In this live episode of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” we learn why New York has skinny skyscrapers, how to weaponize water, and what astronauts talk about in space. Joining Stephen J. Dubner as co-host is the linguist John McWhorter; Bari Weiss (The New York Times) is the real-time fact-checker.
Category: Uncategorized
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293: Local Podcasts: How to Become the Voice of Your Community — and Get Paid
Bill Nowicki has a unique side hustle. He has a podcast show called MariettaStories named after Marietta GA, a suburb of Atlanta with a population of about 60,000.
Having a podcast show isn’t unique but producing a show that’s focused on a local community is something a little different – and something you might consider doing for your local community after hearing Bill’s story.
Bill is a former Navy submariner, still a nuclear engineer by day, and had different side hustle aspirations at first – he wanted to make videos for local businesses but was finding it hard to land clients.
After meeting a charismatic 78-year-old woman at his local church he had the idea to start a podcast about people in his local community, for his local community.
He thought this would be a great way to generate videography leads. But as his show has grown and become a profit-center of its own, Bill realized that not only in his time better spent on his show but the medium of audio is more enjoyable and profitable for him than video.
Tune in to hear how Bill started his podcast show, how he marketed his show and became known in his local community, how he’s monetized the show to turn it into a revenue generating side hustle and some of the exciting things he has planned for the future.
Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Local Podcasts: How to Become the Voice of Your Community — and Get Paid
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342. Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean?
He was once the most lionized athlete on the planet, with seven straight Tour de France wins and a victory over cancer too. Then the doping charges caught up with him. When he finally confessed to Oprah, he admits, “it didn’t go well at all.” That’s because he wasn’t actually contrite yet. Now, five years later, he says he is. Do you believe him?
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#37 Annie Duke: Getting Better by Being Wrong
I have wanted to do this interview for a long time. On this episode, I am thrilled to have Annie Duke, former professional poker player and author of the new book, Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts.
Annie has a very interesting background that makes her uniquely qualified to speak about high-level decision making. As an author, speaker, world-class poker player, and academic in the fields of psychology and cognitive theory, Annie understands the intersection of luck, skill, and making decisions in uncertain, chaotic environments better than most people on the planet.
This is a whirlwind of an episode, and we cover all kinds of fascinating topics, including:
- The strange circumstances that shifted Annie’s path from finishing a Ph.D. in linguistics to becoming a professional poker player
- What it was like to be a female poker player in a predominantly male sport (especially before poker had become socially acceptable)
- What drew Annie into such a high stakes, time-pressured environment and why she felt like poker was the perfect fit for her
- How her graduate work in psychology informed the way she approached the game of poker — and helped her rack up wins
- How she finds the signal in a very noisy stream of feedback
- The big mistakes Annie noticed other players making that were stalling their progress in the game but allowed her to make giant leaps forward
- The role that mental models played in her learning process (and which models Annie liked to lean on the most in a high stakes game)
- The power of surrounding yourself with people that can help you expand your circle of competence — and how that made all the difference in Annie’s development as a player
- Confirmatory and exploratory thought, and how one helps us to be “accurate” and one helps us to be “right.”
- The secret pact you should be making with the people who are closest to you
And so much more.
This episode is just under two hours long, but there’s no fat in it. Annie delivers a masterclass in making the smartest decisions we can, even when our hubris insists otherwise. Do some finger stretches before hitting play, because you’re going to be taking some serious notes.
Please enjoy the interview!
***
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Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish
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292: Free Houses: How to Build a $1 Million Real Estate Portfolio on the Side
Austin Miller built a $1.2 million real estate portfolio at 31 years old — for free.
He’s a side hustling real estate investor specializing in “creative” financing deals — houses he can buy without using his own money.
Austin is the author of Free Houses: How To Build Your Real Estate Investment Portfolio With No Money.
His basic strategy is this:
- Find a killer deal on a house that needs some work.
- Buy it with the creative financing methods Austin talks about in this episode.
- Either do the work yourself or hire contractors.
- Put a paying tenant in the newly rehabbed home.
- Refinance the home with a traditional bank loan and pay back the original funding source.
The end game is positive monthly cash flow from rental income, plus building a long-term wealth through tenants paying off the mortgage.
Austin has developed some unique and interesting ways to hard money and private money to fund his property purchases.
The best part – it’s truly a side hustle that can be done in a few hours a week the end result is passive income from rental revenue.
Tune in to hear how Austin finds killer deals, buys the houses without risking his own capital, and then rehabs them to get ready to rent.
