The Portal co-founder is building urban sanctuaries where wellness, creativity, and community converge. Her vision is rooted in a simple belief: the more technology transforms our lives, the more valuable genuine human connection becomes.

In a world where we can work remotely, socialize through screens, and rely on technology for an ever-growing number of daily tasks, something essential can still feel missing: the experience of belonging to a community.

We may have hundreds of online connections, yet struggle to find people who notice when we disappear. We can fill our calendars with meetings and social engagements without necessarily finding a place where we feel genuinely known. And while technology makes communication easier, it cannot always recreate the spontaneous conversations, shared experiences, and collective energy that emerge when people gather in the same room.

For hospitality entrepreneur and community builder Anwen Baumeister, this is more than a cultural observation. It is the inspiration behind her work.

As CEO and co-founder of The Portal, Baumeister is building urban sanctuaries designed to bring people together through wellness, thought leadership, arts, culture, and meaningful social experiences. Her vision is to create spaces where people can work, learn, recharge, express themselves, and build relationships that extend beyond the walls of the venue.

Speaking with Jules Schroeder on Unconventional Life, Baumeister shares how her upbringing between the United States and China shaped her understanding of community, why she believes physical gathering spaces will become increasingly important, and what entrepreneurship has taught her about trusting her intuition.

Her journey also offers a reminder for anyone building a life outside conventional expectations: pursuing what genuinely matters to you may require taking risks, confronting fear, and learning to trust a vision before everyone else can see it.

A Childhood Between Two Worlds Revealed What Community Could Be

Baumeister’s vision for The Portal began long before the business existed.

Growing up in the Bay Area, she spent her summers in China, where half of her family lives. Moving between these two environments gave her an unusual perspective on how culture influences the way people relate to one another.

In China, she remembers communal parks and bathhouses where people gathered and participated in everyday life together. She experienced a sense of connection that made her feel part of something larger than herself.

Returning to the United States often brought a contrasting experience. The transition from China’s communal environment to life within the American nuclear family left her feeling isolated and alone.

That contrast stayed with her.

Baumeister came to appreciate what each culture offered. She sees the United States as a place where individual freedom, creative expression, and personal independence can thrive. At the same time, she believes American individualism can sometimes go too far, placing personal autonomy above the relationships that help people feel supported.

China, meanwhile, places greater emphasis on the collective. While that emphasis can also reach extremes, she recognizes the sense of belonging that communal traditions can provide.

For Baumeister, the question became how to bring the strengths of both worlds together.

What would it look like to create an environment that celebrates individual expression while giving people a deeper experience of belonging?

That question eventually became part of The Portal’s founding philosophy.

Rather than asking people to choose between independence and community, the company aims to create a space where both can coexist. Members can pursue their own interests, develop their talents, and explore new ideas while remaining connected to a larger group of people.

It is a philosophy shaped by lived experience, not simply a business concept.

The Portal Is More Than a Membership Club. It Is an Experiment in Belonging.

Baumeister co-founded The Portal with Tim Chain approximately two years before the interview. The company’s first location opened in Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an expansion into downtown Austin planned for January 2027.

The concept brings together experiences that are often scattered across different parts of a person’s life.

Members can participate in yoga and other movement classes, attend fireside chats, explore conversations about artificial intelligence and human optimization, enjoy live music, join immersive dinners, and spend time working or connecting in shared spaces.

The planned Austin location takes that vision further with a 15,000-square-foot, two-floor facility featuring a restaurant, bar, co-working lounge, movement studio, rooftop pool, sauna, cold plunges, live music stage, and DJ area.

The idea is to create an environment that supports the whole person, including their physical well-being, intellectual curiosity, creative expression, and social life.

Baumeister describes it as an adult campus for continuous education, where a member might begin the morning working, attend a yoga class midday, spend time in the sauna, join an evening discussion about longevity, and finish the day over dinner.

Yet the amenities are only part of the equation.

The deeper intention is to make community an integral part of everyday life rather than something people must constantly seek out.

That distinction matters because Baumeister believes meaningful relationships require time and consistency. The Portal’s membership model includes a minimum one-year commitment, allowing people to develop relationships that extend beyond occasional introductions or passing encounters.

She illustrates the difference with a simple example.

Imagine telling another member that you want to deepen your movement practice and attend yoga or Pilates three times a week. They see you consistently, then notice when you stop showing up for a few months.

A member who asks where you have been is doing more than making conversation. They are demonstrating that your presence matters.

Over time, members begin to witness one another’s lives more fully. They celebrate anniversaries, welcome new babies, get to know each other’s families, and become familiar with the personal milestones that happen outside the club.

That is the kind of connection Baumeister wants The Portal to cultivate.

Community, in her view, is not merely having somewhere to go. It is knowing that people have your back.

Why the Future of Connection May Be Offline

As artificial intelligence and social media reshape how people communicate and work, Baumeister believes physical gathering spaces will become more valuable, not less.

She is careful to ground this conviction in her own experience.

At 22, she opened her first restaurant. Although she had not set out to become a brick-and-mortar entrepreneur, she quickly saw how strongly people responded to having a place to gather.

Later, after the COVID-19 shutdowns in the Bay Area, she became a co-owner of a yoga studio and event space. Once people could return, the venue was packed, reinforcing her belief that the desire for in-person connection had not disappeared.

For Baumeister, these experiences demonstrated that physical spaces fulfill a need that digital platforms cannot fully address.

Online communication can be efficient, but being together in person creates opportunities for unplanned conversations, shared discoveries, and relationships that develop organically.

At The Portal’s Marin location, those connections have led to new relationships and businesses. Members have also used the space to share talents that might otherwise remain hidden behind their professional identities.

A venture capitalist, for example, might reveal that he is also an accomplished guitar player who used to perform in a band. Within the community, he can offer to play music rather than being known only for his work in finance.

These moments allow members to express more of who they are.

The value of bringing people together becomes even clearer when a community rallies around a shared purpose.

Baumeister recounts a film screening hosted at The Portal by an outside nonprofit. During the event, the organization shared that it was $60,000 short of its annual budget.

Within approximately 10 minutes, people in the room stepped forward and raised the money.

The moment illustrated something that extends beyond hospitality. When people gather in a setting where they feel connected, they can mobilize their resources, relationships, and generosity to support a cause.

Baumeister believes people want this sense of purpose beyond themselves. Personal success and individual well-being matter, but they do not necessarily create a fulfilling life in isolation.

The Portal’s Marin location hosts more than 250 events a year, many of them shaped by members who volunteer their expertise, propose gatherings, and contribute their interests to the community.

This approach allows the club to become something its members actively create, rather than simply a venue providing services to paying customers.

The result is a model in which the value of the space grows through the people who inhabit it.

Building a Business That Reflects Your Own Definition of Success

Creating a community-focused hospitality business comes with practical challenges. Physical locations require significant investment, and bringing an ambitious concept to life demands people, resources, and a willingness to navigate uncertainty.

When Schroeder asks how she has learned to trust her vision, find the right people, and bring her ideas into reality, Baumeister returns to a principle that has guided her since the beginning: trusting her intuition.

Her entrepreneurial journey has not been without difficult moments. She admits there have been times when she wanted to give up or questioned what she was doing.

But she has learned to return to her conviction about the life she wants to build.

That conviction began when she chose entrepreneurship at 22, despite her parents’ preference for a more conventional career.

Growing up, she was expected to pursue a path such as law or medicine. Her decision to start a business instead worried her parents, particularly because they could not financially support the risk.

Baumeister understood their concerns, but she also recognized that following their expectations would not necessarily lead to a fulfilling life.

She knew that a conventional career might make her parents happy. What she questioned was whether it would make her happy, too.

Looking decades into the future, she imagined the possibility of building a career around someone else’s expectations and eventually being left with a life that did not feel like her own.

For her, the risk of entrepreneurship was worth taking because it offered the possibility of building something aligned with her own calling.

That decision established a pattern she continues to follow: listen to what feels true, even when the path does not make immediate sense to others.

The Conviction Behind a $5 Million Fundraising Round

Baumeister’s philosophy has also shaped how she approaches leadership and fundraising.

