Leadership, Talent, and the Future of Work with Mary Olson-Menzel

In this episode of Success Leaves Clues Podcast, our guest is Mary Olson-Menzel, executive coach, leadership strategist, talent development expert, and founder of MVP Executive Development, where she helps leaders, executives, and organizations maximize performance by developing exceptional people and building high-impact workplace cultures. Drawing from decades of experience in executive coaching, leadership development, recruiting, and organizational consulting, Mary shares practical insights on attracting and retaining top talent, developing confident leaders, creating engaged teams, and fostering workplace environments where people can perform at their best. We also explore the evolving world of leadership, the importance of emotional intelligence, effective communication, coaching for growth, and strategies for helping individuals and organizations unlock their full potential. Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, HR professional, coach, or people leader, this conversation is packed with actionable lessons on leadership, hiring, team development, and sustainable business success.

You can find her on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-olson-menzel-mvpexec/
https://mvpexec.com/
https://www.instagram.com/maryolsonmenzel/
https://www.maryolsonmenzel.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@maryolsonmenzel
https://www.facebook.com/MVPExecutiveCoaching

Transcript

Mary Olsen-Menzel 0:00

And because I had a recruiting background, I knew that I could really help people with career coaching, pivot, you know, help them pivot into new jobs. And so I created a 10-step methodology to help these people pivot, get promoted, or anything like that. And so then that blossomed into its own whole vertical in our organization that is the one-on-one career coaching, pivot coaching. And it became so popular that we had a waiting list so long that I thought, oh my gosh, if you're looking for a new job, you can't wait six months to do that. You want to do it now.

Davis Nguyen 0:39

Welcome to Success Leaves Clues, the podcast where we interview business owners on how they built their businesses and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is David Swain, and I'm a business coach and a founder of Purple Circle, where we help business owners achieve their first six-figure, seven-figure, and eight-figure year, all without sacrificing their quality of life. Before becoming a business coach and before founding Purple Circle, I started and scaled several seven and eight-figure coaching businesses and have been a consultant at several businesses doing over $100 million each, including some that are publicly listed and doing over a billion dollars each. In every episode of the podcast, you're going to learn lessons that took our guests years to learn, and you'll be able to learn that in minutes. No matter if you're a new business owner or an established business owner, every episode is going to give you the clues in order to elevate your business.

Pedro Stein 1:24

Welcome to Success Leads Clues Podcast. I'm Pedro, and today I'm joined by Mary Allison Menzel, a strategic HR leader and executive coach who is 20 plus years partnering with CEOs, boards, and senior leadership teams has made her a trusted advisor at the highest levels of organizational decision making. Mary founded her boutique HR consulting and executive coaching firm to serve growth stage companies, private equity-backed businesses, and mission-driven organizations navigating the people challenges that come with rapid scale and transformation. Her expertise spends talent strategy, organizational design, culture transformation, and HR due diligence for MA transactions, giving her a uniquely comprehensive view of how people's strategic strategy directly impacts business valuation and long-term resilience. As an MBA, ASPHR and ICF certified coach, Mary translates complex organizational challenges into practical, actionable solutions that drive real business results rather than just HR compliance. Welcome to the show, Mary.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 2:43

Thank you, Pedro. It's great to be here.

Pedro Stein 2:46

Great to have you. Okay. And um, I'm kind of a comic book nerd myself, Mary. You know, I'd love for us to rewind a bit, you know, back to the origin story. We're talking about 20 years in the game because every coach has that moment where they look at their life and say, yeah, I guess this is what I'm doing now, right? So when was that for you, Mary?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 3:06

