Margs and Mindset
Barlyssa have been taking on life's challenges side by side, discovering what works and what doesn't. We're not just addressing past wounds, but also picking up handy skills and strategies along the way to steer our journey forward. We're convinced that no one should have to pilot through these experiences alone. With a common objective, we pondered the most impactful way to extend out support to women of color tackling generational traumas and experiences in solitude. It turned out that launching a podcast is the best conduit to build a supportive community that engages in raw, real and open dialogues that yield authentic growth. But, add tasty margaritas and some laughs for a good time because a good laugh can overcome more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than people realize.
Margs and Mindset
I Didn’t Know I Did All Of That
Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music
Episode one hundred and sixteen. I think that every time we come back, I will be surprised. And I feel like I can't say that out 116 episodes, but yet I am. And another little uh surprise for me. What is in your cup? A margarita. It is. And I don't know why, but I forgot about that part of the podcast. So this whole day, this is like a later recording for us. We usually record earlier. So I mean, and when I say late, I mean it's like five o'clock.
Barb:We're supposed to be having dinner any minute now to go to bed any other minute now. Exactly. Because it's dark outside.
Lyssa:Exactly. Um, so it's just a later than usual. So this whole day we've been, we knew on the calendar that we were gonna record at this time. But in my head, I was not putting together like I get to have a margarita at this time. So I'm very excited for this margaritas. I'm excited for our late night marriage night margaritas. Salute also, Merry Christmas Eve. Mmm.
Barb:Ooh, that is good. You're going back in for another swig. Yes, Adrian. That's a good one. And again, we're within the two-day time limit. We're killing it. Homemade events, Mars and Mindset podcasts. Bar Lisa. Bar Lisa, Slay on South. We're just killing the motherfucking game over here, guys. Yeah, that thing called life. Killing it.
Lyssa:Killing it. We just did our year in review for the business. And one, a year is too long. Like, I get why we have to do the full year, but we are now implementing that. We're going to do this a lot more often because the high that I walk away from, that I walked away from this year in review with, like, I want to eat that up all the time. It's my favorite cake. Delicious. I'm so good at my job. I fucking love that. I love being good at my job. I've loved being good at my job my whole life, which is why I've always been the best at my job. Which is why we've talked on previous podcasts about us climbing the ladder very quickly and being in roles and leadership roles very early and before a lot of the our peers and our coworkers. And that's because I just love being the best.
Barb:Yeah.
Lyssa:And then when I think that's bad. No, not in a bad way. It's for me though. It doesn't have anything to do with anybody else. I love knowing that I am my best self every single day and that I bring my best every single day. And while my best is not my best every single day, right? It's that whole consistency capacity, right? If you give everything that you have, then you gave 100%. And that's what this year in review showed me that we showed up every single day because that's the only way to produce the numbers and the goals that we produced this year. We're so freaking cool. I just like I am so proud of everything that we've done. Like I am just riding this wave of like, wow, I did a lot this year. I have a lot to show for my life, my very beautiful, rich life. And I do. I don't want to wait 365 days to do that. I'm like, we need to do this all the time. This is great.
unknown:Yeah.
Lyssa:Ain't that the truth?
Barb:And it shows right reviewing the spreadsheet, having the conversations that we had, real CEO conversations, real boss shit was happening in that little office of ours. And I just kept getting pulled to, we made that spreadsheet last year.
Lyssa:Yeah.
Barb:We are reviewing goals that we created for ourselves last year. Real goals. Because we put it in a spreadsheet.
Lyssa:So it automatically real. Yeah. It's a real goal. It's tangible. I took it out of my head, I put it into reality.
Barb:And I'm so proud of them 365 days ago for sticking some through something that was really challenging. I've gone back and I've listened and we were going through it. We were the saddest baby girls that I'd ever heard before. And and I can still tap in almost to that feeling. Yeah. And I sit here with a heart full of gratitude that they stuck it out, that they did the hard thing, because reviewing this spreadsheet and realizing all of the things that we actually had accomplished in the last 365 days was humbling and so energizing. Right. Like that's what you were talking. It just filled us up with like, fuck yeah. Yeah. Fuck yeah. And humbling in a sense of like, damn, we did all of that. Cause I didn't even know we did all of that. I did it. And I didn't even know I did all of that.
