#AskCVV - Morning Routine, Guilty Pleasures, Best Advice, Becoming A Father & More!

In the first edition of #AskCVV, Chris Van Vliet answers questions that were submitted on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube from Insight Listeners. This will be a monthly episode so if you have a question that you'd like answered in the January edition, just send it with the hashtag #AskCVV. Here is a look at the questions from this month:

What's the best piece of advice that you've gotten through your entrepreneurial journey, either from a guest, mentor, or somewhere else? 

“Well, thank you for the question. Man, I feel like there's so many different pieces of advice, and it's hard to narrow it down to just one piece of advice. So, I'll go with a few pieces that I've got here. And I did an episode about it a few weeks ago, and you've probably heard me talk about it, but John Cena saying to me, control the controllable has really been a big one that has shaped my life in so many ways. Because it's so easy to wake up every day and focus on all the things that you don't have in your life. But I like to remind myself that we've got both the good things and the bad things in every single day, and it's up to you which ones you want to focus on. So John Cena Cena saying to me control the controllable really meant a lot. Because you don't have control over what other people say or what other people do, but what you do have control over is how you want to react to the things that other people say and other people do. So that's a really big one for me. Tyler Perry, also just like straight up, looked me in the eyes and asked me what would you be doing right now if you knew you couldn't fail? And that's not really a piece of advice, but it's just a way of thinking about things that I never really thought about in a way before. Like, I think a lot of people go into situations and they're scared, they're nervous. They think about the worst case scenario here. And he's basically saying, what would you do? What would you change, if you knew you couldn't fail. And I actually don't think that failure is a thing that exists. I think it's the idea that it's either you win, or you learn. So it's not win or lose, it's not you succeed or fail. It's you either win, or you learn. You either win, and you go on to the next level, or it doesn't quite go the way that you think it should have gone. And you go, Alright, cool, I'll learn from that. And now I'm a better person because of it. So I would say those are two big pieces. And I think another one is just swing for the fences, swing for the fences. Because if you don't, if you don't take those chances, those wild chances in life, you're never gonna get anywhere. So I'd say that those are a few there off the top of my head. 

Besides John Cena and The Rock, who's your most favourite person that you've interviewed?

“There are so many. I feel like there's so many. I did one recently with George Clooney, and he's just like effortlessly charismatic, effortlessly kind and funny. And that was one of those where you just sit back and you go, man, this person is just so good at everything that they do. So I think that was a really fun one, just because he's having the best time. And I think that sometimes you interview people, and they don't really want to be there, or they feel contractually obligated to be doing this interview while they're promoting a film or an album or a book or whatever it happens to be a tour. George Clooney just like makes the best of it and has so, so much fun. So that was one that I really enjoyed. Hugh Jackman also falls into that same category. Like Hugh Jackman just has this insane energy level, and you walk into the room and like your energy level just immediately, like jumps up to match what his energy level is. And he's thoughtful in his answers, and he plays along and he's fun. So yeah, that's another one. And then you know, The Rock was, then I always talk about how The Rock’s my favorite person I've ever interviewed. I've interviewed him, you know, 10 times, not that I'm counting or anything like that. And you know, you've probably heard the many reasons why I love talking to The Rock because he makes you feel seen. He understands, he's self aware enough to know that, you know, it's a big moment, and you're going to probably tell people about it. Maybe you’ll even tell them on a podcast like this, right? And he turns the moment around to include you in that moment in something that's so so special. So The Rock was number one on my list of people that I wanted to interview 10 years ago before I'd interviewed him for the first time. And then after that was Tom Cruise. So after I had interviewed The Rock, Tom Cruise was next on that list. And it was so fortunate to be able to interview Tom Cruise in Paris, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. It's the red carpet world premiere for Mission Impossible Fallout, so to be able to interview him in that setting. And I don't know if you've seen the photo or not, I’ll post it on my website, so you can see it with this episode. So you can see what I'm talking about. But we're standing there, red carpet behind us. We're wearing tuxedos and suits and the Eiffel Tower is right there. So that was just such a cool moment. And I firmly believe that movie stars don't really exist anymore. Like the model that used to exist in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s of like, you would go to the movies to see a movie star and you didn't didn't really matter what the movie was about. I think that's changed and shifted a lot, and maybe that's a topic for another podcast episode. But Tom Cruise is like the last remaining movie star, where you go, that's a Tom Cruise movie, and I know that he's gonna give his all in this movie, and he's gonna do some sort of crazy stunt, I'm gonna go see this thing. So it was really cool to be able to spend some time with him. And you know, it's like a three minute interview, but to spend some time with him, and he was just so incredibly present in that moment. I mean, we're talking about 1000s of screaming fans and reporters everywhere and cameras clicking and he was standing there looking me dead in the eyes and having a conversation like I was the only person that existed on Earth. And that was a really, really interesting thing.”

