Stoy Hall, CFP®: 0:13

Another episode of no BS wealth podcast really designed around bringing no bullshit people to you to help you learn and recognize that there's others out there that can be successful and are here to help you. So today we have Mar De Carlo, who is simply just amazing. And one of the most bad ass women that I personally know, and I'm very excited to have her on here to talk about her business, who she is, what she does, why she does what she does. And then ultimately from a business owner perspective of how is everything integrated with our life and what are some things, maybe a couple of stories. That she has of why you need to be on your toes and understand it from a business perspective in life. So without further ado, welcome. Thank you so much story. It's a pleasure to be here. I really appreciate the opportunity. Absolutely. Where are you? Where are you at right now? Because some of our listeners are all over the place and I just ran like a poll and we have a bunch in Poland, we have a bunch in New York. I'm in Iowa where it went from 72 degrees to negative 11 in 24 hours. So get me out of here. How is your weather today?

Mar De Carlo: 1:20

I am in sunny, although lately been rainy, California.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 1:25

There you go. How is all that rain going right now?

Mar De Carlo: 1:28

It's going well. Of course we need the rain. We love the rain because it can get very dry here. Really deeply appreciate it, but it's been well, it comes and ebbs and flows right now. We have a lot of sunshine. I believe we were expecting a little wave to come along, but that what that means is we're going to have a beautiful spring.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 1:43

Yes, you are. Yes, you are. I want to know your story. Obviously I know your story, but I want everyone to know truly your story. And how you got to where you're at today.

Mar De Carlo: 1:54

Thank you. Where to begin since I was a young girl, I always have enjoyed being very creative and owning things. I remember taking broken. Equipment in my home. Like we had the old radios or television, things like that, things that were broken and fixing it and starting things, I remember recording little commercials and since I was a young girl, I just love taking ownership over things. I just enjoy putting things together. And as I got older and I began to take on work, I noticed that work for me wasn't just working for someone else. I like to go above and beyond. And while at the time I did not think of becoming an entrepreneur, I went through a whole series of events and a huge journey that led me to becoming an entrepreneur. Specifically in 2005 is when I had the first inspiration to begin consulting on my own, which meant that although I was working for another company at the time, I started venturing out and saying, Hey, what if I just started? My own consulting business and working one on one outside of the workspace that I was working in. So that's how it started in 2005. And then when I became unexpectedly pregnant in 2008, that took me on a much more profound level and journey where I then made the decision to. Go full force and take my consulting business and expand it into an international organization. And here we are almost 15 years later, this September will be 15 years that I began this company in 2009. And now we're in 61 countries around the world.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 3:42

See that's like a, that's incredible to me because business owners usually don't go in to something and they usually start how you did, right? Dip your toe into it, get it started and then fall in love with it. But they don't usually just jump right into the whole international because that is a whole different. Set of rules and regulations and just moving parts. What really kicked that off from just doing consulting here locally, doing those things to really wanting to grow internationally. Cause that's not a small jump.

Mar De Carlo: 4:13

Thank you. That's a great question. I'm a New Yorker, so born and raised in New York. I've always been around many different cultures. I also went to school in Boston where I was surrounded by many different cultures. So I was never intimidated. By the international realm. That's the first thing. Second thing is that when I decided to launch my organization, I had people reach out to me that were not close by, and one of them happened to be international, I did not want to deny her the opportunity of working with me. And so I did whatever I needed to do to make it happen. And as you stated, understanding the regulation. So the way that I work and what I encourage everybody is that if you really are passionate about something, don't be intimidated by the how. Get right into it. You will learn the how. You will find a way to make it happen. Of course, it's important to prepare. It is important to get advice and mentorship. I always encourage that. So take calculated risks, but at the same time, don't hold yourself back just because of a regulation. There's always ways to work with it, but you're right. I think that may hold people back from moving forward because they simply think, Oh, I don't know how to do that. But I am this person where there's a will, there's a way if there's a need, I'm going to find a way to fulfill it. And the need for me was much more important than the fear of The international regulation. So that's how I jumped right in.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 5:49

And that's what we really all need to do as business owners. And just humans, I think in general, I've learned in my experience, working with a lot of business owners is in parents, we don't know everything. No one is fully prepared and has this a perfect plan laid out. Ultimately, it just takes you to take a step and then you're going to figure it out, right? Like you said, Just gonna figure it out. There is a way for almost anything, but if you're that person who is sitting here going, I need to have all my ducks in a row. I need to have this lined up, and this contingency plan, you're just never gonna go. You're never gonna get started. And then someone else is gonna have that idea run with it. And you really don't wanna live with regret of oh, damnit, I really should have done that. Just take the step. Just take that step. So what need is so international that you said, yeah, I have to do this. No matter what, I'm gonna figure it out. What does that need?

