Episode 150 - Evan Van Auken From Firefighting To Entrepreneurship, This Is How He Did The Thing

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. All right, guys, so this is going to be a cool day. I have an amazing guest on with me today. We actually got introduced, funny enough on this. It's called Pitch Week that Ryan Moran does through capitalism dot com. And I got to see him pitch his amazing company after just working so hard and really showing this unbelievable transformation of where he took this business that he had created after being a firefighter for so many years. And I'm not going to get too much into the details because I want him to share his full story, but honestly, you guys, I was blown away. Within, like, minutes after his presentation, I emailed him asking if he could. If I could invest in his company. And so since then, we actually both joined. Ryan Moran has a Mastermind investment club, and we both joined and got to spend some time in Austin together. And he is one of those people that, when you meet, is truly genuine and really goes out of his way to help another person even so much. There was a point right after that Mastermind that I was considering starting on TikTok, and I had sent him a video because he's also a master at TikTok, and he sent me a recording back, a video giving me pointers on ways that I could basically approach TikTok, and just from his. From his wisdom and so just those. He's that guy that you meet and you're just, oh, my gosh. I'm so excited to get a chance to. To talk to him more about his story, and I'm really excited to share him with you because I think when you meet people like him, you can get so inspired, and maybe he could say the one thing that could get you to move today towards that thing that you want. So I'm so excited to introduce Evan to the show. Hey, Evan.

Thank you, Daisy. What a probably the best and most wonderful introduction I've ever heard in my life. Like, you have a way with words.

Thank you.

That made me feel so good. You have no idea. Like, I totally forgot about some of that stuff. But, yeah, thanks a lot. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. I'm so excited to have you. And I love that we, like, know each other well enough. I was just telling you right before, I just got a new microphone.

And you're like, do you have a microphone? Because I can't hear you at all. And so I like that we have that relationship that you're able to. To help me, help me through things that are hard.

I have your back.

You have my back. Yes. I feel like this is a safe space, so thank you. I'd love to start off and have you share with everyone a little bit about you and your story.

Well, I would love to 100th podcast. Congratulations. Or over a hundred podcasts. That's huge. What is it like you're in the top 10% of podcasts if you do more than 25.

Oh, that's right. Yes. Thank you.

Like that. But I don't know, it's really impressive to stick with something for that long, so I feel very honored to be here. But I will answer your question. The short answer is that I started out. I started out as an entrepreneur. I've always been kind of an entrepreneur. You know, we sell CDs and we sell. We mow lawns and we do things, you know, try and earn a buck and we go through school and then we'd start working jobs. I ended up in the fire department, you know, after doing, I don't know, 10, 15 different jobs, trying to figure out what it was that I liked. And I thought I was going to stay at the fire department for a long time. My whole life. It was a family tradition, you know, my dad was the fireman, my brothers were firemen. I was a fireman. I went to paramedic school. But when I started in the fire department, this funny thing happened. I solved the problem, just like entrepreneurs do, you know, and then I had that brain that was like, well, what if you think other people would want this solution too? Like, you think that I could sell this solution? Do you think other people have this problem? And that's when we really started our first company. And that company was Squishmarker, the same company that I got to pitch and you got to be a part of, which was really cool. The story behind it is, is that we were. I was designing this plaque to commemorate the academy that we went through. You see, when you get hired in a fire Academy, there's like 30 guys. We're waking up at 3 o' clock in the morning. We're getting home at 7 at night when we're just getting ground into the dirt with pt physical work, just learning how to be good firemen. And so you want to commemorate that like you would want to commemorate a boot camp. So I had this big, beautiful piece of walnut, and I was really wanted to wood burn our motto into it, but when I used my soldering iron, I screwed up the whole project. I got stuck on the grain, like, it just didn't work. I thought I Was artistic, but I was not artistic enough. And so the problem was, is I didn't have a bunch of hours to practice. I didn't have a bunch of money to buy a nice tool, couldn't use stencils. So long story short, my wife and I came up with a way to do it chemically. We came up with a solution. We painted it on, we applied some heat and it burnt into the wood and we were like, holy cow, do you think, anybody want to buy this? So we put it in a marker and that was the beginning of our company. And now, five years later, this is where we're at. We got into retail stores, we're growing on Amazon. We have a wonderful run rate. We get to do really cool things, pitch our brand to investors to try and get to the next level. It's so fun.

