Wake Up With Marci

You learn who you are by doing. You will not learn by thinking, only by experiencing. You know, and that’s what scares people. They just don’t jump into action. And the thing is who you are also changes with seasons, right? So, it’s very normal to like I had my midlife crisis at age 40 just on the clock. Yeah. And I look back and I go, this is such a gift to me because it’s not that I am a crisis. This is a personality crisis of who I am. This is a crisis as of me becoming someone else. And the season has changed and I need to change with the season. I need to find that new season. This is Wake Up with Marcy, a space for honest conversations about healing, recovery, and women’s wellness. I’m Marcy Hopkins. Take a breath. You’re safe here. Let’s begin.

We spend so much of our lives chasing success. But what happens when you get everything you thought you wanted and it still doesn’t feel right? From the outside, everything can look successful. I’ve been there. The career, the accomplishments, the life you work so hard to build, and yet inside, internally, something feels off. A disconnect, a quiet question. Is this really who I am or just who I’ve learned to be? I’m Marcy Hopkins, author, TV host, motivational speaker, and mental health advocate. And this is Wake Up with Marcy, where we have honest conversations about healing, identity, and what it really means to live a life that feels aligned. And today, we’re talking about what happens when success is no longer enough. My guest today has lived a life most people couldn’t imagine. By the age of five, he was already a refugee. By seven, he had lived in four different countries. And by 21, he had witnessed a military coupe, a civil war, and the fall of the Soviet Empire, not from a distance, but in real time. And by 25, he had built a global personal brand from the ground up, reaching millions across 15 countries as a recording artist, entrepreneur, and a leader. But what makes his story so powerful isn’t just the success. It’s what he discovered along the way. The achievement alone doesn’t create the fulfillment. And that real impact comes from living in alignment with who you truly are. Today, through his work with Exponential Life, he helps leaders build lives and personal brands that are rooted in purpose, clarity, and truth. Welcome, Christian, to Wake Up with Marcy. Marcy, thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure.

It’s incredible to have you. and you have such a story and I I really appreciate you coming on wake up and sharing with us about it and getting vulnerable and you know one of the things like you went through so much right and we’re we’re always chasing this idea of success and that can look different for for a lot of us but about the accolades and where we are in in our success and the money and all those things, but is that really what’s bringing us happiness? Right? That’s what we’re going to talk about today. And I can relate so much to that. And and you obviously went through so much and you built this empire. And you yourself were not finding happiness through that. So what was happening for you at that time? you’ve hit it big and and now you’re not feeling aligned or happy. What What was happening for you? I say this to people often. May you find success early and be early disappointed so you can find true success because you did find it early though. How did you find it so early? Yeah, it was I was in my mid20s. I was, you know, it was a combination. It was obviously talent and hard work and effort and luck. lots of luck. You know, I’ve dreamt of being a musician since before I even started in earnest. Most of us have dreams that we don’t pursue for a while just because of fear and self-doubt and all of those things. And there was just a time, a moment in time where I said, “Okay, I’m going to go for it.” And I could go a much easier route professionally because I had a degree in economics. I graduated from college. I worked for about a year in the economics sort of field in trade, international trade. And I was just the dream just wouldn’t go away, you know, and I knew that it was virtually impossible, right? The odds are way way against me, you know, 1% maybe makes it actually less than 1% probably. When I went after it with all of my might and I just sort of, you know, jump off a cliff. It actually did come early, fairly early, within a year and a half or something like that. I was on national television and record contracts and it just completely blew up. When you’re all in, yeah, things can actually happen quite fast. The problem often times is that you’re not all in for a while, you know? You sort of dabble, right? And that was that was me. I I dabbled for maybe five, six years before I went all in. And I think that’s like there’s an insight there. I think somewhere you have an image of success that basically fits into the deep down desire you have. So for me it was acceptance. I think it was it was music but also there was there were some selfish motives and I think that’s one insight for people. Why are you doing this in the first place? Right? I wasn’t just doing it for music and although I loved and still love music. I’m a creative through and through. But a lot of it had to do with okay, I want to make sure that I people love me and accept me because I was a refugee. Yeah, that was a fame is not the answer for acceptance. That’s the problem. So it’s a misfit, right? So you can hit it big. You have millions of people buying your albums. You’re entertaining million tens of thousands live and millions through media. And acceptance is not something you feel. You feel more isolation for example, right? That’s one of the things that people feel a lot and that pursue fame or some sort of public thing and that was you know yeah I was it was not enough. Yeah.

