Creating Financial Freedom in Midlife with Marina Worre

Today on Midlife Conversations, I have Marina Worre. Now, she is not only the creator, the most powerful woman in network marketing, event and founder and CEO of Worry Studios, but she is one of the names at the top of almost every list in network marketing. Everyone knows who her and her husband are. They are thriving and killing it. Now, before you shut down this because it's interesting because network marketing can get such a bad rap, I get it. I want to share that I've been a huge fan of network marketing for years and we're going to get into a little bit about why. But what her and her husband do, what they stand for, what they create, helps so many people thrive. Especially in midlife. Especially in midlife. And most recently, I want to share this. During the pandemic, it forced her and her husband to make a major pivot in network marketing pro business model. And like all entrepreneurs do, they got super creative. She got super creative and resourceful and she brought Worry Studios to life without prep prior experience. In just 10 impossibly short weeks, she single handedly spearheaded a team of top audio and video production professionals to construct a 25,000, yep, 25,000 square foot, state of the art production studio in Las Vegas. And although everyone told her that there wasn't enough time or resources to make it happen, on December 11, 2020, she broadcast to tens of thousands, yep, tens of thousands network marketing professionals and created and hosted the largest virtual event in the whole world, virtual GoPro. And she is just getting started. Thank you so much for being here today, Marina.

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Natalie. I'm like, it's my great honor and pleasure to be with you today.

So I want to start, I want to take it back some because I had the opportunity to hear you speak recently and I was just so blown away with how empowering and motivational you you are. I wanted to like jump up and get into triple action. Where did that come from? Take me back. Like, how did that start in you?

Uh, you know, it's like first of all, to be honest, speaking is not my forte. Uh, I'm like introvert, which a lot of people will probably not guess from the first stop. And like, for me it's like, give me a corner, you know, give me my computer, let me hide somewhere. So pushing myself and speak in front of the audience was something very uncomfortable to me. But I'm one of those people that, you know, if it's uncomfortable, it doesn't mean that I'm not going to do it. It's Actually a challenge to me to become better, to become more influential in that particular space or more. Just get some more practice in it. So I decided that's like, you know what? Because I think that I have a message that will impact a lot of lives. And I wanted to make sure that that message lands properly in a way that people can relate, in the way that they can find themselves potentially in my story and also find some kind of an inspiration and give them hope that they can do that too. If I was able to change my life, if I was able to come through the challenges that I came through, they can do that too. So that was kind of like the idea behind it. And then I started speaking more, and everything comes with practice. I was learning from amazing mentors. And my latest mentor, we have her in common. She's absolutely total rockstar, and she's working with me on some of my speaking stuff as well.

So I want to start with that. Like, how do you get the confidence to step into that and take that on? Like you said, you feel like you're actually introverted. You didn't think speaking was your thing. Like, I think there's so many women, my gosh, especially in midlife, they have these great stories about why circumstantially, they should not be stepping into something like, what do you think it took to say, you know what? I do have something inside of me. I do deserve to get the coaching to get this message out to the world. Can you help walk us through that a little bit?

You know, first of all, I think that we. And by the way, there is a statistics that all the different fears. There are many charts like fear of sharks, fear of spiders, fear of whatever. And the biggest fear on those charts is fear of public speaking, which is 61% of the population is afraid of public speaking. But what is interesting, in my opinion, the biggest fear is not necessarily public speaking. The biggest fear is unknown. And when we go into something that we do not know, you know, how people will react, how I gonna come across? I remember one time, Tony Robbins, when we had a conversation about it, and he said, you know what? Fear in general is very selfish emotion. And especially fear of public speaking is a very selfish emotion. I was like, tony, can you explain, please? Because I'm like, I'm confused. What do you mean by selfish in this case? And he's like, here's the thing, because you thinking about, you know, how do I come across? How do I look? Especially with women, right? I was like, oh, if my hair is done, it's like, oh, my makeup is looking good, like, what they think about my outfit or whatever, right? And it's not about, like, is my messages coming across? Am I relatable? Do they hear it? Do they re. You know, find some important nuggets on it? We're not thinking about that. We're just kind of like, me, me, me, me, me. So instead of thinking about how do I look and how do I sound, change the. And shift the focus from you to them and start thinking as, like, am I bringing the message in the way that they can relate? Am I being, you know, am I touching their hearts? Am I able to help them see a better future for themselves? When you shift from you to them, your fear goes away, surprisingly. And he also had another interesting story that when he was. Because Tony coached a lot of great speakers, politicians, musicians, whatever, right? And he said, like, he told one story about Bruce Springsteen. So he asked Bruce, like, okay, so when you go on stage and the crowd is cheering and clapping and calling your name, what do you feel? And he says, like, I feel excitement. I feel that amazing energy. I feel the palms of my hands are getting sweaty. I feel like my heart is beating in my chest, and I have all this amazing excitement. I'm ready to crush it on stage. And then he asked one of the politicians he was training and coaching, and that person says, like, you know what? Every time I go on stage, you know, I feel this anxiety. You know, the palms of my hands are getting sweaty, the heart in my chest is pounding, and I feel, like, all this energy, and I feel all that anxiety. So if you pay attention, both gentlemen describe exactly the same physical, an emotional state, but one of them called it excitement, and another one called it anxiety. So fear is. If you imagine a coin, fear lives on two different sides. So on one side, it's your excitement, on the other side, it's your anxiety. And it's up to you to choose. What do you want to call it? So for me, fear is always been, you know, a challenger. I have several of them, like fear of flying, for example. And I think I probably fly more often than any other human being I know. Wow. But for me, what I'm thinking is, like, okay, I'm afraid of flying, but will I allow my fear to stop me from achieving my goals, from reaching my community? Because Eric and I speak around the world, and we go to, like, so many places, and it's. For me, it's a joy, even though it's stressful and fearful, right? To be on stage and I'm still working on that. But on the other side, if you think about it, okay, if I want to make my message across and deliver it in such a powerful way, will I allow my fear of flying stop me? Because I'm really big in women empowerment? Because I became an entrepreneur since I was 18 years old. I started my own business. So I had my ups, I had my downs. I've been successful, I've been broke. I'm married now, happily married for like, now what, 13 years. But I've been a single mom as well. And all those different things that most of the women go through, I wanted to be able to show them, you know, your past does not define your future and you can change it and it's all possible. So again, facing my fear of getting on the plane so I can make that, like, bring that message across was more important to me that my fear of flying. So that's why for me, I think that I love to challenge myself. And I understand it might be like, you know, not. Not always simple and not always easy, but I think that as women in general, we don't give ourselves enough credit. We don't give ourselves enough, you know, you got this. You have everything it takes. We are so good at beating ourselves up and we are really bad in uplifting ourselves. We're really bad. And like, you know, giving ourselves permission to dream big, giving ourselves permission to chase those goals, giving ourselves permission to seek for help, and that's okay. None of us is perfect. None of us have all the answers. That's fine as long as you recognize that there is something that you want to learn, there is something that you want to improve. There is some either, not necessarily weakness, but shortcoming that you want to make it better, like public speaking or fear of flying. Just realize that there is a lot of people who are really willing to help you and it's okay to ask for that help.

