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RPF0533-Friday_QA


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00:00:24.440 | That's T E C O V A S dot com.
00:00:27.940 | Don't go gently, y'all.
00:00:30.440 | It's Friday. That means live Q and A.
00:00:33.220 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, the show dedicated to providing you with
00:00:52.240 | the knowledge, insight, education and encouragement you need to live a rich
00:00:56.480 | and meaningful life now while also working toward your plans for financial
00:00:59.960 | freedom, hopefully in 10 years or less.
00:01:02.240 | My name is Joshua. I am your host.
00:01:04.160 | I am your advisor and I am your fellow financial freedom philosopher, fellow
00:01:09.460 | financial freedom fighter and friendly financial philosopher.
00:01:12.360 | That was the, that was what I worked out for myself.
00:01:15.160 | On Fridays here at Radical Personal Finance, whenever I can arrange the
00:01:24.400 | technical technology, the details, I try to do a live Q and A.
00:01:28.680 | I love doing these shows and I know that many of you enjoy listening to them
00:01:32.340 | because they allow us to cover a diverse array of topics in a quick and easy way
00:01:37.160 | and have useful, productive conversations.
00:01:39.560 | If there's a question or a topic that you would like to discuss with me, your
00:01:43.560 | very safest way to get that done is going to either be, of course, to book a
00:01:48.400 | personal consulting call.
00:01:49.480 | If you want to pay a good bit of money for that, you can do that anytime you
00:01:53.080 | want and take personal consulting calls booked at radicalpersonalfinance.com/phonecall
00:01:57.960 | or to join as a patron of the show and gain access to these Friday Q and A calls.
00:02:03.080 | And depending on the week, we have anywhere from a handful to more than a
00:02:06.760 | handful of callers, but there's plenty of time for us to interact around your
00:02:10.660 | specific question.
00:02:12.060 | If you'd like to join the show as a supporter, go to radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron.
00:02:16.920 | Again, radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron.
00:02:19.520 | Sign up to support the show there and you will have access to the Q and A call
00:02:23.360 | information for next week.
00:02:26.120 | And you can join in with your question.
00:02:28.320 | We begin with Drew in Kansas City.
00:02:30.840 | Drew, welcome to Radical Personal Finance.
00:02:32.220 | How can I serve you today?
00:02:33.120 | Hey, good afternoon, Joshua.
00:02:35.200 | I have a question for my sister, actually, who rents her house out on the weekends
00:02:41.280 | through Airbnb.
00:02:43.080 | It's actually more successful than she thought she would be.
00:02:46.000 | She's grossing over a thousand dollars monthly.
00:02:48.800 | So three months in, she's really starting to look at the tax implications on
00:02:53.720 | renting out her entire house on the weekends.
00:02:55.720 | If she could, she'd start tracking everything from cleaning supplies, bedsheets,
00:03:00.760 | furniture, utility bills, or even part of her mortgage, if that'd be applicable.
00:03:06.080 | What kind of property is she renting out?
00:03:10.360 | It's a single family house.
00:03:12.760 | OK.
00:03:14.080 | So the good news is with tax questions, it's relatively straightforward to answer.
00:03:20.600 | One of the things about the IRS is that IRS tax laws really make sense.
00:03:27.360 | Once you understand the underlying doctrine, the underlying approach, they make sense.
00:03:32.040 | And in this case, the laws are going to be governing the running of this like a business.
00:03:38.400 | Now, there's a slight difference.
00:03:40.040 | I would guess that some Airbnb units would be reported as rental income.
00:03:45.200 | Some would be reported as businesses, depending on how you're actually running it.
00:03:49.120 | From past web wanderings and web discussions on this topic, I think some people make a
00:03:54.080 | distinction between if you're running it like a hotel business or if you're running it
00:03:58.360 | like a real estate business.
00:04:00.040 | I don't know the specifics of that off the top of my head, so you'll have to research
00:04:04.640 | that a little bit more.
00:04:05.760 | But the good news is that businesses, whether they're real estate or businesses like a
00:04:10.560 | hotel business, make sense.
00:04:12.480 | And the rule is simple.
00:04:13.560 | You take all of the income, you deduct all of the expenses, and that's your profit.
00:04:18.720 | And it is perfectly adequate and legal to deduct every single expense that's associated
00:04:28.560 | with the business, and you should ignore every expense that's not associated with the
00:04:36.360 | business.
00:04:36.840 | So the way that she should approach it is to think as comprehensively as she possibly
00:04:42.240 | can about everything that's related to the business.
00:04:46.800 | That will start with what percentage of her house is she renting out.
00:04:51.800 | You said she's renting out the whole house on the weekends when she can go away.
00:04:55.200 | Is that right?
00:04:55.680 | Yes.
00:04:57.320 | Okay.
00:04:57.560 | So in that case, then she's not going to be able to rent out.
00:05:01.240 | She's not renting out one room every night of the month.
00:05:04.800 | She would be renting out the whole house for a certain number of nights of the month.
00:05:08.480 | So she would start by looking at that and figuring out how many days per month.
00:05:13.040 | Let's say that the house is rented out 20% of the days per month.
00:05:16.880 | So in this context, some of the expenses associated with those 20% of the days would
00:05:23.480 | now be eligible to apply as business deductions.
00:05:27.600 | So if her mortgage payment is $1,000 a month and she's thinking about depreciation
00:05:36.920 | versus...