Mar De Carlo: 6:46

There's two main areas of a need that I was very passionate and still am passionate about fulfilling. The first one is that I saw a lot of room for improvement on the coaching, consulting side of things in the way people were doing business. From a business operations standpoint, but also from just the code of ethics standpoint, in terms of how people are showing up as a coach and consultant to their clients. I saw that there was so much room for improvement there. And I, in my background had worked for so many companies up until that point and had so much experience from this five star level and working with many difficult and challenging situations and people that I had that skill and that training in my background. And I knew that leaving that aside. Was going to be a disservice to everybody. I had something really important to contribute. So from that standpoint, I said, there are all these people going out there. They're showing up to support others, to help them because they have these greatest of intentions, but if they're not aware of how they're showing up, they're not aware of their scope of practice and their boundaries to their practice, how to collaborate, then unfortunately on the client end, There might be a disaster waiting to happen. If there's anything that I can do to help that process, if there's anything I can do to level up that process, I'm going to do it. So that's the 1st need that I was very passionate about fulfilling. The 2nd is there are a Especially while I help many men and many men come and take our program, there's a number of women that are not happy with their jobs. They're working for other people and maybe they're satisfied, but it's not fulfilling their passion, their true desire. And at the same time, they have children and they would love to be around their children. They would like to have the flexibility to work from home, to make up their schedule Take the days off when they need to and so on. And I felt that I could also be of great service to these women because that's exactly what I learned to do. The reason I made the decision to fulfill these needs was also partly because I, at the time, was a single mother and my daughter, who was one and a half at the time, I had no family or friends close by that I lived next to. So I didn't have that initial support. I, my bank account also was dwindling because I had to take a lot of time off to be with my daughter. I was advised and encouraged to return back to the workforce, to work for someone else, to get back on a salary and then get a nanny for my daughter. But something internally said, no, there's a way to be around your daughter and to do what you love. And after a few days of meditation, it all just all came together for me. And so that journey that I was on, that I also knew so many other women are on, but that they're facing. I said, Oh my gosh, I would love to help them. I would love to help them gain their financial freedom, their schedule freedom, be around their children more. And so that is another need that I fulfilled as well.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 10:04

And that one's that one hits home for me because that's what I do too. Black Mammoth is designed to work with women, business owners, women, minorities. And I grew up with a single mother and understanding that she had a cleaning business. But it always seemed so much harder for her to leave me to work, to get loans, to name it. It just always seemed a lot harder. And now with my experience in learning how money works in this terrible economy that we have. That's designed around really only helping white men, honestly, like it's a lot easier for them to succeed is just tremendous. So what is we've got a bunch of women who are looking for a coach, in the coaching world, consulting world, a lot. There are some bad apples. There's a bad apple in every industry, but there's bad apples in the coaching and consulting side. There's ones that are out there, but some also feels if why would I hire someone else to help me through the or situation or this situation? What do you say to those women who are potentially ready to take that next step? How do you get them to take that next step to either hire, a coach or consultant, or go more and just launch a business.

