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Freedom, Purpose, Life Mastery | Ryan Henry
55 Plays12 days ago
In this episode of Unstuck and Alive, Steven Neuner and Todd Pinkston sit down with Ryan Henry—Expert EOS Implementer®, Visionary of Entrepreneurial Leap, and Co-Founder of The Entrepreneurial Media Company—to talk about the hidden traps that keep high-capacity leaders stuck.
Ryan opens up about the lies he carried for years (“something’s wrong with me”), the freedom found in accepting your God-designed uniqueness, and why most entrepreneurs don’t actually need another tactic—they need a deeper reset.
Then the conversation takes a powerful turn as Ryan shares the moment he nearly died—a forced interruption that became a fulcrum for clarity, surrender, and a new way of living: “hard easy” (love + flow, not fear + control).
If you’re building a business but don’t want to lose your life in the process, this one will recalibrate you.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction & Guest Background
00:00:58
Steven J. Neuner
Welcome guys, another great episode of Unstuck and Alive. I'm super excited to be here with you today.
00:01:06
Steven J. Neuner
Today's guest is someone who truly lives the the the the the thesis of what we're talking about here, Unstuck and Alive. I met Ryan Henry through Strategic Coach a while back and what started as just a personal connection, just kind of that instimacy you find when you meet people that are on the same wavelength.
00:01:24
Steven J. Neuner
became a relationship, a great friendship built on purpose, freedom, and impact. And so, i mean, it's just been a true blessing.
Exploring Freedom & Identity
00:01:35
Steven J. Neuner
Ryan's going to tell you a lot more about himself, but he's an expert EOS implementer, visionary of Entrepreneurial Leap, which I believe he co-founded with Gina Wickman. He's a co-founder of Entrepreneurial Media Company.
00:01:48
Steven J. Neuner
His story Just runs the gamut. He's been in a Marine, an award-winning developer. you know Now he's creating global impact in entrepreneurial community. But at the heart of all of it, you know he's a great husband father.
00:02:01
Steven J. Neuner
He's all about breaking free from traps and helping people build businesses that serve their lives, not the other way around. And so with that, I'm just super excited to introduce my friend, Ryan Henry. Welcome, Ryan.
00:02:13
Ryan
Hey, Steve. It's great to be with you, Todd.
00:02:14
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
oh
00:02:15
Ryan
Great to be with you, too, brother.
00:02:17
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Absolutely, Ryan. Great to have you on.
00:02:20
Steven J. Neuner
Ryan, for those who don't know your story, just, you know, i'm curious about your journey of purpose. You know, like when did it begin? What early experiences have shaped the way that you even think of freedom today, which I know is important to you?
00:02:35
Ryan
Yeah, freedom is huge. So, you yeah you know, we had some technical difficulties. We had to reset this. So I've actually already answered this question once and I said it could be seven minutes or seven days, maybe even seven years to talk about this.
00:02:44
Steven J. Neuner
Bag of chips. work of It's way back in here, okay?
00:02:50
Ryan
This big subject. So, man, when I think about freedom and leadership and what's impacted me, you know, I celebrated my 47th birthday last week. So you're talking about 47 years of my life.
00:03:03
Ryan
I think I've always been in search of who I am. And I've always been in search of what am I supposed to do about that? and And what do i want to do? I've always wanted to do what I've wanted to do.
00:03:17
Ryan
And so, you know, we we met each other in strategic coach. Dan Sullivan says, great leaders are great wanters. What do you want? So that was a freedom unlock for me. But when I think about freedom, I just think about purpose. I think about my relationship with God. And that was one of the first places I really had relationship awakening of, oh, wait a minute, I am built by someone. I've been created by somebody. I have a purpose.
00:03:43
Ryan
And so, you know, I think of the listeners right now, like you you're created with purpose. And so there's this general purpose. I would just call it to shine, to be thy true self. know, Gino calls it to let your freak flag fly. Dan Sullivan calls it your unique ability. you could call it sweet spot.
00:04:00
Ryan
I think it's all of that in a bag of chips. And and i think about 40 years of of becoming who I am. I've always been who I am.
00:04:12
Ryan
I think a big part of the freedom for me has just been to accept who I am, to know, oh You know, we talk about entrepreneurship in that regard as a leader.
00:04:25
Ryan
this is These are my traits. This is how I was made. I'm a visionary. I'm a passionate person. I'm a problem solver. I'm a driven. I'm a risk taker.
00:04:35
Ryan
I take full responsibility. and And I think about freedom. I think about who am I? I think about identity. I think about now in life, I think a lot about mastery.
00:04:49
Ryan
and so I mean, that's like the big thing that I think a lot about is is just life mastery. And so, of course, I'm an entrepreneur. So there's an identity piece there. And that brings a lot of freedom just to know who I am and and to not feel like I have to be somebody else other than who I am.
Pivotal Moments & Core Values
00:05:06
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:05:07
Ryan
But I'll stop there because I know we can double click into a lot of the things I just said.
00:05:08
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah. yeah Well, and what I love about that is like, you're you' I think you're you're sharing something that's a really great insight and great clarity. What I would love is just if you were to kind of go back and think about some of the pivotal pieces where that became conscious to you, because I think, hey, this is the mountaintop and this is a really cool place. But like, I'm sure that that self-discovery has not come just, you didn't just transport an elevator up there.
00:05:40
Ryan
Oh, not even close. So I would say that that you know much of my my early youth, although I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, my mom and my father are both entrepreneurs.
00:05:51
Ryan
And when I really think about their parents, they were all entrepreneurs. and And some of my grandparents were my grandparents' parents were entrepreneurs. And so what's interesting about that statement is I was immersed around entrepreneurs. It was my family had four lumber yards, nine shoe stores, real estate.
00:06:11
Ryan
And of course, all of their friends were entrepreneurs. and And so I was around a lot of entrepreneurs. Most of my friends growing up in high school are now entrepreneurs. and But no one talked about that.
00:06:23
Ryan
No one said that word entrepreneur. Hey, Ryan, you know what you are? you know what? You're kind of spazzy, silly and serious all at the same time. Hey, you're an entrepreneur. So most of my early, like pre-middle school, then into middle school and high school time frame was a Feeling that I was a derelict or something was wrong with me or I was just very misguided because I didn't have a guidance in there.
00:06:50
Ryan
And so there was a lot of angst in there. There was a lot of rebellion in there. There was a lot of just heartache, feeling like something actually was wrong, in fact, wrong with me. So the first discovery for me in my journey was at 18, which was discovering and knowing the human God, man, Jesus.
00:07:09
Ryan
Like that was a massive unlock for me in understanding who I am and whose I am and understanding freedom.
00:07:10
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:07:17
Ryan
One of my favorite scriptures is Jesus is quoting the Isaiah scripture as he starts his ministry. I've come to set the captives free. And so, you know, really since 18 years old, that's what I've been pursuing.
00:07:31
Ryan
And I've been teaching what I've needed the most, which is freedom as a human. And then there's this period where I, know, I had this really interesting time. I'm in the Marine Corps. I learned to take personal responsibility. i learned that kind of identity. It's a unique military service because it's your it's an identity. People would still say you are still a Marine.
00:07:52
Ryan
And so one of the big pieces there was this idea ideation of Semper Fidelis, always faithful. and to stay in the trench. And I still carry that to this day.
00:08:03
Ryan
I think about my early times in construction. I worked for two owner operator entrepreneurs, and I learned a lot about not only pouring concrete and excavation, but just working really hard as an entrepreneur and seeing that kind of life.