00:05:37.320 | Okay, let's just keep it simple.
00:05:38.920 | Let's just say her mortgage payment is $1,000 a month, but she's renting it out for
00:05:41.960 | 20% of the time, then chances are 20% of that mortgage expense is going to be
00:05:47.120 | associated with the rental income.
00:05:50.280 | And so she can use that as a deduction.
00:05:52.400 | If her homeowner's insurance is $200 a month and 20% of the nights she is renting
00:05:59.080 | the property out, then 20% of that $200 a month will start to be deductible as an
00:06:04.520 | expense for her.
00:06:05.640 | So if you have any expenses associated with the house that is related to the whole
00:06:12.880 | house, she can start to deduct a part of those expenses based upon the usage of the
00:06:17.720 | actual property.
00:06:18.880 | The percentage of times it's being...
00:06:20.160 | amount of time it's being used for usage.
00:06:23.080 | If there's anything that can be specifically applied to the actual tenants...
00:06:32.280 | So an example would be if she had to get a higher, more expensive type of insurance
00:06:38.720 | in order to cover her liability protection from tenants.
00:06:43.120 | Well, 100% of that cost would then be deductible against her income.
00:06:48.560 | Or if she didn't previously have cable TV in the property, but she went ahead and
00:06:54.360 | brought cable TV into the property in order to serve the tenants, then now that
00:06:59.600 | would be a deductible expense.
00:07:00.920 | And so things like sheets, things like cleaning supplies, fees and expenses like
00:07:07.520 | hiring the cleaner, if she's not doing that herself, all of those things now
00:07:12.440 | become a part of the business expenses.
00:07:16.160 | So what I recommend to her is think through everything possible that's
00:07:20.920 | associated with the business, including anything that helps her to be productive
00:07:27.200 | in the business.
00:07:28.040 | So a simple example would be her cell phone.
00:07:30.360 | She's going to, at this point in time, she'll be booking her clients throughout
00:07:34.400 | the week.
00:07:34.880 | So now her cell phone becomes, because it's being used all the time for business,
00:07:39.680 | her cell phone now becomes a legitimate business deduction for her personal
00:07:44.760 | enterprise.
00:07:46.000 | And so anything associated with running the business is a deductible expense.
00:07:49.680 | If she just simply applies that simple practice to whatever question she has,
00:07:56.560 | she will be able to answer her own questions as far as what is deductible
00:08:02.520 | and what's not.
00:08:03.240 | That's perfect.
00:08:06.880 | I did not know that.
00:08:07.600 | That's a great way of framing it to apply for all the little things and big things
00:08:13.640 | associated with the house.
00:08:15.640 | Taxes make sense.
00:08:17.240 | Once, if we can argue about the underlying doctrines, but for them, as far as that's
00:08:23.440 | a political discussion, that's an ideological or a philosophical discussion.
00:08:27.600 | We can discuss the rightness and wrongness of the ideology that leads to taxes.
00:08:33.920 | But at least in the United States, I have in all of my years of looking at taxes,
00:08:38.480 | there's not really anything in the tax code that doesn't make sense to me.
00:08:44.200 | The doctrines are generally applied in an equitable way.
00:08:47.320 | So with businesses, it's simple.
00:08:49.080 | Now, just practically for her, what I would...
00:08:52.080 | Is your sister very organized financially with numbers?
00:08:55.000 | Yes.
00:08:56.880 | Good.
00:08:57.320 | So in that case, what she should do is just use all of her expenses and track all of
00:09:03.080 | her expenses for the year.
00:09:04.400 | But she needs to be careful to maintain a log of what she's doing.
00:09:08.120 | And there are a few things that would be good to do to help her to be more
00:09:12.440 | protected from her, in terms of the necessity, if she ever were audited or if
00:09:18.480 | she ever wound up in trouble.
00:09:20.200 | First, she should keep a journal of the property.
00:09:23.080 | So she should keep a separate journal with calendar entries, notating when the
00:09:28.320 | property is occupied and when it's not.
00:09:32.080 | She should carefully note that information so that she can maintain accurate records
00:09:38.240 | of the percentage of use that it's actually being rented out.
00:09:42.760 | My guess would be...
00:09:44.680 | I'm thinking about it.
00:09:47.400 | Well, so she should keep a journal.
00:09:49.360 | One of the rules with business property is you always want to keep a journal
00:09:52.880 | associated with it.
00:09:53.840 | So let's say that you have a car and you drive that car sometimes for business and
00:09:58.400 | sometimes for personal use.
00:09:59.880 | Well, you want to keep a journal with in the car.
00:10:02.080 | You take note of the mileage.
00:10:03.800 | You take note of where you're driving and what you're doing.
00:10:05.840 | If you have a piece of business property that's used for business primarily, but
00:10:10.520 | partly for personal, you keep a journal to make sure that we note that it's used for
00:10:14.440 | business property.
00:10:15.440 | If you have a rental property, keep a journal and just keep those records so you
00:10:20.520 | can demonstrate, "Yes, I'm actually keeping track of the number of days that it's
00:10:24.800 | used."
00:10:25.040 | But when I say journal, I mean something very simple, like a calendar, a paper
00:10:29.400 | calendar with an entry each day.
00:10:32.160 | Is it rented or is it not rented?
00:10:33.920 | And she should seek to take advantage of anything she could do that would add in an
00:10:39.640 | extra day.
