I’m in San Francisco right now. I am two thirds of the way through my cross-country road trip.
I had just given Jacko a bath at one of those self-service, dog washing spots. He battled me through the entire process. Poor little guy only weighs 35 pounds though so, I prevailed. But I was a sweaty, disheveled mess as I walked back up the hill to my friend’s house in the Glen Park neighborhood.
At one point, I looked up and there was a handsome, blonde dude wearing outdoorsy gear, walking a puppy, approaching us. I did a double take.
He looked so familiar, like an old friend from college whose name was at the tip of my tongue. I really hoped I could remember it before I inevitably had to say hello. We’d already made eye contact you see, and it looked like he recognized me as well.
But he did not.
He couldn’t have.
He was Tim Ferriss and we’ve never met.
It was too late though. I had already smiled at him and heard myself saying hello as if we knew each other from way back. What I wound up saying though was “No way. Tim Ferriss, ha.” and he returned the greeting with “Oh hey.”
I got kind of nervous all of the sudden, started sweating a bit.
This is Tim Ferriss! I thought. You’re a raging fan-girl of his. You can’t not mention following his work!
Being from New York though, you’re not supposed to get excited about seeing a “celebrity”. I quote “celebrity” because although many know of him in my world and he’s a well-known, published author and authority on life-style design, wellness, personal development, long-term travel and minimalism, my hosts don’t know him. My mom doesn’t know him. Most people in my life, actually, don’t know him. So although BShan and I do qualify as quasi-screaming fan-girls, or at least devout followers, he’s not a solid household name just yet. He’s not a Hanks or a Travolta, you know what I mean?
Anyway, the reason I got nervous was because I knew, in an instant, all of the things I would have loved to talk to him about. All of the questions I would have rapid-fired at him given the chance. And I was trying to figure out what to do with my racing brain.
I would have loved to buy him a glass of red wine. I know that that’s his jam because I read his blog and listen to his podcast and he mentions it a lot. Plus, I read The Four Hour Body cover to cover (along with The Four Hour Work Week and The Four Hour Chef). I also know that two glasses of red wine per night are allowed on the Slow Carb Diet.
But like I said, as a respectable New Yorker, I had to pretend I was not a creepy fan who was really excited to meet him in person, randomly on the street, in my buddy’s neighborhood.
So our short convo went something like this:
Me: “No way, Tim Ferriss. Hi.”
Tim: “Hey there”
(my dog immediately tries to hump his puppy)
Me: I’m Dana.
(Jacko tries to knock the puppy over).
Me: Sorry, I just gave him a bath that he didn’t want, he’s all worked up.
Tim: Who is this little guy?
Me: Jacko
Tim: Jatho?
Me: No, Jacko, like Jackson. And your’s? She’s so sweet, how old is she?
(Now, I already knew that the puppy’s name is ‘Molly’ because I follow Nisha Moodley on Instagram. She’s been posting a lot of pictures of that puppy lately. They both live in San Fran, they used to date, and they’ve both been talking about puppies a lot. I put it all together in like three seconds. I immediately wondered if they were back together. She has been posting about him again lately. And then I immediately feel like a huge, grade-A creep. I start sweating more. Although, to be fair, he does talk about building an audience. He makes part of his living off of it, in fact. I am part of his audience (and Nisha’s too) so, it’s not like I know these things because I’ve been going through his trash and lurking outside his window. I know these things about him because I am part of said audience. These things have been freely shared. I buy his books. I listen to his podcast. I read his blog. I dig his work, etc., etc. … I still feel like a creep. It’s unnatural to know so much about a stranger. Moving on.)
Tim: Molly, she’s six months. Jacko’s cute.
Me: Thanks, yeah, he’s okay. (I feel like Will Farrell in Old School when he introduces his blow-up doll in his bathrobe on the front porch).
Me: By the way, I read your blog all the time. I really love your work.
Tim: Thanks so much.
Me: Yeah, it’s great.
(Jacko tries to hump again. I sweat more. I wish Jacko was better trained.)
Me: Stop it, Jack. Pull yourself together. Okay we’re gonna head home, he’s really losing it. It was cool to meet you. Have a nice day.
