87. Gunnar Andri: Author of The Message From the Middle of Nowhere

Hello, Book Thinkers family, and welcome to episode number 87 of our personal development podcast, Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books. During each episode, I interview one of the world's top authors, and as a listener, you can expect to discover new books, new mentors, and new resources that you can use to achieve more and live better. In this episode, I have the pleasure to interview author Gunnar Andrée. For over 20 years, Gunnar has been a key player in the business of sales in Iceland, specializing in personal development for both individuals and organizations, managing sales initiatives, and offering training seminars and lectures for thousands of willing students. Prior to filming today's show, I was actually able to spend a week with Gunnar exploring Iceland and learning all about him and his business. Our conversation today is about Gunnar's 2017 release. Message from the Middle of Nowhere: Icelandic Viking Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life. Although Icelandic is his first language, he did an excellent job on today's show speaking English, and I think you're really going to learn a lot from Gunnar. So without further ado, please enjoy this amazing conversation with author Gunnar Andrí. Gunnar, welcome to the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books podcast. How are you doing today?

I'm doing fantastic. Thank you, Nick.

I'm very excited for today's conversation. We're actually recording this in Iceland.

Yes.

Yes, we are. And I've had an amazing week. We'll jump into some of that in just a minute. But for those in my audience that are not familiar with you or your book, could you please introduce yourself to everybody?

Yes, of course. My name is Gunnar Andri Thorisson. Thorisson in English. I'm a professional speaker here in Iceland. I've been doing that for 25 years now. I'm the author of the book Message from the Middle of Nowhere. I'm an entrepreneur, business owner, and a lot of other things also. I have one daughter, 32 years old, and yeah, I was born, I was born here in Iceland.

And now he has a son named Nicholas who lives in the United States but really enjoys Iceland. So let's go back to when did you decide that you wanted to write a book? I mean, you've had so many crazy stories. When did you say, I need to put this in a book?

Long time ago, actually. When I made some mistakes or even maybe when my business was failing or something, I always explained to myself, This is okay, this is only going to make my book better. So, yeah, it was a long time ago.

I think that's a fun lesson. Let's jump into that a little bit more. So whenever something crazy would happen, crazy good or crazy bad, you would always just level yourself by saying, this will just make my book even better.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Always take the positive out of this negative situation, I think.

Well, you know what's funny is when I was trying to come visit you, almost a year ago, COVID, you know, COVID was happening and it was tough for me to get to the country. So we said, all right, it will make it even better when I do get to visit. And then my plane got canceled on the way here and okay, it will make it even better when we get here. And then we had some other issues like the rental car and stuff like that, but you know what, it made it even better. So I love that mentality.

Yeah, you have to think in solutions.

Yes, you do. No problems, only solutions, right?

Yes.

Yeah, I love that. So when you were growing up, in this book you say that your grandma had a big influence on you in terms of reading. She really encouraged reading. Could you talk a little bit about that?

Yes, actually my mother was the same. She was collecting books and reading a lot of books, and actually when she died when I was 11 years old and I didn't know did not know what to think and what to do. So I started reading some of the books that she owns, and one of the books was The Power of Positive Thinking after Norman Vincent Peale. So I started really young reading personal development books. And when I moved to my grandmother, she was actually the same. So she was always, you have to read, you have to read. Readers are leaders. And yeah, I was raised up by that.

Yeah, I love that. So take us back to young Gunnar. Tell us a little bit about what was your childhood like? I mean, maybe you could tell a story from the book, but you do detail a few of those in the book.

Yeah, my story was, like I say in the first chapter, when the eruption starts, location is everything. I start selling newspaper on the busy corner here in downtown Reykjavík. I was only 6 years old, and there's a little bit funny story in the book about that. So I have been selling all my life, but when I got my first sales job at 17, I was the worst salesperson I ever met in my life.

I love that confidence. So, you know, this podcast is a good introduction to the book, right? If somebody's watching today, they want to learn a little bit more about you, They want to learn a little bit more about this book and maybe they want to learn a little bit more about Iceland as well. In the acknowledgments, you say, I am grateful, I am thankful to have been born in Iceland. So tell everybody a little bit about the culture here, like why is Iceland so special to you?

We are only 360,000 people and we think we are best in everything. This is the attitude and we think we are best in music, we are best in, you know, even movies and writing books. And it doesn't matter what we do because we always have a way to explain things to ourselves. Like, we are best because we are so few per capita. So this is really much the Icelandic way of thinking that, you know, and there's a lot of competition here going on. We are only 360,000. Everybody knows everybody. And you don't want to be—

Well, you mentioned that when you were younger you read The Power of Positive Thinking, but you also read a lot of fiction books. And so this book right here is sort of a combination of both worlds, right?

Yeah.

It tells some mystical stories about Iceland. We have elves and trolls and all sorts of things, but then you have a lot of advice from your time as a sales leader and as a business owner, an entrepreneur. So, There's a good mix of both in here. Why'd you decide to do that?

