In this episode of the Growth Now Movement podcast, Justin Schenck interviews Lance Essihos, who shares his story of unlearning the bullshit to create the life you desire  In this episode,  you will learn: 1. How Lance Essihos overcame a difficult childhood to become a successful entrepreneur and author 2. The importance of unlearning negative patterns and behaviours in order to create a new, more positive life 3. How Lance's new book can help readers overcome their own challenges and create a more fulfilling life "The more uncomfortable you get, the more you know that it's going to resonate with people." -Lance Essihos Lance Essihos is a writer, podcaster, and speaker who is on a mission to help others work through their challenges and create a life they love. He is the author of the book, "Mastering Adversity: How to Turn Your Biggest Challenges into Your Greatest Opportunities." This is Lance Essihos's story... Lance has faced many challenges in his life, from addiction to losing loved ones to suicide and cancer. Despite all of this, he has made it his mission to help others see the light through the darkness of their own challenges. He does this by sharing his own story and offering support to those who need it. In this episode, you will learn the following: 1. How Lance Essihos overcame a difficult childhood to become a successful entrepreneur and author 2. The importance of unlearning negative patterns and behaviours in order to create a new, more positive life 3. How Lance's new book can help readers overcome their own challenges and create a more fulfilling life Resources: Get Your Free Business Audit: www.getmyfreeaudit.com/audit  Grab a Copy of Lance's New Book: www.lanceessihos.com  Connect with me: Instagram: www.instagram.com/justintschenck Facebook: www.facebook.com/gnmpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChPGPJSqiIE_H3mzfUDV9Mw Website: www.growthnowmovement.com Loved this episode?Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growth-now-movement-with-justin-schenck/id1086471656

When an underdog entrepreneur is furloughed from work and falls into a pattern of destructive behavior, he decides to take control and change his life for the better. "I realized now I started to find purpose in life because I wasn't the best musician, I wasn't the best drummer. I played guitar, drums, this and that. But my real sweet spot was handing out flyers, talking to people, connecting with people, and that's where Ben Albert is the owner of Balbert Marketing, LLC and the curator of the Real Business Connections Network. He is a successful entrepreneur who is passionate about helping other underdogs achieve their dreams. This is Ben Albert's story... I was always a shy, reclusive kid, and my dad taught me to hide my problems and not speak up when I needed help. As a result, I developed some addictions that I hid from everyone. I had a good job, but when COVID hit and I was laid off, I started binge drinking and it got out of control. I looked in the mirror and I knew I needed to make a change. I started stacking values and stacking skills, and I slowly began to turn my life around. I'm now sober, and I'm living my life as an entrepreneur. I'm in the mud learning as I go, but I'm loving every minute of it. Chapter Summaries: [00:04:08] - Ben albert won a contest to get on justin's podcast. He was furloughed from work two years ago, and now he hosts a business network with over 220 shows in two years. Justin reached out to ben albert to offer him a spot on his show. Ben albert is an entrepreneur, learning as he goes. [00:06:25] - Two years ago, Ben got laid off. He came from an alcoholic father and his mom has a mental disability. He was working two jobs his whole life. He thought he was happy in his corporate job, but he was miserable. Covid hit, and he started drinking a lot. He used to take half Xanax every Monday because he couldn't handle the stress. He drank a bottle of Gym Beam whiskey every weekend and he looked bad. He decided to change his lifestyle. [00:08:58] - As a kid, he was taught to hide his problems by his alcoholic father. Now he wants to slow down and improve his life. He wants to focus on values and skills instead of alcohol and drug abuse. He is going to get into the business side of things too. As a kid, he wanted to be a basketball player, but he was bullied. In high school, he became obsessed with music and marketing. He hosted a music podcast, did sales for a marketing firm, and started a business rated podcast in November 2020. Now he's a podcaster marketer. Freddy Vasquez is a former guest on the show. Freddy started with bands and MySpace pages, and now he's got a successful branding company and marketing company. [00:19:33] - Ben started a business podcast called Rochester business connections. It's going to do an episode every 52 weeks for a year. He believes that people missed the boat on podcasting and the power of networking that you can create with it. Justin is a SUNY Brockport alumnus and new business owner. Just showing up is half the battle. People get caught up or overwhelmed with the big vision and don't take the first step. Interviewing people is a great networking tool for you and from that standpoint as well as a business tool for your marketing business. [00:25:12] - In podcasting. You reach out to people with a big vision and you want to collaborate with them. You can do this in anything in life. In this case, it's potential customersconnections and it's anybody that I would pay to learn from. [00:28:39] - Marketing is a natural process for him. He doesn't want to be overly pitchy. He uses LinkedIn to build relationships with people. His approach is very soft, and he prefers to give more than he asks for more than 20 times. He believes that the universe will provide when it wants to. [00:31:25] - Ben's definition of success [00:35:26] - Justin Schenck is being interviewed on his show. Before the interview, he explains how people can find him on LinkedIn and how they can connect with him on Realbusinessconnections.com. He recommends listening to the episode number 27 of his show with Justin Schenck [00:39:15] - Ben's biggest moment of growth was launching the local business podcast and rebranding it to a national audience.  Connect with me: Instagram: www.instagram.com/justintschenck Facebook: www.facebook.com/gnmpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChPGPJSqiIE_H3mzfUDV9Mw Website: www.growthnowmovement.com