Oh gosh. Well, Pedro, I've had so many pivot moments in my life. I mean, from television reporter to recruiter, from recruiter to coach. But I think that my biggest aha moment was when I started MVP 14 years ago. It was executive search and executive coaching. We were doing both. And then COVID happened, and the executive search kind of came to a screeching halt. The coaching side of the business quadrupled in like need and revenue. And I was trying to do it all. And at the time, I'm sitting there, and my youngest son says, Mom, come play basketball with me. Now, this is COVID, right? So I was playing a lot of basketball with him in our driveway. And I said, Honey, no, I've got all these emails to catch up on. He said, Mom, you're you wrote a book called What Lights You Up. You talk to people about doing what lights them up all day. He goes, You don't look very lit right now, mom. That was that aha moment, Pedro, where I was like, oh my God, my 10-year-old is reflecting my exhaustion back to me. And so that was that pivotal moment where I thought, oh my gosh, I have to stand in my own truth and do what lights me up. And what lights me up is the executive coaching, the leadership, the speaking, and the writing.

Pedro Stein 4:33

Okay. Now let's backtrack a little. We're talking about 20 years in the game as a coach, but 14 as a business owner in the coaching practice. Okay. Let's talk about that shift. That shift from, you know, um, I'm doing this in the corporate world. I'm coaching here, but right now I'm gonna do a leap of faith. I'm gonna launch my own business, right? So can you walk us through how the that felt like? Was it scary? You know, that's one thing. Did you have like an identity shift? And then the identity shift, I I I like to talk about it's like I worked at corporate, right? I worked at banking, I worked at a consulting firm here in Brazil, Ernest and Young. And whenever I clocked out, Mary, I clocked out, right? It's like Sayonara to everyone. And then I started my own business, and it's like that it's a non-stop thing. I need to create my own boundaries. So please enlighten us on that path, please.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 5:30

Oh gosh, Pedro. I mean, it's always, I think that you know, somebody should write a book, they probably already have about the entrepreneur's journey, right? Because yes, I was in big corporate, I loved my jobs, but then we we moved from Chicago to New York. And when we moved to New York, I worked for a couple different firms, and it happened this aha moment, another aha moment happened on a beach. We're down in Florida with our kids, and our kids are swimming in the water. My husband and I are having a margarita, and he's like, Why are you making money for other people? Why don't you start your own business? And I thought, oh no, I don't want to do that. But the more, you know, margaritas that we had, no, I'm just kidding. Um, you know, but the more, you know, the more we talked about it, the more I thought about it, I thought, wow, you know what? My kids are young enough that if I do start my own business, I'm not going to be tied to that, you know, eight to six day and travel and all of those things. So what starting MVP 14 years ago did for me was give me the flexibility to work very hard, but also to be present uh for my kids when they needed me for like school drop-offs and the sports and the plays and everything else.

Pedro Stein 6:49

Oh my god, I'm I'm noticing a pattern of family members calling you out. Sorry. I'm like, what's happening right now, right? Uh what's the I mean, who's next? Right. I I wonder now. Um, you know, when you launch your business, and I I really like the early days talk, right? The in the coaching space. It's like we're I'm a coach myself. So we're trying to help everyone, right? We're just like pay the bills, we're trying to make it, but eventually uh we attract a certain type of people, we sharpen the blade, and we're like, okay, this is the one I can actually serve. So I have a two-folded question for you. Walk us through the evolution of it, right? Like the the first people you were talking to, how did that look like? And then you realize, okay, now I serve this people. This is my tribe, you know?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 7:43

Yes, and what an evolution it's been because what we did in the very beginning stages of MVP Exec was we had the executive search side, so that was retained executive search, and then we had the coaching. And what we would do with the coaching is we would coach our people that we placed through the first 30, 60, 90 days to ensure success for our clients. When we were successful doing that, more and more people started coming and saying, wait, can you help me get promoted? Can you help me do this? Can you help me do that? And so our corporate coaching practice really started to unfold beautifully. But then at the same time, to your point, Pedro, you know, you you want to help everybody. I mean, that's part of why you go into coaching. And because I had a recruiting background, I knew that I could really help people with career coaching, pivot, you know, help them pivot into new jobs. And so I created a 10-step methodology to help these people pivot, get promoted, or anything like that. And so then that blossomed into its own whole vertical in our organization that is the one-on-one career coaching, pivot coaching. And it became so popular that we had a waiting list so long that I thought, oh my gosh, if you're looking for a new job, you can't wait six months to do that. You want to do it now. That's why I wrote What Lights You Up.

