Freeing The Dream with Cliff Ravenscraft

🚨 The Forge Your Future Challenge is back – August 7–9, 2025! Join yours truly, Mike Vardy, for this free 3-day experience to reconnect with what matters, regain control of your time, and set your future in motion. Just two hours a day for three days—no fluff, just focus. Save your spot now: https://mikevardy.com/forgeyourfuture On this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by Cliff Ravenscraft. For more than a decade, Cliff had been known as the Podcast Answer Man. He’s trained tens of thousands of individuals how to successfully launch an audio podcast. Today, Cliff is a business and life coach. He mentors coaches, consultants and thought leaders through the transition from their unfulfilling day job to their own responsible and profitable online business so that they can live the life of their dreams and do the work they feel most called to do in this world. This is a longer episode than usual but it is jam-packed with inspiration – which is the perfect way to wrap up one decade and starting another. Cliff’s energy is palpable throughout as he shares with me his online business story, what the transition from one business brand to another has been like, and his evolving views on productivity over the course of the years. There’s a lot to unpack and you’ll want to just sit back and absorb everything Cliff dishes out over the hour-long conversation. Talking Points What has the journey been like for Cliff in the many years he’s been an entrepreneur This is Cliff’s advice to anyone who is thinking about jumping into the online business world but wants to play it safe What did Year One of Cliff’s online business story look like? Cliff shares his burnout stories and why he experiences burnout during those times This is what happened in Cliff’s world in September 2017… and it changed EVERYTHING We talk about the transition from Podcast Answer Man to what Cliff is doing today What the people in Cliff’s life thought about him abandoning his lucrative business This is Cliff’s “mission statement” What about Cliff’s health? What changes has he made there? Cliff shares the workout routine that he committed to so that he could get his health in order We start to spend time talking about… Cliff’s views on time This is who Cliff learned from as he built his new business What does Cliff think of the idea of the “overnight success story” today? After Cliff recommended this book, I picked it up Cliff takes notes on something I said here… and runs with it! Here’s an alarming productivity tip… We start talking about planning – especially regarding Cliff’s “Free The Dream” event I share with Cliff the idea of the task-based mindset vs the time-based mindset When it all boils down to it, this is really all Cliff cares about Does Cliff have a team to help him out on an ongoing basis? We end on what Cliff did and what he would recommend you do if you’re just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey Quote “Every day is today.” Helpful Links Cliff Ravenscraft Think and Grow Rich Episode 239: Free to Focus with Michael Hyatt Social Media Marketing World SPI 256: Productivity and Frameworks with Mike Vardy from Productivityist The Prosperous Coach The Big Leap Free The Dream BradyMade Events This Changes EVERYTHING mindsetanswerman.com/free The Productivityist Podcast Pick fo the Week: Think Better, Live Better After speaking with Cliff, he sent me a quick email that let me know there were things he shared on this episode that he had never expressed before. He said he “verbally processed a few new experiences” that he had never fully processed until our conversation. The big thing he shared was the idea that he’d been experiencing a flow state pretty consistently as of our conversation but hadn’t really been able to identify it as such until that point. I hope that our conversation helps you either process some new experiences or identify some of the blind spots in your life (hopefully it helps you with both of those things)! Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. Also don't forget to check out all of our podcast sponsors found on our podcast sponsors page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 📘 Grab My New Book: The Productivity Diet: A Practical Guide to Nurturing your Productive Potential If you’re looking to build a sustainable, personalized productivity practice that actually sticks, my latest book is for you. It’s available now—wherever books are sold. Learn more at mikevardy.com/lit or request it at your favorite local bookstore.