3 Signs You Might NOT Succeed in Entrepreneurship & Why Resiliency is Required w/ Marie Wold

What's up guys? Welcome back to the podcast. A super exciting announcement to kick off this episode. For the first time in over a year, I am running a brand new free masterclass. This is a masterclass that I've never done before. It's brand new. The content is fresh and it's happening on Sunday, March 19th at 4:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. So if you'd like to come, we will leave a link in the show notes for you to sign up and enroll. This masterclass is called 10 Growth Codes, keys The Keys to Building a Lucrative Coaching Business in an Oversaturated Industry. So if you are an early coach or an aspiring coach, this is going to be an excellent masterclass for you to come to.

We're giving away so much free value.

We're going to cover the skills that you need to become successful, what you need to know before creating any product, how to be seen as a leader in your industry, how to convert followers into clients, the honest truth about scaling to multiple six figures, the secret to sales magnetism. And I'm also going to guide you guys through a special visualization to help connect to your soul vision of your business.

And we're gonna finish off with some EFT tapping for success. So there's gonna be so much goodness packed inside of this masterclass. It's gonna be about 2 hours, so much free value.

And on top of it, I've gone a little bit rogue and I decided that everyone who comes to this masterclass is also going to get access to 10 days of free business coaching with me. Yes, it's insane. I know. And it's also very, very exciting. So if you are on the precipice of starting your business, if you are in the early stages, if you're wanting to grow and scale, come to this masterclass. Go sign up. You will get access to 10 days of free business coaching with me after the masterclass, and it's just going to be an amazing time.

I'm so excited. I'm amped for it.

I haven't done a new masterclass in a minute, and the energy is there.

I'm just, I'm feeling it. I'm ready to roll.

So I can't wait to guide this on the 19th, and I hope to see you there. To sign up and reserve your seat, simply click the link in the show notes below or head to my Instagram at _samanthadaily and click the link in my bio. And sign up for the free Growth Codes Masterclass. I'll see you there.

For this week's episode of the show, we are joined by Marie Wald. She is an incredibly successful business coach.

She is an OG of this industry and has over 10 years experience online. She got her start in fitness coaching when she was still in college and has since built not one but two majorly successful online businesses. In this conversation, we also chat about inconsistency, CEO mindset, the blessing and curse of being a high achiever, characteristics that point to someone not succeeding, how she balances feminine and masculine energies, and she shares a personal story of public betrayal and the importance of resiliency. All right, without further ado, let's dig into this episode. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen Podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shift happen. Welcome to the show, Marie. We are so excited that you're here.

I can't wait to dive into this conversation. Congrats on all the things that are happening in your world right now. I know you're like moving through so much with selling your house and getting a new house and moving and launching and all the things. So yeah, congrats on everything that's going on for you. Yeah, I'm excited to have this conversation. Um, I know all the listeners are going to be super intrigued just to hear your perspective on things. You're such an OG in the space. You have so much knowledge to share. You've been in the game for a long time. Your content is always fire. So we have so much to dig into, but I thought we would start with some rapid-fire questions and then we can kind of dig a little bit deeper into the nitty-gritty of things.

Yeah, let's do it.

Yeah. Okay, cool. So the first question is, what is something that you used to do a lot but don't do anymore?

Sorry if you can hear my dogs barking. I would say busywork. I used to work so much. Am I— am I supposed to elaborate? And these are rapid fire.

Yeah. I mean, like, I'm— I'm really bad at rapid fire as well. I was like, going to— how many words?

What is my word limit? My short answer is busywork.

That's okay. Wait, I want you to elaborate a little bit on that one because I resonate with that a lot. Like, I find myself getting stuck in, like, stupid rabbit holes and, like, wasting hours. And I'm like, Oh, I worked for 8 hours today, but that's because my actual work was only 4 hours and the rest of the time I was doing God knows what.

And I can't say I'm perfect. Like, I have ADHD, I sometimes procrastinate, I get distracted. I also love like fucking around on Canva for an hour. Like, you know, it happens to the best of us, right? But I think back to maybe like 5 years ago, my business, even 3 years ago or like I've progressively gotten better year over year at this. But I think back to my business in earlier stages and just like how many hours I spent doing stuff that didn't move the needle. And now obviously I have a team and really good systems and stuff, and that makes a huge difference. But even when you're early on in your business, being able to discern and like ruthlessly prioritize what's actually important can streamline your workload so much. And I would say I was working like twice as much as I actually needed to.

Yeah, I feel that so much. I think ADHD plays a big role in that too, because there's a piece of that where I was listening to a podcast just the other day and they were kind of talking about how with an ADHD brain, it's almost like everything is looked at as the same value. Like you're doing something that's really important. You're about to like submit a, like an offer or someone is ready to, to pay for your program and you have to send them like the checkout links and like that's a really important thing to be doing. You could be doing that and then you get an Instagram notification and your brain is like, oh, let's see who commented on my thing. It's like equal importance when the things aren't actually equally important. How do you— is there anything that you've, that you've done? Like, do you not have your phone near you? Like, what do you do to like manage so that you don't get distracted?

