Christian Kruse

Full transcript: Christian Kruse on London Real

1:05 This is London Real, I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Christian Kruse, recent graduate of the Broadcast Yourself accelerator. Welcome. Thank you, I’m so excited to be here, finally. Tell us about you. Where are you from, what do you do? I’m from Germany. I was born in the northernmost part of Germany, and I grew up, well, I would say, like, poor upbringing. My parents didn’t have much money.

1:32 My father was in the military, they didn’t actually live together, and my parents actually broke up when I was four, four and a half, and then I moved south with my grandparents. And from there my mom, single mom with three children, like, fought her way back into life, really, back up. And she always inspired me. It’s like she basically told me you can do everything that you want if you work for it really, really hard and you commit. And so that’s where I come from, that’s my family background.

1:55 And I joined the military after completing my A-levels, so I have lived all over Germany. I’ve seen it all. It’s a beautiful country, cool cities, beautiful countryside. So I could tell you, like, I’m really from Germany, but as you might can tell from a very little accent in my English, I traveled a lot for living in the military, and afterwards a lot of friends internationally, so I feel more like an international citizen. I’m interested in more than just what happens in Germany. I know that I’m also responsible for things across the planet.

2:36 Okay, and why now to start broadcasting yourself? Well, there was a definitive moment. I left the military in summer 2017, and I had made that choice to leave the military career after twelve years and not to be a professional officer for the rest of my professional career, also because, well, we lost my brother to a tragic accident in the Alps, mountaineering, in an avalanche. And that’s the kind of situation when you ask yourself, how am I gonna actually spend my time and energy in the future?

3:09 And I asked friends, and a lot of them said, you have all the skills it needs, like, start a YouTube show. You know how to, like, handle yourself in front of a big audience, you have been a platoon leader, you speak in front of people, you can lead, you inspire people, you should do something like this. I even had people that just got to know me who were like, you should do a YouTube show.

3:31 But I felt that broadcasting with audio was gonna be much better in terms of 80/20. Like, you know, we also talked about the 80/20 rule, and a lot of people talk about it. It’s not easy per se, but it’s a lot easier to do just audio and just voice when you’re, for example, on the road. Like, I can do an audio interview with you if I meet you in JFK Airport and you have 30 minutes before boarding your flight. I have two microphones right here and we can hook you up right now and do an interview.

4:03 It’s very hard to do, like, this kind of huge setup all the time when you have to be flexible. That’s why broadcasting, for now. Okay, and, but even more than that, that’s why audio, but why start your own show now? Start my own show now because now is the time. It’s now or never. If I don’t start now, I’m gonna get myself into someone else’s business. I’m gonna start something else that’s gonna pick me into some corner where I can’t maybe move away from any more, or where it’s gonna be really hard to start something that needs this amount of commitment.

4:37 I mean, you’re asking not just for money in this course, you’re asking for a lot of my time. And I heard, you know, my friend Jean talked about how his time is valuable to him and his customers. I have the same thing. Time is paramount, so I really need to make a clever choice how I’m gonna spend my time. And right now the most thing that I have time of, most thing I have off is really time, because I’m not yet committed to a certain business that is, you know, pitting me into a nine-to-five gig.

5:08 I’m doing consulting work in content strategy and production for publishers and authors, so I actually have, like, a week here, a couple of days here, can take Sunday off, can choose to take days off and do this. That’s how I was able to pull the trigger and come to the course. Okay, and why London Real? There was no other course that convinced me with the quality of the presentation, because really, yes, I can look at the curriculum, I can look at the FAQ, I can look at testimonials from people, but I basically have to buy you. I have to buy your energy.

5:49 And I have been watching London Real and listening to the Unreal content for a couple of years, but you really got me hooked with Ido Portal. Big fan of Ido very early on, when there was very little video. So when your interviews came up, yours, I felt, was like the first great interview of Ido where we actually got to hear some of his IP, some of his concepts, and not just see him move, but we actually got to know some of his personality and why and how he does things. So this was super valuable.

6:13 And so when I saw this course, and I was ready to do it, and I knew now is the time to start something of my own that is going to be publishing, it was a no-brainer. And the resistance was there for, like, maybe 24 hours. It took me 24 hours to make that call, and I was like, no, it’s great, I’m gonna do it, and I don’t regret it at all. Okay, so you pulled the trigger. I drop you in this group, 150 people around the world, two live calls a week, uploading video, accountability doc. What’s that first week like?

6:47 The first week’s like, it’s like a hurricane. It hits you and you’re like, all of a sudden you’re losing the orientation, cuz it’s a lot of people and a lot of content. All of a sudden there’s you and it’s live, and it’s not just, you know, it’s not a webinar or it’s not recorded, it’s actually you, and there’s actually 150 other people and a trainer, and you’re trying to orient yourself, and at the same time you need to move very, very quickly on your own content.

7:22 In the beginning it’s really about, like, what are you going to talk about, what are your values. And to come up with that after years of soul-searching and meditating and going to yoga retreats where you’re like still walking with, like, I don’t know, and you’re asking me to come up with it within, I don’t know, 36 hours, a little more than that. That’s a lot. That’s intense. But it’s great, because it gets the ball rolling very, very quickly into week two, week three, rapport and so on.

7:53 Okay, and what did you struggle with the most on this whole course? What was hard for you? I honestly struggled with making it work with the other bits and pieces in my life, because, as I said, it was a lot of time, and I’m like a perfectionist in some way, where if I’m completing a task I want it to be perfect. But there were a lot of tasks to complete sometimes during the course, like, do all these things, and I wanted to do them perfectly. I was not living the 80/20.

8:24 I’m preaching it, and for, like, really big things I’m actually doing it, but I’m still, like, micromanaging my minor tasking. And that is something that got so much better along the podcasting course, and in the end it was just like, whatever, I’m just not gonna do this perfect video, I’m just gonna do the live and that’s it. Right, right. Tell me about your podcast. What is it and what were some of the highlights when doing it?

8:54 So my podcast is called The Authentic Creator, and it was originally based on 32 questions that were designed by Arthur Aron as, you know, a study to connect very quickly with people. But then the big aha moment in my podcasting journey with The Authentic Creator was when I had episode two or three recorded. I realized this is too limiting. I’m more interested in, like, following this person down the rabbit hole, as you do in, like, two- or three-hour episodes. You just said yesterday, it’s hour two when it gets really interesting, and I want to do that.

9:28 I can’t do that with a rigid script of free, free, free thought and pre-proven questions. Yes, they’re great starters, but now the podcast really is about helping people figure out what they are excited about and where they should put their energy and their time, like, find their mission. You call it mission, passion, whatever you want. But the shortest pitch I can give: it’s about everything that’s not in your resume, because that’s what matters, and that’s where the learning is, and that’s where the gold is.

10:01 If you mentor someone, I can look at your resume and any LinkedIn and walk away with nothing, but I can ask what happened in between, and how did you get from here to here, and why did you want to make that decision, and how did you feel about that loss and about that failure. And that’s what I talk about on The Authentic Creator, and I want to have that conversation. I want to bring that conversation to the guests, and the people that have listened so far and given me feedback loved it. Nice. And that’s all that I need.

10:26 What’s been the highlight conversation or part of the course that made you feel the best? The highlight conversation was with Cain Harnett Mootoo. He’s a Maori from the Nati Kaho tribe of the northernmost island, the North Island of New Zealand. He now lives in Denmark with his family. He came to the MOVE Copenhagen festival that I also support. It’s a big movement festival, and he teaches haka, the war dance, and you should have him on your show.

10:57 Okay. He is legit. He is tribal wisdom and power and just energy in a person, and he’s just fantastic at portraying that to people who’ve never touched that kind of energy, and we have kind of lost connection with that in the Western world, I feel. Okay. And so he’s a good friend and we do business together, and this episode really, really blew my mind. It sounds awesome. Tell me about the community. What was it like meeting these people, seeing them virtually and then meeting them here this weekend?

11:28 It’s fantastic. There’s so many people where you think, I totally know this person, I’ve seen them struggle. And personally, actually, what I loved about this community was I actually went and did, like, tech-support Zoom calls in, like, week two, week three. People were struggling, I was like, hey, I’m here, I’m working from home, you can hop on with me on Zoom for, like, 15 minutes, I’m gonna help you through the tech resistance. That was amazing.

11:53 So that element of community, where I could actually support others, was something that was easy for me but made a huge difference for them. That was great. And then meeting them here in flesh and blood, it’s like family coming together for three days. It sounds cheesy, but that’s what it is. I know, that is what it is. It’s hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it.

12:16 What are your plans for the next 12 months? What are you gonna do with this thing? The podcast is gonna continue to put out one or two episodes per week. I’m gonna bring in a huge variety of guests, cuz I need a big variety for the people that listen to the show to identify with one of these people and their struggle, and then to learn from that. So that’s the content.

12:40 But really the business behind it for me is I already have kind of like a back-end product. I do consulting work with publishers, I do big productions, but for me it’s not about a production. I want to walk away from the technology and the editing and the camerawork. I want to do more of the one-on-one consultation: take someone who has great intellectual property and experience and help them formulate that into a product or service, whether you do that for money or not, I don’t care.

13:12 I want to bring that value of experience and seeing you and helping you create something that you’re proud of. That’s what I want to do, and I just want to continue beyond the next 12 months. I’m going to do it more professionally, and the podcast is really gonna help me address those issues that people bring up along the journey, but I’m actually gonna reach out to people who want to work with me. It’s a networking hack.

13:28 Yeah. How are you different? Like, if we walked out on the street and bumped into Christian who didn’t take this course, what’s that guy like compared to you? That guy would still know that ecommerce and online content is the way to go, but would still be afraid to pull the trigger. Without your course I would have not done that for at least another two years, and looking back then I would have known that I was so wrong about not doing it.

14:00 So this came at the right moment, this came at the right price tag, and this came with the right content for me personally. Okay, and if someone else was thinking about taking this course, but again right on the edge, kind of like you were for 24 hours, what would you tell them? Look at what Brian Rose and the team have put together and try to connect to that emotional element that is there.

14:33 If you can connect emotionally to Brian, if you can connect emotionally to what they’re doing here, then you’re in the right spot, because that was missing in so many of those other courses or other products out there, whether they’re physical or digital. If you can connect to that, you’re in the right spot. You’re gonna make the money work and you’re gonna put in the work, because the community here is gonna make you do it. Simple as that.

14:56 Christian, you have a really interesting story, and I hope you explore it more on your podcast, because your whole background, your military, with your brother and everything, I think it’s really interesting, and I think it’s gonna allow people to really identify with who you are. Again, it’s your own kind of niche and your own personal brand, and I encourage you to talk about it more, whether that’s the German or non-German thing to do, I don’t know. But it’s really interesting, and I can tell you’ve got, like, really interesting things going on.

15:21 So I really look forward to more of your shows. You got 12 months, you know, you’ll be with the team, we’ll be watching you. Welcome to the London Real family. It’s great having you here this weekend, and again, like I said before, the greatest asset are these teammates and this whole vibe, so I’m really looking forward to what you do next, and thanks for being a part of this. Thank you so much for having me today. All right, man, let’s do this.