Growth Now Movement with Justin Schenck

What do you do when someone you love is struggling with addiction, mental illness, or repeated treatment failures, and nothing you've tried seems to be working?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Mark Astor, co-founder of a law firm that helps families navigate some of the most difficult situations imaginable when an adult child is struggling with substance use, mental illness, and the cycle of crisis that can come with it.

Mark's journey into this work wasn't a straight line. He began his legal career as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County in the 1990s, but after seeing the same people cycle through the justice system again and again, he began questioning whether a punishment-first approach was actually helping people change.

After moving into defense work, navigating career setbacks, and learning some difficult lessons along the way, a pivotal mentorship helped Mark see the connection between personal growth, business development, and building a career around meaningful impact.

In 2016, Mark and his wife started their firm with a different approach: combining legal strategies with clinical services and law enforcement collaboration to help families find a path forward when traditional approaches haven't worked.

We talk about the realities families face when an adult child is struggling, why denial can make it so difficult for someone to recognize they need help, and how conditions such as anosognosia can affect a person's awareness of their own illness.

Mark also explains why families need to move away from blame and toward responsibility, why recovery is a long-term process rather than a quick fix, and how family participation can play an important role in the journey.

We get into the importance of the people you surround yourself with, the lessons Mark has learned while growing his firm to a team of around 15 people, and how his definition of success has evolved throughout his career.

For Mark, success is circular. As you grow, you create the capacity to help more people, and that impact becomes part of what drives you to keep growing.

This is a conversation about addiction, recovery, family, leadership, resilience, and what it means to keep searching for solutions when the stakes couldn't be higher.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why Mark moved away from a punishment-first approach to the justice system

• Finding purpose after career setbacks

• Building a law firm with his wife from the ground up

• How legal strategies can support families facing addiction and mental illness

• Common misconceptions about addiction and recovery

• Understanding denial and anosognosia

• Moving from blame toward responsibility

• Why recovery requires long-term commitment

• The role families can play in supporting recovery

• Why your environment and relationships matter

• Building a team around a mission that matters

• Lessons from difficult cases and personal growth

• Defining success through service and impact

If you or someone you love is navigating a difficult situation, this conversation is a reminder that you don't have to figure everything out alone, and that finding a way forward may require a different approach than the one you've tried before.

Subscribe to The Growth Now Movement for more conversations about personal growth, leadership, entrepreneurship, and creating a life that makes a meaningful impact.

What happens when success starts costing you the life you actually want?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with entrepreneur, author, and creator Ryan Levesque to talk about entrepreneurship, scaling a business, human connection, health, family, and what it really means to build a life around what matters.

Ryan's story is anything but conventional. He grew up blue collar, went on to study neuroscience and Chinese at Brown University, worked at Goldman Sachs, and eventually helped lead AIG's expansion into China. But during the 2008 financial crisis, he walked away from that career and took a completely different path into entrepreneurship.

We talk about some of his earliest businesses, including selling Scrabble tile jewelry online and building an orchid-care business, and how those experiments eventually led to the creation of the Ask Method and a much larger training and software company.

But then came the part a lot of entrepreneurs don't talk about.

Ryan became obsessed with growth.

At 30, that relentless pursuit landed him in the hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis and a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Even after building successful companies, he eventually found himself facing another uncomfortable realization: the business he had worked so hard to build was starting to dictate how he lived.

That led Ryan and his family to make a massive change.

They moved from Austin to rural Vermont and began pursuing what he calls a "return to real" lifestyle, including growing a significant portion of their own food and creating more space for family, health, and the things that don't necessarily scale.

We dive into why entrepreneurs often confuse scaling with success, the value of doing "unscalable" things, and why trust and human connection may become even more valuable as AI continues to automate more of our lives and businesses.

Ryan also shares his thoughts on oxytocin, relationships, entrepreneurship, and why creating deeper human connection can be a competitive advantage in an increasingly digital world.

And one of my favorite parts of the conversation is Ryan's definition of success: optimizing for what matters in the season of life you're actually in.