Yeah. So one thing that I know is super popular in our space now is like I batch my days. So I tend to have more themed days. Like I have one day a week where I'm just doing coaching calls and like if I don't do anything else, that day was still a win. And I like CEO days. I have days where it's more about content and planning. Um, so I think that helps a lot because then I'm not context switching is like the formal word for switching the types of tasks you're doing and you just lose so much brain power and focus when you do that. So I think that's one thing, but even within my days I will time block. So I'll have like work sprints. I have my little timer cube here and I will do like 30-minute work sprint, 60-minute work sprint. And that also really helps if you're the type of person where you look at your to-do list and you're like, oh my God, there's so many things. But if you actually took time to like break it down, I have— it looks like a huge list, but it's 10 things that will take me 5 minutes, and you can just like knock stuff out. Um, so I think time blocking, time batching, and kind of the purpose of time blocking is, yeah, you have no distractions, you're not like working on anything else for that amount of time, because we all love getting into that flow state where you're like super focused, deep work, like your brain cells are just like vibing. And we all love that, but it's hard to get there. So I think it's a combination of like not having distractions, but again, that like ruthless prioritization. And I think some of that's practice and like experience, but I also teach my clients how to do this where we figure out like, what are the— what are your revenue-generating activities? What are the things that are important and urgent? So like the Eisenhower Matrix, there's like important and urgent, important, not urgent, not urgent, not important. There's also like urgent, not important. So, um, kind of prioritizing that way and identifying like what are the things that are actually making you more money or saving you time or getting your clients better results, like what's actually moving the needle, and like everything else can wait.

Yeah, I love that. I use that same matrix for figuring out, and I teach this to my clients too, of like it's the same thing but it's figuring out what to delegate and what to give away in your business of like what I love and what I'm good at, but I love and I'm not good at the same thing. You go through that like, um, that quadrant there. So I love that. One thing that I'll, I'll add to that that I like to do is I actually use— instead of having like a to-do list on paper, on a notes app or something, I started making my Google Calendar my to-do list so that I could actually physically see the time blocks. Like, yes, from 10 AM to 10:15, I'm reviewing this email or whatever it is, and doing it that way so that I also didn't end up putting way too many things on the two.

Yeah, because it's so easy to be like, oh, I can for sure handle all of this, but then when comes time to actually like distribute it on your day, like, mm, maybe not. Like, plate has been overfilled.

Yes, for sure. Okay. What is something that you wish you were more consistent with?

Hmm. I would say maybe like planning content ahead, which as someone who's like known as being a content expert and like content strategy is super my jam and I help all of my clients plan their content. Maybe wouldn't be expected to hear that I rarely plan my content ahead.

Yeah. Oh my God, I used to be like that so much too. I literally just started planning content this year. Yeah, like my whole business is always just like, what— I'm gonna post whatever I want when I feel like it, when I have the time. So yeah, that was like my thing. And then this year I was like, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna be more consistent. I feel like—

yeah, I feel like it's a progression. Like, I still stand by recommending planning your content and like having strategy and thinking ahead. I think I've just been doing it for so long that the strategy is second nature. Like I'm not even thinking through the process that I teach my clients anymore. It's subconscious. Like I have far surpassed my 10,000 hours, so I know what I've already posted this week. I know what else I need to talk about. I know like what content goal I'm gonna hit, what format I need to do. Like it's all kind of happening like in the background of my brain all the time. So it's, it's something that I just don't need to sit down and plan ahead. But I do think that that would make my day slightly less chaotic and I would post during peak times more often.

Yeah, yeah. I think that's really what it is too, because I would, I would always get to like the end of the day and be like, okay, I'm going to post. And I knew exactly how to create a post and how to do it right and knock it out. But exactly, I'm not ideal, but it's kind of like where you get to that space of like expertise where you're like, do as I say, not as I do.

Mm-hmm. So I like to learn the rules. Learn the skills, like know how to play the game, and then once you're there, you can decide whether or not you want to like bend the rules, so to speak.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Okay, what is the hardest experience in your business then?

Okay, so I have something I think you're really gonna love, and your business is gonna love it even more. Do you want to steal the strategy I've been using to seduce premium buyers and sell out my offers on Instagram Stories? Chances are you're already posting, you're already making sales, but if your Instagram Stories aren't working as hard as you are, you're leaving money on the table. Sold Out Stories is going to teach you exactly how to change that so that you can sell out any offer at any price point. And even high-caliber coaches miss this because selling on stories isn't about how much you post or how frequently you show up face to camera. It's about psychological sequencing. And the way you're posting right now might be giving the premium buyers in your audience the ick. Documenting your day and hoping it builds trust, posting look-at-me content and calling it authority, sharing client wins as soon as they drop in instead instead of strategically weaving them into a story selling sequence designed to drive demand and convert sales. We both know that you're not here to learn how to show up more. You're here because you know your content could be converting faster and more effectively. Sold Out Stories is gonna give you 5 high-converting story selling frameworks built specifically for premium buyer psychology. Inside, you'll get over 6 hours of deep dive video trainings, real IG story breakdowns, and live walkthroughs that show you exactly how to elevate your slides from authority building all the way to offer flow. In less than 10 slides. My clients have already been using these frameworks to pull 5-figure sales days while posting less. One client generated 14 premium leads from a single story sequence. Another sold out her event in under 6 hours with just 8 strategic story slides. No sales calls, no paid ads, just the right frameworks. You'll walk away knowing how to sequence for desire, transition into your offer seamlessly, and sell daily without ever feeling salesy. You already know your offer is incredible, so now it's just time for your stories to sell it like it is. Grab Sold Out Stories today and turn 10 slides or less into your highest converting content. Let's make your next story your most profitable one yet. Click the link in the show notes below and I'll see you inside.

