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customer satisfaction by mum. Mm, mm, mm. Be Hans. JD Power. been

1:00

10 years. If you're new to

1:02

my channel, my name is Eddie

1:04

Panero. I'm a writer and speaker

1:06

currently living in Scottsdale, Arizona.

1:08

And right now, dare I

1:10

say, things are good. It

1:13

doesn't mean they will be forever.

1:15

It certainly doesn't mean they

1:17

were when this journey began,

1:19

but as you'll find out, that's

1:21

the point entirely. See, right now

1:24

I have my dream car, living

1:26

in my dream spot. of

1:28

amazing friends, amazing family, and

1:31

incredible team, and I'm just

1:33

genuinely excited to wake up

1:35

every morning. But before you say,

1:37

oh, here we go again, some marketing

1:40

dude trying to impress us, let

1:42

me pause you right there. Because of

1:44

the last 10 years, seven of

1:46

them I've had very, very little.

1:48

Sometimes barely enough to get

1:50

by. And no, this isn't some get-rich

1:53

quick tale. This is a story about

1:55

stepping into your purpose. Directly into a

1:57

world of which you know very little.

2:00

It is about going

2:02

before you're ready to go.

2:04

So some background. All the way

2:06

back in 2014, I left my

2:09

corporate job. Not because I knew

2:11

what I wanted, I didn't. But

2:13

because I knew what I didn't

2:16

want. And in that moment, that

2:18

was enough. And so it was

2:20

onward to the next adventure. To

2:23

be honest, it took some time

2:25

to simply not feel guilty for

2:27

having a little bit of freedom

2:30

back in my life. I'd always played guitar

2:32

and figured, hey, let's start doing

2:34

small shows around Boston. I learned

2:36

how to record engineer music, made

2:38

a little album. My grandmother bought

2:40

ten, handed them out to all

2:42

her friends. Somehow that didn't land

2:44

me on the iTunes charts, though.

2:47

I studied videography, made some short

2:49

films, got into writing, discovered I

2:51

loved the writing. At the end of the

2:53

day, I did it all. It was just what

2:55

I needed. But sometimes what you

2:57

need smashes head-on into reality,

3:00

because, as you can imagine,

3:02

going from the financial services

3:04

industry to covering the fray

3:06

at local dive bars didn't

3:08

exactly create financial stability. I

3:11

wanted to go back. But

3:13

not because I was called

3:15

to, I wanted to go

3:17

back because I was scared,

3:20

like genuinely scared. You know

3:22

that feeling where it seems

3:24

like everyone around you has

3:26

everything squared away and figured

3:28

out and you're the only

3:31

one stumbling through life?

3:33

Yeah, I had that all the time.

3:35

Every day. But one day, as I

3:37

sat at my desk and watched my

3:40

bank account dwindle, I thought, no. What

3:42

if, Eddie, you put your back against

3:44

that wall? What if... For once you

3:46

don't hedge or play it safe. What

3:49

if you trust yourself to move into

3:51

the abyss fully? And so I made

3:53

that promise to myself in a video

3:56

called owed to excellence where I took

3:58

all the things that I learned

4:00

over the past, let's call it

4:02

a half year, audio, video editing,

4:05

some recording engineering, the speech writing,

4:07

all of it packaged together to

4:10

create this little piece of art.

4:12

And I'm not sure I've ever

4:14

been more proud of anything I've

4:17

done at that point. Finished. youtube.com,

4:19

upload, boom, my world changed forever.

4:22

But no, not because of a

4:24

million views overnight or anything like

4:26

that. It changed for two reasons.

4:29

One, I loved it. It was

4:31

real, it was personal, it scratched

4:33

that creative itch, it was me.

4:36

And two, it added value to

4:38

others, which, whoa, what a concept,

4:41

right? I actually got an email,

4:43

I don't remember if it was

4:45

the next day or a few

4:48

days later, it said simply, thank

4:50

you. Eddie, I needed that. And

4:53

my brain went, well, hey, if

4:55

you can help one person, you

4:57

can help. a billion and so

5:00

I was off to the races.

5:02

It was years of highs and

5:05

lows. The highs felt quick in

5:07

sparse. The lows on the other

5:09

hand, well they had a tendency

5:12

to feel long and reoccurring. You

5:14

know, I would write and write

5:17

and there'd be times where I'd

5:19

think, wow, this one's gonna change

5:21

the world, this hit so deep,

5:24

this is transformative, boom, upload, and

5:26

it turns out, didn't change much.

5:28

At least not much, I could

5:31

see. in the moment. In fact,

5:33

it took about seven years before

5:36

I could crack that ever evolving

5:38

content creation code. It was the

5:40

first time I'd ever seen some

5:43

real audience growth and numbers growth

5:45

and financial growth. Seven years. And

5:48

perhaps if I was less stubborn

5:50

in my approach, it could have

5:52

been sooner. It's possible that

5:55

if I'd gotten a little bit of help

5:57

and consultation along the way the process could

5:59

have been extra Who knows?

6:01

But I don't think there's much

6:03

value in asking that question. As

6:05

the saying goes, some things, well,

6:07

they are what they are. I

6:10

was recently asked to talk about

6:12

YouTube strategy at a conference, and

6:14

I prepared, prepped, and wrote down

6:16

my best strategy, content ideas, analytics,

6:18

got it already, stood up there,

6:20

turns out I don't think people

6:23

cared much. What they did want

6:25

to know though is how I

6:27

did not quit for seven years

6:29

how when Sitting in my boxers

6:31

writing in various studio apartments. I

6:33

was trusting enough that something some

6:36

time would work out Well, the

6:38

truth is there was no magic

6:40

formula and that's what I think

6:42

is the most meaningful part. That's

6:44

what I want you to take

6:46

away from this I simply started

6:49

before I was ready That long,

6:51

hard conversation in the mirror. Dude,

6:53

you're either going to be poor

6:55

doing this or rich doing this.

6:57

You're either going to help a

6:59

few people or millions of people.

7:02

But I would, in fact, be

7:04

spending the rest of my life

7:06

doing this. And it's a funny

7:08

thing. When you mitigate off-ramps, it

7:10

turns out you often find a

7:12

way. And

7:15

so, again, what better a

7:17

time to share, particularly in

7:19

a world that's constantly trying

7:21

to sell overnight success, where

7:23

social media seems to fuel

7:25

the flames of inadequacy and

7:28

feelings of, I'm not good

7:30

enough. You are. See, learning

7:32

the difference between simple and

7:34

easy changed my life. Getting

7:36

what you want is simple,

7:38

but not easy. Simple, because

7:40

it requires that you simply

7:42

begin. Even when you don't

7:44

feel prepared. It requires that

7:46

you simply keep going. Learning

7:48

and adjusting along the way.

7:50

Those are simple things, but

7:52

not easy things. Why? Well,

7:54

because it leaves out a

7:57

lot. Those mornings you wake

7:59

up without definitive proof that

8:01

what you want will materialize.

8:03

It leaves out the ego,

8:05

the hurt pride, the times

8:07

you have to pick yourself

8:09

up. But I'm here to

8:11

tell you, those things, you're

8:13

stronger than those things. You're

8:15

bigger than anything life can

8:17

throw at you. Most of

8:19

us just don't know that.

8:21

Because most of us never

8:23

step out into the unknown

8:26

and give life a chance

8:28

to throw those curveballs. And

8:31

so, as I sit here now,

8:33

am I where I want to

8:35

be? No way. I have big

8:38

plans. I want to do more,

8:40

help more people, create an even

8:42

bigger impact. But I've learned to

8:45

trust myself and have fun along

8:47

the way. I learn that when

8:49

you let go of the results

8:52

and you do what feels right.

8:54

When you find that intersection of

8:56

what you love and what adds

8:59

value to others, well, there's fireworks.

9:01

So if you are looking for

9:03

some type of signal from the

9:06

universe that you have everything you

9:08

need, I hope this can be

9:11

it. I hope it's that tap

9:13

on your shoulder, reminding you that

9:15

there will never be a perfect

9:18

time to start. There will never

9:20

be a hand extended to pull

9:22

you along the way along the

9:25

way. No,

9:27

just life waiting for

9:30

you to green light

9:32

the journey. And what

9:34

better a time than

9:37

now?