271: What Mentors Can Teach You About Success

Melissa Henault:

Oh my gosh. This is a really, really important episode for me, for you guys to hear. We are celebrating the 5 year anniversary of the burnout to all out live podcast. This past October at my live event. We had the incredible milestone mentors that have influenced me in such a significant way in helping me make radical decisions, risky decisions in the growth and the hypergrowth of where I am today. Ris and Lori Harter flew in and also Kayla Craft. By the way, those of you who've been following me since the beginning of my LinkedIn coaching, it was her idea as my mentor. She saw what I didn't see to actually launch mentoring people around LinkedIn.

Melissa Henault:

She was the first to say, hey, you seem to be really good at this growing your own business. What if you taught other people how to do it? And so, anyway, you are going to enjoy this episode because you're gonna hear from my mentors and the raw realness and transparency of what it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur, and they're gonna share their own challenges and how they've overcome them. And we're gonna talk a little bit about how they've supported me. Right? And this was all because they flew in to my live event, burnout to all out live that I host once a year to really support entrepreneurs and their personal growth, their business growth, and the hypergrowth of their network by getting in the room, which is the accelerant I know for me single handedly. I hope you guys really enjoyed this episode. And by the way, if you are listening, as the episode is dropped today on cyber Monday, we have a special for you. If you love this episode and you're like, man, I wish I was in the room when this conversation happened. We have a cyber Monday special going on right now in the show notes.

Melissa Henault:

You can probably grab it and you can get your ticket to burnout to all out live Miami, where you're going to get in the room with my mentors and a burnout to all out live team and grow expansively in your network and your business strategy and your self leadership for your personal growth as a business owner. I hope you guys enjoy this episode.

Melissa Henault:

Need some effective tactical advice that actually helps you get results and makes a real difference in your life and business? You've come to the right place. If you're finding yourself here today, it means you're getting ready to gain serious traction in your business, rapidly multiply your income and impact, and you're ready to make it happen while living all out. Guys, I'm Melissa Hanault, your trustworthy corporate dropout turned 6 figure business burnout turned happy and healthy CEO of a multimillion dollar online business. And you're listening to the Burnout to All Out podcast. On this show, we're serving up innovative growth strategies, simple implementation methods to put them into practice, and action stimulating inspiration tailored specifically for the modern entrepreneur. Let's dive in.

Cayla Craft:

So heel on the floor, keeping yourself on the front edge of your seat. Again, keeping your back as straight as possible and just hinge forward until you feel a stretch in the back of your thigh. This is for a seated hamstring stretch. So as you're sitting this afternoon and paying really close attention to the speakers, you can still stretch simultaneously so that you don't go home super tight or sleep super tight. So again, take a deep breath in while you're in that stretch. Oh, love it. And exhale. We're gonna switch sides.

Cayla Craft:

So now your right leg is gonna be bent. Your left leg is gonna be stretched out with your heel on the floor. Take a nice deep breath in as you bend forward, hinging at your hips, keeping your back as straight as possible. And the important thing to remember with stretching is that you don't wanna bounce in your stretch. Once you feel the stretch, just hang out there. Again, if it feels painful, just come back up a little bit or back off the stretch a little bit. And if you want other suggestions or advice, I'm happy to chat with you during the breaks. And we also have a bookmark for you guys at the outside table during the breaks that have some stretches that can help remind you in addition to the LinkedIn posts and the YouTube channel and

Sarah:

all the jazz. Alright. Awesome. Thank you. Okay. Alright. Before we get going, a little bit of housekeeping as a reminder, hashtag b o a t o live. For those of us over the age of 50, it's the pound sign, b o a t o live.

Sarah:

Okay? And again, 5:30 is the book signing. 7:30 is the dance party. And if you needed some good moves, those lovely ladies just gave them to you. I expect to see all the stretch and dance moves on the dance floor. Okay. Everybody back up. Show me some dancing as we get ready for Melissa. Come on.

Sarah:

Let's get the energy up. I know you just had a lovely heavy truffle or blueberry cobbler or something

Sarah:

fabulous that is Texas, but stand up. Let's go get your hands together. Let's welcome in Melissa Hanover coming back to stage. Yes. Yes.

Melissa Henault:

My gosh. Are you guys loving Sarah? So good. Alright. Who stuffed their selves over lunch and is gonna pass out this afternoon? Walker says yes. He's been loving the Texas food. The moment he got here, he's like, is the food, like, is it Texas food? Does it have the flare? I'm so excited. Oh my gosh. Okay.

Melissa Henault:

This is where everything just, like, comes so full circle for me. I call it, like, the wedding day moment except for in business. It's not on your wedding day. Like, everyone you love, friends and family are all in the same room. I don't know about you guys, but I remember, like, on my wedding day at night, not being able to sleep, just reveling in all the moments of all the people you love being in that same room. And I, like, so feel like that right now because it's like I have all of you guys, which are obviously the best clients. Right? I also have the best mentors in the room who've helped me over the past couple years, and I've got my family in here. And it's just like I, like, literally am, like it's a lot to take in.

Melissa Henault:

It's just awesome. So it's like my wedding day moment, except it's like my business live event wedding day moment. So, like so I wanted to say that. It's just been really, really amazing. So we're gonna have a panel here in a minute, and you guys have actually already heard the formal bio for Lori and Chris. And, originally, Lori and Chris were gonna be catching a flight out this afternoon, so we had this panel a little bit earlier, and you guys are gonna meet Kayla. I'm gonna edify her in just a second, but I wanna really share with you my personal bio and her formal bio before I bring her up. I know you guys have already heard from Lori and Chris, but I want you guys to hear about Kayla.

Melissa Henault:

And she's gonna be coming back up after our panel session for an incredible segment that I can't wait for you guys to hear about. But, I just wanted to start. This one woman, if she didn't see what I didn't see and she didn't encourage me over and over again, none of you would be here today. None of you would be here today. How many of you are currently or past enrollments in any of the burnout to all out coaching programs? Raise your hand. Keep your hands up if your life or your business has been impacted by this company. Kayla, take a look around. That's the power of a mentor who sees what you don't see.

