You can be born shy and still become a CEO, TEDx speaker and live national television guest in your early 20s. Jahin Tanvir, the CEO of ASE Group has done just that.

He went from stacking 31 work experiences by the age of 24 (most of them unpaid) to becoming CEO of a national company as his first full-time job. After cold-emailing charities for volunteer gigs, Jahin turned lockdown into his launchpad, creating Breathe, a public speaking business that blew up on TikTok, signed clients like Canva and Toyota, and was acquired within six months.

Now he is one of the youngest CEOs in Australia, teaching life skills to over 180,000 young Australians. In this episode of ex-vicarious, Braith delved into Jahin’s mental model that reframes nerves into excitement, how Jahin overcame being told he was “too young” and why failure should never mean bouncing back, but failing forward.

Whether you love or hate it - LinkedIn video is the buzz.

📞 So I buzzed Mr. LinkedIn himself for the secrets.

Yes, I’m talking about LinkedIn News Editor, Brendan Wong.

This legend spearheaded the LinkedIn Editorial Content Program for Australia.

(i.e. He taught us how to be better at LinkedIn – based on real insights from LinkedIn itself).

Now for several months, Brendan’s actually been making some awesome LinkedIn videos of his own.

So I asked him how to truly capture your authenticity on video to share your expertise and connect with others on this platform.

We also delved into how he:

📚 was invited to MC multiple book launches,

🎤 spoke to a room of entrepreneurs at the @The ASE Group’s launch event

🗣️ overcome the sound of his own voice on video through self-imposed, exposure therapy

Brendan was even kind enough to tell me all of this at the LinkedIn HQ!

Check out the full podcast now!

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Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:27 Brendan's Journey and Career Insights

02:32 Overcoming Video Challenges

05:44 Tips for Creating Authentic LinkedIn Videos

06:43 Quick Fire Questions and Personal Goals

08:59 Top Book Recommendations

11:41 Daily Habits and Mindsets for Success

13:18 Message (or question) to the world

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You can connect with Brendan here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendancwong/

You can check out LinkedIn News here:https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/linkedin-news/posts/?feedView=all

You can check out the books Brendan mentioned here:https://www.amazon.com.au/Productivity-Joy-Energised-Effective-Minutes/dp/1394282214https://www.amazon.com.au/Busy-Idiots-Science-Productivity-without/dp/1394282729https://www.amazon.com.au/Less-Hustle-More-Happy-fulfilled/dp/1923186175/ref=asc_df_1923186175/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=712376727302&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16014736875799034945&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1000286&hvtargid=pla-2336558647874&psc=1&mcid=b9758496e1d43851bc3683e8f865e837&gad_source=1

Give yourself some f*cking permission.

Harvard, McKinsey and 7-fig, bootstrapped companies will be waiting.

But that’s only scratching the surface of Stephen Turban’s life.

By giving himself permission, rather than waiting for it, Stephen has:

🎭 Convinced Vietnam’s #1 Comedy group ‘Saigon Teu’ to let him join. He’s now the #1 white guy doing stand-up in fluent Vietnamese (40M views, I’ll link it in comments).

🇨🇳 Become an internet celebrity in China while at Harvard University (yes, he also speaks fluent Chinese and did this way before everyone was flocking to Rednote).

📖 Authored a #1 Amazon bestseller in Friendship called “Your Relationship GPA”.

🍜 Acted in an advertisement for Nissin Foods (shoutout to my Asian brothers and sisters who grew up on these instant noodles).

Okay, so what does all of this have to do with permission?

Well 90% of people never do what they truly want to because their parents, teachers, employers or VCs didn’t give them the “permission” to do so.

In response, most people never learn to give themselves permission.

But Stephen’s life is a case study for everything amazing that happens when you say “f*ck it” to permission.

In high school, he was kicked out of class 64 times before he gave himself permission to drop out and live in Taiwan for a year.

He returned with a completely different attitude towards academics and landed at Harvard.

I’d love to tell you the full story but I think you’ll enjoy hearing it more from Stephen himself on the latest episode of ex-vicarious.

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Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to Stephen Turban

02:29 How to get into Harvard after being Kicked out of Class 64 times

04:07 Dropping out of School in the US to live in Taipei for 1 year

05:37 How Stephen became the “#1 White Guy Doing Stand-up Comedy in Vietnamese”

12:53 Organising an International Flashmob for Malaria Awareness

15:41 Balancing TWO 7-Figure Startups

20:09 Bootstrapping vs going out of business after raising $20M+

24:42 How Sam Parr’s “Hampton” community reveals the Illusion of Success and Prestige

25:52 Diverse Paths to Entrepreneurship

27:16 The Joy of Language Learning (Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Hindi)

29:18 Embracing the Underdog Mindset, Going through the Side Door

35:48 Finding Time for Hobbies

40:50 Quickfire Questions and Reflections

45:39 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

You can connect with Stephen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenturban/details/experience/

You can check out Lumiere Education here:

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