Special Guest: ST Rappaport
Want to finally be productive?
On this episode of Chasing Happiness, we interview ST Rappaport—a productivity coach who can help re-wire your brain so that you can overcome any obstacle and accomplish your goals. ST is a master at helping people change their daily habits, and she uses her own personal struggles to inspire her clients.
In this episode you’ll learn:
-How to create a system that works for you instead of against you
-Why it’s important to have a support network when trying to change your habits
-What does the phrase “outwork them” mean and how it can help you become more productive
Looking to Share Your Story? Be a Guest on the Show
Podcast Transcript
How to Re-Wire Your Brain for Productivity with ST Rappaport
[00:00:00] Ryan: Hey guys, Ryan DeMent from Chasing Happiness Podcast. I hope you guys are having a great day this week on the podcast. We have ST Rappaport and St is near and dear to my heart for what she actually does. She’s a productivity coach, but we’re gonna talk about the why’s behind what we do with money, but also the fixed mindset versus growth mindset St.
[00:00:27] Ryan: Welcome to the show. How you.
[00:00:29] ST: Oh, super excited. Thank you so much for having me here.
[00:00:33] Ryan: You are more than welcome. I know it’s been a little bit of a wait, so thank you for waiting. So tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and then we’ll get into your journey and then we’ll go down some rabbit holes.
[00:00:43] Ryan: I love it.
[00:00:44] ST: Yeah. So like you said, I am a productivity coach. And the thing is that I don’t teach productivity tips. I wanna understand what’s happening in your brain. So that way you don’t need productivity tips. When we try to do all these [00:01:00] methods or courses that we learn, not just in productivity, but in many areas, not always do they work for us, not because the courses are bad, but because of our brain.
[00:01:10] ST: Basically understand it. So I help people rewire their brains so that way they can do what
[00:01:16] Ryan: they wanna do. I like that rewire. So let’s just hop right into it. Let’s peel the bandaid off. So talk a little bit about the rewire in how you step into that process. How I got
[00:01:27] ST: started rewiring brains.
[00:01:29] Ryan: Yes. Oh yeah. Let’s get right into it. I want to hear this, cuz this is a great topic.
[00:01:35] ST: Okay. So actually I started when I was a kid I was in fifth grade and I still struggled with reading, like I was reading, but I was still going out to tutors. And it was like a year after year of a tutor after tutor and like tons of like officially top tutors.
[00:01:50] ST: And there wasn’t really progress. And my parents were like, There needs to be something else here. Now, my mom is from Israel where this method called Stein is super popular, where it [00:02:00] works on the core of your issue instead of just putting on bandaids. So we bought in trainers and I got sessions and all of a sudden it wasn’t that I could just read, but because it’s working on the.
[00:02:10] ST: They weren’t doing anything about reading? No, like reading programs, none of that. Instead, it was focusing on how my brain was thinking and then my reading improved, but so did my communication and my relationships and all the other subjects, my memory, all those types of things improved. So I was like, okay, this is super cool.
[00:02:27] ST: And as soon as I could, when I was 17, I started getting trained in it. And now that’s what I do. I help entrepreneurs really rewire their brain to run their businesses more efficiently and effectively.
[00:02:37] Ryan: So effectively, how does it, how did it work as a kid? Was it, I guess what I gotta say is one, you got into it, but what did you have to do step wise to make it work?
[00:02:47] Ryan: And two, how did that play with you as a kid in, in being able to change your mindset one and two, your ability to grow as a person? Because I, I bet that brings a lot of confidence back into. [00:03:00]
[00:03:00] ST: Oh, yeah. Yes. Speaking of which I had someone once tell me, yeah, anyone who works one on one with the child is gonna build a confidence.
[00:03:07] ST: I’m like, yeah, their confidence are gonna build, but not the rest of how their brain is working. So yes, for sure. The confidence worked when you get someone one OnOne attention like that. But essentially what it is you’re doing these fun sheets. They look like shapes and you have to find these shapes and these dos and what happens is you’re.
[00:03:24] ST: Taking a lesson, a strategy, we call them from the paper and you wanna see like how you, this is a strategy that helped you figure out the paper. Now, by the end of the day, you don’t care about the paper. What you really care about is the strategy and how it applies to all other areas of your life. So to give you an example, Let’s say you’re looking for a square in dots and you just can’t find the square.
