Friends, welcome back to the Old Fashioned On Purpose podcast. Today's guest is a little different than what I usually, and the topics I would usually have on. So normally we're talking gardening, homesteading, cooking, things like that. And my amazing guest today is actually not a homesteader. He's not a farmer. And in fact, he actually lives in New York. city. But the reason I am so excited to have him join us today is that he is a world class expert on the topic of reinventing yourself.
And that happens to be exactly what so many homesteaders, maybe even you listening today, have been doing in your life the past two, three, four years or beyond. So I love his perspective on this. He has so much good to share. And I know you're going to get a ton out of this interview, whether you're looking to reinvent yourself in your career, you're looking. at going from city to country or anything in between.
So I am so excited to be joined by Craig Siegel, a value, value based and high energy keynote speaker. He is a rising thought leader has been featured in entrepreneur and endorsed by some of the world's most well known celebrities, entertainers, athletes, and entrepreneurs. He also just published his. very first book, and it has seen amazing success. It's a USA Today bestseller and beyond.
So he is someone you definitely want to get to know whether you are living in a city or on a homestead, etc. So Craig, welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you today.
What an unbelievable intro. I'm usually the one dishing them out, so I receive all that. It's funny because, you know, I haven't known each other that long, but it was one of those rare instant connections where you're like, yup, that's my people. We just hit off right away. I'm super pumped to be here. There's no place in the world I'd rather be. Let's have some fun. Let's get nuts.
Yeah, I think this is gonna be so good. And like you said, we did Have a great connection. I want to, I came on your podcast. We did some other stuff and yeah, it was instant synergy. So I think my audience is going to feel that same thing as we get through our conversation today.
So I, I was going to give a little bit more of your backstory that you have in your bio, but I always think it's more exciting when the guest gives it themselves because you can add all the color and interesting tidbits to it. So for those listening who are like, who is Craig and what does he have to say today? Can you just kind of give us your Genesis story that brought you to today?
Yeah, I think. My story really began, well, I guess it began maybe about 10 years ago, so I totally reinvented myself in the pandemic. A lot of people kind of had that moment to reassess. I took advantage of it. But prior to the pandemic, I had spent 13 years on Wall Street, but really 35 years trying to find myself in the world. And although Wall Street was fun for a little bit, and I was making money, which at that season of life, I determined to be successful.
Sucking my soul, and that's putting it lightly. And I want to be responsible to the listeners. Making money is absolutely a part of success, but it's not the whole thing. And so, a few years back, it was kind of like a dark cloud over me. A few things happened at once. I had just got out of a toxic relationship. My best friend, my dad, had just gotten diagnosed with cancer. He's still battling.
And even though I had my own business and I was making some money, I wasn't exactly putting a dent in the universe. To be honest with you, on Mondays, forget Friday, I was trying to make it through the day. And during the season, I started drinking a little bit more than I'd like to admit. I think I was just trying to escape my reality show, but I didn't stay there long.
All of a sudden I started running, and the reason why this season of life was so pivotal for me is because I had never been a runner before. I always lifted weights and worked out, but running, you couldn't pay me to run. And now I'm actually paying to run marathons. But I started running all these marathons, and this was so pivotal for a couple reasons. Number one, I showed myself that I could do some hard things.
I started to develop grit and confidence, but probably most importantly, I showed myself that I could be successful in something that I didn't necessarily have experience in. And I think that's a very valuable lesson for everybody. But I was still at my J O B, so to speak, and then the pandemic, bang. I mean, the global awakening. For me, I looked at this as an historic opportunity to just reassess. If not now, then when?
And I got really quiet for the first time in my life, and I just connected. And I started getting these downloads. And it was like, of course. I had been obsessed with personal development for 15 years. Studying it, documenting it, journaling it, all the things. And then I said, alright, well, what am I good at? Everybody's good at something, or maybe a couple things. And humbly, I could communicate pretty effectively. Literally, the next day on Iran, it came to me.
I'm like, alright, we're going to go all in on this. I don't know exactly what it looks like, but I'm going to create a vision. Because there's a big difference between a dream and a vision. And I put together this 10 lane highway. I don't want to rely upon one thing. Speaking, coaching, podcast, book deal, community, all the things. And then I reverse engineered, and I said, alright. Forget about going A to Z. How do we go from A to B? What's step one?
And then I started my personal brand, CLS, Cultivate Lasting Symphony, or a play on my initials, Craig Landon Siegel. And I got to work, and I started adding value and putting out content. And for the first time in my life, I got into alignment. And over the last three years, it's a very humbly the brand exploded.
We have one of the top entrepreneurial podcasts on the planet, the record book deal, it just became a Wall Street Journal bestseller, which no one knows if you're the first person I'm telling, coaching, speaking all over the world, all the things wasn't only a career reinvention, also got engaged a puppy, the whole thing sold the business on Wall Street, kind of a long winded answer.
But I just wanted to show you and your listeners that My mission right now is to showcase and be that permission slip for others to stop playing small, and that reinvention is not a feeling, it's a decision.
Ooh, that could be a tweet. That's so good. Or a t shirt. Reinvention is, yeah, a decision. I love your story so much. Even though, like, even though it's not my typical homestead story, like I said in, you know, in the intro, because I feel like it is an absolute blueprint to what so many humans are feeling, especially after the pandemic. I know a lot of them have acted on it. Maybe not a lot.
