YAPClassic: Lori Harder on Pivoting in Business and Reinventing Your Mindset for Success

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0:01:19 (gentle music)
0:01:22 (gentle music)
0:01:29 – What’s up, YAP Gang?
0:01:31 In this episode of YAP Classic,
0:01:33 we’re revisiting an episode from last year
0:01:37 with one of my most inspiring friends, Lori Harder.
0:01:40 We talk about a super important topic for entrepreneurs,
0:01:42 which is the art of pivoting.
0:01:45 Entrepreneurship is all about embracing pivots,
0:01:48 and nobody knows that more than Lori.
0:01:49 Lori is a serial entrepreneur
0:01:52 to the host of the Forbes 11 Business Podcast,
0:01:54 Earn Your Happy, which is in my podcast network,
0:01:58 and the bestselling author of a tribe called Bliss.
0:02:00 Lori has had to reinvent herself
0:02:01 at several points in her life.
0:02:05 She went from being a chubby kid with anxiety issues
0:02:07 to then gracing the covers of fitness magazines
0:02:11 and becoming a three-time fitness world champion.
0:02:13 Then she built a successful fitness brand
0:02:16 and made it big with a network marketing business.
0:02:19 By 32, she had made her first million.
0:02:21 In this episode, Lori shares her journey
0:02:24 of reinventing herself time and time again,
0:02:26 including lessons on rebounding from failure
0:02:28 and pivoting in business.
0:02:30 So get ready for an inspiring conversation
0:02:33 about turning setbacks into stepping stones
0:02:35 and discovering your true potential.
0:02:41 Lori, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.
0:02:43 – I’m so excited to be here.
0:02:45 I can’t wait to chat with you.
0:02:48 Likewise, I love chatting with my girlfriends.
0:02:51 And Lori, I thought I knew a lot about you,
0:02:53 but it turns out I didn’t know much about you
0:02:57 once I started studying all your work and your life.
0:03:01 And I found out that when you were a child,
0:03:03 you were actually pretty overweight.
0:03:05 And that was so surprising to me
0:03:08 because I’ve always known you as somebody who’s super fit.
0:03:10 You’ve been a fitness model in the past.
0:03:15 And I just had no idea that you had this transformation.
0:03:18 So I’d love to understand what was it like for you as a kid.
0:03:20 How did that actually shape who you are
0:03:21 as an entrepreneur today?
0:03:24 – Oh my gosh, coming from a family
0:03:27 that it really stemmed from all of our joy
0:03:29 came from connecting over food.
0:03:32 It was just as far as I can remember back
0:03:36 all of our extracurricular time when we were sad,
0:03:39 when we were happy, when we were bored,
0:03:40 we connected over food.
0:03:45 And I remember having a really loving childhood
0:03:48 as far as family and parents go,
0:03:50 but also there was a lot of pain
0:03:54 that’s connected to when you use food as a crutch.
0:03:56 Because when I think about my mom, my sister,
0:04:00 and all of my mom’s sisters who she had four sisters,
0:04:01 there was a lot of anxiety.
0:04:03 There was a lot of depression.
0:04:05 There was a lot of health issues.
0:04:08 There was a lot of self-loathing.
0:04:10 So it was kind of a mix of everything.
0:04:14 And for me, having those moments as a young kid,
0:04:16 I remember when I was eight or nine years old,
0:04:19 it was the first time I realized,
0:04:21 oh, this is gonna be a little bit painful
0:04:23 being in this body.
0:04:27 I got invited to a pool party with a bunch of friends
0:04:28 in my church.
0:04:32 And I remember having such a massive crush on this one kid.
0:04:36 I was that kid who was so outgoing before this,
0:04:38 even before this moment, which we’ll chat about in a second,
0:04:42 but I was always, oh my gosh, look at my dance moves,
0:04:44 look at this dance I made up, record me,
0:04:46 somebody put a camera on me.
0:04:49 This is who my personality was at the core.
0:04:51 And so I remember going to this pool party
0:04:53 and I got this new swimsuit
0:04:55 because the love of my life was gonna be there.
0:04:57 And I could not wait to go up on this diving board
0:05:01 and show it off and do this pool flip.
0:05:04 And I remember walking up one of my best friends
0:05:06 at the time, she was super skinny.
0:05:08 She was climbing up the ladder in front of me
0:05:10 and looking at her legs going, oh my God,
0:05:14 being that young going, oh, I wish I could be that thin.
0:05:16 And all the boys liked her.
0:05:18 And I get up on the diving board
0:05:22 and I can hear the kids, my friends chanting something.
0:05:27 And they’re saying whale over and over and over again.
0:05:31 And I just remember standing on the edge of the diving board
0:05:34 and having that moment of I wanna hide.
0:05:38 And so I went from this really outgoing,
0:05:40 look at me, can’t wait to perform.
0:05:42 I wanna sing, I wanna dance, I wanna be your friend
0:05:45 to starting to hide because of my body.
0:05:47 And I remember being under the water though
0:05:51 and thinking literally, I’m not gonna let this happen to me.
0:05:54 And so even though I was really young,
0:05:57 I started thinking, is there a way
0:06:01 that I could have this not be my destiny?
0:06:06 So fast forward to being about 11 or 12 years old,
0:06:07 I was sitting at the table with all of my aunts.
0:06:10 And again, a really loving family,
0:06:13 but a lot of struggle around weight,
0:06:15 thinking that this was our genetics.
0:06:17 And we were all sitting around eating
0:06:19 at a family get together.
0:06:21 And they had known that I started working out
0:06:22 just doing some exercising at home,
0:06:24 doing exercise videos.
0:06:27 And they’re like, just wait, you’ll be fat just like us,
0:06:29 no matter what you do.
0:06:32 And in that moment, I remember rejecting it again,
0:06:36 like, no, this can’t be genetics
0:06:37 because what they’re saying to me
0:06:40 is this is just how you are and it’s who you are.
0:06:43 And it just led me on this lifelong journey
0:06:46 of searching for other people
0:06:49 to learn how they were being healthy and fit.
0:06:52 And as a teenager, I would beg my mom
0:06:53 to buy me fitness magazines
0:06:55 when we’d go to the grocery store.
0:06:56 And those were the first times
0:07:00 that I was able to understand
0:07:04 that I’m reading what they eat and how they live
0:07:05 ’cause they would post their schedules
0:07:07 and things in these different magazines.
0:07:10 And I was like, we’re not doing that.
0:07:14 So that was the moment for me of, wow,
0:07:16 certain ways of living get certain results.
0:07:19 And our way of living is getting one result,
0:07:22 but it was this moment of the work is hard.
0:07:24 It’s challenging to be healthy
0:07:26 and get the things that you want.
0:07:29 And so that was the catalyst
0:07:31 for all of that in the fitness world.
0:07:32 – It’s so amazing.
0:07:35 And I love what you’re saying in terms of the fact
0:07:36 that when you were younger,
0:07:40 before you got this external feedback from your peers,
0:07:42 you were who you are today.
0:07:44 An outgoing girl who loves to be on stage,
0:07:47 who loves the shine, who loves the attention,
0:07:48 you get the external feedback
0:07:51 and suddenly you’re like a shell of yourself.
0:07:53 So talk to us about the things that you did
0:07:56 when you were a child that isolated you
0:07:58 and then how once you were a teen
0:08:00 and got out of the house
0:08:03 that you were able to pull yourself out of that.
0:08:04 – Well, I think there were a couple other reasons
0:08:05 for isolating as well.
0:08:07 So I had that and then I grew up
0:08:09 in a more restrictive religion.
0:08:11 So we weren’t allowed to associate
0:08:13 with anyone outside of our religion.
0:08:14 So take a small town.
0:08:15 I’m from Upper Michigan.
0:08:16 I’m from Market, Michigan.
0:08:19 It’s a fairly small town in Upper Michigan.
0:08:20 You’re surrounded by the woods.
0:08:23 Anything close to that really resembles a city
0:08:25 is about three hours away.
0:08:28 So taking a small town and making it smaller
0:08:30 by only being allowed to associate with people
0:08:32 in your congregation, in your religion,
0:08:35 we had approximately around 110 people
0:08:36 in our church growing up.
0:08:39 So I wasn’t allowed to do any extracurriculars
0:08:41 and I wasn’t allowed to do anything with anyone in school
0:08:43 or quote unquote, “worldly people.”
