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What Makes a Great Morning Routine?
Hopefully, we all wake up every day. Unfortunately, some did not wake up this morning and some will not wake up tomorrow morning. That is just the cold, hard truth. How can we make the most of each day? How do the most successful start off their day to ensure each day ends in success? I have studied successful people and their morning routines for a decade now and have found certain principles that work best to start each day with power! Let’s dive in!
Gratitude
If you have ever watched an interview with Tony Robbins, when asked about how he starts his day, he always refers to starting his day with gratitude. During his stretching and warming up, Tony will recite everything he is grateful for. This can be something we overlook daily. We don’t grasp the concept that we have something to be grateful for. It is so easy to get trapped in “I don’t have anything to be grateful for.” We will often look at it more as:
My house sucks! It’s falling apart, it’s too small, my landlord is an ass!
I hate my job! My boss is an ass! I don’t get paid enough!
My husband/wife is such a jerk! They don’t pay attention to me!
My kids don’t listen! They tear up the house! They never clean their messes!
It is easy to get sucked into the negative. Until you look at your life for what it truly is. YOU, yes you, have things that other people only dream about. Imagine being a homeless person who dreams of having a warm home, with a comfortable bed, and a bathtub to take a hot shower every day. Could you imagine? They would do anything even to have that house you spend your days complaining about!
Or how about the food in your refrigerator? Your cabinets? Could you imagine having to beg someone just to be able to eat? To have to rely on the good hearts of others or starve? I’m sure you could be grateful for the fact that you have meals at your disposal.
Do you see now? There are so many things we take for granted every single day. We should be grateful. Even for something as simple as a glass of water. There are hundreds of thousands of people around the world that don’t have access to clean drinking water every day. We are blessed my friend. Gratitude is an amazing way to start the day, and bring our blessings into perspective.
The Power of Clarity
Clarity is one of the most powerful things I have found to begin each day. Instead of just gambling about through the day, we start our day with intention and purpose. When we start our day with clarity, we know what we want to accomplish, what we are going to do to accomplish this goal, and who we are going to serve in accomplishing this goal.
How do we start our day with clarity you ask? I do so with three practices. Let’s explore deeper!
Braving the Cold: Cold Shower That Is!
If you have not heard my episode about the benefits of a cold shower, you can check it out here:
When I was first told to take a cold shower, I thought they were crazy! There was no way in hell people actually just stand in an ice-cold shower every morning. However hesitant, I did it. Since, I’ve never looked back. Sure, you can start your morning with coffee. You can start with Red Bull. Red Bull gives you wiiiiings, right? Well starting your day with a cold shower lights a rocket under your butt! It gets your adrenaline pumping, waking you up much faster than caffeine. It jump starts your brain (almost literally), and has an array of health benefits! (Check out the link to go more in depth) This practice will bring you clear thoughts, creativity, and attention to detail, guaranteed!
A lot of people frown upon the practice of meditation. I myself have been judged many times and called things such as “worshipping the devil” because of my meditation practices. Meditation is not about worshipping anything. It’s not about crossing into other dimensions, or other worlds or any of that other stuff people think.
Meditation is about being present in the moment. It is about brining peace, calm and stillness to yourself. Once you find yourself calm, still and relaxed, your subconscious mind can begin to work and bring forth all of the things you are thinking about that you don’t know you are thinking about. (You may have to read that again, sorry) Meditation helps determine root causes or explanations for your actions or motives. Meditation is your time to learn about you.
My morning meditation practice lasts fifteen minutes. When I’m done, I feel refreshed, open-minded and prepared to face even my most difficult tasks of the day.
Okay, remember in school years when your friends would make fun and say “Ooooh you got a diary!” No? Ok maybe it was just me. But anyway. I have always kept some sort of journal. Most of the time it was filled with my angry thoughts to get them out of my head. Other pages were filled with song lyrics, poems, etc. Journaling is an amazing, and I mean AMAZING practice for clarity. Journaling allows us to be vulnerable and honest with ourselves. When it is us versus ourselves, there’s no reason to be dishonest.
During journaling time, it is the perfect time to ask the hard questions. What do I want to do with my life? Why do I want to do that? Why do I do this? What is my purpose in life? When you become open and honest with yourself, you allow yourself to work through these questions. Along with the meditation and waking up your subconscious mind, you can go deeper and find more meaning.
So explore! Ask yourself those hard questions. Be vulnerable! You may just learn something about yourself you didn’t know. I did, and I can honestly say it has made me better, stronger.
THREE CORE PRINCIPLES TO EVERY MORNING ROUTINE
So we have discussed what I believe are the three most important pillars to a strong start to an even stronger day. So, let’s refresh!
Gratitude: Never take anything for granted! You always have something to be grateful for. Your house, your job, your car, your spouse, children, parents, siblings, friends, cousins, co-workers, neighbors, food, water, electricity, your bed, your pets. The list goes on and on!
Clarity: Bring a sense of clarity to your day and understand what you plan to accomplish and why. Understanding this going into the day makes each task much easier.
Even though it wasn’t discussed, the final pillar is PURPOSE. The reason purpose wasn’t discussed is because I can not determine what your purpose is. If you are reading this blog, hopefully you have already determined your purpose. By combining gratitude and clarity, your purpose will be easy to achieve. By combining gratitude and clarity, your purpose will also become easy to find. Dig deep!
IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH YOUR PURPOSE, OR WANT HELP IN REGARDS TO SEARCHING, REACH OUT ANY TIME AT COACHWITHRYAN@ICLOUD.COM. YOU MAY ALSO REACH OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
Follow me on social media and say hello! I’d love to hear what you think about the content! There’s always more on my social media pages for more motivation, inspiration, and good old fashioned conversation! See you there!
Welcome back to the blog! This is an interview from my podcast, “The Unstruggle Mindset Podcast”. In this episode, I have invited Lauren Crooks onto the show to discuss her limitations and struggles living with Gastroparesis. You can watch the interview here! While you are there, subscribe to my channel for more great, informative content!
Ryan: So we will get started. So I’ve been doing a lot of research since I’ve been following your journey about the gastro-paresis and I haven’t been able to find a whole lot about it. So that’s why I wanted to get you on the show to kind of because there’s really no expert like somebody that has to live through the shit. So for those that are watching, could you tell a little bit about yourself, explain who you are, and then a little bit about what gastroparesis is?
Lauren Crooks: Okay. So I’m Lauren and I am 37. I’ve been suffering with extreme gastric issues for probably about six years. And it took me about, I would say about two years to get the proper diagnosis. Every doctor that I was going to was saying that it was just anxiety and that it was all in my head or that it was just IBS. So they started treating me for IBS. And once they were treating me for IBS, which the main treatment for that is they just tell you to pound a lot of fiber. Help yourself go to the bathroom, things like that. So for some reason I kept getting sicker. I couldn’t figure out why an organ. And they just kept saying, well, it must be anxiety. It must be in your head because there’s nothing wrong with you. We don’t see anything wrong.
Your blood works completely normal. So they were like, “Well, it must be in your head.” So finally I was like, “Well, okay. Well maybe it is.” I couldn’t explain it. So I actually went to a psychologist and talked to him several times and he looked at me and he was like, “Lauren, I do think you have anxiety and this and that.” And he was like, “But you’re sick. This is not anything that I can help you with.”
Ryan: Right.
Lauren: So I found a very awesome primary care doctor who I cannot say enough amazing things about. I went straight to him and told him all my symptoms. And I was like, “I’ve been researching a lot. I feel like there’s definitely something wrong.” Any wild theory that I threw at him. He was like, “All right, let’s test it. Let’s do it.” He was like, “I got the best gastric doctor in the world.” He was like, “I’ll send you to her.” I went to see her first visit. I finally got my official diagnosis.
Ryan: So, it took you two years to get diagnosed?
Lauren: I would say roughly, yeah.
Ryan: Wow. So upon your journey, I know you said you had a really good doctor, but upon your journey, since you’ve had the actual diagnosis, how would you say that your medical treatment has been as far as nipping it in the bud?
Lauren: Well, my doctor that diagnosed me with, she is a fricking genius. This whole disease is all she studies. She works at a Motility clinic here and people come from all over the east coast to come see her. Because the next closest GI Motility clinic that deals with this kind of stuff is in Cleveland. And then the next one is in Mayo clinic. So, that’s pretty far. So people come from all over the world or all over the United States over here to see her. So when I was in there, getting one of my tests done to rule out or diagnose gastro-paresis, I was sitting in there and there was like 10 people in the waiting room. And there was a girl in there that was from New York. There was a girl from Indiana. There was a girl from three hours down in Kentucky.
So she sees everybody from so far. But the problem that I have with her is she has so many patients, because nobody understands this besides them. So I feel like our quality of care is kind of lacks a little bit. Because she doesn’t have enough time to dedicate to her patients as your typical doctor would.
Ryan: Right.
Lauren: But I mean, she does have a portal and I can email her right now. I mean, it’s 10:15. I can email her right now. And if she didn’t message me back within the next two hours, she would when she got up at five in the morning.
Ryan: Wow.
Lauren: So anytime I want to try like a new med or anything, she’s never had a problem trying anything.
Ryan: That’s good. So what would you say are your biggest limitations? And I know I’ve been following your post on Facebook and watching how things progress and it looks like pure hell. So I just wanted to know from your standpoint, what are your greatest limitations struggling with this?
Lauren: Eating is the worst. People don’t realize how much your life actually revolves around eating. And you don’t realize the pleasure that you have when you actually eat food. I forgot what it felt like to be hungry for like two years. I lived off of probably about eight ounces of water and all I would eat would be spoonfuls of peanut butter throughout the day. That was all I could live off of for a while. So I completely forgot what it felt like to be hungry. Now that my treatments worked a little bit and I can eat again, I’m like, damn. It feels pretty good. There’s a euphoria that you get that people don’t realize that people take that for granted. And I think work is pretty difficult. My social life is pretty difficult because not only can we not eat and food makes us sick, but we also lack the ability to absorb our nutrients from food and vitamins.
So, I don’t have any B12 whatsoever. My vitamin D, my potassium crashed, my calcium crashed. And then now I’ve just found out I’m severely anemic and I’m going to have to be doing infusion soon. So I don’t really have a lot of energy to do anything. So for me to go to work, I pretty much have to go to work and come home immediately get in bed and stay in bed until I have to get up the next day.
Ryan: Oh my gosh.
Lauren: So I really don’t have much of a social life. I used to go to concerts all the time. And if I were to want to go to a concert and really rock out and have a really good time, I would have to prepare myself for a couple of days prior. And then I would probably pay for about a day or two afterwards and wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. And that’s a misconception that I hate about this disease is because, people were like, “Oh, she was out in Washington at a concert last night. She’s fine. She’s not really that sick.” But they don’t see the two days that I’m in my bed crying like, “Oh my God, why did I do this to myself?”