I love this so much because you start off pretty much being in service, being in the fire department and following your family traditional. And then you get almost like this calling to, to, to do something on another direction. But now, and you didn't get into it now, and I'm really excited to talk about this because now you're helping other people almost be in service with this product, what they're able to do with it. Do you have any examples of what people are using it for?

Oh, yeah, totally. Our whole. It's funny you bring that up because our motto is just to make things easier. Same kind of thing. Like when people call 911 and we show up, just, just fix the problem, please. Just make it go away. And so when I first started Scorch Marker, I didn't know what kind of company we were going to be. I was just product minded. I just wanted a way out. But as do you grow in business. And we were talking about this before the podcast. It's constant learning experience. Just like being a parent, just like being a boss, being a business owner, you're constantly learning. And so some of the things that I learned is we're a craft company. We serve women in the Midwest. We are here to enable them to create quicker, easier, faster, and in a fun way. So the way we're in service is we make it simpler and easier for them. If you think of a kit that you could buy where your craft project has everything that it needs all in one go and you can step out of your craft room and hold it up, that's why we're here, is to help them get to that point so they can get those compliments and finish a project.

Yeah. And what an Amazing gift for them because they're able to do it in a way that's easier, easy, and then also get to see the results and share that with people that mean something to them.

I don't know, Stacey, if you've ever been, like, shouted out by another brand on social media or if you've been publicly highlighted or shown off into a group of people. But like, when you work hard on something and then you hold it up and someone says, oh, my God, it is so good. Like, are you going to open a business? It feels good. It feels really good. And so that's the try. That's the feeling that we're trying to recreate for all of our customers.

Yeah. And I feel you're giving them an opportunity to create contribution, you know, in a way that. Because who knows what they're gonna create with it. This is what's coming alive for me. I just had a friend of mine who lost her son in a tragic accident. And it's just really sitting with me hard, you know, because I just. I just wanna do whatever I can, just not knowing what to do. And so I reached out to someone else that I knew lost her daughter, someone that worked with me a long time ago, and asking her for advice. And I could see her almost come alive. Right. Who had lost her daughter five years ago, and then being able to help give advice for this other woman that just lost her child and offered to connect. And me and I almost look at your product in a way of when you said the memorializing of the fire department and like, having that and like, so whatever people are using your product for, it's like celebrating these really. And some of it could be just for fun and easygoing, but can also be used in this really meaningful contribution way to the world. And then other people seeing that it could. Could impact them in a different way. Sorry, this is just. My body's, like, all vibrating right now because it's just. It's what's really making me think of how. How important this could be for people.

You'd be surprised at how many memorial submissions we get with our product. Like, how many people have made a memorial for a loved one, a family, a friend, even. Even pets. But yeah, people want to memorialize things and they want to put effort into it themselves so they can get that energy out and into something that they can look at and be reminded of the pleasant times. I agree.

Yeah. And then thinking about it, too. I've been talking about this a lot. I've been working on the. The quiz for do the thing and what gets in your way. And so the. One of the results is the perfectionist. Right. Because that perfectionist man, that. That one's a hard to move person.

Yes.

And one of the things I'm working through on the perfectionist in mindset is to get them to really celebrate those wins that they have. Right. Whether it's a psychological win or a visual win. And. And I think scorch marker is a good way for people to be able to celebrate those wins that happen in your life, you know, in a. In a way that'. So you can see it too.

I think so. Some people have even started businesses, which is really cool to be able to supply a new type of business owner. I. It's fun, just fun.

So that's amazing. So the other thing I wanted to talk to you about through your. Your pitch that you did on pitch Week, I was so, like, moved by how many roadblocks that you had to overcome through the business. Right. Because as entrepreneurs with any new business, typically there's. There's some things that get in your way, and that's what. That's when you get to see the real person come out. Their tenacity and their grit and what they can overcome. And I was just wondering, where did that come from in you? Have you had that muscle flexed? I mean, obviously when you were in the fire department, you had to have had some of that experience. But I'm just curious if you've thought about where did that even come from? Or was it you just flying blind and you were able to do it kind of whatever came next through the process?

