Listen. Explore. Create. 

That's got a nice ring to it. Simple yet powerful, also happens to be the vision of my guest this week, AJ Vens. He is an old coworker and current friend of mine that is responsible for helping me find my footing with this whole podcast deal. He has been doing his own podcast for a few years now and knows his way around the production side of things when it comes to running a podcast and was an amazing resource when I was starting out.  He educated me on different recording styles, different mics and equipment needed depending on what I was hoping to accomplish, he made getting started much easier to say the least. Use your resources! If you don't have any, then ask. If you don't want to ask...ask Google!

In this episode, AJ and I hit on a number of interesting topics ranging from his vision and how it impacts the way he approaches his clothing brand, Wolf Den Wares, to a discussion on the impact that certain parenting styles had on us when we were growing up and how we feel about them now as adults. When it comes to goals and dreams, AJ and I have a very similar approach: Earn them. Our goals and dreams are not something that we deserve just because, they are there to be earned if we put in the time and effort. There is plenty that is out of our control and if we spend too much time thinking about that stuff we get nowhere, but if we choose to focus on the stuff that we do have control over, our chances of reaching our goals and dreams increases by a ton!

If you are someone that is working towards a goal or pursuing a dream, keep going, it isn't meant to be easy. Only you know if you are giving it your best shot and if you truly are, you are awesome. If you are sacrificing a lot and doing the right things but nothing is going your way, you have two options. You could complain and feel sorry for yourself because it just doesn't seem fair, but if you choose that option you definitely will not be moving any closer to whatever it is that you are pursing. Or, you could shift your focus to EARNING it. Instead of telling yourself that you deserve something because you are trying really hard, start telling yourself that you will EARN it no matter how tough it gets. If you think that you deserve, you will find reasons to complain when things aren't going your way, if you decide that you will earn, you will come up with ways to make it happen.

I hope you enjoy this episode and as usual I hope you take something valuable away from it!

Thank you for your time.