How To Find Your PASSION & Master Your FUTURE | Erin Hatzikostas

Understanding sort of, you know, obviously where you've come from and what shapes you is important. But what so many people don't realize is that your authentic self actually changes all the time. It's called growth.

You know, one of the things that you say that I just. It like, it's one of those quotes that just kind of resonates with my soul a little bit, which is people respect authority, but they follow authenticity. And I want you to break that down, because I have discovered that is incredibly true. Even as a growing leader myself is the more authentic I am, typically the better the communication is. So, like, walk it. Walk us through it.

Yeah, I mean, I'll walk you through both parts. I mean, first, you know, the authority. You know, so often what happens, especially in corporate America, but any place is we work so hard and we start to move up the ladder and we get these titles, and there's this inherent.

Oh, I've got this authority. And I want to make sure that I use it and I show it, and even the best people can get caught up in it.

Yeah.

And the reality is, yes, people look at titles and they respect sort of where you are in that journey. But the real power comes with authenticity. And when I say people follow authenticity. One of my favorite quotes to add a quote on top of a quote is Colin Powell, and he says, you know, you're a good leader when people follow you out of curiosity. Authenticity. Right. Like. And you can all think of a leader, right. When I do that, I always think of this, this one leader in particular. I'm like, I didn't completely buy everything he was saying. I was so freaking curious that I followed him. And that's what authenticity does. It's a gateway to connection, trust, intrigue. And when you have the courage to buck the norm, people will follow you and help you do great things.

Well, the crazy part is, to me is it seems like people are struggle with authenticity because they don't know that they really know what it is. I don't think anybody. We really know what it means to be authentic, you know, and you know, and you do. You. You break it down so, so beautifully. Talk to us a little bit about what does it mean to be truly authentic and to be kind of walking in that journey.

Yeah. You know, so my big conundrum came. So I had this great career and had tremendous success as a CEO, you know, largely when I was like, holy shit, I don't know if I meant to be doing this, and, you know, turned around the company. And then when I decided to leave and sort of try new things. Everybody kept saying, we'll miss your authentic leadership. And, you know, Stephen, it wasn't like I was like, ooh, who, me? Authentic? Like that. I got it. But it wasn't a badge I had been pinned with. And sort of. It was at that moment where I was. I realized, you know, all those times, quite frankly, when I was leading as an executive, 42 years old, and kind of looking to my left and my right and going, okay, when am I going to be found out? And it's not that I didn't. It's not. It wasn't imposter syndrome, per se. It was more of like, I'm not sacrificing as much as these other executives, not getting on a plane every single week for steak dinners, right? I'm not moving my family for new opportunities. I'm not giving up vacation because something at work blew apart, right? And so long way to answer your question. When people kept saying that I had this aha moment, like, oh, that's what I was doing. I wasn't. I wasn't going to be found out. I was playing a different game. But then, of course, so then I got excited. I was. I was sort of wanted to be an entrepreneur. I was trying some other things. I thought, oh, my gosh, this is what I need to go teach people. Like, I realize that was at the heart of my success. I had bucked the norm in corporate America and been a leader that just, you know, had done things differently and that had allowed me to have followers, etc. Etc. And so when, you know, now I forgot. I. Now I completely forgot your question. Oh, but here was the. Here's. Here's the conundrum, right? Wait, I want to teach people what this is, but how do I do that when it's inherently something so personal? And here's probably the biggest epiphany I had and probably one of the biggest things I want to give to your listeners. I had this epiphany that authenticity, first of all, is not simply being yourself. It's not. It's not synonymous with transparency. It's not walking into work like you would, you know, your friend's pool party. Authenticity is much more. More nuanced, and it's actually something you can actively practice. It's what I like to say. It's about exposing who you are when people least expect it. And so it was when I figured out that it actually could is an active strategy then. So I started to dissect it, not just in me and others. That's when I realized there's a real power. This is something that. If you can. If you can buy into the fact that this isn't a permission, it's actually a power, it's something that you actively choose to do every day. That's the huge difference.

