Fei Wu Talks Podcasting and Her Incredible Love of People and Story

Welcome to Make More Marbles. My name is Brad Hart, and we're here to interview the game changers, the future makers, the co collaborators and creators who are here to collaborate with one another towards a better future for all of us. Enjoy the show. We've got a great guest coming up for you right now. Welcome to Make More Marvels. My name is Brad Hart, and I am joined today by Fei Wu, who is on the east coast, I'm on the west coast. She's got a bit of a darkness thing going on, but she looks great, she's well lit, she's set up. She's got her incredible podcast set up. I'm super grateful. So I just want to first acknowledge you for taking this very seriously and welcome to the show.

Oh, thank you, Brad. I appreciate it. Yes, I do take it seriously. And it took me a little bit to set things up because I see this as that, you know, this is a service to me as well, and I know how much work it goes into recording and producing a podcast. It's not to be taken lightly.

So I appreciate that. So, Faye, for the people who may not be familiar with your work yet, can you tell us a little bit about your heroine's journey, if you will, so far that's taking you from where you started to where you are today and some of the things maybe you learned along the way.

Sure. So I think someone perhaps introduced us or, you know, you found me through my podcast, but my name is Faye Wu. I am the creator and host of Faye's World podcast. And the way I spell my name is F as in frank, E I. And thank you for asking how to pronounce that as well. So I've been doing this for three years. And, Brad, since you started recording right before that, I feel like there's some overlap between our journey as well. This has been a very fulfilling mission and has introduced me to so many new people, friends, and lessons learned. But I will try not to say everything in a mouthful. So if there's any area in particular you like to drill into, just let me know.

Well, you've uncovered my biggest trick is that I want to make sure that I really have a clear from the horse's mouse perspective before I go extrapolating what I read on the Internet or anything like that. You know, it's. As a podcast producer yourself, I'm sure you know just how difficult it is to really get clear on, you know, what it is that people really care about. So I love asking that question to start out, Faye, because you know, I think at the end of the day, we're our own best author and reader of our story, right. We're always reading the chapters we're writing and we don't know how it's all going to end, but we know what's already gone on so far and we spend the most time thinking and reflecting on the things that have happened to us. So that that's one of my ways to just get really clear on who it is that I'm speaking with, what they care about, what they bring up, what they don't say, and then ultimately be able to paint a picture for the audience of this person as, okay, this is a human being. Right? They failed. And we can relate to their failures because we've all failed. And we can also respect them for their successes. But I think if you just leave the success without the failures, people kind of, they come away feeling like they don't really know who they're actually talking to. Have you seen that as well in your interviews?

I think so. You know, the way that I structure my show, which I call the Unsung heroes and Self Made Artists, is because when I started listening to podcasts more religiously three years ago, I noticed too that constantly there are 20, 25 men interviewing each other. It's the same story has been shared over and over again with a lot of call to action in between. So I realized through my journey in the past three years, especially when people who have never been on a podcast before, who have not shared their stories otherw on any platform, it's really fascinating whether able to kind of unveil to you. So like you said, I feel like there are so many things that people don't tend to talk about because they're uncomfortable, because they feel vulnerable. And once we share sort of the journey to something instead of just talking about destination and raking in millions of dollars every single year, it's really interesting to talk about that in between because.

It'S so easy to rake in millions of dollars here. Everybody's doing it. You guys should totally get on my program, whatever. Right, right. As well. And we've all been on the podcast as a guest as well, where it's just like, you know, wham, bam, thank you, ma' Am or Mr. Where it's like, hey, you know, I'm gonna ask you the same eight questions or 10 questions I ask everybody that really doesn't. The art. Right. And yes, you can be successful doing that. And there's, you know, science behind it, certainly. But the art is what can you pull on? Right. What are those threads you can pull on that unravel the sweater and leave the naked truth. And I really believe I can do that in a way that makes you look good, but at the end of the day, leaves people understanding who you are and why you care about the things you care about, because you can really relate to that and understand where people are coming from and why. Then it's easier to extrapolate, okay, how can I help this person move their mission forward faster? And that's what we're all about here at Make More Marbles is collaborating, connecting, catalyzing, co creating, you know, all the C words, you know, and allowing people the space to add their unique genius to the world and showcase so that people can both learn from them. But ultimately, you know, a call to action would be to collaborate towards that vision, if you resonate with. So, yeah, go ahead.

