Leap First: Mindset Over Fear With Ingo Schulmeyer

What if the life that looks successful on paper is quietly draining you? We sit down with coach and creator Ingo Schulmeyer, who left a high-paying leadership role, sold almost everything, and moved with his family and dogs to Mexico. That leap wasn’t reckless—it was a deliberate choice to trade certainty for alignment and to rebuild work around purpose, not titles. Along the way, Ingo launched The Small Reset across YouTube and podcasting, helping people push past limiting beliefs and design lives they actually want.

We dig into the real blockers behind change: the childhood beliefs that harden into adult ceilings, the status quo bias that paints the unknown as riskier than it is, and the instant-gratification trap that makes creators quit too soon. Ingo breaks down why transformational coaching differs from advice-driven playbooks, showing how better questions unlock your own path. We talk success in practical terms—consistency and authenticity—and why your first ten episodes should be rough. Think of podcasting like learning an instrument: early reps feel clumsy, but those quiet sessions build the muscle you’ll need when listeners arrive.

You’ll also hear a grounded take on AI, branding, and trust. Tools can optimize thumbnails and titles, but they can’t replace a human voice that shows up, tells the truth, and earns attention over time. Ingo shares how progress metrics—episodes published, guests invited, skills improved—beat chasing viral outcomes. We close with candid insights on fear, failure, and resilience: you can’t keep the mountains without the valleys, and discomfort is part of a life that grows.

Connect with Ingo:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingoschulmeyer/
Website: https://www.thesmallreset.org/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theSmallReset

Transcript

Welcome And Episode Setup

Carl 0:04

Welcome to Communication Connection Community, the Podcasters Podcast. This podcast takes a deep dive into modern-day communication strategies in the podcasting space. We chat with interesting people who make the podcasting and speaking spaces exciting and vibrant. We also dive into the podcasting community with news, updates, latest trends and topics from this ever-evolving space. It's going to be one amazing ride. Let's dive into today's episode. There are a number of people who come to the podcasting space. Well, let me back that up a minute. There are a number of people who wish they could come to the podcasting space, but something holds them back. They are riddled with fear. That's maybe some of the five myths that I've talked about on this podcast before. But sometimes you just have to stand up and say, I'm doing it regardless of what happens. You know, what the heck? I'm going to make a move. And our guest today, wow, he's done that in his life. He's done that with his podcast, his journey into podcasting and video creation as well. Ingo Schulmeyer basically had a life that most people would consider successful a few years ago. He had a well-paying job and a leadership position in the semiconductor industry, money, a house. He was traveling the world, but it didn't fulfill him. He and his family, his wife, his kids, they all decided to sell everything. They quit their jobs and they went on an adventure. Wife, two kids, two dogs, and Ingo. They were traveling through Mexico and found a new home there. And I tell you, in our conversation, you're going to find that uh he's definitely not looking back on the decision that he made at all. Today he runs a successful business as a coach, guiding others to achieve financial freedom and find their true purpose. He is a podcast host, just launched his podcast not too long ago, and he is a sought-after podcast guest. We are so thrilled to be talking to him about mindset and success. Ingo, welcome to the podcast.

Ingo 2:13

Thanks for having me, Carl.

Family Decision And Pandemic Catalyst

Carl 2:15

It's a pleasure to chat with you and somebody that can just pack everything up and go, that takes a lot of guts to be able to do that. What was the catalyst that had you saying, we're going on an adventure, we're going to do this? What was it that egged you on to do that or edged you on to do that?

Ingo 2:31

I think that's a great question. I just wanted to add to it because you you made it sound like it was my decision, right? I think it's important that to say that it's a family decision, right? So I was aligned, it's important to be aligned with my wife. And my kids were still younger at this time. They were nine and eleven. So they were still in an age where we thought, okay, it's a where you can take them out of their social ecosystem and they can find something new. So we thought, okay, it's a it's also a good point. Before they're getting a little bit older when they're like growing up, when they're teenagers, then it would be much more difficult. So we took that time. And yeah, the catalyst actually was, as you mentioned, I mean, I was working at my job for many years and I was chasing my goals, reaching my goals, and becoming successful and climbing the ladder. But it didn't really fulfill me. And then it got even worse during the pandemic, right? Before I was, as you said, I was traveling and I was visiting customers in Asia and in the United States. But then during the pandemic, I was just sitting all day long in front of the Sioux meetings, and I was really getting miserable and depressed a little bit. But my wife was also not happy anymore with the situation, and the kids couldn't go to school anymore. We're also sitting in front of the Sioux meetings. And then we made this decision. So actually, it was actually my wife was even pushing more a little bit into this direction. She thought about it earlier already. We discussed this, of course, also earlier, but not really serious. But then when it happened, we we made this decision very quickly and hacked everything and burned down all the ships, and we went here. We didn't regret it so far.

