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The Steve Austin Show

Former WWE and WCW World Heavyweight champion Booker T finally makes an appearance on the Steve Austin Show! Join Booker and Steve as they cover some of Booker T's early days training in Texas under Scott Casey and Ivan Putski as well as correcting some history from King of the Ring 2001. Also, with Steve and Booker being into MMA, the guys break down this past weekend's UFC 228 as well as thoughts on Conor McGregor and other topics in the fight game.

The James Altucher Show
00:57:51 3/8/2016

Transcript

This isn't your average business podcast, and he's not your average host. This is the James Altucher show on the Stansbury radio network. I'm really grateful to everyone who listens to my podcast. You let me do what I love. So to thank you for listening, I'm giving away 100 copies of Gary's new book. It's really easy to enter. All you have to do is subscribe to my podcast, The James Altucher Show on iTunes, and then rate and review it. Easy. Oh, and then afterwards, just email me atwin.jamesalticher@gmail.com, or tweet me at jalticher, or anything really. Just let me know you did it. All the details are on my website. Good luck. I hope you win one of these 100 books. They are excellent, and thank you. I can't believe it. I got Gary Vaynerchuk in the studio. Gary, your book comes out tomorrow. It's hashtag ask Gary v. Yes. You excited? Yes. The 4th book. Yes. Actually, 5th. The wine you know, but that's my fault. I never talk I never talk about the poor wine book, but, yes, it's my 4th business book. How'd that wine book do? Pretty well. I mean, it didn't make the New York Times best selling list as the business books did, so I guess not as well. But it was so weird. Like, I mean, I was doing a YouTube show when people didn't even know what YouTube was, and it led to a book deal. It was just the whole experience was surreal. It did really nicely, but, like, I mean, I'll probably sell more copies of this book from this podcast than maybe that wine book sold. So I mean, from a business standpoint, maybe not as well. Well, I remember your your wine library show Yes. Because people were using it as an example. Like, look at this crazy guy doing this wine show. It's like going through the roof. Yes. And that was really how you first sort of broke out and used kind of a social media channel to promote a separate business, like an offline business. Yeah. I mean, I had you know, and you know this. In the early days of 2,006, 7, 8, 9 when people needed a case study for social media bringing money to the table, what's the ROI, that, that was the example. Right? And that was YouTube and Twitter execution and I became, no question, a case study for a lot of people at a lot of conferences. Yeah. Because you would, give these wine lessons. So I wanna get into your book, hashtag askgary v, but I have a question about wine. Great. So just like We could talk about wine in the New York Jets the whole hour. I mean, I'm you know, I don't we don't I mean, I appreciate the book stuff, but, like, I'm thrilled to go there. So so I read this study where people, these wine sommelier I don't know how you say it. Wine experts Yes. Were were given glass blindfolded and given glasses of white wine and red wine Yes. Without any temp they were all the same temperature, and they couldn't tell the difference between white and red. So what's is there value of being, like, a wine expert? Like, how much of wine is real and how much of it is scam? I wouldn't call it this a little bit in the book, by the way? I wouldn't call it scam. I would call it it's subjective. Right? Like like, meaning, like, I don't know. Do you love Bone Thugs N Harmony? No. I love them. Okay. There you go. How much is music a scam? Like like, it's really that. It's people's opinions. Now this is why I think I broke out in the wine business. But Bone Thugs N Harmony as opposed to a Wu Tang Clan, I could say, well, they do this and this and I like this and this. But if you can't actually tell the difference between different wines then you then it is it taste or is it just some kind of branding thing? So it's I mean, everything in life is branding. Right? Like, you know, I mean if everybody was blind, then people wouldn't dress the way they do or put on makeup on the screen. I must be blind then. So I think there's a ton of bulls**t artists in wine but I think, James, I think there's a ton of bulls**t artists in entrepreneurship. Mean, one of the biggest kicks I'm on right now is all these posers on Instagram taking pictures of, you know, fancy cars and putting cash on the bed and saying, like, this is the lifestyle and this is what entrepreneurship's about. Right. So that's so I would argue there. I agree with you, but I would argue they're they're doing lifestyle marketing. Meaning this is my lifestyle. They're lying. If you But they're lying. I believe that They're renting a car Yes. For the day and they're innuendoing that they own a $500,000 car but they don't. They're asking their rich buddy to take $100,000 cash out of the bank and put it on a bed and then giving it back to him and then he or her and then they're putting it back in the bank. So I don't think they're selling lifestyle marketing. I think they're posing as a lifestyle marketer just like I think some people pose as a wine expert. Right. So and I I I actually think I know exactly what you're talking about Yep. And who Yes. But we'll talk about that later. Well, the truth is the truth is I'm not I'll be very blunt with you. I'm not referring to anybody. There are there are thousands, tens of thousands of people selling this entrepreneurial lifestyle on Instagram and Snapchat right now. Yeah. No. I agree. And they're making money, which is a sad thing. Their main, courses on how to do a business is is basically based on them building a business of selling courses on how to do a business. The number one thing I'm passionate about right now to separate the people that sell people on selling people and have never built an actual business versus somebody like Jason Fried or Tony Hsieh who built 37 signals, who built Zappos or Lazaro or you or me, we built actual businesses. Right. I I have to believe, I have to, I have to believe that that is more valuable than somebody who teaches you how to create a $90 ebook. Well, I think you've done a really great job of leveraging one thing from the other. So the why your knowledge about wine and your your family's wine story, you're able to leverage into the YouTube channel. Yes. And then the success of the YouTube channel, you were able to leverage into building VaynerMedia, which is how to do what I did, basically, create content marketing to build the value of your business. Yes. So what's what's you know, when you started VaynerMedia Yes. Were you scared? Like, oh my god. This is out of my like, I know how I knew how to do it for a while, but now Pepsi wants help. Like, were you nervous at that point? No. Because I have a huge ego and I have enormous confidence and I'm not scared of anything when it comes to business. I'm scared I was scared in high school to hit on pretty girls. I'm scared to take a I'm scared to go snowboarding because I'm not good at it. I would never jump out of a plane. I'm scared to do drugs. I'm scared of a lot of things. I'm scared of bears in the wild. You know, I'm scared of getting in the ring with Evander Holyfield. Like there's a lot of things I'm scared of. The only thing in the world I'm not scared of is anything to do remotely with something around business. Well, what's a what's a just underline that a little, what's a failure you've had in business? Because we've all had 2 other experience values. So when I was leveraging from Wine Library TV to this new world, I started Vayner 2,009 is my greatest year and my worst year from a business and life standpoint. 2009 is the year my daughter Misha was born, amazing. 2009 is the year VaynerMedia started, amazing. 2009 is the year Crush It! Came out, amazing. What happened was in May of 2009 when Misha was born, when VaynerMedia was born what happened was I decided to transition out of running Wine Library and I was gonna do other things. And think of me as somebody who's in a relationship for 20 years and got out of it. I wanted to hook up with every business in the world, right? I literally started Vayner, I wrote Crush It and started building my brand, I started something called Obsessed TV where I was producing another video blog. It did not succeed, my fault, not Samantha Eddys' fault. I started Forest, a designer developer social network that was my fault not Kyle's fault because I was the partner even though he was the active partner. I innuendo that I would do more than I did. I started I bought Corked a wine social network, Facebook for wine, That was more my fault than Lindsay's fault. I innuendoed that I would do more than I did for that business. I invested in a lot of things that weren't called Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr because now I was an investor. And after making 3 incredible investments out the gate, I made 5 or 7 bad ones. So I basically, 2009 back half, 6 months of the back half of o nine, I was like a fat kid looking at a lot of cake. I was trying to eat all of it. And, and I exposed myself of not being able to do all those things. And how have you adjusted since to kind of not that you can eliminate failures because I think that happens every day in business. Dude, I'm in the business of micro failures. Well, I think experimentation is very important. I do it all day long. I did 7 major $1,000,000 agendas last year for VaynerMedia and only 2 won and 5 failed. What do you mean? What's a $1,000,000 agenda? VaynerMedia started doing sampling last year. What's that, like surveying people? No. No. Sour Patch Kids comes out with a new gum and we were gonna empower digital sampling. So don't go to a football game and just give them out randomly, spend the extra money to deliver it to people that actually want it and collect data and collect IP. Got it? Yeah. We start a live events division. We would activate for you Pepsi and ABI and Heuser Busch InBev. What does it mean activate? At Coachella we would tell you our idea and you would pay us 100 of 1,000 of dollars to do the water balloon contest idea. Got it? Mhmm. Neither of those succeeded. The How did you judge success on that? We made money. We're a business. That's how we judge it. I mean, how would you like, did they just not pay you for events or No. We didn't sell them well. Okay. The we didn't build a good infrastructure around it. I didn't support it well enough. The people that ran it, you know, didn't do a good enough job because they had different ideas or different things. It didn't the organ didn't integrate into the body. Video and paid did, Paid media, us doing the buying for our brands on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram. Us doing video, producing videos that live on Facebook and YouTube. Those things succeeded massively. But I have on my P and L huge financial losses from those 2 and I've gains from the other 2. It's just a net net game, James, and so is being an entrepreneur, period. Well well, this brings to to another question which is everybody says if you have a business, you have to focus, but but also the flip side of it is you also have to experiment. You have to constantly experiment every day. You have to focus on offense. And too many times when people say you have to focus, they mean defense. Okay. So You want me to expand on that? Yeah. Yeah. You have to focus. By the way, I want you to expand on that because you also say, you know, that every day you're trying to figure out ways To put myself out of business. Put yourself out of business. It sounds like defense. No. No. It would it's actually unbridled it's pure it's the purest form of offense. What do I mean by that? Couple things. When people say you have to focus what a lot of people interpret that as is don't innovate. That's how I say it, focus. Hey, you do social media really well Gary, like you guys do VaynerMedia started as a community management company. Focus would have been stay in wine, open up 50 more stores in the wine business instead of going into the social media stuff, right? Focus means focus, means whatever's making you money right now triple down on that. And what I say is be on the offense is and put yourself out of business is look how you're making money right now and think about the vulnerabilities around that. Okay. So let's think about the vulnerabilities. Like you just mentioned that media buying across social media has been working for you. And digital. What if I do what if I do media buying and I charge 5%, you know, over the cost of the media and you might charge 10%. Is that a way I'm gonna put you out of business or Absolutely not. You can sell somebody Nikes for $300 or you can sell them private label sneakers at Walmart for $0.40. You know, like show me the results. Like we have that happen. Clients say James' shop is now offering 5%, we're 10%. I'm like good, what are you trying to make