1 00:00:05,290 --> 00:00:08,894 Welcome to working towards our purpose, a podcast that 2 00:00:08,932 --> 00:00:12,670 offers a different perspective on what a job can be for everyone 3 00:00:12,740 --> 00:00:16,462 out there that's heard that voice in the back of their head asking for something 4 00:00:16,516 --> 00:00:20,106 more. It's time to listen to it. I'm your host, Gino, 5 00:00:20,218 --> 00:00:23,934 and join me as I interview people who have decided to work in their 6 00:00:23,972 --> 00:00:27,698 own purpose. Together, we will learn, become inspired, 7 00:00:27,794 --> 00:00:31,430 and hopefully find our own path towards working in our purpose. 8 00:00:33,690 --> 00:00:37,494 Hello and welcome to working towards our purpose. In 9 00:00:37,532 --> 00:00:41,114 today's episode, I have a little bit of a different episode for you 10 00:00:41,152 --> 00:00:44,726 all. I'm trying out a first solo episode 11 00:00:44,838 --> 00:00:47,994 and we'll see how it goes. I'm not 12 00:00:48,032 --> 00:00:51,818 totally pumped about talking for set amount of 13 00:00:51,824 --> 00:00:55,614 minutes by myself, but I'm going to try it out and see 14 00:00:55,652 --> 00:00:59,406 how it works. So there's a few things that I wanted to talk about in 15 00:00:59,428 --> 00:01:03,246 today's episode, and we'll just kind of get 16 00:01:03,268 --> 00:01:07,074 right into it and I'll try to have it as conversational as most 17 00:01:07,112 --> 00:01:10,546 of my other podcast episodes are. So at the time of 18 00:01:10,568 --> 00:01:14,386 recording this, I just about went over the one year mark of 19 00:01:14,408 --> 00:01:17,634 this podcast. So first off, I just wanted to thank everybody who's 20 00:01:17,682 --> 00:01:21,350 listened and thank all my guests for coming on. 21 00:01:21,420 --> 00:01:25,266 And I've had some really good conversations with people, and I've 22 00:01:25,298 --> 00:01:28,706 met people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. And it's 23 00:01:28,738 --> 00:01:32,346 been a great way to learn about people and to 24 00:01:32,368 --> 00:01:35,770 connect with people and to make connections with people. And 25 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,162 yeah, I just feel very grateful and fortunate for that. 26 00:01:39,296 --> 00:01:42,918 Also, it happens to be right around the 27 00:01:42,944 --> 00:01:46,782 time of my three year anniversary from quitting corporate and 28 00:01:46,916 --> 00:01:50,446 kind of getting out of that lifestyle and making a lot of changes in my 29 00:01:50,468 --> 00:01:53,834 life. And something else I'm also grateful and fortunate 30 00:01:53,882 --> 00:01:57,666 for. So wanted to reflect upon that. And for 31 00:01:57,688 --> 00:02:00,882 me, I always like to celebrate that day because it's an important 32 00:02:01,016 --> 00:02:04,594 date that I decided to choose myself and to 33 00:02:04,632 --> 00:02:08,290 choose my own happiness versus anything 34 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,986 else. And I guess it wasn't exactly that day that I chose 35 00:02:12,018 --> 00:02:15,734 that, but it's a good reminder for me of the day 36 00:02:15,772 --> 00:02:19,558 that I left, right? It's the day of the change. So this year 37 00:02:19,644 --> 00:02:23,002 I celebrated by getting a tattoo and 38 00:02:23,056 --> 00:02:26,698 finishing the rest of my arm sleeve. I had a half sleeve up 39 00:02:26,704 --> 00:02:30,090 until that point, and I was able to finish it over a two day 40 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,946 session with this really amazing artist, Stefano. And 41 00:02:34,128 --> 00:02:37,438 I just had like a really awesome experience. Maybe I'll get into that a little 42 00:02:37,444 --> 00:02:41,120 bit more later in this episode, but some other things I want to talk about. 