00:10:40.640 | So Friday to Monday, as an example of when she vacates the property, would pick up
00:10:46.200 | and turn her number of tax deductible days into four days.
00:10:51.560 | If she leaves on Friday evening instead of leaving on Saturday morning, that picks up
00:10:56.080 | an extra day as far as the use, which will make a difference of her being able to
00:11:00.000 | deduct more expenses.
00:11:01.280 | Second, she needs to keep receipts and paperwork and develop a simple system to
00:11:05.840 | keep those things organized.
00:11:07.280 | So she should use a simple accounting software to easily collate the specific
00:11:12.880 | deductions for the property.
00:11:14.160 | And she should also look at it and use a filing system of some kind so she can keep
00:11:23.440 | the actual paperwork and the receipts.
00:11:25.280 | And she needs to think and study just a little bit about the types of things that
00:11:29.800 | could be deductible.
00:11:30.720 | So in this case, if she is running this, again, I mentioned a cell phone, but
00:11:36.360 | chances are she may need to use a computer and have a business computer.
00:11:41.240 | It may be now that she could turn her office into a home office if she has a
00:11:46.080 | separate piece of her, part of her property that's used for her business
00:11:49.520 | pursuits, et cetera.
00:11:50.480 | Now, there are a lot of little things like that that can be done.
00:11:53.680 | And if you'll journal them carefully, all of those can be used to track the
00:11:56.960 | expenses that are associated with this business to lower her taxable income.
00:12:00.640 | So good records are the key.
00:12:02.840 | But practically, if she just thinks about it and says, "Is this associated with my
00:12:08.200 | business?"
00:12:09.360 | If so, it's deductible.
00:12:11.080 | Anything else, Drew?
00:12:12.760 | Any follow-up questions?
00:12:13.920 | The only follow-up question is, hey, her Airbnb is in Oklahoma City and we live in
00:12:20.520 | Kansas City.
00:12:21.160 | So if you and your family are coming through, we'd love to see it in place.
00:12:24.840 | Thank you.
00:12:25.320 | So that's it.
00:12:26.040 | Appreciate it, Joshua.
00:12:26.760 | We do intend to move through Kansas City.
00:12:29.280 | I have some friends near Kansas that we definitely want to visit when we are out
00:12:32.600 | traveling.
00:12:33.120 | So keep an ear out for my whatever methods of communication I wind up choosing to
00:12:37.960 | communicate.
00:12:39.000 | And we will share that information with you.
00:12:41.720 | Chuck in Tennessee, welcome to Radical Personal Finance.
00:12:44.800 | How can I serve you today, sir?
00:12:45.960 | My question is on the property also.
00:12:49.160 | In 2011, whenever the market was down, we had to relocate for employment.
00:12:55.120 | And so we became involuntary landlords like a lot of people around that time.
00:13:01.160 | And we're in the process now, we have a contract on, we're selling that home.
00:13:05.400 | We bought it for about $305,000 and probably put $20,000 into it.
00:13:12.080 | And because of renters not taking care of property, the sale price is going to be
00:13:17.560 | around $270,000.
00:13:18.760 | So my question is, and we paid down quickly enough on the house, so we're getting
00:13:26.920 | $30,000 at closing.
00:13:30.160 | So we do have some equity in the home.
00:13:32.520 | My question is, is there any tax implications or things I need to be thinking
00:13:38.360 | about as we get that money at closing?
00:13:40.960 | One quick note on the previous question, a listener in the chat on the show put in a
00:13:49.400 | guide for a NOLO guide on a tax guide for short term rentals.
00:13:53.440 | And so for the previous caller, Drew, send that to your sister.
00:13:56.440 | NOLO is fantastic in their resources.
00:14:03.120 | And so they have a tax guide for short term rentals.
00:14:05.240 | That would be the book to buy.
00:14:06.480 | And it'll have all the information on deductibility.
00:14:09.280 | Sorry to do that to you, Chuck.
00:14:10.440 | I didn't want to forget about that.
00:14:12.280 | So if you have a total invested in the property of $305,000 plus $20,000 of
00:14:18.000 | additional cost, and you're going to be selling it for $270,000, then you're going
00:14:24.880 | to have a loss, right?
00:14:27.240 | Is my math right there?
00:14:28.160 | Yes, sir.
00:14:29.480 | So your question is about if there are going to be any tax implications.
00:14:35.640 | I would say no.
00:14:37.480 | The only tax implications would be if it's deductible as a long-term capital loss.
00:14:42.760 | And if there's a way that you can then use this loss to offset some of your other
00:14:48.880 | income.
00:14:49.440 | How long did you live in the property and how long have you been landlords?
00:14:54.440 | We lived in the property, I believe, three years and we've been out now it'll be six
00:15:00.200 | years.
00:15:00.720 | So I know what you're referencing.
00:15:03.200 | I think there's a five-year rule about how long you've been out.
00:15:06.640 | We did list it in taxes as an investment property as we've been doing our taxes the
00:15:11.400 | last four or five years.
00:15:14.240 | Yeah.
00:15:15.080 | So I think it's going to be simple because the five-year rule relates to your ability
00:15:19.880 | to avoid paying any income tax on a gain.
00:15:24.480 | Because you've been a resident of it.
