Sam Vander Wielen: [00:00:10] Hey there, and welcome to On Your Terms. I’m your host, Sam Vander Wielen. I’m an attorney turned entrepreneur, who, typically, I help online coaches and service providers legally protect and grow their online businesses using my DIY legal templates and my Ultimate Bundle program. But today is a special little episode, where I’m just doing a little personal catch-up with you, a little behind the scenes personal update, something that I wish we could just like chat about over coffee or go take a walk together. That would be my ideal situation. So, it’s a little bit different of an episode this week.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:00:42] Before I hop into my personal update, I just want to share with you that if you’re listening to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, make sure you leave a review of the show. Make sure you subscribe, of course, but leave a review, because every month, I pick a winner to win a 20-dollar Starbucks gift card, and then give you a shoutout on air. So, all you have to do is leave a review on Apple and we’ll pick a winner. We’ll announce it across social media and to my email list, and you just let us know that you’re the winner, and you get the Starbucks gift card. So, make sure you leave a quick review of On Your Terms. With that, let’s get into a little personal catch-up situation, shall we?

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:01:19] Oh, okay. So, as you’re listening to this, I have just wrapped up my big live promo of the Bundle. It’s like a wedding. It really is. It’s the closest thing that I can describe it. We worked on it forever. And then, it’s like you get as much done as you possibly can. Like I remember when Ryan and I got married, you get to this point, where you’re like, well, I’ve done everything I can do, and at this point, it’s just like, first of all, there’s only so many things you can do up until the day of, and then there’s a bunch more you have to do, but also, like you reach a point where like stuff’s out of your hands. So, that’s kind of how it is, in my opinion.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:01:59] I spend months and months preparing for this. My team spends months and months preparing for this. For this one in particular, we worked from September to February, so it was a lot of work. And I have so much fun with it, because I really love doing my legal workshop, over like 30,000 people have taken my legal workshop. And every time we do it live, which we only do once or twice a year, like thousands and thousands of people sign up, and it’s always like a really cool energy, and people are excited.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:02:29] I think live just like adds a different element, so I really enjoy doing it. I decided to do two webinars this year instead of three live, because doing three live is a little tough, only because, usually, the way that you do is you have like one webinar in one day, and two in the other, and the day where there are two, just like it’s so much, because it’s like me talking for like at least two hours each, and then, like we get just a flood of like inquiries, and questions, and new customers.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:02:57] And like there’s just so much going on behind the scenes that it was pretty tough. So, I actually have an episode coming up, where we’re going to do a debrief on how the promo went, like breaking down the financials and all that kind of stuff. So, I’ll share more about like some of the insights that we’re taking away from only having two webinars versus three live webinars. But on my end, I’m happy about it. I love doing them live, it’s just like a lot to do three in two days.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:03:21] Yes, we have all of that, and with that comes like a ton of new Ultimate Bundle members. We have people joining the Bundle every day, 365 days a year, but these are just like special little promo moments where we kind of double down, and focus on the Bundle, and go all out. And if you’ve watched Cheer, like I hope you’ve watched Cheer, so you don’t think I’m crazy, but in my mind, I’m always like, this is our all out, like we’re going all out, and it’s exactly how I think of it. It’s just like this like push, push, push, all out, dress rehearsal, then the main thing, and then like relax, right?