That's so much good information. And that what I just really heard from you, though, is something I've said from stage before, but you just explained it so much better than I think I ever have is when I feel when people get stuck in inaction on something that actually can serve the world and help people, I've asked before, are you selfish? And that sort of takes people back, but really that's what you just explained. Well, because we do make it about ourselves, how are we going to look? How. What's someone going to think about us? And the bottom line is they're not thinking about us. They don't Care how we look. They don't care about any of that. What if we are not sharing what we are meant here to serve our purpose, our passion, then we. I think it is selfish in a lot of ways. So I love how you just explained that. Now that doesn't mean the fear doesn't come up. Like, how do you actually like talk yourself out? Like you're flying all the time and you're getting on that plane. Does that fear come up again and you have to remind yourself or how do you cope through that?

I actually, it just like I have a lot of self talk, right? So I think the ability for us to communicate with ourselves is a really big deal. And unfortunately, most of the time the voice that we have in our head is talking about bad stuff. Stuff, right? It's talking about all the things that can go wrong. Is all the stuff that, you know, sky is falling and everything, like gonna be bad. But that's also the same opportunity we have to use that voice for good. Use that voice to empower you. Use that voice. So I was like, I have amazing pilots. I have all these professionals flying me. So they know better. Because I'm also like, I'll reveal another thing of mine is like, I'm a control freak. And it's so funny because I remember not that long ago we were flying and one of the flight attendants asked me is like, because like, I was not easy on that particular flight. There was a lot of turbulence and like, I don't know what was going on, but I was not happy. And a flight attendant, like, she saw that and she's like, are you a control freak by any chance? I was like, yes. I was like, how do you know? Because she's like, because all of you are afraid of flying. Because, you know, it's again, it's our, I guess our ego. Because we think we can do the job better, right? We're not right. When I'm driving a car, I'm fine. But when Eric is driving a car, I was like, seriously dude, like, why is this wrong? And that wrong is like, why are you doing it this way? Because like, I'm not in control. And I feel like fear of flying also comes with like, I am not in control of the aircraft. But on the other side, I'm not a pilot. I have no clue how to fly an airplane. So I'm not necessarily going to do a better job. So having this conversation in my head, I was like, they know what they do. They've done it million times. They're pro I'm a pro in my space, but they're pro in their particular niche. So let them do their job and just calm down and just. So I'm trying to kind of like have my brain concentrating on something else. And I think another reason why particularly I have my fear of lying and I don't want to make it all about me, but I think because like I have. My G forces are not always happy. So. So when the plane goes on the turn and sharp kind of like things happen in turbulence, it's just like my body loses that sense of stability. And I think that creates the internal anxiety as well. So I think there are a lot of things that are kind of like contributing to it. But here's the thing. First of all, I think being aware is a big deal. Being aware that, okay, this is my weakness, right? This is something that it's bothering me. This is something that I have to deal with on almost daily basis. I'm actually, as soon as we're done, I'm jumping on a plane and flying to Canada. But I know that I have an important meeting. I know that it's going to be impactful and I'm not going to allow my fear stop me from living the life of my dreams.

So good.

Living the passion and doing what I'm meant to do and what I was brought on this planet. So I'm finding different tricks and I think understanding that we have that particular weakness or we have that particular shortcut coming and sometimes asking for help. I know that there are a lot of hypnotherapists that can help that. I heard, again, not promoting anybody, but I heard that some people had a great benefit from that as well. So it's okay to ask for help. It's okay to. I'm working with that through the mental strength because I. That's what I've done my entire life and that's what I do for a living. So I'm being a student and a coach at the same time. When I'm dealing with situations like this.

Which I think is who makes the best coaches, honestly, because you're actually walking through it yourself and mastering it and teaching that. Okay, talk to me about how network marketing tied into this because I know you got your start sort of with that and now you're just really leading so much of that. Can you. How did that even come about? How did that happen? And how did you get around the stories? Because there are people listening that have this whole stigma around that. I'd love to hear from you about. All of that.

So I started my own business when I was 18 years old. It was nothing network marketing related. It was a store for kids. So it's just like a little boutique for everything you can possibly imagine. Zero to about 14 years old. Food, toys, clothes, like accessories for pregnant women, anything and everything. And I'll tell you, it's tough. Running a business is tough. Being an entrepreneur is tough because you're in business for yourself and sometimes by yourself because like there are like right now the information is becoming more available. But not that often, especially that long ago, everybody would come and say, hey, how, how can I help you? How can I support you? Because if they're running especially the same business as me, we're competitors. They're not excited or interested in me succeeding. They want me to fail because that means that they're going to get more customers, they're going to get more profits and stuff like that. So first of all, there is that huge competition. Second of all, I started because of the pure passion, right? I saw the need on the marketplace and I was like, okay, let me help and solve this particular need. But I have no clue how to run the business. I was 9, 18 years old. I have no clue how to buy the merchandise, how to go through customs, how to get all the licensing, how to deal with the warehousing, how to properly price things so when the season is over, you are not left with all this old merchandise. And that's where your profit sits. And now you're responsible for taking all the risks and you're responsible for so many people that work for you, right? And now you need to be your marketing. Now you need to be your salesperson. Now you need to be a speaker, spokesperson. Now you need to be a legal advice and all kinds of hats that you need to wear in order to be successful entrepreneur. And I don't care what kind of business it is. And on top of it, you have to have money, right, to invest, to have that initial investment to start a business. Unfortunately, 95% of businesses failed the first year and the 50% of them are still standing five years later. And by standing, I don't mean they're profitable by standing, I mean that most of them are, you know, getting by and barely, barely making their ends meet. So understanding that, yes, it sounds sexy. Like, oh, I'm like an entrepreneur. I'm the owner of the business. It sounds really cool and sexy at the parties, but it's really hard and lonely. Yeah, I found network marketing when I was 21 years old and One of the reasons why I got super excited about it, it was the audience. Not the audience, but the group of people that I was hanging out, right? Everybody who were involved, they had a bigger vision. They had. They were so passionate. They were all hungry to learn. They were all hungry to change. They. It's just like a fun and exciting group of people. And I was just drawn to that, to that particular community. And because also at that time, my business was successful. So I kind of like felt like, I'm a cool chick, you know, I was like, I have enough money. In my 20s, I was making more than a lot of people that were much older than me. And I still view that not as serious as I should consider as a business. I just saw that as an additional to my core business and more as a community that was really fun to learn and grow with. And things change. I became a single mom. Life became pretty tough, and I stepped away from network marketing for a season because I just couldn't handle all the stuff that was happening in my life. And I came back to network marketing in 2008, and the reason why I got back to it is because my business pretty much failed. And I was thinking about it, okay? I was asking a lot of my successful friends. I was like, what am I? What can I do? Because it was also the same time when I became a single mom and I really needed money like Oxygen. I stayed in a toxic relationship for way too long. And because my business at that time was not producing, because, long story short, I allowed my husband and bought into the story. Like, I'm going to be a homestayed mom and you run the business, and I'm just going to be like, taking care of the kids and you take care of the business and all that nonsense. And by the way, being a homestayed mom is really hard job. Don't get me wrong, it's really hard. It's not. It's not easy. You're not getting paid, but you're working. Probably harder than people working at the job.

No breaks or vacation or time off at all.

Right? Right. But I wanted to be in action. I wanted to be with people. I wanted to make something, create something. So I was missing being back in action big time. And I went back into the action on one side because I really wanted to. But also, like I said, I needed money like Oxygen because I had nothing on my bank account and I had no way to feed my kids. So. And I went back to network marketing. But before I got to it, I was asking all of my friends. You know, I need time, freedom because I have two little kids. I need to take care of them. I need to be able to drop them in school, drop them in kindergarten and do the business. I love to travel. I want to travel. I want a job that allows me to see the world. And I also want the job that, you know, supports the significant lifestyle that I was able to create by being a business owner at that time. And by the way, I don't have any money to start the business. So I was running around asking all these questions and describing what I want, and everybody were looking at me. It's like, marina, you crazy? I was like, what are you talking about? Business like this does not exist. You cannot have a really good job that makes a lot of money. You have time, freedom, you travel, you do all kinds of stuff. You have your lifestyle and you're not going to invest any money. Right? So it just doesn't work like that. And then I started looking, looking, and I realized that all this time I was describing network marketing, because inside of network marketing, you actually can start with almost next to nothing. A lot of companies allow you to join for $0. You just get your product and it's zero risk because in exchange, you get a lot of product that you can still consume. And if you don't want to consume, you can still sell it and get and recover your money back. And in most cases, it costs you $100, $500, even a thousand dollars. If it does cost you that much to buy a particular product or service, you still, like I said, first of all, can recoup the money. But if you really think about it in the real world, right, the world of entrepreneurship, for a thousand dollars, you're not gonna even open your website.

