Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Chris Van Vliet On Being Laid Off, Starting Fresh & The Power Of Asking The Right Questions - My Interview on "Learn Speak Teach"

Starting point is 00:00:00 All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Bleas! Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us. Wherever you are, whatever you happen to be doing right now, hope your day is going amazing. And if it's not, hey, there's still time to turn it around.

Starting point is 00:00:22 Don't let a bad few minutes or a bad hour ruin your entire day. You can turn it around. So every once in a while, the tables are turned and I'm the one being interviewed. I was recently a guest on Ben Albert's podcast called Learn, Speak, Teach on the Real Business Connections Network. And I love this conversation so much that I wanted to share it here. Ben's such a great guy. He asked such interesting questions. And there's a lot of stuff here that I've never shared publicly before.

Starting point is 00:00:55 So I hope you enjoy this. We also do a fun rapid fire around at the end where it's like, it's like, condensed. You learn a whole bunch. You find out a whole bunch there all in one short little bit. If you could, please like, share, and most importantly, subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening right now. We're closing in on a thousand reviews on Spotify. So if you're a Spotify listener, that's where I've been listening to a lot of podcasts recently. Just go on there and click on the stars. It'd be so appreciated if you could do that. Also, take a screenshot and tag us. Let us know you're listening to this. Ben is at Real Ben.

Starting point is 00:01:30 Albert. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. Enjoy me on Ben Albert's show. Learn, speak, teach. I'm excited. I'll start with the bio so people can get contacts. But a quick Chris Van Fleet, plenty of information will come up on this gentleman here today. He is a four-time Emmy Award winning. We're not talking about nominations, four-time Emmy Award-winning TV host, Entertainment reporter and YouTuber, approximately 113 million views, 323,000 subscribers on YouTube. So again, Chris Van Vlead on YouTube. Based in LA, he has traveled the world reporting on events like Oscars, Grammys, and the Keynes Film Festival.

Starting point is 00:02:21 What am I reading today? Oh, my God. He's a big wrestling fan. He's interviewed John Sina, The Rock, Hulk Hogan. In addition to Hollywood A-listers like Oprah, Tom Cruise, and Will Smith. Myth podcast. His podcast is InSight with Chris Van Lee. It's top 0.1% globally. I'm top 2.5. So he's got me beat by a lot. And he's interviewed everyone from Jamie Fox to Adam Sandler, a couple of my favorites, Ed Milette and Vanessa Van Edwards, many, many more. Chris, I feel like

Starting point is 00:02:54 you should just host the conversation today. I don't know what else there is to say. So thank you so much for having me. And we'll talk next time. So people can Google you. They can watch the highlight reel that's in the show notes. But I don't want to talk about those things that they can easily find. I want to do something different today. Can we start with pain? Can we lead with pain today?

Starting point is 00:03:17 Because I just read an incredible amount of accomplishments. You tell me, you didn't roll out of bed one day with the perfect smile, the perfect questions, became a four-time Emmy Award winner. I am going to presume he had a few nosebleeds. So what are some of those nosebleeds? What were some of the struggles you went through to get to where you are today? I'd say the biggest one that sticks out is,

Starting point is 00:03:44 look, I was super passionate about broadcasting. I always had the dream of working in television or radio, but I had zero connections to make this happen. I didn't have anybody who was a cousin or uncle or neighbor going, oh, you know, we can get you an internship. So I think that was a big pain point for me early on is I had to figure all of this out on my own and figure out a path to get there. And for me, it began in college. I had this realization, this epiphany when I was in my senior year.

Starting point is 00:04:16 So to back it up a little bit, I studied communication studies. Just outside of Toronto, I'm from Pickering, Ontario. I went to school in Waterloo, Ontario. I was studying communication studies. But in my senior year, I had this moment where I went, oh, man. after we graduate, we have to go work for, you know, the rest of our lives. And I realized at that point that I didn't want to be one of those people who had a job that I didn't enjoy going to. I didn't want to not like Sunday because Monday was the next day.

Starting point is 00:04:44 So for me, it was like reaching out to all these places, sending cold emails, cold phone calls saying like, I'm a communication studies major. Can I just come in volunteer, see how it's done in the real world? and that like jamming my foot in the door to make the door kind of a jar was I think a really big thing early on because I wasn't really given any opportunities I had to create these for myself. And if we fast forward a few years, I think the biggest pain point career-wise for me was two years into my career I had at the time what was a dream job. I was hosting a show on MTV2 Canada and I was like interviewing all kinds of select. and actors and athletes and comedians and directors and some wrestlers as well. And our show, after me being on it for a year, ended up getting canceled when one big media

Starting point is 00:05:36 conglomerant bought another one and they merged together. And it was like in an instant. I was at work that day, typing away on my computer, my boss came in and said, everybody stop what you're doing. The show just got canceled. And it felt like in an instant, the rug was just like pulled out from underneath me. I had to figure out like, well, what do I do now? Because I had picked up my entire life, moved it to the other coast, moved it 3,000 miles away

Starting point is 00:06:03 to Vancouver where that show was based. And that was a big one for me because I felt like I was living my purpose. And like I said, like a dream job at the time and really had to recalibrate and re-evaluate what was important and kind of figure things out from there. But I'm a really big believer, Ben, that like things happened for a reason. And if it wasn't for that, it wouldn't have led me to where I was because it was being unemployed for seven months at that point that led me to go, you know what? I think I'm going to try to get an agent in the United States and try to look for jobs there and see what I can do. And that, you know, that's kind of led me to where I am now. It's a big rejection. It's a big pain to have to ease into.