Ryan: Right. Well, I mean, I can understand where you would have to make that sacrifice just to have something that feels kind of normal in your life because you can’t just sit and waste away and just do nothing in just like, “Well, this is my life then.”
Lauren: I’ve never been that kind of person. I’ve always been kind of go, go, go. I just want to be out doing something all the time. And once I wasn’t really able to do that, I feel like the mental aspect of this disease is just as bad if not worse at times.
Ryan: Right. And that kind of segues kind of into my next question, because my podcast, I focus a lot about mindset and about positivity and things like that. And I know that from watching your Facebook posts and things like that, I know I’ve seen your flares where you’ve had the severe bloating and things like that, and…
Lauren: I’ve got one now!
Ryan: I could imagine physically, it’s got to be hell on you. But mentally, from a mindset, you share the memory from your Facebook of you walking down the street with the IV pole dancing, and you were talking about how you wouldn’t let the disease break your personality. So my question to you is how have you been able to stay yourself and separate yourself from being a victim of the disease? You keep your personality. You seem to be kind of still the upbeat kind of happy all the time, kind of deal.
Lauren: I’m really not. I try to be that way more so for like other people. It’s really hard not to lose yourself in that. Because I’m still kind of, I feel like I’m still new to it compared to a lot of people that I do know that have these issues. I do relatively well on that aspect, they would say. But if you knew me personally, you wouldn’t think that I did. It’s very hard to separate yourself from the disease because I have to plan my entire day around my symptoms and my disease and what I’m going to do. As soon as I wake up, I have to take medicine, then I’m like, “All right, what does my stomach… What does it feel like I can tolerate that I can eat today.” So then I eat and then I’m like, “All right, am I going to have to spend an hour in the bathroom before I go somewhere?”
How bloated am I? What size clothes do I wear today?” And then it’s like, “Okay.” And then by that time, it’s like, I’ve eaten. So then I’m like, “Well, now I’ve got to take more meds because now I got to combat those symptoms that just happened.” So I mean, it’s really extremely exhausting. It’s like an all day thing. I try to make light of the situations and laugh. Like when I get a big bloat, I’m like, “Oh, let’s name the bloat. Let’s name my baby.” I try to do something stupid or funny, like that. But the main thing that keeps me saying really is my fiance is great about it because he’s a very, very positive person. We’re kind of a polar opposites in that way. Because I’m kind of, I have a lot of negativity. So besides him and my animals, if I didn’t have either one of those, I don’t know where I’d be right now, to be honest with you.
Ryan: So I know you just mentioned that you actually… Do you actually have to keep different size clothes depending on the day?
Lauren: Yeah. I have about three to four different sized jeans that I can wear depending on the day. Some days I can’t wear jeans. Some days I have to wear sweat pants because my jeans just aren’t going to button depending on how bad my bloat is.
Ryan: Oh my goodness. Now I was looking… Like I said, I’ve done research and I’ve found a bunch of clinical trials, but I’ve found absolutely no results for those clinical trials. But I did find that, a lot of pain meds that they would normally give for stuff like this can actually make the symptoms of gastroparesis worse?
Lauren: That’s because a lot of us suffer with extreme constipation. I mean, you can go either way. Like one person, we may have the same exact symptoms, but one person have extreme diarrhea all the time, which I had a friend that’s like that. Or one person can never go to the bathroom at all. And that’s where the problem for pain management comes in for people like me, because those calls extreme constipation and a lot of drugs like that slow your motility down even worse. So if we’re already not digesting our food, it’s not going to.
Ryan: Right. Now you said your fiancé is there with you. So I just had a kind of question I wanted to kind of point his way. Of course, Lauren, for you it’s difficult living with this every single day. And I’m so glad that you have a good support network, but Josh for you, how has it been for you being the person from the outside, looking in, watching her go through these struggles and how has the disease affected your relationship?
Josh: It can be frustrating because you’re pretty much helpless in the situation. There’s not much I can do. So I do try to be just like a beacon of positivity, maybe to an annoying extent sometimes. But no, that’s really all I can do because I just feel very helpless sometimes. And that’s really… That’s an awful feeling. The person you love and you’re just, there’s really nothing you can do.
Ryan: Right. I know I’ve seen a… I believe, I think I seen a post a couple of months ago. You all tried to go on vacation and Lauren you actually ended up stuck up in the room, sick from everything and wasn’t able to enjoy anything.
Lauren: Yeah. We were going to go to magic kingdom that day actually, and my body had other plans.
Ryan: So how do you guys stay strong in your relationship with everything going on? I’m sure Josh, you had to go to work and then Lauren, you had to go to work and then when you’re at home together, is it always laying in bed and things like that? Or do you have the good days and the bad days or?
Josh: There’s definitely good days and bad days without a doubt. We just push through the bad days and we just enjoy the good days to the fullest extent that we possibly can.
Ryan: That’s good. All right. Awesome. So let me see here. I think that’s all the questions that I had. So Lauren, for all the people that are tuning in and they have no idea, how would you explain gastro-paresis to the average Joe?
Lauren: Have you ever had a really bad stomach bug?
Ryan: Actually I did like two weeks ago!
