Life and Mission

Last year, Ryan Eller knocked a few things off his bucket list. Then he spent three months helping other people knock things off their lists. Now he's written a book about these experiences, Live Your List. In this interview, he shares how you can live intentionally and do the things you've always wanted to do.

[00:02:20] Ryan tells about a turning point for himself personally, and how the Live Your List Project got started.

He says, "I started writing down all the things I wanted to do in my life and it started off with travel things and experiences and adventures I want to take. It started out with me things things that I wanted to do." Then it started to change. "The longer I sat there, the more items I put down started changing from being about me to 'What do I want my family to look like? What do I want my future to look like? How can I impact people?' and 'What difference can I make in this world?'"
[00:08:09] Even Ryan's six-year-old daughter has a list. He talks about the joy of teaching her to dream big and live with intentionality.

The Live Your List Project
[00:11:26] The Live Your List Project - From the State Fair to Zambia and Dubai, helping other people do the things on their lists.
[00:13:24] We talk about the Live Your List book. you can get it on Ryan's web site. I had to ask Ryan why he started with the story about Chinese cupping. It sounded excruciating. But it's a great story about getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things. There is something about travel that lends itself to that, but it's not automatic.
[00:14:21] The seven levels of Live Your List.

How to expand your comfort zone
[00:22:47] Ryan tells how you can expand your comfort zone.
[00:28:20] "If you live in that stretch zone that comfort zone grows and grows. You're always learning, you're always growing. You're always helping people out, and you're living life intentionally."Ryan asked himself, "What else have I assumed I cannot do that I can actually do?" He started pursuing those things.

[00:34:34] "You have to take ownership of your life and who you are and what life looks like and move yourself in directions where you can do those things. I'm very privileged I'm very fortunate to be able do what I do."
[00:36:16] How to get the book - and a special offer for our listeners!

Links

RyanEller.comTwitter.com/R

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Aurora Gregory has built marketing strategies for some of the biggest names in business for more than 25 years. She’s a big believer in the power of public speaking as a business building tool. She co-authored the book “Get Picked: Tips, Tricks and Tools for Creating An Irresistible Speaker Proposal.”
[00:01:29] Aurora hates watching entrepreneurs struggle to connect with customers.I love being able to come alongside them and help them understand. Like, OK here this is who your customer is. This is what they need to hear from you. And this is how they need to hear it. If you'll just do these things well then it won't be such a struggle and you'll build those connections and relationships with your customers...One of the ways that they can do that is using public speaking.

Public Speaking to Connect with Customers

[00:03:53] Anybody who stands at the microphone is immediately viewed as the expert. What it also allows you to do is to tell stories. It allows you to tell your story your journey as a business person. It allows you to tell the stories of your past or past customers or current customers and the successes that you help them achieve.
[00:05:13] Stories have a simple structure. Use that structure to build your speech. Embrace the storytelling and see yourself as the hero.
[00:06:49] Give Them Your Best

"I would contend that when you do that, when you when you come at it from the place of helping and serving people, that nine times out of ten you will be the choice. Because every person can discern genuineness and if that's your genuine heart, is to help people make the best possible choice... that will come through and more often than not, you will be that choice."
[00:08:55] Practice Telling StoriesI am notorious for testing out ideas when I'm in line at the coffee shop or online at the grocery store and strike up a conversation with someone and invariably you'll be able to kind of guide the conversation or it just comes up...I will use that as an opportunity to kind of test things because that gives me a chance to practice and they don't need to know that I'm practicing.[00:14:09] The difference between fear and nerves. Deal with your fears of public speaking by speaking more. Getting some practice, a little a little bit at a time. Speaking more, and taking the fear of the unknown out of it.
[00:16:13] Facing fear as an entrepreneur, in Christ.We have to believe and we have to commit to the belief that God is on our side. That Jesus walks with us and that he is at work in building our business, that he brings those opportunities. That he will bring clients, that he will bring business. Our job is to take those opportunities. To rise to those opportunities. To take care of customers, to work faithfully to serve our customers.

