I Made 7 Figures Selling an Unhealthy Addiction

Sean Weisbrot: After I finished with my own therapist, I decided I was going to take what I learned and use it on my brother as well as, uh, two other people. I won't mention who they're, and I did two hours with my brother once, and that was a few weeks ago. We haven't been able to schedule another session and he had been going to talk therapists for five years and I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars he spent and he is like two hours talking with you about these issues that I know I've had felt. Far more valuable than five years with other people just because they didn't touch on what you touched on. They didn't ask the questions you were asking. They didn't make me reflect on them in the way that you did. And I just think that's really testament to how powerful CBT is.

KC Rossi: Yeah, it's, it's really, it's such a great impact and uh, it's very interesting. I mean, what we focus on expands. And I think that, you know, with different therapies where you're going over and over and over and over again, it can stimulate that victim persona. And where is that opportunity to break out of the story and flip the script. And I think when you have these. Powerful questions that causes the client to reflect and come to their own, like reckoning their own understanding of like, you know, part of it too is like, you know, this happened for me, this hap didn't happen against me or to me.

Sean Weisbrot: Alright, so this is going to be an interview with Casey Rossi about her psychology and how she runs her life and her business. If you haven't. Yet we did an episode on burnout number 14. So I will have that, uh, available. I'll link bore everyone to be able to watch. So thank you again, uh, for spending time with me. KC, I really enjoyed our first interview and I'm excited to go a little bit deeper into your own psychology. I know we talked about burnout before, and so you, you were very generous, uh, in talking about your psychology Then. And, uh, hopefully we can touch on different aspects of it this time, so.

KC Rossi: Awesome. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Sean,

Sean Weisbrot: for people who don't know who you are, why don't you just quickly, uh, tell them what your business is and if you don't mind, uh, how much you guys generate in revenue?

KC Rossi: Yeah, absolutely. So I am a business and leadership coach, and I've been doing this particular arm of my business since 2016 of six figures. And prior to that. I had a seven plus figure manufacturing operation. So this is not my first time at the rodeo. Uh, this is actually, I think I'm on business 11. So my primary function now is helping female entrepreneurs grow their business from the inside out. I have a method called the sole print method that combines mindset and emotional intelligence to increase productivity, performance and profits.

Sean Weisbrot: All right. Thank you for that. Uh. What made you want to do this? Especially if in the past you had other businesses that it sounds like were more profitable.

KC Rossi: Yeah. Great question. So one was just the natural evolution of things and two, um, my seven plus figure business had employees. It was manufacturing, it was brick and mortar, and primarily we were. B2B and selling wholesale. So very different, um, processes and stress levels. So I think you'll remember that that's when I experienced burnout because it was just this push, grind, hustle. And I really wanted to change. And I also felt to be in integrity to who I wanted to serve, I actually had to embody what I was. Helping them to do. And so that's like, I am so much more balanced and grounded in this particular, um, income bracket. Not to say that I don't believe that the sky's the limit, but I, I do believe that there is a level of scaling and team that comes when you get to seven figures that I'm very happy to have independent contractors and a VA every now and then. At the six figure level.

Sean Weisbrot: So what ended up happening with that business? I don't remember if we covered in the other episode. Did you sell it or did you shut it down or what?

KC Rossi: We sold it. We sold it in 2011.

Sean Weisbrot: Was that a hard decision for you?

KC Rossi: It was interesting. I was ready to sell prior to my business partner, and I had a second company that I was doing alone at the time, which was an aromatherapy boutique company. So I had two things going along and my. Real heart was more into the holistic modalities of helping people and um, providing products that healed. And I really felt like there was this misalignment because our manufacturing company, as fun as it was and we were making people happy through chocolate, um, I really felt like it was not the most healthy thing selling sugar. And so it was really feeling out of alignment to me as I started to like. Progress my own, um, body and health and nutrition and everything. And I just was like, I really feel more aligned with essential oils and holistic healing than I do with, with promoting sugar. So I was ready, um, prior to my business partner share. I mean, if you asked her now all these years later, she'd be like, we should have kept that. So, um, but then we were just approached by a local couple that said, we've been watching you for years. We like what you're doing. Originally they approached us to be partners, and then once they got in, they're like, we just want the whole thing. And so it just kind of progressed in that way.

Sean Weisbrot: Have you, or at that time, did you think about. Getting rid of sugar from your product instead of selling the business.

KC Rossi: We actually did create a whole popcorn line that had nutraceuticals in it. This was far before the time where now it's been trendy. But we had popcorn for a purpose that we developed that had goji berries and maca and cacao and a lot of the superfoods in it. And we started promoting that. We were doing like, um, a whole campaign with give back to good causes. But this is what I found. This was a huge lesson. We had built from the ground up, um, 10,000 wholesale customers and 3000 retail customers, and they really liked what they liked. And it's all going back to knowing your ideal client avatar. So we had the success and momentum providing our current customer base exactly what they wanted. When we brought in the nutraceutical, then they were like, huh, where's mega mudslide? Where's caramel Toffee Crunch? Like they really weren't all about it. And, um, we just didn't see that traction. And what I found out was like, oh yeah, this would, this would be a whole separate arm that would have to be developed with the same care and marketing ingenuity. That we used over here to get the success.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah. That would not have been fun to start a brand new arm when you're sitting there unable to see and having to sleep on the couch in the middle of the day. I don't think it would've been. Yes. You remember that?

KC Rossi: Yeah. I was getting visual burnouts course visual migraines from being burned out. Yeah, absolutely.

Sean Weisbrot: And then what? Made you wanna start this other company while you were still doing the manufacturing, even though you knew you were having this burnout.

KC Rossi: I was really looking for something to ignite that passion. Again, I was getting tired of doing a lot of the traveling. We were doing sometimes 26 weeks out of the year going from trade show to trade show with the manufacturing company, and there was this feeling like I'm a Taurus. I really needed to get back to my body, back to nature, back to Mother Earth, and. Aromatherapy provided me that. It gave me this sense of being grounded. I'm sure I was being healed by the plant medicine as much as I was creating it for other people to experience transformation. And so it was, it really was like this hobby. I had started studying aromatherapy back in the early nineties, and I progressed that to the clinical levels, so it was just always in my arsenal of self-care, and so it was just a natural progression to monetize and spread. Spread that endeavor.

Sean Weisbrot: You said plant medicine, so I have to ask, and if the answer is no or you don't wanna talk about it, totally fine, but I have to ask. Psychedelics are becoming more popular now. They were legal ish in the past before Nixon decided they shouldn't be illegal. When you were talking about trying to heal yourself and you're talking about plant medicine, did you ever explore psilocybin, which is from, uh, a strain of mushroom?

KC Rossi: No, I never did. And um, that's for a couple of reasons. So one is I have been on a meditation path. It's really like a big spiritual core of who I am since I was 18. And part of that philosophy is. Super consciousness and you know, really connecting our soul to our over soul. So a big part of my lifestyle, whether it has to do with my diet, choices of not partaking in animal. I don't do drugs, I don't drink. And part of not doing psychedelics is really always being able to have that connection to my soul and not debase my consciousness in any way.

Sean Weisbrot: Okay, fair enough. I, um, I've spoken with a few people who have tried psychedelics. One did, uh, one microdose to LSD, the other one, uh, macro dosed psilocybin, and their experience was. Really interesting where they felt like the journey that they went on actually made them more connected to the universe and to their existence. I thought it was really cool. I haven't, uh, I haven't tried. I've microdosed myself, but I didn't do any macro dosing. Um, so that's why I thought it's, it's interesting. So I wanted to,

KC Rossi: yeah, I absolutely think there's no one right way. And I think that everyone is so unique and they have like their own. Experiences, their own layers, their own like cellular baggage, if you will. So it's just, it's a very unique experience, especially when it comes to spirituality or people looking for deep personal development. So it's, it's always a personal journey.

Sean Weisbrot: So what makes you excited for the business that you're doing right now?

KC Rossi: I'm excited to have women step into their power to really use their voice unapologetically. And I think that. Now is the time. I mean, Sean, for me, I just feel like there are so many light leaders coming up. There are so many women that are like, you know what? We've been quiet for a long time, or We've heard a rumbling in our own soul and we need to do something with it. Like we need to, I. Have this manifested and it's no longer gonna be enough to just journal about it. So that part's really exciting for me is this kind of birth into self-realization and a passion to spread their message. So, um, I think it's really coming from the individual level and spreading it outwards. So I, I, that's what I'm seeing and that's what, that's what excites me.

Sean Weisbrot: Did you ever regret. Starting this business?

KC Rossi: Did I ever regret it? I don't think so. I don't think I'm built for anything but entrepreneurship, honestly, like I really don't. I've always said that like business is a part of our DNA. I almost feel like it would be playing a back, a record backwards if I was to like shift gears. But you never know. Like, again, I'm open to unlimited possibilities, but, uh, I don't have regrets. I feel like everything has been a learning lesson and even though like. If there's been struggle, like that's part of the human conditioning. It's brought me to where I am and I just, there's always gonna be like room for growth, so yeah. No regrets.

Sean Weisbrot: Have you ever thought about stopping this business?

KC Rossi: Yeah, in the hard days. I think most entrepreneurs, if they're honest, they're probably like, yeah, what the hell am I doing? You know? I think that it was one of the sharks that said like, entrepreneurs are the only ones that will leave a 40 hour job so they can go and work 80. And I feel like sometimes that that's extremely true. Like I, I love what I do and it's taken some time to separate and to add boundaries because in my previous entrepreneurial experience, it was all business all of the time. And I think that that was what kind of burned me out. So in this current iteration, it's literally like, okay, where are the boundaries? When do I wanna take off? Like it's much more fluid. So. Yeah. I guess to your question on some of the days where it's like I'm slipping back into old patterns where it's like, you know, I can't get it outta my head, or I'm just wanting to fall back into that grind mode, I'm like, wait a second pause shift. Get back into what you really want and why you created this.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah. Sometimes I, I do that. I'm in grind mode right now, but only because I, I now have two companies, you know, for the last almost two years, I treated the podcast as a hobby. And in the last few months I said, this isn't a hobby. This is its own business. This is an education company that just hasn't been created yet and I need to do it. That's because that's awesome. Like you, I did that thing that made money, but. I feel like I don't really have as much passion for that thing anymore. And I have passion for education. It's like it's the first job I had as an adult was a teacher. So for me, turning, turning we live to build into its own education company is something that I'm really passionate about doing. But I still have that other company, so I'm like juggling. I've just hired two people in the last few weeks for, we live to build and I am about to onboard potentially a community manager. So now I've got two teams. Two companies. I'm like trying to figure out how the hell to juggle that lot because something that people don't think about is like when you add an employee, you're actually adding more work. Because

KC Rossi: in the onboarding, for sure, you may have

Sean Weisbrot: not just the onboarding, but when you hire, it's like. I knew what my capacity was without any employees for we live to build, and I would do what I could do. And when I hired someone, I said, okay, well their job is to do this thing that I can't do. But now, because I don't have an operations manager or a project manager, I have to review everything they do because they're doing transcriptions and chapter titles and podcast clips, uh, clip timestamps. It's like I've got a. Review everything they do before it can go into action. And then I've got a video editor, and so he's working on video editing, but then I need to review all the videos before they get published. And guess what? There's no one to publish them. So I've gotta schedule and publish and promote on all of the platforms. So now all of the things that I was dreading doing and saying, I'm gonna have employees to do that, well. I'm now adding a lot more work to my own plate until I can afford to hire someone who can do those things for me. So Sure. While it's exciting, it's also more tiring.

