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- [00:00]
Ryan Hogue
Like, even if you were listening to this podcast and you don't think you have a lot, like, you have a lot relative to other people on this world that you could be happy for, and you're also in control of your, like, number one, too. Like, you could live the same day, like through a positive lens or a negative lens and see it two completely different ways while you do the exact same. The exact same thing, you know, so 1,000%.
- [00:17]
Cody McGuffey
It's your perspective on life.
- [00:18]
Ryan Hogue
Like, we're so powerful. You know what I mean?
- [00:20]
Cody McGuffey
We.
- [00:20]
Ryan Hogue
We literally, like everything is inside of us, you know, and. And it's like you gotta win kind of like the mental and the physical war together. I think they go hand in hand and of the war, I guess, whatever, like, to get to where you want to be.
- [00:31]
Cody McGuffey
Welcome back to Built Online, the podcast where we dive into everything online business. Here we explore the minds of. Of creators who are building online businesses to power their dream lives and ultimately transform economies. I'm your host, Cody McGuffey, and if you're new here, I'm the founder and CEO of Everbee, a creator commerce platform where we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue their passions and to live life on their own terms. We're on a mission to make creator commerce accessible to everyone throughout the world, no matter where they are, and to make a positive impact in our families and our communities. And we believe that everyone that truly commits to a vision and pursues it with an undeniable force of will, that they will ultimately succeed. I'm really excited about today's show. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to ask a quick favor for anyone that's listened to the show before, if you haven't already, please let us know if these episodes and these conversations are. Are helpful or not. Share your feedback in the comments and review it if you. If you would. It truly helps the podcast. It helps our team, it helps me personally understand what types of guests that we should have on the podcast that really just helps us improve the show to make it better. We need your feedback. We would not be able to operate without your feedback. So be sure to follow the podcast, subscribe to the channel wherever you're watching this. So you really never really miss out on that. That one nugget that can really change. Change your life. Enough of that. Really excited to have you here. Let's jump into today's show. Ryan. What's up, man?
- [02:01]
Ryan Hogue
Hey, Cody. Good to see you, man. Been a While.
- [02:04]
Cody McGuffey
I know, man, it's been over a year. Super happy to have you back on. I know that the. The audience would love to get an update on kind of where you're at, but overall, man, how are you doing?
- [02:14]
Ryan Hogue
Really good. Honestly. Life's never been better. The year flew by, but that's because I got engaged at the end of last year and ended up getting married in May of this year. Kind of, I would say, like, really a dream wedding. I didn't really have a dream wedding, but I always, in my mind, kind of like, if I had to project it, saw myself getting married on a beach. And we ended up doing it, like on the beach in Destin, Florida, which you guys. You guys have never heard of, man. It's like white sand beaches, beautiful, beautiful weather, too. Like, the weather participated. It was amazing.
- [02:45]
Cody McGuffey
I've heard that's beautiful. I haven't been there yet, but I am in Austin now in Texas, so that Destin's, like, coming up more and more often, like, in the conversations, so we need to get there. When did you guys get together? You're in your wife and you got engaged. So how long were you all together before you engaged?
- [03:00]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, I think it was. I don't know the exact year. I probably should. I think it was about 2016. And you know what's funny, man? It's like, like, kind of like perception on things in life. This is one of my favorite stories to tell because, like, having an online business has been a blessing in the monetary sense, but I've paid the price with my lower back and I've had to, like, I've always been, like, kind of a gym guy taking physical fitness seriously, but I maybe didn't take, like, maintenance of my body seriously, you know, because one thing to, like, lift heavy weights, it's another to be, like, responsible about stretching and all that stuff, right? And it forced me to do that. It led me to taking yoga. And that just so happens to be where I met my wife. So I've got all these lower back problems, but it ends up, you know, I meet my wife, I make, you know, a good amount of money now from online business, you know, led me to this podcast here with you today. So it's kind of like, funny how, you know, I could look at it as a negative 3, 1 lens and then, you know, big positive through another.
- [03:51]
Cody McGuffey
That's how life works, man. That's so interesting. Tell me about your wife a little bit. So she was a yoga instructor. Was she just at the yoga class?
- [03:58]
Ryan Hogue
Both.
- [03:59]
Cody McGuffey
Both.
- [03:59]
Ryan Hogue
She was not instructing that class though. Um, it was honestly like kind of like a. Just really like a basic, basic beginner yoga class. So I don't even know why she was there. Maybe she was into me. I like to, I like to pretend. But yeah, it was just more like a stretching course. I think the classes she teaches are a little bit more advanced. And she actually did teach at that. It was a gym, but you know, they had a n yoga studio at the gym and I worked right next door so I would just pop out during my lunch break. And she, she loves physical fitness like I do. We bonded over that. And also, you know, online business now I don't know if like I rubbed off on her a bit. She's five years younger than me, so she didn't necessarily have to have the, the drive at the time that we met because she was only I guess, 22, you know what I mean? So she was young then. She's five years younger.
- [04:42]
Cody McGuffey
I'm.
- [04:42]
Ryan Hogue
I'm. She's 30 now. I'm 35. So yeah, over time, you know, we've grown together with the online business. I like to tell people that I was in Amazon merch tier 10 when we met actually. She likes to tell people that, you know, now I'm in tier 200,000, which puts me in like the top like 0.01% of merch accounts.
- [04:59]
Cody McGuffey
So funny how we. That's our world, right? It's so funny. People that don't know anything about E commerce would never know what you're talking about. And I'm so excited to have you on, man. Again, this is number two, by the way, for anyone listening to this. And Ryan came on. If you want to check out our first episode, it was over a year ago, I believe. Episode 16 actually. And so go back, we'll link to that description. Link in the link to that in the description below or the show notes. So definitely go check that out. But Ryan, can we hear a little bit about your story for anyone that hasn't heard of you or know who you are? It's probably rare, but just jump in and give us like the 15 second, 30 second spiel.
- [05:34]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, for sure, man. The long of it, or I guess the short of it was I was working, you know, most would say successfully as a web developer. I got a master's degree just cause I didn't know what to do with my life after I graduated. Like I had a good job as a web developer with the master's degree like in tech. That doesn't Pay. So I had to find a way to make it pay. Cause I got it really for no reason. So I emailed one of my instructors. I was like, hey, can I teach? And they said, you know what? We have a opening. And I never had any ambition to teach. Ended up teaching at my alma mater for seven and a half years. Cause again, I just tried to make that master's degree that I paid for actually make me money, right? So you never know where life's gonna take you. So I was working as a web developer, having my own web development kind of side hustle company, building websites for people, but also building my own websites, monetizing them through Google Ads and really having no clue, by the way, just learning as I go and teaching at, you know, teaching at night. And I wasn't, you know, I was making a lot of money, but like, I wasn't happy in the sense that I wasn't like doing the things in life that we dream about. And I kind of always subscribe to that belief that like, you know, we, as far as we know, we get one go, right? So we might as well live the life that, you know, people dream of living. You know, being able to travel, being able to enjoy friends and family and not stress over the fact that you're there and you're not, you know, doing something. I don't know, I just. I was a no man, you know, and I want to be a yes man. I wanted to be able to say yes to everything. And I would find myself stressing on vacation, which is crazy, man, like to even look back at that time. So I ended up like, pivoting to passive income. It led me down the rabbit hole of Amazon fba, which I still do to this day, but only one product. I keep one product in stock. That FBA is really hard now. It also led to me learning about Print on Demand, which is a great business model, selling things like T shirts, mugs, etc, with little designs on them. And that's been real successful for me. I started a YouTube channel where I told my story about my Print on Demand and FBA journey. And, you know, it's just been fun, man. Like, I don't have it all figured out. I just kind of learn as I go. And that's kind of what led me here today to, you know, again tell my story.
