AI transcript
0:00:05 Today’s episode is sponsored in part by Teachable, Fundrise, Mint Mobile, Working Genius, Indeed,
0:00:06 and Shopify.
0:00:11 Teachable makes it easy for creators to monetize their content with full control.
0:00:15 Head to teachable.com and use code “PROFITING” to claim your free month on their pro-paid
0:00:16 plan.
0:00:20 Grow your real estate investments in minutes with the Fundrise flagship fund.
0:00:26 Add the Fundrise flagship fund to your portfolio with as little as $10 at fundrise.com/profiting.
0:00:29 Save big on wireless with Mint Mobile.
0:00:35 Get your new three-month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month at mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:00:39 Unlock your team’s potential and boost productivity with Working Genius.
0:00:44 Get 20% off the $25 Working Genius assessment at workinggenius.com with code “PROFITING”
0:00:46 at checkout.
0:00:49 Attract interview and hire all in one place with Indeed.
0:00:53 Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/profiting.
0:00:55 Terms and conditions apply.
0:00:59 Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business.
0:01:04 Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/profiting.
0:01:08 As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes.
0:01:11 November 1963.
0:01:17 Three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown Dallas.
0:01:20 The vice president has taken the oath of office.
0:01:25 So I pick up a pencil and piece of paper and I just start writing, “Dear President Johnson,
0:01:27 are you happy to be the president?
0:01:28 Are you sad?
0:01:29 Are you scared?”
0:01:36 About six months later, my mom comes running with an envelope addressed to me.
0:01:43 We open it up in front of President and in that moment, my life changed because I knew
0:01:49 the power of a question that could get you to the most powerful person on earth.
0:01:51 Connection is collaboration.
0:01:59 And we have to think about how our connections help us collaborate better, especially if
0:02:00 you’re an entrepreneur.
0:02:07 It comes down to asking the right question, listening, connecting the dots, telling the
0:02:10 story and then the little nudge.
0:02:28 Welcome back to the show, Young and Profiters.
0:02:33 We live in a highly connected world, but it feels like we are less connected than ever.
0:02:35 And AI is only going to make this worse.
0:02:37 It’s not going to get any better.
0:02:42 And we need to figure out how we can go back to creating those meaningful human bonds that
0:02:44 we need.
0:02:46 And today, my guest is Cal Fussman.
0:02:47 He’s an expert interviewer.
0:02:52 He’s a writer, a journalist, a speaker and the host of the Big Questions podcast.
0:02:58 Now, Cal is my friend and I’ve listened to his interviews and he’s absolutely amazing
0:03:02 at getting people feeling comfortable, sharing their secrets with him.
0:03:05 And he’s talked with some of the most powerful people in the world, from Muhammad Ali to
0:03:11 Jeff Bezos to Richard Branson, and he’s gotten incredible stories out of these people.
0:03:15 And he did that by creating comfort and trust.
0:03:20 So me and Cal ended up talking for about two hours, so he split this episode into two parts.
0:03:25 Part one is a lot of storytelling from Cal and he’s an excellent storyteller.
0:03:31 And he tells us how he traveled the world and became an awesome interviewer by these
0:03:35 travels because he had nowhere to stay and he had to convince people to allow him to
0:03:36 stay at their house.
0:03:41 For 10 years, he traveled all over the world and that’s where he really honed his interview
0:03:42 skills.
0:03:43 So he tells us this story.
0:03:49 We also talk about how to ask meaningful questions, how to listen better, how to storytell better,
0:03:53 all of these skills we need as an entrepreneur so that we can build our network.
0:03:56 So that’s part one of the series and part two, we focus on AI.
0:04:00 But without further ado, here’s my conversation with Cal Fussman.
0:04:03 Cal, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.
0:04:06 I cannot think of a better place to be right now, Hala.
0:04:07 Me either.
0:04:09 I’m excited for this conversation.
0:04:11 We’re going to have a good one.
0:04:17 So I had the opportunity to go on your big questions podcast a couple months back and
0:04:18 then we became friends.
0:04:20 We’ve talked since then.
0:04:21 You’re a great guy.
0:04:26 I had such a great experience on your podcast because you were just such a good interviewer.
0:04:32 You asked me questions that nobody asked before and you were actually really honing in on
0:04:35 a special skill that I have, which is reading ads.
0:04:38 And you were really impressed with the way that I read ads.
0:04:42 And so I’m going to flip it back to you because I’m really impressed with the way that you
0:04:44 interview people in general, right?
0:04:45 You’re just such a great host.
0:04:46 You ask great questions.
0:04:52 You’re a great listener and you really have obviously honed a real talent for being somebody
0:04:54 who interviews others.
0:04:55 So let’s start here.
0:05:00 Tell us about how you honed your skills as an interviewer and walk us through your career
0:05:02 journey in general.
0:05:03 Okay.
0:05:09 So let me take you back to November 1963.
0:05:17 I’m in second grade, shortest guy in my class, middle of the room, Ms. Jaffe, the teacher
0:05:23 is called out in the afternoon, comes back in a moment later, a different person.
0:05:32 I mean her face has turned to chalk, we’re in the same clothes, but we are looking at
0:05:42 somebody that has gone through something that we don’t know what happened, but it’s serious.
0:05:48 And she tells us that President John F. Kennedy has just been shot.
0:05:56 Little while later, everybody runs home, turns on the TV and we listen to Walter Cronkite,
0:06:03 who everybody watched on CBS back then, tell us that President Kennedy had been assassinated.
0:06:09 Little while later, we learned that Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice president, has stepped
0:06:12 up taking the oath of office.
0:06:16 Now I had just turned seven the week before.
0:06:19 I never dealt with death before.
0:06:22 And my parents, they didn’t know how I was going to take it.
0:06:28 This is like a national tragedy, it was all anybody was talking about.
0:06:31 And I’m going to tell you how naive I was.
0:06:40 I thought if you had a middle initial, that meant you got to be president.
0:06:45 Only people ever heard of middle initials with John F. Kennedy, now Lyndon B. Johnson,
0:06:48 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman.
0:06:56 So I’m thinking this guy, Lyndon B. Johnson, he knew he was going to be the president.
0:06:58 And how’s he feeling?
0:07:03 And I couldn’t wrap my head around it because I didn’t know if he was happy to be the president,
0:07:09 if he was sad to be the president only because of the assassination, or if he was scared
0:07:13 to be the president because they might want to kill him too.
0:07:17 So my parents call me over to the kitchen table and they’re saying, “Cow, we just want
0:07:24 to tell you that this is a terrible tragedy, but tomorrow morning you’re going to wake
0:07:28 up, you’re going to have breakfast just like you did last Saturday morning.
0:07:33 You’re going to go out and play, things are going to return to normal, countries dealt
0:07:37 with this before, and you can sleep okay.”
0:07:41 So I take this in, they go to talk to my little brother and I’m sitting at the table
0:07:47 and I just, I can’t wrap my head around what this is going on in Lyndon B. Johnson’s mind.
0:07:53 So I pick up a pencil and piece of paper and I just start writing, “Dear President Johnson,
0:07:55 how does it feel?
0:07:57 Are you happy to be the president?
0:07:58 Are you sad?
0:08:00 Are you scared?”
0:08:06 I wished him well and the timing was perfect, we had just learned how to address an envelope
0:08:07 in school.
0:08:13 I knew where the stamps were, where the envelopes were, fold the letter up, address President
0:08:18 Lyndon B. Johnson, the White House, lick a stamp, that’s how we used to do it, put it
0:08:23 in the top right-hand corner, and didn’t tell anybody about it.
0:08:29 Next day, went outside and I just took it with me and dropped it in the mailbox.
0:08:35 And for a couple months past, just forgot about it.
0:08:44 So about six months later, my mom comes running into the apartment with an envelope in her
0:08:51 right hand over her head from the White House, addressed to me.
0:08:57 And we open it up, it’s from the president, and the amazing thing about it, Holla, was
0:09:02 that it wasn’t written to second grader, it was written with dignity and I knew that
0:09:08 because the second sentence began something like, “In answer to your query,” and I had
0:09:15 no idea what a query was, but I knew suddenly the apartment was filled with people, they
0:09:20 all wanted to hold this letter from the president, principal of the school found out about it,
0:09:28 was calling, wanted me to bring it in, and in that moment, my life changed because I
0:09:32 knew the power of a question.
0:09:37 It could get you to the most powerful person on earth, and I knew that I was going to spend
0:09:46 the rest of my life asking questions and also telling stories about the answers I got, because
0:09:52 the story about the letter to the president followed me around for the rest of my life.
0:10:00 So that’s where it started, and very few people, you know, when we talked on big questions,
0:10:06 people were telling me about your background, and it’s very uncommon for people to know
0:10:10 what they’re going to do when they’re six or seven years old.
0:10:16 You might have thought you were going to be a singer, you had a great voice, and you had
0:10:24 a lot of really smart people around you, siblings, and so maybe you thought you were going to
0:10:25 go into medicine.
0:10:28 Yeah, like everyone else.
0:10:34 Yeah, I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life asking questions and telling stories.
0:10:37 It was done.
0:10:45 So the next step, I went to journalism school, and back then in the early ’80s, this was before
0:10:52 cable TV, cable starting, and ESPN, I think, started in 1980.
0:10:58 In the ’70s, we came up in that era, it was a very cool thing to say, write a column for
0:10:59 a newspaper.
0:11:02 Everybody saw your face, you said what you want.
0:11:07 It was kind of like being the mayor of the town without having any of the problems.
0:11:10 Just write, everybody loved you.
0:11:18 And so that’s what I wanted to do, and when I was about 22, I actually saw my face in
0:11:26 the newspaper writing a column, and it kind of made me aware that, oh man, this is great,
0:11:30 but am I going to do this for the next 50 years?
0:11:33 Is there more out there?
0:11:34 Yeah.
0:11:39 And this amazing magazine started in New York, and they called me and asked me to come.
0:11:46 I went, and then it opened me up to interviewing all of the superstar athletes I ever wanted
0:11:47 to meet.
0:11:55 It was a dream, and then the magazine, which is a critical success, it was an entrepreneurial
0:11:57 failure.
0:12:05 Finances didn’t work out, and all of a sudden I’m 23 years old, and I have no idea what
0:12:06 to do.
0:12:10 Now you went through a lot of changes on your way up.
0:12:16 Yeah, when I listened to your story, you almost became an expert at pivoting and knowing where
0:12:20 to go and transforming yourself.
0:12:22 I didn’t have that.
0:12:24 I didn’t know what to do.
0:12:27 Let’s hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors.
0:12:31 Young Game Proctors, when I started my podcast, I had a volunteer team.
0:12:36 I was able to just go on social media, put up a post, recruit some interns, and it was
0:12:37 no big deal.
0:12:40 But as we scaled as a company, I need real A players.
0:12:45 I need people with experience, but we’re a small company, and so I don’t have an HR
0:12:46 team.
0:12:51 However, I found the secret sauce to hiring effectively with no HR team, and the secret
0:12:53 is indeed.
0:12:58 It is your go-to hiring and matching platform where you can find VET and lock in the best
0:13:00 talent all in one place.
0:13:04 Stop bouncing around between different job sites and let Indeed’s matching engine help
0:13:06 you build your dream team fast.
0:13:11 I’m super glad I found Indeed when I did because now hiring is so much easier.
0:13:13 We’re not just doing it from scratch.
0:13:16 We do our hiring all in one place.
0:13:17 Indeed matches you with quality candidates.
0:13:23 In fact, a recent survey found that 93% of employers agree that Indeed delivers the highest
0:13:26 quality matches compared to other job sites.
0:13:31 Getting high quality matches the minute you put up a post saves you so much time.
0:13:32 Trust me.
0:13:33 I know.
0:13:38 Join the over 3 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire A players fast, and
0:13:44 listeners of the show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to give your jobs more visibility
0:13:46 at Indeed.com/profiting.
0:13:52 That’s Indeed.com/profiting, and tell Indeed you heard about them on this podcast, Terms
0:13:56 and Conditions Apply Need to Hire, You Need Indeed.
0:13:57 Yap, gang.
0:14:02 I appreciate a good deal just like anyone else, but I’m not going to cross a desert
0:14:06 or walk through a bed of hot coals just to save a few bucks.
0:14:10 It needs to be straightforward, no complications, and no nonsense.
0:14:14 So when Mint Mobile said that I could get wireless service for just $15 a month with
0:14:17 a three month plan, I was skeptical.
0:14:22 But it is truly that simple to secure wireless at $15 a month, and Mint Mobile made my transition
0:14:24 incredibly easy.
0:14:26 The entire process was online.
0:14:30 It was easy to purchase, easy to activate, and easy to save money.
0:14:34 The only lengthy part that took up any time was waiting on hold to cancel my previous
0:14:35 provider.
0:14:39 If you want to get started, just go to mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:14:43 You’ll see right now that all the three month plans are only $15 a month, including the
0:14:45 unlimited plan.
0:14:49 All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text, delivered on the nation’s
0:14:51 largest 5G network.
0:14:55 And don’t worry, you can use your own phone and keep your current phone number with any
0:14:57 Mint Mobile plan.
0:15:01 Find out how easy it is to switch to Mint Mobile and get three months of premium wireless
0:15:04 for just 15 bucks a month.
0:15:07 To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just
0:15:11 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:15:14 That’s mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:15:18 Cut your wireless bill to just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:15:24 $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month.
0:15:26 New customers on first three month plan only.
0:15:30 Speed slower above 40 GB on unlimited plan.
0:15:32 Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply.
0:15:35 See Mint Mobile for details.
0:15:38 Young and Profiters, buy low, sell high.
0:15:40 It’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do.
0:15:44 For example, high interest rates are crushing the real estate market right now.
0:15:48 Demand is dropping and prices are falling, even for many of the best assets.
0:15:53 It’s no wonder the Fundrise Flagship Fund plans to go on a buying spree, expanding its billion
0:15:56 dollar real estate portfolio over the next few months.
0:16:01 You can add the Fundrise Flagship Fund to your portfolio in just minutes with as little
0:16:05 as $10 by visiting fundrise.com/profiting.
0:16:09 That’s f-u-n-d-r-i-s-e.com/profiting.
0:16:16 Again, you can diversify your portfolio with the Fundrise Flagship Fund at fundrise.com/profiting.
0:16:25 Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fundrise
0:16:27 Flagship Fund before investing.
0:16:33 This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus at fundrise.com/flagship.
0:16:38 This is a paid advertisement.
0:16:43 So I called up my mom and dad and I said, you know, I think I’m just going to take some
0:16:44 time off.
0:16:50 I didn’t really have much money and just travel a little and let things clear.
0:16:57 And this was the next big step in your question because, principally, for those four words,
0:16:58 I had no money.
0:17:06 I mean, I didn’t have money to stay in hotels every night, even hostels.
0:17:13 And so the way this trip evolved was I would go to a train station or bus station and I
0:17:20 would look for a destination that was coming up and just buy a ticket.
0:17:22 It didn’t matter really where it was going.
0:17:26 What mattered to me was the walk down the aisle.
0:17:34 I’m walking down that aisle and I am looking for an empty seat, empty seat next to somebody
0:17:37 who looks interesting.
0:17:45 I think is going to trust me because I know once I sit down in that one empty seat, I
0:17:47 got to make my choice here.
0:17:49 Conversation is going to start.
0:17:57 By the end of that conversation, by the end of that trip, I need them to invite me home
0:18:02 because otherwise I got no roof over my head.
0:18:05 Let me tell you how seriously I took this.
0:18:11 I’m walking down that aisle and I see a beautiful woman, no rings on her fingers, she could
0:18:13 be smiling at me.
0:18:15 She could be a supermodel.
0:18:21 I just walked right on by because let’s face it, man, she wasn’t going to be taking
0:18:28 me home, but that grandma in the back, that 83-year-old toothless grandma eating crackers
0:18:33 out of her purse, she could be a winner.
0:18:38 So I go to the back of the train in Hungary, I sit down next to grandma, she doesn’t speak
0:18:39 any English.
0:18:44 I speak very little Hungarian, hello, how are you?
0:18:51 And I turn to her as the train starts rolling and say, “What makes a great goulash?”
0:18:53 She has no idea.
0:18:57 Now it’s a game of charades, we’re just trying to make ourselves understood.
0:19:03 The beauty of this time, this is before the Berlin Wall came down, this is Eastern Europe,
0:19:08 young people who were learning English saw this as like a tremendous opportunity to meet
0:19:14 somebody that was American and could teach them English.
0:19:19 So they would come over to these conversations and I say to grandma, “He wants to know what
0:19:22 makes a great goulash.”
0:19:30 And grandma looks at them and says, “You know, I’ve been riding this train for many, many
0:19:31 years.
0:19:32 Some of you.”
0:19:39 And her chest is kind of swelling with pride because she wants to tell me all about her
0:19:40 goulash.
0:19:50 But she says to them, “Never once has any of you come over to me and asked about my goulash.
0:19:56 And this young man from thousands of kilometers away comes to Hungary because he wants to
0:19:58 know about my goulash.
0:20:04 Well, you tell him he’s coming home with me and we’re going to prepare him goulash tomorrow
0:20:05 night.”
0:20:11 And so the trade ride ends, grandma takes me home and next night I’m sitting at the
0:20:14 head of the table and she is on a roll.
0:20:20 She’s called her friends, her relatives, the whole room is packed with people.
0:20:26 As grandma puts down the goulash right in front of me, I lift it up and as soon as it
0:20:34 hits my lips, my eyes close with rapture and my cheeks rise and the crowd goes crazy.
0:20:37 He loves grandma’s goulash.
0:20:44 And a five-day party starts, everybody wants to meet me at which time somebody comes over
0:20:49 and says, “Have you by any chance ever tasted homemade apricot brandy?”
0:20:51 I say, “No.”
0:20:55 Because my father, he makes the best homemade apricot brandy you will ever taste.
0:20:58 You’ve got to come to the house, taste this brandy.
0:21:05 Okay, so we go over and we taste the brandy at which time another guy comes over, asks
0:21:09 me if I want to go to the apricot capital of the world.
0:21:12 I must see it before I leave Hungary.
0:21:16 And that is how I started to get passed around the world.
0:21:18 Oh my gosh.
0:21:25 Families took me in and then they called relatives and said, “Well, we got this American guy
0:21:30 and I literally put me on a bus, I would go to the other town, people would be waiting
0:21:32 for me.”
0:21:38 And that became very addictive and it lasted for 10 years.
0:21:40 Wow, 10 years.
0:21:43 You were traveling all around the world?
0:21:49 Yes, went through Europe, South America, some parts of Africa.
0:21:52 I saved Asia for late in life.
0:21:53 I don’t know why.
0:21:58 I just figured, seemed like the thing to do.
0:22:08 And I also went all around North America and people just were incredibly accepting.
0:22:14 And after a while, I could get on the train or the bus if people weren’t passing me and
0:22:22 just see which empty seat was the right one, sit in it and people, they took care of me.
0:22:25 What an incredible story.
0:22:29 And that’s where I learned to interview because think about it.
0:22:34 A lot of it is number one, making people feel comfortable.
0:22:40 I felt comfortable the moment we started talking on my podcast, on your podcast.
0:22:41 That’s the key.
0:22:47 If you can make somebody feel comfortable, then they’re not crossed arms and holding
0:22:49 things back.
0:22:55 Now, when I started to travel, there was no internet.
0:22:59 So often, two things happen.
0:23:04 Number one, people would tell me secrets or try to tell me.
0:23:11 They may not have spoken very good English, but they could tell me things that they wouldn’t
0:23:19 tell their neighbors or even family members because then it would get around.
0:23:21 You didn’t know anyone else, so.
0:23:26 I was going to be gone and that might never be seen again.
0:23:31 So we’d have these really intimate moments into the second thing that happened.
0:23:38 And this actually really translates into what I’m doing with workshops to bring people
0:23:45 together because I would go into a town and everybody would come in the room and people
0:23:51 would start talking about the place, what they loved about it in ways that you would
0:23:58 often see the other people who knew them look at them thinking, “I never knew that about
0:23:59 you.”
0:24:08 So I was actually bringing together these people who were seeing each other every day over
0:24:15 things that they might not have realized about each other just because I was being curious.
0:24:22 They had accepted each other and I was just filled with questions.
0:24:33 And so that was the huge, huge evolution that allowed me, when the trip ended, I met a woman
0:24:41 headed to a beach in Brazil immediately fell in love and she actually stood next to me.
0:24:50 I didn’t sit next to her and we got married and came to United States and that’s when
0:24:58 I started to work for Esquire magazine where I took this style of interviewing into the
0:25:05 room with the world leaders, presidents of the United States, Nelson Mandela and Mikhail
0:25:14 Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, business leaders, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, all the actors,
0:25:24 musicians and it was different for them because I just treated it like I was sitting next
0:25:25 to them on the bus.
0:25:31 I wasn’t asking those journalistic questions that are supposed to get to the core and which
0:25:35 they’re thinking they might not want to answer.
0:25:39 I’m just going in curious.
0:25:46 This column that came through it called What I’ve Learned, it was written in their words
0:25:51 and contain the information that they were giving me, these nuggets of wisdom and it
0:25:58 was completely different from anything you ever saw and it became the most popular feature
0:26:07 in the magazine for about 20 years and so that’s where it came from, this hybrid of
0:26:18 knowing what I was supposed to do with then innovating in a way that I had no idea where
0:26:23 things were going but I just allowed it to happen.
0:26:29 There was preparation and understanding but there was also a preparation to improvise
0:26:38 which may seem like a paradox but I can tell you a lot of stories about being caught in
0:26:46 the moment where I was told an interview that I thought was going to be an hour and a half,
0:26:52 I’ve been cut down to 10 minutes with Mikhail Gorbachev meaning the story was never going
0:26:59 to be written and I had to figure out a way to make Mikhail Gorbachev want to talk to
0:27:04 me for 40 minutes and I did.
0:27:08 I did by asking him a single question.
0:27:09 What was that?
0:27:17 When I walked into the room I knew I had to do something drastic and when they told me
0:27:24 I had only 10 minutes I knew that alright it’s 10 minutes but it’s going to be 2 minutes
0:27:31 of us shaking hands, sitting down, exchanging pleasantries plus my questions would have
0:27:39 to be translated into Russian and his back into English so it was down to like 4 minutes
0:27:45 before me and I immediately looked at him and you could just tell he was in town to
0:27:49 speak about abolishing nuclear weapons.
0:27:54 I could immediately tell he was expecting my first question to be about nuclear weapons,
0:28:01 world events, what it’s like to be negotiating with President Ronald Reagan and I immediately
0:28:08 just looked in his eyes and said what’s the best lesson your father ever taught you and
0:28:15 he just didn’t say anything he just kind of was looking up and when people look up to
0:28:24 the right after you’ve asked him a question you know they’re looking deep inside themselves
0:28:30 and time is passing and then saying anything and then he’s looking at the ceiling as if
0:28:36 there’s a movie playing on it and he starts telling me this story he was a boy and his
0:28:42 dad got called up to fight in World War II and the Gorbachev’s lived on a farm and he’s
0:28:48 describing this trip from the farm to the town to drop the dad off with all the other
0:28:54 soldiers and he’s describing it in this detail and I’m sitting there thinking oh man you
0:28:59 just messed up Cal that’s the worst question this interview is going to be over before
0:29:05 the Gorbachev’s even get to town but they do get to town and when they get to town Mr.
0:29:12 Gorbachev takes the family into a little shop and gets everybody some ice cream and Gorbachev
0:29:16 is remembering this ice cream.
0:29:22 He’s remembering the aluminum cup that it was served in and he’s talking about this cup
0:29:27 of ice cream as if it’s in the palm of his hand and the more he’s talking about it it’s
0:29:33 like we both have this realization that man this cup of ice cream is the reason he was
0:29:38 able to make peace with Ronald Reagan and then the Cold War because this cup of ice
0:29:44 cream contained the memory of what it was like just before your father went to war the
0:29:49 dread of not knowing whether you’d ever see him again so he’s looking at the ice cream
0:29:52 I’m looking at the ice cream he’s looking at the ice cream looking up at each other and
0:29:58 we’re thinking man this is deep just then the publicist who was the one who called me
0:30:01 and said you know remember that interview that I told you would be an hour and a half
0:30:07 it’s only ten minutes she comes through the door and said Mr. Gorbachev time for the interview
0:30:16 you will have to be over and he looks at her and says no I want to talk to him she’s shocked
0:30:22 and slowly backs out the door and the conversation continues and goes deeper so ten minutes later
0:30:29 publicist comes in again this time a little more sheepishly said Mr. Gorbachev Cal time
0:30:36 no Gorbachev said I want to talk to him she backs out the room the conversation continues
0:30:44 goes deeper till ten twenty minutes passed and she comes in and now she is at the edge
0:30:50 like Mr. Gorbachev Cal please the day was planned to the minute we got a long line of
0:30:57 people out the door to see Mr. Gorbachev please and Gorbachev looks at me and he smiles and
0:31:04 he says you know hey what can I do and we concluded the interview but I had the material
0:31:12 to fill out the column it was a huge success and when I thought back on why Hala I realized
0:31:18 that I never would have gotten that insight if I hadn’t asked my first question to the
0:31:24 heart if I’d gone in with a can question would have gotten a can answer interview would
0:31:29 have been over in six minutes ten minutes whatever and I never would have known what
0:31:38 was possible so that’s a piece of advice I tell everybody and entrepreneurs specially
0:31:46 you meet somebody try and aim your first question for the heart because once you’ve reached
0:31:52 into somebody’s heart you can then take it to the head and then follow the heart and
0:32:00 the head on a pathway to the soul and so I hope that somebody who’s listening is going
0:32:06 to put that to good use what an incredible story I love hearing about your journey and
0:32:11 it’s so cool that you got your interviewing skills just living real life and we were talking
0:32:16 offline how a lot of my listeners they’re not podcasters or entrepreneurs or small business
0:32:21 owners or corporate professionals but we all need to learn how to make people comfortable
0:32:26 how to be good listeners how to ask good questions how to build relationships because that’s
0:32:31 what it’s all about and to grow in your business you need to have a powerful network you need
0:32:36 to be good at making relationships having people trust you be comfortable with you and
0:32:42 so on so let’s start there you mentioned that you know how to make people feel comfortable
0:32:48 what’s your advice in terms of tactics to get people to feel comfortable to open up
0:32:55 okay let’s say I’m an entrepreneur selling something what’s the most important thing
0:33:05 to me knowing what my customer or would be customer is thinking mm-hmm there’s nothing
0:33:13 more important you can have the greatest idea in the world if there are no customers that
0:33:24 want it it’s not gonna fly so just asking your customer or potential customer or anybody
0:33:31 that you’re talking to about the thing that you are trying to create or that you’re selling
0:33:39 to get a gauge on whether they would be interested in purchasing it or whether they know somebody
0:33:46 you’d be interested in purchasing it that’s the bedrock right there and so many times
0:33:53 I run into entrepreneurs and they don’t ask those questions and and when I’m talking about
0:33:59 asking those questions it’s different this gets to your question it’s very different
0:34:06 from putting out a survey that says on a scale of one to ten well what do you think of this
0:34:13 is it a six is it a seven is it and who’s six is another person’s nine we don’t know that
0:34:19 it’s very different from looking somebody in the eye and saying what do you think about this
0:34:27 do you like this does it bother you in any way and I think you find that people will be happy
0:34:35 to tell you how they feel or think and then you can actually take it deeper because you may have
0:34:42 ideas on which way to go and you can say would you like it better if I chose a or would you
0:34:49 like it better if I chose b and maybe they might have an idea man you know there’s a t-shirts life
0:34:58 is good it’s got this smiling face that became famous the whole brand was done around it and it
0:35:04 only came about because there was a party that the owner’s home they have been trying to sell
0:35:12 t-shirts for like six years on college campuses getting soaked in the rain getting thrown off
0:35:18 campuses not having a license just barely making it was their dream and all of a sudden they had
0:35:29 one party and somebody put this image of a smiling face on the wall and as soon as they saw it they
0:35:39 said there it is that’s the centerpiece of our brand and these things happen because you’re
0:35:49 asking people to either look at something and respond to it or maybe they have an idea that’s
0:35:54 going to change your life because you’re in one place but their idea will take you to another
0:36:02 you know there’s a story about Steve Jobs when he was creating the apple store he really wanted to
0:36:07 do this and there are a lot of people in the company and this is after he came back from being
0:36:13 fired there was still pushback on a lot of things he wanted and the store was one of them
0:36:20 because they’re saying you’re going to put these stores in the mall nobody’s going to go into these
0:36:26 stores and not only does he want to do it but he wants to do it on a really high level spending a
0:36:34 lot of money and they designed one in California as a model and he’s on his way to see it it’s just
0:36:40 about to be shown and he gets in the car with somebody who he really trusted and also worked at
0:36:49 Apple and the guy said Steve this is wrong it’s not it’s not designed right and Jobs went crazy
0:36:57 shut up like I don’t want to hear and then was silent for the rest of the ride and he didn’t
0:37:05 even say anything to him in the car they went into the store and Jobs had to give a talk about this
0:37:12 being the story of the future and he just said no this isn’t right we got to reconfigure this
0:37:20 and people have to help you here’s the thing holla that this is where I’m actually my whole
0:37:26 life is going it is a sign of a good interviewer because you took me on this wild route to the
0:37:33 place where I am going I am trying to connect people I think we live in a really disconnected
0:37:41 time at least from my perspective because I can remember how things connected in the 60s 70s 80s
0:37:53 I was there and we really have to think about how our connections help us collaborate better
0:38:00 you being in a room alone is not going to really stand much of a chance
0:38:12 against having ideas about what you’re doing come at you and having teams of people collaborating
0:38:18 to get the most out of themselves but we’re all remote working now I’m not saying this is bad
0:38:27 I get it it’s all good it’s just that there’s got to be a framework for people to be able to
0:38:34 a couple of times a year get together so they understand who they’re working with they understand
0:38:42 what that person appreciates it’s not just a zoom call you know there’s a book like the five love
0:38:48 languages where it was written by like a psychologist and he was really smart because he talked to so
0:38:55 many people who are having troubles in their love life but there’s different ways that we want to
0:39:02 feel loved some people they need to hear it some people they need a present in his case it was five
0:39:10 but it’s no different at work there are some people who need to hear hey well you did it’s great
0:39:18 some people don’t need to hear it but maybe they’re looking for a gift of sorts yeah race or bonus
0:39:24 or something exactly everybody’s got a different way and if I don’t think that comes through zoom
0:39:31 calls serendipity comes when you don’t know what’s going to happen next on a zoom call you kind of
0:39:40 know this is what the zoom calls about so I think it’s so important to look for ways especially if
0:39:49 you’re an entrepreneur to connect with people face to face and ask some questions people want to be
0:39:57 listened to we’ll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors young exporters chances are
0:40:01 if you’re listening to this show you’ve got an expertise that you can teach other people chances
0:40:07 are you can make passive income by creating your first course if you’ve been on the fence about
0:40:13 creating a course what are you waiting for it is so easy to launch a course these days because
0:40:18 teachable has got your back teachable is the number one course platform it is simply the best
0:40:23 platform for content creators to start or grow an online business authentically that’s because
0:40:28 teachable offers more product options to create and sell than any other platform with online courses
0:40:34 digital downloads coaching services memberships and communities you can engage your online audience
0:40:40 on a deeper level and you can get selling fast with easy to use content and website builders plus a
0:40:46 variety of ai tools they have an ai curriculum generator they have automatic subtitles and
0:40:51 translations so they’ve really figured out how to use ai to optimize our course creation and
0:40:56 make it much faster they also have a top rated mobile app that allows your customers to enjoy
0:41:01 your products on the go on teachable creators also get more power and ownership over monetizing their
0:41:06 content your content shouldn’t get lost in the algorithm and you shouldn’t have to rely on other
0:41:11 companies to pay you now is the perfect time to join teachable because you get an exclusive deal
0:41:17 with our partner code profiting go to teachable.com and use code profiting to unlock a free month
0:41:22 on their pro plan you’ll get all their marketing product creation features to build out your
0:41:26 offerings and there’s no limitations on this trial so you definitely don’t want to miss this again
0:41:32 it’s teachable.com you can use code profiting for an entire free month on teachable be a part of the
0:41:37 hundred thousand plus creators who are already using teachable to turn their expertise into a thriving
0:41:43 online business yeah fam if you’re anything like me you didn’t start your business to spend all
0:41:50 your time managing finances budgeting invoicing and tax prep not exactly the fun part of entrepreneurship
0:41:56 my ceo jason on the other hand is great at finances but even he doesn’t want to switch
0:42:01 between five different apps for banking expense tracking and contractor payments we wanted a tool
0:42:09 that could just do it all and guess what we found one and yes it’s called found found is an all-in-one
0:42:15 financial tool made for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs found handles everything business banking
0:42:21 bookkeeping invoicing vendor payments and even tax planning no more juggling multiple apps found
0:42:27 does it all in one place with smart features like automatic expense tracking virtual cards for specific
0:42:34 budgets and no hidden fees or minimum balances found helps us stay organized and save time
0:42:40 plus signing up is quick and easy no paperwork or credit checks required join the 500,000 small
0:42:46 business owners who trust found get your business banking working for you try found for free at
0:42:51 found.com slash profiting stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try found for free
0:42:59 at found.com slash profiting sign up for found for free at fond.com slash profiting found is a
0:43:05 financial technology company not a bank banking services are provided by peremont bank member fdic
0:43:11 founds core features are free they also offer an optional paid product found plus young
0:43:17 and profitors i spent years slaving away and so many different jobs trying to prove myself
0:43:22 trying to figure out what gave me joy at work and trying to build productive teams eventually
0:43:27 i figured it all out but what if you could learn that stuff about yourself and your team
0:43:33 and a fraction of the time that i did the working genius model will transform your work your team
0:43:39 and your life by leveraging your natural gifts we each possess a unique set of skills and let’s
0:43:43 face it you’re going to be more fulfilled and successful when you lean into rather than away
0:43:49 from your natural true talents working genius can help you discover how to increase joy and
0:43:55 energy at work by understanding what your working geniuses really are the working genius assessment
0:44:00 only takes 10 minutes and the results can be applied immediately i took the assessment and my two
0:44:06 primary working geniuses are inventing and galvanizing i just love creating new things and
0:44:11 then rallying people together to bring them to life that’s why i’ve been starting businesses
0:44:16 and growing teams for years your own working genius may be completely different the working
0:44:22 genius assessment is not just a personality test it’s a productivity tool it can help you identify
0:44:27 your own individual talents and provide a great roadmap for creating productive and satisfied
0:44:33 teams you and your team will get more done in less time with more joy and energy to get 20
0:44:39 percent off the $25 working genius assessment go to workinggenius.com and enter the promo code
0:44:47 profiting at checkout that’s right you can get 20 off the $25 working genius assessment at workinggenius.com
0:44:56 using promo code profiting that’s why i wanted to have this conversation because i feel like you
0:45:02 have so much to offer to get people to open up to get real bonds with people because i feel like
0:45:08 asking good questions relevant questions that elicit meaningful responses actually listening
0:45:15 is the basis of all relationships that’s what a relationship is it’s asking good questions and
0:45:24 listening and having an authentic conversation you know this really overlaps with business
0:45:31 i’m gonna give a talk next week and i’m just thinking about this topic because okay you
0:45:39 know i started out asking questions writing now i talk and talk for companies about this
0:45:49 and something occurred to me when i thought back on a story i wrote at the end of last century
0:45:57 about learning to be a sommelier that is the idea of you go into a like an upscale restaurant
0:46:03 and there’s somebody who comes over and is going to match the wine for the moment and i trained
0:46:12 under the best sommelier in america a woman named andrea emmer and do you follow uh the
0:46:21 wmba women’s basketball now i don’t oh you’ve got to watch katelyn clark and angel reese but katelyn
0:46:29 clark is somebody who’s going to be one of the biggest people in america see this is why i love it
0:46:37 holla young and profiting and i feel like i’m young and profiting telling you about these young
0:46:44 people who are profiting this woman she just graduated from college last year it went from
0:46:52 games in the wmba where they might get 3 000 people now they’re going to bigger arenas and
0:47:00 selling out people are paying 400 tickets to see her katelyn clark and she shoots from nearly
0:47:06 half court and the ball goes in a lot of times and she passes it in a way you can’t imagine it well
0:47:12 this woman that i’m talking about this sommelier andrea emmer the best way i could describe her was
0:47:24 she was like katelyn clark she walked out on the floor and she did something that is incredibly
0:47:30 entrepreneurial and incredibly business-like even though you didn’t know it because you thought she
0:47:36 was just enhancing the experience that you’re going to get the best bottle of wine at a price that you
0:47:45 could afford and i thought about it and i realized that sales is leadership and leadership is sales
0:47:55 so follow me on this okay she’s going around she’s starting a conversation with the people at the
0:48:01 table what is she doing this is exactly what you’re saying holla she’s asking questions what are you
0:48:08 having to eat what kind of wines do you like what taste do you like because she’s got to pick the best
0:48:16 wines for them but also she’s got to be very cognizant of the price somebody’s at that table is paying
