Ryan Foland

Speaker, Sailor, Ginger ⚓️ I help you get your SHIP together. I sketch, speak, and rap to teach— I practice what I preach.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Have you ever felt like you keep pushing, but nothing happens?

Be inspired by the 🌎. It moves so slow that no one notices.

But it's been on the move for 200 million years.

If you missed this week's article, this is a sign that you should read it.

https://t.co/W6HTq6Gkc4

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

@abhitwt 😆

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

The dean walked to the stage holding check facing inward.

300 people holding their breath.

One team was about to jump out of their seats. The rest were about to learn something more valuable than prize money.
https://t.co/FoRq1fg8c8

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Heidi is gone. 🪦

250,000 miles. One head gasket. Zero warning.

Losing my car reminded me what it actually feels like to be a customer.

New EntrepreneurSHIP article is live.

https://t.co/NyAaWjydTW

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

@rahkitt72 😆 I think it’s fun. But it’s not for everyone.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Sometimes it takes three times.

The first try? Not it.

The second try? Not it.

The third try?

That’s the one.

Keep going.
Keep going.
Keep going.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

@AndImPo It was an epic kick off to Irvine Tech Day.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

I rapped to Still D.R.E. in city council chambers.

A 🦄 showed up. I ended on the marble countertop, fist raised.

Nobody said I could. Nobody said I couldn't.
https://t.co/iZLD9TN26r

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

The Blue Water Cruising Club has maintained the same cove since 1945.

Eighty years of work weekends.

Because enjoyment without maintenance doesn't last.
Same goes for your entrepreneurSHIP.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Do you have balance. Or is there no such thing?

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Your keyboard is dusty. Your screen has a smudge. Your stickers are faded. And someone already read all of it.

Your stuff is talking. Are you listening?

New Substack article is out.

https://t.co/q0lcWSQ33p

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

I used to dread leg day.

Then foil boarding taught me I needed it.
Now I've learned to love it.

The sourness isn't a warning. It's proof something is being built.

That lesson changed how I show up for hard things in business too.

👇
https://t.co/O9uf8QGLAU

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Too many ideas is a real problem.

It feels like a good problem to have. But when you can't choose, you can't start. And not starting is the one thing that guarantees nothing gets built.

This week I share the framework I use to help people cut through the noise: Passion. Problem. Profit. Three inputs, one focus, one real problem, three possible solutions.

Plus what my mom used to say when nobody believed in an idea.

https://t.co/W8hTFltAO7

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Failing does not guarantee learning. Learning from your failure does.

That's a narrow distinction. It's also the one that matters most.

We talk a lot about failing fast and failing forward. But if you fall, dust yourself off, and go right back to doing exactly what you did before, that's not a lesson. That's just a bad day.

Real recovery is operational. It means looking at what you missed. Building in the checkpoint that didn't exist before. Checking the dock for rusty nails before you jump back in.

This week, I took a nail through the hand on the water. Here's what it taught me about what it actually means to learn from a failure.

https://t.co/lHtDpo3HU3

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Use the fewest words to say the most.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

Practice does not count less because nobody is recording it.
It counts more.

https://t.co/JI4oak8Fiz

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

5+ years ago, I had a crazy idea to mix two things I love.

Speaking 🗣️ + Boating 🚢

I didn’t know what it would look like.
I didn’t know how to pull it off.
I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

But I kept talking about it, dreaming about it, taking baby steps toward something I couldn’t fully see yet.

Tomorrow, it launches.

The idea 💡: A speaking workshop on a boat.

I call it SpeakerSHIP at Sea 🌊

And honestly? I’m as scared as I am excited.

The stakes are low. My first beta group are friends.

But it’s hard not to feel the weight of it. Hard not to obsess over every detail being perfect.

It won’t be perfect. It’s the first time. And I always tell people: the first is always the worst.

Things will be rough around the edges. My planned agenda probably won’t go the way I’m envisioning it right now.

But it’s happening.

This is the shakedown. The real-world test of what works and what doesn’t. I’ve got a bigger vision for what this becomes, but I’ll never know until I cast off the lines and leave the dock.

As the countdown ticks down, I keep coming back to this:
SpeakerSHIP at Sea doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to float.

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

@GroupeSAI …and…?

[Ryan Foland @ryanfoland]

I make a lot of introductions.

And every time someone replies all and copies me on every scheduling email that follows, I learn something about them.

Not knowing how to BCC is a founder tell.

New EntrepreneurSHIP article: the full guide to BCC, warm intros, and the small habits that build (or erode) professional trust.

https://t.co/xeT1q1o8X5