The Bossticks - Stop Waiting To Start Or Suffer The Consequences Of Regret

Episode Date: May 15, 2020

#267: On this episode we are solo talking about the importance of getting started. For the longest time on this show we have been saying "launch fast and adjust!" Launch your idea, your product, your brand, or your service. Get it out there! Take the feedback and keep pushing forward. This episode gives tangible takeaways to help get your idea off the ground and ready for success. So many of us wait for that perfect moment to start a new project and it ends up never happening. This episode is here to make sure it does.  To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by Joovv. Experience the benefits of red light therapy by one of the best in the business; JOOVV! To experience the Joovv and receive a free gift with purchase go to joovv.com/skinny This episode is brought to you by Perfect Keto  Clean ingredients for better health. Perfect Keto are no B.S. products backed by science to help promote better health. All Perfect Keto products and supplements are made from real whole food sources. Visit www.perfectketo.com/skinny to buy 1 and get 1 Perfect Keto 40% off + free shipping This episode is brought to you by Nutrafol THIRTY MILLION women experience hair loss. But it's not openly talked about, so going through it yourself can feel lonely and frustrating. It's time to change the conversation and join the thousands of women standing up for their strands. Nutrafol is formulated with potent botanicals to help you grow hair as strong as you are and it's physician-formulated to be one hundred percent drug-free. Visit Nutrafol.com and use promo code SKINNY for 20% your order and free shipping.  Produced by Dear Media  

The following podcast is a dear media production. This episode is brought to you by juve. You know what I've been doing in quarantine, Michael? You've been sneaking into my man cave and taking my juve when I should be in there more. But naked stealing his entire man cave to juve. I stood in front of that juve the other day for 10 minutes and truly felt amazing. I cannot tell you there is something in that that gives me energy. Listen, there's all these studies right now going out about how vitamin D actually helps boost

or immunity. If there's ever been a time for a product like this, it's now. We're all stuck at home. We're all locked under artificial light. We're not getting natural sunlight. We need it to survive. It makes us feel good. I mean, listen, want to talk about a couple of the benefits? Skin rejuvenation, enhanced sleep, reduce pain and inflammation, increased libido, all of these things, all from red light therapy. So here's the deal. If you are not into investing into Michael's huge juve, then get the juve mini. I have the Juve Mini. I bring it upstairs in the morning. I literally make coffee why it's turned on. I just put it in front of my face. I do my to-do list. You know how I am. I do my stoicism, all the different things. And I have it turned on right in front of me. It's so efficient. And I feel like I said, it just wakes you up. Whenever I'm feeling down in quarantine, whenever I'm starting to feel like a little bit slow, lethargic, just a little bit depressed. I go, I stand in front of this juve 20 minutes front and back. Shake your balls. Do shake the balls. Do whatever I got to do. And honestly, I feel so much better. I mean, I could not. I could not. I could not. I could not. not be a bigger fan of this product. There's so many benefits that we need more than ever now. So for those you that are still on the fence, be sure to check out the episode we did with the

Juve founders. I mean, if you have any doubts about this product, that episode will completely change your mind. I could not rave more about a product. Lauren and I both use it. We both love it. In quarantine, it's one of the best purchases you can have. And of course, we have a special offer just for our listeners. Go to juve.com slash skinny and use the code skinny to receive a free gift with your purchase. That's J-O-O-O-V-V-com slash skinny. Check it out, guys. It's amazing. Let's get into the show. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael

Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. TGIF, happy Friday. Welcome back to the skinny confidential. Him and her podcast. Today is a solo episode. We are having so much fun with the solo episodes. I feel like we're doing them more and more, especially because of quarantine. I'm into it, Michael. I'm into this. I'm super into too. Before all this happened, we have a lot of, we had a lot of really interesting guests lined up. And they're still lined up. We just had to push them out. And we're starting to selectively, as you've seen this week on Tuesday, we just did a Zoom episode with Ryan Holiday. Lorna and I are so

hesitant to do Skype or Zoom interviews because we just feel like you lose out a little bit on that in-person conversation, which I know so many of us are craving now. And, you know, one thing we always hated about Skype and Zencastr, not to put those brands down or businesses down, is that we couldn't see the other person. And, you know, there's two of us, Lauren and I went to the show. So it's hard to know who's jumping in when, when you can't actually see someone talking. So there's a lot of interrupting. I'm getting on board with Zoom.

