Waking Up: The Power of the Morning Routine

September 23, 2021 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

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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:

https://anchor.fm/unstruggle/episodes/Cold-Showers-The-Wim-Hof-Method-ehuu5r

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!

Meditation: More Than Just “Woo-Woo”

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.

Journaling: Diving Deep into Your Thoughts

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!

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Kindness Goes a Long Way

July 8, 2020 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

Kindness Goes a Long Way

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What Are You Good At? Episode 3: Passion or Money?

April 23, 2020 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

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.

anchor.fm

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.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXMjqlTk_9BBLVYD6ysCVEg

(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.

Part 3: Entrepreneurship vs. College

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!

What Are You Good At?

April 21, 2020 / Unstruggle Mindset / 2 Comments

Episode 2: Passion or Hobby?

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

Failure: Now What?

January 28, 2020 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

Photo by Download a pic Donate a buck! ^ on Pexels.com

If you have been following this blog, you will realize that it has been vacant for a little over a month. I want to bring this to light in this article. What does failure mean? What does it mean to you? To me, it really is nothing more than a tool for education. Failure is a lesson in what not to do. But failure is the main reason most people give up on their dreams and settle for mediocrity.

But is this the only option? Is failure permanent? I want to dive deep into this subject.

What Happened To Me

Over the past three years, it has been a non-stop rollercoaster ride. I have learned so many things and have taken in advice from so many industry leaders. I have listened to and read for hours every day from people such Grant Cardone, Gary Vaynechuk, Brendon Burchard, Evan Carmichael, Tom Bilyeu, Rob Dial, Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, and many others. I have filled my brain with the philosophies and ideology of many successful people.

I took the advice of many and set my sights on hitting social media and established my brand and my name as a professional. Within a month’s time I was accessible via Facebook, Instagram, youTube, Linked In, TikTok, Twitter, this blog, and my podcast “gRYnd Tyme with Ry the Reptile Guy”. I started implementing the theories of Gary Vaynerchuk and set my goal to post as many times daily on every social media platform. I did fairly well for some time. But between working a full-time job, spending time with my family, caring for my animals, studying and reading, and helping my wife around the house, I quickly fell into a downward spiral.

Day in and day out I found myself running in circles trying to accomplish everything. When I began this journey, I was working 6pm-6am nearly every day, waking up after merely 4 hours of sleep in order to achieve every goal I had set for the day. It didn’t take long before I burned out. I realize now that I had simply hit the ground running and forgot simple strategies.

I did not prioritize my tasks for the day to ensure that the most important things I had scheduled for each day were completed.
I did not set my schedule in allotted time slots to make sure I could allow myself time every day to achieve those set goals.
I had not changed my habits enough in order to ensure that I was in the correct mindset to achieve the goals.

I am in no way saying that Gary Vaynerchuk’s ideas are wrong. Vee is a fucking genius. But, I will say that you must be able to fully commit yourself to your social media presence. I was not in a spot financially or professionally to successfully pull this off. I still hold a presence on social media, but nothing like Gary Vee teaches.

I made many mistakes. On top of my reptile business, I set my sights on becoming a certified life coach in order to help people chase their dreams as I was doing. I wanted to be the go-to person for those who wished a better life and chose the path of entrepreneurship. From there, “Abundant Lyfe N Mind” was born. This was my Facebook page and YouTube channel I had created to share my life coach message aside from my original business I had already been establishing. Only one problem! I had not finished establishing my own business and ensuring my personal success before I began assisting others with their own.

Running in circles, sleep deprived, broker than hell, and living in this trailer park, I started slipping into old habits. I found myself turning on the television more and binge watching shows on Netflix and Hulu, I stopped meditating, I stopped reading and learning, and I stopped sharing my journey. I still put in the work caring for my animals because besides my family, they are the most important thing to me. I completely lost sight of my original goal.

How You Can Learn From My Mistake

Through the past weeks of January 2020, I did quite a bit of self-exploration and I had to ask myself:

What is most important to me?

