Mari welcomes Amanda Goetz - two-time founder, four-time CMO, author of Toxic Grit, and creator of the Life's a Game newsletter - for a raw conversation about which version of you actually gets to have it all (spoiler: not the same one all the time). Amanda shares why she cried through her first therapy session before asking for divorce, how she builds "minimally viable days" when an A+ isn't possible (movement snacks count!), why she takes a "commute bath" to transition from assertive work mode to silly mom mode, and the dangerous trap of believing "if I just feel grateful enough, I shouldn't ask for more." Plus, the ketamine therapy that let her watch her life like a loving movie, why her parents aren't coming to her wedding, why she studies how mediocre white men make asks, and the permission slip we all need: intentional imbalance over work-life balance because some days you just need to be 80% mom to one kid and give the others 20%.

Connect with Amanda:

• Order Toxic Grit: toxicgrit.com
• Life's a Game newsletter: https://amandagoetz.kit.com/posts
• Website: https://www.amandagoetz.com/

Mari welcomes back productivity wizard Elise Enriquez (Crew Faculty Coach) to expose the uncomfortable truth: most of us are committed to chaos and don't even know it. Elise shares her definition of productivity as "making progress on what matters most while remaining present to people, experiences, and opportunities" - which means sometimes a two-hour nap IS productivity.

They dive into the four chaos responses - constant motion (firefighting everything), avoidance (scrolling instead of starting), paralysis (staring at your to-do list unable to move), and fawning (people-pleasing your way into more overwhelm) - and why women double down on this commitment (spoiler: patriarchy conditioned us that we HAVE to do it all). Elise walks through the exercise she led at Jumpstart (Mari's annual retreat) that changed everything: mapping your actual week hour-by-hour to confront reality, then doing a brain dump to see what actually matters.

Mari shares how this system made her latest retreat feel like she had a full care team when she was actually solo, why Tom's calendar-only system doesn't work for her, and the relief of feeling just as good about what's NOT getting done as what is. Plus, why sharing your screen with Elise feels like showing your underwear drawer, and how she slows everything down to find how your system can support you better.

Connect with Elise inside The Crew www.thecrewcc.com

Mari welcomes Dr. Michelle Mazur - messaging strategist with a Ph.D. in Communication, corporate marketing experience with Microsoft and Burt's Bees, author of 3 Word Rebellion, TEDx speaker, and co-host of Duped: The Dark Side of Online Business - to expose the predatory practices destroying trust in the coaching and marketing industry.

After being duped herself (hello, $10k lesson), Mari found Michelle's podcast and finally felt seen. They dive into the biggest red flags to watch for: income claims without context, "experts" who are only 10% ahead of you, manipulative scarcity tactics, and the "one right way" promises. Michelle explains how "web celebs" weaponize parasocial relationships (you know their kids' names but they just want your credit card), why hot seat coaching with strangers you don't trust breaks everything, and the crucial difference between agitating pain points versus empathizing with real problems. Plus, Michelle breaks down her three marketing models based on business type (spoiler: if you're selling $50K contracts, you don't need Instagram), shares Seth Godin's definition of marketing as "the generous act of solving someone's problem," and explains how Expert Up Club's non-prescriptive approach differs from the guru model. The bar for trustworthiness is in hell - just do what you say you're going to do.