[00:03:46] ST: So you might learn the strategy of systematic search of looking for things in an order. So on the paper, you’re looking through the dots in an order, but then afterwards you have the conversation about where else do you lose? You do systematic search. Anytime [00:04:00] you’re looking for your keys. Anytime you’re looking for your phone, you’re creating a system either from top to bottom left to right.
[00:04:06] ST: And what happens. It calms your brain down because it now has a strategy. And they could also find it. You’re not looking at the same place three times and not looking in the other place. So as a kid, I did the same thing. I did those papers. I did those strategies and I applied it to lawyers for my life.
[00:04:22] ST: And now adults could do the same thing.
[00:04:25] Ryan: How hard is it to put those in practical use? From, I ask because I’m listening. I’m like, man, I wanna try this. Is it practical? Can we use it and overcome our challenges?
[00:04:37] ST: Yes. Yeah. Yes. So obviously depends how much effort you put in is how much you’re gonna get out.
[00:04:42] ST: Of course, that’s 100% , but because The goal is for you to make it like part of your life and practical. We do a whole bunch of like exercises and conversations to see okay, so where else does this apply to your life? We call bridging okay, so this happens at work and with [00:05:00] family and with friends and giving priming your brain for examples of when this is going to come up.
[00:05:07] ST: And that way, when it actually comes up, it’s Hey, all I have to do is systematic search and I can go and figure this out or whatever other strategy is.
[00:05:15] Ryan: Interesting. I hopefully we’ll they have a website, right? I’m assuming. Yeah. Life fix. Okay, cool. So we’ll be able to, we’ll be able to link to it cuz I, I wanna learn a little more about it.
[00:05:25] Ryan: So let’s get into that, that next phase of, changing change is a four letter word, at least what I use. So we will not use mine. How can you initially help entrepreneurs, business owners or just anybody with change in being able to. Go from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
[00:05:44] ST: Yes. For those of you who don’t know, Carol Dweck was a psychologist in Stanford university and she researched what makes someone successful in any area, whether it’s sports or business, anything.
[00:05:54] ST: And she discovered was that it’s not talents or brains or anything. It’s literally this. [00:06:00] If you have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset, now a growth mindset is just it sounds, you’re constantly wanting to grow constantly wanting to learn. and you’re applying that to what you’re actually doing.
[00:06:12] ST: So to get very practical when someone gives you criticism, instead of saying no, this is not the way to do it. You’re like, Hey, I wanna grow here. I wanna learn about it. Maybe there’s some truth, obviously not what criticism is, but you get the point, right? Like your mindset is about the growth. So you.
[00:06:28] ST: Are assessing like your mistakes. Why did you fail? What’s going on here? So once you understand, I have, okay, there’s a fixed mindset, which is the opposite of it. No, this is the way people with a fixed mindset. Really think that the way you’re born is the way you’re gonna stay. And people with a growth mindset, they’re constantly wanting to learn. So once you have the awareness, you can now see in what yours of your life are. You have a super fixed mindset and what yours of your life do you have a growth mindset? Because everybody has a little bit of
[00:06:55] Ryan: each. So how do we get from, [00:07:00] and I call it being comfortable because there’s two things we look at is, we’re comfortable in our life and we like that.
[00:07:06] Ryan: But when we wanna jump into that new world and make change, we’re afraid of that because we’re unsure and it’s the unknown. So how do we go from that fixed mindset to be able to growth mindset and be able to be. I guess my word is to be, I don’t the best way to describe it for me is I’m willing to jump in.
[00:07:28] Ryan: I just need to know the pool’s deep enough. And I think that’s where we struggles because we think we’re gonna jump in and we’re gonna hit rock bottom.
[00:07:37] ST: Oh, yes. Yeah. That’s why it’s really good to know. There’s like steps in growth mindset, right? You’re not going from not being able to do this at all.
[00:07:45] ST: I don’t think I can change this part of my business. I think this has to stay like that forever to it actually happen. It doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a process of maybe what happens if I try, I’m gonna test this out. Okay. I did it a little bit. Now I’m gonna try it in another area. [00:08:00] Taking it step by step to eventually you go and do it.
[00:08:04] ST: A thing that I find really helpful for this is to watch your language. If you simply add the word yet in the end of a sentence, then your brain is gonna start coming up with ways of how it could maybe work. So instead of saying, I can’t do this it’s I can’t do this yet. And then it’s I still can’t do it.