No, you can't do that enough to.

Print your business card. So it's not really business investment. Yeah, you know, it's. And I think that's the biggest challenge of network marketing because people. There is a huge flood of people that coming with the expectation of like, oh, it's gonna be easy. Let me throw this hundred bucks and see if it's sticks. Let me try. Let me cross my fingers and hope for the best. Let's see if the. My sponsor does all the job for me and oh, by the way, they're telling the product sells itself and I don't need really need to do anything and it's easy and tomorrow I'm going to be rich. So all these stories and actually, I want to also make sure that we all understand as network marketers, we are responsible for this nonsense because we are the ones who are spreading that message. We are the ones who spreading those false expectations because it's tough. Network marketing is a hard business. It's simple. But it's hard because you need to step into that entrepreneurial mindset. You need to, you know, go away from your employee mentality. And you need to recognize that, okay, you are in business for yourself. Even though there is a huge support of the sponsors or the company, because company is doing a heavy lifting for you. They taking care of of all the legal stuff, all the salaries, all the distribution, all the distribution, all, everything, right? What I had to do when I was in business for myself, when I was running my store, I had to do all of that inside of network marketing. Companies do all that heavy lifting for you. All you need to do is bring your passion, your excitement, your hard work, your leadership skills, all of those different things. Your sweat equity, because you're not investing that much money in financial term. But you need to invest into your sweat equity. You need to invest in those work hours. You need to invest in the form of personal growth and personal education. That's your real true investment. But people, for whatever reason, they do not recognize it. And like I said, in most cases it's the fault of network marketers and distributors themselves by running around, you know, like that excited puppy peeing in every corner and just saying like, oh, it's easy, join me, join me. But I think if we would recognize, and that's what Eric and I do, right? We try to professionalize network marketing and that's why we even call it network marketing profession. It's not industry, it's not a project, it's not whatever. It's a profession that like any other profession, you need to learn the skills, you need to develop your mindset, you need to step into the entrepreneurship. You need to take the responsibility for your actions or inactions. And once you recognize and also invest in your growth, once you recognize that if you take this seriously, this business can deliver serious results. But you cannot wing in it, you cannot try it, you cannot cross your fingers and hope for the best. So I think that if we as distributors set the expectations like, hey, it's going to be challenging because network marketing is very emotional and sometimes you're going to be lonely because you're the one who need to pick up that phone and have that conversation. And sometimes those conversations going to be uncomfortable. Uncomfortable. But we're here to help you. We're here to teach you we're here to show you the path, how you can make from 200, $300 a month. And that's what a lot of people are really looking for. So if you want to do it part time, not serious effort on your part, you can make that happen. But if you want to replace your income, if you willing to go full time, if you want to take it seriously, it can become a very serious business. People making multiple seven figures, not just a year, but a month. But you cannot start there. You cannot just promise like, oh, tomorrow you're going to be rich.

Doesn't work that way.

I take time. It's like you need to build that solid foundation first. And it's just like building a house. It's going to take a little bit longer. You need to invest a little bit more in your growth. Depends on how fast you're growing, depends on how willing you are get uncomfortable or how willing you are to face your fears, how willing you are to learn. And because growth is painful, you know, learning and growing is painful. And it's real because I, I'm a life student and I love to constantly improve my skill set, my mindset. So I'm constantly pushing myself, I'm constantly getting myself out of the comfort zone. And that's the reason why they call it comfort zone, because it's uncomfortable on the other side and not that many people are willing to go uncomfortable. So the reason why so many people come into network marketing with a very minimal investment, it's not even possible to call it investment. It's like a hundred bucks. You can go to the movies and as a family, you're going to spend that right there. So it's not really an investment. But that's why a lot of people do not take it seriously. So there is a huge flood of people who are willing to gamble that $100. Not necessarily willing to get uncomfortable, not necessarily willing to learn not was necessary. Willing to grow and face their fears. That's why they just give up. So that's why a lot of people says like, oh, the success ratio in network marketing is so low. Well, it's not. The success ratio in network marketing is so low, just like I described. For several reasons, people are not taking it seriously. They come with false expectations and the investment that they make is not true investment. So they're willing to walk away every time somebody says boo and not necessarily going and getting on the other side. So people who actually take it seriously, they're creating great success. But it's not for everybody to be Entrepreneur. It's not for everybody to work inside of network marketing. So I'm totally understanding when a lot of people say it's like, you know, it's not for me, totally cool. My job as a professional is to show you the opportunity do it in such a professional way so you can look at it with the open minded mentality and then you make a decision. We are not here to twist any arms. We're not here to convince anybody. It's just up to you to see if it's something for yourself. And if you're willing to work hard and grow, then let's lock arms and let's go and grow together. And if not, that's fine too.

