Welcome to another episode of the balanced growth Show. I'm your host, Dr, Travis Parry, today I'm with some special guests and friends Eric and Emily Orton. Eric is an Emmy Award winning writer and producer. Emily is an educator, author and public speaker. Their life design framework commutes fear and accelerates growth. They are parents to five adult children, including their youngest with Down syndrome. They raised their family in upper Manhattan for 23 years, where Eric worked on such shows as wicked Les Miserables and the Phantom of the Opera when their kids were six to 16 years old. Eric and Emily bootstrapped life aboard a fixer upper sailboat in the Caribbean. They sailed as a family from Saint Martin back to New York City. Their memoir about their experience seven at sea is a New York Times top 10 travel book. After Life on the boat, they continue to travel the world with their children through Europe, the South Pacific, Africa and across North and South America in planes, trains, boats and vans. They are the co founders of the awesome factory, a coaching and travel adventure company that leads retreats and sailing adventures all over the world. You guys, I love this. I love you. Thank you for being here. You're such incredible people. I appreciate having you on the show.

Well, thank you, Travis. We are excited. We've been looking forward to this for a while, so thanks for having us
on
I echo that, yes, and with our crazy schedules, I'm just glad that we get this opportunity to meet up and chat. I've read the book my wife and I have heard you guys speak, and we've become friends. So thank you for your time. Talk to us a little bit. How in the world did you guys get here, from Manhattan to traveling across the world? Why don't you fill in some of those, those blanks of how you guys got to this position?

It's a little unexpected, for sure, it wasn't a calculated move from the beginning. But you say, where, where it started?

Yeah, I think, like any good adventure, it starts with a setback. It starts with being brought to your knees in some way. And I was working in the Broadway industry, and had left wicked and was producing some stuff on my own, and it was all going really well, until it wasn't basically and found out that I was, you know, kind of wiped out by a show that closed and that brought us to zero financially. It was I was, at this point unemployed and just really little heartbroken. Heartbroken is a great way to describe it, and I ended up just sort of going into a hole, and I got a temp job working in the financial district in lower Manhattan, and just sort of walked away from the theater industry and was trying to heal up. And that's when I realized that there was a sailing school right downstairs from where I was working. And I mentioned it enough times to Emily that she encouraged me to go in and check it out and and I did, after overcoming for me, what was really the trickiest part, which was, you know, Field game, yeah, the head game, which was, I felt like sailing was for other people, I felt like you had to be rich, you had to be well connected, you had to be you had to come from a sailing family. Maybe those were the ways in and I was broke and trying to, you know, recover financially, and did not come from a sailing background, and felt very out of my element. But with Emily's encouragement, I checked it out, and of course, they were friendly and welcoming and happy to collect the fee for us to take sailing lessons, which is where we started. And basically we started taking sailing lessons as a family. I don't know if you want to expand on that at all, just I really was encouraging him to do it, because I could see that where he was, he didn't want to grow. And that's not really our nature. That's certainly not His nature. And was at my job where he was at his job, yeah, he, they kept trying to promote him, and he didn't want to get promoted. And I get that like you might strategically not grow in one area, because you want to save your energy for different area of growth, but he he really was hiding and healing, I guess. And after a while, when this, I could tell it had sparked his curiosity and his interest, and it was an area where he wanted to grow, and I wanted that for him, but I was not feeling any personal lack of opportunity to grow. We had four going on five kids in this season, and we were new to homeschooling, and I just My My hands were full. I had a good group of friends, but I I had a lot that I felt like on my plate already, and just as an excuse, I had kind of a lifelong. Fear of deep water. So living in New York City and not really having pool access or never being a good idea to play in the Hudson River wasn't sad for me. You know, I was perfectly fine staying out of the water. And so when he came and said, Look, because I work nights, they can't get a class together during the day unless we all come, my first fallback was like, that's going to cost four times as much. And then he said, Well, I'll pick up contract work. And I was like, Wow. He is serious about this. Anyway, the kids were pretty excited. I reminded him that I am really scared of deep water, and that this was actually, like, a big ask for me, a big sacrifice for me to get out there. And he just said, Well, you that's why you need to learn how to sail, then you never have to go in the water, which didn't turn out to be true, but was a great way to get me started. And yeah, that's how our family started taking sailing lessons. And it just kept progressing. And eventually he said, You know, I think the it wasn't easy. I won't say it was straightforward. There were a lot of moments where we thought, this is a terrible idea. Our family does not like being on a boat together and things like that. But then we would kind of reflect and come back to it again later with a little more experience. And so over the few years that came to the point where he said, Hey, I think the seven of us on a sailboat would be enough universe for me and and I said, when would you want to go? And he said, When our before our oldest daughter leaves for college, and I think she was about 14 at the time, and we were not even on boats with engines at this point, so we had a long way to to go, but it, it really, I think, was an opportunity for our family to pull together over a shared project or a shared dream. And, you know, there were, by this time, seven of us, and we were each kind of in a different place with it at different seasons, sometimes more excited, sometimes more nervous, but we just kept coming back to the table and having the conversation and creating the vision together, until we actually did, you know, move aboard a sailboat. And then, of course, we just thought it would be an experience that we would have. We never imagined, like, Oh, we're going to write a book about this experience, or we're going to talk about this, or we're going to extract a framework, or we're going to run a sailing company, not at all, not at all, like we're just driving around trying to find, where are the boats, you know, like, we really started from scratch, so it's looking back, you can say, like, how one thing led to the other, but we certainly did not have a plan going forward.