Yeah, No, I think that's so good. I think, you know, it's funny when. When I hear the word authenticity, I think about taking your guard down. Right. And at least for me as a leader, one of the things that took a long time for me to actually shape up for myself was being able to go to my team and say, I don't really have the answer. What are your ideas? Or going to my team and saying, hey, I really messed that up, and I'm. Guys, you know, the buck technically stops with me. I'm sorry I put that. Put you under that undue pressure, you know, help me become a better leader. Another powerful question that I had one time was, how am I failing you as a leader?

Right.

These were things that were starting me, at least personally, on the authentic journey where it became, you know, I didn't share with my team for the first eight or nine years in business that I had never been homeless. Right. Because I had people working for me that had MBAs and CPAs and ABCs and EFGs and, you know, all these different acronyms and Alphabet codes. And I didn't want to. I didn't want to let them know that I was, you know, I had been winging it for 10 years.

Right.

Just like your grit and drive. Right. And, you know, at the end of the story, I've discovered, for me, that authenticity, there's an element of fear that comes with it. Now, I know you've done a ton of work on that, and I want to hit that pretty hard because I feel like people don't step into their authentic self because they're scared of it. Would you. Would you say that that's the same for you?

Yeah. You know, it's funny, when I talk about authentic self, you know, and a lot of what I talk about is in context of all of the. Just the red tape and the rigmarole and the BS that surrounds people, especially in the corporate world. And what I find is there. There isn't a fear so much of being themselves.

It's this fear that there are certain rules that they're supposed to play and they need to play. And the real power comes when they realize nobody else wants the rules either. I was doing a workshop for some executives at Otis Elevator a couple months ago. And one of the women we were talking about one of the elements and she said, last time I did a town hall, I really wanted to do it with stories and more me, more authentic. But at the last minute I thought, no, but that's not what other people want. So I took the opportunity. There was, I don't know, 25 people on the call and I gave them two scenarios. So you go into town hall with Judy Marks, your CEO. Option A is you feel really confident because she's very polished and she has all the right words and she's consistent and you know what to expect. Or option B is she comes in and she tells the story and she's imperfect. And you know, obviously the authentic, you know, raise your hand if you want option A. And no hands raised, raise your hand if you want option B. And we, we have this disillusion that we're special. Like we're the only ones that craving, like less of the, you know, the methodical and more of the messy authentic. And the reality is 99.9% people of people are craving the same thing, but they're caught in this vortex, like this, just this vortex of we've been doing it this way every time. And we've been so taught by quite frankly, leadership consultants and we taught at women's conferences, right. Like to lean in and have more networks and basically how to better play the game that's been played for 40 years. And what I challenge people is how about playing a different game?

Yeah, no, and on top of that, you know, you're a world class speaker, done a fantastic TEDx talk and a lot of other talks that everybody needs to check out for sure. But you know, one of the things that I see in your leadership is you are a very powerfully driven, but yet empathetic, compassionate leader. That's one of the things that I was most gravitated towards you with some of our mutual friends at an event we shared together. And I was like, that needs to be seen more and more and more in the world, in the earth or whatever. Because typically, and maybe you could speak to this a little bit. I know it's one of your passions.

Is this element of diversity in the workplace and walking through things it seems that you were able to master through your authenticity, if you will, becoming an incredibly successful leader, nine figure company, incredibly successful salary that people would only dream of. Right. But yet you chose to walk away from that entire environment where I know people, female leaders, even in my organization that would, you know, that love climbing, right? They love, you know, getting to the next level. Next level, next level. And around me. How, how? In what way? I mean, because that seems like that there's so much identity tied to that climb. Were you able to shake that? And how can the listeners take away from that?

Yeah. So when I first started having the itch to do something else, you know, the company had kind of turned around in that inner. And there was a voice that I had learned through other job changes. And what happened, I had started to understand was that just when things were getting easy, when I, like, one side of my brain was like, just sit back and relax and enjoy it. Like, the other side was like, you're getting lazy. You're not as fired up. And so I had learned that my motivator is being challenged. It's being exponentially challenged. And while I'd love to sit back and it sounds really cheesy and noble, but I think most of your listeners can probably relate to this. I love the thrill of proving myself wrong, proving other people wrong, figuring things out. And so as I started to have. It was really just this itch, like, I need to start, you know, feeding that craving. I went on a business trip and I started talking to this woman. She was about 30 years into her career, had done about 10 in corporate America, and then had left to start her own HR consulting company. And so we're sitting on the plane and I'm asking her just tons of questions, and she's so happy and I'm peppering her. Peppering. And finally I stopped, you know, you know, the free therapy that we probably don't get as much right on the planes anymore. The free, you know, person, they don't know me.

