Episode 125
RYAN BAYLIS
Freelancer & Founder
Show Notes
11/12/2019 | 55 Minutes
Ryan, or RyBay, or Baylis, is an extreme go-getter and entrepreneur. Jack of all trades and master of none who lives for the tangible memories, and designs the tangible products to sell consumers. He’s learned the hard way that late nights lead to success, that travel anxiety is a real thing, and that going all-in on an unknown project leads to exponential growth in mentality and abilities.
Ryan started freelancing videography as a teenager, making end-of-year videos for the local high school football, cheer, and drill teams. He subsidized his college freelancing and working on the athletic film crew. Professionally, while Ryan has continued to dabble in freelance, he worked for Goal-Zero and Degreed, always in video production and branding. Then one fateful day, while on a hike with his friend, the idea behind their start-up, Gent Scents, was born.
After receiving a round of private funding, Ryan left his full-time career to dive all-in to his entrepreneurial hustle, and in this interview he walks us through that process. As his experience in building a brand and company has grown, so has his taste in fragrance. Apparently, there’s an aroma wheel.
INTRODUCTION
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Personal: Dad, Traveler, Dabbler
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Professional: Story teller, Entrepreneur, Candle sniffer
PERSONAL TICKS
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Connecting with people – Ryan refers to everyone as his friend, old and new, and he’ll dust off the contact list to make a call and connect with someone, whether they need something from him or vice versa.
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Learning, and useless trivial knowledge – how was this made? how does this work? Bird strikes in planes are common.
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Seeing and experiencing new things / passport stamps / international travel anxiety
PERSONAL TICK OFFS
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The paradox that is social media, Ryan Baylis was the first person Ben knew personally to reach 1,000 facebook friends.
PROFESSIONAL TICK OFFS
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When people say "you have the cool job or it's always fun.” You’re not wrong, but you don’t see the hidden side when he’s checking bag upon bag upon bag at the airport, carrying the 60-pound backpack, and staying up 4 hours later than everybody else to data dump from his cards and charge batteries.
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The new “always on” of work – Remote workers have more flexibility in their schedule but that comes at an expense when team members expect an immediate response. If you’re always available to respond, when does that shut off?
PROFESSIONAL TICKS
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Going all in, with drift, he hopped in knowing next to nothing about scents or fragrance, hell, even business but he jumped right in.
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Doing what scares him the most – he’s quit 3 different jobs and his parents have always freaked out every time but it's always paid off in the end.
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Connections, The #1 reason Ryan likes what he does is getting to connect with people. But he’s too often a “yes” man.
CONNECT WITH RYAN
Transcript
Episode transcript coming soon.