That's a really good question. I was just talking about Grant the other day at the gym with my brother. It's not. I wasn't flying bind. And it. It didn't just happen. It had to be trained and taught because I didn't always have it. Now, if I like, if I look back to, like, my teenage years or even my early 20s, it just. It wasn't. The grit wasn't there. You know, I had to learn how to show up. I had to learn how to show up for me, and I learned to show up for my team and others and how to be accountable. A lot of that happened when I started going through training. To become a firefighter, you have to show up. If you don't show up, you're gone. Like, you're late one time, you lose your job. If you fail this test, you know, at the end of the year or at the end of the training, you Lose your job, pass probation, and know how to tie all of your knots blindfolded or put your ba and your mask on. Within a minute, you lose your job. So it wasn't a matter of, like, it was kind of like a. I had to. I had to learn how to. How to get it done. But the cool thing was is that in that training, they teach you where your limits are. And that was a big part of it. Physical limits, emotional limits, and mental limits. And they are quite far away, in my opinion. And so, like, it was. It's funny because yesterday I was dealing with a ton of stress. Just business stress, you know, you have to deal with as a business owner. There's employees, there's investors, there's money stress, there's balancing and cash flow and inventory. Just stressors that get to you. And you know what? I straight. I looked at my wife, and I was like, it's not as hard as fire academy. I could do this, right? If I got through that, I can get through this. It's just another form of stress. I mean, I think that plays a big part in creating grit. Just showing up, and even if you don't feel that great, you just kind of show up and you do it again. And that's what was beat into my head for years and years and years. So it's hard for me to shake it now, but it was learned.

And so what's kind of like your favorite mindset tool when you don't feel like showing up and then you show up anyway?

That's a good question, I think, about what the future version of myself would do. The $100 million CEO, the billion dollar CEO version of Evan. What would they be doing? Would they be sleeping in? Probably not. Would they be getting stoned at nighttime and. Probably not. You know, they probably wouldn't do things like that. They would show up whether they wanted to or not, and they would try to be the best version of themselves, whether they felt like it or not. Because I know that it will pass. So that's kind of how I look at it. I'm like, this morning, I did not want to get out of bed to go work out, but I was like, if I want to be $100 million version of myself, I have to do what that person would do. And that means embrace the suck. So I tell myself all the time, just embrace the suck, dude. Just embrace it. Let's go. It's crazy, Stacy. I don't know how I can do it sometimes.

Yeah, no, I love that. I think that's Good. So that is literally what gets you out of bed when you're not in the mood is like you're picturing this hundred million dollar version of yourself and what that person would do. And of course, that person's waking up.

That person's getting up, that person's showing up. And then, you know, there's all the other things that I have for motivation, the family and the kids and like, I have a lot of motivation comes from that area of my life because I want to provide an incredible life for everybody that's around me. Meaningful work, meaningful relationships.

And so, yeah, so I'd love to hear about, for the listeners on your. What happened with your TikTok, because that went crazy and it was something. A time that you could have taken a pause from everything. Right. Because things sort of slow down and then you had time to. To pursue that. I'd love to hear how all that started too.

Yeah, it's really interesting. I downloaded TikTok in 2020, like right when the pandemic started. Yeah. And I hadn't had or used social media up until this point. No Facebook, no Instagram, nothing. And so they do such extensive background checks in the fire department that I was. I don't even want to run the risk dealing with this right now. So I just never had it. So when I download TikTok and I started flipping through it, I was like, oh, this is kind of neat. You know, this, like, this is a new way to get content. So I remember we got sent out of county for this big wildland fire, and my job was to refill the helicopters for like a week so that they could do water drops. And I honestly, like, after the first day or Tuesday, get pretty bored. And so I'm like, okay, what can I do to pass the time right now? Let me film this and teach people what I'm doing. Just show them what's going on here behind the scenes of the fire department. And I did. And it got like 80,000 views, right. And then it just like a switch clicked and I was just like, oh, well, there's a. This is how you get attention.