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:03:55] So, I take it pretty chill in my business day-to-day, even during promos. Like as I’m recording this, I’m in the promo period and I only work like—some days, I work several hours in a day. Other days, I work full days. Yesterday, I only worked like half a day, maybe. But I’ve also been really proud, because lately, I’ve been like taking breaks during the day, and just like taking a day walk, like a random during the day walk, or after work walk, or I’ll go like call a friend in the middle of the day, or the other day, I just like laid and watch Netflix for a little.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:04:29] I feel like I’m doing much better with not just sitting and working like 10 hours, eight hours straight, because I just really like what I do, so I can, sometimes, end up doing that. And I also think that coming from the corporate world and being a corporate attorney, it does take a long time to kind of beat that idea out of you, that like these are working hours, and therefore you have to be working during those hours, and that’s something like I’ll feel guilty, and then I’m like, wait, I own my own business, like I can do whatever I want, and I get all the stuff done.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:04:59] And now, I have people working for me, right? In the past like a year ago, I didn’t really have anyone working for me. A year-and-a-half ago, I didn’t have anybody working for me. So, when I wasn’t working, like the business was still running, but nothing was really getting done, done. Now, things are even getting done thanks to these incredible people who work for the company.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:05:16] So, yeah, it’s like fine during the promo period for me. I don’t tend to go like so crazy, like a lot of other people will talk about how exhausting launches are. I think what the more exhausting part from my perspective is like how outward-facing everything is, and I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of weird in that, like I am extroverted, but I also need my introverted time.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:05:41] And so, these periods are just so extroverted, like doing the webinar, having so many people pick at your brain, and being like, I need this, I need that, I have a question, and then like a lot of social media stuff, like so many Reels this time around. We went all out with the Reel strategy, so I’ll also tell you how that went in the debrief episode, but yeah, we liked did a lot of Reels. We did like live videos, like Instagram Lives, YouTube episodes, like there’s just so much outward, right? A lot of talking, a lot of outward.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:06:12] So, that’s like more the part that kind of, I guess, wears on my energy a little bit, not so much just like the pace of the promo, per se. And I would encourage you, too, that like if you are going to do launches or promos, that you build your own wellness into it, right? Like I booked a little hotel room getaway for like two days, like local, but at least I could like get out of the house, clear my head, two days before the promo started.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:06:42] And then, one of my closest friends, Naomi, it’s her birthday, and also, she became a citizen. So, we are going to celebrate in New York City, and like staying, having like a girls weekend there, and going to like a dream, dream restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, together right after the promo ends. So, I tried to like build those kinds of things in, but then even on a micro level, like I look over my schedule and I cancel anything during the promo period that doesn’t need to be there.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:07:11] So, like some meetings or things I have that just can be like, they can wait, I get rid of those. I make sure I block out an hour midday for lunch/free time. It doesn’t take me an hour to eat lunch, so I usually like go take a walk, or call a friend, or just lay around, or like listen to music, or read, so I will do that. I make sure I end early, right? And then, this year, I set the boundary of like, hey, two live webinars is good for me.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:07:38] It’s a lot to do it live so many times, and if somebody can’t make it live, they can watch the replay. So, just even those little things. I’m also like signing up for some sort of like meal delivery or like giving yourself some slack in terms of ordering groceries that week and not like going grocery shopping, ordering things that are like pre-chop, pre-cut, like that stuff just really helps me during a promo.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:08:00] Like I try to treat myself the best I can during that time period to just make it as easy as possible for me to succeed, and not burn out, and not be so tired, right? And like I’ll tell Ryan like, hey, I’m going to need you a little bit more this week or the following week. I’m going to need this kind of support. Like I tried to vocalize like what I need from other people, and other people in my life like, hey, I might not be as available by phone or I might not be as quick with texts this week, that kind of stuff.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:08:29] So, that just like really helps me. So, that’s like the biggest thing, I guess, that’s been going on lately. The other big thing is funny enough, is like my own legal and tax stuff, because, oh, man, well, in case you’re new here, I moved from the Philadelphia area to New York. in, when did I move? In August. And then, I had to like move all the business stuff, and that takes a while, because like I still hadn’t—well, first, I had our old house, and then it was like, I didn’t switch over like some of my other stuff, and I finally got like my license switched over, and all of these other things that just like take forever.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:09:05] So then, I moved my business to New York. And then, because I’m an S-Corp, I also have to move my S-Corp here. And so, that has just been like, oh, I feel for you. I just joke with everybody that I’m like, yeah, I’m an attorney, I find it annoying, too, that’s why I just try to help you and like make it as easy as possible. I’m not like here trying to sell you that it’s like the most incredible experience.