0:48:23 and she doesn’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable by bringing up well this is going to cost you
0:48:31 80 bucks then you want the $80 bottle you want the $20 bottle and look back then it always made me
0:48:37 feel a little uncomfortable when that sommelier or the waiter came over because i didn’t know anything
0:48:45 about wine until i went and learned about it and you could easily get ripped off because you know
0:48:50 the waiter could tell you anything and any just they could sell you a bottle that they weren’t
0:48:55 moving and they just wanted to get out of the restaurant yeah with a high price to it and
0:49:03 you didn’t know the difference yeah you wouldn’t know i watched her ask these questions listen
0:49:10 and connect the dots because she she had a wine list that had 1500 wines in it she knew these wines
0:49:19 she had stories about the wines and she could describe the wines to people and then she would
0:49:28 figure out who’s picking up the tab and she’d without anybody else saying point to do you like
0:49:35 this one and then but she’s pointing not to the wine to the price are you thinking of like the 20
0:49:44 the 35 without anybody else at table knowing anybody else at table is watching her work
0:49:50 they’re thinking we’re getting the best experience and what is she doing she’s selling
0:50:01 but she’s also leading the table to the best choice for them and then when they make a decision
0:50:07 and they love it it’s like watching katelyn clark throw up a three-pointer the people are so happy
0:50:16 and what happens afterward the people leave but they want to come back they want to buy again
0:50:25 not only that they want to tell their friends i know angia she’s the best sommelier in america went
0:50:31 through the competition she’s the best tell her you know me and you’re gonna get a great experience
0:50:38 and so you see the leadership behind all this because she’s literally leading people to come
0:50:50 back in she’s leading them to tell other people to come back in and that is a great great strategy
0:50:59 for an entrepreneur if you can listen like that and you can connect the dots and then gently nudge
0:51:07 people don’t throw down some big deck and say buy this or buy that no you gently nudge them
0:51:15 so that they actually think it’s their decision even though you were guiding them all along which is
0:51:22 what does a great leader do you know he or she puts out the information that makes
0:51:31 the people look up and say yeah i want to get behind that and then make it their own so all these
0:51:39 basic skills that you would think oh cal’s he’s a writer he’s a journalist no it’s the same thing
0:51:49 it comes down to asking the right question listening connecting the dots telling the story
0:51:56 and then the little nudge and that’s that’s sales and that’s leadership it’s the same
0:52:02 so i learned something from my client and she talks about the laws of likeability and she
0:52:08 taught me about three stages of listening which i thought were really interesting so there’s
0:52:15 inward listening so somebody says halla i love Thai food and you’re just like me too Thai food’s
0:52:21 my favorite food then there’s outward listening where it’s like halla i love Thai food and and
0:52:26 you actually reflected back on the person to keep learning about them and you say oh really like what’s
0:52:31 your favorite Thai food spot or what’s your favorite food or why do you even like Thai food and you
0:52:38 make it more about them not just reflecting about yourself right away right and then there’s intuitive
0:52:44 listening halla i love Thai food so much oh my gosh you sound so excited are you thinking about going
0:52:48 to Thailand one day you’re not just listening to what they’re saying you’re trying to feel
0:52:54 like how they’re feeling about it i always carry that with me because a lot of people are at this
0:53:00 first level of listening where they’re really just only thinking about their own experiences
0:53:05 they’re asking a question just to respond back to give their own story or their own opinion
0:53:10 we’re really if you want people to like you and really deepen the relationship you want to keep
0:53:17 digging deeper and deeper and tell them that you’re listening by doing that and then they’ll
0:53:23 like you more because they realize like oh you’re listening to me because you’re deepening the
0:53:29 questioning about what i’m even saying not just going back to yourself yeah do you really care
0:53:37 what i think as opposed to the first brand of listening that you’re talking about which is
0:53:43 listening while you’re not really listening you’re thinking of what you want to say next
0:53:53 exactly so these things are incredibly important whether you are hosting a podcast writing a story
0:54:04 as a journalist telling a story being an entrepreneur working in a company it’s the bedrock of connection
0:54:13 and if you think of it this way if you can’t connect as best you can how can you collaborate
0:54:20 as best you can it just doesn’t make sense connection is collaboration you must have told
0:54:27 like 100 stories on this podcast so i have to ask you what is your formula for telling a good story
0:54:32 it’s probably coming so naturally to you now but if you had to teach somebody else how to do this
0:54:39 and be engaging what would you say this is basically the hero’s journey everybody can do this
0:54:48 everybody’s an expert at it why because they’ve seen this a million times on movies and in fact
0:54:55 what i’m gonna do is i’m gonna give you six steps and then i’m gonna come back to you and ask okay
0:55:03 holla give me your favorite movie and take the main character and guide them through these six
0:55:14 steps and you’ll see it works because this is the formula that’s employed by hollywood now if it’s
0:55:20 an independent movie that goes all over the place a little different but if it’s a big selling hollywood
0:55:31 movie it follows along these lines so one you need a vulnerable character there is no story
0:55:41 without a vulnerable character done nobody cares otherwise we need to see some kind of vulnerability
0:55:51 and not only that but step number two is we need to see intention of that vulnerable character
0:55:58 to get past their vulnerability to wherever they want to go so you got steps one and two
0:56:07 vulnerable character intention to get to a better place step three obstacles obstacles come up and
0:56:16 stop the vulnerable character from getting where they want to go step number four a mentor appears
0:56:26 some kind of mentor who has maybe been to this experience before has wisdom around it maybe
0:56:35 they don’t have any wisdom but they got ideas that can help the vulnerable character get past
0:56:43 the obstacles and get to a place of transformation so now through the first four steps we have seen
0:56:49 the vulnerable character stymied from the beginning running into obstacles but now they’ve
0:56:57 met somebody along the journey that’s taught them something to get to that following place
0:57:06 but you know what it’s not enough there’s still another obstacle to stop the vulnerable character
0:57:12 and as they’re going through this they’re applying everything they’ve learned along the way
0:57:24 and you know use the force luke and then step six is a place of transformation where everything
0:57:31 that the vulnerable character has learned has been applied and get past the obstacles
0:57:38 to a place of transformation that you might not have even really seen what’s coming all right so
0:57:45 give me a movie that you love give me a character that was vulnerable let’s go through the six steps
0:57:51 I feel like I hate this exercise because I don’t watch a lot of movies but why don’t we do
0:57:59 barbie the latest barbie movie did you watch that I did okay twice I feel like I never remember
0:58:06 movies what happened with her in that movie she starts out great she starts out everything’s perfect
0:58:14 right yeah she’s like lives in a perfect world she’s dating ken they’re happy and then she what
0:58:20 is it she goes to the real world right she starts getting like a feet basically right she gets her
0:58:28 feet she wakes up one day and it’s not perfect and that’s what sets her off on the journey
0:58:36 and she’s goes to look for a mentor who says you got to go into the real world so you see that
0:58:45 like barbie started with everything perfect but then something happened that just made her
0:58:54 imperfect and then there you go that starts her on her hero’s journey to get back the perfect world
0:59:03 now in the meantime all these things get shaken up that puts ken in a new position where this
0:59:09 vulnerable guy all of a sudden finds out about this world driven by masculinity and he’s going to
0:59:17 become somewhat different and you see them she’s going to meet people she meets a mom and a daughter
0:59:28 and the daughter doesn’t like her and she can’t believe it obstacle obstacles and then the mom
0:59:39 actually has to step up and the mom has the love of barbie because different generations and so you
0:59:46 see them fighting through all the obstacles but more than one mentor is coming in here people who
0:59:55 are helping barbie on the journey and then toward the end what’s happened barbie’s world has been
1:00:03 flipped upside down and now you’ve got women who are were strong and assertive and ready to run
1:00:11 the supreme court are now putting their heads on the shoulders of men who are playing crappy guitar
1:00:21 and just being in love and everything has got to be flipped over for barbie to have her world back
1:00:30 and so that journey just it follows this whole pattern of finding mentors in that case many
1:00:39 obstacles keep coming up and barbie’s in shock to find out that a young girl can actually not like
1:00:48 her and that the way her world is is no longer the way and then meet the person who created this
1:00:59 world and in the end the world is through her efforts turn back right side up and the hero’s
1:01:06 journey is complete so using those six steps anybody can tell a story but we’re talking about
1:01:15 entrepreneurs it’s a little different when you tell a business story why because in the business
1:01:24 story you cannot be the hero the hero is a vulnerable person in this case when you’re
1:01:30 telling your business story the hero is your client yeah the customer is the hero the customer
1:01:41 has an issue that needs to be resolved and your product is the solution so what happens is the
1:01:49 customer is vulnerable the customer wants better they have an intention to improve but the customer
1:02:00 can’t get the right product the mentor comes in it’s your company you are now the mentor your
1:02:06 business is the mentor and your business is showing the client how they can get what they want they
1:02:13 don’t have to be vulnerable anymore you will take them past the obstacles to a point of transformation
1:02:21 and make them happy and that is the business way of going through those six steps very important
1:02:27 because i don’t want entrepreneurs to be thinking they can be barbie and go through that journey
1:02:35 because you don’t want to look vulnerable you want your product to be the solution
1:02:45 not the character that needs a solution and you can use these stories if you’re doing presentations
1:02:51 or throughout your website or on social media you want to write stories to help people really
1:02:57 connect with your brand and what you’re selling and feel like they could be that hero that customer
1:03:03 and relate to the stories that you’re telling so you know that i’m an entrepreneur i run a
1:03:11 business 60 employees and i’m hiring all the time and one of the skills that i find that a lot of
1:03:18 people do not have is writing so i find that still in my business i’m writing so many of the
1:03:23 communications i’m writing the emails i’m not writing social posts i have an awesome social
1:03:30 team that’s writing for clients and stuff but when it comes to writing programs or faqs or
1:03:36 anything that i need either internally or very important external stuff i feel like i’m still
1:03:42 the best writer and i feel like it’s so hard to train people to just write clearly and just
1:03:48 effectively so i just want your guidance you’re a professional writer how can people level up
1:03:54 their writing skills because people just don’t have good writing skills i love the question
1:04:07 because it made me think deeper number one you could probably solve the problem by searching
1:04:18 for somebody in a position that’s extremely clear when you put out your job posting letting
1:04:27 them know this is a position for somebody who thinks clearly communicates clearly
1:04:35 writes clearly speaks clearly this is my number one requirement for my executive assistant
1:04:39 to literally have a job post out and it’s just like you need to be able to think clearly right
1:04:46 and if you can’t then please don’t apply for this job because this is something that we
1:04:54 are not going to take the time to train somebody to do we want somebody who
1:05:00 wakes up in the morning and when they look in the mirror they see clarity
1:05:10 okay young and profitors so that was the first part of my conversation with cal fussman
1:05:15 even if you’re not a podcaster and you never conduct any interviews i hope you took to heart
1:05:20 some of the things that cal said about the art of interviewing because so much of getting along
1:05:25 and getting ahead in the business world is about learning to get along with other people
1:05:30 to make them comfortable to ask the right questions and to build relationships with them
1:05:37 i loved cal’s approach of never sitting down next to an empty seat whether it’s on a bus
1:05:43 in a foreign country or in a room of executives a healthy curiosity about other people as a skill
1:05:49 of its own and you can’t develop it by sitting on your own or by hiding in an office or behind a
1:05:54 computer making others feel comfortable and engaging them in conversation can tell you
1:06:00 so much about how they see the world which can be invaluable business intelligence and like cal said
1:06:06 most people want to tell you what they think they’re eager to share feedback and ideas
1:06:11 and their secrets you just have to know how to prime the pump all right in part two of my
1:06:16 conversation with cal fussman we’re going to take a deep dive into another skill that’s becoming
1:06:22 increasingly essential to have in the business world knowing how to use ai are you engaging enough
1:06:28 with ai tools if you’re not like me then what can help you get started stay tuned and check out
1:06:33 the next episode of young and profiting to find out thanks for listening to this episode if you
1:06:37 listen learned and profited from it then why not share young and profiting with a friend or maybe
1:06:42 even engage them in a conversation about the show and if you did enjoy the show and you
1:06:48 learned something then why not drop us a five star review on apple podcast if you prefer to watch
1:06:52 your podcast as videos you can find us on youtube just look up young and profiting you’ll find all
1:06:58 of our episodes on there if you’re looking to get in touch with me you can find me on instagram
1:07:03 or linkedin by searching my name it’s halla taha and as always i’ve got to thank my production team
1:07:07 for all their hard work you guys are awesome thank you for all that you do this is your host
1:07:21 hola taha aka the podcast princess signing off
1:07:21 you
1:07:22 you
1:07:25 (door creaking)
1:07:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]
0:00:06 and Shopify.
0:00:11 Teachable makes it easy for creators to monetize their content with full control.
0:00:15 Head to teachable.com and use code “PROFITING” to claim your free month on their pro-paid
0:00:16 plan.
0:00:20 Grow your real estate investments in minutes with the Fundrise flagship fund.
0:00:26 Add the Fundrise flagship fund to your portfolio with as little as $10 at fundrise.com/profiting.
0:00:29 Save big on wireless with Mint Mobile.
0:00:35 Get your new three-month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month at mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:00:39 Unlock your team’s potential and boost productivity with Working Genius.
0:00:44 Get 20% off the $25 Working Genius assessment at workinggenius.com with code “PROFITING”
0:00:46 at checkout.
0:00:49 Attract interview and hire all in one place with Indeed.
0:00:53 Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/profiting.
0:00:55 Terms and conditions apply.
0:00:59 Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business.
0:01:04 Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/profiting.
0:01:08 As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes.
0:01:11 November 1963.
0:01:17 Three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown Dallas.
0:01:20 The vice president has taken the oath of office.
0:01:25 So I pick up a pencil and piece of paper and I just start writing, “Dear President Johnson,
0:01:27 are you happy to be the president?
