And it is time once again to get solar powered. We welcome you to another episode of the solar powered podcast. I'm Ryan Hall from Royal Heart Media. We thank you so much for joining us here today. And as I'm recording this video, I'm recording this podcast rather. It's Saturday morning. We're about 2 hours away from Crimson Tide and the Badgers of Wisconsin doing their thing on the football field.
You can clearly see if you're watching this on video, you can clearly see by the Crimson Tide Polo that I'm wearing. But in today's podcast, I don't have guests or anything like that today. I just wanted to talk to y'all and tell you a story. And I just wanted to tell you a story, and I believe it can really be something that a lot of you guys can, can relate to as well. I do identify as an author, coach, publisher, podcaster.
But and and I'm looking to grow this business to where it has full time, full time sustained bill. But it's not there yet. And I still have to be able to keep the lights on. I still have to be able to keep food in my belly, food in Pete's belly, and most importantly, keep proof of it. I can early and now we're recording this in the middle of September. If you're watching this on video on the on the VOD, we're recording this in the middle of September.
Back in the early part of May, we got notification that the program that I was, that I wanted to work for had gotten bought out by another company. I had to leave work early that day and they had an emergency, an emergency conference call with the whole program that I guest. And I found out about the secondhand. That kind of typical of me, but I had to, and to find out about the second hand. But our program got bought out by another company. Now just to be clear, I never worked for Google.
That probably wouldn't have gotten reprimanded somehow if I'd said that I did work for Google, but I never worked for Google. But I waited. Right? I waited because at the time, I was covering 4 different store. I was covering 4 different locations for that Google Chromebook program. Four different locations. But I waited. I waited several weeks until maybe 2 weeks before the final date of the program, which ended up being June 15th. I got a call.
I got a phone call on my day off telling me that as part of the program, none of my 4 locations were going to be a part of this new program. I thought this was gonna be, you know, almost a respite to be able to rebuild my business. Right? Going unemployment for a few months, really work and grind on my business and really make really make some changes happen. And I did. We've got several new projects in the pipeline.
I've been making, you know, I've been making connections with people that I could eventually see on a team. One thing about business is that you need revenue to be able to sustain. And let's kinda flash back a little bit to the absolute mess that was me getting approved for an appointment. I eventually did.
It took a month, but I eventually did that it was only about a third of what I qualified for because they were docking that payment to me because of what they deemed to be some overpayment that I had on a previous unemployment came back during the COVID shutdown in 2020. Yeah. I was mad. I'm still mad. So let's just say this summer this summer has been this summer has been very rough. But on the day that this, episode is going live, I'm starting a new job.
I'm starting a new job, and let's just say partially commissioned sales. I'd end up making some pretty good money. It's not what I wanna be doing. It's still in the retail game, which means that Saturday mornings where I can relax and have coffee, watch college game day, record a podcast, do some writing, but most importantly, watch my comes in time wherever they're playing. Those days are coming to another rent. But I still have to have an income. Right? I still have to have an income.
I'm looking to move, put down a deposit or a new place. So, I mean, things are, you know, things are kind of are kind of now kinda feel like I'm in this a, decision point in my life right now. With apologies to Robert Frost, I could either take the the well traveled road that's paved, that's got trees and flowers along the, you know, along the sides that could lead to something comfortable. That could lead to a regular, let's just say, routine life.
Or I could take the road less traveled, which may have some potholes that may have some thorn bush, thorn bushes, some dangerous animals, maybe some snipers in the trees. Who knows? I don't think I don't really think there's a middle ground here. My decision point is, do I go down the well traveled road, which could lead to resentment, could lead to anger, could lead to all of the good stuff that I've been in therapy for for the past 4 years.
Or I could do the one thing that scares me more than anything. I could decide to go down the road less traveled. I could decide to go down the road less traveled. I could decide to become the person that I already see myself as, but maybe not sure how to actually be that person.
I could go down what's comfortable and end up in the same spot, or I could continue to get totally uncomfortable and still work this full time job, get out of the hole that I'm in, and really start to build some momentum in growing my business. And don't get me wrong. I'm incredibly proud of the work that I've been doing with this business. The release weekend of the Love and Tension book has was beyond my wildest imagination.
