The Fierce Focus Show: Recent Episodes
The Fierce Focus Show
Mark Jennings is the CEO of Subba Media Inc., which allows people to post reviews for any live events.
They are currently fundraising with a very cool model (which we do talk about in the interview0 that allows just about anyone take part in an equity stake in the business. If you’re interested, https://netcapital.com/companies/subba-media.
In this conversation, we talk about working in media, shifting to work full time on Subba Cultcha, and how he has grown it into something you can invest in today using a very unique funding model. After listening to this, you’ll learn what the future of live shows will looks like, What a Delaware Flip is, and the best way to get deeper relationships with your favorite underground bands, or if your’e a band - your own fans.
Umber Ahmad is the founder and head chef at Mah Ze Dahr bakery, the first brand under the Colicchio Discovery Platform. Umber grew up being fascinated by how things worked - this led her to study Genetics at MIT, get her Masters in International Health Policy at University of Michigan and an MBA in Business and Finance at Wharton. She has worked at Goldman Sachs & at Morgan Stanley, has worked in the restructuring of hospitals and health systems in the US and Canada, helped brands expand their footprint throughout the world. This has given her quite the toolbox of skills. All the while, cooking has been a constant joy in her life, and it was not until she received a query that made her do a double-take, that she decided to jump fully into baking. In this episode, we talk about how she filled up her toolbox that prepared her to start Mah Ze Dahr, how studying genetics contributed to creating a bakery, how Mah Ze Dahr is best experienced, the concept of mise-en-place in helping a chef focus, and how the trees in a snowy Michigan winter are similar to being an entrepreneur.
Josh Spodek has done 90,000 burpees. He has a PhD in astrophysics from Columbia, and an MBA from the Columbia business school where is is a professor at Columbia Business School’s Program on Social Intelligence. He has a new book out, New book: Leadership Step by Step.
This is a LONG episode, and we cover subjects like what a SIDCHA is and why josh has done 90,000 burpees, how and why he went to North Korea, and talk about his leadership course.
If you listen to the whole thing, you’ll find a special code word. And if you email josh with that code word in the subject, he will give you a special 15% on his leadership course. If you email him after you’ve done 30 days of SIDCHA, he will arrange to get you the book too.
Adam Harrison is the of Tart, a bakery & coffee shop in London. We talk about his love of languages, his jobs in advertising, how he decided to go out on a limb and start a bakery with his partner Jace, the ups and downs of starting a small business in London and where they plan to be in 5 years.
What do you do when you have Jury Duty? Write a book review.
This is an insane case study in content marketing & optimisation. The guy takes questions from twitter (audience engagement), asks them for his youtube show, transcribes the answers, categorizes the content into sections, and then puts the answers in a book. The he names it a hashtag, and records an audiobook that has more original content. That is probably scratching the service of what he did.
I'll do more of these - lots of books out there to review - what would you like to hear about?
Email me or tweet me: ryan@afiercefocus.com or @fierce_focus
Jenny Blake is an author, career and business strategist and international speaker who helps smart people organize their brain, move beyond burnout, and build sustainable, dynamic careers they love. In this interview we talk about starting a new career or pivoting internally at work, avoiding “how” as the first step in the search for a pivot, how to get a mentor, her love of operations and templates on how to make your operations more efficient, how to be a better meditator, why she doesn’t set an alarm or check emails in the first 2 hours of her day, and much. more.
Megan Griffiths is a film director living in Seattle Washington. We talk about how she is a master of film - how she builds a character from dialogue in life, where she finds stories, why it is preferable to have multiple story arcs in each story, how long each part of the movie-making process usually takes, the differences between indie and studio films, how to get big talent, the importance of film festivals, much more, and how she focuses.
Find her: iTunes, Netflix, amazon prime, twitter @thecinechick.
Cat Castellanos: Neuroplasticity for the Relentlessly Ambitious by The Fierce Focus Show
Charles Mudede is an editor at The Stranger in Seattle. He was Born in Rodesia, Studied political philosophy in Botswana, and is also a film director, and critical thinker. We talk about his thoughts on why growth us unnecessary, why he made the movie Zoo, how a bubble starts, and the housing situation in Seattle.
