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Justin is a “Top 8 Podcaster to Follow” according to INC. Magazine. In this episode you will hear Justin’s amazing story. AND don’t miss the lightning round of questions at the end.

Meet Justin Schenck

Justin Schenck is the host of the top rated podcast The Growth Now Movement, has been named a top 8 podcaster to follow by INC magazine, and has been chosen as an ‘icon of influence’ in the new media space.

Check out Justin’s website, his podcast, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

In This Podcast

Summary

• Why he labeled himself “least likely to succeed”
• The one thing he knew he wanted in life
• His journey of discovery to find his path

Why he labeled himself “least likely to succeed”

Justin’s first 12 years of his life were conventionally normal. However things started to take a turn around the age of 12 when his mother developed an addiction to opioids. This ultimately led to an unraveling of his family and causing financial strain.

He moved and changed schools after his sophomore year and he did what many 16 year olds do – he rebelled. Without any motivation to participate or put forth effort, Justin found myself with a 1.7 GPA.

With his mother in the middle of her addiction and his father in jail, the odds were stacked against Justin to succeed. Luckily at 19, a mentor recommended a self-development book that changed the entire course of his life.

The one thing he knew he wanted in life

Justin had examples of how he didn’t want to live his life. It was in this moment of self-discovery that he realized he wanted to create a life he truly desired.

He witnessed his mother’s car get repossessed, which was one driving factor to make money from a young age because he viewed it as security.

Justin manifested that desire in different ways throughout his adulthood. He accomplished this by rearranging goals and creating an entrepreneurial life because he wanted to create the happiness beyond just finances.

All that came from observing at a young age and developing a deep sense of self awareness.

His journey of discovery to find his path

Justin affirms his mother didn’t pass because of opioids, she died because she didn’t love herself. It was no epic moment that put him on this path of discovery. There were certainly moments where she didn’t worry about judgment. Or she didn’t worry about her own failures. She was in the present and they shared meaningful, connected moments.

A manager suggested Justin read the book “Who Moved My Cheese.” He read it cover to cover in a just a few days. He concluded no matter what we do, change will always happen around us and we have no control over that change.

What Justin determined if that he has control over how he reacts to it. This was his defining moment. He acknowledged he didn’t know what he wanted, but he could make the right choices to get to where he needed to be.

Today, Justin’s messaging isn’t about where someone comes from, rather the choices someone makes today to create a better tomorrow.

Blueprint to Thrive Quickstart

In this podcast interview with Justin Schenck, I kept thinking, “This guy has clarity and is living his values.” I bet you will notice this too. When he was younger, he knew he wanted the security that comes with money. He soon found out that he needed much more than that to be fulfilled in his life, he hit rock bottom, he did the work. And he gained the clarity. After all, you must know what you want before you can have it. That is why I created the Blueprint to Thrive Quickstart. It is a fast and easy way to begin down the path of gaining clarity about what it is important to you. Click here for your free Blueprint.

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If yes, would you please review and rate it on iTunes here? Thank you!

Useful links:

• Confident and Killing it with Tiwalola Ogunlesi | IT 044
• Imperfect Thriving Facebook Group
• Imperfect Thriving on Instagram
• Imperfect Thriving Free Email Course (Your Blueprint To Thrive)

Podcast Transcription

Kathryn:

Welcome to the show, Justin. I’m so happy to have you with us today.

Justin:

Kathryn, hank you so much. I’m excited about the conversation. It’s funny how we connected and now we’re here and we get to dive into all types of things. So, let’s see where it goes. 

Kathryn:

I know I’m so ready. And you have such an incredible story and I’ve read where you say you would have been named least likely to succeed as a senior if they had had that category in your high school. I was wondering if you would paint us the picture of what it was like growing up in your family and why you would have been least likely to succeed. 

Justin:

Yes it’s interesting actually for the first 12 years of my life, things were very, very normal. Well, however you want to categorize normalize, right? Parents were married, things were good. And then things started to take a turn around the age of 12. My mom developed an addiction to opioids, and this ended up down the line and kind of breaking up my family and causing financial strain within my family.

And so I ended up moving after my sophomore year of high school and changed schools. And like any 16 year olds, 15, 16 year old, you become rebellious and you go, I don’t want to go to that school. I don’t want to participate. I don’t care about my grades. and I found myself with a 1.7 GPA.