Because I wanted— I have read, I don't know how many hundreds of books or even thousands. I have no clue. And many personal development books are similar to me. They have just some list to do. And I wanted to write a book with storytelling. Like, you know, Nick, when you read the book, it's really much about storytelling. And I also wanted to mix together also all kinds of Icelandic folk story, even the Viking mentality, how we think, and mix it together. And the best way to do it at this time was to just tell my story and mix it that way. So, yes, but next book will be novel and it will be totally different.

Yeah, well, I think there's a lot of fantastic advice in here. For everybody that's listening today, the subtitle of Gunnar's book, Message from the Middle of Nowhere, is Icelandic Viking philosophy for conquering the challenges of business and life. And what initially interested me about this book a couple of years ago when I first read it was that I loved Vikings when I was younger. I thought that they were the coolest thing in the world. I always wanted to be a Viking for Halloween and, you know, whenever I was hanging out with my friends. So, you know, it's a good combination of, like you say in the subtitle, Icelandic Viking philosophy and folk stories mixed with business.

Yes. Yeah, and I'm really happy with this book, you know, especially because I'm getting letters, especially on Instagram. People are thanking me for this book. And I know about a lot of people that actually have come here to Iceland and visit our beautiful country because they were reading the book. Some people read the book because they're curious about Iceland. Some people read this book because they have the entrepreneur mind have the entrepreneur burning inside, if I can say so.

Yeah, no, I think so. Now I will tell everybody a couple of the stories so far and then we will go back into the book. So when I arrived here, the day that we arrived here, we did a little private plane tour over Iceland and we got to see a volcano from the sky, which was really cool. And then we went to Westman Island and got to meet some local people. We got to experience some local food. And is that where your grandfather is from?

Yes, from Westman Island, and I wanted to take you over there because the first chapter, like I say, when the eruption starts, location was everything. There was a big eruption going on there in 1973, January 23rd, and I wanted to show you around, and that's why we went there, yes.

Yeah, and then in the book you start talking a little bit about selling newspapers, so there is a quote that I would like to read from the book, and I would like to have you explain the story for everybody. So in chapter 1, you say, You quote, the giant in your path can turn into a gnome if you have a troll on your side. So first tell the story and then I want to tell you kind of how I interpret the story.

Yeah, actually the story is like this. When I was 6 years old, I was sneaking out to sell a newspaper on the busy corner downtown Reykjavik and there was an older guy, a small one, and he was around the corner selling newspaper. And he said to all the small paper boys, you cannot sell the newspaper here because, you know, I own this corner. And I thought to myself, he don't own Reykjavík. I can sell here. But he said to me, if you're not going, I will call the police. And come on, I was only 6 years old. So I wanted to sell on this corner because this was a busy corner. And very close to this corner was a supermarket, and in front of the supermarket was a man standing collecting money for, how do you say it in English, Red—

The Red Cross or Salvation Army?

Yeah, Salvation Army, thank you. And I asked the guy if he could move a few meters and stand between, stand with me And I will give him a little bit percent of the commission I was getting from the newspaper, and then he had to take care of me that this other guy, Ole, the newspaper king, and he had been there for this corner for many years, he could not do anything about it. So for me, he was a troll. He was so big, but I was only 6 years old, so he took care of me. I paid him a commission. And everybody was making money and that was enough for everybody. So I have always think like that, if someone is helping me out, you know, I am willing to do something instead.

Now I have gone through the book a couple of times now, you know I really enjoy the book, and on the way here I was reading Message from the Middle of Nowhere on the plane and I went back through that lesson And I thought to myself, that's so important in business and life because if you can team up with people, mentors who can help you along your journey, and you can also help them a little bit, like you were chipping off a little bit of the commission and you were making sure that you could donate to his cause, the one that he was representing. Recently with Book Thinkers, I've been thinking of doing a conference, like putting a bunch of authors on stage and and selling tickets to the conference. And if I had some big names, right, that were going to be on stage that were standing next to me and I was chipping off a piece of the commission to them, then it becomes much easier to sell tickets to that conference. I am leveraging their credibility, I am borrowing their credibility.

I did that. That is exactly what I did in this case.

And you did it at 6 years old?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And this is a true story, like all the stories in the book.

Do you think that you were born a salesman? That's a subject you talk about.

No, I was not born as a salesman, but I was really good in this when I was really young. But when I got the first, you know, the serious sales job, I had no clue. So I started to read all the books I could find about sales and take all the seminars. There were not so many here in Iceland. And actually, I got I was only 12 years old when I got the idea to start sales training school. And now I have been doing that for 25 years here in Iceland. And I think it's personally crazy in this small market, but I have been lucky that I have the same company still, you know, buying my service after 25 years. So yeah, so what can I say?

Yeah, I think, You know, I think the subject of sales and money is one that a lot of people are going to want to listen about. I mean, you have business and life advice in here. And let's talk a little bit about money. In the beginning of the book, you said that when you were growing up, the subject of money wasn't really talked about in your home.

Yes. In the beginning, I heard not so positive things about money, but money is actually really good. It's like a tool. You can do a lot of great things with the money. And so I cannot believe that. Something wrong with money.

Yeah, and you say in the book that money is actually neutral.

Neutral, yes.

It's not positive or negative, right?

Actually, it's an idea.

