Podcast appearances and mentions of Brent Underwood

In this episode, Isaac French shares how he grew from 5,000 Instagram followers to selling his Texas micro resort for $7 million, just 18 months after opening.Isaac reveals his strategy for leveraging online audiences to support hospitality projects - converting social media followers into guests, email subscribers into customers, and content into major media coverage. He details his journey from restoring a historic train car in Idaho to creating destination properties that attract visitors from 40 states.Learn his methods for crafting viral stories, building valuable email lists, and why combining online influence with physical experiences creates exponential results.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction01:10 Building Family Businesses10:58 Airbnb Account Suspension12:20 Growing from 5K to 150K Followers in 15 Months22:24 How to Combine Online Marketing with Physical Business26:29 Using Design to Stand Out in Business33:05 Business Lessons from Steve Jobs and Apple40:50 How One Twitter Thread Got 20M Views44:00 The Art of Writing Viral Content48:14 Best Practices for Reposting Content49:13 How to Convert Social Media Followers to Email Subscribers51:31 Creating Successful Short Form Video Content56:01 Why Transparency Builds Trust01:00:17 Using Content Creation to Fund Business Growth01:07:59 Closing ThoughtsIf you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe, share it with your friends, and leave us a review. We read every single one.Learn more about The Nathan Barry Show: https://nathanbarry.com/show Follow Nathan:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry X: https://twitter.com/nathanbarry YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thenathanbarryshow Website: https://nathanbarry.com Follow Isaac:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isaacfrench_ Website: https://www.isaacjfrench.com X: https://twitter.com/isaacfrench_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacjfrench Featured in this episode:Live Oak Lake: https://liveoaklake.com Hans Lorei: https://www.instagram.com/hansloreidesign Sam Parr: https://twitter.com/theSamParr James Clear: https://jamesclear.com Al Doan: https://twitter.com/drbillnye Brent Underwood: https://twitter.com/underwoodbrent The Cliffs at Hocking Hills: https://thecliffs.house Highlights:01:17 The Motel Patel Cartel13:27 Creators on a Journey29:46 Power of Good Taste35:13 Lord of the Rings Quality Anecdote46:10 How Nick Huber Engineers Viral Tweets52:54 Getting a Deal Done with a Non-Monetary Value01:00:16 Digital/Physical World Flywheel

On the season finale of the Via Podcast, hosts Michelle Donati and Mitti Hicks head into the high deserts of California and Nevada to visit ghost towns. They learn what it's like to actually live in one—where there may or may not be a resident spirit—and where to go to see the most preserved mining towns in the West. Guest Brent Underwood, owner and resident of Cerro Gordo near Death Valley, California, shares what it's like to make a home in a former mining town, and why it's important to visit and maintain these snapshots of Western life. Via Podcast is a production of AAA Mountain West Group.

Ever heard of a ghost town turned into a social media sensation?

In this episode we dive deep into what it means to truly commit to your creative project, featuring stories from our guests, Daniel Troia (award-winning filmmaker of We're All In This Together), Brent Underwood (author of Ghost Town Living), and A.J. Jacobs (NY Times author of The Year Of Living Constitutionally). Daniel shares his unique journey of creating an award-winning film with minimal resources while relying on the kindness of strangers across America. Brent recounts his tale of revitalizing an abandoned mining town, investing all his resources despite numerous setbacks, including a devastating fire and the pandemic. And, A.J. Jacobs brings his usual blend of humor and wisdom to our discussion, elaborating on how he brings the lessons of his long-arc creative experiments to the world.Here are five key lessons from the episode:1. Pursuit of Passion Projects: Each guest highlights the personal fulfillment derived from pursuing their unique passion projects. Daniel Troia's filmmaking journey, Brent Underwood's revitalization of Cerro Gordo, and A.J. Jacobs' immersive experiments demonstrate the depths of commitment and the personal satisfaction it can bring.2. Understanding Costs and Setting Boundaries: The experiences of Brent Underwood and A.J. Jacobs shed light on the importance of being aware of the sacrifices involved in chasing ambitious goals. They both stress the necessity of setting healthy boundaries to avoid burnout and ensure sustainability in their pursuits.3. Value of Experiential Learning: Both Daniel Troia and A.J. Jacobs emphasize learning by doing. Whether it's learning filmmaking on the go or experimenting with living by historical documents, these experiences provide unique insights and foster a deeper understanding of their subjects.4. Impact of Deep Engagement: A.J. Jacobs' approach to his projects, such as adopting the tools and methods from the 18th century, illustrates how immersive experiences can lead to profound reflections and unexpected revelations, proving the value of engaging deeply with one's work.5. Community and Support: Across the narratives, there's a recurring theme of the role of community and supportive relationships. Whether it's the strangers who aided Daniel Troia on his journey or the need for people who can offer honest feedback as mentioned by Brent Underwood, the support system is crucial for navigating the challenges of intense, passion-driven projects.Get full interviews and daily content in the Daily Creative app at DailyCreative.app. Mentioned in this episode:NEW BOOK! The Brave Habit is available nowRise to important moments in your life and work by developing the habit of bravery. Available in paperback, ebook, or audiobook wherever books are sold. Learn moreMentioned in this episodeWork with Josh Gott. Visit GotClarity.com to learn more.

Brent Underwood had a business idea: buy an abandoned town and turn it into a tourist destination. It didn’t work. Mostly because he tried running it remotely. Then he moved in. He started looking around, diving into old mines, and finding old treasures. He shot video of what he saw and of his renovations. That got hugely popular on social media, helped him raise money and allowed him to fund his project. It’s all in his book, Ghost Town Living, and in this interview. Brent Underwood is the founder of Cerro Gordo, an ambitious project aimed at reviving a historic ghost town into a tourist attraction and real estate opportunity. Outside of his entrepreneurial endeavors, Brent has a passion for history, hospitality, and the unique storytelling of the American West, all of which play a central role in his current venture. Sponsored byGusto – The easy payroll and benefits software the Mixergy interviewees love. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Brent Underwood is the owner of Cerro Gordo, an original boomtown silver mine, established in 1865. He is also the creator of "GhostTownLiving" where he chronicles his adventures on YouTube. Brent currently lives on the mountain above Death Valley with no running water, seven cats, six goats, and at least one ghost. Cerro Gordo is a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley and has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent, who moved there in March of 2020. Immediately after moving, he was snowed in and trapped for weeks and he would go on to experience every single natural disaster you can think of. Brent's inspiring story of betting on himself and living his dream life against all odds has captured millions of followers around the world. Today on the show we discuss: Why Brent risked his entire life to move to a ghost town, why he picked the most extreme scenario to “find himself,” how he learned to deal with loneliness and uncertainty, A simple mental trick you can use when going through adversity, why losing everything helped Brent find purpose, advice for people who are feeling lost and looking for meaning, how he's used stoicism to his advantage and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brent Underwood is the owner of Cerro Gordo, an original boomtown silver mine, established in 1865. Brent currently lives on a mountain above Death Valley with no running water, seven cats, six goats, and at least one ghost.Get a limited edition, signed copy of Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley from The Painted Porch. Youtube: @GhostTownLivingIG: @BrentWUnderwood @cerro.gordo.caSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Grab your signed copy of Brent Underwood's Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley at the Painted Porch today.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

Ryan talks with American entrepreneur and ghost town miner Brent Underwood. They discuss identifying and following your path, the history of Cerro Gordo, Brent's latest book Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley, and more. Brent Underwood is the owner of Cerro Gordo, an original boomtown silver mine, established in 1865. Brent currently lives on a mountain above Death Valley with no running water, seven cats, six goats, and at least one ghost.Get a limited edition, signed copy of Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley from The Painted Porch. Youtube: @GhostTownLivingIG: @BrentWUnderwood @cerro.gordo.ca✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

A long-abandoned silver mine for sale sounded like an adventure too great to pass up, but it turned into much more-a calling, a community of millions, and hard-earned lessons about chasing impractical dreams. "Inspiring and meditative-the story of man vs nature and man vs himself."-Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks. It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters of the American West were rumored to have stayed there. Newspapers reported a murder a week. But that was over 150 years ago.Underwood bet his life savings-and his life-on this majestic, hardscrabble town that had broken its fair share of ambitious men and women. What followed were fires, floods, earthquakes, and perhaps strangest, fame. Ghost Town Living tells the story of a man against the elements, a forgotten historic place against the modern world, and a dream against all odds-one that has captured millions of followers around the world. He came looking for a challenge different from the traditional 9-5 job but discovered something much more fulfilling-an undertaking that would call on all of himself and push him beyond what he knew he was capable of. In fact, to bring this abandoned town back to life, Brent had to learn a wealth of new self-sufficiency and problem-solving skills from many generous mentors. Ghost Town Living is a thrilling read, but it's also a call to action-to question our too-practical lives and instead seek adventure, build something original, redefine work, and embrace the unknown. It shows what it means to dedicate your life to something, to take a mighty swing at a crazy idea and, like the cardsharps who once haunted Cerro Gordo, go all in.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

#678: Today, we're sitting down with Brent Underwood, owner of Cerro Gordo, an abandoned boomtown silver mine established in 1865. He is also the creator of ""GhostTownLiving"" where he chronicles his adventures on YouTube. Brent currently lives on the mountain above Death Valley with no running water, seven cats, six goats, and at least one ghost. We have a discussion about what he's learned about reconstructing an abandoned mining town, what it's like living with no modern amenities, and sharing the entire process on his YouTube channel. He also discusses both his most dangerous and magical experiences throughout his journey. To connect with Brent Underwood click HERE To order Brent's New Book - Ghost Town Living click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential This episode is brought to you by Kerastase Visit Kerastase-USA.com and use code SKINNY15 to receive 15% off your purchase. Offer valid through 5/31/2024. This episode is brought to you by Caraway Ditch the chemicals with Caraway. Visit carawayhome.com/HIMANDHER to receive 10% off your next purchase. This episode is brought to you by Thrive Market Thrive Market is the go-to for all of your grocery and household essentials- and it's all conveniently delivered to your doorstep. Get 30% off your first order, plus a free $60 gift at thrivemarket.com/skinny or use code SKINNY at checkout. This episode is brought to you by Betterhelp BetterHelp is online therapy that offers video, phone, and even live chat-only therapy sessions. So you don't have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy & you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/skinny. This episode is brought to you by Sun Bum Visit sunbum.com and use code SKINNY15 at checkout for 15% off your first purchase. This episode is brought to you by Nerdwallet NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending, some even offering 10X points on your spending. Visit nerdwallet.com to learn more. Produced by Dear Media

Get a copy of Brent Underwood's new book from the Painted Porch Bookshop: Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

In the 19th century, Cerro Gordo, which sits above Death Valley, was the largest silver mine in America, a place where dreamers came to strike it rich. In the 21st century, Brent Underwood used his life savings to buy what had become an abandoned ghost town, and ended up finding a very different kind of wealth there.Brent has spent four years living in Cerro Gordo and has documented the details of the mines he's explored, the artifacts he's found, and how he's restoring the town on his popular YouTube channel, Ghost Town Living. Now, in a book by the same name, he takes a wider-view lens on his adventures there and shares the big lessons he's learned from his experiences and from the original residents of Cerro Gordo. We get into some of those lessons on today's show. We first talk about how and why Brent bought a ghost town as a way of escaping a typical 9-5 life and finding a deeper longer-term purpose. We then discuss what restoring Cerro Gordo has taught him about the necessity of getting started and taking real action, how learning the context of what you do can add greater meaning to it, the importance of understanding the long-term consequences of short-term thinking, the satisfactions that come with being a high-agency person, and more.Resources Related to the PodcastBurrow Schmidt TunnelOwens LakeAoM Article: Become a Self-StarterAoM Article:Meditations on the Wisdom of ActionConnect With Brent UnderwoodGhostTown Living on YouTubeBrent on IGBrent on X

A long-abandoned silver mine for sale sounded like an adventure too great to pass up, but it turned into much more-a calling, a community of millions, and hard-earned lessons about chasing impractical dreams. "Inspiring and meditative-the story of man vs nature and man vs himself."-Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks. It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters of the American West were rumored to have stayed there. Newspapers reported a murder a week. But that was over 150 years ago.Underwood bet his life savings-and his life-on this majestic, hardscrabble town that had broken its fair share of ambitious men and women. What followed were fires, floods, earthquakes, and perhaps strangest, fame. Ghost Town Living tells the story of a man against the elements, a forgotten historic place against the modern world, and a dream against all odds-one that has captured millions of followers around the world. He came looking for a challenge different from the traditional 9-5 job but discovered something much more fulfilling-an undertaking that would call on all of himself and push him beyond what he knew he was capable of. In fact, to bring this abandoned town back to life, Brent had to learn a wealth of new self-sufficiency and problem-solving skills from many generous mentors. Ghost Town Living is a thrilling read, but it's also a call to action-to question our too-practical lives and instead seek adventure, build something original, redefine work, and embrace the unknown. It shows what it means to dedicate your life to something, to take a mighty swing at a crazy idea and, like the cardsharps who once haunted Cerro Gordo, go all in.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Get a copy of Brent Underwood's new book from the Painted Porch Bookshop: Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

In this episode, Brent Underwood shares his extraordinary journey of purchasing and living in a ghost town. Brent, the owner of Cerro Gordo, a historic silver mine, has committed himself to a life less ordinary, trading his comfortable existence in Austin for the challenging but fulfilling task of bringing a dead town back to life. During our conversation, Brent opens up about his motivations, the challenges he has faced, and the lessons he's learned along the way. Some highlights we explore: Brent's decision to purchase Cerro Gordo and his initial expectations for life in a ghost town. The challenges of living in an isolated location, and how Brent has adapted to his new circumstances. The importance of finding a creative outlet and pursuing a life that is genuinely fulfilling. Brent's reflections on the history and legacy of Cerro Gordo, and his hopes for its future. The role that community and mentorship have played in Brent's journey. Enjoy!

