Brainwashed To Be Broke

We're taught from day one that depending on other people is a weakness. What if that belief is the exact thing keeping you stuck?

In this episode I sit down with Elissa Renee — a speech language pathologist, CEO, and late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD entrepreneur behind Speech Works. For most of her life she was handed the standard script: be independent, get a stable job, stop relying on anyone. She tried to live it. The 9-to-5 wore her down, her health suffered, and she racked up more absences than anyone she knew.

The real conflict wasn't her ability — it was a system that never taught her how to actually function in it. She couldn't read or write for years and quietly paid people to do it for her. Just walking to the mailbox and opening it could trigger a burnout that left her in bed for days. Nobody in school ever taught her how money, mail, or basic adult systems worked. They taught her the history of America instead.

The turning point came when she stopped fighting how her brain works and started building around it. She went self-employed and became her own boss. She discovered "body doubling" — and realized the help she was shamed for needing was a legitimate accommodation, not a flaw. She learned to ask for help by going straight to the top. And she got in front of a camera for the first time to put her work into the world.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

- Why so many autistic and neurodivergent adults thrive self-employed instead of in a 9-to-5
- How "you have to be independent" became a trap — and what changed when she let it go
- The school-taught skills that were missing, and the real-life ones nobody teaches
- Why asking for help (the right way) became her biggest competitive advantage
- How she rebuilt her finances and routine around her actual wiring, not someone else's

Guest: Elissa Renee

Connect with Elissa 👇
🔗 Facebook: Elissa Renee
🔗 Website: speechworksbyelissa.com
🔗 New project: yourchildcantalk.com
🔗 Socials: search “SpeechWorks by Elissa” on your favorite platform

🔔 If this episode stirred something in you, don't ignore it. Share It with someone who needs to hear this. Subscribe, leave a comment and remember, you weren't born to follow the script, you were born to be free.

He had three months left to live. Then he turned down the treatment that could've saved him.

Devin Schubert spent years building churches and ministries before his whole life collapsed at once. He came home from a ministry trip to find his wife with her boss. He lost his marriage, his job, his platform, and half his time with his kids. An elder told him he'd never be allowed back in ministry because he was divorced.

Then it got worse. His son came to live with him full-time with severe trauma and aggression, and Devin spent five years and over $100,000 trying to find help the system kept refusing to give. The pressure broke his body, not just his spirit. Doctors told him his nervous system was shutting down from stored trauma. They gave him three months.

This is the conversation about what happened next, and what he learned about identity, story, and the programming most of us never question.

The turning points are wild. The night he prayed to die and says Jesus walked into his room and told him "it's not time yet." The moment he chose a four-month healing process over the instant miracle he wanted. The realization that hiding his accomplishments wasn't humility, it was getting in the way. And the line that reset everything: your identity doesn't come from the creation, it comes from the creator.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

- Why the story you tell from a place of pain plants pain in everyone who hears it
- How "never share a story you haven't healed from" can protect you and your audience
- Why he believes the child welfare system is designed around money, not kids
- How he hit 100 stages in 9 months starting from total burnout and debt
- Why relationship, not money, is the real currency that builds anything
- The branding lesson hidden behind why he wears orange every single day

Guest: Devin Schubert

Connect with Devin Schubert 👇
🔗 Free ebook: createbetterstories.com
🔗 Facebook: Devin Schubert (the man in orange)
🔗 Instagram: Devin Schubert (the man in orange)

🔔 If this episode stirred something in you, don't ignore it. Share it with someone who needs to hear this. Subscribe, leave a comment and remember, you weren't born to follow the script, you were born to be free.

What happens when you do everything “right” and still feel completely empty?

In this episode of Brainwashed To Be Broke, I sit down with Alicia Anne Wade, also known as Dr. Gratitude, to talk about the hidden programming behind success, self-worth, relationships, money, leadership, and what it really takes to rebuild yourself from the inside out.

Alicia ticked all the boxes most people are told to chase: the job, the car, the house, the marriage, the family, the image of success.

But underneath it all, she was not fulfilled.

After being bullied as a child, struggling with dyslexia, falling into destructive patterns, experiencing a domestic violence relationship, losing everything more than once, and hitting a deep emotional breaking point in 2015, Alicia started asking a different question:

What am I actually telling myself every day?

That question led her into gratitude, not as a nice quote or surface-level habit, but as a full identity reset.

She committed to daily gratitude, created her own gratitude journal, helped people who were at the edge of giving up, and built a movement around using gratitude to shift your mind, your relationships, your leadership, and your life.