0:01:28 Are you sad?
0:01:29 Are you scared?”
0:01:36 About six months later, my mom comes running with an envelope addressed to me.
0:01:43 We open it up in front of President and in that moment, my life changed because I knew
0:01:49 the power of a question that could get you to the most powerful person on earth.
0:01:51 Connection is collaboration.
0:01:59 And we have to think about how our connections help us collaborate better, especially if
0:02:00 you’re an entrepreneur.
0:02:07 It comes down to asking the right question, listening, connecting the dots, telling the
0:02:10 story and then the little nudge.
0:02:28 Welcome back to the show, Young and Profiters.
0:02:33 We live in a highly connected world, but it feels like we are less connected than ever.
0:02:35 And AI is only going to make this worse.
0:02:37 It’s not going to get any better.
0:02:42 And we need to figure out how we can go back to creating those meaningful human bonds that
0:02:44 we need.
0:02:46 And today, my guest is Cal Fussman.
0:02:47 He’s an expert interviewer.
0:02:52 He’s a writer, a journalist, a speaker and the host of the Big Questions podcast.
0:02:58 Now, Cal is my friend and I’ve listened to his interviews and he’s absolutely amazing
0:03:02 at getting people feeling comfortable, sharing their secrets with him.
0:03:05 And he’s talked with some of the most powerful people in the world, from Muhammad Ali to
0:03:11 Jeff Bezos to Richard Branson, and he’s gotten incredible stories out of these people.
0:03:15 And he did that by creating comfort and trust.
0:03:20 So me and Cal ended up talking for about two hours, so he split this episode into two parts.
0:03:25 Part one is a lot of storytelling from Cal and he’s an excellent storyteller.
0:03:31 And he tells us how he traveled the world and became an awesome interviewer by these
0:03:35 travels because he had nowhere to stay and he had to convince people to allow him to
0:03:36 stay at their house.
0:03:41 For 10 years, he traveled all over the world and that’s where he really honed his interview
0:03:42 skills.
0:03:43 So he tells us this story.
0:03:49 We also talk about how to ask meaningful questions, how to listen better, how to storytell better,
0:03:53 all of these skills we need as an entrepreneur so that we can build our network.
0:03:56 So that’s part one of the series and part two, we focus on AI.
0:04:00 But without further ado, here’s my conversation with Cal Fussman.
0:04:03 Cal, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.
0:04:06 I cannot think of a better place to be right now, Hala.
0:04:07 Me either.
0:04:09 I’m excited for this conversation.
0:04:11 We’re going to have a good one.
0:04:17 So I had the opportunity to go on your big questions podcast a couple months back and
0:04:18 then we became friends.
0:04:20 We’ve talked since then.
0:04:21 You’re a great guy.
0:04:26 I had such a great experience on your podcast because you were just such a good interviewer.
0:04:32 You asked me questions that nobody asked before and you were actually really honing in on
0:04:35 a special skill that I have, which is reading ads.
0:04:38 And you were really impressed with the way that I read ads.
0:04:42 And so I’m going to flip it back to you because I’m really impressed with the way that you
0:04:44 interview people in general, right?
0:04:45 You’re just such a great host.
0:04:46 You ask great questions.
0:04:52 You’re a great listener and you really have obviously honed a real talent for being somebody
0:04:54 who interviews others.
0:04:55 So let’s start here.
0:05:00 Tell us about how you honed your skills as an interviewer and walk us through your career
0:05:02 journey in general.
0:05:03 Okay.
0:05:09 So let me take you back to November 1963.
0:05:17 I’m in second grade, shortest guy in my class, middle of the room, Ms. Jaffe, the teacher
0:05:23 is called out in the afternoon, comes back in a moment later, a different person.
0:05:32 I mean her face has turned to chalk, we’re in the same clothes, but we are looking at
0:05:42 somebody that has gone through something that we don’t know what happened, but it’s serious.
0:05:48 And she tells us that President John F. Kennedy has just been shot.
0:05:56 Little while later, everybody runs home, turns on the TV and we listen to Walter Cronkite,
0:06:03 who everybody watched on CBS back then, tell us that President Kennedy had been assassinated.
0:06:09 Little while later, we learned that Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice president, has stepped
0:06:12 up taking the oath of office.
0:06:16 Now I had just turned seven the week before.
0:06:19 I never dealt with death before.
0:06:22 And my parents, they didn’t know how I was going to take it.
0:06:28 This is like a national tragedy, it was all anybody was talking about.
0:06:31 And I’m going to tell you how naive I was.
0:06:40 I thought if you had a middle initial, that meant you got to be president.
0:06:45 Only people ever heard of middle initials with John F. Kennedy, now Lyndon B. Johnson,
0:06:48 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman.
0:06:56 So I’m thinking this guy, Lyndon B. Johnson, he knew he was going to be the president.
0:06:58 And how’s he feeling?
0:07:03 And I couldn’t wrap my head around it because I didn’t know if he was happy to be the president,
0:07:09 if he was sad to be the president only because of the assassination, or if he was scared
0:07:13 to be the president because they might want to kill him too.
0:07:17 So my parents call me over to the kitchen table and they’re saying, “Cow, we just want
0:07:24 to tell you that this is a terrible tragedy, but tomorrow morning you’re going to wake
0:07:28 up, you’re going to have breakfast just like you did last Saturday morning.
0:07:33 You’re going to go out and play, things are going to return to normal, countries dealt
0:07:37 with this before, and you can sleep okay.”
0:07:41 So I take this in, they go to talk to my little brother and I’m sitting at the table
0:07:47 and I just, I can’t wrap my head around what this is going on in Lyndon B. Johnson’s mind.
0:07:53 So I pick up a pencil and piece of paper and I just start writing, “Dear President Johnson,
0:07:55 how does it feel?
0:07:57 Are you happy to be the president?
0:07:58 Are you sad?
0:08:00 Are you scared?”
0:08:06 I wished him well and the timing was perfect, we had just learned how to address an envelope
0:08:07 in school.
0:08:13 I knew where the stamps were, where the envelopes were, fold the letter up, address President
0:08:18 Lyndon B. Johnson, the White House, lick a stamp, that’s how we used to do it, put it
0:08:23 in the top right-hand corner, and didn’t tell anybody about it.
0:08:29 Next day, went outside and I just took it with me and dropped it in the mailbox.
0:08:35 And for a couple months past, just forgot about it.
0:08:44 So about six months later, my mom comes running into the apartment with an envelope in her
0:08:51 right hand over her head from the White House, addressed to me.
0:08:57 And we open it up, it’s from the president, and the amazing thing about it, Holla, was
0:09:02 that it wasn’t written to second grader, it was written with dignity and I knew that
0:09:08 because the second sentence began something like, “In answer to your query,” and I had
0:09:15 no idea what a query was, but I knew suddenly the apartment was filled with people, they
0:09:20 all wanted to hold this letter from the president, principal of the school found out about it,
0:09:28 was calling, wanted me to bring it in, and in that moment, my life changed because I
0:09:32 knew the power of a question.
0:09:37 It could get you to the most powerful person on earth, and I knew that I was going to spend
0:09:46 the rest of my life asking questions and also telling stories about the answers I got, because
0:09:52 the story about the letter to the president followed me around for the rest of my life.
0:10:00 So that’s where it started, and very few people, you know, when we talked on big questions,
0:10:06 people were telling me about your background, and it’s very uncommon for people to know
0:10:10 what they’re going to do when they’re six or seven years old.
0:10:16 You might have thought you were going to be a singer, you had a great voice, and you had
0:10:24 a lot of really smart people around you, siblings, and so maybe you thought you were going to
0:10:25 go into medicine.
0:10:28 Yeah, like everyone else.
0:10:34 Yeah, I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life asking questions and telling stories.
0:10:37 It was done.
0:10:45 So the next step, I went to journalism school, and back then in the early ’80s, this was before
0:10:52 cable TV, cable starting, and ESPN, I think, started in 1980.
0:10:58 In the ’70s, we came up in that era, it was a very cool thing to say, write a column for
0:10:59 a newspaper.
0:11:02 Everybody saw your face, you said what you want.
0:11:07 It was kind of like being the mayor of the town without having any of the problems.
0:11:10 Just write, everybody loved you.
0:11:18 And so that’s what I wanted to do, and when I was about 22, I actually saw my face in
0:11:26 the newspaper writing a column, and it kind of made me aware that, oh man, this is great,
0:11:30 but am I going to do this for the next 50 years?
0:11:33 Is there more out there?
0:11:34 Yeah.
0:11:39 And this amazing magazine started in New York, and they called me and asked me to come.
0:11:46 I went, and then it opened me up to interviewing all of the superstar athletes I ever wanted
0:11:47 to meet.
0:11:55 It was a dream, and then the magazine, which is a critical success, it was an entrepreneurial
0:11:57 failure.
0:12:05 Finances didn’t work out, and all of a sudden I’m 23 years old, and I have no idea what
0:12:06 to do.
0:12:10 Now you went through a lot of changes on your way up.
0:12:16 Yeah, when I listened to your story, you almost became an expert at pivoting and knowing where
0:12:20 to go and transforming yourself.
0:12:22 I didn’t have that.
0:12:24 I didn’t know what to do.
0:12:27 Let’s hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors.
0:12:31 Young Game Proctors, when I started my podcast, I had a volunteer team.
0:12:36 I was able to just go on social media, put up a post, recruit some interns, and it was
0:12:37 no big deal.
0:12:40 But as we scaled as a company, I need real A players.
0:12:45 I need people with experience, but we’re a small company, and so I don’t have an HR
0:12:46 team.
0:12:51 However, I found the secret sauce to hiring effectively with no HR team, and the secret
0:12:53 is indeed.
0:12:58 It is your go-to hiring and matching platform where you can find VET and lock in the best
0:13:00 talent all in one place.
0:13:04 Stop bouncing around between different job sites and let Indeed’s matching engine help
0:13:06 you build your dream team fast.
0:13:11 I’m super glad I found Indeed when I did because now hiring is so much easier.
0:13:13 We’re not just doing it from scratch.
0:13:16 We do our hiring all in one place.
0:13:17 Indeed matches you with quality candidates.
0:13:23 In fact, a recent survey found that 93% of employers agree that Indeed delivers the highest
0:13:26 quality matches compared to other job sites.
0:13:31 Getting high quality matches the minute you put up a post saves you so much time.
0:13:32 Trust me.
0:13:33 I know.
0:13:38 Join the over 3 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire A players fast, and
0:13:44 listeners of the show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to give your jobs more visibility
0:13:46 at Indeed.com/profiting.
0:13:52 That’s Indeed.com/profiting, and tell Indeed you heard about them on this podcast, Terms
0:13:56 and Conditions Apply Need to Hire, You Need Indeed.
0:13:57 Yap, gang.
0:14:02 I appreciate a good deal just like anyone else, but I’m not going to cross a desert
0:14:06 or walk through a bed of hot coals just to save a few bucks.
0:14:10 It needs to be straightforward, no complications, and no nonsense.
0:14:14 So when Mint Mobile said that I could get wireless service for just $15 a month with
0:14:17 a three month plan, I was skeptical.
0:14:22 But it is truly that simple to secure wireless at $15 a month, and Mint Mobile made my transition
0:14:24 incredibly easy.
0:14:26 The entire process was online.
0:14:30 It was easy to purchase, easy to activate, and easy to save money.
0:14:34 The only lengthy part that took up any time was waiting on hold to cancel my previous
0:14:35 provider.
0:14:39 If you want to get started, just go to mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:14:43 You’ll see right now that all the three month plans are only $15 a month, including the
0:14:45 unlimited plan.
0:14:49 All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text, delivered on the nation’s
0:14:51 largest 5G network.
0:14:55 And don’t worry, you can use your own phone and keep your current phone number with any
0:14:57 Mint Mobile plan.
0:15:01 Find out how easy it is to switch to Mint Mobile and get three months of premium wireless
0:15:04 for just 15 bucks a month.
0:15:07 To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just
0:15:11 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:15:14 That’s mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:15:18 Cut your wireless bill to just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:15:24 $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month.
0:15:26 New customers on first three month plan only.
0:15:30 Speed slower above 40 GB on unlimited plan.
0:15:32 Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply.
0:15:35 See Mint Mobile for details.
0:15:38 Young and Profiters, buy low, sell high.
0:15:40 It’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do.
0:15:44 For example, high interest rates are crushing the real estate market right now.
0:15:48 Demand is dropping and prices are falling, even for many of the best assets.
0:15:53 It’s no wonder the Fundrise Flagship Fund plans to go on a buying spree, expanding its billion
0:15:56 dollar real estate portfolio over the next few months.
0:16:01 You can add the Fundrise Flagship Fund to your portfolio in just minutes with as little
0:16:05 as $10 by visiting fundrise.com/profiting.
