Personable

Advertising in 2024 Fizz Teddy Solomon

I became famous at Duke University…     In August of 2023 I started my freshman year at Duke University   After orientation week was over and the upperclassmen had arrived on campus   I noticed that many of the most 'popular' kids on campus with large Instagram followings and in high ranking Greek organisations were giving out donuts   Myself and many other students were intrigued to what was going on   I approached one of them and asked 'Why are you giving out donuts?"   They replied, "this app Fizz is paying me $20 an hour to give out a donut for each app download I get"   "Do you want a donut?"   I did not want a donut but I downloaded the app nonetheless   Fizz was an anonymous posting app in which people could say whatever they wanted about whoever they wanted   Due to the lack of activity on the app I didn't get around to using it that much   However, when rush came around in January (the time when students try and join Greek life) the app blew up   Suddenly there were relentless posts about which fraternity or sorority was the best looking, most popular etc   Since then Fizz has very much become a part of life at Duke University with 100s of posts a day   With posts talking about the Basketball team to the breakfast they had this morning to posting about individual people   Maybe it was due to my British accent or my long name 'Harvey Bracken-Smith' or my outgoing personality but I became "Fizz famous"   My name was posted what felt like a daily basis on the app   I found this pretty hilarious but it did get a bit excessive at times   A few weeks ago I received a text message from a fellow Duke student asking me to appear anonymously in an article for the Duke University paper talking about my experiences with Fizz   While speaking to her she had mentioned that she managed to speak to the Founder of the app   Curious   I did a quick google search   To find the app had raised $41.5 million and that it is worth more than 100 million   I sent the founder Teddy Solomon an email and he said yes to doing a podcast with me on Personable   I loved speaking to Teddy and I hope you are able to tune in to learn from who could be the next Mark Zuckerberg.   Youtube: https://lnkd.in/e-w6XD2M

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What can you give me?     I often speak to older family members about what life was like for them at my age vs life now   They often like referring to my peers and I as 'my generation'   encapsulating our entire generation   I hate this   Being compared to a wide arrange of people who come from   completely different backgrounds, of completely different beliefs   And being placed into one bucket   But I do get it   It enables us to look at trends from a macro perspective, hiding the nuisances, to see the overarching themes   One of these is the concept of 'what can I get?' out of a situation   And this is something I think is completely backwards   When founders raise money they do not think about how much more money they can pay themselves   No   They think about how the money can be used to generate value for their company   When I speak to many of the people I know at Duke and beyond   Before considering a role in a club, a startup or other organisation   The first question they ask is 'How much do I get paid?', 'What's my role?' and 'What do I get out of the situation?'   Instead of 'What value can I add?', 'How can I help?', and 'How can I make things easier for you?'   With real World responsibilities these things matter but when you are in a university environment   Gifted with free time, housing, food, resources   Shift your focus   Never again in your life will you have this much freedom to gain valuable skills, take risks and build amazing things   True value is not shown day 1   It appears after days, months, and years of grind   Take opportunities, give what you can, and the gold will appear   Don’t be myopic   Harvey Bracken-Smith Host of Personable December 14th 2024 

Tom Cruise, Lady Gaga, & Kim Kardashian have this is common…     They lead extraordinary lives   Or do they   Many of the most famous people in the World have mega-fans intrigued by everything they do   Whether its shopping for Mansions, performing in concerts across the World or even just picking up their kids from school   The out of reach seem like our friends when they are able to tell their stories through social media   But no matter what they do   Even if they do things that we can do in our own lives   It just seems better   More fun, more interesting and more important   Many of us live our lives vicariously through the lives of the celebrity   But why do we do this   At face value the answer for many would be that it allows us to experience things we wouldn't normally experience   But I simply don't think this is true   I think we follow celebrities as an excuse not to explore the World   We use it as a reason to sit on the couch after work and not go to the gym   We use it as a reason to watch a reality show instead of spending time with our family   We use it as a reason to stay up to date with celebrity relationships instead of learning about real news (if that is still a thing these days)   Why can't you live like Justin Bieber or Donald Trump or Will Smith   Do you really need wealth and fame to be happy?   I would bet that if you asked many of these people what they value the most or what they are most proud of   Many of them would say their family, friends, the poem their daughter wrote, seeing their best friend perform in a concert, raising money for charity…   These are all things that we can do in our own lives   To live like a celebrity is not to photograph every aspect with your life and share it with the World   But instead it is to make your life exciting   Go for a run at 4am   Write a song   Work on that side project   Many of us don’t value things because they are special   We value them because they are wanted by other people   But I would argue that many of life's most special moments are only meant to be shared with those you care about   Maybe celebrities are in fact jealous of the life you live   The only person to blame for you not living the life of celebrity   The life of romanticisation   Is yourself   Try it for a day   Notice the fresh air, the beautiful trees, the Sun on your face   The fact that you made your bed first thing, the poem you made, the song you wrote   Value it like a celebrity would   Value your life because you only get one to live   Harvey Bracken-Smith Host of Personable December 8th 2024

I once stood with giants…     Growing up I would look at the adults around me   Their huge bodies, feet, hands   And faces high above the ground   I did not wonder if they were good or bad   Intelligent or not   But had a simple level of elevated respect for them   Purely from a level of awe   I wanted to impress them   To learn from them   To be inspired by them   But as you get older   As you realise that being an adult isn't as special as being that little kid   For many this respect wavers, the awe disappears, alongside the need to impress them   Systematically the giants that we once looked up to are gone   Not because they aren't on earth anymore   But simply because we have become giants ourselves as well   We have grown into our bodies, achieved levels of autonomy and been given lenses to view the World from our own perspectives   It is nice to be a giant but it isn't life changing   To be a giant is to be one of many not one-of-one   The giant's giants are not there in physical form so they are harder to detect   They are found in the minds and hearts of the giants around us   Through life experience, IQ & EQ levels, ideas, emotions, morals and values   I encourage you to find your own new giants in your lives   People that inspire you   People that you look up to that give you a similar feeling that you had as a child seeing the adults around you   Every giant has flaws and no giant is perfect   But instead of trying to pretend you are better than your giant or that the journey is not worthy of making   See it as an opportunity   Take what you want and leave the rest   We can all be giants if we want to but I would rather be a small fish in a big pond than a big fish in a small pond   As Ryan Holiday's famous book is titled 'Ego is the Enemy'   Don’t let yourself get in the way of your own success   Find your new giants and grow into the being that you were supposed to become   Harvey Bracken-Smith Host of Personable December 8th 2024

I made a mistake…   105 signups for Duke Rugby   A huge new squad with high performance athletes ready to take on a season   Ready to win   Our first semi-contact session 3 weeks in   I felt like I had something to prove   A kick went up in the air   I caught it   And aggressively sprinted up to the line   Stepped one guy   Stepped another   I got tackled   And scored   But at what cost   In a training game against my teammates   In trying to be fancy I cost myself an ankle   My foot rolled over the wrong way and got stuck under the foot of another player   I stood up   Only to realise I couldn’t   I felt like I had lost all support of my foot   I tried again   Nothing   I hobbled over to the side hoping that sitting out would fix it   But it didn’t work   I sprained my ankle and missed a month of rugby including the first 2 games   Confidence is a gift but over-confidence is a disaster   Harvey Bracken-Smith Host of Personable December 8th 2024 

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