Michael Ellsworth is a partner at Built By Civilisation - a design firm based in Seattle, Washington. In this conversation, we talk about how he went from working in ad sales with community organisations, and pivoted to working in design. We talk about the name Civilisation, terms like ‘forced perspective” and “simplicity” , what designers do in general, examples of his work such as “drugs over dinner” and identity work for governmental organisations, how he defines "design-thinking”, and how he focuses.
In this episode, which was recorded at the caddilac house in New York City, I spoke with Jon Rubinstein is the founder of Joe Coffee, consistently ranked one of the best coffee shops in New York City. In this interview, we talk about how and why he decided to create a coffee shop in New York City, where Starbucks had a large footprint, the most critical review he ever received and how he handled it, what goes into sourcing coffee beans, why he expanded Joe, and how he thinks through the customer journey, and of course, how he focuses.
Cynthia Tee is the executive director of ADA, which helps teach women computer program skills. We talk about her 20 years of experience at Microsoft, diversity in the workplace, how ADA is working to fill the skills gap that exists in tech, and how to teach yourself to learn, and of course, how she focuses.
Ray Mendez is a Partner & the Creative Director at Concept Farm. In our conversation, we talk about why he moved from Bombay at age 23, studying Advertising at Syracuse, then working in New York City and in Amsterdam at agencies like J. Walter Thompson, TBWA Worldwide, and Saatchi & Saatchi. We talked about how he helped create Concept Farm in New York City, the best brief he ever worked on, things he is working on now, and of course, how he focuses.
This is part 2 of my 2-Part interview with Madeline, in which we talk about the creation of wine folly, her systems & inspiration used to create the content for wine folly, commentary on one of her blog posts on “selection massage", the future of wine folly, and how she focuses to make it all happen.
Madeline Puckett is a certified sommelier and the content director at Wine Folly. Our conversation was too long to fit into one podcast episode, so I’ve had to split it. while the 2nd episode is about is more focused on wine-related content, First episode is more or less about business, with a “history of madeline’s wine enthusiasm” at the beginning. We talk about how Madeline got started in the wine world, what went into taking the Certified sommelier test, why passion does not equal long-term success (in creating a business), how she views failure & the core values used to run Wine Folly, how she got involved in the Somm movie.
David Zyla is an emmy award-winning stylist who focuses on color. In his career, he has created wardrobes for such notable names as Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks & Neil Patrick Harris, and worked on ABC’s All My Children as well as other shows. He is also the author of Color your Style, a book showing how people can understand what colors will look best on them. Our conversation covers how he created this career for himself, how colors can enhance or change your mood, what seasonal colors are, and of course, how he focuses.
Rebekah Bastian is the Vp of product at Zillow, the largest real estate marketplace in the US. Our conversation covers how she applied an engineering degree to become involved in the product development world, the Community Pillars project at Zillow, how tech companies can make social change, Aerial acrobatics, writing, and of course, how she focuses.
Albert Edmonds is a professional knife sharpener. He opened up his own knife sharpening shop in 2011 in Seattle, Washington. In our conversation, we talk about what first sparked his interest in knives, how he got his start in the knife sharpening world, his decision to open up his own shop. Then we dive deeper into the world of knives, talking about what different cultures are known for, the materials involved in knives, knife terminology, and tips on proper knife care. Finally, we talk about how albert focuses to create his business.
Milind Mehere is the CEO & Founder of YieldStreet, which helps people generate income from alternative investments. He is originally From Bombay and started out studying industrial engineering, which is all about improving and optimizing processes. This skill set served him well, as he worked at companies that coined the term Supply Chain Optimization and pioneered RFID technologies. Then, he applied his expertise to Yodle, a marketing platform for small business to acquire & retain customers. The financial crisis made him realize that he wanted to be able to invest in more than the stock market, and the idea of Yield Street was born. We talk about this creation of YieldStreet, how consumers can take control of their finances, how Milind thinks about processes, scaling a company, and how he focuses.
Nassim Assefi is a Thrillionaire living a portfolio life. Starting out in medicine, studyging biology & medicine at Wellsley, University of Washington & Harvard, She has given her expertise to ZocDoc, to community health centers in her home town of Seattle, and to readers as a novelist, and she was TEDMED's director of stage content for 3 years, was a TEDFellow for 7 years, and curated her first TEDx event in 2010. In October, She will be the Executive Director of MEDICC, which is a NGO dedicated to translating the amazing public health and medical education achievements of the Cuban social experiment to the rest of the world.
