150 Episodes Deep

THIS ONE COMES WITH A GIVEAWAY!!

150 episodes sounds like a milestone, but for us it feels like evidence. Evidence that you can start shaky, say yes before you feel ready, and build real confidence by showing up anyway. We’re celebrating with a fancy margarita and a lot of gratitude, then pulling back the curtain on what 150 weeks of consistency has taught us about entrepreneurship, mindset, and the long game.

We get honest about imposter syndrome, especially the kind that shows up when you look at podcast stats, business numbers, or audience size and wonder if it’s “enough.” Our answer is simple: loyal listeners matter, quality over quantity matters, and the fact that you keep returning is the whole reason we keep bringing the real stuff. That mindset shift changes how we measure success and how we keep going when growth feels slow.

Then we go deeper into vulnerability and the moment Barb realized what it means to “take the armor off” by saying the hard thing out loud. We connect that to the core theme of Marks and Mindset: tiny micro shifts in thought can change your reactions, your relationships, and your entire life. We also talk practical tools like meditation and exercise, not as trendy wellness hacks, but as basic, repeatable practices that help you build a healthier mind so your reality can actually shift.

We’re also doing a giveaway to celebrate you. Listen, then head to our Instagram and comment the word “margarita” on the reel to enter. If this hit home, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a mindset reset, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.

Music Track: Building Dreams by Aylex Source: https://freetouse.com/music Copyright Free Background Music

Transcript

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Celebrating 150 With Margaritas

Barb 0:15

Episode 150.

Lyssa 0:22

We did it. That is so fucking cool to me. It's so fucking cool to say 150 episodes. That's crazy.

Barb 0:31

If we were a TV show, we'd have a huge cake. That said 150 episodes.

Lyssa 0:36

I'm honestly a little disappointed in myself that I don't have a cake for me now. But you know what? This episode doesn't come out for another week. So maybe I will have one then. There is still time. There's still time for cake. I love it. What's in your cup? A margarita. That's right. We back in business. Margaret, right?

Barb 0:54

150. We have to have the margarita to celebrate. But this is a fancy margarita. It is. We reached out to Adrian and said, Adrian, I would like to make the margarita. And she gave me the secret recipe, the crusty crab secret recipe. Yes. And I made my own blueberry oleo sauce. Sauce, not sauce. Sacrum. Sacrum. Delicious. It's so good. So easy. No, it really is. Sugar, fruit, lime, done. Refrigerate.

Lyssa 1:23

And it is such a good compliment. Like I didn't, I don't know. I just never knew that that's how you made that stuff. I thought that everything was just blue dye 40 and high fructose corn syrup, and that's what you got. But like this was real. Like you made a real syrup. And I'm excited. Fancy. Cheese salute 150. Delicious. Blueberry tequila. So good. I love blueberry tequila. It might be my new favorite. I don't even like blueberries.

Barb 1:53

I don't even like blueberries. What is that? I don't know. But when you mix it with sugar, I love them. I think that's what it's missing. If I'm being completely honest, I think that's exactly what blueberries are missing. That many of the other berries have that

How The Podcast Started

Barb 2:05

it doesn't have. So sugar. Okay. Good job. Good job. 150 episodes, partner. 150 episodes of getting on this mic. And let's talk about how hard it was to get on these mics. That first episode. I want to take it back. We've been doing this for so long. And that blows my mind because I remember when this was just an idea. I remember when the idea was like, bing, hey, you should start podcasting. Oh, yeah.

Lyssa 2:32

I remember when you said that to me out loud. And I was like, oh, okay. Sure. That's what I want to do right now. It's just, it's the greatest gift. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift that I didn't know that I needed and I didn't know I wanted. And I do. I want to show up on this mic every single week. I actually was in the car recently and I was thinking about, you know, how we said we're going to take this podcast seriously and we're going to do big things and all this stuff. And maybe there's a shift that could be happening and all of that. And really just trying to process it and figuring out what that means for us. And I thought about our longevity. Like I thought about how many times we have showed up consistently on this mic. A hundred and fifty times. Every week we are here for a hundred fifty weeks. Like that is such an accomplishment. That is no small feat. That that is big and it is worthy of celebration. And to go back and remember how hard episode one was to record. To remember the things that we talked about, to remember the equipment that we were buying, the courses that we were taking, to just go back to Wendy's. Oh Wendy's. Sit on our iPads, watching Keisha get married, like give this masterclass on how to start a podcast and being like, yep, we're gonna do that. We're gonna buy all the things she said that we need to buy, and we're gonna sign up for all the things that she said we need to sign up for. And we're just going to get on these mics and we're gonna talk. And that was the first step, right? Like, you said we were gonna do it. I said okay. And then we just started a masterclass and we're like, let's do it. I guess we can do it now. It's like a fancy YouTube university. So I feel like we're qualified, right? We got something to say. And then we tried to record that first episode, and I was like, wait, what am I trying to say?