Kent Sanders is the founder of Inkwell Ghostwriting, which helps leaders grow their business through books and other content. He is also the author and co-author of numerous books, including 18 Words to Live By: A Father’s Wisdom on What Matters Most and co-author of The Faith of Elvis: A Story Only a Brother Can Tell with Billy Stanley, Elvis Presley’s stepbrother. In addition to writing books for himself and his clients, Kent loves to help other writers. He is the host of the Daily Writer podcast and the founder of the Daily Writer Club, a membership community that helps writers build a business with their skills. He lives just outside of St. Louis and enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and teenage son. Website: https://kentsanders.net and https://dailywriterlife.com  Join the Growth Now Community Today! www.growthnow.community 

If you're looking for ways to increase sales, improve relationships, and find greater business success, then this episode is for you. In it, we'll go through the solution so that you can get the results you're looking for. "When you go to these conferences, this is how connections happen." Ina Coveney is a business coach specializing in monetizing tiny audiences. She helps small businesses and coaches get clients before they spend all of their time and money trying to grow an audience. This is Ina Coveney's story... Ina Coveney is a business coach who specializes in monetizing tiny audiences. She helps small businesses and coaches get clients before they spend all of their time and money trying to grow an audience. Ina created her first six figure year with under 1000 followers. She taught coaches and business owners how to do the same thing via social media.  Resources:  Join the Growth Now Community: www.growthnow.community  In this episode, you will learn the following: 1. How Ina Coveney created her first six figure year with under 1000 followers 2. How live events can help you meet incredible people and make powerful connections 3. How to engage with people personally to build relationships and grow your business Chapter Summaries: [00:00:01] - Intro [00:00:29] - This week's episode features Ina Coveney, a business coach specializing in monetizing small audiences. Nina created her first six figure year with under 1000 followers.  [00:06:28] - In 2019, Justin hosted his first live event. He fell in love with live events back in 2017.  [00:07:23] - Ina organized her first official event for Podcast Movement. She met Pablo Gonzalez at the first Podcast Movement and they became fast friends. Justin wants to be an intern at Ina's event in 2023. Ina wants to learn as much as she can about live event organizing. [00:11:01] - Before, she had a podcast called Trailblazing Out of Corporate Life. She was helping people get out of corporate by starting their own businesses. She quit her job in 2018 and started Be Found, a program that helped her get to six figures in her business within the first two years. Kevin Schmidtland is going to do a podcast accelerator. Get Clients First is a new name for the global phenomenon podcast. It's about getting clients first and not growing your audience. It's a good idea to get clients first because it validates your idea and helps you grow the audience. [00:20:10] - In the podcast space. 80% of shows are doing less than 100 downloads an episode. If you are a public speaker and you had a room full of 100 people every single week, would you show up? The answer would be yes. Business keeps the doors open and you have to have people pay you money. [00:20:56] - People without followers. Wanting to become entrepreneurs is not a niche market. There are people with millions of followers on social media and they make no money. They are not talking to their audience correctly and their audience is not engaged with them. They do not talk to the audience correctly. [00:21:20] - Before the Internet, people didn't have to have 1000 followers to have a thriving business. Now with the online world, this is the only thing we know. And what we see is people who are successful and those who are getting hammered into our feeds. When you don't have a big audience, your network is your audience. And you need to create a list of ten people that you feel like you can help. [00:25:27] - How do you monetize if you don't have a big audience? How do you find out the stories of your followers and find out why they follow you? What do they really want? When you're starting, most of the time it's people who already know, like and trust you. [00:29:02] - After quitting her job be found after be found decided to create an online course to teach moms how to create WordPress sites. She has been selling get clients first for a couple of years and she's in a great spot. She's afraid she's going to lose the relatability factor of her business. The strategies that I ask small entrepreneurs to do are not the same strategies that a large audience entrepreneur would follow. It's possible that I'm subconsciously self sabotaging to stay small because I'm afraid that a big audience is going to mean all these things and I'm not going to be able to handle it. [00:34:47] - In stage one, you need to meet your ideal client and get them to pay something for the offer that is perfect for them. In stage three, you have to meet and get somebody who's your ideal clients and they have to be willing to spend money on the offer. [00:37:33] - There are many business coaches who talk to people at different stages of their career and they don't always know who their ideal client is. Business coaches are not talking to people who have never sold anything in their life and they encourage them to raise their prices. People who are starting out need to charge their fair price. [00:38:58] - In stage two, a project manager develops and tests a reliable sales engine. Stage three is the audience growth stage, which is the scary one for him. His audience has grown on TikTok. He's going to start experimenting with ads for the first time in four years. They will go talk about other topics. [00:43:29] - The definition of success is every day that she didn't give up on herself. She has a daily date with her husband and she relaxes into failure. She is a big extrovert and she needs people to stand in silence to talk to her. She confesses in stories on Instagram. I'm an introvert. I live with my fiancee and her two children, and I recharge alone. I don't show up as often on Instagram stories and Reels because my recharge is totally alone. But I love that about you because you can be so out there and so outgoing. [00:48:44] - The Global Phenomenon is a podcast about the online coaching industry. Mr. Shank was interviewed on Episode 123. He supports everything that you're doing. Get Clients First is a great first step. Getclientsfirstcom is a good place to start. [00:49:47] - Mike has been on the Growth Now movement and thanks Justin and the listeners for their support. Mike is coming back on the show next weekend to talk about the lessons he has learned from being a parent. Justin and Mike ask the same questions at the end of every interview. Other episodes you'll enjoy: [Insert 3 past episodes with links] Connect with me: Instagram: www.instagram.com/justintschenck Facebook: www.facebook.com/gnmpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChPGPJSqiIE_H3mzfUDV9Mw Website: www.growthnowmovement.com Loved this episode?Leave us a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growth-now-movement-with-justin-schenck/id1086471656

The Captain, who has built a persona of unbreakable confidence, reveals his journey of struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts and how he found the courage to be vulnerably honest with himself and others. In this episode, you will learn: 1. How Kyle Creek overcame depression and suicidal thoughts 2. The importance of vulnerability and authenticity 3. How toxic masculinity can be harmful "I realized that my depression was going to continue getting worse. I kept feeding it the way I was, and my girlfriend and I decided to break up. Well, I say we decided she decided to break up. And it was kind of the last straw for me to realize I needed Kyle Creek is a writer, creator, and Instigator. He's not your dad, but he is a dad. This is Kyle Creek's story... Growing up, Kyle Creek struggled with his identity. He felt lost and misunderstood. To cope, he turned to writing. This eventually led to him creating an alter ego known as "The Captain." The Captain allowed Kyle to express himself in ways he wouldn't have been able to as himself. He could share his opinions and be vulnerable without fear of judgement. The Captain became so popular that more people knew him by that name than his real name. This led to a crisis of identity for Kyle. He eventually took a break from social media to rediscover himself. When he came back, he decided to share his story openly and honestly. He has since become an advocate for mental health, sharing his own struggles in order to help others. In this episode, you will learn the following: 1. How Kyle Creek overcame depression and suicidal thoughts 2. The importance of vulnerability and authenticity 3. How toxic masculinity can be harmful Resources: Grab Kyle Creek's Latest Book on Amazon Join the Growth Now Community Today! Chapter Summaries: [00:01:46] - This week's episode features Kyle Creek, aka The Captain. A writer, creator, instigator, and a dad, kyle believes in living in integrity and being honest and open without trying to tear other people apart. Kyle shares a moment in his life where he became suicidal, but he was able to overcome it. Kyle also talks about the idea of masculinity and toxic masculinity. [00:03:30] - Before the captain, Kyle Creek was a writer. He used social media as an alter ego to protect his professional career. After enough time, he had a crisis of identity and had to take a break from social media to regain his composure and stop being a faceless figure online. [00:06:43] - Kyle created the Captain character on his podcast, and it gave him more confidence. Kyle used to be afraid to talk about his personal life in podcasting, but now he's more comfortable with sharing his vulnerabilities. It took him a long time to open up about his past. [00:08:45] - If he could go back and do it again Kyle Creek would have used his real name cow Creek instead of Captain. He finds writing easier and his work more impactful. Under Cow Creek's name, he shares his life story with half a million people. [00:10:46] - After taking a break from the internet you started writing again and opening up about your life before that you were working as a creative director in an advertising agency in New York. Now you moved across the country to La to get a start on TV because of the podcast one person decided not to take his life the only way you get there is through vulnerability and authenticity - the first time he hit record he had a deep conversation and someone listened to it and it helped him. [00:15:22] - There's a lot of talk about toxic masculinity and Andrew Tate. In his opinion, masculinity is about being yourself and standing up for what you believe in, rather than trying to fit in with other people's expectations. He doesn't care if people consider themselves tough or feminine. He just wants them to be themselves. Growth now is a movement with which the podcast is connected. [00:20:02] - It's hard for people to be themselves. Identity politics is an easy way to feel like you're a part of something without actually having to do any work. It's harder to be honest about your opinions when it comes to political things. In his opinion, people don't have integrity anymore. [00:22:54] - After living in Marina del Rey and Las Vegas he and his girlfriend decided to move to Las Vegas. He's been in Florida for almost a year now. He lived in New York for a couple of years. He was trying to find a place to eat and all the restaurants he liked were shut down. [00:26:01] - There's an Opportunity for People to Come together and Understand that the divisiveness in the US. Is wrong. In early 2020, Captain Captain had a book deal with a large publisher. But he decided to speak his mind and he didn't lose his book deal. People can't get past the fact that my opinion is different from yours. I'm open to forgiveness and understanding. But I don't want to be around someone who's capable of going that far. I like what you said about guys like Andy and myself and Joe not putting ourselves in any category. [00:32:34] - In the last couple of years the man has become a father for the first time. He is not a father of his own biological children. But he is getting married in April and his wife has two kids they call him “bonus dad“ because he is not their biological father. [00:33:17] - After 15 months of being a father, he has learned a lot from his son. His writing is better now, and he understands himself better than before. He hopes to adopt a young woman and have a kid of his own in the next five years. He has two kids with his fiancee. There are many lessons in parenting in general. I don't want to go through crying babies and changing diapers in the middle of the night, but there are so many lessons to be learned I will most likely never experience. The patients learn when they're crying and they can't tell what's wrong. [00:38:11] - In his new book ”fucking History”, he takes a modern approach to the history of the world. He used to hate history in school, especially Mormon history. He liked the idea of taking historical facts and tying them to today's events. Vincent van Gogh was lost in his 20s, and he didn't have success until he was 37. [00:41:30] - As a father. He's learned a lot about history and parenting from his own childhood. He grew up in a conservative religion, Mormonism. He wants his son to be able to talk to him about awkward moments in his life. He hopes his son will relate to him on another level. [00:44:06] - According to the author, success is making a living without having to answer to anyone. He is currently writing his first book. He tries not to schedule anything in the morning. He also tries to force himself to write every day. He's aware of what he eats and what he drinks. A memoir is something he never intended to write until he was in his 50s or 60s. He would like to have something he could read that would give him a sense of who he was. He has also finished two children's books that he's currently illustrating with his father. He's also working on two TV series, and he has half a dozen book ideas in his head at all times. His books are available on Amazon. [00:51:38] - Kyle's biggest moment of growth was becoming a dad. Kyle wants to use his presence and audience to do something grandiose. Kyle thanks his audience for being a part of the Growth Now movement. Kyle asks his audience to share the episode on social media to help grow the movement. Connect with me: IG: www.instagram.com/justintschenck

