Growth by Shawn
Welcome to The Growth by Shawn Podcast, the show where transformation meets conversation. Hosted by Shawn Rivers, this podcast dives deep into mindset, spiritual development, health, and identity shifts, bringing you insights from a diverse range of guests. From coaches and wellness experts to spiritual healers, entrepreneurs and much more, each episode uncovers unique perspectives and real-life stories to inspire self-growth. Whether you're looking to level up your mindset, explore new wellness practices, or redefine your identity, this podcast is your guide to becoming the best version of yourself. Tune in and start your journey to self-improvement today!
Growth by Shawn
Never Worry About Content Again! With Lyssa Scott
Stories of creative road trips and the lifestyle of a 'creative vagabond.' Lyssa shares how aligning passion, skill, and genuine need can lead to profound personal and professional fulfillment. By tackling common hurdles in content creation, like styling and batching for clients, Lyssa has forged a career that marries her love for travel and creativity, proving that identifying and solving pressing issues can lead to successful business ventures. We unpack the concept of content pillars, the secret sauce to a dynamic and engaging strategy, ensuring that intersecting interests captivate audiences and inspire creators alike.
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Connect with Lyssa!
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Instagram: @maximumpotency
people get really overwhelmed by content. They're like, oh my God, I need to have all this content. And there's different spots where they get stuck. Sometimes they get stuck in the conceptualization of it. I don't know what to post, I don't know what to say. That's content strategy.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Growth by Sean podcast. Here you'll find conversation on the expansion of all aspects of the game of life, with a deep focus on our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual experience. Join your host, Sean Rivers, as he interviews entrepreneurs and coaches to showcase the many identity shifts individuals make throughout their lives. You're here for a reason, and Sean aims to share tools and stories that help us all move forward and take ownership of our goals.
Speaker 3:All right, what's going on, guys? Five-month hiatus has finally ended. I'm here with Lissa, scott Guys I don't even know how to introduce a podcast anymore, because I am a completely different human than five months ago. I hope that everyone else is a completely different human as well. And, lissa, I guess we'll just get right to it. Right? We chatted a little bit about what you've been up to. Why don't you just share that with us? Your last episode was episode 132. I know you guys haven't heard my voice in so long. It's been at least six to eight months since you've heard Lissa's. So roll with what you got going on right now, because everyone's already got their background, because I'm sure they already listened to what your episode was the last time.
Speaker 1:So oh, thanks. Yeah, it's exciting that this is the end to your hiatus and we're shaking the dust off. I'm about to restart my podcast as well, and so you and I are surfing the same wave in that regard, and it's a little bit like a warmup for me. I'm going to be recording those in two days, so it's just exciting. It's exciting, yeah, I would say.
Speaker 1:The most thing, or the thing that I'm the most excited about right now, is that I just hit publish on my very first book, and I've talked about being an author since I was like four. Right, what are you going to be when you grow up? An author, a teacher and an artist? I used to say and it's like, I'm kind of like all three. It's super interesting how what we want when we're young tends to be what we continue to want in some way, shape or form. Right, I didn't know online entrepreneurship was going to be a thing in 1996, when I was three years old, so didn't have the vocabulary for it at the time, but had the direction nonetheless. So, hitting publish on the book.
Speaker 1:It's called Unemployed how to Build a Personal Brand so Strong you Never have to Work for Anyone Again, and the key word there is have to. You can if you choose to, but you don't have to. You should be able to realize your vision and bring other people with you and build that brand, and so I'm really excited, deeply excited, about that. And then there's other things. I'm sure we'll get into them the content, road trips. We're launching an offer called Brand Camp later this year Taylor, my business partner and I and it's just going to be a really good time, so we're bringing lots of things to life. I'm in a creative high right now. I'm on like a creative rampage, like a mad woman, just creating left and right, and it just feels really good to be in that momentum.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so when you get into that flow state of these creative highs for a lot of people it's hard to get into that flow state how have you created this life where that is something that's at a real high and constant for you right now?
Speaker 1:I love this question. Thank you for that. I'm going to quote a good friend of mine, chase Tullison, say when a rocket launches, does it require a lot of power? Is there a lot of smoke and dust? Is it pretty? Does it go very far? How much energy is required to launch that rocket an inch or two? And then like, it gets easier, right, momentum, inertia, however you want to say it.
