How To Make Money Sharing Your Knowledge and Passions

 

Making money from passion is not some new age guru’s idea of glorifying the starving artist syndrome. More and more people are realizing that instead of constantly chasing that dollar value that they associate with success, they would be better off if they let their passion for something attract that success, however they define it for themselves. Jason Wrobel and Whitney Lauritsen revisit this topic that they covered in Take Charge! – a free eBook that they wrote in 2019. So much has changed in the world since it was written, but the principles it contains have become even more relevant as each of us endeavors to find our path to success during these challenging times. Listen in and be enlightened by these timeless and foundational principles of achieving a genuinely successful and fulfilling life.

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How To Make Money Sharing Your Knowledge and Passions

I feel like talking about money has been somewhat a sticky, nebulous, and challenging thing, depending on what state of financial abundance or lack thereof you’re in. It’s certainly been an interesting year in terms of a lot of our friends being Whitney and mine who are in the arts and performing in musical and culinary fields. There are many industries that have been greatly and lastingly affected by COVID and the financial crisis and everything that’s going on in the world now. Things certainly have not necessarily taken a turn for the better, but one of the things that come up around the conversation of money, if I think about my family history. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this is that the Wrobel family has a motto, which is, “We’ll make it fit. We’ll make it work. No matter what challenge comes your way, you find a way out of the challenge.”

In terms of money and resourcefulness during tough times, my mom a few years ago told me a story about my great grandmother who came to this country from Poland, spoke barely any English, raised under the grip of kids. When my great-grandfather passed away, this was during the time of Prohibition and right around the time of the Great Depression. My great-grandmother, because her husband had passed away, needed to provide for the family. My great-grandmother set up an illegal speakeasy in the house in Detroit. People could come and my grandmother was brewing moonshine and making her own alcohol.

My great-grandmother was essentially a rum runner. She had illegal alcohol and speakeasies and she survived. She provided for the family throughout the Prohibition era and the Great Depression. This idea of making money when times are challenging, being scrappy, resilient, and somehow leveraging, our knowledge, our passions, or maybe learning new ones. I don’t think that my great-grandma knew exactly how to run a speakeasy, be a rum runner or certainly do something that was that drastically illegal at the time, but there seems to be a thread through. At least, in my family lineage of people being creative, resourceful, scrappy, and creative in how they’re going to make money. I love that our topic is How To Make Money Sharing Your Knowledge and Passions. Even if it’s something brand new, you’ve never tried before, like my great-grandmother, she pulled the trigger on running a speakeasy in downtown Detroit and somehow made it work. Whitney, do you have any personal anecdotes of any creative scrappy ways to make money from your family lineage or stuff you’ve done that I don’t know about?

Not that immediately comes to mind. I was always fascinated with making money growing up. I had a lemonade stand many times as many kids did. I remember selling things at yard sales. One time, my friend and I cut lilacs from my front yard and went around the neighborhood and sold them. I made friendship bracelets at one point. The aim of that was we were going to donate money to Bosnia or something. We are kids trying to figure out how money worked, I suppose. In terms of my family stories. I don’t know of any. It’s interesting knowing your story, Jason, that’s a good one. I certainly don’t recall that, but I do remember you telling me about making it work or making it fit. I think this is such an interesting subject, especially as we’re going through and revisiting the eBook that we wrote in 2019 called Take Charge!, which this episode and previous episodes have been based on because things have changed a lot in 2020.

It was written in early November 2019. Money has been a big challenge for people during COVID. Since a lot of people lost their jobs, were furloughed or were in tighter times financially, some people managed to get creative with money and decided to learn how to make things from home. That’s such an interesting thing. My mindset around that has changed a lot over the years because for a long time, I was a big proponent for anybody can work for themselves. Anybody can make money however they want. You don’t have to work a 9:00 to 5:00. I was passionate about that. Over the years, I’ve discovered through first-hand experience and the experience of other people I know that it’s not that cut and dry.

It’s not always easy. It is a hard path. I was of that mindset of a lot of these gurus that we’ve referenced many times on our show who says, “Follow this formula and you can make money. If you’re not making money, if you’re not hustling, you’re missing out on opportunities.” I don’t believe in that anymore. I have seen many people struggle with this. I’ve gone from this judgmental mindset of like, “You might not be putting in enough effort to a mindset of a lot more compassion and recognizing that working for yourself is not for everybody.” Some people feel more comfortable having a steady, reliable job that’s dictated by somebody else.