Melissa Henault:

The funny thing is when I first hired her, I heard her on a podcast and I was like, this woman has to, like, be in my life. She is speaking life into me right now. I thought I was hiring a business mentor. And in the first two weeks, she had me reading 21 days to something with Louise Hay, and I was crying in the bathroom, staring at myself holding pictures up of me as a child. And I'm like, what is this? This is not what I invested in. And it turned out to be life changing. And she's the one who said, that LinkedIn thing has made you really, really successful in business. You should teach other people how to do it.

Melissa Henault:

She saw what I didn't see. And you know what I did? For like, I don't know, a couple months, I was like, no, just tell me how to do this other thing. I wanna be better at this thing. And finally, one day, I was like, maybe

Melissa Henault:

she knows what she's talking about.

Melissa Henault:

I did invest in her to tell me what to do, so maybe I should listen. So that's my personal bio of Kayla Craft. She became a dear friend, mentored me for quite some time. I invested in her masterminds. It was a room like this that I had major breakthroughs and started to make new friends and started to surround myself with people in entrepreneurship all because I stepped into some one on one coaching with her and she said, I have this live event coming up. You should come. And I was like, live event? I came from corporate where, like, business meetings were, like, not like this at all.

Melissa Henault:

I was like, I don't know. And she's like, you should come. It'll change your life. And I'm like, I don't know.

Melissa Henault:

It totally changed my life. Okay? So that's my personal bio of Kayla, but I want you to hear if you don't know Kayla Craft, I want you to hear her professional bio because she's incredible. So Kayla Craft, she spent the last 12 years teaching people how to monetize their personal brand. Now she focuses on helping online entrepreneurs become investors. She's an angel investor, a real estate investor, and founder of Crafted as the inspirational icon for families seeking financial freedom, asset wealth generation, and multi generational wealth. She is out to shatter society's addiction to the paycheck. She is the author of, what do you really want? And what that asks the 7 questions to unlock abundance, meaning, and connection. She has such an incredible history and experience in business and recreating herself year over year.

Melissa Henault:

And very similar to some of the conversations we've had with Chris and Lori, there's been many iterations and many different pivots with her that it's been massively inspirational. And Kayla, I am so excited to call you up to stage, my friend. Come on out, friend.

Melissa Henault:

I do love you.

Melissa Henault:

Come on out wherever you wanna sit. Alright. So we've got Kayla up. Now, let's give a huge round of applause and let's ring Lori and Chris Harder back

Melissa Henault:

up.

Melissa Henault:

Come on up, guys.

Melissa Henault:

Lori, I'll have to show you later. We showed videos of you on a boat in Green Bay earlier. We had a whole lesson. We had a whole lesson on mentors telling you and seeing what you don't see. And so, we showed me wiping out on the surfboard or what do you call that thing?

Chris Harder:

Wake surf.

Melissa Henault:

Wake surf, where I've ate it, like, 7 times, and we talked about how you need a Sherpa, but we were talking about how it takes a Sherpa who's maybe eaten some Green Bay water over and over again to teach you because you've been there. Right? So, anyway, we actually showed the video of me wiping out, wiping out, wiping out, and you technically showing me, like, put your heels down. Spread you need to get your feet apart, but not too far apart. Don't pull. And it's all because you knew because you did the reps. You did the reps. Right? So that was part of the story.

Cayla Craft:

It's not safe, everybody.

Melissa Henault:

This will happen. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, I wanna jump right in because we're talking about mentorship and seeing what others can't see in themselves. You're all great mentors. You're all great leaders. And I wanna start with you, Kayla, because I really wanna start with that story of you seeing in me what I didn't see in myself, like all great mentors.

Melissa Henault:

And, like, let's go back to that particular moment or any similar example. How do great mentors like, how do you see what your client doesn't necessarily see, and how do you help them move forward?

Cayla Craft:

So good. How many in the room think that, like, you would describe yourself as a good listener? Raise your hand. Oh, okay. So this is what you need. You need to have that skill of being able to listen to what people are actually saying without saying it. And I remember you would say like all the time you wanted to spend more time with your kids and but then you would continue you would do some things that were like the

Cayla Craft:

the opposite. Right? Yeah.

Cayla Craft:

And I'm like, hey. Let's not go down that road. Let's create our own, like, trail over here. And that's exactly what you did. Yeah. But I was able to pick up on those little things that you were throwing down because I listened. And I tell people all the time, I'm not the smartest person in the room ever. And I mean, that's clue number 1 for success.

Cayla Craft:

You guys never be the smartest person in the room. Mhmm. But this number one skill I have is listening. And you don't have to be, like, the best talker. I tongue twist my words all the time. Anybody else?

Melissa Henault:

Mhmm. Okay.

Cayla Craft:

So yay.

Cayla Craft:

So you have to have that skill of listening and really listening to understand, not listening to just get your next word in or to say something that might fascinate people. It's really listening. And I think that's what the best mentors do.

Melissa Henault:

Yeah. So and you listened, but you also gave me the courage. I think it was your confidence that I didn't have that you were like, you need to go do this. So it was like, it I don't I wouldn't have moved forward had your confidence not been there to say, no, you need to go do this. Do it imperfectly and just take action.

Cayla Craft:

Well, the greatest people in the world have coaches. Kobe Kobe had a coach. And I don't know if any of you guys have ever read the book winning. Anybody? You guys should read that book. Order it right now on Amazon. Or after the event, don't pick up your phone right now. But you hear about that mentality where he was constantly pushing his edges, and that's what we do as coaches is we push you to a limit where you think it's not possible to go there. Yeah.

Cayla Craft:

And it's not because, like, we're the most bold people or the most courageous people. It's just because we're all connected. And so I feel in you the possibility, and I wanna push you to that possibility.

Melissa Henault:

Yeah. Okay. So let's piggyback on that and go back to beginning of last year with you, Chris. And you were like, you should be investing more into your lead gen academy. You should be investing more in ads. Remember that? Yep. And Chris was like, you've had a predictable conversion rate, like, launch over launch, year over year. Why aren't you spending more on ads? And I was like, because I never had.

Melissa Henault:

Because I didn't wanna I don't know. It felt really uncomfortable. I'd never done it before. And Chris said, well, if you don't invest, why don't I invest? And I'll get a percentage of the sale.

Chris Harder:

One of the best investments I've ever made. I 4 x my money. Very expensive lesson.

Melissa Henault:

Yeah. What? And it's so funny because we were talking about it earlier. Danae, who's my CFO, I remember when we do a review on the financials every month, and we'll never forget the month we stopped paying Chris Harder.

Cayla Craft:

So there you go.

Chris Harder:

I'll do it again if you want.

Melissa Henault:

So can you speak to that as well? Because you mentor and coach a lot of people and you invest in a lot of businesses. So I don't want you to be pummeled by, like, 200 people when you walk off the stage to, like, be invested in. But how do you identify the invested in. But how do you identify the opportunity and when it's the right time to invest? Well, there's 2 things. The first one is the person. Right? So we invest in 5 startups a year

Chris Harder:

every single year, and it doesn't matter what the product And it doesn't matter what the product is, the plan is, the market is, none of that stuff. 1st and foremost, it's always the person. Mhmm. And in this case, I knew that you were that person. Mhmm. The way that you use analytics, the way that you use you surround yourself with the right people, the way that you are process oriented. And, like, Jackie, I don't know if she's in the room, but the people around you are process oriented.

Melissa Henault:

Oh, yeah. Jackie said, do not invest. Just pay it yourself and make the money. Yeah.

Melissa Henault:

It's like, don't give the money

Chris Harder:

to that. So I knew you had the right team around you, and it's always people first. And I only knew that because I had spent enough time with you to know those pieces. And then the second piece of the first piece is is people. The second piece is then track record. And I was able to look back at your track record, and you used the word predictable. It was very predictable what was gonna happen. And when I made that comment to you, I I was banging my head against the wall saying, I just wish that you had the courage to invest more money in yourself.

Chris Harder:

And I wanted you to see that so badly that I said, okay, I'm gonna invest my money in you so that you see what could be. Right. But you don't have the risk. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And I knew that it would be a painful lesson too. I mean, I've sometimes that's what you gotta do. I knew it'd be a painful lesson too, and I knew the combination of those two things Right.

Chris Harder:

You would never look back. Yeah. And look at you now. It's insane. Yeah. It's insane.

Melissa Henault:

It was a good investment. I mean, it was a good on both ends, it was like a good lesson, and it was a good investment on your end. Yeah. That's so good. So good. Okay. Well, so that brings me to because I heard you say this, Kayla, that all great mentors have mentors. Right? So I'm really curious with where you guys are today being kind of seen as kind of the top of the pedestal, like, really successful? Like, who's mentoring you and or just your approach to how you see the most successful people in your social networks? Like, why they're so successful, and do you attribute it to mentorship? Yeah.

Melissa Henault:

I'm meeting a Sure. Mhmm.

Cayla Craft:

Oh, such a good question. So I am currently being mentored by like, she's called the deliverance pastor. I don't know if any of you guys are into that, But I've been working with her for probably the last, like, I would say, 20 months. And the thing that I've loved about it's all spiritual stuff. Mhmm. And some of that stuff is I mean, you cannot see it by yourself because you're so close to your blind spots. And so she's been able to just call me out on a lot of stuff that was hindering my growth. I had a lot of, like, sister wounds and just things that I was letting hurts hold me back.

Cayla Craft:

Anybody else in the room been hurt before? I mean, all of us. Right? And we can kind of let those little, like, keep us down. And so that's one thing that she's really helped me see is, like, all of those scars have made you stronger to help more people. And so I love having that support system. And what I love about her is we only talk, like, when necessary. So I have her on a retainer, and I just love that, like, could be like, pray for me or I'm going on stage, pray for me right now, or just anything that I'm meeting some extra covering over. I have her. And that's important to me right now with just my kids and everything that I'm working on with my investments.

Cayla Craft:

I wanna stay spiritually aligned. So that way, I have the discernment to know when something's good or bad.

Lori Harder:

Yes, ma'am. So good. Coaches and mentors have been all different through the years, because sometimes you need business coaches, sometimes you need spiritual coaches, sometimes you need both, sometimes you need A therapist. A therapist, marriage counseling. All the things. And it it becomes clear, like Kayla was saying, if there's a business block that you have all the strategy in the world and you keep going to business masterminds, but you're kinda, like, not integrating or doing the thing, you need to go see whatever type of spiritual coach or whatever that looks like for you. For me right now in this season, because the product space for me is so new, going from more of, like, digital courses and books and events to a product, what I'm doing right now is I'm I'm almost trying to figure out what I need. Is anyone in a season where you don't know what you need right now? So I'm going on a circumstantial basis need.

Lori Harder:

Meaning, if there's something that I need in the product world, it's all very different. Like, right now, I would love a mentor who can teach me all about ads, but I'm not gonna need that person for a super long time. Like, I'm gonna need somebody to kinda help me make that first really good hire, that second hire, whatever that looks like. So what I'm doing is I'm going and doing all of the really hard asks in the DMs right now or asking my network specifically for people who are really good in the areas that I wanna get great in. So that's what my kind of, like, this board of directors that I'm kind of putting together for this company looks like. And then later on, once I get more of a solid established, like, the way that the the company is running in systems, then I feel like I'll bring someone in. And then for that, I'm kind of in a season where I might hire somebody, like a president or something like that, who's better than me, who's brought a company like mine to where I wanna go. So I might be hiring like an internal mentor.

Lori Harder:

That's what I'm thinking. So that's what my season of mentorship looks like right now, where it used to look very different. It was like masterminds, business strategy, coaching, 1 on 1 coaching. And right now, I'm I'm, like, piecing it all together.

Melissa Henault:

I love that term, board of directors. Like, lining yourself up with the experts that can really help you lift off where you're headed. That's good. That's good. Awesome. Awesome. Anything you wanna share, Chris? You're all good?

Chris Harder:

Remind me the question.

Melissa Henault:

So mentorship. So it's like at every level, you look at you can you can see that you're you guys are like the top of the pedestal to some of these folks. Right? Like, so, like, where do you learn? Where do you grow right now when perceivably you've arrived?

Chris Harder:

Yeah. Right? It's very surgical. You go get people that already have gone where you want to go. So for example, right now, I spend I don't know if it's I'm allowed to say how much is. Let's just say 5 figures a month. A mentor who already built and sold a $1,000,000,000 Fintech company, and I get to meet with him every 2 weeks, both my business partner, Matt, and I. And he says, go here, don't go here. Do this, don't do that.

Chris Harder:

Meet this person. He's already opened up so many doors through introductions for us. One introduction was worth its weight in gold. The multiple introductions save us so much time, and they save us so much money from having to go and hunt down and try and find these type of people ourselves and pick the wrong ones. It's so much easier to choose someone who's already been there, done that in the exact lane that you're headed down.

