Build a Business You Love w/ Marie Forleo | Ep 432

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Futur with Chris Do – Ep 432: “Build a Business You Love” with Marie Forleo Date: May 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

Chris Do hosts entrepreneur, author, and educator Marie Forleo to explore how to build a business—and a life—that you truly love. Marie shares her personal journey from Wall Street to bartending to global impact, emphasizing the interconnection of mindset, passion, self-worth, and practical business mechanics. The conversation is candid, energetic, and packed with actionable insights, personal mantras, and vivid anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Marie’s Origin Story: From Wall Street to “Everything is Figureoutable” (00:47–11:01)

• Early Career Decisions: Marie recounts her unconventional path, starting in a high-profile Wall Street job, but feeling internally restless and misaligned.
• Listening to Your Inner Voice: Persistently ignoring her intuition led to a breaking point—crying on the steps of a church and calling her father for advice.
  • Quote: “You’ve been working since you were 9 years old… If this job is making you this sick, you gotta leave. Find something you love. And if this isn’t it, then you gotta quit and go figure it out.” – Marie’s father (10:10)
• Multiple Career Swaps: Publishing industry roles followed, but the feeling of “this isn’t who you are” persisted.
• Discovery of Coaching: Finding a new industry (life coaching) through an online article became the turning point.
  • Duality of Belief: She recounts feeling both a calling and harsh self-critique about being “only 23.”
  • Fork in the Road: Turned down a Vogue opportunity to bartend and build her coaching business from scratch.

2. The Entrepreneurial Mindset & Self-Discovery (11:01–16:48)

• Being Unemployable: Both Marie and Chris relate to feeling “unemployable”—not thriving in traditional work structures.
• Finding What You Love (Checklist Point #1): Identify what excites, challenges, and fulfills you; acknowledge that this can change over time.
  • Quote: “Change is the only thing we can depend on.” – Marie (12:14)
• Keep Your Eye on Your Why: Dig into why your goals matter, focusing on impact beyond money or ego.
  • Prompt: “Who’s going to benefit from you creating, achieving, or bringing this thing into the world?” (13:43)
• Personal Development + Service: Growth and serving others are identified as core drivers of sustained motivation.

3. Loving Yourself & Managing Burnout (14:42–18:55)

• The Social Media Trap: Marie praises her pre-social media experience and cautions against seeking external validation.
  • Antidote: “You have to love yourself. Because if that comes from the inside out, you give so much less weight to those platforms and you give so much more attention to the work itself.” (14:53)
• Learning Self-Love: Marie admits to fluctuating but aims for self-love 85–90% of the time.
  • Quote: “I started waking up in the morning and going, ‘Wait a minute. I’m the one that talks about creating a business and life you love, but I’m starting to hate this shit.’” (17:26)
• Mantra for Joyful Action: “Only say yes to those things you’re willing to do joyfully.” (18:15)

4. The Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur: A Nuanced Concept (19:32–22:21)

• Owning “Multipassionate”: Marie coined this term, but stresses nuance. Being multi-passionate doesn’t mean being unfocused.
  • Quote: “People are at different seasons and stages of their lives... require different sets of focuses and different responsibilities.” (20:26)
• Chris’s Concern: Warns against shallow dabbling (“serial slasher”) without mastery in any field.
• Playing a Winning Game: Define what success looks like for you in this season and reevaluate as life changes.

5. Money Mindset: From Scarcity to Abundance (22:21–28:33)

• Scarcity is Destructive: Marie identifies scarcity (not enough, not enough, not enough) as a root cause of misery in all areas.
  • Quote: “Scarcity is one of the most destructive mindsets, not only in business, and not only as it relates to money, but as it relates to love, as it relates to relationships, as it relates to creativity.” (00:00, 24:02)
• Abundance Reality: There is more money in the world than ever; “the fixed pie fallacy” is outdated.
• Personalizing Wealth: Not everyone needs or wants the same financial goals—clarity here is key.
• Transformative Money Mantra: “I love money.” Pouring love into money changes your relationship with it (25:45–27:49).