Um, I always say that entrepreneurship is just this like giant personal development exercise. Um, so there's so many things about it that are hard, and I say that as like, it's hard and also it's super worth it. But I think especially in coaching, the learning how to both care so much about your clients and be super connected with your clients and be super invested in their success, and also holding this level of like neutrality and objectivity. About how they show up or how they relate to you or how they communicate with you, or even, um, when like contract violations happen, stuff like that. I used to take so personally and it would just completely derail like my energy, my mental state. It was something that used to be so hard for me. And like, obviously I don't enjoy that kind of stuff, or I don't enjoy clients like like not showing up for our work or not reaching their potential. But I had to go through that, like being repeatedly triggered, having my heart broken repeatedly, to get to that space where I'm like, okay, I can be deeply connected to my clients and like care so much and also kind of hold a level of like neutrality around our relationship.

Yeah, yeah, so true. So true. Okay, last one of these rapid fires is what is something you think a lot of people misunderstand or get wrong about the coaching space?

Like people in it or from the outside looking in?

Whatever comes to you first.

That's a good question. There are so many directions that I could go in, but I think something that's coming up a lot in my conversations right now because I'm in a launch for like my beginner program is the idea of like, I'm too late, it's too saturated, when in reality the coaching space is like still on its like early trajectory. Like it's projected to double again in the next, I think it's 5 years, uh, 2028. It's expected to hit like $45 billion market value. Um, and so it's the people who are like, yeah, I just think it's too late for me, or like I should have started earlier, and, or there's too many people already saying what I want to say, there's nothing new I can add. And one of my podcast guests recently, uh, Asia Absinthe, she was like Girl, there are how many brands of the same bottled water at the grocery store? And like, they're all still successful. And so it's not that you need to like— it's not that you needed to time the industry, or it's not that you need to reinvent the wheel and revolutionize the coaching space to like carve out your own niche and like be super successful. And if anything, all the success stories that already exist are just like proof that there's room for more.

Yeah, well, I think like that we kind of have that mentality with a lot of things in life. It's like, oh, well, it's too late now, so I just like won't do it. But it's like, like people do that all the time with things that they've studied in college or something like, oh, I've gotten this far, so now I'm just going to do it, right? But you hate it. Like, yeah, so you're going to spend the rest of your life doing something that you hate just because you like spent 4 years on it, right?

I've spent 4 years on this, so like, I guess I need to spend another 40, like like, whatever, I'm in too deep. Which is like, that's the, the sunk cost fallacy, right? Like, one of the only things I retained from econ class in college is the sunk cost fallacy of I've already spent this much or I've already waited this long, so I might as well just like screw it.

Yeah, yeah. Like, remain in perpetual suffering for, for what? I don't know. So interesting. Yeah, human behavior. Okay, so before you— to kind of like go back a little bit, before you transitioned into business coaching, you also grew like a multi-six-figure your fitness business, correct? Yeah, that's right. Okay, so that, that's how you got your start. So I'm curious to know, what was your gateway into entrepreneurship? Like, give us kind of the backstory of how you initially became an entrepreneur or a coach of any kind.

Yeah, so I usually say that I sold my first thing on the internet when I was 16, but I think it was actually before then. I used to play this like horse girl game where I would— people would pay me to like design their little like profiles and I would like just— I think I learned Photoshop when I was like 12 and I would just design people's things on the internet. So if I think all the way back, like I've been entrepreneurial and thinking about like my angle and how to like monetize my interests and my gifts forever, like for as long as I remember. Um, but what I'm doing now, and you, you spoke to me like being an OG, what I'm doing now kind of started like the first domino was when I started my current Instagram account in October of 2012. So like over a decade ago, I just started sharing my own health and fitness journey as like really an accountability diary. There was no such thing as like an Instagram influencer. Like there were some bloggers back then who getting paid a little, but like, no, it was nothing like the industry that we have now. And so I just started—

you at this time, because I think you're like a year younger than me, so you must have been like a teenager in 2012.

Yeah, I was 16, so I was in high school. I did it first anonymously because I was like super— I didn't want anyone to know about it. Um, super scared of being judged. And again, like, it wasn't a thing to be like an influencer, so I just started posting more for like accountability, but I also really liked like I like taking photos and I liked writing and I was just— it started evolving into like a form of self-expression and I started building a community and I hit like 10,000 followers within, I think it was like 6 months, which is wild back then. And by the way, this is the era of like the Valencia filter, square photos, like Instagram stories don't exist, like chronological feed. This is like the Wild West of social media. And so I gradually just start building this community. I was really into like clean eating and developing recipes. So the first thing I sold in that, like, I guess business was I sold these like recipe ebooks for like $7 to $10. I figured out how to make them on like PowerPoint and I would save them as PDFs. I figured out how to get a sales page.

Canva also wasn't a thing.

Yeah, Canva didn't exist. Yeah, I had my little digital camera and I'd have to upload them to my computer. I figured out how to make a sales page. I figured out how to digitally or like deliver a digital download, all this stuff. Like I— the only thing that like was done for me was my dad bought my domain. And still to this day, that's like the only daddy's money that I've ever gotten for my business. And so that's how it started. And then over time, being a fitness influencer became a thing. And I was one of like the first people to work with brands and have like brand deals. And I continued doing that through college. I eventually did some bikini competitions and I spent, you know, thousands and thousands of hours like researching nutrition, researching fitness, like trying workouts in the gym. Like it was eat, sleep, breathe health and fitness. And that was like what all my content was. So eventually people asked me if I could help them with their journey and I was like, I mean, I'll give it a shot. Like, that's, that's something I can for sure try. And I knew that I could probably help people who are at least like, if, if you're a couple of steps behind me, I can help you. Like, if you're a beginner, I can definitely help you get healthier, get stronger, get consistent in the gym. So I started online coaching. That was like really baby phase of like the online coaching industry. There was no like industry standard, didn't exist. I could think of maybe like one or two other people that were doing it and it was a small circle too, right? So there was like not many people doing it. There was no one teaching the strategy or the structure behind the business. So it was like really rough for a while.

