Ep. 521 - Career Journey: Insights, Answers, and Inspiration from the Audience

Welcome to the All Around Growth Podcast, where we delve into my personal journey as I build a business and explore homesteading.  This weekly show covers seven essential life facets: Finance, Physical, Personal Development, Family, Spiritual, Social, and Career.  

In today's episode, we delve into the realm of "career" and explore the dynamic feedback received from our engaged audience via social media platforms such as Telegram and Facebook (@allaroundgrowth).  Today's show is an unfiltered, authentic journey, shaped by the questions and insights shared by listeners and friends.  

Here's a glimpse of some audience contributions for today's show:

From Telegram:

• Brian from the LOTS Project asks about the evolution of my career views.
• Sean shares insights on the balance between working for others and self-employment.
• Lettie Loo shares a local news article about teaching life skills and career paths in high school.
• Kyriaki recently started valuing personal freedom in her career, which is a new concept for her. She came from backgrounds like the outdoor industry and art worlds, where personal freedom discussions were rare.

From Facebook:

• Janine highlights the challenge of finding work-life balance.
• Emily suggests discussing strategies to avoid burnout.
• Kim raises the topic of choosing a career that serves others and the challenges of finding balance in a long-term commitment. She identifies herself as a career teacher, emphasizing the importance of mastering a craft as a career.
• Lisa Davis mentions turning passions into a career.

Your feedback is crucial, and I'm excited to incorporate it into this episode. If you find value in today's content, please follow, engage with our community, share on social media, and leave a review on iTunes to support our growth together.

Thank you for being a part of this journey!

~

Like & Follow on Social Media or connect via email!

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Email:  allaroundgrowth@gmail.com

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Twitter:  https://twitter.com/allaroundgrowth

Facebook Community:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/allaroundgrowth

~

Discussion Links:

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

The LOTS Project

High school holds special day to teach students basic life skills, various career paths

Indiana Homesteading Conference

The Modern Homesteading Podcast

RewilderLife – "Grow where you're planted."

Animal Sanctuary | Whispering Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary

Financial Peace University

Home - Official Site Dan Miller

48 Days to the Work (and Life) You Love

Transcript

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If we stand together, we'll never fall.