My mom was in the middle of her addiction at that point and my dad actually was in jail. And so if you look at all the different things that were happening in my life, I would say, yeah, if there was a senior superlative, for least likely to succeed at would have been me, which is why I jokingly say that, although probably would have been a good thing if it did exist.

Cause then I would have actually won an award. But the crazy thing is when you look at that, at that point in my life, they say that if your parent has an addiction issue, you have a 50% chance of becoming an addict. If your parent is in jail, you have 50% chance of ending up in jail.

You put that together and it says I’m a hundred percent screwed. and obviously that wasn’t the case because at the age of 19, I got introduced to self development. Somebody handed me a book and that changed the course of my entire life. 

Kathryn:

Wow. There are so many things that I want to dig into there.

Were there one or two really impactful experiences between like 12 and 19 that stand out more than others as sort of self defining moments? 

Justin:

Yeah, it’s a really good question. I don’t think there really was only because I was so young to try and understand that. Like I could say this when I was young, I was always very, very self aware.

I always knew that I could learn from other people’s mistakes, whether it was my parents, my friends out, other relatives, I started to learn at a very young age what I didn’t want. I didn’t know what I wanted necessarily. Obviously I do now and I’m living that life, but when I was younger, I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew what I didn’t want.

Now I always preface this story with my parents were extremely good parents. They just made poor choices for themselves. And so I was very, very lucky from the standpoint of love and support from my parents were through the roof and I think that’s why I’ve become an entrepreneur cause they always approved of my crazy ideas and they always thought that I could become something great, even if I didn’t believe in myself. But I don’t know if at that young age there was any defining moments. There’s definitely moments where there were shifts in my life, but at the same time, when you’re that young, you kind of just go through the motions and try and keep your head above water.

And I think that’s kinda what I was doing. And that’s what ended that with the 1.7 GPA. 

Kathryn:

So were you pretty much taking care of yourself throughout high school? 

Justin:

No, again, my parents were still around, even though they had their things. There was about a year of my life that I live with my aunt and uncle.

When I lived there because of the changing of schools and it happened so rapidly, I went and lived with my uncle at that time. And it took about a year for my mom to find a job up in that area, for her to move up. But I wasn’t really taking care of myself. I mean, I was where, to be honest, I was a little babied.

I was the only boy, I was the youngest, I was all these things when I was 12 years old. Part of what I didn’t share when I was 12 years old, I broke both my hips and so I catered to at a young age by my parents as well. And again, there were still those moments of like, I walked into the living room and my mom was on the couch, petting a cat.

We didn’t have a cat. There was no cat. it was the opioids making her think there was a cat there. She would then yell at me for scaring the cat away. So it was a really weird what mom am I getting today? Right. Like, you never knew what you’d walk into. Was it the super supportive mom or was it the mom who decided to take 10 Oxycontin’s today?

We don’t know where we were going from that direction, but my, again, my parents were always there, so I didn’t really raise myself. But at the age of 18, I moved out on my own and I’ve been on my own since then. 

Kathryn:

Yeah. So that whole feeling or thought of, I don’t know which mom I’m going to get today.

What did that do to your thoughts and your behavior as a teenager? 

Justin:

I went the opposite way of what most teenagers would do. I think a lot of teenagers would kind of rebel and you see that a lot now. And, obviously, in the past I used to talk to a lot of family members who had addiction in the family and stuff like that.

A lot of those teenagers kind of rebel. And so I did the opposite and I was like, I’ve got one shot at this life. And I need to figure out what I want. Like the funny thing is I looked at it and  I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew I didn’t want what my parents had, which was moving to a different apartment every single year.

I’ve seen my mom’s car get repossessed. And so I did have a young age, have a drive to make money, which I didn’t make money until that whole thing changed. We can get into that too. But, I had this massive drive to make money. Cause I saw security in that. Like I saw happiness, security, all these things and money.

It’s interesting because, when I look back there were great moments in my childhood. So it’s hard to kind of balance that, like when I go back and tell the whole story, and if I were to break down year over yea there’s both of those moments, you know what I mean?

It defined me in a sense of like, I’m going to do it everything that I possibly can to create the life that I truly desire. That has manifested in different ways throughout my adulthood. Obviously rearranging my goals, trying to figure out how to make money, trying to try to create an entrepreneurial life because I wanted to create the happiness beyond just the finances.

And that all came from watching and observing at a young age and just being really self aware. And so I decided to not make any bad choices actually to this day, I’m 36 years old. I still have never even tried marijuana. Not that I judge people for it, but it was like a weird trigger at a young age where I went, if I went down that path I’d go down 10 other bad paths. And I decided not to, and still to this day, I have it.

