Strive For Good Life Podcast Ep 1: Skateboarding Filmer to Successful Entrepreneur | Garret Hunt
Introduction
Garret Hunt, Co-founder and CEO of Live in Everett, shares his inspiring entrepreneurial journey! From his early days as a professional skateboard filmer to becoming a successful realtor and now a thriving business owner, Garret offers invaluable insights into the challenges and rewards of pursuing your passion. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a young adult, or someone looking to turn your hobbies into a career, this video is packed with practical advice and motivation.
Learn how Garret transformed his love for skateboarding into a stepping stone toward building a successful real estate career and creating a local community hub with Live in Everett. Discover the lessons he’s learned about adaptability, resilience, and the power of following your dreams.
You can connect with Garret through his website here: https://www.liveineverett.com/
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Strive For Good Life Podcast Ep. 1 Transcript:
NOTE: This transcript was computer generated and likely contains errors
Nino Pingera: Welcome everyone to the good Strive For Good Life podcast. I'm here with Garret Hunt. He is the co-founder and CEO of LiveinEverett.com which is, according to their website, a Control Hub for local delight in Everett Washington, so excited to have him on the show today and we're gonna just jump into Garret. How are you doing?
Garret Hunt: Hey Are you Nino? Thanks for having me.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, great Really appreciate you being here because, we've been friends for a long time and you've got an amazing story and I think you've got a lot of value that you can add to the audience. And so I'm excited to just jumped into some stuff. So let's start with giving us a background, specifically with your entrepreneurial journey and maybe those early inklings that you had of being out on your own and how that all started and how you guys where you are now.
Garret Hunt: It's kind of funny because I didn't necessarily sit out to be coming entrepreneur, but as you know, I've been skateboarding for a long time and it's kind of funny I think growing up skateboarding, especially back in the late 90s when there weren't hardly any skateboard parks around. And so we were primarily street skateboarding and it was kind of this countercultural thing. that was really you do with your friends, but it was very independent and I got into making skateboard videos through that got really into filming and filmmaking,
Garret Hunt: And I think from an early age that and still a little bit of a do-it-yourself, ethos, because skateboarding is just such a kind of gorilla type activity, where you just go out there in the streets and you get stuff done and you get after it and I really liked that feeling and that sense of kind of freedom of just going out, exploring figuring stuff out. And so that was really one of my first big passions was filming skateboarding. That was kind of one of my first careers. I pursued that through my early 20s. And when it came to figuring out, kind of my next steps in life, when I was ready to move on from that, I think doing entrepreneurial things just kind of made sense to me. I ended up selling real estate for a number of years which
Garret Hunt: a lot of people don't really fully understand how real estate works it doesn't really matter what real estate brokerage you're with 99% of the time, you're an independent agent, you are your own business and the reason that almost any real estate office will happily take you on to their quote unquote team is because it's generally a commission only business so that office has nothing to lose but everything to gain by bringing you on as an agent with the hopes that you'll be successful and being able to sell real estate, which
Garret Hunt: 80% of real estate agents, don't renew the real estate license within the first two years, it's a very hard industry. It's kind of one of those things that's easy,…
Nino Pingera: Wow.
Garret Hunt: come easy, go. And so that was kind of a big deal for me to kind of prove to myself. coming from the skateboard world being a little bit of street oriented skate rat to going on to, putting on the sport coat and being like, can I, handle, assisting people making one of the largest financial transactions of their lives. And so it's funny kind of looking back, from skateboarding into real estate and now I run my community blog live in Everett and I've done these different things really mostly just as an independent contractor or small business or entrepreneur, and that's just kind of the course that has made sense to me. I've never been very excited to get out of bed to go work for somebody else to help someone. Let's build their dream and it just kind of naturally.
