First and foremost, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention and thank Peter Shankman, in all his Skydiver glory, for his recommendations and hyper-excited lobbying in making my first skydive happen… it was for my 3rd year anniversary, and ultimately my wife’s idea, but also a life-changing experience for both of us. The more I look back on it, the more I feel there is a ton to learn from Skydiving (SD) and specifically, the parallels I saw to Social Media (SM) struck me as no coincidence at all… read on, and I welcome thoughts, comments, edits, and will gladly offer a guest post to fellow skydiving and social media enthusiasts… Peter Shankman looking right at you bro. Either way, without further ado:
All I Really Need to Know I Learned While Skydiving… or, Top 10 Reasons Why Skydiving Is Like Social Media
(Part 1)
#1) To do it right you will need training and mentorship…
- SD: Your first skydive has several options; the most common is the Tandem jump, where you’re strapped in to a professional and jump out together with them doing most of the work. You can go at it alone if you choose, but that 15 minute training turns into a solid 6 hour session/crash course (har har har), without which you will most certainly flop (har har har).
- SM: This rings truer and truer each day for those not yet in, or just looking to get into, the social media space. The days of early adopters are gone… what you need now is some key mentors from that ‘era’ whom will help you find and understand that which you can’t on your own. Think of those folks as your parachute, the bigger that circle the better off you are.
#2) It takes trust to succeed…
- SD: Your tandem master (yes, that’s really the official title) holds the key to your life… from packing the parachute to stabilizing your initial free fall and finally the landing… trust them, that’s all, it really is easier just to trust them. Moreover, statistics say that skydiving is the safest sport (safer than skiing, bungee jumping, rollerblading, driving, flying, etc.), you really have to believe in those metrics too when you’re dropping from 13,500 feet at 120 mph.
- SM: Trust in social media builds communities and trust cements brands, personal or otherwise. Because social media is crowdsourcing on steroids, you have to trust the masses decision, even though you can nudge and tug in any direction you choose, the final push is really up to them to make.
#3) All good things come to those who wait…
- SD: You have to take time when making the decision to skydive, even before you get there. On top of waiting for ‘the day’ and that precious first appointment date/time, you wait upon arrival; there are 7 back to back pages of consent/release forms. Also, you can’t skydive until you’re at least 18 -- though in certain states you only have to be 16 with parental consent -- chances are you won’t know how to truly use social media before that age either (would love to hear arguments otherwise here).
- SM: At a recent book (CRUSH IT) signing event with Gary Vaynerchuk (@GaryVee) he talked about doing daily posts and segments on Wine Library TV for 18 months before pushing it out. His advice was pace yourself, do it right, wait for the right moment… sounds like a sure way for better skydiving to me.
#4) At these speeds everything seems to stand still…
- SD: At 120 mph you would think you feel like the floor gave under you and the stomach is in your throat. In reality, all you feel is the pants flapping, the wind gusting, your cheeks compressing… and yet, the earth doesn’t seem to get closer and everything seems to stand still, almost like you’re in a block of jell-o. It’s by far the most serene experience I can point to, mainly because of the irony of it all.
- SM: The ‘real time’ speed of Twitter, Facebook and all the other major a social media tools/platforms is undeniable and is unlike any other medium out there... However, if you are indeed entrenched in following a topic or theme (and any true Twitter hashtag addict can tell you) the updates come at you seemingly in slow mo…
#5) You can’t sue…
- SD: The 7 pages of back to back release forms are all legal speak telling you in 1000 ways that you may die or get hurt as a result of the jump… the document dances around this theme over and over, but they do make one thing crystal clear though: you sign, you CANNOT SUE, so don’t even try.
- SM: Never underestimate the power of the freedom of speech which to me is a cornerstone of Social media… don’t get me wrong, you may get in trouble (Amanda Bonnen’s story comes to mind) or even hurt (i.e. #iranelection) in the process, but never forget you are in the right, always. Negatweeting is our right, nay duty… remember?!
In the long while since I’ve updated this blog, I’ve done 2 tandem skydives (within 8 days of each other, and in 2 states), so I decided that my entry will also be in two parts... the second set of Top 5 Reasons Why Skydiving Is Like Social Media will funnel later this month. FYI, Sonya and I have at least 3 more planned for the spring… WHO’S IN?!
In the meantime, please enjoy the video of my first dive… Wooooooo.
