The Brandon Zhang Show

Today, I am talking with Khe Hy. Khe is a professional blogger who writes about transforming your relationship with time, money, and work after leaving Wall Street himself after 15 years. Khe teaches the course “Supercharge your Productivity,” about mastering Notion and has over 20,000 email subscribers. On the episode, we talk about his entrepreneurship journey, the scarcity mindset, and weekly reviews.  

Links:

1. Radreads Website
2. Radreads Notion Guides
3. Khe’s Twitter
4. Khe's Instagram
5. Khe’s Youtube
6. My Website
7. My Twitter
8. My Medium

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Show Notes:  

Ever since I was born I had an entrepreneurial knack. On Wall Street I had an anonymous blog where I wrote about music and culture, I had an anonymous Twitter account, I built a hardcore personal CRM using google sheets and nested if statements. I organized secret events where I brought people together from different disciplines.  

When I started my newsletter this was a different era. This was way before substack and all that and now a newsletter is just like having a personal website.

I have a very atypical approach to entrepreneurship, where so many decisions are made for me to design a life that I want, the meaning, the flexibility, the family time. And so a lot of things I do are not prioritized by making money.  

Two years into writing a newsletter I realized two things. One, I liked writing even though I never identified before as a writer. The other thing was I had a lot more to say than summarizing five articles.

I started with link blogging, then went into personal blogging, but along the way it was always driven by my newsletter because I do not have huge audiences outside of my email list.  

A previous work acquaintance, a hedge fund manager actually approached me and asked if I could come in and coach his team. This was because he had been following me for 52 weeks and he formed an image of a. What I thought about b. My principles and c. Inferred a skill set I had. 

It comes down these very primordial fears, these pebbles in your shoe. 

I don’t call it meditation, but you should have a stillness practice. Bruce Lee calls it “mind like water.”  

Are you able to, regardless of what is happening in the outside world, to downshift to stillness?  

There can be a huge list of reasons why you shouldn’t be consistent, anything from unstructured creativity to giving your mind a break, to giving your readers a break. But it is so hard to let go of identities because identity is the currency of social animals.  

Today I am talking with Brett Goldstein, a former product manager at both Clearbit and Google who is now writing his newsletter “Social Studies” and part of the On Deck Fellowship Cohort 4. In the episode, we discuss the future unbundling of higher education and the role of online courses, what it is like being part of an accelerator program, and whether Brett is an explorer or a builder.  

Links:

1. Social Studies Website
2. Brett’s Twitter
3. My Website
4. My Twitter
5. My Medium

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Show Notes:

I’ve always been interested in the brain and how people think and I also really loved European History and was part of a philosophy club in high school so the cognitive science major really spoke out to me.

In technology, we over-emphasize technical majors, STEM majors, and saying that is the only thing that matters.

When we’re building technology products, these products are all about people, you users are people, your backend system administrators are people. In order to sell anything, you need to understand what the economic transaction is, what the economic value you are generating is for the individual on the other side. Even if you are not selling anything like Facebook or TikTok, there is a social-economic value, social capital..

The value of education is not increasing to the same degree that the cost of education is.

Universities are not doing a great job teaching students the skills they need to do well in the workforce. As technology and software are taking over the world, students need to learn newer and newer tools and technologies.

There is a false perception that getting a degree and major will set them up for a great career and it doesn’t.

For the first time in history, more students are asking is this worth it than ever. Where does that leave us, it leaves us with a lot of students looking for alternatives.

There is information abundance, you can get information wherever you go on the internet. I think what we are learning in comparison to these MOOCs that we talked about before is exactly what you said. The community matters.

Building the pyramids was not too different from building GPT-3 its just different hardware, different software.

Product hunt is actually great for newsletters. I had been seeing a number of newsletter launch on product hunt and do very well so I figured I would step in line and do the same thing. The way to think about it is that newsletters are products. Products solve users and solve a user needs, this helps you write a better newsletter because you identify your users and their needs.

On Deck at a high level is a modern approach to an MBA. Another way to think about it is a pre-Y Combinator.

Today, I am speaking with Jack Butcher, a designer and strategist who is the founder and CEO of Visualize Value. I found out about Visualize Value, a design studio and consumer brand, through Twitter where Jack has over over 86,000 followers on his two accounts. On the show, we talk about how he left 10 years of corporate advertising to create Visualize Value, the power and serendipity of Twitter, and his creative process.

Links:

1. Visualize Value Website
2. Visualize Value Twitter
3. Jack's Twitter
4. My Website
5. My Twitter
6. My Medium

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Show Notes:

Visualize Value is a unity of all my past experiences in design, marketing, and advertising.

At the start, I wanted to use Visualize Value so brands would come to me because they liked the aesthetic and the way I was thinking of design instead of having to position myself as the typical advertising agency.

Very quickly I hit a limit on the number of clients I was working with. This is where I became inspired by the ideas in Naval Ravikant’s Tweetstorm, owning assets that can be duplicated without your physical presence.

My design course is not about how to design from soup to nuts, and teaching you all the aesthetic decisions you need to make are. Instead, it is about how to start thinking about how to articulate ideas visually.

The power is in the equity of the audience, the story behind people’s experiences with a product.

I immediately saw the exponential power of Twitter after I started posting for Visualize Value.

I thought if I can capture this much attention. Surely I can turn this into a business that does not require me to be completely strung out every day.

My personal account is where I publish drafts, then visualize value is where the final products go. It’s like writing in pencil and then writing in ink.

I would call myself a designer and I am a designer by trade but I think I have a different perspective than a lot of my peers, that came up in the same career trajectory. I was never that interested in the world of graphic designers.