- [07:24]
Cody McGuffey
It's cool, man. And I love how you're so modest too. But guys, if you haven't, you know, if you don't know who Ryan is, I mean, he's featured on CNBC he talks about passive income, like you mentioned. Ryan, you mentioned that you had one of your best years last year or this year, I think it was. And where you end up averaged out about 49,000 or something like that per month in profit. Does that sound right?
- [07:47]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, that's. That's right, man. And just so anybody knows, like that was in. That was from a CNBC article that they published on me and they verify that, like, you know what I mean? The first time that they reached out and I got in the first article, that was 2022, it took like five or six months to get that article published. So like they're, they're really, they do their due diligence and I didn't even know, honestly, like, I didn't even know. I had to like go basically go through all my numbers, send them like bank statements, crap like that. That's what it worked out to. So huge year that was 2023. And that actually also ultimately helped lead to the. We were talking before we hit record that I, we. We moved into a new house this year as well. So that's been a blessing. Been a real busy year between getting married and we had never bought a house that was like in construction. So we were able to kind of modify it as it was being built and now we're moved in. Sorry if there's a little echo, by the way, to any audio listeners working on getting that fixed. So still we literally just moved in last week, so. But yeah, it's crazy, man.
- [08:42]
Cody McGuffey
Yeah, that's insane. Congratulations. I think it's so important for us to like celebrate these huge things in your life, but also like the small things that compound into the big things, which is really cool. And this is kind of why we all do it, right? This is why we're trying to build online businesses, why we're trying to create things online. And I've always loved that about you and been inspired by you in this is the fact that you're so intentional with your life. It seems this seems this way. It's where you're very, you're thoughtful about what you do with your time, optimizing certain things, focusing on certain things. And you have like a long term view on things as well. It seems like to me, I don't know if you would agree with all that. That's just my perception of you. And I think it's just a reminder for all of us listening to this is this is totally possible given any economy, any political something happening. You've done this in the last a Lot of it. All for the last 10 years. But let's say last two years, which has arguably been a pretty bad economy for the majority of people. I would say that, like, inflation's high, you know, it's. It's tough in. At least in the usa. And it doesn't mean it has to be tough for you. Doesn't have to be tough for the person listening to this. Curious what your thoughts are on this. That's just my perspective. Yeah.
- [09:49]
Ryan Hogue
No, I appreciate it, man. And, like. But there's one thing about me that kind of, I think was like, a big driver is just gamifying life. Like, I grew up with a big addiction to computer games. Call it what it is, it's just what it was. Like, I was a gamer, but it was all for fun until I was, like, 13 years old and played my first, like, online computer game against other people. And, like, that just triggered something in me to want to be the best, you know, always. Right. You know what I mean? And I feel like as I grew up, I kind of had to evolve out of, like. Well, I didn't have to because I know plenty of people my age that didn't, you know, And I'm not, like, trying to be judgy or whatever. It's like, you get one life, so just understand that. Like, you know, I feel like your actions kind of speak for you louder than your words and your intent. Right. Your actions are really what people judge you by. So if you spend all day playing computer games, like, you're going to manifest that life for yourself. And I kind of stepped away from that and gamified life so that I could bring that same, like, passion and intensity to my business that would, you know, benefit me and my family down the line. You know, I always say, like, I'm working. I. The way I think about it is, like, I'm working for my unborn kids. You know what I mean? Eventually, we want to have a family, so I want to have, like, stuff, you know, set up for them when we bring them into this world. That started with, like, this house, you know, as like, a nice place to raise kids.
- [11:00]
Cody McGuffey
Hopefully, I'm sure we'll be given the. Given the size and all that stuff we talked about offline. Can you share with the audience on ballpark of how much you paid for the house just to continue to inspire people of what's possible with online business?
- [11:14]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, for sure. Like, this is my second home. The first one I rent out to one of my good friends. It was cool, though, when I Bought that first home, it was just like all my boys, we all lived there, so it was cool to like bring everybody together. And like, I don't want to take any credit, I think it was just coincidence, but like somehow everybody that lived there, like seven of us in total over the span of like maybe eight years, like six of us bought homes, like bought places from there, you know, so that was really cool. Maybe I just inspired them. Cause I did it, did it first. But this new home is about $2 million, so it's, it's a beast, you know what I mean? It's definitely got some extra rooms for, for bringing some kids into, into the world at some point in the future.
- [11:49]
Cody McGuffey
So I love that, man. Congratulations again. I'm so excited for you.
- [11:52]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, thanks man. And just to talk about like before, what you were saying is like, if anybody's listening, just, just keep a long term plan. That's really what I would say. Like it doesn't have to be where everything is written out, like exactly what it's going to be, but if you just have a long term plan and then every day when you kind of wake up, like just be about it, just like let it occupy your headspace. Like I think the most valuable thing you have is your mind. And there's so many things competing for your time and attention that are like unproductive or straight up, like counterproductive and like not good for you. And one thing that like I'd never struggled with ever was like addiction to like social media or those unproductive things. Like, like we don't watch, like we don't even have like cable, you know what I'm saying? Like, we don't waste our time with that. Like we do watch a little tv and dude, we'll watch like the dumbest shows when we watch tv because it just takes our brain off of business, you know, off of like the fast life. But like, you know what I mean? Like all these things that I feel like a lot of people occupy their, their finite and you know, like rare amount of time with, I think a lot of times it's like counterproductive. So if you really want to, like, if it's important to you to make money for whatever reason, to have a family, to have a bigger house, maybe you just want a nicer car. Maybe it's just a quality of life thing. You want to be able to take nice trips, whatever, figure out what that amount of money is and just kind of like write it down and then come up with like a little plan. Of like how you might get there. I mean there's, it's really like, like if you think of the number just really quick, I'm just on the fly. If you say I want an extra $5,000 a year. So to me what that means is you want to make. I'm just going to do 5,000 divided by 365, that's $13.70 a day. That's, you know, I'm saying like 5,000, that's a lot of money. Thirteen a day, that's nothing. You know what I mean? It's like the same number but just different perception, you know what I mean? And just break things down into bite sized chunks and come up with a plan and then execute.