43 00:02:41,970 --> 00:02:45,362 So this podcast, for me, has always been about learning and about 44 00:02:45,416 --> 00:02:49,060 growing and about getting closer to the idea of 45 00:02:49,430 --> 00:02:53,214 why I'm here or on this earth, what my calling or my purpose 46 00:02:53,262 --> 00:02:57,074 is. And I've thought a lot about it as we kind of transition into 47 00:02:57,112 --> 00:03:00,422 the new year. And I know it's a little bit into the new year now, 48 00:03:00,476 --> 00:03:03,574 but I was thinking a lot about it and taking some time to myself. 49 00:03:03,692 --> 00:03:07,506 And at the end of last year, I kind of came to a decision 50 00:03:07,538 --> 00:03:11,222 in my mind about my business, pleasant podcasts. 51 00:03:11,286 --> 00:03:15,002 And I think it might be helpful to talk about 52 00:03:15,136 --> 00:03:18,922 as I continue to going along this path. And 53 00:03:19,056 --> 00:03:22,874 for me, I think at first, Pleasant podcast 54 00:03:22,922 --> 00:03:26,334 was my business, where I helped other podcasters. And 55 00:03:26,532 --> 00:03:30,062 I always wanted it to be something that would fully support me 56 00:03:30,116 --> 00:03:33,946 and make me more money than I did in my corporate 57 00:03:33,978 --> 00:03:37,714 job and infinite potential and that sort of thing. But it hasn't really 58 00:03:37,752 --> 00:03:41,314 been that. And I think being honest with that is something 59 00:03:41,352 --> 00:03:45,106 that's important. And as I go into this new year, 60 00:03:45,208 --> 00:03:48,994 my words for the new year are authenticity and radically 61 00:03:49,042 --> 00:03:52,630 being myself. And I think being transparent in this is, 62 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:56,230 I don't know, helpful, maybe for somebody who's in a similar 63 00:03:56,300 --> 00:04:00,006 position. So regardless of if it is or it isn't, 64 00:04:00,118 --> 00:04:03,866 I want to share it because it is helping me be 65 00:04:03,888 --> 00:04:07,402 more authentic to myself. So, that being 66 00:04:07,456 --> 00:04:11,082 said, when I first quit Pleasant podcast was I put everything 67 00:04:11,136 --> 00:04:14,718 into it and I tried a bunch of different things, and 68 00:04:14,884 --> 00:04:18,654 I've mentioned it here and there before on the podcast. But the first year 69 00:04:18,692 --> 00:04:22,366 for me was not at all how I expected. I expected to quit my 70 00:04:22,388 --> 00:04:26,218 job, to put all my time into plus and podcasts, and then to make the 71 00:04:26,244 --> 00:04:29,986 same amount of money that I did at my corporate engineering job. And that just 72 00:04:30,008 --> 00:04:33,506 didn't happen. And there was things going on. It was still the 73 00:04:33,528 --> 00:04:37,278 pandemic. I was completely working by myself. I wasn't 74 00:04:37,294 --> 00:04:40,858 getting any help from anybody. And it just, I don't know, it became 75 00:04:40,894 --> 00:04:44,678 this bit of a humbling experience. And at that point, after the 76 00:04:44,684 --> 00:04:46,918 one year mark, it kind of forced me then to go out and get a 77 00:04:46,924 --> 00:04:50,198 part time job where for me, at first that was seen as a 78 00:04:50,204 --> 00:04:53,706 failure to get a job and then to also have a 79 00:04:53,728 --> 00:04:57,578 business. You weren't a real entrepreneur if that's what you're doing. 