We talk about knowing when to push, when to simplify, when to let go, and how to recognize that the definition of success can change as your life changes.

If you're an entrepreneur who is constantly chasing the next level but wondering what all that growth is actually costing you, this conversation is worth paying attention to.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Ryan's blue-collar upbringing and unconventional path to entrepreneurship
• Studying neuroscience and Chinese at Brown University
• Working at Goldman Sachs and AIG's expansion into China
• Why Ryan left corporate America during the 2008 financial crisis
• Building his first online businesses
• The Ask Method and learning how to scale
• The hidden costs of relentless growth
• Ryan's Type 1 diabetes diagnosis and health crisis
• Why successful entrepreneurs can still feel trapped
• Moving from Austin to rural Vermont
• Raising more of the family's own food
• The idea of a "return to real"
• Why human connection matters more in an AI-driven world
• Trust, oxytocin, and relationships
• The power of doing things that don't scale
• Why "unscalable" can actually be a competitive advantage
• Balancing entrepreneurship, family, health, and purpose
• Defining success based on the season of life you're in
• Ryan's biggest personal growth lessons

If you enjoy conversations about entrepreneurship, personal growth, business scaling, success, health, family, leadership, human connection, AI, and building a life that actually feels good, make sure you subscribe to The Growth Now Movement.

What if the parts of your story you're most tempted to hide are actually the parts that could help someone else?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Cristina P. Simmons, a mom of three adopted children, wife of 27 years, author, and founder of her own publishing company, to talk about the power of storytelling, healing, faith, and designing a life with more freedom.

Cristina's journey began with writing her trauma-heavy memoir, Eat Your Feelings. What started as a deeply personal process of putting her experiences on paper eventually turned into something much bigger. After hearing Amberly Lago on Ed Mylett's podcast, Christina joined a mastermind, wrote and released her book, and discovered that she didn't just want to tell her own story. She wanted to help other women tell theirs.

We talk about how Cristina's experiences with childhood abuse contributed to emotional eating and how becoming more self-aware helped her recognize the connection between what she was feeling and how she was responding.

Her son's autism diagnosis and her studies in occupational therapy also played a major role in helping Christina better understand herself, her patterns, and the tools she could use to respond differently.

Instead of simply trying to eliminate the urge to eat, Cristina talks about learning to redirect it through movement, walking, breathing, prayer, workouts, and community.

We also dive into the process of writing a memoir and one of the biggest questions many people face when telling their story: What actually belongs in the book?

Cristina explains why every story matters, how to identify the moments that shaped you, and what it means to become ready to share those experiences with the world.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful idea: your story doesn't have to be perfect to be meaningful.

Cristina now helps women navigate the emotional process of bringing their stories to life through publishing, while continuing to build a life centered around faith, freedom, family, and intentionality.

We talk about healing, emotional eating, storytelling, entrepreneurship, motherhood, faith, resilience, publishing, masterminds, and what it really means to create a life by design.

If you've ever thought, "My story isn't important enough," this episode is for you.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Cristina's journey from memoir writer to publishing company founder

• Writing Eat Your Feelings

• How childhood experiences can influence emotional eating

• Recognizing emotional patterns and learning new responses

• The impact of her son's autism diagnosis on her self-awareness

• How a mastermind helped Cristina take action on her book

• Why every person's story matters

• How to identify the moments that belong in your story

• Knowing when you're ready to share your story

• Tools for redirecting emotional urges

• The role of exercise, walking, breathing, prayer, and community

• Faith and resilience

• Building a life around freedom and intentionality

• Daily habits that support success

• Turning your personal experiences into purpose

If this episode resonates with you, make sure you subscribe to The Growth Now Movement, leave a review, and share this conversation with someone who needs to hear it.

What happens to human relationships when more and more of our lives are run by algorithms?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Zvi Band to talk about something that I think every entrepreneur, leader, and high performer needs to think about: relationship equity.

Zvi and I start with a little Lego building and some serious '90s nostalgia before getting into his bigger mission: helping people build and maintain meaningful human connections.