Carl 4:01

And this was right in the middle of a of a global pandemic. You're doing this, you want a new life, and you just said we're doing this. Well, you didn't say it. You collectively agree that you just that let's do it. And how for most people that would be scary, even if there are a number of reasons for doing it, they still would think, wow, that's I couldn't do that. I just don't have it in me. Was there ever any any doubt or any second guessing that you'd made a mistake, or was it just moving forward regardless of what's going to happen?

Ingo 4:34

I think when what you mentioned now is exactly the point why many people are not doing it, right? You have this thinking that I cannot do it. Maybe others can do it, but I cannot do it. I have to. And I had this limiting belief for many years myself, right? I always thought I cannot, even many years before I thought about building my own business, maybe not to go to another place, but uh also about building my new business. But I always thought I cannot quit my job because I need to paycheck, I need to feed the kids, I need to pay the mortgage. So I always thought I cannot do that and focus my own stuff. And that's actually one of the things that I'm working with my clients today on, right? To overcome that. And I'm not saying everybody should take now their sell now their stuff and move to the other end of the world, but to find their own solution. And I think, yeah, in many cases, what's holding us back, it's our limiting beliefs. And actually, it's just like the missing courage that we're not going out. And this is because we believe that our current situation, our status quo, so to say, is less risky than a life in the unknown known, right? But it's just because we're familiar with that, right? Actually, there's also a lot of risk in staying there. I mean, in the end, I changed just my perspective, or not just, but I changed my perspective on how I looked on things. And actually, it's I thought, okay, what do I want to do? Do I want to continue to work for the next years or till the end of my life in a job that I don't really like, just to stay in my common environment? Or do I risk to jump into the unknown and would try something new? And in many cases, it will pay off very good, and it will you will profit from that if you do make such a decision, in most of the cases, I would say. So it's just overcoming our fear. And I must say, when I had this limiting belief for many years, but then once we made this decision, it was very quickly. I think we made the decision maybe in the end of October 2020. And by beginning of February, we were sitting in the airplane, right? So it's it's like three, four months. And this four months we did everything, right? We quit our jobs, we sold our house, we sold our cars, we sold all the stuff, we informed a lot of family, we arranged everything. And that when we were standing there at the airport with our, I think we had eight or nine suitcases with two carriers for dogs and the two kids. I have a photo, it's so nice. We're looking like really like immigrants with a lot of stuff, or like uh, I don't know, like uh gypsies. Once we were standing there, I didn't look back and I never regret this decision actually, because it was like a freeing process, right? It really set me free. Also, in such a life, there can sometimes be, there are sometimes challenges, but I actually never regret the decision.

Freedom, No Regrets, And New Perspective

Carl 7:08

I think for a lot of people, you hit the nail right on the head. I think it's mindset, it's limiting beliefs, it's fear of not just fear of the unknown, it's fear of we we attach so much of our lives to our jobs, we attach so much of our lives also to income, money. So what if I pack everything up and I fail and I lose it all? So there's that, there's that constant, and again, that goes back to mindset. There's that constant, you know, churning of fear and being comfortable in what is maybe not the most practical place to be, but we sit in that. And I and I'm commend you for doing that and having the mindset to do that. And now you're living very well and you're in a place that you love where you are. Tell us about what you're doing now then. You've left this corporate world and you're doing coaching. Tell us about the people that you're helping.