 

There’s nothing wrong with that. I think taking that shame away from those type of jobs is important, especially because with this book Take Charge!, we’re going to go through some different pieces of advice for those of you who are interested in learning. I’m not saying it’s impossible. Jason and I work for ourselves, but we’ve gone through a lot of highs and lows financially. In fact, we did an episode about that and being transparent because it’s not always easy. A lot of the things that we’ve attempted have not worked out. We followed a ton of formulas. In fact, in 2019, Jason and I were part of an intensive coaching program for entrepreneurs that we thought was going to completely revamp our finances. I can’t say that it did much for us, to be honest. We spent a lot of money on this coaching program. I’m not saying that it’s bogus.

I think the advice was super helpful. It did help us, but it didn’t bring us all this money that we thought we were going to make. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought a program thinking that I’m going to cash in from it and then it didn’t work out. I’ve also led my own programs around these subject matters. I hope that other people didn’t get that result of feeling like they were a failure in some way. If anybody reading that has ever taken one of the programs I’ve run in the past or was a personal coaching client of mine because I still do that. I still do private coaching, but as a coach, my mentality has changed a lot over the years. I don’t want any of my clients or students, customers, whatever you want to call them to feel like there’s something wrong with them because this isn’t lucrative.

That’s an emotion that I have felt many times like, “Why isn’t this formula working for me? There must be something wrong with me.” That’s important to start this episode out on is that we’re going to be sharing some things. We’re going to talk openly and honestly with you. We’re going to share some quotes from contributors to this eBook. These contributors are people that are generally working for themselves. They have found things that worked for them, but I want to remind us that because it worked for somebody else, doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for you. That’s an important thing to disclose whenever you get into the subject matter.

It’s also important to be radically honest about the entrepreneurial experience, which is it’s a lot of highs and lows. It’s the analogy that you see often of a rollercoaster, sailing, or some travel analogies or comparisons. They’re accurate in the sense that a lot of people attempt to create some regularity through say a monthly membership program, but also that’s influx. People sign up and they cancel memberships. One of the biggest things I’ve experienced as a challenge is getting out of the feast or famine mode where it’s like, “I had $40,000 a month and then this month it was like $400.” I’m not just pulling that out of my ass, it’s a literal thing where it’s like, “I have this massive month and the next month, what happened?” It wreaks havoc on your mental health. It can wreak havoc on your sense of self, your self-worth.

I want to have more fun with business. I’ve been realizing that a lot of the joy that I experienced, maybe when I first started has eroded in many ways over the years, and sometimes business or running a business feels like a grind. It’s hard to find the joy in it, but you could make that comparison to anything and to an intimate relationship. It’s not going to be fun and feel like day one of meeting someone all the time like starting a business or doing anything you’re passionate about.

To be honest, if you, the reader has thought about starting your own business, entering the health and wellness field, becoming a chef, a nutritionist, or doing something where you’re sovereign and you have your own business, it’s not as glamorous as a lot of people online make it out to be. I’m not throwing anyone under the bus per se. This idea of overnight success or even success in a few years, there’s no timetable. We’re all on different timetables and things are going to unfold differently for us, but I always like to set realistic expectations. One thing that I think about that is apropos of some of the tips we’re going to share is understanding why you want to do something.

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I’ve been approached over the years by people who want to start restaurants. They’d be like, “Can we have a phone call because I want to talk to you about possibly partnering on a restaurant?” They lay-out the business plan. They’ll talk about how much they want to do this. I always ask, “What’s your why for wanting to do a restaurant?” It’s usually some version of like, “I’ve always dreamed about it.” I’m like, “Have you ever been in the restaurant industry or the food business?” “No. I have been in real estate, but I want to get into food.” I’m like, “Do you have $1 million that you don’t mind burning?”

They’re like, “What do you mean?” “You want to open a full-service restaurant in the city of Los Angeles, like high-end. You should have seven figures you don’t mind setting on fire.” Our reality is not the ultimate. We never claim that, but I always like to try and prepare people if I have knowledge in an industry for what it’s going to take because some people are like, “I’m going to jump in and do this.” There should a passion. There’s a drug-like feeling with that level of the naivete of like, “I’m super passionate about it.” It’s like, “Do you have the resources? Do you have a team behind you? Are you researched enough to know what to expect?” Some people jump into a business and they have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it’s important to be prepared.

A lot of people don’t realize that when somebody is promising you a formula, they’re often profiting on that. They make money off of coaching, teaching, and guiding you. There’s nothing wrong with that. Having a mentor and coach is crucial if not just for accountability. We have our program, The Consistency Code, which is designed to give people accountability. We found that that was the major thing that people needed support with, especially when it comes to working for yourself because it can feel lonely. Even though a lot of the formulas haven’t worked for me, some of them have. Bits and pieces have been helpful to me, but I didn’t get the big results that I thought I would, but I enjoyed any structure of accountability. Somebody that I felt like was checking in on me, rooting for me, and cared about me.