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Ethan Bryan is an author, musician, storyteller, and passionate fan of the Kansas City Royals. His stories are a celebration of life and the game of baseball. I talked to Ethan about his books, stories of the game, and how storytelling touches our souls. He's also got some advice for aspiring writers.

Baseball Stories

[00:01:07] America at the Seams - Ethan collected baseball stories from all 50 states for this coffee table book.
[00:05:04] "I'm convinced everyone has a baseball story even if they're not a fan of the game."

[00:06:00] Baseball brings people together.
[00:07:32] The story of SungWoo Lee, a long-distance KC Royals fan from South Korea. A beautiful stadium, Twitter connections, the keys to city, an opening pitch - and the Royals win the World Series. You've got to hear this!
[00:11:37] Ethan's books
[00:14:27] The best book store in the country

How to Tell Stories

[00:17:44] How to tell stories

"When you're able to phrase it in the form of a story, you have someone else come out and say, 'I know exactly what you mean.' It opens up windows into their story as well."
[00:21:24] Storytelling for nonprofits. This is something I (Kay) love to do, so there's a story here from the organization I work with. I shared it as an example of how storytelling gets us past the statistics and the list of accomplishments, and connects us to each other on a deeper human level.
[00:26:42] Telling another person's story responsibly. Ethan shares his process.
[00:28:44] "When someone reads something that I've written about them I want them to be really proud of it."[00:33:41] Ethan gave us a few book recommendations for writing and story development.[00:38:53] "I think my calling as a writer is mostly to be a feel good writer to try and leave the reader with a smile and a renewed feeling of hope." Ethan runs through a short description of his books so we can decide which one to read first.

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!

Sean is is a resilience trainer, author and speaker. [00:01:22] Think positivelyThe key is not just to go through but to grow through.

[00:12:25] You choose what you focus on. You focus on the negatives or focus on the positive. Right. Because. Because what you focus on expands. And so if you focus on the positives you get to see a lot of positives focus on negatives you see a lot of negatives.[00:13:53] Build a personal Board of Directors[00:19:11] Talking about Sean's TEDx Talk: Hack Your Brain For Success. [00:23:47] Establish habits for successYou can actually rewire your brain's way of thinking. You could actually rewire your brain to be successful. People who have a mindfulness habit. People who have a daily gratitude habit. People who institute these rituals and these habits, you know. I've talked to a lot of different people who are successful on all kinds of levels. And one thing that's in common is that they all have a ritual.[00:29:09] The power of gratitude[00:38:51] There's always an opportunity to grow and every positive and negative thing that happens in your life every single situation has an opportunity for growth.

LinksSean Douglas is a TEDx Speaker, Master Resilience Implementer, International Radio Show Host, Performance Enhancement Expert, Author. You can find him here:

thesuccesscorps.comfacebook.com/seandouglasspeaksfacebook.com/TheSuccessCorpsfacebook.com/LifeTransformationRadioLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-douglas-a0890473 

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!

Emeka Nnaka was on his way. He had a future playing football - until a life-changing tackle left him paralyzed. In this interview, Emeka shares his story and what he's learned about hope, purpose, and being human.
[00:03:30] Emeka tells how his life changed in an instant.
[00:08:36] I never knew what hope was until I lost all of it.
[00:14:31] The hardest part.
[00:22:42] Finding meaning and purpose.
[00:25:18] I knew that if I was going to add value to anyone, to add value to this world, that I needed to make sure I added value to myself.
[00:32:36] Making a masterpiece out of a mess. The art lesson.

