The Place: Jo’s Coffee

The Cup: I had a nice, rich cup of Jo’s yummy coffee and Colin, who’s not a fan of coffee, opted for hot cocoa. When the cocoa came out topped with at least as much whipped cream as warm chocolate beverage, Colin, clearly excited, said, “I have the diet and sense of humor of an eight-year old.”  I knew this was going to be a fun interview!

Background: I get to cross another one off the Coffee With A Stranger wish list with this interview. Since moving to Austin almost a year ago, I’ve been attending one of the best monthly business events Austin has to offer. It’s the Austin Business Journal’s Face 2 Face networking breakfast. Every month there’s a fantastic businessperson there to share stories of their success, mistakes and lessons learned from their journey. The best part is the format – where Colin, a fantastic interviewer, directs the conversations in a Q&A style discussion. Most of the people who find themselves on stage with Colin are successful entrepreneurs – a type not known for being easily managed or for their brevity once they get on a topic they’re impassioned about. Always mindful of the needs of his audience, Colin does an incredible job of ensuring the content stays relevant and engaging.

I was interested in learning more about Colin’s journey to success and the lessons he’s learned along the way, so at the end of the last Face 2 Face event, I approached Colin, told him about the project and asked him to consider being a part of it. He kindly accepted. Before we get into his story, let’s cover some:

Common Grounds

1. What is the last thing you fixed? The planters in our vertical garden. {He’s growing all kinds of stuff like strawberries, peppers, cantaloupe and tomatoes.}
2. What is your guilty pleasure? Imperial beer from Costa Rica.
3. How did you make your first buck? A friend and I recycled Christmas trees for $2 a tree. We each cleared $700 by hauling a lot of Christmas trees from people’s yards to a local recycling center.
4. What would be the worst job for you? Anything that required me to sit at a desk for eight hours a day.
5. Where is your favorite place to eat in Austin? I’m a huge fan of Hut’s Hamburgers.
6. Who has been the most influential person in your life so far? Both of my parents. My father on the professional side and my mom more on the personal side.
7. What was your favorite TV show as a kid? Transformers cartoon on Saturday mornings, and I also loved watching Benson with my mom. {I’d forgotten all about that show. It was good though!}
8. What is the best gift you ever got? My son, Fox.
9. What is the best part about your job? I take a lot of pride in keeping people in the loop and being a source of information. I like the people that I meet in the news setting. Its a really cool gig. If I’m not dealing with news reporters, then I’m out in the field dealing with people who are doing cool stuff, affecting real change and making the headlines.

Colin Pope, distinguished architect. As a new college student, this was the vision Colin had for his career.

Melissa Lombard, Registered Dietician. This was my career plan on day one of college.

Accounting 201 was what forced a pivot for me; for Colin, it was Trigonometry. Funny how flexible our career plans are when we have limitless options before us. In hindsight, although I wish I had toughed out the accounting class, I’m grateful my education went in another direction. After Colin’s third attempt  at Trigonometry, he said “nuts to this” and asked himself, “What am I good at?”  He came up with writing and decided to talk to his father about how he might follow in his footsteps.

Colin’s dad spent many years doing PR work at IBM – which incidentally is how Colin’s family ended up in Austin, when his dad was transferred here in the 80s. The best advice Colin has ever received professionally came from his dad, who said to him, “If you are going to be in PR, you’re going to have to deal with the media. You can better deal with the media if you’ve been the media. So go ahead and pay your dues.”

After finishing up his degree at UT, he left Austin for Dallas, and a job as a reporter for the Denton Record Chronicle. Eventually, his career would bring him back to Austin, when in 1998 he was offered a job as a news reporter for the Austin Business Journal (ABJ). While he loved it at the Journal, when a couple of college buddies who were building a startup called Netspend asked him to join them, he couldn’t resist. This was his chance to get some new experience, build his resume and eventually follow in dad’s footsteps.

Between round one and round two of funding, the company had no money. No money meant no paychecks. Crashing in a friend’s garage and living on Top Ramen was not an option, because Colin was about to be a dad. He had responsibilities for not only for himself, but to a growing family. Fortunately, the ABJ was eager to take him back, and he’d spend the next five years in the newsroom he loved so much.

Eventually, the allure of “something more” struck Colin once again. He’d been covering government affairs as part of his gig at the Journal, so when a chance to get into PR and lobbying opened up at an Austin company called Strategic Partnerships, he saw this as his chance. As his dad had admonished, he’d paid his dues and understood the media because he’d been the media. Now, he was ready to live the dream.

Colin loved the company he worked for. The people were fantastic. He’d followed dad’s advice, which proved to be accurate and more helpful than any other advice he’d been given. He’d made it. And he wasn’t happy. At least not as happy as he’d been at the ABJ.

Colin missed the energy and excitement of the newsroom. He describes it this way: “Being in the newsroom, you are at the center of so much information coming in. It puts me in a position to have really great conversations with outstanding people – in and out of the newsroom.”

Colin went back to the Austin Business Journal, where he’s happily spent the last seven years; the last five in the top newsroom position, Editor.

Colin talks more about his work, and tells me he has a passion for the news. The best compliment Colin has gotten was being called “an old-school journalist”. For Colin, that moniker says you’re doing your work fairly and without being dramatic. He says, “I’ve been saying for years, ‘We should present the information and let people come to their own conclusions.'” Colin points out that unlike some of the other businesses he spent time working for, which served a specific population, with the news everyone is his client. He says, “I cherish being able to serve everyone. It’s not about promotion of one thing or another. I’m a conveyer of information. It’s a noble profession.”

