Melissa Lanz, award-winning entrepreneur and business coach, takes us inside how she blew up The Fresh 20 meal-planning service, starting with just $2,500 and a kitchen table. 

Ditching the corporate grind to start a business that aligned with her values of connection and community, Melissa achieved financial success and fulfillment. 

To overcome the doubts, fears, and negative input, she says: Block out the noise, listen to your intuition, focus on your goal, and just attack the next three steps. 

Melissa is all about getting scrappy and leveraging your existing resources to bring in the cash flow to fund your next move. Strategic planning, personal audits, and celebrating the everyday tasks build momentum and confidence. 

She coaches you through how to see the value of what you already have and capitalize the opportunities right in front of you. If you're an entrepreneur who wants to take your business to the next level, this is a must-listen! 

TESS’S TAKEAWAYS: 

• Stay close to your mission and values in business and in life.  
• Leverage existing resources to create recurring revenue in your business.  
• Slow down, get quiet, and listen to figure out your next move.  
• Don’t get overwhelmed by the big goal—focus on the next three steps.  
• Making mistakes and learning is a vital part of building a business.  
• Invest in the process and relish the grunt work to build resilience.  
• Go with your gut and make decisions that feel right for you. 
• Have the courage to trust your intuition and own the consequences.  

ABOUT MELISSA LANZ 

Award-winning entrepreneur and business coach Melissa Lanz left a corporate job to launch a start-up with $2500 and her kitchen table. In just two years she grew The Fresh 20 into an 8-figure business dominating the meal-planning space. Next, she launched The Subscription Lab to coach other entrepreneurs to achieve financial independence and flexibility. With almost two decades’ experience in e-commerce ventures, Melissa is a go-to digital resource for individuals and companies to leverage their portfolios and build subscription and membership models. A seasoned chef, she’s also the author of The Fresh 20 cookbook, and enjoys making delicious meals for family and friends. 

CONNECT WITH MELISSA

Join Subscription Live in September:   

https://www.melissalanz.com/subscription-lab-live-2024?am_id=tessmasters605 

Business Coaching: https://melissalanz.com/ 

Build A Membership Program: https://thesubscriptionlab.com/ 

Meal Planning: https://www.thefresh20.com/ 

Cookbook: https://www.thefresh20.com/resources/cookbook/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissalanz/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MelissaBakerLanz 

Meet Tess Masters:  

Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, health coach, cook, and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Perfect Blend, published by Penguin Random House. She is also the creator of The Decadent Detox® and Skinny60® health programs.     

Health tips and recipes by Tess have been featured in the LA Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Prevention, Shape, Glamour, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Yahoo Health, Hallmark Channel, The Today Show, and many others.   

Tess’s magnetic personality, infectious enthusiasm, and down-to-earth approach have made her a go-to personality for people of all dietary stripes who share her conviction that healthy living can be easy and fun. Get delicious recipes at TheBlenderGirl.com.  

Connect With Tess: 

Website: https://tessmasters.com/  

Podcast Website: https://ithastobeme.com/   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblendergirl/  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendergirl/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theblendergirl  

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theblendergirl  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessmasters/  

Get Healthy With Tess 

Skinny60®: https://www.skinny60.com/  

Join the 60-Day Reset: https://www.skinny60.com/60-day-reset/ 

The Decadent Detox®: https://www.thedecadentdetox.com/  

Join the 14-Day Cleanse: https://www.thedecadentdetox.com/14-day-guided-cleanses/ 

The Blender Girl: https://www.theblendergirl.com/  

Thanks for listening!  

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So back in 2010 I decided to move back to Los Angeles, and I just started the blender girl website. But I know anything about food blogging, I certainly didn't know anything about running an online business. So I decided to attend my first conference, and that decision turned out to be life changing for me on so many levels, not only did I learn a ton of things that I still implement in my businesses today, but I met some dear friends and mentors that continue to guide me. So I met Amber Stott from Episode Five, from food Literacy Center, and Andrew Wilder, who you'll meet in an upcoming episode. And I met Melissa Lanz, who I'm talking to today. So Melissa was giving a presentation on subscriptions and memberships and how to leverage your content to create recurring revenue. And it was a fantastic presentation. But what was even more impressive was the Q and A session after the presentation, when I watched her interact with each and every person and within a matter of minutes, just help them cut to the core of what they needed to be doing in their business. She kept asking each person, why? Why do you want to be doing that? How does that align with your mission and your values? Oh, okay, well, if a doesn't get you to B, let's think about a different direction. And it just made so much sense to me. It was really a masterclass in mentorship and business coaching. So I just knew that I had to enter her world, and since then, she has become one of my most trusted business mentors. I don't make a decision without consulting with her. But she's also become a dear, dear friend. So her husband, Trent, is an amazing photographer, and he has become my photographer. He takes all the pictures on the blender girl website, in the skinny 60 program, the decadent he talks all the beautiful food photos. Her two boys are beautiful. They've become like family. To me. We've traveled together, just so many beautiful memories. And I wanted to take you inside how she makes decisions, not only in business, but in life, and how she seizes those it has to be me moments and really listens, listens to her intuition and makes decisions that align with her mission and values. And I'm telling you that woman, she can draw money out of a stone. She is so scrappy. So if you are a business owner, oh, this is the episode for you. So let's get the skinny from Melissa lands. Welcome to this episode of it has to be me. I'm chess masters, and today I'm getting messy with one of my business mentors and dear friends. Melissa Lanz, she is an award winning entrepreneur who built an eight figure business from her kitchen table with a $2,500 investment. She's the founder and CEO of the fresh 21, of the best meal planning services in the world, the author of the fresh 20 cookbook, an amazing chef and a fantastic business coach. She has become one of the go to Resources in the digital space for people who want to create membership and subscription sites and use the skills that they already have. That's one of her huge superpowers. So we're going to dive in all about that today. So Melissa, thanks for joining me.

Hello.