She and her co-founder self-funded The Portal’s first location. For the Austin expansion, they pursued their first public fundraising round and raised $5 million in an oversubscribed round.

Baumeister describes the process as a significant journey, one that required her to remain firmly committed to her belief in the business.

She recognized that brick-and-mortar ventures can be challenging investments. Nevertheless, she believed The Portal addressed a real and growing need.

That belief became central to how she communicated the opportunity to potential investors.

In her view, leadership requires strong conviction in what you are building. People need to see that the person leading a venture genuinely believes in its purpose and potential.

This does not mean ignoring challenges or assuming that passion alone guarantees success. Rather, it means understanding why the work matters and being able to communicate that purpose clearly enough for others to see the possibility in it.

Baumeister also distinguishes between building something purely for financial gain and creating a business rooted in a deeper passion.

Money may be part of the equation, but she believes a more meaningful purpose can provide the motivation needed to keep going when difficulties arise.

Fear, she acknowledges, will continue to appear. The goal is not to eliminate it entirely, but to develop practices that prevent it from making every decision.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, her experience offers a useful distinction: believing in a vision does not mean the journey will be easy. It means having a reason to continue when the outcome remains uncertain.

Four or Five Years of Morning Meditation, Without Missing a Day

Behind Baumeister’s entrepreneurial conviction is a personal practice that has remained remarkably consistent.

During the episode’s rapid-fire round, she shares that she has meditated every morning for four or five years without missing a single session.

Her routine is straightforward. She sits with her tea, settles into silent meditation, and incorporates mantras or meditation practices shared by a teacher.

The practice helps set her up for the day.

It also reflects a broader theme in her philosophy: building an ambitious external life requires attention to the internal habits that sustain it.

Entrepreneurship inevitably brings uncertainty, competing demands, and moments of fear. A consistent practice can provide an opportunity to pause, reconnect with oneself, and return to the work with greater clarity.

For Baumeister, meditation is not presented as a shortcut to success. It is a daily commitment that has become part of how she lives.

Her advice to her younger self reflects a similar orientation toward trust: believe that things are working out for your highest good.

That outlook connects her personal routine to her entrepreneurial philosophy. Both involve remaining grounded in a sense of direction even when the next step is not entirely clear.

What It Means to Live an Unconventional Life

When Schroeder asks what living an unconventional life means to her, Baumeister gives an answer that brings the conversation back to its central theme.

For her, it means living in her joy.

She describes the freedom that comes from stepping outside the conventional paths laid out early in life and discovering what becomes possible when she follows what genuinely excites her.

The shift changes how she experiences daily life. Instead of feeling that everything is an obligation, she begins to see more opportunities as things she gets to do.

Her answer prompts Schroeder to share a deeply personal experience of her own.

In 2020, Schroeder was organizing a $2 million event intended to bring 500 thought leaders and creatives together on a cruise through Italy. When the pandemic disrupted those plans, the event fell apart almost overnight.

The professional setback coincided with serious health challenges. Schroeder describes experiencing extreme fatigue and symptoms associated with early-onset MS, leaving her struggling to perform even simple activities.

The experience forced her to reconsider how she was managing her energy, what she was prioritizing, and whether the scale of her ambitions was serving her well-being.

She realized that building something bigger did not automatically mean building something better. Nor did serving more people require sacrificing herself in the process.

During recovery, joy became something she could measure in small increments.

At first, it meant sitting outside for five minutes. Then it meant walking to the cul-de-sac. Eventually, she could walk for 15 minutes and, later, around the neighborhood again.

Each small improvement became meaningful in its own right.

Looking back, Schroeder reflects on how those moments accumulated into a broader recovery and a new understanding of what mattered. Making space also allowed new possibilities to emerge, including her music career under the name Jules King, inspired by her mother’s maiden name.

Her story adds another dimension to Baumeister’s philosophy.

Following joy does not always mean taking a dramatic leap or building something ambitious. Sometimes it means slowing down, listening to your body, and finding meaning in the smallest steps forward.

Both women arrive at a similar realization: the life worth building is not necessarily the one that looks most impressive from the outside. It is the one that allows you to feel connected to yourself, to others, and to the experiences that make life meaningful.

A Different Kind of Success Begins With Connection

The Portal’s growth reflects Baumeister’s belief that community can be built intentionally.

Its spaces bring together wellness, professional collaboration, intellectual exploration, arts, culture, and social connection. Its membership model gives relationships time to deepen. Its programming invites members to contribute their talents and create experiences for one another.

The business is also a tangible expression of a personal philosophy shaped by her upbringing, entrepreneurial experience, and willingness to pursue a path that did not match conventional expectations.

As the Austin location prepares to open, Baumeister is betting that people will continue to seek places where they can do more than work, consume content, or interact through screens.

They will seek places where they can be known, contribute to something larger than themselves, and build relationships that become part of their everyday lives.

For anyone considering an unconventional path, her story offers a reminder that the process begins with understanding what matters to you, then having the courage to build toward it.

And for anyone wondering what the future of human connection might look like, Baumeister’s answer is already taking shape in the spaces she is creating.

In an increasingly digital world, perhaps one of the most meaningful things we can build is a place where people can simply show up for one another.

Experience The Portal: An Unconventional Life Giveaway

Anwen Baumeister is offering one Unconventional Life listener a full-day experience at The Portal’s upcoming Austin location for themselves and two friends.

The giveaway includes a full day at the members-only club, plus $300 in dining house credits to enjoy a meal during the visit and experience the club’s amenities, including the pool and sauna.

Connect with Anwen

• Website: theportal.house

• Instagram: @theportal_house

The physician, entrepreneur, and founder of Whole Men’s Health is helping men rethink success, reclaim their vitality, and build healthier lives without sacrificing the people and priorities that matter most.

Success has a way of disguising its costs.

A growing business, a thriving career, a family to provide for, and a reputation for getting things done can make life look extraordinary from the outside. Yet behind the achievements, there may be exhaustion, declining health, restless nights, and a nagging feeling that something important has been lost along the way.

For Dr. Stephen Sanders, this was more than a pattern he observed in his patients. It was his own reality.

A physician by training and an entrepreneur at heart, Sanders had spent years building a successful medical practice while fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband and father. By conventional measures, he was doing well. But in his late 30s, he reached a point where the life he had worked so hard to build no longer felt sustainable.

Today, as the founder of Whole Men’s Health, he helps men address the health concerns that often remain hidden behind professional success and personal responsibility. His work spans hormone optimization, sexual health, metabolic health, performance, and longevity, with a broader mission to help people preserve their energy, strength, confidence, and independence as they age.

His philosophy is rooted in a lesson he learned the hard way: the best days of a man’s life do not have to end at 35. But enjoying those years requires more than ambition. It requires learning how to take care of the person behind the achievements.

The Photograph That Forced Him to See What Success Was Costing Him

Before building Whole Men’s Health, Sanders spent his first decade in traditional private practice. He worked in primary care, wound care, addiction medicine, and consulting, steadily growing his professional experience and practice.

He was also working 15 to 16-hour days.

At the time, he measured success through familiar metrics: the number of patients he saw, the revenue his practice generated, the opportunities he pursued, and his ability to provide for his family. He was focused on building something meaningful, but somewhere along the way, he stopped paying attention to what that pursuit was doing to him.

In his late 30s, he began to believe that his best days were behind him rather than ahead of him. The thought was frightening, especially when he considered how much of his life was supposedly still in front of him.

Then came a family trip to Leadville, Colorado.

While biking with his children at an elevation of approximately 10,000 feet, one of them took a photograph of him. When Sanders looked at the image, he barely recognized himself. He was about 60 pounds overweight, and his face looked exhausted and lifeless.

He was supposed to be in his prime. Instead, he saw someone who looked worn down by the very life he had worked so hard to create.

“That was the inflection point for me,” he recalls. “Something’s got to change.”

The photograph became the catalyst for a personal health journey that would eventually reshape his career. He began studying men’s health, longevity, and wellness, applying what he learned to transform his own health from the inside out.

