Transcript of a conversation (YouTube video) between Vishen Lakhiani and Marie Forleo about building a business that feels authentic. Marie addresses market saturation and competitive anxiety (cites Blue Ocean strategy and the idea that with ~8 billion people a market can’t be saturated) and introduces/defines the term “multi-passionate entrepreneur,” sharing a personal anecdote about integrating multiple passions into her brand.
Doesn't it seem like everything's been done before? Like, I mean, there are people out here who might want to start a podcast. Bajillion podcast. Maybe people out here who want to build a coaching company. There's a bajillion coaching companies. Same with a bajillion online courses. What do we do when it seems that it's so competitive?
Yes. Okay, so two things I want to say about that. The reason I'm telling you all this is because that was over 20 years ago. And one of the most important things that I did while figuring out how to grow my coaching business was I figured out the business piece. It's one thing to be really good at whatever your craft is. So for me, it was around coaching. For some people, it could be around health coach. For other people, it might be around their artistry or producing videos or who knows? Like, there's all these things that we do as business owners, right? But if you don't understand the business of business, you can never share your gift with the world in the way that's possible. And it can't be sustainable from a financial perspective. First is you have to understand that There are almost 8 billion people on the planet. You could never saturate a market. There's. Honestly, even if there's a ton of people, one of the things that we do in module one is I walk you through the framework. I didn't create it, but we walk you through how to apply it for yourself. It's called the Blue Ocean strategy, where if you're entering a market that they. This is their analogy, where it's bloody and red because there's so much competition, where we teach you how to map strategically what everyone else is doing and map how to differentiate yourself and then go heavy on how you're different again, from an authentic place. It can be around your pricing, your positioning, your deliverabilities, your guarantees. There's a million different factors you can consider on the other end of it, the more conceptual end. And this is important to get, because if you don't believe this to be true, you're going to sabotage yourself before you even get to the Strategy. With almost 8 billion people on the planet, can you imagine, for example, if back in the day that Oprah Winfrey had seen how Phil Donahue had dominated the market and said, you know what? There's already too many talk shows. Does the world really need another talk show host? Or could you imagine, like, for example, Beyonce, right? Beyonce was around, like, I'm talking early 90s. There's enough R and B crews. Do we really need a girl group? We should just hang it up. Nobody wants. Do we need another singer? I think about it from my own. My own, basically my food love. So in New York City, which is where I live most of the time, you know my favorite place that sells eggplant parm, like, they could have looked around and been like, you know what, there's like 3,000 Italian restaurants. Does somebody need another eggplant farm place? And I would have been like, yes, because yours is the best. So for anyone who ever thinks that it's all been done before, I always say this. You are a one time mega event in the universe. There is no one on this planet that ever has been or ever will have your unique perspective, your gifts, your stories, your sensibilities. And if you don't do everything possible to share those gifts while you're here in this incarnation on planet Earth, the world is missing out on something it will never have. You.
I love what you just said. That's super inspiring. Now, there's this other word that you coined. It's called the multi passionate entrepreneur, and I love that term. Would you share what you mean by multi passionate entrepreneur?
I remember writing my journal and vision. I had all of these thoughts that were outside. Like whenever people ask me, like, at my bartending job, what do you do for a living? I had trouble answering that question because just calling myself a life coach or a coach always felt really narrow and like I was somehow cutting off a limb. It was a very strange experience. I had passions about dance and fitness. I had passions about digital marketing, about writing, about spirituality. And I remember this kind of inner conflict and this dark night of the soul going like, okay, quit my job. I started this coaching practice. I'm getting tiny bits of traction. Very, very little. Still mostly free clients and some paid. But I also have these desires to be a performer. I also have these desires to do all of these different things, like, why can't I just pick one thing? And pleading in my journal, God, please help me. Why am I broken? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'll tell you. There was one time at the bar where I was so embarrassed because again, people would ask me, well, what do you do besides tending bar? Are you an actress? And I was like, no. And one time asked me and this phrase popped out of my brain. I don't know where the hell it came from. But I said, I'm a multi passionate entrepreneur. And I was like, who said that? Like, it sounded so good. And it actually Felt so good and again I totally made it up. But here's the point. Instead of feeling like a flake, instead of feeling broken, like I didn't fit into society's one accepted definition of the one thing you should be in the world, this phrase helped me see myself in a new context. And at that time I just started taking dance classes. I was just starting to explore that piece of my career. And when that phrase came out of my mouth, all of a sudden I felt like I was like, well, I have this bartending job, I have this coaching practice. I'm actually starting to explore my career in dance. And that confidence came through and people got interested. And then all of a sudden I stepped feeling, I stopped feeling embarrassed, like do you know what I did? Vishen? I haven't told the story, I don't think ever. But I was trying to keep my passion separate. I was like, people won't hire a life coach who's also a dancer. That's total bs. So I started tell my life coaching like email list about the JLO dance workshop that I was doing in two weeks in New York City and I started to cross pollinate. I started to bring all of me to the table. And when I started to do that vision, I will tell you that is when so much of my career not only began to fast track but I also just brought a new level of confidence to the table because I was stopped. I stopped hiding who I really was.
Amazing. I love that story and I love the concept of the multi passionate entrepreneur giving people a complete identity shift in terms of who they are. That helps them feel more comfortable in their own skin. So I love this idea once again.
That most people I think feel right now, there's been a great reassessment, right? An ability to step back and go, wow, my life doesn't have to be the way it was every year. Every year, every year. And I think there is this window of opportunity right now in terms of transformation and change and taking your life and a new direction. And I don't think that window is going to stay open very long. So I just want you to trust your heart and if this feels right to you and this whole vibe feels right to you, please come join us. But even if we're not the right fit, find something to say yes to and use this magical window of period to launch yourself into the stratosphere. Because again, I just feel this is a very special time. And I will say this one thing I said everyone back on that 8 billion people on the planet kick. The world really does need that special gift that only you have. So you are a one time mega event in the universe. Don't waste it. Now is your time. Make it happen.
