Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: The podcast for those who find themselves immersed in adversity and choose to write their story instead of having others write it for them. I'm Drew Duraney and I'm your host. Today's guest is Steve Seidel. Steve Seidel is a TEDx keynote speaker, media expert and brand strategist who helps entrepreneurs, startups and HR leaders drive cultural alignment and authentic leadership. As founder of the award winning Sidel Agency and coach to change makers, he draws on 25 years in PR, media and marketing to help leaders rewrite their stories, leveraging connection as currency.
A best selling authority, podcast creator and co founder of the men's collective Gents Journey, Steven blends humor, heart and actionable tools to inspire resilient teams and lasting change.
Enjoy the show, Steve. Good to see you, Drew.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you for having me on today. I'm super excited to join you on this Veterans Day.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Absolutely. Happy Veterans Day. Thanks for your service. Everybody out there who fights for our freedom, I always thank the person who introduced us, introduced me to my guest and this one's a little different. You had told me that you had a coach, friend, colleague named Lynn Winter who suggested about men being caregivers and caretakers and whatnot.
So Lynn, I want to thank you for introducing me to Steve.
Lynn does happiness mapping, which is very intriguing. So a little plug for Lynn Winter and her happiness mapping. Thanks again for introducing me to Steve.
So audience knows that I always start this by talking about how when we're young, we're taught, and it's not malicious teaching, we're taught that life is linear, it's a straight path. If we do A plus, B plus C D is going to happen.
For the most part, life is linear until it's not.
Ultimately, an external circumstance comes in between one of those letters and kind of derails our straight path to a more circuitous one.
When that happens, that means adversity rears its ugly head.
And when that happens, we've got a choice. Well, some of us have a choice because I'll say there's three types of men and do we take on the adversity or we run away from it? Well, man number one, who I don't have on this show, has a ton of blind spots. He doesn't even notice the adversity, so there's no choice there. He just thinks life is happening the way it's supposed to happen. He's following automatically the path that he's been told to follow and nothing changes in his life. And then there's man number two. I also don't have man number two on the show. Man number two does see the adversity. So he's got a heightened awareness.
But when he looks at that adversity, he says, I'm the victim. Everybody else is to blame. Life's doing it to me. I can't change anything. It is what it is. And he goes about life on the same path with no changes. And on his deathbed, he's got a ton of regrets.
Now, man number three, I do have on. That's Steve Seidel. And did I pronounce your name right, sir?
[00:03:18] Speaker A: You did it right. You did. Good work, Drew. Thank you so much. Double D.
So.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: So Steve's man number three. And man number three sees the adversity. He's got a heightened self awareness and says, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.
This adversity is not a barrier. It's an opportunity for me to do something different, take massive action and become a stronger man on the other side.
So, Steve, reach back as far as you need to for that defining moment. Whether it was the tap on the shoulder, the whisper in the ear, or like what I needed two by four upside my head that transformed you from the man you used to be to the man you are now, and how that impacted you personally and then professionally.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Sure, that's a great question. I think I'm going to go back briefly. So the way the three types of men. I was a product of a divorce relationship, and so I was stuck in the middle. I was a people pleaser. And so for a lot of my life, I lived that route. You know, you're just going through like you talked about, you point the finger, three come back at you. But I was a people pleaser, trying to please everybody else but myself because I felt this positioning where I wanted to please my mom, I wanted to please my dad. Maybe they'll come back together. You know, this whole.
And then I think there was. There was two defining moments. One of them was when I was.
I went to school. My parents suggested that I go to school for science and engineering. I went to school, I was an engineer for Motorola. And then I got laid off. And I said, all right, here it is. What am I going to do next? And so it was a tough moment. Making a lot of money out of college, spent it all. I said, what am I going to do? And so I said, you know what? I'm going to go to New York. I've always had this passion for creativity and telling Stories and, you know, to be a performer, I'd always want to be an actor. And so that put me on the path to essentially take my right brain and my left brain, bring it together. How can I take my background, you know, statistical analyses, but then also begin to really dig deeper inside of myself. So that put me on the path of storytelling and really honoring who I was and trying to express myself and make an impact. And then the second moment, I'm going to give you a second one is when my dad passed away.
I had a friend of mine say, you're never really a man until you lose your father. And I think, you know, when you're growing up, your grandmother passes away, there may be a few people here and there, at least for me. I don't know. I wasn't surrounded by a lot of loss and death.
