Behind the Book Cover

Suzy Batiz is the founder of Poo~Pourri and supernatural. She experienced some of life’s lowest lows — poverty, sexual and domestic abuse, depression, two bankruptcies and a suicide attempt — which led to what she calls the luxury of losing everything. After harnessing the power of intuition, her journey led her to building her businesses from the ground up without ever taking a dollar of outside investment. Suzy harnessed the power of true transformation and turned ALIVE IDEAS into a $500+ million empire.   She's been featured by leading publications including Forbes, CNBC, Fast Company and Entrepreneur. She has been named one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women in America (2019), EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2017), Conscious Company’s World Changing Women (2019), EarthX’s Community Leader of the Year (2019) and is WBENC (Women Owned) certified business owner. She's given presentations for Conscious Capitalism, Google, HustleCon, SXSW, Create & Cultivate & the In goop Health summit.   AND she was my dream guest...my White Whale, if you will. And I got her! She does not disappoint. Listen if you want to hear the clearest explanation I've ever gotten on how early life challenges play into success and so much more.   Should you be telling your story? Go to www.futureauthorquiz.com from your computer to find out.

Joseph A. Clark, CFP, is a Certified Financial Planner and has been in the financial services industry for more than 30 years. He is the Managing Partner of The Financial Enhancement Group, LLC, an asset management and financial planning firm based in central Indiana. The firm currently manages more than $450 million serving families in 31 states. Joe is also a former Adjunct Assistant Professor at Purdue University, having taught the Capstone course for the Financial Counseling and Planning program for 7 years. He is a Charter Member of Ed Slott’s Master Elite IRA Advisor Group and has appeared on various national and local media outlets. Joe writes a weekly column for The Herald Bulletin and is the host of a weekly radio show called “Consider This” that airs on WIBC Saturday’s 6-7am, as well as other stations throughout the country.    But we didn't talk about any of those accomplishments during our chat. Oh, no. We talked about WHY he accomplished so much, in particular the way his childhood struggles and the vagaries of life contributed to his success. Do you remember looking for a friend during recess? Do you want to know how that relates to managing money? Listen to find out more.

Katie DePaola is an entrepreneur, author and the founder of Inner Glow Circle. Exactly one hundred days after opening her business, Katie’s brother died from an accidental overdose. Also a Lyme Disease survivor, she built her business from her bathtub, taking the company from self-funded startup to million-dollar business. Katie has turned her greatest challenges into her greatest opportunities and says her business is what saved her life. Through certification programs, memberships and online courses, Katie has taught thousands of women how to “glow through what they go through.”   In this episode, we dove deep into things I've silently pondered forever...like if people who wonder why we're all on this planet are smarter or just more depressed than others, whether or not shifting your mindset is a decision or moment of grace and of course the role struggle plays in success. We also decided to become friends. Don't miss this one! Well, don't miss any of them. But especially don't miss this one.   Should you be sharing your story? Take the quiz to find out: www.futureauthorquiz.com or https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/5d168d0f1d45c90014e00b0b

Paul Ollinger is a nationally-touring stand-up comedian, author, Ivy League MBA, former Facebook sales leader and host of the podcast Crazy Money.   What this means, between the lines: he was one of the first 250 Facebook employees, which means that...well, he was able to retire at the age of 42.   But does that make him successful? That's what we discussed here—getting into the fact that he discovered he loved stand-up comedy while in business school (ie, the last place on earth you go to discover you want to go into one of the least financially rewarding careers imaginable), how he still worries about the gas bill even after his Facebook windfall and the ways he tries to raise his kids to appreciate and understand money.   This type of conversation is exactly what I'd hoped to be able to have when I decided on the new version of the podcast. Warning: if you listen to it, you may come away with different definitions for "struggle" and "success" than you ever had before.   Have you ever wondered if you should write a book? Go to www.futureauthorquiz.com to get the answer.

