More Than Just: Conversations with Misfits, Entrepreneurs and Change-makers

More Than Just a Dreamer with Ari Krzyzek (she/her)

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Today’s episode is full of inspiration as author, speaker, and co-owner of Chykalophia, Ari Krzyzek, shares her powerful story of leaving her home in Bali to pursue her dreams — which is hardly the most interesting thing about her.

Together, we discuss:

  • The magic that can happen outside of your comfort zone
  • How Ari’s husband initially thought she was an AIM hacker
  • The importance of identifying support on your journey
  • Stepping into starting a business as prepared as possible
  • How Ari evaluates her energy daily in a post-pandemic world
  • Owning what makes you different


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🧃This episode is sponsored by ERIS, a woman-owned, Chicago-area cider company that elevates the humble Michigan apple into ciders for your enjoyment. Find their ciders at Trader Joe's, Binny's, Mariano's, Jewel & Heinen's, or visit them at 4240 Irving Park Rd. To learn more & order, visit their website or follow them on Facebook & Instagram @erischicago.

🙌 This podcast is supported by listeners like you! If you enjoyed this episode, we'd appreciate it if you could make a donation of any amount at this link. You rock!

Hey MTJ listeners, before we get started on this epic episode, I wanted to let you know about our fantastic sponsor, Aeris. Named after the Greek goddess of chaos, Aeris is the brainchild of two women who wanted to bring Chicago cider drinkers on a journey to discover all that cider can be. Aeris uses craft brewing tricks and a variety of adjuncts such as fruit, aroma hops, and botanicals to elevate the humble Michigan apple into ciders for your enjoyment. Creativity is fundamental to AERIS and let me tell you there are no shortcuts, only the craft creation. Don't wait for an invitation, check with your local bar, bottle shop, and Trader Joe's, Binney's, Mariano's, Jewel's, and Heinen's. If you're in a local area of Chicago, definitely need to eat there. Located at 4240 Irving Park Road, their menu strives to be inclusive of meat lovers, vegans, pescatarians, and those who observe gluten-free diets. Let me tell you all, I eat and drink there at least once a month and I cannot get enough. To learn more about them, order their fantastic food, or shop their amazing merch, check them out at www.arischicago.com. Also, don't forget to follow them on Facebook and Instagram, at ArisChicago. All right, I'm now hungry and thirsty, but that's gonna wait, now we're going to roll over into this amazing episode. In this safe common room space, you'll hear stories of success and lessons learned from myself and other misfits, entrepreneurs, and changemakers. My intention is to inform, connect, and expand our knowledge so we can be mentally, emotionally, and financially profitable as we create the change we desire. My promise is that from each episode, you'll take away not only inspiration and a connection to someone you never knew before, but also the encouragement, the action steps, and the support so you can create what you want. Music. So let's get started. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to season two of More Than Just. I know I am just beyond excited as always to be in this space with you all. I missed you, I hoped you missed us too. And I'm so excited to be able to share this space with this beautiful human, Ari. Ari and I met, I believe, and Ari, definitely please correct me. I applied to speak at an event that you were hosting at this collective that you formerly had. And it was this beautiful like three-day event in Chicago. And it was just such a great space because when I apply to speak at places, especially with people I don't know, I kind of go off the vibe. And the vibe that I just got from you and what you were creating with the Creative Women's Co. Was like, yeah, no, this is totally it. And it was completely made true. And I've been stalking her and we've been supporting each other ever since. So Ari, I'm so, so glad you're here. Thank you so much for spending time and sharing space with us today. I have been waiting for this day to come. So I'm so excited that we're finally doing this. It's been a while, right? It's been so long that I get to do this together, like sharing things with you, especially when it comes to all things business related and supporting other women. It's beautiful. And I remember that day when I got your email, right? It's like, hey, we'd love to come speak for you and your community. It's like, who is this? She's a badass. Of course I want her to be in my community. So I'm just so glad that our path had crossed and here we are again. Yeah, me too. So I always love to start off each episode with the following question and that is what would you say is your main title or identifier and how are you more than just? That's a really good question. I feel like sometimes when people ask me that question it's like I have to you know take a moment just gonna ask myself like which part of me do I want to tell right because I felt like you know as a woman we're we're doing so many different things