In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Josiah Miller, owner of Free Life Boutique and author. Miller shares a formative story from his early career as a Raleigh police officer, emphasizing perseverance as a core life lesson. He discusses his perspective on the online retail industry, arguing that innovation outweighs replication for standing out in a rapidly changing market. Miller offers broad business advice, urging entrepreneurs to break conventional rules, stay authentic, and pursue self‑education. He reflects on personal growth, advising his younger self not to ignore God‑given talents and to value freedom over monetary pursuit. Miller highlights the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller, extracting the principle that story serves as a blueprint for life, business, and relationships. He shares his favorite quote—often misattributed to Mark Twain—about regret over inaction, framing it as his personal mantra encouraging exploration and innovation. Finally, he provides his online platforms: freelifeboutique.com, his Twitter @jamillerauthor, and his writing at Serialteller.com under the title "The Paths We Take."
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Josiah Miller with us. He's the owner of Free Life Boutique and a writer. He and his wife help women feel more confident by providing them with fashion-forward clothing without sacrificing comfort. So welcome to the show, man.
Thanks, Tyler, appreciate you having me.
Of course, appreciate you coming on. We'll dive into the first one, man. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So the best story from my life, I would go back to basically where I started my professional life. A month out of college, I joined the Raleigh Police Department in North Carolina as a police officer. You know, and the story there really is perseverance, the message behind that, because there's so many times so many days that during the, especially initial training process in the academy and in the field training process, I just wanted to quit. There were times when I was one failed test or, or away from basically being forced to be done anyway. And it was just, you know, so what got me through is just perseverance. And then what my dad used to say was perseverance is the steady drip that wears the hole in the rock. And that just always has resonated with me. So that was That's kind of what, you know, I believe that, you know, just, just keep on moving, you know, don't stop persevering. I think it's the best lesson that I learned from that. And that has, you know, molded me into the person I am today and helped me through all these career transitions and, you know, where I've— my progression so far. So I think it's a very valuable lesson. I think it's a very simple lesson, but it's not easy.
Yes. And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So within the online retail industry in particular, and I believe it carries over to most industries in today's society, it's— I think it's more important to innovate rather than replicate. So there's a lot of people doing the same things and the same things, and to stand out, I really think there has to be an element of of innovation there. In online retail, retail in general is changing rapidly. I mean, you see stories in the news every day about businesses shutting down. I mean, a big one recently was Toys R Us going under. So it really, there's, you got to have that innovation, you got to keep ahead of the curve. You have to be ready to handle the dynamic environment. And sometimes the playbook that you have doesn't always work. So you have to you have to make new claims. So I think that's the biggest thing in my industry especially is to find ways to stand out and do new things.
Yes. And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
So my best piece of overall business advice is don't play by all the rules. Sometimes it isn't as easy as doing the same thing that works for someone else. You got to be true to yourself. Everybody's different. People can give you advice, but you are your own person, and sometimes what works for them is not going to work for you. And clients and customers, they want you to be genuine, so they need to see you and the way you do things, and it has to resonate with them. So I think that going along with that, you need to self-educate. Don't expect the company or organization that you work for to provide you with every tool that you need. Good companies provide a lot of tools, but Nothing can beat the intrinsic value of just human curiosity and wanting to, you know, learn new things and learn how to better yourself or do things better, especially if you're trying to master a skill.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Don't ignore your God-given talents. You know, in today's world, You can find a way to make a living doing most anything, especially with online and just the different avenues out there of either in sales or your own being an entrepreneur. So I think if you explore your talents and discover what you really enjoy, what you're good at, what you're put here on this earth to do, and then you try to master those skills, I think one of the biggest things that I used to focus on and what I think the education system has taught us or used to teach us was, hey, what job pays the most? You need to go after that so that way you can, you know, you can have the American dream or the, you know, it used to be the American dream. And I think that's a bad piece of advice because there's obviously different ways of making money. So I would, I wish I would have someone tell me younger, when I was younger that, you know, you are worth more than the money that you make. Yeah.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Freedom. Not in the sense that you just do whatever you want to, but freedom to— freedom to make your choices, but to make the right choices and do the right thing for people with that freedom. You know, make time with the freedom that you have, make the time for hobbies and family and your childhood passions. Don't let other people's expectations of you keep you from being the person God designed you to be. You have to, I think that freedom is, freedom comes with a price as our country knows, but I think that is a key, a huge key to your happiness.
[Speaker] And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Well, I read a lot, but the best book recently for business and also for writing is called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and that's by a man called Donald Miller. The number one thing that I learned is that story is the basic blueprint for life, business, relationships. In really great stories, there are conflicts. There's— you have to— and then you have to overcome those conflicts. And there's what they call character arcs. You know, characters change. They start at one point and then hopefully, if it's a positive character arc, you get better at the end. And that's sort of, you know, when you go through your life, you're— these conflicts and these things that come up, they're headaches and they're sometimes nightmares. A lot of things you can't control, but how you respond to them and that story that you create, that inspires others and it shows others makes you who you are. And the result of that is just going through these lives and these conflicts and you're overcoming them and persevering results a great story.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is, 20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones that you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails, explore, dream, discover. Now, this is credited to Mark Twain, but they're not really sure it's from Mark Twain. But this quote is me. It's my mantra. It's what I believe down to my core. I, you know, I really believe, you know, things I've talked about today about innovation doing things is that you, you have to dream and discover and explore and try to, try to always be seeking out, you know, new things and things that'll keep, keep life interesting.
I love it, man. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where is the best place for people to find you online?
Okay, well, for my business, our business is freelifeboutique.com. And then for my writing, you can follow me on Twitter @jamillerauthor. And I also write for an online publisher, Serialteller, at serialteller.com. And the title is The Paths We Take.
Perfect, man. Thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it.
Thanks, Tyler. Appreciate you.
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