That's how this works. And so I was like, wow, this is incredible. I don't want to talk about firefighting, though, like forever. I know that I'm going to be out of here eventually. So what if I started talking about something that I loved? I wonder if anybody would care. So that's when I started making videos about Facebook, pixels and Shopify stores and, you know, how to open an LLC and Why I use an S corp to pass my money through to avoid paying egregious amounts of taxes. And people started to care. That's what started everything. I just saw the opportunity, and I was like, oh, cool. This is great. So in the beginning, like, I would go hide in my car and I'd park down the street, and I would make sure that no one could see me because I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed, like, putting myself out there and on camera. What are my friends gonna think? What about the guys I work with? What about my brothers, my dad? Nobody cared, by the way. Nobody even ever said anything. But I had to get through that. So as time progressed, I got better and better and better. And then I found my voice, my social media voice, and then it just took off. 700, 000 followers later, like, it just there. So I used that same skill and then extrapolated it out to Instagram and YouTube and Pinterest and all the other social media platforms and was able to build up a decent following and of people just like me. And now I get to help that previous version of myself with all these trainings I'm putting together. And it's coming full circle, and it feels really good.

Yeah, that's. That's so cool. And it's amazing, too, because you got to see it with the people following you. So then that. That kind of thing, that underlying value I think that you have, I'm just assuming based what our conversation is, contribution is coming because you're feeling like you're impacting people as well.

I like helping. I've always liked teaching. I would teach in EMT school. I taught in paramedic school. I taught in the fire Cat. Any chance I would have to teach, I would take it. And then they were selfish reasons, Stacy, because I knew that if I could teach it to somebody else, like, I knew the material myself. So, like, who wants to run the study group? I do. I will. Because I'm forced to be that person to be engaged. And it works. It works.

Yeah. I love that. So I haven't told you about the do the thing formula yet, I don't think. Have we gotten there yet? So I think I do. I might have dissected it right after that meeting in Austin or might have been around then, but pretty much through all the interviews on the podcast, I had dissected the formula of just common patterns of what gets people to do the thing, and I made it into an acronym. So the acronym is I'm game, and the I is identify the Y, which We're kind of talking about which is like contribution and things like that. And for, for you, M is mindset which we, we talked about that future. You're like always looking at your future version of yourself. And that $100 million Evan, what's he going to do? And then the G in game is goals and then accountability is the A M is my people, which is pretty much that. And the mastermind investment mastermind that we joined where we're around people that are like on all different levels, which is just really cool. But I wanted to mention this because you just mentioned the last letter which is educate. And this was a really new epiphany that I had that I like love what you just said. Really hit it home. I had interviewed someone that had done first it was just educate, like learning from people online or getting a coach or a mentor or taking a class. But then I interviewed someone that had just done a 12 step program Al Anon and she was telling me the reason why it worked so well for her was being able to educate others and it helps you learn, get the learning even deeper. And you really just spoke to that really well. Because I don't think people realize by you being able to like even if you're not ready yet, you're just like three weeks ahead of someone else. You still know enough to teach someone and that is a really good way to get yourself to move. Right. Because then you get to see the light in the other person's eye that you're helping and then also you're learning it on another level.

Yes, yes, 100%, it's still true. When I first started doing the social media thing, I put a calendly link in my bio and so people could just schedule a free 15 minute call with me and I would record those calls and I would turn them into snippets of content. But what I was doing, and I didn't know it at the time, but I was just kind of collecting data from my customers, you know, figuring out what their problems were so that I could solve them. And then I know what their problems are. I've had the problems. I'm very crystal clear on what their problems are. And so it was so cool. It's so cool because that education part that you just mentioned, really big. Love it. I absolutely love it.

Yeah. And I think you had mentioned this a little bit, but in terms of what's your coaching look like? Because I think you did some even business coaching and it sounds like you're doing a, like a training like, what is, what is that about for anyone.

Listening, that I dabbled in the coaching like a little bit. Like I just dabbled, but it wasn't really for me. So I don't do any business coaching anymore. I have like two, three, at least three coaches that I work with on a weekly basis, monthly basis to, to get me tuned up. But I thought about, I thought about that person, that previous version of myself in 2018 when they were starting scorch marker. 500 bucks was a lot of money, right? Just getting that LLC up and running, taking $500 out of savings, like a lot of money. And so if I'm charging a bunch of money for coaching, probably I'm, I'm probably not going to be able to help my ideal person. And so I'm like, what can I do? How can I make this more palatable for them? So instead of doing like one on one coaching, I decided to create the accelerator where I go live once a week with all of these people and they have access to all my trainings. And then I keep putting out different trainings taught by me. You know, I'm standing right here in my office. I'm using my notebook to highlight stuff and give them links and take care of people because I really wanted to build a community of people and I wanted it more accessible. So I've decided to go that route instead.

Yeah, I think it's honestly even better because then you have the, my people part of it, which they're around, people that are doing the same thing as them and they're getting the community and the connectedness that they need. Right. And, and then it also, what I noticed with my people is it really gives you that safe place to fail so they're able to share their experiences and learnings. Are you giving them that space to be able to do that in the community?

Yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely. We have like, we're using circles, so it's going to be like forum kind of style with training modules and, and chats. It was just like it fit well with the style that fit well with my vision and the style in which I like to teach. And so yes, yes and yes to all of it. It's very important.

Yeah, I like that because you've been there, done that. So I mean technically you're doing coaching, you're just doing group coaching. It's just not the one, the one on one you didn't like is the way. Yeah, I like that and I like that by you moving and doing the thing right, like you're Seeing what you like and what lights you up, and then you're able to pivot.

Gosh.

When it's not in the right. When it's not the right thing for you.

I've tried a lot of different things, and that's what it has been over the last, like, couple years. It's like, well, do I like coaching? Do I like doing zoom calls one on one? Do I want to just be YouTube? Do I just do podcasts? Like, what is it that you want to do? And so I tried a little bit of everything, and I've kind of. After all of that, I've narrowed it down to this.

How do you try stuff?

How do you know?

Yeah. And so that. I love that. If you don't try stuff, how do you know? How do you. Before you're about to try something new, how do you decide? Because we talked about this before. I have this thing, the shiny, shiny pennies thing, too.

I love that.

Yeah.

How do you decide? Like, okay, yeah, this is something I want to try. Like, is it just, like, a thing that you. You feel it, or is there something else that gets you to. To be able to try it?

It's kind of like a combination of, like, half feeling versus half. Is the opportunity there. And, like, could I do it? So, honestly, like, I don't. I wish I could tell you, like, oh, if it meets this criteria, I try it. But honestly, it's just a gut thing, and, like, I could try that. Let's see how it goes. Oh, didn't like it?

Yeah. How do you get in tune with your. With your gut? Like, where does. Where does it. Do you feel it? Or is there something that you ask yourself?

Yeah, no, there's a. I. I use my. When I say gut, it's kind of like my moral compass aligned with, like, what feels good, because there's a difference between happy money and sad money. So I want to make sure the money is happiness and happy, and it comes from a place of, like, giving and abundance and help and thoughtfulness and gratitude. And so those are kind of some of the things I used to make my decision.

I want to go back to this because I don't think I finished here. We were talking about. I. I'm using the word exposure therapy. That's the word that I like right now. But pretty much that idea of flexing the muscle when you were doing hard stuff with the fire department and just being able to show up when things are hard, doing all the time.

I was just wondering how. How. What gets you through that Besides you having done it a lot and you already know you're going to get on top eventually. Like, what? What is it? I'm trying to get at the really guts of that. That thing when something hard is coming up and, you know, you have to get through it. What gets you, what moves you?

So two things. One is I expose myself to challenging things, like on the daily workouts, cold showers, attacking issues or challenges head on, not procrastinating, thinking things through, thinking about how $100 million version of myself would handle this. Would you have patience or would you yell? You know, so that helps. That's a. That's a big part of it. Another thing is, I know, and I see all. You see all the people on social media. And unfortunately, we compare ourselves a lot to them. We compare our insides to other people's outsides more often than we ever should. But what I've seen is that everybody started somewhere. Ryan started somewhere. You go back and look at Ryan's first videos. They're terrible, right? They're the very beginning. If you look at my first videos, they're terrible. So I'm just like, oh, it's just a volume game. I just need to practice. I just need to get my reps in. It's time right at the bar. And so it's the combination of those two things. Yeah, we all start somewhere.

