Economy Creators

Economy Creators

What happens when life changes in an instant—and the future you imagined suddenly looks completely different?

For Philip Baker, life coach, author, and founder of Reimagining Life Coaching, that question became very real after suffering a stroke in March 2025.

In this episode of Economy Creators, host Mary Reiss Farias welcomes Philip for an inspiring conversation about stroke recovery, resilience, mindset transformation, gratitude, identity, and finding purpose through adversity.

Philip's journey of personal transformation began long before his stroke.

As a young man, he struggled with direction and purpose. But at 31, he made a decision that would change his life: he wanted the years ahead to count.

He began intentionally developing his mindset, embracing accountability, and focusing on serving others.

Then, decades later, life presented an entirely new challenge.

Following a stroke that affected his mobility, speech, and dexterity, Philip found himself confronting the very principles he had spent years teaching others.

Could he apply his own coaching to himself?

With the support of his wife, therapists, family, faith, and determination, Philip began rebuilding his life.

And something remarkable happened.

He began speaking his book into existence while recovering his speech.

His book, Restored, Not Just Renewed, became more than a story about recovery. It became part of the recovery process itself.

As Mary often says, every book needs a job.

Philip's book had one before it was even published.

IN THIS CONVERSATION

• Philip's journey from uncertainty to intentional living

RESTORED, NOT JUST RENEWED

Philip makes a powerful distinction between renewal and restoration.

For him, restoration goes beyond physical recovery. It involves the mind, body, and spirit—and choosing how to move forward even when circumstances cannot be reversed.

One of his most memorable statements is:

"I choose to be an asset to the world."

That philosophy is central to Economy Creators.

We aren't simply building businesses, books, podcasts, or other assets.

We're building lives around who we are, what matters to us, and how we want to contribute.

Philip's story is a beautiful example of Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others.

His closing wisdom?

"The proof of your desire is in your pursuit."

And:

"Clarity of the root determines the fruit."

CONNECT WITH PHILIP BAKER

Reimagining Life Coaching

Book: Restored, Not Just Renewed

Learn more about Philip's coaching, writing, and his vision for the Elevatio global wellness network.

CONTINUE YOUR ECONOMY CREATORS JOURNEY

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ABOUT ECONOMY CREATORS™

Economy Creators™ explores how entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, and leaders intentionally build lives, assets, relationships, and opportunities around who they are and the lives they want to create.

Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others.

Mary Farias & Denise Kraemer

What if you could own your own business without having to build every system from scratch?

In this episode of Economy Creators, host Mary Reiss Farias welcomes Denise Kraemer, franchise consultant and founder of Aitris Consulting, to explore franchise ownership, entrepreneurship, and finding a business that fits the life you actually want to create.

Denise grew up around franchising. Her father owned a Meineke Muffler franchise and retired at just 42.

But Denise followed a different path, spending 30 years building healthcare startups, developing teams, solving operational challenges, and creating business systems.

Eventually, she asked herself an important question:

Why am I building businesses for other people instead of building something for myself?

Today, Denise helps aspiring entrepreneurs, corporate professionals, and experienced business owners explore franchise opportunities and make informed decisions about business ownership.

And her approach isn't about selling someone a franchise.

It's about finding the right business for the right person.

IN THIS CONVERSATION

• How Denise transitioned from a W-2 career into franchise ownership

FRANCHISING AND YOUR YOU-SHAPED ECONOMY

One of the most important takeaways from this conversation is that the best business isn't necessarily the most popular or profitable-looking opportunity.

It's the business that fits YOU.

Some people want to replace their corporate careers. Others want an additional investment while keeping their W-2 positions.

Some want hands-on involvement. Others prefer a different ownership structure.

Denise helps people evaluate those differences before making a significant investment.

Her own business reflects this philosophy.

She named Aitris Consulting after her sons, Aiden and Tristan, because family and flexibility are central to the economy she's building.