So so many questions. I just really want to dive in and really share with everybody. Oh gosh, the great process that you, you know, you take people through in order to really get clear about what they want to do and create a business from it, so that they can have financial freedom and, you know, do whatever they want to do with their lives. So if you've got a dream out there and you're wondering how you can leverage it, Melissa is the person to talk to. So I want to, I want to start with what drives your choices, because I think that this is really central to not only how you make decisions that you're sure about, but how you really help others do it too.

Yeah, I mean, I would say the number one thing that drives my choices is other people. But I think through that, it's really my value system of what is the most important thing to me in the end, like, what do I what do I want more than anything else? And I love connection. I love memory making. I love seeing smiles on other people's faces. I love taking care and really being a nurturer. I love and so all of those things. So it's really staying close to my value system and how I create, how I make choices. And I have been person that has walked away from opportunities, I've walked away from money, I've walked away from a lot of things, because I'm not driven purely by those things. I'm not I'm not purely driven by financial gain. So if it's not getting me to a place that of like comfort and love and connection in some way, shape or form, I'm just not interested. So that that's what drives me just staying as close to my values as possible. So. Uh, drives me a lot. And I think it's, you know, my mom died at a very young age, and I think that she taught me to, like always, stay true to your values and make choices and make decisions and take actions that are going to lead you closer to the feeling that you want to want to have, and not just the things that you want to have. So I'm very I'm very motivated by things, how things will make me feel in the long run. I had this conversation the other day with someone, and I said to them, I said, Well, it kind of seems like you're eating the apple and giving up the pie, right? It's like you're so hungry that you can't wait long enough to get the results of the pie, so you're just going to eat the apple. And I said you're just going to have apples all your life, like you're and so what motivates me is fresh baked pie.

And you do bake some fantastic fresh baked pie. I love your tradition. On Thanksgiving, everybody comes to Melissa's house and bakes a pie, and everybody shares their pie with everybody else. It's such a beautiful tradition. So one of your bigot has to be me moments was leaving the corporate world because it didn't align with your values, right? So you graduated from college and you were working, you know, in entertainment and in on the agency side of helping people craft their messages, like for big companies like Nestle and and other things like that, and it just wasn't working for you and your family. So it really is a great personal example of walking away from things that were giving you a lot of money, maybe prestige, power, whatever, for this thing that you wanted more, which was communion, yeah, I

mean, to be clear, like that was more my husband like coming. I came home from work one night and it was late, the kids were already in bed. They were like, three or four. So to be clear, it was my husband saying we need to talk. And part of that talk was him telling me that he didn't like me very much anymore because I had just kind of changed into this, like, corporate, like, hard edged, you know? And he was just trying. He was tired of getting cut with all my hard edges, right? So he, he just said to me, he's like, this isn't what we signed up for. It's not what we envisioned when we were getting married. And so that was the moment that I realized that all of the little voices inside of me that had been going off, like when I was working and when I was doing things like, all of little signals that were in my brain, and the intuition that I had around how I was living my life, when he like, he just like, kind of He just said it in one sentence, I don't like you anymore. And I knew what he meant, right? Because he's like the sweetest man ever, and I knew what he meant. He didn't like the version of me that I had to be, or chose to be, working in corporate 70 to 80 hours a week. And so that was a moment when I just said, You know what? I have a job. I have job security. I think my project, like I was leading my project, and I had probably had another three to four years of job security at a very high, you know, multiple six figure payment. And I just said, this isn't going to get me to where I want to go. Like, if the ultimate thing is, if my ultimate value is to have a family, to raise my kids, to be present, to make memories, then where I currently am is not going to get me there. And so it doesn't matter how much it pays me, it doesn't matter how nice the title feels, or the you know what, what it says on the business card, if it's not getting me to that feeling of like, feeling like, I'm in a, in a, in a in a great relationship, and we're having freedom and we're having flexibility, and we're making money, making memories with our family, then there was, like, no real decision. Like, it was like, it's just like, Oh, this isn't it. This is not it. So I just, I quit, and I quit with no safety net, like, I think I had, you know, it was, it was pretty early on, so I was younger, so it's like, you know, all of the, like, 401, K and save for retirement and stuff like, Yeah, I did a little bit of it, but not tons. When I quit my when I quit my job, we didn't even own our home like so we were just renting. We had two small kids. I had, I don't know, $30,000 total in the bank to my name. And so going from like multiple six figure income to nothing was it was a big step. It was a big it was a big move and but I knew that where I was was not the right thing, so I had to try something different. And I feel like, you know, on theme, it had to be me to make that change it so much of what happens in people's life is instigated by external circumstances. People wait till something happens before they. Make a change. And so I didn't want to be, I don't I didn't want to be a casualty of that kind of behavior. So I just was like, gotta quit.

And so why the fresh 20 How did you decide you knew you had to quit? How did you decide what you were going to pour your energy and focus into? What was that next? It had to be made.

I so I quit, and I gave myself, like, 90 days. I was like, Okay, let me, let me think about this for 90 days. And I had all these business ideas. The first one was to go and have a bed and breakfast in in the Caribbean. So I went there and, like, searched all around and and, and looked at different properties with my girlfriend, and we left, and Trent was with the boys, and we went off and did our Caribbean adventure. The second one was to have the brownie equivalent of sprinkles. So I thought, I don't know that I like brownies when I like cupcakes. So I went on a, like, literally, two months of tasting brownies from all over the world, and like looking at everybody else's corporate, you know, structures on brownies, and how I could do it, and everything. And then I was and then the fresh 20 was came out of the idea. It wasn't even so much like, Oh, this is my solid idea. It was the feedback that I was getting from my community. And all of these things started to add up. So I my kids were really small. They were only eating, like, fresh, organic, like nothing, even frozen for my kids when they were little. So they were eating all this. And my husband and I were still getting takeout all the time. So when I was doing taxes, I realized that I had spent the amount of a small car, like, over $14,000 one year on takeout, and I was like, okay, that's gotta stop. And then I my friends that were in the corporate world that had kids, they were all coming to me and saying, What are you doing this week? Like, what are you what are you cooking? Like, what are you doing? So I just started to listen to, like, the small breadcrumbs of intuition and information that were starting to form, and it just became really clear, like, just all of the things, that I wanted to be close to my family. I wanted to do something for families. I wanted to use my internet, you know, my internet knowledge. And I'm, you know, I'm a trained chef, so I wanted to do something that was like, I'd love to be around food, right? So I just thought, like all of those things, the fresh 20 just kind of appeared based on listening, right? Just tapping in and listening. So I said goodbye to the brownie idea, and I said goodbye to my beautiful in my imagined Bed and Breakfast in the Caribbean. And I just went full into the fresh 20 and making, you know, dinner solutions for families like mine, because I thought to myself, if these, like, smart, working corporate women are having problems, like they're and, you know, still going through takeout, like drive through a few nights a week to feed their family, I was like, I just can't let that happen. That's just not the way to raise a family and make memories around a dinner table.

