Up To It Parenting
Welcome to "Up To It Parenting," where we help youth, adults, and organizations connect deeply, communicate effectively, and thrive together. This father and son podcast tackles the tough topics that some parents shy away from. Join hosts Jamal and Zion as they explore everything under the sun, from young men's mental health to engaging in healthy relationships and embracing your true authentic self. As a father and son team, Jamal and Zion bring a unique perspective to the podcast, offering insights from both a parental and adolescent point of view. Through their candid and open conversations, they aim to provide a safe and informative space for listeners to learn and grow together. Whether you're a parent looking to connect with your son, a single mother or caregiver in need of support, or a young man trying to find your place in the world, "Up To It Parenting" has something for everyone. Tune in each week as Jamal and Zion take on the taboo topics and help listeners become more informed, productive, and confident members of society.
BOOK US NOW https://uptoit.club/
Connect with us- https://linktr.ee/uptoitpodcast
Up To It Parenting
Learning how to learn is the most valuable investment you can make in yourself
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Sai Vasam joins us to discuss his powerful approach to personal development through what he calls "self-investment"—a framework that helps people move beyond information consumption to meaningful transformation. He introduces a revolutionary way to think about personal growth investments through his four-category framework of one-to-many, one-to-zero, one-to-few, and one-to-one resources.
• Author, educator and coach on a mission to help youth and young adults become self-investors
• Self-investment differs from self-help by focusing on investing in others to help yourself grow
• Most people overinvest in one-to-many resources (books, podcasts) and one-to-zero activities (journaling, solo work)
• Greatest personal growth comes from one-to-few (small groups, communities) and one-to-one (coaching) investments
• Many people get stuck in vicious cycles of consuming self-help without addressing root issues
• When investing in yourself, focus on WHO you're learning from rather than just the offer
• COVID lockdown sparked Sai's transformation from math teacher to journaling enthusiast to author
• Youth are constantly bombarded with stimulation and struggle with genuine connection
• Taking calculated risks and occasionally going against family expectations can be necessary for growth
• Sai's book "Self-Investor" serves as "the first book to read on your personal growth journey"
Find Sai's book "Self-Investor"-https://www.amazon.com/Self-Investor-First-Personal-Growth-Journey/dp/B0F6185QK1/
Connect with Sai on LinkedIn-https://www.linkedin.com/in/sai-vasam/
Book a coaching call with Sai visit his website-https://www.saivasam.com/
TEXT US (904)-867-4466 but before you send your text in the beginning of your text include the numbers 2141639. We look forward to hearing from you!!
We are so appreciative of you listening we want you to be part of the Up To It movement!
Download the Brightn Wellness App
FUTURE podcaster!! here is our link to get started hosting your own online show! https://streamyard.com/pal/c/5554652120350720
Introduction to Sy Vawsom
Speaker 2yo , we , we back with it hey , you were saying uh , hey , pop , you wear that same shirt the last time . You know , it's my favorite shirt , that's all .
Speaker 1That's what it is hey , you know what pop . You know ? What's funny about this is that most of our people are listeners . They don't even watch the podcast yeah it's okay . I was gonna let it slide you know what I'm saying until you brought it out , but it's okay oh man okay , so how ?
Speaker 2you doing today , man , man , we're doing good , we're doing good and man .
Speaker 1Can we just be honest with them ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , holler at them , holler at them .
Speaker 1Yo , we're bashing content . All right , this is what it is . You know , episode this is the same day , so nothing has changed because , uh , we like to keep it as real and authentic as possible on the podcast . But that means what that means is we get to bring you some cool guests , uh , people that get we get to meet along the way . But pop , before I get too far into it . Uh , how you doing , man ?
Speaker 2yep , hanging in there , hanging in there still , uh , you know , grinding , putting some uh , some uh fingers to the keyboards in between these episodes and whatnot . So it's all good , though I'm excited . Though I'm excited to learn , because that's what's really awesome about this podcast is sometimes not only the people that are listening to us are learning , hey , but I'm learning at the same time , and that's what's phenomenal .
Speaker 1So , having this guest on right now , man , I'm excited , yeah , and I'm also excited , like you said , when we talked about keeping just staying , being a student of life , so to speak . How cool was it to have Chris on the podcast , man .
Speaker 2Oh man , that was cool . That was cool , yeah , yeah yeah , he meant it . Well , he meant it well , yes , that was awesome .
Speaker 1Yeah , to hear about the work that he's doing . I can't wait to do this next guest . Uh , he has , uh , some more wisdom , some knowledge to share , some information and I believe , man , I believe , he just dropped the book . So , yo , we're getting , we're getting to hear . I want to make give a round of applause for Si .
Speaker 3What's up ? All the podcast listeners , podcast hosts out there , teachers , parents , kids , youth , everyone everybody , everybody's gonna hear her side , you gotta decide .
Speaker 2You said you're down in south carolina , you gotta get the lingo right , man everybody everybody I was .
Speaker 3I was in , uh , charlotte , uh uh , for a few years , so I'm I'm used to the southeast okay , okay , you got it , you got it .
Speaker 1That's what's up I love it yo side , before we uh get too far off track . We'll go down a rabbit hole if we allow ourselves to do it . But , man , introduce yourself for everybody . Like you said , everybody that's listening . Man , who is I and what you , what you got cooking up , what you , what you up to , man ?
Speaker 3oh man , I feel like if you asked me this three months ago , it's different If you asked me six months ago , one year , two years , five years , 10 years , and I feel like that's the nature of who we are as people and that should be right . We're always changing where I was growing . So now , you know , in the summer 2025 , you know it could be a way of a different person who knows right . But um , for me , right now , what's I am ? The three titles that resonate with me the most are author , educator and coach . So those are the three things that resonate in that order . Actually , right now , and like you alluded to , yes , I did just uh , drop a new book , uh , which I'm sure we'll talk about soon . I love it . You got my degree
The Mission of Self-Investment
Speaker 3in math , so finally put that to you . So when people ask , hey , how do you use your math degree , it's like , well , I used as a teacher and then you know prior to that as well , I was still practicing as a life and career coach , especially for youth and young adults .
Speaker 3So those three things are how I would describe myself right now .
Speaker 2So question Cy , you said uh , you know math , um got your degree in math and so where'd you go to um uh college ?
Speaker 3Uh yeah , I was fortunate enough to go to university of Texas , so anyone's listening to hook them horns . Um , you know we're weark making a run . Hopefully we can crack through and beat some of these top schools . It was a pleasure and awesome time to be on the 40 acres in Austin .
Speaker 2I'm assuming you were teaching math in high school , because that's Algebra 2 . There's some geniuses out there . It could be middle school , but you never saw high school .
Speaker 3Yeah , exactly , it was a catholic school out in kansas city um that's where I'm from , and so was . I was working with a lot of uh hispanic and african-american students , um and so , so shout out to uh christa ray , kansas city yeah , you gotta do that .
Speaker 2Man got to let them know . Shoot , you represent a couple of states there . Yes , sir , I love it .
Speaker 1Texas man . That's some camaraderie over there . They don't play about their football , they don't play about just who in their community . So that's awesome , man . I didn't even know that about you , that you went over to the University of Texas . That's cool .
Speaker 3Appreciate that university of texas .
Speaker 1That's cool , appreciate them , it's . It's religion down there , the religion down there for sure . I was gonna say something about , like you know what these texas fans don't play . You know , I'm gonna just uh , retract my statement .
Speaker 1We don't want no problem so you went from because , uh , we talked and I got to hear a little bit about your story . So you went from a life coach to a teacher and you still have those , those educate , those roles and those titles you hold near and dear to your heart . Now you're an author and I don't want to out this . Tell me if this is um , you , you put the education to the side for now . Educator title , title for the side . Right now you're not in schools , you're not teaching , but you are coaching and you have a book and you're focusing mainly on those two things . Is that accurate to say ?
Speaker 3Yeah . So I mean it's yeah , like right now . I kind of think of it myself right now , as I'm on a mission to help youth and young adults become self-investors , and so we can get into what that means . But for me , a self-investor is someone who invests in others to invest in themselves , to help themselves , and so one of the big things that I think about and have in the book is , I think we're in this self-help industry , the self-care industry , um , and even like when you talk about investments , all those things are focused on themselves . So what I mean by that is like , when you're talking about self-help , it's like , okay , how can I learn things for myself ? How can I take care of myself ? How can this money when I put it into this investment vehicle , how can I get this return on investment ? Right , roi . How can I make more money with the existing money ? Right .
Speaker 3But for self-investments is the phrase that I'm coming up with is how do I invest in other people ? Bring that community and learn from other people ? Right , learn from other people right , um , and that is a way to learn , right . So it's not necessarily a novel , novel idea , but I think in this day and age , there's so much stuff out there of you know , like podcasts , newsletters , articles , youtube videos , books , courses , coaches , communities like , and where do people , where do youth and young adults especially , where do they invest their time , money and energy in Right and so like navigating that landscape ? When we're bombarded with TikToks and Instagrams and YouTubes and shorts and reels , everything right , and when all was bombarded , there's like no time to like what actually makes . What do I want ? And how do those things that I want to invest in , how do those align with those things that I want ? And so that's the overall mission , and so part of that is part of that is the book yeah , there we go , plug it , plug it for all the people watching .
Speaker 3Um , but yeah , just so , that's the book piece , right ?
Speaker 2so introducing that , concept and allowing people to read about it . You know , know , from a one to many standpoint , as I call it . So to the masses , what experiences led you to say , hey , you know what ? I ? Just you know . Teaching is great I've been helping a lot of young people in that manner but I need to drop a book , drop some of this knowledge , so people can like pick it up when they need .
Speaker 3What got you there ? Yeah , a few things . I was not , if you told me I would have written a book when I graduated college or even high school , I've been like no , no , no , no , no . I was like I hate writing . You know I don't want to write . You know an introduction paragraph and three supporting paragraphs , and then , here's a concluding .
Speaker 2You're doing good , probably , with the language arts , and all that because you said math .
Speaker 3Three supporting paragraphs , darts . And all that because you said math three supporting paragraphs , exactly right .
Speaker 3I'm like , uh , you know , I think the way the world works is it's much more , you know , expansive than that specific style , right ?
Speaker 3But so , like covid , actually , um , you know , despite the global , um difficulties and challenges people face , for me individually and personally , I felt , um , it was a amazing growth , personal growth period where I actually got into journaling , um , so I got my journal right here , one of my many journals , um , and that really got me just like , okay , I was able to take time and space to actually reflect on my thoughts , my experiences and actually understand my feeling , not just intellectualize my experiences and actually understand my feeling , not just intellectualize my feelings , but start actually feeling the feelings and understanding the feelings , which is not my typical experience as a South Asian male .
Speaker 3And so that kind of laid the foundation for writing , started a blog , created content , so that developed my voice a little bit more ,
From Teacher to Author & Coach
Speaker 3so , whether verbally written , et cetera . And then I was publishing newsletters , a couple , yeah , like one two years ago , going in depth . Then I wrote about this concept , which is now the book , but it was initially actually supposed to be a newsletter . And I wrote the newsletter and it was like 20,000 words long and I was like this this is not a newsletter , this is a , this is a , you know way more than that .
Speaker 1So then I didn't publish it .
Speaker 3I tucked it away , went through a few more iterations of it . I wrote it very technically initially , then I got some feedback from people and then I wrote it in a very narrative format and then I combined the two in the next draft of it , um , to actually uh , combine the like my own story with , like how I was able to invest in myself from like the first investment that I made in myself of like 300300 going to a conference and learning a few skills there and then building on that and then eventually working with course coaches , investing four figures in there . So that entire story of investing in myself and going along that path , but then also dropping some frameworks , some concepts , some ideas that people can use and vocabulary to use in their daily life , and that would instill the mindset . And so I wanted to share my story . That was one of the reasons .
Speaker 3Some of the reasons for the book are I wanted to share my story . I wanted to just write . I just love the process of writing now and it's just like and it wasn't like hey , like I want need to publish a book , but it's like I just have enough content for a book . Let me just make a book and then let's see what happens with it . So I'm kind of in the . So I'm in the launch process right now and it's I love talking about it . I love how the story started with .
Speaker 1I hated writing to now , hey , I love writing Like this is what I do . This is what I love to do , and I love that you mentioned journaling . That's one of the things I've been utilizing more now . I wish I'd used it more when I was younger , when I was in middle and high school , but now it's one of those skills , those coping skills , that I lean into more and often now . And it's cool that you mentioned journaling , because we are sponsored by an app called Brighton , where Jeff Johnston we had him on the podcast recently and he got to share his app , which is not a journaling app but a mental wellness app , but I use it for the journaling purposes . So it's definitely something that I love . I love a lot . So when you mentioned that , I was like I got to make sure we shout out Brian on the podcast . You know how it goes .
Speaker 2Yes , sir , yes sir .
Speaker 3So I'm wondering . So who's the book targeted towards ? Yeah , so , yeah , great question . So it's the title . The subtitle is , you can see it , the first book to read on your personal growth journey .
Speaker 3So , for the person who is just starting out , it's like you know , they see all these like tools , resources , apps , right . And so how do you actually make the most use out of them ? Because you could , you could use , you could journal all day , but you could still end up at square one . You could listen to all the YouTube videos , but you still feel more overwhelmed than when you began , Right . And so it's like you have all this information , what I call mental potential energy , which is what I is self-help . In my opinion , that's good . And how do you actually translate that to kinetic energy ? How do you actually take that forward and translate that potential to kinetic energy ? And so the person who is written for is the person who's starting out .
Speaker 3So if you think about personal growth as a , as as an exercise or a gym session , you can think of this book as a the warmup , the stretching , the five , 10 minutes , stretching beforehand , when you're before you're actually benching and squatting and doing all that Like , yes , read all the atomic habits like use Brighton , use , um , like all these things right there . Listen to these podcasts right and before , to get the most out of them , read this book to give you the right framework of where those things fit into your what I call the self-investment portfolio . Um . So , yeah , that's , that's who's geared towards , and and most of the people that demographically fall into that are , you know , youth and young adults . So , you know , recent college grads , maybe even recent high school grads , depending on how much they've been exposed to and what their ambitions are .
Speaker 3So that's usually the time frame , but you know if you're 45 , 50 , 60 um yeah , and you're starting out like it's never too late .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know what's interesting about you saying you know kind of the information overload with so many opportunities to to get or gain knowledge . I remember being in that space when I was in a transitional period and I was just getting so much information from from you to
Creating the Self-Investment Book
Speaker 2TEDs masterclasses , and I'm just like I mean I'm getting all , I'm just absorbing , absorbing , absorbing . But I never got to the do and I was getting caught up and caught and just , oh , I'm just going to , I'm just kicking all this information , but I didn't know , like what to do with it . And I got all this information and it was , I think uh , chris , our previous uh , uh , uh guest was saying too that sometimes you know , you end up , um , just wanting to do so much that you end up doing nothing . It sounds like this might be leaning a little bit into to that also conversation or steps or guides like , okay , yeah , you got all this , what do I do ? Man , like is that ? Is that connecting a little bit ?
Speaker 3Yeah for sure . And what came up for me is I talk about these , these vicious cycles . So on the positive , on the negative side , there's like the vicious cycles in whatever area that we're talking about , and on the positive side there's virtuous cycles , and so what can happen is like self-help can be the great tool out there , right , but a lot of times what I found myself in initially actually was a self , a self-help vicious cycle where I would feel bad about myself , like I wouldn't feel whole , I would feel lonely , you know , insert bad feeling and then I would go to some information , some sort of books , some podcasts , whatever to fill that hole , right . It's like oh , like I feel smarter now , I feel better , but that's like on the surface level . I wasn't addressing the root issues , and so it's like we feel bad about ourselves .
Speaker 3So then we seek something , and then there's like momentary pleasure . It's not the actual fulfillment , but it's like we feel bad about ourselves . So then we seek something and then there's like momentary pleasure . It's not the actual fulfillment , but it's the momentary external pleasure that we derive from . Oh , like I learned something today about personal finance , or I learned something about a new perspective that I could have and use in my workplace Right and so , so that there's that pleasure , so that it gives us that dopamine hit .
Speaker 3And then , and then we , and then okay , so then time , some time passes and then we feel bad about ourselves again and then it's like , okay , what do we do when our brain feels bad ? We go to self-help , right , we go to information that makes us feel better . So we're stuck in this vicious cycle of like feeling bad going to self-help , right , we go to information that makes us feel better . So we're stuck in this vicious cycle of like feeling bad going to self-help , feeling bad going to self-help . And it's also a very similar cycle for when , like burnout can happen at the workplace or in our , in our school lives , um , for , for youth and young adults , where it's like I need to fill time right , like I think this like age of anxiety .
Speaker 3Uh , I think it's partly uh , there because of we can't , we're not allowed to feel bored , like it's constant , uh , dopamine , I'll say like dopamine addiction , perhaps constant stimulus . I , you know , when I was at school I would see students with one airpod in , like even during class and like walking the hallways . It's like you gotta have one , you know , it's like so many stimulus coming in . So , right , there's that action that we , we can get , uh , in this vicious cycle of an action , uh , that leads to burnout as well , and so it's just the awareness of these vicious cycles that happen in our life and we need to step out of it to actually see that we're in it , yes , and so . So I'm just bringing awareness to that , that that happens and it's . I'm not bringing shame to it , but it's . It's like , hey , like , let's talk about it . We're just bringing . First step is awareness , right .
Speaker 1And then , once we becoming aware of those vicious cycles and eventually turning them into what I call virtuous cycles , I love it . There's a couple of books that come to mind when I'm thinking , when I was younger that I was forced to read next to that guy right there , every summer there was a book report that was due in my household and one of the first books that he had me read was the spark inside , uh , which was about I don't know . I want to say like 50 pages . It was short , read , read it and then after that it was a seven habits of a highly effective teenager that I read and I remember when we had our conversation , cy , you said this book is the precursor before you get into the seven habits of a highly highly effective teenager so that you can , uh , it sounds like discern and it sounds like you can , uh , uh , apply how to apply this knowledge that you're getting from Stephen Covey , right , stephen Covey .
Speaker 1And then , um , after that book , it was the man's search for meaning , victor Frankl , right , like that was kind of like my gamut of self-help and learning , but I feel like it would have been dope to have a book that you're talking about . That helped me also get that discernment and know how to apply what I was listening to or watching or reading , so that I could apply it then . And there you know , that's real dope . That makes sense . So I love it . I love it appreciate that .
Speaker 3Appreciate that . Yeah , jabal , I feel like you're about to yeah , you got into something oh no , yeah , no .
Speaker 2So I'm I'm wondering like , yeah , when you so , um , you think about the book , uh , what might be the top three things in there that you're hoping people to , to , to glean , um , or what are the two main , or the three , two to three , four , if you want to , whatever , uh , points that are really , um , our listeners should hear .
Speaker 3So they'll be like , oh okay , I see where he's coming from yeah and by the way if anyone listening , I'm not just like , hey , this is a long advertisement for a book , um
One-to-Many vs One-to-One Growth
Speaker 3, no , no , but it's I , I think , understand talking about these things . You know that's bringing the concepts that I've thought about . But actually , you know , convert , you know the book is a result of all these conversations and experiences that I've had , but a lot of people have had and I've had with other people , right , and so , um , I think it's great to go into the actual content and topics of the book , right ? So so a couple of things , two , three things that come up for me as takeaways , because I think everyone will have different takeaways .
Speaker 3One of the main reasons that I initially wrote the book and that I found as a is one of the mistakes , I'll say , or maybe ignorance , not a positive or negative connotation , just an ignorance that youth and young adults may have coming into investing in themselves is over-investing on the what I call one to many and one to zero , self-investment portfolio assets , asset classes . So fancy terminology maybe , but what I mean by that is so one to many and one to zero . One to many are the things that like books . Right , it's , a book is a one to many thing , like I produce it , and then anyone in the world could buy this book , so I've written it as a one to many thing . A podcast is one to many because it's distributed to everyone , right ? An online course could be a one to many thing if you just buy the product and you send your email , right ?
Speaker 1So that's a one to many thing .
Speaker 3A one to zero might be a tough relation to grasp , but what I mean by that is something like journaling or working out versus individual activity . You're doing it on your own right . So self-help and self-care overinvest . On those two asset classes of one to many and one to zero . We overinvest our self-investment dollars . It's like , hey , I'm going to invest in myself , but then we spend too much of that time and money on those one to many , one to zero .
Speaker 3What I saw for myself , when I saw the greatest growth for myself , it was when I invested in the one to few and one to one asset classes . It was when I was in small groups , small group communities , group cohorts , where I had direct interaction with the coach or the creator , whoever it was , because I'm getting their time and energy , I'm paying for their service , their expertise , their experience , right . And you take that a step further with one-to-one . I worked with a few one-to-one coaches on business side , emotionally doing a lot of inner work , and that's when I saw a lot of growth as well . And so one of the big things topics about this book is the progression in this journey of investing in myself . It started out actually a lot of one to many , one to zero , and that's fine and that's actually a great place to start . But , as we develop , if we can shift our money , energy and time allocations of investing in ourselves into those one to few and one to one , the groups that say , ok , it's very targeted . If you want to be a writer , right then spend , like , invest in yourself in terms of going to a writing retreat , specifically with someone that you followed on LinkedIn or Instagram or TikTok that you , you know , have this level of trust with , right . If you want to be a , um , a coach , for example , maybe take a in addition to , maybe , the large coaching certification schools out there . Maybe work with an individual coach who maybe has their own style and like and that you want to learn from them , like you really resonate with them , and so so , and then , as you do that , I think that one of the other big takeaways from writing this book was we are taught , I would say , capitalistic society that the main thing that we need to be focusing when investing in something , or even ourselves like this , is look at the offer .
Speaker 3And even for , like Alex Hermosi for anyone who knows him , his $100 million offers is like the first thing as a business owner . But what about the perspective of the customer , the consumer , the self-investor perspective of the customer , the consumer , right , the self-investor , I would say ? The offer is not the first , second or maybe even third thing to be looking at . When you're investing in yourself , and when you're especially looking at one-to-few and one-to-one investments , like a coach or a small group community , the main thing that you should be looking at is not the what , the where , the when , the why , but I would say the who , the who is the most important .
Speaker 3There's a book by Dan Sullivan called who , not how , right , and so it's like . And so if you apply that to investing in yourself , don't look at all right , it's a race to the bottom . If you're looking for the most commoditized kind of like product or service out there , right , you want to invest in the person who you resonate with the most commoditized kind of like product or service out there , right , you want to invest in the person who you resonate with the most and okay , like , I want to work with that person , even though their offer might not be the most ideal for me right now , I'm willing to pay that because I know I trust them . And so , at the end of the day , it's really a game of trust . So those are like the two of the main takeaways that I don't think people have thought about before when they're investing in themselves .
Speaker 1That's good . No , because that's one of the things I've been sharing a lot of and I'm glad that you gave it words , because I always say you know , one of the cheat codes that I had when I started to build up to it alongside my dad , was I had a mentor the whole way Like and luckily , typically you would have to pay somebody to get the kind of knowledge I was getting . But since my mentor was just also believed in me and I was helping him out doing some things , he helped me . In turn , he was like yo , all the knowledge I'm giving to you is free . Usually I charge about $5,000 for this type of stuff , but I like you and I see where you're going and I believe in you . So let's make it happen .
Speaker 1And I think what you're giving is , yeah , that one-to-one , is highlighting that there's some times those opportunities where people see it in you as a youth and be like I believe where you're going , I'm not even going to you don't have to pay for this , but you have to show up and you have to do these things and whatever , whatever the case may be , but the fact that sometimes I always tell young people you might have to pay for it . There's some things , non-negotiables , where you're going to have to front the $250 at 18 . I was $250 . To me it was like that's , that's a whole lot . Hold on , where am I going to find that money ? But you get that return , like you said , that return on investment , but also that knowledge and expertise and experience . The experience is key . So , man Cy , what you got going , man , is amazing . I love this . I love this .
Speaker 2Well , what I was going to say , that I appreciate too about what you're doing and listening to you . Also , I can see where your mathematics and the way that you process things kind of aligns with just the whole math thing . But the one to many , one to zero , one to few , one to one makes a lot of sense , especially when we talk about you know where our society is now , especially for young people . And the one to many , right , I mean they're on social media and they're not being truly fulfilled and they think and they don't know what that void is , because they're looking for that like that heart and those comments from people they don't even know , and it's not valuable feedback . These are just random people . Feedback , these are just random people .
