Join Me, Won't You?

I'm back in Washington, D.C., after a five-year hiatus with a brand new episode! As part of my reentry into the nation's capital, my guest Josh Welch gives me his perspective on the cult of success and perfection that pervades highly driven environments like Washington. Are you living your best life? Prove it on social media. Is your job your entire identity? Prove it by working long hours and having a killer resume. But on the other hand, who cares what people think? And why not just punch in and punch out of your job? We try and find the balance to all this in work and life, and remind ourselves that maybe it's not so great to compare yourself constantly with other people.

I'm joined by Greg Walsh (president and founder), Erick DeLeon (buyer and brand manager), and Hoss Al-Gassid (store manager) of men's lifestyle shop MartinPatrick3. A staple of the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis, MP3 is an experiential retail destination that has guys covered from "sectionals to socks," as founder Greg Walsh says. The trio talks about the founding of the store (originally envisioned as an interior-design concept), being brick-and-mortar only in an increasingly digital retail environment, their vision for growth and their merchandising strategy, and the passion they bring for educating guys on fashion and watching them grow into their own style.

Realtor Andrew Klinkner helps walk me through the process of buying a home for the first time -- from understanding my timeline, to getting financing, all the way through closing. We discuss the all-important down payment (do I really need 20%?), different types of loans and incentives for first-time buyers, as well as his perspective on the process as the agent. He also shares his overall philosophy on helping people purchase a home (vs. simply trying to sell a house to someone) as well as his process for taking on clients. Andrew can be reached at [email protected] or via cell at (612) 234-5033.

Ever wonder how to grow something creatively while also dealing with a full-time job? Or how to stay focused and committed to your labor of love in the midst of struggle and challenge? Food blogger Lindsay Tippens Cola joins me for a great conversation around her personal labor of love, Instagram @TippsInThe Kitch, where we cover everything from how she built her website from scratch, playing the long game on social media, growing an organic following, and, above all else, staying gracious, positive, and true to yourself. She also speaks about her love of spicy cuisine, her favorite celebrity chef, and the top three spices she couldn't live without. 

#5MinuteFriday: Action, not -- too much -- contemplation. Just do it.

Cator Sparks, editor-in-chief of men's lifestyle website The Manual, joins me for a conversation that takes us from Atlanta, to London, to Harlem, to Charleston. In between nips of peaty Scotch, he tells me about his journey from raver to self-described "dandy," which takes us from the world of New York fashion, to freelance writing for the New York Times, T Magazine, and Vanity Fair, to editing The Manual since 2012. (He also might be good friends with a writer of one of the best narrative nonfiction books I've read in a long time.) Cator also shares some of his favorite spots in Charleston, why he thinks Southerners are better dressed than New Yorkers, and what it means to be a man in 2018.

In my interview with Max Hlavin and Blair Curcie, we tackle critically important questions essential to living in our modern era: What is the difference between leggings and yoga pants? Is athleisure appropriate for the office? Are pants the cost of living in a society? Does what you wear to work have an impact on your productivity? And -- of course -- is it weird that I don't pee in the shower?

#5MinuteFriday: "Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you. Listen in such a way that others love to speak to you."

In Part 2, Beau Vilks is back to talk a variety of ways in which you can avoid being a shitty person. We cover giving old "friends" from high school the benefit of the doubt, hanging clothes back up on the rack when they fall off, not flaking, respecting other people's time, dealing with frustrating sales calls, and just plain being nice (especially when you don't want to be).