Order of Man - The Importance and Power of Investing in Yourself ｜ FRIDAY FIELD NOTES

00:00:00.000 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart

00:00:04.980 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.

00:00:10.420 You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who

00:00:17.220 you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,

00:00:22.780 you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,

00:00:27.300 and I am the host and founder of this podcast and the Order of Man movement. I want to welcome you

00:00:32.000 today. This is your Friday Field Notes. Now, this one's a little bit different because

00:00:36.100 I decided to make the audio version of a video that I recorded about a week and a half ago

00:00:43.060 available via this podcast. So this is something that maybe some of you have heard if you're

00:00:48.200 following me on the socials or on YouTube. But if not, this was a message that I think is probably

00:00:54.100 one of, if not the single most important message that I have shared regarding being successful,

00:01:01.900 investing in yourself, taking care of yourself, and making yourself ultimately the success that

00:01:07.560 you're after. So the audio is a little bit off because I think I was recording it either on my

00:01:11.880 walk or in my truck. But regardless, I think you're going to enjoy. So before I get into that,

00:01:18.720 I just want to give you two resources for you to invest in yourself. Number one is our free course.

00:01:24.580 So all you'll need to invest is not money, but time and commitment and energy. You can check that

00:01:29.800 out at orderofman.com slash battle ready. You're going to get a series of emails over 30 days that

00:01:34.400 are going to get you equipped to make the next quarter a success for yourself. And then the other

00:01:40.420 investment I'd have you consider is the iron council. This is an exclusive brotherhood of men 0.95

00:01:44.760 banded together. Over 600 members now are all working to improve themselves as fathers, husbands,

00:01:51.520 leaders in their communities, business owners, employees, mentors, whatever facet of life they're

00:01:56.000 showing up. So you can check that out at orderofman.com slash iron council. All right, guys,

00:02:01.740 here's the recording from about a week and a half ago. I hope you enjoy.

00:02:06.600 Gents, what's up? I hope all's well this afternoon or this morning, whatever time it is for you.

00:02:11.280 Uh, I've got an interesting little lesson I wanted to share with you today. I'll wait for a couple of

00:02:16.840 guys to jump on, but what I'm going to talk with you about is learning to invest in yourself,

00:02:22.220 taking some risks, being bold. I know it's scary. I know it's hard to invest in yourself. I know

00:02:27.940 everybody's financial situation is very different. Uh, and some of us are in the position to be able

00:02:33.500 to invest in ourselves fully and as much as we'd like. And others just aren't quite there yet.

00:02:37.640 And, and I've been on both sides of the spectrum. I've been in points in my life where I was worried

00:02:42.540 about making the mortgage payment. I was worried about spending too much on groceries or putting

00:02:46.560 gas in the, in the tank. These were things I was worried about at one point in my life.

00:02:51.680 Uh, and then I've been on the opposite side of the spectrum where, you know, I don't have to worry

00:02:54.680 about making those kinds of investments to, to my future self. So this isn't a, um, this isn't a

00:03:01.860 rebuke to anybody, what I'm going to share with you. Uh, it isn't a judgment. Like I said, I know

00:03:07.680 we're all in different, different financial situations. I just want you to wrap your heads

00:03:11.480 around something for a minute. Okay. And, uh, I had somebody reach out and I'm just going to be

00:03:17.320 general with this cause I'm, I'm not calling this individual out. I'm just using it as a learning

00:03:20.900 opportunity to teach you what it is that I learned years ago that has drastically and radically

00:03:26.740 improved my life. So I had this individual reach out and, uh, they're, they're struggling somewhat

00:03:32.240 in launching their business. Uh, they've seen what we've been able to do with order of man.

00:03:36.720 They're inspired by what we're doing. They want to build something similar in their own space to

00:03:40.320 what we're doing. And he wanted to talk with me about potentially coaching him. And so we talked

00:03:47.300 and I said, okay, well tell me what you want and why do you think I can do it? What have you tried

00:03:50.540 in the past? And I went through a series of questions with him because I don't, I don't want to just

00:03:54.700 rush into it and say, okay, just pay me X amount of dollars and I'll do whatever you want me to do.