But the experience also revealed something bigger.

If a physician who understood medicine could find himself struggling, how many other men were experiencing the same decline without knowing where to turn?

That question became the beginning of his next chapter.

Becoming Patient One: Why Leaders Cannot Afford to Ignore Their Health

One of the most important lessons Sanders took from his transformation was that professional success could not compensate for neglecting his health.

He had spent years looking after patients while failing to give himself the same attention. His work was growing, his responsibilities were expanding, and his family depended on him. Yet he had treated his own well-being as something he could postpone until he had more time.

Eventually, he recognized the flaw in that approach.

“If I don’t take care of myself, I can’t take care of my spouse, my kids,” he explains. “The team around me is not healthy when I’m not healthy.”

He describes the shift as becoming “Patient One.” Before he could effectively help others, he needed to become the physician who addressed his own health first.

The lesson is particularly relevant to founders, executives, and providers who have built their identities around being dependable. When people rely on you, it can feel irresponsible to slow down. Taking care of yourself may even seem like a distraction from the work you believe you need to do.

Sanders came to understand that the opposite can be true. A person’s ability to lead, provide, and remain present for others depends, in part, on their ability to sustain their own physical and mental well-being.

His experience also challenged the way he defined success. Revenue growth, professional recognition, and productivity were not inherently wrong goals. The problem was allowing them to become the only measures that mattered.

The question was no longer simply how much he could accomplish. It was whether the way he was living allowed him to enjoy what he was accomplishing.

The Foundations That Matter More Than Another Productivity Hack

When Jules Schroeder asks where someone should begin after realizing that their health needs attention, Sanders brings the conversation back to fundamentals.

His own transformation did not begin with an elaborate optimization routine. It began with examining the habits he had neglected.

Sleep was one of them. During his 30s, he had treated rest casually, assuming he could continue operating the way he had in his 20s. His inconsistent sleep patterns eventually became part of the larger picture of a lifestyle that was no longer serving him.

Nutrition was another. Busy days often meant grabbing whatever food was convenient rather than paying attention to what he was eating.

Movement also needed to become a regular priority. Sanders believes people can start by making time for daily physical activity and strength training, even if they have only 30 minutes to spare.

Then there are relationships. Health, in his view, cannot be reduced to physical measurements alone. The quality of our friendships, family relationships, and wider communities also contributes to how we experience life and age over time.

These foundations form the starting point for his approach to wellness: sleep, nutrition, movement, and relationships.

But Sanders adds one more question that gives those habits a larger purpose: What does success actually look like for you?

Culture has plenty of answers. It can tell us to work harder, earn more, grow faster, and keep pushing. But the definition that matters most is the one that reflects an individual’s priorities, values, and circumstances.

Without that personal definition, it is easy to spend years pursuing a version of success that leaves little room for health, family, or fulfillment.

For Sanders, rebuilding his health meant reconsidering not just his habits but also the life those habits were supporting.

Building the Practice He Wished He Had Found

Sanders’ transition into men’s health began with his own frustration as a patient.

When he first experienced symptoms during his personal health decline, he consulted his doctor and requested laboratory testing. His results came back normal. He was told that perhaps he was stressed, depressed, or going through a midlife crisis.

But those explanations did not give him the answers he was looking for.

As he continued his personal transformation, he began to recognize a gap in the care available to men dealing with similar concerns. He wanted to create a practice that could offer the kind of support he had struggled to find himself.

That vision became Whole Men’s Health.

The practice initially focused on in-person care for concerns including hormone optimization, sexual health, erectile dysfunction, and longevity. Over time, it expanded to include telehealth and women’s health, after men began asking whether their spouses could access similar services.

The patients Sanders describes span generations. Some are in their late teens or early 20s, seeking answers about low testosterone, feeling unwell, or struggling to find direction. Others are in their 80s and 90s, looking to preserve their ability to exercise, ski, play golf, and remain independent.

Many are entrepreneurs, a population he understands personally.

Across these different stages of life, Sanders sees a common desire: people want to feel well enough to continue participating in the lives they have built.

He believes individuals need to take ownership of their health, armed with information and data that can help them make informed decisions. That does not mean navigating every concern alone. Rather, it means becoming an active participant in the process instead of assuming someone else will take care of everything.

The business is, in many ways, an extension of his personal story. What began as a search for answers became an opportunity to help others find the support he once needed.

The Longevity Conversation Needs Less Noise and More Clarity

Health and longevity have become increasingly visible topics, bringing with them a growing range of treatments, technologies, and wellness trends.

Red light therapy, hyperbaric treatments, wearable devices, peptides, and whole-body imaging are among the options people encounter as they look for ways to improve their health.

Sanders sees genuine promise in developments across the field. He is particularly interested in emerging peptides, new imaging techniques, and the growing public willingness to discuss health and longevity.

But he also sees a problem: too much information can leave people confused about what they actually need.

His starting point is to establish a clearer picture of individual health through laboratory testing and biomarkers that can be tracked over time. Rather than chasing every new intervention, people need to understand their current health, identify their goals, and determine which steps make sense for their circumstances.

That approach is especially relevant to the conversation around GLP-1 medications and peptides.

During the interview, Schroeder shares an experience with a friend who had lost a substantial amount of weight after taking peptides. She asks Sanders how people should understand the trend, given the conflicting information surrounding these treatments.

Sanders explains that peptides are short chains of amino acids that can signal the body to perform specific functions. GLP-1 medications, he says, have a place for appropriate patients. However, he cautions against treating them as a universal solution.

His recommendation is to begin by asking what someone is trying to achieve and whether the fundamentals of health are in place. Sleep, movement, nutrition, and relationships remain important, regardless of whether a person eventually uses additional interventions.

For Sanders, the problem is not simply whether a particular treatment works. It is whether the intervention is appropriate for the individual and whether people understand the role it should play in their overall health.

The broader principle is straightforward: technology can offer valuable tools, but it cannot replace the need for informed decisions and a strong foundation.

Why Work-Life Balance May Be the Wrong Goal

The conversation takes another turn when Schroeder asks Sanders how he has navigated entrepreneurship, career changes, and family life.

Schroeder shares her own experience of balancing different interests, including music, events, publicity, business, and snowboarding. Sanders recognizes the challenge of trying to make room for multiple parts of oneself while continuing to build something professionally.

His perspective is that work-life balance, as people commonly imagine it, does not really exist.

Instead, he believes life unfolds in seasons.

Some periods demand greater focus on business growth. Others call for a shift toward family, personal health, or a project that requires more attention.

For Sanders, that understanding has become increasingly important as his family has grown older. He and his wife have four children, with one attending college and three still at home. Although the younger children are more independent than they were when they were four, five, and six, their activities still require his involvement.

He wants to be present for that stage of their lives, recognizing that the opportunity will not last forever.

Consequently, he has pulled back from some business growth activities to create more room for his family.

The same principle applies to his professional interests. While working on his new book, he reduced some of his clinical activities to make time for writing. At other times, he has focused more heavily on clinical work or explored AI, longevity consulting, and advisory opportunities.

The priorities change, and he adjusts accordingly.

To make those decisions more deliberate, Sanders reviews his calendar at the beginning of each week. He looks at where his time is going and whether it reflects what matters to him. Every six months, he reassesses how he is allocating his energy and capacity.

It is a practical approach to a familiar problem: the calendar can fill up with opportunities long before we stop to ask whether those opportunities still deserve our attention.

For Sanders, the objective is not to do everything at once. It is to recognize the season he is in and make choices that honor it.

A Field Guide for Men Learning to Navigate Life’s Seasons

Sanders’ upcoming book grew out of the experience that first led him to reconsider his health.

When he was struggling in his late 30s, he wanted a practical guide that could help him understand what was happening and how to respond. He found that the resources available to him did not provide the comprehensive playbook he needed.

So he decided to write one.

The project also has a personal motivation. Sanders has three boys, and he wanted to create a guide they could turn to as they grew older.

He envisions the book as a field guide for men across generations, from their late teens through their 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond. It explores the changing demands of different life stages, the foundations that support health, and the lessons men can carry with them as they age.

