The Exchanges

Q interesting that you're talking about this, especially considering You recently removed a TV from your house, but you're interested in producing a TV show and sort of thinking to yourself, how can I get involved in the entertainment business? My question to you is, what do you know about the entertainment business? Uh, the TV business and why is it interesting to you? Why do you think there's opportunity there?

A Yeah, good question. It all started when, ah, someone from a, one of the big Hollywood agencies reached out to us. I think if it wasn't for that, I, I have no contacts or network there. I have no idea how to even get started. It was the, the possibility of someone sort of taking us by the hand there. Um, they reached out through my, my literary agent, and they were interested in the, the material in my, in my two books, and potentially making that into a TV show, basically. Um, one of my favorite things to do in, in, like, the whole world is enter new creative, uh, media. I just love those, that first, it's like a frontier. It's like the Wild West. You just, like, enter this new creative domain, and you're, like, you have to question all your assumptions, and learn so much, and really come in as, like, a novice with a beginner's mind. Uh, and so over the past maybe seven or eight months, I've done that. Just talking to different people in the industry, reading articles, watching things, And I still wouldn't say I have a good understanding of the industry, but I have enough understanding to know that it would be so powerful from the perspective of spreading an idea. I think that's what I'm most interested in. Like, when you look at what are the highest leverage ways of getting an idea into the hearts and minds of the most people in this world, TV is just, it's it. That's, that T…

AI assessment note: “I still wouldn't say I have a good understanding of the industry, but”

Q Yeah, I feel that. Does that, Are you like, does that soul suck you a little bit? Are you okay with that? You know?

A I am. I, I'm kind of, that actually suits me. You know, like with, with even digital note-taking stuff, that's a, that's a technology thing. I really advocate people not adopt any technology that is newer than five years anyway. You know, like I'm on Evernote. There's nothing about Evernote that wasn't present in like, 2000, like, 10. Um, and the reason is, the reason for that is, I don't think, so there's a price to pay for being on the frontier of innovation. You know, especially when it comes to technology, you gotta deal with, you're, you're basically a beta tester. You're a guinea pig. So things are, are buggy. They're janky. They don't work right. They're really complicated and hard to learn. Um, you know, that's fine if, if you want to experiment with an interesting new tool, but for your core productivity tools, the stuff that you rely on day in and day out, those should be, those should be mature tools. I think is my, my opinion.

AI assessment note: “I am. I, I'm kind of, that actually suits me.”

Q Before we wrap, there's two things I, I want to cover. One is you recently went on a desert retreat with your wife and you did your, you did a year end review and I want to hear about that. And the last thing is I want you to leave people. Um, with a book recommendation. What's something they should be reading?

A Yeah, yeah, let's see. Um, so year in reviews are something I am extremely passionate about. Uh, I've been doing them in some form since 2008, so about 15 years. Um, starting in 2019, I started publishing them and sharing them on my blog. Uh, and that same year I started teaching, uh, a, a virtual workshop called The Annual Review, where we Take people through the process that I've, that I've kind of halfway developed and halfway just borrowed from all, I mean, there's so many people now online, you know, doing it in various forms. I just think it's, it's just, I think it's so easy to let life pass you by and for the years to just pass by in a blur. Um, I feel like it's this sacred space, um, that I can only do, I can do at any time, but it's best to do at the turn of the year because there's a kind of like, There's something in the air around that time where you can really kind of like step back. You know, you're not working as much. You're spending a lot of time with family. Like you can really gain some perspective on what matters in life. Um, and then I just have a series of prompts that I answered journaling, you know, introspective prompts. Um, I like to collect my favorite things, like my favorite books I read, my favorite photos, my favorite trips that I've taken. And this year, uh, just a month ago was, or less than a month ago, Was the first time that we, we did a ded…

AI assessment note: “year in reviews are something I am extremely passionate about. Uh, I've been doing them”

Q if you are, that'd be pretty funny. If you are, I think you need a first brain, not a second brain, you know, you gotta get that checked out. Yeah. So I, so I think, I think what, what, If you have an internet audience like yourself, like let's just jam for a second. What is a more brick and mortar or boring business that you could, you know, buy?

A That's what I'm trying to figure out now. I would love any ideas you have. I mean, I don't know. I have trouble with the idea of a completely boring business just because I just, I mean, even a laundromat I'm sure is a lot of work to manage. And I have a hard time imagining like that. I would even care enough about a business like that to even be willing to do that stuff. Um, so I feel like it should have S at least some aspect that I'm curious about or interested in, or that will teach me something. And it would be nice if it was sort of not an internet based. I, I really think in coming years, we're going to see, we're going to see disruptions to the internet. I don't know why I have this sense, but I feel like the internet is, is in this like open free era that may be ending or maybe getting less dependable. Uh, we're having, like, different, like, the Great Firewall in China and different countries, like, erecting different, you know, barriers and all sorts of things. So I would like something like land, you know, something that's land or that's physical and solid that could be valuable even if, God forbid, the internet was, you know, was turned off. Uh, but beyond that and being profitable and having cash flow, I, I'm just doing kind of a wide sweep of the possibilities.

AI assessment note: “So I would like something like land, you know, something that's land or that's physical”

Q That's right. And that's kind of a good segue into one of your startup ideas, which is, Acquiring a small business and growing it using your, your, what you've got a few 100,000 followers at this point. So what do you mean by that? And what type of business would you consider acquiring?

A Yeah, this is one of my little, uh, kind of side projects, uh, at least for now. Uh, I guess I've been bitten by the, uh, the bug. This is kind of like a, you know, like a trend I've, I've come across a number of times, you know, people like Cody Sanchez and, uh, Michael Girdley and, and others. And, uh, you know, for the longest time, I couldn't even fathom that possibility because my one business takes up a 100% of my bandwidth and more. And I was like, how are these people like running multiple businesses? Um, but now I'm starting to see, you know, it's a combination of like having operators that you hire to run them or, you know, using the same team for one business or some of the same team as another, or having them be mostly, you know, sort of Passive businesses. I kind of get it a little more now. And what's driving it is basically, I mean, it's, it's partly a, a desire to diversify. You know, I have, I, we worked recently with a financial advisor. It was a funny story. Uh, like an independent financial advisor that charges you a flat fee for like three or four calls. And he did this comprehensive analysis of our entire financial life. Like your, your total net worth and everything. And, uh, and he had the software that he used that you input like every single asset you had, every credit card, every debt, every, everything. And at the bottom of it, if you don't include t…

AI assessment note: “now I'm starting to see, you know, it's a combination of like having operators”