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Hello there and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast, a show where you join me on my journey through life here on the homestead at York Meadow Farm. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. For those of you who are just tuning in, this podcast delves into the intricacies of my life as I navigate the path of building a business while immersing myself into the world of homesteading. This is a weekly show that is dedicated to exploring the different transformations, profound transformations at times, that are unfolding in seven different areas of life. And those areas of life are financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and of course, career. And those seven aspects of life come from a goal setting workbook by Dan Miller, which I will link to in the show notes so you can get a little bit of context regarding where that comes from, and past episodes elaborate on how that came to be the kind of standard for the topics of the show. And uh today is Tuesday, October 24th, and this is episode number 521 of the show. And like I said, today we are going to talk about career. The topic of today's show is career journey insights, answers, and inspiration from the audience. Now, like I said, uh this show involves my journey into the world of homesteading. And I am I'm a I'm a new homesteader, I like to think of myself as a rookie homesteader, so I'd like to preface the recording of today's episode with the fact that this recording may actually be interrupted at some point by the arrival of Dynamerican Plumbing, who will be coming over this morning at some point to jet out the leech lines on the septic tank. And I may have to pause the show to go out and chat with him about all that and get him paid. And because I don't edit the show, this is just real life, real time, straight from the office here at the homestead. I just wanted to let you all know that before we get into the show because it may be a little rough as time goes on. Um, if indeed I don't finish this recording by the time this guy arrives. Uh so yeah, just wanted to preface that before we get into the show. And with all that said, now we can do exactly that. Today's show is almost entirely generated from questions, comments, and statements from the audience that I've gathered over the past week through social media. And if you're interested in following the show on social media, you can find it on all the major social media platforms at all aroundgrowth. Simply search for All Around Growth on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter at AllAroundGrowth, and you will find the show. We are also on Telegram, which you can find at t.me slash allaroundgrowth. And while Telegram isn't necessarily a major social media platform like the other big three, it's proved to be a great place to network and connect with others via groups and channels, and I very much enjoy it. It's kind of like a for those of you who have never used it, it's kind of like a like a Facebook Twitter hybrid of sorts. And uh, you know, I very much enjoy it because of its functionality and its features. So I would highly recommend checking it out if you're not on there already. And the easiest way that you can do that is by simply typing t.me slash all around growth into your browser, and that will prompt you to install the app on your device, whether it's a PC, uh, a Mac, a tablet, a phone, whatever the case may be. You don't have to have it on all the devices, you can use it on specifically one if you don't want to add another app to your phone. That's another reason why I like it. And you will immediately be linked up with this community, uh, and everybody in the group will help you navigate around the world of Telegram while you connect with other people just like you that are listening to this show right now. We've got an active community on Telegram, and it is our Telegram community along with Facebook where all of the feedback from today's show comes from. Now, I first dropped this question in Telegram last Thursday, October 19th, and then I shared this inquiry seeking feedback on career the following day on Friday, October 20th. And for the ease of addressing all of the feedback from everyone, I will simply respond to the feedback in the order that it was provided to me. Now, if you're listening to the show and in the future, you want me to address your feedback on any of those seven topics that I previously mentioned: financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and career. We rotate through those topics on a weekly basis. Uh next week we will be discussing audience feedback on the topic of finance. Uh, if you have something that you want me to talk about, then it's easy. Just simply like and follow the show on your social media of choice and respond accordingly when it is put out there. And if you like what you hear, then go ahead and share the episode or leave a review on iTunes or your podcast player of choice. And your support in helping grow the show is very much appreciated because what we're doing with this show, what I'm doing with this show, is just sharing my own journey and growth and development and engaging with a lot of you guys who are doing the same in your own life. So, with all that said, let's go ahead and get into it, shall we? Now, on Telegram, what I did was I simply wrote, next week's show will be career oriented. Is there anything you want to hear about? Simple to the point, and that was all that I wrote. And most of the people in the Telegram group are familiar with the show, they know how it works, so they knew what I was asking. And the first person to chime in with some with a comment was Brian from the Lots Project, and he asked me how my views have changed on the topic of career from high school up until the current point in time where I am working for myself. Now, real quick, shout out to Brian. Brian has a project called The Lots Project, and you can check him out at thelottsproject.com, and he's doing some cool things and talks a lot in his show about his own journey, which involves living in an RV full time. So he discusses RV living, cryptocurrencies, sustainable living, side hustles, and more. And he, his wife, and his big three dogs, big three giant Saint Bernards, are challenging the status quo and embracing a new way of life. So if that sounds interesting to you, then check out thelotsproject.com and learn more about what Brian is doing. So that was a great question that he posed to me because it definitely has changed. My views on this topic of career has has most certainly changed over time. Um from the early days, not necessarily in high school, but it was when I was 19, right after high school, I started working at a nursery, a retail nursery selling plants. Actually, I started selling Christmas trees, and then I returned in the spring for a typical spring season at a retail nursery and garden center. And I worked there on and off all during college and a little bit afterwards, and that was my introduction to horticulture, which is basically what the bulk of my career has uh been involved with. And I've done a complete 360 on my views for career. When I first started working at that garden center, um I thought that that was the coolest thing. I I I really had a lot of admiration for the owner at that time. His name was Rich Barchie. And I I thought that that that's that was the way to do it. Uh own a small business, have your key employees, and just you know, your work was your life, your life was your work, and that is what you did. And I just I I I was I was enthralled with the idea of of owning and operating a garden center. I thought it was or or really just, you know, it started off with