Did you have anyone at that time that you remember that you were like looking up to? At all, even if it was just like seeing what they were doing, if they weren't like actually mentoring you, let's say? Because that also kind of— it doesn't, didn't have the same culture as it does now.

Yeah, I don't think there was no one who had the business model that I was like, oh my God, that's exactly what I want to do. And that's kind of crazy to say because now I have like what I would say is my dream business model, but that has been built over just taking the next best step and like making the next best decision, not because I knew that it was a thing back then. I would say the first person I really looked up to for more so their like lifestyle was Jenna Kutcher, and that's why I hired her as my first mentor. And she didn't really know that much about the, the online coaching space because again, it was so new. But just seeing the behind the scenes of her business and this was like the only mastermind she ever ran. Seeing the behind the scenes of her business and seeing what the other people in the mastermind were doing just got my wheels turning. And that's when I started, like, I like tore down my whole business model and rebuilt it. And that's how I developed all the frameworks that I teach now.

Yeah. So interesting. So you're clearly a high achiever. You've, you know, built and scaled multiple businesses. I know that we're both threes on the Enneagram, which is also the Achiever, right? So I'd love to just like kind of chat back and forth, like what, what you think some of the pros and cons are of having this archetype of being someone that's obsessed with progress and succeeding.

Yeah, so I'm like being so real right now when I say this, but I think one of the, the best parts or the best secrets to success that has gotten me really far is like I'm a little delusional. Like I thoroughly believe like, if someone else can do it, why can't I? Or like, if this can be done, why wouldn't it be by me? And I can, I can do almost anything halfway decent kind of like energy. And I think that a lot of that is like the achiever in me of like, okay, well I just trust myself to like figure it out and I'm gonna, I'll just keep going until I like get the result that I want. So I think that is the big pros. Like, if, if I really set my mind to something— and I know this is so true for like all of my 3 clients or even my 8 clients— like, if we set our mind to something, nothing will get in the way of us doing the thing or getting the thing that we want. Um, but I do obviously believe that can get a little toxic. We can like pile too many things on our plate. We can have too high of expectations. We can project our standards onto other people who don't have the same priorities or values as us. So there, I mean, there's a lot of cons. Cons, but like also a lot of pros.

Yeah. Oh my God. My brother used to say this thing when we were growing up. He was like, whatever you can do, I can do better. I mean, it's not an original statement, but I just remember him like saying that all the time. And like, I don't know if it was a combination of the way that we were raised or like just our personality types, but like, I definitely have that also, that like delusional belief of like, I'm really good at like anything that I do, right?

Like if I'm committed, there's nothing that can stop me.

Yeah, like cooking, wrapping gifts, like aesthetics, home decoration, like design, like whatever. I'm like, whatever it is, I'm good at it. Yeah, I think like it comes back to like a level of like confidence that I think really carries you through the ups and downs and the challenges of entrepreneurship, which is why people that have that kind of personality or that archetype or that, that character can go so far because it's like no matter how hard things get, or no matter how difficult or impossible or big things seem, it's almost like you're hungry enough to just like keep going. And I, I relate to that. And I don't know, do you think, do you think that can be taught or do you think it's inherent? Like, what do you see with your clients who like really don't— they start out totally like opposite end of the spectrum, do not have that confidence of like, I'm good at everything. Like they're more like, oh my God, who's going to care what I say?

Right. I think that that there is an innate, like, programming that you can't necessarily, like, manufacture or, like, plug into someone that doesn't have that naturally. But I do think you can get really freaking close with time and with consistency because what's actually, like, what's mostly true about confidence outside of just that, like, delusional confidence is that that action and repetition and like proof of concept is what really creates that like true confidence and that like core competency. And so if someone can get past that initial hurdle of like, oh, this is hard, like I'm gonna be bad at it, I don't know, like that self-doubt, if they can overcome that self-doubt and let themselves be bad and hang in, hang in there long enough to like get that initial traction and they start getting proof of concept and they start start getting that evidence of like, oh, I am kind of good at this, like I can do this. If you do that enough times and if you trust that the confidence follows the action enough times, I do think that that can be something that you grow for sure. But it takes time. And again, you have to get over that initial hurdle where it's like really messy and hard and chaotic and like ugly before it gets better.

Yeah, I agree. And I think for a lot of people there's like some deep inner work that has to take place in order for them to get over that first initial hump, to even be able to believe that they're someone that people will want to listen to or that it's possible for them even to just create that like vision of like, if it's possible for somebody else, I know it's possible for me. But yeah, I think I totally agree with that for sure. So this is kind of of the same vein, but But since you've been in the industry for so long, you've been in the online space for like over a decade, like we said, you've talked to probably thousands of like early stage entrepreneurs at this point. If we were to get like a little spicy for a second and talk about— yeah, like some of this, let's just get candid and spicy. What are some of the signs or like characteristics that point to someone not succeeding in the online coaching space. Like, maybe we can call them red flags. I don't know. But it's like, okay, if you, if you see this, it's like, I don't know how well this is going to work out for you.