With a business partner, some investors, and his life savings, Brent Underwood bought the abandoned mining turned ghost town, Cerro Gordo, in 2018.The plan was to bring the town back to life, to turn the 336 acres and 22 buildings into a historical destination. That plan largely revolved around the American Hotel, the literal and metaphorical center of town. But then on June 15, 2020, 149 years to the day it opened, the American Hotel caught fire and burned to the ground.“It was probably the most devastating day of my life,” Brent would recall. “You are literally watching your life savings and hopes and dreams burn in front of you.” As he stood atop the ashes, the town's previous owner put his hand on Brent's shoulder. “You can't change what happened,” he told Brent, “but what happens from here is up to you.” More than just providing comfort, Brent wrote, those words were “a call to action.”It's a reminder that for everything outside of our control, we retain—at the core of our being—an incredible power: The power to choose what we do with what happens to us. The power to decide what role an event will play in our lives. The power to write the end of our own story.No one can take that away from us. People can hurt us. Money can be lost. Jobs can disappear. Cars can crash into each other. Stoicism can't change what happened. No philosophy is a time machine.But what we can do, what the Stoic practice is meant to help us do, is to prevail over what happened, and decide what comes next.You can read about what Brent did after the American Hotel burned down in his new book Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley. It's just one of the many lesson-packed stories in the book about Brent's time at Cerro Gordo. From facing isolation and the challenges of preserving historical integrity to confronting physical dangers like mine shafts and the elements, Ghost Town Living is story of adventure and tenacity, as well as a call to chase after audacious dreams, defy the conventional, and devote yourself to your own the pursuit of an extraordinary life.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail

Brent Underwood is the owner of Cerro Gordo, an original boomtown silver mine, established in 1865. He currently lives on a mountain above Death Valley with no running water, seven cats, six goats, and at least one ghost. Check out Brent's new book: Ghost Town Living  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join us in this week's episode of Creator Economy Live as we uncover the story of Brent Underwood, the visionary breathing new life into Cerro Gordo, a ghost town with a haunting history of silver mining and wild western lore. With a combined following of 5 million, Brent's cinematic storytelling has captured the imagination of millions, leading to a book deal that promises to reveal even more about his quest at the edge of Death Valley. We also break records with the Streamer Awards, dive deep into the rise of PRIME's success, and navigate the fine line between initial traction and lasting success. Plus, don't miss our insightful discussion with Brent about the origins of his YouTube channel, the art of storytelling that keeps viewers hooked, his approach to community building, and the monetization strategies that have made Ghost Town Living a phenomenon!

Read our book, The Score That Matters https://amzn.to/3uWB1pQ Full Show Notes at www.LearningLeader.com Notes: “If it can't be grown, it must be mined. It's a truth of human progress.” The story of Burro Schmidt… He spent 38 years hand-digging a tunnel through a ½ mile of solid granite even though 19 years in, they built a road that made his tunnel obsolete. But he found his purpose and wanted to finish the job. Some may think that's crazy, but I admire people like that. Be Your Own Light - "I don't look for hope. I look for evidence." Seek Awe - Understand your smallness in the world and how it's all interconnected. Read the "Thank You Project" by AJ Jacobs. "We love to see people who have found their purpose." There are long-term consequences of short-term thinking. Robert Greene's advice to Brent - Combine your unique and different skill sets to find your purpose. Brent dedicated his book to his parents, Liz and Bill, and sister Laura. I appreciate Brent's outlook on life and permitting yourself to live a life of adventure and to think BIG. You can still wisely do this. Brent still works a day job with the Daily Stoic but is also taking a big swing at the same time. This is an option that is available for most of us. It's on us to take action and do it. I've known Brent for about a decade. In his previous role with Brass Check (that's Ryan Holiday's marketing company), one of his jobs was to get authors on podcasts. And I love how precise Brent was in his outreach. He never sent me an author unless he had done the work ahead of time to ensure they were a good fit for my show. I appreciate the care he puts into his work and has for a long time. "When I think back 4 years, before Cerro Gordo, life was pretty stable. I had a good job, a solid apartment, and friends. It felt like a life that I could have floated through forever. I just kept feeling like I was missing out on...something. Something to grab my attention and not let go. To avoid, as Thoreau said, a life of “quiet desperation.” ⁣A lot has changed since then. Life certainly isn't comfortable. There were 3 feet of snow to shovel before I could get to the outhouse this morning. There have been fires, floods, and earthquakes. I've lost too much weight, friends, partners, money. A lot more. I wouldn't change a thing. I feel fulfilled in a way I never knew was possible. Building something real that I care about. Connected to my work, the world, the past. Meeting so many passionate people who care deeply about the same things. ⁣" Get To Work – JP Morgan said every man has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason… The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks. It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters of the American West were rumored to have stayed there. Newspapers reported a murder a week. But that was over 150 years ago. Brent Underwood bet his life savings—and his life—on this majestic, hardscrabble town that had broken its fair share of ambitious men and women. What followed were fires, floods, earthquakes, and perhaps strangest, fame. Ghost Town Living tells the story of a man against the elements, a forgotten historic place against the modern world, and a dream against all odds—one that has captured millions of followers around the world. After graduating from Columbia University, Brent worked briefly for an investment bank in New York City. After one month, he quit and backpacked across Central and South America. Upon returning to New York, he founded a hostel in Brooklyn. In December 2014 Brent founded HK Austin, a hostel in Austin, Texas after staying in 150 hostels across 30 countries. For 2015, HK Austin was the highest-rated hostel in the United States. “I'm not going to call it a ghost town anymore. I'm going to call it home.”

Ghost Town Living: Mining for Purpose and Chasing Dreams at the Edge of Death Valley by Brent Underwood https://amzn.to/48nWvd4 A long-abandoned silver mine for sale sounded like an adventure too great to pass up, but it turned into much more—a calling, a community of millions, and hard-earned lessons about chasing impractical dreams. “Inspiring and meditative—the story of man vs nature and man vs himself.”—Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks. It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters of the American West were rumored to have stayed there. Newspapers reported a murder a week. But that was over 150 years ago. Underwood bet his life savings—and his life—on this majestic, hardscrabble town that had broken its fair share of ambitious men and women. What followed were fires, floods, earthquakes, and perhaps strangest, fame. Ghost Town Living tells the story of a man against the elements, a forgotten historic place against the modern world, and a dream against all odds—one that has captured millions of followers around the world. He came looking for a challenge different from the traditional 9-5 job but discovered something much more fulfilling—an undertaking that would call on all of himself and push him beyond what he knew he was capable of. In fact, to bring this abandoned town back to life, Brent had to learn a wealth of new self-sufficiency and problem-solving skills from many generous mentors. Ghost Town Living is a thrilling read, but it's also a call to action—to question our too-practical lives and instead seek adventure, build something original, redefine work, and embrace the unknown. It shows what it means to dedicate your life to something, to take a mighty swing at a crazy idea and, like the cardsharps who once haunted Cerro Gordo, go all in.

On this episode of the California Now Podcast, host Soterios Johnson explores the endless allure of Inyo County and the Eastern Sierra with four in-the-know locals.  First up, Johnson talks with Brent Underwood, owner of Cerro Gordo, a former Gold Rush–era boomtown and mining operation nestled in the Inyo Mountains. Underwood starts off by sharing the thrills and daily struggles of living in a ghost town. “It's a lot of learning on the fly,” he says. “It's a lot of stressful days and logistical challenges, but I love it. It's probably the most interesting and fulfilling thing that I've ever done.” The entrepreneur dives into the town's history, his plans for reviving the property, and how visitors can explore Cerro Gordo for themselves.  Next, Johnson is joined by Bob Sigman, executive director of the Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine. Sigman shares his insights into the rich Hollywood heritage of the Eastern Sierra region and what made Lone Pine in particular a filming hot spot for Western films. As Sigman explains, “The sun going from east to west over Owens Valley provided just a unique opportunity for filmmakers, not only to have the landscape, but to have variable light, whether they were shooting northeast, south, or west.” He also discusses the Lone Pine Film Festival's evolution, popular exhibits, and how to experience the cinematic landscape of Inyo County in person. Lastly, Johnson talks to Brittany and Dave Holman, the husband-and-wife team behind Owens Valley Distilling Company in Bishop. The two share how the area's magnificent rock climbing initially drew them to the area 17 years ago. “Bishop is literally a climbing mecca now,” Dave says. “I mean, you talk to any rock climber around the world, they will know Bishop, California.” The Holmans discuss the distillery's origins, including the secret to their locally made spirits. The avid outdoor enthusiasts also give tips for enjoying Bishop's epic surroundings. “If you love the outdoors, regardless of what your fitness level is—if you're just a car tourist trying to see some beautiful things or you're a hardcore athlete—there's just so much to do in this town,” Dave boasts. “It's incredible.”

Back in 2020, a lot of people moved to faraway places to escape urban life amid a global pandemic. Brent Underwood bought and moved to an abandoned town. We check in, three years later. To learn more about Brent Underwood and Cerro Gordo, you can check out their instagram @brentunderwood and their youtube channel named Ghost Town Living.

Big shoutout to my buddy Brent Underwood! Thanks for coming on the show to talk about Peanut Patch Boiled Peanuts. Get yours today at https://peanutpatchboiledpeanuts.com/ Available in several flavors and can be purchased on Amazon as well. Check out Brent's music! Just search Brent Underwood on all social media platforms! #comedy #podcast

In the summer of 2018, Brent Underwood got a text in the middle of the night from a friend saying, "Look at this ghost town for sale!" Within a month, Brent had purchased Cerro Gordo, California, an abandoned silver mining town, with the help of friends and investors. He wants to revive the town for visitors while preserving its history. He's already faced some major setbacks -- from the lack of running water, to getting snowed in there during a global pandemic. But he calls Cerro Gordo his "life's work."

Holman reviews a Rivian R1T, Four Wheeler's Jered Korfhage takes the 2022 Nissan Frontier on a multi-State road trip, the guys speak to Chris Hardy at Xpel about paint protection options, and Cerro Gordo's Brent Underwood sends a personalized message to Lightning.

What can the Cerro Gordo Ghost Town teach you about the art of living? When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March of 2020 Brent Underwood moved to the abandoned ghost town of Cerro Gordo. He's now lived there for almost 2 years entirely alone.Ryan Holiday has known Brent since he first hired him as his intern over 10 years ago. He went to visit the ghost town on his road trip last summer and documented the Stoic lessons that he took from his time on the hill.Watch the video: https://youtu.be/fDzb1XBUJyM Ryan's vlog in Cerro Gordo: https://youtu.be/YAO1CfRcJ-8 Brent's channel: https://www.youtube.com/ghosttownliving Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemailCheck out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This fairly prosperous mining town was established in the mid-1800s and had been mostly abandoned for decades. New life was breathed into it recently after being purchased in 2018 for almost $1.5 million. This mining camp had been a dangerous place to live. People died from gunfights, disease and mining accidents. And now it would seem that spirits still remain because of all those deaths. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Cerro Gordo Ghost Town! The Moment in Oddity features the Steamboat Arabia and This Month in History features the opening of the Sistine Chapel to the Public. Our location was suggested by listener Julie Shjandemaar. Check out the website: http://historygoesbump.com Show notes can be found here: https://historygoesbump.blogspot.com/2021/11/hgb-ep-410-cerro-gordo-ghost-town.html Become an Executive Producer: http://patreon.com/historygoesbump Music used in this episode: Main Theme: Lurking in the Dark by Muse Music with Groove Studios (Moment in Oddity) Vanishing by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4578-vanishing License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license (This Month in History) In Your Arms by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3906-in-your-arms License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Outro Music: Happy Fun Punk by Muse Music with Groove Studios All other music licensing: PODCASTMUSIC.COM License Synchronization, Mechanical, Master Use and Performance Direct License for a Single Podcast Series under current monthly subscription. Humble Texas by 5 Alarm Music Cover photo by Brent Underwood

