Tomi Räisänen

Full transcript: Tomi Räisänen on London Real

0:06 This is London Real, I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Tomi Räisänen, recent graduate of our Broadcast Yourself course. Welcome. Thank you very much, honored to be here. Tell us about you. Where are you from? What’s your background? What do you do? I’m from Helsinki, Finland, and my background is…

0:24 I used to do a lot of athlete stuff and ended up playing ice hockey. I played as a professional in the minor league, though, but I played 23 years all together as a goalie, hockey. But that’s 11 years ago, and after that started working. I went to this massage school, so massage therapy, and after that later physiotherapy, and so that’s the working scene.

0:51 And other than that, I have wife, two kids, three and five-year-old, so that pretty much takes all the time, working and with the kids, with the family. And as hobby, I have different kind of hobbies. I do all different kind of extreme sports, what’s available, not in a high level, but just having fun and goofing around.

1:05 And then I’m part of a clown diving team. So I’m a clown. A clown that dives? Yeah. So we, we’re a clown outfit, and we dive from platforms and do shows. So we had actually 5,000 spectators last show what we had. Wow. How high are these platforms? Is it dangerous? 10 metres, and in Dubai we jump from 23, but that was just the first jump. 23 metres? Yeah. Okay. Into pools of water? Into pool of water.

1:33 Okay. Is a little scary occasionally? Yeah, but used to. I’ve done it now 11 years, it’s just all fun. Okay, something totally different. What other kind of extreme sports do you do? Snowboarding, wakeboarding occasionally, whatever comes to my mind. Not lately, not the past years that much, but you know, all kind of pretty stupid stuff, also jumping from roofs to trees or whatever.

2:01 What made you decide to broadcast yourself, to join us, and to put out your own podcast? Your webinar. And after that I just got so excited, because, to be honest, it was an accident. I never thought about it. I was watching your shows, the first one probably one year ago, and I was thinking, now this is cool, and I think I kind of imagined that he’s doing cool job, that must be fun. And but then I never thought about, never, to be honest, and suddenly I’m there…

2:33 Sitting home and watching your webinar, and after that, your Broadcast Yourself, and just something clicked, and like, I want to be in this. I was just… I went to bed, I couldn’t sleep. I got up, I checked my, you know, bank account. Can I join this course, blah blah blah. And went back to bed, couldn’t still sleep, got up. It was probably 3:00 a.m.

2:54 And then I, like, got to sleep in the morning. I woke up, told my wife about this course, and then she’s like, don’t think about the money, just jump in. And this was one kick more, and just, I jumped in, and so happy I did it. Yeah. And why London Real? Well, why not? I’ve been watching your shows and I like it, so that’s the reason.

3:19 I like the whole setup, all the whole atmosphere, the feeling in the conversations, and I like video, so that’s a plan to do video also in my part. But I think in your show it really brings the feelings out of people. It feels really like real, real and genuine talk, so I like it.

3:41 Okay, so you pull the trigger, you go in the course. What are the first two weeks like? First two weeks, I think after one week I was a little bit lazy. I got a good message from you, and yeah, yeah, I will do this after week, and I’m just at the cottage, you know, having fun, taking it easy. But then I just pulled myself together and start working, and I think it went well.

4:05 But of course it was a shock. First of all, speaking English, native language is Finnish, that was maybe the first one. Then vlogging, you know, filming yourself, never done that. I never was so much part of Facebook. I’ve been there, but I haven’t really been active in Facebook, and now I had to be there all the time. And so there was these…

4:27 Different things, but I enjoyed… now, and vlogging is no problem. Do you like it now? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s good. What kind of feedback you get to your vlogs, to your broadcast? I’ve gotten good feedback, and some constructive also, good ones. But from people I haven’t talked to many years, they just occasionally jumped into me: oh, you’re doing good stuff. So I’m like, okay, I guess I’m doing something wrong. Right. So yeah, good feedback so far.

4:52 Okay. When you got into the course, you probably met about 70 people from around the world. Yeah. Different countries. You’re here this weekend in London, graduation, you’re meeting them in person. What’s that community like? How would you describe it? It was just so, so warm. Right at the beginning it felt like people are really, even though they had their own issues and struggling with maybe the tasks, but everyone, it felt like, are really ready to help each other.

5:23 So it kind of felt pretty much right away as a sort of a family, and very close. Sort of… well, family is the right word, I think. And same here, when I met people I was like, I know these guys, and I haven’t… I have only seen them on screen. And he said like, hey, what’s up. You kind of, like, you are their friends already. So right from the beginning it felt good.

