20th Sept 2022 AMPstigator Season Three Episode 33:
Guest Emily Kinzer-Crews Just Go For It!
[00:00:00] < Intro >
Lauren: This is AMPstigator. A podcast founded on purpose, but focused on the path to get there. Experience is the best teacher, and in this season of AMPstigator, we're going all in on female perspective of women and wisdom. As we answer one specific question; What's the lesson here?
You'll hear from my best girlfriends and favorite female collaborators. As we share, deeply, about what we're here to learn and teach, as we guide other women to purpose.
[00:00:40] < Music >
Today's episode is all about, just, going for it. The woman you're going to meet today is someone who I've watched evolve, right before my own eyes. In 2017, Emily Kinzer walked into my newsroom, in Indianapolis. She was a reporter, so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It was her second job in television and she was just 25 years old.
One year later, 2018, is when I moved to Nashville. And not long after that, she moved to Sarasota, Florida thinking she was on that TV news anchor train.
Now, she could have never anticipated how her life was about to change in that move to Florida. But it's not what happened to her, it's the choices she made that changed her life, and like huge change.
She took charge of her life in the most inspiring way. You guys, she up and quit her job just one year ago. Yes, she's about to say F-it and set sail around the world in a 40-foot, live-aboard Catamaran. It's amazing, and it's all because she had a dream and she just went for it.
I can hardly believe the personal evolution that she's undergone in these past five years. It's incredible, and I've gotten a front row seat to all of it.
So in this episode, you're going to hear the full story. And I know some of you are saying, "How the heck is she doing this?" So we'll get into all of that. Plus, she has real talk about leaving the job she hated to go all in on a dream.
I mean, up-in-the-clouds-far-out-there dream. So we talk a lot about how stepping out in faith worked out for her, and she encourages you to do the same thing. If you don't already, you need to follow AMPstigator on in Instagram this week. Because we have such great inspirational clips, from Emily, encouraging you to do what this episode is all about. The lesson is- Go for it.
We also get into the nitty-gritty, too, of how she and her, now, husband had to plan it all out. They didn't just have a dream and it happened. They had to coordinate leaving their jobs. Starting the company, finding the boat, selling the house, starting the YouTube channel, validating the business plan, blah, blah, blah. I mean, it was a lot, but they believed and they're doing it now.
So I'll tell you now, and remind you again at the end, follow them on Instagram and YouTube. It's The Adventure Crews. You can also sign up for emails from them because they're always updating their sailing plan. And that's important because you can do live-aboard charters with them.
So if they're on the Abacos, for example, and you've always wanted to go, you can go do an adventure cruise with them and live aboard for a few days.
So I was so glad when she said, "Yes," to being on the podcast and she had to travel from Sarasota, come up to Nashville to do it recently. And I'm just so glad to support her and I can't wait for you to do the same. And, now, here is my sweet friend and soon-to-be Captain Emily Kinzer Crews. With the lesson; JUST GO FOR IT.
So, Emily, do I need to call you Emily Crews? I'm just curious. You're still in my phone as Emily Kinzer, just so you know.
Emily: You can call me whatever you like.
Lauren: No, for real though, I need to...
Emily: No, I want you to call me Captain Emily.
Lauren: Are you real? Do you have a captain's license?
Emily: We're one test away from getting our captain's license.
Lauren: We did it as we? I thought you had to take is as an individual.
Emily: Right, we took the class together?
Lauren: I didn't know that.
Emily: So Captain Cole and Captain Emily.
Lauren: Shut up. I wanted to call you first mate but you're not even.
Emily: No, well, I will be the admiral, first of all, which is the boss. Cole will tell you that I'm the admiral.
Lauren: So you are, almost, Captain Emily Crews.
Emily: Yes. So we have done this 60-hour, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain's course. We have taken three of the four tests. We saved the last one which is the hardest-
Lauren: Last for best.
Emily: ... Rules of the Road. To keep you from getting into a collision on the waterways. We saved that one for last because it's difficult.
Lauren: When are you going to take that?
Emily: Tuesday. So our flight gets back into Sarasota at 10:00 pm, I have work all day. He has work all day on Tuesday, and then we'll go take our test that day. So, needless to say, we'll be studying on the plane.
Lauren: Oh, my gosh. By the time that I release this episode, you will have taken it. So I'll, definitely, give listeners an update on how you did on your test.
Emily: Yes, of course.
Lauren: Tell me what it is that you're doing right now? Your life in this very moment, right now, what is it like?
Emily: It has changed, dramatically, since we last saw each other.
Lauren: Okay.
Emily: So we're now living on a boat.
Lauren: Okay, I need all the details.
Emily: So this has been a dream of mine and Cole's for two years now. We started dating in 2020 in the height of the pandemic. We had met prior-
Lauren: Yes, you'd been set up. Because it was one of your friends who was like, "I have this guy. You need to meet this guy."
Emily: And she would not shut up.
Lauren: And you're like, "Whatever."
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: Did that go on for like a year?
Emily: It went on for like a year.
Lauren: Wow.
Emily: So we met at a birthday party. It was my girlfriend, who I worked with at the station, because at the time I was working in news.
Lauren: Right.
Emily: She was my very first friend. She's like, "Hey, come to my boyfriend's surprise birthday party. You don't have any friends, so come on."
Lauren: You're like, "Thanks."
Emily: I was like, "Okay, great." Cole was there. He was, casually, dating someone at the time. He'll tell you he was a serial dater, at the time. Because, our first date and he said, "I have everything I want in life but the partner. And I know exactly what I'm looking for and it's this, this, this, and this."
Lauren: At the time, I'm just curious, were you like, "Well, that's me."
Or were you like, "Ah, back up."
Emily: No, I, definitely, thought, "That's me. I qualify here."
Lauren: Okay.
Emily: But that was a whole year before. So he had met me at the party, I knew who he was. He had asked my girlfriend's boyfriend, who the birthday party was for. He'd said, "Who's that girl?" And the guy said, "Oh, that's the new morning anchor, she took over Jacqueline's spot."
Lauren: And what town are you in at this point?
Emily: Sarasota.
Lauren: That's right.
Emily: Yes. And Cole says, "Oh, that's my type." And not knowing anything about me other than the fact that I was a morning anchor and I was from Tennessee. And for a year, onward, he would ask my friend about me. She would tell me about him and say, "You should just go on a date with him."
And I'm like, "Not interested." Completely unbothered by anybody, not just Cole, but anybody. I was going to Dallas. I was going to Phoenix, I was going to anchor somewhere bigger.
Lauren: Right, let's talk about that part because you went down to Sarasota, first of all. You did grow up in Tennessee.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: Landlocked, never been in the water or on the water, other than lakes.
Emily: Other than the lake and I knew I loved the water. I grew up going to the lakes in the summer. Grew up going to the beach, that was the highlight of my vacations. Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Panama City, so I always knew I love that. But never spending time on the water, in the capacity, before I moved to Sarasota, I mean. I'm 10 minutes away from the beach, let's go.