I know some have acted on it, but I know many more are still feeling that and they haven't been able to jump off the cliff, so to speak. And I love that you are so vulnerable and transparent and sharing like, yeah, here's what I was feeling. And here's how I got through the doubt and the comfort zone. And I actually made it happen. So I kind of want to dig into that a little bit.
Because I think that to me is the most in working with people and knowing myself, I think that's the hardest part is that moment of decision where you're like, okay, I know, I'm not really happy, but I'm doing all the things society is telling me to do. I have a good job, you know, I have, I'm checking off the boxes, it's not fulfilling me, that moment to break out of that super scary. And you often have a lot of forces around you going, no, don't do it. Don't do it.
So I want it to rewind a little bit. What was your gut telling you? Like, what did you feel intuitively before you made that leap that was strong enough to push you through that fear? So I just want people to be able to kind of, if they're feeling that same thing, they can identify with that.
yeah, this is so powerful and deep. And so for me, when I got really quiet, I started to have radical awareness.
And I was conscious of the fact that Not only was I miserable, but I was significantly underachieving, and it was almost, this is going to sound really deep, but I almost felt like I was disrespecting my creator, because I'm obviously here for something much bigger, much more important, and we all are, just to be clear, and so I did this eulogy exercise where I considered the fact that if this was it for me, who would be at my funeral, what would be said, what kind of legacy, if any, did I
leave, what kind of contribution impact, if any, did I make, and the answer was, No, nothing. I mean, nothing really was going on like I was kind of a spoke on the wheel. I was barely even alive. It was just existing. I was starring in this movie called existing. And so the first thing that I did, and I think this is really tangible and valuable for everybody. If you're not 100% in love with where you are right now, forgive yourself, right?
First and foremost, like you don't have to approve of everything that you've done and where you're at, but you do have to accept it. Because now that we can accept it, we can take some sort of inspired action to change it and, and focus on what the next move is. And so just by forgiving myself for not being where I'd hoped I'd been at 35 years young, it was so liberating. I felt like I was set free.
Now all of a sudden I had this extra energy and focus that I was using to like be depressed about the past, and I allocated art. Well, what's next? And then I started to get clarity. When I got quite and CLS started to come to me, the personal development stuff. And my thought process was I had been successful in other things that I didn't even really love, or I'm not even super good at. I actually love personal development. How can I fail?
And even if I get knocked on my butt, as us as entrepreneurs will, spoiler alert, I'm resourceful and determined enough to figure out why it didn't work or what I can do better and keep persevering. And so then I had that one moment, and society likes to call it imposter syndrome. Personally, I don't like that word syndrome because I don't want to give it power. But I did have a moment of the worst virus going today, unworthiness, who's gonna want to listen to me? Can I do this?
It's a saturated space, you name it. But then I considered the COI, or what I like to call the cost of inaction. And choosing to go back and be miserable after lockdown was up. And for me, I made it so real and polarizing for myself that I began to associate death with choosing to go back and be unfulfilled and miserable.
And so just like that, the fear or the scariness of stepping into the unknown, the unpredictability, quickly transformed into excitement because I already decided I wasn't going back to my worst case scenario. And then so I leaned in, so. I want to encourage everybody, give yourself permission to be less than perfect. Don't wait for the right time and just get in the arena and then great things will happen. And if it's not the thing, it'll be the thing that leads to the thing.
But you'll never know unless you get in the arena.
Yeah, I love that quote, the arena quote. I'm sure Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite of all time. It hangs on my, my office is just so powerful. And I think that so many people are just spectators. I think that's why so many people are so miserable is they don't realize they're just spectators. And it's not, it doesn't feel good. It's it's feel safe and it feels comfortable, but it's not a good place to be. So I, I, you're speaking my language. I love it.
Yeah. And you mentioned safe. I think the riskiest thing we can ever do, now I know this, is to play it safe.
Yes,
Isn't that ironic? The riskiest thing we could do is play it safe.
absolutely. And that's what I've learned as well. It didn't feel like that at the beginning, but I. You know, fast forward to where I am now, we've done a lot of crazy things, stepped out of the norm beyond the, the subscribed paths. And yeah, I just think of what if I hadn't done that? The regret that I would feel, even at the end of my life, I think the regret I would have felt would have been so overwhelming. And I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible.
I I'd rather have some mistakes from, from risk than regrets later on that I can't do anything about. And I
I couldn't agree more. There's actually a chapter in the book called The Price of Regret, and I think once you really consider that to be a worst case scenario, waking up with regret, now you're much more likely to take some scary, messy, uncomfortable action.
yes, absolutely. Yeah. Messy action's my favorite. Just, just fake it till you make it sometime. Just start, just start taking steps and see what happens.
That's it.
Yeah. Okay, so I want to go back. So we talked about how you knew what your gut was telling you. I love that you said you got still. You got quiet. I feel like in our culture it's so hard to get quiet because we're so bombarded with With noise and input from other sources. And one of the things I talk about a lot on this platform is just creating space.