That program I referenced, the best part of it for me, I’m curious about for you, Jason was that we had regular check-ins. Most of the time it was weekly check-ins with this group and people that were paying attention to whether or not we were implementing. That was huge. That was a big inspiration for us designing our program, The Consistency Code, and the biggest piece of feedback we had from people is like knowing that somebody was paying attention. That doesn’t get enough focus. We all know that accountability is helpful, but a lot of programs don’t lead with the accountability side of things. I think that needs to be emphasized a lot more. That comes up multiple times in the Take Charge! eBook. Whether it’s the way that you’re eating, the way that you’re moving your body, and the way that you’re thinking. Accountability can make or break whether or not you stick with the habit.

To kick it off with some of the wisdom that is embedded in this eBook, we’re talking about different ways of doing things. Luke Jones has this amazing quote in the book about authenticity. He says, “There’s a fine line between this is a way to do something and this is the way to do it.” Anytime you get caught up with an ideology or an identity, you become limited. “I try my best to keep a beginner’s mind, stay authentic, and be okay with not having all the answers right away.” That’s crucial because a lot of the coaches, gurus, or experts online position themselves as, “This is the way.” They compare themselves to other programs. They use testimonials. There’s a lot of foundational same marketing techniques you see being leveraged over and over again. Staying open as Luke was saying and realizing that there are many paths, no matter what any coach or expert tells you. I always like to say, be a student of the game. Try as many different things and experiment. That’s one of the tenants I suppose, of Whitney and my work is be radically experimental. Don’t believe anyone who’s like, “This is the way.” That was a perfect way that Luke had phrased that.

I couldn’t agree more. Authenticity is such an important thing to highlight because sometimes making money can feel sleazy. It can feel like something that you might not trust. When you are looking into generating income for yourself, if you focus on your heart first, it will encourage other people to trust you. Robby Barbaro said, “When you share from your heart because you genuinely want to help people and you believe in what you’re saying 100%, the money will follow.” That doesn’t mean that all you have to do is share from your heart and you’ll make money from it. Money gets attracted to that authentic expression versus doing something just to make money.

 

I always go back to Joseph Campbell because he’s wonderful in many ways. In his book, A Joseph Campbell Companion, he talks about doing it for the money versus doing it for your passion, your art and your craft. He said, “Even if the money’s not there, if you have a craft, if you have something you’re passionate about, it’ll be there whether the money comes or doesn’t. That’s got to be the foundation.” Our friend Robert Cheeke echoed that too in the book. He believes in passion over profits. When someone is authentic about their passion and creating meaningful work, the profit follows. It’s not a guarantee. I think enthusiasm and passion, if you feel like someone is genuinely lit up and joyful about something, to me, that’s magnetic.

When I see someone personality-wise, and I don’t mean a pitch man kind of way of an infomercial way like, “I can’t believe this one arm can opener is doing that. This is the greatest can opener I’ve ever seen.” When you see someone talking about something and they feel genuinely connected to it, and they’re lit up over the experience of something, that is addictive and that is magnetic. You can’t fake that. This is tangential but true. When I go out and I see live music, when you see an artist who is connected to what they are saying and what they are expressing, it’s transcendent.

It’s the stuff that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Sometimes, you can go out and see a musician or performer. Technically, they’re good. They’re hitting the notes. They’re doing the runs. You’re like, “They’re a good performer,” but you don’t feel anything. It’s like that with business, craft or endeavor. Someone can be saying all the right words and can be polished. They can be technically beautiful shooting great videos, but if you don’t feel it, for me, I tend not to buy or support that thing because if I don’t feel it, I don’t buy it.

It also plays a role in being of service, which is another section in the Take Charge! book about if you are genuine and you are leading with what you can teach people and how it can enrich the world, then it’s not about you as much. As what Chef AJ was saying what you were alluding to as well, Jason. She said, “Only do for a fee, which you would do for free. Spend all the time necessary to become an expert. Never do anything for the money. It will always bite you in the ass.” That is true. That’s a parable though. It’s a common thing that we see and in the media, entertainment, and anyone who’s greedy. That’s something that we looked down upon. As you’re saying, Jason, it’s hard to trust somebody.

It also doesn’t feel that good to do either. It’s tricky though because we can easily start to feel a little desperate. I’d love for you to share, Jason the times where you felt nervous about your finances. Where does your mind go? How do you navigate that? I know that you have hit those places frequently. You’ve talked to me about that a lot. I know 2020 has not been an easy year for you. It hasn’t always been easy for me too, but it’s been a little bit more stable because of some of the clients that I’ve been blessed to have. For you, Jason, you’ve had some times where you’ve questioned a lot. You’ve decided that you don’t want to do your chef’s work anymore even though there are opportunities coming with that. Where are you at? Where’s your headspace? Do you still feel 100% sure about not doing chef work anymore? What happened to you mentally during times where you were struggling financially?