What is one part of your morning routine that you can't live without?

“That’s hard to narrow down to just one, but I think the biggest one for me is before I do anything else in my day I drink a tonne of water, like I drink like a quarter of a gallon of water before I even like get out of bed. I think it feels like you're envisioning me now like laying in bed like, you know, pouring water in my mouth. I get up and it's on my nightstand, so I get up and I'm sitting on the edge of my bed. So before I even get out of bed, I'm sitting on the corner of my bed, and I drink like 32 ounces of water, like a quarter of a gallon of water. And the idea there is you haven't drank water in, you know, 7, 8, 9, 10 hours at this point, it just kind of gets everything rehydrated. Because you had no water, the whole time that you were asleep, probably didn't have water right before going to bed or else you were probably peeing in the middle of night. And it just kind of gets everything flowing, kind of flushes out everything that happened the night before. So that's been a really big part of my morning routine. And gratitude, you know, you know that I end every episode asking my guests, what are three things they’re grateful for? And that's something that I do first thing in the morning, I say out loud three things that I'm grateful for. Today was way more than three, and I mean, why not? Why not be grateful for all the things that you have in your life? But yeah, I think that a really important practice to get into is focusing on the great things that you have in your life, instead of trying to focus on the things that you don't have in your life. So for me today, I was so grateful for my health, so grateful for my fiancée Rachel, and she's just such an incredible person and an incredible partner. And so grateful for our baby that's on the way, a little baby girl. So in May of next year, she will be with us in the world, so it's crazy. So that was just three things, I ended up going on with many other things, my family, health of my family, my parents and that they're still together. And they've been such an amazing support system for me and us. So anyway, that's the most important part of my morning routine is hydration, and also gratitude, and then it's followed by going to the gym, and cold showers or cold plunges. And I mean, if you heard the episode about cold plunging with the CEO of plunge Ryan Duey, you know all of the benefits of cold plunging and how good that is for you. So there we go. That's just like a quick little snippet of my morning routine. Maybe we'll do a whole episode about my morning routine, but there's the most important things there.” 

Sometimes I get really nervous before interviews to the point where I have to cancel them. Any advice on this subject?

“Well, I would say the first thing is, if you've made a commitment to somebody that you need to keep your part of that commitment. I'm a big, big person when it comes to your word is your bond. So if you're saying to someone, I will be somewhere at a certain time, you better be there, because you said that you were gonna be there, I know that you might have nerves that you're dealing with, I know that it may feel overwhelming. But I think that, I love this quote that it doesn't take talent to show up on time and hustle. And I'm a firm believer that if you say you're gonna be somewhere, you better be there. So that's the first part about it. The second part about it is being really nervous before interviews, I just think the most important thing is to stop thinking about them as interviews, just think about them as conversations with people. So like, if you were to bump into someone at the grocery store, if you were to go out and have a beer with somebody tonight, or have lunch with somebody, you probably wouldn't be thinking about, like the ins and outs of the conversation of like alright, so I'm gonna ask this, and then hopefully, they're gonna say this. And then the next thing I'm gonna say is this. And then after that… You will just kind of flow with the conversation. And I think that a lot of times people think of interviews with a capital I, like it's this big, scary thing, because in your regular everyday life, you're not really having interviews, right? Like, think about it in your regular normal life, an interview is what a job interview? Maybe a police interview? But you don't ever think about the interactions between two humans, as an interviewer, think about it as just a conversation. So I would say start to reframe that in your mind that they're not interviews. They're just, they're conversations between two people. Sure, you might be asking a lot more of the questions and you know, they're going to be answering a lot more of the questions. But I would say that just approach it in the same way that you would approach any other conversation that you're having. Obviously, you've done a tonne of research, you've thought up some great questions, but they're just the person just like you are, and they put their pants on one leg at a time. You know, they brush their teeth, they do all the things, they go to the bathroom. They do all those same things that any other person does. So I think that just think of it as just a conversation with another person and just allow it to flow.”