0:16:09 That’s f-u-n-d-r-i-s-e.com/profiting.
0:16:16 Again, you can diversify your portfolio with the Fundrise Flagship Fund at fundrise.com/profiting.
0:16:25 Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fundrise
0:16:27 Flagship Fund before investing.
0:16:33 This and other information can be found in the Fund’s prospectus at fundrise.com/flagship.
0:16:38 This is a paid advertisement.
0:16:43 So I called up my mom and dad and I said, you know, I think I’m just going to take some
0:16:44 time off.
0:16:50 I didn’t really have much money and just travel a little and let things clear.
0:16:57 And this was the next big step in your question because, principally, for those four words,
0:16:58 I had no money.
0:17:06 I mean, I didn’t have money to stay in hotels every night, even hostels.
0:17:13 And so the way this trip evolved was I would go to a train station or bus station and I
0:17:20 would look for a destination that was coming up and just buy a ticket.
0:17:22 It didn’t matter really where it was going.
0:17:26 What mattered to me was the walk down the aisle.
0:17:34 I’m walking down that aisle and I am looking for an empty seat, empty seat next to somebody
0:17:37 who looks interesting.
0:17:45 I think is going to trust me because I know once I sit down in that one empty seat, I
0:17:47 got to make my choice here.
0:17:49 Conversation is going to start.
0:17:57 By the end of that conversation, by the end of that trip, I need them to invite me home
0:18:02 because otherwise I got no roof over my head.
0:18:05 Let me tell you how seriously I took this.
0:18:11 I’m walking down that aisle and I see a beautiful woman, no rings on her fingers, she could
0:18:13 be smiling at me.
0:18:15 She could be a supermodel.
0:18:21 I just walked right on by because let’s face it, man, she wasn’t going to be taking
0:18:28 me home, but that grandma in the back, that 83-year-old toothless grandma eating crackers
0:18:33 out of her purse, she could be a winner.
0:18:38 So I go to the back of the train in Hungary, I sit down next to grandma, she doesn’t speak
0:18:39 any English.
0:18:44 I speak very little Hungarian, hello, how are you?
0:18:51 And I turn to her as the train starts rolling and say, “What makes a great goulash?”
0:18:53 She has no idea.
0:18:57 Now it’s a game of charades, we’re just trying to make ourselves understood.
0:19:03 The beauty of this time, this is before the Berlin Wall came down, this is Eastern Europe,
0:19:08 young people who were learning English saw this as like a tremendous opportunity to meet
0:19:14 somebody that was American and could teach them English.
0:19:19 So they would come over to these conversations and I say to grandma, “He wants to know what
0:19:22 makes a great goulash.”
0:19:30 And grandma looks at them and says, “You know, I’ve been riding this train for many, many
0:19:31 years.
0:19:32 Some of you.”
0:19:39 And her chest is kind of swelling with pride because she wants to tell me all about her
0:19:40 goulash.
0:19:50 But she says to them, “Never once has any of you come over to me and asked about my goulash.
0:19:56 And this young man from thousands of kilometers away comes to Hungary because he wants to
0:19:58 know about my goulash.
0:20:04 Well, you tell him he’s coming home with me and we’re going to prepare him goulash tomorrow
0:20:05 night.”
0:20:11 And so the trade ride ends, grandma takes me home and next night I’m sitting at the
0:20:14 head of the table and she is on a roll.
0:20:20 She’s called her friends, her relatives, the whole room is packed with people.
0:20:26 As grandma puts down the goulash right in front of me, I lift it up and as soon as it
0:20:34 hits my lips, my eyes close with rapture and my cheeks rise and the crowd goes crazy.
0:20:37 He loves grandma’s goulash.
0:20:44 And a five-day party starts, everybody wants to meet me at which time somebody comes over
0:20:49 and says, “Have you by any chance ever tasted homemade apricot brandy?”
0:20:51 I say, “No.”
0:20:55 Because my father, he makes the best homemade apricot brandy you will ever taste.
0:20:58 You’ve got to come to the house, taste this brandy.
0:21:05 Okay, so we go over and we taste the brandy at which time another guy comes over, asks
0:21:09 me if I want to go to the apricot capital of the world.
0:21:12 I must see it before I leave Hungary.
0:21:16 And that is how I started to get passed around the world.
0:21:18 Oh my gosh.
0:21:25 Families took me in and then they called relatives and said, “Well, we got this American guy
0:21:30 and I literally put me on a bus, I would go to the other town, people would be waiting
0:21:32 for me.”
0:21:38 And that became very addictive and it lasted for 10 years.
0:21:40 Wow, 10 years.
0:21:43 You were traveling all around the world?
0:21:49 Yes, went through Europe, South America, some parts of Africa.
0:21:52 I saved Asia for late in life.
0:21:53 I don’t know why.
0:21:58 I just figured, seemed like the thing to do.
0:22:08 And I also went all around North America and people just were incredibly accepting.
0:22:14 And after a while, I could get on the train or the bus if people weren’t passing me and
0:22:22 just see which empty seat was the right one, sit in it and people, they took care of me.
0:22:25 What an incredible story.
0:22:29 And that’s where I learned to interview because think about it.
0:22:34 A lot of it is number one, making people feel comfortable.
0:22:40 I felt comfortable the moment we started talking on my podcast, on your podcast.
0:22:41 That’s the key.
0:22:47 If you can make somebody feel comfortable, then they’re not crossed arms and holding
0:22:49 things back.
0:22:55 Now, when I started to travel, there was no internet.
0:22:59 So often, two things happen.
0:23:04 Number one, people would tell me secrets or try to tell me.
0:23:11 They may not have spoken very good English, but they could tell me things that they wouldn’t
0:23:19 tell their neighbors or even family members because then it would get around.
0:23:21 You didn’t know anyone else, so.
0:23:26 I was going to be gone and that might never be seen again.
0:23:31 So we’d have these really intimate moments into the second thing that happened.
0:23:38 And this actually really translates into what I’m doing with workshops to bring people
0:23:45 together because I would go into a town and everybody would come in the room and people
0:23:51 would start talking about the place, what they loved about it in ways that you would
0:23:58 often see the other people who knew them look at them thinking, “I never knew that about
0:23:59 you.”
0:24:08 So I was actually bringing together these people who were seeing each other every day over
0:24:15 things that they might not have realized about each other just because I was being curious.
0:24:22 They had accepted each other and I was just filled with questions.
0:24:33 And so that was the huge, huge evolution that allowed me, when the trip ended, I met a woman
0:24:41 headed to a beach in Brazil immediately fell in love and she actually stood next to me.
0:24:50 I didn’t sit next to her and we got married and came to United States and that’s when
0:24:58 I started to work for Esquire magazine where I took this style of interviewing into the
0:25:05 room with the world leaders, presidents of the United States, Nelson Mandela and Mikhail
0:25:14 Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, business leaders, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, all the actors,
0:25:24 musicians and it was different for them because I just treated it like I was sitting next
0:25:25 to them on the bus.
0:25:31 I wasn’t asking those journalistic questions that are supposed to get to the core and which
0:25:35 they’re thinking they might not want to answer.
0:25:39 I’m just going in curious.
0:25:46 This column that came through it called What I’ve Learned, it was written in their words
0:25:51 and contain the information that they were giving me, these nuggets of wisdom and it
0:25:58 was completely different from anything you ever saw and it became the most popular feature
0:26:07 in the magazine for about 20 years and so that’s where it came from, this hybrid of
0:26:18 knowing what I was supposed to do with then innovating in a way that I had no idea where
0:26:23 things were going but I just allowed it to happen.
0:26:29 There was preparation and understanding but there was also a preparation to improvise
0:26:38 which may seem like a paradox but I can tell you a lot of stories about being caught in
0:26:46 the moment where I was told an interview that I thought was going to be an hour and a half,
0:26:52 I’ve been cut down to 10 minutes with Mikhail Gorbachev meaning the story was never going
0:26:59 to be written and I had to figure out a way to make Mikhail Gorbachev want to talk to
0:27:04 me for 40 minutes and I did.
0:27:08 I did by asking him a single question.
0:27:09 What was that?
0:27:17 When I walked into the room I knew I had to do something drastic and when they told me
0:27:24 I had only 10 minutes I knew that alright it’s 10 minutes but it’s going to be 2 minutes
0:27:31 of us shaking hands, sitting down, exchanging pleasantries plus my questions would have
0:27:39 to be translated into Russian and his back into English so it was down to like 4 minutes
0:27:45 before me and I immediately looked at him and you could just tell he was in town to
0:27:49 speak about abolishing nuclear weapons.
0:27:54 I could immediately tell he was expecting my first question to be about nuclear weapons,
0:28:01 world events, what it’s like to be negotiating with President Ronald Reagan and I immediately
0:28:08 just looked in his eyes and said what’s the best lesson your father ever taught you and
0:28:15 he just didn’t say anything he just kind of was looking up and when people look up to
0:28:24 the right after you’ve asked him a question you know they’re looking deep inside themselves
0:28:30 and time is passing and then saying anything and then he’s looking at the ceiling as if
0:28:36 there’s a movie playing on it and he starts telling me this story he was a boy and his
0:28:42 dad got called up to fight in World War II and the Gorbachev’s lived on a farm and he’s
0:28:48 describing this trip from the farm to the town to drop the dad off with all the other
0:28:54 soldiers and he’s describing it in this detail and I’m sitting there thinking oh man you
0:28:59 just messed up Cal that’s the worst question this interview is going to be over before
0:29:05 the Gorbachev’s even get to town but they do get to town and when they get to town Mr.
0:29:12 Gorbachev takes the family into a little shop and gets everybody some ice cream and Gorbachev
0:29:16 is remembering this ice cream.
