Blaze Your Own Trail - Your Only Limit is You with Ryan Braves

Starting point is 00:00:01 I had a total of 11 jobs between the age of 11 and 17, just trying to help and support my mom. When I gave away my ATS resume template, I used to charge $3,000 for. If I were someone that wanted to work with you, I think the thing that would resonate with me the most is a fact that you have been as far as they will fall. I gave her all my videos, and today she's a message saying I got my first client, and it could not be happier for her. On my show, one thing I love to do is really get context into people's journey. I saw vegetables door to door. I saw newspapers. I do it because I truly care to help.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza. I'm your host. And I've got a very special guest today. His name is Ryan Braves. And I'm going to have him tell you who he is and what he does today.

Starting point is 00:00:57 What's up, man? Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I'm looking forward to be here, provide some value to. the people that that listen to you. I'm a business owner entrepreneur. I've been in business for the last 14 years for myself. I've had multiple different businesses and also multiple different failures. Growing up, I came from a broken home, a very unstable, unsteady childhood. And I'm sure we'll

Starting point is 00:01:19 get into that as we go on here. But up until a few years ago, I didn't share that story very much because it was something that I was very embarrassed of. As of a few years ago, I had a had a change in perspective where I started to tell that story and share that story. And I was able to see how many people's lives could be affected in a good way or change in a good way knowing that I was able to relate to them. So I'm a wide open book, man. I ask me any question you want. And I'm here to help and surf.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Awesome, man. I appreciate you sharing that context. And, you know, my favorite part of the show is that rewind. It's the deep dive. And so if you can share with the audience, you know, where were you born and raised? And then what kind of kid were you? What did you get into? Were you into sports?

Starting point is 00:02:02 Were you into more academics? What kind of hobbies did you have? And we'll just kind of dive into, you know, elementary up through high school. And so I know we're going to get some deep context here. So I was born in Queens, New York, born and raised. I don't know how much I was raised per se

Starting point is 00:02:18 because I was definitely the product of a broken home, alcoholic mother and father who has bipolar disorder and manic depressive disorder. He was also a semi-professional fighter. So he was actually in and out of prison a lot. when I was young. So very unstable home. So I lived in Queens for the first two to three years of my life. And then my mother remarried. And then we moved actually out to Long Island where I've been ever since, essentially, instead of, you know, except when I went away to school and travel for business and

Starting point is 00:02:47 stuff like that. I've been here on Long Island ever since. But yeah, man, the early days were, were rough. As I mentioned to you off camera, I have three kids now. One of the things I focus on every single day with my kids is creating a peaceful, loving, warming, environment. And that's everything I did not have when I was growing up. You know, there were days where my mother was drinking and she was drunk and she was passed out midday, but my stepfather didn't want to deal with her. So he was out of the house. So I was essentially left to fend for myself. And then when my mother had more kids with my stepfather, I was essentially taking care of them if she was passed out and he was out working or didn't want to deal with it. So what I poured myself

Starting point is 00:03:27 into was sports. It was my only saving grace. So baseball is my thing. I mean, I played all different sports, but baseball was the thing that got me out of the house. I traveled, you know, all over the United States playing baseball from a very young age. And then for me, what really hurt me was I was injured. But I got injured when I was fairly young. I got injured, you know, a minor injury when I was 12. And then I had my first surgery when I was 13. And then from ages 13 to 20, I had five additional orthopedic surgeries. So the thing that is that. that was essentially my savior or the thing that I was able to like escape to, which was baseball, was taken from me through that injury or through those injuries. So I was left in this place

Starting point is 00:04:11 where unstable home, right, not happy to be home and then injured on top of it, not able to do what I love to do. It was rough for me going through those early younger years for sure. Thank you for sharing that context. And there's definitely a lot to, I think, extract from that, you know, because obviously when you're in it, it's a lot different than talking about it years later. Yep. But you still can almost feel yourself in that same place, right? You start to, those feelings start to come back. So would you say this is kind of like the bottom of the barrel of where you were, right?

