← Escaping the Drift with John Gafford
Escaping the Drift with John Gafford
Finding Purpose Amidst Life's Challenges with Barbara Majeski
01:03:57
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- [00:01]
A
So much crazy goes on from this because at the end of the day, six months later, after getting that award, I got diagnosed with stage three colon cancer.
- [00:14]
B
And now, Escaping the Drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm John Gafford, and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, Escape the Drift, and it's time to start right now. Back again, back again with another episode of. Like it says in the opening man, the podcast that gets you from where you are to where you want to be. And today, ladies and gentlemen, today, in this day, after the election, when a lot, half the country anyway, is wheeling and trying to figure out what to do, I got a guest. Not in studio. She's. She's. She's where she is and I'm where I am. But this is a guest that, man. I saw her on the gram and she came flying down and I just started doing a little bit of research on this person and I kind of got into it, man. I was like, man, this is a person that's kind of. Kind of got it figured out, has had that adversity in her life. She's had some things that have stepped up and hit her in the face and managed to keep pushing forward in a way that her view on life and just watching some of the stuff she does is really impressive. She is a frequent guest of shows like the Today Show, Fox and Friends, those sorts of things. She is the founder of the More Life Collective. She is the host of her very own Bearing it all podcast. And, ladies and gentlemen, we are glad to have her in on the podcast today to get her point of view. This, ladies and gentlemen, live in the flesh is Barbara Majeski.
- [01:40]
A
Barbara, yes. Great to see you.
- [01:42]
B
This is going.
- [01:43]
A
I'm doing great. I mean, the election is over. We know what we've got. She conceded. We can continue on with our lives.
- [01:51]
B
Right? The sun came up today. The clouds are out. Nobody. The world has not fallen apart. You know, here you go.
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A
My newsfeed is hysterical right now with the memes and the, you know, it's. It's all good, but at least it's done.
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B
You know, it's never, you know, in something I posted yesterday. Well, I mean, this is like early in the day, like early when voting first started. And I made this comment. I'm just curious. We're not going to get political, but I'm curious your thoughts on this, because I said not supporting whoever wins the election tonight is like going to the doctor and hoping they misdiagnose you. Don't you have to kind of root for whoever. You got to kind of root for them because rooting against them is kind of rooting against yourself.
- [02:36]
A
It's true. I mean, you've got to find what, you know what speaks to you and pick your team, like, get your jersey on, get in the game. But, you know, some people are indifferent. They're not really affected by the es and flows of politics. So I can understand. There have been elections in my youth that I was very meh about. So this one was a little deeper, for sure.
- [02:58]
B
Yeah, it was. And you know, I'm glad it's over because, you know, me being in the business that I'm in and needing to advertise, holy crap, everything just got way cheaper today. Yeah, I can actually.
- [03:12]
A
I can actually stop.
- [03:14]
B
I can put. I can put something in somebody. People will answer the phone again for my people when they call. I can put something in somebody's mailbox that is not buried with 800 other things. And man clicks just got way cheaper on the interwebs, which I like. So I was like, you know, high performing people. I like to do this nature versus nurture deal. Right. So I like to kind of go back to the beginning of your life and how you grew up and you had kind of extinguished circumstances. Guess a lot of twins in your life, I think, and including one of your siblings had special needs. So we talk about that and what it was like growing up in that household. Where did you grow up? Tell me about that.
- [03:47]
A
Yeah, so it looks like you've done your homework, so I appreciate that. That's great. And yes, I grew up in New Jersey and I'm one of two sets of tw. My, my. I have a twin brother. I have younger twin brothers. So we're one of two sets. And my mom's a triplet, so it runs in the family now. God gives you. You can handle. And God made sure I just had three separate ones. So I. I do not have twins.
- [04:13]
B
Yeah. How far? How far? Just out of curiosity, because it'll. It'll frame kind of your mom a little bit for me. How far apart were the births for your mom? Like three years. How much older?
- [04:23]
A
Three years. I'm the older and I'm the oldest of the twin set, which is very important in twin world. And the younger set is three years younger. The interesting part is that both pregnancies, they told my mother she was Having one and two came out. Oh, wow.
- [04:39]
B
Yeah. My dear friend Kendra Todd had two sets of twins inside of 18 months and she had four in diapers. I was like, dude, that's aggressive. That's a good. But your mom still 3 years old and new twins, she was hustling but. But one of your siblings had special needs.
- [04:56]
A
Yes, yes. So twins run in our family as well as a condition known as fragile X which is a lot like down syndrome. It's a genetically inherited form of neurological impairment. And I always like refer to my childhood as growing up Schwartz because it was just so like chaotic and funny. But it was also during a time which special needs was more of like you were kind of an outcast, you were shunned, were like, oh, I'm so sorry. The schools weren't very efficient with how to handle it. They didn't even know what to do. Like now it's just light and day. They from the get go you're really taught a trade as opposed to back in the 80s, the 70s. 80s. It was just like he was doing. It was just not that great. They had a special ed class, but it wasn't as what it is today.
- [05:47]
B
But I would also think that that time of growing up when things were a little less, when people were a little less empathetic, especially kids, younger kids, I can imagine that there was probably some sticking up you had to do for your sibling. I can imagine.
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A
Yeah, go ahead.
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B
No, no. I was going to ask if that shaped your empathy. I was going to ask if that shaped the amount of empathy you have. If you think that that was a cornerstone or were there other thing.
- [06:14]
A
Well, there's just this crazy incident that happened when I was six. So I'm six. My twin brother and I are six. The younger set is three and I'm giving the younger set a bath. Why a six year old is giving three year old twins a bath. This is the 1970s, everybody. So this is okay back then because.
- [06:33]
B
Mom had four kids. Mom had four kids and I was.
- [06:38]
A
Like the mother's helper and I felt like these were my little baby dolls and you only put the water six inches high, whatever. And I'm playing patty cake with Michael and I, you know, I always preferred playing with Michael patty cake because Stephen, his motor skills weren't there. Believe it or not, I can remember that. But I turned to play patty cake with Stephen and he was just laying on like the side of the bed, the bathtub and I, I didn't understand what was going on. I was like Stephen, let's play patty cake. And he was not responding. So I called downstairs, and my mother came up. My father came up. It ended up being a big scene. What my brother had was a seizure. I took him out of the bath and ran him to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I didn't see him again for almost two months. He ended up. Stopped eating. He slipped into a coma. And I was just six years old, waiting for somebody to bring home one of my, like, baby dolls. Those were. The twins, were mine. Like, they were in my life. They were. They belonged to me. And before Stephen came home, my mother sat my twin brother and I down, and she said, you know, the good news news is Stephen's coming home. But we. You have to be, you know, you have to be kind to him. He's. He. He moved slower. And it was at that time they had realized that he had had neurological deficits. They realized in the 90s it was a genetic disorder. But until that point, they had felt that his delayed development was, like, due to incidents or we. They didn't really know. But the fragile X wasn't uncovered until the 90s. So my mother says, Stephen will likely never be able to. And I remember saying. And this is the serendipity of it, I said, wow. I said, I don't. I'll speak for him. I said, he'll never need to speak. I got it. I got it. Like, just bring him home and I'll take care of him. And, you know, as. As crazy as that is, it has definitely been my. My moral compass, my. Okay, I gotta redirect. You know, how do I get myself aligned with my purpose, my calling? And there's just been time and time again when I'm lost in the sauce. And I'm very reflective of giving a voice to Stephen, giving a voice to those who can't speak for themselves, using my gifts in service of others. So I think it very much shaped the decisions that I ultimately made, if that makes any sense.