The goal is to help men recognize that they can take a more active role in how they experience those years, rather than assuming that decline is inevitable or that their most meaningful experiences are already behind them.

The message is not that aging comes without challenges. It is that people can continue adapting, learning, and building a life they enjoy.

That philosophy also reflects a shift in how Sanders approaches his own future.

Earlier in life, he admits, he was afraid of change. He worried about whether he was doing enough or hustling hard enough. Now, he recognizes that life will inevitably bring twists and turns, requiring people to pivot and reinvent themselves.

The challenge is to embrace those changes without becoming so focused on the future that the present passes unnoticed.

The Art of Reinvention Is Learning to Be Here Now

When Schroeder asks what he hopes readers will take away from his book, Sanders offers a lesson that extends beyond medicine or longevity.

Life will require reinvention. Plans will change, priorities will shift, and unexpected turns will challenge the direction people thought they were taking.

But constantly preparing for the next stage can make it difficult to appreciate the one already unfolding.

Sanders is learning to find more joy in ordinary moments: getting coffee with his wife, going to the beach with his children, and playing golf.

He still believes in planning and being strategic about the future. He simply no longer wants the future to consume all his attention.

His recent decision to unplug from technology and spend three days hiking the Appalachian Trail offered another expression of that philosophy. The experience was outside his usual routine, but he found it refreshing.

During the interview’s rapid-fire round, he identifies sleep, meditation, and practicing his faith as non-negotiable habits. Asked what faith means to him, he describes it as having hope in something greater than himself, even when he cannot physically touch, feel, or see it.

That belief offers another dimension to his approach to life. Not everything meaningful can be measured through productivity, revenue, or data. Some things require trust, presence, and a willingness to acknowledge what lies beyond immediate certainty.

Ultimately, Sanders’ story is not simply about losing weight, optimizing hormones, or building another successful business. It is about learning to pursue achievement without losing sight of the person experiencing it.

The best days do not have to belong to the past. But building a future worth living also means learning to appreciate the life happening right now.

Enter the Giveaway

Dr. Stephen Sanders is offering a special giveaway connected to his upcoming book release.

The prize includes two or three copies of his book when it comes out, a package featuring his favorite supplements and items from his daily regimen, and merchandise from Whole Men’s Health.

Connect with Dr. Stephen:

• Personal website: drstephensanders.com

• Instagram: @drstephensanders

• TikTok: @drstephensanders

• YouTube: @drstephensanders

Success can be a strange kind of prison. You work hard to build the career, relationship, reputation, and lifestyle you once dreamed of, only to discover that the life everyone admires is not necessarily the life you want to live.

For Keren Eldad, that realization changed everything.

A former C-suite executive who became an executive and personal coach, keynote speaker, and author, Eldad has built her work around helping high achievers escape what she calls the gilded cage of success. Through her coaching practice and books, she helps people examine the expectations, thought patterns, and behaviors that keep them chasing achievement long after it has stopped bringing them fulfillment.

In a conversation with Jules Schroeder on Unconventional Life, Eldad shared how she dismantled her own conventional life, rebuilt it around her authentic preferences, and discovered that freedom requires more than changing your circumstances. It requires changing the way you think about who you are supposed to be.

Her message is particularly relevant to entrepreneurs, executives, and ambitious individuals who have achieved what they set out to accomplish but are beginning to wonder whether the life they built still fits.

When Checking All the Right Boxes Still Leaves You Unfulfilled

Eldad describes herself as someone who lived a conventional life, burned it down, and built an unconventional one.

Until her mid-30s, she followed a path that looked remarkably successful on paper. She excelled academically, attended a prestigious university, served as an officer in the Israeli Army, married, and rose to a C-suite executive position early in her career.

She had accomplished many of the things society celebrates, particularly for women: professional achievement, an established relationship, and the appearance of having everything together.

But behind the accomplishments was a growing sense of dissatisfaction.

Eldad did not enjoy her corporate environment or the work she was doing. Although she was good at her job and had substantial responsibilities, she struggled to see it as her life’s calling. At the same time, she was living in fear within an abusive marriage.

Eventually, the combination became intolerable. Her personal safety and unhappiness forced her to confront a reality she could no longer ignore.

Looking back, Eldad recognizes that reaching such a breaking point forced her to move when she might otherwise have continued tolerating a life that did not fit.

Yet she does not believe people should wait for circumstances to become unbearable before making a change.

“Don’t wait for the trauma,” she advised listeners.

Instead, she encouraged people to pay attention when they repeatedly find themselves questioning their circumstances and wondering whether life is supposed to feel the way it does.

For Eldad, dissatisfaction was not simply a problem to solve. It was an indication that the life she had built around external expectations needed to be reconsidered.

The Most Important Skill She Had to Learn Was Letting Go

When Schroeder asked what enabled her transition, Eldad identified something less tangible than a new qualification, business strategy, or professional skill.

It was the willingness to let go.

She had to release her need to be impressive, her attachment to other people’s expectations, and her belief that there was one correct way to live.

Many of her earlier decisions had been shaped by the desire to look successful and receive approval. Once she began questioning the results those decisions had produced, she realized that building a different life would require a different kind of courage.

That meant learning to say no. It meant tolerating criticism and accepting that people might reject her choices.

For high achievers, this can be particularly challenging. The same qualities that help people succeed in conventional environments, including discipline, ambition, and the ability to meet expectations, can also make it difficult to question whether those expectations deserve to be met.

Eldad’s experience revealed a different measure of courage: the ability to disappoint others rather than continue disappointing yourself.

The transition also required her to accept uncertainty. Letting go of a familiar identity meant allowing herself to discover what she wanted without knowing exactly what the next chapter would look like.

Her story suggests that personal reinvention does not always begin with a clear vision. Sometimes, it begins with acknowledging what no longer works and giving yourself permission to stop pursuing it.

Building an Unconventional Life Took 15 Years, Not One Leap of Faith

From the outside, a dramatic life change can look like a single courageous decision. Eldad’s experience was considerably more gradual.

She explained to Schroeder that her transformation unfolded over approximately a decade and a half.

During the first five years, she concentrated on studying and doing the internal work that would eventually inform her coaching practice. She began examining the way she thought and recognized how much of her thinking had been driven by obligation, fear of missing out, comparison, and external validation.

She started learning to think more deliberately, react less impulsively, and pay closer attention to her intrinsic desires.

Over the following decade, she began translating that internal work into a different professional and personal life.

She launched several businesses to support herself financially while developing her coaching practice. Coaching eventually took off, becoming an unconventional way to earn a living that aligned more closely with her interests and strengths.

Her personal life changed, too.

Eldad married someone she genuinely loved and wanted to spend time with, rather than someone who simply met conventional expectations. She chose not to have children because she did not want them. She built a home around the things she actually enjoyed, including her two cats.

Even her working style reflected a more authentic understanding of herself. She described herself as a writer and creative who enjoys working in a bathrobe with a cat nearby, rather than forcing herself into a corporate environment that never felt natural to her.

These details reveal something important about her philosophy. An unconventional life is not necessarily about making the boldest possible statement or rejecting tradition for its own sake.

It is about making choices that genuinely suit the person making them.

For Eldad, freedom meant creating a life in which her work, relationships, home, and daily routines no longer required her to perform a version of herself that someone else had approved.

The Chocolate Versus Vanilla Test: Are You Choosing What You Want?

During the conversation, Schroeder connected Eldad’s philosophy to a lesson she had encountered through the Landmark Forum: the simplicity of choosing what you like without needing to justify the preference.

If you prefer chocolate ice cream to vanilla, you can simply choose chocolate.

The example might seem trivial, but it illustrates a much larger pattern. People are often so accustomed to accommodating others that they struggle to make decisions without considering whether those decisions will be accepted.

Eldad expanded on the idea by describing the familiar situation of being served food you dislike at a dinner party. Some people will eat it anyway because they do not want to offend their host.

That instinct to be agreeable is understandable. But Eldad argued that the stakes become considerably higher when the decisions involve careers, marriages, and the direction of an entire life.