80 00:04:57,664 --> 00:05:01,466 But I've since changed my mind on that. And at first, I worked 81 00:05:01,488 --> 00:05:04,894 some pretty bad jobs that I didn't really like at all and weren't really 82 00:05:04,932 --> 00:05:08,734 contributing anything to me other than money. And then I think it was 83 00:05:08,772 --> 00:05:12,462 probably around my second year mark where I worked 84 00:05:12,516 --> 00:05:16,278 this job for a year and it helped pay bills, 85 00:05:16,314 --> 00:05:19,966 but it was becoming a source of frustration. And I think I kind of paused 86 00:05:19,998 --> 00:05:23,554 and thought about what I was doing, and I decided to 87 00:05:23,592 --> 00:05:27,218 get a job that would give me something in return 88 00:05:27,304 --> 00:05:31,154 other than just money. And at that point, I decided 89 00:05:31,202 --> 00:05:34,338 that I wanted to be a barista because I thought it was a useful skill 90 00:05:34,434 --> 00:05:38,006 that I could take anywhere. And I was always interested in coffee. I'd like 91 00:05:38,028 --> 00:05:41,474 coffee a lot. I like the atmosphere of coffee shops, 92 00:05:41,522 --> 00:05:45,338 people working or writing or doing schoolwork. So I kind of 93 00:05:45,344 --> 00:05:48,518 like the idea of being able to be a barista. At which point I applied 94 00:05:48,534 --> 00:05:51,674 to a bunch of barista jobs, and the one that got back to me was 95 00:05:51,712 --> 00:05:55,494 a bagel shop with a barista position. So, long story 96 00:05:55,552 --> 00:05:59,374 short, I started working there. I worked as a barista for a little bit, 97 00:05:59,412 --> 00:06:02,062 and then I got into some other things and learned a bunch of different new 98 00:06:02,116 --> 00:06:05,786 skills and trades and eventually found myself in farmers markets, 99 00:06:05,818 --> 00:06:09,026 which I really enjoy. And I've met so many awesome people through 100 00:06:09,208 --> 00:06:12,994 and kind of done some other things around there, too. And just 101 00:06:13,032 --> 00:06:16,850 working for a small business, it's been not like any of my other 102 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,818 jobs that I've had. And it's nice because it's part time and I 103 00:06:20,824 --> 00:06:23,238 don't have to be there full time, and I don't have to invest all of 104 00:06:23,244 --> 00:06:26,854 myself into it. But when I am there, I work with some really great 105 00:06:26,892 --> 00:06:30,630 people, and I'm able to kind of go where 106 00:06:30,780 --> 00:06:34,250 things interest me. And I feel as though my opinion is heard. 107 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:38,026 And really what I'm just trying to say is that it doesn't feel like a 108 00:06:38,048 --> 00:06:41,318 job that I've had in the past. And it's not a place that I don't 109 00:06:41,334 --> 00:06:44,862 like going to because I only work three days a week there. It 110 00:06:44,916 --> 00:06:48,446 isn't this thing that I dread, and I've been able to enjoy it and to 111 00:06:48,468 --> 00:06:52,314 learn and to learn transferable skills that I can use other places. 112 00:06:52,442 --> 00:06:55,982 So it's really been a good experience. And I'm also open to the idea 113 00:06:56,036 --> 00:06:59,554 that if it doesn't become a good experience anymore and it's something that 114 00:06:59,592 --> 00:07:02,980 I don't enjoy doing, then I can move on to something else. 115 00:07:03,350 --> 00:07:06,210 And I think really what I'm trying to say with this whole thing is that 116 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,086 the idea of just having a business that supports you and 117 00:07:10,188 --> 00:07:13,494 that's the only thing you do, and you put everything into it, at least for 118 00:07:13,532 --> 00:07:17,158 me. Maybe that's not the way for me. 119 00:07:17,244 --> 00:07:20,890 Maybe it is, maybe it's not. But I'm being really open to the idea 120 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,602 that this entrepreneurial path or 121 00:07:24,656 --> 00:07:28,154 path towards purpose, because I don't even really like saying entrepreneur anymore. I think 122 00:07:28,272 --> 00:07:31,914 it's more so a path towards purpose and finding purpose in your work. 123 00:07:32,032 --> 00:07:35,774 However, that may look so for me, when I'm going to a farmers market and 124 00:07:35,812 --> 