Pedro Stein 9:16

Okay. Now, a little game of pretend here, Mary. Let's pretend I'm your ideal client profile profile. I'm your avatar. Okay. I I can see there are two arms here, right? We're looking about career coaching to an extent, and there is the leadership and the corporate, the executive coaching. Yes. Um, I'll let you pick. What do you want me to be right now? Pick one.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 9:40

Uh, you can be my corporate client because I think we haven't talked about that yet.

Pedro Stein 9:44

Okay, so let me adjust here my hoodie, corporate client hoodie. Okay, I'm that guy, okay? I'm your corporate client right now. First of all, how would I be able to, you know, find you marketing-wise?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 9:59

You know, the best way to find us is really referrals. And I think that that is where we get so much of our business because we do great business or we do great work. And then somebody says, Oh, you need to talk to Mary. Well, you need to talk to Mary and her team. And um, so that that's that one referrals, word of mouth, all of that. But LinkedIn, LinkedIn is a big one for us. Got uh just about 10,000 followers on LinkedIn that you know I'm very active with. You can also find us on our websites. We have two websites, one for my speaking and my writing and the what lights you up stuff, but we also have the MVP exec website. And so, you know, we've got all kinds of different ways. Instagram, you name it. We're we're on it and we're present.

Pedro Stein 10:49

Okay, so here's the kicker, right? Pedro, the corporate uh avatar, your ICP, still in the same scenario. I'm like, okay, uh, looking at your LinkedIn website, Instagram, even I I could be potentially referred to you, okay? And now you have 10,001 follower. I'm the one, I'm that guy. Okay. I'm like Pedro. Thanks, Pedro. And I'm I'm I'm loving what I see, right? I'm resonating with that stuff. So I reach out, okay. I'm like, hey, other than look, lights work with you guys. We can speed up the sales process if you want. Uh, we could just say there is alignment of sorts, you guys can help me. I know, I know you guys can help. There is alignment, right? Uh, but what do I really want to know is like if you could provide me a certain peak behind a curtain, right? Of how does it look like to work with you and uh the potential outcomes I can expect.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 11:46

Yes. So a lot of times these corporate clients reach out to us when they're at an inflection point in their careers, right? So say you're, you know, you're you're Mr. Corporate, as we call you, and um you are a chief marketing officer who wants to get promoted to CEO. So you call us and you say, I really want to help, you know, I need help getting promoted. I need help with my leadership, I need help getting prepared. And so what we tend to do is we start with a very deep dive. Five two-on-one sometimes, one-on-one sessions, because I work, I do a lot of work with my colleague Mel Shabazian, and we will dive deep into a psychometric assessment called Insights Discovery. But we do it in five sessions where we really help leaders see not only their natural gifts and all the strengths that they're bringing to the table, but also where are their blind spots? Who do they need to surround themselves with for success? And how do they influence the organization? So it's all around being a good leader and helping them identify their own leadership signature and not someone else's.

Pedro Stein 13:09

Okay. Now I wanna I'm I'm thinking, right, because I'm also a career coach, so there's that. And sometimes I'm talking with my ICP and I see career coaches talking with their ICPs, and sometimes people have a I'll put it something like this, uh, a hard understanding of what exactly are we going to do for them, right? Are you going to get me a job? Are you going to talk with my boss, right? How does that look like? What exactly are you are you helping me with? So if you had to, it's not really an objection, but if you had to come up with an answer for people that are not really understanding what's about, what would that be?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 13:50

Yes, well, there's two answers to this, Pedro, because if this person is paying us out of their own pocket for the pivot or the career coaching, that's one thing, right? Then we would probably not be talking to their boss. But if it's somebody who their organization is paying for them to be coached in order to get this promotion or in order to become a better leader or a better leader of people, then we try to do a 360-degree viewpoint and we do have a conversation with their boss. You know, where where are Pedro's gaps? What does he need to create even more success within this organization? But we don't divulge confidential information to the boss. We give, you know, if we're talking with the client, we say, All right, this sounds like something we want to share with your boss. You good with that? And then we make it a really nice, organic, immersive conversation.