Andrew Warner has been part of the internet startup scene since 1997. Andrew and his brother built a $30 million per year online business, which they later sold. After taking an extended vacation and doing some traveling, Andrew started Mixergy. Mixergy helps ambitious upstarts learn from some of the most successful people in business.Andrew and I talk about his new book, Stop Asking Questions. It's a great read on leading dynamic interviews, and learning anything from anyone. We also talk about longevity and burnout as an entrepreneur. Andrew gives me feedback about my interviewing style, the direction I should take the podcast, and much more.In this episode, you'll learn: Why you need to understand and communicate your mission How to get your guest excited about being interviewed What to do instead of asking questions How to hook your audience and keep them engaged Links & Resources ConvertKit Gregg Spiridellis JibJab Ali Abdaal The Web App Challenge: From Zero to $5,000/month In 6 Months Groove Zendesk Help Scout Jordan Harbinger Noah Kagan Bob Hiler Seth Godin Morning Brew Alex Lieberman Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) Notion Sahil Bloom Ryan Holiday Brent Underwood Ghost Town Living Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator Damn Gravity Paul Graham Y Combinator Nathan Barry: Authority Ira Glass NPR This American Life Barbara Walters Richard Nixon interview Oprah interview with Lance Armstrong Matt Mullenweg Chris Pearson Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue Peter Thiel Gawker Nick Denton The Wall Street Journal Rohit Sharma SanDisk Jason Calacanis Dickie Bush Sean McCabe Daily Content Machine Jordan Peterson Tribes Warren Buffet Sam Walton Ted Turner GothamChess LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) Inc.com: Selling Your Company When You're Running on Fumes Chess.com Mark Cuban James Altucher Rod Drury Andrew Warner's Links Andrew Warner Stop Asking Questions Mixergy Episode Transcript[00:00:00] Andrew:The top 10 interviews of all time are news-based interviews. We, as podcasters, keep thinking, “How do I get enough in the can, so if I die tomorrow, there's enough interviews to last for a month, so I can be consistent, and the audience loves me.”That's great, but I think we should also be open to what's going on in the world today. Let's go talk to that person today. If there's an artist who's suddenly done something, we should go ask to do an interview with them.[00:00:32] Nathan:In this episode, I talk to my friend, Andrew Warner, who I've known for a long time. He actually played a really crucial role in the ConvertKit story in the early days, and provided some great encouragement along the way to help me continue the company, and get through some tough spots.We actually don't get into that in this episode, but it takes an interesting turn because we just dive right in.Andrew's got a book on interviewing. He runs Mixergy. He's been, running Mixergy for a long time. We talk about longevity and burnout, and a bunch of other things. He dives in and challenges me, and gives me feedback on my interviewing style. Where I should take the Podcast, and a bunch of other stuff. It's more of a casual conversation than the back-and-forth interview of how he grew his business. But I think you'll like it. It's a lot of what I'm going for on the show.So anyway, enjoy the episode.Andrew, welcome to the show.[00:01:25] Andrew:Thanks for having me on.[00:01:26] Nathan:There's all kinds of things we can talk about today, but I want to start with the new book that you got coming out.This is actually slightly intimidating; I am interviewing someone who has a book coming out about how to be good at interviewing. Where do we even go from here? You were saying that you have thoughts?[00:01:47] Andrew:I have feedback for you. I have a thoughts on your program.[00:01:51] Nathan:I'm now even more nervous.[00:01:52] Andrew:I've been listening, and I've been following, and I've been looking for questioning styles. Is there feedback I could give him? I mean, I've wrote a whole book on it. I should have tons of ideas on that.I don't. Here's the thing that stood out for me watching you. There's an ease and a comfort with these guests, but I'm trying to figure out what you're trying to do with the Podcast. What is connecting them? Are you trying to bring me, the listener, in and teach me how to become a better creator who's going to grow an audience and make a career out of it? Or are you trying to learn for yourself what to do?How to become closer to what Ali Abdaal doing, for example, or Sahil Bloom? Are you trying to do what they did, and grow your audience? Or is it a combination of the two?I think the lack of that focus makes me feel a little untethered, and I know that being untethered and going raw, and letting it go anywhere is fine, but I think it would be helpful if you gave me a mission.What's the mission that Nathan Barry's on with the Podcast. Why is he doing these interviews?[00:02:56] Nathan:Oh, that's interesting. Because it's probably different: my mission, versus the audience members' mission.[00:03:05] Andrew:I think you should have a boat together and, but go ahead.[00:03:08] Nathan:I was going to say mine is to meet interesting people. Like that's the thing I found that, podcasts are the pressure from two sides, one as a creator, as an individual online, like I'm not going to set aside the time to be like, you know what, I'm going to meet one interesting person a week and we're just going to have a conversation riff on something like that.Doesn't happen the times that, you know, the years that I didn't do this show, I didn't set aside like deliberate time to do that. And then the other thing is if I were to set aside that time and send out that email, I think a lot of people would be like, I kind of had to have a busy week. I don't know that I've, you know, like yeah, sure.Nathan, whoever you are. I did a Google search. You seem moderately interesting. I'm not sure that I want to get on that.Like a, get to know[00:03:58] Andrew:They wouldn't and it would be awkward. And you're right. The Podcast gives you an excuse. I think you should go higher level with it though. I think you should go deep to the point where you feel vulnerable. I think what you should do is say something like this, isn't it. You have to go into your own into your own mission and say, this is what it is.And just, so let me set the context for why this matters. I think it helps the audience know, but it also helps you get better guests to give better of themselves. I talk in the book about how I was interviewing Greg spirit, Dallas, the guy who created jib, jab, you know, those old viral video, it was a fire video factory that also created apps that allowed you to turn your yourself into like a viral meme that you could then send to your friends.Anyway, he didn't know me. He was incredibly successful. He was, I think, person of the year, a company of the year named by time. He was on the tonight show because he created these videos that had gone viral. And yes. He said yes, because a friend of a friend invited him, but I could see that he was just kind of slouching.He was wearing a baseball cap. It wasn't a good position. And then he said, why are we doing this? And I said, I want to do a story. That's so important. That tells the story of how you built your business. Yes. For my audience. So they see how new businesses are being built online, but let's make it so clear about what you did, that your great grandkids can listen to this.And then they will know how to great grandfather do this and put us in this situation. And that's what I wanted. I wanted for him to create that. And he told me that afterwards, if he had known that that was a mission, he wouldn't have put his hat on. He said that after that, he started thinking about the business in a more in depth way, visualizing his great grandchild.And then later on, he asked me for that recording so that he could have it in his family collection. So the reason I say that is I want us to have a mission. That's that important that yes. You could get somebody to sit in front of the camera because you're telling me you're doing a podcast, frankly.Right. You're with ConvertKit they're going to say yes, but how do you bring the best out of them? And that's it. And so that's why I'm doing this. And so one suggestion for you is to say something like.I'm Nathan, I've been a creator my whole life, but I'm starting from scratch right now with YouTube.I've got 435 people watching YouTube. It's not terrible, but it's clearly not where I want to end up. And so what I've decided to do is instead of saying, I've created the book authority, I wrote it. I'm the one who created software that all these creators are using a ConvertKit. Instead of, instead of allowing myself to have the comfort of all my past successes, I'm going to have the discomfort of saying, I don't know what it's like.And so I'm going to bring on all these people who, because maybe I've got credibility from ConvertKit are going to do interviews with me. And they're going to teach me like Alia doll and others are going to teach me how they became better creators, better business people. I'm going to use it to inform my, my, growth on YouTube.And by the way, You'll all get to follow along. And if you want to follow along and build along with me, this is going to come from an earnest place. Now I've obviously gone. Long-winded cause I'm kind of riffing here, but that's a mission. And now we're watching as you go from four to 500, now we care about your growth.Now there's someone giving you feedback and more importantly, there's someone who then can go back years later and see the breadcrumbs. Even if the whole thing fails and say, you know what?Nathan made it in virtual reality videos. And he's amazing. But look at what he did when YouTube was there. He clearly didn't do it, but he aspired right. I could aspire to, if I don't do it, I'll do it in the next level. That's that's what I'm going for with it. I talk too much sometimes and give people too much, too much feedback. How does that sit with you?[00:07:14] Nathan:I like the idea. I particularly love anytime a creator's going on a journey and inviting people along for it, right. When you're sitting there and giving advice or whatever else, it's just not that compelling to follow it unless there's a destination in mind. So I did that with ConvertKit in the early days of, I said, like I called it the web app challenge said, I'm trying to grow it from zero to 5,000 a month in recurring revenue.Within six months, I'm going to like live blog, the whole thing. people love that another example would be also in the SAS space, but, the company grew, they did a customer support software and they, I think. They were going from 25,000 a month to 500,000 a month was their goal. and they even have like, in their opt-in form, as they blogged and shared all the lessons, it had like a progress bar.You'd see, like MRR was at 40,000,[00:08:08] Andrew:Every time you read a blog post, you see the MRR and the reason that you don't remember what the number was is I believe that they changed it, you know, as they achieve the goal, they, they changed it to show the next goal on their list. And yeah, and you've got to follow along now. Why do I care? The groove, HQ or groove is, is growing a competitor to Zendesk and help scout.But now that I'm following along, I'm kind of invested now that I see how they're writing about their progress. I really do care. And by the way, what is this groove and why is it better than help scout and the others? Yeah. I agree with you. I think that makes a lot of sense. I think in conversations also, it makes a lot of sense.I think a lot of people will come to me and say, Andrew, can I just ask you for some feedback? I'm a student. Can I ask you for support? It's helpful for them to ask, but if they could ground me in the purpose, if you could say to somebody I'm coming to you with these questions, because this is where I'm trying to go, it changes the way that they react.It makes them also feel more on onboard with the mission. I have a sense that there is one, I'm just saying nail it, you know, who does it really good? who does a great job with it is a Jordan harbinger. He starts out his each episode is almost if you're a fan of his, it's almost like enough already. I get that.You're going to do an opt-in in the beginning of the Podcast. I get that. What you're trying to do is show us how to whatever network now and become better people. But it's fine. I'd much rather people say, I know too much about what this mission is. Then I don't.[00:09:26] Nathan:Do you who's afraid anyone else tuning in? What, what is Jordan's mission? What would he say is the mission that[00:09:32] Andrew:It's about, see, that's the other thing I can't actually, even though I've heard it a billion times, he's adjusted it. It's about, self-improvement making me a better person better, man. And so the earnestness of that makes me accept when he brings somebody on who's a little bit too academic who's, Jordan's interested in it or a little bit too practical to the point where it feels like I'm just getting too many tips on how to network and I don't need it, but I've got his sensibility.He's trying to make me a better person. And so I think with interviews, if you, if you give people the, the mission, they'll forgive more, they'll accommodate the largest and it does allow you to have a broader, a broader set of topics.[00:10:14] Nathan:Yeah. I'm thinking about the mission side of it. Like all of that resonates. and I love when an interview is questions are Like are the questions that they specifically want to know? It's not like I went through my list and this seems like a good question to ask instead. It's like, no, no, no, Andrew specifically, I want to know what should I do about, this?And I'll even call that out in a show and be like, look, I don't even care if there's an audience right now. Like this is my list, you know?[00:10:41] Andrew:Yes.[00:10:41] Nathan:But the, like if we dive into the mission, the one that you outlined doesn't quite resonate. And I think the reason. I think about, creators who have already made it in some way.And it starts to lose that earnestness. Like, honestly, I'm not that interested in, in growing a YouTube[00:11:00] Andrew:I don't think that that's I don't think that that's it for you. It's true. That's a little bit too. I don't know. It's it's a little, it's a little too early in the career. There is something there. I don't know what it is and it can't be enough. It can't be enough to say I need to meet interesting people because that's very youth centric and I'm not on a mission to watch you, unless you're really going to go for like the super right.And we're constantly aspiring, inspiring. the other thing it could be as you're running a company, you're trying to understand what's going on. No Kagan did that really well. I actually have the reason that I know this stuff is in order to write the book. I said, I have all my transcripts. I can study all the ways that I've questioned, but I also want to see what other people have done.And so Noah Kagan did this interview with an NPR producer. I had that transcribed to understand what he did and what he learned. One of the things that he did in that, that made that such a compelling interview is. He was a podcaster who wanted to improve his podcasting. And he, I think he even paid the producer to do an interview with him on his podcast so that he could learn from him.Right. And in the process, he's asking serious questions that he's really wondering. He's trying to figure out how to make a show more interesting for himself. Now. Clearly someone like me, who wants to make my Podcast more interesting. I'm like mentally scribbling notes as I'm running, listening to the podcasting.Oh yeah. The rule of three, like what are the three things you're going to show me?Well, yeah, at the end he did summarize it and he did edit. I don't like the edits at all because the edits take away some of the rawness of it and the discomfort which I personally enjoy, but I see now how he's editing it out.And it's, it's interesting to watch that progress.[00:12:32] Nathan:Yeah, I'm thinking through. The different angles that I could take with this. cause I like it and I feel like there's a, a thread that's not quite there. And I felt that on the show. Right. Cause people ask, oh, why are you having this guest on versus that guest? and it is that like, I, I find them interesting.There's also another angle of like probably half the guests maybe are on ConvertKit already. And so I want to highlight that. And then the other half of the guests aren't and I want them on ConvertKit and so that's an, you know, an incredibly easy, I can send you a cold email and be like, Andrew switched to ConvertKit.Right. Or I could be like, Hey, you know, have you on the show, we could talk. and we've gotten great people like in the music space and other areas from just having them on the show and then[00:13:18] Andrew:Can I give you, by the way, I know it's a sidetrack and I give you a great story of someone who did that. Okay. it's not someone that, you know, it's a guy who for years had helped me out. His name is Bob Highler every week he would get on a call with me and give me advice on how to improve the business.And then at one point he said, you know what? I need new clients. I want to start going after people who are, I want to start going after lawyers, helping them with their online ads, because lawyers aren't, aren't doing well enough.He started doing all these marketing campaigns because he's a marketer. And so one of the things he did was he got these cards printed up.He said, they look just like wedding invitations, beautiful. He, he mailed them out to lawyers. He got one, two responses. Like nobody would pay attention to a stranger, even if they were earnest and sending those out. And he goes, you know, and then he gets on a call. He doesn't even know what to say to people.If he just cold calling goes, I'm going to try to do that. And Andrew, I'm going to do an interview show for lawyers. He picked bankruptcy lawyers. He started asking them for interviews. They were all flattered because they also want another good Google hit. Right. And so they said yes to him and he asked them questions.Then I started learning the language. I forget all the different terms that he learned about how, about how they operate. But he said, inevitably at the end, they'll go after it was done. And say, by the way, what are you. And then he'd have a chance to tell them. And because he's built up this rapport and they trust him, they were much more likely to sign them.He signed up his customers, just like that, just like that. It's a, I think it's an, it's an unexplored way of doing it, of, of growing a business, taking an interest in someone, shining a light on them, helping them get that Google hit and helping them tell their story. And then by the way, will you pay attention to the fact that I've got a thing that if you like me, you might like also,[00:14:50] Nathan:So a few years ago, I was in New York and Seth Goden had come out to speak at our conference and he'd ever said, Hey, if you're in New York and want to make the pilgrimage up to Hastings on Hudson, you know, of outside the city, like come up and visit. And so I did that and it's so funny, cause it is like this pilgrimage to you, you like take the train up along the river. You know, I don't know what it is an hour and a half outside of the city. and I was asking Seth advice at his office, about like how to reach more authors. I think that was the question I asked him specifically and he just, he was like, well, what do authors want? And I was like, ah, I, some more books I guess.And he's like, yeah know. And so like we went through a series of questions, but he's basically what he came to was, find a way to get them attention so that they can grow their audience to sell more books. And he was suggesting a podcast is the way to do that. What's interesting is that's the side, like that's the other half of it, right.I want to meet interesting people. I want to, Like get more of those people that I find really interesting on ConvertKit pushed the limits of like, our customer base in, in those areas. And then the third thing is I want to do it in a way that's high leverage in my time. Write of, I want to do it.That creates something, for people watching and listening along so they can follow the journey. But I still don't see,I would say two thirds of that is about me, right?[00:16:18] Andrew:It's not only that, but all these things are byproducts more than they are the clear goal. You're going to get that. No matter what, if you just talk all day about what? No, not talk all day. If you do, what was it? I'm the founder of morning brew does nothing, but like a 15 minute, if that sometimes five minutes.[00:16:37] Nathan:Alex Lieberman.