Starting point is 00:04:46 I mean, your love of baseball is still a love, but it can't be expressed, meaning you can't play. You're literally stuck. and you're in the place where you've got nothing but bad vibes about it because not only was it a bad environment to have to be a part of, but you also were given this responsibility at such a young age, you know, and I can relate a lot to that. You know, I had a stepdad who was an alcoholic for years. And my mom, you know, only had one lung and was on oxygen. And I remember, you know, those nights when he would get drunk and throw a beer can and, you know, one time split.

Starting point is 00:05:24 her head open, you know, we're dealing with things like that. And he's going to jail. And then I've got younger siblings. And now me and my older brother are having to offend for that. So man, when you were talking about those things, I can relate a lot to it because I've personally experienced it. And, man, it's such a blessing when we can take those situations like you said earlier and how we can now say, you know what? It's time that I not only speak about these things, but it's time that I help other people that may actually be in this place today. So what was it for you? Like where did the pivotal moment happen where I don't know if it happened when you were

Starting point is 00:06:01 in that kind of despair of being in this place you didn't like, plus you were injured and you're watching your friends play and all these things are happening. So I'd love for you to just share some context there. I get asked that specific question all the time, all the time, if I'm being interviewed, if I'm on a podcast, whatever the case may be. And for me, I don't think it was one pivotal thing. moment in time. I think it was a collective of a multitude of moments in time where I kept saying to myself, okay, listen, this is where you are right now, but it's not where you will be.

Starting point is 00:06:33 And I was able to, for whatever reason, I don't know how this happened, right, when I was younger. Instead of focusing on where I was in the moment, I had this ability to focus on where I wanted to be or, you know, where I wanted to go. And that was just, I wanted to say that was a, that was a God thing. That was a blessing thing for me because I didn't know that. skill set. No one taught me that skill set, but I had that in me. I had it in me to say, okay, that's my mother over there, drinking, smoking. I mean, literally she was, you know, into crack and cocaine as well. And I was like, I will never do that. I will never be that. And then I had my father, you know, because of all his, you know, mental disability and his problems and

Starting point is 00:07:15 him being in and at a prison and him going from job to job and getting fired. I said, okay, I'm never going to do that. And it was one time where I was sitting on the stairs and my father had promised me that we're going to go to Florida to watch spring training for the for the Yankees. And we're on the phone. I'm like, all right, dad, so are we going? You know, like school vacations come up. Are we going? And he's like, well, I don't know if we can afford it because I just had to borrow money from a friend to pay off a bill. And that was a moment. I do remember still to this very day where I said, okay, I am never going to owe people money. I'm never going to be in debt. I'm never going to be financially strapped. I don't want this.

Starting point is 00:07:50 life. So even though I was in the depth there where I had all these problems and things that were chaotic around me, I just knew, okay, you have to go to school, right? You have to get through school, take the next step and just keep moving forward to give yourself the opportunity to get out of it. To me, that's a sense of optimism, right? It's a sense of just saying, you know what, just because these are my circumstances and these are the examples, I don't have to live my life this way. You had a sense that you could make different choices and better choices for yourself. So walk us through. What did you do? You know, do you went to school? So after high school, what was the, what was the plan? And what did you end up doing? So again, mean, just not knowing any other way,

Starting point is 00:08:35 I was like, okay, the next logical step here is finish high school. Because if you don't finish high school, well, then that's the path that your father went down. He didn't finish high school. If you don't finish high school, look at your mother over there, she didn't finish high school. Next logical step, finish high school. Then, okay, I don't want to, I saw my father as a construction worker, but he was always getting laid off and all these different things. Okay, so, so I don't want that. So go to college.

Starting point is 00:09:02 That's the, it seemed like it was the next logical step for me. So I went and graduated college. And then I went on to professional school. And then when I graduated that, I was like, okay, I need and want to work for myself. I was a hustler in college. I was coaching baseball teams, and then I started to personal train. And then I figured out, okay,

Starting point is 00:09:21 if I'm personal training someone in the gym, I make X amount of dollars. If I personal train them outside of the gym, I make X amount more dollars. And if I personal train two people at once, I make almost double the amount of money. And if I could do it 10 people at once, I could make almost 10 times the amount of money.