Tony Grebmeier describes himself as a husband and father first and then an entrepreneur, podcast host, journal creator, and host of the BEFULFILLED community.   It's this value system that may be what's most responsible for his success. While he's best-known for building a multi-million dollar business, it's his mission in life to create a community where entrepreneurs know they can achieve anything they want despite their past.   Sober since 2008, Tony had gotten to the point where he was alienated from his family and suicidal when he was able to rediscover meaning in his life. His main message when it comes to finding personal and professional success is to find a community. But his second one is to try to understand where you come from so you can make sense of who you are.   There's a reason I'm partnering with Tony on his BeFulfilled journals: the guy gets it. I'm therefore thrilled to present him as the first guest on this new incarnation of the podcast.   Have you struggled on your way to success and would the journey make a good book? Take this quiz to find out!

As the podcast moves into this new incarnation, it felt important to really break down what the words "struggle" and "success" really mean.   Here's why: I've discussed the podcast's new focus with people and I keep finding that they assume I'll be talking to people about their business challenges.   While that will definitely be part of the conversation, the main thing I want to get at here is WHY so many successful people have had life throw so many struggles their way... particularly in childhood. I want to get at what made these people use their struggles to fuel their journey, rather than allowing it to bring them down.   And so I brought Lauren Wallett back to the pod to chat this idea out. In this episode, we talk about Oprah, escaping your family and how money can and can't make you happy, among many other topics.

Name change time! Yes, the podcast formerly known as AfterPartyPod, Recover Girl and Light Hustler is now transitioning into Struggle to Success, where I'm going to be interviewing some of the world's highest achieving people about how they've been able to make their greatest struggles into their greatest success. While I'll still be talking to some people about their issues with addiction and journey into recovery, I'll also be chatting with folks about other struggles and journeys.   I'm so excited about this transition and thrilled about some of the people I've lined up as guests. Look out for the first Struggle to Success episode next week and please know how grateful I am to you for sticking with the show through its many incarnations.

Mike Bayer, also known as Coach Mike, is Founder and CEO of CAST Centers and author of the Best Self: Be You, Only Better.   His career began over 12 years ago as a mental health and addiction counselor. After a residency at The Hazelden Foundation, Mike spent five years in the field and became one of the leading interventionists in the country. He did crisis consulting for several of the country’s top treatment programs, including the Hazelden Foundation.   Fifteen years ago, he founded CAST Centers, a treatment center that provides a network of professional support – including doctors, psychologists, counselors, and instructors – to help clients heal and improve their mental health, emotional health, and their overall well-being.   He's a regular contributor to Dr. Phil, television’s #1-rated daytime talk show. He's also on the Dr. Phil Advisory Board, which consists of 18 of the most accomplished and respected health care professionals in the country.   In this episode, we discussed how you go from struggling with addiction to coaching high-end clients and then becoming a weekly Dr. Phil guest and selling over 100,000 copies of your first book.

Lauren Wallett is a woman of many occupations: business coach, personal coach, writer and my co-host on SHE-E-O, among other things.   We spend an insane amount of time together and this episode is real fly-on-wall stuff: basically what we talk about when there aren't mics around (btw the mics got screwed up and so the interview was done on my Iphone...sorry if it sounds wonky).   Only listen if you want to hear us confess those things we normally don't—getting into being attracted to dysfunctional men, STD's, skin picking and much more.   Oh, yeah.

Kevin Chiu is the co-founder of Catalyst, an NYC-based startup that has raised $5.5M from top venture capitalists like True Ventures & Work-Bench to build a customer data platform that helps tech companies reduce user churn and increase product adoption. Prior to starting Catalyst, he led sales teams at fast-growing companies like Greenhouse Software and DigitalOcean. Kevin also recently received the Forbes 30under30 award for Enterprise Technology entrepreneurs.   He is also two years sober, after a series of incidents that showed him he may have a drinking problem (including a time he got mugged while in a blackout). If you want to know the secret to getting sober and then raising millions of dollars, this one is a must-listen.