 Damn, it must be nice to be rich and white and not have to work a real job. All right, so regarding that comment, I totally get it. From the outside looking in, if you've been watching my videos for the past 10 plus years, you see me going on all these crazy, beautiful adventures and travels around the world. I get it, I get what it looks like. I have some giant trust fund account and I'm just running around with a camera I just have in the time of my life. You see, I am not rich. I've never been rich. Well, not rich in the sense of a large bank account. I definitely am white. That is for sure. And I understand the privilege that goes along with being a white male in this world and that's an entirely different video topic. We'll tackle another day. But as far as a real job, this is a very real job. Being a content creator, TV host, a YouTube guy, it's a lot of hustle and we're gonna get into it. Hey, I'm Ryan. Dozer, dozer, dozer, dozer, dozer, dozer, dozer, dozer. I'm gonna give you a very quick background into my upbringing. I was raised by a single mom and she had four kids. She did not have a high paying job. She worked in accounting for a non-profit and we didn't grow up with a lot of excess money. One of the most endearing quotes that I remember to this day that my mom would tell us is that I may not be able to get you everything you want in life, but I will always give you everything you need. And what that meant was number one, love. But we're just talking three meals a day, clothes on our back and the simple things in life that you need. We didn't have expensive toys. We didn't go on vacations. We didn't get an allowance for doing chores around the house. But as kids, we didn't feel like we were poor. We had everything we needed. We were happy. We had a big backyard and we ran around and had a great time. But you know what we did get? We always got a brand new outfit for the first day of school. From a very early age, my mom taught us all that if you want something in life, you have to work for it. So I remember when I was in sixth grade, I started my own lawn mowing business. And I would push around this little lawn mower and mow people's lawns all summer long. I also went door to door for the local newspaper selling subscriptions. And I remember as a little kid being terrified of this job, but I also thought, I want money so I can buy a bike. So I'm gonna go through with this, even though it's terrifying to talk to so many strangers. And I saved up all my money and that's how I got my very first Trek 8000 mountain bike. One of my absolute favorite things to do in life when I'm not traveling is to go to schools and share stories about my life and the adventures and the benefits of perseverance and teamwork. And I try to give these kids an idea of what's possible in life. All the different opportunities that are out there that aren't the typical nine to five job. One of the topics that I really focus on is hard work. And if you want anything in life, you have to really, really want it and go for it. And I know it's gonna be hard, but you have to get to that point where it's hard and you want to quit and you keep going. That's the only way that you make progress. I'm sure a lot of people have come up to you recently and said, well, now that you've graduated high school, get ready for the real world. Have you heard that a little bit? Well, guess what? The real world is awesome. And you are responsible for making it awesome. Nothing is given to you in this life. And if it is given to you, you usually don't appreciate it that much. And that's why it feels so good to earn something after working for it. I want you to do things that scare the crap out of you. Are you cheering because I said crap or? So how do I do what I do? How do I afford to travel the world and go to all of these amazing places? Well, I started my career at the very bottom of the TV totem pole. Hello and welcome to another fun and exciting edition of Out There. My name is Ryan. I love life and I'm here to share all of my adventures with you. I worked for Public Access TV here in Boulder, Colorado. I went to this channel and I said, I want to have an outdoor adventure TV show. And they said, sure, you can do whatever you want. You're not getting paid. And I said, great. So I ran around Boulder for about a year with a little Sony handicap and filmed a ton of backyard adventures. So there you have it, my friends. Royal Arch, a gigantic sandstone formation right here in our very own Boulder. I didn't think anybody was gonna watch this Public Access show besides my mom. She's my number one fan, but people actually liked it. I worked at Public Access TV because I needed experience and they gave me the opportunity to learn. And even though I wasn't making money, I was doing what I loved. I really enjoyed it. That's when I started this whole idea of the out there show and getting people off their couches and inspiring people to get outside and enjoy this beautiful world. Oh yeah, get off your couch and get out there. And then this caught the attention of the local newspaper, the Daily Camera here in Boulder. And they said, hey, online video's becoming a thing. And we want some video on our website. Will you do outdoor adventure videos for our website? And I said, yeah, this is huge. This is like a real newspaper. I'm psyched. And they paid me $50 a video and I did one video a week. And to me, this was huge. I finally had a voice in the world. I finally had a real job and I was so excited. Do the, nice. Some of you out there are probably wondering, well, Ryan, if you didn't make any money, how did you afford life? How did you live? And I lived with my mama. I lived in her basement from ages 26 to 30. And it might sound silly because I was an adult by this time and all my friends were getting married and living on their own. And here I was living in mom's basement. But you know what? Living with my mom at that age is something that I will forever treasure. Here is the little living room. Here's my famous bunk beds there. All right, I found my mom. She just got home from work. She got off early so she could help me move. And she's in the backyard picking up poop. I'm gonna have poop. How you doing, mom? Good, good, good. Any good poops out there? I just received a few apples. That's an apple. And I will forever ever be grateful to my mama. Mama, I love you. Oh. The career path that I chose was very scary. It still is scary to this day. There is no blueprint for what I do. I have to figure everything out as I go. And sometimes it's really risky. I don't have a solid paycheck that comes in every month, which makes me have to hustle all the time. But also it keeps me very motivated. So how have I put this dream life together? Well, I've worked for lots of different production companies. I worked for the travel channel for about 10 years. I do branded content deals sometimes on my YouTube channel. I get paid a little bit from those little pre-roll ads you see on my YouTube videos. I do motivational speaking. And all of these little jobs put together give me enough money to follow my dreams and my passion of creating content and putting videos out in the world that I believe have a lot of value and are gonna have a positive impact on my viewers. I almost forgot, and this is a very important point, but I keep my expenses very low so that I can afford this life. So I don't need to make a ton of money to be able to do what I do. I make just enough to be able to pull it all off. I don't have a car. I've never had a car. I live in a pretty cheap and small apartment. I eat lots of beans and rice, which is very cheap. And this allows me to save all the money that I earn for stuff that I really care about, like traveling and making these videos. You look like a tree climber, dude. I'm gonna fake it. Hey, fake it till you make it. Fake it till you make it, you got it. I'm gonna finish this video off by referring back to the initial comment that inspired this video. And yes, I am rich. That commenter was right. I am loaded, but I'm not loaded in the traditional sense. I am loaded in the sense that I have some amazing memories from all over the world. I have met incredible people. I have friends all over the world. I have learned so much about myself through all the different challenges. I have learned so much about this planet, about different cultures. And I feel so fortunate. I am so grateful for this life that I created. And it wasn't just me. I definitely had help along the way. So anybody out there who played a role in my life, thank you. And if you're watching this video and you have some crazy dreams, I say go for it. Having crazy dreams is a really, really good thing. There's gonna be a lot of people that are gonna tell you that it's not possible. But I guarantee you, it is possible. You put in the time, you put in the work and the dedication and something beautiful will happen. It might not happen how you thought it would happen, but something beautiful and something good will happen. But get ready. It's a roller coaster ride. There's a lot of heartbreak. There's a lot of scary times. And remember, whatever you choose to do, you might be really bad at it at the beginning. Just look at my old videos. They really suck. So you gotta have patience and be humble. Almost there. Almost there, yes. If you wanna see some more of my adventure videos, they're all over here. Go check out my channel and please like and subscribe. And I wish you all the best on your journeys no matter whatever you choose to do and get off your couch. Looks like fun, huh? Well, it's time to get out there. So get your jacket on and let's go.