Speaker 1:Creativity is the exact same way. At first it literally feels like you're just like sludging through mud and you're like like when I went from coaching back to creative, I'm like how do I even do this? I don't have a portfolio, nobody even knows I have this skill. Like maybe five people know, right, my close people know. But like, how do I really do this? And it's just like so heavy and murky. And then there's this sort of in-between land where you're doing some of it, and that in-between land lasted for me for like six months where I was working part-time at a store and it was a store that I was passionate about being in. They were known for their visual merchandising, so I was still creating and synthesizing and like we played vinyl and really good music while we worked. So it was an inspiring environment. It wasn't like I was completely going and living a parallel life somewhere, but it was very much still like you were talking about earlier today, like it was 60 hour work weeks. It was I'm putting in 20, 25 at this part-time job and I'm still going and working 40, even though I don't have the payoff right now I'm just sludging through the mud and like hoping it'll work.
Speaker 1:And those are the days where you like ask yourself, like, is this worth it? Should I keep doing this? Is this like is there a drop in the bucket happening here or what's going on? And then all of a sudden and it's like I'm a woman of faith, so there's a worship song, says it's going to come all of a sudden right. It's like the hand of God or the connections that fire in a certain sequence at a certain time with certain people in certain places. You eventually find your way back into those conversations where you're planting seeds and so really all last year I'm starting to have leads. Come back, the good old boomerang where you plant a seed and you're like, hey, if you ever need a website or a brand, I got you. But now you know it is six months or nine months or 12 months later on some of these guys and they're like hey, you said you do landing pages, right. Yep, I've been here, doors have been open Right, and there's this energy of just like holding what you say, you are refusing to be stagnant in it and continuing to plant seeds even though you don't know when they're gonna pop up, and so that's kind of the business aspect of this question.
Speaker 1:The creative aspect of this question is way more of a daily practice, which is like keep the iron hot, like don't let a week go by. For me, it's not a day, it's a week where you don't make something Every single week. At the end of the week, I should have two or three or four or five things I've created that I could show you as proof of. Hey, I was in my daily practice most days. There may be a day where I have four or five sales calls and I don't get to create anything, but the next day is probably a creative day, and that could be anything from an Instagram carousel to a podcast cover, to a landing page, to it's not always, you know a finished product five times a week, but it's this progress, and so just continually staying with the craft, whatever that may be, whether you're into wood, woodworking or cooking or whatever, don't let like five days go by, not touch the wood shop or not make a meal, right.
Speaker 1:And so there's this energy of and this is what I've really been thriving off of the more I create, the more I create, and it's like creativity doesn't run out, it multiplies, which is feminine energy, right, feminine energy is the multiplier. And so I'm like, holy shit, I'm having these revelations where I'm like, yeah, this isn't something that diminishes when I do it more, there's something that amplifies when I do it more. And so now I'm in this like literal addiction state of like I'm creating almost compulsively, where it's like I have to keep going because I literally get off on the fact that it's happening before my eyes, right. So I'm like it's every single time a finished piece comes out, it's just more fuel on the fire, gasoline on the fire to keep creating, and so it's like getting up and into that state is really exhaustive. But once you're there, like you said, maintaining that high is literally just keep doing it yeah, yeah so there's the intensity of my voice right now.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited.
Speaker 3:Yes, right, it's because you're so excited about it, right, yeah, and so, first off, to give someone a little bit of grace when listening to this, you had said it took nine months, 12 months where people started to boomerang back. Right, you planted those seeds, and I think where people like a helpful metaphor for people to understand when they are in that process of planting the seeds, the soil just isn't ready for those seeds, and so once the soil is ready, then those seeds will begin to sprout. So it took nine or twelve months for whether it was your own soil or whether it was was for a potential client soil, to be like oh now I need this, right. But if the seed is planted, as long as you're doing everything that you can to make sure that the seed is planted and that your soil is fertile, then those seeds will begin to sprout. So give everyone a little bit of grace there.
Speaker 3:Then, what I'm hearing a lot from you is passion, how passionate you are about all of these different creative aspects of your life that you have, in essence, created. And so when I look at the term passion, what I am most interested in right now is are you finding things externally that you're passionate about, or are you bringing passion to everything that you do? Yeah, I are you bringing passion to everything?