00:07:39,658 having conversations with people every week and making connections and human connections, 125 00:07:39,754 --> 00:07:43,582 that to me is purpose. And it allows me to 126 00:07:43,716 --> 00:07:47,330 be in the moment and appreciate everything around me. And I think that that 127 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,722 for me is a huge part of purpose. But it's also given me the space 128 00:07:50,776 --> 00:07:54,626 to think about what I want to do with my business. And because I 129 00:07:54,648 --> 00:07:58,470 have that secondary income, it doesn't put as much pressure on 130 00:07:58,540 --> 00:08:01,926 me to make pleasant podcasts support me 131 00:08:01,948 --> 00:08:05,558 fully, which then helps me make decisions, not from a 132 00:08:05,564 --> 00:08:09,014 monetary standpoint. So I think that that's really important 133 00:08:09,212 --> 00:08:13,034 or that has been really important for me and is something 134 00:08:13,072 --> 00:08:16,806 that I want to talk about now, because like I said earlier, I'm 135 00:08:16,838 --> 00:08:20,490 changing my idea of what I thought Pleasant podcast was. And 136 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:24,398 now coming into this new year, how I'm thinking about it is it's kind of 137 00:08:24,404 --> 00:08:28,254 maybe just this small company that only works with a small amount of people, 138 00:08:28,372 --> 00:08:31,870 and I work with people that I really care about. I don't have to 139 00:08:32,020 --> 00:08:35,760 constantly keep forcing podcasting. And 140 00:08:36,610 --> 00:08:40,194 it made me think back to how I even got into podcasting to begin with. 141 00:08:40,312 --> 00:08:44,066 And it was because when I was in my corporate engineering job, I was 142 00:08:44,088 --> 00:08:47,926 just desperate to do anything else. And the only skill that 143 00:08:47,948 --> 00:08:51,666 I saw myself having was audio engineering because I had been recording 144 00:08:51,698 --> 00:08:55,446 music and I was listening to podcasts. So it kind of 145 00:08:55,468 --> 00:08:58,742 just clicked into place to like, oh, I can use my 146 00:08:58,876 --> 00:09:02,298 engineering skills that I've learned through music for podcasting. Because 147 00:09:02,464 --> 00:09:06,138 for me, it was like almost an insecurity thing because it's like, I 148 00:09:06,144 --> 00:09:09,818 don't think I'm good enough to be doing music, but podcasting is 149 00:09:09,904 --> 00:09:13,614 a lot easier from an audio engineering standpoint. So 150 00:09:13,652 --> 00:09:17,294 I could do that, and that's kind of how I got into it. It's been 151 00:09:17,332 --> 00:09:20,638 surprising in the fact of it's helped me along my 152 00:09:20,724 --> 00:09:24,350 journey and making connections with people and seeing people 153 00:09:24,420 --> 00:09:27,714 do the things that they really care about. And for that, I really still love 154 00:09:27,752 --> 00:09:31,346 it. But I don't want it to be this thing that's like, I need 155 00:09:31,368 --> 00:09:35,202 to force it to be like a money making machine. And 156 00:09:35,256 --> 00:09:38,854 therefore, now I'm doing stuff that I don't really care about anymore. So that being 157 00:09:38,892 --> 00:09:42,130 said, I've come to terms that pleasant podcast 158 00:09:42,210 --> 00:09:46,054 is one of my small businesses that 159 00:09:46,092 --> 00:09:49,846 is a piece of my identity, but it's not all of me. And it 160 00:09:49,868 --> 00:09:53,706 is this smaller thing now that gives me some sort of 161 00:09:53,728 --> 00:09:57,450 income, but it doesn't fully sustain me, and that's okay. And 162 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:01,434 if it becomes bigger, that's cool. And if there's something exciting that I 163 00:10:01,472 --> 00:10:04,698 want to put into it, then I'll do that, but I won't 164 