Barb 4:46

And that's how I know that we are forever gonna crush entrepreneur life because we put ourselves in some precarious situations sometimes where like my heart is gonna come out of my throat, and we do it anyways, and we do it enough times to where it becomes second nature. Oh, getting on mics now, that's fucking easy. Pop it open, let's go. What we talking about today. Let's spit some game, right? And we we built that muscle. Yeah over 150 episodes, we built the muscle of, oh my God, do I even have something to say? Yeah, right. Into, yeah, let's go. I got something to say. I got something to say. Something just happened. This something just came to me. It's so effortless now.

Lyssa 5:36

It's like in our vocabulary now to literally be living life and experiencing it and be like, I cannot wait until we talk about that on the podcast. I cannot wait to bring that up on the podcast. Like it has just become a part of our lives to now I look for the things that are gonna be on the podcast. I look forward to things that I want to share with all of our listeners. Like I also was thinking about that too, right? Because naturally, as entrepreneurs, like we are our own worst enemies sometimes.

Building The Confidence Muscle

Lyssa 6:10

And like imposter syndrome is so real, no matter how hard you work at it, it's always gonna be present. And it's never about getting rid of imposter syndrome, it's just learning how to not let it affect you and like that refractory period between you feeling like an imposter and you realizing that you're the shit. So I feel like we've gotten really good at that. But I had my moment of imposter syndrome where I was like, well, we've been doing this for 150 episodes consistently, right? Like we want to try and grow, we want to try and do different things with the pod. And like if I go and send our stats to someone, like, are they gonna tell us that like not enough people listen to the podcast? Because like we definitely have listeners. Um, but you know, I'm not not thousands and thousands, you know, of downloads every single month, we're not there yet. And and it did like that moment of imposter syndrome came up. And the one thing that I wanna say, because I think it's so important, that was able to combat my imposter syndrome, and also I want to give our flowers to our listeners because while no, I don't have tens of hundreds of thousands of listeners every single week or every single month or anything like that. We have been so consistent. So the people that listen to us have been listening since episode one. That's crazy to me. It is crazy to me to believe and to to know and to have the data to show that the same person that listened to me on episode one is listening to me on episode 150. And if what? Like, if that is not enough to take in that what we're doing is amazing and that's not enough to tell that imposter syndrome to kick rocks, like I just don't know what is. Like, it is not about quantity, and I feel like that is something that we are we are really leaning into and we're learning how to shift our mindset into this next phase of business for us that there is quality over quantity, and I feel like that speaks way more volumes. So wherever this podcast is going, you can talk about my numbers all day, but at the end of the day, the numbers that I do have are the best fucking listeners on this planet, hands down, no doubt about it. Like, you guys show up for every episode the same way that we show up for every episode, and I fucking love you all for that. So, just like thank you. Thank you for being here because I want to be here and I want to keep showing up, I want to keep spitting my game, and I can't do that if no one listens. But you all listen every single week, and that is so beautiful, and I'm so beyond grateful for that.

Barb 8:55

So, salute to you guys. Salute for being here after 150 episodes.

Lyssa 9:01

Absolutely, and with that, um, we are gonna do a giveaway because I want to celebrate our listeners. So, if you are listening to this, you we are going to post a reel and you're going to comment the word margarita on the reel, and we will then, from those comments, do a giveaway and be giving away some marks and mindset merch, baby! You know we're brand horses. Brand horns in the house, and we're gonna brand up a few different things, and we're gonna put it into a cute little bag for one of our favorite listeners. So, yeah, we're excited. You gotta listen to this episode, you gotta go to the right, you're gonna know which reel it is, but you will comment the word margarita, and you will be able to get entered into a giveaway.

Barb 9:51

How fun.

Lyssa 9:52

It's gonna be great. I can't wait.