Speaker 1:that you do. Yeah, I think that's a great question, and it's kind of a chicken or the egg question, because I could make a case for both. My friend, there is a genuine component in my personality that wants to be the wind in other people's sails, so that's the bringing passion part. There's an external feedback of when I put the feelers out, for, hey, does anybody need creative help? I see a decent amount of hands go up. I'm like, ooh, there's a skill that I'm most passionate about. I bring passion to it, but it's also needed, and I think you can be passionate about something and it's not needed, and that fire doesn't really go, and I also think that you could be not passionate but needed, and you might still do a decent amount of that work, but you don't feel super fulfilled in it, and so it's.
Speaker 1:I think it's a check-in with yourself of making sure that both are happening. Is there an overlap or event diagram of like where I'm needed and where I want to be needed? Are they the same? And wherever that is, I think there's some really good sauce for taking it and running with it, and I love what you said about grace. That was six, nine and 12 months after I got confident enough to say yo, I do this. Let me know if you need a girl. There was years of figuring out what the heck came after.
Speaker 1:Hi, I'm Lissa and I do blank blank right and so arriving in that place of confidence, still there's a time delay for other people to then be like oh yeah, I think I'm, I think I'm ready. Like what you were saying, it's like an avocado you can't make an avocado ripe when it's not ripe yeah, so you're lissa and you do blank.
Speaker 3:You do all of these creative branding works. You're Alyssa as opposed to I do blank. If you were to fill in I'm Alyssa, I am blank. What would you fill in with the blank?
Speaker 1:yeah, you're saying qualities versus job titles yeah, who are you?
Speaker 3:as opposed to? What do you? Do you know?
Speaker 1:I always say, always say I am the American vagond, I am a creative and I am a child of God. Those are kind of my top three. But take everything else away. I will still create, I will still wander and I will still pray.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so now you're doing all of these creative road trips and when people look from the outside, a lot of people say that they want to just go in. A lot of people say that they want to just go in, travel the world and somehow make money from doing it, and more or less that is what you do, and so can you give us an inside look on what that looks like and how other people can also utilize their own gifts to go and do things that you do?
Speaker 1:100%. And I have that realization often where I'm like I joke around, right, and I say, well, I'm flying on a plane to Florida, going to go hang out at the beach for a week, going to be a content monkey, somebody's got to do it right. I joke around a lot and there's a lightheartedness there, but that lightheartedness doesn't come without a big serving of humility and just gratitude for being the vessel. And so, like I can't take credit. Some of the connections in my life right now and some of the phone calls that I'm getting and the contracts that I'm getting, it's the hand of God, like just being in the right place at the right time, like I said, but almost like to a point that's beyond my control. So I would say the controllable in that situation is like being friendly, being encouraging and being confident when you meet people hey, I would love to come help you shoot content sometimes, and it almost starts as this sort of like joke, like, yeah, we should just like go shoot a week of content, like that'd be so fun, right, like there was a lightheartedness there and then somebody was like no, really, we should do that, and then it turned into an offer and so again, where does the world need my help and where am I joyful to give it? Right? Looking at that overlap, but coming back into your actual question, which is like how the heck have we made a life off of working and working in quotes, right, and traveling, and hanging out is going back into Alex Sermozy, the legend, the prophet, alex Sermozy, his $100 million offers, his burning pain.
Speaker 1:I listened for complaints. Strategically, this is what happened. People get really overwhelmed by content. They're like oh my God, I need to have all this content, and there's different spots where they get stuck. Sometimes, they get stuck in the conceptualization of it. I don't know what to post. I don't know what to say. That's content strategy. Sometimes, though, they have the whole strategy on lock, and I saw this over and over, because I was doing content strategies for a thousand dollars with people, and then they weren't getting implemented.
Speaker 1:I was like what's the hang-up here? Well, I don't have anybody to film me, or I don't like how it looks when I film it with my phone, or I don't like what I'm wearing, I don't like how I look, especially with females. Like a lot of times, they'll be like oh, I don't, I'm just like I didn't get ready today. So I didn't film the reel because I just like didn't look nice. So then I would encourage them to batch. And then I started thinking what if I just removed that barrier for success altogether? And what if we just got it done? And what if I styled you? And what if we were already in a pretty area and you were already dolled up for the day and we could shoot like 40 reels a day? What about then? Right, and so I just priced it out. I was like is this a viable offer? Because it solves the burning pain, which is like I hate shooting content and I just want it to be done.
