Digital Social Hour
Unlock Your Purpose: The 3 Questions That Changed My Life | William Rossy DSH #1262
Mon, 24 Mar 2025
Unlock your purpose and transform your life with this inspiring episode of Digital Social Hour! 🙌 Sean Kelly sits down with William Rossy, founder of Sprouhht, to unpack "The 3 Questions That Changed My Life" and explore how discovering who you are, what you want, and how to get it can lead to a more fulfilling life. 🌟 In this heartfelt conversation, William shares his journey from a six-figure job to building a global brand focused on helping people find their purpose. You’ll hear powerful life lessons from his interviews with over 1,200 people, including centenarians and world influencers, about living with no regrets. 💡 Tune in for insights on breaking free from societal boxes, embracing your individuality, and navigating life’s pivotal moments with clarity and confidence. Packed with valuable insights and raw, relatable stories, this episode will inspire you to take control of your life and create the future you’ve always dreamed of. 🌍 Don’t miss out—watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets! 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:27 - Reflecting on Life 08:56 - Race and College Applications 13:15 - Impact of Traveling on Perspective 15:49 - Everything Happens for a Reason 16:39 - Thinking and Religion Interference 18:25 - Forgiving Parents 22:04 - Origin of Yes Theory 23:20 - Virality of Yes Theory and SteveWillDoIt 28:27 - Interviewing Centenarians 31:50 - Changing Views on Death 34:30 - Fear of Death 37:55 - Health Span vs Lifespan 39:15 - Retirement and Aging 41:40 - Impact of COVID 43:47 - Exploring Blue Zones 45:40 - Media Portrayal of Aging 48:33 - Closing Thoughts 49:12 - Outro APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: jenna@digitalsocialhour.com GUEST: William Rossy https://www.instagram.com/sprouht SPONSORS: KINSTA: https://kinsta.com/dsh LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ #selfimprovement #timelesswisdom #tipsforfindingpurpose #avoidingregret #spiritualawakening
Chapter 1: Who is William Rossy and what is his story?
All right, guys, we got William here, founder of Sprout. Thanks for joining us today, man. Thank you for having me. Usually I'm on the other side. Is this a first for you? No. As a guest? No, no, no. Which side do you prefer? I prefer mine to be. I mean, I prefer mine just because I'm used to it. Yeah. But I love the idea of people asking me questions.
Chapter 2: Why is life reflection important according to centenarians?
It's always nice to have somebody asking you the question. I'm the same. I prefer hosting. I think guesting is harder. It's tough. I mean, especially when you don't know, like, I asked really deep questions. And some people do it as a joke to me, and they'll flip it. And I'm like, well, I don't know. Yeah, you asked deep ones, especially on the elderly interviews, right?
Of course, because you want to get deep on those. I want to get deep with everyone. But it's harder to get deep with younger people. Just like lack of experience. And they're more worried about stuff. Elder people are very reflective. So it's easier. Yeah, I feel like they're at the stage of their life where they're really thinking about how things played out, right? It's pretty crazy.
Like they come out with quotes or soundbites that people really get. Like if you look at my comments sometimes and you see like a big soundbite. And for me, I'm like, wow, I could never muster up those words, put them in one sentence and it sounds so poetic. But I think they probably spend a lot of time reflecting. Yeah. Probably after 60 or after 50 and they just know what to say.
That's a big part of my life, actually, not having regrets. Okay. Because I witnessed that with my family members that got older, and I didn't want that. What if I end up flipping this on you? I want to know more. Well, just like, I don't want to die with regrets. A lot of people say that, but it really is important for me. So I want to do what I can now. But your family has regrets? Yeah.
Chapter 3: How do regrets shape our life choices?
I saw with my dad, I think, who passed away. He never made amends with his parents. Toxic relationship, physically abused. So that was a big regret for him. You know? Yeah. Not... Making amends, I guess. I don't want any bad blood with anyone when I'm on my deathbed. I want everyone to be forgiven. Right. It's all good. Yeah, yeah.
I've seen people take... I mean, that's a crazy extreme circumstance there with whatever happened, but... I think that's the vision, right? Everybody is sort of worried about, will I get to the end of my life and be happy and satisfied with the way I lived it and the way it played out? And a lot of people right now, I think the answer is no. Agreed. So it's good that you're doing it at this point.
That's the first step. Yeah, that awareness is the first step because some people don't turn on that awareness until they're what? In their 50s, 60s, 70s. But that probably happened because of your dad passing. Yeah. That made you hyper aware of maybe time or life. I think the divorce too. They got divorced when I was in fourth grade. I was like, what is going on?
