FROM BURNING THE BOATS TO STANDING IN CONFIDENCE.

You've been through a lot the last year... Could you share a little bit about what was the big transition you were going through when we met? And what were you having to navigate at that time?

I had just been fired from a startup. It was an automotive EV startup here in Detroit, Michigan... I was unemployed, burning through my savings. I was asking my parents for monthly help in money to pay the bills. Going through divorce with my wife and business partner... the salon was losing about $10,000 a month. Had a rental property that was vacant. I needed to get rented and also was looking for work, which is a full-time job. So that's where I was when I signed on with Career Evolved and took some of my last bit of savings to join the program. But it was definitely a burn the boats situation.

You came in and you were coming into the toughest job market in a decade... one thing that really surprised me about you is when you speak to our group and our sessions, you were so calm. You were so at peace and so trusting of the process.

I was at a point where I was feeling quite low, having lost my job... I had been dealing with a lot of feelings of failure in my personal life and my professional life everywhere... I really appreciated the gratitude journal, the daily rituals, the 50 reasons why you're amazing and why you are a person of deep value. I incorporated those things as well. Those were really nice. They helped center and call me coming into the weekly group calls and seeing that I'm not alone.

Stand in the doctor frame, because you are a fucking doctor... whatever your job is, whoever's listening to this, you're a professional with a lot of training, you're probably degreed, multiple degreed. And you're a doctor within your sphere. So getting into those 50 reasons why, being okay that you're not in control. I'm okay that I'm not in control of my income because I'm a doctor. I know how to do this and this and this and this and 46 other things.

So many people think that the moment they're unemployed, their value goes out the window... What we work through is owning the value is in you. And that's when you're really in your power and you can command your value.

I'm at Ford now. I've got this new job. I open my laptop Monday morning and there's an email about, hey, there's a new executive of design here at Ford... this is the guy who just fired me from my last job. And now he's my executive again... I had to just call a big timeout and say, yep, okay, just acknowledge what you're feeling. You're feeling fear. Fear is related to control... I want to show up like that never even happened... I want to show up with abundance and stillness and calm.

I've since presented to him in meetings directly. I see him in the hallway all the time. He reaches out. He gives me a fist bump... I just decided, based on everything that I learned, no way, dude. No way. I know too much. I'm good enough.

As we wrap up here, how do you keep this evolution journey going for you? Is this now your new lifestyle? Is this part of your way of being?

It is, and in the days where you have a small success, I think the most important thing to do is not get comfortable and not give up on going to the gym, I'll call it, right? The mindfulness gym, the daily ritual gym... the turning point was actually that you overcame a sense that you weren't good enough. When you flip that switch, because you are good enough, you just have to spend a little time thinking about it. I think you get into a perpetual state where you can become your own good flywheel. And you just do maintenance daily, best practices, work hard, stay humble.