Speaker 1:And people want to go on road trips Like they love. They're always like, oh, you live in Scottsdale, arizona. That's awesome. Like, oh man, have you, have you been to Zion? Have you been to Grand Canyon? Yeah, of course, it's right at the road.
Speaker 1:And I'm starting to think of is there a reason why I ended? Why did I want to live here? Well, because it's such a good jumping point, because you can shoot content and go camping and look at the start Like there's so much to do out here. People would probably come out and shoot and it's warm here like all year. So even in the winter these cats from, like you know, buffalo, new York, they're flying out and they're like doing their content in the Southwest and it's a write-off. So I started thinking about the mind of a business owner too is looking for write-offs, looking to get their content done, and it just kind of whipped together in this way where I was like I could run with this and that turned into that.
Speaker 1:So launching the Rip on Life road trip it's called. They come out for five to seven days. They pick their route. We have different routes that we do out of Phoenix Always starts and ends in Phoenix for me, and if they want to fly out of a different airport, I'll drop them off and I'll continue home myself. I really enjoy that last day, actually on the road solo, just kind of processing all of it. But those individuals who do that they go home. They've got a tremendous weight off their back of like my content for the year is done Holy moly Like and it was a write-off and I got to go hang out in the Southwest so that that launched and that was awesome.
Speaker 1:We got three people in which I was kind of like. My friend Joel said to me. He's like what you think people are going to. In a really playful way he said you think people are just going to pay to come hang out with you and shoot their content? And then he's like and then lo and behold, they did. And I was like I know, like it's crazy, right? I literally was just like it all started with just like a big fat what if? Like what if, what if I could, what if we did, you know?
Speaker 1:And then there was some like splinter offers I would call them that came off of that offer. One of them was I had two different clients One asked me to come to Florida and one asked me to come to Charleston and like, hey, would you come to me and shoot? Because, like, I see that you do this, but for whatever reason, there was either an event or a setting or a team in those places where they're like I need you to come to me. And the answer is like, yeah, totally. Well, I never launched that as an offer, but that just started happening because conversations were happening and offers were happening, and then the two collide. And so this is what I'm talking about with the putting yourself out there and being willing and understanding, like, yeah, I do content, yeah, I could do that, that's aligned. And so started flying.
Speaker 1:I flew to Florida, mexico, minnesota, philadelphia, like a whole bunch of spots all last fall, and some of them were content road trips or content capturing time, and so that was really really, really cool to see different people wanting a different version of something that I was kind of already putting out. So that happened, and then VIP weekends are starting to happen. People are like can I just come to Scottsdale for two days? I don't want to do a whole week? Yeah, totally. And so the amount of content rendered changes, but the service remains intact, and that is the craziest way I've ever made money. It's like, yeah, come hang out with me for a week. That's ballsy.
Speaker 1:I've never met these people right, I'm going to feed you, house you, drive, you, shoot, you, like conceptualize with you. You're going to be totally sick of me by the end of the five days, but you're going to love it. And they do that's. The craziest part is that they give good reviews at the end Like this is bananas, cause I grew up and I was like you know, maybe I'll be like a dirt bike tour guide in Bali or something. They don't make any money. So I was like that's not going to work because I like business a lot. So, anyway, I don't know if I answered your question directly or indirectly, but it's just it's been crazy to like go through that journey and all it is is iteration. Right, it's like what if this and then that, and then just figuring out how do I take this and make it valuable to the other person. So, capitalizing on the burning pain in the situation of like I want my content to be done.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just absolutely huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So someone that comes and they have this super, super high and they've got all this content. Now what happens when someone decides you know what I need to pivot? Happens when someone decides you know I need to pivot. What happens when someone goes and now this content isn't directly for their specific niche? Does it really matter that specific niche? Can they still post that content? Is that content still going to become relevant because it's still them? Is it more the energy behind it or the strategy of what it was?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we do a 90 day content calendar before the trip for very specific reels that are like face to camera talking reels, et cetera.
Speaker 1:What I will say is the people who come in to these offers are usually through their first few pivots, cause there's like that whole getting situated as a business owner thing that happens. They're situated. If they're investing in this, they're far enough along that they're probably not going to jump from fitness to business, for instance. They might jump from business to sales coaching or they might jump from fitness to like pain relief, like there's like a micro pivot but not an overhaul happening. So that's the first part.
