Carl Harvey agreed to take a little break from his usual role as the interviewer and jump to the other side of the table to let me interview HIM. I really want you to pay close attention to what he shares about people that don’t have their own product – either because they haven’t had a chance to create it yet, or they just have no interest in doing that.
Some people have the idea that if you don’t have your own product, you’re out of luck. But that’s a mistake. As you’ll soon see…
[The Interview]
Sabrina: Hello everyone. This is Sabrina Truscott with Abundant Entrepreneur and today on the show I have Mr. Carl Harvey. Carl has a weekly chat show you may have heard of called The Big Life.
Carl, you are hailed as this uncensored trainer that teaches people how to have a big life – a life filled with abundance, prosperity, passion purpose. and basically anything they want.
Carl: Good vibes.
Sabrina: Yes. Good vibes. And the reason I’m really excited about having you share with our community here at Abundant Entrepreneur is because – I know that many of you may be creating products or have a product that requires you to either interview people or to be interviewed and… Carl, you are like King of the Interview…
Carl: The Boss. (laughing)
Sabrina: He’s The Boss. You are able to draw personality out of people to relay information and playfulness simultaneously. So I would love to hear the tips that you have…
Carl: In terms of interviewing people? Sure…
Sabrina: Like: you’re so prepared; you’re so spontaneous: you ask these questions that are raw.
If you were trying to tell a newbie who is getting into a business that required them to interview people what tips would you give them?
Carl: Good question. The first thing is:
Interviewing someone is a magnificent way to create really valuable content and add a lot of value to people’s lives without having to go through all the rigmarole of creating your own products; and testing; and doing all that stuff.
So it’s a great way to get ahead. However there is a huge caveat there.
You can’t just sit down and have a conversation with someone and expect it to “pop” and create that tremendous value. Value which is necessary in order to hold and rivet people’s attention online. Especially nowadays. So there are a few things that I’ve learned in doing over 60 odd interviews over the past couple of years. With the biggest names in personal growth. Amazing people like Jack Canfield, Dr. Paul Scheele; T. Harv Ecker…
Sabrina: John Assaraf.
Carl: Mr. Assaraf… my man.
Sabrina: Joe Vitale. I love Joe.
Carl: Yeah. Joe the boy. His ranch in Texas – lovely – where you live.
Sabrina: He’s our neighbor!
Carl: He is. That’s great. And many many more.
So of course this is terrifying because all of these people are the people who inspired me and changed my life. And I’ve studied all the books. And bought all of their courses. And literally invested years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars learning from them. So of course it’s a bit terrifying.
So first and foremost…
If you get a bit nervous, that’s normal.
That’s fine. In fact, that’s good.
Because one of the misconceptions about interviews is that they’re a bit easy and you just ask the formulaic questions. One bit of advice up front is: Don’t do that.
The number one bit of feedback I get (from these A-List guests – who have done literally thousands of interviews) is that they love working with me because I ask them stuff that keeps them on their toes. Stuff that is spontaneous. And is unlike what they’ve been asked before.
Sabrina: Like what?
Carl: Well, for example they’re usually asked about… “In this book…” and, “In this part of your story…” and the key “talking points” that you hear over and over again.
So, is if you’ve seen it before, try to avoid that.
Next, my best advice to you is genuinely only interview people you’re passionate about. And that you have a connection with.
You can’t B.S.
Sabrina: You can’t fake it.
Carl: You really can’t. And a couple of times, I HAVE interviewed people that I didn’t feel a deep connection with. But I thought, “This might make money” or “This might be good.” And inevitably they flopped.
You’ve got to trust your energy and your spirit and your intuition.
If you’re getting a funny feeling from interviewing somebody, it ain’t gonna be right for you. With that said, what I do is to thoroughly immerse myself in the content of this particular person.
