Prithvi Madhukar | Learning to be Confident, Eliminating Anxiety and Depression, & Making a Career of Your Passion

"Why do you care about what other people think? What do you think?" - Prithvi Madhukar

This week we are joined by an international Marketing executive, author, and MBA. She tells us her story of discrimination, bias, never feeling like she "fit in", how she found confidence and her passion, and overcame depression and anxiety. Best yet? She shares all of this with us while breaking down the practical steps of how she did it, so we can too. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Prithvi Madhukar story!

GUEST BIO: 

Prithvi Madhukar aka The Marketing Nomad is an entrepreneur, business owner, podcaster, youtuber, digital nomad and a nano-influencer with a zest for life! She started her company The Marketing Nomad in Delaware, USA with the sole purpose of empowering entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and small business owners across the world to implement long-term actionable marketing strategies and help them grow their business with confidence. Her social media platforms guarantee a bucketload of marketing, mindset, & business tips along with her quirky sense of humor and a side of wit! She also does Bollywood dancing in her free time :)

EPISODE PROUDLY SPONSORED BY: 

• Ascend 2 Glory: Sales & Marketing Video Guide
• Hanging Out with David Pasqualone & Friends Podcast

SHOW NOTES, GUEST CONTACT INFO, SPECIAL OFFERS, & OTHER RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Guest Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themarketingnomad/
• Website: https://www.themarketingnomad.co/
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/themarketingnomadco

Resources Mentioned: 

• Jason Stephenson guided meditations on YouTube

HOW TO SUPPORT THE REMARKABLE PEOPLE PODCAST:

1. Share the Podcast or specific episodes with your family, friends, and co-workers
2. Subscribe, Rate, & Review  us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite Podcast Player
3. Sponsor an Episode or Donate what you can financially to help us continue to bring great content that inspires you and people like you around the world!

HAVE A QUESTION?

• Click Here to Connect with David

THE NOT-SO-FINE-PRINT DISCLAIMER: 

While we are very thankful for all of our guests, please understand that we do not necessarily hold or endorse the same beliefs, views, and positions that they may have. We respectfully agree to disagree in some areas, and thank God for the blessing and privilege of free will.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Prit Madhukar Learning to be Confident Eliminating Anxiety and Depression and Making a Career of Your Passion

Hello friends. Welcome to this week's episode of the remarkable people podcast. The Prit Madhukar story. This week, Pritt talks about how she was moved to Singapore with her family as a child and was subject to discrimination and bias. Then she moves back to her own country of India. And she's subject to bias and discrimination.

And then she decides she doesn't want to be an engineer or a physician like most of her peers. So she comes to America to pursue an MBA, [00:01:00] to find her passion. This week, we talk about finding confidence, finding your passion, fulfilling. We talk about overcoming anxiety and depression and so much more in print story.

She's a successful marketing executive. She's an author 

So get your pen and paper ready unless you're drawing. Be ready to take notes and more than anything, listen to the whole episode, be inspired, reach out to printer myself if you need help. And then like our slogan says, don't just listen to great content, but do it, repeat it so you can have a great life in this world in attorney to come.

So I'm David . You're about to listen to print 

print my Duker. Let's do it.

EPISODE Prit Madhukar Learning to be Confident Eliminating Anxiety Making a Career of Your Passion: hey Pret, how are you today? Hi, David. I'm doing [00:02:00] supers. That were awesome. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. And I'm excited for our episode. I just shared with our listeners all about you and what they can expect, but like our listeners know there's a whole lot more.

That was just a summary of a partial of this episode. So at this time, let's just dig into your story. What we'll do is start with, from where you were born and what was your upbringing like and bring us through chronologically your life to today. Because everything that happens in the past makes us the human we are, right?

So we want to get a feel for what. And what methods and ways and life and circumstances did God used to make you who you are today. And then along the way we'll stop. And we'll pause, we'll say, okay, you achieve this or you overcame that. How did you do an impractical step? So our listeners can too sound good.

Sounds amazing. I've got so much to share with your audience today. [00:03:00] I'm quite excited. So where were you born? So I was born in India in Bangalore. It's in the Southern part of India. So when I was about six months old my parents moved to Singapore for work. So I actually grew up in Singapore. I was there till I was about 12 years old.

And my time in Singapore is probably one of the most memorable memories that I have. You know, my childhood there. It's just a very different atmosphere. You know, growing up and. The person that I am today, there's a lot of influences from Singapore that I can personally see. And so growing up in Singapore, it was really different.

It was you know, I was an Indian, so definitely was in the minority. And growing up, there were a lot of things that I had to personally overcome as well, too, you know, in terms of my mindset, given that I [00:04:00] was in the minority, you know, at some places there have been like racial discrimination that I have faced as a kid, even while growing up.

I think it was definitely a process for me to accept, you know, the color of my skin, the race that I come from, the religion that I you know, was adhering at that point in time. And I think that, you know the journey of accepting who I am today began right from there, you know, accepting how I looked, you know, whether it was different from the people around me or whether it was the practices that I had as an Indian you know, all of those things started from that age.

And I think that that triggered a lot of introspection in me. I think that my introspection started from that age. So that's where it began. So learning how to accept who I was started from [00:05:00] a very young age and then came up before you go on print. Let me ask you a question. So we're in America and we have listeners, we've had listeners over a hundred countries, but actively every week it's over.

I think it's like 60 countries actively dig into the podcast. When you're talking about bias and bigotry, every country has, it always has always will. People who say it's wrong. They're right. But the fact is it's just that way people are biased. Okay. So when you're talking about the discrimination that you faced growing up to, what severity level was it?

Where is it to the point where you're getting physically assaulted? Where are you getting picked on verbally? Was it where they're making you feel less than, and you're like, I'm not good enough because of what's some idiot saying, like, what was the degree? Because like, if I [00:06:00] said the word choice. The denotation that's in the dictionary is it describes what a church is, right.

But the connotation, the emotional field that you feel, I feel in every listener feels based on their background. Exactly. So that's why I want you to really dig into the discrimination you face growing up. So people get a feel for where you're at. All right. So one of the things that you have to understand about Singapore as a country is they are pretty strict on you know, their rules on racial discrimination.

They completely you know, they don't want racial discrimination because the entire country is built on racial harmony. You know, there are different races that want to live together. So while, you know, while I was growing up, Being in an environment in my school as much as possible, the teachers did try to protect the people, you know, some of us who were [00:07:00] different from the rest.

However, I do have to add that there have been different degrees of racial discrimination that I have faced one. You know, it starts off verbally you know, where people tell you, well, you know, you look funny or your food smells funny or, you know, you smell funny, you know, and then why are you so dark?

Why, you know, why you look so ugly based on the way your skin is, you know, all of those things, their perception of beauty is very distorted because they have a very different you know, thought process on what beauty looks like to them. So it starts off there and then. I mean, some people are just flat out jealous.

Like I love the color of your skin and I'm pale white. I hate you. People are that shallow. It really is true. Yeah. So it starts off there, you know, it, it starts off with subtle things that you probably won't even realize, you know, and you [00:08:00] start to become conscious. And then there have been instances where it has reached to a physical point where I had been.

So I remember, I think I was in third grade at this point and this kid in my class, he flicked ink on my face because he said he didn't like the color of my skin, you know? And that was a physical assault. Every, I wouldn't say assault because I think that it's a very different, it's a very strong word, but there was a little bit of an altercation, I guess I would say.

And even when I brought it to my teacher's attention, you know, of course she was shocked. She didn't know how to handle the situation, but I think she did it the best way that she could. She made the voice apologize, but at the same time after she left, it was back to square one with the verbal abusing.