Choosing a partner because the relationship looks right on paper can carry a much greater cost than choosing a meal you do not enjoy. Staying in a career for decades because it offers security, despite knowing it no longer fits, can also mean sacrificing years of fulfillment.

The lesson is not that every preference should become a demand or that people should disregard their responsibilities. Rather, it is that people need to distinguish between a small compromise made for social convenience and a major compromise that requires them to abandon themselves.

Eldad described these lessons as simple but not easy.

Learning to honor your preferences requires recognizing when you are making a genuine choice and when you are simply following a script.

Escaping One Cage Does Not Mean You Are Free

Eldad’s first book, Gilded, grew out of her work with private coaching clients. She wanted to condense the ideas and philosophies she regularly recommended into a single resource rather than ask clients to read 10 to 15 books alongside their coaching work.

At the heart of Gilded is the metaphor of the gilded cage: a life that appears attractive and successful but feels restrictive from the inside.

Yet while developing her work, Eldad noticed that some clients were using the principles they learned to create a different version of the same problem.

Someone might leave corporate employment to start a business, only to work themselves into exhaustion because they still feel compelled to control everything.

Another person might leave an unfulfilling marriage and enter a new relationship that introduces a different set of problems.

The external circumstances change, but the underlying behaviors remain.

As Eldad explained, some people had learned to use her work to create “even shinier cages.”

That realization led her to develop Guilt Free, the second book in her trilogy.

Where Gilded focuses on changing the way people think, The Gilded Journal helps readers practice those new ways of thinking. Guilt Free focuses on changing obligation-driven behaviors so people can sustain the freedom they have begun to create.

Eldad also draws on Jungian psychology and the concept of individuation, which concerns the process of becoming more fully oneself.

Her distinction is important: getting out of a restrictive situation is one thing. Learning not to recreate that restriction somewhere else is another.

Someone can become a successful entrepreneur and still be driven by the same perfectionism that made corporate life unbearable. Someone can leave a relationship that does not fit and still make future choices out of fear, insecurity, or a need for validation.

Lasting freedom requires more than a change of circumstances. It requires examining the internal patterns that shaped those circumstances in the first place.

Stop Trying to Revive a Life That Has Run Its Course

In her coaching practice, Eldad frequently encounters people who arrive at a transition point because something that once worked has stopped working.

They may have reached a plateau in their careers, grown dissatisfied with their relationships, or discovered that the goals that once motivated them no longer feel meaningful.

Their initial instinct is often to repair the existing system. They want to reinvigorate their business, rediscover their motivation, or find a way to make their current life exciting again.

But Eldad challenges them to consider whether they are trying to revive something that has genuinely run its course.

As she put it, “There’s no reason to reinvigorate a machine that’s dead.”

The point is not that every period of dissatisfaction signals the need for a dramatic departure. Long-term relationships, careers, and businesses naturally encounter difficulties, and some problems can be resolved through honest communication and meaningful changes.

The deeper question is whether the situation itself remains right for the person living it.

Eldad gave examples of people who suppress important parts of themselves because they fear the consequences of acknowledging what they want. Someone might recognize their sexuality later in life, realize they want to pursue creative work instead of continuing in an established career, or acknowledge that a relationship has never genuinely been the right fit.

In each case, the individual may have suspected the truth for years but avoided acting on it because of what they believed they might lose.

The cost could involve reputation, financial security, social standing, relationships, or a familiar identity.

Eldad describes this kind of self-compromise as a bargain in which people trade parts of themselves to preserve the life they have built.

Her proposed antidote is honesty.

That means admitting what is no longer true, examining the fear behind continued inaction, and deciding what to do with that knowledge.

The process may be uncomfortable, but avoiding the truth does not necessarily eliminate its cost. It can simply extend the time spent living in a situation that no longer fits.

What If the Person You Think You Are Is Who You Learned to Be?

One of Eldad’s most significant observations is that people often confuse their conditioned identity with their authentic self.

When someone says, “This is who I am,” they may be describing a set of beliefs and behaviors developed over many years to gain approval, meet expectations, or remain within the boundaries of what felt acceptable.

Those patterns can become so familiar that they seem like permanent characteristics rather than learned responses.

Eldad encourages people to question that assumption.

The person they believe themselves to be may have been shaped by their upbringing, social environment, cultural expectations, and repeated efforts to fit in. Discovering who they really are requires examining those influences rather than accepting every familiar belief as the truth.

This process can involve dismantling ideas about what success should look like, what a good life is supposed to include, and which ambitions are genuinely their own.

It can also mean recognizing that a desire does not become invalid simply because it arrives later in life or contradicts choices made in the past.

For ambitious people in particular, this distinction can be transformative. Their identities may have become so closely associated with professional achievement, reliability, or being the person who always delivers that they struggle to imagine who they would be without those roles.

Eldad’s work invites them to separate what they have learned to do from who they actually want to be.

The goal is not to discard every part of one’s past. It is to become more conscious of which parts remain meaningful and which have been maintained out of habit or obligation.

A Different Definition of Success Begins With Authenticity

During the rapid-fire round, Schroeder asked Eldad what living an unconventional life means to her.

Her answer brought the conversation back to its central principle: living on your own terms in a way that honors your authenticity.

That philosophy is reflected in the choices she has made since leaving her former life. She has built a coaching practice, written books, developed her own body of work, and created a personal life around relationships and routines she genuinely values.

Even the smaller details matter. Eldad spoke about SoulCycle as a regular practice that supports her success, emphasizing that she enjoys exercise that makes her happy. When asked what she is most proud of, she named her marriage.

These answers reveal that her definition of achievement extends beyond professional milestones. Success also means having a life that feels right to live.

For people accustomed to measuring progress through promotions, revenue, recognition, or visible accomplishments, that can require a substantial shift in perspective.

The question becomes not only whether you can achieve something, but whether the achievement is worth pursuing in the first place.

It also means accepting that an authentic life may look different from what other people expect. It may include unconventional career choices, unexpected personal decisions, or the willingness to change direction after years of pursuing a particular goal.

There is no universal template for that life.

There is only the ongoing work of recognizing what matters to you and making choices that reflect it.

You Are Allowed to Become Someone Different

Eldad’s story is ultimately about the freedom to change.

She spent years following a path that appeared successful, only to discover that external approval could not substitute for personal fulfillment. Rebuilding her life required her to question the beliefs that had guided her decisions, experiment with a different way of working and living, and accept that other people might not understand her choices.

Her experience also demonstrates that transformation is rarely finished with one decision. It is an ongoing process of recognizing when old patterns return and choosing whether to continue following them.

As the conversation came to a close, Schroeder reflected on the possibility of making a new choice at any age. Eldad responded by recalling a line attributed to Alan Watts:

“You are under no obligation to be who you were 5 minutes ago.”

It is a fitting conclusion to a conversation about identity, ambition, and the courage to live differently.

You can appreciate what your past has taught you without remaining bound to every decision you have made. You can acknowledge the life you built while recognizing that it may no longer be the life you want.

And you can begin making different choices before dissatisfaction becomes a crisis.

The unconventional life, in Eldad’s view, is not necessarily the one that looks most extraordinary from the outside. It is the one that allows you to be who you really are.

 

For more than 30 years, trial attorney Genie Harrison has challenged systems that protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. But behind her landmark legal victories is a deeply personal mission: helping people recognize that their power has never truly been lost.

There is a particular kind of courage required to stand up to someone who holds power over you. It is one thing to recognize injustice. It is another to find your voice when the very person or system causing harm has made you believe that speaking up is pointless.

For trial attorney Genie Harrison, this understanding is not something she learned exclusively in a courtroom. It began much earlier, in a childhood home in deep East Texas, where she found herself protecting her younger brother from an abusive father. Years later, those early experiences would become the foundation of a legal career dedicated to challenging abuses of power and advocating for people who often feel they have none.

