Danny Miranda - The art, the power and the impact of podcasting!

When you live in your purpose, you're happy. When you live in your purpose, you understand, I am doing the thing that I was put on this earth to do, and that is most in alignment with the person that I want to become. When your daily actions are aligned with the long-term vision, you are happy. Think about the times in your life when your daily actions, the small things you were doing on the day-to-day, were in alignment with the person you wanted to be. Think back. I guarantee you, you were happy. I guarantee if you were not happy, you were fulfilled. And the fulfillment led you to be happy. And so to me, it's a simple equation. Are you doing the things day to day, minute to minute, moment to moment that are in alignment with the person you want to be?

Welcome to the Undefeated Underdogs Podcast, where I unpack and narrate stories of ambitious people who turned obstacles into opportunities. My goal for this podcast is to create a platform to narrate underdog stories and maybe play a small, teeny tiny role in inspiring you. I intend to highlight the underdog mentality and make authentic conversations with people who play the long game, take action with a chip on their shoulder, and convert obstacles into opportunities. Buckle up as I'll be bringing some authentic founders, VCs, community builders, and content creators who got underestimated their whole lives, and yet they beat all the odds to become insanely successful. Now today, I want to tell you a little bit about our awesome sponsor, acquire.com. Selling a business is as tough as building a business. As someone who went through this process once, selling my own startup, I know the pain it takes to get to the end zone. This is where our sponsor shines. Imagine this. You're a founder who's built a solid SaaS product, acquired customers, and generating consistent monthly revenue. The problem is you're not growing for, for whatever reason— lack of focus, lack of skill, or just plain lack of interest— and you feel stuck. What should you do? The story I'd like to hear is you buckle down, somehow reignited the fire, get past yourself and the clichés, and start working on your business rather than just in the business. You start building an audience, move out of your comfort zone to do sales and marketing, and in 6 months you triple your revenue. The reality isn't as simple. Situations may be different from every founder facing these crossroads, but too many times the story ends up being one of inaction and stagnation until the become business— the business becomes less valuable or worse, worthless. If you find yourself here, or your story is likely headed down a similar road, I offer you a third option. Consider selling your business on acquire.com. Capitalizing on the value of your time is a smart move. Acquire.com is free to list, and they've helped hundreds of founders already. Go to try.acquire.com/sharath and see for yourself if this is the right option for you. Now let's get into today's episode. Howdy, howdy, folks. The reason I said howdy is because this guest is from, at least as far as I know, is living from Texas. And howdy, folks. Welcome to the Undefeated Underdogs podcast. I'm your host, Sharath. I'm super, super stoked for bringing this guest on the pod. At the same time, I have to tell you this. This person actually leveled my game. of podcasting. I've been podcasting in so far like 12 months, recorded over 70 episodes over 3 shows, and I usually wing in the episode during the episode, but this guy made me prepare like hell. I have 4 pages worth of research. Without further ado, Danny Miranda, welcome to the show. How are you feeling, man?

I'm feeling incredible. Thank you for having me on the show, and thank you for preparing all the research you did.

Yeah, absolutely. And first of all, let me actually also tell you behind the scenes, before we hit record, Danny actually recited a beautiful, beautiful quote, and I was actually nervous. And that quote, it's about like you being a miracle. It's like a reminder that you're a living, breathing soul who is capable of doing everything that you want. And I genuinely appreciate for Starting our conversation like that. I wish we hit record, but do you want me to read it? Like, yeah, yeah, please, please do. Let's, let's start off doing that.

This is a permission slip to keep in your wallet or purse or on your podcast table. Use it anytime and every time you forget that you're a walking, talking, heartbeating miracle of existence. Use it as a reminder that you need no one's permission to be the absolute best version of yourself. And on the days you're not, that you need no one's approval to love yourself just the way you are. You only get this life once. Live every second of it in as much freedom and gratefulness as you can. You are a miracle. You got this. This is also from my friend Jono. He created this brand called Bodied Coffee, so I figured I'd give him a shout out. And I keep this on my desk and it fills me with so much joy every time I look at it.

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's the beautiful thing you can tell to any human being. And that's— I feel that's a great start. I loved that quote so much. Probably I'll— after this talk, I'll just take a printout and keep it on my screen. I sometimes often miss that I am equal, or I'm kind of like I have the capability of matching other people's energy.

Why?

And especially podcasting. You can call it like imposter syndrome, you can call it like limiting beliefs. But the amazing thing that universe offers is once I stopped impressing others, meaning I genuinely want to have a conversation, that's it. Purely, that's my goal. I remind myself there is a cycle that goes into my head if I'm being nervous. Like, I've brought on show People like Adam Draper, David Perell, Jack Butcher, those are much more successful than me. But the moment I start hit record and kind of go on to the flow, I'm like, you know what, it's fine. You are here to have a conversation. That's it. Don't worry about anything else. The beautiful thing is you can delete the episode after it. If you don't like it, you delete it and you can say something messed up happened. So I think it's all about having that voice in our heads. And thank you so much for beautifully reminding me again today. And I'm here to have fun. I hope guys who are listening will have fun too, and I hope Danny will have fun too. So right off the bat, let me ask you this. Talk to me about Online Money All-Stars. Talk to me about that newsletter where you started to educate people about how to make money online. I think you started doing dropshipping in 2018. This is July 23rd, 2018. You launched this newsletter, you recorded, you started interviewing back then. I just want to make sure that people recognize that it's not that Danny overnight in 2020, September, miraculously became a journalist or an interviewer. He's putting the effort since 2018. So please recognize that. And I think those are the stepping stones for the podcast, I believe. So yeah, talk to him about it and how did you design the whole newsletter?

Yeah, I appreciate you bringing that up and asking the question about that. It's funny because whenever I enter a new space, whenever I go into a new world, my first thought is like, How do I talk to the people who are in that world already? I kind of want to get context. I want to get my bearings. And in 2015, I got this idea because I started a Knicks blog, a New York Knicks blog called Knicks Vision. And I started it in June of 2010. And by July and August of 2010, I'd interviewed all of the beat writers for the Knicks at the time. And the beat writers are the people who covered the team most closely. And I asked them questions to get involved in the ecosystem, which then allowed me to be involved in the Knicks and be involved in covering the Knicks because I was now talking to the journalists. And so when I entered the online money space, I said the same thing. How do I get involved with all of the players here? How do I look at people who have built something already on Twitter in this world? And how do I learn from them? And how do I get ingratiated? The best way I know to get ingratiated into a community is to ask questions to the people who are already there. And so that's what I did in 2015. That's what I did in 2018 with Online Money All-Stars. And that's what I do to this day with the podcast. And it's very much part of my soul's mission to ask questions to people and learn from them as I get into a new community.

And That's amazing. I feel like, in other words, you should have skin in the game. And the best way to build skin in the game is to surround yourself with people. And the best way to surround yourself with people is to really like have conversations. And the best way to have a conversation is really be curious and ask interesting questions. So I feel I like that mindset of you not stopping that I'm new to this, where should I go? To, you know what, I'm new to this, I accept this, let me actually be curious and start from there, right? I love it so much. Talking about questions, why questioning? Like, there are a million other ways to be involved yourself. Like, in other words, my question is like, why journalism? Like, why is that so fascinating to you? In the Art of Interviewing course, You actually broke down that podcasts are 2 types. One is they're conversations or they're like pure interviews where you become more of like a journalist, right? So again, why journalism? Why is that passion towards it?

I think it's very much in me to look at the world and then want to reflect the world back to it. Like when I was 6 years old, I created something called the Sunny Times. Which was my attempt to take over the New York Times. And the reason, like, if I really were to analyze my behavior, it's like, okay, look at the world, see what's going on, and ask, how can I give a mirror to the world and at least give my perspective on the world? That's what I did with the Knicks. That's what I did with the time management blog. That's what I'm doing with the podcast. I'm looking at the world or looking at the person in front of me and reflecting them back to themselves through questions. And so, that's what I think journalism is at its best. is just a reflection of what is out there.

And you also mentioned that you've been doing this. I saw one of— in one of your interviews, you passionately were kind of almost stomping the table saying that it's in me, this shit's in me.

Yes,

it's like it's in my DNA.