Yeah. And so tell everybody just what the fresh 20 is. It's a fresh 20 fresh ingredients per week, and you build the

five, yeah. So, yeah. So the first 20 is 20 fresh ingredients a week to make five week night dinners. And it's kind of using a puzzle. So what you you what you prep on the weekend before you you use and then every it kind of builds. So there's a couple of elements for that you make on Monday night and you save them to, like, you know, make dinner on Wednesday or Thursday. So by the end of the week you have zero waste. So this very old school, it's very much we I'm bossy about dinner. Like, you know, people come to me and they're like, can I, like, you know, pick ingredients and all that. And I was like, I'm not your person. Like, I am going to tell you these 20 ingredients and the recipes and, like, all the, you know, prep and instruction and nutrition, and you're going to run with it. So, so, from from that, it was kind of like, I don't know, I'm dating myself, but name that tune, remember? Like, I can name that tune in three notes, you know? So I kind of played around with it. And 20 ingredients was like, kind of that number that I was like, Oh, I can do three proteins and seven or eight vegetables and a couple of grains, and I can make, like, all of these different things with just the so. And the intention was for the people to be able to buy better, less ingredients, but better ingredients, so that they could buy organic and they could and to get rid of, like, the 80 item shopping cart that was all going to go to waste anyway, right? So it was really like a play to help families and like, also be sustainable and less wasteful with our food, right? I mean, everybody was telling us to eat kale, but, like, nobody was telling us how. So it was like a science experiment. By the end of the week, right? We were, like, all happy. We all thought we were doing something, going to the farmer's market and buying fennel and kale and all these things that, like Jamie Oliver was. Telling us to do during his food revolution. But at the end of the day, you need, like, actual instruction and direction, and you need guidance on what to do with all of those food items. So that's what I tried to solve. Yeah,

and you have hundreds of 1000s of people around the world have used the fresh 20 meal plans. And you can be vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, you know, grain cream, and there's just so many different plans. There just an amazing recipes as well. So when you, when you just decided, okay, this is the thing. This is this. I'm going to provide the solution for this. You are listening to your intuition. I talked in the beginning about how you started it at your kitchen table with a wing and a prayer and a vision and $2,500 so just for anybody listening out there that's thinking, Okay, I want to start something, but I'm terrified talk us through your process of how you talked to yourself every day, to stay on track and just keep believing that you could do it and you were going to do it, and you Were doing it, and you were going to keep doing it.

I think I, you know, for a long time, I think I just had the benefit of saying, like, Oh, why not me? Like, why? Why couldn't I? Like, I don't think I ever had that. I don't I, you know, early on in life, for like, let's say, my first 45 years, I never thought to myself, Oh, like, you know I could never do that. Like, I'm still holding out faith that someday I'm going to be on the Oscar podium, winning an Oscar for something. I have no idea what it could be, like, music, or I don't even know, like, I don't even play an instrument, but I still in my mind, I'm like, it could be me. Like, why not me? Right? So I've always had that, that ability to to believe in the possibility of something, and so I think you know, just tapping into confidence, tapping into self reliance, is really important when you when you want to do something, because nobody should ever, ever tell you that you cannot do something like, I don't believe in that. I do not subscribe to that. I don't think like, yes, you can get guidance, yes, you can get, you know, coaching, yes, you can get information and and see what's been done before you. But you should never give something up because you don't have enough you don't have enough confidence, because you can do great things. You just have to take small steps, and you have to educate yourself, and you have to just like, keep moving, keep moving a little bit forward. So I mean, I'll tell you, I've just never been that person. I walked into a job interview once, and I knew nothing about the job, but the night before, I studied all the language, everything that I would need to get through the job interview, because I thought to myself, if I can just stay one step ahead of the rest of the team and what they need to do and be a leader and be able to tell everybody okay, like and plan it out. I said, we'll be good. It didn't really matter to me what the what the industry was it was like, if I can just keep moving forward. So for the first year of this job that I went in and had no idea how to do this job. For the first year, I went home every single night and studied and made sure that the next day I was one step ahead of everybody else, and that I knew what had to be done that day. So that's just, like, I don't know what skill set that is, but that is just how I've always functioned. So when I started the first 20 at my kitchen table, I was like, just one thing a day, just like, Okay, if I didn't know how to do it, I like, found out how to do it, or I asked somebody how to do it, and I ran the company for the first year totally alone, no customer service, no tech, no no nutritionist, no chef. I did everything, and it was just step by step. Like, Oh, okay. Like, this has to get done, and this has to get it done. So I think I'm a planner by nature, right? And I think if you have something inside you and you're like, it has to be me, I think that everything can track back to just having a plan to get started.

So let's talk about how you help people create a plan to get started or to keep going. You've got a really methodical process. And I just think it is so incredible, and it starts with permission, right?

