Seth Perler is an Executive Function, ADHD, and 2e Coach. He is also a Speaker, Vlogger, and offers an executive function online summit.
Seth struggled in school for most of his years. He didn’t know how to get things done and started internalizing the criticism of being a "failure". When he was 22, he had a job working with kids and fell in love with being of service to kids. He became a teacher for 12 years but felt like this job was holding him back from truly fulfilling his purpose of service.
He decided to start his own executive function business to help kids who struggled with the same things he struggled with as a student. Now, he is an incredibly successful business owner and is of great service to humanity!
It is okay to not know what you want to do!
If you don’t exactly know what career path you want to take, know that this is a common and okay feeling. Seth experienced this too and developed routines that helped him identify and navigate through his vocation. He made a vision board and committed to doing a vision journal with thoughts and questions such as: What is an ideal day? Who is my ideal client?
Do things that might not work! Seth decided to step into the unknown, try things out and put this energy into the universe. He built a website, started making blogs and YouTube videos. He didn’t know if this would all work but took a leap of faith and put trust in himself and in the universe.
If you are not where you want to be in your business right now, fill your time that you would usually use to watch tv or scroll on your phone with time where you are listening to podcasts or reading books that resonate with your situation.
To find more clients, be creative in your ways, be patient, and don’t give up! You will experience what’s called a “hockey stick effect” where, after a long period of stagnation, there is a sharp rise in growth.
If you are wanting to create a course or bootcamp or write a book, Seth loves making models to conceptualize what is going on. For example, a model that he uses with students/parents during a semester is: strong start, the dip, swimming upstream, and hail mary at the end of the semester.
How do I make enough money to continue to serve?
This is a question that Seth needed to answer in order to serve to the best of his ability. At the start of his business, Seth did not have sufficient income to live comfortably and was barely able to keep up with paying rent. But, he was okay with this because he was committed to putting his whole heart into this business.
He continued to create content through YouTube, blogging, podcasts, one-on-one coaching, and offering courses in order to keep the money flow going. Your business will tell you where you need to go. You will get feedback that will guide you to the next step and tell you what more you can do to be of service.
Be okay with things not going your way. In Seth’s YouTube videos, it took a lot of trial and error to make the videos that he is proud of. If you don’t have a lot of money to get started, use the money that you do have to buy quality products. If you are wanting to record videos, Seth recommends using your money to invest in a quality microphone.
Sean McCormick 0:01 This week on earn more tutoring, I talked to Seth Perler, about how he formed his own mastermind groups to get closer and closer to achieving his goals, how he saturated himself and inspiring content to grow his brand. And his Indiana Jones theory of taking a step in faith towards your goal. Even when you can't see the next step. Seth Perler 0:20 That's when I decided to become a teacher. And that was very much not a decision that was very much I was living in Indianapolis at the time. And I was driving away from this work on this road cut spring Mill Road, and I'm driving on this career road, and I just was smiling. And I was like, Wow, I'm so happy leaving work. I'm so happy doing what I do. But it was like a deep happiness. And I was like, I want to serve kids for the rest of my life. Like that moment was I just knew. Sean McCormick 0:50 All right, this is Earn More Tutoring, the ultimate education entrepreneurship show. I am here with the legend Seth Perler. Seth, welcome to the show. Seth Perler 1:02 Hi, Sean. awesome to be here. Sean McCormick 1:04 Yeah, great to have you. So to start off, if someone's living under a rock and isn't aware of anything going on in the world, can you tell them about what you do? Seth Perler 1:13 Yeah. That's, that's a tough question. It depends who asked me, What do I do? Last night, I met some people. And we're talking about that. And I didn't know I knew that one of them was a teacher, but I still didn't know if they knew what executive function was. So what I do, I wear a lot of hats. If I'm first meeting you, I'll probably say something like, oh, I work with kids, usually middle high school and college kids that are struggling in school. And that's kind of just a vague umbrella term. And then if they, if we're talking more than I might say, I'm an executive function coach. And then 90% of the time, they're like, What the heck is that? What is executive function. So I say, oh, executive function is out. The prefrontal cortex is the front third of your brain helps us to get things done. So if we have to, you know, plan a trip, or write a paper, get to work or get ready for bed and do our bedtime routine, or clean the house or whatever, the brain has to do a lot of things to execute, it has to plan it has to organize, it has to prioritize, it has to pay attention and concentrate, it has to resist distractions, it has to task initiate or get started so that so that, you know, we're not procrastinating, and we have the, quote, motivation to do the thing that needs to be done. So in our executive function helps us to get things done, and I am somebody who my entire life I've struggle with executive function with, with, with how do we do these things, and especially when you're resistant, because the kids that we work with, who struggle with this stuff, the main thing that I think a lot of people don't do is address, what the heck is the resistance all about? what's at the root of that. So anyhow, I enjoy the challenge of being an executive function coach. But I'm also a speaker, I'm also a vlogger, I create YouTube videos every week of my life. And I speak to schools, I speak to parents, parent groups. And I work with kids and parents and families, individually in groups. So I wear a lot of different hats. Oh, and then as we were talking, before we started I have a executive function online summit cultivos, the executive function online Summit. And so I do a lot of different, you know, coaching, consulting, speaking, blah, blah, things like that. Sean McCormick 3:48 Yeah, and I think, you know, one thing that got me started on your work, which is probably an access point for a lot of people is the the V log or the vlog, you know, the weekly videos, just helping people understand what executive function is, what are their biggest challenges? Can you tell us a little bit about how that started? And how you know, is that, uh, would you say, that's a main? I mean, of course, it's a main part, but like, since you wear so many hats, like, take us through, like, what are what are the things if, you know, you had to strip it down to just the most important things you feel you need to continue doing? Like, what what would be the top three, you know, that you feel are, are your greatest? I mean, you have a lot of value add. So I'm curious to know, from your perspective, what they would be. Seth Perler 4:31 So I'm gonna get I'm going to answer this question in a very circuitous way, but I'll answer it so that those of you listening, I think this will be a satisfying answer for you. Because this is opening Pandora's box. So basically, the thing is, is that I did struggle a lot. And when I say struggle, I mean I suffered I as a young person, and I am what you might call The wounded healer, the wounded healer archetype or I am, you might have heard the term, we teach what we most need to learn things like that. I'm somebody who is like...
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