So it’s your job – as an example, with Joe Vitale – I’ll reread his top three or four books that I love. I’ll go through these courses. I will literally OBSESS about it for days before the interview. And program my subconscious mind… that’s the thing, the subconscious mind will answer whatever question you give it.
So my question is always, “How can I serve? How can I have the biggest impact?”
And the way I see it is a lot of these guys who I interview they charge anything from $10,000 upwards for an hour of their time. So I imagine that I’ve taken that money out. Spent it myself.
So, if I’ve spent 10 G’s and I’ve got an hour, what am I going to get from them? I want to know. I want to get my money’s worth.
I’m still a little bit working on that “abundant mindset.” I’m almost there. But there’s still a bit of my that that really wants to get my money’s worth. So I will go deep into that. And from there, that’s going to give you the basis of the most important things.
Then a great thing to do is to future pace your ideal prospects or the person that you’re trying to serve.
You can’t possibly think like, “What is the best way to interview this person to make money?” You can’t think, “What’s the sexiest thing?”
It has to be about impact. Has to be about transformation. Genuinely.
And you have to put yourself (as much as you can) in the shoes or the position of your ideal prospects (or your clients) and go, “What information do they need? How can I coax this out of the person?”
That’s a very powerful way to play. And you will get loads of ideas and inspiration.
If it’s at all possible, sleep on it.
Your subconscious mind, once you have a little sleep… you’re gonna wake up the next morning with ideas.
And when it’s time to interview, the best thing I can possibly say is – meditate before.
Or do whatever you do to get yourself in a good state. And then just go with it.
Don’t overthink it. It doesn’t have to be polished. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
My interviews… I’m all over the place. And I get excited. Allow your inspiration to come through.
But above all, remember that if they if they’re talking a bit much… if they’re going over – pull them back.
Have that power. Be in control. And determine that it’s you and your audience.
Don’t let them talk just because they’re famous. Don’t let them overdo it.
You have to trust your instincts.
Sabrina: Don’t let them lecture.
Carl: True that. Absolutely.
Sabrina: Because they’re hired to do lectures and keynotes so they’re used to that. So sometimes…
Carl: Oftentimes. Because a lot of these people are professional speakers. All the people I interview at least. So it’s very easy for them to go into the subconscious… “I’ve said this a thousand times, I’m just going to start regurgitating the same thing.” And the energy drops.
You have to be very perceptive and present. And be in a place where you’re actually paying attention and listening. You’re not thinking, “What’s the next question going to be?”
You are literally (as much as possible) in flow. In the moment. And just having a conversation with someone. And maybe in the back of your mind is, “How can I serve? How can I make this even more awesome?” Not, “How can I sell more?”
With that said, we did a million in the first year and 1.7 million I think in the second year. We don’t sell anything until 90 minutes into a call. Every week. They can’t give us money until we’ve given a lot of value…
Sabrina: And those millions were from you interviewing people who had products…
Carl: Yeah, the vast majority.
Sabrina: That’s one of the models that we talk about at Abundant Entrepreneur. Some people feel like, “I don’t have a product, I don’t want to do one.”
So there’s a way to get online, like Carl has… where you can get online as the interviewer.
Carl: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got a couple of products and I love them, but it’s a whole lot of work to plan and create. And then you’re so close to it. You’re constantly trying to improve it.
Whereas, if you meet someone – a teacher or they’ve got something that has helped you – it’s much easier and faster to help them sell that.
And imagine… a lot of these guys… if you think about it from a business or commerce perspective… their biggest challenge is reaching new people.
If you can help them, by introducing them to your audience (the people who you can influence.) Then it’s not a hard pitch. It’s not a hard sell.
I worked in business-to-business sales for many, many years. I was cold-calling CEOs. Trying to get my way through gate-keepers and their assistants. That’s tough. And then asking them for 20, 50, 100 thousand dollars to be paid with a credit card over the phone. That’s tough.
Calling up somebody and saying, “You deeply inspired me. I love your work and I’d love to interview you and then sell your stuff at the end.” That’s a pretty easy sell in comparison. And usually they’re absolutely aching to do that.