KC Rossi: Yeah, absolutely. There's always that stage, I think, when you're trying to get the foundational key members in place, and I think in my experience, Sean, what I have found is that. Once all your SOPs are in and, and they're like getting your brand totally under wing and they're adopting it as their own and they know what your voice is and you can trust them, I think the review will be less. I don't think we ever have zero review because I think you're like me, where we really have a high standard of production. Mm-hmm. And maybe a little bit of perfectionist in us. I like to say that it's like a recovering perfectionist, but I don't know if it ever gets outta your system, but I think that we'll always have the final, say, the final review, because it's our name, our brand. But once you get that, that like solid foundation, there'll be less of that. Um, double checking.

Sean Weisbrot: Well, the, the only issue with the checking is that when. When we're checking a transcription or when I'm checking a transcription and the podcast clips, I'm limited by the player doing two x. So I can only listen to the podcast at two x and if one of the guys does 10 episodes in a week, that's like, you know, six hours or seven hours of content that I have to listen to at two x. So it's like three and a half plus four hours, um, that I have to review all this stuff. And it's not perfectly at two x, it's not perfectly two times, you know, uh, the, uh, half the, the time. So it, it's. Quite a bit more work to do. But yeah, it's, I've learned to be less of a, of a perfectionist, um, in that regard where when I was doing the audio, I would record, or I, I would edit everything myself. So if it was an hour of content, I might cut 30 minutes, but now, because I have the video editor. I'm letting him do the edits on the video, and I'm just ripping the audio and I'm putting that on a cast and like letting the, the audience just hear it. It's like I'm not putting the effort edit into editing that anymore. 'cause otherwise I'd have to hire someone or, um, I'd have to do it myself. And then the transcription doesn't match between the audio and the video and that's a mess. And like it's, yeah. Too much of a mess. What has been your biggest fear to date?

KC Rossi: Biggest fear I think is not enough. And I feel like funny enough that I tend to attract, and I think this is is common, but I tend to attract a client that has that same, that same limiting belief. So I would think that, uh, it's been interesting. I mean, I think people come into our path for a very specific reason and. And, uh, but yeah, I would say that,

Sean Weisbrot: so limiting beliefs are a really interesting topic. I want to talk about this for a second. So I've been learning about cognitive behavioral therapy for the last few months and learning how to employ it in my own life as well as how I can help others, um, with their own issues. When you talk about limiting beliefs, what are some of the limiting beliefs that you see your clients have? Because I'm sure that people listening to this probably have the same ones.

KC Rossi: Yeah. It's so interesting how similar they are. We, when we're struggling, we always feel like it's our own individual personal struggle that no one's gonna be able to understand us or get us, and then all of a sudden, that's the beauty of these kind of platforms because people are like, oh my gosh, I can completely self-identify. That's me. That's what's been holding me back. So some of the big ones I, like I said, the not enoughness is really at the root of it. I think there's a lot of talk and layers above it, but that core, core underneath is not enough. And I think that that can really display itself and a lot of different things like fear of being seen and increasing visibility, doing Facebook Lives or even platforms like this, like a podcast getting your voice out. I think there is that. Am I smart enough? The imposter syndrome, it's been done before. Um, why would people listen to me? Maybe I need another certification before I can X, Y, z. I think there's a lot of like. If this happens, then I can do that. I think we create these negative algorithms that hold us back. If I lose weight, then I can do this. You know, if I get this certification, then I'll do that. And I think that, um, going to CBT, like you mentioned, there's such a powerful mindset cascade when we make the connection that our thoughts. Contribute to our feelings and emotion that contribute to our actions, which are direct connection to our results. And I think when you lean into that and you really understand it, you can even break down scenarios. This scenario is a natural cascade. When I have a negative or limiting belief. No wonder my result is lackluster or there's been no action. And then you can run it through that cascade again and be like, oh my gosh, wow. Look how powerful my thoughts are. And they completely, um, empower and inform the results. And the interesting thing about this loop of the mindset cascade is that our results will inform our thoughts again. So we literally have the power to break that cycle and to create kind of the. The happy generation versus the victim generation of poor me, look, this, this is what happened. I knew it was gonna happen, and it did. And that really is the self-fulfilling prophecy of kind of going in the opposite direction of being in the creator mode.

Sean Weisbrot: That's very powerful. And I, I love how you are aware of CBT. I don't know how big it is. Like I, I've spent so many years outside of America. I discovered it when I was in America and I'm, I had a therapist I was working with for two months. Um. That was really interesting for me because of what he shared with me and I'm curious then I know it's, it's a weird segue, kind of kind of weird, but not. What's something you know you need to change, but you haven't quite gotten there yet?

KC Rossi: I think sales has been something over the last two years that I feel like I know I need to do more prospecting and there's like a resistance, and I think it's because prior to that I had a full client roster and I didn't have to do it. From the beginning, like I just, you know, came into it and had immediate work. And then through referrals, it was just more work. And then I had more work than I knew what to do with. And then COVID shifted a few things. I also shifted a few things in my business. And because of those couple of shifts, I never really. Implemented sales prospecting in the way that I think it deserves, like with actual time blocks in my calendar. Um, so I have really been more like go with the flow because the flow has always come to me. So that is one thing that I do know that I would have a more powerful. Um, book right now. If prospecting was a part of my habit,

Sean Weisbrot: do you think there's part of you that might be neglecting this because you're afraid that you're gonna need to hire an employee or two or three to help with the overflow? Like. Do you had issues in the past when you were at seven figures? Are you afraid of burning out again because of that?

KC Rossi: There probably could be something like that. I think that's really good insight. We are programmed to go towards pleasure and away from pain, and so if there is like layers of, geez, I was burned out because we had between 12 and 25 employees depending on our season, and so there may be a little bit of an association or connotation of like in order to scale. I'm gonna need to grow team and grow team equals burning out. So there could be a little bit of linkage there for sure.

Sean Weisbrot: Well, I appreciate you being honest about that.

KC Rossi: Yeah, absolutely.

Sean Weisbrot: We're not always honest with ourselves and I think when we're not honest with ourselves, it's impossible to get through these things that we're talking about with cognitive behavioral therapy, which is really interesting because when you look at talk therapy. The goal is to get you to just talk. But with cognitive behavioral therapy, the goal is to get you to actually reflect in a way that forces you to go well actually, like, yeah, that it doesn't really make sense that I was thinking about it like that. So actually, yeah, I guess I was, I was wrong. I can't consider that.

KC Rossi: Yeah, no, I love that you brought that up. I feel like that's one thing that I've seen as a reoccurring pattern, especially this month with the people that I've been connecting to. Many of them have had trauma or they've had abuse in their past. They've had extensive years of therapy and they really didn't see a lot of movement from that therapy, whether it was from sexual abuse. One woman who's agoraphobic like there. There's so much suffering and I think that like there's this opening now where people are wanting to talk about it. And the interesting thing is when I look at, at their results from 16 years of therapy, six years of therapy, 25 years of therapy, and these are three. Individual ladies that have crossed my path in the past month. It's like, why did you continue to go to therapy when there really wasn't any type of transformation? And I asked them this. Some of like one specifically was like, I never thought of that. I just kept doing it 'cause that's what I did. And the other two were like, they were doctors. If it wasn't working, I just thought that they would tell me I should stop. And I think that's one reason that I absolutely love and am passionate about coaching because there's an action to it. There's not just. Digging in a groove of the same story over and over and over again. And I wanna be clear, I'm not discounting therapy. I'm just saying that these three women crossed my path, both had, you know, all had extensive therapy, never felt really any type of transformation. It's like, wow, it was this light bulb that went off in my head. And I feel like when you look at the different modalities from counseling to therapy to coaching, I just feel like, um, it's an interesting discovery when you start to look at. All of the pieces.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah. So after I finished with my own therapist, I decided I was going to take what I learned and use it on my brother as well as, uh, two other people. I won't, men won't mention who they're, and I did two hours with my brother once, and that was a few weeks ago. We haven't been able to schedule another session. And he had been going to talk therapists for five years and I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars he spent. And he is like. Two hours talking with you about these issues that I know I've had felt far more valuable than five years with other people just because they didn't touch on what you touched on. They didn't ask the questions you were asking. They didn't make me reflect on them in the way that you did. I just think that's really a testament to how powerful CBT is.

KC Rossi: Yeah, it's, it's really, it's such a great impact and uh, it's very interesting. I mean, what we focus on expands, and I think that, you know, with different therapies where you're going over and over and over and over again, it can stimulate that victim persona. And where is that opportunity to break out of the story and flip the script. And I think when you have these powerful questions that causes the client to reflect and come to their own, like reckoning their own understanding of like, you know, part of it too is like, you know, this happened for me. This hap didn't happen against me or to me. And when they start to see things through that perspective. That's really where I feel like there's magical healing that can occur and, and then you can start to get some momentum.

Sean Weisbrot: What are some questions that you ask people that allow them to get this? It's so

KC Rossi: individual. I mean, I think what I learned when I first started kind of seeing the difference because that pivot in my business that I was sharing with you earlier, I was coming much more from a consultant standpoint and an implementer. And so when I was like, wait a second again, I'm always checking in, is this alignment. In alignment with like what I really want. And I started being like, well, part of a big piece of my deep why is empowerment, but if I'm the implementer and being the consultant. How is that empowering? And so that's when I really was like, okay, this is interesting. I'm calling myself a business coach, but in the early years it was really business consulting that I was doing. And so when I started to like deepen my um, knowledge about it and my experience with it, I was like, okay, true. Coaching is empowering and it helps that person come to their own decision and. Process it in a very different way. So what I learned, um, everybody's individual, but to answer your question, I would say that it took me a little bit to realize that I would dive in with how questions, because it was very programmed from the consultant standpoint and very technical and, and definitely it's a part of my personality to be a task master for myself. Probably for my clients. And so in that many of my early on coaching questions went to the how. It was just like, how are we gonna implement this? How are we gonna fix it? And so I would say the most powerful questions are what questions versus how questions.

Sean Weisbrot: Why do you think that is?

KC Rossi: What's that?

Sean Weisbrot: Why do you think, uh, why, uh, what questions are more powerful than how questions?

KC Rossi: Because I feel what allows the person to go in the direction? That their soul wants them to go? How is tactical, how they're thinking about the five step process? The 1, 2, 3, the bullet points on the to-do list, and that's not gonna give them transformation, that is transactional coaching. So there's a huge distinction. So if you're in the business of transformation and empowering coaching. Your what questions are gonna like maybe be in a completely different direction than your mind was going. I think it also helps you not lead as an effective coach because you may be able to puzzle piece their situation together and be able to point out, Hey, this is the gap. This is what I think you should do. But when you're open and curious and you allow the client to lead these, what questions open the door to where they wanna go, where they wanna travel, where they know that there's like a basement fear or a dark corner that's holding them back.

Sean Weisbrot: So then I. Would it make sense that why questions would come up first, and then what questions? And then how questions?

KC Rossi: I think it's not as linear.

Sean Weisbrot: Hey, just gimme 10 seconds of your time. I really appreciate you listening to the episode so far, and I hope you're loving it. And if you are. I would love to ask you to subscribe to the channel because what we do is a lot of work, and every week we bring you a new guest and a new story, and what we do requires so much love so that we can bring you something amazing. And every week we're trying really hard to get better guests. That have better stories and improve our ability to tell their stories. So your subscription lets the algorithm know that what we're doing is fantastic and no commitment. It's free to do. And if you don't like what we're doing later on, you can always unsubscribe. And either way, we would love a, like if you don't feel like subscribing at this time. Thank you very much and we'll take you back to the show now for

KC Rossi: me, and this is how I've always run my life and my business, I can't stand boxes. I just can't, I, I'm not a label person or a box person, and I feel that when we try to be X, Y, z, we x out the opportunity to listen to our own gut instinct. And the more and more, I, I just turned 50 this year and I think that. The more I really ground into self-trust. To me the most important thing is listening to our gut instinct and developing self-trust. So I would not wanna lead your listeners astray to say, why? What? How? You're good to go.

Sean Weisbrot: Okay. I remember when I first started interviewing people, I wasn't terribly good at listening, or at least that's what my ex-wife would have me believe and. I started off with a lot of questions and I wanted to ask those questions, and I struggled between getting those questions answered from the guests and listening to what they were actually saying. And what I learned to do as I did more interviews was stop having things prepared and just listen to what they're saying. So that instead of making sure you check all the the questions off the list, ask them questions based on what they've just said. And I think that's made me a much better listener in as a human being.

KC Rossi: Yes. And I wanna reflect back to you as a guest. There's absolutely a beautiful difference. So the work you're doing is working. Mm-hmm. And I feel that it makes a very effective interviewer, partner in a relationship, partner in business because. There is a difference when someone has an agenda and when they're compassionately. And powerfully present with you. And I think for the listener, it's like a cool riff because in real life we don't have a script. Yeah. You know, and in fact, I, on the flip side, I was just on another podcast interview that was the opposite way, and she had six or eight questions, machine gum them and didn't really listen at all. It didn't matter. I could have said, the cat is black. And then the question would be like, and how do you feel about the blah blah, blah? Like, it would have nothing to do with anything that I said. So. There's a big difference, not only in relationship with who you're communicating to, but also for the listeners. It's so much more like organic and people are gonna lean in and get so much more out of it.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah, I, when I first started, I really wanted to have this thing where people would feel like they have. They're like a fly on the wall and they get to listen to two entrepreneurs have a chat about something that they would probably never get a chance to hear about otherwise.

KC Rossi: Totally.

Sean Weisbrot: So hopefully I'm succeeding there.

KC Rossi: Absolutely.

Sean Weisbrot: What has been the hardest decision you've had to make so far?

KC Rossi: Hmm. I think that there are hard decisions, um, on a regular, I don't feel like there's like specific ones. I feel like daily or weekly we come up against these things of like, hmm. Like, let me just pause and think about it. But I would say like pivoting points would be to sell the business because that was definitely a pivot point. Um, I think another recent pivot point was shifting from consulting, implementing into coaching and leadership development. So I think whenever we make a change, there is this like little bit of anxiety of like, am I making the right decision? And all the other things that when we talk about that cascade, that can just kind of like naturally unfold in that way. But, but I feel like, you know. Life is not really easy, and being an entrepreneur is absolutely not a cakewalk. And in that there are hard decisions on a regular. I don't think they're far and few between, at least they're not in my life.

Sean Weisbrot: What made you go from being a consultant to a coach? And I'll pre, I'll, I'll, I guess before I let you answer, I'll say, when I was a consultant, I could charge 10 to 20 times what I charge as a coach, but I felt like. The people who I was charging didn't really care about what I was saying, even though they were paying me a shit ton of money for that information and for that execution. So what about you?

KC Rossi: Yeah, yeah. It's so interesting. Uh, I feel like the cons, I always did like coaching consulting together, but it was more 80 20 with 80 being the consulting piece from 2016 on. And so there's definitely more of an income generation because yeah, when you're doing billable hours, that definitely can add up and add to your bottom line. But I feel like, repeat your one question. I wanna make sure you, uh, the beginning part cut off. So repeat that for me. What

Sean Weisbrot: made you wanna go from being a consultant to a coach?

KC Rossi: Yeah, so it really goes back to, um, two things. One, the alignment piece when I was like, wait, I am so passionate about empowerment, yet after I would finish a coaching session, I would end up with their to-do list and. They would be outsourcing their decisions and, and brain to me. And so really when I started hearing my clients say I thought about it and I thought, what would Casey do? I thought, I don't need rubber bracelets that are like WW KCD, right? I was like, I don't need that. So it was this light bulb moment and I was like, okay, this is out of alignment to like really helping them like not be in the dark. Um, you know, and it's, it's different from. You know, like there's two different things here. I'm gonna go off on a little tangent because I think we can't do it all as entrepreneurs. And so like to your point of trying to get all the podcast editing in and this and that and the other thing, like I have fallen in that trap too, where it's like no one's gonna be able to do it as good as I can do it. I have these standards and let me do it all. And I think that's a surefire way to burnout. So I absolutely think we need people. In our orbit to help things have like sustainable flow and to bring in extra income. However, I didn't really wanna be that implementer, and I don't feel that when you hire someone that means you're disempowered. So I just wanna be super clear on that. The piece that I found is when your coach is also your consultant that's gonna be having the to-do list, there is this, um, shift that happens, I think, and there's a reliability that happens from the client where they're like, I'm not sure. What do you think? What do whatever you think, I like what you do. And so there's that outsourcing, I think, of decision making and creativity, and they're just kind of like. You know, let me get onto my to-do list. And so there's a real, real difference. There isn't that space for those reflective questions that we talked about that internal work. Um, really thinking about the mindset or even their emotional intelligence. It was much more to-do, list focused, and that wasn't lighting me up at all. The second part of why I switched from being a primary consultant into coaching is I really did not wanna be humped over the computer for eight hours a day or more. And so it was really about like a logistics piece of I wanna have this expansive freedom and not be like behind the thing doing web development and copywriting and building the funnels. I, that really wasn't, you know, kind of bringing me joy anymore.

Sean Weisbrot: I don't like doing that stuff either. And yet I find myself doing it anyways 'cause it's for my own companies.

KC Rossi: Yeah.

Sean Weisbrot: So how have you had to change yourself through this process of, from your first company until now?

KC Rossi: Great question. I would say that I had to learn to stand on my own two feet alone because my previous 10 companies were with a business partner. A business partner that was very dynamic and lovable and just had the whole. Personality piece dialed in, much more extroverted than me. And, um, it was so easy being a part of a dynamic duo. There was tremendous synergy, there was a sense of protection, and it was like, you know, one plus one equals 10. I. And when I pivoted into my own company, it was like, oh, it's me, myself, and I. And now I'm like a solopreneur and I have to kind of like market myself and do all of the facets of the business. And that took a little bit. That took a little bit to kind of get grounded in my own sense of identity.

