62: Bouncing Back, with serial author and entrepreneur, Mike Michalowicz

Hello, friends, and welcome to Grief Guts and Green Smoothies. I am your host, Melissa Dugalecki, and I am so excited to be here with you all to chat about ways in which we can all get through different adversities, challenges, and loss, and how getting outside of our comfort zone and maybe having a green smoothie or two can help us do so. We will cover different topics, ranging from interviews to recipes to sharing my own stories of my grief journey and the loss of my daughter Layden. Honored to be able to share her light in hopes of helping you spread yours. Now let's dive in. I am beyond excited for today's guest. Mike Michalowicz, author of Profit first, is somebody who I met at the beginning of March in a very convoluted but very applicable way. As we talk about all the time on here, it is detaching from outcome. It is paying attention to the process and the journey and just going one day at a time and remaining open, right? Letting stuff go so we're not carrying our own baggage and then opening up to what's possible. And I believe through that, I found Mike. I believe Leighton led me to Mike. Not only is he an incredible author of multiple books, an incredible entrepreneur, he's an incredible human. And he is coming on the show today to talk about his journey, his story, and some really important messages for all of you at all times of life, but especially right now, as we're all feeling this impact of COVID and the ripple effects on us personally and professionally. Further ado, please join me in welcoming Mike Michalowicz. All right, Mike, thank you so much for joining us here on Grief Guts and Green Smoothies today. We are honored to have you.

I'm honored to be here, Melissa. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, absolutely. And to start off, I always like to ask our guests, you know, it's a unique podcast title, name some different, you know, aspects, and what is Grief Guts and Green Smoothies? Like, what does that bring up for you?

Brings up margaritas. To be honest, I think they're the ultimate smoothie. And they. They're not even. They're not even granted the honor of being called a smoothie, but they really kind of are. So I love margaritas. But in all seriousness, when I travel, so I fly a lot right now, not as much, but when I travel, I always stop by the smoothie stores. And I love mix. I love fruit. It's actually my favorite food is fruit. So that's what I think of smoothies, is a mix of fruits. I love greens too. So that's. That's what it means to me.

You can get them all in one. That's the beauty of it.

Yeah. Pack it all together. It's delicious.

I like this margarita smoothie that we might have to go.

It qualifies, right? It kind of qualifies.

Well, what's interesting is that you talked a lot about margaritas in your book Profit First.

Yeah.

And, you know, my business, my work, we always joke that it was, you know, we came up with the idea over tequila and Cinco de Mayo. So it kind of awesome. It all comes together.

It does.

And speaking of Cinco de Mayo tacos, what are your favorite kind of tacos or the best kind that you've had?

Best kind I ever had. I'll never even. I'll never forget. It was in. Outside of Monterrey, Mexico. I have some friends down there. And we went into the Sierra de Madre, which is this beautiful mountain section, and we camped out there for three or four days, and my friends made tacos. And the American version is such a bastardization of a real taco. It's this little small tortilla, and you grab the different meats in the tortilla and you eat like that. It was savory and delicious and the bursting flavors of cilantro and onion and aguacate, which is avocado and, oh, my God, it was amazing. I found those tacos, regardless of the ingredients, were just mind blowing. That's the best taco, the authentic, real Mexican taco in the mountains.

I'm feeling a little bit more urgency in this travel ban, you know, so speaking of, you know, things being shifted right now in our world, for those of you who, you know, I filled our audience in on the amazing work that you've done. But, you know, your book Profit first was something that really, really resonated with me. I had somebody suggested that I read it in terms of a business owner, and so I picked up that book just thinking it was going to help me with the finances of our business. But what you shared and what is woven into the story is really so much deeper than how you manage the different lines of your budget. It hits on resiliency. It hits on overcoming challenge, getting creative, the type of person you are and how you show up. I would love if you could expand a little bit on that rock bottom moment that you share in your book and just how you come back. So many people tuning in have these moments of, what the hell do I do now?

Yeah. Yeah. So that became the inception point for me. So you know, I had grown a couple businesses. I've been an entrepreneur my entire life. I was successful, meaning I built the businesses, sold them and made money. What I realized only after the fact is I had no clue really about the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. And it was my third venture as an angel investor. I discovered this. I lost all my money just out of arrogance, thinking I knew everything, and ignorance I knew nothing. So it was a, you know, a deadly combination. I started an angel investing company and I just sucked at it. Well, I lost all my money. I lost all our money. My, my family, my wife, my children. I had to come home to my family on February 14th, Valentine's Day, 2008. I can remember it so vividly. I know the house. I know the exact spot. I was sitting at the table. I know every detail because I had to come home to my family and tell them that we're going to lose our house, that we were going to lose our possessions. I had no money left. And it was a shock to them because I had been lying to them by omission. Actually, this third business venture was such a calamity. I saw the income evaporating, but logically I could see it going. Emotionally, I couldn't accept it. I thought something would turn this. I was clinging to hope, but just the most ridiculous version of it. So when I got home and told him this, I was crying. It was devastating. My wife started crying. The kids were shocked. My little daughter, she was nine years old at the time, she stood up and she ran out of the room. I thought she was actually running away from me, which I respected because I wanted to run away from me too. She ran to her bedroom and she grabbed her little piggy bank and she ran to me as fast as she could. She goes, daddy, Daddy. She said, I have money. I'll provide for our family. And it was that moment. You've heard me share it before. And if I, I will start crying because it's such an emotional moment for me. It was a, it was such a wake up call that I, out of ignorance and arrogance, had just destroyed everything I was trying to provide or thought I should provide. And then I put this little girl on the line to be the savior for our family. I mean, shame on me. And it became this impetus for me to re explore my own life and my understanding of what makes a entrepreneur successful. Because I didn't really know. I thought I did. I didn't. And that day became the seed to become an author. And it wasn't like the next morning I woke up and said, I'm going to be an author. Now I got all figured out. I had to go through a journey of struggle and depression, but I committed to being an author. And I reflect on that moment as being the starting point for me. That's what I do today. I write business books specifically to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty. That ignorance that we don't even know we have, that. That perception that we're wildly successful, yet we're struggling wildly to close that gap. And that's what I do. I write books. Profit first is one of them. To serve entrepreneurs in having a better journey there.

I mean, your work is amazing. And, you know, your mission, it's so powerful and it's something that is so widely impactful. And talking a lot about just that continual pursuit, you know, and you just mentioned the difference between running a business or being a successful entrepreneur and what do you think constitutes successful entrepreneurship? Because I found in my experience that it's not just successful entrepreneurship. It's like successful humanship. Right?

No, you're totally right. It's one of the same. And I would dare say that entrepreneurship is simply just a platform for expression, for the humanship. So it really is just about the human journey. My definition of success is very different than it was nearly 20 years ago. I mean, to me, success is to follow and serve, something I feel called to do. That's for the greater service of humanity. And it doesn't have to be this grand vision. My mission, as I define for myself, is to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty. Every day I'm out there servicing it, regardless of the measurable outcome in money or awareness or fame. Do I have impact? Did I have impact today? That is a very successful business. And if I can link that impact together over and over again, for me, that's more and more success. But I also think that some people hear that, oh, you're eradicating entrepreneurial poverty. My vision isn't that big. I don't think there's a big versus small vision. I remember speaking this one gentleman, he goes, he goes, mike, honestly, my vision is just to feed my family. His wife passed away. And he's like, I just gotta put food on the table. He's like, I'm sorry, I don't have a vision. I'm like, don't have a vision? Shame on you. You got the. Probably one of the grandest visions in the world. To care for people that can't care for themselves, to support your family. That's unfreaking believable. He Leaned into it. And that's what he did. I ran into him years again later and I said, how's your vision? He's like, that vision's been served. I have a new, different vision. And he goes, now I realize that single parents, the greatest opportunity to reconnect with your family is during mealtime. It's like I'm starting an organization to feed single parent families so they can enjoy their mealtime together. So a vision, I think doesn't have to be, you know, size wise, a number of fuel impacts. It's about the depth of impact. And you could have a massive vision serving just one other person. And sometimes visions turn into new versions, new variants of it. So for that gentleman, it turned into something new too.

I love that so much. And I think for me, you know, prior to losing Leiden, you know, I had. It's interesting how our daughters both represent these, like, moments.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I was pursuing all the things I thought I quote, unquote, should, right? And I was defining my success very differently and from detaching from all that and just saying, how can I show up powerfully today? And what I think is so important about that, especially so many people tuning in are, you know, on a grief journey or somehow, you know, connected to grief or supporting someone who has. It's like giving yourself permission to let that be a wave. Right. Some days, like, you're super powerful and you're crushing it. Some days it's just like connecting with somebody, like sharing a meal, having conversation. But when you do that, your story kind of unveils itself over time.

