131. From Addiction to 7 Figure Icon, How Kori Leigh Rewrote Her Money Story
In this episode, I sit down with the incredibly bold and unapologetic Kori Leigh, a business mentor and life coach who's transformed her life from rock bottom to inspiring others to live a life of sobriety. Kori shares her raw journey of overcoming addiction, generational trauma, and life's intense challenges to become a multi-faceted entrepreneur making waves online.
We dive deep into her story of resilience, her unwavering purpose and how she integrates spirituality into her mission. This is an episode you won't want to miss, it reveals the depths of human strength and the relentless spirit needed to thrive. I know you will be obsessed with Kori and her straight up approach.
Connect with Kori on Instagram @korileigh.co and @korileigh
Binge her podcast The Kori Leigh Show on Spotify
02:15 Kori's Journey to Sobriety and Finding God
04:45 Discovering Purpose in Business Coaching
07:47 The Interconnection of Personal Development and Business
09:18 Facing Jealousy and Success Backlash
14:04 Overcoming People Pleasing and Perfectionism
21:07 Navigating Faith and Spirituality
27:57 Kori's Business Success and Money Mindset
30:59 Challenging Money Myths and Taboos
36:09 Integrating Shadows and Embracing Wealth
40:51 Overcoming Shame and Building Financial Literacy
43:51 Defining Success: Service and Serenity
45:58 The Power of Surrender and Alignment
52:34 Consistency and Non-Negotiables in Life and Business
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Watch the full episode below:
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Hello and welcome back to the Money Mindset Hub podcast. I'm your host, Carla Townsend, a money mindset and success coach who helps purpose driven entrepreneurs dissolve their money blocks and create a life that they never want to escape. Today's episode is with one of the most bold and unapologetic women I've ever had the privilege to walk alongside that I just had to bring on because I adore her, her resilience, her obsession in all that she does. And her straight up heart, her name is Kori Leigh. So Kori is a business mentor and life coach who helps women make money online, as well as get sober, find God and break intense generational patterns so they can find their personal freedom. She's an all around queen of messaging and branding, the podcast host of the Kori Lee show mother and sourdough extraordinaire. Welcome Kori.
What a great introduction.
Look, I had to add the sour dough thing in there because you've been inspiring the shit out of me. And I have found myself in the kitchen, literally cooking from scratch. And I was someone who was always like, I hate cooking. I could happily never do that again for another day in my life. But now I'm really inspired and
I'm like, right. I've just got to get really good at this.
There's an obsession when it comes to dough, that is just, there's something about dough that is so satisfying.
It is crazy. Well, I mean, I'm sure everyone doesn't want to hear us talk about sourdough, but seriously, she's the queen of it. So let's just dive right in because there is so much to chat about. And honestly, Kori, it was just the biggest pleasure in the world meeting you. I was like, who is this woman? And. Ever since I was just like, Oh, I need to stay connected. I need to see where she's at your marketing, your messaging, your brand. Everything is just on fleek as you always say, but I know that your journey to has been pretty challenging. Yeah. Like you've had some massive challenges and I really want to take it back because in the intro obviously said you help people get sober and find God.
And what was that sort of defining moment? In your life that now has shaped who you are. Like, what was that turning point where you just decided that's it. It's time to get sober. And this is me.
It's an interesting question and answer because there was one moment it was December 22nd, 2016, and there was like a moment of clarity, a God shot, a voice that was not my voice. That was like, you need help. But the lead up to that moment was it was a decade of sliding into a bottom.
Where my journal knew I had a drinking problem, but I would forget that I have a drinking problem and on Monday I knew I had a drinking problem, but Thursday I would forget and it was coupled with like Just a lifetime of plaguing anxiety and self harm and depression and an inability to be in relationships.
And it stems into, I often think, was it the chicken or the egg? Like, was I born alcoholic or did trauma induce alcoholism? I come from a long generational line of alcoholics. But I grew up in a narcissistic, alcoholic home. My dad died when I was six. My brother died when I was one. My mom remarried a man who I did not get along with at all.
It was a whole bunch of stuff that had compiled over. I didn't do well in school. I never passed a spelling test, which is so ironic because now I've written a book and like, I have a podcast and communication wasn't good at that in school. And then I had abusive relationship and it was like narcissism and physical violence, like all this stuff I think compiled into that final moment in 2016 where there was a moment of clarity.
I was done digging and I knew I needed to get some kind of help beyond just therapy because I had done 7 years of therapy at that point. But the darkness was just like rearing its head and coming back again. So it was like, the one turning point was a compilation of a shitload of stuff that had compiled on top of itself.
Holy hell. That is like one hell of a story and turmoil and trauma that you had to go through, but you know what? That makes you who you are today. Like that made you this obsessed Kori with helping women really turn around their entire lives.
So then what made you end up finding your purpose in business coaching? Because you've done a few things leading up to this point, but how did you know that that was your thing? That was the next journey you were to take.
It's so weird because, so when we rewind into our school days and people, some people are like, I am going to grow up to be a nurse or a doctor or a teacher and I never had that. I knew I wanted to run a business, I never wanted to have kids and I always wanted to have a business.
Like as a young, I have a daughter who she wants to be a mom because kids want to be a mom. I never wanted that. I wanted a business and then when it was like time, you know, when we're at the ripe age of 18 and we're supposed to pick what we want to do for the entire rest of our lives. I. Not only didn't know what it was, but I didn't have the grades to get into a regular university.