And a lot of times for, for us, Homesteaders that's in the garden, or just out on walks on country roads, just to create that quietness and that space, because that's when the good stuff really comes to you. When you are living proof of that. So you, you decided that this is what you needed, but then how did you or what did it look like when you started taking the steps to actually make it happen? Because it's one thing to go, Okay, I need to do this. I'm feeling called this direction.
But like quitting a well respected job that makes good money and pivoting can be pretty disorienting. What did that feel like? And how did you work through those feelings? Did you ever have that? Oh, my gosh, what am I doing moment?
Not really, because I, I never felt so clear. concise and aligned about anything in my entire life. And the only reason I was able to get to that point was because I intentionally for the first time in my life created space to get quiet. And to be fair, like the space was kind of created for me because of the lockdown. But then I intentionally said, Okay, what do I want to do with my life? Why am I here?
But when you start to reinvent yourself and to to step into something new, whether it's homestead or a career or relationship, whatever the case may be. I think it's really important to obviously have a big vision because you can't hit a target you can't see and you want to be intentional. But a lot of times people think so far down the road that they get paralyzed from even taking action.
So definitely set those audacious goals, have the intentions, but then reverse engineer and say, okay, let's make this reasonable and manageable. How do I get a couple first downs? And for my non football fans, what I mean by that is like How do we get from A to B? How do we have some actionable goals that we can begin to attack and cross off the list and start to cultivate momentum. I think momentum is probably the hardest thing to get and the easiest thing to lose.
But when you have momentum, the wind's at your back. You're on fire. You can't be stopped. You're available for abundance. Like you're in a great frequency so to speak. And so one thing that I did was I was super strategic with What my objectives were. So for example, the first three months of CLS, I wasn't trying to monetize. I just wanted to add value and build a community.
I really put an emphasis on a community because my thought process was no matter how good I might be able to get at this, if there's nobody there to consume it, it goes for nothing. And so I really doubled down on building a community, forming that human interaction with them, going the extra mile, even into the empty mile. So, I was adding value, I was nurturing this community, and then when the time was right, three months in, I opened my doors for business, so to speak, and never looked back.
But I think it's so important to set yourself up with seasons. Right? You don't have to have you don't have to worry about what am I going to do at the end of 2024? How can you what can you do over the next three months and then even break it down even smaller? What about just a month of September? What do I want to accomplish? What I want to do? How much momentum do I want to get? And when you break it down into kind of like bite sized goals, you can really start to get momentum.
And I think that's really powerful.
Yes. Amen to that. So much good stuff in there. Did you, I don't even know. I mean, like, yeah, the season thing with my, my gardening bent or my, our, just our nature bent here on the podcast. There's, there's so many layers to that and I just love it because nature operates in seasons. And yet as humans, we often just go, no, I'm just going to be in creation, production mode or whatever all the time.
And so I feel like there's so many applications where also, you know, don't do too much at once follow nature's lead. There's a, there's a time for creation. There's a time for harvest. There's a time for growth. So break
No pun intended with the harvest.
Yes. Yeah, exactly. Break it up into manageable steps. But then also, yeah, sometimes there's a time for rest and there's a time for contemplation. So it's, it's such a, a point that seems obvious, but I think we miss it so much, especially in our culture. That's go, go, go drive, drive, drive. I'm sure you feel that probably being in New York city, even more than I do, where that is that constant push. And sometimes we just have to sit back and, and breathe.
Well, me and you were talking before we went on air and hit record and I was like The book was a massive success launch week. We just got some really cool data back. And what I'm going to do now is for the second time in my life, but really the first time in three years since I put CLS together and reinvented myself, I'm going to intentionally over the next week, take some time.
I might even take my first ever break on social media since I started putting myself out there and really just think about, okay, you know, that 10 lane highway that I told you about in the beginning of the conversation. I say very humbly, a lot of those goals have been achieved, which is really cool and I'm really humbled by that. But what's the next 10 lane highway? What's that next level of expansion? And that's not just going to come to me when I'm in it going 100 miles an hour.
I have to take a step back, kind of disconnect to reconnect. And really get quiet and figure out what that expansion is. And I'm actually super excited to do that journaling and getting quiet and all that stuff. But you nailed it. Especially in New York City, what I mean. It's, it's going a hundred miles. If you're not going a hundred miles an hour, you're getting run over. So I need to, I need to be aware of that and then create that space.
yeah, absolutely. One thing you said, and I'm very, I'm always curious about this when I hear people's stories. You said you've always had an interest in personal development. And then that kind of came back to the forefront as you started upon the reinventing yourself path.
Do you feel like that, because I have this theory that a lot of the things that we're meant to do, our biggest callings in life, are given to us often at a young age, and we just kind of stifle them and shove them to the back because parents or culture or whoever, just is like, yeah, that's not that's not what you're gonna do. You need to find a more normal path to follow. Do you feel like that was the case for you?
Was that something that you've had since, you know, young adulthood or childhood that you maybe had pushed aside in order to do the things you were supposed to do or were prescribed upon you?
So I definitely went about my life based upon what I perceived the world wanted to see from me.
I like I went to college because that's what you were supposed to do after high school and I didn't really learn a whole lot in college and I want to take ownership and accountability for that because I probably could have done a better job of paying more attention but I graduated but the truth of the matter is I wasn't really that interested in the curriculum which is one of the reasons why I'm here today.