But when my dad passed away, that was a defining moment of, okay, this is one life here that I have to live. And now I have two younger brothers who no longer have their father. Their mom is not in the picture, and then I have my own children. So it was a really, really eye opening moment for me.
Wow.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: You know, it hit me because I love when I lost my dad. Same thing. And that's really impactful, saying that you're not. You don't, you're not a man until you lose your dad. And. And, you know, there was no book on teaching us how to be a man, and we learned it from our dads. And so thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah, it's almost like in honor of Milton. My dad was in the army.
I think of it, you know, within, you know, symbolically. You're. You're moving forward as I don't want to say in a war, but you're moving in a protest. However, you're moving forward, but your parents are in front of you. They're going to protect you, they're going to guide you. Boom. They step out, you're the next step.
So how am I going to leave with. With intention. How am I going to now leave the legacy for my own children? And how am I going to take full advantage of every moment that I'm given?
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Oh, just. Well, well said. So let's, let's. So we get back to the divorce, you being in the middle. And again, I can relate to the people pleaser piece because I've been there and done that, and at times they're still doing that and trying to shake it.
It's hard to get rid of that lifelong.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: It's A lifelong process.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So. So when. How old were you when mom and dad divorced?
[00:06:58] Speaker A: So when I was one years old, when my mother. My mother and father divorced. So I didn't even really know my mom and dad other than like visiting, you know, on different weekends. I grew up with my stepfather. He was a wonderful man. I regretted when he passed away that I never really called him dad. And so when I was in New York, when I talked about that defining moment, that was when I really was in my artistic phase and like in my feelings, if you will, really exploring some of those emotions. Right. A lot of them came to fruition at that point.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: Wow. So. So you did have a. A male role model, per se, at a certain point in your year.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah, he was there and I'm grateful for what he was able to do, but.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: My wife says I'm not really good at fixing things around the house. And she said one time, you know, did your dad or, you know, ever teach you any of these things? He wasn't around. He was always working. I did Cub Scouts and my stepfather, we used to say his tool belt inside his tool belt was a cell phone. So I didn't learn a lot of these hands on fixing. I'm not the greatest handyman. I did go to school for engineering, but it was more about, you know, problem solving from a different perspective. But. Yeah.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: Wow. You and I are very similar because I. I say that I don't fix stuff, I outsource. So similar to having a cell phone in your tool belt. Oh, my gosh. We are similar in a lot of respect.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: They are. We're looking in the mirror, brother.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. All right.
So you grow up with mom and dad the way it was, and dad passes away.
How did you become the man you are now? And do you feel like you had to teach yourself or did you have a role model other than dad at that time?
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I think growing up, I grew up in Philadelphia and we're known for being the underdogs and really working hard. And my father, he was in the army. He also had a full time job, so he was very busy. He was a volunteer. My mother was an entrepreneur, so I saw her really hitting the streets and trying to be creative and coming up with different jobs and positions that she was creating on her own. So I was able to get both sides. But for me it was, I learned about the value of hard work and then ultimately figuring out, okay, if something isn't working, I need to figure out what the solution is. And so, you know, hitting the streets, it's like, I can go through it. I can choose to go up to it and not go, you know, not go past it, or I can find ways to go around it. And so having turned towards acting and entertainment, I face rejection on a daily basis. And so that gives you some tough skin. But one thing that I often ask my friends, you know, what is something that you feel I bring to the table? And they say the resilience factor.
Finding ways, and I hate to use the term super connector, but that people pleaser. I'm a recovering people pleaser.
That instilled the DNA. When you talk about obstacles, the obstacle of overcoming divorce, I realized, look, I can connect with people in. In high school, I was really short. I had low self esteem. I didn't grow until I went to college, but I could still connect and have conversations. So I was the guy who, you know, knew everybody, but I didn't necessarily have my tribe, if you will.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: So I realized that connection is a tool for me that I can leverage storytelling. My dad was a great storyteller. My mom was an entrepreneur. You have to really share your stories.
And so that's where I realized, okay, this is something that I can do well. But then when I was getting rejected, getting rejected, getting rejected, I finally said to myself, you know what, I'm gonna go out and start recording videos. Because I said I wanted to be like O.J. simpson to all my friends growing up. I don't say that now.