[00:40:22] Three essential elements of hope.
[00:52:58] Anything that we do, our ultimate goal has to be centered around serving people.
[00:54:56] People Matter. Emeka talks about what happens when he visits kids in the shelter.Emeka is a professional motivational speaker and leading advocate for individuals with physical challenges. He brings a message of determination, inspiration, and hope to audiences of all ages.
emekannaka.comlivebeyondlabels.com
Instagram- @emekannaka
Twitter- @emekannaka
Facebook - Emeka Nnaka
Youtube - FromWhereiSit   

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!

 

How a dream to meet Elton John led to a coaching business and a book.

In this episode, Melissa Thomas talks about how she made changes in her life so she could pursue her dream of meeting Elton John. That led to a coaching business and a book. You can have a dream, but achieving that dream can be daunting. Money can be an obstacle, or it can be a tool. And what about expertise? Melissa tells how she tackled the money problem, built a coaching business teaching others what she learned, and authored her first book.
[00:01:20] “It's funny because in all of my years of growing up being an entrepreneur and owning my own company was never on any sort of bucket list that I ever wrote out. It just was one of those things of following—one step kind of led into another. But it all started way back in the day when I was 19 years old and I went to my very first Elton John concert…”
[00:03:50] Melissa tells how debt got in the way of pursuing her dream.
[00:05:40] “That was really the very first time I had to kind of take a step back and assess my financial situation and say, ‘What can we do differently?’ Because money is the thing that is standing in the way of pursuing my dream.”

[00:06:25] Just increasing your income isn’t the answer:“The problem is, if you can't manage five hundred dollars you can't manage twelve hundred dollars or thirteen hundred dollars—or however much extra money I was bringing in every month. So even though I made more money, I never learned the skills on how to manage it better.”[00:08:52] “You’re doing it wrong.” This is the turning point.
[00:14:17] This is where reality sets in. It's one thing to know you have debt. It's another thing to look at the number on the paper staring back at you…

Melissa starts teaching what she’s learned, and one thing leads to another.

[00:17:24] I found this encouraging, because you don’t have to be a full-on expert or have a lot of credentials. You can be a little further along than a handful of other people, and teach what you know. Then you learn more, and you can teach more. As you learn new aspects of whatever it is you’re doing, you can add to what you’re teaching.
[00:20:23] “Talking about money is so taboo. Especially if you're bad with money.”
[00:25:40] Budgeting: “The reason you don't know where your money went is because you didn't tell it where to go in the first place. And that is that's the most important lesson.”

[00:32:03] Co

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Terry Weaver is a speaker, author, coach, podcaster, and ideapreneur. In this episode, we discuss influence, impact, and Making Elephants Fly.

terryweaver.com
twitter.com/terryweaver
instagram.com/terrytheweaver
facebook.com/terryweaver

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!

Matt Ham is a speaker, author, and storyteller. He’s a co-founder of YouPrint.life a faith development mentoring organization where he helps people uncover their mission and find where to start. In this episode, Matt shares his vision for 2018, essential questions to find your voice, and how a teachable moment for his kids turned into a teachable moment for us all.
mattham.com
youprint.life

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!

Ronne Rock tells stories that change stories. She is a writer, blogger, speaker, advocate, and adventurer. A former marketing and communications executive, Ronne shares her experience in creative leadership with faith-based organizations around the world.Here's the link to the questions Ronne mentions:15 Questions Every Millennial Needs to Ask to Discover Their True CallingWebsite: ronnerock.comT/IG: @ronnerockFB: facebook.com/RonneRockWrites

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!

Courtney Buzzell talks about storytelling and marketing—and what it means to be authentic. Courtney owns Proximo Marketing Strategies, an international digital marketing firm based in Virginia, and CoWork Gloucester, a business incubator. She co-authored the book Brass Ovaries: Own Yours.*Connect with Courtney at proximomarketing.com Twitter: @courtbuzzell 

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Mission Writers is a library of resources to help missionaries and nonprofits raise funds through storytelling. I've been re-organizing the content in response to some of your comments and suggestions, and I'll have some great resources for you soon. Sign up for my emails so you'll know when it's ready!