So while the physical abuse was looked down upon the verbal abuse continued [00:09:00] after that. And even when you, you know, I would tell my teachers about this, they would say, well, you know, don't pay attention or, you know, don't keep to that, but no one would ever talk to them about not speaking that way. You know?

And I think that those were little, little things that I picked up while growing up. And for some reason I started thinking that it was on me to. Think differently about the situation, because in my opinion, at that point, they were probably never going to change their opinion of me, but I had control over the situation.

I had control over my thought process. What I thought was beautiful, what I perceived to be amazing or okay. For me to believe in. So I think that's when it triggered my whole introspection, like the whole process of self-introspection. [00:10:00] All right. So now where from there do you go like, so you're getting introspect, you're trying to discern if I'm hearing you correctly.

Okay. What's really me and what's really down. Have I done anything wrong or is it them? So you're trying to pick out the differences between what society saying, what individuals are saying and what, you know, in your heart, is that correct? Yes, that is correct. So it started from there. And then when I came back to India, when I was like 12 years old, I actually thought I would not be facing racial discrimination anymore because while I was among Indians.

Right. So I thought, okay, well surely, absolutely you can. I'm 12 years old at that point. And I'm like, okay, what is going on? This is a whole different dynamic, you know? Now it was based on the sheets of brown, you know, it was, it was ridiculous. It was ridiculous at what people [00:11:00] perceived beauty was. And you know, the farrier skin is the more beautiful you were.

And even all the marketing for all these beauty products were all, you know, inclined towards. Insinuating that if you were fair skinned, then you were beautiful. And so it became another battle or me trying to, except that, well, this is my color. I can't really do anything about it. So maybe I should change my perception of what I think is beauty.

So the person I'm looking at in the mirror, well, she's beautiful to me and that's okay. That's absolutely. Okay. And I think that, that entire phase, you know it was it was a brutal three to four years of, you know, the people who I thought were my friends picking on me because of the color of my skin, because they didn't think that I adhere to the norms of beauty and you know, that self acceptance.

I [00:12:00] think that in a lot of ways has kind of translated into me being this confident. Like I'm a YouTuber, I'm a podcaster. I show up on videos. And to me today, it doesn't matter what someone else thinks about how I look because my self acceptance is so strong and it was built with such a strong foundation from when I was like a teenager.

So social media and the technology, we have really helped you out in your generation, because even if you go back one generation, they didn't have the YouTube and the, the social media apps, like, you know, right now, Twitter, because Elon Musk is huge in the news and Facebook and tick talk. So that really helped you become, it was a good thing for you in your life and in all your friends' lives.

I guess I would say more than social media. I think the internet, [00:13:00] because while we're still talking about like the early two thousands at this point, so social media, I mean, it only became I think Facebook was only around from 2004, but I think before that it was like the internet, there were articles, there were conversations that people were having about beauty.

And I honestly, there were so many people so many articles, news, paper articles that were talking about self-acceptance, self-love accepting who you are. And there were a lot of debates and conversations about how there were so many companies that were aligning their marketing to only promote fair skin.

And even, you know, there was a lot of debates that were sparked when it came to. The society talking about color, talking about beauty, talking about their perception of what was beautiful and what was not. So I think as a generation we have done pretty well in terms of [00:14:00] absorbing the information around us and, you know, make forming our own opinion instead of relying on what the previous generation were thinking.

And just blindly accepting that. I think that the generation that I belong to questioned a lot of things. And that also contributed to where you know, my thought process led me to yes. And I don't want to distract from your story. I want to stick to your story print story, but something you just said is so powerful.

And I don't know if the listeners and you picked up on it. But what helped you is also a massive two-edged sword because the internet helped you to see things from a different perspective. But now in this generation, the internet is so biased through [00:15:00] social media, through the cancel culture, through censoring, through fact checkers.

So now where you were, you know, 20 years ago, able to go online and get various different opinions that gave you a balanced approach to life. Now people are looking at this with the impression it's balanced and it's really left wing. You know what I mean? It's really, it is it's, it's very liberal. It's very one-sided.

And now, like, again, I made the joke about Elon Musk. He's trying to equal the playing field here. She was just going to buy the whole damn company. Right. So I don't want to get off into that debate cause that's not what we're here for, but definitely it triggers that. So with your generation 20 years ago, finding truth in the internet, what do you think if you're talking, here's our first talking point, there's young women and men all over the world, listening to you right now.

And they're feeling this pressure of the [00:16:00] bias. They don't fit in when they're like, wait, there's nothing wrong with me. But they're being told there is, do you think social media is a good place for them to go now? Well, I think that. There is no right answer to that question because it depends on where you go on social media as well, because there have been fantastic influencers, fantastic, famous people talking about real life incidents that have shaped them to who they are today.

I mean, people listening to this podcast will know that I have faced bias and will understand my approach to life and how that has shaped me in a positive way. However, you are going to have conversations on one side of social media where it is going to be extremely biased. It is going to be very negative, is going to, you know, very I think it would influence you in a very negative way.

So I think it really depends on where [00:17:00] you are going to form your opinions. And I think that it also depends on you as a person to have that, I guess that decision that okay, well, I follow this person because of their values because of their ideals. And, you know, I agree, or I disagree to the conversations that they are having.

I think it all boils down because I've seen really, really good conversations that have opened my eyes. And I have also on the other hand, seen conversations on social media where I've been like, Nope, this is, this does not align with me at all. So I guess there is no right answer. Yeah. Let me reframe my question then, because what you said is completely true.

I sometimes my mind jumps ahead. So if someone was looking for good content and balanced content or people, I guess my, the right question is how do [00:18:00] they find. The right people to listen to, or at least to hear their opinions. Because what I was referencing is if you just go into the average Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, tick talk, newsfeed, all super liberal, super biased, censoring, any other opinion.

So if someone was going to go on Twitter and try to find someone with a ver a different opinion, a varying opinion, how would you recommend they look up. All right. So the way I go about this, especially when you know, I'm trying to form an opinion about a situation, and that usually happens a lot because while I'm also growing as a person and that's completely natural is I always try to go with an open mind.

And that's the first step I do, whether it's going on Twitter or whether it is reading conversations, you know, debates that have occurred in news articles or debates that are occurring [00:19:00] on the social media platforms. Sometimes you have people in the comments who are voicing their opinions. So the first thing that I do when I am trying to find like format opinion, is that I try to stay neutral first.

You know, I try to keep myself in neutral ground and make sure that I am listening to both sides with an open mind. So then I do a little bit of research for one side. I find out their reasons. I find out why they are justifying their views. I find out, you know I tried to understand it from their point of view.

Basically I try to empathize with what one side is feeling. Then I go hop over to the other side, again, go over to what they're thinking, how they're feeling, whether it aligns with my thought process. And I think at that point, it is easier for me to make a decision on what I choose to believe what I choose not [00:20:00] to believe what I choose to adhere to.

And the, it also helps me to form an opinion about the situation. So going in neutral is a good way to start and then making sure that you are not forming a bias because of the person who's speaking or because of the topic itself is a really good starting point. I think that's great. Excellent advice.

You're taking kind of an, a debate approach. A lot of times when you debate somebody, you take the opposite, the opposing opinion, research it so you can understand. And then you can not only decide is this the direction you want to go against, but you could dissect it. So, yeah, that's super wise and fair and balanced.

