986: Creating TRUST, inspiring people, and creating people-centric EXPERIENCES w/ Ryan Long

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian Lofermento, and I am so very excited to welcome today's guest, because this is someone who not only has seen so many cool and fun projects at all different sizes and stages of businesses, he's also one of us.

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He's a fellow entrepreneur himself and he's someone who really deeply believes in the power of entrepreneurship to move the world forward, and he does it in a way that really leverages his very incredible skillset.

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This is someone who's so creative and so heart-centered You're going to hear it a lot in the way he talks about his business and the work that he does.

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So let me tell you all about today's guest.

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His name is Ryan Long.

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Ryan is the chief product officer and co-founder of On Purpose Studio, a digital creative studio dedicated to supporting inspired people and transforming great ideas into lovable, people-centric digital solutions.

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I love the way that their language even shows up in the world in service of others.

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Most recently, ryan worked at Nike in tech, innovation and strategic planning, where he managed multiple hundred million dollar and more businesses and helped lead Nike's digital transformation through the creation of digital solutions that allowed Nike to better serve consumers by getting the right product to the right place at the right time, a mission that I think we should all get on board with in our own businesses.

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Ryan has a deep connection to entrepreneurship and small business.

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He serves as a mentor to multiple startup accelerators and is a multiple time founder.

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Notably in 2016, he founded an e-commerce brand that paired a personalized shopping experience with athletic wear, and also served as COO of a regional specialty retailer.

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This is someone who, like I said, has seen big businesses, small businesses, but in his heart, he believes that businesses make a positive impact, and we are all going to learn from him here today, so I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Ryan Long.

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All right, ryan, I'm so excited and grateful that you're here with us today.

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First things first, welcome to the show ryan, thank you.

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You're excited.

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I'm excited to be here with you heck.

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Yeah, I so appreciate that, but, ryan, I'll say I'm probably more excited because once I landed on your website as someone who I've never taken pride in any of my websites I think your work is so cool.

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We're gonna going to talk all about your business, but before we get there, take us beyond the bio.

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Who's Ryan?

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How'd you start doing all these amazing things?

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Yeah, who am I?

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I can't think of a harder question to answer.

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I know it's just an intro, but that's a really tough question and one I've struggled with a lot over my career.

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Who I am, I think always centered around what I did or who I worked for, and it wasn't until more recently that I realized that's not who I am.

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I'm an adoring husband.

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I'm a great teammate.

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I've newly discovered that I'm a dog person.

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I'm really into running and track and field, so that that shows up in my life a lot, and I try to be endlessly supportive to the people around me.

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And, as I say that, that sounds a lot like being an enabler, so maybe we'll revisit that one later.

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But, I'm always on the pursuit of new challenges, trying to learn new things, and that's led my wife and I to move across the country a few times and live in different cities.

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We call Philadelphia home now.

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That's been home for her for a long time, but it's both of ours homes now.

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And how did I get here?

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It's been a windy road, and that's a common thread that I hear among your guests, brian, to have an unorthodox path to entrepreneurship.

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Mine's no different.

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I got kicked out of college the first time around and that was devastating.

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That was so embarrassing for me for a long time.

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It took years to get past that.

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I'm smart, I'm capable.

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School's actually pretty easy for me, but I utterly failed.

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School was actually pretty easy for me, but I utterly failed, and that left me with a big chip on my shoulder and it took me a while to realize that that didn't define success for me.

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It was exactly what I needed in that time and I gained a ton of life experience from those learning mistakes.

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And when I went back to school a handful of years later, I had to earn it the hard way, so working full time, I had a lot of bills to pay, going to school full time, and so I really had to earn it.

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I was finishing up my undergrad and I'd been accepted to a doctoral program with the plan of becoming a physical therapist for endurance athletes.

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I was working for a small to medium-sized business that was going through a transition period.

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They were an established company and widely recognized as a leader in their industry.

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But a few key people had moved on from the company and I was asked to step into a leadership role.

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That made me rethink my career path, move off of that physical therapy track that I had in my head.

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But all of a sudden I found myself in my late 20s as the COO of a company of about 100 people with a very flat work chart, which meant I was overseeing nearly every person in the company and any critical decision that needed to be made.

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And this was how my first professional experience in small business and entrepreneurship came to be, and I learned so much there about what it took to be successful in that kind of environment.

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There was a relentless pursuit of trying to improve the business.

