What causes people to change? We have a really tough time actually shifting who we are, and how we're walking through the world. The answer is one that I touched on, in the very first podcast episode of the Game on Girlfriend podcast when I said, "don't live a life of almosts."

Sun Yong Kim-Manzolini was born in South Korea and abandoned at birth by her family. She spent her early years in an orphanage, enduring hardships that she likened to living in a modern-day concentration camp. Today, Sun Yong is a highly successful seven-figure entrepreneur and the CEO of Lush Enterprises, LLC.

In 2015, she retired from a $35,000 a year job with no savings and limited resources. Determined to change her circumstances, she dedicated herself to options trading. By the end of her first year, she had earned $178,000, six times her previous annual revenue. She believes that true freedom comes from living authentically, pursuing dreams without fear, and achieving financial security.

Sun Yong says being orphaned gave her a sense of abandonment – no one invested in her. She was adopted by an American family and eventually got her dream job as a certified medical assistant.

But she was missing something. She wondered how she got there.

"So that's when I started investing myself by saying, I'm going to retire, even though it was my dream job," says Sun Yong.

She decided she would retire within a year. She had $10 in her account and was living paycheck to paycheck.

"Of course I was scared, but I thought for me to invest in myself, I have to get those things out of my mind," she said. "I have to start taking actions. So that's the beginning of investing in ourselves. And it is very, very critical. The reason is because if we don't invest in ourselves, who's going to invest in you?"

Sun Yong says she started to learn to serve herself, as she had with her patients. She started talking about her own story – even the ugly parts that she didn't want to share with others. She says we tend to focus on negative things, what we've heard and what we've faced. We might think we're not worthy – the excuses and reasons are easy to find.

Sun Yong said the decision to change was made easier watching the lives of her patients. She says some of them were struggling as they got older, and in some cases by the time they were ready to retire they were too sick to enjoy it.

It prompted Sun Yong to retire while she was still healthy and could enjoy life.

Sun Yong says once you have healed, you can help others from your present self without focusing on the past.

"I'm no longer an orphan, but a lot of times we hang on to this thing like 'Oh, I'm an orphan,'" she says. "We have to let go of the things that we used to be."

She says it takes many pieces to become who we are – from investing with money, investing within ourselves mentally, investing in ourselves with who we spend our time with.

You have to implement every part on a daily basis to have a balanced life from your physical and mental health, to your financial stability and your relationships.

To start living the life you want, you need to take action. This is likely going to be something you've never done before. But the fear will be there.

Sun Yong says to think of it like loading a new album into your brain, so a new record starts to play. I want to do this! Oh no, I can't. I don't have the time. You have never done that before.

The record's on repeat. So you need to do something different from how you talk to yourself, the way you talk to others, and the way you act when nobody is watching.

What can you do differently today than what you did yesterday? Those actions will be different results.

"Think about how special you are, and there's only one you. You're one of a kind in the world, right? And you have to give the best treatment that you could give to yourself."

Free gift: Read one free chapter of Sun Yong's book, Invest in Yourself: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15XW8p-qlJsMoBc1TfOhKH3MIEk15OOI2/view?usp=sharing

Connect with Sun Yong: https://dreambigsetgoals.club/

Other GoG episodes you might want to check out:

Power of Pause: Why Your Brain Cannot Solve the Problem: https://sarahwalton.com/take-pause/

Overcome Societal Expectations of 'You're Not Enough': https://sarahwalton.com/societal-expectations-for-women/

You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton

Thank you so much for listening. I'm so honored that you're here and would be so grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom and clicking "Write a review." Then we'll get to inspire even more people!

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