happen? Views, sales, let's do a bake off. I actually am quite crazy about competition. I would say in that scenario, you know what? First of all James is a friend, I actually know him. So he might actually pull something off. Let's bring James to the party. You should actually hire James and let's do a bake off and let's find out if you can get more with mine versus his and is the 10% worth it versus the 5%. By the way, I found that in the times I've various businesses I've started that the best technique for sales is to recommend your competitors. A 100%. So because then they then it builds and not even in a bad way. Do it sincerely. It's trust. You know? Yeah. And then meritocracy. I'm a meritocracy through and through. If you can do better for Pepsi than I can, then they should hire you. So okay. So it's from the book, I gather the main themes. Like, let's say I'm starting from scratch, not only a business, but a career. Yes. You're it seems like there's a a a direct, path, which is learn, then create a great content, then create community around that content, then have calls to action for people to buy. And that's what you've done really successfully with wine. Yes. You spent 10 years learning. Yes. You created content, which is the wine library, then there's community around that. Yes. Then call to action. Buy this wine. Yes. And you're honest about it every step of the way. Yes. And and and the same thing with social media. That's how these these books come about. Yes. So what if somebody says, oh my god. That could take, like, 20 years, though, or 15 years. Like, it took Gary it took 10 years to learn. Yes. How can I speed up the process? I don't think anything valuable comes fast. And so I just think that my method is much more tried and true. There's a lot more of the Gary Vaynerchuk success story than the overnight 24 months everything happened for you success story. Right. So so in a lot of the content marketing, I think the key is, establishing that trust so you can build community. So so the community goes from whatever they were at before to, oh, no. Here's the guy I can actually trust. And that involves a certain type of sincerity as opposed to here are the top ten things you know need to know about wine. You kinda have to start off with, here's what I didn't know about wine. Now here's what I'm learning. So how do you how do you kind of, like, break into sincerity? Because I think that is the real challenge for a lot of content marketers. They're they're still marketing as a closer content. I think that's right. And I think you've got it pegged. I think the North Star has to be truth. I mean, it's it's quite simple. How do you know it for for years? Like, let's say someone starts out, they might not have all the knowledge but they don't know. How do they know they're being sincere? Like, where's the line? What are what are the Oh, I think they know. I think there's a technique for sincerity, but I don't I don't think you know, look. If you do not know what the truth or not the truth is within your own body of your own self, well then there's nothing I can do or you can do to help anybody. I would say 99% of the people know the truth. When you come out the gate and you're 23 years old and you want to be a life coach you know that you haven't lived life yet, it's not super complicated. Like when you want to teach people how to make money at 23 because somebody who's 53 told you this is the quick way to make money but you know that you've never made money, like you know that to be true. So, you know, it's funny because the the premise of your book is Yes. Ask Ivy, people ask you questions and because you've had so much experience you've you've been able to answer them. Yep. I'm sure you've gotten this question a lot because I've gotten a lot. Although, I I didn't quite see it worded exactly like this in the book. Go ahead. People say, I'm 26 years old. I'm 27 years old. I I haven't yet achieved success in life, but I really want to. What should I do? What's your answer to that? Patience. And but they don't have it. The no lose. Yeah. Like like to me it's not super like I addressed it directly. It's called the chapter on patience. Like I really believe in it. You're right they don't have it. That's why they won't win, James. Hey. Like, James, do you know what the 1% earners in America make on average a year? Yes. 867,000 a year. Nope. 400,000. Really? Yep. If you look it up right now, it's 400,000. Uh-huh. Think Think about that. The funny thing is I looked it up this morning actually for a completely different reason. Is that true? Well, I I wondered do you know if you're looking at looking at No. No. No. It's an important it's an it's an important topic for me. That's why I'm asking, did you do you know if you possibly I wanna know if I'm right. I I I might not have the right source. Do you think well, not that. Do you think, do you think you might have done New York? I don't know. Because I think it's like, here I'm just gonna go to it. Right? So, like, here's Top 1% earners. Right. Here's the 1% on CNN Money and I've looked at a bunch they've got this little cute calculator. Right? When you go to 1% it's 400,000. That's interesting. You know, it's funny, everybody who's listening right now and I know my audience and I know your audience, right? Or at least somewhat, right? I don't think they think it's even think about where you're like even I didn't think I thought it was higher. Like 1%. The 1 you're the 1% best in the number one market in the world for capitalism. And it's 400,000. I think if a lot of people listening were grounded in that number instead of a million, instead of more than that, that they would become more patient. I think that we're selling them that they need to make 10,000,000. The kids are trying to build a $1,000,000,000 company because of Facebook. Well, it's I agree. And so a lot of people think, oh, I've got an idea. I need venture capital, which is which is the wrong approach. Crazy. And and you didn't do that approach. Your parents didn't do that approach. Like, obviously, they didn't raise venture capital for a wine store. No. So so it's just they built up. And you even mentioned in the book, cash is king. Yes. And you also mentioned in the book, though, that go for you know, build kind of quantity of customers with low margin items so that you could then get them in the door to sell high margin items. I'm a fan of that. So so does that come into conflict? Like, the low margin ultimately doesn't give you a lot of cash. Cash is king was some profit at all. Mhmm. You know, these kids that are building these companies that are funded are burning money. They're not making money. So with VaynerMedia, I was giving away a $5,000 a month our services, but my expenses were 4,999. As long as I was profitable, right, then that was okay and then you can build momentum. When I when I say cash is king is like look, the more money you have the more you can invest back into the business and things of that nature. And so I definitely believe that most people are grossly underestimating what it takes to actually build a successful business in today's environment. And the kids that are listening that are in the VC world or trying to raise money, they don't realize so many of them don't realize that they're giving up a percentage of their company, they're giving up control, and they're picking up bad behavior because they don't need to be profitable as quickly and that becomes a vulnerability. Yeah. No. I agree. I think I think the biggest problem actually is that they think they need to leave their jobs to start their business. Because look, you were still working at the wine store That was the when you started Wine Library. That's the whole theme of Crush It. Right? 7 PM to 2 in the morning. Yeah. Like, be you know what it all comes down to? You've said it before that. There's evidence of this, by the way, that the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who didn't leave their jobs until their business was already profitable. Makes a ton of sense. They're side business. They had a real they did it the real you know, it's so funny. You just said something that I was trying to say. The whole theme By the way, I'm gonna interrupt you all the time because I know you're a big interruption. Way, I'm a huge I'm super into it. It actually makes me feel more comfortable. Alright. I don't like the pace of, like, you ask, I answer. Right? Like, let's keep interrupting the whole time. Anybody who's listening and has a feel on us is gonna enjoy it more anyway. It's practicality, brother. This book's only other title could have been called Practicality, the blueprint for entrepreneurship. Well, okay. So let's take a look at that. So I'm in the cubicle at, a marketing manager for Crest toothpaste Yes. And I'm, like, sick of it. Yes. And I wanna break out. Yes. I I in, you know, incomes are going down. I'm worried about my job. They're outsourcing everything to China. Yes. What what should I start to do? The first thing you should do is you shouldn't have f**king watched House of Cards this entire f**king Saturday. That's the first thing you should do. Okay. And and when I say that rant I think I did that actually this Saturday. Great. But guess what? You've won a little bit already. Right. You you've earned your chance. You're not complaining. If you complain, and by the way you can make 20,000 a year and not be complaining. So this is not about how much success you've had, this is complaining. This is, what was me? I'm in this cubicle, you're complaining to yourself and even worse and I know you guys you're complaining to others, your spouse, your girlfriend, your brother, your mom. If you were complaining the first thing that has to happen is the elimination of Madden, the softball team, you know, House of Cards, any like playing games, like leisure. Leisure is what you give up to have the audacity to build your life that you want. So if you didn't watch House of Cards for 13 hours this weekend, it would have given you 13 hours to map out what you're gonna do to get out of that job at Crest. I mean, this is a big deal, James. Okay. I know. I agree. It's a big f**king deal. So step 1. Do you know why DRock's following me right now? Because I wanna show everybody that I work 18 g*****n hours a day. So by the way, just to mention just what you referred to, so DRock works with you, he videotapes you from morning to night Yes. And then you put that out every day? No. We we thought we were going to which is why it's called DailyVee. But and even though DRock is the hardest court hustler and we'll go edit at 2 in the morning, we just can't. And we're just a we're just a 2 band show and really most of the work's on him. So but we're putting out 2 or 3 times a week. Now, is there a danger of burnout? Like, you're you're you're Maybe if you're DRock, but not me. You work 19 hours a day Not me. 5 days a week or 6 days a week. There is a danger. Nothing over the last 20 let's see, 40. Nothing over the last 28 years has indicated it. And one of the biggest reasons I got really healthy was a heart attack at 42 or that kind of scare could have been the prerequisite for me to do that. So I'm really focused on my health. I'm unbelievably mentally happy. I communicate What does that mean? If nothing good happens for me financially or notoriety starting right now ever again, if this is my apex, this is it. This is the biggest and best financial and brand and awareness and notoriety and admiration that I ever have, I'm unbelievably okay with it. Equally, I think I'm a piece of crap and I've got enormous places to go. Why do you think you're a piece of crap? Because I'm hungry. Because I feel like there's so much more in me. Because I think I'm all time. I really do. Okay. So now so back to the This is getting dark. But it's true. It's true. To that. We'll get to that because This is why you're such a soothing character. You get the real stuff out of me. But you could be hungry without feeling like a piece of crap off. So do you think Do you think I I I think your anxiety drives me. Honest with you. I think I sabotage myself and come off real hard because I like being doubted. I like that there's 15% of the people listening right now that aren't liking me right now in this interview, that I'm coming at it too hard. I like that. I'm intrigued by that because I like to earn them back. I love the climb. I love the journey. I love losing. You should see my face after we lose pickup basketball games when I play with my homies and my employees every morning. It's such a high because I know we get to play the next one and I'm red. Like I love it. I love climbing the mountain. The journey is so much more rewarding to me than the actual. My wife has a funny joke with me. When we land land like, you know, like the plane lands and bounces a little bit and like a trip when it's just the 2 of us, a vacation. Right? I look at her and I go, that's a sour face everybody. Because the second the vacation start starts is the second I don't like it as much. I like the week before. I live for the anticipation. I'm quite