Yeah.

And one of the examples is that I think at 13 years old, you wrote this incredible blog called 8 Simple Steps to Be Happier. Yeah. And I also saw in one of your interviews that you stopped blogging because a 40-year-old woman said, this is an adult being mocking as a child, right?

Yeah.

So let's have that conversation about that later. But how can a 13-year-old talk about happiness? Were you in a space where you were seeking happiness or What was going in your mind when you wrote about those 8 steps?

I don't know. I don't know what was going through my mind. I just knew that I was called to speak about it and write about it and be interested in it. No one told me to. I didn't feel a lack of happiness. I mean, I was always curious about happiness. I was curious like, all right, I don't remember choosing to be in this body and mind. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. You know, you the same. I don't know if you, you have a feeling of what you were doing before you incarnated into this body. I don't know. But I do know that we're here now. And so what, we're here. And so now what are we going to do about it in this consciousness? Right? And to me, it's like, all right, let's try to be happy. Or if you don't like that, let's be filled with purpose. Let's be fulfilled. Let's make the most out of this experience. To me, that's the most important question. Mm-hmm. How do you make the most out of your time on Earth? Really sit with that. Like, there are people doing all sorts of things that they don't love, that they're not excited about, that life to them isn't flowing through them. And it's like, why? Why is that the case? It doesn't have to be that way. And I knew at 13, and I know today, you can be happier than what you currently are. You can be filled with more joy. You can be excited by the possibilities of life, and you can make the most out of this thing. And so when I say it's in me, that's what I mean. It's in me. Like, the want to make the most out of this and help other people make the most out of this too is in me.

There is a sense of drive I'm kind of sensing from you. A lot of people stumble if you observe right closely. I do that a lot. You become happy and you become unhappy.

Yes.

You become again happy. You sometimes experience this peak, like you're really on top of the world. You got this, like the quote you recited. And that flow state eventually will burst, right? And you kind of get down. because of whatever the things like society, relationships, results, not getting results, whatever it is, like whatever the case may be. You said you were chasing that or you're in it since 13-year-old, and even with your previous answer, like 10 years old, you're still kind of around the same space. How Can a human being be happy consistently?

By living in their purpose. When you live in your purpose, you're happy. When you live in your purpose, you understand, I, I am doing the thing that I was put on this earth to do. And that is most in alignment with the person that I want to become. When your daily actions are aligned with the long-term vision, you are happy. Think about the times in your life when your daily actions, the small things you were doing on the day-to-day, were in alignment with the person you wanted to be. Think back. I guarantee you, you were happy. I guarantee if you were not happy, you were fulfilled, and the fulfillment led you to be happy. And so, to me, it's a simple equation. Are you doing the things day to day, minute to minute, moment to moment that are in alignment with the person you want to be? If yes, you are happy. And if you're not happy, you're fulfilled. So that's how you get to the place.

And so I felt like you kind of found your purpose writing. Is there a root cause for that? Is there a family member? or someone that influenced you, like, okay, this is the path, just go pursue it. This is the road. I mean, most of the people who found their purpose, they generally have a lot of influence in the beginning of their childhood. So who influenced you so much that you wrote about happiness at the age of 13? You have a purpose, you are so driven. And you know clearly what you want to do and what you want to become.

Yeah. I would say a couple of things. One is that I wasn't— no one told me to write about happiness, right? There was no person who said, okay, like, Danny, you're going to write about this. Like, that just came from within. But I will say that the foundation of the ability to even think about happiness or have a website or any of that That comes from my parents and grandparents who nurtured my passion and nurtured my excitement about writing in general with a computer and with encouragement and understanding that what it was today wasn't what it was going to be someday. I think a lot of people get into that trap of believing that they're starting on day one, so therefore That is going to be what the end product looks like. No, no, no. That's just the start. And if you have people who are wise, they can understand that and nurture the gifts that you have and nurture the excitement that you have for life. So I would say no one taught me to write about happiness, but I was given the foundation with the people in my family to really go after what I really wanted to do.

That foundation, right? Like, young people, a lot of people say that that's where you have to make a lot of mistakes. They say that you have more time, more energy, less commitments, and less strings attached. Do whatever the heck you want. 20 years, it's your playground to play. What were some of your mistakes that you made that you learned very heavily that, you know what, I would never do that, or I would do something better than that?

I think the biggest mistake I made was to follow other people's opinions or ideas rather than my own, even though I respected them. Like, I think I inherently believed that Older people were wiser than me. And that, that belief, while I think is generally true, shouldn't be followed wholesale. And if a 40-year-old woman writes that you should stop blogging because you're— you shouldn't be on the internet at 13, that doesn't mean you have to follow it. If your parents say you should go to college because we think that's a good idea, you don't have to follow it. That's not necessarily the right idea for you. And if you do that and you end up resenting them because of it, is that even worth it? And I don't resent my parents, but I think that the mistake that I made and continually made is trusting other people's judgment greater than my own.

Especially, I feel like it's not new what you said, which is don't fall into other people's know, or don't follow other people's voice or other people's opinion. Follow yours, follow your gut and whatnot. But in reality, it's super freaking hard, right? It's not that easy. It's easier said than done. Mm-hmm. What kind of support system that you've built over years? Because I think one of the things I really want to unpack in this conversation is that you are someone who's very transparent Twitter, like, you know, all these places, you want to like, you know, share the story, be it high, be it low, whatever it is that you're going to go through. But I really want to see when you go through these lows or even highs, who do you really celebrate with? Like, who are these friends? Who are these people that are like the behind the scenes of Danny Miranda? Like, who do you rely the most when you're like You know, down.

So a couple of things. My mom, I think, is like the greatest woman of all time. Like, people think that I don't celebrate the wins. Like, I don't— I've gotten that before from people close to me. And that's not accurate. I do celebrate the wins. I call my mom after, after wins. I'm so excited. I mean, my friends like Zach Pograb and Dylan Jarden and Hunter Weiss, like, I'll text them about a big win. I don't know, I celebrate the wins all the time, and I'm transparent with my mom about the lows as well, of like, I can't believe I'm dealing with this, or like, this is going on right now. So I've got a great support system, and I've got incredible people by my side through the highs and the lows.

So one of the things, talking about the lows, this is why I appreciate you so much. like in 2020, I think around December, December 10th, you said 10 months ago I was depressed.

Yeah.

Talk to me about it. Like when you have— so all this conversation that so far we had, you know your purpose, you know that you are happy, you know how to be happy, right? That's something the system you've been building. And why are you depressed?

Yeah. So in September of 2019, I started doing 75 Hard, which is a 75-day program, mental toughness program, where you read 10 pages of a book, you do 2 workouts, you do a— you take a progress picture, you follow a diet, and you drink a gallon of water. And you do that every day for 75 days straight. And so I was doing that. And I was also meditating. And for the first time ever, I get to this point where I stopped doing the things that were good for me. And now I've— I'm in February of 2020. And just as I was so high from completing 75 Hard and doing 75 Hard and building myself up, I now went to an equal place of low because I wasn't doing the things that I knew I could do. When you have potential or notice your own potential, It's sometimes upsetting and it is harming you so much when you realize you're not living in your potential. If you're not, like, really think about that. If you have an athlete who knows he can be an incredible athlete and he's just not working out every day, he's going to feel upset. And I was in that position of believing that I could really impact people in a positive way, that I impact myself, that I built myself up. But then I was like, all right, but why am I doing these things now? And why am I not building the life that I want? Oh my God, something must be wrong with me. So that's why I was depressed because I had seen the pinnacle and I knew I wasn't operating with it.

So let's dive into that a little bit deeper. Do you really think— I understand the perspective that once you taste, like, it's like once you taste peanut butter, you can't go back, right? Like, once you taste something—

I'm allergic to peanut butter, so once I taste it, I will die.