Greg Yates is the CMO of RICG, an creative advertising agency. He is also a damn good drummer, having been in around 50 bands. We talk about how he got his start in marketing, why “method acting” is a good way to create a marketing strategy, how he played CBGB when he was 17, interning at Electric Lady studios, and why he believes neuroscience will play a huge part in the future of marketing.
Greg’s unique and creative approach has earned him numerous awards from OMMA, Webby, The FCS Portfolios and The Gramercy Institute for creativity, technological development, strategy and a most valuable partner in Financial Services.
When not in the office, you can find Greg music directing, playing drums and guitar with ‘The Mayhem,’ a band he formed with industry peers to perform at charity events, producing artists, spending time with his family on the UWS and running in Central Park.
Susie is the CEO of Siren, a social discovery platform focused on quality first time engagement to establish real-life connections. Before starting Siren with co-founder Katrina Hess, she worked as an artist, and also has a background in science & education, obtaining a degree in molecular biophysics / biochemistry from Yale, and a Masters in science education at Columbia University.
Our conversation covers how she became interested in art through clay sculptures, how Karate is great for learning how to be an entrepreneur, the idea of life becoming work, why Siren is a unique app, a social hack campaign called Meatface, the phenomenon of being an asian female founder, and of course, how she focuses.
If you’re interested in learning more about Siren, you can download it in the app store, check it out at siren.mobi, or find susie & siren on twitter at @sirenmobi
Growth coach who has worked with Serial Entrepreneurs, Emerging Mindfulness Leaders,Physicians, Partners at Global Law Firms, C-Level Executives and Financial Professionals, including Hedge Fund Managers, Traders and Wealth Managers to help them excel at life.
In our conversation, we talk about how holistic health care saved her life early on, how she has become comfortable in uncomfortable situations, why she considers herself a location independent entrepreneur, why she became a growth coach, and how that differs from being a business coach, how and why positive psychology can be helpful in life, and of course, how she focuses to make progress in her life.
She can be found at silviachristmann.com, on twitter: @wanderingplanet.
You can find her mastermind class at: Silviachristmann.co/mastermind-course
Neelam Brar is the founder & CEO of District CoWork - an upscale co-working space, and the founder & CEO of Empress Capital Fund, which is - a accelerator and a fund for aimed at companies in the female economy. In this interview, we discuss her interest of real estate, the differences between hiring at large corporations vs. hiring at a startup, the kinds of events that District Co-Work hosts, why she designed Empress as a fund and as a accelerator, her thoughts on the female economy, and much more.
Sarah Piampiano is a professional long-distance triathlete. Last year, she placed 7th in the international ironman championship in Kona, Hawaii, and the day after the interview, she won the Vineman Ironman race in napa. In our conversation, we talk about how she started triathlon by making a bet, what made her decide to go pro, her nutrition and training habits, sponsorships, what it takes to be a triathlete, and the importance & pressure of rest & recovery in being a professional athlete.
Brian McClintic is a Master Sommelier who was one of the subjects of the documentary SOMM (find it on Netflix). In this interview, recorded at the International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Oregon, Brian and I discuss the art & science of wine tasting, the economics of the wine world, and his newest project, Viticole - an online retail wine distribution company that finds unknown wine producers creating fantastic wines at a fraction of what they will cost in the future. We talk about his favorite vintages, some specific pairing recommendations, how he is building Viticole, and of course - how he focuses.
Kirti Srikant is the VP of Brand and Advertising at OppenheimerFunds, where, most recently she has played a central role in the development of the Invest in a Beautiful World campaign and in the creation of the Optimist Index - which we talk about in the interview. Other industries she has worked for include acting & modeling and architectural design. in this interview, we talk about how names are chosen in hindi - her work in one of the first SMS marketing campaigns at citi Field, her media consumption habits, the importance of a great team in executing campaigns, how bio-metrics applies to the world of mutual funds, and much more.
Preview of my interview with Kirti Srikant, VP of Brand & Advertising for OppenheimerFunds.
Ryan Holiday is a strategist and a writer. He wrote the NYTimes Bestseller Trust Me, I’m Lying: confessions of a media manipulator, Growth Hacker Marketing, and most recently he wrote on Stoicism with his book The Obstacle Is The Way.
