Nerv with Ryan Williams

Derek Sivers is writer, entrepreneur, programmer, musician, and student. He lived in NYC as a musician before creating and founding CD Baby in 1998. CD Baby eventually went onto be a leading seller of independent music online and he sold the company ten years later, in 2008 for $22 Million. And what did he do? He gave the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education.

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Derek Sivers has one of the most popular TED Talks "How to Start a Movement," which alone has amassed over 5 million views. In his TALK he details how we all focus on leadership in life and business, but in reality it's about being "the first follower," and that following is critical when starting a movement. If you haven't watched the video, it's worth a view: https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement?language=en

After amassing over $100 Million in sales at CD Baby for over 150,000 musicians, Derek sold the company and currently lives in New Zealand. He is both a father and business man and we candidly talk about both family and work. 

We talk about how people can find "the compass in your gut," and that you need to be honest with yourself about what works for you. That compass can move in two directions and often people don't take inventory about what is 1) thriving in their life or 2) what is draining them. 
 
After selling CD Baby in 2008, Derek realized that he had spent the better part of his life focused on making money. And that when we focus on different parts of our lives, like making money, finding romance, pursuing a skill, freedom or seeking intellectual stimulation - sometimes things change and that he needed to update his priorities.
 
For him, making money had runs its course. It was something that he focused on from the ages of 18-38, and he had to break the habit of doing things for money. Which is of course a great problem to have. Now at 42, he is a father and his priorities have changed.
 
Derek believes that we all have control of our lives. At CD Baby over 85 people reported to him and he was frustrated about life. And his friend called him out and say "you don't have to do anything in life. There will be consequences, but you don't have to do anything." And Derek felt a deeper understanding that he could control his life. He believes that people who feel trapped need to realize they have control of their life.
 
Derek is a writer and his book "Anything You Want" is a universal best-seller. Derek puts himself out there as a blogger and writer, and has written over 34 books. He first got into writing when musicians asked him for advice when he was at CD Baby. He started writing and found his voice over time. 
 
Overall his writing is conversational in tone and Derek aims to be useful to other people. It's easy to lay low and hide out and not put yourself on the line, but that's not very useful to others. People often lay low and wonder why the world isn't rewarding them with cash an fame. Overall you need to put yourself out there and add value to the world.

https://sivers.org/

https://sivers.org/a

 

Direct download: Derek_Sivers_79_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:28pm PDT

Paul Jarvis is a writer, podcast host, author of multiple best-selling books, creator of online courses that have made hundreds of thousands of dollars and a master of empowering people to kick themselves in the butt to harness their creativity.

 Paul calls himself a freelancer evangelist. In the 1990's he launched a freelance web design business that has survived several economic downturns. He's worked with companies like Microsoft, Yahoo and MTV, plus entrepreneurs with massive digital empires, including Danielle LaPorte, Alexandra Franzen, Marie Forleo and Kris Carr (and a whole bunch of big-time folks in between).

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Over time Paul was hungry for more creative work, defining his professional time on his own terms. He started writing and grew an audience of readers. Outside of publishing best-selling books like "Everything I Know," and "Write and Sell Your Damn Book," Paul publishes a weekly email to his email list about creativity. 

His writing reaches over 100,000 people every month and now he teaches creative freelancers how to run their businesses better through Creative Class—with over 1,600 students, increasing daily.

He also has pet rats, tons of tattoos and lives in a remote island in Canada. This was a fun conversation, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Direct download: Paul_Jarvis_78.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:55pm PDT

James Altucher is an entrepreneur, angel investor, author, and blogger. He is the author of the best-selling book: Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream. He also hosts two successful podcasts:  "The James Altucher Show" & "Ask Altucher" show with his wife and co-host Claudia Azula Altucher.

James is an honest and open book with his writing. He speaks equally about falling on his face in business as much as he talks about winning and making a lot of money.  

In this episode of Stories from The Influencer Economy, we talk in depth about James views on business, giving, helping others, building relationships.  We also dive into the process of how James wrote Choose Yourself, and the principles of the book.

Ultimately James and his values fit into The Influencer Economy. It's an era where disruption is ripe in business and it's up to us as creative people to survive. If we want work, we have to make our own career. If we want a career we have to build the relationships with the right people. It's all on us.

James has also written for TechCrunch, the Wall Street Journal and his blog JamesAltucher.com has attracted more than 20 million readers since its launch

Choose Yourself on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Choose-Yourself-James-Altucher/dp/1490313370/

Ryan Williams on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ryanjwill

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Direct download: James_Altucher_Ep77.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:56pm PDT

Chris Yeh is an entrepreneur, investor, blogger and author of the best-selling book: The Alliance. He wrote the book with Founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman and Ben Cassanova.

The connected technology world is changing constantly. We are needing to think like entrepreneurs if we want to survive. And the The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age is all about trust, honesty and partnering with your employer to succeed.

Chris talks about a "tour of duty" where you work on a project with a company, versus working at a company your entire life. Employers are not your family because they can lay you off at any time. You need to partner with your employer if you want to win as an entrepreneurial thinker.

There is a new project-based era for work, and Chris teaches how The Alliance book's framework empowers people to work with your boss and also is important for managing your employees.

Chris shares advice for anyone who owns their own company or wants to start a startup.

He advice is to NOT quit your day job if you're building a startup. Oftentimes when you work a full-time job you can create runway for your startup to launch and build the company's Product Market Fit over time.  Quitting your day job only gives you 4 hours extra a day, not 8 hours a day. Because it's often you are daydreaming about your startup for 4 hours a day while at your day. And it’s rare that the thing you set out to do is the final thing you build.

His advice is to make and keep promises to your employees if you want to build trust as a founder and boss.  Building trust is the key to building long term relationships in life and business...

Chris Yeh's Blog:  http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/

The Alliance Book website: http://www.theallianceframework.com/

Buy The Alliance Book:  http://www.amazon.com/Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked-Age-ebook/dp/B00JTJ84EW/

 

Direct download: Chris_Yeh_The_Alliance_2.m4a
Category:general -- posted at: 11:43am PDT

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