Like I just, I didn't do well in school. And so it was this at the very beginning, I was choosing between nutrition and fashion design. I got into both schools. I wanted to either be a costume designer or go and study nutrition. And I chose nutrition. And nutrition led to life coaching, led to personal training.
And I lived a life of doing kind of like a combination of that and traveling. And then the Dark Knight of the Soul, like my own personal journey, the abusive situation, alcoholism, like a lot of deep, deep therapy. I'm really good at like you said at the beginning, people like to open up to me.
There's something inside of me that can hold a very deep space for people. And so this then led into a lot more like life coaching, mindset coaching. I ended up ditching the nutrition and the personal training and went really heavy into that. And then after a year when my business exploded around the time of the global situation, I call it the situation that was global.
I love that,
It was a situation
that crazy ass time.
my business exploded and exploded with. Inner work. It was like all life coaching, all inner work. And then I just started to become obsessed with storytelling in a way that is not just inspiring, but it creates like an edge of authority where people want to buy from us. And I started to become absolutely so curious and interested in the visual art of storytelling, which we would call branding.
And when I think of branding and marketing is just communication. And I'm like a really good communicator. And then I started making money, which I had never had money before this. And it was just this whole natural progression. And the thing that's really interesting is that while the job title that I have is in business coaching and messaging and marketing.
There's not a singular conversation that goes on behind the scenes in my world that isn't, like, deep into inner child work, or God work, or purpose. Like, there's so much mindset that happens behind, like, what will I write on a piece of content? It's so much deeper than that. So it's like sneaky spirituality.
It definitely is. It's like soul searching in a way, but everything's so intertwined. So you probably feel this too, everything can start to affect your business. In your life with your spirituality, with your relationships, with your past traumas, it's usually stuff that most of us want to push down.
I don't need that. That's not related to my business, but in actual fact, it shows up. It shows up in your behaviors. It shows up in the way that you put yourself out there where you hold yourself back the way you create. They're just metaphorical mindset blocks that we have that dictate the way that we show up and what we do in this world. It's so multifaceted.
It's insane. I always say that, people want to be on the realm of personal development and if you want the fast track in personal development, start a business because a business is going to show our visibility wounds, our rejection wounds, our money, like it shows every element, our impatient wounds, every illuminated on the pursuit of
building a business and not getting what we want when we want it and getting more than what we wanted When we didn't expect it like on both ends of the spectrum. It's rattling to one's core
hundred percent that capacity to hold more when your self worth is not at that level yet, because of all that we just mentioned, that's what's crazy. And logically you think, but I do want more, of course I want more, of course I want more money and clients and visibility and all the things, deep down, you're right.
There is a part of you. There's the shadow side. That's like, no, no, no. And this actually ties into something that you mentioned openly as well, your success and people being jealous of your success and you having to cop the backlash for that. That's one of the things that always comes up.
It's not the fear of failure that most people are afraid of. It's actually the fear of being too successful and being treated differently.
Yeah,
I want to talk to you about that because I remember reading your post and you said your family members had been jealous and just the turmoil that you had to go through because of that.
And it was literally the things that people are terrified of happening. What would you actually say to someone who has that fear and how did you navigate that?
oh man, I feel like i've lived a life where i've always said people either love me or they hate me There's never been an in between. It's always one extreme or the other And I think a large part of that is some of us, especially when we're building businesses, I feel like God has put us on the planet to lead, to forage a new path, we're not following, we're leading, we're not the sheep, we're like the shepherd.
And so in order to do that, we have to be willing to be projected on misunderstood because that's what a path forager does. Like they are challenging status quo. They're doing something different. They're saying it out loud in a way that people are not necessarily ready for. And so that has always been a thing for me.
And this particular post, it was a year ago in February and a family member stalked me and broke into my house. And there was a bunch of lies around. I'm estranged from my family and this is like the perfect story to just like give the scoop on why it's deeper than that. But when I found out from this person, the story was members of my family were watching
on fake accounts on social media because they've all been blocked and there was a lot of jealousy and so because of that jealousy this particular person apparently figured that they could come and take what they wanted, it was stalking it was break and enter it was nuts and then this admission around like the hatred and jealousy and so I think what that scenario was one of those worst case scenarios that people are like, well what's the worst case scenario.
And we're like, normally the worst case scenario isn't what actually happens, for me it did. And it's like, I think one of the things that helps you navigate this is, I get this on the KL page a lot. Cause it's a huge, massive page and people hate what I have to say. But the right people get what I have to say.
And it'll be like in a day where I get a bombardment of like hatred and trolls and just nasty ass things, I'll have people in my DMs that are like, I quit drinking today because of you, or I hit a year sober because of your message. And so when it comes to this visibility and these fear things, and when we're heart led or God led or whichever way we want to say it.
I think that it's so important that we've got to remember who we're here to serve. Because if I unplug because the trolls are trolling or because people are breaking and entering my house because they want to take what they want to take, then, who doesn't get sober because not I didn't show up, but God didn't work through me that day, or Whose business didn't take off and they didn't get financial freedom and ended up having to stay in an abusive relationship, for example.
The thing about attracting people that we want to work with is it means we're going to repel the others. And as leaders, that means we're going to be hated. We're going to be projected on. but we've got to remember who we're here to serve. Hmm.
you could not say that more perfectly because. is the truth. And my God, yeah, that is the worst case scenario. And that is not even what you picture happening. You picture like people talking shit, stalking you and breaking into your house. But you can say it now. And it's just like, yeah, that happened.