Yeah, why do you think so many people are scared to talk about money?

For many reasons. One of them may be because they're not used to it. They maybe grow up in this kind of environment like I did. And I don't know, maybe because that, maybe because they— I wish I have the answer, but I think there are many reasons. I think it's not only one reason for that, but if you are used to talk about money in the kitchen table, then you talk maybe probably more about it, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Now you mentioned you have a daughter. Did you talk about money with her when she was younger?

Yes, and I also— told her really early on that if you don't ask, the answer is always no.

Yeah, it's a great lesson.

So she is really good in asking me.

For money and everything else. Now, you also just said that money is just an idea.

Yeah.

What do you mean by that?

It's just an idea. I mean, for example, you know, I'll go into detail in the next book, if I can pitch that, But, you know, it's just the idea. Everything starts with the idea. And for example, the story in the book when, you know, I was washing my car, I got the idea, I'm always cleaning my car here every week, so I have to do something about it. And then when I was waiting, when they were cleaning the car, I just talked to the manager and said, hey, all of these guys, they need T-shirts and something. Do you give them t-shirts? They say no. So, okay, I will bring them a t-shirt and I will put my logo on. STI is Sales Training of Gunnars André. And I will also give them a cap, but I didn't have any t-shirt or any cap. So I called the guy I knew that was manufacturing this t-shirt and cup, and I said to him, you need a sales course for your people, so you give me a t-shirt and you give me a cup. And this was in the early days when I was just starting. And now I have a problem because I didn't have any place to hold the seminar. So I called the hotel and I said, you have some people that are selling, so why don't we make a change that you give me a hotel and you bring some people to the seminars. Then I needed, how do you call it, where you printing out for them to study?

Like paper or?

Yeah, browser or something, no.

A brochure.

Brochure, yeah. Okay, then I needed a browser and then I called the company and let's make some deal. And when my car was clean, I went back to them and said, hey, listen, You will get your t-shirt after maybe 2 weeks, and I will come here every week for next— I don't remember, maybe 2 or 3 years or something. But there was never any money that went between—

That exchanged hands.

No, no, there was no money. So it's just the idea. I got this idea and everybody got everything they wanted. They got the t-shirt, they were happy about that, you know, they got the sales training, I got the, you know, room of the hotel for the seminar and everything. And of course, then I sold some other tickets to other people. So I actually, you know, this was just idea.

Yeah, no, I've actually told that story over the last couple of years to a lot of different people. Yeah, because oftentimes we think, I think especially as small entrepreneurs or young business owners, like we think We have to exchange money for goods and services, and that's not always true. You can exchange different forms of currency and different values. As an example, you can get your car cleaned for free every week for 2 years if you provide t-shirts and caps. You can get the t-shirts and caps for free and have your logo on them by providing other types of value. And so, you know, I've used that same framework that you teach in this book to travel. I've used it to meet amazing people, get mentoring, coaching, access to products and services. And people are always willing to exchange different currencies. So yeah, it's a great lesson.

Yeah, you have to think outside the box. Actually, I have a News for you, there is no box.

Yes, that is very true. What do you mean by that?

There is no box. When you are talking about and saying you have to think outside the box, I have no clue what box you are always— people are talking about because they made up some box in their mind and I don't think there is any box.

Yeah, that was one of my biggest lessons when I first started reading. I remember in The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, he says, You know, society's expectations, this box that we are supposed to live within, he said it is just a societal construct, it is made up, it is totally fake.

Yes, absolutely correct.

Yeah, when did you realize that in your life?

I don't remember, many years ago.

Many years ago, yeah. So in chapter 2, because remember I want to highlight some of this book so that everybody can understand some of the value that is in here. I love how you say that in North Iceland, you're not a true horseman unless you've been thrown off your horse at least once. So how does that relate to entrepreneurship?

I mean, it's almost guaranteed if you're an entrepreneur, you're going to fail, and many times maybe. So it's— and also you learn from it. So if you fail, you have to go straight away back to On your horse again. So yeah, I have failed many times as an entrepreneur, and I've always learned a lot of things from failing more than from success.

Yeah, I think the same thing. I think you've got to fail as fast as possible. But what I don't like is, especially in the US— now tell me if it's the same here in Iceland— that the traditional school system, it teaches you not to fail, right? You get in trouble if you fail. But in the real world, If you don't fail, you get in trouble. So it's a little strange how that works.

Yeah, so true. It's the same here in Iceland. I think it's the same all over the world, to be honest. I think so.

I wonder why that is.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm like you, I have been traveling a lot and it seems like things are not so different. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, you know, the basic.

Yeah. Now speaking of the horses, right, if you don't get thrown off your horse at least once, you're not a horseman. If you don't fail at least once, you're not A real entrepreneur. Rachel and I, my girlfriend, we have been traveling all over Iceland for the last couple of days, and one thing she said is everybody in Iceland has perfect hair, right? You have got like the blonde hair, the light-colored hair, it always looks good. She said the horses all have perfect hair as well, which is really funny.

They are original Viking horses.