Lauren: Well imagine that being 24/7. There’s not a day or a moment that I don’t feel some sort of discomfort in sick or in some sort of pain. People think that just because like, “Oh, she ate a little bit today. She’s not feeling bad.” It’s like, no. I feel bad every time I eat certain things that are just worse than others. It’s just hard. I just wish people understood that just because I don’t physically look sick, that it must not be real. A lot of people were like, “Oh, she’s a hypochondriac because this is rare. Nobody’s heard of it. It’s just another stomach ache.” And I’m really tired of that misconception that it’s just another stomach ache. Because it’s not. I’ll show you that this is what I live with every day.
Ryan: Oh my goodness.
Lauren: Yeah. And this happened before I even ate anything. I just ate a little bit ago. And actually I feel like I’m going to puke already since just being on this call. So…
Ryan: Oh my gosh.
Lauren: I feel like I’m going to blow. Or I feel like I’m going to pop pretty much 24/7. And it pushes everything up in your throat. So sometimes I’m scared even to bend over to tie my shoe. Because I’m like, “Oh, everything’s going to come flying out.” So…
Oh my gosh.
Lauren: It’s not time. And it’s not just the stomach. That’s the biggest thing that I want people to understand is just because you don’t look sick doesn’t mean… Invisible doesn’t mean it’s not real.
Ryan: Right. Now I don’t want to bring up the negative or anything. But do you have those people that say that you just do it for attention or something like that?
Lauren: I’ve had those people. Yeah. I’ve even had family members saying, “Oh, well.” I’ve had some family members say some shitty things to me too. Saying that, it’s just, well, I need to eat. “She needs to eat more or she’s too skinny. Or she needs to just do this. This is what my neighbor does.” I hate when people say, “Oh, well just do this. This is what works.” Because that’s the horrible thing about this disease is that it’s so different for everybody. So it makes it hard to find a cure because there’s no common denominator with anybody. There’s so many things that cause it. With me, they’re not a hundred percent sure what caused it. They think that I have this rare antibody issues. So that’s why I’m on this treatment every week or every other week now. But that’s just the thing that I hate the most. People were like, “Oh, she looks good. She’s pretty, she’s fine. She’s she’s not sick.”
Ryan: Right. And then I seen that…
Lauren: No, I’m glad I don’t look like I feel because it, I would probably look like a skeleton.
Ryan: Right. Now I’ve seen that you actually had to have a port put in for medication.
Lauren: Yeah. That was because the main reason for that was because I can’t drink water. Honestly, water is the thing that makes us the most sick for some reason. So I have to give myself a liter of fluids every day. And when I don’t give myself those fluids, I can definitely tell a huge difference. My doctors said that I was so dehydrated. I was on the verge of probably having a heart attack and possibly dying from it. So I’m very glad that my team was very quick to get all the ball rolling on the fluids and all that stuff. Because this time last year, I honestly, it’s kind of scary to think of where I would be right now if I kept going the way it was this time last year.
Ryan: Yeah. So with everything going on in your life, and I know you just got some disturbing news yesterday with your insurance company and things like that. So moving forward, what are your hopes for the future for gastroparesis as a whole?
Lauren: I really hope that we can find more treatment options for people. I really hope to spread more awareness. That’s why I’m always so raw and open. I’m an open book. I have no problem telling anybody, the worst day I’ve ever had, because I feel like the only reason that people would ever find a cure is if they knew how awful it actually is. And if people just keep thinking, “Oh, she’s just got a stomach ache. She’s just bloated.” People aren’t going to see it for the severity that it is. But there’s a lot of us that are dying and I’ve known several people just in the few short years I’ve been diagnosed that I got close with it have already passed away from it. So it can be deadly. So… And there’s no cure. Yeah. It is a progressive illness also. So some people will never progress. One in three people can get better.
Ryan: Right.
Lauren: Unfortunately I’m not one of those three.
Ryan: Well, I mean, you’re doing the best you can do. I mean, you’re one tough ass chick. You go through everything and with everything going on, I know locally in Louisville people will still remember when you spoke out against Tim Stark and wildlife In Need. So you’re still out there taking charge.
Lauren: Oh, Tim. Fuck him. Yes. I will forever say that when I hear his name.
There [crosstalk 00:20:02] which is really funny. Those people actually attacked me for my health and was saying that I was making everything up and I just wanted attention. Some of those people were actually calling, trying to call my doctors and say that I was faking this and trying to get me off my treatment and telling them all kinds of fucking crazy things. So I’ve been pretty attacked by that group of people. So…
Ryan: Oh my gosh.
Lauren: But you know what? The animals are safe. So I did my job and-
Ryan: Exactly.
All those awesome women that stood up with me to do it. It was worth every fucking second of it.
Ryan: Awesome.
Lauren: It’s funny. He’s always like, “Oh, slit her throat. I’ll kill her.” I’m like, “Well, good news, bro. I’m dying anyway. Put me out of my misery. It doesn’t affect me.” He just makes me laugh. He’s a fucking train wreck of a person.
Ryan: Well, I thank you so much for your time, Lauren and I hope this podcast can get out and get heard and we can get some kind of awareness going around. And thank you for just taking your time and what you do to try to make the world a better place and try to bring some kind of awareness for other people, not just yourself.
Lauren: I feel like if it can help one person, if I can help one person, then my job is successful.
Ryan: Awesome. All right. Well thank you so much for your time. And I hope… I want to say, I hope everything gets better, but it’s one of them things that I hope your treatment goes well, and I hope your insurance company pulls their head out of their ass.
Lauren: Yeah, that’d be great.
Ryan: All right. Well thank you Josh for sticking in with us and thank you guys so much. See you guys later.