Starting point is 00:06:50 What did it feel like? Not only did what did it feel like, what was your first move? I know personally in the past, I'll hit the bottle, and I've had to learn not to ease and actually embrace some of the pain to avoid some of the suffering and struggle that I'm going to go through long term. How did you feel? And what did you do to, you know, kickstart ultimately a whole new journey? The move was actually, it was a physical move because I had been there for almost a year.

Starting point is 00:07:23 I think I was like just like 11 months. Like I was there for 11 months. So I needed to decide, do I renew the lease on my apartment now? Or do I pack my car up, drive 47 hours back to Toronto, move back here with my parents and figure it out? It was a big decision. So the move was figuring out, like I think that three days before I had to renew my lease. So the move was like, all right, like weighing all of my options trying to figure this out. And I ended up deciding to move back home and kind of felt like I was kind of starting from

Starting point is 00:07:55 scratch again. And I would say that, I mean, that was a while ago. That was 2007 when that happened. But one of the biggest things was deciding when I got back that this wasn't a vacation. This was like my job now became, I got to go find another job. And it sucked. It sucked because things were going so well. And I had the momentum of like doing this day in and day out.

Starting point is 00:08:18 And then one day, boom, it's all gone. So my new job became, I got to go find a job and try to find one that, that juiced me as much as that other one did. Let's talk about that new job because a lot of people are going through career transitions. A lot of people want to start as an entrepreneur. They want to find their place. but you sound like you got a lot of practice way back. Well, let's talk way back when, and then I want to talk more recent,

Starting point is 00:08:46 because I want to hear what you did to ultimately find that new job, that new career. But I want to go way back to the beginner level stuff. When you were first looking to make a career in communications, first, why did you choose communications? And then I want to talk about what some of that outreach looked like. What would you say? What would you do? who you would read who let's start with why you chose communications always like really passionate about

Starting point is 00:09:13 broadcasting and about TV and radio and like I was the kid who wanted to be in the plays and I hosted the talent show in high school I did the morning announcements and I was so lucky so fortunate that I went to a school that had a communication studies program in high school and we actually like played around with cameras we had a little TV studio inside our school and that I think that really helped to put some fuel on that fire that I already had. I had little embers that were burning, but this really put some fuel on the fire. And I went, oh, wow, like, this is the thing I could study at school and maybe, hopefully one day, turn this into a career.

Starting point is 00:09:51 So I think the first steps, this outreach that you're talking about was really just like, swinging for the fences and knowing that if you don't ask, the answer is always no. So when I graduated from college, it was looking to find an internship, which would hopefully maybe turn into a job, I reached out to anybody who I could find an email for. And I didn't really hear back from anybody. And I found this small station about an hour away from my hometown, a pretty small station where you've got to wear a lot of hats there. And I scoured the internet.

Starting point is 00:10:26 I found the email address for the general manager. And I sent him an email and I said, hey, I'm going to be in town in the next few weeks. It's my spring break, but I'd love to come by and talk to you about a possible internship. And he wrote me back and said, well, we don't usually do this, but since you're going to be in town, sure, come on by. And I had no plans to be in this town. I kind of lied my way in. And he looked at my resume.

Starting point is 00:10:50 I had a little bit of volunteer experience. He said, sure, we'll give you an internship and what the heck, see what happens. Why not? I was working my old high school job at the mall in the fish. the fish department of a pet store to pay for the gas for my internship. And that was kind of how I really got the ball rolling. And a few months into it, well, actually a few weeks into it at first, that was how I got my start. Like two weeks in, they put me on TV. Like I was like an intern reporter. And then that was my internship from that point on. And then a few months in, they said, you know what,

Starting point is 00:11:26 you're not an intern anymore. You've been doing such a great job. We don't have a job opening. But we created one for you. So, you know, congrats. You're. you're now working here. And that was the best experience because I was shooting, writing, editing, producing, and reporting on all the stories I was doing there. So I was wearing multiple hats and wearing multiple hats at the same time.

Starting point is 00:11:47 Shooting, writing, editing, producing, learning all of it. Let's slow down. So they put you on air, lights, camera, action. What happens? Oh, well, first of all, I go into work, going to the internship, I should say. I go in there, and it was pretty typical

Starting point is 00:12:03 that I went in and they would pair me with one of the reporters. And I would kind of follow them, shadow them, help them out if needed, but basically just kind of see how it was done in the real world. And like two weeks in, the assignment editor handed me my assignment. And he goes, well, here you go. This is the story of the day. And I said, oh, cool. Like, which reporter am I going out with?