Starting point is 00:09:40 And then if I could have someone work for me, I could make money while they're making money for me and me not doing anything. So I started to figure out how to leverage my time and people and resources to grow a business. So there was very fascinating to me. So I was obsessed with growing and then I could tell you about that, failing in business and learning and growing and failing in business. Those were the steps I took to essentially get where I am today.

Starting point is 00:10:05 And so you were building this business. Was this during college or during college, right? And I love stories like this, right? Because most college kids don't want to. I have a great story about this. So in college, and listen, I'm not going to sit here and tell you, I didn't go out and party. I had fun. I had a lot of fun in college. But I worked a hell of a lot more than anyone else did. And I always had friends that were coming to me like, dude, why are you working so hard? Just chill, go out, party, like just just relax. Take out extra student loans so you can

Starting point is 00:10:37 cover your expenses and you can go out and use the money. And I'm like, no, man, like I don't want to be in debt, right? Because I saw my father in debt. I was like, I don't want to be in debt. So I was working my asset. And what I would do is I was working about, I'm sorry, I was going to school about five and a half hours away from where I grew up. So I knew where I grew up, I could make money. I knew people.

Starting point is 00:10:57 I was I was able to figure that out. So what I did was every weekend, I would drive back five and a half hours, but I would post online that I was going from upstate New York to the New York City area. And if anyone wanted to hop in, all they had to do is pay for gas and tolls. So for four years, I drove every single weekend, upstate New York, five and a half to six hours down to Long Island, and back. And I never paid for one toll. I didn't pay for one tank of gas. And it was in the last week of school that we were sitting there and the financial advisors came in.

Starting point is 00:11:32 And the class was, you know, it was a fairly small class. But the financial advisors were walking around handing out people's financial responsibility letters, you know, for once you graduate what it was going to be. And I'll never forget. Man, one of my good friends, his name was Ricky. He got his letter, and it said like $267,000. And I saw him, he just put his head down on his desk, and he took this big breath. And I got my loan letter. And it said $31,000.

Starting point is 00:12:00 It was in that moment. I wasn't happy that he had $267, and I had $31. I was just happy that the proof was right there that all the hard work paid off. And I knew that I'd be able to start my life on a much better, foot than those that didn't put in the hard work over the past several years. So it felt really good. It was a moment of validation for me. Yeah, no, 100%. And I guarantee you, there's probably not a single other kid that was under 100, right? No, not in the room. There probably was 80. 180 was the lowest. Okay. And but they did, what did they do? Right. They didn't do anything extra.

Starting point is 00:12:38 or maybe they had a job that paid a minimum wage like most people are doing. It's like, okay, you want me to get a job? I'll get a job at this place and goof off all day. But again, you know, for one, you were very strategic. Like you had a game plan in mind. And I mean, you're essentially, you know, Uber, right? Long distance Uber for people. I wish I would have thought of that.

Starting point is 00:13:03 That's, yeah, but I mean, that's what you were. And proof was in the final bill, like you said. So what a another cool thing about it just because it's kind of a cool story. So back then when I was in college, you were able to pay your tuition or at least portion of it on a credit card. Now you can't do that because they got hip to the fact that everyone was using a credit card if they wanted to pay and then getting all these miles. So I was using it was, you know, my first credit card and I was using it to pay as much tuition as I could while I was still in school for my books, everything. And then all these years later when it was time to do my honeymoon, right? My wife and I went 10 days and Hawaii. I paid for the entire thing with all these points that I used. It was like a double positive, you know, being able to take care of that when I was when I was much younger going through school. Yeah, that's awesome. That is awesome. So how did you keep that business much longer after school, some of the stuff that you were doing? Or what did you end up doing next? I know that I know. Let's get it. Let's get into it. So upon graduating, I actually was in my opinion at

Starting point is 00:14:06 that time I was doing pretty well. I was making the most money I ever making. I think one of my first months in business I made like $8,000. I was like, this is amazing. Within a few months, I had $30 to $40,000 to $40,000 saved up my bank account of like graduating school. So I was doing well. And then I started to pivot a little bit. And what I mean by that is, I was like, okay, I have to be able to leverage and go big. Up to that point in my life, I bet on me. Everything I poured back in. into myself. I'm going to create the business. I'm going to hustle. I'm going to figure it out. And then for whatever reason, I started to give other people my money. I started to invest in