Michael Strahan. I switched my, you know, okay, so.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: No one knows that it's Michael.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Seeing people like that, realizing I would. I would sit in my room and record voices and listen to the radio. I love broadcasting. I love sports.
I loved TV shows and magic. And so eventually I was like, okay, I'm gonna go out in the streets of New York City while I'm acting. I have a couple of odd jobs, put food on the table, but I enjoy talking to others. And so I recorded it and I said, yeah, I'm gonna go do some renegade reporting. And the guy filming it was like, renegade reporting. That's a great name for me. That's something that I hang my hat on is being a little bit outside the box, being guerrilla, trying different things.
So that created this whole new world of, hey, I don't need to have somebody hire me. I can just go out and create content and do something that I truly love. Hopefully somebody will appreciate it. If they're not, that's no problem. But eventually that led to selling a show to YouTube because they saw some of the work that I was able to do that I was no longer giving my power away. I was in the driver's seat because I was now producing the content. And then that led into, you know, influencer campaigns, and then I was selling influencer campaigns. And I said, you know what? I can create a marketing agency where I'm creating these videos, sharing the stories, helping others, but also, you know, scratching the itch of me of really diving deeper into telling stories that matter.
[00:11:51] Speaker B: I love it. So. So that's how the media agency developed through your storytelling and your interviewing. What was one of the best interviews you can recall on the streets in New York?
[00:12:03] Speaker A: So in the streets of New York, I only did a couple. I went around and asked people the craziest thing that they've seen on the subway. I asked them their hotspots. But when I. Shortly after I moved to LA and.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: Oh, you moved to la? Alright, okay.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: I moved to la and because I was an actor and I wanted to move to la and so I went out there and I met a lady by the name of Sharon Jimenez. She was a reporter. Her husband was the first Latino reporter for NBC. And they became essentially my new parents. Because my parents were far away and they weren't really available within proximity.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: They actually had me and my wife for when we had our baby shower. But they brought me on board and they hooked me up with Brandon Boyd. He was the singer for Incubus. Oh, okay. They wanted somebody to interview him for the Susan G. Komen Breast foundation because they were doing a big walk.
And so I was able to go to his house. I met with him and I interviewed him all about his experience with cancer, you know, growing up, how he started the band. And they actually put that interview on the Jumbotron of Dodger Stadium.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Susan G. Komen. And for me, I thought to myself, wow, this is amazing.
And so I just kept doing it and creating videos and I ultimately create a podcast out of it. I don't do it anymore. But just continuing to share the stories of people that are making impact really lights me up.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. I love that. So, so did you do any of the storytelling and the interviews in Philadelphia or you relegate that to LA and. And the two couple in New York.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: So I grew up in Philly and then I moved to New York, then I moved to la and now I'm currently in Lexington, Kentucky. I have done some interviews. A close friend of mine who works for the Eagles. And so whenever I get a chance, I go and try and, you know, visit some of those individuals as well.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: For me, it's with my agency that provided me an opportunity to really connect with change makers, whether they're founders, startups. And what we really do is, is is we f. We follow a four part framework where we start with your mission.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Because our mission is to do good, give back and make an impact. So I want it to be a socially conscious campaign. Sure. So that it creates a win, win, win but mission. Then we really clue in on your message and then get deeper into your media and, you know, the people that you're with and then ultimately we want to build a movement. And so when I moved to Lexington, that's when the pandemic happened. I know we spoke about this a little bit earlier, but I was a virtual agency so I was fortunate that I was virtual. But I was in a new city, no friends, virtual employees. I had a one month old baby. We left LA during the pandemic to kind of get out of it all.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Understood.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: And when you talk about, you know, caving in, that was the moment. That was my mom. I was on a coaching call with Tony Robbins and my mom said they found something in my living notes. Oh, geez, that was not fun. And so she moved into our extra bedroom. That's where I was running my business at the time. And you know, I had to take zoom calls from the laundry room. And again, being resilient, there's no giving in. How can I take this opportunity and move forward? What's it going to take? I had one month, I had a five year old, I had my wife depending on me. We moved cross country, had a couple of clients, most of them dropped. But then my mom needed help and so it was a really tough moment for me.
And that's what really, that was the, the inciting incident from a storytelling perspective, if you know the hero's journey from Joseph Campbell. That was the inciting incident where I said, look, I need help, I need support now, caregiving for my mom.