Yeah. Okay. I just made a post about this and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Okay. So yeah, I made a post really about this and I almost never focus on like the negative because I believe so much in people's potential. But also I think as a coach, like one of your one of your roles is to like reflect back people's patterns and kind of call people out on their shit. So I think a few things are like, if someone is in the pattern of like always waiting for the right time, like if you're constantly waiting for, oh, this just like feels really hard, or it's not good timing, or I'm gonna wait till I can like save a little bit more money, or I'm gonna wait till I have 67 more certifications, or I'm gonna wait till I have my logo, or or whatever, I think you will always find an excuse to wait. And so if someone is in a pattern of looking for the right time, or to feel more qualified, or to feel ready, or do more research, that can be just like the kiss of death. Like, that can be the thing that just keeps you from never even starting. Like, you, you have to lean into that, like, the doubt, the uncertainty, the unknown, the discomfort, because if you want to grow, like, growth by by definition is uncomfortable. Like you cannot have both. And so I think that's part of it. I think a lot of early stage entrepreneurs also kind of have one foot out the door all the time just in case it doesn't work out. And that just does not work. Like if you are constantly like hedging your bets, like not trying to take any risk, you're, you're a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? Like what if it fails? It's going to fail if you have one foot out the door, if you're already plotting your escape plan. You have to have a level of like conviction that it's like, I'm, it's only a matter of time. Like it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. That level of like conviction needs to happen. Like you cannot half-ass it, especially cuz like we were talking about the, the early stages requires so much like just reps, getting reps in and like developing those skills, tho, those core competencies, that like level of confidence in your abilities where that, that shit's like hard for a minute. So if you have one foot out, you're always looking for your like excuse to dip, you're gonna find it. You're not gonna last. Um, and then I think the third thing that I put on this post was that like just waiting to have support. I see a lot of people say like, oh, I owe it to myself to figure it out on my own first. Like when people say that to me, I'm like, how does that make any sense. Like, I owe it to myself to suffer as much as possible before I actually know how to do this right. Like, that just makes no sense to me. And so I think just people overall, like, the theme is kind of looking for an excuse to not go all in. It is like a huge red flag.

Yeah, yeah. Trying to avoid the risk when risk is required. That's part of the formula. That's part of the formula for success. So if you're— it's like making— it's baking a cake, okay? And you need butter. And if butter is the risk and you're like, oh, I'm not going to put butter in. It's like, well, your cake is going to taste like shit then.

Yeah, yeah. Or similarly, like, people will say like, oh, can you guarantee that I'll get results? And it's like, legally, no. Like, I literally cannot legally guarantee results. But also, if you are someone that needs a guarantee to take action, entrepreneurship is probably not for you. And I know that that's probably going to be like a little triggering for some people. It's not— it's something you could of course work through and like look at that, but there's no guarantees for anything. Even this far in business, I start a launch, I'm like, based on our projections, based on historically how launches have gone over the many, many times we've done them, this is what's probably going to happen. But also it could totally flop. Like, like there's just never a guarantee for anything. So if you're looking for a guarantee to even get started, it's gonna be a bad time.

I, I think about that like also in terms of investing in anything, whether you're investing in yourself, you're investing in learning a skill, you're investing in a coach, or you're investing in the stock market. Imagine that you're trying to make your money work for you and grow on its own so that you have more to retire with or whatever the goal is. But you're like, hang on, I'm just gonna call the, you know, I'm gonna call the, um, the stock market and ask them just to make sure if I put this money in this stock, am I guaranteed to turn a profit? It's like, well, no, obviously not. It could go up, it could go down. Like, that's the point, because risk is part of the formula, as we were saying. It's part of the growth process of gaining anything out of anything. You could go to college and be like, am I guaranteed to get a degree? They can't guarantee you that. You still have to show up, you have to go to class, you have to pass the test, you have to do the work, right? People— but we've created like this— there's certain things in society where the risk is more acceptable to us. And so I think for a lot of people, the, the risk around entrepreneurship or investing in themselves is still seen as kind of like, ooh, like extra risky because it's not something that we're used to where it's like, well, it's a risk actually to spend $100,000, $200,000 to go to a university in the US and you could fail or get kicked out.

Like, that's— or just not even use your degree. Like, how many people do you know that have a degree and they do not need it for the job that they're in or the career path they're in? Obviously there are some exceptions, of course. Like, I sure hope my doctor went to medical school, but like, I did not need my two business degrees to do what I do now. Like, I remember like three things from college and none of them, like, I could have just looked it up on Google.

I know my partner is so adamant. He's like, our kids are not going to college. I'm like, well, okay, well, if they want to be a doctor, they're going to go to college. But yeah, I don't know. I— it's so— the world is changing so much. It's so interesting, isn't it? When we were— when we were in that— but did you go to school?

Yeah, I went to college. Yep, I went to college. I have 2 degrees, and it's— I, I already was like growing my business by the time I graduated college, and I nearly dropped out like a year from being done. I ended up graduating a semester early and just being like, how do I leave here as fast as possible because it's holding me back. Back. Like, the, the time I was spending in class and like doing my homework and all that was like eating into the time I wanted to be spending growing my business.

Yeah, I know, because that's what— because for a second you literally just said you had two business degrees, but then for a second I was thinking about how you were like 17 and already making ebooks and selling stuff. So I was like, wait, did you go to school? But yes, you did. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so you can, you can definitely relate. Yeah, I got a marketing degree, strategic communication, and I love my experience in college. Like, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I, I had a really amazing time, But yeah, I don't know, like, do I— did I need that to do what I'm doing now? No. But would I have been able to know that at that stage? No, because I also had— I mean, you kind of had a different experience where you knew, like, you had a proof of concept already of like what you wanted to do and where you wanted to go.