That's what creating a YOU-Shaped Economy is all about.

CONNECT WITH DENISE KRAEMER

Atrus Consulting

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-kraemer-b247b668/

Interested in exploring franchise ownership? Connect with Denise to learn more about the franchise discovery process.

CONTINUE YOUR ECONOMY CREATORS JOURNEY

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ABOUT ECONOMY CREATORS™

Economy Creators™ features entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, and leaders intentionally building lives and businesses around who they are—not simply what they do.

Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others.

#DeniseKraemer #FranchiseConsultant #FranchiseOwnership #AitrisConsulting #BuyingAFranchise #Entrepreneurship #EconomyCreators

Mary Farias

We spend so much time thinking about what we want to create—the business, the book, the income, the relationships, the opportunities, the lifestyle.

But there's another question we need to ask:

Who do I need to become to live that life?

In this special workshop edition of Economy Creators, host Mary Reiss Farias shares her October Economy Creators Workshop on Self-Image—one of the most foundational elements of intentionally building a YOU-Shaped Economy.

Mary spent 37 years immersed in gymnastics as an athlete, collegiate gymnast, coach, gym owner, and mother. For years, her identity was inseparable from the sport.

Then she made a profound shift.

She stopped seeing herself as someone who was successful in gymnastics and began seeing herself as someone who was successful. Period.

That shift opened an entirely new world of possibilities.

Because when we change how we see ourselves, we can begin changing what we believe is possible.

In this workshop, Mary walks you through five steps to creating your own Self-Image Script—a living document that helps you intentionally develop the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors of the person you want to become.

THE FIVE STEPS

1. Define Your Goals and Desires

What do you truly want? Explore your desires across your entire economy—health, wealth, relationships, happiness, work, and the things that bring you alive.

2. Craft Your Scene

Visualize yourself already living your ideal life. Create a vivid, sensory-rich scene that represents your desires fulfilled.

3. Create Your Affirmations

Rather than borrowing someone else's affirmations, discover the characteristics of your ideal self and create personal “I AM” statements.

4. Describe Your Ideal Traits

Go deeper. What does being confident, calm, wise, joyful, or successful actually look like in your daily life? Describe how your ideal self thinks, believes, acts, and responds.

5. Embody Your Ideal Self

Combine your scene, affirmations, and descriptions into a script. Read it, refine it, record it in your own voice, listen to it, and begin practicing being that person every day.

YOUR SELF-IMAGE IS CENTRAL TO YOUR ECONOMY

Your YOU-Shaped Economy isn't simply about making money.

It's about intentionally creating a life around your interests, talents, experiences, relationships, desires, and the person you truly want to be.

And YOU are at the center of it.

Your self-image influences what you attempt, what you accept, how you respond, and what you believe you're capable of accomplishing.

This workshop is an invitation to stop defining yourself by who you've been—and begin intentionally creating who you're becoming.

Your future self is waiting. Let's begin building.

CONTINUE YOUR ECONOMY CREATORS JOURNEY

Subscribe to Economy Creators on Substack:

Join the Monthly Economy Creators Workshop:

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Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz:

ABOUT ECONOMY CREATORS

Economy Creators explores how to intentionally build a YOU-Shaped Economy around who you are and the life you truly want to create.

Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others.

Mary Farias & Mark A. Dulaney

How many things do you already know you should be doing—but still aren't doing?

Mark Dulaney isn't interested in giving you more information.

He wants you to eliminate the excuses and execute.

In this episode of Economy Creators, Mary Reiss Farias sits down with Mark, author of Eliminating Excuses: Eliminate Your Excuses First, Then Model It for Those You Love and Lead, for an energetic conversation about decisions, discipline, self-imposed limitations, personal culture—and what it really takes to create the life you want.

At 65, Mark describes himself as “going on 23.”

Why?

Because when he looked back at his life, he recognized a striking difference. He had consistently applied discipline to his physical health—but hadn't applied those same principles to his career, finances and relationships.

Then came a major turning point.

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023 and going through treatment, Mark made a declaration in April 2025 that changed how he saw himself and his future.

It wasn't simply a decision made in the moment.

It was a committed decision about his future.

That distinction sits at the heart of this conversation.

Mary and Mark explore:

• Why motivation alone is fleeting

They also uncover a fascinating example of the Economy Creators principle that every book needs a job.

While writing Eliminating Excuses, Mark didn't simply sit behind his computer and wait until publication to find an audience. He recruited people to participate in case studies around the ideas in the book—allowing him to test his concepts, create accountability, generate income and begin putting the book to work before it was even published.

Now he's taking the idea further with his next project, Your Personal Culture.

Mark's premise is simple but powerful: much of our “personal” culture wasn't personally chosen at all.

Our thoughts, choices, actions, words and questions are influenced by our parents, experiences and the people around us.

But we can choose differently.

As Mark puts it, the goal is to decide your own future—and intentionally create the culture capable of producing it.

His final challenge?

Stop spending so much time thinking about what you could do.

Go do it.

🎙️ CONNECT WITH MARK DULANEY

Website: EliminateExcuses.com

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Join the Economy Creators Workshop

Discover where you are in your journey to Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others, and identify your next steps toward building a YOU-shaped economy.

https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework

Learn how to build an economy around your unique interests, talents, experiences, and purpose.

https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz

Identify the opportunities, strengths, and gaps in your personal economy.

https://www.economycreators.live/quiz

About Economy Creators™

Economy Creators™ is a podcast and radio show featuring entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, leaders, and visionaries who are building lives and businesses around who they are—not just what they do.

Because when you sto

Mary Farias & Dr. Diana James

What if you stopped waiting for someone to give you the next opportunity—and started creating your own path?

In this episode of Economy Creators, Mary Reiss Farias sits down with Dr. Diana James, an executive leader turned entrepreneur, author, speaker, consultant and advocate for women in leadership.

After more than 30 years in executive leadership, Diana reached a pivotal moment when she expressed interest in moving into a presidency position—and was told those positions were reserved for men.

She left corporate America.

And started building something different.

At 47, Diana returned to college. At 58, she earned her PhD. She eventually launched The Secret Stairs, turning her decades of experience, research, knowledge and passion into an entire economy that now includes public speaking, corporate consulting, a book, coaching, a radio show, technology, and an upcoming anthology.

In other words, she became an Economy Creator.

In this conversation, Mary and Diana explore:

• Reinventing yourself at any age

One of Diana’s most powerful findings can be summarized in three words:

Access over advice.

Diana explains the distinction this way:

A mentor talks to you. A sponsor talks about you.

A sponsor is advocating for you in rooms you aren't in, creating access, increasing visibility, and opening doors.

That idea connects powerfully with something we talk about frequently inside Economy Creators: we need other people talking about us.

Relationships, introductions, media, books, collaborations and visibility can all help put us into rooms we couldn't enter alone.

Diana also shares how she repeatedly created her own opportunities during her corporate career: identifying a problem, developing the solution, and positioning herself to implement it.

That's Economy Creator thinking—whether you're operating inside a corporation or building your own business.

Today, Diana is expanding that mission again through an anthology featuring women who left corporate careers and created new paths through entrepreneurship.

Her closing advice?

Walk past the ladder. Look for the secret stairs.

Your path may look more like a jungle gym than a ladder.

You may move sideways. You may move down. You may reinvent yourself completely.

But you can keep building.