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Our foot was always on the gas and the work weeks were grueling.

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There was a relentless pursuit of trying to improve the business.

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Our foot was always on the gas and the work weeks were grueling.

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That's the polished version.

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In reality, that was chaotic, it was taxing and it wasn't an environment to thrive in.

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Brian, the business and industry was in a transition and trying to find its identity and it was going through a little bit of a downturn when I took over.

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So my cash was tight.

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It's no longer abundant and, being young and naive new in my career I just took on more and more responsibility.

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The GM of the company left to support an ailing family member and we didn't have a candidate in the wing, so I took on that role as interim GM, in addition to my COO responsibilities and you know another cost cutting measure I absorbed another key members role.

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These were things I knew I could do extremely well and I knew that me at 50% was better than any other option we had and it was going to let us trim overhead and it was so short-sighted.

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It of course, broke me that workload wasn't sustainable, I didn't have the space to do my best work or process problems in the right way and I think, more importantly, it took away the opportunity for others to learn and grow in those responsibilities.

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More importantly, it took away the opportunity for others to learn and grow in those responsibilities.

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So it taught me how to prioritize and simplify, because I couldn't do everything that was asked of me.

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I had to quickly identify what were the highest priority things to get after, or what could wait, or maybe what didn't even need to be done at all A lot like getting kicked out of college.

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That was an experience I needed to have because of how much I grew from it.

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Yeah, I love that overview, Ryan, especially because I'll tell you what.

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Obviously, I ask this question at the top of every episode and when I ask who is Ryan in this case and how did you get here?

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Not everyone starts with truly the root of the question, which is the who, and I think it's so revealing in the way that you think, because much of your work focuses gosh.

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When people see your website, they could focus on the technology, they can focus on the design, but it seems to me from the outside, looking in, that you love the who, Ryan, and so much of what you do is about the who, and that's why I love how those words I'm going to use these words together a lot because I love how much it shows up in your marketing and your copy, which is lovable people-centric experiences, Ryan.

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It's easy to look at your experiences at Nike and these other companies and your entrepreneurial ventures and think that it's all about the tech and the design.

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Why experiences?

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Why does that elevate above all else in the way that you talk about the work that you do?

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What a good question, Brian.

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Why experiences?

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I think at the root, it's because we are a tech company.

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We design and we develop digital solutions right, but the tech is somewhat subsidiary to creating something that is going to truly resonate with the person that's using it.

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It's an experience, whether it be an app that's still on your phone or a SaaS platform that you're using at work.

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It's an experience.

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How you interact with it and how it impacts your day-to-day is way more than a tech solution.

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Yeah Well, let me ask you this then, because this is a question that I'm 16 years into my entrepreneurial journey, which still sounds crazy when I say that number out loud, I still view myself as young-ish.

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I'm in my mid-30s now, but with that throughout the entire 16 years, one question that I've dreaded, ryan, and I'm so excited to hear your answer to it, is when people ask me what do you do?

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It's a question that here in the United States, everyone is taught to ask, that we hear adults asking that when we're kids, we, as adults, at networking events, everyone always says oh, what's your name?

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What do you do?

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It's a question I've been uncomfortable with, for some of the reasons that you've already alluded to, is that what I do is a small fraction of who I am and how I spend my time, and I'd love to hear your answer to that, because you don't have to answer what it is that you do.

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But I'd love to hear how you play around within your head knowing that you have these diverse experiences and passions and skills.

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How do you boil that down into fleshing out what we're all pressured as entrepreneurs to have, these tight, cohesive messages?

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How do you play with that in your own mind?

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Wow.

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The first thing that comes to mind is actually a ridiculous answer.

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About a year ago, I was chatting through this new business venture idea with a longtime friend actually a roommate from college, someone that I know as well as I know myself and he was trying to get me to think about that exact question what do I do?

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What do I offer the people that I work with?

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And being that he was a close friend, I gave him this answer that was like tongue in cheek.

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I said I give people courage, that's what I do, that's my job and that's my superpower, and he has ridiculed me for that ever since.

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Whenever we hop on a call, he asked me do you giving anybody courage today, Ryan and it was meant as a joke at the time, but in a lot of ways, that is what I do.

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I set my team up for success.

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I help them do work that they didn't think they were capable of.

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I'm there to back them up if things don't go as planned, and the same goes with our clients that we work with.

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I give them the courage to take a chance to put that big idea into implementation and see what happens.