0:08:46 So for me, I think the hiding also started
0:08:47 because I was going to school,
0:08:50 in elementary school and middle school,
0:08:53 but because there wasn’t a whole lot of different kids
0:08:54 in Upper Michigan,
0:08:56 like there wasn’t a lot of diversity up there.
0:09:00 I remember one African-American student
0:09:03 in my entire school career.
0:09:05 And so it’s like you’re also abnormal
0:09:07 if you’re not celebrating holidays
0:09:09 and you can’t do the art projects in art
0:09:12 and you can’t date and you can’t go
0:09:13 and spend the night at people’s house
0:09:15 and you can’t go to their house after school.
0:09:17 And so I got made fun of a lot in school
0:09:19 and I started to get panic attacks.
0:09:23 So then I labeled myself
0:09:25 because my mom was also experiencing these things
0:09:28 and I labeled myself as someone who has panic attacks
0:09:31 and I labeled myself as an anxious person.
0:09:34 And I just started isolating more and more and more
0:09:38 and it became a much bigger challenge for me
0:09:41 as I was older to try to work through those things
0:09:43 because you gain an awareness
0:09:45 that once you’re out in the real world,
0:09:47 you’re not gonna function well
0:09:50 if you can’t connect with other people.
0:09:54 And so my entire life’s work has been
0:09:58 how does a girl who came from a restrictive religion
0:09:59 who isn’t allowed to associate with anyone else
0:10:01 who did not have any other network
0:10:05 because I ended up leaving that religion at 18
0:10:07 into a world of no friends, really.
0:10:10 I had a couple from my religion who also left
0:10:13 but that didn’t go well for that more us either.
0:10:15 When you’re held like a spring and you let go,
0:10:18 it’s like we had a disastrous life for a few years there.
0:10:20 It was the drinking and partying
0:10:22 and it just was not a great experience.
0:10:25 So how do you build a network?
0:10:27 How do you overcome anxiety?
0:10:28 How do you even start to dream
0:10:31 when you’ve never seen the possibility
0:10:34 in your social circle of what is possible for you
0:10:37 because it’s never been in your social circle?
0:10:39 And how do you create an entirely new identity
0:10:41 outside of this woman that I used to be
0:10:43 or girl that I used to be
0:10:45 who was very much like,
0:10:49 okay, we need to make sure we just preach about the Bible.
0:10:52 And if you struggle, that must be righteous
0:10:55 and really challenged money story,
0:10:59 challenged with my weight and all of those different things.
0:11:01 So that’s why I love what I do now
0:11:05 because I feel like I’m a bit of like an excuse eliminator
0:11:07 ’cause when I hear things I’m like, oh no,
0:11:10 yeah, you can do this, like I did it, let me show you.
0:11:12 So it’s funny on podcasts,
0:11:14 it’s like, oh, we got to go back to the beginning again
0:11:16 but the beginning is so important.
0:11:18 It’s so important to see where we all came from
0:11:20 to know like, you can do it too.
0:11:22 This is so possible for you.
0:11:26 – Totally, and now you’re on stages with 15,000 people,
0:11:28 you always have these awesome events,
0:11:31 so you’ve got amazing companies.
0:11:33 So you’ve totally transformed yourself.
0:11:37 So you became a fitness influencer essentially,
0:11:38 you became a fitness model,
0:11:41 you were a three-time world champion.
0:11:46 Talk to us about the first real entrepreneurship experience
0:11:48 that stemmed from that.
0:11:51 – My very first entrepreneurship experience
0:11:54 was because our back was up against the wall.
0:11:58 So I will say, I think that life offers us
0:12:03 the perfect challenge in order for us to use it
0:12:06 to find our gifts and to find our purpose.
0:12:10 And so I got married at a really young age.
0:12:14 I met my husband when I was at the end of 20, almost 21
0:12:19 and we were those people who just knew fairly quickly
0:12:21 that we were gonna be together.
0:12:24 And he had the same, you know, he was a big dreamer,
0:12:25 he was into fitness too.
0:12:29 And so when I married him, we were able to go,
0:12:31 okay, what are the big dreams that we want?
0:12:34 Except I was more supporting him
0:12:37 because what I also haven’t shared is that
0:12:39 because I was homeschooled through high school
0:12:41 and there was just a whole lot going on with my parents,
0:12:44 I never graduated, I have never gotten my GED,
0:12:46 I’ve gone back to try to get it when I was younger
0:12:48 and still failed it.
0:12:50 And I just was terrible at math and testing,
0:12:51 come to find out much later
0:12:54 as I just had never learned how to test.
0:12:56 – Yeah, he knows. – Crazy testing guide.
0:12:58 So when I married my husband,
0:13:02 he was on an amazing trajectory in his career.
0:13:04 When I met him, he was fairly successful,
0:13:08 but when we got married and we just put fitness
0:13:11 in each other and this dream of him building this career
0:13:14 and me supporting this dream, it started to take off.
0:13:18 But his career was in mortgage and finance.
0:13:23 And in 2008, which was not long after we got married,
0:13:26 there was a recession, which mortgage and finance,
0:13:31 that whole industry essentially got erased for a while.
0:13:33 Not just oh, it’s struggling,
0:13:35 like oh, it’s going down the toilet.
0:13:38 Like it’s literally got completely erased,
0:13:42 which means there was no really great place for him to go.
0:13:43 And so we ended up losing everything
0:13:48 because as young kids do, when his career was taking off,
0:13:52 24 and 26, when his career was really starting to take off,
0:13:54 we spent it all and lived way beyond our means.
0:13:58 And at the time, I wasn’t even like into the finances.
0:14:00 So it didn’t come as a total surprise,
0:14:03 but when the recession hit, it was like,
0:14:06 oh, we’re losing our house, we’re losing our cars
0:14:09 and we are $300,000 in debt
0:14:12 and we have to borrow money from his parents
0:14:14 to even go and get another place.
0:14:17 And so we borrowed their retirement fund,
0:14:20 essentially wiped out their entire retirement fund,
0:14:23 which doesn’t feel very good when you are,
0:14:25 every decision that you make,
0:14:27 you feel like someone is looking at
0:14:28 because you owe them money.
0:14:30 And that’s not what they were saying by any means,
0:14:31 but it’s how it feels.
0:14:34 It feels like you’ll never get out of that hole.
0:14:38 And so my first entrepreneurship experience
0:14:40 was because my back was up against the wall.
0:14:43 And when that happened, and when Chris came to me,
0:14:44 who’s my husband and he’s like,
0:14:47 we’ve lost everything, I don’t have anywhere to go.
0:14:49 I wasn’t the breadwinner.
0:14:53 I was working random retail jobs, making hardly anything.
0:14:57 And I had started at LA Fitness not long before this.
0:14:59 And I had started personally training.
0:15:01 And I had heard somebody say,
0:15:05 probably like three months prior to this
0:15:09 to make sure that you proclaim your dreams to people.
0:15:11 So I had started as a personal trainer,
0:15:13 talking to my clients, ’cause you end up having
0:15:16 these great relationships with a lot of your clients.
0:15:18 I told them about my dream to own a gym
0:15:21 and be like a Jillian Michaels at the time.
0:15:24 I didn’t have an example of what does it look like
0:15:26 to be like a famous fitness person?
0:15:28 And there was like biggest loser stuff.
0:15:30 And that was about it and being on covers.
0:15:32 So I told them I want to be on covers
0:15:34 because that’s what inspired me when I was young.
0:15:36 I used to carry these fitness magazines around
0:15:39 and they were dog-eared and they were my icons.
0:15:42 I just followed everything that these women did.
0:15:44 And so I was telling this woman that I wanted to have
0:15:46 my own gym and et cetera.
0:15:49 And she had said to me right after this had happened,
0:15:52 right after we were kind of struggling,
0:15:54 not kind of struggling, really struggling.
0:15:58 Yeah, she was 28, I think I was 26 at the time.
0:16:02 And she said, I’m opening my own chiropractic studio.
0:16:05 How cool is that at 28 in the Midwest too?
0:16:06 I’m like, wow, that’s amazing.
0:16:10 And she said, if you want to come and train me in trade
0:16:12 for free, train me three times a week,
0:16:14 you can work out at the lower level
0:16:17 of this chiropractic center until you can pay me.
0:16:21 And two weeks later, I literally said yes on the spot.
0:16:22 I didn’t know what that would look like.
0:16:24 I was like, I’m pretty sure I have a non-compete
0:16:26 in this year of studios two blocks away,
0:16:29 but we’re just gonna work this out and lie about it.
0:16:30 (laughs)
0:16:35 So I had said yes and also realized,
0:16:37 which didn’t even care,
0:16:39 the lower level to her chiropractic studio
0:16:41 was completely unfinished.
0:16:44 And I did not have the money to finish it.
0:16:46 So it was studs and wires
0:16:48 and there was no workout equipment down there.
0:16:50 There was no mirrors, there was no nothing.
0:16:54 So I’m like, okay, how’s a girl go and figure this out?
0:16:57 And I remember my husband and I went to a Walmart
0:16:58 and we got the flooring,
0:17:00 the flooring you put in like a toddler’s room,
0:17:03 like the square you piece together.
0:17:05 We put that down on the ground.
0:17:08 We found black, thankfully it wasn’t all different colors.
0:17:10 We put that down on the ground
0:17:12 and I bought a couple sets of weights,
0:17:14 but because they’re expensive at the time for me,
0:17:17 I bought a lot of those straps that bust and pop
0:17:20 in your face, you know, like the rubber bands.
0:17:22 So I was like, I don’t normally train with bands,
0:17:24 but girl’s gonna learn how to train with bands.
0:17:26 And then I bought those mirrors
0:17:28 that you put on the back of your door,
0:17:30 like as a teenager, the sticky mirrors.
0:17:31 And I bought three of them.
0:17:33 It’s like all I could afford.
0:17:35 And I remember this woman coming down
0:17:39 ’cause she had answered an ad that we had put out there.
0:17:41 And she pulls up in a Range Rover
0:17:44 and I didn’t really know what a Range Rover was at the time,
0:17:46 but I was like, I know they’re expensive.
0:17:48 And I was like, oh, shit.
0:17:51 She’s about to walk down to this, you know, dungeon.
0:17:54 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:17:56 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:17:59 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:01 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:03 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:05 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:07 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:09 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:11 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:13 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:15 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:17 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:19 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:20 And I was like, I’m gonna go to the dungeon.
0:18:25 ‘Cause the biggest, most beautiful things start really small.
0:18:30 And you’ll gain your deepest insights there for everything.
0:18:33 – Let’s hold that thought and take a quick break
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0:23:02 – I love this story.
0:23:05 It just shows so much how you really grew it
0:23:07 from the ground up.
0:23:09 And I love the story of you and Chris.
0:23:11 I had no idea that you guys met so young
0:23:16 and now you guys are just this amazing power couple
0:23:18 that’s always doing these awesome events.
0:23:19 And it’s just really inspiring, honestly,
0:23:23 to hear the story about how you guys grew together
0:23:23 and did this all together
0:23:26 and how he supported you and helped you.
0:23:30 So at what point did you take this and scale it online?
0:23:31 What was that like?
0:23:34 – With the in-person personal training,
0:23:36 you kind of have a realization
0:23:38 that you are trading time for money
0:23:40 because I wanted to make more
0:23:43 because of this number that we were in debt.
0:23:47 And so my head and my husband’s head starts doing the math
0:23:49 on how long is this gonna take us.
0:23:51 And you realize you’ll be like 80 years old
0:23:53 and try to pay this off.
0:23:58 So we’re like, okay, can’t just trade in-person stuff
0:23:59 because we’ll never pay this off
0:24:02 and we’ll never be in the positive, essentially,
0:24:04 the way that we wanna live life at all.
0:24:09 So at that time I was starting to do fitness competitions
0:24:12 and the woman that I had found through a fitness magazine
0:24:14 and I had gone to her camp
0:24:17 had an online training membership.
0:24:20 But the membership was for fitness competitions
0:24:22 if you wanted to compete.
0:24:25 So it would be the workouts, it’d be the competition diet,
0:24:28 all of those things, group calls, group recognition.
0:24:31 And I was like, wait, this is freaking amazing.
0:24:33 Why wouldn’t I do this for just the people
0:24:35 who can’t train with me?
0:24:39 ‘Cause I had slowly started building a Facebook presence
0:24:42 and I built it simply by every single day
0:24:44 I would show up and write something that I was going through
0:24:46 or something that I was reading
0:24:48 and something that I was doing to move through it.
0:24:50 And it became like an online journal for me.
0:24:53 And somehow I didn’t even realize what I was doing.
0:24:55 I was obviously growing a personal brand.
0:24:58 And so I would have people all the time
0:24:59 ’cause I’d talk about my workouts that day.
0:25:01 I’d post them online and I’d have people who’d be like,
0:25:03 God, I wish I could train with you.
0:25:05 I wish we could do this together.
0:25:07 And so I knew that there would be some people.
0:25:09 I didn’t know how many there would be,
0:25:11 but I’m like, oh, I think I can count like five
0:25:13 who would join this thing.
0:25:14 And so in the beginning,
0:25:16 I gave my in-person clients
0:25:18 who couldn’t train with me more than a day.
0:25:22 I gave it to them for free to start, to give me feedback.
0:25:25 And one of the women who I gave it to, mind you,
0:25:27 your girl didn’t graduate.
0:25:31 So it was this typed out horrible PDF version.
0:25:35 It’ll look fine, but it certainly didn’t look great.
0:25:37 So one of the women that I gave it to,
0:25:39 she’s like an editor for this big company
0:25:43 that she works for and she loved me and I loved her.
0:25:46 She was like, Lori, I love that you’re doing this,
0:25:49 but I’m gonna help you format all of this for free
0:25:51 because you’re giving it to me for free.
0:25:54 And so that was my first experience.
0:25:55 She helped me level up my brand
0:25:59 and also this experience of go look and trade.
0:26:01 If you’re great with the workouts,
0:26:02 but you’re not great with this,
0:26:04 go and try to find people that you can barter with
0:26:05 or trade with.
0:26:08 And so that’s really how I started doing
0:26:09 a lot of different things.
0:26:12 I had that moment of, wait, if this is working for this,
0:26:14 why couldn’t I go barter for this
0:26:15 or barter for that for now
0:26:18 until we can really get this thing off the ground?
0:26:21 And so that’s how the online fitness membership started.
0:26:23 We had that for like nine years.
0:26:25 We did challenges to get people in there.
0:26:27 First it started with a 30 day challenge.
0:26:30 Then as people’s attention started to deplete,
0:26:31 we did a 14 day challenge.
0:26:34 Then a seven day challenge ultimately was our challenge
0:26:35 that really, really crushed,
0:26:37 that just did really well and brought a lot of people in.
0:26:41 So we always hovered from like 1,000 to 2,500 members
0:26:43 paying around $89 a month.
0:26:47 And it was a great, great membership that I loved
0:26:50 until I did it, until I decided to pivot.
0:26:53 And I remember when I made that decision
0:26:54 ’cause we were doing some other things too.
0:26:57 We had really gotten into business and entrepreneurship
0:26:59 and my husband couldn’t understand
0:27:02 why I would quit something that was making really great money.
0:27:03 That is a whole other conversation.
0:27:07 But when you grow into something after nine years,
0:27:09 so different and I was so thoroughly enjoying
0:27:12 the entrepreneurship world and events
0:27:15 and being in that energy and helping those people,
0:27:16 it’s weird.
0:27:19 It’s like your soul can’t even do the other thing anymore.
0:27:22 And identifying as a fitness person anymore.
0:27:25 I was identifying as me being a person who loved fitness,
0:27:29 but I wasn’t identifying with me wanting to help people
0:27:31 necessarily on their fitness journey.
0:27:35 I really wanted to do a full pivot into helping people
0:27:39 with their business and money in big dream journey.
0:27:41 – Well, that makes sense because I feel like
0:27:44 the easiest way to start as an entrepreneur
0:27:47 is to scale something out that you’re really good at, right?
0:27:50 So you were really good at fitness.
0:27:54 You didn’t dream about becoming a fitness teacher.
0:27:55 That wasn’t your ultimate dream,
0:27:58 but that was what you could when you had no money,
0:28:01 a way for you to make a lot of money, right?
0:28:04 It reminds me of starting my social agency.
0:28:06 I never wanted to have a social agency,
0:28:07 but I was really good at it.
0:28:08 So it was my first business.
0:28:09 And so I just did that.
0:28:11 Now I’m passionate about my network.
0:28:16 My agency is doing great, but that’s not really my passion.
0:28:19 I always wanted to have a podcast network, right?
0:28:23 So it’s so cool that you were able to realize that
0:28:25 for everybody out there right now
0:28:27 who wants to be an entrepreneur,
0:28:31 often I say, think about who you needed
0:28:32 back when you weren’t an entrepreneur.
0:28:34 And I feel like that’s the business you created.
0:28:37 You created a business for the little girl
0:28:39 that grew up overweight.
0:28:41 Can you talk to us about what you saw in the community
0:28:45 that you built in terms of the women’s that you served
0:28:47 and how that made you feel in terms of your purpose
0:28:49 and everything like that?
0:28:53 Looking back, I think that people’s first,
0:28:57 almost like spiritual cracking open
0:29:01 or first experience with,
0:29:06 oh, there’s more or I’m here for a reason
0:29:08 can happen through fitness.
0:29:12 And I think that that is because
0:29:15 when you find wellness or fitness,
0:29:17 maybe you’re not sleeping well.
0:29:19 Maybe you’re not treating your body very good.
0:29:20 Maybe you’re not eating very well.
0:29:21 You’re not moving.
0:29:24 And I think that in order to be the vessel,
0:29:27 which is what I believe we’re here to do is be the vessel
0:29:31 in which we get to live out our dreams and our purpose.
0:29:34 And in order to get those messages,
0:29:36 you have to be fairly healthy.
0:29:37 You need to move your body.
0:29:38 You need to eat well.
0:29:39 You need to be sleeping.
0:29:42 And then later on, you learn that there’s levels
0:29:44 to these cracking open.
0:29:45 I’m just gonna use those words of,
0:29:47 oh, your next level, so on and so forth.
0:29:50 And your next level after fitness
0:29:52 is gonna require community.
0:29:53 And your next level after that
0:29:56 is gonna require a community that stretches you
0:29:58 or some big challenges.
0:30:00 So what I noticed in the fitness world
0:30:04 is that women would come thinking they wanted the abs.
0:30:06 And what would end up happening
0:30:09 is that they would realize that it was never about that.
0:30:11 It was about a bigger purpose.
0:30:13 And the more that they would eat better
0:30:15 and move better and feel better,
0:30:16 the more they would go,
0:30:19 oh my God, I think there’s more for me.
0:30:21 And then not just more,
0:30:24 they also wanted to make money.
0:30:27 Because money allows you to walk out of situations
0:30:29 that you don’t wanna be in.
0:30:31 That is what I noticed.
0:30:34 And that is where my heart started to be so pulled.
0:30:36 I realized I was training a whole lot of women
0:30:39 who were in situations that were not necessarily chosen,
0:30:41 but they felt trapped.
0:30:43 And I’m not even talking about necessarily
0:30:44 just marriages or relationships,
0:30:46 but that would come up a lot.
0:30:50 But jobs, jobs, family dynamics,
0:30:52 like very interesting things that they felt
0:30:55 they were stuck in due to financial situations
0:30:56 and circumstances.
0:31:00 – Did you actually just shut down the fitness business?
0:31:02 – One of the things I had left out
0:31:07 is that along there when we were rebuilding
0:31:09 and I had that studio,
0:31:12 the gym in the chiropractics center,
0:31:15 I got a client who had worked with my husband
0:31:17 in the mortgage industry.
0:31:20 And she was like, “Hey, Chris, does your wife still train?
0:31:21 “Can I train with her?
0:31:22 “I wanna lose 100 pounds.”
0:31:23 So I was super excited
0:31:25 because I’d met her a couple of times
0:31:26 and I really liked her.
0:31:27 And I started training with her
0:31:29 and she would always talk about these supplements
0:31:31 she was taking and at the time
0:31:33 because I was in the fitness world
0:31:36 and working with a coach who was like an all natural,
0:31:38 not like drugs or anything, but food only.
0:31:40 She didn’t want shakes, she didn’t want supplements.
0:31:43 She was like, “Get your nutrition through food.”
0:31:46 Really, really clean coach.
0:31:48 And because I was working with her
0:31:50 when someone would talk about shakes and supplements,
0:31:51 I was like, “No, no, you should do food.”
0:31:53 And she’s like, “I’m a busy woman.
0:31:57 “I can’t be cooking these five meals that you’re telling me
0:31:58 “because at the time I’m young,
0:32:00 “I’m not thinking of people with kids or busy lives.”
0:32:02 I’m like, “No, you need to make five meals a day.”
0:32:05 Like, I learned later.
0:32:07 I’m like, “Wow, was I crazy to ask that of women?”
0:32:08 Okay, got it.
0:32:11 So she’s telling me about these things that she’s taking.
0:32:13 I’m like, blah, blah, blah, don’t take them.
0:32:15 You need to just eat these five meals
0:32:17 I’m giving you this meal plan.
0:32:19 And so fast forward six months,
0:32:22 she loses almost 100 pounds.
0:32:25 And as great of a trainer as I was,
0:32:27 I was not getting those results with other people.
0:32:30 So I was like, “What on earth are you doing now?”
0:32:32 She had entered a challenge
0:32:35 and she was obviously sticking really closely to it
0:32:36 and working out or whatever.
0:32:38 But she felt great every day.
0:32:41 This girl was in the best mood.
0:32:43 She started lifting heavier than me,
0:32:44 which was just a moment of,
0:32:47 “Wait a minute, you’re lifting heavier weights
0:32:48 while you’re losing weight,
0:32:51 which is normally really counterintuitive.
0:32:53 Normally, you’re really tired.
0:32:56 You can lose muscle when you’re losing all that weight.”
0:33:00 And so I was like, “Bring me that shake that you’re on.”
0:33:01 (laughs)
0:33:03 Six months in and I had said no for that long
0:33:05 ’cause it was network marketing.
0:33:07 And so that was my breakdown moment
0:33:09 is I was struggling with my diet and I was competing
0:33:11 and I was not feeling good.
0:33:14 I was feeling depressed ’cause the food was just like,
0:33:17 “Blah, I wasn’t eating great.”
0:33:18 And that was it for me.
0:33:20 I was like, “Okay, let me try this.”
0:33:22 And I tried it.
0:33:23 Two weeks later, I had never felt better.
0:33:27 I actually ended up two months after going and competing
0:33:30 and sweeping two national titles
0:33:34 that have never ever been swept in the same year ever.
0:33:36 Still has never happened
0:33:38 ’cause I just had never felt so good in my life.
0:33:41 And so I got into network marketing
0:33:46 and we went from zero to a million dollars
0:33:48 in about 13 months.
0:33:50 Wow, ’cause I was so passionate.
0:33:52 My back was up against the wall.
0:33:54 I needed to pay off my in-laws.
0:33:55 That was hovering over my head.
0:33:59 I felt like I couldn’t buy anything without feeling awful.
0:34:01 And I had gone bankrupt as a teenager.
0:34:02 Well, I hadn’t, but my parents had.
0:34:05 And I was like, “I am not repeating this story.”
0:34:08 We were listening to secrets of the millionaire mind.
0:34:09 We had started in network marketing,
0:34:12 which that company in particular that we were in,
0:34:14 it was called Isagenix.
0:34:15 We’re actually still in it,
0:34:19 but it was more of a personal development company
0:34:20 than even a network marketing company.
0:34:24 So we had gotten so deep into money mindset,
0:34:25 learning about being abundant
0:34:26 and all of those different things.
0:34:28 So the reason I’m telling you that
0:34:30 is because when you said, “What did you do with the gym?”
0:34:33 That was doing so well along with the membership
0:34:35 that I actually gifted it to one of my best friends
0:34:37 and she took it over for a year.
0:34:40 So I just handed her the keys with all of the equipment,
0:34:42 all of the clients.
0:34:43 And I said, “Here you go.”
0:34:44 I knew that she wanted to start a business.
0:34:47 She had just left her husband
0:34:49 and had an amazing business for a year
0:34:52 and got to take all of my clients, which was a gift to me
0:34:55 because I didn’t want to give them to someone I didn’t trust.
0:34:58 And so that was my first big,
0:35:00 “Oh my God, this is what money can do.”
0:35:01 That’s exciting.
0:35:02 – So awesome.
0:35:05 So you have a huge podcast
0:35:08 which has just recently joined our YAP Media Network
0:35:10 which I’m so excited about.
0:35:11 – I love it.
0:35:15 – And Lori, you’re a legendary business female podcaster.
0:35:18 I remember when I thought of Lori Harder,
0:35:19 I thought podcast first.
0:35:21 I don’t know if it’s just ’cause I’m biased
0:35:22 I’m in the podcast industry,
0:35:25 but I always knew you as a podcaster
0:35:27 and like a big podcaster.
0:35:28 So at what point where you’re like,
0:35:31 “All right, I’m starting this podcast.”
0:35:32 – Oh man.
0:35:34 Okay, I had listened to podcasts.
0:35:36 That’s where it all started from, number one.
0:35:39 I was such a podcast junkie.
0:35:42 I was a huge Lewis Howes podcast fan
0:35:45 and then I joined his mastermind
0:35:50 because I would listen to podcasts and I had messaged him.
0:35:51 I would tag him and message him
0:35:54 and just give like takeaways from the podcast.
0:35:55 Like, “Thank you so much, oh my God.”
0:35:57 ‘Cause I was a big runner.
0:36:00 So when I would run three to four times a week,
0:36:03 I was doing six miles each time.
0:36:04 That’s a full podcast.
0:36:05 That’s like an hour podcast.
0:36:10 And so I was just consuming these podcasts while in state.
0:36:11 When you’re running and you’re working out
0:36:14 or you’re walking, walking is huge.
0:36:17 You’re just in a state where you’re gonna absorb,
0:36:20 you’re gonna crack open, you’re gonna get more ideas.
0:36:22 So podcasts completely changed my life.
0:36:25 They were my running and walking mentors.
0:36:27 They would change my mindset.
0:36:29 They would help with my anxiety.
0:36:31 It was everything for me.
0:36:33 And so when I joined Lewis Howes mastermind
0:36:36 after messaging, he had talked about it on his podcast.
0:36:38 I would have never found it if it wasn’t for that.
0:36:40 So I messaged and he was like, “You should join it.”
0:36:42 And I was like, “Me?
0:36:43 I should join this?
0:36:45 That feels really scary and crazy.”
0:36:47 And it was a big price tag.
0:36:48 And I brought it home to my husband
0:36:49 and he’s like, “We should join this.”
0:36:50 And so we joined it.
0:36:53 And I think being in that and really just hearing,
0:36:57 he made it more accessible, like impossible.
0:37:00 And so I just decided, “Okay, I’m gonna start this.”
0:37:04 And I also was feeling that I wanted a way
0:37:07 to deeply connect with my audience more.
0:37:11 I was feeling like the captions
0:37:14 or just the little bit that you get to post on social
0:37:15 does not tell the story.
0:37:18 And I’m like, “I’ve got a story to tell.”
0:37:20 It’s very different to feel like you have a story to tell
0:37:22 than to put yourself in a room for the first time,
0:37:24 turn on a mic and go,
0:37:26 “What the hell do I have to say?
0:37:28 I’m a big dummy.”
0:37:29 (laughing)
0:37:31 That’s how that can feel in the beginning.
0:37:33 Oh, here’s a tip.
0:37:34 If you want to start a podcast,
0:37:37 please go back to your favorite podcasters,
0:37:38 pick three to five of them,
0:37:40 go back to their first three episodes.
0:37:43 And I promise you, you’ll feel so empowered to start,
0:37:44 you’ll have no problem.
0:37:45 (laughing)
0:37:49 I listen to mine and I’m like, “Oh my God, it’s so loud.”
0:37:51 And I’m so proud of that girl.
0:37:54 Like I’m so proud of the people who start
0:37:55 because it’s not easy,
0:37:57 but that’s how the podcast started is.
0:38:00 I was like, “There’s such deeper stories to tell.”
0:38:01 It was like fitness.
0:38:03 Fitness transformed my life, I want to teach it.
0:38:06 Podcasting transformed my life, I want to do it.
0:38:07 – Yeah, it seems like our type of person
0:38:09 who just loves to give back,
0:38:10 once you level up, you’re like,
0:38:12 “Okay, how do I teach this to other people now
0:38:14 that I’ve learned it?”
0:38:15 – It’s partly selfish too.
0:38:16 Like I want people hearing like,
0:38:21 “Yes, I love giving back more than I can possibly tell you.”
0:38:24 But the love of giving back has grown for me
0:38:25 through the years,
0:38:29 it started as teaching just felt really good,
0:38:31 but teaching helps me learn.
0:38:33 They say that if you really want to learn,
0:38:38 you’ll start to teach on the subject that you love,
0:38:39 even in fitness.
0:38:42 A crazy story is outside of finding
0:38:43 the network marketing company
0:38:47 and then winning those national titles that year,
0:38:49 what had changed for me before those competitions?
0:38:51 ‘Cause I had been competing
0:38:53 for almost five years at that point
0:38:55 without winning the first,
0:38:57 but what changed for me that year
0:39:00 is that was the year that I really dove into teaching people
0:39:02 how to be on stage and stage presence.
0:39:06 So I had started camps in person on the weekends
0:39:07 where every Sunday,
0:39:09 and it was based off of that woman’s training,
0:39:11 that membership I was a part of,
0:39:13 but I became an ambassador.
0:39:15 And so every Sunday I was teaching women how to pose,
0:39:16 how to walk.
0:39:18 I was helping them with their fitness routines,
0:39:21 all the run-throughs they’d practice at my studio.
0:39:24 And it was the observation of others
0:39:26 and getting so granular to the point
0:39:29 of wanting to improve them so much that you improve.
0:39:32 And so that was the year that I can tell you,
0:39:33 everything changed for me
0:39:36 because I was so in the teaching, you embody it.
0:39:40 – We’ll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors.
0:39:44 – What’s up, busy young and profitors?
0:39:45 If you’re like me,
0:39:47 you’re constantly racing against the clock,
0:39:50 skipping meals or settling for unhealthy takeout.
0:39:54 Now, I ate way too much unhealthy takeout last year,
0:39:56 but this year I was set to make a change.
0:39:59 And a huge factor in my success has been factor.
0:40:02 Factor has chef made gourmet meals
0:40:04 that make eating well so easy.
0:40:05 They’re dietitian approved
0:40:08 and ready to heat and eat in two minutes.
0:40:10 So you can feel right and feel great,
0:40:12 no matter what life throws at you.
0:40:15 Factor arrives fresh and fully prepared at your doorstep.
0:40:17 They’ve got over 40 options
0:40:19 across eight dietary preferences each week.
0:40:21 So you never feel like you’re eating the same thing
0:40:23 over and over again.
0:40:26 I personally love their protein plus meals
0:40:28 because I really like to work out every day.
0:40:30 But you can also choose from their calorie smart
0:40:32 or keto plans.
0:40:34 Factor has saved me so much time
0:40:36 and so much effort when it comes to meal planning.
0:40:39 I usually just have factor every night for lunch or dinner
0:40:41 and I just cook once a week.
0:40:43 You can also eat factor all day.
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0:41:22 That is such a life hack.
0:41:25 I totally agree with that.
0:41:27 Every time I’m putting out a new course
0:41:29 or some sort of new training,
0:41:32 I end up doubling my expertise on the topic
0:41:33 ’cause it makes you think about,
0:41:34 well, I don’t know about this
0:41:36 or I need to learn more about that.
0:41:39 You learn it and you relearn everything you already learned.
0:41:42 Suddenly you’re like a better expert than you were.
0:41:43 That is such a life hack
0:41:47 to teach other people to become a better expert.
0:41:50 So a really cool story that I heard
0:41:51 that’s very different from us.
0:41:53 I’ve bootstrapped my companies.
0:41:55 I’ve never raised money.
0:41:58 And I heard that you got a lot of your investors
0:42:03 for your first company, Light Pink, from your podcast.
0:42:05 So I think that’s really cool to go into
0:42:07 because a lot of people think that podcasts
0:42:11 can only be an opportunity to make money via sponsorships
0:42:14 but you can get clients for your business
0:42:16 and something I never really thought about
0:42:18 is you can get investors for your business.
0:42:21 So talk to us about moving into a product business
0:42:24 and how you decided to start raising money
0:42:26 and how you got your investors.
0:42:28 – Oh my gosh, people are like,
0:42:29 how do you get investors from a podcast?
0:42:34 Well, a podcast is such an intimate way to connect
0:42:37 and you won’t necessarily connect with everyone in that way.
0:42:39 I’ve absolutely had podcasts,
0:42:41 hundreds of them at this point where I get off
0:42:43 and I’m like, okay, no connection, but thanks.
0:42:44 – See you later.
0:42:45 – See you later.
0:42:46 – See you later.
0:42:47 – See you later.
0:42:48 (laughs)
0:42:51 – That was a rough one (laughs)
0:42:53 Absolutely, for sure.
0:42:55 But then you have these podcasts
0:42:58 where it’s like right now, right?
0:43:00 We’re laughing, we’re understanding each other.
0:43:02 We’re like, oh my God, or there’s a similarity there
0:43:04 or you just can really drop in
0:43:06 and you’re enjoying the conversation
0:43:09 and it creates a relationship.
0:43:11 So when you’re raising money,
0:43:12 it’s all about who’s in your network
0:43:14 and who you have a relationship with.
0:43:17 And so a podcast may not be like,
0:43:19 “Oh, I’m gonna ask this person to invest immediately.”
0:43:22 But what it does is it creates a relationship
0:43:23 that came from the podcast.
0:43:26 Now I did have one experience like that, actually,
0:43:28 where we did one podcast.
0:43:30 She was referred to me by someone.
0:43:33 So already there was some mutual trust there.
0:43:35 And she had a book that was coming out
0:43:38 all about business and going for it.
0:43:40 And so in the middle of the podcast,
0:43:41 I knew that I wanted this woman
0:43:44 not only as I would love to be able to just have her
0:43:46 in my network, I’m like, oh,
0:43:49 to be able to bounce one or two questions off her once in a while
0:43:51 would be huge for me.
0:43:54 So I strategically in the middle knew that
0:43:56 ’cause I had read her book, I was like,
0:43:58 “I’m gonna tell her about my company
0:44:00 “and what I’m doing, what I’m launching.”
0:44:02 And so in the middle of it, there was an opportunity
0:44:05 to be like, “Oh, this is amazing.
0:44:06 “I can understand this struggle
0:44:08 “because right now I’m trying to raise money
0:44:09 “and blah, blah, blah.”
0:44:10 And I’d mentioned it
0:44:13 and I’d mentioned a little bit about the company.
0:44:15 And then afterward, I had said to her,
0:44:17 “This is huge, huge key.”
0:44:20 I had said to her, “What else can I do for you?
0:44:22 “How can I get this book out more?
0:44:24 “What’s the biggest thing that would help you
0:44:26 “that I could do for my audience?”
0:44:29 And so she tells me and I’m like, “Great, I’m gonna do it.
0:44:32 “What happens is people want to reciprocate.”
0:44:34 Now, did she have to reciprocate?
0:44:36 Absolutely not, but people want to.
0:44:38 And so she was like, “Hey, is there anything
0:44:39 “I can do for you?”
0:44:41 And I was like, “I would love for you to just look
0:44:44 “at this deck if you wanna give me any critiques,
0:44:48 “if you know anyone who I could talk to about investing.”
0:44:50 And the next day she was like, “I’m going to invest
0:44:55 “and I’m sending this to 15 other women
0:44:57 “and I’m letting them know about it.”
0:44:59 And then one of the people she sent it to also invested,
0:45:00 who was a celebrity.
0:45:04 She sent a list of celebrities and copied me on it.
0:45:08 And I was like, “Oh my God, I’m so glad I asked
0:45:10 “because I almost didn’t.
0:45:12 “I was so intimidated.”
0:45:14 And I almost didn’t ask.
0:45:16 So that’s crazy.
0:45:17 – That’s amazing.
0:45:21 So you ended up getting sponsors for this light pink brand.
0:45:23 Can you tell us a bit about this brand?
0:45:25 And we’ll talk about how you transitioned and everything.
0:45:30 – This was 2019, 2020, just turned 2020,
0:45:32 but 2019 was the initial idea.
0:45:34 That’s when I was getting the deck together
0:45:36 and the idea and doing all the things,
0:45:37 formulation, all that stuff.
0:45:42 It was a non-alcoholic rosé and a light rosé wine spritz.
0:45:46 So at the time, this is when Gary Vee had just launched
0:45:49 his wine and then canned wine, empathy wines.
0:45:52 And then also white claw had just come out,
0:45:55 spritz were taking over.
0:45:57 And I was like, “Wait, this industry is huge.
0:46:00 “I’m a wellness and fitness person, but I love wine,
0:46:01 “but I want something lighter.
0:46:03 “And I also want something for non-alcoholic days
0:46:06 “and they don’t have anything that’s good right now.”
0:46:08 It was like, “Oh, here’s your sparkling water.”
0:46:10 There wasn’t really anything good.
0:46:14 Now it’s like freaking loaded with non-alcoholic options.
0:46:17 And direct to consumer had started to go bananas
0:46:18 in this world.
0:46:20 And I was like, “This is a huge opportunity.”
0:46:23 And so I had started raising the 2 million for that.
0:46:26 Now, we did not see COVID coming.
0:46:27 – Yeah.
0:46:30 – What happened is it had stalled so many
0:46:32 of what we were trying to do
0:46:36 because the manufacturers, co-packers, warehouses,
0:46:39 nobody wanted to take on a new person
0:46:41 because all the new people were tanking
0:46:42 because they didn’t have the runway.
0:46:44 We didn’t have the money.
0:46:45 There were so many other reasons,
0:46:48 but they were like, “No, we’re not taking anyone new.”
0:46:51 So on top of legal fees, which for alcohol,
0:46:54 which by the way, please, if you’re gonna start a business,
0:46:55 I would highly recommend looking
0:46:57 at what has the most red tape.
0:47:00 That’s gonna be the most expensive legally.
0:47:03 Just ran through so much money with legal fees and formulation
0:47:05 and trying to hang on and get out there,
0:47:08 but had half the money left and decided a year and a half
0:47:11 later when we just could not get this thing to the finish line,
0:47:13 I had a girlfriend be like,
0:47:15 this happens all the time to men
0:47:17 ’cause she was in that world.
0:47:19 She goes, “Why don’t you just pivot?
0:47:22 You have so many other things you could do.”
0:47:24 And I had already had another idea for an upsell
0:47:26 ’cause I was like, “Oh man, we’re gonna need
0:47:27 to make more money than this
0:47:31 ’cause I don’t know how we’re gonna go out into market
0:47:33 and get the money that we need.”
0:47:36 So I had started thinking of, “Ooh, I love hydration.
0:47:38 I love hydration packets, but I don’t love what’s in them
0:47:40 and I wish they did more.”
0:47:43 And so that was already in the back of my mind as an upsell.
0:47:46 And so when this happened and she gave me full permission,
0:47:47 this was a girlfriend who literally
0:47:50 just so insanely successful.
0:47:54 And it was such freedom, her going, “Just do this.
0:47:56 This is not abnormal.
0:47:58 Let me show you all the companies who have done this.”
0:48:00 Most companies that you see right now
0:48:02 never started as the company that you see.
0:48:04 And in that moment, it was such freedom
0:48:07 because what I was feeling before that was
0:48:08 the worst anxiety of my life.
0:48:09 I felt like a failure.
0:48:11 I felt like I can’t believe I have to go
0:48:14 into all these investors that we used all this money
0:48:16 and we still don’t have this idea that’s gonna get out.
0:48:19 And I feel like such an absolute failure loser.
0:48:22 Everything that I had worked up to right now
0:48:23 has just been halted.
0:48:24 I went through it.
0:48:27 I had an investor who was like, “Oh my gosh.
0:48:30 I can’t believe that I invested in this.
0:48:32 This is essentially a stupid idea.”
0:48:34 And you conned me into it.
0:48:37 And I’m like, “Oh no.”
0:48:40 It was not a great experience and time for me,
0:48:45 but I also am so clear that my soul called in all of that
0:48:50 so that I could learn and understand
0:48:52 and be able to have this conversation literally right now
0:48:54 for someone who’s listening
0:48:56 because they’re going through it too.
0:48:59 And I just think podcasting and storytelling
0:49:03 is the most important thing that we will ever do for people
0:49:05 to help them reach their dreams
0:49:07 and know what it really looks like.
0:49:09 Because how would I have known that this is normal?
0:49:11 How would I have known that even commentary like that
0:49:14 from people was totally normal in a part of the journey
0:49:17 because you don’t know until you talk to people
0:49:19 who have gone through what you’ve gone through.
0:49:21 – Totally.
0:49:24 So service-based business is so natural and organic
0:49:27 because you’re basically just scaling yourself, right?
0:49:28 When you have a product,
0:49:30 there’s a whole slew of different issues.
0:49:32 And no wonder you had to bootstrap
0:49:35 because it’s very expensive to launch a product.
0:49:37 So what were some of the things that you had to think through
0:49:38 and what were some of the bigger challenges
0:49:42 for anybody who’s interested in launching DTC products?
0:49:45 – The first one, like I said is go find someone
0:49:48 who’s done it before and map out the pricing of everything.
0:49:52 Like where could we really lose our rear ends on this?
0:49:53 Where could this go wrong?
0:49:55 So what do I need to plan for?
0:49:58 Like, oh, okay, that’s interesting.
0:50:01 You could lose a whole lot of product in the beginning,
0:50:04 especially if you don’t really know your co-packer yet.
0:50:07 You need to understand what insurances you need
0:50:10 because let’s say you just bought hundreds of thousands
0:50:11 of product and it’s at the warehouse
0:50:14 and you didn’t ask about who pays for the product
0:50:14 if something goes wrong
0:50:17 and you signed the wrong paperwork so that it’s on you
0:50:20 and now you have no money to make up that product
0:50:20 and you can’t sell it.
0:50:24 There are so many little things that can go wrong
0:50:25 when you’re doing a product
0:50:30 because unlike a service-based business or a digital product,
0:50:34 it’s usually tech that can go massively wrong
0:50:35 but can be fixed, right?
0:50:37 If you have a launch and your tech doesn’t work,
0:50:39 that really sucks,
0:50:41 but you can still fairly recover
0:50:43 without a ton of overhead cost.
0:50:45 In the product world,
0:50:48 there’s a shipping company that can go wrong.
0:50:50 They can get all your packages messed up.
0:50:52 There is a co-packer that could go wrong.
0:50:54 They can completely mess up your formulation.
0:50:56 There is packaging that can go wrong.
0:50:58 They can mess up all your boxes.
0:51:03 There’s so many touch points that are not in your control.
0:51:08 You have to have a very high tolerance for risk
0:51:11 and you also have to have a lot of grace
0:51:14 and you also have to have a backbone
0:51:16 to be able to hold people accountable.
0:51:17 That’s been one of the hardest things
0:51:19 is holding people accountable
0:51:21 when something truly is someone’s fault
0:51:24 because it’s very easy for people to dance around things
0:51:26 or say it was this or it was that
0:51:27 and they’re good people
0:51:30 but you’re running a business at the end of the day.
0:51:32 So it’s been the biggest learning lessons for me
0:51:33 and the biggest challenge,
0:51:36 but I also, I love it so much.
0:51:39 I am obsessed with physical products now.
0:51:40 – I love it.
0:51:44 Well, what is a skincare brand called and what does it do?
0:51:45 – It’s a skin routine you can drink.
0:51:48 It’s called Glossy Skin and Gut
0:51:51 and it’s a daily beauty supplement.
0:51:54 And it is all about glowing from the inside out
0:51:58 because without good gut health and good digestion,
0:52:00 you can’t have great skin
0:52:02 because really what you’re seeing on the outside
0:52:04 is what’s happening on the inside
0:52:05 and what you’re feeding yourself,
0:52:06 especially as we get older,
0:52:08 that starts to show like what you’ve been eating
0:52:10 through the years or how you’ve been digesting.
0:52:13 So it really is about de-blow and glow
0:52:15 and those were the two things that I’m like,
0:52:17 if I could solve two things,
0:52:20 I’d want to solve feeling light.
0:52:22 I wanna feel light in my body.
0:52:24 I don’t wanna feel bloated.
0:52:25 I wanna feel really good.
0:52:26 I wanna have good digestion
0:52:29 and I wanna have great skin.
0:52:32 I wanna feel like I’m doing something really great
0:52:35 for my skin, especially as I get older.
0:52:37 So that’s why this product was formulated
0:52:41 is because no matter what, if you just drink water,
0:52:43 you’re doing something good for yourself.
0:52:47 And so the fact that this is helping you drink water
0:52:48 was what it was all about.
0:52:50 It’s like, okay, if you’re like me and you’re a toddler
0:52:52 and you want something flavored,
0:52:56 but you wanna know it’s doing something really good for you.
0:52:58 Our probiotic has 30 clinical studies on it.
0:53:02 And I wanted to make sure that the ingredients in there
0:53:05 were gonna do the thing that we wanted them to do.
0:53:07 So that’s why we went with number one,
0:53:09 the probiotic that has studies on it.
0:53:11 And then number two, having the amounts
0:53:14 that are going to help you get the results that you want.
0:53:17 – It obviously sounds like a great idea.
0:53:18 I wanna try it.
0:53:20 I love skincare.
0:53:23 Something I’m super, super passionate about.
0:53:27 What was it like having to convince your investors
0:53:31 and externally communicate the pivot?
0:53:32 What was that like for you?
0:53:35 How did you go about doing it in an empowered way?
0:53:38 – I had a moment with my husband
0:53:43 where I had had one of the investors who was like, I want out.
0:53:46 Number one, in the particular way they invested,
0:53:48 once you invest, you can’t get out of investment.
0:53:50 That’s why investments are what they are.
0:53:52 That’s why you can win big and investments.
0:53:54 That’s why you lose big and investments.
0:53:58 So I was like, oh my gosh, what do I do?
0:54:00 It was just making me feel even worse.
0:54:05 And he’s like, be a leader and go tell her
0:54:08 why she needs to be on board for this next company
0:54:09 because it’s gonna take off
0:54:11 and she’s not gonna wanna miss it.
0:54:14 And I was like, he is right.
0:54:17 It is my job to always paint the vision.
0:54:20 It is a leader and founders job
0:54:22 to consistently paint the vision
0:54:25 even when you can’t even see it.
0:54:28 And by painting that vision, I promise you
0:54:30 it will paint it for yourself.
0:54:32 And so it was a really powerful moment for me
0:54:35 where I really wanted to tell this person off.
0:54:36 Like, oh, so fun.
0:54:38 You wanna ride the train when it’s doing well,
0:54:41 but when it’s not and I need advocacy,
0:54:42 it was a painful experience.
0:54:45 And I’m so grateful for this human and that this happened
0:54:46 because I think it was one of the biggest lessons
0:54:49 that I’ve ever experienced, ever.
0:54:52 And it reminded me, number one, they weren’t wrong.
0:54:54 Of course they’re gonna feel that way.
0:54:56 Of course they’re gonna feel like, was this smart?
0:54:58 Oh my gosh, it was exciting.
0:55:01 And I think I was just in on the excitement.
0:55:02 Yes, that’s what it is.
0:55:07 And also repainting, hey, this is actually a better fit
0:55:08 for you.
0:55:10 I know who you are, I know who your audience is.
0:55:13 This 100% is not just a better fit for you
0:55:15 and your audience, but for you.
0:55:18 Like it’s so much more in alignment with who you are.
0:55:20 It’s way more in alignment with where the world is,
0:55:22 where our community is.
0:55:23 This is something that, you know,
0:55:25 it’s at the beginning of the market.
0:55:26 People are starting to trend this way.
0:55:29 It’s getting really exciting and we can be some of the first
0:55:30 and we can be an amazing product
0:55:33 that doesn’t have fillers in it.
0:55:34 And at the end of the call,
0:55:38 we were both just in such a beautiful, amazing state
0:55:39 and she was excited.
0:55:43 And I was like, she was so sent to me
0:55:46 to remind me of why I’m doing it.
0:55:48 To rebuild my belief,
0:55:52 because we don’t get to really build our belief muscle
0:55:54 until it’s tested.
0:55:56 And that tested me with her saying those things.
0:55:58 I was like, are these true?
0:55:59 Are these things true?
0:56:00 Right?
0:56:01 And so in that moment,
0:56:02 it was you get to show up as a leader
0:56:06 even though you want to cry or say something else.
0:56:08 And then it was the greatest gift
0:56:10 that I could have ever gotten.
0:56:11 – And as you’re telling me stories,
0:56:15 it’s so obvious that so many people have helped you
0:56:16 along the way.
0:56:21 And you’ve also helped other people on your journey.
0:56:23 And I know you have a book that is called
0:56:25 A Tribe Called Bliss.
0:56:28 Can you talk to us about what a bliss tribe is?
0:56:31 – At the time I was doing an event called the Bliss Project.
0:56:34 It was a three day event about empowering yourself
0:56:37 and just creating a life that you love.
0:56:38 And essentially in the book,
0:56:42 I define bliss as more of a place that you create
0:56:43 for yourself.
0:56:46 It’s not external, it’s all internal.
0:56:48 It’s what you decide in your life,
0:56:50 you can experience bliss right now.
0:56:52 And in order to create and build a life
0:56:53 that you want even more,
0:56:55 I’m not saying you shouldn’t have the things or have it all
0:56:57 ’cause I do believe you should,
0:57:00 but you have to find that place within yourself.
0:57:02 And so the book was based off of the event
0:57:05 ’cause I put a lot of the exercises that we did
0:57:08 in the event into the book.
0:57:12 And the book is about breaking through superficial
0:57:15 relationships and finding your purpose.
0:57:16 And that’s what the event essentially was about too
0:57:18 ’cause we broke everyone out.
0:57:20 It was so many group exercises
0:57:23 and I was just for watching these women transform,
0:57:26 finding and connecting to these other groups
0:57:27 of like-minded women.
0:57:31 And so the book essentially is the four agreements book
0:57:32 that I absolutely love.
0:57:34 That’s the four agreements to having a great life.
0:57:36 I think that there’s agreements
0:57:37 to having great relationships.
0:57:41 And I think your relationships are your life.
0:57:44 You can’t only have a great life without great relationships
0:57:45 ’cause even if you’re doing okay alone,
0:57:48 you eventually feel so lonely and isolated
0:57:50 that it’s painful.
0:57:52 And we know that now loneliness, all the studies
0:57:54 is worse than smoking.
0:57:56 It’ll kill you faster than smoking.
0:57:57 We need relationships.
0:57:59 I think our lives are defined by relationships,
0:58:01 but I also think that there’s agreements to relationships.
0:58:04 So in the book, it goes over the seven agreements
0:58:07 of relationships and it’s essentially really self-work
0:58:11 that you can do within other relationships as well.
0:58:14 And being an entrepreneur is one of the loneliest
0:58:16 career journeys that you can have.
0:58:19 And entrepreneurs really experience a lot of loneliness
0:58:21 and depression because of that loneliness.
0:58:25 And you’re somebody who often brings entrepreneurs together.
0:58:28 I would say another superpower that you have
0:58:31 is you’re like the queen of live events,
0:58:34 especially in this female entrepreneurship space.
0:58:36 I’d love for you to talk to us about
0:58:37 why you love putting on these events
0:58:40 and also what is the business opportunity here?
0:58:43 What’s the business model of events
0:58:45 for people who are interested in starting that?
0:58:47 – You really wanna know why you’re doing events
0:58:49 because they can be lucrative,
0:58:51 but they’re typically barely expensive
0:58:56 if you’re just looking at this event, right?
0:58:58 You have to know your intention of the event.
0:59:01 I love live events because my life changed at them.
0:59:02 I told you I listened to podcasts
0:59:04 and then when my life really changed,
0:59:05 it was when I joined a mastermind.
0:59:10 I initially had gone to an event called Landmark Forum
0:59:13 and that was my very, very, very first event ever.
0:59:14 That changed my life.
0:59:15 Then I went to personal development events.
0:59:18 Then I went to Tony Robbins events multiple times.
0:59:21 Then I joined Jack Canfield events
0:59:25 for huge commitments like events that were like three weeks
0:59:28 spread throughout the year, very intensive events.
0:59:31 And I think that they are the quickest way
0:59:33 to change your life and to build your network
0:59:35 and your network has all of your answers.
0:59:36 Like I said, you know, the friend who was like,
0:59:37 “Hey, why don’t you just pivot?”
0:59:41 That was by way of someone else who was a part of my network.
0:59:44 And so we get these big life-changing answers
0:59:48 or like the investor who felt challenging to me.
0:59:50 That was a life-changing event
0:59:52 that really turned me into someone who can handle a lot.
0:59:56 These are all people that came by way of events
0:59:58 or networks or someone else.
1:00:01 And so I believe in them more than I can possibly tell you
1:00:03 ’cause I see it, we put them on.
1:00:06 I get to hear the crazy transformations that happen.
1:00:08 Even if it’s not right away, it’s two years down the road.
1:00:11 Oh my God, this person that I met at the event,
1:00:15 they just became an investor or a business partner.
1:00:17 It’s crazy, it’s the long game.
1:00:19 So that’s why I’m passionate about events.
1:00:24 The event model is typically either massive brand awareness
1:00:26 ’cause you’re not gonna make a whole lot of money
1:00:29 off of an event unless you’re really bare bonesing it.
1:00:31 And then that’s tough ’cause people don’t love
1:00:33 a bare bones event necessarily,
1:00:36 but it’s gonna be selling off the backend
1:00:39 or making sure that you,
1:00:42 if that’s gonna be your top of funnel brand awareness,
1:00:47 that you are utilizing that content from the event
1:00:49 or you’re utilizing something from there
1:00:51 to sell something else.
1:00:52 – That makes a lot of sense.
1:00:54 And then maybe getting sponsors for your event
1:00:55 if it’s big enough.
1:00:59 – Sponsors for sure can be a great way for events,
1:01:03 but even with sponsors, I find you can make money from it,
1:01:05 but it’s not gonna be life-changing money
1:01:08 compared to what it costs to run an event.
1:01:08 – Got it.
1:01:11 So you’re doing it a lot for just awareness, for content,
1:01:13 that’s so interesting.
1:01:14 – It depends.
1:01:17 If it’s like a mastermind event, that’s very different.
1:01:19 That’s a great event to monetize.
1:01:21 – Got it, ’cause that’s a lot more like high ticket,
1:01:24 less people, that makes a lot of sense,
1:01:26 but still very valuable for the people that are in it.
1:01:28 I’m actually considering to join
1:01:30 some entrepreneurship masterminds.
1:01:33 I’m going to your girlfriends and business event
1:01:35 in September, which I’m so excited.
1:01:36 – So excited about,
1:01:38 is that something that people can sign up for,
1:01:40 or how does it work?
1:01:42 – I think we have like three tickets left.
1:01:43 – Oh, okay, nevermind.
1:01:45 Sorry, bring it, I mean, maybe it’ll still be there,
1:01:46 you never know.
1:01:47 So it’s girlfriendsandbusiness.com,
1:01:49 but you can check it out at the website.
1:01:51 – Amazing, yeah, maybe the next time, guys,
1:01:52 if you didn’t get to make it.
1:01:54 So Lori, this was such an awesome conversation.
1:01:57 I really wanted to just dig deep on your personal story
1:01:59 and get all the lessons that we could
1:02:01 from you creating all these different businesses
1:02:02 and communities.
1:02:03 Thank you so much for sharing.
1:02:06 I end my show with two questions that I ask all my guests.
1:02:09 What is one actionable thing our young and profitors
1:02:12 can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?
1:02:16 – Join something where people are a bit ahead of you.
1:02:20 So I love that quote about get in the rooms
1:02:23 where your dreams are people’s realities.
1:02:25 That’s been the thing that has changed the most for me.
1:02:26 You can listen to all the podcasts,
1:02:27 they’re going to change your life,
1:02:29 but when you’re ready to take the leap
1:02:32 and really accelerate, get in a room with those people.
1:02:35 – So good, and what is your secret to profiting in life?
1:02:37 – This is such a good question.
1:02:39 My secret to profiting in life
1:02:44 is to really work on yourself.
1:02:45 Because again, everything is going to come
1:02:49 through relationships and it takes an extreme level
1:02:51 of awareness and grace and forgiveness
1:02:55 in order to work through all of the relationships
1:02:57 that you are going to have on your way
1:02:59 to your goals in business.
1:03:00 – I love that.
1:03:01 Lori, where can everybody find you
1:03:03 in everything that you do?
1:03:05 – Well, the main thing for me right now is Glossy
1:03:08 and that is the skin routine you can drink.
1:03:14 And you can go to getglossy, G-E-T-G-L-O-C-I dot com
1:03:15 and you can go and check it out there.
1:03:17 – Amazing, we’ll put that link in the show notes.
1:03:19 Lori, thank you so much for joining us
1:03:21 on Young and Profiting Podcast.
1:03:23 – Thank you for having me, this was so much fun.
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