Michael Figured Conversations: Recent Episodes
Michael Figured
I love talking to people and picking their brain, these conversations are meant to do that. There's no specific topic, it's just a conversation.
The ninth episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
In this one my guest is Sander Hiddink. We met on our trip to Iceland. He's also a space engineer and recently got his first kid.
We talk traveling, space, technology and fathership.
Articles and more on my website: https://www.michaelfigured.com/
The eighth episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
In this one my guest is Janez Pieters. He's a project manager, life coach, ex-colleague and friend
We talk life, health, love, family and lots of other things!
Articles and more on my website: https://www.michaelfigured.com/
The seventh episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
In this one my guest is Stefaan Bonte. He's the co-founder of Moonshots, EBBC and Rubicon. He also finds time to run, read and meditate.
We talk books, entrepreneurship, meditation and so much more.
it was awesome finally having you on (be it in 5 frames per second, hopefully this won't happen again)
Articles and more on my website: https://www.michaelfigured.com/
The sixth episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
👍 Like this video and subscribe to see more 👍
In this one my guest is Joppe Merchiers aka MajorJ.
Listen to his latest track on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/0Oz2efLUCiaWA1jOoqYjuF?si=JGWTGXGSTvKqpdQCn459OQ
Check out the BeatsGotMixed Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKia4tNBjJxxQkeEkpmVs1g
Articles and more on my website: https://www.michaelfigured.com/
Have a great one ✌️
The fifth episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
In this one my guest is Margo van Puyvelde.
Articles and more on my website: https://www.michaelfigured.com/
Thanks for listening. Have a great one ✌️
The fourth episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
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In this one my guest is Marjolein van Dorpe.
Short Clips from this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKFOKE6FlMibZzF48RkSm5Q
Timestamps below:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:00:56 - Marjolein was bored at her first job so she started her own goldsmith company
00:03:59 - Marjoleins parents disliked her idea, at first..
00:04:57 - Her parents recognize the struggle of starting their own business
00:06:21 - How welding gold works
00:10:39 - Where Marjolein gets her gold
00:12:17 - Marjolein built a ring out of meteorite
00:14:51 - Marjoleins boyfriend has trouble finding her a ring
00:16:43 - She learned to drink coffee in Italy
00:19:30 - My coffee intake skyrocketed because of WFH
00:20:53 - She sells her own liquor (Delbosque) with her boyfriend
00:24:13 - Delbosque is perfect for cocktails
00:25:50 - Why aren't there more people entrepreneurial?
00:28:47 - Marjolein has a dream of owning her own production house
00.29.30 - She just hired her second employee
00:31:48 - The main things that helped her when starting out
00:36:27 - On meeting Willy Naessens
00:38:20 - Marjolein doesn't want to be famous
00:39:46 - Marjolein values sustainable gold
00:45:36 - Is recycled gold lower quality?
00:46:26 - Marjolein hates lab grown diamonds (mossanite)
00:50:03 - Why Marjolein prefers gold over silver
00:51:55 - What people buy instead of rings
00:54:45 - How COVID influenced her business
00:56:22 - How to grow an online jewelry store
01:01:43 - The liquor and jewelry target very different people
01:04:09 - Nostalgic feelings from her childhood
01:05:25 - On her upcoming 3rd company
01:07:19 What unites her companies
01:08:23 - Nothing substitutes real life engagements
01:11:50 - Marjoleins one question for me
01:17:46 - Finishing up
Thanks for listening.
Have a great one ✌️
The third episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
In this one my guest is Strategic Planner and Online Marketeer Renze Vuye.
Timestamps below:
00:00:22 - Who is Renze and what does he do?
00:02:07 - Growing up without television
00:04:11 - What motivated Renze to go into advertising
00:06:00 - How Renze landed into communication and strategic planning
00:09:51 - How they created an online platform to connect brands with customers
00:10:51 - What advertising should be about
00:13:00 - Was our original study proficient to get into advertising?
00:17:38 - What was missing in our education
00:19:00 - The value of practical teachings
00:21:07 - Why Renze eventually got in to university
00:22:58 - The importance of a good professor
00:26:13 - Why applying knowledge is more important than gathering more
00:32:05 - The three main neuroscientific insights to improve advertising
00:37:23 - Brand recognition and findings on Coca-Cola
00:39:39 - Why Renze tried to go vegan (Gamechangers)
00:46:03 - Renze is not worried about the numbers in a vegan diet
00:46:59 - The main reason why Renze is interested in veganism
00:49:27 - Why Renze keeps eating meat
00:50:50 - How our brains are not adapted to current reality
00:53:35 - Why TikTok is so addictive
00:54:47 - Renze deleted TikTok, for a little while...
00:56:02 - TikTok is not only 15 year olds doing silly dances
00:56:48 - Is Renze in the cryptomarket?
00:57:14 - A strange response from the banks to crypto
00:59:52 - My positions in crypto
01:00:53 - Talking financial literacy and investing
01:09:59 - Talking family into investing and overcoming scepticism
01:13:21 - Running into people with the same interests
01:14:55 - Why Renze wants more money
01:15:51 - How Renze almost got into a life-coaching program
01:17:32 - Renze wants to go back to school to get 15 more degrees
01:19:04 - The tool that renze would pay millions for
01:22:24 - Why Renze wants shorter books and how to read one
01:26:25 - 2 books you should read according to Michael
01:29:59 - Why Renze doesn't read fiction
01:31:41 - Why Renze prefers reading on a screen
01:34:23 - What makes our life fulfilling?