Well, I read the book. I've seen you guys speak, and what I love about this story is I've heard it in so many different ways. Actually, my wife was so inspired. She grabbed your book and on the cruise ship, after we heard you guys speak, she was reading it, and she was giving me the updates, you know, like, oh my goodness, they're here. They made it there. And I was like, you know, I'm just kind of, like getting the play by play of what's going on. He's like, Oh my gosh, the boat's almost sinking. And like, I mean, I know they survive because they're on our cruise ship. They're here, but Whoa. Like, just hearing your story and then listening to it. I loved your book. Loved the book seven FC. And for those who who need any type of motivation, like it, it is so motivating to hear someone who just was, you know, you know, you guys are in a rough spot, and rough is like, very, very mild. And I think any business owner, any business owner, can relate to being in a rough spot, mild, moderate, very healthily, rough. It just really comes down to the like, what's going on in here, right that mindset, Emily, I think what you did for Eric in that moment of recognizing that he needed this for whatever reason was beautiful was amazing. In my second book, Marry and Grow Rich, which, if you haven't got this yet, guys, please grab it. marryandgrowrichbook.com, I talk about how business owners, the ones who are truly successful and have great marriages and families, they know where those boundaries are, and they support each other. And it's not just one way. It's not just the non you know, maybe business owner spouse helping the business owner spouse, right? Typically, you know, the wife helping the husband, or whatever. If you're in business together, awesome, it. You know, there's, there's some other issues and and boundary that we've we've covered another podcast, actually, about, about that being married, in business together, which you guys are making it happen.

But, you know, I. Think the important part is not we agree with that assessment. You do need to have some like context and some, you know, yeah, knowing, leveling up in communication, and the, what you call the boundaries, or the plans or act like, who's doing what, just being clear.

Yeah, exactly. So I mean that that's in and of itself. But I think the important part there is that you guys embody this. And I saw that, I'm like, Whoa. This is where it starts. It starts off with this tragedy, like any Shakespeare play. It's a tragedy story, right? Like, oh my goodness. How's this going to fix itself? And just one challenge after another, after another. So I don't want to spoil everything for everyone, but let's, let's. Let's dig into you know, you guys actually have this fantastic framework. Why don't you talk to us about, like, Okay, you decided to then leave everything in in New York and embark on this family journey. And what you brought out of this some framework pieces that I think fit perfectly for anyone in business, for anyone trying to level up their marriage and family. I'll let you guys take this from here and and kind of fill these pieces in. But talk to us about your framework. Talk to us about maybe back up a little bit. What are the problems that you guys, think that most families, individuals, marriages, face in life, and how your experiences helped to discover this framework? We'll go there.

Well, one of the things that we think a lot of people struggle with is worry. We're definitely faith people, and we know the commandment is in the Scriptures over and over again, Fear not. But we were very fearful, and this journey helped us, both of us, in our own ways, move past that fear. And sometimes the fear is just because we don't think the other person is going to support what we want, or it might be the fear of not knowing what we want for sure, and for us we like to start with, let's try to turn down the volume on fear and get clear on what is it that I'm actually seeking, and not in a selfish way, but I came here for a purpose way. And what is, you know, what is on my heart, what is my my purpose here, and we, you know, do you want to talk about what happens when we aren't clear on that, some of the downsides we've seen when we either don't know what we want or not sharing or pursuing what?