Lauren: So at this point you had only worked in South Bend. You had gone to school at Middle Tennessee State University, outside of Nashville in Murfreesboro. Then you go to South Bend, Indiana, landlocked.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: You go, then, to Indianapolis, where we met, landlocked.
Emily: Landlocked.
Lauren: And then you're like, "I have this opportunity to anchor in Sarasota."
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And at that point, I'm telling you, as a mentor as a friend, I'm like, "Hey, this is a great job for you. Go take this job, it makes sense." Because you were offered a job in Nashville, let's be clear, at my station.
Emily: At your station, we could've been co-workers again.
Lauren: And I even told you, I'm like, "This is not the job for you. you need to go take this anchoring job down in Sarasota." So you go to Sarasota, your girlfriend is like, "Meet this guy."
And you're like, "I'm not dating anybody. I'm doing this anchoring thing. I'm going to a top-10 market, that's what it's going to be." Skirt, life gets in the way, and you totally change your plan, Captain Crews. So get me up-to-speed where you, actually, start dating Cole and you guys realize, "Oh, we are made for each other."
Emily: Yes, well, what's funny, I was thinking back, recently, and I found a text message, I believe it was August 26th of 2020. So barely a month after our first date, he said to me, "There are so many things we want to do, we should just quit our jobs and travel the world." And that's the first text message exchange that I can find where we talked about that.
Lauren: Did you screen grab it? Is this on your-?
Emily: Of course I did, I'll share this on Instagram.
Lauren: You need to.
Emily: Of course I will. But that just goes to tell you, our first date was July 26th. One month later we're talking about traveling the world, so we're talking about very fast. I knew this guy, I knew he was a nice person, but we had just started dating in this capacity. And we're like, "Hey, let's go."
So it all started because I told him, I'm like "Hey, I would love to take time off TV." As you know it's always contract based. You're locked in for two, and three, and at times, four years.
Lauren: Four and five, yes.
Emily: So I said, "Hey, after one of my contracts." At my Sarasota station I had a two-year contract. "I would love to take time off, buy an RV and travel our country."
He's like, "Yes, that sounds great. We could do 50 states in 52 weeks." And it was like we were golden, this was going to happen. And then he says, "Well, have you ever thought about sailing?"
Well, "Of course not. I grew up in Tennessee. I've never been on a sailboat, I don't know the first thing about sailing."
Lauren: You've been on a boat, but a sailboat and a boat are different.
Emily: Right, live aboard a big boat that you live, and cook, and sleep, and travel on in that capacity, no, I'd never been on one.
Lauren: I bet he had? Is he born and raised in Sarasota?
Emily: He was born and raised in Florida. So Orlando area, yes. So he grew up being a power boater. And he'll always tell you he would've never thought about sailing, otherwise, "Because I always have a schedule. I don't have time for it to take all day for me to get somewhere."
Lauren: Totally.
Emily: "Because I have a schedule, I have to be at work on Monday."
Lauren: Right, we got things to do.
Emily: Exactly, places to go, people to see, and fast. So he's always been a powerboat guy, and the we just started watching YouTube. And we're like, "This is really cool."
Another YouTube, "This is really cool. Wait, maybe this is something we could do." And we just, quickly, started believing like, "This is something we can, totally, do." And I'm like, "I'm a journalist. If anyone is qualified to put stories together and put them on YouTube, it's me. I'm qualified."
Lauren: Because you already shoot, write and edit video. This is something we do in television, it's called one-man band when you're in news. You were already doing that, you know how to do it.
Emily: I was already doing that, exactly. But even going back farther, before Cole and I started dating, I remember I was sitting on the beach with a co-worker, this was probably 2019, actually. So quite a ways before Cole came into the picture. I remember saying like, "I'm really getting sick of news. I'm sick of just all the gloom and doom." I'd been in three markets at this point, it's all the same stuff just different place.
Lauren: Girl, only the call letters change.
Emily: Right, and I was really feeling like, "There's got to be more than this." I love my life here, but I don't love my life at work, and I'm so happy here. I'm not willing to uproot what I have here to go to another market and see, "Oh, is it going to change?"
Lauren: Mm-hmm.
Emily: Because my quality of life was so good.
Lauren: Okay, let's dig into that. Because I feel that's something that a lot of people can identify with. Being in love with their life but, then, not liking where they spend the bulk of their waking hours.
Emily: Exactly.
Lauren: We spend more time at work than we do at home. So if you don't love what you're doing, which I feel like, I'm just going to take a stab, it's fewer than 20% of people who actually love what they do and find purpose in what they do.
Emily: Mm-hmm.
Lauren: So tell me the point where you go, "I don't love this, let me explore." Because most people go, "I don't love this, let me just work for the weekend."
But you said, "I don't love this, let me explore what I do love."
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: Talk me through the transition.
Emily: So that started in 2019. Those ideas were in my mind, but like, "What was I going to do with it? How is I ever going to get to the point of traveling and telling stories, or having the time to do it?" Because in TV your benefits aren't always great. You either don't make the money so you can't travel, or you don't have the time off so you can't travel. So those ideas were in my mind.
I spoke that to a co-worker, "I would love to travel and tell stories." Fast forward to 2020 Cole and I start dating and then it's like, "Hey, let's buy this RV."
And then, "Hey, let's buy a sailboat."
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: Those ideas just kept festering and festering, and my contract was coming up in May of 2021. And by then I was completely and totally, and utterly over it.
Lauren: Well, people don't understand. I'm just going to be honest, newsrooms can be freaking toxic. Like toxic places to work, and it pains me to say that because people watch their favorite news personality on television.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And you just make up in your mind that they must live some glamorous life. More often than not the work behind the scenes is crappy. Between not feeling valued or managers making decisions for you that affect you, but then there's no thought to how they affect you. So then you're swimming in this cesspool of toxicity.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: So you were already there and you're like, "This sucks."
Emily: I was done. Between the climate of the news, just in general. Covid, for 365 plus days, leading the top of the newscast, every newscast day in and day out. Politics, all of the garbage that was going on, and dare I say, it's just garbage all of it.
Lauren: You're out of it, you can say that.
Emily: I can say whatever I want. All of that, and then us having this dream. I'm like, "There's got to be another way, something else." And, so, it was May of 2021 where I'm like, "I've got to get out of here." So the thought was I would stick it out on TV until the point of leaving.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I was going to try to stay another year.
Lauren: But they did a terrible job with your contract.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: So they, basically, pushed you out.
Emily: They said, "Three years..."
Lauren: They were like, "My hands are tied."
Emily: "... or we'll put you on weekends." And I'm like, "Wait a minute, I've been here over two years, I'm not going to move to weekend."
Lauren: And you're a main anchor.
Emily: Right, "I'm not going to sign a three-year deal. I want a one-year deal or I want an out." And, so, I said, "All right, well, I'm done."
Lauren: Yes, they think, I say they meaning management at, pretty much, every TV station, I'm at the fourth TV station. What they always believe they can do is twist your arm and that you'll say, "Yes.". So you will bend.
But you, Emily Kinzer Crews, did not bend. You were like, "No, I really do have something that's more important and more valuable to me."
Emily: And, in fact, I sat across from my then news director, on my last day, and I said, "I know you're going to think I'm crazy, but I'm just going to tell you this because it's really on my heart." I said, "Cole and I are going to buy a boat next year and I'm going to tell stories all over the world."
Lauren: And he said?
Emily: And I'm sure he thought, "You are a loony. Let's go and take you across the street and put you in that mental care facility."
Lauren: "Let's commit you."
Emily: Yes, "Let's get you committed." But, I think, he was just like, "Okay."
Lauren: Well, people think that's crazy because no one has the guts to do it.
Emily: Right, I mean, you expect to get push back, if you're going to swim upstream. We know that we're swimming upstream. We're swimming against the current.
Lauren: You're swimming up ocean gal.
Emily: Yes, we expect people to look at us a little crazy and for not everybody to understand. It's not for everybody to understand, and that's okay.
Lauren: Oh, I understand it perfectly.
Emily: I know you do.
Lauren: I think this the thing that I also think people need to know is you and I, I mean, not only are we friends, we look alike.
Emily: Oh, yes.
Lauren: From the get go, when we first started working together in 2017, people thought we were sisters. That we even have this amazing picture of being in the exact same dress, on the same day, unintentionally, and we do look exactly alike.
So here we are, me and you, and we've stayed connected all this time, and I have leaned on you in the same way you've leaned on me. The things that I've called and asked you, gosh, even last year as I was starting to work on AMPstigator.
Emily: I was about to say that.
Lauren: Do you remember I was in between two ideas?
Emily: Uh-huh.
Lauren: Do you have any recollection of what you told me to do in that time?
Emily: I don't remember what I told you to do. I remember the ideas though.
Lauren: Yes, so you said to me, "Lauren, if you've got this particular idea in hand right now, I mean, I'd freaking run with it." Is what you told to me.
Emily: Is that what I said?
Emily: Yes, and you were, like, "This is obvious to me." And I was like, "Thank you." But that's the, kind of, friendship we have.
Emily: Oh, absolutely. And I know I can always trust your advice. It's always been great and heartfelt and I look at you as a big sister. So you've always been in my corner, whatever crazy idea it is.
Lauren: But it's not crazy.
Lauren: Even taking the Sarasota job, which we didn't talk about this point earlier, but that was the lowest-paying job of any offer. I took the lowest-paying job because I knew in my heart I was supposed to be there.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I just was supposed to be there.
Lauren: Well, I mean, and to be clear, I wanted you to take that job because you needed to have "anchor" on your resume for what your goals were.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And that's why we, we- like, I signed the contract with you.
Emily: You were my agent.
Lauren: That's why we did that.
Emily: Exactly, yes, that was the point. Because the idea, at the time, was that was a stepping stone to go on to bigger and better places. These big dreams that I thought I had. The dreams I have now make those look hilarious, so small.
Lauren: Yes, but that's why you needed to be there, though. Is because you needed to meet Cole and you needed to do this incredible thing. Where, like, let's be clear, was it one week ago or two weeks ago that you just moved onto the boat?
Emily: A week ago yesterday.
Lauren: Oh, my gosh. So tell us about the boat, first of all, and tell us what that's like? How many outfits do you have on your boat?
How many cups do you have on your boat?
How many forks and spoons do you have on your boat?
Emily: So we are, currently, learning minimalism. We have had three yard sales leading up to moving on the boat. We have made a bunch of Goodwill runs to donate.
Lauren: Wow.
Emily: We've sold it, given it away, all the things, and we're still purging. So I can't, really, tell you that, yet, because we've moved a whole lot of things on that are probably going to get purged later. But it is our drain boat. We have shopped and shopped, and looked, and watched YouTube tutorials of boat walkthroughs, and she is exactly what we wanted.
Lauren: What's her name?
Emily: Her name is Adventure Crews. Sailing Vessel Adventure Crews. So, collectively, Cole and I and our dog Dixie are the adventure crews and then she's Adventure Crews.
Lauren: And to be clear, your last name is spelled, C-R-E-W-S.
Emily: Exactly, like the boat crew.
Lauren: And, so, The Adventure Crews, C-R-E-W-S, Crews.
Emily: Exactly.
Lauren: I love it. And you're going to do charters off the boat, right?
Emily: We expect to have four to six, paying, guests each month, which is really how we'll cover the cost. So we're going to do the YouTube thing, got the blog going.
Lauren: Well and you're already monetized on YouTube and you guys haven't even set sail.
Emily: We are monetized. We hit that goal four months ahead of time.
Lauren: Yes, I love that for you.
Emily: Everything that we prayed, and planned, and wrote down and spoke, has happened. In the order that we prayed and planned, and spoke it. Just wild.
Lauren: So I feel we have to hammer this point because, I mean, everybody in this whole world has things they hope for, things they want to do. But then, usually, they say, "Ah, I mean, that there's just no way."
Emily: Mm-hmm.
Lauren: And then they don't put any effort behind it. They don't put any faith behind it. They don't put any action behind it. So help me understand where the difference has been for you. Where you said, "I'd like to tell stories and go around the world." But you didn't dismiss it, like, "What a dream, that's not going to happen." You, actually, put stuff behind it. You put action, and faith, and belief. I mean you spoke to it and here it is.
Emily: Here it is.
Lauren: So walk me through that. The difference that you've, now, made in your own life that most people can't make.
Emily: Yes, the mentality is the - Just go for it mentality. It's very simple. That's very surface level. People say, "Oh, if you can dream it, you can do it." It's more than that and had I not had that just go for it mentality years ago, my life today would look, radically, different.
And to put that into perspective, so, my initial major was not communications. I changed my major three times to get to communications. And this is funny, I don't know if I've ever told you this or not before, I toured your station when I was a junior in high school.
Lauren: No way.
Emily: And there was a curmudgeon photographer there who said, "Oh, don't go into news, you'll be eating bread and water. Because it's all one-man band and you don't get paid very well."
And I'm like, "Okay, great, fine." That didn't scare me.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: So I said, "That's what I want to do." And even, still, that wasn't my major because I had pressure from at home saying, "We want you to succeed. That's not going to make a lot of money." But still, I wasn't scared.
So I, at the time, was going to MTSU and walking past the mass com building every day, and I just felt that pull. And, at the time, I was reading a book; You're Made for A God-Sized Dream, and the next day I just said, "I am changing my major and this is what I'm doing."
Lauren: Hmm.