Sean Weisbrot: That's interesting. You. Went that direction. 'cause I've spoken with other people who generally started off alone and then after a business or two said, I'm gonna start having partners. And only after they started having partners did they realize that they could have much more success. Interesting. So I think you're the first person that's been the opposite.

KC Rossi: That's that's very common in my life. I tend to be the, the one.

Sean Weisbrot: Fair enough. Now, the last time we spoke, you said that you have this best friend that you go on walks with and you meditate with all the time. Had you ever thought of doing a business with her or bringing her into the business you have now?

KC Rossi: Cher was actually the one that I had two decades of business experience with, so we've been best friends for. 32 years and, uh, we still see each other on a daily, and yes. So we've had extensive business, uh, partnerships and successes together.

Sean Weisbrot: Okay, cool. I like that because you hadn't mentioned it last time, so I thought I would ask.

KC Rossi: Yeah, yeah.

Sean Weisbrot: What's the simple, most important change you've made in your, your current business in the, since you started something that really, like supercharged growth or simplified your processes? Something like that.

KC Rossi: Absolutely. What's coming to mind is the boundary setting, and I think that for me that was massive because from all of my experience, you know, like we started that successful candy manufacturing company in our home, and this was again, back in the early nineties. And so we were so tethered 24 7 to the fax machine at that time, and the beep. And the buzzes and the alerts and like never turning off. And I carried that whole paradigm with me in every single, um, kind of client relationship where I would be answering emails at all hours. I'd be working seven days a week, even in the beginning part of my coaching business. And it was like I was kind of addicted to that jump. How high, you know, little bit of like chemical. Ooh, somebody needs me. It was like a dopamine hit, you know? And I feel that the biggest shift for me, and it was so simple, was like putting boundaries in. I really have like tried to stay to opening my inbox at 10 and three. It's not perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was. And I have a pretty strong boundary. It's very rare that I'll do client work on the weekend. And that has, that has changed the way that my brain is wired. Um, the amount of time I spend on social media I limit. So I think that this boundary piece has, um, not only helped my business, but I know that it's helped my health.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah, that's really important. It's something that I don't know I would've learned if it weren't from my ex-wife. I. Getting mad at me about not having time for her because she used to come home at like 9 30, 10 o'clock. And like some of the people I would do recordings with are, are people I had to talk to in, in the states, some of them in California. So it was like nine out, or was it It was like 50. Teen hours difference between Vietnam or 14 hours. So Wow. If it was like 9:00 PM for me it's like early morning for them and sometimes that was the only time I could really talk to them. And so she would get mad and so she'd be like, look, you know, like if I'm home at nine, like it would be great if you could just be with me. And so like, I was like, God, fine. So I started like cutting the calls back to eight and then to seven, and then to six, and then, oh no, I, I think I stopped taking calls on Sundays. Then I, I got rid of some calls in the evenings every night, and then I got rid of Saturdays, and that was hard not having like work six days a week and being single again. I do, especially with the second company now, I do work on Saturdays and I'll try to not work on Sunday, but that's hard. It's, it's a, it's a. A discussion with myself that sometimes I usually lose. Um, but one thing that I have insisted on continuing is, uh, no calls after 7:00 PM

KC Rossi: Good for you. Makes a huge difference.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah. Especially because like, I was supposed to have five calls today. Thankfully the first podcast guest didn't show up, which was great. But like, I imagine, you

KC Rossi: know, you're, I wanna say Sean, you know you're overbooking when you're excited when someone cancels.

Sean Weisbrot: Well, yeah, it was, well 'cause I was also supposed to do, or I, I did a, a pitch for an investor for my first company at eight 15 and then I was booked from eight 15 to nine with him. And then I was supposed to do an interview from nine to 10 30 with the other guy. 'cause he wanted to do both interviews at once. And then I have you now, and then I'm supposed to have a mastermind in a few hours and it's like. So, yeah, I was very happy. Um, but I, I'm currently overbooking, I'm currently booking two or three interviews a day right now because I'm leaving the spot that I'm in, and it's the first time in two months since I got to Europe that I have a quiet space to record. When I was in Spain, I had to pay a, um, coworking space, like every time I wanted to record. And it was like $15 an hour to record, and I had to do two hours at a time, but I wasn't recording for the whole two hours. So it was a huge waste of money. And in Greece and Slovenia, I didn't have any privacy for that whatsoever. So interesting. So now's the first time. So like, I'm, I'm just trying to record everything I can because when I get That makes sense. I'm going to Lisbon in a week, and when I get to Lisbon, I don't know if that's gonna be a quiet space. I have no idea. So I'm afraid to make arrangements and I've got a friend coming to visit me from America for a week, so I wanna spend time with her. So I'm trying not to book anything while she's here. So I'm just like, let me just get like 20 interviews outta the way, like in the first half of this month. Like, just do it.

KC Rossi: Yeah. That'll feel good.

Sean Weisbrot: It'll feel good when I have a week of no calls. That'll be, that'll be the best. So how do you handle distractions?

KC Rossi: Well, I think that, um, we have to be disciplined and one of the big things that, um, working for myself for so many years is respecting it just as much as I was punching a clock. And it kind of goes back to our schedule. I. Time blocking. Um, and, you know, just kind of not being willy-nilly with our schedule, um, having very dedicated pieces of social media. I personally keep my phone on mute. I silence all my notifications all day. Um, I get, I, I, I'm proactive, you know, because otherwise the smarter the marketers are. The easier it is for our attention to be hijacked. And of course, I'm not perfect. I have fallen into late night shopping on my phone in the bathtub, but in, in the regular, you know, um, confines of my workday, I definitely don't have like little windows and flags flying in, vying for my attention to look at the news or buy the latest gadgets. So, um, and again, kind of just opening my inbox at dedicated times, that has really, really helped. And I'm, I'm huge at kind of doing the time block on my daily planner. Um, and I stay pretty close to that, and that really works for me because then when I leave at four, I'm done. And that's another thing that I never had before. Where I always kind of took my day with me. Like I just put my day in from like eight to four. I always take a two hour lunch where I usually meditate or walk or hang out with Cher. Um, today will be no different. And so yeah, I just, um, I even though it can be boring for creatives. There is a beauty to slotting into a routine that works for you and it's repeatable, and then you don't give your monkey mind the opportunity to say, Ooh, shiny object over here.

