STANDOUTS — Chris Schembra, 7:47 Club

On our third episode of STANDOUTS, an Only Co. Production, we sat down with Chris Schembra, Founder of 7:47 Club and the best selling author of "Gratitude and Pasta: The Secret Sauce for Human Connection" based out of NYC.

Check out the full episode here, and keep reading for a summary of our chat below:

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Some of you might already know of Chris Schembra from his writing and storytelling about the art of gratitude. In fact, USA Today has deemed him their “Gratitude Guru” — and rightfully so. 

Chris grew up as an only child on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, where entrepreneurship was something instilled in him at a young age. As the years went by, however, Chris led a far-from-picture-perfect life, battling traumas that included getting kicked out of college his sophomore year and being sent to rehab multiple times in multiple states. 

Yet these are the things that have shaped and influenced his story today. Through dealing with these and other hardships, Chris learned to turn negatives into positives. He began to collect radically different life experiences, ranging from living on the tip of a glacier in Patagonia to becoming a boat captain and tour guide. He eventually made his way to New York City, where he still resides and works today. 

After those hard experiences, Chris had to learn how to meet new people, tell stories, and advocate for his work and for himself. Chris also gained anxieties, insecurities, and scars from those same experiences, but he was able to transform these into lessons of resilience and self confidence — a lot of which helps him connect with people today. 

When sitting down to chat with Chris, it was obvious that his passion for language and human connectivity are at the forefront of everything he does. Rather than dwelling on the negative aspects of his life, he is an advocate for utilizing those traumas as stepping stones toward growth, learning, and opportunity — much of which he covers in his newest book, “Grattitude Through Hard Times” (which is officially released June 21, 2022 and is available now on Amazon). In this book, Chris tells stories of trauma and how, as the result of the stress that trauma causes in our lives, you can either allow it to cause chaos in your life, or you can react using a strategy that creates growth and opportunity. Gratitude, according to Chris, is one of those strategies. He states, “When you can find positive benefits and give gratitude, it turns post traumatic stress into post traumatic growth.” 

Not only does Chris discuss how to show gratitude through hard times, he also leads the way in helping others change their thoughts and mindset when it comes to dealing with adversity. Chris uses an example of a time where he was going through the trenches and actually ended up causing harm to himself. Instead of letting that shame, guilt, and stress overtake his thoughts, he used it as motivation to write the 30-page intro into his newest book. 

He goes on to say, “When life is good, there’s no incentive to grow, learn, or connect. Believe in letting life turn to shit, and then finding the positive benefits through it – use it to develop confidence to get through the next hard times.” If there is one thing that’s for certain, it’s that life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Life is constantly changing; good times never last, but neither do the bad times. Whether that relates to your personal or professional life, there will always be those next hard times to get through. By showing and recognizing gratitude through those times, we are able to set ourselves up for a better position in those pivotal moments rather than being swept away by those stresses, anxieties, and traumas. 

We can all learn something from Chris and his writing that applies to our everyday lives. From his perspective, in order to stand out, simply tell your story. It’s the only authentic, genuine source of relatability that creates emotional and vulnerable connection to other people.

If you’ve read this far and had either of these two thoughts:

I’d love to share about my business with Josh on STANDOUTS

OR

My company is not differentiated enough, and competitors are crowding out my once unique strategy

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