You know, at such a young age, you're impressionable. Yeah. So got some trauma for that for sure. Right. Yeah. But now that I talk to successful people, they got the most trauma out of everyone. It's actually insane. It's like a recipe for success. How do you see now with your interviews too? Yeah, I think bad times make hardworking people. Yeah, I've understood.
There are also people who have had good times that end up being hardworking. Not as common though. Not as common. It's interesting. It's interesting because people take it both ways. You take a bad time, you let it get to you and it just drives you into the ground. Or you take a bad time, you let it... Motivate you. Yeah.
These successful people all seem to be fueled by this and they almost like from what I've learned, they kind of hate the world, so to speak. They're not mean people and they don't actually hate people, but they use this motivation of having whatever bad stuff happened to them. I agree. It would be better. Yeah. I think everyone goes through those pivotal moments.
Like I can remember a couple in my life where I was like, wow, I could have easily went the other way there. You know?
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What are the societal expectations and how do they affect us?
I could have stayed in the life of degeneracy and partying and doing drugs and psychedelics. And I used to be a big stoner. I could have continued down that route for much longer. Yeah. What stopped you from doing that?
terrible anxiety combined with that just put me in the hospital a few times almost died actually yeah the near-death experience so then I was like dude no I can't smoke weed anymore I was really high when I was in the ER and now when I smoke I get paranoid that's interesting I haven't had like, my life has been good to be honest.
You know, if I describe my life, it's been, it's been really, really nice. But my bad moments were, you know, different than others. Like, I think everyone has a bad moment, which is interesting because everyone has a different story and it's not fair for me to, Honestly, it's not even fair for me to have said what I just said, like, oh, mine's not as bad as other people's.
But, you know, I got, I lived like the good, normal life growing up. And when you live the good, normal life and you grow up in that part of society, you're expected to do what is normal. And so for me, being normal was working in a respectable job, going to a good school, like the typical like American dream path. Go to a good school, get a good job, work there. work your way up, all that.
And I just got pressured into doing that for a very long time. And I hated it. I never liked the idea of doing that. I always wanted to be my, my, an entrepreneur, run my own business, but that was what was expected and what was applauded. If you went the other way, you were not shunned, but almost shunned. People thought down of you. And so my bad time was kind of that.
It was being forced to work in a job that I wasn't happy with, being in a relationship I wasn't happy with and looking at myself in the mirror and asking myself, like, are you as good as you thought you would be at this point in life? You know, it's different than what you're saying, your moment. I think everyone listening will have a different moment as well.
But that's the interesting thing I've learned about life is that it doesn't matter how bad it is. Everybody goes through a low point and it's a question of like, how are you going to deal with that? Yeah, because bad is relative. It's perspective, right? Yeah. So everyone's bad can be different. For sure. There's no way of comparing.
Like, it's my experience in my life, you know, so I can't tell you that I had it easier or I had it worse. Yeah. That's what I had. I had some of that too since I'm half Asian, actually. You know, academics was super important.
right and I never never fit in with uh was it was it half important or just never got that 4.0 man I remember applying colleges I lied about being Asian because I wouldn't have gotten in dude oh interesting you know because they base it off the race which they should stop doing by the way but it's like if you're Asian you got to compete with the average Asian scores of SATs and the GPA I didn't know that yeah I didn't know that girl I'm Middle Eastern um
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Chapter 5: How does traveling change your perspective on life?
You go on social media though, and you think you're like doing stuff to be free. Then you realize there's a box. There's an algorithm. There's a respectable way to post or not to post. There's a way to get views or not to get views. I mean, everything's a box. So it's kind of up to us to figure out the fact that there aren't actually boxes. Just do what you want to do. That's the hard part.
That's like living off the grid type stuff. Not really. I mean, I don't want to take this allude, like make it super deep, but like living off the grid of what's expected, you know, not literally living off the grid, like a middle of nowhere. Yeah, yeah. But just, you know, there is no right way to live life. Agreed.
I grew up thinking like back to my story that if I worked at the bank and I worked in this job and I made this much money, then that was how I should have lived. That was the right way to live. But then you realize, like you travel, for example, and you realize that people don't think that. Like that way I was taught to go to this good school and get this specific job and work in this job.
I mean, those people in Thailand and in Japan or maybe not Japan, but in Thailand and whatnot, they don't think that. They don't feel that. They weren't told to do that. So if everybody's being told to do something a different way, is there even a right way? That is interesting. Yeah. Because you're right, the U.S. is definitely capitalistic, right?