Well, it’s interesting you say that because we are seeking that validation and generally we are seeking validation because there’s something missing, right? Or Right. So, we weren’t getting something in our younger years. And and also there’s a lot of people out there that look at people that have hit it big and have the success and and like you said, you know, in in front of millions and they don’t really feel sorry for that person, right? They don’t understand how fame brings this loneliness and isolation, right? I think a misnomer is that oh they they certainly can’t feel lonely because everyone wants to be around them. So what would you say to that person that is from the outside looking in like well you have all of these things how how could you feel lonely? How could you not feel fulfilled? I would say that fame makes you less connected actually. You know, it’s it’s very isolating. Leadership in general actually makes you isolated. Success makes you isolated. If you’re standing out of the crowd in whatever way, talent, achievement, wealth, that isolates you automatically. So, uh it it’s just the price you pay, right? And uh fame is one of those things. And um I think it’s really primal for us to look at somebody who has gone beyond the normal quote unquote simultaneously wish we had some of that and completely lack of empathy towards those people all at the same time you know we can admire and also you know take them down in our minds and hearts. Yeah, absolutely.

And and there’s something you said and I think a lot of us can relate with this is you dabble for a while but then you’re all in. So what would you say more of like dabbling would be right because a lot of times I think people can think they’re all in but they’re really not and and me included. Oh me too. Absolutely 100%. I would say full vulnerability is probably the shift towards allin because if you hold some of you back from the from the thing that you’re pursuing, you can always rationalize failure. But if you gave it all, what does it say about you if you fail? And I think that’s really a major barrier, right? Mhm. Is that you you don’t burn the ships, you don’t invest all of you in the next step, in the next season. that really actually slows you down quite a bit, right? It happens to everybody. It happened to me even in the transition, for example, in the last like four years towards my podcast becoming it was a thing that I knew how to do. I’m comfortable with doing it, but I knew that I had to quadruple the investment of time, energy, and money in create creating the content. And I didn’t until like maybe two three years ago where where I go I know I can do this way better way better and I have no excuse and I I need to decide whether this is the future whether creating content on let’s say on a podcast or YouTube is the future and I say do I answer the how would I answer this question my answer is yes it is the future there’s just no better way to scale expertise right okay so if this is the future future. I need to burn the ships. I need to I need to go all in. And the minute I started going all in, things changed. You know, more people started viewing, connecting, reaching out, you know, the audiences grew, things like that. So, it’s the same thing with music, same thing with business. Yeah. All in.

So, talking about is this who I am, right? For somebody out there, is this who I am, right? Is this really going to be who I want to be and it’s going to fulfill me or just what I’ve learned or or what I think I want to be? How do how do we know the difference? It’s hard to know the difference. You’re right. And I think that’s part of the problem, right? I think there’s a deep knowing in all of us, but we feel embracing the deep knowing. And that’s why I heard somebody say just on a on a video recently for artists. Somebody was doing a lecture for I think it was musicians and they said, “Look, if you don’t create music, you will die. You should leave now. You should not pursue this.” And they’re right because honestly the the dream is always a creative dream. Even if you’re in the business world, even if you’re in the medical field, if you’re of a scientist, right? The it’s basically a creative dream. You are an artist by design and you can be an artist in medicine, in in engineering or business or finance. But creation is basically creating something that was not there yesterday. It’s a method, a framework, a business idea, a service, a type of service, a product. So whatever your background, it’s not even you think of yourself as not creative, you are creative 100%. And the dream is always creative. That’s why it scares you. because you are called from the inside out to create something that was not there yesterday, you know. Oh, I love you said that. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? Yeah. And I can totally relate to that. I mean, it’s happened to me. Yeah. Um and like even I have two books now, one just coming out and I never thought in a million years I’d be an author. It’s through those very difficult times in our lives when we get to the other side of them and we truly like heal from them. It’s then that we can really start knowing who we are and what is going to bring that fulfillment, right? Or what that mission in our life is supposed to be as a lot of people say, right? What is my mission? you know that a lot of people want to leave a a legacy if you will like make a difference in some way and that came to me through this I mean it took me like two years to finally say okay I’ll write the book but yeah very familiar yeah yeah and and even in the beginning that’s what you were saying like you had this dream and desire within you went a different way but then you knew you had to go back to that. I wonder a lot of times because there’s a lot of women that are out there that are trying to start a new chapter in their lives, right? Or uh a young person trying to start out start and and their path to life. And it’s like how can we listen to that internal voice or go back to it? If you’re somebody that’s like now the kids are off and you’re just trying to figure out who the hell you are, right? But there there is a way to get to that and what what would you say to someone out there that is feeling this confusion that how they could connect to that connect to that burning desire that’s really within them.