So if more people did that, we'd have a better world. I think all the time, I don't care if it's India, America, Ireland, Australia, if you took the politicians names and faces off the ballot and you just put a list of what they stand [00:21:00] for, most people wouldn't be voting the same. So it's just it's really interesting that you mentioned that, that you said, and you don't try to take away the bias and step aside and not, not be biased based on the influencer.

So, okay. Well, let's pick back up with print. So print is in Singapore. She loves it, but there's bias and she comes back to India. I got the cast and stuff and there's more bias. And where do you go from there? Okay. So basically that started my whole journey of learning, how to be confident. I have always been pretty confident in my abilities, in who I am from when I was a kid, but during all of this buyers, like, it was definitely a shock for me, you know, because coming back here, I thought, you know, okay, yes, I will be accepted because I'm now with the people of my color, because all said and done, you know, I was feeling a little bit out of place.

In terms [00:22:00] of, you know, what people perceive to be beauty, what people perceived to be the norm and stuff like that. So I thought, okay, maybe coming to India, I will maybe fit in better and that did not happen. So I think it was around this time that I learned the true meaning of being confident. And I'd like to share that with your.

So for me, I don't think that confidence, like when I talk about confidence, I don't think that it only pertains to one aspect of my life. I think that I try to look at confidence as a whole. I try to bring in every single ability of mine and look at it as a complete spectrum of what I should be confident about.

And the reason is that, especially during my teen years, when there were a lot of people around me who did not like the way I. So my confidence when it came to how I perceived, how I looked was a little bit lower than what [00:23:00] it should have been. And I'm completely honest about that. However, there were a lot of abilities that I was super, super confident about, like my dancing, my singing what else might, the way I speak debating, you know, essay writing so many different things that there are super, super confident about.

So I decided that if I looked at all of the things that make up who I am, then my percentage of what made me, me you know, the things that I would feel good about was pretty high percentage because even if my confidence in beauty was like 20%, but my confidence in all of my other abilities was like 95 or close to a hundred.

Then my overall confidence was going to be a lot higher. And I started perceiving life. That way I started perceiving confidence that way. And that is exactly how I show up today as well. My confidence is not pertaining to one [00:24:00] aspect of my life. I show up because of every single aspect of me that combines together to make me this confident.

So that actually began my process of building my confidence and, you know, making sure that I was always confident. I always showed up confident. Now, going back to your childhood, what helped form this belief, obviously your experiences and what you encountered, but were your mom and dad supportive of you being confident?

Like forget the world, just be confident or were they traditionalist? And they're like, no, you, you obey, you fall into. Oh my parents have been super, super supportive in terms of, you know, making sure that I have my own voice, I have my own opinion. They have always made sure that, you know, they believe in me, they trust my thought process.

They, they absolutely value who I am as a person. So in that way, my parents [00:25:00] have been very supportive and in a lot of ways contributed to my entire, the way I thought about it, because of course, you know, at that point, at that age, I would come back home and, you know, cry and say, well, somebody said this, or somebody said that.

And you know, at that point, My mom or my dad, both of them, they would always say, you know, why are you caring about what other people think? You know, what do you think? And then I would, you know, ponder about that and then think about what I feel about myself. And I think that at that stage, I realized that if I just thought I was beautiful, if I just thought that I was good at something, then it was true to me.

And that was enough. So it was at this point, you know, them asking this very question, Why are you caring about what they think? Just that one simple question was enough for me to realize that I needed to stop relying on other people's opinions and I needed to start forming my own and started believing in the opinions that I was [00:26:00] having, because that was important.

I did have opinions. I just, there were times that I forgot to believe in them. And I think that that was a very important question. And it also, I think that my parents have been very, very open in terms of accepting different versions of my thought process. Like, you know, how to be more open to a different thought process instead of aligning to what the society had been following for a very long time.

So in that way, I think that my parents are forward thinkers. So, where does this bring you now? You're back in India, we finish what we call high school. Then you go on to university. Was it set in your government that you had to do something or not do something? Where did that bring you at this point?

Okay. So basically in India, it's, [00:27:00] it's a very societal thing that you are either a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer. And if you choose any other profession, other than that, then you're probably not going to get the respect that you hope to achieve regardless of the success that you may achieve in the future.

And you're probably also just deemed a failure. If you don't follow any of these three screens, it's a very I guess I would say. It adds a lot of pressure, especially when you are in your when you are 18 and you're deciding what to do with your life. So I normally joke that Indians usually become engineers or doctors, or, you know, they do their engineering degree and then they figured their life out.

And it's not just me, but you know, a lot of people that are. We finish our engineering degree and then we decide what to do with our lives. And the same thing happened with me as well. I did my engineering and halfway through my engineering. I just knew [00:28:00] this was not for me. This was not something that I was passionate about.

It was not something that I saw the next 40 years of my life. I felt so lost. I felt like I was being forced to do something that I did not want to do. And I don't know. I guess David, for me, I believe that life, you need to be doing what you are passionate about. You know, the money will always come in at some point, but you need to first be happy about what you're doing.

You need to first have that passion in your life. And for me, I just kept looking all throughout through engineering and it was really scary because. Every other person had their life figure it out. I mean, they loved doing whatever it was that the subjects were teaching them and they absolutely were happy about how their career was going to be if they chose an engineering job.

Whereas I was not. And I completed my engineering degree feeling a little lost feeling, you know? Okay. Where do I go from here and feeling a [00:29:00] little behind in life as well, you know, because everyone's got their life figured out. And here I am at the age of 22, 23, and I don't know what I'm doing in my life.

I don't know if I will ever be successful because I'm starting so late. And it was around this time that I realized that I had an interest in. So I decided to do my MBA straight out of engineering. I did not attend any job interviews. I did not even apply to them. I just knew that that was not what I wanted to do.

I did not have a plan B. I was just like, okay, I have to apply to MBA colleges. And then I applied and then you know, I got into a couple and then I made my decision and I went forward to do what my MBA at RIT it's in upstate New York. Very nice. Very nice. So you came to America and that was this your first time, or did you take survey trips?

Did you take vacations or was this your first time in America? Oh, it's my first [00:30:00] time. First time. That's crazy. So what was that like? Oh, it was insane. But in a lot of ways, It was. So I had transitioned from Singapore to India. So transitioning to another country was something that I had done before.

And I knew that there were going to be a few cultural shocks. I knew that I would have to take some time to adjust you know, in terms of the way I think in terms of the way I behave in terms of the way I showed up as well. So I guess I wasn't I wasn't thrown off as much as my other peers who had never transitioned between countries before.

So I, in a way I coped with that a lot better, but there were a few things, you know understanding how the university works, because it's a completely different education system, understanding how that works, understanding where I wanted my career to go. I think that New York is holds such a special place to me because in a lot of ways, [00:31:00] I think I found who I want it to be.

And the person that I am today is in relation to that. It started from that entire phase of when I was by myself. So, you know, when you are out of your parents' home, it's a different feeling because now it's like, okay, every single decision is on me. I have to go to the grocery store. And then I look around my mom's not around to tell me which tomato to pick.

You know, it starts something so small. You don't know how to pick tomatoes. You don't know how to pick vegetables. Then it goes on to the bigger things, how to create the space that you're living in, how to form your opinions, form the opinions that you want to have and not opinions that probably have been what you have been accustomed to growing up those kinds of things.

So it was very different experience. And I think that by living by myself it helps me understand who I was as a person. It helped [00:32:00] me form opinions. It helped me understand the path that I wanted to take. So then let's pick up there at RTI and that's Rochester technical Institute, correct? Yes, our it Alrighty.