It's nuts,
It is nuts, but I feel like at the same time that happened because you are the woman who's here to trailblaze no matter what and nothing's going to rock you because you're right for all of the people that project. They're not your people and people pleasing is a massive block that I see too. It's, I don't want to say the wrong thing and what people don't like me. But the fact is people are just not going to like you. And that's the way it is. And we can't continue to live our life worrying about what old mate down the road is thinking about, because that has nothing to do with us. And then if we allow that to limit ourselves, then we're no good to anybody. Your people can't get the help from you, the wisdom, that one little nugget of wisdom that changes their entire life, if you just hold back and you pull back because maybe someone might not like you.
Yeah. And I mean, I think the other thing, the flip side of this people pleasing piece it's actually a super selfish way of approaching life because what people pleasing is, is making sure that I don't feel uncomfortable. It's not about anybody else. So it's about like, Oh, I don't want to step on their toes.
That's the story we tell. I don't want to offend them, but what people pleasing actually is, is I don't want the backlash of being uncomfortable when somebody doesn't like me. So when we're in a state of people pleasing and when we get brutally honest about it.
It is a self seeking methodology of life. It's not of service. It's not about anybody else. It's about protecting our own need to feel comfortable. It's not about the fact that we don't want to be liked. It's that we don't want to feel uncomfortable. People Pleasing is one of those ones that I think it's like perfectionism.
Oh, I'm a perfectionist. Like it comes with almost like a status. I'm a people pleaser. I'm a perfectionist, but perfectionism is the same thing. It's just being lazy. It's not actually starting things under this guise of something really beautiful, like, oh, I do things perfect. No, we're not getting things done. So I think when we flip these things on their heads, too, and get to the real crux of these defects of character, as we would call it in recovery, are self serving. They're not about anybody else. They're about protecting our own internal narrative We don't want to be uncomfortable. We don't want to fail.
We don't want to succeed. It's just fear.
And if we let fear run the show, we're never going to create anything magical or anything worth remembering. So Let's go a bit deeper than what's a part of yourself, then you said defects of character, what's one of them that's really prevalent, that was hard to overcome, but you've done it.
I feel like with a defective character, we're perpetually working on it because a lot of them have been our safety mechanisms and they served us to a point and we get to a point where we're no longer.
We're the frightened child, but we're an adult and it's time to change the defect around because it's no longer serving us. And so there's lots of them. One of the ones that is alive and well in me right now is this impossibly high standard I hold myself to.
And I don't necessarily always know that I'm doing it, and on the good side, the light side of it is like, I'm obsessed. I suit up, I show up, I get the shit done. I put in the reps. Like I don't make excuses on the shadow side of it. Nothing ever feels good enough. It's hard to celebrate. I wait for the shoe to drop.
I'm not used to life being good. Still. My life was chaotic for a longer period of time than it has been good. So I'm still learning to trust the good. So that can creep up in ways. And then the way that it creeps up is a delusional form of thinking. I'll feel like I'm failing, even though I'm literally not failing.
And then I'm responding on the inside to this perception of failure that isn't rooted in reality at all. It's rooted in a false belief system on the inside that I've just projected outside, and I can't see the false from the truth sometimes.
I feel like you're just speaking to my soul. It's literally me all the time, even though it's so easy to sit in gratitude. Like I'm forever grateful. But it is constantly this battle between, I'm grateful and I'm happy and everything's ticking along, it's not enough. What's the next thing?
What's the next thing? It's one of my biggest things. which is what I always preach to my clients is celebrate those little things, celebrate every single win. Because I know for the first few years of my business, I just overlooked it all. I just, okay, next. Okay. Now that's not good enough yet.
Yep. Keep going, Carla. Keep putting in the reps. Keep going. You're never going to quit because then it was all for nothing, but you're not there yet. But at least it doesn't stop you in your tracks, Kori. Like I see everything that you put out and you literally are the definition of obsessed. And I love that. And that inspires the shit out of me because sometimes there are times where. I'm just so busy in life, running around after my three kids, going from here, there, everywhere. I'm like, Oh shit, I haven't even put a story up today. And I know that, and I know I have like little Kori in my head going, just do one, what's your excuse?
it's interesting. I feel like the curse blessing in being a woman who wants to evolve is that we're never at the destination once we get to the old destination, we've now determined a new destination, which I think this is a beautiful thing. This is how we grow and evolve. But when we can't, and I'm at fault for this too. Pause and not only recognize where we're at, but recognize where we come from. We disconnect ourselves from humility and from gratitude, which disconnects us from God and from being divinely inspired to continue on. And I often think about it like a child, like if we spoke to our children and just nothing was good enough and they didn't do their spelling and they didn't empty their lunch bag and like not anything that they ever did was good enough, they would eventually shut down.
They would eventually stop trying, they would go into hiding, and this is what our inner child does when we don't pause to say, listen, you did a good job today. You suited up, you showed up, maybe we didn't get what we want when we wanted it, but we still did the damn thing. She ends up hiding on us.
She can't hack it anymore. She can't hack us. lashing her all the time and then our energy is depleted and we burn out or we have a health symptomatology or something shows up and it's a symptom of nothing is ever good enough. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it definitely is because you're right. We wouldn't speak to our children that way. There's literally words my kids aren't allowed to say because we don't use those words in our house. Like can't, I can't do that. It's well, not yet, but if you try, you will like, just don't even say that word. And it's interesting. You sort of have to go back and really reparent that child within you that we can kind of forget about until again, a shadow. Illuminates and then we realize, okay, there's still more to work on, I don't know about you, but there's so many blocks and things that used to stop me in my tracks years ago.
