E284: Breathwork, Business, and Big Exits: How Monica Garcia Uses Calm to Crush M&A

Monica's Unique Origin Story: She started as an English and rhetoric major aiming for law school but fell into investment banking through a temp job—and never looked back.

From Analyst to Operator: After earning her Series 7 and 63 licenses and getting deep into finance, she pivoted into real estate investing, entrepreneurship, and consulting, eventually launching and selling a company after 16 years.

The Exit Process: It took Monica and her team three years to prepare their business for a successful exit, including rebranding and building SOPs that made the company operate independently of its founders.

Post-Exit Transition: Unlike many founders, she stayed on for three years post-sale to support the acquirer’s team—a 100-year-old company that had previously struggled with a hands-off acquisition.

Breathwork as a Secret Weapon: Monica discovered breathwork during a personal health crisis and now teaches it as a tool to improve decision-making, reduce stress, and regulate nervous system responses—especially during high-stakes transactions like exits.

Combining Logic and Intuition: Monica advises founders to create a “contract with themselves” about their exit terms and to use breathwork to stay grounded when emotions or outside pressures threaten to override those decisions.

Breathwork = Better Returns: She claims that making decisions from a calm, regulated state can improve your financial decision-making by up to 30%.

Beyond Money: Wealth, according to Monica, is not just financial—it's emotional, physical, and relational. Breathwork enhances all of it.