Other People's Business - TopPodcast.com

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Celebrity Wedding Planner Mindy Weiss on the Business of Weddings Nov 11, 2026

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Mindy Weiss's average wedding now costs about $1 million. Here's how the business behind the world's biggest weddings works.

In this conversation, Mindy Weiss breaks down the business model behind high-end wedding planning. She explains why she charges a flat 20% of total spend with a $500,000 minimum, and how her team handles about 15 weddings and more than 100 events a year. She also walks through where a $1 million budget actually goes, from $27,000–$100,000 photographers and $1,000-a-head catering to name acts that start at $200,000 for a 45-minute set.

Mindy and David also get into the red flags she watches for when couples interview her, and why photography is worth the splurge while programs and party favors aren't. They cover the hidden costs of labor, delivery, and strike, and how Martha Stewart helped turn wedding planning into a profession. Mindy also talks about decades of planning for the Kardashians, Justin and Hailey Bieber, and Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco.

This is the business of weddings with Mindy Weiss.

Bestselling Author Malcolm Gladwell on the Business of Storytelling Nov 04, 2026

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Malcolm Gladwell's latest book began its life as a podcast. His audiobooks can cost upwards of $150,000 to make. And every word he's written for the past decade has been read out loud to a room of eight people first.

In this conversation, Malcolm breaks down how storytellers actually build a living today. He explains why narrative podcasts have replaced magazines as "a minor league for ideas," how Revisionist History episodes became the proof of concept for The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic and an Audible deal for The Alabama Murders, why his audiobooks can make as much as his print books, and why he cares more about the back end than a big advance.

Malcolm and David also get into the craft behind the business. They discuss why talk podcasts out-earn narrative ones, how he workshops brand-new speeches across six cities in six days like a stand-up comic, why a subject isn't a story, and how he nests stories inside stories, from Baltimore's plunging homicide rate to a cardiac surgeon whose better technique only 2% of his peers use. He also previews a murder case where the defense called just one expert witness and won.

This is the business of storytelling with Malcolm Gladwell.

Mixtape Legend DJ Drama on the Business of Hip-Hop Oct 28, 2026

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Hip-hop legend DJ Drama was selling up to 40,000 mixtapes a month, each costing about 30 cents to make. Then came the raid.

In this conversation, DJ Drama breaks down the business model behind Gangsta Grillz, the mixtape series that became a required stop on every rap album rollout. He explains how an operation that began with Kinko's copies in his Atlanta duplex grew to roughly $100,000 a month in revenue, why bootleggers were once out-earning him on his own tapes, and how a 2007 RICO raid by the RIAA (the same organization handing him plaques) ended up making him more famous than ever.

DJ Drama and David also get into where the money really goes in the music business today. They cover why an artist might see $2 of every $100 their music brings in, how 360 deals take a cut of tours, endorsements, and even movie roles, what labels pay for a feature, and whether you can buy a hit or fake your streams. He also explains how he helped break Jack Harlow and what DJs earn, from club nights to Vegas residencies.

This is the business of hip-hop with DJ Drama.

The Business of GLP-1s with Ali Furman and Sheila Kahyaoglu Oct 21, 2026

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21% of US households now have someone on a GLP-1. PwC's Ali Furman on how Ozempic and other GLP-1s are rewiring the consumer economy.

In this conversation, Ali walks through the data PwC pulls from 110,000 households: why apparel is the biggest winner (occasion wear, tailoring, jewelry and department stores are all up), why grocery baskets are shrinking 5.5% while jerky, Greek yogurt and gum are growing, why wine and spirits are seeing double-digit declines, and what over half of GLP-1 users say restaurants are still getting wrong.

David also brings in Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu, whose research started with a single ounce cut from United's in-flight magazine and ends with airlines saving billions in jet fuel because passengers weigh less. Plus who's actually on these drugs (it's not who you think), the shift toward wellness travel and Botox, why 60% of consumers now research purchases through AI, and whether David would take one himself.

This is the business of GLP-1s with Ali Furman and Sheila Kahyaoglu.

Former FBI Lead Hostage Negotiator Chris Voss on the Business of Hostage Taking Oct 14, 2026

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Chris Voss spent 24 years as the FBI's lead international hostage negotiator. He says hostage taking isn't a crime of passion, it's a business.

In this conversation, Chris breaks down the business model behind the ransom: who gets targeted and why, the org chart of a kidnapping gang (spotters, grabbers, transporters, negotiators, and a boss who thinks everyone is lazy), why he settled nearly every deal on a Friday, and how he got every hostage in Haiti out for under $5,000 when the asking price was a million.

He and David Rogier also get into kidnap and ransom insurance and the K&R consultants who come with it, why Americans became a bad commodity to steal, the Philippines case where one question from the hostage's brother cracked it, ransom drops from helicopters, and the surprising thing that actually gets hostages released.

This is the business of hostage taking with Chris Voss.

Stanford Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer on the Business of Power Oct 05, 2026

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Hard work won't get you promoted. Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer on the rules of power nobody teaches you.

In this conversation, Jeffrey lays out the real sequence: political skill gets you power, power gets you money, and hard work is optional. He explains how to build a power map, why you have to figure out who to impress before you impress anyone, why nobody has ever been promoted by someone who doesn't know them, and the three ways people turn power into wealth: free stuff, early access and selling your celebrity.

He and David also get into why authenticity is "complete bullshit," the right and wrong kinds of vulnerability at work, whether there's a limit to flattery, why you should negotiate for budget instead of salary, how to beat imposter syndrome, and where Trump, Putin, AOC and Martha Stewart rank on the Pfeffer scale of power. Plus David workshops the pitch he used to sign MasterClass's first instructors, and asks for notes.

This is the business of power with Jeffrey Pfeffer.

Lifestyle Mogul Martha Stewart on the Business of Influence Oct 05, 2026

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Martha Stewart built the creator economy before it had a name and made $65M a year in royalties on nearly $2B in merchandise.

In this conversation, Martha breaks down the business model behind the empire: the Kmart licensing deal that changed everything, why she spread her content across books, magazines, TV and products, and how she thinks about brand deals, authenticity and staying relevant more than 40 years in.

She and MasterClass Founder & CEO David Rogier also get into the billion dollars she says she lost during her legal troubles, why Snoop Dogg quadrupled her audience, what today's influencers get wrong, Kim Kardashian and Skims, social media, her new AI startup HINT, and Martha's rule for building anything: make something people need and want.

This is the business of influence with Martha Stewart.

Trailer: Other People's Business Oct 05, 2026

Show notes

Every industry has a version of itself that never makes the headlines. Every success has a cost that never makes the story. Everything you interact with has a system underneath it, shaping how it works, who profits, and what it actually takes.

Other People's Business gets into all of it. The real money. The actual decisions. The machine behind everything you see and don't fully understand.

Hosted by David Rogier, Founder and CEO of MasterClass. For more than a decade, he's been inside conversations most people never hear. Other People's Business is built on the questions nobody thinks to ask. And the ones you wish someone would.

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