Welcome back! I am so glad to have you here! This is episode 3 of 4 of my series “What Are You Good At?” We are 75% of the way complete with the series! But today will possibly be the deepest episode of all. Today I am going to discuss is your “passion” your sole purpose, or is it fueled by money? I know! I know! Why would you start a business without the financial aspect being in mind? I get it. Things are expensive, the cost of living rises every day. Especially right now with the COVID-19 shitshow still in effect.
If you have been following this series, I have mentioned many times that if you are passionate about doing something, you will do it regardless of what you get paid. Or even get paid at all! In following successful people, you find a lot of crazy stories about their beginnings. Many famous entrepreneurs who found their passion lived in their offices because they couldn’t afford rent on an office and apartment. Steve Jobs, Dan Pena, Elon Musk have all slept on the floor in their office at one point and time. Jeff Bezos started Amazon in a garage. They had their passion, they didn’t get paid to do so (at first), but they made it work! So let’s find out if your “it” is what will make you the next top entrepreneur.
Part 1: How Bad Do You Want It?
This is me, spending hours researching and drafting episodes of my blog & podcast. Not stressed, just focused!
The reason that Jobs and Bezos, Musk and Pena, were able to keep going is because they were truly passionate about their “it” and it didn’t matter if they were getting paid or not. I will use myself as an example here. When I wanted to start my reptile business, not only did I not get paid to do the first few parties I did, but it actually cost me money! I have living creatures that I had to feed, house, and care for. For those that do not know, reptiles are not simple to keep at times. You have to have perfect balance of heat and humidity which requires a heat source, usually ceramic heat emitters (running usually between $15-$40), and substrate (I use ReptiChip which is about $25 per large bag).
Besides basic husbandry, of course my animals have to eat. With 10 snakes and 4 lizards, 2 of those lizards being larger breeds (Savannah Monitor and Gold Tegu), it costs me about $80 per week to feed all of my animals. Then before I had to care for the animals, I had to purchase them! My first snake was $29, but the enclosure and set up for him costs $200. My most expensive snake was my Reticulated Pythons, which I paid $600 for my female Titanium Tiger. I know, I’m rambling again. But my point is, I was a few thousand dollars in the hole and still to this day haven’t made a penny. But I continue to do so because I am so passionate about it.
In the last episode, I mentioned that I came to the conclusion that my reptile keeping and reptile show took the backseat as a hobby for myself as it led me down the road to my sole purpose as a life coach for people like me. Which gave birth to this blog, my podcast, and my life coaching business. I have had 2 clients so far, that I did for free. I did this for a few reasons.
I am passionate about helping people and I didn’t care about the money.
Referrals and word-of-mouth are the best forms of advertisement.
To prove to myself I could do it!
Even as I write this blog, I don’t get paid to do so. But I love it! I don’t know what I would do without it. I genuinely want to help people.
So think about your “passion.” It is what you love to do. Could you do so for free? Every Entrepreneur and business does it. My favorite show is The Office and a quote from Oscar Martinez comes to mind. Season 5, Episode 21: Two Weeks
“Most companies don’t turn a profit for at least two years. And even then the profit margins are razor thin! Best case scenario, you don’t cut yourself a salary for at least five years. Can you go five years without a salary?”
I know, it seems dumb to use a quote from a fictional television show. But it’s true. You could go an extended period of time where you don’t make any money. You may have to work a job on top of building your business, only get between three and five hours of sleep a night, sleep on someone’s couch, get a roommate, or even worse, live in your car. It sounds crazy, but if you research, a lot of big named executives and Entrepreneurs lived in their car!
So the question you have to ask yourself is: Are you passionate enough about your “it” to sacrifice everything? How bad do you want it? Are you “passionate” simply because someone else has made money doing it? Take some time and think about this! This is your life!
Part 2: How To Make Money From Your Passion!
Don’t freak out! Don’t give up on your dreams! I don’t want you to think “Well I can’t do that!” Because you can. Ask anyone who started their own business if the sacrifice was worth it, and they’ll tell you yes. Even if their business failed. Because what is failure? Failure is a life lesson! A mistake to build from and create something new. Something better. Something stronger.
So let’s look at this. You’ve found your passion. Your “it.” How can you monetize this? Well, here’s something crazy! And this is what I am doing at this particular moment. Hit the internet and share your knowledge! Now, from experience, I will tell you. Don’t try to “Gary Vee” it unless you have optimal time. I tried and stumbled hard. I did it wrong. You can read more about this in my article “Failure: Now What?” I have found so much joy in this blog and my podcast. I have found this to be a great start!
For this blog, of course, I use WordPress. It is so easy to use and completely customizable. I continue to add to the blog site and customize as I grow. For my podcast, I use the Anchor app. Anchor is so easy to use. You do everything directly from your cell phone. Record, edit, distribute, and share! I found this to be great compared to spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on studio equipment and a better laptop. To start out, it works, and it works great! Again, I do not get paid to do this at the moment. Thanks to you, the person reading this, I am one step closer to achieving my goal in my business.
So as much as I have researched, attempting, and succeeded, here is my list, in order, of how you can begin your journey to starting a business:
Step 1: Start a Blog. Write articles about your business topic. It doesn’t matter what it is! Write about what you know, what you learn, and share articles or references you have learned from.
Step 2: Start a podcast. I know it seems scary. I am not a fan of my own voice, and I was blessed with a face meant for radio. But recording a podcast is basically you sitting in a quiet room, talking to yourself, and recording it. I love it! I find it fun and I feel I have already grown since I started.
