What an incredible day at the Expert Empires event! Among the truly inspiring speakers, Marisa delivered a powerful and insightful presentation that resonated deeply, focusing on the key principles for achieving not just success, but significant wealth. Her approach, rooted in psychology and practical action, offered a refreshing perspective on building an abundant life.
Marisa’s core message is that success and wealth are attainable through a combination of mindset, action, and strategy. She outlined several critical areas to focus on, which she often framed around powerful ‘M’ words.
1. Master an Existing Product (or Service)
Becoming wealthy isn’t just about inventing something brand new. While that’s one path (like Steve Jobs), it’s rare and costly. Another rare path is inheriting a business. The most accessible route, according to Marisa, is to master an existing product or service.
She cited examples like Lulu Lemon mastering stretching leggings (not inventing them) and Starbucks mastering coffee. Marisa herself mastered therapy, creating a new brand with ‘Rapid Transformation Therapy’ despite initial resistance to the term ‘rapid’. The key is to look at what’s already out there and find a way to do it exceptionally well.
She shared a fascinating, if slightly gross, story about a man who became wealthy by inventing a small pad of clay embedded with ‘wings’ for sanitary products, showing how mastering an existing concept led to a lucrative buyout. This highlights the potential in improving or uniquely packaging what already exists.
2. Master Yourself
Crucially, while mastering a product or service, you must also master yourself. This involves learning necessary skills, even if they are outside your comfort zone. For example, if you want to write a book but can’t speak publicly, you need to learn to be a speaker or presenter.
This might involve learning marketing skills, like converting a cold call or promoting yourself. Marisa emphasised that while she was a gifted therapist, nobody would know unless she marketed herself. Fortunately, resources like YouTube provide numerous tutorials on skills like PR.
3. Message
Every successful business or endeavour has a clear, emotive message. Marisa stated that businesses telling an emotive story do better. Your message should connect with people on an emotional level. Even in a saturated market, you can find your own unique message.
Examples include Nike’s “Just Do It” (or “Just Freaking Do It,” as Marisa humorously put it). For her publisher, the message was simply “bum on seat” – highlighting the need for hard work and dedication. Your message should be clear and compelling.
4. Marketing
This is non-negotiable for success. Marisa acknowledged that many people, especially those in helping professions like therapists, find marketing alien. However, she insisted that if you want to be successful, you’ve got to do what you don’t want to do. Having a great product is useless if no one knows about it.
She personally focused heavily on getting her name and work known through media like magazines and newspapers. In her training business, they teach therapists marketing because they want them to succeed. Marisa stated that paying for a marketer or PR company is often the best money you will ever spend.
5. Management
This includes managing both yourself and other people. Managing yourself involves avoiding decision fatigue by simplifying choices, like wearing a uniform or outsourcing mundane tasks.
She cited examples like Anna Wintour and Tony Robbins wearing the same clothes daily to save decision-making capacity for important things.
Managing others involves hiring people who are better than you in specific areas and letting them excel. Marisa admitted to the mistake of asking her PA, who wasn’t a copywriter, to write a press release, resulting in a significant error.
The best money you can spend is buying someone else’s brainpower, recognising their expertise and allowing them to manage their specialist area. While smart people may eventually move on, they will elevate you during their time with you.
6. Motivation – Action Creates Motivation
A common misconception is waiting to feel motivated before taking action. Marisa adamantly stated, “Motivation doesn’t appear until you take action”.
She used personal examples like going to the gym or working on her book; often, she doesn’t feel motivated initially, but once she starts, motivation arrives. Don’t wait for it; just begin, and motivation will follow.
The Power of Your Words and Self-Talk
This was a particularly impactful part of the talk. For those who work for themselves and don’t have a boss praising them, it’s your job to tell yourself you’re good.
Marisa urged the audience to use powerful, evocative language when describing their accomplishments, like “I was on fire,” “I was a genius,” “I was amazing,” or “I was a rock star”.
She explained that the way you feel about everything comes down to two things: the pictures you make in your head and the words you use. Saying “I was not bad” or “I was okay” creates no compelling picture or feeling. Using powerful language creates vibrant pictures in your mind that the brain responds to.
Marisa shared a moving story of working with a famous director whose father had never praised him. Despite immense success, the director was unhappy, still waiting for validation.
Marisa guided him to tell himself what a good father would have said, using positive affirmations like “I’m a good son,” “I’m amazing,” “I’m a brilliant son”. The brain doesn’t question the source; it just receives the message it has been waiting for. This self-validation is a critical form of motivation.
Manifesting: It’s More Than Wishing
Marisa presented manifesting not as passive wishing, but as a practical, three-step process.
- Mindset: I am Worthy/Deserving. You must deeply believe you are worthy of what you desire. She guided the audience through an exercise of stating “I am worthy of the thing I require” and “I am deserving of the thing I require,” using powerful words like “freaking amazingly successful” to amplify the affirmation. She noted that people might feel resistance (sadness, anger, fear) when doing this, which indicates unfamiliarity, as the brain is hardwired for what is familiar. The key is to make the positive belief familiar through repetition.
- Clarity: Know What You Require. Use the word “require” instead of “want,” as “require” prompts the brain to take action. Be very clear about what you require.
- Action: Just Freaking Do It (JFD). This is the crucial third step where many get stuck. You cannot skip this if you haven’t done step one (mindset). Achieving what you require demands a lot of you, specifically doing what you don’t want to do, doing it first, and taking action daily in the direction of your goals.
Habits of Success
Success isn’t accidental; it’s built on habits. Key habits highlighted include:
- Do what you do not want to do, and do it first. This builds momentum and makes you feel like a winner.
- Take action every day in the direction of your goals. Even small actions, like sending one email or watching a short tutorial, make you feel like a winner.
- Tell people you’re good. This isn’t arrogance; it’s reassuring. People want the best, whether it’s a doctor, a pilot, or a coach. She shared stories of a top prostate cancer doctor and a British Airways pilot who confidently stated they were the best, which inspired trust.
- Motivate yourself by imagining what a good boss or mentor would say.
- Delay gratification. By training your brain to complete difficult tasks before receiving a reward (like a nice lunch or watching a show), you train yourself to be a winner. She referenced the famous marshmallow test, where the children who could delay gratification were more successful later in life.
Changing Your Relationship with Money
Marisa addressed the often-negative perception of money. She encouraged the audience to make a list of all the people who would benefit from them having wealth; this list is usually much longer than the list of potential downsides (like losing friends or attracting gold diggers).
Change your language from negative terms like “filthy rich” or “fat cat” to positive ones like “beautiful money”. Money allows you to do good things. She shared inspiring examples of wealthy individuals using their money for significant philanthropic efforts, like rewilding land for bees and creating computer centres in Africa. Money, she argued, isn’t inherently bad; it enables beautiful things when used consciously.
In summary, Marisa’s presentation was a powerful call to action, urging us to master our skills, master ourselves, define our message, embrace marketing, manage effectively, take action to create motivation, use powerful language, believe in our worthiness, and cultivate positive habits – including seeing money as a force for good. It was a truly transformative session!
Written by Uzair Kharawala
Founder of SF Digital Studios, a Google Premier Partner agency. Uzair has been helping businesses grow with Google Ads since 2002 and teaches it every week on YouTube.
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