Selah Hirsch
Appearances
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
Well, I think that – let's unpack that for a second further because you talked about that in your TED Talk with that first point you brought up, which was reframing fear as the catalyst for action. And I think that that's what you're talking about here is you're realizing that we've got to strip back to our core what is driving us and reframing success.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
I think the analogy that you shared, the story you just shared with your sons in baseball is a great example because, again, we're looking at success through the lens of – all the other factors in our lives that are telling us what the measure is. But that measure is such a fake. It's such a trap.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And I think that that is why I love when we were working on your talk and you were like, Selah, I've got this idea of the status trap. And there's just such a word. That's a gripping thought. I've asked myself, where have I been trapped in my life? I'm like a person who would be afraid to be trapped in something. I'm the person who likes the...
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
The aisle seat on the airplane, I'm like, I don't want to be next to the window and not able to jump out and get something when I want to and need to. I don't want to be reliant on somebody. I don't want to be stuck in an elevator. I don't want to be stuck with slow drivers. In fact, it's so funny. I got to tell you, the other day I was driving my kids to school.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And we were driving past this Catholic private school. It's kind of on our way to the kids' school. And there was this crosswalk. And this guy we know, he was riding his golf cart across the street from his subdivision, dropping off his kids at this Catholic school. And there was like a little cart path. And so he was able to take his golf cart.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And here I am in like my minivan with all of our kids, right? And my kids are like, Mom, don't hit him with the van. I was like, what would make you think I would hit this man on this golf cart with our car? And then I realized I'm like a pretty aggressive driver. And our kids know like buckle up because like I don't want to be stuck behind slow drivers. I don't want to be caught in something.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And I think it's interesting when you really frame status, you know, not as a prize to be won, but as this thief that's going to rob, you know, the depth of who you are. I mean, I think for the right people who are listening to this, it's going to cause a rise in you. And that was your talk. That was your talk at the TEDx. It was a challenge talk.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
In fact, when I go back and listen to it again, and if someone is on this podcast listening right now and has not listened to it, you might as well just stop this interview now and go jump over and listen to Ryan's talk. It's on YouTube. It's amazing because it's going to challenge you at your core. And what it's going to do is it's going to, you're either going to, you're going to pause it.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
Because you can't belly up to the bar and you can't take the talk and you're going to say, you know what, I need to stick in the comfort places of life. And, you know, with that, we wish you the best. But if this hangs with you, you're going to realize that this is going to create a fear in me because I have to let go of the expectations of others.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
I have to allow the drive of who I am, you know, encapsulated in this kind of fear. fear of, because now I'm stepping into my own path, I'm stepping into my own definitions, I will not be held constraint any longer by this, is it's going to actually cause some fear in me, but it's going to turn me into a place of action.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And I think when you and I talked more about this, we realized, you know what, there are talks that are informational, there are talks that are passionate, there are talks that are going to create, you know, change, you know, across society or in places of people's worldview and things of that nature. And that's what, that's what talks and communication is for.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And Ryan, I love your style as a communicator because you are gritty, you are raw, you are vulnerable, and you challenge people. And at the end of the day, it's gonna take two to tango. And I know that people like myself who don't wanna be held down by anything in life are gonna wake up and realize, you know what, but I am.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
But I am being held back by some status because at night I've got the doom's scroll going on or I've got, you know, I'm in a mastermind and I'm, you know, subconsciously sizing myself up with others or I'm looking at, you know, these deliverables and the scale size of my business. And I'm realizing in my industry, you know, there's a different measure of success. And at the end of the day.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
it's all a trap because we're not letting ourselves feel the fear, which is really the authenticity of defining our way. And I'll tell you that challenge you brought out is going to wake people up to realize they have to find their way.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
Everyone listening knows those feelings right now. I think you're like making us all sweat a little bit.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
Okay. So I got to jump in and ask you a question here. What did it feel like then for you to take the stage at TEDx? Like, I want to know what did it feel like for you to get on that stage? Because you had hammered that talk. You were prepared. It was your thought leadership you were bringing to the stage in that moment. That's a different stage. At least everyone listening here knows that stage.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
They weren't at your audience in Vegas, but they know that that is that's a stage to be won. That isn't that is an honor. In fact, it was your you building your personal brand, the blood, the sweat, the editing, the content that you have pumped out for years.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
say hey I've won an invitation to be on this stage and that was and with that comes the prep with that comes the standards that you've got to step onto that stage so I want to know I want you to tell everyone two things first of all what did it feel like for you to take that stage knowing not only just the prep of the talk but truly the brand that you had built that puts you on it and just like what did that feel like to you I want you just to tell us about that and then equally I'm just gonna just for time's sake I'm gonna put the other question there what did it feel like when you were done with the talk I
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
I wanted you to unpack both of those for us because those are moments a lot of people haven't had a chance yet to experience, to be a speaker on a TEDx stage, but we've got to know what it was like for Ryan Hanley.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
Well, you had to fight to stay on that path too because it was one thing to stay on it. It's another thing to realize you're in a pruning season. I mean, I think that's what we talked about so many times is it was – What do I hold on to? What do I let go of here? And I watched you literally like separate Siamese twins, you know, with your bare knuckle fingers of this is what I wanted to.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
But this is now what I feel like I need to hold on to and vice versa. Look at this new thing now that is emerging in the space. And so 24 was shaping. It was pruning it.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
What did you do? What'd you do after that?