You learn who you are by doing. You will not learn by thinking. only by experiencing you know and that’s what scares people they just don’t jump into action and the thing is who you are also changes with seasons right so it’s very normal to like I had my midlife crisis at age 40 just on the clock and I look back and I go this is such a gift to me because it’s not that I am a crisis this is a personality crisis of who I am this is a crisis as of me becoming someone else and the the season has changed and I need to change with the season I need to find that new season and sort of my theory is that there’s like especially in the professional lives of people there are four main seasons it’s like just like the four seasons in nature right it’s you’re a student first then you’re a practitioner you’re a student you don’t do the thing you just observe other people doing the thing and you learn about the thing then you become a practitioner out doing the thing and you’re not very good at it because you just started practicing and then you shift to master because you have now become accomplished in the thing and the every season brings completely different desires and what satisfies you is very different right if you’re a student you become a practitioner all of a sudden you’re have grown up money coming in and you go oh my gosh this is the best life ever then very quickly you become dissatisfied because it’s not enough right or you have enough skills that you don’t get you feel like you don’t have enough recognition that’s because you’re now pulling being pulled into the mastery season you know and then you go okay this is not satisfying anymore I was happy 5 years ago. Now I’m not. Eventually you you reach sort of a level of mastery where you’ve hustled and you’ve built something, a career, a business, you know, a body of work. And then even the hustle becomes old because you’re in you’re being pulled into the season of sage. And the sage actually loses the desire to hustle. And this desire to share and to equip and to leave a legacy becomes the main desire. So we change basically you know and in between seasons that’s the most painful era because you’re familiar with the previous season. You’ve mastered it you’re very unfamiliar with the next season. Mhm. But kind of that sage season sounds like the true alignment. So how can we help ourselves to get aligned? Right? Like and I and and I love how you say start as a student but always realize you’re a student also. Yeah. Yeah. You’re always a student at something, right? Yeah. Yeah. So, but for example, if you’re going from mastery, my my main focus is coaching in personal branding. Most of the people that come to me are transitioning from master to sage. Okay. Very simple. Why? Well, because now you have so much expertise, so much to share. and all you’re doing is building and hustling but you’re not sharing and that requires a new skill set. M so you become to become to go from master to sage you need to become a student of what it means to be a sage you know so you enter the student phase within that within that season change from uh from master and basically what you there’s always a skill gap for example so in my field what I focus on people who want to develop a personal brand uh create content uh develop either some sort of impact or income from this enjoying the the perfect align ignment of seasons in the sage season, right? That’s basically the people who come to me and there’s always a skill gap and the skill gap has to do with first of all media. Like I’m you can be a great CEO of a $500 million company and you don’t know how to write a great speech or or write a book or package the things the wisdom that you’ve learned over decades into something that will equip others. That’s a skill gap you know media public media public speaking uh even sort of becoming an artist again in that field in the in the field of creating creating it’s a huge thing because it’s you feel super insecure what if what I have to offer is not in demand what are people going to think am I a YouTuber now really I’m an influencer I’m a CEO what the heck you know so all these all these gaps these barriers are are there and you have to sort of overcome them and be able to answer those questions. Right. Yes. I changing the mindset around them. Right. Exactly. Like look, I have 30 years of expertise. It’s very valuable. It’s brought this and this and this to this world. I want to be able to make sense of it, package it into intellectual property, have some sort of business um model attached to it, and I need to communicate it to the world. For that I need to be a writer, an artist, a communicator. I need to be able to speak publicly. I need to be able to speak into the camera. I need to be eloquent. I need to be able to tell stories. I need to be able to craft the delivery mechanism for my wisdom. All of these things have to be learned. You’re a student of those things, you know, at a at an age where you’re not used to sucking anymore at age like 45. You know, you’ve been good for a long time. You’re respected, right? and all of a sudden you’re terrible at something, right? So that’s that’s a lot of the barrier. People go, I don’t I’m not used of being so bad at something, right? I’ve been good for a long time at the thing that I do.