Some point I want to make my mission to teach stuff like the reinvention formula and mindset relationships in school I think that'd be much more effective personally, but when I got out of college I didn't know what I wanted to do I was not one of those kids that grew up as I go I want to play for the Yankees or I want to be an actor.
I want to be in construction I didn't know but I was ambitious and so I ended up on Wall Street living in New York kind of makes sense But it was that moment where for the first time I discovered personal development simultaneously when I got to Wall Street. So that must have been about probably 15 years ago. And thank you. Yeah, thank goodness I did. Because it helped me. You know, when I got to Walsh, I was a fish out of water. This might surprise you, but I'm an introvert.
And like, I didn't know anything really. But personal development showed me that I could start to develop confidence. I could build rapport with people to build relationships, and I could really just revamp my mindset on what's possible for me. And so for the last 15 years, I had been studying it to really keep me in the game and keep me in the fight when I was not in the best place. And that's putting it lightly. I just didn't know it would turn into my career.
But then when I finally got quiet in the pandemic, and I started asking myself, because I do this tangible exercise, and it's good for anyone right now that's listening, that's looking for some clarity, I made a list of the things that I love, and the second list was the things that I'm good at. And I wanted to find some commonalities and marry the two. And so I said, you know, humbly, I could communicate effectively, it's what I'm decent at. Well, what do I love?
And there was literally only one thing that came to mind. It was like, duh, I'm obsessed. with personal development ever since I stumbled upon it, I was just so fascinated with it. I know you are too. And so from that moment, I knew it was something more than just a passion.
Yeah. I think that the exercise you just described, it's, it's those simple things. It's, you know, none of it's, it's rocket science per se, but it's those exercises. I know, no, my own life as well has been so transformative. And I think it's just, I think people may hear them, or they might be aware of things like that, but we, it's so hard to often just do it, right?
Just do the exercise, listen to the book, do what the book is saying, and we do get quiet enough just to sit down and, what do I love? I think, I think a lot of people can't answer that, I think at first glance, I think a lot of people have to you. Dig really deep to find that, which is sad because I think we're all, we're just so stuck on kind of the rat race mindset in many aspects that it's really hard to get clear on what do we actually like? What, what does light us up?
And then how could I turn that into something I do all the time versus just on the weekends or whatever?
Yeah. And just to be clear, you have to create that space to really think about it. And I know there's some people that are probably listening right now. And they're like, well, Craig and Jill, you found it, but like, I don't know what I'm good at. Or even if I did, like I, I also need to pay the bills. And I want to say this, I believe full heartedly.
That if you can identify what you absolutely love, and you go all in, you add value, and you're passionate about it, the money will be an energetic exchange and a byproduct of you doing a really good job with what you love. And I don't care if it's reviewing movies or whatever it is, a blog, anything that you're going to go all in and add some sort of value and be really passionate and energetic with, somebody will pay for that. I believe that.
I absolutely believe that. Yeah, I've noticed whenever in my businesses, when I've been super focused just on ROI, it feels really hard to make money. And when I'm just focused on the passion and creating value, then like you said, the money flows towards the value. It's, it's crazy.
100%.
Yeah. As you were going through your initial transformation, did you get any pushback from people around you who were like, ah, don't do that, Craig. Like, what are you doing? You're messing things up. Did you ever get any of that vibe?
It's so crazy because when I started doing this, I told a few people and I think maybe they thought it was like cute. I don't know if they really thought I was this serious, but I was dead serious. I had never felt so aligned in my entire life. And also, when I got so quiet, I realized how miserable I was in my past life, my career and all that stuff. And so for me, I had to I remember it. The scariest thing for me, this is going to sound really weird and deep.
The scariest thing for me, once I got this clarity, was that lockdown would end, and I would have to go back. I just wanted as much time as I could to really build this thing out. I don't know if I've ever publicly said that, but I was just so into it. You know, I started posting, and I didn't have any connections, celebrity friends or following. I think I had like 275 Instagram followers.
And I started putting out content and reintroducing myself to the world, and what I'm going to start talking about. And I think a lot of people in the beginning that knew me from my past life were like, Oh, love the content, don't stop. And then all of a sudden it wasn't so cute, it really started to get momentum. And I never really heard from some of those people again. I think that, this is just my opinion.
Some people maybe from your past, they see you really going for it, maybe feel a little bit of envy or jealousy because, it's probably nothing to do with me. It's probably like they see, wow, he's living on purpose and really going for his dreams. And I think most people are not, and maybe that makes them feel some type of way. But I never really got pushback because the people that really care about me at the time were like my family, and they knew how miserable I was.
So I think the thought of trying something new, it was like, yeah, go for it. So I never really had any pushback. And if I dated, if I'm being honest. I had such tunnel vision that I wasn't really available for it.
Yeah. I think that's the key is where you're so focused on the, the vision that you are, you're like, okay, I guess maybe if you're disliking this, I don't even notice cause I'm, I'm on a mission.
That's right. Yeah. Just noise.
Yep. Totally. So, so I'm fascinated by how quickly you were able to build a network because you were starting in 2020, right? That's kind of where it all began. It's not 2023. Excuse me. And I mean, you're killing it. Like you have, I have, I've been in the online space for a long time. I know what it takes to build a platform of certain sizes. I'm very well aware of, of how hard it can be. And platforms don't grow as fast as yours did.
