And it is time once again to get Soul-R Powered. Hi. We welcome you back to the Soul-R Powered podcast. My name is Ryan Hall from Loyal Hearts Media, and we thank you so much for joining us here today. And I'm coming to you today from, well, a pretty tired place, I must admit. And I wanted to talk a little bit about that. Just a little bit about what I think my life is gonna be looking like, what my business, what my story is gonna be looking like here going forward.
As I shared on my most recent episode, I have recently started a new job. Just started training for a new job as a salesperson with a mattress company, a pretty nationally known mattress company. And it's a pretty significant training process. It's a six-week-long process, and I won't divulge any company secrets here. But this has been a pretty eye-opening week. I must admit last week was a very eye-opening week. And I wanted to tell you all about it.
I feel like most of my experience in the sales retail sales space has been in high-volume, high-traffic areas like Walmart and three different Best Buy stores. So a lot more of an intense atmosphere. This is going to be a lot different. This is gonna be a lot different because it's not nearly as high volume. The earning potential is a lot better. And just simply put, it is a lot more laid back. And I feel like something like this fits me in my stage in my life a lot better.
Because if you think about it, right, if you think about it, most of these places that I speak of, these, you know, super specialty stores like this, most places like this, you may have two or three customers for an entire shift. Maybe some phone calls or maybe some questions, but primarily the in-person, like, customer-facing is gonna be very minimal. But these customers, it's a lot more of an intimate experience because you're buying a bed, for crying out loud.
You're buying a bed, but you're also investing a lot more time and a significantly a lot more money into something like this, into something that could last you 10 to 15 years instead of practically a throwaway laptop that you might, you know, that you might replace in a year, that you might spend, you know, $200. Don't get me wrong. There's some inexpensive stuff in the store, but that's not the main focus.
I feel like I had a pretty big mindset shift during one of these training sessions because we can actually have outside interests even while we're on the clock. Right? So this computer, this laptop that I'm recording this podcast on right now, I can actually take it with me. I can actually write. I can actually work on publishing projects. I can actually build a business even while I'm on the clock.
Don't neglect the customers because that'll get you run out the door quicker than you know, or poor Jazz's character was on the show, but my point is that it has been, like, I feel like I've experienced a pretty big mindset shift over this past week. And there's still bits and pieces of that mindset of the whole scarcity mindset that I have had over this summer, over the past four years, that just doesn't seem like it wants to go away. I have to keep choosing outside of it.
I have to keep choosing to I have to keep choosing to take my pen back because I feel like I have I feel like I have let my circumstances control my story. Yeah. How messed up is that? I feel like I've let my circumstances control my story, which essentially means here, hear your pen. Now write my story for me. It's like I'm letting somebody else write the unauthorized autobiography of my life. And as somebody who has published a memoir before, that's an awkward statement for me to make.
But my point is that you've got so much to choose is that we've all got so much to choose from. We've got so many life experiences to choose from. We've got so many, you know, so many stories to tell. But I feel like we—and by we, I mean, I, of course—I need to stop doing that, but I feel like I let my circumstances dictate what my story looks like. I feel like I let my circumstances dictate what my story looks like. I feel like I have a great example that I wanted to share with you.
If you are new to this podcast, if you are new to my story, you probably, you probably know the high esteem in which I hold Saturdays in the fall. I mean, if you're watching this on video, I'm wearing a four-year-old national championship Alabama shirt. Right? But, like, Saturdays in the fall to me are sacred. It's time when we gather among 100,000 of our closest friends and do what we do best, and that is show the world just how beautiful the sport of college football can be.
Now I know that other schools do college football very well. I still like to think that the men in crimson are the gold standard, you know, at least in the past two decades. Now back in 2007, January of 2007, the late Mal Moore, who was a player at Alabama, a coach under Paul Bryant, and a coach under Gene Stallings, and as an athletic director, I think he won 10 football national championships, and Alabama claims 18.
But he traveled down to Miami, Florida, and had a conversation with a grumpy man who was just not happy in the NFL. And that man was Nick Saban. I think it was 230 wins that he had on the field. I think it was 230 wins, six national I mean, it was just an unmatched record. And 'Bama was one second, one bad snap away from playing for yet another national championship on a team that just looked I don't know what's the right word here, but just looked uninspired early in the season.
Talking about the 2023 season. They just looked uninspired. And Nick Saban, nobody can question. You might not like the guy, but nobody can question his greatness on the field. His greatness, honestly, what he has done for my hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, cannot be questioned. What he and his family have done. But even after being so close to being able to play for another national championship, he chose to retire. Now let's face facts.
He is not a young man, but he's you know, other than a hip replacement that he had a couple of seasons ago, by all accounts, he was in great health. He sure didn't look like he was in his seventies, but he chose to step down. He chose to retire at the peak of his power. Right? He chose to retire at the peak of his power because the circumstances around him were telling the story that he wanted to control.