00:03:58.060 Like, I want to know, is this something I can actually help you with? So to this gentleman's

00:04:02.900 credit, uh, he was very specific. Like he knew exactly what he wanted, which was actually very

00:04:07.840 rare. It's not something I get a whole lot. He knew exactly what he wanted. He was crystal clear

00:04:12.020 on his goals. Um, I asked him why he hadn't had success in the past. And he, he told me why that

00:04:17.220 was the case. And we just had a back and forth, a good back and forth. And, and I said, all right,

00:04:22.340 well, you know, if we, if, if you want to work together on a one-to-one basis, let's do that.

00:04:27.320 I'm on board. Let's do it. And he said, well, it depends on the cost and, and to see if I can

00:04:32.120 swing it right now, which again, I can completely appreciate. I've been there. I've been in situations

00:04:36.940 where it's like, I got to worry about pinching pennies. So it's, it's a factor. It's something

00:04:42.080 to consider. So I told him what it would cost. And I said, all right, well, well, here's your

00:04:48.720 investment. This is what it's going to take for you to invest for the year. And, uh, here's where

00:04:54.760 we're at. I got an email this morning from him and he declined. Now, again, this is not a rebuke

00:05:01.980 to this individual. In fact, I, I, I hold this inner, this individual in high regard. I think

00:05:08.780 highly of him. I respect him. He's not in a position to invest that, that type of money

00:05:14.460 right now. I can understand that. I can appreciate that. But guys, what I want you to know is

00:05:20.060 that at some point you're going to have to invest in yourself. That could be a five figure

00:05:26.400 investment. Like I was asking this gentleman to make, it could be investing in a little

00:05:32.460 bit of time and going to pick up a library card and figuring out how to get some free books

00:05:36.960 to the library. It could be taking a $500 course. Uh, it could be signing up for the iron council,

00:05:45.480 for example, depending on your financial situation. But here's what I will tell you.

00:05:51.360 It's always in your best interest to invest a little bit more than maybe you're comfortable

00:05:57.060 with. Consider that for a second. It's always in your best interest to invest a little bit

00:06:03.060 more than you're currently comfortable with because here's the trap. Okay. The trap is

00:06:10.300 that you only invest the amount that you're comfortable with and you sell yourself short

00:06:17.480 or at best maintain the current status of where you are. Like we all know the adage, you get what

00:06:24.900 you pay for. And sometimes that's true and sometimes it isn't. But I think generally it's true.

00:06:30.760 So if you, if you get only what you pay for, then if you're only willing to invest the bare minimum,

00:06:39.040 you're either going to stay exactly where you are or you're going to get inferior training.

00:06:46.420 Like anything in life, there has to be an element of risk. So when it comes to investing in yourself,

00:06:52.440 you have to be willing to spend a little bit more than you're comfortable with. I'm not telling you to

00:06:58.240 be reckless. I'm not telling you to take out a loan on your house. I'm just saying invest a little bit

00:07:05.240 more than you're comfortable with because that represents not only a risk, I get that, but it

00:07:11.760 represents a potential reward. And if you're not willing to invest just a little bit more than you're

00:07:19.000 comfortable with, you're going to maintain where you currently are. So I'll share with you my personal

00:07:23.960 personal experience into the world of investing, not in the stock market, not in real estate. I've

00:07:28.540 done both, but into the world of investing in myself. Six years ago, maybe seven, I reached out

00:07:36.800 to a gentleman. His name is Jeff Rose. You guys can look him up. He runs an organization called Good

00:07:41.360 Financial Sense. He's a financial advisor. I think very highly of Jeff. He was instrumental in helping me

00:07:47.920 launch some digital assets with my financial planning practice at the time, which has now

00:07:52.720 morphed and transformed into what we're doing here with Order of Man. So I reach out to this guy,

00:07:59.420 Jeff, and I said, Hey, Jeff, I admire what you're doing. I respect what you're doing.

