241: Living In Possibility Not Circumstance with Lee Richter

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned lifestyle and high performance coach. Welcome to Listen up the podcast. On this podcast, I do what I do best. Taking complicated information that is relevant to us now and breaking it down simply with actionable steps you can implement to level up your life. I also regularly interview some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on the planet who at their worst learned how to achieve success greater than anything they ever dreamed possible. Creating everything from nothing. If you are new here, I encourage you to go back and listen from episode one when this podcast was previously called Leveling up for the Full Transformative Experience. Today I'm so excited to chat with Lee Richter who I met a while back now. She is so phenomenal. She's a mega entrepreneur. She's got several eight figure businesses, even one that crossed into nine. She is just a really amazing coach, mindset person and just energetically I love being around her and, and I couldn't wait to interview her, get her story today, and we're going to dive in because who she is today is not who she always was. Lee, thank you so much for being here today and talking with my, with my group.

Thank you. Yeah, I'm honored to be here and I'm so excited. I mean, this feels like I'm seeing you in person. I know that we're just connecting here through vocals and zoom, but honestly, it tells my brain I get to see you and I feel very happy.

Yay, me too. Okay, so take us back because 20 years ago, around this time, you were in a near fatal accident that you broke lots of bones, it almost killed you. Can you tell us what was going on then? What was happening in your life and what happened?

Oh my goodness. Thank you for asking this question. It's so interesting that it's a 20 year milestone coming up. I can't believe how far I've come in 20 years in this, but I was in my 30s actually and, you know, planning a family. And I was at the height of my career, honestly, in Silicon Valley. I was working at Stanford. I was working at Stanford Research Institute doing elearning Forum. It was in the 90s and what I was doing, I started with them in the 90s and what I was doing was helping them bring online education, right? And I'd been in finance for a long time. And what I was doing was helping them bring financial literacy and pet care onto the Internet in different ways. And this was before everyone knew that you could do online learning like we are today. And so I was coaching all These clients. I had Autodesk as a client and Merrill lynch was one of my clients. And what I was doing was teaching them how to reach their audience and how to multiply their genius. And I just felt I was at the height of my career. I had three ideal clients that were really, really grateful for me. And we were showing up and on May 4, I was driving to Silicon Valley. Actually, I was driving to Stanford to meet some clients. And. And on my way there, somebody crossed a double yellow line going 60 miles an hour. I was going 55. And we had 115 mile an hour impact. Oh my gosh. Was very dramatic. And within minutes, the helicopters were there, the police were there. They used Jaws of Life to get me out of the car into the helicopter to the.

Wow.

They were actually taking me to Stanford for the Stanford Medical Group. But while they were in the air, they realized I had one injury that was so severe that the only doctor that could fix it was in San Jose. And luckily he was there that day because the next day he left for a three week vacation. But they helicoptered me there and he literally started the path of putting me back together. The first eight days I was in icu, which is an extended length of time to be in icu in a coma as they did five surgeries and put me. You don't remember any of this?

I'm assuming you don't remember none of that?

None of it. As a matter of fact, when I woke up, eight days had gone by. I had an external fixator on my right leg for that broken leg, at an external fixator on my left arm for a broken arm. But I'd broken more than 15 bones. Both my legs, my back, my hip. My back was broken at the L1, though. The L1 is where you could be paralyzed. 93% of the population would be paralyzed where my back was broken. And I was part of the Lucky 7% where my spinal cord stopped one early and I was able to walk again. But from the beginning, they thought I was going to be paralyzed for life. That was the mindset that they had. And my husband was showing up saying, it is not true. I am going to have her walking again. And he was my advocate. And I will say the number one thing you need is an advocate when you go in the hospital. Not only was he an advocate for me and my health, but he was an advocate to keep the doctors in line. They assigned 13 different doctors to put me back together. And they all have different ways to do things. So he became the conduit speaking the language and making sure they were all going in the same direction. So I will say I'm very grateful. He really did save my life. But in that, you know, what's really interesting is he learned holistic medicine by putting me back together and looking for the best absolute choices. He not only learned it for me to help me, but as a veterinarian, he now applies those principles to animals. So it actually elevated his career to a higher level more than we ever imagined. So there's been some good that came out.

