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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.
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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.
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Air Date: May 26, 2026
Host: Suzy Welch
Guests: Marilyn Dollar (Certified Becoming You Coach), Cassie (former CPA, new culinary entrepreneur)
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.
Suzy briefly explains the framework:
Values Discovery:
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:
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:
“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)
| 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 |
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.