Kathryn:

Yeah. I think your story is such a testimony to what our basic human needs are. Right? If we have love and acceptance from the people that we look up to and crave it from the most, there are so many things that we can endure and have resiliency from that love and acceptance.

But when the love and acceptance isn’t there, you can have everything else in the world and it’s not going to go well. 

Justin:

It’s also the perception of love and acceptance too. I think open communication in my family was huge. Like there was no secrets really.

After a certain age, like we’re like everything’s out in the open. And so we understood what each other needed. I’ve seen families where I would assume that there was love and acceptance and to the perception of the child or the spouse or the whatever, they’re not perceiving it that way.

So I think in order to create that the right way, whether it be in a family or in a relationship or whatever it has to have that open conversation of like, what do you need for me to show you that I care? And that doesn’t happen enough. We kind of project what we want versus what the other person wants.

Kathryn:

Yeah, absolutely. And I see it a lot with my clients too, if it appears to the child that a parent is more focused on results than unconditional love of the child for who they are, that’s when we see a lot of problems. Right. And communication is definitely a huge part of that. So before we leave this part of your life, I am wondering, you said there were so many great moments.

Is there like one or two great moments that really stick out in your head?

Justin:

It’s so funny. I don’t ever talk about this stuff on interviews, which is why I’m loving this conversation. It’s making me think like, what could those things be? And honestly, my mom was my best friend.

And so if I were to look back a total mama’s boy still claimed to be right. Even though she’s not with us anymore. But I look at it and I go any moment that I was able to have my mom fully, meaning the opioids weren’t involved, meaning she found kind of happiness in that moment. Cause I say all the time, my mom didn’t die from an opioid addiction.

My mom died because she didn’t love herself. And so in those moments where she didn’t worry about judgment. She didn’t worry about her own failures. And she just worried about the moment. I mean, it would be those little tiny moments. We lived in a two bedroom apartment for the last year of my high school career.

And it was just me and her. I have two older sisters that were already in college and gone. And it was those, just those small moments of being able to watch a television show or laugh or joke around. So there was no epic moment. I mean, obviously we did the Disney thing when I was younger and all that, but it’s really those small moments of those ones on one connections with her that’s all I ever needed.

And it was great that I had the opportunity to have so many in the time that she was with us. 

Kathryn:

Oh, that really touches my heart because it’s just a t estament to the fact that you were really living in the present and also accepting your mom for who she was and what she was going through and giving her what she needed as well.

So it’s really beautiful that you were able to find joy in just the regular, small little doses of daily life. I absolutely love that. So tell me about when you found a mentor at 19 and what that was like for you. 

Justin:

Yeah. So the 1.7 GPA that no surprise here I didn’t go to college. Now I will I put an asterisk here because somebody called me out on this.

I did go to Community college for three semesters, but I don’t ever talk about it cause I didn’t actually go. Like I signed up and I just didn’t go class. So that doesn’t count. But I ended up getting a job at 19 indirect sales. And a big part of direct sales was the self development, the motivation, all these things I was never tuned into before.

Cause my parents weren’t into that thing. A guy named Richard Teasdale, who was my manager at the time, handed me a book called “Who Moved My Cheese” and this book, if you’ve never read it, this book is about change. The fact that no matter what we do change will always happen around us.

We have no control over that change. What we have control over is how we react to it. There was like this great defining moment of like, okay, I don’t know what I want, but I can make the right choices to get to where I need to be. That’s really what the book is all about. He didn’t know my backstory, but it was the perfect book for me because of kind of where I came from.

And it’s now why a lot of my messaging is, look, it doesn’t matter where you come it matters of the choices you make today to create a better tomorrow. When I think about that book and I actually I just hosted a virtual summit this last weekend and that book was a great catalyst for my opening talk, because I was like, look, if it weren’t for this one book or this one little thing, and it’s a small book it’s an easy read.

I read it in like three days, I wouldn’t have been introduced to this idea that we can create something better for ourselves. So it was that moment where I realized that I could make a change.

Then it was really about the path of adulthood, trying to figure out what it is I’m supposed to be doing. 

Kathryn:

Yeah. So would you say it was like that kind of aha moment in a big shift, like right away? Or was it something that you had been gradually building up to? 

Justin:

Yeah so when I was 19 and I read that book, I remember I still remember the excitement I felt for life.