with that, but then the idea of being self-employed was kind of really appealing to me. You were your own boss, you were responsible for yourself, you you were you were just entirely responsible for your own life. And um and I I kind of decided at that time whether it was going to be a garden center or whether it was going to be something else, I wanted to work for myself. I wanted to be my own man, right? And over the next few years I realized that there were a lot of challenges associated with that as I witnessed what was going on there at the garden center. And I realized, you know what, I I don't know. This this this looks like a lot of work. I think I'm just gonna, I think I'm just gonna work for people. Uh yeah, this this is this is this is a lot. And as time went on, I realized that I could only get so far in my, you know, big air quotes right now in my career staying at this garden center. And I decided that I was going to, you know, move on and do something else. And in the process of moving on, um that that journey took me all across the country. It took me to Colorado, it took me to North Carolina. I did a lot of moving. Um I worked for large companies. Uh, I thought in order to grow and develop my career in the horticulture, in the field of horticulture, rather, um, I would work for you know large companies, and I did so with Valley Crest, who, you know, I did the companies are irrelevant. Um, I worked for several large corporations and uh some of the biggest in the indust in the green industry, and uh immersed myself in the corporate world uh for quite some time in conjunction with working for small family-owned businesses. And those were good experiences. I learned a lot during that time, but inevitably what happened is over the past ten years I realized that working for people also you know, there's pros and cons to both. And what I wanted, I I came all the way back from letting other people handle all the problems that came with a career to you know coming full circle and saying, no, I want the freedom and I want the responsibility and I want to be my own man and I want to work for myself. And it was uh almost 10 years ago when I began to take action on that, and I formed a small business, and it took me years with that small business to figure out what it was that I was going to do, and ultimately as my family started to grow and develop, my parents started to grow and develop what they were doing with their little hobby at the farmer's market. I realized that I could help with that and I could do that with them and do more beyond that. And after saving up some time and money, after making a bunch of mistakes here on this land as trying to be a homesteader, um, I made a bunch of mistakes, got into a lot of debt, and did a lot of things that didn't align with what I wanted to do because the reality is I never took a good hard look at myself to figure out what the best and most appropriate path was for me based on my interests, and I did what everybody else was doing, all those who were around me in my circles at the conferences that I attended, um, people that were speaking, people that I would go and listen to, people whose content I was consuming. I wanted to be them, so I started doing the things that they did, even if the context was inappropriate and didn't really fit the context of my own life. And in doing so, like I said, I made a lot of mistakes, I got into a lot of debt, and about six years ago I decided that this is not sustainable. You know, this approach towards living is not sustainable, so I decided to put all of that on hold at that time. I doubled down on my career, which was working doing inventory management type things at a local tree farm, and we had a big project at that time, which allowed me to work a lot of hours, and I was I went from salary to hourly, so I was able to accumulate a lot of overtime pay, which allowed me to you know just hustle for years for a few years straight and pay off my debt in full, save up a little bit of money, and last year I inevitably quit that, not inevitably, but I eventually quit that job and decided to join my dad, aka the Kraut guy, and grow that operation and uh help him, you know, grow the family business. And I'm glad I was able to do so at that time last May because that allowed us to work a full season together and have that quality time together before he uh ended up getting sick with cancer and uh passing away shortly thereafter in May of this year. So, you know, rest in peace, Rich Barchie, who originally showed me the way of self-employment and leading by example, and rest in peace, Dad, for helping build what I have come to take over and carry on this legacy here as I continue to grow and do other things. So, my views on the idea of career and employment from high school to now, they have come full circle from wanting to be self-employed to not wanting to be self-employed to wanting to be self-employed again and having a better and more comprehensive understanding of why. Later in that dialogue and the response to the inquiry of you know, is there anything that you want to hear about? Sean didn't necessarily ask a question, but he just wrote a comment about the fact that he liked the low effort required to work for someone, but it's also not rewarding. And that was something that I realized over time, and especially as I continued to grow my career and you know work my way up the corporate ladder, so to speak. I was learning a lot, but it oftentimes was not rewarding, and uh more often than not, it was easy. Um, I had my specific role, and the people on my team I could delegate tasks to, and then I needed to report to my superior or superiors, whatever the case may be, however the project or job was structured, I did what I did, and more often than not, at the end of the day, I could, you know, turn it off and then do whatever I did and then return pick it up the next day. And I I was I was only responsible for what I was responsible for. Um nothing more, nothing less. Yeah, there were some variables here and there depending on what I was doing and who I was doing it with, but that's generally how it worked. Um but the way things went, uh, a lot of times were not I like I could only make so many decisions. And because I didn't find that to be completely fulfilling, and um oftentimes the decisions that were made were not aligned with my own stance on the particular issue or project at hand, and maybe even at certain times my own moral compass. Um yeah, it it indeed was not rewarding at times, and it it challenged me on on many different levels, and and those were all factors leading into the reasons why I decided to go back and start orienting myself towards self-employment. And all that said, you know, Letty Lou posted an article which I will link to in the show notes, about how a local news site in her town um had a special day where they were teaching students basic life skills on various career paths. And you know what was cool about that is I'll just take a look at this article real quick, is that um they they a high school in Missouri came up with the idea of a career day that throws in some basic life skills and explores different career paths after high school as well. Uh the article continues saying by saying there's an old saying about the importance of the three R's being taught in school reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, some people have argued that the traditional subjects taught in schools don't always prepare students for the real world challenges they'll face in life. The article continues down the down the way, reading that a student conference. Day was created to teach some students basic life skills. One of the sessions offered on this day teaches students