Prof. G (2:53)
I hate to say this. You probably use this as an opportunity to reestablish or strengthen trading partnerships with non US Entities. You're seeing it all over. Europe is in open talks with Latin America. Japan, South Korea and China are having trilateral talks for the first time in a long time, going, okay, this rich uncle of ours called Uncle Sam has gone fucking crazy. Maybe we should all talk about how we can make more money together. So it presents an opportunity for non US nations to develop trade agreements. Global trade unlocks tremendous prosperity. Does it leave certain people behind and who get hurt? Absolutely. But if you look at the trajectory of global trade and free trade and you correlate it, there is a strong correlation with stock markets and prosperity and wages. You know, global trade is kind of one of the premier post World War II unlocks. But let's go back to the 1890s. Wouldn't that be nice without Netflix or Novocaine? Anyways, I think you're forceful yet dignified, and you take advantage of the tumult and how disgusted people are in the world with America. You want to hear a scary stat? For the first time in history, more people globally think of China as a force of good than America. So you take advantage of it and reach out to who have been traditional adversaries or competitors and said, hey, why don't we see what kind of trade deals or cooperation we can put together to increase the prosperity. And essentially you have what is a $27 trillion economy kind of a yard sale right now. Because I think a lot of our great academics are great researchers, our great supply chain relationships, our great alliances, our great trade deals are kind of up for grabs right now. It's the world's biggest lawn sale. While Granddad isn't dead, he's gone fucking crazy and we're gonna start picking off his assets one on one. How much for that desk? How much for that desk? Thanks for the question. Our second question comes from Jay from Florida on Reddit. He asked Rav G, I was wondering if you could share some tips on calming nerves before important meetings. As an entrepreneur, your story is filled with meeting important and wealthy people and impressing them so much that they lend you loads of money. I would imagine being calm and collected is one of the most important things As a young entrepreneur. One of the scariest things is the nerves and fear right before a presentation or sales pitch. Any advice or techniques would be appreciated. Thanks, Jay from Florida. There's no getting around it. I think if you want to be successful and punch above your weight class economically, even romantically, you have to have a good rap and be confident to speak in front of people. And it's supposedly the biggest fear, the Seinfeld joke, that people's biggest fear is speaking in front of others. It's not even death. So the guy giving the eulogy is worse off than the guy in the box, at least in terms of fears. I think this is hugely important. First off, as a parent, I think it's really important that your kids be in a school that values public speaking. At my kids school, every eighth grader, every eighth grader has to present to the entire school and their parents. It's their eighth grade speech and my son did his on Nantucket. And it's one of those moments where I filmed it and I'll watch it over the few days before I'm dead. Anyway, communication is incredibly important. So what do you do around nerves? First off, I struggle with this. I spoke in front of, I don't know, 800 people about an hour and a half ago and I was fine, and I'm usually fine. I spoke in front of 11,000 about three weeks ago in Hamburg, Germany. God, I'm boasting. Fucking 60 years old and I'm still insecure and desperate for your affirmation. Anyway, what I do is on a regular basis, and this isn't a tip, but just to give you some, I don't know, context. I have a panic attack. I'll get in front of a bunch of people. I can't figure it out. I don't know if jet lag has something to do with it or something else is on my mind. And I get on stage and I get nervous and I start sweating and I start gulping for air. And I look up and I see 202,000, 10,000 people worried that I'm having a heart attack on stage. It's happened probably three or four times in the last 10 years and it's frightening. I feel like I'm gonna die. I feel embarrassed. I mean, not like I'm going to Die from embarrassment. Like, I literally feel like as if I'm dying. And so how do I get around it? So the obvious one is practice practicing in front of your mom or your husband or your friends. And practice in knowing the information is obviously going to make you less nervous, that you're just sort of on rails. I always have slides because they use it as just sort of an anchor for me. And I have a great creative team, which adds to the. The context. Or also I think especially some of the tricks are the following. Imagine that you have real insight into something and it's going to benefit the people. And you imagine that you're doing them a favor, that you're excited to tell them what's going on, right? So that you have real insight, real interesting information that they're going to want to hear and you're going to deliver it some crutches or slides. Obviously, nothing replaces practice, where you're just confident, where it's like, okay, I can do this on rails. Beyond that, I have taken beta blockers and no one will admit that, but supposedly, like a third of the people that testify before Congress take beta blockers. It suppresses the fight or flight sympathetic response. And right after I have a panic attack, I'm so freaked out about having another attack that I take one before I speak just to calm my nerves. And once I go three or four talks without a panic attack, I stop taking them. I don't think you want to become dependent on any one drug. By the way, a lot of concert musicians, violinists, whoever, use these things because it's supposedly calms their nerves and kind of makes them sort of cool as eyes. I also find it deadens me a little bit. I'm a little. And this is why AI companies are overvalued. It's sort of. I lose a little bit of that edge. I get very emotional on stage a lot, and I think people like that, it grabs their attention. I think a little bit of emotion in your voice is fine. Anger, um, I don't know. For me, I get. I get emotional whenever I talk about my boys or the lack of opportunity anyways. But look, boss, nothing, nothing's easy. And nothing, nothing replaces just doing it as much as you can and force yourself. You know, it's doing the hard stuff, the uncomfortable stuff that translates to progress. Take every chance you can in safe environments to present or speak such that you get less and less freaked out by the prospect. But I appreciate the question. And it's something everyone struggles with, including yours truly. See above. Panic attacks. We'll be right back after a quick break. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download Today.