If Obstacle was about external obstacles, his next book is about internal obstacles: Ego Is The Enemy.
I’m giving away 10 of copies of the book on August 1, and if you go to http://bit.ly/29GO0lr you can enter to win a copy of the book.
You may not know her name (by her own design), but you likely have read her writing.
Maeve Roughton is a writer and a strategist, working with clients like Google, Questlove, PlayStation, and Zappos; and she has led creative initiatives with agencies such as TBA Global and Agent of Change. I got in contact with Maeve via the Dreamers // Doers community, and we talked about strategy, writing, what being a gemini does to your consciousness, Bridge to Act, and much more.
Avery Roth is the founder of The Startup Consulting Group, where she guides startups of all shapes and sizes towards success. In the past, She has worked in London, brazil, paris & Miami, with hedge funds & investment banks, she speaks 5 languages, and has written for Fortune magazine to get her message out about the new world of work. We talk about how companies can find Product-Market-Fit, how the startup consulting group guides companies, and about the importance of having a network.
Lillian Daniels is the creator of the LillianDaniels.com, through which helps people eat healthier & study yoga, and happyknee.com through which she provides guidance on repairing knee injuries without surgery. In this interview we discuss her transition from working in safe Accounting job to taking a risky trip to Thailand how she controls her energy to avoid procrastination, an early ACL injury and the subsequent recovery that brought her from wearing a 4-foot brace, to running for 30 minutes straight within a year.
Annabel Acton created NeverLikedItAnyways.com, the eBay for breakup stuff. Since launching in 2012, "Bella" has focused on ensuring the company makes breakups suck less. We talk about how she came up with the idea, her time spent working in innovation consulting, what a “stage gate” process is, and how she bullied her way into a job, the difference between urgent and important, octopus hearts, how she focuses to make progress.
Julia Wojnar is a public speaking coach and created UnlesashYourPresence.com to offer her expertise to others.
Sometimes, people don’t know where to start when they’ve got something to talk about. For these people, Julia has put together the Get Speaking blueprint, which you can see and hear - you can get it in both both audio and text! - really cool way to do it: text right from your phone, text the word SPEECH to 33444.
In our discussion, we talk about how she created Unleash Your Presence by pivoting when given the opportunity to start her own company, we talk about finding a business coach, and public tactics the power of the pause, ways to be yourself and speak effectively, and how she focuses to make it work.
Snippets of my upcoming interview with public speaking expert & creator of Unleashyourpresence.com creator Julia Wojnar. Full episode coming soon!
To get Julia's "Get Speaking Blueprint" text SPEECH to 33444
Belma Mccaffrey created Work Bigger to help young professionals find meaning in their work lives and their careers. In this interview, we talk about the iterations that Work Bigger has gone through, how she balances working full time at the Associated Press, being a new mother and building Work Bigger all at the same time, how she stays present, and how she focuses to get it all done.
Teaser for my interview with Belma McCaffrey founder of https://belmamccaffrey.com and creator of Work Bigger.
Full Episode coming soon!
Billy McFarland is the Founder & CEO of Magnises - a company that connects those who want to level-up their lives with access to the experiences that make that level-ing up happen. In our interview, we talk about how he began creating companies in 6th grade, why Billy loves Chaos, level-ing up life, how he wound up drag-racing Teslas on a airport runway, how he plans to grow Magnises to 1 Million members in 5 years, and of course, how he focuses.
To subscribe to this podcast visit apple.co/1PpO9l0.
To learn more about becoming a member of Magnises, go to www.magnises.com & follow @Magnises on instagram & twitter.
Magnises Founder & CEO Billy McFarland came on The Fierce Focus Show the other day. Here is a teaser.
Full Episode will be released soon!
Uriel Zecharia created Cast Plus, a platform that connects emerging podcasters with advertisers. He is based in Israel, so while he was in NYC for a few days, we met up to discuss why israel is such a hotbed for startup activity, how he grew his affinity for podcasting into Cast Plus, how he focuses.
This is a shorter episode where I chose four "focus morsels" and explained what they mean in this episode. A "focus morsel" is a bite-sized "cliff-note" of knowledge from my past interviews.