They teach us to make money, become a doctor, lawyer, typical high-paying jobs. But in other countries, they're not teaching their citizens that. Exactly. And the stress comes from that. It's like, oh my God, I'm 25, I'm 27, I haven't done this, I'm not making this much money, I haven't achieved all these kinds of things. And then if you actually branch out...
you realize it's just a path that marketers are telling you. It's the keto diet. It's like the carnivore diet. It's like any diet. I mean, it's like anything. Should I be working out just my upper body, my full body, just arms, bodybuilding, CrossFit? Yeah. If you actually think about it, and then I'll tell you, make everybody listening be like, oh no.
But it's just a matter of picking what you feel is best, you know, and people have a hard time picking what is best. They don't know how to choose for themselves. They don't know who they are. Why do you think that is? You think it's programming or? Just not taking the time to learn about yourself. Programming is part of it. You know, we are being programmed, which is...
is good for the programmers. That's how it works. But we aren't learning how to think for ourselves. When I was in university, we kept getting emails every week about like opportunities for working at investment banks. And I was like, oh, wow, this is so cool how my university is setting us up with these big investment banks in the US and we're getting exclusive networking opportunities.
Like, wow, I really picked the right universe. And then when I left, I thought about it and I learned that it's partnerships. So the investment bank and the university have a partnership. Like we pay you, you give us networking opportunities so we can get closer to your students. We can hire them. Interesting. So then I was like, oh, that's interesting. I'm just part of the game.
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Chapter 6: Why does William Rossy believe everything happens for a reason?
I've interviewed monks and you would say monks are probably the most introspective people.
Yeah.
I would still say that monks deal with their own stuff, you know, and yes, they learn how to deal with themselves quite well and their emotions, but in other aspects of life, they don't, they don't experience certain things. So I think everybody is kind of missing a piece, but the most important is who am I? What do I want? You know, like, can I journal about that? Can I think about that?
Can I sit down with myself alone? Whereas, you know, if I got alone time, not me, but anybody doesn't scroll on their phone and you're always occupied mindlessly scrolling out. Yeah. So, I mean, I've traveled a lot. What I've traveled, what I've learned from traveling is, is what I said before, that there is no right way of thinking. It doesn't mean that people know how to think anywhere.
I think just generally there's a problem with that. So that's kind of why I do what I do. That's how I started my brand because it was, I kept seeing so many good people, people I grew up with, people I really liked that I think have amazing potential, but they got sucked into their path.
the path that they didn't want to and they never left like wow it's been five years since I maybe six years since I left my job and you had a six-figure job right yeah so you were set for life you just stayed in that yeah I guess so you know I always think about it now and I think like are you really just question everything questioning everything is something I do quite often but yeah because you could a million things could have happened I guess
Well, I mean, if you're working a job and all you know is the skills, the technical skills of your job. Yeah. I mean, if AI replaces you, if something happens and your whole department gets fired and then you have no job, I mean, you have no skills in life other than what you've been doing, crunching numbers for six years. So, I mean, was I set for life? Maybe financially. Yeah.
Maybe I'm making a good amount of money, but I think from everything else, probably not. Um, but I might not have realized it. So maybe, maybe, um, yeah. Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Yeah, for sure. You were meant to leave that job for a reason. I think so. Now look at what you're doing. I mean, my friends told me in high school, I was going to be a motivational speaker. Wow.
Most likely to be a motivational speaker. And, uh, and I just went the opposite way for, for quite a few years. And then when I came back down this path, I was like, oh, that's, I thought about it last year. I'm like, I guess I'm a motivational speaker. You are, right? You are. You're interviewing people that are motivating people in the way you are, right? Yeah.
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Chapter 7: Does William Rossy's approach to life conflict with religious beliefs?
Yeah, because I don't like the idea of telling somebody that this is exactly what you need to do. I would rather you tell me what is bothering you and I tell you if I can help you. And then I'm cool with it. Then let me guide you. But if you didn't come to me sharing what you struggle and I didn't align with that...
I don't feel comfortable telling you that I have the right path for you because I'm so mad at other people for having done it to me, telling me that this was the right path. I don't want to tell people what the right path is. I want them to figure out what the right path is. That's like, that's what Sprout is all about. So you said you were mad.
Do you still have that resentment towards those people that told you to go down a certain path? No. You forgave them? Yeah, it's fun. No, it's okay. Yeah, same with me. I had some bad advice for sure growing up. And I used to hate on them, but it's not healthy to do that over time. How can you be mad though, to be honest? If you think about it, it's not like they know better.