Sorry, sorry. It's interesting that you mentioned the word collaborate, because lately I've been thinking about, okay, I sort of talk to everybody. There's. Isn't that one theme or one topic, one call to action for my show. But I notice in retrospect, so many of the people that I interviewed ended up collaborating with each other, and I haven't even done good enough of a job to really open up a zoom or Skype for them to talk to each other and facilitate that conversation. But because I do a lot of business with my guests, not every single one of them, but pretty big percentage, I notice that when they ask me a question, I instantly would refer someone that I've spoken with or interviewed. And the collaboration has been very authentic and very successful for the past couple of years. I love that.

And what are the ways in which you foster that sense of community to have like maybe a podcast, guest Facebook group, or how do you reach out to these people and keep it straight? Because I spend quite a bit of time cultivating. We publish daily, and I'm really just asking for leadership here. So you've been known this longer than I have. You have some of the same values that I do. And I would like to know how you manage the very real issue, which is, hey, I have multiple things going on and I have 24 hours in the day like everybody else. How do you do it? What are some of the things you learned?

I'm also interested in kind of hearing what you have learned as well, because I feel like there's always a healthy pollination going on instead of just when we're so close to our project. There are things that we're not seeing. This is why I, in particular, I'm very interested in talking to other podcasters. So the way I've cultivated the group has been really from the ground up. I thought about starting a Facebook group, but I haven't yet. If you have, let me know your experience. And also because my guests are through a really big age, there's a really big age range as well. And some people, not everybody's comfortable using Facebook and they're not there consistently. So the way that I've built really spread the word on an episode basis is I feel like I do this more so than other podcasters I've talked to so far, is if I interview someone, I think about the schools that they went to, even down to, like elementary school, sometimes middle school, college, the organizations and the charity that they are really, they're familiar with, they're passionate about. Then I proactively reach out to those organizations and people and let them know about this recent conversation. So that has been very successful. Even though there's more work on me, I do have a producer who's helping me with that. So to me, that's kind of organic in a way.

So, yeah, that actually sounds like a really great promotional tip that I might just R and D that, which is, you know, short entrepreneur speak for Robin Duplicate, because that's brilliant. Like, why not let the organizations that birth this superstar know when they're being featured on a particular show or whatever? That's just so brilliant. Did you come up with that or did you think of that as a result of an inspiration from somebody else?

I decided to do that because I, you know, from the beginning, you know, I'm not sure where you seek out your guests. A lot of the people I interviewed from the start aren't necessarily the song heroes they don't have. They only have, you know, a really big network of people who are ready to listen, tuning in. So I felt like it was necessary for me to really contact those folks. And it's really interesting too, for example, that recently interviewed a couple of doctors, actually chief of oncology, chief of palliative care at Mass General Hospital. As you know, MGH is pretty big, very recognized, but they're not really a social media hub and they're sort of behind, so I didn't really expect much. On top of that, they're very. They're very serious and they take everything they post seriously. After they listen to the podcast, they shared it with the entire, I believe, MGH News Channel. I think it was only about 50,000 people or so on there. But hey, that's 50,000 people more than the network that we already have. And then on top of that, there's like the oncology department, there's a palliative care department, are also kind of jumping in on the episodes as well.

So that's brilliant. And I used to live across street from mgh, so that's really fun when I lived on the hill and see it. So, okay, so what drew you to podcasting initially? So you talk about having the unsung heroes, the self made artists. What is it about this group? And I'm sure there's a story behind this that has led you to this, because I really, truly believe that people's greatest pain or the greatest trauma they experience or the greatest pleasure in that regard can lead to their greatest gift or their ultimate contribution to the world.

Yeah, I think we all grew up. It's interesting as an adult, when I talk to other adults, I realized that I wasn't the only one who had a tough childhood. Everybody did. Their parents didn't understand them, they were alone and such. So I think one of the skills I noticed when I was much younger was that I was able to talk to anybody. When I was 6 or 7, I enjoyed talking to little babies, people my age, but even people in their 70s and 80s, I could talk to people. And then I forgot about that before we started the recording. I realized that as a person who was born and raised in China and moved here when I was 17, you know, every job I had in Boston, funny enough, you know, I've been approached by so many people to say, hey, I really want to try Chinese food. I want to go have dim sum, but I'm afraid to go by myself. So I've. I've been joined by like a large group of people, sometimes just individuals who are so embarrassed they still haven't tasted Chinese food. And we will walk over to Chinatown, as you know, that takes five minutes, usually from downtown Boston. And I would have these one on one conversations and people are ready to tell you everything while enjoying good food. So I realized I'm kind of optimizing that environment and really make me think about in a way to think about or forget about the stuff I do really day in and day out as a project manager at the time. So I often thought about how awesome would it be to record these conversations. But I didn't and they were gone. You know.