I have some questions about the whole accident, too, because I want to. I want to hear. So my first question about it is going to be. Let me tell you what both questions are. My first question is, what was your memory around the accident? Like, do you remember the car hitting you? Or, like, literally, like, what do you remember there? And I also want to know what was your personality like before the accident? Because I know that I'm guessing that there was a shift in your perspective around life and how you do business and everything, but I'm curious about those two questions.

Excellent. So the first thing, I remember, all of it, and it was interesting because when I got hit, my left arm was broken so badly, my left leg had broken my femur in more than a dozen places. Just my femur. And honestly, when the paramedics showed up, I heard one of them say to another lady, die, died for less. So they didn't think I was going to make it through the night. They literally. The paramedics who originally came to see me came to see me in the hospital less than 30 days later and let me know that I was a miracle. And they'd seen people with lot less injuries not make it, so they were really shocked I made it. So when it comes to remembering everything, I remember them showing up. I remember them. I asked them to take my camera and take pictures because I wanted to see what I survived. And I remember giving them orders to call my husband. I ended up calling my husband and telling him what happened. And so he ended up driving to the hospital, which is about 6, 60 miles away. It took a little while for him to get there, but I remembered all of it. I gave someone my camera to take pictures, and then the police wouldn't let him come back to give it to me. And he even found me a month later and gave me that camera back and. And let me know what a miracle was and how it changed his life. So a lot of people do they.

Put you in a coma, Lee, so you weren't you didn't go into a coma from it. They put you in it.

It sounds like they induced a coma because they had to do five surgeries to put me back together. And they wanted to tell you they.

Were going to do that. Did they say, we're going. You didn't even know this was happening?

No. As a matter of fact, they didn't even give me pain medicine until I was in the helicopter. And I did have a couple chants of, please save my leg. Please save my leg. Please save my leg, because my right leg was severely damaged and literally held on just by the blood supply. It was, like, by a literal string. And they thought I was leaving the hospital with a prosthetic. But I will tell you, the doctor that they flew me to was one of two in the whole country that could save my leg. And after five surgeries, I'm walking and I have my leg, and I'm grateful every day.

What's so interesting is you're. I'm learning a lot about your mindset here, because even in this horrible accident, in all that pain and all this thing, you knew you were going to walk again and you were going to survive this because you're saying, take a picture so I can see this later. Save my leg. Call my husband. Like, you were not at all thinking, oh, my gosh, this is it. And I believe that that's so powerful. Like, you believed you already knew your vision, that you were getting through this, you were going to learn.

I never, ever, ever thought I was going to die. But I'll tell you something else, Natalie. Two weeks before, I was at Chez Panisse with a really good friend of mine having lunch. She happens to be a therapist. And two weeks before, I told her I had a premonition about a bad driver. And I told her that at lunch. And while I was in the hospital, literally a month or two after my accident, she came and asked me, do you remember telling me that premonition about. So I somehow warned myself that something was going to happen. I didn't know what, but when it happened, I wasn't surprised. I swear that that happened. But I also did have a moment in the hospital where I was on the ceiling looking down at me, and I could see everything happening, and I could see, like, everything happening. And in my mind, it was just, like, never goodbye. It was always, what do I have to do next? What do I have to do next? And they do assign a trauma therapist to you when you're near death in the hospital. And this trauma therapist and I He would meet with me every day and he'd say, you're so lucky. You're not poor. Poor me, woe is me. And he said to me, I remember him saying, if ever you were prone to depression, now would be the time. And I said, my brain's not going there, it's just going, what do I need to do to get out of here? And so, yeah, I never saw, I always saw myself getting through it. But I do think having that premonition in that conversation, it prepared me. And I have no idea why I had that premonition. I never said anything like that before or since, but. But it really did happen.

That's why.

And then. But my mindset was always, what? Yeah, it was always, what do I need to do next? What I need to do next? It was never ever victim mode, ever.

So, Leah, a lot of people look back at massive setbacks in their life, like accidents like that. And at the time when it happens, they don't really get why it happens. But later they're like, I get why that happened. Do you have that experience and why? And if you do, what is that?