Listening to you, it's so interesting because you'll hear people say that are very anti network marketing. They're like this is horrible, you know, this is terrible. They don't want any part. They, they'll bash it but what's interesting or you'll hear people scared to present it to people because they think people are going to think that. And I'll tell you like I' been, it's been one of my streams of income for years and I have no slime feeling around it like it's, I just share it with conviction and certainty and it just makes sense for people when I share it there. So I, I really believe and I'm listening to you and I think this is where you come from too. You believe and know it's a valid profession. And I think when we share it as such, people follow that energy. But if you're approaching it as oh I know this is MLM or network marketing and it's bad if you're approaching with that energy, that's what get people thinking that. And then also if you do the opposite of what you said and you're talking about it as a get rich quick or this is easy or simple, that's also what gives it a bad rap. But I will say this is what's so interesting right now. You know I was looking at, I have very different, a lot of different streams of incomes within my business and I was just doing this whole analysis over the last decade of like, you know, what's produced what. And what's interesting is my network marketing business has been the least amount of work with the most return investment for, for the time traded. Now based on what you said too, it was a lot of work at the beginning, no question. I had to put a lot of focus and strategy into it. But that has continued to pay off over the years. And that's why I'm also a big fan of it, because it does give you freedom. I could walk away from all my businesses, all of them, and that would still take care of me, which is wild. Like to think. So, yes, it tells. Take a lot of strategy and mind and hard work. But there is a payoff from that where a B2B business or where you're trading your time for dollars or any of that, that there is no payoff down the road. Like, it's like it doesn't keep producing if you walk away.

And the reason why is because there are three stages in network marketing, right? The stage number one, when. And it's probably the longest and the hardest one. That's the stage when you're gonna be grossly underpaid for the amount of time that you're putting in.

Okay?

It's like building that foundation. It's, you know, when you want to build a house, when you want to build a high scraper, when you want to build an empire, you need to create that solid foundation. You need to learn certain things. You need to work on your mindset. You need to put a lot of time and effort into it, and that's the time. The reason why it's tough is because, first of all, it feels like it's long. And it's different for different people. For somebody who is very ambitious, very hungry, it may take a couple months. For some people, it may take several years. So it is like, there is no kind of like recipe how long that period is. It's very, very individual. But that's the period of time when you investing in your growth. That's the period of time when you go into company conventions and when you learning and when you talking and it looks like you're doing so much work and spending so much time. And at the end of the month, you made a hundred bucks or twenty bucks or fifty bucks. And that's when all of your friends are pointing fingers and calling you crazy. Because, like, hey, you just worked your bot off for the entire month and you made $50. Are you crazy? I was like, don't you understand the math? But that's the employee mentality. Entrepreneurs, things, different thing, different. Entrepreneurs understand that when I want to grow something of substance, it's going to take time. I need to invest that time. I need to invest that money. And sometime it's going to take a little longer. Sometime it might be quicker based on your experience and a lot of different factors. But entrepreneurs understand that if I start my business Like I told you, in the first year, 95% of businesses fail. Why? Because they thought it's going to be easier. They thought that everybody going to come and support and cheer them on and it's, it's just going to be a piece of cake and it's not. So network marketing has very similar ratio of any entrepreneurial venture, but it's, it's totally different amount of money and it's totally different amount of time. So inside of that first phase, like I said, it's going to be the toughest time when you need to start thinking like an entrepreneur and recognizing you're building, you laying that foundation and that's okay. It's taking time because you want it to be solid. Then the second stage is when you're going to be fairly paid and that's probably the shortest stage when you're fairly paid for the amount of time that you're putting in. That's that middle ground when you start, you know, getting some momentum, when you start getting a little bit of a success, when you start making some money and potentially get to your five, six figures a year. That's that time when you know the skills already, when you understand the power of network marketing. But you do not necessarily have that huge breakthrough yet, right? So now that stage, people are start listening and looking. It's like, maybe that thing does work because now you kind of trading fair amount of time and for the income that you generating. And then the third stage is when you're grossly overpaid for the amount of time that you're putting in. And you, Natalie, right now in that stage, to be honest, right, you are getting overpaid for the amount of time that you're putting in. And that's the residual because you went through the stage one and two. But a lot of people do not understand that in order to get to stage three, you need to go through the one and two. They want to get to number three right away. They want to like swing a magic wand and just snap their fingers and it's like, tomorrow I'm going to be rich. It does not work like that. We're not selling magic beans inside of network marketing. We like, we are basic business model. And like any business model, it has its rules and it has its financial logic to it. So when you accept that for the, in order for you to get to the place where you have that residual income, when you can harvest the fruit of your hard labor from the first and second stage, you need to understand that you need to go through Those first stages. And a lot of people are not willing to do that.

Now what do you advise? If someone's listening and they're like, oh, okay, I'm. My ears are perked up. This is something I should explore. How does one go about picking the right company?

