Lucy Dyer

Host

An Audience with....

Aug 31, 2013·76 visitors

Jordan Birnbaum

Cohost

Stage· 193 messages

Aug 31, 2013

This tawk is a little different. How? Well,as the saying goes, the shoe is on the other foot!nnI am so pleased to be hosting my very first Tawk with none other than Jordan Birnbaum! I have been wanting to have a Tawk with Jordan for a while, but I just never got the courage to ask him until recently. Now, finally I can ask him some of the questions I have been wanting to ask him. And I think it'll be great to actually meet the hostess with the mostess and find out just what makes him tick.

Lucy Dyer · 6:00 PM

hey there Jordan!!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:00 PM

Wow, I've never been on this side of the room before!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:00 PM

Hi Lucy!

Lucy Dyer · 6:00 PM

well there is always a first time!

Lucy Dyer · 6:00 PM

★ Spotlighted from Tawkers Admin

“Welcome to the Forum! To get involved, click "Who's Here" and "Listen" to others in the Tawk. And don't forget to "Like" comments you want the Hosts to see. They only see the comments that get enough likes to become "Overheard"”

Lucy Dyer · 6:00 PM

★ Spotlighted from Tawkers Admin

“Did you know that you can share this Tawk by clicking the share icon just under the search in the top right? Give it a try and let people know there's a Tawk happening!”

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:01 PM

indeed. Thanks for inviting me! it's so nice to be the recipient of the invitation for your first Tawk!

Lucy Dyer · 6:01 PM

How have you been? i've been doing my homework. looking up stuff about you

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:01 PM

uh oh

Lucy Dyer · 6:02 PM

ok i may as well dive right in...

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:02 PM

sure

Lucy Dyer · 6:02 PM

how did you go from banking to this - Tawkers etc? bit of a leap.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:03 PM

Well - I think a very large part of my life choices have been the result of figuring out who I am

Lucy Dyer · 6:03 PM

and i guess i should ask why too. lol

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:03 PM

When I graduated college, my main motivation was to become wealthy

Lucy Dyer · 6:04 PM

i think every students dream is to become wealthy

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:04 PM

So I was excited about joining an investment bank, and sure enough, after a few months, they sent me to your neck of the woods

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:04 PM

they gave me a job as a market nmaker of Japanese equity warrants headquartered in London

Lucy Dyer · 6:04 PM

yeah i saw that! what did you like about London at the time? would you have stayed longer if you could?

Lucy Dyer · 6:05 PM

do you speak many languages then?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:05 PM

I think my favorite thing about London was the individual friendships I made with a lot of different Brits. That, and Chelsea.

Lucy Dyer · 6:06 PM

ahhh yes the up market end

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:06 PM

Yes, at that point I spoke American and English

Lucy Dyer · 6:06 PM

i wanna live in London. its where its at - as they say

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:06 PM

you know, taking the tuibe instead of driving...

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:07 PM

so anyway, I traded for about a year andf a half

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:07 PM

and I started to have a feeling I couldn't shake. I felt as though I was watching other people actually doing something, and my job was simply betting on how they would do it.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:08 PM

I didn't make me feel fulfilled

Lucy Dyer · 6:08 PM

ah so you found it "boring" and wanted to shake things up?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:08 PM

And I wasn't even a screaming lefty yet

Lucy Dyer · 6:09 PM

no you were just screaming hehe

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:09 PM

Not boring, actually - it was incredibly fast and stressful. I just didn't feel meaning in it, and I couldn't shake that feeling

Lucy Dyer · 6:09 PM

yeah i know that feeling.

Lucy Dyer · 6:10 PM

so ....what made you decide to go to Juno? did you have any other offers?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:10 PM

All that, plus I got promoted, which was not a good thing, because I had to start working by myself from 10pm-8am. More responsibility, more money, horrible life.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:11 PM

so I told the company that I just wasn;t happy and wanted to go back home to NY. I didn't know what I wanted to do. But the company said they understood, and that I could keep working for them in some capacity back in NY

Lucy Dyer · 6:12 PM

well that was good of them

Lucy Dyer · 6:12 PM

i guess with advent of the internet and this feeling you had,it all kinda fell into place

Lucy Dyer · 6:12 PM

expanding the mind

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:12 PM

Yes, they were amazing. Now I didn't want to stay in finance, but it turned out they were beginning to form a strategy to launch a business in the emerging market of the Internet. (It was '95)

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:13 PM

And Juno had been conceived, and the development work had begun on the product

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:13 PM

and I wa given the opportunity to join and work on subscriber acquisition. I was thrilled!