It was a strain on the relationship, obviously for my marriage. When you have a newborn as well and you're trying to juggle 15 different balls y I didn't know where to turn.
So I said, you know what, I'm going to figure it out. And I said, I need to take an inventory of who my closest friends are that are my growth friends, entrepreneurs just like me, father just like me, you know, loving, you know, and have the ability to open up and would. Would be welcoming Towards a group. And so I, I, I started a group, started with like 10 people. It came down to five. We're now to three.
But we met every Monday, and we just talked about the problems in life and the challenges between the pandemic because we had lost that sense of connection.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: Right. Yeah, it's true.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: And that brought that, that really helped me, especially when my mom ultimately ended up passing away. I needed a safe space.
And we still do it now. For any guys out there who need a safe space, it's called Gents Journey.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Wow, what a travel here. Because I, you know, I was taking notes earlier about losing, Losing your mother, the impact that must have had. Now, dad had already passed by the time.
Yeah, mom, my father.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: So my stepfather who raised me, he passed in 2000 of cancer. And then, you know, I got a little bit closer to my dad. He passed in 2019.
He had to have his leg amputated. It was a whole thing. But I was in California. My mom said, hey, I think you should check it. I think you should probably.
You should make this trip. And so I went there and I spoke to him. And I have two half brothers. And I said, dad, a, you're going to be a grandfather. We're having another baby. This is right when we found out we had another baby. And he shook his hand, he was so proud. And I said, I'm going to take care of Dakota and Skyler. Those are my brothers. I said, you don't have to worry.
They're going to be taken care of. And he, you know, we had a big, long talk. I thought I recorded it on my phone, and it didn't work because somebody called me when it happened, but, oh.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: My gosh, it is what it is. Yeah.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: And then the next morning, we got a call mentioning he passed. So that was 2019.
And then my mom, when we moved to Kentucky in 2020, she was diagnosed with cancer. She made it to 2023.
And then she unfortunately passed. And I was the final person to see both my parents.
And fortunately, I was going to go get lunch. I stopped in, and she was like, I was there for the final three hours. But she really struggled and FaceTimed. Everyone in my family played the music that was hopefully, you know, soothing her.
And one, one song that we always used to listen to is Somewhere over the Rainbow.
And I don't know if I ever shared it publicly, but I'm gonna share it with you guys.
So she was just kind of. We're trying to coach her through it's. She's Having a hard time breathing. And we said, we're telling her, go to the light. And then we put somewhere over the rainbow on. And I saw her eye look at me and that. And then one single tear just came down her cheek. And we said, hey, we'll see at the end of the rainbow.
So she ended up passing.
[00:18:44] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: And that's what I did. My TEDx talk on the hidden power of grief. It was one of the most challenging moments of my life, but it brought so much purpose.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: Clarity.
I still see a cardinal every day outside of my. My office. It's reminiscent of her.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: And.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: And there were a lot of things that now I'm doing. I've always wanted to do a TEDx talk. You know, she gave me that gift. I've always wanted to work as a coach and work with individuals, you know, both personally and professionally. That's something that came after that.
I. You know, there was just so many things that she gave me in that moment that, you know, I'm grateful for. And I know she's still with us.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: She certainly is. You know, every time you. Something comes out of your mouth. The alignment in my life and your life, because my dad passed away in 2019, in January. And when I see a blue jay, I think, wow. Yeah. I'll tell my kids, there's papa, you know?
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah. I love that.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:19:43] Speaker A: My daughter suggested my mother's favorite song was. One of them was Bob Marley. Three little Birds. And so my youngest daughter, she's 11. She's like, Dad, I was. I wanted to find a way to. To remember her. She's like, you should get a tattoo.
Three little birds. You can get an eagle. Which I ended up getting for my dad because we used to bond over the Eagles games.
[00:20:03] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Cardinal from my mom.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: And then Robin. My wife's name is Robin, and we live in Kentucky. It's a state bird.
[00:20:09] Speaker B: So there you go.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: I'm working on the three little birds.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: This is unbelievable, because.
Thank you for sharing that. Because I.