I think whoever's, you know, focused on that technology, keep improving it. And if there's a podcast technology company thinking, hey, we're going to do a lot more of these remote interviews, maybe put some money into figuring out even better. software so that you can actually see the person because it looks like we're going to be doing that for a while. But yeah, we, I mean, these circumstances have forced us to do a couple more solo episodes, which I actually really like because it gives us an opportunity to jump into topics we haven't touched on in a while. Yeah, personally for me, I like to feel the energy of the person and like see their mannerisms and their body movement. I think that's so important.

But we do what we got to do in quarantine. So today we are talking about just getting started. Michael has been saying for so long on this podcast, launch fast and adjust. And this whole entire episode is going to be dedicated to just ripping the Band-Aid off and getting started. So we're going to talk about two different things here. The first thing is you know your passion and you're waiting for perfection. That's one person. And the other thing we're talking about is for the person who doesn't know their passion. So they wait to start looking for it or they wait for it to fall on their lap. We're going to discuss both of those because there's two different people. Well, and the reason this came up is I actually think Lauren and I are both of those people. And maybe now we're further along in our career and it's maybe, you know, changed. We've actually gotten started on some things. But at one point, indeed, we were probably both of these people. And, you know, I've been doing more and more interviews because their dear media has been in the news because we just closed our series A, which is exciting. Some of you've been following along on that and, you know, if you follow me on Instagram, you see I did the announcement. And, you know, a lot of the questions that I've been asked in these interviews is like, how do you get started? What's your

personal monitor. And I started thinking back, like, what the hell is my personal monitor? And there's so many different like things that I try to think about and that I like. And I know, like, one of the things I've been saying on this show for people that have been listening for a while is launch fast and adjust. And I don't think, I know I borrowed that from other successful entrepreneurs that I've just seen do well in the space. But I firmly believe, and when I started analyzing everything that's gone on in my personal career and Lauren's career, it's always been those things that have been imperfect projects that launch quickly and then adjusted. and changed over time with consumer or listener or audience feedback. And so I said, like,

that's probably my mantra is launch, fast, and adjust. And I think there's a benefit that some of the listeners and some of you guys can get right now by hearing us talk about this a little bit more because both the skinny confidential and your media. And honestly, most of the successful things that have occurred in Lauren and I's career have been from things that we've gotten out quickly, launched fast and adjust it. And then, you know, really when I say adjust, like refined based on consumer or customer or listen or feedback. I remember 10 years ago, maybe 11 years ago, actually being at Morton's with you having oysters and dirty martinis. And I was talking about this idea for a blog. And I was telling you how I want it laid it out and the colors I wanted

and the vibes I wanted and who like was the person that would consume it. And I was telling you all about it. And you looked at me, there was probably like an oyster hanging out of your tooth. and you were like, this is the last time I want to hear about this idea, either execute or don't. And then you were like, pass the bread. I said pass the bread right after that. Yeah, you said pass the bread. And honestly, that really resonated with me. And if we can give you a little bit of that pass the bread mentality on this podcast, like enough

talking, go and execute. That's what this podcast is going to be about. And like Michael and I said those two things about you knowing your passion and waiting for perfection or you don't know your passion. so you wait to start looking. I've said for a long time, so many other people on this show have said, like, a good idea never made anybody money. Like, it's, yeah, that's great.

Like, whenever people send me like, hey, Michael, can you look at this idea? Like, maybe invests or whatever and sign my NDA. I'm like, I'm not going to sign the NDA. I don't even want to look. Like, the idea doesn't mean anything. We all know these people that just talk about this great idea. You know, or those other people are like, hey, I had the original idea for Uber. I had the original idea for Airbnb.