00:15:26.080 | But in this case, if it's been a rental property for you for the past six years,
00:15:30.040 | then I would say you're going to be in good shape for it's going to be a loss for
00:15:35.760 | you.
00:15:36.000 | So I would say I think the key is that you want to look through your records.
00:15:41.080 | You want to figure out what your actual basis is in the property.
00:15:45.520 | Figure out which entity to figure that out.
00:15:49.800 | You need to look at your purchase price, your purchase expenses, put those records
00:15:54.480 | together as best you can.
00:15:55.720 | Look at how much of the cost that you have incurred on the property is related to the
00:16:02.760 | actual improvements to the property and use that to calculate your adjusted basis.
00:16:10.000 | You won't be able to use your expenses on the property as part of your adjusted
00:16:16.360 | basis.
00:16:17.240 | You'll only be able to use the improvements to the property.
00:16:21.080 | So you would have already expensed your repair costs or things like that on your
00:16:26.720 | annual, if you listed it as an investment property, you would have already made those
00:16:30.440 | expenses as deductions or simply for expenses.
00:16:34.000 | But figure out what your adjusted basis is, how much you have in it that you haven't
00:16:37.880 | expensed.
00:16:38.480 | And in this case, if you have the, let's just say you found out that it was $325,000
00:16:46.560 | and you sell for $270,000 after selling expenses, then in this case you have a
00:16:53.840 | $55,000 loss, which you'll then take as an offset against your other investment
00:16:59.760 | activities and or against your income.
00:17:01.920 | Make sense?
00:17:04.960 | Yes, sir.
00:17:08.200 | That sounds good.
00:17:09.440 | That answers my question.
00:17:10.600 | I had some of those thoughts, but I wanted to get some reinforcement on.
00:17:15.520 | I was thinking of everything correctly.
00:17:17.080 | I appreciate it.
00:17:17.800 | Absolutely.
00:17:18.400 | Any follow up questions or anything else?
00:17:19.680 | Are that enough for today?
00:17:20.480 | I think that's enough for today.
00:17:22.160 | Thank you, sir.
00:17:22.680 | Absolutely.
00:17:23.440 | All right.
00:17:24.080 | Go on to Matthew in Tennessee.
00:17:26.200 | Matthew, welcome to Radical Personal Finance.
00:17:28.280 | How can I serve you today?
00:17:29.400 | Good afternoon, Joshua.
00:17:31.720 | Thank you for taking my call today.
00:17:33.200 | So, so you've told me many times to, you know, in the podcast to, to start creating
00:17:41.360 | content and to stop chasing an influencer and start being one.
00:17:44.520 | So, and one of those ways is by starting a podcast.
00:17:47.120 | So my question today is actually concerning scheduling an interview with a podcast
00:17:51.800 | guest.
00:17:52.280 | How would you coach me through setting up a podcast interview with an influencer?
00:17:57.120 | What are the practical steps of actually reaching out?
00:17:59.280 | Do I email them?
00:18:00.160 | And also like, do I send them questions beforehand or do both people just kind of
00:18:04.480 | show up with a central theme and go from there?
00:18:06.160 | Like, how would you coach me in this?
00:18:08.040 | And in terms of like being able to connect with somebody to, to, you know, to
00:18:13.920 | essentially interview them on my podcast.
00:18:15.840 | Is your website and platform already public or are you in a pre-launch stage?
00:18:20.720 | Yes, it's already published and launched.
00:18:23.320 | So in that case, it's relatively simple.
00:18:26.600 | And basically it just comes down to normal, practical interaction among people to say,
00:18:32.560 | how can we actually do this?
00:18:35.200 | In my experience, the, here are the tools of people who have approached me.
00:18:40.520 | Generally, you will need to first assess whether the, you'll need to first assess
00:18:46.880 | whether the person is a big fish or not.
00:18:49.960 | If they're a big fish, then of course the process is going to be different.
00:18:54.000 | If you want to interview President Trump on your podcast, that'll be different than
00:18:58.640 | interviewing your next door neighbor in terms of the scheduling process.
00:19:01.520 | You might be able to get President Trump, but there's going to be a whole bigger
00:19:04.960 | process to go through.
00:19:07.000 | So if they're a big fish, then you will need to demonstrate that your platform is
00:19:12.320 | worth the time and worth their, you know, their effort because they're going to have
00:19:18.320 | a lot of requests.
00:19:19.920 | And so you need to stand out.
00:19:21.480 | It's just a matter of thinking about what's in it for this particular guest.
00:19:25.880 | A guest is not into giving interviews for their own fun.
00:19:29.640 | They're giving, into giving interviews to spread their message, to build their brand,
00:19:33.760 | to build their business or something related to that.
00:19:36.800 | So if someone is bigger than you'll, your note will need to lead with, "Hey, here are
00:19:40.800 | the benefits for you.
00:19:41.880 | I have a show that has this size.
00:19:44.080 | I have a show that reaches these things, etc."
00:19:47.080 | Now, it's, if your show is not yet large or if your platform is not yet large, it's
00:19:53.480 | probably best to be relatively circumspect about the size of the effort.
00:19:59.440 | And just simply to focus on the fact that you're inviting them because it's an honor
00:20:04.840 | for any guests that you do invite on your show to appear.
00:20:08.120 | And so in my experience dealing with people, the best thing these days is to be short
00:20:14.440 | and to the point with an email of no more than about two sentences.