I have several gifts that came out of the accident. Absolutely. One of them was just even knowing I have an amazing husband that showed up for me. And the nurses would say to me things like, you have, you're so lucky. Your husband's so amazing. I've seen husbands leave wives for less. And I mean, he literally was in the hospital every single day. In the beginning, he had to feed me, wash my hair. I mean, I had a broken back with a back brace on, two broken legs, broken arm. It was months before I could even sit up, nevermind walk. My accident was on May 4, and the very first time that I could actually stand in the shower still with broken legs though was December 1st. And I love showers every day. I've already taken two in the last 24 hours. Like it is such a freedom, right? I'm here in Hawaii right now and I'll tell you, every time I go in the pool or swim in the ocean, I take a shower and just get reset. And back then missing that, oh my goodness, it was one of the hardest things, was just my daily ritual. I think I do a lot of thinking in water and so I did miss that tremendously. But so much was mindset of this is happening for me and what do I need to learn? And I have a good friend, Shawn Stevenson. He passed away not too long ago and my heart is still breaking. But even he's been on here yeah.

He'S been on this podcast. He's incredible. He's incredible.

He is incredible. And he inspired me so much. And in June, right before he passed away, we spent two whole days together. He sat next to me, and we just deepened our relationship over many years. And when he was on his deathbed to Joe Polish, he said, this is happening for me, not to me. And I'm like, if he can see it, I mean, I saw it back then, too. If he can see it. I mean, that is the step to resiliency. Also, I'll mention I had a friend of mine who's a Ph.D. many, many years ago. He taught me whenever you're going through the cycle of recovery or learning or anything, that when you go through all of the different pieces of it, whether you're in, you know, anger or disappointment or whatever phase that you're in, he says, at the end, the answer is always the same. It's always the same. And at the very end, wherever you're going through in your grief or whatever, the answer is always, it is what it is, and I have to deal with it. That's it. It is what it is, and I have to deal with it, Right? And if it's that, just go straight there. And I think that tool in my toolbox was so important for me because I went straight there. I'm like, it is what it is. I have to deal with it. I didn't sit there and say, oh, my goodness, what can I do? Or poor me, or I did the opposite. Every single time they gave me physical therapy, if they assigned me for three hours, I'd ask for four. My husband brought in people that would do acupuncture for me, which, by the way, in a hospital, they do not let outside needles in. But he didn't take no for an answer. He's like, she needs that for blood flow, for help. And honestly, I didn't even take pain meds like, the last. For the first month, it was, you know, they gave me no choice. But as soon as I had a voice, I didn't have them anymore.

Leigh, how do you help? I feel like most people. Most people live in circumstance, not possibility. And what's interesting is the people that I have interviewed here on this podcast and entrepreneurs, successful people I know in life in different areas, they tend to live in possibility, not circumstance. So how do you. Do you think we're born with that? Do we learn it? How do we help people that are so stuck on their circumstance and what is. And they do go down that Rabbit hole to get depressed. And wow, this happened to me. And we saw it so much this last year, by the way, in 2020, like, there was a massive divide with I'm stuck in circumstance or I'm looking at possibility. Do you have any guidance on that, number one?

And by the way, this is a really great question, and is the divider. In the past few days, I actually listened to Brene Brown recently again, and she said there's certain things that are common elements on people that are really resilient, and one of them is starting in gratitude. She said when she looked at thousands and thousands of different responses and she was looking at the people most resilient, all the indicators across, the one that they all had in common was gratitude. And I think that that was a big piece that came to me is I had a PhD at Stanford that I knew that taught me happiness science. And she taught me to start each day in gratitude. And I know it sounds trivial and so many people are on the train and they're talking about it, but honestly, it is a big divider because as you start in gratitude, you can't be in anything else, right? So our day, every day, starts in gratitude. It literally is on my checklist. Start in gratitude, and I'll tell you when we don't. My day is different. So it's just convinced me more and more to just that one simple piece. But so much starts in our head, right? If we can or we can't, it starts in our head.

So what do you do when, like, you're okay, let's just say you have a bad day yesterday or whatever, because you have. I know you're human and you've had a day where it's bad or you're stuck.

Oh, I had. I had three in a row recently that, you know, one of my team members is here and, you know, we coached every day around it. So, yes, it happens to all of us.