Starting point is 00:14:46 other people's ideas. Because I was, again, I was at my age, I was fairly successful from Jump Street. And people would bring me business opportunities. Hey, man, do you want to get involved in this franchise? I'm like, yeah, no problem, 75,000 here. Hey man, do you want to do this restaurant concept? No problem. $275,000 there. Hey man, I got this stock idea. speak my financial advisor, no problem, 50,000 there. Real estate in Florida, $175,000. And I was spending, not spending, investing hundreds, hundreds of thousands of dollars within just a few years of owning my business in other people's ideas and other people's

Starting point is 00:15:25 concepts. And all literally within a year of one another, all of those different investments imploded. Wow. I want to say 28 at the time. 28, 29 at 10. And I think I had one, two, three, four. I was involved. I had like seven or eight different businesses.

Starting point is 00:15:44 Drove a really nice car, had really nice clothes. Like, you name it. Like, if you saw me outside looking in, 28 years old, you're like, that guy has everything going for him. Everything. And then, like, when I say boom, boom. Like, it all came crashing down. The restaurant concept, we had to sell for,

Starting point is 00:16:06 pennies on the dollar just to cover expenses. The other franchise that I was involved in, nothing. Real estate crashed. Stocks lost all my money next. I didn't know what I was doing. And I had literally nothing. Like, it was crazy. It was the year, it was actually the year I got married.

Starting point is 00:16:25 So, you know, got married in 2014, a beautiful wedding out in California, Laguna Beach. Amazing, you know, gave my wife the wedding that she dreamed of. And I remember sitting there the day before we left. We rented this beautiful home on the water in Laguna Beach was incredible. Like the cliff is there, the ocean is there. I remember sitting out looking at the ocean knowing that I only had $3,000 in my bank account. To my name, that was it. Rent was due for my office.

Starting point is 00:16:53 Rent was due for my house. I was just like, something's got to change. That was a pivotal point for me where I started to reinvest back into myself. Yeah. It was a period of years where I invested in everyone else's stuff. I was neglecting to invest and improve myself and build my own skill sets, pour back into myself. So that was amazing.

Starting point is 00:17:15 And those are some, you know, those aren't small numbers, right? To have to come back from. So, you know, what was it in you? You know, because we're having this conversation today. So there's the story didn't end there. So what was it in you? was it, you know, you really taking an introspective look at yourself and really getting that self-awareness piece dialed in and true to what you know you could do?

Starting point is 00:17:44 Or did you have, you know, was it your wife? Was it any other mentors that kind of helped pick you up and say, listen, you can do this. Like you've been at the bottom. You've been at the top. So you're going to be able to figure this out. I'd love for you to share that. Yeah. So at that point, I had no mentors because I didn't think it was necessary.

Starting point is 00:18:01 Right. I was like, look, I got this. Like I could do this. No one of my family has ever done this, right? No one of my family even graduated high school. Like, look what I've done. I had friends that were paying coaches and mentors. I'm like, bro, what are you guys doing?

Starting point is 00:18:14 Like thinking they're idiots. And I was the idiot. So I'll never forget I had a walk in closet. So I literally, I was in my closet. And I was just looking around and all the clothes that I'd spent money on. And I was like, okay, you have no money left. You have no money left. I was like, okay.

Starting point is 00:18:28 And in that moment, I go, okay, you're going to downgrade your lifestyle. You'll downgrade your life stuff. that. That'll be, it'll be okay. Like, I know you thought millions of dollars a year, these homes and these cars and whatever it was. I was thinking at the time was the lifestyle I wanted. I was like, okay, you don't need to do that. Let's downgrade the lifestyle. And I went out for a run and I was trying to digest that thought process. Like, okay, like, if you just can make a hundred thousand a year, you could pay your bills and just do life normally, right? And that never sat well with me. I was never able to embody that mindset.

Starting point is 00:19:06 It just could, it never settled. So I was like, okay, it couldn't work. I couldn't wrap my head around downgrading the dreams or the hopes or the life that I wanted to provide for myself, you know, my new bride. So I was like, okay, well, that's not working. It's just not sitting right with me. So I had to figure out something else. And that was the first time where I actually reached out to a good friend. And I was like, okay, man, like you're, you have a coach.