00:08:17
Ryan
And then when I started my own construction company and development company, I was just enamored with learning. i mean, these this isn't like fake, this is real books here.
00:08:23
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:08:25
Ryan
Like I've always been enamored with education and understanding who I am. And
Mentorship & Entrepreneurial Leap
00:08:31
Ryan
and again, that level of mastery. But I have to tell you, you know, another real big touch point was this This ideation of taking risks.
00:08:42
Ryan
I was in the Vineyard Movement for seven years and John Wimber always used to say that faith is spelled R-I-S-K. And so I think a big part of my identity as a risk taker, as an entrepreneur and as a human is embracing that belief in the future and and that my past does not dictate my future. In fact, it's just it's just a learning.
00:09:04
Ryan
So there's that. And then I'll just say a couple of the things and I wanna stop, cause I could continue, like so like I said, I could talk about this for seven days or seven years. My introduction to Gina Wickman, who is my business partner and my mentor. In I was introduced to the Entrepreneur Operating System.
00:09:23
Ryan
Now, the operating system was fantastic for our business, but I would say it was more even impactful for me as an entrepreneur because it was like, oh, wow, if I just do these prescriptive things, stuff works.
00:09:37
Ryan
And I just knew there was something deeper about what he was talking about that was beyond a level 10 meeting or setting a rock. There was this way of life. And I wanted to have that kind of way of life because I had seen so many entrepreneurs that were very dear to me, including myself, who just did not live that great of a life with their purpose.
00:09:58
Ryan
You know, most entrepreneurs, the gifts we get are, you know, bad, broken relationships or divorce, addictions, and you name it, it's all across the gamut. Depression, anxiety, we see it all over the place.
00:10:14
Ryan
and bankruptcy, financial difficulties. And so, you know when I say I have this illustrious background with entrepreneurship, open honest, those are the four things I look back and see both in my life and in many of those people's lives.
00:10:26
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:10:28
Ryan
So when I think about freedom, i want to pursue freedom from that. I want to help people experience that. I want to help coach them in that. I want to help facilitate them in that.
00:10:39
Ryan
And that that fulcrum moment for that as an entrepreneur you know, was in a crisis moment was 2008. That's when I got introduced to EOS and Gino.
Overcoming Entrepreneurial Challenges
00:10:47
Ryan
So that's been about 17 years.
00:10:50
Ryan
And so now it's really for me, it's all about letting go of everything except my unique ability and what I'm good at and helping people, helping entrepreneurs, like accept that that's OK, particularly as and as an entrepreneur that helps entrepreneurs in the making early stage entrepreneurs, just less than 10 people. Those are the hardest days because they're doing everything.
00:11:12
Ryan
And that's where dreams really die really quick because it's just so hard to get a company off the ground in the early days. So my passion, when I talk about purpose, my passion is really simple.
00:11:23
Ryan
It's just transforming entrepreneurs' lives. And I just think about the full kaleidoscope about our business, our life. It's who we are. And so my passion is really going deeper into that world and and seeking and finding freedom. I suppose that's, you of course, why we're here today and talk about that kind of stuff.
00:11:42
Ryan
But that's that's my life. That's why I'm here. That's I'm still walking around.
00:11:47
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Let's go.
00:11:48
Ryan
Yeah.
00:11:48
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Ryan, thanks for sharing that.
00:11:49
Ryan
Yeah.
00:11:50
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
you so when When you first started, you made the statement, I've always been, but I've learned to accept.
00:11:50
Steven J. Neuner
Thanks.
00:11:58
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
and
00:11:59
Ryan
That's
00:11:59
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
yeah i think that's a I think that's a great just like picture of what it looks like to, you know and you used used a lot of different words of like unique ability or find ourselves or you know my sweet spot.
00:11:59
Ryan
That's right.
00:12:10
Ryan
Yeah.
00:12:12
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
But then you talked about growing up and feeling unique. And then you started filling that in with you know, we we would call them lies of like, oh, I'm weird.
00:12:16
Ryan
Yep.
00:12:22
Ryan
Yeah.
00:12:23
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
I'm not like other people. and
00:12:24
Ryan
Yeah.
00:12:24
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And those lies drive us. and And, you know, even even after 18, it's like, yeah, you're unlocked freedom in Christ. But those lies still carry on. You know, it's not like the the full old is gone.
00:12:36
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
So talk about that journey of like of discovering My weirdness is actually my uniqueness. And it doesn't, I mean, yes, we're all different and we can fill that in with, you know I'm different and weird.
00:12:50
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
You know, the statement, I'm not like anybody else is like, yeah, it's true. But we we we oftentimes carry the negative. narrative. So what has that looked like for you to start to carry the positive in that to accept who you are?
00:13:04
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Like, but maybe even like, what are some of the big benchmarks from 18 to where you are now where those things like
Self-awareness & Mastery
00:13:11
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
clicked and you found clarity?
00:13:11
Ryan
Hmm.
00:13:14
Ryan
Man, it's such a great question. Yeah. One of the big unlocks was reading read more recent. I'll stay recent was when Gino wrote the book Entrepreneur Elite, which I now you know help help create and Entrepreneur Elite Academy out of him and and and raise up mentors to help entrepreneurs.
00:13:29
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:13:35
Ryan
But and i'll I'll come back to why I said that with that discovery. So I'm an EOS implementer. I sell my real estate development and construction company. I've been an implementer for about not that long, maybe six, seven months.
00:13:51
Ryan
And I'm at one of our, what we call a quarterly collaborative exchange. All the implementers get together. It's phenomenal. I mean, we just have an absolute blast. I love my implementer community. Hey, if you're listening out there, what's happening?
00:14:02
Ryan
Implementers. We're doing God's work. I mean it's really good stuff. But I'm in this QC and Gino stands up and he's got this book in his hand and he's like, hey, I wrote this book for my 18 year old self.
00:14:17
Ryan
And as soon as he said that, it was like it just hit me in the heart so deep, because there was this echo from when I was a kid, this echo from when I was 18 and I came to Christ, joined the Marines, got married at 21, became an ordained minister. That's in my story too.
00:14:34
Ryan
So there's all these different things of pursuing freedom and identity. and he goes, I wrote this for my 18 year old self, who was a mislabeled derelict, thought something was wrong with him. and i'm like, whoa whoa, whoa, whoa, what did you just say?
00:14:45
Ryan
And I walked right up to him after he said it, and I was like, whatever this is about, I wanna be all in on Now, i that was a bold part of me. That's my nine quick start, or my Colby quick start. It's my nine, this change agent, right? there's a desire to see something come forth.
00:15:02
Ryan
I knew he was up to something, like something leapt in my soul, if you will. And I was like, oh, there's something there. And really what it was now looking back was I'm like, oh, I'm not just here to know Gino to be an implementer.
00:15:15
Ryan
I'm here to help him take that message to entrepreneurs who don't know who they are, that think something is wrong with them. Now, there's that part of it, but I wanna be completely candid.
00:15:26
Ryan
There was this other part of it, because he was talking about there's this assessment to determine if you are a true entrepreneur or not, and I have to be completely candid with you. I was scared out of my mind to take that assessment because I thought, oh, maybe if I take this assessment, it'll tell me, the this is the lie, that I really don't have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur because I'm actually, I'm not an entrepreneur.
00:15:39
Steven J. Neuner
Bye.