6. Building Teams & Culture (28:33–35:56)

• Team Alignment (Checklist Point #3): Working with people whose values align with yours is essential for joy and sustainability.
  • Quote: “For me, I think that building something that is profitable and impactful and for me, joyful is a necessary criteria.” (28:33)
• Ideal Team Avatar: Create an “ideal employee avatar” as you would for ideal customers.
• Date to Marry: Trial periods when hiring prevent mismatches—“date before you marry” for new team members (31:45).
• Creative Avoidance of Business Mechanics: Marie insists every business owner, especially creatives, needs basic sales & marketing knowledge to make wise hiring choices and grow.
• Financial Clarity for Hiring: Understand profit goals and costs, or else you won’t be able to build a team or hire quality help.
• The “Shit Sandwich” Reality: Every path (team or solo) comes with trade-offs; maturity comes from acknowledging and choosing your preferred challenges (34:06).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote / Moment | Speaker | |-----------|----------------|---------| | 00:00 | “Scarcity is one of the most destructive mindsets, not only in business... as it relates to love... relationships... creativity. The notion that there is not enough and therefore, and I am not enough and I don't have enough, that is the source of so much of our collective, both individual and global misery.” | Marie Forleo | | 10:10 | “Find something you love. And if this isn’t it, then you gotta quit and go figure it out.” | Marie’s Father (as recounted by Marie) | | 14:53 | “You have to love yourself. Because if that comes from the inside out, you give so much less weight to those platforms and you give so much more attention to the work itself.” | Marie Forleo | | 17:26 | “Wait a minute. I’m the one that talks about creating a business and life you love, but I’m starting to hate this shit.” | Marie Forleo | | 18:15 | “Only say yes to those things you’re willing to do joyfully.” | Marie Forleo | | 20:26 | “People are at different seasons and stages of their lives, and different seasons and stages... require different sets of focuses...” | Marie Forleo | | 25:45 | “I love money.” | Marie Forleo | | 28:33 | “For me... building something that is profitable and impactful and for me, joyful is a necessary criteria.” | Marie Forleo | | 34:06 | “You are going to eat a shit sandwich no matter what at some point in your business or life... You have to just put your big human pants on and have a really mature conversation with yourself about your goals...” | Marie Forleo | | 35:58 | “I just appreciate you as a human being and the energy that you bring and the wisdom too.” | Chris Do |

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Actionable Takeaways (with Timestamps)

• Listen to Your Gut (09:00–11:00): Intuition is a true compass—Marie’s early “mini panic attack” was her body’s way of redirecting her.
• Define Your Current Passion (12:00–13:00): It’s okay for your “why” and passion to evolve—check in at every life stage.
• Self-Love is Essential (14:42–17:00): Productivity isn’t everything; joy and self-respect are non-negotiable.
• Transform Your Relationship with Money (25:45–28:15): Replace fear or guilt with gratitude and love for money to change your financial results.
• Build with the Right People (30:11–32:23): Clarity on your ideal teammate and a trial “dating” phase will yield better results and culture.
• Embrace Trade-offs in Business (34:00–35:55): Every path comes with its “shit sandwich”—be deliberate about which ones you’re willing to eat.

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Structure for Building a Business & Life You Love (Marie’s Checklist)

1. Identify What You Truly Love to Do (11:39–12:26)
2. Keep Your Eye on Your Why (12:31–13:43)
3. Play a Winning Game (As You Define It) (21:12–22:21)
4. Adopt an Abundant Money Mindset (22:43–25:27)
5. Surround Yourself with Aligned People—Team or Tribe (28:33–30:11)

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Conclusion

Marie’s journey exemplifies that building a business you love is an ever-evolving process of inner honesty, practical action, and intentional relationships. Both Chris and Marie emphasize the synergy between mindset, clarity, and willingness to get hands-on with the less glamorous aspects of business. The episode is inspiring and pragmatic—a blueprint for anyone seeking not just business success, but a life aligned with personal joy and purpose.

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Transcript

[A]

Scarcity is one of the most destructive mindsets, not only in business, and not only as it relates to money, but as it relates to love, as it relates to relationships, as it relates to creativity. The notion that there is not enough and therefore, and I am not enough and I don't have enough, that is the source of so much of our collective, both individual and global misery.

[B]

My guest today is Marie Forleo. She's a Jersey girl who left a respectable career in wall to bartend, dance and to write her way into becoming a global influencer, talking about how to be a multi passionate entrepreneur. She's also the author of a number one New York Times best selling book, Everything is figureoutable. Welcome to the show.

[A]

Thank you so much, Chris. I've been so looking forward to this.

[B]

Now, for context, everybody, Marie and I have bumped into each other a couple times. The very last time was actually at the airport in Dubai. A lot has changed in the world. You were just chilling and we came by and just bothered you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Talking. And here we are.

[A]

I was having snacks.

[B]

Now, the word of warning here. Marie is very direct. She may do a New York thing, I think, and maybe drop a few words here and there.

[A]

So only if you're lucky.

[B]

So if you have young kids around, perhaps just monitor this just as a warning for everyone. Okay? Now we're going to talk about how you can build a business and a life that you love.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Which is the mission that you're on with MarieTV, with B School and everything that you're doing. And I also have to say props to you, you're an OG YouTuber.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

If I can say that.