This conversation goes deep into the stories we inherit, the boxes we chase, the inner dialogue we normalize, and the moment you realize success without fulfillment is not freedom.

Some of the biggest turning points in this episode:

Alicia realizing that the “perfect life” still left her unhappy.

Her first gratitude journal helping people find hope again.

The painful connection between her inner dialogue and the relationships she accepted.

Learning to respond instead of react, and lead from calm instead of control.

Her decision to turn gratitude into a worldwide mission.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why chasing the traditional success script can still leave you empty
How your inner dialogue shapes the relationships and results you tolerate
Why gratitude is not toxic positivity, and how to practice it properly
How to respond instead of react when life gets heavy
Why self-forgiveness is one of the hardest but most freeing resets
How to stop living on autopilot and start rewriting your own script

Connect with Alicia Ann Wade (Dr Gratitude) 👇
🔗 Website: aliciawade.com.au
🔗 Facebook: Alicia Anne Wade
🔗 Instagram: Alicia Wade
🔗 TikTok: Dr Gratitude
🔗 YouTube: Alicia Wade Gratitude

🔔 If this episode stirred something in you, don't ignore it. Share It with someone who needs to hear this. Subscribe, leave a comment and remember, you weren't born to follow the script, you were born to be free.

What if the thing keeping you broke is not your skill, your offer, or your work ethic?

What if it is the version of yourself you were taught to believe in?

In this episode of Brainwashed To Be Broke, I sit down with Jennifer Lamprey, sales powerhouse, creator of the 12 Quickest Close Map, and founder of The Quickening.

Jennifer grew up around entrepreneurship, but her path was anything but clean or easy. After losing her sister at a young age, surviving abuse, doing crystal meth at 12, and carrying years of trauma, she had a moment at 15 that changed the direction of her life. She says she saw herself the way God saw her, and that moment helped her break a pattern that could have destroyed her.

But the story does not stop there.

Jennifer went through divorce, foreclosure, single motherhood, financial pressure, and the painful realization that confidence, love, systems, and sales are all connected.

This conversation gets into the real stuff most people avoid: why talented people stay broke, why sales is deeply tied to self-worth, why trauma can distort confidence, why “just stay positive” is not always enough, and why love may be the most underrated force in business.

Some of the biggest turning points in this episode:

Jennifer walking away from drugs at 15 after a life-changing spiritual moment.

Losing everything after divorce and realizing she had to sell her way into freedom.

Investing heavily into the best sales and marketing training she could find.

Teaching her daughter to sell high-ticket coaching as a teenager instead of following the normal $10/hour path.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why confidence is not fake energy, but remembered evidence
How trauma can quietly shape your money and sales beliefs
Why high-ticket sales forced Jennifer to rebuild her identity
The difference between pressure-based selling and love-based selling
Why entrepreneurship without systems can keep you stuck
How Jennifer teaches her kids to think outside the traditional script

Guest: Jennifer Lamprey
Connect with Jennifer 👇
🔗 Facebook: Jennifer Lamprey
🔗 Instagram: @conversionqueens

🔔 If this episode stirred something in you, don't ignore it. Share It with someone who needs to hear this. Subscribe, leave a comment and remember, you weren't born to follow the script, you were born to be free.

What if your “safe” job was never designed to make you free?

Brian K Wright spent years working for other people, trying businesses, going back to jobs, and feeling the same frustration over and over: he was making money, but not building the life he actually wanted.

Brian is a writing coach, radio host, magazine publisher, and bestselling author of Success Profiles. He has interviewed major names like Kevin Harrington, Jack Canfield, Bob Burg, and others. But before all of that, he had to face the belief that was keeping him stuck: he did not fully believe he could make entrepreneurship work.

In this episode of Brainwashed To Be Broke, Brian breaks down how the system trains people to seek safety, depend on employers, avoid risk, and call their dreams “unreasonable.”

The turning point came when he was let go from his final job. At first, he felt free. Then Monday came, and he realized he had nowhere to go. That moment forced him to stop treating entrepreneurship like an option and start making it work.

We also get into sales, rejection, self-belief, legacy, and why Brian believes sales is something you do for someone, not to someone.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why employers often pay just enough to keep you dependent
How school trains people to become workers instead of independent thinkers
Why hearing “no” might be part of the path to the one “yes” that changes everything
How Brian turned writing, teaching, radio, and publishing into one aligned business
Why selling works better when you stop pushing and start listening
How to surround yourself with coaches, peers, and people you can lift up

Guest: Brian K Wright
Connect with Brian K Wright👇
🔗Facebook: Brian K Wright
🔗 Website: BrianKWright.com

🔔 If this episode stirred something in you, don't ignore it. Share It with someone who needs to hear this. Subscribe, leave a comment and remember, you weren't born to follow the script, you were born to be free.

