Episode 1: Test Podcast

Plat Fynn: So I like to mix things up here on the Smart Passive Income podcast. This is a very different kind of episode, you’re going to be transported to the city of New York. I actually conducted a walking interview, through the city of New York, with a good friend of mine Ramit Sethi. I was in New York for some interviews and to meet some people and some retailers, related to the Switch Pod. And I was there with Caleb and he said, why don’t we just try this thing? And so we did it, it’s a learning process. You’ll hear at the beginning of the episode, my mic was a little bit hot because I was holding it close to me.

Plat Fynn: You also probably hear how cold I was. I was losing my breath a little bit, because it was 25 degrees fahrenheit. Which for me, being from San Diego is just not an okay situation, but I wanted to try something different. We’ll see if it works out. And I’d love to hear what your thoughts are at the end of this. But for now, just know that, you’re going to be listening to Ramit Sethi, a good friend of mine, we’ve been friends for years and I got onto his stuff because, he really taught me about the psychology of money and wealth and what that really means. And why certain people are really good with money, why certain people aren’t really good with money. And this will be a very helpful episode for you, getting into the psychology of money and wealth and wealth building. But also selling, and why people buy things.

Plat Fynn: So this will be helpful for you, but also for understanding more about your customers for your business, too. So this is a very deep episode. You’ll actually hear some things that actually happened while we were walking through the streets of New York that actually pertain to money and psychology. We even visit some of the stores on Madison Avenue and he starts talking about like, why the windows are set up the way they are, and all this kind of stuff. So I hope you’re transported, you’re going to hear the sights and sounds with your ears. I’m looking forward to hearing what you think. So, here is my good friend Ramit Sethi, from IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. Here we go.

Speaker 2: Welcome to the Smart Passive Income podcast, where it’s all about working hard now, so you can sit back and reap the benefits later. And now your host, it takes him twenty minutes to enter a jacuzzi, Plat Flynn.

Plat Fynn: Guess what guys, I’m here in New York, you might hear some background sounds. And I’m not alone, I’m here with Ramit Sethi, who’s been on the show before. We did decide to do something different. We’re going to walk around the city and explore his hometown, and just chat. What we’re going to chat about is money and psychology of it. Ramit, welcome back to SPI.

Ramit Sethi: Thanks for having me. This is awesome. I’ve never done this before.

Plat Fynn: Yeah, neither have I. So we’ll see how it goes, and I’m freezing. Because, it’s like 30 degrees.

Ramit Sethi: This is cold to you?

Plat Fynn: How do you survive in this weather?

Ramit Sethi: When I moved here from California, I’m actually a California guy. I thought that I had a warm coat and my friends who lived here were like, where’s your coat? I’m like, this is my coat. It was from Gap. They’re like, that’s not a coat. And about two days later, I realized they were right. So the answer is get a warm coat.

Plat Fynn: I had to literally buy a coat for this trip, and for those of you listening, I’m in New York right now with Caleb, who was filming some of this stuff and we’re going to share clips from some of the interview on YouTube, and on Instagram, and Facebook and whatever. But we’re here to talk about the Switch Pod, with some retailers and some other companies. But knowing that Ramit was in town, we wanted to get together and do a podcast interview and just hang out a little bit. So, where are we walking right now to give people some context?

Ramit Sethi: Okay, we’re on 42nd street right by Grand Central. We’re going to walk past this iconic old building. You hear the beautiful audio of horns and angry pedestrians in the morning people. They do not look happy. They’re not happy, I’m telling you right now. They’re also all wearing black. It’s basically a bunch of depressed people walking around. Meanwhile, we’re just smiling, we have no bag, people are looking at us like we’re absolutely nuts. Welcome to New York.

Plat Fynn: I can confirm everything Ramit is saying right now. But when you say like people aren’t happy, are you serious about that?

Ramit Sethi: No, actually, people are very nice. There’s this old stereotype that people are mean. If you stop and ask someone for something, they’re really friendly. But, they’re not friendly, if you just stop in the middle of the road and start looking up at these tall buildings. So don’t do that.

Plat Fynn: Okay, we’re not going to stop, we’re gonna keep going, mainly because I need to keep moving, or else I’m going to freeze. But we’re also going to be walking around some stores and unpacking what we see. We’re going to be walking by, you mentioned an area earlier.

Ramit Sethi: Yeah, I want to take you to some stores on Madison Ave. These are the super luxury stores. I want to talk a little bit about the psychology of luxury, and the psychology of money. I think a lot of people have certain ideas about money, like, oh, it’s so shallow to buy an expensive coat, or why would anyone stay in this type of hotel or eat at this restaurant. What I want to do, is talk about looking at these experiences through a different lens, because there are very valid reasons for somebody to spend money on business class flights, or a really nice restaurant. I think rather than mocking it, we can actually try to understand it, and then we can decide if it makes sense for us or not. So we’ll do that. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.

Plat Fynn: Cool, and I think money is really important, especially for business owners as well, especially for a lot of the audience listening right now, who are just starting out.

Ramit Sethi: Yeah.

Plat Fynn: And they have to make decisions about where their money is going to be spent.

Ramit Sethi: Yes.

Plat Fynn: Are they going to save it all, and do all the work themselves? Are they going to hire VA’s and start to grow their business and, those are all big money decisions that have to be made. But I want to start with you. You started with a personal finance blog, which still exists, IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com. One of the first financial blogs that I read. I read all of them back in the day when, who was it?

Ramit Sethi: JD Roth.

Plat Fynn: JD Roth.

Ramit Sethi: All these guys.

Plat Fynn: Trend Jasmine, Simple Dollar and Get Rich Slowly. Adam Baker from Man vs Dead, all those guys. What stood out to me about you, was you had the most unique approach. You had a very different philosophy with money. They were all talking about saving every penny. Were you just against that or, where did your money psychology come from, of, go get your expensive latte.

Ramit Sethi: Yeah.

Plat Fynn: But go for big wins, instead of just saving it, every penny?

Ramit Sethi: Well, I’ll tell you what, I think that having a point of view is one of the most rare things on earth. Let me try that again. These guys are trying to ruin our day. Let me give a little color commentary here. Here we are Grand Central, absolutely amazing building. When you go inside, you see absolutely incredible views. It’s an incredible experience to see this building which has been around for so long and serves as one of the transportation hubs in New York City. If you have the chance, definitely go there. There’s an apple store in there. Funny enough. There’s also a beautiful market. Check it out.