Yeah. I mean, I've come across so many people that, you know, they they have what they believe to be goals, right? Everybody has goals, um, and I just think that goals, the the typical goals are just too broad. You know, some people will come to me and they'll say, I want to make it to six figures, or I want to make it to seven figures. And I'm like, that's not a that's not a goal, right? That's a like, that's a tactic. It's not a goal. Like, what's your actual goal? What are you going to do once you get to six figures? Why is it important? You know, what are you going to do with the money if you make six figures, and how much do you. Need to take home, like, what do you want to how? What do you want to do? So I always go track back to like, what is the actual personal mission that you have or your personal why? Because it's the only thing that matters. My job as a coach, or my job as a mentor or a friend or a wife or a mother or whatever it is, is, if you have a dream, then I see it as my job to get you to that dream as quickly as possible. And sometimes it's not what people think, right, if you want. So you know, an example of that would be somebody coming to me and saying, I want to, I want to quit my job and start a new company, because I want to be able to be home at three o'clock every afternoon to make cookies for my family, right? So if that's really what your mission is, it's not starting a new company. I can get you that. I can get you to that mission way easier than starting a new company. So it's always good to actually know what you want, because if you don't, then you can't make good decisions. You can't track back and say, go back to that space and say, This is what I value. This is my desire. This is my dream. Because if you have that, and it's so clearly defined, and it's not broad, you know, having a seven figure business that's so broad, right? Do you know the pain and the all of the different things that come with that, that are going to enter your life, if you're just trying to, like, make cookies, you know, every day, like, so I just think it's, it's really, it's really important to have that. Why, once you have that, why you have to look at it and say, okay, then that's where the plan comes in, can you can you get there? You know, it's kind of playing that thing. How many steps would you have to take to get there? Quitting your job might not be the first step that you need to take, right? It might be something where you need to take small steps, where, you know, after dinner for an hour, you start planning and saying, mapping out and analyzing and researching and studying and gathering information. You know, instead of watching Netflix, maybe you spend a couple of hours every night like kind of doing a pre business plan to see what you even would like to do, or what you know, how you could get there. And then you just start biting off chunks and doing little things at a time. You can't, you know, I never, Tess, you know me like, I never, whenever somebody like, says, Come to me and said, I want to start a business, I'm always like, oh, okay, let's, let's break that down for a minute, right? Because I just think that it's so important to one enjoy the process and to also under understand, like, what you're doing and why you're doing it. But it's also under it's it's good to understand, like, when you stand up and you say, I'm doing this right, you need to think about all the little things that there's going to be some give and some take from your life. It's not just I'm doing this and nothing's going to change, right? I'm going to run for mayor because I want to, well, okay, but now, so now you're now, you're playing dominoes and Jenga, and you're moving things around and doing it. So you really have to be clear when you stand up and say, This has to be me. I'm doing this. This is what it is. If you don't have a mission and you don't have a plan, and you don't have the first tiny steps, right, then it's really hard to do that. And I always, always give my clients, like, three tiny steps before they can even, like, literally, hire me, because if they won't do those, if they won't or they can't, then we can't work together, because it's you gotta be willing to, like, do the little things, the little nitty gritty things to get you ready as a launch pad to go to the next level. You have to be willing to do it. And people see big visions, but they don't see the little the little work, the grunt work, and the grunt Yeah, and, I

mean, that's what you help people see so clearly, is helping to create that path to get to the goal in the best possible way, or that or a really efficient way. So we were talking about, I love what you were saying about the your path to getting there doesn't have to always be these huge steps. It can be one step, just the next step, just the next step, just the next step. And I love this, you know, this idea of of doing the little things that helps you build the confidence that you can keep going, and helps you get the skills and the knowledge and really take those lessons to be able to make room, to have the confidence to take those really big, big leaps.

Yeah. I mean, I think going back to the pie analogy, right? I think a lot of people are like, I want a fresh baked pie. And you're like, Okay, what do you got? Let's see what you got. And they're like. I have one small apple, and you're like, Okay, your job, before anything else is to go get five more apples, right? And so it's the same in anything that we do. People always want to get straight to the bacon, straight to the thing, straight to the getting the work done, right? But it's like, no, you gotta gather your apples first, and so those apples could be education. Those apples could be team, like people to people to help you. They could be mentors. It could be a small investment that you need to save up for before you even start your business. It could be supplies, or who knows, it could be but any but you have to, you have to have the apples before you make the pie. And everybody just wants pie. And, well, we do. So the thing is, is that those small steps and that planning are okay. I need six apples to make pie. I only have one. Let me, let me get my next one right. And then you're getting closer, and that builds momentum. And then the thing about that too is like when you start to see two and three apples sitting on the table, and you know, you need six to make the pie, you're less likely to eat that apple, because what happens is, most people say they want pie, and they just start eating their apples because they're hungry, because they want it so bad, and they're like, it's okay. I'm just going to eat the apple and I'm going to pretend like it's pie because it's a little be fine. No, it won't. I don't know why this analogy is with me today, but it's just, Oh,

I love it. No, no, let's keep going with it, because I love me some pie. Yeah, you make the best pie. I love that tradition you have on Thanksgiving where everybody comes and makes a pie and shares it with everybody else. It's really great, no, but I love what you're saying about about having patience and tenacity and focus and putting in the work and actually relishing and enjoying the process of all the steps that it takes while you're you're staying focused on that vision of the bigger picture, actually relishing all the little, small, little jigsaw pieces that that have to go together in order to to make that vision come to fruition.

It's so true, and the patience is so important. And I think, you know, there's, I think confidence is so important whenever you're ready to take a stand and whenever you're ready to do something new. I think confidence is one of the things that has driven me throughout my life, and, you know, for good and for bad, right? So you're super like, you know what you're talking about, your superpower is also your Achilles heel, so, you know. But I think confidence is really important. There's two ways that you can get it. You can go 60 miles an hour towards the wall and bam into it, and you know and recover and figure out how to do it better next time. Or you can sit back and you can watch, and you can learn, and you can read other people, and you can gather your thoughts, and you can gather your supplies, and then you can take a firm step forward, so, you know, both ways work. It's just which, which, which way feels more comfortable to you, right? And I've, I've tried it both ways in my life, but I think that confidence is one of those things that you need to take that, to take that next step. Comp and patience is the thing that is, it's kind of a partner, right? Because confidence without patience, I can tell you, start some really bad, very expensive mistakes in business and in life.

