How to Leverage Your Energy Type for High Performance with Erin King

High value experiences do not happen in low vibe environments. No great deal or investor moment, or client moment or brand momentum or awesome friendship has ever occurred when one of the parties was super low vibe on that one to four scale. And so it's not that you just want to feel like you have more energy or it's nice to have, like, it is a need to have.

Aaron, welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. Thank you so much for coming on.

Lori. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Oh, my goodness.

A little insight into our relationship. This is, was our third take trying to get the welcome ready because we were both giggling too hard. So I'm really, really excited to talk about this topic of energy because I got to see you speak at my event at Girlfriends in Business, and it was kind of one of the first times you've, you've given this particular talk on energy, even though you have been like, you've been deep in studying energy for the last, what, Couple years?

Couple of years, yes.

So let's, let's start there. Like, let's talk about this topic of what got you interested in what you're doing right now. But maybe first tell people what you're doing with the energy examination. Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. As far as energy as a topic, Lori, I mean, you know, both of us, we're go getters, we're high achievers, we're entrepreneurs, and we're really good at a lot of things. But managing our energy sometimes can be not so good. Right. Like we're either changing the world, we're high performing, we're making it happen, but we're burning the candle at both ends. We're not maybe respecting some of the somatic signals that our bodies are telling us, or on the other hand, we take some downtime. You know, we go surfing in Costa Rica, we go for an Italy trip or whatever, but we're not really making things happen. And so for me, as an entrepreneur, the last 15 years, I really struggled with striking a balance to the point that not once, but twice I actually went to the hospital for panic attacks. Once in my 30s, once in my 40s, just from trying to chase down, you know, what I wanted to do with my business, how I want to live my life. And the bottom line is it was kind of a life project moment. I was kind of like, what is, how am I going to manage my energy better? And so I took a whole year off my entire business I paused my life and I hired a team of PhD researchers to conduct the world's largest study on personal human energy management. And I just think that this topic of energy is really having a moment right now. If you think about, obviously, you know, we have AI, right? So we're in this age of automation and AI and we can't compete with computers on competency, but what we do still have is, you know, our intuition, our creativity, our adaptability. Like these are our energy rich skills that you and I both double down on a lot. That is still our edge. But I think even more than that, the reason that energy is such a hot topic right now that I think is kind of the new, like time management, like it's that serious, is because, you know, the world right now is so artificial. Like we have fake news and we have artificial intelligence and filters and these crazy news feeds. I mean, I don't care what side of the political table you're on. Both sides of the media have gone bonkers with their bias. And so when you think about, like, who do you trust? Who do you know, who do you like? Energy never lies. It's kind of our last truth teller. You know, it's kind of that last anchor compass that we can rely on. And then finally, I would say the reason that taking your energy management is so important to me and to the 1 billion people that we're trying to help, you know, reduce burnout and improve performance, is the fact that when you're online, if you're a creator or a contenter, it's very easy to like copy and paste something from somebody else's caption or mimic someone. But, like, I could never have your energy. You don't have my energy. It's the last thing that really is ours. Like, no one can steal your energy or have the same energy that you have. So I think for all these different reasons, a pretty hot topic to kind of think through. And I think, you know, a lot of people listen to your podcast are ambitious achievers, they're high performers. And taking care of ourselves and our vibe and the way the world responds to us and reacts to us and, and how we're able to impact and influence the way we want to really comes down to this, like, your vibe is your value mindset. So that's kind of the high level of how we started talking about it and thinking about it, Learning the science behind it was really interesting. You know, Instagram is obviously full of like manifest, live your best life law of attraction stuff, which we both subscribe to Obviously. And then on the other side, you have fitness, health, wellness, supplements. All important, but sort of that missing middle piece for me that I'm. I'm trying to fill this chasm with is how do we really manage and align our emotional energy? So even if you time block your calendar to perfection and you get to the girls night, you get to the game, you get to the podcast, when you show up, your vibe is off, your essence isn't there, your energy's low. It's like you end up working harder, but you're not getting that magnetic result. People aren't saying yes to you and leaning forward, you're not seeing momentum. Like, so there's this element where I feel like, as high performers in today's business world especially, that your energy really is your edge.

So it's surprising to me to hear, you know, from someone who. Especially from people who know you, like, if you were to meet Aaron you in person, people would not understand that energy management was even a thing for you because you come off with so much, much energy. So tell me about. Maybe tell me about how you started learning about the different. That people were different than you, the different types of energy, like, maintaining it. What does that look like? How do you know when you're around the right people or the wrong people or you're in the wrong job or the right job, what does that look like for you?

Well, I don't know how you. Well, I do know how you grew up, but, you know, how people grow up is all different. And I think that for a lot of us, you know, I was raised in a house where there was a ton of love, but also very high standards and a lot of criticism and a lot of this is the way we do it in this family, which I'm thankful for. It's made me very successful, and I'm thrilled to have the work ethic that I do. But the other side of that coin is that I think there was a lot of pleasing.

Like, you have to be a certain way to.

Yeah. Like, so love languages, right? I'm physical touch. I'm a snuggle bug. And in my family, it was all about achievement equals affection. So, you know, whether I was, like, when I played lacrosse in college, I was the team captain when I was a sophomore, you know, like, I went to the World Irish Dancing Championships and represented the United States doing river dance. Like, oh, my God. What? Yeah. Wow.

I know we're definitely gonna have to do that.

It's, like, pretty random. But my point is, is like, whatever. I set out to do. I felt a lot of pressure at a young age to be the best. And. And I think fast forward to growing up and being a professional and having had multiple businesses. The big lesson that I've learned is that, you know, even if you are sleeping eight to nine hours and you're getting your greens and you're sweating, taking care of your body, um, if you are missing certain key elements of how you're optimizing your energy reserves, you will get depleted no matter how much you're checking the classic boxes. Right. So one thing in our study was really interesting was there are really kind of three key sources of energy that I don't think a lot of us really think about. Okay. As much as we should. Um, I mean, we know the basics, but beyond the basics, we found that in our study, there was a group of people and they were, we called them the big energy beings. Okay. They are people that reported having both high energy levels, but also they had very high life satisfaction scores. So for some reason, the scale on these scientific studies for the last 30 years, there's been about six or seven before mine about this topic.

Okay.

And the scientists, for some reason make a scale from 1 to 7. I prefer 1 to 10. Who doesn't want to be a 10? Come on.

I know, right?

It's like, who wants to be a 7? Like boo. Like 7o C plus, like not good enough. But that's the scale that they use, I think maybe. So you can't land in the middle. You have to either be low or high. Right.

It's kind of smart.