Lucy Dyer · 6:14 PM

so you were pretty much there at the beginning of the internet storm

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:14 PM

yes, and it was crazy

Lucy Dyer · 6:14 PM

i can only imagine!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:14 PM

I mean, no one REALLY understood what the hell anyone was talking about

Lucy Dyer · 6:15 PM

does anyone now? lol

Lucy Dyer · 6:15 PM

is that what caught your attention? the newness of it all?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:15 PM

Well, I think in the 90s people were willing to invest in things they didn't understand at all. That's not the case any more, so at least there's that.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:16 PM

Yes, the newness was fantastic! It meant there were no rules to follow. So for someone creative, you could think up anything and then give it a try.

Lucy Dyer · 6:17 PM

and where you been an investment banker - that ok? - it kinda came in handy

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:18 PM

Actually, I thinik the most important thing I got from my time as a trader had nothig to do with finance. I think it had everything to do with creating friendships across different cultures.

Lucy Dyer · 6:18 PM

wow i'd not thought of it like that

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:18 PM

I think my ability to understand people and connect with them is what was, and still is, my greatest talent.

Lucy Dyer · 6:19 PM

yeah i think i can vouch for that.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:19 PM

thanks!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:19 PM

But so much of my succes at Juno came from exactly that.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:20 PM

As a deal maker, I had to understand what people needed and wanted, both tangibly and untangibly, and then craft a strategy for all of our collective goals to be met, and then convince people to give it a try.

Lucy Dyer · 6:21 PM

ah so you ad the gift of the gab! not many do

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:22 PM

yes, but it also has to do with understanding the other person in the communication

Lucy Dyer · 6:22 PM

true.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:22 PM

Ya know, just talking to fill up space doesn't accomplish much, and gets pretty boring.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:23 PM

I mean, tawking

Lucy Dyer · 6:23 PM

did you have any deals that you honestly thought wouldnt happen but did?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:23 PM

Another secret to my success in my 20s at Juno was being delusional. I was certain that evfery single deal would work.

Lucy Dyer · 6:24 PM

good way to work,in that buisness

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:24 PM

And that was what I needed then to keep me insanely motivated. Instead ofr thinking I had to go make a deal happen, I was motivated to not let a deal fall apart, even if I hadn't yet begun the discussion.

Lucy Dyer · 6:25 PM

were you a workaholic then?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:25 PM

I still function like that, even with Tawkers.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:25 PM

Oh yes, because I was still under the misconception that accomplishing some objective criteria of success was going to bring me happiness.

Lucy Dyer · 6:25 PM

i have to say,your enthusiasm is dam infectious!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:26 PM

which of course, it didn't

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:26 PM

thanks!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:26 PM

So here's a good story

Lucy Dyer · 6:26 PM

plus it helps to a wicked sense of humour too

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:26 PM

I'm skipping over a lot, by the way

Lucy Dyer · 6:27 PM

i'm listening....

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:27 PM

But after about 4 years of obsessive work and few other interests, Juno was set to go public

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:27 PM

This was my BIG MOMENT

Lucy Dyer · 6:28 PM

and?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:28 PM

It was everything I had focused on, and somewhere in my mind, I thought that as sioon as it happened, I'd be transformed into a happy, fully formed and successful person.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:28 PM

It happened, and I felt as though someone had hit me in the back of the head with a lead pipe.

Lucy Dyer · 6:29 PM

oh no!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:29 PM

And it was because I felt just as shitty, insecure and uncertain about my life as I always did.

Lucy Dyer · 6:29 PM

was it because you had done all the hard and then.....nothing

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:30 PM

and I had put so much faith that accomplishing this goal would transform everything, that when it didn't, I was crushed.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:30 PM

exactly.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:30 PM

pretty important lesson, though.

Lucy Dyer · 6:31 PM

which was?

Lucy Dyer · 6:31 PM

i woulda thought "why me?" and given up

Lucy Dyer · 6:31 PM

i guesss you didnt

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:31 PM

that happiness was never going to come from any achievement, any extrenal validation, money, or even other people.

Lucy Dyer · 6:32 PM

ha! thats so true. those are all nice things but they are part of what makes you YOU and so makes you happy.

Lucy Dyer · 6:32 PM

well for me anyways

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:32 PM

And that how I felt in the moment was reality, and the only way to affect it was internal. There was nothing for me to chase.

Lucy Dyer · 6:33 PM

so where are in this happiness life are you now?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:33 PM

So from that moment, my perspective on money and success were forever altered.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:34 PM

Happiness? Let's just say that when the founding fathers of the US guaranteed my right to the pursuit of happiness....

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:34 PM

they were kind of setting me up for failure.

Lucy Dyer · 6:34 PM

move in next door to me. we can cheer each other up!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:35 PM

I mean, I am very happy, and I'm also miserable. And I think that's all anyone gets to be.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:35 PM

I think my new goal is to just feel everything.

Lucy Dyer · 6:36 PM

i have met so many new and fab people in the ast year,my life has changed completely. and in turn i have too

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:36 PM

yes, connecting with people (and animals) is the greatest source of happiness for me

Lucy Dyer · 6:36 PM

so in some ways i can appreciate what you are saying. i love tawking with all these people,finding out about them. it dam fun!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:37 PM

Even all my new friends in the Tawkers community have had a significantly positive impact on my life

Lucy Dyer · 6:37 PM

oo animals...what ya got?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:37 PM

dogs and cats, my own, my friends, strangers'...

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:38 PM

Plus, Animal Planet. (Vicariously loving animals in the wild)

Lucy Dyer · 6:38 PM

is there an animal you would to see or even own?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:39 PM

I know enough that exotic pets are torturous to the animals, so I'll stick to dogs and cats. But I would LOVE a chimp...

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:39 PM

Actually, I'll take a herd of elephants

Lucy Dyer · 6:40 PM

you know,i could just see you with a chimp

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:40 PM

I couple of million years ago I WAS a chimp

Lucy Dyer · 6:40 PM

most men still are!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:40 PM

don't discriminate. Most PEOPLE are.

Lucy Dyer · 6:41 PM

sorry sorry...

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:41 PM

lol

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:41 PM

quite all right!

Lucy Dyer · 6:41 PM

*curtsies*

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:41 PM

so may I ask you a question?

Lucy Dyer · 6:41 PM

sure

Lucy Dyer · 6:41 PM

i was gonna suggeste it

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:41 PM

what does Dickies' Bint mean?

Lucy Dyer · 6:41 PM

oh boy....

Lucy Dyer · 6:42 PM

well,Dickies is the shortene version of the name Richard, who is a drummer in one of my fav bands KEane

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:42 PM

somewhere only we know - I love Keane

Lucy Dyer · 6:42 PM

and Bint..well,to be honest its FB's fault. they wouldnt let me have wench

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:42 PM

ahh -that's hilarious

Lucy Dyer · 6:42 PM

you do? holy crap!!!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:43 PM

I mean, I don't understand how someone wouldn't love Keane.

Lucy Dyer · 6:43 PM

you know Richard from Keane is on twitter,right?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:43 PM

did not

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:44 PM

does he know you are his wench?

Lucy Dyer · 6:44 PM

oh yeah. i think i got him to like Lee! lol

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:44 PM

well done - the more people who like Lee Camp, the better the world will be.

Lucy Dyer · 6:44 PM

ha yeah he does. i am also his biscuit bint too. cos when i go Keane gigs,i give him a packet of Hobnobs

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:44 PM

nice

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:45 PM

it's good to be a rock star

Lucy Dyer · 6:45 PM

did you wanna be one?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:45 PM

not anymore

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:45 PM

in my 20s I did

Lucy Dyer · 6:45 PM

awwww run out of hair brushes?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:45 PM

run out of delusions of grandeur

Lucy Dyer · 6:46 PM

i just read that in Han Solos voice...

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:46 PM

everything sounds better in Han Solo's voice

Lucy Dyer · 6:46 PM

well,i've heard better

Lucy Dyer · 6:46 PM

i was always,still am,a luke girl :-)

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:47 PM

Fun Fact - Harrison Ford once ate a french fry from my plate (with my permission) in an LA restaurant

Lucy Dyer · 6:47 PM

you luckey begger!!

Lucy Dyer · 6:48 PM

now Harrison Ford is one funny guy

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:48 PM

I was pretty coool, actually. He said "Can I have a fry?" And I responded "Dude, you can have two."

Lucy Dyer · 6:48 PM

well you can never have just one,right?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:48 PM

excactly

Lucy Dyer · 6:49 PM

so whats next for you? apart from Tawkers

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:49 PM

Well, while I'm working on Tawkers I'm also working towards my masters in I/O Psych at NYU.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:50 PM

After all my different entrepreneurial stuff, I have discovered what I enjoy the most, which is creating healthy and produycive working environments

Lucy Dyer · 6:50 PM

i knew you were brainy but thats ridiculous! good luck with it

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:50 PM

thanks!

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:51 PM

Although Tawkers is my first priority!

Lucy Dyer · 6:51 PM

do you make plans or just see where life takes you?

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:51 PM

I love the people, the product, and the impact it can have on individuals and movements

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:52 PM

It's very important to me that we nurture the use of this platform, because I think it can have a hugely positive impact on the world

Lucy Dyer · 6:52 PM

i have to say,Tawkers is just an awesome thing. and yes,you are right, the people who come here are really fun. you can learn alot

Lucy Dyer · 6:53 PM

theres no pressure to join in either.

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:53 PM

and feel more connected. whenever I remember to, I end my Tawks by saying "remember, you are NOT alone" mainly because that's how Tawkers makes ME feel.

Lucy Dyer · 6:54 PM

i always feel on a high after a tawk. altho once i did come away feeling a bit miffed,but that was mainly with myself.

Lucy Dyer · 6:54 PM

i couldnt get my point across very well and so it made me more and more frustrated

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:55 PM

well, frustration is part of the ride in this life. don't beat yourself up too much for being human.

Lucy Dyer · 6:55 PM

this is what i am learning

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:56 PM

You know, I find resigning myself to being human is a tremendous relief

Lucy Dyer · 6:56 PM

i guess it all depends on the definition of human. it can be different for people

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:57 PM

My definition is this: FLAWED

Lucy Dyer · 6:57 PM

ah but women arent flawed

Lucy Dyer · 6:58 PM

we just have double standards to live up to

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:58 PM

I'll buy that

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:58 PM

So I must say, you did a great job. I had so much fun!

Lucy Dyer · 6:58 PM

you know this hour has flown by

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:58 PM

indication of how well you managed it

Lucy Dyer · 6:59 PM

did i really? thank you so much!! hey maybe i should be where you are one day

Jordan Birnbaum · 6:59 PM

you're very good at this - I'm excited for others to get to experience this with you

Lucy Dyer · 7:00 PM

well i hope so. i just gotta find my next person

Jordan Birnbaum · 7:00 PM

persistence pays off.

Lucy Dyer · 7:00 PM

true

Lucy Dyer · 7:00 PM

plus everyone is busy right now too

Jordan Birnbaum · 7:00 PM

keep plugging away, and it will happen

Lucy Dyer · 7:01 PM

(sighs) i'll get there and i'll let you and others know who it is

Lucy Dyer · 7:01 PM

so thank you SO much for doing this with me. was kinda surprised you said yes so quick :-)

Jordan Birnbaum · 7:02 PM

thanks Lucy! you have been such a great support, I didn't hesitate!

Lucy Dyer · 7:02 PM

anytime

Jordan Birnbaum · 7:02 PM

see you soon!

Lucy Dyer · 7:02 PM

buh-bye now!! :-)