The danger is falling into the desperation pit. It is where you feel like your backs against the wall. You’re scared. You’re freaking out. You don’t know what you’re going to do. I find that it is easy to make decisions in that frame of mind in that state of being that can bite you in the ass later. There’s a balance between surviving and putting food on the table and keeping the rent or the mortgage paid, but not doing it to the point where you’re doing something that breaks down your soul and your spirit. What I have to watch for myself is this old program of the desperation pit, where if I feel a sense of fear, panic, desperation around a lack of money, I have at times in the past made decisions that were detrimental in certain ways. In terms of leveraging my energy, aligning my work with perhaps brands or companies, I didn’t believe in just because it was a good payday.

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It’s tough because you realize you have a monthly nut as an adult. Every month you have bills and you have to keep the lights on. It’s a tough dichotomy because there’s a part of me with that scrappy work ethic from my lineage of like, “Do whatever it takes.” It’s like my great-grandma I mentioned who started an illegal speakeasy to feed the kids. There is that part of me. There’s then the part of me, the artistic or the soulful side of me that’s like, “You also need to do stuff that nourishes you creatively, intellectually and stimulates you. You’re not an automaton. You’re not a robot.”

The challenge still for me, Whitney, is this balance between the pragmatism of getting the money to pay the bills and have a sense of security, but then also not wanting to sell out myself and do something that feels hateful or awful just to put food on the table. The longer answer about cheffing is like, is it an awful thing? No. Do I feel excited or joyful about it anymore? No. If something comes through and there’s no ethical dilemma around it and it feels okay will I do it? Maybe. We’ll see what happens. I’m not emphasizing it. Rather than me saying, “I’m not going to do anything else with food ever again,” it’s more like, “I want to shift my focus to other aspects of entrepreneurship and creativity. If that stuff happens to come in and it feels in alignment, so be it.”

It’s good to have that perspective and that awareness. One of the other tips in the book is about honing your craft.

As we go through Take Charge!, we talk about craft. I mentioned that Joseph Campbell and other people talked about mythology, spirituality, and the importance of having a craft. Before I share some of the tips in the book, one of the things that challenge me about this time in the digital economy, in the digital age is that people are doing less things with their hands and hands-on things. We have video courses, audio courses, and eBooks. We’re reading from an eBook now. There’s nothing wrong with those things. For me, I get a deep sense of creative satisfaction when I’m playing the guitar, playing the ukulele, chopping vegetables, creating a meal, and working with my hands. There’s a difference between a tactile physical third-dimensional craft and something that exists on a screen.

There is a big difference in the sense of when I sit down to read a book, the tactility of reading a physical book or writing physical notes in my notebook is different than typing on the computer or reading from a Kindle or an iPad. That’s my two cents on craft. In the eBook, Sid Garza-Hillman says, “Work hard above all else, promotion, social media and networking comes after. Make honing your craft, your talents, and your product, your main priority.” That’s important. I’m not going to name names because nobody needs to be thrown under the bus. There’s a lot of people that have great marketing, promo, and graphic design, but when you get under the hood and you taste their food, listen to their music, see what their craft is, you’re like, “Ooh.”

You focused all your time and attention on your marketing, not on honing your craft. It’s important that he said this because, in many ways, we have it backwards now. We’re in an attention economy with social media and the digital age where attention is literal revenue. It doesn’t matter if you’re “good” in a lot of cases. That’s the thing. People want big followings because they see people getting paid for it. The reality is if you suck ass in your craft, someone’s going to find out eventually. You can’t hide behind your numbers forever. I am not throwing anyone under the bus, but it’s all too common in the social media age where people don’t spend years working on their craft artistically. They spend time and money making it look as if they’ve spent years mastering the craft. That is a quantum chasm between those two things.

 

It’s interesting because some people do have overnight fame or where they have a viral video and it changes their life. There are people that get on a new platform like TikTok. Before we started, I saw a sweet small business post and he lucked out and went viral with it. It’s the simplest video, but it resulted in a ton of attention and actual orders for him. He was one of those people that you were like, “Good for him.” You feel like he deserves it, even though there are many people that deserve it. What’s tricky is that social media is alluring. It can give us this idea that, “All you have to do is go viral and then your life has changed.”

