Nerv with Ryan Williams
Omar Zenhom from the $100 MBA Show stopped by The Influencer Economy Podcast this week. He's at the forefront of education and entrepreneurship and we talked at length about his story.
 
Omar dropped out of Wharton Business School to start $100 MBA, after talking to a teacher who inspired him to start his own company.  The $100 MBA is a podcast and online educational resource that helps people build their own entrepreneurial businesses. As a former teacher, Omar leverages his educational background to give business people a playbook for building their own companies.
 
Graduate school and MBA's are very expensive in 2015 and often people go into debt to pay for a graduate degree. Programs like Omar's are super-relevant while also up and coming as they give people a chance to learn a lot through more inexpensive ways.
 
Additionally Omar loves a good webinar and as a firm believer in the medium. he and his partner Nicole Balduni launched a company WebinarNinja recently launched and I attended his conference this weekend. 
 
Webinar Ninja: http://webinarninja.co/
 
$100 MBA: http://100mba.net/show/
 

 

The Influencer Economy site:

http://www.influencereconomy.com/  

Direct download: 100_MBA_Omar_Zenhom.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:22pm PDT

Jim Louderback stopped by The Influencer Economy this week. Jim a world-class CEO, and former Head of Revision3, a pioneering online video company. He currently runs the industry and track of VidCon, the 20,000 person online video geek conference in Anaheim, CA.

Jim is an expert at the intersection of geek communities and business. He understands the culture of online geeks, and how to build companies and support business around people's passions and interests.

Jim's Revision3 company was acquired by Discovery Networks in 2007, and Jim worked at Discovery prior to his time at VidCon.

What we talked about:

  • How VidCon connects the "virtual space" to the "meet space" where online communities can connect IRL (in real life)
  • It's not about the fanbase anymore, but about the 'friendbase'
  • How YouTube creators are the fulcrom for online communities, ut not necessary the focus
  • How VidCon is as much about community members meeting other community members, as fans meeting the creators.
  • How everyone on the internet has a home and there are people 'like them' around their geek passions
  • How Revision3 built-out hugely popular geek communities online, and how Discovery acquired their network

 Jim on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/jlouderb?lang=en

 Jim's website: http://louderback.com/

VidCon:  http://vidcon.com/

Influencer Economy website: http://influencereconomy.com/

 

Direct download: Jim_Louderback__VidCon.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:22pm PDT

This week I talk to Brendan McDonald, producer of WTF with Marc Maron. We talk about the finer points of producing a world-class podcast, including booking the President of the United States, Barack Obama on their show.
 
Brendan is the yin and Marc is the yang in making WTF get made. Brendan explains in details of the operations and production around creating their podcast, how they work together, and how booking President Obama was a year in the making.
 
Additionally we learn about how collaboration is key when building a successful podcast, and how having no agenda when creating a show like WTF is what makes it stand-out in the podcast world.
 
Great quotes from Brendan
 
“Having the White House reach out to us is the reason that (the interview) happened. We wouldn’t have been so bold as to go the other way. I think that was just a huge win for podcasting in general. He has his pick of media outlets, a lot of options at the disposal of the President if he wants to communicate to the country and the world. So it’s very validating to know that podcasting had achieved a level of acceptance in the media landscape.

“That kind of yin and yang makes the relationship work—not just as professional colleagues. We’ve been friends for eleven years now.”

“In the six hundred plus episodes we’ve done, we won’t do promotional interviews for the full episode... Mark will graciously have his friends over sometimes and do ten minutes at the beginning of an episode to help somebody that has a book out or a movie out, or something like that. His feeling about that is it’s kind of like an everybody can help everybody out situation. It’s not that we go requesting promotional stuff. It’s that people were gracious enough to appear on our show, which helped raise our tide quite a bit, so of course we’re going to pay the favor back.”

Find out more about The Influencer Economy book:
 
http://www.influencereconomy.com/

 

Direct download: Brendan_McDonald_WTF_Ep67.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:53am PDT

Scott Belsky knows the secret for making your ideas happen. And today I chat with him about his book "Making Ideas Happen," his company Behance (that sold to Adobe) and his passion for helping to empower the creative world. Scott offers insights and advice for anyone aiming to launch and executve their ideas.