🎙️ LISTEN TO ECONOMY CREATORS

📚 CONNECT WITH DR. DIANA JAMES

📘 THE SECRET STAIRS: Avoiding the Broken Corporate Ladder, An Alternative Path for Women in Leadership

Continue Your Economy Creator Journey on Substack: https://economycreators.substack.com/

Join the Economy Creators Workshop

Discover where you are in your journey to Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others, and identify your next steps toward building a YOU-shaped economy.

https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework

Learn how to build an economy around your unique interests, talents, experiences, and purpose.

https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz

Identify the opportunities, strengths, and gaps in your personal economy.

https://www.economycreators.live/quiz

About Economy Creators™

Economy Creators™ is a podcast and radio show featuring entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, leaders, and visionari

Mary Farias

In Part 1 of the September Economy Creators Workshop, Mary Reiss Farias moves from August’s theme of Clarity into September’s focus: Alignment.

Clarity helps us identify what we want, where we’re going, and what we want to build next.

But then comes another question:

Does what we’re building actually align with the life we want to live?

Mary shares her own experience of building a successful gymnastics business that eventually placed gymnastics—not Mary—at the center of her economy. Her work, family life, writing, schedule and resources revolved around it. The business worked, but the life it created left her feeling confined and burned out.

That experience helped shape one of the foundational ideas behind Economy Creators:

The center of your economy should be YOU.

A YOU-Shaped Economy isn't simply the collection of things that make you money. It includes your:

• Talents

The goal isn't simply to build more.

It's to intentionally build an ecosystem in which you can live, work, create, contribute, grow—and thrive.

In this episode, Mary explores the progression from clarity to alignment and introduces the idea of creating a personal compass for your economy.

That compass includes four important questions:

What is my mission?

What is my philosophy?

What are my standards?

What is my message?

When those pieces become clear, they can help you evaluate the opportunities, relationships, projects and decisions that show up in your life.

Instead of asking only, “Could I do this?”

You can begin asking:

“Does this belong in the economy I am intentionally building?”

This episode sets the foundation for the September Economy Creators Builds on mission, philosophy, standards and message—and for creating a life and business that revolve around the person at the center:

You.

Continue Your Economy Creator Journey on Substack: https://economycreators.substack.com/

Join the Economy Creators Workshop

Discover where you are in your journey to Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others, and identify your next steps toward building a YOU-shaped economy.

https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework

Learn how to build an economy around your unique interests, talents, experiences, and purpose.

https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz

Identify the opportunities, strengths, and gaps in your personal economy.

https://www.economycreators.live/quiz

About Economy Creators™

Economy Creators™ is a podcast and radio show featuring entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, leaders, and visionaries who are building lives and businesses around who they are—not just what they do.

Because when you stop protecting someone else's economy and start creating your own, you don't just change your income—you change your identity.

Mary Farias

In Part 2 of the September Economy Creators Workshop, Mary Reiss Farias explores one of the foundational pieces of building a YOU-Shaped Economy: understanding the difference between your purpose and your mission.

Mary describes purpose as the deeper reason underneath what we do—the thread that continues to appear throughout the different chapters of our lives.

Mission is how we choose to express that purpose now.

That distinction became especially important for Mary when she stepped away from a life and business built around gymnastics.

For years, she believed gymnastics was deeply connected to her purpose. And it was. Through coaching, she could lead by example, help young people believe in themselves, and encourage them to become more than they thought they could be.

But eventually she realized something important:

She lived her purpose through gymnastics. She didn't need gymnastics to live her purpose.

Today, that same underlying purpose can be expressed through writing, publishing, personal development, podcasting, Economy Creators—and potentially many other things.

That's the freedom that comes from separating your purpose from its current expression.

Your purpose may remain relatively constant while your mission evolves as you accumulate new:

• Experiences

As your life expands, the way you express your purpose can expand with it.

In this episode, Mary shares questions you can use to begin uncovering the thread running through your own life:

What am I naturally good at?

What experiences have shaped me?

What do I care deeply about?

Who do I naturally want to help?

What keeps showing up in every chapter of my life?

And perhaps one of the most revealing:

What would I still care about if there were no business attached to it?

The goal isn't necessarily to manufacture a brand-new purpose statement.