[A]

Yes, absolutely.

[B]

You've been around for a minute.

[A]

A long 25 years. I've been doing this not on YouTube because that hasn't been around that long, but I've been doing this kind of work for 25 years and then gosh, hopped on YouTube, maybe 2008 or so. Ish.

[B]

I want to know, like, what is it that started in your brain? I was like, I'm gonna leave this very kind of tried and true path.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

To do something totally wacky.

[A]

So essentially when I graduated from school, I knew that I couldn't sit at a desk because I'm a person who has a lot of energy and I only had like little clues about what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I was that kid at like 6 and 7. When, you know, an adult ask you like, so what do you want to be? And I always had 14 to 17 answers and I would watch their brains just go offline. And, you know, the next year it would change, and the next year it would change. So when I graduated from school, I was like, okay, I can't sit behind a desk. And I also knew that I wanted the opportunity to make a lot of money. Not because I like shoes, I really don't care. I'm not that materialistic. But early on in my life, I learned when my parents got divorced that a lack of money could tear everyone apart. And so I made myself a promise at 8 years old. I said, when I grow up, somehow, some way, I will figure out a way to earn enough so that the lack of money never takes away love or breaks up a family again. And so many of my friends at school, in grammar school, like, parents got divorced, the same thing. So I also had this idea that if I could generate enough, that I could help other people with it too. So attending in college, I got my first job on Wall street on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. And I was super pumped about this because at that time, there were literally no seats on the floor. Like, you could not sit. There was a flip down seat that occasionally you could do for like 30 seconds. But that was very frowned upon from a, like, social point of view. And I was pumped to have a job. I'm the first in my family to go to college. But I remember showing up on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, still living in Jersey, taking the train in, and. And I started hearing this little small voice inside that says, marie, this isn't you. This isn't what you're supposed to be. This isn't what you're supposed to do. And I was like, shh, I'm here on Wall Street. So I kept trying to ignore the voice. And as time went on, I started to learn the culture there, which, first of all, it was 99.9% men were taking this back to like 1997. So here we go. First warning. It was like a big sausage fest. For those of you who knows what that means, which, by the way, I'm Italian, I love sausage. It's great. But it was not a kind of integrated, balanced environment, to say the least. If you know what I'm. Then the other part of the culture was at like 4pm, bell would ring and it was time to go to strip clubs and do lines of cocaine, which no judgment, just wasn't. I was like, this is not my scene. Third thing, no matter how much I tried to be taken seriously, it was just like constantly Getting hit on. And now I'm Italian. If you can see me, I have a lot of hair. It's very long hair. And to kind of protest, I cut off all my hair and basically had a buzz cut, like a pixie cut, because I thought that would handled that. Anywho, that voice kept getting louder until one day and I was on the floor, I started having what I now know is like a mini panic attack. But I didn't have the words for that. Then I just couldn't breathe. I felt pretty dizzy. And I went to my boss at the time. He's like, hey, can I just run out and get a coffee? And he's like, yeah, yeah, sure. And I ran out. And I didn't go get caffeine. I actually made a beeline to the nearest church, which was Trinity Church, downtown Manhattan. And I sat on the steps and I just bawled my eyes out because I felt, like, broken. I felt like such a loser. My parents had busted their buns to put me through college. I was a really hard worker, but I felt like this job was making me die a slow death. And then there was this voice inside that kept saying, this isn't what you're supposed to do. But I'm like, well, what else? And so I got a little message that says, call your dad. So I whipped out my flip phone because it was 1997, doing the ugly cry to my dad. And when I stopped and took a breath, he's like, revolution. Hold on. He's like, you've been working since you were 9 years old. I'm not worried about you keeping a roof over your head, but if this job is making you this sick, you gotta leave. Let me tell you the secret to life. You gonna be working for the next 40, 50 years. Plus, you have to find something you love. And if this isn't it, then you gotta quit and go figure it out. And that while he didn't tell me how to go figure out something I love, it was the permission slip that I needed to not bring shame upon my family for just walking away from healthcare and a steady paycheck when we do not have plan B. So I went and just looked inside. I was like, okay, well, what are my clues to who