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Yeah, I really love that answer, ryan.

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I appreciate that role that you play for so many people around you.

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I want to go deeper there because obviously part of what On Purpose stands for as a studio is also supporting inspired people and transforming great ideas into those lovable people-centric experiences.

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Again, here we come back to the who behind it.

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Supporting inspired people.

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You're talking about giving people courage.

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What are some of those ways that we support them?

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I'm very easily excitable and obviously excitement is contagious to an extent.

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Obviously, scientists have done studies.

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Obesity, for example, is also contagious.

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Good things and bad things both are contagious.

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How do you instill that courage and this inspiration in the people around you?

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How I do that, brian, is by building trust with them.

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That's how you build an effective team.

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That's how you allow people to be themselves.

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And that changed for me, I think in that transition from small business leader to when I went to Nike and it was too big for any one person to drive change and I needed to collaborate and trust in teammates.

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And in the past, where I would have been quick to move someone to a new position or replace them because I saw an opportunity to improve, that's not how it works in the corporate world and it's very difficult to get asked to leave a role.

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So there's so much more value in coaching instead of replacing, and that really shifted my mindset.

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I'm a lifelong learner.

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I'm always trying to think about how I can improve myself, and early on in leadership roles, I was always thinking of my teammates, of my business, of the people around me.

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Sure, but I wasn't putting them first.

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And late in my career at Nike, I was working on a very large project with a team of incredibly talented people and I realized how I could actually have the biggest impact was by setting them up for success.

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So you get to know them, know what their strengths are, know what gets them excited, what motivates them, and less about the role and the responsibilities that they have day to day, but what gets them really excited.

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To go above and beyond and as you get to understand people more, you realize how to put them in a position to be successful.

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Maybe it's not the exact role or responsibility they were assigned.

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Maybe there's a way you can move them into a different opportunity and let them coach or lead someone else.

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Just understanding what makes them great and it actually made me much better at my job as a product manager you have to get to know the end user of whatever you're building.

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The better you know them, the better you can build something that meets their needs, that resonates with them, and by figuring out how to understand the people around me, I put that into practice every day.

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Yeah, Hearing you talk about that, it's really clear to me not only how much you care, but maybe even more importantly than caring, because caring is one thing, but if you don't do anything about it it doesn't positively impact others.

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It sounds to me like you also take the time and you invest in others, and that's something that stands out.

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So much about your career arc, which leads me to ask you this, Ryan so many of your answers, whether we're talking about client facing work or your own team, comes back to understanding people, having that human element of it.

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Obviously, this is a big theme in today's episode.

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What are some of your favorite questions to ask?

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Because I feel like you and I are throwing a little bit of shade at the traditional questions that we ask, at least here in the United States, such as what do you do for a living?

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What are some of your favorite questions to peel back those layers and truly understand the humans involved?

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Yeah, in an interview process or when I'm trying to get to know someone new in a work environment, something I always ask is like what are you working on right now that you're excited about, and tell me more about that?

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And when someone's talking about something they're passionate about, they light up, they open up, they're excited to share with you what they're working on.

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And it's less about this prepared ideal answer and more about who they are authentically.

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You get a real glimpse at who they are and questions.

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Sure, you're going to uncover a lot, but this thing I've realized is it's as much about me being open and vulnerable with them.

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So the more I can extend that first olive branch, expose something about myself, put myself out there and be vulnerable, the more likely they're going to be comfortable doing the same.

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Yeah, it's a powerful insight and also I love the way you answered that.

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It was almost a little bit of a trick question, because for me, my favorite question is actually not even a question and it's simply tell me more.

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Because, you're right, people know what they're excited about and we just get to tap into that and really allow them the chance to talk about the things that light them up.

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That's what excites me the most in conversation.

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I'm obviously an extreme extrovert, so talking to people and really seeing what's inside of them is the exciting stuff for me, so I really appreciate those insights.

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Ryan, I want to ask you because obviously with On Purpose, a lot of your work also uses real life user data, customer data You've also done it at Nike, I'm sure is going into that what are the types of things that you're looking at?

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Because I think of the Henry Ford quote where he once said if I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse, whereas obviously he had that recognition to say, okay, I understand my customers at a core level.

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Let's invent the car.

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You know, no small feat there.

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Ryan, what are some of those data points or insights that you look for to glean from and use in the work and the experiences and the products that you deliver.

