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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Trailer
00:01:16 The 3 Rules of YouTube
00:12:27 How to Properly Think About Your Audience
00:24:14 How To Get Good At Title and Thumbnail
00:37:00 How To Research A Vertical
00:42:57 How To Avoid Burnout
00:47:11 The Hidden Problems With Podcasts Today
00:55:21 Respecting the Viewer's Time
01:01:04 How Do You Look at Retention?
01:05:11 Most Important Metrics for YouTube
01:16:16 The Business of Colin and Samir
01:18:20 Working With Sponsors and Big Brands
01:34:28 Small Deals vs. Big Deals
01:37:36 The Education Business
01:45:20 Learnings From Press Publish NYC
01:50:09 What Are You Excited About?
01:54:49 The Palisades Fire
02:13:42 The Future of the Media Landscape
02:28:15 Working With Colin For Over 10 Years
02:29:42 Quickstrike Questions

In this episode, we sit down with Samir Chaudry, co-host of Colin and Samir, for a deep conversation about relevance, creative longevity, and what it actually takes to build a career in the modern media landscape. Samir breaks down how creators stay relevant as platforms, formats, and audience expectations constantly shift — and what metrics actually matter in building a lasting media business.

🎙 GUEST
Samir Chaudry
Website: https://colinandsamir.com

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In this episode, we sit down with Dan Koe for a deep conversation about building a Future Proof Skill Stack, navigating AI, and designing a life that isn't dictated by someone else's goals. Dan breaks down why the most important skills today aren't technical, but meta — learning how to learn, how to think, and how to earn. We explore how AI is accelerating the need for adaptability, why taste, narrative, and trust are becoming the real moats, and how creators can stop chasing niches and instead become the niche.

In this episode, we sit down with Mark Manson, bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, for a wide-ranging conversation about pain, purpose, momentum, and what it actually takes to build a meaningful life. Mark explains why you can’t want the reward without wanting the cost, how suffering is often self-created through the stories we tell ourselves, and why momentum—not motivation—is the real driver of progress.

We go deep on relationships and dating — romance vs compatibility, conditional love, commitment, self-sabotage, and how to know if you’re actually ready for a serious partnership. Mark shares the biggest dating mistakes people make today, and how alignment beats excitement. We also explore creativity, writing, money, building and scaling a new AI company, and why Mark believes AI will fundamentally reshape personal growth, therapy, and the future of self-help.

In this episode, I sit down with Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, for a deep dive into the systems behind one of the most profitable e-commerce brands operating today. Sean breaks down how Ridge confidently spends $100K/day on ads, why simplicity beats cleverness in performance creative, and the disciplined frameworks that allow Ridge to scale without outside capital. He also shares something he rarely talks about publicly: Ridge's biggest weakness — and why it's actually the one unfair advantage smaller brands still have in 2026.

We unpack Ridge's entire performance machine: producing 200+ ad variations every month, hiring creators with editing instincts, building agency-less teams, and treating ad economics with ruthless clarity. Sean explains why most brands fail before they even have a product worth selling, what founders still misunderstand about Meta, and how operational discipline is becoming the new moat in e-commerce. This conversation is a masterclass in scaling, creative iteration, and building lean teams that win — even as the landscape gets harder.

In this episode, I sit down with George Heaton to unpack how a two-year trademark battle nearly ended Represent and how surviving it ignited the creative fire that pushed the brand into its biggest years ever. He breaks down the personal brand flywheel, product discipline, and offline community strategy that helped turn Represent into one of the most influential modern apparel labels today.

In this episode, I sit down with Simon Molnar, founder of Flagship.ai, to break down why 83% of shopping still happens in-store — yet most stores run with almost no data. Simon explains how visual merchandising became the most overlooked lever in retail, why brands misjudge store performance, and how Flagship built the square-foot-level “money map” that finally gives brick-and-mortar the same funnel e-commerce has.We also dive into Simon’s leadership philosophy shaped by Afterpay’s $29B rise — hiring for humility, building A-players, and making every store matter through objective data. This conversation is a masterclass in retail reinvention, operational clarity, and building teams that raise the standard.

In this episode, I sit down with Joel Kocher, the 70-year-old CEO & Co-Founder of Humann, a $200M company redefining cardiovascular health. We unpack how Joel went from early retirement and burnout to discovering the "miracle molecule" nitric oxide — the foundation behind Humann's science-backed approach to longevity.

He explains why most people misunderstand heart health, how clinical trials became his edge, and what it takes to build a lasting company.We also dive deep into leadership — from his years as the #2 at Dell to lessons learned from Michael Dell and Steve Jobs.

Joel shares the mindset that's kept him young, the frameworks that landed Humann on the Inc. 5000 list ten times, and why focus, conviction, and adaptability matter more than ever in business and life.This conversation is a deep dive into longevity, leadership, and what it really takes to stay young — in business and in life. Enjoy!

In this episode, I sit down with Robert Greene, bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power, to break down the timeless strategies of power, seduction, and human psychology that drive success in business and life.

We dive into:

- Why concealing your intentions and talking less creates an aura of power

- Never outshining the master and how reputation translates directly into capital

- The dangerous allure of free and why formlessness beats rigidity in business

- What your twenties should actually be about

- Robert's new book and his near-death experience that shaped it

This conversation goes deep into human nature, strategic thinking, and what it really takes to build power that lasts. Enjoy!

This episode is the content creation blueprint for the AI era. Roberto Nickson (RPN) just hit $1.5M in revenue at 85% margins as a one-man creator army — and he's sharing everything. 2 hours of straight value, no gatekeeping.

We cover:

• How Roberto Makes $1.5M as a Solo Creator

• Newsletter, Consulting & Building Owned Media

• Landing Partnerships with Meta, Adobe & Spotify

• The Metric Brands Actually Care About (Not Views)

• Positioning = Pricing Power

• The Infinite Content Machine: AI & Automation

• Biggest Mistakes Creators Make in Brand Deals

• Format is the Formula: Repeatable Systems That Scale

• Balancing Organic Content vs Brand Deals (80/20 Rule)

• Why Traditional Ad Production is Cooked

• Inside Roberto’s Workflow: Studio, Editing & AI Tools

• Top AI Tools for Creators (Suno, Veo 3, Kling)

• Why Ideas Are the Real Moat in the Creator Economy

• Why Audio Matters More Than Visuals

• Making Your Audience the Hero

• Building for the Future: Instagram, 2027 Social Predictions & AI

Enjoy the conversation!

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⚡️ BTS & More: https://openresidency.com/roberto-nickson

🔗 Links Mentioned

• Suno – https://suno.com

• Google Veo 3 – https://deepmind.google/technologies/veo/veo-2/

• Cling 2.1 – https://clingai.com

• N8N – https://n8n.io

• Midjourney – https://midjourney.com

• Nano Banana – https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/google-imagen-3/

🎙 Guest: Roberto Nickson (RPN), Content Creator & AI Strategist

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rpn/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rpn

• X: https://x.com/rpnickson

📬 Get in Touch

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/openresidency/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmastrandrea/

• Website: https://openresidency.com/

• Email: [email protected]

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This week, we dissect the business flywheel behind Sahil Bloom (author of the NYT Best Seller The 5 Types of Wealth) — his initiatives, team, and how he’s scaled it.

At the core is the bigger theme: money as a tool (not the goal), the “15 more times” mindset, time as the real asset, and systems to protect your energy.

This book changed my life. Enjoy the conversation!