Zvi shares how some of his biggest career opportunities came through introductions and relationships, even though he personally struggled with staying in touch with people. That tension eventually led him to create Contactually, a relationship-focused CRM, and later Relatable, a platform designed to help people be more intentional about the relationships in their lives.

We talk about the idea of treating relationships like an asset. Not in a transactional "what can this person do for me?" way, but in the sense that meaningful relationships require attention, investment, systems, and consistency.

And as AI continues to automate more of our work and interactions, Zvi believes there's going to be an even greater premium placed on being human.

We break down how Relatable works, including how it aggregates communications, creates AI-powered dossiers, and helps surface relationships that may be slipping through the cracks. But Zvi also warns against one of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to improve their network: attempting to reconnect with everyone at once.

He shares practical frameworks for deciding who deserves your time, including the "grocery store test," A/B relationship tiers, and his FAT rubric: fun, ambitious, and talented.

But underneath all of the technology and relationship systems is a much deeper conversation about connection.

Because if you don't have a strong relationship with yourself, it's difficult to build truly meaningful relationships with other people.

Zvi and I talk about self-love, loneliness, intentionality, success, legacy, and why the network you're looking for might actually start with the relationship you have with yourself.

If you're an entrepreneur who knows your network matters but struggles to stay connected, this episode is packed with practical ideas you can actually use.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why relationships can become one of your greatest assets

• How introductions can change the trajectory of your career

• The concept of relationship equity

• Why human connection may become more valuable as AI grows

• Building systems for staying in touch with people

• How Relatable uses AI to help manage relationships

• Why trying to reconnect with everyone is a mistake

• The "grocery store test" for prioritizing relationships

• A/B relationship tiers

• The FAT relationship rubric: fun, ambitious, talented

• How to become more intentional about your network

• Why self-love is foundational to connection

• Defining success beyond money and achievement

• The importance of doing inspiring work with great people

• What legacy and "no regrets" really look like

If this episode resonates with you, make sure you subscribe to The Growth Now Movement, leave a review, and share this conversation with someone who needs to hear it.

What if becoming a better leader has less to do with learning another leadership strategy and more to do with learning how to regulate yourself?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Sam Willing, an executive coach, fractional Chief People Officer, culture strategist, author, and entrepreneur who spent 29 years in HR before making the leap into full-time entrepreneurship.

Sam and I talk about what happens when years of corporate experience meet entrepreneurship, and why so many high-performing leaders know what they should do but still find themselves reverting to old patterns when stress hits.

Sam shares the story behind The Compassionate Collective, where she creates imperfect handmade wooden hearts as reminders that meaning doesn't require perfection. What started as a creative and therapeutic outlet during high-stress seasons eventually became something much bigger.

We also dive into the incredibly personal experience that changed the way Sam understood leadership, stress, and regulation. While her biotech company was struggling, Sam was also losing her terminally ill mother. That combination forced her into a much deeper exploration of the nervous system and ultimately led to her book, Regulate to Rise.

Sam explains why nervous system regulation is the foundation for sustainable leadership, why leaders often revert to old behaviors when they're under pressure, and how to actually get high-performing people to buy into regulation when they think they don't have time for it.

She also shares simple tools you can use in the moment, including breathwork, subtle movement, sour candy, and rhythmic drawing, along with a bigger reminder that regulation isn't something you master once. It's a lifelong practice.

We talk about success, daily rituals, leadership, entrepreneurship, perfectionism, culture, and the kind of impact we ultimately leave on the people around us.

If you're a leader, entrepreneur, or high performer who is constantly operating at 100 miles an hour, this conversation might make you rethink what sustainable success actually looks like.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Leaving a 29-year HR career to become an entrepreneur

• Executive coaching for women leaders

• Fractional Chief People Officer work

• Building healthier workplace cultures

• The Compassionate Collective and the power of imperfection

• Why creativity can become a powerful therapeutic outlet

• Losing a parent while navigating a struggling business

• Nervous system regulation and sustainable leadership

• Why high-performing leaders revert to old patterns under stress

• Getting leaders to actually buy into regulation

• Simple tools for regulating yourself in the moment

• Rewiring stress responses over time

• Defining success through the impact you have on others

• The growth that can come from life's hardest moments

If this episode resonates with you, make sure you subscribe to The Growth Now Movement, leave a review, and share this conversation with someone who needs to hear it.

