I think there comes a point in life when you're faced with a decision. Keep running from your calling or decide to face it. This was that point for me.
Would I keep spending my days building someone else's dream,
or would I take the risk
and build my own?
A year ago, I was sitting at a desk working a nine to five job, and a year later, I'm on a trip with a brand that I love doing work that creatively fulfills me and supports me financially,
and this is the story of how that happened.
In order to actually tell this story well, it's important that we go back to the beginning.
Hello, everybody. It's Riley. And today, I'm going to be doing a 50 facts about me video. Okay. Maybe not that far.
I mean, here's the thing. If you didn't have a YouTube channel, his dad would still be saying to break up with you. And this was the day I decided I was gonna quit my job and move somewhere. I didn't know where, but I knew I needed to go. It was on January 5 that I decided
I need to move. I need to get the heck out of here. Okay. I will get a strategy. Start considering places and take the Lord's guidance. Be intentional. I need to do something else. I could do it.
You can. You absolutely can.
Absolutely can.
Heartbreak will do that to you. Along with figuring out where to go, there was also the question of what am I gonna do for work. For the last two years, I've been working as a creative media specialist, and I did that because after graduating college, this is how I felt about YouTube. What do I make content about? I got nothing to show that feels like it would be of any value to anyone. But taking two years away from YouTube gave me the space to find my why, and I decided to take the risk and give myself one year where YouTube would be my focus. My top priority would be to make YouTube videos and content. I would treat it like a full time job even if I wasn't making any money. I knew that if I took this risk, I could look back on my life without regret, and that decision changed
my life.
This is
insane. I can't believe I'm here. Let's take a tour.
I genuinely feel like at any moment, someone's going to knock on the door and say, just kidding. None of this is for you.
We've got WHOOP, of course, the whole reason that I'm here and this is happening. Dermalogica
products,
Boston Red Sox hat, Cadence Hydration and Nutrition, some running glasses. I'm actually so excited about these. And then these fun cane shoes. I'm sure these are comfy.
And then, of course, we have the bathroom,
which has this lovely whoop sign and this nice shower and a toilet.
Perfect for going to the bathroom. They also left me the most lovely letter and the cutest canvas back. Is there stuff in here? No.
Oh my gosh.
How are doing?
I've been dying.
Oh my gosh. I've
Andrew Huberman talks about them. A year ago, I was sitting at a desk working a nine to five making videos for somebody else, and now I'm here. This
is
insanity.
Everything's
crazy.
Like, I really do feel like this
is where I'm supposed to be right now. Taking a risk is terrifying until you take it, and then you realize it isn't actually as bad as you thought it would be. I'm just excited to see if my risk of not having a job, not having just a backup plan, how that's gonna go. Now it's time to make a plan
for tomorrow. Not only was I trying to figure out how to create a completely different style of video, but I was also spending hours and hours studying, scripting, planning, and learning as much as I could about YouTube. This is also when I came up with my motto, the process is the point and fully outline the message at the heart of all my content, becoming. Today, I'm posting my first video back in two years. I tried Andrew Huberman's daily routine game changer video, so we'll see how that does. Hopefully, it does well. If not, that's okay. I've gotta earn the success. It doesn't just come. These videos are as much for me as they are for other people, and they are my works of art. I like what I'm making,
and so if other people don't,
then that's okay. And now every single week for the foreseeable future,
I will be posting a new YouTube video.
I don't know what to make this week. And, I'm feeling kinda paralyzed about it. And, I'm also like, I don't know who I am on camera. I have so many YouTubers that I love watching. I try and analyze what they're doing well. I wanna be me the way that they are them. But who am I on camera? And how do I be myself?
Loosen up. Be yourself.
I'm
feeling paralyzed right now, but I know that I will get a video up this week. I don't care what it's gonna take. I'll get it done. I'm, like, feeling really anxious. It's hard. This is hard. Doing something new, trying to get better at something that you care a lot about,
it's hard. There's a lot of ups and downs with how you feel about your capabilities and where you are and where you know you can be and where you wanna be. I can do it though. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I have good things to share. I can do this. It's gonna be a lot of work, and it's gonna be really challenging,
but I'm gonna do it. I am going to do it. I am all in.
I'm just so afraid that I won't do it. Barely made any money this year. And it's so hard because I'm putting in so much work. Like, I just
worked on that video and that product for so many hours straight, and I don't know if that video is gonna make me $20.
And it's not for lack of trying. Like, I've worked harder than I've ever worked, and it's such a hard situation
to just be sitting in. I wish there wasn't this much pressure, but
this is part of the process.
And as I like to say, the process is the point. It's okay. Like, I'm I'm okay. I'm doing good. I am doing I'm doing the best that I can. That's all that I need to ask of myself. I'm showing up, and I'm trying, and that's good. And I can be proud of that no matter what happens, honestly. I can be proud of the way that I've worked and pushed myself
during this entire year, basically. And so
I'm really happy with that. If you were to ask me how I'm doing, I would tell you I'm doing very good, but I'm also feeling kind of intimidated
by everybody who's going to be at this event. I looked at the list, and it's literally a bunch of elite athletes, and then there's me. And I'm like, I who am I? Literally, who am I to be here? Like, why did I get invited to this thing? I'm so grateful to be here. But, also, like, what what makes me
worthy of any of this?
