A short YouTube monologue by Ryan Daniel Moran recounting a retreat conversation that revealed how simply showing up authentically can profoundly impact others. Moran argues entrepreneurs and creators need not have everything figured out to help people — their personal perspective, struggles, and presence are often enough to create long-term ripple effects and meaningful change.
A few months ago, I was at a retreat, and There were about 15 or 16 people there, all of which I had a few conversations with, some more than others. But I struck up a friendship with one young woman who was there who went on to tell me something that really changed the way that I view putting content out there. And I want to make this video for those of you who are thinking about starting a business, thinking about starting to build an audience, and you're hesitating because you feel like you're not exactly sure what to do, or because you feel like there's something that's holding you back from being able to make the impact or start the business or do the thing that it is that you want to bring to the world. And I only had a few brief conversations with this woman. But later, after the retreat, I went home. And a few days after returning home, I got a letter in the mail. And the letter talked about how much the conversation that I had with her impacted her life and how it changed her perspective and how it challenged her to be better. And she was just glowing with this appreciation of how I had had an impact on her life. I couldn't remember the conversation that we had that had such an impact on her. So I contacted her and I said, what was it about that conversation? What did I do? What did I say? What did I share? What story did I tell? Because in my brain, I'm think, well, if this had such an impact on one person, I want to find what that nugget was and I want to tell it to more people. I want to show up in the way that I showed up for her. That had such a great impact on her. And as she talked through what it was that had such an impact on her had nothing to do with what I had to say or even how I said. It had nothing to do with some story that I told or some insight that I gave her. It just so happened that the challenges and the area of life that I was in at that time happened to match what hers was and the way that I was dealing with that gave her freedom and permission to take the next step in her life. It was the first time that I realized that there was nothing that I had to do, nothing I had to say, nothing I had to be, nothing that I had to figure out in order to make an impact in someone else. Me simply showing up as I am, me simply talking through what it was that was real for me in that moment was life changing for her, according to her. And it set free this Idea that I need to be something or do something or have something before I can be something or do something. That simply showing up as I am is all that some people need in order to have permission to move forward. I make a lot of content on the Internet for entrepreneurs. I help entrepreneurs build successful businesses, and we have a lot of success stories. And every week, every month, I get messages from somebody who says, your content changed my life. But there's never been a time that I went reading books or watching other people's content or trying to learn something so that I could turn it into content. I've only ever shared what was going on for me and taught some lessons that I learned along the way. I'm not Elon Musk. I'm not Jeff Bezos. I'm not Tony Robbins. I'm just one man that is shared from my perspective. And I tell you that because so many people think that they need to have something figured out before they can be of value. But sometimes just your own perspective, just your own unique way of looking at things, just your own challenges that you didn't choose, the things that you went through that you didn't want, the things that you got through and then can turn around and became something as a result of going through that, is exactly what the next generation or the next person needs in order to navigate their own challenges. Most of us can point to people in our lives that changed our lives. Mentors, teachers, parents, family members, friends. And I invite you to consider that none of those people were particularly qualified to make an impact in your life. They just showed up as they were, and as a result of who they were, they had an impact on you. You do that for other people. Your own way of being is all that is needed in order for you to create change or make a difference or impact someone else doesn't require you to do anything or learn anything or have anything that you don't have. It simply requires you to show up as you are most of the time. We don't see the impact that we are having in the moment. We only see it in the long term. Ripple effects that happen over years, sometimes decades. That person that you smile to, the stranger that you show kindness to, you don't see how their day changes. You don't see how they show up for the next person, that person that you mentored just because you had a heart for them. They don't change today or tomorrow or next week. But you're changing who they grow up to be. The people that you impact throughout your life are Touched by you, they're changed by you. The only thing you have to do is be you. To be as happy as you can be, to be as kind as you can be, to show up in the fullness of who you are, which has no limitations based on what you have or who you are or what you can do. It is all about who you are that creates the impact for other people. This is true in business too. If you want to create something or do something, it doesn't necessarily require you to do it the same way that everybody else has done it. Your own perspective, your own desires, your own unique way of seeing what other people need and want is sometimes all that is required for you to develop something that is beneficial for someone else. So often we want to create this grand change in the world and have this get this big be on this big pedestal for the impact that we're making in the world. But that is not how change happens. Change doesn't happen by one person taking the hard way of changing the whole world. It almost never happens that way. Yes, we build statues for those people because they're so rare. But change happens on a person to person level. If you want change, it starts with you. Because who you are at any given moment is what shows up and touches everything around you and creates the ripple effects that you will see develop over the next years and decades. So be what you want to see changed in the world, create what you want to change. Because all change happens with one individual, with one interaction, with one moment. It doesn't happen in this big grandiose way. It never does. Sometimes people spend their whole lives doing something and then they get the accolades. But most of the time change happens because of you being you and it impacting somebody else without your conscious intent, without you efforting, without you trying. It's just because of who you are. So if you're wanting to change something, do something, be something, you're already qualified, you're already ready. And you showing up in whatever it is that you want to do is enough for you to create change that you want to see in this world.
