Evan Carmichael | Your Life is Shaped by What You #Believe

Written By Kristel Bauer

LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/evan-carmichael-your-life-is-shaped-by-what-you-believe/id1500457853?i=1000517899532

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY HERE: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Nm5VvPe9ctziglMHXRTws

In today's episode, Evan Carmichael talks about past struggles and how he gained self-confidence through creating YouTube videos. How mindset, and his channel led him to where he is today. Evan also highlights the importance of investing your hours in work you love.

What You'll Learn From This Episode:

  • How Evan saved himself from his struggles in life

  • How he grew his Youtube Channel to 2.95M followers

  • How to use COMPARISON in a POSITIVE way

  • Surrounding yourself with inspiring people to build the life that you want for yourself

  • How the word "believe" allows you to figure out your core value

  • Greatest exercises that you should do to separate your worthiness from your achievements

  • Things that cause burnout

  • Focusing on your intention to the work that you're doing to avoid burnout

 Disclaimer: All of the information and views shared on the Live Greatly podcast are purely the opinions of the authors, and they are not medical advice or treatment recommendations. The contents of this podcast are intended for informational and educational purposes only. Always seek the guidance of your physician or qualified health professional for any recommendations specific to you or for any questions regarding your specific health, your sleep patterns, changes to diet and exercise, or any medical conditions.

Evan Carmichael #Believes in entrepreneurs. Gary Vaynerchuck called him the DJ who inspires people and Ed Mylett called him the modern-day Napoleon Hill. At 19, he built and then sold a biotech software company. At 22, he was a venture capitalist raising $500k to $15M. He now runs a YouTube channel for entrepreneurs with over 2 million subscribers and 300 million views, wrote 4 books, and speaks globally. He wants to solve the world's biggest problem, people don't #Believe in themselves enough. Forbes named him one of the world's top 40 social marketing talents and Inc. named him one of the 100 great leadership speakers and 25 social media keynote speakers you need to know. He's set 2 world records, uses a trampoline & stand-up desk, owns Canada's largest salsa dance studio where he met his wife and has a giant Doritos bag in front of him all day long to remind him that he's stronger than the Doritos. Toronto is his home. He's a husband, father, TSM Fan and Teemo main.

To learn more about Evan, click here!

Evan's Books:

 

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Kristel Bauer, the Founder of Live Greatly, is on a mission to help people awaken to their ultimate potential.  She is a wellness expert, Integrative Medicine Fellow, Keynote Speaker, Physician Assistant, & Reiki Master with the goal of empowering others to live their best lives!

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To learn more about Live Greatly's transformative online courses for personal development and self-improvement, to discuss collaborations and partnerships, or to book Kristel as a speaker or consultant visit www.livegreatly.co

Episode Transcript:

Kristel:

Now for a quick disclaimer, this episode and all the information provided is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice or treatment recommendations, always seek the guidance of your healthcare provider or physician for any recommendations specific to you. And any questions about your health or any medical conditions.

Evan:

I think one of the greatest activities or exercises that everybody should do is learn to tie your self-worth to the effort you put in, instead of the results that you get.

Kristel:

If you've been feeling discouraged in your personal or professional life, or if you're just looking to take it to the next level, you are going to gain a ton of value from today's episode.

I'm so excited about today's guest, Evan Carmichael.

Evan is a big YouTuber. You may have seen him there. He has over 2 million subscribers and he's all about one word. And that word is “believe”  he wants people and entrepreneurs to believe in themselves more. And he's gone through his own struggles.  We're going to be diving into that in today's episode, you're going to be learning ways to increase your Self -esteem, and you're going to learn some important components to success and fulfillment. 

I am so excited!  Let's welcome Evan Carmichael to the show. 

So Evan, thanks so much for joining me today. I'm really excited to dive into all things, Evan Carmichael.

Evan:

Wow! Well, thanks Kristel. So let's live greatly. I’m ready!

Kristel:

Ooh, let's do it. So you have a really interesting background and you know, you're doing such incredible stuff now. I would just love for you to share with the audience. What got you to this point? I know that's a really big question, but like some of the highlights that have led you up to where you are today.

Evan:

Well, I think your purpose comes from your pain. So I think whatever you struggled with the most as a human is the thing you want to help other people through. And I struggled a lot as an entrepreneur in my first business, struggled with self-worth and self-confidence and not making any money and just working every day and not seeing any results.