Starting point is 00:12:24 He goes, oh, you're going out with Terry. But this is your story. You're going to be on the 6 o'clock news tonight. And I'm like, oh, I was not. ready for this. It wasn't like, I think there's, you know, other internships where like the very last day they finally kind of give you something like a little pat on the back. Like, here you go. We did this special thing for you. Now, this was two weeks in, they kind of wanted to see what I was made up. And I was so nervous. And I think one of the really big things, and this was 2005 when this

Starting point is 00:12:54 was happening, we didn't have smartphones in our pocket. Like, if you wanted to record a video, you either had a digital camera, which they were relatively new at the time, or you had a camcorder. And it wasn't like you just took your phone out, hit record, and did it. So like, I think a really big thing, at least at that time, was getting used to seeing yourself and hearing yourself on camera. And that was a big one for me. Like, how do you make yourself sound excited about the thing you're talking about, but still make it sound conversational and natural? it was it was quite a a journey of figuring that part out

Starting point is 00:13:31 would you give a scale from one to 100 what would you score your skill set at the time oh uh so i was i think it was a really good like learner i was i was very teachable but if i watch it back now i've i don't know like a four out of 100 like actually no i'd give it like a maybe 10 out of 100 like you could definitely see that there was some thing there, but I think I also looked like I was super nervous. There's something about setting up a camera and speaking with a crowd of people that are kind of walking around you

Starting point is 00:14:09 and trying to make it sound like you're just having a natural conversation about the high school track and field meet. That was my first story. A high school track and field me. Love it. So you're 10 out of 100. I'll give you a 14 because I like you. So we had a of a hundred terrible scores together when did you start to feel like you were leveling up when did you feel like wow this actually might be my purpose in life was there a moment or obviously some succession of events i will say i felt like this was my purpose even before that moment like i was so excited to be there and learn the ins and outs of everything i was asking so many questions and i think that that really helped.

Starting point is 00:14:56 I was asking questions about we were still shooting on tape at the time. I was asking about the DVC Pro like tapes we were using and the editing system. But it wasn't until at least six months in that I felt comfortable. And I was watching stuff back and going, oh, yeah. Yeah, that's, if I didn't know me, didn't know that person, I'd believe what that person's saying. which I feel like negates the six months of work up to that point. But it was, I felt like every day I was leveling up, even if it was just a 0.1 out of 100 rating, I felt like I was getting a little bit better every time.

Starting point is 00:15:39 And I would watch it back and I would do like, they call them in news standups. That's the thing you see on the news where the reporter standing there with the microphone. I'm using a pen here, but picture this is a microphone. and they're kind of setting the stage and like they're saying something, it's usually one or two sentences. I would record the stand-up like five or ten times saying the exact same thing, and then I would watch it back in the editing room and go, ooh, yeah, that one's not good. Maybe the next one's better.

Starting point is 00:16:08 No, that one still wasn't good. Maybe the next one's better. And I would just hopefully pick the best of the least worst take, I guess. the 16 out of 100 take yeah it made more like the 14.1 out of 100 well i like how you had mentioned you know point one better i was doing the math the other day um 15 minutes is 1% of your day it's actually technically 14.4 minutes so you can take 14.4 minutes a day and make you one percent upgrade every single day if you just take that down right that time What were your 14.4 minutes?

Starting point is 00:16:52 What were one, two, or three tactics or strategies you were implementing to sharpening your saw and get that just a point better? A lot of it was uncomfortable too, and I would recommend this for anybody who's doing anything that's on camera, whether it's a lot of Zoom meetings or presentations or even presentations in front of people. Watching yourself back, you've got to do it. And one of the biggest things is you will realize that, yeah, you do that weird thing with your eyebrows when you talk. And maybe one side of your mouth goes up a little bit higher than the other when you smile. And yes, that is what your voice sounds like when you speak. I know it doesn't sound like that to you, but yes, that is what it sounds like.

Starting point is 00:17:33 So getting comfortable with meeting the digital version of yourself, if you will, that was a really big part of it. And then realizing, okay, once you're comfortable and that takes a long time, time, once you're comfortable with that, then honing in on the skills of going, well, I did a lot of this last time. I said a lot of, you know, or I waved my hands in a weird way, like, starting to be aware of that and then, you know, cutting those out. That was a really big thing for me. And then also looking at people who I thought were just crushing it and maybe just kind of borrowing something from their skill set and bringing it into my own and making it my own. I think that was a really big thing. Tony Robbins always says success leaves clues. And I think that, you know, don't become a carbon

Starting point is 00:18:24 copy of someone else. But if you could take one little thing that they do and bring it into your toolkit and then you take one thing from somebody else and bring that into your toolkit and you do that a dozen times, you have a pretty great set of tools. You do. You do. And it never gets easy. I say it doesn't get easier, but you, you get better because of those set of tools. One thing I've done, a tool I have is I, I've got a mixer here, so I sound slightly less bad in terms of my voice here. But who were some of those people that you maybe at the time,

Starting point is 00:18:59 or you can shout up people now? Who do you learn from? You had mentioned Tony Robbins, obviously prolific man. Who else were, who else were you learning these things from? I remember taping a show on the new TN. and then before it was Spike TV, we called The Ultimate Revenge, because this is when I was still in college, because there was a host on there that was so engaging and so charismatic, and it felt like he just kind of leapt through the screen when he spoke. And his name was Ryan Seacrest.

Starting point is 00:19:31 And then about a year later, he went on to host American Idol and obviously, you know, became a household name. But I remember taping those shows because I went, man, he just has something there that makes me want to listen to him. So he was a big one early on. I also, very early on, loved watching Joe Rogan on Fear Factor. You know, well before he became the Joe Rogan that we know now, he just had this conversational way of speaking to the camera because there's a lot of people, especially in news, they get in front of the camera and they sound like, they sound very newsy, like, tonight in the news, this is what's happening. And I just thought like, like, nobody talks like that. Right.

Starting point is 00:20:10 And I love the way that he spoke to the camera like it was. his friend. And I think when you, you know, I've done a lot of interviews in my career. And I think when you think of great interviewers, it's Oprah, it's Larry King, it's Howard Stern. And there's also one in Canada. If anybody listening in Canada will know the name George Strombolopoulos. And I always loved their inquisitive mind. And like, I just loved the way that they asked questions that maybe wouldn't immediately pop to mind. And then they would always try to dig one layer deeper. If you could compare yourself to any one of those or non-mentioned interviewers, who do you inspire to be like? What is your style?