Yeah, Viking horses. Yeah, that is cool. Yeah, and because we have been traveling all over, I just wanted to say that Iceland is unlike any other country that I have been to, and I have been traveling a lot over the last couple of years. I don't love the cold weather, but the weather is really beautiful here during the summer. I mean, when the sun is out, you don't even really feel like you need a jacket. And so the landscapes and the different things that we have been able to see, like sometimes you feel like you are on another planet because it is so different here.

Yeah, and when you start to know some Icelanders, you think also they are from Other planet, I think.

Well, speaking of that, what I found really interesting is that Icelandic people believe in a lot of mystical things, right?

Yes, some, not very, not many, but actually Icelanders don't believe in general in elves and this kind of story, but they love this story and they are so crazy and yeah. But we have nothing to do just few years ago in living in a turf house and in darkness in the wintertime, there is only 4 hours sun. So we tell story and we are really good in telling story and that's why I want to structure my books by storytelling.

Now when you originally wrote your book, it was in Icelandic and then somebody had to help you translate it to English, right?

I did not translate. I have dyslexia. English is not my, how do you say, mother tongue?

Yeah, first language.

First language, thank you. And yeah, so I had to have it translated, and I was never happy about the translation completely. But then I was lucky and I met a girl, a woman, Maria, on my way home from Boston, and she did a lot of great job for me, and she didn't want any money for it. Anything, so she was just happy to help.

Yeah.

Just because I was nice to her, sitting next to her and I was helping her out, what to do and what to see in Iceland and yeah.

That's another example of exchanging different currencies, right? You provided advice and she provided a service back to you to help translate the book.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it seems like you do a lot of that.

A lot of that, yes.

Now, another thing, we have talked about this a little bit, but I thought this was fascinating in chapter 2. You say that the average life expectancy for somebody in Iceland is 83 years old.

Yes, true.

And I looked that up today, it also is true. It is actually closer to 83 and a half now. And in the US, it is only 78. So the average person will live 5 years longer in Iceland than in the United States. Why do you think that is?

Maybe for many reasons, we think that we are actually, we are used to living in this kind of, yeah, I think the strongest have just lived through this, so it is maybe in the gene, I don't know.

Like the cold weather?

Yes, cold weather, warming houses. You know, my grandma was born in a turf house. We don't have to go so way back. And maybe it's in the gene, it was a gene. And maybe it's the water, maybe it's the fish oil. I don't know. The food is very clean. We don't eat so much fast food, maybe. Which we, I don't know.

Yeah, the food is very clean. I will tell everybody that is watching and listening today that while I have been here in Iceland, I have tried some new foods. So I had puffin, smoked puffin, which is like a little penguin-type bird, but you have got to eat what you have got to eat here. I also had horse carpaccio, which I never thought I would have, so I ate horse, raw horse. I had seared whale, I had lamb stew, so I have had a lot of good food here. And it's interesting because there's not a lot of fried food. It's a lot of good meat, a lot of good oils, a lot of good fats. And the cold weather is better for sleeping. I know that from reading so many books about sleep.

Yeah. Yes, absolutely.

And also the water here, it has sulfur in it because 99% of the energy in Iceland is renewable energy. A lot of like the heating of the water and stuff like that is done naturally and it just feels really good on your skin.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you get used to the smell?

Yes, yeah, you do. So it does smell a little bit when you turn on the hot water in the sink when you go to brush your teeth or take a shower, but you get used to it very quickly.

Yes.

I already don't even notice it anymore and I have only been here for about 5 days.

Yeah, it is same like everything. I mean, if you are, you know, If you're surrounded by losers, you will not notice.

Yeah, very true.

Yeah.

Yeah. And you, you know, from the friends that I've met of yours so far and from the friends that you talk about, it seems like you surround yourself with a lot of very successful people.

Yes.

Yeah.

I've known them, most of my friends for, yeah, 20, 30, 40 years. And they have got— they have gone up and down in business, but yeah, Most of my friends is doing fantastic, yes.

Do you believe that you are the average of the 5 people that you spend the most time with?

You're quoting Jim Rohn, yes. It's absolutely true.

Yeah, I think so too.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you're surrounded by winners, you will start to think like a winner, work like a winner, talk like a winner, and become like a— and become winners, yes.

Yeah, I think so. And in chapter 3, you talk a little bit about the Turbo Gang.

Yeah.

And you say it's one of the most valuable resources in your life, so what is that?

Because we have known each other for 40 years and we are still friends and once a month at least, once a week sometimes, we meet and have some, yeah, just maybe for 1 hour and I think this is very valuable.

What do you talk about?

Sometimes just Daily life, what's going on, how are you doing, you know, something like that. Nothing special, just, you know, hang around with guys that you have known for many, many years.

Yeah, I asked because I have an accountability group that I meet with on a weekly basis, and I've been meeting with them for about, for a few years now, you know, and I hope it continues forever. But when somebody gets to talk to you on a weekly basis and they know the business that you're in, the friends that you're around, your family situation, You can get a lot of good advice from people like that.

Yeah, that's, that's the other group, my friends that are maybe even more in business and real estate business and all kinds of business. Then we talk much more about this, you know, how are you doing and, and what's going on and something like that.

How'd you come up with the name the Turbo Gang?