A noble profession indeed. But not one without its downside. Colin tells me it’s a pressure filled environment, saying, “There is at least a hundred hours of work a week. That’s impossible, so it’s all about prioritizing. We push out about 20 stories a day, and there are still another ten that don’t get published.” This hustle is clearly one of the aspects of his job that is both a pro and a con.

A few years ago, Colin was at an event, chatting with the ABJ publisher and Walter Robb, Co-CEO of Whole Foods. Walter mentioned that he’d spoken at a great Business Journal breakfast event in Portland and suggested the ABJ do something similar. He said it was such a great community service – having business leaders share their experiences and philosophies in a more intimate setting. A year and a half ago, with the support of Whole Foods and others, the ABJ Face 2 Face Business Networking Breakfast was born.

This event is televised and I wonder if the move from behind a tape recorder to behind a camera was a difficult one. Colin tells me it wasn’t, adding, “Maybe I’m just tremendously naive, but I just don’t think about it. When I’m on stage, I forget, for long periods of time, that there are people out there listening, because we’re just having a conversation.” Colin tells me that even though he can get caught up in the moment, he’s always cognizant of his #1 priority, which is keeping his guest on track and making sure the content stays relevant. “My audience is business people who are there because they want to learn something; how to get business done or how to be successful,” he says.

Personally, I haven’t missed a Face 2 Face since the first one I attended when I moved to Austin last May and I let Colin know he’s doing an enviable job. I walk away with pages of notes and action items every single time. Colin says while he wants the event to be fun, he’s less interested in it being entertaining than he is in it being educational. He wants to convey the information in a way that leaves people saying, “I’m going to go back to my office and try this today.” One of his favorite questions is, “What is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in business?” I agree with him wholeheartedly – this question is far more revealing than getting people to talk about their successes. I love it so much that it’s on my question list as well.

Colin’s answer? Any of the times he left journalism in pursuit of what he thought his career ambitions were, because it reinforced to him that he’d already found his place. “You’re never going to get rich in journalism. When you let go of a job you love for something that’s just OK, you realize what’s most important in life,” Colin says, adding, “If anyone is unhappy in their job, you should look for something that makes you happy. Right now. Don’t waste any more time.”

I want to know what Colin considers to be his greatest achievement, to date. He tells me it’s providing a solid foundation for his family. In 60 minutes, you don’t learn everything there is about a person, certainly. But you do get to the heart of what matters most to them. As important as old school journalism is for Colin, his family trumps work every time.

When I ask about the most significant thing that’s happened to him in the last 30 days, he really has to consider this, telling me, “It’s been a whirlwind 30 days.” Colin got into a car accident, and although he wasn’t hurt, his car required a lot of repair work. Also, the Austin Business Journal moved offices, which was a big deal and a lot of work. But the most significant thing he names was making sure that his wife made a speedy recovery from some minor surgery she had to have. To this he added, “She’s the center of my world.” {Sweet! Heart-melting moment, for sure!}

Fox is Colin’s 11 year old son, and he’s been a huge influence on who Colin is today. “He made me grow up quickly,” Colin tells me, adding, “It wasn’t easy” of the two years he spent as a single dad with full custody of his son. They have a ton of fun together too. Colin says, “I get to relive all the stuff I loved as a kid, like Star Wars and Transformers.” The joy Fox brings to Colin is obvious in the way he lights up when talking about him. He wears his pride on his face.

I like to hear about books that have had an impact on people, but I won’t get that answer from Colin. He really doesn’t read books. He consumes the news and he prefers a “dive in, dive out” method to what he reads, preferring bullets to lengthy prose. His world is fast paced, and he needs to take in as much information as possible. He tells me he has no patience for long books.

On the topic of books, he does have some ideas for a few he’d like to write. Three of them, in fact. The first is on a topic he gets asked to speak about frequently – how to deal with the media. He tells me that people have the wrong approach, and it’s a disservice to them and the news organizations they’re trying to get the attention of. Book two is a book about another one of his loves, Austin. He’s seen his city grow and change significantly over the years and he’s one of Austin’s biggest fans. He’d like to write a tribute to this amazing city – an “Austin Bible”, if you will. The third book would be a compilation of lessons he’s learned over the years from the many people he’s had the pleasure of meeting with. {What a great idea!}

I ask Colin if he’s a bucket list kinda guy and his answer surprises me. “I have no idea what I want to do next week, let alone for the rest of my life. My aspiration has always been to have a family. I have that and I’m happy.”  He considers it a bit longer and adds, “I guess I need to come up with a long-term career plan, but until I stop having fun doing what I’m doing, there is no reason to change. I’m living in the day.”

What Colin does every day that contributes to his overall success was another surprise. He tells me that when he gets in the car, for his commute to the office, or between appointments, he listens to the comedy station. Colin says, “I used to listen to the news. All day. The comedy adds levity to my life that’s needed.” He refers to this new ritual as a mini-vacation where he can unplug for a while. Good idea!

We make plans. We try to predict what will make us happy; then, when we’re taking Trigonometry for the third time, or trying to make sense of amortization, we realize the course needs correcting and we make the necessary adjustments. Sometimes we find ourselves happy as clams, but tell ourselves we’ve got more rungs to climb on the ladder to success. Off we go, climbing, climbing only to realize we’ve somehow hopped off the ladder we were meant to be on, and we’re making our way to the top of someone’s else’s dream. Long-term career plans, while important, aren’t always about going somewhere else.

The rungs on your ladder might not take you to new places; you’re simply advancing – becoming better at what you do; what you love. Colin’s journey is a reminder to us that what’s most important is to find what you love, and do that. If you find yourself on the wrong ladder, get off. Find the right one – now. His advice from earlier sums it up: “Don’t waste any more time.” Colin is on the right ladder – no doubt. If you’re having fun doing what you do, then you too are in the right place. Relax and enjoy the view.