Not before college though. Like, I enrolled into college with my— the major I declared originally was biology. So because I was like a little fitness nerd, right? So I was like, oh, I want to study physiology and biology and like blah, blah, blah. And then I was like, oh, I don't get to make like mood boards in biology.

No vision boards.

Like there's no vibes in biology.

No. Oh my God, that's hilarious. Okay, that kind of leads perfectly into something else that I wanted to ask you about in terms of like masculine and feminine energies when it comes to business. I'd love to know like what percentage of your business would you say is is kind of that more masculine, like planning, strategizing, actioning? And what percentage of your business or your time do you feel is like visioning, creating, embodying, playing?

Hey, don't forget that every month we are picking a listener of the month to win $50 in cash just for showing love to the show. All you have to do is leave an epic review review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Screenshot the review before you hit submit and DM that screenshot to us on Instagram @makeshifthappenpodcast. And that's it. I want to thank you for being such a loyal listener and show my appreciation by putting a little extra cash in your pocket. I know it's super easy not to do it, but every single rating and review seriously helps the show rank higher and reach new people, so we appreciate them more than you know. We'll announce the next winner at the end of the month and slide into DMs if it's you. So keep an eye out and good luck. Love you guys and thanks for supporting Makeshift Happen.

Yeah, so I always have a hard time articulating like the evolution here because again, like my business started kind of on accident by me just like exploring my interests and my creativity and like sharing my journey. So I think from that perspective, like I was kind of leading with my feminine energy of like creativity and like not having like specific achievements or metrics like in mind. But also I'm an Enneagram 3, so I was like, if I'm going to do this thing, if I'm going to express myself, I'm going to win at expressing myself. So I think my default has always been more on the masculine, but like the feminine, the creativity, the flow has always been been the kind of like craving, like driving it all. And the times where I've gotten too far into my masculine of being like just so hustle, do, perform, like validate idea, take action, do all the things, and then the feminine has to kind of get like pushed aside. Those are always the times that I've like burnt myself out or felt completely like unaligned with the direction my business was going. So if I had to put a number I would say I naturally almost like when I'm stressed or just not being intentional, my default would be like 70% masculine. But when I'm actually feeling really balanced, like my own personal balance, I would say is more closer to 50/50 of like, I, I need the structure and I need kind of like benchmarks or goals to reverse engineer from, but I need that space for creativity and I need to play. I need to go outside. I need to be with my horse. I need to hang out with my dogs. I need to like make content just because it feels fun. And if I'm like not— if I don't have time for that, I'm like not a happy person and I'm burning out. It doesn't matter how much money I'm making. I like hate it.

Yeah, I kind of— I mean, I so relate to that. And this is so interesting of like the default. Right, of where, what, when, when in stress, like what do you go to? And I feel the same way of like when I'm in overwhelm or stress or like fear or whatever it is, it's kind of like the default is, okay, return to the masculine, which is like make a plan strategy, get it done, like pump something out, like let's figure it out, right? So I think it's interesting for everyone to kind of look at within themselves, like what is your default sort of coping mechanism when it comes to like the masculine and feminine energies, however you want to look at it. But it's also kind of similar to like attachment styles, if you're familiar with like the attachment styles, whereas like you could— your default of like, okay, there's stress or something's happening, things are crumbling or you're scared or you need to make more money or whatever it is. And so then what is the default? Is it anxious? So lean in, right? Which would kind of be like masculine energy of like, okay, well, let's fix this, let's solve it. Let's figure it out, make the plan, put it into action. Or is it the avoidant of like, oh my gosh, it's all too much. I just need to take a step back. I need to, like, reconnect with myself. I need to go outside. I need to, like, get away from it and, like, not look at it and not, not have it near me kind of thing. So it's, it's funny how it's like all the same.

It's all connected. Like so many parallels everywhere.

Yeah, but there's so many different ways to kind of look at that. So hopefully just for anyone listening, whatever, whatever way you want to look at it. If you don't connect with like masculine or feminine, maybe the anxious or avoidant kind of thing resonates more for you. But yeah, it's interesting to think about like what your default mechanism is and also take a look at like your percentages like we just talked about. I think that's so interesting. So when speaking of like when things get hard in business or when there is fear, when there is doubt, I know that you've talked about resiliency a lot and, and how it's something that's really required in entrepreneurship. And I so believe that as well. Was there ever a time in your business where you were like, I might actually not come back from this? Like, yeah, I might just throw in the towel right now. And how did you get past that? Like, what's your personal version of, of resiliency?

I would say there have been for sure moments and there have been like isolated situations where I'm like, okay, this might be like, I might be too far gone. Like this, this might be the time. In an acute moment or for a day or for a couple days. But I have a like rule with myself that I never make any decisions or make even any judgments. Like I don't even commit to an opinion when I'm in a state like that. I also don't make any business decisions when I'm PMSing because sometimes it's like everything sucks, everyone hates me, nothing's working. I'm just going to burn it. Like I'm holding the match occasionally. So I have, I have a rule where like I just don't form any opinions when I'm in that kind of headspace. But there have been like, if we're getting into the tea, like there, I can think of a time where one time I had this client who was basically just like completely took no responsibility for like her experience within coaching. Like never checked. This is when I was fitness coaching, never checked in with me, like wasn't adhering to any of the protocols. Um, wasn't actually telling me like what, what she was doing, and then would be unhappy that she wasn't getting results, right? And so then as coach, I'm reflecting back to her like, okay, I'm hearing that this is what you want, but here's what you're actually doing, like this is what needs to happen, blah blah blah. Long story short, she wants a refund, she wants out, she doesn't want to finish her contract, blah blah blah, and it's all my fault in her perspective. Um, and that's just not how contracts work. And so, um, she threw a huge fit and then eventually she went to another coach and that coach happened to be someone who I considered like my best friend for several years. And she went to that coach. Long story short, her and I weren't like talking anymore. We just kind of grew apart. But she blasts me on social media and she tells everyone that I'm basically scamming people, unethical, based on this false story from the client, right?