What happens when the thing you’re proud of is actually the thing destroying you?

Danno Hanfling used to work three jobs in a single day, sometimes pushing through 40 hours straight, convinced that more hours meant more success. He thought hustle was the answer. Until his body, his peace, and his life started proving otherwise.

Danno’s story starts long before business.

Growing up between two homes after his parents divorced, he struggled with feeling unsupported, disconnected, and undeserving of love. That wound eventually led him into nightlife and event promotion, not for the parties, but for the family, connection, and community he found there.

From handing out flyers before social media existed, to helping fill events with thousands of people, Danno learned something most entrepreneurs still miss:

Business is not built on followers.
It is built on people.

But even after discovering his gift for bringing people together, he had to face a deeper belief: “Who am I to serve?”

That belief kept him small until he started rewriting the script around money, impact, leadership, and his own worth.

Some of the biggest turning points in this conversation:

He realized working harder was not the same as building freedom.

He went from feeling undeserving of love to feeling undeserving of service.

He stopped seeing money as bad and started seeing it as a tool for impact.

He built communities where strangers became clients, supporters, and family.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why hustle culture can become a socially accepted form of self-abandonment
How childhood programming shapes your money and success beliefs
Why community is more than a Facebook group or audience
The difference between selling to people and truly serving them
How Danno shifted from scarcity to impact-driven abundance
Why money can expand your mission when your values are clear

Guest: Danno Hanfling
Connect with Danno:
🔗 Facebook: Danno Hanfling
🔗 His ecosystem: Evolve Omega
🔗 His community: Greater Impact Community on Facebook

👉 DM Danno the keyword “FREEDOM” on his business page to get his special gift and see his chatbot systems in action.

🔔 If this episode stirred something in you, don't ignore it. Share It with someone who needs to hear this. Subscribe, leave a comment and remember, you weren't born to follow the script, you were born to be free.

What if the “safe path” was never actually safe, just familiar?

Ryan Cron grew up around good people, strong values, and the kind of money beliefs most of us inherit without questioning: don’t take risks, get a stable job, money doesn’t grow on trees, investing is gambling.

And for a while, that script worked.

He went to college, climbed the corporate ladder, landed in leadership, and built what looked like a responsible life. But after one family vacation, while helping his young daughter, something hit him hard: he didn’t want to miss her growing up just to keep repeating the same workday forever.

That moment sent him down the entrepreneurship rabbit hole.

Amazon FBA. Furniture flipping. Wedding photography. Sales. Marketing. Branding. Failure after failure, lesson after lesson, until he eventually built real momentum, helped double a wedding photography business with his wife, and landed in high-ticket sales working with Tony Robbins.

But this conversation is not just about business.

It’s about the programming behind why people stay stuck, why failure feels so dangerous, why “safe” often becomes a cage, and why the skills that change your income usually aren’t taught by the system.

A few turning points from Ryan’s story:

He realized he would rather make less money from home than miss his daughter’s life.

He discovered that most “easy business” promises online were not as simple as they looked.

He built wedding videos while dealing with six eye surgeries and limited vision.

He learned that real sales is not manipulation, it’s helping people find the truth.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why inherited money beliefs quietly shape your ceiling
How Ryan went from corporate leadership to commission-based sales
Why failure became a strategy instead of something to avoid
What most people misunderstand about sales, persuasion, and trust
Why branding is not your colors, fonts, or logo
How Ryan and his wife are teaching their kids money differently

Guest: Ryan Cron
👉 Connect with Ryan here:
🔗 Facebook → Ryan Cron

🔔 For everyone who is listening, if this stirred something in you, don’t ignore it. Share it with someone who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and remember: You weren’t born to follow the script. You were born to be free!

What if the reason success still feels out of reach has nothing to do with your strategy, and everything to do with the pattern your nervous system is running?

In this episode of Brainwashed To Be Broke, I sit down with Paul Blanchard, a coach who has spent the last two decades studying performance, psychology, neuroscience, somatics, entrepreneurship, and what it really means to be human.

Paul grew up with a deep curiosity about people, but also with a lot of insecurity, religious conditioning, money beliefs, and a model of success built around hard work, sacrifice, and proving your worth.

Then life exposed the cracks.