Speaker 1:Second part is a lot of what we shoot is photos and B-roll. You can put any words you want on photos and B-roll. You can make a carousel about anything. So we don't render 52 pieces of content all at once. We drip out two reels for them a week and some carousel ideas for them each week. So as they evolve and grow, they're having a monthly marketing strategy with us and we're making sure that everything's aligned and so, yeah, there might be, you know, is there a scrap piece here or there where it's like, oh, you're talking about deadlifting and now you don't want to do personal training anymore and you know, some of this stuff may go by the wayside. Sure, yeah, like there's human error for sure, but you still have all this footage of you just walking through the desert or you know, beautiful photos of you. In last client we did Palm Springs right. She can put whatever caption whatever, hook whatever on that and it's still relevant because it is her. So a little bit of both.
Speaker 3:But and it's still relevant because it is her so a little bit of both, but so far I haven't seen anybody make a major pivot coming out of the road trip. It's only a micro pivot and it's creator, but they're not really sure what to post when. In terms of that disconnect, how do you get them to not only start posting but start posting and have that energy high where people are going to actually be interested?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the content strategy is like one of the entry points to maximum potency. That's usually one of the first things that I do with somebody is either a content strategy or a brand. So the visuals or the message and the content strategy is truly ground zero. Because the first question that I ask is what do you have to say? And the second question that I ask is how do you want people to feel? And so if we don't have those intact, we don't have anything else Like. This is the foundation. And so those two questions what do you want to say? How do you want people to feel? And then the third question is what do you want to be known for? We just start with those three questions, and those three questions may take us 30, 40 an hour to go through because we're talking about them in depth, right. And so what I'm listening for?
Speaker 1:When I ask somebody, like all the what questions, what are you creating, what are you envisioning, what are you saying, what do you want to be known for? I'm not asking how or why a lot. I ask how do you want them to feel? That's pretty much the only how question in that first session. And when we get clear on the, what I'm listening for trends and I'm extracting, like it sounds like you're really passionate about this and we're reflecting that back to them. Ooh, does this hold a charge for you? Like, are you excited about this? And we're just bouncing, spitballing ideas until a trend reveals itself and what I'm trying to get to the finished product of content pillars is a heart set that we can put into words, a mindset that we can put into words, just a few words, and then three zones of genius. And it's in the layering of those zones of genius, which I'll explain more in a second, where we create interest, tension and curiosity. So what do I mean by that? If I am a robot and all I talk about is financial planning, I don't have a heart or a mind that I'm sharing with you, and I don't have even two other things I'm talking about. I only do one thing. It can be really boring, really stale, really stuffy, not just for my audience, but for me. Like how many posts can I make about the same five things, right? So what people do when they hyper niche, like that is they typically tend to not even just go into one topic, but they make it even worse on themselves and they start to go into even just one type of content which is informative, teaching content, and so it's no surprise that they're bored and their audience is bored.
Speaker 1:So pulling out of that basic first step would be like what are three things that you're interested in talking about and where do these things naturally intersect? So, for example, it's not crazy to think that somebody could be really passionate about trail running, nutrition and travel. They kind of all go together you travel, you run some different trails, you cook along the way, right, like there's a brand story forming there. For me it's art and design, marketing strategy and styling. Well, those three things very naturally complement one another. It's like being zoomed in enough to have some connection. In other words, we're not talking about Brazil and raising sheep and pickleball, like we're not all over the map, but we've got an area where we've got a big three within that area, so within health, or within mental health, or within creativity, like what about it, right? So I'm always listening for these big three and what's interesting is like people tend to have drivers where they're like oh well, this is important, because this is important, which is like category subcategory or pillar subpillar. So I'm organizing all these thoughts into three main things, with subcategories, and sometimes those get rearranged when the client sleeps on it or the client comes back to it the next week, cause they're like, you know, I was talking about holistic health, but I think I actually want that pillar to be detox. Oh, okay, cool, so like the endocrine system and like getting the toxins out of your home. They're like, yeah, so it's like, okay, toxin free living rather than holistic health might become that pillar.
Speaker 1:And then the heartset and the mindset going back into that is independent of your business, independent of your craft. How do you think and how do you feel? Those things really don't change, and this is another part of, like you asked me, does the content become irrelevant? No, because your heart set and your mindset typically, unless there's a really big traumatic experience, don't do a 180. I know people who have gone and done a 180 in their life. However, typically, typically, our heart set and our mindset remains intact. If anything, we double down on those things when life happens.
