The Best Interview You'll Ever Have
It's time to ditch your FAQs
If you run any kind of business for yourself, or even a side hustle, I suggest you consider an alternative to the FAQs on your website, landing pages, or product and service pages.
Far more informative and entertaining are RAQs, Rarely Asked Questions.
The beauty of this format is that you get to ask yourself questions you actually want to answer and pose them to yourself so you can have fun with your previously named FAQ section, bio, or CV.
Its magic lies in the opportunity to take inventory of your wild, weird, and wonderful life history—your stories—which is far more engaging and compelling to talk about than your subscriber policies, return/refund policies, or incorporated/established date.
Here, for your inspiration, and my amusement, is my sample RAQ section for my products and services.
RAQs
What kind of career path did you follow to become a professional speaker, author and storytelling coach?
Ah, great question.
I employed this very simple and straightforward approach.
First I used humor and over-achievement to cope with being a socially anxious kid, segueing into success as a child actor for TV, becoming obsessed with competitive sports, making the high school honor roll, and then dropped out of university to become a birthday party clown as the most obvious and sensible path to paying off my prodigious student debt.
Next, I dedicated myself to the practice of meditation, toured nationally with a Broadway musical, spent four years on an ashram, became certified as a personal growth trainer, and earned my living in cash donations as a juggler and street performer.
Then, discovering some glaring gaps in my personal character, maturity and integrity, the universe auto-enrolled me in a program that would make these shortcomings crystal clear and force me to address them one-by-one and slowly claw my way to humility and a little self-understanding.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the name of the program, it was called Parenting, of which I completed versions 101, 102 and 103.
Finally, I got discovered on the street by a corporate executive who invited me to entertain at a big corporate event, which led to hundreds more corporate events. I then wrote a business book based on my life experience and became sought after as a speaker and professional development coach, writing more books and eventually founding a communication mastery community to bring unique self-development tools directly to individuals.
Yup, that’s how I did it.
And yes, I’ve always operated with this same kind of laser-like, one-pointed dedication to switching focus as often as possible. I recommend that others pursue their professional aspirations with the same kind of . . . uh . . . oh, sorry . . . I need to take this call.
What is the most unique pairing of two words you’re most proud of as a writer?
Intelligent Misbehavior.
I introduced the term in my first business book 7 Rules You Were Born to Break.
Intelligent Misbehavior is the willingness to challenge the unnecessarily limiting rules in our culture that undermine personal and professional growth. It’s also about breaking your own hidden rules.
Here is my extensive list of qualifications for writing a business book at the time.
Street performer.
Um, yeah. That’s it.
Though I did sell over 100K worth of these books.
Do you agree with Abraham Lincoln who said, “You can fool 37% of the people about 13% of the time.”
Well first of all I think you should check your sources on that quote.
But I’ve delivered more than 750 presentations to private, corporate and association audiences all over the world. I’ve personally addressed or worked with more than 1 million people in the last 3 decades as an author and speaker. And way less than half of the attendees have stood up in the middle of my presentations to shout out, “Hey, wait a minute, you’re just a juggler!”
So personally I think you can fool a lot more people than Abraham Lincoln allegedly estimated, particularly if you have a Facebook account.
What are your biggest secrets?
I am a socially anxious, shy introvert who has spent five decades making a living by being on stage in front of people.
I danced with a ballet company in my youth.
I haven’t stayed in one city for more than a month in 40 years. (Talk to me first before you decide to become a professional speaker.)
I adopted an alternate name for about five years as part of a spiritual growth community.
Riding a 12 foot high unicycle is actually easier than riding a short one. (It’s a physics thing.)
Are you a confident person?
Good question!
The answer is both yes and no.
I used my stage persona for many years to cover up my awkwardness, fear of one-to-one conversations, and bonafide generalized anxiety disorder.
Eventually, I learned to leave the house and converse with grocery-store cashiers while buying milk. Now I talk to my children on a regular basis at mealtimes and can purchase new underwear at the store without turning purple. I call that progress.
Why do you write and speak so much about taking risks?
Because it helps me to get myself out of my own head and live a more engaged, less anxious life.
What are your favorite simple pleasures?
Staying home with my family, writing, creating ideas and logos for the new businesses I fantasize about starting, and looking at trees from ground level instead of from an airplane.
What are the things that took more practice than you imagined but turned out to be worth the effort?
Marriage
Parenting
Being able to write well
Learning to juggle 5 balls
Photoshop
Proper typing
Creating a profitable online business
Learning to steal watches from onstage volunteers (relax, I give ’em back).
What’s your favorite airport to layover in?
Charlotte. Their white rocking chairs are the most brilliant addition to an airport ever conceived.
If you had to be stuck somewhere in your past forever, where would you go?
1992 — performing street shows at Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver Canada.
There was something called cash that people still carried and the feeling of setting up in a public space with my juggling props, gathering a crowd of pedestrians from scratch, entertaining them spontaneously and directly on the street, and getting paid by donation into a hat was one of the happiest times of my life
Do you ever procrastinate?
No, but I do have MDD — Multiple Deadline Disorder. MDD is a condition where instead of procrastinating you responsibly complete 347 things at the same time.
What’s the single biggest thing that thousands of hotels you’ve stayed in could have done to make your years on the road more livable?
Put windows that actually open in the rooms.
If you had to be an animal, what would you be?
A ferret.
Super flexible, highly intelligent, relaxed and relational, endlessly curious.
(We used to feed two of them.)
What advice do you have for people who overthink things?
As someone who has literally spent time overthinking his overthinking, I recommend writing books.
That way you get paid for overthinking, avoid those pesky personal interactions with unpredictable human beings and have total control of your environment as you get to boss a bunch of words around.
Here are some of the books I wrote while overthinking personal and professional development.
Confident Under Pressure: Discover the Hidden Advantages of Stress
You Have the Right to Remain Silent: Bringing Meditation to Life
Sounding the Alarm on Business as Usual: Transforming Work with Intelligent Misbehavior
I hear you provide refreshingly unique, inspiring, and hilarious presentations for events. Where can I see more about your presentations?
It’s true, presenting to live audiences is one of my favorite things. You can see more about my presentations here www.ricklewis.co.
Thank you for your attention and interest in my work.
If you’re thinking of taking advantage of any of my products and services, please be aware that I am a time limited offer.
My greatest hope is that you feel inspired to now re-write, or entirely ditch the FAQ page on your own website.
If you become so inspired, please send me a link to the new page when you’re done having fun with it.
This was fun. Philly has white rocking chairs as well. But aside from that it is an objectively horrible airport.
What a great idea! I especially loved this question (and your answers): What are the things that took more practice than you imagined but turned out to be worth the effort?