Like I was ready to attack it, but like anybody else,  motivation becomes a drug. Right. And so like, you get motivated, then dies down. Then you look for that next high, right. What’s the next motivation, what’s the next motivation. So it became more books and more knowledge and more learning and more events and more connection and more mentors and more this.

But then I wasn’t putting any of that into action. I was just absorbing and absorbing and absorbing it and I was going through life. And I ended up in the corporate world and I did well in the corporate world, but then one day I went, look, I’m doing well financially, but I wasn’t fulfilled.

I went back to that kid at 19 years old and I was like what was it about that moment reading that book, that was like, that fulfillment, that excitement and how do I live that everyday, every single day. 

And that’s kinda what, at first, what birth to podcast, which then became about something else.

The idea with the podcast was it was excitement and creating my own thing, creating my own life. And also at the same time impacting others while I’m doing it. But up until this point, I had three failed businesses as an adult, and I didn’t know how to do entrepreneurship. And so when I got to the podcast, the original idea was like, I want to interview entrepreneurs so I can learn how to do business better.

That was the original idea for the podcast. And then five months before it launched, was the worst day of my life. That’s when I got the phone call that my mom passed away. And it changed the entire trajectory for everything in my life. Not in a bad way, in a good way. I became more empathetic. I became more understanding. The podcast went from being about entrepreneurship to how do we get out of our rock bottom moments and finding hope in those moments.

sSince that became the catalyst for all of these conversations that I’ve been able to have on the show, I’ve been able to become an entrepreneur. I speak all over the country. I have my own live event. It’s interesting because every single interview I do I’ve, I’ve done over 300 now.

And every single interview that I do, I asked the same question at the end, and that is in your life what has been your biggest moment of growth? And the common denominator is, is it was the rock bottom moment. I realized now when you look back and yet it’s four and a half plus years later, it’s actually been, we’re coming up on five years of my mom passing away.

But you look at this and I look back and I go, it was that moment that changed everything for me. It gave me a path that gave me a purpose and so much more. 

Kathryn:

So, what I’m hearing is you tell me if right or wrong, is that when you were 19, you determined I want money because I want security. You knew right then that was one thing you valued was security, but it wasn’t until you got to the very bottom that you were able to see the other values that you had that you wanted to follow, that was going to really bring you to this complete fulfillment instead of just this little slice of fulfillment in your life. 

Justin:

Right. Look, we live in a world now specifically, especially with social media and all these things. Like we’re told that you get the money, you get the nice things and people are and be like, Ooh, that guy is awesome.

And there’s a lot of that too. Like, it wasn’t just security. It was like at first I was like, let me become a successful entrepreneur so people can be like, Oh, there’s Justin looking at him. Then it was that rock bottom moments make me realize it has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with money.

It has nothing to do with what people think it matters for me. Everybody has a different purpose or passion in life, but for me, it’s to create an impact greater than myself, to leave a legacy, to reach millions of people, with my message in hopes that it shifts one little thing. That’s the journey that I’ve been on for the last four and a half years and I hope that I’m on for the rest of my life. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, that’s an amazing shift. When that happens, it’s like you become other-centered and the amount of joy it grows exponentially, doesn’t it? It’s such an amazing thing. Sot tell me more about your podcast and maybe some of your favorite interviews from your podcasts?

Justin:

Yeah. So, the podcast itself, like I said, it was supposed to be an entrepreneurial podcast. It became more self development. For me, I used it at first. And if you go back and listen to early episodes on the show, you notice that I’m asking questions that seem really heart-centered, and I hope that I’m still doing that now, but it was because I was learning, like I was trying to figure out life from this, place of sadness, this of not loving myself, this place of not understanding the purpose of anything.

Obviously come to find out from talking to therapists and all these things, why I would felt that way about myself and I’ve been able to do the work, but through these conversations, it was very heart centered. It was about me and a big shift was pretty early on in the podcast.

Somebody reached out to me and said Justin because of you and because of your show, I decided not to take my life. This was a moment at the time the podcast wasn’t doing a lot of downloads. It was doing like 120 to 150 downloads, maybe even less at the time and I realized that even to go further into the idea of like, this has nothing to do with the masses or look at me. 

I was like, okay, because of that one person I will continuously show up for as long as I need to show up. That’s why I’ve had a pod cast episode every single Tuesday for four and a half years in hopes that there’s a message for one person out there that they go, wow.