Garret Hunt: Kind of the natural path that I've ended up taking.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, that's pretty cool. I think it's interesting that kind of in each step in your journey. You've had to be comfortable with generating, your own income, I mean with filming, I mean, that's essentially what that is. I mean, you have to go out and get the footage record, the skating and then you're selling those clips essentially, right? And so I mean,
Garret Hunt: Which I mean I was just for years trying to pursue that. I mean, I was just a straight-up starving artist, you…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: I was calling in, I'm very anti-det. I don't recommend people going into debt but at the time, my paychecks would be few and far between and believe it or not is cool as skateboarding. Might seem to be most skateboard. Companies don't want to pay you money, And when you send them footage for video sometimes believe it or not, even some of the larger companies, it might take me 12 months to get my small little paycheck from the handful of footage that I sold them for that video. And so I was constantly having to juggle between getting there might be one month where I might get a few checks from different videos. I submitted footage to and then there might be a few months, I don't have any money coming in. So I'm living off the credit card or, this is down in the Southern California area near LA. And so I would also work is extra on movie sets and TV shows.
Garret Hunt: Times on just to make a little bit of side, hustle money, and eventually I ended up getting on full-time with a skateboard company. That actually gave me a steady paycheck for a while, but yeah, it was definitely very much. So just kind of like a starving artist mentality of living, check to check when I was lucky.
Nino Pingera: It's just interesting to me because it seems like for the path, you've taken. You've had to be very comfortable with that kind of income model, Where you're taking risk and sometimes pan out sometimes things. Don't. And so I guess how have you been able to hang in there in? Types of Situations When most people like you say. Can't handle that especially in the real estate world where there's such a high turn rate. You think separates you from someone else that fails in real estate.
Garret Hunt: one thing I'll give my parents credit for is what they taught me about money growing up. Was that essentially I could have whatever I wanted in life. As long as I could figure out a way to save up the money by myself and I really took that to heart as a young kid making, a couple dollars here and there for allowance, from an early age. I became a saver because I became just very focused on my dreams. I grew up in kind of a rural area and so someone who Question about skateboarding. I wanted to get out of the rural area, I wanted to go to the city and the concrete in the streets. And so I became pretty focused from an early age on kind of getting out, as soon as I was done with high school I was out of my parents house and I was gone I was just hyper focused on my dreams and so,
Garret Hunt: I didn't think of it this way when I was younger, but hindsight being 2020. I think it's all about alignment, you're Your grit that you're willing to put into something is a reflection of how badly you want it, And so for a lot of people the financial part holds them back but if you want something bad enough you'll figure it out. You'll plan ahead far enough, you'll work that other job.
Garret Hunt: Temporarily that you don't want to be doing because, that is gonna help fund that long-term goal that you have. it don't get me wrong. I mean, I worked plenty of other jobs when I was younger on, I worked at a local community college doing landscaping. Ironically, I did security there where part of my job was to kick out skateboarders, which thankfully I didn't have to do too much of that. But, you do whatever you have to do to earn the money to fund the dream and if you're not willing to do that, then maybe that's not the right dream for You have to be aligned. With your proper motivation, if you want something bad enough.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I really love speaking of that I guess like what?
Nino Pingera: What in your opinion has made it easy to align that motivation and I find your real, purpose and what you're trying to do because I think so Many people struggle with that piece of it. they don't really know what they want to do. They have an idea that maybe their job isn't working out in the way that they want, or maybe they want something else, but they don't really know how to start, maybe have any ideas to go off of in terms of maybe building a business or starting a side hustle, What do you recommend for people like that?
Garret Hunt: Yeah, and I think not knowing is a great place to start. If you can be honest with yourself, and I heard this idea years ago, that stuck with me, that real growth comes from it grows from the bottom up in the inside out, and you think about how plants and vegetables grow from a seed and I think very much. So we as humans are the same way when it comes to genuine authentic growth. and it's not necessarily meant to be easy I got into growing microgreens for a while these little vegetables
Garret Hunt: And part of the process after you plant the seeds is you weigh them down and you put a lot of weight on those little seeds and you black them out and it's putting that strain and that stress on them that Strong roots, and so I've definitely been there plenty of times in my life where I have that sense of not being clear on my direction.