Angela Kelly Smith is the host of the Marketing Chat Podcast, a co-host of the Geek Girl Soup Podcast, and the founder of the Women Podcasters Academy. She is the author of the Amazon bestseller The Podcast Launch Playbook. With more than 20 years of experience in marketing, Kelly helps women entrepreneurs build their online presence and authority through podcasting. You can find Kelly at angelakellysmith.com In this episode, we discuss the importance of nicheing down, SEO, and how to be a good podcast host. We also discuss who should have a podcast and why more women need to speak up and share their message on Podcasts. Are you an entrepreneur who is looking to make a bigger impact, grow your brand, and your income? Join us in the Growth Now Community www.growthnow.community

I just recenetly celebrated my 38th birthday! So, what has become an annual tradition, I take a moment to reflect back on life and the things I've learned. This year, I went all out and share the Top 38 Lessons of Learned in my 38 years of life! Are you an Entrepreneur who is looking to grow their impact while growing their income? Join us in the Growth Now Community! (www.growthnow.community) 

Ben is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? and a star of the MTV show The Buried Life. In 2022 Ben ranked 3rd Best Motivational Speaker in the World and World’s Top Organizational Culture Thought Leaders by Global Gurus. As the co-founder of The Buried Life movement, Ben’s message of radical possibility has been featured in major media including The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, CNN, NBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, and more. Make sure to grab Ben's Bucket List Journal Join us in the Growth Now Community www.growthnow.community 

After a childhood acting career, and a couple of life altering moments - Shaun Weiss falls into addiction and ends up living on the streets until he's given a chance at recovery. In this episode, you will learn: 1. Shaun Weiss' journey as a child actor 2. The stress and pressure that child actors face  Here's a breakdown of what is covered: [00:00:00] - Welcome to the show [00:05:08] - Slow down as an actor. [00:08:36] - Pressure of being a child star. [00:10:33] - Drug addiction and living on the streets. [00:11:26] - Introduction to drugs. [00:20:09] - Addiction treatment and yoga. [00:23:37] - How do you go about meditating. [00:32:36] - Definition of success. [00:34:23] - Shauns dream movie role. [00:35:47] - Shauns obsession with top gun. [00:38:11] - What has been your biggest moment of growth. "I just felt like less of a person, really." Shaun Weiss is an actor and comedian best known for his role as Greg Goldberg in the Mighty Ducks films. He has also appeared in films such as Heavyweights and Freaks and Geeks. In 2018, a photo of Shaun Weiss in a drug-induced state went viral, leading to him getting clean and sober. He now uses his platform to help others in the addiction and homelessness community. This is Shaun Weiss's story... Shaun Weiss grew up pretending to be sick so he could stay home and watch I Love Lucy. He started acting in commercials when he was a kid, and then got his big break in Mighty Ducks when he was 12. He continued acting through his teen years, but then took a break in his early 20s. He got back into acting in his late 20s, but then his career started to dwindle. He turned to drugs to cope with the stress of his life, and ended up homeless and addicted. He finally got clean three years ago, and is now helping others in the addiction community. In this episode, you will learn the following: 1. Shaun Weiss' journey as a child actor 2. The stress and pressure that child actors face 3. The decline of Shaun Weiss' career and how it led to his drug addiction Resources: Follow Shaun on IG: @ShaunWeiss Connect with me:www.instagram.com/justintschenck www.growthnow.community  

In this solo episode Justin Schenck shares his thoughts on the quote "where you are today is a direct reflection of the choices that you made yesterday" How you're able to shift your mindset to go from a victim mindset to owning that quote and your life!