Melissa Henault:

So good. So good. Okay. I would love to know if you guys have any mentor belief moments like I had where they you took a leap because someone saw in you what you didn't see.

Cayla Craft:

Oh, can I go first? Yes. Okay. Just because it's a full circle moment. Okay. Because it was, I think, 6 years ago, I was wanting to go. Oh, no, it was more than that. Gosh. 8 years ago.

Cayla Craft:

Okay. It's a while. Wow. Okay. 8 years ago. And I had wanted to start a podcast. Lori already had hers. Chris had just launched his And I knew I wanted to do something in the mom's space.

Cayla Craft:

And I kept putting it off because I thought back then the podcast space was already saturated. I did. And I remember telling you that and I go, I it's already saturated. There's already moms out there doing what I wanna do. And Laurie was like, start yesterday. Start your podcast. And so I think I did. Like, 2 months later, I launched it, joined his mastermind the 1st year you had it.

Cayla Craft:

And I remember telling you, I'm gonna do, I think I wanted to do a subscription box at the time. And you were like, yeah. Let's go. And I was like, I'm gonna do a 1,000,000 a month, like, the first 3 months. And you're like, let's go. And everybody in the room thought I was nuts, which is always a good sign. And I didn't do that. Okay? But what happened is that's why we're all here.

Cayla Craft:

That's why everybody in the room is here is because she was like, start yesterday. And I mean, that's so incredible. And it was just the simple things of start yesterday. She was doing what I wanted to do. And people who are doing great things in the world, they're never gonna try to talk you out of doing the thing you wanna do. They are always gonna give you a little push. And so I know a lot of us, we stop ourselves because we're so worried about, oh, what is this person gonna say? It's already too crowded. Melissa's already doing live events, and she's already got this going on, but there is always room for you.

Cayla Craft:

And when you talk to other successful people, they will remind you that there is room for you and the world will make room for your gifts.

Lori Harder:

I love that.

Lori Harder:

And I wanna add to what she is saying because when people or when you guys or when, you know, Melissa's gonna say things to you that she sees in you that you don't yet, it's not that we can stand here and say, hey, Kayla. Yeah. You're gonna this podcast is gonna crush it. You're gonna get all these followers, and you're gonna make so much money from it. I did not know that at that point at all, but what I did know is that she is someone who, if she starts that podcast, she's going to get her next breadcrumb, and she's gonna learn the best lessons on Earth from it. So, of course, I'm gonna nudge her. Of course, we're gonna want to nudge people into growth because no matter what, something great was gonna come from it, and it did. And so, that's why whenever there's anything that you feel on your heart, could it go wrong? Yes.

Lori Harder:

Is it supposed to go wrong? Sometimes? Yes. Absolutely. So we have I think all of us up here can sit here and say I, 1,000,000 percent, feel like we all have the belief that you can't make a bad decision, that it's you're always going to learn from it. So when people are waiting, they're waiting because they wanna know with certainty that it's gonna be a success. Well, guess what? It's not, and it's not supposed to be. Because that's gonna unveil a new direction or a new thing. Or, by the way, if it was a success, how many of you serve people with clients who you do the same thing? You mentor or coach them or try to get them to go and do something. How could we ever learn from someone who's like, everything I've ever touched is gold.

Lori Harder:

They're borrowing your failure story. That's actually why they're paying you is for the failure story, not the success story. So the fact that most of you don't wanna fail is why you're not getting paid. Like, you have to get paid faster and fail faster.

Chris Harder:

One

Melissa Henault:

more time, Laurie. That was so good.

Lori Harder:

Like, the reason why it's good I can remember. Normally, I can't. The reason why you're not getting paid is because you're not willing to fail, and you're getting paid for the failures, not the wins.

Cayla Craft:

So So

Chris Harder:

I think you had asked, was there a time when a mentor spoke life and us and it resulted in something good? My mastermind that you're part of wouldn't exist without Lewis Howes for saying, hey, you should do a mastermind. You're built for this. You facilitate well. I see you with the other members. I see what you're doing. Your podcast's off to a good start. Why wouldn't you start one right now? And it wasn't even on my radar, and I didn't think I was worthy or ready or any of that stuff. He said, why won't you start one right now? And I didn't have a good answer for why wouldn't I start one right now.

Chris Harder:

So I started it, and here we are 8 years later. And sometimes it's that question that a mentor will ask you, like, why not right now? Why not you? And if you don't have a good answer for that, then the answer is you might as well do it.

Melissa Henault:

Mhmm. So good. So good. Okay. If you guys are okay with it, speaking of failures, can we just get into some, like, rock bottom, come to Jesus failures? So if you don't mind. Is that okay? Because it's really interesting, Laurie. I don't know. I'm sure you remember this.

Melissa Henault:

I remember it very vividly because I'd actually experienced something a little bit similar myself, not at the scale that you did. But I remember last year in Wisconsin where you really shared with us, I'll never forget just your own kind of crying on the bathroom floor moment of the pivot that you were gonna have to make with your product. And it's really interesting because I've had, not to that scale, but similar scenarios of total pivots that just in the middle of it just felt like. And hearing you share your challenge was so validating for me that I'm like, god. At every level, this happens. Like, the pivots and and the changes and the challenges in business, no matter how big you go, how far you go, there's always lessons in the hard. Do you mind sharing your journey to pivot? Because it's been so beautiful in what you've done with Glowsy.

Lori Harder:

y. Okay. Alright. So I had in: 2020

Lori Harder:

hat I I had written a book in: 2017

Lori Harder:

I was like, what did these women actually connect? What do they think they're connecting over? And I was like, oh, they go out for like wine nights or girls nights, and they leave and they're like, oh, I just feel more hungover. I ate too much food, and I didn't get what I wanted. I feel like it was gossipy and heavy and all the things. And so I was like, they're drinking wine, and some of them are trying to dabble in, like, sober curious. What if I did a non alcoholic rose in a a light rose wine spritz? The cans look the same, so one wouldn't feel, like, isolated. And what if I put 3 questions on the back of the can that I know work because I've tried them in my events for the last 8 years, and they always get someone a connection or an answer? And so these questions would rotate on the back of the can in the off chance that these women would know that the company was all about connecting. Right? And so started to raise money for that. Everybody else thought it was a great idea too because they're like, oh my god.