Well, you’re kind of speaking my language because I used to work in corporate in media. I’ve always been in media and I used to be terrified to talk in a meeting even as a director of one of the um in promotions and because I had no self-confidence is really what it came down to. I had no belief in myself and and I wasn’t doing the things that I needed to do to be the best in my position cuz things for whatever reason they came pretty easily for me I’d say even though life was a struggle it came pretty easily. And so when I started this new venture in my life as far as trying to give back and I’m over 10 years sober and I started my TV show Wake Up with Marcy and became a host and all these things. I mean, I had to teach myself all of those things and and through my healing is when I became connected to myself and and found that trust in myself and that love of myself. And for women, it’s really hard, you know, and and I’m just speaking for women because that’s what I know. And and we’ve been told to be small for so long, right? And then now you’re putting yourself out there. So, I’m constantly learning how to, you know, I get on stages, I do the things that I I do now, and people are like like they can’t even believe that I at one time had a fear of any of it. That’s right. But all I’m I’m I’m trying to master these things to be the best that I can be to be in that sage season. Exactly. And your dream, the fire within. Yeah. Is the fuel that helps you overcome the skill gap, all the things that scare you. Maybe you’re not a you’re not as as good as you could be. Yeah. And you become good at it because it’s the vehicle for your future. It’s the vehicle to live out your life in this season to the maximum of fulfillment and joy and ability, right? And that’s that takes a lot of courage. You know, people always say that I have this fire in my belly, right? That I that that’s something you can’t teach. But I I really wonder if that’s a lot to do with that survival mode that I had to live in for so long. Can would you or could you relate to that? Well, you know, I I I got so much early trauma and there’s an upside to trauma. It’s it’s actually there’s a psychological term called post-traumatic growth, right? Or anti-fragility. It’s the other word. Uh but I had this very unusual my dad was in a concentration camp. I was 5 years old. I remember my first memory is standing outside of it with my mom. just trying to pass food to my dad through a guard, you know, and I think, you know, at age like fiveish, you don’t remember things like that, but I did because I was probably scared. It’s one of those moments that I got imprinted. We were in a refugee facility. We we got asylum in Germany. Then my mom didn’t want to stay there. She went back to Russia. It was the Soviet Union. We lived in a communal apartment, like four people in two rooms. Then, you know, I was sick. I almost died. I got chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. I was in out of hospitals, you know, and then my dad got a job in Africa like I moved to the fourth country by age seven. Yeah. You know, a language, culture, everything, climate, everything is different. And I have to learn all these things at this accelerated rate and and I learned Portuguese. I already spoke Spanish and Russian from birth because my mom’s Russian, my dad’s Chilean. Then they sent me to a local school in Portuguese. Then the next year they sent me to an English school. I learned English. So foreign languages by age nine. That’s a lot of trauma. You feel very insecure for a long time. On the other side of trauma is uh uncommon abilities, right? So your struggles, your the the trauma that you had also gave you the gift of the fire in your belly. Perhaps maybe a resilience that other people don’t have, creativity other people don’t have. Uh for example, for me, I am a a better entrepreneur because I have a high tolerance for risk, you know, also a high tolerance for suffering because I’ve suffered. I’m like, you know, like I’ve lived like I’ve slept in the kitchen in a onebedroom apartment in the Soviet Union in high school, right, for years. And there were like lines for food and basic things like toilet paper. It was just horrible. So anything I do now, you know, being in the states for 21 years and starting different companies, some of them failed. Like the worst case scenario doesn’t even compare. So I’m like, this is nothing, man. You know, I can jump off a cliff. Yeah. Yeah. So what what changed for you? Meaning what are you doing today exactly? And how did you move into that?

