Matt Presents: Kelby-styled Q&A (About Scott Kelby)
We all like Scott’s Q&A posts right? You know, the ones where he asks questions to himself? Well I thought it’d be cool to do a Scott Kelby styled Q&A post about Scott himself. Here goes: (Warning – My jokes are much worse! ;))
Q. Come on Matt, you’re not as funny a guy as Scott is. Do you really think you’ll be able to pull off a Scott Kelby-styled Q&A?
A. (Cat sound!). Hey! Starting off by insulting me won’t get you anywhere. You’re probably right though, but I’m gonna give it a try anyway.
Q. OK, I’ll give you a shot and continue reading.
A. That’s not a question, but thanks – you’re all heart.
Q. So is Scott really as funny in person as he is on the blog and on your podcast?
A. Absofreakinlutely! Actually I think he’s funnier. Whenever we sit down for a meeting, the first 10-15 minutes (or 45 minutes sometimes) is just a lot of joking. You can only imagine what it’s like to plan a Photoshop World keynote event. It makes it hard to keep a schedule at work, but it sure makes for one fun place to come to every day.
Q. What time does Scott go to sleep?
A. How should I know? What kind of weirdo do you think I am?
Q. Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you?
A. It’s OK.
Q. Really?
A. No. That’s actually your second strike between the “not as funny” comment above and this whole weird bed-time thing. One more and I’m outta here.
Q. Really?
A. No. I’m the one writing the questions. There probably won’t be a third strike.
Q. OK, then let me rephrase this so as to not upset you (you seem cranky today). It seems like Scott must be up until all hours of the night?
A. I’ll let the “cranky” thing slide for now :) Honestly, I think it varies as it does with a lot of people. When he’s in the midst of writing a book, I’ve seen emails come in from him as late as 3:30am. When things are slightly slower (which they never really are) I’d be willing to guess he turns in between 12-1am on most nights.
Q. What could he possibly being doing up that late every night?
A. Working. You’ve got to remember that Scott is the co-owner of a 75 person company. During the day he’s pretty much hit with meeting after meeting and lots of other things that need to get done to keep the company running. Besides being a business owner, he’s also a content guy. So that content (books, DVDs, articles, blog posts, videos) needs to get done at some point. When every one else is asleep is usually a good time to do it.
Q. If he’s always that busy, how does he ever see his family?
A. Family is his #1 priority. As much as he works, he spends just as much time with his wife and kids. It’s kinda like the old saying “Work hard, play hard”. He’s often in a meeting at 4pm and looks at his watch and says “Gotta go to my son’s soccer game” and 20 seconds later he’s in the car. He’s chaperoned his kid’s field trips, and makes it a point to pick his little girl up every week from pre-school and have lunch with her. They take frequent family vacations (and I mean the whole family – grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and all) every summer. So yeah, he works hard but he also spends a lot of time with the family in ways that the typical 9-5 job doesn’t allow for.
Q. I’ve heard rumors that Scott plays Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360. Is that true?
A. Sadly yes. A bunch of us here in the office play (and Scott’s son too). We usually get on at night and kill each other with the M16 Assault Rifle (with the Red Dot site and attached grenade launcher of course). Scott’s the kinda guy that takes personal pleasure in launching an AC-130 attack against his employees.
Q. Is Scott any good at the game?
A. Can you define “good”?
Q. You know, it means the opposite of “does he suck”?
A. Oh! Um… yeah he’s really good!
Q. Do you have to say that?
A. Yup :)
(I’m totally kidding – he’s actually gotten very good)
Q. OK, moving on. Scott seems to write a lot of stuff. Does he use a ghost writer?
A. No way! That’s a common question though because he cranks out so much. I have to admit, when I first started working here at Kelby Media Group nearly 6 years ago, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I thought I’d be doing some writing for Scott and other various things. I quickly came to find out that you are responsible for your success here. If you do it, YOUR name goes on it. Plain and simple. He writes all of his blog posts (unless otherwise noted) and he writes all of his books. If there’s a co-author you can bet that he split the work 50/50. And if he uses excerpts or ideas from other people you can be sure they are thanked gratuitously throughout the book.
Q. OK so he writes a lot. But who’s Scott’s favorite author?
A. Without a doubt, that Matt Kloskowski guy :) But besides Matt, Scott likes any book by Seth Godin.
Q. Does he wear any color shirt other than black?
A. Only on Tampa Bay Bucs game days. I’ve seen a few non-black Bucs shirts but that’s about it.
Q. Does he wear any t-shirts without logos?
A. Nope. I’ve even heard that he sleeps in an “MPIX Rocks!” t-shirt.
Q. What’s Scott’s favorite drink?
A. Coke Zero I believe.
Q. No I meant alcoholic drink.
A. I know. He actually doesn’t drink alcohol. I’ve never seen him have a drink other than a small glass of wine. In fact, a story goes that he was in Japan with his buddy Dave (not Dave Cross) meeting on some training opportunities. Apparently singing Karaoke and drinking saki is customary at night. In hopes to not offend any of his hosts who were pouring saki shots for him, he secretly gave Dave the drinks (while Dave was also busy drinking his own). Dave was totally hammered that night (and may have not known his name) but Scott remained 100% sober :)
Q. OK, can you give me 5 things that most people wouldn’t know about Scott?
1) Scott’s a black belt in Taekwondo
2) Last concert seen: Bon Jovi
3) He doesn’t fluently speak another language but he practices Spanish a lot
4) Favorite Burger is from In-N-Out Burger (but I’m trying to win him over to Five Guys).
5) He does a killer French accent. Heck, he does about 5-6 accents that sound dead-on to the real thing.
Q. Sounds like you think Scott is a good guy?
A. Honestly, from a career standpoint Scott has helped me more than I ever thought possible. Bigger than that though, you know what makes working with him so cool? I’ve gotten one heck-of-a good friend in the process too. He’d give you the shirt off his back (as long as you liked black) if you asked him. We talk business a lot. Partly because we both love the business that we’re in, and partly because there’s just a lot to talk about. But it’s the times where Scott has me and a bunch of the guys over on a Sunday to watch the Bucs play, or 1:30am at In-N-Out Burger, or driving through the Arizona desert somewhere that we have the best time. He’s just fun to hang out with and anyone that knows him thinks the same thing.
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend everyone!