Would you ever consider writing a book? 

“That's a really good question, and I feel like you've been in my mind here. I feel like you've tapped into my brain as you're asking this question, because I've been thinking about writing a book for the last probably a year or so, maybe a little bit over a year. Not a book about my life, not a book about you know, the kid from Pickering, Ontario, Canada, who moves to the United States and has a YouTube channel and hosts a TV show, but more of just a book about the things that I've learned. And maybe some of these things I've learned, maybe even some of the things that we're talking about on this episode here could help you. So yes, I've been thinking about writing a book, I put that podcast episode out probably in the summer this year, and I titled it ‘What the F are you waiting for?’ And I got more feedback on that episode, more than any other episode I've ever done. More than any other solo episode, more than any interview with I mean, think of who we've had on the show this year, more than any interview with The Rock, or Mike Myers, or Adam Sandler, or Margot Robbie, or any of those people. Because I think there's that idea of like, you want to do something great in your life, I know that you do. And the thing that stands between you and doing that great thing, is you. And the question I would ask is What the F are you waiting for? What is it? What is standing in the way of you doing the thing that you want to do? And that really resonated with a lot of people. So I think that we're onto something, it's clearly a subject that hits home for a lot of people. And I think it might be that, you know, kind of kick in the ass that some people need, even if you don't read the book, if you buy the book, and it sits on your coffee table. And you're looking at this every single day and it's like in your face, what the F are you waiting for? You might start thinking to yourself, What am I waiting for? People always ask like, well, what can I do to start a podcast or a YouTube channel? What can I do to grow more on TikTok, or whatever it happens to be. And I usually tell people you believe you got to start. Instead of just thinking about it and talking about it, you have to start, you have to put one foot in front of the other. Like, if you want to run a marathon, you've got to take the first step, you've got to cross the start line before you can get to the finish line.” 

What's your advice on the next step after graduating from university? 

“Well, first of all, congratulations, congratulations on graduating. I would say the next step is just know that you have time. And I know that there's a lot of pressure, maybe some pressure you're putting on yourself, maybe it's seeing all your friends getting jobs, maybe it's pressure that's been put on you by your family, but just know that you have time. Okay, there's no rush to dive into a job or a career that maybe won't feel fulfilling to you. So I would say, You know what you want to do? I know Mike [who asked the question], I know that you're passionate about broadcasting, and other you're passionate about pro-wrestling. And you're doing a lot of those things in that space. So I would say that if this is something that you do want to make a career out of, I would say you're doing so much of it already. Continue to lean into that stuff. I mean, I don't know if what I did when I graduated from college still applies as much now, because I graduated. Before there was YouTube before there was Facebook. Instagram wasn't invented for many years later. I just reached out to every TV station and every radio station in my college town. And I was just super honest with them, I reached out and said, I'm passionate about broadcasting, can I come in and just volunteer and see how it's done in the real world? And got a lot of no’s, I got a lot of no responses. But all it takes is one, right? And I got a radio station that said sure, come be part of our street team. There was also a community run television station that said, sure, yes, come on in, you can volunteer here and I got to do so many incredible things behind the scenes there. I ran cameras, I was a floor director, I did audio, I did VTR, I learned all the ins and outs of how a TV station works and how a TV show works. So I would say now that you've got some time and you don't have to worry about getting your assignments in or studying for exams or things like that. Double down on that. You know, the thing that you have right now, the value that you bring right now is your time. So I would say try to trade your time for those experiences. Don't be afraid to work for free, and don't be afraid to take an internship. Don't be afraid to volunteer because sure you're not getting paid in money. But you're getting paid in experience that is 100% Priceless. So I'm excited to see what's next for you.”