It’s a lot like playing the lottery because you could do the same thing as somebody else and not have anywhere near the results. You could also work on your craft for many years and never be successful in social media. You can feel resentful of people that are. It’s important to figure out what you value because there’s nothing wrong with making money from social media. One of the big TikTok stars right now, Charli D’Amelio, often gets a lot of negativity simply because she makes millions of dollars as a teenager dancing in front of the camera. It’s incredible what’s happened for her. People think, “Why does she deserve all that money? I’m so much more talented than her. I’ve been dancing my whole life. Why don’t I have these same opportunities?”

It’s tempting to get into that mindset and feel annoyed that all your hard work has not resulted in the same thing, but I don’t think that serves you either. To your point, Jason, certainly, a massive success, flashy marketing, being good looking, and having a lot of followers, those things don’t guarantee that something is going to be a value to you. Maybe it will. It also doesn’t mean that those things aren’t valuable in their own way. It reminds me of food too. I’m somebody that certainly judges food by how it looks on the outside. I appreciate brands that have flashy marketing and good social media. A lot of them go a very long way, but I also know a ton of incredible small brands that either is barely on social media or don’t know how to have a good social media strategy.

It doesn’t matter because they’re creating something great and they might not make a ton of money, but they have their fan base and they make enough money to get by. Each of us is on different paths with this. It’s tempting to think that social media or we’re making a ton of money equal success. That’s something to remind ourselves that we have to figure out what success means for us and what makes us feel fulfilled. Along these same lines, one of the tips in this book is to tap into your uniqueness and find your niche. Dreena Burton said, “Know what makes your work special. Know that in your core and build working relationships on those strengths.”

I love that because as I’m saying, each of us has a unique offer. We are unique in our own way. We don’t have to do the same things as other people to be successful and to feel successful. It comes down to feeling good about it in your core. At the end of the day, we’re going to bed reflecting on our day wondering, was that fulfilling? Hopefully, the answer will be yes for you. Money is not going to make you feel deeply fulfilled for a substantial amount of time. It’s about what you’re putting out there into the world and how you’re feeling about it.

It’s almost like this thing I was reflecting on stuff. My favorite comedian of all time, George Carlin has this whole bit about how your house is a place for your stuff. If you didn’t have all this stuff, you wouldn’t need such a big house. You would need shelter, but you don’t need this giant house for your stuff. Success in many ways is it’s critical to define it for ourselves. For a lot of people, they think about stuff. It’s like, “If I could have the car I want, if I could have the house I want, if I could live in the neighborhood I want, if I could fill in the blank, then I’d be happy.” It’s a slippery slope because we’re constantly chasing that carrot of money’s going to make us happy. Let’s not make any mistakes. Financial success does get you access to this world. We’re not living in some dream world thinking that money doesn’t buy you the best medical care, the best supplements, or allow you to eat at the best restaurants. Money allows you access and freedom, but it doesn’t guarantee you’re going to be happy because there are people with access and freedom up the wazoo because of their money and they’re miserable.

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This idea of redefining success, for me, what I’m realigning with is that my happiness is a lot more simple than I thought it was. I look around my house and I’m like, “Remember when you wanted that thing, you have that thing. That thing’s useful. It’s a good tool, but does it make you happy?” No. Why do we keep chasing things when all we have to do is look around our houses or our apartments and remember the things that we wanted at one time that we now have that it’s like, “It’s cool. I’m glad I have it. It’s useful, but it doesn’t make me jump for joy.” Maybe that’s different. It depends on the emotional connection we have with the thing. To me, it comes down to redefining success and fulfillment for ourselves and also being confident.

That’s another section rather of the book that I love is about believing in yourself. Adam Chaim says, “Believe in yourself and your expertise. If you don’t believe in your product or your abilities to share your knowledge, no one else will either. Show your passion, you lead with your heart, and the pieces are going to fall into place.” We, him, and Shoshana, his wife have been able to monetize their coaching business and podcast through consistency and passion. I think believing in yourself, that’s a huge takeaway here because, at times, life is going to kick the shit out of you. I’m in a mode now with my accident and waiting for this surgery where I feel like life has been kicking the shit out of me. Am I going to get back up and keep going? You’re damn right. There’s a level of confidence and fortitude in this that is essential if you are going to have your own business. You have to have fortitude and resilience. There are no two ways about it and confidence too.

It also can come down to not overthinking it as well. That’s a big obstacle. We’ve talked about resistance a few times in here. One of the final tips in this section of the eBook is to just do it. It’s not always that simple, but it plays a big role in it. When you start taking that first step towards something that feels important to you, it can feel scary and daunting. You can think it might not lead you where you want to go, but it does build momentum. One of the huge reasons we started our program, The Consistency Code is because we know that consistency does pay off. Everything that we’ve talked about in this Take Charge! series here on the show and in this free eBook is benefited by being consistent and doing something little by little every single day if you can, or at least on some frequent basis. That’s where you can start to see the impact of what you’re doing.

Melissa said, “To go with the flow to see which direction the universe takes you and pay attention to the signs. Your path may not always look how you imagined. It could take you longer to get there, but put in the work, doing what you love and it’s going to pay off.” That’s true for a lot of us. Just because you’re putting in the work doesn’t mean that it will pay off in the way that you think it’s going to. Something will come of it over time, even if it’s a personal satisfaction going into what you love. This is the key takeaway for this section is that if it’s something that you enjoy doing, just do it. Enjoy it.

Do it without being attached to the result, try it out, see what happens. That will reveal to you whether or not this is something that you want to continue doing consistently. It will also reveal to you how other people are responding. You can learn a lot through that. You could benefit someone without making a ton of money and maybe that’s okay. Maybe you have a full-time job and you’re doing something that you love on the side. Maybe you never make money from it. Maybe only will make a small amount from it, but simply by doing it, if it’s something that you’re into, it’s going to feel pleasing and they may end up going in directions that you never thought possible.

The idea of sitting down and doing it is important. As a writer and someone who’s been writing a long time, I started my professional career as a copywriter for international advertising agencies. That’s my former life. I’m obsessed with talking sometimes to other writers about how they do things and Samantha Shorkey in the eBook got a copy of Tony Thompson’s bestselling novel. The inside of the book, says, “Thinking about writing isn’t writing. Talking about writing isn’t writing. Only writing is writing, so get writing.” She says, “He truly inspired me to finally start a blog that eventually launched my coaching business and my Jacked On The Beanstalk brand. My advice is to stop thinking and talking about your passions and doing them.”

 

It is important. We can be blue in the face talking about what we want to do for years, but the clock is ticking. I don’t mean that to scare people. One of my favorite family phrases is, “You need to shit or get off the pot.” You’re either going to do the thing or you’re going to talk about it ad infinitum. That’s different for everybody. There’s a level of intuition with all this of knowing when it’s the right time to launch a business, write a book, start writing an album, whatever your thing is. The reality is if you don’t sit down and do the consistent work every single day. I’m a big fan of this, some people are like, “Could I sit down and write one day a week and write 5,000 words one day?” You could, but to me, rather than sitting down and trying to write 5,000 words in one day, what if you wrote for ten days and did 500 words each day? You are then building a muscle, consistency, and a rhythm. I much prefer small incremental consistent chucks over giant creative vomit sessions where it’s like, “I’m going to do all this stuff at once.” I don’t really like doing that anymore. I used to but it doesn’t work for me.

As we’ve mentioned, these tips that we’ve been sharing were from our eBook Take Charge!, which you can download for free at Wellevatr.com. If you go to the Free Resources section, you can find this eBook along with some other free resources that we have. We hope that you check it out and follow along because we’ve been sharing bits and pieces, but it helps to read through what we’ve been sharing and let it sink in. This book was designed to give you a course of action and create a plan for yourself and help you figure out what feels good and how you want to take charge of your life. As we mentioned, this book was originally written in 2019. It’s been interesting going through it in 2020 during the pandemic and seeing what’s changed. I’m surprised to see how much of this is still relevant, even though it’s only been a year. I thought that has changed that this advice would not apply, but it does. How about you, Jason?

The mental pitfalls that people experience are the same in terms of self-doubt, fear, lack of courage, and making excuses for not doing what we want to do. Those things certainly haven’t changed in spite of a global pandemic. In some instances, as I was talking about desperation and fear, those things have increased for a good reason. There’s a lot of economic devastation, a lot of unemployment, a lot of uncertainty now, but making decisions purely out of fear and desperation typically creates a lot of challenges later on down the line. The advice that we’re revisiting in this eBook and that we’re discussing in real-time holds water. It is still relevant because for people to feel some level of hope, courageousness, clarity, and direction is relevant. I’m personally glad we’re revisiting it. It’s reminding me to not do anything stupid. By stupid, I mean, something out of fear and desperation.

The advice that we’re sharing is as helpful to somebody else’s as it is to us. A good reminder too is doing something that helps you and helps other people. It is incredibly rewarding and taking our own advice is key too. If you can come back around and try to look at what you’re doing from different perspectives, you can learn from yourself because ultimately, self-awareness is one of the biggest keys to transformation. We love to wrap up our episodes by shouting out some brands, especially because we’re big supporters of other companies. We love small and big businesses. We think that business, in general, is wonderful, especially anybody that we see doing something that makes us feel good as individuals and making an impact on the planet. We are advocating for them to do well.

We only recommend things that we believe will enhance your life. I’m excited to dive into those things. I have more brands that I want to shout out that I know what to do with. They’re going to be overflowing. There’s an upcoming episode, Jason, when you finally get this box that I received from New Hope who puts on one of our favorite events called Natural Products Expo. They did a virtual version of the expo called Spark Change and sent a box full of incredible products. I don’t even know where to begin with them. I suppose I can shout out a few. I also am afraid of spoiling it for you, Jason, but you already got a preview of what’s in the box because they emailed that out to us.

I’ll share a few of them. There’s also a brand that wasn’t in that box that I want to talk about. One of them that I thought was lovely because I’m a huge fan of tea is The Republic of Tea. This is one of the most beautifully presented products in this box. It’s timely because they have a box of it’s an assortment of wellness teas and they also send teas for the holidays. I haven’t tried any of the holiday teas yet, but I was looking over it. I thought, “This sound good.” Two of them are caffeine-free. They have a Peppermint Bark Herb Tea and also a Cinnamon Vanilla Tea. They have Comfort and Joy Black Tea with holiday spices and a Pumpkin Spice Black Tea.

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I may try one of those and maybe one of the caffeine-free teas, but I have tried a bunch of the wellness teas and they’re lovely. I’ve been intentional about drinking tea frequently, especially immune-boosting tea. For the past months, I’ve been having tea almost every single day. I’m a big coffee lover. In a previous episode, I talked about this brand Clevr that I’m into. I love them. Tea is a big part of my life now. I think in the winter season when it starts to get cold, but also our immune systems could use some extra help. I appreciate things like this. They may a subtle difference. They’re not a cure-all, but they are part of my self-care regimen. I love the packaging too. The Republic of Tea brings me joy by looking at it. I’m grateful for that and I can’t wait for you to get that too, Jason. There is so much in there, but I’m going to save some of the other brand shout outs.

The other one that is separate from that box that I wanted to shout out is Foreal Foods who makes a coconut jerky that is lovely. I got into coconut jerky when I was doing the vegan keto diet pretty strictly because I was looking for some good textured snacks. I’m into textured foods like crispy and crunchy foods. There’s something about having different textures that is satisfying and jerky is super appealing. They are unique because it’s made from coconut meat and they have great flavors. They sent me some of their Chili Lime for my road trip. I’m drooling thinking about it now. It’s satisfying. The texture’s firm, but it’s the perfect firmness because it doesn’t hurt your teeth when you bite into it. It looks like it might be a little too tough to chew on, but it’s well done. They did such a great job with it. I’ve tried a bunch of their flavors. Some of them say keto right on the package. Maybe 1 or 2 of their flavors is not keto because the carb count is a little high, but I love that. It’s also paleo and vegan. It’s a unique snack to have. If you’ve never tried coconut jerky, I encourage you to and check out Foreal Foods. Jason, you also had something for the immune system too. What would you like to share?

I have two kinds of back pocket supplements that I’ve been taking since the start of the pandemic. It’s from a company called LivOn Labs. They specialize in Lypo-Spheric vitamin supplements. They come in these little packets that are like a suspension. It’s almost like a thick liquid. I’ve been doing their Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C and their Lypo-Spheric Glutathione. The reason I’m taking this is because the Lypo-Spheric formulation means that the vitamins come in nanoparticles. They’re small, which makes it easier for the body to absorb and immediately use those nutrients. We know that vitamin C is super important. Each one of the packets of the Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C is 1,000 milligrams. I do one a day, but if I’m starting to feel a little wonky or tired. If I start to get rundown, I might get sick type feeling, then I’ll take 2 or 3 packets or more. I’ve even taken 5,000 milligrams of Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C in one day.

The other one though, that I’m a huge fan of, and this is important is glutathione. It is referred to as the mother antioxidant. It’s responsible for recharging our bodies in many different ways. Reducing oxidative stress, removing free radicals, preventing cell damage. It helps to repair the liver and helps with auto-immune diseases, but one thing that became known to me at the beginning of this is it has long protective benefits. It protects your lungs in many ways. I want to go on record and say this, it an acquired taste. The glutathione has a durian-ish rotten eggy sulfuric thing going on.

The Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C has something you would clean your countertop with. They’re not the most delicious flavor so I tend to wash it down with orange juice or pineapple juice. The potency and the efficacy of these products, they’re the best on the market that I’ve tried personally. I haven’t tried everyone but I do love the fact that they come in these nano spheric particles that they assimilate to the body quickly. I have been using these since the pandemic started to make sure my immunity is high and to make sure that with the glutathione, that my lungs are protected as well as I possibly can.