So, it’s a pretty simple business model as well. Great way to get started.
Sabrina: Yeah. And earlier you were telling me you went to law school. What transitioned you from a job that would pay well – and a lifestyle, probably a 9-9 lifestyle…
Carl: Yeah. My boy stayed with that and he works 7 days a week. 18 hours a day. Love him. But he works hard. He’s got a real job.
Sabrina: And what made you transition?
Carl: Because I realized it was a real job. (laughing) No, I used to read John Grisham books growing up and he basically sold me on the idea that being in law was a very noble profession.
And by the time I’d done five years of study and spent all that money, I realized… actually it was the first conversation with my father in many, many years… I hadn’t spoken to him. And he called me up. And the one thing he said was, “Are you still pretending you want to be a lawyer?”
And it was like a massive pattern interrupt. I stopped and was like, “I’ve been implicitly following this path.”
And I think a lot of us do. We live according to what society expects of us. We get that better job. That promotion. That pay raise. And we follow that blindly. Not paying attention to the fact that we’re becoming more miserable.
And even though I loved the intellectual challenge of studying law. And I liked competing with all the rich kids – as I sort of came from… NOT that. And they sort of sneered at me a bit. So there’s a bit of me “PROVING” – a male ego thing.
And by the time I got there and had that conversation, I just realized at a deep level – intuitively – this isn’t for me.
And it’s one of the best things I ever did. Because I learned to trust my intuition.
Every big success I’ve had in my life has come as a result of following my intuition and doing something that other people have said, “You are crazy. Why you doing this?”
As an example, I started my first internet business the day after I was given a copy of the 4-hour workweek by Tim Ferris.
I was working in an ad agency in London. It was an amazing job. It was a little firm. I got to wear whatever I wanted. I had an unlimited expense account. And my job is basically to to take beautiful women out to lunch. [Because most of the people who bought advertising in London were beautiful women.] So I had the best job in the world.
I was young. I was single. I was dating women and getting paid for it. But then someone gave me this book and introduced me to the idea that you can get paid based on your passions:
“There is this thing called the internet. And you can share a message and people will pay you.”
I quit my job the next day.
Sabrina: You did?
Carl: Honestly. The next day. And my boss — who’s one of the best ad sales guys in London – and London is a big industry for this… he’s like, “What do you mean you’re quitting? What are you going to do?”
And I showed him the book. And I said, “I’m going to do one of these internet businesses.”
And he’s like, “Dude, I love you but you’re nuts. You call me when this goes wrong.”
The most beautiful thing is… so this was maybe five or six years ago… he messaged me a couple month ago and he was like, “Dude, I just want to say how proud I am of you and how wrong I was to say that.”
Not to say it was easy. Not to say there wasn’t a learning curve. Because there was.
I spent a lot of money, a lot of time – hustling. Like a lot of the time, I was taking consulting jobs and other things to pay the bills. And I was getting up early to learn about this stuff. And I was staying up late. And I was reading. And I was doing everything I could.
Sabrina: There’s an excitement during that period.
Carl: That’s a great point. Because my gut feeling when I read The 4 Hour Work Week was, “Oh my god. You’ve got to do this.”
Now, you don’t have to be nuts and quit your job the next day. And in fact, I wouldn’t recommend that. Because I have a higher tolerance for risk than most. However, if you’ve got an intuitive calling that you should be sharing a message… I feel that that is why you’re here.
If you feel like there’s something in you that you want to get out… that’s why you’re here. Like all of us have a purpose or something that we need to be sharing.
Sabrina: A uniqueness…
Carl: Absolutely. but most of us repress it. And our society programs us to repress it. And to conform. And to just buy stuff on credit cards. And be miserable, Monday to Friday and go crazy on the weekend. Buy more so that you feel better on the inside.
But of course, that doesn’t work.