Tim: Yeah, you too. Take care.
I play it cool for a block. Then I immediately text BShan: “I just met Tim Ferriss on the street”. She texts back: “WHAT. WHAT. !!!!!! Tell me everything. Did you tell him you LITERALLY just referenced his podcast in an email to me (which I was also listening to this morning)? Hahahahhahhahahah”
It’s true. Just moments before, I was sitting in a bakery, sipping a double cappuccino and emailing BShan. I was referencing a podcast of his that I’d listened to in Revelstoke, BC, which had quite an affect on me and how Elizabeth Gilbert had referenced the same idea in her recent, amazing book, Big Magic.
Me: Ummm, no, no, I did not.
Which brings me back to all of the things I would have liked to say to him over a glass of wine.
5, in particular:
#1. I literally just referenced your podcast with Maria Popova from Brain Pickings in an email to my writing partner.
I would say, we should never try to write for our audience specifically. We should write for ourselves. And we should never refer to our writing as ‘content’. I would ask how he balances things like SEO and even subject lines with writing about his own stories and experiments. How do you have an ‘ideal customer avatar’ but also write from authentic inspiration about the things that interest you? How do you marry the two strategically? You must do things strategically, right?
#2. Oh and by the way, I’m vagabonding!
You were part of the inspiration behind quitting my job and hitting the road! Thank you! Actually, The Four Hour Work Week was my original, OG inspo when I realized I couldn’t spend my life working a 9-5. So, yeah, I quit my job in New York and I’m vagabonding around the country with my husband in a vintage Airstream. I love Rolf Potts! I was super inspired by revisting his book Vagabonding, via your podcast. Hearing Rolf read the actual chapters out loud was powerful. I even wrote a post about it. Here, read it. And then if you woudn’t mind, tell me what you think.
(I order him another Pinot Noir)
#3. Speaking of, BShan (I’ll assume he knows who BShan is by now because he’s already learned all about Crop Tops & Kale and he thinks we’re brilliant) really loved The Four Hour Work Week, too.
She’s currently trying to mold her life in a similar fashion. You see she has a puppy too, she lives in Brooklyn, and she’s a bit burnt out from work. All she really wants is freedom over her own schedule and to travel occasionally. I really think her skill set could be parlayed into location-independent consulting business to make it happen. You know what, she definitely has some questions for you, too. Oh, what’s that? We should just FaceTime her? That’s what I was thinking, great.
(After he answers all of BShan’s questions and we hang up, we’re having so much fun, we order a third round. Whatever, we’re young. It’s Friday.)
#4. So, like I said, I’m traveling. It’s been tough to stick to a healthy eating plan.
And fitness I’ve just kind of thrown out the window completely for now, until we find ourselves in a real home, that is. I want to re-visit the principles of the Slow Carb Diet when I get home but, can I ask, don’t you ever just wanna eat whatever you wanna eat? Do you get sugar cravings or withdrawal when you do it? I’m a total sugar addict and I’m thinking it might better to just do a full-blown, 100% cleanse of zero sugar and deal with feeling shitty for a while, rather than half-assing it. What do you think? Do you think there is a difference in the way that men and women can diet in general, actually?
#5. There are a bunch of other podcasts of yours that I’d like to talk to you about but, I’m forgetting them right now. It’s probably the wine. Oh, DUH, how did you get going with your podcast to begin with?
Do you think it’s good to have, an objective for your audience? Or do you think that it’s better to just go with whatever you’re into at the moment? Assuming your audience is going to be interested in similar stuff … or whatever has piqued your interest lately? Do you try to focus it? Or do you just see what interesting humans you can get on the show and go from there? This leads to another question actually, do you have a process for creating a great interview? How do you make sure to get the good stuff out of these interesting people?
Ughhhhh. So many things I would love to chat with him about, so many questions to ask him. But, I mean, its not like I met him at a workshop he was running or even a conference or something. They guy was just walking his puppy, I really didn’t think it would be appropriate to start bombarding him with questions. So no, I didn’t talk to Tim Ferris about these things. I just sweated a lot. Whatever.