So I guess Masamina's right. But so in the study, people that had that sort of 5 to 7 range, but also had high life satisfaction scores. So they were feeling present, they were feeling joyful, they were excited for the future, they felt really optimistic about who they were and where they had been. They kind of had that problem solved, right? Like, how are you high performing but also high enjoying. And when we asked them about the different areas where they really source their energy, there were really three key areas that kept coming up. And the first was pretty obvious, a sense of connection, which we know that, right. With others or something bigger than ourselves. The second area that they talked about a lot was a sense of competence. And competence being, hey, we can do challenging but doable tasks with immediate feedback. So feeling pretty good at something that's a little bit hard was really important for them. Not being perfect, but not just skating through. Right. And then the final area was a sense of control. Obviously Controls, an illusion, very controversial term, but they really kind of felt like they had a sense of agency or autonomy over their destiny. So when you're thinking to yourself, like, how is my energy? On a scale from one to seven? Like, yeah, like, where is. And not. Not just like, you know, is it that time of month? Did I sleep last night? You know, but really, like, the last 90 days of your life.

Totally.

If you were just to kind of like, scan back through the highs and the lows, like, where would you put yourself? Like, for me, right now, I would say the last three months. So in July, July, August, September, I would put myself at probably, like a solid five. Right. But a couple years ago, I would have been at a two. The future holds Lord knows what might be at a one. So it's this constant, like, fluctuation spectrum that we have of, like, where's our battery? But it really matters that you look at these areas of your life. Like, do I feel connected? Do I feel competent? Do I feel like I have some sense of, like, I'm the captain of my ship and without those three things, you are going to be in that one to four range, which matters not just for you, but because, like, the energy you feel. The energy I feel is the energy our people feel. It's the energy our team feels, prospects, clients. I mean, I don't know how you are, but when my vibe is off, my team feels it immediately for sure. And I cannot go rock bottom because it will affect our bottom line. So I have a deep responsibility for the energy that I bring into every space, every room, every stage, just like you. And I think that for a lot of us, there is this accountability piece, right? Like, you know, yes, you can have bad days, yes, we have drainy seasons where things just go wrong and they're out of our control. But when it comes to, like, how do you really bring that best version of you, that juicy essence when you're just at your best and you're calm and you're confident and people are just magnetized towards you, you're just unstoppable. And everyone's been there at some point in their life.

Totally.

But it's usually kind of, for me anyway, almost like an accident, like, oh, wow, I was really on that day. But if you want to engineer that on purpose, with more intention over time, it takes more awareness. Like, what does charge you? What does train you? Who are you compatible with? You know, how do you trust that inner voice? And. And really the biggest part is how do you. With the highs and lows that life are going to give us. How do you make micro intentionality choices to really, really protect and optimize the expansion of your energy and protect against that depletion?

Oh, man, that's so good. You're making me think about, even just recently, like, when we're. When we're doing new things right, and I'm in a season of a lot of newness. I'm like, oh, I just. It's been hard to get my energy up.

Yeah.

And it hasn't been because, you know, sometimes we want to look at who we're around or what we're eating or doing. And I've, like, been pretty good about, like, health.

Yeah.

Wellness. Who I'm around, what I'm listening to. I'm like, man, I'm not consuming anything that's, like, negative. Like, I'm really working on it. But you just said something that made me realize, like, the control thing. I haven't felt like I've had much control where I normally feel like I. I know what I'm doing in my career. I know the path. And it's a little. It's new, it's. It's uncertain. Like, we don't know our exact marketing path at this particular time. We're trying a ton of things out. And so I'm observing how that's kind of lowering my energy because I really like being. Being more clear.

Yeah.

Like, the second that I hear that I have a path that I'm understanding, my energy goes up, like, the second I hear that. And so I think that it's actually helpful because I've been looking around going, what's wrong? What's wrong? And I'm like, oh, it's just because right now I'm in a little bit of a season where the path is not clear. I really need to work on the path.

So what's really interesting about that, Lori, is that's how you power up, and that's as distinct as your DNA, like your unique energy type. So for me, I'm the total opposite of that. Like, I actually feel very constrained and drained when it's all perfectly planned out. So to my detriment. I love a wild card. I love it. Let's see what's going to happen. Like, I have a risk tolerance that probably is a little bit unhealthy and very expensive. Right. So. But. But that the whole point about, you know, with this energy study, what was really cool is when we studied all these different people, like thousands and thousands all over the United States aged 18 to 64 different socio backgrounds, ages, genders, the whole thing. What we found was what energizes people had so much less to do with how old they were and more with to do with their energy type. So we found there were five different energy types. Right. I love this finding of. There was like five or six different headlines that I was like, yes, this is so interesting. And one of them, which is great for, you know, you and I, we think we're 25 in our heads because we are. But you know, you know, we really aren't our age, we are our energy. And when we looked across, I mean, boomers to Gen Z, it's really popular on the speaking circuit in particular to look at generational differences as these huge chasms. Like Generation Z is like this. They don't want to talk on the phone, they're on their phone. You know, boomers are face to face. While a lot of that is true, what energized them really didn't, didn't change that much. There wasn't that much of a fluctuation, but the same exact people sorted out by their energy types. There was massive fluctuations in what charged and drained them. So that was kind of interesting because when you look at sort of the way the world sees your energy and perceives your energy and then how what charges and drains you, you begin to just have more insight into like, okay, what is the scientific shortcut to like how I power up the best.

Yeah.

And how I power up the fastest when I need it the most. You know, because sometimes, you know, for example, we're meeting today on a Monday and we had like this big weekend with all of our friends out here in Newport. We haven't seen them in a couple of months. And we went to like lunches and dinners and a baby shower and a boat and all this stuff. And so coming in today, I'm like, gosh, I wish I had just had like four nights of sleep and water and kale before I came in to meet with you. Right. But that's not an option. So knowing that, you know, my energy type is called kinetic. So there's five types of. And for a kinetic, we are all about a sense of competence in the physical realm. So for me, I was like, I need to go for a run and time it and have it not be like atrocious. And that will give me energy. So I did to power up before I came here today. Now for you, I think you were synergistic, if I remember correctly.

Yeah.