00:20:18.360 | Two to three sentences becomes the max for those of us who receive lots of emails.
00:20:23.040 | I am hopelessly overwhelmed by emails.
00:20:25.280 | And if it's not two or three sentences, it's just hard.
00:20:27.680 | I mean the best.
00:20:28.760 | I want to do it, but it's just really hard.
00:20:30.480 | And so people, either their staff or they themselves are basically constantly
00:20:34.960 | filtering and the shorter your question, the better.
00:20:38.080 | So I would do it basically just like this.
00:20:41.280 | I would say to them, "I have a podcast that is devoted to this topic.
00:20:46.960 | I'd love to interview you because you're an expert on this.
00:20:51.040 | And specifically, I want to find out about subject A because that relates
00:20:56.560 | perfectly to my topic.
00:20:58.080 | Are you willing to come on my show?"
00:20:59.520 | Something like that is ideal where you're explaining what you're doing, why you're
00:21:05.960 | asking, and what specifically you want to talk to them about.
00:21:11.000 | For most people, especially if they're active in media, that's sufficient.
00:21:16.560 | Now for somebody who doesn't do a lot of media interviews, they would
00:21:21.160 | probably have more questions.
00:21:22.560 | But for most people who are active in media, that's enough to get things started.
00:21:27.040 | If they're very busy, they'll respond back and they'll say, "Well, I'm willing
00:21:29.920 | to do it, but here are the things I need to change, or here are the requirements
00:21:33.720 | that I have, or could we talk a little bit more?"
00:21:35.520 | But most speakers and most people who are at a level at which you're probably
00:21:41.760 | interested in bringing them on your podcast are used to speaking extemporaneously.
00:21:45.920 | They don't need a whole lot of preparation.
00:21:47.840 | And as long as you make it easy for them, then you're good to go.
00:21:51.800 | So the actual process of scheduling, you need to figure out your technology, how
00:21:55.800 | you're actually going to do it.
00:21:57.080 | The very simple ways without getting into podcast technology are going to be for
00:22:02.720 | you to use a simple voiceover IP communication methodology such as Skype.
00:22:09.200 | That's usually the standard, but there are many others that you can choose.
00:22:13.800 | Or just simply to set it up so that you can call them on a phone line.
00:22:17.320 | And there are many technological ways you can do that.
00:22:19.680 | There are other good applications for getting a higher quality recording, but
00:22:23.080 | I don't want to turn this show into a techno babble on those particular things.
00:22:30.320 | But most people, if you just tell them the subject and you arrange the time,
00:22:35.320 | it would be good to go.
00:22:36.320 | Now, in terms of how to actually, what questions you want them to have,
00:22:39.440 | that'll largely come down to you.
00:22:41.240 | Do you want to prepare for them the list of 10 questions that you're going to
00:22:46.320 | discuss with them, or do you want to speak to them extemporaneously?
00:22:50.440 | It is helpful, I think, if you clarify the question so that they can think
00:22:55.200 | through some useful ideas in advance.
00:22:57.640 | I'm generally able to come up and be a better guest if I have a little bit of
00:23:01.480 | an advance notice of the area that I can focus on for an interview.
00:23:06.560 | But don't make it overwhelming.
00:23:08.800 | Note, you're never going to get through 20 or 30 questions, so
00:23:12.240 | perhaps five to 10 is ideal.
00:23:14.800 | And use it in what I would always say is recognize the value of a podcast
00:23:19.880 | interview is partly for you to build your brand and to build your platform.
00:23:25.440 | And that is of extreme importance.
00:23:28.440 | But part of it is for you to build your network and to interact with somebody
00:23:34.880 | whose ideas you're genuinely interested in learning about.
00:23:39.120 | If you do it that way, make sure to schedule a little bit of time to speak
00:23:43.200 | with them at the beginning and on the end about anything personal as well.
00:23:48.160 | So don't think entirely myopically about the interview itself.
00:23:54.760 | Also think about how you can help and serve them.
00:23:57.680 | And also think about any personal connection or
00:24:02.200 | interaction that you'd like to have.
00:24:03.560 | Any follow up questions, Matthew, or is that enough to get you started?
00:24:07.000 | No, that's enough to get me started.
00:24:09.320 | Thank you very much, Joshua.
00:24:10.320 | I do think that a good interview is probably one of the most valuable
00:24:15.760 | strategies really ever done, and I think this has always been available.
00:24:21.520 | It feels like it's more popular now with the proliferation of podcasts.
00:24:27.600 | But I think that many people have used this as their personal strategy to
00:24:32.120 | improve their network for decades.
00:24:35.520 | If you're writing a story on somebody, or if you're researching a specific topic,
00:24:42.360 | or if you are focusing on learning about something that you care about, going out
00:24:48.480 | with a notebook and a pen to interview somebody is an entirely valid way for you
00:24:53.400 | to get in front of somebody that you'd like to meet, and I recommend it.
00:24:56.560 | I've recommended it for many years to many people.
00:25:01.040 | Podcasting has a unique flavor in that it allows you to profile somebody that
00:25:08.880 | you're interested in interacting with in a way that you can't do just simply
00:25:15.200 | with a written interview, meaning if you're writing a story about them.
00:25:18.920 | So podcasting is really neat, and podcasting I think is a superior way to
00:25:24.200 | do this over video because technologically it's much simpler, but in terms of
00:25:29.280 | building your career for any listener, I would strongly recommend that you build
00:25:34.440 | a platform related to your area of interest and related to your career.