That's actually what got me to get going on the podcast, too. I remember I'd done a couple episodes and I did an interview, and I had messaged. It's actually, I have a relationship. Not relationship. I'm making that sound bad. I have a friendship. I have a friendship with the guy that owns the platform that my podcast is based on. And so we met. We met, like, after I started, and I had messaged him saying, like, I'm not good at interviewing, which is funny because I interview people with my staffing company. So just even me saying that is ridiculous. But anyway, he pretty much messaged me back. He got me to move by saying, like, anytime someone is doing something new, they're not good. And it's just funny because I know that. But when you go through it yourself, it's hard to hear that. So it's just interesting how we have these expectations on ourselves that no one cares. See, like you said, no one cares. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I'm.

Seriously, Stacey, they're not your people.

I agree. Yes. The ones who care don't matter, and the ones who matter don't care. You know, because I guess I just agree with you. There it's so true. It is so true.

Yeah. And I like that you mentioned. It's funny. That was going to be one of my questions was what your daily practices, and you kind of mentioned it with the cold showers and the working out. And what was the other thing? I feel like there was one more thing.

Oh, like, when you're forced with, like, adversity, it's like, all right, do you procrastinate or you just deal with it? Just. Just go. Just deal with it. Yeah. And I found that we all have those things in here that are like, that make our heart beat just a little bit faster. You know, when we start to think about them or that message pops up or that email comes through or whatever the case may be, you're just like, ooh, if I just taste that uncomfortable feeling and I, like, just attack it, it helps so much. I'm uncomfortable when I'm working out. I'm uncomfortable when I'm getting up early. I'm uncomfortable when I'm in a cold shower. But the next time I'm faced with that same adrenaline rush, that same uncomfortable feeling, I'm like, oh, I've been here before. I got this. It just helps. It just helps as a whole, make things just slightly easier. That's why I spend so much time chasing the uncomfortable, because I know I'm going to grow from it. And growth equals so much more.

So what advice do you have for people that are going to be doing the find your voice challenge? So it's basically. It's funny because I think people think it's going to be like your. Your outside voice, but it's really your inner voice, but I think it kind of will also lead. So basically, they're going to get different dares every day to get them to just be on their phone and do voice notes and things. Like, what's frustrating to you? What does your ideal day look like? What would be your oh, one's like, let your inner Karen out. Like, basically, I used to call them.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I used to call them venting. Venting voice notes. Sometimes it can take a charge out. But it also, by you being like, you've probably seen this, but you be able to speak things out loud and, like, get out of your head. Like, you really do move into your heart. And so I was just curious if you had any advice for people that are gonna tackle that challenge.

Well, without knowing the ins and outs of the challenge, I will speak on a few things. Well, I won't put this. When you, like, lay down On a table. And you get in like set an MRI machine. You know, the big things are going around taking images of your body. You can do the same thing with the brain. You can look at all the electrical impulses that go through the brain and you can measure like the voltages that happen when you're thinking and firing. And so like there's little electrical impulses that are going on in your brain. And so if there's electricity in there and we look at what Einstein said, conservation of mass, like energy has mass. So those thoughts are like physical, they're real because they have energy. And you have these thoughts, they need to get out. Somehow when you keep them inside and bottled up, they just start to pile, they just start to get thicker and it just starts to get hairier and a little bit more congested. And so I love what you talked about briefly with the find your voice challenge. You know, letting it out, writing it down, speaking it out loud, doing a voice memo. That energy has to go somewhere, has to. It's so important. And so that is one thing that I found to be true. I use, I use a journal and I write down tons of stuff in my journal and I tell on myself a lot, like not in a bad way, but like these are all the things that are going on. Right. I just brain dump on people for on occasion who will allow it. It helps a ton. Tell me more about the find your voice challenge because this sounds really interesting.

Yeah, I actually, I love what you said. I cannot wait to clip that, share it with my community because that is exactly.

To be fair, I learned it from the book three simple steps.