[00:16:38] Andrew:Yeah, just what, what goes on in his life now it's changed over the years or so that he's done it, but it's just, here's what we were thinking about today. Here's how I'm deciding to hire somebody BA done. He's just doing that. That's enough to get attention enough to also broaden his audience enough to bring us in and then so on.So I think if you just did nothing, but get on camera and talk for a bit, you'll get that. But I think a higher leverage thing is to tap into that personal mission and let all the others come through along the way and all the other benefits, meaning that you will get to meet people and change the way you think you will get to get people to switch to convert kit.And so on, by the way, that's such a, like an impressive thing for you to admit, to say, I want to have these guests on because I want to assign them up. I think a lot of people would have those ulterior motives and[00:17:23] Nathan:Oh, no, you got to just talk about, I mean, that's something you and I, for as long as we've known each other have been very, very transparent in both of our separate businesses and our conversations and it's just, everyone wants that. Right? Cause they're like, I think I know why Nathan is doing this, but he wants.And that would be weird, but if we go to the mission side of it, there's mission of like this, I'm going to improve the world side of mission, which definitely exists that can protect you. And I got my little plaque behind me. It says we exist to help creators are living. And so we can take that angle of it, thinking of like the, the goal journey side of things, since we're just riffing on ideas.One way that might be interesting is to make like a top 100 list of the top 100 creators we want on ConvertKit. And the whole podcast is about interviewing those people and reaching them. And, and so it could be like, this is what I'm trying to accomplish. And you're going to learn a whole bunch along the way as a listener, but you, you know, we check in on that.And then another angle that we could take that would be different is the, like we're going together. We're going to help the creator make the best version of their business. And so you make it more of a.We're both peers diving in on your business, riffing on it, you know, how would we improve it? that kind of thing.[00:18:43] Andrew:I think helping creators create a business, seems like something others have done, but not quite your approach, your style, the way that you will go and carve something is this is the thing that's over your head that says create. Is that something you carved in your wood shop? Then I saw on Instagram.Yeah, right. The sensibility of I've got to create it my way. Instead of that's a pain in the ass, I got a business to run who like, right. You're not going to see, for example, infusion soft, go, we need a plaque. Let's go to the wood shop. No, you're not. It's just not their sensibility. Right. Coming from a sensibility of someone who cares about the details, who every button matters in the software, everything behind your shoulder matters to you for yourself, even the stuff I imagine.If you look forward would have a meaning there, it wouldn't be random chaos. Is it random chaos in front of, on the[00:19:32] Nathan:The desk is random chaos, but there's a sign that says the future belongs to creators up there. And[00:19:38] Andrew:Okay. I think I might've even seen that online somewhere. So I think that coming, coming from the business point of view, With a sense of creator's taste, I think is something that would appeal to a lot of people. For whom seeing, for example, my take on business would be completely abhorring. All I care about is where the numbers are and what it's like.Right. Well, even allium doll's take on, it would not be, would not be right, because he's much more about every movement needs to matter. He can't just have a checkbox in notion it Ellis has to fire off five different other things that notion because otherwise you're wasting time. Why type five things when you could type one, right.It's a different sensibility. And I think you've always done really well drawing in that audience. I remember talking to a competitor of yours who started around the same time, also done really well about why you were, you were really growing tremendously faster. and they said he nailed it. He nailed who his audience is.It's the bloggers. It's these early creators who, who didn't have. Who didn't have anyone speaking for them. And you did that. And I think maybe that's an approach to saying, look, we are creators. And the business of creation is, or the business of being a creator is evolving and we want to learn about every part of it.And then it's interesting to hear how somebody growing their audience in an interesting way. How is somebody thinking about writing? I love that you asked Sahil bloom about how long it took him to write. I know he talks about it a bunch, but it's, it's interesting to hear him go with you about how it is like a five hour, seven hour writing job for him, right.To write fricking tweets. He's writing tweets, right? You've got people just firing off the tweet. He's spending five, seven hours on it. And, and he's also not a guy who's just like, right. It would be something if he was still in school playing baseball, and this is his intellectual, whatever. No, he's now running in investments.He's making decisions. He's helping promote his, his portfolio companies and he's spending five hours writing and he's doing it like one a week instead of one an hour. Right. It's all very interesting. And that approach, I think, ties completely well with ConvertKit.[00:21:41] Nathan:Okay. So where does that take us on like the mission or the hook for the show? Cause we're.[00:21:48] Andrew:Okay. Here's what I would do. I would, I would just keep riffing go. My name is Nathan Barry. You probably know me from convert kit. I'm doing this podcast because I like to meet interesting people. And here's the thing I'm trying to do or I'm I I'm doing it because I'm compelled to talk to these people who I admire.And I also want to learn from them about how they create and just riff on it. Like every week, even have every interview have a different one, until you feel like, oh, that's the one that feels just right. But if we just here, I want to have this person on, because I'm trying to learn this thing. I want to have this on because secretly I'm trying to see if I can get him to be at, see if I can get Ryan holiday to actually be on convert kit.Right. Boom. Now, now we're kind of following along as you're figuring it out. And that's also[00:22:29] Nathan:Yeah.[00:22:29] Andrew:The way, is Ryan holiday going to be on here or what?[00:22:31] Nathan:On the show,[00:22:33] Andrew:Yeah.[00:22:34] Nathan:Probably we were just talking the other day. We have a shared investment in a ghost town, So we, we often talk about that,[00:22:40] Andrew:Oh yeah. I've[00:22:42] Nathan:Other thing[00:22:43] Andrew:That ghost town. Oh, that's a whole other thing I've been watching that[00:22:45] Nathan:I need to have speaking of the ghost town, I didn't have Brent Underwood on because that Is an insane story of everything going on with town, but it's just been building this massive audience.[00:22:58] Andrew:Who's doing YouTube videos from there? He[00:23:00] Nathan:Yeah. And he's now got 1.2[00:23:01] Andrew:Yeah,[00:23:02] Nathan:Subscribers on YouTube, like 2 million on[00:23:04] Andrew:I had no idea. I watched him in the early days of the pandemic go into this place by himself. Almost get trapped, driving his car to get there. Right. I go, this is fun content. And usually when you watch someone like that and good morning, America go, and I'm going to jump out of this thing.And I've never jumped before, maybe whatever. I don't know.Yo, the producer's not going to let you die. It's fine. Here you go, dude. Who's just trying to get attention for this thing. Cause he has some investors who he wants to make sure get what they want. Yeah, you could die. What the hell is you doing?What? Like I'm going to, I'm going to go down this hole and see if there's anything over you yet. Dude, you could[00:23:41] Nathan:Yeah. It's, it's pretty wild. I actually, some of the weeks that he don't, he, that he didn't post the videos. I'd like, texted him, be like, Brett, you're still alive because you know, the video was the way that we knew every Friday, like, okay, Good Brent. Still alive, everything. Everything's good. Anyway, I got to have him[00:23:58] Andrew:All right. If you do talk to, if you talk to Ryan holiday, I feel like you totally nailed his writing style, where you, you said in one of your past episodes that he can take a whole historical story, sum it up in two sentences to help clarify the moment that he's writing about. And it's like a toss away thing, right? Just toss it away and then move on and go, dude. That's a whole freaking book. In fact, just turning the whole thing into just two sentences to fit in there would take silo, bloom five hours. You put it in a book with other, like there a bunch of other sentences. So that's good. But here's what I think you should talk to him about.Or here's my, my one suggestion. He has not talked about Marketing since he created, trust me. I'm a lot. Trust me. I'm lying, which was a phenomenal book that then I feel like he distanced himself from when he became more stoic and more intellectual. Fine. He is still a great, great marketer along your style, your tasty.And in fact, he's becoming the people who I can think of that are very, ConvertKit like philosophy in their creation plus promotion. He nails it, right? Art that takes so much pain that you've mentioned, and we've all seen it. He has boxes of index cards to create these sentences that most people would just throw away, not pay attention to, but are super meaningful.And at the same time, he knows how to promote. He knows how to get his ideas out there. He knows how to sell a coin that says you're going to die in Latin, that people put in their pockets that are more than just selling a coin. It's selling this transferable viral, real life thing. Right. So anyway. And is he should be on a ConvertKit too.[00:25:29] Nathan:He is, he is[00:25:30] Andrew:Okay. Good.[00:25:31] Nathan:Half of his list started in Berkeley. The other half are in the process of switching over. So, you know,[00:25:36] Andrew:Okay. Yeah, that's the hard part, dude. I I'm with infusion soft. I can't stand them. If you understand how much I do not like them. I do I ever talk negatively about anyone. No. Bring up politics, Joe Biden, Donald Trump. I got no strong opinion about anything you talked to me about, about infusions. Ah, but the problem is it's so hard to wean yourself off of these things because once you're in a system, that's it[00:25:56] Nathan:Well we'll make it happen. W w we'll figure out a way, but the new book landing page for it, I went on there and inspected element. It's definitely a ConvertKit for them. I was pretty happy about it.[00:26:06] Andrew:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So truthfully it was, I said, I'm not going to school around here. It would have probably been easier for me to go with, with infusion soft because then we all we'd have to do with tag people who were interested. And then I could, I don't want that. I don't want that nonsense because it comes with overhead.That becomes an obstacle to me, communicating with my audience by, by overhead. I mean, they've got historic legacy. Requirement's that mean I can't do anything right. You I'm on my iPad. I could just go in and send a message out. Or actually I haven't sent a message out. Someone else has sent a message out.Our publisher sent a message then from damn, ah, damn gravity. But I, but if someone says there's a problem, I can go in and see it.[00:26:44] Nathan:Right.[00:26:44] Andrew:And make adjustments. The whole thing just fricking works. Right?[00:26:47] Nathan:So I want to talk about the book more. Let's talk[00:26:49] Andrew:Sure.[00:26:50] Nathan:And now I have you here.[00:26:52] Andrew:Ben needs, us to talk about the book. He's the publisher.[00:26:54] Nathan:We'll get to that, then don't worry. Ben, we've got it covered. so you were giving unsolicited feedback, which by the way is my favorite kind of feedback. Okay.So as you've been listening to the show, what are some other things that maybe you recommended the book, maybe like as you set people up for interview questions, any of that advice that you would give beyond?We started with the men.[00:27:15] Andrew:I'm going to suggest that people who listen to you do pay attention to this. One thing that they should, I I'm interrupting you in a roadway now there's some good interruption that I write about in the book and I can tell you how to do it. Right. And I also have to say that there's some new Yorker that's built in, even though I've left New York a long time ago, that I, I always interrupt when we need to get into the bottom line.Okay. Here's one thing that I think people should pay attention with you. You don't just ask questions. You will, at times interject your own story, your own, take your own experience. And I find that a lot of times people either do it in a heavy handed way. It's like, look at me, I'm equal to you. I deserve to be in this conversation too.And that doesn't just happen on Mike. It happens at dinner parties or it's more like I have to be reverential. So I'm asking questions and it's me asking about them. And one of the things that I learned over the years, Getting to know someone interviewing someone, whether it's like you and I are doing in our podcasts and shows or doing it, in a, in a dinner conversation, it's not asking questions.It's not about saying here's my next thing. Here's my next question. It's overwhelming and draining to do that. You do need to say, well, here's me. You do need to sometimes just guide the person to say, now tell me how you wrote the book. Now tell me how long it takes to, to write a tweet, right? Whatever it is, you need to sometimes direct the person.And so I call the book, stop asking questions because that counter intuitive piece of knowledge is something that took me a fricking interview coach to help me accept that. It's true, but it helps. And you do it really well. And here's why you do it. Well, you interject something personal. Somehow you do it succinctly.You don't get rambling off. Maybe you edit that.No, no, because the videos are there. Yeah. It's, it's not edited. It's just you saying here's, here's my experience with this. And then when you come back and you ask something. It informs the guest about where you are and what they could contribute to that. It lets them also feel like this is a dialogue instead of them being pounded with demands of, in the forms of question.[00:29:15] Nathan:Yeah. Yeah. I think that for anyone listening and thinking about starting a podcast, it's really like, what's the kind of thing that you want to listen to. And I like it where the host is like a character in the, in the Podcast, in the episode where they're contributing content and it's not just like, oh, if I listened to Andrew on these 10 shows, I'm just going to get Andrew.Like, I want it where it's like, no, I'm getting the blend between these two people. And the unique things that come from that intersection rather than, you know, I've heard this[00:29:46] Andrew:Yes.[00:29:47] Nathan:I've heard about it.[00:29:48] Andrew:I think also it took me a long time years of, so I started doing this in 2007, give or take a year and I think. No one needs to talk about, I don't need to talk about myself. They don't care about me. They care about, you know, Paul Graham, who I'm interviewing about how he found a Y Combinator, someone.And I would get tons of emails from people saying, tell us who you are. Tell us a little bit about yourself. And I would argue with them and say, no, but I understand now on the outside, when I listen, I don't know who you are. And it feels very awkward to hear it. It feels very much like, I don't know why, where you're coming from.And so I don't know why I should listen. It's kinda, it's it's counterintuitive.[00:30:29] Nathan:Yeah. I think it just comes with comfort over time. Like, I, I don't know this for sure. If I bet if I listen back to my first podcast episodes, the ones that I did in like 2015. I have a different style because I bet I'm less comfortable or more worried about like, make sure that I shut up quickly so that the guests can talk more because people came here for the guest and then over time you just get more comfortable.[00:30:53] Andrew:So you wrote authority and I remember you, I remember buying it and I remember you bundled it with a bunch of stuff, right. And oh, by the way, it's so cool. I was listening to it on a run and I heard you mention my name in the, in the book I go, this is great and I'm running. but I remember you did interviews there.I don't remember whether the style matches up to today or what, but you did interviews in it. Right.[00:31:15] Nathan:I did.[00:31:16] Andrew:And what you had there that I think is always important to have with all, all interviews is you had a sense of like, well, the sense of mission, I knew what you were going for, because you were trying to say, here is this book that I've written on this topic.I'm want to bring these people in to bring their, their take on it. We were all kind of working together. And I feel like, when I look at my earlier interviews, I listened to them. The Mike sucks so badly. I was too ponderous. Cause I wanted to be like, IRA glass from, from NPR, from this American life.And you could hear the same rhythm, the same cadence, like I'm copying him. Like I'm his little brother trying to learn how to be like a real boy. but I had this real need. I was trying to figure out how these people were building companies that work to understand what holes I had in my understanding to see what was working for them that I didn't know before.And you could see that and it, it helps. It helped me continue. Even when I was nervous with the guest, it helped the guests know where to go. Even when I wasn't doing good job, guiding them and help the audience keep listening in, even when the audio stopped, because there's this thing that Andrew is trying to understand.And you almost feel like you're the sense of vulnerability. If it doesn't scare you away, then it makes you want to root.[00:32:40] Nathan:Yeah. And I personally love that style because I want to follow someone going on a journey and, and trying to accomplish something specific. But let's talk about the not just the book, but asking questions or in this case, stopping it, stop asking questions. What are the things that not even just specific to this job, what are the things that you listened to interview shows?And you're like, okay, here are the three things that I want to change or that I want to coach you on in the same way that I was coached on.[00:33:10] Andrew:Okay. So what I started to do is I go through my own transcripts. I mean, I had years of transcripts to see what worked and what didn't I already done that. So I said, I need to now add to it. And so I went back and looked at historical interviews, like when Barbara Walters interviewed Richard Nixon and got him so frustrated that he didn't want to ever talk to her again.Or when Oprah finally got to sit with Lance Armstrong, how did she do that? I think. You know, you know, let me pause on, on Oprah and Lance Armstrong. She got to interview him after he, he was basically caught cheating and he was about to come out and do it. Great. Get, I think the fact that she interviewed him, there's a lesson there for, for all of us who are interviewing, interviewing the top 10 interviews, I think of all time.And you go back to Wikipedia and look it up. You see art or interview podcast or interview, sorry, our news-based interviews. We as podcasters, keep thinking, how do I get enough in the can so that if I die tomorrow, there's enough interviews to last for a month or whatever, so that I can be consistent in the audience loved me.That's great. But I think we should also be open to what's going on in the world today. Let's go talk to that person today. If there's an artist who suddenly done something, we should go and ask to do an interview with them. If there's a creator, if there's someone. So for me, one of the top interviews that people still it's been years, people still come back and talk to me about is when Matt Mullenweg decided that he was gonna pull out Chris[00:34:35] Nathan:Pearson.[00:34:35] Andrew:Per Pearson.Pearson's, themes from WordPress. And I got to talk to both of them at the same time and I published it and it went all over the internet with all over the WordPress internet. So hundreds of different blog posts about it, eventually all the people in the WordPress world write a lot of blogs, but also it became news.And so we don't do enough of that.[00:34:57] Nathan:I remember that interview because I was in the WordPress community at that time. And I remember you saying like, wait, I'm in Skype and I have both of you in two different things and you pull it together and not to pull Ryan holiday into this too much, but that's where he ended up writing the book.Was it, he realized he was one of the only people who was talking to like both Peter teal and, who's the Gawker guy.Yeah. Anyway, people know, but, but being in the intersection of that, so you're saying find something that's relevant on the news[00:35:33] Andrew:Yeah. Nick Denton was the founder of Gawker. Yes. Find the things that are relevant right now. And when people are hot right now, and they know you and you have credibility in this space, they trust you more than they trust. Say the wall street journal, even right, where they don't know where's this going.I think that's, that's one thing. The other thing is I think we don't have enough of a story within interviews. If we're doing S if we're doing at Mixergy, my podcast and interview where we're telling someone's story, we want them to be somewhere where the audience is at the beginning and then to have done something or had something happen to them that sets them on their own little journey.And then we make this whole interview into this. Into this a hero's journey approach. So I think better when I have an actual company in mind, so, or a person in mind. So last week I was interviewing this guy, Rohit Rowan was a person who was working at SanDisk, had everything going right for him. His boss comes to him and says it, you're now a director, continue your work.But now more responsibilities he's elated. He goes back, home, comes back into the office. Things are good, does work. And then a couple of days later he's told, you know, we mean temporarily, right? And he goes, what do you mean? I thought I got, I got a promotion. No, this is temporary. While our director's out you're director of this department.And then you go back, he says, the very next day, he couldn't go back into the office. He sat in his car, just, he couldn't do it anymore. And so he decided at that point, he'd heard enough about entrepreneurship heard enough ideas. He had to go off on and do it himself. And so we did. And then through the successes and failures, we now have a story about someone who's doing something that we can relate to, that we aspire to be more.