Ingo 7:55

Actually helping people that are the same like I was, right? They're struggling in a similar situation, they're struggling with a life. They that's maybe not really bad, but also not it could be better, right? And I would say for most of us, it could be better, right? We can improve something. When I quit my job and we started traveling, and I started to work also a lot on myself. I mean, actually, I was interested in self-development and personal development for at least 20 years, and I was always trying to improve myself, but it was more focused on yeah, like goal setting and habits and this stuff. But what was missing a little bit was this alignment. When we started traveling, I worked more on myself and I really started to connecting more with myself and to get this internal alignment rather than started doing meditation and I did a lot of courses about uh transformational coaching and NLP and all these technology techniques to improve the mind and also to find your own self. And then the changes were so profound for me because I'm also an engineer, right? Or I'm a very rational person. And I also thought, okay, I can explain everything and I need to make everything logical. But then when I started to connect with myself and I found my own truths, these changes were so profound for me that I started working also with other people on that and helping other people on that, coaching them. And not by following my path or anybody else, to find their own solution and their own truths for themselves and to overcome this things that are holding them back.

Coaching Focus And Inner Alignment

Carl 9:19

It's interesting because there's and everyone's got something. Everyone has the their past, whatever it is that filters into, and it's quite often their past that's keeping them stuck. It could be something they learned from a young age or parents, grandparents, uh, society, whatever it is that has has kept them in this place. Would you say then that with the people that you work with, they're moving through these challenges. Are they seeing the light, so to speak? Are they seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? They're recognizing that, oh, I don't have to stay where I am. That yes, it is possible to move into a different place.

Ingo 9:50

Absolutely. And this is possible by transformation. And I think today there are two different types of coaches, right? One are the coaches that are like more informational coaches, and they have, for example, a lot of experience in one thing. And they can help you to reach a solution or like a predefined path to get more successful in your job or whatever their topic is, right? A transformation coach is something different. A transformation, I'm not showing the people the path because I don't have their path, right? But I help them by asking the right questions to look in themselves and to find their own path and to really challenge their questions and challenging their beliefs. And as you're saying, I our beliefs usually we're building when we're very small kids. We start to build them, right? And then we they manifest and then they grow bigger. And of course, some beliefs are supporting our growth and some beliefs are maybe holding us back. But the point is, I mean, we're living this belief system that we're building as children, and usually we don't touch them anymore because they're unconsciously, right? And so we're living with them 20, 30, 40 years without really changing them. And now you're an adult and you still have this belief system of a child because that's what you learned. And you never really challenge that. Since you lived with that for so many years, it's of course difficult to get there and to change. And that's where a coach becomes helpful, because then you can really dig deep and ask the right questions. And from there you can then really transform them into new beliefs, into better beliefs that are better serving your life.

Carl 11:18

And and this leads me to my next question because and where this is coming from, let me just frame it properly too, because there are a lot of individuals in the podcasting space or who are looking to get into the podcasting space who are finding that they're stuck. They're either stuck in their beliefs, they're either stuck in their mindset, or they're just not seeing themselves in this place where they can make this change. So I want to ask this question and spin it, not just for entrepreneurs, but also folks who are looking at podcasting. How do you become successful in pretty much anything that you do? What's the what are some of the things that you need to think about when you're looking at success as a larger picture?

Transformational Coaching Explained

Ingo 11:55

I think success comes from consistency. And the problem today we have is that through all this technology and all the social media we have today, right? We're used to getting this instant gratification, right? We want to do action and immediately we want to get the reward for it. Entrepreneurship or also podcasting or building a social media presence, it's not working like that, right? You cannot expect, okay, I want to have my first video or my first podcast needs to be viral and everybody should see what a cool guy I am and everything. It's not working like that because yeah, people need to build trust in you. It's like a relationship, right? You need you need to go out and you need to continue spread your word and spread your voice. And then eventually people will find you, and then it's slowly growing. And eventually at one point it's it's also growing faster. But this requires you need to continue to do things, and it requires also that you do them more or less consistent. And I think what's even more important than consistency is authenticity, right? Because you want to do what you what you like to do and what you believe in. So if you're doing that from an authentic perspective, then I think okay, then you're real and people will identify more with you. And I think that's still true today, even with all, I mean, you know, with now AI and all the stuff, and and there you see all the videos and podcasts, they're all made with the AI and the titles and the thumbnails. Everything is AI. And but I think people looking, and maybe they're good for whatever SEO or or like uh grabbing some some attention. But to build a relationship with your audience, I still think authenticity is key. And and and it will always be AI because people follow other people, right? We don't like to follow computers or like some artificial whatever algorithms.