5:47 What were some of the big moments on the course, as far as highlights? Maybe when you’re interviewing someone or getting through some resistance. What are the things you remember? Well, getting through the resistance, for sure. You know, I mentioned already the English part. That’s the one thing. I was first planning to do the podcast in Finnish, but then I decided… I spoke it from buddies of mine and from some other people, and they’re like, why? And I started thinking about myself, why… I want to connect to the world, so why do you… in Finnish?

6:19 So that was the first thing. I just got over the resistance, was brave enough to put it out there in English. That was one. And highlights, of course, the interviews. There have been some resistance also, you know, no audio recording, whatever. But some guests, after the interview, they told me, this was so much fun, and you’re just a good inter… this was just a good interview. I’m like, okay, this is… I just felt good.

6:44 I met great people already so far I haven’t seen before, and like, this is good, this is good stuff, I like it. All right, so you’re going to keep broadcasting? For sure. Yeah, I made a promise myself, at least one year, and every week there’s going to be one interview out. That’s for sure. Okay. I promise that.

7:08 What was the biggest struggle for you in this course? The biggest struggle was probably time, to be honest. And I’m not the best when I do my schedule, you know, I’m not the best planner. And like, it was supposed to be like, it’s only four hours a week. I think I was 24 hours in the Broadcast Yourself story.

7:24 And I was putting this stuff out right at the beginning, in the morning, morning, for my wife like, yeah, blah blah blah. The whole day I was thinking about it, but it was good, I enjoyed it. But I think time, because I need to work and take care of the kids. So after, like, 8, when they go to bed, then I started working more, so pretty much 12:30 I ended up working, and then again in the morning.

7:47 But probably that. And then of course, because of that, in the end I was bit tired, to be honest. Like one and a half weeks, it felt like the whole sky is just falling. But then I got back again and did a good interview and got happy and realized that this is the thing I want to do. I really enjoy it.

8:02 What does the next year look like for you? Like, what are you doing a year from now? How many shows have you done, and how have you evolved, and the show evolved as well? Like I said, one a week, that’s my goal. So how many weeks? 52, then, from here, from now on. And I’m going to put it on video, that’s going to be the development.

8:25 I don’t have so big plans yet, be honest. Now I just kind of want to go with the flow, sort of thing. I want to put it on video. I want to get a studio. I actually talk with one buddy of mine, and probably I’m going to use their company’s sort of a one space. I think I will get that, and it’s a surf shop, so it kind of fits the surf of life thing. But so we’ll see how that goes, but we, for sure, and something…

8:55 And I think it already went a little bit deeper than I expected, because I’m talking about the mindset of the athletes, and now it’s just already diving deeper, you know, under the surface. So I think it’s just developing. So I’m just… I don’t know precisely where it’s going, but I will broadcast, and I want to do live shows. I love it. And what do you mean by deeper?

9:19 The emotions, and like, digging deeper in their mind. I was thinking more like, you know, first of all, how do they concentrate? How do they keep their focus just so, is in this small moment when they act or do their sport or the trick or whatever. But then actually I realized that, okay, there’s a big issue, at least when they stop their career, and there’s a huge gap after that.

9:49 So there are a lot of struggles in their mind, mental issues also. So it went sort of deeper than expected. Yeah, I like it too. But it was surprise for me. It shouldn’t be. I was an athlete myself, but I wasn’t in the higher level, the highest level. And so I can see now that the drop from there is, it’s long way to go down, and suddenly you are probably feel like you’re nobody. So there’s some big problems and issues with these athletes.

10:14 That’ll be interesting. And again, I remember when you first told me the idea for the show, I was like, okay, that sounds interesting, you know, some of the habits of these kind of extreme sports people, how they get over the anxiety and the fear. But I like that it could even go deeper than that, ’cause that sounds like where it gets more interesting. Yeah, I think so too, and it goes, it really… I’ve seen it now, it goes. But of course you couldn’t have found that out unless you actually did it. No, for sure not.

10:37 And that’s why I said, like, I don’t have so particular plan, but I think that’s the way it’s heading now, at the moment. Okay, I like it. Talk to me about you. How is Tomi different now than, say, eight weeks ago? If we were to bump into the old Tomi on the street, how are you different than him?