[00:08:22] ST: It’s true. You still can’t do it. But soon, sometime in the near future, you’ll figure out a way to go and
[00:08:27] Ryan: do. So how do we start? I guess that’s the biggest piece is cuz listeners are struggling with change. It’s a four letter word they want to get into that growth mindset. What are some ways that we can start?
[00:08:39] Ryan: And I say slowly, but let’s just call it that way to be able to get us step by step, to get us to where we need to go. Yeah. So
[00:08:45] ST: first thing, like I said, is that language that is like a really big one. Once you have that language and you’re recognizing it, then what you’re gonna wanna do is to start learning.
[00:08:54] ST: Okay. You’re you can’t do it yet. You’re not gonna become like an expert ski jumper. All of a sudden, like overnight, [00:09:00] you’re gonna start learning. You’re gonna take lessons. You’re gonna watch YouTubes. You’re gonna become obsessed with it. If that is something that you wanna make your life and profession.
[00:09:07] ST: So same thing in every other area of your. You’re gonna just wanna start learning as much as you could start having that open mind of just like maybe possibility I could try. There’s no right. One answer and maybe it’s wrong and maybe it’s not gonna work for you, but maybe it will.
[00:09:21] ST: So see if you could make that shift of more like from no, this is not possible to. Maybe let’s test this out. Let’s play a game. Let’s see if it will work. If it does amazing. If it doesn’t, you’ll go back to your old ways pretty quickly. It won’t be too hard for
[00:09:38] Ryan: you. So when you’re working with entrepreneurs and small business owners, what are some of those games or some of those things that you can actually work with them to get them in that mindset?
[00:09:49] ST: Yes. So first of all, is that awareness like we spoke about, I’m like such a big believer that self-awareness is it now, second of all, I like making an environment of growth mindset [00:10:00] because when there’s other people around you who know about growth mindset and are there to encourage you about the growth mindset, it makes it a whole lot easier.
[00:10:09] ST: What you could do is besides for having conversations with people about it, and obviously talking about it and like making up like some hints and like things that reminded you like, Hey, that’s not growth mindset is when you give compliments to other people, or even when you’re noticing something to yourself, instead of giving a compliment on the outcome, give a compliment on the.
[00:10:29] ST: Process of the effort that person did. So you’re extremely authentic. You’re saying the truth. You’re saying, you’re talking about the process of what happened. So now you’re not that you don’t care about the outcome because I want you to have the outcome. I want you to make the millions of dollars.
[00:10:44] ST: Like I’m, don’t get me wrong, but you’re. Putting weight on the work, on the learning, on the mindset on the effort that you put in to get to your outcome. So when you compliment other people like that, then they’re gonna start complimenting you about it and [00:11:00] all around you. You’re gonna have an environment of growth mindset.
[00:11:04] Ryan: So I totally agree with you and it’s a tough process, especially when you’re working with somebody that’s how should I say is very stuck in where they’re at and, but they want change, but they don’t wanna really jump to that change. And the steps to get there sometimes are very small, and sometimes they are a little bit bigger than others, but I really like that idea of that.
[00:11:25] Ryan: You can Let people know that you are seeing what they’re trying and what they’re doing. The biggest thing that I’ve taken away from that is the failure, cuz the failure’s gonna happen somewhere in there. That’s where helping that person, at least for me. And we can talk about it. I think it’s a good topic is let’s say they take two steps and then they fail on the third step.
[00:11:46] Ryan: You recognize that, Hey, great job on those first two steps to getting towards, that, that change, but you failed on this. let’s talk about it and let’s understand what happened. And then let them know that it’s okay to fail because that’s just a [00:12:00] step going. People think failures is the end of all of everything.
[00:12:04] Ryan: It isn’t, it actually is a step towards success. I know it’s an old adage, but it truly is. If you don’t learn and you’re not expanding your thought process, why are we here? We’re just sitting here taking up air,
[00:12:16] ST: yeah. You could even take a one step further before the failure happens. You could make it part of your conversation.
[00:12:21] ST: Just like you ask people like, Hey, how are you? It’s what did you fail at? Make it normal. Like we all fail. It could be something small. It could be something big, but it’s yeah. What did you fail at? What did you learn from it? It’s cool. And it’s something very much to be okay with,
[00:12:33] Ryan: what, not many people do that.