It's like, yeah, who gives a shit about the idea because you didn't do anything with it. And my point is, is like, it's action that. beats ideas nine times out of ten. That's why the term starving artist is because it's these people that are so creative and they never get going, they never do anything. Maybe it's not a starving artist. It's more of like a creative artist. But you get what I'm saying. It's, you know, this idea that there's, this idea is going to take you places. No, it's action. It's why smart investors, they don't bet on the idea. They bet on the person, right? Because they ultimately, these things are not easy and they're going to change over time. So let's talk about these two people,

Lauren, because I think that there are very, there are two very much different people. I envy the first, very much so because it took me so long to figure my side out. But let's talk about the person who, let's, I would say, you're this person, Lauren. You know your passion and you know exactly what you want to do in life, whether you're an artist or a writer, a musician, or you know, just have a real passion where there's a strong idea. And you're just honed in. You're like, this is what I want to do. I envy these people because for so long I could not find my passion and you hear all these experts say, hey, follow your passion, follow your passion. And for those of us, especially young college graduates, are getting out and like, what the

hell do I do? I don't know my passion. That was me. But for you, Lauren, you were the opposite. You knew exactly who you were. You knew exactly what you want to do as a creative outlet. And I think it enabled, then you obviously did. But let's talk about the people that don't, the people that just know what they want to do,

but for whatever reason they can't launch because they're waiting either for perfection or for validation or whatever. So the first person, like Michael said, you know your passion, you're waiting for perfection. That is 100% moi. I get it. If you're out there and you are someone who's really clear and has tons of clarity on their passion, but you're waiting because you want it to be perfect, take it from me. Just launch it.

Put it out there. See what consumers say. Adjust to what they say. It's not going to be perfect. If you go back and you looked at the skinny confidential 10 years ago when I launched my blog, at the time I maybe thought it was close to perfect, looking back and reflecting on it, it was nowhere near perfect. It evolved. And it's not perfect now. Like there's so many things that could be done differently. But the point is, is that I got it in front of people. I listened. I went through my DMs. I heard them, the emails. I adjusted as I went on and I evolved at the same time. I sometimes have a problem with wanting it to be 100% before I put it out there. It's probably one of the top three things Michael and I fight about because he gets frustrated with me because he's completely the opposite.

I don't know if that is from being the firstborn child and getting attention through maybe trying to be perfect. I don't like I look at my childhood. I'm like, where did that start where I needed to sort of like try to. try to get everything to be 100% because nothing's 100%. Like nothing I've ever done is 100%. And I don't know where it like is in my head where I felt like everything has to be an A plus to put it out there. Well, I don't think we're, listen, and I'm not saying, hey guys, I give an idea for a product or a brand or a service or like some content.

Like go launch a piece of shit. But I don't, but that's not what I'm saying. I think what I'm saying is that what you think is perfect is not really there. And that even when you get to something that you think may be close to perfect, immediately you're going to launch it and people are going to say, hey, I didn't like this, or I don't like that, or this could be changed. And so what I think it is, a lot of us get held back by fear. We care so much about what people think about us and we're worried that we're going to put something out there and people are going to say, hey, that's not good or you don't

know what you're doing or you have no expertise. And ultimately, I think that's what holds us back from launching. It's this narrative that we tell ourselves to make herself feel better. I was like, oh, by the way, I have this great idea, but I'm not going to do it yet because it's not quite there. I think that's a cop out. I think that's people saying, like, I'm not going to do it because I'm scared to get the feedback. But the beautiful thing is if you actually get something out there and the reason I leave the first episodes of this podcast up is because if you go back and you listen to episodes, let's get the first 100 episodes. Shitty. Shitty sound quality guys, 100 fights, interruptions. You were a big interruptor. I was the only interrupter.

