What If You Could Blow Up Your Life and Start Again?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becoming You with Suzy Welch

Episode: "What If You Could Blow Up Your Life and Start Again?"

Air Date: May 26, 2026
Host: Suzy Welch
Guests: Marilyn Dollar (Certified Becoming You Coach), Cassie (former CPA, new culinary entrepreneur)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the electrifying (and sometimes terrifying) idea: what if you could "blow up" your life and start again? Suzy Welch speaks with Cassie, a former top CPA who left her high-powered accounting career to buy a culinary entertainment business, and Marilyn Dollar, the life coach who helped her make the leap. Together, they unpack what it takes to find your authentic self, the methodology behind the "Becoming You" process, and the deeply personal (and sometimes hilarious) realities of reinventing your career and life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introductions and Icebreaker: Outfits & Origins

• Cassie and Marilyn accidentally show up in nearly identical outfits, prompting some light teasing from Suzy.
  “You look like you're both on, like, the same team, you know, like on the becoming you team kind of. All right. You are. You are, you are.” (01:49 Suzy)
• Suzy introduces the premise: This episode is about radical personal transformation—“blowing up your life”—and living more authentically.

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2. Marilyn’s Story: From Divorce to Coach

• Backstory: Marilyn grew up as a “Navy kid” overseas in the Azores, then later experienced a difficult divorce and career uncertainty.
• Turning Point: Coaching (initially in dating) provided tools that spilled into work and led to huge life improvement.
  “After coaching, I got a huge promotion at work, and then another one, and then I met this super cool dude, and now we're happily married. So her coaching worked, and I just kept going.” (07:49 Marilyn)
• Love of Coaching:
  “I love seeing somebody come out of a messy situation that was crushing their soul and light up like a light bulb and get on the path that they were always supposed to be on.” (09:08 Marilyn)
• Exit Strategy: Marilyn left a successful marketing career to focus on coaching, eventually earning her Becoming You certification. “This is God’s work...I feel divinely inspired. For sure.” (10:35 Suzy)

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3. Cassie’s Background: Linear Success, Quiet Doubt

• Raised in small-town Indiana, strong work ethic, “goody two shoes” (high-achiever, president of everything).
• Career path: Knew early she wanted to be a CPA—loved problem-solving, achievement, and security.
• Accolades: Rose to Forbes Top 200 CPAs, made partner, led teams, but started to feel stagnant and disconnected. “Especially when you have the accolades of being top 200 … people just expect this is what you’re going to do for the rest of your life.” (13:23 Cassie)
• Restlessness sets in: The remote work environment and lack of personal impact made her feel unfulfilled. “It was draining for me. Like, I just needed something more. I needed something else.” (18:34 Cassie)
• Cassie meets Marilyn at a networking event; they instantly connect. (11:10 Cassie)

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4. Hitting the Wall and Opening New Doors

• Cassie’s ‘aha moment’:
  “When I started to feel stagnant…there was really no future for me, like, in where I was at in my firm.” (13:59 Cassie)
• Initial thoughts were to find a ‘better’ corporate job, not to leap entirely.
• First coaching session: Marilyn asks, “What is it that you want? Like, if you could literally just flip a switch today, what would you want?” (20:32 Cassie)
  • This question unlocks creativity Cassie hadn’t accessed in years.

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5. The "Becoming You" Methodology

• Suzy briefly explains the framework:

  • Purpose lies at the intersection of (a) core values, (b) aptitudes, (c) economically viable interests. (21:44)

• Values Discovery:

  • Using the Values Bridge test, Cassie learns her #1 value is fun (Eudaimonia); she’s not living it at work. “I knew that was me. I knew that was who I was. I just wasn't living it.” (25:10 Cassie)
  • Non sibi (helping others) and achievement are also top values; meanwhile, her current role leaves a huge gap, especially for fun.

• Cassie’s husband also takes the Values Bridge test:
  “We’re very similar...I learned he wants more of a voice...It definitely created more awareness for me to give him space.” (27:37 Cassie & 27:57 Marilyn)

• Notable Concept:

  • Values ≠ Virtues: “Values are not virtues. Virtues are social and cultural constructs...Values are choices we make about how we organize our lives. They’re better or worse for you living authentically.” (23:45 Suzy)

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6. From Self-Discovery to Action

• Aptitude work: Cassie scores high on all cognitive/leadership tests—especially in decision-making and energy.

• Interests: Now open to new possibilities, Cassie and her husband even consider moving to Mexico!

• The Wildcard:

  • Marilyn encouraged Cassie to leave space for a wildcard idea, and fatedly, a Facebook post appears: a local culinary entertainment business for sale.

  “Previously this post would have just gone right by you, but you were in a mode where, like, I know my values. I know my aptitudes now, and I know I want my world to be bigger. This post comes by…” (35:23 Suzy)

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7. Reinvention: Buying "Get In The Kitchen"

• Cassie seizes the opportunity:
  • The business ("Get in the Kitchen," rebranding as "Cooking with Cass") offers cooking classes, entertainment, parties, and more. Joy, creativity, fun, and community all align with her top values.
  • “A culinary experience with a pinch of class and a dash of sass.” (36:14 Cassie)
• Support system:
  • Marilyn celebrates Cassie’s bold move:
    “We were, like, crying—it was so joyful because she had been in such a dark place when we first started working together.” (38:13 Marilyn)
  • The business purchase and negotiation process is smooth; Cassie’s CPA skills come in handy.
• Transition note: Cassie is hiring a manager and plans to nurture her as she has other team members.
  • “That is my biggest thing too, is I'm so excited to be able to coach and develop somebody still.” (39:57 Cassie)

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8. Impact: Personal, Relational, and Community

• Cassie's new role is activating her top value (fun) and helping others experience it.
  • New events like Kentucky Derby parties, cookie decorating, hat making, and country line dancing are discussed.
• Family adaptation:
  • Cassie includes her (initially risk-averse) husband in all planning.
  • “He is more risk averse than me…But no, he's excited. And I think the more that I bring him along, it allows him to feel part of this.” (44:54 Cassie)
• Mixed reactions:
  • Support from friends and partners, but some worry from family (esp. Mom):
    “The first comment out of her mouth was, are you sure about this? … But my job, coach, is to inch you towards living a life where you levitate.” (45:34 Cassie/Marilyn)

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9. Reflections, Lessons & Advice

Notable Quotes

• “I've never slept better in my life…because I know that this is right. This feels right. It feels good. This is me.” (45:57 Cassie)
• “There is no use-by date on becoming yourself...You can reinvent. Look what you did.” (44:16 Suzy)

Advice for Listeners Considering a Leap

• Cassie:
  “Just lean in. I mean, it just starts with a conversation...Take that first step of just, you know, leaning in and exploring and just, just entertain it.” (48:10 Cassie)
• Suzy:
  “To blow your life up, there has to be a certain amount of why not energy...Why not try?” (48:41 Suzy)
• Cassie’s reflection:
  “My biggest regret would have been not doing this and walking by that space every day...So I love walking by it every single day and being like, this is my dream now. This is mine.” (49:09 Cassie)

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Key Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Topic | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 01:10 | Introduction of guests and premise | | 03:11 | Cassie’s high-achieving CPA background | | 07:25 | Marilyn’s transformation story | | 10:35 | Coaching as "God's work"/decision to coach full-time | | 11:04 | How Cassie and Marilyn met | | 13:59 | Cassie’s career stagnation & restlessness | | 20:32 | Marilyn asks Cassie the transformative question | | 21:44 | Overview of Becoming You methodology | | 24:49 | Cassie discovers her top value is Fun | | 27:37 | Using the Values Bridge with her husband | | 35:23 | The business opportunity appears (Facebook post) | | 36:14 | Cassie’s business rebrand: “Cooking with Cass” | | 38:13 | Emotional payoff: Marilyn and Cassie celebrate | | 39:57 | Cassie talks about mentoring her new hire | | 45:57 | “I’ve never slept better”—alignment brings peace | | 48:10 | Cassie’s advice: Lean in and entertain new ideas | | 49:09 | “This is mine now”—Cassie owns her transformation |

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Memorable Moments

• Values revelation: Cassie, the consummate professional, has the top value of fun—but wasn't living it.
• Emotional resonance: Both coach and client admit to crying with joy when the “wildcard” business opportunity landed.
• Full-circle narrative: From “top 200 CPA” to “Cooking with Cass”—she goes from buttoned-up to leading community through joy and creativity.
• Empowering quote: “There is no use-by date on becoming yourself.” (44:16 Suzy)

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Conclusion

This episode is a testament to the power of self-discovery, the importance of honoring your true values, and the courage needed to leap into a new chapter. Cassie’s journey, with Marilyn’s support and the Becoming You methodology, demonstrates that it is never too late to reinvent yourself—and the results can be unexpectedly joyful.

Advice for listeners: Start by having honest conversations. Entertain possibilities. Inject some "why not?" energy into your life. As Suzy says, there's no expiration date on becoming you.

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For coaching info and resources:

• Marilyn Dollar: marilyndollar.com
• Becoming You coach training: becomingyoulabs.com

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Transcript

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[Susie Welch]

Have you ever thought about blowing your life sky high and just changing everything? That's what Coming youg is about. This week, I've got actually with me a person who blew up her life and the person who helped her do it. All right, her handmaiden. Okay. And I'm Susie Welch. This is Becoming youg. Thanks for joining us. All right. All right. Well, I have to. Look, a lot of people are listening to this podcast, but some people are watching this podcast on YouTube. So I have to dress the elephant in the room, which is that the two of you are dressed identically. Okay. It's just a weird thing. I came down the stairs before we taped the podcast, and you're both wearing red, black, and white. Now, I myself am guilty. I'm wearing black. But I live in New York City. I always wear black. Can we. Was this an accident?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Total accident.

[Susie Welch]

Okay. All right. It's. You look like you're both on, like, the same team, you know, like on the becoming you team kind of. All right. You are. You are, you are.

[Marilyn Dollar]

You're very in sync, I feel.

[Susie Welch]

Blowing up your life team. All right, let's get started with introductions. I'm Susie Welch. I'm your host here today. I'm professor at NYU Stern School of Business in New York, and I teach a class called Becoming you. And that's what this podcast is about. It's about becoming you. It's about figuring out who you are in the detail so you can live authentically, even if it means blowing up your life. Okay. Which sometimes we do. And I'VE got somebody here to talk about it and. And her and her partner in crime. So let's start with how I found out about this story. I found out about this story because Marilyn Dollar is one of our. Our certified coaches at Becoming youg. Becoming youg is a methodology. It's scientifically validated. And a year and a half ago, we started actually certifying at. Through NYU Stern Initiative on purpose and flourishing, we started certifying coaches. And Marilyn is one of our certified coaches, and absolutely spectacular one at that. Hi, Marilyn.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Hi.

[Susie Welch]

All right, you were a life coach before you became Becoming you.

[Marilyn Dollar]

I was.

[Susie Welch]

And why did you become a Becoming youg Life Coach?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Because we met at a book signing. You said, I want you in the room.

[Susie Welch]

Oh.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And I don't say no to you.

[Susie Welch]

That's right. It was in Chicago. It was in Chicago. No, I was like. I was like, this woman is amazing and she has to. She has to. She must come into my lair. All right, Cassie, person whose life has been blown up, tell us a little bit about you.

[Cassie]

Well, I am a recovering cpa. So I started out my professional career all through college. Everything was geared towards being a CPA. So for the past 20 years, I've made my way up the ladder, competing kind of in a very male dominated environment where I had to work really hard, long hours. And I finally just got to the point where I'm done. I was Forbes top 200 CPAs in the country. I was Crain's Business Accounting of the Year in Chicago. I mean, all the accolades that you could kind of get in, you know, this career.

[Susie Welch]

We are going to unpack the story because you are no longer. I mean, you are a cpa, and you will be for the rest of your life.

[Cassie]

Absolutely.

[Susie Welch]

But you own a restaurant now, do you not?

[Cassie]

Yes, actually a culinary facility. So it's a culinary and entertainment facility. So.

[Susie Welch]

Good Lord, woman.

[Cassie]

A cooking class with entertainment. So not just going and cooking a meal and sitting down and eating it and going home, but think of dinner and dancing, dinner and carrying kids birthday parties with, you know, all the entertainment components and factors.

[Susie Welch]

You don't hear me speaking because I'm speechless. I mean, wait, you went from cpa, like respected, button down, bow shirted CPA to karaoke?

[Cassie]

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

[Susie Welch]

Oh, my God. We have to hear this story. And we are going to, but we have to start at the very beginning. I think I want to. I want to sort of tell two stories here. I want to tell Marilyn to sort of get us to the point where she became a coach and tell us that story. Then, Cassie, I want to unpack the story to the moment that you met Marilyn. And then what we're going to do after that, dear listeners, is we are going to talk about what happened after the two of you met and how you got. I mean, you were using the becoming you methodology as part of this process, I think. I'm sure other tools came into it. How you got from sort of like, oh, I think I don't want to be a CPA to, hey, everybody, time for karaoke. Okay, so. And I'm going to try to not pay attention to the fact that you're dressed identically. But it's all good. It's all good. Let's start with you. All right. So, Marilyn, are you a Chicago girl?

[Marilyn Dollar]

No.

[Susie Welch]

Where are you from?

[Marilyn Dollar]

I was born in Tennessee, but my dad was a Navy guy, so I grew up overseas.

[Susie Welch]

Okay. Really? Whereabouts overseas?

[Marilyn Dollar]

The Azores. Te Serra.

[Susie Welch]

The Azores?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

I have to tell you a story about the Azores.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Tell me about all my friends.

[Susie Welch]

Tell me. It's my first digression of the podcast. This is a crazy story. Jack and I were in Europe. We did a big, big book tour. When Winning came out, we went all over Europe, and our last stop was in Portugal. And we were exhilarated. We were overjoyed. It had been the most successful book tour, the book atop the New York Times bestseller list. It was huge.

[Marilyn Dollar]

It's an amazing book.

[Susie Welch]

And thank you. And thank you very much. And we got onto the plane, and I guess sort of the dirty little secret I have to kind of say about this is we were very, very fortunate. We were flying home in our own transportation, and we took off, and everybody was in very, very good spirits. And we were flying along for, like, sort of half an hour out of Portugal, and then suddenly the air masks dropped down and the crew came running into the back in the cabin, and they were putting the air masks on her face. And they said, we've hit a flock of birds and the plane is going down. Oh, my goodness. And we held hands. I actually thought it was the end of my life. We held hands, and the pilots were wrestling to keep control of the plane. And we came down safely in the Azores, but the entire front of the plane was completely cracked open. I mean, it was like that. It was like a. It was a. You know, we were holding hands, and we were looking at each other, and we said to each other, I love you. I love you. And we thought. We didn't know if we were going to make It. And the plane was rattling, like. And then we land in Azores, and two people in the history of human time have never been more happy to be in the Azores, ever. I mean, we were like. We were like. It was like. We were like. And here's the thing about that place, and I'm going to stop talking about it in a moment. It's the quietest place on Earth.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah. In the middle of the Atlantic, you

[Susie Welch]

can hear yourself breathe. And we certainly heard ourself breathing. We were like. And we've asked a cabbie, will you drive us around? There was like a. You know, like, there's not a lot going on in the Azores. And we asked him if he would drive us around, and he actually said to us at one point, you two are the happiest Americans I've ever met. We're happy because we thought we were gonna die about an hour ago. Okay, so you grew up in the Azores. That must have been interesting. I hope not as interesting as that story.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Definitely not.

[Susie Welch]

Then you came to the United States. Bring us to how you ended up being a coach.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah. I got a terrible divorce in 2010 and went through a few years of therapy to put the bark back on the tree. And one of my girlfriends was a dating coach. Her name is Bela Gandhi. She's magnificent. And I. Oh, I could probably use you. Now I'm ready to start dating. And it kind of rippled out through my whole life. I had this, you know, basic job, but after coaching, I got a huge promotion at work, and then another one, and then I met this super cool dude, and now we're happily married. So her coaching worked, and I just kept going.

[Susie Welch]

So something about her coaching you in dating unpacked certain aspects about who you were and what you wanted, and it sort of, like, thought you. It was. It was almost like functional therapy in a way. That's what coaching is. Functional therapy totally buried the lead there, but. And so you experienced that for yourself, and then what happened?

[Marilyn Dollar]

I started using it at work in stakeholder management.

[Susie Welch]

What was your job?

[Marilyn Dollar]

I was senior marketing manager for global marketing.

[Susie Welch]

Blah, blah, blah. Marketing job. Okay.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Okay. What was the industry?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Vaguely Candy.

[Susie Welch]

Oh, Was it really?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Was it gummy bears?

[Cassie]

My favorite candy.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Sorry. Okay.

[Susie Welch]

It was not gummy bears. Fine. Okay.

[Cassie]

Snickers.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Do you like Snickers? Skittles?

[Susie Welch]

I love all candy. Okay.

[Marilyn Dollar]

So was there. And I did a lot of global marketing. I rolled out a lot of marketing technology. It was super fun. Most of my people that I worked with were very high up in the Organization, which is like herding cats and managing very interesting personalities. And I thought at some point, could this be my exit strategy? I love doing this part so much more.

[Susie Welch]

What did you love about it?

[Marilyn Dollar]

I love seeing somebody come out of a messy situation that was crushing their soul and light up like a light bulb and get on the path that they were always supposed to be on.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah, well, yes. I mean, I love that. I love that, too. It's my favorite thing. That's my thing also. Okay. All right. So when did you make the leap from marketing into being a coach?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah, so like I said, I was doing it as a stakeholder management tool at work. And then about three years ago, I worked on this big project for media, and I'm like, I'm never going to work on a $2.3 billion project again. This is the top of the food chain for me. I'm out and talked to my husband, and I said, okay, June 1st, I'm out. It was perfect timing, and I took the leap, and several of my vendors said, would you come work for us? And I'm. I don't want another jobby. I want to have my own business. And I started coaching and meeting new people, just like Cassie is saying, she's meeting new people in this new venture. And more and more people started to come to me and hear, oh, you helped my friend Sharon. Could you help me? And then all my women started going up the food chain, and when I saw them go from VP of Ops to now coo, now CEO, Right. They just took off.

[Susie Welch]

And you thought, what I'm doing is working.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah. And I mean, but this is God's work. I feel like, you know.

[Susie Welch]

No, I mean, honestly, I. There's.

[Cassie]

Amen.

[Susie Welch]

No, there's many times where I wouldn't. Like, when becoming you has this impact on people's lives, and I think I'm gonna. This is gonna sound so cringe, but I feel like. I feel divinely inspired. For sure. Yes, I do.

[Marilyn Dollar]

I do, too.

[Susie Welch]

All right, so you did that along the way you and I met, you came and got certified in becoming you, which is a methodology which we're gonna unpack as we go forward. Somewhere along the way. Cassie, how did you find Marilyn?

[Cassie]

So we actually met at a networking event in Chicago. I think it was the Execs Club event, right? Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

That one night.

[Cassie]

Yeah. So one of the events that we had and just immediately connected. I mean, that is the one thing for me that is huge in terms of anybody I work with is connection.

[Susie Welch]

Right.

[Cassie]

And instantly, we Connected.

[Susie Welch]

And then you thought, maybe I'll try her out as a coach.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

All right, let's then scroll back on your life. Surely you were not raised in the Azores.

[Cassie]

I was not.

[Susie Welch]

But where were you raised?

[Cassie]

I was raised in a very small town in Indiana. So 5,000 people, very small town. Every. Everybody knew everybody. My mom was a working mom. She was an engineer. My dad actually stayed at home, so I felt like we were kind of this pioneering family. My dad actually stayed at home. Of course, being the oldest daughter is kind of that oldest daughter syndrome. I had to follow it kind of in my mom's footsteps of being workaholic, very professional.

[Susie Welch]

We don't use that word here. In Becoming youg, we say high work centers, and you know it. Okay, so. All right. So you went to college. And did you know when you went into college, were you a goody two shoes in high school? I'm getting that vibe.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Absolutely.

[Susie Welch]

I just get. I just get such a goody two vibes. That was me.

[Cassie]

That was me.

[Susie Welch]

Oh, my God. We, like. Were you, like, what clubs were you the president of?

[Cassie]

I was president of everything.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

The cell team. I mean, student council. Then I got into college, and I was student leader of the year. Yeah, all of those things.

[Susie Welch]

Oh, my God. It's just emanating off of you like a wave achievement. Did you ever get in trouble? Have you ever been arrested? No. Oh, no.

[Cassie]

All right.

[Susie Welch]

I was just checking. Okay. I didn't think so. Okay. All right. So you were. You went to college, and when did you think, okay, I'm going to be a cpa. When did that come to you?

[Cassie]

So actually in high school. So I chose my career, I chose my profession in high school, ran through it in college because I had to put myself through college. I wasn't, you know, when you're putting your own money to it, especially as a cpa, you know, I have the finance brain.

[Susie Welch]

What was the appeal of CPA to you? Was it. What. What was it? Now, looking back, looking back in honesty, what was the appeal of it?