Yep. Especially in this era, in this, you know, the 2020 era, it's a lot harder than ever and you have just had this skyrocket of growth and you've, you're rubbing shoulders with really well known people celebrities, entrepreneurs, people very well respected in the space, your podcast interview roster is incredibly impressive. How did you build such a robust network in such a short amount of time?
Yeah, that's everybody's. I feel like that's everyone's favorite question to ask me. It's interesting because it's not like one specific cheat code. There's a couple of things that I did. Number one was I thought really, really, really big. And that's a superpower of mine and get this. It's available to everybody. I just, when I created my show. Like, I didn't want to just have civilians, I wanted to have really, really big recognizable names.
Because, number one, I was fascinated with how they got to where they are. Number two, my thought process was, if I could do a really good job with the shows and build a relationship with them, that would be strategic. And then also, they could share it, and that could help us get more buzz and extend our reach and make more of an impact. And so, right out the gate, it wasn't like, it's not like I had Alicia Silverstone and, you know.
And my land on these people on right away, but I was super persistent and I just kept building the community and when you're going to offer someone that has a lot going on, like, like, ask them to, you know, want to collaborate, you have to provide some sort of win win, especially with these cats that are really, really, really busy.
And so while I was building the community, My, my value prop, if you will, was when someone's going to hop on our show, our communities be very loyal and engaging and probably want to support you and all the crazy things you have going on. The awesome stuff, the books, the programs, whatever it is. And that kind of creates a win win because the big difference between audience and a community.
And so we're able to land maybe one big name and then I use that as leverage and, and then also like a. You know, I, I take great pride in conducting really, really, really deep, meaningful conversations. It's not just like the cookie cutter, like I really want to get to know somebody, build a rapport.
And so the podcast, I know you can attest this, it's such a beautiful vessel to create and really use as an excuse to, to make strategic relationships because you have all these people that you're fascinated with or you'd like to collab with. Now you have a podcast as a reason to get together. And so I thought really big.
I was super persistent and I think I did a pretty good job and all of a sudden it started to get momentum and then now all of a sudden it's like they're coming to us now when they want to promote something or they want to be on our show. So it didn't happen overnight, but I thought really big. I had an intention and I stayed the course and I was persistent.
Yeah, I think persistent is such an underlooked overlooked attribute there. I, I'm, I, I'm the same way with the podcast. It's really a selfish venture. I just like, I like talking to interesting people that I find interesting. I get to talk to authors that I'd never have contact with otherwise. And it's just. It's just really cool.
And I find that when I get excited, especially excited about an interview, my audience also gets like, for some, like my excitement is directly tied to their excitement, which is really a cool dynamic. So
And also like for me like Because we get me and you like we have income coming from many different things as an entrepreneur. When I was like, I remember when I had you on the show. Like I was just like, there's nothing else I'd rather be doing right now than having this awesome conversation, getting to know Jill a little bit of chopping it up, building rapport, talking about cool growth oriented things, and we happen to get paid for. It's just awesome.
And for anyone listening right now, no matter what you do, in 2023, I would encourage you to lean in and consider starting a podcast or just be available for stuff like that. It really is a beautiful tool.
it really is. Yeah, for sure. There's a lot of things I don't love about technology, but that podcasting and the ability to build platforms like that with such meaning is one of the things I do actually really love about our era. Yeah.
Agreed.
So you mentioned this a little bit earlier and I want to dig into it a little bit deeper. Because I feel like sometimes we can be doing this and not realizing we're doing this. It's easy to listen to conversations like the one you and I are having, and go, okay, yeah, yeah, that sounds good, I agree with everything they're saying, but then it's harder to shine a light back on our own life and go, wait, am I actually doing those things? Am I actually living below of what I'm actually capable of?
So, I love how you sign off a lot of your, your captions in your videos with playing small is cancelled. Can you dig into that a little bit deeper, because I want someone, if maybe they're in that position, I want them to be able to recognize it and then also start to make a plan to start playing bigger.
Yeah, I believe all of us are here for a massive reason. We're all unique, not even identical twins are the same fingerprints. And it's not our opinion. It's our responsibility to identify what that is and lean in, make an impact, contribute, unapologetically make a lot of money so you can do great things with it, form great relationships and be on fire for life. And for so long, Jill, I played small, because I didn't think all this stuff was available for me.
Like why me and victim mentality and I'd see other people winning and I just didn't think that was in the cards for me. And then it occurred to me that I was so infested in this BS story or movie, if you will. And I was giving it like you for everybody's heard that thoughts become things. I was giving energy and life into this story that I was a Wall Street guy. I always be stressed out and make a certain amount of money. I'd never find true love. And any of that stuff.
And because I was so invested in it, I started to give it life and energy. When I got really quiet, it occurred to me that not only me, but all of us have a choice. And I started choosing a different narrative, a different movie. In fact, this is a movie, in my opinion, and I changed the plot and the next scene. And I started giving life to, it's not what can go wrong. But what can go right? How good can I stand it?