So, right? Yeah, well, we've all done that. We've all done that where and

especially like, especially relationships, right? Confidence without patience and relationships is a disaster, like so, but it's in in everything in life, relationships, business, work, like you know, even art, confidence without patience and art doesn't yield good results. So, so I think it's, it's a it's, it's both of them together. Yeah, I love

this. So you are very much someone who really listens to your intuition and really taps into that and really trusts your gut, and you also make data driven decisions, you know, in business and in life. So you are definitely someone that presents, someone that's so sure about what you want to do, but we know that you're not all the time, just like all the rest of us, right? So when you don't know what to do and you're confused or terrified and you're really going down that rabbit warren of self doubt and your confidence, you know you're finding it hard to tap into that confidence that you have regularly. What is the conversation with Melissa look like?

Um, I think the number one thing I do is get silent, because I think that silence is where I get a lot of my intuition information. And I'm addicted to to input. I'm addicted to education and learning and stimulus and all of those things, and I don't think that they serve. All the time, and I think that when I get silent, that is when I go through all of the things in my mind that are happening, and then the silence comes, and that's when I can really go, oh, okay, okay, got it. You know, I can really tap into what my body is trying to tell me, because your body leaves messages all the time, and you know, this is, you know, all of the work that you've done in in nutrition and wellness, like, you know, like your body's constantly giving you signals, right? When you get silent, you can listen to your body, you can listen to your mind. You can have the connection. So silence is very important for for me to get to where I need to go, especially if I'm confused. Because if you're confused and you just keep looking outwardly like, you know, scrolling the internet, looking, you know, Google, Instagram, you know, talking to other people and getting all of their feedback, it's only more confusing. And then you just have to wade through all of this information to get to an answer that you actually already know. I believe that you already have the answers. It's just Do you have the courage to listen to yourself? Because that's what it takes. It takes courage to put everything else aside and listen to yourself and be willing to accept the consequences of your intuition. And I think it's more, it's much easier to take somebody else's advice, or, you know, you know, listen to what the influencer is saying, or do something like that. It's, it's easier to do that, because then you're, you always have something else to blame, right? When you listen to yourself, oh, okay,

that's a big one. That's it big one.

So it's a big Yeah,

I want to unpack that in just a minute, because personal responsibility is absolutely something that you live by, and I absolutely think that it is so key to making decisions that we feel sure about. I just want to ask you what some of your tools are, though, like when you're getting silent, do you what are some of the tools that you use to really tap into that to that, that belief that, that trust in your intuition. Do you meditate? Do you dance? Do you listen? What do you do?

So I do meditate. I think that that meditation is really such a key. Breath work is a key. Like, I get silent by, like, bringing my whole entire, like, my my body down into a state of calm through breath. So breathing is really, really important. Like, slow movement, like yoga is really important that helps me get silent. Um, walking helps me get silent. And then just having rituals, like, I get up in the morning, I light my fireplace, I light a candle, I get a journal next to me with a pen. In case I have anything that I want to write down. I'll listen to a meditation, and then I will literally just sit in silence for a little bit and and just looking for answers, like trying to, like, remove all of the junk that is there, from from from life and the the society that we live in. Get past the junk. Get past my fears, get past all of the you know, the things that I tell myself, you know, the doubts that come in, get past all that stuff, and then just look for for answers. So, yeah, I mean, I think ritual is really important. You know, getting up early before anybody else has been so good for me, especially as I was raising kids as a mom, like once seven o'clock came, like my life belonged to somebody else, right, either my kids or my husband or my my employees and my team. So anything before seven o'clock was my magic time, because it was time that I could have for me. So I think building in that ritual, whether it's in the morning or at your lunch time or before you go to bed, like having that sacred solo time, I think is one of the things that has really helped me out of some very bad, bad, you know, emotions, depressions, like whatever you want to, you know, call it, I think that it's, it's, it's, it's really important. Also, I a new thing that I'm trying is shaking so, so you know how animals like when they I watch, I have a little dog, a little pug Kingston, when he, like, bumps into something, or has an encounter with a dog on the street, or whatever, he shakes, you know, to get rid of it. And then yeah. And so I've literally been starting to shake a little bit, especially when I come in from outside and into my house, like crossing that threshold, I just give my arms a little shake as I'm coming through the door to leave everything that was outside, outside. Didn't come into my sacred space. So shaking like, you know, doing that, doing that shake and shaking out your legs, or whatever it takes, like, 10 seconds, but it has been helping me to regulate so that I can drop into once I get inside my my space, that I've kind of changed stasis, right? And I think that's important. When you're looking for answers and you want to be doing something, you have to be willing to change states. And part of changing states is letting go of everything that's around you, because there's so much input, and sometimes it can be negative. And one thing I want to say about, you know, standing up for yourself, taking personal responsibility, taking on a new taking on a new goal, doing something new is that there's, you know, sometimes we're surrounded by negative forces, and it could be your partner couldn't believe might not believe in you. Your friends might think you're crazy. Your parents might not want you to do it, you know, and I think it's, I think it's really important to to be able to take a minute and recognize what is constructive about what they're trying to tell you, and what is just negative input that you need to put aside to keep moving forward. And a lot of people get stuck for many, many, many years because they don't want to disappoint anyone, they don't want to hurt anyone, they don't want to and I think that that's really hard when you know and you have that, that that fire burning in you, and you know you want to do something, you you kind of have to be a little bit protective of it, and you, you to take in everybody's opinions and negative information. It's, it's hard because, you know, we're humans. We want to be loved. We want to be, you know, adored. And sometimes you have to be brave and say, You know what? Everybody else might not like it, but I think it's the right thing to do. Oh,

yes, that takes so much courage, but it feels so good. So, you know, I love this idea of, you know, letting go of what does not have to be me in order to make room for the thing that I absolutely know has to be me. So you talked before about getting to that place where you get past the doubts, past the fears. What are some of the things that you say to yourself in those silent moments when those things start to bubble up in order to get past those things? Are there things that you you know, things that you can give us that we might be to take, you know, to get the worst case scenario

down. Person, ooh,

yeah. So

when I'm thinking about something and I'm like, okay, like, and I'll give fresh 20 as an example. I mean, there was a lot of people, when I came up with the idea and everything, some people were like, Oh, my God, that's great. And other people were like, recipes are on the Internet for free. Like, that's not a business, right? And so they're like, Well, you can blog about it, but nobody's going to pay you for it. And I'm like, Okay, well, eight figures later, thanks for the information.

So, but that it was that thing of like, what if I don't do this? What? What am I going to do? And I think that one of the things that fuels me is there's nothing worse than having something inside of you that's like a coulda, shoulda, woulda, and like feeling the pain of like not moving forward with something that you want, and I think that that pain is worse than actual failure, right? So that the pain of staying still, of not moving forward, of not going for it, for me at least, is worse than failure. So the other part of that is what I so when I say I don't want to live with that, the pain of not knowing if I could have been successful at this. The other thing is, I also, I kind of say, what's the worst that could possibly happen? So with the first 20 and the worst that could possibly happen is I lose my $2,500 I have to go back and get, get a, you know, I lose. It was like I could have lost, you know, six months of my life, and, you know, $2,500 and God, had to go back and get another job, right? What the worst thing that could happen is I would have to eat a little humble pie and say, oh, that didn't work. And, and so when I actually start to map it out, like, am I going to lose my house? Am I going to lose my relationship? Is it putting anybody that I love in danger, you know, in actual danger, right? Not like just hurting their feelings, but in danger, right? Is it? Is it detrimental to me? Is it what? And when you walk through all of those things and you go, No, it's not like the worst that I could lose is possibly some financial investment. Mm. And a little face. And to me, it's not worth not doing it, just for those things. So you weigh up, yeah,

you weigh up worst, what the worst is against what the feeling is going back to what you were saying in the beginning, how you are very much motivated by what it's going to feel like for you, yes. So that feeling of regret, that feeling of, you know, I gave it a go, you know, and sort of putting them next to each other is, yeah, I mean, it's a great strategy. I

tell we were just doing, my son's going to I have one in college. He's a freshman, and then my other one is going to college next year, and he was doing his applications, and he had a counselor that was kind of like, oh, I don't know, like, that school's a reach for you, whatever. And I just, like, in front of her in the counseling meeting on it

was like, oh, that's like a red rack to a bull for you. Oh,

yeah. I was like, I was like, I was like, Absolutely not. We will not be eliminating any schools off of the list. If he wants to go, you try. The worst that can happen is they say no, but there's absolutely no regrets. Like we are going to apply to everything. Like, if you want to go to Yale and you, nobody is going to tell you that you shouldn't apply because you're going to get rejected. Because miracles happen every day, and you know, and they might I and I said, you never, you never, ever, ever, let somebody tell you not to go for it. And so, yeah, I don't think that counselor likes me very much, but, but I'll tell you like he got his first acceptance to a school, and it was one that she was like, told him that he probably wasn't going to get into and then he got the acceptance. And the first thing we looked at each other and said, I said, email your counselor.

You know, I do like, I really love what you're saying about not listening to somebody else's No, not listening to someone else's narrative about what you're

it has to be your No. It can't be their No. Oh, that's great. Yes,

I love that. I'm stealing that it has to be your no based on how you feel and what you want, not basing your decisions on other people's nos. So give us, give us some tools about that, like, like when you hear nos from other people? I mean, I've been there in the room, I know what you do, but what do you hear when you hear no, when someone gives you a no, or you can't do that, or you shouldn't do that, or why would you do that? What do you hear? And how does it then motivate you to really, you know, tap into your resources and go, Ah, I

don't know what I hear, but I think that my response is, oh, maybe you didn't understand the question.

Well, that's what you hear. Then.

Ah, love that. So for me, it's like, how do I reframe this so that I can, you know, turn this into a yes for somebody. So you know that can, that can be a little a little crazy sometimes, but or you just

remove yourself from your relationship with that person, right?

But, I mean, I guess it depends on what we're talking about, if we're talking about,

if it's not a it's not a core relationship, is what I mean. You know what I mean? It's like, okay, maybe your your idea and my idea don't belong in the same glass, right now,

that's what. Yeah, I think that. I think that, if you're Listen, we are predisposed to negativity as human beings, so we'll run towards it, right? So somebody's giving you negative feedback, your first reaction is to believe it, because you already, like, you know, have a little bit of like, oh, like, confidence. Like, you're already like, Can I do this? And then someone comes along and says, No, you can't. And then you're like, oh, okay, so it's like a little bit of a step back. But I think whenever that step back happens, the thing that you have to tell yourself is, wait a minute. Do I have the skills, the resources, the intelligence, the desire, the motivation to actually to even test or try or give this a beta run, or even take the next step of the the next level of finding out if I like to do it, like, do I have that? And then if that is the case, then I'm like, then, like, I it's a it's a chest puff. It's like, Oh, so you go back a little bit, and they're like, Wait a minute. No, I got this. I'm going to take, I'm going to take the next step, right? And if you just do that with every step, if you just keep going, wait like, I hear what they're saying, but you know, no good like result. That comes from complacency and content and knowing. Like, do you think that, like all these people that run these companies and have been great innovators in our in our world? Do you think that, like that it was just clear, clear path, blue sky, nothing in their way to make that happen, like, like, you can't innovate and create and do things if you're just always going to accept no so you just you, you have to keep checking in with yourself. You have to keep checking in and going, Wait a minute. Is tracking back to your highest value, right? Because that's always the first question. Is this getting me in alignment with my highest value, right? So that's always tracking back. So if somebody tells me No, I typically track back to wait a minute, maybe their value is not the same as mine. And so let me recheck in with mine, and then let me go through my list of all of the things, and then, and then I just move forward. And a lot of times I just move past them, you know, like,

