Aaron Draplin is not afraid to say what he thinks. I found myself resonating with so much of his story and especially his willingness to say what everyone is thinking, but is too afraid to say.

His own about page sums it better than I could:

Bred from the loins of the proud Midwest, this little fucker was squeezed out in Detroit, in the year 1973 to the proud parents of Jim and Lauren Draplin.

@Draplin
Draplin Design Co

What do you do when you have no good choices in front of you? Are you a failure if you quit or delay? I don't think so.

I talked to my Justin about my podcasting course and give you a behind the scenes look about what's been going on and where I'm at with the course.

Seth Godin says, in his book, The Dip:

"Sometimes we get discouraged and turn to inspirational writing, like stuff from Vince Lombardi: 'Quitters never win and winners never quit.' Bad advice. Winners quite all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time. Most people quit. They just don't quit successfully."

If you've ever created a product or wanted to, I hope this will be an encouragement to you.

Barrett is an amazingly smart dude with a great story and super helpful advice. In addition to being the Director of Member Success at Fizzle.co, a training platform and community for honest independent entrepreneurs building businesses they believe in, he's also worked for Seth Godin & founded a company called Living for Monday.

We pretty much covered the gamut, talking about our common roots in the Southeast, our distaste for the current state of American education and how to do what you really want to do, plus a lot more.

As always, I had a great time talking to Barrett. Enjoy the show!

@barrettabrooks
BarrettBrooks.com
Fizzle.co

I was beyond excited to get to sit down with him and have a conversation about what actually matters in these little lives we lead and businesses we're trying to build.

Merlin is an independent writer, speaker, and podcaster based in San Francisco. You may know him from Back to Work, Roderick on the Line, and You Look Nice Today.

I loved these two quotes, which pretty much sums it all up for me:

“My narrative is that I’ve never known what’s coming next—I still don’t. I fell down the right set of stairs and have been surrounded by people who have picked me up and said, “Let’s try this again.” It’s been one anxious block of uncertainty after another.”

“…most of us are so stuck in this notion of how stuff should go that we want to find one of seven stories that matches our narrative. The fact is that most of us are wandering around, scared shitless, wondering what the fuck’s going to happen next.”

As always, I had a great time talking to Merlin. Enjoy the show!

@hotdogsladies
MerlinMann.com
Back To Work
Roderick on the Line

But there are some principles here and I loved going through them because I really needed to hear it myself.

Everything I’m talking about is pretty much stolen straight from Seth Godin and how I’ve applied what he talks about to my own situation. So, all credit to Seth for his amazing work on this topic.

Stephanie is the cartoonist and writer behind ArtToSelf.com, sending you a daily personalized, inspiring cartoon and note to help you start the day from a positive place. She is also the cartoonist and money expert at EmpoweredDollar.com

On her website, she describes herself this way:

"If you asked me in this moment to describe myself in a few words, I’d say that I’m a curious, creative, contemplative, positive, spiritual, grounded, joyful woman who’s full of love. But in the not-so-good moments, I’d describe myself  as an over-analytical, obsessive, untethered, self-critical perfectionist. Ouch."

I fuckin love that because I feel the same way most of the time, except for the "joyful woman" part.

This was a great conversation. Stephanie's story was an inspiration to me to keep at it and I know it will be for you too.

As always, I had a great time talking to Stephanie. Enjoy the show!

@stephhalligan
ArtToSelf.com
Empowereddollar.com

There are so many sleazy tactics and practices, half-truths and outright lies. If you’re not a part of it, you wouldn’t believe some of the things that people do.

Pat Flynn, on the other hand, has built a reputation for being an honest, completely above board kind of guy. And I was curious about how he did that? And more importantly, how do you stay true to yourself when money enters the equation (and in Pat's case, lot's of money)?

We talked about all of that and a lot more in this packed conversation. I learned a lot of things about Pat that I didn't know. What's the point of it all? Is he satisfied? Has his success brought the fulfillment he had hoped for?

As always, I had a great time talking to Pat. Enjoy the show!

@patflynn
SmartPassiveIncome.com
PatFlynn.com
SPI TV

I decided to talk about exactly that in today’s episode. Really I was trying to encourage myself, but I hope it encourages you too.

It’s a marathon. Not a sprint. Keep moving. Keep getting better. Keep showing up. And good things will happen.

“Patience and perseverance have a magical affect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” ~ John Quincy Adams

Enjoy the show!

Mary Beth spent more than a decade in the financial planning industry before deciding she'd had enough of the corporate world and made the indiepreneur leap.

Now, she works for herself, shaking up the traditional views of that industry by focusing specifically on GenYers, helping them make smart choices with their money.

As always, I had a great time talking to Mary Beth. Enjoy the show.

@marybstorj
WorkableWealth.com

It was my honor to sit down with Leigh in Nashville last year and talk about her life, music, the struggle of being an artist and what has ended being the truly meaningful things in her life.

As always, I had a great time talking to Leigh. Enjoy the show.

@leighannenash
Leigh on Facebook