You were an interruptor. Fine. I'll take that. I was an interruptor. I probably still am in some agree. But I think like Lauren said, when we got into podcasting, we had zero background and broadcasting. We had no understanding of the technology that needed to go into this. We didn't know shit. We didn't know sound. We didn't know how to interview. We had never interviewed. We didn't know how to formulate a show. We're still working on that today. The point is, you know, didn't know how to talk properly on a mic, a million things. The point is, is that by launching that show and getting it out there early and trying and promoting it and being proud of it and then listening to what everybody that listens to the show had to say, we've been able to hopefully,

you know, this is still upper debate, improve over time. I also see another thing that I want to point out with a lot of people that apply for jobs with me. They don't want to put anything out there until they're done with college. They're done with their masters or they go back to school because they feel like they need more certification or credibility. The forever student. The forever student.

And I've noticed this a lot, which is very interesting to me. I would tell you if you're in school, I don't care if you're a freshman, I don't care if you're a sophomore, I don't care if you're a senior. If you have a side hustle, start it now. Don't use school or college as an excuse not to launch what your passion is. In fact, I would work on it on the side. I've seen so many people be like, well, I want to be a fitness instructor or I want to, you know, be a psychologist or whatever it is. Launch something that has to do with what you love. you'll be able to practice that muscle of becoming an expert in your own right in that by doing something that is similar to your passion. You don't have to be out of school to launch

something. I was like, I think I was, I want to say I was a junior in college when I launched the Skinny Confidential. And I find that interesting that people just constantly use, oh, I have to go back to school. Oh, I have to finish. Oh, I have to graduate. No, you don't. Little break to give you a hot tip. Okay. Zaza has been doing this thing where, she pulls out my hair. So not only am I having postpartum thinning hair, which everyone experiences after the birth of a baby, but she's also pulling out my hair. The other day, it was like in her knuckles and her fingers. That makes two of us, me and zos. Okay, like everyone's yanking on my hair. So Nutrafold sent me a while ago, their products to try out. Basically, their whole entire mission is to

help you grow thicker, full, or healthier hair, which is exactly what I need right now. Like I said, I have damaged hair from styling tools since I use so many styling tools and also postpartum hair loss and then between Zaza pulling the hair out, it's gnarly. So I really have focused on finding a product that helps my hair grow thicker. You should also know that 30 million women are experiencing hair loss, but not a lot of people talk about it. So this is something that was important to talk about on my platform. I feel like talking about this and talking about these kinds of issues is important because we're constantly trying to change the conversation. Just to give you some specifics, Nutraful is formulated with potent botanicals to help your hair grow as strong as you are. Everything is

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Get 20% off at NutraFold.com promo code Skinny, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L.com promo code skinny for hair as strong as you are. Okay, back to the show. Well, it's a cop-out. And I think that it's because we don't want to get out. Again, it's because I think people worry so much about what people think, right? So if you, let's just use the fitness structure example. Like if you go and say, hey, I'm going to start getting into fitness and wellness and nutrition because either you're a healthy, fit person that's into wellness and you're having

your own positive results and you want to share that the world, but you don't have your degree or validation. And then you launch something and people come in and say, what's your background? You don't have a degree. You don't fit. Like since when do you have to have degrees and valid, and on all these things to in order to talk about your own personal experiences? I can understand if you're going to be a doctor or a lawyer.

Those are different things. you actually do need to agree. But for certain things, you don't need to to share your personal experiences. Speaking from my experience, for those of you that maybe don't know my career journey, I think you're pretty well aware of Lawrence because of what she's built in the platform she has. But for those you're like, oh, what did Michael do? What's his background? I was a, for sure, a CD student, terrible. I studied real estate in college, got out of college in 2008 and started in real estate development and commercial and residential buildings, basically remodeling them and managing projects as a general contractor. Then from there, because it was 2008 and we were getting

my face slammed in, went and created a business with my father called Jetbed, making beds for corporate and private aircraft. Again, what the hell does that have to do with anything I ever studied? Today, it's still the largest provider for beds and corporate and private aircraft in the world. From there, we opened a media agency to do marketing online because I got interested in the subject and started that. And from there, started co-hosting a podcast and now head up the largest female focus podcast network in existence. And so like if you were to paint a picture saying, okay, well, if Michael studied this and then got this, like none of the things that I've ever been a part of that have had any success would have been possible. It just wouldn't exist. And the