00:15:52
Ryan
Maybe that's the real issue. Maybe all the failures that I saw and the risk taking I took, it was just all stupid. It was all toxic and dumb because I'm really, I don't have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur because I'm not an entrepreneur.
00:16:05
Ryan
And I'm like, oh!
00:16:06
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
So
00:16:07
Ryan
And I remember I took, now check this out. So I have this moment, I'm scared out of my mind, but I'm looking at Gino going, I think this is what I should do with you, okay? What a weird juxtaposition.
00:16:18
Ryan
So I get the book, I take the assessment, You should take it. It's called the Entrepreneur of the Making Assessment. It'll help you determine if you are in fact an entrepreneur or not. It's a great, amazing thing.
00:16:30
Ryan
I scored 100%.
00:16:32
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
good.
00:16:35
Ryan
100%, okay? Like I'm answering every question. Are you risk taker? Yes. Are you rebellious? Yes. Are you individualistic? Yes. Like all the questions I'm just like pegged on the on the side of yes.
00:16:48
Ryan
Strongly agree.
00:16:50
Ryan
And I thought, wow, I still hadn't reconciled that yet. Here I am, this award-winning entrepreneur, award-winning projects, an implementer, helping other entrepreneurs.
00:17:01
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:17:02
Ryan
And I still have the head trash. I still have the lie echoing in me. And bro, I'm like 40. three years old or something like that at the time and so that's just a recent thing and that that right there is what sparked this desire to take this book that gino wrote as like a form of mentoring to teach people what he needed the most and go we got to take this beyond just a book and turn it into a program and turn it into an academy and and help these entrepreneurs and so it's a it's the one of the first things we teach in the academy
00:17:37
Ryan
Like you're an entrepreneur. let's Let's deal with that right here, right now. Let's put a stake in the ground.
00:17:43
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm.
00:17:43
Ryan
This is who you are. Because it's funny, I'll go through it in the academy and I can see these entrepreneurs like, I wanna get priorities done, I need some processes, I need to rocks, blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, hold on, hold on.
00:17:56
Ryan
Come here. You're an entrepreneur. The dream that's in you, it can happen. You have these traits. You're just not good at them. Just because you have the trait doesn't mean you've mastered it.
00:18:09
Ryan
Just because you're visionary doesn't mean you have good vision and you know how to use it well. And so that's a really interesting discovery that I've had very recently, candidly, that's given me a passion to really unlock what I would say has been happening really since I was you conscious about freedom.
00:18:27
Steven J. Neuner
So Ryan, if I could follow up on that, that that's awesome. I mean, that's a, thank you, dude. That's awesome. That's even, uh, that's resonating with me, I guess just to take it more broadly, even when you're, having that realization, right.
00:18:37
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank
00:18:39
Ryan
Yeah.
00:18:45
Steven J. Neuner
And like this discovery, It doesn't go away, right? So what are the what what are the ways, like if you look at the game footage, when does that show up for you still? When do you have to like wendy like, what are the signals that the lies creeping back in that you have to replace it with truth?
00:19:04
Steven J. Neuner
and And I'm thinking about like, and and how does it affect you? Because there are other people, I think there's a lot of different things that could replace that, right? Like I'll never be, you know, with my family background, like I'll never be successful at marriage, right? Like, i you know, what we're just, the brokenness is is bound to continue. I mean, you could replace that with a lot of
Balancing Passion & Practicality
00:19:24
Steven J. Neuner
things. I'd love it if you would just share sort of what are the ways it shows up, what are signals and how has it affected you?
00:19:31
Steven J. Neuner
Because it's it's sort of the hidden being revealed there.
00:19:35
Ryan
Yeah, for sure is the hitting being revealed. And it's easy to allow the daily problems, your own drive that can just you know kind of drive you crazy because we can get a little OCD and workaholic and what have you.
00:19:48
Ryan
And so the the best way to answer that question is to stay, for me at least, to stay in those traits like, okay, My visionary, because I'm a serial entrepreneur, my visionary without being master can get me in a lot of trouble because I can pursue ideas that are really not smart, that actually can get me stuck and not bring freedom.
00:20:09
Ryan
And so big part of it is slowing down and understanding the why behind some of these ideas before I even take them to an integrator. On the passion side,
00:20:21
Ryan
my My passion can get me in trouble too, because it comes from a place of pain. You know, that we talk about passion, it comes from suffering. So seeing my suffering as a gain and not as the gap that keeps me away.
00:20:36
Ryan
That's a that it but it shows up there. it It always shows up that there's always a pushback. There's always a tension there. It's always an in breaking like it doesn't change. We as an implementer, we teach something called hitting the ceiling. We do this in coach too.
00:20:52
Ryan
And hitting the ceiling is inevitable. Even when you break through the ceiling, there's going to be another ceiling. And so the ceiling show up for me and I recognize them in my traits. So I'd love to solve problems.
00:21:04
Ryan
But let's be candid, like, you know, daily six to 10 problems every single day for the rest of your life. If you lose the passion side, man, those problems will overwhelm you.
00:21:15
Ryan
They'll stack up. And so there's times where i lose touch with my passion. I lose touch with transforming my own life. and it gets And I can get really stuck in the problems and not solve them.
00:21:28
Ryan
I love solving them. I get a high off solving That's fantastic. Solving the problem is fantastic. But getting stuck in the problem and not solving it is a big one. The three others are just the rest of the traits, which is, you know, my drive is crazy. Like I can drive myself literally crazy with how driven I am for what I want to see, the fire that is inside of me.
00:21:51
Ryan
And so that can, that's, you know, sometimes it's just hard to turn off. Look, and I mean every day, i mean every day, like it's, you so, you know, I have a rule that be done at 6 PM, but gosh, man, I can get rolling and man, i don't want to stop.
00:22:07
Ryan
You know, my risk taking can get me in a lot of trouble, has got me a lot of trouble because like, let's just do it.
00:22:16
Ryan
So learning how to stay more calculated with my risk taking and have good partners that can navigate me and and slow me down like, whoa, cowboy, what are you talking about? But my responsibility can show up in really negative ways too. Like, you know, it's it's like obsessive compulsiveness almost.
00:22:36
Ryan
Like almost like I don't blame anybody. I blame myself so hard. I don't just let it go and forgive myself. And so sometimes I can move so hard on myself. when it comes to not achieving something I want to achieve.
00:22:49
Ryan
So I would just say like, those are daily things that show up. and for And for me, the the antidote to it is awareness. It's just awareness. It's it's being still, it's taking time to think. And so if I don't, if I'm not aware of it,
00:23:05
Ryan
it can it can emotionally get you going. And I think that's why most entrepreneurs struggle. I know that's why I struggle, because I get caught up in the emotion and of it and not just be thinking and aware of it.
00:23:14
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
you
00:23:16
Ryan
So hopefully that gives you some clarity about how at least how I think about it and see it.
00:23:20
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:23:20
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
That's good. Ryan, will you dive more into kind of the personal, you know, you just talked about pausing and and and gaining perspective. yeah What about more, just more personally, like what are the rhythms you have in your life to keep you grounded in your faith, to keep you connected to your family, to to continue to provide clarity like to know, is this a good risk?
00:23:33
Ryan
Yeah.
00:23:40
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Is this a bad risk? Like we're not going to nail them all, but what is what does the daily and and the weekly rhythm look like for you and your world?