Starting point is 00:20:53 I mean, I certainly aspire to be the better version of myself with every time I hit record or every time I have a new conversation. Like, that's the big thing for me because I know I'll never be like any of those other people that I just listed in. Quite frankly, I don't want to because they are who they are. that's what makes them so great. But I love that now these long-form style of conversations are now the norm because they weren't for so long. And that was what made Howard Stern so, so good, because he would talk to someone for 45 minutes or an hour. And we now call that a podcast.

Starting point is 00:21:31 But back then, that didn't really happen. I love the way that he would slowly peel back the layers of the onion. And he would loosen them up. And we would hear something. stories from them that they hadn't told before. Maybe they hadn't felt comfortable telling before. But again, this is like such a Canadian reference, but George Rambalopoulos was a VJ on much music, which is basically the Canadian version of MTV. And he just had this really conversational way of connecting with people and building rapport with people. And I always found that so fascinating. And that was something that I always really tried to do. I tried to build rapport with people so that when you do ask a question that's maybe a little bit more difficult to answer, they would

Starting point is 00:22:16 feel more comfortable opening up to you. And you're very good at that, Chris. I'll be a testimonial for you, your podcast Insight with Chris Van Vleap. You're very good at that conversational interview. And I feel like you're an advocate for everyone. I saw on your highlight reel. I forget who it was. She's asking you to take your shirt off.

Starting point is 00:22:37 You're unbuttoning a couple buttons. I'm like, this guy is down for whatever the moment brings. For that, I just think it's like, so that was Leslie Mann and Dakota Johnson. Got it. Went viral a handful of years ago. And I think for me, I just want to swing for the fences, especially in the celebrity interviews. Like when someone's promoting a movie, like recently, I was in Dallas interviewing Dave Franco and Jamie Fox, like you mentioned, you get like five minutes with them.

Starting point is 00:23:06 And they're answering a lot of the same questions. and they're doing 40 or 50 interviews in a day. And I learned that if you ask better questions, you get better answers. And I've always been trying to look for those moments, whether it's in a long form interview or a short red carpet interview or a junket style interview, trying to create those moments that have never happened before. So I figure, swing for the fences and it doesn't work out, you just edit it out. But if it does work out, my goodness, you get an amazing moment.

Starting point is 00:23:38 like I wrapped Miami, the song Miami with Will Smith in Miami. Or Gerard Butler was promoting London has fallen and he, you know, he's a total badass in the movie. And I was talking to him about a movie punch. And he's like, oh, yeah, well, sit up in your chair. And then he like movie punches me. It was so cool. And we added the punching sound effect.

Starting point is 00:24:00 It looked amazing. But those are the things that like, if you don't ask, the answer is going to be no, kind of like what we were talking about earlier. So why not at least ask? Yeah, we're going to circle back to that moment. We're going to fast forward in a second. But first, while we're on it, you had mentioned you asked better questions. You get better answers.

Starting point is 00:24:20 I wrote this down. So I'm going to use my cheat sheet here. But you spoke at Justin Shanks Growth Now Summit. And a big quote I wrote down in bold is everything you have and don't have in your life is based on the questions that you ask. everything you have and don't have in your life is based on the questions that you ask. Elaborate on that for us. I mean, think about it.

Starting point is 00:24:45 Think about everything in your life is a result of the conversations you have either had or have not had. And I think that if you don't ask, the answer is always going to be no. And I think that if you take a snapshot of your life, a lot of them are the questions you've either asked of other people. if you're thinking of things like buying a car or a job that you either have or don't have. But you can also think about this in your life of like, what's the path that you're on? And I'm really fascinated by the idea that when we're kids, we are all asked the same question. And you know the one I'm thinking about. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Starting point is 00:25:26 Right. And then you grow up. I'll put that in quotes because, I don't know, we're still figuring this out, right? none of us have really grown up, but it really shifts to what do you want to be to now, what do you do? And you become defined in a lot of aspects of your life based on the thing that you do and for so many people, they don't even enjoy that thing. And the question I think a lot of people need to be asking themselves is, who's path that you want, if you're not on the path that you originally wanted to be on? And at what point did you start living someone else's

Starting point is 00:25:59 path and following someone else's path and living someone else's life. And I think that those are really important questions. I'm not saying that everybody's going to have the dream job that they're jacked to go to every single day, but there needs to be some sort of balance between, you know, the vast majority of people who dread five days a week to live for the two days on the weekend. There needs to be some sort of balance there. And just start asking questions and the answers. You start to attract the answers if you're asking the right questions. So this is not just to others. This is to myself as well, right?