The first time ever getting on stories and I was just sweating bullets. And I was terrified to get on stories and now I can do this and it's no worries.
Those things back then you forget your evolution as you go through this, because this just becomes your new norm until you find the next thing that makes you feel uncomfortable.
So it is, like you said, it's really easy to forget. How far you've come and what you've had to go through and the amount of discomfort that you've had to push through and confidence that you've had to build because you can't build confidence without actually taking the action that scares the shit out of you. That's how it's built. It's not again, chicken or the egg. What comes first? A lot of people wait for confidence too, that's never going to come without actually moving and doing something. interesting one to navigate. you were talking about. God then something that has been coming up recently for me.
So I know I've said this to you in the past. Now I was raised Catholic. And so I went to Catholic primary school, high school I don't know what it is for whatever reason, and again, this is probably real taboo. But that's what we're here for.
Right. We talk about money, all the things that most people don't want to talk about. And that's why. So when it comes to God, I know I've said to you, cause this is how deep we go. But for some reason, I don't say the word God, but I Do you say higher power or universe, I do definitely believe in something, I'd love to know, how do you feel your connection then with God?
As you say, how do you feel that? And how do you know how to realign?
So I too grew up in a Catholic Baptist upbringing. I went to a Baptist church every Sunday. I went to a Catholic school. I grew up in what I would consider, hypocrisy. There was one way that God said we ought to be. And then behind closed doors, there was a way that it was not there was a misalignment.
And when I was 18, I quit going to church and I was like, fuck this. I'm out. And then by the time I was 26, I was fully clothed and I sat in a bathtub. I remember this very clearly. It was like in the middle of the day. I had this moment of just giving up and I remember sitting there and being like, You know what, God, whatever you are, I do not need you.
you are not helpful for my life. I am over you. I had a really troubled relationship with God. Because I grew up believing that if you're going to go to heaven, you have to believe in God. And you have to be obedient. And so I wanted to go to heaven because I believe that that's where my dad was because he died, but I hated God for taking my dad and so it was a really deep and troubled relationship from a very, very young age.
And so I swore God out at 26 and lo and behold, my life turned into an absolute chaos of pure darkness. I didn't believe in dark entities until I got sober and I look back at how insane I was and I have no doubt that there was like dancing with the devil, whatever we want to call that.
And so when I finally hit rock bottom. In 2016, I, my first higher power was grief. So I went into a 12 step program and the philosophy in there is like, we come to believe in a power greater than ourselves. It doesn't have to be a G O D or J E S U S, or it can be like, it's a power greater than oneself. And that first power for me was grief. And the only reason it was grief was because. I was sober and now I had all this grief. My marriage had ended. My husband never came home. I just was like. Everything that I had ever shoved down with drugs and alcohol and self harm and all the other chaotic ways was coming up.
And I remember feeling grief in this profound, raw, naked, sober way. And I thought it was going to stop my heart. And I was like, well, this is a power that is greater than me for sure. And so as the past. Eight years has unfolded with this relationship with pursuing which I now call it God for a long time I called it the god.
I called jesus jc like I couldn't even bring myself to say their names I was like this is too uncomfortable. There's too much trauma, but it was like What I learned in recovery is You suit up and you show up and you take the action. It doesn't matter if you believe in the thing, you got to do the action.
If you don't want to pick up a drink, we've got to do the things to not pick up the drink, you just get into actions. The feelings are the by product. The motivation is the by product. The confidence is the by product. The faith is the by product. Just do the damn action, Kori. And so I started to learn that God's will.
is in front of me. God's will is not tomorrow. It's not yesterday. And God's will for me is often the mundane. It's like if my child needs to be fed, I call it dog shit spirituality. It's like the dogs need to go poop. The dog's poop needs to be picked up. It's like, that's God's will. God's will is make the bed.
God's will is drink water. God's will is beyond the podcast right here, right now. That's it just right here, right now. And the more that I learned to live this philosophy of one day at a time, And trusting that what's in front of me literally is the next indicated stab. The more life started to work.
And I got the gift of hindsight and being able to look back and be like, wow, God was guiding. But God doesn't guide by, I was always looking at the sky waiting for this grand scroll to fall out to tell me like my life's purpose. And because I did that, I couldn't live life on life's terms. And today I was in philosophy and debating and is there a God or not a God and da, da, da, all this crazy shit.
And then I never got anything done. And so for me, the connection with God is like suspending my own agenda, suspending my own timeline and seeking out what would you have me do say be just for today and then taking the next indicated step, knowing that God's. Will lives Where my feet are planted.
Hmm. Yeah. I love that way of looking at it. don't know if a complicated in your head. Just ask for guidance. Take the next step. One day at a time.
Yes. Like, if we put it into the philosophy of the twelve steps, we don't need to get into the whole thing, but step three is we make a decision to turn our life and our will over to the care of God as we understand God. And I see so many people get stuck on step three, because they're like, well what does it mean? What is God's will? What would it mean to turn my life over? And for me it's like, Yo, step three is asking us to make a decision to go to step four. By the time we get to step 12, we get promised a spiritual awakening.
Once we are at 12, by taking one step at a time, we will start to have conscious contact with a God of our understanding. But when we get all messed up on like, well, what is this indicated step mean? And where is it going to bring me? And what is going to happen if I do it or if I don't do it? And it's like, what is God's will?