[00:12:35] Ryan: We it’s. It is true. How many, how often do you, I. Maybe you have it more than myself, but I know I don’t have very many conversations say, Hey, what’d you fail at today? I know. I don’t. I tell myself that, oh crap, I failed today. And I sit back and have to look at it, but I don’t know very many conversations I have that on a daily basis.
[00:12:54] Ryan: How frequently does that happen for you?
[00:12:56] ST: Yeah. So it has to be a very conscious thing, honestly, for [00:13:00] me. And like I said, like with clients, it’s like a lot easier. But what I found is that people like to do it let’s say together with their spouse or their kids where it’s like more of a relaxed environment, not so much like your coworkers where you have to like still show up and be a certain way.
[00:13:13] ST: So it’s yeah, like sometime during, when you’re catching up during your day at end day, it’s like also, okay. So what did you fail at that? Makes it a little bit easier. And even though it’s weird in the beginning, eventually it just becomes part of normal because you’re not putting the attention on the bed.
[00:13:28] ST: Like it’s cause it’s not a bad thing, when you really do it enough and your brain starts recognizing really it’s not bad, like you said, it’s like a step towards
[00:13:34] Ryan: success. In people, I if people would think more about the failure and the learnings that you get out of it you would be, I think I would be amazed that people would accept failure more than what they are today, because failure is a four letter word most days.
[00:13:51] Ryan: And I say most days and twice on Sundays, cuz that’s just my joke. But it’s true. We. Failure is like horrible thing. And [00:14:00] it’s I joke about it. I’m an eight year overnight success, and I don’t even consider myself that because every single day I fail, but I have to learn about something new, but I don’t give, I don’t give myself an opportunity to give up.
[00:14:12] Ryan: I don’t get me wrong. I become Debbie downer, whatever you wanna say, but I get over it. I have my little pity party and I have to move forward. I don’t get why we can’t understand that as humans, but also I can back that up and I can, we can go a whole nother topic, but I was gonna go into the internet and start talking about the instant gratification and how that’s somewhat rewired us.
[00:14:34] Ryan: But we, I won’t go there right now. But the struggles the struggles of entrepreneurship, I’ve lived them. I understand, what they are. when you’re working with that entrepreneur or entrepreneurs, how do you bridge that gap? Because I worked in corporate America before 25 years almost and corporate America didn’t teach me how to fish.
[00:14:55] Ryan: I had to relearn how to fish and learn how to fish. Because if I didn’t fish, [00:15:00] I didn’t eat, I didn’t pay my bills. There was a lot of things. Corporate America taught me that I get fed every two weeks. So how do you work with entrepreneurs in their mindset? Are a lot of these I should back up are a lot of these startups or entrepreneurs that are already scaled.
[00:15:14] Ryan: Where are they at in the process of ownership or business concept, and then where they at mentality
[00:15:21] ST: Yeah. So most my clients, aren’t just starting up. Like they’ve already been in business for a few years and they’re ready to scale, but they’re struggling to scale. There’s something that’s getting them in their way of really scaling.
[00:15:32] ST: So they’ve already been learning how to fish and been fishing, but they’ve only been fishing, small fish and they really wanna go and fish the big fish and that’s what they have to go. And.
[00:15:43] Ryan: So when you say small fish, let’s get into that. How do you transition ’em from, thinking small to start now working themselves up to medium size fishes and then larger fishes.
[00:15:54] ST: Yeah. So first of all, like you said, thinking small, that’s exactly it. I’m gonna skip the medium fishes, I think right away, we [00:16:00] should be thinking big. We should be thinking massive. And obviously recognizing that it’s not gonna happen overnight and it’s a process. If you’re gonna fail, why do you wanna fail?
[00:16:12] ST: Medium sized goal. When you could fail a massive goal, which will be more than your medium sized goal, that’s literally how I look at it. So set your goals, massive to have your dreams massive, and you are gonna grow there. So that’s first of all but also a lot of what I do is really understanding, right?
[00:16:29] ST: Because of the brain. Actually there’s something called, like thinking is not one big thing. Thinking is made up of 28 parts called cognitive functions. Now we each have stronger cognitive functions, weaker cognitive functions. If we want, we could get into all the science behind it. But. though when those things are weaker, it’s making it harder for you to do certain tasks and to think certain ways and to grow your business to that next level.
