We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Raychel Sanner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Raychel below.
Hi Raychel, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
One of the toughest things about being a trans creator is that you are subjected to unnecessary hostility and skepticism from a lot of people. It’s usually very random too, and most of the negative comments are incredibly uncreative. But then again, I wouldn’t expect extremely open and creative people to hate others blindly just because of who they are. This is even more out of place when the person who is getting the hate (me) never really talks about trans stuff in their content. And by never really, I mean never.
What I always focus on is what is most important, I check in with myself and make sure that what I’m doing on any given day feels right. I check in with the plan to make sure it is strategic. And I just kind of keep going, you know? People who are so blinded by their own prejudices want people like me to be scared to create and be visible. That’s not going to happen.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Right now, I live a double life of sorts, ha.
For my 9-5 day job, I work in activism and on the issues of the day. a It’s a fun, invigorating job but also very draining. In many ways, it’s actual labor because I struggle with how much I want to keep doing it some days. It just feels like you are stuck in place forever.
What I’m becoming more and more focused on is my work at Tornado Titans. I promised myself I’d never start another company, but here I am, basically with another company. We do a lot of cool stuff and are dedicated to the weather. Our mottos are capturing incredible, and the weather is for everyone. That’s what we want to embody. The weather is incredible; this planet does some awesome, scary, and incredible things. But also want everyone to know that there’s a place for you in this community. The weather doesn’t care about who you voted for or who you are; it just is. We could all learn a thing or two about that kind of equal indifference.
We’re in the midst of launching some really cool things at Tornado Titans. I have a book coming later this year. We’re professionalizing and iterating our content, and I’m keeping a watchful eye on the potential to expand our offerings with smart A.I. integrations. But it has to be smart and has to make sense.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Honestly, the top skill is one you can’t teach. It is either there or it isn’t, and that’s persistent passion. If you can’t persist through periods where you aren’t feeling it, and if you can’t remember your why on what you are doing — it’s going to be nearly impossible to get what you need to get done. No matter what journey you are on, if you set goals but give up when you hit the first obstacle, none of the other stuff matters. You almost have to ignore the fact things are going badly sometimes (but only to an extent).
The other things are skills you can teach yourself. Things like strategy, being able to set realistic but ambitious goals and then be able to check in about your progress honestly. Then the next is learning when and how to pivot when a plan isn’t working so well. Like I said before, sometimes you just have to ignore that things are tough but you also have to know when things are so tough that you need to find a new path. In terms of doing anything creative, I think all of these are very important.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Take a walk lol.
But for real, separate yourself from the problem for a bit. It may seem counterintuitive, especially when you are overwhelmed because you have many issues piling up. However, I have found that a walk to clear my head often allows me to come at the issues a different way. Then I can prioritize and move forward.
Also, this is equally important; make sure any goal-setting you do is broken down into less overwhelming chunks. For Tornado Titans, I want all of my properties to be in the six figures on followers by the end of the year, and I’d love for one to hit a million. To do that takes a lot of steps. So, I break everything down on a somewhat granular, time-sensitive level. This will allow for any pivots that need to happen.
And remember that most people feel this way sometimes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tornadotitans.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tornadotitans
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tornadotitans
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/tornadotitans
Image Credits
Raychel Sanner