00:10:04,874 --> 00:10:08,398 force something, and I'm not going to force some sort of 165 00:10:08,484 --> 00:10:12,222 marketing tactic to bring me more clients. For me, 166 00:10:12,356 --> 00:10:16,126 I think I feel like there's an even bigger thing that I could 167 00:10:16,148 --> 00:10:19,666 be doing or an even bigger way of helping people. For a long time, I 168 00:10:19,688 --> 00:10:23,282 felt that with podcasting, I've always kind of just maybe found 169 00:10:23,336 --> 00:10:27,086 people that I would want to work with, but kind of having to force 170 00:10:27,118 --> 00:10:30,486 it into the podcast framework and if it was something that they didn't want to 171 00:10:30,508 --> 00:10:34,338 do, because podcasting is not for everyone and it has tons 172 00:10:34,354 --> 00:10:37,878 of cool benefits, and I think there's many positives to it, but 173 00:10:37,964 --> 00:10:41,586 there's also some things that just make people uncomfortable. And I think that that's 174 00:10:41,618 --> 00:10:45,098 okay. And you don't have to be doing podcasting and 175 00:10:45,264 --> 00:10:49,034 coming to that realization. It's like, okay, well, how can I help people more, and 176 00:10:49,072 --> 00:10:52,574 where do I want to help people? And I'm still answering that myself. 177 00:10:52,692 --> 00:10:56,542 And I think that this podcast has been helpful for me in seeing 178 00:10:56,596 --> 00:11:00,334 what's possible and having communications and connections with 179 00:11:00,372 --> 00:11:04,138 people that make me think more of myself. And I'm 180 00:11:04,154 --> 00:11:06,706 not sure what it is yet, but I know that there's something else out there 181 00:11:06,728 --> 00:11:10,514 for me, and I think being open to it and giving the 182 00:11:10,552 --> 00:11:14,114 room for myself to find out what that is, is 183 00:11:14,152 --> 00:11:17,838 important. So that being said, not looking at pleasant podcasts 184 00:11:17,854 --> 00:11:21,080 as this big thing that I need to solve, or 185 00:11:22,170 --> 00:11:24,886 this problem of how do I get more clients, how do I make more money 186 00:11:24,908 --> 00:11:28,454 with it? I'm not really looking at it like that anymore. I'm looking at it 187 00:11:28,572 --> 00:11:31,770 as it is and being okay with that and accepting that 188 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,338 and then thinking about what I want to be doing in the 189 00:11:35,344 --> 00:11:39,098 future. And I'm still kind of defining what that is. 190 00:11:39,184 --> 00:11:42,998 And again, I'm okay with not knowing yet. I really like 191 00:11:43,024 --> 00:11:46,846 the idea of helping people more to figure out 192 00:11:46,868 --> 00:11:50,238 who they are and to do the things that they really want to be doing 193 00:11:50,324 --> 00:11:53,962 and to work towards their purpose. And I think this podcast 194 00:11:54,026 --> 00:11:57,490 is one of the closest things that I found 195 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,394 that resonate with me as far as what I want to be doing with my 196 00:12:01,432 --> 00:12:04,942 life and my purpose. And so that's why I've decided 197 00:12:05,006 --> 00:12:08,726 to try to put more into this and to try 198 00:12:08,748 --> 00:12:12,134 to release episodes more than biweekly. And the goal is 199 00:12:12,172 --> 00:12:15,926 to interview more people and it's to do more solo episodes and 200 00:12:15,948 --> 00:12:19,046 it's to check in more with myself and to kind of just put that out 201 00:12:19,068 --> 00:12:22,906 there to be more authentically myself and to put more of me into this 202 00:12:22,928 --> 00:12:26,614 podcast and to see where it goes. So the goal is to release 203 00:12:26,662 --> 00:12:30,314 weekly episodes. Maybe I'll take a break sometime in the summer or something like that, 204 00:12:30,352 --> 00:12:33,994 but I would like to release weekly episodes 205 00:12:34,122 --> 00:12:37,886 and really just start talking to some more people and start making my 206 00:12:37,908 --> 00:12:41,342 own solo episodes where I'm contemplating these things and thinking 207 00:12:41,396 --> 00:12:45,214 about where I want to be helping people and where 208 00:12:45,252 --> 00:12:48,866 I want my life to be and thinking of 209 00:12:48,888 --> 00:12:52,370 everything less from a business standpoint and more of like a person 210 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,890 standpoint, I think, is kind of where I'm leaning towards and 211 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,858 yeah, I don't know. I always tell the story about when I first made my 212 00:12:59,864 --> 00:13:02,806 first business cards for Pleasant podcasts and how I didn't even put my name on 213 00:13:02,828 --> 00:13:06,566 it because I was trying to separate myself from the business, because I 214 00:13:06,588 --> 00:13:10,038 was afraid of putting myself out there. And now I feel like I'm just 215 00:13:10,124 --> 00:13:13,914 chasing the opposite of that. It's not even a business anymore. It's just 216 00:13:13,952 --> 00:13:17,626 me. And how can I help people in a way that makes me 217 00:13:17,648 --> 00:13:21,062 money? Because of course that's important, but not 218 00:13:21,136 --> 00:13:24,894 prioritizing the money and thinking about more. So, 219 00:13:24,932 --> 00:13:28,666 like, what fills me up energetically and how can I feel like I'm helping 220 00:13:28,698 --> 00:13:31,966 other people? So, hopefully this wasn't too 221 00:13:31,988 --> 00:13:35,726 rambly, but yeah, I'm going to look to start to do some 222 00:13:35,748 --> 00:13:39,026 more of these solo episodes. I don't know how often they'll be. And this year 223 00:13:39,048 --> 00:13:42,626 I've also started a substac, which is something that's new to me. 224 00:13:42,728 --> 00:13:46,482 It's pretty much like a blog site that 225 00:13:46,536 --> 00:13:49,718 also gets sent out as like a newsletter. So if you want to join my 226 00:13:49,724 --> 00:13:53,346 substac, I'm basically going to be talking about things that I've 227 00:13:53,378 --> 00:13:57,094 learned through books and people that I've come across and kind of just 228 00:13:57,132 --> 00:14:00,966 ideas about the things that I'm thinking about. And it's not going to be like 229 00:14:00,988 --> 00:14:03,866 an every Monday sort of thing, but I'm going to try to send one out 230 00:14:03,888 --> 00:14:07,594 weekly. And it's just a practice for me of being really 231 00:14:07,632 --> 00:14:11,386 authentic in the hopes of inspiring other people to be more of themselves 232 00:14:11,488 --> 00:14:15,194 and to find more purpose for themselves. Yeah. 233 00:14:15,232 --> 00:14:18,078 So if you'd like to follow me on Substac. I have a link in the 234 00:14:18,084 --> 00:14:21,646 show notes to where you can just click it and follow me. It's free. You 235 00:14:21,668 --> 00:14:25,050 can also comment and stuff, and I'd love to hear feedback. I always love to 236 00:14:25,060 --> 00:14:28,910 hear any feedback that anyone has. So thank you for listening 237 00:14:28,990 --> 00:14:32,786 and I'll have another interview podcast for you next week, so I'll see you 238 00:14:32,808 --> 00:14:36,482 then. Be well. Thank you for listening to working towards 239 00:14:36,536 --> 00:14:40,118 our purpose. If you liked today's episode and are interested in more, 240 00:14:40,204 --> 00:14:43,826 you can sign up for my substac newsletter with the link in the show notes 241 00:14:43,938 --> 00:14:47,734 where I share thoughts, tips and ideas that I'm learning along my 242 00:14:47,772 --> 00:14:50,886 journey to help inspire you. The show was produced by 243 00:14:50,908 --> 00:14:53,060 pleasantpodcasts@pleasantpodcast.com.