[00:37:13] Nathan:So, how do you, you, your researchers, how do you find that moment before you have someone on? Because so many people will be like, yes, let me tell you about my business today. And oh, you want to know about that? How'd, you know, you know, like, as you,[00:37:27] Andrew:Yeah,[00:37:28] Nathan:That hook in that moment? That actually is a catalyst in their own dream.[00:37:33] Andrew:It's tough. It's it takes hours of talking to the guest of, of looking online of hunting for that moment. And it takes a lot of acceptance when it doesn't happen. One of my interview coaches said, Andrew, be careful of not looking for the Batman moment. And I said, what do you mean? He goes, you're always looking for the one moment that changed everything in people's lives.Like when Batman's parents got shot. And from there, he went from being a regular boy to being a superhero. Who's going to cry, fight crime everywhere. His life doesn't really work that way. There aren't these one moments, usually the change, everything. So I try not to. Put too much pressure on any one moment, but there are these little moments that indicate a bigger thing that happened to us.And I look for those and I allow people to tell that without having it be the one and only thing that happened. So if Pharaoh, it, it wasn't that moment. It could've just been, you know what, every day I go into the office and things are boring. And I think I have to stop. What I look for is give me an example of a boring.Now he can tell me about a day, a day, where he's sitting at his desk and all he's doing is looking at his watch, looking at his watch and he has to take his watch, put it in his drawer so that he doesn't get too distracted by looking at his watch all day. Cause he hates it. Now was that the one moment that changed everything?It was one of many moments. It might've happened a year before he quit, but it's an indication. So when we're telling stories, we don't have to shove too much pressure into one moment, but I do think it helps to find that one moment that encapsulates their, why, why did they go on this journey? Why does someone who's in SanDisk decide he's going to be an entrepreneur?Why did someone who was a baseball player decide that he had to go and write a blog post? Why is it? What's the thing that then sends them off on this journey? It helps. And I would even say, if you can get that moment, it just helps to get the thing that they were doing before that we can relate to. So what's the thing that they did before.So anyway, we have two different types of interviews. One is the story-based interview where we tell a story of how someone achieved something great. And so that hero's journey is and approach. The other one is someone just wants to teach them. All you want to do is just pound into them for an hour. Give me another tip another tip another tip of how to do this.Like pound, pound, pound, pound pound. If you want the audience to listen. I think for there, it helps to have what I call the cult hook because I said, how do I, how do cults get people to listen to, to these people who are clearly whack jobs sometimes. And so studying one called I saw that what they did was they'd have a person up on stage who talked about how, you know, I used to really be a Boozer.If you came into my house, you would see that there'd be these empty six packs. I was so proud of leaving the empty six packs everywhere to show myself how much alcohol I can drink. My wife left me. And when she left me, she just told me that I hadn't amounted to anything in my life. And I was going nowhere.And I just said, get I here. Instead of appreciating that this was just like terrible. And I ran out of toilet paper and don't even get me started with what, what I did for that. And so you see someone who's worry worse off than you are on this path of life. And then something has. They discover whoever it is.That's the cult leader. And they say, now I've got this real estate firm I encouraged by, oh, by the way, all of you to come over and take a look at that at this, I couldn't believe it. My whole life. I wanted to buy a Tesla. I now have the Tesla S it's amazing. It's just so great. And I did it all because I changed the way I thought once I came in and I found this one book and the book told me, I mean, anyways, so what we try to do is we say, if you're going to have somebody come on to teach how they became a better blogger, let's not have them start over elevated where everything they do is so great that we can't relate, have them start off either relatable or worse.I couldn't write here's my grammar, mistakes. My teacher told. Right. And now what's the thing that they did. They pick them from where they were to where they are today. it's this real set of realizations. Now I want to go into that.Let's pound into them and see how many of those tips we can get. Let's learn that I want to go from where he was to where he is.[00:41:28] Nathan:Yeah, I liked that a lot. Cause my inclination would be like, okay, we're we're doing the, educational, tactical conversation. I'm going to facilitate it. Let's dive right in and let's get to the actionable stuff right away. So I like what you're saying of like, no, no, no. We need to, even though this is going to be 90% packed, full of actionable material, we need to dive in and set the stage first with the story and making it relatable.And I like it.[00:41:55] Andrew:Yeah,[00:41:55] Nathan:Oh, yeah. I was just, just in my own head for a second. Cause I say, ah, that makes sense a lot, so much so that I've had three different guests or listeners email me and say like, just don't say that makes sense as much would, now that I'm saying it on the show, I'll probably get more emails every time that I say it.Cause that's like my processing, like, oh, oh, that makes sense. As I'm thinking of the next question and all that, so[00:42:22] Andrew:I do something like that too. For me. It's IC,[00:42:25] Nathan:Everyone has to have something.[00:42:26] Andrew:I can't get rid of that and yeah.[00:42:28] Nathan:So what systems have you put in place on the research side so that you're getting this, are you doing pre-interviews forever? Yes. Are you having your[00:42:38] Andrew:Almost every single one, some of the best people in some of the best entrepreneurs on the planet, I'm surprised that they will spend an hour or do a pre-interview. And sometimes I'm too sheepish to say, I need an hour of your time and I need you to do a pre-interview. So instead of saying, I need you to do a pre-interview.I say, here's why people have done it. And I've paid for somebody to help make my guests better storytellers of their own stories. And truthfully people will go through that. Pre-interview even if they don't want to do an interview, they just need to get better at telling their story for their teams, their employees, their everyone.Right. and so I say that, and then they will take me up on the pre-interview and say, yes, I do want to do the pre-interview. and so what I try to do is I try to outline the story. Ahead of time in a set of questions. And then what we do is we scramble them up a little bit based on what we think people will tell us first and what will make them feel a little more comfortable.And then throughout the interview, I'll adjust it. So for example, no, one's going to care about the guest unless they have a challenge. No guest wants to come on and say, I'm going to tell you about what's what I really suck at or where I've really been challenged. If they do, they're going to give you a fake made up thing that they've told a million times to make themselves seem humble.So we don't ask that in the beginning. We don't even ask it in the middle. We save it till the very end. Now they've gotten some time with us. They've gotten some rapport, they trust us. Then we go into tell me about the challenges, what hasn't worked out for you. And we really let them know why tell people the higher purpose you want the audience to relate.You want them to believe you. You want them to see themselves in you, and to learn from you. We need. They tell us, and then I have it in my notes as the last section, but I use it throughout the interview. I sprinkle it. So the goal is to get the pieces that we want and in whatever order makes the most sense and then reshape it for the interview Day.[00:44:33] Nathan:So on the interview itself, you would, you would flip that and you know, okay, this is what I want to start with and, and dive in right[00:44:41] Andrew:Yup. Yup.[00:44:43] Nathan:Lose. They already told you about that. And so now, you[00:44:46] Andrew:Right,[00:44:46] Nathan:In and start with.[00:44:47] Andrew:Right. That helps. Now, if there's something I want to ask someone about that they're not comfortable with. One thing that I do is I, I tip them off. So Jason Calacanis invited me to go do, interviews with, with investors at one of his conferences. It was just a bunch of, investors. And I looked at this one guy, Jonathan tryst, and he looked really great.But he, what am I supposed to do? Ask him about what startups should do to run their businesses. He's never run a startup. His, he hadn't at that time had a successful exit. As far as I knew, like mega successful exit. He's just a really nice guy. You can tell he was going places, but that's it. And the money that he was investing came from his parents.So what is this rich parents giving their kids some money. Now he's going to tell everyone in the VC, in the startup and VC audience, how to live their lives. So I said, I'm either not going to address it, which I think most people are, or I have to find a way to address it where I'm not going to piss them off and have them just clam up on me and then go to Jason and go.This guy just is a terrible interviewer, which is not true. So what I decided to do was tip him off. I said, look, Jonathan, before we do this, before we start talking to the audience, I have to tell you, I saw it, that you don't have much of a track record as an investor. Your money came from your parents and you're not like a tech startup, like people here.If we don't talk about it, people who know it are going to think, oh, this guy, Jonathan, look, who's trying to pass him soft self off. I don't have to force it in here, but if you allow me to, I'd like to bring it up and let's talk about, and it goes, yeah, absolutely. If it's out there, I want to make sure that we address it and sure enough, we talked about it and he had a great answer.He said, no, this came from my parents. It's not my own money. I don't have as much experience as other people, but I took my parents' money. I invested it, fat parents and family and so on. We've had a good track record with it. And now have raised the second Fallon fund from outsiders who saw what I was able to do with the first one.And by the way, I may not have this mega exit as a startup investor, as a startup entrepreneur. But I did have this company that did okay. Not great. Here's what it did Here's what I learned And that's all informing me. And that's where I come from now. You've got someone talking about the, the, the thing that matters without pissing them off so much that they don't say anything else.And you feel like you feel superior as an interviewer. I got them. But in reality, you got nothing[00:46:57] Nathan:Right.[00:46:57] Andrew:Cares.[00:46:58] Nathan:I think that's a really hard line of talking about the things that are difficult and like the actual, maybe things that someone did wrong or lessons that they learned without just like barely dipping into it for a second. And I liked the format of tipping them off in like full transparency.So on this show, I had someone on who I really, really respect his name's Dickie Bush. He's one of the earlier episodes in this series and in it, he, okay. Yeah. So in that interview, one thing that I knew is that his, the first version of his course plagiarized text from another friend, Sean McCabe, actually Shaun's company edits is Podcast and all that.And I've known both of them for, for quite a while. I've known Sean for like, I dunno, six, seven years or something. And I was like, struggling with how to bring that up. And I wanted from the like founder, transparent journey, that sort of thing I wanted it brought up because I, I actually like, I'm happy to talk about like some pretty major things that I've screwed up and what I've learned from it.And I just think it makes a better conversation. And then from the interview side, I don't feel good, like doing an interview and not touching on that, but I didn't tip Dickey off to it. And I, that was one of the things that I've regretted that he gave a great answer. He talked about the lessons that he learned from it.It was really, really good, but I felt bad that I didn't set him up for the most success in like in setting up. And part of that, part of it is because even at the start of the interview, I was still wrestling with now, I'm not going to bring that up that, ah, maybe I should, it wouldn't be an authentic interview if I didn't like wrestling with that, I hadn't figured out my own, like made my own decision until we were in the middle of it.And so I didn't, I didn't set anybody up for success. And so it's an interesting line.[00:48:52] Andrew:It happens. And it seems like I'm now in the point of your transcript, where you, where you ask him, it's a 31 minutes into the interview. I think his response is great. He came in and he took responsibility for it. He says, yeah, that, that, that was a dramatic mistake, or a drastic mistake on my side and caught up in it.He wasn't the most articulate here and he'd repeated words. Like I, I, a couple of times, so I could see that he probably was uncomfortable with it. but I think his answer was great. I think, I believe that we all are broadcasting out, whether we know it or not, our intentions and where we're coming from, as some people are really good at faking it.And so I'm not going to talk about the outliers and some people are so uncomfortable that they're messing up the transmission, but for the most part almost. broadcasting our intentions. If you walk into that, Nathan, with the, I got to get him because he, he got one of my friends and I need him to finally get his comeuppance.He's going to pick up on that. And truthfully, it's such a small thing for a person like you who's, who's already a likable person. You have a lot to offer people, right? As far as like promotion and everything else, it will be forgiven, but it'll be picked up on, it's also something that people could pick up on, which is Nathan really want to know this thing.It's been bothering him for a while. And if you could, just, before you asked the question, say, where am I coming from with this? And know that the audience will mostly pick up on it. And obviously people are gonna like read in whatever they feel like, but trust that the vast majority of us understand, I think it'll work[00:50:21] Nathan:Yeah,[00:50:22] Andrew:You don't have to even tip. You don't have to tip off, but it does help. It, it definitely helps.[00:50:26] Nathan:It's interesting. I was watching an interview with, Jordan Peterson who wrote 12 rules for life. He's like a very controversial figure. And I was just often these controversies pass by, on Twitter and other places. And I realized like, oh, I don't understand them. And rather than jumping on one side or the other, at least try to like dive in a little bit and understand it.So watching this interview, and I can't remember, I think it was some major Canadian TV show or something, and that you would tell the interview was just trying to nail him it every possible chance, like whatever he said, just like dive in. And, so I think you're right, that you see the intention, like in that case, you would see the, the interview, his intention was specifically to try to trip him up in his words.And then in other cases where it's like, This is something that, you know, if you take the other approach, this is something that's been bothering me, or I want to talk about it. Like I genuinely want, you know, to ask or learn from this. It's a very different thing.[00:51:20] Andrew:I think people pick up on it. I remember you, you mentioned Seth Godin. I remember interviewing him when he wrote the book tribes back before people had online communities. And I didn't just say, okay. All our heroes, all the best entrepreneurs just run their businesses. Then don't run a tribe. I brought out books.I said, here's a book about Warren buffet. Here's the book by Sam Walton. The Walmart here's a book by Ted Turner became a multi-billionaire to creating all these, these media empires didn't have communities. They don't have tribes. And now you're telling me that in addition to my job, I also have to go and build out a tribe.It feels like, you know, an extra job. That just seems right for the social first. This just sounds right on social media and you could actually see. He's watching me as I'm saying it, and he's smiling, he's watching it because he's trying to read me, is this like what I get wrapped up? Is this going to be some kind of thing where some guy's going to try to be in the next Gawker media?Or is, is this a safe place? We're all doing that constantly. And then he also saw, okay, this is someone who really wants to understand this. And he's challenging me. I like a challenge. And you could see him smile with like, this is what I'm here for. And so I think when you come at it from a good point of view, people can see it and then you can go there and you can go there and you can go there and it will be shocking to you and them and the audience, how far you go. But when you're coming from that genuine place, they get, they get it.They want it.[00:52:44] Nathan:Yeah, that's good.I want to talk about longevity in like the online world. I think that so many people that I started following in say 2007, 2008, nine, and then I didn't start creating myself until 2011. most of them aren't around anymore. Like a lot of the big blogs, Yeah, just so many that I can think of.They're not around anymore. They're not doing this. You're at a point where like you started messaging in some form in what? 20, sorry, 2004 to somewhere in there and then interviews.[00:53:17] Andrew:Yeah, I keep saying 16. It's like, yeah. 2004 is when I started the interview started 2007 ish somewhere there. Give or take a year. yeah, long. I, I will say that there are parts of my work that I am burned out on right now. This year has been that, but I'm not on the interview. And the reason I'm not is because I do enjoy conversations.I hated them for a long time in my life because I just didn't know how to have them, how to have it make sense. I also didn't give myself permission to take the conversation where I wanted it to go. And it helps now to say, I can talk to anyone about anything. That's an opportunity that, that feels fun because I know how to do it.It's an opportunity to, it feels like, like, you know how everyone's so happy. You can go to YouTube and you could get the answer to anything. Well, I could go to anybody and I could get the answer to anything and talk about how they didn't have a customized to me, YouTube, not customized thing to me, I'm watching Gotham chess on YouTube.He's teaching me how to play chess, but he will not customize to the fact that every time I get into a car con defense, all the pieces like bunched over to my side. But if he and I did an interview, or if I do an interview with an tomorrow's entrepreneur, it's going to be about, here's the thing I'm trying to deal with.How did you get past that? Talk to me about what you're up to there.[00:54:31] Nathan:Yeah, that's definitely energizing. Okay. But what are the things that you're burnt out on? Because I think a lot of people are seeing that burnout. And so I guess first, what are you burned out on? And then second, we can go from there into like, what are you changing and how are you managing.[00:54:46] Andrew:I'm burned out on parts of the business behind, behind Mixergy I'm burned out on. I was aspiring to like unbelievable greatness with the, with the course part of it, with the courses, it didn't get there and I'm tired of trying to make it into this thing. That's going to be super big. I'm tired of that.[00:55:10] Nathan:His greatness there, like linda.com? Like what, what was that?[00:55:15] Andrew:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. She was one of my first interviewees and, and so yeah, I saw the model there and I am frustrated that I didn't get to that and I, I don't have a beat myself up type a perso