But the way you are able to re articulate it is really, really good. So yeah, it's pretty much going to be. It's a 17 day mini sprint challenge where every day they're going to basically get a prompt on a dare for them just to record a voice note. And then similar kind of ones, the ones that I mentioned, but all different types and just to get them more self aware and to be able to. There's something about activating your throat and your voice because a lot of us have been having to keep quiet and suppress things for so long. And so there's just something about that magic that I'm really excited to so kind of like what you said about your journal. It's just instead of writing it down, they're going to speak it out loud unless they see that the writing it down is better. Honestly, they could use the prompts to journal too, but then they're also going to have an opportunity to interview someone. So it could be someone that's like really close to them. And the challenge will be the vehicle. So they're going to record the interview. And I just had someone that did one yesterday just as like a pre test. And she interviewed actually, you know her through Ryan's group, Alicia Reynoso. So her, her best friend pretty much. When I was doing the do the thing, start a podcast challenge. She's one of the people I set up on like a beta podcast. And so she's recorded a few episodes and they're amazing. It's so good. And she ended up interviewing Alicia who, you know, Alicia has gone on so many podcasts and she said she learned more about Alicia by interviewing her for this. And I was like, I've seen Alicia do a lot of podcasts. I've had her on twice on mine. And I've been working with her through different challenges. I learned so much about her. And so anyway, it's just a, it's just another way. And granted, even though this won't be doing a podcast, but it's the same concept. It's just hitting record and during the.

Conversation, through the motions, making it a normal thing to ask the questions, have a back and forth and record it.

Exactly. Yeah. Like what we're doing today, like, I feel like we've met, talked a few times now and it's. I feel like I know you in such a different way by us being able to do this.

Totally. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. And I, I constantly, like, even through our interactions and the brief things that we've talked about, I'm like, oh yeah, Stacey, she had this huge service based company and like I always think about like all the work that you've done in Southern California and like all the people you had to go through. And I'm like, man, if Stacy can do that, like, I bet I can do it too. Like, I don't know, it just gives me hope, you know, because I see like all the challenge, I'm like, this is nothing compared to what Stacy's had to deal with. I bet it's just cool to be able to have that perspective on, on your life too.

Yeah, that's cool. That is so cool. Well, before we move on to my last crazy question for you now, my, my last question for you. Do you have any other thoughts on the find your voice challenge? And either whether it be the benefits that you think it could have or any advice to people.

I think that it's really important just to get Your reps in, you know, and I say that it's like a total gym, gym bro term, but it's like to just like get in there and just practice. Just practice. Like, because when you go to the gym and then you come home and you look in the mirror, you see zero results. And then you go the next day and you come home and you look in the mirror and you see zero results. They're just in the same rinse and repeat. But you're getting your reps in, right? Your repetitions. And it's becoming a habit. And then your body starts to adapt, then it starts to change and it takes time. And then before you know it, you're like, oh, holy cow, look at this, like, filling out the shirt. Or like, this looks better now. Or the pounds have gone down quite significantly on the scale. And it's from repetition, it's from repetition. It's not going super hard one day and then taking the week off. It's everyday consistency. And I think that that everyday consistency can be applied everywhere. In business, in family, in relationships, in your love life, like, everywhere. And, and so it's a very, very useful skill. That's why I'm so excited about what you're doing. I just think it's cool. It's teaching that repetition is teaching you how to, how to get that thing started to do it. So cool.

Okay, so the time is here. Evan, are you ready?

Sure, sure.

Okay. What is your number one piece of advice for the listeners on doing the thing?

I would say just take action and figure it out afterwards. I'm a big fan of rapid, messy action. You know that I like to just get in there and just do stuff and break stuff and see what works. And if it doesn't, okay, cool, we'll move on. But if it does, you know, we could fine tune it. But you never know unless you do. And, you know, action just cured so much.

I love that you said that. I. I used to have a mantra in college. I went door to door and sold books. My everyday mantra was action cures fear. And that, like, got me out of, like, everything. And then you're also reminding me of what Ryan talks about. And I think this is like a thing that that's out there. But the jumping, as an entrepreneur, you're like, jumping off the building and you're building your parachute. I love that analogy because it's, like, so true, right?

Like, yes, it is so true. That's literally what it feels like. I feel like I'm falling and bad things are going to happen unless I get all of it. Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from on that.

Yeah. And it's also gives you an opportunity to flex your, your discomfort muscle, so. Because if you're going to wait for everything to be perfect, then two years later you're going to start and that thing will, you'll be, you'll burn so much energy on that thing that you won't even be excited about it anymore. Whereas if you start now and then it evolves along the way and you grow along the way, then two years from now you've built this amazing thing 100%.

