Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

When To Walk Away From Your Job: 5 Tips From Olympian Kaylin Richardson

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, over 2 million people are quitting their jobs each month, and that number is only growing.

On average millennials will change jobsat least 4 times by the time they are 32, nearly twice as much as the previous generation. Knowing when it’s time to quit is crucial to long-term success.

Seth Godin, author of the best-selling book “The Dip,” says “The time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one. The time to switch jobs is before it feels comfortable.”

So how do you know when it is time to make the next move?

Just ask two-time Olympic skier Kaylin Richardson. At the peak of her career, after competing in her second Olympic games she decided to quit ski racing at the age of 25.

Richardson shares her experience on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “Recognizing When it’s Time to Quit Your Job and Make Your Next Move.”

Richardson had spent the past 16 years of her life racing — traveling around the world year-round to practice on the very best terrain, bypassing going to college, competing in her first Olympic games and slowly collecting victories to qualify for her second Olympic event.

After competing in the Women’s Alpine Skiing race, she had actualized the goal of a lifetime. Like many who have finally reached the top, she asked herself, “What’s next?”

“When I finished Vancouver it was such a cool experience,” Richardson says. “I hadn’t said it out loud to anyone but I thought, ‘I think I am done with ski racing’… I was still skiing relatively fast but I didn’t have that drive. If you are going to do something that is that taxing, that takes that much time, that much mental strength you really have to want it and I saw that in my teammates, they wanted it more than I did.”

The following spring Richardson announced her retirement. She wasn’t sure what would unfold for her in the transition and knew that once she made the decision she had to move forward.

By leaving ski racing at her peak Richardson was able to leverage her success to make her next big career moves: landing television appearances, becoming a ski racing commentator on NBC, and picking up sponsors like Helly Hansen and Colorado ski company Icelantic to back her in her pursuit of backcountry skiing.

Richardson shares, “I had this unformed vision. And what it really came down to was that I wanted to ski for me. There were so many avenues I still wanted to explore. I still had passion for the sport I was just unattached to the form.”

Are you stuck between knowing if it is the right time to quit? Below, Richardson shares these five telltale indicators that it’s time to move on.

You don’t have the same passion anymore. Your heart just isn’t in it in the way it used to be. No matter how hard you try, you can’t recover the same feelings of excitement and joy you had at the beginning. Work tends to feel less purposeful and more like a grind — and you’ve started fantasizing about alternatives.

The returns aren’t worth the cost. You’re giving it your best effort but the rewards just don’t feel worth it. Recognize that the trials are there to test how bad you want it — and if pushing through just doesn’t feel worthwhile, it’s a sign it’s time to do something else.

You aren’t growing. The rate at which you used to be growing was exponential, but now, you’re feeling stagnant. You’re not being challenged, you aren’t working towards any real goals, and your job feels monotonous.

Your performance is suffering. You’re not at your peak anymore, and frankly, you probably couldn’t will yourself to be if you tried. There’s no denying you just don’t have the drive that you used to. You’ve been drawing things out and you know your energy would be better put to use somewhere else.

You’re ready for something bigger. You feel like you’re being called for something higher, and as much as you want it to be what you’re currently doing, it just can’t provide that for you. It may be painful or scary to let go of what feels familiar, but on the other side of fear is always something great. In order to make room for what you really want, you must clear out space by letting go.

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March 1, 2018
Snapchat Influencer Shares How To Leverage The App For Your Business

Many have scoffed at the notion of Snapchat seriously entering the business sphere. How could a self-destructing picture and video messaging app be profitable?

With over 150 million active users and 10 billion daily video views, Snapchat is now overtaking both Twitter and Facebook in popularity.

The mobile messaging app, currently valued at $20 billion, is rapidly becoming the go-to platform for millennials. More than 60% of U.S. 13 to 34-year-old smartphone users are Snapchatters, and their daily video views are tripling every 3 months.

So how exactly do you get started?

Meet Virginia Salas Kastilio, a Snapchat celebritywith a global following who’s made Snapchatting her full-time job. She’s partnered with brands like Nasdaq, Sundance, and Good Mag to promote their content and hook users onto their products.

Salas Kastilio reveals her secret to leveraging Snapchat for business results on the latest episode of Unconventional Life, Learn To Master Snapchat: The Untapped Mega-Marketing Platform.

Salas Kastilio is a trilingual nomad who has been to 15 different schools and traveled around the world. She hops from place to place every few weeks to keep a fresh perspective on things.

After a five-year career in the corporate world working for Apple and Oracle, she decided to devote her life to the research and spreading of happiness.