After starting to meditate and read again, it became clear to me. I’m not Abundant Lyfe N Mind. I am Ry the Reptile Guy and I am fucking proud of it! I want to help people. I want people to chase their dreams and live a life of abundance, free from corporate America and trading hours for dollars. But in order to do so, I had to build my own credibility and focus on my dreams. And my dream is to educate people on reptiles and other animals and teach the world that there is beauty in any creature God has put on this Earth. I want to be a voice for creatures that do not have their own. And I want the ReptiRanch. The ReptiRanch is my legacy! It has always been my destiny.

Could I eventually become a Life Coach and help others find their passion? Possibly; But, I must learn to pace myself and create success for myself and learn more of what to do myself. I still will use this blog and podcast to share my journey, inspire others, and teach others along the way. This article I am writing right now is my new first step in doing so. If you are reading this, do not do what I have done for the past three months. Instead, do the following:

Meditate! Meditation is a key to success. Create a clear, peaceful mindset. Start off by finding a quiet space, close your eyes, and sit in silence. Take deep, slow breaths and relax. Ask yourself, “what am I passionate about?” DO NOT think about what your parents do, what they want for you, or anyone else for that matter. What do YOU want?
Set your plans in stone. Purchase a journal, if you do not own one already. Sit in silence and record your thoughts and anything you feel necessary from your meditation. What is your first step? What skills do you lack to achieve those goals?
Make a daily schedule for yourself. Make a weekly schedule. Make a weekly schedule. Make a monthly schedule. Plan your days as far in advance as you can. As a father of three, I understand that plans often change and you can always edit your schedule later if needed.
If you want to start a business, do your research. Who is your competition? Who are the leaders in that industry you can learn from?
Read, read again and read some more! One of the most important things, shut off the damn TV! Go to the library and get a book or two about your industry. If the TV is on, use it for research. For example, I use YouTube on my TV to watch videos about reptile care, learning about new species, getting inspiration for my dreams.
Listen to podcasts. I have absolutely fallen in love with podcasts. My favorites include:
The Mindset Mentor with Rob Dial
The Brendon Show with Brendon Burchard
Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu
The Gary Vee Experience with Gary Vaynerchuk (or Daily/Weekly Vee)
The Cardone Zone with Grant Cardone

Any of these should easily inspire you to take the next steps in following your dreams. Each of these people are very knowledgeable and have dedicated their lives to helping others just like you and I. Eventually, I would like to find myself at the same table as them, but for now, I build. We build.

In Conclusion

So I hope this blog article finds you well and I hope part or all of this message sends a message of hope and learning. I now understand what I need to do. And that starts with drastically slowing down! I hope anyone reading this has an amazing day and an even better week!

If you liked this message, please give this article a like and follow the blog! Buckle up folks, gRynd Tyme is back and it’s not going away again! I appreciate your continued support!

Remember to follow gRYnd Tyme with Ry the Reptile Guy on YouTube and follow my podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many others!

Consistency:

December 3, 2019 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

THE SECRET KEY TO A MASSIVE FOLLOWING

Me messing around in my wife’s shirt. A little snug. But the message is clear. LOL

It is no secret in starting a business that at some point in time, your content is going to speak for your business. Many of motivational speakers talk about the influence social media has on a small business. Even before you launch an actual business, you can use the content posted on social media, to build your brand and establish a name for yourself. That is where my journey began. In just a few short months, I have been able to obtain a few hundred followers across the social media platforms.

This can be as simple as just posting a picture on Facebook or Instagram. Posting a selfie while going through your day-to-day gives your followers insight into how you do things, as well as what you do. This can help inspire others to follow your actions and therefore, build a trustful relationship between you and your followers. But what happens when your followers fall in love with you and your “business” but search for new posts and find nothing?

It happens. We all get busy. Whether you miss a post for the day because your child has a sporting event. Or you don’t shoot a new video for your YouTube channel because you got sucked into a great movie on Netflix. I’ve done it! But what does this do to your following? Consistency is the number one thing that followers look for. Without consistent material, your followers lose interest or your number of followers starts to plummet. Even as I write this blog post I am guilty of this as well. My last blog post was weeks ago and I have tried again and again to sit down and write but never made the time. That is not how I want my business or my personal brand viewed.

So What Exactly Happens When You Are Inconsistent?