Success, Consistency, And Authenticity

Carl 13:37

100%. And it's funny that you mentioned that. I was just looking on social media and I saw somebody promoting that they will uh help you publish a book in 90 days without using any AI generated tools. And I scratched my head and I thought, that's very bold to say in a world that's AI, a lot of AI generated activities now, to be able to say, hey, I'm gonna help you do the help you do this without using any AI help at all. And he, you know, this individual has a model, has a system, has a way to do it. I'm thinking, clever. And you're right. When we talk about, especially in the podcasting space too, people like to do business with people. So people want to make sure your prospects, your clients, they want that real person, that real connection, whether it's a talking head or someone that they're listening to, they want it to be the real person, not the AI generated version of you. You hit the nail on the head right off the top, too, when I after I asked you that question about consistency. And I think that's one of the things that, and maybe you've seen this in business too, because I definitely want your take on this. But I think consistency also in podcasting becomes extremely important because if you want to make a difference, not only in your life, but then in the lives of others who you are touching and communicating with and sharing your ideas and your coaching or whatever it is, you need to be in front of them on a regular basis. You can't do it six times and say, okay, I've done this six times. Where is everybody? Unless you're already a successful coach, it typically doesn't happen that way, or a successful person like an Oprah Winfrey or Tony Robbins, you, you know, who have paid their dues, they've worked through the the trenches to get to where they are. Uh, you need that consistency. How challenging, though, in this instant gratification world is it to remain, are you finding is it to remain consistent and stay the course?

Ingo 15:28

I think that's exactly the point. And that's why I think it's also important to be authentic, right? Because if you are authentic and if you do with what is your passion, what you believe in, then you it's easier to stay consistent. It's actually, I would consider podcasting or actually also coaching. It's much more of an art than a science, right? And it's like with any other art, it's like, let's say you're playing the piano, right? Actually, my kids are starting playing instruments now, right? And they're playing the violin and the piano. And the first years it will sound horrible, right? I will never tell that to them. Sometimes it's really, oh my god, my ears. They're still playing it. And you need to get used to that. In the beginning, you're playing into the void, right? Are you playing for yourself, or you're playing with your headphones on, and nobody will listen to you anyways. That's why it's also okay to be horrible in the beginning, right? My first videos and my first interviews were also horrible. And thank God, not too many people saw them, right? And that's the process, right? You get a little better, a little bit more people coming, you get more better. And yeah, it's like with playing the piano, and after a few years, you're still getting better at it. And I would just see it more like as a journey, as a process rather than as a destination, right? You don't need to say, okay, I want to, I need whatever, hundred thousand subscribers in six months or something like that. But therefore, it's important to enjoy and to believe in what you're doing. And with that, you can stay consistent and it will keep you keep you running. Because if you just depend on other people's validation, that will be a very tough battle.

Carl 16:58

I think that's part of the the challenge, though, is, and again, this goes back to the instant gratification pieces. We want those 10,000 downloads or those million subscribers on YouTube. And we think that it's uh it is an instant thing that there isn't grind that you have to go through. And it's funny that you mentioned music too, by the way, because I played trumpet when I was younger. So I and I'm sure I tortured my parents' eardrums, the trumpet. So my brother played violin. We came from a very musical family, so we definitely had that. And you're you're right, you do have to be very, oh, that sounds lovely. It isn't as lovely as it will sound in years to come. So kudos for that. But getting back this consistency piece and how do you fight this instant gratification world, the spaces? How challenging do you find when you're working with clients? How challenging is it that you find that for them to step into being more authentic and stay the course and enjoy the journey as opposed to I want this and I want it now? How much of a challenge is that as you're working with people?