00:23:49
Ryan
Yeah, well, ill answer one of the easiest questions, which has been so freeing for me, which is every single idea I have, opportunity I wanna pursue, something I wanna talk about, problem I wanna solve, an obstacle I see ahead of us, those are the five things we call issues in the US. s I give them all to my integrators.
00:24:09
Ryan
And so I just give them to my partners. And so I'm a partner person, I love doing things in partnership, that's how I'm built. And I don't do anything without that kind of feedback and insight and same page in this, whether it's with my integrator or it's with my business partners.
00:24:28
Ryan
Now not always good at that, but man, that's one it's freeing because then I don't feel like I have to control it and pull it off and just get in a really kind of crazy place there. So that's the biggest thing is just to put it on an issues list, two to three words,
00:24:43
Ryan
Let it go and then go, all right, let's talk about it. I'm totally open. I could be completely wrong. What do you think? Here's what I honestly think. But what do you think? Everyone left, we say. So that's that huge.
00:24:55
Ryan
Like that, man, if the that is the best thing.
00:24:57
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
you
00:25:00
Ryan
Because then then I want to make sure we can create something together. I love to create things and I want to create together. I want to create it together. So and then if it's right, we'll coach through it.
00:25:12
Ryan
as leaders and then we'll collaborate with people in doing it. My daily rhythms though, you know I just wake up at five every day and I have this time, I just call me time from five to eight.
00:25:25
Ryan
Like my Ryan light doesn't turn on for business until eight o'clock. I just don't talk to anybody. I don't schedule meetings. I don't text anybody. i just I mean, I'm thinking, i spend time doing clarity breaks, doing thinking time every morning as I work out, I read, I do a devotional.
00:25:40
Ryan
I have a whole rhythm of how I do what I do and it's a routine and I i have fallen in love with the process of my routine. And one of the things that's the best to do is I just wake up and I just, if i'm listen I listen to a book every morning, I listen to First 15 every morning and and I start my day with clarity.
00:26:02
Ryan
I just get it all out of me. That's the best thing I do is I just get all the stuff out of me. I literally have a whiteboard in my garage that I've turned into my workout room and whatever comes up, I just write that sucker down.
00:26:13
Ryan
And then at eight o'clock, I give it all to my assistant. She starts to sort it out.
Avoiding Pitfalls & Embracing Delegation
00:26:18
Ryan
So that's part of my daily routine. have a couple other routines that I do. have an evening routine that I do.
00:26:26
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
you
00:26:27
Ryan
Turn everything off at eight o'clock. I just start reading. But, you know, my wife and I have a routine too. Like every Friday we take a date night. It has been the best thing for us. It's place to connect.
00:26:39
Ryan
We turn everything off. It's just how we live. You know, and then I'm a homebody, like on the on the weekends, I just want to hang out at home, just chill. I just, I like to just hang out.
00:26:51
Ryan
I drive pretty hard during the week. So, so that's, that's just some stuff I do. I'll tell you one little thing I do that people think is really weird to help me stay focused and routine is my phone is always in do not disturb.
00:27:04
Ryan
Always.
00:27:07
Ryan
Never's off. Do not disturb.
00:27:09
Ryan
And I also am off social media entirely. I just wanted to live like I lived in the eighties and nineties as a kid. And so I have no social media, fully unplugged.
00:27:20
Ryan
So I got these, I'm kind of goofy and quirky like that, I got all these little things I do that just help me stay free. Just help me stay out of the gap, you know?
00:27:27
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
great.
00:27:30
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
I love that. and And so you interact with a ton of entrepreneurs. You see them fall into the pitfalls.
00:27:34
Ryan
i do.
00:27:36
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
What what traps do you think you feel like catch more people than anything else? what What things keep them from transitioning, as as you have said, from becoming to accepting who they are?
00:27:54
Ryan
The two big words that come up to me are fear and control. It's
00:27:58
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
That's great.
00:28:00
Ryan
just, you know, the opposite of that is love and release.
00:28:01
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Say more.
00:28:02
Steven J. Neuner
See you.
00:28:05
Ryan
so You call it surrender. And so as an EOS implementer, I see visionaries come in there and they are so wired up.
00:28:16
Ryan
They are so, I call it vision stunted because their vision isn't actualized. There's no integration of it. They know what they want, but it's not happening. And so that frustration leads them to go, can't let go of anything.
00:28:30
Ryan
just gonna take it off. they just start taking everything. Because nobody else can do it. I gotta do it. and And I'm like, oh man, I know, I totally get it. completely get it.
00:28:42
Ryan
And so that that fear of letting go and then that control, and that's, you know, as an entrepreneur, You're a big L, you're no M, you're no A. What I mean by that is you're a big leader.
00:28:58
Ryan
You got ideas and relationships and problem solving and you're a hunter and you function on emotion and intuition and your gut. and And we go, God, there's a seat for you.
00:29:07
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:29:09
Ryan
Just go sit in that seat and let's go master that seat. Go join coach, you know, all that kind of stuff and and let go find an integrator who does lead with you, who can get on the same page with you and go, I got you.
00:29:22
Ryan
I got I got Give me the issue. I got it. But they manage everybody. They create an environment of accountability for the major functions of your company and you.
00:29:34
Ryan
And so
00:29:35
Ryan
That's from a business perspective, just to how to manage that and let that go. It's just put love in it. Love your people. Love your people. Give it to them.
00:29:46
Ryan
Let them take it. They're gonna be way better at it than you are. So seeing that, that yeah fear, man, that fear and control, whew. And now I've never seen an entrepreneur stay with fear and control and solve what they wanna solve.
00:30:01
Ryan
Let's put it that way. Never seen it happen.
00:30:04
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
It's good.
00:30:04
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Hm.
00:30:04
Ryan
Cause what they really want to solve isn't the rock or the to do or the scorecard number.
00:30:10
Ryan
It's something deeper inside and they're avoiding it in their busyness. You know, Dallas Willard, the theologian, he he passed, but he had a great quote and and fear and control, I think does this for but for visionaries, which is busy.
00:30:24
Ryan
And Dallas said that some say that busyness is of the devil, but I say that business is the devil. And that fear and control creates a busyness inside an entrepreneur that I think burns them out and really hurts them.
00:30:36
Ryan
I know it has for me.
Aligning Personal & Business Goals
00:30:38
Ryan
I know it has for me.
00:30:40
Ryan
But I think the deeper work is the fear if they let go of the busy that they have to confront themselves and address what's really going on inside of them. And I know that was that was true of me as well.
00:30:53
Steven J. Neuner
What about personal? So, I mean, obviously there's business. and I know a lot of people are coming in with the context of probably i have this idea. I want to build the business, right?
00:31:05
Ryan
This
00:31:06
Steven J. Neuner
How often do you find that
00:31:10
Steven J. Neuner
they don't have a context of how it fits into their overall life? And what, you know, talk about that a little bit more.
00:31:21
Ryan
is great because it's like therapy. So this is it's my own life and then I'm teaching what I learned the most and I needed the most.
00:31:23
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank
00:31:27
Steven J. Neuner
Yep. yep
00:31:28
Ryan
So, referring to my mentor Gino, he talks about it as tenure thinking and and then having a tenure target in your business. and And those two things many times are so incongruent in their, between their personal life and their professional life.
00:31:46
Ryan
Meaning like for me, like no theory, just my own self. I had to come to the realization that what was in my mind and what was in my heart to build was completely unclear to my wife.