Pedro Stein 14:53

Okay, so you told me it could be B2C or B2B in a way, right? It could be the Pedro, Mr. Corporate, it reached out. Um, let me understand the B2B side. How does that look like? What's the perspective? Is it like they're hiring the company hires you so you can make them a better leader? Or how does that look like?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 15:14

Yes, that's a lot of it, Pedro. Is that a company will come to us and say, you know, we've got this new global team. They need to be working in sync despite the geographical differences. Can you create a curriculum for this new team to help them work better together and be better leaders? Or, you know, the other scenario that we talked about, you know, we've got Pedro, he wants to get promoted to, you know, the CEO of the company. How can we help him? And how can we create also a succession plan so that when Pedro gets promoted to CEO, he's got great people right behind him to fill those gaps.

Pedro Stein 15:57

Okay. Uh, give me a second. Bad Pedro, Mr. Corporate, is stepping in, okay? He's like, he's not his my evil twin. Okay. He sometimes he shows up, okay, and then into the corporate section. And the reason I want to ask this, because I feel it's so interesting, is like, let's say, because Bad Pedro is not the pain customer. He was set up for success to be in touch with you, right? Because his boss, or whoever that person is, hired you to help Bad Pedro, okay? But Bad Pedro is giving kind of a hard time. He's like, uh, I have to go to this. I mean, uh, I have so much things to do, I don't really need this, you know, that type of mentality, that type of a how do you navigate Bad Pedro? Because it's almost like, okay, mom, like it doesn't have the I mean, it doesn't show like this, obviously, but your feeling uh he's really not into it, you know? How to navigate that? Because at the end of the day, he has been told to do that, right?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 17:01

That is tough because I think that you really, you know, if you have somebody who's not coachable, that's a problem, right? And so we have to do an assessment. We actually have an assessment that we give to our clients if they have any doubt. You know, a lot of people these days love having a coach, right? They're like, oh my God, I get to learn. I have somebody who's gonna listen to me and guide me that's not my boss and not my mentor, right? But there are the bad Pedros out there, and we make sure that that Pedro takes an assessment beforehand so that we know the pitfalls of what Pedro's expectations are before we go into the conversation. And from there, we give them about three sessions of this deep dive together. And if bad Pedro doesn't turn it around and turn his attitude around, then we have another conversation with you know his boss because some people it they don't want to be coached, right? And right at that point, you want somebody who's excited, who's gonna embrace the process. And if you haven't been able to kind of turn them around in a couple sessions, then it's a whole different conversation.

Pedro Stein 18:19

Oh, yeah. That bad he's a terrible guy, terrible person. He he didn't even took the assessment, okay? He was like, just get the email. That is terrible. Now I have another one, which is not bad Pedro. This is more of sad Pedro, okay. Sad Pedro is B2C. Um, so he's into career, he got laid off. He started working with you guys, and I understand it's not gonna like I I I understand you you might deliver great results, but there is a time frame to it, right? It's not like I sign up today, I'm gonna get the job tomorrow. There's that, I imagine, right? So there is a a a time frame that needs to be respected, some steps, but let's say sad Pedro is really, you know, bumped out. His like he his starts no showing, his he's losing confidence, he's not getting the job in the first two interviews, is like, what's the point, right? Um can you navigate sad Pedro? And I want to under I want to hear from you. This is very interesting. How do you you you first of all you check on him, his no-showing, second, you get back to that confidence levels up, you know?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 19:29