[Cassie]

Puzzle solving. Like everything was a puzzle. And that's where that analytical side of really kicked in, is being able to solve problems and puzzles.

[Susie Welch]

But was there also. Maybe I'm just guessing and maybe I'm wrong, was there sort of the security of it? Was there the identity of it? Was there the predictability of it? It was like, this is a job. You lock it down. It's, you know, it's socially acceptable. I will have employment. I mean, was that part of it?

[Cassie]

Absolutely.

[Susie Welch]

And luckily, the work matched what you're good at.

[Cassie]

It did.

[Susie Welch]

It did.

[Cassie]

And it's still helping me to this day, you know, I mean, yeah, it's. It felt very comfortable for 25, almost 25 years of being in public accounting and doing the things that people expected, especially when have the accolades of being top 200 CPA in the country. I think people just expect that this is what you're going to do for the rest of your life.

[Susie Welch]

Right. But somewhere along the way, a little oh started. Otherwise when you met Marilyn, you wouldn't have gone, like, I might want to

[Cassie]

talk to that person.

[Susie Welch]

I mean, when. When did the. When. I mean, when did. Am I wrong?

[Cassie]

Yes. Okay. No, no, you're not wrong.

[Susie Welch]

You're very much right. When did that, though? When did the oh start?

[Cassie]

I think when I started to feel stagnant. When I started to realize that there was really no future for me, like, in where I was at in my firm. How long.

[Susie Welch]

How long into the game was this?

[Cassie]

So this was. So I left my firm back in February of this year. So this was 22 years into my career.

[Susie Welch]

So the first 22 years were okay.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Did you love it?

[Cassie]

I did. Okay. I did. Because I love clients. I mean, part of what I love doing is building relationships and working with clients, developing teams that I also worked with. So that's always been my passion.

[Susie Welch]

So you left Indiana and you went to Chicago. Is that where you settled?

[Cassie]

No, I've actually moved around. So right out of college, my husband and I spent 10 years in Atlanta, Georgia. While we were in Atlanta, my husband went back to school and got his degree in computer information systems.

[Susie Welch]

It.

[Cassie]

He's a techie. Okay. And when he graduated college, I told him, I said, you're the next move. You choose wherever you want to go. So we ended up moving to Austin, Texas. Okay. Spent five years in Austin. Had a great run there. Actually. That's where I first made partner. I was one of the first female partners at my firm in Austin, Texas.

[Susie Welch]

Okay.

[Cassie]

No connections, no nothing. And value.

[Susie Welch]

You were just damn great. That's what it was.

[Cassie]

Absolutely.

[Susie Welch]

Along the way, did you have a family or was it the two of you?

[Cassie]

Just me and my husband. Still just me and my husband.

[Susie Welch]

Okay. And so you had some flexibility with moving, right? Correct. Because you didn't have to deal with the seventh grader saying to you, I'm going to die if we move kind of thing. Okay, that is correct. Okay. So then you were in Austin and. And what happened after you were there for a while.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

So I actually got a call to come back to the firm that I worked for in Atlanta. So I worked for a very large international firm there. They called me back and wanted me specifically to be in Chicago, which honestly it was perfect timing because right around then is when we learned that my mother in law was diagnosed with Alzheimer'. So you know, being home, being closer. And of course in 2019 when we moved to Chicago, we didn't realize that we were going to be under an international pandemic, you know, the following year, which was a total blessing to be home and to be closer to family and be able to take care of my mother in law as well during that time.

[Susie Welch]

I'm sorry that happened.

[Cassie]

Thank you Nerd.

[NerdWallet Narrator]

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[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

On his podcast chasing life, I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent brings you the secrets of the happiest and healthiest people on the planet so that you can live your best life.

[Progressive Insurance Narrator]

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[Susie Welch]

So 2020, you're back in Chicago dealing with family issues and you're at a good firm and you're doing very well there, right?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

Okay then.

[Cassie]

Yeah. So I started out with my firm that I came back to from Atlanta, had a great run there, was actually offered a national leadership role there, but they wouldn't make me partner. So that was just kind of a sticking point for me. You know, I'm like, I was so hard.

[Susie Welch]

What was their thinking?

[Cassie]

I, you know, I think they wanted me to do more. You know, everything was about the dollar signs. How much money are you bringing in? Vers versus the volume. And leading a national practice, you know, so took the opportunity to transition to another firm that did make me partner. And that's where I just got kind of stagnant. You know, this was a firm that unfortunately was also very remote, which does not bode well for me. I know it works great for a lot of individuals, a lot of families to work from home and to, you know, have that remote environment. Not for me.

[Susie Welch]

All right, so you went to this new remote firm, they made you a partner, which you deserve to be, but it was remote and you were by yourself.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Did you have sort of a sinking feeling like, this is I'm standing still?

[Cassie]

Yes, very much so. I mean, even just at home, you know, when you're sitting in your four walls of your office, not getting out, not interacting, not feeling like you have an impact that you're making an impact on the people that you're working with, it just. It was draining for me. Like, I just needed something more. I needed something else.

[Susie Welch]

And what do you think, you know, in those four walls, when you were sitting there, what did you think you needed?

[Marilyn Dollar]

I.

[Cassie]

You know, I. I still thought that I needed corporate America. Like, I still thought at that time that I needed something comfortable, you know, just not sitting at home all the time.

[Susie Welch]

You know, this is the paradigm. You were brought up in this paradigm, or you came up along in the paradigm of a very corporate setting. You know, every single day of your life, you suited up a certain way and went to work a certain way, and then the apple cart got turned over because you were not suiting up in this certain way. And you thought, well, I've got to get back to my old familiar.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

All right, in this period, is this when you met each other or did something happen before that?

[Cassie]

No, I think that was about when we met each other.

[Susie Welch]

Okay, so you were alone. So when you met each other at this event, there was maybe, you know, there was something stirring in you, but you were. Maybe the stirring was, I gotta find a way back to corporate America.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

All right, so let's. So did you have a first session together?

[Cassie]

We did. We did.

[Susie Welch]

And you. And I think Marilyn, knowing you, you just listened, correct?

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

And what did you think, like, going back to it? Like what. When you heard her whole story, when you heard Cassie sort of describe what were some of the thoughts in your head as A coach.

[Marilyn Dollar]

So I pull from my coaching, but also my business acumen for corporate. Right. So I was in CPG for 20 years, and the story is so familiar, and I hear it all the time. And as women, it's sometimes like, we get to this. My husband's calling it a shadow ceiling. It's like ageism and what happened to my life? And I'm kind of at the top of the food chain. What's next for me? And I just thought, she's ready for so much more. So much more. And I could see it.

[Susie Welch]

Did you think you were ready for so much more?

[Cassie]

I didn't at the time. But one of the things I really valued in our very first session is she asked me, like, what is it that you want? Like, if you could literally just flip a switch today, what would you want to do? Where would you want to be? So that just opened up all this creativity that I had never experienced.