Institute of technology. I told you before the call I'm dyslexic. I don't know if anybody, if our listeners don't know that after 94, 90, whatever episodes I'm dyslexic. So stuff like that really messes with my head. All right. R I T Lanchester Institute of technology, and then the mechanical engineering degree you got was an electrical.

Was it mechanical? What, what type of engineering degree engineering was electronics and communication, electronics and communications. And then the MBA, they accepted you in the program just to continue. So you can be more of a C-level executive. Okay. All right. So where does life go from there? So now you're working, you're getting an MBA.

Did you find your passion in the MBA or somewhere else? That's a story in [00:33:00] itself. So first off, let me just rewind a little bit to my engineering days. So I was sitting around this was, I think second year, summer holidays, like right after the second year second year of engineering and I'm sitting around and like every Indian parent.

Okay. My dad saw me and he's like, well, you should not be sitting around. You should go do some work and, you know, try to get some real life experience. So he, you know, brought me onto his. And I interned there and help them with their website and their social media. And I absolutely enjoyed every second of it.

Like it was something that I could spend six hours a day and I would be so happy. I would still feel so energized by the end of the day. And I couldn't even focus that long when it came to my engineering degree or studying for exams. And I realized that, you know, it was something that, that was some passion that I really want it to feel.

But I, at that point I didn't [00:34:00] realize that it was something that I could base my career on. Like I said, David, there was a lot of societal pressure. Nobody really considered at that point, of course, at that point in time. Anything other than an engineering degree or a doctorate, a doctorate or, you know, a lawyer's degree, I guess.

People would not look at you the same way. People would not look at you with respect and they would guarantee that you you're a failure. So at that point, I didn't even think that that could be a career path for me. So I went back for the next two years to intern with my dad's company and I absolutely loved it.

I helped them, but their social media pages, I helped them with their website. And I realized that I sort of had a knack for. Like I said, I didn't realize that I could base my career on that. So fast forward to my MBA program, I'm sitting in the first class of marketing. I can really even picture what I'm wearing.

And the teacher is standing right there in front and it's like such a pivotal moment in my life that [00:35:00] I can't even like, I get goosebumps talking about it. So the, is there, she's asking questions about marketing, you know, just to kind of gauge the level of the class to figure out where we are at so that she has a good starting point to her teaching.

And there I am answering every single question and it's not simple questions. It's like, okay. You know, marketing campaigns that happened 10 years ago. And I knew about it. I had, I don't know, subconsciously kind of grasped all of this all throughout the years. Read articles about it, except consciously these were things that I was interested in.

I just didn't know it was called Martin. And it was in that class. Like I'm answering Coca-Cola's marketing campaign from 10 years ago and I'm explaining it in so much detail that I shocked myself. Like, how is it that I'm remembering something from 10 years ago? And you know, the teacher was amazed.

And then there was another campaign that I was talking about. Boba Maggie is another company and [00:36:00] I was talking about their marketing campaign. And it wasn't that moment that I realized that my entire life had led to this moment. And it was such a beautiful feeling for me. And to recognize that there is something that I was passionate about and that that was something that I could base my career from.

And in that moment, I think I made a promise to myself. Whatever it is. I'm going to follow this passion through because I spent so many years feeling so lost, feeling so scared that I would never find my passion that after finding it, I never wanted to take it for granted. And thus began, you know, my entire attempt of honing my skills in marketing, because even though you have passion for selling something, it doesn't stop there.

You have to keep working at it. And given that I did not have any technical knowledge about marketing, like whatever I had read was just from articles and, you know, just casual [00:37:00] things that I had picked up on over the years. It was not technical knowledge. So not just that I didn't have any previous business technical knowledge as well.

I had to work like three times harder, four times harder to make sure that I was on par or even, you know, you got that A's in my class. So I think that that started my entire journey. I think that if I were to pinpoint a moment in my life, that I started to understand why I am the way I am and how every aspect of my life converged into that one point.

I think it was that, that moment. That's awesome. So we've talked about learning to be confident. We've talked about, you know, forming your own opinions, and now we're talking about finding your passion and making a career out of it. So now you found your passion for it. [00:38:00] Take us from there of how you've made a career out of it.

And we'll, we'll break things down for. Okay, perfect. So that's actually the start of my journey and it's, it's a really nice story because it's got everything, it's got drama, it's got pain, it's got happiness. So I'm excited to share that with your audience. So after my MBA I got a great job at a top solar farm in New York, and I was so happy there.

I had a great mentor. She was the marketing manager at the company. She really made sure that, you know, there was a delicate balance between her teaching me as well as letting me do my own thing so that I could grow on my own. So in a lot of ways, I had an amazing life. I moved to long island, amazing life, amazing colleagues, amazing friends, everything was just perfect in my life.

I was at a job that I loved and, you know, things were just, things have never been better for me. [00:39:00] And then. I was on a student visa because after your MBA program, you get about a year of student visa work time. And I had to convert that into a work visa to work there permanently. Unfortunately, my H1B visa that's the work visa did not get processed, which meant that I actually had to come back to India.

So my perfect life over there, everything just foof in seconds. No, just to clarify, did the U S government process or. No, no. My employer did like sent through and it's a, it's a lottery basically. Gotcha. Okay. So, okay. So when you say it wasn't processed that you didn't get accepted. Okay. Okay. I thought you made it physically.

They just didn't do the paperwork. And I was like, oh,

that's my ignorance. Our, our, our, our listeners probably understood that, but I got confused. So I apologize. Oh, no, that's no, my employer was amazing. Like [00:40:00] throughout they even hired a lawyer to get me through the process. What else? They, you know, even when the visa was not processed, they wanted to help me with other legal options.

But, you know, it was too late at that point. So they were amazing throughout the entire thing and they really want it to meet. So at that moment. Oh my God, David, I was crushed like beyond crushed. I think that it was the second time in my life where I have felt so scared. I didn't know what was going to happen the next day.

And I think that I was filled with anxiety attacks because I just did not know where my life was going to go from here. Like I said, you know, I kind of beaten all the odds to take up a career in marketing and then. To start over from scratch in another country was heartbreaking for me because I found my niche.

I found my journey, but then that was just taken away from me in split seconds. So it was around this time that I realized I was at the bottom. [00:41:00] I, I had to start from scratch. I've just done the whole resume thing, sending it out on LinkedIn, going through many, many, many, many, many interviews, heartbreaking interviews, getting dejected after every interview.

And I, you know, it was just like going through that entire process. Again, it just drained me completely because it is a pretty intense process. So I said, okay, I have two options at this point. One I'm starting from scratch. So the first option is I send out my resumes on LinkedIn, start the process all over again and just brave through it.

My second option was to start something on my. I was planning to do it like five to 10 years down the line, but I thought that maybe this entire situation had a purpose to it. I am a bit spiritual. So I thought that maybe this was meant to happen this way. I think that being a little bit more spiritual helped me [00:42:00] accept and make peace with the situation though.

Of course, that took time. So I thought that, I guess I wouldn't, it wouldn't be any harm if I tried a new path. And I thought that maybe somewhere down the line, I would at least thank myself for trying something new. When I had the chance to, I was at the bottom, like zero absolute zero, and maybe it was, I was meant to go there because I was meant to do something else and not, you know, at a full-time job or not go through the normal route.

So I started to believe that I had a purpose. I started to believe that, okay. I was meant to do something different and that's when I started looking at my option of starting something on my own. It was really painful. And of course we can delve a lot deeper into the actual, like actual steps that I took to get out of that dark place.

But you know, it was, so I [00:43:00] started off by looking at how other people had started with their journey, you know, getting in, starting on their own. And then like when I was starting my business and figuring out my own marketing, I realized that there was a huge disconnect between marketing for your business and the marketing that you actually.