I came up with the name because I was just saying this is something great. This is turbo and Then just, then we found the name Turbo Gang.

Yeah, that's cool.

Just happened.

Have a lot of your friends from when you were younger, does everybody stay in Iceland or do people move to other countries?

Most of my friends have stayed here in Iceland, yeah. Some of them maybe moved to other countries, but for a very short period of time.

Yeah, there just seems like there is so much pride for Iceland, you know, like if you are born here, you just love it. Everybody seems to love it. You'd be very proud of it.

Yeah, I think we are quite proud, yes. I think that.

Yeah.

That's true.

So back to chapter 2, there was another lesson that I wanted to talk about on today's show, the word maybe. So you say that when we're young, maybe means yes, but when we're old, maybe means no.

Yeah.

And at some point that switches.

Yes, exactly. I mean, I know that when I said to my daughter many years ago, maybe, she was so happy, say, ah, Daddy said yes. So it's like when people are selling, when they hear, I have to think about it, similar to maybe, they think like the client is going to think about it, but he's maybe in many cases saying no. Or you know, and the salespeople take this thing about it as a no, but it doesn't have to be a no.

Yeah. So when you hear maybe, what do you do?

Fantastic. So there is a chance.

Yeah. I always like. I forget who said this, but they said the sale doesn't start until somebody says no. Yeah.

True.

You know, or maybe. Otherwise, it's not really a sale if you knock on somebody's door. And you're selling books and they just say, give me everything that you have.

Yeah.

You know, that's not— it doesn't take a salesperson to do that.

Exactly.

Yeah. Why do you think sales is such an important skill to learn? Hello, Book Thinkers family. A quick word from today's podcast sponsor. Today's episode is sponsored by Audible. Audible is the leading provider of spoken word entertainment and audiobooks. Ranging from bestsellers to celebrity memoirs, business, and my favorite, personal development. And as part of Audible's partnership with us, we're actually offering listeners a free 30-day trial. This trial includes one credit good for any Premium Selection titles you'd like on the whole platform. So that's pretty much any book, including the one we're talking about today. That book is yours to keep even after the trial is over. Now, this trial also includes access to Audible's Plus catalog of podcasts, audiobooks, guided wellness programs, and Audible Originals. You can listen all you want, no credits needed. Now everyone on the Book Thinkers Instagram knows that I love physical paper books. There's nothing better than having a book in your hand, scribbling notes everywhere in the margins. I kind of tear those things up, but I've been completing an additional 20 to 30 books every single year using Audible by listening when I'm in the car, doing chores around the house, or while I'm on my morning walks or runs. You could take advantage of this free trial by clicking the link in today's show notes or going to www.bookthinkers.com/audibletrial. You will not regret it. Now back to today's episode.

Because everybody is selling every day. It doesn't matter what you do for a living. I mean, you're selling your spouse to go to this theater, another theater, and your spouse selling you idea, we should have a steak or we should have fish or whatever. Everybody are selling from their just born and start by little child screaming.

Yeah.

So everybody is selling. And also, we are also selling ourselves idea. Should I buy these shoes or should I, you know, buy these things? And we think in our mind, okay, do I need it? Do I want it? You know, do I accept the price? Am I going to use it or something? We think about it even when we don't think or we are thinking about it. So everybody are selling everyone everything anytime. And we are also selling ourselves all kind of idea from we wake up till we go to sleep and maybe when we are sleeping also, I think.

Yeah, and every commercial and piece of advertising is trying to sell us to go do something. You've, you know, sometimes once you understand sales psychology, you can use it defensively, you know, not to get, not to get absorbed in those things too much.

I mean, everybody's selling. It is just question about are you good in it or not good. So everybody benefited to learn the basic of selling, to understand it, how it works, and it can help when you're applying for a job, When you're selling your car, whatever. So, but when I started in sales many years ago, you know, and people ask me, what do you do for a living? And I said, I'm selling, knocking doors, selling books. So people said, okay, why don't you just get a job? Because this was not the work. This was not the job. This was something else. Crazy.

Yeah, that is crazy. So let's talk a little bit more about that. In the beginning of chapter 3, you do talk a little bit about Your door-to-door sales. So for me, I actually ran my own house painting business when I was in college, and I had to generate all of my own business. And I had to do that through door-to-door selling. So every weekend when I was at college, I would drive 2 hours home and I would spend my entire Saturday and Sunday knocking on doors. And I was very bad at the beginning. I was not a natural communicator. But through repetition and over time and using some of the things that you talk about in this book, I wish I had it back then. You know, I became pretty efficient at it after 2 years of selling. So what are some tips that you would have for people about selling? You know, what are some of the things that you remember from those days that you still use today?

Rule number one in selling is be on Be honest. No bullshit. No bullshit. You can sell a lot and you don't have to sell something to somebody that if he doesn't want it, doesn't need it, don't accept the price, and is probably not going to use it. You don't have to sell him because there's a lot of customers out there. And so rule number 1, be honest. That's really, really important. And sell something that you really believe in yourself. And if you cannot sell your brother or sister or your mother or father or best friend, don't sell it.