Step 3: (Get ready for it! Because this is a big one!) Start a YouTube channel! I will admit I was nervous as hell and I am still nervous when I do YouTube videos. But everyone has to start somewhere. YouTube continues to be a massive plus for anyone. It doesn’t matter if you have no followers. Every great musician and band starts out playing empty rooms.
(This is the link to view my YouTube channel. Nothing fancy, simply shooting videos about what I know with my cell phone and sharing it with the world!)
Step 4: Hit social media! You can use your personal page, or create an all new page for your business. I created a Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn page. (Follow me! All of them are @rythereptileguy)
This will give you a great start in your business! Put yourself out there. The more content, the easier it is to get followers! More followers=higher chance of monetization.
I have said it a million times, and I’ll probably say it a million more. I have spent my life from age 18 to age 29 trying to make college work. Our entire lives, college and higher education is pressed into our minds that we will not be successful if we don’t have a college degree. This is not the case for Entrepreneurs. In fact, it is the opposite for us! That’s right, us. We are the exception.
For Entrepreneurs, we can find our own education. Bear with me, I’m going to use a dirty word here! We have to READ! Ugh! I know! Reading. I have learned more from $7.00 books I got from ads on Facebook than I learned in any college course. As a matter of fact, one of my idols and role models once told me “If I had to choose between telling you to spend $10,000 on a piece of paper and telling you to read 40 books, I’d tell you to read 40 books.” I won’t name drop who told me this, but I will tell you he is a successful entrepreneur with a multi-million dollar business and very successful podcast.
So, let’s look at the math.
An associates degree (which in most professions is almost obsolete now) costs around $20,000+
A Bachelors Degree (In some professions, going down the path to obsolete) costs $40,000+ depending on your college/university.
So you go in debt with student loans, get your degree, and IF you use it, get past up by someone for the job of your dreams because they went to a “better school”. Notice, I said IF you use your degree. I couldn’t count on both hands and feet the number of people I personally know who have a degree and don’t work in that field. Years, money, and memories; wasted for nothing.
Now, let’s flip the tables here! Again, bear with me! Let’s say you take this road. You are going to be your own boss. Own it. Say it with me, I AM a successful business owner. Come on, say it like you mean it!
You purchase 40 books a year for 4 years. The average price of books I have seen are $5-$20. So worst case scenario, you spend $20 per book.
40 books X $20 each= $800
On top of your books, you enroll in a course, taught and created by someone you know has what you want. These courses can be quite pricey. Let’s just average these courses at $3,000 each. You enroll in 2 courses a year.
2 courses X $3,000 each= $6,000
From those 40 books and 2 courses, you feel confident enough to launch your business and start getting clients. You read continuously, produce content, and get clients. After a $6,800 investment and working your ass off, your business brings in $1,000,000. A million in your first year! It can be done. It happens all the time. How many people do you know with college degrees that make $1,000,000 annually? Not many, if any! I sure as hell don’t know anyone.
See how that works? I firmly believe that if we would stop pushing something like college education, and start implementing more programs to teach Entrepreneurship, in twenty years college would become almost solely obsolete. Of course with the exception of doctors, nurses, lawyers, etc.
“But Ryan! Without a college degree, I won’t be able to get a job!” Is what most people have told me. Which is correct. But do you want to get a job, or create your own legacy? That is what we are talking about here.
In conclusion, I will leave you with a few questions to think about. Journal through them! Journaling has become a big part of my life. So here are your questions of the day:
How bad do I want to own my own business?
What sacrifices will I have to make to make my dreams a reality?
How will these sacrifices pay off for me/my family?
Who has created the life that I want that I can use as a mentor?
As always, thank you so very much for taking time out of your day to read my blog. You are appreciated more than you know! Leave me a comment if this helped you in anyway! And thank you so much for all of the love and to all of those who followed my blog! Share me with your friends, family, etc. Until next time, It’s gRYnd time so go get it!
Me posing, trying to look cool with my Mojave Ball Python, one of ten of my snakes I own.
Welcome back! I’m so grateful that you took the time today to stick with this series as we begin episode 2 of my new series “What Are You Good At?” If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out episode 1 of the series where I covered how to tell if what you want to do is either your true passion, or if it is just a phase to pass through on your journey to living your passion. My sole purpose is to inspire and motivate each person who reads this to dig deep into themselves and discover true passion, true happiness, and a way to live this passion every single day.
In this episode, we are going to explore deeper into ourselves and decide, is what we want to do our passion, or is it a hobby? Now I know what you’re thinking. “Ryan, can’t we be passionate about a hobby?” And of course we can! I mean, if we are doing anything that we are not passionate about, is it truly worth doing? Not in my book. And why would you want to? Our main goal is to find our happiness in life, right? So let’s go a little deeper and magnify this topic.
What do I Mean by Hobby?
I will start off with an example for you from my personal life. If you have noticed, this blog is “Ry the Reptile Guy Presents: gRYnd Tyme. This is my personal “business” idea. So three years ago, I bought my first snake and from there began my obsession with caring for animals. Most of my animals are reptiles. I own ten snakes and 4 lizards, including 2 larger lizard species. I absolutely love my animals, and I find joy and peace in caring for them and spending time with them. About a year ago now, I decided I wanted to start my own reptile business.