Whereas if you’re starting to get an inkling that you want to create something or share something – whether it’s an interview or a product or some kind of message – you’ve got to do it.
We live in unparalleled times. It’s so simple to start an internet business now. There are so many amazing teachers who can share with you the path of least resistance. A clearer way. Even much more so than when I started five years ago.
But you have to start. You have to get moving. And you have to get out of your comfort zone.
Like my first video, someone sent it to me the other day… my first YouTube video… it was awful! I had no swag. Utterly swagless. I took me about four minutes to make any kind of point.
Sabrina: (laughing) You’ve got plenty of swag now.
Carl: I learned that. Yeah now it’s different.
Sabrina: So you didn’t used to be so physical in your body?
Carl: No, No, No. I was manic depressive. I was going to be prescribed antidepressants. I self-medicated a lot. I was very, very self-loathing.
Then I walked into an armed robbery… had a gun to my head, or two guns to my head… basically these guys that started robbing this diner that I walked into [I went to pick a friend up who was working there.]
When I walked in, they’d already taken their balaclavas off so I saw their faces.
So these two dudes locked me in a room with the others and outside they were saying, “We need to shoot the guy. Cause he saw us. He saw our faces.”
So I’m hearing two dudes talk about executing me. And this was at a time when I was in the deepest depression of my life. And I’m fantasizing, “No one loves me. Maybe I should kill myself. I don’t want to live.”
And at that moment I realized, “I don’t want to die.” And it really just put things in perspective. I made a decision to myself.
I call it the first spiritual experience of my life. Because I was like, “If I get out of this I’m gonna figure out how to be happy and I’m gonna figure out how to get rich.”
Now the funny thing is I figured out the latter one first. I figured out to make money and realized by doing that: That ain’t it.
And if you’re already in a job where you’re making money, you know that.
Sure, money will buy a bit of freedom from worries… like if you can’t pay the bills. There’s nothing more real than that.
But once you get past that, it ain’t the money. And the amount of people that were trying to get me to stay in that sales job — because I was good at it — or the various sales jobs… It takes an enormous amount of courage to actually follow that intuition when everyone around you is saying you’re nuts.
But if you feel like there’s something within you that wants to come out… What I’m saying is, in my experience (and I’m only 32) but all the amazing people I’ve interviewed is that when you follow that feeling… as Joseph Campbell says, “There will be doors where before that there were just walls.”
In other words, the flow comes. The good luck. The synchronicities. And you don’t have to force it as much.
And the more I play with this, by following my inspiration and my passion — as opposed to what I feel I HAVE to do — the better results I get.
And the great thing with interviewing people, is that you play almost a minimal role in that. You get the best out of amazing people, while you develop your own skills. It’s an incredible way to get ahead.
Sabrina: Yeah like I’m doing right now.
Carl: Yeah, girl. That’s it. (laughing)
Sabrina: I mean everything that you say, I’m like, “Oh wow, I can see where I can incorporate more of that. I can do more of that. Oh, I love THAT. Let me remember to keep doing that.”
Because there is a synchronicity in all that we do. Like I too love the personal development world. I was such a student for so long. And now I’m in the midst of many of the people that I listened to in my car… and I had the vision boards on my wall and all of that.
And now these people are my friends and my associates and my mentors. And then you’re here with them and you realize it’s all the same. And when I would say to friends what my dream was… what my goal was… or what I thought I’d like to do… I’d hear, “You know the job you have is really good.” Or, “Why would you do that?” There wasn’t that support. And I find among this community, people are like, “Yeah, give it a go.”
Carl: Yeah, NOW. But speaking to that briefly… one of my great mentors taught me…
- You should never take money advice from broke people.
- Don’t take relationship advice from people who have bad relationships.
- Don’t take job advice from someone who’s not loving their career….
And that can be very hard.
Because usually when we are drawn to these kind of teaching, we’re not in an amazing space. It’s very hard to NOT believe everything the people around you are saying.