When we were in the hospital and my dad was passing, I was holding his right hand, and they were unplugging all the machines, and I turned on Josh Groban's you raised me up song. And as that was playing, a tear came out of my dad's right eye.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: That. And then my. Wow. And then my middle son wanted. Said he wanted to get a tattoo, and I never wanted to get a tattoo. And we got a tattoo in honor of my father, and it's right there. It said it's A Jesus Christ wills it or Jesus Christ. It's on my wrist, on my right wrist and he's got it on his left wrist. So we have a lot of similar. Like it's kind of eerie. I don't have a brother. Maybe you're my brother.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Because this is what it's all about, man. When we do things in, in life. Yeah, it's, it's not, not for me. And when I was younger, I was an actor, I needed validation. That was the people pleaser. I'm recovering from that. But it's hold it up and say, look at you. And that's what these stories like you're sharing right now.
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: This connection is what really matters most, especially in the age of AI and all that other stuff we need to have.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. Well, congratulations on the TED Talk.
That's wonderful. Hidden power of grief. So guys catch that on. Sure, it's on YouTube.
[00:21:32] Speaker A: YouTube, yeah.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: Anything else you want to say about Jen's journey?
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Yeah, would love to share. So gents, Journey came out of five years. We're still doing that. One of the things, we have 6,000 people that come. We're doing our first live meeting in two weeks, in two days where we're inviting everybody to come as a support group. We, we have a, this really cool card deck, it's called the Journey Deck. Got it available on Amazon. But this is, we felt we needed a way. There were so many tools in this world for men. You know, you have your wrenches, you have the tools to fix your car, you have various tools, but we didn't see too many mental health tools or, or, or tools to help us in moments of adversity. And so we knew at the core of it all was about friendship. If you look at any movie, any Disney movie, or there's a hero, they find a friend, a lover, animal, and they go through, and they ultimately, you know, go through troubles, they find their obstacles in conquest that. So we created the Journey deck as a way for other men to connect with the seven pillars of manhood. Like you talked about earlier, where you want to have a well rounded man. So we focus on faith, we focus family, friendship, freedom, fun and then focus as well. And so those are the areas that we focus on. We have a sub stack. We, we do a lot of fun things. I would love for you to answer one of our questions.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: All right, I'll give it a shot.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: So I always wanted to be a magician. One thing I talk a lot about with coaching is what did you want to be when you Grow up. Find ways to bring that into your present life. So when I have these cards, I feel like a magician. But you, the magic is in your story. Tell me when to stop and I'll pull a card.
[00:23:10] Speaker B: Right.
Stop.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Okay. The card that we pulled from this deck is, who is your favorite comedian?
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Oh, wow. My favorite comedian. That's a good question.
I. I'm gonna. I'm gonna say Jerry Seinfeld.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: I. For some reason, I felt like you were gonna say Seinfeld. What's the deal with that one?
Gotta love Seinfeld. He's a brilliant man.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: He is. He is. I, I just like, he's a down to earth guy. He's also a Mets fan and I'm a Mets fan. So relate to Seinfeld.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: I lived in New York. It was great to go up to that diner and go by like, oh, that's the diner that they'd always shoot in.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: And all the little subtleties of just bringing humor into your daily life. I mean, the sense of play is so crucial. But he just finds humor in all those little idiosyncrasies.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: That's what I love. It's like he's. It's like the stories about nothing, it's just like regular. He finds, you know, your regular stories of everyday life, they can make it funny. And humor is so important because. Because we're tied up too much into the life's craziness we need. You need humor, man.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Absolutely. I love that. Thank you for sharing.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. All right, so I have another note written here about the time you choked and some. And somebody saved you.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: I've choked many times in my life, of course, but those are all learning experience.
One time when I was at Penn State, I was an engineer and I was like, oh, I want to act. The first audition I went in, I didn't remember any lines. I ran out of the door. Thor. But that's what builds resilience, right?
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: When I was younger, I was a big superhero fan and I loved Incredible Hulk. We talked about, you know, this is Lou Ferrigno. Then there was the other guy who was like the normal. I can't remember his name.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Baxter, I think, or Bruce. Bill Bixby, Bill Bigsby. In the show, he was Baxter, David Baxter.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: He's the regular guy. But then when he busts into the Hulk, it's Lou Ferrigno. And so I had, you know, the Hanes underwear with the whole Garnet.