What happens when you stop performing for everyone else and finally start living as yourself?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Chad Petersen, creator of The Story Catcher, for a conversation about identity, authenticity, personal transformation, divorce, travel, finding your inner compass, and what it really means to reclaim your life.

Chad opens up about a major transition in his own life that forced him to confront how much of his identity had been built around validation, achievement, and performing for other people. After going through a divorce, he left Texas and began traveling around the United States, intentionally stepping away from the labels and expectations that had defined so much of his life.

Instead of immediately trying to figure out what was next, Chad started learning, getting certified, exploring new experiences, and asking a much deeper question:

Who am I when I stop performing?

That question eventually led him into coaching, storytelling, retreats, and eventually an unexpected new chapter in Ecuador.

After being invited to teach at a retreat, Chad got his first passport and traveled internationally for the first time. In July 2024, he arrived in Ecuador and eventually made his way to Baños de Agua Santa. When he took his suitcase off the van and decided to stay, everything changed.

Chad describes the experience of living in Ecuador as "magical" and shares how creating space, slowing down, and following his intuition helped him reconnect with himself in a way he hadn't experienced before.

We also dive into The Story Catcher and how Chad's work evolved from helping businesses tell better stories into something much deeper: helping people recognize the stories they've been living inside—and decide whether those stories are actually theirs.

Chad walks me through his Origin framework and four powerful archetypes—the serpent, jaguar, hummingbird, and condor—and how they can help people understand where they are in their own transformation.

We talk about the difference between goals that genuinely come from you versus goals you've inherited from family, society, relationships, or the desire to prove yourself.

Because sometimes the goal isn't actually the goal.

Sometimes it's the identity you think achieving that goal will finally give you.

Chad also shares how his 90-day program and retreats help people step away from the noise, reconnect with themselves, and begin building a life that feels authentic rather than performative.

This conversation is ultimately about letting go of who you think you're supposed to be and becoming more of who you actually are.

If you've ever felt like you're performing a version of yourself for your career, family, relationships, social media, or the people around you, this episode will give you plenty to think about.

• What happens when you stop living for external validation

• Chad's divorce and decision to leave Texas

• Traveling nomadically and shedding old identities

• The difference between performing and actually being yourself

• Finding your inner compass after a major life transition

• Why Chad moved to Ecuador and chose to stay

• What life in Baños de Agua Santa taught him

• The evolution of The Story Catcher

• How storytelling can help us understand our identity

• Chad's Origin framework

• The Serpent, Jaguar, Hummingbird, and Condor archetypes

• How to recognize goals that aren't actually yours

• Breaking free from expectations and inherited identities

• Creating a life based on authenticity rather than validation

• The power of retreats and intentional space

• Chad's 90-day transformation program

• Daily practices for success, peace, and joy

• Kindness, legacy, and how we want to be remembered

Who would you become if you no longer needed anyone else to validate who you are?

That's really the question underneath this entire conversation.

Because growth isn't always about becoming more.

Sometimes it's about letting go of everything that was never really you in the first place.

Learn more about Chad, The Story Catcher, his Origin framework, 90-day programs, and upcoming retreats at storycatcher.com.

If this episode resonates with you, make sure you subscribe to The Growth Now Movement, leave a review, and share this conversation with someone who may be ready to stop performing and start living.

What if the success you've been chasing is actually costing you your peace?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with human performance specialist and coach Jennifer Watson to talk about what happens when outward success looks great on paper, but internally you're exhausted, disconnected, and stuck in survival mode.