So when you have that happen, like, I had something to me happen yesterday, even that got stuck in my head and it was consuming me. And so. And when I woke, even though I know all the things, go to bed with gratitude. What did I accomplish? Wake up in gratitude. But it, like circles in there. Does that ever happen to you? And what do you. How do you shut it up and switch to gratitude?

Oh, my goodness. That is such. Well, first of all, ask for help. It's like somebody else on the outside of the jar reading the label differently than me on the inside of the jar who can't read it right so what happened recently was we were in a video shoot and I had a little setback at work that I had to put out a fire in the middle of the shoot. And it took me off my game, right? It took me off of the flow of the video. And one of my team members saw it, and he took me in the other room and he said, let's have a little conversation. Do you see all the people here in this room right now? Do you know how much they love you and support you? And he just put my head back in check of just how fortunate I was to be there and how much in gratitude. I wanted to be with the team. And it literally flipped my switch right back into possibilities. So I think sometimes it is not only your head that has to do it, but the support around you that can really notice you and love you and lift you higher. I mean, we have that with our unicorn group, right? We can post something any day that we can say, hey, I need a little bit of support. And 10 women will show up and say, you are amazing, and I can't wait to support you. And I think we are smart enough to have that in place, right? We need it. We all need it. And we all have challenging days. The hard part is to be really transparent around it and say, yes, I'm human. I have to take my cape off and work on myself, too. But as I'm teaching happiness, I'm learning one thing that's really important. We teach what we need the most. So as I'm teaching it, I'm adopting it even more.

Yeah, that is true. We do tend to teach what we need the most. Talk to me about how you've been so successful as an entrepreneur, because it sounds like you were successful in a career in your 30s before the accident, but you expanded into this just completely different successful entrepreneur. How did that happen? And did the accident have anything to do with that?

You're an amazing interview. I can see why you have so many followers, because you are so good at getting right to it. So I worked at Merrill Lynch. First I was in finance. I was a series 7 licensed stockbroker. Lou Holtz was my first coach and taught me a lot around mindset and money and discipline. And so I took those principles and put them in place for clients. And then as my husband went through undergrad and then grad and then veterinary school, he wanted to practice in Berkeley, California. So we moved to Berkeley, California from University of Florida and set up a career for him. Now I was in finance and working at Stanford I was still doing that. He was in the veterinary industry. And then what happened was during my car accident in the hospital, laying flat on my bed, he would bring me things every single day that I would normally do at home, like even taking care of the finances. I mean, he's in medicine. He doesn't have a financial mind. He has a medicine mind. So I do all the finances. So he would bring me those things. And he was telling me the story at work around how a client came in for a dog to be fixed, but they were homeless, and he couldn't fix them because the owners of the hospital said, sorry, he doesn't have money. And my husband was like, but my oath is to help the animal, and it's really hard for me not to help him, so what do I do? And I said to him, I said, you know, the only way that you can do that is if you have your own practice. When you have your own practice, you can make those decisions. So I planted the seed there. And he came back, he was working emergency, and he goes, you know, out of all the practices in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are only three I would really, really want because of the way they take care of their clients and the way they do surgeries. It's like the rate protocols is the way he saw it. And sure enough, on 9 11, one of those owners of the hospitals was in Australia, and he got stuck there. And while he was stuck there, he couldn't get out, and he decided to stay and he put his practice up for sale. And my husband came to me, like, three days later. He's like, I'm scared to tell you this, because one of those practices just went up for sale. And so we were one of 30 veterinarians that bid on it. It was a long process, but he ended up getting it. And then we launched a nonprofit in there called the Pet and Wildlife Fund so that he could do community service like that for free. And we started creating ways that people can contribute and support it. And so it actually was a great community builder in the end. But it all came from him just wanting to do some good.

So good, I'm guessing. And I don't even know you that well yet, Lee, but now I know I need you in my life a lot more. But I'm guessing that the reason you are actually so successful is because you fully live in possibility. Like, you don't look at anything as a hurdle or a circumstance. You're always. You. Like, how do I look at that and make it better? Is that Accurate that people describe that about you.