Lori Harder:

I feel this. Like, I resonate with this message so much. And there were multiple messages going on because it was also about women funding women and making our dreams happen. And what would that look like if we had a board of strategic investors who all made this company work? So there was multiple visions. Right? And that was actually the main vision that I was running on, was the the prior one. It was like, what does it look like when women band together and support each other through all of the ups and downs? Well, little did I know what I was asking to show people at that point. But so raise money for it, end up raising $2,000,000. That took me almost 2 years from all female investors.

Lori Harder:

That in itself, like, became my whole job for 2 years, and you helped me so much with that. So this is also a really cool full circle moment.

Chris Harder:

Mhmm.

Lori Harder:

She brought just different women into my life and introduced them. And on the times that I was running out of belief after a year and a half, she would spike it back up with introing me to someone. I'm like, oh, thank god. Okay. That's why you need these people. So fast forward, there's a pandemic. And at the same time, there's something called a candemic that got lovingly named with aluminum because there was an aluminum shortage. The co packers, manufacturers, warehouses were all shutting down, and, really, they stopped taking startups.

Lori Harder:

So it would be like me hiring a bunch of people and then having to phase that contract out, try to get out of contracts because there was nowhere for them to be going and trying to work and trying to get co packers and manufacturers. It was like, spend money. Try to get the money back. Can't get the money back. Go try to spend money because we're back up. Oh, we think there's someone who can take it, or who's someone who can get this to the finish line. They can't get it to the finish line. More money out the window.

Lori Harder:

It was just a cycle over and over. Not to mention, I did choose one of the hardest legal things to possibly break into, which also costs 100 of 1,000 of dollars just for my legal to, like, be able to get out in the world. So I'm learning all of these lessons rather quickly, but also feels very slow while we're still raising money while we're trying to get this product out. And I'm just starting to like, I am hitting wall after wall after wall, even though every single day, we are, like, out there grinding, asking questions, meeting people. Can I meet this person? Can I get on this meeting? Can we talk to this person? And everything is, like, very vague because also in that in the alcohol industry when selling online, it's gray. Like, there's a reason I wasn't getting clear answers. It's because a lot of people are kind of operating in the gray, honestly. So it's like I couldn't nail anything down and coming to this realization of we've spent so much money on legal.

Lori Harder:

We've spent so much money on these teams who keep telling us they can get this to the finish line and cannot because of so many of the things going on in the world. And I was like, I don't think I have a viable business. I remember telling Chris this. I was like, I don't I honestly I'm like, we've exhausted what feels like all possibilities. You guys, I'm not a quitter. Like, you can look at my past history. I will not quit things. And this was a moment when I had told him, and he's like, no, Laurie.

Lori Harder:

You can't quit. And I'm like, but I really, really think this is like a stopping point or a something point. And so, when I opened that possibility up, this is important for you guys because there are points in your businesses where it it is like a time to pivot. Like, resuscitating something may not be the answer. And I actually wish I would have done this sooner. So, I went and found somebody who was in the alcohol industry, like, way up there. Actually, she got introduced to me. It was a total god thing, and I was like, could you look at my business and honestly tell me if I have a viable business? And she was like, no, you don't.

Lori Harder:

Unless you raise 10,000,000 more dollars and you wanna get into a completely different game, and I don't think it's a game for you. She's like, your skill set won't match this. Your skill set is so good over here. Don't try to get in a skill set that you can't like, you're not gonna be able to bring this to where you wanna bring it with the skills that you have. And I was like, ouch. This is the worst moment of my life and also the best moment of my life. Because do you know what she said right after that? Literally, as cool as a cucumber, pivot. Who cares? Pivot.

Lori Harder:

Repaint the picture. Tell your investors you're pivoting to something that you can actually do that you're gonna make money on, that you can market in the way that you wanna market, and it's gonna be such a better fit for them. Half your investors, you said, don't drink anymore. Like, get them excited about this new vision about a product they're gonna love and use every day, and you can put on subscription because you can't put your other thing on subscription. So here's what you do. And I'm like, oh my god. Like, why aren't we talking to people who have already been through this? Yes. She just literally saved the entire thing of me investing the rest of the money.

Lori Harder:

So, now I had half the money left to go start something in a really powerful, beautiful way. She changed my life in literally talking that fast in a matter of 3 minutes. So in about 2 months after that, it's like the idea was in my head. We were off to the races. We were already going. I was already ready to repaint that vision of the investors to get them excited to say, hey. Honestly, that was not a good move for us, and here's why. And here's why this is a much better move.

Lori Harder:

Here's what we learned. You said you wanted to learn this with me. Here we are. And so that was in but I will share one last thing here is that was the hardest point of my entire life because what happened is I got all of my close friends on to invest. I got all of my mentors. I got celebrities. I've got friends of the mentors to invest. So you can imagine I was up in the middle of the night just, like, at my wits end.

Lori Harder:

Like, I had so much anxiety, so much fear to tell them to be a failure, to be like, my career is ruined. I have to tell these people, like, I failed at something. They'll never invest in me again. People won't come into my businesses. Like, this was a massive it felt so heavy at 2 AM every single night. And it was my community and, like, tribe of people around me who pulled me out of it and said, this is normal. This is what the journey looks like. And that changed everything for me.

Melissa Henault:

So powerful. So powerful. And it's tough when you're in the middle of it to, like it feels like an absolute death.

Lori Harder:

Can't see your way out. No. No. Someone else has to literally grab you and, like, guide you.

Melissa Henault:

Yeah. Yeah. So good. I mean, bad, but good, You know?

Lori Harder:

It's it's the best thing that's ever happened to me ever. Yeah.

Melissa Henault:

Isn't that beautiful? So, Chris, I know you and Lori, we go back to you said earlier, like, you guys lost it all. Can you Chris, can you speak to that? Like, when you were in the mortgage industry and the market was bad, things haven't always been rainbows and unicorns. Right?

Chris Harder:

Not at all.: 2008

Chris Harder:

And worse than that, we have to sell this big house that we just built and get rid of the cars and get rid of everything and start over again in a tiny little studio apartment in uptown Minneapolis. And we literally when I say we listed everything and sold everything, back then Craigslist was where you'd sell everything. We put all of our furniture, all of our stuff on Craigslist for this massive house that we just finished building. And car after car would pull up in front of the house and the people would come inside and they'd bargain for the TV or they'd bargain for the table or they'd bargain for the dresser, and they would walk out with our stuff in front of the neighbors, leaving us with just a little bit of cash in hand and absolute what felt like at the time, 0 dignity. Mhmm. Matter of fact, speaking of the neighbors, just to really paint a picture for you, there was a guy named Greg. And every time I tell a story, I hope the son of a bitch hears this. They lived across the street.