Yeah, that's a great lesson. Yeah, I think a lot of times people just get into sales for the money.

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that, but choose the right product.

Yeah, yeah, you can have the best of both worlds. Sell something that you believe in and make a lot of money. Yeah, and, and I mean, for me, I realized sort of in the beginning of college that In order to effectively communicate in any area of my life, like you said earlier, selling your spouse on what restaurant you want to go to and what you want to eat, I needed to improve those skills. And so door-to-door sales definitely helped me do that. There is a lesson in the book that I really like where you say that one little trick you would use is, and if you knocked on thousands of doors but you only sold a few of them, you would average out your commission over every door.

Yeah.

You average your yeses across your yeses and nos, and then your nos just become part of the process. Yeah, you make a dollar every time you knock on a door, no matter what.

It's the same, you know, you always get paid for hearing no also. You get paid for hearing no. That's the beauty. If somebody says no to you, say thank you very much.

Yeah. Over the years, what are some of the things that you've sold?

Wow. Wow.

Newspapers and books, we've covered those so far, but I know you talk about some other things in the book too.

Most of my life I have been selling business to business because I have been 25 years in this business of helping companies make better service and more sales. So I've been doing that mostly, and also I have been selling books door to door, like you mentioned. I actually have sold a lot of other things for like, For example, advertisement, for example, also insurance. You know, I was part of, I was also founder of one insurance company and it became really big. It's not in the books, but you know, so I've been selling insurance, all kinds of just both idea products and all kinds of things. Yeah.

And now you are selling books.

Excuse me?

Now you are selling books.

Yeah, I am back to basics.

Yeah, that's true. You started selling newspapers and books and now you are back to books.

Yeah, yeah.

Now when you were writing this book, Message from the Middle of Nowhere, who was the target reader for the book in your mind when you were writing it?

I had a really clever— excuse me, clever. I had a really clear picture of who I was writing the book for. Actually, I thought about some person similar like you, Nick, to be honest. I thought about maybe, yeah, 24, 23, 25, 35, someone that is entrepreneur-minded, have burning entrepreneur fire in the heart. That was the main audience I was writing for. And also if you're curious about Iceland. But now these books have surprised me so much that actually I have a much bigger audience than I ever imagined. So, yeah, I was writing the book for entrepreneur-minded people.

What are, you know, when you were writing the book, you had this type of person in mind. If somebody was to say, okay, I am interested in the book, like what am I going to get out of it?

Motivation also. You will get motivation. You will get a lot of knowledge about Iceland, of course. But you know, this book— okay, I will explain it in this way. The people that have been sending me thank you notes, most of them are thanking me because this book helped them to rise up again, stand up again, don't give up. And you know— And they saw in the book this, the life is ups and downs. It's not always the straight line. I mean, it's straight line if you're dead. So yes, this will— many messages are really simple, but they may be told in a different way. And that's sometimes just what you needed. So yeah, the book was to help people To, you know, don't give up.

Yeah, no, I love what you just said, which is that a lot of messages are similar, but they are just told in a different way. And as somebody who grew up in the US, when I was young, I didn't really have a big desire to travel and meet people from other countries. I, you know, similar to the people of Iceland, I just thought the people in the US were the best and I didn't need to go anywhere, but then I started to travel And I realized there is so much world to see, there are so many other perspectives on the same issues, and it is good to have those, you know, to read those other perspectives. That is why I would encourage anybody from the US to read this book because although it is written in English, you know, you can buy it in English, it is written by somebody that is not from the United States. And, you know, I have got a lot of young professionals in this audience, people who love sales and entrepreneurship lessons, and you are telling these stories in a different way. It helps you see things from a different angle. angle. So I think it's valuable for that reason.

Yeah, many people have sent me messages and thanked me for that. I have no clue how many. Some days I get a few per day.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

Yeah, does that feel good?

Yeah, that's why I'm, you know, starting to write my new book. So because there was a— it was so much big motivation for me because they were asking, when is the next book coming?

Yeah, no, I love that. In chapter 3, you do talk a little bit about travel. So I know you said, you know, people who maybe want to visit Iceland can read this book and get a good idea of what to come see and what to do. What was your first international trip?

First trip when I went to was to Japan. Yeah, it was 1986 and I was 18 years old. So I did not start traveling very young, but now I have visited more than 60 countries, and I have no clue how many trips I have been taking since then. But the first trip was in Tokyo for 1 month, Tokyo and Kyoto.

Yeah, that's crazy. And, uh, now you spoke English, so is that the language that you use to get around Japan or?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

What percentage of people in Tokyo were speaking English at that time?

Actually, we have a friend there was Japanese, so sometimes we spoke to him and then he spoke Japanese. But young people there was quite good in English, probably much better than me.

Yeah, and now you have been to 60 countries, so what are some of your favorite countries to travel to?

It is really hard to say. I love Greece, of course, because I used to live there. And this is a tough question, Nick, really. I love Stockholm, I love being in Sweden, and I have been there for, I don't know, 20, 30 times or more. Stockholm is a beautiful place. I like to go to USA also, but there's so— I mean, Cleveland, Ohio is really different from Las Vegas or Boston. It's really different, so hard to say. I don't know.