Barb 9:54

I love

Imposter Syndrome And Listener Gratitude

Barb 9:55

this. It might make my heart so warm, and I swear, no, it's not the tequila. Maybe a little tequila. We started because we knew we had something to share. We had no idea what we were going to share, right? That unfolded over the course of the last 150 episodes, but we wanted to share our story, our lessons in real time, our growth, and our overall just excitement for life. Yeah. And we've done that beautifully, and we've grown ourselves. We share often that starting a business changed our lives, that we are completely different women than we were when we started the business, when we started this podcast. And that's the power of just walking the path. That's the power of knowing that you have something and just going for it, anyways. And this podcast has made us better humans. Absolutely. This podcast has made us better mothers, better friends, better partners, like you and me better. And I'm forever grateful. Yeah, right. There's that other side of these our listeners listen, and we also share real shit. Yeah. Real life in the moment shit. And that's what we wanted to do. That was the goal. That was the whole idea behind, hey, let's start a podcast. And what are we gonna talk about? All of it. Ourselves and what's going on because the life be crazy sometimes. Yeah. And we did it. Yeah. So much so that I'm gonna be raw and vulnerable. A couple weeks ago, maybe it was like a week and a half. I had the realization that we are actually accomplishing the mission of this podcast. Sharing real things and then watching it grow. We had an amazing massage from Lisa Turtle. Um, we had a follow-up massage because the first 30 minutes was so long. I needed another hour. She hooked me. I needed to get back in. And for the second time, this beautiful soul shared with me that I need to take my armor off. And as

Taking The Armor Off

Barb 12:35

she's rubbing my sore shoulder, she's saying this to me. And then she immediately follows up. Oh, I just felt you tightening it. Like I actually, my spirit was like, What do you mean, take it off? I must put it on tighter. How dare you say take this off? I shan't. And I sat with that because obviously I didn't know what that meant. Like, what do you mean? Take the armor off. I've been doing all of these things, and I feel the change and the shift happening. And I was very confused. Like, I don't know what that means. I don't know what it means. So it was a couple days later. Yeah. And we sat in a woman's circle with Shanna and Melissa. Shout out to them. And I found myself next in line, asking myself, are you gonna say the thing? Are you gonna share? Are you gonna share the thing that is on your heart right now? The thing that is weighing at you, the thing that if you just maybe say it out loud, it will weigh less because then you've heard it and you've had other people to hear it and see you and hold you. So it was my turn. And I said the thing, and I took my turn and I I held my space, did the things. And then it was your turn. Yes, obviously. We're next to each other, right next to me all the time. And you shared how proud you were. I was obviously not the first time that you've shared how proud I am for sharing my feelings. No, but that's a lot of positive reinforcements so that I can keep doing the thing. And I'm gonna fast forward to afterwards that weekend. I sat with myself, right? I said the thing, and this warrior thing was eating at me. And I realized that taking the armor off means sharing the things. It means saying the thing out loud. Whatever the thing is, right? At that moment, it could have been a hundred different things, and I felt the armor not come off completely. I wasn't naked, but it loosened. Yeah, a part fell off, and in that moment hit me with the oh, that's what she means when she said, take the armor off. Is I am safe enough to share what's going on on the inside because there was a version of me that wasn't. There was a version of me that wore the armor for protection, that wore the armor because I couldn't let anybody in. Like you won't break through this armor.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

It is on penetrable, baby. Impenetrable.

Barb 15:43

And that's why we started this podcast is to share moments like this where I saw the change, I saw the switch, I felt the drop, I felt the release.

Lyssa 16:00

150 episodes maybe. I I love that. I love that. That's amazing. And I am going to once again say how proud I am for you to actually say that again on the mics, right? Just more people listen to this than we're in that women's circle, you know. Like you're just getting braver and braver by the day. And I love being able to witness that. You have been a warrior as long as I've known you. And obviously, I get to see you without the armor on. So being able to acknowledge that, I think is I think it's together. Like, I think that's important. Like, yes, you can do it, but I also need everyone else to know how hard that was for you to do that. You know, like I need everyone because to them, they don't know. They don't know the warrior, and they don't know that that was a really hard thing that you just did by sharing yourself. And, you know, there are some people, like I feel like it's easier for me, but I think that had to do with like therapy. You know, I got over that a while ago where I had to just be like, nah, this is my life and this is what I'm going through. I just gotta say it. And so I just feel like I had more practice with that and commending you for that and letting other people know that you're doing really hard things. That's important to me. You deserve to have all the acknowledgement, not just acknowledgement