And that is one of the first steps in growth. And in building a successful business. Being able to not listen to the propaganda.
And most frequently it’s because they’re just scared. And they’re projecting onto you. You say, “I’m going to do this.” And they’re…
Sabrina: Scared…
Carl: Yeah, because they haven’t done it. They don’t want to see you succeed on some subconscious level. Even the best friends… they’ll try and talk you out of it.
Whereas the real friends in your life, and the real people I think we should listen to, are the ones that see the best thing in you and encourage you to develop that.
Because no real friends going to say to you, “You know that message you’ve got that keeps coming up… you should suppress that.” Sounds a bit crazy.
Like when I gave up a consulting job… I was being paid a $120,000 a year for three days a week, plus commission. So it was about $250K. I lived in Sydney on the beach. Two or three days a week. And I went to Malaysia to go and work for nothing. And everyone was like, “You’re nuts. You’re giving up all of this money.” But my intuition was like, “No, you’ve got to do this.” And every time I followed my intuition it led me right…
So the fact that you’re watching this interview now… there’s something in you intuitively that’s saying, “There’s something in me. I can create a message and share it with the world. There’s something I can do outside the 9 to 5.”
You wouldn’t be here resonating with this unless that was true. Like you can’t fake this stuff.
If it wasn’t true for you, it wouldn’t resonate — it wouldn’t come into your conscious awareness. So, listen to it basically. Embrace it. Have fun with it.
And as the great Alan Watts used to teach, “Infuse everything with the spirit of play.”
The more fun you have, and the less seriously you take it… no matter how much you NEED money… no matter how much you NEED this to work… you have to understand that neediness is a repulsive energy in terms of attraction.
Like, a hot girl will get hit on by needy dudes all the time and it will turn them off. Money is the same. Success is the same. The more you NEED it, the more you’re going to repel it.
So, I would invite you, as much as possible – play with this (this is a mental and spiritual challenge in itself) but play with this:
If you’re interviewing someone, have fun.
Imagine it is what it is: You get this time with an amazing person. You get to pick their brain. It’s not that scary and it shouldn’t be serious. The more serious you make it the harder it’s gonna be to get results.
Sabrina: Yes. See why I wanted him to talk to you and why I’m so in love with him?
Carl: It’s probably the hat isn’t it? More than anything.
Sabrina: Honestly, you know, being a dancer, the way you use your body in everything you say. I’m like, “Wow. He’s so loose.“
Carl: You know, the number one complaint I get in my business — I don’t read many of the emails anymore – the negative — I have someone to screen them. The biggest one is, you move your hands too much. I wish you would settle down. It used to really hurt me because it was like, “That’s my personality.”
Sabrina: No, that’s awesome.
Carl: Here’s another bit of advice…
When you put your head above the parapet — when you start doing anything like this. You’re gonna get haters.
So one of my favorite raps is, “If you ain’t hatin’, you ain’t poppin.” That means that if people aren’t putting you down, you aren’t saying anything creative or new.
Sabrina: Like my hairdresser always says, “As long as they’re talking about you.”
Carl: That’s it, girl. True that.
Sabrina: I’ll say, “Edward, this person said this about me.” And he’ll go, “As long as they’re talking about you girl.“
Carl: Yeah. And that’s hard. It’s hard to conceptualize that. But what I would say is that if you’re not started yet, or if you’re struggling to get going, because you’re scared of what other people think. That’s something to play with internally.
It’s not something that will magically go away. You’re not going to make the perfect video. Or the perfect interview. Or the perfect product that everyone is going to love.
It doesn’t work like that. It is an internal challenge. So for me what works was setting clear intentions of how I wanted to be. Of visualizing it.
And also understand that when people hate on you, it’s a projection of themselves. Because higher vibrational people don’t hate. They don’t criticize. They give love.
Anyone below that is just reflecting some kind of lack or inadequacy within themselves. And the more successful you get the more that you get that.