Emily: And, obviously, big full-circle moment, had I not changed my major, I wouldn't have gone to South Bend, Indy, to meet you. To Sarasota, to now meet Cole, which is, obviously, I know that was the purpose of landing in Sarasota.
Lauren: I have goosebumps, by the way. I mean, I know that for you. I know that was why you needed there.
Emily: That was the why. I mean, I didn't know that at the time. All I knew was I took the lowest-paying job in the prettiest city I could ever think of, and it's exactly where I wanted to be.
I mean, even during my interview there, it was so funny. My news director took me to the beach and she said, "You just got to see the beach." She was selling it to me. She didn't have to sell it to me, I was sold.
Lauren: Because they pay in sunshine, usually, in the Florida market.
Emily: Right, exactly, I was already sold. She didn't have to sell it to me, and I just remember that sunset that night. I knew in my soul I'm like, "This is where I'm supposed to be." And then she says, funny enough, she goes, "Look at this sunset, this is Jesus telling you you need to be here."
Emily: And on the inside I'm cracking up because I'm like, "I'm, totally, feeling that too."
Lauren: Jesus is telling you in this sunset.
Emily: Jesus is telling me. So but, anyways, I was sold and I knew in my heart that's where I was supposed to be. But that - just-go-for-it mentality. That just-go-for-it mindset led me to where I am today. And the just-go-for-it mentality is going to lead us to our future, that's going to be full of adventure.
Lauren: Yes, and I feel like Covid, I mean, Covid was terrible. Let's be clear, Covid was terrible, even you guys suffered from Covid. Your husband was hospitalized for nine days because of it.
Emily: Cole was in his seventh day of the hospital, on this day, last year.
Lauren: Oh, my gosh. So here we are, a year out, a year past. I mean, me, myself, coming from long-term hospitalization that sucked.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And I have a heart for people, now, that I didn't have before. I had no idea how awful it was to be in the hospital all of that time. And my heart aches, now, thinking of you guys and thinking that, "I didn't support you in the way that I should have." I didn't know.
Emily: Oh, sure.
Lauren: Now I know how awful that is.
Emily: You know how it's like.
Lauren: And I'm sorry, I love you, I'm going to continue to support you. Even though I didn't support you in the way that I would, now, if the roles had been reversed. But seeing what it did to everybody, I mean, Covid did stuff to everybody.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And now we see the great resignation because all of us, in this whole world, had time for reevaluation.
Emily: Oh, sure.
Lauren: And I feel like Covid might have been part of what needed to push you to say, "Oh, you know what, this really sucks."
Emily: Mm-hmm, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life doing this.
Lauren: I'm not. I'm not going to spend my life at someone else's beck and call. To have a contract I hate or hours I hate, that's killing me. You had physical issues.
Emily: I had dry eyes.
Lauren: Your eyes, going along with, oh, my gosh, all the things.
Emily: I definitely was getting depressed. I mean, waking up in the middle of the night, there's a video of me, it's, actually, in our first YouTube video. Where I am just totally and completely over it. I'm recording myself.
I have my phone up behind the steering wheel and it's just sitting there recording as I'm talking to it on my drive into work, and I'm like, "I'm over it. I'm over the hours, coronavirus, politics, the schedule." And in that video I say, "There's got to be more to life than this. This isn't it. This isn't setting my soul on fire."
And I think when people are looking of what that is. They have a little festering in their heart or maybe it becomes a big festering like it did for us, you just have to act on it.
Life is so short, and if there's anything we've learned from Covid, I believe, that's it. That life is short, you can plan your whole life of, "One day I'll do this. I'll start this business. I'll have kids. I'll go on an adventure. I'll quit the job I hate." And that may never come.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I mean, Cole's in the hospital for nine days and after he got out of the hospital September 11th of last year.
Lauren: Wow.
Emily: One of the first things he said is, "We're buying the boat." Which we already knew we were buying the boat before, but it was we are now, more than ever, going to do this. Because life is short and we're not going to look back one day and say, "I wish I would've tried."
And that's really the same mentality with TV, too, I wasn't scared of not making any money. I knew if I loved what I was doing, that it would work out, and that if it didn't I was more than capable of finding another job. I could go back to school.
But the fear of looking back on my life, one day, and saying, "What if. I wish I would've tried." That scared me more than just trying and, potentially, being poor.
Lauren: But you know what, the fact that you realized that, were you 30, at that point?
Emily: I just turned 30 this year, I would have been-
Lauren: Girl, I thought you were 32?
Emily: No.
Lauren: So you were 28 or 29, at that point.
Emily: At what point? When I started-
Lauren: At the point that you said no to the contract and quit a year ago.
Emily: Yes, that would've been 29.
Lauren: Mm, girl.
Emily: I'm excited for 30.
Lauren: I mean, 30 is got to be amazing.
Emily: 30, flirty, and thriving. We went under contract on our boat on my 30th birthday.
Lauren: Oh, my gosh.
Emily: This decade is going to be awesome.
Lauren: So here's the thing that I find amazing and you, to me, illustrate this. Is when, for however, whatever, level of spirituality somebody is. If you say God, if you say universe, whatever you want to say, spirit. When you start making choices.
When any of us start making choices that are meant for us, that is us answering the call of our heart. In your heart, you knew you needed to do something like this. Quit your job, pursue living on a boat, pursue this lifestyle, you knew and you answered that call of your heart.
When any of us starts doing that, every decision that you make, that's the right decision. It's like God comes out, universe comes out, spirit comes out, and it's like, "Here, you made the right choice. Here's another slice of bread. Here you did it. Here's another slice."
It's the affirmation every time of like, "You're doing right, keep going. You're doing right, you followed your heart. You're doing it. You're doing it, keep going." I mean, I look at you and think that you are an example of that. Do you feel that in your own life?
Emily: Oh, it's a God-sized dream for sure. He's every step of the way. He always has been. We wouldn't be where we are if it wasn't for being a God-bless dream. I know that, and I'm super excited on how we can use our vessel to bless other people in the way that we've been blessed. And the way I look at that, in the simplest of ways, is my gift to the world is storytelling.
Lauren: Yes, visual at that story telling.
Emily: Visual storytelling, and that's what I've been doing for, almost, a decade. And it's going to change shape a little bit and, obviously, be a lot more fulfilling. But I think of people who will never get to go to these places that we get to go to. I always think of my grandmother.
Lauren: Who's here, in the Nashville area.
Emily: Right, exactly. I think of her, we went on a shipwreck dive on our honeymoon and, I think, I can't wait to put this together for Nana to see. And I can't wait for lots of nanas all around the world, maybe, they're not nanas, but someone who would never get to go there to see those places.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I'm excited about that.
Lauren: So tell me, visually what is it that we'll see on your YouTube channel?
Emily: So you're going to see our travel and adventures, but really focusing on the places we go and the people we meet. So where we want to be different than what's already being done, because we are not doing anything new. We are not reinventing the wheel,
Lauren: But at the same time you aren't, but you are.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: I mean, it's not normal to do what you're doing.