It's just, we get in our heads and. Like you said about confidence. Faith is the byproduct of action. Confidence is the byproduct of action. Motivation is the byproduct of action. action has to be the thing we do, which is where this philosophy for me of suit up, show up, be obsessed, do the damn thing.
Because when we do the damn thing, the byproduct is the thing we've been searching for before we were doing the damn thing.
it definitely is.
Mm I love that and I feel like.
God has led you to exactly where you're supposed to be. And look at what you've done. You have completely turned your life around and helped women all over the world in so many different ways, not just through your business, but I really want to shift gears because I think people need to know a lot more about your business too, and how you ended up there. So in just under five years, you created 1. 4 million in your business, which now for everyone listening to see where you came from and the turmoil and trauma that you had to go through to get there is pretty bloody amazing. So now. Let's talk about money. So first of all, I know you said that you had a lot of money wounds, what was one of the biggest money blocks that you had to then overcome to change your relationship with money?
Good question. I would consider the money wound the biggest wound in this lifetime, there's so much shame and story attached with. Not making it, with making it, with spending it, with not spending it, Like, this story runs very deep. And, Okay, I look at it like this.
As human beings, and especially as women, we have this idea that poverty is a virtue. Like, oh, if I'm a martyr, I'm a good woman, and if I don't want much, I'm a good woman, and if I think about everybody else first, then I'm a good woman. And when we are in a state of depression, poverty, a lack, lack causes us to lean in on self and we become self absorbed because we are in a state of survival.
When we are in a state of survival, we cannot be of service. God does not have us here to not be of service. God wants us fully abundant. So that we can be of service. So I think about it like flowers in a field, God wants to give all the flowers the right amount of rain so that they produce the pollen so that the bees have the pollen and then we get the honey and the ecosystem works well when the flower is fully taken care of.
And it's full blossom, the flower isn't like, Oh, I can't be that pink. And I can't be that blossomed because it would fuck the entire ecosystem up. So I had to really get clear on, it's not sinful to want money. It's not a bad thing to want abundance and furthermore, it's not only just not a bad thing It is literally god's will for us to be In abundance because when we are well cared for and in abundance, we can be of maximal service to other people
Absolutely. you know, something that often comes up, Oh, but it's not about the money. I don't really care for the money, but I don't know if you've realized this, but there's always this link between those sorts of sayings and I'm just not good with money, but then they're buying the tattslotto tickets. Why?
hmm. Mm hmm.
want it, but there's just that shame around it. Like you said,
money is one of the most taboo things that you can speak about.
Yes.
But for some reason I had to speak about it. It was like that voice got louder and louder. And as you know, there was that, well, you can't avoid that voice.
And I do believe that that was a higher power speaking me to bring it here because you're right. You can't give, if you don't do not have the resources. Money is just a resource and the more incredible people around the world with deep pockets. more good that is going to happen as a flow on effect,
Mm hmm.
by product.
I challenge this a lot when people are like, Oh, it's not about the money. Then why did you start a business? If it wasn't about the money, why aren't you volunteering? If it wasn't about the money, why didn't you start a charity event? It's a blatant delusion and lie to oneself to say, oh, well, I want the business, but I it's not about the money. Well, then don't start a business because the business is literally about the exchange for money. And I think about this a lot too, at the gym, cause it's a deep area of obsession for me.
I want to be the strongest, fittest, fastest version of myself and everybody else in the gym. I love being fitter than everybody else in the gym. I love playing at the gym. I love it. I love that I can lift more than most of the men and I don't feel any. Sin around that. Like I'm not at the gym, like, Oh, it's not about the fitness.
No, it's, it is. It's a hundred percent about the fitness. So I look at it in that level of neutrality that that's the journey with money. Like the fitter I am, the more of service I can be. The richer I am, the more of service I can be. It's neutral. It's like what we do with this.
And that leads to another one that money's going to change me.
Mm.
another money block that I see all the time and have seen for years. what if it changes me? Because it comes from that rich people are greedy.
Mm hmm.
is the devil. Money's the root of all evil. There are so many different real bullshit sayings, to be honest, that just fly around and it's just sort of accepted as normal because somewhere along the line, you heard it and then it became a belief because you heard it so many times and you thought it so many times and that that's just the truth.
But I do agree, you know, going back to what you said about true personal development, you start a business that illuminates all your shadows and money is a
huge shadow because it's not Like if you picked up. A 5 note that is not going to do anything to you, but it's this emotional attachment that we've placed on the money and what it means about you as someone who has it, who doesn't have it, who's rich, who's poor, who does good, who's greedy, you don't start a business not to earn money. Yes, it's a by product absolutely, but there are a million different ways to earn money. There are a million different jobs that you could go and get for someone else, but that's not the thing. You want to feel fulfilled. You want to have freedom, time, freedom, financial freedom. You want to be there for your kids. you need money to live because that's just the day and age we live in. It's a necessity to live a life that you want to live. And to be honest, I feel like a lot of problems are solved when you have money. Like you don't hear rich people complaining about money. They're not like, Oh God, I've just got too much. never going to hear that.
Yes,
A
hundred percent. Well, I've lived both ways. In the span of my lifetime now. I've spent more time struggling than I have in abundance. And I can say with 100 percent certainty that life is a lot easier. When your bills can be paid, like you can be of a lot more service,
it's like way more enjoyable, not to be at the grocery store wondering, like, will my card go through all this crazy stuff?