and sometimes it's really hard to pull in the identity that we want to to associate ourself with in a specific community or in a specific space that you're in. Mind you, if you ended up going to a PTA, it's like, of course I'm not in a PTA, but if you are in a PTA or even like you're hosting your own events or you were maybe a career woman, there's just so many different identity that you have. So when people ask me this, I tend to just like take two big things that I felt I've grew up with. And big part of that is being a woman, but also I am a dreamer, you guys. So why do I even say a dreamer, right? Simply because for some of you who know me. I'm not from the United States, right? I grew up and born in Indonesia, Bali to be specific. And a third world country type of culture, environment, or even like social expectation revolves around a woman to, well, take care of things at home, not really building a career, right? But despite all of that. I was honestly lucky to be surrounded by my mom and my sisters who feel like, okay, that's just crazy. We're living in a modern world, I think, sort of. Because honestly, it was true. This is the year of the 90s, right? And I felt like at that time, for me, I mean, I was listening to Western music and all that different things. We have MTV. It's like, oh, God, I love MTV. It was just so fascinating seeing that, okay, even though I'm a woman, I could do things that I wanted to do, right? I could build a career. Why can't I? Why do I have to stay at home and essentially doing typical woman or wife stuff at home? So that was essentially the dream that I had. I want to break out of that social expectation and I want to break out of this traditional mindset that people have seen women supposed to do in the culture. I'm going to stop right there and let you maybe like. You know, take it from there. I mean, I'm loving this. And I love that you already just hit on the nose. My main purpose of why I created this platform, because we do get, especially for those of us who identify as women, that we try to separate the multi facets of ourselves to fit in in a room. And, you know, I see that actually, and just a lot of humans, obviously the fact that how diverse the stories are and the guests are on MTJ are a big highlight of that. But that's why I really wanted to have a space because there is so much more to us. And those other facets of us are what helped create, you know, the title or the descriptor that we mainly identify as, or that mainly, you know, comes with us or claims us or what have you. And I'm curious though with having this really amazing modern, I love that you said that, outlook in your family and in your community. Did you feel that same support outside of your family, like growing up in Bali and having internally this really great support that, you know, even though you identify as a woman, you can still be XYZ. Like, did you also have that support on the outside or was there kind of a little bit of a back and forth between your internal support and your external community? There was a big gap, in my opinion, at least when I was growing up, right? Today, you probably have seen there's a lot more support towards women, especially those who are trying to build their own career or even getting into the startup life, being an entrepreneur. There's so much support now in Southeast Asia and also in Indonesia. But when I grew up, there was none of that. So everything that I got, the push that I got, the inspiration that I got, everything. Comes from my mom and my sister. So everything is internal. When you talk about external support, beyond just like the closest friends that I had, not really, to be honest with you. There wasn't really a big push around, yes, support your girls or educate your girls and things like that. You have to really actively seeking those. And if you do want to seek out those. You either buy a magazine, right? Or you maybe explore it on the internet. It was such a shame though, in terms of like not having the resources that I need, because I felt like it could change a lot of lives. However, I totally get it because back then, people don't have the open mindset. They feel stuck in their current traditional thinking and also the culture because everything is so patriarchy. And the definition of patriarchy in my culture, at least back then, it was so prominent and even other women was trying to tell other women that their daughter should just stay home and end up in the kitchen. It's like, no, come on. We want to change the narrative here. So, and I think the advocates that I got from my mom was really changing the way I perceive my own values. I think when you have a great support from people that you trust, whether it's your loved ones, your family, your best friends, you feel that support and you know that you can achieve whatever goals or even like dreams that you want to achieve. And I love that you shared that because, I mean, in so many ways, whether it's cultural or just community ways, especially for those, those who have decided to be entrepreneurs, already that can start as a really lonely place. And I, like you, had really, I'm so blessed to have had such great support from day one. The fact that I grew up, I'm from a family of entrepreneurs, that helps a lot. But I know for some listeners, They know it exists, but they don't know where to find it. And you're talking about resources. I'm assuming, and obviously correct me if I'm wrong. That was a little bit of a, I don't know if struggle is the right word, but we'll just go with it. When you moved from Bali to the States, how old were you when you moved to the States? 