I am in the sage season for sure just like you are. Um my main focus is coaching and in personal branding specifically because it’s sort of this combination of you want to go from master to sage and you have this treasure trove of expertise and life experience and you need to be able to communicate it well and you need to use the platforms of that give you the better chance to reach as many people as possible than ever in the history of humanity through the internet and in the media that we have now. and you need to learn those skills. So that’s basically my focal point. And the reason the main sort of core reason why I love doing what I do is that I realized I had I had a I had a mentor when I was 26. I literally had a number one hit in the country and 15 different countries. And then I had this personal crisis. I was clinically depressed. And I had this guy who was a Canadian pastor who became a mentor of mine. And he fixed the things that in me that were very very weak. And what I really what that gave me for the rest of my life is this clear thing. And we actually even started with that when we have these people who are ultra successful in something. Most of the people around people like that are intimidated by them and I’m not because I I am them. Yeah. And I know their pain and I feel the empathy. And remember how you said people don’t feel enough empathy? I do. Yeah. Yeah. Because I’ve been there, right? Yeah. And I also know that you can be in the top 1% at something and be in the bottom 1% at something else. 100%. And if you don’t if you don’t fix the bottom 1%, that 1% on top doesn’t matter. Mhm. So, I love helping people with the bottom 10 1% so they can explode into the world with the the gifts that they have to offer to others. That’s why I do what I do. Yeah. No, I totally can relate to that. And I was listening to um something that you put out about the loneliness and I think that well I think it’s an epidemic for so many, right? But for sure, but for you focusing on that top 1% and and somebody making an impact in in your life at that at that stage in your life, right? Like so how are you building relationships when you are reaching a a very high level in whatever it is you’re doing? Right? So allowing to yourself to have these deeper more connected relationships with people so you don’t feel that loneliness and and also like a mentor I think people struggle with like even understanding the importance of a mentor you know all all of human life like for most of history we’ve learned only through apprenticeship as human beings like we’re hardwired for that actually the education the learning that we have now. It’s only like 200 years old and it was basically the product of the industrial age. So they put you in a class like a conveyor belt and teach you to be a cog in a machine. Period. That’s basically what happens. And what we think that’s normal because we don’t know anything else. But for thousands of years the the only way to learn was to be mentored by somebody. You you were just became an apprentice of a carpenter. Yeah. Right. right? Or whatever, you know, or a sheep herder or or a Pharisee, a rabbi, you know, and you followed them around and you did what they did and they told you what to do and you learn by doing. So, I think we’re all conditioned to learn by doing and because we have been taught a very different learning way. We don’t learn very well, you know. So, finding a mentor, being coached by someone is learning by doing. Mhm. And you just find somebody who is um ahead of you in something. They don’t have to be ahead of you in everything. You know, I coach people that are way more financially wealthy than I am. So, I I can learn from them in that area, but they can learn from me in the area that I’m that I am a master in, you know. And to the loneliness point that you make, I think it’s very true is that look, if you want to even get break out of your present state into a future that you desire, unfortunately, that means you’ll have to lose some relationships because people are intimidated by someone who wants way more and they’ll either sort of not support you or actually oppose you and tell you you’re, you know, out of your mind. and you already you’re already fighting through self-doubt and and resistance and all this stuff. So, you know, they they drag you down and surrounding yourself with people who believe where you’re going and actually maybe they’re going in the same direction. Yeah. So, that’s what masterminds are so powerful actually in real life is that oh, these these people are just like they’re wired like me. They have the fire in the belly just like me. They can’t they’re restless just like me. They take risks just like me. I feel more normal. I feel less lonely. you know, and that’s how you manage with that. And you can do it in masterminds. We have a group uh I have a group that I meet with. I’ve met with them for years and years and years and they’re all couples and they’re all really really good what they do in different areas and we meet every Monday night. Yeah. And you know that’s like that’s a commitment right because you’re life get life happens and you know a on a Monday night any given Monday night most of us are like exhausted from the day right. Yeah. Exactly. But we still show up because we don’t want to be disconnected from people that build us up, you know. Got to It’s so true. The people you surround your yourself with. Yeah. Exactly. It makes all the difference in the world. And I think through through these stages, just like you’re talking about and you’ve mentioned, like we change the people that we surround ourselves with. And I think it’s important, it’s vital that you do that. and know that it’s okay. People come into your life. I believe this holy. People come into your life for a reason. I had trouble growing up because I moved like every two years and it was very hard for me to build relationships with people. That’s something I’ve had to learn and grow in as an adult because I just felt people were replaceable, right? Because I didn’t know how to connect. I didn’t know how because when once I connected with anybody then it was taken away from me. So, you know, that’s something that I’ve I’ve had to learn and and understand who’s worth putting the effort into and who’s not necessarily right. They maybe they’re coming in for a lesson and you got to let them go. Or just because you had a friend from a long time ago, it doesn’t mean that that person needs to stay in your life or even a family member, whatever. I I just can very truly relate to feeling a disconnect with people and it happens. It’s probably one of the most painful things about growing and aspiring to things. Yeah. And I don’t know. I think people also just from my perspective as a woman, I’m like I don’t look at myself any different. I I know that I can be more driven at things and and I have to always be doing but it does intimidate people that don’t feel the same or not doing the same. It’s some it somehow feels like just your presence your mere presence and your attitude towards life makes people feel sometimes I don’t think it makes them feel they decide to make to to have to feel those things. Yeah. It’s something inside them, right? It’s not it’s not you. It’s not you obviously, you know, it’s really like, you know, and and and they sort of I don’t think consciously, but unconsciously they blame you for that. That your your mere presence makes them feel bad about themselves, you know. You know, so it’s just it’s just true, you know. So, you know, and you don’t want to be that person, but look, it’s not I’m not trying to do that, right? I want to be around you. I want to be your friend. Yeah. And yet you’re uncomfortable with me. And then you know it becomes a little toxic. It it’s very common. It’s very common. It is very common.