AI Hype, Trust, And Human Connection

Ingo 18:01

I think this is very individual and it depends on the person. I also found it harder to work actually with men than with women. In the beginning of my coaching journey, I thought, okay, I will focus more on men because I think more men need this, maybe, or I just thought, yeah, there are more offers for women anyway, and women are more into this, like, you know, they're more okay. I don't want to sound now like cliché, but um women are more like open for this type of things and you you dig in your feelings and everything. And I thought, okay, for men is something that's not too widely spread, that men are opening themselves in such a way, right? And I mean that's one of the reasons why it's taking longer to work with men, because they need time to open. But actually, I think the point is when people decide to go to a coach, they reached already a certain stage, right? I think probably 95% of personal people are just not there, and they will not go to a coach because they think cannot help me or it's not what I need, or I just need to be consistent. And they're still in this phase of, yeah, they're trying to set goals and it's somehow not working, but uh somehow they're also not completely miserable. And I think to understand that you need to make these changes, first of all, the pain of your current life needs to be big enough that you're willing to make this change, or at least you need to see the opportunity of making the change higher than whatever that than what you have right now, right? And once people are there, then I think they're getting pretty open and also uh like uh learning new things, and then it's becoming actually. I mean, usually when I'm working with clients, that's why I don't offer like single sessions or something like that. I work usually at least in three to four months periods with about 12 sessions, because in such it's a relationship and you need to build trust. And this usually takes two, three, four sessions uh till you can open, and and then it's becoming efficient.

Carl 19:47

Definitely. And and I'm totally with you on that, on the efficiency and definitely not just saying, hey, let's just spend an hour or two together and you'll be fixed. It's a longer process, it's a journey, it's a minimum commitment, and that helps to, as I said, that helps to stay the course. Let's talk about your podcast and what you're doing in the YouTube space because this is something that you're starting to embrace. What led you to the podcasting space? Was it necessity for what you're doing, or was it something else that led you there?

Staying Consistent In A Viral World

Ingo 20:16

Yeah, I mean, partly I was looking for so when I started like two, three years ago with the coaching, I started to build my marketing efforts, right? And actually, I started to I don't like too much this short form content. So I was never on Facebook or Instagram, but I started out on Twitter or X, however you want to call that. And I built some audience there, but I didn't really enjoy it. And I also think that this short content platforms like uh Instagram and Twitter and TikTok, they're more for entertainment rather for education. But my goal was really to help people, and I really wanted to like provide some value and not just to provide some entertainment for somebody that whatever has two minutes spare to check the next message. So yeah, I started focusing on podcasts and YouTubing. And on the podcast, usually I'm interviewing people. I started actually with interviewing people because I found in the beginning I was very uncomfortable, or to an extent I'm still today uncomfortable with, recording videos for myself. I think if if you have a podcast like we have now in a conversation, it's much more easy, right? The conversation is flowing much better, and I don't need to script anything. And yes, I started inviting interesting guests. We're talking about mindsets or actually the things we're talking about, right? That helps you in personal development and finding your dream life, improving your habits. And yeah, from there I started to do then also like single episodes where I focus on a certain topic. That's my idea.

Carl 21:41

And how's that journey been for you? How's the experience been? It it's you've been an overnight success with it, right? Absolutely.

Ingo 21:48

Yeah, my first uh my first podcast was uh was viral. No, no, no. It took very long. It took like eight months till I had my first time where I had really a video that went viral, which was like I don't know thousand five hundred views. But it's good if you if you're on the video solar. In the beginning, you know, there's just like a few views and nobody knows you. But yeah, I mean I enjoyed it. I enjoyed talking with people. I enjoyed building new relationships. I enjoyed making this video because it was also for me a learning process. A much more active way of learning than rather than uh just consuming content. So yeah I'm still not where I want to be but I think one thing is also that I learned not only for podcasting but is focus much more on the progress rather than on the outcome, right? So my goal is now to have to do like two videos per week. I'm doing one podcast per week. And that's my benchmark and if I meet this I'm happy and I mean then I have a better video I have doing not so well. But also from the one that's not so well I I'm learning. I'm making better thumbnails and making maybe the audio or the video better and each uh step is an opportunity to learn.

Carl 22:55

What would you say to somebody who's looking at this for the first time and saying you know I'd love to start a podcast but I'm you know there's a little bit of trepidation, there's a little bit of fear that's keeping me stuck. What would you say to them to help them move past that to help them get started?