And I started thinking about the impact that I might be able to make on the world and the people I might be able to reach and the relationships might be able to create energetically what that would feel like. And I started giving that life. And we mentioned the podcast earlier and I thought really big and I've been able to achieve a lot and we're just getting warmed up because I thought bigger.
And essentially what I was doing, because it's cancel culture right now, I, I think what we should cancel is unworthiness and playing small. And playing small doesn't do anybody good, because all of us have gifts. And when you play big, you have the ability to do great things. And also, when you shine bright, you give others permission that they, too, can shine bright, play big, do some great things in the world.
And so I want to kind of start a movement about canceling playing small and encouraging everybody to think bigger, get in the arena and play big, have some fun, make an impact.
yeah, yeah, I think that the piece you said about the why me, I mentality that kind of that victim mentality. I see that so much in our, in our world right now. I think a lot of people can relate to that. Also that feeling of unworthiness, like why me? I'm not, you know, I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. People like me, my, my story back in the day was people like me don't do things like that. Like, It's just not, it's just not how I'm wired. Like I just don't do that.
What was there like, or what was the moment and maybe it wasn't a moment, maybe it was a process, but could you kind of break down the process of how you transform from that mindset to why not me? Why shouldn't I do this? I'm going to play big. Like I know that had to be substantial because that, that victim mentality is pervasive. How did you really start to climb out of that? What did that look like?
Yeah. So everybody wants to talk these days about like, what can you add to achieve more success? I'm big on letting things go. And I started letting go of the BS narrative in my head. It's that opponent, the ego, the devil, whatever you want to call him. He's out there to get us. But that's okay, because as long as we know we're in a fight, we can do things to overcome it. And I stopped believing that I was unworthy. I stopped believing that all the abundance out there is not for me.
And I just let that go, and kind of gave myself a clean slate. And I said, this is like a blank canvas now. I'm not where I'd hoped I'd been. I'm not super happy about it, but I do accept it. And, and now I have an opportunity to reinvent and work on myself like a piece of clay and, and see what's next.
And I just started doubling down on those thoughts, on that frequency, on that vibration, and I went all in, and I, I, this is gonna sound a little like weird, like a little too simple, but I just made the commitment, because in life you don't get what you want, you get what you're committed to. I made the commitment to not be available for negativity.
In fact, I don't really watch the news if I'm being honest and sometimes someone will say to me like, hey, did you hear what happened over there and I'm like, no, and I used to be embarrassed that I'm like, no, I, I choose not to watch most of the news for the most part. I know what's going on, but not all of it, because in my opinion, when you turn the news, you get dejected. It's negative. It's like pessimistic. I'm not available for that.
I like to choose to stay in my little I CLS bubble of serenity, hanging out with people like you, talking about growth, making an impact, doing great things in the world. And this was just a decision and I'm not just interested. I'm not just committed. I'm all in on this mentality.
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I also don't watch the news. I find yeah, drama, whether it's from the news or elsewhere, is so distracting. And when you're, when you're focused on that mission you don't have time for that. You got to just keep on. I, I get this mental image of like, have you ever seen like a bulldog or an attack dog, like latch onto something and they just like, they won't let go. Like, that's like the picture I get. I'm like, nope, I'm latched on. I'm not letting go.
We're, we're, we're leaving the news and the drama on the side.
Yeah. And just to be clear, like you should have an idea of what's going on, like, you know, the president and stuff like that, but, but how much involvement do you really need? You know what I'm saying? And if, if anything, anyone or any news has the ability to like. lower your frequency or, you know, remove you from your state of bliss, then you have a decision to make it. And I just choose, and it seems like you do too, just to not be available for that.
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot more peaceful that way, for sure.
For sure.
Yeah. So when you're, when you're doing these big things, when you're in the middle of the mission, when you're accomplishing the vision, you know, you're supposed to do it. You've, you felt that you're following the call, but do you ever have doubts in the middle of the project? Do you ever struggle with that?
oh yes, I'm human, right? And And you know this firsthand, it's just, there's moments where you're like, Especially launch week, which wasn't so long ago, I think it was last week. And you're, you know, going live every 15 minutes with all these different people, and you're on so many different podcasts, and you're spreading the message because you believe in it so much that it could help the world. You're spreading the message until you're blue in the face.
And then you question, like, am I really making a difference? Am I moving the needle? Are more people, you know, being informed? Are more people wanting to play bigger? You second guess yourself. It's just that I think it's part of being human. Right? And we just have to battle that. But you stay the course. You know why you're doing it. It's obviously for a bigger reason. And you just keep going. And then ultimately, I believe the results take care of themselves. And that's what happened.
Obviously, we did reach a lot of people. Which is super cool. But yeah, especially in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a world, and I talk about this in the book, I have a chapter called The Truth about entrepreneurship based upon my perspective. And, you know, it looks very sexy on the outside, and yes, you're your own boss, you can make your own hours, there's no limit on how much money you can make, that's all true.
But you better negotiate the price in advance of what you're willing to sacrifice, right? Because it's time. It's certain relationships. I mean, it takes a lot of resilience, courage, determination to build a life like this. And I think it's the most rewarding, too. But make no mistake about it. You will get beat to your knees. There will be seasons of doubt, of frustration, of heartbreak and disappointment, which I also talk about in the book. I've come to love it.