Starting point is 00:19:29 what's this all about? And that was it. That's when I started my personal development, quote unquote, self-improvement journey. And I went all in, like conferences, seminars, walking across fire. Like, you know, I went like deep dive. And I was putting stuff on credit cards too. I didn't have the money. Right?

Starting point is 00:19:50 So I was like, okay, here we go. I started to bet on myself again. But I learned better skill sets. I think all this stuff before, honestly, I just kind of. like willed, like I just like carried the on my back and was able to will it. And I think I got lucky and right time, right place with certain things. When I made the change to start investing in myself, that's where that's where things changed for me. That's awesome.

Starting point is 00:20:12 And so what was the next idea, right? You go for the bottom, you go to the top, you fall back down. You now start to dive into professional development and really honing in that skill set, which to me, when you do that, just from my personal experience, it just brings us to this next level, right? Our thought process is different. Our actions are different. Everything just starts to shift. So what did those shifts enable you to do next?

Starting point is 00:20:39 First and foremost was mindset. I know it sounds so crazy. It's like so like Instagram, you know, meme worthy. But it's really the truth. If you can't control your own mindset, you can't change your thought. You said, I think it's great. Your thought process, right? When something bad happens, how do you perceive that thing?

Starting point is 00:20:59 When you do fail, what's your relationship with failure? I used to have a terrible relationship with failure. When I fail, I go, oh, gosh, I guess it's not meant for me. I guess I'm not good enough to do that as opposed to, okay, great, I failed. What did I learn? Let's now change and improve it. Let's go hit again and see how we do. So the first thing was the mental mindset shift.

Starting point is 00:21:22 And then it was actually developing skill sets for speaking and communicating. right before that i was just going off of what i did when i was a kid there was no there was no process to my communication i didn't know how to sell anything really i knew how to trade time for money that was my exchange but i i didn't know how to formulate the value i can deliver and show someone that i can i can lead them on a path and journeys to communication became very very big for me so i paid someone to do literally teach me how to speak teach me to get on TV, teach me to share my message. And then I started to be able to leverage when I would speak to large groups of people and share my experiences, share my failures and have them come along this

Starting point is 00:22:07 journey with me. I think that changed everything. That's awesome. And so from a business standpoint, what did that enable you to do or set out to become? Yeah. So I trimmed the fat. So like the businesses that I wasn't very involved with, but I was invested. I got to say I was a business owner in this, I started to cut all that stuff out. So I started to cut away my losses and really just focus on two things. I have a health and wellness business that I start to really pour myself back into. And then I have my coaching, consulting and mentorship business that I'm very, very involved in. I'm highly selective as to who I work with in that business, business entrepreneurs, fathers, and people that have kids is my person.

Starting point is 00:22:54 And there's other reasons why I gravitate towards that group of people because that's me. But I started to narrow my focus and go deep as opposed to be very superficial and go very wide. That wasn't serving me. And then what I did, which was very important, I learned how to hire, train, and then build a culture around team. So I was able to have really good people come join me on my team, share a mission, share a vision for what we're looking to do. It wasn't business specific. I got to work with them in both businesses.

Starting point is 00:23:33 And then we were actually able to change people on a bigger magnitude because I had a team behind me and a team alongside of me. So that was that was big. I think team is probably the biggest thing. That's awesome. When you think about your business as a whole, right? Marketing is a key component to generating any type of revenue. So what would you say your marketing looks like today now that you have a team versus where it was when you were more the solo pernumer?

Starting point is 00:24:01 Going way back, like marketing has always been important. I just didn't think about it as market. I was like, just get people. Early on I did a lot of ground and pound. And I think when you don't have a big budget, like getting yourself out there being willing to make phone calls, shake hands, introduce yourself to people. I was everywhere all the time. So that was going way back when. But now, if you have money, you have cash flow, you can pour it into things like Facebook

Starting point is 00:24:30 advertising, right? Social media advertising. You can, I did TV stuff for my health and wellness business for a long time pre-pandemic. And you're able to leverage what you can do when you have cash flow coming in. Yeah, and what would you say is the biggest difference today from a marketing perspective, meaning, you know, with social media, I mean, especially if you've built a large audience, you can reach hundreds of thousands or millions of people potentially in the matter of one post. It doesn't mean that you're going to convert each one of those into a new client,

Starting point is 00:25:09 but that reach is highly impactful. So what are your thoughts on the fact that we're able to just kind of do that today? on an any day basis? Well, I think it's unique. I think it's unique the fact that, you know, where things are today compared to where they were 10 years ago. I will say this, right, full transparency. I'm not a big social media person.

