<p>Give yourself some f*cking permission.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Harvard, McKinsey and 7-fig, bootstrapped companies will be waiting.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>But that’s only scratching the surface of Stephen Turban’s life.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>By giving himself permission, rather than waiting for it, Stephen has:</p> <p><br /></p> <p>🎭 Convinced Vietnam’s #1 Comedy group ‘Saigon Teu’ to let him join. He’s now the #1 white guy doing stand-up in fluent Vietnamese (40M views, I’ll link it in comments).</p> <p><br /></p> <p>🇨🇳 Become an internet celebrity in China while at Harvard University (yes, he also speaks fluent Chinese and did this way before everyone was flocking to Rednote).</p> <p><br /></p> <p>📖 Authored a #1 Amazon bestseller in Friendship called “Your Relationship GPA”.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>🍜 Acted in an advertisement for Nissin Foods (shoutout to my Asian brothers and sisters who grew up on these instant noodles).</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Okay, so what does all of this have to do with permission?</p> <p><br /></p> <p>Well 90% of people never do what they truly want to because their parents, teachers, employers or VCs didn’t give them the “permission” to do so.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>In response, most people never learn to give themselves permission.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>But Stephen’s life is a case study for everything amazing that happens when you say “f*ck it” to permission.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>In high school, he was kicked out of class 64 times before he gave himself permission to drop out and live in Taiwan for a year.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>He returned with a completely different attitude towards academics and landed at Harvard.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>I’d love to tell you the full story but I think you’ll enjoy hearing it more from Stephen himself on the latest episode of ex-vicarious.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>— — — </p> <p>Timestamps</p> <p>00:00 Introduction to Stephen Turban</p> <p>02:29 How to get into Harvard after being Kicked out of Class 64 times</p> <p>04:07 Dropping out of School in the US to live in Taipei for 1 year</p> <p>05:37 How Stephen became the “#1 White Guy Doing Stand-up Comedy in Vietnamese”</p> <p>12:53 Organising an International Flashmob for Malaria Awareness</p> <p>15:41 Balancing TWO 7-Figure Startups</p> <p>20:09 Bootstrapping vs going out of business after raising $20M+</p> <p>24:42 How Sam Parr’s “Hampton” community reveals the Illusion of Success and Prestige</p> <p>25:52 Diverse Paths to Entrepreneurship</p> <p>27:16 The Joy of Language Learning (Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Hindi)</p> <p>29:18 Embracing the Underdog Mindset, Going through the Side Door</p> <p>35:48 Finding Time for Hobbies</p> <p>40:50 Quickfire Questions and Reflections</p> <p>45:39 Final Thoughts and Contact Information</p> <p><br /></p> <p>You can connect with Stephen here: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenturban/details/experience/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenturban/details/experience/</a></p> <p><br /></p> <p>You can check out Lumiere Education here:</p> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/lumiere-education/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/lumiere-education/</a> <a href="https://www.lumiere-education.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.lumiere-education.com/</a> <p><br /></p> <p>You can check out Leverage Assistants here:</p> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/leverage-assistant/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/company/leverage-assistant/</a> <a href="https://www.leverageassistants.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.leverageassistants.com/</a>