The, the virtual campfire, virtual workshop that I, that I co created with 2 incredible ladies went incredibly well. Becoming more visible. I'm becoming more intentional on my visibility because I really come into bunker mode right now, but I can't. And by bunker mode, I mean, just digging down by myself and just isolating myself from everybody. I might get it done, but I may be miserable at the end. You know what I mean? I guess what I really wanted to share with you guys is this.
We we have a choice to make in this world. Can I and by we, I mean, I, of course, but I believe there's some wisdom in it for the collective y'all? Do we continue to go down do do I continue to go down the road that's comfortable, or do I continue or do I make the choice to act as if I'm already the outgoing, charismatic, tall man that I see myself as. Making the choosing the latter, it's not gonna be easy.
In fact, I have said privately, this is one of the most difficult mindset shifts I think I've ever had to undertake or chosen to. But I believe it's worth it. And I think in closing, I I I flashed on this movie a lot over the past few days. Really quirky little movie that came out in the year 2000. Movie is called State and Maine. It's an ensemble comedy. It kinda slapstick, comedy, written and directed by David Mamet and just with kind of an all star ensemble cast.
Felicity Huffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, William h Macy, Alec Baldwin. Yeah. So many of those people have been hit with controversy lately. I wonder why. But I think my favorite part of that film is the character played by the late William h not the late William h Macy, but the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Now the movie is about this film crew that takes over and invades this this small, town in Vermont to shoot a movie.
They shoot a movie called the old mill because they were chased out of their old town where they were shooting the movie because they burned down their But But, Hoffman's character Phyllis Newman Hoffman's character is a man named Joseph Turner White, who was the screenwriter of this film of this fictional film. Also an award winning author and all that jazz. But William h Macy's character is the director of this fiction movie.
And he's trying to convince a white to do something that feels inauthentic to him, that feels like a lie to him. And he's incredibly self conscious about it. Eventually, Macy's character grabs Hoffman by the shoulders and just says to him, look. It's not a lie. It's just a gift for fiction. Gotta wonder why that one related to me so much. But my point is that I create these magical worlds where where these fictional stories happen.
I mean, have I ever been held hostage in the Middle East during the war? No. Have I ever been a late night TV host? No. Am I a piano and keyboard prodigy? No. Spoiler to my book, by the way. But have I ever been any of these things? No. But I can create those worlds because I have just a big imagination. I'm also smart.
But I can either choose in my real life, I can either choose to embrace this new me that might not be fully formed, that might be uncomfortable, that might be scary, or I can choose to embrace the man that I was, but that's comfortable. So there's just the way it's it's it's kind of a balancing. You know? It's kind of a balancing. I'm gonna choose to be the man that I already see myself as as that old charismatic old man.
If you've read my chapter in the Expanding Chronicles, is that old charismatic old man instead of the instead of the shy, reserved, grown up little boy that I've always been. And I think that's a great note to leave you on just with that question. Are you choosing the well traveled road in your life, or are you choosing to take the road less traveled, but that may lead you to something a little bit more difficult?
Speaking of those decision points, I am accepting applications from now through December 1st on the Expanding Man Chronicles volume 2. Now as I'm recording this in the middle of September, I already have a couple of people on board. But if you're interested, if you have a transformational story, if you're a man and you have a transformational story that has a clear decision point to go down either the well traveled road or to go down the road less traveled, I wanna hear from you.
I am including a link to my web page into the application portion of the, of this in the description of this podcast. So if you have a story or if you have a man in your life who has one of those stories, fill out that application. I'll reach out because I would love to feature your your story. I would love to feature your story in volume 2 of the Expanding Man Chronicles. We're aiming for a spring of 2025 release. So keep that in mind.
I will be talking about that a lot in the coming months, so stay tuned for that. And I think I'm gonna go down the road less traveled in this episode of this, of the solar powered podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in today. This has been the solar powered podcast, a presentation of Royal Arts Media. For more information about me or about Royal Arts Media, you can find me on my website at royalheartsmedia.com.
You can follow me on the social media machine at Ryan Hall writes on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or you can shoot me a good old fashioned email. That's [email protected]. But that'll do it for this episode of the solar powered podcast. Until we meet again, this is Ryan Hall saying thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. So long for now. I love you all, and go get solar power. Thank you, and take care.