I ran for office. The written or recorded communication that we engage in (whether public or private) are part of our permanent record and there’s no telling when something may circle back around. During a few recent elections, written statements and even handwritten letters from decades ago have become part of the ammunition to undermine campaigns. My point isn’t to have you always looking over your shoulder or sending every tweet to a PR consultant before hitting publish. Just ask yourself whether it’s something you’d be okay with showing up on Buzzfeed. Ask, “would my mom be ashamed if she found out I wrote this?” I think the “Mom test” is a pretty good one for life generally. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Never say or write anything you don’t want on Buzzfeed. It’s incredible how social media and the internet have changed campaigns! While there are plenty of negatives associated with these evolutions, one of the things I like is that it makes it much easier to catch candidates in lies. Even outside of campaigns, we see corporate HR departments reviewing applicants’ social media presence for liabilities. A quick google search will reveal plenty of examples of candidates, their families or staff saying things on social media, even private messages or texts, that hurt the campaign when they came out. This isn’t just an issue for what you say DURING the campaign. For instance, I’ve been on Facebook since 2004 and on Twitter since 2009. During that time, I’ve posted tens of thousands of statuses. I think I’ve done a reasonably good job to stay aware that those are always out there but I have no doubt that many of them would be used to attack me if I ran for office. The written or recorded communication that we engage in (whether public or private) are part of our permanent record and there’s no telling when something may circle back around. During a few recent elections, written statements and even handwritten letters from decades ago have become part of the ammunition to undermine campaigns. My point isn’t to have you always looking over your shoulder ...

Here’s today’s tip: No candidate is an objective participant in their own campaign. Some of the worst candidates I’ve ever seen have a lot of experience running campaigns. That seems counterintuitive, right? The problem usually doesn’t arise from them having bad ideas about what it takes to win a campaign, but rather from refusing to delegate tasks and take good advice. When you become a candidate, you lose all objectivity about your election contest. I’ve seen people who have run successful campaigns make awful rookie mistakes and experienced business leaders lose all ability to delegate tasks. Pre-campaign experience is critical to winning but you shouldn’t pretend like it’s going to be the same. Your brain is going to behave differently when you take on this new role. Whatever your experience and background are, you need to select a core group who will help widen your aperture. They are the eyes watching your blind-spots. Ask them regularly to tell you what they think you’re missing…or the things that you see but where your perception is off. Secondly, you need to find people to whom you can delegate and trust their work. This takes time but if you begin training yourself and your team to delegate effectively form the outset of a campaign, your life is going to be much easier. No candidate, yourself included, is an objective participant in their own campaign. By acknowledging reality and taking these steps, you’re putting your campaign on solid ground! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: No candidate is an objective participant in their own campaign. Some of the worst candidates I’ve ever seen have a lot of experience running campaigns. That seems counterintuitive, right? The problem usually doesn’t arise from them having bad ideas about what it takes to win a campaign, but rather from refusing to delegate tasks and take good advice. When you become a candidate, you lose all objectivity about your election contest. I’ve seen people who have run successful campaigns make awful rookie mistakes and experienced business leaders lose all ability to delegate tasks. Pre-campaign experience is critical to winning but you shouldn’t pretend like it’s going to be the same. Your brain is going to behave differently when you take on this new role. Whatever your experience and background are, you need to select a core group who will help widen your aperture. They are the eyes watching your blind-spots. Ask them regularly to tell you what they think you’re missing…or the things that you see but where your perception is off. Secondly, you need to find people to whom you can delegate and trust their work. This takes time but if you begin training yourself and your team to delegate effectively form the outset of a campaign, your life is going to be much easier. No candidate, yourself included, is an objective participant in their own campaign. By acknowledging reality and taking these steps, you’re putting your campaign on solid ground! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign,