Yep. And I use the words even better because it doesn't mean it was bad to begin with. But how can we make it even better, even to my team? Because it sounds like a criticism, how can you make that better? But if I say, hey, how can we make that even better? They assume it's already great. We're just going to improve it a little. And I teach them, you can improve it even 1 or 10%, and it can make a big difference over time. So, yes, I do live in possibilities. My mindset goes there. A lot of it is because of what that PhD taught me way back around. It is what it is and I have to deal with it. I might as well go there first. But I also learned in that car accident, when they assigned that trauma therapist, he did say, you don't really need me. But he would still come in every day and we'd have conversations and he let me know protecting my mindset was so important. And then I enhance it with other people. I listen to David Nagel. He teaches on mindset and possibilities. And last year when Covid first started, he did a four part series on how to survive Covid in uncertain times when nobody knew what was happening. He did it at the end, end of March when it first happened, and he did four episodes in real time on what to do with your mindset. I shared it with my entire team. I emailed it to a lot of my clients, a lot of my friends. And what happened was they had a different mindset going through this entire epidemic. Right. While we were going through the pandemic, my team was showing up as a team of possibilities. And a lot of it was because David, not me. They would hear it from me, but they heard it from David even more because they knew I was listening to David. But David went in and gave him specific things to do. And one of the things that they talk about is the spiral of a conversation, whether it's in person or in your head. And the spiral of conversation starting in gratitude, by the way, you start above ground level. Right. But then if you keep the spiral going up with possibilities, it actually enhances your life and your day. And he gives the tools to do that. So I shared it with my team. About a month after the pandemic, we were in a client in a team meeting. And every one of them went around and said the difference between them and their neighbors and their friends and their family in mindset just from listening to David. So they could see the clear difference between how they felt and then how everyone else around them felt. And a lot of the people around them were losing their jobs, not seeing possibilities. And my time, my team was thriving and they still are, by the way. We just did a meeting recently and every one of them, we did a Chinese New Year party and every one of them went around in gratitude, almost in tears, saying, I feel essential, I feel accepted, I feel loved. And because of that, they're surviving. They never missed a day at work. We were open the entire time and we created a safe zone for them. So I think part of it was communication and part of it is other people taught them, not just me.

So good. So, Lee, tell me why. Because this is another big question. So when I work with entrepreneurs, I usually, I know that there's a theme with entrepreneurs where they like, they're creatives and they have lots of ideas and they chase, chase, chase, chase, chase, chase, chase. And so I'll typically dial people in to focus on one thing first. So talk to me about that because you have several businesses, you have so many interests. How have you made that work? And did you have to start with like one focus at a time? Can you walk us through a little bit around that?

Absolutely. I do a thing called the Colby Test. K O L B E. I'm a.

Nine quick start and I'm a nine.

Quick start and I'm a six follow through. And that's my key. Most entrepreneurs are one, two or three follow through. My six follow through serves me because not only do I see it through, but I assign it to the right person who should be doing it. I don't keep it, but I can get it started. I could have the vision. And the other thing is, when I'm in visionary mode, I'm in my nine quick start. Like you, I only let other seven, eight, nine or ten quick starts in the room with me.

Oh yeah, brilliant. Without everybody else.

Well, what happens is the people that are the high researchers, they mean well, they know what works, they know what doesn't, but they come in too early and knock the story ideas down. And as a visionary, one idea leads to the next idea, which leads to the next. Well, that third or fourth idea might be the big idea that you really need. Maybe you have to scale it back a little, but you might not have reached it if the visionaries were not alone. If the visionaries are alone, you could, ah, it's an abundance of ideas. However, then you take them and you say, what I do is I do a five day sprint, right? So I have team members that we do a five day sprint, we do send it to the researcher next and say, okay, go out and do the research. What kind of audience is there, what kind of ideas? But we give them a time limit. So if you look at the book Sprint, it talks about a five day sprint. And this is what they do at Google Ventures, this is how they helped Uber, Airbnb, all these big brands is instead of people coming up with ideas and it taking six or eight or ten weeks to come to are we going to do this or are we not going to do this? Silicon Valley figured out, why don't we do it in five days. So the first day the idea goes to the researcher and the researcher has their checklist of what to look for and what to do to see will this be successful. Then it goes to the follow through person and then they look up systems. How can we take this complex idea and turn it into bite sized steps? Then it comes back to the visionary from them. And when it comes back to me, what I get to see is what did they learn from the research? Are they enthusiastic about this idea and is this a viable idea? By the fifth day we know are we going to move forward with this? Are we going to put it in the parking lot or are we never going to do this? Just following that, what we're able to do is number one, see the long legs on the ideas, but also decide are we going to spend our time on it anymore or not. The enthusiasm of the team is the number one biggest indicator though. If they're excited about it and they see possibility, it's got wings and it will fly. So, and then just making sure the right seat on the, on the bus. The researchers doing what they need, the follow through person is doing what they need and the visionary staying in their lane.