Jennifer opens up about a major breaking point during the 2008 financial crash while she was building her physical therapy practice. From the outside, she was successful and earning six figures—but internally, she was miserable. That experience forced her to question what she was really chasing and ultimately led her back to something she had lost along the way: joy.

We talk about why so many high performers struggle to slow down, receive, and actually enjoy the life they've worked so hard to create. Jennifer explains how childhood programming, trauma responses, and deeply ingrained beliefs like "I'm not worthy" or "I'm not enough" can quietly drive the behaviors that lead to self-sabotage, burnout, and chronic stress.

One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation is that self-sabotage often isn't some huge, obvious decision. It can show up through tiny behaviors and micro-decisions that happen throughout the day—often without us even realizing what's driving them.

Jennifer also shares practical tools for becoming more aware of those patterns, including somatic check-ins, grounding, movement, gratitude, service, and learning how to listen to your body instead of constantly overriding it.

We dive into a powerful exercise Jennifer uses to help people think about their legacy: asking yourself what you would want written on your epitaph. It's a simple question, but it can completely change the way you look at your priorities, relationships, work, and the life you're building.

We also talk about her concept of looking at what's "over the mountain"—the possibility that exists on the other side of the challenges we're currently facing—and why having the right coaches and community around you can help expose patterns you simply can't see on your own.

Jennifer defines success differently than most high achievers. For her, success isn't about eliminating the highs and lows of life. It's about developing the ability to regulate your emotions, stay grounded, and move through whatever life throws at you without losing yourself in the process.

And perhaps most importantly, Jennifer reminds us that the goal isn't simply to become more productive, more successful, or more accomplished.

It's to actually enjoy the life we're building.

If you've been feeling burned out, stuck in your head, disconnected from your body, or like you're constantly chasing the next level without ever feeling fulfilled, this conversation is for you.

• Why outward success can still leave you feeling miserable

• Jennifer's breaking point during the 2008 financial crash

• The moment she realized she needed to bring fun and joy back into her life

• How childhood programming can influence adult behavior

• The connection between trauma, beliefs, and self-sabotage

• Why high performers struggle with feeling "not enough"

• How micro-behaviors can reveal deeper patterns

• The importance of coaches and community

• The "epitaph" exercise for discovering your legacy

• What it means to focus on what's "over the mountain"

• How to use hourly somatic check-ins

• Grounding, movement, service, receiving, and gratitude

• Emotional regulation as a definition of success

• Why learning to receive can be just as important as learning to achieve

• How to create more peace, joy, and fulfillment without abandoning ambition

If this episode resonates with you, subscribe to The Growth Now Movement, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

Why do some of our best ideas never become reality?

We have the vision. We have the ambition. We may even have the skills.

But somehow, the idea stays in our head instead of turning into results.

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Brian to unpack one of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs, leaders, and high achievers: the gap between potential and execution.

Brian has spent years thinking about this problem because he's lived it himself.

He talks openly about what it was like to carry an identity of having "uncommon potential" while simultaneously feeling the pressure to prove it. That pursuit of external validation eventually pushed him toward an unsustainable version of ambition—one driven by hustle, achievement, and the need to constantly demonstrate that he was capable.

But eventually, something had to change.

We talk about the shift from extrinsic validation to healthier, more grounded ambition, including a pivotal moment before Brian launched his Burpees for Vets campaign—a project that ultimately raised more than $1 million.

That experience became part of a much bigger lesson:

Potential doesn't create results. Follow-through does.

Brian also completely reframes the way we think about productivity.

Instead of simply asking how much you can accomplish, he defines productivity as:

Quality × Quantity.

It's not just about doing more. It's about making sure the work you're doing actually matters—and then measuring, reflecting, and improving how you execute.

We get into the practical systems Brian uses to make that happen, including dynamic time blocking, schedule-first planning, daily check-ins, end-of-day reviews, and a Todoist-based task system.

He also shares a simple but powerful definition of accountability:

"Keeping track."

Rather than viewing accountability as someone constantly checking up on you, Brian believes you need a system that makes your commitments visible so you can actually see whether you're doing what you said you were going to do.