[00:16:54] ST: So when you improve those cognitive functions, then it becomes
[00:16:58] Ryan: a lot easier. [00:17:00] So then what are those things that are holding these entrepreneurs back from growing their business? Yeah. So
[00:17:05] ST: a lot of it is either this, like we said, the fixed versus growth mindset. No, this is the cap or it is these cognitive functions.
[00:17:12] ST: Literally the way their brain is thinking is they think they’re doing everything and the best way possible. And for some reason it’s not working in their best interests. I’ll give you a personal example. I always used to be Like a very big planner. Okay. I always even like in high school, I planned my day, the night before, and it was always really organized.
[00:17:32] ST: Now the problem was, or I don’t know if you wanna call it a problem or it was a good thing. I always did everything right now. So that means I got tons of things done. I was like getting it done, but everything had to happen. Now, what happens if let’s say I know I have to go drop something.
[00:17:50] ST: At ups today. Okay. And I also know that I’m having something else that’s coming and I’m gonna need to return it tomorrow. You it’s coming tomorrow and I’m gonna need to go back to ups again [00:18:00] tomorrow. I need to go and do this thing right now. So I would go to ups today and then I would go again tomorrow.
[00:18:06] ST: Now that’s a full waste of time to drive there, spending time there trying to drive back. All that’s wasted time. When all I had to do was okay, I’ll go to ups tomorrow and I’ll take both the packages. Right now my brain thought it was doing it the best way possible because it’s like getting it done.
[00:18:20] ST: Now it didn’t understand that sometimes putting things in the back burner is better and is more beneficial, more efficient for you and for your business by just waiting it to wait. So when I was able to rewire my brain, this actually only came later on when I was doing training. This part, the rewinding, but when I was able to show my brain, it’s okay to wait.
[00:18:41] ST: My whole planning changed. I was able to do everything like more efficiently, like batch things more. I was able to save a lot of time and it also affected my goals and like the way I was thinking ahead, because I wasn’t so stuck in what has to happen right now. I was able to plan and prepare for the [00:19:00] next 3, 4, 5, 6 months.
[00:19:02] ST: Add
[00:19:02] Ryan: that’s a lot to unpack cuz there’s a lot in there. Especially for entrepreneurs because a lot of entrepreneurs and I’m with them is we’re knee deep in the business on a daily basis. But one of the biggest things that we forget is we need to not live to for the business needs to thrive.
[00:19:19] Ryan: So the only way that thrives. Is, you have to be able to delegate and bring the right people on to, to help grow and scale the business and be able to step away away from some of the day to day tasks. Otherwise you’re just gonna be stuck with, being a solo entrepreneur, or maybe you have two or three employees and that’s it’s a daunting task to change your mindset, those type of individuals.
[00:19:40] Ryan: How do you work with them and what can, what would be some tidbits that you could share with them today? If they’re, when they’re listen.
[00:19:45] ST: So those type of individuals I’m working with them really like the same thing, like I said before, doing those sheets obviously everyone’s different, cognitive deficiencies are different.
[00:19:53] ST: So the strategies they’re gonna be using are going to be a little different. What I’m gonna suggest to [00:20:00] you is because I’m not going through, like all the 28 cognitive functions is just gonna overwhelm you because they’re all like scientific words and terms is what. Here’s a challenge. It’s gonna be a real challenge, but people who really want to really understand what’s stopping them and like how they could grow their business are gonna be able to do this challenge.
[00:20:18] ST: It’s not don’t even try, but for the next week, anytime you get into something, that’s a struggle or even you find frustrating. Write down the challenge, write down the frustration, but not just oh this meeting was frustrating. Write down specifically what point, what was the aspect that made it really difficult for you now after about a week or so?
[00:20:42] ST: You’re gonna notice a pattern. And what is happening in all of those times, right? It’s a similar type of thing. You might have to go like a little bit big picture to think about it, but it’s gonna be a similar pattern. That’s making you frustrate all the time. Now that you know your problem, you could come with a strategy to [00:21:00] fix that.
[00:21:00] ST: So that way, all those things will be easier for you next time.
[00:21:04] Ryan: That’s interesting. I might look at that cuz there’s a lot of things that frustrate me on a daily basis, but I have to get through ’em. So it’s just it’s just, I mean I bootstrapped a lot of stuff and I continue to bootstrap and sometimes I just have to sit back and say, Hey Ryan, bootstrapping, isn’t the way to go.