like, I like flirting more than hooking up. Like, I love the chase. I love the game. So okay. So so so let's get back to the woman or the man sitting in the cubicle. Yes. They eliminate Johnny Crest. Yeah. Johnny Crest. He eliminates house of cards, eliminates a softball game. He's ready to go. What's next? Self awareness. And it's why, you know, as you see on the cover, one entrepreneur's take on, you know, leadership, social media and self awareness and a lot of other words but self awareness bubbled up to the core title. I believe that self awareness is the single best number one attribute anyone could ever be gifted with. Better than being good looking, better than being super smart, self awareness. What what does that entail though? Because people don't really know if they're self aware or not. Yeah. The truth is this is kind of It's a constant journey. It's funny and it's kind of where I cut off. I talk emphatically and with enormous bravado of the things I understand and I hedge and punt things I don't understand. I'm very comfortable in admitting that I don't know the science behind self awareness. I don't know the anthropology or psychology around it. I don't know how it's taught. I just know it's the thing. Right? I just know it's the absolute thing. When you know what you're good at and what you're bad at if, you know, James I think, you know, your self deprecation to me the way you roll from afar indicates enormous self awareness. When you understand yourself you're able to navigate the world. But let me ask you a question. So a lot a lot of these things awareness are kind of, okay. What am I good at? What am I bad at? What do I want out of life? But could there be a deeper level in the sense that, like, you you write up constantly about how, okay, I want a long term, and I'm patient for that. You said this. I'm patient for this. I wanna buy the New York Jets. That's like, you say that everywhere. So now could self awareness be, hey. Even if I don't buy the New York Jets, I'm still going to be happy, or could you be setting yourself up for a long term fall and disappointment by being too aware of the fact that you wanna buy the Jets? So I think the Jets change could you change goals to to be more self aware? I know that what drives me professionally and as an entrepreneur is the journey of buying the New York Jets. If I buy the New York Jets or not, not only even if I amass the $10,000,000,000 of net worth to be able to do it, I might not pull it off. Woody Johnson may sell it to somebody else. When and if he passes away and I'm old and ready to do it, his family may do something else with it. Like I don't know, like to me I really want it, I'm focused on it, my behavior is predicated on it. I sold a piece of VaynerMedia to Steven Ross, the owner of the Dolphins because it got me into the football family. Like I'm making decisions because of it. I know what my North Star is but I won't be crippled if I don't pull it off because I know there's so many, I'm self aware enough to know there's so many you know, other variables that will be part of the equation. So so do you think goal setting is good as a driving force or It is for me. Mhmm. And I'm self aware enough to know that it is for me. I'm self aware enough to know that I wanna work hard for something big. I'm self aware enough to know that I like losing. So if I don't pull it off that will be what I talk about. You know? So what's the tech like, so again, Johnny Crest, how does he become, more self aware? Is it like an assessment? Or The only thing I figured out, I'm sure there's people that wanna sell people on their assessments. I don't know. The one thing I do think has worked, and I've talked about this and I've gotten emails that it has worked, this is my only hack on this, is to do some sort of crazy zen retreat where and you don't have to go somewhere, this is actually a weird conversation. You round up the 8 people that are closest to you. So Johnny Crest goes to his work wife. And what a work wife is for people that don't work in corporate America is Johnny Crest when he was an intern came in with Susan Crest and they were just fresh out of school and they were friends and they've been working at Crest together for 15 years. And they're just friends and they're work husband and wife, right? I would go to her, I would go to his actual wife, I would go to his grandparents, his mother, his single best friend from 3rd grade, his fraternity brother and I would get them all together and I would have a 2 hour conversation. And the first hour and a half is completely predicated on Johnny Crest saying to his mom or to his best friend, hey, I'm ready for a life change. I need something from you and it's gonna be very hard on you. I want you to tell me everything you think that I'm good at and what you think I'm bad at. And the truth is I don't think you're gonna tell me the truth because you love me and so you're gonna hedge. So I'm giving you permission now to say things that you think may end our friendship or our relationship because in this one moment I'll be okay with it because I'm using the data to make my life happier. And even though my feelings will be hurt when you say I'm lazy or I'm not that talented or I'm awkward socially, it's okay because this is the one moment in time where I need it. So you spend an hour and a half and it may take you longer, it might take you months to actually get that person into that safe zone and then you leave 30 minutes if you get there fast for any questions and then you do the assessment. And you take the data from these 8 to 10 people and you finally for the first time in your life, Johnny Crest, decide you don't live life hoping and wishing you were something. You start for the first time in your life actually deciding what you are and navigating around that. So so okay. So Johnny Chris does this and people tell him, oh, you've you've you've played it safe for too long. That's a good one. You you have too much you you know, you watch how binge watch House of Cards. You go out late at night on Thursdays. Yes. Whatever. So now he starts to change. He's like, okay. They're right. I wanna do, I wanna, do bigger and better things in my life. What's next? What's the what's the next practical step? Because that's a good practical step. Well, I actually think the next practical step is pretty interesting. I think that at that point Johnny Crest wants to decide if he wants to go for it or not. Because I actually think 8 out of 10 times Johnny Crest after that process takes a step back and says, you know what? I like getting drunk with my buddies on Thursday night. And I like house of cards. I think it's kind of cool. And he may then realize, I'm actually okay. Like, yeah, I'm not gonna be Mark Zuckerberg. Not. Okay. Well, then he's not. Then he decides what I think back to crush it. He tries to build a business around something he loves because if he does that, it won't be work. And how do you how do you find and you address this a little on the book but how do you find most people don't know what they love. They're confused. That's not true. They You knew. You had a great sense. Wine, jazz I understand. But I didn't love wine. I loved entrepreneurship. My parents had a liquor store. I backed into it. Johnny's now 38. Did we make him 38? Let's make him 38. Johnny's now 38. And Johnny watches NASCAR every weekend. Johnny does mixed martial art like Johnny has to look at what he does when he's not working and build a business around that. Let's say he watches House of Cards every weekend. So so let's look at that. He does other things, I don't think that's a good one. Okay. But but it could be by the way, if that is it maybe he becomes a social commentator on television in a 2017 world. Maybe what Johnny does is becomes the modern day Syskel and Ebert for television and makes 89,000 let's say Johnny 15 years at Crest, let's say Johnny makes $213,000 a year, right? Like what he has to do is decide that is he willing to make $87,000 a year but be a s**tload happier and downsize his home or not go on as many vacations. These are choices my man. You know it's funny because it reminds me of, and you you you might have known this guy because he's involved with sports and football, but Matt Berry, who's the fantasy sports guy on ESPN Good friend. He, I am familiar. Yeah. You know, he he had was a great screenwriter Yes. But gave it all up Yes. To basically blog for, like, $100 a post on fantasy sports. And now he's the ESPN sports commentator. Yeah. Yes. So so that's a good example. And by the way, there's a lot of money And there were there were no fantasy sports bloggers then at all. And, James, there's so many people that didn't make it as big as him. This is back to the $400,000 club. Do you know how many people email me every day from Crush It and say I read it, it inspired me, and now I have a pottery business that makes 88 k. 88 k, James. Here's the punchline. They were making 75 k. Let me rephrase. I'll give you a different one. They were making a 100 k, but they're home every day. They see their kids, they've lost £20, they're happy, if they want to take a 4 day vacation they can. Like this is we have to get let me stay here, I'm sorry, because I gotta get this off. I was about to interrupt you, but we're gonna say that. This is a big one for me man. We have to re program, rebrand and re look at entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is freedom. It doesn't mean making a $1,000,000, it means freedom. Doing what you wanna do when you wanna do it is much more valuable than giving up $30,000 because you can't buy a bigger TV. So so this is a great point because you talk in the book, this very powerful metaphor, you're you're, you know, spend time in the clouds and spend time in the dirt. So the clouds is kind of the the big picture, and that's related to self awareness. What do I wanna do? What are the overall broad way that you're like? Right. Like, the religion. The way up there. And the dirt is in the weeds Being a track executing. Being a practitioner. So now we're gonna get into the into the dirt of this question. Okay. You're you're Johnny Crest. You you've you've changed your blueprint. You've listened to everybody, and and you found what you love. UFC. You wanna be you wanna win in let's use UFC. You wanna win in UFC. Okay. You wanna win in the UFC. But I I actually wanna use a different one. How's okay. Go ahead. I wanna use the Jets. Okay. So let's say someone just loves the Jets. Let's do it. Okay. Because you haven't done this. No. I have not. Now I want I love the Jets. It's the only thing I love of Super Bowl. Me give you some crazy, practical advice. Okay. This is gonna blow your mind. You're gonna be blown away by what I'm about to say. Good. Do you know this? Do you know that if you buy stuff on Ebay and resell it on Amazon that there's a vig right now in the marketplace supply and demand curve and you could probably make $50,000 a year just buying and selling jet stuff from Ebay and then reposting it on Amazon. I did not know that. Cool, there you go. For everybody who's listening, I literally, if you're willing to work 18 hours a day on this, which means you're sitting on your computer, your phone and you're following things on Ebay and you're buying them and then you they ship to you or you repost them and you ship it there and use the Amazon marketplace and you resell them. On a VIG, I bought this Jets jersey for $18. I list it for 24.99 on Amazon. And how will you drive how will people find your just searching, just Amazon search? Supply and demand of attention. The number one thing I live on. And let's say But stick with me how wild this is. I just literally and this is just straight up true. And I and you'll see comments in social that this is true. This is true. That if you wanna do this for 18 hours a day, and by the way everybody who's listening right now we've got some people hanging out out there and they're smiling. It's interesting, right? Like if you really love rock and roll isn't it fun to just listen to rock and roll go on Ebay, buy rock and roll memorabilia and t shirts and buy it and then repost it on Amazon and make $10 profit. And like today you made $90, tomorrow you made a 400 and you're gonna get better at it, you're gonna get better at it. I literally just gave everybody an absolute real life blueprint on an arbitrage that exists in our society in America right now that is probably a minimum if you really work 18 hours a day a 40,000, 35,000 even if you're kind of average, $35,000 profit business. Now, for a lot of people that's not enough, but that's year 1. I think by year 2 or 3 most people listening right now if they're talented, especially if they're a little bit of a marketer, if they really understand the Jets or really understand Rolling Stones or really understand UFC or really understand Pokemon that they will really be able to get to a $100,000 in profit by year 3. Well, let's talk about, you know, you again, you say, in your path to career success is learn and then content marketing. So it's not just Correct. So not just doing the eBay Amazon