- [09:12]
B
No, it would have to, because, I mean, you received a Humanitarian Award in 2015, correct? What was that for? I mean, obviously, of course. Of course the humanitarian stuff, but what was the actual act of kindness or the great gift you gave to the. To the world to get that award?
- [09:28]
A
You know, that's such a good question. And. Because it all does hinge on the fact that, you know, I knew, like. So I got on a resolve for Operation Smile, which fixes cleft lips and cleft palates. Children in parts of the world that won't have access to it. And I had gone on a humanitarian mission. There's so much to this story, but I'm just going to keep it right here. So I went on a humesse.
- [09:53]
B
We're not in a hurry to be. We're not in a hurry to be anywhere.
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A
I'll tell you the funny part of this story because it's in alignment with the election. Total sidebar. So I had gotten a postcard in the mail for Operation Smile and it was to meet the founders. And I was like, oh my God, meet the founders of Operation Smile. I would love to. So I show up, I knock on this door, it's the dead of winter And Donald Trump Jr. Opens the door and I'm like. And it's in the middle of the Apprentice. And I'm like, oh, where did I just go? Because this is supposed to be my friend's house. Like, I don't understand.
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B
When was that? What year was this?
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A
This has to be 2,000, like seven or eight.
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B
All right. Because you know I was on the Apprentice. Did you know that?
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A
Well, now I do. That's.
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B
I was on that show. Yeah. What I think my not early my season would have filmed in 2006. So it's been a minute.
- [10:51]
A
Yeah, I'm in the mix of Apprentice season, so I know.
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B
There you go.
- [10:58]
A
That's so funny. See all roads and anyway, so I ended up going to this apparition Smile at home meeting, learned more about it. I went on a mission after that and when I came back from the mission on the flight back, I was like, I can do more. And I'll tell you, there were three rooms on this mission site. And at the end of like evaluation, parents are brought into one of these three rooms, room one and two. They find out about pre surgery, post surgery and that their kid is qualified for the surgery. And remember, these are life changing surgeries here in the United States. Yeah, it's a game changer. And room three, something, something didn't. The dots didn't line up and they don't qualify for the surgery. They have to come back the next time. And you would see these parents leave the room and it was awful. And I asked the, our host on the flight back, I said, what happens to room 3? What happens to the families? And she said, as long as we keep sponsoring these missions, we'll go back and we'll take care of them the next time around. Because these kids could get the k bosh even if they have like a 99 degree fever. Like there's. They take yeah. Like, no risks.
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B
Any little thing. Yeah.
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A
Yeah. So I'm like, okay. I'm like, well, I would like to. How do you sponsor a mission? Because Colgate had sponsored hours for $150,000. And I was like, well, I'll raise 150,000. I'd never done that before, but I was like, well, I'll just figure it out. You kind of reverse engineer. And I've learned that through different iterations of my life of like, all right, where do you want to go? What do you want? Get clear on your destination. And then you got a reverse engineer of like, all right, well, how did people do it? So I kind of was like, I'm doing it. I'm all in. And the thought in the back of my mind that you'll appreciate is that, what if that was Stephen? What if my brother needed a sister? It didn't have one. What if Stephen. It was like the Stevens of the world were kind of saying, hey, you've got a really big mouth. You've got great connections. I had. I'd been part of a sales company that had scaled, and I had epic amounts of connections, and I was one of the startups, so I knew everyone, and I was like, I think I can leverage my previous work experience and my connections to raise this money. So it ended up just kind of going from there. Of, all right, I'll figure it out, and I'll. You know, it's just like that quote and frozen, like, just do the next right thing. Like, take the next right step. So ultimately, I, you know, I raised the first $150,000, and this is where, like, the Go Giver book is so good and everybody needs to read it. I really did that go that. That mission in, like, out of the goodness of my heart, I was like, I need to take care of the Stevens of the world. I need to use my voice for those who can't speak for themselves. And the serendipity of it is, as soon as we qualified for that next mission, five of my. My friends that helped me money went on the mission. They come back, they're like, we didn't raise enough money. They started hosting fundraisers. The thing starts taking off like. Like, it was called an Adopt a Smile campaign. Next thing you know, I'm raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they call me, and they're like, you. You deserve our Humanitarian of the Year award.
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B
I love that.
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A
So much crazy goes on from this, because at the end of the day, six months later, after getting that award, I got diagnosed with stage three colon cancer.
- [14:42]
B
Well, we're going to get to that. I saw that as well. And believe me, I, we're going to spend, we're going to spend a minute on that. But I want to back up a little bit.
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A
Yeah.
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B
Because when you went on this mission, I'm assuming you, you were gainfully employed. Right. So this was something that you just scheduled into your life or how did you make time to give? Because I think that, you know, I order one every year. I just ordered Jesse Edseller's big ass calendar for 2025. I love Jesse. He's a great, he's a great dude. Where you schedule your life and then you work around the life you schedule. So so many people I think wrestle with that. Right. So how did you schedule that into your existing busy life? Did you find difficult?
- [15:24]
A
That's the thing, is that, you know, you schedule things far enough in a.
- [15:28]
C
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- [15:58]
A
Advance. Whether it's a trip, a humanitarian mission, a goal, you put a deadline on it, you'll start working or working around it. It's never easy, it's never convenient. There's oftentimes better things that you can be doing with your time in your mind. You're like, oh my God, this is going to be. I'm going to work for free. But it was something that was something I really had said that I was going to do in this lifetime. It was something I kind of said, you know, I wonder, I need to kind of get out of my own echo chambers, my own, you know, recirculated air and really see how, you know, see, see a third world country. So it's never easy. But if it's on your list of things to do and you write it down and you schedule it, you will work around it. It's just, it's. But it's got to be on your list. I talk so much, I have it sitting actually right here. Like, I talk so much about journaling and writing things down. And you just talked about Jesse Itzler. I can't begin to tell you the things that have come to fruition for me probably my whole life. Just the, like, the subconscious mind has no sense of humor. So what you put in there will start working towards it so that. Yeah, it's never easy. It's never convenient.