That'S really beautiful. And so came from that kind of lamenting or regretting that, oh man, this could have served the world at a higher level.

Yeah. And you meet so many different people too. And to realize I listened to some of your episodes and I think you were possibly also surprised by what people are willing to share with you. And there are things that you know, like you said from their bio, from their website, but once you sit down with them, turn the video on, throw a few questions out there and you recognize a whole new person that they didn't even know themselves. I actually had a lot of guests tell me in their 40s and 50s, many of them are some older than I am and tell me that I've never had the opportunity to summarize or recap their life. And as they were talking, they discover something. I even had their mothers, of course, emailing me to say, you know, my daughter's 50 years old and I never knew these stories about her or him. So I thought it was always so cute to get this.

What are your favorite questions to ask when you're on an interview?

I ask people about the things that are counterintuitive, that if they're successful, what are some of the counterintuitive things that led to their success? What are some of the things that they decide not to listen to, they had to go against? What is it like to go to the edges? You know, that's kind of a Seth Godin thing. And you know, how do they overcome their obstacles? I also like, I noticed there's one question that you tend to ask about. What's your advice to give to your 13 year old self? And one of the questions I liked was tell me about yourself. Tell me about you when you were 10 years old and they would scratch their head and have to think for a second. And it's really interesting. For example, one of the FBI agent Chris Voss, who is now the author of, you know, you're nodding. I think some of the names probably you will recognize as well. So he's his answer to when he was 10 was kind of sort of detective like and you know, his dad used to like punish the kids and how he would talk. He's also a hostage negotiation expert and he talked to me about he, how he would convince his parents not to beat him and you know, kind of derail the conversation and get himself out of trouble constantly. I thought it was so fascinating.

Is he the gentleman that wrote Never split the difference?

That's him. I interviewed him twice.

Yeah. Fascinating individual. I haven't read the entire book, but it's a really like popular book, especially in the circles I run in. And I'm just grateful that, you know, there's people out there in the world. They're turning their greatest trauma, like we were talking about earlier, into their greatest strength. You can really save lives with those types of skills, especially when you're able to codify them in the way that he has. And I know that book has been just brilliant in helping some of my salespeople. My head of sales, Frank actually talks about it all the time. He's like, everybody read this book. This is the book we're gonna read.

That's awesome. You should interview him. He would, I'm sure he would love that.

I would be grateful for the opportunity. Yeah. If you wanted to know it, if he's into it. Absolutely. I always use the double opt in method to connect people. I don't just land. And I think people appreciate that because sometimes it's yes, but not right now, and sometimes no. And you say thank you for taking care of yourself, because you know what, we all get busy sometimes. It's just you have to be respectful of each other's time. Who's been your favorite interview so far?

You know, everybody's so different and. But when there, to me, there isn't a favorite show or episode.

That's a terrible question. Let me retract.

It's okay.

Most surprising question or the most surprising interview where you thought it would go one way and then it was totally different and you were left thinking, oh my God, I totally just can't even believe that just happened kind of interview and why.

Yeah, so your first question was fine too. I think I must bring up this gentleman, BJ Miller. And they're just. I feel like the conversation has been echoing my mind since I. We recorded that even, you know, almost a year ago. So B.J. miller was, you know, he's, he appeared on a TED Talk right after the Dalai Lama. Again, that in itself was a story. So he, at the age of 19, he, he is a trip triple amputee. He lost his, you know, two legs, one arm. And I met him at a palliative care talk at mgh. And since then I reached out to him and he agreed to be on the podcast. And he has been on everybody's podcast, as you can imagine, every show. And so when I interviewed him, I completely over prepared and everybody asked him to articulate, kind of share that experience. Very traumatic experience. And so I thought, you know, bj, is it okay for you share the story? He said, no problem. And then part of my interview was about recovery. I wanted to Know for myself how he went from not wanting to look at himself in the mirror. By the way, he's a very, very handsome guy. He still is. He walks through the room and everybody's heads turn, men and women, right? And so I realized instantly he didn't want to talk about that. So I look at my page of question, I was like, crap, you know, and then what do I go from here? And it's completely disjointed. And I saw, I decided to just quit and I just forget about the whole section. Instead, I asked him question to say, hey, when you decide to share your story that you didn't quite expect to be so exposed, this public figure, everybody looks up to you to solve their life problems. How does it feel? You know, how are you navigating that? So that was really interesting, like you said. I was like, I'm so glad I didn't bomb the whole thing. He was really easy to talk to. I think a lot of the pressure was sincerely like put on by myself, like there's nothing to blame him for.