That's right. And you're being of service. Being of service isn't necessarily just one form over and over again. It's no, it's whatever is the appropriate form for that moment. So my primary platform is books, but I also do speaking events. But I also have one on ones. I just spoke two days ago or yesterday to a group of wedding business owners and, you know, as Covid is tearing through the global society that we are wedding planners among so many other business groups are grossly affected, the greatest way I could be a service was not to share. I didn't have any, like, great insights like, hey, here's what I did in my wedding planning business. My greatest service at the moment was just to listen, to shut up and listen and let people have at least a little relief valve that they're being heard. That's a great service too. So, you know, another thing too I want to point to is the significance of trauma. I can't imagine what Melissa, what you've experienced, the loss of your daughter. And you showed me pictures, a beautiful girl, and it's just, I can't imagine it. I didn't before imagine that trauma could be something outside of that kind of loss. I thought trauma would be physical abuse or loss of a loved one. But I also realized trauma presents itself in so many different ways that I didn't appreciate. So my trauma was not any loss of humanity or anything. It was just a loss of identity, of my money. And that was such a vicious shift for me that that became a moment of awareness. And I think what trauma does when leveraged the right way is it becomes this inception point. It's the day we say, I will never permit this to happen again to myself or anyone else. Or I see why I need to be of service to this, to resolve this. It becomes the calling for resolution. And it's very clear how you've used that horrible situation to bring wonderment and of service and joy to so many others through nutrition and health. And now I realize, oh my gosh, I had my trauma event, but my own version of it. And that was strong enough to like the spark. It's just like the fuse. I gotta fix this. And it's interesting too. I think as we serve that it actually builds. Like many things, as we approach completion, it feels like the less effort's required or that it's diminishing. For me at least, as I said on this path to eradicate entrepreneurial poverty, the more I do it, the more the need is growing, the greater the sense of urgency is. So it's interesting. I think a calling or a purpose is actually something that magnetizes us and pulls us forward as opposed to running away or running to something, it actually starts pulling us.

I love that. And it's, you know, I talk a lot about on this podcast in general, my work and my coaching about energy. And we attach so much emotion to things and of course there's emotion, but we have to kind of peel back and look at what's the energy underneath it and energy underneath of the loss of sense of self and the loss of someone you love. Like, they're very similar energies. And so when we focus on the energy, it allows us to really understand what's manifesting and how and we can direct it into a really positive way. And just coming from the Author up event, which was absolutely amazing, and the other aspiring authors here need to check out Mike's offering for Author up because it was a life changing event for me but my book, the one that I'm writing because I'm an author, you know, it's not geared just for people who are experiencing grief through the loss of life. It's actually designed for, you know, the version of you who is experiencing that loss of sense of self.

I love that. I love that. You know, I think, at least for me, I was so stuck in the comparison. Like, who am I to say that I have purpose compared to you, Melissa, and what you've experienced. Shame on me. And conversely, and conversely, I would say, too, you haven't. To others, you haven't been what I've been through. You don't get how big my purpose is. Shame on you. I realize both of those are totally wrong. Shame on me for no shame.

No shame.

No shame, no shame. Believing that any purpose is different. In fact, I wear this bracelet. I don't know if I ever mentioned this to you, but this bracelet, the reason I wear this, there's two components to it that are just my reminder. The first thing is there's an infinity sign. It goes under and over this rope. But the infinity sign is just a simple reminder to me that all of humanity is on the same journey, the same path. We have different experiences, we have different things we can share. We can look at each other from across the pathway we're on, but we're on identical path. Therefore, no one's journey or path is greater or worse. Someone who's. And I used to just look at someone as homeless and want to avoid them and say, I can't be near that person. I'm so sorry for them. I pity them. That's saying I'm on a different path. That's not giving them the validation, the significance of their journey. There is great experience going on. It's maybe hard experience, maybe that's my judgment, but there's great experience. Conversely, I look at others and have envy. You know, look at Bill Gates or who. I just read an article from him today. So he comes to mind, like, all his success and he doesn't deserve it. And I'd actually try to pull him down in my mind of why I deserve more and he doesn't, as it's a comparative thing, but that's wrong. He's on the same human path as me, as someone's homeless, or whatever the experience or the parameters we put around a person, it's simply the human journey that's a reminder of that. And then the other thing is, on this side, uh, it says, eradicate entrepreneurial poverty is purpose. And I Have it here because this is where my blood flows through my veins. And so it's a reminder that this is my life's purpose and it's just a physical, you know, manifestation of what I'm, what I'm trying to do.

I gotta show you mine now. So the infinity symbol tattooed on my foot.

No way.

Yeah. But this bracelet here says embrace imperfection.

There you. Ah, beautiful.

I was really attached to perfection before Layden. And I was forced, you know, I was, I was four year class president. I was the division one college athlete. I was like, you know, I checked all the boxes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's sad and I have mom guilt saying this, but I think that I've learned I live a happier life now than I did before. Which feels awful to say because I would rather be unhappy, ignorant and have laden. I don't have a choice. Right. But I've learned that happiness isn't like perfection. It isn't what it looks like. It isn't comparison. Right. We're all just in this human experience and how do we need to show up each day, you know?

Right. I love that. Wow. No wonder you're such an awesome person. Like, it's funny when you find someone that has the same, I don't know if the words awareness because that's also saying that others don't have awareness. We all do. It's just the same kind of perception. Maybe that's the better word, the same lens. It's like, oh, it's so much more easy to communicate and you can feel in the vibes. Like we met up at Profit First Live, there was 20 or 30 people in that room as a small intimate group. 20 people. And I get them like Melissa's got something going on there, some special vibe. It's just interesting how that energy, I don't know, you just kind of can sense it in someone. So thank you for what you're doing and for sharing that.

Thank you. And you know, I'm going to elaborate on that. You know, just that whole energy and opening connections and feeling that. Because I believe, you know, Layden led me to a series of things that led me to connect with you. And I just encourage everybody, have that conversation, talk to somebody who quote, unquote, vibes with you. Like get to know them, see their story and see how maybe you can help them expand, how they can help you expand. Because I believe we're here on this earth to like co create and to like all be a part of our expansiveness. Right. Of this experience.

Yeah. Yeah, it's so funny. So I'm doing a lot of videos right now as Covid's going around and stuff, and. And so one of the questions is, Mike, you're showing such confidence, and it's so helpful. I think we are all called to be leaders in this time and in our own capacity. The funny thing is, people, like, how can you be so confident and control? And I'm like, well, maybe as we see in the camera, but behind the scene, I'm crying occasionally. I'm writing in my journal, like, oh, my God, this is a scary time. I think it's. To be strong is also, you know, these dichotomies. To be strong is also to be exposed and weak. I don't know why I feel compelled to share that. But it's just in these moments, we have to lean more into what we're called to do. But also, we don't have to be. Not inhuman. But these robots, always delivering, always perfect. There's perfection in the imperfection.

Yes. Microphone drop right there. But please don't, because your sound is excellent.

I can't afford to drop this. I don't want to.

No. That's so great. I could talk about that forever and just, you know, I want to transition and let them know about your work and your book. But just to add to that briefly is what I keep reminding this audience and, you know, of the people that I work with and myself is, honestly, right now, I'm not teaching or coaching or offering anything new. It's okay, guys. Like, these are the tools that you have for this moment. Grab them, hold on to them. Like, we don't need to create anything new. Like, let's trust all the things that we've been cultivating, and this is where we put them to work. And like, you talked about that woman who's been doing it now. Like, it's a time to shine. And so through these times, it's like, as we've cultivated these tools, now we really draw on them. And now we really feel the benefit of that, you know, energy we've invested in it and steering the course, you know?

Totally, totally agree. Yeah, this is the time.

Now. You and I have other similarities. I was thinking about in preparing for this, of that, we both talk about topics that are typically avoided. At least in my experience. No one wants to talk about grief. At least in my upbringing, in my circle, people don't want to talk about finances. It was like you were either. I grew up thinking you were either a good person or you made money. So I keep teaching and I was burned out and exhausted. So I would just love for you to just kind of share your philosophy on disarmoring. Right. Like I try and disarmor all this like weirdness around grief and doing that around finances.

Yeah. So, you know, the core essence, I strongly suspect you follow similar principles is we got to break it down into the smallest bite sized pieces. Because grief on its own is just overwhelming. It causes avoidance. Finances are so overwhelming its own, it causes avoidance, which by the way is you can't avoid it. It just rolls over you then. And that's the worst thing to do, right? Exact same thing. So we got break into small pieces. What I did with Profit first was I wanted to develop a system that allows people to continue to be naturally who they are and not force them to become someone who they aren't. So when people say they're not good at numbers, I'm like, that's. You're perfect for Profit First. You know, I don't do the accounting. I have no idea how it works. You're even better for Profit First. The Profit first is a cash management system that runs at your bank. Most entrepreneurs I found log into their bank accounts and see how much money they have. So we set multiple accounts. They're equivalent to envelopes. And we allocate money to its intended use first before spending money. So if $1,000 comes into your bank account in your business, well, we're going to have multiple accounts. One for profit, one for the compensation of the owner, which is different than profit. One for taxes, one for the operations of the business. And we're going to allocate money to these different accounts and. And now you see what's truly available. It used to be I have a thousand dollars. Like, oh, I have a thousand dollars to spend. I need to get XYZ. Now when $1,000 comes in and money's reserved for these different purposes, you realize for the operations of the business, maybe it's $200, but you also have your tax liabilities reserved. You're taking care of yourself, the key employee of the business. You're even reserving money in profit, which is a celebratory account. So that's how this works. Don't change who you are. Put a system that's right in your natural behavioral path that channels you to where you want to be.

I love that. And you know, you've got the system, right? And this amazing system that has saved hundreds and hundreds of businesses. Right. And there are some business owners who have referenced recently that had they not implemented profit first, they would be impacted so drastically.

Yeah, I'm seeing that. It's amazing seeing that. Yeah.

And that's going to make you feel so good too.

Oh, especially, you know, my love language. There's a great book called the five Love Languages. My love language is words of affirmation. So every time it's like, oh, my God, I love it. But we have well over 300,000 businesses that have implemented private first. We did do our next assessment and survey. We think we're surpassed 350,000 businesses now that have implemented it.

That's fun. Congratulations.

Thank you. It is amazing and exciting and I hope more and more businesses do it because the world economy needs healthy small businesses in the worst way.

My businesses are doing it and it's been. It's the best word I can use to describe it is empowering.

Thank you.

Very empowering as a business owner to take that approach. And you have even more, you know, and I just, I don't want to overlook, like you took that moment, like when your daughter came with her piggy bank. You didn't say, like, I'm turning this into a life changing, you know, thing. And you've chosen to do that. And kind of when Layden passed away, I didn't say, I'm gonna turn this into my life's purpose. Like, so any listening, if you're going through tragedy, you're going through trauma, like, just keep showing up powerfully and it's going to unfold for you.

Right. It will reveal itself. And it doesn't happen in that second, not for me. It took a couple of years to really grasp and understand it, but it will reveal itself.

And the next thing being revealed from your amazing line of work. We have Fix this Next. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah. Which I think I have right there. It's super tiny. Fix this. So Fix this Next, my new book. And it's ironic that we're having this global turmoil right now because I wrote it to address turmoil in business. It's often influenced by global turmoil. So Fix this Next is a process to pinpoint the exact need your business has now. And most entrepreneurs, especially under duress, get into a scramble and panic mode and the business starts spinning wheels and actually digs a hole into the mud. So what's the one most impactful thing you need to do for your business now? And so this book is a simple compass to pinpoint your one need, address it, find the next need, address it, and continue on to climb out climb forwarding and grow your business to your vision.

It's amazing. I've already pre ordered. I cannot wait.

Thank you.

And go deeper in learning and where can people find you if they want to order this book? If they want to follow along with your journey, where can they find you?

Yeah, The Mecca is mikemicalitz.com or mikemotorbike.com because McAllowitz is hard to spell and Mike Motorbike was my nickname in high school so. And I never driven a motorcycle. But you can go to mikemotorbike.com my books free chapter downloads to explore them are available. I used to write for the Wall Street Journal. You can get those articles and my own podcast Entrepreneurship Elevated is all accessible.

Through mikemotorbike.com I cannot thank you enough for cultivating time to be on here to get this message of resiliency which applies so much to grief and all trauma and especially at this time in right now. And thank you for all you do to empower business owners and just humans right in humanship and being the best version of themselves.

Thank you. Take care.

Melissa Holy cow, is it just me or is Mike someone that you just want to talk to all day? Our interview time absolutely flew by. I could have talked to him for hours more. And I am so grateful that we are able to share his story here with all of you. Because as much as right now, the mechanism which he's speaking about is really through our business building and through our financial ownership. What he's really talking about are the same things that we talk about here on Grief, Guts and Green Smoothies, right? It's letting go of ego, right? It's learning. It's getting curious. It's not denying things that are uncomfortable. It's how having those difficult conversations, it's choosing growth. It's connecting, it's opening. And so the manifestation in which he's doing his work, sure, that differs in the way that it presents, but at the core and at the root, it's exactly all of the things, all of the energies that we talk about here. Which is why I believe he and I have vibed so well. And I'm so grateful he was able to make time highly recommend and go follow him. And if this was a helpful episode, please rate and review so we know what you want to hear more of. And I can make sure to bring you guys all the very best content. You can do that on Spotify or itunes. It means so much to me because all I want to do is offer value that is going to support you in your journey. Thank you for being here alongside me. And shining my daughter Layden's light as well. Talk soon.