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:09:25] So, it’s been appropriately annoying to get all of that done. I think I’m pretty much done now, hopefully, fingers crossed. I keep finding out there’s like one more thing, but hopefully, that’s that. So, I’ve been doing a lot of that, and then the other big thing on my end is like as a company, I’m just doing a lot of like legal acquisition, like buying assets of things.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:09:48] So, like I was on Instagram the other day talking about how I like buy domain names a lot and I try to protect, like anytime I have an idea for a product, I go and I buy like all the domain names for it and all that kind of stuff, and like trademarking some things, and copywriting some things, like all of this kind of stuff. So, I walk the walk. I do all the same stuff as I encourage you to do, but I’m taking care of all of that on my end, which is just a heavy lift when the products are like much bigger or they have been around for a while, like stuff like that.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:10:17] So, I’m just taking care of all of that. I also have been, if you follow me on Instagram, I share a lot about this on Stories, because I tend to share a lot of like just day-to-day behind the scenes stuff on Stories, but I’ve been really on a health kick since, I would say, the beginning of December. I don’t even know what’s happened. So, basically, here’s the long and short of it. I was an athlete my entire life.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:10:42] I played volleyball. That was my main sport. I played like nationally, internationally, very competitively, like all this kind of stuff in school. And then, I had brain surgery. And when I had brain surgery a few years ago, I have not played volleyball since, and it felt like when I had the brain surgery, it was like, oh, now, I kind of have to figure out how to like—well, not only how to move my body, period, because if you’ve ever played a sport like very intensely, you know that like, yes, you lift and stuff, so you strength train, but like otherwise, you don’t work out, because you’re constantly at practice and constantly playing, and my metabolism was that of like a 26-year-old, so I just was not doing anything else.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:11:24] And then, I had the brain surgery and it was like not only am I not playing volleyball anymore, because I don’t want to jump around and I’m like terrified to move my head like that, but also because my body is a completely different body than when I had the surgery. And so, ever since I had the surgery, everything is different. Like literally, everything in my body is different, I would say, from head to toe, but mostly just my head, but it affects it, because I have a cerebellum issue.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:11:51] And so, like my cerebellum obviously controls balance, movement, and stuff. And so, like the way that I like walk, and move around, and do balance, and like strength in my neck, and all of this stuff is just so heavily impacted from having had the surgery, and I feel still so off-balance. And yes, of course, I still do my exercises, and like my core stuff and my strength, so don’t worry, I don’t need tips at the moment. I go to all the pros for this stuff. But it’s just like a fact of having had this surgery.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:12:22] Like I literally had a brain surgeon cut in from my midpoint of the back of my neck all the way to the top of my head, and insert a device, go into my brain, and put something in, right? So, like it’s never going to be the same as it was, which is fine, but I guess I never—well, I never had brain surgery before, so I didn’t know exactly like how different everything, just like how much it was going to change things.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:12:51] Have you ever felt lost about where to begin with the legal side of protecting your online business? Some people say you can just wing it at the beginning and get officially set up later. Not a good idea, by the way. Whether you’re afraid to even start working with clients, because you don’t want to do something wrong legally, and then get in trouble, or your business is growing and you sort of forgot to take care of the legal pieces, I’ve got you.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:13:13] I don’t want you to live in fear of the internet police coming after you and your business, but you do have to do certain things and get certain things in place in order to legally and safely run your business online. As much as it just feels like an unregulated Wild Wild West online, that is very much not the case. As an attorney turned entrepreneur and former corporate litigator, I can assure you that there are rules, there are real steps that everybody who runs or starts an online business needs to take.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:13:41] And you’re not behind at all. We can get you set up in following the rules right away. In fact, we can even do it today. I want to teach you the five very simple steps to take to legally protect and grow your online business. You don’t need an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur and stay out of legal hot water, but you do need to dot your legal Is and cross your Ts in a few key areas that can’t be skipped.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:14:01] That’s exactly what I’ll teach you in my free one hour legal workshop called Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business. Just head to mylegalworkshop.com, drop in your email address, pick the time, and I’ll send you a link to watch the workshop video whenever you have time. This is the best place to begin if you’re just getting started legally legitimizing your business, so head on over to mylegalworkshop.com and sign up to watch Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business now.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:14:31] So, basically, I had that brain surgery, and then I was about a year post-op, and that’s when my dad got leukemia. And so, when I was literally getting back on my feet, like I was able to take walks, I could maybe do like a light workout, ride the Peloton, or something like that, then my dad got sick. And I just stopped taking care of myself for like three years. I mean, during that three-year period, because my dad’s been sick now for three years, he was only given 11 months to live.