- [13:36]
Cody McGuffey
I love that, man. Exactly. That's kind of what I was talking about with your intentionality towards life, which I appreciate so much. So just to summarize real quick, $2 million house, you just purchased $49,000 a month in profit recently, like the year before, last year. And then this year it's, it's probably on track or even more than that, this year you have a life of, it seems to me, and to people listening to this, of freedom of options to where you can kind of choose what you want to say yes to and choose what you want to say no to. And a lot of people will look at your life as it's a dream life. Right. Which I don't know if you'd fully agree, but I think you, you would agree mostly, right? It's on a spectrum. I know, but mostly agree. And now I would like to understand how do you do this? So that way people listening to this can actually come take some, some of these things away and be like, ah, that's Ryan's way to life. I want to do it like that. And you've already mentioned writing down a plan or writing down like what you want. Kind of work backwards from there, like365. How else do you design your life? And how would you recommend someone else does it?
- [14:38]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah. To comment on the dream life. I mean, are we ever really living our dream life? Like I have no clue what that really is. Right. I saw a picture on like social media of like people in jail that had a, like a PlayStation 5 and they're just playing games all day and like their meals are taken care of, they get yard time, they can work out. Then they got their video games and I was just like, man, like some people would kill for that life, you know what I mean? I, now I think about it Maybe literally, but yeah, like my life is not necessarily that, like where I have no, you know, I definitely wake up and I'm like, oh, I gotta get this done, gotta get that done.
- [15:07]
Cody McGuffey
Sure.
- [15:07]
Ryan Hogue
So it's always something, right? But the easiest way to relate to this is just like what I had to do to get over the hump. And I don't even know what the hump really was. I guess it's been you can like quit your 9 to 5. Like I had already replaced my 9 to 5 income in 2019. Like, I mean I started my passive income journey really at like the tail end of 2016. Early 2017 is when I made my first online sales. One driving factor, by the way of everything I did was I always wanted to have automated fulfillment of every order, right? So it's like sell something. It could be physical products, it could be print on demand, it could be information, automated fulfillment. Oh, go ahead.
- [15:41]
Cody McGuffey
Why, why, why was that an important piece? I think I understand why, but I want everyone else to understand like why. Yeah, you need to be automated.
- [15:48]
Ryan Hogue
I never needed, I never wanted to plan on needing to achieve outlier success to be successful. So like my whole thing was like, I'm just going to do everything right, like to the best of my ability and not plan on being the number one bestseller, but like be like the number three bestseller, you know what I mean? And like with my FBA products and with my Print on Demand products, I literally just said if I can make one sale a year with these products, I will make more than enough money. And I still to this day take that approach. So like, I don't, I don't actually, I forgot the question. My bad.
- [16:20]
Cody McGuffey
Yeah, no, you're, you're. I was basically asking like why you think why, why is the automation so important for. And I think what you're going to is like you want it to be passive, you want it to be automatic and that basically it's a volume game kind of.
- [16:32]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, I'd rather play the volume game and just know that I'll get there with time. You know what I mean? It almost has a certainty. So I don't need to have like number one bestsellers now. Along the way. Have I had number one best selling FBA products? Yes. I've done like where. Yeah, I've have had like huge days of different products too. Different SKUs, completely different categories. I've done it with Print on Demand where you're making thousand dollar days. I had a few of those this year. Like more than a few, like When I say thousand dollars, I'm talking profit. Like it with the, with the, with the automated fulfillment, you know, that allows you to scale and also just allows you to live your life. You know what I mean? If you want to go on that vacation or whatever, you can rest easy that, you know, for the most part things are taken care of. There's still going to be some issues.
- [17:12]
Cody McGuffey
Always. I mean, yeah, there's nothing. The way I always viewed it is like no such thing as like completely passive. But you can like, there's more passive things than other things, right. And it's not, it's a spectrum. And the idea is that just like people say, like, oh, real estate is passive income, right? Like rental real estate is passive income. Well, I mean, not passive. It's not passive all the time. It's passive most days. Right. But you still have to manage a property manager. If you don't have a property manager, you still have a tenant. Sinks break, bathrooms get clogged, things happen. Right. So it's not always passive forever. And then you need to go and buy the real estate and then sell the real estate one day too. It's like, it's not completely passive. But the point was, is that is I've always viewed this stuff is like, I just want optionality. I want the option to say yes or I want the option to say no. And I just. And to me that means freedom. And that's like location freedom. There is time freedom and then there's financial freedom. If I have those three freedoms, I achieve the optionality of saying yes to no to yes or no to pretty much anything in my life, which makes me happy. It gives me peace, gives me comfort. I could sleep well at night knowing that if I want to move from California to Texas tomorrow, I can do that now. So now I'm not making a decision based off my money or my job. I'm making decisions off of my family, the dynamics, the schools, and maybe not even that. So I think it's just like optionality. Creating optionality has always been important for me in my life at least. I'm curious what you, how, how you view that and if you view it kind of from the same lens.
- [18:32]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, no, I, that's a great way of putting it too. And I felt like I had that up until I think last year in 2023, where I think I finally found my limits in terms of like me as a one man show. And I know that part of the evolution of like my story is going to be eventually like having employees or, you know, virtual assistants, whatever. I truly got here with none. I've experimented, I've hired maybe like five in my day. And like, it's nothing. It's not an indictment on them. It's just like, dude, I just suck at like, like working with people, you know, like one of the biggest things I looked forward to getting out of my web developer job and just working for myself was, was getting away from that. And I don't know, hopefully it doesn't come across like too negative. Like I was like a programmer and like when you program, like it's all about efficiency or it can be, I mean, I guess it's not for everybody, but like, it can be, you know, like one of the best analogies I can say is if you sit 100 programmers down, give them the same assignment, like the person who finishes first is the best programmer most likely, you know, because they got it done the least amount of code, which means they're writing efficient code and you know, it's going to run faster and stuff like that too. And it's just like, that was me. That's why I also did my online business. Like I called it the double down. I'd be at work getting paid at my 9 to 5, getting all my work done. You know, like, literally they would downsize my team at the. I only had two normal nine to five jobs, both as a web developer. They downsized both teams I was on because I could take on so much work and I wasn't trying to be a dick about it. Like, I just would do the work and then move on to the stuff that I actually cared about. You know, that's just, that's kind of a part of my story is I always look for efficiencies and I guess that translated into my online businesses too. You know, I don't necessarily need. I mean, I'm sure I could benefit from some, in some ways, but like a lot of the stuff that was time consuming for me in the past, like I've been able to replace with different, you know, automation tools and nowadays with like the last two years, like AI tools as well.
- [20:20]
Cody McGuffey
Why do you feel like you have employees and a bigger business in your future and is do you actually want that or do you just feel like you have to do that?
- [20:28]
Ryan Hogue
I think I'll end up doing it regardless. Just to free up time to be like, I don't know when we're gonna have kids, but like, I just always, I'm on a plan. I want it to be like, I want to Let that seed kind of like sit in my head so it doesn't just hit me all at once and I'm not prepared. We should talk about, be able to free up time, you know, you're happy.