Today, Harrison is a prominent women’s rights, employee rights, and survivor rights attorney, as well as the founder of the Genie Harrison Law Firm in Los Angeles. Her work includes representing survivors in some of the country’s most closely watched legal battles, including securing a $17 million recovery involving Harvey Weinstein’s victims and a $100 million gender discrimination settlement involving female employees of Riot Games.

Her firm has recovered more than $245 million for clients, but for Harrison, the numbers only tell part of the story.

The real measure of her work lies in what happens after someone decides to stand up for themselves: the ability to rebuild, regain financial security, hold institutions accountable, and create a future that once felt out of reach.

In a conversation with Jules Schroeder on the Unconventional Life show, Harrison shares the personal experiences that shaped her mission, why she believes survivors must reclaim their agency, and what it means to build a purpose-driven business that refuses to compromise its principles.

When You Can’t Find What You’re Looking For, Build It

Running a law firm means navigating a constant stream of responsibilities. For Harrison, that includes managing clients, leading a business, balancing family life, and participating in leadership roles within the legal community.

Yet despite the demands, she describes her work as her passion and purpose.

The journey to building her own firm, however, wasn’t necessarily something she had always envisioned.

Throughout her career, Harrison worked in a legal profession that historically looked very different from the environment she wanted to be part of. She spent years searching for a professional space that reflected her values and approach to practicing law.

Eventually, she realized that what she wanted didn’t exist.

Rather than settling for an environment that didn’t align with her vision, she decided to create one.

Her law firm became an expression of that decision: a nearly all-women practice focused on employment law, civil rights, and helping survivors and employees navigate difficult circumstances.

For Harrison, entrepreneurship became a way to build the kind of workplace and legal practice she wanted to see in the world.

It’s a philosophy that extends beyond business ownership. Sometimes, the opportunity to create change begins when we stop waiting for existing systems to accommodate us and start building something different.

The Little Girl Who Learned to Stand Up to Bullies

To understand why Harrison dedicates her career to fighting abuses of power, it helps to return to the beginning.

Growing up in deep East Texas, she lived with an alcoholic and abusive father. Her younger brother was often the target of their father’s behavior, while her mother was too frightened to effectively intervene.

As a child, Harrison took it upon herself to protect her brother.

She remembers hearing her father’s truck coming down the street and going to meet him at the door. Rather than allowing him to reach her younger brother, she would deliberately pick an emotional fight with him to redirect his attention.

It wasn’t a physical confrontation. It was a child’s attempt to protect someone she loved using whatever power she had.

That experience became central to her identity.

Harrison explains that she has always been drawn to people who find themselves at a disadvantage, particularly when someone else is abusing their authority.

Her instinct to fight bullies, especially men who misuse their power, eventually developed into a professional commitment to advocating for employees, women, and survivors.

But her experiences with injustice didn’t end in childhood.

Finding Her Voice in Places That Should Have Been Safe

As Harrison grew older, she experienced sexual harassment in educational settings and was sexually abused by a teacher who was also a coach at her school. She later learned that she wasn’t the only person who had experienced abuse from this individual.

Even her time studying abroad at Oxford brought another disturbing experience.

While studying comparative jurisprudence, she encountered a professor who repeatedly made sexually inappropriate comments toward her in an academic setting.

Instead of engaging with her studies, he made explicit remarks and asked her to demonstrate intimate sounds.

For Harrison, these experiences became part of a much larger understanding of how power can be misused, even in environments that carry prestige and authority.

Her story reveals an uncomfortable reality: institutions that are supposed to foster education, growth, and opportunity are not automatically immune to harassment or abuse.

These experiences, alongside her childhood determination to protect her brother, shaped the person she would become.

They also influenced the way she approaches her clients today.

Rather than viewing her personal history as something separate from her professional life, Harrison allows it to inform how she connects with people navigating some of their most difficult moments.

From Victim Land to Survivor Land: The Work of Reclaiming Agency

When Jules asks how Harrison helps people find the courage to speak about their experiences, the conversation moves into one of the most meaningful aspects of her legal philosophy.

Harrison openly shares her own story with clients.

She believes that survivors benefit from knowing they are sitting across from someone who accepts them and understands, through personal experience, some of what they may be facing.

She describes her own journey as moving from “victim land” to “survivor land.”

But she is careful to recognize that no two journeys are identical.

Her role is not to tell clients how they should feel or what decisions they should make. Instead, she wants them to understand their rights, their options, and what each possible course of action involves.

Some may choose to pursue pre-litigation dispute resolution. Others may decide to move forward with litigation.

Either way, Harrison believes the decision should belong to the person who experienced the harm.

That distinction is important.

People who have experienced harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or abuse may already feel that control has been taken away from them. Giving them another set of instructions without allowing them to make their own decisions would only reinforce that experience.

Instead, Harrison works to help clients recognize that their agency remains intact.

Their power hasn’t disappeared. It hasn’t become irretrievable.

As she describes it, part of her work is helping clients excavate the power that is already within them.

For survivors, this can be a transformative realization: reclaiming your voice isn’t about becoming someone else. It’s about recognizing that you still have the right to decide what happens next.

The First Step Toward Reclaiming Power? Write It Down.

One of the most practical pieces of advice Harrison shares is also one of the simplest.

If someone is experiencing harassment, discrimination, retaliation, sexual abuse, or a situation that feels deeply wrong, she encourages them to start journaling.

It doesn’t have to be complicated.

A person can write in a physical notebook, type into their phone, or even dictate their experiences.

What matters is creating a record they can return to.

Harrison explains that people experiencing difficult situations often struggle to recognize the full extent of what is happening. They may question their memories, minimize their experiences, or wonder whether they are overreacting.

Putting those experiences into writing creates an opportunity to examine them more objectively.

She offers a particularly powerful exercise: imagine that the same experience happened to someone you love.

If your best friend, daughter, sister, or mother came to you with the exact story you had written down, what would you tell them?

Would you dismiss their concerns? Would you tell them they were imagining things? Or would you recognize that something wasn’t right?

This simple shift in perspective can help people step outside the self-doubt that often accompanies difficult experiences.

Beyond journaling, Harrison emphasizes the importance of preserving relevant information, including text messages, direct messages, screenshots, photographs, and other documentation.

She also cautions that recording laws differ between states, so anyone considering recording conversations should understand the applicable requirements and seek legal guidance.

Her broader message is to document what happens and consult an experienced attorney who can objectively assess the situation.

It is a reminder that taking action doesn’t necessarily begin with filing a lawsuit. Sometimes, it begins with acknowledging your own experience.

Your Voice Is More Powerful Than You Think

Many people assume that pursuing legal action requires undeniable proof.

They imagine needing video recordings, audio evidence, witnesses, or an admission from the person responsible.

Without these things, they may conclude that nobody will believe them.

Harrison challenges that assumption.

She explains that the legal system is often more nuanced than what people see portrayed in television dramas. A person’s own testimony and statements are evidence of what they experienced.

In situations involving conflicting accounts, attorneys have the responsibility to examine the available facts, identify the evidence, and determine how to present a client’s story in a legally admissible manner.

That is part of the work an experienced lawyer is trained to do.

For someone already struggling with self-doubt, understanding this can make a significant difference.

Harrison encourages people not to automatically disqualify their own experiences because they lack the kind of evidence they believe a case requires.

Their voices and testimony may carry more weight than they realize.

She also offers a timely caution about relying on artificial intelligence for legal assessments.

While AI may provide general information, she warns against expecting it to accurately evaluate the specific circumstances of an individual legal case.

An experienced attorney can assess the details, explain the relevant options, and help someone understand what may be possible.

The distinction matters: knowing that something feels wrong is important, but understanding what can be done about it requires appropriate professional guidance.

The $100 Million Settlement Is Only Part of the Story

Harrison’s legal career includes some significant victories, but her understanding of success goes beyond the amount recovered in a settlement.

Among her notable work is the $100 million gender discrimination settlement involving female employees of Riot Games, which has been described as the largest gender-discrimination settlement in gaming history.

She has also represented survivors in high-profile cases involving Harvey Weinstein.

These outcomes demonstrate the financial consequences of holding individuals and institutions accountable.

But when Jules asks Harrison about the impact of her work, she points to something that happens long after a case has ended.