Salas Kastilio says she started using snapchat as a storyteller, filming micro-moments of her day that, when strung together, allowed her followers to feel like they really knew her.

“I wanted to take people through my day and also show them it wasn’t an act, I wasn’t pretending… It was a personal way to bring people into my everyday life and interact with them,”Salas Kastilio says.

Other Snapchat users resonated with SalasKastilio’s transparency — they could easily relate to her quirks, her humor, her flaws, and the everyday moments she shared. Her commitment to being herself and broadcasting her real life was what really caught on.

At just 26 years old, Salas Kastilio has already touched hundreds of thousands of lives through Snapchat. Below, she shares how you can get started and create your own impact with this platform.

Focus on 1-1 engagement. The beauty of Snapchat is that it enables you to connect with your audience one-on-one. Don’t be afraid to send personalized snaps to people who frequently watch your Snapchat “stories”, or have been a loyal customer, or who reach out to you first. This is how you build relationships and a positive reputation. “You can have really great marketing but if you don’t have engagement you have nothing. It’s all about 1-1,” Salas Kastilio advises.

Be yourself. People want to see what you’re really like behind the public persona of your business. Take your viewers behind-the-scenes in a typical day at work, or at an event you throw. Allow your personality to come out so they can get to know you — they want to connect to who you are. Salas Kastilio says, “It’s probably one of the hardest things that we can do as humans, it’s just being yourself. It doesn’t matter what you’re passionate about or what kind of quirks you have, just show them, and the people that will resonate will find you.”

Reach out to Snapchat communities. Locate groups on Reddit, Facebook, and other forums specifically created by Snapchat fans. Then join the conversation and invite them to send you a Snapchat. Salas Kastilio says, “I would post in the Reddit group and just be like, I challenge you to send me your worst selfie… may the odds be ever in your favor,” and people would send me terrible selfies and I would send them terrible selfies back. You know I would just think of little fun games to get people to find me.”

Tell a story. The most watched Snapchat stories keep the viewer hooked from start to finish by showing a progression of events. Create suspense, add comedy, and do something surprising. You might even feature your products in your videos in a creative way. The more interesting your story, the more users will be drawn to your Snapchat and learn about your business that way.

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March 1, 2018
Crush It With Crowdfunding: 7 Steps To Get Your Startup Fully Funded

If you’ve heard of crowdfunding, you’ve no doubt seen the heroic campaigns that manage to raise millions in just 30 days, exceed their goal by five thousand percent, and ascend to celebrity stardom on social media.

If you ask me, saying “yes” to humble, transparent companies with homestyle videos has some serious appeal. No doubt that’s why over $16.2 billion was raised through crowdfunding in 2014.

Despite all the bells and whistles, what’s not as well-known is the fact that 6 out of 10 crowdfunding campaigns fail to reach their funding goals. On all-or-nothing platforms like Kickstarter, this means companies lose all of the funds they raised.

But don’t be discouraged, aspiring startups. This is actually a great opportunity to shine bright among a sea of dull contenders — with the right tools, of course.

Meet Connor Young, a crowdfunding ninja who’s currently reached 391% of his campaign goal, a whopping $195k after being fully funded in the first 30 hours. I caught up with Young about his impressive feat on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “Hacking The Crowdfunding Algorithm: Get Fully Funded In 3 Days.”

Young beat the crowdfunding odds with his product Ample, a complete meal-in-a-bottle made from superior, real-food ingredients. The formula sprung from years of research Young did himself, equipped with a biology degree and the rare kind of patience required to read through 800+ clinical nutrition journals.

Young created Ample out of a desire to bring health to the “hacker house” he occupied in San Francisco, along with 50 other tech-type roommates.

As a former CrossFit trainer, Young was surprised to encounter so many people who simply didn’t have time to prioritize nutrition. His housemates were working busy schedules and filling up on unhealthy convenience snacks.

Troubled, Young sought to design a product that would both fulfill their nutrition needs and flow with their schedule. Over the course of the next year, he experimented with different combinations of real-food powders, amending the recipes daily.

“The absolutely critical part was the fact I was in this huge house where constant iteration was required,” Young says. “There would be 20 people, everyday, who were like, ‘what’s the newest version of Ample? What’s going on?’ Because there were so many iterations of this and because people really did want it, it took off almost immediately.”

In May 2016, Young launched Ample online via Indiegogo crowdfunding. Young now approaches the end of his campaign, with just over one week left.

Below, Young shares the magic formula behind his crowdfunding success, so you too can crush your campaign in just 7 steps.