It may be to look backward and recognize the purpose you've already been living.

Once you can see that thread, you can begin asking a different question:

How do I want to express my purpose now?

That becomes part of your mission—and another piece of intentionally building a life and economy around who you are becoming.

Continue Your Economy Creator Journey on Substack: https://economycreators.substack.com/

Join the Economy Creators Workshop

Discover where you are in your journey to Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others, and identify your next steps toward building a YOU-shaped economy.

https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework

Learn how to build an economy around your unique interests, talents, experiences, and purpose.

https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz

Identify the opportunities, strengths, and gaps in your personal economy.

https://www.economycreators.live/quiz

About Economy Creators™

Economy Creators™ is a podcast and radio show featuring entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, leaders, and visionaries who are building lives and businesses around who they are—not just what they do.

Because when you stop protecting someone else's economy and start creating your own, you don't just change your income—you change your identity.

What do you believe about the way you want to live your life?

In Part 3 of the September Economy Creators Workshop, Mary Reiss Farias completes the conversation around alignment by exploring the beliefs and philosophy underneath everything we build.

Two people can have almost identical purposes or missions—and create completely different lives.

Why?

Because of what they believe.

Your philosophy influences how you make decisions, approach money, define success, treat people, respond to problems, recognize opportunities, serve others, lead, create, and think about your own potential.

And some of the beliefs guiding those decisions may not be beliefs you consciously chose.

In this episode, Mary invites you to examine both what you currently believe and what you want to believe.

What do you want to believe about:

• Life?

Sometimes the beliefs we've accumulated don't even agree with one another.

We may believe success requires working as hard as possible while simultaneously wanting freedom, balance and time to enjoy our lives.

We may want to serve others but believe receiving something in return makes that service less meaningful.

We may have a mission we deeply care about while holding beliefs that make living that mission unnecessarily difficult.

That's where alignment matters.

Mary encourages you to ask:

Does this belief support the purpose, mission and life I want to create?

If it doesn't, what belief would?

As you begin identifying those beliefs, you can intentionally define the philosophy underneath your YOU-Shaped Economy.

And that philosophy has a job.

Mary closes the workshop with another foundational Economy Creators principle:

Every asset inside your economy needs a job.

Your book needs a job.

Instead of creating more simply to create more—or constantly wondering where the next dollar will come from—you can build meaningful assets that support your mission, reflect your philosophy, serve other people, and work together inside the economy you're creating.

That is what alignment makes possible.

Get clear. Define your purpose. Build your mission. Choose your philosophy. Establish your standards. Share your message.

Then let what you build go to work.

Continue Your Economy Creator Journey on Substack: https://economycreators.substack.com/

Join the Economy Creators Workshop

Discover where you are in your journey to Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others, and identify your next steps toward building a YOU-shaped economy.

https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework

Learn how to build an economy around your unique interests, talents, experiences, and purpose.

https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz

Identify the opportunities, strengths, and gaps in your personal economy.

https://www.economycreators.live/quiz

About Economy Creators™

Economy Creators™ is a podcast and radio show featuring entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, leaders, and visionaries who are building lives and businesses around who they are—not just what they do.

Because when you stop protecting someone else's economy and start creating your own, you don't just change your income—you change your identity.

Mary Farias & Sophie Berry

In this episode of Economy Creators, Mary Reiss Farias sits down with **Sophie Berry, Master Life Coach and NLP Practitioner**, to talk about survival mode, self-worth, limiting beliefs, confidence, motherhood, self-image, and what happens when a woman finally begins choosing herself again.

Sophie has spent 28 years as a diagnostic radiographer, helping people through moments that are often frightening and uncertain. Now she's taking the skills, compassion, and experiences she's accumulated throughout that career and building a coaching business designed to help women on a deeper level.

Her focus is personal.

Sophie works with women who have spent years raising children, working, supporting families, and caring for everyone around them—while continually putting themselves last.

