Who is Ryan Scribner?

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ryan Scribner. Ryan is a massive YouTuber, who creates content centered around investing. He also has a very popular investing blog, called InvestingSimple. We talk about how he got started, how to invest, and much more.

• Hey Ryan, tell us your name and a little bit about yourself

Ryan Scribner, I was born and raised in Upstate NY. Outside of my business, I really enjoy reading. I am also a huge fan of coffee shops and bourbon. If I am not working, I am usually reading at a coffee shop, outdoors or spending time with family/ I do a fair amount of traveling as well. I’m pretty much the first one in my family to do something other than the traditional 9 to 5.

• How did you get started in personal finance?

My dad is a financial advisor and my uncle is an accountant, so it pretty much runs in my family. When I was working at my old job, I was making great money. I had a surplus income of about $1,500 per month that I was investing on my own. I decided to start documenting my investments on YouTube, and that is how my channel started 

• What did you do before your current profession? 

I worked in the past due to bill collection department for the power utility in my area. I actually have an associate’s degree in electrical construction and maintenance. I got this degree to make money, it was not something I was passionate about. 

• What are your 3 core values?

First would be being present with myself and others as often as possible

Second would be to understand the fact that you have no idea how long you will be here on earth, so you need to live now and not when you are 65+

The third is about integrity, you always need to be true to yourself, I would rather be rejected for who I am than accepted for who I am not

• What would you say is your passion?

In a business sense, it would be finding opportunities missed by others and building systems that run 24/7, eliminating your active involvement with making money

• What advice would you give someone looking to grow an audience on Youtube? 

The best advice I have is to serve a specific market or niche, you don’t want to be a generic channel, it is almost impossible to grow as a catch-all channel these days, you need to get specific

• What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned along your journey?

Money is not the end all be all, after earning in excess of $10,000 a month it has little to no impact on your overall happiness, true happiness and fulfillment has come to me by helping others and exploring my own interests, since I don’t have to work 40 hours a week I can travel, try different things, meditate, and ultimately learn more about myself, unfortunately most people never have time to think about or figure out who they are 

• What advice would you give someone just getting started with entrepreneurship? 

Learn how to say no early on, because time vampires are everywhere. Get clear on what it is that you are doing and say no to all the BS. Say no to meetings, ignore texts, ignore emails, throw away business cards. It sounds harsh but 90% of these interactions are going to be time-wasters for you.