arbitrage. Smart because you're smart. Blogging. Are you kidding? Of course. Now you're of course. Now you're getting paid $5,000 to show up at Pokemon Con. Now you're writing a guide on Pokemon. Now you're selling to YouTube. Keep pointing people to your Amazon sellers page You got it, man. As opposed to the eBay page where it's being sold. You got it, man. Now putting yourself out of business. Let's go through Johnny Crest's career. He listened to The James Show. He couldn't believe it. He did it. Holy crap, he emails both of us in 3 years. He goes, you guys, you guys are, I'm gonna buy a 100 copies of both of your upcoming 7th books because your podcast James and Gary your advice, you did it and then the arbitrage closes between eBay and Amazon. Then everybody listened to this podcast and everybody's doing it. And the market breaks, that's putting yourself out of business. That's recognizing in year 2 when you're making 64,000 and you're super happy that you need to start blogging and start a podcast or start Pokemon con and be in event marketing because you're gonna become vulnerable to that being the only revenue stream. Well, look at look at your own example where content marketing again on the wine library actually led to other opportunities for you. Not only led to VaynerMedia, but then VaynerMedia led to other opportunities, which is all the investments you've made, you know, based on context you've had through VaynerMedia. So it seems like you're always leveraging the thing you're doing to the next thing. Because I'm scared. I'm practical. I don't wanna and this is what listen. The only advice I've ever given in my life James, I'm super undereducated. I was a D and F student in high school. I've read like 4 f**king books. I went to Mount f**king Ida College. Like I'm not an educated man. I'm very emotionally educated and the only advice I ever give is predicated on things I've already done. I only give advice based on my reality. Well, it's funny because then so after the content marketing for you, and this is what you mentioned in your first book, Crush It, but you also bring it straight up through this book, Ask Gary Vee, is community, the importance of community. And and you have, I think, you have extra energy. It's one thing to write every day or or make a YouTube video every day, but then you take that next step, which is responding to the people in your community every day. And how how what big what percentage of that is important for, you know, building the business and the brand and so on? For me, it was very big. It's what I had. I had time in 2009 and 10 and 11. I used it to my advantage, and I also day trade attention. What does day trading attention means? It means you're always looking for the white space. So in a world where there was all these other experts that had been business experts before me when Twitter came along, I knew that I was willing to interact with people and they weren't. And what's been crazy is as my brand has ascended and as I've gotten bigger, I still do it. Because I think it's the white space. I think most people don't interact. I don't understand what does white space mean. White space I refer to in in business terms means what's everybody else doing that nobody's doing? Do that thing that nobody's doing if you believe it's valuable. I believe that it was valuable for me to say hi to Dale Crews and say hi to Lorenzo and to Johnny Thompson, right? Like I thought that was valuable. That made a bigger connection with us that led to success. And by the way, I'm never upset when I put out 190 shows of AskGaryVee for free, right? Put out DailyVee for free, answer questions for free, do all my content for free and then I've done all these things for Ricky McGee and then when the book comes out and I ask and they buy 0 copies, that doesn't even bother me. This is where people struggle. One of the things that I think that people misunderstand with the jab, jab, jab, right hook philosophy, give, give, give and then ask. Most people think it's give give give and then take. Got it? Ask. Well, I remember, it's funny because I remember the night the Thank You Economy came out or I think this you know, your book there? Is it your 2nd book or 3rd book now? My second. 3rd book after the wild. Yeah. You got it. Good job, James. Following the narrative. I remember you were on Twitter, and you were constantly asking people to buy. Yes. You were, like, directly addressing each person asking them to buy. And then you're even, like, meta commenting, like, do you guys see what's happening? Because you were, like, addressing the Amazon rank. Yes. You know, it was, like, all night you were at it. So that was your ask after, like, all the I'm very comfortable going in for the right hook. I'm a businessman. Like, I'm very comfortable asking for the business. I'm very comfortable. I'm very comfortable reach out to you and say, hey, I'd love to be on the show. I also know that I've been on the show. Like you would be stunned what would have happened if you're like, hey man, like I don't know, like you weren't on that long ago. I'd be like, yeah, I get it. Like that's your like nothing fades I'm such a believer in the market is the market is the market even at my own expense that I don't have the gene inside of me of being upset when somebody lets me down or doesn't do a favor or I did so much for them and then they didn't do a little I mean there's somebody right now that popped to mind. I literally got them into a huge investment, they made 1,000,000 of dollars, 1,000,000 James. I helped them get a CFO, I helped literally helped a relative get a job. Like, the per person's been asking, man. I I asked for the book here. I don't know. Seven copies? I mean, like, you know, strangers are buying 25. I bought a 100. We're giving away a 100. I've I've done for this person a 100 times more stuff than I've done for you. I mean so like but but am I crippled? I'm not it's stunning how that navigates through my mind. What it does is I wanna do right by you because of your good. I'm not capable of quantifying negatives. I brush off my losses. I don't even give them the respect they deserve. I I hate negative energy. The reason culture is very good at VaynerMedia is I'm crippled by negative energy. If somebody's So how do you how do you get rid of negative energy? I fire it. And then if someone's As soon as you see it or you can No, I've got to be calculated. Sometimes it takes 6 months, sometimes it takes a year, it depends on what piece it is in the puzzle. There's much bigger macro kind of dynamics involved in the decision making, but when I decide that it's negative at that moment it's done. It may take a year for it to manifest itself with friends, with business opportunities, with founders that I don't like the way they're navigating me or other board members. Like once I decide it's over I may take my time. I'm not the kind I'm not the person like my dad that would confront you right in your face and go, you're a f**k face, I'm out of here and get up and leave and that's the end of the relationship. That's not my tact. I guess for me I don't I don't quite do either. I just sort of eliminate and never talk to them again. I don't confront them. I don't make my point. Funny? I used to be that way too. There was a girlfriend that I broke up with that I literally hid in the closet of my dorm room because I didn't wanna deal with confrontation. I've matured on my I need to mature. I've matured in my ability to deal with confrontation, and I would tell you my little brother helped me with that. I think AJ has a good tact and that rubbed off on me over the last 7 years. I think there's some general just growing up that happened. And I finally stopped being egotistical. Here's what I mean by that. I used to think that they were better off staying in my ecosystem versus the alternate but I realized me not believing in them was, even though maybe I thought they were better off with me because I didn't believe in them and I thought in the real world they'd get eaten up, The truth is once I made that decision there was nothing good for them to be in my world either and so I've come to learn that too. So I wanna get into the into the dirt a little more as just a final a final approach here. Yeah. So so Johnny Crest, loves the Jets, makes content about the Jets, does this eBay. Are you gonna real quick, before you go there, are you gonna put the is the title of the show gonna be like Johnny Crest. Gary v and Johnny Crest? It could be. It might be. Go ahead. Johnny Crest. So so so he's he's doing all the steps. He's he's built the community. He's doing the calls to action. Now really in the dirt. He wants to drive people directly to Amazon. And I Before before you go there, there's a couple things I wanna add because Sure. Because one of the things that I love that you're doing, and this is why it's so fun to go on these tours, you go on so many you're always scared that you're gonna say the same thing because you know so many people are listening to all 7 of these podcasts. You're doing such a great thing for everybody in your audience right now because we're getting very practical. Very practical. And I love it. So let's talk about a couple things. We talked about the eBay thing. There's a couple things that I want Johnny Crest to do in parallel. I want him to create his Twitter account. Twitter, even though is struggling, and it is, still has a big advantage over every other platform. Johnny Crest can absolutely type in Pokemon or Rock and Roll or UFC in Twitter search and see other people talking about it and I want him to engage with those people. I also want him to tweet at Dana White and the creator of Pokemon and Pikachu Girl 47 that's the number one influencer on Twitter and start creating these relationships on social because it's part of the narrative. So cool. I just wanted to give another practical advice. Twitter search, searching people and engage Twitter search. Instagram, no. Because people are not reading their Instagram comments. If somebody's engaging in Twitter they will see that you're reaching out to them. Now Pikachu Gold 47 may say I'm not talking to Johnny Crest, but if you do it 12 times sometimes they'll think you're a creeper, but once in a while they're start, you know, rewarding you on that tenacity and you start building relationships. And try to build in value. Don't hit up Pikachu 47 and say, hey, Pikachu 47, tell everybody about my Johnny Crest Amazon account. You know? Try to build a relationship, try to bring them value. When Pikachu watch Pikachu 47 and when Pikachu Girl 47 says that she needs something and you happen to be in that town, be like, I got you. Bring value first. Right. Well, okay. So so now I think that's great advice. Totally in the weeds. Yep. And and I don't even normally go this much in the weeds because I mean, it's too too practical. But you know that you're deal but you know you were here with a real f**king practitioner. But if things are too specific, they they're not as evergreen. They don't they may not last like a year or not. But so so I have stuff on Amazon. Yes. And Amazon You have to do nothing. You have to do nothing. That advice I gave you, you have to do nothing. I know what you're doing right now and you're right. Normally you have to figure out how to throw the right hook and what are the tactics. Ironically, the reason I gave everybody my best piece of advice for the quickest $100,000 a year that you can make is Amazon's so big and search is so efficient on Amazon that that you will just f**king win. So you don't have to buy ads directing people to Amazon? I would. I would buy Amazon ads within Amazon, but I'm also going Do you buy Facebook ads? Do you recommend Facebook and what? Facebook over Amazon? No. In an Amazon in the execution that we just talked about, I would buy Amazon ads for Amazon within Amazon. But I will say this, the reason I'm not talking about ads is I wanna be really practical. We're talking about Johnny Crest. Johnny went from making 200,000 a year, he's got a little bit of savings, and he's taking the sleep apace because f**king James and Gary told him to. And I'm scared and I want him to win. So I don't want him to do anything other than spend 18 hours a day trading, buying stuff and selling stuff. By the way, he also on Saturday can take his you know, he used to on Saturday have to make a deck for the big presentation to Walmart on Monday. Now he can take Ricky, Ricky Crest. Ricky Crest is 6 years old, hasn't seen dad that much because dad's trying to win the corporate gig. And he's taking Ricky Crest garage sailing because now he understands the market and he doesn't have to pay the VIG on Amazon, on eBay, excuse me. He's now buying some Pokemon or UFC stuff for a quarter and a dollar and he spent $100, spent 7 hours with his kid and made a $8,000 or $800 or $190 arbitrage on that day. So this is all great advice and it's and obviously we you gave one specific example, the eBay, Amazon. I'm sure there's many other types of businesses and so on. You addressed There are. You listen. Let me give you some quick ones because