#127 - From Bodyguard to Bestseller: What It Takes to Walk Away and Start Over
Nov 4, 2025
episode NOTES
I sit down with thriller authors Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck to unpack what it takes to walk away from stability and build a new life from scratch, from leaving counterterrorism and steady jobs to betting everything on creative freedom.
Imagine leaving a six-figure government job protecting heads of state like Queen Elizabeth and President Obama to start writing thrillers from scratch. That’s exactly what Simon Gervais did.
And imagine being the guy who reviewed every major thriller author, from Brad Thor to Jack Carr to Daniel Silva, before finally deciding to write your own book and face those same authors head-on. That’s what Ryan Steck did.
In this week’s episode, I sat down with Simon and Ryan to talk about the moment when playing it safe stops being an option. We got into what happens when you finally bet on yourself, how to handle the pressure once you do, and the mindset it takes to stay disciplined when no one’s watching.
“I never doubted myself,” Simon said. “I didn’t know the business very well when I did that. Maybe if I knew everything, I would’ve done something different, but I didn’t know the odds. So I just went at it.”
That leap led to The Second Son, the new thriller they co-wrote, and the kind of creative risk most people only dream about taking.
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Each post goes deeper into the episode, from discipline and ego to success, failure, and how to rebuild your confidence when you start over.
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Notes from Josh
Talking to Simon and Ryan reminded me that confidence isn’t built from comfort. It’s built from doing the thing that scares you and figuring it out while you’re in motion. They both took risks that could’ve gone wrong, but they did it anyway.
That’s what this episode’s really about: taking the leap even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed, because betting on yourself always pays off eventually.
Want to hear the full story? Listen to the episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
