A Coincidental Conversation™ about “A-Ha” moments, authenticity, and the Disney Difference with WDW Radio host Lou Mongelloon August 4, 2021 at 12:45 am
Where Are We Going So Fast?
A Coincidental Conversation™ about “A-Ha” moments, authenticity, and the Disney Difference with WDW Radio host Lou Mongello
today at 7:45 pm
WARNING: If you talk to Lou Mongello, author, speaker, consultant, and host of the popular WDW Radio podcast, you are going to come away from that conversation feeling energized and positive. You won’t be able to help it, it will just happen.
In fact, you will feel like you’ve just spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and are now on a Disney bus back to your resort at night, with your sleeping child’s head heavy against your chest, and the traditional “lullaby-type” music playing in the background.
Yep, that’s the feeling.
How do I know? Because that’s how I felt after talking with him.
So, with that, below are 20 takeaways from our conversation (slightly edited for length and flow). And, as always, I’m guessing that, after you read them, you’ll want to watch our full conversation.
Takeaway #1: On the gradual “a-ha” that led to his new career. “I was always in the service business, practicing law and with an I.T. consulting company and I wanted to try and make something once and resell it. So, in 2003, I set out to write and publish a book. And the thing I knew most about was Disney World. Since I first went as a kid, I’ve been fascinated by its details, secrets, and stories, so I created a trivia book. I then learned everything I could about the book publishing industry and sent out forty-seven query letters. Finally, it was accepted, which taught me that lesson that ‘all you need is one.’ Then the book turned into a website, which turned into an online community. Then I started podcasting in 2005. Finally, I took a leap of faith, left my job and moved to Florida to give whatever this thing was going to be a shot.”
Takeaway #2: On his fascination with Disney. “When you walk into the Magic Kingdom, something transformative happens and you forget about everything that’s going on in the real world. Some of the best times I had with my family was at Disney World. I was fascinated from an early age wondering what it was about the place that kept drawing us back. I read everything I possibly could. In fact, I still have my first book that I read in the back of the station wagon driving back and forth to Florida from New Jersey. That fascination continued to grow even as I became a teenager and then an adult.”
Takeaway #3: What theme ties his different past and current roles together. “This has been a very circuitous route getting from point A to whatever point I’m in now. And I realize that it always comes down to a desire to help people, whether it was, they needed help from an attorney or optimizing their business. And then eventually, they needed help planning a better Walt Disney World vacation, and so on.”
Takeaway #4: On his family’s reaction to his wanting a career all things Disney. “I wouldn’t be here without the support of my wife, Deanna, and my immediate family. You know, I wrote my book usually from 10:00 at night to two o’clock in the morning when it was nice and quiet. And then, literally, I walked upstairs one time and told my wife that I was thinking that if I really wanted to give this thing a go, I needed to be in Orlando. And the word ‘yes’ didn’t finish coming out of her mouth before I ran downstairs and started packing. I have been very blessed to have a supportive family, both immediate and extended.”
Takeaway#5: On whether he’s always had so much energy. “I actually didn’t. I’m an extroverted introvert, although I talk for a living now. I was very shy as a kid. And the energy, honestly, and I know this sounds like, you know, nonsensical ‘marketing speak,’ but it comes from the fact that I freakin’ love what I do. It gets me up early in the morning, keeps me up late at night, and like there’s times I hate weekends because I can’t get somebody on the phone. But this doesn’t feel like a job. It’s the thing that fuels my fire.”
Takeaway #6: On how and why he stays so positive. “I think positivity is contagious, and negativity is cancerous. One of the things that I love about podcasting and especially live video is that you can’t fake it. Anybody could write a blog post, but you can’t hear it in the voice and see it on their face. You know, I hate that ‘authenticity’ has become a sort of buzzword because we should be authentic all the time, but the transparency that podcasting and live video afford you as a viewer and require of you as the content creator to me is the most important thing.”