Do you find that you're an over preparer in general or is that just that 1 inch insert?

I rarely, I rarely over prepare. I know I should sometimes, but I was talking to a friend the other day, I noticed and then people asked me like, what, what have I learned in three years? And I'm kind of interested to hear your point of view as well because you talk to so many people back to back at the beginning. I over prepare and I will look down, I would almost like a scripted thing. And people tend to follow my lead. And then there are times where, as you know, people reschedule this thing six, seven times. And in between their months, months go by and there's one time I realized that, wow, I either forgot about it or I'd simply forgot what I learned and I just went with the flow. I realized that that episode, even though at the time I felt really guilty and didn't think how, didn't know how it was gonna go, but as I was producing, it was really fascinating that I was such a good listener because I had no piece of paper to look down on. So yeah, that was a very free flowing conversation and I loved it.

Well, and you, you touched on something that I think is my greatest strength is that ability to get in the flow with people. Just to really go from, okay, we don't know this person, I don't know what they're about, I don't know what they care about, I don't know what their Triggers are. But having had, it's like I look at it as like step one, have 10,000 conversations with people from all over the world. Check. Right? And then from that place, knowing what questions and how to direct experience so that people can have a great experience. Right? Because they want to feel good. They want to feel like they're getting the message across and they want to feel like they're being asked the right questions. And then I'll just tell you my dirty little secret. I don't prepare. Yeah, I try to prepare as little as possible. I try to have as least of a lens on somebody or a preconceived notion on somebody and be willing to be wrong if I do. Even people that I've known for a long time, like I just had Garrett Gunderson on the phone, on the, on the show, for example. I've known Garrett for a while. We spent time in person. But I came into that interview as a clean slate. And I just literally have this book, it's a custom book. Anything I write down here gets created. And as the interview is going through, I'll start to pick the threads out and I'll start to say, okay, I want to ask her about that or I want to ask him about that. And in doing so, I've created and you've listened to a few episodes at this point, an opportunity to bring out things from people that they never would have done. And by and large, 95% plus other people saying, wow, that's one of the better interviews I've ever done or the best interview ever done. Because I'm coming to it as a willing participant, a playful participant, high energy. And that's just, I know what my genius is, I know what I'm good at. And if I was the guy who prepared, like, I'll just use a quick example from early on in the show. When I first started doing this, I had the CEO of Virgin Galactic on. I didn't know he was the CEO until about 5 for the interview. When I googled, I thought he was like a mid level vp. I'm like, oh, this is kind of cool. Like oh crap, he's the CEO. So I go on Facebook and I say, hey, what questions you guys have about the future from the CEO of Virgin Galactic? And oh, by the way, he used to be the chief of staff at NASA. Go. And like 150 people wrote in and it's really great. And I had a ton of good questions asked this guy, but up until that moment I didn't know. And Had I known, I think I would have. How much I need to be in my heart to win and not in my head. That's literally my life's journey has just been being in my heart. And that's my last name, so it makes it easy to remember. But just knowing that about myself has been very, very effective.

I wonder with what you just said. I mean, how. How is that different compared to your. The job that you had, you know, running a hedge fund company? I mean, what was the state you were in at that moment versus the state that you're in now during recording and interviewing guests?

