IAM691- Entrepreneur Helps People Discover How to Monetize Their Gifts and Talents

By God’s Grace Ryan has built a thriving online business with multiple streams of income ranging from selling physical products to a variety of books and courses on the topic of starting and growing an online business. Ryan’s passion is to help people discover how to monetize their gifts and talents and use them to fulfil their purpose in life. Ryan is happily married to his wife, Melanie, and is a proud father to his son, Callen. They reside in Southlake, TX.

• CEO Hack: Prayers and depending on God
• CEO Nugget: Serve first
• CEO Defined: Influence, the responsibility to serve and help people get what they want

Website: http://ryanreger.com/

http://streamsofincomeradio.com/

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Transcription

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:30.10] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today at Ryan Reager of Ryan Reager dot com. Ryan, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:38.29] – Ryan Reger

My pleasure. Thanks for having me on. So fun.

[00:00:40.89] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. It'll definitely be fun. Before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Ryan so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. By God's grace, Ryan has built a thriving online business with multiple streams of income ranging from selling physical products to a variety of books and courses on the topic of starting and growing an online business. Ryan's passion is to help people discover how to monetize their gifts and talents and use them to fulfill their purpose in life. Ryan is happily married to his wife, Melaine, and is the proud father of his son, Callan, and they reside in Southlake, Texas. Ryan, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

[00:01:13.20] – Ryan Reger

Let's do it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Happy to.

[00:01:16.00] – Gresham Harkless

Super excited to have you on, and I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit. I know we talked offline a little bit more about how I got started, but I wanted to hear more about you. Can you take us through your CEO story? We'll let you share your story.

[00:01:25.90] – Ryan Reger

I love hearing people's stories, and that's cool that you do that as part of it because it's so important to hear where people came from. Yeah. We weren't born and just, like, jumped into a role like this. You, you know, it comes over time. So, to make a long story short, I'm from Indiana originally. I was working on a congressional campaign in Southern Indiana in two thousand eight. We lost that race, and I knew two things were gonna happen after that. That's the only two things I knew that I was certain about was I was moving to Texas because my wife's from here and that I was gonna get married, And that's it. I had no idea how I was gonna support her. So, Gresh, when we got down here, my mother-in-law and my wife had a very part-time business selling furniture on Craigslist here in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

So I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur, much like you. I was, I sold this is gonna might be embarrassing, but I was a Michael Jackson fan when in back when in second grade, and I would make these pictures, like, of his, like, with his album covers and stuff.

I was a horrible drawer, but I would sell these little pictures I made with his name on it and stuff. And so and so I just like you, I'm an entrepreneur from being a kid. Mhmm. So oh, that was in me, and I wanted to do something besides get a regular job. So, I dove into that business and, in gresh, it's by the grace of God that it blew up, and we, sold sold two hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of furniture in two thousand and nine Oh. Just in the Dallas, Fort Worth area, and just on Craigslist.

So fast forward, we went to Amazon, sold on eBay, opened a store for a little while, hated that, closed it down after a year, and then got into what I'm really passionate about helping people create multiple streams of income. I wrote a book. My first book was called Real Wholesale Sources back in two thousand thirteen, and that's helping people, find wholesale sources to sell on Amazon specifically. I mean, I guess I could do it anywhere, but that's my focus then.

That was my first book, and then I just knew I loved it. I enjoyed, helping people create their own streams of income. Primarily, it was selling the physical products route, but now I also teach people how to write a book, how to create a course, and another program that I have. So that's kind of my journey. Now we just, help people all over the world. I have thousands of students all over the world. I've read my books, and taken my courses. And, Grazia, it's just so fun to be able to those success stories is what drives me to be able to have to go to a conference and somebody says, because of something I learned in your community, something I read in your book, my husband is home now from the job that he hated. Like, oh my gosh. That, like, brings tears to my eyes when I hear stories like that. And so I want more of those, and that's why I do what I do. And that's what I'm passionate about. And I'm just, you know, honored that you'd have me on to talk about that.

