I love interviewing people because it’s a very concentrated form of learning; you get to ask questions and followups that can condense years of experience down into a 30 minute call. I also love when people interview me because it helps focus my thoughts on the topic. Below are posts where either I am the interviewer or interviewee.
Kristin Wong is a talented freelance writer. Kristin has written for sites like MSN, NBC, lifehacker, Get Rich Slowly, and many others.
I first found Kristin’s content last week when I was searching for another writer, and came across her profile on a popular blog. I reached out to interview Kristin because it’s clear she has a lot to share, and is a very effective communicator.
Scott Long built a “poker cruises” business called Ante Up Poker Media (they also do a popular poker podcast and magazine). I’ve met professional poker players, I’ve met people that host conferences, and I’ve met a tonne of people on cruise ships – but Scott Long is the first entrepreneur I’ve met that combines all three.
MoreHow to Build a Business on a Cruise Ship: Scott Long, Ante Up Poker Media
This is another recording in the series where readers interviewed me about a wide variety of topics. Many of the questions are about freelance writing, how to earn money online, marketing and learning Chinese. This interview with Alex Vasquez is a little different.
I met Primoz Bozic at an entrepreneur’s summit in New York City back in 2013. Primoz stood out by being super prepared with detailed questions about his business so that he could really maximize the investment he made in attending the event.
The first articles I published online were kind of drab. I basically just emulated what many other people were doing: short articles with content that wasn’t unique. I was a good writer so these articles weren’t terrible, but no one read them. Then I interviewed Ramit and discovered the 6 Minute Rule, i.e., “If Ramit talks for six minutes I can write a pretty good article about it.”
Usually when people interview me they ask about freelancing as a writer, entrepreneurship, personal finance related to travel, and learning skills like Chinese. Rahul had a completely different set of questions.
I sent out an email blast inviting readers to interview me. The offer was that I would record, edit, upload and share the interview. You just had to show up with questions :- )
Jess Whittlestone is a reader that took me up on the offer to do an interview. Jess has unique perspectives on learning, behaviour and philanthropy. Check out her Twitter, and her profile on the Behavioural Insights Team.
I met Robert Williams a few years back when I interviewed him about his success as a freelance designer.
Now, Robert runs a cool online business, Workshop.
Basically, Workshop is a platform that connects designers and other service providers with business owners via streams of project leads. This service is especially valuable for people who are talented at their craft, but don’t have time or interest to do marketing. You pay the quarterly membership dues and Robert turns on the fire hose of project leads.
I interviewed Pamela Wilson of Big Brand System to learn the essentials of branding and marketing for bloggers. Skeptical? I was too. But I got fast results from Pamela’s advice.
MoreFinally: Branding for Bloggers Explained in Plain English – Pamela Wilson
David Cain of Raptitude.com started blogging 2.5 years ago with zero experience. Since then, he’s built a dedicated following of readers. His average post gets 30-50 comments, which are long, detailed and insightful. True reader engagement.
MoreDavid Cain: How did this procrastinator get 342 comments on one blog post?
If you frequent ProBlogger, Copyblogger, Freelance Switch, Passive Panda, Traffic Generation Cafe or Think Traffic then you know today’s guest: Danny Iny of Mirasee. In the last year, Danny made 80-something quality guest posts on these top blogs (and others), which helped propel his old site, Firepole Marketing, to the Alexa 50,000’s and earn over $25,000 in the first year. Somehow Danny also found time to get married and write his book: Engagement from Scratch.
Ana Hoffman registered the domain for Traffic Generation Cafe on June 08, 2010. Just 1.5 years later, her Alexa ranking is 8,764 (that means she gets a whole lot of visitors to her site). Impressive, right? I kind of thought that someone who has figured out the secrets to getting millions of page views would want to keep those secrets to herself.
I was wrong.
In this interview Ana shares the precise tactics she has used to bring enormous amounts of traffic to her website. We even broke those tactics down into actionable steps, so that anyone who watches the video can replicate them.
MoreAna Hoffman – What?! There Really Are Secrets to Getting Millions of Page Views?
I love this interview! Often, when people ask to interview me it’s about business, entrepreneurship, productivity, money, etc. David Igono is a savvy businessman, sports expert and skilled communicator. In this interview we talked about how to do better interviews. If you host a podcast, or have been thinking about using interviews to network or to get new clients, then this is the interview for you.
Jennifer Zhang of Toronto was one of the first people to interview me. This 33 minute interview focusses on productivity and how to maximize the value of your time. Check out Jennifer’s website for design work.
How do your blog’s stats compare to Neil Patel’s Quicksprout?
Impressive, right? And if you are ready for another shot of envy, Quicksprout is just a part time effort. Neil writes blog posts on weekends and holidays, since his main focus is his companies: KISSmetrics, KISSinsights, and crazyegg.
We often think of business and charity as mutually exclusive, i.e., that pursuing one means setting aside the other. Pace believes you can have your charitable cake and eat it too. This interview includes specific advise to write a manifesto and build a community around your mission; whatever that is.
Lori Deschene’s tiny buddha is one of the coolest blogs online. Why? Because Lori has cultivated one of the most engaged and well intentioned communities I’ve ever seen. There are a lot of guest posts written by non-writers – they don’t even have a blog to link oo. The comments are often very personal and insightful responses to the articles. Basically, tiny buddha IS NOT about self promotion, getting “hits” on Google Analytics or earning a lot of money. Instead, it’s built from the ground up to be a community where people are safe to share wisdom that enriches our lives.
Inspired?
Me too.