- [20:43]
Cody McGuffey
To help with that, some of that stuff too. Not that I'm an expert either, but I mean, different journeys, right. And we have 40 employees now at this point. So like we're, and we're growing, we'll probably be 50 by the next, you know, in the next few months. So it's just, it's, it's definitely an interesting mindset because I used to be a one man show or me and my wife would be a two man show. And us having kids and us having like different ambitions, different goals, it kind of like translates into different necessities and different skills that I need to learn. But I think it also depends on the ideal outcome. Like what is the goal? Like, because if you were to optimize for passive income or optimize for highest profit margins, or optimize for a freedom lifestyle that doesn't usually equal more employees. Right. So it's interesting. But if I'm optimizing for a bigger business, bigger impact, like different type of thing, like, oh, I'll probably need employees in order to get there. So I think it just depends on the goal.
- [21:39]
Ryan Hogue
That's a great way of putting it. Yeah. And that's the thing. It's like, it's like, man, we get as far as we know, one life, right? So it's like if we're serious about our goals and we know what the goal is first and foremost. Like define it. You know, maybe not exact, but it's like I want a one million dollar house, I want a two million dollar house. And by the way, like, hate to say it, but you know, the definition of a $1 million house is changing in real time. Like you gotta like we, we are in a game or a game is being played around us. We need to be like cognizant of that, you know, like money. To me, I just, it is a game and you gotta understand the rules of what's happening, you know, and that's, that's like also kind of forces our hands into. I think you need to like live in abundance. You need to make more money than you, than you spend. And then you need to like kind of use it to like purchase assets that appreciate relative to, you know, you.
- [22:20]
Cody McGuffey
Know, I love talking about this. I'm happy we're going here because it's like a, it's a Fun thing to talk about because it's so polarizing. Also, like, how much is too much? Hey, why can't you just be happy with your $2 million house, Ryan? Why are you already thinking about the next $2 million house? Why do you have to be building the next business? Why can't you just enjoy, like, are you just not happy? Like, all these things? Right? You could just hear people commenting and hear people talking about these things. What is your view on it? I know I have a strong stance on it, but I'm curious what yours is.
- [22:46]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, I want to know, too, with you, like, how many of your, like, close friends and. And. Or family do you ever talk with, like, talk business with? Because it's, like, with us, man, it's. It's rare. It's, like, extremely rare. Like, it's like, literally, maybe Marielle's parents and then my wife's parents, and that's about it. The rest, we don't talk business with anybody. You know what I mean? And we're still cool. Like, we, like. I like to think we're, like, the fun couple, you know? I mean, because we can kick it and we can BS about anything. You know, we always, like, can have a good time and talk whatever, you know, and laugh. But, like, business is, like, what drives us, you know, the majority of most days, right. Like, when we're actually living the month. Let's just say at least, like, Monday to Friday. But let's be real. It's. It's Sunday to Saturday. It's seven days a week. Sorry, what was the question again, man? I'm terrible.
- [23:24]
Cody McGuffey
Yeah. No, no, you kind of. Yeah, I know. I know. It's fun. This is. This is, like, the real conversations. Yeah. You kind of asked me, you know, how many people about business, and the answer would be not. Not many. In our friend or friends or family group. I mean, it's definitely changing naturally because we're evolving of, like, who we hang out with, who we spend the most time with. But my family. When I say my family, my. My wife and I, we are very serious about, like, what we're trying to achieve in our lifetime. That's limited, right? So it's. We don't screw around with talking about stuff that's not important to us anymore. We used to, because we didn't know, but we. I believe so much in the power of influence and our power of our environment that it is my obligation in order to, like, achieve these certain goals that provide for the people that rely on me, which is over 40 employees now, which is my kids, which are my future grandkids. All these people are relying on me to be very, very serious about what I'm doing. So people would probably say that I'm, like, I'm too intense with this stuff, and maybe I am, but for me, like, this makes me happy. We usually don't even have a lot of friendships that don't really share the same type of ambitions or goals that we do. If we do have friendships, we're very, very kind, and we're, like, acquaintances. But we're not going to spend many, many hours with these people. Not because we feel like we're better, not because they're better than us. It's just simply just we're on different paths. And it's my responsibility as a father and a leader in my company to be the best person I can possibly be for them. If anything detracts from that, I'm now not fulfilling my obligation. That's kind of intense, I know, but that's honestly how I view it.
- [25:02]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, yeah, yeah, dude, I can relate, man. Yeah. Like, you know, everybody's internal monologue is different. Like, but that's how I feel. Like, that's how I feel, too, you know? And, like, just being alive is such a blessing alone, you know, Even if you choose a completely different path with, like, no dependence, no employees or kids, it's like, you still, in my opinion, like, should, you know, be the best version of yourself you could be, I.
- [25:20]
Cody McGuffey
Don'T think the best version of ourselves. Yeah, no, it's not. That's literally why if you're. If you're religious, this is why God put you here. If you're not religious, you're spiritual. Like, that's why the universe created you. If you just believe in evolution, I guess that's how we've evolved. That's how we've continued to evolve. Like, we need to be the best versions of ourselves, and if we're not, then we're just leaving chips on the table. And I personally do not want to be dying on deathbed knowing that I left chips on the table. Like, that sounds like a miserable last day of mine.
- [25:46]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, I mean, just living a fulfilled life, too. Like, when I go to bed at night, it's like, I like being able to be happy about my day and looking forward to tomorrow, even if it's going to be, like, a grueling day. Like, you know, learning to, like, exist, exist outside your comfort zone. And when I say grueling, it's like, what am I doing? I'm probably sitting in this chair just working, but it's like, you know what I mean? I'm working towards something and I feel good about that. I'm a little bit closer to it, you know, and outside of this realm too. It's, it's all the other things. It's maintaining like healthy, healthy friendships, like friends, family, it's you know, taking care of your body. You know what I mean? I think it all goes together like nutrition. Obviously it's not that you need to eat healthy, but if you eat unhealthy, the gut brain axis, your brain is going to start working less efficiently and that's, that's hurting your business. It's, it's everything, it's a holistic thing. And like I, I honestly study like I call it, I call it studying how the world really works. And you could almost summarize like the findings of like me spending literally tens of thousands of hours into these studies that continue to this day as like if you flow with nature, like if you kind of just like literally I just say flow with nature and don't try to fight nature, the natural order, everything just is so much easier in just every aspect of life is how I would describe it.
- [26:47]
Cody McGuffey
I like that. I completely agree. How do you view your vision for your life? A lot of people, I'm actually realizing this as I'm getting older and as I meet new friends. There is a lack, personally in my opinion, there's a lack of people that have a vision for their life, for the future of their life. They might think about the next month, they might think about the next six months. But like after a year they're not really thinking. After three years, they're definitely not thinking. After five years, they're definitely not thinking. 10 years, 20 years and 30 years, kind of forget about it. Right. And so I found, I thought that everybody kind of just does this personally. Um, I thought I'm just like, oh, everybody's like thinking about their future, right? And as I realize as I spend more time with very high performing people, by the way, they don't. And I'm curious of how you view like your life, your future vision for yourself, for your family, for your businesses. Do you view it intentionally or just kind of like let it happen?
