848 - James plays skeptic on crypto... with Omid Malekan & Dan Kelly

If she told me to jump off a bridge, I just might do it. She was the only friend who would tell me anything, and I would do anything for her. I think I love her. Growing up, I wanted to know everything-sex, bullying, whether I was normal or not. I was curious-confused really. Kids were mean and girls were pretty. Judy Blume was the only one who would answer my questions. I was asking, "What is it all for?" And she told me. I thought, maybe this is what finding God feels like. She's a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author with more than 85 million books sold. Successful? Yes. But it's more than that. "I represent childhood," she says, "I think when somebody represents your childhood, that's special. I'm lucky people tell me that." Her book, "Forever," taught me about sex. "Blubber" explained bullying. I read Judy Blume's books because I had questions and she had answers. So where did she come from? At age 25, a man took her on a date. He stayed the night and never left. They got married, had two little babies, but Judy realized she had stories but no other outlets. "I wouldn't say I had exactly grown up when I started to write, but I was in a grown-up situation." Sometimes, as grown-ups, we stop taking care of ourselves. We neglect our needs, health, relationships, and friendships. But if you're open to living a better life, you'll learn something from Judy Blume. She used to feel stuck, too. Stuck and lonely. "I understand now how important friendship is in a life, no matter how happy you are with your family," she says. Do you feel a void, too? What's missing here? Judy realized she needed to take care of herself. "Before I started to write, I was sick all the time. I was always sick. I had one exotic illness after another, but once I started writing I was letting that bad stuff out and it didn't have to make me sick anymore," she says. Writing helped her and it helped us, but we're still wondering, "What is it all for?" Uncertainty and darkness. "Would you say that's the overriding theme of the book," I asked. "You're interesting," Judy says. "I'm a person who never knows the theme of her book." Her new book, "In The Unlikely Event," is an opportunity for me, for you, for everyone "to be taken out of our own lives, to get insight into other people's lives, as well as our own lives, and to learn new things." Listen now to Judy Blume. No bridge necessary. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

10 Nov 201529min

This is for the writers.  Write something that doesn't suck.  It's a simple goal.  With low stakes, Amy Koppelman wrote "I Smile Back," which was rejected at least 80 times. It was rejected because it resembled the truth too much. One publisher said, "This is the reason we got into publishing, but I can't sell this." Now, Sara Silverman is starring in the movie. She's the main character, Laney.  I was scared for the Laney. The book bleeds.  Sometimes you have to feel sorry for someone else to stop feeling sorry for yourself.  Good fiction can do that. It's how you can escape.  They say you can't run away from yourself. But they lie all the time. Amy wrote letters. She was depressed. She needed an escape. When she recognized sadness in someone else, she wrote him letters. Years later, with a pair of scissors, she cut and pasted a story together. That's how she got her book. She wrote with scissors. In today's interview, Amy reveals how you write great fiction. I wanted to know about the sadness inside her. Does it come from a deeper, darker truth? Amy says the best kind of writing understands you somehow without even knowing you. It helps you understand yourself better. "All of us, whether we're writers, carpenters or teachers, we just want to be heard and understood," Amy says. Whatever you're doing now, you don't know what it's doing for your future. That's why I recommend a daily practice.  Amy doesn't have a daily practice. She used to sit and wonder when she'd make coffee again.  Depression made instant coffee look impossible. Everything loomed over her. But one day she made coffee. And over the course of many small victories, she survived.  Listen to Amy Koppelman to learn how to write to survive. This is the master of fiction that bleeds. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