23. Nice. So that's actually really interesting because you've had a really solid, right, upbringing in Bali where you have things that are set in yourself. And then to move to the States at that point in your life, first of all, what inspired that and what was that like? We'll get back to the resources, but now those two questions feel more fun right now. So what inspired that and what was that, what did that feel like and look like for you? It was scary. To be honest with you, it was really scary because I felt so dependent, you know, living with my mom, my dad, as well as my two sisters, right? We're pretty tight, even though we don't truly, or say that we love you every day, but we know how much we care for one another and the way we support each other. So to let go that tightness, closeness, and travel half across the globe was really scary. But the thing is, again, going back to being more than just a dreamer as well. I really want to figure things out for myself and also getting that support that I need, getting that resources that I need, because I didn't get it. I didn't get it in the little island of Bali and I knew that if I don't do it now, at least, you know, back then in 2011, I probably will not, you know, leave my home country or leave the comfortable place that I have. So I just got to challenge myself. Sometimes it's something outside of your comfortable zone. Is where you're going to thrive, right? And you just have to make a decision and take the risk. Or you can not take the risk and perhaps regret it later and wish you had done it before. So with that, I just, you know, I figure I just have to do it. And I'm glad that I got the blessing from my family and leaving Bali was hard in the beginning because you're just so attached to it. But as soon as I, you know, seeing the bigger picture, right, like where I want to be and how much knowledge I can gather that I could maybe share in the future to others, Maybe for younger me in the future, maybe more girls in the future. That's valuable. And I want to be that person who basically will be able to share the knowledge to others in the future. So that's essentially what brought me here. And plus on top of that, I also got married to my husband, right? But that's essentially it. Did you guys meet in Bali? Where did you two meet? Oh no. How did you two meet? I know Peter and I love Peter and I never got this story. So So please tell me, how did you two meet? I will condense that story because it is quite a story and maybe one day I will, you know, write a novel, maybe have somebody write a novel about us. But essentially, I'm not sure if we remember, MSN Messenger back in the day. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. So I met him through there and this is so funny because when I was 16 years old, yeah, when I was 16 years old in, no, not college, in high school. I had an e-boyfriend. So I had an e-boyfriend, Mel, back then. And this e-boyfriend sent out one of those massive emails with everybody, you know, CC'd on it. And I was looking at, okay, who are in the list? And I saw Peter's email, and I cannot take my eyes off of his email. I'm just like, so curious, like, okay, who is this guy? Or maybe he's a gal. Let's just connect. So I added him on MSN Messenger. When he went online, I say hi, and then it's like, good to know you, I'm Ari, and he's like, let's chat. I was like, oh my God, I was just, I just wanted to make friends, right? I think I was just about to make friends. And he thought I was a hacker. So he thought I was a hacker and told me like, okay, who are you? Are you going to hack my identity and stuff? Like, dude, I'm just a girl. I know in Geter I can still see how he took that and just instantly went to, am I being, am I being punked? Like I. Yeah, yeah. He was just like, you know what he told me, he's like, everybody sent us like, unreal. Oh my god, that's so cute. I love that for Gen Zers who are like, what's in this chat? It's basically like old school Snapchat without the filters. I don't even like it's texting texting over the internet. I know, right? It was big back then. But essentially, that's how we get to know each other. Yes, you should definitely write. Some sort of a novel based off of that. Because for those of us in our age range, we could so connect. I remember AOL chat rooms. I mean, this could be a whole nother discussion. Oh yeah, me too. But I love that's how you met Peter. So kind of circling back just a little bit, I know that you're really passionate about being a resource and providing resources and utilizing your tools to help others, you know, create what they want in such beautiful ways. In your category of profession, which we'll probably talk about, but just in cases, we'll just move on. When you came over to the