Which is a sense of like community, collaboration, connection. So for you, we were talking earlier and you're like, you know, you're my fourth podcast guest. And I'm like, oh my God, are you exhausted? You're like, no, I'm energized. Because you just sat here and got, you know, that back and forth dialogue and getting ideas with other people, like that energizes you and brings you life. And so I think it's just really important for us to understand how each of our individual energy types work because then we can have a little bit more self compassion when we do have those down days and we can have more of an insight and a shortcut into where we should head when we're just feeling off and we really can't afford to. There's a high stakes interview, there's the meeting, there's the moment with your family. You want to be present for whatever your value is that you really place a lot of importance on. You're able to bring your fully charged battery. It's just, it's something that can be learned. It's a skill. It doesn't just happen. Like you're saying, you know, oh yeah, I seem like I'm so high energy, but I mean I really, I work on it constantly. I'm thinking about it, I'm checking in, I'm reading, I'm journaling. I mean, I'm not saying all day, like what's my energy all day long but you know, I do have three alarms every day. 9, 12 and 5. It just says vibe check, you know, and I think just that, that awareness that people listening to a podcast like yours, people who are doing personal development, like we are already so much further than like 99% of the world where they're just scrolling away their self awareness. Yeah. They don't even stop to think like they're looking externally for like, you know, what supplement do I need? Although you're just wonderful. I love glycerin, but no, but they look for, you know, what is out there that I can find or, or, or they're just escaping from how their energy feels because they don't know how to go forward. The difference is, is that, that internal reflection, that, that pausing and just realizing that yeah, it's important so we can feel better. But way more high stakes than that. High value experiences do not happen in low vibe environments. No great deal or investor moment, or client moment or brand momentum or awesome friendship has ever occurred when one of the parties was super low vibe on that one to four scale. And so it's not that you just want to feel like you have more energy or it's nice to have, like it is a need to have. And in fact, in our study we found, we interviewed all these people and we were like, look, someone that you admire, like a leader, like a Lori or you know, whoever that you admire, what is it about them? Of all the things that makes you want to get on board with them, makes you want to say yes. We didn't use the word follow because I want to be a follower. Right. But we said like, what makes you admire their energy? Yeah, we gave them all these answers, like, are they connected to the right people? You know, do they have the right Ivy League education? You know, do they have an incredible skillset? Experience, moral compass, creativity, all these different answers. And the number one answer that we got was it was their quote unquote vibe or their way of being. So talking about our energy is not this like, woo, woo, like one with the universe thing. It is the most critical skillset that you can master for your personal and, and professional life, particularly in the age of AI. Like, it's huge. And I just, I think it's really a worthy topic for people to just pause and just be honest and not judge what response comes back for them. Like, where are you on a scale from one to seven? And if you are to one or two, guess what? We've all had dreamy seasons. We probably will again. It's not about judging yourself for not being up or on enough or like matching my energy level or like mimicking your energy style, but getting back to that version of you before the season, before the thing, before the moment. Like that best you that you know is still in there. But it's so hard to access him or her sometimes. You know what I mean?

Okay, so we, we talked about kinetic, we talked about synergistic. For you guys listening right now, I know she's talked about the five types and you're probably like, oh my God, what type of M I? You can actually pause this right now and you can go to the link below and you can take the quiz because it's so, it's so fast and super easy. And then as we keep talking about it, you can continue listening or you can listen and then go take the quiz. But if you're like me who likes to know right now, as you're, as you're learning everything with us, you can go do that.

Yeah.

But let's talk about the other three now.

Yeah. So the third one is generative. So generative. Energy is that super creative energy. You thrive on a sense of being able to be a pioneer. Everyone's going left, you're going right. The fourth is called responsive energy. The responsives are the deep empaths of the energetic spectrum. They're the deep feelers. And so what they actually need to charge up is space. They need space to process and space to think. And they get drained really fast if they have too much access from others to that.

Are we all one thing or are we mixes of things?

So you have your first, you'll score one, and then you have a secondary energy, kind of like love languages. You have two. Right. And then the final one's rigorous. And rigorous is our people who love order and they love systems and process and they are allergic to chaos. So they need the plan. But I think the reason that knowing what your energy type is is so important is there's a way that the world perceives your vibe. And I think sometimes we don't really realize how our energy comes off to others. And so the idea is not to be a chameleon and try to be something you're not or anything like that, but it's this idea of, like, how do you harness that secret sauce, that superpower of you and really double down on it when you need it the most? And then how are you also just a little bit aware that each one has a shadow side as well? Right. So, like, I'm kinetic. Yeah. So I get fired up from motion and going. But then also my shadow side is I will burn out. I will not listen to my body. I'll just keep going until I can't go anymore. Right? So for synergistics, you know, your power is connection, collaboration. That's why you're so great with events. And. And you're all of your networking and you're like. You're like the Kevin Bacon of Newport beach, like everyone six degrees from Lori Harder. Right? So that's because that brings you energy, but also for you, what can be tough is because you allow everyone access. A shadow side for you can be that sometimes you're not really sure who your real people are, because how do you vet that when everyone's welcome, right. If you're a generative, after you take the test, come back and listen to this. But if you're a generative and you're a creative, if you're in a role or if you're an entrepreneur and you're setting up your day to be too much, rinse and repeat too much on the plan, I Mean, yes, time blocking is wonderful, but if you are someone who needs a little bit of free space to get wild and be in the gray zone and, and kind of just invent on the fly, if you're too regimented, you will feel drained. No matter how hard you're working, you can time block yourself to perfection and you'll feel bummed out, right, rigorous. They cannot have chaos at all. And then for responsives, these are the deep feelers. They are people who power up from having that space, that time, but also they have to be really, really careful because they'll take on the weight of the world's problems. So if you're a responsive energy and you're scrolling on social media too much and you're, you have too much of the world's problems on your shoulders, that will drain you extremely fast. Even if you are perfectly healthy and you're doing all the right things and the fasting and the working out and drinking the gallon water bottle that cheers you on the whole way up from Amazon or whatever like that, that will take you down. And so the beautiful thing about tuning into your energy and figuring out what really powers you up is that it's not about like doing more of the. More like you don't have to add something else to your plate. And it's just about inviting yourself to be a little bit curious and listen because you are built a certain beautiful way that everyone else isn't. Only you know how that feels. This isn't like a thinking thing, this isn't like a, you know, mimicking someone else's best practice thing. This is really an exercise in radical self listening. And the ones that are able to do that without judgment and you know, silencing the shoulds, those are the ones that you see show up where they do have a high vibe and they are unapologetically themselves. And the reality is people can feel when you're really transmitting your authentic energy. And it just, it is a superpower that makes you so unstoppable and at any time you can tap into it. It's just a choice that you have to make, you know.

Yeah, it's what I'm truly attracted to with people for sure. One of, the first, one of the first experiences of this, like really understanding this was with Brendan Bouchard, who we both love. And I remember we were at a mastermind and we got to sit with him at like it was like a 20 person lunch or something. So we like got to really talk to him, like watch him for the first time not on stage. And if you've ever seen Brendan on stage, he's like a Energizer Bunny. Like, he'll just come out jumping and dancing and he'll do that, like, 50% of the time that he's on stage. And it's like, how is this person doing this?

And.

And one of the questions I was asked of him is like, your energy is so insanely amazing. How do you do it? And he's like, oh, it's a choice. Like, I am not that person naturally, that you see. He goes, but I've made myself that person. He uses, like, doorway entrance, entrances to new spaces as a vibe, your version of a vibe check. And so I kind of want to ask you with a. And what he does, I'll. I'll explain is like, he'll know that he's going into a room, you know, like us walking into this podcast studio, and the second we walk through the door, he's like, I'm raising my vibe. Like, I better check my vibe. I'm going to raise it because, like, we're bringing this up. Like, what could I do?

How.

How would I be. How would I hug this person? What would I, you know, maybe he just was in his car and got bad news, but he's going to walk in, you know, say hello and do a huge hug and like, how are you? And be interested in all the things. So he's like, I've just been so trained to, like, check my vibe because I know that that's like, essentially he knows that that's what he's selling, like, is the energy. So for you with the vibe checks, like, what are the things that we have? How do you. How do you do it personally when you're like, okay, vibe Jack, I'm real low right now. Like, what are some of the things that you do to make yourself high? And how do we. How do we walk into a room even when it doesn't feel authentic?

So I'm really glad that you brought up sort of how you prepare, prepare to enter a space of high stakes, high stakes meetings, high stakes moments. It's a space that matters to you.

Yeah.

And so the difference between the Brennan Burchards of the world and the rest of. Of the normal humans. Normals, the normals, the normies, is most people. And in our study in particular, we found this people that had low energy and low life satisfaction, they would wait until their battery was drained to recharge. So they found themselves in this power through the moment and then power down, cycle they would power through till they couldn't and then power down and think about the normal American work week. Right. You work Monday through Friday, you work your butt off. Saturday and Sunday, you kick up your feet, you go off your diet, you chill out, you're a zombie. Then you go back to Monday, you're back in the rat race. Yeah. So it's sort of this, this, this diminishing return, cyclical, energetic spiral that people think is just normal life. That's the only way to do it. Not in Europe, certainly, but in the United States. The Brendan Burchard of the world is who I consider a big energy being. And in our study, we found that they didn't really use recharging language. They didn't use words like recalibrate or, you know, I really need to, to have some. I need to unplug, decompress that. They didn't use that language as much. They were more focused on the pre charging versus the recharging. So you just brought it up intentionally, you know, intuitively, you know that like, you know, before you walk in is the time. So people that had the low vibe in our study, they would just kind of, you know, they would just power through and hope for the best. People that had the high vibe, they would power up so they could bring their best intentionally. So even before I came in today to this podcast, I was walking out to the water and I was doing some videos of the beautiful boats and the sparkling water. And I like you, I was having sort of a Monday low energy situation at 3. I'm a morning person, so yeah, 3:30 is not my jam, but I just, I like a crazy person. I was out on the dock and I just started cranking some music and looking at the water and saying some prayers and. But it was very intentional. Like I wasn't just going to walk in here and hope that I could grab a gear that I wasn't feeling. So just the simple act of how we build in our schedules, time for what we need to do. It's a simple moment. It could be five or 10 minutes. This is atomic habits kind of stuff, right? It doesn't take a lot, but it's crazy because most of the world does. They just plow through. They're just operating. They don't pause and say like, you know, do I need quiet? Do I need to walk? Do I need some music? This is not like life altering you, you know, things you have to undertake before a meeting, but, but it's like by powering through and being everything to everyone, like you're not, it's. You can't bring your best self. I mean you only have a limited amount of, of energy unless you replenish it. It's like a budget. Right. Think about it as like an asset, like wealth, you know, I mean we manage our time and our money so. So intentionally. But yet our energy would just assume we can just call it up and it's like, it's not really how the game works. So if someone's like God, well, okay, how do I vibe check? When you take the energy exam, you'll learn that there are sources and spaces of where you can tap in for a quick fix, a quick pre charge before a high stakes moment. So the source we talked about. So sources are control, connection, competence. Right. But then think of the top of a greater like the spaces of energy. So this is like physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. And so you are somewhere like between these two sources and spaces, right? Yeah. So like for you, you are emotional and spiritual with a connection. So you need a sense of connectivity to what's emotionally or spiritually going to fire you up. So for you to pre charge Lori, you're probably either like a prayer. Yeah, A call to one of your besties for a quick laugh, you know, that's probably going to power you up the fast. That's a good pre charge vibe check for you. You know, for me I'm kinetic. So it's about competence in the physical realm. So for me it's planking, it's pushups, it's literally just a basic like 5 minute workout. For generatives, it's feeling competent creatively. So if you're a generative and you're like, gosh, how do I pre charge for this big moment? This means you are taking a beautiful photo of something or you're creating a playlist. Like you have to tap into that creative energy. For responsives, they are people who basically need to be like quiet. It's about control over your emotions. So if you're not in control of your emotions, that's what gets you drained. And then for rigorous, it's about competence in the mental realm. So if you're a rigorous and you're going into a meeting and you're like, I feel the vibe, what do I do? You're the kind of person that probably has to play like Wordle or one of those like mental mind game apps that I can't stand. But, but just knowing like there's a quick path for you and that not everyone, a 10 minute walk works for everyone. Sure. But if. But there's ways you can really dial it in and, like, level it up a little bit for what's going to power you up the fastest, you know, And I think even just being aware that, like, the energy you are bringing, you think you can maybe fake it or you think you can sort of bring this level. People are like, oh, yeah, that was okay. But people just know. Like, they just know if you're present.

Yeah.

They know if you're there. It's a vibe. And, like, they know if you're listening. They know if you give a crap. Like, they just know. Like, it doesn't matter, like, what you say. I mean, it matters how the vibration you're giving off. And so the reason that it's so, so important to be thinking about, gosh, you know, how am I doing this? How am I managing my energy? It's because individually and interactionally, it is like the make or break of how light or heavy your daily experiences feel and how much impact you're able to really, actually affect. Like, you can actually. The world responds a lot more to your energy than even your efforts. Like, I'm not saying you can slack off, right? I mean, but think of people, you know, that are, like, the really hard workers. They are always, like, productivity pros. They got the time block and they. They've done all these impressive things. When you're with them, you kind of feel a little, like, anxious because you can feel that they're. They're not. They're. They're waiting for you to stop talking so they can, like, get in there or they're fast forwarding through their mind. I mean, you're looking in their eyes and you can tell they're not with you, you know, And I think there's also an element, too, of people that work so hard, you almost feel their stress, you feel their burden, you feel their heaviness. And it doesn't really draw you to them. It doesn't make you lean forward and say, tell me more. It makes you almost want to back away and be like, hey, I really hope you're good. Like, can we. You know what I mean? And so I think these are, like, the. The energetic elements of expanding businesses, of making sales, of incentivizing your team. I mean, as a leader, if you have a team that can feel that your vibe is off, that is not going to motivate them to bring their best, because they're either going to be worried about you, intimidated by you, or annoyed by you. Right? So there's a whole like, leadership element to this as well, that we've actually brought this energy exam to multiple Fortune 1002s around the world. And the number one thing that they love as leaders, because they're like, oh, my energy is fine. Just my team I need to worry about. Right. But it's kind of cool because as a leader, if you're not. If you're getting pushback, you know, if you're getting that passive aggressive employee or just that kind of, you know, you can feel when your team's off or that, like, you're trying to get the team psyched. Right. And they're just kind of like, yeah, yeah, eye roll, whatever. Instead of being like, yeah, right.

And sucked. Oh, like what time? At that time. Oh, yeah, yeah.

So what happened?

It was. Honestly, we didn't love having people in our house. It really affected my energy.

Yep. Yep.

And so my energy would suck around them. Cause I always felt trapped in my house. And so we got really bad responses from them. Like they didn't love their job and felt like they were just like dragging and not doing what we hired them to do. And it was like, it. Clearly when we switched that situation, everything changed.

Yeah, yeah.

Like when they didn't work in our home, you know, so. And that was just one of the things. But I can literally look. Look back and be like, oh, my energy was low, or I wasn't respecting the space I needed, or I wasn't talking about the conversations that I needed to. To get my energy back to a good place.

Yeah, yeah.

It's always been like, where was my energy when I did that? What was I trying to ignore?

So you intuitively. Environment, people and projects. Those are the three key elements. How's my environment? Hire my projects, hire my people. That's gonna charge your dream yet, right? So you honed in on. Okay, my environment is not charging me. You made the choice. You made the change. You saw the vibe lift. I'm sure you saw productivity, positivity, everything. Profitability. Cause it's all linked together. Right. What's really interesting about that particular example is that in our study, we found that 68% of people. So seven out of 10 people, when they were around someone whose energy they admired was the word we used. If they were in a low vibe state, like a one to four state, they would actually move from low to high by being around them. So your team felt you lift. You had that positive emotional contagion which allowed them to lift. Just making one simple choice of where you were working. You know, this is the part Where I get really excited about talking about this because I think people think like, oh, God, managing my energy. That sounds like I got to go to a Costa Rican surf yoga retreat, my husband, and change the world with, like, chanting and meditation. And if that's your jam, do you. And yes, you know, amen. We salute you. Tell us your ways. Love that. But there are such micro moments, like shifting a workspace. One of my business partners, Moira Cassava, she's a kinetic as well, like me. And she found that she was getting super low energy in the afternoons, and she had afternoon team meetings. And to your point, her team could feel it. They're like, she doesn't want to be here, so we don't want to be here. So this sucks. And everyone hates their life. The end, Right? So Moira actually took the energy exam, but actually the kinetic. And she. She is an absolute. She's like, you, total athlete. Just like, so committed to your wellness routine. But she'd work out in the mornings, so in the afternoons, she'd get low vibe, she'd get cranky, it would spread. So she actually took the energy exam and she was like, one of the things that recommendations of the energy exam was to keep moving physically, especially in the sleepier afternoon times of like two to five.

God, that should be.

So she. All she did was get like one of those walking desks.

Oh, yeah.

And she just start walking from like 2 to 5. Totally changed her energy totally. To your point. Change the meetings. That's like an environmental shift or even just like standing at your desk. If you're a kinetic, that's so simple. I mean, there are these little simple shortcuts that you can unlock that it's not just about you feeling better and you winning, but, like, everyone around you is vibing off of you as well. And as a leader, if the vibe in the room sucks, it is not your culture. It is not like the strategy or the plan. It's you, dude. Like, that is your responsibility as the leader. And what I love the most about this energy exam, you know, I have a small team, like eight or nine of us. And what I love is that I know the shortcut to unlocking the power source in each of my people.

Oh, man.

Like, my best friend Ashley works for me, as you know. Ashley.

Yeah.

And you know, she is a synergistic.

Yeah.

So she's like you. She needs collaboration, she needs connection. And so I had her working in a silo. I had her home working by herself. And she was just like a nightmare. And we realized, okay, she needs to be in a space other people. She needs more check ins, she needs buddy projects, she needs brainstorms. Just something so simple as being like, you know, is Ashley engaged with others or the other mission that's bigger than herself? Connectivity with something, others or a mission. So I'd remind her, like, run a mission to unlock 1 billion people with peak performance and be burnout. That's it. Less tired, low vibe lives, more energized, optimized ones. That's our mission. When I kind of like circle back to that more often, I could see her. She would lean in, her eyes would kind of light back up. She uncrossed her arms, you know, so this isn't like you have to do this massive overhaul of how your leadership style or your game plan for your team, but it's just like taking the time to unlock, you know, what is that shortcut and then just pivoting your approach a little bit to invite it into their world. Because how they power up is not how you power up. Like for me, I love all the freedom and chaos. I have a girl works me. She's rigorous, she's allergic to that. And so I know I have to overplay, plan and over explain and do the boxes and the spreadsheet and the thing with the task that makes my eye twitch. But it brings her alive and it brings us.

Yeah, you were, I think this was at Girlfriends in business. But you were talking about even the different spaces, like there, once you take the energy exam, it's almost like the realization. Sometimes we don't even have these realizations. Like when you were talking about. For my energy type, I like to like spread out my stuff and go and work in different spaces and like get up and move around.

Yeah.

And that was powerful for me to even go, oh, that's right. That's. That's something that could bring my energy up. I have noticed when I've done that in the past, my energy goes up or my energy goes down if I stay in one spot too long. So it's these little mini realizations that are like, even if you just get a 5 to 10% increase of energy a day, I mean, imagine what that will get you. And a lot of times we can feel bad if we don't understand this about ourselves. Like, oh my gosh. So on my team, we did this amazing thing where we've gotten so organized within our communication, except all communication has gone to like, asana and slack.

Yep.

I am a verbal processor. So I had somebody come in who actually we just hired, who's amazing. And she's like, well, you're struggling because Asana is not like an actual communication tool. Like, you don't get to process or talk about how you've gotten to this conclusion. So I couldn't figure out why for the last month, I was, like, so distraught and disconnected from my company and my people. And they're like, because you're not actually communicating there. And she's like, this is your communication form and how you need to do it. And your energy is going to be so much better if you do this thing.

Yeah.

And I was like, oh, my God. And just even adding in, like a voxer.

Yeah.

Of communication, just. It changed my life.

Love a good voice, you know, but it's interesting and I think, you know, talking about these habits is really important. But you actually brought up something on one of your podcast episodes a couple weeks ago when I was talking about you girlfriends of business, and it was funny. I was getting my eyelashes done and I was listening in preparation for today, and I was like, ooh, an episode of Energy. That sounds fun. I started listening to it, and all of a sudden I realized, like, oh, she's talking about me. That's so fun. But you brought up a really interesting point that I've really been thinking about a lot since I heard it in, you know, habits are important. You know, knowing what power drip's important. Chargers, positivity, visualization. Yes. Checking in, self awareness. Everything we talked about is really, really important. But the one thing we haven't talked about that is sort of the. The, like, low vibe topic. Right. Is what are the mindsets or beliefs that are draining you in the background of your best efforts at high energy habits. So you brought this up in your. In your podcast episode where you were talking about, you know, what types of limiting beliefs are running, Almost like a computer program in the background just draining your phone. And you haven't closed out enough programs on your. On your home screen. Right. And I think that's actually a really huge component of this, because when I talk about energy to my audiences around the world, you know, some people that are already doing this work, they get really energized. Like, yeah, cool, I can plug in, I can optimize, I can refine, you know, how I'm showing up for peak performance. But people that are in drainy seasons, people that are in that one to four people that aren't in a good space, they almost tune out because they're like, look, raising my vibe. I came like Raise myself out of bed. Like, that's. I'm in a different spot. And so if you are someone listening to this and that's more sort of where you are, which, Lord knows, I have been there. I was there three years ago, right? Like, raise your hand if you haven't been there. Like, I mean, whether it's been trauma or loss or grief, family stuff, illness, I mean, everyone's been dealt a draining season, a tough hand, and in those seasons, what your best biggest energy looks like is just going to be different. And that's okay. But I think what's really important is if you have the courage to look back at what's going on and say, like, you know, am I someone that's still playing, like an old narrative from the old days that I can't get to be quiet, like a record on repeat of an authority figure or a parent, someone that said, you didn't have what it took, it wasn't for you. I certainly internalized some of those that still haunt me to this day. Maybe there's a little inner good, girl, you still got a ghost because you're still seeking permission instead of authorizing yourself. You know, I mean, there's. And then there's, you know, fast forward to today. Maybe you have. I mean, one of the worst drainers that you can ever have. Belief in mindset wise is like, for me, it's. It's just saying yes to things that don't align with my value systems, because I feel like I should. Because everyone that's successful is doing certain things, you know, like, even my podcast, by the way, I had like 250 episodes and I just felt so drained. And I'm like, but I have to have my podcast. Like, this is how we do things and move things. And I love talking to people and I love meeting them and I love learning. But sometimes I think mentally, like, we line up all the reasons we should totally. If your whole body is like, I can't explain this to you, but the feeling is like, this is not for us right now.

Right.

Like, you don't have to understand it or judge it, but you do have to manage it and hear it and honor it. Totally. Even if everyone's like, the hell are you doing?

And it's different seasons for that too. Like, I'm not sure. Did it start out good for you?

Yes. Yes. And then. Loved it.

Yeah, totally loved.

Had a blast. And. And I know, you know you when you hear about how you gotta stay consistent and this and that. And I think I'm Using that example, because in our space, like, if you had a podcast that was like top 1% of iTunes and like getting downloads and getting people listening and you're meeting people and it's wonderful, you know, there's no logical reason for you to stop. But, you know, as high achievers, I think our mindsets are so strong. We do this work so much that we just override those natural somatic signals. Like if our bodies are talking to us, like we have some friends that have had health issues that have come up, you know, and it's because, you know, they're such achievers and go getters and performers that it's like, you know, just, you know, the body follows the mind and let's go. And that is so beautiful. But in this life of, of doing good, but also feeling good, there is a balance. And so if you are in that drainy season that like one to four for you, it's like getting to the heart of like, what's heavy. Like, do we need space or time or therapy or, you know, do we to unpack some, some tough things from the past? Or if you're like a high performer and you're like, you know, I'm five to seven, but you're pushing yourself beyond like what feels right for your body, there's, there's a balance to be struck there. And I think that's. For me, as someone who has studied this and learned about this, and I'm really passionate about it and I'm leaning into it in my own life and my clients lives, I think that striking that balance is probably the most challenging aspect of doing this energetic work, is to figure out not what works for the people that you admire on Instagram, but what genuinely works for you. Because it's really hard to make decisions that your peers, people that you admire are like, that doesn't make any sense. Everyone knows the success prescription is this. And you're like, yeah, but like, only I'm in my body. Only I know that I'm having clumps of hair come out in the shower. Like, only I know that. Like, I stopped getting my period for a couple months because I was over indexing. And you know, only I know that when I have podcast days and it's too many that I come home and I'm not listening to my husband with my heart. I am going through the motions and I just want to get in bed. So I think it's, I think we can be really hard on ourselves. And I think there's, there's a balance that you want to chase, you want to go, you want to push out of your comfort zone, for sure. But our bodies will speak to us if we have the guts to actually really listen to them without judgment. And that's something that I struggle with big time, which is why this work is interesting to me, because, you know, there's no perfect way to do it. But all I know is the gauge you can rely on the inner compass that will never let you down. Is that when you ask yourself that question, like, 1 to 7, like, how do I really feel? Energetically, that answer will just pop up. It'll just pop up. And if you don't like the answer, then maybe it's time to make a couple changes.

So that's how you kind of decide. Because I was gonna ask you, okay, you know, with the podcast, how did you actually know when to stop it? Because there is. Okay. Because I'll also preach on here that, like, so many people want something really bad, but they're not willing to stick with it when it's really hot, when it gets hard.

Totally.

So how do you. How did you tell the difference? Was it the score? Like, you kind of just keep checking in with, like, where does the score land on this thing that I'm doing compared to what I want?

Mm. So it's a really good question because there is the stick to it, Ness. There is the, like. Like, it's never all gonna be. I feel like a five to seven with everything schedule.

I, like, love my podcast. Never get. I'm like, as far as I can see, I'm never giving it up. But in all honesty, like, I'm like, oh, my God, sometimes, you know, like, this is so much to keep up with.

Yeah. So for me, I was in a season of over commitment.

Yeah.

And a season of just blowing through boundaries. And so I don't know if it was the podcast itself so much as it was just good old fashioned scattered focus.

Got it.

We were doing, you know, we launched four products. I was doing keynotes. I had the podcast. I was trying to have a social life. My dad got sick, so I was trying to be there for my family. So I think there's just these moments where you just look at everything on your plate and you can feel that you are not swimming. You are treading water. And maybe that's a drowning. And so it's just an evaluation. It's like, okay, let's reverse engineer what success looks like. Okay. For me, like, I've read certain books in our space by certain mutual friends. Who have achieved great, wonderful things. And I have loved the book and been inspired by it and gotten chills and put it down and said to myself, I don't think the price of success, I would never want to pay that high of a price with my physicality and my life and my joy and my happiness. I mean, the end of the day, you know, like, we live in Orange County. Like, I'm an Irish citizen. I like to have a good time. Like, I'm a fun person. I like to have fun. I like to be present. I like to have joy and laughter. Like, I don't. I don't aspire to this busy badge of, you know, badassery all the time. I'm very driven. I've had four businesses, I've traveled the world for my companies. I've helped people. Like, I get shit done, but I know in my heart, my limit. I know what it feels like. And so when I look at my calendar and it just feels like I'm being ripped in all these different directions, two things happen. Number one, what, what allows me to serve and like bring my best, why people do bring me in and hire me, it goes away because bad version me, like low vibe me. No one wants to hire her. That's the first thing. And the second thing is that when there's too much on my plate, I have to look like, what is success like for me? Success. Success is like I am able. We have a really simple credo. It's like six words on three very fancy post it notes in our office. So it's number one, help people. Number two, have fun. Number three, make money. In that order. It's literally help people, have fun, make money. And so when, if that's what success looks like for us. Okay, are we helping people? Yes. Was I having fun with some of these things on my plate, including my podcast? Not anymore. You know, were we making money? Certain aspects were, yeah, the podcast was like doing okay, but it wasn't like, I wasn't like retiring off into the sunset in the Caribbean.

I'm like, it really wasn't hitting the the three.

So it was like the three questions. And so I think it's important to just kind of be clear on like what that success looks like for you. And then you just run everything through it and say, all right, so which one's not really checking the boxes? And for me at that time, it was the podcast. And when I said free, I just knew it was the right thing. It's on pause, but like kind of set it free. But, like. But in that moment, for me, I knew it was the right decision, Laurie, because I felt my shoulders come out of my ears. I felt myself breathing. I love deleting things off my calendar. I was, like, skipping doing it. It just.

Yeah.

And so I don't think it has to be this, like, massive esoteric, perfect, strategic, you know, pro and con. But I think that our bodies talk to us so loudly. Our intuition is so such a guide, and there's. There's a line you just have to walk, and only you can know what that is for you. But my. My challenge would be, you know, are you asking yourself what this feels like, what it should be for you, and not for keeping up with anyone else in your space or trying to chase this ideal that may or may not make you happy in the end? Like, can you take the space and time to really go inward and have that internal moment of investigation where all the answers, they lie? But it's so challenging to tune in. I mean, we are so slammed though this world right now we're living in. It's so designed to keep us ignoring all of those. Those juicy, deep well of knowledge that we possess at any time. But, like, tapping in is really challenging, but you can do it, man. All the goods are in there.

It won't make sense to other people. You're taking me back, like, to all the different times where it's like, I just know something doesn't work anymore. And I loved it at first, or I loved the money that it made and it was helping people. But even if I didn't love it, like, there are times in our life where, you know, you got to get the money up. So the two were there, one was not, but it didn't matter. I'm just, like, in that mode of, like, let's get this career off the ground.

Totally.

And so I do think there are times where you can be a little more choosy, like, later on sometimes. But I. I'm thinking right now of a program that I had. I had an online workout membership that I had for, like, nine years. And I think the last two years, I just dragged myself through it. And I remember the conversation with Chris. And you know how Chris is. If it's, like, making money, he's like, we're not stopping it. Like, let's figure out how to keep it going. Which I love that about him because sometimes it really works.

Yep.

But there was something about it that even though it was making money and it demanded such little time for me, I don't Even, like, I can't actually fathom why I stopped it, but my gut was screaming at me like it was the. Probably one of the least amount of times I had to spend, but the biggest energetic drain I've ever experienced. Now, I didn't really. I understood energy, but at the time, I didn't understand it to the extent that I do now. And there was a part of me that knew that I had to have a hard conversation with my husband of we're turning this monthly beautiful income off because I'm dying. And I know that leaving it behind, even if it's a year or two before I replace it, something will come in that's way bigger and better. And it did, but it was a really hard conversation. He couldn't understand it. He thought it was the stupidest thing ever. And I just, like, as soon as it was done, I felt so incredibly free to then go find something else. But it's like stopping that thing does not make sense to other people. And it didn't even make sense to me. I was like, I just can't do it anymore. Why do I feel this way? And I think, looking back, it's just because I was like, my whole being was ready to evolve into something else, and I couldn't do it until I detached from that identity of that thing that kept me there.

Yes.

So do you. Is that for you? Like, I'm sure there's other things other than the podcast. What's something for you that was like that?

I would say so. My first company, I started when I was 25 years old. It was a website company called Jump Digital Media. We built websites, and I always in our house. Growing up, we had lots of love, but when the topic of money came up, that's when the voices got raised, the energy got weird. Same. And so that's. My people are like, oh, why are you so motivated? I'm like, just because money, to me is. It's the freedom to not have those moments where everyone gets upset and sad and scarce and. And like, I'm even, like, I'm sitting here talking. I'm, like, moving my. My hands around.

I'm gonna hold you like a baby right now.

Like you're saying, I know. Do you see that? I literally started, like, responding. But I think also there's an element, too, of, like, our money story that we internalize as kids. It informs so many of the decisions that we make, and I think it also informs the goals and the visions and what we thinks success should be like, because we're not actually saying, I want to replicate what I saw as successful. We sort of create these dreams of what it is. So in my mind, my dad always talked about his boss's name was Ralph Panabianco. He's not listening to this. But he was always, you know, my. My dad couldn't come to my games because he had to work. But he would always complain. He'd be like, well, Ralph was off at his daughter's soccer game, and Ralph was off with his daughter's thing, and Ralph gets to go to the club and pay golf. And I remember sort of internalizing, like, okay, Ralph's always allowed to do all the things that makes everybody happy. He's the boss. I better, like, be a boss, because that's how. That's. That's who my dad wants to be, it sounds like. And so I have this whole. Like, I didn't really realize it, but. So I was 25, I started my own company, and I was like, I'm going to be a CEO, like, because that's what Ralph was. And, you know, I made such terrible decisions, Lori. I mean, like, I hired like a. Of ton. A ton of my friends that had no experience. I used my personal credit card and got into $70,000 debt, like, advancing payroll that pay for them, you know, I didn't have a business degree. I was three years out of college. I had a great network because I was a good salesperson for the first couple years. So I had all these companies that I had met through just cold calling and calling me out of the Yellow Pages and, you know, selling PowerPoint presentations. And I sold TV advertising in Baltimore City. 100% sales commission. If I didn't sell, I didn't eat. I got rejected approximately 5,000 times in one year. Like, literally just best training ever. And so when I started the company, I made every terrible mistake you could ever make. I had to go back and get a job here in Orange County. Actually, are very. Oh, my God. Our very first office was this building right here down the street from where we are. The one that's next to Billy's. That's. We rented that office when I was.

25, and not a bad view.

Well, we could barely afford it, but I wanted them to think we were older and more successful.

Got it.

Because we were kids. And so we had our first meeting there. Never forget, like, this is your office. Like, yeah, we could barely afford it, but it was like the optic, right? Like, not tomorrow, but today. Yeah, exactly. But it was. It was a really intense experience. Got a corporate Job, job dug out of the debt. I started another company, my socialite agency, which I had, you know, 15 employees full time. We had an office in Laguna Beach, California. We had investors, we had clients. It was the most stressed out I ever was in my entire life. I mean, I remember working, like, every night until I would sleep on my couch in my office. I'd bring clothes there and just, like, do like a little, like, do. Do, like, little shower, like, in the bathroom. And just. I just. I. I worked myself to a level that I thought that was gonna be like, what CEOs do. And I'll never forget, we had this huge networking party where we had all this media and these, like, B and C list celebrities. I was 30 at the time, and we had just done social media for the Oscars, and the selfie went viral of Ellen and Bradley Cooper and all those people. And that was. My team was there. And so it was this big moment. We were featured in the Orange County Business Journal. I was like, 30 under, you know, 30 or whatever. I think I just made the cut at, like, 30. But it was like this moment where I'm the boss, like, I'm the CEO. I did what Ralph did. Like, you know, I have my. I remember I bought my, like, my first fancy car and, you know, I could make payroll. And we're being featured. And it was like, I did it. I did the thing I set out to do. But I literally wake up every single night. I would wake up having night terrors. Like, I woke up outside. One time I woke up in the corner of the room. I wake up shaking, sweating, like I had a breakdown in the shower. Like, my body was like, look, we get this is something that's important to you because when you were growing up, you saw this thing. But, you know, managing people and managing investors and managing clients and doing all of this by yourself, you're not working. You're working harder, not smarter. You know, you're. It's. You're not, like, super profitable. You're doing okay. You're miserable. Like, you hate this. So when. At what point do you kind of say, hey, we ran at something big and ambitious and beautiful, and maybe it wasn't what you thought it was going to be when you got there. And that's a really embarrassing thing to have to, like, eat crow and be like, maybe this isn't for me. I mean, the whole thing came to a head. This is in 2013, and we had a bunch of investors that had backed our agency. We had a huge client that was A credit card company that's probably in your wallet that I can't mention. And they were sort of like the. They were the. The Goliath. And we were. David. Right. So they were the big fancy company in San Francisco. Like, we were at their office with the Golden Gate Bridge out of the shiny office. And they had their own Starbucks in the office. And it was like this big, cool client. And for weeks, this client had started berating my designers, talking down to my project managers, and everyone on my team talk about low vibe. Like, they were just like, this client is a nightmare. And they are not being respectful to us. They're not being kind to us. But it was such a big, juicy, lucrative contract.