We also unpack his environment + effort framework for follow-through and why changing your environment can sometimes be more powerful than simply trying harder.

Brian shares how a pre-commitment with a mentor helped him finally finish his book draft—proof that sometimes the best productivity strategy isn't more motivation.

It's creating consequences and structures that make follow-through easier.

And toward the end of the conversation, Brian gets deeply personal about his recent journey into Christian faith and how finding faith has changed the way he thinks about ambition, identity, purpose, and what success actually means.

If you've ever felt like you're capable of more but struggle to consistently execute, this episode will give you a different way to think about productivity, accountability, discipline, and personal growth.

• Why great ideas so often fail to become results
• The "uncommon potential" identity and the pressure that comes with it
• The difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
• How external validation can create unsustainable ambition
• Brian's Burpees for Vets campaign and raising over $1 million
• Why productivity isn't simply about doing more
• The Quality × Quantity productivity framework
• How to measure, reflect, and improve your performance
• Why your schedule should come before your task list
• Dynamic time blocking and intentional planning
• Brian's Todoist task-management system
• The power of end-of-day reviews
• What accountability actually means
• Why "keeping track" can change your follow-through
• The relationship between environment and effort
• How pre-commitment creates accountability
• Why motivation isn't enough
• How Brian finally finished his book draft
• Creating systems that make execution easier
• Redefining success and ambition
• Brian's recent journey into Christian faith
• How faith can change your relationship with achievement and identity

In a world where everyone is trying to build a personal brand, create content, sell an offer, and use AI to move faster, how do you make sure your business still sounds like you?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with Paige Brown and Suzanne Dwyer of Brain Grenade to talk about authenticity, entrepreneurship, marketing, offer creation, AI, and what it actually takes to turn your expertise into a business that works.

Their message is simple:

Fake it till you make it isn't working anymore.

We're living through a massive trust recession. People are more skeptical than ever, and they can tell when a brand, sales message, or entrepreneur is trying to be something they're not.

Paige and Suzanne explain why authenticity isn't just a personal-development concept, it's a business strategy.

We get into how the two of them partnered, how Brain Grenade evolved from a traditional agency model into a combination of coaching, consulting, and fulfillment, and why they created an unconventional seven-day in-person experience they call a "kidnap."

The idea is simple: get entrepreneurs away from the noise.

No daily distractions.

No endless meetings.

No constantly putting out fires.

Instead, they spend seven focused days clarifying their offer, pricing, positioning, messaging, revenue streams, systems, and business strategy then build the foundation for the next 90 days.

The goal?

They don't want clients leaving with another notebook full of ideas.

They want them going home as CEOs.

We also talk about the entrepreneurs they work with. Including coaches, consultants, speakers, and corporate escapees and why so many talented people have incredible expertise but struggle to package and communicate it in a way that creates consistent revenue.

Paige and Suzanne break down the importance of having a streamlined offer, creating multiple revenue streams, and making sure your brand voice stays consistent across your content, funnels, automations, CRM, and customer experience.

And then we get into AI.

Rather than using AI to replace your personality, Paige and Suzanne explain how they're using it to protect and amplify it.

They've created a private Brain Grenade app with voice-trained AI agents designed to understand their methodology, protect intellectual property, and help clients move faster without turning their messaging into generic AI-generated content.

That's a conversation I think every entrepreneur needs to hear right now:

How do we use AI without allowing AI to make us sound like everyone else?

We also talk about surrender, intuition, family, wellbeing, gratitude, visualization, and what success actually means when you're building a business around the life you want, not the other way around.

If you're a coach, consultant, speaker, entrepreneur, or business owner trying to create a more authentic brand, build better offers, increase revenue, or use AI strategically without losing your voice, this episode is packed with practical ideas.