Former clients sometimes reach out years later to share how their lives have changed.

Some have purchased homes. Others have started families, established financial security, or begun saving for retirement.

These stories mean a great deal to her because they reflect what can become possible when someone steps forward and stands up for themselves.

For Harrison, the purpose of legal representation is not simply to secure compensation.

It is to help people recover and rebuild.

Real Justice Doesn’t End When the Case Closes

One of Harrison’s strongest commitments is to creating structural reform.

She wants to see more than appropriate financial outcomes for individual clients. She also wants organizations and institutions to change the practices that allowed harmful behavior to occur.

That means looking beyond the immediate case and asking what needs to change so that other people do not experience the same circumstances.

She wants to help thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of people who may never know her name or become clients of her firm.

Her vision is a workplace and society where people can pursue their lives, careers, and happiness without experiencing harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or sexual abuse.

This is where her legal practice connects most clearly to her larger purpose.

A settlement can provide financial resources for one person to rebuild. But structural reform can influence the experiences of people who may never have the opportunity to pursue a case themselves.

That broader impact is what Harrison hopes to create.

She wants accountability to lead to meaningful change, not simply a resolution on paper.

And while the legal system can seem intimidating, she believes people should not assume that the possibilities are beyond their reach.

The Entrepreneurial Lesson She Learned Before Building Her Firm

When Jules shifts the conversation toward entrepreneurship, Harrison reveals that starting her own law firm was once one of her greatest fears.

She questioned whether she knew enough about running a business.

She wondered whether she could actually do it.

Looking back, she recognizes how much those questions reflected her internal dialogue.

Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to pay attention to the way they speak to themselves.

Instead of automatically assuming failure, she encourages people to consider what might happen if they assumed the best possible outcome.

She also invites listeners to look back at themselves as children.

The little girl she once was could never have imagined the life she lives today, the work she does, or the impact she has created.

Yet that is precisely the point.

We often underestimate what is possible because we evaluate our future using the limitations of our present perspective.

Harrison encourages people to take the first step even when it feels terrifying, recognize their potential, and surround themselves with people who genuinely support them.

For her, confidence isn’t necessarily something that arrives before action.

Sometimes, it develops because you take action despite your fears.

A Daily Practice of Positive Self-Talk

During the rapid-fire round, Harrison shares more about the personal practices that support her success.

One of her non-negotiables is physical activity.

She commits to working out every day, carving out an hour for herself through activities such as biking and jogging.

She also emphasizes positive self-talk and assuming the best outcome in different situations.

Rather than automatically rehearsing everything that could go wrong, she encourages people to identify what they want and practice maintaining a positive perspective.

It is a philosophy that connects directly to her entrepreneurial journey.

When she first considered starting her firm, her internal dialogue focused on what she didn’t know.

Now, she encourages others to replace that narrative with a more empowering possibility: they may be capable of far more than they can currently imagine.

Her message is not that challenges will disappear or that every outcome is guaranteed.

It is that the way we approach uncertainty can influence whether we allow fear to keep us from moving forward.

What It Really Means to Live an Unconventional Life

Toward the end of the conversation, Jules asks Harrison what living an unconventional life means to her.

Her answer brings together nearly every theme explored throughout the interview.

For Harrison, it means having a genuinely purpose-driven business.

Not simply claiming to have one, but making decisions every day that align with her principles, core beliefs, and understanding of right and wrong.

It also means having the courage to stand up for those beliefs, even when facing intimidating circumstances, powerful individuals, or established systems.

She acknowledges that doing what she believes is right isn’t always popular.

But popularity is not what defines success for her.

It is the ability to live in alignment with her values, even when doing so requires going against expectations.

Her perspective is especially meaningful in a world where success is often measured through revenue, recognition, and professional milestones.

Harrison’s accomplishments are considerable, but her definition of success is rooted in something much more personal.

It is about having the courage to stand up, create change, and remain true to what matters most.

As she looks toward the future, she also hopes that human connection will remain central to how people work, live, and support one another.

Love, community, and genuine human relationships are not secondary to progress. They are part of what makes progress meaningful.

And perhaps that is the most important lesson from her conversation with Jules Schroeder.

You don’t have to wait until you feel powerful to stand up for what you believe in. You don’t have to wait until the perfect opportunity appears to build something meaningful. And you don’t have to abandon your principles to achieve success.

Sometimes, the most unconventional thing you can do is simply refuse to surrender the parts of yourself that know what is right.

 

What began with a puppy, a wooded area, and a curious new dog owner eventually became the foundation for an entirely new category in pet care.

For Tim Vogel, co-founder and CEO of Scenthound, the journey into the pet industry started with a simple experience that made him curious about the bond between humans and dogs.

Today, that curiosity has evolved into a much bigger mission: helping people become better dog parents through routine hygiene, wellness, education, and technology.

But behind the business is a philosophy that reaches far beyond pet care.

For Tim, it is ultimately about connection.

It Started With a Puppy Who Followed Him

Before Scenthound, Tim was living in Washington, D.C., where he met his wife and eventually started building a family.

The sequence was almost humorous in its simplicity. They got a plant. The plant survived. Then they got a dog. The dog survived. Then they decided they were ready to have kids.

While transitioning between companies, Tim had an opportunity to take a month off. It was the perfect window to get a puppy, and he quickly became fascinated with learning everything he could about raising one.

One book introduced him to the idea of dogs as pack animals and the importance of establishing leadership. Tim followed one of its suggestions and took his puppy into a safe, wooded area.

He put the puppy down and walked away.

About 30 seconds later, he looked down.

The puppy was right on his heel.

For Tim, it was more than a training exercise. It was a moment of connection.

That experience sent him down a rabbit hole of learning about the human-animal bond and the co-evolution of humans and dogs. It also planted the first seed of an idea that would eventually shape his career.

We’ve Been Evolving Alongside Dogs for Thousands of Years

Tim’s fascination with dogs goes well beyond their role as household companions.

Humans and dogs have been evolving alongside each other for more than 10,000 years, he explains. Originally, dogs served practical functions. They protected villages, helped with hunting, herded animals, retrieved game, protected homes, controlled pests, and even pulled carts.

In many ways, dogs became employees.

But their role has changed.

Dogs moved from the woods to the field, from the field to the backyard, from the backyard into the house, and eventually, as Tim puts it, from the house to the pillow.

The modern dog is increasingly a member of the family.

And Tim believes that transformation has changed the way humans should think about caring for them.

He is particularly fascinated by how closely dogs seem to track human emotions. He points to research around dogs’ ability to detect pheromones and hormones, read facial expressions and gestures, and respond to human emotional states.

He also describes a study in which researchers monitored the heart rates of dogs and their owners and found that the dogs’ heart rates synchronized with their owners.

For Tim, this is evidence of just how extraordinary the human-dog relationship can be.

The Dog Beside You May Be Doing More Than You Think

Tim’s experience in the pet industry has also given him a front-row seat to the changing role dogs play in people’s lives.

His businesses survived both the Great Recession and the pandemic, and he noticed a significant increase in dog ownership during both periods.

Part of that, he believes, came from people’s need for companionship and emotional support during stressful periods.

Dogs can reduce stress. They can provide comfort. They can become part of a person’s everyday routine.

Tim even connects this shift to the rise of smaller breeds that can more easily accompany their owners into restaurants, shopping centers, airplanes, and other parts of daily life.

His observation is simple: people aren’t just keeping dogs at home anymore.

They are taking them everywhere.

And that growing integration between dogs and their owners has created new expectations around what it means to care for them.

The Problem Was Hiding in Plain Sight

Tim’s first business in the pet industry was mobile grooming.

Eventually, he moved into brick-and-mortar locations, where he was able to solve some of the challenges that made the mobile model difficult to scale.

But the biggest insight came during an ordinary neighborhood encounter.

Tim was walking his dog when he met a neighbor who had recently moved into the area. When the neighbor learned that Tim owned a grooming business, he said he would use it, but his dog didn’t need a groomer.

Tim looked at the dog.