Speaker 1:And so I'm going to use the example for maximum potency so that we can see this in action a little bit. If that's cool, maximum potency's mindset is masculine and the mindset always is, and the heart set is always feminine. So we all have like a yin and a yang, or masculine and a feminine to our brand, and the mindset of maximum potency is rip on life. And even just the verb rip is like aggressive right, it's like rip on it, like come on, like there's that sort of a high vibe stoke happening at the very least and at the very most you have, whereum Potency was born, which was on a ski or gonna cross the gym with my friend Ryan yelling at me rip on it, liz, come on, liz, right. And so there's this masculine doing energy to that statement. What does that mean? Seize the day, don't settle. Chase excellence, go after it for all it's worth. Leave nothing on the table. That's ripple life and it's very fast paced and very masculine.
Speaker 1:You can hear it in my tone right now the heart set of maximum potency is like we're on a floating rock in space. Life is so precious, dude. I woke up today Like God is so good. This is such a gift. We're in the middle of a living miracle. Can you see it? Taste it?
Speaker 1:If we're in the middle of a living miracle, can you see it, taste it, feel it? Like I'm gonna cry because I just feel some type of way about it. That's my heart set right and the two go hand in hand. It's how do you think, how do you feel? But when we can hone them into a couple sentences like rip on life, and life is precious, we then have anchor points for the tone that those three other topics are taking. They become important because we attach a why or a how to them, and so it's just like this beautiful thing where people don't usually feel flat. Once we've gone through that, they usually feel pretty amped up because I'm bringing their personality to the party, bringing their heart to the party, and then I'm bringing their interest to the party. And if you're excited about and interested in something that comes through to your point, yeah.
Speaker 3:So this makes it very simple for people in terms of now. People don't have a way out for I don't know what to post Now if anyone is still struggling with the three questions that are more than three questions that you had already started with this you gave a good example yet again of something that's already happened in your life that made you feel some type of way, and then you use that to go and answer the questions and everyone has something in their life, if you just sit with it long enough, that you can feel that same emotion of rip on life. So where I want to change paths here a little bit is we also talked a lot about relationships when we had been messaging, and so you have all of these clients that you go and you have these interpersonal relationships with them. There's a client coach barrier, a client business owner barrier, but there's also the friendship, and so how, now that you have all of this traveling that you do, do you also have these interpersonal relationships and how do you balance those while you're doing all this traveling?
Speaker 1:Yeah, are you speaking about how do I maintain relationships while I'm on the road, or what's the friend aspect of maximum potency like?
Speaker 3:No more of how do you have, aside from professional relationships, how do you maintain friendships and romantic relationships while you're doing all of this traveling?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, the romantic answer is I don't. That's cool too. I am in a season of singleness right now and I'm okay with it. What I will say is you know, I have this like it's. It's really funny, my, my brain is like equal parts. Like you know, I should really find a husband and like just make sure he's like down with the fact that I travel a lot. Maybe he'll come with me or something. He'll be a videographer, I don't know Right, there's like there's a pipe dream there.
Speaker 1:There's also like what if I just had a boyfriend in every city? Like joking, of course, but I'm like man, like life is just just be with the present day and that's. That's a short lived approach, right, it's just to be present and be where your feet are. But I do think that you know, in the past I've I was engaged to another entrepreneur. I think there has to be some type of understanding of like this is my vision and I'm committed to bringing it to life, and also we have a shared vision and so like getting to hold both on the romantic side. We did that fairly well until one of us moved to Australia and we said I said I can't go with you so and that was a personal conviction. So that ended on good terms and, honestly, our relationship died because we were both so committed to our vision and that vision wasn't aligned enough. So I think there's a beauty there too, when you look at why things happen. So that's the first part.
Speaker 1:The friendship part is really easy because I'm almost always in your neck of the woods at some point and so I'll say, hey, I'm going to be in today. I just said to a client you're in Georgia, I'm going to be in Charleston. How far of a drive is that for you? Oh, it's five hours. Do you want to come? Yeah, totally. So it's always kind of having that open door policy of life, and then I would never book a friend into a client's time without asking that client hey, do you care if my friend comes? He's going to help in this way or she's going to help in this way.