I know you did a good thing here too. I know people that became the mustard personality and are doing well and now mustards are supporting them. Right? How how are they selling mustard? They became the mustard guy. Right? They were talking about mustard a whole lot and eventually mustards reached out to him and say, hey. Can you we'll give you free mustard. And that was cool at first because it was just this and that. And now mustards pay him, you know, $5,000 a month to be their consultant on social media around mustard and then other mustards paying for product placement. That's how. Okay. Alright. So so look. Just to just to end this because I think Ask Gary Vee is a great book. You're giving great advice in this. You've been giving great advice on this podcast. I literally wanna ask a stupid question, which is when's the last time you cried? Because you seem like so motivational and inspirational. You're doing all these great things. Question. When's the last time you took a step back and said, oh my god. I'm sad about something. Because it almost seems like you're on a hyperdrive. The last 4 or 5 times I've cried in my life. I've I've I've basically the last 5 times I've cried in my life have been on the passing of Lizzie's Lizzie's 2 grandmas, my uncle. I've only cried at funerals. The last time I cried about something besides a funeral, and I'm really kind of going through my Rolodex here because I wanna answer a true question. I cried very hard in, in, 1998, September of 1998 when Garrison Hurst broke off a 99 yard run touchdown against the Jets in overtime and the Jets lost a heartbreaker in the opening game against the 40 niners. And I cried so hard you couldn't even imagine. What about in a business context? Let's say someone Never. Screwed you over. The biggest thing that ever got me close to crying Or anger. Anger a lot. I'm angry all the time. I'm angry every day. I'm angry that every employee that works for me right now at VaynerMedia doesn't get how great it is of what we're doing and they think that something is bad. I got I used to get a very emotional and struggled quite a bit with when states would shut down Wine Library from shipping. That would happen back in the day as those laws were getting figured out and that would be Texas, you mentioned that. Texas in the book. So that's tough. Right? That brought me that made me go to sleep early. Once it when Texas shut down, I went to sleep at 5 PM. I drove home, I didn't I believe that I'm the leader and I believe that when you're the leader you need to absorb all the pressure at your level and you can't let it trickle down to anybody below you. And so very rarely in business do I ever feel overwhelmed, but that day I did. Because, you know, it's just tough to lose $3,000,000 overnight. Like it's just tough. And I'm just sick of it. It was I was done. Right? And so I, I went home because I didn't want anybody at Wine Library to see my being upset. And then how do you bounce back from that? I slept, and I woke up, and I was ready to go. That's just really what happened. So so, final thing. You you you mentioned you don't read a lot of books, but, obviously, you have a lot of knowledge about, all different aspects of business. Yes. What are your sources of information? Like, what are 5 sources people should should check out? People. But you have the ability to just call up anybody. Like, you call up Jack Welch No. I don't know. I don't know. When he comes on your podcast. But that's not what I do. I'm I'm sorry. I don't mean hit up Jack Dorsey or hit up, you know, Evan Spiegel or these kind of things. 2 guys I don't know super well just for context. You know, I mean I watch people. I mean when I go to the airport tomorrow to go to Saint Louis, I will spend my 30 minutes before I get on the plane, a, watching what people are saying on every social network, and b, watching what everybody's doing while they're sitting there. I mean Like what's an example where watching what someone was doing? Snapchat. I was early on Snapchat because I noticed that young kids were on Snapchat long before tech started writing about it. Like as a matter of fact, I actually think I'm gonna go to jail one day. I actually almost actually I had my first encounter. I had a father think that I was being super inappropriate with his 14 year old daughter because I was, like, checking out what she was doing on the phone, and I guess he thought I was checking her out. He thought I was some sicko. Probably you were a little bit above. I swear to God. I swear to god. If she was 20, but not not 14. And so, you know, so I watch people's behavior. That is my number one learn that's what I do for a living. I do that a lot. I watch it very seriously. Well, Gary, thanks so much for all that advice. I'll give you another one. I wanna do some more. Always check out the Apple App Store's top 140 free apps ranking because you'll see things emerging like Musically right now. Like Like most people who are listening don't know what Musically is, but it's a social network that's emerging and it shows it on the ranks. And then the other What would you do with that information? I would download Musically. I would look at what people are doing there. I would learn. I'm a I watch behavior, clouds. It's very up here. Right? Like, hey, 45 year old women at bars at night are now taking selfies. That's interesting because that was only 13 year old girls 5 seconds ago. I need to dig into this data. Then I put my analyst for people of that and like get me some data on this. Like I start really I have intuitions then I use my teammates to form stronger, more rounded opinions. So the app store is very important to me. I also think there's things like Jason Hirschhorn's email list. Right? Media ref and and there's Product Hunt and there's Tech Meme and there's Nuzzle. I think there's some nice apps out there that can help people curate content. And then there's the people like you who are putting together some of the best business podcasts in the world and what guests are you bringing on and that's information for people. This is not how I consume information. I consume it through watching people, but I know 99% of people do consume information. Well, Gary, thanks so much. I do think people should consume more information through hashtag askgary. I want this from you. I'm curious. And and I feel you have a very good read on me. Yeah. We know each other very well. Yeah. It's your second second visit on the podcast. We've known each other a while. We've been in some of the same fields together. That's exactly right. Is there anything from this book that was there anything a uh-huh or oh, I'm glad like, what was the what was the outlier of the book, if anything? And if there's nothing, that's fine too. I'm just curious for myself with your North Star, what's what happened in this book that, that I can use to learn from? I I think 2 things. I think the clouds versus dirt metaphor were was very important. I don't think most people realize that. I think it's a good model to think about starting a business. I think the pathway, which I kinda had to put together from the book as opposed to being aligned, the pathway of learning, content, community, call to action Yes. Is very important. Like, I think that's a a headline of the book. And I think, you know, being very serious about how you approach sincerity and authenticity in your content marketing. Too many people focus on the marketing and not the content part of that equation. That's right. So I think that's very important. Also, the fact that seeing and, again, this is a meta comment. Seeing you in action in the book, how you're able to easily answer this wide variety of questions that comes from knowledge and experience, and people should learn from that aspect as well. So That last part's important to me. Guys, for everybody who's listening, there's very few people that are winning at a very high level that don't have a skill set that not only that either came natural and they worked on or they just worked on and maximized, you know, their thing in that world. I just we're just not patient and we're really impatient in America and we've become stunningly impatient at the 20 year old level, 20 to 35 year old level around entrepreneurship. I think those people see so many, you know, like 22 year olds making a $1,000,000,000 getting bought from Facebook. They don't. There's only like 3 of them. Right. There's Instagram, there's Snapchat, there's Uber. Like, there's 900,000 other people that are about to go out of business, be in debt, have a bad reputation for not being somebody who can build a business, like burn bridges. And we are not talking about the other thing and I'm gonna get a little bit deep here to close it. One of the reasons I wanna get all this more grounded in practicality and hope that I can be as a personality in this space get others to start talking about this. We are not talking about depression and suicide and other very important issues in entrepreneurship because these kids are getting told it's so easy and everybody can do it and then they think they're losers. And it's important, man. Like 99% of these businesses are not gonna succeed. Well, even look at your track yours and my track record of investing, you know, most businesses just don't work out. You could be an expert in every way. I thought your Bongo was gonna be the biggest app of all time. Well and also also let's look at the sin of a mission. You and I both didn't invest in Uber. That's right. I invested in the next round. I talk about let's talk about you've I'll go further than that. I acknowledged Travis and Crush It 2 years before Uber. The only person in the world that I acknowledged in my book besides my family, my first business book was the CEO of Uber and I passed on Uber twice in the angel round leaving $200,000,000 on the table. Yeah. But you know, so like look, I want people to understand that if you make $180,000 a year in your business selling t shirts off of your Instagram account, you are really doing a nice job. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna go to my calculator James here as you why don't you come up with something clever to say right now because I really wanna look this up. How do you sell $180,000 worth of t shirts on Instagram? Real quick. Uh-uh. Very easily. You put you can put a link in, like, here's where you buy them. If you sell a $180,000 year, you're in the top 6%. Like, do you know how special that is? You you know, you create a meme kind of Instagram account. You caught pay dirt. You were on Instagram a little bit early. You know, f**k Jerry gave you a shout out or something. 100,000 people following you. You've been hacking. You've been smart about putting out content with 25 hashtags because hashtags is the practitioner way to be discovered inside of Instagram. You had a viral post that got you going. You know, your buddy's dating a model and she gave you a shout out and she had 80,000 followers and you got a little bit of a and now you have a little base and you went to TeePublic and created a t shirt around it and you posted something on Instagram and 87 people bought it. And it started your journey. Yeah. That's how. Alright. Good. You've given us so many different business models. We've we've talked about everything. So, Gary, everybody go out and buy hashtag ask Gary v. We're giving away a 100 copies. We'll give you information on how to get it. There's one final thing, James. I'm sorry. I'm just But keep going. I just like you so much. I don't wanna leave. I wanna talk to you about your Snapchat. Alright. Tell me because I don't use Snapchat. That's what I wanna f**king talk to you about. Okay. You, out of all the people I know in this ecosystem, have a chance to break out on Snapchat. What should I do? Sign up? I should sign up first. Just sign up first. That's a very important first step. By the way, the only thing I probably don't use because I use everything else. And you know what's funny for me from afar looking at the ecosystem because this is what I do, I actually think you would crush. I think you would absolutely annihilate it. I think that you just put, you know, it's such a good medium for you because the way I view you from afar, you know, you're at meetings, you just take a little shot, you take a picture, follow a bunch of people, watch what they're doing. I have a funny feeling that you would be a very, very strong content producer around Snapchat and here's the punchline, in 24 to 36 months an ungodly amount of the attention of the end consumer in America will be on it and you need to be there. Alright, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna give you advice. You know what? Now I'm gonna guilt you into it. I'm gonna take this snap is gonna be like you admitting. James, can you please admit that you are now gonna join Snapchat? I've I've totally failed in not having a Snapchat account. I'm gonna join it. When? Today. That's the right f**king answer. This isn't your average business podcast, and he's not your average host. This is the James Altucher show on the Stansbury radio network.