Consistent content has more benefits for your small business/personal brand than many realize. In this section, I’m going to dive deeper into this subject based on what I have learned along my journey and what I continue to see day in and day out. First of all, allow me to offer an example. I follow many people on YouTube. I have my reptile videos that I love to watch in order to learn about certain species like Brian Barczyk, Dav Kaufman, Brian Kusko, Snake Discovery, etc. and I also have my daily inspiration and motivational videos I watch like Gary Vaynerchuk, Grant Cardone, Evan Carmichael, etc. If I were to say go onto Brian Barczyk’s channel on YouTube and see he didn’t post a video for that day, I’m going to move on to another channel. If I come back the next day to the same, eventually I’m going to forget about the channel and find somewhere else to get my information from. So not only does inconsistency lose people’s attention, but it also loses people all together! Luckily, Barczyk is there 365 days a year for my viewing pleasure.

SPONSORSHIP OF CONTENT

Brian Barczyk, YouTuber and Reptile Enthusiast, Owner of The Reptarium in Michigan

Because of his consistent vlogging and successful career, Barczyk, pictured left, has been able to obtain not only followers, but sponsors. Businesses everywhere, in any profession, watch for people that they like and believe would be great to advertise their products. In the reptile community, some large sponsors include Zilla Labs, Freedom Breeder, ZooMed, and many more. With consistent content, a large following, and added value to your audience, you could land a sponsor for your page. Sponsors will pay you in order to advertise their product on your content. You can have a vlog, blog, podcast, website, or any type of content sponsored. Sponsorship can also bring the possibility of free product. For example, if my YouTube channel got enough attention and a company felt I was worth sponsoring, they may send me their product for free in exchange for a promotion on my page. Of course, my YouTube channels just launched and I currently have minimal followers, this is one of my goals.

Pre-selling Your Product or Service

Another benefit from having a large collection of content, is trust. Your followers build a trust in your knowledge and your product/service before it is even offered. So if you have an idea for a business, or you want to turn your passion into a business, start a social media page especially for this topic! Invite your friends and family to like and follow the page to give you initial followers. This is a great platform in which to build on for future success. Not only will your followers consume your content, but if they like it they will share it with their friends and family bringing in more followers. Common sense, right?

The only issue is this will not be easy if you are not posting content when you mean to. If you mention that you will be posting daily, post daily. If you mention that you will post weekly, post each piece on the same day, at the same time. When the time comes to offer a product or service, people will already love you and your product and it will make it that much easier for your business to be successful. YouTube is a great platform to make this happen because with the right keywords, you can gain a massive following very quickly.

MONETIZATION

Many internet celebrities, especially YouTubers, have made money just by posting content alone! This is called monetization. Basically with monetization, the platform in which you post your content will pay you. This is usually in CPM in which advertisements are placed throughout content, and you are paid by the company per click on the advertisement. This can lead to a steady income if you have hundreds or even millions of subscribers. Simple concept, right? post your content, run an advertisement in the video, and get paid. This in itself can turn into a business for yourself on top of product/service sales. Different platforms have different requirements for monetization so I would advise looking into the platform you post on the most.

In Conclusion…

Posting content is easy! Almost too easy. But consistently, not so much. As I have said I am also guilty of not posting for days, or even weeks (this blog for example.) But you will be seeing much more of me throughout 2020! I have a weekly schedule to post my content and I hope to help as many people as possible in 2020. I appreciate you for taking the time to read this blog post! For more, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube. I also have a Podcast “gRYnd Tyme with Ry the Reptile Guy available on Spotify, RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, PocketCasts, Breaker, Overcast, and Anchor.fm! Please let me know what you thought of this entry and I look forward to growing with all of you!

Aspire to Inspire: Inspiration is Everywhere

November 7, 2019 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

Welcome back! If you are reading this, I would like to say thank you so much for your support! You may be reading this because you too share the dreams of being your own boss and earning a living doing what you love. You came to the right place! If you follow me on basically any social media platform, you have seen me say “Inspiration is everywhere!” This is completely true. But, how do you fine tune your brain to find it? Yesterday, I released an episode on my Podcast “gRYnd Tyme with Ry the Reptile Guy” about just this. The episode is titled “The Five Things I Am Implementing to Change My Life.” (If you would like to listen to this episode and the other episodes, link is below) Today, I am going to dig a little deeper into this as far as where I find my inspiration daily. So let’s dive in!

