Ep. 518 - From Sparks to Flames: The Evolution of All Around Growth

In this special retrospective episode, we're taking a trip down memory lane to the fan-favorite episode that originally aired on November 24, 2021:

• Ep. 234 - Start a Fire

Join us as we delve deep into the origins of the recurring themes that have defined the All Around Growth Podcast—the seven pivotal aspects of life that have become its signature.  In that unforgettable episode, you could practically sense the electric excitement in Rob's voice as he teetered on the precipice of profound life changes.

In less than two years, Rob made a remarkable transition, trading full-time employment for the world of self-employment.  This bold move also marked the passing of The Kraut Guy, whose legacy will be honored this week, as the family finally lays him to rest.  

As we revisit the horizon of change from that pivotal moment, we embark on a profound exploration of the incredible transformations that have unfolded over the past 18-24 months. Rob candidly reflects on his current position, sharing valuable insights into his future aspirations and the strategic path he intends to navigate.  

Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation centered around adversity and the evolving priorities of life.  Notice how Rob's disposition has transformed over the years, and stay tuned for an intriguing journey as we continue to progress with the show.  

Thank you for sharing in all of this with us. 

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Discussion Links:

Ep. 234 - Start a Fire
#1 Episode in the Show History

Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery

Ep. 500 - Get to Work (an episode detailing out my brother's revelatory dream)