Sean Weisbrot: Right? I mean, look, if you can work just a few hours a day and you can generate multiple six figures a year, I think that's most people's dream.

KC Rossi: Yeah.

Sean Weisbrot: So screw it. Who cares? Go for you, you know? Good for you.

KC Rossi: Thank you.

Sean Weisbrot: So when do you tackle the hardest thing you need to do each day?

KC Rossi: That is something that I have not mastered, but my biggest thing is always trying to do that in the beginning of the day. Um, that, I mean, like years ago I think they had like Eat the Frog first. Yeah. Somebody had written that book. Yeah. And when I do that, I feel. So much better. But I, I, that is one thing that is just like, that hasn't fully clicked in as a consistent piece, but I have my best energy before noon. And so if I can have like a deep work block somewhere between that eight to noon slot, that would be the golden hour for me to tackle the hard thing.

Sean Weisbrot: So then what is the first thing you do in the morning?

KC Rossi: I will generally put some type of marketing together. So whether it is the podcast or going and, um, putting my posts out on social media, I will tend to do that. And I, I don't know if it's kind of like easing in the day when I'm having my drink or like, I'm not sure, but, um, I know that that's not the most efficient way, but it's, it's more habit. And I, I really do feel that the chunkiest piece of tackling that, like the most important thing for me, I would say even not even eight to noon, I would say that that eight to 10 for me, that is when like when I do that block, I am, I'm like supercharged.

Sean Weisbrot: So I just wanna clarify, you said drink and some people might mis construe that as being like an alcoholic drink. Oh

KC Rossi: yeah. No, I drink, um, I drink mud water. So it's a combination of, um, therapeutic mushrooms, different from the psychedelic mushrooms you were chatting about, but it's therapeutic. Mushrooms, masala, chai and turmeric. And I mix that with like a vanilla oat milk, and I absolutely love that drink that, that I've been doing. Um, I got COVID 16 months ago and my taste and smell hasn't fully returned. Wow. And so coffee was one of the things that I, I, uh, was not able to partake in and, and chocolate and a bunch of other things, but I had to find another morning beverage that. So I didn't feel like I was on a suffering trip and I found this mud water and it's, it's awesome.

Sean Weisbrot: I drank mud water trying to get off of coffee because that's what they, um Okay. Advertised it for. And it didn't get me off coffee, but it tasted good.

KC Rossi: Yeah, it does taste good, especially vanilla oat milk. It's awesome.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah, I usually would just drink it, um, straight. I don't, I don't like to put anything in, uh, in coffee. Usually just black. Although it's good. Yeah. 'cause you, you said the oat milk. 'cause I, people think I'm crazy when I just say I want like black. They're like, you know, want milk in your drink? Like, nah, I don't want milk. But my, my, my real answer is I don't drink milk. So I don't want milk in my, my coffee, which is also for some reason, makes me absolutely insane to like half the planet or more probably. So what's the last thing you do at night before gonna sleep?

KC Rossi: Um, I generally meditate. I like to start my day meditating both when I wake up and when I go to bed. I feel like they're. Really good bookends for me.

Sean Weisbrot: So you meditate three times during the day?

KC Rossi: I do.

Sean Weisbrot: I met another guy recently who said he would meditate for like a few hours at a time in the middle of his day. I. Like, I, I have so much energy burning inside me. Like, I struggled to just like, stop. And I mean, we, I think we talked about this before. I meditate every day for 30 minutes when I wake up.

KC Rossi: Mm-hmm.

Sean Weisbrot: But 20 minutes in I fidget a little because I'm like, I, I know this is good for me and I appreciate meditation. Like, I wanna go, I wanna move, you know, like I wanna get started. Yeah. And, uh, I just, I couldn't imagine doing it hours a day. So what has been your most expensive mistake?

KC Rossi: Oh, interesting. Um, I would say funny enough. Years ago I took out an ad in, um, a popular magazine. Mm-hmm. And I just, I had this like preconceived notion that like my business was gonna blow up and it was like a 10 K ad and that was the most that I had spent on a print ad. And this was again, years ago. So probably the digital marketing, that 10 k could have gone a lot further. I didn't get one call, I did not grow my email list from that ad. Like nothing happened. And I was like, so prepared. I was like gearing up like this is. And like literally was nothing. And it was just a teeny little, like maybe two by three ad on a page, um, for 10 K. So yeah, that one's coming to mind as like, oh man.

Sean Weisbrot: Yeah. That's crazy. I know my, yeah, my dad worked for a business before. He, uh, he's a dentist. He worked for a practice and they would have a full page ad color in his $80,000 a month and they get clients from it, but I. It's because they're reliably there every month, month after month. For years.

KC Rossi: Yes, absolutely.

Sean Weisbrot: Even though they're like, they're funny. 'cause they, they're like, oh, how do we, like we, we've heard of this Instagram thing, how do we like, get people to come to us through Instagram? I'm like, your average client is in their seventies, they don't use Instagram.

KC Rossi: Yeah. Such a good answer.

Sean Weisbrot: Like, if you really, really wanna know. Hire someone who's young, like half my age, hire an 18-year-old.

KC Rossi: You know, are you kidding? My, my 12-year-old niece, I mean she has a mastered,

Sean Weisbrot: but the 18-year-old would understand how to spend them add money, I think.