Let me know what you think of this? Email me with your thoughts - ryan@afiercefocus.com
Jason Katzer is a life-long entrepreneur with a technical background, and the creator of Jason Prime. We talk about how he got his start in creating software, why he decided to move to Japan for 2 months, how he found himself at a 24-hour fitness at 2am to create FitSquid - a competitive gym app, and his blueprint for creating a new company. We also dive into his ability to find deals online, his preferences for headphones, his favorite coding music, and how he focuses to create all the things he has created, including http://jasonprime.com/
I speak with matt Morchower who is a serial entrepreneur and has co-founded Marquis Jets, which was later sold to Berkshire Hathaway, was the COO of Magnises - the exclusive card for millennials - and was the president of Clipper Jet. In our interview Matt shares his three-pronged theory to what a modern entrepreneur can be, how to become an entrepreneur, and dives into how he focuses to generate his own competitive advantage.
George Popescu is the founder of companies like Boston Technologies, Down the Road brewery, and most recently, Lending Times. George has a natural inclination to dive deep into how things work, and focuses on bridging the inefficiencies to create value on all sides of the table. We talk about how he started Boston Technologies while in Grad school at MIT, how he works in cycles, what he values in his relationships, and how he builds companies.
Part 2 of my conversation with Mark Day, we talk about his building of the brand that was GMD Studios, how he picked himself back up after the company he worked for imploded, why making your own company can be easier than working for someone else, how business partners can help each other define their brand, a challenge Mark has for everyone, and finally, how he focuses.
Mark Day is an expert in brand creation and management. This is the first of a two-part interview in which we talk about Mark’s early career in PR, his education into the world of business, things like Virtual Reality, The Impostor Syndrome, Blacking out on stage (not what you'd expect), and how he became involved in GMD Studios.
Polly Payne Willoughby created Horacio Printing - a Christian faith-based planner. She had the idea to create a planner in August 2014, executed on the idea and sold out of her first production run within three months. For the last 18 months, Horacio was a nights & weekend project for Polly. Then in early February 2016, weeks she decided to take the “entrepreneurial plunge" and is now pursuing Horacio Printing full-time.
Vineel Maharaj wears a lot of hats, but focuses on marketing and psychology. We talk about his interest in the “pickup artist” community, investing, creating websites and marketing, and a company called Dil Mil.
Franklin Tsung is the founder and principal at BlackCrown Holdings. He also worked as the COO of App Crown, an financial technology platform, and the Founder of TS Equity LLC, all based in NYC. Franklin’s story is interesting because he grew up in a startup culture - Franklin’s father created what became the first online trading platform, used by companies such as TD Ameritrade and Pershing. In our discussion, we talk about Franklin’s journey in creating his companies, his theories on Business as what society is created to do, and of course, how Franklin focuses.
Sam DeBey is a digital animator and a good friend of mine. Sam’s story has brought him from being an art student in San Jose, to living in his mom’s hotel in the Seychelles, to sailing his boat down the eastern seaboard during hurricane sandy. As an animator, he has made videos you might have been exposed to - some with Vin DiCarlo, and others with Ashton Kutcher’s company A-Plus.
We explore how sam maintains his creativity, how he started his life as a freelancer, mistakes he has made and how to avoid them, his method of keeping resolutions, and how he focuses
Ali Hamed (@alibhamed) is a venture capitalist living in NYC, and is a Co-Founder and a General Partner at CoVenture. In this interview we talk about what CoVenture is and what they’re doing with the World Bank, the easiest email he had to send, what qualities he looks for in founders, and of course: how he stays focused.
Saeed Jabbar is primed to be a creator. Saeed grew up in Guyana, moved to NYC when he was a child - this gives him a particularly interesting perspective on life in the US. We talked about meditation, optimizing his life, his “hyperbolic time chamber”, and how he focuses. Finally, we talk about his new class called “Inclusion”.
In this episode recorded at NYC’s Belgian Beer Hall, I interviewed Luke Willoughby - a go-getter in the media world. Luke found his way to NYC by being very creative with his resume, and worked at media companies to satisfy the left side of his brain, while finding an interesting way to satisfy the right side of his brain. Listen in to hear how luke hustled his way into the NYC media scene,why Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” is Luke’s favorite book, and how Luke focuses.