So just be a massive, massive breakthrough around this. Which is so interesting because okay, so my integrator, my like right hand integrator, now I'm realizing this is what I definitely do wrong because I get idea after idea after idea, I tell her my idea after idea after idea and then I stress her out and then she's, then she's like overwhelmed. I'm mad that she's not liking my idea. So I just realized that's what's going on wrong there. And then two, I'm realizing I do.

This with my husband rather than what's going on wrong there. It's what I can do even better.

What I can do even better. I like that what I can do.

Because then you're going towards what you want. One of the things I was going to mention to you earlier too that I learned at Stanford is if you have anything that you say that's not what you want, put it on the left hand side of the paper, write it out like whatever it is. I don't want her to be stressed out. You put it on the left hand side of the paper. I don't want her to be stressed out. It's something you don't want. Convert her to what you do want, which is I want to make sure I support her at the right time so that when we have our ideas, we can flow together. Right. So always talk about what you do want. And that's one of the things that I learned from my accident especially is to really focus on what I do want. So on the left might be, I don't really want to do three hours of physical therapy today because it's going to hurt. On the right will be when I do three hours of physical therapy today, I'm going to feel so much better at the end and be closer to my goal. And it's just that shift in mindset makes me look forward to it rather than dread it. Right. It's good. Yeah.

That's great advice.

And it's just certain little words, right? The happiness science coach says there's seven words to eliminate from our language. No, not, can't, but if, try and should. No, not can't, but if, try and should. Now the only thing you could say try for is like if you're trying a new wine, but you don't say, I'm trying to do this new project. You say, I'm trying to do this new project. I'll see you in a year. You're still trying. You just say, I'm doing it right. And it seems like a simple thing. And I do have some people that say no, sometimes you have to try, try, try. But I think it keeps people in a smaller bubble when they're just trying. It gives them an excuse to not actually succeed or do it.

Everything said was so good and it's interesting because I. That's what I teach with fat loss and my clients is all of everything you just said. Because so many people come into fat loss with I've tried everything. But what I just realized talking to you is like, we can know that in certain areas, but we're not applying it to the area that we should apply it to. So I definitely am doing that. Wrong with the visionary. Not wrong. No, wait, I'm not Supposed to say.

That I'm definitely going to start doing that better.

I'm going to start doing that better. And I noticed I do that with my husband, too, because just yesterday we're riding bikes and I. I'm like, wouldn't it be cool if. And he went right to why it wouldn't work. And then I'm mad because I'm like, well, it was an idea. It was cool. And then. And then he's going right to why, why it wouldn't work. And we had a whole talk about that. And I'm telling him how he could phrase that better to me, but I'm learning from you. I. I could have worded that different.

To him, or I create curiosity. Like, hey, babe, what would you think when we do this? What do you think about that? Like, if you create a sense of curiosity, then he'll pipe in what he's thinking, not just answer a yes or no, too. Like, you know, one of the things Brene Brown said yesterday that I'm going to take forward with me, she says a common thing that among some of the most resilient and successful people is they use the phrase the story I'm telling myself.

I do that.

Yeah. And so I think I'm starting to do that more. Like, the story I'm telling myself is, oh, that hurt my feelings. Because he didn't respond the way I wanted. Hey, babe, you know what I'm telling myself you didn't respond the way I wanted. Can we have a conversation about that? And it just, you know, responsibility. So much of it starts in our head and our words, and I know it seems so trivial, but I play with it all the time. I do prosperity declarations every day. And I hadn't done it for, like two or three weeks. I was just so busy. And then I started, like two or three days again. And one of my things that I say every day, especially when I spend money, is I say, thank you for serving me. Now go out in the world and come back to me. Multiply. Now. I've been saying it the last few days. Today I had two checks come in. That surprised me.