That's a great question, by the way. And that was before I discovered who I really was, really understood who I was. I thought I knew I was, but I was actually being driven by scarcity, significance, and above the other things that I, you know, I wanted to make money because we didn't have money growing up. That was really it. And it was at all costs. And it cost me my health, it cost me my ability to connect with other people. It cost me my happiness. And when I was winning, I was only winning because I was doing something that I wasn't aware of at the time, which was rallying the right people around me to be successful. That's really what I'm good at as long as I live that zone. And now my team understands, you know, where I. Where I'm good and where I fail and why they're there and how they can support and vice versa. You know, how I can support them because I know what I'm good at. It's become a different type of thing. So Tony Robbins changed my life. I'll just. I'll give him all the credit. Because Tony Robbins, you know, I haven't had the opportunity to really hang out with him personally, but I've been to 10 of his events, walked on fire four times. We're going. We bring people to them. 47 people. Last one, we're bringing close to 100 to the next one is the goal. And just being in that environment and understanding that there's key human drivers that motivate everybody and key values that if espoused, will create a reality that you really love to live. And now living in that. This has been three years or so since I started diving in his work, and I've done landmark and other personal development as well. Just understanding that I know who I am now. I know my mission is I know why I'm gonna win and I know who is gonna rally around to help. Has been just such A great feeling for some kid that didn't belong. He never did. And has been an entrepreneur since he's 12 years old and could never, ever, ever figure out why he was so screwed up. Even when the money came, even when he made a million dollars in a month or, you know, treating partners, I didn't keep all that money. But having so much money come in at once and you're like, oh, this is never gonna work, right? I know that this is a bankrupt mission. It's interesting how something new, you know.

I, you know, I think if you mentioned Tony Robbins one more time, I think my associate producer gonna, like, push open, like, kick open my office door because he is his biggest fan. And it just.

I'm obsessed. Tony changed my life, and he's great. I want everybody to experience his work. So we, we put a lot of time and energy and attention into getting people to just go to a UPW just to see what it's about. If they don't go any further. Awesome.

I've been there when I was 19. That's 15 years ago. I was 19 and I went to his event. And I must say that, you know, after all these years, I haven't really thought too much about it, but so much what I do day in and day out, I would. I'm very thankful that I did. And I still remember so much of it from, you know, from back then. That was like. I remember it was, believe two days, I think two days, like over the weekend. And I remember how much money I pay for it and how. How much harder I had to work after that. I mean, every. Every dollar count counted at that point. It was really interesting.

So you didn't spend your entire life in the United States. You were in china until you're 17, right?

Yeah, I was until I was 16. Came here after my 17th birthday.

Can you tell us a little bit about your life in China? What province were you from? How did you grow up? What did it look like? I'd love to hear about that because I've been to China. It wasn't for me. I thought there were great parts of it, but ultimately I was like, I really did. And it was like msg and I just. I didn't. I couldn't navigate it. Like, I had no frame of reference to it.

Where did you go, by the way?

I went to Gwangju and attended the Canton fair for about five days. And it was like. It was a pretty miserable experience. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready for what China had to offer. And if I went back, I would do it with people who are more, you know, understood that there's, there's different parts to it. But that, you know, content commerce part was really difficult for me.

Yeah, I mean, so I grew up in Beijing. I'm actually half Cantonese, so my dad was from Canton, and I still have a lot of relatives there. So I grew up in. I grew up on the army base. A lot of people ask me those questions. To me, like, they're not interesting at all. But that's another sort of perspective, right? People ask how I grew up and, you know, my dad was a fairly high ranked officer, and my mom was this like world renowned artist. So there's that very traditional side. You know, my dad comes home, talk about politics all day, bore me to death. And on the other hand, my mom was this artist and retired, recently worked at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, as a master artist. So I had a very sort of westernized life growing up. When I was 7, 8 or 9, I would go to regular Chinese schools. But summer and winter vacation came, I would be sort of speaking broken English on and off and learning it just as a kid again. So that's kind of how I grew up. My parents, I mean, especially my mom, had a really big influence on me. Very, very open minded, completely the opposite of Tiger and Mom in every way possible. When I came out here, you know, my dad was against it, and my parents were not millionaires. So coming here is a pretty big deal, you know, And I was young and not even 18. My mom literally had that Tony Robbins moment, right? And. And she looked me in the eyes and she said, you know, how important is this to you? She said, she even used a reference to say to such a young person to say, you know, there are things that you must do, like before you die. Life is so short. Before you close your eyes, there are things you must do. Is this one of those things? I said, yes, I'm gonna backpack in my way and just like, you know, create a life of my own. And as an international assume, she's like, okay. And we went to bank of China. She literally emptied out her deposit so she could support me without anybody else. And. And then she was, you know, she. Honestly, she didn't even cry at the airport because she was. She reached such extreme sadness that she couldn't even let out any tears. And I. To me, I realized, you know, like, when you're like, me too, like when I'm really scared, it's. There's no screaming. It's just like triaging, right? And what something I learned through that experience was that, you know, when you love someone, you love something, you can't be so possessive.

