📍EEA: Creative Communication with Stefan Zavalin

RJ Redden:

But here we go. Now it's really showtime. Hold on to your goggles, everybody. It is time for the epic engagement adventure. I am, as always, your host, RJ Redden. With me, as always, is someone so uniquely special that they're an actual unicorn. I am talking about my friend Stefan. Yes, Stefan. We met because I saw one of your videos, and it was so nice. It caught me because it wasn't normal. It wasn't okay, this person's trying to get me to work out or something because I am permanently my butt may be chained to this chair. I'm not sure. And I always feel guilty when I see people like, oh, just get out and move your body. I'm like, why? But your video talked. It talked about fitness in a totally different way, and it talked about how your mind has to be right. Just moving your body isn't going to be enough, because you may do it today, but you won't do it tomorrow. And I thought, this guy, there's something up about this guy. I need to contact him. So I did. I wrote you, and I said, I really enjoyed your video, and you wrote me back, and it's been a beautiful relationship since then. Stefan, tell people all about you. Where are you from? What do you do? Start from the beginning.

Stefan Zavalin:

I love that you started our actual beginning, because I'm thinking back, and that was a while ago. So much has changed even since then. But the concept that you're also talking about is because people are going to be like, what was in that video? Go watch it. No, I'm just kidding. I'll tell everybody exactly what I'm talking about, so it's not going to have to be a teaser. And it's a concept in general that I found that applies to so many things in business and life. It's not just our health that it applies to. And that whenever you tell somebody to change a habit, in this case, my whole thing was about reducing how much we're sitting over sitting so much. And I would tell people this. I would tell them all the statistics, all the, oh, this is so bad for you things. They knew nobody's out there going sitting many, many hours a day is actually great. Maybe it's great for your business, but not for your health. But the immediate reaction was, I need to go for a walk. I need to go exercise. I need to go do the movement thing. And it's the same thing that we do, is like, oh, no, I'm spending too much time watching Netflix. I need to go be productive at work. I need to go do this stuff. I need to really squeeze out my hours that I am working. And so the concept was that instead of us thinking that we need to do more and more of the good thing, can we start trying to do a little less and less of the bad thing while doing everything else pretty much the same. One of my favorite ways to show this as an example is in diet. For example, instead of saying, can I eat more salads? While still eating all of the fun junk food, saying, Can I just eat a little less of the junk food? And because nature doesn't hold up to a vacuum, something else will fill it in, and so it'll be slightly better and slightly better in terms of work, instead of saying, Can I be more productive? Can I be less ineffective, just slightly less somewhere? And then build, build, and in that way change those habits. So it started with the movement. It started with this idea that we need to reduce how much we're sitting and sit less. And that journey took me to writing a book about it, doing a TEDx Talk about it, and then finally creating a show called Scared Sitlus, which is a fantastic title, and I love it so much.

RJ Redden:

It is. It is an amazing title, Stefan, but.

Stefan Zavalin:

It was that show that really forced the transformation into the unicorn that we talked about before and finally saying, that stuff is good, but that's not the genius. That's not the part that you love so much. And it's been these videos that I've been making the entire time that really showcase the creativity, the, hey, we can think about this in a very different way. And that kind of pushed me into now creating the videos and finding people's stories and saying, hey, this is the really interesting thing about you. That's what we need to showcase in your video, not what everybody else is constantly telling you to do of this. This. You try it, it doesn't work because it doesn't feel like you at all. And so that brings us full circle to now where I'm just realizing I need to be doing less of what is not me and slowly moving more to what is me, which is that application of more of the good versus less of the bad, as I've seen it throughout my life.