And I'm like, oh, you're saying that to who to thank you for serving?

Whenever I spend money, I say, it's money. Because we have a relationship with money. It's the same as any other relationship. It's a relationship. If you love money and you call it to you, guess what? It will love you and come to you. If you're like, oh, I don't do it. For the money or I don't need the money. Those people never have money and they don't know why. It's because they're sending money away. So what I, what I do is anytime I'm spending money, I literally like, as I'm signing the check or putting the money down, I say, thank you for serving me. Now go out in the world and come back to me. Multiplied. And I've been practicing this for years. And it's funny, sometimes it'll come back exactly multiplied, you know, like, I remember I bought my husband a 1962 MG convertible for his 40th birthday. It was exactly $13,000. I said that when I wrote the check. I was helping this woman, I was like, oh, I'm helping her too. She's selling the car. Literally four days later, $56,000 came, surprise, just out of the blue, and I'm like, exactly four times what I just invested on the car. And by the way, I even made money on that car when I sold it years later. So it just works. And I mean, why fight it if it works? You don't have to know why it works. I feel the same way about feng shui. I don't have to know what 4000 years of principles are about feng shui, but I pay attention to the energy. Why? Because I'd rather comply with the laws than ignore the laws. And it works. So why not? You know, like, I don't have to understand it 100% to comply with it. However, if it enhances your life, integrate. Right?

So good. So good. Lee, so what do you, you ha. You're. You are overseeing and creating so much. Do you enjoy having all the different aspects and do you recommend that for people or do you suggest that they focus in on one thing at a time?

Well, I have the capacity. I found out when I had a brain scan. I actually have the capacity for multiple things. I will say most coaches say stick with one thing. Inch wide, mile deep. Each of my companies, I go inch wide, mile deep with that team. So basically I have a number one in each of the companies that really is acting as CEO. They're my number one and I talk to them on a regular basis. We have huddles, we text, we have slack. I empower them to be the leaders. I just instill in them my values. I will tell you though, I have four different teams right now that are working for me and each one is functioning different based on that leader or based on the almost non leadership because one of my teams, there's several People in there that could take leadership. They've all been there more than 10 years, and they've been resisting leadership. During zoom calls and during this pandemic, none of them are stepping up, and I'm like, oh, wow. The other teams, they can't wait to be the leaders, and they can't wait to tell me what they're doing and show me success and even honor me for mentoring them. I get regular notes and this one team, yeah, I'm like, I have to turn that around. So even in my great, you know, organizations, I still have to, you know, prune it and maintain it all on a regular basis.

But you enjoy that. It sounds like you enjoy.

I love it.

And vision.

That's my thing. I love strategy and vision, and then I also love PR marketing. So I love sharing other people's stories. That's my jam. My team gets a little mad at me because I share everyone else's stories so much, and I rarely share mine. Even my websites don't even have me on as the CEO, the vet, hospital and stuff. I'm like, yeah, that's true. I do own and I am the CEO, but I highlight my team, and it's just natural for me to do that. But I am stepping a little bit more into it right now because of other big projects that I'm doing that are kind of in a global focus. And so I'm stepping into the light a little bit more. But I'd really rather tell the world about you, Natalie. Absolutely. That's my jam is like, wait, I know this beautiful, amazing global leader. Here's how she can help you. That just makes me happy. But that's why Clubhouse is fun.

That might be why you are so successful too, though, because you're making about other people. So, like, sometimes I look at people's, like, sales page or offer whatever, and it's so about them that people don't see themselves in it. But because you spend so time going deep with others and highlighting them, people see themselves in that journey, and I believe that's what works.

And it is such my joy, and it always has been. I even on Clubhouse, a lot of times people call me up for something and I'm, like, highlighting someone else. It's like, no, we want to hear about you. And I'm like, oh, but it's so much fun for me to share their stuff. I've been doing it from my husband for 30 years. I mean, basically, I've been building his brand as much as possible. Just like your husband's been Helping you. Like, he adores you and lifts you. I've been doing that for Gary, and it's been amazing.

Not anymore, though. I should have you talk to him. My husband backed out of my business.

Years ago, but he just. He just goes out and tells them. He just goes out and tells the world how great you are.