At your school or from case studies and stuff like that, it's, there's a lot of gap over there and not, not that the curriculum was bad or anything. It's just that the world of marketing changes so much, especially social media marketing that you have to keep up with it and it's different to practically apply it.

So in that time of, you know, freelancing and trying to start my own business, I realized that if I having technical knowledge and marketing was struggling so much, then other businesses. Well, don't have any background in marketing must be struggling so much more. And the [00:44:00] resources that I was looking or finding online were just either they were too expensive or they were just, you know, the cookie cutter solutions that were not specific to the business, like small businesses or solopreneurs.

So that's when I actually found my true purpose in life. And that was to help small businesses across the world to feel confident about their marketing. And that's when I started my podcast, I started my YouTube channel to give free tips for business owners, for solo preneurs and for startups as well.

So from that, I think started my entire journey where I set up my business with the brand mission. Of helping small businesses. So that was my purpose. And I got to pursue my passion for marketing. At the same time I was helping people. I was making a difference and I don't know, it just makes me so happy that something, [00:45:00] something so beautiful came out of a very dark place in my life.

Yeah. So let's talk about three things. We're going to talk about number one, the disconnect between higher education and reality. Cause what you're saying is you can go to the best school in the world and not only did things change fast, but they teach you in a theoretical environment. When business, you have little time, little resource, typically you have little time, little resources, you need big results.

So there's a huge difference between those two. So number two is what did you see. That were the practical steps to overcome that gap. So we're going to just, you know, we already kind of cover number one. It's like, we know that there's a gap. So what were the practical steps that you took? And you did advise a company now.

Okay. Your marketing, we have to get real results today. So what are things that small business owners should [00:46:00] be looking for that they're not being taught in school? All right. So first off you know, like sort of answering your first question, there is going to be a disconnect. It's not like, like you said, it's not about how great the school is, because even though there was an actual process, like I think it was my capstone project where I had to do a marketing plan for an actual company, even though that does help me.

Like I do not regret my MBA degree. I know that it has helped me in a lot of ways, but at the same time, when you are actually starting out on your own. Yes, your budget, your monetary limitations, your resource limitations the access to resources, all of those play a huge, huge part in your journey. So I think that the first practical step is to assess where you are at and not just where you are at assess your limitations, assess what you can access to assess [00:47:00] what you do not have access to and acknowledge your limitations, regardless of what they may be.

For me, it could be age, it could be the location I'm in. It could be societal pressures, so many different aspects to contribute to each one's journey. And that's a more practical approach. And I think understanding one's resources, understanding one's limitation is usually a good starting point to help business owners start with the practical approach of growing their own.

Yeah. So now then once they get a realistic look at where they're at their strengths, their weaknesses, what's that next step, you know, you have everybody in the world promising them results and very few come through. Right? And then what's really sad and frustrating is the company that charges $5,000 for a project.

And the company that charges $25,000 for the project, both bringing the [00:48:00] same crappy results to most businesses. And that's super hard for me to watch because I'm also into marketing. So do you, do you experience that in your business? Like, it really doesn't matter what you're paying. It comes down to the human that's.

I think that I'm answering your question. I think one thing that I tell my clients is, you know, you're going to have tons of case studies around you. Okay. There are going to be so many people that to look up to and to understand their journey, but you are your biggest cases. Okay. What applies to them may not apply to you.

I really have seen so many businesses making this mistake and I too did it when I first started. I'm not going to lie that I was different. I too did it. There was so many things that I made and we can talk about that as well. You know, looking at what worked for another business, I thought, okay, if I apply that to my business, it's going to work.

However, what we don't realize is they were working to their strengths. They were working to their resources available. [00:49:00] They were working to their factors. Whereas those may or may not resonate with where your business is at. What are your external factors? What are your limitations? So I think that when it comes to setting up your.

Keeping a business journal really, really helps understanding why you are making the decisions that you're making in that given point in time can really help you in the future to look back and say, okay, well, these were the external factors at that point in time. This is why I made that decision. And that can really help you in the future when you are making more decisions.

So this is one thing that I hugely recommend is to keep a business journal, make sure it follows you around every single thought process that you have write it down because you are your biggest case study as much as you would love to learn from someone else's journey. And you can, there's so many things that you can like.

But not all of it, you can apply to your situation. And I think as business [00:50:00] owners, we are blessed with really good intuition. I think it's just inherently part of our our thought process and the way we are. So I think that using your intuition to decipher what is right for you and what is not right for you is a good way.

And honing that intuition because that's a skill as well. You need to be able to tap into that. That's also another good way. And another step, I guess I would say is giving yourself a trial period when you are implementing strategies that you see outside. Because like I said, there's going to be. A lot of factors that are determining where you are today.

So even if you do want to take a strategy from somewhere else, give it a trial period, not just that, be open to making it, making tweaks to it so that it actually fits to your limitations, your resources, your factors. So that's another huge thing that I have incorporated for my business as well. [00:51:00] So when you're taking, you went and you started your company and you're learning what works for you.

What works for clients? Not always the same fundamentals of business are the same fundamentals of life. I've God made it if it's truth and it works, it's from God. Right? But what you're finding out is like you just listed a dozen things, your goal, what you're trying to accomplish, changes your marketing plan, your resources changed your market plans.

So many things change your market. So now as you're developing your business, you're juggling client businesses. Talk about that part of your life and what was. Yeah. So that is a pretty interesting, because as a business owner, you know, when I was a marketer, when I was freelancing and I was doing a little bit of consulting work, though, I was more focused on management.

When I was freelancing. I hadn't started my company yet at that point I freelance for a [00:52:00] year. I think that the advice that I was giving was more from a marketer's standpoint. But when I became a business owner, I started understanding the fundamental struggles of a business owner and my advice, even though it was from the same marketing standpoint, I think that I was more acutely aware of like the budget, the monetary limitations, the resource limitations that they might have, and, you know, even with their skills and their own thought process, I think I was more acutely aware and that factors in.

Each client like each client is very different, you know, in terms of the way they think in terms of their strengths, in terms of their weaknesses. And I think that understanding that has been a huge part of my job as a consultant as well. So I really like it in the sense that it's very different. I mean, it's why I chose marketing in the first place.

I love the fact that every day of my life is different. I [00:53:00] love that it's just such a unique perspective to life. So I think that by looking at each of my clients, I take them as a whole and it just is a new way of how I can build myself up as a marketer as well, because each experience teaches me something new every time.

And where does that bring you now? So at that age where you launched your own company, how old were you. 27 27 and then so bring us from there to today. I don't want to miss anything in your store that you feel is important or anything that you want to share with the audience between launch in that company and today, what was preached journey.

All right. So I think that first, I need to talk about the transition from going from a dark place to actually having hope in life. And I think that that was a huge part of my [00:54:00] journey. And one of the basics of any entrepreneurial journey is that the entrepreneurial journey is fundamentally about you.

It's not about your company, it's not about your customers. It is about. Your business is always going to be as strong as how much you know yourself. And I think I quickly realized that when I started my journey. So when I started my entrepreneurial journey, I was freelancing and I just wanted to see if it was going to work out for a year.

I won't, I didn't want to think too long-term because I had planned my entire life out and all of that vanished in just a second. So I was afraid to plan my life out again. So all I wanted to do was just to look at the next day, see if it was working out and then keep going forward. And within I think, three or four months, it was pretty clear that this was going to work out long-term for me.