Come see The Influencer Economy Live at The Apple Store Santa Monica. RSVP Here for September 22nd: https://concierge.apple.com/events/R051/tbd/6042760684243419656/en_US

In the influencer economy we all have ideas. And every day we are all executing on our businesses ideas, while also building ourselves as businesses. Scott and I discuss how there is no such thing as "idea meritocracy" and that ideas don't happen by accident. Ideas happen by a series of forces. While big ideas happen when a team executives and sticks together.

We also dive into the importance of building a solid team and how Scott executes his ideas like the 99u conference. In the end, Scott oversee roughly 70 employees at Adobe/Behance and his team is critical to getting his ideas to happen.

In the world where everyone and anyone can launch a product, blog, podcast or new company, why do some people's ideas succeed? While others' ideas fail? We talk about Scott's advice for early idea creation. Scott advises "to make something that needs to exist." And know the difference between a feature and a business. He also suggests bootstrapping your idea "incrementally" can behoove you and your business. Rather than going to raise a bunch of investment money.

Like many in the influencer economy, Scott is mission-centric and his ideas manifest in different products, but the message is always the same. Behance, 99u and Making Ideas Happen have the same values and are all cut from the same cloth. That helps him launch many ideas in different mediums. I know it sounds obvious, but unless you see it in action it, it's easier said then executed on.

To get book announcements, FREE chapters, and exclusive videos - sign-up here:  http://www.influencereconomy.com

We covered a lot of ground:

  • We talk about doers and dreamers - and how they need to collaborate with one another
  • And how doers need to kill off 97% of new ideas for companies and groups brought by dreamers
  • How you need to build the right team in order to make your ideas happen
  • How Scott launched the 99u conference and makes it happen because of his team
  • How the 99U is a conference NOT about ideas. It's about making your ideas come to life and talking about how you made your idea.
  • Why Scott thinks business school is overrated
  • How "Genius is "1% inspiration and 99% Perspiration" (A famous Thomas Edison quote) 
  • How creative people have great ideas but they look for media attention or raise outside capital too early and their idea fails.
  • The Creative Compromise
  • How we all have the ability to make our ideas happen

 

Quotes from Scott:

"Creativity is genuine interest combined with initiative."

 "When you optimize for (Press/Media) headlines, you will optimize yourself to the ground."

"You have to build something sustainable that has its own culture and spirit. That's what takes the team coming together."   

"We get too involved in ideas themselves. We are fascinated or too much in love with ideas themselves. We need to declare war against excessive creativity."

Scott on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/scottbelsky

Behance:   https://www.behance.net

99u:  http://99u.com

Direct download: ScottBelsky_Ep66.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:19pm PDT

Hey everyone, I have never done a solo podcast before and thought I'd give it a try for this episode. Hope it sounds good. :)

Firstly, I'm inviting everyone in Los Angeles to the Apple Store Santa Monica on September 22nd. I'll be hosting a very special event called:  "How to Launch a Start-up in Los Angeles" featuring an old friend Scott Dudelson. Come to the show and afterwards we'll all go out for drinks. I'll be bringing the live show to more cities this summer - please email me if you would like the show to come to your town.

To upvote our SXSW Panel by Friday Click here:  http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/48622

I'm also making a few key decisions involving The Influencer Economy book & podcast that I wanted to announce. Thanks for everyone's support already.

I'll soon be re-naming and re-branding The Influencer Economy podcast later this month. Take a listen to hear more about what's happening. If you have any name suggestions - I'd love to hear them. There's a few we are throwing around now.

Overall, thanks for everyone who's given the show a listen, it's been amazing to have you along in this journey. Nothing much will change on iTunes, Stitcher, etc. - but a new name will be coming soon!

The archives: http://www.influencereconomy.com/

My email:  Ryan@influencereconomy.com

 

Direct download: Ep_65_SoloEpisode.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:36pm PDT

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