00:08:08.140 I need to get some of your input, some of your advice. And I'd never invested in myself. And he said,

00:08:14.420 all right, well, like I can help you out. Here's what it'll cost. And I don't remember what it cost.

00:08:19.320 It cost a couple hundred bucks or something. It was, it was looking at it now. It was, it was

00:08:25.140 marginal, but at the time it was a lot of money. I was like, man, a couple hundred bucks, two,

00:08:30.600 300 bucks. Like, I don't know if I should. And I made the decision to do it. And it immediately

00:08:38.660 and instantaneously paid off. And it not only directly, but indirectly set me on the path to

00:08:44.720 make millions of dollars over the past seven, seven years. Guys, you have to be able to invest

00:08:54.860 and risk more than you're comfortable with, because if you're not uncomfortable with it,

00:08:58.600 then it's not a risk. So I made that investment a couple hundred bucks. Some of you guys think,

00:09:03.600 well, that's not a big deal. Some of you guys are thinking that's a, that's a big deal.

00:09:06.360 A couple hundred bucks, man. That that's like food. I can't put on the table for a week.

00:09:12.460 Again, this is not a rebuke or a judgment against any of that or your financial situation.

00:09:16.520 It's all relative. So I did that, made the investment immediately, instantaneously paid off.

00:09:23.900 Then I start working with this organization that, uh, that trains and partners with financial advisors

00:09:30.300 and teaches them marketing strategies, gives them tools and resources to build their practice.

00:09:36.360 And, and, and, and be successful. And I go to this seminar and it cost a thousand dollars to go to

00:09:42.740 the seminar. And again, some of you might be thinking, oh, it's nothing. Some of you might

00:09:46.000 be thinking, oh, I don't have a thousand dollars to invest. It's all relative. Please hear me on

00:09:50.980 that. It's all relative. So it was a thousand bucks. And I'm like, oh man, a thousand just to go.

00:09:56.560 Cause I knew when I went, they're going to try to sell me on spending even more money.

00:10:02.240 So I'm like a thousand dollars. I don't know. I don't know. And they offered a money back guarantee.

00:10:07.600 And I said, okay, well, because they offer the money back guarantee, I'll give it a try. And I

00:10:12.300 took a risk and I spent a thousand dollars. I spent 500 bucks or whatever it was on a plane ticket.

00:10:16.320 I spent a thousand dollars on getting to this event and I thought, okay, worst case scenario,

00:10:21.260 it's miserable. They gave me my money back and I'm out $500 for the plane ticket and whatever it

00:10:27.040 cost me for the hotel. And I think I actually went with somebody and split the cost of a hotel.

00:10:32.040 So what, like six, 700 bucks, right? I get there and I'm so impressed with the presentation. I'm so

00:10:39.260 impressed with what they're doing. I talk with people who've been through the program and been with

00:10:43.060 it for a very long time. I'm like, all right, I'm going to do this. And I, if I remember correctly,

00:10:48.360 I spent seven grand guys, I didn't have $7,000 to my name at that point. Okay. I didn't have the

00:10:55.560 $7,000. And I remember thinking, shit, I'm, I want to do this, but I'm gonna have to talk with my wife 0.96

00:11:03.900 about it. How am I going to convince her when we're struggling to make the mortgage payments 0.98

00:11:09.640 that we should invest $7,000 into hiring this organization to coach me on making more money

00:11:21.540 on building my financial planning practice. And frankly, I don't remember how I did it. I just

00:11:26.280 went to my wife and fortunately I have one of the most amazing, incredible, supportive

00:11:32.940 wives on the planet. And she said, I trust you. She said, I trust you to make the best decision.

00:11:42.400 Now, I don't know if she was teeing me up or what, but she trusted me and she said, she trusted me.

00:11:48.780 And I said, okay, well, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I put my money where my mouth was

00:11:55.320 for probably the first time in my life, like a serious commitment, which was $7,000. Now,

00:12:02.040 some of you, again, I'm going to keep saying this might be saying seven, that's it. Big deal.