What's your guilty pleasure song?

“This is so embarrassing to admit. But do you remember LFO? We're talking 1999, the song Summer Girls. Summertime girls are the kind I like. Steal your honey like I stole your bike.’ You know that song? That's the guilty pleasure song. I know every word from it. ‘New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits. Chinese food makes me sick.’ If you've never heard that song, or it came out before you were born, go check it out. LFO Summer Girls. That is the embarrassing, guilty pleasure song. Runner up to I want it that way, which is my go to karaoke song. Oh man, get a few tequilas in me, it's a good thing to see. 

Favorite movie of 2022?

“It has been a good year for movies. It's also like, it's so exciting that this was the year when like we went back to the movie theatres and we were able to see things the way that they are truly intended to be seen. Like that's the way that they're filmed, for us to watch them on the biggest screen possible. And for me, I mean, there's been so many great films this year. And I'm fortunate that I get to see a lot of them before they come out as a voting member of the Critics Choice Association. So it's tough because there's been so many good ones, but my favourite movie this year is Top Gun Maverick. So, so good, like that is the reason that we go to the movies. Tom Cruise, so good in it, the storyline, so good. The whole Val Kilmer arc there, I don't want to give too much away if you haven't seen it. Really, really good. And I've seen the movie a handful of times. And I was so fortunate to see it on an IMAX screen like weeks before it came out. And I was just like, I mean, I went into it going yeah, I hope this is good. Obviously the first Top Gun movie is, amazing and iconic, classic film. But I left the theatre going I hate to say it, I hate to say it, but I think I like that movie more than the first one. And it definitely holds true now, however many months, six months later now so Top Gun Maverick, highly recommended. If you haven't seen it, go see if you have seen it, go see it again. 

How do you approach an interview where you don't care about the subject? 

“That's a really interesting question. I will say that I've never found myself in that situation before. Because every person that you talk to, from any different walks of life, whether they're an actor, an athlete, a pro-wrestler, comedian, an entrepreneur, everybody has a story. So soon as I start diving into the story, and figuring out different things about their life, I'm like, immediately intrigued. And I like start thinking of questions like, instantly. So I've never had a situation where I don't care about the subject. I mean, I've definitely done interviews where I didn't love the movie, but I also understand the process of making a movie is incredibly difficult. It's writing a script, having the script, you know, rewritten and then selling the movie and then getting the movie produced and directing it and casting it, all that. Like, there's so many moving parts to a movie that, you know, it's so unfortunate that, you know, we go and see a movie, and it's 90 minutes long or 2 hours long, and you leave going, No, didn't like it. And you never think about it again. It's like, Ah, I just feel for the people who have made that film because there was years of so much hard work that went into it, for people to just go, yeah, well that sucked. So I like to just look at it of the, you know, the project as an art form. And like, I love diving into that. And I love looking at a person's full scope of their journey. And I think that we can learn something from everybody, like absolutely everybody, you can learn something from anybody that you run into in your everyday life. And I think that when you start to be curious about things, that's when it really changes.” 

Do you have any advice for growing or starting a YouTube channel or a podcast venture?

