Welcome to Elevate with Elsner. Join us for inspiring conversations with individuals who have transformed their lives and are making a difference through the work that they do. And now here's your host, Blake Elsner.

Welcome listeners to the inaugural episode of Elevate with Elsner. I never thought I'd be here. Neither did you, but here we are together and we are going to have an inspiring podcast. We're going to educate you. We're going to elevate you and we're going to really figure out how people expanded their journey and how they conquered their challenges and, and how they persevered through difficult times to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Because as we all know, life and work and social aspects, all that stuff combined puts a lot of pressure on us and external validation. Becomes a big issue with a lot of individuals when it comes to taking that leap. It's hard to overcome. What somebody else might think about you doing something like myself starting this podcast and. I am doing it out of my heart and wanting to provide value as well as fulfill myself, having these conversations, learning from people, growing, and being able to share this knowledge on a platform with A lot of individuals that will hopefully continue this journey and listen to some awesome people that I have coming on this podcast to, like I said, share insightful information, tell us about their passions, their impact, how they've gone from certain places in life to have to pivot into different industries, different types of markets, different education backgrounds, we're going to really dive into it from coaching, personal coaching, sports coaching, all different types of passion impact type things that truly inspire individuals to either motivate themselves to go to the next level or they're clearly bringing people up with them to the next level. So you have mentors out there and a lot of individuals that really, really have practical advice and tips that we can apply to our own lives to elevate ourselves to get that 1% better. or even that 0.1% better each day. Because as we know, it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. And we're going to be here. So we got to take our time. If we rush through things, that's when we end up making poor decisions. I'm also a recovering people pleaser. I've had a very difficult time saying no to things in life. And that's because I didn't want to let people down. I didn't want that external validation to hurt anybody, but inside I was hurting myself and that was doing a disservice to myself. So. Going forward, talking to these individuals, a lot have been down similar paths and have wanted certain things for reasons beyond practical things. Just flashy, cool, buying a car because it looks cool rather than doing the smart financial thing of keeping a car for X amount of years till it's paid off. So this is the type of knowledge I want to bring to this podcast so that we really all can gain valuable lessons and understand the journey that these individuals have gone on, that they know how to pull themselves up and how to pull others up with them. And that's what's special about this podcast is these are going to be individuals that lead by example. So these people not only lead, but they pull people up to lead with them. And I've had a lot of people pull me up and I would not be here being able to do this podcast without individuals that pulled me up. And that's what's special. So I really can't wait to share these guests and share all this insight with anybody and everybody that listens. I hope you can at least take one thing out of the conversation that I have, either with maybe myself, I'll jump on, you never know, but most of the time I'm gonna have individuals And we're going to have heartfelt discussions. We're going to have emotional discussions. We're going to have raw, true, authentic discussions because that's what we want. That's what brings us closer. That's what brings our self-awareness out. And when we are self-aware, we start to get clear about what we want. We start to get committed to certain things. And when that happens, Certain pieces of your life start to come together and they come together for the proper purpose. And things that were distractions and that were not needed in your life start to fall off. And that's okay. That's how it's supposed to be. That's when you know you're on the correct path to elevating yourself each and every day. Whether it's like I said, that 0.1% or that 1%. It doesn't have to be much, but just put in the work. Don't give up because your passion is what people want to see. They want to see the true you. And this has always been a passion of mine to be able to talk and to be able to share my knowledge. But the problem was. I couldn't because I had to filter it through numerous individuals in my own mind. I was battling stuff through my own mind instead of just letting these ideas flow, letting myself naturally talk and explore different individuals' ways of thinking and their beliefs. Because as we learn here, cherished beliefs are simply a disservice. If you're not open to coaching, if you're not open to change, you're going to find yourself in a rut more times than not because the world is moving fast. And if you're not ready to pivot, no matter what industry you're in or whether it's life or finances, no matter what, if you're not ready to pivot, it can come back in a way that's extremely negative. So we want to bring these people on to give you that knowledge to go forward so that the mistakes that they made, they're now lessons. And these lessons, they're going to tell us on these episodes, whether, you know, they're lessons, like I say, in life, you know, there's, there's not just business lessons. You learn about certain things as you move down the path of life. And if you go down, whether it's family situation or whether it's having kids or just getting simply older, you start to understand how precious time really is. And there's not a whole lot of time on this earth. So why would I not do something that I'm passionate about? There's there's no other answer besides the fact my self-confidence was lacking and I wanted external validation. When I finally had somebody pull that out of me and say, it doesn't matter. You do it for Blake and you do it for Blake only. And that's when the true happiness came out. That's when I realized, wow, it's your true passions. It's your impact. It's your journey. That's where the happiness lies. If you can't enjoy that, you will not enjoy the destination, which in fact, there is no destination. And that's, that's something we all need to understand because it is difficult. for us to try and get there and get there and get there. And then what happens is it's over. I compare it to like standing in line for a ride at Disney World. You look up at that sign and it says 45 minutes. Nobody likes to stand in line for 45 minutes, even though there's a lot of fun at the end of that journey, at the end of that 45 minutes, it's going to be an awesome time. But instead myself, I would sit in that line, huffing and puffing. Most of the time it's hot, not enjoying any part of that journey in the line. And did you think I was going to get through that line and enjoy the destination and enjoy that ride? What happened is 45 minutes went by. It was probably even less. I get on that ride. I'm so flustered after sitting in line. I don't even remember the ride. I get off the ride and guess what? It's over. And I said. As I look back. You did not enjoy a single moment of that. And it started with because you could not accept the fact of enjoying the journey. So we're going to learn from a lot of people and it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really going to encourage listeners to subscribe. Stay tuned for more because we are going to be dropping some great episodes and I really want you to subscribe. So that way, you know, right when it comes out. So going forward, I'm expressing a lot of excitement for this journey. I want you to be a part of it. I truly do. I want you to be able to listen to an episode. Each time one comes out and say, wow, I can take something out of that and go out. Elevate myself and make. The world a better place or just simply elevate yourself, because when you elevate yourself, you elevate others around you without even realizing it. And when you elevate others around you, everybody around them elevates. shoulder to shoulder, we lead together. So I want to thank you for joining and listening to this inaugural episode, and I hope you subscribe and please rate this podcast. Give it five stars. I'm going to give it my all for everybody, not just for myself, because I want to provide true value. So going forward, I hope you tune in. Listen to inspiring conversations with me and know that even you sitting there can make one awesome impact if you just enjoy the journey, I promise. And let's remember to elevate together.

Blake Elsner

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and tell your friends about the show. Until next time.