I'll tell.

I'll tell them all.

Would you say?

Yeah.

And so I finally confessed why I was so curious. I said, you know, look, this is what I do today. I'm the CEO of this company, but I'm kind of thinking, I want to do something totally different. And then as soon as it came out of my mouth, Stephen, it was like. It was really probably one of the first times I had said it out loud. I was like, well, that sounds really freaking stupid. And I said to her, I said, but that'd be really stupid right now because my reputation's at an all time high. They're throwing huge next jobs at me. And she just looked at me so succinctly, so matter of factly, and goes, who says this is the top?

Yeah.

As soon as she said that to me, like, the metaphor completely, like, came in front of my face, and I was like, oh, my God, I don't know what that mountain looks like, and I don't know what the hike looks like, and I don't know what the view looks like from the top. And it was just that. That simple reframing of, to your point, the climb we get, right. The hum, as Shonda Rhimes calls it, the home and the climb. And. And the reality is I still have that hum and that climb, but it's defined in a different way. Like, I do need to climb, and my climb is about learning and trying new things and being exponentially crazy. So I think I was really able to kind of replace that addiction that, you know, is easy to fall into with. With a similar but different addiction and. And find that climb elsewhere.

No, I love that. You know, it's funny. I. I guess it's not really as funny as much as it's interesting to me. You're one of those types of leaders that I want my daughter to follow. Like, I. You know, I want her to, you know, to. To be as successful as she wants to be one. I don't. You know, I don't. I want her see her. I don't want to see her tire identity in one way or the other, but I do want her to be her. Right. And, you know, as I was kind of going through a little bit of the book, I quickly understood that it's. There's a lot of. There's just as much tacticality as empowerment inside of you. Do you. Why did you choose to write this book right now? Why did the marketplace need your book this year?

Yeah, yeah. And it's called you'd do you Ish. And I only say that because there's a you do you. And the ish is sort of purposeful. You know, I wrote this book. It's interesting. My business coach, who, you know, because we're part of a similar group who was with me a couple years ago, and it had been percolating, had thoughts, and I talked to her about it, and she said, I think you've got a lot of other stuff going on right now. I think let's hold off. And I did for a couple of months. And then it was like a gremlin trying to crawl out of me. And I always tell people, and they're like, oh, I don't know if I'm writing a book. I'm like, you'll know if it feels like a gremlin trying to crawl out of you, even if you don't know what you're doing, do it. And then, to be honest, the pandemic hit. So I started writing end of March 2020.

It was actually a solace for me because I am. I talk about it in my book. I call myself an instant gratification whore. I know it's like igw, the need for speed. I just don't have patience. So writing a book, there's no room for impatience, right? It takes a long time, no matter what.

Lots of rewrites and everything.

Oh, yeah. And the pandemic also was a thing that was like, we didn't know it then, but, like, it's going to be. It's going to be long. And so that also really helped. It was actually kind of my solace. It said to me, okay, we've got this long, drawn out, sort of semi pause on life, and I've got this gremlin crawling out of me. You know, at the time I started it, the macro relevance hadn't hit me. But I think everybody gets now that, you know, as we went through everything and continue to go through everything we're going through, authenticity just started having to happen, right? Because of the nature of the zoom calls and working from home and juggling the kids. And now we have this great resignation. And obviously there's a lot of talk about people are just like, they're just fed up with facade and the bs and so I'm pretty happy I wrote it because I think the time is now to really focus on it.

Well, I mean, the reality is you only get one life, right? And what is the old adage, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. And at least for me, in the work that I've done, one of the things I see repetitively is people are living lives that don't belong to them. You know, they're. They're. They're living for the expectation of a parent, a loved one, an insecurity, a fear. You know, they're. They're. The reason they're not happy and fulfilled on a consistent basis is, to your point, they are not being authentic. So it's creating all these senses of overwhelm and anxiety and frustration and all these. And all these even sadness, right? And at the end of the day, you want people to discover themselves within the discovery process, right? They understanding that they're constantly growing, constantly maturing, but at the same time, be able to sit in that for just a moment and say, you know what? I really enjoy this I really enjoy the company of these types of people. I really enjoy making an impact in this kind of way. And I can speak for myself. I wasn't able to begin becoming the authentic version of myself until I started doing some of that work. And as a result, what would happen is my little Napoleon stuff, because I'm as driven as you are, right. And as impatient as you are when it comes to stuff, you know, and that drive would press people. Right. And the reason I love the work so much is because the authenticity piece is, I think, one of the most underestimated resources that you have at your disposal to not only become the person you're supposed to be, but more importantly, also be doing the things you're supposed to be doing.