00:25:39.320 | So what that looks like is you should maintain a website that's related to
00:25:45.200 | your work or to your area of interest, and on that website you should curate content.
00:25:50.280 | You should curate articles, links, discussions, write your own essays,
00:25:54.200 | book reviews, et cetera, and interview experts on the topics that you're interested in.
00:25:59.480 | And if you are trying to reach somebody really high, it's relatively simple.
00:26:05.600 | Let's say that you were trying to get, well, you know, President
00:26:11.720 | Trump is probably a bad example, but let's say that you're trying to come
00:26:15.800 | to the attention of somebody who is on your list as a big shot,
00:26:21.960 | a total big shot in your industry.
00:26:23.680 | It's very simple and very easy.
00:26:26.920 | Buy all of their books, read their books, write careful book reviews,
00:26:33.480 | and write essays about the ideas that they present.
00:26:38.040 | If you agree with them, state how you agree and why.
00:26:42.080 | If you disagree with them, state how you disagree and why.
00:26:46.000 | Most people have a Google alert set up for their name, especially most people
00:26:52.960 | who would be in a place of prominence.
00:26:55.120 | And so if you're writing about somebody on the internet, there's a good chance
00:26:58.600 | they're going to become aware of that.
00:27:00.760 | And they'll be looking to see, well, what's working and what's not.
00:27:05.200 | And especially in today's world where most public professionals will maintain a public
00:27:14.440 | profile, public Twitter profile, you can easily write a review and in your review,
00:27:21.720 | put down that you are working your way through the 10 books written by Mr.
00:27:27.120 | Big Shot and systematically work your way through those books and your series of
00:27:31.280 | articles, reviewing those books, reviewing the key ideas.
00:27:34.400 | And as you publish your articles, copy them on Twitter and @ them on Twitter.
00:27:39.680 | They'll see it.
00:27:40.280 | They'll generally see it.
00:27:42.080 | Most people will look at things.
00:27:43.280 | And especially if you're doing good work, even if you're critical, if you're really
00:27:48.480 | engaging with their ideas and with their content, then you'll be able to bring
00:27:55.360 | yourself onto their radar screen.
00:27:56.800 | And then you can use that strategy and parlay that into an additional interview.
00:28:02.880 | So let's say that I were starting today and I wanted to be an expert in, I don't
00:28:10.800 | know a subject to use, but I wanted to be an expert in a certain subject.
00:28:13.440 | And I had a platform of zero.
00:28:15.680 | I had an influence base of zero.
00:28:18.280 | I would build a website and I would start putting out the
00:28:21.440 | information about that website.
00:28:23.360 | And if I'm going after a relationship with Mr.
00:28:27.080 | Big Shot, there's a good chance that I'm not going to be able to offer Mr.
00:28:31.640 | Big Shot any value by being on my platform in the early days.
00:28:35.400 | But if I start to engage with their ideas, then it changes everything.
00:28:41.320 | And if you, a year from now, write an email to Mr.
00:28:45.200 | Big Shot, inviting him to be on your show, and you can say, by the way, I'm
00:28:48.120 | a big fan of his work, here is a link to the 10 book reviews I've written of the
00:28:52.280 | 10 books, here's a link to four critical essays where I was critical of his ideas
00:28:56.480 | here, and here are a link to five essays that I've written about, or podcast
00:29:02.160 | episodes that I've done that are really complimentary of his ideas here.
00:29:07.200 | Somebody who is a leading business professional, a leading intellectual
00:29:12.120 | will find that very refreshing, especially if you've engaged with their content.
00:29:16.800 | I observe frequently, I watch a number of public intellectuals, and what I observe
00:29:22.240 | is that most public intellectuals are interested in their ideas being
00:29:26.760 | interacted with, not in being raised up or diminished just unnecessarily.
00:29:32.960 | And so usually what a public intellectual or a public person or a leader of some
00:29:37.240 | kind, whether that's your local mayor, a local business leader, et cetera, by the
00:29:41.320 | time somebody has come to a place of prominence, their skin has thickened to
00:29:45.000 | the point where they don't mind a little bit of criticism, but they're looking to
00:29:47.400 | see the idea behind it, what's actually happening.
00:29:50.480 | And so you can use your platform to demonstrate that you're a thoughtful
00:29:55.360 | and serious person interacting with their ideas.
00:29:57.680 | And if they're connected to your particular area of expertise, the career
00:30:01.240 | that you're building, or to your area of focus in terms of your research, that
00:30:06.560 | will provide for you a really high quality resume and will make them very
00:30:11.520 | likely to come to, make you very likely to stand out among the noise.
00:30:20.000 | And there's a good chance that if you're a serious fan of somebody, and they're a
00:30:25.080 | big shot, even if you have a very small platform or non-existent platform, if
00:30:29.200 | you've demonstrated that you're serious with ideas, you're serious in your
00:30:32.640 | thoughtfulness, and you really want to interact with them, and you've done that
00:30:37.440 | in writing, then there's a good chance you'll be able to bring them in to your
00:30:42.840 | particular area of focus.
00:30:44.520 | Now, in this case, text is superior because text can be scanned.
00:30:48.760 | It would be, I think, short-sighted to create 10 podcasts all about somebody's
00:30:55.200 | work, because there is zero chance that that person would ever do anything other
00:30:59.160 | than listen to the first two minutes of your podcast.
