Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom

If you love podcasts, you might've heard of a contest recently being run by Squarespace and Gimlet Creative called CASTING CALL. It's essentially a podcaster talent search, with the winner getting a mini-series and maybe a full series on the Gimlet Media platform, home of many great shows (including one of my favorites, Mogul). 

The new show I pitched is called "Repatriated". This is what it's about: 

"This is a show about real people from around the world who are on the journey of their lives: returning to their country of origin. My plan with 'Repatriated' is to identify and follow a handful of people who are preparing to make a global move of their own, and to follow them and the people in their lives throughout a season - before, during, and after the move."

The rules don't prohibit contestants from sharing their entry, so here is mine for you to check out if you're curious. Chelsey Mark was nice enough to come back in and role-play a version of himself who is poised to return home to Canada soon, and he reflects on this from the perspective of having lived 18 years in China and considers what waits for him and what he'll leave behind. 

The demo is only 3 minutes and I'd seriously love to hear your thoughts, so please have a listen and let me know - here, via the Contact form, or on any of the socials. Thanks!!

Luke Priddy is a teacher, traveler, a “maker” and a thinker. He is the founder of Cloud English, a co-founder of Yoli, a GPS treasure hunter, and a self-described “slightly unconventional” guy who finds grace in the middle spaces of life. We had a great talk, and Luke is such a natural interviewer that he even turned the tables and had me answering the questions more than usual. Enjoy.

 

Find all links at the BLOG post here: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/5/30/luke-priddy-teaching-and-traveling-with-cloud-english-yoli 

 

PREORDERmy e-book LITTLE FISH IN THE BIGGEST POND here:  https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/book/ 

Hi everyone! Today I'm excited to announce that I am hard at work on a complete course on podcasting, which will be available on Udemy.com in just a few weeks.

 

Udemy is a leading resource for life-long education, and since I've had so many requests to help people with making their own shows, I thought I'd combine two things I love - podcasting and teaching - to create a course of my own that I can point people to.

 

If you've thought about starting your own podcast, I hope this course can answer all your questions and more. In the meantime, as I work on it, please let me know any questions you have so that I can make sure I cover as much as possible. Thanks! - Brendan

This week’s guest is Jeff Towson. Jeff has a very eclectic career, ranging from finance to healthcare and media. He is a professor of finance at Peking University, an investor, and a popular blogger and influencer online on topics most often related to business in China. I’ve enjoyed and have learned a lot from reading his articles and watching his videos, which you can find at his website or on his page on LinkedIn, and I’ve linked a few of my favorites below. Enjoy! 

LINKS AND SHOW NOTES: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/5/23/jeff-towson-finance-healthcare-and-investing-in-china

 

“I want people to know what it takes to be happy.”

 

In a sentence, that sums up talking with Chelsey Mark. Chelsey - aka Mai Xiao Long in Chinese - is from a family of actual Canadian legends. His father was a long-term Member of Parliament, his grandfather helped build the Canadian railroads, but Chelsey came to China to find his calling. He’s been here 18 years, and as he says in the interview, he moved here a boy but it made him a man. He started in music, became an in-demand emcee, and from 2007-2012 he was the official host of NBA China’s coverage. Chelsey has done seemingly hundreds of great, high-profile interviews and entertainment gigs, whether hosting, singing, dancing, acting, rapping, playing an instrument, doing comedy, or leading a motivational event. In terms of public performance, there isn’t much that he hasn’t done, and I imagine he’ll be very successful in everything he does next.

 

SHOW NOTES and all links at: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/5/16/chelsey-mark  

Fei Wu is our very first guest who has now done two full episodes. I wanted to have her back on to discuss everything she’s been up to lately related to China. In this episode we talk a lot about the dominant Chinese audio platform called XimalayaFM and Fei’s upcoming efforts to help bridge the gap for international podcasters and consumers to use and enjoy it. Since Fei is a Chinese person who speaks the language but has lived more than half her life in the US and has run a successful English-language show for 3.5 years now, I think she’s pretty much an ideal person to help open that platform up to a more international audience.

 

SHOW NOTES and all links at: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/5/9/fei-wu-chinese-podcasting-mastering-ximalayafm

James LaLonde is a 6th generation Texan. He grew up on a ranch in South Austin and has had a very unexpected journey. He was part of Microsoft’s early efforts in Japan, but he always had his eye on China. Among other notable accomplishments, he co-founded Yodo1, the most successful private company in China's online gaming space, as well as Yoli, the leading on-demand language learning app on WeChat. He is a mentor and entrepreneur as well as the author (in three languages) of his upcoming book The Tao of Startups. Enjoy!

 

Show notes and more info available at: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/5/2/james-lalonde-the-language-of-entrepreneurship

Chrislyn Choo is a storyteller, which takes shape in the form of writing, photojournalism, video, and in her daily life. She’s young but already highly accomplished, with a degree in Neuroscience from Duke University and a regional Emmy-award for her work documenting the harvesting of clean energy from pickle water - which I had no idea was even a thing! She’s also a curious inquirer of different cultures and a dedicated student of the nature of identity. Chrislyn is on a still-evolving identity reclamation project of her own, and we had a really fast but thought-provoking conversation ranging from identity issues to dealing with the effects of generational trauma, and more.

 

Visit the BLOG post for all links and more: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/4/25/chrislyn-choo

From the event invitation:

"Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) offer local entrepreneurs a fascinating look into future for its April’s learning event open to the Beijing entrepreneur community. “EO Seize the Future” brings together the Founders from 5 local start-ups to share insights about how they are targeting industries poised to grow into huge segments of China's economy."

Speaker bios and more available HERE.

Jonathan Garrison was a VP at Goldman Sachs, a former General Manager of Dalian Wanda Group, an Executive Producer on the movie SOUTHPAW, and is founder and CEO of En Route Media. He also used to be the frontman for a punk rock band called DTX back in the days when you could still run into Henry Rollins in the crowd, or have someone pull you up onstage to belt out a song before tossing the mic and diving back into the mosh pit. It’s been quite a journey and it’s a great episode. Enjoy!   Visit the BLOG post for all links and more: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/home/2018/4/18/jonathan-garrison