[Susie Welch]

Isn't it so funny that we don't ask it of ourselves? I mean, when I teach Becoming you, there's a moment in the first part of the class when I'm teaching bad values, and I say to people, I have to tell you the story. I would tell people. Say to people, close your eyes and imagine your life with every possibility. Imagine that everything you wanted happened. Just imagine that. Close your eyes. And so everybody closes their eyes and they're imagining. And I look out at the audience, basically at the students. They are physically twitching in their seats. It is so hard for us. It's so hard for us. And she said this stuff to you, which is like. Like, you, smart, successful, accomplished, high achiever, literally had never stopped and said, what else is there for myself? Right, Exactly. And so she asked you that, and you were like, whoa, Right? Yeah, okay. And so I think that at that point, unless I'm wrong, you decided to embark on the Becoming you methodology, go through the process together. So let me just stop for a moment, because we have always. Every week we have new listeners, and I'm just going to briefly describe what the methodology is. So becoming you is a methodology that is designed to help. Help people immediately answer the question, what should I do with my life? So you can use it for sort of immediate, what should I do with my life? Which is sort of how you. You were using it, and yet people use it to sort of be a companion for their whole lives long. And we've seen that now, as I said, I teach it at NYU Stern, but it's been used around the world. There's a book about it called Becoming you as well. The premise of the methodology is that your purpose, the thing you should be doing that fills you with fulfillment and contentment and sometimes even joy if you're. If everything else in your life is going well, is that it lies at the intersection of three data sets. Your values, your aptitudes, and your economically viable interests. And you have to excavate those data sets and then look at the intersection and see what. What lies there. And usually it's one thing, but sometimes it's more than one thing. And we have a tool now that sort of says, okay, we took all this data, and here are three things that are. Lay at the intersection of that. So you embarked on this process, I guess. Marilyn, you described the methodology to Cassie.

[Cassie]

I did, yep.

[DSW Narrator]

Okay.

[Susie Welch]

And so the first thing was. The first thing that you started to excavate were Cassie's values.

[Marilyn Dollar]

It was.

[Susie Welch]

So how'd you do that?

[Marilyn Dollar]

I talked about values with her a little bit first. I knew she did a lot of volunteer work with Alzheimer's. Like she's helped teams raise $2 million on this walk and things that she volunteers in. You knew Non SIBI was going to come up.

[Susie Welch]

NSIBI is the value that we. The Becoming youg methodology is based on the Welch Bristol Values Inventory. Every value is an organizing principle. Just to clear. Values are not virtues. Virtues are social and cultural constructs that everyone agrees are good. Values are choices that we make about how we organize our lives, how we choose to spend our time. And they're not better or worse, any of these values, they're better or worse for you living authentically. So we believe that there is part of the methodology, that there's 16 core values, 16 values, and we rank order them. And so a lot of times the conversation starts with just explaining to people what values are.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Are.

[Susie Welch]

Right. Because people mix them up with virtues all the time. Like, I know my values. They're honesty, decency. It's like, those are great. They're virtues. And so you have to kind of figure out, well, what. What are the priorities? What are the values I want to organize my life around? So you sensed immediately that non city, which is Latin for not for oneself, that helping people was definitely going to present as a value here.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah.

[Marilyn Dollar]

100. And you know how you talk about in class if you're a lawyer, but you're artistic, maybe you also do ceramic on the weekend. And so that's what I was seeing in her. She was a CPA by day and volunteering by night.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And so how could we bring those two things together? And so in the beginning, I thought, all right, let's look at the values. Let's see where she stacks up, and then let's talk about the gaps.

[Susie Welch]

So did you take. Did you do some of the values exercises? Did you go right to the values bridge? The values bridge test we have?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Right to the bridge. Okay.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

So were you supposed to. The values bridge is a. You can take it. It's thevaluesbridge.com and it will rank order your values from 1 to 16, and it will tell you how much you're living each one. So you got your results back, and what did you see?

[Cassie]

So my number one value is fun. I know that's not the technical term, but it is fun.

[Susie Welch]

It is fun. It's Eudimalia. Self care, enjoyment, leisure, pleasure. That's, well, Ms. CPA fun.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And it's number two for me. So you can see why we vibe.

[Susie Welch]

But what did you think when you saw it?

[Cassie]

I knew that was me. I knew that was who I was. I just wasn't living it.

[Susie Welch]

What was the gap? Was it huge?

[Cassie]

I think it was pretty big. I think that was probably one of my biggest gaps was, you know, being a CPA by day was not just filling. It wasn't filling my cup. It wasn't bringing me that joy that, you know, the nonprofit world, going to football games, doing things with my family, you know, really kind of of, you

[Susie Welch]

know, so Eudaimonia came into number one, which was like this sense of, like, you know, I don't want to postpone joy. I want to have fun every day. And, like, 61% of the population has it in a top as a top five value. I don't. It's number 15 for me. But I am. I am the ultimate fun suck. So, I mean, I just. I look at. I. I think fun's fine. I had fun today. I went to a hat lunch, and it was fun, but I wanted to get back to work. I checked my phone the entire time. I mean, I. Because I have very high work centrism. And you know what? I'm not hurting anyone. We judge each other all the time on values, right? And we should not, because your value values. If you're not hurting one, your values are your values to live. Okay, so you found out you demote was number one. What were some of your other top values?

[Cassie]

The nonsense. Right.

[Susie Welch]

So that's helping people. Okay.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Achievement.

[Cassie]

Achievement.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Pretty good.

[Cassie]

Still, I mean, that's still all.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Not a surprise.

[Susie Welch]

No, I'm not a surprise. You have achievement up there. So this is interesting because what you're trying to figure out with your values is like, okay, I'm going to look at this data about my values. I'm going to look at my data about my aptitudes and I'm going to look at my interests and I'm going to figure out what fits for me as a life. Life. Surely you must have realized right away, well, this CPA job here alone in my house is not at all meeting my need for eudaimonia, my desire for eudaimonia. And how did it help you with? Not sippy. Not really. Not that either.

[Cassie]

I mean, it did actually. I mean, I'm already there. Like I would say I was already there, but I definitely think so. When we were looking at opportunities, you know, even in corporate, we were still looking at ways that I could, you know, work for either a non profit or work in like a fundraising area so that, that it's still kind of corporates, but doing what I love doing in terms of giving back and supporting organizations that I'm very passionate about.

[Susie Welch]

Right. So the first step of this process was you start, you looked at your values. Do you remember anything else jumping out of you?

[Cassie]

Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, I think the best thing too was I had my husband do it.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

So that was one of the things that Marilyn encouraged was, you know, make sure that I'm in alignment with my husband.

[Susie Welch]

So what did you find out from that process? I mean, look, the first, I would say the first off label use of the values bridge was my. Was students coming and saying to me, like, I want my spouse to take this. And yeah. Finally added in the functionality that when you check the box, both people check the box, their values come up next to each other. So what did you find out about your husband's value?

[Cassie]

That was very similar, actually. We're very similar. I think the one major difference is what I learned through my husband having done the assessment is he wants more of a voice. So I do feel like, you know, it definitely created more awareness for me to give him space to have a say in what we do and what we do next. So it's.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And we coached on this. This was one of our coaching sessions after they took it together. And as we started talking through it, she's like, oh, I always plan the trips. I'm always the one making dinner reservations. And so we had to kind of readjust her expectations. What would it feel like for Chad to make the reservation? What would it feel like if he planned the trip to Mexico, it was very different.