Speaker 1:So an example of this was my friend Jess and I were on her road trip. We were in my friend Julia's neighborhood. I said would you mind if we went and got coffee with Julia? I actually think she'd be a great lead. Got coffee with Julia. I actually think she'd be a great lead. She's like, yeah, totally, and whether or not they ever worked together totally different. But I have in mind intention and boundaries of like, hey, we're going to go to coffee for an hour, is that cool with you, right? Yeah, I'm always all over the place, so the chances of me actually getting to see my friends is high and it's non-traditional, right.
Speaker 1:So I've got got friends, really good friends, in Bend, oregon, omaha, nebraska, obviously Philadelphia where I grew up, and then quite a few of them are in Florida and so there's little hubs and everywhere is home and nowhere is home all at once. And it's this beautiful dichotomy of like I might not see you every weekend, but when I see you we're gonna drop in and we're gonna have the best freaking time and it's gonna be so special. And, um, not to get emotional, but some of my favorite friendships, I can picture their face in my mind almost like a movie screen right, and behind their face is an ever-changing background, but our connection stays intact and there's pretty much nothing that's better than that in my eyes. Um, I love it when I can hold a friend's hand or give him a big hug and be like remember that time in zion, and then you remember that time in philly and then you remember that time in florida and we've actually traveled together. There's something there that's so, so special. Um, like my friend alexis is like this we've gone to costa rica together, we both raised in philly, and then we hang out in colorado all the time and it's like, oh, like that's just so beautiful. But it's a different beautiful, you know.
Speaker 1:So I think it's just connected or disconnecting from traditional, and asking yourself, as an artist, would what do I want this to be? Yeah, and that's how I approach all my relationships. This gets to be whatever we decided. It is, whether that's romantic or otherwise. I just said that to somebody the other day. Um, we're exploring a potential romantic connection and I was like dude, this gets to be whatever we want it to be like.
Speaker 1:If you don't want it to be traditional, good news, I don't either. So all good, you know, it's like saying yes to a connection doesn't always mean like moving to our hometown and buying a house with a picket fence. Like it can mean that we're two artist vagabonds live on the road. It can mean that we don't spend every waking minute together. Like it can mean, whenever we decide, it gets to mean, and so it's just really given me a lot of customization and personal flair in my relationships of doing things differently. And that has not come without tremendous amounts of communication. It's talking through it and asking the awkward questions, and I live for it.
Speaker 3:Yep, so one of it relates to one of my mantras. Where there are no real rules in life, you can create it how you want to create it to some degree. And so when I talk about creating and the creative process just like I had mentioned before a reason I took this five month hiatus a lot of this had to do with finding and rooting in God and faith, and so when I talk and speak with you, that's one of the biggest pillars for yourself, and so this becomes something where now I have a further connection with you because of that and a lot of other people. And so when I look at that, what is the most important thing that we can start to conclude this conversation with around having faith that everything is going to work out with around having faith that everything is going to work out.
Speaker 1:How does having faith that everything is going to work out impact?
Speaker 3:you said a different way. A lot of people are struggling right now with XYZ their relationship, or their finances, or their political views, or X Y, z, and so why is it important for people, and how do they develop just blind faith that everything is going to be okay?
Speaker 1:Delusional amounts of blind faith required for the journey ahead my friend. Yes, I mean. I think developing a healthy amount of delusion is essential. And I laugh at myself. I'll be really vulnerable and say say, my bank account was negative this morning and I went on to do five figures of paid and full deals today. Today, that was the emotional swing today. That's not me bragging.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying like you have to be okay with not dancing with the unknown swan diving right into it as an entrepreneur. If you're going to be a fully self-employed entrepreneur, the swings are massive, right. Everything is a capacity exercise of how much can I hold and how much am I able to make myself feel safe while I hold. And so this morning, when I woke up and saw that, I was like I'm here.
Speaker 1:All 10 toes, all 10 fingers, breathing, living. Nothing bad is happening right now If I let that situation go on, different story. But it's interesting talking to people who are maybe not entrepreneurs or people who are just like, in a different mindset. They want things to be more predictable. We'll just say they value security more than I do. Maybe they can't imagine a lot of times like the amount of variance and experience and it's just been interesting to talk through that.
