Ep 360 Jason Zook (aka Surfrapp) Sells His Future

James credits at least some of his success to his guest's new company, .   Erik Torenberg a founding team-member at Product Hunt, co-founder of Rapt.fm, and associate at Queensbridge Venture Partners joins James today.   Product Hunt seems like such an easy idea and an overnight success on the surface... but really it was years in the making.   But since its launch, it has been on a true rocket-ship ride.   It all started with a relatively small e-mail list... and the brilliant strategy of allowing product makers to talk to product users.   They went through Y Combinator and then got funding from Andreessen Horowitz. That was all the street cred they needed to explode.   Listen here as Erik tells James what's next for Product Hunt.

Do you need a vacation? How about a place that has such a lingering bad reputation that it's the perfect place to get away to? Interested? Today, James and Claudia call our good friend and the original co-host of Ask Altucher, Aaron Brabham, to find out why he's now living there and what else he has been up to. I can't tell you where he is – you'll have to listen to find out. But once you hear his story, you'll know why he has no plans to come back stateside. And what's he doing there? He's living the life of an entrepreneur. To learn more about his new company, just . He's involved with a new and exciting health and fitness company and explains to James and Claudia why he got involved and what his plans are to grow it. Listen here as James and Claudia catch up with Aaron.

James spent an hour interviewing his wife and business partner, Claudia Azula Altucher. They went back to 1999, when Claudia first started to learn about yoga. She knew very little about it, but wanted a discipline that would be physical and get her into a "zone." They went all the way back to Claudia's early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was raised by a very loving mother, who unfortunately committed suicide when Claudia was only 17. You'll hear the pain in Claudia's voice as she talks about this tragic time in her life. Claudia eventually saved $2,000, just enough money to come to the United States. She had to leave Argentina. Life as an immigrant can be tough, yet Claudia never gave up. But she still hadn't found peace. She needed to make new choices and take control of her life. She found it in yoga. If you're interested in learning more about yoga, you have to listen to Claudia's podcast. You can listen on her website: . Follow her on and .

James gives his friend a call today to talk about a subject that scares the heck out of him — public speaking. James asks Mitch about his philosophy on public speaking. Mitch breaks down public speakers and presenting into three styles of music: The first is the "classical music approach," the second he calls the "jazz improve” approach," and the third he calls the "rock and roll approach." Mitch tells a great story about President Bill Clinton, the type of speaker he is, and also what his own personal speaking approach is. He helps James understand that he doesn't always have to create a brand new speech every time he presents. It's OK to re-use a lot of the same material. Don't keep the entire audience from hearing your best speech if only 20% may have heard it already.

James gives his good friend a call today to talk about the real value of doing a podcast. James asks Chris... Is podcasting worth the time and effort? Chris says "no... and yes." There's no real money in it, but the other benefits are worth every second you put into it. Podcasting helps you with all your other media by broadening your "umbrella." You can take your podcast and create a blog post or a newsletter article and you can tweet about it and post it on Facebook. Plus, as both James and Chris say, their biggest benefit is getting to talk to people they would never get a chance to without the podcast Listen to Chris and James talk about the real value of starting a podcast.

Brian Koppelman is back today to continue the fascinating discussion he and James started on his last visit. As Brian says, "Non-fiction books answer a series of questions, whereas fiction books raise a series of questions." On the last show, James made a promise to Brian that he would read more fiction. Brian holds him to it today. This is another amazing conversation between two extremely creative people who are constantly working hard to improve their crafts. Listen today and make sure you grab a pen to write down all the great books they talk about.

Today's question is a tough one, as one of our listeners writes in... "My girlfriend has decided to concentrate on her career and wants to take a break from our relationship. How can I support her while satisfying my own needs?" James and Claudia disagree a bit on their answers. Listen here and you can decide who you think is right.

Today's question... "I feel like the life I knew is falling apart before my eyes and my next steps are critical. I would deeply appreciate guidance and support. Here is what's happening. I'm a twenty-year-old college student starting an online business, and last week I flew to New York City behind my parents' backs for a business event (with my own money) and they found out and decided to withdraw all financial support. I called my mom to apologize and she exploded, telling me that starting a business was ruining my life and destroying my relationships. She said she would rather I take a semester off than work on a business while she is paying for my school tuition. So, I stayed up all night thinking and decided to take a semester off to pursue my business. Then I called her today to tell her and she exploded in the other direction, telling me that if I drop out of school I will be putting a dagger into her heart. She tried to make me promise I will stay in school It looks like at this point she will let me stay in school and work on my business, but now I genuinely think the best thing might be to take off a semester and work only on my business. I don't want to give in to a compromise that isn't in my best interests, but I also don't want to tear my family apart. How do I choose myself in this situation?" Listen to James as he gives his real life advice.

joins James and Claudia to talk about what it means to be a great salesman and John has decided to take it to a new level. Before you can sell you have to get in the door. So he introduces himself with a very special gift. Like the time he brought $7000 worth of Brooks Brothers clothes to a prospective clients hotel room and set it up to shock him. It worked even better than he had hoped. John says, if you’re going to send a gift than send it to their inner circle, their significant other, their adman and their family. These people are usually ignored and they’re often the most important people in your prospects lives. to listen to John’s stories and ideas for some great gifts to get you in the door. Think “radical generosity”

Of all the assets that you could possibly sell, I bet you've never thought of selling your future . . . but Jason is doing just that. Jason Zook (formerly JasonSurfrapp, Jason Headsetsdotcom and Jason Sadler) is a crazy-at-heart salesman . . . beneath that, he's an impressive content creator with a long track record of success. He's not a painter or a musician, but no one would ever say he's not an artist. Is he on to something new here? Listen as James does his due diligence and decides whether to buy in or not. I doubt you'll ever hear another show like this one again.