And how do you know if it's even something that you, you, you enjoy and you really like if you haven't done it yet? You know, you have to go through to learn the ins and outs out of it. You can only do so much listening, learning, collecting data until you actually do it and feel it and like experience it. You just don't know. You just don't know. That's why I'm really a big fan of taking action. I'm like, there's just so many things you could apply it to.

So good. Well, please share with everyone where they can learn about you both. Scorch. Scorch Marker. And then also your personal, your personal stuff too.

Yeah, I'd be happy to. So scorch marker is scorchmarker.com. you'll find everything you need there. You can also check us out on Amazon, but that's our wood burning craft company. That's the, that's the company where I spend my time building. And then the lessons that I learn building Scorch Marker, I can go and I teach them to my personal audience. I go by Vanity on TikTok v A N A D E R V. So you just look me up there, you'll find everything so good.

If they're interested in the accelerator, would that. Well, is that going to be open soon or what's the plan with that?

So I'm so excited for that. It's going to launch mid February. Yeah, I started out with version one, you know, and I did really well organically. I mean, we have hundreds of students, never advertised. Like, it went really well. We made a bunch of money. But I've like, okay, how can I make this even better? How can I make it so good that I am just obsessed about talking about it with everybody? So that's what I'm working on for the last three months, rerecording videos, redoing the trainings and So I don't know if you can tell, but I'm, I'm quite excited about it.

I can see it in your face. For those of you just listening on the podcast right now, his face is like totally lit up. It's really cool to see, actually.

Thanks.

So, and actually for the listeners, this is my first time doing like a video other than the panel interviews that I do. This is my first time doing a video podcast. I felt good enough with Evan that we could have the video on while we're doing doing this. Normally I turn the video off. So it's a, it's a monumental day.

Which is a big deal because now you can take this video and you can start YouTube with it. Yeah, it's loving long form content right now. And so I put all my podcasts out on YouTube and it helps a ton. So now you have the video. You could just now podcast and you do. And you did great. Stacy. You sound great. You look great. Like, you're a fantastic interviewer and no wonder you've gone through at least 100 of these.

Thank you. Oh, I can ask you your advice while we're still on. I want to do a good closing, like, do the thing. I haven't done that yet. I'm like, usually like, okay, bye. See ya. You know, to the person. But do you have a good, a good thought for like something with do the Thing?

Yeah, I hear you. If it was like your signature, like, and that's why we do the thing, you know, like something like that, I, I would agree with it. But honestly, I like what you're doing now because if you can get the listener to go all the way to the very end of your podcast or your YouTube video, the System, the algorithm is going to be like, oh, shit. This person watched it all the way to the end. It must be really good. So I don't believe in outros. I don't think that you should waste the listeners time with anything other than like the most important stuff. So that's why I say short and sweet is where it's at. So something around do the Thing would be like, really cool.

Yeah, I like.

What do you think? Have you thought about this?

I've thought about it and it's funny because do the Thing isn't so much about like, do the thing, do it now. Like, it's like I've learned along the way what I really, it's really about doing things out of alignment, doing things that ignite you, doing things that get you to light up. Like, I saw you light up when you were talking about the accelerator, you know, and doing those things. Not doing the thing out of numbing because you know how like high achievers, you could also be moving and it kind of gets you to avoid. Avoid things. Not doing it that way. So I'm really trying to get people to. And also not doing it out of comparison. I'm trying to get people to like do it, but do it out of what's real for them, what's meaningful to them, how they can contribute and things like that. So yeah, there's a lot of thoughts. I just haven't dissected it into like a little.

Couple words, like a little blurb, like a little sign off.

A sign off. That's it.

Yeah, I've been through that whole thought process too. Eventually I arrived on let us be good to future you just thinking about something like. And I like my. I'm like, this is why we're doing it. Yeah, the future. You can have a better life, better time. So something along those lines, I think we should do it. Be really cool, but find me and I would be happy to give you feedback too. Thank you.

I appreciate it. And just for the listeners, it's cool because by me now speaking out loud that I'm looking for this, this, this is going to come naturally. It's going to. All of a sudden I'm going to wake up one day and I'm emailing Evan going, oh my God. I just hop out of three different things. And so it's true, right? That's what I like about find your voice. Once you speak it out loud, all of a sudden your mind hears it and then it just comes to you. I don't know. It's thing that I've learned through this podcast.