He noticed that its nails were disfigured. He could smell an ear infection.

The owner simply didn’t know.

And that was Tim’s aha moment.

The issue wasn’t necessarily that dog parents didn’t care.

There was a gap between wanting to be a good dog parent and knowing what good dog care actually required.

Traditional grooming was largely associated with aesthetics and haircuts. But most dogs don’t need elaborate haircuts.

They still need basic hygiene.

That distinction became the foundation for Scenthound.

What If Dog Wellness Had a Fourth Essential?

Tim describes traditional dog care as having three major pillars:

Nutrition.

Exercise and enrichment.

Veterinary care.

But he saw another essential that was largely missing from the conversation:

Routine hygiene.

That became the idea behind Scenthound.

The name itself reflects the five areas the company focuses on:

Skin
Coat
Ears
Nails
Teeth

Rather than positioning the business simply as another grooming company, Tim wanted to create a place where dog parents could consistently take care of these foundational aspects of their dog’s wellbeing.

The company also introduced the Scent Check, which gives dog parents a report on their dog’s skin, coat, ears, nails, and teeth, along with recommendations.

The goal is not just to clean the dog.

It is to help the person understand their dog better.

Don’t Sell the New Paradigm. Meet People Where They Are.

Creating an entirely new category comes with a problem: people don’t necessarily know they need it.

Tim describes this as the “gravity” of an old paradigm.

People naturally return to what they already understand.

So instead of telling someone, “You need routine hygiene for your dog,” Scenthound starts somewhere familiar.

Come get your dog washed.

Get the nails clipped.

Get the ears cleaned.

Get the teeth brushed.

Make it fast, easy, and affordable.

Then, once the dog is there, the education begins.

The Scent Check gives the dog parent a clearer picture of what is happening with their dog. The team can explain what they are seeing, provide recommendations, and introduce the idea of regular care.

The customer journey therefore shifts from:

“I don’t want to wash my own dog.”

to:

“I want to be a great dog parent. What do I need to do?”

That is how Tim describes the process of creating a category one dog parent at a time and one location at a time.

It is also a powerful lesson for entrepreneurs building something people don’t yet know they need.

Sometimes category creation isn’t about convincing people to want something completely new.

It is about helping them recognize a need that has been sitting in front of them all along.

The Next Chapter May Be About Data

Tim’s vision for Scenthound doesn’t stop at physical locations.

One of his early insights was that the company was also a data business.

With large numbers of dogs visiting regularly, Scenthound can collect information across individual dogs over time.

Tim sees an opportunity to use that information to move from proactive care toward predictive care.

Imagine knowing a dog’s history, seeing how it changes over time, and using that information to make increasingly personalized recommendations.

Instead of asking dog parents to become experts themselves, Tim envisions a system that can help answer a much simpler question:

What is the next most powerful thing I can do for my dog?

He talks about the potential for personalized wellness recommendations, wellness indexes, longevity scores, and other tools that could help simplify the experience of being a dog parent.

In his vision, technology becomes an “easy button” for people who want to care for their dogs well without having to think about every detail themselves.

In an AI World, People Still Want Relationships

That vision makes Scenthound’s physical presence even more interesting.

While Tim is enthusiastic about artificial intelligence and proprietary data, he doesn’t see technology as a replacement for human connection.

The physical experience still matters.

A robot isn’t washing your dog.

And people still want relationships.

For Tim, the opportunity is in combining the analog and digital worlds: physical locations where people and their dogs interact with people, supported by technology and data that can make the experience increasingly personalized.

It is a distinctly modern business model built around something deeply human.

Connection first.

Technology in service of that connection.

Entrepreneurship Taught Tim to Take Some Hats Off

Building a company at this scale hasn’t always been easy for Tim personally.

He openly describes going through what he calls the “valley of despair” of entrepreneurship.

There were periods when he didn’t take care of himself well. He lost balance. He lost his health.

But as Scenthound grew, something changed.

Tim realized he didn’t need to personally carry every part of the business.

He could identify where he created the most value, then bring in people who were better equipped to handle the areas that consumed too much of his energy.

He describes this as becoming clearer about his own “superpower.”

The more mature he became as an entrepreneur, the more he learned that growth isn’t necessarily about adding more responsibilities.

Sometimes it is about removing the right ones.

His Superpower Now Is Telling the Story

Today, Tim says he is particularly focused on storytelling.

Not storytelling as a marketing gimmick, but storytelling as a leadership tool.

For him, a compelling vision can attract the right people to a mission. It can help people understand the difference they are trying to make. It can bring a group of people together around something larger than themselves.

A business coach once told him that “contribution is the cure to all anxiety.”

Tim says he believes it.

That belief has shaped the way he thinks about both leadership and Scenthound’s mission.

How do you help people find their why?

How do you help them connect that why to a mission?

And how do you get a group of people contributing toward something that makes the world a little better?

For Tim, Scenthound is one expression of that philosophy: helping people practice love every day through their relationship with their dogs.

“My Purpose in Life Is About Connection”

When Jules asks Tim to finish the sentence, “If you really knew me, you would know…” his answer brings the entire conversation into focus.

His purpose, he says, is about connection.

He is here to help people develop better connections.

That answer explains much of the journey he has shared.

The puppy that sparked his curiosity.

The human-dog bond that became his life’s work.

The business designed to help dog parents care for their animals.

The team he is building around a shared mission.

And the storytelling that helps bring people into that mission.

The business may be about dog wellness, but the philosophy underneath it is about relationships.

Believe You Have Something to Contribute

Tim’s advice to entrepreneurs is straightforward, although he admits it sounds cliché.

Believe in yourself.

You’re enough.

You’re worthy.

You’ve got something to contribute.

He says this was something he personally struggled to fully believe earlier in his journey, but that it has become easier over time.

It is a fitting lesson from someone whose business was built around recognizing a need that other people had not yet clearly articulated.

Before you can convince other people to believe in a new possibility, you have to be willing to believe that you have something worth bringing into the world.

The Quiet Practice That Keeps Him Grounded

For all the complexity of building a growing company, Tim’s daily grounding practice is remarkably simple.

Every morning, he creates 45 minutes to an hour for himself.

Sometimes that means a workout.

Sometimes it is a walk.

The specific activity matters less than creating uninterrupted space to simply be with his own thoughts.

That morning practice, he says, has helped keep him grounded.

For an entrepreneur whose days are filled with decisions, teams, growth, data, and strategy, making room for silence may be one of his most important habits.

So, What Does an Unconventional Life Look Like?

When Jules asks Tim what living an unconventional life means to him, his answer is almost disarmingly simple.

“Let’s do stuff.”

We all like comfort, he says. We are afraid of change and uncertainty.

But Tim believes the bold ones live the richest lives.

So his philosophy is not about having a perfectly mapped-out unconventional path.

It is about taking action.

Trying something.

Following curiosity.

Moving toward uncertainty instead of allowing it to make the decision for you.

Let’s go do something.

And perhaps that’s the thread that connects Tim’s entire story.

A puppy followed him into the woods.

He followed his curiosity into the pet industry.

He followed a gap in the market into a new category.

He followed the data toward a new vision for dog wellness.

And now he is following a deeper sense of purpose around connection and contribution.

That is what makes his version of an unconventional life less about breaking away from the traditional path and more about being willing to follow an idea far enough to discover where it leads.

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Giveaway: A Year of Free Scenthound Services

Tim and Scenthound are giving one listener a year of free services at Scenthound, in the form of a yearlong membership.

At the time of the interview, Tim shared that Scenthound had 72 locations across the country and was opening about one location a week, with another 70 expected to open the following year.

Even if Scenthound isn’t in your neighborhood yet, Tim said, “hopefully we will be soon.”

To enter, head over to UnconventionalLifeShow.com and click on the Giveaway tab.

As Jules notes in the episode, giveaways are open for one week after the episode airs, so make sure to catch Unconventional Life every Monday so you don’t miss one.

Connect With Tim

• Scenthound: Scenthound.com
• Scenthound Franchising: ScenthoundFranchising.com

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timvogel/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Scenthound

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClubScenthound