Magic Minds

Chris Powers is the only real estate mogul I know who has been selling real estate half his life. He began buying and fixing up homes when he was only 17 years old as a freshman in college, was a self-made millionaire by 23, then became a venture capitalist by 24. And today he is a real estate force helping define the future of the small-but-up-and-coming city of Fort Worth, Texas.

We talk about how he began his career in real estate while everyone was thinking about fraternity parties and the influences in his life that made him decide to invest in tech. He's a unique guy — and 100% himself throughout this interview. Those two things are probably two of the biggest reasons why he has seen success early in his life. Let’s get into it with Chris on Below the Line with James Beshara.

You can email James questions directly at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.

Dr. Emily Anhalt is a clinical psychologist that focuses specifically on entrepreneurs and what she calls emotional fitness. It is a bridge between psychology and business that helps with your personal productivity and your personal psychological approach each day. 

In this episode, she will share with us her invaluable seven characteristics of emotional fitness that she has given workshops at companies from Google to GitHub to TED, and a bunch in between. Let's get into it with Dr. Emily Anhalt.

Email James questions at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.

Burt Blackarach is a Grammy-award winning composer, producer, DJ, and sound engineer. You may know his work in producing for iconic groups like Public Enemy.

Born into a creative family, Burt got to see his father (legendary soul and rock keyboard player and songwriter William D. "Smitty" Smith) collaborate with everyone from Bob Dylan to Rick James to Fleetwood Mac — and it ignited his love of creating music as well.

But what is it like to heed the call to adventure in creating music for a living? What is the inner journey like for someone as accomplished and established as Burt? Let’s get into it with Burt on Below the Line with James Beshara.

Email James questions at [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC. 

Kevin Rose is one of the most recognizable individuals in the startup world. As a founder, he and his team created the news aggregation site Digg, which became a household name, putting him on magazine covers around the world and creating an iconic brand in Silicon Valley — but it wasn’t a story that ended in champagne and ringing an IPO bell... As an investor, his list of angel investments is next to impossible to beat: Twitter, Facebook, Square, and NextDoor to name a few.  

He also was podcasting back in 2004 when the world was still just learning how to pronounce the word iPod... so suffice it to say, if he is into it, there’s a very likely chance it’s about to become a very big deal. He is not only incredibly honest and open about his successes and failures, but he’s enthusiastically trying to get others to share just as openly.  

We go below the line on what it’s like to build something to hundreds of millions of dollars to then see it crumble, on how we tend to overcorrect after failure, the necessary side of experiences that help us mature, spouses and their integral part in the equation as an entrepreneur, and more. Enjoy this episode with the incomparable Kevin Rose.

My favorite thing about being a founder is the ability to make your own decisions and have to live with them, and thus have to learn from them.

I am constantly introspective about my thoughts: What am I thinking? Where did it come from? 

The desire to be “liked” is probably the most selfish thing in the world.

You want to be really mindful of the problems you are creating, when things that were working stop working and being able to identify those things much earlier when running a business.

Sahil Lavingia is the CEO and Founder of Gumroad, a platform to help creators create more through simple e-commerce and audience tools. He is also known for insightful and refreshing points of view on Twitter and Medium. To round it out, he’s also a designer, painter in addition to being a technology CEO and writer. Sahil and I have had similar paths in creation, from tech to design to art, as well as being a founder that has seen almost everything. 

From being employee #2 at Pinterest to starting his own company, to coverage in just about every magazine, every investor in Silicon Valley wanted to be a part of what he was building to layoffs, then more layoffs, to then being the only person running his company, bordering on depression for a long stretch of time, and now back to a tight-knit team and a business that will bring in over $5m in revenue this year, profitable and actually growing faster than ever. 

In addition to the experience he’s had, he’s begun to articulate what it has been like as a creator, and his tweets and essays on the topic, up there with Justin Kan, Eric Ries and a handful of other guests have given people some of the most realistic glimpses of what it’s truly like, and I can’t wait for you to hear this behemoth of an episode.