Yes, and the the crazy, crazy thing, too, is and you know this, right? The world that we're living in right now, everything's taking longer, even though technology is speeding us up at the you know, speed of AI, right? There's still things that are taking longer, like finding a job. The average executive who's looking for a job now, it takes almost nine months. So there's a lot of sad Pedros out there because it's daunting and it's frustrating. And so it's up to us to keep them inspired and motivated throughout this whole process. And you know, there was one guy who I just loved and adored, who we worked with, who had a moment where he just lost that energy, right? And he in the exact kind of way that you are talking about. And so I said to him, he was in tears in my office. And I said to him, Listen, you need to take a break, right? You need to actually go out, put your feet in the grass, look out at the water, you know, wherever he I happen to know he lives by the water, but take a break, clear your mind, go spend time with your family, go do something else that is not focused on looking for this job this week. Take that break, take that mental health break, and then come back ready to dive back in. And most of the time when these sad Pedros have, you know, really had that moment to think and give their mind a rest, then they can come back re-energized, and then it's up to for us to help them continue to build that momentum.

Pedro Stein 21:17

Okay, love that. Yeah, we sometimes we gotta distance ourselves from the outcome, right? I always think about this. I wasn't a uh high-ticket sales closer, and um the reason I think about this is like the more I I distance myself from oh, I'm gonna close this deal, go whatever, the easier it gets, right? It's like a mind trick, it's so weird, right? And sometimes I I I had like these friends, they were like going out on clubs looking for a husband, you know, um or a wife or whatever. And when you get that energy, it's it just doesn't work out because you're not there to meet someone, you're there to you know find the one person. For your entire life. So it gets a kind of a neediness energy. You're nervous. Like his showing up on interviews, like super on the edge, I imagine. Right. Which makes everything harder. So great reminder. Now I'm I wanna shift gears for a second, throw you a small, very small curveball. I know you can take it. Okay, Mary. I mean, I don't want to be like a family member, but I'm gonna dive in a little bit on that because your work seem pretty seems pretty hands-on. You know, you had your book, you have your practice, both arms, right? Corporate and not corporate. Um, seems like you're very hands-on, right? So, how do you think about capacity? So don't stretch yourself too thin.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 22:47

Mm-hmm. I mean, Pedro, you just nailed dialed in on the entrepreneur's dilemma, right? How do you scale? And it's really interesting that you ask me this question right now because as the expert in helping others pivot, I also know that my next pivot of how that scale looks is going is coming down the pipe pretty fast. Because back-to-back Zooms is exhausting. Everybody knows that, right? And I love working with clients, I love being able to help them, guide them, inspire them, motivate them to live their best lives, but I can't do that from an empty cup, right? I need to be filled and energized as well. So, you know, the book was part of that. The speaking events and the workshops are a big part of that because then we can affect a much larger population of people. There's a second book coming out, so just a little preview. You heard it, you heard it here first. And um also I think there's gonna be a lot more group coaching where we're you know taking big groups because the one-on-one is it's it takes a lot, we'd have to clone ourselves in order to keep going at the pace that we're going at right now.

Pedro Stein 24:07

Yeah, it it's almost like a founder's trap, right? And it's scary because here's the thing, right? Well, two things I see it two ways. First, when I was in corporate, like I said, I clocked out, goodbye to everyone. But when I'm working, sometimes I'm in my office, like and I'm a i I do the podcast, right? And I'm also a career coach. And my wife is like, why are you laughing so much? This doesn't sound like work, you know? This sounds like fun. And I'm like, wait a minute. But the thing is, it doesn't really look like work, doesn't feel like work, but it drains you either way, right? You you you can get 10 hours in and you're like, oh my god, I just need to sit down and relax. That's one thing. It's like finding that balance because it doesn't really feel like work, as you know, you're very you want to help people and all that. The second thing, the second point to the founder strap is like you hit that ceiling for a reason, you're good at what you do, and now that's the scary part where sometimes you gotta let go a little bit because delegating, right? And you're and it's scary to delegate because you built what you built uh because of who you are, right? So we don't want to tarnish your brand. You told me yourself we have great referrals, right? But whenever we talk about scaling business, it's almost like part of it it's letting go, part of it is accepting that I want we want to impact more people, but there is a cost to it. And to navigate the one-on-ones are not the one-to-many, they're different, not doesn't mean they're bad or worse or whatever. So I'm not sure if you agree with me on those two points, but whenever I I see a coach trying to scale their business, they're facing those two main obstacles. Does that make sense?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 25:50