My reptile business would consist of performing educational shows about reptiles and animals in general to groups of anyone who wanted to learn about them. A secondary part of the business would be breeding and selling snakes like Ball Pythons, Corn Snakes, Boa Constrictors, and Reticulated Pythons. Now, this doesn’t mean my plan was to turn my collection into a sweat shop. But there is a beauty about creating life and nothing is more beautiful than a baby snake. Google it, I dare you. Even if you hate snakes or find yourself repulsed by them, you’ll let out a small “Awww” when you see a baby ball python. But anyway, I’m getting off topic.
Because of my business idea, I hit the books and the internet and began to study business myself. I bought numerous books, checked out more from the library, and watched hours of YouTube videos. The first book I purchased was “Be Obsessed or Be Average” by Grant Cardone. Because I was already obsessed with my animals, I just needed to fine tune that obsession into a business sense. So I studied and studied, hours and hours. The hours turned to days, the days to weeks, and the weeks to months. I studied everything from copywriting to website development.
But one day something clicked in my brain. i had totally changed myself and my mindset. I had discovered that I was obsessed with business! I loved everything about it! I loved learning. I loved developing new skills. Then, came the birth of this blog. I had found that my sole purpose was to be a life coach, and help people like me find their true passion and convert it into a business for themselves. And that, my friends, is why I am here.
Do you see what happened there? If not, it’s okay. I know i have a tendency to rant and ramble. I apologize, but let’s clarify.
Business Timeline for my Life Coaching business, highly accredited to my passion for reptiles.
So you see, my reptiles became a hobby for me that I could actually use to escape my work and simply enjoy my time. I’m still passionate about reptile keeping, I still care for my animals to the best of my abilities, and I still absolutely adore animals. From my hobby, lead to an entirely different road, but a road worth traveling because the impact I could have on the world is significantly better than providing baby snakes to reptile lovers.
That is my example from my personal journey. So now, let’s look into your journey.
Could You Do Your “Passion” For Free?
George Nakashima, Famous Wood Worker & Architect
Let’s go back to the first episode of the series. The accountant who discovered their true passion was woodworking. They have bills to pay and financial obligations. However, they took the leap of faith! They spent weeks in the garage, creating works to build their gallery. Once they had a few pieces, they created a sole proprietorship, built a website to sell their art, and brought to life their new business. By day your average accountant, by night an artist. Long days, less sleep, and a lot of coffee later, they were living their passion. But they hadn’t sold anything yet.
So even though they felt so much more alive, they hadn’t actually made money. Countless hours of crafting masterpieces for nothing (at this point). Could you do that? Would you do that? Hours of your life, gone, for free. If not, I’m sorry, but your “it” is not your passion.
I say this not to hurt feelings or to make you second guess yourself, but it is true. As I write this article, I am not getting paid to do so. Could I one day? Very possible. But I use this to transform my passion into helpful words that will inspire and therefore, bring life to my purpose. Even if I make nothing, if these articles convince someone to stop trading hours for dollars at a corporate job and chase true freedom, that is payment enough for me.
This passion is not about money for me. It is about people like me. People who have tried to attend college for a degree to better their lives, but changed majors more than they’ve actually attended class. For people who have worked countless jobs, simply to chase a higher dollar amount. And for people who work so much just to survive and find themselves unable to enjoy any portion of their life. I know, that’s pretty deep. But that’s where I found myself. Until that day that my hobby showed me my true purpose. I want that for you. Yes, you. Reading this article right now.
If you need any help, or would like to discuss life coaching, feel free to message me at anytime. I am here for you 24/7/365.
I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this article and I greatly appreciate any support of my materials. Let me know in the comments how you feel about this topic!
You can follow the blog, subscribe to my podcast and vlog, and follow me on social media!
As always, feel free to contact me via e-mail at abundantlyfenmind@gmail.com
Good morning everyone and welcome back to the blog! I have taken a break from everything as you can see from the date of my last entry but I am back at it! Although I have not been posting entries to the blog or doing my podcast, I have still been reading, learning and preparing for my return as well as other projects.
The COVID-19 quarantine has been the craziest thing I have ever lived through, to date, but a quarantine away from the world turned out to be exactly what I needed. I have had a lot of time to think and grow, and today we are starting a new series! What Are You Good At? This series will be an in-depth look not only of what you are good at, but why? We will also dive in to whether what you do (and hopefully love to do) is truly your passion just another pastime. I know, I don’t know you, what you do, what you like to do. However, I have studied a lot about human behavior, the mind, mindsets, and entrepreneurial aspects.
So here we go! Today will be our first dissection with is what you love to do truly a passion, or is it just a phase?
Any of the major appearances or aspects in which a thing of varying modes or conditions manifests itself to the eye or mind.
A stage in a process of change or development.
I understand the first definition may be found as confusing but for this particular topic, it works. When a person is experiencing a “phase” passion (We will call it that) it is because they have seen something or know someone that has manifested itself into their life. For example, A “phase” I went through myself! My family and I love “Arrow” the CW television series that follows Oliver Queen, also known as, Green Arrow (obviously). After watching the show and watching them time and time again use hacking to save the day, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in Information Technology, focusing on Cybersecurity.
I did hours upon hours of research into labor and statistics, current job postings, and job growth predictions. After a few months, I enrolled in classes at my local college in pursuit of my degree. My first semester was amazing. I blazed through the classes and aced them. I felt on top of the world! But one thing haunted me. Each time I would talk to my wife about my career choice, it always led to “Just think of how much money I’ll make when I have my degree!”
