Welcome to all 16 new Crashing Up family members who’ve joined since Monday. If you’re reading this but haven’t subscribed, make sure to do so here.
Hi friends,
Here’s your weekly boost of Friday Fuel, a collection of things that I’ve been learning from or enjoying recently.
🎙️Friday Features
For the last three and a half years, today’s guest has been sharing reading tips on the internet and inspiring people to pick up more books. He has over 70,000 followers across his social media platforms and also hosts The Reader's Journey podcast where he interviews amazing authors such as Morgan Housel, James Altucher, and many more.
Without further ado, I bring you my conversation with Alex Wieckowski, better known as Alex and Books.
🎧 If you want to listen to us chat about reading strategies, productivity hacks, and building an audience around your passion, click the audio player at the top of the email or click here.
You can also check out more of his writing and interviews here.
Your feedback is important! Please let me know what you thought of this episode by clicking one of the links below. I’ll use these insights to decide on future guests. If you have a guest recommendation, feel free to reply to this email or shoot me a DM on Twitter.
📕What I’ve Been Reading - Issa Rae, now a rising media mogul, has made a name for herself as one of the most prolific women in Hollywood. Famous for her roles in HBO’s Insecure and Awkward Black Girl, Issa has also ventured into multiple entrepreneurial endeavors including a record label, a coffee shop, and a new Insecure-inspired mobile game. This article from the Trapital breaks down the synergies between her numerous businesses and explains how Issa has used the internet to amass a loyal, devoted fan base.
For anyone looking to build an audience on the internet or design a career spanning multiple industries, take notes.
🎧What I’ve Been Listening To - Naval Ravikant is viewed by many in the tech world as an “Angel Philosopher.” The CEO of AngelList and early investor in hundreds of companies such as Twitter, Uber, and Yammer, Naval has shared countless gems of knowledge through his thousands of tweets, essays, podcasts and interviews.
In his recent appearance on the Tim Ferriss show, Naval packs years of wisdom into two hours of content. The interview covers a wide variety of topics ranging from happiness and wealth creation to anxiety and Bitcoin. With podcasting being a fairly new media form, it might be too early to coin certain episodes as classics, but I’m doing so anyway. This is a classic that should be required listening (or reading via the transcript) for anyone and everyone.
My favorite part about Naval is that he’s able to articulately take complex topics and make them simple enough for anyone to understand. He’s not afraid to pull any punches and always calls it how it is, no matter how much the truth may hurt.
If you want to read more about Naval and his insights, I’d recommend checking out The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (also known as the Navalmanack). You can download the eBook for free here.
🤯What’s Blown My Mind - The tweet says it all. Not the hero we deserved, but the one we needed.
To understand a bit more how this works, read into the thread. Don’t worry, no ice cream was wasted in the making of this great deed of public service.
🤯What’s Blown My Mind Part Two -
If you scrolled through the entirety of the Issa Rae article, this might seem familiar. Here is Walt Disney’s original business model from 1957. Take a few minutes to walk yourself through this. While it seems complex on the surface, it’s actually rather straightforward and brilliant. This flywheel model can be directly applied to creators who distribute their content on multiple platforms. It all starts with an audience.
For another interesting take on the future of Disney’s flywheel, check out this essay from the Not Boring newsletter.
🧵A Thread That’s Inspired Me -
An immigrant who came to this country with no money or connections, Shahid Khan is the epitome of the American Dream. So how did he get his wealth? Tech? Oil? Real Estate?
Automobile parts. One of the unsexiest businesses of all. This shows that there’s money to be made in anything. Don’t let the headlines fool you. To learn more about Shahid and his wild journey, click into the thread below.
Enjoyed today’s newsletter? Let me know by clicking one of the three links below. Any and all feedback or shares are greatly appreciated.
If you’d like your name attached to your feedback, make sure to add it in the free text form or reply to this email.
If you’re new here and want to catch up on some old editions, here are a couple of my favorites: The WATZ Stack and When In Roam. You can also follow me on Twitter or check out randymginsburg.com for more writing.
Thanks for reading and see you on Monday,
Randy
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