146: Alex Banayan – How Uncommon Thinking Leads to Unimaginable Opportunity

"It’s not about how quick the story is, it’s about how fun and entertaining the story is." Hey guys, welcome back to ONKEN RADIO (formerly NION Radio), the podcast where we explore the body, mind, and soul of the creative entrepreneur. It's my goal to help you take your creativity, business, and life to the next level. I'm so glad you're joining me on this journey! Today, I've got a very special guest on my show. His name is Alex Banayan, and he authored the groundbreaking book The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Careers.  Alex is an awesome guy, and I especially wanted him on the show because his book is all about the business side of creative entrepreneurship. In this interview, we're discussing his journey from being a freshman pre-med student to becoming a bestselling author, how to write a good story, the meaning behind "the third door," and how to break into your creative industry. You're going to learn a whole lot about success and storytelling from Alex, and you're also going to be entertained on the way, so let's dive in! Who Is Alex Banayan? Alex Banayan is the #1 International Bestselling Author of The Third Door. Alex started the book while he was a freshman in college, and it took him seven years to complete it. He learned countless lessons from the people he interviewed for the book and from the writing process itself. He interviewed some of the most successful people of all time, including Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Larry King, and many more.  Alex began his journey writing The Third Door from his freshman dorm room at the University of South California. From a young age, Alex's parents pushed him to become a Doctor of Medicine. He always assumed that he would become a doctor, and he never planned to do anything else with his career. He even wore scrubs for Halloween as a child and attended pre-med summer school programs. But once he entered the pre-med program at USC, he found that becoming a doctor may not be the path for him.   "I started to feel like something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it. … I remember lying on my dorm room bed, staring over at this stack of biology books and feeling like they were sucking the life out of me. ... Then I started to wonder, 'Maybe I'm not on my path.'" - Alex Banayan Alex's realization threw him into a whirlwind of confusion. He suffered a life crisis at age 18 and began searching for a new career path. He went to the library and began trying to figure out how successful individuals had started their careers. He wondered how people like Steven Spielberg and Bill Gates had changed the world at such a young age.  He poured over biographies and self-help books but found no suitable answers for his questions, so he decided to write the book himself. He came up with the idea to interview some of the world’s most successful people and find the secret to their success. Seven years later, he released The Third Door and became the youngest bestselling business author in American history.  Hacking The Price is Right When Alex began his journey in authoring The Third Door, he realized that he would need funding to write his book. The night before finals at USC, he found what he thought might be a golden opportunity to make money. "I'm on Facebook, and I see someone posting saying, 'Free tickets to The Price is Right.'… [My thought] was what if I go on this show and win some money to fund this dream?" - Alex Banayan Alex knew that the idea was absolutely absurd because going on The Price is Right would conflict with his final exams the next day, but he couldn't stop thinking about going on the show. "It was one of those ideas that keeps like clawing itself into your mind. So I remember in the library making this pros and cons list to prove to myself it's a bad idea. … . There's like 20 cons. And the only pro was maybe win[ning] enough money to fund this dream.