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Such a good quote, brian, and that hits the nail on the head.

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We're not building what our customers ask us to build.

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We're solving problems for them in a way that they didn't even think to ask for.

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And so when we're looking at the quantitative data usage in a product, we're looking to see where are people gravitating, what's being used, of course, but we're also looking to see what's not being used.

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What feature in this app is actually not adding value, or what are they returning to multiple times and is highlighting?

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There's probably an issue in this workflow and it's not intuitive to the user what to do next.

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So we need to strip things out, make it more obvious where their value is gonna come from in using this product, and whenever we spot something in usage data within an app, the next step is to validate that by talking to actual users.

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You learn so much by asking exactly what you do.

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You ask why?

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Why did you take this action?

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What were you hoping to gain?

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What were you trying to solve?

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And it shed so much more light on what you need to build than just the hard data itself.

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Yeah, so important Again, this human element.

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Ryan, I feel like that's probably why your work resonates so much with me is because you have that genuine curiosity on the human level, and it's easy for us in a data world.

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And AI has actually only given even more strongly of a false illusion that AI and technology has the answers, but ultimately it's always going to be the people that have the answers, and that's such an important takeaway for all of us which, speaking of that, I want to ask you about.

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You know I can talk about AI, but one other place that people like to talk is large enterprises.

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We're talking about some of your experiences from Nike, which Nike is a multi-billion dollar corporation.

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They've got resources galore to act on all of these things.

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You've worked at that level, but you've also worked at the small business level, ryan.

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What are some of those differences, or I'm sure you also have some insightful similarities as well.

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I'm curious your perspective change on the different size and scope of what's possible at different organizations?

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yeah, yeah, there there is a ton of overlap, and I feel so fortunate that I had the small business and entrepreneurial experience before I went to a large company like Nike.

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Nike is filled with talented people, who they're type A and who they want to win, but it's massive and what becomes very apparent at the larger the company gets, the more people are afraid to make decisions and own them.

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They become afraid to take risks, and it's because you're making a decision that is going to impact hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.

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But my experience in small business I think the decisions there carry so much more weight.

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You're talking about someone's mortgage.

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You're talking about making a decision that could impact whether or not their kid can go to college or get braces.

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Those are truly impactful decisions, and so, having that experience, I came into this corporate environment where I didn't have a fear of being wrong.

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I knew what it meant to have high stakes, and so I wasn't paralyzed by making the wrong choice.

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Some actively avoid making decisions because that way they can't be wrong, but how that showed up, I think, is one that comes to mind.

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We had an extremely big product launch.

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It was in danger of missing the targeted go-live.

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We'd been working on this for six to eight months and a handful of teams all dedicated to this one initiative.

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Right a week before the go-live date, we had this insurmountable hurdle thrown our way.

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We couldn't have seen coming, and that meant that we were going to be in endless meetings to discuss why we got to this point and no one was willing to put their foot in the ground and move forward.

00:22:09.727 --> 00:22:14.250
And that was a pivotal point for our team and and how we moved past that was.

00:22:14.250 --> 00:22:17.881
I just asked what's the worst thing that can happen?

00:22:17.881 --> 00:22:19.705
Let's talk through that.

00:22:19.705 --> 00:22:25.999
What do we think is the worst possible outcome if we miss this, this go live date?

00:22:25.999 --> 00:22:35.160
And once we started talking about that, everyone it took the pressure off of being perfect, of doing everything we set out to do.

00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:43.038
We were able to be creative and think critically about how do we pivot with the new information we have.

00:22:43.038 --> 00:22:47.035
Actually, we ended up hitting that go-live date.

00:22:47.035 --> 00:22:50.593
It was something the team rallied around.

00:22:50.593 --> 00:22:54.695
After that, that became our championing point.

00:22:54.695 --> 00:23:00.891
We faced it many other times and each time we knew all right, this is something we can handle and we can move through it.

00:23:01.926 --> 00:23:06.073
Yeah, ryan, even that story just shows how grounded your approach is.

00:23:06.073 --> 00:23:12.969
And that question that you just shared what's the worst that could happen is something that it's easy for us to be in the thick of things.

00:23:12.969 --> 00:23:15.575
I've always loved that concept of this too shall pass.

00:23:15.575 --> 00:23:22.873
I remind myself of that in the good moments, I remind myself of that in the bad moments, and I want to ask you where that groundedness comes from.