Yeah, I think, I think one of the challenges is that as as adults, as parents, we, often times, will bury the things that really do light us up, that really, you know, energize us. And we, we bury them out of a sense of duty and responsibility to, you know, provide for a family and and those things are real. I'm not trying to minimize that, but I think that the great invitation that we have is to figure out how to do both. And because when we when we really suppress the things that are that call to us, I think, you know, important needs are not being met. And when those needs are not being met, they it results in in destructive behavior in other areas to try and compensate. Sorry, I'm getting really distracted because my mom's upstairs, like talking, talking, talking, and I don't know if you can hear any of that. I I think that oftentimes, out of a sense of duty or responsibility, will bury some of the things that we that bring us the most energy or that are most invigorating to us. Oftentimes will, will will suppress those interests or pursuits as providers, because we say they're impractical or unlikely. And I think that that's, that's, that's a dangerous road to go, because ultimately, when we, when we sort of bury those inclinations, we a certain need is not getting met, and a need for enthusiasm for life. And when that goes on for too long, then I think it can result in in negative or destructive behavior to try and compensate. And so I actually think it's very healthy and wise and actually strategic to go for things that are that light you up, that you're enthusiastic about, because you have, we have, sorry, I'll speak for myself when I'm pursuing something that I'm genuinely interested in. I have so much stamina, I have so much tenacity. I have so much energy that I can be relentless about it. Right? And with that, I know that I will succeed, whereas, when I'm pursuing things that are a drag or a grind, sure, you know, we all have to take out the garbage, and we all have to do certain things that, you know, we just did a podcast episode called garbage is not my passion, yeah. And, you know, you still got to do stuff like that, but, but, you know, in the overall pursuit of things that are really energizing, you have longevity, you have stamina, you have tenacity, like I said, and,
yeah, enthusiasm sustains endurance. Yeah,
yeah.

That's very well said Emily. And so I think it's, it's a smart move to go for the thing, the thing that that is energizing to you, even if it feels unlikely or impractical, because the chances of succeeding at something that are really energizing are so much higher just because you're willing to do whatever it takes to overcome it. And so that may or may not be a career move. Yeah, it doesn't have to be a career move. It doesn't have to be professional or financial, but it has to have a place in your life. And so to your phrase Travis, you know you need to have a purpose that aligns with your actual values. And when that happens, you know, when you make that effort, magic can happen, and when you don't, I think it just it makes it harder than it needs to be.
So the first step of our framework, it's all sailing terms, is choose your own island. And we take a lot of time there, just so that each individual can get really clear on what it is they want. And then, if you're in a partnership, you go honestly and say, here are the things that matter to me. Here are the things that give me energy. Here are the things that I want to pursue or create or build, and now you're negotiating, or, you know, coming together with all your cards on the table instead of, well, my partner or my spouse, they probably want to hear me say this. Or I think, like, I'm going to assume I can read their mind and they want this, and I don't really want that. I feel resentful. But if we're going to move forward like it's it's about getting clarity. That first step of choose your own island is is a really brave move to get clear and specific about what matters to you, and our next steps are, chart your course, cast off. Casting off is a really scary part where you're actually taking some action, moving it out of the theoretical. And then we love you navigate out of the harbor. And a lot of times we just keep going back and, you know, taking these small steps, and then coming back from the unknown into the comfort zone, until you build that stamina and confidence and vision that you're ready to go over the horizon. And we talk about setting your autopilot in a really positive way, which are the habits and practices and systems that you can put in place so that you aren't constantly draining yourself making the decision over and over again to get where you want to go, and trusting your compass as you start to get close to the thing you thought you wanted. There's just a tendency to self sabotage, or to feel like you don't deserve it, or for whatever reason. I don't know why it is that way, but we've seen it happen again and again, and so we that's definitely an important piece. Trust your compass, and then you arrive, you arrive to your destination, and you drop anchor. And for us, that includes celebrating. One of the things that builds success is the feeling of success, acknowledging that you achieved something right, and expressing some gratitude and acknowledging your growth, and then staying in that, or whatever amount of time feels right to you. You know you might be like, This is my new normal for a while until you're ready to stretch again. So that's the seven parts. It's choose your own island, chart your course, cast off, navigate out of the harbor, set your autopilot, trust your compass and drop anchor. And we found this has helped us in Well certainly, we extracted it from our sailing journey. We didn't have the template when we wrote the book. We kind of figured out this is what was happening, and then it 5x how quick we were doing other big adventures for us and big, big dreams, because now we knew, Oh, it's going to get scary at this part. We're expecting it. Or, you know, here we're going to have to trust our compass. Or what are that autopilots we're going to put in place, and we now had a map, and it was for writing a book for other kind of outdoor adventures, like for Eric climbing El Cap, he's some twice now, and even in relationship, it has just been really helpful across a spectrum of things we want to do, and we've had several coaching clients that have had a wide variety of interests, from people who want to live on a sailboat, just like us, to people who want to build like a community glam ground and learning space. You know, just it's been incredible to save this temp. Is pretty flexible, and once you learn it, you can anticipate it, and you can just it. Doesn't necessarily make it easy, right? But you know you're going to get scared. So when you do get scared, it's less scary. And then you can move so it's a lower threshold to cross when you're expecting it and when it surprises you, I guess so that templates been super useful.