Probably had them too, since it's like we're looking in the mirror right here. I love. So we went to a mall exhibit because back in the day they would be at different locations. And so Lifesavers were a popular candy. They're very hard candy, very difficult. Can't really chew them. You got to suck on them. And then it takes a little bit of a while. And so I was sucking on a lifesaver and I started choking. And so the rumor is now I want to go back. And I wanted to go back and clarify this with my mom and my dad, but my sister agrees with it. So the rumor is that when I was younger, I started choking. We were standing in line and then Lou Ferrigno shook me upside down and the Lifesaver came out of my mouth.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: All right.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Superhero literally saved my life. So thanks, Lou.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. The Incredible Hulk saved your life. Wow, that's a cool story. All right, let's see if I'm running out of notes here, but I just, I could talk to you like all, all day.
I would say that the audience certainly captured the essence of. Of Steve Seidel today. And you're going to want to get in touch with Steve, everybody, and his website. It's Stephen S T h e n se I.com and you can find a lot of information there, especially about the men's empowerment group.
All right, so if you want to.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Join the men's empowerment group, you can go to gents Journey Co join.
So please come.
That's how I found you as a caregiver and a man.
You know, it's sometimes a challenge and I appreciate the work that you do.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: All right, thank you, Steve. Thank you so much.
So, so visit. Visit. That it would say gets the. Give me the website again. For the men's.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: It's Journey.
Okay, gents, as a gentleman, jets journey.com. there's no M on that one. Slash join.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: There you go. Definitely worth doing that. All right, so I got two final questions for you. All right. All right, so, Steve, you're in your happy place, wherever that is, and you're sitting down with 7 to 10 year old Steve and you want to give them advice about life. What are you going to tell them?
[00:27:18] Speaker A: It's a great question, so thank you for asking that.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: When I go back to my childhood, it's always such a raw, vulnerable, active time because there was just so much going on. But I want to tell him that it's going to be okay.
You don't have to try so hard.
You know, there's this thing about trying. You Know, you either do it or you don't. But you don't have to try so hard.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Right?
[00:27:44] Speaker A: It's okay to be who you really are.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: I feel like oftentimes, like, I. I sacrificed who I was in multiple scenarios. I'd hide my Michael Jackson record under my bed because I get made fun of. People bully me, and they wanted to know who I liked, and I didn't want to share it. It's like. And I just want to give them a hug because I feel like, man, you're gonna do some amazing stuff in this world.
So just know that you have so much value to give.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Love that. Love it. All right, so we'll switch hats now. You're sitting down with young entrepreneur, young businessman Steve Seidel, and you want to give him advice about business. What are you going to tell him?
[00:28:29] Speaker A: My mom used to say this a lot. She would say just Zen it, because she would get in this mode where she would just want to say, just Senate. I'm going to say, just do it like Nike. But at the end of the day, none of this matters. We get so caught up in, you know, what are they going to think? Is this going to be successful?
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Especially from an entrepreneurial perspective. Just do it. Just go out there and try it and try new things and whatever else is working for everybody else doesn't mean it needs to work for you.
You know, go against the grain and try it. Because too often we limit ourselves due to fear.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: So true. Absolutely. Wow. Very good advice. And I hope young Steve will take that. That advice.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: I hope so, too.
[00:29:13] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, Steve, I want to thank you for not just coming on, but coming into my life. Being the man you are and how you're helping so many other men and keep doing what you're doing.
It's worth recovering from, people pleasing. I'm there, too.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: And we're on that journey together, my friend. But thanks again for coming on.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you so much. And for anybody out there that's in a tough moment, you know you're worth it. There was a quote in my mom's kitchen. It's to the world, you might be one person, but to one person, you might be the world. And the way that you can really make an impact is simply sharing your stories. Because when you share your stories, people can be inspired by you. So keep. Keep going. And it's okay to pause. It's okay to take steps back. But anybody listening?
[00:29:59] Speaker B: You got this great advice, my friend. Everybody out there, please take care of yourselves.
Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and give us a review to help others find it.
I'd like you to answer this question.
Are you living the life you want to live, or are you living the life others want you to live? I'd like you to think about that for a second, because I strongly suggest you live the life you want to live. If you want to learn more about what I stand for and my services and how I'm able to help many men get out of their own way, please go to my website at www.prophetcompassion.com.
feel free to also email me at drewrophetcompassion.com I'd love to have a conversation with you.
Take care of yourself and choose to write your own story instead of letting others write it for you.