Mindset Shifts That Change Everything

Lyssa 17:20

for what you're saying, but know that it took a lot for her to say that. And that's important to me. Um, and it is that that's exactly what this podcast is for. It's called Marks and Mindset, and it's really not about the marks. The first hundred episodes, actually, to show you that has nothing to do with the margaritas. It's a small part, it's all about that mindset. It's all about that moment that we realized that something was different in our lives, and we weren't exactly sure how we got there, but we're like, maybe if we follow the breadcrumbs backwards, you know, and we can share these lessons in real time. I recently had something to um come up where I was like, oh, I kind of reacted to that differently than I thought I would. And it actually brought me back to episode three of this podcast. Dude, where's Lisa's car? Um, and if you have not listened to that episode yet, you need to go back because that is a good ass episode. It's a fucking classic episode three. You gotta check it out. Um and you know, in that story, essentially, right? It is the story about how my car was stolen. I was personally victimized by the Kia Boys. My car was stolen right outside of the house. And it was a moment where I realized the shift. I reacted to that situation way differently than any previous version of myself would have reacted to that situation. And I almost didn't realize it at first. It took everyone else telling me, wow, Elisa, you're handling this really well. Wow, Elisa, that's crazy. That's how you're just you're just telling me this. Like you're not, you know, overreacting, you're not crying, you're not screaming, like all these other ways that I probably would have handled my car being stolen. And what a shift. What that was not just a shift in my life. Like, I feel like that was also a bit of a shift in the podcast, even though it was only episode three. Still at that point, we had no idea what the fuck we were doing. We at that point also thought we were gonna be like business focused. It was just gonna be about the business, all these things. And it was like, yeah, no, this is everything to do with us. And being able to share that shift, being able to acknowledge it and allow people to see that it's possible, to see that you can shift your mindset and then shift your entire life, that nothing can change in reality, but everything can change if you change your mindset. Like that is so powerful. And that's essentially the message that we try to give in every single episode as best as we can, because your mind is so powerful, it can do so many things, and you can wield your power for good or you can wield it for bad. We spent a good chunk of our lives wielding for bad because we didn't know how to work with the gifts that we had. And now that we understand them, and now that we understand ourselves and we understand how this works, we understand the ability to change a thought and change our lives, like that is astronomical. And I'm going to continue to show up and continue to talk about it and continue to share the stories and the moments that these little micro changes in just their thoughts are able to change their whole lives. It doesn't take that much. I saw a reel this morning where the guy was like, meditation works, exercise works, they're both free. So if you're saying that something is wrong and you didn't try meditation, you didn't try exercise, then you didn't try. And like that's kind of where I feel like I'm at at this point. We can do all of the plans, we can do all of the diets, we can do all of the things, the fads, we can buy this program and buy that protein mix, and we can do whatever the fuck we want. At the end of the day, if you are not working on your mindset, your reality simply cannot shift. And I love being able to preach that message consistently because I think that it's just it's the foundation that changed our lives, and it's gonna continue to change our lives in any direction that we want because we know how powerful it is and how easy sometimes

Meditation, Exercise, And Simple Basics

Lyssa 21:40

it is.

Barb 21:41

So much so that I meditate now. And this is a recent thing. Yeah, this is not something that it's years back, right? It wasn't 150 episodes ago, it wasn't a hundred episodes ago. This is like too recently in the last few weeks. I've become a Meditator, because I now see the importance. I put myself in circles. We've put ourselves in circles where that's the next evolution, right? I can't go and bite off all of this wellness, yeah. Everything that the wellness space has to offer, because like that's overwhelming. And it has been a gradual over the last five years. We're working on things. And in the short time that I have been a meditator, I get it. I get it now. Before prior, previous versions would make fun of me, would see how that quote unquote can't be real. That can't be helping you. You stopping to take a moment to breathe, to clear your head before you move on to the next thing. How could that possibly help me? Right. I was naive in the thinking, and I had to grow my mindset. I had to grow into the person that could potentially meditate. Yeah. And now that I am potentially meditating, I was like, okay, yeah, no I'm gonna do this every day. I get it right. This is so, this is so great. So now we can sit here and we can share. No, hey, you should definitely meditate and be able to share the real life story of, yeah, I didn't believe it either. I thought that shit was a sham. It's not.

Lyssa 23:27

You should try it. Exactly. You should really give it a shot. And I think that that really is it. At the end of the day, we we want the quick fixes, we want the easy outs, and they don't exist. And sometimes they actually do exist. Because if you think about it, meditation and exercise are so easy compared to all of the other things that you're asking your body and your mind and your bank account to do for you in order for you to quote unquote feel good. So, like, just keep it basic. Like you have to be healthy in your mind in order to be healthy in reality, to be healthy in real life. Like it, it truly starts there. And I can see that now because I gave it that time and that practice to be able to do that and to be able to grow and see the shift. It's not an overnight success. It really isn't. Sometimes it takes 150 episodes before you realize what you want to do on the microphone.