Well, I'll be going to Greece in a couple of weeks, so actually at the end of next week, almost one week from today. Yeah, I am very excited for that.

I had a crazy time in Africa and there is also, like I mentioned in the book, there is a little boy named after me. His name is André and his son, if he is going to have a son, is going to be named André and for generations and generations. And that happened just because I was giving, I was giving some family, all kinds of stuff because they have a new baby and I wanted to help and I did not ask for anything instead, but they named the boy Andre after me. So yeah, life can be strange sometimes.

Yes, it can, but it's cool. You never know what's going to happen when you're traveling and when you're meeting new people.

Yeah, yeah. We have a word for it in Icelandic called heimskur. Some people think that means stupid, But heimskur means actually you have not seen so much out of the world. You just have lived in your small village and you have not seen anything. So people that— yeah, people need to travel and open their mind and see more than just the local town, I think.

How do you say message from the middle of nowhere in Icelandic?

Yeah. I have never had this question before. Skilabod Frau Medjuni Aukverki.

I don't think I could try to repeat that. I don't know what would come out of my mouth.

Skilabod Frau Medjuni Aukverki.

Is that what it says on the?

Aukverki er Iceland.

Is that what it says on the title? Is that like the COVID of the book in Icelandic, or is it written in a different way?

There is no book in Icelandic.

Oh, okay.

Only in English.

So you wrote it in Icelandic, but now there's only a book in English?

Yes, because this is not for the Icelandic market because, for example, I tell the readers I live on a street called Elfhild Road, in Icelandic, Álfhöllsviúr, and there's a story behind that why. And some of my readers have been saying to me, really? Is it true? Is it road that is called Elf Hill Road? And you have this hill and elves live there. And, you know, no Icelander will ever say to me, hey, really? Did you live on Álfhölsur? No way. That's never going to happen.

It's kind of a wow moment, you know? Yeah.

So, but what surprised me really much was many Icelanders actually have bought this book. It's sold out now in Iceland, very few copies left. So there's a next print coming up.

That's awesome. Yeah, good for you. Well, you tell a lot of stories like the avalanche story that, you know, wouldn't be so surprising for people that grew up here to be stuck between 2 avalanches, you know, but for me, I've never seen an avalanche. I've never heard of anybody that's been stuck between 2 avalanches. So could you tell that story?

Yeah, that was crazy. I was doing my best to I tried to explain it in the book. And it was crazy when we were on this sales trip and we just bought a mobile phone. At that time, it was crazy. There was only one news guy, one guy from the news here with a phone like this. It was really, really expensive. And the short version of the story, the driver, Ole, he said, we are in this dangerous area. This is one of the most dangerous roads in Iceland, the east part Iceland. And he said, probably, we have to be careful because here is avalanches coming so many times. And Ole said to Siggi, hey, Siggi, take a look at the mountains and let us know if you see any movement or something. And we were quite scared, and we did not see anything in front of the car. because the weather was like that and there's road sticks that we was driving, we just saw the road sticks and we were driving by that. And on the right hand, there was a cliff down to the sea, so it was actually really dangerous. Then suddenly we saw, and it was like in slow motion, that when we saw the avalanche coming down and we almost, you know, We did, you know, how do you say it? We bent over. I mean, because it was so crazy and it was just a— I don't know. It was not so— a few seconds, maybe. I don't know. One minute? No. I have no clue. It was— but in my memory, it was— and it was like really slow motion. Then we had a problem and we said, listen, we have to— we can't— What are we going to do? It's really hard to drive back, you know, because the weather was really bad. And then came another avalanche, so we were actually stuck between 2 avalanches, and we were in shock sitting there, you know, in the middle of nowhere. But lucky enough, we had this phone that everybody made fun of us. So, Yeah, so and and we were sitting there maybe for you know a few minutes and we were watching out of the window. Then we saw some light and we thought, "What what is going on?" And there was a small old Russian Jeep Lada Sport. It's what's called in front of us, and there was a couple with a French couple with a. with a child, and they came and we did not even see. And they were really, really lucky because there was maybe half a meter or something that they were so close. So that was, yes, this was crazy. And I'm just lucky to be alive. And at this time, did it come to any news or anything, you know. It was crazy. Still in this area can this happen, but the road is much better there now. And in the summertime, if there have been raining, you can expect maybe big rocks to go there also, and you can also maybe see that rock have been falling. But now it's really easy to tell people about it or close the road. So everything is really, really different. Yes.

From—

yeah, this is, this is actually chapter 4, Stuck Between Two Avalanches.

Yeah, no, it is. Um, and, and that's why I brought it up. I wanted to give everybody a highlight of another story that you tell in the book. And even while I've been driving around Iceland for the last few days, I see those signs on the side of the road that say, watch out for the rocks falling from the mountains onto the street, because it definitely happens.

Yeah, yeah, of course.

Yeah. And then in chapter 5, you know, this will be probably the last chapter we talk a little bit about before we wrap up, just again to give everybody an introduction to the book. You talk about sales mastery a lot and about how it takes time. It seems like Brian Tracy is one of your favorite sales mentors. Is that true?