Or let's take another example, like, whatever the ice cream or whatever the thing that you really love, once you taste it and you saw the bliss or the dopamine hit that you get, you can't go back, right? Yes. I feel a lot of us, the things that drive us is that hit. We want to experience that again and again and again. Like Tom Brady, why he came back after retirement is because he literally freaking missed throwing the ball, for goddamn sake. So he pushed him one more year or whatever it is. So I understand that perspective, but that's where I feel like a lot of people, including myself, struggle. That do you really have to do it? you saw your potential. Do you really, really have to do it to experience the joy or happiness? And happiness, in my opinion, I think Naval quoted this many times, and even like Justin Kan, it's baseline. It's already there. Like, you don't have to create something to go experience that, right? So in your opinion, the thing you saw, the pinnacle, you didn't experience the same. So you kind of went— you saw a low. Do you really think people should actually go after that pinnacle?

Yes.

After the experience?

Yes, absolutely. That is what pushes us forward as society. That is what— that's why we put a man on the moon. That is why We're trying to go to Mars. That's why we have the internet. That's why we have Riverside that's recording this right now. Because people said, I am not willing to accept the standard video that we have right now. I'm going to create something a little bit better. I'm going to try to reach the pinnacle of what is possible. That's why I create my podcast because I could be meditating in the woods and feel borderline happy all the time, but I'd be missing something. I'd be missing the push for more. I think what you're speaking to is we've gone so far in believing that happiness comes from the push for more that we forgot that we can be happy in this moment, which I also agree with. I agree with you. You can be happy in this moment. Right. But I think that if everyone was just sitting there and being like, I'm happy right now, we would have a worse place in the world. That's what I personally believe.

Yeah. The reason I asked that question is the rationale is a lot many people tie up happiness to what they do. It has nothing to do with it, right? Like, experiencing the pinnacle, experiencing their potential has nothing to do With happiness, that might actually remind them that, okay, because you are in a high, you are seeking, you're creating impact, you're doing something, you're creating, building, you're producing, you're not consuming. That might bring that or double down that effort because you're happy in that moment as well as you're experiencing that. So I just want to kind of pick up your brain on that. But what you said is absolutely true. It's 2 different things. It's basically not the same, but at the same time the same. Like, if you think about it, right, baseline happiness always exists, but truly doing something potential which you are born with or born for, That is something completely like, you know, that, like you said, that drives humanity forward. That's why we all move forward. That's why we see so many products. That way, that's why we see so many startups being built, so many creators sharing their knowledge in whatsoever.

Yeah. And I believe that, like, if you If how happy you are with a regular cup of coffee is how happy you'll be on a yacht, I truly believe that. I don't know. I haven't been on a yacht in a long time, if ever. But I understand that perspective. And at the same time, I do believe that reaching for not necessarily the yacht, but something that's in alignment with you as a person and helping other people, You can't— there's no— you couldn't convince me that giving and helping other people doesn't make my life better. Like, you couldn't. You couldn't say that— you could say there's a base level of happiness, but how come when I give to someone else, I feel better? Like, that increases my own happiness. Of course. So, whatever the baseline was, now it's It's plus 5.

Yes.

And so, I mean, if you give to a lot of people, if you give constantly, if your life is a reflection of giving, then like your life is going to be happier. Your life is going to be more at peace. So, while I agree with the statement, like happiness is the base layer because as children, that's what we are. It's like there are ways to build on top of that that are actually real and true.

Yeah. And people should— yeah, I think we're both talking the same thing, which is y'all. So what people do, I feel, which kind of charts them back is that they forget about baseline happiness and they do something to chase happiness. That's what I feel I'm getting there.

I like that.

If people realize that there is already a baseline happiness. And like you said, on top of it, I'm going to build like floors.

Yes.

Don't build floors without a foundation is what my point is. So I feel that's where I think people stumble because they're building— they want to build these dreamy pack of cards without realizing that, you know what, There is already a foundation, right? So, uh,

like I say, I say you take the podcast away, like from the internet. I know it's still in me. And so the, the floors can, can be broken and can be torn apart, but I will still feel joy and happiness and know that I did the right thing. So I agree with what you're talking about, and it's very important.

Let's talk about podcasting. Without podcasting, I think this episode would be like very meta. Let's actually also deliver what people want. Why podcasting? I feel like you could do a million things, but you're also writing at that point as well, right? From going from a medium where you can write to where you can talk. How did that transition happen?

It happened really organically. I just put out on Twitter, who wants to talk on the phone? And I would have amazing phone conversations with people. And while I was writing as well during that time of July of 2020, I was reading so many incredible books. Like one foundational one was The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks and Conscious Living by Gay Hendricks as well. 2 incredible books. And I was saying, I want to talk to Gay Hendricks. How is— how can I talk to Gay Hendricks? And I was like, I don't know, maybe, maybe a podcast, maybe he'll come on my podcast. So I remember emailing or sending a DM to Gay Hendricks, hey, if, if I have a podcast, will you come on? And he's like, yeah, I will. And he did. Yeah. So it was a combination. It was a combination of doing these phone calls with people. and having such enjoyment from it, as well as reading so many books and wanting to talk to the authors.

And you've done— it's not like you straight away jumped from graduating in 2018 to starting a podcast in 2020. Like I said, you kind of did this online money all-stars. You did dropshipping. Yes. So I'm still curious that out of all those paths, those are all kind of like the road you're kind of building for yourself. Why made that— how did the gut say, you know what, do this and you'll make a living out of it?

Yeah, I was meditating a lot and it just felt so right. It felt right immediately. It felt like this is amazing. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. And I was going to do one episode a week and then I started recording them. And I had a launch date a month in advance, and I recorded 20 episodes in 30 days. And I was like, oh my God, I wasn't even trying, and I did 20 episodes. Wow. Okay, maybe there's something here. So that was kind of the tell from the universe that—

In the early days when you were inviting, I know you said, I think one of the advices you give for people to start podcasting is start with your friends. You don't have to go after people you don't know and get shut down and get disappointed and not even take that action, which is having a conversation with a friend is much more easier, especially the one who is interesting to you as well as to public, right? 20 episodes in 30 days is insane. That's bonkers, right? When you do such things, have you ever encountered like, man, this is too much, or how can I keep up? What was like your flow? I really understand. I want to understand your flow state because it feels like, you know, you're in a complete flow state. Like, it feels like Serena Williams hitting an ace, right? Like super focused, doing it with ease and flow. Define that flow state. How did you get into it? What were some things that you kind of leave it, left it like, you know, in your mind, but you fully focused on doing this?

For me, it was just, I'm going to have a conversation. I'm going to have the phone calls, right? I did the phone calls and no one forced me to do the phone calls with people. I enjoyed it. I got a lot out of it. And I said, why don't I just do that but press record? And I did no video for the first 38 episodes. So, I was literally like a phone call and I was like, are you kidding me? Like, I could do phone calls all day. You know? So, to me, it wasn't anything crazy. It wasn't anything like— I wasn't making a big deal in my head. I was just like, I'm having phone calls with people I admire and respect. And that was what I was aiming to do. And so, yeah, it is crazy to do 20 podcast episodes in 30 days, but is it crazy to have 20 phone calls in 30 days? There was no difference. No. So

if you put in that perspective, I feel a lot many people, they even including myself, that's why I didn't start. Even though I, you and I, we came across, I think in 2020-ish when you started, I started my side project. That's a fun story, by the way. I think Dan is the first person who said that I wish I built this platform called Shoutout.

Wow.

That was the first interaction between you and me. And I was like, who's this guy? Let me actually go See, check his podcast. He was like, he's doing— man, this is insane. Like, at that point, you were talking to friends of mine, like Alex and like a lot of people I know. Jack Butcher, you brought in him and a lot— many folks were kind of like in the same universe. But going back to my point, you were in a flow state. You were kind of— you really enjoyed it. Were you worried about means? So one of the questions I had, like, I literally wrote it. This is the first question I had. How did you meet your means while working full-time on the podcast?

I had zero expenses because my parents are saints and allowed me to stay in their place. And if you notice the background for the first video one with Gary Vaynerchuk, episode 39 is just in basically a bedroom in my house. And so, it's like, I don't know. How did I have the means? I literally just didn't. I was fed by my parents and they housed me and I didn't spend any money on anything.

Till what time that was there? You were still— I think one of the episodes I heard from your— when I was doing research, you were in your parents' basement, if I'm not wrong. The first early episodes, you're in a basement. You just have a mic, MacBook. Hit Zoom and record, right?

Yeah.