Past Episodes

Notes from James:

I?ve been seeing a ton of misinformation lately about tariffs and inflation, so I had to set the record straight. People assume tariffs drive prices up across the board, but that?s just not how economics works. Inflation happens when money is printed, not when certain goods have price adjustments due to trade policies.

I explain why the current tariffs aren?t a repeat of the Great Depression-era Smoot-Hawley Tariff, how Trump is using them more strategically, and what it all means for the economy. Also, a personal story: my wife?s Cybertruck got keyed in a grocery store parking lot?just for being a Tesla. I get into why people?s hatred for Elon Musk is getting out of control.

Let me know what you think?and if you learned something new, share this episode with a friend (or send it to an Econ professor who still doesn?t get it).

Episode Description:

James is fired up?and for good reason. People are screaming that tariffs cause inflation, pointing fingers at history like the Smoot-Hawley disaster, but James says, ?Hold up?that?s a myth!?

Are tariffs really bad for the economy? Do they actually cause inflation? Or is this just another economic myth that people repeat without understanding the facts?

In this episode, I break down the truth about tariffs?what they really do, how they impact prices, and why the argument that tariffs automatically cause inflation is completely wrong. I also dive into Trump's new tariff policies, the history of U.S. tariffs (hint: they used to fund almost the entire government), and why modern tariffs might be more strategic than ever.

If you?ve ever heard that ?tariffs are bad? and wanted to know if that?s actually true?or if you just want to understand how trade policies impact your daily life?this is the episode for you.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction: Tariffs and Inflation

00:47 Personal Anecdote: Vandalism and Cybertrucks

03:50 Understanding Tariffs and Inflation

05:07 Historical Context: Tariffs in the 1800s

05:54 Defining Inflation

07:16 Supply and Demand: Price vs. Inflation

09:35 Tariffs and Their Impact on Prices

14:11 Money Printing and Inflation

17:48 Strategic Use of Tariffs

24:12 Conclusion: Tariffs, Inflation, and Social Commentary

What You?ll Learn:

  • Why tariffs don?t cause inflation?and what actually does (hint: the Fed?s magic wand).  
  • How the U.S. ran on tariffs for a century with zero inflation?history lesson incoming!  
  • The real deal with Trump?s 2025 tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and chips?strategy, not chaos.  
  • Why Smoot-Hawley was a depression flop, but today?s tariffs are a different beast.  
  • How supply and demand keep prices in check, even when tariffs hit.  
  • Bonus: James? take on Cybertruck vandals and why he?s over the Elon Musk hate.

Quotes:

  • ?Tariffs don?t cause inflation?money printing does. Look at 2020-2022: 40% of all money ever, poof, created!?  
  • ?If gas goes up, I ditch newspapers. Demand drops, prices adjust. Inflation? Still zero.?  
  • ?Canada slaps 241% on our milk?we?re their biggest customer! Trump?s just evening the score.?  
  • ?Some nut keyed my wife?s Cybertruck. Hating Elon doesn?t make you a hero?get a life.?

Resources Mentioned:

  • Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act (1930) ? The blanket tariff that tanked trade.  
  • Taiwan Semiconductor?s $100B U.S. move ? Chips, national security, and no price hikes.  
  • Trump?s March 4, 2025, tariffs ? Mexico, Canada, and China in the crosshairs.
  • James' X Thread 

Why Listen:

James doesn?t just talk tariffs?he rips apart the myths with real-world examples, from oil hitting zero in COVID to Canada?s insane milk tariffs. This isn?t your dry econ lecture; it?s a rollercoaster of rants, history, and hard truths. Plus, you?ll get why his wife?s Cybertruck is a lightning rod?and why he?s begging you to put down the key.

Follow James:

Twitter: @jaltucher  

Website: jamesaltuchershow.com

00:00:00 3/6/2025

Notes from James:

What if I told you that we could eliminate the IRS, get rid of personal income taxes completely, and still keep the government funded? Sounds impossible, right? Well, not only is it possible, but historical precedent shows it has been done before.

I know what you?re thinking?this sounds insane. But bear with me. The IRS collects $2.5 trillion in personal income taxes each year. But what if we could replace that with a national sales tax that adjusts based on what you buy?

Under my plan:

  • Necessities (food, rent, utilities) 5% tax
  • Standard goods (clothes, furniture, tech) 15% tax
  • Luxury goods (yachts, private jets, Rolls Royces) 50% tax

And boom?we don?t need personal income taxes anymore! You keep 100% of what you make, the economy booms, and the government still gets funded.

This episode is a deep dive into how this could work, why it?s better than a flat tax, and why no one in government will actually do this (but should). Let me know what you think?and if you agree, share this with a friend (or send it to Trump).

Episode Description:

What if you never had to pay personal income taxes again? In this mind-bending episode of The James Altucher Show, James tackles a radical idea buzzing from Trump, Elon Musk, and Howard Lutnick: eliminating the IRS. With $2.5 trillion in personal income taxes on the line, is it even possible? James says yes?and he?s got a plan.

Digging into history, economics, and a little-known concept called ?money velocity,? James breaks down how the U.S. thrived in the 1800s without income taxes, relying on tariffs and ?vice taxes? on liquor and tobacco. Fast forward to today: the government rakes in $4.9 trillion annually, but spends $6.7 trillion, leaving a gaping deficit. So how do you ditch the IRS without sinking the ship?

James unveils his bold solution: a progressive national sales tax?5% on necessities like food, 15% on everyday goods like clothes, and a hefty 50% on luxury items like yachts and Rolls Royces. Seniors and those on Social Security? They?d pay nothing. The result? The government still nets $2.5 trillion, the economy grows by $3.7 trillion thanks to unleashed consumer spending, and you keep more of your hard-earned cash. No audits, no accountants, just taxes at the cash register.

From debunking inflation fears to explaining why this could shrink the $36 trillion national debt, James makes a compelling case for a tax revolution. He even teases future episodes on tariffs and why a little debt might not be the enemy. Whether you?re a skeptic or ready to tweet this to Trump, this episode will change how you see taxes?and the economy?forever.