Well, tell us about exponential. Well, exponential is is essentially a coaching program. We help people build their personal brands. And it’s basically most people like there’s no age limit, early age limit or anything like that. But I think if you’re if you have expertise, if you have achieved something and you want to reach more people and be known for something, that’s basically what we do. both on the personal side and also on the creating how to create cont. not only how to create content, but we at some point can come in and fractionally create this content with you and for you, which is a lot of help because it sort of helps people close that skill gap that I talked about earlier, right? Yeah. Because it’s like three or four, five, six skills. Maybe you can take care of two or three, but you’re not going to take care of six quickly. So, it helps when somebody comes alongside of you and and does some of this work with you and you tell tell your stories to the world. And that’s the thing. I think thankfully people are getting more comfortable with being vulnerable and telling their stories because it’s like that’s one of the things that I fight for is taking the stigma out of addiction and trying to help people to understand that this is a disease and and normalize that conversation because within anything if we normalize the conversation we will find the help needed and and know that we’re not alone in it in what and we’re all going through the same stuff right in in some capacity. So recognizing that you do have something to give and through your voice through your story and then creating this brand and now with AI I mean there’s so many things happening at such a fast rate. Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. Like it’s insane. Yeah, it is insane. And and it’s okay to adapt, right? And it’s okay to to receive the help and understand that there are people out there that can help you do this and you don’t have to do it all on your own. Like somehow I don’t know why. And listen, I do it myself sometimes. I’m like, I can figure it out. I can do it, you know? But it’s it’s um it is important to let somebody help you that’s an expert. You’re an expert in one field. Yeah. There’s experts like you in the other field. And like you said, closing that gap. That’s exactly it. And and you’re and the thing is the the era of rapid change is about to go completely supersonic with AI. I mean, we have no idea of the impact it’s going to have. But the one sure thing that helps will help you regardless of where you are is building a personal brand. Because a personal brand is by definition a category of one. And if you’re known by enough people who trust you and want to work with you and listen to you, you are completely AI proofing yourself. You know, because there’s an upside to the to AI. It’s an incredible the abilities that you can have, you become an exponentially more productive person. I use AI every day all day. Right. I do too. Yeah. But if you are allowing AI to replace who you are, then you’re then you’re a commodity, right? So a lot of the content for example that people create, it’s just AI slop. And what I teach is how do you use AI to amplify your stories and your expertise rather than replace your stories and your expertise. Yes. And it’s a slippery slope, baby, because it AI makes it look so easy and oh this they they’re doing better than I I can write. No, that’s not true because AI is not human and you are and people connect. People relate to humans. They trust humans. So your lived experience is the only differentiator. Lived experience plus expertise packaged into media that can be absorbed and received by other people is the way. It’s incredible. It’s incredible. Yeah. And and ultimately that’s how you’re going to connect by being authentic, being who you really are. Yeah. and people see through it and and listen, I know money is important, too. But if that’s the only reason you’re in something like you’re gonna fail. It’s going to fail. Exactly. People need to be able to trust the humanity in you. And if you’re pursuing only one dimension of life, which is money, you’re going to hide that. You You’re not going to be vulnerable. So people are going to trust you less. Yeah. Um so exactly but yeah that’s that’s true. So in the age of AI I really believe that I think personal brand has always been a powerful um amplifier of game changer for somebody who’s has expertise in something to offer like I did my first personal brand was my music career. This was pre- internet right but I discovered the power of it. I think that’s I’m probably better than most at it now because I discovered very experientially the power of personal brand pre- internet. So it’s universally true and valuable. So it’s me as a musician writing songs in my kitchen being super broke you know not knowing where to start and my songs are terrible the content that I create is kind and then it becomes a little becomes a little better and then somehow something shifts because there’s a level of mastery that reaches a demand and it’s it’s just one person writing some songs recording them putting in an album that’s content. Yeah. And then somebody thinks it’s valuable. So they they offer you a record contract that somebody has a distribution uh network which is now social media. You don’t even need record label. Yeah. And the people that buy your at the time cassette. Okay. Yeah. That’s how old I am. Then CDs. Yeah. They show it to their friends and they go, “This is good music.” Yeah. And their friends buy it and then next thing you know, you’re playing a sports arena. That’s the power of a personal brand right there. Yeah. And in life today, it makes it a lot easier to reach the people. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, my god, if you reach them prior, Yeah. you had to be really at the right place at the right time. Yeah. Yeah. And you are you now can be you you have your expertise. You need to need to just believe that you have something valuable. I think that’s part of big part of my job is to helping people believe in the treasure they have and when I help them and when I help them unear that treasure they’re like seriously this is valuable I’m like yes this is very valuable so you some sometimes you need somebody you know to look over your shoulder and go hey this thing you have you think it’s not important it’s actually super important let’s bring it to the center of what you say and what you do and people just light up I love when people light up when you point out that’s something so familiar to them. It’s actually a huge gift they can give to the world. That’s when they light up. That’s when they light up. It’s it’s a beautiful thing to behold.

So, for someone out there that’s watching or listening that feels stuck or lost, maybe they’re not feeling aligned anymore. What would you want them to hear today? If you have built anything, if you have learned something, if you’ve helped enough people, there is enough treasure in you that can be offered to a broader audience. And yes, you will not be good at it at first. But because of that treasure, the value it brings to the world, it is worth learning the skills. It’s worth closing that skill gap because on the other side of it is this extraordinary world of fulfillment and gratitude of the people that work with you or just an audience uh and the trust of so many people that need exactly what you have to offer and you are literally the perfect person for them and no one can replace you specifically. And the chance of reaching those people that are literally praying for somebody like you to show up in their life is worth all the pain, all the effort, all the transition. Yeah, I can relate to that wholeheartedly.

So, what is one truth about success or identity that most people don’t realize until it’s too late? I’m a Christian guy. Mhm. My identity was shaped before I was born. And the more I pursue my identity outside of that identity that was given to me, a dominion, you know, a life’s work, the more I will hurt and fall. The more I pursue the identity that was there before I was born, that I was made for a calling, the more extraordinary over-the-top multiplied success I will I will experience because I’m doing the the exact thing I was designed for. Mhm. So, it’s kind of liberating when when there’s no pressure to create your identity. really it’s a pursuit to find it, to discover it, to remember it at some point. I I believe the same. I believe the same very much so.

So, where can people connect with you? I have a really good newsletter. I I I say good because I put a lot of thought into it. So, you go to my name, if you remember my name, Christian rayflores.com is the newsletter. Um, it’s probably the best one. Look me up on YouTube. That’s probably a good one. Christian Ray Flores there. And if you am the one or.1% of people in the in in the audience who goes, “Oh, I need to be coached by this guy.” Go to exponential.life starts with an X, not with an E, and you’ll find sort of the the gist of it. That’s awesome. I I love it. and I can’t thank you enough for coming on the show and for sharing your wisdom and your story and helping so many out there to find what lights them up and trust themselves. So, it’s so important that we have these discussions and thank you Marcy for finding what lights you up gives me the opportunity to share with you. Thank you. And for everyone out there, thank you for watching or listening. And if today’s conversation resonated with you, please share it with someone who may be questioning their path right now because sometimes the life that looks great on the outside is not the life that brings you that happiness. And also remember that you are worthy of change. You are worthy of happiness. You are worthy of waking up to your purpose. All right, guys. I hope you have an incredible week and I will see you next Thursday with a new episode.