Conversation with Brooke Castillo | Ep #61

Hey, I'm Chris Plackey, host of the Lead you'd Team podcast. Running a million dollar business is not easy. And whether you're just getting started with building your team or you've been at this for a while, I'm going to bring you honest, specific and clear practices you can use right now, today to improve how well you lead your team. Let's go ahead and get.

Hey there, everyone. I'm so excited to bring this episode of the podcast to you. Today I have a super special guest, which I'm very excited to share with you is Brooke Castillo, who is an absolute thought leader, best coach on the planet, incredible businesswoman, marketer. She's also my dearest friend. And so today we're going to spend a little bit of time blending both. Yes, today we're going to laugh because I don't know that we can get through much more than four minutes of the conversation without that. But I also want to kind of borrow your wisdom and your insight and just have you share some of your perspective on all the things that are happening right now. As everybody's negotiating this unique time, we were just talking about how people are making face masks out of bikini thongs.

Yes, Chris. Just so you guys know, Chris Plackey took a hoodie and took the hood off of it and made a mask out of it. And I made her show me. It's fantastic. So just imagine a hoodie on your face.

To add just extra appeal. Is a Disney hoodie.

It's a Disney hoodie. There is no germs getting in there. Double layered.

And it has magic just on it.

You could actually put snacks inside there.

For later. It's kind of like one of those horse things that you eat.

Okay, wait, listen, you guys, listen. Here's what you need to know. Laughing is so important right now.

Essential.

It's really important to laugh. And I do a lot of making fun of Chris because she's going through. She's going through. And this is an interesting point, right, Because I think people will deal with this. I think some of us are less concerned about certain things than others. Right. And so Chris is much more. You're much more worried about getting sick than I am. And so I'm able to lighten that up a little bit when you're super serious about it. And the things that I'm worried about.

Are not available for public consumption.

We don't discuss. We discuss mine. We just don't discuss yours. Yes, I know.

I think that's important, right, because you're going to be around people, not physically, but you're going to be around people that are reacting and maybe your family reacting differently than you are and just being able to hold space. But also like anytime you can step back from it all and, and make light of it, I think is important.

I agree. That's why we have to talk every day.

Yes. And laugh. Like sometimes you call me and you're very serious and you don't want to laugh and you end up laughing anyway.

It doesn't take much, which is good for your soul.

Of course, it's not good for my.

Makeup though, but it's fine.

Okay, so my. I have a question for you. We have to. We have questions.

We want to. Yeah, let's go.

So the first one I want to know is when you kind of saw this happening.

Right.

We had the very quick 48 hour turnaround for you, especially because you had your event right. Like that was the beginning of this kind of disruption. So I'm kind of just want to know, like, what were your thoughts? What went through your mind as this unfolded very quickly and had an immediate significant impact on your business?

Yeah, well, I think for me, because I don't watch the news and I'm not on social media, I was a little bit blindsided by the impact of this. Now I think everybody was. I think it all happened so quickly that nobody could have anticipated that, that quick turn. But when my kids told me that they had canceled the mba, I knew that, like, wait, what is happening? And that's when, you know, I started consulting my business advisors and people in my world to talk about this event that I was about to hold. And I'm like, wait a minute, like, should I be canceling this event? Is that what I need to be doing? And within 24 hours, the answer was a very strong yes. Whereas 48 hours before that, it was a no.

Right.

It was really rapid. So for me, that was a very challenging situation. But I know from experience that when I make a decision, I have to make it and then have my own back. Because it was very, you know, there were a lot of people that were really upset. A lot of our students had already flown in for the event. People were on airplanes when they heard it was canceled. People had called the day before to ask, hey, is this still on? And we had said yes. And so they had come there, so very challenging situation to, I think, address for myself personally and emotionally. And I just stayed on top of that, coaching it. And my thought that I kept thinking the whole time is, this is the right decision. And no matter how anyone feels about it, no matter what the fallout is, no matter what, this is the right decision. For all of you know, this is a health issue, period.

Right.

And health is much more important than convenience. And so for me, that was a very strong decision. But I will say after that, I think it's kind of like making that decision in the moment and having my own back there. But then after that, seeing what was happening in the world, I think I had all the thoughts about what's going to happen. I guess all the questions, what's going to happen in my business? What's going to happen to my students? What's going to happen to my clients? How is this going to affect us? One of the things that I think is important for all of us, when you're asking open ended questions like that to your brain.

When your brain is in the middle of a crisis, the answers will always, every single time be negative.

Yeah.

It's not going to be like, everything's going to be great, Brooke Castillo. This is going to be amazing.

Just hang tight. We'll get it all figured out.

Yeah. The green is like, everyone's going to die. Everyone's like, everything's going to be horrible. And I think everyone can relate to that. There's that moment and I think that's our survival mechanism. Our brain is like, listen, get safe first. Run, run from the world and get safe first. But thank goodness that I had the coaching tools and I sat down and I went through a process where I said, okay, worst case scenario. And I wrote it out. And what I realized is that the worst case scenario, I'm still fine. And for me, that's truth. Even if I lose all my money and even if I die from this disease, that's the worst case scenario. Right. That I immediately went to. And once I made peace with those two things and I had to make peace with everyone in my family dying. My brain loves to go to horrible, awful situations. And I know that I'm not alone. I have a lot of chronic anxiety. But as soon as I made peace with all of those things and, and the way that you have to make peace is just knowing that you have no control over it.

Right.

There is zero things that you can do when.

Which is such. A. Which is so hard. Right. Because we really have all. I think in so many ways we've all been very lulled into believing we have a lot of control and. Right. Our minds just think, there's gotta be a way to control this. There's Gotta be a way.

Even now, people feel like, well, if you follow the instructions and you do what you're told to do, and you wear a mask or a hoodie on your face.

You know, and yes, of course, we want to take those precautions, and we want to be smart and take care, but we still have no, zero control over whether we die from this virus or something else.

Right.

At any time.

Right.

And so we. We. When we're in good times, we start thinking we're in control of the universe. And these kind of crisis remind us that we have absolutely no control over.

What, the little ants. Little ants, yeah. Yeah, for sure.

And. And that's okay. So I think that's. The other piece is like, we know that on some level, we know that we're all gonna die. We know that when we have children, they could die. You know, we know all this coming in, and we still bring people into the world. I don't know what we were thinking, but we still do it, right? We still risk all of it because it's so worth it. So once I made peace with that, then I was able to start really. Okay, now what could be the best case scenario? And then I went to work.

Well, yeah, because you pivoted really fast. Right? So, you know, I'm watching a lot of my clients. Everybody's really. It's just like grief. It's like any regular, normal change cycle that I think we all know about different. Different ways. Some of my clients have also just made decisions very quickly and moved very quickly, and others have really grappled and kind of resisted. So I know, I mean, the next day, right, you canceled your events, and then the next day you just had made a very quick decision to do a podcast every day, right. And to really increase your coaching support. So what. What was the thought that you were thinking? What really triggered that, all that action for you?

Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think for me, because I've always had chronic anxiety and because I've had trauma in my life now, this is kind of like my wheelhouse in some ways. Right. And so I think for me, I just remembered and reminded myself that when you don't have control over what you get, you have to take control over what you can give. And I knew in that moment that I was going to give as much as I possibly could to my students, to my clients, to my friends, to everyone. How can I help and how can I contribute here? I also know that value is in my mind and not in the world. And I Think that's really important when the stock market's going down and when businesses are suffering and when bank accounts are going down to remember that that is. People think their net worth is their worth. They think their worth in the bank is how much they're worth, but they forget what's in their brain. Like, if you made that money once, you can make it again 100 times. And so that was the other thing for me is I can't produce, I can't make the value of the stock market go up, but I can make the value of my brain go up and I can make the value of my contribution go up. And so I think for me, that's how I have always survived. My life is like shifting away from. Because otherwise if I had been focused on myself, it would be all self indulgent, all anxiety, all depression, like all of that I would have given into and have done that before. So, yeah, you know, it was for my business especially, it was. I really did the worst case scenario that could happen in my company and made some adjustments to accommodate in case that was going to happen. And you know, that's harder said than done. People want to deny that and not look at that like, oh, we'll be fine, it'll be fine. Or it's all never going to be fine again. And so let's just scrap it.

Let's just scrap it.

Exactly, yeah. Is that that extreme? But like, okay, here's the worst case scenario, here's the best case scenario. How can I balance in between those until I get more information? And that's kind of what I did. And so what's wonderful about our industry and what's wonderful about being an online entrepreneur is, and the fact that we're in the middle of a crisis is our businesses will grow through this because of the demand and the need and the ability for us to continue. But many of my clients that I'm coaching will not have that same experience. And so it was important for me to understand that as well and not just be like, okay, well, our business is going to grow. I need to focus on that. I also need to really appreciate what my clients are going through and adjust all of our material to them. So that's what I did immediately. And by the way, I continue to do anytime I start feeling bad or sorry for myself, I think about what I can give.

I love that. It's so wonderful that your control is in that space when you focus on what you can give versus what could happen outside of you. And you are doing that In Scholars, right, You've already adjusted a lot of what your content is to support people through this time, right?

Yeah. I was coaching a man who had a marketing company, and he was really worried. He said, you know, I just gone through a financial crisis of my own, and now I feel like I'm going through a financial crisis in the world. And he's like, I have all these clients, I'm afraid I'm going to lose them. One of the things that I said to him, I said, no, you just need to let all of your clients know that they just got half price. So whatever they paid you, they're going to get double the value for that. You're going to double down because that he was feeling so stagnant, like he didn't know where to go. I'm like, you give them twice what they paid for. And he had a team. And I'm like, get your team focused and give them twice what they paid for. And that's what we did in Scholars, too, is we just decided, okay, everybody who's in there, we need to keep them in there, because this is the most important time to manage your mind. How can I go in there even more? How can we create more value for the people in there and help them through this crisis? And so that's the question we just keep asking and keep doing. So if you're in Scholars, you know, now, and you were in Scholars three months ago, you're getting way more now than you did three months ago, but you also need it more. And so that's what we could control. Some people lost their jobs, and some people aren't able to pay us anymore. And of course, that we have to handle that with grace and peace. But the ones that are, you know, wanting to be involved and can pay us, those are the people we're really showing up for as much as we possibly can instead of just sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves, which, by the way, we could also do.

Yeah, I mean, it's available to anyone. I mean, that's the truth. And I agree with you. I think every business is going to absorb this and go through this differently. But it doesn't really matter what your business is. What matters most is, as the leader of the business, how you choose to think about this opportunity. You know, I've watched just in my community, I've watched business leaders who aren't making money. Maybe they're restaurateurs, right? Sure. They've got takeout. We've got a restaurant here in town that I know that you would know that milestone that has decided to turn their whole front lobby because they can't do dine in anymore. And now they're selling the tea from the tea shop down the street. They're selling some books from the bookstore next door. So they've taken in.

The other shop owners and providing a little bit of a vessel for them to generate some revenue so that when people come to get their takeout order, they can get their favorite tea.

That's the kind of thing. Of course, this restaurant is getting lots of lovely press and they're making it work. And then the other thing they found is that because they are doing such a great job marketing their business, it's affecting other restaurants who are trying to do dine in in our state or dine out in our community. So they're voluntarily staying closed one day a week so that other restaurants in our community will benefit from not being open.

Wow.

I mean, it's just, you know, so I just think we all have to really be thoughtful about. About what we choose to think. I mean, obviously this goes without saying, anybody listens to this podcast or your podcast, which I know there's a lot of overlap, but as much as this is difficult and as much as this, it's unexpected. And we have a lot of WTF moments throughout the day. Like, I was making masks with my daughter yesterday and I really was like, what am I doing? Like, what is happening? Two and a half months ago, I was at Disneyland.

I was making. With lots of people around you.

Yes. And I got a cold. I'll just say, by the way.

Could happen. So it's a really, really interesting time to decide. And so that sort of leads me to the last thing I wanted to talk to you about, which is what? You know, I've been talking a lot about, which I think this quarter, this Q2 pivot. Right. Is this is an essential time for businesses to regroup. I feel like we. The first quarter, if it was a traditional fourth four quarter game, first quarter low was looking good. The first two months was like, yeah, we're gonna win this sucker. And then March happened, and then March, the largest.

Right.

What does that mean? Right. It's March 97th or whatever. Yeah. And for us in our family, the last day of March was the day that my son crashed into a moving car, broke his leg on a skateboard a few days ago. So March was just a crazy month. So March came along and we lost our momentum for the first for sure. And in a traditional game, whether it's football or I know, you and I are both big soccer fans. The second half of the first half, if we're down, you're not going to win the game in the. In the second quarter, but you prepare to win the game.

That's right. Yeah.

And so I just think this is a really critical time to pivot. If you have to pivot, you know what needs to happen. This is where we do a lot of truth telling. So where are you. I'm curious what your thoughts are about that and what advice you have about that and what you guys are doing with the life coach.

Yeah, I think it's really common for people to be like, okay, wait, do I even want to be doing this? Does this even make sense? What part of this do I want to stop doing? And one of the gifts I think, in this is it does allow us to kind of step back and be like, okay, this is what I often say to my team, hey, if we were going to rebuild this from the ground up, what would we include and what would we get rid of? And so, for me, I really. I did that inventory. I said, what is it that I want to stop doing? What is it that I'm currently doing in my business that I don't want to do anymore, and how can I adjust now? It's a good time to be able to do that. And one of the reasons it's a good time is because people are open to change. Right now, there's so much change happening that people aren't even questioning it. People aren't. People are like, of course that's what you're doing. Of course that's what you're doing. So I love that as an opportunity to pivot. Like, not even seeing it as a downside, but seeing it as a good side. So I know you and I've talked about a lot of our clients are like, well, I didn't even want to do this business. I was already struggling with it. I didn't want to have all these employees. I'm wanting to fire that person. I've been wanting to get rid of that project. So first, I think we can look at it as, like, time to clean house in so many ways in our brains and in our businesses and in the clutter that we have in our companies, which I know for us, I had some. So we went through and just said, okay, what isn't essential? Like, what isn't essential in our business? And how can we kind of trim all of that away? And we did that within, like, two days. We went through and said, okay, no more of this. No more of this. No more spending on this. This is no longer happening. And what do we have to change? Like, we have a shipping department where we have a team of people that come in once a month and ship all of our product. Like, that had to stop immediately. And so how are we going to adjust for that and those sort of things? So we immediately pivoted on anything that wasn't essential, anything that was expensive but wasn't giving us the value that we wanted. Anything that we've been kind of nagging at us, like, to kind of stop.

Doing feels like to deal with.

Yeah, yeah. We just dealt with it, and so that felt great and I think gave this a lot of momentum moving forward. We haven't had to pivot too much in terms of our offerings, because both of our offerings are still imperative right now. We haven't, you know, they're able to be purchased and utilized and paid for and used, and so we didn't have to adjust for that. But I do want to address, because I know that there's quite a few of the people that listen to this that may have been completely shut down. Yeah, right. I mean, that may have. Like, there's no option for them to work. They can't go into the office. And I think that, first of all, make sure that really is you.

Right. Have you really been shut down? Like, for example, if you're a restaurant, you know.

If you can't provide the service that you normally provided, can you provide it in another way? Yeah, and I think that's a really important question. Like, am I completely unable to make money right now? The answer may be yes, but am.

I still able to support and develop my brand, keep a presence in my community?

Yeah. So there's a lot of, what can I do? And I think that's really important, not just for managers, but for employees. Somebody had asked me, like, if I was an employee right now and I had been laid off, what would I do? And I said, if I loved my job, I would keep working for free if I could. And that is the truth, because I know for me to sit around and be, quote, unquote, unemployed would not serve me. So I'm also an entrepreneur, so I understand what it's like to run a company. I'd be like, listen, I know that you can't pay me right now, but what can we work on in the business right now that I can help with? And for sure, then I know when they're bringing people back on board, I'm Going to be number one. If I'm willing to work for free during this time. Right. I can still collect unemployment or whatever. And so I think that's another important thing. When I hear people saying, oh, well, I'm just home and I'm bored. I have nothing to do and I'm bored. I really want to, you know, say, list. Then if you have employees, even if you're laying them off, help find ways that they can keep creating value. Because being bored, that's going to lead to a result. You do not want. Weight gain, drinking too much, you know, more anxiety, more feet, more anxiety, too much time on social media, that sort our brains need to be creating value right now. It's really important and it's possible. Even if you're not getting paid directly, I just want to encourage you, and that's for managers that have employees. You can be creating value for your employees even though you're not getting paid or they're not getting paid. Certainly don't just sit there and wait. No.

Well, I mean, the truth is, how many times do you. Over the course of the last year, how many times have you asked, like, I wish I could just get a break. I wish I could just take a minute. I wish I could just press the button.

I wish I had more time. Yeah, I wish I had more time.

This is it. And so it isn't something that we squander. And I think we have to be really careful, too. Because I've watched a lot of my clients who are legitimately shut down. Right.

Yeah.

Who are like, well, I should be. What I should be like, if they're shooting themselves. Right. That's not constructive either. Like, no, sit down, really, just peacefully and quietly and think about, like, what do I want to accomplish here? And then let go of. Yeah, there's a lot of things you could be doing, like scrubbing floors or whatever the hell else you need to do.

Well, and when you have a business, like, one of the hard parts with creating systems and, you know, a functional foundation is you're usually in your business working so hard that to stop and do those things. So I feel like in so many ways this is a beautiful opportunity for so many employees to get those structures, get the processes, get the job descriptions, be communicating and to create some virtual solutions that maybe will serve your business long term.

Yes.

But if you're feeling sorry for yourself, believe me, I know how that is. Right. It's so easy to start being like, I've been working so hard and I'm not getting paid Nobody's getting paid, and this sucks. And all these things aren't happening the way that I want them to, then you're never going to be able to produce anything of value. And I think producing value is never going to hurt you ever, unless you feel sorry for yourself.

This is the thing.

Like, a lot of people produce value and then they're waiting for their kickback, Right?

Yeah.

That will hurt your. Create value for the sake of. Instead of retracting, I'm going to put myself out there. It will come back to you in so many ways, and most importantly, it will keep. It will find you working. It will find you living.

Yeah.

Right.

So true. Yeah, we just.

I know.

I was on the phone with you the other day, right. I got some beautiful flowers from a client. As it turns out, they are from a local florist. That's a couple who has been in business for 18 years. They have grandchildren in their 20s. So these are. This is an older couple. And so when I called my clients to thank them, we got on a quick zoom call, and they. She just couldn't. My client was going on and on about this woman and her business and how lovely she was, and she. And she said. She told her that, well, these flowers are for my coach, and she coaches small businesses and works with female entrepreneurs. And she said, well, then I'm gonna make her something super special, right? And she did. If I. The pictures, the flowers are huge. Thing itself weighed 20 pounds. It was absolutely off the hook. So, of course, then I shared that on Facebook and shared all about this business. And then, sure enough, one of my local realtor friends was like, I just ordered flowers from them. So I think she didn't make more money on that bouquet by any means, but she poured her heart into it and that immediately, hopefully it's paid off and will continue to do so. And I think we all have to be thinking that way about value and contribution and support and giving and helping.

But what if someone says to you. Because I can hear them, right? But you don't understand. Like, I had to lay my entire staff off. You don't understand. I do not have money. You don't understand. I can't get this loan, you know, that they're offering. You don't understand. I can't. I can't, I can't. And. And I always want to say to them, but, like, you don't want me to understand that. Because if I agree with you on that, because people say, well, you're just being so positive. It's so Annoying. It's like. But the alternative. The alternative of just being in despair about it and maybe in your specific industry right this second. Although, I don't know. Like, I was hearing people talk about, like, salons and how salons are. I'm like, I would be on zoom.

Oh, yeah.

Like, with my clients, like, teaching them.

How to trim their bangs and get the blonde. Help me with.

Right. And helping them color their hair. Whatever. I mean, there are so many different things you can try. It's just like starting a new business. It's like, how can I. What is it my clients need right now? And how can I support and help them in any way I can, whether I get paid to do it or not? Listen, if you're gonna end up bankrupt at the end, you're going to end up bankrupt at the end. But you can either sit and wait for that to happen, or you can do everything in your power to try to create something of value in the meantime. And that would be my recommendation for everyone. For your mental health. Yes.

It's a good project for your brain to stay busy and engaged. And if you want to fight for your problems, I agree. I feel the same way. And that's exactly what I would tell that client. I'm not going to join you in your fight to keep your problems. Everybody's working through it. So what do you want? What are you trying to achieve? If this. If this is what you want, this is what you will get if you keep fighting to keep all of it.

That's great.

We can go talk.

Or, like, thinking, too. Like, my life is supposed to be different than it is. Isn't supposed to be happening. I was supposed to. Which I think is so funny. It's like, how can you put the past tense and the future tense in one sentence?

Well, I was so stupid. I was supposed to be in Spain today.

According to my past, I was supposed to be doing this. It's like, okay, here's all I know is that you were wrong. And just because you thought that's where you were going to be doesn't mean you were ever going to be there. Right? And so I think that if you think your life is supposed to be going a certain way, you're wrong. You're wrong about that. And the sooner you realize that, because we're clinging to an old idea that isn't serving us, and we're arguing with that old idea. This is the new idea. What now, my friends? Yeah. That's what we got to focus on.

Yeah. And I have had a Few clients who've been a little frustrated because it's every day. Every day I have to reevaluate and. Yeah, right. And I think I mentioned that to you over the weekend. Like, I think there's a difference now between strategic planning and, like, triage planning.

Yeah.

Some businesses are in triage. It could be every Monday. It could be three times a week. But things are moving so quickly, not just in your industry, but in your state or whatever that's impacting your ability to function the way that you did two days ago. And you've got to be willing to step up and stay in that space and reevaluate, or if you just get into that resistance or into that burden. This is hard. Or why do I have to deal with this? It can become. You can get ahead of you. So.

Yeah, and I, you know, I had a business. I had a hair salon that was very. The margins in that hair salon were really tight, and I didn't have a lot of cash flow or cash emergency fund. Right. So it's like living hourly in crisis. It's like, I mean, like, every hour is another crisis. And it can take a. A toll on you because you're like, am I going to go bankrupt? Am I going to go bankrupt? Am I going to have to lay people off? Am I doing this wrong? What is really important to do? And I've been there, and that is no joke. And I think for some reason, I think when there's a collective despair, it feels different than it was like, for me privately in despair. I felt so ashamed that I was having to deal with all this stuff, and I didn't want to go out of business. And what I realized is it's not going out of business. That was so scary. It wasn't even, like, laying people off. It was what I thought everyone would think about me. When it comes right down to it, it was like, I was so annoyed. I'm like, I'm not worried about being able to survive. I'm not worried about being able to live. I'm not worried about my life. I'm worried about what everyone will think about me if I don't have this business or I'm not successful. And as soon as I cleaned that up, everything else became just facts and so much easier. So make sure we're separating out the drama from the facts of the system.

Everybody and the story of everybody. And that was something I know we've talked about and Jody and I talked about earlier in the week, is this also could be a time for Some people, this is a graceful exit. Like, if you have set up a business and it kind of has a terrible business model and it's been really rough to generate any money out of this might be a really good time to look at, you know, kind of what, like, build off of what Brooke said. Like, what is essential, what do I want to keep? You know, there's an exercise I have my clients do called stop start, continue. What's your stop start, Continue. What do you want to stop completely? What would you like to start doing and what do you want to keep and move along.

Yeah. And, you know, I just did a podcast on this and I thought, you know, if I lose all my money, if I lose my business, all the best things are still there, right? All the best things. My family, my purpose in my life, my puppies. I can still go on a walk every day and I can still order books on Amazon, and if I can't afford those, I can still go to the library. And that just calms me right down. Yeah. I'm like, I still get to talk to you every day.

Yeah.

I mean, albeit I might have to write you letters and put them in the mail if I don't have an iPhone. Right. I mean, really, like, go to that worst case scenario. But you'll still exist on the planet and. And so will I. And we'll be able, you know, and so I think too, we sometimes, and I've seen people like, freak out about this, but what if I lose all my money? I'm like, let's go there. Let's go there for a minute.

That's the biggest piece.

Right.

Every client who's done that, that actually has done worst case scenario bounces out of it with peace. Because then it's like, okay, all right, I went there.

I'll be fine. I'll be able to handle it. And then as soon as you aren't attached to that result, you aren't attached to. I just got to make sure I grip onto this money as hard as I can. Just as soon as you let it go, then you can let more come in.

Yeah.

When your fist is closed, you can't allow for any more to come in. And so it's so counterintuitive.

So counterintuitive. Because it's the thing we always want to avoid the most, is thinking about the worst case scenario.

Yeah. And we want to pretend like it can't happen, and that makes it happen. It's so fascinating because when you put your head in the sand, you can't make decisions. And that's where all your power is. All of your power as a business owner, as a leader, is in your ability to make decisions, whether they're right or wrong. In retrospect, you can't ever do that. You have to be willing to make them and stand by them, and that will generate power, momentum in a certain direction. When you're waiting around and reacting, there's no power.

Well, and I think, you know, I think to pull that all together, because that's kind of where we started, right? We started with, you had to make a pretty big decision about your event, and you said, I just had to have my own back. And what. All of this, to me, what I've been watching in every of every one of my clients and leaders in general, is.

Who'S willing to make decisions and take risks and fail while being very visible. Because there's a lot of visibility for people right now who are willing to kind of step up and be the one who makes choices and decisions. And that is it to me, to everyone listening, is you're going to continue to be asked and invited to make new decisions every day, and those decisions don't have clear answers. And those decisions have risks either way you go. And can you have your own back once you make it? Just make a decision and move along.

Well. And here's the thing, y'. All, it's like we're all feeling very vulnerable and exposed right now as a human race. Like, oh, there are things that can kick our ass with, like, I mean, we're all feeling very vulnerable. So then to be in a place of vulnerability and to risk failure on top of that is the call of all entrepreneurs right now, all of them. But the ones who do that will be the ones who grow and evolve. I'm not guaranteeing that will save your business. I'm not guaranteeing you'll make money or grow or whatever, but you as the person, which is what matters way more, right? Is what I feel like is the opportunity that we're being called to. Do you have the courage to risk failure when you're already so raw and vulnerable? And the answer is, for me, always yes.

Yeah.

I'm like, I just keep opening and moving towards it, opening and moving towards it. And my experience so far has been one of growth, personally. And at the end of the day, that's what I'm here for. So let's go.

Let's go. You too. Let's do it. All right, My friend, what a wonderful conversation, as always.

So good.

I'm so glad that you came and shared your wisdom with everybody here. And of course, that I get to talk with you. And I love you. So. So thank you so much for being here.

And I just want to add, like, listen, Chris and I are both trained coaches, and we get to master coaches. We get to talk to each other every single day. It's the only way we make it through. If you don't have a coach right now, you're out of your mind. I mean, I'm not. I would literally put that as one of the top priorities in terms of not just listening to podcasts, not just getting input, but being able to have someone help you evaluate your mind during this time. It's the absolute most important thing you can do.

Amen. I don't know how people get through it. I don't know how people get through the day, because I need at least probably two calls a day.

Yeah.

And we're trained. Like, this is what we do for a living, right?

It does.

It requires ongoing perspective. Yes.

Yes. Because you may think that you're coaching yourself really well, and then you'll talk to someone else and they'll be like, did you hear what you just said? You'll be like, oh, maybe that's not true.

It makes me feel bad to think that, because I thought I didn't. Oh, maybe.

Okay, wait. Yeah, it's good. Just sometimes you just need to hear yourself say it.

I gotta talk out loud. For me especially, I'm a total verbal processor. I gotta. It's gotta come out of me in order for me to even know it's there. Absolutely.

So good.

All right, well, thank you. Thank you.

Bye, everyone.

Hey there, gorgeous. Are you ready to take everything I teach you in this podcast and put it to work in your business and really learn how to master leading your team? If so, I'd love to have you as a client in the Founders Lab to learn more about how we can work together. Head on over to chrisplacky.com.

Join there. You'll see everything you need to know about the Founders Lab and how to get started. See you there.

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