00:32:02
Ryan
And based on previous failures and experiences, her own trauma was kicking in. Every time I wanted to pursue a new venture or take on something new, she was like, oh no it's going to look like that because she had no context of what one, I had learned that would never happen again.
00:32:22
Ryan
And two, what it actually was I was pursuing and how it meant to impact her life. And so the two things I've learned myself that I teach every entrepreneur is to reconcile that with getting so very, very crystal clear about simplifying what is the most important goal you want to pursue over the next 10 years.
00:32:40
Ryan
of course, when that happens, time slows down. You make better decisions. You calm yourself down. Because most entrepreneurs, let's be candid, are trying to accomplish their 10-year target in the first year of their business.
00:32:50
Steven J. Neuner
Of course. Wait, one year?
00:32:51
Ryan
Right?
00:32:52
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
what
00:32:52
Ryan
I understand.
00:32:53
Steven J. Neuner
What the heck? I thought it was like a month.
00:32:54
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
yeah
00:32:55
Steven J. Neuner
Come on, dude.
00:32:55
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
yeah lady who
00:32:57
Ryan
i
00:32:57
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
how else could you possibly pursue it? I mean,
00:33:00
Ryan
Let's go right now. Like, just come on. They just start yelling at everybody. And I'm like, I don't think that's working, bro. Like that's not helping anybody. They're just scared of you.
00:33:07
Steven J. Neuner
yeah
00:33:07
Ryan
They're intimidated. So that they what they do, what they actually do is they don't help.
00:33:09
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
and if the that's the definition entrepreneurship.
00:33:11
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:33:12
Ryan
maybe And then the person's like, well, fine. If you guys are gonna do it, I'll just do it. it just Just scare everybody, right? And so, you know, getting really clear about that, it just solves so many things.
00:33:25
Ryan
But then going and going, all right, well, hold on. Let me think about everything that I want from my life in 10 years. And I like to simplify things in threes. So when I think about 10-year thinking, i want to live a peaceful, prosperous, private life.
00:33:43
Ryan
And then I go, wait a minute I want to live a peaceful, prosperous, private life right now. Okay, so I'm gonna live my future self now. you know Ben Hardy talks about that, be your future self now.
00:33:57
Ryan
seeing yourself in the future, becoming that person in the future. i mean, that's Jesus's prayer. Let the kingdom come. Let the inbreaking of heaven show up in the now. And so that's what I want, man. I want i want the now to look like the future.
00:34:12
Ryan
And so what I see entrepreneurs do is they never talk to their spouses about that kind of stuff. And they don't create just a narrative of what life's going to look like in 10 years. And they're not on the same page.
00:34:23
Ryan
And there's this internal war, not only at home, but inside the entrepreneur.
00:34:28
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:34:30
Ryan
And it doesn't give them a freedom to pursue it because they they know they're not reconciled. They're not whole. They're not integrated at home. There's not a full integration.
00:34:41
Ryan
So see it all the time.
00:34:42
Steven J. Neuner
Or worse yet, yeah, and worse yet, oftentimes that they're unaware of it, right?
00:34:47
Ryan
Oh, they're completely unaware of it.
00:34:49
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:34:50
Ryan
They have no idea that's the issue.
00:34:50
Steven J. Neuner
It's not like intentional. Most people, once that light comes on, they want to reconcile if those are priorities to them. But it surprised me how often, you know, what a gift to be able to, to for the blind again to be revealed and see where the the the friction occurs in between those two.
00:35:08
Steven J. Neuner
Because Because then you can do something about it.
00:35:12
Ryan
That's right. I mean, I think about so many people that I dearly love that are no longer here. My grandfather and my father being two of them, I knew what they wanted because I listened to them, but it was so incongruent with how they lived their life daily and what their families thought about They respected them.
00:35:29
Ryan
But there was almost a pity due to it because it was such it was a miss. It just missed. And so.
00:35:38
Steven J. Neuner
Keep... Keep...
00:35:38
Ryan
just want to live that way. That's not freedom. You know, that's the learning lesson.
00:35:40
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:35:42
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Ryan, i want I want to press in a little bit on you. You talk about, man, I run hard throughout the week. Like I'm driven.
00:35:50
Ryan
Yeah.
00:35:52
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Sometimes I have a hard time turning it off. I think so many people can relate to that. You know, you lay awake at night.
00:35:56
Ryan
Oh, for sure.
00:35:58
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
You know, you put your head on your pillow and youre you know your brain's spinning. You're still trying to solve problems. I mean, the the you know the word we use in modern day America is I'm busy. I mean, I'm always busy. And like, if you're not, you just must not must not be important. So it has become this goal of I must be busy no matter what. Even if I don't have anything to do, I should be busy.
00:36:20
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And so you talk about some of those same traits of running hard, driven, passionate, have a hard time turning it off.
00:36:20
Ryan
Yeah.
00:36:29
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And then also you've got this rhythm of five to eight in the morning. you're you're It's you time, your nighttime rhythm, a date with your wife, your phone on do not disturb.
00:36:35
Ryan
yeah yeah
00:36:40
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
like how did you How did you come to those? what What lessons have you learned along the way? And and where do you still like where are still the temptations of, you know where where do you still feel it creep in and how do you and how do you push it back?
00:36:51
Ryan
Yeah, for sure.
00:36:53
Ryan
Yeah.
00:36:56
Ryan
It's creeping in all the time, but here's a couple of things that helps out a ton.
00:37:00
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Hmm.
00:37:00
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Hmm. Hmm.
00:37:01
Ryan
You know, I treat them as meetings. I treat them as high time church. Like in my professional side, we we say that meetings are same time, same place, same agenda, starts on time, ends on time.
00:37:12
Ryan
And so. I just take that aesthetic to everything and I want to be fully present. That's so my phone's off. And so my calendar is understood. we We learned this in strategic coach, have free days, buffer days and focus days and put your free days in first. So like my calendar is determined.
00:37:33
Ryan
My 2026, 2027, 2028 calendar over the next three years, as I pursue my three-year picture on the road to my tenure target and my tenure thinking, it's already known. Babe, I already know what I'm doing.
00:37:44
Ryan
already know where I'm going. And I've thought about it. I've looked at it and went like, that's important. I don't want to say it's important and not make it important. And so I wanna make it important. So I just, you know, set it and forget it. Set the dates and I forget about it.
00:38:00
Ryan
I let it go. And so that's huge. It's so helpful because intentions aren't gonna get you there. You gotta schedule it. You know, so like my schedule says, wake up at five. And at six, it says your home.
00:38:11
Ryan
And it says date night. it Like it says all the stuff I'm doing. Even on Saturdays and Sundays, it's like church, 11 to 1.30. Like just but everything is there. It's all there. So I just follow my schedule.
00:38:23
Ryan
I just do what my schedule says because I built a schedule. i want this That's what I want my schedule to look like. That makes it lot easier. First of all, that just makes a lot easier. It's kind of like bowling with the bumper guards in.
00:38:34
Ryan
It keeps you from going in the gutter. At the same time, it creates an environment accountability because you're committed to it and everybody knows about it I got share calendar. My kids got the calendar. My wife's got the calendar. My partner's got the calendar. integrator's got the calendar. My team's got the calendar. They know what I'm doing.
00:38:50
Ryan
And so they know every meaning I have is as important as level 10. You're not going to get a hold of me. And so, man, that just helps.
00:39:01
Ryan
It makes it a lot funner too, because I've lived so much in my life where I said, I wanna do this next year, wanna do this, or wanna make this happen.