0:29:22 He’s remembering the aluminum cup that it was served in and he’s talking about this cup
0:29:27 of ice cream as if it’s in the palm of his hand and the more he’s talking about it it’s
0:29:33 like we both have this realization that man this cup of ice cream is the reason he was
0:29:38 able to make peace with Ronald Reagan and then the Cold War because this cup of ice
0:29:44 cream contained the memory of what it was like just before your father went to war the
0:29:49 dread of not knowing whether you’d ever see him again so he’s looking at the ice cream
0:29:52 I’m looking at the ice cream he’s looking at the ice cream looking up at each other and
0:29:58 we’re thinking man this is deep just then the publicist who was the one who called me
0:30:01 and said you know remember that interview that I told you would be an hour and a half
0:30:07 it’s only ten minutes she comes through the door and said Mr. Gorbachev time for the interview
0:30:16 you will have to be over and he looks at her and says no I want to talk to him she’s shocked
0:30:22 and slowly backs out the door and the conversation continues and goes deeper so ten minutes later
0:30:29 publicist comes in again this time a little more sheepishly said Mr. Gorbachev Cal time
0:30:36 no Gorbachev said I want to talk to him she backs out the room the conversation continues
0:30:44 goes deeper till ten twenty minutes passed and she comes in and now she is at the edge
0:30:50 like Mr. Gorbachev Cal please the day was planned to the minute we got a long line of
0:30:57 people out the door to see Mr. Gorbachev please and Gorbachev looks at me and he smiles and
0:31:04 he says you know hey what can I do and we concluded the interview but I had the material
0:31:12 to fill out the column it was a huge success and when I thought back on why Hala I realized
0:31:18 that I never would have gotten that insight if I hadn’t asked my first question to the
0:31:24 heart if I’d gone in with a can question would have gotten a can answer interview would
0:31:29 have been over in six minutes ten minutes whatever and I never would have known what
0:31:38 was possible so that’s a piece of advice I tell everybody and entrepreneurs specially
0:31:46 you meet somebody try and aim your first question for the heart because once you’ve reached
0:31:52 into somebody’s heart you can then take it to the head and then follow the heart and
0:32:00 the head on a pathway to the soul and so I hope that somebody who’s listening is going
0:32:06 to put that to good use what an incredible story I love hearing about your journey and
0:32:11 it’s so cool that you got your interviewing skills just living real life and we were talking
0:32:16 offline how a lot of my listeners they’re not podcasters or entrepreneurs or small business
0:32:21 owners or corporate professionals but we all need to learn how to make people comfortable
0:32:26 how to be good listeners how to ask good questions how to build relationships because that’s
0:32:31 what it’s all about and to grow in your business you need to have a powerful network you need
0:32:36 to be good at making relationships having people trust you be comfortable with you and
0:32:42 so on so let’s start there you mentioned that you know how to make people feel comfortable
0:32:48 what’s your advice in terms of tactics to get people to feel comfortable to open up
0:32:55 okay let’s say I’m an entrepreneur selling something what’s the most important thing
0:33:05 to me knowing what my customer or would be customer is thinking mm-hmm there’s nothing
0:33:13 more important you can have the greatest idea in the world if there are no customers that
0:33:24 want it it’s not gonna fly so just asking your customer or potential customer or anybody
0:33:31 that you’re talking to about the thing that you are trying to create or that you’re selling
0:33:39 to get a gauge on whether they would be interested in purchasing it or whether they know somebody
0:33:46 you’d be interested in purchasing it that’s the bedrock right there and so many times
0:33:53 I run into entrepreneurs and they don’t ask those questions and and when I’m talking about
0:33:59 asking those questions it’s different this gets to your question it’s very different
0:34:06 from putting out a survey that says on a scale of one to ten well what do you think of this
0:34:13 is it a six is it a seven is it and who’s six is another person’s nine we don’t know that
0:34:19 it’s very different from looking somebody in the eye and saying what do you think about this
0:34:27 do you like this does it bother you in any way and I think you find that people will be happy
0:34:35 to tell you how they feel or think and then you can actually take it deeper because you may have
0:34:42 ideas on which way to go and you can say would you like it better if I chose a or would you
0:34:49 like it better if I chose b and maybe they might have an idea man you know there’s a t-shirts life
0:34:58 is good it’s got this smiling face that became famous the whole brand was done around it and it
0:35:04 only came about because there was a party that the owner’s home they have been trying to sell
0:35:12 t-shirts for like six years on college campuses getting soaked in the rain getting thrown off
0:35:18 campuses not having a license just barely making it was their dream and all of a sudden they had
0:35:29 one party and somebody put this image of a smiling face on the wall and as soon as they saw it they
0:35:39 said there it is that’s the centerpiece of our brand and these things happen because you’re
0:35:49 asking people to either look at something and respond to it or maybe they have an idea that’s
0:35:54 going to change your life because you’re in one place but their idea will take you to another
0:36:02 you know there’s a story about Steve Jobs when he was creating the apple store he really wanted to
0:36:07 do this and there are a lot of people in the company and this is after he came back from being
0:36:13 fired there was still pushback on a lot of things he wanted and the store was one of them
0:36:20 because they’re saying you’re going to put these stores in the mall nobody’s going to go into these
0:36:26 stores and not only does he want to do it but he wants to do it on a really high level spending a
0:36:34 lot of money and they designed one in California as a model and he’s on his way to see it it’s just
0:36:40 about to be shown and he gets in the car with somebody who he really trusted and also worked at
0:36:49 Apple and the guy said Steve this is wrong it’s not it’s not designed right and Jobs went crazy
0:36:57 shut up like I don’t want to hear and then was silent for the rest of the ride and he didn’t
0:37:05 even say anything to him in the car they went into the store and Jobs had to give a talk about this
0:37:12 being the story of the future and he just said no this isn’t right we got to reconfigure this
0:37:20 and people have to help you here’s the thing holla that this is where I’m actually my whole
0:37:26 life is going it is a sign of a good interviewer because you took me on this wild route to the
0:37:33 place where I am going I am trying to connect people I think we live in a really disconnected
0:37:41 time at least from my perspective because I can remember how things connected in the 60s 70s 80s
0:37:53 I was there and we really have to think about how our connections help us collaborate better
0:38:00 you being in a room alone is not going to really stand much of a chance
0:38:12 against having ideas about what you’re doing come at you and having teams of people collaborating
0:38:18 to get the most out of themselves but we’re all remote working now I’m not saying this is bad
0:38:27 I get it it’s all good it’s just that there’s got to be a framework for people to be able to
0:38:34 a couple of times a year get together so they understand who they’re working with they understand
0:38:42 what that person appreciates it’s not just a zoom call you know there’s a book like the five love
0:38:48 languages where it was written by like a psychologist and he was really smart because he talked to so
0:38:55 many people who are having troubles in their love life but there’s different ways that we want to
0:39:02 feel loved some people they need to hear it some people they need a present in his case it was five
0:39:10 but it’s no different at work there are some people who need to hear hey well you did it’s great
0:39:18 some people don’t need to hear it but maybe they’re looking for a gift of sorts yeah race or bonus
0:39:24 or something exactly everybody’s got a different way and if I don’t think that comes through zoom
0:39:31 calls serendipity comes when you don’t know what’s going to happen next on a zoom call you kind of
0:39:40 know this is what the zoom calls about so I think it’s so important to look for ways especially if
0:39:49 you’re an entrepreneur to connect with people face to face and ask some questions people want to be
0:39:57 listened to we’ll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors young exporters chances are
0:40:01 if you’re listening to this show you’ve got an expertise that you can teach other people chances
0:40:07 are you can make passive income by creating your first course if you’ve been on the fence about
0:40:13 creating a course what are you waiting for it is so easy to launch a course these days because
0:40:18 teachable has got your back teachable is the number one course platform it is simply the best
0:40:23 platform for content creators to start or grow an online business authentically that’s because
0:40:28 teachable offers more product options to create and sell than any other platform with online courses
0:40:34 digital downloads coaching services memberships and communities you can engage your online audience
0:40:40 on a deeper level and you can get selling fast with easy to use content and website builders plus a
0:40:46 variety of ai tools they have an ai curriculum generator they have automatic subtitles and
0:40:51 translations so they’ve really figured out how to use ai to optimize our course creation and
0:40:56 make it much faster they also have a top rated mobile app that allows your customers to enjoy
0:41:01 your products on the go on teachable creators also get more power and ownership over monetizing their
0:41:06 content your content shouldn’t get lost in the algorithm and you shouldn’t have to rely on other
0:41:11 companies to pay you now is the perfect time to join teachable because you get an exclusive deal
0:41:17 with our partner code profiting go to teachable.com and use code profiting to unlock a free month
0:41:22 on their pro plan you’ll get all their marketing product creation features to build out your
0:41:26 offerings and there’s no limitations on this trial so you definitely don’t want to miss this again
0:41:32 it’s teachable.com you can use code profiting for an entire free month on teachable be a part of the
0:41:37 hundred thousand plus creators who are already using teachable to turn their expertise into a thriving
0:41:43 online business yeah fam if you’re anything like me you didn’t start your business to spend all
0:41:50 your time managing finances budgeting invoicing and tax prep not exactly the fun part of entrepreneurship
0:41:56 my ceo jason on the other hand is great at finances but even he doesn’t want to switch
0:42:01 between five different apps for banking expense tracking and contractor payments we wanted a tool
0:42:09 that could just do it all and guess what we found one and yes it’s called found found is an all-in-one
0:42:15 financial tool made for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs found handles everything business banking
0:42:21 bookkeeping invoicing vendor payments and even tax planning no more juggling multiple apps found
0:42:27 does it all in one place with smart features like automatic expense tracking virtual cards for specific
0:42:34 budgets and no hidden fees or minimum balances found helps us stay organized and save time
0:42:40 plus signing up is quick and easy no paperwork or credit checks required join the 500,000 small
0:42:46 business owners who trust found get your business banking working for you try found for free at
0:42:51 found.com slash profiting stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try found for free
0:42:59 at found.com slash profiting sign up for found for free at fond.com slash profiting found is a
0:43:05 financial technology company not a bank banking services are provided by peremont bank member fdic
0:43:11 founds core features are free they also offer an optional paid product found plus young
0:43:17 and profitors i spent years slaving away and so many different jobs trying to prove myself
0:43:22 trying to figure out what gave me joy at work and trying to build productive teams eventually
0:43:27 i figured it all out but what if you could learn that stuff about yourself and your team
0:43:33 and a fraction of the time that i did the working genius model will transform your work your team
0:43:39 and your life by leveraging your natural gifts we each possess a unique set of skills and let’s
0:43:43 face it you’re going to be more fulfilled and successful when you lean into rather than away
0:43:49 from your natural true talents working genius can help you discover how to increase joy and
0:43:55 energy at work by understanding what your working geniuses really are the working genius assessment
0:44:00 only takes 10 minutes and the results can be applied immediately i took the assessment and my two
0:44:06 primary working geniuses are inventing and galvanizing i just love creating new things and
0:44:11 then rallying people together to bring them to life that’s why i’ve been starting businesses
0:44:16 and growing teams for years your own working genius may be completely different the working
0:44:22 genius assessment is not just a personality test it’s a productivity tool it can help you identify
0:44:27 your own individual talents and provide a great roadmap for creating productive and satisfied
0:44:33 teams you and your team will get more done in less time with more joy and energy to get 20
0:44:39 percent off the $25 working genius assessment go to workinggenius.com and enter the promo code
0:44:47 profiting at checkout that’s right you can get 20 off the $25 working genius assessment at workinggenius.com
0:44:56 using promo code profiting that’s why i wanted to have this conversation because i feel like you
0:45:02 have so much to offer to get people to open up to get real bonds with people because i feel like
0:45:08 asking good questions relevant questions that elicit meaningful responses actually listening
0:45:15 is the basis of all relationships that’s what a relationship is it’s asking good questions and
0:45:24 listening and having an authentic conversation you know this really overlaps with business
0:45:31 i’m gonna give a talk next week and i’m just thinking about this topic because okay you
0:45:39 know i started out asking questions writing now i talk and talk for companies about this
0:45:49 and something occurred to me when i thought back on a story i wrote at the end of last century
0:45:57 about learning to be a sommelier that is the idea of you go into a like an upscale restaurant
0:46:03 and there’s somebody who comes over and is going to match the wine for the moment and i trained
0:46:12 under the best sommelier in america a woman named andrea emmer and do you follow uh the
0:46:21 wmba women’s basketball now i don’t oh you’ve got to watch katelyn clark and angel reese but katelyn
0:46:29 clark is somebody who’s going to be one of the biggest people in america see this is why i love it
0:46:37 holla young and profiting and i feel like i’m young and profiting telling you about these young
0:46:44 people who are profiting this woman she just graduated from college last year it went from
0:46:52 games in the wmba where they might get 3 000 people now they’re going to bigger arenas and
0:47:00 selling out people are paying 400 tickets to see her katelyn clark and she shoots from nearly
0:47:06 half court and the ball goes in a lot of times and she passes it in a way you can’t imagine it well
0:47:12 this woman that i’m talking about this sommelier andrea emmer the best way i could describe her was
0:47:24 she was like katelyn clark she walked out on the floor and she did something that is incredibly
0:47:30 entrepreneurial and incredibly business-like even though you didn’t know it because you thought she
0:47:36 was just enhancing the experience that you’re going to get the best bottle of wine at a price that you
0:47:45 could afford and i thought about it and i realized that sales is leadership and leadership is sales
0:47:55 so follow me on this okay she’s going around she’s starting a conversation with the people at the
0:48:01 table what is she doing this is exactly what you’re saying holla she’s asking questions what are you
0:48:08 having to eat what kind of wines do you like what taste do you like because she’s got to pick the best
0:48:16 wines for them but also she’s got to be very cognizant of the price somebody’s at that table is paying
0:48:23 and she doesn’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable by bringing up well this is going to cost you
0:48:31 80 bucks then you want the $80 bottle you want the $20 bottle and look back then it always made me
0:48:37 feel a little uncomfortable when that sommelier or the waiter came over because i didn’t know anything
0:48:45 about wine until i went and learned about it and you could easily get ripped off because you know
0:48:50 the waiter could tell you anything and any just they could sell you a bottle that they weren’t
0:48:55 moving and they just wanted to get out of the restaurant yeah with a high price to it and
0:49:03 you didn’t know the difference yeah you wouldn’t know i watched her ask these questions listen
0:49:10 and connect the dots because she she had a wine list that had 1500 wines in it she knew these wines