This concept that it's going to change us. I think that that's so perpetuated in. Media and like, especially with women. So we think about like the rich women in movies have climbed the ladder and they got the divorce and they hated everybody and they burnt every, like all at the selfish expense.
I think we need to rewrite that narrative. That was one narrative. That we could go on a rabbit hole of why that was the narrative. Like how much of that was to keep women small.
So one of the things that was so helpful for me is when I was in California before my business exploded, and I believe that this was very much like a coincidence God shot thing.
I met a woman in recovery there and she was the coolest lady I've ever met. She was old enough to be my mom and she took a real liking to me. And she was like this hardcore philanthropist, lived in this insane, insane gated community invited me over. There was like multiple wings to the house. She had a private chef that like was a live in chef. Like it was like beyond anything. But she normalized it for me in this way that was like, she was into philanthropy. She was sober. She was God led. She was like a really good person, but like also really loved Chanel and like also just really loved to live this private jets and fancy life.
And it neutralized it for me in a way that was like, we can be ridiculously rich and love our lives and still be of service that they're not one or the other. It's like the. Flower that is in its full bloom is best of service to the bee.
And the fact is that money's only going to amplify. characteristics,
A hundred percent.
So if you are someone who is greedy and selfish and doesn't care for other people and is not really here to do good and spread love around, of course, it's going to amplify those parts of you.
Yes.
I think sometimes that is what people are truly scared of. They're scared of money, illuminating their shadows. they're only scared of that because their shadows have been avoided
Totally.
they haven't been integrated. Like that selfish part within you. Cool. Love it. Because there was obviously a time where you felt like you couldn't be, and you were bitter about it.
Mm hmm.
know, maybe your boundaries were crossed. Maybe just something or many things have happened over your life when you haven't been selfish, bad things have then happened. So you should have been, but then you felt shame or pain or guilt, or you witnessed all of that. So I truly only think that there's that fear of it illuminating your shadows, which you don't want everyone to see. But the fact is you need to learn to integrate them because then there's not going to be that fear. Then you're going to see the flip side. That is actually, I love that part of me.
Mm hmm.
those parts of me. So it's going to illuminate the aspects of yourself that you want to illuminate.
A hundred percent.
Yeah, it's like, if you are already a dickhead, you're going to just be a poor dickhead or a rich dickhead, but like, you're just going to be a dickhead. Like, it's not,
Which one would you rather be rich or poor?
Money is not coming in to possess your soul and I think, we have this idea of like a false idol. money does not have the power. We make it have this power. And I think for me in my business, I have to run it a service based business for my soul.
It was a big thing that I. Came to terms with in 2022 when shit was crazy online. And I remember feeling like when I was in a recovery room, there was so much gratitude and humility and like there was just a camaraderie of softness and beauty. But then when I was in the online space, it was like, people are making six figure months and nothing's ever good enough and there's no gratitude.
And it was like, it was chaos. And I remember coming to this deep place within my own path that for me, money has to be the byproduct of being of service but, and then also with that being said for other people. Money is the thing that they are waking up to do. Like, and there's nothing wrong with either way, whether we do service and then money is the by product.
Great. There's some people that pick a career that is not based on fulfillment at all, but they've got money goals. They've got generational money to make and that's the fulfilling part. So like, whatever way we approach it, making more money is as neutral as wanting to deadlift more.
Or like eat less calories, it's just something that fills our soul a little bit and brings us into a deeper state of alignment, but it's like neutral.
It's whatever emotional attachment or meaning you add to it. that's what it will be. So if you want it to be neutral. will be
Exactly.
but you'll notice those little fears and those beliefs that come up. So how did you go then with being able to actually expand your capacity to then hold it when it came? Because again, I do notice and have noticed, it does not seem to matter in my experience, whether you're starting out in business or you're making seven figures, These blocks still appear regardless. And I've noticed that women can be really good to create the money, receive the money. But it's actually that being able to hold it, that's the hardest part because there's a full on identity shift that needs to happen to be able to hold that and not sabotage, not spend it all, not end up in a worse off position. How did you go in managing that.
That's a good question. So I think it was the end of 2022 as well. Where a lot of the money that I was making was going back into my business and it's like when a farmer grabs the, harvest for the season and keeps one apple but plants all the rest so that there is a deeper harvest Like there's not going to be much of the take back, but it's for the long term gain But then I came to that place where it was like, okay making money is only one part of this equation how do I then hold the money that I am making or make that money
make more money? And the money wound for me is so so deep And so filled with shame That I had to start looking at the fact that I had shame around the fact that I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to invest and then when I wanted to buy a house, it was like another piece for me with the money wound is like this deep, deep wound around authority, the government, taxes and it's an irrational one, it's a deep fear. So I had to start getting intentional around it. I worked with an accountant and a financial planner and I started looking at the books, looking at like, this is a mess and I don't really know how to do this and I feel a lot of shame and it was with people that I felt really safe with and then I made goals around it, like I wanted to buy a house, so it was like, well, then we need to put money aside to buy a house and then I did do that.
I think a lot of it is this recognition of pulling my head out of the sand and being humble enough to say, I don't know, and not holding the shame story inside, but going to people that know more than me, like I do in every other area of my life and say I feel shame, I feel stupid.
I don't know why this hurts so much. I feel embarrassed. I feel nudey tootie, but let's get down to business and let's look at this.
To put it simply, no one knows what they don't
Mhm.
And especially when it comes to money, it is that massive part because there's so much more to it and we don't learn it in schools. And this is something that I always come back to is there's so much that the schooling system didn't teach us.
That is necessity for our life. And for us to know as adults going out into this big old
Mhm.
but we don't. And so you could have done is just sit in avoidance. And then it would have got worse and then there would have been stress. And then again, you would have got the symptoms and then you would have got burned out and all these things would have happened, but you actually went, I'm just going to own it here and be authentic and real, because this is where I'm at and I don't know.
XYZ I honestly think there's nothing better though, than a woman that really just owns it too, and owns where she's at financially and owns the fact that she needs support and having your dream money team is the way that you expand it.
And then also that sets you up to feel secure and you have that support. So it doesn't matter that you don't know, because they do.
This is the thing. Like I have a therapist because he knows what I don't know. And I have a personal trainer because he knows what I don't know. And I have business coaches because they know what I don't know. Like there's no shame in the game. Like we don't know everything and you're right. We're not taught this stuff and nobody will friggin talk about it. There's nothing wiser and more attractive than somebody who's willing to admit, I don't know. Like that's humility.
That's an attractive quality.
It is. On the flip side of that, when you say, Oh no, I already
that is just like, all right, nail in the coffin. You're only ever going to evolve to this certain point because you're not willing to be open and remain a student
Totally.
And that's something that you have to be, especially when you're in business, because you don't know what you
don't know.
Exactly. So true.
Last couple of questions before we wrap up, but how would you measure success in your life and in your business?
Two words that come to me is service and serenity. You know, serenity is defined as an untroubled mind. Like if I am connected to God and of service to somebody else, that is like I love having a business that makes money and I love having the platform that reaches a lot of people, but none of that was a prerequisite to serenity for me.
Like I found serenity at rock bottom. I found serenity at a place of desperation where nothing was working in my life. Everything else is a cherry on top for me. So I don't think that the glitzy parts of it, the Gucci parts of it are the definition of success. I think they're like the cherries on top and for me, the foundation of it is like, am I sober?
Am I connected to God? Am I of service to somebody else? That keeps me in a state of humility and surrender, which keeps me in a state of serenity. So I would say that that would be how I would define success.
I love that. And it's so
different.
Hmm.
That's a different definition. You don't always hear, but I knew I was going to get that from you. I knew I was going to get
something
Hmm.
Well, another one then what is a book that has deeply impacted your
life?
Oh. Well, if we were talking like on brand for your work, I would say one that is so good. It's called Prosperity and it's by Katherine Ponder. That one has deeply impacted me. you know, what else is a book that I really love it's Michael Singer, the untethered soul. But the book that I really love is the second book he wrote called the surrender experiment.
And the entirety of the book is about, he never went after a goal. And this is how I live my life. I don't do goals. I'm like the anti goal setting life coach. I don't reverse engineer I don't do the goal There are some goals like I want to deadlift 300 pounds and I wanted to buy a house like there's many goals But like the life purpose goal is not the goal it is like Can I seek god's will and the peace of god and let the demonstration happen? Let the miracle happen let the guidance happen And so this book is about how he Didn't set a goal and like he went on this crazy journey of insane success in his life But all he did was say yes to The force that was guiding him or god, whatever you want to call it.
Yeah. I listened to that book while I was painting
my hallway and Wild what unfolded for him in purely just saying yes to aligned
invitations and aligned breadcrumbs. He was just saying yes to everything that sort of went his way. And when I listened to that, because, so I do love a goal, but it's always those intuitive hits that I follow. And if it's in a different direction, it's in a different direction. So I love that you said, I don't really set that big of goals. Like you don't reverse engineer or anything. I like to have a plan,
But then I will just say yes to aligned invitiations.
And if it takes me in a real roundabout way, I always trust that it's going to work out. to be will be. And sometimes it's better than what I can imagine or what I can predict because you can't control what's going to happen anyway, right? You can only do your part. Yeah.
thing is like, this isn't a black or white. It's not like, oh, well we either are surrendering or we're in action where you're setting goals or we're not. It's like, we need a direction that we're going. Otherwise we're just going to sit on the couch. So of course we need a direction, but I think the wisdom in it is like you just said, we have a plan, but we're not attached to the plan.
We have a plan. We hand it over to God. We have a plan. We seek out God's will or however we want to say that. I think what happens and we see this in the business world is like the launch didn't go how I thought the launch was going to go and everything is failing. And then we go into this insane thing.
And I think about this concept a lot of even in my own life, like my overnight success was. 15 years before it happened. I've been an entrepreneur in the online space. my first group program was on teleconference. Like I was doing this before half of the coaches are even born at now.
And it's like, it's insane, wild. And so, had I given up back in the day when I didn't get what I wanted when I wanted. It was on my manifestation, my SMART goal. I had the plan. I can see now with such clear hindsight that the path that I went on. Traveling, schooling abusive relationship, estrangement from family, rock bottom and alcoholism, all those things, that is why I can do the work that I'm here to do.
And even when I look at my podcast or my page that's so viral, it's all about God and sobriety. I didn't have that 15 years ago when I wanted my goal and my global platform. So this is where the surrender piece has to come in with the goal or our desire is like. It's not always going to unfold the way we want it to unfold.
It's just not. It doesn't matter if you thought about it really intensely or you manifested it really specifically. Life is going to unfold the way life unfolds and we're either going to have the skill set to flow with that. So saying yes to those aligned moments and following the breadcrumbs or we're going to become rigid of like my way or the highway and we burn out.
