What's Different About Successful People?

Why do some people find success while other people — people who actually did better in school or had more opportunities — struggle to get by?

Nate and Jason talk about honesty, calculated risks, betting on yourself, and showing up to the right places — and how that’s led to their success in business and in life.

0:00 — Nate introduces this episode, and explains why things are a little different this time.

1:35 — The conversation begins and Jason wants to avoid being masturbatory.

3:45 — The guys start to break down the keys to their post-high school success.

8:30 — “I was working in the most soul-sucking job I’ve ever had, which was as tech support for a major satellite TV company. And that — oh my god — that is like looking into the maw of hell.” – Jason

10:19 — “Having you come and basically look around and go ‘Dude, are you serious about this?’ — that was a good wake-up call and it was definitely something that was very helpful in pulling my shit back on track.” – Jason

12:28 — “I took a lot of risks that other people saw as risks that I didn’t.” – Nate

13:23 — “I was just ambitious and just annoying enough to get on their radar but not enough to piss them off to where they didn’t wanna talk to me anymore, and those became my first couple of mentors.”

13:50 — Nate’s quick story about turning down cute girls, rejecting Alwyn Cosgrove’s advice, running sprints, and vomiting in a 12-hour span.

15:40 — Lou Schuler

16:40 — Nate’s book Built for Show

17:40 — “Successful entrepreneurs, I think they do take a lot of risks, but they never feel as risky to somebody who’s an entrepreneur as they would to somebody who is looking at the situation from the outside.” – Jason

19:25 — T-Nation

20:10 — Jason talks about quitting his full-time job, turning down another, and betting on himself.

22:10 — “Oh, I ate so much ramen for the first couple of months.” – Jason

24:10 — Jason explains the importance of physically showing up to the right places.

29:15 — Recession Proof Graduate by Charlie Hoehn.

31:00 — Nate talks about what he would do if his salary disappeared.

37:09 — “The idea is success is fluid so I think it’s just a matter of defining it for yourself and then, I don’t know, being ok with whatever happens after.” – Nate

38:50 — “The goal of a project isn’t to launch the project. The goal of a project is to enjoy working on the project.” – Jason

40:09 — “The most successful person in the world is still looking toward their next thing.” – Jason

40:40 — “I found out that we’re technically millennials, which at first kinda made me sad, but now I don’t care.” – Jason

41:17 — “As many Ws as you can control.” – Jason, referring to a quote from Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Workweek: “Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it.”

42:22 — “I have to take a piss.” – Nate

42:45 — Please rate the podcast or leave a review on iTunes.

NOTE: If you’d like to listen to the full conversation, it’s available on SoundCloud.