Speaker 2But when you go from the one to many to the one to few oh , wait a minute , there's something here that I can really I forget what you said it's feeling fulfilled , truly fulfilled , right , and not just temporary , but even more so , even with that one to one , because our youth are disconnecting themselves from connectedness with people and they've made the mistake that connectedness is through this device that we have with us 24-7 . So I really and then , when you said the one to zero , man , that's so true , right ? You can only spend so much time by yourself and hoping to be uplifted . So I like it , man , yo , the way you frame it . That's cool , I like it , I see you , I see you , I see you , man , appreciate it , man .
Speaker 3Appreciate it , jamal , if you need us to go on tour with you .
Speaker 1We'll definitely hype you up and get this thing going .
Speaker 3If you need us to go on tour with you , we'll definitely hype you up and get this thing going .
Speaker 3I mean , that's you know , that's one of the other things . What I've talked , thought about is like , I think , because I know you guys are speakers , right , but sometimes you like feed off of each other , right , right , and so , like , when there's individual speakers , it can be , it could be . If you're not like trained or seasoned , it's like , like , like , where do you bring that energy yourself if you don't have it ? But then when you feed off of other people , it's like it's that much more natural . And so , even having like a like , uh , almost like a touring group , but it's like you know , like you're just having a host or a facilitator type of moderator , like as as a speaker , like I've thought about that it's like man , like , if there's a way to redefine the speaking industry as a whole , it's like why not just have like a facilitator but also the main speaker so you're not listening to the same voice over and over again , right , um , but that's that's the topic for another day .
Speaker 1I love it . So when you uh started going on this uh this life coaching and coaching and authoring and being an author , what was uh your reaction from your parents when you told them that this was something that you were going to pursue ?
Speaker 3Yeah , it's , it's mixed , I'll say . And so my parents have always invested in me , from the beginning Time , money , energy , sacrifices , moving , moving countries , immigrating to the us . So I owe everything to them , um , to my family , um , and they all I obviously and always know that they have my best interest in heart right and sometimes I disagree right yeah and so what they feel , as , I would say , one of their highest values , is like security and stability .
Speaker 3Um , and for me I've maybe taken that for granted where I have this , this floor , this stability , you know security blanket right , and so I want to use that security blanket to maybe take risks I maybe wouldn't have taken if I needed to build that stability myself . And so I've kind of viewed it as like , if my parents wanted me to , if my parents wanted to provide a better life , that I could go even further than they did . It's my moral and moral duty , my obligation , uh , to to do that and to maybe take those risks to go even higher compared to maybe instead of just a step up , it's like maybe what if we take the elevator up right at ?
Speaker 3least yes , right , right um and so so my react , so the reaction from my parents , as I left my full-time job to go to a startup where I took a pay cut , so I went from a consulting position to a startup that was a pay cut , my parents told me to strongly reconsider it Right when I left my full-time job at that startup , actually to then go coaching full-time and I moved back home to Kansas city . They were like they were yeah exactly Think about that .
Speaker 3They were a little bit more , you know , able to get on board since I was coming back home and I you know , right . But from a career standpoint it's like why so abruptly ? Right and fair questions , right , and so , like that was when I realized , okay , like there's going to be external forces , no matter how far or how close it could be Random people on social media leaving comments or it could be as close as your parents , right , whether whoever those people are , some people like you know . You know that they have their best intention for you .
Speaker 3Tension for you , but at the end of the day , if you have built the skills and the tools , the ability to know yourself and to trust your intuition , trust your gut and to allow us to sit in that silence , to feel that ,
Navigating Family Expectations
Speaker 3to feel it . What is the right decision ? Well , some decisions aren't made with the pros and cons list . Some decisions are made in your heart first , and and , and you move forward with that Right and so like . For me , those decisions , some people would make it make it more logically . I've been , I've transitioned more from a this logical , math based mindset , let's say I've merged more of this intuition feeling based . I go what am I feeling ? Let's let more of this , uh , intuition feeling based like oh , what am I feeling ? Let's , let's , let's go 100 into that , um and so .