Right. I always tell people, if you have. If you have$10.10 hours to spend on authenticity, I recommend, you know, nine of those hours or dollars you spend towards who is the person you want to be versus who you are. I mean, understanding sort of, you know, obviously where you've come from and what shapes you is important. But what so many people don't realize is that your authentic self actually changes all the time. It's called growth. And you can be, you know, cheesy as is. You can be whoever you want. And so when I talk about this whole authentic self, I'm. I'm almost always talking about the person that you continually want to involve, you know, evolve to be.

Well, you know, and you're right, Past and potential aren't necessarily. They're polar opposites, but they're not mutually exclusive.

Right.

You know, you learn more about yourself by looking back at yourself, but you also learn a ton about yourself by determining where you're headed next. I love that so much. You know, the other thing that I love about what you do is you. Is you shatter stereotypes. Why did you get such a passion about shadowing stereotypes and then bringing in a new. A new level of awareness?

Well, you know, I mean, stereotypes is a box, right? And I hate the box. And, you know, one of the things when I talk about. Specifically about gender and about women.

I feel like the. The myth is that we just need more coaching on how to. To. To do it right, and we're being held down. You know, it's both where we're not doing it right, or a lot of people, I think, now at a place where they're being held down. And I. I firmly believe the biggest problem we have isn't that women are being held down. It's that we're opting down and Meaning, and I say down, not out. This doesn't mean, like, we're leaving the workplace, but I can almost guarantee you that, you know, of your listeners, there are a high percentage of them that say, yeah, I've never really said it, but I haven't gone for a bigger job. You know, my. My big, like, literal, up, down. I was. It was 2015. I was at Payflex, the company that ended up becoming the CEO, and I got a text from my boss on a Friday, and he said, can you talk? Of course. And you're like, I'm just trying to glide into the weekend like, this better not be heavy. And so we get on. And he's like, this is a little heavy for Friday.

Oh, no.

And he said, I've decided to leave the company, and I want to know if it's okay if I recommend you as my replacement as the next CEO. And, Steven, I. So quickly, like, I ran the. I call it the compromise calculation, and I was sort of like, well, I could take it, but I'm making pretty good money already, and I don't have a ton of stress because I'm not leading the operational side. And I was like, no, thank you. And then, you know, a series of conversations. He let me think about it over the weekend. Okay, I'll think about it over the weekend. And what I realized, and I think so many women realized, I thought about, okay, why am I saying no? Is it because I don't think I can do the job? No. Is it because I don't want the job? Well, not really. It was. I was worried about that once, especially, you know, executive. Right? That would really have been my first executive tag. I was worried, I realized, about becoming those people, becoming the people I saw before me. And I call it this sort of club that I was worried about having to enter into and where my ego would grow and my calendar would. And my personality would start to blow. Right? And I didn't want that. Right. And then. And then this is what hit me. And this is another, like, really important, because I keep having this same issue and have to teach myself the same thing. I realized you shouldn't not do something because you hate the way it was done before. Instead, do it your own way. So I finally was like, well, I don't have to, you know, gain a bunch of weight. I don't have to, you know, do things that will make me get divorced. I don't have to all of a sudden write on behalf of Aaron Hatzakasta's email like, I don't have to do it the same way. I've had success so far and it was that moment and I've been through, I've been through it with the book. I mean, I hit like a major wall on the book. And I realized it was like, oh, because I was trying to be, you know, write like Glennon Doyle or write like a certain thing. And then, and finally I was like, that's hypocritical. And then even I'm, I'm recording my audiobook right now, same thing. And I'm like, but I hate it. And then I was like, do it your own frickin way. So, you know, I think so many women run this compromise calculation and they don't, rightfully so. They don't want to, they don't want to sacrifice. But what I try to teach is if you adopt authenticity as your strategy, if you say I'm going to play a different game, that's going to get probably even better results. I'm going to buck the norm a little bit. People are going to think I'm a little weird. My boss may not be impressed with me at first. They eventually will because you'll get results and that's all they care about. If you do that, if you have this mindset that, that climbing the ladder and taking on that next job doesn't mean more work. It doesn't mean you become somebody you're not. It doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your health and your family and you're going to do it in a way that is good for you, which is going to inspire. And guess who's going to want to work for you? Every freaking person that wants that for themselves as well. If you can change that mindset that it isn't a zero sum game. That's how I think we make a dent in diversity issues with not just women, people of color, everybody. That's just like, I don't want to be that person.