Chris Harder:

And on moving day, because we had to short sell the house, you know what that is? That's where you sell it for less than it's worth. Right? So it's like one stop short of foreclosure. And when you short sell, a lot of times, investors will snap it up so you don't need a sign. So we don't have a sign in front. So Greg sees moving trucks out front. He comes over. He's like, hey, man. What's going on? Moving trucks? Didn't see a sign.

Chris Harder:

And I said, well, I had lost my job a while back, and we had to short sell the house. We were moving to this little uptown or this little apartment in uptown, and we're starting over. And I'm on my knees packing a box, and he's standing above me. And his response to that was, you short sold your house? Man, you're gonna bring down all the values in the neighborhood. What'd you do that for? Right? And so that was probably the lowest of those low moments. But one of the blessings of being in the moments where there's nowhere to go but up is that you kind of get to choose again. Right? When you've been stripped of everything. So I was stripped of my title and stripped of my promotions and stripped of where I thought my value was and stripped of my identity, stripped of everything.

Chris Harder:

So when you're stripped of everything, you're a blank slate, and you get to choose what you want to write on that slate from that moment forward. How do you wanna serve? How do you wanna show up? Who do you want to be? And most people actually don't get that chance. Most people are just kinda they're on that freeway of life and they can't see an exit in sight. And sometimes life will hand you that exit, and it's gonna feel like that low point. It's gonna feel like that rock bottom. But if you can shift your perspective a little bit, you'll actually realize this is your chance to finally take a breath. You don't have to prop up any type of illusions or shenanigans anymore, and you get all that energy back to go point it in the direction that you should have pointed it in the first place.

Melissa Henault:

So so inspiring. So good. So I wanna pivot because, Kayla, you weren't here earlier today when we had these guys up and we were speaking about power relationships. And I know that Chase is an entrepreneur too.

Chris Harder:

And one of my best friends in the world. Did you know that her husband and I are best friends?

Melissa Henault:

I know. And we were talking about, like, powerful, like, power, like, houses, relationships where the both of you in the home are really driven, and you're both running businesses, and you guys have a beautiful relationship. Can you speak to what you guys are doing now to have such a happy, healthy, beautiful relationship?

Cayla Craft:

Oh my gosh. This gets me excited because people used to ask me this question, like, 5, 6 years ago, and I was like, oh, let's not talk about this. Because I was so frustrated in my relationship, and you guys remember that because Chase for and he'll talk about this openly. He's been on my podcast a bunch of times. But he he really was lost and, like, he didn't know what he wanted to do, but he wanted to do something big. And, I mean, raise your hand if you have that stirring in your heart too. You're like, I know from a very young age there's something big for me. Yeah.

Cayla Craft:

We all have it. We're all we all have our own unique purpose. And so he had just not figured it out yet. And here I am like shining, living my best life, and he was happy for me, but there was just this disconnect because he wanted to be that happy too. So anyways, fast forward, our my business, he was always behind the scenes helping me out. And we had a problem in our business where people would get on payment plans and then not pay after they would take the course. And he was, gosh. Like, how do I fix this problem? And that was the start of his business that's now called My Abundant, which is gonna be a name change soon, but it's called My Abundant.

Cayla Craft:

And

Cayla Craft:

it

Cayla Craft:

was an uphill battle for, what, 4 years? I mean, I at 18 months ago, I told him to quit. That's how horrible I was 18 months ago. Because I was like, oh my gosh, like, when are we gonna get a win with this business? And a few months after that, he started to win and started to win big. And the thing that I think that keeps us together, obviously we have sucky moments like that, but it's just having those resilience. Like you, you have to have those things that you are so obsessed with. And he was so obsessed with his business, and I've been so obsessed with my business coaching people. He knew that it was gonna work, and he just kept going. And he surrounded himself with the right people.

Cayla Craft:

I mean, his best friend's Chris. He had a great business partner that's just as obsessed as him, and lots of board like, lots of people on his board that have been Gerard Adams speaking life into him, holding him up when he couldn't hold himself up. And that's what has made our marriage stronger, is it's not just you 2. I mean, it's literally who are you putting around you that's gonna help you guys grow together and not grow apart. And I think it started really I mean, we were in network marketing, which is so great. But then we thank god you let us in your your mastermind 8 years ago. Because we didn't really have a business yet. And I kinda like, you gotta have something outside of network marketing.

Cayla Craft:

I'm like, okay. I'll start a business called Mommy Millionaire. So, anyway, put yourself around the right people that have really successful relationships. Like, would you trade places with them? Like, okay, they have all this money, but are they happy? How often are they, like, laughing? You know? And you wanna be around those people. So get into the rooms like this where you're gonna meet people who are obsessed with growth, and it's contagious for your relationship.

Melissa Henault:

Mhmm. So good. So good. I could ask more questions, but I'm feeling like you guys might wanna ask them some questions. And they're like, yes. Okay. So mic runners, Wesley and Walker, if you guys wanna get up with the mics and run, the the word runner is the second part of the description of your role.

Chris Harder:

The bike creeper. Yeah.

Melissa Henault:

The Mike Walkers. There you go, Wes. There we go.

Cayla Craft:

Hey, guys. Hi, Kayla. Nice to meet you. So I have a question for, I guess, all of you. You talk about surrounding yourself with people going where you wanna go or reaching out to those people who've done what you've wanted to do. And that's great and easy when you're in your positions. You already have something to show that you're there. But what if you're newer starting out and your people aren't there and the middle people aren't even desiring to go there? How do you get connected to that tribe of where you want to be or get somebody at your level to talk to somebody at my level?

Chris Harder:

Can I go first? It's short. You already did it. You paid to be in this room. And there's people to your left and there's people to your right, and there's somebody on the stage right here to my left. There's Miriam and back. There's all these people in here that are the types of people that you're looking for for the price of whatever the ticket was that you paid to be in here. Sometimes you have to pay to first step into the room where the other people pay to get in that room, which is an indicator that they too are driven big thinkers, and now you can support each other.