Thank you for sharing that, Jason, because spoiler alert, we did get another brand that makes glutathione.

There are two different kinds of the LivOn Labs brand. They call their formulation Lypo-Spheric but that’s a trademark. The other brands have a similar but different formulation called liposomal.

There’s another brand that I’m going to try called Aurora, which you’ll also receive in this gift box that you’re getting soon. I haven’t triple-check that it’s vegan, but at a glance, it looks like it is. There are 3,000 milligrams per dose in one of the packets. You wouldn’t have to take five of them. You probably would be fine with taking one. I haven’t experimented that much with this form of vitamin C or glutathione. I’m grateful that you shared that. Although I’m a little nervous that it’s going to taste horrible, but that’s okay. I’m taking another immune-boosting supplement that does not taste good. I was reading through the Amazon reviews and everybody was saying that. I don’t mind. If I know it’s effective, I can deal with a bad taste for a little bit. I will report back on whatever I try Aurora. I’m saving it for whenever I feel like I need it. It’s super interesting. There’s a lot of different things that we can take for our bodies. Some people find them effective. I’ve heard a lot of great things about vitamin C and glutathione. I’m glad that we have access to things like that.

We were talking that we’ve got to do the best job we can, not just with business, art, creativity, or the things we’ve been talking about in this episode, but with our health. It seems that the information around COVID, immunity and virology is changing by the day. If you go down the rabbit hole of research on the internet around all stuff, it can at times drive you mad. We have been in a state of like, “What do we believe? What’s true? How do we interpret all this research? Who’s an expert and who’s not?” It’s tough, but ultimately, we have to do the best job we can, take your supplements, get some sunshine.

If you believe in physical distancing and wearing masks, washing hands, being mindful, whatever your version of that is, we’re not here to dictate or mandate our protocols on anyone. For me, I’m always trying to learn as much as I can, try and go with my intuition on what I think is true based on what I’ve read and comparing research. Ultimately, it’s a crapshoot because we don’t know what’s true. All of this stuff is changing quickly by the day that you got to do whatever you feel is right. That comes to your health, business, and your creativity. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about making progress, experimenting and doing the best you can, whatever that means to you.

With that said, if you want to get deeper with us, we do have this eBook available on our website. It is in our Free Resources section at Wellevatr.com. We have many incredible free resources for you for your mindfulness, your self-worth, social media mastery. We have a lot of good stuff for free. If you want to tune into any of our previous episodes or check out the show notes for this one, go to our website and click on the podcast section in the upper right corner. It will take you to our podcast show notes database. With that said, you can follow us on all of the social media platforms. You know where we are, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, all the things. You can always email Whitney and myself directly. It’s [email protected]. I want to give us both credit Whitney because we were both exhausted before this episode. We have yet made it through another episode. You and I being uncomfortable and exhausted, but we got to walk our talk. If we don’t do it and we don’t get uncomfortable all the time, how the hell are we going to convince everyone else to?

That’s a good point. I felt like this was a push, to be honest. Sometimes it is, but sometimes we don’t feel like doing an episode but I got to hand it to us. We have been consistent. The next episode is going to be our 150th episode. We have been going strong for almost an entire year releasing three episodes a week. A little pat on our backs. It hasn’t been easy, but it is a great example to others on this subject matter which we enjoy this, but there are days that we don’t want to do it. Just because you enjoy something, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to look forward to it every time. We’ve gotten into a rhythm where we know we’ll get through it and we know that it’s worth it.

We know that people like you have given us great feedback, which is super encouraging. We love hearing from you through direct messages and emails. We sent out a newsletter. Jason was talking about his accident and got a flood of incredible messages from people that care. Those go a long way. I said it a few times in this episode, that is not just about the money and it certainly isn’t. We don’t make a lot of money from Wellevatr. It’s a part of our lives and our income streams. We do this because we enjoy doing it. We see a lot of benefits and people like you, sharing your words of encouragement, your feedback. That’s why we do this. The money may follow, but that’s not our big agenda. It’s incredibly satisfying. That’s why I show up when I’m tired, Jason.

I show up when I’m tired because I know there’s ice cream in the fridge too. That makes everything better. The moral of this story is you got to have something to look forward to. Until next time, thanks for getting uncomfortable with us. We’ll see you again in another episode.

 

Important Links

*We use affiliate links in our show notes. This means we receive a small sales commission if you purchase an item based on our recommendation.

• Take Charge!
• The Consistency Code
• A Joseph Campbell Companion
• Charli D’Amelio – TikTok
• Jacked on the Beanstalk
• New Hope Network
• Natural Products Expo
• Spark Change
• The Republic of Tea
• Clevr Blends
• Foreal Foods

 

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