Podcast Summary:

The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex
Episode: The Power of Prayer in Business: How Seth & Mary Scaled, Sold & Found Peace
Host: Paul Alex Espinoza
Guests: Seth & Mary
Date: October 25, 2025

Episode Overview

In this insightful and heartfelt episode, Paul Alex welcomes entrepreneurial couple Seth and Mary to discuss how faith and prayer have shaped their journey in building, scaling, and selling multiple businesses — all while navigating parenthood, adversity, and mental health struggles. The discussion delivers honest, actionable advice on starting a business, the importance of mindset, operating as a couple, and how prayer and faith grounded their success and resilience.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Beginnings: Adversity, Adapting, and Mindset

• Both Seth and Mary share humble starts — Mary escaping an abusive marriage and starting her first cleaning business as a single mom, and Seth mowing lawns at 15, developing early leadership skills.
  • Mary: “Our goals were to create a seven figure cleaning company operating remotely…if I'm going to get better and I'm going to make more money, I'm going to be reading these books on business…” (02:20)
  • Seth: “When I started my landscaping business, I was the only one. So for years I was the only one...I had pretty much let them know that I'm gonna do my best every single time I go.” (05:13)
• Both cited relentless self-education (books, podcasts, mentors like Dave Ramsey) as fundamental to their growth.

2. Entrepreneurial Mindset, Leadership, and Adversity

• Leadership Principles: Both stress leading by example, modeling the work ethic and standards desired from staff.
  • Seth: “If you're in a leadership role, you're gonna be the hardest worker for that company…lead by example.” (05:13)
• Hardships: Entrepreneurship is compared to parenthood — both require consistency, emotional intelligence, and resilience.
  • Mary: “You have to be consistent…with discipline, and you have to model by example as well, because you can't teach them ‘do what I say, but not what I do.’” (07:31)
• Delegation: The importance of working on, not in, the business is emphasized. Delegation and hiring for strengths are key to scaling and enjoying family life.
  • Mary: “I’ll hire someone who knows how to clean a house so that I could stay home with my babies…if you get [sales and marketing] down pat, you can essentially write your own check…” (11:31)

3. Faith, Depression, and the Power of Prayer

• Mental Health Transparency: Both Mary and Paul share struggles with depression, suicidal thoughts, and heavy pressures of business.
  • Mary: “In my 20s, I was suicidal. Yeah, I was. I mean, I was determined I was gonna do it…what helps me through those times is my faith in Jesus Christ.” (18:42–19:03)
• Spiritual Resilience: Prayer is described as the “engine” behind their business, providing clarity, guidance, and peace through adversity.
  • Mary: “Prayer is the engine that drives us forward. Our faith in Jesus and prayer, that’s what has helped us.” (19:41)
  • Seth: “When you solidify your faith with Jesus, you have to have the faith to know, you know, he's going to get you through any tough situation.” (21:29)
• Practical Application: Daily prayer for their business, staff, and family is a non-negotiable habit.

4. Scaling a Remote Business & Practical Advice

• Start with Education: The first step for beginners is self-education — understanding sales, marketing, and digital tools.
  • Mary: “Get some good books on sales and marketing…that’s more important than knowing how to clean a house.” (12:46)
• Niche Selection: Don’t just chase what you’re good at — consider competition, profitability, and scalability of the niche.
  • Seth: “A lot of people want to do something they're going to be great at. And sometimes that's not always the best business model.” (15:43)
• Resilience: Push through setbacks; mindset and consistency are everything. “Every single day putting another foot forward…there’s going to be setbacks.” (16:25)
• Delegation as a Key: Doing every role initially helps in hiring and managing later. “I’m a big believer in going ahead and doing every aspect of your business in the very beginning…” (26:40–26:59)

5. Empowering Others: Why Teach, Not Just Do

• After selling their cleaning company, Seth & Mary are focused on teaching others how to build and scale remote service businesses, with a special emphasis on digital marketing and automation.
  • Mary: “Knowing that [marketing] is what allowed us to find, flip a switch…and that cleaning business, it started off making 25 to 30 grand a month…” (25:06)
• Their new community will offer startup guidance, marketing training (SEO, ads), and direct mentorship — aiming to work with about 500 entrepreneurs per year, including VIP hands-on events.
  • Mary: “We want to work closely with about 500 entrepreneurs per year…teaching them how to do the paid ads and the SEO for themselves in a powerful way…” (32:30)

6. Advice for Couples and Team Building

• Couples in Business: “Keep God first…figure out what are your strengths and your partner’s strengths.” (38:36)
• Dividing Roles: Mary excels at closing sales and analytics, while Seth thrives in staff management and team nurturing.
• Employee Loyalty: Treating staff as valued individuals and paying well fosters loyalty — more than pay alone.
  • Seth: “Treating people how you want to be treated…just getting feedback from them…” (41:44)
  • Mary: “It has to be a comprehensive approach. They have to both…treat them right and pay them well.” (48:29)

7. Level-Up Mindset: Inspiring Final Takeaways

• Find Your Deepest Dream: “What are the dreams deep in your heart that you think are unachievable or you just buried away…figure out what is that dream you buried somewhere deep down. Figure out what that is and get crystal clear.” (49:09)
• Confront Limiting Beliefs: Ignore naysayers and negative self-talk — belief is half the battle.
  • Seth: “If you have the positive mindset that you can do something, then you can actually do it.” (51:42)
• Faith & Daily Action: Rely on faith for guidance, and take practical steps daily toward your goal (“There’s always something you can do in business.” – Mary [49:09])
• Legacy with a Purpose: Their ultimate goal: to fund stadium revival events across America — the “why” behind building wealth.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Mary (on overcoming depression and purpose)
  “The Lord gave me a vision while I was driving that saved my life. He revealed himself to me in a way that made me understand God is real.” (19:03)

• Paul Alex (on the illusion of success):
  “It was the best financial year of my life. But that doesn’t matter when you lost yourself.” (18:10)

• Mary (on teaching business):
  “Once you know how to do it, you’re not at the mercy anymore of an ad agency doing it for you…that’s a valuable, powerful skill set for business owners.” (25:06)

• Seth (on advice for new business owners):
  “Just do it. Just know you can do it and accomplish it. …If you want to be successful in business, you have to take that first step in mindset.” (51:42)

• Mary (encouragement):
  “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, either way, you’re right.” (49:09)

• On Partnership:
  “Figure out what are your strengths and your partner’s strengths…lean into whatever your strength is and let them lean into theirs.” (39:40)

Timestamps by Segment

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|---------------| | 00:00-03:31 | Introductions, Mary and Seth’s backgrounds, humble beginnings, single parenting | | 03:31-07:49 | Parenting vs. entrepreneurship, leadership, consistency | | 11:31-15:08 | Practical steps to starting a remote cleaning business | | 15:29-18:42 | Mindset, business hardships, dealing with setbacks | | 18:42-21:29 | Struggles with depression, discovering faith, power of prayer | | 24:32-26:22 | Shift to online business, teaching others, why it matters | | 28:52-30:29 | Digital marketing tools/strategies: SEO, Facebook Ads | | 32:30-33:46 | Vision: mentoring 500 entrepreneurs per year, events, offerings | | 35:29-41:19 | Advice for couples, strengths-based partnerships | | 44:20-48:29 | Building staff loyalty, paying well, treating people right | | 49:09-53:08 | Final mindset & faith tips, chase your true purpose | | 53:14 | Where to find Seth & Mary (links and community invites) |

Where to Find Seth & Mary

• Webinar & Business Scaling: growmybiz3.com
• Podcast: GrowMyBiz
• Facebook Community: Millionaire Remote Business Scaling Group
• Direct Work/Consulting: growmybiz2.com

This episode stands out for its authentic discussion of both the emotional and practical sides of entrepreneurial life, the role of faith, and actionable advice for solo founders and couples alike. Seth & Mary blend spiritual grounding with business savvy — a holistic example of "leveling up" in life and business.