- [27:42]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, man. It's kind of talking about what you just said, it's not something that I've ever really talked about and I don't really think that much about. Cause it's kind of like, it's not like a happy thought, right? It's not something I would wish for other people. I want people to, to have like an exciting, like short, medium and long term outlook and look forward to like the struggle as much as you look forward to what that yields, you know, in the happiness, you know. Yeah, I mean, for me, I don't stress too much about like what I want to achieve in life. Like I said, like, I'm used to, like, I had the gamer and I brought that gaming intensity every day to computer games and I just transitioned that to business. So it's been almost natural for me. And, you know, you kind of like, learn to like love living outside of your comfort zone. Like, like, I guess for me too, like growing up, being in the gym, you know, probably on average like five to six days a week since I was 16, since I got my first membership. And like, what do you do in the gym? You push yourself, you get uncomfortable. You know what I mean? And it's like, so you do it in the physical realm, then you do it in the mental realm, in the business realm and. Yeah, I mean, dude, I don't know, man. Like, this is where kind of like religion would probably factor into to kind of help you with like a nice, like, kind of positive outlook and kind of stopping every day and taking a second. Just be grateful for what you have, whether it's a lot or a little, you know, because that's also just a relative mark. Like even if you were listening to this podcast and you don't think you have a lot, like you have a lot relative to other people on this world that you can be happy for and you're also in control of your, like, number one too. Like you could live the same day, like through a positive lens or a negative lens and see it two completely different ways while you do the exact same, the exact same thing, you know.
- [29:13]
Cody McGuffey
So 1000% it's your perspective on life.
- [29:15]
Ryan Hogue
Like, we're so powerful, you know what I mean? We, we literally like everything is inside of us, you know, and. And it's like you gotta win kind of like the mental and the physical war together. I think they go hand in hand. And it's the war, I guess, whatever. Like, to get to where you want to be, like, they just go hand in hand. Just take it seriously. Like, get good sleep, eat well, keep a positive outlook, set goals and chip away at them little by little, you know, to summarize at a high level.
- [29:36]
Cody McGuffey
For goals kind of goals, using vision and goals kind of interchangeably here, what, how far out do you set your goals? Is it usually 12 months in advance. Like, is it two years, five years? What is it, one month?
- [29:49]
Ryan Hogue
Nah, man. Like, for me, it's more like, it's more like honestly, through, through studying how the world works, which will, like, it teaches you some things about life in general, and you can speculate on other things for the things that are outside of our control. But also it leads you to like, kind of learning about the, the monetary system, you know, and, and that's even if you don't want to, like, worry about, like, what that really means in terms of investing, you're going to learn about it. Like, it's. It's the game that we all play, like it or not. You know, I have this like, free course. It's like a free course that's just like, I call it Business Productivity Hacks, right? It's not even telling you what to do. It's just saying, like, if you're going to run an online business, you're going to want to, like, have multiple computer monitors, right? Because it's going to increase your productivity, little things like that. But it's got a lesson in there called Money. The game we all play, you know, like it or not, right? And it's like, you need to learn a few things about these rules. Not that I set. I don't set the rules, but we all play by them. And this game's being played around us. So it can work for you or against you. And yeah, for me, it's like, dude, I honestly, like, have been working, like I said, to achieve an abundance that I can then, you know, invest into like that 49,000 last year a month. Was not even talking about, like, investing, you know, I mean, that was just pure cash flow, profits. And I told you off camera, but it's like, without even talking about investments, like one, one thing I decided to do, you know, was buying $1,000 of Bitcoin a day because, you know, without getting into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and stuff like that, like, I'm as confident in bitcoin as anything else. You know, I would say in life, like, I'm more confident in bitcoin than anything else in life. So, you know, that's already tripled minimum probably from my dollar cost averaging. As we record this on, you know, November 12th, I want to get to.
- [31:25]
Cody McGuffey
Is why you did that and, and kind of like what the bigger picture is here. Is it just because you just enjoy showing up every single day, like improving in the gym, or do you have this, like, grand plan that you have vision for yourself in the future. That kind of like buying that bitcoin, starting these businesses actually lead you to.
- [31:43]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, I mean what drove me last year was, was I the cash flow I wanted. I'm thinking long term, like, like what I can, I don't even know. I don't want to say give to my kids. I don't know if that's what I want to do per se. You know what I mean?
- [31:53]
Cody McGuffey
I understand what you're saying though.
- [31:54]
Ryan Hogue
You know what I mean? That's the right way to do it. But like I'm thinking in terms of their lifetime, right? I'm not thinking. So like when you say like how long am I thinking? I'm thinking like on a, on a. My day to day business, how can I make money to invest in assets that will benefit them when they're buying?
- [32:10]
Cody McGuffey
Understand?
- [32:11]
Ryan Hogue
Get what I'm saying? That's how I feel. And if you think that way and invest that way, this, this game is so easy, you know, because, and I mean, I still have fun. Like I'll still like yolo some stupid stock options trades. You know what I mean? Like, because, you know, because I can. But like, what was my priority last year? It was to make money, to make, to buy at least $1,000 a day in bitcoin because I knew it was way under. Like, and we say undervalued again. It gets, it goes down the rabbit hole of like, well, what are we valuing in USD? What's, what's moving? Is bitcoin moving or is USD losing value? Right. It's like there's, there's a whole kind of rabbit hole you can go down. But I just thought that like I can multiply my wealth in terms of US Dollars, which most people care about. CNBC article, it's, you know, US$49,000. Right. So I just, that was my goal, right. And led me to making 49k a month profit. It doesn't even factor in that I was turning that profit into assets that like should, you know, appreciate over time. You know. Stocks.
- [33:01]
Cody McGuffey
Yeah, exactly. Next 20 years. Like that. Yeah, exactly.
- [33:03]
Ryan Hogue
Like, dude, in like the month of February this year, like February 2024. I mean, I, it's all like, it was unrealized gains just to be completely transparent. Like, I don't mind being transparent about this stuff. But like my crypto portfolio alone, just the, just the crypto portfolio was making me more than $10,000 a day by the end of the month.
- [33:22]
Cody McGuffey
Wow.
- [33:22]
Ryan Hogue
You know what I mean? In profit. But it's unrealized because my goal was not, that was not the realization of what my targets were, price targets. So but like that's just for perspective. Like set a. Set an intent. My intent was to make money passively, right? Automated fulfillment so I could scale and then just the plan was to just pivot it into these assets that like, you know, last time we talked, I probably told you, it's like, dude, I spent every day since, since March of 2020 understanding that I needed to learn more and be a bit like you said, like be a better, be a better version of myself for all these reasons. And a part of that if I'm going to play this money game and make the money is like you need to protect it and ideally multiply because if other people are doing it, like I've never struggled with like imposter syndrome of like, if I see someone else doing it, I'm just like, I'm gonna do that too. If you can do it, I can do it. That's really where I'm at.
- [34:06]
Cody McGuffey
I love it. So I think for anyone listening to this, I mean the way that Ryan thinks about it is a long term approach and then he has like these short term actions that he just shows up every single day and you actually just go get it done. And that's a beautiful thing. You are thinking about your kids futures already, which is, which is a beautiful thing. I definitely do the same. And I think it makes, it forces us to make really good decisions today because what kind of skills that you need to have, you need to understand how to manage money, you understand how to make money, you need to understand how to multiply the money. And that's a worthwhile skill to be learning today. It's very, very important in order to achieve those goals.
- [34:40]
Ryan Hogue
Dude, it's a modern renaissance man. You know what I mean?
- [34:43]
Cody McGuffey
How so? What do you mean? Tell me more.
- [34:45]
Ryan Hogue
Just like kind of what I was saying and this is just like, I know I don't think most people are cut out for it, but like this is just how I feel. And I don't know, I get the, I feel like you're vibing kind of. But this is like, it's like I want to make money and it's going to be easier to make money if I'm like, like, let's say we're to make money online, right? Because it's like we're born when we were born, grew up with computers. It's like, let's just check these boxes and do what, what makes the most Sense. I think online business makes sense. Okay, now I'm doing this. I'm better at business though, when I get an early morning workout, which I actually skipped today. So that's why my brain's a little bit like, like missing the questions and stuff like that. So my bad. But I get my early workout, then I'm performing better. You know, I get good sleep last night, I'm performing even better, I eat well, I'm performing even better at business and then I'm making more money. But then it's like, it's just half the battle, man. If you put it in your bank account, you're getting crushed, right? And it's like inflation is nothing new. It just kind of ticked up to the point where all of a sudden it's in like the modern day lexicon. But it's not a new phenomenon, right? It's always been there, you know, it's the hidden tax. And it's like, it doesn't have to mean that we're always going to lose though, right? I mean, we are kind of always losing. Like that's where like bitcoin is amazing. But I'm not like some crazy person about bitcoin that thinks it's going to take over the world monetary system or replace it. But it's just kind of funny because it's just like it teaches you about systems thinking. You know, we think of the system that we were born into and inherited as this system of like debt based, debt based money that'll never be paid off and always having inflation and expanding the monetary base and all this stuff and it's just like, it's silly. But that's the game. So understand it, understand the ways to at least like stay afloat, right? Because that's really like a lot of what I'm doing too. Honestly, it sounds like I'm winning. But if you understand number one that like CPI inflation's a rigged data point, you know what I mean? It is, but let's just say it's just cpi. We just want to call it that. At least I can stay afloat with it. You know what I mean? I can. But like to me, if this, I just keep it simple. My version of inflation measure is the stock market. And dude, it's up. It's going to be up like 20 this year, you know, I mean, it's up, it's basically up 20 this year in 2024 as we record this. So to me, inflation is 20. Holistically, obviously it touches each, you know, category of goods differently Interesting man.
- [36:49]
Cody McGuffey
I, I think that kind of going back to like the money, like the more so the mentality around it. The beautiful thing about it is as soon as you understand how to make it online, you can, how now you will have these other problems which are much more fun to solve. You can't really solve how to invest your money and how to manage your money before you actually know how to make your money. It usually doesn't work that way. And it's kind of not that important to fully dive in on that. So it's like, first you need to create the online business, stack cash, then worry about the next phase, which is, okay, how do I multiply this money? Do I invest it back into my business? Do we start another business? Do I invest it into Bitcoin? Do I invest into the stock market? Then you can make the decisions, but you shouldn't do it kind of at the same time, in my opinion. And the second most important thing, I think for anyone to take away this depending on where you are in your online business journey and making money journey, is that don't let anyone tell you that you're greedy, that you only focus on money, and that's all you think about. That's an old mindset and it's not a good mindset. The mindset is if you're a good person, if you're an amazing person and you're listening to this probably because you are, because you want to improve yourself, more money is going to make you more of that same person. They're going. It's going to multiply what you already are and turn you into an even better person. It's going to turn you into an even more generous person. It's going to turn you into an even smarter person. It's going to turn you into an even better husband, a better wife, a better father, because you have more resources. Money is the resource. You can probably buy back some of your time in order to spend more with your spouse.
- [38:20]
Ryan Hogue
Do exactly what you just said right there. That's it, man. That's it. Like, because money's not real in the first place. Think about it. It's. It is literally not real in the sense of like our US dollar, you know what I mean? It's. It's like this fictitious thing and it's literally debt. It's backed by debt and it's owed to some Federal Reserve that's not related to the actual government. You see what I'm saying? It's a private institution. So sorry to cut you off, but it's like, dude, what you just said right there, if anybody's got a problem with like making money, money is time. What is money? To me, it's time. Like when I have workers over to this new house to fix stuff, it's like they're here performing an action that I don't have to perform in exchange for money. So money was spent on their time and their expertise. You know what I mean? At a simple level, I love that you, what you just said, and by.
- [39:00]
Cody McGuffey
The way, and even to expand further on that, is like you having the ability to pay that worker in your country, whether in the us, uk, India, wherever you are in the world. That is the most patriotic thing you can possibly do for the economy. Hiring someone else to come and perform a service for you is you're now feeding their family. That's the, that's the special thing about it. Like you're keeping it all rolling. Like it's, you shouldn't just make money and then like, be so proud that I need to go do my own dishes. Well, if you have the resources, like pay someone to do the dishes because you're also giving that person a job anyway. I know it's an extreme, but the point is it's, it gets really fun. And the more money that you make, the better become better person you tend to become if you're intentional about it. Now we all know that there's outliers and there's bad people out there with a lot of money and there's also bad poor people out there. So anyway, we could probably leave it.
- [39:42]
Ryan Hogue
There, I'll say real quick. And there's like a learning curve to making money too, man. Because like, I remember when I felt like the abundance of it for the first time, which is just everybody has different levels. For sure. When I started feeling it, like I would just like waste it, you know what I mean? Like, I would like go to casinos. I'm like, why am I here? And I would just be like wasting it, you know what I'm saying? Like, wasting more than like my friends would, you know what I mean? Just because I could and I'm like, this is. It doesn't bring me enjoyment or excitement. So you gotta like, like you said, reset, be self aware, be, be gracious, have that long term goal too, you know what I mean? Because if you waste it all, you're never gonna get to the $2 million home, right? So it's just like, I feel like there's a learning curve that you got to go through as well.
- [40:19]
Cody McGuffey
That's interesting. I agree. We all have somebody. Everybody listening to this probably has somebody in their. In their network that has made a lot of money in the past, but somehow they just couldn't. It just slipped all through their fingers. It just like, somehow they just made a whole bunch of money. You're like, they're super successful. And then they, like, let it all go. Like, somehow just kind of like fell through. They spent this, they spent that, they bought the boat, they bought the motorhome, they bought the trailer, they bought this house. And, like, nothing is left over. And that's a sad story to me. I don't. I don't like that story. Um, I feel bad for anyone that's happened too. And I personally have a lot of people in my. In my life that that's happened to. And so kind of going back to your point of this skill, that's understanding how to deploy that resource of money is a very important skill to have. And what I like to tell people, if they first kind of had that abundance, they first felt that type of abundance for the first time. Let's say I made my first $10,000. It's all relative. First $1,000, first $10,000, first $100,000, first million. First thing you should do, nothing. Keep it in your account. Give yourself six months to just sit with that in your account and don't do anything with it. Don't buy anything, don't invest it, don't purchase anything with it. You will have time to do all those things. But what happens is your temperature rises. All of a sudden your temperature is like, I'm comfortable having this amount of money because our mental. Sorry, I'm ranting here, but I think it's such a cool topic when. When we have new things that come into our life that's just, let's say, a hundred thousand dollars for the first time. It's uncomfortable for us. We're like, holy shit, I need to get rid of this. You know, like, look at all the things I could buy. And that's why they say that money's burning a hole in your pocket, because you need to, like, get rid of it. It's not normal for you yet. And so what I encourage anybody. If you had that one product that just absolutely crushed for you. If you sold that course that's absolutely crushed for you. If you got that a hundred thousand dollars in your account, you're nothing for a little while until you learn, educate yourself on how to manage it.
- [42:14]
Ryan Hogue
That's great advice, man. And I was gonna Say, just listening to you, like, on my way up, man. And I'm not saying I'm at the top or anything, but, like, it was initially I wanted that cash flow from business, dude. I would be listening to podcasts. You know what I'm saying? I'd be mowing the lawn listening to business podcasts. I'd be in the gym listening to podcasts. I'll be in the car in traffic, which is so miserable where I live. And fortunately, now, guess what? I don't have to deal with it. But that was a huge motivating factor for me. I'd be listening to business podcasts, like, the stuff that, like, I really cared about in my life. I let my actions speak for me. It wasn't just something I talked about. It was something that, like, I did, you know, I. So I would just say, man, people are really capable of anything. If I can do it, you can do it, and anybody can do it. But, like, learn from people like Cody and like me, you know, now that I feel like I've accomplished, you know, a decent amount to. To share, like, because, like, on my way up, I was listening to other people who had been there already and just trying to get those insights. And what's funny is you'll hear stuff five years ago and like, to like, five years later, I'll be like, I get it now. It's resonating, you know, like, some of the stuff I absorbed, but I felt like early on it was more like, matter of fact, tell me what to do. And then the more conceptual stuff, it just kind of like, sets over time.
- [43:23]
Cody McGuffey
That's such good advice. Completely agree. Like, what we're saying is you could probably sense anybody listening to this. You could sense the passion from Ryan's side of things and probably from my, too. It just, like, spills out of us. And if you're listening this far in to us just, like, rant and talk about things, you're probably obsessed, too. So give yourself permission to just be totally okay with who you are. And you're very, very obsessed with business. The fact that you're listening 45 minutes of us just ranting like this. And it just shows that in five years from now, I'm talking to you. If you're listening to this, watching this, you are going to make it for sure. Just don't stop. Just don't stop. You won't make it.
- [43:59]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, I always, dude, like, I always knew. And I tell my wife this, too. Cause she's in her own journey, you know, and she's doing really well. She's got like a YouTube channel, she's got a resale business. She's doing print on demand. Like she's on her way. Like I tell her and I tell myself it's like, like you will make it. I just don't know how long it'll take. That's the variable that like I like to say that we relinquish control over, you know, is the time aspect. Like if you just keep showing up and doing the things that, you know, work, you'll get there. So just, just rest easy knowing that.
- [44:24]
Cody McGuffey
I have a couple questions for you to wrap us up. Some rapid fire stuff. You ready?
- [44:29]
Ryan Hogue
Let's do it.
- [44:30]
Cody McGuffey
What's your favorite business book?
- [44:32]
Ryan Hogue
Dude, I suck at reading. I don't even have one.
- [44:34]
Cody McGuffey
You listen to books though? What's, which ones you listen to?
- [44:38]
Ryan Hogue
Dude, there was, Dude, I don't have like good ones that are like good business advice, man. I, I, A book that I read most recently or listened to most recently is called Controligarchs, which goes into a lot of these like oligarchs that you would know, like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, a lot of those and kind of gives like background story and a lot of their like very, very macro, high level stuff that we wouldn't be able to implement kind of tactics. A lot of them cool to like kind of really dominate. So Controller guards.
- [45:01]
Cody McGuffey
I love that. I love that. Okay, cool. I want to actually write that down too because that sounds very interesting to me. I'm actually reading right now the biography of John D. Rockefeller. Kind of the same.
- [45:10]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, the one where, where they got the quote from, where he's like, if you accuse me of, you know, if I stand accused of like operating something basically trying to take over the world, I say guilty as charged.
- [45:20]
Cody McGuffey
That, that book, I haven't read that quote yet, so I'm halfway through. Um, that sounds like him. Honestly, it's interesting. Interesting to learn from people that have been done things that are big and hard and maybe not always ethical or maybe very ethical now you look at it. But anyway, very cool. What's the one thing that you wish that you knew before starting your businesses online?
- [45:41]
Ryan Hogue
To me, it's the back half. You know what I mean? It's the back half that we talked about and it's how to have money as your business scales. It's like you said, keeping in the bank account. But then when is it time to start reinvesting in business or purchasing assets that appreciate hiring employees? It's guidance on that Regard.
- [46:02]
Cody McGuffey
I love that. What's the worst business advice that you've ever received?
- [46:07]
Ryan Hogue
Probably like when I first found out about websites like Empire Flippers and Flippa, not that I'm against those websites, but just like that, you can sell your business. I immediately started like getting quotes for my Amazon business for this website I built in college that they're like, oh, we'll pay you $22,000 for this website that I built in college. But it's like having not sold it, I make so much more money now just spending 10 to 15 minutes a day on it. You know what I mean? It's like I could have never known that, but I was this close to, you know, selling my business for no reason, by the way, just because I could.
- [46:41]
Cody McGuffey
What? How many hours do you think you work in your business per week?
- [46:44]
Ryan Hogue
I feel like a safe bet is, you know, no less than nine hours a day. So what is that, like 61 hours?
- [46:51]
Cody McGuffey
If your family and your friends and your customers all had to get together without you and they had to write an honest article about you, characterizing your traits, who you are, the good things, and then also the bad things, what do you think they would say?
- [47:05]
Ryan Hogue
Oh, man, it's tough. Hopefully. Good stuff, right? Hard worker, caring guy, good friend. Was able to make us laugh, I like to think. Although I could be completely off. Even if I'm the butt of the joke though, you know what I mean? I'm willing to be self deprecating and yeah, I don't know, I mean, honestly, just a good guy. Two words, right? Good guy.
- [47:30]
Cody McGuffey
Anything negative.
- [47:31]
Ryan Hogue
It depends, right? Because I feel like I'm like kind of evolving over time, but definitely, like, I feel like in the past I was not as good of a person as I am now in the sense that, like back when we played computer games, for instance, with all the boys, dude, I would freak on them. You know what I mean? We'd be playing team games and if you did the wrong thing, I would let them know. You know, I used to have like kind of one of those computer game anger management problems. I'll just say it. And I like to think I've grown out of that now, but so self aware of you.
- [47:58]
Cody McGuffey
Last question. Do you think that everyone should be an entrepreneur?
- [48:02]
Ryan Hogue
Yes. Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't we be, right? I just feel like it's one of those things where if you don't have that kind of click in your brain to want to be one, you might need. You might need to like have that inspiration rubbed off from Other people. And then it just comes down to like, almost chance, right? Like, who knows how many people that could have been real successful entrepreneurs and like, changed this world in a positive way and like, made this world a better place Every day, by the way, man, it's like, dude, every morning I set an intent. I would say, like, help me make this world a better place. Help me lead by example and inspire others. Like, I pray to God to help me do that. You know what I mean? And just like, if you're an entrepreneur and you have an intent and you show up every day feeling inspired to do that, I feel like you can, you can really do incredible things, right? But who knows what it takes to even have that concept enter your brain? Because I just feel like, man, when I was in school, that was not the mo man, that was not really what they wanted for us, right? It was to, you know, show up as like a factory line worker. That's how, that's how I feel, man.
- [48:53]
Cody McGuffey
Honestly, I completely understand that. It's interesting. You're probably the first person that I've had, ever had in recent conversations that have said yes to that conversation or yes to that question. Most people have been like, no, entrepreneurship is definitely not for everybody. Not everybody should be an entrepreneur. And so I'm kind of curious to like, kind of go back and forth a little bit on this question, if you don't mind. Um, you mentioned kind of like why, but like, do you think that it's actually, should they actually be an entrepreneur? Like, is it, is everyone hardwired to potentially be that person? Because that's a challenging role as well.
- [49:26]
Ryan Hogue
It's where I come like, man, like I. I don't know when I used to like go to my 9 to 5 and like sit in traffic, bro. Like, I would like psychoanalyze the people in the cars around me, how they drove. I would like learn about them just from like their lane changes, their speed, how far they stop from the car in front of them. Crazy stuff, bro. My brain would just psychoanalyze everybody around me and I'd feel like I'm like learning about the people that I co inhabit this earth with. And it was a very pessimistic outlook because I feel like traffic is self inflicted. Just like a lot of other negative things that we all experience in life is self inflicted by humans on themselves. So if anybody was gonna say no, you'd think it would be me, right? But I like to believe that people have it within them to do better. But I think it starts with again like self actualization that it can be done and then a little bit of a desire and intent, you know what I mean, to show up and do what it takes to manifest that positive change in their life. And I feel like entrepreneurs doesn't have to mean that they do what you do and what I do, you know what I mean? It could be literally like starting as a kid with a lemonade stand, you know what I mean? Like, it could be something simple. I don't think it needs to be like literally something revolutionary.
- [50:24]
Cody McGuffey
Like, I think I agree with that. That's such a good point. I was having a conversation with this on the same topic over dinner the other night with somebody that was very successful, a very awesome person, inspiring person. And he answered the opposite of you. And he's like, no way. I mean, we need people to not be entrepreneurs just as much as we need entrepreneurs. I'm like, yeah, of course. But should they become an entrepreneur? Should they, you know, like, is it better for them as a human to become an entrepreneur? He's like, well, no, because like we don't need everybody to be thinking about billion dollar companies, you know, and hundred million dollar companies. I'm like, yeah, that's the definition of an entrepreneur for you. But that actually doesn't mean entrepreneur. An entrepreneur could be a part time entrepreneur. Like you can be like working for an amazing company, full time employee, love your job and also have your side, side hustle. That's entrepreneurship, isn't it? And he was like, well, not really how I define it. I'm like, yeah, but that kind of is though. You are, you're creating something out of nothing. You're creating a service, an offering, and you're selling it and monetizing it. Isn't that entrepreneurship to a certain degree? And I would say yes. But I'm curious what you think.
- [51:28]
Ryan Hogue
No, no, man, I agree with you. Like this is what's so crazy about the world today is it's like we're losing neuroplasticity. You know, it's like a fan. If you could just remove yourself from the system. Like all these like things competing for your time and attention that are unproductive. Retake that back, man. Like take, take back your like independent thought, your independent, like analyzation of what's going on around you. Narratives. A lot of it is narratives, by the way. You know what I mean? They're everywhere. And narratives are not necessarily representative of truth at the core. Right? And when you come to these like realizations, man, again you start flowing with nature, I just feel like everything in life becomes a lot easier. And yeah, like again, this is why I love bitcoin so much because it can help retrain your brain to like as a systems thinker. Like, like when you say like, oh, they're thinking of million dollar companies and billion dollar companies, well that's only because like in this system that's a thing, right? Where like, oh, you take your revenues and then you multiply them by this forward multiple because you're in this industry and then your company trades at this PE ratio. It's like, dude, that is all fake things made up by humans that we just take as gospel because we were born and we inherited this system. Things don't have to be that way, right? So like we don't need to define this word in the English language of entrepreneur as thinking of like taking a company public. It does not need to be that. Right. It can be somebody who just wants to like build better houses. You know what I mean? Whatever it is, it could be a million things. It's just like that, that it's just unlocking your brain to like believe in yourself to do something like new or in a better way or in a way that just maybe benefits you and others hopefully.
- [52:56]
Cody McGuffey
You know, I think our world needs more entrepreneurs. I think our world needs actually to be all entrepreneurs. Doesn't have to be full time entrepreneurs. To be very clear. I think this will help economies. I think this helps actually companies too. Because when you're an entrepreneur and you're working at a company and so let's say you love your job, you're just like, well I just know people that they just love their job. They should never be entrepreneurs. Well actually then having actually a side hustle, side business, being entrepreneur is actually going to make them more of a creative person, more customer centric, more innovative and they're probably going to help that company even more. And then if you take the example of, let's call it someone in India for example, or you know, Sub Saharan Africa, right, Who, who just recently got Internet access in the last 10 years, right in our village. Entrepreneurship will save that village, it will save that economy. Because when you have capitalism, you have entrepreneurship. It breeds more entrepreneurship. It brings in money to the system, which increases the money you spent in the grocery store. It increases the investments that you make in your local community. Like entrepreneurship and small business is what powers the all economies. And so I'm like, this is a no brainer question. Everyone should be an entrepreneur.
- [54:03]
Ryan Hogue
Yeah, be open to it. Just be open to it because you don't know what's going to come from that. That's what I would say. Really. You don't need to be all into anything. I hope nobody that listens to this just is like, all right, that's it. I'm quitting my job tomorrow, man. I quit my job like four years after I started my journey. For the record. Was it 4, 17, 18, 19. Yeah, 4, 4. You know what I mean? So, but just like have it in your mind that one day, yes, you are going to step away, you're going to be financially free, whatever the definition of that is for you, right? And you know that, that you're capable of doing these things. Like I just like to believe that, man, like people who have that self awareness and that desire are capable of achieving things. That's why I think like, yes, like be an entrepreneur and you don't have to be successful one, but just in your brain, be open to it, you know, and see what happens.
- [54:43]
Cody McGuffey
Ryan, this has been amazing. Thank you so much for coming on, man, and sharing your wisdom with us. Where can people find you?
- [54:50]
Ryan Hogue
It's always great catching up with you, Cody. Yeah, you can catch me on YouTube, Ryan Hogue, passive income and@ryanhoe.com beautiful.
- [54:57]
Cody McGuffey
And we will link to all of Ryan's links below. He's got a lot more than just those. But we'll link to everything in the show notes or in the YouTube description depending on where you listen to this. Ryan, excited to have you on again soon, brother. Thank you very much.
- [55:09]
Ryan Hogue
Thanks, Cody.
- [55:10]
Cody McGuffey
Awesome. See you soon.