Ask Altucher

Whenever Claudia gets an email asking for feedback from a service she's recently used, she responds with "10 Ideas." She has been using 99Designs recently to design the covers for the new Special Bonus Reports to go along with the launch of James' new book and newsletter. Overall, the experience was good, although not perfect. So Claudia spent the time to tell them how they could be better. And amazingly, the CEO of 99Designs sent her back an e-mail directly addressing these ideas, and thanking her for her tough love.   The thanks you receive back is step one, but who knows where this may lead down the road

Andy Weir followed his dream. Ever since he was a small boy he wanted to be a writer, but it took him a long time to find success. His first short story, , brought him a bit of notoriety. This thousand-word story got passed around on blog sites and people began to follow him. , Andy's new hit book, was first published as a serial, one chapter at a time on his website. He had just a few thousand readers. He eventually self-published this as a book and it sold about 35,000 copies on Amazon. Suddenly Random House came calling with a big pile of money. They talk about his daily writing habits and the books and authors Andy is a fan of and James digs in a bit to find out what's next. He tells James that he's still afraid of being a one-hit wonder. James asks him what advice he would give to aspiring writers 1.Write. It's easy to daydream about your story but you have to sit down and write. 2.Resist the urge to tell your story to your friends and family. 3.This is the best time in history to be a writer. Today,

Today's show is very special. The first question comes from one of our listeners about making business deals through mergers and acquisitions. James says the real work begins after both parties decide on the deal. It's always about the personalities involved and what you believe is best for you and your family. He also recommends a couple of books: Zero to One, Bold,and the soon to be released The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth,plus the TV show, The Profit. For our second question, Claudia asks James what he meant when he said, "Entrepreneurship is dead."   Listen today as James explains why he believes the real answer instead is to choose yourself.

James and Claudia talk with , author of the book ,to talk aboutwhy people get fat and get unhealthy. Do carbohydrates make you fat? His conclusions are surprising. He disagrees strongly that we get fat because we are lazy and eat too much. Rather than being due simply to gluttony, sloth, and conscious decisions around how much we eat or move.   If you've been on a low- or no-carb diet or are just looking for an alternative to eating healthy, listen here.

What's a "Choose Yourself" meet-up? When a group of people get together and share ideas... well that's a great start. Claudia shares her thoughts on how to get involved and keep the meet-up moving in the right direction. •Participate •Speak up •Mingle •Respect each other In his newest book, The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth, whichis due out later thismonth,James included an entire chapter on the "Choose Yourself Meet-Ups," it's that important.   Plus, James does a quick review of a book he just read, and a guest he just interviewed.

Did you miss us? Yesterday was so crazy that James and Claudia just couldn't do an Ask Altucher show. You'll hear why on today's show. But today James had a great question. "Why not save?" James says, don't go buy a big house or a college education or just save money for the sake of saving to earn a return on it. You'll go broke that way.   Instead, spend your time and money investing in your skills and ideas. Write down your 10 ideas daily and focus every day on how you can earn more income for yourself

Claudia, Claudia, Claudia asks James "What's the difference between a loser and a winner?" James loves this question and thinks it through with us today. A winner starts with a basic idea. We've all encountered some stressful moments in our lives. Winners are defined by how they react to these tough times. You're not going to be perfect at everything you do, so don't be too hard on yourself. Just keep trying. It's a way of life. Listen today to hear James expand on this idea.

How we step outside of our comfort zone to achieve success? It is a question James gets asked all the time. His recent discussion with Seth Godin really dives into it... a problem many of us constantly deal with. Seth tells James that he had to write his new book because he had no choice. It's about what's holding you back, that voice in your head that pushes you to be mediocre or pushes you to hide. "It pushes us to dig deep inside so we can do better work and impact the things we care about." They talk about the industrial age and how it changed everything. "We invented public school to train children to sit still long enough to work in a factory." But now that we're in the postindustrial age, it's all leftover and everything has changed. They talk about why it's so important get out of your comfort zone. Seth tells James about when he realized that he was hiding from the big projects. How he was just playing it safe. Through a fortunate meeting, he realized that by speaking his truth, standing for somethin

When everything is going wrong, James says to... subtract. Listen today and you'll understand. Plus, today's show has a little bit of everything thrown into it. First you'll get a list of a couple of new books James has been reading, a hint of a couple of great guests he'll be interviewing for The James Altucher Show podcast and today's question about giving away your ideas for free and whether people will then value them. James, Claudia, and I have been in Orlando this week where James gave another fantastic talk. As always, he was a crowd favorite. But traveling can be very hectic... you'll hear Claudia's stress as she tells James about her need to slow the hell down. She asks for help from the powers to be.

James' youngest daughter Mollie joins him again and asks James what he does in the afternoon? James tells her he spends the first few hours of every day reading; he has a cup of coffee and then does his writing. From 8am to 11am your brain is at its peak, so plan your day wisely. The rest of the day is devoted to outside businesses. James then asks Mollie what she learns in school.   Listen today as James asks you a question.