And to even be in this situation, I just feel so much gratitude.
But I'm also trying not to let those feelings of inadequacy
or of, like, impostor syndrome to get in the way of this experience.
What I'm gonna do is, first of all, soak it all in. This is incredible. I'm so grateful to be here. This is an opportunity for me to learn from other people, to connect with people who are like minded. My goal for this weekend is to show up as the best version of myself that I can, to be happy and to be excited, grateful, and kind, and start conversations,
and be bold, and be confident, and try and be charismatic,
and just all of those things. Like, I want people to come away from this experience having met me and be like, Riley is awesome. And I just wanna put my best foot forward. So this is gonna be incredible.
I'm so grateful to WHOOP. I am so, so grateful to WHOOP. WHOOP is a fitness wearable that gives you a complete picture of your health. It tracks your sleep, your workouts, your recovery, your breathing, your heart rate, and even your steps. I absolutely love the journal feature in their app. You can log the different habits and daily things that you do, and based on how your body's recovering, it will track the impact that those habits and those actions have on your health. And over time, you get to see what's working to help you become a better version of yourself and what isn't, which is very useful information to have. And with Ironman training starting up, I've also been using the activity feature a lot. I log my activity while I'm doing it so that I can see my heart rate zones and see the amount of strain that's coming from the workout. If you're interested in trying it out, you can get the WHOOP five point o in a thirty day free trial by going to the link in the description or heading to join.whoop.com/rileyrue.
The fact that they believed in me, Sam believed in me enough to have me be part of this experience is
profound to me, and I am so grateful.
I need help. And so it was perfect timing for this management company called Small to reach out to me. We're gonna jump on a call in about twenty minutes and just talk through things. A lot of the concerns I have are based off of my past experience with my last manager. We did not have a personal relationship.
There wasn't good communication whatsoever.
We didn't set goals with each other. It was very much just like a shallow relationship. I don't want that to be the relationship. I want my manager to be very involved in the work that I'm doing, have this kind of partner to bounce ideas off of because I don't have that right now. And if I wanna take my income and my ideas to the next level, I need that help. I also would love to come out with products. I just have a vision for what I could create, and I need help doing it. I also have a long list of brands that I want to work with already. I'll be able to come up with ideas really quickly because I've already put the thought into how our messages align. I just need to communicate too how hard I am willing to work at this. Making this dream and goal a reality of doing this full time and not being so stressed about money, like, that will take so much weight off my shoulders. Like, I wanna do this. I've done this before, and I want I wanna do it even better now, and I I'm willing to work hard. If there's one thing about me, I am willing to work. I am willing to put my all into this. Whoever I sign with, I will be lucky to sign with them, but they will also be lucky to have me because of how hard I am willing to work at this. I'm 23 years old, and it's about time I learn how to do my hair. This is episode 14 of the becoming series where Oh
my gosh.
I need you to screenshot a 100.
What?
That's,
like, the the quickest performing bitch of the all Oh
my gosh. I have a manager.
I literally have a manager, guys. Oh my
Thank you, heavenly father.
I'm doing it, guys. I'm actually doing this.
I'm so happy. Okay. So I was getting really overwhelmed
with this decision and feeling, like, scared about signing with somebody and, like, making the wrong decision because the management company that reached out to me isn't on like, I'm not super familiar with them. But as I went down the road of talking to a different management company, it just felt like I was begging them to want me as, like, a client, and small screen wants me. Like, they reached out to me. They're the ones who've been proactive. And after our call today, I just felt really good about moving forward. So
it feels like the work that I've put in over the last six months has is, like, really starting to pay off.
And I just can't tell you how much of fight of a financial blessing and pressure this is gonna take off of me. Having this opportunity is such an answer to my prayers, and I'm so grateful. And I'm so excited, like, to do this right before the New Year just feels like the perfect timing. And I'm just gonna walk in, and I'm gonna work so hard, and it's gonna I'm just so excited. I'm so excited for what the future holds. I'm just so grateful that I listened to the call to risk
and to, like, take a chance and to do this and to not stay
safe in the bubble that I was in, but to put myself in this situation where I've had to grow. I've had to learn so much. I've had to work with uncertainty and not know if this is gonna work out. Like, none of this has been guaranteed.
None of this has been guaranteed. And I've just had to have faith in myself, and that has taken a lot of courage. It's taken a lot of courage to do this and be afraid and just take the actions and hope that things will work out and that all my work will pay off. And I just feel like this is just such a huge step in the right direction, and I'm so,
so excited
and grateful to God for all of his blessings. And I'm so excited to see what comes next. Like, good things are coming. I can feel it in my soul. I had this conversation
with Sam who is my contact for MOOP. He's the one who reached out to my manager about us working together, and we went on a walk together to dinner to meet up with everybody and just got a chance to to talk, to get to know him better, talking about content, and just all these different things. He said the kindest things about the videos that I make, and it was exactly what I needed to hear and made me feel like I have a place here
and, like, the work that I do is good and that I like, meaningful. And I don't know what it is about, like, the nervousness that I felt to be here, but that, like, helps me so much to feel so comfortable to have somebody see and feel from my videos and articulate
what it is that I feel about them and, like, what I don't know. It
it was just exactly what I need to hear. So I'm so grateful to him for saying those kind words. And then just to meet all these other creators,
they're all so lovely.
So, so lovely.
And I just had the best time, and I'm so excited for this weekend. This has been an absolutely life changing experience. I'm grateful for my family who supported me and believed in me to get to this point. I'm grateful for my friends. They have celebrated
every single win with me and been they've been cheering me on this entire time. And I'm so grateful for that because I know not everybody has people like that in their circle. Not everybody has people surrounding them who are excited when they win and excited when they reach their goals. I just feel so blessed to be surrounded by people like that, and I'm grateful the people in my life who have helped me believe in myself.
This weekend has been, like, actually incredible,
actually so
surreal to me. So my rep with Whoop, his name is Sam. And on our first video
call, he invited me to this event. And getting to meet him and the whole team, the whole Whoop team is literally
incredible.
I'm just so grateful to be here to be able to have the opportunity to learn from all these other athletes and creators
and to be, like, believed in by a brand and to have made it this far. And I just
it's so emotional for me because
it was so scary to take the leap, to take the risk, to change
where I was living and what I was doing and to believe in myself even when I felt like it wasn't gonna work. I just keep thinking about myself
a year ago and how scared she was to take this risk and how worried she was that it was or wasn't gonna work out, but
grateful. I am so, so grateful that she had the courage to try, that she had the courage to take a leap of faith to quit her job, to live off the money in her bank account and slowly see the number decreasing and just say, I'm gonna stick this out because I believe. I believe in this message. I believe in myself. I believe in my ability to make this happen. And it wouldn't be right for me to not talk about God as well and his place in all of this because I could not have done it without him either. There were so many nights where I was on my knees, bawling my eyes out, wondering what I'm gonna do and how I'm gonna make this happen. Is this gonna work? Is this gonna happen for me, or am I just gonna end up in my parents'
parents' house because I ran out of money? You know? I'm so grateful she kept going even though she was afraid because sometimes it's the fear that tells you exactly what you're supposed to be doing. If you're afraid, maybe there's a piece of you that knows that's the direction that you need to go in. That's the direction you need to run towards because because it might lead you places
that you need to be and
that you never thought you would.
Even though I'm still chasing goals and still wanting to grow and to keep becoming a better creator and to create more content. Like, this isn't over. There's always more that I could create and more that I could become. But I do want to take a moment to just feel and celebrate
how far I've come in this last year of pursuing this career and pursuing
this passion and this purpose
in my life, and I'm proud of myself. And it's crazy because every single video that I made, I feel like I learned something about the process of giving something by all. Just having this attitude of I'm gonna learn from each video and learn from each experience and just keep doing it until it works, keep doing it until I feel like I have lived out and created that those
things that are within me. And whatever it is for you that you have inside of your heart, inside of your soul, that you know you need to bring to life, it is worth taking a risk that honestly
isn't even that big of a risk, especially if you're in this phase of life. If you work hard enough that you can look back and say, I gave that everything. I did everything I could possibly do for that. If you can look back and say that, I
I know you're gonna succeed. I believe in you. I believe that you can make your dreams and your goals a reality if you have that level of dogged determination
to accomplish that. When I think about where I wanna go and what I wanna do in the future, I'm inspired by every single person
who does hard things and who perseveres
and who works hard for
the life that they wanna build. It's worth it. It's worth it
to go through the discomfort
of the unknown
to come out on the other side and look back at your life and not have regrets. Not have regrets that you didn't do it, that you didn't try. I'm gonna look back on my life knowing that I gave this chapter
my absolute all and be so proud of myself
to see what I did with that. I just wanna keep doing that in different aspects and in different ways moving forward to set these ambitious goals and to go after them with determination
and with grit. And I just I wanna keep becoming. I feel so blessed.
And to have been able to experience what I've experienced here, it has been
life changing. I wanna do so much more, and I know that I can because I have proven to myself that I'm willing to put in the work, and I'm willing to do what it takes to get there. I'm excited to think about that next version of myself and what becoming series I need to create in order for me to become her.
It's worth the risk, and I hope you take it. And I hope you work hard and you change. And in the process,
the process is the point. You
achieve them and become the person you wanna be. Thank you for coming on this wild ride with me. Thank you for supporting me as I have come back to YouTube and for believing me for watching my videos. I really hope that in return, my videos bring some level of inspiration
or
guidance or
insight into your life that is helpful and beneficial to you because I want what I create to have meaning. I want it to
help you become a better version of yourself. That's what this is all about. And so I hope I'm doing that, and I'm so grateful to have you here. I hope we keep becoming together. That's the whole point. That's the point of this life. That's the point of this channel. That's the point of everything. So let's keep doing it. You've got this.
You can do it.
I can do it. We can do it. We can build the life that we wanna build
and
make it happen.
I'll see you guys in my next video.
Bye.