10:54 He would be… I would be way more nervous here. I don’t feel nervous now at all. Maybe a little bit, but not much. So this is different. I started speaking English again, and I kind of, like, I found myself again, to be honest. I used to be this kind of person that I don’t care so much about what other people think. I care about people, but what they think about me… I do what I want, sort of a thing.

11:16 I was doing all this goofy stuff and very goofy outfits, and I loved it. But it’s kind of like, step by step, it has disappeared a little bit, and now I just got it back. I feel good. That’s awesome, man, I can tell. And what was I going to say? For someone who is thinking about broadcasting themselves, but again has a lot of fear, you know, they’re worried about what people are going to say.

11:46 I mean, you put stuff on your Facebook page, I’m sure. Was that scary at first when you posted things? Very scary. The first thing, to, like, announce the whole thing and tell people, it was really scary, to be honest. I was like… and first thought was like, I need something very ready before I can put it out there. But this was one great lesson to learn, but it doesn’t need to be ready. Just broadcast, broadcast, like you said, and that’s the way to do it.

12:16 And so after putting it out there, it came easier and easier, step by step. And I accidentally put some couple of vlogs that was supposed to be in our group, but it was actually on my Facebook, like, ah, what is this? But then, I don’t care. Somebody saw it, so what?

12:32 So it’s nice to see that, because even a guy that’s doing extreme sports and doesn’t care what other people think, still hesitant to put stuff on Facebook. So very much, we all still walk around with these kind of silly fears. Yeah, exactly, and those fears were really there. And it feels very good, like, I don’t know, relief is the right word for that, just, you know, put yourself out there.

12:57 And but then people think what they think, but it’s been mostly positive. Yeah. And I’m very glad you’re doing it in English. I think, first of all, it just pushes you out of your comfort zone, and again, as we know, potentially opens it up to so many different people to listen. So congratulations to you for doing that. Thank you. When you first talked, you were like, it’s going to be in Finnish, and I was like, all right.

13:20 But you stepped it up, so that’s a big one. Yeah, thank you very much. And I know I stepped it up, and it was a big issue for me, and I’m so glad I did it, because now… because either way, after doing it in Finnish, I should have translate in English at some point.

13:35 So why wait? You can start right away. Yeah, exactly. And lastly, any advice you have to people out there that are thinking about going on a crazy ride with us, you know, jumping in the Academy, broadcasting themselves? They’re a little hesitant, worried about what people are thinking. What would you tell them?

13:59 I honestly recommend this. It’s been a great experience. It was occasionally… it was really tough, to be honest, and like I said, I was tired, and I got almost a little bit mad about you sending those messages, resistance and Extreme Ownership, like, oh, is this guy telling me this stuff? But you were right, and I’m glad.

14:16 I mean, also, I’m… maybe it’s because I’m an ex-athlete or player, I need sometimes, I need a coach to push me further. So it was good for me. It helped me out a lot, your messages. You’re tough… those messages, but they really did help me out. So I… but for people out there, I really truly recommend this, because it has helped me out.

14:40 And like I said, like you asked, it was not just about the broadcasting yourself. It’s not just about the podcast, also like finding, sort of finding yourself again and get rid of those fears and this anxiety that’s holding you back, probably. Yeah. Well, I was really impressed. I was worried about you in the first couple weeks.

14:55 I was like, I don’t know if Tomi’s going to get this stuff done. But once you started broadcasting, you seem to really get the bug and be like, wow. Maybe you noticed that you were changing, or maybe you just enjoyed having cool conversations with great people, but then you were just on top of it, you know, and publishing like a madman. So it was great to see that, and you brought all sorts of amazing energy to the group, so thank you for that.

15:21 I’m going to stay on you for the next year, because I want to see those 52 episodes, and if you keep up that pace, you know, who knows where you’re going to go with this. You know, this can open up so many different possibilities. Yeah, I truly believe that, and I will keep broadcasting. This is a promise.

15:36 And now in front of the cameras, this is a promise, so I can’t bail out. Good. Well, you’ve got the group. You know, you still got these monthly calls, you got everybody in here who are doing video, doing audio, doing business stuff, so you’re all going to stay together. You’re going to keep broadcasting, and I can’t wait to see in one year what you guys are doing, where you are on iTunes and all that good stuff.

15:51 So Tomi, I just want to say thank you. As we say on London Real, it’s about the journey. Keep doing the journey up in Finland, and just, you know, show us how it’s done. Yeah, I will do that. Thank you, brother. Appreciate…