Hopefully Somebody Knows

Fun one with my best buddy, Steve Strange. We had to do a do-over of our original discussion due to a tech snafu (which we discuss in our chat) but I think this came out better than that one. Ostensibly the idea here is fandom: is it OK to force what you like on your kids? How do you know if the resulting fandom is authentic or are they just liking something because "daddy likes it"? And does it matter?

In reality this is really more about Star Wars. Steve and I bonded of Star Wars (among other things) in our 20s and it's always been part of our friendship. In fact we're strongly considering starting a separate show where they two of us just talk about Star Wars and other stuff we're enjoying and we'll let you know when that comes out.

Fun (and much-delayed) discussion with Bryan Tomlinson today. We discuss what he's learned from many rounds of coaching kids (including coaching his own kids), how to be a better parent of a little athlete, etc. Speaking of, I wanted to plug BT's charity that we didn't have time to get to on the show. Football for Sinaola is an organization focused on providing funds to help the kids of this underprivileged area of Mexico learn about and play flag and tackle football. Here's their Facebook page if you'd like to learn more: https://www.facebook.com/FootballForSinaloa BT runs a podcast focused on University of Washington football, The Dawg Pod. You can search for it by name wherever you get your podcasts or check their site here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dawgpod/. It's a great show if you're a fan of the Huskies or really any Pac 12 team. We spend a bit of time at the end of the show covering his thoughts on the Dawgs this season, hope you enjoy that. BT was good enough to record this chat on his gear in his garage and put it up on his podcast as well so if you follow both of us you may have already heard this chat. Please enjoy this chat with Bryan Tomlinson!

Billy Christensen joins us today. Billy is another one of my fraternity brothers from the SMU Lambda Chi Alpha house. Billy now lives in Atlanta and works in consulting. He reached out via email to propose a discussion about meaning and purpose. This is really cool conversation as it's less about interviewing Billy and more about a back-and-forth discussion of some of the root causes of mid-life crises. Billy is really open and shares a lot about the struggles he feels even while he has all the traditional markers of success - great job, great wife, great kids, etc. He has a really intriguing take about bottling up emotions and looking for those big emotional releases, big highs and lows, and if that could be part of what causes guys to seek out flashy cars or other mid life crises cliches. We also talk a bit about philanthropy as a path to fulfillment and immortality as well embracing of different cultures including spending WAY too much time talking about K-Pop. We end with a talk about therapy and feeling that you are enough.

We spend a bit of time talking about Stoicsm as well. If you're unfamiliar with Stoicism it's an ancient philosophy that's gained new prominence. Here are a good site to get you started, the Daily Stoic.

Billy also mentioned Brené Brown's TED talk on the "Power of Vulnerability". If you haven't seen it I strongly recommended it, check it out here.

We also joked a bit about K-Pop and Billy's experiences with karaoke in Korea. He suggested a band called BIGBANG...here's a video for you to peruse.

As always if you'd like to support us please visit our sponsors or the sites and businesses mentioned during our shows. Or the easiest way to support us is to visit our Amazon affiliate link where you can shop as you always do with no product price increase but Amazon will kick a little bit back to us which helps cover our production and marketing costs. Here it is and thanks! "Hopefully Somebody Knows" Amazon Affiliate link.

Tannya Bernadette, founder of The Closet Edit joins us today for a fun episode discussing clothes. We spent most of our time talking about mens clothes: what to wear, common mistakes, tailoring, what to remove from your closet, etc. We also talk a bit about how to shop for the lady in your life and for your kids. Hope you enjoy this fun chat with Tannya! Oh, and remember to listen till the end for a special offer that Tannya is extending to all HSK listeners! The Closet Edit https://myclosetedit.com/ Their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecloset.edit/ Tannya's personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tannyabstyle/ Seattle Gents: http://seattlegents.com/ Reddit's "Male Fashion Advice" community: https://www.reddit.com/r/malefashionadvice/

Today's episode is a bit different as it's the first time I've interviewed someone I didn't know personally. Tom Schwab is the CEO of Interview Valet, a company that matches podcasters with interviewees. I reached out to them as I was ramping up the show to see if they had anyone in their guest roster that could be a fit. In a cool surprise, their CEO, Tom, offered to be a guest. Tom is an advocate for the power of podcasting and is a very knowledgeable marketer himself but what I was most interested in were his experiences as a dad. Tom has 4 kids and now 2 grand kids, served in the navy, has worked for big companies and been an entrepreneur, traveled for business and balanced that with his family life, etc. We also, for the first time on this show, get into a discussion about religion. Tom and I both grew up catholic and he talks about how religion fits into his worldview and his parenting and I share a bit about my take on religion as well as my struggles with how to best layer it into my family's life as well. If you're selling anything and are interested in finding podcasts for you to appear on, please reach out to Interview Valet - you can reach them at the page they set up for us: http://www.interviewvalet.com/hsk.

One note from the show, a book that Tom mentioned is "Never Split the Difference", a book by a hostage negotiator dealing with how to deal with high-tension discussion in all parts of life. Here's a link to check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8TWACFFXNFID&keywords=never+split+the+difference+by+chris+voss&qid=1556863549&s=gateway&sprefix=never+sp%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-1

A big thanks to our new sponsor, the Carma Project. Please take a minute and check to see if your car has been impacted by the Takata airbag recall by going to deadlyairbags.com/family. You can earn a $5 gift card for checking on your car and passing it along (get it...like "karma" but for cars...you get it) to friends and family.

Finally, the easiest way to support us is to visit our Amazon affiliate link where you can shop as you always do with no product price increase but Amazon will kick a little bit back to us which helps cover our production and marketing costs. Here it is and thanks! https://www.amazon.com/?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=famousfin-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=5681ed1d0adde1ee2614ece4c3a0025b&camp=1789&creative=9325