00:39:01
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:39:10
Ryan
It's like, I'm gonna do it. that just solves a lot of it, open and honest. us Now the drive, the way I've learned to turn the drive off after work is I schedule workout after work.
00:39:23
Ryan
So at 5.30, I'm working out. working out And then that helps out a ton, open honest. From 5.30 to 7.30, I'm working out.
00:39:31
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:39:31
Ryan
And I just get a lot of that energy out of me. One, it just feels good, I feel better, winds me down, come home, then I just, hanging out, chilling. So it's all about, for me, it's about the process, it's about routine, it's about letting it go and just, everything else is just an issue for the issues list.
00:39:52
Steven J. Neuner
I love that. And as a fellow process lover and the the belief that process does create freedom,
00:40:00
Ryan
Yeah.
00:40:00
Steven J. Neuner
you know
00:40:01
Ryan
and
00:40:02
Steven J. Neuner
really, really you know certainly obviously resonates with me. I guess the thing that comes to mind that I hear a lot when people, you know they ask me this question, but I want to hear from your wisdom, your experience.
00:40:16
Steven J. Neuner
What about interruptions? Right. So you're one of the few people you're one of the few people in my life that I have that I've known and watched where like literally you you almost you had an experience.
00:40:20
Ryan
yeah
00:40:28
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:40:30
Steven J. Neuner
it You almost died.
00:40:32
Steven J. Neuner
Right.
00:40:32
Ryan
Yeah.
00:40:33
Ryan
Yep.
00:40:33
Steven J. Neuner
And so you i know you got a plan. I know you got to like, but there are there are things in life that like sometimes they're, so I would just love for you to talk about that, to
Transformative Health Scare & Life Lessons
00:40:43
Steven J. Neuner
if you'd be willing to share what that was, what lessons you learned, how does that shape the way that, you know, one, obviously there was no choice in interruption, but how do you choose when you're going to be interrupted?
00:40:44
Ryan
Sure.
00:40:55
Ryan
Right.
00:40:57
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:40:59
Ryan
Well, in that instance, I did not choose that interruption. So that that was brought upon me, but for a reason that I'm fully reconciled and and and accept.
00:41:02
Steven J. Neuner
Thank you.
00:41:02
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:41:09
Ryan
So So in May of 2022, I was in my backyard with my son. We had bought a 1960s mid-century modern home that hadn't really been renovated since it was built.
00:41:19
Ryan
And we had tore down a bunch of trees on our property line and were torn down moldy old fence. And we burned it and i aspirated the mold and some of the toxic stuff that was in the ground.
00:41:31
Ryan
And it created an infection in my in my right lung that ate a hole in my lung. and got a lot of pain and i was hospitalized for a month. I had to have chest cavity surgery. They cut me open, sawed me open, took my lung out, cut a quarter of it off.
00:41:48
Ryan
The infection went into my spine and it went up to my brain. it's where I wear glasses now. blurred my vision, created neuropathy, sciatic issues, binding. And so the last three years has been this body pain journey of recovering.
00:42:06
Ryan
It's been brutal and and pain is a powerful, powerful teacher.
00:42:12
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:42:12
Ryan
And so that experience, oh, I was forgot to say, I was like 36 hours from death at one point. If they weren't gonna be, because they didn't know how to stop the infection. They didn't know what it was.
00:42:23
Steven J. Neuner
I didn't know what was going on.
00:42:23
Ryan
And if they couldn't have stopped it, no, no idea.
00:42:24
Steven J. Neuner
Right. I mean, like it was, it was like, what happened to Ryan? Like, I just saw you, you were doing great.
00:42:28
Ryan
No, no, no.
00:42:30
Steven J. Neuner
And it's like, wait a minute. Like, yeah.
00:42:33
Ryan
Well, it's it's definitely interrupted my normative coach journey. That's for sure. I'm getting through the signature program. That's for sure. Yeah. So it's, you know, it's May of 2022. I'm in the early days of talking to Gino about starting eLeap and turning it into an academy for early stage entrepreneurs.
00:42:51
Ryan
I'm hard charged in a US implementer. I'm just living life. And then I got fully interrupted.
00:42:55
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:42:57
Ryan
i was hospitalized. I couldn't leave the hospital. i was in the hospital for a month. And then I came out and I was a mess. I mean, really and a lot pain and a lot of, you know, took my practice from over 25 clients down to about 12.
00:43:13
Ryan
That interrupted all my financial goals. Had to cash in some savings just to get things through. It was, it was, It was a very trying dark period of time, but was so intriguing about that interruption is the human you're looking at today and all the stuff I'm talking about that I'm doing and how I'm living.
00:43:33
Ryan
It's all because of that that fulcrum moment of my life.
00:43:36
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:43:37
Ryan
So I'm in the hospital, I'm post-surgery, I'm laying there and I'm like, wow, I didn't die. Like they they did the surgery, they got the infection out, they found some antibiotics that stopped the infection from continuing in my brain.
00:43:50
Ryan
That's what would have killed me. It was like 12 nodules on my head. And I go, okay, God, I'm here. and like, what do you want me to do? i mean, that's like, that's been my whole question all the time. Like if there's an echo prayer of my heart is, Jesus, what do you want me to do?
00:44:07
Ryan
And Jesus was a good model because he said, why I only do what I see the father doing. I only go where i see the father going. So I'm like, father, what do you want me to do? Show me what you want me to do. And it was very, very, very crystal clear, which was take fully serious every single day about everything we just talked about.
00:44:24
Ryan
I could repeat it all, but that's all that. And then it was be completely vulnerable about your journey because Everything you've experienced, I'm going to use it for a purpose that's going to transform entrepreneurs lives.
00:44:38
Ryan
And I'm going to use you as a vessel. And I was like, Lord, do you really want to use me? Like I'm wildly unqualified, but you know, as people of faith, we know that that's how God chooses people.
00:44:49
Ryan
And so I'm in that moment, like I'm in that moment in the hospital, like, okay, I'm just going to fully surrender. I don't understand how this is going to work. But I'm in. I'm in. If that's why I'm here, it's why i'm walking this earth to help transform entrepreneurs' lives, I'm in.
00:45:04
Ryan
Let's go. So, yeah, that's – if I miss something, let me know. but that
00:45:10
Steven J. Neuner
one and And just to kind of the follow up. So obviously like the I mean, thank you for sharing that. And it's beautiful. And just know you as a friend. I mean, I can see firsthand. That's what I said. I mean, I've seen the the fruits of that. And I've seen you live unstuck and alive since. I've seen you live into that.
00:45:29
Steven J. Neuner
I guess, like, when we get back to the the rhythms and routines that keep us unstuck and alive, how do you discern when
00:45:30
Ryan
Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
00:45:38
Steven J. Neuner
you need to be interrupted, right? Like, so, so that was a forced interruption, right?
00:45:44
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank you.
00:45:44
Steven J. Neuner
But now you got the plan. You're on fire. You're on God's call calling. You're moving in the direction you feel that he set you. Let's go set captives free. I'm with you, man. I'm locking arms, Ryan. We're going.
00:45:56
Steven J. Neuner
How do you, how do you discern when you need to be like interrupted without being put down on the hospital bed?
00:45:56
Ryan
yeah yeah yeah
00:46:03
Ryan
Yeah, it's two words, force versus flow. And so big aspect of my life is water and river and flow. And I just have these mental images of that all the time in my spirit.