From early jobs and entrepreneurial dreams to the 2008 crash, relationship strain, workaholic patterns, and nervous system dysregulation, Paul started seeing how much of “success” is actually built on unconscious contracts we never chose.

The core of this conversation is simple, but uncomfortable:

Most people are not chasing money.

They are chasing the feeling they believe money will finally give them.

And if your nervous system is trained to always need the next thing, even getting the thing will not let you feel free.

Some of the biggest turning points in this conversation:

Paul explains why workaholism is often fight-or-flight in disguise.

He breaks down the hidden belief that money must be earned through suffering.

He shares why “doing enough work” can be more powerful than doing all the work.

And he challenges the idea that anyone outside of you can teach you how to live your life better than you can.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

Why high achievers often feel guilty when life gets easier
How your nervous system can make success feel unsafe
Why chasing more money does not always create more freedom
The difference between what you think you want and what you actually want
How workaholism becomes a socially accepted form of self-abandonment
Why being present may be harder than working harder

Guest: Paul Blanchard

Connect with Paul Blanchard👇
🔗 Facebook → Paul Blanchard
🔗 Instagram: @officialpaulblanchard
🔗 Website → wholebodymindset.com

🔔 For everyone who is listening, if this stirred something in you, don’t ignore it. Share it with someone who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and remember: You weren’t born to follow the script. You were born to be free!

What if the people you’re trying not to disappoint are the same people keeping you stuck?

Camila Markson grew up in Brazil as the quiet, shy, people-pleasing girl who felt like the “lost one” in her family. Her sisters followed respected career paths. She tried college, different professions, and every route that was supposed to make her successful, but none of it felt like her life.

Then she moved to the U.S. with less than $1,000, no English, and no real safety net.

She worked nanny jobs, took multiple buses just to make $60 a day, and kept searching for a way out. But the real breaking point came when her family pressured her to return to Brazil. She did what they wanted, spent eight miserable months there, and realized something painful: the people telling her how to live weren’t the ones who had to live with the consequences.

That was the reset.

Camila stopped waiting for permission, came back to the U.S., and started building a new life on her own terms. No followers. No public speaking skills. No perfect English. Just a decision: results or excuses.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

How people-pleasing can quietly steal years of your life
Why comfort is often the most expensive thing you keep choosing
How Camila went from four nanny jobs and buses to building online income
Why “being bad at first” is part of the price of freedom
The mindset shift that helped her stop reinventing the wheel
How she’s now helping women see opportunities they were never taught to look for

Guest: Camila Markson
🔗 Instagram → @milamarksonofficial
🔗 Facebook → Camila Markson

🔔 For everyone who is listening, if this stirred something in you, don’t ignore it. Share it with someone who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and remember: You weren’t born to follow the script. You were born to be free!

What if the reason you’re struggling with money has less to do with skill, and more to do with what you were taught to believe?

Eddy Miranda grew up around money, but not with a healthy understanding of it. His parents were doctors, yet his childhood was filled with financial instability, confusion, and painful examples of what money could do when it was misused.

After losing his mom as a teenager, seeing his father’s relationship with money, and carrying those wounds into adulthood, Eddy found himself struggling to receive money, ask to be paid, and believe he could actually become financially successful.

But his story didn’t stop there.

Eddie went from failed business attempts, getting kicked out of his apartment, working jobs he didn’t want, and almost giving up entrepreneurship, to building real-world marketing skills, working with Grant Cardone, Brandon Turner, and HL Pro Tools, then finally stepping into his own lane with paid ads.

The deeper shift was not just business strategy.
It was identity, faith, obedience, and finally questioning the script he had been living under for years.

Some of the biggest turning points in this conversation:

Eddy realizing his childhood money beliefs were blocking his ability to receive.

The moment he walked away from the idea that a job was the only path to success.

Why working for Grant Cardone became a catapult, not the destination.

How a three-day fast led to clarity, a $20K contract, and a complete repositioning of his business.

In this conversation, you’ll learn:

How childhood money wounds can quietly shape your adult financial reality
Why Eddy believes student loans only make sense for very specific careers
What real-world skill building taught him that school never did
Why finding your positioning matters more than chasing every opportunity
How faith changed the way Eddy makes business decisions
Why fear of other people’s opinions keeps so many people broke and invisible

Guest: Eddy Miranda
🔗 Facebook: Eddy Miranda
🔗 His program: MetaAdsEssentials.com

🔔 For everyone who is listening, if this stirred something in you, don’t ignore it. Share it with someone who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and remember: You weren’t born to follow the script. You were born to be free!