Oh, yeah, it does. And and we talk with entrepreneurs a lot about that too. I mean, I'm really lucky because as a you know, recruiter, um, you know, in my previous life, I know how to hire really good people. I have the most amazing team surrounding me, Pedro. I'm so lucky. So the delegation part is not a problem, but it is the how do we clone ourselves without hiring more and more and more people, and how do we make sure that that quality of experience, to your point, continues in the same way as if they would have hired me, right? So there's there's that where there's a lot of investment up front of your people so that that experience, of course, is going to be a little bit different if they work with Mel or with Kate or with Georges or anybody else, but that they're getting that same high-quality, deep caring and expertise.

Pedro Stein 26:53

Yes, good to know you do have a team of you know qualified people. That's I love how you framed it as lucky. I love that. Now I'm curious about where you're taking all this, right? Let's talk future for a second. Looking ahead, where do you see the business going? Since we're talking about scaling, are you thinking about even there scaling, hiring more people? Is there a next step you're excited about?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 27:15

Yeah, I mean, the next step I think is you know expanding this larger audience, you know, of the speaking business and the next book. The next book is gonna be really focused on leaders and a framework that I developed to help leaders excel in their roles. Um, so that's kind of fun. And then I also think, you know, I'm I'm being very open um with, you know, you talked about like having your I always say like if you're trying to force something, you've got your foot on the gas, you're trying to force it, it doesn't ever flow. You take your foot off the gas and you kind of let things unfold and you watch for the insights and the signs and things like that, it's a much easier way to live. I mean, I was just speaking with a very, very successful coaching and speaking speaker friend last night, and she said the exact same thing you did. What's next for you? I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so many things swirling inside of my head right now that I need to almost take a little bit of this summer and step back, keep doing the great work, but let the insights unfold a little bit so that I know what direction I want to go next. Does that make sense? It's almost like, hey, universe, show me the signs, show me the direction that I need to go because things are changing so quickly in the coaching world with AI and technology and everything else that there's the the sky's the limit of what we can do, but we have to make sure that it's aligned with our values too.

Pedro Stein 29:00

Yeah, it's not, it sounds to me it's not like a lack of ideas. There are plenty ideas on how to scale and what to do. It's more like finding that inner piece, that peace of mind to get laser focused clarity on what's the next step. At least that's what I took from it. I might be totally off here.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 29:17

No, you're you you got it. You got it. And that's what I teach people to do is get clarity around their next step. So if I can't do that for myself, then I'm in big trouble, right?

Pedro Stein 29:29

Uh yes and no, right? Uh, I mean, at the end of the day, we're human. Like, um, we also need to uh to fill our cup, you know. We also need we also have our blind spots. I think a lot of people are so harsh on like, oh, you gotta walk the talk and all that. But it's so much easier. Like when my wife, for example, is pinpointing something I'm I'm missing just because I'm 10 steps, 10 steps ahead, because I already assumed something in an earlier step that is not really true, you know, and she's like, okay, but why are you doing X, Y, and Z? And I'm like, uh, oh yeah, that doesn't make sense. It's just being me, just being human, right? I I don't see as like that. Now, of course, whenever we're aiming towards the next chapter, always something we're refining in the present, right, Mary? So, what are you currently trying to improve or tighten up in your business right now?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 30:21

Well, I think the group coaching for sure. Um, we're we're thinking about more of that. You know, that's easy on the B2B side, right? Because the client, you know, calls us and says, come lead a two-day offsite. Easy, right? But what about the group coaching for the people who are the individuals that need the help? You know, who maybe don't have the deep pockets of a large corporate organization who still need that guidance and leadership or or careers or whatever it may be. So thinking about, you know, even a larger um coaching cohort of people like that, that's kind of swirling around, um, you know, refining even even my keynotes, refining those more because I think we can always get better and I think we can always learn. And I love that your wife calls you out. I think that you're right. There's a there's a pattern for you too, Pedro. You know, your wife is telling you, hey, but it but we all need that outside perspective. And I think that's really important too, because we can get so driven. Sounds like you and I are a lot alike like this. We could work for hours on end until somebody stops us, right? So we have to be aware of that and put our own guardrails and boundaries around our work as well.

Pedro Stein 31:42

Yeah, it's like, oh, I have this Friday off just for X, Y, and Z, and you have a client or whatever, and like, oh, this sounds interesting. Let me book on Friday, right? It's like what the hell are you doing, Pedro?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 31:54

You're just exactly. You're like, I want to help everybody.

Pedro Stein 31:59

Yeah, right.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 32:00

Push it to Monday, Pedro. Push it to Monday.

Pedro Stein 32:02

Okay, I'll push it to Monday. I'll I'll I'll I'll add a reminder here, Pedro. Don't be bad, Pedro, Pedro. Okay, now um, let's uh step in into a little bit of a science fiction moment here. Let's pretend we do have a time machine in front of us, okay? We're gonna have two stops. First stop, you can go back 14 years ago, Mary, when you opened chopped open shop, and you can give yourself one piece of business advice you wish you knew back then. Okay, what would that be?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 32:37

I think it revolves around the same thing that we were just talking about. Don't push so hard. I mean, I, you know, when you start your business, and you you said this earlier, Pedro, it, you know, it's like a leap of faith. It's like jumping off a cliff, right? You're like, whoo, here I go, you know, let's see how this goes. And you feel like you need to get, you know, be making tons of money and be up to speed quite quickly. And I think that that, you know, I mean, I think it was it was actually my daughter who was like, Well, you're a Capricorn, you know, Capricorns work really hard. And I'm like, Yes, and we all could work smarter, right? So I think finding the joy in the moments and not pushing so hard in the very beginning, and taking that thread all the way through is really important for entrepreneurs to understand because you started your own business for a reason, because you were essentially good at something and it was lighting you up, but that doesn't mean it has to consume you. You need to take care of yourself and take care of your family and take care of your clients and all of that stuff, but that's a balance, and you do have to put your own oxygen mask on first.

Pedro Stein 33:54

Oh my god, do you have a camera here at my home? Like it sounds like you're talking to me, literally talking to me. You gotta take care of yourself. You're working, you're pushing yourself too hard. So, yeah, no, I I I get that. I love that reminder. Okay, second stop. This is this is gonna make sense considering the first answer. Let's pretend you can go back to one point in time in those 14 years that you're like, ah, this is why I'm doing this, you know, that moment of realization of your cup is so filled, it's like amazing. Do you have one of those?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 34:34

Yeah, the the problem is I have so many of those. You gotta pick one. Come on. I know, I know. Okay, well, you know what? I think that one of those moments for me was when the book came out. Because um, as we talked about, Pedro, we all want to help everybody. And what I realized, and my daughter said this uh again, she said, you know, this is your love letter to the world. This is like something where you can help more people on a larger scale with the knowledge that you have. And so it felt like this beautiful culmination of years of recruiting and the 10-step methodology and the work all coming together. And when it hit the bestseller list, it was like, you know, just it was so beautiful. It was such a beautiful moment where it, you know, felt like wow, this work really matters.

Pedro Stein 35:32

Wow, who are you raising up there? I mean, this is your love letter to the world. I mean, your kids sound amazing. Jesus. I'm like, wow, they're calling you out, they're giving you like words of wisdom that I'm like, who's parenting who here? I'm like, this is great. This is great. Okay, you know, I'm thinking, I I didn't launch a book. Do I have plans? Yes, but I know how this is the part we're very different. Uh the launch would scare me. I think the testimonials about the book will fuel me up. You know what I mean? Yeah. But you were excited with the launch.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 36:15

I was, I was. But think back, Pedro. My background, I was a television reporter. So, you know, here we sit, you know, on a podcast. I had no problem doing the media tours, I had no problem doing all the TV stops and you know, things like that. That was fun for me. The daunting part was asking people to buy books, you know, because I didn't want to have to ask anyone for anything. But, you know, the writing of the book was very meaningful and deep. The editing of the book was kind of, you know, that has to be done. Then the going into the launch was like a wild magic carpet ride because it was exhausting but exhilarating all at once.