00:46:17
Ryan
When I think about things, I know i don't i know that I am doing the life I'm meant to be living when I'm in the flow, when I'm in the river, when I'm in surrender, when I'm in flow.
00:46:28
Ryan
And and i how to explain that?
00:46:29
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm.
00:46:32
Ryan
It's a feeling. It's a gut check. It's just an experience. Like, how do you know when you're in a river?
00:46:36
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm.
00:46:38
Ryan
I mean, you know you're in the river, right? Like that's that that's the best way to describe it. I know I'm in the river.
00:46:42
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah.
00:46:43
Ryan
I'm falling. And so I know I need to stop when I'm forcing things, when I'm not releasing things, when I'm when i'm trying to make my will happen.
00:46:54
Ryan
when I think that I need to take control of it and force something. that's That's the, because I think at that point, when I got interrupted, there was a lot of force.
00:47:05
Ryan
There was a lot of like, I'm gonna make up for lost days from my previous entrepreneur ventures and I'm gonna prove somebody. i did I don't wanna admit that that was there, but man, it was all there.
00:47:18
Ryan
It was all there. And so I was trying to force too much stuff. And, When I feel the force, I'm like, oh, what's going on?
00:47:30
Ryan
And so I just stop and I, my mentor, Rob Dubay, just asked me to, he goes, he's so funny. Rob's like, you know, just ask yourself what's up with that. And
Living in Flow & Vulnerability
00:47:39
Ryan
I was like, what do you mean?
00:47:42
Ryan
And just Rob, like, if you know Rob, like he's fantastic at, you know, he's got a book called do nothing. He was like, just sit there for a second and be like, you know, what's up with that. And so that's what I literally, I asked myself like, what's up with that? What I doing?
00:47:54
Ryan
And I'll take a walk, I'll sit down I'll figure out what's up with that. Now, what I do when I do what's up with that is kind of quirky. Again, I got a little quirky things.
00:48:06
Ryan
I audio record myself and I explain to myself what's up with that. And I literally kind of coach myself. So I just let it all go and then I listen to it and then I journal it.
00:48:19
Ryan
And then I saw I solve and resolve myself to committing to not to not doing that again. And I kind of measure that game like, OK, cool. I'm not doing that again. I'm flowing there. And so wherever I feel the force, I'm just going, what's up with that? And how do I turn that into flow?
00:48:37
Ryan
Hopefully that helps in this describing that experience.
00:48:42
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
So good.
00:48:43
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah, it's great job.
00:48:43
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Ryan, we've heard, you know, time and time again, as we have talked with folks, it's it's the moments that we would all want to avoid. Like couple weeks ago, we chatted with a guy that, you know, him and his wife had built up a company for a decade. It was his dream job.
00:48:58
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And then, you know, destroyed the company, had to leave, you know, walk away from everything.
00:49:03
Ryan
Yeah.
00:49:03
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Here, you're talking about 36 hours away from death, and the Lord gives you just the clearest, you know, call marching orders, call them vision of, man, be all in and and live vulnerably.
00:49:03
Ryan
Yeah.
00:49:07
Ryan
Yep.
00:49:18
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And I think... It's just crazy as we look, it's like Ryan was growing up feeling weird. You know, we feel weird, we hide, you know, we like, we go internal and then, you know, you, you, you come into the light, you start to live out your gifts.
00:49:30
Ryan
yep
00:49:36
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
You've got these breakthroughs along the way. And then what happens, you know, not that you're coming to the end of your life, but you're, you're turning the crest and, and you're now it's like, be vulnerable. Yeah. Take that weirdness. I mean, how many times you said quirky on this deal? And it's like, I love it.
00:49:51
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
fact, I mean, I look at look at you and I'm like, God, got those same stupid quirks.
00:49:51
Steven J. Neuner
yeah
00:49:55
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
I'm like, I'm such a weirdo.
00:49:55
Ryan
Yeah.
00:49:55
Steven J. Neuner
Mm.
00:49:57
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
But it's like, you've been invited now into this place to like just be yourself. And that's the greatest gift you give to other people.
00:50:03
Ryan
yeah
00:50:07
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And at the same time, you're experiencing freedom and joy in the way that you were designed to. And I just think that's, I mean, gosh, 50 minutes you know of a conversation, you can just see that clarity of like, that's what it's for.
00:50:20
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
and and And you can't come out of the womb with it. It takes hard knocks. And man, how do we learn to celebrate those times where you know we're we're laying in a hospital bed and it's like, hey, this might be the end.
00:50:31
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And it's that whole Paul thing of like, hey, if this is the end of me, man, praise God, I get to go home. And if not, praise God, I'm going to learn something incredible from this. And so I just, I mean, I love, as you were sharing that story, i mean, one, I'm a little upset that we're 40 minutes in to a to a conversation and, you know, you you haven't even shared about but dying practically.
00:50:52
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Nooner had to bring it out of you, you know, but it's, please.
00:50:52
Steven J. Neuner
yeah
00:50:53
Ryan
yeah I don't know how much we're doing on time. There's a couple things I want to say in response to what you just said, if you indulge me in that.
00:50:58
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah, we're good. We're good.
00:51:00
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:51:00
Ryan
Okay. Well, there's a couple things I just missed there that that are just really interesting things I forgot about until just now as you're talking. Two things jumped out of me. I'm in the hospital.
00:51:10
Ryan
I'm having this dialogue with with God. And however you dialogue with God, like, to me, I feel like I can have, like, a conversation that would take you and i days to have in moments, like it's this revelatory thing happening.
00:51:26
Ryan
And I'm surrendering and I feel flow looking back. I feel the river. I feel God's spirit. and And it's really crystal clear. I see the member, the staple easy button.
00:51:38
Ryan
Remember staples when they had the easy button?
00:51:42
Ryan
Remember that?
00:51:42
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Oh.
00:51:42
Steven J. Neuner
That was easy.
00:51:43
Steven J. Neuner
Yeah, that was easy.
00:51:43
Ryan
That big red staples button, it's easy. And so I see this red button and it's God's finger and he's going, you ready? And I'm like, what? And he goes, it's going to be really easy. And I'm like, what do you mean easy? He goes, we're going to reset everything.
00:51:57
Ryan
And i remember mean I remember going like everything? mean like everything, everything? And he's like, we're going to reset everything. And fear came in. I went, oh. And then of sudden the whisper of God came and was like, isn't that what you've always wanted?
Letting Go & Finding Passion
00:52:13
Ryan
isn't that what you've always wanted?
00:52:15
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
So good.
00:52:16
Ryan
And I was like, I just started crying. I was like, that's what I've always wanted.
00:52:22
Ryan
And I flashed back. It was like a, it was like a flashback through my life. And I'm like, oh my God, I saw where God gave me the easy button and I didn't let him touch it.
00:52:36
Ryan
I was like, not yet.
00:52:37
Steven J. Neuner
Mm-hmm.
00:52:38
Ryan
Not that. Oh, I got to control fear, fear and control. I didn't. I wanna say I didn't know it was there, but I'll be lying to you. I knew it was always there.
00:52:48
Ryan
I knew there was aspects that I just, was I really gonna trust? Was I really gonna surrender? Was I really gonna let it go?
00:52:57
Ryan
Because most of my entrepreneurial life was really hard because I just made some mistakes, went through the recession, blamed too much of the recession on myself, got in a bad partnership, blamed myself for it.
00:53:11
Ryan
And so God was like, we're just gonna make it easy. And so it's funny how things happen. So i i' I'm in this one-year mentorship program with Rob Dubay through 10 Disciplines.
00:53:23
Ryan
And Rob just makes this statement and he's like, you know, Ry, like sometimes we just make it hard, hard. And really it's just hard easy. I'm like, what kind of, what is that riddle? what are you talking about?
00:53:35
Ryan
What do you mean hard easy? And he's like, well, we make it hard cause we don't let go. We don't surrender. This type of life is hard. You're a breakthrough, you're a frontier, fight you know, pursuer.
00:53:44
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Thank
00:53:47
Ryan
You go out and and take the risks into the unknown, into the free zones. You're like, that's not gonna change. Like you're built for the wild.
00:53:56
Ryan
I'm like, okay, yeah, yeah i' cool. I like that. I feel good. Yeah, but okay, so what hard easy? don't understand what do you mean. And he's like, well, hard easy is what I just talked about, letting go.
00:54:07
Ryan
You can do both. And man, that was like, oh wow, just another unlock. Okay, got And so what Rob always says, flow, you're in flow.
00:54:19
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Hey, Ryan, real quick. the The hard easy is like working hard, but it's easy because you're not in control or what?
00:54:26
Ryan
It's love and flow, not fear and control.
00:54:27
Steven J. Neuner
you
00:54:28
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
And so it's.
00:54:29
Ryan
and so I have all these little colloquialisms. It's love and flow, not fear and control. That makes it hard and easy.
00:54:33
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Come on. I love it.
00:54:35
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Okay, keep going.
00:54:35
Ryan
yeah
00:54:36
Ryan
Yeah, that's that's that's no, no, no, that's it, bro.
00:54:36
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
I get off.
00:54:39
Ryan
Like that's the that's the thing I just wanted to double click. Like when you're talking i'm like, oh, I got tell you about hard easy. That's the like that's the.
00:54:46
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah.
00:54:46
Ryan
And so I create all these little colloquialisms and mental hooks. you know Keith Cunningham calls them bumper stickers, just things to remember you're what you've learned. And that's one of them. Yeah, that's that's been a huge unlock for me.
00:55:01
Ryan
And then having Rob be my mentor, who was, you know, make time big time one of Gino Bickman's first clients, he calls him one of his Magnificent Seven. And I said, well, then tell me what you learned hanging out and knowing Gino for like almost 30 years.
00:55:14
Ryan
And he goes, it's simple. Whatever Gino said to do, i look at my team and go, let's just do that. Let's do it exactly the way he said it.
00:55:22
Ryan
And I went, okay, Rob, whatever you tell me to do for the next year, I'm just going to do it. However weird it is, however funky, I'm just going to do it. As long as it leads me to hard easy.
00:55:33
Ryan
And he was so funny. He goes, okay, let's do that.
00:55:38
Ryan
And so whatever he told me to do, I just did it. You know, whatever Dan Sullivan, and I look at it like that now, whatever I read from Dan, when he writes a new book, I go, I'm just going to that. I'm just going to that. And I just go, I'm just going to do that because I go, I trust these guys.
00:55:51
Ryan
I know these guys care about me. I know they're coming from love and flow. So I just accept it. And I'm okay with taking that risk. I believe in these people. I trust these people.
00:56:03
Steven J. Neuner
Such a good word. Ryan, just a fun fun aside.
00:56:04
Ryan
Yeah.
00:56:05
Steven J. Neuner
I often tell people like if if they would just like, even if they didn't bring their brain to strategic coach and they just left using the like the fillable content that's in there as an example, they would at least 2x in three years.
00:56:21
Steven J. Neuner
If they activate their brain in there, they they're going to 10x. But it's it just like, it's that good.
00:56:25
Ryan
sorry
00:56:27
Steven J. Neuner
Like good is good, right? yeah Like the easy is easy. Hard easy. I love it.
00:56:31
Ryan
Oh, yeah. And so it's a it's a so really hard. Easy is also a reconciling of your head and heart.
00:56:39
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Hmm.
00:56:40
Ryan
it's It's reconciling what you think and what you know, what you feel. You know, we say that business and emotions don't work well together, but that's not entirely true.
00:56:51
Ryan
Our emotions are critical because they they're engaged. They tell us things. My intuition, my feelings are like, I don't know. I should go think about that. I used to go, I don't know. And I just would say feeling like that.
00:57:04
Steven J. Neuner
Hire him anyway.
00:57:06
Ryan
i but Let's just do it. Hold on. Let's think about this for a second here. Yeah. So hard, easy.
00:57:17
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
It's awesome.
00:57:18
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
There are so many so many nuggets of of goodness in in this conversation. So many great resources that you've shared.
00:57:28
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Ryan, if you had to give entrepreneurs one piece of advice, what would you tell them?
00:57:33
Ryan
Discover your personal passion. It's the number one reason you're gonna succeed. And so you're like, well, how do I do that? Really simple, I'll be really quick. Just jot down the three successes of your life when you look back.
00:57:48
Ryan
And then write down the three failures of your life.
00:57:51
Ryan
And then ask yourself, what has been what has life been teaching me?
00:57:55
Ryan
You're gonna probably get pretty close to your personal passion. Try to get down to like three to seven words and then lean into it. This is your litmus test. Lean into your number one problem with it.
00:58:08
Ryan
Does it give you energy? Does it give you superhuman strength? Because that's the whole idea is breakthrough, is freedom.
00:58:16
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Let's
00:58:18
Ryan
And that is what hard easy is all about. So discover your personal passion. It's going to keep you
Connecting with Ryan Henry
00:58:23
Ryan
going. It's number one reason you're going to succeed.
00:58:27
Steven J. Neuner
So good. So Ryan, obviously a lot of things you're involved with lot of ways. We already know you're not on social, but if someone wants to learn more about you or what what you're up to, what's the best way to connect with you?
00:58:40
Ryan
Yeah, so you can you can go to EOS Worldwide if you're looking at EOS implementation and find my little website in there, just Ryan Henry EOS Worldwide as far as EOS implementation.
00:58:52
Ryan
When it comes to eLeap, just go to e-leap.com. Check it out.
00:58:56
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
you
00:58:56
Ryan
If you're an entrepreneur in the making, want to confirm whether you are an entrepreneur or not, understand if you have what it takes, check us out. you're an early stage entrepreneur and you are stuck, and you are frustrated.
00:59:07
Ryan
We built the academy for you, my friend. Reach out. We would love to help you. We're going to give you 10 years of entrepreneurial wisdom and mastery in seven months. So there's that. Love to help.
00:59:20
Steven J. Neuner
Ryan, thank you, dude. Uh, love you brother. Uh, I mean, I appreciate the way that you model and walk out what you talk. it's, uh, it's been, it's awesome to be your friend and, just know that you, uh, provided tremendous value today. So, uh, keep setting people free, man.
00:59:38
Ryan
Appreciate you, brother.
00:59:39
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Yeah, Ryan, thanks. Thanks for the time, man.
00:59:40
Ryan
Thanks, Todd.
00:59:41
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
A lot of lessons learned here from me. Man, you're doing you're doing great work, not just helping entrepreneurs to to build a business, but to build a life of meaning. And that's great work. It's worth giving your time to. May your tribe increase.
00:59:54
Todd Pinkston & Steven Neuner
Brother, thanks for the time.
00:59:55
Ryan
had a blast. Appreciate you both.
00:59:57
Steven J. Neuner
See you.