You anticipated that question. Like you guys make it sound so easy, but in the book, it was like, I how they they don't even have a boat, and they're gonna go to where again, and then you got the boat. And not to spoil everything about the book, but you guys didn't get out of your own harbor for like, weeks, right? You were stuck there for like a month, over a month.

Oh, yeah. I mean, we did small trips, but yeah, we there was a lot of heavy lifting at the front end. With our we bought a fixer upper, yeah, and our skills were needing to be created, you know, as we did it and we got there, and think there's a chapter called whose dumb idea was this or something like that, because we finally made it, and they were like, oh, no, this was a terrible decision. And I love that. You bring up like that. We make it sound easy now, because, yeah, if we've had some people say, Oh, I thought this book was going to be about how your rich uncle gave you money and you traveled around and saw these like things. And we're like, no, no, no, no. We had very little money. We had even less experience, but we had a lot of hope. And I think because so many of us were in on the dream, anytime one person got cold feet, someone else was like, no, no, no, come on. We can do this. We've had just been the two of us or one person, we it would have been so much easier to to bail out on it. And really, when we got there, we thought, maybe we can sell this boat back and go home, you know, kick out our renters and sit on the couch. My job back, sit on the couch all winter. It was, it was so hard, it was so scary. And for those first few weeks, there was on St Martin, there's an airport, I think it's called, like, Princess Juliana airport or something like that. And everyday flights would go out, and I would just see them go, and I would know, like, in five hours, I could be home when I'm sitting on this boat with no air conditioning and a tiny refrigerator, and when we bring our groceries, the onions fall in the water, and we have to chase them down. And, you know, it was forgot about the it was a challenge, you know, no, the food went under the dock. Well, now we gotta get a net. So anyway, yeah, it was a real challenge. However, we really turned the corner when we started making friends, and then we started building community. And even though there were seven of us that, you know, kind of made it to get out there, there were people who, once we were out there, were like, Wow, you guys don't know anything, but good for you for getting out here. And we want to try to help, you know, some stuff, so you can succeed. So we kind of learned it. There's a pity factor. There's some pity factor, back to there, right? They, they, they saw your plight, and we're like, okay, we like these guys.We want to help them. This couple was so great to us, like they were so generous that not everybody was so generous, but most people were. And they just said, we've been sailing from Canada down to Saint Martin for, I think, 10 or 11 years at that point, just every year. And she said, we have friends who have been preparing their boats for that same length of time and never feel quite ready. So they just really encouraged us and validated us by saying, even though you don't know everything, and there's a lot of basic stuff you don't know, you'll figure it out pretty quick once you need to use it right and and they just said, good for you for getting off the dock. And so we have a lot of admiration for people who just make a start. We're really learn from it. We're really good at face planting into opportunities. And you know, you fall on your face, fall flat on your face often enough you you you learn those lessons real quick, and you fall on your face a lot less. But I think a willingness to look dumb in front of other people is a real superpower. And if you can just sort of check your ego and be humble and be willing to learn, no matter how smart, more successful you are in other areas, the the more willing you are to look foolish in front of other people, is going to be an indicator of how far you can go, and what are the whatever area you're trying to grow, in my opinion,
well, you guys talk about this as a principle, it's casting off, right, in my opinion, like that's where this fits is, and so many people are. They're afraid to fail. I talk about this in my book Mary. So they're afraid to fail, so they never. Try. They have, they have ideas like they're full of ideas. They got these courses that that maybe they would like to get to, but they're so afraid to actually take that first step that that something might happen. When you guys are just saying it's just inevitable, it's going to happen. It's going to fail. You are going to fail, but that's okay. That's just, that's just step one, that's just part of the plan. That's just part of this framework. Talk to me, what do you what would you say is the most important part about all those steps in the framework? Is it the very first? Is it casting off? Is it celebrating like, what? What What is it for you guys? Would you say? And you it's okay if you have different answers, you don't have to agree
on that. Oh, we always agree on everything. So, so it'll be one in the same. I don't know if this is the answer to your to your question, but I think, sorry. Let me gather my thoughts here. I You're talking about failure. And I think that perfectionism is, you know, it's a little bit of a cliche, like better done than perfect, and it's a cliche because it's true. I guess I want to share this example, because I fall into this trap that you're describing Travis. I fall into it often. I think I'm trying to fight my way out of it right now in a few areas of my own life. And for example, you know this navigator framework that we're talking about, it's very there's sort of a feel good factor to this idea, like, Oh, we're just gonna sell off everything and go and do this crazy thing. That's not how we operate. That's not what we did. Burn the old life, yeah, you know, stick it to the man, chuck it all and go do your thing. We are not advocates of that approach. That is not how we've done it on anything. We are very we are big proponents of gradual and gentle and steady. And one example of, you know what you're talking about, Travis, of of sort of perfectionism or paralysis, because of, due to perfectionism, I really, really wanted to climb El Capitan in Yosemite since I was a teenager. And it wasn't until we were home from a sailing and we thought, Man, that was incredible. We can do that. What else can we do that? I got this idea about wanting. I now I want to go back and I want to climb El Capitan. And I had never been there. My kids are heard about it my whole life. I had, I had, you know, my friends had been I had pictures of it around the house or in my locker when I was a teenager, taped up in our closet. You want to talk. I just wanted to say, like, when we came back right, it changed our relationship to fear. And he said, gentle steps. We do a lot of counseling everyone who we're in relationship with, or who might be involved, we're constantly in contact about, how are you feeling, what do you think? And so they knew he really had this goal, but he didn't even feel worthy to step in the valley. And one of our daughters finally said, Where is Yosemite? And so he showed her on a map that it's in California. And she said, Yosemite is in the United States of America. And you have not been there, you know, and it kind of, it kind of broke through that shell he had about like, well, I have to be able to climb some high grade to feel like it's worth the effort to go there. And because of what we had just been through, and we knew this about casting off and what? And underneath that, I would say, double click and meet, and we talk about scouting trips. And I said, What if you and one of our daughters just go out there and the win is touching the base. Don't climb anything, just be in the valley and see what you think. And then, you know, he sent back a picture of him, you know, touching the base. It's actually one of the easier walk ins to get to the base of El Cap. It's challenging climb, but the walk in is pretty straightforward. And he met people who were doing it. There were mentors. There was like a current moving that direction and just touching it just gave him so much more enthusiasm to pursue it, and they climbed other stuff. And so it was like gravy on top of just showing up. But we used that casting off principle to then set the hook for actually accomplishing it, which he did, like, I think, a year later. Or was it two. Years. I think it was a year, but it was like, drop 40 pounds, get all new gear, climb regularly, camp as a family every month. You know, little steps along the way. So I mean to your, to your question, Travis about, what's the most important step? You know, there wouldn't be seven if there, if there didn't need to be seven. And so, you know, it's, it's a little bit tough to say which one's the most important, because I think the beginning part is about self honesty and exploration and discovery and and setting a vision. But then that's no good if you don't pair it up with action and and action can be very incremental and and small, but if it's steady, then that compounds, as you know, you know that's that's how wealth grows, is by compounding over time. And it's the same thing with action. And so you have to have some vision, you have to have some action, and then you also have to trust yourself. And then you also have to be willing to acknowledge your wins. And an important part of acknowledging your wins is because it gives you it just fills your confidence reservoirs. When your confidence reservoirs are filled and you then use do say, Wow, if I can do that, what else can I do? And that's how you go from Level to Level to Level upward, as an individual, as a couple, as a family, and and there's no rush. It's not a race between anybody. We can all go at our own pace, and and everybody can win.