1. Start 2-3 months in advance. Give yourself plenty of time to plan the campaign, create top-notch content, and coordinate the launch date. The growth leading up to the campaign is just as important as the growth during the campaign.

2. Understand your customer. Narrow your market down to as small as you possibly can — build your campaign for a single “avatar” customer. Young defined his avatar’s idols and sent them them samples of Ample to get testimonials from people his avatar trusted and admired.

3. Focus on the content. Write the entire campaign page before you begin anything else. Make sure it is organized and includes all of the relevant information. Then use the campaign page as a blueprint for your video, in which you’ll really bring your product to life.

4. Decide on a price that makes sense. Ideally, you’ll want your price point to allow you to reach your goal with just a few hundred backers or less. Keep in mind the average contribution tends to be about $75, so you won’t actually need to aim for as many backers as you think.

5. Create a “lifetime” perk. Give your backers the option to enjoy your product for life. Young priced a lifetime supply of Ample at $5,000, which enabled him to reach his goal quickly — viewers saw plenty of money funneling in early, which increased Ample’s credibility and perceived value.

6. Invest money into your campaign. It’s worth it to invest some money into your campaign upfront so that it appears professional, polished, and valuable. Consider hiring a film crew, a graphic designer, and an editor. The better your campaign looks, the more backers you’ll attract, so consider it an investment that will pay for itself.

7. Ride the wave of momentum. “People want to bet on a winner,” Young says. “If you really want to make this thing successful, you actually need to hit your campaign goal not within 30 days but within 3 days.” Capitalize on the excitement at the beginning of your campaign to maximize backers early on, get on your platform’s featured page, and appear on podcasts to spread the word.

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March 1, 2018
Will This App Disrupt The $160 Billion Ad Industry By Replacing Ads With Positive Messages?

We see advertisements everywhere. Whether we’re scrolling through social media, reading our favorite blogs, checking our email, online shopping, watching video content, or just surfing the web, we can’t escape them.

That’s because the advertising industry funnels a tremendous amount of energy into digital ads — over $160 billion in 2015.

Industry experts estimate that the average person is exposed to around 5,000 ads a day, which speaks volumes of the subconscious overload we experience to buy, buy, buy.

But what if every time you got a message to consume, you got a message to create instead?

That’s exactly the idea behind Intently, an innovative app that enables users to replace the ads they see on the internet with inspired content they choose.

I caught up with Intently founder, Micha Mikailian, on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “Hijacking Your Subconscious Mind For Maximum Productivity.”

Mikailian says the inspiration for Intently came from his frustration working in the ad industry. He ran a major ad agency for 12 years and was irritated by the deceptive and manipulative tactics businesses used to hook consumers.

Aware of how much time and attention internet users spent looking at ads, Mikailian reasoned the ad space could actually be repurposed for good.

With Intently, users can customize their internet experience with intentional messages aimed to inspire, motivate, and uplift them by downloading the Intently extension right to your browser.

“I saw this vision for Intently, I saw that my ads were now messages that were getting me prepped for my next meeting, and supporting me throughout my day and reminding me what my goals were,” Mikailian says.

Think of it like a digital vision board — except instead of putting it in your closet and forgetting about it, it follows you around the web so your goals stay fresh in mind. Wherever you would normally see an ad you will see your virtual vision board instead.

Studies confirm that actually seeing your goals can help you achieve them. One study demonstrated that people who keep images, photos or vision boards of their goals are twice as confident about achieving them than those who don’t — and 91% of those who are successful attribute it to having envisioned a plan to get there.

“It’s just priming your subconscious in terms of what you want to create in your life so by focusing on what you want to create and having an image of what that looks like you’re really setting yourself up naturally to take all the actions that are going to take you there,” Mikailian says.

For decades, advertisers have utilized a powerful technique called subliminal messaging, which targets the subconscious mind to motivate behavior without the subject’s awareness.

Being a veteran in the ad industry, Mikailian knew of this technique and decided to use it to actually benefit consumers. “I used the power of advertising — the same power of manipulation that advertisers use to get you to buy stuff — to reprogram a behavior in me, and in that moment it changed my experience of life,” Mikailian shares.Mikailian has used this reprogramming to transform the relationship with his mom, attract a great relationship partner, and shift recurring negative thought patterns.

Now, former ad consumers are empowered to design their own subliminal messages that will motivate behaviors they want. You’re in the driver’s seat to customize your browsing experience in a way that supports you.