oh yes, I've seen you do that many times. I mean,

I, I have. It's like, I just You gotta, if you want to invoke change, if you want to have impact in this life, you gotta be the little engine that could, you can't, you can't stop for every single little, little, you know, pebble on the track. And I think it's, it's, it's really important you've got to, you know, it's amazing to me that people believe in a dream more than they believe in themselves.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And so I just like, I feel like it's my one of my purposes is to give people permission to believe in themselves, permission to go past where they've been. I mean, a lot of people get stuck test when they when they really have a drive inside of them, they get stuck because nobody around them has gone further than they're getting ready to go. And that can be very extroverted when you're talking about your family, your ancestors, your everything. That can be very, very difficult, because it's not like as all families have, like crabs in your room or anything, but it's very scary for, you know, for family members and everything to have you go beyond where they've been. It's scary. They don't know what's going to happen. Like, are you going to leave them behind? Are they going to feel like they didn't do what they needed to in their life? There's a lot of dynamic happening with your friends, your family, your community, and that's why it should always be your No, and it should always be your Yes. Oh,

I love that, you know. And often you know, if we're going to go past what our family did, for example, or go beyond what is done in the family, it feels like a betrayal. It feels like we're betraying the people that we love, and I feel like we're honoring them by, yeah, by leaning into our full potential, by reaching for the stars, by going for things beyond what anyone thinks is possible. I think it's just such an incredible thing. So how do you how do you help people believe in themselves? You say, you know, I help people. Just give us some tools. Like, what are some of the things that you say to some of your clients when they're really struggling with that?

Yeah, I think that I give them the next three steps that they can take, that I'm confident that they'll be able to take and to achieve, and that starts to build confidence for them. If you give somebody, you know, if you, if you, if you give, you know, like, listen, we're all, we're all kids at heart, right? We all have, you know, child, childlike ways about us. But if you, if you give a kid something like a task, right? Like, learning to tie their shoes, right? So, yeah, it's frustrating at first, but if you like, say, okay, like, this is how, and we're going to break it down. And so, like, we, you know, break it down, like, step by step, like, how we're going to get through this right? So, and then you see the look on their face when they actually do it for the first time, and they come to you, and they're like, presenting it, and it's like, this mangled, but it's tied, do you know what I mean? And you you just feed into that confidence, and then it just goes from there. And I don't think it's any different with adults. I think it's really important to constantly be giving someone Okay, let's, let's do an audit. Like, the first thing I always do in every, pretty much like, every aspect of my life, I'm constantly doing audits, like, where are we at? I do it in my my marriage. God bless him. I've been married to him for 22 years. But we do, I we do an audit. Like, we sit down at some point during the year and we figure out, Okay, what's working, what's not, what you know, what could we do better? Like, you know, where are the hurts, where are the joys, where are the things like? And so when I'm working with someone, and I see the potential, and I see them, and because I I feel like I have this thing that it's like they tell me what they want and what their dream is, and I literally is like a mathematical equation of how they can get there, right? Oh, you're so good at that the what the path is. And I can say, here are your next two steps. It's not as scary for them to take those next two steps. It's like they can take them and they can go, Oh, my God, okay, I got it, I got that one done. And then they can do the next one and say, Oh, I got that done. And then we just keep building on and from there. And an example of that in a business sense, would be helping like, somebody that comes and says, I want to launch this subscription, but I don't have an email list, right? And so the an example of that is, I would say, okay, then you're our first step is to get, like, your first 100 people on your email list. Then it would be your first 1000, and then it would be your first 3000 I typically tell people, like, if they want to launch something, they have to have 3000 people on our list. And so that is the thing. It's like, don't look and say that person has 100,000 people and I have 50 right. Just say, oh, okay, then let's figure out how we're going to do that. And let's figure out how to do it with what you already have so that you don't have to spend any money on doing it right? Let's figure out how to how to get you your first 1000 people. And when you just lay it out for them and say, Do this, this, this, and this. And they're like, oh, I can do that. It's like, great. Go do it. And they go do it, and a month later, or two months later, they come back, and they're like, I have 1000 people on my list, and I was like, awesome. Like, let's go, you know,

because you are scrappy, that's one of the things I love about you. You are scrappy. It's like, let's work with what you've got. Yes, we're gonna make gold out of this, right? So, I mean, you're, yeah, you can,

I mean, and I think that the other thing that I see is a lot of people don't see what they have. And I think that one of my superpowers is seeing what other everybody else has, right? Like, I can, I can, I can meet someone, and I can look at them, and I can, I can, like, literally, be like, Oh, okay. Like, this is your this is your superpower. This is your high point. This is what you do really well. This is where you can get traction. This is like, and they don't see it right, and a lot of it comes from their story, like, and people don't understand sometimes that vulnerability is a superpower, and they're afraid or ashamed to say what their story was. But I can tell you like I didn't make eight figures with selling recipes and meal plans online without vulnerability, like, it would absolutely happen. And I think that just being able to see what they don't see in themselves, and then just mirror it back to them, like I can take what it is that they're good at, and then I can just go, okay, like, here's the plan based on who you are and what you've got. So I think that's really important always be auditing yourself, your team, your relationships, because all of these things are, are, are tools for advancement. When you like, again, getting back to you want to stand up for yourself and say, I've got something I want to say or do in the world, then it's really important to take those small steps and and audit, audit yourself and and be confident that every single person like I don't I've never met a person that didn't have something to contribute.