I love this part of it, because it was like the seven at sea book was like your your struggles of getting there, just getting started, actually deciding which way are we going to actually go here, like when you finally made it to water. And then there was storms, there were problems. There are all sorts of things that you guys faced along the way, and then, you know, making it back. And I don't want to ruin the ending here, but you guys did celebrate and that, but I think it was this, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm hearing you guys say is like it wasn't just this one adventure, but it's this adventure that broke through everything that now set you off to we're going to do more adventures. We're going to go do this. We're going to do we're going to Van through Europe. We're going to climb El Capitan, which is incredible, right? Most people are afraid to probably even touch that, like, or, you know, climbing to the top on ropes next to it. You know is, is death defying promotes people they like that's fearful enough, but, but scaling is a whole other thing. So it sounds like what the kind of this 2.0 version is, the compounding effect of what this experience did for you, your family that will last, you know, forever. So I love this. And maybe this is implied, but that's, that's what I got from it after hearing you guys speak, I'm like, Oh, this isn't just about their one experience. This is about like, Compounding this over your your lifetime. So I love that. I love that word. In fact, it was so inspiring that for years and years and years, I told my wife, I want to take everybody to Denmark and show them where my grandmother and where my dad lived and where I lived for a little while as a missionary for the Church, and just been pushing it off for whatever reason, this reason, but then we have this window where I kind of felt like, similar to you guys, like you have this window, and I'm like, we need to do this and for whatever reason, if it's a business thing, a family thing, I loved your way of sitting down and charting your course. That night, my wife and I, we opened up our notebooks, we charted our course. We went through the process like we figured out all these things, and it's never going to be exactly like how you you designed it, but you've, you've gotta take that action, right? You gotta cast off and do it, because it has the potential. Just doing that has the potential to be compounding over time. What you do for for whatever business, personal, marriage, you know, family, whatever you're doing that could change your life forever. So thank thank you for sharing that, and thank you for bringing this up, and which brings you to my next kind of section of, Alright, so now you guys went from, you know, stuck in this, you know, this situation in Manhattan, where you were uncertain about any future, right, Eric, in your industry, of what, what you were going to do, to now, leading retreats, taking family. Is giving them the opportunity to basically say, Hey, let us provide you with the opportunity. Let's give you this so that you can kind of plug and play. Talk about what you guys do now and how fascinating this is. I love this. Talk to us about it.

