Misfits: Wisdom from Unconventional Individuals

Steve Schlafman (@schlaf) is a work-life transition coach. He’s certified with various coaching and therapeutic schools and programs including (but not limited to) The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, Coaching for Transformation, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Nonviolent Communication (NVC), Men’s Emotional Leadership (MELT) and Enneagram. Previously, Steve was a partner at a multi-billion venture capital firm, RRE. And graduated from Northeastern University. He has been sober for more than 10 years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog) is the author of 21 bestsellers book. That includes Tribes, Purple Cow, Linchpin, The Dip, and This Is Marketing. His blog (which you can find by typing “Seth” into Google) is one of the most popular in the world. In 2013, Godin was inducted into the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame. Two of his TED talks are among the most popular of all time. He is also the founder of the altMBA, Squidoo (the social media pioneer) and Yoyodyne (one of the first internet companies). In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Lee (@chrisasylum) is the founder of Asylum Creative, since 1999. His client list includes Aesop, Johnie Walker, Sony, Hublot, Harley-Davidson and more. The cross-disciplinary studio design logo, website to entire hotel and cafe interior. Most notably, The Warehouse Hotel, 4fingers and Tangs. His works can be found around Singapore, Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing, Paris, Bali, Los Angeles, New York, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, Venice, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. After winning all the awards (D&AD, Red Dot Design Award, Singapore President*s Design Award, Hong Kong Design Award and more), he judges them now (D&AD, Red Dot Design Awards, Golden Pin Design Award, The One Show, Tokyo Type Directors Club and more). Chris also founded many businesses and organisations which include (but not limited to), Artifactt, Fred Perry (SG, MY, ID), The Design Society, Asylum Shop, Assembly, CA4LA, Ally Social, Chocolate Research Facility and Fifth Ave Shoe Repair. Chris never went to a university. George Cluny, might or might not, be related to him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lin Tan, MCC is an executive and mentor coach and also a founder of Collective Change Institute (CCI). She is the youngest Master Certified Coach (ICF) in Singapore, making her 1 of 6 Master Coaches in Singapore. Lin also served as the president of ICF Singapore in 2020. Her clients include DHL, Royal Bank of Scotland, Burberry, Discovery Channel, and diverse agencies of the Singapore government. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Communications from Murdoch University, Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“You don’t want to do what they do, you want to see how they see”. – Nate Green Nate Green, is an author of multiple books, marketing strategist at Precision Nutrition and a recovering fitness junkie. Nate barely graduated high school with 1.7 GPA. Despite all odds, he became one of the most sought after writers and strategists in the fitness industry. He wrote one of the most popular blog post on Tim Ferriss' blog, The Extreme Weight Cutting Secrets of UFC Fighters. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tynan, is an entrepreneur, personal coach and minimalist nomad. He is the author of best-selling books, Superhuman by Habit and Forever Nomad. Tynan also pioneered the idea of Empire housing, to share homeownership with friends. With this, he brought an island in Canada and homes in Hawaii, Budapest, Tokyo and Vegas. In his former life, he is a pickup artist and instructor, best known as Herbal in The Game by Neil Strauss. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nina Barber, is an executive and CEO coach & matchmaker. In 2 years, she is billing $2,500 - $10,000/month per client for her coaching services. She is also the founder of Prismaticco, a matchmaking service for startup executives to find coaches. Nina has also co-founded a social enterprise, Nika that brings clean water to more than 40,000 people every day. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Stephen Snyder is a sex and couple therapist for over 30 years. His goal, to help you have great sex. He is also the author of Love Worth Making: How to Have Ridiculously Great Sex in a Long-Lasting Relationship. Stephen is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Derek Sivers, is a kind of a reluctant entrepreneur, circus-clown musician turned author. In 1998, Derek created CD Baby by helping his friends sell their CDs. It became the largest seller of independent music online, with $100 million in sales for 150,000 musicians. In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby for $22 million, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education. He went to speak at the TED Conference, for 3 times in 2010 (which is unheard of), with more than 18 million views of his talks. Since 2011, he has published 34 books, including “Anything You Want,” which I love so much. In this conversation, we spoke about: This is one of my favourite interview, enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ali Abdaal, is a YouTuber and junior doctor in the UK. His YouTube channel has more than 30 millions view and 500K subscribers. He is also the founder of 6med, the largest medical exam preparation crash course in the world. Ali holds a doctorate from Cambridge University. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michelle Florendo, is a coach for Type-A professionals and executives. She has served on the inaugural coaching team for Seth Godin’s altMBA, guest-taught on Stanford’s famous Design Your Life course, and is a founding member of the Forbes Coaches Council. Michelle is also a mother of 2, admits these achievements. Her coaching philosophy is a blend of decision engineering, design thinking, and lean startup principles. Michelle holds a bachelor from Stanford University and an MBA from UC Berkeley. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steph Smith (@stephsmithio), 25 is a senior analyst working on Trends, tracking up-and-coming trends. After less than a year of learning to code (while having a full-time job), she has won the Golden Kitty award for inclusion, on Product Hunt. Steph writes a blog about remote work, women in tech and learning to code. These days when she is not at work, she is building Upread, a tool connecting indie publishers with their readers. In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Khailee Ng is a managing partner of 500 Startups, a venture capital firm. He has led more than 180 startup investments, with a few “unicorn” successes such as Grab and Bukalapa. Khailee has previously founded Groupsmore which got acquired by Groupon and Says.com, which got subsequently acquired by Media Prima, Malaysia’s largest online media company. BUT, even if you have zero interest in startups, this episode is well worth the time. This is really about the habits and beliefs of a successful (and fun) person. Enjoy this conversation with a curious character! In this conversation, we spoke about: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alvin Poh is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Vodien, a cloud hosting company. Vodien was founded in 2002. It was later acquired by Dreamscape in 2017, and was valued for S$ 30million. Shortly after being a millionaire at 33 years old, he sold most of his belongings (including his Lamborghini) and embraced minimalism. Alvin holds a masters in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon. He is now travelling and snowboarding around the world. In this conversation, we spoke about: Links Mentioned Connect with Alvin Poh: Website | Instagram At 34, Alvin Poh Is A Multi-Millionaire. But He Doesn’t Think He’s Rich by Justin Vanderstraaten I Became a Millionaire at 33 And It Was A Disappointment by Alvin Poh Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat Naval Ravikant interview on Farnam Street by Shane Parrish (Transcript) Interactive BrokersSAXOVanguard Total Index Fund Accumulating Capital Class Withholding tax on ETFs for Singaporeans Powerlifting Callisthenics The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman Book review by Derek Sivers Notepad++Tasker (Andriod) Foxit (Andriod) PDFpen (Mac OS and iOS) Transporter 95 by Osprey Show Notes How does Alvin network during his time at Vodien? [02:48] When did Alvin know he was an entrepreneur? [24:21] Alvin sharing how his childhood influence his outlook on materialism [27:08] What does happiness means to Alvin now? [30:05] What did Alvin do after exiting Vodien? [44:23] Why did Alvin decide to drop out of Junior College and enrol in Polytechnic? [56:01] What is one thing Alvin wished he learnt earlier as a leader? [01:05:18] How does Alvin identity and form his inner circle? [01:14:15] What are the pro & cons of SAXO and InteractiveBrokers? [01:17:09] What is the evolution of Alvin’s fitness routine? [01:20:48] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

JR Hinds is the owner of Hinds and Associates, specialising in employer-sponsored health insurance plans. Today, over 90% of his business is developed through referrals. He has a private pilot’s license and flies a Cessna 172. He also jumped out of an airplane twice (but never one that he was flying). JR rappelled down the building the day before his wedding day and threw a surprise wedding for his 50 guests. One of his favourite things to do is to spend time with his 4 nephews and his niece. In this conversation, we spoke about JR apologise for the wrong mention of "Yes Marsha Marsha". It's Yes Yes Marsha. There was a lot of nervous laughter in this episode - mainly from me. Listen to the podcast to know why. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I don't think we ask deep enough questions and give young people enough credit for being able to have those answer within themselves.”– Michelle Jones Michelle Jones is the founder of a higher education institution, Wayfinding Academy. It is a new 2-year college aiming to revolutionize higher education. They have been approved to offer Associate’s degrees by Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission. She has taught in traditional colleges for 15 years. Some of the institutions include (but not limited to) Boston University, University of New Mexico and Concordia University of Portland. Michelle is also the organizer of TEDx Mt Hood for the last 8 years. Wayfinding Academy is currently having a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign from June 17th - July 27th to raise $60,000. Thier goals are to double their student body size, launch a second program, and impact twice as many lives. Donate here. In the podcast episode [02:40:00], you can listen to a conversation with a student (Meg Lamberger) of the Wayfinding Academy about her experiences. Enjoy this incredible conversation! It was very eye-opening for me. In this conversation, we spoke about Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“It is not a failure if there are lessons to be learnt from it.” – Daniel Lim Daniel Lim is an entrepreneur and business coach. His coaching and training practice aims to help people to redefine success, build businesses and do work which is aligned with their values and purpose. Daniel's former design studio, Studio MDS work with clients such as Capella Hotels, Singapore Flyer and National Heritage Board. In 2017, he designed and ran a retreat called #howtohuman for DesignSingapore Council. In this conversation, we spoke about Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annabelle Kwok, 25 is the founder of NeuralBay, an Artificial Intelligence company that specialises in vision analytics. She consults with companies on A.I. driven solutions and was previously the founding CEO of SmartCow. At 20, she travelled alone for 6 weeks to Togo, West Africa. She has witness people fainting from malaria, getting robbed at knife-point, and balanced buckets of water on her head. At 22, she met U.S. President Barack Obama under a youth programme representing Singapore. Annabelle is a black-belt in Taekwondo, a licensed windsurfer, and an avid runner. In this conversation, we spoke about I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. --- In 2018, I am getting my health in order. I have already lost 5kg in one month. If you have similar goals, and tried a bunch of diet and regime that didn't help. I want to work with you. I have enough time for 3 people at the moment to help achieve their health goals. The session would be free of charge, as I learning and testing things out. I also ask that you only sign up if you are really ready to make some changes. I will motivate you and keep you accountable, but you'll get the most out of my time if we can spend the bulk of our time analysing what you've done and implementing changes. If you are interested, please email me a little introduction of yourself and your goals. Amongst potential candidate who I think we are a good fit, I'll accept people first come first serve. Get in touch by emailing to ask [at] bryanvictor.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"No one says that decided to start drinking because my ambition in life is to be an alcoholic. It’s rubbish.” – Dr Munidasa Winslow Munidasa Winslow is a psychiatrist and the executive director of Promises Healthcare. He has been practising psychiatry since 1988 and is known for his work in addiction medicine and impulse control disorders. He was also responsible for the setting up the Addiction Management Department at the Institute of Mental Health. His last appointment at IMH was the Chief of the Department of Addiction Medicine Department at IMH Singapore. Dr Winslow is accredited as a master addiction counsellor and a clinical supervisor. In this conversation, we spoke about Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lim Der Shing is currently a private investor, Venture Advisor with Jungle Seedplus and board member with several organizations. Huang Shao-Ning is the Managing Partner of Hub Ventures Fund and a Partner at Entrepreneur First, the world’s leading company builder. Together, they are the co-founders of JobsCentral Group and manage a regional portfolio of over 17 angel investments in startups. JobCentral grew from a 2-man startup into an organization with 150 employees over a period of 14 years. In 2011, JobsCentral was acquired by CareerBuilder, making it one of Singapore’s largest tech exits at the time. They did all of that while raising a family of 4 kids. In this conversation, we spoke about I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! Show Notes Huang Shao-Ning shares about her childhood [01:04] Lim Der Shing shares about his childhood [04:18] How did Der Shing and Shao-Ning end up at Ann Habour University [08:17] How did Der Shing first meet Shao Ning? [12:10] Shao-Ning and Der Shing shares views about taking advice from the elderly [17:14] How do Der Shing and Shao Ning discern good advice from noise? [26:01] Why did Shao-Ning and Der Shing quit their jobs to start JobCentral? [37:10] What are the different stages of JobsCentral's growth? [46:13] Shao Ning and Der Shing shares insights on hiring [51:52] How do you develop a "bullshit" meter for sussing out candidates? [56:12] How do Shao Ning and Der Shing define and view entrepreneurship? [59:14] What did Shao Ning learn from Der Shing? [01:06:23] Links Mentioned Connect with Lim Der Shing and Huang Shao-Ning: Website (Der Shing) | LinkedIn (Shao-Ning) Thanks for listening! And if you have any experience with anything we talked about, I’d love for you to open up in the comments. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post. Share your story in the comments. Also, please leave an honest review for Misfits Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. Special thanks to Shao-Ning and Der Shing. Until next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.