1. BUDGETING

My number one thing that I have implemented in order to better my life is a strict budget. When I say strict, I mean STRICT! There is room for my bills, and a small amount to invest into my business. That is it. What in the hell does this have to do with inspiration? Nothing inspires you more than having more money! That’s partially why we’re in this position isn’t it? By saving, you increase your contribution to your business, taking one giant leap towards earning what you’ve always dreamed. For the aspiring entrepreneur, saving is key. Not to mention the ability to give your family all of the necessities without the fear of running bankrupt! So budgeting was a must for me at this time.

Least Expected Motivation

I wanted to take a quick moment to share an inspiring moment I had just today. I won’t go too far into detail, as it is not my story to tell. An older woman that I work with recently found out she has breast cancer. Could you imagine? Living your day-to-day life and one day everything just crashes in front of you. But, back to the story. Initially, she took a leave of absence from work for two weeks for testing and such. After the two week period, she returned to work. Now, my job is not an easy one. I, as well as three others, run a print press for a label printing company. We work twelve-hour days, on a cold concrete floor. It becomes very physically exhausting. It has now been a month since her diagnosis. This past Friday, she left work early in order to receive radiation treatment. After about three hours, she RETURNED TO WORK. That’s right, she left to go get her treatment and returned to work afterwards! Now I have been blessed to not have had to even think about, let alone be diagnosed with cancer, but I can imagine that type of treatment does not leave the body in a working condition. And today, she did the same thing! I thought to myself, if she had the determination for this job enough to go through the toughest moments possibly of her life, what could someone with that amount of determination do for their own business? And just like that, I was inspired. Sure, she never meant to inspire someone. I don’t know if she just simply returned to work because she couldn’t afford to miss it. But it inspired me. See, inspiration is everywhere!

Inspiration via Media

Unless you live in a cave or under a rock, which I’m guessing you don’t because you are reading this, you have some sort of connection via social media. The internet and its many, MANY players are loaded with sources of inspiration. Number two and three of the five things I have implemented to change my life come from this source.

2. Meditation/Spiritual Healing

I have began my journey into meditation and spiritual healing within the past few weeks and I have to say, it is NOTHING like what I expected. I literally feel like a new person just because of this! I began by searching YouTube for information on the topic where I found Master Sri Akarshana. (Link below) This guy is amazing! His channel is filled with knowledgeable videos about meditation, the law of attraction, manifestation, and entrepreneurship. It’s the whole package for people like you and I! Again and again I watched his videos, took notes, and implemented his recommendations. This is where the spiritual healing comes in. I learned about the law of attraction and how if you project negative energy into the atmosphere, you are going to attract negative energy and a negative outcome. If you release positive energy, well you can probably guess. That’s right! You attract positivity and therefore positive things start happening. I know, it sounds silly. Trust me, I thought it was weird too! But ladies and gentlemen, this actually works! I take five to ten minutes of my day and set that time aside for myself and meditation. Instead of focusing on not having a nice house or fancy car, I have learned to become grateful for what I have through meditation. But don’t take my word for it, check it out for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/user/EricHoOfficial

The third thing on my list of improvements is I focus on watching more inspirational videos. YouTube is loaded with people who make videos everyday for you and I. Their entire channel is dedicated to the Entrepreneur of every level. Every morning while I get ready for work and on my commute, I listen to videos from Evan Carmichael’s channel. With over two million subscribers, it has to be good right? It is! Evan posts videos for entrepreneurs and includes input from many industry leaders. With icons such as Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Grant Cardone, Gary Vaynerchuk, Mel Robbins, and the list goes on and on, sharing their steps to success. I highly recommend Evan’s channel for anyone, especially if you are trying to start your own business.

Visit Evan Carmichael’s page here: https://www.youtube.com/user/ModelingTheMasters

I often listen to Gary Vaynerchuk as well just because he is so down to earth and grateful to have followers. He is not your average CEO. Most of his videos are filled with profanity, but who cares! We are all adults here. But his words of wisdom are priceless. I have actually read one of his books and working on the second one. The first book I actually listened to via Audible called “Crush It!” and it was a great piece of literature. I am currently reading another book called “Crushing It”. Both have a lot of great information for marketing as well as brand establishment. I recommend these books for you! Yes, you. No! Don’t turn around, YOU! Check them out!