States, then what was kind of your first and I feel like this could be something really important for listeners who are again in this space of. Okay, I know I want to do this, but I'm not really feeling supported, or I have the support, but it's not physically with me like all of the time. What were some of the resources that you found initially gave you that support and filled up those those kind of missing spaces and that support? It's a really good question. For me, everything starts with my husband, to be honest with you. And this could translate for you, maybe your best friend, or maybe, you know, somebody else that you trusted, maybe it's a role model that you always look up to, right. But to be able to identify who is this support that you will be able to go to, ask questions, or even just to cheer you on along the way is very important. Because like you said earlier, Mel, being an entrepreneur or even diving into something that is super uncomfortable for you for the first time is really scary and it can get very lonely. So at least find one person that you could rely on as as your support system. Right support system could mean a lot of different things. It could be like a person that holds you accountable Like you're gonna say that I'm gonna finish this project or maybe you want to gain a specific certification Like whatever that goal is having somebody that can hold you accountable and remind you. Hey, have you get to your goal or what's that? Oh, i'm, sorry. No, what's that? Are you stuck on something? Are you having challenges, you know have somebody that can Really be the person. Who can support you but also you know understand what you're going through right now is just so important. I felt like that's the first step but the second step in my opinion is then to look outside of your comfort zone right for me that looks like I was not really into going to a networking event to be honest with you and I was challenged by all the other people that I met through business one-on-one classes and things like that. And they told us like, you guys, you just started your business. You gotta network, network, network. And I was like, but we're a digital company. I don't think we need network. We'll be fine. It's like, nope, no, no. So I would say definitely network, but it's not just about going to events and then just like giving others your business card. It's not about that. It's It's about really actively building relationship with other people. Maybe it's in your same industry or maybe it's in your target audience type of space, whatever that might be, finding these people will be critical for you because you need to be out there in the world. People need to get to know you, but also understand what value are you bringing to their lives and the life of their network. Right? So when you change the perception about networking, it will be beneficial for you to think about how can you then build your own network of people that not only, you know, like minded, but also supporting you along the way, but also the one who will be able to share, you know, what you're all about, like how you can help people in their lives. Mm hmm. I'm so glad you said that because the follow up question that was brewing in my head was what is your definition of networking? And you already defined it beautifully. So there's I have been noticing as long as I've been an entrepreneur, which is now going on 13 years at the time of this recording. There are a lot of business traditional words that have gotten really dulled down or now have not a negative connotation to it, but some kind of an ick factor to it and networking that has turned into that for some of us. And I am the same faith as you of this isn't about, you know, who can I sell to? Who can I like add to my list? It's who can I connect to? Who can I talk to? Who can I add value to and vice versa? Cause this is a two way street. And for those of you who are listening, who maybe, maybe you're like, well, I don't even know what my business is or I don't even know how to quote unquote network, just go to spaces that interest you and talk to people. I've gotten my biggest, I call them OHFs, for those of you who've read She Profits, Oh Holy Fuck Moments, by just having conversations with people, because so often we get that stuff stuck in our heads, right? And maybe we don't necessarily have a one-on-one person we can talk to, but when you find a space where you can talk to some stranger, which sometimes is easier, because there is no like context or no, you know, anything else you could just be like, all right, peace out. So much more can come to the surface as well as so much more can be presented. So for those of you who are like, well, I don't know how to network. Go to events that excite you because those are your people. Those are like-minded people. And the more that you just start off from a space of like-mindedness, that's where you can explore more and more and create whatever really this relationship is supposed to be for you. Hey friends, liking the episode? Pretty epic, isn't it? Well, guess what? This episode and all others have been made possible by financial support and contributions from listeners like you. So if you