On this episode of the Deal Farm, We talk with Brent Underwood about his best real estate deal ever! Tune in to hear his story!

In this episode, we discuss Brent Underwood's case study of how he became an Amazon bestseller with a one-page book.

On this episode of Van Life, Tom checks in from the road somewhere in the desert of southern Arizona and gives us an update on his travels. This episode features a conversation with Brent Underwood from the viral hit youtube channel Ghost Town Living. Brent bought a ghost town called Cerro Gordo for 1.4 million dollars and is living in it solo as he restores it to its original glory. Brent has been there full time for the past 11 months and has had many adventures along the way. Tales of exploring abandoned silver mines, learning to survive against the elements, and dealing with unexpected disasters all make this episode a must listen.

We're wrapping up Haunted AF Season 4 with updates from some of our favorite scary stories, like Emily's possessed Elsa Doll, Brent Underwood's abandoned mining town, and Jesse's B&B (which was just featured on Ghost Adventures). There are tales of cycling ghosts on ancient British highways, phantom visitors in Monterey Bay and dead pets that return just long enough to assist their owners. Remember that Haunted AF will keep posting new content on our Patreon Page between seasons, so keep sending your stories to hauntedafpodcast@gmail.com! We need your votes for our TOP 10 OF 2020 too, which will air on New Year's Eve! And check back on January 28th when we return with Season 5 of Haunted AF!

