The Freak Factory - David Rendall: Freak of the Week: Joe Heuer, Rock & Roll Guru

Joe Heuer is the Rock & Roll Guru. As he explains on his Twitter profile, he is an author, speaker, humorist, rocker & nonconformist. Rock & Roll (especially classic rock) is his muse, passion & business.

His alter ego is Daffynitions, where he offers his own quirky definitions of everday words. As a college professor, one of my recent favorites is "Term Paper: an expanded version of the Wikipedia entry."

I asked Joe to share his freak factor and his response is below. If anyone has ever told you that you have to grow up in order to be successful, don't listen to them. Joe's story proves that you can grow older (and wealthier and happier) without growing up.

"My flaws are many, but I'll just share a few highlights. First, I'm psychologically unemployable. Among other things, that means I can't take orders, I come and go as I please and I only do stuff I consider fun. In other words, I do what I want when I want.

My mantra, as well as my business plan, is 'If you always do fun stuff, there will always be plenty of fun stuff to do.' This works incredibly well for me, as I'm allergic to doing stuff that's not fun. Consequently, I have the grooviest career, biz & life I can imagine as the Rock and Roll Guru.

Another significant 'flaw' is my attention span, or lack thereof. The strength here is that I'm working on so much cool stuff that I never get bored. There's always another fun project to which I can turn my attention, however briefly. For example, I'm working on a series of themed Daffynitions books, including Biz, Parenting, Relationships & Self-help. Additionally, I'm writing the Rock & Roll Dictionary, which is based on the Daffynitions model.

I also wrote The Dentist's Rockin' Guide to Patient Loyalty. A flaw related to the dentist's book is that I'm sorta lazy. By putting 'dentist' on the cover, I become the industry 'expert' and I'll send it to the 50 state dental associations to line up a handful of speaking gigs.

Since my maximum attention span is 90 minutes, I can harness my energy to deliver one of my two keynote addresses for that length of time."

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Do you want to be the Freak of the Week? Spots are filling up fast for 2010. Send an email to dave (at) drendall (dot) com. Tell me how your weaknesses are actually strengths in disguise and explain how you've capitalized on your flaws to succeed in your business or career. You can also nominate someone that you know.

I'm also starting a new Freak Factory feature. Do you work for a company or boss that allows you to flaunt you weaknesses instead of trying to fix them? If so, send me your story. I'd love to hear from you.