Till what time they supported you and you were like, you know what, I will go full-time.

So I mean, even like 2020, mid-2021, after doing the podcast for a year, I was working. I started working like a part-time job at a photo booth company that my friend runs. And then I started an NFT job shortly after that where I was hired by a company to run a podcast. And so that, like, I would say after a year of doing it, that's when I started to actually make money and was like, all right, let me figure out this whole money thing.

So you still have a job and you were podcasting?

Yes.

When did you actually went like all in completely?

When I moved to Austin.

That is around

a year ago,

like 2022-ish, right?

Like October 2022.

So it means the reason I'm bringing all this timeline is it takes a freaking time. Like it takes a lot of time to make this, make someone to like go all in into a podcast. A lot many people, they just even, they didn't even start. I'm one of them. It's because my fear is back in 2022 is that if I start something, I have to dedicate myself, number one, I have to make money, number two. Like, that's the expectation setting I had. It was like, go, you should go all in, number three. And there is the number four is I do have a full-time job. How the hell can you make time?

Yeah.

But the way I solved is the way you said, which is You start really small, have fun with friends you like, shoot your shot. Whoever comes on a pod, because you are the boss for your own show. Nobody's actually hired you to do the show. Like you said, nobody paid you to write about happiness or set about writing happiness. You just felt it. I think that is really important. I just want to highlight that again and again and again, is start something with literally zero expectations, really small, and it will pick up, it will go because it will take off, but not in year 1, year 2. And you want to add something to

that? Or not. Like, it's possible also that it doesn't, and that's okay if you're getting the learnings from it, if you're getting joy from the process of building it. You know, like you could be building sandcastles, right? And you could have so much fun building sandcastles and you could, and no one might ever pay you to build sandcastles. And I said to myself, am I okay with that? And I was like, yes, I'm going to try to get paid from the thing that lights me up and my purpose. But like, if I never would, is that okay? And I said, yeah, it is. Because look at what it's given me. Like, conversations with some of my heroes, the ability to connect, the ability to express myself better, the ability to listen, the ability to ask questions. I'm getting so much out of this that is completely unrelated to the money that I think it's worth it. It was worth it for me to do it even without the money. Right. And so, I think that's an important piece too. And some people feel that way about sandcastles and some people feel that way about cars or selling cars. Like, there's so many different ways humans are expressing their interests and their passions and their pursuits and their soul. So I don't know, you said like it'll work out, it might not, and that's okay too, from my perspective.

Yeah, I love that too. I think there is 2 sides of that coin. You have to live either side. That's why I feel you should have low expectations, possibly zero. So hit or miss, It works, right?

Yes. How do you win even if you lose?

Exactly, exactly. And like you said, you've had conversations like 415, if I'm not wrong. Correct. That's insane amount of episodes in 3 years. That's like possibly like 4 to 5 episodes per week in the last 3.

It's about 3 episodes a week, and it's 8 years of episodes if I were to do one a week.

Yeah, that's amazing. That's phenomenal. Like, you know, hat tip to that.

Thank you.

The people you interview are— this is a personal question to me. This is why I didn't start my podcast, is because I always thought, like, the people I interview, the heroes I look up to, the people who are 10 steps ahead of me or 100 steps ahead of me, I have no connection or relevancy to them because they're very far ahead. They've done so much. They've kind of saw everything. The connection bit, what I'm talking about is I can't be on the same bandwidth, right, to actually hold a conversation. So talk to me about how you started getting comfortable with talking to your heroes, like in a very comfortable way. Apart from that quote, I understand the quote is amazing. If you recite that quote every time you do something insane, I feel like we can go to Mars.

Apart from that, I think— Yeah, I think it's in me. Like, I never got uncomfortable and I struggle giving this advice because I was always confident talking to people I admired. When I was 15 years old, I'm interviewing NBA players and feeling like I'm supposed to be there and feeling like it is part of me. So, but I will say I definitely have gotten nervous for people like Gary Vaynerchuk. Or people like Alex Hormozi or people like Peter Crone and gotten starstruck by it, right? And I will say that, you know, helping, like really understanding that that's a human being too who wants to be loved. And if I'm thinking about them wanting to, them wanting to love me, that it's gonna taint the interaction in some way. So if I can come ahead of time being like, this person wants to be loved, this person wants to be respected, this person wants to be admired. And this person is just a human being. To me, that is baseline. And that is how I've been able to talk to so many people I respect so much, because I can't go into it with the energy of, I love you so much. It's got to be more like, I respect you.

Man, that is so powerful. I think love is greater than respect. I feel once you start respecting people, you are either— not either, you are putting them ahead of you, period. But once you start loving them, you're at the same level. That's beautiful. That's amazing. I never thought about it, by the way. You give me little chills right now, man. That's so powerful. Love is greater than respect. If you talk to any human being saying that with the perspective that I love you, man, things change a lot.

Yeah.

Like the whole conversation is around like being curious, being authentic. Wow. That's amazing. I don't know if you realized it. That gave me so much chills right now.

Yeah. It's powerful. I mean, what the show has done for me is it has brought the people that I looked up to at eye level. And I think what you're describing is like, I'm looking up at these people, but without realizing that remove their social media followers, remove their money in their bank account, and that person is just a person, right? And that person is eye to eye, and we are eye to eye. We are human beings, right? And so I think it's important. The more exposure you get to that, the more you see someone before a podcast or after a podcast that you really that you look up to, you're like, oh, that's a human who is trying their best. And I think when you look up to someone so much, you're often tainting it with their accomplishments that you wish were yours in some respect.

That's amazing. I really like what you said. Meeting people eye level who you look up to. That's beautifully put. That's amazing. I think one of the things, I'm an introvert and getting into tech, expressing myself on Twitter continuously, consistently actually brought the other side of me, which I never understood. Like, there is a side of that. Like, even podcasting, I had all limiting beliefs in the world telling me that you can't really have a conversation or hold a conversation or actually have someone coming on your tiny podcast. So—

How'd you meet your wife? How do you talk to your child? Right? Like, it's lies we tell ourselves.

Yeah.

It's such lies. And it's important to point out those lies because, like, I can't have a conversation with someone because what, they have more followers or they have more money or they have more, they have something like, what was it? You know, I think it's worth analyzing for yourself and I think it's worth analyzing Always. If we feel like we can't have a conversation with someone, we don't have a voice. And if we don't have a voice, why don't we have that voice? I believe genuinely I could go into a conversation right now and interview Elon Musk and talk to him about something. If you gimme an hour to go through his life story, right? Like, I believe that for myself. I want everyone to believe that for themselves.

And that is a superpower. Once you start believing there is nothing you can do, you can do everything you can do.

And this is why Twitter is so important because Twitter allows you to enter into any conversation in the world. And I have so much respect for you for building on Twitter when you had difficulty doing that because I know my brother is an extrovert and I know he has trouble like just inserting himself into any conversation. And I'm like, wow, like, to do that actually requires courage to speak online your truth, because in that moment, you are allowing your higher self to guide your behavior rather than the people who might make fun of you or yourself for making fun of yourself or something else like that is bringing you down. And I have so much respect for you for pushing through that. And actually putting yourself out there when it is not necessarily quote unquote in your nature?

Yeah, man, I appreciate you telling those words. Yeah, it was very uncomfortable at the beginning. I'll tell you that, like putting yourself out. And I always, I think my dad told this to me when I was like young, like failing at sports. He told me that if you really want to excel at sports, you have to be uncomfortable. with yourself and others because you're playing a team sport, right? You can't expect others to be your friends or the people who are competing with be your friend. The reason why sports make you so uncomfortable, he says, is that it brings the best of people. Like, it brings that competitiveness. It brings that, can I kill that guy?

Yeah.

Right. Even though it's not literally, but you have that drive in you by being uncomfortable. And the best way to become comfortable is putting yourself in uncomfortable ways, always possible. So I think, yeah, you know, and I really, really want to again emphasize on the point that we are all human beings is so important. Like, we always often forget about, and we encourage to see the baggage behind them. not them including like themselves, like purely. That's why I really like what you said about you have to look at people eye to eye even though they're 10 steps ahead of you. They're like, you know, somewhere you cannot really—

They're not 10 steps ahead of you. Like, what if that person you admire is closer to death than you are? You know, are they really 10 steps ahead? I don't know.