am I? Like, what the hell am I supposed to do in this world? And I knew I loved small business. My dad was a small business owner, but I also knew I was really creative. I wanted to be an animator or a fashion designer or a fine artist. So I was like. Had two different parts of me And I was like, okay, how do I meld these parts? And the thing that came into my mind was, oh, magazines, the world of publishing. There's the commerce side to publishing, but then there's the creative side to publishing. And I went and found a headhunting kind of place, temp agency. And I said, I'll take anything in any publishing company. They got me a job as an ad assistant at Gourmet magazine, which was part of Conde Nast. Okay, so first of all, I'm winning because my desk was right near the test kitchen. We talked about this. I love snacks, right? So every time they're, like, testing new recipes, I would get snacks. This time, my boss was a woman. The publisher of the magazine was a woman. It was a much more integrated environment. I'm like, this is it. This is amazing. And I'm going along, and I'm going along. And then all of a sudden, that little voice comes up again. Hey, Marie, this isn't who you are. This isn't what you're supposed to do. This isn't who you're meant to be. And I'm like, this feels awful because I am a high achiever, and I hold myself to very high standards. And I just kept feeling like inside I'm dying this slow death, even though I was so grateful to have a job and to have a paycheck. Does that make sense? So I took a step back. After that, voice kept getting louder and louder. And I said, okay, let me analyze this a little bit more. Wall street, all numbers, all dudes, ad side of magazines, all numbers again, quotas, quotas, quotas. I was like, it's probably my creativity is being stifled. That's it. I need to be more creative. Well, let me go to the editorial side of a magazine. So I went to hr. I said, I'll take a pay cut. I don't care. Lateral move, whatever. Any editorial position, I'll take it. Course one came up at a magazine called Mademoiselle Fashion Magazine. And I'm like, all right, this is going to be it. I'm going to fashion shows. I'm working with designers. Come on. This is amazing. It's glamorous. And for the first few weeks, it was awesome. I was super, super pumped. The novelty was there. I was excited. And then the frigging voice came back again. Marie, this isn't who you are. This isn't what you're supposed to do. This is what you meant. At this point, I was feeling like I was broken. I was like, do I have some Kind of brain deficiency. Like, I'm such a hard worker and I want to make my way in the world, but I keep wanting to quit every job I have. All my friends are getting married, having kids, getting promotions, and like starting quote, unquote, real life after college. And here I am piling up debt, feeling like a loser, and I didn't know what to do with myself. Cut to, one day I'm on the Internet, probably when I shouldn't have been, and I stumbled upon a new profession at the time. This is 1999, y' all called coaching, specifically life coaching. Now I read this article, all about this new burgeoning profession and how it was about partnering with people and all this stuff. And by the way, I didn't tell you guys this, but I started off as a psych major in college before switched to business. So I've always had this passion around human development. The moment I realized this whole new article and I'm reading this, it was simultaneously, it was like the clouds parted and little cherubs appeared above my desk. And it was like, oh, Marie, this is what you're supposed to be. And then my Jersey girl, mean girl voice in my head said, are you freaking kidding me? This is the stupidest, cheesiest idea ever. You're 23 years old. Who the hell's going to hire a 23 year old life coach? You haven't even lived life yet. You're in debt, you keep failing at every job. This is just one more stupid idea that you're going to fail at. So I had those two things happening at once. I made a decision to sign up for a three year coach training program that was all done online. This is all teleconference again because we're in 1999. And then I did my mademoiselle job during the day. Fast forward about six months, I get a call from the HR department and they had a promotion for me and they wanted me to go to Vogue. Top fashion magazine in the world. More money, more prestige, more everything. A job that I could feel proud of, going back to my friends. And I remember thinking about taking it and I was like, okay, I've got my coaching studies over here that I was really loving. And then this Vogue opportunity and I was like, this is my fork in the road. Do I go to Vogue or do I start this weird ass life coaching business that no one has ever heard of. I have no clue how to start a business. I am literally piles and piles in debt. And this sounds ridiculous. I'm going to do that one. So I said no to the Vogue job. I went back to bartending and waiting tables and doing whatever I needed to do because I lived in New York City, and that's what you do. And I figured out how to start a coaching business during the day, and that was over 25 years ago.

[B]

It sounds like you have the entrepreneurs cursed. You're kind of unemployable.

[A]

I am, yeah. It's terrible. I'm a really good worker, and I love to work, and I love to do things and create things, and I love to collaborate. But going to the same place every single day and having someone else be in charge of how much I earn, what I can create, where I can go, what I do, I am not built for that at all.

[B]

Okay, I'm watching some of your episodes, your Q and A Tuesdays and things like that. I know you like to do checklists, so let's design the checklist. Live together.

[A]

Let's do it.

[B]

What are the four, five, or three biggest things that we need to figure out in order for us to have a business and a life that we love?

[A]

One of the things that you need to figure out in order to create a business in life you love is to actually figure out what it is that you really, really love to do or explore or learn or be engaged with, be challenged by. And it doesn't have to stay the same throughout your entire life, and it probably won't. I think we humans are built to evolve and to change, and change is the only thing that we can depend on. So being willing to identify what that is at this stage and season of your life and being at peace with it may not be the same forever. I think that's number one.

[B]

I hear potentially conflicting things that I might even agree with you, but let's talk about it.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[B]

You say you've got to figure out what it is that you love to do. I believe in an episode. You said you got to keep your eye on your why.

[A]

I'm sure I did say it. And I said it in the context of when you find something that you're super into, you want to build, you want to complete, you want to explore, keep your eye on why it matters so much to you beyond just numbers, metrics, or money. Because any project, whether it's starting an entire business, whether it's launching a new product, whether it's learning a new skill, it's not going to be easy. But if your why isn't just about your ego or about making money, and it's tied to things that are beyond you or outside of you that you genuinely care about in your soul and in your heart, you are so much more likely to find a way to get up and keep going. So once you find that thing, keeping an eye on your why and keeping that close to your heart in that context can be really, really beautiful.

[B]

Is there a question that you ask people who are struggling to figure this thing out? Because I do agree with this 1000% what they can do to identify their why. Is there a prompt that you give them?

[A]

A why is a little bit different. It can be like, who's going to benefit from you creating, achieving, or bringing this thing into the world? And so if you can start to articulate who are all the different people who then win as you win, that can get your heart open to the ripples that may come from your creation.

[B]

I heard this at a conference. Blairens was sharing a story about how they had asked this question to an audience of a hundred entrepreneurs. What is your biggest why? And what is it that motivates you to show up every single day? And he said without a fault. They practically said the exact same thing. Different words, but they said the exact same thing, which is number one. I want to work on my personal development. I want to grow every single day to do things that challenge me. And while doing that, to serve other people.

[A]

I am so friggin grateful, y', all, that I'm old enough to have existed and to have built something prior to social media, because I have such a clear demarcation point in my own lived experience of what it was like to just create stuff without social. I will tell you this, that if anyone listening or watching right now is caught in that toxic cycle, one of the best fixes is actually, and this is going to sound real cheesy, so get ready for it. Strap yourself in. You have to love yourself. Because if that comes from the inside out, you give so much less weight to those platforms and you give so much more attention to the work itself.

[B]

Do you love yourself?

[A]

I love myself so much. Not always. I will say it's in the 85 to 90% of the time range and then the 15 to 10% of the time range when I can be really hard on myself and really torturous of myself and my own worst criticism and the difference in my own experience of life and my ability to be creative and my ability to be in touch with and in connection with others is so unbelievable. Like, I can't believe it's the same person.

[B]

When did you reach that 85%. What happened? How did you know? And how did you learn to love yourself?

[A]

It's an ongoing process.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I feel like I've gotten better probably over the past five years than I've ever been in my life, except for when I was a child. Like small, tiny child. So I think I love myself as a child. I loved myself, like, sometimes, but I punished myself a lot from late 20s through probably mid to early 40s, and then had to really make some changes because I was like, bad to me. Not intentionally, but I developed some unhealthy habits.

[B]

So you're saying in the last five years it's like when you're like returning to pq?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So what happened then?

[A]

What happened was I started noticing these habits that no matter how much I was working and like, I can work. You know what I mean? Like, I'm gritty, but I noticed that I was never letting myself rest. Like, even though I was doing all the self help things like meditate and work out, I do have a lot of physical activity. So. Because I need to get it out somehow. And I have never, like abused drugs or alcohol or any of that stuff. But I realized I was like, wow, my body's really tired. And I wouldn't let myself lay on the couch for 15 minutes because it wasn't productive.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I started waking up in the morning and going, like, wait a minute. I'm the one that talks about creating a business in life you love, but I'm starting to hate this shit. So some of the things that were always going really great started to not go really great. And I was having trouble understanding what was going on because I didn't realize anything had changed. And then I just realized that my standards and my desire to keep achieving and producing kept going up. But there was pieces of my soul that were shifting that I was giving no attention to.

[B]

Don't do something unless it gives you joy. And some of us need to be explicit and explain to whoever our partners are, let's set up some rules. Because it's just been expected. So it's an unwritten rule that I do everything. While your life is more important than mine, we just need to reclaim some of that. I would suggest that absolutely.

[A]

I have a little mantra, actually, that. Because as a person with a very interesting brain, adhd, but I don't really care so much about labels. I just know it goes all over the place and I have difficulty focusing. Mantras are really helpful because they can help me rewire my own brain. So here's one of mine that you all are free to borrow, use if you like. Only say yes to those things you're willing to do joyfully. So only say yes to that which you are willing to do joyfully. And that takes care of 99% of the things and then those things that you do just have to do, because there are things in life that we have to show up for. Then it becomes a game of, how can I do this joyfully? How can I make this joyful?

[B]

It seems like when we prioritize ourselves, society will tell us that's selfish, that our own happiness, our own joys being selfish. And I have to say this, if you've ever been around anybody, someone who's miserable, it's very hard to be around them and to be happy around them. So I would always tell my wife, your number one job in the world is just to be happy. Whatever it is that makes you happy will make me happy. But sometimes that's not enough. I'm just saying, just please be happy, dear God, please just be happy. That's all we need. Because everyone in the house will be happier. Okay, you talked about being this multi passionate, which is, I think, a term you coined, right?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I can't believe you coined that, but amazing.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Okay, this is where I have some problems because you didn't say, find out what you the many things you love to do. You said find out what you love to do, which sounds like one thing, but okay.

[A]

It's nuanced.

[B]

It's nuanced.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

I'm a little nervous for our people who are like, yeah, she said be multi passionate when they hear that. What I feel like is a lot of people who are not good at anything saying, she said be a multi passionate. I'm a web designer. I'm a developer. I'm a logo designer. I'm a painter potter. I can sew. It's like now you can't. Not in this lifetime, not this age. And then they have no opportunities. So can you address that a little bit where people are literally, I review websites quite often. There's 17 slashes by their name and their title. It's like you're a serial killer because you're a slasher. This is all you do.

[A]

This is interesting. And here's where we need to be nuanced. Here's why things don't always fit into sound bites or quick little lists that can be shared on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube or whatever. So one frame to consider people are at different Seasons and stages of their lives and different seasons and stages of lives require different sets of focuses and different responsibilities.

[B]

I believe that the faster you do the thing that you were meant to do on this earth, the more successful you become. I figured it out. You figured it out. If you were doing the thing that you were meant to do in this lifetime on this planet and you're not successful, we can help you because the rest is mechanical, I believe. Right?

[A]

Yeah. And I actually, I didn't know if we went here yet. And you can feel free to put this in the bucket so it's really good and actionable. But the other thing that popped into my mental theater was about playing a winning game once you know, the thing that again, at this stage and season of your life, you're like, this is what I want to devote the vast majority of my time and my life energy and my attention to whatever that thing is and whether again, multi passionate, you have a single passion, we're all built different. Whatever feels good to you. Play a winning game. So what does that mean? Play a winning game for yourself and have the courage to define what that is. By the way, a winning game might look for you like the next one to three years. Be open to that game Changing as your life advances, as different things happen in the world, as you make new discoveries, as things shift with your family, your desires and ambitions will change. Who you are right now is not who you are going to be in the next 10, 15, or 20 years. So enjoy this portion of the ride and then get ready for life to bring you something new.

[B]

I want to talk about money a little bit. Is that okay?

[A]

Of course.

[B]

So we first said you got to figure out what it is that you love to do and do that and it's okay to be in different seasons in your life. You have to be able to play a winning game. Now, I want to talk about this, about the poor and the infinite money mindset. In order for us to be able to build a business that we love, it has to be sustainable. It has to provide for us more than we provide for it.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay, let's talk about those differences that you've seen. Because 80,000 people, and I'm sure you see a lot of patterns.

[A]

Yeah. And this is one of the biggest, most important things. First of all, I think that so many of us, and it's very understandable, are super twisted up about money. It's probably one of the most difficult topics in our culture. And it's been that way for a very, very long Time from influences, from religious influences, and all different kinds of things. But most of us, like secretly we want more of it. But then we think, are we a bad person for wanting more of it? And if we have more of it, do other people have less? And I think so much of that is rooted in this absolutely toxic idea of scarcity. And scarcity is one of the most destructive mindsets, not only in business, and not only as it relates to money, but as it relates to love, as it relates to relationships, as it relates to creativity. The notion that there is not enough and therefore, and I am not enough and I don't have enough, that is the source of so much of our collective, both individual and global misery. Here's the truth that we know about money. It is abundant. There is more money now than there has ever been in the entire world. We have the data on that and the notion of a fixed pie fallacy, that there is just some set amount of money and if I get some because Chris buys some of my products and services, that all of a sudden Chris has less and the world has less. It is just the most destructive BS in the world. So that's the thing that we have to banish from our consciousness. I don't know how we'll do that, but I hope we can do that. Beyond that, I think it's important that each of us recognize that just like different animals and creatures on the planet, one needs more than the other. Similarly, like we were just talking about how, I believe every soul comes onto this planet needing to learn certain lessons and have different experiences and who are to judge. I believe the same thing is true when it comes to money, that people come into this earth in this incarnation and some people need to learn how to master really large amounts of it. And other people, for whatever reason, are happy, satisfied, and want smaller amounts of it. That needs to be okay. But you have to get clear on who you are and what you want and what's going to work for you. So I think that being clear on your own financial goals, understanding what your financial picture looks like, do you have debt? Don't you have debt? Do you care? What's your family obligations? Who are you responsible for? What are your financial goals in the next three, five, ten years, if you can get clear on those bits, then all of a sudden we can start to reverse engineer a business that can aim towards those goals and hit them sustainably.

[B]

You said that some of us have this belief that, that we, I mean, we secretly desire to have money. But the admission of that Makes it feel really bad because money's root of all evil. We've heard that expression. Right.

[A]

Which is so not true.

[B]

Right. So how do we get somebody from that state to like, it's unlimited.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

How do we get there?

[A]

Well, I think different people start to absorb information in different ways. Like there might be some rational, fact based people who would respond really well to perhaps a presentation of a book, a set of arguments around legitimate facts, like how much wealth there was in the world, let's say 300 years ago and watching it increase over time. There's other people that it's really energetic and it was instilled in them by their family and by teachers. And money is the root of all evil and it doesn't grow on trees and all that stuff. So again, I told you guys that I'm a huge fan of mantras. This was a mantra that helped take me from being really effed up about money, having like tons of debt, wanting lots of it, feeling like I didn't deserve it, unworthy, all this stuff. And it's a single three word phrase that literally can change your entire life. I love money and I do. When you were talking about loving yourself, it's like anything in this world that we pour the energy of love into transforms. It's like love is the answer to every problem, including money. And so I want you to just consider this for a moment. What would your financial life look like if you poured only the energy of love into it? If you loved your bank account so much that you wanted to understand it, if you loved money so much that you wanted to understand how it could grow, what's going to make it thrive? You wanted to really know what happens, what do I need to do? How do I need to interact with this thing in order to have it grow and be abundant? Like, does anyone honestly think hating it, thinking it's evil, thinking it's not enough? If you treated any person in your life with that energy, do you think you'd have a positive or negative relationship? What do you think your outcome would be? Crap right now? Flip it around. So a couple things that you can do anytime that I have written a check and this was especially important for me, especially when I didn't have a lot of money, is there's always more where that came from. And I would bless it, I would love it, I would say thank you. Oh my God, isn't this amazing? There are so many little things that you can do to change your relationship with money. But I think starting with that mantra, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. Is going to be one of the most powerful things you can do.

[B]

Quick question. Can anyone make a hundred thousand dollars

[A]

a year if they really, really want to? I do believe that's possible.

[B]

Okay. Can anybody make a million dollars if

[A]

they really want to? Yes.

[B]

I believe this. Everybody in this room can make $100,000 a year. Everybody listening to this. No matter where you're in the world, you could do $100,000 a year. And I think it's easy. I don't even put the condition if you really want to, if you're willing to follow instructions. That's my only condition. Give us your third most poignant thing about how we can build a business and a life that we love.

[A]

Well, I would say for almost any business, and this may or may not be changing with AI I think that you have to have people around you and people that you work with that your values align. For me, I think that building something that is profitable and impactful and for me, joyful is a necessary criteria. I'm very clear that as a soul, part of my reason on this planet is to experience joy. That is one of the core reasons that I came into this body. Cause I think I had previous incarnations where that was not the case. So this one is like, no, girl, make it fun. Having people around you that you really enjoy their company, the values are aligned, and that you can create something big and fanta. And big is a subjective term, something beyond yourself together. I think that is a key component to creating a business in life you love. Because I haven't seen in my own world, I'm not able to do a ton on my own, and I don't want to. I love collaborating with people, and I love being able to work with their gifts and their skill sets and have them teach me things and have them expose me to new ideas and new possibilities that I couldn't have possibly thought of on my own. So I think that that's the other component.

[B]

Wonderful. Every successful entrepreneur that I've talked to says something similar. That you need a great team and that you have to have aligned values. And the culture of the company is really important. I'm gonna ask this for everyone out there that's a solopreneur.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Who's like, I love that idea so much, but I can't seem to find good people.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Either A, I don't know where they are, or B, I keep getting the C class. Not the A class.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

How do we fix that?

[A]

Okay. Few different ways to go about It So one of the things that we talk about in B school as it relates to your business, we do something called your ideal customer avatar. And you really start to dream into and articulate exactly who your ideal customer is. And I'm highlighting and underscoring and throwing confetti at the word ideal. Not mediocre customer who really kind of wants you but they can't afford what you offer or anything like that. I'm talking about ideal. I think it's important to do the same thing for your team. So your ideal team avatar or ideal employee avatar, whatever nomenclature that you want and being really, really clear on who that person is, what are the values that they have, what are the kind of strengths that they have, what's their work ethic. So I think the more clear you can be about what is a must and a need to have versus a nice to have in terms of that person, the easier it is to begin to find them and also to say no. If you have somebody who's like, they look like they could maybe be it, but it's like, nah, it's not going to work out. And then the other thing is this date to marry. So this is probably one of the best things that I've done in our company. You would never, most of us, unless you're on a reality TV show, would never go on a first date with someone then be like, we're going to get married right away, right? Where you're just like jumping into bed and jumping into a long term commitment. So with us, whenever we're going with a new hire, especially if it's a full time hire, we always have a date to marry, period. Where they get to work with us, we get to work with them, they are getting paid, but we're all on a dating period so that people can kind of present their best selves on paper. We all know because we've all done it, I've certainly done it. But then when you actually get into the cockpit and you need to start pulling all the levers and you need to start actually producing work and communicating, that's where things can often fall apart for me. We've had a completely distributed company ever since the inception, so since 2001. So having the ability to communicate effectively in a virtual environment, being able to show up energetically, get work done, meet deadlines across time zones, if you can't do that, it's a non stop starter. And so then, you know, within 30 days it's a lot easier to let each other go. If it's not working out. Rather than going down all of the legalities of firing someone, I have friends

[B]

who have the means to hire people. Let's deal with them first.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

They are coming from a place of desperation. I think I really need somebody to do this. And I don't want to learn about sales. I want to learn how to write email marketing or do these things. And I just hate all that stuff. So I'm just going to grab the first person who appears in front of me and put them in that role. And they have heavy bias. And I always warn my friends, most of my friends are creative people, artistic types.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And they like to hire people who have a really good resume.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Oh, you went to an Ivy League school. I'm like, that don't mean nothing. You got to talk to the person. And then they are super, in my judging language, desperate that they'll just hire the wrong person. Even though 8 out of the 10 things completely bad fit.

[A]

It's a, they want a warm body,

[B]

they want a one body.

[A]

And this is really true with most creatives. And I've seen this as part of the one of the reasons that I started B school in the first place. Many creatives are like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm the visionary, I'm the creative. I hate all the business stuff. I hate all the marketing, I hate all the sales. Someone else should do that for me. And so I understand that rationale, I understand that line of thinking. But here has always been my pushback when it comes to having a profitable business. You do need to. I believe this is my belief as a business owner. You need to understand the mechanics of sales and marketing. And really all it is is human psychology. And if you get that, even if you're not the one executing on it day in and day out, which you may not need to be, nor should you be. You know how to hire someone who's good. You know how to judge the work.

[B]

Second problem is the person who wants help desperately needs it, but they have a poor relationship with money. So they're not charging enough. They're not asking for enough.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And then therefore they don't have the means to hire somebody good. So they keep hiring crappy people or nobod at all. How do we solve that problem?

[A]

Well, I think that goes back to our financial conversation. I like to help people create a really clear profit picture for themselves and understand what are their revenue and profit goals for the next 12, 24 or 36 months. What's their monthly or yearly spend rate, what Are the cost of goods, like, really having a very clear understanding of the numbers. And it doesn't have to be complicated. It's as much as, like, how much is coming in and how much is going out and are you charging enough to be able to build the kind of company that you want? And some people don't want to build a team, and that's okay. But there was this phrase, and get ready, close your ears if you can't hear this one. I remember talking to my friend Elizabeth Gilbert years ago, and this was actually an idea that was popularized by Mark Manson, and it was the notion of, you are going to eat a sit a shit sandwich no matter what at some point in your business or life. So one of the beautiful things about having a team, right, is that you have more people around you. You need to earn a lot more money to support that team. But you can do things like take vacations. You can do things like have the input of other talented people and have the support and the culture and all those beautiful things. And then other people are like, I don't want a team, I just want to be a freelancer, or I just want to be a solopreneur. Which is fine. But you're going to have a different challenge, which is if you don't show up, you don't make money, there's no one who's got your back. There's always going to be pluses and minuses no matter which way that you want to grow your business. So you have to be mature and understand what kind of shit sandwich do you want to eat? And it comes back to the financial decision. So if you're like, well, I only need to earn $100,000 a year because my expenses are only 40 grand and taxes and la la la la la. It's like, okay, great. Well, what happens if your financial dreams get bigger or you're never gonna be able to hire help if you're only earning that much? So you have to just put your big human pants on and have a really mature conversation with yourself about your goals, what that looks like, what that enables you to do, and what it doesn't enable you to do.

[B]

Marie, it's been a real pleasure talking to you.

[A]

Thank you so much.

[B]

I just appre. Appreciate you as a human being and the energy that you bring and the wisdom too.

[A]

Thank you so much. I was so looking forward to this. Thanks to everyone online and everyone here. You guys are beautiful, and I can't wait to do it again sometimes.