And I made it harder on myself by not telling my friends that I was struggling and not reaching out and asking for help and trying to figure it all out by myself. And I'm a visual learner. And the thing that saved me was modeling Bill Gates and how he started Microsoft. And so combine those two things to start making YouTube videos, because really all I'm doing is making videos for 19-year-old Evan because there are millions of 19-year-old Evans out there in the world. I think anybody who's been through your audience, you've been through struggles. You've been through pain instead of loving that, define you in a negative way. Allow that to define you in a positive way to say, Hey, I want to try to make sure that nobody else has to go through what I went through and they make their lives a little bit easier.

Kristel:

I love that. So with your YouTube videos now, I mean, it may come across, like you've got a down you're so professional, but was there a point when people weren't, you know, you didn't have a lot of views, like was that in the beginning? I think sometimes people forgot that even when you're extremely successful.

Like everybody starts somewhere, you know? So did you go through that period in the beginning where people weren't really watching?

Evan:

Yeah, you can go back and watch my first videos, you know, April 2009 is when I started this channel, my main channel. So it's been, it's been a couple of minutes. My first video took a year.  In that first year, I only had three comments on it and my mom was the first comment. Thank you, Mom. And my older sister was my second comment. And then the third comment was some random person who found my video. 

So when a year of my first video being up, I only had one comment from somebody who wasn't in my family and go back and watch, I mean, video 1 now if you go back and watch, it has a lot of views on it because everybody's curious to see what was the number one, but go watch video 32 or 75 or 104. Some random old videos and they still don't have a lot of use. There's still videos that have no comments on my channel. And the thing that really helped me was just always focusing on who was there instead of who wasn't there.

I think we tend to focus on who's not listening. Like, Oh, I wish I had a thousand people or 10,000 people instead of like, Hey, you had a hundred people watch your video. And I just always focused on a hundred people. You know, if you are going to a library to give a speech to a hundred people, you'd be really nervous and excited to give that speech in front of a hundred people.

But because it's online now, all of a sudden it means nothing. And you suck for not having a thousand or 10,000 people. So I just always focused on who I had instead of who I didn't. And the funny thing is that the people who you have, if you focus on them, they'll take you to the people who you don't have yet.

Kristel:

Right. You know what? That is not always an easy thing to do, especially if you are comparing yourselves to some people on YouTube or Instagram who have, you know, millions of followers and you're just starting out. I think that could be really intimidating. I did a post today. Like we need to stop putting people on pedestals and recognize, like everybody had to start somewhere. 

And looking at it more from a place of like mentorship, no that's learning and educating yourself is so important, but to do it from a place of empowerment, not from a place of like, they're better than me, you know? And, and I think, um, from what I can understand from what you've done, like, you really have.

You're really inspiring. And you have a saying of belief, right? It's “I believe”. And that, I also think, you know, believing in yourself is so key. So where did that come from with you? That believe is such a big word. 

Evan:

Yeah. And listen to that point, Kristel. I think comparison is actually fantastic comparing to other people.

I think people just mostly do it incorrectly. I think people use it as a kick down to say, Oh, wow. I mean, Look at how well she's doing. I mean, I'm a suck as opposed to a kick forward. So for me, I look at young Les Brown, I think is the greatest speaker of all time. Uh, when I watched young Les Brown get on stage and do his, you know, Georgia dome speeches, like man, he's crazy.

I look at that and say, that's what's possible. That's inspiration. I could become my version of that. Not while I'm never going to get there. I suck. But I think without the comparison, there's no kick. So you need to kick yourself forward instead of kicking yourself down, but you need a kick. You need the kick, just hope we're kicking forward instead of down.

So I love the comparison. I love knowing what's possible. I think if you are surrounded by people who are all doing less than you, you get lazy and slow and don't go do the thing that you were born to do. So I think it's great to have those people around us. We just have to be more intentional in how we're looking at that comparison.

Kristel:

Yeah, that perspective is so key because I totally agree with you. Like having people or meeting people who, you know, were starting podcasts and doing all that. I was like, Oh, I guess I could do that. You know, you can't really, at least for me, I couldn't really grasp what was necessarily possible until I saw some other people who are doing something similar.

So I totally agree with that. I think it's all about how you frame it and framing it. Like not as bringing yourself down, like you're less than, but instead of like interesting that's, you know, inspiring and then you can do it in your own unique way. 

Evan:

Yeah. That's what's possible. And so I'm constantly trying to surround myself with all the people who I look up to and admire and respect, and that's who I make videos on.

And if anybody seen my channel. Uh, I want to have Oprah in one ear on Elon Musk and the other ear be around them constantly. And it's not that I think none of our goals are to be the next, like your goal isn't to be the next Oprah Winfrey or the next Elon Musk or the next, whoever your goal is to be the best you and you get that by taking different pieces from  all these different people, right? 

Oprah, Winfrey's not going to be the perfect person for you. Elon Musk is not the perfect person for you. You could want to be a visionary like Ellen West, but maybe not want to be a parent like Elon Musk. Right. And that's not casting judgment. That's just, you have different role models for different things.

Yeah, that you want to accomplish in your life. And so just learning those, that one thing from that one person could be enough to take, take you down a different path. And so I think the more you can surround yourself with those people and use them as inspiration for what's possible, that then allows you to go off and build the life that you want for yourself.

Kristel:

Yeah. So that word believe, you know, is that like, where did that come from? Why is that word so important to you? 

Evan:

I think a lot of it came from my parents. They're behind me on my wall here. I don't know if you can see, but that's kind of me when I'm eight or nine years old. And my parents would always say you're Evan, because truly Carmichael you can do anything that you believe that you can. 

And that was a constant reminder. At least for me, that anytime I struggled or suffered, uh, or I wasn't doing well, or it didn't get the grades that I was supposed to get or whatever, it wasn't the punishment. It was always the, Hey, you can do this. And I think everybody has a single most important core value.

And whenever you figure out what that is, it gives you a compass. It gives you a roadmap for life whenever I'm not happy, it's because I'm not in connection with belief either   Self-belief,I believe in myself enough, or I'm not giving enough believe I'm not serving enough people through belief. So everybody has a single most important core value.

And if you're not happy, it's because you're not living a life that's in congruence with your core value. 

Kristel:

Yeah. Core values are so incredibly important. And one thing I wanted to talk about too is as an entrepreneur, um, there's a lot of challenges that people face and not even as, just as an entrepreneur, just in life in general, you know, and I, I think a lot of people, especially who are goal oriented, we set these goals for yourself and then you're striving to achieve them.

But if you, if something doesn't go right, or you, you know, fail, if that is even a real thing, but you don't get the outcome that you're hoping for. I think for some people that can negatively impact their self-worth. And something that's really important to me is helping people separate their worthiness, and you  know self-love from those achievements.

You know, it's fun to go after goals and it’s fun to learn and grow and, you know, share your talents with the world. But I really think people need to love themselves, regardless of all that stuff. So I'm curious if you have any suggestions with what you've shared, like you had those challenges and I've experienced my own challenges.

How can people do that? Like how can you separate your value and your worthiness from those external achievements?

Evan:

I think one of the greatest activities or exercises that everybody should do is learn to tie your  self-worth to the effort you put in, instead of the results that you get. If you tie your self-worth to winning, then you're only going to take things on that you know you're going to win at, and I have a pretty high chance of winning that. And therefore you play small for life. 

Cause you're only taking the things that, you know, you're gonna win at. Then you'll get that trophy and you posted to Instagram, but you don't really feel good because it was easy to get it because it was inside your comfort zone, where if you can tie your self-worth to the effort that you're putting in on a daily basis, you'll end up losing a whole bunch, but you'll end up creating so much more than if you only focused on the things that you knew you were going to win at. 

There's a friend of mine, Mark, who really, really struggled with it. I think all good chunk of our discussions or arguments or fights would be centered around this. It's like, I want this outcome, but I want this outcome is secondary to the effort that you're putting in.

Like, you never go in that, you chase down the outcome because you're so worried about and fearful about, insecure about it. Trying to be perfectionist about it, where you're not actually proud of yourself for the effort you're putting in, like the only thing that matters. Isn't how many likes you got on Instagram or on, on YouTube.

It's when you look yourself in the mirror at the end of the night, are you proud of what you see back and that's going to come from, did you put in the effort today?

 And so right before coming in, live with you here for this interview, there's an email from Mark who had just crossed 10,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, just getting it started and he's on his path.

And, uh, he was late in sending it out that it wasn't, it wasn't tracking like, Oh my God. Okay. Nine, nine, nine, nine. You know, like, Oh, we're past 10,000. Hey, thank you guys. Emailed his team and everybody's helping him. Yeah. Uh, my driver just realized we passed 10,000 subscribers. He was so focused on just the process and of the work of building it up, that he forgot about the achievement of hitting the 10,000 subscribers.

That's the game that we should be playing. We're so focused on the outcome without focusing on the inputs and the effort you're putting in. So you get these hollow victories. Don't feel good about them and don't like what you see back in the mirror. So are you proud of the effort that you put in today?

If somebody wants to start a podcast and they're super nervous, let's say your first episode is going to suck anyway, like don't expect to be great. Yeah. It doesn't mean you suck as a human just means that you don't have the skill set yet. 

Kristel:

Yeah, for sure. 

Evan:

How do you get the skill set? Well, you practice your model success.

You learn, you practice, you put in the repetition, going back to Kristel’s   first episode versus now it's a lot better. And if you keep doing this for five more years, you know, we'll look back on this episode and say, Oh my Gosh! I'm so much better. And that's part of, that's part of the learning process.

But it's getting started. Expect your first thing to suck. Expect not to be great and keep going, keep moving. And when you tie your self-worth to your effort, that's when you actually get a lot of self-love. 

Kristel:

Right. Yeah. And then you're proud of yourself. It's like, and I know for me, when I was going through a lot of personal development and just really pushing out of my comfort zone, I gave myself like a Pat on the back, I felt really empowered.

It wasn't about necessarily the outcome. It was the fact that I did it. You know, if you're able to be really proud of yourself for going in the direction of that, like this comfort working towards your dreams. I think that's where that fulfillment comes in because you're expanding and you're growing and you’re learning.

So that was great. Thank you for sharing that. I would love to hear a little bit about your thoughts on How people can prevent burnout as far as wellbeing and wellness. I know as a, I have a background in integrative medicine and integrative psychiatry. And when I was practicing, like I saw so many people who would come in and they were putting in so many hours into their jobs and they were, you know, grinding and grinding and they were doing great financially, but they were not doing well in other areas of their lives, you know, mentally and physically, emotionally, relationships. 

So, you know, you are somebody who you're doing a lot of stuff. And I would love just to hear your thoughts on that topic. And if you have any suggestions for people who need to kind of take care of themselves while they're going after you know, their dreams.

Evan:

Yeah. I might take this thing in a slightly different direction. I think that most people, I think one of the biggest causes of burnout is people just don't love the work that they're doing. I've looked at. If you look at my channel, I was, I do this program called “Moviemakers” where I help people build their movement and train people who are there, get their message out to the world.

And I was looking at my channel and somebody asked me about burnout. And so I went to look at how many videos have I done? And including the unlisted ones that we use for programs and different things at that time as maybe a couple of weeks ago, with 10,663 videos that I've done on my channel. Now it's been over since April, 2009.

So it's been awhile, but 10,663 videos was a number a couple of weeks ago. And I don't feel burnt out. Cause I, I love it.  Like.

Kristel: 

You know  what you’re doing.

Evan:

It's not just knowing, it's actually liking the process right where the work fuels me. It doesn't when I leave making videos, I don't feel drained. I feel energized.

Talking to you here! This isn't work for me. This is fun. I'm going to take the energy from Kristel and then take it to my next thing afterwards. I don't have to like go meditate or go have a nap or go for a walk or, you know, do something like that. When I look at you, I look at my calendar this morning.

Every morning and look at my calendar is like, what's ahead in my calendar. What's my intention for the day. I see Kristel. They're like, Oh, this is going to be fun!  Let's go another awesome podcast. I don't look at it and dread like, Oh man, Kristel, come on. Right? If that was it, then I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it. Right?

 But if you put me in, I could do all day talking to you and be amazing. But if you put me into 20 minutes of accounting, I'm going to start hating my life and I'll burn out super quick. And so I think people focus too much on the hours spent on things and say, that's why they're burning out without enough focus on the actual love and intention behind the work that's going on.

And so I've got crazy busy day today and my calendar is also crazy busy, but I also plan time for my wife and my family, everything else. And I have my version of balance and I'm not judging my version of balance against  you or Oprah or whoever else, or you might look up to. 

And I think if you are feeling, if you're listening to this and you're feeling super burnt out, I'd really look at what are the things that are causing me to burnt out.

And you're probably, one in the wrong job or two hanging around the wrong people that are sucking your energy instead of giving it to you. 

Kristel:

That is such a guess so why. Everything you just shared. And I completely completely agree with that. And I know for me, when I switched over to having my business, I say this to my kids too, a little bit, “mom, are you working today?”

I feel like it doesn't feel like work guys. They get, this is not work. It's not work. It's an extension of like who I am and wanting to share it. So I totally get that, but it wasn't always like that for me. So I recognize that shift, you know, and I think. Just the awareness of that. Like you said, like, how do you feel after a certain thing?

If, if the audience could just tune in, like, when are you feeling that way? Is it after you've been working nonstop and doing something you don't love? But yeah, that was great, Evan. 

At this point, I know we are coming to a close, so I want you to be able to share about your new book because you have a new book. And then where can people find you and learn more and all the cool stuff you are doing? 

Evan:

And also just quickly on that point, I think people ask me about health, too. About what's your number one tip for health. And I, I don't think it's diet and I don't think it's working out. I think it's loving what you're doing.

Like I think the thing that's causing a lot of disease and depression and unhealthiness in the world is people stuck doing work that they hate. I think everything gets better when you are doing work that you love. And there's going to be moments inside of the work that you love, that you don't like.

This is going to be moments of starting the podcast and then the technology fails, or the person doesn't show up or you're entering that cuts out, or, you know, you're going to love every minute of every day, but net net, you have to love the work that you're doing.

 The book is called Built to Serve. So the idea behind that is your purpose comes from your pain.

If you don't know where you wanna  go in life, you don't have your direction. It's really not that hard. You don't have to sit on the mountain for 10 years. Meditating to figure out your purpose, your purpose comes into your pain, whatever you struggled with, that's the thing you want to help other people through.

And that, that will never get old. You know, we'll be 120 years old. Still wanting to serve the same people because that mission is so big that it's never going to be accomplished. So the book guides people through how to figure that out and then have it turn into a business because if you're just, if you figure out your purpose, but you're doing it on the weekends and evenings, meanwhile, working at some job that you hate, uh, you're not happy and you're also not having the impact that you're capable of having.

So you have to turn it into a business that then can grow. We can make, you can do it full-time, you can put on a team and have a much bigger impact. Yeah. So that's the book. And if you want to contact me, I'm pretty much on all the social platforms, you know, YouTube, Instagram, clubhouse, wherever you got right now.  I'm probably there. 

Kristel:

Yeah, that's awesome. I love the book title. I love the subject. I was having a conversation about writing a book myself and I was talking with somebody and they're like, who's your target audience? And I heard this a while ago, but it's like, well, your target audience for me at least is like, people like me, people who have gone through things or are going through things that I gone through or that I'm going through because that's stuff that I'm passionate about and then I'm excited to share. 

So I love that. So it seems like that kind of ties into some of the subjects you go over in your book. 

Evan:

Yeah. It’s you from five years ago or 10 years ago, here’s the thing, Kris. I mean, people, you would look at yourself, 10 years ago Kristel would look at like, today's Kristel and say “that's not possible.”

Kristel:

Oh, for sure!

Evan:

You're going to have a radio show, right. Or podcasts, whatever we would have 10 years ago, you're going to be the host of a show. And you're going to bring on people who you look up to, admire, respect and interview them and learn from them and then broadcast that out to the world.

Are you crazy? You're not going to do that. And that's like, not even somebody around you, that's you telling you that that's not possible. Right? And  So, you are an impossibility to 10 years ago, Kristel. 

And so in recognizing that it's like, Holy cow, there are millions of people right now who are 10 years ago, Kristel, who are struggling with that very same mindset, belief system, way of thinking.

And they can see you as the impossibility, but you did it. You're like her and it wouldn't look to me. Like I'll have a Carmichael, okay? That guy is different, but you've gone through it. 

In your story and what you've gone through and how you made it out. That serves as inspiration, even though you're not done, this is where we judge yourself too harshly.

Like you're not done. You might feel like, yeah, you're just getting started. You're still at the base of the mountain, right? It's like, you want to get way up here, but compared to Kristel 10 years ago, you're right. Like the summit already. And it's that perspective shift to just remember that, Hey, I've already done a lot, even though I'm still climbing and every time I take a step  up on that mountain, I can reach back and pull somebody up to where I'm at too. 

Kristel:

That's awesome, Evan. Well, do you have, it's just been so fun chatting with you. Love, love talking to you. I could have done it for a lot longer, but I know you got stuff to do. I've got to make my kids lunch. 

Evan:

What’s for lunch?

Kristel:

That's a good question. Probably going to do maybe some tomato soup. Um, maybe a little salad action going on. 

Evan:

Alright. I like it. Creamy tomato soup. Do you like the creamy side or more Brown? 


Kristel:

My kids like the creamy. I don't really do dairy sound that's so much for me, but yeah. How about you?


Evan:

 Coconut milk, coconut milk.

Kristel:

I love coconut milk too. I'm all about coconut milk. Great carrot ginger soup recipe I have with coconut milk, that is my favorite. 

So, alright. Well, a little bit off subject there, but thank you so much. It's been great. 

Evan:

Thanks for having me,  appreciate the love.

Kristel:  (Outro)

 It was wonderful spending time with you today.

Just one quick ask, this information is incredibly important to more than just you.

 So think of just one person today,  that you can share this episode with and together we can spread this message that you don't have to sacrifice your wellbeing to attain success to others who need it. 

Valuable episodes like this one are published weekly, so you and others can have the benefit of reaching your ultimate potential.

So click the share button and get this episode into the hands of just one person you know, who would gain great value from it. 

I will see you next week.


Kristel Bauer
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