Here is the link to Gary’s YouTube channel as well:

https://www.youtube.com/user/GaryVaynerchuk

But with these videos, you have to do more than just watch them. I take notes, pause, rewind, watch again, and take more notes. Then after I watch a video I ask myself “How can I make this work for me?” Which leads to more research. As a matter of fact, you can thank Gary for these words you are reading now. He inspired me to stretch out and make this blog, as well as my podcast, and YouTube vlog. Social media marketing is huge! And I learned that from Mr. Vaynerchuk.

10X THE WORK ETHIC

Boom! If you have never heard of him, Grant Cardone is the man with the plan! I have been following Grant now for going on three years. I stumbled over his content back when I was starting out in selling life insurance. It was my first sales job and I had no experience. So I researched. I found four books, all written by Grant. The first book I read was “Be Obsessed or Be Average”. Once I was finished with that one, I got into “The 10X Rule”. Holy hell! I can tell you now the 10X Rule is a must have for any entrepreneur. It’s all about taking the effort you put in, and multiplying it by ten! Making your business adventure an obsession. By the way, I’m not getting paid by any of these gentlemen for this little shoutout/book review so that will tell you how much I enjoyed them. I then ventured into “The Closer’s Survival Guide” and “Sell or Be Sold.” But I couldn’t lock it down in the sales game. Do you know that feeling you had as a child when you were slacking on something you were supposed to do and your dad walked in and caught you slacking? That’s almost the feeling I get when I watch Grant Cardone’s videos. Because I did fail. I failed hard. I made under $1,000 in three months selling life insurance. So I quit and went back to an hourly factory job. If you are an Entrepreneur or wanting to start your own business, Grant Cardone is the kick in the ass you need to keep you going.

Visit Grant’s channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/GrantCardone

Consider these links homework if you haven’t visited them before. Then let me know what you think!

Still Not Inspired?

If you are more of a “find my own way” person, well first of all good luck! Secondly, there are a lot of things you can do yourself. I love to walk by myself. No earbuds, no conversation, no distraction. It clears my mind and gives me the chance to really think to myself. I think about just about anything on my walks.

In conclusion, what I want you to do! Today, tomorrow, right now, whenever. Look for inspiration! It doesn’t have to be a millionaire or business icon. Look around. Take a walk, talk to someone you don’t know. Look, and you will find it! So pay attention, find that inspiration, grab it, and rise! Thank you all so much for the support! I know I rambled a little bit but I wanted to get my point across. Love to all and let’s go get it!

Visit my new YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCf7jhf6wBEN1AE-02ndiqQ

Please follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat @rythereptileguy

Like & Follow my wacky adventures on Facebook! Ry the Reptile Guy.

Listen to my Podcast via Anchor.fm, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocketcasts, Spotify, and Radio Public: gRYnd Tyme with Ry the Reptile Guy

I’d love to hear from you!

Welcome to my blog!

October 30, 2019 / Unstruggle Mindset / Leave a comment

Hello everyone and welcome to Ry the Reptile Guy: gRYnd Tyme! This blog is about my road to entrepreneurship. The goal of this blog is to not only serve as a written journal of my journey for myself to look back at one day, but to serve as a source of motivation and inspiration for those who are also looking to chase their dreams! gRYnd Tyme is about putting in the work, and busting your ass to get what you want out of life. Instead of waiting for life to bring it to you (which may never happen). But before we get into the nitty gritty and get our hands dirty, I’ll start off with a little introduction.

Who is Ry the Reptile Guy?