Emily: Sure, but it has already been done by plenty of other people. But where we want to focus is these people who would, otherwise, never be seen by the masses if it weren't for us.
So I want to see that little mom in pop shop on the side of the road. That are folding palm fronds and making jewelry to feed their family and serving their community. That's the story I want to tell, I'm excited about that.
Lauren: Well, and that's something, and I remember saying this to you, even last year, when we were talking about this. You kept coming to me saying, "Lauren, they're not..." I mean, "They're just, basically, I'll save the crude language, but they were crapping on you in your contract.
Emily: Totally.
Lauren: And you kept saying, "This is not what I want anyway. This is not what I want." And I remember getting to the place where I said to you, "Just quit. Just leave."
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: And here's what I said to you, "You are different. No one else doing this is a news anchor." You're a news anchor quitting everything and getting on a boat. You know how to tell stories. You know how to shoot, write, edit, produce video, you know how to do that. And storytelling is an art and you had perfected that art.
And, so, for you to get on a boat and do it. You're not someone who's just shooting video on an iPhone and saying, "Here's what I've got on today."
Or, "Here's the sponsor that's sponsoring this." And you have a good voice, you have a good storytelling sense. And, so, for you to, exactly, what you're saying, going into communities, going into the tiny, maybe a key. Going into a key here, there, and you're telling these stories of these people who, otherwise, would never have their story told.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: That's amazing, and that is different. That is what will set you apart.
Emily: I'm excited, it's going to be awesome.
Lauren: Chart for me where you guys are going to go. Well, actually, I should back it up, when do you set sail?
Emily: So we set sail 1st of November.
Lauren: Okay.
Emily: So November 7th is our date.
Lauren: From? Sarasota.
Emily: From Sarasota.
Lauren: And you start and you go where?
Emily: So we're going to the Keys, Key West is our first stop. We'll hang out at Dry Tortugas for a couple of days. Explore the fort there, we've neither ever been there. So excited to go there, tell that story of the fort and then we'll make our way up along the east coast of Florida.
We'll dip into Miami if there's anything that needs to be done on the boat. Because, as you know, when you get going things can break down on you.
Lauren: Yes, and you're on the water. So it's not the simplest fix.
Emily: Right, exactly.
Lauren: But if you're close enough to land.
Emily: Sure, then we can dip into Miami. So after that then we'll hop over to Bimini which is the closest point, basically, to Florida. So we plan to spend Thanksgiving in The Bahamas, that's our hard-set goal. We have had Thanksgiving in The Bahamas on our to-do list for a year now.
That's something that a hard date, we want to be there, and then from there just keep tracking south. So we'll spend December, January in the Abacos, which is where we got married in February. So that'll be really fun to go back there and then just head south. So our goal this time, next year, is to be, say Aruba, below the hurricane belt
Lauren: Okay, I mean, I love Aruba, God. Yes, and, so, for anybody who doesn't know Aruba has three days of rain a year. And they are, as you say, below the hurricane belt. It never sees hurricanes.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: Maybe once in 50 years, it just doesn't happen.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: Let me ask you this, so I'm trying to put it together in my mind, and for anybody who's listening to, you said you want to do four to six charters a month.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: So will someone just follow your journey and say, "Well God, I want to be in Aruba." And just plan a trip to fly into Aruba and then set a date with you. To do a charter with you while you guys are there. Is that how it will work?
Emily: Yes, basically, so the coin does a venture charter. So when you think of below deck and things like that, this is not what this is. So when you come on board with us, you are getting the lifestyle. You're getting the ocean to table.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: You're getting the snorkeling, the spear-diving, the free-diving. All of those things that we'll be doing, you'll get to come and experience that for five days-
Lauren: And you do it with two people who are really cool.
Emily: Thanks. So that's what that will look like. So we have our itinerary, basically, of where we expect to be when. So like I'm telling you, we expect to be in Bimini for Thanksgiving. So say someone wants to book after that week. They'd say, "Hey, we want to book with you."
We'd say, "Okay, it's looking like we're going to be in Bimini for this date. As we get closer we will book your flight, I mean you, would book your flight, everything else on board is all-inclusive. And then come on-board with us and then that's how that would work. So, really, whatever the closest airport is as we're traveling along the way.
Lauren: I love it. So, and just to be clear, you're doing day charters or overnights and people live aboard with you for a couple of days?
Emily: People would live aboard with us for a couple of days.
Lauren: Wow.
Emily: Yes. So year one, the Caribbean loop, basically, the start of the Caribbean and hoping to get down to Aruba, depending on how year one goes. We would keep going farther and the, ultimate, goal is crossing the Pacific.
Lauren: Oh, my gosh.
Emily: So we're talking Fiji, Tonga, I don't know if we'd go all the way to Australia or not, maybe, we'll see.
Lauren: I mean, I'm like, "Gosh!"
Emily: This is long-term, very back of my head right now, but still there. It's still a thought in our mind of what could be.
Lauren: I love it. I just, really, freaking, love it. And, I think, more than anything, first of all, when you told me, "Hey, I'm going to be in Nashville saying goodbye, essentially, to Nana, to aunts and uncles, to the people you love who are here and you still have friends here.
So you have your whole schedule. And I was, "Oh, great, you're going to be here. Come beyond my podcast, let's talk about this." Because AMPstigator is founded in purpose. This podcast is about purpose and finding purpose. But season three, specifically, I wanted it to be less of purpose as a destination and more about the path we take to get there. The lessons we're learning along the way.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: So I know me, as a now 37-year-old, I'm only just getting to the point where I feel I'm old enough to see patterns in my life. Where I can say, "Oh yes, this is the lesson that keeps coming back up. Keeps coming back up." But you as your 30-year-old self, who I thought you were 32, 30.
Emily: Don't age me, Lauren.
Lauren: I know, you look so cute and young. I love it. I told my husband yesterday, I'm like, "Doesn't Emily look 25? She looks so cute."
But as a 30-year-old woman, right now, doing this incredible living of a life dream. What lesson can you say, right now, is either coming through for you or what you're learning in this very present moment?
Emily: I mean, we just have to go for it. I think that is what has resonated so much over the last year, two years, in making this huge transition. So we knew that we were going to do this a year and a half ago. I mean, the dream has been there two years, but say, really, the last year and a half is when we said, "Okay, concretely, this is what this plan is going to look like."
I mean, we have a timeline on our fridge, or we did before we moved out of our house. We had a timeline there on the fridge and first thing on the list;
* Get married February of 2022—
* List Cole's house for sale—
* Sell the house—
* Find the boat—
* Outfit the boat—
And putting that into concrete steps.
Lauren: You, literally, wrote it down and you saw it every day when you looked at your fridge.
Emily: Yes, exactly. So like I said, the overall message here is just go for it. yes. Whatever it is in life, DO IT. Do it now, there's never a right time to do it. Now is the only time to do it because tomorrow's not promised. But the steps of getting there, you can't just say, like, "Oh, I'm just going to go for it and have no plan." You have to have a plan or you will fail. Make the plan.