And this is something that I was happy doing. So [00:55:00] I think that when you are dealing with something unexpected taking each day at a time is a good place to start. Okay. Understanding where you are at and. Taking steps from where you are at, instead of where you thought you would be, was a huge learning curve for me, because I thought I was going to be somewhere else and accepting that I was not there.

And I was someplace else was a huge problem. And during this process, journaling really helps me, you know, just analyzing my thoughts, writing my thoughts down figuring out what exactly my thought process was and how to overcome feeling low, feeling down, feeling dejected, losing hope in life. So that was where my journey started.

So within three months of this freelancing journey was pretty clear that at some point I would have to set up my business because I was gaining some sort of traction. [00:56:00] And let's talk about that for a minute before when I was going 1, 2, 3, and I stopped at two, the third thing was talk about how did you emerge from the darkness?

How did you overcome that depression? And you just said one great step. So if people listening now and they just want a starting point to get out of the phone or the depression. And I agree with that completely journaling is a massive, there's different ways to journal, but describe how you did it and then talk about other things that help print out of the dark.

Perfect. Okay. So journaling. Okay. I'll give you a really good starting point. So few of the questions that I personally ask myself, because I know that a lot of like I'm a writer I've been writing ever since I was a kid. So for me, it's easy to write. It's easy to write my emotions, but from what I realized is not everybody knows where to start.

When it comes to journaling, they don't know what to write, or they're not sure where to start. So I'll give you a few questions. [00:57:00] Answering those questions, it's really a good starting point for your journaling. And then over time, when you start getting familiar with these questions automatically you will get into the flow of writing is what I have observed with my friends and also with my clients as well.

This is something that I recommend just because it helps you cope better with the journey of being a business owner and the stress and the anxiety that comes along with it. Okay. So the first question that I ask myself is what am I feeling now? And one thing that I recognize when I'm writing is I do not judge myself.

I am extremely kind to myself, regardless of how bad the thought is, regardless of how insignia. Or even if it's the worst thought in my mind, whatever it is when I'm writing in my journal, I do not judge myself. And that's something that, you know, you as a listener should also keep in mind because this is a point where you have to be patient with yourself.

You have to be kind to yourself. So the first question I [00:58:00] start is what exactly am I feeling now? And it starts from anything and everything. If I'm feeling frustrated, or if I'm feeling angry, I write it down. The second question that I ask myself is why am I feeling that way? What exactly was a trigger moment that made me feel that way?

Or was there an incident that made me feel that way? I described the incident in detail as much detail as I can possibly go into the next step is how, where do I want to be? Okay. What do I want to be feeling? So that is basically wherever you are right now. Where do you want to be, would be your point B.

And that was a huge step that I personally took when I first started, because I was in a real bad place. I had a lot of anxiety attacks. I was crying all the time. You know, I was breaking down at every second and it was just, you know, I was not, I did not want to talk to people. I was always in my room. It was not a good thing at all.

I was [00:59:00] very pessimistic about life. And for those of you who probably might not know me personally, I know, but I'm just a very positive and optimistic person. I have a lot of energy. And for me to be that version was scary. It was really scary for me personally, because I was like, okay, who is this person?

It was I think a good six months before I could actually start to feel myself, like, feel myself, getting back to normal. What's your term? When that was really important, because some of our listeners. Myself included struggle with depression and they've felt it for six years, maybe six days, maybe six months, but no matter how long you're in that place, it sucks and it's bad.

And listen to what it's saying and let's get out of it together. So pray, keep going. You're talking about journaling, you're talking about how to journal. What else helped you to break free? Yeah. So in journaling, you know, understanding where you want to be, like, how do you, like, where do I want to be? Was the next.[01:00:00] 

And then my fourth question was, how do I get there? What are actionable steps that I can take to get there? And for me at this point, you know, I want it to be a successful entrepreneur. You know, even though I probably did not want to look too far ahead, I just wanted to make enough to sustain my daily expenses and my business expenses.

So I started looking at other entrepreneurs who had made their mark in the world and I, and I tried to analyze how they became the person that. To achieve so much, like for example, Sarah Blakely, you know, she is the CEO of Spanx and, you know, the kind of person that she is, she's so lively, she's so upbeat.

And she was so determined when she first started. Her journey is incredible. So understanding those key characteristics of the people that you admire. I started putting it down on paper. I started created this mind map of the person that I envisioned myself to be, you know, determined, [01:01:00] passionate, hopeful, optimistic.

All of these words were put into paper on my paper, in my journaling book. And once I started, you know, kind of Unwinding all the thoughts that were running in my mind and putting them on paper, it became more clear. And I started step-by-step. I didn't jump directly. So if I want it to be consistent, if I want it to show up consistently, that was one of the traits that I wanted to be.

And I started small, you know, maybe one YouTube video a day, a week, focusing on just one YouTube video a week, and then showing up on my stories maybe three times a week, trying to be consistent through small steps. And then slowly I moved on to bigger steps showing more consistently in terms of maybe creating products for my Etsy page on a regular basis and so on and so forth.

So that was one method. Journaling really helps me. And those were four questions that gave me a good start. [01:02:00] Even when you're journaling on a normal everyday basis, just asking yourself, what are you feeling? What was the incident that triggered it? And how do you want to feel is a good starting point.

The second thing was meditation. And so it's a really funny thing because I was introduced to meditation when I was a kid. I think this was in third or fourth grade, if I'm not wrong or maybe yeah, around that time. And we had yoga as like a compulsory class. And during that, they taught meditation and basically meditation.

When you're a kid. Trying to get you to sit still for at least five minutes. And I hate it. Absolutely. Every second of it, I thought to be honest, that meditation was absolute crap because I thought that, you know, there are so many thoughts running in my head all the time. How do I keep it silent? How do I shut it off?

It's just not possible for me. I don't think it works for me and all of those things. So that was my mindset before this entire [01:03:00] each one B fiasco happened. And when I was in such a dark place, I, I was looking for something, just anything to get me out of that I was ready to try anything again. And for me again, I started listening to people who said, you know really successful entrepreneurs who said that meditation really helped them.

And I said, okay, Well, maybe there's something here that I need to take a look. And, you know, I was desperate because I was in such a bad place and my thoughts were beginning to scare me at some point. And I knew that I had to somehow get out of that. So I started with simple meditation, you know, the ones that have guided meditations on YouTube.

I started with those because if it's just music, I, I still couldn't stop my thoughts from racing. I still couldn't you know, control what I was feeling and all of those things. So it started very small. I started with guided meditations. Jason [01:04:00] Stevenson on YouTube is a good place to go in case you guys want some good meditation music.

It's just amazing. So he has guided as well as just normal music. Just as a side note. So I started with guided and then it was like for 10 minutes a day, and then slowly I increased it to 15 minutes a day and then 30 minutes a day at first, I didn't see any difference to be very honest with you, but I just kept going.

And after three or four days, I realized that after my meditation and when I fell asleep, the next one. I was feeling a little bit lighter, just a little bit, but it was enough for me to believe that something was happening, that there was a fundamental change in the way I was beginning to see my life. So to clarify, when you say a little bit lighter, for those of us who experienced depression, anxiety, we know what you mean, but for those of you who aren't making, connecting the dots, she didn't feel physically, like I lost three [01:05:00] pounds.

She felt like a burden relieved or emotional freedom. Something that she could breathe easier without as much stress. Is that how you describe it? Yes, I would. And then, you know when you have anxiety, your heart feels heavy. You know, it's just, there's a lot of pressure you're in constant like focus and, you know, your thoughts are racing.

