Never Normal
Neville Andrew Mehra
A show about living life on your terms. Because life is too precious to waste it waiting for the weekend! Join me, Neville Andrew Mehra, each episode for conversations with people who have escaped from the boring "default life plan" to find freedom, success, adventure, and more. Get inspired as we explore their journeys and discuss the lessons they’re learning along the way.
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Top 10 Never Normal Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Never Normal episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Never Normal for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Never Normal episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
The Pathless Path with Paul Millerd
Never Normal
11/01/21 • 58 min
In this episode we discuss:
- What is the Pathless Path?
- Why Paul left his dream job
- A letter Paul wrote to himself
- How do you get started on the Pathless Path?
- What quitting your job teaches you about yourself
- If there's no path, how do you know if you’re on the right track?
- Dealing with uncertainty
- What's next for Paul
Further Reading:
- Nat Eliason on "Reclaiming the Joy of Work" (https://www.nateliason.com/medley/283)
- What Ben Hunt calls "Industrially Necessary Work" (https://think-boundless.com/ben-hunt/)
- Andrew Taggert's "The Way Of Loss And The Way Of Wonderment" (https://andrewjtaggart.com/2019/09/12/coming-to-the-other-side-of-total-work-the-way-of-loss-and-the-way-of-wonderment/)
More from Paul:
- Paul's website Boundless https://think-boundless.com/
- Paul's podcast, Reimagine Work https://think-boundless.com/podcast/
- Paul's substack newsletter Boundless https://think-boundless.com/boundless-newsletter/
- And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_millerd
04/01/21 • 62 min
In this episode we discuss:
- How Tom got started freelancing
- Landing the first client
- Do you need to be able to "sell yourself" to make it as a freelancer?
- Getting out of the "feast/famine" cycle that traps many freelancers
- What are the biggest mistakes that most people make when first starting out as freelancers?
- What would Tom do if he was starting over again today?
- Should you use marketplaces/platforms like UpWork to sell your services as a freelancer?
- Is it important to choose a niche?
- Where Tom gets virtually all of his new leads from
- The advantages of "working in public"
- Finding success on Twitter
- Tom's viral Twitter thread on pricing freelance projects ( https://twitter.com/tom_hirst/status/1277933730078785537
- How to create additional sources of income as a freelancer (besides client work)
- Translating freelance expertise into creating and selling content online
- Tom's new agency, Run the Show (https://twitter.com/rtsagency) that specializes in Headless Wordpress
- What is "Headless Wordpress" and why would someone use it?
You can find links to all of the resources we discussed and more on Tom's website here: https://www.tomhirst.com/links/
03/25/21 • 34 min
In this episode we talk about:
- The difference between being a "digital nomad" versus actually settling into a new home in a foreign land
- What Serenity's life is like as a kid growing up in the Canary Islands
- Why Serenity started blogging about her adventures around Gran Canaria
- Why Shane (and Serenity's mom) want their kids to have the experience of growing up outside the United States
Links:
- Serenity's Blog: Traveling with Serenity (https://travelingwithserenity.com/)
02/12/21 • 64 min
In this episode we discuss:
- What pushed each of us to become digital nomads
- What's holding most people back from going nomadic?
- Will there be a new wave of nomads post-COVID?
- What people struggle with once they go nomadic
- Alex's experience traveling abroad during the pandemic
- How our travel styles change after years of being digital nomads
- Traveling to countries where you don't know anyone and dealing with loneliness on the road
- Alex's "Pop-Up Coliving" experiment in Medellin, Colombia
- How to meet people and make lasting connections at conferences
- The origins of Airbnb and how Alex got started building coliving communities
- How to meet more people and make friends while coworking
- Staying productive with the pomodoro technnique
- Setting boundaries and meeting friends during the pandemic
- Keep communities going when everyone is stuck at home
Links to People, Articles, and Books Mentioned in this Episode:
- Alex on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsalinsky/)
- Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6JBFOS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)
- Christine McDannell - Coliving Consultant (https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinemcdannell)
- How to Meet People While You Travel and Avoid Becoming a Lonely Digital Nomad (https://nevilleamehra.com/digital-nomad-guide/how-to-avoid-becoming-a-lonely-digital-nomad/)
12/07/20 • 58 min
Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and he writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals.
In this episode we discuss:
- How Jonathan Stark went from working a typical job to becoming coach for independent software developers
- Why is hourly billing so bad?
- The problem with growing your business by hiring more people
- What are the alternatives to billing by the hour?
- How else can you price project based work?
- What is value based pricing?
- How you should create and structure your proposals to maximize your income AND the client's happiness
- How to deal with (inevitable) scope creep on a fixed price project
- Avoiding adversarial client relationships by aligning your incentives with your clients
- How many options should you offer in a proposal and why?
- How can you figure out how valuable the work is to the client
- The importance of uncovering an actual business outcome
- The exact questions to ask a prospective client before giving a price or writing a proposal
- How to get a prospective client to sell themselves on working with you
- The important question that most people are too afraid (or too shy) to ask
- You have more options than you realize!
Links:
- Jonathan's free Value Pricing Bootcamp (start here)
- Lots more free resources on Jonathan's website
- Alan Weiss who helped inspire the "Why conversation"
11/18/20 • 75 min
In this episode we discuss:
- How Francis manages to hike through snow without a warm jacket (or underwear)
- Practicing discomfort and gratitude
- The two traits Francis learned from spending five and a half years in Africa and traveling to all 54 African countries
- Falling in love and getting married in Africa
- The benefits of growing up with exposure to multiple cultures
- Collecting "cultural souvenirs" as we travel
- Why the idea of "cultural appropriation" makes no sense
- How the weather changes culture from Africa to Europe to SE Asia
- What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us
- The role of history in American, European, and African cultures
- How the Moors shaped modern Spain
- Slowing down in Spain and reevaluating what's important in life
- Francis provocative writing style and why it's so hard to write a book about Africa
- Reverse culture shock on returning to America after a long time away
- The East Coast mentality and "default question"
- What the rest of the world thinks about Americans that we don't realize
- The three areas where America is hands down the greatest country in the world
- Where Francis plans to go next and making the most of life before we move on
- What it means to "Hike your own hike"
Links:
- Francis' Website (https://francistapon.com/)
- Francis' First Book Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America (https://francistapon.com/Books/Hike-Your-Own-Hike/)
- Francis' Second Book The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us (https://francistapon.com/Books/The-Hidden-Europe/)
- Francis' Patreon Account (https://www.patreon.com/ftapon) - Get access to "The Unseen Africa" book as Francis writes it
- Francis' TEDx Talk "How and why travel transforms you" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Bd8pNYH8A)
- Francis' TEDx Talk "Bring Out Your Inner Black Sheep" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfADBIsgB8)
- Francis' TEDx Talk "7 surprising lessons from picking up 3,000 African Hitchhikers" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WxfRLByD60)
- The Jacks R Better sleeping bag that Francis uses and recommends: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CfBrJX5zoU)
- Francis' gear list from hiking the Continental Divide Trail (https://francistapon.com/Travels/Continental-Divide-Trail/CDT-Gear-List)
- The Time Paradox book by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd (https://www.amazon.com/Time-Paradox-Psychology-That-Change/dp/1416541993)
Niall Doherty is a Man on a Mission
Never Normal
10/28/20 • 46 min
In This Episode We Talk About:
- After traveling to 55 countries, where is Niall considering making his "homebase"
- Why Niall chose to travel around the world for 44 months without flying
- Writing a book while crossing the Pacific Ocean on a cargo ship from Japan to Peru
- The teenage dream that led Niall from Ireland to living in New Orleans
- Why Niall eventually left that life behind and gave up a U.S. green card
- Niall's fallback plan in case his digital nomad dreams didn't work out
- The book that changed Niall's life and sent him on the path to building his business
- The best ways to get started making money online
- How Niall finally "cracked the code" to making more money from his blog
- How much money Niall has earned and spent living as a digital nomad and making money online since January 2011
- "New Level, New Devil" and Niall's grand vision for eBizFacts
Links:
eBizFacts - Niall's excellent website full of resources and unbiased advice about making money online (https://ebizfacts.com/)
eBizFacts Newsletter - All the best information, links, tools, and more that Niall finds each week (https://ebizfacts.com/subscribe/)
The Cargo Ship Diaries - Niall's book about circling the globe in 44 months without flying (https://www.amazon.com/Cargo-Ship-Diaries-countries-flights-ebook/dp/B00JDNAQ36)
Verity Harrison Doodles Professionally
Never Normal
10/15/20 • 49 min
In this episode we talk about:
- What is graphic recording
- How Verity got her first gigs as a graphic recorder after studying textile design and working in sales for 20 years
- Blogging from an iPod touch in Argentina and how Verity rediscovered and reignited her creativity in South America
- The benefits of solo travel with no set itinerary
- How to build your portfolio before anyone is willing to hire you
- The power of constraints - "You become more creative the more limited your resources are"
- How Verity adapted to working during the COVID-19 pandemic by teaching her skills to peers in her professional community
- How Verity got over 100 people to express interest in her Masterclass in less than 36 hours
Connect with Verity:
- Verity's Website (https://www.thinkdoodly.com/)
- @Think_Doodly on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/think_doodly/)
- @Verity_Ink on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/verity_ink/)
Other Links / Tools Mentioned in the Episode:
- Sketch Note Army on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sketchnotearmy)
- Mosabi (https://mosabi.co/)
- Gumroad (https://gumroad.com/)
- Steve Jobs Stanford Address ("Joining Up the Dots") (https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die)
- Nine Coliving in Tenerife (https://www.ninecoliving.com/)
- Nomad City Conference (now RePeople) (https://www.repeople.co/en/conference/)
Taren Gesell is a Triathlon Influencer
Never Normal
10/02/20 • 90 min
In this episode we talk about:
- Why Taren left his original career as an investment advisor
- How trying to "beef up his resume" while applying for (and getting rejected from) MBA programs started Taren on the path to social media success
- Why Taren doesn't advise people to "follow their passion" and what he did (and recommends doing) instead
- Our shared belief that traditional resumes are obsolete, and how to promote your skills instead
- Fighting back against corporate office culture ("well, that's how we've always done it here")
- Sages, sign posts, and strugglers -- how to deal with "imposter syndrome" and give advice to others, even if you're not a credentialed expert (and why credentials might not matter)
- How long it took Taren from starting to post videos on YouTube until it became a business
- How to know whether you should "burn your boats" and go all-in or play it safe and "don't quit your day job"
- How Taren used Kickstarter to raise $45,000 and how he tests ideas before he starts projects
- The first time Taren got recognized by a fan in public
- How often you should post videos on YouTube for best results
- The difference between playing with your own money vs. someone else's money and the advantages of bootstrapping vs taking money from investors
- *** The exact step-by-step process that Taren uses to figure out what to talk about, how to get views on his video, and grow his audience on YouTube (and his website) ***
Follow Taren:
- Triathlon Taren on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1AKDrz2GvLxD29W9tow66g)
- Taren's Website (https://triathlontaren.com/)
- Triathlon Taren Podcast (https://triathlontarenpodcast.libsyn.com/)
Other Links / Tools Mentioned in the Episode:
09/21/20 • 43 min
In this episode we talk about:
- How Anna went from growing up in the poorest country in Europe, having "never seen a lawn mower or a laptop" in her life, to becoming the successful online entrepreneur based in Australia that she is today.
- What it was like going to high school in rural Virginia for one year as a foreign exchange student
- Anna's experience moving to Malaysia for her first job straight out of university.
- How breaking up with her boyfriend started Anna on the journey to finding her passion and starting a business around it
- The 99 day challenge Anna assigned herself and how it changed her life forever
- Why women pay Anna to help them with their love life
- The simple, but effective marketing "funnel" Anna uses to get new coaching clients
- How Anna deals with her "haters" online
Anna's Work:
- Claimed Webinar - Start here to discover Anna's work
- Anna's writing on Medium - (including her "99 Days of Wander" series that started it all)
- Claimed Podcast (formerly Girlskill) - Anna's bi-weekly podcast that "provides women inspiration, tools and resources to embrace their wild, feminine nature so they can attract and keep a masculine man."
- ManInside show - Anna's Previous (Now Retired) Podcast. You can also read about why she stopped that show and the lessons she learned here.
Additional Links:
- 1000 True Fans Essay by Kevin Kelly
- Tiny Little Businesses by Andre Chaperon
- David Deida - Author of The Way of the Superior Man, the book that popularized the concept of polarity in relationships (you can read/listen to a free chapter here)
- AIESEC - Student Leadership Organization
- Mindvalley
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FAQ
How many episodes does Never Normal have?
Never Normal currently has 20 episodes available.
What topics does Never Normal cover?
The podcast is about Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Podcasts, Digital Nomad, Business and Lifestyle Design.
What is the most popular episode on Never Normal?
The episode title 'Turning Your Passion into a Business with Vikram Seth' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Never Normal?
The average episode length on Never Normal is 59 minutes.
How often are episodes of Never Normal released?
Episodes of Never Normal are typically released every 16 days, 8 hours.
When was the first episode of Never Normal?
The first episode of Never Normal was released on Aug 25, 2020.
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