Yeah, no, I love it. You know, it's, it's funny. It's. Again, it's not funny. It's just, it's to me, it's interesting. It's thought provoking is this ability to turn it on with, at a micro level. So to be, to be self aware enough, you're like, wait a minute, what am I doing? I'm limiting myself, right? I'm, I'm. And to go through that calculation to kind of like position yourself in such a way to allow yourself to step into that because that stepping into that role turned out to be very Beneficial for you for a long term. And, you know, it helped the team, helped the company, helped everybody. Right, let's talk, let's talk a little bit about to the young lady right now who's maybe she's at a moderate level piece in her career. She's trying to determine how to go after the next level for herself. Maybe she's bumped into some, some diversity issues in the past or not knowing or not really able to put that her best foot forward. Based on what we just talked about. How do we coach her towards the next level without her feeling like she's taking a guttural hit?

Yeah, I have, I have two.

I have two suggestions and sort of roles that just seem to always bubble to the top that I would love to give to her. The first is finding your next job is like buying a house. It's all about location, location, location. And if you think about it, with buying a house, especially our first one, right, what do we get caught up in? We get caught up in, I want the kitchen to look Pinterest, you know, TikTok ready, and I want it all to be beautiful. And then we're like, oh, but it's, you know, 45 miles from work and it's on a busy road. And then we're unhappy. Right, because we can't change that. But instead, the smart thing is find the good neighbor close to work and then remodel your way into it. And it's really no different in the workplace. I mean, some of my. When I joined Payflex, which I ended up becoming the CEO of, I went from a team of 40 some people that I led down to a team of zero reporting to me. But I knew it was an industry that was growing. I knew there was going to be some leadership turnover. It was an acquisition. So, you know, the entrepreneurs tend to like, you know, they don't want to be part of the big machine.

And I knew that I could. And this had happened. I had this playbook back when I was in international and sort of risen. And if you can set aside the ego, right. Especially we're worried about what are our friends and colleagues going to think, like, how many people are reporting to me or what's the job title or what's the money if you can set aside, I mean, that's everything with authenticity. If you can set aside your ego for a second, for a hot second, for the greater good, the longer term, and you can find a place that has a good culture, that has a leader that you. That would believe in you, that Promotes from within, you know, find out, like, how many of the top people you know, sort of rose from the ranks. If you can find essentially that house that you can remodel, then. And you'll be surprised how quickly you can do the remodeling, get promoted. So that's, that's rule number one, you know, set aside trying to find. Because the chances that you're going to find the exact job at the level and all that, right when you're looking and it's going to be open and they're going to be willing to look at you, it's pretty low. But if you can get in somewhere, if you can kick butt, if you can, you know, really impress people, do more than you're supposed to do. Like, they're going to promote you like crazy. So that's rule number one. The second rule I always have, I call the 50% rule. And 50% rule is like my salt and pepper. I use this rule on everything. It's probably the title of my next book. But in this context, what it means is every assignment or new job you take on has to make you 50% uncomfortable if you truly want to grow. If you're not that person that's like, I'm just good. Doing the same thing for 30 years. You have to be 50% uncomfortable. Which, the good news is 50% of it, it's a skill set, you know, or maybe it's a product, you know, but half of it, you're like, I don't know how I'm going to figure that out. And in order to get those jobs, you know, a lot of that doesn't come through the HR sausage factory process. That comes through network networking and having good relationships and connections so that they see something in you. But I have this with so many of my coaching clients who they want to rise, but then the next job they're taking sort of fits in the same box. And I'm like, that's not going to get you where you want to do. So 50% rule is my second, second piece of advice I'd give to them.

I think that's fantastic advice, I can say as an employer, right? So I employ a few hundred folks and I'm always looking for the person who is getting it done because it's the right thing, just to get it done, right. I've got several people in my, at the operation operational level of leadership and even the executive level of leadership that technically on paper didn't qualify, but because they were gritty, tenacious, and very, very, very Quick learners. As an. As a, you know, owner, operator myself, I was like, yeah, you get the spot. And every time I do that, every single time I do that, they kick butt. They struggle for the first six or eight months to kind of find their footing, get some confidence, get some wins under their belt. But after that six or eight months, they're in it and they're winning. And you can't just. You can only help, like, be crazy proud of them, you know, in general. Like, it's just. It's an awesome thing to watch. For sure.

Yep.

Well, look, I want to talk about the. Because podcast, right? So what made you decide to start a podcast and kind of, who's it for? And why should everybody listen? Because I. Again, guys, if you guys haven't figured this out, I'm a big supporter of Erin. You guys need to be following her work, her books. You need to have your wives, girlfriends, daughters, all of that. You need to be following yourself. You guys need to check her work out. That's why I want to talk about it.

Oh, thank you. Yeah. Because. So it's funny, you know, I actually kind of dreamed up the podcast before I really even knew what I was doing with the Authentic Inc. My company. And it was a couple of things converged. One, you know, I'm a big podcast listener, and I was starting to see this trend. I don't like normal, right. So I kind of got sick of always the same format and the interviews and start to see the trend with, you know, people like my favorite murderer, the two, you know, two chicks that talk about real crime. And you started to see I'm on so hard.

Who.

I didn't have a podcast yet, but they were doing a lot of YouTube, right? Two friends kind of making fun of motherhood. And I thought two things. I thought, first, there's so many things making fun of motherhood. Nobody's really kind of being light and making fun of, quite frankly, the workplace. And there's just as much, if not more material in the workplace and probably why they're more scared of. Right. The repercussion. Like, it's like, you have to be a little bolder, right? So that was number one. I kind of looked at the trends and. And then I. My. My co host, Nicole, has been. She's been a friend of mine for over 20 years, and whenever we get together, you know, we are just this crazy. So she graduated from Yale, Johns Hopkins, Masters. I'm not, you know, as smart as her, but, you know, I've got a couple degrees and can hang. And our conversations always kind of go quickly between like super deep intellectual topics. And next thing you know, we're talking about like the dumbest shit you've ever heard. And I thought, gosh, if people are really enjoying listening to people make fun of motherhood or talking about true crime, what if Nicole and I sort of exposed ourselves not just for humor, but also for intellect, right? And to power them forward and then also to demonstrate authenticity, right? Not to just talk about it, but to demonstrate it. So, yeah, I sent her, she always jokes about, I sent her this email kind of proposing to her. She goes, aaron doesn't write long emails. This was the longest email. It was like buried at the bottom of an email.

And so we just, you know, I went down to her house in October three years ago, whipped out my iPhone, didn't tell her I was going to do it. And that's episode one. And now next week we'll release episode 125. And so it's a combination. We do do interviews. So we interview people that are really authentic, especially in sort of leadership space. And then every other episode, roughly is Nicole and I telling stories. I mean, she's, as she, she, she said last week and it hit me, she goes, because we're trying to like focus the topics a little more. And she goes, I feel like though I'm a little bit like Robin Williams, I'm like, oh my God, you are so she, she's hard to contain, but she's absolutely hysterical. Her stories, her life is like, you can't make this stuff up. And she's still in the workplace, so there's a lot of fodder that she, there's a lot of vulnerability she brings to it too. So we, I coach her, we have, we have a topic week with a little bite sized sort of career advice, how to think about things. But we also, we also expose kind of our, our crazy selves and our crazy stories as well.

I love it. I. So it's like entertainment meets tactical, practical and throughout the game.

And it's, you know, it's funny. It's, you know, it's a classic example of something we believe so heavily in, yet it so goes against the grain of what, you know, they tell you is the formula for success for podcasts. But we, and so we're trying to shape it a tiny bit. But we're like, you know what?

Be authentic.

Be authentic. And if nothing else, it's great, it's great therapy for both of us. And you know, if anybody wants to listen in Great. But it's funny, we, you know, we're still growing it, obviously, always, but we have some people that came out of the woodwork about six months ago on some post, and we. And they were like, three or four people that had listened to every episode, and I was like, what? I've never listened to every episode of even my favorite podcast. So there's definitely an arc to it and a storyline that's. That's kind of fun for. For the right people.

That's awesome. I mean, what better feedback can you get than people are listening and checking everything out? That's awesome. You know, you had this. I'm going to. I'm going to butcher the quote, but it was. It's. It's stuck with me since I read it. I love the light at the end of the tunnel, but I'd like to light it on fire.

Yeah, I'd like you to light that shit on fire is what I said.

Yeah.

So.

All right, so, like, walk me through that, because I like punchy. Yeah, that's pretty punctual.

Yeah, I think that was just, you know, something had written where. Towards the end of the book. Right. It's the final, like, okay, you're doing this not just for yourself. You're doing it for the greater good. And, you know, I. I know that a lot of people that are reading my book are, you know, fed up, let down, burnt out, and so I'm trying to give them this light at the end of the tunnel. Right. A different game, a different way to approach the working world. But I don't want them to just see the light. I wanted to light it on fire. I want them to just do crazy, amazing things, and that's how we get them. Do you.

Ish. On fire.

On fire.

I dig it. I dig it. Well, look, I've enjoyed our time. I love hanging out with you, as always. You always teach me so much. I always learn so much spending time with you. I am curious, what's your definition of stuck?

Definition of stuck for me is looking at something that you know you need to do and not wanting to do it because you don't like how others have done it before you. Which is my stock. The stuck that I get in often is when I feel like, you know, I sort of realize when I feel like I should do something, I lose my mind. And so, you know, my best unstuck, which is the most important is really to get back to that, you know, you shouldn't not do something because you hate the way it was done before. Do it your own way. And so, you know, don't look at the should. You know, another one of my 50. 50% rule is, okay, if you don't like the way it was done before 50%, it take 50% of what somebody's telling you have to do or you think you have to do, and then leave the other half and make it your own. Curate your own thing. That's how we innovate. That's how we grow. That's how we come up with new ideas. And to me, that's how we get unstuck.

All right, so what's the definition of unstoppable?

Unstoppable. I think unstoppable is.

When you. You have this vision of something that nobody else really can see. Maybe they see pieces of it, and you've decided that no matter how weird people look at you, no matter what your financial situation looks like, talking about, you know, I'm an entrepreneur in year three, right? So I'm just starting to like, oh, profitability is a wonderful thing, especially coming.

From a massive salary.

I mean, people always like, you're doing so amazing. I'm like, yes, and you should see the bar graph of my income. But it's unstoppable is when you fight through all of that. You fight through the shoulds, you fight through the urges to pull back and do because you have such a clear mission. And for me, sometimes that fuel is. Is I want to make the working world better, but for me, it's also what ticks you off. And it makes me so angry to see still all of the.

Crap in the working world. So that, for me, is my fuel. Because before I thought, well, that's just the way it is. But once I had the results, once I tripled earnings and turned that company around and did it without the. It was like, then there's no reason we all should be doing that. So that's my idea of unstoppable. You push through all that junk because you know that we need and you can make things better.

No boundaries, no limits.

Exactly.

No boundaries, no limits. Curious to know where can everybody find you? And find out more about the book, podcast, all of it.

Yeah. I mean, the best thing is to go to my website. It's be authenticinc.com. it's just the letter B. Authentic inc.com and it's got. It's a hub for everything. You'll find my. My socials are mostly on LinkedIn and Instagram, but you can find everything else there.

Rock on. Well, I can't thank you enough for spending some time with me. And I can't wait to do it again. It's gonna be amazing.

Yeah. And, Steven, thank you for inspiring all of us. I mean, your story, what you do, your heart, it's out of this world. And so know that I'm so inspired by you and just. Yeah, keep being unstoppable. Thank you. Thank you for including me in your journey.

Thank you so much. I don't even know what to say. You can stun me. I'm not used to getting affirmation, so thank you. Well, awesome. I can't wait to see you again. Take care.

Bye. Bye.

If you love that interview, go ahead and check out this next one right here. But the big secret for any early stage father is you pass on who you are more than what you know.