So when I say I feel a little bit lighter. If someone is talking at speed 10, suddenly it's at speed eight, you know, and then the more you, the more I did meditation slowly, the thoughts in my head were becoming a little bit normal. They were getting back to the normal speed instead of just everything running all over the place and me feeling out of control.

So in a lot, and yes, even the emotional weight, what they call. The burden of what I was going through, the sadness in my heart, all of that bit by bit, it was, it was [01:06:00] very, very gradual this, like I said, it took six months for me to start feeling a little bit like myself. But the, the day to day difference was noticeable.

I could feel it when I woke up in the morning, I was no longer feeling like starting the day with dread or pessimism and just not wanting to do whatever, you know, even getting out of bed at one point was such a horrible task for me. And I couldn't even do it when I was in the transition of moving back to India.

So yeah, that, that was what I mean when I said I started to feel a little bit lighter. I started to look forward to a day. It looked forward to the day in, in little ways, very, very little ways, but, but certain ways. Yeah. And I love how you described the anxiety you feel in your chest, because I've noticed that I feel depression in my head, but anxiety, you do feel in your chest.

So that's pretty interesting. Yeah. So go from there. So now we're, where do we go from [01:07:00] here? All right. So meditation really, really helped me keeping a business journal as well, really helped me journaling on a personal note, really helped me. And I think the process of me feeling like myself was more to do with me, making peace with my situation, me accepting that.

This is where I'm at right now. You know, the dream life that I thought I would have, it has to change. I can't keep holding on to that dream anymore. I really need to start figuring out what my life is going to be from where I am at right now. And I think we calibrating that was a process. It was really a huge process because a huge part of you doesn't want to accept where you are at.

It doesn't want to accept the reality of the situation. And because once you accept the reality of the situation, it becomes that much more [01:08:00] harder to deal with it. So I think accepting my reality and finding steps for me to take from that new point of reality took some time and that was the next step for me.

Wonderful. So where. Are you even mentioned, we'll put a link in the show notes to the meditation that you recommended that at least you start with said Jason Stevenson, correct? Yes. All right. So now you're learning to journal. You're learned to meditate. You're learning to get rid of the anxiety.

You're slowing your mind down, becoming more focused on what's happening in your life and your business. At this point, you're feeling lighter each. I'm feeling lighter each day. I'm showing up more authentically on my social media platforms. You know, I'm starting to, like, I, like I said, when I first started the entrepreneurial journey, I did not have a purpose.

I did not know what I wanted to do. I just wanted to make money. And it was just another way for me to do something [01:09:00] different and give myself a chance to prove myself in some sort of way. But then, like I said, as I started to implement marketing strategies for my. My own self, my freelancing journey, I realized that was such a disconnect.

And that's when I found my purpose. So it was not until like a good three or six months. I wouldn't say six months, but a good three months after I started my journey that I found my purpose. So once I started, once I found my purpose, it was, it became easier for me to wake up the next day. I definitely, I definitely feel that it contributed to that because now I was making a difference to the people around me.

I now I was, I was, I was doing some things solid and helping people in a different way instead of earning money for myself, finding ways to fund myself, finding ways to pay for my next vacation. And I think that having a purpose, having a higher purpose when you are a business owner or when you're starting, your entrepreneurial journey is really, really, really impressive.

Because that is what is going to get [01:10:00] you up the next day. I mean, on this journey, it's hard. It's really, really hard. There are so many days where you're going to be questioning yourself. You're going to be asking yourself, like, why am I even doing this? And you need to have an answer to yourself. And that answer cannot be, oh, well I want to pay for my vacation or I want to do this.

It can't be about you because you can always do that at a full-time job. You can always do something else. That is you know, doesn't make you question so many ways and when you have a higher purpose, it just helps you make peace with your situation, like the struggles you're facing with your business, or the stagnants that you sometimes feel with your business, the losses, the failures that you are going to encounter more times than you can count.

And having a higher purpose really helps. Get my feedback on the ground. And from that point, every single decision that I have made for my business or was not about me, was about how I can better help people. [01:11:00] I started my YouTube channel with that purpose in mind, I started my podcast with that business in mind.

My packages for my consulting firm are structured in a way that aligns with my purpose, like my Etsy shop, all of the products, every single thing, whatever I do, you know, showing up on Instagram, whatever the topics I talk about on my YouTube channel, everything is aligned to my higher purpose. And in a lot of ways, I know this is like going a little bit spiritual, but I think that this was what I was always meant to do.

Like the lessons that I learned growing up about confidence, about my perception, you know, the struggles that I have faced even while I was growing up all of that in some way. Have contributed to where I am today. It adds somehow even my time in Singapore, my time in India, the, the feelings of lost and you know, all that, you know, confusion about my career, everything kind of tied back and aligns to where I am today.

Make [01:12:00] sense today. Why I had to go through all of those to get to where I am today in a lot of ways, all the lessons that I've learned in my life, kind of, you know, culminated into me becoming a business owner. And in a lot of ways, that's very beautiful for me to see, like when I was going through all of those rough phases, I was like, okay, why am I being put through this?

This makes no sense. Why am I the only one dealing with so many hard things in life? Because my life has not been easy as much as I would love to say that it has been easy. There've been a lot of external circumstances that have made it hard for me to like, I was very unhappy for a very long time in my life, to be honest and, you know, understanding that there was a reason why I had to go through all of that.

And it makes me believe that whatever, you know, struggles that I might be going through at this point in my life. And of course every one of us are going through something or the other, there is a higher purpose to that, and it will make sense someday. It will all come [01:13:00] together someday. So even understanding that also helped me.

So that's how I started. So if you are a business owner or an entrepreneur have a higher purpose, All right. It's not about you. It has to be something that you are dedicated to doing, to making a difference to the people around you, because that is what will keep you going. And this journey is going to make you give up so many times, so many, so many times but if you really want to keep going at it, if you really want to have that determination and that strength, that courage to keep going, definitely find a higher purpose.

Find a reason that gets you up in the morning and align your business strategies to match that purpose. Money will come in. Money will come in and that's just how it is. But if you run after money, then there's a chance that, you know, it will backfire. But if you run after your higher purpose, [01:14:00] everything will align.

Everything will fit. It will just make sense. I know that's really spiritual, but you know, that's what I truly feeling. I'm. Oh, a hundred percent. And our, our listeners know we have a bit, I have a biblical worldview, but we have listeners from all over the world with different worldviews, but they see show after show that our guests like you, when they're referring to God spiritual, however, you're considering it, the greater power there's truth.

It's like guest after guest, after guest, it's like, wow, what they're saying, lines up the Bible, what the Bible says as this coming through in real life, maybe God's real. And maybe God does love me. And maybe he's there for me. And that's why this whole show is about helping each other grow. As iron sharpens iron, you know, and so a man accountants of his friend, just helping each other grow so we can love and glorify each other and our love and glorify God and help each other.

So, no, don't be ashamed at all. You be, you that's it. But now let's ask this [01:15:00] question, Pritt between your birth and where you are today. Is there anything we missed or significant before we get into where's print today and where she going? So if we can help you get there. Like I said, I think that I was unhappy for a very, very long time in my life.

I kept blaming external circumstances. I kept blaming you know, people around me in my life for contributing to my unhappiness. And I think that a huge lesson that I learned during my entrepreneurial journey, especially because I had to actually pull myself out of the dark place Happiness is a choice that I have to make.

It is onto me. I can't depend on external circumstances or external factors or people around me to make me happy. It has to come from within me. And like I mentioned, in this podcast episode that the entrepreneurial journey is fundamentally going to be as strong as how you know yourself and [01:16:00] through this journey, there have been so many things that I have learned about myself.