Yeah,

right. So I don't know, I think we project like 10 steps ahead. What is 10 steps ahead?

Yeah, I think it's all like you said, it's our stupid narrative that goes into our mind. I think we're constantly battling that voice that actually limits us. Those are all the limiting beliefs that we encourage to listen rather than, like you said, we're all human beings. We are here to love. We are here to be kind with each other.

Yeah.

And we are here to like make an impact, to truly test your own potential in whatever way possible, right? I think that narrative should be repeated multiple times than you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't be them, you can't be yourself. That is like shitty narrative.

Yeah.

You said about in this last answer about we tell a lot of lies to ourselves. What is the biggest lie you told yourself in your 28 years of existence on this planet?

That someone else knew a better story for me than I knew for myself. And I believe your story for me greater than my own.

I love that.

That's a lie. Even if it's people you respect, even if it's people you admire, you know the best story for you. You have a calling, you have a purpose, you have something in your mind that tells you at all times whether you're on that course or not. And the more you believe other people's stories for you, the more you will suffer in a life that you are not happy with, that you're not proud of, that you're not excited to wake up every damn day. And I think it should be all of our missions is to understand that voice better because we know the path. We have it. Right. And the biggest lie that I've believed time and time again is someone else knows that story for me because if I believe that someone else knows the story for me better than I know myself, then I don't have responsibility. By living that story.

You're off the hook.

I'm off the hook. I don't need to actually start this podcast. I don't need to actually believe in this podcast. I could believe in a different podcast. Someone else could pay me to do the podcast. I don't believe in myself enough. Oh, I could just go to college and live the story that my parents want me to live. I don't need to believe the story that I can actually Build a successful blog as a 13-year-old. That's responsibility. Instead, I'm going to believe the story that this woman said for me when she's 40 and I'm 13, that, oh, you're a kid. You should just play. That's believing other people's stories greater than believing my own story. Start believing in yourself because no one else will believe in you as much as you believe in yourself.

Yeah.

And that is number one. And you get that figured out, everything else will take care of itself.

Everything kind of untangles once you actually really realize that fact that you have every power, every capacity, every ounce of energy to believe in yourself than anybody else. Man, that's so powerful. I so wanted to actually have a conversation about podcasting and you actually diverted me to like, you know, going meta. So this is beautiful. I love it, man. I have to tell you this. I think at a 20-year-old, I know many 20-year-olds, like my cousins, friends, people around me. I wish they hear you more. I wish they just tune into Danny Miranda's podcast because this is the stuff people should realize. I honestly feel that. I truly believe in that. Is a voice that reminds you you have every capability to believe in yourself. I love it.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

I love it so much. So one of the other curious things I wanted to ask about, you know, your podcasting journey is that, and I man, I went through hundreds of your thousands of your tweets.

Thank you.

Since 2020, even before, I mean 2018, 2017, you're the person who didn't ask anything like, hey, please review my podcast. Hey, I'm looking for sponsorship. Hey, I'm opening a course. Until recently. And the question I have for you is, How did you resist the urge to sell something?

Just never felt right. And I didn't believe in myself enough to sell something. And this goes back to like really believing in yourself, believing your own story, believing you were capable. It was really like the belief of enough people to say, you're really an incredible interviewer. Oh my God. Like, I got something out of myself that I didn't even know was inside of me over and over and over again for me to be like, okay, I believe you finally. I believe you. And I believe in me that you believe in me in that much. Because sometimes our greatest gifts, we can't really see clearly because it just comes natural to us.

Right.

And we're just like, this is who I am. What do you mean? This is my gift? Like, to just be a mirror for someone else or to see, for other people to see themselves more clearly through talking to me. That like, that's just who I am. So how would I see that unless someone told me that? And so enough people told me that, that I actually started to believe it. And then when I started to believe it, I started to believe in myself. And when I started to believe in myself, then I started selling things and selling a course.

And in a world where We, in a world where we actually try to sell first before giving value, that's phenomenal. Like everybody wants to make money, everybody wants to make fame, or they want to be remembered for selling something, right? It's all— the world is always selling something to you.

Yeah.

Directly or indirectly. Right. And there are very few people I really admire. Gary Vee. I've been following him for like more than 10 years. And he always says, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab. And you will earn a right to hook. You will earn a right to ask.

Yes.

Until then, just give.

Yes.

Consistently, unconditionally. Just give. And I fall— I sometimes like fall into the trap, like, you know what, I earned this, let me actually ask this. And I fail. And I'm like, damn, reset. Give, give, give, give. And I accidentally ask something, and even that worked. Oh my God, miraculously, like, you know, people help. That's what happened with ShoutOut. I had no damn clue about like building a SaaS product. I'm, I'm not even a like a salesman. But then people showed me path. Like you said, they showed me like, you know what, Julian Shapiro is the first guy who said, if you do this, I'll pay you $10. That really, that one sentence changed the trajectory. I am a salesman. All of a sudden I can sell. Till that point, I'm like, have no clue about selling. I think the really, the thing I want to emphasize about is that we live in a constant world where we directly or indirectly fall into the trap of either as a buyer or a seller, right? And I really appreciate you for waiting so long, being so patient that you— now, for me, you've already earned that right to ask like long time ago. before, but just want to say that the things you do, that's why when you said Connect One-on-One, I was like, $100. I instantly bought it. Like, you know what? This is amazing. Forget about the value. I just want to see you win, right?

Yeah. And on that point, it's funny that you use that phrase jab, jab, jab, right hook, because if you think about my first 3 years, Year one jab, year two jab, year three jab. My fourth year starting the podcast, right hook. Isn't that funny? I never thought about that until you said that, but that is Gary Vee's ratio. And you also—it's interesting—it shows your nature as a giver. You didn't say jab, jab, jab, right hook. You said jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, and that speaks to I—and I fall in this trap as well—giving. more than asking, right? It's like, where does that come from? It's like, that's worth exploring or digging into because we're natural givers. We naturally want to give to people. We're comfortable giving. Maybe we could benefit from asking more if we're so comfortable giving.

And to your point before, I think the reason why I want to piggyback on that statement, we are natural givers, is because when you give, you feel happy. Yes. Buy fundamentally, like, you know, try to buy a $10 or a $5 Starbucks card to a friend, surprise him or her.

Yeah,

man, the joy is insane. You don't have to like spend millions. Just so I had this habit when I was in Chicago and used to live in Chicago. For every paycheck I got, there used to be a homeless person when I was actually walking through the office. He used to sit on a Friday every week, basically asking for money. And he felt genuine over the time. So every time I earned a dollar working 9 to 5, I used to give, again, nothing big, like $5 or $10, whatever the change I had in my pocket. And that moment I give that dollar, put it in your hands to my office, it's like probably like 500 meters. I felt like a superhero.

Yeah.

And that is amazing. I feel like people should rely on that feeling more than the thing that you ask and that feeling that the thing that you get from selling something, or I think it's necessary. We all have to pay bills. I'm not saying that let's all become monks, But experience this before that. Prioritize this before that. Prioritize giving before asking.

I agree. And I think that's a very phenomenal point. And I would challenge you as someone who gives more than they receive, it seems like you should ask more and ask yourself why you are not asking more. Because even though I agree with the macro point of like more giving should be forefront in society, and we are in our own ways examples of that. How do we, how do we as people who are not natural askers, not natural right hookers, not natural salesmen, how do we get into that flow more? It's an interesting question.

Why do you think that? Like, what, what everybody will have their own answers for that question.

Yeah.

Why do you think we all are as human beings natural givers and not natural askers?

I don't think we all are as human beings. I think me and you are natural givers. I think some people are natural askers. I think me and you are natural givers.

And what separates us? I really want to unpack this because you recently started asking, and I really want to also congratulate you on the 20K tweet. Thank you. Well deserved. You'll get more than that for sure, 100%. But you see that— you saw— now you're seeing the light. You're seeing the other side. And is there a difference between Danny a giver and Danny an asker?

So I think how I reframed it in my mind is I'm giving with asking, meaning I genuinely believe from the bottom of my heart that what I'm offering in this service, in this course, is worth way more than $299. Therefore, by asking, I'm actually giving.