Lauren: Yes, so is step one dreaming?
Emily: Well, you got to have the dream or what are you going to do? What's your action? So you got to find the action that you're going to do. Whether that's buying the boat, starting the business, starting the family, whatever that is. And then make a plan, make those small actionable steps to get there.
We initially said, "Oh, in November of 2021, we want to have been married, sold the house, buy the boat, do all these things." And then we quickly realized, "Whoa, that's not attainable." So attainable goals are very important, otherwise, you might snuff out your own dream and say like, "Oh, yes, maybe we can't do this."
Lauren: So I'm hearing from you, right now, that even if you don't meet your goals, you guys weren't sidelined by that. You weren't discouraged by that.
Emily: No, we realized that was a little too ambitious. So we're like, "Okay, maybe, we'll set sail on 2022." And then we put the plan together. We put the business model together for the guests on board, the charters, and, obviously, the YouTube portion of what I would do, and then made those small attainable goals.
So, obviously, we got married. Then we listed the house for sale, we sold the house. We started looking for the boat and all these small actionable steps that led up to the big overall goal.
Lauren: I'm just so proud of you because it's not just the boat that you've done. That already is like, "Wow, that's crazy." But we have to be clear that part of your plan was also, "Hey, I'm going to quit my job and what am I going to go to?"
Emily: Right.
Lauren: And you created something that you went to that's also flourished in the meantime. So you created a cushion, in all of this.
Emily: I did.
Lauren: So explain what you've created and what you're doing?
Emily: Sure, I, really, did it out of necessity because I was leaving the business with no idea what was happening next. All I know is that I still wanted to tell stories. I still wanted to write, shoot, and edit, but I didn't want it to be about Covid, or politics, or anything of the like.
Lauren: Yucky stuff. No, yucky.
Emily: Exactly, so I started a content-creation firm, Anchored in Media is the name of it. It just made sense, from my past anchoring and going forward with the boat life.
Lauren: Mh-hmm.
Emily: And I create social media content for companies. And I now have a team of five that I've grown it out to in the last year, which has been absolutely incredible. That team can now support The Adventure Crews in our efforts. But it started as just creating content for local businesses and has since expanded-
Lauren: And entrepreneurs, right?
Emily: Exactly, and it has since expanded to shooting master courses, shooting marketing videos. We have a new client starting soon where we're going to be shooting some music-video-type format. Which will be super fun for her YouTube channel that she's starting.
She's a singer who wants to get started again. Hasn't been singing in a while, but wants to, really, pick that back up. So we're super excited to start that. So, really, anything digital marketing is where that's now grown to in the last year.
Lauren: And where did you get that idea, Emily?
Emily: You know, I got this great idea from my friend Lauren. She was like, "You should, really, look into to doing some work with local businesses for their social media."
Lauren: Do you remember your initial reaction? When I was like, "This is what you need to do, Emily."
Emily: I remember. I was sitting in the car on my quote-unquote lunch break at 7:00 am. I had just finished anchoring, you and I were texting, I gave you a quick call and you were like, "You know what you should do? You should go into businesses that you, really, like and say, 'Hey, do you need any help with social media?'" And I remember thinking to myself, "I mean, that's cool but it doesn't really sound like it's going to pay the bills."
Lauren: But now you have five employees, a year later.
Emily: Well, I've more than doubled my salary in the last year and I now have a team to support me. So I, really, wish I would've quit sooner.
Lauren: Isn't that amazing?
Emily: It's been amazing, leading up to our boat adventure has been awesome. Because I have the freedom to do all the things I want to do. I'm not quitting my job anymore, I've already quit the job.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I've got this new job that I've created that I, absolutely, love and feel so fulfilled.
Lauren: Yes, you said yes to becoming the author of your own story. You created the life that you want. I feel, so often, everyone's afraid to do it. But, I mean, let's be clear, were you afraid?
Emily: Oh, absolutely, of course, I didn't know anything about business and had it been not for Cole, I wouldn't have done it. I mean, having that supportive partner in the background saying, "Hey, you can do it."
"Hey, I'll help you." And he is very instrumental in the business. I mean, all business decisions are, obviously, between the two of us and he has helped so much, I couldn't have done it without him.
Lauren: Yes. But for anyone who doesn't have a supportive partner, or even someone who can believe in them, this is so important, you guys. If you have an idea, if you have a dream, no matter what, that dream was put in your heart so that you would fulfill it.
Emily: Sure, there's a dream for a reason. Things don't just happen for a reason, it's not just a coincidence.
Lauren: Yes, it's there and it's our job to act on it.
Emily: Exactly.
Lauren: That's the bread crumb, just act on it and then more will be revealed, more will come. Gosh, all you have to do is do the scary thing and just, I mean, to use the water punts, you just have to jump in.
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: You just have to jump into it.
Emily: Exactly, it's amazing all the things that have just worked out since leaving TV.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: And starting the business, that's been amazing. And the whole journey to getting the boat and making it happen, all those actionables, it's just, really, wild when we stop and think about it. That every single thing we have planned to happen has happened, it's powerful.
Emily: We're in a powerful season. But, I think, we're not special, other people can do it.
Lauren: Totally, that's exactly.
Emily: But you have to make the plan.
Lauren: It's the plan. It's the belief. I mean, it is, truly, the belief in yourself that you can do it. It's the trust in your soul, in your intuition, that you guys have. We all have it, we all have that little voice, but if we exercise it and we say, "Okay, I'm going to listen to this more."
"I'm going to lean into this."
"I'm going to listen to this more and more." That voice gets louder and you learn to trust it more and more, and you have Emily.
Emily: Exactly, and it's not that I'm not scared. I'm scared all the time, but I still go. It should be scary, if you're not scared, I think, you're doing something wrong. You're going into something blindly. Anything you do that's big or associated with risk is scary.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: But you still got to do it because it's in your heart for a reason. And another thing I want to talk about is how do you know when it's the right time to go for it?
Lauren: Yes, great.
Emily: Because I told you in 2019, I was sitting on the beach saying, "Oh, I'd really love to be a travel blogger." And that kept growing, and growing, and then, obviously, Cole and I started dating and it kept growing and growing, and how do you know?
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: And, I think, it's when you get that festering in your heart that you just can't let go of.
Lauren: Yes, well, the way I like to say it is the pain of staying is worse than the pain of leaving. Leaving the current situation.
Emily: Absolutely.
Lauren: So if I'm going to stay in this, really, awful situation, it's more painful than just setting off. And I feel like when it's the right time, it's not just like you know there's more to it.