Speaker 1:So I think that's like a good thing to ask yourself right Is okay, do I need more blind faith or do I actually need more security? Because faith and security are oftentimes the opposite. Right, it's like one is faith that everything's going to be okay, no matter what, and the other one is saying, no matter what, blank is intact. And so looking at that balance in your life of, like what do I need to feel secure enough to go be really delusional in another area? For me, one of those things is my health. Like if my health comes unwound, I come unwound. I need to feel secure in my actual physical body and then I know everything's going to be okay. I need to feel secure in my actual physical body and then I know everything's going to be okay. I need to feel secure in my connection with God and I know everything's going to be okay, and different things make people feel grounded right. So I think that those are important things to ask yourself. But coming back into what you're specifically asking, which is how to cultivate more faith, cultivate more clarity in the calling If he called you to it, he'll bring you through it, but if you're not sure, if he called you to it, it's going to be really hard to believe that he's going to see you through it speaking in Christian terms here. So, coming back into the moment when you felt like you were asked to, or you felt the pull to, or you felt the draw to, regardless of belief system, god spirit universe, where were you felt the drill to? Regardless of belief system, god spirit universe, where were you asked to cross that threshold of certainty and how sure of that moment are you? Go back to that route where you were asked to serve or asked to move forward, or asked to surrender or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1:I think our financial situations, our relationship situations, our working situations, there was always a moment where you were asked on some level, verbally or non-verbally, to commit deeper to that thing. Financial stress for me in my life is a result of me betting on myself and my business. That's why I have debt. That's why I am where I am. I'm very okay, very okay with that, fully trust myself to dig myself out of it, right, um, relationally, there was things I wasn't okay with and things that I've been okay with in the past.
Speaker 1:Always there was a moment where I was like, hmm, you did ask me if I would go to australia and I did say, say yes, and now I have to grapple with that right in that breakup, for instance, um, kind of going back to that, to that root, and then collecting evidence. Man, whatever you're. And now I have to grapple with that right In that breakup, for instance, kind of going back to that root and then collecting evidence. Man, whatever you're collecting evidence for, you're gonna find it. This is just a truth of life. If you carry around an invisible cardboard box not a real one that says life is awful, you're gonna find evidence of that. And if you carry around one that says life is awesome, you're gonna find evidence of that today. That, and if you carry around one that says life is awesome, you're going to find evidence of that today.
Speaker 1:So are you looking for evidence that the thing that you're trying to pull off is possible or are you looking for evidence that it's impossible, cause you're going to find it? And I think it's like really understanding what am I consuming, what am I listening to and what am I looking for in the day to day that I'm allowing to permeate my, my brain barrier, so to speak, and like what am I, what thoughts, where am I allowing myself to go mentally? So much of it is story work and just having a grip on your mental state, and I think that's really probably should have said that one first. It's really foundational to any of the other things. But the understanding that, um, your, your reality is created, uh or co-created, if you're a man or woman of faith is is huge. And understanding that, uh, the story that you tell yourself, the story that you're running, is completely changing your perception of the reality. Um, so where?
Speaker 1:Taylor Morgan, good friend of mine, always says where are you in an argument with reality? Really good to take a pulse on that. And then always says where are you in an argument with reality? Really good to take a pulse on that. And then also like where are you nose to nose with it and what are you looking for? So I start looking for reasons every single day that the world needs my work. I start looking for reasons every single day that people need my help. I start looking for.
Speaker 1:I keep saying listening, for I wonder if that's an intentional verbal typo. I keep listening for reasons to keep going, reasons to wake up and watch the sunrise, reasons to be grateful, and I'm actually going to write a second book called Don't Fall Out of Touch with the Miracle, and it's about this specific topic. So I'm so glad you asked this. But it's about not letting yourself look away from how good it really is, because you will continue to find evidence that it's really good, or you will neglect an area of your life and it will inevitably disintegrate not disappear, but disintegrate. It'll become unwound and it's going to be really hard to believe that that area is good when you just like neglect it, right. So I think it's super interesting. What you're asking is such a deep question, but I'm going to put a bookmark in there, my friend.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love the way that you're able to articulate so many different thoughts and beliefs and foundational pieces of how to be human, and so that's really where we'll conclude in terms of I love talking to you, your energy, I'm always able to learn something, so just quickly share with us where we can find you that good stuff and we'll wrap it up for the day.
Speaker 1:A life at maximum potency. In his own words I love it. It's just so good. Yeah, instagram's my main hub at maximum potency and I wasn't supposed to announce this, but we're rebranding the Maximum Potency Podcast over to the Unemployed and Successful Podcast. It's on Spotify and Apple. Yeah, dms are always open. Those are my two main hubs.
Speaker 3:Awesome, sweet. Thank you so much, all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3:Cool, thanks guys.