She knows that experience because she lived it.

For years, Sophie saw herself as a **survivor** and felt that life was happening *to* her.

Today, she sees things differently.

Instead of asking why circumstances happened to her, she began asking what those experiences had developed within her.

She even replaced one identity with another:

**Survivor → Conqueror.**

In this conversation, Mary and Sophie explore:

• What it means to live in survival mode

Sophie also shares something especially important for anyone who wants to build a new chapter without immediately leaving their existing career.

She once believed she couldn't successfully build her coaching business while continuing her nine-to-five.

Then she questioned the belief.

Why couldn't she build both?

Today, Sophie is intentionally building her coaching practice alongside her radiography career, with a vision of gradually reducing her hours as her business grows.

That's a YOU-Shaped Economy in action.

You don't necessarily have to destroy what exists to create what's next.

**You can begin building from where you are.**

And for the woman who has spent years putting everyone else first, Sophie's message is beautifully simple:

**Believe in yourself. You can do way more than you think you can.**

CONNECT WITH SOPHIE BERRY

Facebook:

LinkedIn:

ps://economycreators.substack.com/

Join the Economy Creators Workshop

Discover where you are in your journey to Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others, and identify your next steps toward building a YOU-shaped economy.

https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework

Learn how to build an economy around your unique interests, talents, experiences, and purpose.

https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

Take the Economy Creators Diagnostic Quiz

Identify the opportunities, strengths, and gaps in your personal economy.

https://www.economycreators.live/quiz

About Economy Creators™

Economy Creators™ is a podcast and radio show featuring entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, leaders, and visionaries who a

Mary Farias & Dr. Jengyu Lai, DPM

In this episode of Economy Creators, Mary Reiss Farias sits down with Dr. Jengyu Lai, Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) of Rochester Clinic, for a conversation about healthspan, vitality, healthy aging, lifestyle medicine, nutrition and taking a whole-person approach to long-term health.

Dr. Lai is a board-certified podiatrist and one of the relatively few podiatrists in the United States who is also board certified in lifestyle medicine. Through Rochester Clinic, he integrates lifestyle medicine, functional medicine, regenerative medicine and biomechanics to help patients look beyond individual symptoms and consider the whole person.

And he introduces an important distinction:

**Longevity isn't the same as vitality.**

Living longer is one thing.

Remaining active, productive and healthy enough to enjoy those additional years is another.

That makes health an important part of the economy each of us is creating.

We can spend decades building businesses, careers, relationships, wealth and opportunities—but our ability to enjoy what we've built is deeply connected to our health and function.

Dr. Lai encourages people to stop allowing a diagnosis to define what they believe is possible.

Instead, he asks:

What can you do? What do you want to continue doing? What matters to you?

If you love golf, travel, horses, hiking, playing with your grandchildren, building your business or pursuing a passion, maintaining the function required to keep doing those things gives healthy aging a personal purpose.

In this conversation, Mary and Dr. Lai explore:

• The difference between lifespan and healthspan

Dr. Lai's own journey into lifestyle medicine began with an unexpected physician joining his clinic—and then experimenting with lifestyle changes himself.

The experience changed not only his personal habits, but also the way he thought about practicing medicine.

Today, he is working to bring multiple disciplines together into a more systematic framework for helping people understand the interconnected factors influencing their health.

His message is particularly relevant for people approaching the second half of life who aren't satisfied with simply adding years.

They want those years to be active, meaningful and enjoyable.

As Dr. Lai reminds us:

Health is not simply the absence of disease.

It's about strengthening and supporting your body so you have the opportunity for both longevity and vitality.

Because the YOU-Shaped Economy you're building isn't only about your income, business or professional success.

**You need the health and vitality to live it.**

CONNECT WITH DR. JENGYU LAI

Rochester Clinic:

Connect with Dr. Lai:

Dr. Lai's Healthy Eating Resource: