Into the Scrum: On Being a Dad Influencer

New Podcast about the community of Dad Influencers.
Get the Podcast on Itunes

Two friends and colleagues in the dad blogger (excuse me, Dad Influencer) world have started a great podcast that they've titled Into The Scrum.  The podcast is about the community of Dad Influencers, and as they pithily put it on their twitter feed  "How to get gigs, support colleagues, and lift all boats."

The two colleagues are Jeff Bogle (founder and writer for Out With The Kids OWTK.COM and Doug French (Originally LaidOffDad, he's moved his blog to MrDougFrench.com and is the co-founder of Dad 2.0 Summit)

Both are smart guys with lots of experience navigating the business of being an influencer and a fair amount of success doing it.  Jeff's blog is full of sponsored posts as a brand ambassador to Kia, PBS, and lots of other top brands.  Last year Jeff won the Iris award for his photography, and his writing is really great. (And he has two daughters, one whose nickname is "The Bear" I guess I wasn't as original as I thought!  Jeff is also a Kindie music fiend, and when I showed up at KindieFest in Brooklyn a few years ago, I was amazed to find out that he was hip deep with Kindie artists.  His Kindie podcast is also worth listening to.

 Doug deals with brands everyday as the "Content guy" at Dad 2.0.  He was an early influencer/adopter/blogger and was an author/contributor on Babble, one of the top parenting blogs.

 Their podcast is pretty funny, it's heartfelt, and it makes great points as these two guys talk about the problems and pitfalls (and joys, of course) of being a male influencer in the parenting sphere, which has been typically dominated by women (the dreaded mom bloggers).

I've listened to the first five episodes, and while there is a small tendency to get far afield (one of the episodes spent about 5-7 minutes talking about Jeff repainting his living room from brown to teal) they talk about great stuff.

In the first or second episode, they talk about how it is possible to be happy for other people who succeed, even when they are doing stuff you wish you had been selected to do, or feel like you could do better.  They term this JOMO (Jealousy Of Missing Out) because it is the opposite of MOJO -- which I don't have an acronym for- care to give it a whirl in the comments?  As long as the third word isn't Jerk, we are good!)

 Their argument is that there is plenty of work out there for good influencers, and they give tips on how to get that work, and best practices, and good ideas to be the best influencer you can be (both financially and morally)  Of course, a tip like "Be easy to work with" is easy to say, but they give tips like turning in your deadline assignments early, checking in with people who have hired you in the past, be genuine with your requests and interest in them as people, etc.  All excellentt advice.

This is a great idea for a podcast, and a great time for this podcast, as things are really starting to heat up for Dad Influencers.  I've really enjoyed listening to the last 5 episodes, and I have to admit, I want to listen to more.


In other words, I hate these rat bastids!  :O)

The French Bogle Connection.  (Bogle on Left, French to the right)

Listen to Into The Scrum on Itunes.

KindieComm: Where I wish I was going this weekend

I want to shout out to a festival that I've never been to that's happening this weekend-- it's KindieComm, which will be happening in Philadelphia this weekend (March 20-22.

 I'm sadly not breaking my perfect record of two years in non-attendance.

It's not that I don't want to go.  It's not that I don't even have a couple of legitimate reasons for going.  I just can't swing it.  Or, to put it another way, if I swung that, I'd have to not swing some very important other things in my life.

It's a gathering of Kindie musicians, bloggers, fans, agents, radio hosts, and everybody else that's interested in the Independent Kid musician business/area of art.

Now I hear you saying:  "But Adam, I'm an ardent follower of your blog, and you went to a festival just like this a couple of years ago, didn't you?  Or am I crazy?"

Yes, I did, and no you aren't.

I went to the progenitor of KindieComm, called KindieFest, and you can read all about why in this previous post.

Oh what the heck, you are probably not going to click.  Here's what I wrote back then:

If you read more of that, you'll always find some wisdom imparted by the Paul McCartney of Kid's Music, Laurie Berkner.  Go ahead.  I'll wait. (<--- this is a call back)

Bob McGrath of Sesame Street will be
there, but I will not.

It turns out, that first KindieFest that I went to was the last one ever.  I hope I'm not a jinx.

In its place, KindieComm. Different wonderful producers, same wonderful musicians, same wonderful concept.

This year, Ella Jenkins won't be keynoting again (in her place is the inestimable Bob McGrath of Sesame Street), and lots of great music. And musicians. And of course, dad blogger extraordinaire and a huge writer about all things Kindie, Mr. Jeff Bogle.

If you are in the Philly area, the website says there are still tickets.  And even if you don't want to go to the conference part and hobnob with the musicians, there's a Sunday Public concert featuring  three super great bands-- The Pop Ups, Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights and The Not Its!  With a special guest star Tim Kubart from the SunnySide Up Show on Sprout.

Here's where you can buy tickets and find out more information.

Maybe I'll be there next year!



I've included some Amazon links so that you can listen to Joanie Leeds, The Not Its, and the Pop Ups.  And Ella Jenkins, of course.  Enjoy!