Ah, that's amazing.

You like that? You like that, right?

I like that because we kind of have a soul satisfaction. Like, we're not blatantly ripping off you for money because we've put a lot of hard work. You put a ton of money, man. I love those episodes, the course episodes you did, because Because they're so— it requires a lot of effort. You were talking at a pace, you're explaining things, the presentation slides were well done. That means you already are giving.

Yes.

But in that process, also, I think one of the perspectives that someone actually told me when I was doing ShoutOut is that if you are so much of a natural giver, And you don't ask, there is a high chance of you not reaching people that actually are like, you know, you have that reach, right? That you miss that reach if you don't ask. So that also like added, gave me like, you know what, yo man, I really want people to like utilize the product because it helps them build business. Forget about they paying me $15. That's a secondary goal. The first goal is let them make money by the product I'm building, right? So I really like that. I think that's a very simple way of putting it. You are asking by giving.

I

actually love that.

It's a game changer.

Game changing. I think this conversation is probably the best conversation I had in a while. Let's talk about—

I love to hear that, man. Thank you.

Let's talk about your habits. You are big on meditation, you're big on running, you're big on weightlifting. You are someone who goes to gym on a consistent level, which is something I feel ashamed of myself. I don't go to gym that often. Talk to me about it, like why habits are so important to you. And when you're already— the reason I'm asking is, the rationale is you're already getting the dopamine hit by podcasting. You're already kind of happy by conversing with a lot of people. So you're already experiencing the pinnacle in your words. Why do you need more habits?

Because I don't view it as more. I just view it as challenging myself in new and interesting ways that excite me, that keep life interesting. And I started running because I saw a bunch of my friends doing it. And I also knew my grandpa had spent a lot of time running and knew how much it benefited him in terms of mentally, in terms of how he felt about the world around him, how he made a lot of friends from running as well, which I found too. And I just tried it out and I didn't know what it would lead to. And I had very, like you said, very low expectations, if no expectations at all. And I found that after a few months of doing it consistently, I loved it. And for me, it all, the weightlifting, the running, the meditation, all of it is just like, how can I make this life a little more joyful? You know, how can I, how can I continue to progress forward in some way? And, you know, not really with the meditation. Meditation is literally just like, I love just spending time by myself and with myself in my own head, understanding myself better, understanding my thought patterns, where do they come from. But yeah, I think it's like we all do. I also don't have children, right? So I'm not like raising a child. The child that I'm raising is myself. And so because of that, It's like, why not make this child as superhuman as possible?

And that's powerful too. That is super powerful. You are your own child.

Yes.

Oh my God, that's, that's a different perspective right there. I don't know if you realize, as a dad, my 100%, always my thoughts are around You know, did I give enough food for Ruhaan, or did I put him to bed properly, or is he, you know, doing good? This is always the conversation. But imagine if you don't have kids, if you put yourself as your own child. Damn, you'll be so careful. You'll be so mindful. You, you don't talk— you don't talk shit to your kid. Why do you talk shit to yourself?

I don't, because I know that.

Oh, man, that's an amazing perspective. I love it a lot.

Yeah, I'm writing that down. Treat yourself like your child, like you are your own child.

That's important. Yeah, it's really important. You don't eat shit, you don't feed shit to your kid,

right?

Or you don't talk negative to your kid.

Yeah,

you always want them to be in an empowered state or a positive state or eat healthy, live healthy, sleep healthy. Why the heck you want to do it for yourself,

right?

Oh man.

This is a secret that I've, I guess I've uncovered, is people often say like, treat yourself like your best friend. Similar. Treat yourself like your own child. Like you are your own child.

I would say more than the best friend, the child analogy is really powerful. As a dad, I can completely relate to what you said because I never think of myself as a child.

But you are. You are that 5-year-old kid, 10-year-old kid. And now you have a podcast microphone, you've got a house, Congratulations on that.

Thank you.

You've got all the— you've got a wife, but inside you're still 10. You're still 5. You can still put yourself back in that place. And so I like whenever I get frustrated at myself or someone else, I'm like, that's just a 5 or 10-year-old, you know, and they're doing the best they can.

That's deep.

It is.

That is deep. You're your own child, man. That's really amazing. Goddamn, you dropped a gem there. Oh man, I don't know, I can't follow up with, you know, after that. But I do have— I want to really cover a couple of things. So one of the things I really want to also talk about is, uh, in September— August 2020 You did a retreat for yourself, like 5 days, shut down technology, stayed in cabin. Talk to me about the impact that trip made, like reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, sitting near Delaware River. How much of that impact— like, I think after listening to 1 hour, I feel this— one of the things I want to mention is that you should go more on podcasts. You should stop podcasting and you should do more podcasts because now you have gained a wealth of knowledge, wealth of experiences, and the analogies, the frameworks that you said in this 1 hour, that really helps a lot of people because you've gained that interviewing like these legendary people like came on your podcast. But anyway, I really want to, because I think that 1 hour of your conversation moments like this, I feel, helped you build the Danny who we are, who you are right now talking to me. So talk to me about the whole experience of— I think you recently did as well in July, if I'm not wrong.

Yeah. For me, I had been doing 60-minute meditations every day from May 2020, which I ended up doing till December 2020. Every day, 60 minutes straight with just the timer and just going through my thoughts. And that was what I was doing from May to July. It was so powerful for me. And I, that's where I started to get so much more energy and could talk to people and could, could give them the most and give them exciting things and have them feeling excited to talk and all this amazing stuff. But I knew I could go deeper on myself.

Mm-hmm.

And I, I knew that I could really understand myself at a deeper level. I just had the sense. So, I booked the cabin in the middle of nowhere and I said, I'm going to just bring a bunch of books that I want to read and I'm going to explore my own mind. I meditated in the morning for an hour and evening for an hour. I brought that book and I think I read like 3 or 4 others.

Hmm.

And Benjamin Franklin, I mean, this was so crazy because Benjamin Franklin was one of the first media people in the world. And here I was creating DannyMiranda.com and my own media website. And Benjamin Franklin also was interested in making the most out of life. He had 13 traits that he would check off every day to see if he actually hit it. And he was really into becoming the best version of himself. And I felt such a connection with Benjamin Franklin. And as I'm reading this, his autobiography, I'm looking at the river. And it's like,

man,

sailed on that river that he's writing about that is on the Delaware River. I'm like, what are the odds?

Right.

So that was crazy. But just the trip was so transformative because in that moment, I felt so clear on my direction, clear that the podcast was what I needed to do. I hadn't recorded any episodes yet. I just had this idea for it. But to me, that was pivotal that I could actually I could actually do this, right? These phone calls could turn into a podcast. And the clarity of direction is something I wish everyone could experience, of just knowing you're on the right path. So that's what I felt.

It's so impressive you are maintaining that clarity every single day. And I think, is it because of the meditation or is it anything else? Is meditation right?

Meditation. Yeah.

And in during the meditation, so you said 60 minutes, so there's no reciting a mantra or anything or any, any other format. You just sit. Like, I think Naval famously said this, like, you know, sit yourself, lock yourself. You can sleep, you can lay down. You don't have to, like, you know, have that, you know, uh, position or that Anything else? I'm just curious that pushes you to gain the clarity. Oh, A, number one. Number two, you would have certain moments that you feel lost as well, if I'm not wrong, right? Like, and in those moments, do you go back to meditation? What is Danny Miranda's journey day to day look like?

The moments that I felt lost were— was like I had expectations. Going back to the expectation, I was like, okay, if I do 100 episodes of this, then it will work, then people will listen, then it'll be interesting, then I can get the guests that I want. And it was kind of true, but it kind of wasn't. And I fell into the trap of the expectations of doing 100 means that it will be successful. Versus doing 100 to figure out if you want to continue doing it to be successful. That was a huge unlock for me. But the day-to-day of it was just recording podcasts, learning from people, listening to podcasts, doing it all over again, meditating, like, you know, running. I mean, now, yeah, running. I wasn't running back then in those down moments. I should have been running. If I was running in the down moments, I probably wouldn't have been down at all.