- [17:15]
B
You know, one of my current superpowers is using AI, which I love, right? All these people use AI to make these stupid pictures of Kamala and Trump making out on a beach in the back of a car. Something stupid, right? The Image Generators on ChatGPT are the greatest vision board tool in the history of man. I mean, I have four images. I won't get into exactly what they are, but I have four images on. On the mirror, in my gym, at my house. And every morning when I'm working out, I look at images and I mean, they're real. I tell you one of them. So I got a book coming out in the not too distant future, and I literally have a picture and it's photorealistic, dude. It's like, it looks like it's real. Like I took it with my cell phone and it's my book in Hudson News in the airport with a little thing Ever says bestseller? I don't even know what that's what. But I look at that every single day and I'm like, man, that is just. I feel that every day. And I agree. I think the universe doesn't have any idea of what's real or what's not. You just gotta put it out there. I love that concept. Which is, which is great. When you were going and raising all this money, were you talking to businesses about trying to get like some sort of a purpose driven capacity into their, like, scheduled giving into their businesses, which something we're huge on here. And I love that. Is that, is that something you went after?
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A
Absolutely. And at the time, the company had no real alignment with charitable giving. Believe it or not. You know, people did their individual thing, but they hadn't collectively come together. And it was still a growing. I mean, now that was to 2007, 2008 out of 2009. I could probably look at the award and read the day, but that was.
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B
Almost 20 years ago. God, it's a long time ago.
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A
And really the culture of this generation is very philanthropic. So I had kind of come in at the right time and was willing to champion this, this cause and bring people together. And I think people are very drawn to humanitarian work and giving back in this alignment without being too, like, inconvenienced or put out. And I think I made it a lot of fun that was another thing. Like, I read my audience, I knew who I was catering to, and I was like, listen, let's do some softball games, some volleyball games, a fundraiser, you know, bowling, pool nights, whatever. It just became, like, who can put together the most fun, Fun raiser and team night or whatever, Pizza night. So it just was Injunction because it was a young, young company with.
- [19:52]
B
There was a lot. There was a lot of. There was a lot of dollar for dollar here. This wasn't like people strokes and checks for 100 grand. I mean, you were. You were grinding it out.
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A
I was grinding it out. It was like, make a little money off a lot of people kind of thing. And, yeah, instead of people writing checks, really integrating philanthropy into their business, instead of, like, just check this box and give a dollar. But really talk about the. The philanthropy, the work that they do, why we're. We're choosing this one. And I think I just. I was on. I was in the. I was. I think I was on message with this right generation, and they really took the ball and ran with it. But I was very passionate. And then, like, the nuances of figuring out administratively how to organize this took a little. That got a little hairy. Where do you send the money? And, like, how does this all go? But you, again, like, you reverse engineer and you figure it out. And that is the blessing of growing up Schwartz is you. And growing up with a special needs brother and a bit of a chaotic home.
- [20:55]
B
Your resilient, Your resilience level is just.
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A
Through the roof, 100%. And not only that, it's like, figure it the F out. Like, make it work. You've got to figure things out. Like, you can't just walk away. Like, with a special needs sibling. You've got to figure things out on the spot. You have to be resilient. You have to be creative, and you have to have that. I'm going to make this happen. I'm going to make it work. And that kind of fortitude, resilience, tenacity, I do think gets lost as we make our children's lives very easy and cushy, as opposed to stroke.
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B
That is the struggle. I mean, as they say, you know, hard times make great men. Great men make good times, Good times make soft men. The cycle repeats, and soft men make hard times, and it just repeats. And how old are your kids? You got kids? Yes.
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A
Your mother?
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B
Three. You said that, right? Mother of three. You said that earlier. How old are your children? I'm just curious.
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A
19, 20, and 13.
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B
Okay, well, 13. See, you still Got mad hormones running through the house, which is fine. My biggest fear in life is raising worthless kids. It's like. And you catch yourself when you're like, dude, you know, because my kids now are 17 and 15, or my daughter's almost 15, and it's like. But I can remember, like, little moments, like when it's six years old, when my son had an opinion on airlines. I'm like, oh, shit. You know, this is. This is not good, right? This is. I gotta reel this back. And, you know, we got to try to create as much adversity as we can for them. And we've kind of done it through sports, which is good. That's why I love sports for the kids. But I think so many people have that issue with. They're not getting that resilience. I mean, I tell people the time. That's my superpower. Resilience is absolutely my super power. When I was on the Apprentice, several seasons after I was done, the show, psychologist or psychiatrist, whoever she was, Dr. Eliza Siegel wrote a book called Sweet Success or something, whatever it was, about the show and about the psychology of the contestants. And she called and said she wanted to interview me. I said, why? Why me after all these contestants? And she goes, you scored higher on resilience than any contestant ever had, and I wonder why? And I was like, cool. So, I mean, I'm officially certified. I think, in that group of people who are all super type A successful people. That's my superpower. So I tell people I just. Nothing. Nothing gets in front of me and gets me down. But I do. But this. This. That's such a good segue, man. I love when there's a solid segue show.
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A
Yes.
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B
So talking about resilience and nothing getting you down, here you go. You're doing what you love. You're raising all this money. Things are going great, amazingly good in the world of Barbara. And then something happens that nobody would ever expect to happen, which is what.
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A
I got diagnosed at 42 in 2015 with stage 3 colon cancer.
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B
I mean, that's just wild. What is that day like? What is that day like?
- [23:51]
A
Well, you need to know. I was on the heels of my marriage falling apart, so I. Oh.
- [23:56]
B
So bonus. So bonus time. Okay. Yeah, There you go.
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A
And it's funny because I'm like, you know, oh, my goodness. Like, I need.
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B
Well, let's back into that. Hang on. Was when you're. When your marriage was falling apart, was that taking a heavy emotional toll on you already? Or was that something you're kind of like we talked. Was it one of those progressive. We talked about it and we're going to uncouple and everybody's kind of okay. Or was it like the. It was like our parents good old 1970s divorce.
- [24:24]
A
Which one was somewhere in between? It was definite, like out of an old soap opera. And I didn't see it coming. It was more on his. His end and it was a. It just ended in like a dumpster fire blaze of glory that I was very blindsided by of like, oh, I did not plan for this. And as I'm kind of, you know, recalibrating for my new normal, I get this cancer diagnosis and I can remember the doctor telling me and I'm like in such denial. I'm like, I really don't have the bandwidth. This diagnosis. Right.
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B
Not a good time for. It's not a good time for this.
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A
Not a good time for this. My, My husband at the time was very good through it. We were in marriage therapy. I was in chemotherapy. I mean I did all the things it was. And my kids were young. I mean, two out of my three kids still believed in the tooth fairy in Santa Claus. That's young to be diagnosed.
- [25:26]
B
And were the doctors telling you like, get your stuff in order? I mean, was it that kind of, that kind of diagnosis? It was like, we're going to see where were at or they're saying you're going to beat this. Like, where was your head based on the information you were getting?
- [25:38]
A
Page three is a dicey one. But it's better than stage four. They were, they. I have had very strong odds for sure, but there's. I had great odds. I think, you know, anything that's not stage four. I think I had great, great her odds of survivorship. So it was more of like, don't get, just get, get down to the work. Like, I was like, I don't want to do chemo. And they're like, you don't. You know that it's like a non negotiable. You gotta have surgery, you gotta have six months of chemo. And you're. I was young. I just finished the New York City Marathon like the year before. I mean, I was not, I just wasn't really. I was like, I did all the right things. Like, this is very rude, but the universe is always conspiring in your favor. When you can get through something, there's.
- [26:30]
B
Firing in your favor.
- [26:35]
A
In a very serendipitous way. I think I needed to you grow through what you go through. I needed that in my life. And the timing was crazy and it wasn't easy or fun, but it really allows you to take a good, hard look at your life and what you want and who you are. And how are you going to live your very best life. Like, you're the master of your own destiny. This is like you're in charge. And it did. I mean, being confronted with your own mortality does give you this all right, you know, like, I'm like, how do. How do I live out the best, the next best? If I get another shot and I survive cancer, what am I doing with it? Like. Like, how am I living at the highest expression of myself? And I did ice chemo and me, we were no bueno. I did not do well in chemo. I got violently ill. And there was a moment where I was like, what if I don't make it? Like, in the beginning, I'm like, I've got this. And I looked up the statistics and I'm like, if she survived this, I can survive that. And then about on my eighth or ninth round of chemo, I was like, I need to take stock of this situation and get real with myself, because this really does suck. And I, you know, I had a funny revelation in that I was like, you know, if I started, like, if I don't make this, what do I want my kids to remember about me? And I started, like, reflecting on all these things. The Humanitarian Award is one of them. I put myself through college, I started a business, I was part of a startup that ultimately scaled. Did very well with that. Like, I wanted them to know certain things. And I thought through that. I was like, oh, everything I've ever that I'm proud of that I want my kids to remember, I wanted to quit. Like, putting myself through college was brutal, horrible. And I. The startup I was part of, I went door to door selling telecommunications. I mean, it was really hard and scaled it from there, but I always wanted to quit. And whenever I wanted to quit, I thought, if I quit, I can't take care of Stephen. Even when I was doing the fundraising for the humanitarian work, I was like, this is really hard. And like, some people, like, just. It wasn't going as quickly and expeditiously as I had kind of of envisioned. It was. There was a lot, like the nuance that I talked about earlier with administration. I was like, oh, this is a. This is a beast. I hadn't really calculated for, but it kept. Anytime I wanted to quit, I was like, what about Stephen? You gotta make it work. So in that moment I realized, wow, I'm so fortunate to have Stephen to take care of because otherwise I would have quit all these great things. And it was at that same moment I was like, like it was never really me taking care of Stephen as much as it was Stephen who was taking care of me.
- [29:32]
B
Of you. Well, there's so much to unpack from that dude. It's like first of all, you know our friend Jesse Lee, I don't know if you know who that is. She was incredibly successful, multilevel marketing. I was in a mastermind group with her. And we just passed the one year anniversary for passing from exactly what you had. And none of us, none of us in that, in our, in our group, none of us would ever even thought that it was possible she was gonna die.
- [29:57]
A
Like I never, when that post went up, I'm shook over that one. I gotta be honest. That one does not math for me. The math is not math.
- [30:10]
B
No, it was wild. And so there is, so there is an element of, you know what, man, we're all just dangling on strings here and it could be gone in a second. And you know one of my favorites quotes, and I don't know who said it as I'm recalling it now, when every time I say it, this is one of my favorite quotes. I don't know who says stuff, I just know I like it. But it says like, you know, it says a man has two lives. It has the live.
- [30:33]
C
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money. When you bundle your home and auto policies, the process only takes minutes and it could mean hundreds more in your pocket. Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states until the.
- [31:04]
B
Moment he realizes he's not immortal. And then what he chooses to do with his time after that. And I think that's one of those things. And the fact that you understood that you always kept that why were very clear on your why. Very focused on that I think is probably what really shapes you. What a lot of people fall down is because they haven't identified their why. You know, not comparing stuff. I just, it's just I'm getting crushed with it right now as I think about this. So, you know, it's funny, I'm one of those guys that I'm On a lot of stages and I do those things and you see these stories and the other speakers that go up before, after, they're like, you know, here's my soul crushing story. You know, David Goggins gets up there and just lays out this horrible horrendous childhood and I'm like, yeah, I'm like, man, you know, having to grow up on the second hole, the golf course instead of the 18th of the first, the walk, the clubhouse is further. Yeah, nobody gives a about my story, right? So I always see myself, even though through all of the things in my life I've never had any real great adversity. And I got zapped with something like a year ago and I'm dealing with right now and, and hope. I took 4 MRIs on Monday and hopefully I'll find out exactly what our course of action is. But I have something called trauma genuine. I always want it. Be careful. What you wish for is the moral of this story. Like you want that adversity. Okay, okay, universe, here's some, here's some adversity. I got something called tribal genealogy neuralgia, where you have a nerve in your face, right. And it misfires. It's a neurological thing. But literally if I go outside right now and the wind blows on my left eyelashes, it feels like somebody's tasing me with a taser. I get electrocuted. And as we're sitting here talking, I keep getting zapped. So if I make a weird face, that's kind of what it is, is I'm literally sitting here getting electrocuted. Yeah, I'm gonna get it fixed. We got a meeting on Monday. But yeah, there's my adversity that you need to be careful what you wish for because the universe will serve it up to you in spade.
- [32:50]
A
Well, like you said, you test high on resiliency. So your perception of maybe what you've tried, you've had to overcome, figure out transverse is probably minim minimized in your own perception because you're like, I just have. I've got to get, I'm getting through this. I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to make it happen. So there's that. That makes sense to me that you're.
- [33:12]
B
Saying that I love when I, when I tell people about this and I'm so kind of gipper about it. And then they look it up and they're like, dude, this is called the suicide ailment. I'm like, yeah, it kind of sucks. It's interesting, you know, we're Working on it. But I'm bringing a voice to all those out there are getting electrocuted on their face today. Hopefully I'm getting it fixed. I'm going to get this. There's a couple of things we don't get it fixed, but back to this. So you get through the cancer, you fight your way through the end of it, and then it's the end of it. Do you. I mean, you got to have that moment when, you know, you're out of the woods when you're like, okay, cool. Like, I did all. I did a. I did a lot of A to Z in my. Or my first life. What am I going to focus on? On life number two. Did you have that moment?
- [33:55]
A
Absolutely. Absolutely. So I. You know, I'm really coming to grips with my own mortality as I'm, like, getting through the end of chemo and recognizing that I was given, like, this great gift, like, the gift of purpose. I was given. No back door, no quit. Figure it out. Make it work. Because if you don't, your brother is going to be institutionalized. Right. Like, if I don't figure out how to make, you know, personal wealth and I don't figure out how to do well for myself and I don't make this, my brother's going to be an award of the state. Get your head out of your rear end and figure it out. And recognizing that I had been gifted such a, you know, immeasurable gift, really, I said to myself, I'm like, if I survive cancer, I will never play small again. I will forever use my voice to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. I. That is what I was meant to do. It wasn't just about Stephen that I would speak for him, but I'm supposed to use and amplify my voice to give a voice to others. And when I got to the other side of cancer, I remember thinking, I was like, okay. And I was sitting in this very seat. I'm like, all right, Beth. Babs. Babs is my badass bitch self, Babs. I'm like, all right, Babs.
- [35:11]
B
Yeah, I feel. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, I get it. I like it.
- [35:14]
A
What you gonna do with your badass self? And I'm like, I think I want to go on television. I literally was like, you know, I think I need. I need a bigger platform. I need more exposure. I need. I need to get back out there again and do something. And mind you, I'd never done television. And I was like, okay, I'll go on tv. Okay, so like you're doing your vision board. I wrote it down. I was like, I want to be on the Today show. Life is so funny. I wrote down I want to be on the Today show. This is a girl with a degree in community health education who is a door to door sales girl who scaled sales teams and randomly decided to run a fundraiser. And I, you know, do do fundraising. Nowhere in this resume of Barbara Majeski does it read television personality. But I'm like, I'm 43 now, and now I would like to be a television personality.
- [36:06]
B
I mean, let's call. Okay, let's call a spade a spade. 43 ain't exactly the age to break into the old television game either. If we're, if we're being honest about what we're talking about. Not exactly the age you want to break in. So hurdle against you as well.
- [36:20]
A
You would think so. But see, I just reframed all of it and I was like, I don't know. Unless you go. Like, I have a very great way to kind of talk myself into stuff of like, you don't know unless you go. And unless you try things so and ever. Like, I'm sure that went through my head. Like, who do I think I am? And like all that. Like, you're in your 40s. Nobody wants, like, everybody wants everyone in their 20s. But I was like, listen, I don't know that I have to. I'd rather take a no than an I don't know. And I just love that, right? Like, I'd rather just be told you're too old as opposed to me assuming that or you're not a match for us. And it's been unbelievable. So here's the serendipity again. I write down that I want to be on the Today show. I go and I'm like, well, I guess how do you be on tv? You have to go back to school and learn how to be in television or you go hire a media trainer. So I end up on Instagram and I find this media trainer. And so I DM her and I'm like, you don't even know what to say to people or. No, I didn't. I picked up the phone and I called her. But let me just tell you, I wrote her name down for a good month before I could find the chops to be like, hey, like, yeah, I don't know. I was a little nervous.
- [37:39]
B
Let's work together.
- [37:41]
A
Yes. You have to come up with your words. So we're on the phone, I'm on the Phone with our assistant. She goes, I like the sound of your voice. And she goes, what's your name? I said, barbara Majeski. She enters my name into the computer, and a Google search comes up. And at this time, I'm not Google searchable, except for one thing. I want a humanitarian word where I spoke on stage.
- [38:03]
B
There's your phone. There's your. There's your. There's your little. There's your little foothold.
- [38:07]
A
She plays the video thing that got me in the door. So Amy Rosenblum grabs the phone from her assistant. She goes, you do public speaking. I'm like, yeah, I'll speak. I don't care, as long I'll do whatever. She goes, I want you in here this week. I'd love to meet you. I go in to meet her. She's the former executive producer of the Today Show. My very first booking after going through trade training was the Today Show. And if you Google, you see I've been on there several, several times.
- [38:36]
B
That's awesome.
- [38:38]
A
But the. The message in this is through is, like, you read then. I recently, I read the Go Giver, and it's such a good book. I didn't do that humanitarian work so that I could get access to the Today Show. I did it because it was the right thing to do. And if sometimes when you're lost and, you know, escaping the drift, I think this is super important. Live a life of service. Live a life of giving back. And when you're lost in the sauce, can you go to that space of, how can I use my experiences to help others and get out of my own way and start getting more clarity and more gratitude? Because that humanitarian word not only led me to the Today show in a very funny way, I had gotten that award with Johnson and Johnson. They were the corporate humanitarian ward. When I was diagnosed with cancer, the CEO, Alex Gorski, his assistant Danielle saw because I'd posted on Facebook that I had cancer. And she called me and said, alex Gorski, the CEO of Johnson and Johnson. Thank you. Was like, whatever you need, Johnson.
- [39:46]
B
Wow.
- [39:47]
A
I was like, well, now I can't die because I got Johnson and Johnson. Yeah.
- [39:51]
B
You're like, hello, Mayo Clinic? I'd like to find a soccer. You have Cedar Sinai room for one, please.
- [39:59]
A
I couldn't even, like, like, are. I was like, oh, this is. I mean, so again, like, you're, you know, escaping the drift and understanding. Like, you know, we all go adrift and we all get lost in the sauce. Sometimes we just have to go back to how can I live a life of service? How can I give back and serve those at a space? That resonates for me because we all have certain experiences and maybe it is getting tasered in the eye where you learn how to serve and help others do that. It's it, it, there's so many layers to it. So. Yeah, yeah.
- [40:33]
B
Other than being able to power a small village with a, you know, sticking a light bulb in my mouth, I'm not sure exactly I'm gonna help people with this, but, but it's, it's funny. I mean, I saw a. This. I don't remember who it was. Gosh, just another thing. It's the guy that was on stage, you know, the same event I was doing a long time ago. He was talking about when he and his father would be down and out, down their last dollar. Right. Like living in a one bedroom apartment sells before they found success and they're down to the last five bucks. His dad would say, time to go give, time to go give. Let's go give this money away. And he'd be like, we're going to give away our last $5. He's like, yes, we are. Because it will come back. If we go out and we focus.
- [41:10]
A
On giving, it will come back 100%. The more you give, the more you get. Which is so cliche, but it is so karmically real. And I remember hearing about this group of kids in like a very urban area, very poor area, and they were always taking handouts. And this teacher came in and was like, we're going to go ahead and help others in the community. And so they reversed it and it ended up really empowering them and it was just a game changer for the trajectory of their life. So always remember, you do have gifts and you are, you are. We're meant to live a life of service. We're meant to use our gifts to serve and help others. And I think that's what's always really rerouted me at all times of like, I gotta get back to, I gotta get back to what I'm gonna most feel my legacy is about.
- [42:05]
B
Well, it's funny, it's funny. We're gonna segue again because this is a good segue point for this, which is, you know, talking about being of service to others. And I look at again, bringing the election back into this a little bit. You find that, I find the people that were most upset about the results today, the people that mean were, you know, and there was, if you go on Twitter, there's just streams of people just bawling over whatever perceived thing they're going to do. And if I had to put one thing in common for all of these people, blindly, without knowing any of them, but just basically just saying, this is a box I'm going to put you in, I'm going to say victim is a huge box for all of them. They're a personal victim. And me, people that put themselves in the victim box have no sense of personal accountability. And I know that that is something that has become very important to you in helping others achieve. So let's talk about that.
- [43:02]
A
It's so real, you know, you, you've just. I identify with what you're talking about so much because I do feel that, you know, you can. You can't change what's going on. Crying, falling apart. Have your moment. Have your moment and then proceed. You know, it's not going to change anything. What's the great quote? You can't control the waves, but you can learn how to surf. And just being able to understand, like, taking inventory of what you have control over and you don't have control over. You have control over your attitude, your work ethic, and your intention of what you're working towards, like control. Focus on those things and the rest will fall into place. And I do feel. I read J.D. vance's book. This is where my, like. Amazing.
- [43:51]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, amazing.
- [43:52]
A
I read it early on. Did you read it?
- [43:54]
B
Oh, dude, I read it. I wrote Tim Ferriss put it on his mailing list, which I love. Tim Ferriss's mailing list?
- [44:01]
A
Yeah.
- [44:01]
B
And what I'm reading right now, Hillbill Elegy. I'm like, what is this book? I just, just Hillbill. I just. The name caught me and I got the book way before Ron Howard ever knew it existed. And it was just. I read it on a flight. I think I read it from a flight from New York, New York to la. And I think it was. It was four hours. I just pounded the whole book down and. Amazing, amazing. What that guy has overcome. It's incredible.
- [44:22]
A
Amazing. And the takeaway, and I'm sure you. This is, this will line with you, resonate with you. My takeaway now, I read it when it first came out. I don't know when that was, but the takeaway is what he figured out in living, growing up in Appalachia is that there was a systemic mindset that it was never their fault. So if they got fired from a job, even though they were always late, or they never showed up on time or they didn't. There were no call, no show. When they ultimately got fired, everyone had the same narrative, like the, it was their fault and, you know, who do they think they are? And like, and everybody fed into this narrative. And for whatever reason, JD Vance was able to look at that because he was able to say, well, you, you kind of sucked as an employee and you got fired. And I remember this, like, I, like, I read it yesterday thinking, wow, that is like, so profound. And being able to say, you know what? I'm the master of my own destiny. If I constantly blame everyone else, I'm never going to solve the. I'm never going to solve problems. It is such a great message to really start saying, like, where, what, what could you have done better? You know, where can you take accountability? And I think this next generation is definitely struggling with that because there's very much like this oppressor and victim and the oppressed. And like, you've got to fall in that paradigm. You can, you know, which is not serving this generation at all. Like, you gotta. Everybody's got to be a victim, otherwise they're the oppressor. These are your options. Well, I don't want to be an oppressor. I want to be the victim. You just always feed the victim narrative. And like, I have, it's super frustrating. And I can always feed.
- [46:07]
B
It's like, you can't, you can't. You can't always bring colonialism into your everyday life. You didn't lose your job at the Quickie Mark because the British took over the Virgin Islands. You can't get there. You can try, but as they get there, you know, I find the easiest first step in personal accountability for anybody is to change. Change one word, one phrase in your everyday life, which is, if you're not going to do something, stop saying I can't and say, I choose not to. Like, oh, you should. You should lose weight. I can't. I just can't lose weight. No, no, no, you choose not to. I just can't find time to go to the gym.
- [46:48]
C
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casual Insurance company and affiliates, potential savings Will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
- [47:27]
B
No. You choose not to. Oh, I can't, I can't find a job. No, no, no, no. You're choosing not to. There's a lot of things and if you just change that one phrase.
- [47:36]
A
Yeah.
- [47:37]
B
It first will sting, but then can become incredibly empowerful. Because when you realize that you are the master of your own destiny, you are the captain of your own ship, life becomes a little bit, a little bit more fun to, more fun to live. Like you said, when you're a passenger, it sucks. Like, like how many people are out there in this, in the passenger seat of this one away car of life they're in and how terrifying and miserable must that be? So I know you have this, I know you have this 14 day, 14 day accountability plan. People can get. Talk to me about that. I'm just curious. Serious.
- [48:11]
A
Yeah, no, I. Oh, I love doing it. There are three W's, the water, walking and writing. It's just a great. I do resets for people of like, all right, let's get organized. Like when you're, you're drifting out to see where are the best places to start. Well, for me it's always grab the pen, grab the notebook, and let's start getting organized. And I think when you do things with a team, it makes it that much more like, accountable. Like, it's like, all right, right, we're going to do this together. I need to see your post and your steps. And it's just these three W's that really do get you to a better place. There's nothing like walking. Walking is hands down the best exercise that anybody on earth can do. 10,000 steps a day easily. And when you start getting like conscientious. Right.
- [49:00]
B
I'm at 82, 65 right now.
- [49:02]
A
All right, you're going to, you're going to hit it. Because now it's, you know, every day.
- [49:06]
B
Yeah, every day.
- [49:06]
A
And when I think all of us do drift and I'm like, all right, let's do a reset. I want you doing 10,000 steps a day. You're going to drink water, you're going to walk and you're going to write for 14 straight days. And each day I, you know, go live and I talk about different things in personal development and help them help organize thought. So it's every, it's a, it's great, it's easy, it's manageable. It's not like, you know, 75 hard, I think is amazing. But so many people didn't complete it and it just validates these storylines in ourselves of like, I'm a failure, I don't finish what I start. Whereas I'm like, this is something you're going to start and you're going to finish and you're probably going to do it again. So I'm really big on helping people take those steps, those incremental steps to optimizing themselves.
- [49:59]
B
Well, I, you know, I do, I do. This is my, I do a guest podcast that comes out every Tuesday into a solar pod that comes out Thursday. The solar pods are much shorter than this. But I talked a couple weeks ago about my daily routine because people ask, right? They're like, how you get so much stuff done? What's your daily routine? I'm like, bro, I don't get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and get an ice bath. That ain't me. That's not what I do. And it's okay if you don't do it either, right? It's like the entrepreneurial culture. If you don't get up at 4:00am or 3:30, you know, you're like, you don't have to do that. You just need a routine that works for you and it doesn't matter what anybody else is doing. This is about what's good for you. And I think so many people get caught up in, like you said, 75 hard whichell many, many times a wonderful dude. And it's a great program. People complete it. I'm proud of you. Yeah, probably not for me, right? Because quite frankly, dude, if I'm going to go out to a really expensive dinner and I wonder, glass of wine. I'm under a glass of wine because that's what I want to do, right? It's just, you know, I'm not a heavy drinker but I want that option and I don't think that's hurting me. So whatever. But yeah, it's just about having a routine that works for you. So is the More Life collective is the 14 Day Academy is like the first step of getting into that or let's talk about that. What is more.
- [51:15]
A
Yeah, you know, I have these accountability challenges in the More Life Collective and it was just something I, I started to help other people. I felt like I was getting the same questions over and over again of like, I am just lost in the sauce. I don't know what I want, I don't know where I'm going, I don't know who I am. You know, I'm bordering on depression, I've gained weight I'm not, I'm not optimized. I'm not living my best life and I don't even know where to start. And I think a lot of people get, you know, we get, you know, by the, by the Stairmaster or buy the gym membership or buy this supplement and you're sold. The outcome comes and there's this gap between like building the habits, building the, the patterns, the, the neurological, the. What are the neuromuscular pathways of automating good habits. And I've just, I realized that I'm like, like my mother used to buy like Weight Watchers memberships and gym memberships and then they would just. Her goals would never materialize because there's a gap between making the purchase and getting the results and it's the doing. So I really wanted to focus on that middle ground that the doing part and not have people invest in another peloton or Stairmaster or weight loss supplement or fitness, blah, blah, blah. I wanted to teach people that how, not just the why, you know, your why. You want to look good, you want to be fit. All the things I want to give you the how. Like that was my jam. That's been my jam of like, let me give you that. Let me help you just stop buying things to get the things. You got to do the things to get the things. So I start. That's more Life Collective is do the things to get the things. You can't just buy it. So there's nothing in my program to really buy except the 14 day accountability. Sometimes I do them live. They are. Some of them are automated. I haven't done one in a while. I really wanted to get through this election before.
- [53:11]
B
There's people out there today, they're looking for some help. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [53:15]
A
I probably. I need to. I used to do Christmas and like the holidays.
- [53:19]
B
Oh boy. Yeah. Poor Rachel, mad out today is in a safe space somewhere. I'm sure she's having a meltdown, but.
- [53:28]
A
Some of the meltdowns I like some of the meltdowns. I was like, okay, well for me.
- [53:35]
B
Talking about getting organized and getting on the thing and how is the why for me? I like to take the resistance out of anything. Like for example, ingrained. I understand that I'm in a certain economic bracket that I can make some of the stuff happen that other people might not be able to. I understand that. I'm not talking down anybody. I'm not, oh, oh, sure, John, you can do whatever you want. That's not what I'm trying to do. But like, for example, the gym. Do you know what I hated the most about the gym? Driving to the gym. I hated it. Parking at the gym drove me crazy. Which is the dumbest thing because you're like, you're going to exercise anyway. You have to walk far, blah, blah, blah. So I do. I built a gym in my house. Now I walk downstairs every morning. I go to the gym in my house, right? I want to watch tv. That's not good for me, right? So I just attached that vice of occasionally I want to watch TV to. The only time I watch TV is if I'm on the treadmill. It's the only time I watch tv. So I watch something, I got to walk to do it. Which is why I always hit my steps, right? So for me, it's about trying to connect my vices, whenever they might be with some. Something sort of positive or taking the path of least resistance to the best.
- [54:39]
A
Choices I can make 100%. And in my programs, what I do every once in a while, if I do like a 90 day or whatever, I incorporate. I encourage people to do like coffee walks. Like instead of meeting your friend for coffee, grab a coffee and go for a walk. And there is no bad weather, there's only bad clothing. So don't tell me it rained. I don't care. I walked in chemo in the rain because that was my vice of like, I can't work out because the nausea. But I can walk and walking help the nausea. But it's so true. You've got to make it work for you. And this is why I do love 75 hard for all those that need just a massive reset and discipline and to get, you know, get themselves what, reorganized and that's their jam. But my, my big problem is it kind of sets up a lot of people for failure because it's just so not sustainable. You can't. That's just not very. I mean, I don't know who else. I don't. I don't want to work out twice a day. I need showering twice a day. I'm like, if I can't even like now. But I like to set things up like you that are sustainable, realistic, enjoyable. And I almost like tricked myself into do it. And the best thing is for people who just can't get out of their own way and they're like, whatever, I might go for a coffee walk. It is you. You get two women on a coffee walk, they might never come back. I mean, we are just like so.
- [56:02]
B
Well, I, I think I Think it comes down to. I think the word goal is a dirty word for me. And I don't like the word goal. And I'll tell you what, tell you why I don't like it. I use this analogy all the time. Is that first. That first press conference with every NFL coach midway through training camp, where they go, coach, what are your goal? What are your goals for this year? And they're like, goals are to make the playoffs and go to Super Bowl. Every single one of them, all 32 of them, will say the same thing. That coach knows his quarterback sucks. He already knows it is. Is. It is impossible for them to achieve that, but yet they still throw it out there as a goal. And so many people throw these things out there that are just not even, like, not there. So I prefer the word commitment. In my sales organizations, my teams, my businesses that I do, it's always every weekly. What is your commitment this week? What are you committed to getting done? And this ain't something you hope is going to get done. This is a. I'm going to be awake at 11:59 the day before I got to come back and see you and figuring out how I could accomplish this, because it is. They have to. And I think when you. When you get away from the word goal, which I think has gotten diluted and watered down to something you're absolutely committed to doing, I think you're better off.
- [57:09]
A
I agreed. And finding out what that is. And they've got some great. Who is it? Brian? Who. I'm forgetting his name right in this moment. But he gives us a great piece of advice, like write 10 things down and then circle the one that most sticks out for you that you want to accomplish over the six month, over the next six months, over the year, whatever that might be, and then focus all your energy towards it. Again, reverse engineering of, like, what you want. And it's amazing what you can get done and what you can accomplish when you start putting your mind towards something. But it does. It starts getting. It starts with getting clear on, you know, what does this life look like to you? And, you know, for anybody that's listening, that just is like, I. No idea. One thing that I always love telling people to do, I don't know if I have something good over here to show, but I'll have people I'll like, okay, dude, this is my one act. I'm like, go to the bookstore, go to the magazine section and go buy five magazines. Whether it's travel or homes or DIY or. I don't know, what is your. Let the magazines come to you. Get lost in the magazine section. Buy five or six, whatever you want. Take them home. Start cutting out pictures. Start getting those visuals. Like, I was. I don't know. This is like, look, I don't know. Maybe you want to be a size zero. I don't know, Maybe you want to go hiking that. You know, go hiking the Himalayas and start creating this, like, vision board for yourself. Maybe it's a house. Maybe it's vacations. You know, life was meant to be lived. There's nothing you can't have if you're willing to do the work.
- [58:43]
B
Well, dude, but like I said. Like I said earlier, I would go back and I would take that now, and I'd say, okay, this is what I would do. I would say if I want to go hiking in the Himalayas, I wouldn't. I wouldn't cut a picture of the Himalayas out and put it on vision board. I would go to ChatGPT and I would say, make a picture of a hand holding an airline ticket with my name on it. One way to Nepal. Make that where I can look at that and I can say, man, there's my name on an airline ticket. And, dude, it'll spit it out. Put that up there. Make it that real, that appealing. And I think going that far. But also, I think when people are doing that stuff, right, I think one exercise they don't do enough is they don't go deep enough in the wild, right? Like, come tell me, comes wants to work with me, you know, where'd you go? I want to make $250,000. I don't care about that, because you're never going to hit that unless there's a why behind it. Like. Like you down to the end of taking care of your brother. But a lot of people, like, oh, because I want 250, because I want to buy. I mean, I'm just gonna make this so materialistic, it's gonna be terrible. But let's say because I want to buy a Porsche gtr. Okay. Why do you want a Porsche gtr? Because I've always wanted a Porsche gtr. What's that?
- [59:49]
A
A private plane.
- [59:51]
B
There you go. Private plane. Which I do not advise. I do not advise to do that. I've done that. It's not good. It is not. It's fun for a minute, but then it's very expensive. I would not. But, but, but, yeah, you kind of get back to like, well, why do you want Portugal? Because I've always wanted one. Well, why have you always wanted one? And it comes down to because I want. It can be as. You gotta get to the. You gotta be real with yourself. It can be as petty as when I was a kid in high school, everybody had the cool car, and they laughed at my Ford Escort with the broken door with the wired up. And I want people to look at me and feel. I want to know what it feels like for others to look at me and feel envious. Well, dude, that's a real emotion. Whether it's positive or not, I don't care. But I can tap into that and say, okay, let's, like, let's make people jealous of you. And that will drive people to accomplish your goals. But you got to be honest with yourself. Helpful.
- [60:43]
A
Yeah, I think. And there's nothing wrong. Like, things were meant to be experienced. I think we try to put things, oh, well, that's materialistic. I'm like, that. We were meant to enjoy the fruits of life, the. The big things in life. And my dad is crazy again. Growing up, Schwartz would take us to Ferrari dealerships. We were live. We had a van, and we were living at my uncle's house in California, and he would take us to Newport beach beach to go look at Ferraris.
- [61:11]
B
And I know the dealership.
- [61:15]
A
Yeah, like, can you imagine? Like, we'd park our little, you know, dank van around the corner that had no seats in it and go with my special needs brother and go look at Ferraris. And my dad would say, because I was like, we don't even have a place to live right now, and we're driving around a van, but yet here we are looking at Testa Rosas. But, okay, his philosophy was, was someone has to buy these. You just have to figure out what they did to get what they have and do those things. That's it. He's like, it wasn't like, they're just gifted or they must be nice or who do they think? My dad had a very clear way of making it very simple. Someone's gotta buy it. Someone figured it out. You just have to do what they did to get what they have. And because he never put it on, like they inherited or they were lucky, it was that nothing to do. It had everything to do with do the things to get the things, do the things to get the things. And that's where. Why I ended up in entrepreneurship and, you know, building and scaling a business and why I do do the things and then get. You want to be on tv, do the things that are going to get you on tv. Don't wait for television to come to you. Don't wait. The Porsche isn't coming to you. Do the things to get the things. And that's.
- [62:29]
B
But I think there's one thing we skipped over about your television thing, which we didn't talk about, which was, didn't you hawk your wedding ring to pay for that? Like you burn the boats?
- [62:37]
A
Yes. So, I mean, I could have taken that wedding ring and done a lot of things. It was a pretty nice ring. But I took my. Sold my wedding ring. You did your due diligence. Yes, sold my wedding ring. And I put that towards me. Me like a media trainer. And I was. Have been like, all in on how do I. What is. What does it mean for me, Barbara Majelski to live her. Her best life? And I've I've just. And we all have different iterations of our. What we have that. What we want at any given time. So it's just. It's been fun to be part of the journey of, like, now I'm looking at getting a realtor's license, going back to law school. Like, to me, nothing is off the table. I just don't. I don't care how old I am. I just feel like not if I want to do it and if I'm willing to do the work, there's nothing I can't do. I just have to be willing to do the work. And I did take a flight lesson to learn how to become a pilot. And I wanted to sleep the second I got into the air. And I was like, piloting is not for me.
- [63:38]
B
But, dude, I love that. My business partner. My wife is so funny. My business partner for like the first probably four years our business open. It was just handshake, right? We just, we've been friends a long time and just business going and you know, the operating agreement just I just going back and forth and we were just never. It's like. It wasn't like I would make a revision. I'd send it to him and he'd sit out for six months and then he'd make a revision, send it back to me and sit for six months. And it's more for like four years in the meantime. My partner is also a semi professional race car driver. His wife is like buying him helicopter pilot lessons for Christmas. My wife is like, can you please get this on paper with it?
- [64:16]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [64:20]
B
You'Re not gonna have anything on paper. But anyway, dude, it was such a joy talking to you, Jay. I loved it. I loved every min. But if they want to find you and connect with you, learn more about your coaching programs, all the things that you can do, how do they find you?
- [64:32]
A
Barbara Majeski.com or Instagram @ Barbara Majeski I think it's the same for TikTok. And yeah, those are the best places to find me. I'm a little more sassy on Twitter, so don't look me up there.
- [64:45]
B
I love it, I love it, I love it. Well, thanks so much, Barbara. And guys, look, if you guys were on this today, man, I hope that fired you up and just understand, dude, life is going to throw you some curveballs and it's just going to and how you deal with that, how you overcome, how you face that adversity head on. I say this all the time, dude, but it's like my favorite line from Die Hard. Nobody's coming to save you. Save yourself. We'll see you next week. What's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us for another episode of Escaping the Drift. Hope you got a bunch out of it or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you want to learn more about the show, you can always go over to escapingthedrift.com you can join our mailing list. But do me a favor, if you wouldn't mind, throw up that five star review. Give us a share. Do something, man. We're here for you. Hopefully you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we will see you at the next episode.