Lyssa:It's just proof of how quickly we've moved forward. We just have such a high turnover that we just go, we're boom, boom, boom. It's that that high achiever, that hyperachiever that we've been talking about a lot lately. And, you know, we knew we knew that that was in us. We didn't know how to combat that. And not that I think it's a bad thing. I just, you know, even good things can be abused and turn into a bad thing. And I can see how this year we may have abused our hyperachiever, just to dad, you know? And it did. It brought us to this place of a little bit of like burnout this last month. And I feel like you can hear it in the podcast because every episode says, I'm so tired. I'm so tired. Like we just saw it. I meant it every time. You know, that just need to get put down for a nap. If you don't swaddle me and put me down for a nap right now, I'm gonna just keep whining. Um and I I I hear that in in these past episodes. And I really do attribute that to the fact that we we didn't celebrate, you know, enough and that we just allowed our hyperachiever to continue to achieve for us. And I'm so proud of her. Thank you. Thank you for giving me this amazing year for me to review. But like you said, and like you said, it took me back. It took me back to last December when we were building the spreadsheet, when we had an idea what we were gonna do for our business, but we were at a crossroads. We were at this point in our business where we were actually pretty low. And it was a matter of like, this business has to work this year, or this business might not be a business next year. That was a real question. And and we we made the hard choice. We decided to bet on ourselves. We said, no, we can do this, we can sit on this couch as much as we don't want to, and we will build the spreadsheet and we will make up numbers because it's all made up, anyways, and we'll figure it out as we go. And going through that spreadsheet 12 months later wasn't even so much of seeing the numbers on the spreadsheet, it was just seeing it filled in, period. Yeah, it was seeing that I worked that spreadsheet all year. I sat on that couch and resentfully built that spreadsheet and told myself that this is gonna have to work, or else you're not gonna have a business. And then I made it work. We have to be proud of that. There are so many people that face that and go in a completely opposite direction, and we didn't do that, and we have to be proud of that, and we can't be ashamed. I don't want to be quiet, and I don't want it to sound boastful, but I also am not gonna be quiet about what I did this year because I surprised myself, I took myself to a whole nother level that I didn't even know I was possible that it was possible for me to accomplish it, but the numbers don't lie, right? And like that's another piece where it's so it's so easy to forget. It's so easy to move forward and do the next event and do the next event. So for us to take this time and actually look at each one, whose core memory did we make in 2025 and relive every single one of those?
Barb:Talk about them. Oh, do you remember this? Do you remember that?
Lyssa:Oh, that's my very oh my God, I forgot we did that one, or like, you know, especially because everything just kind of blends together. It it was like, oh yeah, that was this year, right? Like I did just do that, or that was at the beginning, and I forgot we did that in January, and like all these things that I was just like, wow, what a rich life. Like what consistency, what discipline, what hard work you put in to make your business work. And then the cherry on top was that it worked. It worked so damn good. It worked so damn good, right? You're fucking delusional until it works. And I think that's what it is, is this whole time I've felt just oon ching ching delusional. You know, just enough. Just enough to, you know, there's still always that little seed of doubt that is like, are you gonna do this? Are you a real business owner? And now I can say this December, I'm a real business owner. I'm a profitable business owner. That's sexy again.
Barb:I'm a profitable business owner. Business owner. How cute is that? So our listeners are like, holy shit, these girls, let's go. And right, there's no gatekeeping here. Yeah. There was a lot of work that had to go into achieving what we've achieved in 2025. Yeah. And we're here to like share that. Because if I can do it, I believe you can do it too. Okay. I believe anybody can do it. You just have to have the right mindset. You have to have the right tools and you have to have the right people. Yeah. And that is exactly what we did. Yeah.
Lyssa:That was the secret sauce. Our secret sauce was the next level retreat in 2024. Um, that's really what it was. And if you haven't, you know, listened to our episode with this year's retreat, you should go back and listen to that one too, because just what a game changer these retreats are for our business. But it was in 2024 where we came across two amazing people that changed the trajectory of our business this year. And one of them, Miss Christy Mitchell with Marketing Uncomplicated. Uh, we were actually just on her podcast. We were on a podcast. I know. I'm like, wait a minute, tangent. I want to talk about that first.
Barb:We were on our first podcast. And I was so excited. I told Jeff. He's like, so what are you guys doing today? I was like, I'm gonna be on a podcast that's not mine. Yeah. He's like, oh, okay.
Lyssa:I'm excited to be on this podcast. Like so freaking excited. It really was the highlight of our day for sure. It was my favorite thing on the calendar. And it was so much fun. It was definitely very different. It was funny. I found myself a couple of times, like losing my train of thought. And then I was like, if this were my podcast, I would just call myself out. Thomas I'm a stupid. And I just I'm so dumb, I forgot my train of thought. I was like, but I can't do this. Like, this is somebody else's podcast. I have to be like professional, you know? So, yep. That part was fun. Um, and it made me also like appreciate our podcast, you know, because the lax and like easy slow that we have.
Barb:A hundred percent.
Lyssa:Like, I need that because I lose my train of part of the charm. Um, so like I I know that there are gonna be a couple spots where I am gonna remind myself like that's the part where you completely lost it because you didn't even end your sentence the same way you started it. So I can't wait to hear it back. Um, but it was, it was like it was the highlight of my day. I thought that was really cool. We've done a hundred at that point, 115 episodes of our own podcast and and still with other people as well. But regardless, it's still been our podcast, our rules, our mics, you know? So it was her.
Barb:And we had to give that up when we like logged into somebody else's. It was so fun, so much fun and so freaking amazing to share the story of how her help changed our business and has grown us as business owners and has opened the door to so many beautiful things that happened this year, all because we met her at a retreat and we connected and we told her the truth. Hey, we need help with marketing. And she's like, hey, I do that.
Lyssa:I'm gonna teach you that. And then I was like, no, no, no, no. We want someone to do our marketing. And she said, No, no, no, I'm gonna teach you how to do it. Right. And again, those two girls in December that were the saddest girls they'd ever been because they were at that true crossroads and like really trying to make sure that they were making the right decisions for their business because they wanted their business to succeed, you know, they had to, they had to take that leap. They had to trust that if I learn how to market my business, right, this is gonna be beneficial for me. I'm gonna invest in us. That was something that I told her on her podcast, right? She, you know, markets herself as make this investment in your business, but it really wasn't. When you are procuring, right, a service from someone that is going to teach you knowledge, like that is not an investment in your business. That is an investment in you, in your brain, and what you receive from that. And so, like, that to me just hits totally different than making an investment in my business. While, of course, I want to do that. Making an investment in me just changes the game. It changes your mindset. It helps you focus and move forward in the right direction that you want to go. And I think that was really important to, you know, get us where we needed to be. We needed to get our mindset straight. We were at this little bit of a low point where we're like, okay, we gotta go up, we gotta get our minds right. We gotta make sure that we're doing the right thing for our business. And in order to do that, we have to be right. So that honestly, you know, after going back and forth with it in the end became a no-brainer. It was the best investment that we made for ourselves this whole year.
Barb:And we saw it tenfold because after we learned what we needed to learn, we went to straight into implementation. Yeah. And just like the hyperachievers that we are, we learned and we implemented and we achieved. And I believe that it was a direct correlation to our marketing. Yeah. Once you learn how to market your business, yeah, that is like every small business's dream is a marketing plan that actually works. Yeah. And we have a marketing plan that actually works.
Lyssa:Four and a half years later, who knew? It took a little bit of time, but it is, and it and it's that ROI. It's seeing it work. It's saying, oh, okay, this happened specifically because I worked with Christy, specifically because I invested in myself. I invested in my business. I took the time and the energy to put all of this work in. We had so many meetings last December. There was so much deep diving. And our heads would hurt after those. Like we would have we were just like constantly thinking about just so many things about the business, working on the business. Really, we were deep in there, like in our garage phase, I feel like, is what that felt like. We were just working hard and trying to be like, what is homemade? Who is our ideal client? Who are we talking to? Who do we want to work with? You know, like we had to answer the hard questions to get here. And I'm glad that we took that time. I'm glad that we made that choice to do the hard work up front because I, like you said, I see the investment tenfold back into our business. And now I see it, you know, coming now into slate. It's changing. And it's changing because we have that knowledge to now move this strategy into any business that we have. So it's it's just priceless.
Barb:It's the confidence, right? We move with different confidence in this December versus last December. And it is a direct correlation to the fact that we worked with her and we got clear. Yeah. And we got our strategy and we got our plan. And that was a huge component for us to be sitting where we are today on this beautiful Christmas Eve. So that was our one cool thing. We went on a podcast. If you want to know more, you can obviously listen to her podcast. We'll link it in the show notes. All the things. Um, I can't wait to listen to it either because again, it's my first podcast. And yeah, so go listen to that one because I'm sure it's gonna be great. Of course, there's lots of other nuggets that people can use. You never know.
Lyssa:And then Miss Ray Ann Lockettina herself, the integrated entrepreneur. Meeting her at that retreat changed us as people. It changed our business and information. It has changed our lives. This book changed our lives. I can't. I don't want to make it sound like I'm trying to sell you on it. You know what I mean? Because like it's not that I just really want you to drink the Kool-Aid. I just drink the Kool-Aid. Like, it's the best Kool-Aid I ever tasted because it truly is holistic. It's not just about you being an entrepreneur, it matters that you're integrating all of the different hats that you wear. You are so many different things to so many different people, and you also are someone to yourself, and you have to honor those things. You have to look at your life holistically. And I can see how before this book, we were doing it and not doing it because there is a level of doing something, and then there's a level of doing something with awareness. And that's what changed for us this year. We read this book, we ingested it, we ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sure did. Even snacks. You know, I was just taking it in as much as I could. And I found myself in real time implementing these things. Doing the exercise. The moment that it was in my bread, I in my brain, I couldn't unhear it. I couldn't unknow it. And so now I have this awareness of how this works. I can no longer operate the way that I used to operate because now I have a new understanding of the system that I have in front of me. I understand that I need to care for myself holistically in order for me to show up the way that I want to show up in this world, whatever that may be. And I think it is, right? A lot of people see like the integrated entrepreneur and they're like, oh, well, if I'm not an entrepreneur, then it doesn't apply. And it's just so far from that. It is so far from that. Again, because she comes at this with such a holistic approach, this is for any person who wears multiple hats. It is for any mom. It is for any dad, it is for any business owner. It is for any, you know, anyone in corporate. Like if you care about yourself, that's bottom line. If you care about yourself on the inside, your inner self, your outer self, then this book is for you. And this book will change you because it will bring to light so much awareness that you can't unknow. And then you will now move forward in your life in a completely different manner that's only going to help you spiral upward. Because that's the whole point. And she gave the word. I didn't, I didn't know transcendence before Ray Ann. And now I understand the word. And we transcended this year in a manner that I don't know would have been possible if I didn't know what transcendence was. If I didn't have that awareness, if I didn't have the knowledge, if I didn't have the workings and the teachings and her academy to keep us on pace, to keep us consistent, to keep us disciplined. I can't say that I would not have also been like, yeah, no, I'm too tired for that today.
Barb:Yeah. So I want to talk about that because we met her and Christy in October of last year at the retreats and instantly, like, we bought the book there. We ingested there's so many episodes in the past about us talking about different chapters and different ideas, different concepts. And I think it was like in November, early December, where she launched this academy was happening for the first time. And I remember seeing it on Instagram and then immediately telling you, I want to win that. Like she was raffling off a free tuition. And everything inside of me, everything inside of me said, You just need to be there. You need to do that. Yeah. It's going to be hard. It's a whole year commitment, right? Like all the things came to my head. And still in my gut, I knew we needed to do this. I had no idea what it was, but I was all the way in on it.
Lyssa:At that point, we had already read the book. At that point, we we had already read the book. So then we're like, oh, this academy, something that we're gonna be able to have for a whole year long of knowledge that's specific to this book. Yeah, sign me up. I'm in there.
Barb:And the powers that be, the universe universing, gifted us with the very thing that we asked for and needed. We started this academy in January, with again, no knowledge because we didn't know. Yeah, we don't know what we know. And it ended up being the exact thing that we needed. Period. It's the exact thing that we needed. We needed a container where we learned things, we were challenged on things, and we had the space to affirm all of the things that we have been doing right for so long because we didn't give that to ourselves. Why? Because we're mean, we're really mean to ourselves. And I'm sure other people are mean to themselves too. So like you are not alone. We were really mean. And we don't like to give ourselves credit. We don't like to say nice things. And this academy, more than anything, I feel like I'm taking away this sense of I am good at this. I know what I'm doing. And as long as I have people that are going to help keep my structures in place and keep my mindset where it needs to be and have all of the right tools, I'm going to be good at this forever.
Lyssa:Yeah.
Barb:I'm never not going to be good at this.
Lyssa:Yeah, no, it becomes a rinse and repeat. I think the the biggest lesson, not the biggest lesson, maybe the biggest lesson. We'll see. Uh it's still not over yet. We still got a couple more, you know? Maybe the biggest lesson is yet to come. Um, but a takeaway for sure for me is that your inner circle matters. Who you are surrounding yourself with, who you are sharing your business ideas with, who you are trying to grow next to, it matters. And to be in this container, to be in this inner circle amongst like-minded business owners who are also drinking the Kool-Aid and trying to transcend and grow their business and better themselves and be better people on this earth to put out more good into this world, that's who I want to be around. That's who I want to surround myself with. That's who I want to take advice from for my business because that matters too. I don't want to take advice from Mr. Walmart. Yeah, I don't want to be like you. I don't want his business advice. You know what I mean? But the people inside of this group, inside of this container who also have the same understandings and beliefs and passions that I do, yeah, those are the people that I want to be around. And to be gifted with that. I didn't know that before. I didn't know that in January. I didn't know how much that mattered. I didn't know how important it was, not just to the business, but to me. And now in December, I see exactly how important that is. And to be in this inner circle and to know that we have these people. Like you said, I'm I can do this forever. I am seen and supported in this realm of integrated entrepreneurs. Yeah, we can all do this together forever. So, like, let's do it together forever.
Barb:So let's do the thing, right? And this is again, not salesy, right? We're not getting sponsored or like anything like that. But this is truly what has this year in review, yeah. Our projection meeting that we had the day after. There is no denying that being a part of this group, being a part of this container and drinking this specific Kool-Aid has directly impacted our business in a positive way, has directly impacted the fact that we are a profitable business now. And I'm not boasting and I'm not doing it to like say that I'm better than anybody, but for the first year ever, yeah, I made a profit. Yeah. And that's worth saying out loud. That's worth celebrating. And I couldn't have gotten here if I didn't have this year of this training, of this coaching, of this container. So just so fucking grateful. Yeah. So grateful to her and to John and to everyone that has had a hand in crafting what this academy ended up being. Yeah. Because it was exactly what we needed.
Lyssa:Absolutely. And and I loved, you know, this was the first year of the academy, and I look forward to so many more, you know, years of it existing because I think it is exactly what entrepreneurs need. I think it is the perfect tool and resource to help you move forward. And yeah, I just I can't say enough good things about it because it it changed our business.
Barb:And I remember, I remember telling her, like, I'm gonna be the best student. Oh, you don't even know what you did. Right when she told us that we won. I I made that promise, like, I'm gonna, we're gonna make you so proud. Right. Because like I'm all the way in on your Kool-Aid, dude. So like I'm gonna make you so proud. I'm gonna show you that what you have done works. And we set out to be the star pupils. And we did.
Lyssa:We did it. And I think that's another reason why it's so important to talk about all the accomplishments, right? Because that is it's the social proof that these coaches need, right? Let's be honest. This comes with a hefty price tag, right? It's not cheap to have a business coach, period. And these are things that you really have to ask yourself, is this worth investing in? And the only way to know is to do it, is to go through it, take what you can get, and at the end, do a year in review and find out, did I do all the things that I wanted to do in the beginning of the year? All of these goals were they met? Am I happy now with the trajectory that the year took? All of these things, you have to talk about them because that's how these coaches know that they did what they came here to do, that they're accomplishing their goal as well. If we don't tell them, hey, guess what? You took me from not making a profit to making a profit. You took me from not paying myself to paying myself in one year. You have to know that so that way you can know that you did a really good job. Yeah, keep doing that. You're good at your job, you know, and I think that that's so important. And I want to scream it from the rooftops because there is such a gift in coaching, and the best coaches are gonna tell you that it's only the student that matters, you know, because you have to be teachable. And yes, but as two little girls that were bred to be teachers' pets, like this has just been everything. And it's because, again, right, like I said in the beginning, I just want to be the best for me, the best that I know I can be. And when there is someone that believes that I can also be the best that I can be, you know, like I'm gonna achieve. I'm gonna achieve for myself what I'm also gonna achieve for that other person. And they deserve to know that that's appreciated and recognized. And, you know, it doesn't go unnoticed. It's not taken for granted. I am so grateful that you believed in us, that you believed in our business.
Barb:You just let us be a part of the table, ma'am. I'm just happy to be here. So grateful to be here. So, yeah, in summation, that that's kind of what we're holding space for this week is being very, very, very proud of the hard work that we have put in for the community that we have surrounded ourselves with and for the I don't wanna, I don't think it's confidence. I think it's gusto. I feel like gusto is a good word. Exactly gusto. For the gusto to chase our dreams, yeah, even if it's scary. Yeah, right. That mindset of I can have anything. I'm the girl that can have why not? Why not me? Why does it have to be that girl? It can be me too. Yeah. And we're living in it and we're holding space and we're celebrating. And on Friday, we're going out on a celebration date. Yeah, we are. And I can't wait because I have been dying to go to this place. And we've made some really big promises to ourselves and to our business. And I, if this is what we did in 2025 when we were learning, yeah, I can't even with 2026 when we're like novice or intermediate. You know, or the next level.
Lyssa:The next level, all of all of the above. I'm gonna say D, all of the above. But yeah, no, I think I think you said it all. I think it is just, you know, moving into the new year and having that reflection of everything that we have done and accomplished, and just really being proud of that and getting getting to move forward into 2026 with such a drive. A different kind of drive. Every year it's something new, you know? And last year we moved with intention. It was set in the very beginning that we were gonna move forward with the intention to make our business work. It fucking worked. So good. Worked so good, and now you know, we get to set a new intention for 2026. And and I can't wait. I can't wait to to do this all over again because this was this was a great year.
Barb:It's exactly what I want my life to be. Mm-hmm. Right next to you, party.
Lyssa:Every day, every single day. Oh man, all right. Well, we hope you guys enjoyed your holiday. Um and you know, you're taking all the time to to pour into you. It's important. It really is. So, this is the part where you're gonna do all the things. You're gonna like and follow and subscribe. You can follow us on Instagram and YouTube at Marks and Mindset Podcast. And if you're local to the ROC and you wanna party with us at Homemade Events ROC. Until next time. Bye! Why did I just whisper that? What the fuck is that about?
Barb:Because it's late.
Lyssa:It's so it's so late, it's like now 5 30.