Starting point is 00:25:29 My friends, like my friends that own businesses, they bust my chops all the time. They're like, dude, you've got to do more social. For me, I feel like social is a double-edged sword, right? You're doing it. It has so much positive when it comes to business and reach and leverage to your point, but for me, it also takes away from what you're doing in the moment and interacting with people. So I know I need to do more of it because it can have such a major impact,

Starting point is 00:25:56 but I am also highly aware of the downside and the fact that it can steal your life and still your time. So I go back and forth with that. But what I will say this to anyone out here is listening, who has a business and it is starting out, consistency is everything. So if you're going to, if you're like, hey, I'm only going to do one post a day, that's fine. Do one post every day. Don't do 10 posts one day and then zero posts for a month. Just be very consistent, whatever works for you as far as what your commitment level is. Consistency is everything. 100%. Yeah, I would agree with that. And that's when I'm coaching my clients on it is you have to show up. If you want to be seen or heard in 2021,

Starting point is 00:26:39 you've got to show up. And one thing that I would say to you, Ryan, is because I completely understand. Yeah, it's about, you know, do I want to invest this time? I know I need to be there, but do I want to invest that time? And so it's a balancing act. So what I always encouraging people to do, especially now that you're starting to build that team is you budget time to shoot and record and then you have them chop it and they schedule it out for you. You know, and that way you've done, you put in the time once, but you don't have to actually spend the time, especially if you can afford having somebody be that community manager as well,

Starting point is 00:27:13 then that's the advice I'm always giving my clients because yeah it does it can be a time suck but you know just just like anything i mean Netflix can be a time suck facebook can be a time suck instagram right so to me it's it's about are you being intentional with the time that you're putting in and are you being cognizant of the impact that's making whether positive or negative let's talk a little bit about you know what you do let's get a little more granular here because i know there's going to be people that hear your story that may resonate with your story just like I did because maybe they grew up in similar circumstances. And there's going to be people to say, man, like you went through all of that. Like how did you come out of that? You know, like how were you able to see light when you're around darkness? Right. That's a question I think that a lot of people

Starting point is 00:28:00 out there are going to have. So I would, and I know that you work with a limited amount of people. That's something that you were very specific about. So what would be some, I guess, qualifications, if you will, or maybe, you know, the persona of someone that would be that ideal client avatar for you. And how do you help them get from where they are to where they want to be? So a few things. The first thing you mentioned is the fact that I do only work with a limited number of clients. And it's because of the life that I want to create for myself and my family. My family is my number one thing. I'm blessed at this point in my life that I have different businesses that provide me with a certain amount of income that I get to choose. But I'm very

Starting point is 00:28:38 intentional. Again, I know that my family, like my kids are only young, right, for a small period of time, you know that you have kids. So I'm highly intentional on who I work with. So the first thing is even when I meet someone who might be referred to me or might reach out and need help, we have a phone call similar to this. And I get to know them because if I'm going to be spending my time with you, I have to root for you. I really, really like my other clients, they'll text me like when they have wins, when they have struggles. Like I'm there for them no matter what because I genuinely want to root for the person that I'm working with, not just because someone's paying. The money's not worth it from that perspective for me.

Starting point is 00:29:17 So we have to be of like-mindedness. That's very, very important. The person has to be willing to work. They have to have an open, an abundant mindset that have a fixed mindset. The first time, you know, when I jump on a phone call with a client and they tell me, well, I've tried everything, nothing works for me, all this stuff. That's a challenge. because that means they're closed down to opportunity. Now, I'm not saying they've not failed. I'm sure they have, but they have to be open and really wanting and hungry for success.