Takeaway #7: On Walt and being an entrepreneur. “I think that Walt Disney is the spokesmodel for entrepreneurism, not because of his successes, but because of the challenges and failures he faced. He was not born into anything. He came from a difficult upbringing. He’s gone bankrupt. He had his animators leave. He had work stolen from him. He’s faced all these challenges repeatedly. And, you know, there was always another mountain to climb for Walt. And I think there are there are a lot of lessons there, and I speak about this a lot in terms of lessons that we can learn, not just from the Disney company, but from Walt specifically, that I think you could apply to whether you are a middle schooler or in college or are an entrepreneur.”
Takeaway #8: On whether he has family Disney pictures around the house like I do. “I do. And I have a picture from my first visit in November of 1971, where I… well, you know, listen, I love my mother to death, but, man, she did my outfit, and my haircut was not all that awesome. So, there I was, with my curly hair and 70s clothes, sitting on Main Street. And since then, it was a picture that I would recreate by myself and with friends. And then, of course, when I had kids, I had to plop them there in that same spot.”
Takeaway #9: On his kids knowing about his love for Disney. “They do. In fact, they’ve participated on this journey with me. And don’t tell them this, but I don’t sit them down and say, well, this is the lesson that I want you to learn. I want them to learn by observing and see that you can and should take that thing you love and turn it into what you do. They’ve got the blessing, too, of tools and opportunity that maybe we didn’t know even existed or have as kids. I also want them to see that it doesn’t matter where you are in life, that you can pivot. You know, I didn’t change directions until I was later in life.”
Takeaway #10: On the impact his audience has on him. “Growing up, I did not have a lot of friends and wasn’t a popular kid in school. So, it’s very odd and humbling when somebody comes up and says, ‘Because of you, I did this,’ or ‘Because of you, this happened.’ Or, you know, part of the reasons why I do monthly meetups in the parks is not so people can come meet me but so I can meet them, and they can meet each other. But when somebody looks you in the eye and starts crying and says your podcast did this, or this episode did this, no amount of money can ever top that feeling. I say this to people all the time, whether you’re a podcast or video creator or whatever it might be, you never know who’s listening and you don’t know the positive impact you might have on somebody. And that I believe this has a wonderful ripple effect that hopefully pays itself forward.”
Takeaway #11: On building a business organically and sincerely. “I have never spent a dime on marketing, other than just sort of testing Facebook to see just how it works. I’ve never placed an ad. I don’t have a marketing funnel. I don’t have any of those things because the people who I want to be part of the community, wherever it lives, I want them to be there because they listen and say ‘I like him. This is the kind of community I want to be in.’ Or, they say to their friends, ‘Hey, I really think that you’ll like it here. I think you’ll like the kind of content that’s being put out.’ And again, forget about me being proud for not having spent money. I’m prouder of the fact, especially now, that I have no moderators in our [WDW Radio Clubhouse] Facebook group because we don’t need them. It’s a self-moderating, self-policing group, because the people who are there want to be there and came in for the right reasons.”
Takeaway #12: On having an emotional reaction like I recently wrote about after riding “Flight of Passage” and hearing from many others who felt the same way: “The same thing happened to me. Look, that’s the thing about Disney, right? It’s not the highest, fastest, longest, whatever roller coaster, it’s the way this place makes us feel, the way the movies make us feel, the way the things we read make us feel. It’s one thing for me to go and cry when I see the Millennium Falcon at Galaxy’s Edge for the first time, thinking back to watching Star Wars when it came out with my dad. But it’s different when I ride Flight of Passage and I am wiping tears away − because I have no emotional connection to the film, Avatar. The way that attraction made me feel I was flying, I had the sensation that I had never felt before. That’s the Disney difference, right? It’s the exceeding of expectations and pulling out those emotions from you that you sometimes didn’t realize you have.”