Yeah, I think, as Emily said earlier. It it's a surprise to us, but now we we run a business, the Austin factory, and a good chunk of our business is helping people try living on a sailboat for a week. So we do trips all over the world, French Polynesia, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Mexico, Europe, and we just put together groups. Sometimes we take out groups. Sometimes we take out families, and we just go sailing for a week. And it's not a class or a certification course, but I do, you know, I teach sailing, and anybody that wants to try it out, I'm happy for it's a very hands on experience. And so if people want to steer the boat, I want them at the helm. If they want to learn how to navigate, I teach them how to read charts. If they want to raise and trim the sails, I'll show them how to do that. If they want to set the anchor. I just like to show people how it how it works. Let them try it. And I'm just there to make sure everyone's safe and that they're successful in what they're trying. And we just live on the boat. We Island hop around, or we we sail the coastline, or wherever we are. They say,
I want to go to that. And then let's go. You know, we literally cut. We customize the itinerary for every destination every time. And obviously I'll bring some suggestions about what I know of the area, but we'll sit down and say, Alright, what's everyone interested in? Let's look at the weather for this week. Let's make a plan and let's go. Do we ever follow that plan exactly? No, but like you say, it never works out exactly the way you you know intend, but it usually turns out better than you expect, and so we just have a blast. And like I say, sometimes we're taking out, you know, a mom and dad with their kids, or a couple of families that know each other. Often times it'll be a group of couples or solo travelers or a mix, you know, sometimes we'll take out sisters that want to go sailing together or father sons, but it's, it's a, it's a fantastic way to see places that in a way that you can't do any other way. You can't it's just, you just can't do it from land and and we and to your point, it's one of these things. You know, what we're talking about earlier, is that it's, it's fun, it's fun for us, it's fun for me, and it it's not heavy lifting anymore. Yes, there's a responsibility to being the group leader, but it's, I like doing it as a way of introducing people to something that is become familiar and delightful and not hard domain. It can be. You can feel very much on the outside, like I would a lot of people say, you know, I wouldn't know where to start getting a boat or figuring out where to go or how to organize the food, you know, all those What if something goes wrong? We've just been through it, and there's very few things that come up that would phase us, or we wouldn't know what to do. And so it's anyway. It's just delightful. And we've been doing it, I would say we're really we've been, I've been taking people sailing in some form or fashion since 2012 but now, I think since COVID, is when we really started to, started to ramp up this part of our business. And it's been, we started it during COVID, ironically, but it's, it's, it's been fun. And we're actually on our way to Italy next week to take a group sailing through the Bay of Naples, around Capri and Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast. And so it's,
and I would say, for Eric, he tends to love the adventure and the skill set and, you know, kind of the meeting new people. And for me, I tend to get most energized by the personal growth and the friendships that are formed and the and the self discovery that happens at the same time. So often people will come. What I know about travel is that when you are in one place that is your normal place, that you know you usually have your responsibilities and your rhythms, and then you take yourself out of that. Those first 36 to 72 hours are so key. And after that, your your brain has kind of let go of your old place and really embraced this new place where you are, and the trips are five to seven days, but when you're doing something new, everything feels three times longer, right? And so it's like, Oh, I've never tried to tie a fender on before. I've never, I didn't. Even know what a mooring ball was, or I haven't, you know, it's all these new experiences, and it just crowds out the old rhythms, and it brings all these new ways of thinking and these new friendships. And it's such a simple, straightforward way of life to be on a boat, and so different from land, that it just opens up all kinds of new thoughts. And so many times, people will get to the other end of the week, and even though we're literally just sailing with them, we're we're not teaching any of our coaching principles at all. I mean, they obviously go through the process, because it's all the sailing process, but they will go away braver and bolder and more clear about what matters to them and that, hey, I don't want to waste my time or my money on this other thing anymore. This is what I really like, and they have fun. And so many times they they come away with lifelong friends because of what they've shared together. So we'll have maybe text threads that we've started for a trip that will still be going off nine months later as they're checking in on each other's health or a natural disaster, or whatever happened with your, you know, your family. And it's, it's really beautiful,
awesome. But you know, I think what you mentioned there, too, Emily, is like, it gives people like, these adventures, these these trips. It gives, it gives you some space and time to think, without having to think, sit down and think about something. I i love adventures, and I love traveling for the reason of just that getting sometimes you're so close to the trees, you can't see the forest in front of you. A lot of business owners like they don't want to go on vacation, they don't want to go on getaways and retreats, and I think you're missing out. That's one of the best things you can do, because once you remove yourself from all of the day to day, your subconscious mind can start to open up and give you ideas that you never thought of before, and you come back to changed person, transformed. But I love that, Emily, you might not sit down with the worksheet and like, Hey, here's the seven steps, but you're showing them, you're taking them through that, and that is transformational. There's no doubt about it. I haven't been on your trips yet, but I've heard and I've seen some of the testimonials, if, if people are interested, if they want to go to see with with the with the Orton family, or the two of you guys out there going from island to island, and these awesome tropical locations, or all around the world, where you go, Italy, sounds amazing. Tell us, what, what, what should they I mean, obviously, you know, tell them where they can go to learn more information. But what, what could they do first, like, what's, what's something to do to prepare themselves for something like this?
Oh, I love that question. I think for me, the answer of like, what is the most important part of the process is it's all resting on this idea that we recognize we have a choice. Sometimes I like to ask, but if you don't know, you have a choice, do you have a choice? You know? And this, you know, these kind of experiences really open that up. So one of the questions we love to ask is, what could go right? I think that's a very good starting place. Whatever is something that where you have worry, and I might suggest starting with something that's really small, although it could be something big as well, and bringing that question to shine some light on it. Say what could go right? Actually write down the answers to that. See how that feels in your body, if it feels like scary and shrinking, or if it feels like a relief and expansion, and then take a small action. We we spoke at a real estate conference last year, and the guy who was doing the video filming of it all, you know, he heard us giving this, this keynote, what could go right? And he told us afterwards, like the next morning, he had an interview he was really nervous about, but he just asked himself, what could go right? And he went in with a completely different attitude. Had an incredible interview. Sounds like he got the job. He was, you know, the gig he was pitching a project, or being, yeah, yeah. And we just thought, you literally can start with just that one question, what could go right? And we could, we could talk a lot more about how it allows you to create your own what do we call it? The when you have the list of things that could go right, you create your own opportunity costs, right? You're like, Oh, now there's all these things I'm going to miss out on if I don't take even a small bit of action. But yeah, I think recognizing you have agency, asking what could go right, writing it down and taking some action that to you. You feels maybe incremental, and that's how confidence builds. Like, we really believe in that atomic habits principle, just like, yeah, a little a little bit at a time. But that one question is a good place to start. I do think that is good. And to your question about, if somebody wants to come sailing with us, you don't have to prepare that we, we specialize in taking beginners, people who know nothing. In fact, if you know a lot, you probably don't want to sail with us. You can just go on your own. But we, I love taking out people who have no experience and no exposure to it.