Mar De Carlo: 11:23

You can avoid so many mistakes by hiring the right person. Do your due diligence, look into the background of the person. How many years have they been in business? What is their background? What kind of experience do they have? What challenges have they overcome? What have they accomplished? There's a lot of, like you said, bad apples, unfortunately. And it's more that because I know that they're well intentioned and I don't really see them as bad apples. It's more that they may feel they're ready for something that is more of an idea. That's not really meeting the experience they've had. When I launched my business, if you were to look at the amount of experience and background that I have, I was fully prepared. It wasn't like I just had this idea and I'm like, Oh, I'm just going to jump in and support people. I've been working day in and day out very hard for a number of companies dealing with a number of challenging situations on the management side as well. So I dealt with customer service and on the back end, I was dealing with personal trainers and group exercise instructors, and just a whole slew of things that prepared me. For what I was about to launch internationally, it's important to do your due diligence and find out who is this person that you are seeking advice from. And it's not just about what they know, it's what they've experienced and overcome. That's a big one for me because a lot of people can show up knowing things. But if they are not in a position where they know how to relate to you, they can empathize, they can hold the space, they can help you reflect, provide that active listening, then you might just hear someone talking at you and giving you some structure and some ideas. But you're not going to be intrinsically motivated or empowered to then take those action steps. If you have someone holding a space for you, that is also empowering you and helping you see yourself. Wow. That's a life changer. The amount of mistakes I've made along the way that once I said, my gosh, if I had someone Who just told me how to invest my money, what to look out for before I hired a bookkeeper. How to really set up my contracts and agreements. If I had that person, the amount of time that I would have saved, the amount of money that I would have saved. Okay. Because time is money. It's valuable. And every time you are learning something new, you're also taking away from other things, right? Whether it's time for your children or the things that actually got you started in your business that you're very passionate about. That is why you hire a coach, but again, do your due diligence and ensure that's the person that has overcome the challenges you want to overcome. So single parenting going from 20 in a bank account to, I think it was how much did it was almost over 3000 overnight, right? And now my company's almost seven figures. It's just, it goes on and on. Look at the challenges that person's overcome. Is this person someone that inspires you that you want to be like? And if it is, then I would say absolutely, even if it's for a 30 minute session, people have options. So a lot of times people think coaches are all or nothing. Some are unfortunately, but coaches can also be people that can 15 minutes or 30 minutes of my time. Go and see what your options are. So don't feel intimidated by that. And. Ask for help. Always ask for help.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 14:56

Yeah. And ultimately, relationships are what matter the most, right? And we talk about this a lot, is we have a network. You have a network, we have relationships. And so just ask us, we're here for you. Really those people that you wanna work with and want on your team, whether they're helping you coach or actually part of your team within your business, they should be people that have relat, that you have relationships with and that you can trust. And sometimes that takes time. Go ahead and vet out multiple coaches, multiple financial planners, multiple bookkeepers, right? Just vet them out and vet out until you get to that person that you can trust. Then you can rely on their network. You can rely a little more on them as you learn, as you go, especially with taxes. And I think that's vitally important for a lot of people to understand is you're going to grow. And sometimes that person that you were started with could be a friend. another colleague, you will outgrow that person and you need someone else to help coach you or lead you through to the next level in business or life or wherever you're at.

Mar De Carlo: 16:02

Yes. And that's what I feel keeps people from growing and perhaps expanding their business because they've gotten so comfortable with the people that they're working with. And it's also can feel very intimidating when you start growing those numbers come up in your business. Now you reach another tax bracket. And you say, wow, what am I doing with this? And then to hire someone else and to go through that process, it might feel very overwhelming and intimidating. It was for me a hundred percent, but I knew that I had to do this if I wanted to keep growing. And so my choice was, do I keep growing and expanding and making a much larger difference in the world, or do I stay comfortable where I am and just feed where I am and not move forward? And thankfully. My hunger for growth and for helping others was far greater than holding myself back. So then I got to that next level. However, as you mentioned, it's not comfortable and you will have to make decisions to let go of people that you normally would be working with to then level up, but that's part of the process and journey.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 17:07

It is when you reflect back on that step, right? You got, you went from 20 to 3000 to. Almost seven figures. And this happened for me too. There was at a point where it was so uncomfortable that you didn't feel like you were you because of how you were raised, right? I was raised with basically, there wasn't a lot of money, right? There was things that I just, we just could not do, could not touch because of where our wealth was and where the income level was, and then when you get to a point in business, That number is there and it's easy. That's just normal day money, not even your stretch goal. And you start to like close in a little bit and go what do I do? Do I shut down, clam up and just, I'm good. Or do I try to push through? I'm glad you did. But when you got to that point, do you remember and recall like specifically that feeling of. I've never, I'm doing something that I've, no one's ever done in my family. I've never seen done before. And I'm terrified.