You.

You have to support them. So that's something I learned from her. You know, it's really profound.

Talk about an artist and an unsung hero. Your mom. There's a little clap it up for mom. Is she still with us?

Yeah, she's incredible. So she is 66 this year, and she's painting her way through all parts of China. And she, you know, started her own nonprofit little organization, and then she's teaching young kids. She's teaching people with disabilities of paint. And it's crazy. I interviewed her and she said she didn't think she had anything to say. And of course, it became one of the most popular episodes. And it's with my mom, so I.

Love my mom so much. And we're from Long island and, like, my accent changes when I'm around her. And like, the stuff that, you know, my dad isn't with us anymore and the stuff that you take for granted, you know, can very quickly go away. So I'm just grateful that you guys have such a strong connection. Do you go back to visit her a lot or.

Yeah, she used to live in Boston for a couple years in my old apartment. Now she's back in China for a while. My dad also isn't with us anymore, which really, you know, he passed away nine years ago, I guess. And then just watching how, you know, I'm sure it's probably in a way same for you how your relationship would change for your mom and how they reclaim independence. I know you're young, so I assume, you know, your dad was rather young as well, so it's. It's a journey.

He passed when I was 24. He was 61. Drank himself to death, same as my best friend in college. It was really hard to see both of them, you know, they didn't get the help they needed or didn't want it, you know, and it's just difficult to see people spiral like that. And I think in a lot of ways, my dad was my anti role model. You know, I knew exactly what I didn't want for my life. And that pain and seeing how his life turned out really propelled me forward to become the man I am today. And I'm so grateful for that, even though it was the opposite of what he did.

I've heard a similar story from a guest on the show, Alex Karawulf. It was really interesting the way he described his dad. I said, he must be a really kind person at home. He said, nope.

He was a bastard. Coated bastard with bastard filling.

I know. I started laughing on the show. I was like, okay, it's not funny. I'm sorry. This is very true. My dad had very poor health decisions. That's why before we started recording, I'm all about healthy eating. I go swimming. I check in with my own mental health all the time. So to me, those are the things at the top of my list.

Faye, it is obvious that you love people and that you care about their stories. Have you always been a great storyteller, or is that something that you had to develop and how do you continue to develop it?

I think it's always going to be work in progress. I started telling stories just as an only child, you know, I never. I couldn't come home, you know, with a lot of siblings my age. So I used to rearrange my stuffed animals and just start creating stories. I would ask other kids to come hang out with me, but I always have to have an agenda, Right? When you're an only child, you got nobody to do nothing with. You have to create something. So you are an only child, too.

Can't you tell? I'm a Long Islander. I'm an only child. I'm an sarcastic. There's all these little things to learn about me over time.

I'm glad you're able to kind of reveal a lot of yourself on the show as well. Yeah, storytelling, I think it's so. It's really interesting to me, and I try to observe. I think it's such a, you know, if podcast were a college course or college in itself. It's fascinating what you can learn from people. And I pay attention to the way they talk to me and. And some of the best interviews I've had are when people turn the mic in a very natural way, kind of really engage me as well. So I'm not just a robot asking questions, and they can't wait to get off the recording and just, you know, check one thing off the list. So I notice that there's a lot of visceral connection. Sometimes it's not about what they say, but how they approach you, how they look at you, and when they talk to you, as if the whole world disappears. Are you this you, and this whole interview is all that matters. It truly feels quite special sometimes, you.

Know, and thank you for sharing my value in that regard. I think as only children, all we've ever wanted was somebody to belong with.

Yeah. Yeah.

