New York's Rebel Anti-Caterer, From Stoner Food to Vagina Monologues

/
New York's Rebel Anti-Caterer, From Stoner Food to Vagina Monologues

Chef Rossi, of the renowned Raging Skillet, is a master storyteller, and this episode doesn't disappoint. She is not your ordinary chef. She credits her success to everything from "kishka and grits" to marijuana munchies to the Hasidim in Crown Heights to foul-mouthed bar tending. Her stories are phenomenal, worthy of a Moth competition. Oh, and don't take my word for it: her cookbook (!)/memoir is being turned into a play and screenplay!

Read More

The Voice of the Greatest Show on Earth is the "Wealthiest Man in Show Business"

/
The Voice of the Greatest Show on Earth is the "Wealthiest Man in Show Business"

P.T. Barnum once said, "The noblest art is that of making others happy." Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson takes that quote to heart. A classically trained singer, he understands what so many successful artists and entrepreneurs discover, often later in life: that true success comes when the emphasis is on giving, making others happy, rather than self-promotion.

Read More

New York's "Mr. Moo," the Hip-Hopping Rock Star Ambassador of Cheese

/
New York's "Mr. Moo," the Hip-Hopping Rock Star Ambassador of Cheese

Politico calls him "The Prince of Cheese." The Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker love his story. He has become synonymous with artisan cheese and cheesemongering--the art of purveying cheese--which has, ahem, come of age in the 21st century. And despite his cheese royalty lineage--his grandfather was the importer for Dean and DeLuca and Zabar's--the embrace of "maker-to-monger" came after a long and twisty entrepreneurial journey.

Read More

Mighty Odd KidLit, and When a Bidding War is All About Popularity

/
Mighty Odd KidLit, and When a Bidding War is All About Popularity

Her hugely popular series "The Popularity Papers" has been called, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for girls. But that's unfair, because a) each page is hand-drawn and handwritten, b) boys love the series, too, and c) she had never even read "Wimpy Kid" when she chose to go with "Wimpy Kid's" publisher, selecting from six houses vying for her work.

Read More

The Miracles of Hal Elrod, the Man Who Died and Came Back to Life

/
The Miracles of Hal Elrod, the Man Who Died and Came Back to Life

For most of my life, I was a night owl. Starting a little more than 5 years ago, I went through a series of transformations to better my life, and one of my greatest and most difficult transformations was going from a night owl to an early bird. When people heard what I was doing, many told me about this amazing book, The Miracle Morning, widely regarded as “one of the most life-changing books ever written”. I read it (and listened to the audio book), and I was inspired. When I started up my podcast, "How I Broke Into," Hal Elrod was on the short list of people I just had to interview.

Read More

How Jill Miller Built a Global Fitness Phenomenon

/
How Jill Miller Built a Global Fitness Phenomenon

She overcame heartbreak and conquered obstacles that would have defeated many other people. She has hundreds of certified teachers teaching her method worldwide. She often appears in national media. And she has a whole slew of brilliantly branded products that must be the envy of every starry-eyed fitness wantrepreneur. But she is no overnight success... 

Read More

When The "Today" Show's Melissa Garcia Walked Away from a Career and Seized Upon a Calling

/
When The "Today" Show's Melissa Garcia Walked Away from a Career and Seized Upon a Calling

She had a lucrative law career, but held her breath and decided to jump off the proverbial cliff... to become an inspiration to thousands (millions?) of women, and a few men, too. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about style or fashion, and have definitely held some preconceptions about style and fashion. Celebrity stylist Melissa Garcia destroys those preconceptions, and then some. 

Read More

The Six Words That Will Convince Me to Buy Your Product

/
The Six Words That Will Convince Me to Buy Your Product

When I was a teenager, I would regularly argue with my parents as Gen X teenagers were wont to do. My favorite thing to yell at the top of my lungs was, "You should stop saying should!" A couple of decades later, I felt a little vindicated by the perfectly titled book by Elle Luna, The Crossroads Between Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion. Ridding my vocabulary of the word "should" is a Herculean effort.