I think Tim Ferriss said this, if I'm not wrong, that once you put yourself through a physical habit— meditation is more of like a mental habit. So I've done meditation as well during 2018, 2019. So I used to go to a— there is like a Buddhist gathering that happens like every Friday. So we used to go there and I used to do that. you know, followed Naval's thing as well. It's— but I couldn't keep up. You have to like, you know, bring it back and acknowledge that. But I think I also saw the power of putting yourself physically, because once you lift a weight or once you do— once you run, you know, 30 minutes on a treadmill, it feels like you've accomplished something. That is like— the joy is insane, right? Like, talk to me about that. Like, how do you How do you experience that? Describe in your own words.

It's remarkable. And I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it right now more than ever. I don't know if you could hear the sirens in the background.

No, I can't hear it.

Cool. It's remarkable. I feel now that I've been running for about 6 months. And what happens in running is so interesting because You especially, like, a lot of it is based on the weather. And so, it's obviously based on how much running you do. But now that the weather in Austin, Texas was so hot in the summer, and now it is so much cooler that I'm feeling the progress of all of the work that I've put in, the hundreds of miles that I've ran. And I noticed myself get faster. I know my heartbeat decreases, which means I'm getting more fit. And I notice like, wow, life is getting a little more sweeter. And it feels very spiritual, that connection with running. But just in general, when you make the improvements, it goes back to what we were talking about before, which is when the small actions you do on the day-to-day are in alignment with the person you want to be, you are happy. I want to be somebody who completes a marathon. I have not completed a marathon yet. And so, the day-to-day actions, if I did my 6 miles today, well, that's going to help me complete the marathon. I got 16 miles tomorrow. Okay. Completing that's going to help me complete the marathon. If I don't do that, then I'm not going to complete the marathon to the level that I want. So, let me put in the action to build the person that I want to be and do my long-term vision in the day-to-day. When you shrink down the long-term vision to the day-to-day, that is when happiness comes.

Yeah, I love it. I think in a way you're, you know, I think I'm reading, uh, the Shoe Dog book.

Love that.

And even Phil Knight, when he had like his low times, he just go do this 6-mile run, right? He used to go and basically like, you know, that's it. That's, that's his reset after, after a long day, before hitting that, you know, sweet decliner where he calls his dad, just go for a 6-mile run. I think what you're explaining is, which I haven't experienced, running is meditation in action.

Yes.

I think that's what I want to experience. That probably I'll start, like, you know, I'll just run for a mile or 2.

Yeah,

just to kickstart. Like, go low, right? Like, don't even, like, you know, overpressurize myself. Like, start something really small. After Phil Knight really gave me that idea and you reassured it. So I don't know why I asked that question, honestly, but it's the universe telling me that you should run. So I should pick up the signs. A couple of more questions on the podcast, friend. I do have— you still have— are you okay?

Yeah, we've got 20 minutes about Until my next thing. But

okay, so you've recorded 415 episodes, and that means like more than like, you know, what, 4,000 hours and even more. What have you not learned and what are you chasing in the next few episodes or next 1,000 episodes?

First question was, what have I not learned?

what have you not learned? Like, you've learned, you talk to these people and you learn so much, right? Like, that question is kind of to that follow-up question. What are you like really chasing or looking after apart from having good conversations with good people, making good connections, making friends? What is something that you're like, you know, this is what I need to like expand my horizon or my thought process or frameworks or whatever it is?

I think running is one big thing. I'm having more runners on the show than ever before. I couldn't have imagined that a year ago or 2 years ago. So that's like the biggest thing, just gaining more information and knowledge about running. I'm not sure because like you said, I'm just chasing good conversations. I'm just chasing The connection with people. And so I don't really think about like what else.

I love that because I really love that because it would have been diluted if you said, hey, I want to expand my mental frameworks. I want to expand my all this because I feel With you, I feel I keep reminding myself that you're a guy who believes in serendipity. Like, put yourself out, things happen, take it in, go back again, put yourself out, take it in. So I think you are in that cycle a lot, all the experiences you had. I love that. 2, 3 questions. One is I want to ask about specific people. You already talked about, I think you've partially talked about Gary Vee, but going from a 13-year-old asking, hey, Mom, I want to go to Gary Vee's signing, book signing, to interviewing him, like 10 years. That's like the time it took. Talk to me about that experience, like interviewing him, what it feels like. Getting him on the show?

It was crazy. I couldn't sleep that night that he agreed to come on. I knew my life had changed forever. I knew that, like, I was able to get so many guests because of using his name. You know, I was able to, to have a conversation with someone I admire so much. And I understood, like, this is the craziest moment of my life up to that point. The fact that he would agree to come on, it filled me with so much joy and so much more joy than I feel like I ever could have achieved by sitting alone in a room and not doing the podcast. You know, like I achieved so much more joy in that moment. And so, I mean, like I practiced that first opening line to him, that telling him the story.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe. Maybe 100 times in the shower, just in the mirror over and over. I was like, this is the biggest moment of my life. And it was really exciting. Episode 39, it was the first video podcast that I did. Oh. The rest were audio only. Wow.

I didn't know that.

First 38. And so, the biggest— so, because it was such a big episode, I was like, I got to do video. And I was uncomfortable with it, but I just pushed through. And then from there out, it was easy, and I just did video the rest of the way.

I think you only need one of those instances, right, in your life to really prove yourself with the help of others, especially in this case. Like, you know, Gary Vee is that legend that reminds you, like, going back to your point of you can believe in yourself, you are the miracle. He's just reassured that in that conversation, like, you know, You're the miracle. That happened to me when I cold emailed Naval. I cold emailed Naval in a— I was building side projects and I cold emailed saying that, hey Naval, I built this for you. This is a collection of all things Naval, YouTube videos, quotes, articles, everything. And he said, you know what, if you do a right job, I'll keep it on my bio. And he did.

Wow.

He did for a year. And that actually reassured, you know what, this is freaking amazing. I can do things.

Yes.

Right.

That's super cool. I did not know that. I feel like sometimes you need someone else to light the fire of your belief before you do yourself. I know my parents did that, my grandparents. And we just need to realize like we matter to someone. And once we do, then we're off to the races. And in this context, Gary Vaynerchuk was the person who lit me up and in your context, it was Naval. And then from there, you can do that same thing to someone else and believe in someone else.

Yeah, exactly. I think you have to pay it forward. Once you experience that, you'll never go back. So one of the things I have for you is August 1st, 2022, you tweeted— this is you after interviewing Gary Vee, like some of the biggest names. So you are someone I steal playbook from, is that you shoot your shot shamelessly.

Yes.

And you did this with Peter Levels, one of the Nomad creators. He literally said, hey, I don't have time. He literally shut you down.

That's great.

So I want to ask about rejection. Like, I believe even I experienced this. I've DM'd probably like 300, 400 people, and I only did 30 podcasts. The conversion rate is so So low, but I still enjoy this because people like you, people like Adam Draper, David Perell, they actually like bet on me. Like, you know what, let's actually get on this guy's podcast. So talk about rejection. How do you handle it? One of the things I learned from Gary Vee is that he moves microseconds from rejection. Moves on very fast. Talk to me about your process of handling that.

Didn't even think about Peter Levels or that moment until you just brought it up. Haven't thought about it in over a year, right? Because I didn't think about it since August 1st. I don't even think of it as rejection. I think that's a huge thing as well, that was a rejection to you. To me, that was like, we're getting closer to him coming on. He doesn't have time for it, but he knows who I am. And so when I ask him in 2023 or 2024, he's gonna be like, oh, I remember this guy. So I asked him again. I don't know. He definitely didn't respond or didn't agree. And that's okay. I don't view that as rejection. We need to— Yeah. It's like, it's so funny that you categorize that as rejection. I categorize that as We're closer. We're getting closer. I'm playing a decade-long game. I'm playing a multi-decade-long game. Someone says no, that means we're a little closer to a yes. Let's go, baby. We're getting there.

That's another gem. It's almost like you heavily rely on half glass full, not half glass empty. Yeah, I like that a lot. Man, it's amazing. So one, one other person you really admire, 75 Hard, Andy Frisella.

Yes.

Going from in 2018 following his 75 Hard challenge to meeting him in person, sitting probably in his office and interviewing him, what was that experience?