Full Show Notes and PDF Highlight Reel: Free Houses: How to Build a $1 Million Real Estate Portfolio on the Side
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341. Why We Choke Under Pressure (and How Not To)
It happens to just about everyone, whether you’re going for Olympic gold or giving a wedding toast. We hear from psychologists, economists, and the golfer who some say committed the greatest choke of all time.
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291: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences: 20 Questions with Nick
It’s time to dive into the ol’ listener mailbag and answer a few questions in this week’s edition of The Side Hustle Show.
I’ve had quite a few interesting questions come in since the last Q&A episode, and picked 20 to talk through in today’s show.
Like this format? This is the 6th installment of “20 Questions” so feel free to go back and binge on the older ones too:
- 271: Brilliant Blogging, Ruthless Productivity, and Guaranteed Success: 20 Questions with Nick
- 245: Network Marketing, Imposter Syndrome, My Side Hustle Mistakes, and More: 20 Questions with Nick
- 219: Growing Traffic, Monetization, List-Building, a Day in the Life, and More: 20 Questions with Nick
- 198: Blogging, Branding, Book Writing, and Finding the Right Side Hustle for You: 20 Questions with Nick
- 181: SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Self-Publishing, Udemy, and More: 20 Questions with Nick
A common piece of advice you’ll hear is to take audience questions and turn them into content, so here’s a meta example of that in action.
This episode covers questions on conferences, affiliate marketing, ebooks, staying motivated and organized, and even bulletproof coffee.
Tune in to hear my responses to those questions and a dozen more below.
Full Show Notes: Email, Ebooks, Platforms, and Conferences: 20 Questions with Nick
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340. People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard.
You wouldn’t think you could win a Nobel Prize for showing that humans tend to make irrational decisions. But that’s what Richard Thaler has done. The founder of behavioral economics describes his unlikely route to success; his reputation for being lazy; and his efforts to fix the world — one nudge at a time.
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#36 William MacAskill: The Science of Doing Good
On this episode of The Knowledge Project, I’m happy to have William MacAskill.
William is the co-founder and President of the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA) and an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Oxford University. He is also the founder and president of 80,000 Hours, the co-founder and vice-president of Giving What We Can, and the author of Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference.
William’s work is primarily focused on encouraging people to use reason and evidence to find the best possible ways they can use their resources to make the biggest possible impact in the world.
We cover a lot of ground in this interview, including:
- Why good intentions aren’t enough when giving to charity and how we can do better
- How William’s giving philosophy was formed and how it developed into The Centre for Effective Altruism
- The best metrics to assess how good a charity is before donating a dime
- How letting our emotions guide our charitable giving can lead to ineffective, and sometimes harmful outcomes.
- How many charities today unknowingly reward low dollar donors and sell themselves short millions of dollars in potential donations
- A powerful thought exercise to help you gain a different but valuable perspective about helping the poor and suffering in the world
- The one cognitive bias William believes is the most damaging to any business, organization or individual
- William’s foundational values that guide his day to day decisions and actions
- William’s take on “radical honesty” and when honesty can be taken too far and is no longer constructive
- William’s definition of success and the imaginary conversation he has with himself on his deathbed to make sure he’s on the right track (this is awesome)
- The most common mistake William sees people make over and over (and the embarrassingly simple way to avoid making it)
- And then to wrap up, I gave him a softball question: What is the purpose and meaning of life?
If you’ve wanted to make more of a positive impact in the world around you, this insightful interview will give you plenty to think about. Your resources are precious and should be optimized to improve the lives of those you help. I don’t know of a better person to guide you than William.
***
Go Premium: Members get early access, ad-free episodes, hand-edited transcripts, searchable transcripts, member-only episodes, and more. Sign up at: https://fs.blog/membership/
Every Sunday our newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/
Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish
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290: Willpower 101: 8 Ways to Strengthen This Critical Success Muscle
Willpower predicts academic and professional success better than IQ, or charisma, or having rich parents.
It’s not the only ingredient in our success recipe, but it’s a critical one — and one I certainly struggle with at times.
Derek Doepker of ExcuseProof.com is an expert when it comes to increasing willpower and strengthening this critical success muscle we all have.
He is the author of 7 bestselling books in personal development, a speaker, consultant, trainer, and specializes in helping individuals create permanent change and achieve mind, body, and business success in as little as 5 minutes a day.
In this episode, we walk through several powerful willpower strategies you can start with today.
Big thanks to my brother Chris for the inspiration for this one. Check out his excellent willpower article at BecomingBetter.org.
Full Show Notes: Willpower 101: 8 Ways to Strengthen This Critical Success Muscle