00:23:22.873 --> 00:23:33.528
I know a lot of people when they tune into these podcast episodes they think, oh, everyone's so polished and, ryan, you've made it, and I know that we're all on this long journey in our own rights as well as together.

00:23:33.528 --> 00:23:35.093
So where does that come from?

00:23:35.093 --> 00:23:36.436
Is it something from childhood?

00:23:36.436 --> 00:23:38.609
Your parents' experiences sports?

00:23:38.609 --> 00:23:41.396
I'd love to hear more about that grounded approach that you have.

00:23:44.506 --> 00:23:44.987
I don't know that.

00:23:44.987 --> 00:23:46.731
I have an answer for that, brian.

00:23:46.731 --> 00:23:56.519
Maybe it's my parents, maybe it's Maybe it's my parents, maybe it's my experiences growing up.

00:23:56.519 --> 00:24:03.262
I know that I put a lot of pressure on myself early in my career as I was trying to make up ground because I flunked out of college.

00:24:03.262 --> 00:24:16.077
I felt like it was behind everyone, and so I needed to catch up, and every action became magnified and at some point I realized these actions are not actually magnified.

00:24:16.077 --> 00:24:25.336
It's got a long life to live and we're all going to get to where we need to get to, and I think I had many failures along the way.

00:24:25.336 --> 00:24:31.577
Each one lets you realize I can actually make it through this.

00:24:31.577 --> 00:24:34.487
It doesn't matter how difficult things become.

00:24:34.487 --> 00:24:38.442
I know I've made it out the other side, so why would this be any different?

00:24:38.442 --> 00:24:40.047
I have confidence in myself.

00:24:40.047 --> 00:24:49.152
I'm betting on myself to pick myself up and come back stronger, so I think that's where the groundedness comes from.

00:24:49.512 --> 00:25:21.955
I read a lot of hippie books too, so that might be it I was gonna say I'm a big fan of stoicism and it just sounds like so much of your mindset is also rooted in a lot of stoic principles, which I think let's face it it's guidance from philosophers long before us and long wiser than a lot of us, and so I think it's powerful to gain that perspective, because we obviously see the world through our own eyes, but having that external perspective can put a lot of things into again perspective for all of us, on an individual and a collective basis.

00:25:21.955 --> 00:25:24.107
So I do appreciate those insights.

00:25:24.107 --> 00:25:27.987
Ryan, I want to ask you this question because this is not your first rodeo On.

00:25:27.987 --> 00:25:33.286
Purpose Studio is obviously one entrepreneurial venture of several ones that you've launched.

00:25:33.286 --> 00:25:35.592
What's changed over the years?

00:25:35.771 --> 00:25:37.876
I teased in your bio about in 2016,.

00:25:37.876 --> 00:25:39.507
You founded an e-commerce brand.

00:25:39.507 --> 00:25:43.676
That's eight years ago now, ryan, which is really cool to say.

00:25:43.676 --> 00:25:48.476
That's the same year that this podcast started, and so the world has changed a lot since then.

00:25:48.476 --> 00:25:51.772
Business has changed a lot, but a lot has stayed the same.

00:25:51.772 --> 00:25:54.794
I look back to the stone ages of humans.

00:25:54.794 --> 00:25:57.787
There's certain psychological triggers and the way that marketing works.

00:25:57.787 --> 00:26:07.317
Humans are humans, so I'd love to hear your perspective on some of the things that have changed and some of the things that you like to keep the same and maintain that moving forward.

00:26:10.286 --> 00:26:14.085
I can't believe it's been eight years and it feels like a lifetime.

00:26:14.085 --> 00:26:22.719
What's changed in my approach has been the idea that I can't do everything.

00:26:22.719 --> 00:26:36.444
I need to simplify, and you hear that come through in our messaging in on purpose right, doing work with intention, and that that really sums up how we're approaching this business.

00:26:36.444 --> 00:26:48.538
It's so easy for entrepreneurs of any experience to try and do too much, try and be everything to everyone, but there's an opportunity cost that comes with that.

00:26:48.538 --> 00:26:58.491
Every new thing you take on, every additional channel you're trying to reach, every feature you're trying to add into your product, detracts from something else that you're doing.

00:26:58.491 --> 00:27:08.718
So this time around it's about being very clear what we want to do, who we want to help and staying true to that.

00:27:10.392 --> 00:27:13.025
I love that Again, you're reminding me One of my favorite quotes.