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:15:05] He’s still here, but he’s still sick. And so, that’s my catch-up. But basically, in that three-year period, yeah, sure, I had like blips where I would like start to work out again for like a month, and I would be like moving more, and like focusing on meditation, focusing on nourishing foods, and then I would stop for like six months. Because basically, in the last three years since my dad’s been sick, it’ll just like, randomly, something will happen with him.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:15:32] He’ll just like get a blood transfusion, and get a staph infection from the blood, and end up in the hospital, or like last year, they told us, like the leukemia had spread to all of his lymph nodes. And they told us he wouldn’t have very long to live at all, and then he’s still here. Like it just feels like every time—I talked about this when I did my like kind of year catch-up, my personal catch up, it was like the last episode I did in 2021 in case you want to listen to it, but I talked about it more in depth, but it’s just very hard to like, sometimes, get on my feet, because I feel like every time I would, something would happen and I would get depressed.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:16:08] I would get really sad. I would also just be spending time with my dad or like going into go mode and like doing something for my dad. So, it’s just been a very difficult thing for me to navigate over the last three years. My dad, though, has been here now for three years and he’s still sick, and so something, I don’t know, clicked with me in the late fall, early winter this year, where I was just like, it’s been three years, I have not taken care of myself, I feel like crap, I don’t feel like myself, I don’t feel like I’m comfortable in my body.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:16:40] For me, not for anybody else. I’m so terrified to talk about this, because I’m so afraid to get like shamed about like talking about like weight or not talking about it. There’s like no right or wrong in this industry, sometimes, but I’m just going to be honest with you. So, I was not comfortable at all. I wasn’t happy. Not because of anybody else, not because of the society, or diet culture, or anything else, I didn’t feel comfortable. And I had low energy.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:17:02] I didn’t feel good in my clothes. Like I didn’t feel as strong. Like I’m so used to being like muscular and strong, and I love that, right? And I just didn’t feel any of those things. And so, back in November, the very first thing I did was that I instituted a new—my mom would say when I was little, she would just like randomly be walking around the house, and she’d be like, “New rule”, and then she would like say her new rule. So, I, like one time in November, was like, “New rule, in the morning, we’re walking”.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:17:30] First thing in the morning, instead of like sitting and like watching the news or doing something else, I don’t even know what we used to do, I was like, “New rule, we’re walking every morning at least 30 minutes.” All we have to do is walk 30 minutes. It doesn’t have to be fast, or intense, or anything, it just has to be 30 minutes. It’s good for us. It’s good for the dog, for Hudson. So, all that kind of stuff.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:17:47] So, we started with that and I feel like that was like the first thing. And if you’re in the health and wellness field, I’m sure that you see this with clients all the time, where it’s like one positive habit then like kicks off all these others. And that’s essentially what’s happened for me, because it felt like I started doing that, I was walking every day, then it became like, oh, I love walking in the morning, let me walk in the afternoon when I’m done work. Like it’s a great way to wind down.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:18:09] So, I started doing that, and then I started to feel a little bit stronger, a little bit more like—cardiovascularly, a little bit better. And then, I was like, okay, maybe let me like pay a little bit more attention to what I’m eating and eat a bit more intuitively, but also, eat in a way that’s like a bit more nourishing for my body, and all this kind of stuff. And so, I got more into that, then that got me to drinking more water, which then got me excited to work out again, which got me to pay more attention to other things. And like it just went on, and on, and on like that.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:18:39] So, I’m well on my way. I am doing much better now. I am seeing it. I’m feeling it. I am very happy about it. I still have some way to go in, for me, like what I want to achieve, but I’m just feeling like much better in that respect. So, that has been good. I’m also working on a new project right now for the business, which like I can’t tell you anything about, but I can’t wait to tell you about it. I think it’s going to be huge.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:19:06] It’s really, really different. I don’t offer anything like it. I don’t think anyone offers anything like it. So, I will tell you about it when I tell you about it. It’s very soon, actually, after this episode, you will hear, probably about a month. So, yeah, I’m working on that behind the scenes, and I’m just like really excited, because I don’t see anything like it, and I think it’s going to help you guys so much, so I’m very excited about it.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:19:32] I’m also getting the travel bug again. So, pre-COVID, Ryan and I were actually little like world travelers. If you followed me any time before that, like we lived in France. Like Ryan and I, since we’ve been together, have gone to like 30 countries together. We love to travel. And so, it has been really hard for us during COVID, because we really just haven’t gone anywhere. We haven’t traveled. We haven’t flown.