Oh my God. 2019, September of 2019, start 75 Hard. He's the creator of the program. In what, May of 2023, I interview him. It feels like so long ago. Like that fact that that was this year is crazy to me. I, we fly out, me and my buddy Hunter, Hunter Weiss, he documents the whole thing. Hunter also did 75 Hard. Hunter also has been deeply affected by Andy Frisella. And he was someone Who helped me out in my darkest of days, right? I've read that email that I sent to Tej Dosa on on that podcast episode three forty six, and I said, "I just don't feel like I can like do anything, and I'm ashamed of myself." And that's who I was at that time. That's what I really believed. But then I did the program, and it gave me confidence in myself. So to be able to talk to him. After all that was remarkable. It was like meeting your hero and it being better than you could imagine because then your hero looks at you and says, hey, you're pretty amazing. That was the best interview I've ever done. Are you kidding me? How was— he's impacted my life and now I'm impacting his life. Wow.

Wow.

What a special moment. What an incredible thing. And I hope everyone experiences. I mean, I was on a high like you could never even imagine. Just thinking about that day, I was like, this is the greatest day of my life because I had such high expectations for that day. I really did. And it exceeded them 100-fold.

Wow. That's amazing. One more question about particular person. Keep Going by Mike Posner.

Yes.

Why is that album so special to you?

In those days of September 2019, August 2019, I would listen to that album over and over and over and over and over again. Oh my God, that album got me through some dark, dark times. And in fact, one synchronicity stands out was I was listening to Keep Going by Mike Posner over and over again. And my mom sends me a Mike Posner song that she knew I was down and really upset. And as a way to cheer me up, she sent me a Mike Posner song, having no idea that I was listening to Keep Going. Mike Poser's album. So that will be a very special interview.

I think he's not on the podcast. I'm manifesting that he's not on the podcast, right? If I'm not wrong,

he has not appeared as a guest on the podcast.

He will soon. We'll make it happen for sure. I'm manifesting for that to happen.

It is happening.

It is happening.

Yeah.

Boom.

Love it. You manifested it like that. You're quick. You're so fast. Oh my God.

All right, so this is the last segment I do with every guest. Oh, one, one question before it. This is more of the fun, fun segment. So one of, one of the goals you had is to do a live podcast in Madison Square Garden.

Yes.

I love it. It's going to happen for sure.

Yes.

And let me tell you this, you're going to be the biggest media person in the next 10 years.

I believe it. Thank you.

Definitely, 100%. I'll be so grateful to say that I know Danny Miranda. He came on my podcast. I'll be so grateful for that. Love it. So this question is, that's an ambitious goal you're chasing, which is going to happen. What are you chasing beyond that? Or what is an ambitious, ambitious, ambitious thing that you always manifest for beyond Madison Square Garden?

I would say more important than Madison Square Garden is to be present to the creation of life. That is the most ambitious of all. But you see people all day, and myself included, can be on my AirPods in my own world, in my own life. But the more that I'm present to the creation of it all, The more I can sit and watch it unfold and see the ways in which it surprises me that I'm having this coffee meeting and this person happens to be right next to me and introducing these 2 people. And just because I'm aware and I'm present to the creation of life, to me, that's where all the juice is. That's where the excitement lies. And that's where I try to be more and more ambitious every single day.

I love that. I definitely love that. This is a heated conversation. There you go, Danny delivered it. Last, last segment, I call this Rapid Fire 5. I just asked 5 random questions, you know, uh, whatever the thing come to my mind, just like, you know, come to your mind, just shoot it. Which guest surprised you the most in out of 415 episodes?

All right, because it's top of mind, Adam Draper. We didn't surprise It's hard to say he surprised me most, but just his optimism and love for life. I just felt like this was a long-lost brother. It felt like. So it surprised me that I felt that way towards him.

Absolutely. He came on my podcast as well. He's so down to earth and he's so phenomenal. He's like, he's so human in your words.

Yeah.

So likable. Okay. What's the coolest story you heard on your podcast?

I don't know. I can't, I can't give you a good answer. I don't know. I, there's so many good ones. I mean, I just interviewed this woman. She ran 200 ultramarathons in 200 days. It's like,

I

don't know if I've had any cooler stories than that. And I haven't published the episode yet, but it's coming soon. And oh my God, Candace Burke, check this woman out. Like her, her grit, her Her tenacity, her belief, her endurance. I'm in awe. So that's the coolest story that I can remember.

Wow. The toughest question you asked a guest.

What is the central question of your life? To David Perel, I would say that as the opening was just an incredible way to get a true sense of who he is. He didn't know that was coming, but it was It was a tough question for him.

Yeah, it was actually a deep question. And a guest you thought you could never interview or could never interview before, but you did it anyway. Who's that?

No one.

No one.

I think I can interview everyone. I think I'm going to interview everyone. And I have zero feeling of like, I can never interview Peter Krone. I can never interview Alex. That doesn't even cross my mind.

Like, I love that.

I— these people are all people, and if I want it, it will get done if we believe,

right?

Right.

Not now, but definitely can be done. I think the time is the biggest enemy there, which is, you know, it won't happen like tomorrow. It can happen the longest you play, right? When once you play the long game There is a high chance you're actually— the odds are favoring you, not against you.

Yeah.

You remove time from the equation. I love that.

And time isn't the enemy, it's the friend because it's the thing that is on your side. We're together. Me and time are allies. I'm playing this podcast game for 10 years at least. So if I'm playing me and my friend time, we're going to be skipping through the fields. It's not an enemy. It's not something I'm trying to fight. It's something I'm excited by and I embrace, and I embrace this time right now, this moment. So I think that's an important distinction I would make.

Last question. Who's your favorite podcaster that you're rooting for these days?

That's a good question. My favorite podcaster that I'm rooting for these days. You know, what I love about this question is it implies a few things. It implies that they haven't made it yet. It implies that they're coming from the right place. It implies that they are building something that they're excited about. Who's my favorite podcaster that I'm rooting for? Dude, this is a phenomenal question. Hmm,

I think— I hope I did a good job making Danny think, the man who makes everybody else think.

This is an incredible question. Thank you. Um, Dude, you might have stumped me.

You got this. You're a miracle.

Yes. Let me pull up my list. Let me pull up my Spotify and see.

I think that's— that's— that'll help you because, you know, on top of your mind you might not remember, but once you go through the list— Oh,

okay. Yeah, thank you. I'm rooting for Paul Millard.

I love the podcast. Yeah. Yes,

Paul Millard is a legend. And he is such a good interviewer. He is so present. He is so interested. He's so curious. And I really enjoy what he does. And it was such a pleasure to get interviewed on his show. And I'm rooting for him big time. And the reason why I didn't think of him initially is because he's more of a writer than a podcaster in my mind. But I'm definitely rooting for him.

Paul's a great guy. crossed our paths on Twitter so many times. Danny, I can go on and on. I'm telling you, I have so many questions I didn't ask, by the way. So the questions I asked are rounded off, as you can see. That's so cool. So we should bring you back for sure. That is going to happen. But this has been great, man. There are so many gems, there's so many frameworks. I love your belief. It's contagious. And I love the mission you're going after, which is you want to make people believe in themselves, period. That's it.

Yep.

So through the podcast, through the course, through whatever that you do, and like I said, you're going to be one of the biggest media personalities in the next 5, 10 years. And I'm fortunate to be like, you know, on the sidelines with you, watching you grow. I love it. Thank you so much. Any closing thoughts you want to share before we wrap up?

I'm very grateful for the interview. I'm very grateful for your support and for just believing in me because that is really appreciated. And I'm excited to continue to watch your journey unfold. And I'm grateful to have known you.

Oh, man. Thank you. Appreciate that. All right, guys, that's it. That's a wrap. We're bringing Danny again. Don't worry. He'll be coming back for sure. I have so many questions I still have. I need answers for. But thank you so much. We do this, I do this, Danny do this for you people to remind yourself that you are the miracle, right? That's it. That's the intention behind all the effort we put in as podcasters. So hope this episode helps you that 1% gain that you always crave for. That's a wrap, guys. Cheers and stay tuned. Stay healthy.