James youngest daughter Mollie joins him today to talk about what technology young teenagers are interested in today.  Mollie than asks James today’s question,  “What you should do if you’re shy?” James tells her you need to practice talking to people but more importantly you need to listen and then ask follow-up questions.   Listen today as James offers a few suggestions.

Casey Neistat is an American film director, producer, and creator of popular . While he has worked in almost every aspect of video making, he tells James that YouTube is his absolute passion. He chose to leave mainstream media for YouTube, which is the opposite of most YouTubers' aspirations. They talk about creative "ideas." Casey tells James that ideas matter very little – it's execution that matters. They talk about risk, too, and Casey has a great take on it. He tells James, "The most dangerous lifestyle anyone can live is the lifestyle where you play it safe."   Casey probably disagrees with James more than anyone else James has ever interviewed.

Does the self-help industry help? James says they're 99% useless but Claudia disagrees. They do both agree that you need to take time to focus on yourself before anything else.   It's a very important discussion, I promise it will make you think.

As an entrepreneur, you're going to make more bad decisions than good ones. Even the smartest entrepreneurs constantly make decisions they have to undo. There's an extremely small difference between a bad entrepreneur and a really great one. Today, James shares with us some of the good and some of the bad decisions he's made.   As he says, don't ever stop trying.

You've been asked to give a speech, so how can you capitalize on this to be asked back? First, nix the Power Point. Second, always be a storyteller. Tell a story that relates to your talk. People will relate to you if you tell a great story. Third, watch stand-up comedy. And don't forget to entertain. If you want to ask James a question, just go to...   Ask a question at .

How can I build a media empire? James says, first you have to realize it takes years. Find a writing voice, write constantly, and put that article everywhere you can. People will write back to you and eventually you'll get those all-important testimonials. James recommends reading "," a post he wrote for his blog. If you want to ask James a question, just go to...   Ask a question at

, known for being the youngest anchor ever at CNN and then going on to claim the same title at CNBC – where she anchored "Worldwide Exchange" and contributed to "Morning Joe" and "The Today Show" – joins James on today's special edition of Ask Altucher. Nobody handed Nicole anything. She's worked her butt off since she was 15. She started in Kentucky, then South Dakota and on to Palm Springs while still finishing her college degree. She finally got a 4 a.m. time slot on CNBC and immediately fell in love with it. In Nicole's new book , she lays out a 12-step plan in which she shares her experiences – mistakes and all – of getting her own finances in order. Money is typically an "off limits" conversation, but nothing is off limits here. Nicole rethinks every piece of financial "wisdom" you've ever heard and puts her own fresh, modern, sassy spin on it. Sure, there are some hard-and-fast rules about finance, but when it comes to your money, the only person who can tell you how to spend it is you. Should you inve

Today we're going to do something a little bit different. Hi, my name is David Newman and I'm the Executive Producer for all of James' podcasts. Yesterday, while Claudia and James were having lunch, she turned on her phone and recorded their conversation. And while James knew she was recording him, he had no idea she was going to send it to me. After listening to it, I decided to release it to you today. As I said, it's a bit different. I hope you enjoy it. So here goes…   Ask a question at

Building connections and building relationships are how you bring real value to the world around you. Jayson Gaignard is a super-connector. He's two degrees of separation from anyone you want to meet. Broke and $250,000 in debt, Jayson thought about an idea that nobody else was doing after getting a free ticket to hear Seth Godin speak, connecting entrepreneurs over an intimate dinner. He paid for this himself by going even further into debt with no expectations of ever making money on these. Mastermind Dinners launched and Jayson’s new venture was off and running. Entrepreneurship often takes an unyielding belief in yourself, and Jayson definitely believes. Listen today to hear the story of someone who bet everything he had on an idea. His new book, is a fantastic read and he hosts a podcast, you really need to subscribe to.   Ask a question at .

Claudia and I threw out everything we owned this weekend. We threw out 98% of everything. There are about 30 garbage bags and another 20 boxes filled with stuff. "Stuff." We had just spent six weeks traveling around and except for the stuff we were traveling with we realized we didn't need anything else. No papers, books, extra sheets, clothes, extra plates, tables, lights, etc. I didn't even miss these things once. 25 years' worth of memories in some cases. Part of this is an experiment. I'm interviewing Marie Kondo in a few weeks. Author of the 2-million-copies bestseller The Art of Tidying Up. I wanted to try her suggestions. She said before you "organize," you "discard." But once we started discarding, we couldn't stop. We discarded everything. All of our rooms are now pretty empty. And it's not like we are going to replace anything. If anything, having less leaves room in your life for more, for other things. That is the trick. Marie Kondo suggests you lay everything out side by side. Then you touch each