would like to continuously hear how these epic humans are more than just. Go ahead and head over to our GoFundMe and make a contribution. Cool? All right, let's get back to the magic. From you moving, you know, from Bali to the States with your husband, did you already have an understanding of what you wanted to do as an entrepreneur? And if so, how did that come about and if not how did that morph into what you are doing now? The answer is no, right? But here's what I'm gonna tell you. I started off as a graphic designer. In the beginning that was, you know, my original dream. I guess you could say that. And as soon as I, you know, learned what it means to be a graphic designer, I was really wanting to do quite something. Well, it's not exactly different, but something that most graphic designers in Bali at the time really dive into. And that was, you know, web design, digital design, user experience, user interface, all of those digital things. I got so fascinated by it. And one day, my husband, when he was still in Bali with me, he asked me, Hey, Ari, just out of curiosity, how much do you actually get paid? And I was being honest, of course, right? I mean, he's going to be my husband. I told him, well, I got $250 per month, and he's like, you mean add another zero at the end, right? Nope. God bless Peter. Everybody needs a Peter. So that conversation happened. He then showed me this new fascinating world of freelancing online, right? Finding new gigs online, looking at Upwork, I know 99design or all the other, even like freelance.net at the time. So I was so intrigued by it. And that was the beginning moment that I felt like, I want to explore this. I felt the urge. It was like, I need to be in this space. So I gave my two weeks notice and then I told my parents like, Hey, mom, dad, I'm gonna quit my job. I'm going to do my own boss. Tada. Oh, goodness. That was the start. So that was the start. And the big reason why I also wanted to, you know, move to United States because I want to pursue entrepreneurship, right? I didn't really know what that would look like. I didn't really even think about building a business, to be honest with you. So I was just exploring, okay, what would, you know, being a freelancer look like? How do I manage my time? How do I manage my project? Talking to clients, all those basic essential skills that you need in order to, well, manage a project, right? Until I think it was a couple of months after Peter and I got married, he brought up a really fantastic idea. It's like, Hey, Ari, would you want to be my business partner? I think we can combine our skills together. Wouldn't that be fantastic?" And I was like, okay, I did not know what I was doing. Okay, I'm going to be honest. I did not know what I was doing. So I said, sure, that's the worst that can happen. So that's what happened. And our first two years of business was a hot, complete mess, I would say. I did not know what it means to build business, right? And Peter was also the same way. I feel like we were both a glorified freelancers and under the banner of an LLC. That was us in our first two years of business. When it come to us in terms of like, okay, marketing and then business funding, how are we planning everything, the operation, it was very clear that we did not have the funding that we need. So I ended up. Well, going back to corporate. I was like, I need to figure this out. I need the fun to use towards marketing, to use towards any other operations in our business. So Peter was running the company full time and I was doing it part time while working for Sears Holding. So that gave us a really good bootstrap fund to basically do the marketing that we need. And that was really helpful. So I would say, I think the lesson here, If you're going to go start a business with whoever it is, whether it's your own, and then maybe with your partner, be it your friends, best friends, or spouse, have a plan. I would say definitely have a plan and have some fun, right? Fun in terms of like funding. So well, of course you can have fun as well. But really, you just really have to have some plan. I felt like that was the biggest mistake that I made, jumping in without really properly planning what we need to do. And even though now we are in our 11th year of business, sometimes I felt like I wish I had that knowledge about building proper business in the beginning, right? I could have saved not just a lot of money, but also a lot of headaches and years figuring things out on my own rather than asking to mentors or even like go to a you know business programming and stuff like that so if you are listening to this episode right now with me and Mel and if you do want to start your business be prepared and gain as much resources and knowledge as possible. Because that could really save you a lot of investment and time and resources. I cannot believe you guys were like straight up married. Okay, let's start a business. Like that, that in itself just proves how good of a team, as well as how beautifully naive we are. But I so love that because we don't know. I always tell my clients this. We don't know what we don't know. Right. And in order for us to know, we have to talk it out. We have