how to change a tire. Other sessions include ones that teach students about self-defense, renting an apartment, test taking strategies, time management, outdoor survival skills, finding the right college, finding financial aid for college, completing a job application, and driving safely. And, you know, these are things that I wished, I wish I'd have learned in high school. Things about doing taxes and things about, you know, debt management, um, you know, financial aid, because all I learned, not all I learned, but one of the big things I learned when I went to college was here, sign up for this credit card and get a t-shirt, sign up for this credit card and get a frisbee, sign up for this and get that, get a pizza, uh you know, just buy all the things now and don't even worry about it, pay later. And that got me into a lot of trouble. As a matter of fact, it got me to the point where I actually went through a bankruptcy in my early 20s because all I did was rack up a lot of debt. So, you know, seeing schools that are teaching students basic life skills and alternative career paths outside of what the traditional life paths are, that that that we are encouraged to seek, you know, these white-collar jobs is uh is a really good thing to see. And I know that in the circles that I am in now, and the circles that I'm trying to involve myself in now, this is exactly what's taking place with people who are homeschooling. And because this does not happen on the regular, this is why they are homeschooling. But that's another topic for another day. If you want to hear more about that and some of the approaches that I see people taking with regard to homeschooling, let me know in the comments of this episode or shoot me an email at all around growth with feedback on that. Now, further comments from uh Kidyiki, you know, were also excellent and um multifaceted, and uh you'll see what I mean when I read her comment. She wrote, I don't know if this is relevant, but it has been an unexpected change for me to think about how a career can support one's personal liberty in different ways. A few years ago, liberty was not something I gave a lot of thought about, and it probably wouldn't have even occurred to me to think about it in terms of what I do to earn money. And Wayne in the group chimed in and wrote, How so? And she continued to write, liberty and personal freedom, sovereignty is a bit of a newer concept to me over the past few years. And I say, quote, not sure if this is relevant, close quote, because it's still a newer and special concept for me, and I'm figuring out how to blend it into how I live my life. She writes, I came from a more liberal space, the outdoor industry and art worlds, that just did not value or even talk about personal freedom in any real way. Now, you know, Kitiki's comment generated a lot of interesting dialogue on account of these two uh well comments that that she wrote and the the interaction and engagement with the rest of the group. So again, if you want to read where that went, then simply join us over on Telegram at t.me slash allaround growth, and you can read that thread and get involved and chime in with your own thoughts. But for now, I'll simply go ahead and respond to what she wrote, and I think that ties in. I I think my response is going to be very much aligned with how I started off talking um and responding to what Brian wrote about my views changing from high school age up until now. Uh the the my my views on you know personal liberty and and things like that, they they really began to change when I started listening to the work and content created by Jack Spearko from the Survival Podcast. And I first discovered his work in 2020, early 2011, I believe. And at that time I was listening to a lot of podcasts trying to escape the world of talk radio. Uh, some of the first podcasts I listened to were uh Dave Ramsey and Dan Miller's work, and I discovered Dan Miller through Dave Ramsey, and I learned Dave Ramsey had a podcast because I was listening to him on the radio while traveling back and forth and all across the country. And um it was nice to listen to podcasts because I could have the experience of listening to talk radio but without the commercials, and oftentimes getting content specific to a topic that I was interested in instead of listening to talking heads on the radio, cover the same news and the same sports in the same ways with the same perspectives, and just getting, you know, effectively just washed with the same take on the same events that were seemingly talked about in all the different places. Everything was just the same. So podcasts gave me an opportunity to explore different things in different ways on my terms whenever I wanted to. And you know, the idea of liberty and personal freedom and sovereignty is is a big component of Jack Spirko's work, and he talked a lot about self-employment and how that factored into life. And when Jack started talking about permaculture, right around that same time, um the idea of having a career that could involve self-employment, a career, and a life for that matter, a life that could involve permaculture, self-sufficiency, you know, self-employment, liberty and personal freedom, and all these things sounded very appealing because the way that he approached this wasn't from a chest-thumping, patriotic, weird way of you know, my guns and my freedom. It wasn't one of these like TV show prepper things that that we're all accustomed to seeing, but it was, you know, he talked about all these things in a very down-to-earth way that made sense to me and made sense to a lot of other people. And as time went on, I began to network with people from that community through the forums at that time and grew to meet people and attended the permaculture voices conference in March of 2014, and then attended the subsequent permaculture voices conferences two and three in 2015 and 2016, and met a lot of people from that community, from the permaculture community, and got a lot of inspiration from people who were doing exactly that, incorporating these concepts of liberty, personal freedom, and sovereignty into their lives through their careers and dovetailing their life and career with one another so that they almost became indistinguishable from one another. And that is what I decided that I wanted to do. And like I said, I made a lot of mistakes, I went into a lot of debt trying to do everything that everyone else was doing, but that's not the way to do it. We've got to figure out who we are, what makes us tick, and incorporate those elements of life into our career, and I will expand on that in a down the road in some other comments. But you know, it was a great, it was a great way, uh you know, uh Kideyaki's comments spawned a huge amount of discussion and dialogue, and uh, you know, several several dozen or hundred messages later, the conversation evolved into uh the upcoming Freedom Cell Network event, which is being held here in Medina on November 4th. Um, reach out to me via Telegram, email, or on Facebook to learn more about that event if you're in Northeast Ohio. And it we ended up talking about that that particular event. Uh, there was a lively debate on chicken wings and Salisbury steak, that all kinds of things. And inevitably, we ended up talking a lot about Rachel Jameson's presentation or upcoming presentation at that time, but it was the presentation that took place over the weekend at the Indiana Homesteading Conference. And uh Rachel is the co-host of the Modern Homesteading Podcast, and she runs a project called Rewilder Life, which you can learn more about at RewilderLife.com. And I will link to all of the cool work that Rachel is involved with in the show notes today. The uh podcast that she