The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - 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. 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 our 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, reduced 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 while 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. To shake the balls, do whatever I got to do. And I honestly, I feel so much better. I go, I stand in front of this Juve 20 minutes front and back. Shake your balls. To shake the balls, do whatever I got to do. And I honestly, I feel so much better. I mean, I could not be a bigger fan of this product. There's so many benefits that we need more than

ever now. So for those of 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-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 it too. I mean, we have a lot of... Before all this happened, 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. Lauren 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 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 there's two of us, Lauren and I, on 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 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, 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 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 bandaid 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 changed as we've actually gotten started on some things. But at one point, indeed, we were probably both of these people. And I've been doing more and more interviews because Dear Media has been in the news because we just closed our Series A, which is exciting. Some of you have been following along on that. And, you know, 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 mantra? And I started thinking back, like, Oh, what the hell is my personal mantra? And there's so many different things that I, 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 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, 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 Dear 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 adjusted. And then really when I say adjust, refined based on consumer or customer or listener 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 out and the colors I wanted and the vibes I wanted and who was the person that would consume it. And I was telling you all about it. And you looked at me, there's 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, a good idea never made anybody money. Yeah, that's great. Whenever people send me like, Michael, can you look at this idea and maybe invest or whatever and sign my NDA? I'm like, I'm not going to sign the NDA. I don't even want to look. The idea doesn't mean anything. We all know these people that just talk about this great idea, or those other people like, hey, I had the original idea for Uber, or 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, it's action that beats ideas nine times out of 10. 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 for

starving artists. It's more of a creative asset. But you get what I'm saying. It's this idea that 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 because 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 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, 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 just have a real passion for a strong idea and you're just honed in. You're like, this is what I want to do. And 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 that 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. There's so many things that could be done differently. But the point 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 a hundred percent 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 look at my childhood and I'm like, where did that start where I needed to try to get everything to be 100%? Because nothing's 100%. Nothing I've ever done is 100%. And I don't know where it 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 some content,

go launch a piece of shit. 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 ourselves feel better. It's 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 hundred episodes. Shitty, shitty sound quality, guys guys. 100 fights, interruptions. You were a big interrupter. I was the only interrupter? You were an interrupter.

Fine. I'll take that. I was an interrupter. I probably still am in some degree. But I think, like Lauren said, when we got into podcasting, we had zero background in 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 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, 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, there's 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, 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 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 zaza okay like everyone's yanking on my hair so neutrophil sent me a while ago their products to try out basically their whole entire mission is to help you grow thicker fuller 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

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and using promo code SKINNY to get 20% off. This is their best offer available anywhere. You should know. Plus free shipping on every order. 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? And so if you, let's just use the fitness instructor 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 with 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 and all these things 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 a degree. But for certain things, you don't need 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 Lauren's because of what she's built and the platform she has. But for those who are like, oh, what did Michael do? What's his background? I was 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 in 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-focused podcast network in existence. And so if you were to paint a picture saying, okay, well, if Michael studied this and then got this, 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 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 going to wait until college is over to launch Fashion Lush, she said, I'm going to do it now. And I'm going to have my mom take pictures of me in the backyard and 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 it. And she is 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 I 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. 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, right now, you can get it out there.

You can start an Instagram. You can start a blog. You can start a podcast. You can start a website. 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 to 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 it? Because it's going to lead to step two, step three, step four. But to answer your question in a roundabout way, Lauren, what's my passion? 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 my jig, jag, 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 too, 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, the right answer that we all hear is, 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 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 20 different news stations or worked under an editor at 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 were like, okay, I'm going to actually... The side hustle was actually you bartending and teaching Pure Bar. That was your side hustle. So what I say is that it's not necessarily...

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'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 how to work hard, teaches you all sorts of amazing work ethic. And it's not easy for all those service industry people. And I watch you break your back night after night there at 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. 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, okay, I'm not really passionate about real estate. And then building that business, Jeppard with my dad, he was much more passionate about aviation than me, which is why he's still involved.

And I've taken a backseat. 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 skillset to do what I'm doing now, which is run Dear 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 till 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 or advice that you would give to someone who wants to get started right this second?

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, 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. 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 and 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 godsend when I sit in bed and want something sweet. Okay. I've been talking about them and raving about them. Basically perfect keto helps make a low carb lifestyle easier with snacks and supplements formulated by Dr. Anthony Gustin. plus the best low-carb recipes and

information is on their site. So basically, I heard about these from a bunch of my girlfriends. They kept telling me about these specific cookies. So I had to try them out. And I can tell you, with a cup of tea, there is nothing better. They went through over 10 iterations and conducted rigorous blood ketone and blood sugar testing along the way to make sure they do not cause a spike in blood sugar, which is why I like to eat them at night. Well, I love them because right now it's slim pickings in our house for food, especially with COVID going on. And so popping a few of these in is, it's saving me. Honestly, if you want to replace 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 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 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 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 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, 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. That to me is what gets the most traction. That, a little bit of vulnerability, truth. I know that word authenticity. Speak to things that are natural to you to speak to and that only you yourself can speak to. Gary Vee is 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 with 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. 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 was content creation. You know what's so funny about this is I've said since the beginning of this podcast that no matter what, take Dear Media aside, this podcast side, 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, 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 there, they almost build themselves because it's so exciting to be part of it that, you know, it, it, the motivation to get up every day and to build this thing and to work on your meeting, to work on this podcast is it's something I would do even if it didn't, 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, 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 you got to ask yourself what the trade-off is. So I think the reason this episode is timely 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 or been furloughed. Maybe they're just at home thinking about the next thing. And the point is here is 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 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. 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.

There are 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 we had such fancy cameras on our 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? 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. When we started podcasting, there were so many people that said, what the fuck's a podcast? Why would you do a podcast? Is that radio? What's going on there?

And 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 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, we have a long way to go with what we're doing. 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. This has been 10, 12 years of hard work in 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. That's the position of privilege. It's not because this has been easier. This is something that fell

in our 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, 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.