That's been the source of my greatest pleasure in life, is just remembering being that kid who was 8 year old on the swings. And for 30 minutes every day, we had recess and I didn't have any friends. I wasn't picked for kickball. I wasn't allowed to play with the girls or the boys, so I would go on the swings. And I still love swings to this day because they're calming and soothing and repetitive motion. But also it gave me time to really think and view myself and think about what would I create if I could create anything. And I remember dreaming that one day I would have friends everywhere I went. And that's actually true now. Like, if I go to Hong Kong, I have friends in Hong Kong. If I go here or there or the other place, I have friends everywhere I go. And that little boy's dream came true. And I know that everybody has that dream inside them and they're becoming that person. So my goal is to help people really just become more who they are. Right. And just remind themselves who the heck they are. Because I might use different language in a different setting, but because who you are is exactly who you need it to be. You're here for a reason, I believe. And the reason is for you to figure out. And it might be for a reason that's like, you know, concrete, distinct. Okay, reason. Right now, it could be for a season, right, in your life, or it could be for a lifetime. And by getting really clear on what those people, those purposes are as people, we can now have a life and a story that's meaningful and impactful.

Mm. And I think it's really powerful. Now you notice you aren't just telling your own stories, but you're giving other people opportunities to share theirs and as well. And that, to me, is a fascinating process, and it's almost like a byproduct of podcasting. A lot of people don't have this opportunity, you know, and they might never be asked again or never before or never again. It wasn't for you and for you to listen to that. Even without the recording and 15 hours of production and all the money and time that you poured into it, that would still have been special. But because, you know, we're doing what we decided to do, this is the investment that many people probably won't sign up for. So we already in the top, you know, 1, 2, 3%. So, yeah, it's. You know, I was listening to a show, I think, the James Altucher show, and one of the latest guests said that about 95% of the people who say that they're going to do something, not gonna do it. So if you've launched something, if you wrote that blog post, you launched the podcast, chances are you're already in the top 5%.

So that's brilliant. What was the catalyst that you said, okay, no more, not another day, not another minute. I'm launching my podcast. And how long you've been doing it, what has changed over the time you've been doing it, And I'd really love to just get your key lessons as far as you know, this has been the vehicle I've chosen to serve the world with and what I'd like it to become. And then ultimately that's gonna lead to my next question, which I won't give away.

Yeah. So three years in, I think it's a really interesting checkpoint. Instead of just building the show myself, I really asked my, you know, ask myself the sincere question to say, okay, where is this going? And now it's. Podcasting has become even more popular in the past, I would say year two years, I get text message and emails. No longer just about the show. Hey, I listened to the episode, I really liked it. But how did you set up your studio? How did you go about questioning? What if people say no? I think my mission starting in 2018, by the way, it has really already started with a pilot in this past, like October, November, which was to build a tribe of like minded podcasters who don't just want to talk about downloads and getting famous and rich and sponsorship and advertising. Like, what is the storytelling process? Like, what are the stories they feel like are important to them and let's create something of meaning. So that's, that's what I want to get into though that's one project I would say that I care about very much in 2018 to show people how to do that and also how to make money without counting the downloads. And so that happened to be one of the most popular ebook or lead gen I created, which was, by the way, inspired by Dori Clark who was talking to me and said, you have to write that. So I did. So related to podcasting, I'm also a freelancer. So two years ago I quit my job. I think it was considered very lucrative by many people, but I thanked everyone. I started my own journey. So I want to help other people to consider a freelance career as well. So, yeah, those are some of the sound bites hopefully I can throw in there. If you are interested in anything, I'm happy to dive in.

No it's beautiful. And I love Dory, by the way. We just had a great interview last week, and I'll be out in the next few weeks. So glad you brought her up because she's just an incredible lady and doing incredible stuff.

I love her.

Yeah.

She's so lovable. Yeah.

Yeah. Just a beautiful soul. That is it. That's all I can really say. And the fact that she lives in New York, I'm like, oh, boy. I live there for a year. I know what this is gonna do. But, hey, you know, she came from D.C. she can live anywhere. So how about you? Like what? What do you see? So we have this thing here. It's called Make More Marbles. Right. Not a lot of people kind of get it. They. It's a weird idea. It's this idea that we don't have to be the Hungry Hungry Hippos and grab for all the marbles. We can simply collaborate to make more. Right. And I truly believe that the world is abundant and it's getting better and better and better all the time. And pretty soon we're going to have these exponential technologies, if we don't have them already, that allow us to provide for people at a bigger and higher level. One of the ways we do that just here and now is we connect and catalyze people with the resources, the opportunities, the people and systems that they need to move their mission forward faster. We call it crops, a little fun acronym. And we'd really love, as an audience and speaking on behalf of the Make More Morals community, to know what are the things that we can help you move your mission more faster with, and what do those look like for you, both in the now and in the future, as far as creating the life that you want to create?