Garret Hunt: And I know that that can feel frustrating for a lot of people, but I also think it's a beautiful part of the process. And that's one thing that I always have to remind myself of, is that this whole The journey is the point. And so, even though we go through those seasons of darkness, and of strain, and stress and uncertainty, and we all always want that clarity, it's that other underside of it. That makes the upside so beautiful. And that's what's funny, too. looking back to the different phases of my life that I've gone through, when I was younger skateboarding, Was all I wanted to do in the world. I wanted to be a professional skateboard, filmer, and if you told me when I was 20 years old, that 10 years from now,
Garret Hunt: I'm really not gonna care hardly at all about skateboarding. It'll just be this fun hobby. I'll do here and there notice. no, you're crazy. I was so fixated. I was like, This is the one thing I'm gonna do with my life, but we go through different seasons and different changes and we evolved and we grow. And that's all just a beautiful part of the journey. So I empathize with people who are lacking that clarity and they're not quite sure, but also, I would encourage people to accept the fact that that is just a part of their process of their journey. And at some point, they're probably gonna look back and say, that season of unclarity. Helped me in the long run. Get clear about this or that because sometimes it's about learning what we don't want or what? We don't like that helps us channel through the narrower direction. That'll ultimately serve us for where we want to go.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I really like that. I found that to be true in my life. Definitely plenty of times when it felt like I was floundering, but then, maybe years later. I look back and realize that there were valuable lessons there. And that time, you use that scenario of looking back to maybe when you were 20 years old and how fixated you were on skateboarding. A lot of people talk about needing to obsess over a goal to really remain focused. I mean, have you found that to be true in your life? Just is in terms of actually achieving the end goal that you sought after.
Garret Hunt: Yeah, I've noticed. Maybe more so than some, I am naturally wired that way. Where I actually do pretty well. Being hyper focused on one thing. first it was skateboarding and then it was real estate and now it's my community blog and I'm almost Good at being obsessively focused. If all I have to do is just channel everything and into one thing, I actually thrive, with that type of mindset, at least in the I think term big picture. It's good to stay balanced and to be open. And well rounded and I think there's lots of benefits from Allowing more. But you know what, we're all wired, different ways. We'll have different strengths, personality types, all those sorts of things.
Garret Hunt: But I do think when it comes to achieving specific goal knowing what is going to help you in that. And that's one thing I'm thankful for that. for whatever reason, it seemed align with my personality style that I am able to pretty easily. If I want something bad enough, if there's that alignment of motivation, I can really hyper focus on that one goal.
Nino Pingera: Yeah yeah it seems like it's really empty out. I mean, you've successfully achieved all the things you've set out to do so far? A lot of people can't say that.
Garret Hunt: I've never read the book but I know it's gotten a lot of good press and notoriety which is a Gary Keller who founded Keller Williams Real estate. He wrote the book and I think there's a podcast too. It's called The One Thing And it's the whole idea of that multitasking basically is a myth and…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: kind of the power of that singular focus, that I've always liked the saying that what you focus on expands. And yeah I think there's really a lot of truth to that
Nino Pingera: That's amazing. It's an incredible book. I've read it. I really enjoyed it and I completely agree and I know that I need to do our job of being able to focus a lot of the times and it's tough for people that don't have that natural explanation I think But I believe that it's a skill that can be developed and not something that, we can never achieve for ourselves. So I think it's awesome. I want to talk about living Everett and really jump into that kind of what you're doing with it. maybe even dive into the revenue model and how it works on that level. And then, maybe we can dive into the marketing aspect a little bit because that's always fun for me. So yeah, can you tell us about…
Garret Hunt: Cool. Yeah,…
Nino Pingera: what you're doing with living Everett?
Garret Hunt: so live in Everett.com I always have to slow myself down when I say it a little bit because a lot of people like What's it called? So yeah.
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: Live in Everett and so I mentioned I used to do real estate and this is my friend, Tyler Chisholm. he had been doing some work in. Local tourism with the City of Everett.
Garret Hunt: He basically pitched me on the idea because he kind of learned and realized there was this gap that but he was working in local tourism which was focused on creating cool content for people outside of the area to bring them in. No one was really focused on the locals and creating content for them. And so he kind of pitched me on this idea of him getting in a real estate with me and us starting this community blog together, to serve the local community. And so that's how it kind of came about back in 2015, fast forward, eight years. I don't sell real estate anymore. Tyler actually took a job working for the City of Everett. He's got a good job over there so he's not involved in the website anymore.
Garret Hunt: But basically it's just a blog. All about the good things happening in our community. So we share about local restaurants, fun things to do. We have an events calendar, we send out a weekly newsletter. and the way it gets funded, aside from you, do a little bit of one-off advertising. And we have some awesome patrons who Donate a few bucks each month to help support But the primary revenue model, we have a memberships where local organizations can sign up and essentially they get ongoing promotion and benefits on an ongoing base basis. So we're partnering with that brand because
Garret Hunt: What I found with the one-off advertising, you put so much time into onboarding, a new advertiser figuring out their messaging the right channels and stuff where you want to send people and promote and it's just not sustainable long term. If someone just buys one ad, one time and also for the advertiser, they're probably not going to get many results from a single ad, right? So it makes more sense.
Nino Pingera: Yeah. Yeah.
Garret Hunt: We have more of a longer-term partnership. We find those cool community organizations that are aligned with our values. And it's a very humble little website, it's nothing too crazy or fancy ever. It's not a huge town about 100,000 people but it's always had a bit of a challenge being
Garret Hunt: I would say culturally in the shadow of Seattle, we're only about 30 minutes from Seattle. And Everett is the county C of Snohomish County, which is the next county north of Seattle of King County or Seattle's out. And because ever it's the county seat, it's the biggest city within our county so it also has the number of The highest number of rental units. A little bit of a lower average income for the area. And so for a lot of people in the greater region ever it has for a long time, had a negative perception. People say, that's where the homeless people live, or the drug issues are the gang activity, or these different things. But the reality is
Garret Hunt: In a city of 100,000 plus people, that's pretty good geographic size,…
Garret Hunt: there's all kinds of stuff going on and there's a lot of good and great stuff and Awesome Cool, cultural stuff. Good arts seeing, good music scene? All these different things that it was pretty obvious. It was underappreciated in many ways, so it's been fun. To be able to spearhead this website, that's just dedicated to promoting that positivity in the community.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I love that. I think. It's so interesting to me that. Yeah, but the negative perception of Everett, and how in a sense, you get to transform that by highlighting all the beauty of it. And I think that's great, we need more more people, shining light on positive things in the world. And so I really Can appreciate that.
Nino Pingera: in terms of, I had a question about something and now my brain is going blank, but when it comes to
Nino Pingera: So I had one question specifically regarding this, is what it was regarding your transition from selling real estate to the network because it does sustain you write it it provides
Garret Hunt: For And I mean don't get me wrong, financially from a business perspective Almost anyone would look at the path I've chosen to take and they would think that, I'm crazy, especially with where real estate has gone the last few years since I've transitioned out of it. so I made way better money selling Best money I made in my life. but I also worked a ton and the thing when you're selling real estate as well, Is that your almost always on call? And I feel like to do a good job for my clients, I need to be able to answer the phone at night or on weekends and be ready to get to work. so, when I had my first child, she just turned five a couple months ago. and so, when I was getting ready to become a parent just over five years ago,
Garret Hunt: And looking at my lifestyle and my schedule and how much I was working and everything. And real estate did help me get ahead a bit financially and so looking forward. I was like man I really want to be able to be Present with my child especially while she's young to, really be able to be there for her, to enjoy her, to be present to, not always be stuck on the phone or stressed out. And so, I've chosen a lifestyle that is really very simple. One of my biggest priorities, is keeping my monthly expenses, low, and that's really what has allowed me. To be able to shift and transition away from real estate and just doing this community blog that, like I said, I mean it's a pretty humble little website. It's nothing too crazy for our, little community.
Garret Hunt: But I'm able to sustain that and make it work because I live a pretty simple lifestyle. And I love the flexibility that it gives me so that when I do, have my daughter and I need to, pick her up or drop her off or do whatever. Needs to be done. I can, 99.9% of the time Always be available and prioritize her and I can just only imagine even more so as I get older and as I look back with how quickly kids grow up? Yeah, I'm gonna be grateful that I get to be present during this time and I get to, really prioritize this time with my daughter while she's young. So,
Nino Pingera: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's incredible and that you've been able to make that a focus that says a lot about you. there are so many people, I think that, would prioritize the higher paycheck, And not think so much about, maybe the long-term consequences even, have the ability to think about designing the life in the way that you have. And I think a lot of comes from maybe this belief that, the only way to really get ahead in life is to earn more money. So I think that's part of this, toxic piece of our culture, I guess where we're so high for focused on always increasing our income. Whereas you've taken the other approach and you just drop your expenses a lot. It's enabled. A lot of the freedoms that
Nino Pingera: These other people looking for a higher incomes are really, trying to build their lives after if that makes sense. So I think it's cool that you've taken that other approach to it.
Garret Hunt: There's nothing wrong with, people taking a different approach that they want to make money and…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: chase the career and the income and if they're in that stage of life, that's great. But one thing that's kind of funny about my journey is that I used to be hyper focused on what was practical and optimal. I was in the reading business books and really trying to figure out best practices of what's most efficient. And this and that and the more time went on and the more I kind of positioned myself to where I didn't necessarily have to keep going that direction I realized. I had this thought at some point Because my thing with capitalism is always, my question is to what and right because you look at a publicly traded company. whose soul goal is their quarterly profits, right? It's all about more profits, the next quarter forever ever and ever and ever.
Garret Hunt: And it's okay to what and whether you run a business or just your own life and you're thinking about your direction and your mission. it's like the old habit from the Seven Habits. I highly effective people begin with the end in mind, So…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: what is your end goal? Where do you want to end up? Where's your destination? And so what I realized is I was trying to live this optimal life. What I came to think to myself was, thinking about the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics and kind of where technology is going as okay, if I think 10 years down the line, if I'm all about trying to do, what's most optimal And in a sense, almost living this robotic life. What's going to be the difference between a robot and me? And I started thinking more about the value of not trying to do everything of what's most practical.
Nino Pingera: Understand.
Garret Hunt: But the beauty in oddity of doing what's impractical, And starting to live this reverse life of saying, okay, it might be more practical in the eyes of the world, to go make more money. But I don't care because I don't need to because I I've decided I have enough. that's my end goals to have enough. And so once I realize and acknowledge I already have enough, I can say My beautiful daughter and being there for her and being able to be present for her childhood and supportive of her and my own state of being in a good place. That I want to align with her, that I can allow myself to be the person I want to be, who is raising my daughter? I can prioritize that Which might not seem like the most practical thing. It might not add the most to my net worth at the end of my life.
Garret Hunt: But what's most worth it to me,…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: And that's what everyone has to figure out for their own alignment of, what's genuine and authentic and true to their own cells. And then you start to open up more opportunities and more paths that are just more interesting. And I think leads people on more fulfilling journeys.
Nino Pingera: Right, right. It seems that. Yeah, I mean the traditional path is kind of just one line of thinking, right? When in reality if we just think outside the box a little bit it opens you said to a lot of different opportunities. I think that's really cool. How?
Nino Pingera: I guess in terms of moving forward and what are you excited about? And are your plans in terms of maybe with living Everett continuing to build up your life to be more purpose driven to have more freedom or whatever it is that you're looking for?
Garret Hunt: Yeah, I mean ultimately I do see kind of a new direction I want to go. which is starting Glamp farm and living more of a homesteading lifestyle and learning more about sustainability and
Garret Hunt: But that's just like a timing thing. When I'll actually be able to get the land to kind of start working on that real estate prices are crazy right now, and so, that is An idea. I don't know if it's gonna happen or not. I like like I said as I can be. Good about being hyper focused on something. I've also kind of learned the value of just allowing things to kind of unfold as they may. And so I don't really have a strict timeline for that.
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: I'm just enjoying my daughter. While she's young and growing up and enjoying life really. I don't have strong, set goals for living Everett right now, really in the last few years. Living ever. It's actually had to kind of take a step back and shrink a little bit and adapt. I've gone through some of those changes and evolutions and Right now. I'm fairly content with where it's at. I hope it'll keep growing but I think what we're doing is working reasonably. I mean, it's been eight years now. So we've kind of stumbled our way forward and do.
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: Where we're at now. And so, really just keeping, it being a consistent source of positivity in the community. And whether it ends up being me, who continues running that long-term or someone else takes the torch to carried on. I mean, either way, I just hope it can continue to serve the community and in a positive way.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I like that. I like that. in terms of,
Nino Pingera: in terms of, The challenges you said, stumbling forward with it, And so it made me think about, what kind of challenges have you faced and how you overcome them, whatever. What are some tips, in regards to facing those types of challenges that you go with?
Garret Hunt: so, one of the biggest challenges with living ever it was when I did not play green light with the finances. which is to say, when,
Nino Pingera:
Garret Hunt: Excuse me. So with green light, the idea is I can't remember where I heard this years ago on. It was a Dave Ramsey thing or somewhere else. but the idea being that if you don't have the money to do something, then it's a red light. You don't do it and you wait until you can save up the money to do it and then it's a green light and you can do it. and with living Everett because we did have it tied in initially to the real estate business, my original business partner, Tyler,
Garret Hunt: He and laurism his wife. They had a Middletown creative. There's also part of it for a while. So, we had money coming from different places and So for a number of years, we decided to put money into live in Everett that we didn't have. We're taking money from Our other profits to invest and live in effort with the hopes that it would attract more advertisers and it would grow more. And so we had more staff. We were doing a weekly podcast and weekly videos and just producing a Rate of content. And we basically were burning money for a number of years, on a hope and a prayer that eventually this will pay off. And eventually what actually happened was we had to make some really hard decisions. and acknowledge that it wasn't paying off and working in the way that we hoped it would
Garret Hunt: So we ended up having to lay off some staff cut back on. Some of the content we stopped doing the weekly podcast, we stopped doing the weekly videos Because this stuff is really labor intensive. And it took a lot of time from our team that we couldn't sustain anymore. so that was pretty tough. I mean again, everyone has their own journey and you have to kind of feel your way forward for what makes sense for you at the time. So I don't necessarily regret doing that. and in hindsight, I can look back and say, Okay, maybe that that wasn't a very good plan. Maybe I should have played a little more, red light, green light, and waited for things to actually start working for them to actually start generating revenue before we reinvested in trying to produce more, I think that can be a tricky balance. I mean, obviously a lot of companies leverage, a lot of debt,
Garret Hunt: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that but in general, I really like, staying out of debt. I don't like owing other people other things, I like to keep things simple and so, yeah, I think if I were to redo it, I would probably do that differently.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, and so just in terms of What you actually do? Probably maybe have more detailed plan. I can imagine as far as when you would hit Your break even point on your revenue for whatever the activity you're or idea is or how would you not? structuring it differently. I guess…
Garret Hunt: Yeah. I think just being more patient and…
Nino Pingera: if you had to do it.
Garret Hunt: it really just comes down to operating within your means, it's like either themes there,…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: if the money is not there. it's always a temptation to borrow money and to figure out how to pull yourself forward and cut those corners, so to speak. But you also build a lot of character and you learn a lot from the slow and steady patient, route of figuring it out, even though it may not be the most idyllic attractive looking path. You got to do what you got to do, it's kind of the same thing I was talking about. Earlier, if you're funding your dream, a certain direction, you want to go. And maybe you have to work a job that you don't really want to work, but if it's gonna help you save the money, it's gonna ultimately feel the dream long term. it's that idea that sometimes in order to move forward,…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: you got to take a couple steps backward to ultimately take more steps forward.
Nino Pingera: That makes sense. I appreciate that.
Nino Pingera: kind of leads me to. I just talked about what you would do differently going back. I want to ask this question, so if you had to start all over from scratch, I mean Then you didn't have any of it, what would you do? And how would you go about getting your first customer for your business? What you do?
Garret Hunt: That it's funny. I'm just gonna keep referencing books that I haven't read but It's got a great title,…
Nino Pingera: That's all right. Yeah.
Garret Hunt: this book by Gary Vaynerchuk, which, what is it? jab, jab, right hook.
Nino Pingera: Right. Yeah.
Garret Hunt: the idea being
Garret Hunt: because when it comes to acquiring a customer and building a business, it really always comes down to adding value. And so that idea of give give then ask Right, I'd say that's particularly true. with what I do with the Live in Everett website Which is all about creating content for the community and the community. And adding value that way by delivering, good quality content that people actually want to want to read and so with a business like that, you have to give a lot in order to start building the traction and building the audience and the eyeballs, Before a company is going to be interested and taking a look at it.