Pedro Stein 36:59

Okay, I love that now. If someone listening wants to connect with your follower work, Mary, and we're gonna have all the links in the description, right? But where can people find you best, you know, and connect with you?

Mary Olsen-Menzel 37:12

Yes. Well, best place is to reference your podcast and message me on LinkedIn, connect with me on LinkedIn, but also our I have we have two websites, one for the executive coaching, one for the book related and speaking stuff. So first website is mvp e-x-e-c dot com. Mvpexec.com. That's where all the coaching, all the B2B, B2C leadership stuff is. And then the more merry keynote speaker book related stuff is at my name. M-A-R-Y-O-L-S-O-N M-E-N-Z-E-L.com. So it's just find me at either place, and I'd love to connect with all of your audience.

Pedro Stein 37:58

Okay. There were a few things you shared today really stuck with me, Mary. Uh, let's start from the beginning, right? Uh, your younger kid calling you out. You don't look very lit right now, mom. You know, oh my god. And then we move to the husband. Why are you making money for other people? So you do have a team at home. Wow, that's amazing. I really that really stood out to me. That's really, really cool. Okay. So there's that. Uh, and not just by them calling you out, it's the fact that you listened, right? Uh, it's not just about uh because my um I had a part in my life that my wife called me out, and I wasn't ready to listen, right? And now I feel like I am more ready. So being open about um the struggles, your blind spots, it's like it's as much as we say this, it's not as I mean, it's pretty simple but not easy to do because you have to reflect, reflect, look back at you, you know, and you're like, okay, I gotta get my stuff together right now. Okay, so that's one thing. Um, then we move to that client that had to take a break, right? Get the mind to rest, as you mentioned. Very powerful reminder to distance ourselves from the outcome, or we're gonna have a hard time of first of all, having fun, uh, being you know, joyful in life. And that's a very interesting reminder. Also, so open about your own obstacles when we move to capacity, when we move to the fact that you're still figuring out stuff, you're still looking on how to scale, you're still, you know, you're not like trying to show up as a perfect person, you're just marry by Mary. I love that, okay. Um, then we move to the group coaching bit, and but not just that, you mentioned how to serve people who don't have the deep pockets, right? It's like there is intention, there is purpose out there, right? It's not just about corporate. And when we're in the time machine, you're like, yeah, I gotta find joy in the moment. I think this is a very powerful one. You gotta like, if this is like mandatory for me at work, whatever I do, I have to have fun. Like it's a necessity. If it's boring, I'm leaving. Okay, that's simple as that. So uh that so this is just my long-winded way of saying, Mary, that I appreciate what you do, you know, and I appreciate you being here and sharing so openly today. It was great having you on.

Mary Olsen-Menzel 40:35

Thank you, Pedro. And I'll just I'll do one one last thing. What I'm actually posting today is about the 80-20 rule. I'm posting it on Instagram. So if you want to follow me on Instagram, I would love that. It's M-A-R-Y-O-L-S-O-N-M-E-N-Z-E-L. That's it. Just my whole name. But the 80-20 rule, Pedro, is really important for people to remember. If 80% of what you're doing you love, and 20% of what you're doing is like the administrative stuff or some things that you don't love, you're still winning, right? If it becomes 50-50 and only 50% of what you love is the good stuff and the fun and the joy, then you really need to re-examine, right? But if you're 80% in on loving what you do and finding the fun and the joy, you're winning. So don't be too hard on yourself.

Davis Nguyen 41:24

That's it for this episode. This episode, as well as this podcast, was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help business owners elevate their business to six, seven, and eight figure years all without burning out. If you're looking to grow your business as well as get the time freedom that you are looking for, visit us at join purplecircle.com and see what we can do to help you and your business.