Ryan Holiday: Think Like a Stoic, Timeless Leadership Principles for Modern Entrepreneurs | Leadership | YAPClassic

**Hala Taha** (0:00)
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Hey, Young and Profitors, when I think back to the early days of YAP Media, I was way too scrappy. I'm talking about working out of coffee shops, bouncing between public Wi-Fi networks, and hotspotting from my phone just to get through on a client call without the connection dropping. But looking back, it was actually adding a lot of unnecessary stress because you realize pretty quickly your business is only as strong as your connection. It's how you run meetings, serve clients, and keep everything moving. That's exactly why I wish I had AT&T Business back then. They're built for small business owners who need their Internet to work without second-guessing it. Once you've had that kind of reliability, you get real peace of mind. You can show up fully, close deals, serve your clients, and focus on growing your business without any of the stress. You need a provider that is as serious about your success as you are, like AT&T Business. Built to work, get AT&T Business at business.att.com.

**Ryan Holiday** (2:22)
The Stoics would say that the greatest empire is command of yourself. It's not things that upset us, it's our opinion about things. Realizing like as an entrepreneur, there's no such thing as a good market or a bad market. There just is. Life is objective. That's what the discipline of perception is about. What is the point of doing your own thing if you're not going to do it right? You're the boss. You get to decide what you pay people, what materials you use. If you're not going to use that to make a positive difference in the world, what are you doing? There's so many ways you can make money. And if money was all you cared about, you should just go work in finance. It's less risky and the upsides are probably higher.

**Hala Taha** (3:02)
How do you define a good life in Stoic terms?

**Ryan Holiday** (3:05)
The Stoics believed that life was...

**Hala Taha** (3:10)
What's up, YAP Gang? On Monday, Ryan Hawk reminded us that excellence has a price tag. It costs comfort, consistency, humility, and the willingness to keep showing up long after the excitement wears off. And that's what makes this YAPClassic with Ryan Holiday such a perfect follow up. Ryan is a bestselling author, the host of The Daily Stoic, a philosopher, entrepreneur, and one of the leading voices bringing ancient Stoic wisdom into modern life and business. In this conversation, Ryan breaks down how to turn obstacles into opportunities, how to stay steady under pressure, protect your time, and focus on what you can actually control. So if Ryan Hawke gave us the price of becoming, Ryan Holiday is about to give us the mindset to pay for it. YAPM, let's get right into my amazing conversation with Ryan Holiday.
Ryan, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.

**Ryan Holiday** (3:56)
Yeah, it's good to be here.

**Hala Taha** (3:57)
I'm so excited for this conversation. When I was researching for today's episode, I found out that you started your career with an apprenticeship when you were 19
You ended up dropping out of college at 19, which is the same thing that I did. I actually interned for Angie Martinez, who was the biggest radio personality in the world at the time when I was in college. From the Breakfast Club, right? She's at 105.1 now, but she was at Hot 97 Yeah. So apprenticeships are so important. You did it under Robert Greene. I had him on the show, one of my favorite episodes of all time.
I want to start there. I want my listeners to get a really good understanding of your career journey because it's the first time on the show. So tell us about that apprenticeship. What did you learn? How did it impact your future career?