00:31:01.160 | But you can write 10 articles about somebody's work, and they'll quickly
00:31:04.480 | scan three or four of them to make sure they've got the gist of it, and then
00:31:08.160 | they would likely agree to be on your show.
00:31:10.760 | This is a strategy that anybody can use.
00:31:12.880 | And I'll go a little bit further with just a couple more pieces of
00:31:15.320 | advice before I hit the music.
00:31:16.520 | When you're interacting with VIPs, with people who are public or who
00:31:23.320 | are influential or et cetera, here's what I have learned.
00:31:26.600 | People who are publicly influential frequently try to keep themselves
00:31:33.440 | somewhat available.
00:31:34.720 | You'll notice that most people who speak at a conference are going to stay around
00:31:40.720 | for a few minutes, and as long as they can spare to interact with people.
00:31:44.200 | You'll notice that when somebody is appearing at a public event, they'll stay
00:31:48.360 | around for a few minutes to interact with people.
00:31:50.840 | People who are publicly prominent, whether it's, again, the mayor of your
00:31:55.600 | local town, the superintendent of the school board, et cetera, they know they
00:31:59.320 | have a responsibility to their constituents to be available.
00:32:03.360 | You can't be a leader and not be somewhat available.
00:32:06.400 | Now, there is a point of excess, and so most celebrities will not give
00:32:12.560 | themselves to a place of excess, but people who are publicly prominent make
00:32:16.480 | their living and their trade is by their customers and by their fans.
00:32:21.920 | And so they make themselves available.
00:32:24.000 | The very best strategy that I know of to bring yourself to somebody's
00:32:27.280 | attention is to interact with their work first, ask a thoughtful question of them
00:32:34.680 | and ask them for a specific piece of advice.
00:32:38.040 | Anytime that I have interacted with a listener of my show in public, where
00:32:44.040 | they've asked a thoughtful question that demonstrated to me that they were aware
00:32:48.800 | of some of the unique things I talk about and asked for a specific piece of advice,
00:32:55.520 | I always noticed that person, and I've used this strategy myself in
00:32:58.920 | interacting with prominent people.
00:33:00.800 | But the key is when somebody gives you advice, actually act on it.
00:33:06.560 | Take their advice.
00:33:08.280 | If somebody recommends a book for you, get it and read it, and then write them
00:33:13.560 | a note saying, I read that book.
00:33:15.000 | Here was what I thought of it.
00:33:16.320 | What do you think would be the next thing to do?
00:33:18.320 | What I think most people of prominence have learned is that almost nobody
00:33:25.040 | wants to actually do what they say.
00:33:26.760 | People of prominence will frequently give advice after advice,
00:33:31.400 | after advice, after advice.
00:33:32.960 | And so there is these people, when people don't take action, they just
00:33:42.320 | kind of say, well, that's normal.
00:33:43.520 | But when somebody takes action on something, they say, they immediately
00:33:47.560 | start paying attention to them.
00:33:50.160 | I'll give you an example.
00:33:52.560 | I have a fan of this show and a listener to this show.
00:33:55.040 | His name is Zachary.
00:33:55.960 | And Zach originally wrote me an email and he said, Joshua, I'm a young man.
00:34:00.800 | I think he was 13 years old when he first wrote his email to me.
00:34:03.800 | He said, I'm a young man.
00:34:05.160 | And he asked me, started to ask me questions about, I can't
00:34:11.280 | remember what, advice, advice for him.
00:34:12.680 | I recorded an episode of the show for him.
00:34:14.200 | I think it was what I would give, what advice I would give
00:34:17.000 | to a 13 year old specifically.
00:34:20.240 | Well, what was interesting about Zachary is that, or Zach, sorry, he goes by Zach.
00:34:24.520 | Well, what's interesting about Zach, I never go by Josh, so
00:34:27.000 | I always extend people's names.
00:34:28.120 | I go by Joshua, not Josh.
00:34:29.440 | So I automatically have this tendency to extend people's names, do
00:34:34.600 | what I do myself with my own name.
00:34:36.120 | The interesting thing about Zach is that he listened to the show and then he wrote
00:34:41.400 | me back and gave me feedback on it.
00:34:42.960 | And then he started to actually implement the ideas.
00:34:45.920 | He has gone on, he's gone on to ask me other questions.
00:34:48.720 | He's called in the show.
00:34:49.600 | I've recorded other shows throughout the history of
00:34:51.640 | Radical Personal Finance about it.
00:34:53.240 | He went on, he started a website.
00:34:55.040 | He now has a website, which is a website that is devoted to his journey.
00:35:01.320 | He's working to finish his undergraduate degree by the time he
00:35:04.280 | graduates, by the time he's 18 years old.
00:35:06.560 | So I kind of turned him on to some of those ideas and he's
00:35:10.080 | working his way through that.
00:35:11.280 | Zach and his family came to Florida.
00:35:13.360 | They came to my home.
00:35:14.280 | We hosted them for dinner, enjoyed interacting with him and with his parents.
00:35:18.440 | And I built a relationship with him.
00:35:19.840 | He follows all of my things on social media.
00:35:22.480 | He frequently likes and retweets my content.
00:35:25.640 | And so I always pay attention to him.