reason I tell you this is to point out that if you just get started on certain things and you push and you try and you put in work and you and you adjust, a lot of things can happen. You just have to be willing to put yourself out there and do it. Well, it's a muscle, right? It's a muscle that you have to work over and over. I think for an example of what we're saying, a good example is my girlfriend Erica. Erica runs the blog Fashionlish. Erica went to school for fashion. But while Erica was at school for fashion, she was not graduated. She was a freshman. She launched a blog. This is when no one had a blog. This is three years before me. She launched Fashion Lush. And it's because she was in school for fashion, but she had a passion and wanted a side hustle, but she wanted it to be something that she was going

to school for. So instead of saying, I'm in a wait. until college is over to launch fashion lish. She said, I'm going to do it now. And I'm going to have my mom take pictures of me in the backyard in what I'm wearing. And it's not going to be perfect or pretty. She was like an OG. She's an OG. And now Erica makes a full living off her blog.

She's crushing it. And she is like really, really killing it on TikTok. She's very creative. But the point is if she had waited until after college to launch fashion lush, I don't think she'd be as far along. She decided to channel what she was doing for school. and put it into her side hustle while also going to school and finishing school. Anyway, I think she's a good example of someone who's really done it in a way that she didn't wait for perfectionism.

Well, I've always envied people like you and Erica and my business partner, Weston, people that are very clear about their passions and understand because we live in a time now, and there's a lot of people, and the reason I bring this up, there's a lot of people right now looking for the next thing. Some of us are being furloughed. Some of us are being laid off. Some of us are just realizing, hey, I'm not happy in the city. live in or the job that I have. And they have a very clear idea of who they want to be and what they want to do, but they're unwilling to get started. And why I wanted to talk about this is because people like you that clearly can identify their passion, there's never been a better time. The internet

exists. There's so many different platforms and outlets and so many different ways that you can start actually executing on your passion and sharing it with the world and actually making a living doing it. You have time. You have time. But more than that, you have distribution. Like, if you are passionate about anything right now, whether it's art or fitness or content or writing or music or whatever the hell it is. And you have an idea or it's a product. Like right now, you can get it out there. You can start an Instagram. You can start a blog. You can start a podcast. You start a website. Like you can get started. And I think with so many people that have these passions, they end up hurting themselves because they're so worried on perfectionism and they don't take the time to actually

get going. They think A to Z instead of A to B. My advice of those people that are very clear about what they want to do is to just start today. Ask yourself, what is step one in the process to do because it's going to lead to step two, step three, step four. But to answer your question in a round about Way, learn, what's my passion? It's been, it's taken a very long time for me to figure that out. And I think for people like me that don't know, the way I figured it out and the reason I told the story of kind of my jig, jag, zigzag, zigzag career path that doesn't make any sense on paper is to point out that I still may not know my passion, but by doing different. things and actually taking action and getting started and taking chances on different things,

it's helped me figure it out and it's led to so many interesting paths. And the only reason they exist is because I've said, hey, that sounds like fun or that's a good idea. Let's get started and not wait. I also think another thing to point out to, we were kind of talking about this earlier, is the other day Jacqueline Johnson of Create and Cultivate asked me on her Instagram live what my advice was for college graduates. And the right, like I put it in quotes, it's the right answer that we all hear as well, go try a lot of different careers and intern and try a lot of things and figure out what you like. I have a really different opinion than that. And I think that this is really relevant to this episode. My opinion on that, and of course,

it's my opinion, is that I think if it were me, what I would do is go get a service job at a restaurant, bartending, waiting tables, whatever it is, and use the time that you have off to do your side hustle and zone in on what you really want to do. Now, obviously, that's a problem if you don't know what that is. But if you do know what that is, my advice to you is instead of going and working in those industries, I personally would, and I actually did this, is I bartended. And during the day, I shot photos. And during the night, I wrote blog posts and I rinsed and repeat, rinsed and repeat. I think that it's more productive towards a hustle to do it that way as opposed to go working for a bunch of different people in an industry. Like, I feel like if I had went to, you know, 20 different