Takeaway #13: On how he went from an extroverted introvert to public speaking. “As I was sharing my career story with people, some would say, ‘You need to get up there and tell your story.’ Eventually I started speaking professionally at conferences, corporate events and events like that, whether it was about the pursuit of passion, leadership lessons we can learn from Walt Disney, exceptional customer service lessons we can learn from the Disney parks or even just practical things about content creation, podcasting, live video, and so on. I also continued to get emails from people, and met others, who said, ‘I’m trying to turn this idea that I love into this thing that I do.’ And as somebody who wants to help people, I started my own Momentum Retreat “unconference” five years ago – to work with people to help them do the same thing that I’m doing. Not specifically, but in terms of taking that thing that they are passionate about and letting it be some become something that they do full time, because I think life is too short not to do what you love every day.”
Takeaway #14: What he has seen in his workshops as the greatest barrier to someone becoming an entrepreneur. “It’s just overall, the fear comes in. Many different forms of fear – it might be the fear of rejection, the fear of failure. Plus, entrepreneurs often must work by themselves. And feeling isolated and alone is very scary. So, my workshops are not just for support, but for accountability, too.”
Takeaway #15: His Favorite Disney park: “Magic Kingdom. There’s still something unique and special about that place.”
Takeaway #16: His Favorite Disney character: “Peter Pan. He never has to grow up. He lives on this beautiful island, like hanging out with his friends. All the mermaids love him. He gets to fight pirates and wins. Oh, and by the way, he can fly.”
Takeaway #17: His Favorite Disney ride: “I do love Peter Pan’s Flight. There’s also something about the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover at Magic Kingdom. Just that leisurely tour. I love people watching from that vantage point.”
Takeaway #18: His Favorite Disney food: “ I love certain specific restaurants and whether it’s for the cuisine or the location. But I’ll give you the simple, albeit lame answer, grabbing a bucket of popcorn and just sitting on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and watching people go by.”
Takeaway #19: What coincidences led him to where he is. “There are countless ones. You know, there’s the adage that everything happens for a reason. I think that that’s true. Even if that reason does not necessarily become apparent when it happens, I will tell you that the people that have come into my life because of this journey are the people who I now consider my closest friends and my extended family. Again, coming full circle from somebody who didn’t have a lot of friends. I now feel that one of the greatest blessings is that I have many friends, both physically close by as well as literally from around the world. All those people have positively impacted my journey, whether they realize it or not, one way or the other.”
Takeaway #20: It all started with a ________. At the end of our conversation, I asked Lou to complete the famous Walt Disney quote (“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing ─ that it was all started by a mouse.”) about his own career.
His answer: “It all started with an idea. Whether it’s a dream, daydream, or a single idea, you know, Walt’s journey started with a single idea that predates Mickey Mouse. And however small or insignificant you might think that idea might be, you never know where it’s going to lead, whether it’s Walt and a character turning into the Disney company that is today or a lawyer in New Jersey who has an idea to write a book. It’s that thing that you have written down on a piece of paper, that you keep coming back to, that keeps gnawing at you. You never know where that might lead. And you will only find out by starting to take those first steps.”
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And wait, there’s more…
Watch full Coincidental Conversations™ interview with Lou Mongello
Learn more about Lou Mongello at www.loumongello.com.
WDW Radio Podcast at www.wdwradio.com
Read “I Married the Disney-Obsessed: An Interview with Deanna Mongello”
______________________________________________________
Contact me at [email protected] and learn more at jameswarda.com.
Comments Note: All comments are reviewed. Any that are considered to be a personal attack or hate speech will be removed. In my blog, I always try to be respectful. I expect the same from my readers, both in responses to me, and about or to each other. And, again, thank you for reading.
@2001-2021, James R. Warda. All rights reserved.
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James Warda
James Warda, author of “Where Are We Going So Fast?”, is a keynote speaker who focuses on connecting to each other, and ourselves, through our moments. His background also includes being a writer and speaker for Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises, and a columnist for the “Chicago Tribune” and Pioneer Press.
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