They don't know better. It's okay. I mean, they're operating under what they know. And you have to respect that. It's like when people get mad at their parents and say like, oh, my parents were so strict on me growing up. And yeah, you know, my sister has had that. Are you? I had that. Yeah. No, I had it with my mother. I was referencing her. We used to clash ads a lot.
Are you, but are you only child? Only child. Yeah. Okay. So I'm, I'm middle of three and my sister is always like, oh, the first child has always has the hardest. And my mom and dad were so hard on me and this and that. I don't like, it's not like they knew what they were doing. You know, they didn't have, they had never been a parent before.
They're two adults that decided to have a kid and they're figuring it out. So whatever they did to you was, you know, they love you so much, but they didn't know what they were doing. And I take it, I take it that way with everybody. It's like they don't know what they're doing. They're not telling me this because they know me and they know what's best and their experience and whatever.
They're just operating under their set of beliefs. So how can you be mad at that? Yeah. And I mean, it's not good to have resentment. Like you said, you don't want to have regrets. Like, I don't think you want to have resentment either. It's the same for me. Now she watches every episode. Shout out to my mom. Or shout out, super close now. But man, we used to butt heads every day.
I say something nice to her. Mom, I love you. So the crazy part about this is I didn't tell my mom I loved her until I was probably 20 something, 25. Okay. That's not long ago. Yeah, not long ago. And the first time I said it, it like felt so uncomfortable. I was like, I had to like jump around and like, you know. But now I say it every time I call her. Yeah. But I had to get over that.
Same with my dad, dude. When I moved to LA from Jersey, he gave me a hug and it was like the first time ever. How did that feel? Dude, insane. I was holding back tears. Yeah. He was crying. Yeah. I was holding back trying to look tough, you know.
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Chapter 8: How can forgiveness help in moving forward?
There's no proof that I can't. And my parents taught me to believe that I should go with the second one. no proof that you can't do it. I love it. Yeah. So they support you. Yeah. At the beginning, there was like a little pushback because again, Middle Eastern. So like you said, half Asian is still traditional with everything. But they trusted me.
They saw that I was passionate about what I was doing and they're like, all right, we believe in him. We think he's going to do it. So we'll see what happens. I love him. Do it take off right away or do it take some time? No. It took three years. Three years. Yeah. I guess it's all relative by when I say take off, I mean just generate revenue, I guess.
I mean, generating revenue, I was doing like little gigs to get by. So I was like a freelance writer. I would do videos for more corporate stuff so that I can make a bit of money. But no, I made videos for three years that never got any views. Wow. It took me three years to go from zero to 20K on YouTube. It took me two months to go from 20K to 200K. Holy crap.
And it took me two years to go from 100 to a million. Damn. Yeah. So it's like exponential growth at the end. Yeah. When it hit, it hit, which is when I started interviewing. I wasn't interviewing for five years. I was interviewing like you've been doing it for two years. Yeah. Doing it for two years as well. Oh, got it. And let me see. We both found it at the same time. Yeah.
Because you can leverage their audience to grow because people are searching for the people you're interviewing. But that was not how I did it, though, because I've interviewed strangers. I interview people on the street. I mean, now we interview some more notable people. That was, I would say, the last six months. But I've interviewed 1,200 people on the streets of 35 different countries.
These are random people that you'll never hear from. You don't know their names. You don't know anything about them except their age and what they look like. And I thought it was cool because... These are topics I was researching on Reddit before I go to bed when I was mad in my job and in my relationship and I was unsatisfied with my life.
And then eventually after all this content I made that didn't work, I was like, what if I bring all of my interests to life? And I actually ask the questions that I've been looking up. Partially, it's selfish. I want the answer. But at the same time, I believe the world needs this. And this aligns with the message I'm trying to spread. So I've been talking to strangers.
So honestly, my stuff is not... I didn't interview a notable guest and then their audience came to mine. It was... The first interview I ever did blew up. So I can't really say exactly what I did, but we just made a lot of valuable stuff. Wow. The first one, huh? Yeah. That's cool. That's what happened to me too. The first one? First one blew up. Much different industry. What was your first one?
You really want to know? It was a kind of, it was a female barber. She sits on you while she cuts your hair. And she has a, she has a fat ass. So like we angled the camera at like her back and I was interviewing her while she cut my friend's hair. Was she sitting on you? She was sitting on my friend. I have a fiance. So hell no. She was not on that.
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