Mar De Carlo: 18:05

Yes. Growing up, my parents, both my parents came to the United States when they were in their twenties. And for them, this is a big land of opportunity. I grew up in a low income family. Both my parents are Hispanic. My mother's Colombian. My father's Peruvian, although I'm half Greek, but he raised me since I was a baby. And growing up, it was always. Oh, that's so expensive. There's not enough money. We have to save money, even to the point where at first it seemed like it would work against me, but it actually worked for me. And I believe set the stage for me to being an entrepreneur where my mom, by the age of 10, when I wanted hairspray and just all these other things. Trinkets and things like that, that the other kids were having that I didn't have because my mom needed to save for food and clothes and so on. She said, okay you can start with side jobs, little jobs. And my first one was being an assistant camp counselor. At our school, right? You just a little assistant. And then from there, I just got this. When I earned my first money, I remember just getting this feeling of accomplishment that I loved so much and that thankfully also overrode the fears or this mentality that, Oh, We don't have enough money. Oh, we have to save. Oh, we have to pay. Now, what I will tell you, and I'm so glad you brought this up, is that throughout my life, I would have to face those patterns over and over again. Even till this day, let's put it this way. While maybe it was at 90 percent when I was young, cause there was a huge, Familiar influence right in my family dynamic over time. That maybe came down to 70 to 60 percent 50%, but it's still there, right? The thread of that still exists. So when it comes up, because as a business owner. You're going to reach different levels and stages of your business. And each time you're going to be challenged, just when you think, Oh, I'm comfortable, I've reached the stage I need to reach. I can sit back. No, because like you said earlier, your competition's going to come up, right? Someone else is going to do something or the market's changing. The economy's changing. Currency is changing. Things are changing. So you're never just sitting back. It's always, Oh, I'm moving along with how things are changing constantly. And so when that happens, you're going to reach another stage of discomfort. That's when those patterns and, will come up for you. And so they still will come up for me. But now it's more of, ah, there you are. Okay. It's not a big deal. I'm just reaching another level. Thanks for showing up. Yes, I get where this is coming from. But because now you've overcome so much that pattern that you had, that you've been passed onto you through conditioning is not as strong. Okay. And also by this point you have had more tools. So I've had a lot more tools in my toolbox to help me face those moments of discomfort. For every business owner, and this is why I love being a business owner because it is a lot about personal growth. It's not just about professional growth. You are learning so much about yourself along the way. Like you said, what are the conditions I grew up in? What are the beliefs that were taught to me about money? And like you were saying, even culturally, my mother worked very hard to put me in a rich all girl Catholic school. And so a lot of times during high school, I battled that because I came from this low income household. There were, these amazing women, and most of them happened to be white. We had different cultures, but I grew up in New York, so it was very multicultural. And I was faced with, wow, why would my mom put me in an environment where these people have so much more than me? Is it to make me feel bad every day? Because that's how I would feel. But then I realized it's the environment that you're in consistently. She knew what she was doing. That would also set up the stage for my further thinking, for my development, for my inspiration. So when I started changing my perspective, I realized that, wow, my environment plays such a big role. In how I'm also making my decisions and where my motivation is coming from. And so that also helped to take me to the next level. But culturally, I agree with you. It's so much more ingrained. And when you face it, it's important story and everybody listening that you face it and you meet it, you say, thank you for showing up. This is not serving me. I appreciate that you showed up. It's not serving my current circumstances. This is what's going to serve me. And you shift that perspective. And you start to change it around. And it never stops. It's always there, but like I mentioned less, it's not as strong as before.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 22:58

I'm so glad you brought up it. It never goes away. I feel like in our society, we really think like it's, things are black and white and I'm either this person or I was that person, or, it's not that way. It's all gray. Everything in life is gray and it is all a long term journey. Like this whole journey of life in, I tie it right back to wealth too, is it's all ongoing. Your mental health is ongoing. Your fitness levels ongoing. And guess what financially is ongoing and they need to integrate together. And when they do, those are when you're the happiest. And I believe is true wealth, right? True wealth is. When your fitness your fit, your fitness, health your mental health and your financial health are aligned in some order. And that's when it's true wealth because you're happy. And it usually is not tied to a dollar figure. It's usually not tied to my house being so big. It's usually just, I'm good. Like I feel good. I'm good. I don't have issues. We're growing, we're doing things. And I'm really glad you brought it up that it's a journey is, and it's never over until we die, obviously, but it is never over. I'm so glad you brought that up. So as we wrap up talking about your business, before we get into you as a business owner and some items that you had brought off topic or off camera, anyway, that I want to bring up, how does a listener work with you and your firm? Like how do they get to you? What's the best route? Where should they be in life? Before reaching out to