Here’s today’s tip: Prepare to be attacked before you are. Anybody familiar with politics or political campaigns has heard about opposition research. That’s where you find out everything possible about your opponent, both to know where they are strong and weak. The flip side of that coin is far less well-known and tragically so. What I’m talking about is a vulnerability study, or self-oppo. If you saw yourself as an easy target for attack or someone has done things he or she can’t answer for, you’re probably not going to be running for public office. And in that false security lies the fatal deceit that has ended so many campaigns. I don’t care if you’re Mother Teresa or Mr. Rogers, when you run for political office, you’ll be attacked. The more you know in advance about the vector and particulars of those attacks, the better able you are to prevent or prepare for them. This shouldn’t be quarterbacked by the candidate or those closest to them. When I’m conducting a vulnerability study, I want the operator to dig as deep as they can and try to figure out every possible, sinister way that my opponents can attack me. Then we can determine the best ways to armor ourselves, prepare for counterattack or conduct a controlled detonation by getting out in front of an issue. Allowing a candidate to guide the vulnerability study virtually always leads to negatives being underplayed. It’s a human reaction but the results have killed more campaigns than I can count. Learn more about opposition research and vulnerability studies by listening to our interviews with John Lappe and Willis Jones! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Prepare to be attacked before you are. Anybody familiar with politics or political campaigns has heard about opposition research. That’s where you find out everything possible about your opponent, both to know where they are strong and weak. The flip side of that coin is far less well-known and tragically so. What I’m talking about is a vulnerability study, or self-oppo. If you saw yourself as an easy target for attack or someone has done things he or she can’t answer for, you’re probably not going to be running for public office. And in that false security lies the fatal deceit that has ended so many campaigns. I don’t care if you’re Mother Teresa or Mr. Rogers, when you run for political office, you’ll be attacked. The more you know in advance about the vector and particulars of those attacks, the better able you are to prevent or prepare for them. This shouldn’t be quarterbacked by the candidate or those closest to them. When I’m conducting a vulnerability study, I want the operator to dig as deep as they can and try to figure out every possible, sinister way that my opponents can attack me. Then we can determine the best ways to armor ourselves, prepare for counterattack or conduct a controll...

Here’s today’s tip: You should never be too busy to listen. Some of the most destructive campaign mistakes I’ve seen originate with a candidate who neglects to follow this tip. You’re in the middle of a campaign. You’re juggling family and job and volunteers and donors and somewhere in the middle, your ears start shutting down. It can seem like they’re acting of their own accord. It’s easy to understand how that happens right? It’s simply human. The best way to keep from falling prey to this mid-campaign deafness is to prepare for the threat early in the campaign planning process. Important information always needs a way to get to you. But one of the problems is that you can’t always predict the way that it will come to you. Pick the right people to be inside the bubble. These are your senior campaign team, kitchen cabinet and close friends. These are the people to whom you make the commitment, “If you need to tell me something. I will listen.” Accompanying that should be to communicate that you need them to act as filters as well. To keep things off your plate unless you need to be involved. Create effective information funnels. Information is going to be pouring into your campaign from all directions: twitter, facebook, polling, opposition research, volunteers etc. By hiring the right team and effectively delegating to them, they’ll be able to keep things off your desk that you don’t need to see. I’m not talking about some kind of House of Cards deniability. I mean that they can gather and synthesize information so that if you do need to see something, it’s in a form that’s most helpful. Further, if a decision needs to be made which doesn’t require your involvement, they can take action and keep from contributing to decision fatigue. Designate times and ways for your team to bring the smaller things to you. Open door policies seem great but in reality, they create distractions and multiply decision fatigue on the part of leaders. If there’s something big, then your senior team should be able to reach you. However, the smaller but potentially important stuff should be presented in a specific time and manner. Work with your team to help figure out how they’ll decide what type of thing falls into each category and empower them to make the call. They’ll make mistakes but if you train them correctly, your operation is going to run like a machine. The biggest obstacle to effective listening is too much noise. Plan ahead to minimize that noise and make listening a personal and institutional priority. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: You should never be too busy to listen. Some of the most destructive campaign mistakes I’ve seen originate with a candidate who neglects to follow this tip. You’re in the middle of a campaign. You’re juggling family and job and volunteers and donors and somewhere in the middle, your ears start shutting down. It can seem like they’re acting of their own accord. It’s easy to understand how that happens right? It’s simply human.

Here’s today’s tip: Don’t run for a job you can’t excel at. This one seems so simple that some of you are probably saying, “How stupid do you think we are, Raz?!” The simple fact is that far too often, fitness for the actual job of being an elected official is near the bottom of the list of reasons that motivate a candidate to run. Everything from simply thinking that it’s an easy race to win, or that it’d have really cool job perks to general love of service are all reasons I’ve seen motivate a candidate to run much more powerfully than that they truly believe they’d be the best person to execute the job they seek. There are lots of starting points in politics. Some folks’ first campaign is for high office while others climb the ladder. Both approaches have unique pros and cons. But in neither case should you seek a job that you can’t be a rockstar at. If you’re considering a run for public office, don’t let the cart get ahead of the horse. Start your deliberations with that questions: Can I crush it at this job? Am I the best person available? If so, THEN start designing your strategy for winning the campaign. If you run for an office that you’re not qualified for or can’t excel at, one of two things will happen: You’ll lose because it becomes clear you’re running primarily to benefit yourself, OR, you’ll win and quickly find yourself trapped in a job you’re not equipped for. Neither case provides an opportunity for effective public service or a long-term chance to grow your political impact. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Don’t run for a job you can’t excel at. This one seems so simple that some of you are probably saying, “How stupid do you think we are, Raz?!” The simple fact is that far too often, fitness for the actual job of being an elected official is near the bottom of the list of reasons that motivate a candidate to run. Everything from simply thinking that it’s an easy race to win, or that it’d have really cool job perks to general love of service are all reasons I’ve seen motivate a candidate to run much more powerfully than that they truly believe they’d be the best person to execute the job they seek. There are lots of starting points in politics. Some folks’ first campaign is for high office while others climb the ladder. Both approaches have unique pros and cons. But in neither case should you seek a job that you can’t be a rockstar at. If you’re considering a run for public office, don’t let the cart get ahead of the horse. Start your deliberations with that questions: Can I crush it at this job? Am I the best person available? If so, THEN start designing your strategy for winning the campaign. If you run for an office that you’re not qualified for or can’t excel at, one of two things will happen: You’ll lose because it becomes clear you’re running primarily to benefit yourself, OR, you’ll win and quickly find yourself trapped in a job you’re not equipped for. Neither case provides an opportunity for effective public service or a long-term chance to grow your political im...

Here’s today’s tip: Never use an endorsement that isn’t in writing. Endorsements are awesome and as a candidate, you’ll want to accrue as many good ones as you can! But always get them in writing. First of all, getting an endorsement in writing means that you have total proof of what the endorser wanted to say and there is zero ambiguity relating to their intention. A candidate I was working against a few years back published several endorsements from elected officials who hadn’t actually endorsed her candidacy. All of the comments she published were made before her candidacy was known, even to them. They were saying nice things about her at political fundraisers, saying things only intended for the ears of the attendees, not a public endorsement of her election. Her attempts to use their words in a way they never intended severely undermined her relationship with those individuals and the fact that she mislead voters about the intent behind the words became a campaign issue. You never want to be caught in a position where people can question the veracity of what you say or whether you’re misleading people with how you present the information. Both of these problems can be overcome by getting a written endorsement. That can be as simple as somebody signing their name on an endorsement form or emailing you the text of their endorsement. Keep it on file, honor the intent of their support and be ready to produce proof if someone questions how you have used it. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Never use an endorsement that isn’t in writing. Endorsements are awesome and as a candidate, you’ll want to accrue as many good ones as you can! But always get them in writing. First of all, getting an endorsement in writing means that you have total proof of what the endorser wanted to say and there is zero ambiguity relating to their intention. A candidate I was working against a few years back published several endorsements from elected officials who hadn’t actually endorsed her candidacy. All of the comments she published were made before her candidacy was known, even to them. They were saying nice things about her at political fundraisers, saying things only intended for the ears of the attendees, not a public endorsement of her election. Her attempts to use their words in a way they never intended severely undermined her relationship with those individuals and the fact that she mislead voters about the intent behind the words became a campaign issue. You never want to be caught in a position where people can question the veracity of what you say or whether you’re misleading people with how you present the information. Both of these problems can be overcome by getting a written endorsement. That can be as simple as somebody signing their name on an endorsement form or emailing you the text of their endorsement. Keep it on file, honor the intent of their support and be ready to produce proof if someone questions how you have used it. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign,

Here’s today’s tip: Unless you’re Donald Trump, candidates shouldn’t wear hats. If you want the perfect visual example of why hats aren’t a good idea for candidates, just google Dukakis in the Tank. I’ve also linked to an article about the seminal event on our blog. As you read about issues with candidates and hats, whether Calvin Coolidge in an Indian headdress, Mike Dukakis and his tank helmet or John Kerry in his bunny suit, there are two main lessons to take away. The first is a simple one: Hats often look goofy and detract from the image we have in our collective mind of what a public official should be. The second lesson is the larger one. In nearly all of these situations, the candidate in question tried to adopt a public image that was a significant departure from their brand. In Dukakis’ case, he decided to abandon his family’s all-American immigrant story that had catapulted him to the Democratic nomination and adopt a strongly pro-national defense message. The picture of him wearing the tank helmet, looking uncannily like Mr. Rogers in battle gear, was used by the Bush campaign to highlight this dissonance between his record and the image he was trying to build. As a candidate, you should build on the brand you’ve cultivated before launching your campaign and use it as the starting point for the rhetoric and visuals of the race. It’s easy to challenge candidates as having adopted a new persona on the campaign trail because it’s so often true. And visuals tell that story better than rhetoric. President Trump gets away with wearing hats because wearing his famous MAGA hat is consistent with his pre-campaign behavior. His now-ubiquitous trucker style golf hat can be found in any number of pictures from before his candidacy, so Americans were used to seeing him in a hat. It was part of his image. Adding his campaign slogan to the front was a genius move and lands him as our lone exception to the no-hats rule. To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Unless you’re Donald Trump, candidates shouldn’t wear hats. If you want the perfect visual example of why hats aren’t a good idea for candidates, just google Dukakis in the Tank. I’ve also linked to an article about the seminal event on our blog. As you read about issues with candidates and hats, whether Calvin Coolidge in an Indian headdress, Mike Dukakis and his tank helmet or John Kerry in his bunny suit, there are two main lessons to take away. The first is a simple one: Hats often look goofy and detract from the image we have in our collective mind of what a public official should be. The second lesson is the larger one. In nearly all of these situations, the candidate in question tried to adopt a public image that was a significant d...

Here’s today’s tip: Communication isn’t what I say, it’s what YOU hear. My dad started telling me this when my age was still in the single digits and reminds me of it frequently. It’s as true now as when I first heard it. The jist of this lesson is that I take ownership over what happens when I open my mouth. The words I choose, the inflection I generate and the gesticulations my body mimes are all talking at once. Whether it’s as a husband, boss or candidate, it’s important that you always keep communication as the key goal when you open your mouth. The focus isn’t on you and whether you think you’re sounding good, it’s about whether your audience is correctly receiving the message you intend for them. The better you know your audience, the better you’re able to pre-plan and adjust your communication. As a husband, I take ownership for my communication with my bride. If she doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say, I don’t allow myself to get frustrated. Instead, I ask myself what it is that I REALLY want to get across and figure out how I can reach her in a more effective way. With voters, this process can yield even more frustration than with a spouse. We work hard to hone a message and practice our delivery and then once we give it to them if they don’t respond in the way we’re hoping, our minds default to the thought of, “What the heck is wrong with them?!” That’s the absolute wrong way to go. We’ve got to take ownership of our communication and that means that if THEY, whoever that is, doesn’t hear us, it’s our fault, not theirs. Communication isn’t what I say, it’s what YOU hear! To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes! Here’s today’s tip: Communication isn’t what I say, it’s what YOU hear. My dad started telling me this when my age was still in the single digits and reminds me of it frequently. It’s as true now as when I first heard it. The jist of this lesson is that I take ownership over what happens when I open my mouth. The words I choose, the inflection I generate and the gesticulations my body mimes are all talking at once. Whether it’s as a husband, boss or candidate, it’s important that you always keep communication as the key goal when you open your mouth. The focus isn’t on you and whether you think you’re sounding good, it’s about whether your audience is correctly receiving the message you intend for them. The better you know your audience, the better you’re able to pre-plan and adjust your communication. As a husband, I take ownership for my communication with my bride. If she doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say, I don’t allow myself to get frustrated. Instead, I ask myself what it is that I REALLY want to get across and figure out how I can reach her in a more effective way. With voters, this process can yield even more frustration than with a spouse. We work hard to hone a message and practice our delivery and then once we give it to them if they don’t r...