The way the college football, the sport of college football has changed over the years with name, image, likeness money, with the transfer port—don't get me started on the transfer portal. But with the transfer portal, with just so many aspects, even on the field, there are parts of the game in the 2024 season I don't recognize. I'm not used to having a two-minute timeout in every half. Right? I'm not used to players being able to wear the number 0. It's little things. Right?
But he chose to step aside because he didn't like that the outside circumstances, outside of his control, outside of his personal process, were telling his story. And look at him now. He's a huge hit on ESPN College GameDay. He, you know, he's just he's showing a side of himself that he never got to show in those 17 years, and I think it's beautiful. I really do. And I think his program ended up getting a pretty damn good replacement. Well, not a replacement.
I like to say that somebody stepping in for a legend, you're next, you're inheriting that headset. So just a misspeak. I don't mean to cast aspersions on the new guy, Kalen DeBoer. I would not do that, especially since we've got such a huge game coming up this Saturday as I'm recording this against one of the top five teams in the country. That's a top five match.
But in any case, my point is that when we let our circumstances dictate our story, when we let our circumstances dictate the story that we tell about ourselves and about the world, we take away all the power. We take away all the—honestly, we take away a lot of the joy of life. If you think about it, we take away a lot of the joy of life because when we control our own story, when we control our own narrative, that's a lot of fun.
I could have let in the circum I could have let the circumstances of these past few months for me control how I'm showing up in this world. And, admittedly, starting this new job last week took me out of a lot of what I had been growing in this business. But those seeds are still planted. Those seeds are still there, and they're not going away, and they're growing. This podcast is part of those seeds, by the way.
And just kind of reflecting on that, I feel like so many of us with transformational stories have those decision points, have those choice points of where we choose to go with our stories. Do we continue down that comfortable road? Do we continue down the road that is well-paved, that may have trees on the sides, that may, you know, that may have a fresh coat of asphalt?
Or do we go down the road less traveled that may not be paved, that may have some weeds, that may have some thorn bushes, may have some snipers in their trees, that may have some dangerous animals on the path, but the end of the road leads to something way more beautiful. And I'm sharing this because I am accepting submissions. I am accepting applications to the next volume, the next chapter, so to speak, of the Expanding Man Chronicles.
Now the Expanding Man Chronicles again, if you're new to this podcast, the Expanding Man Chronicles, it was seven of us. We gathered to share stories of simply expanding our definition of what it means to be a man in this world. Seven men from seven walks of life, expanding our definition of what it means to be a man in this world.
And I'm doing it again, but I'm choosing to focus this book, focus these, you know, these stories on stories from people who had important choices to make in their lives. Do they go down the road? Do they go down that well-traveled road, or do they take the road less traveled to create something more beautiful in the end? And I'm gonna include a link to my website and to an application form that you can fill out. I'm recording this at the end of September.
Got two more months to get in your application. December 1 is the cutoff date on that, and we're going to be releasing this in spring of 2025. And I can't wait to hear it with you because those, you know, because those stories are absolutely going to be another episode. And one of the, you know, just another episode of the Soul-R Powered podcast.
Because even, you know, even now almost a year later, I still get people commenting on the episode that we did with The Expanding Man back in January of 2024. And I'm still just kind of amazed at just how beautiful that conversation was. So I look forward to sharing that with you, and I look forward to seeing your, you know, seeing your story ideas and seeing if it's a good fit. Again, application deadline for The Expanding Man Chronicles Volume 2 is December 1, 2024.
So get those applications in today. We've got a little time, but not a lot. So get those applications in today. And I think, you know, I think before we go, before we wrap this up here, I wanted to reflect on one of my favorite songs. Now the song is by the great Tedeschi Trucks Band, which if you don't know first of all, if you don't know, you need to correct that. But second of all, it is just a giant conglomeration. I think there are 12 pieces on stage. Twelve musicians, rather, on stage.
But it's husband and wife, Derek Trucks, and his wife, Susan Tedeschi, both just incredibly accomplished guitarists. Susan's one of the finest vocalists on the planet. But they released a song. I think it was on their debut album called "Bound for Glory." Now this song, every time they play it live, it's just a huge hit. It's kind of got this, like, gospel, take-me-to-church kind of feel. Right? But the opening line of that song is what I wanted to reflect on here today.
The opening line of that song, and I'm not gonna sing it. I don't wanna get hit with copyright strikes here. And I also don't wanna turn people away from my podcast. But the opening line is this: Tell your story. Roll the truth around your head. Tell the story, tell your story, roll the truth around your head, your story, not the story about somebody who may not be the best correspondent for your story, but your story in your words and in your feelings, tell your story and take your pen back.
And I think on that note, we're gonna wrap things up here. Thanks for watching. And thanks for listening to the Soul-R Powered podcast, a presentation of Royal Hearts Media. For more information about me, my programs, my books, you can find me at If you want to follow me on the social media machine, you can do so at Ryan Hall Writes on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or if you just want to shoot me a good old-fashioned email, that's [email protected].
But that'll do it for this episode here, Episode 116. Until we meet again, this is Ryan Hall saying thanks for listening, thanks for watching, so long for now, and go get soul-r powered. Take care.