Lori Harder:

We have literally, especially on my journey, I have paid for every mentor that you may be thinking it's easy for you to get them. I was in their rooms, in their courses, and some of them paid for 1 on 1 coaching. Some, I've paid well over 6 figures. And now I have that relationship, but it's because those people only have so much time, and they only want to invest back into the people that they know are really gonna be out there doing it. And, honestly, if you guys even look at all of your DMs and all of the time that you have to spend in there, the odds of anyone really taking that info, because it's such a quick, easy ask, if it was a quick if they get to access you that quickly and easy, there's nothing on the line for them. And so it not only was obviously, it's beneficial for us to put money on the line in order for us to show up. So it's kinda like the more I started putting down as I grew, the more I showed up.

Cayla Craft:

Okay. Can I say something too? Because this is really good. Can I be really honest with you? Absolutely. Okay. So you're never gonna get those connections if you have an attitude like that. Okay? And what I mean by that is you're not a victim. You're a winner. You're in this room.

Cayla Craft:

You're surrounded by amazing people. God has destined you for something fantastic. That's why you're here right now. So you have to believe you're good enough for those types of connections, and you walk up to every single person or you open every DM and you add value to every single person you're talking to, because that's how you get noticed. So you go, you know what? I have so much value inside of me that sometimes the give is sharing a podcast. It's sharing about their events that you might not be able to afford to get into the room, but share about that event. That's how you get noticed, and they're gonna go, there's something about her. I wanna give her a free ticket.

Cayla Craft:

Like, crazy things happen like that, but you have to start walking around like you're a victor and not a victim.

Cayla Craft:

Mhmm. Thank you. And where's Greg's house? Because we can go buy it. I said, where's Greg's house? Because we should go buy it.

Chris Harder:

Yeah. To Blaine, Minnesota.

Cayla Craft:

I know where Blaine is. Yep. It ain't a great place.

Maeva:

I met you through Melissa in: 2020

Melissa Henault:

Kayla came in and spoke

Maeva:

to the group. Kayla came in and spoke to the group. You asked for a volunteer to tell a story. I was the volunteer and you poured into me. You planted a seed that I didn't see coming and it was over the zoom. Right? And here's where borrowing someone else's belief and I've done it several times, but I planted to see and it was to do with my business and why I'm here now. Right? With my son and you you was like, have you ever thought I think you should do some kind of course for mothers and kids with learning differences and something to you, but it was based on what I was saying. Right? Fast forward, when I decided to develop that, I reached back out to Melissa outside of network marketing.

Maeva:

Now it's this LinkedIn thing. Like, okay. I wanna do I'm ready now because I've been building this thing and I'm ready. And she's like, well, Maeva, I have something else. And it was perfect timing. So I'm in the mastermind class. They kept going back last year. I'm in Arizona with my son because we're here because of the sense, the seed that was planted.

Maeva:

Then I'm talking to Chris and we had some other ideas and I asked the question. He said, you know, I think you guys need to do something with parents. You need to do a parent group. You need to do this. So okay, what did I do? I started a parent group, but the evolution of the seeds being planted and running with them instead of running away because, yeah, I'm afraid. I've never been here before, but what do I do? I run towards fear. I mean, I'm all in, but where has it come now? Like right now we've evolved so much. Now and I can say I help mothers build relationships with children, focusing on children no, Build stronger relationships with their children, focusing on children with learning differences and unique abilities, all because of seeds being planted and all of the work that we've done.

Maeva:

It all comes full circle back into that once we get the connection. So thank you to all of you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for pouring into everyone, even when you don't even realize the value because look how many years it's been, and you're only getting now getting to hear to thank you. Thank you.

Chris Harder:

Thank you. Thank you.

Melissa Henault:

Does anybody have any more questions for the panel? Yes. We'll take 2 more. Oh, yeah. There we go. Erica.

Lori Harder:

I don't this is on. Hello?

Cayla Craft:

Yes. Yeah. It is. Okay. Hi.

Erica:

I'm Erica. Thank you so much for everything you guys have talked about today. Melissa and I go way, way back, and I've seen her through all the trials and tribulations. And I'm in awe of her, and she's told me so much about each of you. So now it's like, Wizard of Oz, you actually

Erica:

exist.

Erica:

You're here. And I'm a corporate forced out dropout, but probably by God's divine wisdom because it was killing me. And now it's you have all of the ideas, all of the ideas, all of the things. So my question is around the economics of your time and your ideation. So I have 5 ideas. 3, I put on the back burner of, like, okay. This is low priority. 2 are at the top.

Erica:

1 is the moneymaker because it ties back into sales. My entire career has been sales and customer success. But it kinda feels like golden handcuffs sometimes. The other thing is more the creative. And Melissa's talked to me about, like, tapping into your feminine creativity, and it's really what gives me the most joy. But it's gonna take a long time, I think, to get that thing ramped up. So I wanna hear from the 3 of you as you've gone through these different business ventures. And, Chris, you talked about this earlier, where are you splitting up your time? What takes your time? I wanna hear from the perspective of somebody just starting out.

Erica:

How do you invest in the economics of your time through these ideas that feed you, but also nurture you financially?

Chris Harder:

Can I go first so it'll be short?

Melissa Henault:

Yeah.

Chris Harder:

You always if you're of a tie. Right? You've got a fork of the road. You can go left. You can go right. And, you know, eventually, you wanna do both. You always go for the most profitable route first. Because first, you gotta gather up all that money. And even if it's not your ideal thing, even if you're like, oh, it's not the fun route.

Chris Harder:

Oh, it's not the most fulfilling route. You guys need money to be able to make the other thing a success, and you need the resources, the people, and the connections, and the customers, and the audience, and everything else that comes with taking that easier money making route first. So then you can reinvest all that into the second, maybe a little bit tougher, maybe a little bit slower building 1.

Lori Harder:

Mhmm. Thank you. So good.

Lori Harder:

I agree. I think the feeling of desperation kills creativity. And sometimes that thing that you really love can turn into, like it can feel really heavy because you don't have the money to, like, be you said it's creative. When you're feeling like you have to make money from it, that can some sometimes kill the creativity. So it's good to know yourself. Mhmm.

Cayla Craft:

And I second all of that.

Erica:

Thank you.

Melissa Henault:

Marilyn?