And just to be clear, it doesn't mean that like while I'm going through it, it's so much fun, but I know it's a part of the process and it just is what it is. We get stronger, we get more battle tested, we become more resilient, more of a bulletproof mindset, but there will always be moments, especially when you have the courage to step into new things that you don't necessarily have experience with. And like running marathons or writing books or all the great stuff that you're doing.
You haven't done some of these things before, so I think it's only natural that you sometimes you question, Can I do this? What if I have doubt and so forth, but that's not enough to stop us. We still muscle through and on the other side of all that uncomfortable action, sometimes the doubt is where all the real growth happens. Long winded answer. But yes, I still have my moments as well. I just choose to kind of lower my shoulder and plow through. So
Yeah. I think that's such an important conversation because it can look, you know, when we all look at different people on social media, whether people are looking at me or you or you know, other influencers, it looks like it's, you know, it's always a highlight reel. It's always the victories and the wins. And I've actually had people come to me and they're like, Oh, I don't know if I'm supposed to, you know, homestead.
I, I'm, I'm two years in, my chickens are dying, my gardens weedy, and I'm just not sure if this is for me. And I'm sure, you know, I'm, I'm sure you've never felt like that. I'm like, no, I have totally felt like that. But I think it's being able to recognize and have these conversations like, yeah. I'm successful, I'm doing big things, and I still doubt it sometimes. And I think just that knowledge I know gives me a lot of hope and I, I think it's something we need to talk about more publicly.
So Jill, for you personally, just just curious, just challenge you in your own show, no big deal. How do you handle situations like that when you're trying something new? And then you kind of have that voice of doubt? And can you do this and stuff like that? Like, what is the strategy that you use to power through?
I think I, I usually just try to remember why I started or remember the calling I felt at the beginning. Cause generally I try to listen to my intuition very carefully. And I generally don't embark on a new project unless I know very strongly that I'm being. called or pulled that direction. And so I just try to go back to what I know to be true, go back to what I felt at the beginning and just remember and kind of reiterate.
But, but like you said, it's not to say that when you're in those moments of the slog and the grind, like it can be really painful and it, there can be times where I'm just like, oh my gosh, I made the biggest mistake, but you have to like pause and get quiet, like you've been talking about and just go back to what we knew to be true at the beginning.
Yeah, that's it. But but even you, you had those moments still.
totally, yeah. Should I be doing this? You know, what was I thinking? Yeah, I think that's, I think it's normal. I think, and I
But also consider the alternative, right? If you're not having those moments, I would say that you're probably playing a little too safe.
Totally. Yes, absolutely. And that's actually, sometimes I ask myself, and I'm curious if you do this too, when I'm in the middle of like, oh my gosh, am I, what am I doing? Like, was this a mistake? I go, okay, so let's say I just didn't do this. What, what, how would I be feeling if I had never embarked on this or I had never tried this like, you know, you take those like in a movie where you have a flash forward to that never happening.
And I'm and usually when I do that, I'm like, Oh, no, that that would have felt even worse. Like, I'm really glad I'm in the middle of this, even though it's painful right now. So yeah,
Yeah, and to be honest, you just tell me you have a breakthrough. Because this is something I'm going to talk about with people going forward. And I just put this together just now with you. If you don't have those moments, regulatively often, you're probably playing it too safe.
yeah. And I think that goes with that, you're playing small is cancelled line. I think that's a perfect way to go, okay, if you're not doubting yourself, here's a good indicator. Like, checkmark, you're probably playing too small.
That's awesome. That's awesome. Great stuff.
That's a great I think that's a great a great check in with yourself. I'll be at painful sometimes but a good check in. So, so we talked about the douse. I'd love to know like you talk about the season of grind in your book. And I feel like a lot of homesteaders can relate to that. So could you break that down a little bit more and maybe give some encouragement to those who are in that season of grind. Maybe they're to the point where they haven't started to see the big harvest yet.
You know, they're not their platforms or their their farms are not where they exactly want it to be. And they're just hustling like what would you say to them?
Yeah. And there's always a season of harvest and a season of growth, right? And when you're going to start something relatively new, and it's obviously special for you, and you want it to be big, or maybe it's homesteading, or starting a business, or whatever the case may be, to get it off the ground, and up and running, and running smoothly, there's a season of grind that I believe is irreplaceable. And I've spoken to some of the most successful people on the planet, and they all seem to agree.
And that is this, in the beginning, there is no substitute for hard work. Right? And I know it's very trendy these days to say, manifesting, call it in, and I want to be clear, I'm really big on that too. But you have to marry the woo with the work. And in the beginning, there's just an irreplaceable season of grind, where you have to just... Go for it and put in the hours and work overtime and put yourself out there and go that extra mile.
And then eventually, if you're consistent enough and you're willing to plow through, you'll get to a point where the season of growth starts to happen and everything you were planting now begins to blossom. And also, if you're an entrepreneur, you get to work a little smarter, maybe not so much harder. You get to hire, delegate, scale, all that stuff. But in the beginning, don't shy away from that season of grind. It's where the magic happens, if I'm being honest.