What You?ll Learn:

  • The history of taxes in America?and how the country thrived without an income tax in the 1800s
  • Why the IRS exists and how it raises $2.5 trillion in personal income taxes every year
  • How eliminating income taxes would boost the economy by $3.75 trillion annually
  • My radical solution: a progressive national sales tax?and how it works
  • Why this plan would actually put more money in your pocket
  • Would prices skyrocket? No. Here?s why.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction: Trump's Plan to Eliminate the IRS

00:22 Podcast Introduction: The James Altucher Show

00:47 The Feasibility of Eliminating the IRS

01:27 Historical Context: How the US Raised Money in the 1800s

03:41 The Birth of Federal Income Tax

07:39 The Concept of Money Velocity

15:44 Proposing a Progressive Sales Tax

22:16 Conclusion: Benefits of Eliminating the IRS

26:47 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Resources & Links:

Want to see my full breakdown on X? Check out my thread: https://x.com /jaltucher/status/1894419440504025102

Follow me on X: @JAltucher

00:00:00 2/26/2025

A note from James:

I love digging into topics that make us question everything we thought we knew. Fort Knox is one of those legendary places we just assume is full of gold, but has anyone really checked? The fact that Musk even brought this up made me wonder?why does the U.S. still hold onto all that gold when our money isn?t backed by it anymore? And what if the answer is: it?s not there at all?

This episode is a deep dive into the myths and realities of money, gold, and how the economy really works. Let me know what you think?and if you learned something new, share this episode with a friend!

Episode Description:

Elon Musk just sent Twitter into a frenzy with a single tweet: "Looking for the gold at Fort Knox." It got me thinking?what if the gold isn?t actually there? And if it?s not, what does that mean for the U.S. economy and the future of money?

In this episode, I?m breaking down the real story behind Fort Knox, why the U.S. ditched the gold standard, and what it would mean if the gold is missing. I?ll walk you through the origins of paper money, Nixon?s decision to decouple the dollar from gold in 1971, and why Bitcoin might be the modern version of digital gold. Plus, I?ll explore whether the U.S. should just sell off its gold reserves and what that would mean for inflation, the economy, and the national debt.

If you?ve ever wondered how money really works, why the U.S. keeps printing trillions, or why people still think gold has value, this is an episode you don?t want to miss.

What You?ll Learn:

  •  The shocking history of the U.S. gold standard and why Nixon ended it in 1971
  •  How much gold is supposed to be in Fort Knox?and why it might not be there
  •  Why Elon Musk and Bitcoin billionaires like Michael Saylor are questioning the gold supply
  •  Could the U.S. actually sell its gold reserves? And should we?
  •  Why gold?s real-world use is questionable?and how Bitcoin could replace it
  •  The surprising economics behind why we?re getting rid of the penny

Timestamp Chapters:

00:00 Elon Musk's Fort Knox Tweet

00:22 Introduction to the James Altucher Show

00:36 The Importance of Gold at Fort Knox

01:59 History of the Gold Standard

03:53 Nixon Ends the Gold Standard

10:02 Fort Knox Security and Audits

17:31 The Case for Selling Gold Reserves

22:35 The U.S. Penny Debate

27:54 Boom Supersonics and Other News

30:12 Mississippi's Controversial Bill

30:48 Conclusion and Call to Action

00:00:00 2/21/2025

A Note from James:

Who's better than you? That's the book written by Will Packer, who has been producing some of my favorite movies since he was practically a teenager. He produced Straight Outta Compton, he produced Girls Trip with former podcast guest Tiffany Haddish starring in it, and he's produced a ton of other movies against impossible odds.

How did he build the confidence? What were some of his crazy stories? Here's Will Packer to describe the whole thing.

Episode Description:

Will Packer has made some of the biggest movies of the last two decades. From Girls Trip to Straight Outta Compton to Ride Along, he?s built a career producing movies that resonate with audiences and break barriers in Hollywood. But how did he go from a college student with no connections to one of the most successful producers in the industry? In this episode, Will shares his insights on storytelling, pitching, and how to turn an idea into a movie that actually gets made.

Will also discusses his book Who?s Better Than You?, a guide to building confidence and creating opportunities?even when the odds are against you. He explains why naming your audience is critical, why every story needs a "why now," and how he keeps his projects fresh and engaging.

If you're an aspiring creator, entrepreneur, or just someone looking for inspiration, this conversation is packed with lessons on persistence, mindset, and navigating an industry that never stops evolving.

What You?ll Learn:

  • How Will Packer evaluates pitches and decides which movies to make.
  • The secret to identifying your audience and making content that resonates.
  • Why confidence is a muscle you can build?and how to train it.
  • The reality of AI in Hollywood and how it will change filmmaking.
  • The power of "fabricating momentum" to keep moving forward in your career.

Timestamped Chapters:

[01:30] Introduction to Will Packer?s Journey

[02:01] The Art of Pitching to Will Packer

[02:16] Identifying and Understanding Your Audience

[03:55] The Importance of the 'Why Now' in Storytelling

[05:48] The Role of a Producer: Multitasking and Focus

[10:29] Creating Authentic and Inclusive Content

[14:44] Behind the Scenes of Straight Outta Compton

[18:26] The Confidence to Start in the Film Industry

[24:18] Embracing the Unknown and Overcoming Obstacles

[33:08] The Changing Landscape of Hollywood

[37:06] The Impact of AI on the Film Industry

[45:19] Building Confidence and Momentum

[52:02] Final Thoughts and Farewell

Additional Resources:

00:00:00 2/18/2025

A Note from James:

You know what drives me crazy? When people say, "I have to build a personal brand." Usually, when something has a brand, like Coca-Cola, you think of a tasty, satisfying drink on a hot day. But really, a brand is a lie?it's the difference between perception and reality. Coca-Cola is just a sugary brown drink that's unhealthy for you. So what does it mean to have a personal brand?

I discussed this with Nick Singh, and we also talked about retirement?what?s your number? How much do you need to retire? And how do you build to that number? Plus, we covered how to achieve success in today's world and so much more. This is one of the best interviews I've ever done. Nick?s podcast is My First Exit, and I wanted to share this conversation with you.

Episode Description:

In this episode, James shares a special feed drop from My First Exit with Nick Singh and Omid Kazravan. Together, they explore the myths of personal branding, the real meaning of success, and the crucial question: ?What's your number?? for retirement. Nick, Omid, and James unpack what it takes to thrive creatively and financially in today's landscape. They discuss the value of following curiosity, how to niche effectively without losing authenticity, and why intersecting skills might be more powerful than single mastery.

What You?ll Learn:

  • Why the idea of a "personal brand" can be misleading?and what truly matters instead.
  • How to define your "number" for retirement and why it changes over time.
  • The difference between making money, keeping money, and growing money.
  • Why intersecting skills can create unique value and career opportunities.
  • The role of curiosity and experimentation in building a fulfilling career.

Timestamped Chapters:

  • 01:30 Dating Advice Revisited
  • 02:01 Introducing the Co-Host
  • 02:39 Tony Robbins and Interviewing Techniques
  • 03:42 Event Attendance and Personal Preferences
  • 04:14 Music Festivals and Personal Reflections
  • 06:39 The Concept of Personal Brand
  • 11:46 The Journey of Writing and Content Creation
  • 15:19 The Importance of Real Writing
  • 17:57 Challenges and Persistence in Writing
  • 18:51 The Role of Personal Experience in Content
  • 27:42 The Muse and Mastery
  • 36:47 Finding Your Unique Intersection
  • 37:51 The Myth of Choosing One Thing
  • 42:07 The Three Skills to Money
  • 44:26 Investing Wisely and Diversifying
  • 51:28 Acquiring and Growing Businesses
  • 56:05 Testing Demand and Starting Businesses
  • 01:11:32 Final Thoughts and Farewell

Additional Resources:

00:00:00 2/14/2025

A Note from James:

I've done about a dozen podcasts in the past few years about anti-aging and longevity?how to live to be 10,000 years old or whatever. Some great episodes with Brian Johnson (who spends $2 million a year trying to reverse his aging), David Sinclair (author of Lifespan and one of the top scientists researching aging), and even Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis, who co-wrote Life Force. But Peter just did something incredible.

He wrote The Longevity Guidebook, which is basically the ultimate summary of everything we know about anti-aging. If he hadn?t done it, I was tempted to, but he knows everything there is to know on the subject. He?s even sponsoring a $101 million XPRIZE for reversing aging, with 600 teams competing, so he has direct insight into the best, cutting-edge research.

In this episode, we break down longevity strategies into three categories: common sense (stuff you already know), unconventional methods (less obvious but promising), and the future (what?s coming next). And honestly, some of it is wild?like whether we can reach "escape velocity," where science extends life faster than we age.

Peter?s book lays out exactly what?s possible, what we can do today, and what?s coming. So let?s get into it.

Episode Description:

Peter Diamandis joins James to talk about the future of human longevity. With advancements in AI, biotech, and medicine, Peter believes we're on the verge of a health revolution that could drastically extend our lifespans. He shares insights from his latest book, The Longevity Guidebook, and discusses why mindset plays a critical role in aging well.

They also discuss cutting-edge developments like whole-body scans for early disease detection, upcoming longevity treatments, and how AI is accelerating medical breakthroughs. Peter even talks about his $101 million XPRIZE for reversing aging, with over 600 teams competing.

If you want to live longer and healthier, this is an episode you can't afford to miss.

What You?ll Learn:

  • Why mindset is a crucial factor in longevity and health
  • The latest advancements in early disease detection and preventative medicine
  • How AI and biotech are accelerating anti-aging breakthroughs
  • What the $101 million XPRIZE is doing to push longevity science forward
  • The importance of continuous health monitoring and personalized medicine

Timestamped Chapters:

  • [00:01:30] Introduction to Anti-Aging and Longevity
  • [00:03:18] Interview Start ? James and Peter talk about skiing and mindset
  • [00:06:32] How mindset influences longevity and health
  • [00:09:37] The future of health and the concept of longevity escape velocity
  • [00:14:08] Breaking down common sense vs. non-common sense longevity strategies
  • [00:19:00] The importance of early disease detection and whole-body scans
  • [00:25:35] Why insurance companies don?t cover preventative health measures
  • [00:31:00] The role of AI in diagnosing and preventing diseases
  • [00:36:27] How Fountain Life is changing personalized healthcare
  • [00:41:00] Supplements, treatments, and the future of longevity drugs
  • [00:50:12] Peter?s $101 million XPRIZE and its impact on longevity research
  • [00:56:26] The future of healthspan and whether we can stop aging
  • [01:03:07] Peter?s personal longevity routine and final thoughts

Additional Resources:

01:07:24 2/4/2025

A Note from James:

"I have been dying to understand quantum computing. And listen, I majored in computer science. I went to graduate school for computer science. I was a computer scientist for many years. I?ve taken apart and put together conventional computers. But for a long time, I kept reading articles about quantum computing, and it?s like magic?it can do anything. Or so they say.

