An illness forced this podcaster to confront a major weakness: 'Everything felt fragile'

Ryan Peterman gave himself a six-month leash to make his podcast work. The Peterman Pod/YouTube Ryan Peterman left Meta and focused on his passion project: a tech pod. He had six months of savings. Four months in, he was still in the red. In a YouTube video, he explained how getting what felt like the flu forced a reboot. Sick days hit different when you're the face of a brand. Ryan Peterman , the host of "The Peterman Pod," said a bout of illness almost ground his new independent career as a tech podcaster to a halt. In a six-minute YouTube video posted Friday, the former Meta engineer said he was bedridden for several days with what felt like a strong flu. The illness exposed a weakness. "If I stopped, everything stopped," he said. "Because I couldn't work, suddenly, everything felt fragile for the first time."