is involved in is called the Modern Homesteading Podcast. Um like I said, I'll link to that, I'll link to the Homestead Front Porch, which is a huge group on Facebook. There's probably 27,000 some members in there. And if you're interested in homesteading, if you're new to homesteading and you want to learn more about homesteading, that's a great place to connect with others, maybe connect with some people locally, and it's just a wonderful resource to learn more, see what other people are doing, and see what you can do in your own backyard. Because whether you've got a tenth of an acre or a hundred acres, there's something to learn there, there's something that you can do, and you know what, you don't have to do it alone. So check out the homestead front porch on Facebook in the groups and um see what's going on there. And you know, again, this is another reason to get involved in Telegram because it's a great way to engage in more intimate relationships with people who are doing really cool things, people like Brian, people like Rachel, and I'll just use this as another reminder to check out the group on Telegram at t.me slash allaround growth where you can connect with them in a more intimate setting and get you know a behind the scenes look at what's going on with all of the various projects that they're working on and events that they're attending, and you know, you know, get get a line on what's going on and and have, like I said, more intimate conversation with people and and and get better answers to the specific questions and challenges that you have in your life because these are guys that are actually you know doing it, have done it, have overcome a lot of challenges, um, and they provide a lot of inspiration for me, which is why I am grateful for their participation in the all-around growth group, because I uh you know they contribute a lot to the group and I like to learn about what they're doing and participate in what it is that they're doing, and this is how we grow in life. This is what all around growth is. We create, we participate, we share, we grow. So check it out t.me slash all around growth or at all around growth on other social media platforms. Um, and again, guys, if you like what you hear, like and follow the show on those other social media platforms. I'm not as active as I could be on social media, but I am working on it, and with your help and engagement, we can create more community there. So, like I said, guys, I'll link to all of this in the show notes so you can check it out and participate in whatever tickles your fancy. But as far as social media is concerned, that is Telegram. So let's take a look at the feedback on Facebook. Now, the feedback on Facebook largely comes from my personal page because, like I said, I I I have not taken the time, effort, and energy to grow the podcast page, but what I did was I shared the post seeking feedback from the podcast page on my personal page and got some really good feedback from some of my own Facebook friends. And I elaborated on what I was seeking by writing a post that read like this: Hey everyone, some of you may not be aware that I host a podcast. I haven't been very active in promoting it, but today that changes. The All Around Growth Podcast is all about sharing my personal journey on the homestead as I build a small business, while also delving into these seven critical aspects of life: financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and of course, career. The next episode, which is coming up next week, will focus on career, and I want to hear from all of you. What aspects of career do you think I should discuss? Whether it's related to my own career experiences, or if you are interested in my input on a career situation that you are currently facing, let me know. Anonymity will be respected if requested. And I let the Facebook community know that we've already received some fantastic suggestions from our Telegram group, and um and then encourage them to drop a comment below with questions, ideas, or topics related to careers that you'd like me to discuss in the upcoming episode. So I got the first comment came from Janine, who runs Whispering Acres, and Janine is literally right across the street from me, down the road. Uh, she runs Whispering Acres Farm Animal Sanctuary, and I will link to um you know her work in the show notes as well, and just make a note to myself to do that. Um but what Janine wrote was that finding balance, you've got to do what you have to do before you do what you want to do. Finding balance is very tough. It's increasingly tough for people that work from home because they basically live at work. Now I thought Janine's comment was amazing because she wrote, You've got to do what you have to do before you do what you want to do. And that was something that my dad used to say to me and us kids growing up, but he said it a little differently. Dad would always say, You gotta do what you gotta do before you do what you want to do. And that's it's it's it's really simple. You gotta do what you gotta do before you do what you want to do. For example, like I wanted to be self-employed, I wanted to do all these things, but the only for me, in my humble opinion, the only way to go about doing that in a way that made sense was to work hard, get out of debt, understand the current context of my life as it was at that time, and adjust accordingly. So I buckled down, I did that, I made a plan, and I moved forward. And because I had a plan, I could change the plan. Okay? So if you don't have a plan, I can't help but think the old saying is entirely appropriate. Fail the plan, plan to fail. You gotta have a plan. If you don't have a plan, you don't have a plan. And if nothing changes, nothing changes. Because if you're not happy right now and nothing changes, three months from now, three years from now, you're still gonna be unhappy, wondering why you're unhappy. So make a plan, and this is where that goal setting workbook that I previously alluded to from Dan Miller comes into play because that helped me tremendously when it came to setting goals, setting you know, specific, measurable, uh, you know, time-bound, realistic goals that I could make progress on and track, and it provided a framework for me to do so in all of these different areas of my life. And it's those seven areas of life that he wrote about in that goal setting workbook that I eventually used as the framework for this show, because looking at life through all those seven different aspects allowed me to achieve something resembling balance in my life, and that was something that I lacked before. So, in terms of finding balance, yes, it's it's it is tough, and it is tough for people that work from home because we you know live at we live at work, we we we work at life, and sometimes it's hard to detach from one or the other, especially if your work is flexible and you're not necessarily on a schedule, and you're only responsible for basically delivering results. So that's uh I think having goals in in these different areas of your life and focusing equally on all of them, because it's very easy for us to focus on our financial life, it's very easy for us to focus on our family. It's very easy for us to focus on our career, and oftentimes when we put too much focus on any one area, we tend to lose focus on our physical health, we tend to lose focus on our spiritual health. You follow me? So, you know, we've got to seek and find and ultimately execute on balance, and that goal setting workbook is a great tool to help us do exactly that. So that will also be linked to in the show notes. It is available for free from the link I will provide, and I would definitely encourage you to check it out. And you