[Cassie]

But I think that's carried into, like, even my decision now to start this new business.

[Susie Welch]

Wait, hold on.

[Cassie]

Don't.

[Susie Welch]

Spoiler alert. Okay, we're getting there. Let us move to the second part. I love the fact that you saw your husband's values and you adjusted. I will say that when my daughter and her. They were then engaged, took their values bridged together, and forgive me if you've heard me tell this story before, they took their values bridged. They were engaged. And I was about to see whether or not my daughter and her fiance had similar or dissimilar values. And as I was walking to the next room, my daughter said to me, is it weird if two people have the exact same top six values? And I was like, like, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. So then we looked at their values, and they were exactly the same. Top six values were, like, in the same order. I mean, uncanny. But they then looked at their gaps, and so their number one value for both of them is radius. This desire, the value to change the world. They're both very, very socially aware, and they're activists and so forth, but her gap is quite small. And one of the reasons her gap is small is that every single day, she suits up and she works it up at an institution, a hospital, where she is changing the world with her work with challenged teenagers. And he's an artist, and specifically, he is a tattoo artist. And so he. And a very, very good one, I might add, he had a huge gap on his radius. And I said, oh, look at this. And he said, yeah, it's like I'm, you know, doing beautiful tattoos, but I'm not changing the world. I yearn for that. So I pulled my daughter aside and I said, look, you have the exact same top values, but you gotta pay attention to his gap. You know, his gap will affect your life. And they have since found things for him to do in terms of activism, in terms of doing different things, that has closed his gap down. And you've done that same thing with your husband, where you saw his gap and you said, let's close this gap together.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

That is a fantastic use of the values bridge. Go, values bridge. Okay. All right. So when you found out your values, you moved on to aptitudes.

[Marilyn Dollar]

I'm gonna presume we did.

[Susie Welch]

And what'd you find down?

[Marilyn Dollar]

She scored very high on everything. Everything.

[Susie Welch]

Well, you know, we don't feel that way, Marilyn, because we are not judgy here. At Becoming youg. So look, let me just explain a little bit about aptitudes. We test. We have four tests for aptitudes. One test your cognitive aptitudes. This is, are you a generalist or specialist? Are you inductive reasoner or a fact checker? Are you a future focuser or present focuser? And certainly in corporate America, some of these traits are more praised than others. But the world has a place for everybody with every aptitude. This has been a public service announcement. There's another. There's another test that sort of says where are you? Doesn't sort of say, it says where are you? On the continuum from individual contributor to leader. The world needs individual contributors as much as it needs leaders. But I'm going to presume when you say she scored highly that she showed up as a leader.

[Cassie]

Right?

[Marilyn Dollar]

She did. And specifically I was looking for nerve.

[Susie Welch]

Yes.

[Marilyn Dollar]

I was looking for high decision making. I was looking for high energy.

[Susie Welch]

Then you have all of those. I mean, as your career would show us for sure. After that. The third data set that we excavate is what interests you. Now, you had had kind of blinders on because you were in CPA world. That's a conveyor belt. You were on that conveyor belt and then suddenly you were like, maybe there's something outside these factory walls. Yeah, right.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

And so what did you begin to discover?

[Cassie]

That there was just so much more. I mean, even from the very beginning when we kind of again, we. When we dreamt big.

[AllTrails Narrator]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

My husband and I actually said, well, we've always wanted to move to Mexico, so why don't we start exploring, like places down there? Like, let's start doing that, you know, so we went as far as to looking at places in Mexico and, you know, doing something different here in the U.S. i mean, how did it feel? Like, how did up so much creativity and just opportunity for both of us.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah. And you were just thinking, like, I don't need to stay on this conveyor belt. Like, so Mexico called you. What else?

[Cassie]

Definitely kind of, again, kind of leaning into the fun. I have to go back to the fun. And what was so amazing about this whole journey is that everything has just. Everything has happened for a reason and it's all happened at the right time. So can I tell the story about like how the business now let us

[Susie Welch]

find out about the TNT and what happened.

[Cassie]

Tell, tell, tell.

[Susie Welch]

Okay, go ahead.

[Cassie]

You know, I had decided to leave my firm at the end of January. So I ended up giving them an entire month's notice to basically transition on my clients because again, that was what I enjoyed the most, was working with my clients and I wanted to make sure that they were taken care of. Yeah, but the Sunday after I put in my notice, a random Facebook post was put out there by the gentleman that I am now buying this business from to say, hey, Lakeview Chicago, I'm ready to sell my business. Is anybody interested? And because I had already been working with Marilyn and thinking big about what is next for me, I leaned into it.

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[Susie Welch]

Tell us all about it. Okay, so you said all this. Now look. Here's the Thing is that previously this post would have just gone right by you, but you were in a mode where, like, I know my values. I know my aptitudes now, and I know I want my world to be bigger. This post comes by now. Were you familiar with the business already?

[Cassie]

I was. I was.

[Susie Welch]

So, like, can you just. For those of us who are not in Chicago have not experienced this business, you walk in the front door and what do you experience in this business?

[Cassie]

This is a place where there's generally 20 to 30 individuals, and for the public events, you don't know anybody. So this is a great space to not only have a date night with my husband. Right. But then interact with, you know, 20 new friends that you're spending time cooking, having fun. Nothing's competitive. So that's the thing. Like, we don't try not to make it so competitive where you're not having fun. But then for Valentine's Day, for example, this year, we did dinner and then salsa lessons afterwards. So he hired a gentleman to come in and do salsa lessons after we made our dinner.

[Susie Welch]

Oh, my God.

[Cassie]

So it was so much fun.

[Susie Welch]

This. What's it called?

[Cassie]

It's so. Currently, it's called get in the kitchen.

[Susie Welch]

Okay.

[Cassie]

I am rebranding it to Cooking with Cass.

[Susie Welch]

I love what.

[Cassie]

You got to hear my tagline. So Cooking with Cass, a culinary experience with a pinch of class and a dash of sass. Come on. It's Cass.

[Susie Welch]

I love it. Again, I love it.

[Cassie]

How is it. How am I a cpa?

[Susie Welch]

I don't know. I don't know what happened. Who has abducted Cass? Okay, so you saw. Let's walk through it a little bit. You saw the post and you thought, okay, this is sort of calling me. Is that what happened? Who did you call?

[Cassie]

Marilyn.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Then hold on a second. We gotta rewind this. Just a second.

[Susie Welch]

Yes.

[Marilyn Dollar]

This was not on her radar.

[Susie Welch]

Right.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Okay. So when we were looking, she was looking at a lateral move in Chicago. Some big firms really wanted her and were wooing her. Right. She had a job offer on the line. We were looking at adjacent jobs that would. Would satisfy her. Non sibi. Like large scale, giving.

[Cassie]

Right.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And then we left a little space for a wildcard. Okay, what would that look like?

[Susie Welch]

Right?

[Marilyn Dollar]

And this wild card just kind of popped into her view. And she's like, I think I could do this.

[Susie Welch]

So did you call Marilyn and show it to her?

[Cassie]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Cause I think we had a coaching meeting that following Friday. We did.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And you're like, I have so much to tell you.

[Cassie]

So I Sent you the little video and stuff to tell you about it. All right.

[Susie Welch]

And then did you go visit it? Yes. Okay. So had you been to the business before?

[Cassie]

I had been to the business before.

[Susie Welch]

And so it's like a local joint where people go to, like, have fun.

[Marilyn Dollar]

It is.

[Cassie]

It is. And to make memories and experience.

[Susie Welch]

Okay.

[Cassie]

You know, so it's three blocks away from Wrigley Field. So it's a great neighborhood, great location.

[Susie Welch]

Right.

[Cassie]

So. And it's part of my community. So I just. Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

So you went, you visited it, and the owner showed you around. And meanwhile, were you talking to Marilyn about, like, this possibility?

[Cassie]

I was.

[Susie Welch]

And what were you saying?

[Marilyn Dollar]

Marilyn, this is going to be so perfect for you. This is going to be a place where you can have community, you can bring in women that you want to serve. You get to live your passion. You get to have fun every day.

[Susie Welch]

I know. That's it. We get to. So then how quickly this is. You must have been just pinching yourself how great this felt.

[Marilyn Dollar]

I mean, we were, like, crying. It was so joyful because she had been in such a dark place when we first started working together, it was hard.

[Cassie]

It was hard. It was hard.

[Marilyn Dollar]

And to get to this place, I could always see this. And so holding this space for you to have something wonderful, that was what I wanted.

[Cassie]

No, I appreciate it.

[Susie Welch]

How quickly I'm going to cry. So I'm going to move right on here. So how did you. So then did you decide to buy it?

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

And so how was the negotiation?

[Cassie]

The negotiation was actually very easy. So he's just ready to retire. And we kind of talked about what the price. Price, you know, is. And again, the accounting brain.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah, I was running through all the numbers.

[Cassie]

Like, my bankers and everybody are like,

[Susie Welch]

who are you otherwise?

[Cassie]

I'm a c. I'm still a cpa.

[Susie Welch]

I know. And I also. I would not want to negotiate with you with what, you know. I mean, I think you have to be very straightforward with you because you just understand numbers.

[Cassie]

But the seller has made this so easy. Like, he is so supportive throughout this process. Like, he's excited for me and what I'm going to carry on from his legacy. So it's been a great partnership. He's working with me through the transition, so he's been absolutely amazing.

[Susie Welch]

What does it feel like now when you wake up in the morning?

[Cassie]

It's exciting. Yeah, it's exciting. That creative brain is just automatically flowing, like, I'm so ready to be done with all the legalities, the purchase price agreement. The lease agreement. Like, I am so ready to get in there.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

And just make it, you know, put my mark on it and just, you know, start having fun together.

[Susie Welch]

An entrepreneur. Yes. I mean, like, I'm an owner.

[Cassie]

I get to be an owner.

[Susie Welch]

Right. And I mean, like, you know, it's not for the faint of heart. Right. I mean, there will be going to be days, like, it's a totally different feeling being an owner and an entrepreneur. I think you're going to love it, but it's a total reinvention.

[Cassie]

Oh, absolutely, Absolutely. But it's exciting. You know, I do. I am bringing on a manager, you know, that I know is going to, you know, help me and all the social media and all the other kind of event planning and stuff. She's going to be fantastic. So that is my biggest thing too, is I'm so excited to be able to coach and develop somebody still. I'm bringing her along to all the meetings, you know, to the chamber of commerce meetings, so that she can feel part of it, you know, so that she can feel invested. From day one, that's been really fun and exciting.

[Marilyn Dollar]

You're bringing her out of the role she was in. That was kind of dead in for her.

[Susie Welch]

So this is somebody you knew in your previous life and you're actually kind of doing a little rescue operation with her into your place. And you know what's interesting to me about this kind of to get very meta about it, is that you discovered and rediscovered or sort of, and then unearthed this value of fun of Eudaimonia. And you are actually your new job, your new business is in the business of Eudaimonia.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

I mean, like, you are right now. It is like you are. Your new purpose is exactly on point for you. It's about expanding your top value, Eudaimonia to other people. That's going to be so much fun. Like, what's the craziest new idea you have for the space? I mean, I like the salsa idea. I think that's fantastic.

[Cassie]

Like, what else?

[Susie Welch]

Like, let's hear some other crazy ideas.

[Cassie]

I am so excited for, like, even going into next year and doing a Kentucky Derby. So I know that's very recent stuff, but doing Kentucky Derby theme, so making mint juleps, but then maybe bringing in a hat lady to decorate where we can decorate hats and stuff. So all the ladies that are there can do hat making. You know, at Christmas time, you know, kids doing cookies with Santa. You know, it's a social club.

[Susie Welch]

It's like, what never the Twain shall meet. We're talking about the first half of your life in the second here. I mean, these are very. What are your. Any reaction from your old colleagues and partners?

[Cassie]

They are so excited. Yeah, they are really, really excited. I mean, so many of them are like, this is like, right up your alley.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah. But I wonder if some of them are also thinking, huh, can I blow it up? You know, or if they're wondering, like, I mean, sometimes somebody. Sometimes somebody reinventing their life, like, maybe somebody is listening to this podcast and thinking, wait a minute. She seems pretty happy for somebody who just blew up her life. And they're thinking, why don't look? You know, we had somebody who went through becoming you in the three day, and she had spent her entire life as a climate scientist, and this was very much part of her identity. She had gone and gotten her master's in it, but she was at becoming you with one of the three day intensives for a reason, which was there was always this little voice inside of her saying, this is not actually it. This is not actually it. So she went through the process and did the values excavation, aptitudes, interest, and at the end of it, she came out and she said, okay, that's it. I gotta blow it up. I wanna be a Broadway producer. I've always wanted to be a Broadway producer. I've always wanted to do it. So she decided at first to take the slow route where she was gonna kind of dip her toe in. I mean, one does not become a Broadway producer overnight, right? You do not buy a Broadway theater, right? So she sort of thought she'd dip her toe in. And so the first thing she did was she took a class. And almost immediately, the people teaching the class pulled her aside and said, you've done this before, right? And she was like, I've never done this before. And they were like, you were born to do this. And she decided to rip the band aid off and sort of go in, get like a, you know, really start at the bottom of the rung. She just blew it up. And one of the things she observed is after she blew it up, all the people she worked with saying, like, wait, how'd you do that again? Because, you know, I think that. I think it's sometimes in us. It's like I play a game with my classes called Sliding Doors, based on that movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, where they showed two things that would have happened, one if she'd made the subway and one if she hadn't. And I say, you know what's your secret crush career. What's the thing that if you'd made the subway, you would have done this totally different thing. You know, everybody. Nobody sits there and says, I did. Exactly. Wanted everybody writes down a secret crusher fear. Like, I would have been a doctor. I would have been. A lot of surprising number of people want to be movie stars and you know, or at least have tried. And everybody's got this sort of secret, well, what if you'd gone for it? And so I think her going for this climate scientist who became a Broadway producer gave people around her a moment's pause where they were like, wait, it's not too late to do that. And it's not. I mean, it's not. And people always say to me, when is it too late to become you? And it's like, I'm sorry, there is no use by date on becoming yourself. You know, that is like, that's until the bitter end. You know, it's. You can keep on. You can, you can reinvent. Look what you did.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

I mean, and you're like, you're glowing. I mean, you might levitate right now. I mean, I think and I love it. Look, that's what the process is about. The process is to get people there. You are so lucky to have Marilyn walking alongside you.

[Cassie]

I mean, absolutely.

[Susie Welch]

I mean, I think I love the fact that you became friends during it. You did.

[Marilyn Dollar]

We did.

[Cassie]

We did.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah, we did. That's kind of cool, right? As you look ahead to the next year, it's all like, what's your husband's role going to be going forward?

[Cassie]

Oh, my gosh. So he's definitely going to have a honey do list for sure. So this place needs a little updating, a little work. So I'm definitely be putting him to work. But again, that's what makes it fun because we're doing it together.

[Susie Welch]

I. And he's totally engaged with.

[Cassie]

Oh, absolutely. I mean, he's, he's definitely. He's more risk averse than me, which is crazy. Again, as a cpa, we tend to be very risk averse.

[Susie Welch]

Right.

[Cassie]

But. But no, he's excited. And I think the more that I bring him along again, it, it's allowing him to feel part of this. So I show him the numbers, I tell him about the meetings that I'm in so that he knows that I am excited. I'm. I'm really doing this.

[Susie Welch]

But from a Maryland, what Marilyn said at the beginning is like. He's like, we're really, we're really doing this.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Right. One of the reasons we don't blow up our lives is because we're, we're just afraid of those reactions. We're afraid of people sort of saying, what are you doing?

[Marilyn Dollar]

And people did say that.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Cassie]

God bless my mom. I'm sure she's gonna listen to this. But. Yeah. For the first comment out of her mouth was, are you sure about this? You know, which I get it. It's such a mom. Such a mom. But you gotta love her because she's here to protect me and stuff.

[Marilyn Dollar]

But I mean, that's her job.

[Cassie]

Exactly, exactly.

[Marilyn Dollar]

But my job, coach, is to inch you towards living a life where you levitate. Right. And you're excited and happy every day.

[Cassie]

Oh my gosh, I've never slept better in my life. You would think that starting this new venture and buying a business would just. I mean, you'd be awake 24 7. And I sleep so well because I know that this is right. This feels right. It feels good. This is me.

[Susie Welch]

I can't. I can't wait to come to Hush too. I invited. I mean, I'm just thinking about what do I want?

[Cassie]

I.

[Susie Welch]

Look, I. I would like to some like, tango lessons, as you think.

[Cassie]

Absolutely. We can make that happen. We could definitely.

[Susie Welch]

I think. I know I did tango once in Argentina. And I remember thinking to myself, this could take a long time to learn. But I think it sounds like if you have enough sort of margaritas, it might be.

[Cassie]

Exactly.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Partner. Partner helps.

[Cassie]

Been so much fun. It's like everybody, they tell, I keep telling them, I'm like, the more ideas that you have, like, send them my way. So I mean, the most random of conversations, you know, I was talking with my manager last week and she was telling me about a pair of country boots that she had just gotten. I looked at her, I said, we need to do a country line dancing night. So again, the most random conversations bring up these amazing ideas and it's so fun to be so creative.

[Susie Welch]

Let's. Let's play sliding doors for a second. What if this hadn't come happened? What would have happened? You would have taken another.

[Cassie]

I don't know. I think I would have been. I, I.

[Marilyn Dollar]

You would have taken that job they made for you.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

What was the job?

[Cassie]

It was another CPA firm. Yeah. It would have been another.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Other public accounting and we would still be coaching. You would be unhappy there too, but

[Susie Welch]

you would have done it. You would have put one foot in front of the other. It was adjacent. What was it? In person. So There would have been that.

[Cassie]

So, I mean, more. Yeah. So it was a larger firm, more in person, opportunities.

[Susie Welch]

But you would not have been living your values.

[Marilyn Dollar]

No.

[Susie Welch]

And that is the thing I always say, like, when we are living our values, it's like we're wearing a suit that was custom made for us. It's fits perfectly. And I love what you said about, like, your perfect night of sleep is like, I am at peace.

[Cassie]

Yes.

[Susie Welch]

That is what it gives you. I love this story so much. I thank you so much. And I'm just looking at the two of you matching, but in a way, it's apt.

[Cassie]

Full circle.

[Susie Welch]

It's apt that you are. Because you were on this journey together. You were the same team.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

Yeah. You really were. What would you say if you had to give some advice to somebody who's listening to this and they're thinking, it sounds good, Like, I kind of really want to blow it up and do this, but I'm just scared. What would you say?

[Cassie]

Just lean in. I mean, it just starts with a conversation, you know, I think that's what really kind of happened for me. It started with a conversation with Marilyn, then it started with a conversation with, you know, the seller of the business, and it started with a conversation with my husband. And here we are, you know, take that first step of just, you know,

[Susie Welch]

leaning in and exploring and just like, Just entertain it.

[Cassie]

Exactly, exactly.

[Susie Welch]

Right. Just don't say no.

[Cassie]

Right, exactly. Because once you entertain it, if it feels right, it'll be right. It'll feel, you know, you'll make that decision to do the right thing and what's best for you and your values.

[Susie Welch]

Somebody who said to me the other day, talking to me about me, which is always a weird experience. You have so much why not energy. And I thought, oh, that's true. I do have why not energies. Like, some people say something and I'll say, instead of saying like, well, what's wrong with. I say, why not? And I think that, like, to blow your life up, there has to be a certain amount of why not energy. Like, at the end of the day, staying the same is not going to change anything. Why not try?

[Cassie]

Well, and I. I tell myself my biggest regret would have been not doing this and walking by that space every day and, you know, knowing that somebody else took my dream, you know, or, you know, so I love walking by it every single day and being like, this is my dream now. This is mine. This is your.

[Susie Welch]

This is your time.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Susie Welch]

You know what I love? I. Maybe you're. Maybe you can pick this up if you're listening to the podcast, but if you're, you're seeing the podcast, you can see what I see, which is your Marilyn's total joy in your story. I mean, I think that's what it is to be a coach. The total joy. Like she's talking and you're smiling like, that's so good. That's okay. So I love seeing your joy off of it. I think that's the work of the purpose doula, you know, the purpose midwife. And I think you feel her joy for you.

[Marilyn Dollar]

100.

[Cassie]

100. I'm so incredibly grateful.

[Susie Welch]

By the way, if you're interested in coaching Maryland, how can people find you? Maryland$com, Marylandollar.com and by the way, if you're interested in finding out more about our coaching certific teaching program which Marilyn went through, you can check it out on our website, becomingyou labs.com all right, well, I'm so glad you shared your time with me and with our listeners at becoming you Marilyn. Thank you, Cassie. Thank you. I'm so excited for your future. Thank you so much for spending time with us. Good luck.

[Cassie]

Thank you.

[Marilyn Dollar]

Thank you.

[Susie Welch]

Thanks.

[Sleep Number Narrator]

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