So that’s really what the podcast is all about. Not only takes tips and tricks that people can put into their life to make it better. It’s what habits do we have during the day, or how can we implement something into our business, or how do we improve our relationships, but also about the understanding that these people, who the world admires through and through, because I’ve been able to have celebrities on and massive influencers and millionaires.

So there’s people that others look at and go, wow, I want that. They had their rock bottom moment too. Actually as a matter of fact, a number of them, and we’ve talked about this on the show, a number of them are still going through hard times. Right? I had a guy named Ed Mylett on my show and I talk about this episode a lot because Ed was the guy I followed for years. He came on and we’ve been able to become friends since he’s been on the show.

The first just conversation him and I had, I finished the conversation by saying, let me know how I can support you in any way or help you. And he kind of paused. And there was a long pause and he’s like, “Hey, sorry for not saying anything. Nobody ever asked me that.”

And he’s like, as a matter of fact, there’s people like me and he started mentioning like Grant Cardone and these massive influencers that he’s friends with. He goes, nobody ever asked us that. As a matter of fact, a lot of the reason we’re friends is because we picked up the phone and we tell each other that we love each other because we’re there for each other.

Like we don’t have that normal interaction. He ended up talking about that on the show and, it was like this great connection, but we realized that even from the outside, if we look at something and it looks perfect, It doesn’t mean it’s perfect. 

We all struggle with something. We all have a story it’s about taking what’s happening for you in your life and turning it around and impacting others in the grandest way you possibly can. That’s really kind of been the journey of the podcast answered the second little fun part of your question about who have been some of my favorites. They’ve all been my favorites. I’ve been fortunate enough to talk to some of the greatest people, but there’s always ones that have become super impactful personally for me. Obviously I had my last one that I bring up a lot.

Fabio Viviani was somebody who has been on my show. He was on America’s top chef, massive entrepreneur now. Four years ago, I went to an event in Ohio and he was one of the speakers. At first I was like, who cares about a chef?

I don’t watch TV. So I was like, I don’t get it. I don’t know who this guy is. And he spoke. And I remember specifically turning into my friend and saying, I need to be friends with that guy. Like his story resonated, his personality just flew off the stage. I’m sure there’s other people in the audience that thought that at the time. Fast forward about a year and a half after that he was on my podcast.

After the podcast, he ended up introducing me to 50 people through 50 individual emails for me to interview them. And we’re talking to people like Andy Frisella, celebrity chefs, comedians, all these people. That was super impactful for me. Cause it almost gave me a nod to you’re really good at this thing you enjoy doing.

You know what I mean? And so for me, it’s not necessarily like the big name or anybody it’s really about how did it make me feel on moment. So those are two Justin Wren’s another one. He’s the big, scary dude over my shoulder. He’s the MMA fighter. He’s been on my show.

I’ve been able to become really good friends with him. I just feel really blessed every day. To know that I am able to facilitate these conversations with incredible people in hopes that it impacts one or two lives along the way. 

Kathryn:

We know by your number of downloads, it’s impacting a whole lot more people than that now. Absolutely. But it is so touching when individuals do reach out and let you know, that is just all the fuel that you need because it seems like you’re pretty clear on your why for doing what you do.  Yes it gives me a lot of hope, too, that even a podcast, like yours, that is so huge and y’all definitely got to check it out if you haven’t before. 

But it means that podcasters like me who are still in the 30 something episodes can grow. I love it the fact that you made that connection with someone who gave you a little positive reinforcement and hooked you up with some other friends that’s awfully cool.

Justin:

Then the nice part is Fabio now is one of my really good friends, he was the keynote speaker at my event last year. So like the greatest part about, at least for me, like beyond the impacting of other people, is that I get to become friends with some of the coolest people on the planet, just because I bought a microphone four and a half years ago and decided to talk into it. Now, all of a sudden I’m like, yeah, I go to these crazy parties and I’m friends with celebrities.

It’s just like this weird. But I think when you lead anything from the heart and truly really follow what feels right for you and what you feel is your purpose. That’s when everything changes, that’s when you get the connections you need, that’s when the business grows, that’s when the audience grows and through consistency too.

Obviously it took a long time for the show to grow. Then I’ve had a couple of breaks along the way, too, like INC magazine listed me as the top eight podcasts every entrepreneur should follow and things like that. But again, that’s like the nod to following your passions in life and trying to make an impact. That’s what I feel at least. 

Kathryn:

I absolutely completely agree. And that’s what I help my clients that’s with all the time is we look at the eight domains of our lives and figure out what we value most in each. Then what are the actions that are going to take you closer there? And that’s the formula, right?