Yes, he is one of them. And I was lucky to have met him a few times. Yeah, he was one of them and also Tom Hawkins, if you know Tom Hawkins, I have met him also. And yeah, a few of them, yeah.

I know Jordan Belfort has been down here before, too. So with Brian Tracy in the story, you say that you used to tell like the flight attendants and stuff like that, go to the US, get all of the personal development information that you can and bring it back to me. And so you were given these recordings of Brian Tracy speaking, like sales information, right?

Yeah, actually, I have always been so hungry to listen and learn and read books and also listen to great podcasts like yours. So, yeah, it has always been like that, that I have been, you know, but now the times have changed. We don't even have the cassette anymore, audio cassette. If you call it like that. But yeah, now you can just go to the internet, listen to great podcasts like yours, and learn a lot of things. And I don't understand it if people don't do it.

Yeah, it's free. It's free. Or like I always say, a book, it costs $20 and a couple hours of your time, and it can change your life.

And think about it, it took me 4 years to write it.

Yeah, you're condensing decades of information into days that people can read about.

And I was really much thinking about it when I was writing this book. I wanted to bring as much value in the book I really could, both to know a little bit about Iceland and also give this message and motivation. Yeah, that was really, really important for me.

Well, I am not making this up, but when I was rereading the book on the flight here, I tapped Rachel on the shoulder. She was watching a TV show with her headphones on and I said, This is a really good book. Like, you know me, I read 100 books every year, so I have probably read 200 books since I read this the first time. I read a lot of books. And I tapped her and I said, this is a really good book. There is a ton of good information in here.

I think so, yeah. And so many people have also told me that. I am not bragging, I am really proud of this. And I feel really great when I hear it because that was my goal, because I wanted to, you know, people can buy this book and it was $20 worth it.

Yeah, so when you were younger, you were reading a lot of books and you were trying to get as much like personal development information as possible, and now you are an author.

Yeah.

So it has sort of come full circle, just like selling books, now you are an author.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is crazy how that works.

And I love it.

And you love it, yeah. So for people that want to learn a little bit more about you, They want to see maybe like a website or some more information about the book. They want to buy a copy of the book. Where should they go? What should they do?

The book is available in almost all bookstores in Iceland. Of course, almost sold out now, but there's a few books left now. But one new printing is coming, bigger ones. So then it's Amazon. And that's the only place they can get the book. But if they want to find something about me, it's best to go to gunnarandri.com or Gunnar Andri Thorisson on Instagram. I have the most the conversation there and on Instagram is platform that seems working really good for me. So but yeah, you can also Google my name. It's really easy. Gunnar Andri. Yeah, there are not many.

And most of my audience knows that I am really involved in Instagram, obviously, @bookthinkers, and I have seen your book on so many pages. You know, you have done such a good job making sure that the social media book communities are aware of your book, and I have heard nothing but positive reviews from anybody that has read it so far.

Yeah, thank you very much, Nick. I appreciate to hear that, and yes, that is true. I have been You know, it doesn't matter what you do, Nick. It's always the 5 steps, if I can add some value here.

Oh, of course.

There's always the 5 steps. It's become— and it's very simple. Number 1 is the attitude. You have to have the right attitude. But that's not enough because so many people are also very motivated, and I call them motivated idiots because they don't have any knowledge. So you have to have the attitude. Number 2, you have to have knowledge. So gain knowledge. And it's not difficult to gain knowledge. You can go to the internet to get a lot of knowledge. You can buy books. They are not so expensive if you can do that. So you need attitude, you need knowledge. And number 3, most people fail on, or that is taking action. So, and even if you have the attitude and have your knowledge and take action, Then what is number four? That's the key factor: persistence, persistence, persistence. And I have been persistent in marketing my book with the book community on Instagram. I have a personal lot of friends now. I have visited one in Sweden and Björn, you know him. And now we are sitting here together. And what is then number five? It's don't give up. It's okay to rest, like I say in the book, but it's never okay to give up. So it's a really simple step, and you can add it into whatever we do. Do I have the right attitude for this? Okay, I have that. I believe I can do it. I have to convince myself. I have to sell myself the idea of I can do it. If somebody else has done it, I can do it also. Number 2, do I have the right knowledge? And, you know, you always have to learn more if you want to— you always have to learn more if you want to earn more. We know that. So number 3, take action. Number 4, persistence. And number 5, don't give up. Simple attitude, knowledge, take action, persistence, don't give up. Great formula, I think.

I think it's a great formula too. It's a great way to wrap up today's conversation. So thank you so much for coming on the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books podcast and I look forward to grabbing some dinner and drinks after this.

Yeah, it's going to be fantastic. I can promise you that.

That is a wrap. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books. It would mean the world to us if you could write a review and share this episode with a few of your friends. I mean, these books truly have the power to change people's lives and By reviewing or sharing our podcast, you're helping us make an impact. If you have any recommendations for future guests or any constructive feedback for us on how we can improve our show, please feel free to submit a form on our website, www.bookthinkers.com, or send us a direct message on Instagram @bookthinkers. With that, I am signing off, and I hope you have a wonderful day. Don't forget, go read something.