know, admittedly, guys, you've got to sign up for you've got to input your email address for this workbook. But if you're really opposed to putting in your email address, then let me know. Shoot me an email at allaroundgrowth at gmail.com or drop me a comment or whatever, and I'll send you the PDF of it. All right, so I'm just here to spread the word, help provide tools and resources that have helped me, so you know I'll I'll I'll I'll Throw you a bone if you don't want to sign up for that, but I would encourage you to do so because Dan Miller's got great content, and I would definitely encourage you to check him out and the work that he does. Emily in the next comment writes, How to Avoid Burnout. And I boy, this this is tough because I've been there in two separate ways. Once in the corporate world, and then once in my own life, as I tried to grow a business and tried to grow a side hustle while being self-employed. Okay, so burnout 1.0 occurred while I was climbing the corporate ladder. Um in short, that occurred because I was trying so hard to grow my career that I was making a lot of sacrifices, sacrifices with regard to my physical health, and I just wasn't taking care of myself. I was doing anything and everything for the job, for my career, for my employer, for my boss. Um, and I wasn't doing anything for myself. And like I said, I was lacking balance, no, no spiritual life, no no physical health and wellness, you know, very little focus on personal development, just career, career, career. And the reality is no balance led to burnout. When I began to seek and find balance, I was able to dig myself out from that hole of burnout. But initially, because I was at the point of burnout, I decided to make some changes in my career. Luckily, at that time in my career, I was able to move, I was able to make a lateral move within the company, I was able to change what I was doing. So the change that I was able to make with regard to my employment at that time was not uh it was significant, but it was easier than finding a new job and a new employer. But sometimes that's what it takes, and due to the nature and size of the company, it felt like I did change employers because I was working in a different territory, I was working for a different person, I was working in a different area, working on a different project. So, you know, even though I kept the same employer and worked for them for uh six years, well however many years, it felt like I had a lot of different jobs and roles within that company because I did. I just happened to work for the same uh you know umbrella company, the same parent company. So, you know, the long and short of it is, oh, and the second time, real quick, the burnout came from working full-time at the tree farm where I was working at that time, and also trying to be something that I wasn't. I was trying to, you know, do market farming, grow produce, sell at farmers markets. And so I was working a full-time job that was seasonal in nature while trying to work another full-time job that was seasonal in nature, and when you try to do too much too fast, well, you know what happens. Maybe you did too much too fast, right? Um, so you burn out. Um, balance is what it's all about. Balance, balance, balance. Don't know how to find balance, check out that goal setting workbook. It should help. And I think the you know, with regard to the whole goal setting workbook, I think the key to anything and everything is financial freedom. I found financial freedom through Dave Ramsey's baby steps. I followed that program of Financial Peace University to a T. I made that an integral part of my life for years, and I still focus on those principles. And I feel like a lot of us do the things that we do in life, and our lives are unbalanced because a lot of us are shackled by debt. We have the golden handcuffs, we have a nice house, we have a nice car, we have nice clothes, we have nice stuff, right? But we're in debt and we can't make any change because we're in debt. So we have to go to the job that we hate, working for people that we don't like, you know, doing all the things that make us miserable because we need that paycheck. We gotta continue on the same trajectory of the life path that we've created for ourselves. Financial Peace University helps us understand what we need to do to break that cycle. And we have to make sacrifices, we have to make changes. It doesn't mean you have to quit your job, it doesn't mean you have to, but it means you have to change your life, right? And I'm gonna tell you from personal experience, once you get to the point where you are no longer bound by the shackles of debt, you can begin to see clearly and you begin to understand that you really do have options. I know it's easier said than done, and I'm talking about debt, consumer debt, not including your house, your mortgage, right? But consumer debt. Once you are free from that, you begin to experience freedom like you've never experienced it before. And then you can understand what your options are and then begin to move on them, right? So, you know, goal setting workbook, financial piece university, that's where it's at. And I hope that for Janine and Emily, that is addresses the questions that you had. I mean, burnout is real. I've been there and I've done that, got the t-shirt twice, and um it's possible to get out, but it involves change and it involves work and it involves getting uncomfortable. And a lot of us continue this cycle of burnout because we're not comfortable with change and we're not comfortable with doing the work that it takes, and we're not comfortable with the sacrifices that need to be made, that are required to move beyond this. And the reality is if we're not comfortable with those things, then we're more comfortable living a life that leads to this consistent and repetitive burnout than we are making the change that's required to overcome it. So if we're burning out and we're doing it consistently, it's really important for us to understand that we prefer that over the alternative. That's a bitter pill for many of us to swallow. It was a bitter pill that I refused to swallow for years and decades of my life. But inevitably, once I realized that, that was the key to freedom, and personally for me, the key to freedom also began with financial freedom, which opened up the door to understanding many other things in life and how to find the balance that I previously spoke of. Um Buddy on Facebook wrote, staying motivated through the grind and when the grind is not going to yield the results that you want. This is an interesting comment because he wrote, staying motivated through the grind, and when the grind is not going to yield results that you want. Well, if you're already aware that the grind is not going to yield the results that you want, then what's the point of the grind in the first place? Right? Is it could could the person who feels that way, could you possibly be where I was a few years ago myself trying to do something that wasn't appropriate for me in the context of my life? Or, you know, it's important to understand, like, why are we engaging in the grind in the first place? If the grind isn't yielding the results that we want, we got to ask ourselves a couple questions. What do we want and what do we need? And if we're dedicated to the grind, what are we going to do to change our processes and procedures so that we can increase the yield so that we could obtain what we want? Because you know, if we if we consistently don't get what we want, maybe it's because we don't understand that we're already getting what we need, and what we want is not aligned with what we need, and we need to reevaluate wants versus needs and understand that those two things are different. If we're committed and dedicated to this particular grind, then we need to really understand why. Once we understand why, then it becomes easier to stay motivated. Why? Carrying on a family legacy. Why building a business? Why? To support my family, to create a legacy so I can carry it on and give it to my kids, my nieces, my nephews, my family. Why? You know, when when when we when we better understand the various why, and those whys are going to be specific to each of us as individuals, but when we understand the why, it becomes easier to find that motivation. And moreover, this also goes back to the previous comments on balance when we have balance and we're not so laser-like focused on a particular, you know, one aspect of those seven. If we're so focused on career, career, career, career, we begin to lose sight of all these other components of life. We begin to lose sight of our financial life, our family, our personal life, personal development, our social life. You know, we're we're so we've got tunnel vision on this one thing, but when we begin to find balance and focus some time, effort, and energy, and it doesn't have to, you know, it sounds tough, but sometimes focusing time, effort, and energy can just be as simple as the Pomodoro technique and dedicating 25 minutes to any one of those areas. It's like eating an elephant one bite at a time. We can't do all the things all the time, but we can do some of the things some of the time, and when we begin to spread our inputs around, we can better find balance. And when we find that balance, we find peace, we get some mental clarity, we can begin to understand our why and find the motivation that we lack, right? So, you know, hopefully that provides a little bit of insight on that. And then Kim, Kim had an interesting comment, and it was something that I didn't really, I've never really thought of before, but but Kim wrote, you know, her feedback was a comment that read as follows Choosing a career that serves others. It doesn't work for all, but for those who thrive in it, how do they find balance? I chose a career as a teacher, it's great many times and awful sometimes, but it's my career. I am a career teacher. Not many claim that. So many folks these days think it is okay or manageable to just evolve jobs over and over, but I think of a career as a long-term commitment to the mastery of a craft. And, you know, many thanks to Kim for the insightful and thought-provoking comment because I've never I've never really thought about it that way. I have, you know, I've I've changed jobs and and and up until up until recently, up until last year, when I when I left my day job to work with my dad and and and take over the family business while building up a business of my own. Uh my my career was largely involved in the in and around the green industry. Now, lots of different components and and and and ways, but it was in the green industry, so it was it was centered on something. But I know a lot of people, and I've had a lot of you know, I have had roommates in the past that you know work a job for uh a couple of years, and they continually look for something more, and oftentimes it it involves money, and they'll get an offer and they'll go back to their employer and say, hey, I got this offer, you know, level up or I'm out. And either the the current employer would level up or they'd out, they'd be out and they'd go work for that. New employer, do that for a couple of years, wash, rinse, repeat. And so they can consistently bounced jobs. And they there there was no no longevity. Um, no, and oftentimes the the roles and responsibilities changed. And I'm not saying that there's some value in working for you know a single employer and working until retirement so that you can get the gold watch and the severance package. It doesn't work like that anymore, but you know, inevitably, what what Kim started writing about was choosing a career that serves others, and I think that's a big part of life that we fail to take into consideration is what do we do in our lives that is of service to others, and for her, she's a teacher, she's a career teacher, and she has chosen not to evolve in in jobs and take one for a few years and take another one for a few years and take another one for a few years. She's a career teacher, so you could be a career teacher, you could be a career janitor, you could be a career, you know, whatever the case may be, if you've dedicated yourself to one specific role, and let's just I'm I'll just this is a great example as a teacher. I think the way in which you know a teacher would find balance if if if you're a dedicated career teacher is no different than how one might find balance in other ways of life, you know, by looking at those seven different areas of life: financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and career. Okay, career, it's handled. We're a career teacher. Okay, we are a you know, we're dedicated to our career of serving our students through you know the promotion and facilitation of education and creating an environment conducive to learning. Career is that's that's that's handled. But what about our financial life? What about our own physical health and well-being? What about our personal development? What about our families? What about our spiritual life? What about our social life? Are we lacking in those areas? And this is where that goal setting workbook comes into play because it helps us look at different ways that we can grow in those other six aspects of life. And it's not it's not always easy because when we're so focused on something, in this case, our career, and the long-term commitment to the mastery of a craft, it's it's easy to become that. And but I've seen a lot of people who've done this in the past, you know, and I'm talking about elderly people who have since retired, they've they've they've they've made their lives so much about this long-term commitment to the mastery of a craft. When they get to the point of retirement, they they've done nothing else in life and they have no other purpose, and they die. They may not physically die so quickly, but they die on the inside. They have no purpose. Okay? So how then can we be of service to others outside of the world of career? Are there ways in which we can volunteer with our community? Are there ways that we can give back? Be of service to others outside of the realm in which we work? Are there things that we can do with our social circles to grow in that area? Is our financial house in order? How is our family life? What can we do there to improve that? What's our spiritual life look like? Because this is something that I think a lot of us lack. We we we oftentimes forget about that component of things. And that can lead and open the door to a lot of other things. Improved social life, more opportunities to be of service, more opportunities to develop as a person. So that's something to take into consideration. And ultimately, you know, how's our physical life? Are we are we in good health? So, you know, finding balance, if you're involved in a career through the lens of a long-term commitment to the mastery of a craft, I don't think it's any different than finding balance in any other way, whether you're self-employed, employed by someone else, job hopping, or involved in a career for the long game like this. I think we find balance the same way in all aspects of life. Because I think each and every one of us, regardless of the particular set of circumstances and the context of our life, we can break down our life into these seven different areas: financial, physical, personal development, family, spiritual, social, and career. No matter what race, creed, status, religion, color, whatever, no matter who you