[00:04:08.90] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I'm definitely, you know, honored that you would, you know, come on the show. Show. And I think that something special happens when I think when you get in alignment and you start working, and that's why I love, you know, everything that you're doing because it's not just like, oh, you need to follow this path. It's just like a lot of times tapping into your gifts, your talents, god-given gifts a lot of times that we've been given. And when we step into that, then that's when, you know, awesome things start to happen.

[00:04:30.50] – Ryan Reger

Absolutely. So true. Yeah.

[00:04:32.19] – Gresham Harkless

And so Couldn't agree more. Yes. Absolutely. I hope so. And, I wanted to drill down a little bit. I know it touched on, you touched on how you work with clients. Can you drill down a little bit deeper and tell us exactly how that process works and some of the things you need to do?

[00:04:43.69] – Ryan Reger

Sure. Yeah. So I  wrote a book. This is my most recent one, and the one that I'm pretty much is my brand, as you would say, is called streams of income. It's a short little book. As you can see, it fits in the palm of my hand. And the advantage of that is that people actually read it. You can see in the back behind me, I have books that, you know, some I've read and some I haven't read, and, they're thicker ones. And so I'm actually glad my book is small because people take action. They read it. So I teach the three main ways to make money online. The first one, and by far the easiest, lowest-hanging fruit for most folks who wanna start an online business is selling physical products, especially Amazon. Amazon is super easy to get into. So that's the first path. On that path, I have several more books that are focused solely on Amazon, like Private Label The Easy Way, and Beyond Arbitrage.

I have a group called Amazon Legends, which is a course slash Facebook community. There are about nine hundred people in there, and it's just an amazing supportive community where we're helping them, you know, take action on their business, teaching them the strategies of selling online. So that's the Amazon path there. And then also, what I'm super, super passionate about is helping people take something that they are skilled at, knowledgeable about, maybe that dream down inside them, a passion they have, anything they're interested in. I believe that that can be a book, a course, there there are people out in the world that need to hear that message. Maybe there's a message the Lord's placed on their heart that they need to get out there. So I have a program called Influence the Easy Way where we teach people how to turn that into an income, how to write a book, how to create a course, how to turn that into live events, and just create multiple streams of income from essentially one piece of knowledge.

So that's really fun. I love that process of it. I love the brainstorming process, helping people figure out, hey, you know what? That is what you have right there with that passion, that is super valuable, and people will pay you for that. And when the light bulbs go on in people's heads, that is so fun. And then the last one I talk about is coaching and consulting that, it kinda falls underneath the second one, but that, you know, there again, there are people that, just need that that life experience that you have. Maybe you wanna become a fitness coach. We help people figure out, you know, how to take those steps and turn that into a business as well. So through books and courses primarily is how I, serve my audience.

[00:07:01.89] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love that, and I love that you you kinda talked about that piece around, people not sometimes realizing that their gifts and their talents are things that other people will benefit from. And it's so powerful because I think so many times we have those gifts and talents and we do it so easily that we sometimes discount it and don't think that it's valuable. And in reality, you're given those so that you can, you know, excel so much greater and excel for the betterment of society.

[00:07:26.30] – Ryan Reger

Oh, so true. You can't read your own label, Gress. You can't, like, you like, it's imagined, like, you're inside a peanut butter jar, and you're trying to figure out the ingredients on the outside of it and reading the calories and the fat, like, you can't see it from inside. You have to a lot of times have somebody else come alongside and say, no. You're this. Or just yesterday, I was on a call with somebody. It was trying to figure out what their lead magnet was gonna be. And I said this is obvious because it's this right here. And, like, well, oh, okay. Really. It was they had it was gonna essentially just be a list of resources that they knew how to cut through some red tape through this process they're trying to teach.

[00:07:58.69] – Gresham Harkless

Mhmm.

[00:07:58.89] – Ryan Reger

And they didn't even see it, but it's because that there's they're it's so natural for them. They're good at that thing. They don't think that it's what you just said. They don't think it's super valuable because, well, everybody knows how to do this. Right? Mhmm. No. They don't. Exactly. That's your unique skill, your unique talent, and people will pay you for that. So yeah. It's good stuff.

[00:08:19.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It's awesome stuff. And so speaking of unique talents and unique gifts, I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce.

[00:08:24.60] – Ryan Reger

Oh, man.

[00:08:25.00] – Gresham Harkless

And it could be for yourself or for your business or a combination of the two, but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:08:29.30] – Ryan Reger

I would say for me, by far is building relationships. No matter what, like, you and I both work from home, we could totally just be behind our computer screens and never talk to anybody. I mean, obviously, with podcasters, we have to have interviews if we want to. But we could do primarily a lot of, like, your blogging. You could do that without ever talking to a single soul. I know we met through the Help A Reporter Out site, you know, that was just online. Like, you know, it would be so easy to do this business alone. Guys, do not do that. There are so many people out there that you can collaborate with. My business would not be anywhere near where it is today if I had not built relationships, and created unique, collaborations. We call them joint venture partnerships. Find the other people who are serving the same audience that you are and work together with them in a way that's a triple-way win. A win for you, a win for them, and a win for the audience as a whole. So clearly, for me, it's relationships.

Getting out there, meeting people, going to conferences. Oh, maybe not right now. Virtual conferences. Right. But meeting people just, you the magic happens when you're in front of somebody, like, you know, I imagine, if we were gonna go offline and talk, we would probably figure out a way to work together that would be a win-win for us and a win for our audience just because the way our minds would work, and, we would, we'd come up with something, I'm sure. And it's you gotta get out there, guys. You gotta get out there, find folks who are doing the same thing and figure out a way. It doesn't all have to be about figuring out a way to work with them. It's just you just never know what can happen. You're gonna be able to serve them in some way, or maybe they have something that you need right now where you're going things you're going through. So relationships by far would be my secret sauce.

[00:10:10.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And it's a huge thing. And I think that as you said, you know, you can literally sit and, you know, you don't you aren't necessarily forced to do that, but I think there's something magical when you go that quote, unquote extra mile and you start to build those relationships. You start to connect and start to talk about and kick the tyres around different things that people do, different collaborations, and then all of a sudden that synergistic kind of products or services or whatever comes about, and then that's when things start to go to that next level. So I love that kind of perspective. And, I wanted to, switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So that could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:10:44.70] – Ryan Reger

I would say, honestly, that my hack would be, you mentioned in my bio that it says the grace of God, and, you know, I'm upfront about my faith, and I truly believe that I would not be here without the grace of God. So my I say this quote a lot from Saint Augustine. It's pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depended on you.

[00:11:03.60] – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. So, now I wanna ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what might you try for your younger business?

[00:11:12.29] – Ryan Reger

Yeah. Oh, man. Probably a lot of different things I go back and tell myself to do or not do. You know, I've made lots of mistakes in my business, but I'm reading a book right now called Super Fans by a guy named Pat Flynn. You probably heard of Pat Flynn.

[00:11:22.29] – Gresham Harkless

Yes.

[00:11:23.39] – Ryan Reger

I just finished it yesterday, and there's a quote in here. It says I believe the best and most lasting businesses are the ones that focus on serving first. And he says money is important, but guess what? At its best, money is simply an amazing byproduct of building a small but potent set of superfans.

[00:11:41.10] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're all gonna have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show.

[00:11:50.29] – Ryan Reger

Man, you interview a bunch of people and they're probably all, like, the right answers. There's probably not, like, necessarily a wrong one because it all is own per own person's perspective.