Yeah. And. That always seems to come when you're not in alignment either, or when you're maybe over consuming, I find that too. And you've probably noticed this as well, but there's a big shift, I think, even in online business, like you said, you've been around for 15 years, you would have noticed this, but there's been a big shift in I'm going to say it's always been there, but it's really, really prevalent now is just this instant gratification. You need it now. And I love that you mentioned overnight success. It was like 15 years in the making. Because. Overnight success, there are many years and unseen hours of things that you will never see of the tears of the pain of the quitting every second day until you figure the shit out. And then eventually you figured it out and then you're all of a sudden everything's working out, but you're just waiting for the shoe to
drop.
Yes.
there is so much that goes into this. But I feel like there's this shift of everyone just wants it all. Now they want all the followers. Now they want all the money. Now they want all the accolades of success. They want all of this right now, but I do think that the ones that are truly in it for that service and serenity, they will always.
Last,
heh, heh.
because when you have that long term vision, it's like that's your direction. however you're going to get to that direction and whatever it's going to unfold, like, but you know, your direction is so clear that of course it's going to work out, but we can't control it's going to happen tomorrow. , put in the reps, just continue putting in the reps and it will come together.
say that like it's the reps and I think we need to understand we cannot be emotionally driven like this idea of like, Oh, I'm seeking alignment. No we want to be aligned in the outcome. Oftentimes that does not feel aligned in the moment. Like when we set our alarm and wake up to go to the gym, we're not going to feel aligned to get out of bed, to go to the gym super early.
We're going to feel aligned after we've done the thing we didn't want to do. And so I think one of the hacks, if you will, with this journey is like, we have to come to the place where feelings are not facts. Like we suit up and we show up and we do the damn thing despite the results, despite if we feel like it, because a lot of the time the journey is ridiculously uncomfortable.
I'd say most of the time, even especially in business, there's so many things that you don't want to do. So what are your three non negotiables every day then in your business that I know you don't attach emotion to cause you do, you sit up, you show up, you can get it done. What are your three non negotiables?
In my business.
Yeah
and in life, I think both, cause they play into each
other.
okay. So in life and business, I always start my day with God. I always start my day doing recovery work, inviting God in, in whatever capacity that looks like. feel like life and business are, they're kind of two separate things in life. I don't pick up a drink. I invite God in, I eat well and go to the gym every day, no matter what.
This is a routine. It never changes. I always am doing those things in business. I mean, I'm so regimented. It's nuts. I always show up. You're never going to not see me not show up. I won't always necessarily write a feed post content. It depends on where the business is at and people are at, but I'm always in my stories, I'm always connecting with other people and I'm always selling something.
Yeah.
day.
Yeah.
Did you ever have a weird feeling around selling? Cause again, that's another really common block, but did you ever have a weird thing about selling or did that you had to
overcome?
yes, 100 percent in the beginning, it was like, I felt I bought into this, this idea of like, you know, how some people say, oh, once you sell something, then we do a nurture sequence so that people are not like sales fatigued. I bought into that idea and it's like. Could you imagine if you walked into Lululemon for workout pants and you went in and they had no pants in the store and you're like, I'm looking for pants and like, Oh, we sold pants last week.
Everybody is sales fatigue. So we're nurturing there's orange juice. Instead, you'd be like, I don't want orange juice. I came for pants. So that was a big part of my shift is understanding that I am running a storefront. People are coming to me to buy something. If I go to Lululemon and they don't have pants out, I'm going to be pissed.
I went to the store to buy something. So there's like a, it's a mindset shift around. People don't mind being sold to, that's why they're in the store. If they didn't want to be in the store, they would have gone to the library, not the mall.
So you have quite a few offers. And would you yourself as someone who's pretty multi passionate then?
Yeah,
yeah. Do you get bored
no, your offers or no, but I feel like I don't get bored. I really, the past while I have really narrowed down my offer suite in in the business side of things. And I'm never bored because this is the kind of conversations we have. Like, yeah, we're talking about content and branding. We're talking about launching and making money.
But underneath it, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about visibility, childhood wounds, our relationship with God, why we're texting that guy back that we shouldn't be texting back, what's actually going on underneath the scene. So it's like, there's just never a dull moment.
No, there really isn't. Well, I could talk to
you
I know.
but I will wrap it up with you. Cause what time is it for
you?
It's 1 14 on Wednesday.
Oh,
You're on Thursday.
I'm Thursday. Yeah. I'm a day ahead. That's wild. Thank you so much for coming on and. I also too, just, I just want to acknowledge you, Kori, for the work that you do in, in your business and outside of your business with the recovery world, with so many different aspects, you are such an open hearted, beautiful, solid, God led woman, and. There are so many people, I know I'm speaking on behalf of so many people, but you are the one that changed their life. You were the one that made them see something different and that there was a different path to take. And I think that that's really beautiful that you do continue to suit up, show up, get it done and inspire. Fuck the trolls, do your thing. Because the fact is that your people are just waiting for you and you will never stop showing up for them. So thank you for the beautiful work you do and just being you,
you're incredible
Thank you so much. That's so kind of you.
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I really hope that you enjoyed it and be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any of the incredible future episodes and guests that we have coming up for you. And if you haven't already subscribed to our email list, be sure to do so because we have some pretty epic things coming this year, as well as a mini magazine that will be sent to our subscribers every single month to help you with all things, money and mindset, personal development, and entrepreneurship to help support you on your journey.
So until next time, the world needs more kindhearted women like you with deep pockets. So keep moving forward and never give up. I'll catch you in the next episode.