A cool thing happened to me a few years ago.  Rob Clark, of The Tall Family, moved into my community.  At the time, I didn’t know anything about The Tall Family, with billions of views on multiple social media platforms.  I got to know Rob Clark first, as a faculty peer at Greenville University.  That was the perfect way to get to know this humble, social media rock star.

I retired from teaching last year, so I am not young.  But I have spent my entire career chasing new frontiers.  So, sitting at the feet of Rob Clark (without realizing it) was enough to wake up to the power of social media.  Rob is such a positive force in real life.  And he has honed those skills into a serious social influencer.

My social media journey is not at all the same as Rob Clark and The Tall Family.  But even when I just bump into Rob uptown, he is always very encouraging of my progress.

He wrote this book, Grow Your Influence.  It was a good read.  It is written for folks who are not very experienced in posting videos, which is me.  Grow Your Influence is relevant, readable, and provides solid context for defining oneself, your social media mission, the performance measures, and most importantly, where to begin.

I appreciate that with this book, Rob Clark is literally sharing his secrets to success.  He has mass produced his frontier (20 years?), social media knowledge into a very easy-to-read guide on becoming an influencer.  As I post this in early June 2025, Amazon has it listed for $9.99.  Anyone that aspires to be heard in the world today cannot afford not to buy this book.

I have been listening and learning from Rob as I can.  I still need to follow my own mission, but I cannot afford to not maximize my impact.  The best part of Grow Your Influence is that it fits into any application of wanting to be heard.  There are marketing aspects, operations management aspects, and accounting (paying the bills) aspects – all in the context of a social media enterprise.

Thanks, Rob!  I am paying attention (even if my actions are not keeping up with your counsel).  My ‘Plan to Rule the World’ from my basement is a long game.  But you are definitely one of my advisors.