And it's an attitude, right? And the attitude of like, a willingness to learn. That would be the thing I would say have in place is like, I'm I might even be scared, but I'm excited to learn something new and try something new, and I feel safe enough with these people to try it with them.
In fact, here are the pitfalls that I would caution people to avoid. People will say, Oh, that sounds so cool. I should do that, but I can't because I get seasick, or I can't because my spouse is not adventurous, or I can't go because I have to take care of my sick parents, or I, you know, and and it's very easy to talk yourself out of it. And this goes back to the point of what I was saying earlier is that under the under the umbrella of duty and responsibility, we will suppress these things that really energize us and and we'll do it in these very innocuous ways of saying, I would love to do that, but I can't, because it's
someone else's fault, and I resent not living my full life because they're my blockade.

And so I'm not trying to guilt anybody into going sailing with us. That's not the goal, but I am saying that if there's something that you want to do in your life, be very aware of the reasons you're giving yourself for not doing it, and if it's coming sailing with us. Great. Super easy, super easy to our website. Yeah, go to go to the awesome factory dot NYC, there'll be a big red button that says sale with us, or something like that, and you'll get all the information there. But whatever it is that you want to do, just be very, very mindful of the roadblocks that you may be setting up for yourself and and if you come with us, we love to help you, you know, sort of knock over those, those roadblocks in whatever area of your life anyway, just that that you don't know. Yeah, we give people packing lists. We we tell you all the informations how to get there and all that, but, but I would say they are focused on people who, who want to learn, who want to be hands on. They're all alcohol free, no drugs, no smoking. Like this is we're going to build a team, and we're going to have an adventure together. Not a party boat, it's a growing boat. Yeah, a growing boat. There we go.

I love it. Sounds awesome. And I know you guys are incredible people. And I, I would encourage anybody who's interested in an adventure to not hesitate at all to hang out with the ortons. They are incredible people, and they know what they're doing. They have done this many, many, many times. But definitely pick up the book.

You can get the book right on the awesome factory website as well. Right? Awesome factory nyc.com Amazon. Audible. And then, you know, if you know, and our podcast is free, the walk it go right podcast, so any wherever, whatever price point you're at right now, hopefully there's something that can, that can help you live your best life. Get out from your library.