Interesting. You know, that's something. By the way, I watched the new animation that you put on your website, which I really liked with Hipposhop. Yeah. Yeah.

It took me four years to get it right.

Right. That. Wow, that was a serious project. So I think when people listen to these conversations, what really helps me is the reflections that they have and just hearing their comments and, you know, the things that we discussed or, you know, things that they wish we could elaborate on. So something along that line. And I also want to make sure I understand that question correctly as well.

Because how do we give back to you? You've been so generous in giving to us. What are the things that. If you were to just, you know. Because here's my thought. People aren't good at asking, and they aren't good at receiving. And that is the key thing that if you can learn to do, you can live in abundance.

Mm.

Hang up. Shame, blame, guilt, or, you know, I have a belief system that allows me finally, after many years of failing to never, ever judge anybody about what they're trying to do in the world just because I don't know it or I don't get it or I don't value it. Right. Because that in turn reflects on me and holds me back from doing the very best that I can do. So what are the things that we can give you to help you move forward faster?

When you say we, do, you refer to.

My community. Anybody listening at home?

I think I would like. Oh, that's a really interesting question. And honestly, like, very few people ask me this question. I think, you know, first of all, I would love an opportunity to meet you in person. You and your team in person. And I've, by the way, I've done a lot. It's an investment that I. Conscious investment I've been making the past two years is trying to meet up with people. I interview people who interview me in person, you know, through very casually and then just kind of done.

What's next? Easy.

Okay, cool. Cool.

To Boston either way.

Yeah. And, you know, I would really like to hear. Like to hear from people whether they listen to an episode, whether it's their feedback or something that in turn, that I could help them with because I feel like the conversations are often isolated. Right. You go to most podcasts and blogs, the very few comments, and when I do get them, they're through, you know, a lot of them, very private messages. They're very elaborate. But I want people to feel comfortable to ask questions and what they, you know, something to say and something in exchange. I think that would really help me to hear more on their opinions and sort of what inspires them and reflection.

That they have specific feedback on episodes. And you'd also really love to connect further with the people that you're connecting with.

Yeah. People who are listening to the show. Yeah.

Less volume or less leverage, More depth and connection.

Yes.

Okay, easy. And then if people want to reach out to you, what's the best way to do that?

So I'm everywhere. I'm by Faceworld, everywhere on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. So, yeah, you can find me in channels that you feel most comfortable. I also like to get emails. So that's faceworldgmail or fayefaceworld.com so I can send those links to you as well.

And that's f. E I s w o r l dashmail.com correct?

Yes.

Okay, perfect. So on behalf of everybody here at Make More Marvels and myself, I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so grateful you took the time. This has been one of my favorite interviews because it just had this warmth to it throughout.

Thank you, Brad.

So many people are just trying to check the boxes like you said, and I just want to say you're doing it right and I'm grateful. Thank you. Additionally, do you have anything that you'd like to leave the audience with? Any parting wisdom, any parting thoughts?

Sure, if people are listening. Happens to be, you know, sort of entrepreneurs. And a lot of you have thinking about podcasting. Doesn't matter if you have three episodes in the back or you're just thinking about it. I would welcome you to go to fazeworld.com and I have a ebook series. One of the. One of them I'm really proud of is how to Make Money as a Podcaster Without Counting the Downloads. I'll share the link with you, but I think I would love to hear some of the feedback and I really hope to start a conversation and collaboration instead of just throwing people like a listicle or a checklist. Let's talk about it.

Yeah, I just had a thought. We could always meet up in Beijing, too. I'll give China another try. I just. I feel very intimidated and I know that that's probably something I need to go towards. So, yeah. Faye, thank you so much for being here and I can't wait till we get to meet up in person.

Sounds good. Thank you so much for your time, Brad. Appreciate it. And when it comes out, I'll be sure to share with all my connections, my email list, and my audience as well about you and your show.

Thanks so much for listening to the Make More Marbles podcast for more tips, hacks and strategies to create an amazing, abundant life in your health, wealth and relationships, whatever that means to you. Head on over to makemoremarbles.com just check out our cool explainer video about what we're about and join our community of entrepreneurial game changers. We want to help you level up your life in every possible way. And don't forget to subscribe to us on itunes, Stitcher or Google Play, wherever you're listening to your podcasts. And please do leave a review. Thank you so much and we'll see you on the next podcast.