Well, there are a lot of different ways to pick the company. But what Eric and I always recommend is first of all, find the product that you are excited about and passionate about. Because yes, there are people who can sell whatever you put in front of them. I'm personally, I need to be passionate about something that I'm selling. You know, when I was selling kids stuff, I was really passionate. I was just had my baby and I was like so excited about it. And I felt a lot of moms are in need of having something cool and good for their kids. So I was like most of the time working on the floor and this as a salesperson. And a lot of customers did not know that I'm the owner of the business because I was so excited and passionate talking about my products. So I think that you need to be excited and passionate about what you're offering. Number one. Also, you need to look at that product or service and make sure it's priced to sell. It's priced to make profit. So you as a distributor and your company can make profit on it. But it's also priced for the customers so they can see the value in that particular product and service and they will buy that product and service. So if you recognize that product has in response to all these different criteria that there is a need on the marketplace. Marketplace and it's price to sell and price to buy, then that's a good product. Right? Then you need to look at the company ownership. I'm really big at leadership and see who is running the ship. Because here's the truth again. Network marketing is no different than on any other business. They're going to be challenging times and they're going to be exciting times. They're going to be times when the company is going through massive growth and momentum. And they're going to be times where it's going to be tough, you know, based on like supply chain. Right now we have a shortage of supply chain. Network marketing is no different. The supply chain that is coming from whatever continent or whatever country, whatever state may hit that particular company as well. And they might experience some shipping issues and they might experience all kinds of different issues. But the question is, is your leadership of the company is strong enough? Then whenever those challenges come, they will be Able to solve those problems. Are they good problem solvers in general? That's what we do as entrepreneurs? I am probably one of my biggest strengths is I'm really good problem solver. I get shit done right. I do it in a way that I might be scared. I may not necessarily know all the answers. Most of the time. I don't know all the answers most of the time I have no clue how I'm going to do it. But because I'm determined, I'm passionate and I understand that those challenges going to arise and my job is to solve those problems and to go through those challenges. That's what makes me successful. So that's what I would be looking in the company ownership. And of course I want to make sure that our core values are in alignment. Because if somebody is doing something shady or somebody is doing something that it's not, or contradicting my core values, I cannot work with people like that. Eric and I are very big on like three core principles of relationships is trust and respect. So if you communicate respectfully, you will be able to create trust and communication what makes it all possible. So trust, respect and communication. So that what I would be looking in my relationship with the corporate office. Can I trust them? Do I respect them? Do they respect me? Because it's both way, you know, it's not just one way. And also do we have an open line of communication that I can ask some tough questions? Because they're going to be times when tough questions need to be asked for sure from me. And also I need to be asked some tough question either myself or by my sponsor, why I'm not working, for example, as hard as I, I thought I'm going to or I dreamed about. Right. So if you kind of like answer most of those questions, then it's, it's a good company for you to join. But understand everybody gonna have their ups and downs. Understand they're gonna be different seasons in every company. But if you look at this particular ingredients of success that I described, I think you're gonna be really well. And when the company goes through the tough times, don't jump the ship, don't start running away unless you see different core values, unless you see the leadership is not necessary, competent enough to solve those problems. If not just stick. And because basically what a lot of people do inside of network marketing and it hurts them is the first moment the company has a little challenge, they rip off what they planted, they rip off that seed, take it somewhere else, trying to plant it there. And that company Gonna go through challenge. They rip off that seed again, not letting it grow, not letting it to become sustainable or strong enough to produce the fruit, they taking it somewhere else. And this process hurts them big time. When instead, if you understand there is winter, but guess what, after winter, there is spring that it's coming. So if you survive the winter, if you prepare as a leader for that winter, if you take the actions necessary, your spring gonna come and it's gonna be just as fine as, as a, as you planned it to be. But if you continue to rip off that seed, there is nothing to harvest in the fall.

So, so good. And you, and it's so interesting because when you, when you said that, I was thinking of what you created during the pandemic, like you took a hard time and you leaned in versus saying, you know what, I'm done or this is over. Talk to me about that because what a, an amazing thing that you did. I mean how, how you did this, how you created this 25,000 square foot studio. Like first of all, where did that idea come from and how did you navigate that with everything that was going on in the world and people telling you this was not going to be possible?

Well, first of all, I love to rise to the challenge. And like I said, for me the most important part is not how, it's why when we just before Pandemic started, we have our big event that we do every December called virtual GoPro. Now it became virtual GoPro but before pandemic it was GoPro recruitment mastery. And we were doing it in big arenas. We were, we live in Vegas. So MGM Garden arena was the almost like stadium size arena that we were doing those events for several years. And our model was to sell tickets at the event for the next year event. So pretty much we would sell a lot of tickets a year in advance. So no different that year we sold about 7,000 tickets a year in advance. And then Covid hit. And like a lot of people during that time, we were crossing our fingers, hoping for the best. Like, you know what, it's going to pass. It's going to be okay. December is long times away. We're going to get there. The restriction is going to be lifted off and it's all going to be fine. And kind of like early summer we started recognizing like, yeah, that's not going to change. There's going to be no way for us to hold event Even with just 7,000 that we already pre sold sold, let alone that we were going to sell much more. So and I saw Tony did similar, similar idea. He had the led, the projection screens and he was kind of like putting a bunch of TVs together and doing his event because he's also heavily event driven model. So we called. Tony is like, hey, Tony, can we rent your studio? And Tony's like, yeah, sorry, I'm not gonna rent it to anybody. I'm just gonna keep it to myself. I was like, okay, whatever. So. And Eric came up with that idea. It's like, how about we build our studio? I was like, okay. And I remember this meeting like today because it was my team sitting in our house and Eric is like, okay, so who is gonna lead this project? Who is going to be in charge? And I looked right and I looked left and I was like, nobody's capable of doing it. Not that I'm qualified in any shape or form, but I raised my hand, I was like, I'll, I'll, I'll lead the chart, I'll.

But you also knew the vision. You had the vision for it, so.

Right, I had the vision, but I had no clue how I'm gonna make it happen. But I do understand the power of team. I understand the power of professionals. I'm not just like with my plain example. I'm not trying to convince myself or others that I know all the answers or I'm professional in every single thing that is happening in the world. So I understand that. I want all the A players in my, on my side. And I started looking for all these A players who are really good at what they do, who can help me to create the project that I have slightly understanding of what am I doing. So it was, it was really challenging and it was really tough because first of all, it was a lot of time constraints because like we already had an event, right? So a lot of people are coming. So I had to meet that deadline. Plus I did not realize how much it's going to cost. Up to this day. We already spent about $25 million into this project by the time the first event was close to 20 million. So. And at the beginning we thought it's like, ah, it's going to be like between three and five. So again, it's one of those things. It's just basic business. That's how it works. It's going to take more time, it's going to take more money and it's going to get harder than what you expect it to be. But that's okay. As long as you understand that's what's going to happen. You can prepare for It. Mentally, emotionally, and that's what I did. So I had a lot of hiccups in the middle of the road. And because of the pandemic, we had a shortage of supply and stuff like that. Because right now we have in the studio 30 plus miles of cables. And those are not just the states cables that you go to Target and buy them, right? Those are like very high end, whatever, fancy words. They are all this different cabling. So I pretty much bought every piece of cable in the United States that existed at that time. So it was a lot of interesting things. But I feel that determination was one of those big components that helped me to face my own fears, go through all different challenges. Challenges. And guess what? I'm not like anybody else. I'm. I'm not any different. I'm just like everybody else. I was told that absolutely no way in hell Marina gonna make it happen.

And you did in 10 weeks.

I was. I was told it in my. I was told it in my face, and I was like, you know what? Okay, watch me, watch me. Because I'm not. I'm not the person who gonna pull back when somebody challenged me. I'm gonna lean in and I'm gonna figure it out.

So that's so. Okay. So how did it feel for the first time when that was built, speaking to that many people?

Well, it was insane. And it was a lot of pride and joy that, first of all, we got the certificate of occupancy the day before the event. So there was a lot of stress going into it. And we did not even have time to really commission the studio and get it ready for the event. So I was like, please, God, make sure everything works and all the technology works. And when we pretty much went through the first session of the first day with no technical issues and no technical challenges, I was really blown away by the team that stood by my side this entire time. Worked through Thanksgiving, worked through all the holidays, and did a really, really amazing job. So that was, like, super fun to see. And you know who benefited most in the entire process? This girl. Because my confidence grew. My confidence went through the roof. Because once I saw what I was able to build, and every time I walk into that studio, I'm looking at it as like, how the hell did I do that? That I'm still blown away because it's such a testament of that. You can do it. You can do everything you can possibly imagine. We just do not give ourselves enough credit. We do not give ourselves permission to reach for the stars. Because I was I was really blessed and I consider myself lucky because since I was a little girl, my mom and my grandma told me that I'm strong, I'm powerful, I can achieve everything I want in life. I was little and naive enough so I believe that. But I know millions of women and little girls told since, since a very young age that you are nothing. You know, what are you? Just a woman? You're just a girl. Don't dream big dreams. That's not what you're going to do. And just fit into somebody else's puzzle and be a support system for somebody else's dreams. And my, my vision always with everything I do is first of all to help these girls who were brought with that set of belief that that's not true. You are meant for so much more. You are capable of so much more. But also for women who just like me had that belief and through challenges and obstacles of life lost it for a season and who fought to find it again. I want to remind them, you're strong, you're powerful. You can find that confidence again, you can build that belief again. And it comes through those actions right when you challenge yourself, when you put yourself out there without knowing how, without knowing who going to help you, none of those things matter because my why were so big? Those 7,000 people were counting on me. They were coming, they, I couldn't let them down. So for me that responsibility pushed me through my fears, pushed me through my ego, made me ask for help, made me ask for additional resources when they were necessary and be humble in the process because no one can do it alone. I did not build a studio alone by any, any means. It's a team effort and a huge team effort. I was just the one leading the chart and guiding the process. But most of those people did actually have it lifting and did the job.

So how often do you use the studio now and do like how many, how many people are you reaching now with this versus when you would not have the studio?

Well, we, we had so many exciting event. One of my most powerful women events. I had 180000 people.

180000 people.

That's 180000 I think about, I still, I think it still holds the record for educational events.

Amazing.

I, I, I'm not aware of any other event.

My hands sweat just thinking about that. Presenting in front of 180000 people.

And we, we did a lot of different product launches like, like Dell computers they launched, they were actually one of our first customers who Rented the studio and they launched their computer and we were streaming it to 10 and a half million people on Twitch and Twitter. So first of all, we continue to improve our technical capabilities. Right now we can go to half a million interactive, which is amazing. Interactive. It's like just like you and I right now talking. I can do that with half a million people.

So you mean like you could actually. Somebody could raise their hand and you could talk to them and that's wild.