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
felt hard in our conversations, but I truly believe even how you're expressing where you are at this moment, that it was a much needed season, uh, just to, to prepare the ground for areas that you can really thrive in and that are ultimately like deep reflections of you, your brand, your story, and the work that you want to bring into the world.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
Well, I think we need some like rocky background music right now because I feel like every entrepreneur who's listening to this is like, this is my life right here. I love how you said you need to get it beat up every now and then because that's what it feels like. It feels like a constant juggling act, juggling priorities, focus, deadlines, cash flow, systems, scalable growth.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
I mean, it's like literally like a storm, a perfect storm at all times, especially if
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
this is a business owner or an entrepreneur and you can relate to that I mean the success that you've had with rogue risk you know with that with leading innovative companies like you do with developing products like Salesforce teams I mean just there is so much that you realize is a constant pressure point and and to your point I do believe that resilience is
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
is what we're talking about because you've come through this stronger. And that's why I'm like, we need some pump up Rocky music here. I feel like I've been able to kind of be like Mick here on the sides a little bit like, hey, what's going on? Okay, send you back out there. Come on, let's dial back up. Let's get our focus in. Now get back into the ring a little bit.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And everyone needs something like that. They need someone in their life where they can be like, hold on. I'm actually winning, but this match is still going here a little bit. And to your point, the win may be sometimes just surviving a little bit. I don't want to get too far into the boxing metaphor here. But I think at the end of the day, like you said, it's defining the win a little bit.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And sometimes it's holding space, staying the course, trusting the game plan. Other times it's probably not being afraid to take the risk. I think that's something I've watched you do is once you've acknowledged that you need to make a pivot or a change, you're like, let's go. Let's jump here.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And this is what I love that you brought out in your TEDx talk, is that you are not afraid to be vulnerable and realize that what is the success I'm chasing? And identifying it, is it actually the success that defines me? Am I defining it? Or am I letting status and the perceptions of society and what I think I should be doing and the expectations of others really model that success?
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And at the end of the day, that is the unfulfilled life that you're talking about. I love this quote that you said. I listened so many times to your talk, but I got to tell you, the quote that you talked about, the everyday millions of people go to jobs that they hate and pursue the goals that they didn't choose because that's what they thought that they were supposed to do, I think rings so well.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
True, because all of us can relate to that in one way or another. We can be so caught up drinking our own Kool-Aid or what we feel like our social media feed has fed us or what we see the success of another business owner or another colleague doing that we can realize we are chasing shiny objects all day long. And at the end of the day, we're going to fall off a cliff.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
We've got to learn to do this better and do this right. I love how your story holds the space for both the ambition and the honesty to define success at a more authentic point.
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
It's all good. It's all good. It's all good. We'll power talk. But that's great that he's into Master of the Clothes. I'm so proud of you for how you rolled that out. Can you believe that just launched a few months ago? You worked on that for so long, and you sat on that. You sat on that as a silent sleeper. I remember when I finally found that thing, I was like, wow. Ryan, what is this thing?
The Ryan Hanley Show
Why Every Entrepreneur Needs to Be Broken Once
And you were like, Oh, it's just like this incredible proprietary sales process I developed. And it's just sitting over here off to the side that could help millions of people. And then look at you, like finally giving it to the world this year. I love it. Cheers to 2025.