“I would say if you're already at this point, if you're already at the point where you're thinking about this, I'd say go for it. And it kind of goes back to the title of the book, right? What are you waiting for? Like, what is it? Just start. I think it's important to take that phone out and either hit record on a video or hit record on audio, and just go with it. And don't look, don't worry about looking at views for the first handful of months. Just go out and get start getting comfortable on camera, start getting comfortable with the way that your voice sounds. Because, yeah, yes, that is actually how it sounds. It's like when you first hear your voice on the on a voicemail, you're like, Ah, man do I really sound like that? Yeah, you really sound like that. That's how the rest of the world hears you. Now you need to get used to that. And you also need to get used to yeah, that's, that's what you look like on camera. So I would say lean into the things that you love, lean into things that you're passionate about. And we live in a world with 8 billion people. So there's a pretty good chance that you'll be able to find your tribe, you'll be able to find your group of people who are also passionate about those same things, you know. And it's gonna start off small, and don't get discouraged. I think that's the biggest thing that happens, especially with podcasts, is you put so much time into making these episodes. And you look, you look at the download numbers for the first few episodes and you go, man, nobody's listening to this. I don't even know if people know this exists. If you're passionate about it, and you love the process of doing it, stick with it. And I think that that's a really big thing, pod fade is a real thing that happens. It's a term they come up with for people who start podcasts, and then I think it's like seven episodes, just kind of fade out, stop, and then never put out another episode. If you like the process, the whole process, everything that goes into it, then you can't lose. So I would say just start, just begin. And maybe you can be like one of those people who wants to make it like a New Year's resolution thing, even though I really don't believe in New Year's resolutions, but make it a January 1 thing. And then stick to a schedule, that is another really big part of it. Especially if we're talking about podcasting, stick to a schedule. I'm going to put out one podcast a week, every Wednesday or every Thursday, whatever it happens to be. And then stick to that schedule number one, because you said you were going to do it, you said you were going to put a podcast out every Wednesday. So now you're being true to your word. And number two, it holds you accountable. So I would say do that, and also find somebody in this space that's doing the thing that you want to do and that's like just absolutely crushing it in the niche that you love, and then take little bits from them. Tony Robbins always says success leaves clues, so take little bits and pieces of them and make it your own. 

How are you feeling since you're about to be a father? 

“It's hard to sum up in just like a few sentences, because I have felt like I felt every emotion over the last three months since I found out that Rachel is pregnant, and, you know, like, you're excited, you're nervous, you're scared. And then you start thinking of like, what was I like as a kid. And like, you know, I just want all the best parts of that I don't want like the, you know, kid coming home late, or the I don't know, all this, you know, all that kind of stuff. That's the stuff you think about. But I'm so excited, so excited. We found out two weeks ago that we're having a baby girl. We had a gender reveal party that was so cool to be able to share with my parents and some of our closest friends and family. Like so excited. I also find myself like just spontaneously getting emotional. For no reason, like a thought, I'll just enter my head. I'm like, Oh, man. But I'm so excited. And Rachel’s starting to show she's getting a baby bump, it is not a belly, it is the baby. Good thing she's not around here hearing me say this, she's gonna listen to this episode, she's getting a little baby bump. And I've just been, you know, holding it and kissing it. And I'm just excited. I'm excited that all of you guys are with me on this journey. So you know, it's been an exciting year for me. 2022, got engaged, bought a house, found out I was pregnant. Oh, not me pregnant, but found out that we were having a baby. And 2023 is gonna be a huge year. We're gonna have a baby, I'm gonna turn 40 in May. So I'm just so excited for what 2023 has in store for me, for the podcast, for the YouTube channel, for the different TV shows that I work with. Just there's been a lot of growth, maybe for the book that I'm writing, that's really up to you guys. Please send me a tweet if you're actually interested in this book, being a thing. But I'm just excited for what's next. And that's something I'm grateful for every single day, is opportunity. And I just love that we live in a time now where I am talking into a microphone just all by myself here. And you're in your car, or you're working out or you're walking your dog. Or maybe you're at work. And we're connecting like this. And I love it. I just love that this exists right now. So I'm super grateful for opportunity. And I can't wait to show you guys what we got in store in the next 12 or so months.”