Like for example, that happiness is a choice that I have to make for myself and that no one is responsible for my happiness. That was a huge lesson. It was also about me understanding my strengths, my weaknesses, how to hone in on my strengths and how to work around my weaknesses. So many different things have contributed to my success, even in my personal.

And I have to attribute that to my entrepreneurial journey. It's because of the deep introspection that I do in my entrepreneurial journey that has really helped me show up better in terms of personal relationships, in terms of my own personal life and for my business as well. So if there's anything that I want to add it is that your happiness is your choice.

You know, it's easy, it's so easy to blame, you know, my H1B or the people around me or the friends, the [01:17:00] so-called friends in coats who kept putting me down or, you know so many different people in my life who have let me down. It's so easy to blame them, but at the end of the day, It was my choice, whether I chose to stuck in, you know, stick myself in those situations or be around those people, you know, at any given point I could have walked away, you know, it was my choice to make, but I did not make that choice.

And you know, when you start to take responsibility for your actions, when you start to take responsibility for your happiness, it changes the way you perceive how happy you should be, because you realize that, Hey, this is on me. You know, it's not on someone else. It's not on something else. It's on me. I get to make this choice and I get to be happy.

And I think that was one more thought process that helped me get out of the dark place. Well said very important. I think you're right. That's one of the keys taking that personal [01:18:00] responsibility, not blaming anybody and just bringing it back to what can I control and do so thank you for it. So let's do this at this point.

Whereas print today. And where are you headed? Oh, so so many different places to go. And yeah, so basically I, you know where I'm at right now, my business is doing well. We have in the last three years, I've worked with 60 clients from over eight countries. And you know, this part of the journey for my business is all about leaving a legacy.

So it's more about, you know at some point I'm going to be publishing a book this year and it's going to be about my entrepreneurial journey as well. And then it's more about expanding my business. So that's where I'm at, up until now for the last three years, it's been trying to stabilize and bring it to a point where I can be consistent with my income and all of those things.

So the next five years is, [01:19:00] and yeah, I think you can make up that now I'm open to planning for five years. At some point I wasn't, I was so scared to plan for the next. Oh, but now, you know, I've reached a point where I'm comfortable enough to plan. I'm secure enough to plan for the next five years, expanding my business as the next way to go and helping more and more and more businesses in as many ways as I can is definitely one of my primary goals.

And of course, you know, leading a life where I'm passionate, where I am happy and just content with what I'm doing is also one of my primary objectives. That's awesome. And one thing I love, what you said is you said you've helped 60 clients in the last three years. That's real. That's great because if you're listening now, I'm a marketing plan, sales consultant, and I've been working in business my whole career.

And when I see these people who are [01:20:00] consultants say, I've worked with thousands of company. If you're listening to this, that's impossible. It's possible. If you worked with thousand accompanies, that means you've maybe sent them emails and they've rejected you, or you're doing a terrible job because if you're like print and you're doing quality work, you're keeping your customers and you can only manage so many.

Now you can build a team. But the fact is if you're building your team, even just look at every human has 24 hours a day. We have seven days a week for roughly 365 days a year, because sometimes there's leap here. We all need eight hours of sleep, roughly some five, some 12, but I love how you were honest about that.

Pray. So if that doesn't sound like a lot to you in marketing consulting, that's a lot people. And for people who are business owners, listening to this podcast, you know, Peretz information is going to be in the show notes, reach out to her. If you have a question, if you want to [01:21:00] learn more, but it should be a red flag.

If you looking at a marketing consultant and they're like, I help 300 clients this year, prove it. I've never met one that can do that. I mean, even if you don't sleep, there's not enough hours in the day. So thank you prayed for being refreshingly honest. Thank you. Well, I mean, I personally. Yeah for me, because I know the struggle of every single client that I have brought on.

So for me personally, when I look at it I always say that 60 clients for 60 plus clients for me is a success. And I think that's one more lesson that I learned is I get to define my success. You know, like you said, David, you know, somebody might say, oh, well, 3000 clients is probably an awesome thing to do for three years.

But for me, I know every single client that I have brought on. I know the amount of effort and hard work that I have put in to get even one client on let alone 60. So for [01:22:00] me, it's a huge success. So even when I say it, I mean, I get to define that this is my success. So that's one more or less than as well.

So yes, I'm going to stop now guys. But yes, if you are interested to know more about me definitely do check out the links that David will be putting in his description. I'm I'm quite a friendly person. I would love to say. Yeah. And then what's the best way, even though there'll be links, some people are running, some people are driving, but they're going to remember what's the best way to get a hold of you.

And you can give an email address. You can give a website, you can give a special offer, whatever you want. Oh you can definitely catch me on Instagram. I usually I'm available in my DMS on Instagram. It's add to be marketing nomad, which is my pseudonym online. And yeah, you can visit my website as well.

Www dot the marketing nomad that CEO. You can email me at at the marketing nomad.com as well. [01:23:00] Excellent. Well thank you for being on the show today. Pray you truly are a remarkable woman and thank you for sharing and being so transparent about the good, the bad, the ugly, and just the struggles and the achievements you've had in your life.

It's so wonderful to see. I hope we continue the friendship and the relationship. Before we tie up this episode, I asked you before I'm asking it, is there anything we missed from your birth to today that you want to cover or any final thoughts for our audience? Well, final thoughts I definitely do have, and that is, you know, if you are passionate about something, not many people get to experience that in this life.

And if you have found something that you are really, really passionate about, I really think that you owe it to yourself to see it through, to, you know, put in your, all your efforts. It doesn't matter if it is a success or a failure. The fact that you found something that you're passionate about and you're giving it your all itself.[01:24:00] 

Should be a huge success for you and not many people are lucky enough to find something. You know, that they're passionate about. I know that I have seen so many people who've lived their entire lives without feeling one ounce of passion for what they do. So if you're lucky enough to find it, I think that, you know, I really urge you.

This is my mission, I guess in life is to urge as many people as possible to follow your passion, regardless of what the society might dictate you should be or how you should be, or, you know, your own fears as well, learn to overcome that and follow your passion. Great words of advice per it. I thank you very much for being on the show today.

So if you have any questions for print, if you have any questions for myself, reach out to us. But remember like our slogan says for the podcast, like print just told you. [01:25:00] Don't just listen to great content, but do it repeated each day. So you can have a great life in this world and moreover in a three to come.

So I'm David Paswell alone. This was print Madukwu and we wish you well, and we'll see you in the next episode. Thank you guys for listening all the way up until here, David. Thank you so much for having me on this podcast. It has been such a pleasure and an absolute honor to join the rest of the people who've been on your podcast with rest of the remarkable people who've been on your podcast.

So it's just, it's really, it's really happy feeling for me. And I hope that your listeners you know, have gained some sort of insight into my life as well as help give me, you know, my things have given them a good starting point to figure their life out as well. So thank you so much for that for giving me that opportunity.

Oh, no, it's our pleasure. We all learn from each other. We all grow together and it's been an honor to have you to hear it. So thank you so much. [01:26:00] All right. To our listeners, we'll see you next week. But for everybody, if you're new, especially these shows are evergreen. It worked last year. It works today.

It'll work next year because it's truth. So go back, find topics of the podcast you need to grow in those areas. Listen, apply it, do it. And then like us and review us on the podcast players and in YouTube and everything else, but reach out to prince. She's great. She's got a lot of talent and be her 61 62 and 63 client.

So she can have real numbers and real people to help. All right. All right. We love you guys. Catch you later. Ciao.

The remarkable people podcast. Check it out.

the remarkable people podcast. Listen, do repeat for life.