Mar De Carlo: 24:24

you, usually what happens is people are in a space where they want to make a change with their finances and with their work. So they recognize I want to stay home with my children. I don't want to be going to a nine to five job. I really want to empower myself to be an owner, take more charge of my own life and really help other. They have a desire for helping other people. And then usually what they'll do is they'll go online and they'll begin searching for a program that will help them to get started. My organization specifically deals in the areas of parenting and health and more specifically in the areas of adult and child sleep, pre postnatal nutrition, baby planning. Eco consulting, integrative breastfeeding education. So those are the more specific areas that we specialize in. So when people want to say, I'm so in love with sleep, I overcame sleep challenges, I now want to help someone else that also is what might motivate them to start a career. So it's either usually a job change. Or maybe they overcame a challenge where now they want to turn that challenge that they overcame into a career and they're looking for that guidance and then they'll do a search and then they will find us on that list.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 25:49

That's awesome. That's awesome. All right. So now we're getting into your business owner. We wear a thousand different hats. We have teams. And we have places forever, all of us to be. And so I want to start down this little, journey of things that all business owners should at least have knowledge of. So that way things don't get passed up on or issues don't pop up. So I want to start with the one that you had brought up off camera and that is around taxes and bookkeeping. Yes. Before I ask you the question, bookkeeping and taxes are fundamentally one of the most important things Yes. As a business owner that you need to have knowledge of understand and continuously learn about and from Because that is the root of everything that goes on with your business And if you're not in tuned with that, I don't believe you're really in tuned with your business now Caveat to that is you can hire a badass team. You can trust them And they can help teach you and guide you through all of that. Absolutely. But you have to take ownership and understanding of that. Okay. So my question to you is what happens if say that doesn't happen, right? Maybe you aren't paying much attention or you're not able to understand that. What happens in your eyes if you don't catch something like that?

Mar De Carlo: 27:13

You could lose money. You could lose time. You may have to take some time off to clean some things up. I'll give you an example. When you're working for someone else, you get a paycheck in that paycheck. There are so many things that happen behind the scenes financially to make that happen for you to get the end result of the paycheck. The business owner has to take care of federal and state fees, employer fees. There's just employee fees. There's a lot of things. And your taxes that are owed to state and government are already taken out as a business owner. Guess what? That's well, depending on your business structure and how you've set it up, whether you have an LLC S corp, sole proprietor, most coaches and consultants will start out as sole proprietors. So at that point in time, they're not paying themselves a salary. Everything is just mixed together. And if you are not taking the tax money out of your fees that you're receiving from your clients, You may have a lot of money to owe. So in the beginning, when I owned my business, it was fairly simple process, and I got a handle of it very quickly, but as soon as I started to grow, I realized, Oh my gosh, I'm going to owe money next year. And not just a little bit of my, I'm going to owe a lot of money. I don't like owing money. Who likes to owe money? That's like the worst feeling you want to make money. What's going to happen is, Oh my God. So many disastrous things can happen, but one of the biggest things that's alarming to a lot of business owners is owing a lot of money. And then you're reaching that point where, like you were mentioning, maybe you haven't had a handle on your bookkeeping and you're not seeing. The monthly expenses, things going in, coming out. You don't have a really clear picture. You know, but it's not really clear. And then you have to pay the rent on top of the fact that now you owe all this tax money. So now you're looking at, Oh my gosh, how am I going to afford this? Am I going to get a loan? Am I going to get, put this on a credit card, right? All these things start to come up. That's what happens when you're not prepared. So save yourself from all that headache and trouble. Don't put yourself in that situation. It's very daunting. And especially when you have kids. So these are the kinds of things that if you work with someone again, even if it's just one coaching session from a financial advisor, like story, or even someone like myself, Hey Mara, I'm a single mom or I'm a mom or I want to, I overcame sleep or whatever it is. And you just want to learn how we got started, what we're doing, what we need to learn about. It is worth your time and money as it's, it could save you from so much disaster. Take care. So that's what can happen. And even then, so I, and I were talking about this before the show, even when you do have a really great tax accountant and bookkeeper and you start getting all your ducks in a row and things seem up to par, even then you still must look at your documentation. You still have to review it because bookkeepers are human. Okay. And so our tax accountants, and they might make mistakes. One year I had a tax accountant who messed up one of my children's social security numbers. Okay. And so again, if I didn't catch that would have been a big disaster. Another year it was, I forget one line item that there was an extra number that she had put in by accident that I would have had to owe a lot of money if I, so again, people make mistakes and as a business owner, even though you enjoy coaching and you enjoy what you're doing on the creative aspect of it. You still must hold yourself accountable and take responsibility for behind the scenes. Otherwise and that, and see, that's the challenge for me. I will tell you, I love coaching people. I love holding this space. I love giving people a great experience. I love empowering people. And at first, when I realized as a business owner, all that I have to do to really keep my business going in order to support other people, it's Oh, do I really want to do this? It's just easier to work for someone else. Someone else can pay me. I can do it. I sat with it. I contemplated it, but then I realized I was doing myself a huge disservice because I'm stopping myself from growing and being a leader. Imagine all of the things that you learn and that you overcome by going through that process. And wouldn't you rather face something that's scary and uncomfortable to get to that next level then, Oh, I'm just going to go work for someone else. So those were the kinds of things that I faced as well during the, especially tax aspect of it, because it's so daunting. It's like taxes. Oh, you want to cringe when you hear that facing that can be a great reward. And a great learning opportunity.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 32:12