0:49:19 she had stories about the wines and she could describe the wines to people and then she would
0:49:28 figure out who’s picking up the tab and she’d without anybody else saying point to do you like
0:49:35 this one and then but she’s pointing not to the wine to the price are you thinking of like the 20
0:49:44 the 35 without anybody else at table knowing anybody else at table is watching her work
0:49:50 they’re thinking we’re getting the best experience and what is she doing she’s selling
0:50:01 but she’s also leading the table to the best choice for them and then when they make a decision
0:50:07 and they love it it’s like watching katelyn clark throw up a three-pointer the people are so happy
0:50:16 and what happens afterward the people leave but they want to come back they want to buy again
0:50:25 not only that they want to tell their friends i know angia she’s the best sommelier in america went
0:50:31 through the competition she’s the best tell her you know me and you’re gonna get a great experience
0:50:38 and so you see the leadership behind all this because she’s literally leading people to come
0:50:50 back in she’s leading them to tell other people to come back in and that is a great great strategy
0:50:59 for an entrepreneur if you can listen like that and you can connect the dots and then gently nudge
0:51:07 people don’t throw down some big deck and say buy this or buy that no you gently nudge them
0:51:15 so that they actually think it’s their decision even though you were guiding them all along which is
0:51:22 what does a great leader do you know he or she puts out the information that makes
0:51:31 the people look up and say yeah i want to get behind that and then make it their own so all these
0:51:39 basic skills that you would think oh cal’s he’s a writer he’s a journalist no it’s the same thing
0:51:49 it comes down to asking the right question listening connecting the dots telling the story
0:51:56 and then the little nudge and that’s that’s sales and that’s leadership it’s the same
0:52:02 so i learned something from my client and she talks about the laws of likeability and she
0:52:08 taught me about three stages of listening which i thought were really interesting so there’s
0:52:15 inward listening so somebody says halla i love Thai food and you’re just like me too Thai food’s
0:52:21 my favorite food then there’s outward listening where it’s like halla i love Thai food and and
0:52:26 you actually reflected back on the person to keep learning about them and you say oh really like what’s
0:52:31 your favorite Thai food spot or what’s your favorite food or why do you even like Thai food and you
0:52:38 make it more about them not just reflecting about yourself right away right and then there’s intuitive
0:52:44 listening halla i love Thai food so much oh my gosh you sound so excited are you thinking about going
0:52:48 to Thailand one day you’re not just listening to what they’re saying you’re trying to feel
0:52:54 like how they’re feeling about it i always carry that with me because a lot of people are at this
0:53:00 first level of listening where they’re really just only thinking about their own experiences
0:53:05 they’re asking a question just to respond back to give their own story or their own opinion
0:53:10 we’re really if you want people to like you and really deepen the relationship you want to keep
0:53:17 digging deeper and deeper and tell them that you’re listening by doing that and then they’ll
0:53:23 like you more because they realize like oh you’re listening to me because you’re deepening the
0:53:29 questioning about what i’m even saying not just going back to yourself yeah do you really care
0:53:37 what i think as opposed to the first brand of listening that you’re talking about which is
0:53:43 listening while you’re not really listening you’re thinking of what you want to say next
0:53:53 exactly so these things are incredibly important whether you are hosting a podcast writing a story
0:54:04 as a journalist telling a story being an entrepreneur working in a company it’s the bedrock of connection
0:54:13 and if you think of it this way if you can’t connect as best you can how can you collaborate
0:54:20 as best you can it just doesn’t make sense connection is collaboration you must have told
0:54:27 like 100 stories on this podcast so i have to ask you what is your formula for telling a good story
0:54:32 it’s probably coming so naturally to you now but if you had to teach somebody else how to do this
0:54:39 and be engaging what would you say this is basically the hero’s journey everybody can do this
0:54:48 everybody’s an expert at it why because they’ve seen this a million times on movies and in fact
0:54:55 what i’m gonna do is i’m gonna give you six steps and then i’m gonna come back to you and ask okay
0:55:03 holla give me your favorite movie and take the main character and guide them through these six
0:55:14 steps and you’ll see it works because this is the formula that’s employed by hollywood now if it’s
0:55:20 an independent movie that goes all over the place a little different but if it’s a big selling hollywood
0:55:31 movie it follows along these lines so one you need a vulnerable character there is no story
0:55:41 without a vulnerable character done nobody cares otherwise we need to see some kind of vulnerability
0:55:51 and not only that but step number two is we need to see intention of that vulnerable character
0:55:58 to get past their vulnerability to wherever they want to go so you got steps one and two
0:56:07 vulnerable character intention to get to a better place step three obstacles obstacles come up and
0:56:16 stop the vulnerable character from getting where they want to go step number four a mentor appears
0:56:26 some kind of mentor who has maybe been to this experience before has wisdom around it maybe
0:56:35 they don’t have any wisdom but they got ideas that can help the vulnerable character get past
0:56:43 the obstacles and get to a place of transformation so now through the first four steps we have seen
0:56:49 the vulnerable character stymied from the beginning running into obstacles but now they’ve
0:56:57 met somebody along the journey that’s taught them something to get to that following place
0:57:06 but you know what it’s not enough there’s still another obstacle to stop the vulnerable character
0:57:12 and as they’re going through this they’re applying everything they’ve learned along the way
0:57:24 and you know use the force luke and then step six is a place of transformation where everything
0:57:31 that the vulnerable character has learned has been applied and get past the obstacles
0:57:38 to a place of transformation that you might not have even really seen what’s coming all right so
0:57:45 give me a movie that you love give me a character that was vulnerable let’s go through the six steps
0:57:51 I feel like I hate this exercise because I don’t watch a lot of movies but why don’t we do
0:57:59 barbie the latest barbie movie did you watch that I did okay twice I feel like I never remember
0:58:06 movies what happened with her in that movie she starts out great she starts out everything’s perfect
0:58:14 right yeah she’s like lives in a perfect world she’s dating ken they’re happy and then she what
0:58:20 is it she goes to the real world right she starts getting like a feet basically right she gets her
0:58:28 feet she wakes up one day and it’s not perfect and that’s what sets her off on the journey
0:58:36 and she’s goes to look for a mentor who says you got to go into the real world so you see that
0:58:45 like barbie started with everything perfect but then something happened that just made her
0:58:54 imperfect and then there you go that starts her on her hero’s journey to get back the perfect world
0:59:03 now in the meantime all these things get shaken up that puts ken in a new position where this
0:59:09 vulnerable guy all of a sudden finds out about this world driven by masculinity and he’s going to
0:59:17 become somewhat different and you see them she’s going to meet people she meets a mom and a daughter
0:59:28 and the daughter doesn’t like her and she can’t believe it obstacle obstacles and then the mom
0:59:39 actually has to step up and the mom has the love of barbie because different generations and so you
0:59:46 see them fighting through all the obstacles but more than one mentor is coming in here people who
0:59:55 are helping barbie on the journey and then toward the end what’s happened barbie’s world has been
1:00:03 flipped upside down and now you’ve got women who are were strong and assertive and ready to run
1:00:11 the supreme court are now putting their heads on the shoulders of men who are playing crappy guitar
1:00:21 and just being in love and everything has got to be flipped over for barbie to have her world back
1:00:30 and so that journey just it follows this whole pattern of finding mentors in that case many
1:00:39 obstacles keep coming up and barbie’s in shock to find out that a young girl can actually not like
1:00:48 her and that the way her world is is no longer the way and then meet the person who created this
1:00:59 world and in the end the world is through her efforts turn back right side up and the hero’s
1:01:06 journey is complete so using those six steps anybody can tell a story but we’re talking about
1:01:15 entrepreneurs it’s a little different when you tell a business story why because in the business
1:01:24 story you cannot be the hero the hero is a vulnerable person in this case when you’re
1:01:30 telling your business story the hero is your client yeah the customer is the hero the customer
1:01:41 has an issue that needs to be resolved and your product is the solution so what happens is the
1:01:49 customer is vulnerable the customer wants better they have an intention to improve but the customer
1:02:00 can’t get the right product the mentor comes in it’s your company you are now the mentor your
1:02:06 business is the mentor and your business is showing the client how they can get what they want they
1:02:13 don’t have to be vulnerable anymore you will take them past the obstacles to a point of transformation
1:02:21 and make them happy and that is the business way of going through those six steps very important
1:02:27 because i don’t want entrepreneurs to be thinking they can be barbie and go through that journey
1:02:35 because you don’t want to look vulnerable you want your product to be the solution
1:02:45 not the character that needs a solution and you can use these stories if you’re doing presentations
1:02:51 or throughout your website or on social media you want to write stories to help people really
1:02:57 connect with your brand and what you’re selling and feel like they could be that hero that customer
1:03:03 and relate to the stories that you’re telling so you know that i’m an entrepreneur i run a
1:03:11 business 60 employees and i’m hiring all the time and one of the skills that i find that a lot of
1:03:18 people do not have is writing so i find that still in my business i’m writing so many of the
1:03:23 communications i’m writing the emails i’m not writing social posts i have an awesome social
1:03:30 team that’s writing for clients and stuff but when it comes to writing programs or faqs or
1:03:36 anything that i need either internally or very important external stuff i feel like i’m still
1:03:42 the best writer and i feel like it’s so hard to train people to just write clearly and just
1:03:48 effectively so i just want your guidance you’re a professional writer how can people level up
1:03:54 their writing skills because people just don’t have good writing skills i love the question
1:04:07 because it made me think deeper number one you could probably solve the problem by searching
1:04:18 for somebody in a position that’s extremely clear when you put out your job posting letting
1:04:27 them know this is a position for somebody who thinks clearly communicates clearly
1:04:35 writes clearly speaks clearly this is my number one requirement for my executive assistant
1:04:39 to literally have a job post out and it’s just like you need to be able to think clearly right
1:04:46 and if you can’t then please don’t apply for this job because this is something that we
1:04:54 are not going to take the time to train somebody to do we want somebody who
1:05:00 wakes up in the morning and when they look in the mirror they see clarity
1:05:10 okay young and profitors so that was the first part of my conversation with cal fussman
1:05:15 even if you’re not a podcaster and you never conduct any interviews i hope you took to heart
1:05:20 some of the things that cal said about the art of interviewing because so much of getting along
1:05:25 and getting ahead in the business world is about learning to get along with other people
1:05:30 to make them comfortable to ask the right questions and to build relationships with them
1:05:37 i loved cal’s approach of never sitting down next to an empty seat whether it’s on a bus
1:05:43 in a foreign country or in a room of executives a healthy curiosity about other people as a skill
1:05:49 of its own and you can’t develop it by sitting on your own or by hiding in an office or behind a
1:05:54 computer making others feel comfortable and engaging them in conversation can tell you
1:06:00 so much about how they see the world which can be invaluable business intelligence and like cal said
1:06:06 most people want to tell you what they think they’re eager to share feedback and ideas
1:06:11 and their secrets you just have to know how to prime the pump all right in part two of my
1:06:16 conversation with cal fussman we’re going to take a deep dive into another skill that’s becoming
1:06:22 increasingly essential to have in the business world knowing how to use ai are you engaging enough
1:06:28 with ai tools if you’re not like me then what can help you get started stay tuned and check out
1:06:33 the next episode of young and profiting to find out thanks for listening to this episode if you
1:06:37 listen learned and profited from it then why not share young and profiting with a friend or maybe
1:06:42 even engage them in a conversation about the show and if you did enjoy the show and you
1:06:48 learned something then why not drop us a five star review on apple podcast if you prefer to watch
1:06:52 your podcast as videos you can find us on youtube just look up young and profiting you’ll find all
1:06:58 of our episodes on there if you’re looking to get in touch with me you can find me on instagram
1:07:03 or linkedin by searching my name it’s halla taha and as always i’ve got to thank my production team
1:07:07 for all their hard work you guys are awesome thank you for all that you do this is your host
1:07:21 hola taha aka the podcast princess signing off
1:07:21 you
1:07:22 you
1:07:25 (door creaking)
1:07:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]
“Are you happy to be the president?” asked 7-year-old Cal Fussman in a letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson after JFK’s assassination. Six months later, his mother ran into their apartment, waving a letter from the White House. This profound moment revealed the power of a question, setting Cal on a lifelong journey of asking questions and telling stories. In this episode, Cal discusses the power of authentic storytelling and offers entrepreneurs actionable advice on how to ask the right questions.
Cal Fussman is a New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker, and master storyteller known for his captivating interviews. He also hosts the Big Questions podcast and his work has appeared in Esquire, GQ, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN.
In this episode, Hala and Cal will discuss:
– The presidential letter that changed Cal’s life
– How he traveled the world for free
– Techniques for making people open up
– How to turn brief meetings into deep connections
– The winning formula for telling captivating stories
– Tips for becoming a better listener
– How curiosity can lead to success in life and business
– Cal’s unique style of interviewing famous people
– Building genuine relationships through conversation
– Tips for entrepreneurs on asking the right questions
– And other topics…
Cal Fussman is a New York Times bestselling author and master storyteller known for his captivating interviews. He is the host of the Big Questions podcast and a celebrated keynote speaker. Cal has spent decades connecting with some of the world’s most influential figures, from Muhammad Ali to Jeff Bezos. His unique ability to make people feel comfortable and his relentless curiosity have made him a beloved figure in journalism. His work has appeared in Esquire, GQ, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN.
Connect with Cal:
Cal’s Website: https://www.calfussman.com/
Cal’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calfussman/
Cal’s Twitter: https://x.com/calfussman
Cal’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calfussman
Cal’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/calfussman/
Resources Mentioned:
Cal’s Podcast, Big Questions: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/big-questions-with-cal-fussman/id1315791659?mt=2
LinkedIn Secrets Masterclass, Have Job Security For Life:
Use code ‘podcast’ for 30% off at yapmedia.io/course.
Sponsored By:
Shopify – Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at youngandprofiting.co/shopify
Indeed – Get a $75 job credit at indeed.com/profiting
More About Young and Profiting
Download Transcripts – youngandprofiting.com
Get Sponsorship Deals – youngandprofiting.com/sponsorships
Leave a Review – ratethispodcast.com/yap
Watch Videos – youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting
Follow Hala Taha
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/htaha/
Instagram – instagram.com/yapwithhala/
TikTok – tiktok.com/@yapwithhala
Twitter – twitter.com/yapwithhala
Learn more about YAP Media’s Services – yapmedia.io/