Speaker 3So their reactions have been mixed but in the end they've all . They've been supportive , super supportive of the book , um , investing in me to help get it published as well , um and so like , and they're talking about it , they're , you know , sharing with their family , you know their friends , etc . And so like I am , uh , and so we are , we're moving together , not just individually , but as a family . I'm investing in my family energetically now . So , um , so yeah , for anyone who's like man , like I feel like I'm making a decision that's going against my parents . Um , that's okay . That's like , sometimes that is almost necessary . Now I can't . Now here's the meta thing , right , yeah , um , I I can . I don't want to give a blank statement advice of like , hey , like , if you're feeling conflicted with your parents and you're disagreeing , like do this or do that , right , that's , this is a podcast , right , this ?
Speaker 3so this is a one-to-many tool yes but if I or zion or you , jamal or anyone else , was coaching individually , you can provide a context um that can elicit the best advice or the best questions to ask yourself . So that's when you work with one to fewer , one to one all right , that's so good .
Speaker 1Yeah , I love how you took the framework and then like just integrated it here live and direct to show them how it works .
Speaker 2Man dude man , this is awesome .
Speaker 1I love it . I love what you got going on . I love your energy towards it . You already know you got up to it , support all the way . And where can they get the book , by the way , if they were looking for it , if they're looking to follow you for coaching , all that yeah .
Speaker 3So Google my name . Shaq says Google , no , I'm not there yet no .
Speaker 3I'm Sy , vossum is my name , self Investor is the name of the book . People can buy it on Amazon . I'm looking to get it on more distribution platforms too , but right now it's on Amazon and then , for me specifically , you can follow me on . Linkedin is the most active place that I'm on . I have posted stuff on my website , saivawesomecom , so just my first name and last namecom as well . Youtube , instagram , tiktok . I have stuff on there , but the primary places to get the book Amazon , self Investor and Syvossom . On LinkedIn I love it , man .
Speaker 2That's cool man , thank you .
Speaker 1It's been amazing to have you on the podcast and I'm glad that we got you on . This was in the making since like for two months , so I'm glad we were able to make it happen . Finally , and , man , I love your energy , I love what you're bringing to the table for our youth and our parents so that we can help help them just be as productive as they can and awesome members of societies , because that's what matters , man . That's really what matters at the end of the day , exactly .
Speaker 3I appreciate you . Yeah , I appreciate you both for having me on . I feel so energized . I think that's a sign of a great conversation , where you feel more energized afterwards than when you came in .
Speaker 2So for any youth and parents it's the one to few . It's the one to few , that's right .
Speaker 3Exactly .
Speaker 1One to few . I love it . Well , Sire , we want to let you get up out of here , man . Thank you so much again .
Speaker 3I appreciate the time , thank you , thanks , sire .
Speaker 1Oh man , that's another good dude .
Speaker 2Getting nuggets . You know , it's really interesting . And I don't think Si and Chris know each other , do they ? No , but they got it now . Yeah , we got to put them together because he mentioned Dan Sullivan's book and so did Chris .
Speaker 1I caught that one and these far , far apart . Don't even know . We're talking about Kansas and Canada right , there's something going on here .
Speaker 2Man Like , hey , listeners , hey , we'd be dropping a couple of guests that come up .
Speaker 1Excuse me , guests that come on be dropping some nuggets , pick it pick it up a little bit and and and you know , yes , sir you , we just don't see them . So we want to hear from you . If you want to hear more from Cy and you're like I love what he got going on , I want to get a book , text us and we'll get in contact with Cy . We'll make sure everything's good , that you get your book . But also , if you have questions for Cy , you have questions for us . Chris , jeff , whatever guests you've seen or you heard , always Brian , always text us , always text us . And again , that's 904-867-4466 . Uh and uh . Before we get about it here , you can follow us on instagram at up to it az . But if you're like , you know what z jamal , y'all got that energy .
Speaker 1I need some keynote speakers . Man , go ahead and visit our website at up to it dot club . That's up to it dot c l ? U b . Dad hit the dance for them real quick , so they know that it's not dot com , it's a club , because it's a party atmosphere , it's an educational turn up . Yo , we're going to get up out of here . We hope y'all have a great rest of your day . Pop anything you want to say to them before we leave .
Speaker 2Hey , y'all just do it and do it positively .
Speaker 1There we go , we out .
.jpeg)
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
