My Story

Hello! I’m Ryan Cote, the creator of Morning Upgrade and I’m happy you are here to learn how life-changing morning routines and personal development can be. I know firsthand how you can turn your life around and reach your goals by putting a few things in place when you first get up. 

My journey to creating a morning routine started in 2017 when things weren’t going well in my life for various reasons. It felt like the sky was falling…I was worried, flustered and, honestly, felt very mediocre. This caused me to take a step back to figure out what the heck was actually going on. 

Invest in Yourself

I knew the solution was more than just tweaking and refining things in my life. I needed to work on myself, too. How could I be a good leader at work and home if I wasn’t first investing wholeheartedly in myself? 

Around that same time, I heard about Miracle Morning, and I gave it a shot. Things started to really improve and that’s when I fell in love with morning routines and personal growth as a whole. I started looking forward to the first hour of each day because I knew it was improving my life and business at the same time. 

I think what I like about personal development and striving to be a better person is because it’s a worthy cause for two reasons:

1. Being a better person is a simple way to give back to the world and it has a ripple effect that has the potential to turn into something great.
2. It’s a goal that never ends. I am far from perfect, which is why I will always work on myself. There’s always areas I need to work on or habits to be tamed. 

Why I Started Morning Upgrade

My goal with Morning Upgrade is to create a real impact in the world…to create something that matters…essentially I want to raise the awareness of morning routines and personal development. I hope to eventually reach 100,000 visitors per month to this website that are learning and growing. I want to achieve the creation of a community that helps people build happier, more fulfilling lives while discovering strategies for reaching their personal and professional goals. 

Real Quick: the content I share through my blog and podcast is created through my lens – through my personal experiences and journey – my intention is not to tell you what you should do…my goal is to create content that might introduce you to something new that you can filter and apply to your own life. Let’s grow together!

I’m also creating this site as a legacy for my children (now and in the future). I plan to read them the blogs I write while they are still young…and leave it for them to come back to when they get older.

A Little About Me

As I said before, my name is Ryan Cote. My beautiful wife, Jill, and I raise our three daughters in New Jersey where we have lived most of our lives. 

I come from a family of entrepreneurs and help run my family’s direct mail and digital marketing company, with my uncle and 2 brothers (my dad retired in 2017). My great uncle started the company in 1966 — fast forward to today, we have a great team all working together to help our clients succeed…the work is very fulfilling. We also launched a roofing and siding company in 2022!

I love entrepreneurship and building things. Ever since college, I’ve had side ventures from affiliate marketing to building & selling an eCommerce website to providing SEO services to small businesses and more. I still have an active interest in creating, testing, and trying new things in business (for example, my passion project, Morning Upgrade!). 

Not only did I come from a family of entrepreneurs, but I also married someone smart with a business mindset! In fact, right when we first got married, Jill pushed me into becoming a real estate investor. Turns out she was right…15 years later of being a landlord, and with some situations that were NOT easy, I see how much it will pay off. 

Things I Love

When I’m not pursuing business ventures and working with my family and team, I like to invest in personal development and self-growth. This is an ongoing goal for me and very fulfilling. It takes many forms in my life….whether it’s learning something new, getting outside and being active, or spending time with my family, I’m always looking for ways to make myself 1% better than the day before.

I’m also a huge fan of reading, movies, fitness, good wine, road trips and nutritional supplements. I’ve actually had a strange obsession with vitamins since I was 12 years old…I even worked at GNC throughout college…today my multivitamin supplement of choice, hands down, is Total Human by Onnit. The other supplements I take are CBD Oil by AMMA Healing and a morning cocktail by EarlyBird.

What support do you need to achieve your goals? I want to invite you to join me in making your growth a top priority in your life by investing in morning routines and personal development. And make sure you check out my morning routine page where I share resources, ideas and strategies.