About Ryan Eliason

Founder of Visionary Business School, Ryan Eliason is on a mission to empower socially conscious entrepreneurs to transform the world’s most pressing problems with purpose-driven, profitable businesses of their own.  Since 2011, well over 200,000 change makers have joined his Social Entrepreneur Empowerment Network to learn and profit from his popular People, Planet and Profit group business training programs that equip them with the tangible skills and mindset shifts needed to expand the reach and positive impact of their own powerful missions.

Recognized as one of the world’s top coaches for social entrepreneurs, Ryan has worked with over 6,700 satisfied clients from 85 countries and all 50 States through his results-focused and sold-out group training programs.  His debut book —  The 10 Best Ways To Get Paid for Changing The World – How To Make A Lucrative Career Out of Profound Service  — was downloaded 73,000 times within the first 14 days of its launch.

Ryan’s commitment to making a difference in the world took root to grow early. As a teenager, Ryan co-founded Youth for Environmental Sanity which has since supported more than 675,000 young visionary leaders from 65 nations working on social change, human rights, and environmental sustainability. Ryan believes that business can be a powerful force for transformation, and his clients gladly carry that flag with the training he provides to support their high impact and sustainable success.

My Story

I’ve been developing this framework for over 25 years. I had a 4.0 grade point average in high school, and my goal at the time was to go to a top school, get a job on wall street, make millions of dollars, and retire young. That was my limited idea of success back then. But the more I learned about the radical injustice, conflict and suffering taking place around the world, and the more I learned about things like climate change and rapidly accelerating species extinction, the less appealing this selfish idea of success became. Then, everything changed for me at age 19 when I walked out into the middle of a clear cut forest near my home in Eugene, Oregon… Something in me cracked open that day, and my empathy for all life expanded by at least a thousand-fold. Through the pain I found a love that was deeper and more all-encompassing than I had ever experienced in my entire life. I felt in my bones that everything and everyone is connected in ways that we will never be able to fully understand. The pain I felt that day turned into love, which turned into a deep inspiration to be of service, and I finally understood the famous quote from Rabindranath Tagore: I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. That’s when I came to understood that each of us is here to serve, and we will never be 100% satisfied with our lives if we’re not making the positive contribution we know we’re capable of.

Starting A Non-Profit

It wasn’t long after this clear-cut experience that I decided to start a non-profit organization. As a new non-profit, we were 100% dependent on charitable contributions and we were barely surviving financially. We actually paid ourselves less than minimum wage. This was tolerable as a teenager, but surviving on donated food and sleeping on people’s couches grew old quickly as I entered my 20s. It was heartbreaking because I felt like I’d found my true calling… I loved the work we were doing and I believed in it with all my heart, but I just couldn’t continue down a path of self-imposed poverty. So I chose to walk away and begin my search for a way to change the world AND make a good living at the same time. But deep down, I feared that it wasn’t really possible to combine having both meaning and money. I’d seen a few people do it, but I wasn’t sure that I could pull it off, and I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to try next.

Starting A Counseling Business

I had a naturally ability to coach and counsel people, so I developed this unconventional idea that I wanted to be a therapist for social change leaders. I’d seen a lot of dysfunctional psychological patterns in the activists and leaders I’d met along the way, and I believed I could help them to be more effective in their work for change, and that I could have a leveraged positive impact through them. So, I went to school and got certified as a Transformational Therapist and a Master level Hypnotherapist. I was naïve at the time, and I had honestly hoped that I could just hang up my shingle and clients would beat a path to my door. Nope. I barely had any clients. I realized that it didn’t matter that I was a talented therapist, and that I had great credentials. Sadly, that simply wasn’t enough. So, after investing an immense amount of time and money to get trained and certified, my business never really got off the ground in a serious way. It was another HUGE disappointment, and it caused a tremendous amount of stress in my life. I didn’t realize at the time what the real problem was — that I was missing the fundamental skills that every visionary entrepreneur needs. I just thought I’d chosen the wrong path, so I went back to the drawing board and kept searching.

Over 25 years of starting businesses…

Over the course of more than 25 years I started businesses in the fields of massage therapy, counseling, fundraising, database consulting, executive recruiting, and my current coaching and training business. Unfortunately, there were no programs like my Visionary Business School back then, so I had to learn everything the hard way. At this point I’ve experienced just about every challenge you can face when starting and running your own business… time pressures, cash flow problems, marketing challenges, customer service issues, employee issues, mindset issues, self-doubts, overwhelm, distractions, and massive amounts of technical challenges… If I am really honest with you all, throughout most of those 25 years I felt like I was working REALLY hard, too hard, for the results I was getting – both in terms of the number of people I was able to help, and in terms of my personal income. Do you sometimes feel that way… Like you know you’re capable of much more, but you’re just not sure how to get there? I remember a few times where I felt so frustrated with being my own boss that I wanted to just throw in the towel and get a REAL job. But thankfully, I was persistent. I didn’t give up and I kept choosing to believe in myself and my vision. I kept investing in the best support and mentoring I could find. Gradually, I developed and implemented the complete system I now teach my clients in Visionary Business School. And I’m glad that I did because once I started applying this holistic and systematic approach to my own business I started to see massive growth.

Sometimes I feel like I must be dreaming…

Sometimes I feel like I must be dreaming because I’ve achieved far greater results in my business than I believed was possible… I get to wake up every day and talk about the things I’m most passionate about. I’m making the global impact I always dreamed of making. Over 200,000 people from every country on earth have been through my webinar and video trainings and I’ve grown an online community of over 100,000 socially conscious entrepreneurs. Over the years I’ve generated many millions of dollars doing work that is 100% aligned with my values and my commitment to be of profound service to my clients and the world. I used to struggle to find clients, but now my coaching and training programs sell out every time I open enrollment, and I’ve found a way to make marketing fun and interesting for me, and truly valuable for my audience. All of the business mentors I used to look up to and aspire to be like are now my friends and collaborators. Many of them endorse my work and refer clients to me on a regular basis. I make my own hours. I can run my business from anywhere in the world, and since my wife and I love to travel and immerse ourselves in other cultures, you can often find me spending months at a time in places like Thailand, Bali, and Hawaii. Perhaps most importantly, I no longer worry about how I’m going to pay the bills or how I’m going to attract clients. I no longer fear that I might go through my life, always feeling like I was only manifesting a small fraction of my true potential. I am more at peace with myself now. I now get to put my attention on playing a bigger game that lights me up, and seeing just how much positive impact I can have in the world. One of the most satisfying parts for me is seeing the success of my clients. I’ve turned all those years of suffering I went through into a blessing, by developing a system that helps my clients take a much easier, faster path.