Yeah. And I really, when you're understanding your finances and tracking it all, I believe it helps take you out of your business to look at your business. As opposed to always being in the grind and those that don't end up doing their books or their books are behind or haven't filed taxes in a while, or any of that causes a lot of stress is because you haven't given it's time because you've been so far in the business. And a lot of it is you need to step out just to look at it. And that's what financials really, truly are about. They are allowed to do so if you do have a trusted bookkeeper accountant, or you don't come talk to my team, if you do, regardless, pay attention, let them teach you the line on news. Let them teach you all of those things. And truly pay attention because yes, they're humans, but also sometimes you as a business owner do things and don't tell them and relay it correctly. That's true. Also, then gets missed because they didn't know that you I'll use an easy one. They didn't know you went and bought a car. They didn't know that you took a trip to Tahiti. But you took some employees and it was a board meeting. Like they don't know those things. So if you don't tell them also, or if you didn't know to tell them, that's where issues come up. You had brought up like the creativity as business owners. I think all business owners have some sort of creativity. We have to, I think just, How our brains operate, but creativity brings into like marketing. You are everywhere and do amazing things from obviously being on every media outlet, there is every social media platform there is, and post a lot and really just talk a lot. When someone sees that it can be daunting, right? As a business owner. Now your business needs that my business needs that. That's a little different, but why do all of that? What, what brought you to the terms of I need to do all of this stuff because it is part of my business and how did it end up not being so daunting for you?

Mar De Carlo: 34:15

I love growth more than anything. I feel most alive when I'm growing. I believe Tony Robbins even says something like that, right? If you're not growing, you're not living. Basically. I love growth. I love people. I love learning. It puts you in a position where you have to really face yourself. The personal growth aspect of it, where the boundaries. So we talked about taxes. Let's talk about hiring other people to work for you, holding them accountable. Making sure you have the right contracts and agreements. What happens when they are not fulfilling the contract? How do you let them go? Especially if there may be people you've been friends with for a long time. There's so many things that you face as a business owner that challenge your character, your integrity. What happens when you have someone who mentored with you and studied with you and then they go around and they try to do the same thing. They, take your information. How do you handle that? It challenges your character. And for me, that has been such a great part of my journey. It's wow, how am I showing up for all of these challenges on my journey? It's like going to the gym. I love working out. I love going to the gym. Why go to the gym? You have to lift those weights. They're heavy. Because the end result is you feel good. You have a lot of energy. You're growing muscle as you're aging. It's supporting your aging process. There's so many benefits and it's the same as a business owner. There's so many benefits that you receive during this entire journey that it outweighs the fears and the challenges that arise. The person that I am today, what I've overcome, how I've grown, I used to be so intimidated dealing with certain kinds of challenges. I used to feel very intimidating having to face certain people and set boundaries, very strong boundaries for certain things. And I've overcome all that. And I look at that today and say, wow, look what you've accomplished and overcome. And just as you mentioned, that doesn't end. So yes, I've accomplished a lot. But there's a lot more for me to learn. And that's what I always tell people, if you're working with the right person, if you hear them say what like Stoy said, and I said, and others will say it as well, we're still learning. We don't know everything. You have found the right mentor and coach. If they bring a whole slew of things that they've experienced and accomplished. And at the same time, they know that they don't know. That there's so much more for them to learn. Then, you're working with the right person because that's really coming from a place of honesty and integrity and they're not just out to try to impose what they know on you. It's more than that. Then, that journey for them is more meaningful and it does involve you. Because they know that if they don't know, you're part of that equation in knowing, right? That's why they're inviting you into the space because it's a collaborative process and a journey when you're working with someone. So that's what I feel for me has supported my continuous journey on this path is the tremendous amount of growth and the aliveness the strength it has given me and the ability to give back. Because the more you learn. And you grow, you can help someone else better. It's like the amount of people I see struggling. That's what got, as I told you earlier, that is what inspired me to begin with is I saw how many people were struggling in the coaching consulting world, how many of them were confused or not showing up properly for their clients to say, Oh my gosh, I know what I know. I have the experience that I have. I want to contribute to this. I know I can make this better if I get involved. So the more you and I learn right as business owners, the more we overcome, the more we can give back. It's just like full circle. It just keeps going round and round. It's beautiful.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 38:10