to experience things. We have to ask questions. And having at least your what I like to call true north direction, do you have to have every single thing mapped out, resourced out? No. And I don't think that's what you're saying either. So I just wanted to expand on that of yes, resources and information are so so so so, so important because you don't know what you don't know. And... What you know already is enough to get started. Because once you start moving right, then you know then what questions to ask, you learn more, you filter in, you know, the stuff that actually works and you filter out the bullshit and that in parallel with, you know, what we were talking about earlier with networking, with having that confidence to continuously have that space to just bleh and receive is so, so, so beautiful. I wanna talk to you, and I was not expecting to have this question come up, but it's coming up, so I'm trusting it. I have been seeing, before we popped on, before we started hitting record, I was talking about this book that I'm reading called Wintering, A Time of Rest and Retreat. And we were talking about how this year and the year of Her Majesty 2023, We feel like things have just gotten off to a different slash slower start. And that's been a conversation I've had with several people where they have been disappointed in themselves because their energy or their sustainable energy that they had before their tenacity coin at whatever is not the same and they're really struggling. With that shift. And I know for you and I, the fact that we were mothers or our mothers and started being mothers, quote unquote later in life, which is bullshit, but whatever. We weren't 16, right? We weren't in our young 20s. That has for me, I know was a huge shift and how I run my business and continues to be an anchor of how I now utilize my time and energy inside of my business. So with that said, with how young you were and already having this really beautiful support with your husband, Peter, and starting this amazing business, and now what life has kind of thrown at you. First question, actually, for some reason, I asked this question, how's your relationship with your energy lately? And two, how has that shifted? and what have you done to not combat it, but to kind of move with it or maneuver with it? You know, that's a really tough question, mainly because just like you, right? I felt like things definitely are changing, not just for our surroundings, the world, but also ourselves. I feel like we get influenced so much lately after going through pandemic and then just trying to pick up things back up again, it's an interesting journey trying to figure out like, okay, how do I move forward at this for me, right? Because I felt like in a before pandemic, I think I was okay hustling, but after the pandemic, to be honest with you, I got so tired. It's like, why was I even hustling so much? Right? Yeah. Exactly. So I felt like I needed to just like check in with myself in terms of like, what do I want to do? Like, you know, I'm not going to get any younger. Obviously none of us are. And we have so limited time realizing that even more even more during and after pandemic. I think a lot of us have shifted our priorities in terms of what would life look like, what would balance look like, what would our work look like, what would relationship with people around us look like, right? I'm not saying this because I know the answer, I don't, you guys, so I'm still figuring things out with you. But the one thing that I know is that I'm trying to evaluate myself every single day, right? Sometimes stress gets the best of me and it took away a lot of my energy, and I wouldn't have enough energy to, you know, well, spend with my family. And that really hurt me in a way because I do too want to spend quality time with people in my family, right? But how do you balance that when you have to run your own business but also need to take care of to your household, taking care of your kid, right? And you have a relationship with the loved ones that you have. So it gets a lot sometimes. And I felt like, oh, I feel like I'm exhausted. Like, how can I structure this better? So in terms of like really checking in with my feelings, my energy lately, it's, been hard, but I do feel that good years are ahead. I just need to figure out what that might look like for me, right? But in order for me to also achieve that, I feel like I need... To know how other people in my life can support me, right? And how I can support them. So I'm still working on those. And I will let you know once I figure it out. But I feel like we're all work in progress. So I hope that helped answer your question. No, it definitely did. I mean, honestly, just that step that you do that I talk about a lot and that I try to do is that internal check-in of it's okay that what you now know to be true was not the case five minutes ago. Like I talk about that a lot in my book, She Profits of like, you know, what do I want as a small check-in question to help you just reframe how you want to utilize the time that you have left with now the energy that you have. It's such an interesting conversation to have. And I've found too that this doesn't