The three things I feel like people can latch on to right now is, is asked that question, like, what could go right? When my wife and I sat down, you know, and we're like, okay, I really have this burning desire to take my family to Scandinavia and go to Denmark and Norway and Sweden, and we even, you know, looked at, can we get over to Finland? Maybe not this time. But, you know, we had this grand adventure like, what could go right? The thing that kept coming back to me was my family, my children could develop a love of their you know, their father lab, their place where they're actually both my wife and and my family's come from, from, from Denmark, a very large population come from Denmark, and like, wow, this, this is why I love it, because I was there when I was a kid, like, I want them to experience it. So you're like, hey, that's what could go right? And then everything out that was the internal motivation. I talk a lot about that in my book, achieving balance, actually, over there, achieving balance, about values, about like, that's the internal motivation that you need. You can have Tony Robbins or the ortons telling you, hey, you know, every day, but you guys are mentioned the same sentence. That's pretty awesome, right? It's pretty awesome. Factory ish, right there. But. The The reality is that when you have that, that big dream, that goal, those values that you want to move towards, you're going to take the steps you're going to figure things out, the details oftentimes get figured out. I'm a big picture guy, so that's easy for me to say, maybe, but you know, you've talked about it, you know, Done is better than perfect, so having the experience will then compound. And I think one thing that might get a struggle talking personally is that we set these grand adventures, and my wife and I first were like, Okay, we're going to map out, we're going to do Italy and France and Spain, and then we're gonna go to the UK, and then, like, oh my gosh, that's a year long adventure. Like that is not and so we had to pare it back down, and we're like, like, what? What's really what can we do? And I think the thing for us was like, yeah, we've got this window, but it's not going to be the only window in life. It's not going to be the only time we're going to, you know, do these adventures, so we're going to allow that to be like, what can go right next time? How can we expand upon this? So anyway, I love this, the idea of what could go right, just getting past those fears, just passed off. I think that was mentioned several times, getting past that fear and I and, you know, jumping onto this adventure, you know, the awesome factory. You guys have an awesome time being, you know, at sea, joining this incredible trip wherever, wherever you want to go, that's another action step, but at least get the book read seven Etsy, the hat is my that's my number one recommendation. Like these other action steps are good. Read the book. You will be inspired to do these other things. And if anything, get more information about all the seven steps, or the framework and and be inspired for their journey in whatever you need to be inspired about in your life, your business, your marriage, your family. So please go to that website, the awesome factory nyc.or the awesome factory dot NYC is that? Is that it nailed
it, dot NYC, that's right, as in New York City, yes,
of course. So great reviews, incredible testimonials on that, and love your video on that, you guys can get to know the audience a little bit more that way. Last things, last last ideas, comments, things that would help somebody to get started taking this adventure into their own life.
I love one thing that you brought up about deciding that this isn't going to be our only window, and we love to say we've got to just get rid of the once in a lifetime mentality, because it puts too much pressure on us, and it's so much, so much better if you go in thinking this is my first time, and give yourself a lot of grace and a lot of space, and you'll enjoy it way more than if you think to yourself, This is my only time. Too much, too much pressure, you're more likely to crack
wonderful Eric, anything you want to add,
this is your first time to Denmark, yes, that's right. I'd also push back and say, why not take a year, you know, buy a one way ticket, get to Denmark, do Paris, France, you know, and then say, you know, anyway,
that's where you got to know your internal motivation, right? But you know, otherwise, people like this will talk you.
Yeah, I'll mess with you.
This is why you guys are so good together, right? You've got, you've got the both of the the con, you know, the the constant push and pull and and that's what I did see about the book, which I absolutely can recommend it with, without any reservations, is that watching the two of you work together or not, work together and come back together and figure this out like this could have been a disaster. It could have been, but you, you both, you come with such different skills and abilities to work together. You're a great example, and I appreciate that. I mean that you're great examples of what I believe balanced couples are really all about.

We're not perfect. None of us are perfect, not even perfect together. We you know, I think we have a shared we have a shared belief in Christ, and I know that Christ perfects us even then he allows us to be imperfect together and try to make this, this adventure of a lifetime, happen. So thank you for being here. Thank you for being on the balanced growth show, for making this happen between all of your world travels and seeing the two of you just it's, it's a real pleasure to be with you guys again. And thank you again for joining. Joining us.

Thank you, Travis. We love hanging out with you. Yeah, that's true.

Check out their website again, the awesome factory. Dot NYC. Grab the book, seven at sea, wherever you want to grab that. And if you haven't yet, grab my book, marry and Grow Rich at marrying Grow Rich book.com. I think these, these, these works, actually do really well to complement each other, until next time, we'll see you on the balanced growth show.