Yeah. Look, it's just so important this idea that that people want to hear what you have to say, you know, and sometimes the best teacher for a third grader is a fourth grader. Like we don't actually have to be Tony Robbins or Oprah or, you know, in your

community, they were never Tony Robbins or Oprah. They literally just did the next thing in front of them. There was no master plan. Do you think Oprah thought she was going to be Oprah like? She just kept trying to get jobs, right? She just kept trying to be heard, like and, and I, and so I think it's, I think it's really important to know that, like, nobody that you look up to has, it's like, it's not spontaneous combustion of success, right? It's literally like, like, just doing the next best thing in front of you and. Can either detract from your goal or your dream or your mission, or it can propel you towards it, and that's why it's important to analyze every Sunday. I haven't, you know, I just got back from Europe, so I haven't done this in a while, but I'm going to do it this Sunday. Every Sunday, I typically sit down and I look at, okay, what do I want? Where do I want to be at the end of this week? And that's emotionally, physically, spiritually, mentally, in business with my relationships, where do I want to be at the end of this week? What do I need to do in the next seven days to get me closer to that, and I think that that's a really important, important skill set to have to constantly be reevaluating, auditing, planning, and, you know me like, I'm scrappy and I'm very like, I don't I could have a plan. It doesn't mean I'm going to follow it. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm, I'm super, like, moody in that respect of, like, you know, but I do always say, Okay, what do I want at the end of this week? And it could just be simple, like, I want to have, you know, I wanted to have eaten really well. I wanted to have worked out a couple of times. I want to have, you know, these three emails written or whatever it is, right? But constantly checking back in with yourself and mapping out, you know what your next wins could be. So it's like, it's, it's so important to get to where we are.

I love the audits. I love the check ins. I love I love the listening it has for your yes and it has for your no and getting really clear about that. So I always close every episode with asking what you would say to someone who feels stuck and has a dream and doesn't feel like they can do it. I mean, we've really been talking about this the entire episode, but let's just end with your little nugget again about what you would say to someone if they were coming to the subscription lab right now, coming to Melissa lands, asking you, you know what to do to actually take action on that thing they're dreaming about. What would you say?

I would say, take a nap. That would be the first thing I would say, because it's going to be a lot of work. So I would say, take a nap. Get your rest. Start gathering your apples and like, honestly, like, rest, reposed, plan, gather. That's what I would tell somebody that was stuck. And if they were, if they were stuck because of a kind of a mental block or something like that, I would say, Get silent. Start writing, get get whatever is inside of you that's keeping you blocked. You've got to process it out. You've got to get you just you have to process it out. And so whatever that looks like that, that's the path forward, right? And it's, it's tough. I go, you know? I mean, I've, I've been so stuck in the last couple of years about, like, what my next act is, what I'm going to do next. And it's tough, right? It's a tough place to be in, because it's, like, it's a double edged possibility. Is a double edged sword, right? I can do anything that I want, but what is that thing? Right? So I think it's important. So take a nap, gather apples, get quiet, audit yourself, check in journal, read, learn. You know, one of my best tools is Insight Timer. Like I live every day with Insight Timer, because there's so many, like, classes and courses and everything on there for every single thing that could get in your way, procrastination, you know, stress, trauma, like every single thing, right? And I just think that I I think it's better than therapy. I wish, I wish I owned stock in it, but I don't, but it's a great tool. So, yeah, I mean but, but definitely, I think the hardest part for people that are stuck is that they keep trying to bang their head up against the wall. And that's why I say take a nap, take a pause, because shifting your state perspective,

that's what a nap does, too, right? It just kind of hits the reset button, like when you were talking about before, when you were shaking it off, hitting, you know, changing your state to actually be able to look at something in a different way. Yeah?

So important. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, thank you so much for joining us. It was just such a great conversation. So you can find Melissa Lanz at melissalands.com if you're thinking about leveraging what you already have and creating, you know, a subscription or membership site. Oh, I cannot recommend the subscription lab more highly. Melissa has helped me with my business and process so many things that I do, and helping me get out of my own way and see the path forward, and helping me to leverage the skills that I have to use my voice in the world to create change. So thank you so much. I just I just loved our conversation. Isn't she incredible? She just cuts to the core of everything, so many tangible takeaways from our conversation. What drives your choices? Are you making decisions based on your highest values and integrity. Are you making choices based on the feelings you want to have rather than the things that you want to have, making sure that you're prioritizing that sacred solo time so you can continue to check in with yourself and listen to those breadcrumbs of intuition that vulnerability is a superpower. You know there is value in sharing the truth of your story, always auditing yourself. That really spoke to me, auditing your relationship with self, your relationship with others, your team members. If you're working in a business and whatever that block is, you gotta work it out. You gotta process it right. So whenever you're confused, looking within and trusting that you have the answer. When she talked about having the courage to listen to yourself and taking responsibility for the consequences of your intuition, really inviting that personal responsibility part of this journey that really spoke to me, you know, and not letting anybody else tell you that you can't do something, that it has to be your yes and your No, and the pain of not knowing if it could have been you if you had what it took, is is way more torturous than the pain of so called failure, you know, and that when you want to make a change, the value of just changing your physical state, moving and shaking around, right When she talked about how so much change is instigated by other people and outside influences, and that we wait to make a change and getting permission from others, that really spoke to me, you know, when her philosophy of, why not me, you know, and the fact that she always dwells in possibility and Tapping into your ability to believe in all the possibilities for your life. You know, tapping into that self confidence. If there's something you want to say, just take the next step when you don't know what to do, the plan to get started simply begins with giving yourself permission, and then you figure out the next step and the next step and the next step. You know, when she said, You can't innovate and create if you keep listening to the no's, and if you want to have impact in this world, you've got to be The Little Engine That Could I mean, that just was just like a beacon of hope for me. I loved it. And when she said, People believe in a dream more than they believe in themselves, oh, that's something that's something that's going to stay with me. So if you are a business owner and you are struggling to find your path and figure out what the next step is, I highly recommend going and entering Melissa's world@melissalands.com. You can join one of her online programs or online events. Oh, just go and get the gold from her. Your life won't be the same. Truly, she is incredible. So you can learn more at melissalanz.com so please let me know what your takeaways were from this episode. Leave a review on Apple podcast or Spotify. I can't wait to hear what's resonating with you. You.