00:27:13.025 --> 00:27:17.338
It's from Albert Einstein, where he said if you want to impress someone, make it complicated.

00:27:17.338 --> 00:27:19.373
If you want to help someone, make it simple.

00:27:19.373 --> 00:27:29.201
And so to hear that that's not only a personal approach for you, but the way that you have guided on purpose, but the way that you have guided On Purpose and the way that you all work with your clients is really cool to hear.

00:27:29.201 --> 00:27:47.115
I'd love to hear some inside perspectives of what that process is like, because I would imagine when you take on a project, there's a lot of moving pieces and a lot of questions to answer and, knowing that simplicity is at the heart of what you do, what's that process look like when clients come on with On Purpose?

00:27:48.416 --> 00:27:57.182
Sure, yeah, there are a lot of moving pieces and it can feel a little overwhelming at the start because you know how far you have to go.

00:27:57.182 --> 00:28:11.042
Every project we take on, every client we work with, it starts with a discovery process and we're getting to know them, getting to know what they they hope to achieve from this project, what's important to them.

00:28:11.042 --> 00:28:22.474
We want to make sure they're right fit for us, as we are for them, and we start to deep dive in who their customer is, what's unique about them.

00:28:22.474 --> 00:28:38.618
It always, of course, comes back to getting to know the human side of it and we just keep pulling on these threads until we start to see the commonalities, the connection points, and that's what guides us.

00:28:38.618 --> 00:28:49.476
So there's a lot of design thinking workshops built in and the idea is you get a bunch of people of varying backgrounds into a workshop together.

00:28:49.476 --> 00:29:02.492
You're working towards a common problem and you let each other's experiences and ideas kind of mold together and the outcome is much better than any single person would have had on their own.

00:29:03.295 --> 00:29:10.740
Yeah, ryan, this is almost an artistic question that I want to ask you, which inherently, I think, suggests that there's no one particular right answer.

00:29:10.740 --> 00:29:11.310
But that is.

00:29:11.310 --> 00:29:15.642
With so many ideas in the room, what's your filtering process look like?

00:29:15.642 --> 00:29:22.560
How do you even begin to go about weeding through Okay, not necessarily good or bad ideas, but which ideas to pursue?

00:29:22.560 --> 00:29:24.589
Necessarily good or bad ideas, but which ideas to pursue?

00:29:28.203 --> 00:29:32.866
Yeah, I think the idea for us because we're prioritizing doing work with intention.

00:29:32.866 --> 00:29:41.801
It needs to be work that's meaningful, it's going to have an impact, it's not adding to the digital noise that is out there.

00:29:41.801 --> 00:29:49.439
Even more so, the people that we're working alongside our partners, our clients need to be good people.

00:29:49.439 --> 00:30:00.189
We're going to be spending a lot of time together, so I want to know how these people problem solve, how they're going to work through the tough times, because there will be tough times.

00:30:00.189 --> 00:30:08.433
So it's as much about understanding and vetting the owner, the decision maker of the project that we're working on.

00:30:09.316 --> 00:30:29.436
Yeah, again, coming back to the people, ryan, we can't avoid that in today's episode, and I'm so appreciative about how ingrained it is truly in the way that you operate, not just business-wise, but you and I were talking off air, before we hit record today, about the fact that you've taken the time to check out the work that I put into the world and a lot of these interviews, and I'm so appreciative of that.

00:30:29.436 --> 00:30:36.532
Which also means, though, that you already know this final question that I'm going to ask you, and that is the one takeaway, the one piece of advice.

00:30:36.532 --> 00:30:48.686
Knowing that our listeners are at all different stages of their business journey We've got all those entrepreneurs out there, as well as all the entrepreneurs at very different stages and different ways to measure success and growth.

00:30:48.686 --> 00:30:54.021
What's that one piece of advice or action that you want to impart on them as we close today's episode?

00:30:55.490 --> 00:31:01.931
Well, brian, I had two key takeaways, but that directly contradicts with my first piece of advice.

00:31:01.931 --> 00:31:02.492
So we're going to stick.

00:31:02.492 --> 00:31:04.700
Stick to one, and that's to simplify.

00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:12.719
Regardless of size of business, regardless of complexity, whatever you're working on is to reduce what you're doing.

00:31:12.719 --> 00:31:19.357
For everything you add, you should take one thing away, because there is an opportunity cost to what you're doing.