Garret Hunt: And so using that as the example, my advice is someone starting out would be to position yourself that you can afford to give for a while and I would say it was the same thing in real estate, Real estate, being a commission, only business generally, it took me five months. To close my first sale. But that fifth month, when I finally closed my first deal, I closed three deals that first month. And I probably made more money that month that I had the year before.
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: but I had to position myself to where I could afford to give give For month, one month, two month, three month, Before seeing any fruit for my labors. I, Same thing.
Nino Pingera: Right, you're just planning to see it.
Garret Hunt: Exactly. Yeah, I was gonna bring up the seat analogy, it's the same thing when you're growing food, like you got to keep giving the thing again, and again, and again, and so really, it's just patience, if you can position yourself To. Be focused on the goal. Of knowing where you're going. But to be able to do that without needing any return right away, but that you can be patient and you can keep giving toward that goal. Then you're really gonna position yourself to succeed in the long run.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I love that. I actually restart recently heard Alex from Rosie basically say the same thing. And he also said that People grossly.
Nino Pingera: How does he say it? I don't remember. I'm probably gonna butcher it. So, in a nutshell though. He basically said that. People, grossly underestimate the amount of volume, it takes to actually gain any kind of traction. And so kind of right along with what you said as far as the amount of seeds that you have to plan, or how much water you have to do, I think a lot of people have this expectation that they'll do something and I know they'll get a return or a result quickly, and a lot of times, It's not the case. And so I definitely found that in my life that, you have to really be persistent. And like you said, not expect anything in return for a while. I mean, obviously, there's some cases, right? You can put money into ads and get some kind of
Nino Pingera: ROI on that pretty quickly depending on how you do it but in a lot of cases, building a business from scratch. Yeah. You have to put in a lot of work first and so I love that you bring that up.
Garret Hunt: yeah, we almost have to go against The way that we've been training ourselves for so long. Now, if we're living this modern lifestyle, Say being on social media every day, which is specifically geared, towards instant gratification, right? Dopamine hits left and…
Nino Pingera: Right.
Garret Hunt: right, again, and again, and again, it's just that the feed, I like the
Garret Hunt: Way, I heard it explained for why they call it the feed, it's the same way like the animals, feeding from the trough of just this never ending. Thing right? I'm just getting what we want all the time always which is basically the exact opposite mindset that I think you want to have if you want to successfully create something of your own.
Nino Pingera: Which would be to work without any expectation, right? That's interesting.
Garret Hunt: Yeah, that late gratification it's like What's that old tests that you always hear referenced in books and stuff about the kids marshmallows,…
Nino Pingera: The marshmallow test.
Garret Hunt: it's kind of a cliche but there's so much truth to it. There's a reason why people keep using it and…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: Yeah, this thing with old cliches, there's usually a reason why they stick around. There's yeah,…
Nino Pingera: Yeah. Exactly,…
Garret Hunt: some good with
Nino Pingera: you've mentioned it, a few books but I'm curious as to whether you think there are any tools maybe that have helped you achieve more or with your business specifically if there are other things that have helped you whether it's a tool or certain mindset or actions, you take in that you can specifically point you that have made it a difference in your journey.
Garret Hunt: Up until a few years ago, I was really into reading business books and I would have went that direction to answer this question, but the last few years I've been on much more of an internal journey where things like meditation and yoga have become really huge in my life. And so paramount and fundamental to how I see the world now, and how I show up and operate and I still like reading books but honestly I don't read that much anymore. at first it was a lot of meditation. And then I ended up getting into yoga a couple years ago and now that's kind of become like my new meditation. That's also infused with exercise and
Garret Hunt: it really restores and centers me in a way that it feels so healthy for my mind. It's almost because I go to a studio, So we'll do these long yoga classes and it just kind of forces me to be present and to become grounded and in my own self and I think there's so much truth and kind of the law of reflection and as within so without and so even though we're kind of talking about these ideas around building businesses and entrepreneurial path in these outward things I would say for my perspective. Now there's nothing more valuable
Garret Hunt: That any of us can do then working on ourselves internally because that's the real foundation that is going to truly empower us to be able to carry anything outside of ourselves forward and to bring something of value to the world especially in a sustainable way. I mean, sure, we can make things happen. We can force it as humans. We have a lot of capabilities especially with the technologies we can leverage in the stay and age but for something to be sustainable to be true to yourself to be genuine to. I think something that you're really gonna feel good about and feel proud of that you create I think there needs to be a certain alignment that's reflected from that thing that's from within your own self. That's probably unique to you.
