Magic Wand Fear Into Permission: Danielle Strachman And Kevin Leahy JUST PRESS RECORD

I love meeting people who are excited about exciting people.

And I especially love the ones who have each other’s backs - over their own forward momentum.

There’s something magnetic about the ones who walk past a person, recognize that “dog on a leash” energy vibrating within them, and say, “Oh, you wanna PLAY?! Let’s go.”

Kevin Leahy left NPR because he wanted to understand how things actually work. He’d all but mastered one little corner of the radio-to-podcast transition world, but he wanted to understand more than his corner. When he started pushing the idea out of his head, others helped him pull it all the way out.

Danielle Strachman saw homeschooling parents who were hungry for something more. Most people would have stopped at, “Yeah, but - what?” She took her tutoring ideas and figured out how launch a charter school that today serves about 450 kids.

And what I love the most about these two is that they take the same energy that got them off and running and dedicate their time today to helping back others.

In very different ways. But, they do it. And they do it really, really well.

It’s like they’ve never forgotten when they didn’t know anything yet. And now they’re here to help. In BIG ways, too.

Kevin’s been helping creators of all types see what their podcasts and YouTube channels could actually be instead of listening to what every other consultant will tell them it should be (at Podcast Pointman).

Danielle’s literally a professional fairy godmother these days, raising and allocating VC money to wildly talented young people with her unshakeable intuition for pursuing magic (at 1517 Fund).

In a world obsessed with best practices, proven playbooks, and LinkedIn carousels about whatever those things are if you start clicking on them - we need more people wiling to bet on the weirdos.

The dogs want to play. Get them outside. Accept that they can’t just sit on that energy forever, not in any healthy way at least.

Because you don’t need permission to be fearless.

You just need to meet people who reject fear too.

And if you’re one of those people with the itch? With the passion? With that question that keeps you up at night?

There are people out there like Kevin and Danielle, who are looking for you.

Can you believe they hadn’t met before? I was talking to Kevin about all the crazy stuff he did at NPR and how he went on his own, and then Danielle about her - candidly, incredible life and career journey, and was like, these two have to meet.

So much of the same energy in getting others off and running. Out now on Just Press Record: