172: From Housewife to Co-Founder of a Billion Dollar Company with Lisa Bilyeu

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest development. This is an amazing conversation that you are about to be a part of. Where I went to Lisa Bilyeu's house and spoke with her all about her journey, which was so, so beyond inspiring. If you're not familiar with Lisa Bilyeu, she went from housewife to co founder of a billion dollar company which is Quest Nutrition. I'm sure you've seen Quest bars, Quest protein shakes, Quest everything. They're in pretty much every gas station, grocery store, anywhere you can go. And the amazing thing is she started making these bars in her kitchen. They were actually the protein bars that she used to give her husband when she was going to work. And little by little it became a business that they started shipping out of her home kitchen which became a billion dollar company. And the interesting thing is she had no intention of this. In fact, she was really happy with being a housewife. But suddenly everything shifted for her and now not only is she the co founder of Quest Nutrition, but she is the co founder of Impact Theory and has her own show called Women of Impact which she just interviewed me on. You should check that out on YouTube. All about interview Woman, specifically about what makes them a superhero. So she is someone who's so full of light, so positive, you're just going to fall in love with her the way that I have. And I'm so excited to invite her on the Highest Self podcast. Without further ado, let's welcome Lisa Bilyeu. And before we get started, check out these brands that make Highest Self podcast possible. This episode is brought to you by uvada. Uvada is a modernized ayurvedic supplement company that takes certain issues that we have such as mood, joints, immunity, digestion and creates these custom little packets exactly for us. Infusing ancient ayurvedic herbs with modern vitamins and minerals. I take the mood formula daily. It is great if you work a stressful job, had adrenal fatigue, ever suffer from anxiety or even depression and it really heals you from a fundamental and holistic level. So if you want to try it out, head over to Uveda. Y O U v e d a.com use the code Sahara and you'll receive 35 off your first order. And they now ship to almost every country globally. So check it out. If you live internationally, they may be shipping to your country too. And they just added India. Guys.

Foreign.

Lisa to the Highest Self podcast. It's so good to have you here.

So good to be here.

So the first question that I would love to ask you is what makes you your highest self?

Oh, being able to control my emotions because I find myself getting emotional and then that dictates how I act or what I do and I realize it doesn't serve me. So being able to understand my emotions, not judge myself on my emotions, but also not trust me them has allowed me to be more clear headed and become my higher self.

I love that so much. And I definitely. I was actually listening to the Woman of Impact theory podcast on the way here and it was the topic about emotions.

Yeah.

So it's so funny because I remember the woman writing they were saying how it's so okay to cry and we don't let ourselves. And you were saying how you just don't feel like a crier. And I so resonate with that. Like I'm just not really a crier person. And then before I've been like, am I like a stone cold bitch? And it's like, no, because I just show my emotions in different ways and we just have different spectrums and sometimes it's just an emotional release and sometimes it's a story and you know, it's a wave and we just have to observe it and not become attached to it.

Do you know why you don't show your emotion? Have you ever thought about it?

I mean I'm a Capricorn, so like all my planets are in Capricorn, so I feel like that is maybe a part of it. But also growing up with a Persian dad, the same thing as with your dad being like, if I was crying, he would be like, I can't understand what you're saying. Like, don't cry. You have to be like, make sense and speak logically. Be rational, not emotional. So I think years of that embedded into my system have like made me that way. So yeah, I mean, I wonder what it would look like if I had grown up with different parents. Maybe I would be more of a crier.

Right. And I think also depending on where your parents have come from, you know, same with my dad, Greek Orthodox, and he came from a place where times were tough. I mean, you're digging ditches in the village, you know, in 130 degree heat to earn 5 cents. And so you're crying over something in, you know that it may seem like a big deal when you're young, but he's just like, look, that's life. Like, suck it up.

Crying in a way Is a luxury.

Yeah. But at the same time, I think that it hasn't served me in holding back so much. So it's really about trying to find. I don't actually like the word balance, which we can go down if you want, but trying to find that kind of. Okay, when does crying. When is it good for you? And then when does it actually derail you?

Yes. Yeah. There's a time and space for everything. So your story is so, so inspiring to really millions of people around the world because you went from a housewife, you've been married for 18 years.

Yeah. Been together for 18, been married 16.

Years, and now co founder of a billion dollar company, as well as your own project, the entire impact theory, as well as your own show, Woman of Impact. So can you just walk us through that journey of going from being at home, folding your husband's laundry to being this, like, badass bo?

Yeah, it really. I didn't set out to be a housewife. I had big dreams when I was younger. I'm going to be the first female director to ever win an Academy Award. Came to America, met the man of my dreams, got married, moved here, and we had worked on a few movies initially, and we just realized that if you don't control the money, it's hard to control the art form. And I realized very early on that even though I had this dream of, like, making movies, I actually wasn't willing to sacrifice my soul. And going into the Hollywood world, it's like, you really are getting stepped on or you need to step on people. And I just said, you know what? As much as I want this dream to come true, I'm not willing to do that. I'm not willing to step on someone to get higher up, and I'm not willing to be stepped on, you know? And so we realized, okay, well, we have to control the resources, the finance. So we decided as a team, as a couple, me and my husband, that he was going to go out and start this new business. Back then, like, entrepreneurship wasn't a thing. And so he met these guys and he started a tech company. I was like, okay, I'll stay at home. I'll take care of everything in the house. I called myself the CEO of Billew Enterprises, which really was a housewife, but it's actually a reflection of how I felt. I didn't feel good about being called a housewife. And so I thought, just don't call yourself that. Give yourself a fancy name and I'll take care of everything in the house. That means Bills, food, clothing. Like, he didn't have to think about anything except work. And that all stemmed from. If you look at Steve Jobs, he always wore the same color T shirt. Like, it was always plain. It was usually black T shirt. Because the truth is, people only have a certain amount of decisions they can make in a day. And if you're using that on what shirt am I going to wear? What am I going to eat? It actually does take up part of that decision making. And so let's save those decisions for business. So we sat down and said, okay, you don't decide anything else except for the business stuff. I'll decide on everything else. And that was how we kind of went about it. We thought, this can take 18 months. This will be great. I get 18 months of kind of, you know, supporting my husband. And then we'll go into it. We'll cut to, like, seven years later, and I was still a housewife, and my husband was completely miserable. He was selling his soul ultimately for trying to make money. And I just had enough. And I said, look, you're not the man that I married, and I love you, and I want to see you happy. And as your wife, I feel like it is my duty to point out that you are not the same man. Like, your soul has been sucked out. And it is my duty to make sure that that doesn't happen. And as a, you know, I would want that from him. So we made a plan. Okay, we were going to move to Greece, and he was going to write, and we were going to creative again, and he was going to go in and quit his job and, like, give the equity over, because we'd actually earned about $2 million in equity in the company. And I said, I don't care about the money. I really don't. I need my husband back. So we had a big plan. He was going to go in and quit. And that basically was the birth of Quest Nutrition. Because he turned around and he said to his business partners, I cannot do this anymore. I only want to do what feels good. I only want to bring value to people. And if I'm not doing that through a company with you guys, then I'm going to go off and do it by my. So we started. They sat down, they said, what does that look like? And Quest then became, for me, it was like, I'm just going to help my husband. So he was still at the tech company. He said, babe, do you mind? Just, like, shipping orders from the living room floor?

Hadn't he come up with the idea of a protein bar.

So it was him and his business partners. I was actually making protein bars from home for him to take to work with him every day. Because, you know, back then there was nothing that was. It either tasted terrible and you, like literally had to hold your breath and chug water, or it was really just a sugar candy bar that happened to have protein in it. So him and his business partners, the wives, were all making food for them to take to work with them. But the second you add water to anything, it activates the molding process. You have to keep it refrigerated. It'll only last, let's say three to four days. And they're like, well, what do we need? Like, how do I bring value to myself first? Because if it's something I need, then I'm sure there's someone else out there that would need it too. And they were all like, well, this is something that we've all been doing for a while. We all live in the fitness space, we all work out. One of the guys had massive background in manufacturing, like machinery, and the other guy had really good experience in like food and nutrition. And my husband's all about community and understanding people. So the three of them coming together, we really did hit like a perfect triangle of what made up quest. Someone that understood the from a macro level, the actual bar itself and how you make it shelf stable. Somebody else knew exactly how to like or figured out how to manufacture. And my husband was the marketing guy, so he understand building a community. It's not about the product. This was before Instagram ever existed. Facebook had just started. And he recognized that people speak louder than any advertising. And if you're able to bring value to somebody, then they're going to speak about it. And if you screw someone over, they're going to speak about it. And so that notion, as we started, I was just like, okay, I'll support you. You know, I'm doing housewife stuff in a way. So we would rent kitchens and on our spare time, I would weigh the peanut butter, the other guy's wife would weigh the protein powder, and the other guy's wife would weigh the nuts. And we would literally take all the ingredients and we were making the protein bars by hand. It would take us about eight hours, eight people to make 2,000 protein bars. And just to give you an understanding, now we make like 1.5 bars a day. So big change. But back then it was just prove that it can be done. Take the rolling pins. And so we went into hustle mode and I know that's become a thing now, but back then, it was just, like, for me, and I can only speak for me, I just didn't want to let my husband down because he had this idea. And I never thought that I was going to turn into a businesswoman. I never thought that I would really evolve in that space. But because I was shipping from my living room floor, and then all of a sudden, we're getting more orders. So it's like, oh, well, ship our friend's garage. And, oh, well, Lisa, you already know how to do it, so you may as well ship from the facility in Compton. It's like, oh, well, these. So I just kept going, and over time, I just figured out how to do inventory and how to rent a warehouse space and forklift drivers. And that went from me being a housewife to running our shipping department that was taking in $80 million of inventory at 40 employees underneath me. And that was all, in two years, crazy.

I've seen the pictures of you in that shipping facility with your hair tied up. And you were saying how that's how you guys spent your weekends.

Yeah. And that was exactly it. It all stemmed from I didn't want to let my husband down. And then after a while, I was like, I kind of like this. I kind of like learning. I didn't understand the growth mindset phrasing yet, but I was starting to have a growth mindset where I was starting to hit hurdles. And because I felt like I had to hold up my end of the bargain, because I was expecting my husband to hold up his end of the bargain if I had to hold up mine, I was like, I can't just stop here. If I hit a roadblock, if I hit a stumble, if I didn't know what I was doing, I couldn't just put my hands up and go, well, that's it. I have no clue. It was like, no, Lisa, you better figure this out, because you've got people relying on you. So whether that meant I had to Google things, watch videos, I was picking people's brains. So any. You know, I was finding forklift drivers, and I was sitting them down. I was just asking them the process of getting a license. I was calling up the company that did the licensing. How can I bring you in? How can I help you license our drivers? Like, I was just. Just figuring it out. And that's how I started my entrepreneurial journey. And then especially being a boss, that was a whole different thing, that I really had to understand humans. And I went into the Psychology of it, what motivates people? Because I just thought, well, everyone's going to have the same drive as I have, but the truth is they don't. Everyone's got their own selfish desires, which I think is great, but they've got their own reasons on why they're there. Some people just may want a 9 to 5 job. So when you're sitting there grinding, expecting everyone else to, the truth is, is they may not want to. So how do I speak their language? How do I get the most out of them while they are here? So I started learning psychology, started reading books, started understanding a mindset, started understanding different personality traits where one person, you can do a big announcement to the team and say, johnny did an amazing job today and I want to do a big round of applause. And Johnny feels good about himself and he knows that he's doing a good job. Well, I may do that for someone else and they may not feel appreciated because their language isn't words of affirmation. Their language is maybe, you know, acts of service, which means I'm going to go make them a coffee. And just the fact that I made them a coffee makes them feel more appreciated than me doing a shout out. I didn't know any of that. Had to learn it.

That's amazing that you applied the five love languages to your business because that's normally a relationships thing. I love that. And I think we've all been in situations that we're so passionate what we're doing and we're like, wait, why isn't everyone else's passion? And then you end up holding up up most of the weight and then you're kind of resentful because the other people that may be also benefiting from your hard work are not working as hard. So what did you find? Like a piece of advice to help motivate other people to. To stay on. I know you use the love languages. Is there anything else?

Yeah, the word I use is what is your selfish desire? Like, forget about this job, forget about me, forgetting about being here. Like, what is the thing that makes you feel most alive? Like, what do you really want out of life? Because knowing what someone really wants out of life really helps. So let's say, for instance, someone, I want to support my family. Okay, so now I know something about them. I know they care about their family. Well, holding them late and missing their daughter's recital or something isn't going to make them feel good about themselves. So how do you support them in that area? Let them know they're supported in that area so that when you call on them, they're like, they support me, so I'm going to support you. And so it is encouraging. It is like, hey, you shouldn't be here. It's five o'. Clock. I thought you said your daughter's waiting for you. You need to go home and spend time with them because two days later, where I may need you to stay late because we've got an order fulfill and I ask you, hey, do you mind staying late? They'll feel like they want to help you back. And so what is that thing that keeps people energized that they're really passionate about? And how do you facilitate that in a company?

I think that's so beautiful because the characteristics that you had as a loving wife, which are to be personal and to see what do other people need and to attend to those needs, you brought that into business and that's what really made you skyrocket because you're not just looking at them as a bunch of, of shipping employees. You're like, that's the one whose daughter has the ballet recital, that's the one who's affording college right now. And then you created them as humans, not just as workers. And then they're seeing you as a human and then it's a human to human connection.

And that's so important in this day and age. You've got to connect with people on the human level. And everyone needs to be there for their own selfish reasons. And I think that when someone's there for their selfish reason and your selfish reason and they align, that is the most magic you can find in a, in a partnership. Because now you're doing it for you yourself. You're not doing it just for the paycheck, you're doing it for yourself. But it benefits other people. Like, that's so amazing. And when you can find that, that's when the best synergy happens.

I love that so much. So tell me, when did you and Tom decide to kind of shift away from just focusing on Quest and to build the entire impact theory and go back to what I didn't know that you guys were initially wanting to be film directors. So how did you come back to this initial passion?

Yeah, so. So after the shipping department had gotten to, you know, 80 million in revenue, I was very proud of what I had achieved, but I realized that I wasn't happy. Like every day I was in sweats, a hair and a. I didn't feel like myself. I'd built it. I was Very proud. But I was like, this isn't actually what I want in life, so what do I actually want? You need to, you know, the no BS question. You have to actually ask yourself that. And it was to get back to my roots in creative. And at that, that point, we were starting to do Content with Influencers. Now this is again before anyone was doing Content with Influencers. So Cassie Ho was our first person.

She used to be my Pilates teacher before Blogilates blew up.

That's amazing.

Really, like six years ago.

That's so crazy. Small world. So, yes, she came on board. We hired her to be the host of a cooking show. And we didn't have a studio or anything. So at that. It just so happens that I was. Was feeling like I need. I had a bigger purpose or a different purpose. And this happened. So I was like, okay. Well, in fact, my husband and the CMO said, lisa, we actually need someone over in the media department to start building our content. If you really do have a drive and you've got a, you know, a history of moviemaking and filmmaking, do you want to start a production company in Quest? I was like, sure. So I transitioned over. I started doing that. I started doing content for Quest. Loved it again. It was all new again. I was figuring out how to build sets. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was figuring it out. Loved all of that. And then about five years into the entire company, we were announced as the second fastest growing company in North America. We were growing at 57,000% growth rate, which is. I didn't realize at the time, but apparently that's really good. And we were announced as a billion dollar company. We were evaluated a billion dollars. So that's a lot to take in, right? Like, I'm. My head is down, I'm working hard. Then all of a sudden I look up and this ev in and I reassess, like, okay, are you happy again? Like, just like I did the first two years. I need to really think, because I wasn't jumping out of bed anymore again. And I'm like, but you should be happy. Like, you've got all these awards, the company's crushing it. Everywhere you turn, people know what Quest is and you don't feel satisfied again. So what is that? And so it was really realizing that I had started helping people. And then it became about the business again. So all the content we were doing and steered away from really the heart of it. And it was like selling product, which is necessary. Like, I get the game. You have to do it, you need to advertise. But I wasn't really in it with my heart anymore. And when I started looking at what really makes me feel alive, it was the content that really resonated with people. So we had this show called Transformation and we were showing people's transformation. It was how the product really helped people's lives. And when we started looking at that and my husband and I, we were like, wow, okay. The things that we're most passionate about is really touching people's hearts. And Tom's business partners wanted to keep down the body route. It's about the body, it's about improving health. And we realized, okay, this doesn't feel right for us. And when great thing about having a company so big is you don't necessarily have to stay there, if I'm going to be honest, right? If it doesn't feel right anymore. And so Quest is amazing. We still own massive portion of the company, but it wasn't satisfying us day to day. So we realized we needed to do something that satisfied us. Now, breaking that down even more, what does that actually look like? Okay, well, what is our mission? Going back to, the purpose is to help people. Okay, how do you really help people? Quest bars were great, but Quest bars are great for people who've already made that decision to go into a gym or eat healthy. And for some people, like Tom's sister, she lost like £150. It was incredible. But then I looked at my mum and my mum was putting on weight. So here I am, wealthier than ever. I can throw money at the problem. Mom, I'll hire you a private chef, I'll hire you a personal trainer. But she was putting on more weight. Why? If my mission really is to help people, I'm not helping my own mum. And I realize it's the mindset, period. If you're in bed and you're depressed, if you have anxiety and can't bring yourself to go to the gym, then how do you help those people? And if I really am going to create impact, and I really do want to know bs, what is that going to take? Okay. It means that you have to do things based on the mind, not just the body. So we turned around and we said, okay, then we need to address the mind and we're going to create content going back to where our hearts really are and what our knowledge is. It's video. And so that's how we started Impact theory. And you know, women of impact, I love that.

And it's just such a Amazing. We always talking about making your mess your message and that's really what you're doing. And you're giving voice to these stories that no one really hears. And it could have been so easy for you to be like, screw it, I'm just selling my shares and I'm going to retire. And like, screw all y', all, I don't have any issues anymore. And you're like, no, let me go to the people who, who are even deeper into despair than those who are like trying to work out and trying to lose weight. Like the people who don't can't even get out of bed. And how can I help them? And that just says so much about you because most of us, the moment you get money, you run away from the problem and you're like, how can I get deeper into it? Are you wondering how you can help others live healthier and happier lives? Well, today I want to tell you about scu. Southern California University of Health Sciences. SCU is an accredited premier academic institution that has been preparing students to become compassionate, effective health professionals for more than 100 years. At SCU you can become a modern day healer. They offer multiple programs like doctor of chiropractic with a sports medicine focus, acupuncture and Chinese medicine, massage, the therapy and more. Plus SCU has an on campus health clinic where students get hands on experience with real patients. Visit Scuhs Edu Apply and apply for free again. Visit scuhs Edu Apply to apply for free today. Okay, if you're anything like me, you buy gringo juice, spend way too much money on it and then forget to drink it and it sits in your fridge. Ever happened to you? No, just me. Okay, well, I got your solution and it is called organifi. So organifi is a gently dried superfood mix that has real green ingredients like moringa, chlorella, mint, spirulina, beets, matcha, wheatgrass, ashwagandha, turmeric, lemon, coconut, water. Water, all dried up. So all you have to do is add water? Yes. You do not have to use a blender, you do not have to spend $12 on a juice. You don't have to go shopping, anything and you get all of your superfoods in one drink. They also have an amazing red juice which is like a tart, sweet little brew, as well as organifi gold which has our favorite turmeric. So I love these. They're all USDA certified organic and I, I literally travel with them and have them at home every day. So head over to Organifi.com o r G-A-N-I f I.com and use code Sahara for 20 off. Again, Organifi.com and use code Sahara for twenty off. Your delicious green juice magic. I recently came across Vadim teas while looking for a super high quality loose leaf tea online and I was blown away by their array of 10 different Chais alone. And you know I love chai. I ordered it and arrived in the cutest packaging. Literally felt like a Christmas gift to myself. And the tea was the freshest and most flavorful I've ever had. And that's when I knew I had to contact them. Well, turns out Vadim is of the only tea company that procures directly from plantations and tea growers within hours of harvest. While most companies spend months in that transition time, they package garden fresh in India and ship it all around the world. They've eliminated the middleman. So you're getting the freshest quality tea straight from the farmer. They're fair trade, pesticide free and pay the farmers a higher wage for their produce. They also educate the tea grown growers children, which is really special to me. So you can try them out. Definitely get their chai sampler so freaking good by heading over to vadamteas.com V A H-A-M teas T-E-A-S.com again, Vadim teas V A H-A-M T-E-A-S dot com and using coupon code SAHARA for 20 off, Oprah just listed it as one her favorite things. So I take Oprah's word for it.

Can I tell you that for me, money actually made me realize who I really was because I think people focus on money a lot, especially when you don't have it, right? So you focus on money, you look at the people that have it and you think they're so cool. Oh my God, they're so lucky. And you perceive them to be a certain way. So when you get there, you expect to feel like the way you saw those people. And the truth is, you don't. You still feel the same. It's still the same you. All of your things that you're self conscious with are still there. Like there's no escaping it. So then it really, for me, allowed me to go, okay, well you don't have making money as the excuse anymore. So what does my life look like? And we, we had the discussion, do we buy an island and retire? You know, at the age of I can't remember how old? I was maybe 34 at the time. And I was like, God, I would be bored after a week is the truth. Right. Like, what does your day to day look like? I would be bored. Okay, so what doesn't make me feel bored? Helping people. Okay, so put your freaking money where your mouth is and help people. Don't just say you want to do it, actually do it. And so, yeah, that was. And I think that when you get there or if you get there, it does become a realization. At least it did for me.

Absolutely. And now with that money, you're literally creating the content that you don't have to go kiss someone's ass for or, you know, get a loan from some director, blah, blah, blah. It's like you are creating the content you want. You don't have to monetize it if you don't want. Like, you're just putting out stuff for the sake of your heart. And that is such a privilege that you've worked for, that you've created. And I think that if we let that be our motivation, like, I want to work really hard so then I can help and impact more people. That just shift shifts your energy around money and will actually make you better at acquiring it.

Yeah, agreed. And that's actually one thing I was going to say, like, I'm a big fan of a wealth creation and I know a lot of women actually struggle with saying that out loud or saying, hey, no, I really do want money. I should be doing things for the good of the sake of it. It's like, I don't think there's anything wrong to admit it.

Yeah.

Now look, if you're using your money to hire assassins and go and like kill people, then sure, you put it.

But you were probably doing that when you were broke. Like hiring cheap hitman. It's just going to amplify who you, you are.

Exactly, exactly. So for me, it's money has facilitated me to create more. And so I'm absolutely all about wealth creation, creating money. How do I monetize my product? How do I monetize my content? I think it's very important for women to also feel empowered to not be bashful to say that. And like I said, it depends. What are you going to use for? It's like I kind of say about the superpower, right? If you have a superpower, you're going to use it for good or you're going to use it for evil. It's up to you.

I love that so much. We were just talking about like YouTube and podcasts and like, all this, like, fun business stuff. And it's fun for us because we're creating things and it's not. It doesn't feel heavy anymore. It's like, wow, look at all these options out there. I get to, like, dip my toe into all these different fields and modalities and, you know, you don't need to monetize it, but the fact that you still want to shows that you are still on this quest to improve yourself 100%.

Because I've got big plans. Like, like, this is the studio is just the beginning. I've got massive plans. So I realized, oh, God, I'm going to need money and I don't want to spend everything that I've just worked my ass off earning. Right.

Of course.

So how do I bring value? How do I make sure that I'm still sustaining? Because if this is a lifelong goal, then I, you know, I'm 39. I want to live to at least 100. So I'm not even halfway through my life yet. So thinking about how much money I'm going to really need to really make a difference, like on my mission, I'm going to need a lot of money. And so thinking about how do I do that with the content so that it can all start cycling into itself. So I'm doing something I love. What I'm doing, you know, is creating wealth creation. The money's coming back, I'm able to put that into more content, and it becomes a beautiful cycle. So that's definitely part of the plan.

And there are three things that just stand out about you that I really want people to hone into. You think big.

I do.

A lot of women, they stay playing really small. And you're like, no. For me to really make the impact I want in the world, I need. Need more than a billion dollar evaluation of a company. Like, I need that in my film. Like, you know, you're thinking super big, which is awesome. And that scares people. The second thing is you don't have any sense of victimhood. So many people. And we'll talk about your digestive problems that a lot of people probably don't know. But a lot of people, they're the victim. They blame others. Oh, why aren't they supporting me? Why aren't they helping me? Why aren't they this? And you're like, I have no expectations from anyone. I'm going to make this happen on my own. And the third thing is, you're so positive.

Thanks.

You're always smiling. You're always laughing. You're always having a great time. Like, honestly, guys, follow her on Instagram lisabilleu because she's like, little did you know I can only eat, like a handful of foods because of my digestive issues. Or like, there was one post, like, you had to eat, like, a cold steak from, like, hours ago with your hands because you don't have a fork and you're, like, smiling in the picture. If someone were to see the picture, they think you're, like, eating, like, your favorite steak. And you're like, I actually had to force myself to eat this and I had a stomachache after. And you just flip everything around and you make it positive. Where do you think this all comes from?

It is not natural at all. I have a very powerful negative voice. Very powerful. And it just came to the point where it didn't serve me. And if I really have goals and I really want to achieve them, like, not just say them out loud, and I really want to achieve them, I play the game like, no bs, what is it going to take? And it means that you have to take control of your life. And so if I need to take control of my life, but I'm giving over the control to other people, right? Like what you said, like, oh, this person did this, or this person doesn't have to deal with it. Well, now I become the victim. But what does the victim do to me? Does it help me for my goals or does it actually steer me away from it? And the truth is, it steers me away. So why, why go down that path now? There's a big difference between knowing something and then act, acting on it. So that was the next step. It's like, okay, I know that being a victim doesn't serve me, but it's hard when you're in that moment and all the chemicals in your body are telling you you should feel sorry for yourself. All the chemicals in your body are saying, why you? It's easy to listen to them. It's actually quite soothing to listen to them sometimes. So how do you stop listening to them and shift that mindset, shift those chemicals? Because it's not going to happen by accident. And all these little things started seeping in. It's like, okay, it's not going to happen by acc. When you sit there by yourself at night and you're like, I didn't get to do this. I didn't achieve this. You've only got yourself to blame. Now, I understand the word blame is actually hard for some people, and it actually may not Serve some people. Some people may say, no, I'm not in control of everything. And that has freed me, and I think that's great. But I'm the flip side. I need the control. I need to believe I have the control so that I can say, all right, Lisa, you had the control, and you chose not to do do X, Y, and Z. So that next time, I feel empowered to do it. And so I've just practiced. And it's time and time and again, and it's months and months of repeating mantras to me. You have the control. How is the worst situation the best thing that can ever happen to you? Like, repeating these things so you eventually truly believe it? And it kind of goes back to Bruce Lee, like he used to say when people would ask him about, like, his kicks. I mean. I mean, you know, he's just so freaking quick. And he said he had to get to the point where he didn't think kick, he just kicked. And that's how I feel about the negative voice, right? Like, I'm not thinking quite the negative voice. Quiet the negative voice. I trained myself to just quiet it without thinking it. And you have to practice. It takes time. It takes effort. It's like playing the piano. You don't sit in front of it and just expect to know how to play, you know, a beautiful piece. You have to practice, practice it. And so the same thing goes with mindset. The same thing goes with a negative voice. It's that. It's not that it's easy. It's just you have to be relentless. You have to put in the hours, and you have to be consistent. Because going into the gym, if you can lift 100 pounds because you've trained yourself, and then you take three months off, you can't expect to then go straight into the gym and lift 100 pounds. So that negative voice, if you're not practicing, quieten it, or changing the channel. Channel every single day, it will come back, at least for me.

So, so good and so true. And I totally know what that's like. When that negative voice comes and you're, like, identifying with and play with it, and it grows and it creates all these stories. And then you have to be like, hey, negative voice. I actually don't want it. And then it comes back, and you're like, no, I still don't want to talk to you. And it's like, you kind of have to become crazy person in your mind, but to have this conversation and see, this is not my vreal voice. This is like, like, the lower vibrational part of this voice.

Or sometimes another thing I do is use the negative voice as a trigger to be positive. So, for instance, fear. I'm scared of a lot of things, right? Like people like, oh, you have no fear, just a trapeze. And they're like, you just went up there. And I'm like, it's not that I don't have the fear. I use the fear as a tool. So I got asked to do a ted talk recently, TedX. And I've never done any part the of public speaking ever. And I've learned that when you feel the fear, it means you need to lean into it, because it doesn't serve me if I run away. So I've already trained myself to do that. So when this came up and someone said, lisa, they want you to do a TEDX talk, I said, yes, at least you didn't even think. I was like, yes. And then that night, I was like, oh, my God, oh, my God, this is so scary. What am I going to do? But I was like, but that's why I had to just answer. And so I've used the fear as a trigger to then lean into it and say yes before I let the negative thought and the fear seep into my real being and all the, you know, the spiral, at least you're not good enough. Who do you think? Who do you think you are? You can stand up on stage and really talk in front of all those people. You're going to mum, you're going to mess up, you're going to mumble, you're going to stumble. That's the negative voice. And I've learned that I can't let it seep in. So what I do is I answer before I can allow it to. So I've used the negative as a positive.

So when that negative voice comes back, what is your inner diet dialogue like? Talking to it?

So, first of all, it's okay. I recognize you're there. I do hear you. And then I always ask, does it serve you? Like that is the phrase I repeat, does it serve you? Because it's just a simple yes or no. There's no other like you can't argue with. Does it serve you? It's black and white. Does this serve you? Yes or no? And if it does, great, then I'm going to listen to you. What are you trying to tell me? Or if it's no, then it's like, then stop listening. You know better. And I, I like that. Like, I, it's just me. But Sometimes I use a bit of the darkness, I use a bit of the negativity. I use the chip on my shoulder and it makes me stronger. It doesn't erode my, my self esteem, which I know it does for a lot of people, but it doesn't for me. So I use that. And I'm like, remember when you felt shitty about this? You don't want to feel like it again. Like, sit in that moment, sit in that deep thought that you had when you were really struggling, feeling. How did that feel? That felt shitty, right? Yes. All right, then don't ever get there again. And that's your choice. Going back to control. You can control that. Right now is a moment you can control. You can go down that path or you can switch it around. And I just talk to myself and I speak exactly like that. I repeat mantras to myself. I have the very clear discussion and I acknowledge things because I used to pretend that things didn't exist. Exist. And I think, right, like you're nodding and it's like, it never helps.

No, it never helps. And when you don't, when you pretend it doesn't exist, it just gets louder and louder and louder until you acknowledge it. And then that louder seeps into every area of your life. So you have to talk about the elephant in your brain and really let it come out. That's awesome. Elephant in your brain. I was like, in the room. No, in your brain. So I would love for you to share about your digestive issues and that battle, because it's something that people, people probably are like, oh, my God, she has her whole life figured out. Everything's perfect in her life. And they don't know your, your health problems that you're still dealing with. So can you share with us a little bit about what that's like and how you're moving through it and still creating so much content and value?

Yeah. So about. I'll give you a very quick background. So about three years ago now, I got like the stomach flu and I was like, ah, yeah, I was throwing up and it was really bad. And after a week I thought, okay, I'm feeling better, my temperature's gone down, but I still, I can eat. And two weeks after that, I still can eat. Three weeks after, I still can eat. And literally, like every time I ate, I got agonizing, like, literally hunched over, agony, cramps, couldn't breathe. Got to the point where my stomach was inflaming so much. Every time I would eat, I couldn't stand up for more than Five minutes at a time. So I had to sit and shower. I couldn't go into a bathtub or a swimming pool because just the water. Water on my stomach was too much. And I couldn't wear a bra for, like, three months because just the pressure around my midsection. And after going to many doctors, every doctor I went to, they're like, this is your problem. So I went to a gastroenterologist. Oh, this is your problem. I went to an allergy doctor. Oh, you're allergic to this. So every doctor thought they had the answer. So in going to all these doctors, they're like, oh, it's this. So just take this out of your diet. Oh, you're lactose intolerant. Take out dairy. Oh, you've got allergies to beef and eggs. So. So every doctor I was going to, I was just removing foods. And over time, you know, over, let's say three to six months, I got down to, like, four ingredients. And that's not an exaggeration. I actually was down to four ingredients. What did you eat? So I noticed the things that didn't cause me so much agony that I was in tears or I had to go to the doctor. It still hurt and it still was very. You know, it wasn't satisfying, but it was the things that didn't cause me agony. It was. It was beef, lamb, chicken, coconut oil. Sorry. And salt. So that's five ingredients. And even chicken if I ate too much protein. So I tried to do more of the keto thing because that actually really helped.

Like doing hard caveman diet.

Exactly. So I was eating that diet for. God, I can't even remember now. I think it was like three to six months. It was a really long time. My hair was falling out, my nails were super brittle because I wasn't getting any nutrients. And I actually, at the time, we were still at Quest, and I was horrifically embarrassed because I couldn't try a product anymore. And now. So here you are, one of the co founders of the largest nutrition company in the world, and I can't eat my product. I was embarrassed, so I just hit it. I didn't tell anybody. The only people that knew was my husband, the CMO of the company, and the other co founders. Because I didn't want people to think that I was weak, right? I didn't want people to see me as incompetent. I didn't want people to think of me as.

As like a sellout.

Like a sellout? Yeah. Like, oh, you can't eat your product. Well, it can't be good for you then, right? So I just pretended and I was a fraud. And the fraud part of it made me even more, like, anxious and felt badly about myself because I'm the person that always.

Because you're walking around thinking, oh, my God, they must know. And, like, no one's even thinking about it, right?

And then the chefs, we were doing cookbook at the time, so the chefs, eventually, like, I just had to tell them, I can't try it anymore. Like, all the things, foods that would come on my desk, because that was my project I was overseeing. And I'd hired these chefs to make a cookbook, and I couldn't even try the recipes anymore. So over time, I started like, okay, you're going to have to tell certain people. Because also, I'd be in middle of meetings and I would get such bad cramps, I couldn't breathe. I'd have to excuse myself. Now imagine you just keep excusing yourself from meetings. People start thinking disrespectful. So then I was like, okay, well, this isn't serving me. I think I need to tell a few more people anyway. So this was three years ago. I didn't ever want to seem weak, so I never took time off work. I had to swallow a camera pill because they thought maybe there was something going on. My gut. They just couldn't see through an endoscopy or colonoscopy, and I didn't want to tell anybody. And so I walked around at work with this battery pack and these electrodes attached to my chest. And I just wore a big sweater that day. And so I don't think that that served me, though. Like, yes, yes. It's kind of. I was trying to be strong, but I think in reflection, it didn't do great for my mindset. You know, it was. I was trying too hard to be the perfect person. And I think that that was actually detrimental to my health. Not. You know, because back then, I didn't understand that the mind and the gut were connected. I didn't understand any of that was before people were even talking about things like that. So in reflection, I think the stress was absolutely detrimental to my health. And it seems that I figured out, I think, how I got to the place of having such bad gut in the first place. And if I had reversed, let's say, when I was 16 years old, I was on a very limited diet. I was told fat was bad, so I thought, oh, well, I shouldn't eat fat. I was told carbs were bad. So at 16, I was cutting out things. And so I was on a very restricted diet back then. I was getting sick a lot. I didn't understand that 70% of your immune system is carried in your gut. So I was getting sick. Every time I was getting sick, I was taking antibiotics. So it was pretty much 10 to 15 years of absolute antibiotic abuse and restrictive dieting. So I wasn't replenishing my gut. And I think the stomach flu just tipped me over the edge. And it came to a point where they're like, nope, we can't come back from this. And it's been a, you know, uphill struggle, and it's been three years. And the big thing for me is, is going back to, like, I've got two choices. I can be the victim, or I can use it to make me stronger, period. And so when you say, like, oh, you've always got a smile on your face, it's not that I'm always feeling it at all. It's that I force it because I tell myself, I've got a choice right now. And in that post that you're talking about, we were at an event, and there was no way I was able to eat any food at this, you know, the food court. And I bought a steak, like a breakfast steak, and I. I took it to the event. I was like, I'm gonna eat it when I get there. It became chaotic, and I didn't get to it for hours. Someone had thrown away my cutlery. So I literally had a big piece of cold steak, no knife or fork. And again, I was horrified internally. Initially, I was like, oh, my God. Like, why me, for heaven's sake? Like, who threw my. I wanted to get annoyed with who threw my knife and fork away? I want to get annoyed that people didn't let me eat when I first got there. But I was like, but that doesn't serve you. It's already done. Knife and fork is thrown away. The steak's cold. Like, what is it going to serve you if you just be the victim? All right, so what other choice do I have, Lisa? You can be grateful that you have food to eat. And I don't mean in the dramatic sense that there's people starving in the world. People use that. It just. It doesn't really hit home for me. Like, I can't connect with people that are starving in the world because I haven't lived there. I haven't been there. So I'm like, okay, but there are other people who have health issues right now that May not have something to turn to. And I can relate to that. And Lisa, you can turn to something. It may be a cold steak and you may have to gnaw at it a few times, but you have it and so don't complain. And so I'm like, you know what? This is an opportunity. I can actually laugh that I'm in a situation where I haven't hold a steak with my bare hands and I'm gnawing on it like a person in the jungle. So I was like, it's just choice.

I love that. I love how you really ask yourself in that moment, in that moment where the last thing you want to do is like, be your own therapist. Right?

Yeah.

And you're like, no, I'm going to ask myself, like, is this serving me? Which is something that you could easily do for your friend. But when it comes to you, it's much harder to take yourself out of that anger and disappointment and pointing the blame at someone because it's just too much to deal with yourself.

Yeah. And that's why that phrase, I use it, and it's so powerful to me because anytime I'm in that emotionally distraught situation, I just ask the question. And if I've got something as a go to, it makes it easier for me because then I'm like, okay, Lisa, like, take a deep breath. Okay, well, you know, you shouldn't feel like this, like, coax myself, then it doesn't work for me. But having a ask yourself the question. It's very unemotional, which is. Makes it easy for me. Ask yourself the question. Does this serve you? And if you just keep asking yourself the question, anytime you start to feel yourself flustered, or if you're like, whatever that trigger is for you, like, do you feel your heart racing? I know. Okay, Lisa, you've been down this path before. You know yourself well enough. You know it's just going to spiral into annoyance and frustration. So what's the question you have to ask yourself?

Does it serve you so good? I hope everyone really just takes that one phrase home because it's gonna take you far, far places. And I'm also so glad that you have my Ayurveda book. Did you try the ccf?

This woman. Can I give a little backstory?

Sure.

So we had met, I hadn't read your book. You were wonderful and brought me one. And you're like, lisa, I've heard about your story. I've gone through the same thing. Here's a book if you need anything, please. You know, I Can help. You gave me a incredible advice about the teas I need to drink. And so amazing. So we part ways. Couple of days pass, I'm sitting in bed and I see your book and I'm like, I'm just gonna open it and I flick through and literally it stopped me in my tracks. I'm like, this. This is my story. It's like I was so shocked and so drawn to the way you wrote the book, the way you articulated your story, the way you made it relatable, or the way you broke it down so that it could be in layman's terms for somebody like me who's never looked into Ayurveda before. And so going into it, I was like, wow. And so I text you immediately a photo of me reading it. And it was like, it was so powerful. And so, yes, that was a little backstory. So what was the question?

Have you tried the ccft?

So I have. I have tried it. So thank you for that. Yes, I am weaning myself onto it and weaning my coffee on off. Because again, kind of knowing yourself, I was like, all right, I need to find the substitute. So it's. I've been great like this last week and a half. I've really tried to implement some things that you've suggested and knowing, okay, that I've got. I'm a pitta. Is that right? I'm a pitta.

So, yes, with a butter in balance.

Yeah, she told me I was pitta. So I read deeply into pitta and I was like, okay, I have fire in my gut, so I need to not. And in fact, I was working out this morning and thinking of you, I was like, Lisa, you can't have fire in your gut as you're working out. You can't have fire in your guts. And so I'm still learning about it and yeah, but so far so good.

Well, I love it and I love just the energy that you bring to everything. You really are like a Wonder Woman. And I know superheroes are your thing. You do comic books, you have your upcoming, like a modern Wonder Woman. What can you share with the audience about that?

Yeah. So going into female empowerments, I haven't done impact theory. You know, we're very fortunate that we're really affecting people's lives and everything for me is an evolution. So I felt like there was a spot that I wasn't quite hitting and it was, okay, how do I help the 16 year old me that felt very self conscious, that had the frizzy hair, the Unibrow the braces. I even had a head brace. I was teased for my nose. So I, you know, and look, it's not extreme compared to anyone else, but I just took that very personally. My self esteem was very low and I thought, well, how could I help the 16 year old me? And then also my mum who is in her 60s, that believes that like life has been written for you. Oh well, I'm in my 60s, it's too late. And again, going back to if you plan to live till you're 100, which we should all be aiming for, and you're 60, you just passed the halfway mark. So why on earth do we think that this is all that life has to offer? So I started thinking how like the no BS question, I always ask myself, what does that actually look like? Like to affect the 16 year old and the 60 year old in this day and age. And I went to see Wonder Woman. I love Wonder Woman. I wear a necklace with her, you know, logo. I've had her logo shaved in the back of my head because I love what it stands for. And I went to see the movie love what she stands for. Left there feeling super empowered. Yeah. So badass. Us women, we can do anything we like. And then a couple of hours later, it's like motivational. It's even like this podcast, right? You guys might be listening to this, thinking, oh my God, I'm so motivated having listening to that interview. But two hours later, how do you use what I've actually said to implement in your own life? If I haven't given you tactics, then I'm just fleeting and I don't want to be just fleeting, you know, to really create impact. So what is that non fleeting thing? It's to give people tactics and tools. Okay, well Wonder Woman to me was empowering and motivating for those two hours. But past that, I don't know how to use her story in my real life. She's from World War II and was created by Greek goddesses. How on earth do I relate to that? I don't. So the no BS question, how do I affect the real people in today's society? It's by showing the real women the real impact. They're the real superheroes, the people that I'm around you, my dear. Right, like the things that you've done, what you've had to go through in your life, writing the book, trying to help other people, like you're a real superhero. And so how do we tell those stories? And so I started going down the. Okay, well, everyone loves entertainment, right? It's the same kind of mindset that we used with quest bars. Quest bars were a birth from going, you can't change people's behavior. You can't tell people to eat chicken and broccoli, but you can leverage people's behavior. Okay, how do you leverage people's behavior? They love sweet food. You can't change it. People love sweet food. So by leveraging it is by saying, well, here's something that. That is going to hit that sweet tooth. It just happens to be good for you. So that's the body's talking. What's that for the mind? It's entertainment. It's television, it's movies. There's only going to be a certain amount of people that are going to sit and listen to an hour podcast of me and you. There's only a certain amount of people that are going to sit and watch a piece of content that I've created because it's very heady. And so what about the people that don't want to do that, that still want to be empowered, that still want to do things in their life lives, but they just can't sit there and listen to an hour interview? It's entertainment, it's television, it's movies. So when I think about superheroes being entertaining, how do you do the real life superhero with the entertainment? It's that it's the superhero women of today's society. So I've got a team of women together. I've just hired these two incredible female writers and looking for a female artist to come on board, and we're creating their superhero stories.

I love that so much. I cannot wait to read it and check it out. You guys also did the Steve Aoki comic, which is epic. And I love how you are really going to those people who are not in the self help, personal development category and saying they still deserve it. So how am I going to put it in the right. The right gift box for them to open it up?

Right, exactly. And because if you really want to have people hear your message, how do you authentically do it? Right? And what is authentic to me, okay, I love Wonder Woman. I wear her logo around my neck all the time. I do art. There's always superhero women. I draw them. And so it's very authentic to me. The superhero thing, I can relate to it. So going back to the Quest Bar, we needed it. So, hey, if we need it, there must be people out there that need it. And I think that that's always a strong Thing because that's always going to get you out the of bed every day.

So good. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your incredible wisdom, your motivation. This is like a motivational talk. You're so ready for your TED Talk, girl. So good. So where can listeners find you, connect with you and watch your show? Yes, all your shows.

Yeah. Thank you. So me personally, I always talk about a lot of things that like my health, my relationship with my husband. That hasn't been easy to navigate, especially when you're a strong, independent woman. Woman.

I'll have to interview again on that. I know. I'm getting married next June.

We need to touch on that. Because I'm very much attracted to alpha men, but I'm a strong, independent woman. So how do you navigate? And you can coexist 100. It doesn't mean that you have to lessen yourself as a woman. It doesn't mean that you have to give in and let the man rule. No, it means that you need to communicate. And like I said, yeah, I could definitely go down that path. But I talk about my relationship with my husband. I talk about being in business with him. I talk about my diet, my health and all that. So you can follow me on Instagram lisabilleu. That's B I L Y E U. And then our content is Women of Impact for the female content. And then our umbrella company, which is Impact Theory, can check out on YouTube under impact theory.

Oh, well, thank you so much for being here for inspiring us and we're looking forward to having you again for relationships episode.

Thank you so much for having me on. You know, I absolutely adore you, woman. And what you are doing with your book and your podcast is absolutely freaking incredible. So I'm sure I know all your listeners already know that already, but I had to say it myself.

You're so sweet. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I mean, how adorable is Lisa Bilyeu? Plus, I cannot get enough of her accent. And I learned so much new stuff about her, too. It's. It is so inspiring to hear her perspective on work, on her digestive health journey, on all of the incredible things that she's up to. And I just love how she stays so positive. She's such a problem solver. I think a lot of people, they get into situations where they become victims or they're not able to see their way out. And she's someone like, oh, this happened. How am I going to adapt? How am I going to resolve this? How am I going to move forward? And she's someone who's become a dear friend of mine, so it was such a pleasure to have her on the Highest Self podcast. Be sure to check out her show Woman of impact on YouTube. She interviewed me for an amazing episode all about Identity and Shifting youg Identity, which was so incredible to do and she's definitely a woman to watch. If you loved this episode, I would love to share with you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind Body Type, which is different from my book Eat Feel Fresh. It is my unreleased, never to be released book because it is now part of my Eat Right for your Mind Body Type program. I would love to send it to you absolutely free. All you got to do is leave me a review in the itunes store, take a screenshot and email it over to me@saharaetfeelfresh.com Again take a screenshot of the review and email it to me@saharaatfeelfresh.com and I will send you the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your Mind Body Type. Namaste.

It.