00:12:07.840 Well, shit. When I was broke, $7,000 was a big deal. So don't tell me it's not a big deal. 1.00

00:12:18.320 If it's not a big deal to you, congratulations. If it is a big deal to you, I get it. I've been there.

00:12:23.520 I've been broke. I literally, this is no joke. I literally wore a path

00:12:31.600 in the grass of my backyard in our little 12, 1300 square foot home. Our first home we ever bought

00:12:38.100 together. I was in Iraq in 2005. My wife and I decided to buy this home. She did all the planning

00:12:44.040 and everything else. And I came back and we had this home. It was a nice little 1300 square foot

00:12:47.640 home on a, I want to say like a quarter acre lot. And I literally wore a dirt path in the grass

00:12:55.620 because I would pace around in the backyard and fret over how I was going to make the mortgage payment

00:13:01.060 and how I was going to pay for diapers for our one-year-old kid at the time. And, and how I was

00:13:05.560 going to put food on the table and how I was going to make something out of my life. So I know what it's

00:13:10.120 like to be broke as shit and to feel like shit and not have $10 to your name, let alone $7,000 to 0.99

00:13:18.220 invest in yourself in something that may or may not work out. And then having to try to convince your 1.00

00:13:23.440 wife that you should do it for her to put it back on you and say, I trust you. So now it's a hundred

00:13:31.560 percent up to me because she says, I trust you. And that means a lot. That means more to me than just

00:13:38.720 about any other combination of words I could ever hear. I trust you. Oh shit. Now I don't have an

00:13:47.400 excuse. Now I don't have a way out. I don't have anything to fall back on. And I was scared.

00:13:54.420 I was scared because she said she trusted me. And if I failed, then I let her down and I undermined her

00:14:02.740 trust in me as her husband. That's heavy. It should be heavy. If it isn't heavy,

00:14:08.620 there's something wrong in your marriage. That was heavy for me. So I did it. I wrote a check

00:14:15.940 that I didn't have any money for or who knows where I got it from. Maybe I put it on. I don't

00:14:21.600 even know. Maybe I put it on credit. Maybe I wiped out my savings. I don't know what I did,

00:14:26.800 but I came up with $7,000. Maybe I landed at a big case at just the right time. And I wrote that

00:14:33.040 check for $7,000 and I dropped it in the mail and I immediately regretted it. Immediately. I was like,

00:14:40.540 what did I do? I shouldn't have done that. But I went in, I went all in. And you know what?

00:14:47.440 It's made seven figures for me in my financial planning practice because I invested in myself.

00:14:56.460 I had no reason to believe in myself. All I had was faith. And I'll tell you what,

00:15:03.660 I've got a buddy and he can attest to this. In fact, he bought my financial planning practice

00:15:07.860 when I sold it about five years ago. Yeah. Five years ago. And I remember having conversations

00:15:14.440 with him and he would attest to this. And I remember telling him for years, Greg, man,

00:15:20.280 I just feel like I'm meant for something more. I just feel like I'm meant for something more,

00:15:27.480 a higher calling, like something more purpose driven. Like I'm just, I'm meant for something

00:15:32.760 more. And we would have him and I would have these conversations and I never, I didn't know what it

00:15:38.640 was like. And I thought for a long time that it would just, it would just fall into my lap.

00:15:44.440 That like it would just, at some point, something would just be presented to me and the clouds

00:15:50.680 would part and the sun would shine through and the angels would sing hallelujah. And it would hit me

00:15:57.000 like a ton of bricks that this was my calling in life. And unfortunately I realized it doesn't work

00:16:03.100 like that. That you don't just have these magical blessings bestowed upon you and you don't trip and

00:16:10.660 stumble your way over these types of, of blessings, but that you create them for yourself and you create

00:16:18.800 them by taking calculated risks and having some faith in your own work ethic, your own effort,

00:16:26.080 and your refusal to quit and give in when things get hard and they will get hard. I was broke.