Men, Women, And Openness To Change

Ingo 23:15

I think that's completely normal to have a way of fear or at least to have some feeling that's not really like uncomfortable feeling in the beginning. If you don't have this you're doing too little right it's like with everything in life. If you always stay in your comfort zone you will not grow. You need to seek this level of discomfort to to really grow and and that's what you have here and with podcasting it's actually great because you can choose your level of discomfort and you can go out a little bit and especially in the beginning I mean as I said people are not seeing are not watching you so start doing that and grow from there and I promise you after two, three, four videos it's getting better and if you did 10 20 videos of podcasts it feels starts feeling normal but still you will feel awkward sometimes when you're speaking in in front of the camera. The choice in life either you choose a life of growth or you choose a life of comfort and if you choose a life of growth it includes this level of discomfort.

Carl 24:13

I have probably more than one coach but I've had at least one coach say get comfortable being uncomfortable really like if you get comfortable with that uncomfortable feeling especially in business as an entrepreneur, as a podcaster otherwise you become stagnant and if you're looking for that change.

Ingo 24:29

So I'm glad that you shared that that it's it's about and the other thing is I mean if if we're talking about fear we we always try to avoid these negative feelings but fear or any feeling is per se not something negative right feelings are just like feelings they're there. And we also need to learn to accept our feelings and to live with them. And we cannot be happy all the time right there's also a nice thing that I like you cannot remove the valleys while keeping the mountains right because if you have your ups you also have your downs and that's the process of life and also fear it it's a feeling and if you start to accept that as a feeling and not trying to hide from that or bury that feeling uh then you will learn also that life is not life is not uh like 24-7 happiness and that that's absolutely okay.

Carl 25:15

Everything in life has a roller coaster effect to it or as you say at a peak in a valley and it's managing that and not and just understanding that and the other thing too is there's that fear of failure. What what if I fail? And failure I always view failure as it doesn't matter what it is in business and podcasting I view failure as a as a learning tool as opposed to what we're taught in school we're taught failure is bad and it's you did something wrong and don't do that again. Whereas as I've gotten more into business and into podcasting failure is a tool to help you become better. It's that failing forward mentality and there's that fear too piece attached to that failure is an opportunity to learn oh my goodness I could chat with you forever Ingo but I want to give you the opportunity to direct the listeners to your YouTube channel and some other uh things that you have there. So where can they find you?

Why Long-Term Coaching Works

Ingo 26:08

Yeah actually it's pretty easy. So my YouTube channel and actually also also all my other media outlets are called the small reset. So you find me on the YouTube at the small reset. My website is called thesmallreset.org I'm on Twitter under the small reset. That's my main outlets yeah but the main active I'm on the YouTube channel right now there's also the podcast uh yeah the podcast is also The Small Reset so and The Small Reset is also I mean I started building this brand and came up with this name because I also thought first of all it was inspired by the this idea of the great reset right where where they say okay we need to make the world a better place or whatever their idea is. But I thought actually we don't need to do this top down right I think I thought if each of us is working every day a little bit on ourselves and making ourselves a little bit better. If enough people are doing that we also make the world a better release. So that's why uh promoting the small reset rather than the great reset.

Why Start A Podcast And YouTube

Carl 26:58

A small reset is still a reset and it's phenomenal and we'll make sure that all of those links to connect with you are in the show notes. Ingo Schulmeyer before I turn you loose I'll give you the final thought my friend if you want to move forward I think yep find your really purpose find your really truth in yourself and look for this alignment within yourself. Don't do something just because it sounds fancy or a bit just because there's a like you see some money at the horizon. Really try to find this internal alignment and this will help you much easier this consistency to make this a success. Fantastic Ingo Schulmeyer will leave it right there and thank you so much for being my guest today thanks for having me and hey thank you for being a part of the show today. So glad you can join us. Believe it or not I can't work this magic by myself so thanks to my amazing team our audio engineer Dom Carillo our sonic branding genius Kenton Dobrowolski and the person who works the arms all of our arms actually our project manager and my trusty assistant Julovell Tiongco known to us here simply as July. If you like what you heard today let us know you can leave us a comment or review or at least give us a voice note. And if you really liked it we hope you'll share with your friends and your colleagues. If you don't like what you heard today well please feel free to share with your enemies and if you know someone who would make a great guest on the show let us know about it. You can get in touch with us by going to our show notes where all of our connecting points are there including the links to our website LinkedIn and Facebook as well and if you're ready to be a guest on podcasts or even start your own show let's have a conversation we'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space and rock it. Because after all we're Podcast Solutions Made Simple catch again next time