are, where you are, in this world, I think we can break down life into those seven general categories and expand on them and find balance within them, because more often than not, we have too much focus in one area, and it's kind of like a wheel with spokes that aren't balanced, that aren't aligned. And if that's the case, then sometimes when we're going down that hill with spokes in the wheel that aren't really tuned properly, we can taco that wheel, and our life, well, if you're if if if if you're a mountain biker and you know what what happens when you taco a wheel, it's it's not a good time. So sometimes that that can happen in life. You know, we taco our life, and that's it's it's not a good time. So balance, it's uh it there, you know, this this this workbook provides a simple framework. For complicated people like me, and that's why I love it. I love to complicate everything, and I think that is a valuable tool and a great starting point for anyone who is struggling to find balance. Now, Lisa made a comment about turning what hobbies, turning what you love, your hobbies into careers, and then she mentioned that this should probably be a separate show. It could be, but you know, I've already kind of covered some of this in other comments previously. Um okay, so one thing, let's I'm I'll I'll just speak from from personal experience here. One hobby that I have is music. And admittedly, because of what I've been doing over the past uh uh you know, let's just say this year, 2023, um, I have let my hobby of playing music fall by the wayside. Um I just I just haven't engaged as much as I as I do. My my instrument cases are covered in dust, my strings are corroded, it's just you know, and and and that kind of makes me feel sad. So could I form a side hustle in with regard to instruments? Could I could I could I buy another guitar and sell it? Could I buy and sell banjos or fiddles? Well, absolutely, you know, but how you know how do I do that? I'm not unlike anything else. Um you know, a lot of people talk about side hustles, and there's a lot of content out there on side hustles. What's the best side hustle to to to move on? How do you how do you escape the rat race and all this jazz? Well, you know, if if if if you can find one of these, you know, one of these side hustles, whether it's like retail arbitrage or um you know drop shipping or uh you know, one of these things that so many of these these big content creators talk about. Um and you enjoy that, then great. Then focus on the side hustle just like you would with anything else. And this is where, again, Dan Miller comes into play. There's a lot of things that he talks about and writes about um in his in his podcast, the 48 Days Podcast, and and in his book, 48 Days to the Work and Life You Love, and he just released the 20th anniversary edition of that book. Those those are great resources. Dan Miller is a is is a great resource, and the community that is the 48 Days community is awesome. They he talks a lot about you know starting a side hustle with 15 hours a week. Okay? So and he even gives some recommendations and suggestions in how you break out that 15 hours into you know what you do, marketing, research and development, you know, uh production, or or you know, the actual task at hand, connecting and networking with people, bookkeeping, right? These are all facets of a career, and we gotta start somewhere, and if we're if we're fully employed by someone else, it seems overwhelming to turn what it is that we love or our hobbies into a career, but it's possible. Now, the way that I've done it is you know, it's specific to me in the context of my life. My father and my mother were doing something at market, and I enjoyed what they were doing, and I figured out a way to make that a part of my life, and it was as simple as making a long-term plan, saving money, and then making some extreme life changes to you know do that full-time. Extreme life changes. And maybe I could talk about that in another episode, what exactly those extreme life changes look like, different ways that it could be done, but this is the way that I did it. Um at the same time that that that that involved this some some sacrifice of the things that I love and some of the hobbies that I have. But I understand that it's not going to be this way forever, and I'm trying to find ways. Again, I'm I'm I'm I'm back where I've always been consistently for the past few years, trying to find balance. And luckily, I've got some good family and friends that are helping me do that, helping me find ways to streamline uh the the way that I would go about learning the music that I play, and I'm very grateful for that. So, you know, a lot of how we go about turning what we love and the hobbies that we have into careers comes from the networks that we have and the people that we that we surround ourselves with. You know, people, for example, in the all-around growth community, t.me slash all around growth, people in Dan Miller's 48 Days community. These are all people, not all of them, but there are many people in these communities that are doing exactly that, do turning what they love and their hobbies into careers. People in the survival podcast community, people in the living free in Tennessee community. There's a lot of people that are doing their hustles. Now, the survival podcast, living free in Tennessee, those are those are more oriented towards homesteading, um, and and and things like that. And if that's not your stick, that's cool. But you know, there are people in the 48 Days community who are doing things like you know, voiceover stuff, uh, you know, uh writing, artwork, um, you know, music, um, you know, real estate. Um these are just a few of the things that come to mind from people I've connected with over the years. Um and it's it's it's it's been invaluable to to bounce ideas like this off of them. And and I'm hoping that's that's part of the goal with this show, this podcast, is to not necessarily be them, but do this in my own way. And with this show, that's a big part of what I'm trying to do, like to Kim's point, is uh being of service. You know, it it is it's it's also what I love, it's also a hobby, and it's it's I'm trying to give back what was so freely given to me, just just good content from people who received feedback from people and talking about what they're doing in their own life to improve their own life and hopefully provide some value to the person that's listening. And if that is something that you feel has been done for you today, then please let me know. I would love to hear your feedback. And if you feel like you did get some value out of this show today, then I would encourage you to, like I said, like and share all around growth on social media, on Facebook. We've got a Facebook group. You can help us get more active there. You can share the podcast on any one of your own social media platforms, pages, wherever, and just engage with us because again, there are people here in our group that are doing exactly that. There are people that have connections and networks to groups of their own or groups that they are involved with, and this is a great springboard to connect with other people who are doing other things so that we can do exactly that in life, which is engage in activity that is conducive to all-around growth and all-around growth in those seven different aspects of life, which can help us find balance, which so many of us for so long have oftentimes lacked. So, guys, I'd like to thank you for tuning in to the show today, and I look forward to catching you next week. And if you have any topics, feedback on the topic of finance, then let me know. But until then, have a great week ahead. This is Rob Kaiser, and thank you.