00:35:28.240 | And from time to time, whenever he, I don't follow him or
00:35:31.880 | really anyone on social media, but whenever I see him, I'll go over and
00:35:35.480 | I'll look and I'll say, "Oh, what's Zach writing about?"
00:35:37.200 | And I have an interest in him.
00:35:38.240 | And I've coached people and had people do this again and
00:35:40.800 | again with very public people.
00:35:42.520 | I'm not a big shot.
00:35:44.080 | I don't think of myself as a big shot.
00:35:45.600 | I don't really even want to be a big shot.
00:35:47.400 | But there are people who are legitimately big shots and I've seen them do it again
00:35:51.520 | and again and again and again.
00:35:53.960 | And most people who are big shots, most people who are prominent, they want
00:35:58.840 | to see an impact of their message.
00:36:01.720 | When a preacher preaches, they don't preach just to make themselves feel good.
00:36:05.800 | They want to preach so that somebody will change and somebody will do.
00:36:09.400 | When a teacher teaches, they're not teaching just to make themselves feel good.
00:36:13.120 | They want to teach so that somebody will do.
00:36:16.960 | When a business leader is leading, they're leading in a way that they
00:36:20.040 | want to make an impact and everybody, we all know that we've got to pass along
00:36:23.360 | to another generation, another generation of disciples and younger people.
00:36:28.360 | We've got to pass along what we do well.
00:36:30.880 | And so the very best way to bring yourself to somebody's attention,
00:36:35.560 | somebody who's important, is to be a good student, be a good disciple, be a good
00:36:45.320 | learner, and you don't even have to do this.
00:36:50.080 | You don't have to agree with somebody, but if you're fair in your approach,
00:36:55.600 | and of course the range here is huge, but if you're, even if you're critical
00:36:58.320 | of somebody, if you're fair in your approach and you're fair in your
00:37:02.320 | critiques, that person will pay attention to you.
00:37:06.400 | Now they may combat you, but you might help them to improve.
00:37:11.920 | So I commend that to you.
00:37:13.680 | Use the story of Zach.
00:37:15.000 | I'm telling you about Zach.
00:37:17.360 | I'm telling you his story because he set himself apart
00:37:22.560 | by actually doing something.
00:37:25.160 | I think if memory is right, I've only ever emailed Zach once or twice
00:37:29.720 | because I am not good at responding, but he still writes to me.
00:37:33.960 | He writes to me and he tells me, "Hey, here's what I'm doing."
00:37:35.960 | He keeps me aware of what's going on.
00:37:37.480 | And you can do that in your business.
00:37:39.760 | You can do that in your career.
00:37:41.240 | You can do that in your studies.
00:37:43.760 | You can learn your way systematically into a place of prominence.
00:37:49.440 | And really any person that you wanted to have a relationship with,
00:37:54.040 | I think you could do it.
00:37:56.760 | Now there may be some exceptions to that.
00:37:59.920 | Somebody, but I really, you know, I don't think, some things may take
00:38:05.240 | more time than others, but I think there are very few, very few exceptions to this.
00:38:09.000 | If you will study somebody or study their work or interact with them,
00:38:13.920 | and you'll do it consistently, especially if they have published materials.
00:38:18.240 | A little bit hard if it's just your, your, a local person, um,
00:38:22.520 | who doesn't have any published material.
00:38:24.600 | But if, but in that case, you don't really need to break through.
00:38:28.600 | All you need to do is ask good questions.
00:38:30.200 | But you can learn your way into relationships and it's never
00:38:35.400 | been easier than it is now.
00:38:37.480 | Here's why I have no fear of sharing these strategies with you.
00:38:41.280 | I'm sharing with you things that I have done in the past and doing,
00:38:44.480 | and will continue to do for my own benefit.
00:38:47.200 | But I have no fear of sharing them with you.
00:38:49.640 | You know why?
00:38:50.640 | Because you won't do them.
00:38:53.320 | You won't do them.
00:38:56.760 | You'll know about them and you'll hear about them, but you
00:39:00.440 | won't actually do the hard work.
00:39:02.200 | Now, some people do, and it could be you.
00:39:08.040 | If you choose, it could be you who would do something, but I know, and everyone
00:39:13.400 | knows most people won't do things.
00:39:15.120 | I used to think that ideas needed to be protected and guarded.
00:39:18.920 | I've become convinced that they really don't because nobody actually
00:39:23.200 | does anything with most ideas.
00:39:24.640 | It's all about execution.
00:39:25.840 | I used to think that my ideas were great and I've learned that no, they're really.
00:39:30.000 | Okay.
00:39:30.680 | And the key is execution.
00:39:32.440 | So most people don't do anything with them, but here's the cool thing about execution.
00:39:37.720 | It's your choice.
00:39:38.600 | You can choose to do something.
00:39:40.560 | I laid out a strategy that works.
00:39:41.960 | You can judge it if you think it's good or not, and then you
00:39:45.640 | can choose to do it or not.
00:39:47.520 | And that is your choice.
00:39:49.040 | So I challenge you, do something with it.
00:39:51.760 | Anyway, thank you for listening to today's show.
00:39:54.880 | Thank you for listening to the Q and a show.
00:39:56.040 | If you'd like to be on the show next week, come by radical
00:39:58.200 | personal finance.com/patron.
00:40:00.320 | Sign up to support the show.
00:40:01.240 | Radical personal finance.com/patron.
00:40:03.560 | I would love to talk with you next week.
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