It’s a pretty simple formula when you do that, you don’t have to use grit. You just want to do it.Yeah that’s really awesome. So what would you say are some of the best pieces or best parts of your life right now? 

Obviously it’s a weird time right now, right? Like with COVID and like, we don’t understand what’s happening next. I don’t even know what that presidential debate was the other day. That was a craziness. It’s just a weird world, but I feel really, really blessed. About a year and a half ago, I met the love of my life, Lauren, who we now live together with her two kids. I would say that those three people, number one have supported me unconditionally.

I hope they love me unconditionally. I believe they do. It’s just really fun creating life with them that we enjoy. We just got a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. There’s all these awesome things happening in my life. If I were to say anything,  it’s just understanding that there’s this four of us and living in this house that we have each other’s backs. We’re having a good time doing it too. Covid’s been a struggle for most like the kids are doing the half virtual learning and all this stuff. We go through all that. But the fact that we have each other to support each other and lift each other through, I would say the greatest part about my life right this second is them. 

If I were to talk business.I just wrapped a virtual event that I was unsure of doing, because I’m about community and human connection. How do I do that virtually? I’m happy to say that we were able to create that virtually, using an amazing platform online and being able to deliver great speakers and connection opportunities and stuff like that.

So those are the two things, right? And then we go let’s just get excited for Christmas. That’s a fun fact about me. I’m obsessed with Christmas. So that’ll be the third thing that I’m excited about that we’re getting closer to the season of, of Christmas. 

Kathryn:

So yeah, a couple of things I want to ask more about there.

Obviously connectedness is one of your highest values. I mean, just hearing you speak about your loved ones and then what you like to do in the community. Tell me your favorite thing that happened, or your favorite part of the event that you just had and tell us the name of the event and just everything about it.

Justin:

My favorite part about the virtual event that we just did was, for me personally, it was seeing my community come together for each other. Obviously the speakers were amazing. There’s just so much to it, but to see the community during this event that was live and the comments were just ripping through the side of the screen and they’re typing and they’re excited and they’re connecting.

I see that they’re all friends on Facebook now and like that. I think it was that one moment where. You don’t know, like I hit “Go live” and I have no idea what to expect. I got nothing but love, support, excitement from them, human connection. So I think that was my favorite part personally, to see that happen.

I got to be able to take some of my amazing friends as well and highlight them as speakers and put them out there in front of my community. So that’s always fun too. I mean it was just really cool. So the event itself, the virtual event was called the “Growth Now Summit: a Virtual Experience”

Actually I don’t know when this will come out, but it’ll be available for 20 more days. If anybody wants to go and watch any of the replays or anything like that. They can check that out gmnmlive.com/virtual. What I’m even more excited about is COVID to stop in the world to open up, and to do a live event again in 2021, which I call Growth Now Movement live, right here in Redding, Pennsylvania.

May of last year was the first year we did it. We had people come in from 16 States and Canada to attend. I can only hope that we can recreate that magic here in 2021 when the world says, okay, you can do that now. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, I bet well sounds amazing. And I’m definitely going to check more of it out.

What was going through your mind? So I’m hearing that there was a little bit of nerves, a little bit of hesitancy right before it happened. Tell me a little bit about what kind of limiting thoughts your brain was throwing out at you before you hit that live button.

Justin:

Yeah. I mean, what anybody else would, right?

Like the technology, how many glitches are we going to incur? Is this even going to work? Two, I think more than anything going into the whole thing and deciding to do it, I was like, I don’t want to create another Zoom call. Like I was terrified that people would look at this as like another thing where they’re just sitting in front of their computer for a day and a half bored out of their mind.

I mea that was the number one thing. The second thing was the technical glitches. The third thing I had this weird subconscious thing that I was like, what if the speakers don’t show up? It was like a weird, I know that’s totally total BS. I was telling myself, but I was it’s like, what if they don’t show up, this would be terrible.

What am I going to do for a day and a half? 

Kathryn:

I don’t see that as weird at, at all, because that is exactly what our brains do to us. They want to protect us and keep us from harm. And part of that protection is emotional harm and it’s going to throw out all of the negative what ifs, whether they’re logical or not, and try to get us to reel them in and get tangled up in them.

Justin:

It certainly tried that’s for sure. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So now on to Christmas, do you have a favorite Christmas tradition? 