32-year-old Brent Underwood from Florida became the sole resident of an abandoned mining town in California. He moved there with goats and cats...and then strange things started happening! STORY:https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/2020/09/17/a-hillsborough-native-bought-a-ghost-town-hes-riding-out-the-coronavirus-there-alone/

Barstool Sports Daily News Podcast Also On SiriusXM Channel 85 (Mon-Thu @ 10am EST) Support Hard Factor & ‘Pop The Clutch’™ on a Shirt » MERCH: bit.ly/HF-Merch . -------------------- On todays episode ... Uh where to begin? Florida doth giveth in abundance this week. - A Jacksonville strip club owner is fed up with not being able to hire 18, 19 and 20 year old dancers in their prime and argues the 21 year old age restriction is "unconstitutional" - 32 year old Brent Underwood of Hillsborough county Florida wanted to isolate during quarantine so he moved to an abandoned California mining town he bought and became the only resident of a ghost town - One man apparently made the mistake of revving his engine too close to 18 year old Raymond Davis and 21 year old Trevor Barnette in Wimauma, Florida, and after Raymond asked “Are you revving your engine at me” they allegedly shot at the man's car - Florida moms and dads have been spotted smoking weed, drinking and walking around half-naked in the background of their kids’ online classes, frustrating naive teachers who I guess forget they are in Florida - Some psychopath stole $600 of cat blood from the Anastasia cat clinic on September 17th according to the St John’s police, but why? - A Florida man is suing McDonalds after sustaining a serious injury from biting into a chicken nugget - 67 year old Norbert Eugene Logsdon Jr does not like it when you flick him off and yell Biden 2020 when he's waving his Trump 2020 flag on the corner. In fact he will jab you in the face with his flag pole which is exactly what he did to a 13 year old girl - A Big Pine Key man ate four baggies of heroin and escaped from an ambulance that was en route to a local hospital - Earlier this week a 29 year old Ryan Hutton was arrested after pointing his laser at the Voulisa County Sheriffs office helicopter Air One, literally blinding the pilot for "3 to 5 minutes." Two days later 60-year-old Gregory Marr shined a laser beam at the crew aboard the same Air One helicopter and got arrested as well. + Voice Mails! Brought to you by Paint Your Life. A professionally done affordable painting is the best gift you'll ever give and if you text the word FACTOR to 64-000 you'll get 20% off and FREE shipping Also brought to you by PredictIt where you can gamble on news & politics. Sign up using our unique url and we will match your first $20 deposit. www.predictit.org/promo/hardfactor20 -------------------- • Follow us on TWITTER • @HardFactorNews: bit.ly/HFTWIT . @HardFactorMark: bit.ly/MarkCats . @HardFactorPat: bit.ly/PatHF . @HardFactorWes: bit.ly/WesTwit . @HardFactorWill: bit.ly/HFwill . Follow us on INSTAGRAM @HardFactorNews: bit.ly/InstagHF . YOUTUBE: bit.ly/HardFactorYT . VOICEMAIL: (512) 270-1480‬

Brent Underwood is a young American entrepreneur who spent his life savings on the remains of an abandoned 19th century mining town in California. He was fascinated by its Wild West history, but when he got trapped there by heavy snow earlier this year, all alone, the ghostly tales about the place began to feel all too real. Presenter: Emily Webb Producer: Rebecca Vincent Picture: Brent Underwood at Cerro Gordo Credit: Brent Underwood

In the summer of 2018, Brent Underwood got a text in the middle of the night from a friend saying, "Look at this ghost town for sale!" Within a month, Brent had purchased Cerro Gordo, California, an abandoned silver mining town, with the help of friends and investors. He wants to revive the town for visitors while preserving its history. He's already faced some major setbacks -- from the lack of running water, to getting snowed in there during a global pandemic. But he calls Cerro Gordo his "life's work."

"In March, Brent Underwood thought he’d found the perfect place to ride out the pandemic: a small California ghost town he’d been slowly renovating and turning into a resort. It was safe and isolated, beautiful and quiet. Then a freak series of snow storms trapped him there in Cerro Gordo for weeks with dwindling supplies and no running water. His retreat turned suddenly into a prison. Then he had a bout with appendicitis that required him to drive himself 2 hours to the closest clinic.As we’ve said before, life comes at you fast."Hear the rest of the story in today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoic

Over the last few months, with social distancing and the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve been really curious about how people have been spending their time at home and getting through everything. One of the craziest stories we heard is about Brent Underwood, the owner of the infamous abandoned ghost town called Cerro Gordo in California. Essentially, Brent has been sheltering in place, solo, in the ghost town for the last three months.So what’s it like to be living in a ghost town, by yourself, during a global pandemic? How does Brent spend his days? Why did he buy the ghost town in the first place? And, has he experienced any paranormal incidents since living there? (Spoiler alert: yes, he has!)We were lucky enough to talk with him on this special episode of "House Party."Ready to listen? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please: Throw us a five-star rating if you like what you hear. The more good ratings and reviews we have, the easier it is for people to find us.Want to chime in? Have your own crazy home-related story you’re dying to share? We’re all ears, eagerly waiting to discuss all of your burning real estate questions on "The Mailbox" segment. Email us at podcast@realtor.com, follow us on Facebook, or tweet us @housepartypod on Twitter.

This week, Haunted AF hits the road so YOU don't have to! Rebekah and Julie travel to Okinawa, where a Samuri haunts a US military base and to Palm Springs where ghost-children roam vacation rentals. They also talk to Brent Underwood, who has been stranded in a California ghost town since the quarantine started and has some incredible tales to tell! Remember to send your ghost, Bigfoot, UFO or "Glitch in the Matrix" stories to hauntedafpodcast@gmail.com & include your number in case Rebekah & Julie want to have YOU on Haunted AF!

Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith recounts how New Jersey’s governor weaponized state organizations like the health department and police to close his defiantly opened gym. Abandoned mining town owner Brent Underwood has seen some “spooky happenings” as the town’s sole resident during the coronavirus. Game streaming platform Twitch gave censorship power to a “transgender deer.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith recounts how New Jersey’s governor weaponized state organizations like the health department and police to close his defiantly opened gym. Abandoned mining town owner Brent Underwood has seen some “spooky happenings” as the town’s sole resident during the coronavirus. Game streaming platform Twitch gave censorship power to a “transgender deer.” Author Matt Ridley discusses his new book, “How Innovation Works,” and why he’s surprised vaccines still take so long to make. A Senate committee has subpoenaed Burisma-linked firm Blue Star Strategies in its Hunter Biden probe. Author James Rollins returns to finish discussing “The Last Odyssey” and lay out what he’s discovered while researching the coronavirus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why on Earth does Jelly Belly feel the need to hide their "top-secret beans" with us? It's like, we know they exists, so just give us those beans. Soon! Other topics in Episode 119 include making 2 friends of the same animal, a fanny-pack made of fish, Lindsey's wild n' crazy teenage years, staying up until 4am, glowing blue people, the one and only Brent Underwood, Cerro Gordo, Aliens are PROB real, early-2000s chat rooms, climbing for health, and we saw a bird. Join us, won't you? We have a fun, new, extremely cozy, extremely drip-tastic sponsor! Help us welcome Native Language Clothing to the Spooky Spouses Family! We're stoked! Head to www.nativelanguageclothing.com and use the promo code 'spookyspouses' for 30% off your order of some of the coolest, drippiest, most fashion-forward lounge-wear available! We love it! Find the Paudeville Podcast riiiiiight here: https://paudeville.com/ Do you have any questions regarding the paranormal, personal experiences with a talking possum, time travel, are warlocks good at card tricks, or literally anything at all? If so, call/text our Spooky Hotline: 803-816-2667 (BOOS) We'll use your voicemail/text on our show. It'll go straight to voicemail, so, no worries, there will never be any weird phone conversations. We promise! Here are some ~ cOoL iNtErNeT wEbSiTeS ~ Shareable show link: www.plnk.to/SpookySpouses Check out our fancy new website: www.spookyspousescast.com Scavengers Network Patreon: www.patreon.com/thescavengersnetwork Instagram and Twitter: @Spooky_Spouses Email: spookyspousescast@gmail.com Thanks for listening, Friends! This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Devin Leonard, author of “Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service,” on the struggling US Postal Service. Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist and Vice President of Google, on the resilient internet. Jeff Bock, Senior Box Office Analyst at Exhibitor Relations, on the movie theater showdown. Catherine Sanderson of Amherst College on "Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels." Brent Underwood, Owner of Cerro Gordo on being self-isolated in a ghost town.

There are not a lot of "for sure-s" in the world - but it is safe to say that Brent Underwood is the most interesting man in Cerro Gordo...because he is the only man in Cerro Gordo. Underwood and his business partners purchased the abandoned mining town and, during the pandemic, he has been working on the buildings that still stand. Hear his story and get ready for a real world adventure in one of the last pieces of the Old West. This conversation took place during It Takes Two with Amy & JJ on KFGO-AM radio. 

On this special bonus episode of the Daily Stoic podcast, Ryan interviews Brent Underwood, a partner in Ryan's marketing endeavors and the owner of an actual ghost town, Cerro Gordo. They discuss the practice of Stoicism when you're the only person around for hundreds of square miles.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Follow @DailyStoic:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicFollow along with Cerro Gordo, the ghost town, on Instagram at:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cerro.gordo.ca/Website: https://cerrogordomines.com/And Brent at:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentwunderwood/Website: http://brentunderwood.com/

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk #330: Deconstructing The Art & Science Of Interviewing With Jay Acunzo Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com This is a special bonus episode focusing on deconstructing the art and science of interviewing.  You will hear learning happening in real time.  Jay Acunzo and I go a meta-level to better understand how to better improve our conversation ability, how to be better in an interview.  "Interviewing is a skill that enhances your life in a pleasant and unexpected way."  This is focused on how you can ask better questions, be more interesting and more interested, and become a better conversationalist. Notes:  The meta level of deconstructing the process of making the work is rare... "I experience the most flow when it's quiet, nitty-gritty work.  Those minute are profoundly rewarding for me." What makes a great interview? An open loop -- Start telling the story, but wait to close the loop until later to build intrigue... The difference between a narrative style show and an interview getting to know someone: A story is three parts - The intent of the story: The "Joseph Campbell Heroes Journey" 1) Status Quo 2) Conflict 3) Resolution Bucket of questions: "Tell me about X..." "How did it make you feel?" The analysis and the reflection Change your mindset: "You're not an interviewer, you're a dance partner." "The only thing that matters is that you lead.  Everything else is little subtle moves to get people to go to where you want to go." "It's not a constant march forward. Instead, think of it like a dance. There are some steps back, steps forward, steps to the side — all packaged together in one coherent experience, with lots of zig-zagging and subtle steps inside those boundaries." Open ended questions: “Tell me about X” gets you story details, while “how did it feel when” gets you key moments of reflection and analysis. Both are crucial. Clip #1 -- JJ Redick  He says “great question” — what would make someone interviewed as often as a pro athlete say that? How to prep for an interview for someone who is interviewed all the time? Built a basic rapport leading up to the interview -- Discussed sports, restaurants, podcasting, interviewing.  Developed a "friend" level of communication Create an environment where the guest wants it to be a great show Good follow up questions: Ask for an example... Asking, "How did that make you feel?" "What's your process?" --> Then be a deep, thoughtful listener to ask a follow up. Stay on the same level with your dance partner - Don't be a guest "worshiper" When following up, there are a few things you can do: 1) Distill 2) Disagree 3) Ask the next question... During an interview, the best question you can ask: "How did that make you feel?" It enables them to get in an emotional lane (away from canned responses) Testing the levels on the microphone -- Don't waste that opportunity.  Engineer the guest, the human -- You need them to feel like we're hanging out and excited about the interview.  Make it fun.  What to ask instead: "I'm going to check your levels, do you have any pets at home?" "What would be your last meal on earth?" -- It helps people break out of their corporate drone mode.  The question is about the person, on a human plane. Create a safe space for them to share their truth. "I'm not a journalist, I'm a conversationalist." Clip #2 -- Adam Savage How did he get on the show? Working with a PR firm to book a guest -- A great PR person like Brent Underwood only recommends guests that are a good fit for the show. Ask questions that you are genuinely curious about -- I am curious about someone's process and it's always led me to a useful follow up... The issue is sometimes a "process" oriented question is the guest can answer with a generality... How to wiggle out of that? Look at the acknowledgement section of their book to get ideas for important people/events in their life to ask about... Mental Heuristics: Tell me about, 30,000 feet, go to a specific example... The third question is "Putting them in a box:" -- " From Jay: Heuristics to tell great AUDIO stories: Tell me about... How did you feel when (or, how did that feel?) Can you give me an example? (Superlatives) Best, worst, funniest, scariest, hardest, least certain, favorite, etc... (Dig for emotional moments) Clip #3 -- Brian Koppelman How to handle nerves -- Work to get settled in.  Get through the initial conversation point... Give people a genuine compliment for why you like their work -- Tell people why their work helps you Hidden Gems: Interplay between your intent for the work and your framework for it: "My goal is to engineer an outcome, but I have an intent I don't want to become The Bachelor in Paradise." Have self and situational awareness.  We carry with us good intent to serve the audience.  Don't let the framework or engineering supersede the original intent. The two types of interviews: 1) The person, their story... 2) Their content The best conversations are able to weave both together and smoothly bounce back and forth Learn about the person AND learn about the topic that he has mastered -- Master that dance between both -- I need to give you something that is going to make you better. Use the "Get To Know You Document" Why joining The Learning Leader Circle is a good idea