KC Rossi: Yeah, absolutely. I am a huge believer of celebrating often, um, and not waiting for the winds to be these milestones. And funny enough, with my clients, I feel like there's always a little bit of a resistance there. It's not something that we're programmed to do, and so. When a client has a win, and my question is, how are you celebrating? Like, oh, I never thought about it. Or, oh, and then they will fill in like a work item. I'm like, no, that's a work item. That's not like a celebration. So, um, I'm a huge fan of celebrating often and really programming our reticular activating system, our, our IS to continue to look for things to celebrate. Because then we're gonna find all these little micro winds that are just waiting to be noticed and experienced. For me, I love self-care and so, um, whether it's reflexology or acupuncture, like any of the things, like, that's where I'm gonna be, you know, putting my winds in. Um, not as often as the micro wins, but you know, the micro wins could, could be like an extra little whatever I enjoy. Like whether it's gonna be. Um, an Epsom salt bath. I mean, these things don't have to be expensive, but on the bigger wins, I'm definitely, definitely doing self-care in a, in a bigger way.

Sean Weisbrot: I'm surprised. I, I mean, I guess maybe 'cause in America massages are more expensive, but I'm used to like, I. Massages being a, a twice a month thing. It's not even a part of a win. It's just I need this to stay sane.

KC Rossi: Yes. I love that. That's awesome.

Sean Weisbrot: So then how do you handle losses?

KC Rossi: Uh, I think through reflection. Um, not sweeping it under the rug. I have always been a fan of debriefing, even when I was doing implementation work for clients and we would do a launch. We would always debrief not only the pluses, but like how could we have done it better? I think, you know, I'm a fan of the Kaizen philosophy, so it's always about never ending improvement and looking at the supposed failures of what is the lesson here? What's the lesson in this fabric that I need to unfold, reflect at. Make sense of moving forward. So I think like reflection time is huge. Um, and I also feel like having a trusted confidant, which to me, like I said, has been shared for, for all these decades to be my sounding board because there is that healing in a compassionate listener and they can give you perspective when you're too close to a loss and be like, okay, let's look at this. And, and I feel that that really helps. So, um. Perspective, distance and reflection.

Sean Weisbrot: Okay. What are you currently learning?

KC Rossi: Oh my gosh. I'm always learning something, Sean. I mean, uh, it, it's like, well, whatcha currently learning? That's the one thing what I'm currently learning. I'm learning about human design. That's my current thing. Um, I have a couple different things going on. I'm in a mastermind to amplify my intuition, I am in a nine month program that I'm wrapping up for advanced leadership coaching. So this, uh, wraps in Florida, actually at the end of this month. Um, so I've got those two kind of professional learnings going on and for a personal learning. Um, I have hired a consultant in human design, and I'm going into MyChart and really seeing aspects of my personality that goes far deeper than just like astrology and numerology. It's a, it's a pretty intricate. System that's been, that's been very illuminating and I've just kind of cracked the surface of it.

Sean Weisbrot: So how are you applying your knowledge of human design to yourself and your business?

KC Rossi: So, interestingly enough, um, what I have found is I am a manifesting generator. So I have a lot of energy and um, can create a lot of things and I can have a lot of things going on. So that's been really helpful and in informative because it's like, oh, okay. You know, 'cause sometimes it can feel like popcorn brain because like, like, oh, here's a great idea. Oh this is trademark. Oh my gosh. You know? Yeah. So understanding like that's how I'm built a super interesting. The other two big pieces is, um, I have like a fixer personality and a problem solver, and on the flip side. The continuous learner piece and the continuous learner piece. I was like, great. Totally, totally there. Able to embrace it. Yes. And the fix it piece. I'm still trying to see how that plays in because. Problem solver, fix it. Always finding the glitches in, in things and being able to dissect it well that now that overlays on my consultant personas, so there's a little resistance of like, wait a second. So I haven't quite gotten there yet. It's, um, something that is, uh, fairly new and I'm still trying to see how these lenses overlay. But, um, but man, is it interesting

Sean Weisbrot: that's cool that you get to learn more about yourself? I think for me, I'm focused on not just the CBT, but also, uh, I joined a mastermind as well, and I'm trying to learn how to run a mastermind because that may be a piece of the education company at a higher tier, um, plan that I might offer and I'm learning about, uh, funnels. When, you know, believe it or not, I dunno anything about funnels, uh, learning about marketing and sales and paid ad and uh, paid ads and social media things that I never did before, that now suddenly, you know, I have to do. 'cause with my startup, I never had to do any of that. My team does all that stuff, literally, like I was told, you know, just let us do this. You know, it's like you hired us to do this stuff. Let us do it. But now with this, I get to be the one that does it. I get to learn about it, and I think that's really cool. And I wish, I wish I was, uh, encouraged to learn that stuff with my other company, but whatever I'm paying them to do it. And now I can't afford to hire people to do, to do it for this company. So I've gotta learn now. Um, what's the most important thing you've learned?

KC Rossi: I would definitely say that self-trust and competence are. Skills that can be built and should be just almost the elemental stage in your entrepreneurial development. Because once you have that foundation dialed in, it is so, so much easier. And it took me many years to realize that. So I would say for someone just starting out, um, invest in how you can really develop those two things. Your gut instinct, your self trust. And I'm gonna, well, three and your, uh. And your, um, let's see. Intuition, self-trust. What was my third one? Sean?

Sean Weisbrot: I don't know. You didn't say it.

KC Rossi: Aren't you listening?

Sean Weisbrot: You only said two.

KC Rossi: I am listening,

Sean Weisbrot: but there's There wasn't a third one.

KC Rossi: Yeah. Self-trust and confidence. I'm teasing you,

Sean Weisbrot: wasn't it? Intuition

KC Rossi: that that was the third one.

Sean Weisbrot: Okay. Then self, self-trust, confidence and intuition.

KC Rossi: Yes, the trifecta.

Sean Weisbrot: So would you say that's the advice you would have for entrepreneurs or is there anything else you'd like to add?

KC Rossi: I think that that is, um, really without joking aside, a big trifecta and when you can lock that in, everything from decision making, um, to the clients that you attract, I mean, it changes. It, everything changes. And so I would, that would be the biggest advice, I would say. The starting point.

Sean Weisbrot: All right, great. Well, I appreciate all of the, the love and the knowledge you shared today and, uh, thank

KC Rossi: you.

Sean Weisbrot: We're going to end that here.

KC Rossi: Awesome. Thanks.