Justin:

Actually my favorite Christmas tradition is that we don’t have one. So growing up the way that I did my parents getting divorced when I was 12, tradition just went out the window.

And then my sisters got married and had kids. There was no follow through with tradition. Now I live with my girlfriend and her kids. Last Christmas was the first Christmas we had together. We do do something really funny. So on social media from time to time, we’ll post a picture that’s a funny picture. And it’s when you date a girl with kids and it’s like a goofy thing. 

So last year we took a photo where they were all in matching Christmas pajamas and I was in different Christmas pajamas. And so it said, when you’re dating a girl with kids and they don’t get you the matching Christmas pajamas, we took a funny photo.

So I imagine we’re going to do something similar. So maybe that’s my favorite tradition. I don’t know, but I like the fact that we don’t really have traditions and we get to create our own joy in the holiday every single year. I’m already listening to the music. So like people judge me, I don’t care.

It’s only by the way, what is it, October 2nd, October 3rd, something like that. I’m listening to Christmas music already. So the holiday starts now for me.

Kathryn:

I think right now we do whatever makes us happy. Whatever it is, we find it. And we do more of it. Sometimes it’s just that simple. 

Justin:

That’s true. I love it.

Kathryn:

So what do you have on tap for the future? Because you sound like a guy who’s always got some big ideas in the work. Is there anything that you’re working on for the future that you want to share? 

Justin:

Yeah, so obviously it’s always my live event. At this point, that’s the kind of the heart center thing for me, but here’s what I’ll share.

In 2017, I set a goal so that by the end of the year, I wanted to feel like I belonged at the table. Meaning like I was worthy of the interviews I had the opportunity to do, right. Because I was getting big names, but the show wasn’t really huge yet. It was just starting to grow. And I was always nervous and unsure of myself.

And by the end of that year, the INC. magazine and said, in 2018 follow this podcaster.

In 2018. I said, by the end of this year, I want to be at the table, which means I want to spend time with these individuals beyond just staring at them through Zoom. I want to be able to kind of build relationships.

By the end of that year, I was sharing an Airbnb with Justin Wren the MMA fighter, Nick Santonastasso like one of the top keynote speakers. He speaks on Tony Robbins’ stage all the time, Steve Weatherford is a Super Bowl and NFL champion. Here we were and I was like, Oh my God, I’m at the table.

 In 2019, I said, I want to set the table. And that was the first year I had my event.

In 2020, I said, I want to be able to be invited to other people’s tables so I can share what I’ve been through with their audience. So I want them to trust me enough that they would do that. And actually just about a month and a half ago, I was on David Meltzer’s podcast. We’re talking about like, he’s had people like Cameron Diaz on and all these huge names.

What’s exciting for me is I set a massive intention in my life. Not just goals, but intention. It lies deeper than just money. It lies deeper than just getting more followers. It’s really about showing up as my best self. I set the intention right before I feel ready. I didn’t feel ready to be on David Meltzer’s podcast, but I knew I needed to be ready.

So I said, here’s my intention. I did the things I needed to do. Then a friend of mine, well now friend of mine, I met him and he goes, you need to meet David Meltzer. Then it just happened. But like when your intention is set, and you have a vision for yourself, the actions just take place.

For me, that’s kinda my next thing. I really want to be able to impact more people by being invited to people’s shows, by being invited to people’s, events and being able to speak there and really kind of give as much as I possibly can to every single person. That’s what I’m excited about right now is not only just building my event and my platform, but being invited and having the honor to be on others. So that’s what I’m excited about right now. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, that’s pretty awesome. I feel sure that will happen. In 2017 how did the thing with INC come about? Was that something that you saw or was that something that happened upon you? Tell me more about that. 

Justin:

I woke up one morning and my inbox was flooded.

My numbers were through the roof and all these other things. I had no idea. I was tagged on social media posts. I was like, wow. Okay. Something happened and found out it was an INC article and it was written by a guy who I actually now call a friend because I sought him out. He lives in Philadelphia.

I live in Reading, Pennsylvania, and I was one of the few podcasts that he listened to and they asked him to write an article about podcasts. I was on this list with people like Lewis Howes and Andy Frisella and John Lee Dumas,and just some random guy from Reading, Pennsylvania who was trying to do his thing.

That’s kinda how that happened, which is crazy because I know that there’s a lot of people now that you can pay to be on these lists and all that stuff and I’ve never done that. It was just by chance that happened. And since then I’ve been on things like Thrive Global and like all these crazy web pages, all of a sudden my name just pops up in the feed because I get notifications from Google and I’m like, what is this?