really matter the gender. The fact that I'm in more femme-focused spaces. I have a lot of these conversations with, you know, women and femme-identified entrepreneurs. But I even recently had, I did a human design reading for a gentleman who is older and in his new hallway, as I like to call him, in life. And he was so frustrated by the fact that he wasn't motivated to do this anymore. His energy is completely different. And kind of through, you know, utilizing his human design, showing him how he can reconnect to who he is. Because we really do have everything inside of us to answer the call of our soul. We just have to find it. And by giving ourselves that time to check in with ourselves and go, okay, now what do I want? Now what does this look like? And I'm just going to say this for all of us. It's okay if we change our mind. Like no matter how many social media announcements you've made of so many things. One, don't feel the need to announce anything if you don't want to. But two, you can also go, all right, well, this is what I learned now. Talking about going back to what we were talking about earlier, you don't know what you don't know. Now I know this, so therefore, I now know this and continuing on and sharing our journeys. The fact that we all sit with this and we all have conversations about this with ourselves. I also love that you said this is a continuing journey. The more that we can have open conversations like this. You know, hopefully people will start stalking you on social media respectfully and following along on your journey, right? And the same for, you know, and for me, I've just, how can we include each other in this process without having the stress of you have to have a solution, you have to have an answer, what you just said, even though you feel like it wasn't an answer, was really a beautiful one of check in, you know, what do I want? How do I feel today? What do I know to be be true today and shift from there. It really is that simple and can be that beautiful when you give yourself that space for it. I agree. I love this. Ari, we can talk about so many things that you have done because you have done so many beautiful things, including writing a book. I am gonna throw that out there too, that Ari and Peter wrote an amazing book. Okay, so we will talk about that super book because now I feel like I've hinted at it. We should just give the people a little bit more insight. So of course, my favorite question, what inspired you to write that book and give us a little insight into what that book entails. Ooh, writing a book. I never actually imagined myself to write a book and here's why. I felt like it's a lot of work and it is. It is a lot of work. I mean, Mel, you know this, you've written your own book. Yeah. And the thing is, when the first time I heard Peter ask me to write a book, and this was probably what five, six years ago, he told me one day, he's like, Hey, Ari, I think you should write a book. I was like, what? Okay. Okay, sure. I'll do it later. Right? I honestly just don't know what I wanted to do with the book, nor I have any ideas or, I guess, priority to write one at the time. But then I think this is 2021 mid 2021 I felt like okay we've been writing a lot of content and people seems to be really enjoying our content I wonder what I should do next with it sure I can write a blog or you know have resources page whatnot but I wonder what's next until you know somebody to be honest with you reach out to me on LinkedIn and says to me hey Ari I help authors you know, create or build and write book that people cannot put down. I was like, you got my attention. Tell me more. I felt like that was it. Now that was the sign to me, I believe in, you know, we are being guided by the universe, right? And I felt like that is the sign from the universe. It's almost like, hey, here, you need a push. Here's your push. Now go do it. So that was the beginning and I finally told Peter, I was like, I have this crazy idea, why don't we write a book? And I was so surprised that he actually answered with me, he's like, sure, what do we need to do? It's like, okay, so there you go, yet another push from the universe, like telling me that this is it, we gotta do it. Now, going back to your question about, like, why do we even write a book? Part of it is because I do feel like the content that we have needs a home, a proper home for others to really use and leverage it as a guide for them. And I have seen so many of our clients not having enough and proper strategy when they build their own website. So I just feel like if I could share with a lot more people how to properly plan and share a strategy that they need in order to build a proper website that will bring in investment for their business, why not? Why not do so? Right? I feel like it's just a simple book, right? You can get it at a very low price of what? $17.99, I think. And you get all the knowledge that Peter and I I have accumulated in the past 15 years. So take it and use it and guide it. I mean, feel guided with it to help build your own business for online channels, especially for your website. Love it. And I love, so the full title, cause I don't want to muck it up. So say the