Starting point is 00:26:37 Oh, absolutely. And I think it begins, like for me, it begins every day with, what am I grateful for today? That's actually the question I ask at the end of every episode of my show. I was going to ask you that. So spoiler alert, but we'll get to that at the end. Go on. Then the reason that I do that is, number one,

Starting point is 00:26:55 I think it's so interesting to hear someone who's at the very top of their game, you know, an A-list actor or a Super Bowl-winning athlete or someone like that to hear they're grateful for the same things that you're grateful for. Oh my God, that's mind-blowing, right? It kind of puts you on their level in a way. And I also think that people don't practice gratitude in their daily life. So they go, oh, wow, if that person can be grateful for things like their health or their family, I could be grateful for those things too. So I think that's a really good question to ask at the start of the day and at the end of the day too. It's a great question to ask. We all put our pants on the same way. Maybe Weird Al, I feel like

Starting point is 00:27:35 weird out. Yeah, Yankovich probably puts it on upside down with a handstand. But most of us, we're just ordinary people, right? Chris is just an ordinary dude with an ordinary life who just happens to be doing extraordinary things. And we appreciate that about you. And I think that it's, I think that too often we see someone just at the end of their path, like so close to the finish line. And it's hard for us to envision that person, like, you know, the famous story of Michael Jordan getting cut from his high school basketball team. Like, we can't even wrap our heads around that idea. And I think it's important to find someone who you really look up to, but then reverse engineer it all the way back to where you're at now. And it kind of humanizes that person in a way and makes the,

Starting point is 00:28:22 makes you realize, wow, if that person, Tom Brady, Oprah, whoever you want it to be, Tony Robbins, can do that thing with the background that they have, man, I can do that too. I hope we're doing some of that unraveling in this conversation. That's why jokingly, I'm like, here's how cool Chris is, but let's lead with pain today. I love it. I know it's not always easy. So you had hit the highest point of your career. You're working for MTV, you get let go. Was it similar to when you started, just all this outreach? You don't ask the answers, always no. What did you do at that time? Was it a similar structure? You obviously had a sharper saw by then. What did that look like for you?

Starting point is 00:29:12 I changed the home screen on my internet browser to be a job search website. That was number one. That was a huge change for me. That's some commitment right there. I like that. that you changed your home screen to a job search website. So when I opened up, probably wasn't Chrome at the time, it was Internet Explorer, that would be the first thing I would see. So like, if I wanted to click away to go to something else, I was kind of saying to myself, like, oh, really? You know, I'm going to take the five minutes to just even scroll around and look for new jobs.

Starting point is 00:29:44 So that was a big thing. And I would use that tactic a lot. Like there was a sports radio station that I ended up volunteering at for, a few weeks. I changed the homepage in the weeks leading up and then the weeks I was volunteering there. I changed the home screen to their website. So I would be seeing what was in their world, what was important to them. And I think that that's a great tactic for anybody to employ. So that was step number one. And I mentioned earlier that I made it my job to look for a job. And I was doing everything I could to try to edge out whoever the next best person might be for that job.

Starting point is 00:30:20 And I got myself down where it was me and one other person, me and two other people being considered for a hosting job. And it would go to the other person because maybe they had more experience or maybe they were a little bit more recognizable in Canada. I got so frustrated that I was like, man, if I can't get a job in my own country, if I can't get a job in Canada, I'm going to look elsewhere. I know there's so many more TV stations, so many more opportunities in the U.S. and that's when I started like spending my days Googling TV hosting agent and like I started making

Starting point is 00:30:52 a list of the people who the names that kept popping up and I sent a cold email to this one agency in Los Angeles and I said I'm in L.A. pretty frequently. I was actually only in L.A. once in my life at that point in time. I said next time I'm in town it'd be great to come by. This was this was like total playbook thing that I always did. And sure enough, I got a phone call one day and they said, well, when's the next time you're in L.A.? I'm like, I think it's definitely in the next month, I think. They said, all right, well, pick the day and let us know. And I ended up making an entire trip around that. I stayed in the cheapest motel in Hollywood that I could possibly stay in. I'm sure I was like shoeing the cockroaches out as I was walking in the door. But it ended up

Starting point is 00:31:43 working out and that agency signed me and immediately started getting me meetings and auditions. And that kind of got the ball rolling to finally be where I was at. But none of this would have happened without me having a clear goal in my mind of this is where I want to be. This is what I want to be doing. And then trying to figure out a way to get there. So you're a humble guy, but I want you to be prideful for this one. Why do you think they hired you? Why do you think they brought you on as a client. What was special about you versus anybody that they could have hired on as a client? That's such a great question. I think that I just had the momentum of being on MTV to Canada. I was a fresh face, which is a pretty important thing in Hollywood. And I think that it was

Starting point is 00:32:34 it was low risk for them, too, if I'm being completely honest. I think they signed me. And if I don't end up getting hired. I think they went, well, you know, on in the next one. But I think it was the idea that I was new, young. I'm guessing that they liked what they saw in my demo reel at the time. And they went, let's just see what happens here and go from there. And I am so, so grateful that they took a chance on me. What was the, so they take a chance. What was the big break? And how difficult was it to get there? I know it's not always. always a yes, right, when you walk in the door. So what was that next big break? And how'd you get there? It wasn't, I'll tell you a story about it. It wasn't a break, but it was like, it was a very big

Starting point is 00:33:23 audition. It was with TRL, which was still on at the time. Okay. I remember. And they were transitioning. Carson Daly had moved on. They had a new host there called Damien Fahey. He had just accepted a new role somewhere else and they were looking for someone to replace Damien Fahey. And I was like, Oh my God. Like TRL, like in Times Square. And I actually had an audition there in the TRL studio with MTV. That was such a big moment where I was like, even though I didn't end up getting that job because they ended up canceling the show instead, they didn't end up hiring a new person

Starting point is 00:33:58 at all. But the fact that I was even in that conversation and it was down to me and one other guy, that gave me so much confidence to go, something's going to have. happen here. Like something's going to work out. And I think that that was the really big one that made me kind of start to look at things through a different lens. So you're looking at in a different lens. You've always been passionate. You're convicted in what you're doing. You got lucky in a sense that you're working in industry, which is in direct alignment with your purpose in life. You start getting a little bit of momentum. When did you really gain speed? So that had fallen through. It never came to for

Starting point is 00:34:38 What happened next? Because obviously at some point, you gained a tremendous amount of momentum. I, so when I, the job I finally did get after being laid off or the show being canceled was in Toronto. And that started to gain a lot of momentum because I was doing like daily, weekly, like big celebrity interviews. And I was able to put together a pretty great, they call it in the industry a demo reel. My agent was like, there's an opening for an entertainment reporter.

Starting point is 00:35:08 for the CBS station in Cleveland, would you be interested? And I was like, well, you know, I thought that it would be like Los Angeles or New York, but this sounds like a great opportunity. She goes, not only is a great opportunity, but it's a chance for you to get a visa and work in the United States. And I said, I'd love to even audition. Of course, let's do it. And the moment that really shifted things was I went in for an audition there.

Starting point is 00:35:35 And the news director goes, you know, what, I think we're going to put that on TV this afternoon in the newscast and just kind of see what people say. And I kind of let them be the parameter. And I went, oh, my gosh, my audition's going to be on TV. I called my agent. She's like, I don't even think they can do that. But, oh, well, I'm okay. And I think what really changed things was I recorded that, and then I went to the airport about an hour later to fly back home to Toronto. And one of the TSA agents in the airport was like, didn't I just see you on TV? And I was like, oh my God. Like, that never happened in my entire career. And now that I was like one time, this audition that's on TV, that was what I think

Starting point is 00:36:25 really changed it. And, you know, being on a big station in a big city like that, like really started to get the momentum going. And then one week into my job, I was reporting from the Oscars. And it was just like one thing after another from there. And then I started taking the raw interviews because the way the television model was set up, unless you were watching Channel 19 at exactly 4.19 p.m. on that Tuesday, you wouldn't have ever seen these television moments or these interviews. So I started taking those raw interviews and putting them on a YouTube channel just as kind of like a digital space for these to live in, like a digital library. And when those interviews started really getting hundreds of thousands, some of them even millions of views, I went, okay, the landscape here is definitely changing.

Starting point is 00:37:16 It's going from broadcasting, which is turn on the news and watch news, weather, sports, traffic, entertainment, to more of like what I like to call niche casting of like, if you're a fan of this particular movie or this particular actor, you can type that into YouTube and watch that specific video. And that's when I went, oh, things are definitely changing. That gained a lot of momentum with the YouTube channel. Love it. Things were changing. You sounded like you were early to the YouTube game. Do you think a lot of your, I mean, what was the numbers? I don't have them pulled up anymore.

Starting point is 00:37:49 Just millions, hundreds of millions of YouTube views today. Do you think part of it is because you went early to the game? Or you tell me? I think it's just been about like experimenting. So yes, early to the game, a really big part was like, you know, we're talking 10 years ago when some of the big movies were like the Twilight movies, the Hunger Game movies, some of the Marvel or DC movies, not only early to the game with putting these on YouTube, but like early to the game of like getting them to YouTube first.

Starting point is 00:38:22 Like there'd be times when I'd be like, oh, my God, Henry Cavill just talked to me about putting the Superman suit on for the first time. Like, this is big news. I would be like sitting there in the airport, like editing it and trying to get it. it online first. So that was a really big part of it. But it shifted a lot recently. Like short form content now is like really where a lot of attention is. And I feel like it's really undervalued attention too. So I started a clips channel, a second YouTube channel. I started it two years ago, but I really started putting time into it like towards the end of

Starting point is 00:38:55 last year. So almost a year ago. And that channel is now already at 130,000 subscribers. and actually the total views on there just surpassed my main channel, which was mind-blowing to me. So I think it was just kind of realizing, oh, YouTube shorts and vertical videos like reels and TikToks are a thing. Okay. Well, what if I put some more attention towards that? What if I put some more time and effort towards that? And, you know, if it works, amazing.

Starting point is 00:39:24 If it doesn't, all right, we'll just figure something else out. I love this. So getting to the game early helps. but you started a whole new channel with a different purpose and blew that channel up. With these clips, these are reals, these shorts, what makes a good short? Is there a system? How do you know if a short's going to win or do you just post out quantity? Like, what is your strategy to go wildly viral with these shorts?

Starting point is 00:39:53 I would say find a title that is massively clickable. Like, find a title that is massively clickable. find a title that, and don't make it clickbait, make it something that the video actually can deliver on the promise that the title has. Literally all the clickbait was running through my head, like Chris Van Bleet takes off his shirt, post this to YouTube. I would think of it more in terms of like, this person explains something, this person reveals something, or how to insert, you know, whatever here. And I think that that's a really big thing. Like, stop thinking of titles as titles. and start thinking of them as headlines,

Starting point is 00:40:31 like what makes you want to click on an article and start to apply that towards your reels, your shorts, your TikToks, your short-form clips. And I just started looking at like, Joe Rogan had a clips channel that was getting like way more views than his main channel. A lot of podcasts were doing that. Logan Paul did that with his impulsive clips channel.

Starting point is 00:40:52 I went, if all of these massive podcasters are doing this, there's got to be something there. And then I just started to think about it and the fundamentals of it made sense. Joe Rogan's podcasts were two or three hours long. That is a huge investment of your time, especially if you're watching it on your phone. To ask someone, even just 45 minutes, let's say,

Starting point is 00:41:14 to ask someone to watch something on their phone for 45 minutes and not go away from that app to not go away from YouTube, that's a huge, huge ask. But if someone is doing just one thought and it's four minutes, six minutes, seven, minutes, whatever it is, that's much more digestible. So as we just start to break things up into thoughts or stories and started to see like really, really big growth that. That's incredible. What did Tony Robbins say again? He said, success leaves clues. So if the big

Starting point is 00:41:48 shop podcasters are doing it, there's a high probability it could work for you as well. And not just in podcasting or in YouTube, but just in business in general. If someone in your space is getting massive results or huge growth from doing something that maybe seems a little bit out of the ordinary. Well, instead of just writing that off as like, oh, that's weird or that's new or that'll never work, maybe pay attention and go, oh, that's why they're spending X amount of dollars on whatever it is, Facebook ads, TikTok ads, or the social media person or whatever it happened direct to mail. I don't know, whatever it is. Oh, maybe I should be doing even just a fraction of that.

Starting point is 00:42:29 So I'm going to grab my pencil. I like to keep this conversational, but I'm going to be transparent. Ben has a couple questions because I want to get better as an interviewer. And I think everyone can benefit if they write these down. Chris, so what makes a good question? You only have one question for a big shot celebrity. How do you know what to ask them? What makes a great question that gets someone to stop and go?

Starting point is 00:42:57 That's a good question. It's always so difficult when it's just one question. Definitely, you know, nothing that's going to have a yes or a no. I think that if you can tie it into you somehow and make it personal to you somehow, that always endears the other person to you. And I think that that makes it a little bit of a better question. But I think the bigger thing is just trying to go one layer deeper. and also trying to spin it in a way that you're asking it in a way that's never been asked before.

Starting point is 00:43:31 I've used this example a lot of times, but I think it's so pertinent because in celebrity interviews, you get a lot of the, what was it like working with so-and-so? What was it like working with Tom Cruise? What was it like being directed by Steven Spielberg? And the answer always happens to be something along the lines of like the cliche, oh, wow, they were so great to work with. they're such a hard worker and it was such an honor like some version of that so i started just taking it one layer deeper of like what's the thing you learned from working with stephen spielberg

Starting point is 00:44:06 that you'll take with you to the next set that you're on and oftentimes that opens it up to a great story that perhaps they've never told before and if we're speaking strictly from like an entertainment reporting side, that's when you can get like a great soundbite or a great headline or a news story because they're revealing something to you that they've never revealed to somebody before. And even going back to what we were talking about before of like seeing that journey along the way, there's a lot of times in movies where there's kind of that hero's journey of like they start out in one spot and by the end of the movie, you know, they're in a different place. I always find it so interesting to be like, you know, you and your own.

Starting point is 00:44:49 life have followed that same type of journey. What was the role that changed your life or the script that changed your life? Or sometimes what was the know that you heard that changed your life and set you on a different trajectory? And I think that it allows us to visualize that person then in a different way and see them in a different way. It does. So I'm wondering, because I'm sure you don't get pulled over. Do you get pulled over where you go on the street? I'm sure you get people recognize you these days, right? I mean, it happens from time to time, especially for a wrestling show. It definitely happens a lot more.

Starting point is 00:45:26 So people come up to you and they ask you questions. What's maybe a question that comes to mind that someone asked you or an energy they brought to the conversation that just felt icky or needy or not in the right place? And what did they do wrong? I think you're right. It's about energy, right? It's about intention. and I think that I've run into this a few times, and Ben, I'm sure that this has happened to you as well,

Starting point is 00:45:54 but like there's been times when people lead with like, especially in the entrepreneurial space of like, well, how can I help you? But what they really mean is like, if I do something for you, well, then you do something for me. And it feels very disingenuous. And I think that the most important thing is to just be authentic. Like, be authentic. If you're looking for something from someone, just ask instead of trying to present it in a way of like, how can I help you? You know, but really like, how can you help me?

Starting point is 00:46:26 I like that. So I see, and everyone listening, envision that superstar that you'd love to have a conversation with. So you see Dwayne the Rock Johnson. For me, Vanessa Van Edwards, I definitely have a little boy crush on her. And I want to walk up and say something to the celebrity. to this person that inspires me. What should I do? How should I feel?

Starting point is 00:46:52 Am I there? I can't just start doing push-ups. I'm going to look like a weirdo. I want to walk up and say something. What would Chris do in a scenario like that? I would say just be genuine. Be genuine to who you are. What does that mean?

Starting point is 00:47:06 What does that mean be genuine? I think that there's a lot of times when people go up and they go, I'm just such a big fan. And like, that's a great thing to say. But like, if you only have 20 seconds or 30 seconds or a minute with somebody, try to frame it in a way that it'll be a moment that maybe you can take something out of that and then apply it to your life. So like, if you bump into someone at the grocery store, you probably don't have time to think

Starting point is 00:47:36 this through. But if you're going to an event and that event has somebody that you really look up to that's going to be there and, you know, there might be a chance that your paths might cross during the cocktail hour, think of, if I were to bump into whoever that might be, what would be something that I could ask them that could, you know, their insight might be something that I could apply to my own life. One weird question. And then we'll go to Rapid Fire Round and close out.

Starting point is 00:48:06 So think of a superhero or a fictional character. So it's someone that you're never actually going to be able to interview because it's quite impossible because I believe that anyone you'd like to interview, you'll end up interviewing them. But this is fictional, so it's not possible. Who is that fictional character that you would just love to interview? And what would you ask them? What would your leading question be? I would love to pick Bruce Wayne's mind, like pick Bruce Wayne's brain, knowing that we know that he's Batman? Right, because, I mean, talking to Bruce Wayne and, you know, he's, billionaire and he's eccentric and charismatic, that'd be one thing, but like talking to him knowing

Starting point is 00:48:50 that he's also Batman, I think would be like super, super interesting. And I don't know, off the top of my head, I don't know what I would, I don't know what I would ask him up, but I'd just be so fascinated with like how that whole thing functions, like how, how him and Alfred are creating all these incredible gadgets and inventions and, I don't know. I would also ask him, like, when do you sleep? Because it seems like Bruce Wayne works really hard throughout the day. And then Batman works really hard at night. I would love to know Bruce Wayne's morning routine.

Starting point is 00:49:26 You know, I like this option because since people don't know he's Batman, you could probably just walk up, shake his hand and ask him how he's doing. He's kind of in disguise right now. So you can kind of make friends with him. Which one? I mean, which ones does disguise, though, right? Is Batman the disguise or is Bruce Wayne the disguise? Because I feel like, especially with the new Batman movie,

Starting point is 00:49:50 he definitely feels more himself when he's Batman. I got to find the mic. Chris, I wish I could hand you this mic so you could drop it right now, but I'll drop it for you. Rapid Fire Round, Short, Sweet, either or we're just going to blow through these. Who's in any way? Who's line isn't anyway mixed with family feud, so it's quick and the points don't matter.

Starting point is 00:50:12 coffee or tea? I'm actually drinking tea, while it's a little cold because of our conversation here, but tea, I'm not a coffee drinker at all. Beer, wine, or fill in the blank. Between those two,

Starting point is 00:50:26 it's definitely more wine. I've been drinking, I love beer, love beer, but I've been drinking a lot less beer because, I don't know, like too many beers makes me feel like I ate an entire pizza.

Starting point is 00:50:39 And while I love beer, It's been a lot more red wine, Pinot Noir, and tequila, a tequila with some soda water, a little splash of grapefruit that's like a very light paloma. Nice and tasty. Are you a morning person? You kind of have to be, right? Yeah, and like I've always been a morning person, but my fiancé wakes up like really early. I love her for so many reasons, and Rachel's amazing, but I love one of the biggest reasons.

Starting point is 00:51:11 is she finds time for fitness and the gym and wellness early in the day. Like she leaves her work at like 7 a.m. So she's like, well, if I work out after work, I'm not going to have as much time. I maybe won't want to go straight from work to the gym. So she's like, well, I guess I got to work out before work, which means waking up at 445 to be at the gym with a time that begins at a 5. So I'm like, well, if you're waking up at that time, like, who am I to be sleeping in them? So let's do it.

Starting point is 00:51:39 We want to support you. I'm about to go leave a review for Insight, Chris Van Bleed. I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to because your podcast is incredible. Other than the podcast and the channel, the YouTube channel and the Shorts channel, the two main ones, what is exciting you? What are you looking forward to for the future? How can we support you as you go forward in this journey? Well, first of all, Ben, thank you so much for bringing me on here.

Starting point is 00:52:05 What a great conversation. This is so much fun. I wish we had four more hours to chat. But I think the best way that people can connect is just on social media. It's at Chris Van Fleet, whether you're on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, wherever it happens to be. And wherever you're listening to this, you can find my podcast, Insight with Chris Van Fleet. And go dive into some of the interviews I've done recently. Like Adam Sandler was on the show recently, Jamie Fox, Chris Hemsworth, Melissa McCarthy.

Starting point is 00:52:33 I just, right before this, I did an hour with Billy Corgan, the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins, who's a fascinating individual. So it'd be awesome if you could go in there. And if you did like an episode and you had an extra 27 seconds in your day, maybe you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. I recommend, guys, do it while you listen to the episode, Two Birds, One Stone.

Starting point is 00:52:56 And listen, if this is the last ever episode of Real Business Connections you listen to because you go and binge on Chris, I will not lose any sleep over it because he's doing great things, great conversations with great people, And I'm humbled to have the conversation with you today, Chris. It's been such a pleasure.

Starting point is 00:53:13 The pleasure's mine. I super appreciate your time. And thank you for allowing me to hang out with you in your audience. Thanks, man. We'll talk soon. All right, my friends. Hope you enjoyed the tables being turned there. Hope you enjoyed this episode.

Starting point is 00:53:29 And maybe you learned a little something there. I would love it if you shared this with a friend or a family member or even perhaps someone you don't even like. Share it with them. Take a screenshot and tag us on. social media so we know you were listening. Ben is at Real Ben Albert. I'm at Chris Vanfleet. And speaking of social media, we just recently hit 100,000 followers on TikTok. So I just want to take a quick second to say thank you for being with me here on the podcast, on the audio adventure, as I call it, but also on TikTok. That's 100,000 followers on there in less than a year. So

Starting point is 00:54:06 thank you. You guys are so awesome. And I'm going to leave you with this quote from Danny Kay, I love it. Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it that you can. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one. Have an amazing weekend for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do with rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack.

Starting point is 00:54:50 Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.

Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Chris Van Vliet On Being Laid Off, Starting Fresh & The Power Of Asking The Right Questions - My Interview on "Learn Speak Teach"

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