• Why authenticity is becoming a competitive advantage
• Why "fake it till you make it" can destroy trust
• How Paige and Suzanne built their Brain Grenade partnership
• The evolution from agency services to coaching, consulting, and fulfillment
• Their unique seven-day "kidnap" business experience
• How to step out of your business and finally work on it
• Turning your expertise into a clear, profitable offer
• Creating multiple revenue streams without creating more chaos
• How to become the CEO of your business
• Why your brand voice needs to sound like the real you
• Creating consistent messaging across content, funnels, CRM, and automations
• How to use AI without sacrificing authenticity
• Protecting your intellectual property in the AI era
• Why entrepreneurs need space to think strategically
• The importance of surrender and intuition in business
• Building a business that supports your family and wellbeing
• Defining success beyond revenue and status
• The September Punta Cana Brain Grenade experience

One of the things I really loved about this conversation is that Paige and Suzanne aren't talking about authenticity as some fluffy branding exercise.

They're talking about it as trust.

And trust is the foundation of every sale, every relationship, every brand, and every business.

You can have the best funnel in the world.

You can have the best AI tools.

You can have a massive audience.

But if people don't believe you, none of it matters.

The goal isn't to become better at pretending.

It's to build a business where you don't have to pretend at all.

What happens when you finally build the business you thought would give you freedom… only to realize it has taken over your life?

In this episode of The Growth Now Movement, I sit down with entrepreneur, author, financial strategist, and connector Michelle Jacobik for a conversation about entrepreneurship, burnout, business exits, financial clarity, reinvention, and learning to trust yourself again.

Michelle knows what it's like to build a successful business from the ground up. She grew her insurance agency into a 22-person operation—but eventually realized that the business she had built was becoming a "monster."

Her health was suffering. Her family was getting the leftovers. And despite the external success, she knew something had to change.

Michelle shares what happened when she stopped trying to figure out her entire life and instead started thinking about her life in chapters.

That simple shift gave her permission to make different decisions.

Eventually, Michelle exited her business, stepped into a quiet sabbatical, and began an intense period of identity work through journaling, yoga, prayer, meditation, and teachings from people like Wayne Dyer.

And that's where this conversation gets really interesting.

Because leaving the business wasn't the end of the story—it was the beginning of Michelle figuring out who she was without the business.

We also dive deep into one of the biggest problems entrepreneurs face but don't talk about enough: financial avoidance.

Michelle believes many entrepreneurs aren't struggling because they don't know how to make money. They're struggling because they haven't created alignment between their vision, goals, financial strategy, and the actual numbers inside their business.

Through her book The Path to Profits and her work with entrepreneurs, Michelle helps business owners understand their money, create profitable businesses, and avoid the financial mistakes that can ultimately lead to business failure.

We also talk about relationship-first entrepreneurship, why being a connector can be one of your greatest assets, and why the right rooms can completely change the trajectory of your business and your life.

Michelle shares the philosophy behind communities like Thrive Hive, where the rules are simple: no ego, no judgment, and no pitching.

Because sometimes the most valuable thing you can do for your business isn't another strategy.

It's getting around the right people.

And ultimately, Michelle defines success in a way I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to: doing what you want, when you want, with whom you want.

Her biggest growth moment? Learning to trust herself.

If you've ever felt burned out by your business, struggled with your identity after an exit, avoided your finances, or wondered whether the success you're chasing is actually creating the life you want, this episode is for you.

• Why successful entrepreneurs can still feel completely burned out
• How Michelle built a 22-person insurance agency
• The hidden cost of building a business that consumes your life
• Why thinking in "chapters" can create freedom
• Knowing when it's time to exit a business
• What happens to your identity after leaving your company
• Reinventing yourself after entrepreneurial success
• Journaling, yoga, prayer, and inner work
• Lessons from Wayne Dyer
• Why entrepreneurs avoid looking at their finances
• How financial avoidance can contribute to business failure
• Creating alignment between your vision, goals, and money
• Building a profitable business instead of simply building a bigger business
• Relationship-first entrepreneurship
• Why being a connector is such a powerful business skill
• The importance of curated rooms and trusted communities
• Creating spaces without ego, judgment, or pitching
• How to build greater self-trust
• Michelle's definition of true freedom and success