So the client— the client or your— the other—

no, the client shares her, her interpretation. The client shares her interpretation to the previous friend. The previous friend has also a large platform. She shares the client POV of what happened publicly, as if that is the truth of what actually happened. So this is like slander, defamation, disparagement vibes happening, essentially. And, um, yeah, for a minute people just believed her. And I had like— I had the receipts, right? Like, I, I had the receipts of that's not how it went down. I had to like hire a lawyer, I had to get like a demand letter, I had to do all these things just like protect myself. And I was like, oh my God, this this might be the thing. Like, if people believe her, this might be the thing that I can't come back from, or I can't handle this level of like trauma that I'm experiencing right now because she's attack— attacking my character. Which to me is like, that is a core wound. Like, if you are attacking my character, my values, my work ethic, like who I am as a person, Oh, that is like, that's so hard for me. And so she's attacking my character, she's attacking my business. This is someone that used to be a friend, just like from every angle. And then also telling a lot of people. And I thought, I don't, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Like, this is, this is bullshit and I don't know if I can do it. And long story short, I'm still here. That was like over 5 years ago, probably. Like, that was a long time ago. And it's fine. Like, nothing actually bad happened, but that was probably one of the times where I was like, I, I just don't know if I can keep going after this. And I just kept going and trusted that it would not matter in a month, a year, 5 years. And it doesn't. Sometimes the things that feel so big in the moment, like, do not matter. And so I've learned that, like, my business is, like, so much stronger and, like, more resilient than I used to give it credit for. Like, if something that like that, that's not even real, could bring my business down. Like, it's not— it's— the foundations are not strong, but they are, so we're good.

Yeah, yeah, that's powerful. What would you say to someone who's in those early stages of business that's like, you know how it is, it's the roller coaster of like, oh my gosh, I'm so motivated, I'm so excited, yes, and then the next day it's like, I can't do this, like, it's not for me, it's never going to work, I'm never going to succeed. What would you say to someone who's in that space where they're they're having a lot of those moments where they're contemplating their choice to become an entrepreneur or be an online coach, or they're just like, I don't know if this is— if I can keep going. Like, what might you say to them to help them with that resiliency?

I think this is so cliché, but like, as just as a concept, the discipline over motivation conversation is so real of like, if you are relying on motivation to get you to take the action, actions that, you know, need to happen to hit your goals, like you're setting yourself up for failure. So it's like, okay, how do I practice discipline? How do I make it as, as like no-brainer easy as possible for me to take the action that I need to take? I think a lot of people are making it like way too complicated or way harder than it needs to be. So it's part of it is like, how can we like grease the track a little and like make it easier for the actions to actually be done? But also we can— we just simply cannot wait for motivation to like hit us like a bolt of lightning. Like, we cannot wait to feel inspired, we cannot wait to feel motivated, we cannot wait to feel ready. And it's that like action. Um, I'm also really big on momentum of like, what is just like the first easiest step you can take to get you closer? And if you can do one easy thing, you can do another easy thing, and then you feel like you can do a medium-hard thing, and you can just keep going. And so I think it's discipline, it's momentum, and then it's also like that support and accountability. Like, I know that as coaches, like, we have a bias, we have a vested interest in like telling people that having support and accountability goes a long way, but it truly does. If you have someone in your corner who's not only like giving you guidance and you trust their guidance and their advice, but also they are able to give you that like tough love or that pep talk or that empathy that you need to take action and they're holding you accountable. Like, that's just so much of the value of coaching beyond like getting the right strategies and stuff. It's the support and the accountability.

Yeah, especially I think as you kind of— I noticed this for myself in my journey of business when I first started, when I was looking for support or mentorship, it was really about like getting the answers. Like it was about learning, okay, how do I do this? I need to learn all the things like teach me how to build a course, like show me how to do this. What are the platforms I should use? It was, it was that like very like question-based, like, help me figure this out. But the more that you kind of like evolve and grow into your business and step into like a CEO mindset, let's say we can kind of dive in and talk about that more. But when you, when you have that momentum already moving in your business and you've really established yourself as the CEO of your business, I think what you really then look for in coaching or mentorship is that more like sounding board, just like emotional support. It's the permission to do something big or audacious or to say no or set a boundary or to have the behind-the-scenes conversations of how your business is affecting your life, your relationships, your sex, your marriage, your whatever it is, your dreams for having a family, like all of that stuff that entrepreneurship, it just— I really like— I didn't understand this until I was in this position, but I think it really changes so many aspects and elements of your life. But the need or desire rather to have that kind of like sounding board and that support is still there. It's just what you're, what you're seeking from it or what you're getting out of it is different.