Yeah.

So I kept, you know, I'm like, you fire sign, right? And so it's one thing to mess with me, but my people, it's like something else. And I. I bit back my tongue because I'm like, this is so much money. They're paying for all of our overhead of our Laguna beach office and our fancy this and our fancy that, so. And like, that's what you have to do. It's clients. It's the clients always, right? So I bid it back. I bit it back. So one day we're in the meeting and this sweet gal, she's like 23 years old, she was showing her idea, and they started laughing and snickering while she was presenting her idea. And I just snapped. Like, I saw Red Lori. Like, I have never been this mad. And I full on Jerry Maguire, like, dramatic, fired this client, like, on the spot. I was like, oh, you can do better. We're not working here. And I walked out and it was very dramatic. And my team was excited, went out for cheeseburgers, and it was like, yeah, well, the big reckoning comes the next Friday, right? Where we can't make payroll. There are bills that I cannot pay. I go to our investors, I show them our books, and the investors are like, that was literally 65% of the revenue we were bringing in for Q2. So two of the investors pulled out. So all of a sudden, I can't make payroll. My investors had pulled out. I thought I was doing the right thing, firing this client. Which, looking back, would I do it the same way again? I think so. Because at the end of the day, like, it is, you just figure it out when you have to. When it's money related, you'll find it somewhere else. To your point, another better opportunity will come along. But in that moment, with, like, all of this drama, like, losing My investors losing this client, being responsible for all these people not being able to do payroll. I literally had to, like, pause the entire company, blow up the business model, and kind of start from scratch. I mean, we had. I had to fire friends. I had to stop and say, like, okay, what is our model? What are we doing? And it took us about nine months to get back to a place where we could actually, like, make payroll. We weren't in debt. The investors were so excited. But the lessons that I learned from that journey is, like, the only way that we're going to learn these lessons as entrepreneurs, business owners, or even just as a professional. There's only one way to learn it. We can listen to every podcast and read every book. But sometimes you have to just live it and go through it and trust that the experiences and the lessons that are coming your way are meant for you, that there is a higher hand guiding this journey that you're on and that it's happening for you, not to you. And it's easy to say now, right? Cause in the moment, you're like, oh, my God, like, this is nuts. But then it was so crazy, because out of the dumpster fire, of that whole mess, out of the ashes, like Rose the Phoenix was, which was that we got super clear in our business model. Like, we had been everything to everyone we were doing social media for, you know, ads and brands and reputation management and events and all this stuff. Well, it wasn't working. Everything that wheels were coming off, so it forced us to sit down and say, okay, like, what are. Who are we really for? So we became a social media agency just for live events specifically. That was our jam. Like, we became the live events social media company. So then all of a sudden, when we doubled down on it, said no to business that wasn't for us, said no to anything that wasn't in that realm. It was crazy, Laurie. Like, the momentum took off. We got hired by Fashion Week and we got hired by the Grammys. Like, all these crazy events came to us that we would never have attracted or gotten if we hadn't been forced through, like, forged the fire to understand. Like, okay, this is not a great business model. This is not sustainable. You're not finding the clients that you want. So, long story short, that story is one I have not even thought about, honestly, in. In 10 or 11 years. I think the headline of that story, if I had to, like, put a bow on it, is that the decisions that you're making with what you know in that moment are the exact right decision to make. You're trusting your gut, you're trusting your heart, you're doing your best, and exactly what comes next for you. Like, what I'm doing now, every single step, like, builds on the failures and the successes and the learnings and the lessons. And so there's an element here to just, yes, like, be strategic. Yes, do the learning, do the hustling, do the chasing. But also, like, if you can find a way to just, like, trust the ride. Which sounds so Pinterest glittery coffee cup. But like, if you can actually trust. This process is revealing everything it needs to for you and that you actually know more than you do and you're going to learn more than you can imagine. That was what happened for us and, and that company. Then fast forward to today. Like, we were acquired three years ago by an Inc 5000 company. I'm on their board. I get to speak and write and study energy. And. And this is not like the high vibe that I felt in my career when I was 25, my first company, or when I was drowning in debt when I was 30. But there's no way in heck that I would have the lessons and the learnings to do what I'm doing now without those moments. So if you're in the fire right now, just trust that just it is working out for you the way it should. And all you can do is, like, your best, listen to yourself, keep trying and like it. It will work out and you will get the learnings that you need to step into that next version of you. You just. Well, that's how it works.

I love that story. I love when you tell stories about all the things that you've done. You're like, oh, I haven't done much. I'm like, you have done more than literally most people I know. I love, love, love, just. Just hearing about how you've gotten to exactly where you are right now. And it makes so much sense to me why you study energy and you guys. Okay, so you can go to the energy exam by just going down into the show notes. There is a link down there. Like, it's fast. I love it because it's a. It's a pretty fast.

Yeah, five minutes.

Yeah, five minutes. It's not like you have to go and spend 20 minutes on this to figure this out and you get your answers right away. Um, and then I am also excited because I feel like you're going to be offering some really fun stuff down the road as well. I know you and I are always talking about, like, a Train the trainer type of thing on the this energy exam and being able to teach this, because you blew my mind, like, you literally blew my mind when you. When you spoke on stage, all about it. And you guys are going to understand even more outside of this podcast when you go and take the exam and just see all of the work that was put into this. It's truly like the next Enneagram. And I think it's so huge because with this, I love Enneagram so much and we love learning about ourselves, but this is pretty immediate. Like, I feel like there's things you can do to go, oh, that's where I'm leaking my energy. I could probably learn how to close this loop pretty darn quick to get energy back. So that's why it's so powerful. And also to get your people, your friends, your family, your people on your team to take this is so powerful. So you guys go take it and go have your teams take it. If you have teams for sure, or people that you talk to, your loved ones, if you want to learn more about them. And just thank you so much for coming on. I'm so excited for all the things in the future, for all of this for us, for all the. All the fun that's coming.

So good. Thanks so much, Lori. Appreciate you. Yes.

You guys go take the energy exam right now. Go give Aaron a follow what is.

Your instagram handle @ Mrs. Aaron.

King? @ Mrs. Aaron King and let her know what your biggest takeaway was, because it's always so much fun to hear who was listening and see what they loved about it. And you guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Share this with someone that you love and until next time, earn your happy.