Garret Hunt: And to me, that's when it becomes so beautiful. when it comes to art, I've always liked the question of, what really is art, and kind of taking the borders off of definitions, but letting our own unique value in our unique offering of what we give to the world. In a sense, almost be its own work of art or its own symphony in itself,…
Nino Pingera: Yeah.
Garret Hunt: whatever that thing may be. So that would be my biggest thing would just be that internal journey of working on ourselves from the inside out.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I love that. I agree with you 100%. I don't do yoga. I want to get into it, but I definitely feel a difference when I'm not for me. I start my day off and spiritually centering my stuff, right? I'll read Scripture and pray and I'll try to do a small workout of some kind, just get my body moving and I definitely feel the difference on the days that I don't do that. I struggle a lot. More to stay focused or to stay motivated, and so having something to ground yourself internally, I think it's huge. And, I think it's a challenge for a lot of people because, we live such busy lives so you jump out of bed, you're gonna rush to work or whatever it is. And so it's hard to find the time to do that, but I agree that it's 100% worth it and really be a changer.
Garret Hunt: Yeah, and it can definitely be anything. It'd be Different for everybody. Like you said, whether it's like prayer reading or…
Garret Hunt: could be journaling or again. What it makes me think of is really just probably. Something is basically the opposite of instant gratification of the instant dopamine hits that social media wants to just constantly feed us. Just that something that intentional time to yourself for yourself to slow down a little bit. Whether it's any format exercise or reading, or just some sort of discipline, I think discipline build such strong character, It's that simple thing. We can challenge ourselves to do every day. That's going to make us the person who can make the thing and do something great or contribute, something beautiful to the world.
Nino Pingera: Yeah, I love that. I agree. we're kind of coming up on our time, so you have any closing thoughts, anything else you want to share and then, if you want to tell people where they can find you connect with you, you do that as well.
Garret Hunt: Yeah you can find me through the website liveineverett.com and at the very bottom there's a contact button. Anything you send to the website should be able to make its way toward me and I really appreciate you Nino and what you're doing. I'm excited for this journey or embarking on. I'm excited to hear more of the podcast. And I'm all about people being able to create more freedom in their lives and structure their life and intentional way to live more beautifully. And so, yeah. Hopefully, you're listeners, were able to get at least something small out of this and I just wish everyone well on their journeys. I think life is such a beautiful process and so, I guess the last thing I would share
Garret Hunt: That I've learned that that has helped me as kind of just this idea of allowing. And, I talked a bit about just the fact that we're all in different places in our journeys. So, I just want to encourage people for wherever they're in their journey right now. Even if you might be in a season where you're feeling in the dark, you're feeling the strain, or the stress pushing down on top of you. And you might be unclear about where you're going. I know it sounds crazy but to just allow yourself to be there to accept it, to degree, not to, negative degree of acceptance, but accept To the fact knowing that.
Garret Hunt: It is just a season and that you are a strong person and that you are going to be able to overcome and that the sun is gonna rise again, not to sound, But It is often those seasons of difficulty that break way to the more beautiful stage of…
Nino Pingera: Okay.
Garret Hunt: where the world universe might be leading us to. So, yeah, I always want to be encouraging to people and just remind people how wonderful, and powerful and beautiful. They are that. I think there's so much
Garret Hunt: Just right beneath the surface within each one of us. Just I think that's what we came here for. I think we're all just meant to be on this awesome journey to experience it even in the hard times, but to just enjoy it and It'll go somewhere. Good.
Nino Pingera: I love that. I'm so grateful for your friendship for one and you've always been someone. That provides a lot of value. it's always rewarding to talk and I love that that's your message, To kind of all things to be in into, just continue to provide value and be a positive force. that's exactly what the world needs more of. And so I really appreciate that and, you're obviously living what you preach. So grateful for that as well. It's been great talking.
Garret Hunt: Same.
Nino Pingera: Maybe we can have you on another episode in the future, but I'm really grateful for your time.
Garret Hunt: Sounds good. Thanks for having me
