Super-influencer and connector John Corcoran had me on his Smart Business Revolution Podcast a few months ago. John is one of the smartest guys in the business podcasting game. He was gracious enough to give me the podcast to post on The Influencer Economy feed.

We talk about how Adam Grant's book Give and Take has both affected our busineses. We even dive into how my childhood in Iowa and attending boarding school helped inspire The Influencer Economy.  We also chat all things marketing and social media.

John has spoken to people like Dan Pink, Michael Port, Gary Vaynerchuk, Marie Forleo and Guy Kawasaki on his podcast. And it's an honor to be in a class with that group.

John's Smart Business Revolution is: "A Top 10 Podcasts for Entrepreneurs to Learn Personal Finance From" from Inc. Magazine and a "Top 100 Small Business Podcasts 2014" from Small Biz Trends.

I'd like to thank my Mom for listening to my interview with John, who planted the seed for me to re-post this episode for everyone to hear.

John's website:

http://smartbusinessrevolution.com/

John's podcast:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/smart-business-business-revolution/id573440689

Somethings in life start with a great dance party and for Amy Poehler and Meredith Walker, that's how they began the start of their Smart Girls company. Meredith is a veteran of Saturday Night Life and met Amy, her best friend while both were working on the show. Meredith was a talent executive and Amy was a cast player.

I met Meredith Walker, Co-Founder of Amy Phoehler Sart Girls, for literally seconds at SXSW this year. We were both at the Nerdist Party down in Austin, and I was lucky enough to chat for just a moment with her. We clicked and she's the guest this week on the podcast.

What's inspiring about Smart Girls is how they are cultivating a positive community for content around Smart Girls, while also actively speaking to young people around the world.

You'll learn how best friends Meredith Walker and Amy Poehler’s were inspired for Smart Girls.  How Meredith Walker met Amy Poehler while working together at Saturday Night Live and the story behind the company. 

They have an inspired look at life, and are helping to shape awesome web content for girls and boys of all ages. And don't forget importance of dance parties.

Their website:  http://amysmartgirls.com/

Tom Scharpling is an OG radio host and podcaster. He started to host and produce a radio show called "The Best Show" on WFMU back in 2003. The show featured call-ins from listeners, stories and special guests like comedian Patton Oswalt.

In 2014, The Best Show went off the air, and re-launched as a podcast.

Tom has paved the way with his old WFMU show for Marc Maron and WTF, to Chris Hardwick of Nerdist, and many other comedy podcasts in the modern day.

Listen to the Best Show:  http://thebestshow.net/podcast/

Buy Tom's Best Show merch and tickets to his live show:  http://stereolaffs.com/

Buy Rock, Rot and Rule:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QZUBKS

What we learned on the show:

• The origins of The Best Show
• How he and John Wurster collaborate on The Best Show
• How hosts like Howard Stern inspired Tom
• Where Tom sees the future of The Best Show going
• What it's like transitioning from radio to podcasting

Our website:  http://www.influencereconomy.com/

Follow me on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ryanjwill 

Jonah Keri came on the podcast in December and he was a fantastic guest. He was so good, that I wanted to re-publish this episode for all the new listeners to the show.

He's a writer at ESPN's Grantland, NY Times best-selling author, and one of the smarter minds around baseball analytics in journalism.

We get into a lot o great topics here.  Specifically how he started his journalism career, where he got his first big break as a writer, and how Bill Simmons picked him to write for Grantland.  Side note, I interviewed him when Bill Simmons still worked for ESPN, so I wasn't able to ask him about Bill's recent exit!

Subscribe and Leave a review:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-from-influencer-economy/id820744212?mt=2

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

Jonah Keri's website:  http://jonahkeri.com/

I was really excited to sit down with Cenk from The Young Turks. He's one of the pre-eminent political voices online, and his TYT YouTube network is a mini empire on YouTube.  I went to his office and studio in Culver City to speak to him on the podcast. They were kind enough to host me in their newly built studio, on The Young Turks set.

What's remarkable about Cenk and his team, is how deep their community connection runs. In many ways, their community is an additional host and correspondent on the Young Turks Network. The Young Turks have a continual open dialogue with their audience and it's destroying the TV model of network filtered news. 

Cenk is building the next CNN, but better and much improved. We talk at length about their shows, political beliefs and the old networks and out-dated models in news and politics.

Our older acrchives:  http://www.influencereconomy.com/

Please subscribe and leave a review on iTunes: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-from-influencer-economy/id820744212?mt=2

The Young Turks:  http://www.tytnetwork.com/

Find the TYT on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks

Cenk:  https://twitter.com/cenkuygur

Cenk's background:

Cenk Uygur is the host and co-founder of The Young Turks online which is the largest news show on the Internet.

Uygur is the former host of The Young Turks on Current TV, MSNBC Live and has appeared numerous times on CNN, CNN Headline News, E! Entertainment Channel, Al Jazeera, ABC News, Voice of America, NPR and even Fox News Channel. He is one of the most popular bloggers on The Huffington Post, and also a contributor to Daily Kos and Politico.

Uygur is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and Columbia University Law School. He worked as a lawyer, television writer and television host before co-founding The Young Turks.