00:16:32.780 I wore those dirt paths into my grass. And yet I believed, I don't know why, but I believed enough

00:16:40.420 in myself and those conversations I'd have with Greg about wanting something more, knowing there was

00:16:45.800 something more to this. And I made that investment and it paid off. And since then I've invested

00:16:53.420 multiple six figures into coaches and courses and traveling and hiring people and lunches and

00:17:03.960 anything that I can books, podcasts, court, like anything that I could invest in that I think

00:17:10.640 will serve me in some way. I know that whether I'm spending a hundred dollars or a hundred thousand

00:17:16.260 dollars, because I believe in myself, not the other company necessarily. And by the way, that's

00:17:21.500 important. You want to, you want to hire credible coaches, but I believe enough in myself that if

00:17:28.120 I just learned one thing, just one thing that not only will I get my investment back, I will magnify

00:17:38.120 it 10, a hundred, a thousand fold. And that initial investment that I made with Jeff Rose, which was

00:17:44.880 probably a couple hundred bucks has paid me back a thousand fold. That's $7,000 I paid to belong to

00:17:53.400 that coaching group paid back probably a hundred or more fold at this point because it was the right

00:18:01.500 coach, because the information was good, because I believed in myself. And over the past five, six,

00:18:09.600 seven years, I have worked my ass off in ensuring that I lived up to the words that my wife told me

00:18:18.600 and said, I trust you. And now it's not even about her. Here's the interesting thing, guys.

00:18:26.300 It's not even about her anymore. What, let me explain what I mean by that.

00:18:31.800 I know she trusts me because I have a track record of success. Why would she not trust me?

00:18:39.520 I tell her the truth. I honor our commitments. I work my ass off for myself and her and the family.

00:18:45.800 She trusts me. I've earned that trust. But you know what? Even greater than that, this is going to

00:18:51.220 sound weird. Maybe. Even greater than that, I trust me. I trust myself. So I'm willing to put my money

00:19:02.920 where my mouth is because I know, I know, especially if my back's against the wall, that I'm going to

00:19:11.060 fight and claw and scrap and do everything I can to ensure that I can not only honor myself, but I can

00:19:18.700 honor her as my wife and I can honor my kids by doing what I'm supposed to be doing as a father

00:19:23.460 and a husband and the patriarch of our family and the kind of man that I want to be.

00:19:30.880 So I know a lot of you guys are in the position right now where you're broke and you're not satisfied

00:19:37.300 and you're not happy and you felt like I felt like seven years ago when you're having a conversation

00:19:43.660 with your buddy saying to him, I know I'm destined for something more. I know, I know there's something

00:19:51.440 more for me. I don't know what it is, but I know it's there. And guys, the only way to figure it out

00:19:57.680 is not by some miraculous set of circumstances to trip and stumble over your, your fate.

00:20:05.240 It's to create it. It's to take a little bit more risk than you're comfortable with. It's to spend

00:20:13.260 a little bit more money. It's to invest a little bit more time. It's to take just a little bit more

00:20:20.260 risk. Again, it's all relative. So whether it's $100,000 that you're trying to invest or $100, it's all

00:20:26.420 relative, but just a little bit more guys. You'll never, ever, ever unlock what it is you're after

00:20:37.420 if all you're willing to invest in yourself is what you feel comfortable investing because you're going

00:20:44.600 to shortchange yourself. By its very nature, you unlocking the next level is going to take

00:20:56.400 more than what you're currently doing. More money, more time, more energy, more resources,

00:21:05.320 more sacrifice, less sleep, less comfort. That's what it's going to take.

00:21:15.620 So we went through a lot. If you're just catching this now, go back and listen to it because I think

00:21:20.100 it's really powerful. Easy for me to say. But as I started this, I'll start with this,

00:21:26.400 this gentleman who reached out. He decided not to take me up on that and that's okay.