news stations or go worked under an editor and a magazine that I don't think I would have been able to build the skinny confidential in the same way. By bartending at night, it gave me the ability to have my days open to double down on my side hustle and really get clarity on my brand. See, but this is where you and I may differ a little bit and may disagree. I love when we differ. Because you are fit in that first bucket where you knew what your passion was and you knew you want to do it. So what you were able to do is you're like, okay, I'm going to actually, the side hustle was actually you bartending and teaching pure bar. Like that was, that was your side hustle. So what I say is that it's not necessarily like your business was your main hustle and

what you did to keep the lights on and keep cash flowing, which I agree you should do if you, if you're someone like you that knows what you want to do, is you did the bartending. And I think it teaches you amazing skills, teaches you people skills, teaches you out of work hard, teaches you all like all sorts of amazing work ethic. And it's, and it's not easy for all those service industry people. And I watch you break your. back night after night they're bartending. It's not an easy thing. But you're lucky in the sense that you knew what your main hustle was. You knew that you wanted to blog and you wanted to write. And so you were able to do that. But for people like me that don't know what our passions are, my advice

would be counter. My advice would be to go try different things, get different internships, get different jobs to see what you like and what you dislike. Because without actually jumping into different industries and working for different people or trying different things, there's no way for you to identify. Like, for me, I thought I wanted to be in real estate. I thought that's what I was going to do. I thought I wanted to be on construction sites managing projects. I got into it during a time. Granted, it was terrible. It was 2008, and we were getting our faces slammed in, which maybe gave me a bad taste in my mouth. But I realized quickly, like, okay, I'm not really passionate about real estate. And then, you know, building that business, Jeppitt with my dad, like, he was

much more passionate about aviation than me, which is why he's still involved. And, you know, I've taken a back seat. Like, that was his thing. But it taught me, okay, I like business. I like marketing. I like branding. I like all these things. And it gave me a skill set to do what I'm doing now, which is run to your media. And so I think it's important while you're on this journey trying to identify what you want to do to not wait and say, okay, I'm not going to start doing something until I identify my passion. I'm just going to wait until I know. Get started and probably opportunity to come knocking on the door and hit you in the face like it did to me. So let's get really micro with this. What are some tangible tips that or advice that you would give to

someone who wants to get started right the second. You know, I'm a very example-based person. So I'm going to try to use examples while also just keeping it micro. I think the biggest thing that I've learned over the years is to stop thinking about my professional career in terms of three months, six months a year and try to really think five, 10, 15 years where I want to be. And then from there, really get micro and ask myself, like, what can I do this week, this month. I think so many of us we get into a place when we get started on something or we want

to get started on something and we overthink how much we need to do. So we make this huge to-do list 10 things when I'm sure many of us do it. I've been guilty of it. You've been guilty of it. Where we have this huge to-do list and we're like, okay, where do we get started? Warren Buffett famously said, I think it was him. He said basically make that list of eight to 10 things you want to do and then cross off the bottom eight and just leave the top two and just only do that. And I think the same approach can apply when you're starting something. It's, you know, let's just say you want to start a podcast because that's easy to talk about. Okay, what's step one?

Step one is think about the concept. Think about who's hosting it. Who's co-hosting it? And then start researching what equipment you need to get started on it like literally tomorrow. Like what do you need to do from there? If you just take that step first, the equipment shows up at your door, okay, once you have the equipment, how do I set up the equipment? Set up the equipment and so on and so on.

You take these micro steps that force you into the next step. I think if you sit there and you go, okay, I'm going to wait, I'm not going to get the equipment. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that until everything's there, until everything's perfect. You just end up never getting started and you just procrastinate. So my first piece of advice is take step one to two instead of thinking step one to 10. Quick break to talk about cookies in the dark. Perfect keto cookies in the dark. Since I'm postpartum, I am tightening things up and these cookies have been like a godsent when I sit in bed and want something sweet. Okay, I've been talking about them and raving about

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with COVID going on. And so popping in a few of these in is, you know, it's saving me. Honestly, if you want to replace like a high sugar dessert or you want to have them between meals, I even know someone that has been trying them for breakfast. Might have to have one after these reads. Okay. Anyways, so if you're trying to eat low carb, definitely check them out. You guys, they have all different kinds of things.

They also have bars, collagen protein, MCT oil powder, which a lot of people like in coffee. So tons of different things for the low carb lover. Okay, so go to www. Perfectketo.com slash skinny to buy one and get one perfect keto. 40% off plus free shipping. Get the cookies. Have some tea in bed. Thank me later.

All right, let's get back to the show. I think something else that's really important to note is that I believe that, and I could be wrong, but in 10 years, I believe every single person will have their own. own personal brand. I do believe that. Or some version of it. They should have it. Yeah, I would say that if you are planning on profiting from your passion like most of us want to do, you have to turn yourself into a brand. So I think maybe that's a really good place to start. How are you going to turn yourself into a brand? What do you want to be known for?

What medium do you think is going to tell your story best? Some people don't want to be in front of a camera. So, okay, do a podcast. Some people don't want to be in front of a camera. So okay, do a podcast. Some people don't want to be heard on a mic. Okay, so take Instagram photos. There's so many different mediums to showcase your content. And then another thing that I would say is while you're doing that, make sure that you're not looking at other people's formulas. It's fine to look, I guess, but make sure that you're zoned into what your formula is.

And what makes you stand out in a space that people do say is saturated? What makes you unique? Write down all the different things that makes you unique. So how are you going to profit from your passion? How are you going to turn this into a brand? And how are you going to stay true to yourself and have your voice heard from a unique perspective? I think when you mix those things together, it's a really strong foundation for launching

whatever you want to do. It's a good thing to be inspired by other people, right? Like, I'm inspired by many people. But I think it's a bad thing to watch closely what other people are doing because what it does is it takes you out of your own head and takes you away from what you should be doing and what you can speak uniquely to. So, you know, a perfect example is I try, even though I'm running a podcast network, I try not to listen to too many podcasts that are close to what Lauren and I do because I don't want it to take me or her out of our own voice. I want to be inspired by those people and be aware of what they're doing. But at the same time, I want our voices to remain true to ourselves. So I think, again, when you're starting out and you're building that personal brand, like know what other people are doing, be inspired by it. But really ask yourself what only you can speak uniquely to and talk about that. Like that to me, is what gets the most traction. That a little bit of vulnerability, truth. I know that

word authenticity. Like, speak to things that are natural to you to speak to and that only you yourself can speak to. Gary Vee is like someone that I've always looked up to as I was growing my business. I ended up reading Crush It and it really helped me execute on what I wanted to do. And then it was crazy because eight years later, he ended up featuring the Skinny Confidential and Crushing it. So that just shows you I went from being a complete broke bartender, absolutely no money, like living at my godparents, working until 12 at night and going to school all day and teaching during the day and doing everything I could to sort of keep my head above water. But anyways, he is like a really, he's a big inspiration for me.

And he says two quotes that I think are really relevant to this episode. And it's exactly what Michael just said, which is look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I want to do every day for the rest of my life? Do that. And that's, I think that that's a really good place to start all of this and just get started. He also said people are chasing cash, not happiness. So when you chase money, you're going to lose. He said, you're just going to.

Even if you get the money, you're not going to be happy. And I think that those two things really go together. Like when you're looking at yourself in the mirror and you're asking if you could do something every single day for the rest of your life, what would you do for free? And for me, that that was content creation. You know, what's so funny about this is like I've said since the beginning of this podcast that no matter what, take dear media side, this podcast side, like, I would do this podcast for free every week.

I mean, the amount of interesting conversations we get to have, how we get to connect with the listeners, like it's something I would do for free. And it's been one of the first things that I've become very passionate about that I think is, you know, the businesses aside, they almost build themselves because it's so exciting to be part of it that, you know, the motivation to get up every day and to build this thing and to work on your media and to work on this podcast is it's something I would do even if a business didn't exist around it. So I could not agree with that more. And in certain scenarios where I've chased cash and those businesses have either been short run or fallen through.

It's the same thing as the person that goes and gets a job because, hey, like, it's a good paycheck, but they hate what they're doing. You're never going to be really good at that job. You're never going to be really happy. And like, you've got to ask yourself, the trade-off is. So I think the reason this episode's timely, you know, to round it all out is that there's a lot of people that are looking for the next thing right now. They're looking for something new. Maybe they're in between jobs. Maybe they've just been laid off. We've been furloughed. Maybe they're just at home thinking about the next thing. And the point is here is like, what better time to get started than now? This is an opportunity. If you look at what's going on right now as an opportunity,

your entire perspective will shift. And like just to really end this podcast, I am a huge believer I know Michael is too, that action and effort and patience is underestimated. Use the tools that you have in the toolbox right in front of you. And now you have time, which is like there's no better time. Personally, if I were confused at what I wanted to do, this would be the time where I went inward and reflected. I'm not saying you have to write a book, launch a podcast, launch a blog, launch a business. I'm saying use this time for reflection and strategy on what you want to do next. And you know, I was thinking about what we said earlier about getting started. And there's a couple other tips there. But I think step one before even

all the other stuff we talked about is making peace with the fact that there are going to be critics. There are going to be people very close to you that question what you're doing. They're going to be people close to you that say it's a bad idea that they don't get it. When Lauren was starting her blog, I cannot tell you the number of people that said, what the hell are you doing? even back in the day before, you know, we had such fancy cameras on her iPhone and she used to bring a camera to the restaurants and take pictures of the food. My family included her family, people saying, like, why are you taking pictures in the middle of the restaurant? Like, there's so many people that said, you're never going to make a living at blogging. This podcast would not exist

without the brand that she built on the blog. You know, when we started podcasting, there were so many people that said, what the fuck's a podcast? Why would you do a podcast? Like, is that radio? What's going on there? And, you know, to see what it's turned into now with this amazing community and now Dear Media with 40 plus shows. You have to be willing to take the hits from critics, both close to you and far from you. You have to be willing to block out the naysayers. And so I guess to back way, way up,

my first piece of advice is to make peace with the fact that there is going to be people or are going to be people that doubt what you're doing, that have negative things to say, that put you down, that don't get it. But that doesn't matter. Those people, in my opinion, are other insecure people that are also unwilling to get started

and take chances. The people that are that have done it for themselves before and that understand what it's like to take chances and understand what it's like to be vulnerable are going to be your most supportive allies because they get what it's like to put themselves out there. And so surround yourself with people like that. And by the way, like we have a long way to go with what we're doing. Like I feel like I'm just getting fucking started. Like I feel like the race isn't like whatever you want to call it. Like the meat hasn't even begun yet. Like we have so much. So we have so many things that we need to do. And in quarantine, we're taking our own advice, by the way, and using this time to reflect and to strategize and to plan and to listen to you guys on what kind

of content you want. Like, I never want to get comfortable in what I'm doing. I always want to have that feeling of being uncomfortable and constantly putting myself in positions to get out there. And off what Michael said, I have to say, if people around you are naysayers, don't fucking listen. Don't fucking listen. You know, this has been 10, 12 years of hard work. And and building this thing from the ground up. And so the privilege that exists is the privilege that we get to talk to a large audience and try to motivate them to also get their start and also get out there and get started and execute on their passions.

Like that's the position of privilege. It's not because this has been easier. This is something that fell in a lap. It's the point of getting up, grinding it out every single day, working your face off, going after it, blocking out the naysayers, you know, really adjusting and trying as negative voices come in. And I hope that if there's anything that people, get from the show. It's that you can really chase any dream that you have as long as you're

willing to put in the work and as long, most importantly, as you're willing to get started. Create your own future. That's what it's about, guys. Create your own future. I hope that this podcast inspired you to do something today that gets you a little closer towards whatever goal you have. Make sure you've rated the podcast on iTunes, rate, subscribe. And then of course, tell us your favorite part of this episode on my latest Instagram at the Skinny Confidential. And someone from the team will drop into your inbox and send you some goodies. Thank you guys so much for listening. We will see you on Tuesday.