01:38:42 - Is it necessary to focus on one shortcoming at a time?
01:39:48 - How Think And Grow Rich shapes our way of thinking
01:44:05 - Saying goodbye
Thanks for listening/watching. Subscribe to always see the latest episode.
Have a great one ✌️
The second episode of the Michael Figured Conversations podcast.
In this one my guest is Davide Rigoni.
Timestamps below:
00:01:26 - Where does his fascination from neuroscience come from
00:03:19 - Is neuroscience considered a new field?
00:04:18 - Biases in times of covid
00:11:15 - Involvement of neuroscience in his covid article
00:12:27 - The neuroscience Bible
00:14:28 - Lecturing vs working on his company
00:17:07 - The flipped classroom
00:18:58 - Advantages for the old way of teaching
00:19:48 - How many times is Davide cited
00:21:15 - Do psychopaths have free will?
00:27:07 - Does free will exist?
00:30:19 - His experience with countries around the world
00:35:57 - On his company ICense
00:37:51 - My experience with the brainwave machine
00:40:00 - Brain stimulation by Neuralink
00:42:30 - We downplay the brains own capabilities
00:44:18 - Using fear to prevent procrastination
00:47:47 - How different people find excitement in different things
00:53:05 - Does neuroscience help him to prevent biases in real life?
00:54:01 - How Davide keeps track of neuroscientific updates
00:57:17 - Did Davide study Philosophy?
00:58:09 - Mimicry vs Automatic imitation
01:00:11 - The Goosebump factors for songs
01:03:44 - Is active brand recognition needed for increasing consumption
01:07:07 - What are my new years resolutions?
01:12:06 - What are his new years resolutions
01:17:35 - Why he prefers Brussels over Ghent
01:23:33 - What languages does Davide speak?
01:25:41 - What he thinks about podcasting
01:28:17 - Why Davide stopped watching tv
Thanks for listening.
Have a great one ✌️
In this one my guest is Maarten Verschuere entrepreneur and my former boss.
Timestamps below:
00:01:53 - The story behind Cleverbots
00:04:55 - Selling innovation when the need is unknown
00:07:24 - How his first company came to live
00:09:26 - How having a child influenced his entrepreneurship
00:10:35 - Do you need a regular job first, before starting your own company?
00:11:23 - Finance, Money & Materialism
00:14:35 - Maarten's credo (inspired by Marie Kondo): "Does it spark joy?" and standing up
00:17:59 - Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky: A System for Your Life
00:21:38 - Make Time: Pick Your Battles to get Things Done
00:24:00 - Maarten's view on series and movies (The Queen's Gambit)
00:28:22 - What's he reading right now? Digital vs physical books
00:30:07 - Maarten's own podcast for Theda.ai and how he gets guests
00:34:22 - Why Maarten sold his first company
00:38:02 - The importance of group dynamic or how to get a good team
00:41:12 - The period after selling his first company and present day
00:46:39 - Is there a future for businesses not joining the online space?
00:51:54 - What makes current online solutions succesful?
00:54:25 - GPT3 an Open AI solution by Elon Musk writes content on its own
00:56:55 - Is AI created content a threat to society?
01:04:13 - What the world will look like in 30 years because of AI
01:07:24 - Subscription based services will take over the world
01:14:35 - Maarten's reading habits
01:16:05 - Generalists vs Specialists
01:17:54 - About Passion, Joy and Perseverance or the courage to not Persevere
01:24:46 - Plans for Theda.ai
01:26:22 - The probability of me having my own company
01:29:57 - The importance of networking and asking for help
01:30:52 - The Mom Test: Why you shouldn't ask anybody if you're idea is any good
01:36:01 - Is Michael Figured on TikTok? Is there a place for educational content?
01:37:56 - Filling in the gaps with Instagram
01:39:37 - Why I started this podcast (Joe Rogan Experience)
01:40:46 - Why to do a podcast in English
01:42:03 - Saying goodbye
Thanks for listening.
Have a great one ✌️
First conversation on record. Give it a listen. We talk about lemons, moving out, a guy who carries around a door and so much more.
Some timestamps to help you out:
00:01:06 - What's the name of the podcast?
00:04:09 - Why Ruben moved to Ghent
00:15:34 - The guy who carries around a door
00:19:14 - Our trip to Denmark (Europeade)
00:26:19 - Our first video together
00:28:55 - The first green screen
00:34:50 - The SpareTimeShop by Ruben (amazing amount of subscribers)
00:51:42 - How Graham Stephan grows his audience
00:56:58 - Makerspace
01:02:26 - The wrong reason to watch The Last Dance on Netflix
01:08:00 - Using AI to pick the best performing Instagram post
01:12:37 - Who will be the next guest?
01:16:00 - How to end a conversation
01:18:00 - Why doesn't a freezing bottle of alcohol break the glass
01:21:44 - That time I ended up in a "special" club
01:25:57 - Once upon a time on Halloween...