Self-discovery packaged in authentic marketing

I’ve written a lot about authenticity. Not nice things. The first sentence of a post I wrote less than a month ago is “First of all, fuck authenticity.”

It isn’t that I don’t believe it exists — or that being authentic is not something one should aspire to be. 

It just feels like a label we shouldn’t give ourselves.

Instead, we should just be about it.

I have similar feelings about the concept of spirituality — or being a “spiritual person.”

But fuck, I was looking at some old testimonials and realized maybe I should spend more time thinking about how to make authenticity make sense.

I love the testimonial I’m including below so fucking much. It’s a review from my old Unusually Focused podcast. My man Marcus says one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard someone say about my work.

He refers to it as “self-discovery packaged in authentic marketing.” So good.

This is from four years ago, but it still precisely describes exactly what I want people to think about me.

This is self-discovery packaged in authentic marketing

I'm finding it hard to formulate the words to express just how my life has changed since coming into contact with Ryan and the message he brings, so I'll start off with the first thing that always comes to mind when I think of him, then I'll just rant from there:

Ryan is one of the greatest teachers l've ever had the opportunity to learn from. I feel that ultimately, a teacher should help you see and understand yourself at the deepest level. The ideas l've learned from Ryan have brought me to a place of self-awareness and gratitude that I never knew was possible.

He's self-help packaged in a systematic approach to marketing with authenticity. You can't be authentic until you know yourself, and you can't truly deploy Ryan's strategies of marketing without truly getting to know yourself, your message, and ultimately what your purpose in life is.

He helped me get over my crap by realizing my purpose transcends all my fears and insecurities. My excuses became my reasons to execute, because nothing good ever came out of playing it safe by living in fear, letting things that make you uncomfortable dictate how you live your life.

And he cares, I mean like really. He's reached out to me personally just to check-in, and I'm not even one of his private clients, l've just bought a couple of his marketing courses.

Ultimately, I love listening to Ryan because he's a man that thinks, and takes his craft seriously. I think it's very important to find people with the best ideas and to drown yourself in their message, you'll capture so many gems in the process.

-Marcus Smith

I’m not crying, you’re crying.