Marilyn:

Thank you. I wanted to ask Kayla. 1st, thank you for seeing in Melissa what you saw. I just think that's so magical. How did you set that up? How long had you guys been coaching, and what did you think when she said I'm not doing that?

Cayla Craft:

It seems like so long ago. So great question. I really have to go back into the thinking files here. I think with her, she didn't have the belief because she was really focused on building her network marketing business. And I'm like, look over here. These, this is breadcrumbs come over here to the land of milk and honey. And I kept trying to get her to see that. Right.

Cayla Craft:

So I remember it was, like, over, like, a week. You finally decided you're gonna put a Kajabi page together. And you were, like, and then your PayPal got hacked. And it was, like, crazy stuff happening. But I just kept nudging you and just kept showing you your belief, I think.

Melissa Henault:

I mean, it's really

Cayla Craft:

hard to remember.

Melissa Henault:

It was it was fear. It was fear of not of it not being successful. It was the fear of, like, it was like I had this blankie that I felt like was safe, and that was the beginning of my inner journey that I'm still working on with Sam to this day. There's just layer upon layer upon layer of fear at every level, you know? And I think that with each leap, you get a little bit more I don't wanna say used to. The fear is still there, but it's you're okay more okay with taking that risk because you've done it a couple of times and you realize it's really, really not the end of the world either way. Yeah. I remember, Chris, you weren't here earlier, but I was talking about or maybe you were when we were talking about us, Jake and I investing in real estate this year. And I remember you and I had a call, and I was, like, sweating, like, just the amount of cash going out and the recurring revenue in my business and all the questions.

Melissa Henault:

And I remember you being, like, well, 2 things. Number 1 was you have to treat you can't treat your business like an employee who employee looking at the balance in your bank account every single month. You have to look at the bigger macro picture over the year and what you have planned. But the other thing you told me that really sticks with me is that you were like and you didn't actually use these words, but this is how it resonated with me, was like your nervous system's just not used to this level of game that you're playing, and so you feel really uncomfortable with these investments. Had your business not grown this fast and this had percolated over 5 or 6 years and you made these moves, like, you wouldn't feel so uncomfortable. Right? Do you remember that conversation?

Chris Harder:

Yeah. I remember clearly. Yeah. And, you know, lot of thing a lot of times you guys will hold yourselves back from hiring somebody. The conversation was like, should I be making all these hires right now? Yeah. You know, I can't afford that $52,000 salary. It's not $52. It's $2 every 2 weeks, and you can shut it off anytime you want.

Chris Harder:

You probably can. It's just $: 39100

Chris Harder:

Bring them in.

Melissa Henault:

Awesome. So good. Well, this has been so good. I wanna make sure we stay on time. You guys, give these guys a huge round of applause. They've been amazing. Amazing. Alright.

Melissa Henault:

We're gonna we're gonna shift. I oh, wait a minute. We have Lori has something for you guys. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about tell them a little bit about Glowsy and what they can do now?

Lori Harder:

I'll go quick.

Lori Harder:

But you guys, I have, like, a super amazing special offer for you. So Glowsy is the brand that I pivoted into. It's a skin and gut routine. It's a skin routine that you can drink, but it's for skin and gut. And we have an amazing clinically studied probiotic in there, and it is we have someone nodding out there who I know is obsessed with it. But it is truly it came from me going, if I could only do one thing a day for my health, what would it be? And we put all of the stuff that we wanted into this one stick, and I'm obsessed with it. I was drinking all of these different hydration packets, and I'm like, oh, I had the realization I was drinking really expensive salt and sugar, where instead I could have a probiotic, magnesium. I could be drinking my hyaluronic acid, which is, in my personal opinion, I feel like you notice it more than a topical.

Lori Harder:

And we've just gotten such amazing results with the vitamin c, prickly pear, magnesium, zinc, the clinically studied probiotics. So love it. I hope that it serves you because everything that we create from this company is about supporting the ambitious woman, the ambitious human. Truly, it's it's by women for all because this guy is now essentially made of glossy, truly. So I need a a glossy men's line. But you guys, because Melissa's so freaking amazing and we never do this, but it's 50% off of your starter kit. So we never ever ever do that. So if you scan this QR code, and it should just automatically go to 50% off of your starter kit, which essentially is you get a free water bottle and you get your 30 day supply.

Lori Harder:

And that is for the subscription, but you can stop at any time, and we email you before the next subscription goes out. But I think you're gonna love it. I think you're gonna be obsessed. It's life changing. I feel so much better on it. It makes me drink all of my water. I just feel like we wake up leaner every single day. You're doing, like, 2 or 3 a day, but it's it's our gift.

Cayla Craft:

Melissa told me I looked younger today, and it's

Melissa Henault:

glossy. Yes.

Lori Harder:

She's made of glossy. She's made of glossy.

Melissa Henault:

I'm obsessed, and I'm actually obsessed with your new Instagram videos of, like, what, like, little glossy recipes that are going on. She's pretty funny too. You could be a comedian. Like, I'm loving it. Yes. Let's go on. So really quick, I do want, like, some quick popcorn. Like, we don't, this needs to be quick.

Melissa Henault:

We don't even, Wes, if you wanna run with a mic, you can, but, I want some gratitude from the audience. What have you learned from these guys as we're wrapping up? What have you learned? Just quick popcorn. Yes. Wesley's got a microphone for you.

Popcorn Speaker:

You might fail. It's not gonna kill you. You can come back. Thank you for sharing this.

Melissa Henault:

Yes.

Popcorn Speaker:

One of the big ones for me is that spirituality and abundance come together and it can continue growing. You don't have to choose 1. Awesome.

Melissa Henault:

We'll take 2 more.

Popcorn Speaker:

Yep. I appreciate very much all of you, and I loved hearing that from a mentor perspective that they pay for your failures, not your wins. That was Yeah. Brilliant.

Melissa Henault:

So good. Awesome. Well, let's give these guys a round of applause. Thank you guys so much.

Melissa Henault:

-: 2285

Melissa Henault:

Come find me over on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, wherever you like to hang. Cannot wait to hear how you are enjoying and applying what you're learning. You guys reach out to me over on social because I love hearing what's resonating with you. When you reach out to me and you send me those personal DMs, they really do impact the content I continue to bring forward to you. So again, come find me, melissa_henault over on Instagram, melissahenault over on LinkedIn and Facebook. Can't wait to see you guys over there.