It really is. And it's so much fun when you can get to that level of. And I always tell everyone is you need to know who you are first and figure out who you are because once you do that, everything else falls in line is really fun to do. It's amazing for us to have this conversation over the last 39, 40 minutes, because we don't know who it's going to reach. We talked about that off there. Like we don't know who it's going to reach, what our words are going to do for them. But that's why we do it because we have all of this experience. We've learned a lot. We're continuously here to learn, but we know that there are people out there that are wanting to take that step. They just need to hear something. They just need to know that they can relate to somebody to take that next step into whatever that journey is in their next part of their life. And I just love that part of it. That's really what excites me. That's where the energy comes from. And you know that you can wake up every day and just keep pushing on. As we wrap up this episode, and I know there'll be many more. What do you, what's one thing you want to leave all the listeners with in order for them to take that next step in their lives,

Mar De Carlo: 39:23

each and every one of you have a unique gift, right? I know it sounds cliche, but it is true. It is absolutely true. Each and every one of you are unique in your own way. Every experience that you have in your life. is a contribution for your growth and for someone else's growth. Don't ever underestimate. Where you are at in your life, no matter how challenging and how difficult you are going through something that is the very thing that can be your greatest opportunity and someone else's as well. No matter who's told you that you are not worth it, or you are not talented. You will amount to nothing. If you've had those voices come up or if you feel down because maybe you're comparing yourself to other people and you just don't feel you have what it takes, recognize that those are lies. Those are our perspective. Those are lies that if you want to feed, you can hold onto and make them true in your life. But it does not have to be that way. You are creator of your life. And the experiences that you are going through are just experiences that you're going through in order for you to grow, to learn, to give back, to be a role model for others as well. You, your living existence is a contribution. Your breath is a contribution. Just you existing is a contribution. The way you think is a contribution. How you're eating, right? How you're living, it's a contribution. So look at it like that. And when things go awry and feel like a disastrous, cause I've been through many tough times, right? We all have our struggles. Keep in mind that those are there to prepare you. One of my favorites line is that you're not being punished. You're being prepared. Look at it as a preparation. This is your time to face the challenge and to overcome it. Your dreams can come true. So hang in there. Don't stop believing in yourself. If you're in a situation where maybe you financially feel like you cannot work with someone like story or I, for example, then douse yourself it go ahead and involve yourself and expose yourself to the social media, right? You're listening to this podcast. There's so much out there. Subscribe to those podcasts and to those people that inspire you right surround yourself with that on a daily basis because we live in a world that is full of comparison that is very easy to feel limited or stagnant in and you have what it takes. If you're breathing and living and here listening to this podcast, you have what it takes. I came from nothing. I came story. I'm sure you think you said to, we came from nothing. Look where we are. Okay. You right now have everything it takes. It takes just a matter of nurturing yourself, believing yourself, knowing that deep inside you are worth it. And just takes those steps forward. Step by step you got this. Okay. You got this and you're worth it. So that's my message.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 42:45

And I love you brought up the social media. We both post you post more than I do, but follow us. We're here and you're going to learn from us regardless about hiring us. We're here to provide as much as we can. And yes, if you are listening and you are on the social medias, go ahead. All of them, Instagram, Tik TOK, name it where we are there for you. And one other last plug before we let you go is. No BS wealth podcast, which is brand new coming out March 1st. Although this episode will be out later. We have a new section called vetted partners. And then that vetted partners are partners that I have vetted out personally, who are there for you. Go look at their videos, go watch their podcast. They are there for you as well. So if you don't know who to start with. Go ahead, go to vetted partners on no BS wealth podcast. com. And we will lead you to where you want to go. The

Black Mammoth: 43:36

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