00:21:31.880 That's okay. I respect that. I know what it's like to be in that situation. He's not in the

00:21:36.000 position to do that right now. It's okay. I'll be here when he's ready. I hope it's sooner rather

00:21:42.960 than later because I think I can help him. And I know, I said, I think I can help him. I know I can

00:21:48.560 help him. In fact, as I was thinking about it last night and I told him how much it would be to invest

00:21:55.040 for some coaching, I thought to myself, man, this guy's getting a deal. I know that. I didn't always

00:22:02.280 think that. I used to shortchange myself. I didn't believe in myself as much as I do now.

00:22:07.300 But I thought to myself, as I asked him to invest five figures in himself, I said,

00:22:14.200 I said to myself, I said, he is getting a deal.

00:22:21.320 Just invest more than you're comfortable with, guys. Don't be reckless. Don't be stupid. You have

00:22:26.340 obligations. You have responsibilities. You got a mortgage to pay. You probably got food,

00:22:30.960 kids that you got to put food in their mouths. Don't, don't be reckless. That's not what I'm saying

00:22:35.700 here. I'm just saying that if you want to unlock the next step, it's going to take a little bit of

00:22:41.340 courage. The only thing I can think of right now is Indiana Jones. I don't even know which one it is

00:22:45.940 where he has to step across that, that invisible bridge. It's like a leap of faith. You don't see it now

00:22:56.060 because if you saw it, you'd already have it, but you don't get to see it until you make the leap of

00:23:04.440 faith. But here's how you can develop that faith. Look to other people who have done it. Guys,

00:23:11.840 I'm telling, I've walked the bridge, right? Like I've already walked across the canyon. I'm on the

00:23:17.700 other side. I'm safe. I'm on the other side. There's another canyon I got to cross and I got

00:23:21.220 to look to other people, but I've already made it. So look to the people that you trust and you

00:23:26.280 respect and they will tell you the path to take. They will tell you, guys, look, I know it looks

00:23:33.560 like the bridge is not there. I know it looks like you're going to fall into that canyon, but I can

00:23:37.300 assure you that the bridge is there. It's there. You don't see it. I see it. I got a different

00:23:41.860 perspective. It's there. Please just take one step. That's all I'm telling you guys to do.

00:23:48.460 Now, whether it's investing $100 or $100,000, it's just got to be one step more than you've taken

00:23:55.380 in the past and it will be returned to you. I promise you. I can assure you, take comfort in

00:24:01.140 that. Have faith in that because I've done it because I had to look to other people who had it

00:24:06.680 figured out. Like I was on the side that you're on right now and I'm like, there's no freaking bridge

00:24:13.420 right here. I'm going to die. I'm going to step over this and I'm going to die. And I looked at

00:24:19.340 everybody across on the other side and they said, no, Ryan, there's a bridge. Trust me there. It's

00:24:23.520 there. You can't see it, but it's there. I walked it. Literally, I walked it. It's there. And I said,

00:24:28.300 okay, I trust you. I trust you, which is the words that my wife shared to me. And I took the first

00:24:36.740 step. I'm like, holy shit, it is here. And then I took another step. Oh my, are you serious? It really 0.99

00:24:43.040 is here. And another step and another step and another step. And before you know it, I was on

00:24:47.020 the other side. I have more canyons to cross and I will, and I'm going to be scared just like I was

00:24:52.120 five, six, seven years ago. But I've equipped myself with the information and knowledge to look

00:24:59.080 to people who have the answers, who have already walked the path. And as long as they're credible

00:25:04.560 and have authority and I trust those individuals, then I'm just going to do what they say and have

00:25:09.540 faith that it'll work out. All right. So moral of the story after 20 minutes is invest in yourself,

00:25:16.580 guys. Not everything, but just a little bit more than you're comfortable with. And it will be

00:25:22.440 returned to you. All right. I'm out. Catch you guys soon. Thank you for listening to the Order of

00:25:26.920 Man podcast. If you're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be,

00:25:32.040 we invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.

00:25:39.540 Thank you for listening to the Order of Man.

Order of Man - July 24, 2020

The Importance and Power of Investing in Yourself ｜ FRIDAY FIELD NOTES

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