I, and this, again, is being 37 and seeing all of this pan out, in not just my life, but everybody's life, now, at this point, who I'm close to. Who's been through this amazing life-altering time. Where they say, "Not only did I know, but I was reaffirmed time, after time, after time." Where it's, literally, every door closes and there's only one to walk through.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: Where it's, "Here's the only way." And for you it was you were given the worst contract, with the worst terms, with a terrible situation. Where it was not like you were conflicted about what to do.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And I do feel like God works this way. Where it's, "Let me make this easy for you. This is not going to work, let me make it easy.
You don't have to hem and haw, here's this terrible contract, with the terrible terms. But, hey, here's this man who loves you. Here's this man who dreams with you. Here's this desire in your heart. Here's this yearning you have to be on the water. Here's all these positive things." So that's why I often will say, "Well, what are you excited about?"
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: "Where is peace?"
"Where is happiness?"
"Where is excitement?" Because if they're not at the nine to five or, God, if they're not in the relationship you're in, if they're not in those other things, that's not where you're supposed to be. These are all the ways that we're supposed to learn that something's not right for you. Panic attacks? Mm, not right for you.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: Nervous breakdowns? Mm, not right for you. But, hey, synchronicities, things falling into place, joy, love, excitement, those are the things that are right for you. You know what I mean? And you experienced all of it.
Emily: Exactly.
Lauren: Which is beautiful.
Emily: Yes, it's wild. It truly is wild and we would try to not tell people about it. That's how we knew it was big and real. We're like, "Okay, we're not going to tell anymore of our friends because some of them will think we're crazy. That we want to buy a boat and we want to do this."
Lauren: Did people really say you're crazy? I'm just curious, did people really or did you expect people to tell you?
Emily: Oh, Cole's dad told us he was going to call us a psychiatrist, because we had lost our minds.
Lauren: Were you deterred or were you hurt? How did you feel?
Emily: Well, we, actually, took a video and we said, it was 2021 at the time. "It is blah, blah day in 2021, and we're just recording this for you now. Because one day when we get our boat, we're going to show it to you and remind you of what you said." Unfortunately, that video got deleted, accidentally, but we did tell him about it. We're like, "You know what, we recorded this video and remember what you said to us and look at us now."
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: And it was obvious when he was on our boat, and it was really funny and a funny moment. But, yes, there was, definitely, we've lost friends over it for sure.
Lauren: You have?
Emily: Yes.
Lauren: You want to talk about it?
Emily: Mainly Cole. I feel most of my friends have been pretty supportive, which has been great. But, yes-
Lauren: Well you got woke friends, non-toxic woke friends.
Emily: Right, of course, it's great. But we knew when we couldn't keep it a secret, even when we wanted to keep it a secret, that's when we knew it was real.
Lauren: Hmm, that's interesting.
Emily: And I think that's an important lesson for people. When something it's the first thing on your mind when you wake up and it's the last thing on your mind when you go to bed, that's when you know you got to go for it.
Lauren: I felt that way about my husband, actually.
Emily: Oh.
Lauren: Yes, I felt that way about him where I never wanted to tell anybody about him, isn't that funny? But, I mean, this was years ago. No, but it was initial and here's the way, it almost felt holy and sacred and, gosh, it was just that special. Where I was like, "I got to protect this."
So, I mean, for months I didn't tell anyone and I'd never felt that way about anything or anyone. And just hearing you describe your dream that way is, I mean, I know that emotion. I know that feeling because I felt it, but with a, completely, different thing.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: Because it feels, even the way you describe it, it feels sacred.
Emily: Well, that's how I felt when we released our first YouTube video. So, obviously, our close friends and family have known. You've known about this for quite some time.
Lauren: A long time, yes.
Emily: But before that video went out, dare I say, I was a little anxious on how I felt that morning when I first woke up. I'm like, "Oh, today, our first YouTube video is going out, it's not our secret anymore. What's been our secret for all this time is now being shared with anybody who finds me on the internet. Which was a little scary, I'm not sure why.
Lauren: Well, okay, once you released it, how did you feel?
Emily: I felt much better, and I've gotten, really, great responses. I mean, people I haven't talked to in years. People I went to middle school with have reached out and said, "Oh, my goodness, I'm so invested. I'm signing up to your email list, I'm subscribing."
And I'm like, "Oh, that's really cool."
Lauren: These are more slices from universe. Like, "Here you go, here's another slice. Here's another breadcrumb, this is what you're supposed to do is working out."
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: I will tell you, from my own experience, just anytime I felt fear or concern. For example, the episode that I launched season three with, where I went, really, detailed about being in the hospital and what it did to me mentally, physically, spiritually, and all of that.
I felt, really, kind of, "Oh, this is a serious. This is the most important episode I've ever recorded as a solo episode, I'm nervous."
Emily: Because it was vulnerable.
Lauren: It's super vulnerable, and I felt nervous to release it. And then I released it and wouldn't you know, as soon as it was out. I was like, "I don't care what response I get from it, this is what I needed to share. I was given this platform to share these kinds of lessons, this is important."
And, so, I get that. I do want to ask you more about this, the negative responses that you've gotten. Because I'm glad you, actually, brought it up because this is something I wanted to talk to you about, anyway. Which is when somebody feels triggered by something you're doing.
This can be any person in any situation, for anyone listening, if you have this dream, or you have this relationship.
Or you have whatever, and people are suddenly, "Oh, I don't think that's the right choice for you." And they start getting, really, freaking, weird about it or tell you, "Don't do it."
Or try to tell you, "Your dream is too big."
Or try to tell you, "You're too loud." Or try to tell you any of that, that's them being triggered, first of all. I know it's hurtful, and I'm sure you and Cole were super hurt in those times, initially. How do you think you were able to get past that, first of all, the sadness of people's reaction to what you were doing?
Emily: Well, you just have to learn they're not your people or they're not your people anymore.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I think you go through seasons with friendships and, dare I say family and other relationships, too, that they're not always going to be your people. And, I mean, you just got to move on from that and realize that you're not for each other anymore.
Lauren: Yes, I do think when someone get, I mean, this has happened to me before. Where I've seen something or heard something from, just it can be whatever, and I just suddenly get, "Oh, why is this person doing that?"
Or, "Why are they saying that?"
And then I have to check myself and go, "Whoa, wait a minute, I'm getting triggered right now about something." And then I have to ask myself, "Why is this making me act this way? Why do I feel triggered?"
And I do think some of us, the role we're supposed to play in this beautiful illustration of life. With all this consciousness that all of us are participating in, part of it is, I think, to wake other people up. Part of it is, the point is, "Yes, I'm supposed to be living on my purpose so that I trigger you."
"I'm supposed to do that."
Emily: Right.
Lauren: So I should be triggering people. You know why, because it will wake them up. It'll draw awareness to the fact that they're not living their dream or they're not doing anything that scares them. Or they're not doing anything that brings them real purpose.
I wonder, for you, how often people are coming at you with their own fear. Fear like, "Oh, you're living your dream."
"Oh, my God, don't do it."
And are you able, now, to go, "Oh, that's fear and I see your fear."