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:19:54] I’m so protective of my dad and I also feel like I always have to protect, like keep myself a little bit in a bubble, because at any moment, I could have to go home and see him, or go take him somewhere, or have him come stay with me if he’s sick or whatever, or if he’s hospitalized, like God forbid, I don’t want to be able to not go see him. So, I’d just like really taken COVID very seriously, and I’ve really kept myself in a bubble, and I really like shout out to any of you who have an immunocompromised, either you are immunocompromised or you know somebody who is, you care about someone who is, it is very, very difficult.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:20:28] It was already difficult, and then this has just made it impossible, I think, so I really feel for you. But anyway, we traveled a lot and I’m starting to feel the travel bug again. I mean, to be honest, I always have this thing in the back of my mind, where I’m like, can I travel? What if something happens with my dad? But that is just like part of the dance that I have been doing for so long, and I feel like I have to go and/or plan for it, and then if something happens, it happens, and I come back.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:20:28] Like I just don’t know what else to do at this point. I wouldn’t wish this on you. It is a very, very difficult place to be. Let’s just say that. But I like want to travel, and so hopefully, actually, while you’re listening to this, I hope that I’m away. You can go check my Instagram Stories right now, but I really hope that I am away, because I’ve been wanting to do a little getaway with Ryan somewhere warm.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:21:22] And he has spring break, and he’s a professor, and so I was like, let’s go this week. So, hopefully, while you’re listening to this, I am away. Not too far, but hopefully, I am. That would be very nice. To my future self, I hope I’m sitting on a beach somewhere. But also, I’m hoping to go back to Europe this summer, towards the end of the summer before Ryan’s classes start again. I think that would be really nice.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:21:48] So, obviously, as always, we’ll see what happens with my dad, but that’s the plan. Last but not least, the only other thing I wanted to share with you was that if we were getting coffee, I think what I would like so excitedly share with you is that I signed up for two things recently that were just like personal, this is a commitment I made to myself this year that I wanted to like cultivate space and time for things that I wanted to do on the weekends, or at night, or whatever that like had nothing to do with work.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:22:12] So, the first thing I did was sign up for cooking classes with Julia Turchin, who’s a chef who I love, and on Sundays, she’s doing a cooking class called Cooking with Julia. And they’re on Zoom. And they’re lovely. And you make typically three things. Every other week, you bake something, you make a dessert and like two other food items, and then, the other weeks, you do three like food dishes. So, that has been so much fun.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:22:36] I did it for the entire month of January, and then I’m doing it for half of February, because two of the weeks just didn’t work for me for something else I had going on. And then, hopefully, I’ll just get back into it after that on a weekly basis or whenever the classes work for me. But that has just been such a little treat. So, if you like, or if you’ve been like looking for a cooking class or something, I’ll include the link to Julia’s class below, but that has been so much fun and she’s a really lovely person. So, that was the one thing I signed up for.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:23:07] The other thing was I signed up for an investment class, like it’s a four-week course, like an actual course, on investments and learning more about investments, because I’m maxing out my retirement as much as I can on my end, but I want to learn more about it. Like I don’t understand how a lot of this stuff works. I don’t understand alternative markets, so I am diving into that. I don’t really have anything to report back yet, because it’s like the first week, but when I do, I’ll share it with you. I’m happy to tell you, if you want to like send me a DM, happy to like tell you what courses or something, but that’s what I have been up to kind of on the personal front over here.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:23:46] So, I hope that you liked this episode. You’ll have to send me a DM or something, and let me know if you want me to do these like once a quarter, or like once or twice a year. We just thought that it would be kind of fun to do some episodes that were a little shorter and more personal, following like all the promo stuff. And so, it was just like fun to sit down and chat with you. I hope that you enjoyed this.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:24:07] And if you want me to do it again sometime in the future when I have more personal stuff to share, let me know, send me a DM. Obviously, subscribe and follow the show if you haven’t already, and I just so appreciate you, and I appreciate you listening to On Your Terms. I hope you’re having a good week, and I can’t wait to see you next week, because next week, we’re talking about what to do if your online business gets sued, which is an important episode. I know, I know, but it’s important.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:24:33] And the week after that is going to be the debrief episode, so I’m really excited. We’re going to break down my recent launch and talk about like what worked, what didn’t, what I would do differently, how I go about it. I’ll take all your questions on Instagram ahead of time so that I can answer them live in that episode, but that’s basically what you’ve got coming up for the rest of the month. Thank you so much for listening and I’ll chat with you next week.

Sam Vander Wielen: [00:24:56] Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast. Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more at samvanderwielen.com/podcast. You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business at samvanderwielen.com. And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram at Sam Vander Wielen and send me a DM to say hi.