[00:21:20] Ryan: You’re not at that startup phase. It’s time to spend a little extra money in this arena to make it work. And I, and one of them is. Is just flat out automation and technology. I love it, but I always try to learn it cause I love it so much and it just slows down the process. So that’s one of my biggest struggles today.
[00:21:38] Ryan: I still struggle with it, but I’m very cognizant to know that, okay, this is well over my head or I it’s gonna take way too much time for me to make the adjustment or get the, I wanna call it the project completed. And it’s just. Just pay it’s time to bring professional in, just pay. And I know that’s a struggle with other entrepreneurs because.
[00:21:59] Ryan: We [00:22:00] talk about it. I belong to a group of entrepreneurs. They’re solar entrepreneurs, some are bigger than others. And a lot of ’em struggle with the bootstrapping and understanding that. And I think it goes back to what you exactly said, fixed mindset versus growth mindset. But when you’re chasing the dollar to make sure that you’re paying the bills in the beginning, you it sticks with you for a while and getting out of that mindset is tough.
[00:22:22] Ryan: I struggled with it. I don’t know if you have anything on that because that’s a huge challenge when it comes to going from, Hey, you’re a solopreneur now, all of a sudden your revenue is five X and now you’re going 10 X, what are you doing? Yeah.
[00:22:35] ST: Yeah. It’s not just even a struggle from when you saw the business.
[00:22:37] ST: I think the struggle starts earlier. Like the programming would get as a kid and like how your parents live. We have all those money stories, I’m sure you know about. Yes, but yeah, it is a nice big shift. I think. I know I also struggled with it in the beginning. Like I’ll never forget the first time I used.
[00:22:55] ST: edit on my own podcasts. And when I was like okay, I think we have to like, get this [00:23:00] editing out. That means like I have to learn editing. So like for me it was like, so cool. Like I spent all this time learning, editing, and like growth mindset that I could go and learn this editing. And not just be frustrated by it, but like now it’s time for someone else to do it.
[00:23:12] ST: And I think that what makes it easier is when you have. Like the benefit when you see the payoff of it. So it’s obviously, it’s not just the time that you could get, which is obviously the biggest one you want your time back, but it’s also what other benefits can you do? Can you get from this.
[00:23:30] ST: From this payoff. So for example, when I was editing my podcast, I was like, you know what, okay, I’m gonna now get an editor, but I’m not just gonna get an editor. I’m gonna do someone who would also do video, which I didn’t have before. And now I could put the video on YouTube also. So it was like an extra, like push to go and really do it.
[00:23:47] ST: So if you could find something really small that could just push you over the edge, because you really know what’s better for you, it might be a lot easier.
[00:23:54] Ryan: Oh, I’m with you on that, cuz my virtual assistant does the post production and the editing and then [00:24:00] she’s learning how to effectively write blog posts.
[00:24:02] Ryan: So we’re working on that. So that’ll be another thing that I can hand off. And then YouTube. I’ve, I don’t know how to describe it. YouTube has been like my Achilles heel. It just I can’t seem to grasp and get ground there. You think about any other social media channel I’ve gotten pretty good grasp and we’ve gained followers.
[00:24:20] Ryan: I’m stuck at like 125 or 135 followers on YouTube. And I need somebody that can help us with that. Cuz I’m putting out content. I literally put out content five days a week on YouTube. They’re just my daily teaser. There’s five minute videos, just about financial awareness and some other stuff that’s going on in the world.
[00:24:37] Ryan: And just my, my, my point of view.
[00:24:39] ST: Yeah. Oh yeah. So YouTube is hard argument, the hardest platform to grow on, but I will say the thing that helped me the most personally was YouTube shorts. So if you wanna even take like your five minute ones and just add them, cut them into five each into five minutes.
[00:24:53] ST: So they’re one minute each, maybe that will help.
[00:24:55] Ryan: But I’m also not talking about things that are. I don’t talk [00:25:00] about things. People like to talk about. That’s why I’m talking about it. And that’s where a lot of my views and people that come on, I you’d be amazed. How many people watch that video and then wanna sign up and be on the podcast.
[00:25:11] Ryan: And it’s not just, it’s not just one or two. I’m probably getting about 15 or 20 asks a week just from that. So it’s starting to grow and we’re starting to get there. I just still don’t get it for the simple fact. I let’s say this, I get it, but my topics are not. How do you wanna say it mainstream?
