The James Altucher Show

Steven Pressfield's newest book, Govt Cheese a memoir, must jump to the top of your reading list.  Both gut-wrenching and laugh-out-loud funny, his brutally honest story is a compelling page-turner. Steven's writing career spans many genres and formats, but it almost never materialized. From US Marine to advertising copywriter, schoolteacher, tractor-trailer driver, bartender, oilfield roustabout, mental hospital attendant, migrant fruit-picker, and hack screenwriter, his debut novel - The Legend of Bagger Vance - was 30 years in the making before it was published (later to become a major motion picture). Never content with one format, his non-fiction book The War of Art has now sold over a million copies globally & his historical fiction novel Gates of Fire is on the required reading list at West Point.James and Steven touch upon all manner of concepts & credos during today's conversation, among them:What role does advertising play in an author's toolkit? (00:06:10)After writing 3 unpublished novels and 9 failed screenplays, what kept Steven motivated? (00:15:17)Did Steven ever consider suicide? (00:16:43)What breakthrough made Steven's books "publishable"? (00:19:13)The 5 stages of creative development: Desire, Craft, Soft Skills, Finishing, and Killing the Ego (00:29:43)The importance of mentorship (00:31:43)What did Steven learn from re-writing a porn script? (00:47:04)James' two classes of humans: "Writers" & "Birdwatchers" (00:56:02)Belief in the other all-knowing dimension (01:02:08)------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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.

17 Jan 20231h 15min

Think of this as a step-by-step guide to building literally your own real estate empire! Roy "Rolly" Weaver did his first real estate transaction fresh out of college with ZERO dollars to his name and, leveraging his earnings, built a portfolio including an apartment building, a hotel, and resort-town cabins which continue to earn him hundreds of thousands of dollars in passive income annually!Listen on hear to Rolly describe his business ascent using other people's money and stick around for the details on his ongoing "chess match to the death" with James!https://www.instagram.com/rollyweaver/------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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.

13 Jan 20231h 20min

Alex Banayan's story would have made a perfect chapter in Skip the Line: A college student hacks his way onto a game show, uses his wit to win the showcase, sells the prizes, and uses the proceeds to fund his business ambitions!Alex's bestselling book The Third Door takes readers on an unprecedented adventure-from hacking Warren Buffett's shareholders' meeting to chasing Larry King through a grocery store to celebrating in a nightclub with Lady Gaga-as Alex Banayan travels from icon to icon, decoding their success.James and Alex discuss the journey (including the crushing failures along the way), how their strategies and circles have overlapped, and what the next chapter of Alex's journey holds in store.This episode was also brought to you by Wondrium! https://Wondrium.com/james------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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.

12 Jan 20231h 18min

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, joins The James Altucher Show to discuss technology and how different systems handle disorder. As humans evolve, technology is constantly being upgraded and replaced with new concepts and ideas. Today, we use technology in almost every aspect of our lives, but do we really understand the advantages and disadvantages of constantly being computerized?In Nassim's book The Black Swan, he highlighted for readers the unusual and unpredictable events that underlie almost everything about our world.  Now with his book Antifragile, readers are presented with why we should embrace these uncertainties. The ideas and concepts that Nassim presents today for our listeners are beyond anything you have heard before. Nassim and James talk about several ways that disorder in your life will actually make you stronger. As Nassim tells James in the interview, "If you don't have variability in your life, you are not human." The key is to take these shocks and disruptions and become - as Nassim says - antifragile, making you stronger, more creative, and better able to adapt to each new challenge you face.Nothing is certain in this world; this episode will have you questioning everything you thought you knew.------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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 Jan 20231h 41min

Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, M.D., has served as chief product officer and chief innovation officer at BetterUp, founding CEO of LifeLink, and an advisor to healthcare, coaching, and behavior change technology companies. Martin Seligman, Ph.D. is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, director of the Positive Psychology Center, and former president of the American Psychological Association. Together, they join James today to discuss their new book, Tomorrowmind.Tomorrowmind tackles the challenges of thriving in our modern world of work with a 70,000-year-old brain. How can we not only survive but flourish amidst the never-ending cycles of change and unprecedented uncertainty that threatens to drown us daily?Drawing from their original research, Kellerman and Seligman outline five critical skills that today's professionals need to develop to achieve their potential. They offer guidance for organizational leaders looking to arm their workforce with the capabilities that will future-proof their firm's success.------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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.

6 Jan 20231h 19min

Jon Morrow might be the most successful copywriter on the web, and he's definitely the best indexed on the web. Jon (the owner of Smart Blogger) and James take today's 80 minutes to unravel the current market conditions for getting paid to write content, how to learn to do it, and how rapidly the market is going to shift over the next 5 years.In Jon's words, "The future of AI isn't to replace all writers, I think it's going to replace the word processor. Instead of going into Google Docs or Microsoft Word, you're going to go to an AI prompt and you're going to have a writing assistant who you will feed at your novel ideas and it will express them in super interesting ways that you can then choose from to publish on the web."The pair also discuss:Search-driven content vs. social media-driven contentWhat are content briefs and who are content strategists?Domain authority vs. topical authorityCopywriting vs. content writingAI-assisted SEO keyword generationHow to get paid to write from home with no prior experience!------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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.

5 Jan 20231h 16min

"If you listen to only one podcast this year, this has to be the one." That's what James wrote after interviewing Peter Thiel in 2014 and, to begin 2023, we've remastered this classic episode for a new audience to experience. To one degree, this time-capsule episode immediately dates itself: Discussion about whether Uber can grow outside of San Francisco; Facebook was the most important social media company; talk of "new banking systems" doesn't revolve around cryptocurrencies and DFi.  Make it past the surface, however, and this episode provides 75 minutes of thoughtful and robust discourse around the principles which have made billions and created billionaires.Among the many lessons in today's episode:Capitalism and competition are antonyms. A capitalist to someone who's in the business of accumulating capital. Great companies do something unique, and because of this unique thing they have monopoly-like pricing power and can create value for all consumers.A company should start when they have a technology that is 10 times better than its closest competitor."I've never seen anyone succeed with a pitch like "1% of China will buy our refrigerator" because there will be 99 other Chinese companies for the other 99% of China, and they will drive the marginal profits to zero."It's critical to find people with whom you're fundamentally aligned and on the same page when you're starting a business. It's better to have a long pre-history with your co-founder so you understand each other's strengths and weaknesses and can speak to one another honestly. You get maximal cooperation when people's roles are defined in very differentiated ways. As a founder or manager in an early-stage startup, you need to continuously readjust the org chart, continuously redefine people's roles, and make sure that the highs and lows are differentiated so that the lows don't blow up like they might in a primitive, archaic tribe.(**Check out this incredible write-up outlining the episode from one of our listeners!**)Click here to find Peter's 2014 book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future ------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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 Jan 20231h 16min

Today's episode with Dr. Brian Keating - concluding our conversation from last week - also acts as a fitting bookend to our previous episode with Jordan Harbinger. Brian and James delve into the perils of fame-seeking ambition and how their world views have changed after recently cresting age 50.Brian also gives some business ideas he's been ruminating on and asks for James' feedback:"Yellowstone" but Based Around the Biblical Patriarchy (00:11:53)Anti-Doxing as a Service (00:21:36)Deepfake & Chatbot Detectors (00:23:11)https://BrianKeating.com/listhttps://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating------------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 jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------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 PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------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 Dec 202242min