852. Don’t Wait For Retirement To Make Memories

What are you waiting for to make the memories? What are you waiting for to start experiencing extreme joy? What are you waiting for? If you are not yet in position to do that, to get your tail in gear and build a life of choice and put yourself in that position. What are you waiting for?

Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of Light Pink, best selling author, three time fitness world champion, and I'm a crazy, multi passionate entrepreneur. My journey has taken me everywhere. From being a broke waitress, barista, retails associate and personal trainer with massive anxiety and no belief in myself, to later becoming a multimillionaire in love with my life. In 2007, my husband and I lost everything. We found ourselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at rock bottom. We had no ideas and I had no education to fall back on. This is when I found personal development and learned everything about business. Not by choice, but because I realized no one was coming to save me. The conversations on this podcast are going to let you know that you're not alone and that we all feel like.

We don't know what we're doing.

We're going to give you the tools to help you face your fears, take action, start your business, and grow those massive dreams that are keeping you up at night. It's time to create a life that you can't hide from and put so much on the line that your higher self is forced to come out. You're going to stop waiting for someone to approve of you and you're going to anoint yourself. Because I'm obsessed about building businesses that give women a platform. I want to feature you. So if you text the word podcast to 310-496-8363, you can get your questions answered on our Q and A segment along with a shout out. And if you rate, review and subscribe to this podcast, we're choosing someone every month to get coached and featured on our show. It just might be you.

So let's get started.

And we're back with another episode of he said, she Said.

And I feel like we always say this in episodes lately. We're also back from traveling. We were just in freezing cold Green Bay until a couple days ago.

You know, I'm not gonna lie, I was aware when I lived there. You know, we lived there. I lived there for 31 years. Not just Wisconsin, but Upper Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota. And they all share a weather system that sucks. That sucks during the winter for eight.

Months of the year.

So I will say this is not coming from a place of not understanding. I truly understand. And it was part of why we put living somewhere warm on our vision board. And I literally. We were only there three days and by the third day I was like, it's great. And it is harder, it is truly harder to get yourself to a more motivated place. It's not impossible because we did it, but you definitely have to put a little more work in when the sun is not out and it's February. And I always remember February was the month where I was like, oh my God, why do I want to cry? I have a good life.

Yeah. I want to give props to everybody who goes out and does your run or your jog or your walk anyways. I want to give props to everyone who like, says, it's gray out, I'm depressed, but I'm going to roll up my sleeves and I'm going to go chase down my dreams. I want to give props to everyone who's working at a disadvantage of living in a shitty winter, because it really is. And I was reminded of how tough it truly is. And you deserve props if you're going above and beyond and accomplishing something big while not being in an energetic, sunshiny setting.

And for real, you will be able to handle more. You will be way tougher than us now west coast pansies who have the easier because honestly, it's like elevation training. Like you are training in something that really stretches you and you will be able to do more. You will be, it will be shocking what you are able to do and put up with because of how you've had to learn how to self start and self motivate. So this isn't what this podcast is about.

Well, here's what I just want to give you massive props. We have one heck of a good wake up call for a lot of you. And before I get to the punchline of what that wake up call is, I want to kind of frame this. So why in the world were we in freezing cold, gray Green Bay? Well, it's because for about four to five months out of the year, okay, let's say three to four to be honest, it is glorious, like ultimate vacation land in this area called Door County. It's like Hamptons, but in the Midwest. Door county is, it's incredible. Full of like boating and whole nine yards. And it's where we're both from. And Lori and I made the recent decision to purchase a legacy lake home up there. I mean, we're talking like, comes along once in a lifetime, amazing, huge cement harbor to park Your boats in. That's part of the property. The home itself is like this. If you had to design this awesome nautical home, it would be this. And it was brand new construction. And here's what's really neat, because it's only a couple thousand feet up the shore from my mom's place. There's for the past two years that we have been going up to Wisconsin. And each summer we actually watched this place be built over the last two years. And we'd walk by and it wasn't really on our radar to buy because we didn't know anyone was going to sell it. We thought somebody was building this amazing legacy property for themselves to create their own memories.

It just didn't seem feasible or smart at the time.

And all of a sudden it came up for sale. Like, meant to be came up for sale. So we pulled the trigger on it and we invested in this legacy lake property. Now here's why we did. Lori and I realized we're literally on a walk and we started talking about, hey, you know, why aren't we considering this place? We realized, what are we waiting for? And this is your wake up call. What are you waiting for to make the memories? What are you waiting for to start experiencing extreme joy? What are you waiting for? If you are not yet in position to do that, to get your tail in gear and build a life of choice and put yourself in that position, what are you waiting for? Because Jesse Itzler, if you've ever had heard him speak, he speaks about living a bucket list type of life. And he said something that really resonated with Lori and I. He was being interviewed once and he said, you know, I really think that. I think he's talking about his dad, wasn't he, Lori? Or he was talking about his parents. He said, I realized they might have only had, like 10 great summers left for us to make memories with. Or maybe he was talking about his kids. He says something like, we only had, like, you know, 10 great summers left with them before they were grown up. And all of a sudden, Lori and I started measuring everything in, oh, my God, we only have like 30 great summers left where we're gonna go create memories and be full of energy and youthful and the whole nine yards.

Yeah. And lake life has always been a dream of mine. When I was younger, I went to my friend's house who they would rent a cabin on the lake every single summer. And I can honestly say that some of my favorite memories growing up were because we were on that lake for one week and they always inv. I went three years in a row, and that was it. But those three years made such an impact on my life, of just how it felt. And I feel like years later, I'm still living for those moments to try to recreate them and get them back. And it's truly. When I think of my family and I think of the future and I think of my current family, I always want to be making these really special memories. Because again, reverting back to what Jesse Itzler has said, he said, you know, how many days of your life can you actually remember? And this is something Chris and I have really been pondering, probably because we're both now in our 40s, which really makes you start thinking, you know, I never thought that I would, number one, be here. I didn't think I'd make it out alive of my 20s or 30s. But here we are.

You just kind of think, listen to those that are young. You just kind of think you're never going to get there. And I don't mean like you're going to die. I mean, you literally just think that you are forever in your 20s and 30s somehow.

And it was just this moment of, well, if we're not gonna start planning, right? It was even just the conversation of planning, like, if we're not gonna start planning to do this in the next couple years, when in the hell are we gonna do this? Is this a dream for our 60s? Is this a dream for our late 50s? Like, what is this? And we decided, okay, how can we start to look at it and make it happen right now? Because honestly, we didn't really know if it was the smartest thing to do to go put our money in a lake property right now. But if it means the most to us, if that's where our memories are. And maybe it is a good idea, maybe it's not. You never know because it's so up and down and back and forth and all around. But the thing is, is what is most important to you. And when we were talking about what's most important, it was making memories. Especially with losing your dad. We don't know how many summers that we have. We don't know how long we have with our family, with our friends, with our parents. And how can we make days that count? And, you know, it's so easy because you and I are both grinding so hard right now. It's so easy to grinding for the future. Except the future never actually comes. Have you noticed that? It never arrives. And I can look back after the last 15 years of you and I grinding, the future has never arrived because we're always trying to go for the next thing. And the journey that I'm on, and I think that you're on as well, is to enjoy the moment while growing. And that truly is a challenge. It is a challenge. And I wanted something that really grounds me, like a spot that I go to that I can work during the day, but then at dinner time I'm going out on the lake in the evening. And I'm going to use my weekends as much as possible to enjoy life. Because looking at the way that our businesses have grown the best, it's never when we're grinding nonstop. And I am going to hammer this home because this is so important, especially for women to hear. Because a lot of the founders that I look up to tell a story about needing to burn out in order to be successful. They don't say they needed to burn out, but they do share that they burnt out out in order to create these a hundred million or billion dollar companies. Now, first of all, you have to decide what you want to do. But I have decided, yes, this company will be successful. I will sell it for hundreds of millions of dollars. But I am not going to kill myself because I don't believe in that story. I've already killed myself for a while. I actually don't believe in the story anymore that you need to kill yourself and stay up all night if you are hiring the right people, if you are working smart, if you are working insp. I don't know about you, but I do not work inspired when I'm exhausted, I get way less work done when I go recharge somewhere for the weekend. You can't imagine the ideas that come in that actually accelerate the business. Rather than sit at my desk and grind and not get any further doing a random checklist of to do lists that don't actually further the business. So for me, it's always being in inspiring spaces and being with inspiring people. And that's really what we want to do at this property.

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So I want to talk about a couple things though, because for some of you, you're like, well, I'm not there yet. I have no idea how to get there. So, Chris, what are some things that you would say to people who are not there yet?

This goes back to what are you waiting for? That's the theme of the entire episode. Why are you waiting to make the bold moves to start that business? Why are you waiting to quit that job that's not serving you, that's not getting you towards your goals and to take that risk? You think there's going to be a better time in the world. You think there's going to be a better set of circumstances for you to to build a life of absolute abundance, to disappoint people because they're going to be disappointed that you're shifting what you're doing. There is no better time. What are you waiting for to double down, to maybe work harder, to maybe go into that grind temporarily? What are you waiting for to free yourself from financial shackles and instead to start putting yourself in a place of choice? Because choice is the best thing that money can buy, right? And so what are you waiting for? This is your wake up call to go build that income producing machine that's gonna give you the choice to be able to go invest in whatever your dream is.

I was talking yesterday at Lindsey Schwartz's Mastermind and we just all had this moment in the room where I was sharing. You know, everybody's kind of waiting for something. And when I say everybody, I don't actually mean everyone because there are people who are not waiting. They are going for it and they're gonna go for it no matter what. And what I mean by this is there are a lot of people waiting for houses to go down in price. There are a lot of people waiting for cars to go down in price. There are a lot of people waiting for things to go back to the way that they were. Except this is the exact mentality that will keep you stuck. We need to start acting as if and functioning as if. This is the new price, this is.

The new way, this is the new baseline.

This is the new baseline. There are new things coming out that you have to adopt. This is how it's always been. That would be like people saying, I'm waiting for the Internet to go away. I'm waiting for this fad to stop. These things are not stopping because they're being adopted by these younger generations. And you have to start looking at the way that things are right now and start functioning in this playing field. You know, there was a while where I'm like, well, maybe I should wait for the cost of these aluminum cans to go down, or maybe I should wait for manufacturing to go back down. Because this is the talks I'm hearing of, guess what, it never went back down. So I would have waited another two years to launch something that would have been too late to the game. And I actually don't believe that either. I don't believe it's ever too late, but it would have been even more challenging later. So I actually believe right now is the best time to go do the thing that you want to do. We've never been more free. I mean, you have to look around at the landscape right now and realize that we are so blessed still in this country and to utilize this incredible freedom and in this incredible landscape that we have.

You know what? We've got the saying that we say, this is as good as it may get. Like, Lori and I will be on a walk. We'll be like, even if there's a tough day, even if there's tough things going on in the world, we'll say, listen, this might be as good as it gets today, right now, in this moment. And so stop waiting for a better scenario, stop waiting for a better situation, stop waiting for more of an advantage. Because this might be as good as it gets. Instead, right now, roll up your damn sleeves and go create that life that you want. And if you've already created the means to that life, then let's shift this wake up call a little bit to why are you waiting to buy the cabin? Why are you waiting to get the boat? Or why are you waiting to. Friends of ours just got an awesome rv. Why are you waiting to make the memories? Do you think you're promised tomorrow? Do you think you're promised next year? Do you think, oh, you know, if we just wait a couple more years, we'll feel a little bit more abundant. Guess what? You never feel more abundant. Oh, my God. I used to pray to have one tenth of the abundance that we had right now. Thinking then I would feel abundance. And guess what? You get there and then you still don't feel like you have enough. And then you get, you know, 10x that and get there. You still don't think you, like, you have enough. You're never going to have this time where you're like, okay, now I can go get the memory making machine, but you have to because what else are you waiting for?

And again, I'm going to speak to all of you who maybe don't have the means yet and what are you waiting for? And at the same time, why are you waiting to make memories? This is so important that you don't need means to make memories. You can take days, you can take special moments, you can honor people, you can get people together at your home for a beautiful meal and go around and talk about the incredible traits of each person and go around and bless each other with that. We do those things all the time that make you remember these days that you said.

Those are days I actually remember.

Yes, these are the days that you remember and these are the markers of your life and these are the things that are also going to help you grow. And I just want to say that if you don't do this, someone else will. And they will not be more special than you. They will not be more special than you. They will not have a bigger skill set or better skillset than you. The only difference is that they will be willing to get scrappy and do it. Why not you? I said that to myself today. I was like, you know what? Why not me? I'm putting this small number on my company and I'm like, why not me? Why couldn't I be one of these big numbers that I sell my company for? Why couldn't that happen to me? What's happening? That's the difference. There isn't a difference. It's literally a decision of making the choice and deciding that it can be you. It can be you.

So stop waiting to build the life that you want. This is your wake up call. This is your permission. Whether you feel like you're 100 years behind where you should be, whether you feel like, okay, we're there but we're afraid to spend the money. Stop waiting to build the life that you want. Lori and I are not waiting for anything. We're not waiting for anyone. We're not waiting for any permission. We're building exactly what we want right now. And I got to tell you, it feels really, really good. I want this for every single one of you. And one of the advantages that Lori and I have is that we kick each other back into the game. When I'm feeling down or not abundant, she kicks me back in the game and reminds me that I am. When she's feeling down or defeated, I kick her back in the game and remind her that, hey, you're capable I'm willing to do that for you guys for free. For free. No strings attached. I do it right now for thousands, and I mean thousands, of you. Every morning I wake up and I text you either a positive money mantra so you can feel abundant, or a positive business perspective for the day so you can feel unstoppable. And I wake Lori up to a text or to a text, sorry, babe. I wake Lori up to a mantra.

We sleep in separate boardrooms. We just text. It's great. That's why our marriage is so good.

One, no, we don't sleep in separate bedrooms. I don't want people to take your joke and miss that one. I do not recommend that for anybody. But the point is, I roll over and I wake her up to a mantra every day, single morning.

A money mantra. Just kidding.

And I want to do that for you guys. I do it for thousands of you already. So, listen, if you want me to text you a positive money mindset mantra or a positive business perspective for the day, totally free, no strings attached, text me the word daily and I'll put you on the list. Text me the word daily to 310-421-0416. Again, text me the word daily to 310-421-04160, and I'll start sending those to you every single morning. Trust me, it works. It's why we're living a dream life. Because every day, little step by little step, we kick each other back in the game and remind each other that anything is freaking possible. And I want you guys to build that dream life for you as well. Thanks for listening. Love and appreciate you.

See you next time.

Sam.