Well, that's. I'm glad to hear that. We. Yeah, we just. We decided for us, our marriage was better. Not working together. We work together a little bit. On the coaching side, we'll. We'll work with the same clients, but in my actual, like, Natalie Jill fitness business, that was not working for us.

So good that you learned. And then the marriage comes first, right?

Yeah. So, gosh, you're just so interesting. I love everything that you're sharing. I. How to. First of all, Clubhouse, a lot of people listening don't even know what that is. Can you tell them what that is and do you find? Like, for me, I started seeing that. That was a waste of time for me. Can you explain how you use that and why and should people be on that listening?

Absolutely. And I'll say I see the reasons to be on there. So Clubhouse is basically a way to connect with audiences. Right. If you look at it right now, in the next generation, they're seeing TikTok as their TV and they're seeing Clubhouse as their radio. And so what's happened in Clubhouse, it's actually unbelievable how it's taken off. I mean, in the past few weeks, we've had Bill Gates come on, and we've had Elon Musk come on, and Mark, Zach Zuckerberg. And so people are paying attention. And the reason they're paying attention is because connection is growing faster than ever. And people are showing how much they miss connection through this app because they're hopping in and they're learning and they're connecting. Why do I like it? I am learning myself, actually. I'm doing a thing for a client. He's the CEO of Comic Con, and we are building some really fun things. And behind the scenes, we're doing a lot in the collectibles world. On the Clubhouse, there are so many different rooms around digital arts and NFTs and cryptocurrencies that I'm going in there for education, for what I'm doing for my client. I'm listening. What are people saying? It's almost like a focus group in real time, and I can ask questions and get exact answers to what I'm thinking. So I absolutely love it. I also go in some rooms and teach about marketing. Today I was teaching about money mindset. We had a three hour room. Some of our friends were in there from our unicorn group. I was so proud of them and I just loved highlighting them. And they were writing me notes in the background saying they can't wait to do it again. And we were on there. For me in Hawaii, it was 5am I had to set my alarm to be on that call. Still was worth it. I loved it. I was on it the whole three hours. And I think it is because connection matters more than anything. And for me, I miss my people. And it is amazing how many people I see there in real time. I was with Les Brown in his room on January 1st, New Year's Day. I'm like, wow, Les, I've seen you in person how many times? But I didn't expect to spend New Year's Day with you. And then Glenn Morshauer, who's an actor for 45 years, who teaches acting classes, who's brilliant. Whenever he has a room, I want to pop in and hear what he's teaching because he just has this way of teaching things that I think is amazing. And one time I was in his room for four hours straight just hearing him pour into people in such a beautiful way.

And Leah's got like a gazillion followers on Clubhouse, by the way, and so anyone can follow her there for free. And Leigh, where can people find you if they want more? Because I know people want to learn more from you. Where do you want them to go?

So my main website for me is goasklee.com g o a s k l e e goasklee.com and in there, you know, I'll post things. I'm doing some stuff with sharehappinessnow.com which is a passion project. And then I have my websites for the pet stuff. But if you go to goasklee.com that's kind of what I'm doing right now. And I enjoy just connecting with people. So definitely keep in contact with me.

And then, Lee, my final question for you because the name of this podcast, it used to be Leveling up and I changed it to Listen Up. If you were just to give like you have like a quick listen up, you want people to know, what would you say?

I'd say one of the things that I learned along the way is be interested in other people. That's what makes you interesting.

And that does describe you in a nutshell. That is so good.

Thank you. I am glad. I love people and even when we were at our Kala v beautiful place and I am already going again this year. Every single moment I felt so lucky because we got to connect with people that are like minded, forward thinking, see possibilities and make a positive impact. And I think that I can't wait to be with the group more because those are the people I want to connect with the most. So thank you for being part of my life. I love it.

Thank you so much Lee for doing this today. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen in as my guest today. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with friends and on social media. I don't advertise this show so I rely on word of mouth and reviews to get it out in the world. The biggest thank you that you can give me is Leaving me a review and a nice one. I hope. By the way, this is how others find these episodes. If you do leave me a review, be sure to Message me@supportataliejofitness.com with a screenshot of your review because I would love to send you a free digital download of my DSR journal as a thank you. And please don't forget to connect with me on social media at nataliejillfit on Instagram, Instagram and Facebook.