And then there’s just another thing. And so I feel really blessed, I just show up was my best self and I’ve been rewarded, I think by the universe.

Kathryn:

Absolutely. Well, I could talk to you all day long, but I want wondered if we could do like a little rapid question around the kind of type things.

Justin:

Of course, that’s fun. Let’s do it. 

Kathryn:

Car, boat, or plane?

Justin:

Plane. 

Kathryn:

Okay. Surfboard or paddle board. 

Justin:

So neither, but if I had to choose surfboard, I can’t paddle board my one. So, because I broke my hips when I was 12, I know this is rapid fire, but cause I broke my hips when I was 12, my left leg is shorter than my right leg.

So I can’t balance on a paddleboard. 

Kathryn:

I’m glad that you brought that up because I actually meant to go back and ask you how that happened. 

Justin:

Yeah. it’s not that exciting of a story. So I was born with the growth plate deficiency in my hips that we didn’t know about until I broke my hips. I was skateboarding the first time.

The second time. All did was stand up out of a chair and turn around and my hip fell out of its socket.

Kathryn:

Oh, wow. Yeah. So I guess if I’d known that I wouldn’t even have asked that question, but now you’re good. 

Justin:

I’ve done both. I’ve done both. I just can’t do the paddle board cause the balance like side to side. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, totally.

Okay. So movies in a theater and this is a post or pre COVID question. Movies in the theater or at home on the couch?

Justin:

In a theater, the 1030 showing on a Monday morning, by myself. 

Kathryn:

Oh, very specific. What type of movie would you be watching?

Justin:

I’m just like the rest of the world, I’m into the superhero movies.

I’m always making sure I go to those ones. but honestly, if I was like, okay, let me check off the perfect thing. Probably a Christmas movie. I know that’s so lame after our weird conversation about the holidays.

Kathryn:

So what is your favorite Christmas movie? 

Justin:

The Santa Claus. 

Kathryn:

Oh, absolutely.

I don’t know how many times we’ve seen that series in my house. The place in the world that you most want to visit and why?

Justin:

That a really good question. Germany. That’s my heritage. It’s always kind of like somewhere I want to go. I’ll probably be there once COVID happens probably in the next year or so, go check it out. Like I’m fascinated by the history of the country and and again, that’s my heritage.

So Germany. 

Kathryn:

Yeah, absolutely. Small dinner party or large cocktail party?

Justin:

Large cocktail party. 

Kathryn:

For sure. Summer or winter? 

Justin:

Winter, just because of Christmas.

Kathryn:

It all comes back to Christmas.

Justin:

I’m painting myself as the weirdest guy you’ve ever had on your show.

Kathryn:

No, I absolutely love it. I feel like we’re actually getting to know you a little bit. Twitter or Instagram.

Justin:

Instagram. I hate Twitter. 

Kathryn:

I don’t understand it really, but anyway, well, I like to wrap up my show with the same question for each guest, and that is what is one imperfect action we can all do today to get closer to our best lives. 

Justin:

Specifically here’s what I’ll say. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a specific action, but something I do because I’ve learned from every single person I’ve interviewed.

Another question that I ask everybody is what’s your definition of success and what are three things you do every single day to ensure that success for yourself? There’s no common denominator with the first part of the question, but the second part is it was always serving themselves.

The imperfect action is this make sure you do something every single day that fills your cup because we can’t pour from an empty cup. Go out there and do the little things in your life and don’t skip it cause you’re more important than anything else. You need to make sure you fill that cup and anything that overflows it is for everybody else, but make sure your cup is full.

Kathryn:

I love that that is a perfect ending to this interview and a perfect ending to my Facebook challenge week, where I’ve been challenging my members every day of the week to do something small every day toward their mental and physical wellbeing. That is perfect. I absolutely love it. 

So Justin, tell us all where we can find out more about you online and how we can follow you on all your channels.

Justin:

Yeah. I mean the best place, obviously they’re listening to this podcast. So wherever they’re listening to this podcast, go search Growth Now Movement. They can find me there or on Instagram @justintschenck. So those would be the best two places. 

Kathryn:

Perfect. I have enjoyed our conversation so much today.

Thank you for being here. 

Justin:

Yeah. Thank you. This was great. Thank you so much for taking me to places nobody takes me. I really enjoyed, I truly enjoyed this conversation. 

Kathryn:

Thank you so much.