I just finished the heartwarming and inspiring book When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man by Jerry Weintraub and Rich Cohen. I heard about it from Ryan Holiday's reading newsletter.

This was almost my second book in a row about the entertainment business and true hustlers in that realm (the one I finished earlier this month was A Curious Mind by Brian Glazer). And both harken back in my mind to The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans, which I read in 2013. And just last week I watched Supermensch, about Shep Gordon, which my friend recommended to me and which I loved. So much can be learned about life from the crazy lives all these guys have lived!

I really, really liked this book by Weintraub. It was co-written with Rich Cohen, who wrote The Fish That Ate the Whale, which I really enjoyed reading last year. It was a combination of street-smart lessons, advice for business and personal life, and lots of hilarious anecdotes about crazy times with some of the most famous people ever (Elvis, Sinatra, etc.).

I was very sad to hear that only a couple months ago Jerry passed away. This book is truly a gift that he has left us. Below are some of my biggest takeaways from its many wonderful stories.
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• ​All about packaging; makes a difference and allows discovery for sales
• Parents taught him to earn money to buy what he wanted
• Later the work/means becomes the end if u can enjoy it
• Relationships are the only thing that matters in life
• Lots of odd jobs and came up with ideas
• Entrepreneur
• People will pay u to make their lives easier
• Never get paid once for doing something twice
• Personal service is the name of the game
• Always take the time to make the pitch
• As soon as u feel comfortable that's when it's time to start over
• Seeing the pattern of money and opportunities everywhere 
• Finding your own path and packaging
• As long as ur assets exceed liabilities ur gonna have a good life
• Improv exercises: sometimes when in a jam just need to open ur mouth and start talking and see where the words take u
• Be willing to take risks
• When the obvious thing is to lie, Tell the truth
• When the game changes, u gotta change with it to survive
• Don't follow another man's script
• A talent manager must be an optimist
• Buy your own steak; it's cheaper
• Phrases to create demand: "first come first served", "limited edition"
• Idea only crazy until someone does it
• Standing up for yourself against underground mob
• Promising something before u have it
• Context
• Home field advantage
• Need to control your product
• Persistence and keep talking
• Accomplish things on the third or fourth try
• Better to be feared than loved
• Cut out middle man
• Need to innovate and improvise
• Always meet in person to discuss deal
• Even if u have the greatest script in the world it won't work if the actors don't play their parts
• Let the other guy save face but keep score
• Being able to cross cultures and frontiers
• Power of spontaneity and first take 
• Never downplay your own special thing
• Sell someone as if they're already a star
• Stand up for yourself when people mistreat u
• When u want to learn, find someone and study them
• Work with the best ppl; life is too short to work for morons
• When you're a manager you're working for someone else not yourself
• Hotels are never really sold out
• Wake up early to beat others
• You have to be willing to walk away from the most comfortable perks precisely because they're the most comfortable
• No matter your age you're never too old to stop looking for teachers
• As long as you're here you might as well smile
• If you find something you love keep doing it
• Title without the job is the worst: u get all of the blame and none of the credit or the fun
• Perception is reality
• Grow into the suit
• Need to be able to survive long series of failures
• Talent doesn't go away; companies do which doesn't matter
• Can never tell quality of bull fighter until he has been hit
• Can learn how to act only when learn to be yourself
• Authentic honesty with everyone
• whenever you feel the urge to obfuscate tell the truth instead
• Ask when u don't know
• Listen when someone else is talking
• Sell with joy so product fun to buy
• Never afraid to fail
• Never afraid to try or look silly or threatened by a new idea

A close friend recently told me to read A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life by Hollywood producer Brian Glazer. It was a quick, light read, and I enjoyed its collection of stories and observations about curiosity.

Brian is right that little is taught or researched about this important power we all have. It was neat to see how one person's life was pretty much defined by this behavior and how he used "curiosity conversations" throughout his life to learn about others and seek inspiration from outside his field. It reminded me a lot of Tim Ferriss's podcast interviews and the Half Half Man Book Club.

Below were some of my notes on the book and biggest takeaways. I liked how honest and straightforward the writing was, and it was neat to take a deep dive into the mind behind movies like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind.

Intro
Curiosity helped him become movie producer and tell stories
Sit down and have curiosity conversations with people in different fields

1 no cure for curiosity
Not embarrassed to ask questions
People like to talk, especially about themselves, and all you need is a simple pretext to talk to them
Curiosity as way of uncovering ideas
Did cold calls asking for 5 minutes with high level people; wrote intro, not looking for job, have specific question 
Had to meet new person daily
Curiosity conversations 
At least one every 2 weeks
Spend time with people outside your industry
Ask questions to find stories

2: thinking like other people
Ideas as currency
Respect questions 

3: curiosity insight 

4: curiosity as superpower
Make the hardest call of the day first

5: every conversation is a curiosity conversation 
Ask questions instead of giving instructions

6: good taste and anticuriosity
When settled mind on project u want, stop getting more criticism and feedback when someone says no
Need to develop some invulnerability

7 golden age of curiosity

A good friend recommended I check out the best Hollywood storyteller recount his life and the true grit of old Hollywood in The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans. It really was an awesome story, and it was a delicious experience to hear the author read his own book in the audio version -- complete with profanities and all.

I found the author's sense of individualism and never forfeiting his own opinions to be a great example to follow. He recounted a lot of what made him successful, and he also humbly admitted all the ways he really screwed up; I enjoyed hearing both sides of the story. I liked the many little aphorisms shared in the book, such as around the art of negotiation, dealing with the ladies, prioritizing family and health, and how to have a good time in life overall.

Below are some of the more funny or thought-provoking points that I took away from the book.