7 Nov 20151h 12min

Do you have a favorite book you return to over and over again? James does, and today the author of that book joins him on The James Altucher Show. Many of you know James does a Twitter Q&A every Thursday. But what you probably didn't know is that before he jumps online he rereads one book... He turns to Sugar for inspiration. Sugar is the fictional character in Cheryl Strayed's book, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar. Cheryl Strayed has had a rough life: sexual abuse, divorce, past drug abuse, and her mother's death. All this pushed her to do something radical with her life. She decided to take a hike. Not your everyday hike; she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Coast Trail from the Mojave Desert through California, Oregon, and Washington - and she did it alone. The hike finally healed her, and she turned it into her NY Times bestselling memoir, Wild. The book was then turned into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon. Oprah loved the book so much she restarted her book club just to highlight it. Cheryl's new book Brave Enough was just released in October. James asks her, "Why a book of quotes?" As Cheryl says in the introduction of her book... "I've always been a quote collector... From the comic to the profound, the simple to the complex, the sorrowful to the ecstatic, the inspiring to the stern, whenever I need consolation or encouragement, a clear-eyed perspective or a swift kick in the pants - which is often - quotes are what I turn to. They've been tacked to the walls of every home I've made. I've written them down in my journals and kept them on files in my computer. I've scribbled them on the back of ripped-open envelopes and drawn them across stretches of sand." Now that they've met, James is almost sorry, as he'll not be able to steal from her so easily going forward.   Resources and Links: Cheryl Strayed Website Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Wild (the movie) starring Reese Witherspoon Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed Torch by Cheryl Strayed Dear Sugar podcast Oprah's 2015 Book Club ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 Nov 201554min

Lewis Howes is great. He has achieved Olympic level successful in many areas of his life and today with the launch of his brand new book, The School of Greatness, he adds Bestselling Author to the list. On this episode, I ask Lewis what it takes to be great. Without hesitation, Lewis says that it all starts with a vision. You have to visualize what it is you really want. You have to dream it. Lewis says that before you can achieve greatness and success you have to understand what greatness and success looks like for you. Take a notepad and a pen, go out into nature, lay there in silence and write down what your perfect day would look like. Lewis says that everyone faces some type adversity in their life, but the ones who achieve greatness figure out a way to use the adversity to their advantage. We discuss some amazing examples of people who have achieved greatness after adversity, like Kyle Maynard. I hope you enjoy today's episode as much as I did. I know you can be great. Links and resources: The School of Greatness - Lewis Howes book that releases today! Lewis' website Lewis' Twitter "You need vision if you're going to reinvent yourself." - Lewis Howes - click to tweet ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Okt 20151h 6min

If you're running your own business, then you know by now that you have to care about what you're doing if you want to be successful. Making money can be a goal, but it can't be your only goal. You have to work toward something greater than just turning a profit. On today's podcast I talk with Bryan Johnson, someone who knows full well how much you have to care if you want your investments to pay off, and he's found the perfect balance between being financially successful and changing the world.  I talked with Bryan two years ago (and I actually put the interview in my book Choose Yourself!). I invited him to that first interview because he had established Braintree, a payment platform for many online businesses and entrepreneurs, and it was immensely successful. But I'm bringing him back this time around because a lot has changed in two years. Bryan sold Braintree to Ebay for $800 million and has since used that money to start a venture capital fund for what he likes to call "save the world" sort of companies. He's looking for engineers, creators, and financiers who are creating platforms, companies, and businesses that could benefit the lives of billions of people. He talks about what kinds of fields and platforms he's interested in on today's show, and he explains the passion that's driving him.  "I have a burning desire to devote my life to improve the lives of people," he says when I ask him what inspired his approach to business. "But I didn't know what that meant at 21. So I decided I'd become an entrepreneur, retire by 30, and then spend the rest of my life with an abundance of time and money trying to do some good." That definitely explains why he sold Braintree, but he also gives insight into what made this first business venture of his so successful and how he used it to kick start his true goal for helping people. Combining business with philanthropy is Bryan's main focus, and he is actively seeking those who are creating the technologies people cannot find but desperately need, such as synthetic biology for combating diseases like Alzheimer's.   On today's podcast, Bryan goes into what it takes to get into what he calls the "ecosystem of contribution" and how you can contribute to his charitable cycle by: Learning his unique three goals when it comes to running a successful business  Looking at our planet Earth as its own technological platform  Focusing on what makes you - and your business - happy and helpful  Leaning how to avoid snobbery in small business  If you've got a humanitarian approach to business like Bryan does and are actively looking to engage with the game changers of the world who are focusing their efforts on building a better world, then this podcast is geared at you. Anyone can be successful for themselves, but being successful for the sake of others is truly admirable and Bryan's approach will no doubt help you build a better business for yourself and your clients. Resources: Bryan Johnson The OS Fund Braintree ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

22 Okt 201559min

Today's guest changed my life. Seeing as he helped to invent Blogger and Twitter, he probably changed your life too! The Internet's last decade and a half of development as a forum for writing has taken place in large part on platforms built in part by Ev Williams. Evan "Ev" Williams is on the show today to talk about his new blogging platform, Medium, and how he worked his way up to the top spot he is now. "I worked my whole life basically broke and in debt," he tells me, and this may be a familiar situation for you. Struggling to realize your dreams, working hard to create something new the public wants - we've all experienced these efforts in one way or another, and some of your attempts may have been more successful than others. The hardest part about running your own business is not only having the confidence to take the risks, but also to pull yourself together if that risk should fail. Even success can come with its own stress. Working to create Blogger and Twitter led Ev to a ton of success in media, but he talks about the strange kind of success Google brought him and how you don't always necessarily know what to do with it. In fact, he didn't handle success very well at all the first time. As he said in an article in The New York Times "It wasn't obvious to me that I wanted to sell my business," he tells me when Google came asking for Blogger and absorbed him into the company. He was dedicated to seeing it become successful, but he did not know the rules and language of corporate success, and he ran into many roadblocks along the way. Of course, we know from hindsight that whatever he did was right, but how can you be sure of the outcome when you're just starting on the path? Ev shares his answers to this difficult question, and his insightful advice on today's podcast will teach you - How to find product-market fit for your business - How to monetize your web and media content in different ways - How to use multiple media platforms to reach your audience - How to use more than a website to get real interaction with your audience and clients Evan Williams' new site Medium, www.medium.com, is up and running right now. Connect with Twitter, Facebook, or Google to get started, and see how you can use this new, larger platform to market yourself and interact with your clients. Resources: Ev Williams Twitter - @ev Ev Williams Medium here and here ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

15 Okt 201543min

Naveen Jain is the founder and CEO of one of the biggest companies from the dot-com boom era, and now he has set his sights on the moon.   His company, Moon Express, plans to send a rocket to the moon as a business venture to collect rare minerals and resources, and then bring them back to Earth. He also plans to make travel to the moon and other planets accessible to all of us at some point in the future. Naveen is the founder of InfoSpace, the first company to develop services that were sold to other companies that then white-labeled those services on their own web sites. According to Naveen, InfoSpace was the first company to realize that people would eventually want to use the internet on mobile devices. Naveen co-founded Intelius, the information commerce company that gives users access to basic information about people all on one site. In 2010, Naveen started Moon Express with the goal of bringing rare minerals back to the Earth for use in a number of applications, such as energy uses. Going to the moon is not the only goal of Moon Express, and Naveen sees it as the start of developing a multi-planetary society. Naveen explains how Moon Express will become both commercially viable and also sustainable as a company. In addition to space, Naveen sees the medical diagnostics field as another big industry in which he sees potential large growth over the next five to ten years. Naveen says the biggest societal problems offer entrepreneurs the most opportunity. Education is another field in which he sees a need to address training for current jobs that weren't around 20 years ago. Also, another important area is looking for solutions for at-risk countries that do not have accessible, clean drinking water. Naveen believes we need to first solve our own internal problems before we tackle the world's problems. He thinks being at peace with who we are, and finding our purpose and mission, are key factors to finding that solution. He says the process of becoming more fluent in producing ideas lies in having intellectual curiosity, learning for the sake of learning, and getting basic fundamental knowledge in the areas that interest us. As far as finding our own mission in life, Naveen says ask yourself "What would you do if you had a billion dollars?" He says do that career now, and you'll find a business around it. Resources and Links * Moon Express * X Prize Foundation * Singularity University Thanks so much for listening! ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

8 Okt 201556min

Are you willing to disobey your parents? Cassey Ho came from a typical Asian family. They gave her three choices for her career... doctor, lawyer or engineer. She had to bring honor to her family. But that wasn't Cassey's calling. She had the entrepreneurial spirit, and she just had to follow her dream. Fast-forward to today, and Cassey has almost 2.5 million subscribers to her YouTube channel Blogilates TV, with one of her videos now approaching 7.5 million views. And that was just the beginning. She has created a whole line of products that's growing quickly. Listen here today as she shares with James how she advertises her "brand." ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

4 Okt 201538min