Quantum computing doesn?t follow the conventional ways of understanding computers. It?s a completely different paradigm. So, I invited two friends of mine, Nick Newton and Gavin Brennan, to help me get it. Nick is the COO and co-founder of BTQ Technologies, a company addressing quantum security issues. Gavin is a top quantum physicist working with BTQ. They walked me through the basics: what quantum computing is, when it?ll be useful, and why it?s already a security issue.

You?ll hear me asking dumb questions?and they were incredibly patient. Pay attention! Quantum computing will change everything, and it?s important to understand the challenges and opportunities ahead. Here?s Nick and Gavin to explain it all."

Episode Description:

Quantum computing is a game-changer in technology?but how does it work, and why should we care? In this episode, James is joined by Nick Newton, COO of BTQ Technologies, and quantum physicist Gavin Brennan to break down the fundamentals of quantum computing. They discuss its practical applications, its limitations, and the looming security risks that come with it. From the basics of qubits and superposition to the urgent need for post-quantum cryptography, this conversation simplifies one of the most complex topics of our time.

What You?ll Learn:

  1. The basics of quantum computing: what qubits are and how superposition works.
  2. Why quantum computers are different from classical computers?and why scaling them is so challenging.
  3. How quantum computing could potentially break current encryption methods.
  4. The importance of post-quantum cryptography and how companies like BTQ are preparing for a quantum future.
  5. Real-world timelines for quantum computing advancements and their implications for industries like finance and cybersecurity.

Timestamped Chapters:

  • [01:30] Introduction to Quantum Computing Curiosity
  • [04:01] Understanding Quantum Computing Basics
  • [10:40] Diving Deeper: Superposition and Qubits
  • [22:46] Challenges and Future of Quantum Computing
  • [30:51] Quantum Security and Real-World Implications
  • [49:23] Quantum Computing?s Impact on Financial Institutions
  • [59:59] Quantum Computing Growth and Future Predictions
  • [01:06:07] Closing Thoughts and Future Outlook

Additional Resources:

01:10:37 1/28/2025

A Note from James:

So we have a brand new president of the United States, and of course, everyone has their opinion about whether President Trump has been good or bad, will be good and bad. Everyone has their opinion about Biden, Obama, and so on. But what makes someone a good president? What makes someone a bad president?

Obviously, we want our presidents to be moral and ethical, and we want them to be as transparent as possible with the citizens. Sometimes they can't be totally transparent?negotiations, economic policies, and so on. But we want our presidents to have courage without taking too many risks. And, of course, we want the country to grow economically, though that doesn't always happen because of one person.

I saw this list where historians ranked all the presidents from 1 to 47. I want to comment on it and share my take on who I think are the best and worst presidents. Some of my picks might surprise you.

Episode Description:

In this episode, James breaks down the rankings of U.S. presidents and offers his unique perspective on who truly deserves a spot in the top 10?and who doesn?t. Looking beyond the conventional wisdom of historians, he examines the impact of leadership styles, key decisions, and constitutional powers to determine which presidents left a lasting, positive impact. From Abraham Lincoln's crisis leadership to the underappreciated successes of James K. Polk and Calvin Coolidge, James challenges popular rankings and provides insights you won't hear elsewhere.

What You?ll Learn:

  • The key qualities that define a great president beyond just popularity.
  • Why Abraham Lincoln is widely regarded as the best president?and whether James agrees.
  • How Franklin D. Roosevelt?s policies might have extended the Great Depression.
  • The surprising president who expanded the U.S. more than anyone else.
  • Why Woodrow Wilson might actually be one of the worst presidents in history.

Timestamped Chapters:

  • [01:30] What makes a great president?
  • [02:29] The official duties of the presidency.
  • [06:54] Historians? rankings of presidents.
  • [07:50] Why James doesn't discuss recent presidents.
  • [08:13] Abraham Lincoln?s leadership during crisis.
  • [14:16] George Washington: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
  • [22:16] Franklin D. Roosevelt?was he overrated?
  • [29:23] Harry Truman and the atomic bomb decision.
  • [35:29] The controversial legacy of Woodrow Wilson.
  • [42:24] The case for Calvin Coolidge.
  • [50:22] James K. Polk and America's expansion.
01:01:49 1/21/2025

A Note from James:

Probably no president has fascinated this country and our history as much as John F. Kennedy, JFK. Everyone who lived through it remembers where they were when JFK was assassinated. He's considered the golden boy of American politics. But I didn't know this amazing conspiracy that was happening right before JFK took office.

Best-selling thriller writer Brad Meltzer, one of my favorite writers, breaks it all down. He just wrote a book called The JFK Conspiracy. I highly recommend it. And we talk about it right here on the show.

Episode Description:

Brad Meltzer returns to the show to reveal one of the craziest untold stories about JFK: the first assassination attempt before he even took office. In his new book, The JFK Conspiracy, Brad dives into the little-known plot by Richard Pavlik, a disgruntled former postal worker with a car rigged to explode.

What saved JFK?s life that day? Why does this story remain a footnote in history? Brad shares riveting details, the forgotten man who thwarted the plot, and how this story illuminates America?s deeper fears. We also explore the legacy of JFK and Jackie Kennedy, from heroism to scandal, and how their "Camelot" has shaped the presidency ever since.

What You?ll Learn:

  1. The true story of JFK?s first assassination attempt in 1960.
  2. How Brad Meltzer uncovered one of the most bizarre historical footnotes about JFK.
  3. The untold role of Richard Pavlik in plotting to kill JFK and what stopped him.
  4. Why Jackie Kennedy coined the term "Camelot" and shaped JFK?s legacy.
  5. Parallels between the 1960 election and today?s polarized political climate.

Timestamped Chapters:

  • [01:30] Introduction to Brad Meltzer and His New Book
  • [02:24] The Untold Story of JFK's First Assassination Attempt
  • [05:03] Richard Pavlik: The Man Who Almost Killed JFK
  • [06:08] JFK's Heroic World War II Story
  • [09:29] The Complex Legacy of JFK
  • [10:17] The Influence of Joe Kennedy
  • [13:20] Rise of the KKK and Targeting JFK
  • [20:01] The Role of Religion in JFK's Campaign
  • [25:10] Conspiracy Theories and Historical Context
  • [30:47] The Camelot Legacy
  • [36:01] JFK's Assassination and Aftermath
  • [39:54] Upcoming Projects and Reflections

Additional Resources:

00:46:56 1/14/2025

A Note from James:

So, I?m out rock climbing, but I really wanted to take a moment to introduce today?s guest: Roger Reaves. This guy is unbelievable. He?s arguably the biggest drug smuggler in history, having worked with Pablo Escobar and others through the '70s, '80s, and even into the '90s. Roger?s life is like something out of a movie?he spent 33 years in jail and has incredible stories about the drug trade, working with people like Barry Seal, and the U.S. government?s involvement in the smuggling business. Speaking of Barry Seal, if you?ve seen American Made with Tom Cruise, there?s a wild scene where Barry predicts the prosecutor?s next move after being arrested?and sure enough, it happens just as he said. Well, Barry Seal actually worked for Roger. That?s how legendary this guy is. Roger also wrote a book called Smuggler about his life. You?ll want to check that out after hearing these crazy stories. Here?s Roger Reaves.

Episode Description:

Roger Reaves shares his extraordinary journey from humble beginnings on a farm to becoming one of the most notorious drug smugglers in history. He discusses working with Pablo Escobar, surviving harrowing escapes from law enforcement, and the brutal reality of imprisonment and torture. Roger reflects on his decisions, the human connections that shaped his life, and the lessons learned from a high-stakes career. Whether you?re here for the stories or the insights into an underground world, this episode offers a rare glimpse into a life few could imagine.

What You?ll Learn:

  • How Roger Reaves became involved in drug smuggling and built connections with major players like Pablo Escobar and Barry Seal.
  • The role of the U.S. government in the drug trade and its surprising intersections with Roger?s operations.
  • Harrowing tales of near-death experiences, including shootouts, plane crashes, and daring escapes.
  • The toll a life of crime takes on family, faith, and personal resilience.
  • Lessons learned from decades of high-risk decisions and time behind bars.

Timestamped Chapters:

  • [00:01:30] Introduction to Roger Reaves
  • [00:02:00] Connection to Barry Seal and American Made
  • [00:02:41] Early Life and Struggles
  • [00:09:16] Moonshine and Early Smuggling
  • [00:12:06] Transition to Drug Smuggling
  • [00:16:15] Close Calls and Escapes
  • [00:26:46] Torture and Imprisonment in Mexico
  • [00:32:02] First Cocaine Runs
  • [00:44:06] Meeting Pablo Escobar
  • [00:53:28] The Rise of Cocaine Smuggling
  • [00:59:18] Arrest and Imprisonment
  • [01:06:35] Barry Seal's Downfall
  • [01:10:45] Life Lessons from the Drug Trade
  • [01:15:22] Reflections on Faith and Family
  • [01:20:10] Plans for the Future 

Additional Resources:

 

01:36:51 1/7/2025

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