Like, I look back, Joe, like in the beginning of the pandemic, I didn't even have a laptop for the first eight months. I was putting out content, I was grinding, I was staying up till 2, 3 in the morning, responding back to every single person that was gracious enough to leave any type of comment on one of my pieces of content. I just wanted to build that community and form that human connection. I was, that season of grind.
To an extent, I still think I'm in the season to grind because I had that mentality like I've never arrived and I think that's healthy. But obviously it was a little crazier back then. But it's just, it's a part of the process when you want to do something big, meaningful, and special in the world. And I encourage everybody to lean into it. I don't,
Yeah, I also think back to those early days. I mean, I still, I still have total seasons of grind as well, but the early grind, it's I look back at it really fondly. Like you said, you know, it was hard and it was, you didn't have a laptop, but it's, there's something about it. That's really special. Once you're through it, maybe not romantic at the time, but it's cool to think back
I don't think you can replace that.
Yeah.
Like everyone, a hundred percent, everybody, I mean, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Bezos, all of them, like, you, me. There's always that irreplaceable beginning stage where you really just got to go nuts. And it doesn't feel so magical when you're going through it, but then you look back and you're like, had it not been for that season, we wouldn't be where we are now.
totally. Yeah. It's pretty cool. So as we wind down here, I'd love for you to tell the audience a little bit more about your book. We referenced it a few times, but it is incredible and especially as you're coming off such an amazing launch for it, it has hit all the marks and it is totally worthy of what it hit because it is such a awesome volume. Tell us a little bit more about it and how they could use that to reinvent their own life.
Yeah I'm super passionate about this book for a couple reasons. Number one, I don't know how many books I have in me, at least not right now. This is everything I know to be true up until this point. Like I said earlier, I haven't done everything right in my life, but one thing that I did do really well.
Was pivot successfully and reinvent myself in this book contains 15 years of studying personal development from emotional intelligence NLP revamping your mindset Kabbalah Historic figures you name it And then also literally how I reinvented myself with the branding and sales and all that stuff. But it's got a little bit of everything in there.
I mean, it's one of those books that you could pick up at any time and read a different chapter and it'll hit home and you don't necessarily have to go in order. Although it is my story and a lot of the setbacks and the rock bottoms and lessons extracted. And it's just, I know that this book is not niche. It's not just for homesteaders or entrepreneurs or single mom. It's for anybody.
At any capacity that wants to get clarity, play a little bit bigger, make a difference, find themselves, and do some really big epic stuff with their life, and I think that applies to everybody. And also one thing that I've been hearing is it's a very easy read to the extent that like it's very digestible. And I'll never forget, just a quick story, I met my fiance a couple years back, and whenever we would travel, she'd have this book with her.
And it was a book by Jordan Peterson, and I don't know much about him, but I hear good things. I'm sure he's very brilliant. But like, two years later, she was still like in the same section of the book. And I'd say, why? And she's like, it's just, to be honest with you, it's a, it's a challenging read. And sometimes I read it. I'm like, what did I just read? And so I didn't want my book to feel like that. I don't want it to be like, oh, you read a chapter and it feels like you ran a marathon.
So it's very consumable. It's very digestible. You can apply it. And I didn't have a ghostwriter. We had a major publishing house with Wiley. But it's me. It's my voice. It's, it's authentic. And I just know that this is gonna help anybody in any capacity that wants to remove limitations, reinvent, play Baker, and make a massive dent in the universe.
Yeah. I love it. It's it's so good. You guys absolutely go find it. And I was even before Craig said that I was gonna say it is so easy to read. I have read Jordan Peterson's book. Love it. But it is a marathon like I get through I can do a chapter like every couple days and I'm like, Oh my gosh, that was exhausting.
right?
So good, but exhausting and your book is not like that at all. So I think that's important. You can have the best content in the world. But if no one can can consume it, then it's a little tricky. So,
Agreed. Agreed.
yeah, so, so good. And it's available all the places books are sold, right? Amazon, Barnes and Noble, local bookstores, all the places.
Exactly. Anywhere you buy books. Yeah,
Fabulous. All right. And then where can people find you online to follow along with all the amazing things you're doing?
anywhere you listen to podcasts, A C L S experience. If you like inspirational texts throughout the week and you live in the US you could text us at 9 1 7 6 3 4 3 7 9 6. Text the word Jill, so I know you heard it here. Cultivate lasting symphony.com is our website. If you wanna check out our community and stuff like that. And anywhere on social media at Craig Sequel, cls. to the best of my ability. I love to respond. I love to interact. Obviously, at this point, you can't respond to everybody.
But if you reach out to me, there's a good chance that I'll probably get back to you as well. So come say hello. I love to engage.
Awesome. Yes, that I can attest, good stuff he's putting out to the world. You guys go follow along with everything Craig's doing. Craig, this was so amazing. So inspirational. I loved every minute. Thank you for coming on. Any last words of advice to the audience before we sign off? So
Yeah, just if you're looking to try something different homesteading or whatever the case may be, lean in and embrace that early season grind. And don't forget why you started in the first place. And if you're consistent, and you're creative, and you're resilient, and you're willing to do whatever it takes ethically. You will make some great stuff happen. And on the other side of messy and uncomfortable action is where all the real growth lies.
good. So good. And that's, I can't think of a better way to close. So thank you so much for that. And I so enjoyed this conversation.
Thank you, Joe.