Eventually, in my second semester, it occurred to me. “Am I chasing this only because of the income the job provides?” Not to say this is a bad thing, but for me it didn’t seem right. I have been called many things in my lifetime, some rightfully so, but I have always prided myself on not being a “dollar chaser” as I call them. So, I dug deeper within myself. Was I really willing to go in debt in student loans just to find I don’t want to do the job? Or even worst that I hate it? I found the answer to be no. Regardless of how large the paychecks would be. Would I love to stop bad people from stealing people’s identities, money, and security? Maybe. But I couldn’t take the risk of selfishly doing what should be a selfless career for money.
So, ask yourself these questions:
Why do you do what you do?
How did you find that you are passionate about your career choice?
ARE YOU passionate about your career choice?
If tomorrow you found you would no longer get paid to do your job, would you still do it, free of charge?
I get it. We all need to support ourselves and our families, so that last question is silly. But if you are truly passionate about something, you would want to continue to do so regardless. Even as I write this blog entry, I don’t get paid to do so. But through years of self-discovery, I found that I am passionate about helping people, teaching and inspiring, and writing. A lot of people do not know this about me, but I am actually a published author. I have been writing ever since I could put a pencil to paper. I self-published my novel on Amazon. It wasn’t successful from a sales standpoint, but it was one of my greatest achievements and I am damn proud of it.
How Can I Tell If It I Am In A Phase?
So by now, you may be starting to doubt yourself. Maybe not, but just in case I want to say that is not my intention. My intention is the same as always, to inspire others to look within themselves and discover their passion. So please, do not doubt yourself. If you feel doubt, think long and hard about why. Why are you doubting yourself? And how do you know if your current “passion” is really your true passion and purpose, or if it is just a phase?
I’ve touched on this briefly in section 1, but now we are going further in depth. So hold on tight! Let’s say you are an accountant. And I personally want to say more power to you because math makes my head hurt! Anyway, you are an accountant. You make a great salary, you help people like me who couldn’t balance a checkbook to save their life, and you love what you do. You go to work every day, 9-5, living the American dream! What do you do when you go home? Do you go home and jump on balancing your finances, work on financial investments? If you do, congratulations you have found your passion!
Let’s say you don’t, however. You go home, and to burn the stress and headache of the day, you go out to the garage and woodwork. After a long day at work, you spend yet another few hours crafting and maneuvering the wood into your own personal masterpiece. Your stress melts away, and a smile stays on your face. As you leave the garage, you’ll say something like:
“Why can’t I do this for a living?”
“Back to the real world!”
“I have to get in the shower and get to bed for work tomorrow!”
Sure, there is no guarantee you personally say something along these lines, but you may have thought it at some point in the past. Now, just bear with me a moment, let’s say the next day you had the realization you could woodwork for a living! People do it every day. So, day-in and day-out you sit at your desk chair, dreaming about woodworking. You draw some doodles on a scratch piece of paper in your spare time. Your passion for your “day job” is practically gone. Why? Why is this happening to you? I’ll tell you why! Because you may have accidentally stumbled across your true passion. Your sole purpose in life! Could you make a living woodworking?
Ask George Nakashima. George Katsutoshi Nakashima was an American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker who was one of the leading innovators of 20th century furniture design and a father of the American craft movement. In 1983, he accepted the Order of the Sacred Treasure, an honor bestowed by the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. (Wikipedia) He did so through woodworking. If you are interested in woodworking or learning more about George, you can visit the website below:
I know I went on a bit of a rant, but I promise I meant well. The point is, whatever you do in your spare time, would you rather do that every day than your job? If so, I ask you to explore! Look within yourself. Experiment! Because anything is possible! If you need coaching or want to know how you could turn your passion into a money-making, bill-paying machine, feel free to contact me anytime! I would love to share my knowledge and help in any way!
So now, if this is you, you have come to the realization that your job is not your true passion. If it is not, let’s dive into the next section and put your passion to the test!
Why Do You Love It?
We have covered what a phase is, and how to tell if your “passion” is just a phase in your life, now let’s dig a little deeper! WHY do you love what you do? So I understand that in today’s economy, a lot of people are forced to do jobs they dislike or downright hate. I have been there as well. I have done everything from security guard to printing wallpaper. I honestly can say I despised going to work to print wallpaper. Yes, some prints were beautiful and in some aspect art. However, I couldn’t help but think, “How am I making the world a better place printing wallpaper?” I tried to tell myself that I was bringing beauty into the world. But when was the last time you personally looked at the wallpaper in an establishment? So that didn’t work. So the only plus to the job was the pay. I didn’t love it, but I tolerated it for 2 years simply because of the income.
Many people find ways to tolerate their job, or even possibly love their job.
Their co-workers or team
Pay
The scope of their position
Helping people
Once you can combine all of these things into one, and comfortably live your personal life doing so, congratulations, you may have found your passion. If through this self-discovery, you have found that your job is truly your passion, please continue to do so! And if at all possible, inspire others!
So in conclusion, I’d like to ask you to take five to ten minutes and ask yourself these questions. Really dig deep!
Am I truly living my passion?
Am I stuck in a phase?
How do I know it is/isn’t a phase?
Why do I love what I do?
How do I impact the world?
Could I take my skills and knowledge and become my own boss?
Is that something I want?
Is there something I would enjoy more than what I am doing now?
As always, I greatly appreciate the support for my blog, podcast, and YouTube channel! If you haven’t and would like to, subscribe to each for inspiration and motivation. You can also follow me on social media! Please let me know in the comments what you think of this entry and if you have found you are truly living your passion! Love to everyone!
Ryan Glenn 