This is part two in a series on master guerrilla marketer and good friend, Mark Eckenrode. Read part one: “From Comic Books to Guerrilla Marketing.”

One Woman Marketing: What inspired your trip to Thailand?

Mark Eckenrode: I wish I could say something more profound or cool like I was visiting an ancient kung-fu master or searching for a golden relic but what it really came down to was my divorce. What I wanted to do – what I needed to do – was find some place where I could clear my head, think straight, and sort of reorganize my outlook on life.

OWM: Why Thailand, of all places?

When I decided on Thailand a bunch of family and friends began to get scared. This was around the time swine flu was in the news so folks would ask me about that, or what I would do if I got thrown in prison while there, or what would I do if I got hurt. In truth, those questions actually bolstered my commitment.

I’ve always been one to challenge myself, one way or another. I’d never really done much travel before, let alone going by myself to a country where I can’t speak the language and having no definitive plans on what to do or where to go when I got there. So, hearing the kind of fear-based questions coming at me, I was like, “Hell, yeah. This really is going to be some cool shit. If anything, it’ll definitely make a great story.”

And that’s why I picked Thailand, too. Europe, meh. Not all that different from the US. But Thailand, that’s a place so far removed from our culture that the trip would be more than just an event… it’d be an experience.

OWM: What were you hoping to learn there?

I got asked that one a lot. I didn’t have an answer then, either. See, I really tried to have no hopes, no desires, no goals whatsoever. Having them would put constraints on the experience, a baseline with which to measure my day to day activities.

Part of the challenge was to be as in the moment as possible and make my decisions and pick my directions as needed. That alone was probably my single goal … to simply be available to whatever came my way.

ME: You mentioned that the experience really changed you. How so?

Oh, man. I have a whole journal full of “how.”

Probably the most significant paradigm-shifting insight came when I walked into a remote village of about 200 people. I was only the third foreigner to ever enter the village. I stayed there for about 10 days and got to really experience the whole “it takes a village” thing.

These folks are dirt poor rice farmers with very little personal possessions but witnessing the way they came together as a community you’d say they were rich where it really counts. I saw how the entire village raised babies and their children, how they cared for their elderly, for their handicapped, how they helped the sick and injured, how they were one big extended family. And they were totally self-sufficient.

It really was amazing. I’d never experienced anything even remotely like it. Like I said, paradigm-shifting stuff.

OWM: You’re thinking of “retiring” from marketing to become a paramedic. What prompted that decision?

Well, when you’re in a land where you can’t speak the language there’s a lot of time for reflection and lots of experiences to reflect on.

Looking at these happy villagers I saw that the skills I brought to my community back home – marketing help – wasn’t needed or wanted here in the jungle. That revelation took me down a path of other questions.

I ultimately came to the conclusion that, for me, I needed to contribute something more… something more fundamental to a healthy and happy community.

OWM: What drew you to marketing in the first place? Is that spark still there, or are you focused on a new future?

What drew me to marketing in the first place, way back when I was a kid, was the ability to reach out and make an emotional connection with a stranger. I’ve told you before about how comic books and the ads for sea-monkeys and x-ray goggles got me fascinated with marketing… they created an emotional response in me.

And, hell yeah, the spark is still there. I love marketing (and comic books) and can still wax poetic on it for hours. I’ll still take on some clients but on an extremely selective basis but my focus now is in moving forward in emergency medicine.

What I find kind of cool is that the same spark that drives my marketing is the same catalyst that is driving me along this new path. It’s still all about making an emotional connection and a lasting change for someone. I’m now applying it in a more tangible manner… one that’s fundamental to the success of a community.

OWM: What lessons can you impart with small business owners?

I’ve always said that marketing is about people. As soon as you start marketing just for dollars you don’t deserve to be in business any longer. Period. But, treat people right and they will make your business. Heck, look at how you can get them more involved… it’s what the whole social media revolution is about, isn’t it?

Follow Mark’s adventures on his blog, Eaten By Tigers, or on Twitter @ChaoticMark.