Barb 24:24

I love that you said healthy in the mind because it that hit, right? My tummy said yes. Healthy in the mind. We were unhealthy in the mind, thus being unhealthy in our bodies, in our relationships, in our lives. We had unhealthy lives.

Lyssa 24:40

What a great way to say the truth. Yeah. I know it's a nice way to say what we are. What I was thinking when I was originally thinking of this though, was like, you were a bitch. I got that a lot, actually. I got that quite often. You used to be a bitch. Yeah. But I was. Like I was thinking about it recently. Like, I was mean and not just like mean to others. I was mean to me. I was so mean to myself in my head. How could I possibly be nice to anyone else when I'm mean to myself? So it really was like you were just, you were mean and you were sad and you were angry. And now I see why I felt all those things, right? I'm not shaming myself for feeling those things. All of those feelings were 100% valid. And I was choosing to live in them. And that was the problem. That was the unhealthy part. And since I packed up and moved, and I don't live in those feelings anymore. Now I choose to live in love and in joy and in peace, right? Like now I can see. I can see the little micro shifts that I made, the habits that I had to change, and the the things that had to go and the things that had to stay. And I'm nicer to myself. I'm so freaking nice to myself now. Like sometimes I don't even recognize it because I'm like, damn. Okay, you handled that way better than I thought you would have. Like, I still have those moments to this day because you don't get rid of the prior prior versions of yourself. You know what I mean? They're always there, they're always living, and it just becomes a choice on whether or not you give them the time of day in your mind or not.

Barb 26:21

Look at us. Look at us on episode 150. Episode one, girls had no idea. I can say that with 100% certainty.

Lyssa 26:32

I just remember wanting to shit my pants. That's it. I was just like, I'm gonna shit my pants if I have to get on this mic one more time.

Barb 26:40

And now we do. We come on and we share because it's real. Yeah. And I think if we had more examples of the real messy action that it takes, maybe it wouldn't have taken that long. And maybe it did. And our story took this long because it had to take this long, and things happened this

Community, Wisdom, And What’s Next

Barb 27:05

way. I don't want to change anything because I love where we are right now. Ditto. And if I can help someone get there faster, yes, sign up. You're welcome. Sign me up. Where do we meet? Where do we get coffee? I don't even like coffee. Here's my drink it. Like, let's do this. Because there are lessons that we've learned the hard way that someone else can just avoid. Yeah. And I'm here for that.

Lyssa 27:34

I am here for community. I think one thing, again, like going back to what I was kind of getting to with our listeners as well, is that like they listen. Like we have seen the ripple effect. Our listeners listen. And therefore, I'm gonna make sure that I show up with something of value to give you every single week because that's important to me. The ripple effect is important. Community has always been so important to us. And the fact that we get to show up for our community and help in any way that we can like that's that's all we want to do. That's it. I I want to share my story because I know that you're listening, and therefore I'm going to be honest and I'm gonna be real, and I'm not gonna gatekeep, and I'm not gonna pretend anymore uh of anything. Like I I'm here to be so fucking real, like about it all, and about everything that we went through, everything that we've gone through, and how we've gotten here, how we've been able to do the shift and in business and life, like all the things, motherhood, you know, like I'm just here to share the wisdom because if you want to listen, then I I want to help.

Barb 28:45

We've definitely stepped into the owl. Yes, into the wise wisdom of an owl, and I'm proud of us. I'm proud of us because this is the this was the mission, this was the goal, and we didn't have any kind of roadmap on how we were gonna get there or what that even meant. But we forged the trail. Yeah, and we are doing the work, like actively doing the work in real time over the last 150 episodes.

Lyssa 29:21

There's been work and there's more work to come. And we're doing it.

Barb 29:26

We succeeded. So to our overachiever selves. Salute. Salute.

Lyssa 29:33

Oh, this is a great episode.

Giveaway Details And Where To Follow

Lyssa 29:35

This is fantastic. I love this. Well, I feel like this is a good place to love and leave our friends. Don't forget, you need to go comment that word on this reel so that way you can win some Marks and Mindset merch. Um, so make sure you're following us on Instagram at Marks and Mindset Podcast. You can follow us on YouTube at Marks and Mindset Podcast. And if you're local to the ROC and you want to party with us at Homemade Events ROC. Until next time, bye.

Barb 30:03

We did it! 150.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

150 episodes. Salad. I'm the Livercoal gangster.