RJ Redden:

Yeah, amazing. I've seen you go through a lot of transformation, and what has always impressed me about that is that some people kind of look as scants at entrepreneurs who kind of change directions and stuff like that and like, oh, that didn't work. So you're going to do this now. But I look at it, especially in your case, as getting closer to the truth. Every time you switch, you focus on something that is a bit more you and more true to you and how you want to show up in the world. Excuse my cat. Everybody who's watching this, my cat loves to be in the video, but he doesn't want his face on video. It's just his butt. Okay, hold on. Hey, you're not supposed to chew on mommy's cords. Okay? With all of that choosing to be more you, why do you call yourself the tell me.

Stefan Zavalin:

And to give people a little bit more of the backstory of, why in the world did Stefan do fitness stuff and reducing. I got my doctorate in physical therapy, so there was a lot that was really wired into that. And I became a physical therapist because my parents said, hey, we want a grad school after your undergrad. And so it was this consistent thing of I needed to please other people to do it. When I was in the clinic, one of the things that they always made us do, which I hated with the passion, I wasn't the only one. They made us wear a button down and a tie. Now, I understand that that could be great for other doctors, but when you're showing exercises, when you're doing massages, when you're moving limbs, you don't want to be in a shirt and tie. And so constantly, I had to tuck my tie in so it didn't flop into my patient's faces. I run out into the room, and I'm on my ties tucked in. I look ridiculous when I'm in the waiting room calling in the next person. So the tie was this constant thing, and it comes back. There's a reason I'm telling all this. As they went and got out of the clinic, started the business about reducing how much people are sitting, and finally made the evolution to saying, no. My true passion really lies in this video. And so many people have pointed it out because I've helped them along that entire time, because I was doing videos since middle school. All of a sudden, I was saying, okay, what I call this, what I truly want to call this is unicorn. Because I've been called the unicorn for various reasons, being magical, growing up in Nashville, all those for some parent reason, reasons to be called a unicorn. I thought, nobody's going to take you seriously, dude, that's so unprofessional. A unicorn? Come on. What kind of business thing is that? No. So how do you overcome it? And I thought, okay, the professional unicorn. Nobody can argue with that. That's by default professional. It's in the name, so that's it. If they question it, they can't read. So we're good, we're fine. And the logo is a unicorn. And my favorite color is purple. So it's a black unicorn with a purple tie. And the tie is meant to call back to me. Those times in the clinic where I was going, you're being forced to be professional in that little way, and it was just a little thing to me, like, don't take it too seriously. It's okay. Kind of keep going. So those are the reasons of coming together with the unicorn and really the professional unicorn, how it all started, I.

RJ Redden:

Love it, as you know. I mean, I love all things that stand out from the sea of sameness, and you certainly do. Unicorn horn first. Is that something that, then? Do you pass that on to your clients in some way?

Stefan Zavalin:

In one way that none of them know about, which is so my wife loves collecting little things except for budgetary and space issues. I have asked her not to, so now she watches unpacking videos of little mystery boxes and all that. However, she has convinced me there is this Japanese figurine company called Unicorno, and they have little unicorn figurines. So whenever I get a client that is a substantial client of six months to a year, I get a Unicorno for them, meaning there is a Unicorno in my office somewhere that represents that client, and it's always a randomized thing. So that is one way that none of them know that truly they become a unicorn in my life there you go. As they're set all around the place. But in terms of becoming themselves, I have this belief, and I came across this belief while at a networking event, that it really lightning struck me in a way, of people being special. And it happened like this. It was kind of the end of that whole event. Somebody got on and they were going, oh, my goodness, everybody here is just so amazing. You're all so wonderful. You're just these unique, beautiful people. Everybody is just great and special. And I was sitting there going, no, they're not. I'm looking at two people right now on the Zoom call that I know they're not special. Now, I believe they could be, but the way they pitch slapped me, the way they didn't care about me, the way they just completely shoved products that were obviously inferior Dynama throat without listening, they weren't special. And so my belief was that every single person has the ability to be special, but is not special outright. So in that I believe that every single person has that unicorn part inside of them, and there is something that we can showcase. So then the question is, how do we showcase that unicorn part of them in their business, aka. Professionally? So thus the professional unicorn kind of comes around full circle. Again.

RJ Redden:

We share that value, Stefan, because so many people in my frustration, too, the whole professional thing, how do we define this word? Most people define it as a white guy in a suit and tie, okay? Half of us on the Earth aren't a guy. Many people are not white. And even if I was a guy, you could not get me inside a tie. You know what I mean? But does that mean that my work is worth less? You know what I mean? It's that whole concept that we have that I rail against every day that I possibly can, because what does professional look like? This? Okay, I'm going to tell you a story. It's quick, I promise. One day, I was working for a narcissist, basically, and he was a weird, weird billionaire. No, he was not. Once president of this company. Anyway, this guy was real weird. And one time one of the sales guys showed up for a meeting. Now, it was a Saturday, but this guy showed up at a meeting with the owner of the company in a T shirt and jeans. The owner of the company got so angry that we were all informed. A couple of days later when we showed up for work, we were all informed. There was a note on the board that the dress code had changed half an hour ago and that all of the guys were required to wear ties and button ups and all of the women were required to wear a smart clothing, dress or skirt preferred. Okay? So every single day for the rest of my time there, I wore these same pants and the same golf pullover. I laundered them. I laundered them frequently. But you know what's smart about the clothing and you know what's smart about all of this is the woman behind it. You know what I mean? Like that whole what you wear dress for success again. Anyway, that was a total rant and this is your interview, so why don't I step back a little bit. Anyway, that whole thing and the belief that there is a special thing about everybody, but we're all trying to fit in so damn hard.

Stefan Zavalin:

Yeah. To your point, what I don't want people to take out of this from both of our stories is that it doesn't matter what you wear, you can wear whatever you want. Will people perceive you differently depending on the clothes that you wear? Yes. Is it always the most important thing? No. I think that's the part that we're really getting into. You and I both know Daniel Andrews for the kind of work that he does in networking and the way that he presents himself at this point. It's weird when we don't see him in a tie and a button down that's part of his brand. If you choose that to be part of your brand and just realize that you have those pluses and minuses as you go through. Right. But if I'm a unicorn and if I say I'm going to show up in this different way and I show up in just your regular suit and tie, weird. If I show up in a purple suit and tie, that seems right. That seems appropriate, whatever it might be. And there is a full outfit that I'm building to that will involve a rainbow wig suit and tie of various colors. But it's one of those things where I refuse to have it done wrong and I need it to be done. And it's so expensive that at this point there's not a need. And I can't justify spending that much money on something like that. But yes, that's always there. But that would be completely on brand for me. Nobody would be surprised in the same way that you were talking about the videos being different. If I made videos exactly the same way that everybody else does, not on brand, then what's the point? I think that's what bringing it full circle to the unicorn part is everybody keeps on going, yes, let me see how I can do it. I'm going to do it exactly like that person. And if you're pointing to that person to say, that's who I am, that makes no sense. This is who you are. So you should be pointing right at yourself.

RJ Redden:

Bring that element out. Bring what is unique about you out dress any way you want to as long as it's within your brand. Make it happen, Captain. Well, and we think a lot along the same lines. Hence why we're building something together. Wink, wink. You're going to want to see this, people. Anyway, I don't want to give away too much. What delights you? What fills you with joy about working with clients?

Stefan Zavalin:

There are a couple of things that people say. There are two specific word and phrase that people say that I go, yes, I did the thing I was supposed to do. The first one is at the end of our sessions, they go, that was fun. I never had content creation be fun. I never had videos for social media be fun. And I'm like, I don't know what you've been doing, but yeah, it's fun. And the other part is when people go, I haven't told that story in five or ten years. How'd you get me to tell that? I don't even know where that came from. That was a great story. I was like, It was a great story. I don't know. I can't tell you. You told me the story. I can tell you where it came from. But that delights me because my whole goal with my process, when I get people on camera and we just talk and some people say interview, but I'm like it's interview. And me directing them is I'm just like, be human. Be yourself. One of the reasons I want to say that I'm a unicorn is because as soon as people go like, this dude is into purple and loves unicorns, I can say something a little ridiculous because compared to him, I'm still good. And so in that comparison arc great. They can really be themselves. It doesn't have to be this big leap that all of a sudden they have to take out of their comfort zone because they see that somebody else is over there going, it's okay. Come deeper in the water. It's completely fine. You will be okay. No sharks here. So can't you tell that I used to swim just a little bit, but those are my favorite. The fun. And we haven't said that. The other part is when and somebody that I work with now has turned meme to a meme for himself, that he goes, that's a video. That's a video. That's a video, because I keep on saying that every single thing is content, and it is video because it's about you. I have this little formula that I use that I try to teach people, but usually me saying it isn't quite as impactful as them applying it repeatedly. The formula goes like this. If you take who you are and this is not the essence of who you are, that's very difficult for you to assess, but a bit of who you are, add it to what you do. Again, not the entirety of what you do. Just in essence, you will get how you do it. So, for example, I love purple and I love magic and having fun. I create videos for social media with people. So how I do it is in the professional unicorn sense of creating it and fun magic. And a lot of my website is themed around unicorn stuff, and we have all these fun things to make it a little bit easier. Now, the purpose of those three elements is why people choose you. That's what you're answering with, all of it. So when you say who you are, you add it to what you do, express how you and only you do it. That's why people choose you over anybody else, because I'm going to maybe burst some bubbles. You're not the best. That's okay. The very few people are actually the best. And if that's your defining feature, it's probably not. But you have many other wonderful qualities that do differentiate you. Figure out what those are. That's the unicorn path.

RJ Redden:

Gosh. That's a message to write home about right there. We want to make it into something that is hugely complicated. We want to have an 18 step process to figure out what you just told us in under three minutes. But it's not that complicated once you really boil down to it and it's something everyone can use, it's something everyone can do, it's not, oh, well, once you make this many dollars a year, then you can graduate to, you know what I mean? Like the formula you just gave us, every single person out there can use. And in fact, if you're within the sound of my voice, do it. Do it. See what you come up with. What do you have to lose? Five minutes. So I just wanted to put that out there because very often, very often, I run into folks, and I myself in the past have complicated things way too much. And what I really needed to do was sit back and just take it slow and do the obvious, do the thing that's right in front of me. Well, so now I come to the question that I always ask. How do you Stefan, Dr. Stefan, the professional unicorn, how do you engage your.

Stefan Zavalin:

Love? I love this question, not because you ask out of everyone, but because I think the answer should always be different for each different person. Meaning that whatever I say should only be part of whatever somebody else takes and uses that. I'm not going to tell you the best way. I'm going to tell you the way that works for me, and maybe that will be useful for some of you. And that is very important to take away. You're building your own fantastic jigsaw puzzle with all of this. My wife loves jigsaw puzzles. There you go. Being unique and being myself, that's one. And the reason is because I just love having fun and I love seeing the inspiration light up in other people's eyes. So a lot of times I will take things other people are doing, and I'll go, I know, yes, and them with it. So I've taken many people where there was a phase where I made videos going on Instagram, taking people's carousel stuff where they just had pictures and creating a video out of it. And then just that was my post. I would go like, hey, I made a video out of this. This is what I did. This was generally fun. And all of a sudden, people will go, Wait, how did you do that? Even that account would reach out to me and go, hold on, we might need videos. What's all this? This is different. We already made this content. How do we repurpose and use this content? But it's not as if I went, well, that's it. This is my business. This is all that I ever do. It's putting in those fun things. My recent video that blew up the most was me talking about how I made my coffee. The secret, by the way, is adding salt, which I don't think a lot of people realize. Just a little bit of salt into your latte. It's a game changer. It is a game changer. So try it. Try it next time.

RJ Redden:

It's a flavor enhancer. Salt is, well, I'm going to try that with my secret invisible coffee shop. I'm going to try that. I'm going to let you know how that goes, Stefan.

Stefan Zavalin:

There you go. There you go. The other part is, after a while, what I do, the main source of income for me in terms of the business, is we sit together for an hour or via zoom with my clients, and then I cut their videos up and they get like 30 clips from all of that. So I have clients that are sending 30, 60, 90 video clips and they're not posting them. And I'm going, Come on, I brought you to the water. I poured the water. Drink the water, please. What do you want from me here? And I realized that there's the missing piece. I wasn't engaging on them with the missing piece of consistency and getting them in the habit of posting and doing all those things themselves. So then the other part of engagement is listen to your audience and to your clients and to those possible people and create the thing that they might actually want and need. And it's this kind of back and forth. So I've created an accountability group that's entirely about just being consistent and creating and putting your stuff together. The other part is it's fun. So it's going to be unlike any other group that I've been a part of or seen, because that's how I choose to engage with my people, is walking the talk of saying that if things are going to be different for me, that's how I'm going to do it. Now, the other simple tips and tricks. If people are going, oh, I'm on social media, how do I get people to engage with me more? Actually ask them questions. If your call to action is always contact me, contact me, contact me. Why should they ever interact in your comments? If you ask them a question of going, hey, here's my experience. What is your experience? Leave it in the comments. That is a call to action that gets a little bit more engagement. Right? Or I have had some these are fantastic. Of where I go, let's play marketing Madlibs, where I had them fill in like mad libs for various different words. And then I created a little ad for a company we just made up based off of those words. There are various ways to play with people, but I think if we're even talking on social media, engagement from that side of things is be social on social media. Actually talk to them and not make a video just to get a sale. That's not how social media works. It only works that way after you've connected with them and engaged with them.

RJ Redden:

Yeah. Holy moly. Well, I could not have framed that better myself. It's so important to recognize that we've been taught to play to the algorithm, and we have been taught to do all of that and interact with that headless faceless algorithm that's out there somewhere judging our feeds. You know what? No. Play with your audience. Play with your audience. They love a distraction. We love a nice distraction, and we love to have fun. And what you said just laid it out there. The framework for engagement. Yeah. Ask them questions. Do you want them to respond? Give them something to respond to. Again, simplicity at its best. Gosh. I cannot thank you enough for coming on and hanging out with us. I treasure what you are in my life and what you continue to bring, and I just want to thank you. Is there any final words of wisdom to share today?

Stefan Zavalin:

Yes. And this is actually a recent video that I made because we talked about being yourself, we talked about professionalism and we talked about attire. All of these things you can learn from what other people do. Absolutely. You can take it on. You can learn from the industry leaders, but if repeatedly, in your heart of hearts, in your gut, in your soul, wherever it might be, there is something telling you, but I really think that I should do it this other way. I just really do feel I should do it this other way. You are not alone. Do it the other way. And that is how you truly find your niche, your tribe, whatever you want to label it as. But if it's repeated, if it's constantly there, pursue that.

RJ Redden:

Pursue it. Plant the flag on it. Make it happen. Holy moly, everybody. Well, that rounds it up for us today. And I'm so happy, so happy. You've come on and shared a build of your knowledge. We're going to have to have you. Yeah. Just thank you for being you. Stefan, where can people get a hold of you?

Stefan Zavalin:

I'm all over all the socials of the medias TikToks, Instagrams. If you actually want to connect with me, LinkedIn may be the easiest way. Or Stefanzavalin.com. And across all the social media, it's Stefan Zavalin. You'll find me. It's a purple background. There's lots of purple everywhere. Yeah.

RJ Redden:

Very good. Well, the professional unicorn, everyone find him. Find the purple. Find that unicorn part of you that your audience is going to resonate with and love. That's all from the Bot cave today. We'll bring you another interview next week, as is our habit. And thank you for being with us. Thanks for watching and listening and loving us. And take care of yourself and take care of each other. I will see you all in a Bot. Bye.