Starting point is 00:29:48 And then if we go even deeper, very specifically, I work with married, businessmen, right, who are entrepreneurs that have kids. Because I think that's a very challenging life to navigate. And as I said, like, you can get caught up as a business owner, like head down grinding to, provide for your family. That's amazing. That's noble. But if you're not able to be around for them, I promise you, they're not getting what they want truly from you because they want you. So I help,

Starting point is 00:30:19 I help these men be able to navigate doing both and also showing up as a husband. That's very important too. All the things that I didn't see when I grew up, when I grew up is what I want people to have. That's what I provide for my family now. And I know how amazing that is. And I know how treacherous it was for me growing up. I don't want other people's kids to feel what I felt when I was three, four, five, 10, 13, 14 years old. So it's a mission and a purpose for me that these men out there have a resource of someone that's been through it, even from a kid perspective, and then it's also navigated through

Starting point is 00:30:56 it, you know, as a married man. That's awesome. Thank you for sharing that. And, you know, there's going to be people, like I said, that listen to this and they're going to want to, they're going to want to reach out. Their goal may be to have that phone call with you. So if you wanted me to send them anywhere, you know, where's that best place to reach out to you, Ryan? Yeah, two easy spots.

Starting point is 00:31:17 I appreciate that. The first is my website, super easy. It's my ascension by design.com. All you have to do is you go to the website. You just click on one of the forms and that'll get routed right to me and we'll jump on a phone call. Or number two, again, this is my, what has been my commitment to my buddies who bust my chops about not being on social. I just started a private Facebook group. And I've been in private Facebook groups before,

Starting point is 00:31:41 where if you're in the private Facebook group, you ask a question, you know the question is getting answered by a bot, chat bot, or by an assistant. And I didn't want either one of those things. So I said, if I'm going to do this, I want to create a community where guys can be in that community, even if you're not married or you have kids, you're more than welcome to come into the community. But I would answer the questions. If you're having a struggle with something, I would jump on there

Starting point is 00:32:05 and provide feedback. And also the community we're creating is so that other people are able to provide feedback. If other people have struggled through something that you're going through, we want them to provide their perspective. More perspectives, the bigger the community, the more tight-knit the community, the more the people will grow and learn in the send. So two places, the Facebook group, the name of it is called Ascension of the Entrepreneur. Love it, love it.

Starting point is 00:32:30 And we're going to make sure that we get the links to both of those in the show notes. One thing I would just like to end this episode on, if there is a resource out there that you recommend to the audience, whether it's an article, whether it's a book, maybe another podcast that you've heard, I'd love for you to just share something that may add a little bit of positivity into their deck. Sure. Can I do a few? Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:32:57 All right. So obviously they're listening to your podcast. This is good stuff, man. Just hearing people's journey and knowing, oh, shit, other people were struggling and they were able to make it through. So I think you're doing a fantastic job of that. Two simple books, 10x rule by Grant Cardone. I think it's just an easy read.

Starting point is 00:33:14 And it just shows you that you need to do more. And then the book by Andy Fricela called 75 Hard. If you've ever done that or heard people that have done it, it's just, I like books that are going to punch you in the face, right? To just say, hey, man, like, I know it's hard. It's hard for everyone. It's okay that it is hard. But if you do these things, you just take these action steps.

Starting point is 00:33:37 Even if you're failing or struggling, you can get out on the other side. So those are two books for me that I've actually read multiple times at different phases of my life. I continue to read them and go back and back. Actually, 75 hard, I think I have 20 copies in my office over there. If I know someone needs the book, I'll just give them the book. Love it. That's awesome. Those are some easy ones.

Starting point is 00:33:58 Well, appreciate the shout out for the show and for those book recommendations. and with everything I've gone through in my life, I'm a big believer that adversity gives us strength. It also enables us to see through a lens that other people can't see through. And we get to take those experiences, whether good or weather bad, actually put them out into the world so that other people don't have to walk through them, but they can still learn those lessons from us. For sure.

Starting point is 00:34:25 Thank you so much, my friend. Continue to blaze your own trail, and we appreciate you coming on the show. Appreciate it, man.

Blaze Your Own Trail - Your Only Limit is You with Ryan Braves

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