565: Noah Kagan - The Art of Asking For What You Want, Launching a Business, Handling Rejection, Working For Mark Zuckerberg, and Not Living a 'What-If' Life

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

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Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

• “Rejection is a test if you really want something. The upside of asking is unlimited.”
  • "People are afraid of asking. The people who make it happen are willing to ask, be rejected, and keep going."
• One of the biggest lessons learned from working with Mark Zuckerberg? Pick one goal. Then focus relentlessly on reaching it. His was 1 billion users on Facebook. This is how Noah has grown App Sumo to $80m in revenue. Focus on one big goal and the system implemented to make it happen.
• Noah's parental influence:
  • Fearlessness - Ask for everything. Set rejection goals. You learn that selling copiers door to door.
  • His mom is very disciplined. Always working out in the gym. She follows through. She's persistent. She grinds. His mom also hated her job.
• "I don't want to live a 'what-if' life"
• "Are we getting what we get or are we getting what we want?"
• The law of 100 -- Do the thing 100 times before you quit.
• Get going, get started. It's about now, not how.
• Create an exciting vision: "What are we looking forward to?"
• Million Dollar Weekend:
  • Start it
  • Build it
  • Grow it
• Noah's philosophy on interviewing:
  • 1) Talk with people you're genuinely interested in
  • 2) Tell them how they’ve positively impacted your life. People love genuine compliments. And they loved to hear that they’ve helped others.
  • 3) Tell them what's in it for them. Create questions that make your guests excited to answer (set them up to tell interesting stories)
• Entrepreneurship is not risky. Risky is spending your life at a job you hate, with people you don’t like, working on problems you don’t care about.
• Freedom is about gaining control of your schedule. Money is the tool, not the goal.
• This trip was one of my highlights of the fall. Nothing like biking across America. So much good time to think and reflect. Reminds me that whenever you’re in a funk, just get moving. (Helps to be surrounded by beautiful landscapes)
• The future of big business is small teams. One person. No employees. Everything automated. Solopreneurs are the future.
• Acknowledgements:
  • Adam Gilbert for our bike ride ten-plus years ago where I shared a dream to put my knowledge into a book for other people. And for always always being my guardian angel.
  • Tahl Raz - I dreamed for years of the chance to work with you on a book. Thank you for taking a chance on me. Somehow you were magically able to take all my adventures/theories/ideas/antics and put them together in a helpful narrative better than I could have ever dreamed. Thank you! Also for being a mutual lover of schvitzing.