And you have to learn to be really cool with the fact that some people are just like that. And give them love.
An enlightened person has no enemies as another one of my mentors told me.
I ain’t there yet, but I’m trying.
Give love to those who struggle with you. Above all just share.
This is like high level stuff but understand that people are searching for information. And help.
There is something that you know, something that you’re passionate about…. one of my mentors said, “If you don’t know what you’re passionate about, go into a bookstore… what books do you pick up? What magazines?” That will give you a clue.
And don’t take it too seriously. Discovering your purpose is one of the great joys of life. Just figuring it out.
Sabrina: Yeah, why you’re here.
Carl: And also I think a lot of people think that it’s going to come in one beautiful moment of clarity.
I think for some people – for most of us – it’s more like we figure out, “Well, I hate this. What is a little bit better than this?”
And then we do that. And go, “Okay, well, I love this bit but not this. I’ll get rid of that.”
And eventually, you stumble upon something that, “I enjoy this, and I’m good at it.”
But you get moving.
And the very act of having an intention to do it – so you know where you want to go — whatever it is…
- You want to have your own business;
- you want to make six figures or seven figures;
- you want to serve in this way;
- you want to have this impact.
And you start moving.
And bit by bit, you’re gonna figure it out.
Sabrina: Objects in motion remain in motion.
Carl: True that. And you start to magnetize.
The more you get in alignment with it, the more the opportunities will come. You don’t have to believe it. Just get moving and you’ll see that to be true.
Sabrina: Amen. Thank you so much. Wow.
I suggest you review this interview again. Take some notes. And give it a try.
Maybe just start doing some practice interviews if that’s something you want to do.
And then, sometimes you’re going to be on the opposite end and be the interviewee – and I think all of these same tips and messages and insights apply to that too.
Be playful. Be real. Be vulnerable. Think outside of the box. Don’t worry about what other people think. You are a unique expression of you and that is amazing. Whatever it is. It’s so unique and unrepeatable that people need to hear it.
So use this to ignite the Abundant Entrepreneur in you.
[Taking A Moment To Reflect]
I love when I talk to someone and they are able to identify a specific moment in their life where there was a mental shift and their life took of on a different trajectory.
You might have several. I know I do.
In fact, it seems the more sensitive I become, the more frequently I’ll have these little shifts that let me re-evaluate and respond.
When Carl’s dad asked him, “Are you still pretending to be a lawyer” – in that moment, he had one of those moments that changed the path he was on, and forever changed his life.
Let’s be open to those moments. For me, I actually get EXCITED when I find out I’m wrong about something! When I’m “encouraged” to re-examine what I hold to be true. Because it’s usually like adding a little light to the darkness.
It’s a relief. It sometimes feels as if I’m in a very dark room and seeing what looks like a snake in the floor… and walking on furniture or choosing a different path… trying to avoid the snake – and being scared… only to get to the wall switch, turn on the light and realize that it’s the belt of my bathrobe.
So much easier and simpler life becomes in those moments. Less fear. Less delusion.
PLUS, when you give yourself the permission to be wrong, you give yourself more freedom to try something. And if all that climbing on the furniture (and drama) to get to the light switch finally allowed you to turn on the light – well, it makes it all worth it! Your whole life is brighter and you’ve got one less (unfounded) concern.
What were your big take-aways from Carl? I love how he talked about it taking courage to follow your intuition when everyone around you is saying you’re nuts.
Even if you look back and realize that the snake was only the belt of your bathrobe – that still counts as courage! And you’re a little more brave. And a little more wise. And living with a little more light.
Want to WATCH the interview instead of reading? Click Here.
To take a peek at how Carl works his craft, you can visit him at thebiglife.com. On his uncensored chat show, The Big Life, Carl will introduce you to some of the hottest names in the personal growth industry. And you’ll also get a chance to see how Carl lives every day with total abundance, purpose and unlimited success.
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