87. Joshua Lee: What to Do after Losing your Marriage, your Money, and your Businesses

“Most people base success on how much money someone is making. Based on that I was successful but felt horrible, and I knew something had to change.” 

This episode’s guest got his first taste of entrepreneurship in middle school when he started selling candy out of his locker. By the time he was 24, Joshua Lee was running 16 companies and generating a couple million dollars a month. 

To the outside world, he’d made it. He had more money than he knew what to do with. He was living a luxury life with his wife and two kids and he was surrounded by friends in similar positions. But inside, he felt horrible and miserable. His relationships had become transactional and his identity and self-esteem was driven by the figure in his bank account. 

Worse than that, Josh didn’t feel as though he knew himself. His in-laws didn’t feel comfortable when he talked about his business success meaning there was this whole side to Josh that was buried and unexpressed to people outside his business circles. 

Eventually Josh hit rock bottom. He knew he needed to restart his life and change his direction entirely. He realized he could always make more money, but he could never make more time so he divorced his wife, liquidated everything he owned, and found himself back in his parents’ home with just a few $000 in his account. 

Age 36, Joshua once again had a blank canvas to play with - time to rebuild his life from scratch. 

“You can’t change the people around you but you can change yourself and that will in turn either draw or push away the good and bad people that you need in your life.” 

Josh is an incredible example that you can build it all again - even if you’ve lost everything you worked so hard for. After escaping rock bottom and working through the depression his old life had created, Josh now helps other entrepreneurs be more human online. 

He refuses to live with the spilt personalities so many entrepreneurs adopt, and instead is passionate about being himself all the time. Joshua is fueled by a mission to make the world a better place for his kids. Author of Balance in Bullsh*t, Joshua fulfils this purpose by helping other entrepreneurs scale themselves with their company so they do not scale themselves out of their company. 

So if you feel that you can’t be yourself and you’d like to be inspired by a man who’s reinvented himself into a happier life, tune into the episode now. It’s a doozy! 

Tune into this episode to discover: 

• The dangers of making millions and why money doesn’t guarantee happiness
• The pain of divorce and why staying together for the kids isn’t always best for the kids
• The time-fueled insight that gave Joshua the strength to start over
• How money made Joshua realize who his friends really were
• The problems entrepreneurs face when they try to live split personalities
• The power of failure and how it helps you succeed
• Why you must be yourself all the time
• Why work-life balance is bullsh*t and what to do instead

“The biggest thing that I’ve realised that’s helped me is that I can’t do it alone.” 

How to contact 

• Discover more about Joshua’s work at http://standoutauthority.com
• Follow Joshua on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuablee/

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