My name is Ryan Glenn, also known as Ry the Reptile Guy. I am a reptile hobbyist, a husband and father of 3. I have been collecting and keeping reptiles for going on three years now. My entire life has consisted of one crazy pet after another. Growing up, my mother was always the person to rescue injured wildlife and rehabilitate it. From a young age, I learned to care for all living creatures. I can remember our first exotic pet was a Great Horned Owl we had named Webster. I was very young then but I can remember riding my bike down the driveway with that mean bastard on the handlebars. From there, my family and I have rescued 2 red tailed hawks, 2 red squirrels (actually were pretty awesome pets!), a fawn deer we named Buck and ending up donating to Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary down in Breckinridge County, KY, and an Opossum. I fell in love with nature and all creatures. I have spent my entire life caring for animals. So now that you know a little bit about my past, let’s talk about the future!

The Road to the ReptiRanch

I know what you’re thinking. “What in the hell is the ReptiRanch?” The ReptiRanch is a fully interactive Reptile and Exotic Animal zoo that I own. ReptiRanch is a place where any average Joe can walk in the door and learn about a new species of animal, overcome fears, experience one-on-one the beauty of these magnificent animals, and have family-friendly fun. If you are thinking to yourself, “where is this at, I would love to visit!” The ReptiRanch is currently located directly between my ears. That’s right, it is still an idea. But thanks to the things I have learned along this journey, I can envision this place as if it already exists! The ReptiRanch is my ultimate goal. Of course owning a zoo is not something that comes very easily. There is a long road ahead of me!

What Am I Doing to get There?

As I said earlier, I have been in the hobby of keeping reptiles for going on three years now. I have a small collection that continues to grow as I can. I have 5 Ball Pythons, 2 Boa Constrictors, a Corn Snake, a Carpet Python, a Leopard Gecko, and a Savannah Monitor. I plan to continue growing my collection. My first goal to turn my hobby into a business is to offer a traveling reptile show for hire for corporate and private events. The reptile shows will not only be a source of income to fund my ultimate goal, but also an avenue to spread the knowledge and experience with people about these frequently misunderstood creatures. Another avenue I am preparing to take it breeding my ball Pythons and Boa Constrictors. Now, before everyone gets all pissed off and curses me “You’re extorting these creatures for money!” I want to share a few things. First of all, if you look up anyone who breeds reptiles for a living you will find that Ball Pythons have endless possibilities of looks and are absolutely beautiful no matter what you get. (I recommend Brian Barczyk, Brian Kusko, and Dav Kaufman on YouTube for family-friendly education about reptiles and breeding. I have provided links below!) There a re thousands and thousands of reptile breeders in this world, I’m only trying to get my slice of the pie in return for my slice of Heaven. I am also planning on increasing my social media influence via YouTube, podcast, and of course this blog! I also have a Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter page (Links also below!) where you can see my animals and watch my journey via video and pictures.

What You Can Expect From Me!

While achieving my goals, my secondary goal is to motivate and inspire others to follow their dreams via social media influence. If you are to follow me, it is either because you have a dream of being your own boss, or you love animals. Either way, that’s fine with me! But for those who have dreams, I want to be here to offer encouragement, motivation, and inspiration! So I will share what I am learning, who I am listening to, what I am watching, what I am reading, and every single step I take on this journey. What is the difference between me doing so and the others who do this? All of the people that are notorious influences are already at the top of their game! They’ve done it, and they are already successful. Sure, they talk about what they did to get where they are, but you didn’t see it! Mainly because the tools available today were not available when they were walking this road. With me, I promise 100% honesty, 100% transparency, and 100% no bullshit. I’m not going to tell you “You’re not successful until you’re making millions!” I’ll be completely honest, I am starting at the bottom. ROCK BOTTOM! I live in a trailer park because of stupid things I have done and decisions I have made. But I am done being here. I am done living day-to-day clocking in, clocking out, going home, and being broke all of the time! So if you are in the same spot I am, take my hand. Buckle up, put your head down and PUSH! We are the new elite, we just don’t know it yet. So together, let’s rise and kick the shit out of this world! It’s grind time baby! Thank you so much for the support and I look forward to taking this journey with you!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4zS1wbO81p59CxKL7CQAcA Link to Brian Barczyk’s YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXbwN03hrVLmWxaN7d9u3hw Link to Brian Kusko’s YouTube channel

Like and Follow my page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rythereptileguy

Tweets by rythereptileguy

Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/rythereptileguy

Check out my podcast: https://anchor.fm/ry-the-reptile-guy

You can also listen via Apple Podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, and many more!