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: Do you see it that way or are you past getting hurt by it?
Emily: I think we're too new in it. So we're just, now, announcing this big thing that we're doing, I think, that's still so new. And then the news is so new, I haven't had a lot of that yet.
I did have someone comment on my post, the other day, and says, "I was a nurse. I used to work in the cancer department and I think what you guys are doing is great. Because those people who are at the end of their life, they're never talking about the things they did. They're talking about the things they didn't do."
Lauren: Mm.
Emily: So I do expect to get more of this as we go, but it is still so new. I wish I had a better answer for you now.
Lauren: Yes, well, what you're doing is inspiring. For those who aren't triggered by it, it's inspiring.
Emily: Sure.
Lauren: And, I think, the part you guys play, not only is the pursuit of your own purpose, but it's also to wake people up. What you're doing is to show people what's possible if you believe that you can do it.
Emily: Right, and that's half the battle. Believing you can do it is a huge part of it. Just the mere fact of saying, "I can do this. I'm going to do it." And writing it and speaking it, there's so much power in the written and spoken word. I mean, that's biblical.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: Written and spoken word and just believing that you can achieve whatever it is.
Lauren: Did you ever doubt yourself?
Emily: Oh, of course, I wake up most days and think, "We're crazy." Even still, I wake up and I'm like-
Lauren: This is crazy.
Emily: Yes, of course, it's terrifying. We are terrified. I mean, it's the fear of the unknown, yes. But, again, staying in one spot is scarier than just jumping and getting out there. So it's going to be a learning curve. I mean, it's not always going to be a bowl of cherries, there's going to be plenty of things that break.
I mean, day one of getting the boat back there was a leak and within a couple days there was another leak.
Lauren: Oh, no.
Emily: So that's part of it. Though, we know that going into boat life, things are going to break. That's a part of it.
Lauren: Yes, but you have to have plan B. You have plan B, you have plan C, you have your whole order of things that you do in the event of things going wrong.
Emily: Right, and we've gotten prepared for that. That's the whole reason we went to Sea School to get our captain's license, is that we want to be as prepared as possible.
We want to have the knowledge, we want to be equipped with all the things. And I tell Cole, all the time, I'm like, "The only things sea school did for me was make me scared and make me think of all the things that can go wrong." But knowledge is power.
So taking that fear and getting our ditch bag ready and getting all the things for our life raft, if something were to ever happen we will be prepared. And we laugh about it now but, really, ditches make me scared.
But, again, it's the fear of the unknown. It's all going to work out, I've never felt so strongly about anything in my entire life.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: I know, it's going to be so successful and, hopefully, we impact a lot of people along the way and inspire them in some, even just a small way, to get out and live more. And we've talked about, wake up from whatever it is you're doing that doesn't fulfill you.
I mean, goodness, we have one life to live. Why aren't we running like we're on fire for our dreams? It's crazy.
Lauren: So what's the lesson here, Emily? What's the lesson?
Emily: The lesson is — JUST GO FOR IT. The only time to live is now. You can't plan for tomorrow because tomorrow just isn't promised.
Lauren: My sweet friend, how you've grown. I just love you so much. I'm so glad to support you. Tell me your YouTube channel so that everybody can go ahead and subscribe to your channel.
Emily: Yes, it is The Adventure Crews. But go to our website, theadventurecrews.com and get on our mailing list.
Lauren: Yes.
Emily: So we'll send out all the emails for when a new video drops, which will be every Monday, except for this week, we're putting out two episodes.
Lauren: Oh, how exciting.
Emily: We're wild this week. So, yes, we continue the boat-buying journey this week on YouTube. So, obviously, we're a couple weeks ahead.
Lauren: Yes, I love it and I love you.
Emily: I love you, thank you.
Lauren: Emily, best of luck to you.
Emily: Thank you so much, and you have to come to The Bahamas with us.
Lauren: I mean, I want to, you don't even have to twist my arm.
Emily: I think you could do some podcasts there, very easily.
Lauren: Heck, yes.
[00:57:36] < Music >
Lauren: All right, if you couldn't tell, I'm so, incredibly, proud of my former protégé, fate made it very clear she had bigger fish to fry. Okay, get out of television, there were other things she needed to do.
But, I think, what she was saying at the end there is just so powerful and it bears repeating, believing you can do it is everything.
There is power in the written and spoken word, she is so right. How often have you heard someone say, "Write your goal on a post-it note, put it on the mirror, put it on the fridge. Put it on the steering wheel, wherever you're going to see it, and then every time read it out loud. Feel that expecting gratitude that it's coming and keep going."
And like Emily said, say to yourself, "I can do this. I'm going to do it. I can, I'm going to." And I love that. It's not just, "I can, but I will."
There's real action there, not just belief, but action, and then you got to make the plan. Do it. Show yourself you can follow through. Show yourself how powerful you really are. And I know for myself, I'm learning a version of this lesson right now.
I'm realizing there have been so many times, in my life, where I've been afraid to just say what I want, really, go for it. And it came from a real fear of failure, personally. I thought it was easier to play in arenas where I could win, and I knew I could win because then I wouldn't have to fail.
But that just ain't cutting it anymore, and it's not for you either.
What's tapping your shoulder right now?
What's grabbing your attention?
Maybe that's the bread crumb that's like, "Hey, step out. Try it. Trust." Maybe, that's why you heard this episode today because you needed a kick in the pants, and I am glad to deliver it to you. Because I believe, so strongly, that your desires were put in you for a reason. They are your true north.
those crazy ideas, the crazy dreams, they're not so crazy. I can tell you from experience that when you start answering to that tug on your heart. To be, or to do, or to try, that's when you start feeling totally alive. That is purpose. That's how you start cultivating meaning in your life and it pays off. I'm telling you, for a full life, happiness, excitement, joy, purpose, it's worth it.
So if you're just living for the weekend right now, that ain't living. Living on purpose is. So I encourage you, this week, write down something that requires faith and belief in yourself. Something that requires you to trust your intuition, put it somewhere you're going to see it.
But bigger things, things that you have to hope for, have faith for, those require faith, but they also require action. So what do you need to write down?
What do you need to say, "I will do it." About. I ask you because I believe in you, and since you're here listening to this, I know you'll do it. You just needed a pep talk from Mama Lauren and I'm here to give it to you.
[01:00:29] < Outro >
Lauren: Coming up next week on the podcast, I have Rea Frey with me. She's a fiction author who also helps non-fiction writers get their books from concept, to proposal, to agent to published.
She's a mom, she's a podcaster, she's a business owner, and she's an all-around Boss B, I'm just here to tell you. She shares a lot of pretty wild and amazing ideas that I'm just excited to share with you. So I can't wait for you to hear her episode next week.
For now, I encourage you, shine your light, lead with your heart and live life purposefully. I'm Lauren Lowrey, and this is AMPstigator.
[01:01:03] < Music >
