Grind, Grow, Give

Somewhere along the way, many of us subconsciously installed the operating system that says a career is supposed to be a straight line. Up and to the right. Every year bigger than the last, every month a new high, the graph in the investor deck that only ever points one direction.

The reality is, life doesn't actually work like that. A career moves in seasons, cycles really. And I’m not talking just about monetary gain, but really attitudinal cycles.

In the past several months, I’ve spent some time reflecting and have come to realize there are really three main phases. There's the grind, the season nobody talks favorably about; instead, they often complain. There's the growth, the season everybody posts about to say, “look at me.” And there's the giving, the season many never get to. Grind, grow, give.

I’ve spent plenty of time in the first two phases, often on repeat, and have dipped my toe in the third phase on occasion. However, earlier this year, I was speaking at a local chapter of the National Speakers Association, and it clicked.

My presentation was completely hijacked. In this intimate setting, I took one question early in my presentation, then another, then another. It turned into a full fireside chat and Q&A. I didn’t even give 10% of my presentation…and it was AWESOME! I shared stories of the grind and the growth, never claiming to know the secret sauce. But through it, I stumbled into the giving phase. And it reminded me, I’ve neglected this Speak Goodr community here for the better part of the year. For that, I am sorry!

So it’s time to hit reset and refresh.

What Mic Drop is becoming - and it’s not snake oil

If you read my book, Speak Goodr, you know it's full of the wild, slapstick, wacky stories from the road with AV failures, travel kerfuffles, and the like. This newsletter is not that. (Though if one's good enough, I reserve the right to sneak it in.) This is the real, unglamorous, behind-the-scenes version of building a speaking business.

And I'll say something that might cost me a few subscribers, which is completely fine. There's a whole cottage industry out there selling the get-rich-quick, six-figures-by-spring speaker dream. Best-selling author status guaranteed. Million-dollar newsletter in six months. It's snake oil. I'm living proof you can build a real, good living building a thought leadership practice (speaking, writing, coaching/consulting, etc.), and I'm just as much living proof that it takes years and a pile of unglamorous work nobody ever claps for, even sees.

I'm not writing these from a mountaintop, because I have it all figured out—because I certainly don’t. I won't be handing you a silver bullet to get booked every time, because I don't have one. What I do have to give is that I'm in my thought leadership practice every day. Some days, I knock it out of the park; others, I feel like I struck out. I speak 50 to 70 times a year across wildly different industries and rooms of every size: some keynotes, some workshops, some virtual trainings that live or die on things I can't fully control.

I'll tell you how I built my main newsletter to 20,000+, but still haven’t reached hundreds of thousands or how I earned a YouTube Silver Play Button, but still haven't hit a true viral video and am waiting for that day… or how I became a USA TODAY bestselling author (many thanks to this community here), and I'm still chasing the dream of the New York Times list. These aren't war stories from a decade ago, or tidy strategies I'm selling you as hope, they're the real topics, trends, and trials I'm working through this week.

My motto, and why this newsletter exists

Everything I've ever done comes back to two words: Inspire Forward. Or the longer version of my mission, to inspire others toward positive change. That's the thread running under the speaking, the writing (on my main newsletter COLLIDE), the podcast, the businesses, all of it.

And here's what I've figured out about myself. When I share the real version of my speaking journey with other people, the good, the bad, and the genuinely ugly, I end up learning more for myself than anyone reading it. It’s almost selfish. It forces me to sit with why I made the decisions I made, what actually worked, and what I'd do better next time.

So let me be clear about what this is and isn't. I'm not here to sell you a framework or a coaching program. Last year, I vented about the Rise of the Guru in this video with so many people online trying to sell get-rich-quick speaking schemes or top podcast schemes or best-selling author schemes.

If real upgrades ever show up down the road, I'll mark them plainly as upgrades, and the main newsletter itself will always be free. When I have sponsors, like HighLevel sponsoring this particular issue, I’ll disclose it. What that NSA chapter revealed to me is that I want to give and add value sharing the actual problems I'm wrestling with right now.

Before you go, one thing to use today

I said those three seasons were a tool, so use them. Name yours, right now, honestly. Grinding, growing, or giving?

Then go do that season's work on purpose, instead of resenting it for not being a different one. If you're grinding, your job is reps, not visibility, so quit measuring your season one against someone else's season three. If you're growing, protect what's working and say no to the shiny thing. If you're giving, actually give, on a schedule, which is precisely the ball I dropped and the one I'm picking back up as we speak.

Most frustrated speakers and thought leaders I meet aren't behind. They're just pouring themselves into the wrong season's work. Get that one thing right and it will do more for your next twelve months than any tactic I could hand you.

I'm choosing to give again, right in the middle of the grind. So this is me, back at it, every Thursday.

It's good to be back.

Until next time,

Ryan

P.S. Which season are you in right now, grinding, growing, or giving? Hit reply and tell me. I read every single one, and it helps me write for exactly where you are.