00:31:19.357 --> 00:31:21.916
It's also an opportunity cost to your customer's attention.

00:31:21.916 --> 00:31:30.040
Each new thing you take on it's gonna detract from something else that you could be pouring your resources into, your effort, your passion.

00:31:30.040 --> 00:31:37.723
So be clear about what is most important for the success of your business and let the rest fall to the side.

00:31:37.723 --> 00:31:39.335
It's okay not to do everything.

00:31:40.317 --> 00:31:46.493
Yes, Listeners, if you've been looking for that permission, Ryan just gave it to you so explicitly there.

00:31:46.493 --> 00:31:49.836
It's okay to not do everything.

00:31:49.836 --> 00:31:51.778
What a great one liner, Ryan.

00:31:51.778 --> 00:31:54.779
I absolutely appreciate those insights for our listeners.

00:31:54.779 --> 00:32:02.846
I also know that I've teased your website, in particular in the creativity and the talent behind the scenes at On Purpose quite a bit.

00:32:03.366 --> 00:32:06.114
I always say here on this show that success leaves clues.

00:32:06.114 --> 00:32:15.153
So, listeners, Ryan's going to drop the link to his website in just a second, but I invite all of you, even if you've never thought of what's it like to work with a creative studio.

00:32:15.153 --> 00:32:22.858
What are the things that they do with regards to product strategy and design and rolling out and creating new digital experiences and products?

00:32:22.858 --> 00:32:27.696
What you'll find when you go to their website is the way that they show up their values.

00:32:27.696 --> 00:32:30.262
They talk about teamwork and collaboration.

00:32:30.262 --> 00:32:32.213
You'll see the humans behind the business.

00:32:32.213 --> 00:32:36.791
There's so much good stuff and also inspiring language, Ryan.

00:32:36.791 --> 00:32:44.076
So now that I've tooted that horn I don't do that in every episode, but I really do appreciate the intentionality through which you and your business show up.

00:32:44.076 --> 00:32:45.759
So drop those links on us.

00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:47.304
Where should listeners go from here?

00:32:48.309 --> 00:32:57.284
Brian, you're too kind, you can find us at onepurposestudio and I have to say I really appreciate you noticing how front and center our values are.

00:32:57.284 --> 00:33:02.978
That's core to everything we do and it's core to every small business.

00:33:02.978 --> 00:33:12.553
It's your values, are the lens through which you make decisions, so making sure you have those documented and visible to your customers lets them know who you are.

00:33:12.553 --> 00:33:13.537
So thank you, brian.

00:33:14.239 --> 00:33:17.055
Yes, thank you, ryan, for the way that you show up Listeners.

00:33:17.055 --> 00:33:18.150
You already know the drill.

00:33:18.150 --> 00:33:21.961
We're making it as easy as possible for you to find that link down below in the show notes.

00:33:21.961 --> 00:33:27.500
You can go straight to onpurposestudio or wherever it is that you're tuning into today's episode.

00:33:27.500 --> 00:33:29.538
You can click right on through from the show notes.

00:33:29.538 --> 00:33:32.098
We're also linking to Ryan's personal LinkedIn.

00:33:32.098 --> 00:33:47.182
So if you just wanna have an incredible person and fellow entrepreneur in your network or, heck, if you even just want to say thank you, 99% of people more than that who listen to these episodes on any podcast or YouTube channel or anywhere are too shy to reach out.

00:33:47.182 --> 00:33:53.999
But you hear how deeply Ryan cares about elevating and inspiring other people, so definitely check out the links in the show notes.

00:33:53.999 --> 00:33:59.519
Otherwise, ryan, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:34:00.823 --> 00:34:01.503
Thank you, Brian.

00:34:02.810 --> 00:34:19.143
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

00:34:19.143 --> 00:34:21.585
Thank you, brian, to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:34:21.585 --> 00:34:30.342
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:34:30.342 --> 00:34:32.414
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:34:32.414 --> 00:34:34.018
These are not infomercials.

00:34:34.018 --> 00:34:37.492
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:34:37.492 --> 00:34:48.461
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:34:48.461 --> 00:34:56.958
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:34:56.958 --> 00:34:58.300
We also have live chat.

00:34:58.300 --> 00:35:02.900
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.

00:35:02.900 --> 00:35:04.324
Initiate a live chat.

00:35:04.324 --> 00:35:13.726
It's for real me and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.