[00:11:58.70] – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. For me,

[00:11:59.00] – Ryan Reger

it's about influence. I have a tremendous responsibility. Now, I don't have quote-unquote employees. I have a lot of people that are, like, ten ninety-nine contractors. I have several VAs over in the Philippines. I consider them family. I have amazing people who are in, like, my Amazon Legends group that I have, we build up a team of leaders who help us, run that group. I could not do that on my own. And so I see them almost as my employees in a way. But I have a tremendous responsibility to be able to influence them and serve them well. I believe in even serving them. It's not about, hey. I'm the boss, and you're gonna do what I tell you to do, and this is the way we're going. And, yeah, there's a part of it. Yeah.

This is the direction we're going. You have to set the vision and the direction for your organization. But I really believe that if you are helping people get what they want, they're gonna get you to where you wanna go. And so I, I love having people, for example, one of my students, Jimmy and Britney Smith, who are leaders in our legends group, you know, they're serving that community amazingly well. But I also see, I saw some talent in them where they have a specific way of sourcing products. So I partnered with Jimmy, and he created his own course and his own community outside of competing. Well, maybe in a way. But you know what? I know that by helping him do that and create that, he's gonna even be more endeared to me and wanna help me even more.

It's just gonna go back and forth, and we're gonna serve each other really well. So, I would say influence being able to influence people well, figure out what they are really trying to do, help them, serve them, help them get to and even if that means it's one day they're gonna leave your organization. That's okay because you know what? You there are gonna be other people that can come up underneath them. Pay people well, treat them like family, but, influence and just realize that you have an amazing responsibility to be able to bless those people. So do it That's what I would say.

[00:13:56.89] – Gresham Harkless

Truly appreciate that perspective. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know, and then, of course, how best people can get a hold of you, subscribe to the podcast, and hear about all the awesome things you're working on.

[00:14:10.60] – Ryan Reger

Yeah. So additional stuff, I would say. I was reading, checking up on you. I saw that you did, a speech about how it was, like, your business is, like, your recipe, and you were equating sweet potato pie.

[00:14:23.89] – Gresham Harkless

Mhmm.

[00:14:24.20] – Ryan Reger

And being a social media agency. You said something that was really good. I didn't watch the whole thing, but it was about, focusing on one or two things. Like, it was LinkedIn or Pinterest or whatever it is. Guys, as CEOs, there are so so much, coming at you. Like, you were like, should I be on Pinterest? Should I be on I be on YouTube? Should I be on LinkedIn? Well, yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. You should be. But maybe that's not where you should focus. You know, you can have VAs or hire Gresh to do that stuff for you. Like, that is not my zone of genius at all, like, figuring out all that stuff and making sure I post here and post here every day. Hire those things out.

Stay in your zone of genius. Focus on the things that you are good at, and outsource the rest. That would be, you know, my final thought there is, stay in your lane, stay in your zone of genius, hire the people that can do those other things for you. As far as where people can find me, Ryan Reger dot com, also streams of income dot com. But Ryan Reger dot dot com is the kind of portal to all of it. And, just I love serving folks. Happy to help. Happy to answer any questions related to any of the stuff we chatted about. And, Gresh, happy to be, you know, help you in any way I can moving forward.

[00:15:36.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Definitely looking forward to collaborating even more as we spoke about during the episode. And we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, but I definitely, you know, appreciate that reminder as well where there's you know, you literally can try to do all of the things, but you weren't necessarily meant to, I think, do all of the things. You're you're meant to stay in your zone of genius, you know, speak to your talents and and work through that. So I  appreciate you for reminding us of that.

[00:15:57.20] – Ryan Reger

You just created that sweet potato pie for me. You're good at it. No. I don't wanna try to do it. Yes. I can learn. Sure. But Yeah. Mine's not gonna be anywhere near as good or as Mhmm. You know, you're gonna get do it better and faster, and it's it's gonna taste better.

[00:16:10.20] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Exactly. And we all have our own kind of sweet potato pie, so to speak. And just speaking and working through that is the best way that we can make that happen. So I definitely appreciate that, my friend, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of it.

[00:16:19.50] – Ryan Reger

Yeah. You too. Thanks for having me on. My pleasure.

[00:16:22.20] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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