FREE GOAL-SETTING GUIDE: SET GOALS FOR THE 7 MAIN AREAS OF YOUR LIFE by Dan Miller

Take the FREE Strangest Secret Challenge

The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale : Daily Listening

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:09

Well hello there and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today is October 3rd, 2023, and this is episode number 518 of a show where we talk about all around growth. That's right, personal growth and development in seven different areas of life: financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and career with a focus on not one, but all of them, all of the time, so that we can live a balanced life, a happy life, a life that's different than the one we are used to living. And this is going to be a reflective episode looking back at the past three years of the show and the last month of the show, where we've taken a look at the top five episodes, kind of done a bit of a taken a look at the top five, and that was the original idea with this episode today, but I think we're gonna change it up, and not because the number one episode was bad. As a matter of fact, I listened to it this morning in preparation for this show. That episode was quite good. I I enjoyed that little throwback, and for whatever it's worth, the number one episode was episode number 234, titled Start of Fire. It was originally published on November 24th, 2021. Without a doubt, it has received the most downloads. There is no question about it. This seems to be the most popular episode from all episodes ever recorded. And for those of you who are interested in why, I'll just take a moment and pause right now. I'll leave the link to this show in the description and in the show notes below so that you can take a moment and revisit this. It is about 20 minutes long, and you can maybe gain some insight yourself as to why that was the most popular episode. So, like I said, I'll take a moment, pause, and you can check it out for yourself and see what you think. Now, for those of you who are returning after listening to the show, you can get some, you've you've you've gotten some insight into why that might be the most popular episode. I'd like to think that I was on fire when I recorded that. And perhaps I was. Management, leaner, leadership, ownership had some different ideas, and um we simply couldn't reach an agreement on the best way to proceed. And I became increasingly confident that decisions were going to be made that were going to conflict with what I thought was in the best interests of the company, and I began to feel as though I was perhaps not a good fit at that company any longer, and I began assembling a bit of an exit strategy, if you will, a bit of an exit plan. Um I had the winter to work through to kind of coordinate and consolidate what it was that I did, put together training manuals and so on and so forth. And that that's exactly what I did. And you can tell from I could tell looking back as I listened to that, that there were bigger things on the horizon, right? Things that uh that change to be made, goals to be set, and that's that's what I was doing. Now, unbeknownst to me, in less than six months, I would be leaving my job. And that's exactly what happened in May of twenty twenty two. Um I pause because I find myself thinking back over the last uh almost year and a half at this point, wondering what's happened. And wondering if that time frame is actually correct, and indeed it is. It was May of last year when I left that job, and it will be tomorrow or the next day when I go back to my former place of employee to pick up a tree that was selected by some friends of my parents, a tree of remembrance that we will be planting for my father this weekend in his memory, because he passed away in May of this year. And that was, yeah, you know, there's just been there's been a lot of transition, a lot of change, a lot of adversity that has had to be overcome this year. And for a while, for a period of time while dad was sick and actively battling cancer, I stopped recording for about a two-month period. And that really the focus on family during that time really helped me put things in perspective in terms of life and what's important. And so here we are getting ready to bring some closure to this multi-month saga with dad as we prepare to take his remains to Western Reserve National Cemetery this Friday, October 6th, which would have been the 50th anniversary of my mother and father, and sort of bring this to closure and have his remains interred in the niche in the wall. And it's going to be a bittersweet moment as we participate in that ceremony with military honors. And you know, I talked about this before in an episode in the past, and I'll mention it briefly again here now. Just a couple of days before my father passed away, my brother had a dream. And in this dream, there it was it was a little bit unclear as to what the context was or where they were or what was happening. But my brother was there in the dream with my father, and my brother was experiencing some confusion, some uncertainty about what to do. And so he looked over at my dad and said, What do I do now? And my dad, in the typical way that he would answer questions, simply looked at my brother and said, get to work. And in a way, that's what all of us have done in our own individual ways, is get to work, carrying on the legacy that he began here at York Meadow Farm with my mom many years ago. There's there remains a lot of uncertainty about the nature of the business, the rebranding that's taking place, the challenges that are associated with that. And perhaps that's worthy of another episode in and of itself: rebranding, working with designers, and all of that. But that's not something we'll get into today. Challenges aside, it's been time to get to work. That's what's been done. This week is going to be a bit of a down week, personally, in the kitchen. I'll be wrapping up a few things that are outstanding in production from last week. Um last week was interrupted because of a seizure that I had towards the end of the week. Certain things didn't get packed, certain things didn't get made, and that's simply the way that it is. Um I'd like to think that I have control over this chronic neurological disorder that I have. But the reality is I don't. Ironically or not, I was contacted by the Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Center later in the day on Friday, hours after having this seizure, to participate to uh inquire if I was interested in participating in a study for people that have seizures the way I do, which has since been considered intractable or untreatable by medication. So as I record this episode today and continue on with this series of reflective episodes covering the top five, it's almost been less of a covering of the very first or number one episode, and more of a reflection on life itself and life over the past few years. Life specifically with regard to the podcast, life as it is today, and what the future has in store. So life over the past few years with regard to the episode can be revisited through past episodes of the podcast. The history is there of three years of recorded content, and that is a good lead up to where we are today. And in a way, where I am today is not all that different than where I was mentally at the time of that recording, except it's also very different. So it's the same, but it's different. What do I mean by that? It's the same in that I think that it's very important to set goals. It's very important to put pen to paper and identify some specific measurable achievable, time-bound, you know, goals. And did I get that acronym for SMART down properly? No. But you know what I mean. And I say that it's important because working through that goal setting workbook, that's not something that I did around this time last year. It's something that I started, but it's not something that I completed. So why is that? Well, I was in the midst of big transition. I had just left my job. It was the first season that I spent working with my dad full time making sauerkraut. We had a lot going on at this time last year. There was, we were preparing, we had, we were on the cusp of wrapping up the market season. We were preparing for a Halloween event across the street over at Whispering Acres, Animal Sanctuary, and it was around this time when I first began to notice that there was something, that there was something wrong with my dad. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He couldn't either. And no one really knew what to make of my observations. We soon learned that what was going on was probably, well, not probably, what was going on was the early stages of cancer undetected. As we grew closer towards the end of the year, there was more time, effort, and energy being put into learning about the products that we made, doing cost analyses on the products that were made, learning what went into everything and discussing price increases, how we were going to deliver that and communicate that to the places where we were selling retail, and also try to get established with some of the retail customers who had made some changes with their own business model and stopped carrying our products. Since then, we've gotten back in business with them, and we're we've stopped selling with others. We continue to make change, we continue to move forward with this rebranding, and we continue to learn what it's going to take to grow this business to the next level. And we've yet to identify what that next level actually is and what it means. But nevertheless, the whole goal setting framework of setting goals three years out, one year out, and and and following the framework as it is identified in the goal setting workbook was not something that I actually followed through with and completed last year. It is something that I anticipate doing again this year. And I think that again this is on my mind not only because of the fact that I listened to this episode, episode number 234, titled Start a Fire, but I also recently completed the Strangest Secret 30-day challenge and plan on doing that again and again and again and again. Because at one point in my life in the past, there was a period of time where I probably listened to that recording a hundred and fifty days in a row as I went through my morning routine. And my morning routine has changed significantly this year, and my life in general over the course of the last almost ten months has changed significantly in many ways. Some of that's been discussed here on the podcast, some of it has not. But needless to say, there's been a tremendous amount of change. And that's really one of the only constant things that has taken place here on the show is change and my discussion of change in my own life. How I go about doing that, the steps I take to engage in that change, and you know, what what how it how it's impacting me. And so I think that's what you know that's that's a pretty good synopsis of where I'm at today. And what the future has in store. We are in the midst of a rebranding of that product into the natural ferments brand. And next year is really going to be the solid year of data collection. What do we sell the most of? Where do we sell the most of it? Um, you know, we were subject to collecting data based on uh just a limited period of time, a smaller window because of the fact that we took two months, almost three months off of production and sales because of dad's battle with cancer and ultimately his death. And it wasn't until June that we did our first event at Keller Meets in the exchange market and reintroduced our product there and then began selling at farmers market the week after in mid-June. So to have an entire year's worth of data, which technically we'll have in June of next year, but to have an entire season's worth of data from farmers market and retail is going to help us better ascertain, you know, what we're doing, how we're doing it, why we're doing it, and ultimately what we can do differently in order to achieve the goals that we have. And also give us some time to identify what goals we actually have in the first place. This isn't the way necessarily that I would go about starting an endeavor. This was my dad's hobby. And I believed I believed in it. I believed that we could turn it into a viable business. And that's what we're trying to do. Um is it going to be something that I can do myself in terms of production and sales and bookkeeping and everything else, in conjunction with management and everything else that goes along with the homestead that we are trying to build here? Probably not. So, what does that mean? What other changes do we have to make? That's what we're going to figure out. And in time, I think that's those are going to be some of the things that we talk about moving forward with the show. What the homestead looks like. Rebranding of the business, certain things that are just elaborating on various aspects of the homestead here. And that's just that's that's simply touching on career and family. We've also got and finance to a certain degree, but we've also got the physical aspect of life, personal development, spiritual, and social. Right? That, along with finance, career, and family, comprises the seven aspects of life that, in my humble opinion, we must find balance in to achieve a life that is in line with something that we can call all-around growth. That's what the show's become over the last three years. That's a little bit of a synopsis of where we're at today. And that, guys, is what the future has in store. This isn't the most exciting episode today. And that's in large part because of the fact that there's been a lot going on over the past week, including, but not limited to a seizure. And trying to regroup from that. And trying to regroup in many other ways. It's been an interesting year. It's been an interesting farmers market season. It's been an interesting week. And ultimately it's been an interesting day, having listened to episode number 234 from November 24th, 2021, almost two years ago. I will say that in that episode there was a lot of discussion about the sunrise that morning. And I imagine the sunrise from that morning on November 24th, 2021, probably looked like the sunrise that Wayne shared in the Telegram group this morning. A sunrise that he witnessed with his children. Something that sounds like he doesn't normally do, but something that they enjoyed and something that they're curious about, something that they want to do more of with their dad. And that was awesome to see. So shout out to Wayne for sharing the sunrise pictures. And shout out to everybody else in the group who participates and gives us some insight into the lives that they lead. Because that's what makes it worthwhile. That's what makes this community what it is. Just the sharing and participating in each other's lives the way that we do. I appreciate each and every one of you being a part of this community. I appreciate what you bring to it. And I appreciate what. I just appreciate you. That's it. Who you are, what you bring to the table, what you bring to the community, what you're doing with your own life, and the fact that you share it with us. And that's about it for this episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. It's a beautiful autumn morning. The leaves are turning. And with that said, I'm gonna go ahead and conclude this episode, say thank you once again, and I'll catch you on the next episode of the All Around Growth Podcast. This is Rob Kaiser, and thank you.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

What did I do?