full title of the book. The full title of the book is"'Made to Sell, Creating Websites that Convert.", Perfect. So it's like, I know the made to sell. And this is a video or else I'd be just showing the book that's already in my library. But the one thing that I love about it, it's one, and I think this is the reason why I love your content and Peter's content is it's so digestible. It's so digestible in a way that is very affirming to the reader of just like, oh no, this makes sense. Because there's so many times when books have to do with areas that I am not familiar in, especially with technology. All of a sudden it's just like goobity goop, blah, bitty blah here. And I don't know what any of that means and neither do I feel impressed or encouraged to do any of it. And that's what I love about your book and y'all's content is that you're just talking to us. Like this conversation we're having right now, and this is how I felt, I mean, spoiler alert, I hired Ari and Peter to work with me and they're chefs kiss. But even just in those sessions as well, like this is how you work with people. This is how you talk with people. And to put that in a book that translates that so beautifully, I mean, brava for A, saying yes to that ping, and then just kind of figuring out as we move along and trusting that the resources are going to come forward, which I feel like completely encapsulates the entire conversation we've had today. But also the fact that you trusted enough to be yourself in the book and to be yourself in your content because that is so needed. And I'm not saying that a lot of us mask in a professional sense. But. Some of us have and some of us kind of continue to do so because we think it'll just be more comfortable that way or we won't cause too much trouble. Like we'll be able to learn, but not really. And it really is about being you and sharing what you know and the way that you love to share it, how you love to share it in whatever language you love to share it in. And trusting that it will just bring the right people to your space. And that will build out, about, you know, whatever you want to create, whether that's a business, whatever that is, it really is finding those connective relationships coming from a space of just true. What do I want? This is who I am, you know, bring it on deal and using that information to construct a plan as you move forward. So again, I love that this whole conversation has been such a beautiful juxtaposition of, trust and intuition and support, as well as these actionable, important tactical steps that we are taking as entrepreneurs. So Ari, this has just been amazing. I'm so, so, so happy that you are here. Thank you so much again for just being such a beautiful human inside of this space, as well as just what you and Peter are continuing to share and to collaborate and create. It's just amazing. Is there any other thoughts or anything else that you'd like to share with us before we peace out? Yes, just one thing to maybe kind of conclude what we have discussed today. I felt like a lot of us might question ourselves, why do we need to do it? Somebody else already done it, right? And I think it applies to so many different things, whether it's business or writing a book. There are so many pieces already out there. I mean, people have been doing this for, God, so many years, right? And we're just like picking up things that we probably already know. However, oftentimes we forget that going back to our own identity and our own character, right? We have a very unique perspective. And I think not many of us are owning it. So while you're figuring things out for yourself, right, what you want, what you want to achieve your goals and everything else in life, I want you to also remember that you are a unique person, where you have your own identity, you have your own creative approach to specific things. And don't be afraid to show other people how you're different and how you can really impact their lives with your differentiation or however it is that you want to do it your way. So own it. And I hope things will work out for you, get your own resources, and get the support that you need to help propel you forward. That was perfect. Thank you, Ari. I needed to hear that reminder. So thank you for that. And for those of you who are listening, you can find all of Ari's links, website, book, all of that yumminess in our show notes. But thank you once again, Ari, for sharing this space with us. And we hope y'all have a great day and we'll chat soon. Music. Thank you so much for listening to this epic episode. All of the resources and links connected to it will be in our show notes, located on our website, morethanjust.buzzsprout.com. If you liked this episode, which I would be shocked if you did not, go ahead and hit that like, subscribe, review, and share. Also remember that this episode and all others have been made possible by financial contributions, and support from listeners like you. So if you would like to hear more stories of how Epic Humans are more than just, pop on over to our GoFundMe and make a contribution. Also don't forget to follow us on Instagram at more than just podcasts. Thanks again. See you next time! Music.