Ever dreamt about getting paid to sit back and drink delicious beer all day? Well, keep dreaming. Yes, the beer industry is a lot of fun. But as you may have guessed, it’s hyper-competitive and demands a LOT of hard work! In today’s episode, Dave Thibodeau traces Ska Brewing’s evolution from scrappy underdog to top-100 brewery, competing against international conglomerates (all while keeping its edgy sense of humor). You’ll learn how Dave stumbled upon his passion in a book, how he and his partners bootstrapped the business by buying used equipment and sleeping in a Volkswagen bus, and how they marketed their brand’s “David vs. Goliath” attitude in a comic book. You’ll also hear how Dave and his partners expanded internationally, built a distribution arm to help other brewers (“coopetition,” he calls it), eventually scaled to 70 employees, and embraced the pain of a bad hops contract by releasing a limited-run, very hoppy brew called Bad Hop Contract. Don’t miss Dave’s advice for how to split up responsibilities among partners, and be sure to listen through to the end to hear him explain the big advantage smaller, more locally-minded businesses have when competing with international giants. Dave is a laid-back guy, who has managed to build a massive business while still remaining true to himself—so check him out in this episode, and subscribe so you won’t miss the next one! In This Episode We Cover: Why Dave looks at other craft brewers as “coopetition” How Ska Brewing expanded into overseas markets (They’re big in Sweden!) How a real estate investment made the company a ton of money What the “mom-and-pop” game is, and how to avoid it in your business Why Dave tries to hire people smarter than him Why he doesn’t blindly follow trends Why doing business locally helps his profit margins How diversifying into other products made his business stronger Why it’s so vital to make each employee feel important And SO much more! Links from the Show BiggerPockets BiggerPockets Business Podcast 03: How to Attract Media Attention and Turn Publicity Into Profit with Brent Underwood

Do you want to know how to get your business noticed by reporters and generate positive press? Today’s guest has made a career out of doing just that. In this episode, he teaches you exactly how to make a splash through innovative (some would say crazy), outside-the-box techniques. Brent Underwood is a creative marketer who’s done publicity for musical artists, best-selling authors, and his own projects—including a ghost town he bought and plans to turn into a high-end resort. Today, Brent tells us how his career began with a cold email and how that led to him working with some of the most talented writers and marketers in the country. Brent also reveals how he gets into the heads of reporters and editors—and how you can do the same. He explains what a “handle” is, and why you need one to get your message to spread. And you won’t want to miss the most important lessons Brent learned after opening his own hostel in Austin, Texas, and how a goat helped boost business. This show is jam-packed with information that will help you generate buzz and get yourself in front of more clients and customers. Download it today, and subscribe to the BiggerPockets Business Podcast so you won’t miss an episode! In This Episode We Cover: Marketing career and Tucker Max story Sending a blind email The type of marketing that his company uses The power of creating an origin story The story of having a goat in the hostel Cost benefit marketing The power of word of mouth The story behind the 300-acre ghost town His thoughts on paid marketing And SO much more! Links from the Show Tucker Max Ryan Holiday 8 Make-Or-Break Business Rules That No One Teaches But Everyone Should Know (blog)

Brent Underwood lays out the plans for the future of the Cerro Gordo hostel and how it will be unlike any experience you've ever had before.

President Trump blames a grammatical mistake for his controversial comments on Russia's role in election hacking.  How is Trump playing in states he won handily in 2016?   Liver cancer is on the rise.  The CDC reports that while the mortality rate for all cancers combined has declined over 25 years, the rate for liver cancer has jumped dramatically.  One man has shelled out over a million bucks for California ghost town Cerro Gordo.  We talk to entrepreneur Brent Underwood about his hopes and dreams for the town! See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of Drink Til We’re Married Podcast, Heycutie and CKDub welcome Brent Underwood to the show. We came ready to get inside of Brent’s head, and you will be surprised at what we found out. Just know he didn’t back down from any questions and he provided ton of insight into the single … Continue reading "DTWM 95: Dissecting The Single Black Man’s Brain"

Over the course of the next few weeks we will be alternating between new episodes and some old favorites from the vault. This is the sixth of these, Creative Marketing Prodigy. I went into this interview thinking, 'How interesting can marketing really be?' I came out of this interview feeling like an idiot. Enjoy!

Brent Underwood started his own hostel in Austin, Texas when the opportunity presented itself. Today he joins me to chat about his journey from travel junkie, to travel junkie with a hostel and some of the steps that that entailed.

The world sure has become a fast moving place. Everything is ever-changing, and trying to gain a handle on it all feels more and more impossible. Just when I start to feel like I really understand a current technology or app, another ‘must have’ is just around the corner or already taking its place. There are some amazing people though, that seem to thrive in this setting. Those special few that stake their claim in a field and proclaim that they will be at the forefront, they will be the ones seeing and making change. They do not get left behind as they do not wait for any playbook, and boldly venture out into unknown frontier to swiftly meet whatever success or failure lies ahead. Today’s guest is one of these people in the field of marketing, and his company’s ideas will expand and/or blow your mind.

In this episode of the DREAM. THINK. DO. podcast, my guest Brent Underwood shares his cool story from finance to his interest in hostels. Listen To The Podcast:        If my guest today had stayed in the world of high finance, we probably wouldn't be talking. But he didn't stay. Instead, he forged his own path. And now you get to hear his cool story—and his great insights! Brent Underwood is a partner at the creative advisory firm "Brass Check," where he spearheads marketing campaigns for New York Times best-selling books and helps musicians, including Grammy winners, establish their media narratives. Now, that stuff alone would be enough for a cool conversation on DREAM. THINK. DO., but there's way more to Brent than this marketing gig. Years ago, Brent developed a pretty intense interest in hostels—you know, those low-budget lodges people stay at when traveling abroad. He eventually channeled this passion into running a successful hostel in Brooklyn. When he moved to Austin, Texas, a couple of years ago (not to start another hostel), he simply couldn't kick the hostel habit. He founded HK Austin, which quickly became the top-rated hostel in the country! Listen in to hear about Brent's winding—and inspiring—road to entrepreneurship and fulfillment. In this episode you will . . . • Get tips on where you should—and shouldn't—cut corners • Hear why waiting for the perfect launch can mean no launch at all • Learn about when Brent didn't listen to his customers—and how that's paid off • Discover why you should stop and think before you try to improve on your competition's failures • Understand the value in exposing yourself to lots of skills, people, and ideas [Tweet "“Word of mouth is the best marketing by far.” - @underwoodbrent"] EPISODE RESOURCES BrentUnderwood.com  Brasscheck.com HKAustin.com “The 8 Unexpected Rules Of Business That No One Teaches But Everyone Should Know” Twitter | @underwoodbrent 

Everyone has a book in them. But how do you create it, market it, and sell it? Jason (Trav left the computer behind in his travels!) chats with Brent Underwood to give you expert advice and strategies on book publishing. Plus, you'll hear about budget travel and business, and the future of publishing.

Want to know the #1 rated hostel in the United States in 2015? Look no further than HK Austin in the heart of Austin, TX.How do you feel about hostels? What comes to your mind when you think of hostels?Well today you'll get to hear all about hostels from the owner of HK Austin, Brent Underwood. He's an entrepreneur, budget traveler, and has helped create and execute online marketing campaigns for some of the biggest book launches in the world.Please welcome Brent to the Zero to Travel Podcast!Special thanks to italki for helping make this episode possible. Go here to get a free lesson (buy one, get one free for Zero to Travel Podcast listeners!).Listen Now to Learn:How to create lasting memories from each trip you takeThe endlessly fascinating part of travelThe best advice to meet different people from around the worldCommon myths associated with HostelsHow to create vivid travel memories (with people you just met!)The best way to find for a hostel (that is right for you)Top 3 must haves for every traveler staying at a hostelMost rewarding parts of owning a hostelAdvice for solo travelers (expected and understood on the hostel trail)One of the most addictive parts of solo travelResources Mentioned:italkiNomadic MattTim FerrisTony RobbinsLocation IndieLocation Indie PodcastBrent UnderwoodThe 4 Hour Work Week by Tim FerrisI Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker MaxTrust Me, I'm Lying by Ryan HolidayThrillistThe Mango TreeHostelworldIf you want more Zero to Travel Podcasts, be sure to check out the archives!

The Name Game Episode 7.25 (Underground Recap Sessions) Written by: Jason Roeseke Welcome bands and fans to an all new Underground Recap Session. This will be brief because Big Brother comes on in a half an hour, and I don't think anybody actually reads this.You should. Thats where the beef of this project is. Every link to shows, bands, videos, and more are in the body of these blogs. So I'll say that I had a really great time recording this months episodes. We were joined this month by Brent Underwood from Drayton Road and a little later by Rocky from Complete Sentences Podcast. Both Guests as well as our anchor Tony had plenty to say about these our First Five, and I think we had fun talking tunes. The goal of the Unsigned Countdown and The Underground Recap Sessions has been to offer to the unsigned or independent metal punk alternative and rock musician, band, or artist what no one else has been. Free promotion, Honest feedback, and opportunities to grow with our community. So that being said, I think we accomplished our objective. Thank you to each of these bands. You are why we do this and you are why we enjoy it all so much. As always please support these bands and artists. Thats what this project is all about. Yu can find links to every featured band in the blog of our previous Countdown episode. To support Jarcodes with feed back please follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube. To support the Unsigned Countdown Podcast please visit us at www.Jarcodes.com to find all of the links we have that best suit you. Thank you for listening and if you do read this. Do me a favor and take a minute to Tweet @Jarcodes #GreatShow. Finally I would like to officially congratulate Mr. Jacob Fry for his promotion in the Countdown family. Jacob will be heading up our Song recuitment dept and monitoring our Soundcloud submission portal. Thank you to Jacob for the hard work already put in on our behalf.

This episode was sponsored by: ApocalypseJuice.com, Elements Divide, GoDaddy, and of course a special thank you to the fine folks at SoGoodCoffee.com for keeping us going with some of the best coffee on the planet This episode was produced by JarCodes Productions. To have your metal punk rock or alternative song featured in an upcoming episode to have it reviewed and to set up your Unsigned Interview Fan Chat contact us at JarCode01@gmail.com Winning band links SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/wisband ReverbNation http://www.reverbnation.com/stoneinwritten Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WISband Twitter https://twitter.com/WIS_Band In this the very last blog of the season I'm not going to write a lot. I'm not going to force feed you a mass of words. Every thing has been said and history has been Written in Stone. Forever will the world know what happened here. Forever we all will be able to look back with pride at what we have accomplished this year 2013. It hasn't been the easiest road for some as they lay back pouting over words that were said and intents that were assumed but as we move forward those that wish to no longer communicate will be remembered as the heros they were but also left behind. These moments were meant only as opportunities for those with none. Answer the call when it is heard. Rise to the challenge my brothers or decide for your self. This show. This broadcast. This brand new concept of band promotion will continue forward into a bigger and better season number two. If you are someone like us that craves great music, please support the cause by sharing the project set out before you. If you are a musician that creates and takes pride in the great Metal, Punk, Alternative, or Rock music you believe in then think about getting it out to a world wide audience. We are only here to provide that platform, We are here to support you. It has never been about us but always and will forever be about the music. Thank you from every body involved in These chronicles of Rock, Thank you to every brave and worthy warrior of Metal, We love you, and would be nothing without the songs, Interviews, and advise you provide. A very special thank you to: Dead Instruments, Girls Names. An Norveys. The Third Grade, Rotten Teeth. Derek Cornett Angelspit. When Words Fail. Savilampi , Reasons to regret, Mordeous, Ravencroft, ANDUHAAR, Mutiny Within, From Beyond Metal Wall, Signes of Misfortune, Travis Nowak True Fallacy, Phyria, Haubits, Phyco Slide. Unchained Beast, Crafty Fuzz, Shooting the Breeze, Saluda, Parking Ponies, Casual Crew, StreetSleeper Pivot, Meaji, Misenthrop Count Merciful, Absinthium, Blindfold, Writing off Tomorrow Hot Fog, SoundRise, War Machine, Mutiny Within Chant, AngelFlayer, Jeff Fiorentino, Soundblade Mamacecile, Bazooca Zoo, The Day the Sky Fell, New Nobility, The Small Tragidiez, Maggot Twat Drayton Road, Sickist, Alchemy Room, Umbrella Assasins, Behold Triumph, Lipns Among Wolves Cartoon Therory, Sufosia, Motion Devise, Full Moon Radio Mordeous, Another Day Will Come, Silver Bullet, Feed Em to the Wolves, Matthew Heller, Du Cru, Machinery, Elision of Animus, Boy Meets World, Rootless, Increased Distortion, Supernauht, Cotard Dilusion, My Hands in Chains, Zapruder Point An Atlas to Advance, Lemon Party, Avalar, Ben Joseph Written in Stone, As shadows Collapse, Metal, Kieran Taylor, Demolition, DeltaFour9ner, HI-GH Soundblade, Chaos Ocillator, Well Oiled Machine, Death Head, WOSLOM, Hwator, Warmth Crashes In, Sunsets The Day, Sickist, Gilgamesh, Toxsyn, Mahogany Head Grenade, AngelFlayer, Feed Em to the Wolves, Steve T, Axel Beaumont. Thank you as well to some of the most amazing people I've ever had the chance to work with: Tony Leonardi, Catherine Fitzgibbon, Johan Vidner, Jacob Fry, Derek Cornett, Brent Underwood, Rocky K, Nicole Ethridge, and Adam Gonzales