Yeah, the conversations totally evolve. Like I've been with my mentor Sabrina for 3 and a half years and I can't remember the last time she like taught me a new tactic or like taught me a new strategy. Yeah, we'll brainstorm and we'll run ideas off each other and she'll still, you know, suggest things or illuminate the blind spots strategically. Like, we still have strategy or like execution conversations, but our relationship has so much matured into that like mentorship where it's more about that like deep level of support and understanding. And like, it's so much more about the embodiment and those conversations where where, yeah, there's a time and a place to be like, I need to understand XYZ principles. But I think that's also why I'm such a big proponent of long-term mentorship, is if you're constantly just bouncing around looking for new information, you're never giving yourself a chance to get to that point of depth and like being so supported and known and understood to that level that you just can't get a 6-month container or like even 12 months. Like, I've been with her for 3 and a half years and now she's one of my best friends. But like, you just, you can't, you can't microwave like that level of understanding.

Yeah. And I think there's also a point where you're doing yourself a disservice by continuously just searching for more information, like more factual like strategies or things like that. And I think a lot of people get caught in that trap too of, I'm gonna go over here and I'm gonna do this 4-week thing and do this like low-ticket thing and then do this and then this and then, and it's like they're consuming all this information from 5, 10, 15, 20 different coaches or mentors. And that can almost like get overwhelming and confusing because you do reach a point where it's like you don't actually need more information. You need to do what you know that you need to do and actually just fucking do it, you know what I mean?

Because there are so many different ways to do it. Like it could work to follow this person's path or this person's path. Like they're all going to the top of the mountain. But if you're constantly jumping from path to path, none of them are actually getting enough like time and like implementation to, to work. And in business, and really like being good at anything, is so much more than like checking a box. Like, yep, post it on Instagram. Like, okay, but was it good content? Like, was your writing strong? Did you have a compelling like hook? Did you actually hit a content goal? Like, are you actually speaking to your ideal client? Like, there's so much nuance too that like if you're just so focused on like, oh, I need to learn this and then this next thing and the shiny object syndrome. Again, it's that thing of like depth versus like shallow breath and like trying to do a million different things.

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so last thing that I want to touch on is this piece of CEO mindset that I kind of mentioned before, but I know that you're also big on speaking to. So I'd love to know how you kind of define CEO mindset. What are some of the shifts, like when you start to actually elevate or step into that?

Yeah, so I think CEO mindset really anchors into leadership, and that starts with how you lead yourself and how you approach life and how you think about your problems and your relationships and your desires. And I find that the biggest thing that's keeping people from like embodying being a CEO is they are so focused on the little stuff or the day-to-day or the, like the, the small roadblocks or the small hurdles, and they are never able to zoom out, see the big picture, and actually like orient themselves to the vision. And so they get so hung up on, oh well, I can't like hire hire a VA for $15, $20, $25 an hour because I'm only making X amount. But it's like, okay, if you hired this person for that much for 2 hours a week, how much money can you make by having those 2 hours back? Or thinking the same thing about, I, I can't hire someone to help me clean my house because I can do that myself. Or not seeing yourself as just being like the person that creates your life. I think that's the ultimate form of like being a, being a CEO is like, how do you see, how do you perceive your role in your own life, right? Like we see the CEO of a business as a person that's like making a decision, aligning the team, like setting the vision, managing all the pieces. But if you're not doing that in your own life, if you're not clear on what you want, if you're not making decisions, if you're not promoting, hiring, firing the people that you want to be around, you're not in control. Like, you, you're just experiencing your life. You're not building it, right? So I think that's probably without like trying to give 57 little examples, like, I think that's probably the best way to describe it.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's kind of like this idea of like being the boss of your own life. And I think what a CEO really does is they give direction. The CEO doesn't necessarily have to be the smartest person in the room. In fact, a lot of CEOs actively try to be the dumbest person in the room. They want to surround themselves with people that that are really good at what they do, that are— they can do things in their business or in their life for them better than they could do it themselves, right? So whether it's, like you said, outsourcing the cleaning of your house because someone knows how to do that quicker and more efficiently than you do. Like, yes, you could do it, but they could probably do it quicker and more efficiently in less time than you. And then you also get time back. So it's about like that. Yeah, being able to kind of like give direction also.

And how you value it. Yeah. And how you set your values of like, what is my time worth? What is my energy worth? What is my peace worth? Like, I think it's also how you value those things and value yourself is a huge part of that work. And that's why it's like, not— I can't just tell you this is living like a CEO. It has to be like an embodiment.

Yeah. Yeah, I love that so much. Thank you so much, Marie, for coming on the show and sharing all of your, all of your wisdom. I know I loved our conversation so much on your podcast. If you guys haven't tuned in, check out Marie's podcast and listen to our episode. We kind of— this is like part 1, part 2 kind of vibes. We jammed on all things business in both spaces. But I love your work. I think you're incredible. You're such an inspiration to so many people coming up in the coaching space. And I'm excited to see more from you. If you guys enjoyed this episode, make sure you let us know. Take a screenshot, share it to your Instagram stories. Make sure you tag me at Samantha Daily and also tag Marie so that she can see you. Let her know what you loved about this episode. If you have a friend who is an entrepreneur or a coach, Maybe you want to copy the link to this episode and send it to them in a little text. Let them know you were thinking about them and that you think they would love this episode. Before we jump off, Marie, please let everybody know where they can find you, where they can get more information about your programs, how to work with you, all the things.

Yeah, I would love to see everyone in my corner of the internet. My kind of central hub, as you probably gathered, is Instagram. Over there, I'm Marie E. Wold. Um, my website is mariewold.com, and that's where you can look into all my programs and stuff. And my podcast is Make Bank With Marie Wolfe. So I'd love to see you in all the places.

Awesome. All right. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We will see you next week.

Bye. Bye.