I am a horrible artist, give me a paintbrush and it will not be pretty. Trying to articulate logic visually is what really interests me.

Twitter is powerful because it forces you to condense. I am amazed by the meaning you can fit behind a four-word sentence.

I think the expression of the idea and solving that problem, that challenge, that is the gratifying part of the process. Not necessarily making something beautiful. That is what fires me up.

The only way to escape and achieve financial freedom is to create something where you control the conversation.

I think what more people need to understand is that you don’t need permission to do work.

Today, I get to talk with Steph Smith, a growth marketer, writer, and indie maker. Steph quit her job in management consulting and a 2-hour commute 4 years ago and has been working remotely ever since. On the podcast, we talk about why she started to write online and her writing framework, the 7 myths of learning to code, and how to stand out on the internet.

Links:

1. Steph’s Website
2. Steph’s Twitter
3. My Website
4. My Twitter
5. My Medium 

Steph’s Top Articles:

1. The Honest Guide to Remote Work
2. The 7 Myths of Learning to Code
3. How to be Great? Just be Good, Repeatedly

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Show Notes:

The biggest misconception about remote work is that everyone who does it is a digital nomad and fits into a certain mold. We now see that remote work can be present in almost any role.

Remote work just breaks down the typical barriers at a normal job. It gives you a clean slate but that does not mean you have to go travel the world and work on crazy schedules.

Test things in your own life like you would in a marketing position. Do not be afraid to experiment to find out what works best for you.

When I work remotely. I focus on what I need to get done this week. Not how many hours, not when I need to work. I focus on hitting those action goal instead of time blocking every second of the day.

Everyone wants to create a blog because everyone has opinions. A blog is just a medium to share those thoughts

In the sea of content out there. Around 80% of it is not that good. Around 10-15% is pretty good and maybe 1-3% is actually very good. If you can create that content. People will listen because they cannot find it elsewhere.

Quality is the easiest way to differentiate yourself online because it is suprisingly scarce.

Google’s purpose is to serve people the best content, instead of gaming SEO, focus on if this is content that will make people want to share.

The reason why many people dislike the writing in school is because it has deadlines, its stressful, its not conducive to a flow state and you are writing about things you do not enjoy. 

School forces us into specialization and we put labels on ourselves based off of what classes we are good at. 

Today, I am speaking with Salman Ansari, a startup founder, writer, creative and polymath. I discovered Salman through the Write of Passage community and have grown to love his work documenting his creative journey after leaving Facebook. In the episode, we discuss conversational energy, what makes books resonate, the principles of a polymath and the power of writing online.

Links:

1. Salman’s Website: https://salman.io/about/
2. Salman’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/daretorant
3. My Website: https://www.brandonzhang.com/
4. My Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandonthezhang
5. My Medium: https://medium.com/@brandonzhang20

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Salman’s Introduction:

🎩 I’ve worn a lot of different hats: startup founder, CTO, full-stack & iOS engineer, engineering manager, teacher, and advisor, to name a few.

🦊 I write a weekly email newsletter called Quick Brown Fox where I share everything I learn. I also publish essays on my blog, and am experimenting with a digital garden to share notes on my ideas as they progress.

📚 I read a lot of books. Check out my favorite books, and please share yours! I spend a lot of energy trying to choose the right books to read, and recently wrote about what makes a book resonate.

🎨 I love to draw, and especially enjoy drawing comic-style characters. I’m really interested in exploring the power of combining writing with illustrations and storytelling. I’m also a huge animation nerd and dream of making a short film with hand-drawn animation some day. You can follow all my illustrations and animations on Instagram @salmanscribbles.

Today, I have the privilege to talk with Anne-Laure, founder of Ness Labs, an online community focused on using neuroscience-based content to make the most of their minds. Anne-Laure has built her weekly newsletter, Maker Mind, to over 13,000 active participants and hosts different online events and workshops. On the podcast, we discuss mindful productivity, metacognition, Roam Research, and building a creativity inbox. If you are interested in leveling up your mind, this is a must-listen episode

Links:

1. Ness Labs: https://nesslabs.com/
2. Anne-Laure’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/anthilemoon
3. Anne-Laure’s Website: https://anne-laure.net/
4. My Website: https://www.brandonzhang.com/
5. My Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandonthezhang

Leave me a Review:

Please feel free to leave me a review on iTunes/ Apple Podcasts

Show Notes: 

Best Quotes: 

I do not wait until I feel inspired, I have built a creativity inbox

Being prolific increases the chances I have of an article resonating with people.

Bidirectional linking is incredibly powerful because I can collect a lot of notes on topics that are not necessarily connected, but Roam can help me surface those connections.

I do not use thematic tags, because I never use them in my creative process

Serendipity is how I find all my articles and books to read

By teaching other people you are also teaching yourself 

Articles mentioned: 

Roam Research: https://nesslabs.com/roam-research

Mindful Productivity: https://nesslabs.com/mindful-productivity-

The Illusion of Productivity: https://nesslabs.com/illusion-of-productivity

Mindframing: https://nesslabs.com/mindframing

Today, I am chatting with Tem, founder of his company Optemization, where he consults entrepreneurs and startups on no-code organization tools, so that they can learn faster and get to the work that actually matters. We talk about going to boarding school, his time leading InnoVention society at NYU, his startup journey, and why he loves Notion.

Links:

1. Tem's Website: http://optemization.com/
2. Tem's Twitter: https://twitter.com/optemization
3. My Website: https://www.brandonzhang.com/
4. My Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandonthezhang
5. My Medium: https://medium.com/@brandonzhang20

Leave me a Review:

Please feel free to leave me a review on iTunes/ Apple Podcasts