Read More

The Mind and Motivation of Brooklyn Mack, Elite Athlete and Artist

/
The Mind and Motivation of Brooklyn Mack, Elite Athlete and Artist

Before him, only legends and superstars like Mikhail Baryshnikov had won the gold medal at Varna. He and Misty Copeland made history when they starred together in "Swan Lake." As one of the world's greatest athletes and artists, Brooklyn Mack--a true champion in every sense of the word--relentlessly pursues perfection every single day. And it was a joy for me to see him light up as he reflected on his greatest triumphs.

Read More

Life Is Too Short for Miller Lite

/
Life Is Too Short for Miller Lite

When I was 13 years old, I celebrated my birthday with my family at Hard Rock Cafe. My father handed me a bottle of Rolling Rock and said, "You're going to be a Bar Mitzvah in a few weeks--that means you will be seen in the Jewish community as a man. I think you're old enough to try a beer." I tried it and washed it down with a full glass of water. It was disgusting to me. I didn't try another beer until my sophomore year of college.

Read More

My Revelatory Cab Ride Return from Experts Academy

/
My Revelatory Cab Ride Return from Experts Academy

My wife is one of those people whose opinion about products and services matters to me, so, of course, I switched to using them over all of the other companies I had used previously. In this age of information overload, I advise clients and friends to delegate not just work, but a fair amount of taste: find like-minded curators of information to make the process of choosing vendors and services smoother. Word-of-mouth is everything in the new economy.

Read More

We Talked Serious Startups with John Maddox

/
We Talked Serious Startups with John Maddox

He's interviewed the founder of Fast Company magazine and podcasting legend John Lee Dumas. I'm proud to say that John Maddox, Nashville entrepreneur and host of "Let's Talk Serious Startups" has interviewed me this week. We discuss the music industry, time management, favorite resources for business, favorite business-oriented books, and what I would advise my younger self.

Read More

How He Sustained a DJ Startup for Decades

/
How He Sustained a DJ Startup for Decades

He didn't plan to make this his career; his future seemed to be in radio. No, this was something fun to do, and earn some money on the side. But that's the funny thing about the best small businesses: when the joy outweighs the work, profit--financial and emotional--often follows. Or, as Confucius said, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

Read More

Productivity Discovery Behind the Wheel of My Civic Hybrid

/
Productivity Discovery Behind the Wheel of My Civic Hybrid

My 2013 Honda Civic Hybrid has no pickup. It likes to hydroplane on roads hardly slicked by a drizzle. And it has very few bells and whistles. But it was dirt cheap. And it gets me where I need to go. And I rarely need to stop for gas to fill up its 11 gallon tank. And this past week, it beat a shiny blue BMW to the same destination.

Read More

Vinyl's Cinematographer Reed Morano, A.S.C. is a Superhero

/
Vinyl's Cinematographer Reed Morano, A.S.C. is a Superhero

It is a rare feat to be able to peek into the future, but I am pretty positive that we will see Reed Morano, ASC receive an Oscar in not too many years. Whether it is for directing or cinematography remains to be seen. But talent alone is not what makes Reed heroic; she approaches her art, craft, and life with humility, grace, and introspection, and her insights about being an accomplished woman in a male-dominated field are profound. 

Read More

Count Basie, Harper Lee, and 'The Big Lebowski': Everyone's a Critic (with Gene Seymour, The Everyman Critic)

/
Count Basie, Harper Lee, and 'The Big Lebowski': Everyone's a Critic (with Gene Seymour, The Everyman Critic)

Reports of the demise of criticism have been grossly exaggerated. Sure, the type of critic wickedly portrayed in Oscar winner Birdman may find very few customers, but, in this age of "on demand content creation," audiences crave the nuanced observations and heartfelt feelings from a longtime critic and reporter such as CNN's Gene Seymour.

Read More