If goal setting is important to you, you’ll first need to get clear on what exactly it is that you want. The more specific you are, the better. Instead of setting the goal of financial freedom, envision what you would do with the financial resources you want to have — what kind of lifestyle would you live? Would you travel, treat yourself to gourmet dinners, experience the city nightlife, or revamp your wardrobe and home?

Once you’re clear on your goal, the path to actualizing it involves affirming it in your mind through repetition. Write down your goal, assemble a collage of images and words that remind you of it, and stick it on your Intently to see it over and over again.

Can you imagine what might be possible for yourself if you were constantly reminded 5,000 times a day of the things you wanted to create, instead of the things that distract you?

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March 1, 2018
Playing Safe Can Actually Hurt You: 5 Ways To Take Risks That Will Pay Off

Millennials may be the most risk averse generation to date, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

According to a recent study, 34% of millennials describe their risk tolerance as “conservative” or “somewhat conservative.”

But can we blame them? They’re the first generation in modern history that isn’t wealthier than their parents. They’re chained to tens of thousands in student debt, they’re reluctant to spend what they have, and they struggle to make a living doing what they enjoy.

While playing it safe may seem like the best thing to do, it may actually be hindering millennials from getting ahead. After all, risk-taking is an essential part of building a business, progressing in a career, and making a mark on the world.

32-year-old Alexi Panos has a solution to combat risk aversion, and to start, it’s absolutely free: invest in yourself. Panos is a leader in the personal development industry, author of the book 50 Ways to Yay, and star of a successful YouTube channel.

I caught up with Panos about how empowering yourself can help you take game-changing risks on the latest episode of Unconventional Life, “The Shortcut To Awaken You To Greatness w/ Millennial Thought Leader Alexi Panos.”

Panos’ journey to self-empowerment began at the age of 15 when signed a recording contract that enabled her to tour the world. She traveled to Europe, Asia, Africa, and throughout the United States, quickly gaining fame and recognition.

Soon, she was scouted by a modeling agency and was invited to be the host of major TV networks and web platforms, including HGTV, MTV, AOL, E News, and the History Channel.

Although she was ascending the summit of material success, she says she wasn’t happy. “Is [material success] what we really want?” she says, “Or is that just a symptom of feeling empty? I think we have to chase that — like we have to almost go after that and get a slice of it to recognize that we don’t want it.”

Upon this realization, Panos decided to take a big risk: uproot her life and make a major life change. She moved to LA and spent all of her savings on a podcast geared to help people to “awaken, revive, and transform” their lives.

Though she wasn’t making money for over a year, she says the personal rewards were worth it. She was inspiring others to empower themselves, pursue what they really wanted, and take risks that paid off.

“It’s not about me anymore, it’s the message and I’m willing to put me on the line for that message to be a ripple effect,” Panos says.

Now, Panos has attained financial freedom and abundance doing fulfilling work she loves. Below, she shares 5 ways to begin taking risks so you can step into the next level of impact and live according to your higher desires.

1. Stop trying to be a people pleaser. The desire to be liked by everyone can have you playing a small game trying to avoid stepping on toes. Accept that your message is inevitably going to offend people, and that’s actually a good sign. All of the world’s greatest leaders were considered radical in their time, yet they remedied injustices and are still remembered today.

2. Be willing to rock the boat. If you really want to shake up the status quo, you have to be willing to rock the boat. That might mean boldly sharing your voice or unfiltering your message. Panos says, “If we’re not willing to rock the boat we’re not really doing anything that great or anything that different, so do we wanna just blend in and do what everyone else is doing so that we stay safe?

3. Get vulnerable and share your story. Opening up about your personal experience can seem terrifying and intimidating. However, it tends to be what people resonate most with and are inspired by. The more transparent and honest you are, the more impactful you will be. “When I share that I’m human and that I mess up all the time, but I learn through that mess up, people love that,” Panos shares.

4. Shatter what you think is possible. Don’t let society’s notion of what’s possible limit you. For decades, it was believed that breaking a four-minute mile was impossible — until Roger Bannister broke the record and set a new standard for racing. Whatever it is you think you can’t do is only a mental construct that can be uncreated. Approach your limits with the mindset that you can transcend them, and you will.

5. Say yes to your intuition. The best guide for discerning when to take risks is our own inner voice. Check in with yourself and ask if you feel fully satisfied where you are or if something greater is calling to you. You may feel fear around making the decision to take a risk, but remember that on the other side of fear lies something spectacular. Panos says, “I just had this unwavering trust that it was gonna work out and I had no idea how it was gonna evolve, but I just knew I had to keep saying yes.”

This article was originally published on Forbes

February 28, 2018