Yeah. So that, that's, that's fun and exciting and we can stream to pretty much unlimited amount of people. So I cannot disclose right now, but we working on a really interesting project that I hope that's going to come to fruition in spring in a very big date in the spring. But we actually working on the event that's going to stream to billion people. Oh my gosh. Interactive.

So behind it, it's going to happen. I'm sure of it. Because you're just. Your energy, your vision, this is so inspiring. Okay. So for the, for the person listening and I have some guys, but it's mostly women that is in midlife that has maybe been inspired by you. But they still have their story. But I'm too old. But I'm too late. But there's this circumstance. What do you want them to know?

Well, first of all, you are never too old, fat, tall, skinny, young or any of that stuff. Right. You and I and Natalie know that especially inside of our profession we have very, very young kids in like in their teens if the company is allowing to work at that early age or starting at 18 who are wildly successful. We also have so many examples of men and women in their 80s being super successful. So don't limit yourself by your own limiting beliefs. I think limiting beliefs is probably the biggest thief of joy. I heard one statistic a while back and it scared me to my core. 98% of people die without fulfilling their dreams.

Wow.

And the reason why? Because they're afraid to fail. The fear of failure is so huge for majority of us that we're willing to give up on our dreams, we're willing to give up on our homes hopes, we're willing not to even try because we're so afraid that it will not work. Wow. And my personal belief is first of all, you're going to fail. Let me tell you right away, you going to fail period. End of story. So just accept it. You going to fail. They're like line to success is not a straight line. It's just like you're not going to get it like this, right? They're going to be ups and downs. Like, think of your life and business in general as a roller coaster. They're going to be ups, they're going to be downs, they're going to be fast times, they're going to be slow times, they're going to be everything in between. But understanding that, that's okay. Because guess what? Guess. When you grow the most, when everything is easy, when everything is working perfect, when you just snap your fingers and you just immediately received what you just thought about it or dreamed about it, no, you're not getting strong at that time. You're getting strong when it's tough. You're getting strong when the wind is blowing in your face. You're getting strong when somebody's punching you in your gut and into your core. That's when you get up and get stronger. There is no shame to fail. There's a shame to not stand up.

Wow.

And if you understand those basic core principles and realize that failure is part of your journey, so you probably heard that phrase, fail your way to success faster, Fail as many times as you possibly can. Because guess what? Like Eric says, there is no I never lose. I either win or I learn. Because in ale, in. In every experience, when you make mistakes, when you fail, when you face with challenges, you learning how things do not work. And you only need to find that one time. Just like Edison, you just need to find that one time how to make that light bulb work. Even though he had thousand experiments that all failed, but that's when everybody were telling him, slow down, stop it, it's just waste of time, it's not gonna work. He's like, no, no, no, you guys do not understand. We found thousand ways how it does not work. Now we just need to find that one how we can make it work. So understanding those basic principles that you're gonna fail, fail as fast as you possibly can. Learn from those experiences. Because here's the thing, the definition of stupidity is repeating the same mistake over and over again. Yeah, but the definition of growth and expansion is making those mistakes, but learning from them and improving. Create a plan, make a plan, execute it, and then learn from what the results brought. And if it worked, great, then double down on those efforts that you were doing. And if it did not work, see what could have been done better. Make a new plan, execute the plan and. And do it all over again. So that's the basic principle that I live by. Plan, do review and understanding that that failure is not final. I'm not going to quit. I'm going to continue to pound. I'm going to continue to, you know, chop those trees in a jungle and create something special. Because I do believe that women are meant for more. I do believe that we're capable of so much more. My goal is to empower as many women as I possibly can. Help them to see the power inside of them, help them to see that gem, that diamond that they are. But guess what? Just like every diamond, like any precious stone, it does not come out of nature as a precious stone ready to put in your ring, on your necklace. It comes out as a clunky, rocky, ugly, dirty, clumsy piece of rock. Right? And it takes time and it takes effort to make that into the jam. So we all are coming into this world as those clumsy, ugly, dusty, rocky pieces of rocks and mountains potentially. But with time that we're willing to put and invest in ourselves with growing our mindset, we're chopping those clunky pieces and we building that jam and we constantly improving and making it more beautiful and more powerful every day we live.

Wow. So many knowledge bombs here. This is so inspiring. I mean, you've just re motivated me, and I'm sure you've remotivated so many people listening. Rena, I could talk to you all day. You've got so much great information. But I am going to. I might have to have you back at some point because this is just so much knowledge that you share, and I love how you've stepped into your purpose, and it's so just incredible to see how many people you're reaching, especially now that you brought your. Your amazing vision to fruition during the pandemic. Where can people learn more? Like, how do they have get more of you? Where should they go?

Follow me on Instagram, because that's where I spent most of my time, on social media.

Okay.

Even though I'm not like, super social media present yet, but I'm working on it. I'm gonna get better. Just find me Marina, worry on Instagram and follow. We have some exciting stuff coming up, and everything that I do, I try to post it there. I go live there once in a while, bring some knowledge to women and men because we need you guys to help us to become a better version of ourselves. So good. Yeah, just follow him on Instagram and.

I'll link that up in the show notes as well. Thank you so much, Marina. Thank you.

Oh, my pleasure. Thank you so much, Natalie, for having me.