Hello, welcome to the careers for kids podcast for kids learn careers.
This is Maxwell Valencia and this is Henry Morrison.
Today we have Danny Gonzalez, an author and podcaster.
Hello Mr. Gonzalez.
Hey, what's up guys?
Good to meet you all.
Yeah, thank you for spending your time to be on careers for kids.
We hope you have a great interview.
Now let's get started.
So, tell us what you currently do right now.
That's a good question, Max.
Well, I'm a bit of an entrepreneur.
So I have my own company and it's called Startup Mindsets LLC with your dad if you didn't know
that.
But I'm also the author of a book and it's called Startup Mindsets podcast.
Sorry, that's a podcast, but the book is called Startup Mindsets.
And yeah, so I'm an author of a book and it's not out yet, but it'll be out in about a week
or so.
And yeah, I mean, as an author, you write and you talk to people and you kind of just,
you want to create a book.
So that's what I have been up to for the last three or four years.
Wow, that's great.
I could talk about like what made me want to write a book or I guess like anything like
that.
What was like your interest in making a book about Startup Mindsets?
You know, it's actually your dad's idea, Earl.
But I had an English degree from UC Riverside in Southern California.
And I had been reading a lot of novels at the time when I was like 20 years old.
And I think to myself, maybe I'd have like the ability to write something as good as
what I was reading.
And I think at the time I was going through like a lot of changes, right?
Like my family moved to a different city as well.
And I felt kind of wronged by like the landlord of the neighbors I had there who were rather
like we didn't have the best relationship with them and they're part of the reason why
we moved.
And I wanted to write a novel that kind of encapsulated that story.
But I tried and I didn't end up getting anywhere with that.
I guess as a person who lives in San Francisco for such a long time, like I always wondered
like what made the tech industry so successful.
And then I joined this venture capital program where I got to work as a venture capitalist
and look at startups and really see like what got them to where they were.
And the big reason is investments from people on in particular venture capital funds.
And that's where I met your dad.
Again, I'm Max.
And you know, he had the idea for the book and he was talking about it on PowerPoint.
And I kind of jumped in and asked if I could help him write it.
And I guess we're fast forward.
We're here today and we're about to publish it.
So that's kind of what made me want to do it.
But I also just have a natural love for writing and literature in general.
Yeah, that's a good thing.
Like you it's good to like execute things like like if you have an idea but never like
capitalize on it, it's just going to be an idea.
Yeah, like action for things.
Yeah, I like people who go through with their ideas.
I mean, not the bad ones, of course.
But the good ideas, the ideas that you think could actually make a difference or just do
some good for the world.
And a lot of people don't go through with their ideas.
Yeah.
And here.
Remember, I had an idea of like applying to private high schools, which I remember like
I forgot about it for a month.
But now currently I'm working at essays and studying for the like the SSATs and the ICEs.
Good luck, man.
Yeah.
I'm applying to Water Connecticut.
I hope I get in.
Oh, wow.
Over there.
Would you move back to over there?
No, it's it's a chote or something.
It's like it's like 30 minutes from our town or his old town and Westport, Westport.
Yeah.
And they would not move back here, but it's a boarding school, I believe.
He can tell you more about it when we're done here.
But.
Yep.
So Henry, you have a question, right?
Yep.
So tell us more about your career and how you got to this position.
Yeah, you know, that's a good question.
Henry, I'd say like for me, my career has been one that's been nonlinear.
And I think prior to becoming an author, I had worked like just various jobs to make
ends meet or make money.
And so what was the question again?
Tell us, tell you all about the career and what?
Yeah.
Tell us more about it and how you got to this position.
Like what made you.
Oh, I see.
Become what you are.
Yeah, man.
So I guess like with the book when it originally like was the book idea and then we had an
idea to do a podcast and that was kind of the way to record conversations with people
we wanted to include in the book.
And eventually, you know, like there was a lot of people asking to be on the show.
And also, I just saw like how businesses could make money off of a podcast.
And I really enjoyed talking to successful people and just having like non-structured
conversations.
And, you know, from there, it grew into something that could make money.
And whether that was from advertisers or just what else is there?
Yeah, book sales, like a book deal.
And we got the book deal with Penguin Random House in Singapore about a year ago or so.
And, you know, it's funny I talk about this since we just got the book advance payment
today.
But I think like my skills were I could really write and I really enjoyed like journalism
a lot.
And I guess like to some extent, I worked in the tech industry and kind of understand
that world.
And I wanted to make a thing that would represent all of those.
And to be honest, actually, now I backtrack and gather my thoughts.
I had a dream to write a book, you know, and that's what got me into doing this.
But we'll see where I am in a year.
So it's like one thing led to another.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was I would say it was unlikely to publish it to just since it
was really like if we were to do this in a quick way, we would have gotten a deal and
then we would have wrote it and worked with the publisher.
But that took some time just them reaching back out to us and trying to negotiate with
them and, you know.
Yeah.
What part of like doing this is like your favorite part?
And what part of it is like you don't really like or like is enjoyable?
That's a fun question.
I'll start with the part that I really like.
And it's I think I really like having these conversations with people and learning about
them.
And I really enjoy the business to some extent, too, where you you know, you what's it called?
You're providing value to someone in exchange for like money, right?
Or something else.
And just I guess like the fact of selling something like I enjoy selling something because
I think I proved myself right or I proved other people wrong when they said I couldn't
do this.
And then the fact that the other part about what I don't like is, I guess, just doing
a little bit of like the tedious tasks of like replying to emails or, you know, trying
to make content as best as it can, because I'm not the best video editor.
But yeah, there's there's, you know, certain things that you're going to like and not like
about any job.
And you could be the president and you'll definitely have stuff you don't like, you
know.
And yeah.
So was this a dream job you imagine yourself doing when you were a kid?
Like writing?
Oh, I don't think podcasting exists.
So I mean, more so.
More so.
More.
Yeah.
Well, if a kid is like an 18 year old or 20 year old, then yeah.
But I think I have no idea what I wanted to do as a kid.
I just wanted to play video games and forget about homework.
But yeah, what is it called?
When I was a kid, I'd say like even in the book we wrote a part about like I wanted to
be like a policeman or something just to fight the bad guys.
But that's not happening.
You know, I definitely would say I outdid myself in a sense that like you achieve something
you never thought or you thought that wasn't likely to happen.
I think that's really the big thing there.
Nice.
So when you were like younger, like when you were a child, like playing video games and
forgetting about homework, who were your main idols?
I'd say my dad and my mom.
Just you know, seeing them come home from work and being able to provide a life and
being somebody who's like 29 right now for some context and seeing that's not as easy
as it looks to show up and make money and manage the money and all that.
It's definitely, I'd say enjoy the youth.
Yeah.
Like don't screw up at all.
Why did you pick this?
Why do you pick this job?
I mean, with all the jobs out there in the world today, why did you pick this one?
You know, that's a good question.
I'd say I think it kind of picked me in a sense because I think as someone who's like
applied to a lot of jobs and even interviewed in late rounds and never got like a concrete
offer or a big time offer, I just wanted to follow like my passions and really do something
that I believe was like a big goal of mine.
And I guess like, you know, once you see some sort of money coming in from people willing
to pay you like maybe book sales or, you know, the podcast sells ads or people want to pay
to be on the podcast or people buy merch or anything like that.
You tend to believe in yourself more, right?
Like once you have like a little bit of proof of concept, you kind of, you know, start to
try to build on that.
And you know, once you do do that, then what's it called?
You want to continue doing that, so I think that's what it was.
But I definitely believe in finding the joy and, you know, the little things you're doing
every day because, you know, if you don't, then you kind of just are doing the to-do
list for the rest of your life.
You know, that's not very fun.
That's a good answer.
Thank you.
So Henry, you have a question.
So what was your career before this and what made you move on from it?
Good question Henry.
Before this, I worked at Airbnb doing like, I was looking at listings and just verifying
them.
And then, you know, the pandemic happened, but I think that job ended right before the
pandemic.
And during the pandemic, that's when I started the podcast.
Also, I didn't really have like a full on like career exactly, I would say.
And what made me move on was just the seeing the possibility of what I could do with the
book.
You know, if I think about like the successful authors of books and how they've made a career
in life off of their book idea, that kind of gave me some belief into what I'm working
on at the moment.
So what was the biggest highlight of this cool career?
I wouldn't know what to say.
I think that I think the highlight would be just seeing the book on a bookshelf in a bookstore,
really.
You know, just I mean, thinking about like how it was at Google Doc for a couple of years
before it became a physical book.
You know, that's something I have trouble wrapping my head around.
But I think, you know, the highlights are really just, I'd say, maybe doing a book signing
in the future.
Actually, one of the highlights was selling a book, like a pre-order book to a couple
selling a couple copies to people I know and, you know, just met, right?
Like I believe it was two weeks ago, I hung out with one of my friends, like roommates
and he, I convinced him to buy a book and it was just so cool to make money off of an
idea.
And I think that's what everybody in the world wants to experience, right?
But you know, it's a little different, you know, going to work for like a McDonald's
or like going to work for like anything anywhere and having your own company, which I have.
So it's a lot of hard work and you know, to see it pay off is a good thing.
Yeah, a lot of dedication.
Yeah.
And like, it's always good to see like after you've built something for like a while, it's
always good to see how far you've come.
It's amazing.
Oh yeah.
I don't even know how I got here.
That's how I kind of feel about this podcast.
Like I'm proud I was able, me and Henry were able to execute an idea.
Yeah, I mean, it was just like April and we were starting this, staying up late, working
on the website and everything.
Now, we look where we are.
It's awesome.
All the people, all the amazing people we've talked to.
Yeah.
You guys interview the mayor of your town.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
So what are the biggest challenges that you think can be our, my, sorry.
What are the biggest challenges that you think can be solved by our generation that you'd
want us to solve for you?
Are you asking what's like the biggest challenge that you want that I want to see solved for
your generation or my generation?
I mean, we're not that far apart in age if you really think about it.
So I guess.
Oh, gotcha, gotcha.
Gen Y, right?
Or not Gen Z.
Gen Z.
Oh, Gen Z.
Okay, gotcha.
You know, I think the world has definitely its share of difficulties and problems.
I think something that I, Earl, my co-author Earl, who's Maxwell's dad, we wrote about
in the book was seeing the problem of like poverty solved.
We thought that poverty led to, you know, a lot of people acting desperate and all that.
And I think like, you know, there's a lot of problems that we could pick apart and choose
from.
But if there was a problem to pick to solve, I think it'd be poverty just since.
A lot of people do struggle with money and even myself.
Like, if we could find a way to give them economic empowerment through entrepreneurship
would be great.
Like if they read the book that I wrote and saw that they could make something like a
reality or I don't know, they could just pursue their dreams.
I think maybe there's even a deeper thought there.
It's like a problem of being scared of, you know, failure, right?
Like that's, or being scared of people crushing your dreams and hopes or, you know, making
fun of you or whatever.
Like anything like that, I think that's a problem that we love to combat and put away
with since, you know, like a lot of people, myself included, will, you know, not want
to do something because they're scared it's going to fail.
And I think that's kind of the problem we try to solve with the book.
Yeah.
So here's the thing.
Don't be scared of failure.
Just think of what could happen.
Think about the good things.
Like think about success instead of what if I fail?
What if I succeed?
What if I get it done?
And if someone wants to follow in your footsteps as an author, a podcaster, what would you
tell him or her?
You know, I'd say that whenever you come up against like a hurdle or like a mental challenge
where you're not seeing what you want to happen, I'd say just have faith in yourself and try
to get somebody to help you.
Or sometimes it's just a matter of being persistent.
And, you know, I have the saying, it's persistent, persistence beats resistance.
And you know, I think that if you don't give up, there's not really a way you could lose
in the end, right?
I think like in sports too, like you'll feel like the winner if you tried your really best.
And I think that's it.
You know, it's not about making X amount of dollars or anything.
I think it's about the personal success where you feel like you accomplish something that
meant a lot to you.
And I think that's what I would say.
So what is your main life advice for kids listening to this podcast?
Oh, yeah, man.
I mean, kids just have fun and be creative or be curious about things that interest you,
you know, like if it's at school or if it's after school stuff, like ask questions and,
you know, don't be afraid to do something that you're not used to doing or, you know,
anything like that.
Thank you so much, Mr. Gonzalez, for allowing us to interview you.
I'm sure more kids will be inspired by this interview.
Oh, yeah, anytime.
And thank you for, you know, the time today too.
Whoever's listening, thanks for listening to the podcast.
Hope you enjoyed the episode and we'll see you in the next one.
Bye.