[00:25:31] Ryan: People are gonna tune out on YouTube to watch it. They don’t, it’s I’m talking about the housing market. I’m talking about financial literacy. I’m talking about paying off your credit card debt because interest rates are going up. Those are things that I don’t know about you, but how often are you watching those type of videos?
[00:25:45] ST: Yeah. I think it’s like people that want it have to be able to find it and then to listen to it because yeah, the SEO on YouTube is a really big
[00:25:53] Ryan: one. And that’s why I have the podcast because the podcast streams across all the platforms we go live. We do [00:26:00] all those things, but we also talk about so many different topics and that just opens up the door for other individuals to come out and reach.
[00:26:07] Ryan: And that’s where things have started to car start going through YouTube and start saying, oh wow, there’s some shorts on there that you’ve done. And now you’ve got some podcasts on there. Oh, now I see where you’re coming. But that was a huge learning curve and it still is. I don’t, but as you said, the growth mindset is I wanted to learn it.
[00:26:23] Ryan: I didn’t wanna perfect it. I wanted to learn it and then pass it off. Cuz I, the V my VA’s very smart and she can practically do anything, but she too struggled with it because we don’t put out sexy videos. We put out videos that most people don’t wanna talk about or watch.
[00:26:39] ST: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you’ll get there.
[00:26:41] ST: I know. And the people who need to hear it and they wanna hear it will find it.
[00:26:44] Ryan: Yeah. And that’s just life in general. But that’s the part of not giving up and wanting to move forward. I’ve failed many times on YouTube and I keep going, I’ll put out videos five days a week still, and it I think I’m 130 or 140 videos.[00:27:00]
[00:27:00] Ryan: We’ll see where it goes. I told myself I would consistently post for a year, five days a week and I wanna see what that does. So that’s my goal. Whoa. Okay.
[00:27:08] ST: I like that goal. Amazing.
[00:27:09] Ryan: Yeah. It’s a big, it’s a big goal because it’s a time, it’s a time constraint that I have to build into my schedule to make sure that I put out a video Monday through Friday.
[00:27:18] Ryan: Yeah. So it is it’s life. So entrepreneurship, I gotta get back to it. So I gotta ask some other questions. When we struggle entrepreneurs, we really struggle at times when it comes to really letting go of the business. And I say, letting go is, you’ve put a team in place. You’ve got some great people doing the work that you were doing, but now you’re like, oh, I’m not even part of the business.
[00:27:40] Ryan: I’m not there. That is a mindset shift, but it’s also a mindset struggle. Have you worked with individuals like that and what are some tidbits and some advice that we can share with the listeners on that? Because I know personally people that listen. that are in that place right now.[00:28:00]
[00:28:00] ST: Yeah. Yes, it is a very big struggle. And I’m gonna go back to what you said earlier of how you want your business to work for you and not you especially working for your business. Now at the same time, I do also think that you have all your pieces in place and you are as like the entrepreneur, the CEO, the person, like in charge of your business, you have the big vision you have That goals and ideas.
[00:28:21] ST: And then you’re gonna, there’s gonna be systems. You’re gonna create the systems. So that way you don’t actually have to put them out. But I do find that I do like to remind you also that if there’s a specific part of your business that you really like to do, and that part gives you joy and you enjoy doing that, doesn’t mean, you don’t have to do it just because you have someone available to do it. So yes, you wanna have as much time as possible, but won’t it be cool if you have all the systems in place and you could literally pick out, okay, I like this task. I’m gonna do this task. Or, I like no task, so I’m gonna go and sit on the beach while all my workers are doing the work.
[00:28:55] ST: So when you come to a place where your business is already set up and [00:29:00] pulled yourself out of it, there’s already systems. Then you could go and pick which parts you wanna do.
[00:29:04] Ryan: I’m with you on that because there’s getting all the systems set up and making sure everything is right is probably the biggest daunting task.
[00:29:11] Ryan: But getting there is probably, and I say this, and this is just my own personal opinion, 90% of the work, because you have to have everything in place. Otherwise it just falls apart. And. I don’t know how to describe it. Other than I say this, because I talk to enough people that are whether they’re entrepreneurs or small business owners, whatever, they don’t have a lot of processes in place and they wonder why things are falling and failing.
[00:29:38] Ryan: And I’m not saying I’m perfect. I have enough systems in place that work. And of course I could have more. But I don’t try to bring something on as a new project or a new a new client or a new revenue stream, unless I have some processes in place that protects it. Otherwise I’ll just be working 14, 15 hours a [00:30:00] day in the business.
[00:30:00] Ryan: And what point is that? At that point?
[00:30:04] ST: Yeah. So that’s a mindset itself, right? I’m not starting something new until I have the systems a place, because so many people just start have these ideas like entrepreneurs, they have they’re so ambitious and they have a hundred ideas every day and it’s let’s do all of them, but it’s like
[00:30:17] Ryan: Hey.
[00:30:17] Ryan: Oh, yes. I know. I have a couple business partners are that way. They’re so visionary that they have 20,000 different ideas and I’m like, okay, I’m the operator. I’m telling you outta your 20,000, maybe two or three, we could potentially do at this point in stage. So you’re gonna have to narrow it down.
[00:30:36] Ryan: Otherwise I just tune it out and that’s just how we do it. So we have a, we have a round table discussion to where we throw all these ideas on the wall. And then I get to pick ’em apart and say no. And then, oh yeah, that one looks. Let’s do that. It’s I love the visionary, but the problem is the visionary has to meet the operations to make it work.
[00:30:55] Ryan: And that’s a struggle for entrepreneurs too, because I, some people think [00:31:00] I’m crazy by saying this. I think entrepreneurs can be a, both visionary and also operationally geared. But most people think you’re either visionary, founder slash operational. And I think there’s both out there. And when that meets, it’s a struggle.
[00:31:15] Ryan: Because you have all these ideas, like you said, but nothing gets done. And then now you’re just spinning your wheels and you’re wondering why you can’t grow and you can’t scale it’s because you’ve got way too much going on and you just need to nail everything down and bring it into a core and say, here, my core three or four services or whatever you’re trying to do, that makes sense where it’s not gonna kill you on a daily basis.
[00:31:37] ST: And to tell you a secret part of it is the cognitive deficiencies. Like those 20 things I was talking about earlier, if some of them are weak, that is gonna have a massive effect on it. Also a really good book on this is clockwork by Mike MCOW. I’m sure you’ve
[00:31:50] Ryan: heard of it. I have not, but guess what?
[00:31:54] Ryan: We’ll link it in the show notes and we’ll make sure we share it because I’d love to . I love to read. It’d be funny is I never like to [00:32:00] read in school now? All of a sudden I can’t get away from books that, I can find. I’m for it. Hear.
[00:32:04] ST: So you know which one also first for financial profit first is also one of his books.
[00:32:10] ST: That’s an amazing
[00:32:11] Ryan: book. Oh, I think I’ve, I’ve heard of him. I’ve seen that book somewhere. I’ve heard people talk about it. Yeah. Did he make one that’s specifically for construction? Because I’ve seen some people in the construction business. Talk about it.
[00:32:22] ST: Not to my knowledge. He speaks usually more about like systems and stuff or different areas of business.
[00:32:27] ST: So there’s the profit versus on the financial and the clockwork is about the systems. And I think he has one of marketing. But don’t quote me on
[00:32:33] Ryan: no, I’m just I think that’s yeah. Yeah. That’s really cool. So I really like that. You know what. We’ve had a great conversation.
[00:32:39] Ryan: It’s we could talk so about, so much more stuff and we can go on and on. If the listeners wanna get ahold of you, how can they get ahold of you?
[00:32:48] ST: Yeah, best place is on my website@lifepickuniversity.com
[00:32:52] Ryan: and we’ll put it that in the show notes also. And if someone wants to reach, so that’d be the best place to [00:33:00] reach out to you if they want to work with.
[00:33:02] ST: Yeah. If they wanna work with me I’m also show media, like picks university, the same thing, the podcast life picks university,
[00:33:08] Ryan: all that. Okay, cool. St. Thank you for coming on the show. It’s been a pleasure. It’s been a great conversation and it looks like I gotta go work on my my wiring up here, cuz I’ve got some challenges
[00:33:18] ST: too.
[00:33:18] ST: I just, you all of us . Thank you so much, Ryan. And this was fun and I love your questions and I really enjoyed talking to you.
[00:33:24] Ryan: Awesome. Thanks for coming on. Bye. Bye bye.