May 13, 2025 • 25 mins
Laura Armstrong’s journey from a three-time world champion martial artist to a wealth mastery expert is a testament to the power of discipline, community, and strategic thinking. With a diverse background spanning Filipino martial arts, holistic practices, and corporate trading, Laura brings a unique perspective to wealth-building. Her turning point came during a world championship in Manila, where she faced unexpected adversity—her coach abandoned the team right before the competition. Rather than giving up, Laura stepped up as a leader, rallying her teammates. The result? She finally captured the elusive gold medal, and eight of her twelve teammates did the same. This experience solidified her belief that real success rarely happens in isolation; it thrives in community and collective support.
This principle is now the cornerstone of Laura's Wealth Mastery Systems. She emphasizes that for most entrepreneurs, the missing link isn’t just strategy or tactics—it’s a support system that shatters self-imposed limits and redefines their relationship with money. Drawing parallels between martial arts and business, Laura teaches her clients the importance of breaking down complex components before rebuilding them stronger, much like perfecting forms in martial arts training. Her understanding of cultural nuances in money psychology adds another layer to her expertise, helping entrepreneurs navigate different markets effectively. For those starting their wealth-building journey, Laura recommends consistent income generation, meaningful spending, and values-driven business decisions. "Don't do stuff just to make money," she advises. "It’ll never last." Ready to take control of your financial future? Visit talkwithlaura.com to connect with her and discover how her unique approach can help you build wealth with purpose.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's up everyone.
I'm Ryan Van Orm, and this isanother episode of Scaling Up
Success Powered by Synergist.
Today I have Laura Armstrong.
How are you, my friend?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I am doing awesome.
I'm picking up $100 bills.
I think we know where I gotthat from right.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Oh, I'm so excited to have thisconversation with you.
Tell me about you know, firstof all.
I mean you have such aneclectic background.
I love hearing your stories.
You know we're going to getinto wealth mastery systems here
in a bit, but tell me a littlebit.
I mean you know you have thisbackground in martial arts.
(00:40):
You have this amazing storythat you've told me in the past
about how you've won medals indifferent disciplines and stuff
like that, and I just love thestory.
So go into it a little bit ifyou could.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah for sure.
So I'll just tell you a littlebit about myself and then I can
tell you the story of winning myfirst gold medal, if you want.
So I am a three-time worldchampion martial artist.
I competed in full contactweapons fighting and I was, you
know I always.
I started in Aikido.
I did Aikido for many years andthen I moved to Filipino
(01:18):
martial arts.
I actually did both arts till Ihad a motorcycle accident and
then I had to stop training inAikido.
It was just too painful.
But I still teach and I'm oneof six women in the world at my
rank.
I think that it's just been adriving force in my life, right?
So once I won my championships,I coached the Canadian team to
(01:41):
many championships.
So the beauty of doing that isall of those skills like
leadership and communication andall those things are
transferable to business, whichtook me a little bit to realize.
Now the other piece that mostpeople don't clue into or isn't
really talked about much is theholistic piece.
So I am a holistic practitioner.
I have been for decades, but Ireally got into it because when
(02:04):
you compete at that level andyou know you're you, for us it
was like a nine month ramp up tothe world championships.
So you'd have to hit weight,you'd have to have your diet
right, your mindset, your, youremotions, like everything, and
you train daily Like you had to.
You had to really take care ofyourself.
It was a new meaning ofself-care, right, and to hit
(02:25):
those two days where you'regoing to compete, and so it's
quite the journey every singletime and it's slightly different
, and so that became like awhole other thing.
That became a part of my lifebeing a holistic practitioner
and I got certified in all thesedifferent modalities and things
like that, and so at the timeit was like the woo-woo thing.
(02:48):
This was like decades ago wherepeople just thought you lived
on planet Xenoc or somethinglike that, but actually you were
getting practical results,people were having change right,
and they were stepping intothings right.
Yeah, and I also worked incorporate for decades as a
commodities trader, was the onlywoman on the training desk for
a very long time, and you knowthat was just like a nightmare,
(03:10):
that toxic environment, and theypackaged me out.
I was at the age of 42.
I was now 58.
You know, you just have thesemoments in your life where
you're like all right, I'mretired, right.
I only want to do things thatmake me happy, that help people
which is so important and thatmake me boatloads of money,
(03:31):
because I love money so much andyou know I take a lot of.
I take a lot of crap for thatsometimes, because because
people's points of view aboutmoney aren't the healthiest and
what we don't realize is ismoney is just a vehicle, an
energy that we use in our livesto get us where we want to go,
to move us along, to move ourneedle forward, and how that
(03:51):
relationship is with us, witheach person, is very different,
and it's usually not a positiveone.
So it became really importantto me to create something around
where people could have ordevelop a more positive,
powerful relationship with moneyso that they could elevate
their revenue fast, so that theycould earn what they deserve,
(04:13):
make the impact they werelooking for.
So this is kind of where thingsled me.
Now I still do teach martialarts, but I'm more teaching
instructor programs inself-defense and empowerment,
which actually is very needed inthe world today.
So that's like my 4-1-1 bubble,yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I love it.
I love it, man, it is.
You have.
You have had such this, thisjourney with you know, with the
corporate side, and thenutilizing martial arts for
growth and not just, like youknow, as as a physical but a
mental aspects to things, likeyou know, with what you're
building, with wealth masterysystems.
(04:54):
What inspired you to get intothat?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well, it was just, you know, when I won my first
gold medal.
It was really interestingbecause, you know, I competed at
an international level for likeeight years and this world
competition only happens everytwo years somewhere in the world
, so I would always win silver,bronze, silver bronze, silver
bronze.
I couldn't get the gold.
I don't know what was going on,and so like, and I'm like I did
(05:20):
the whole Rocky thing.
I was like, looking at my tapes, I, you know, I was jumping, I
was doing the running, I, youknow all, all of it, and I was
like what is going on here?
And so we, we come up to the.
You know, this is like my fifthor sixth time going to the
world, and it was over in Manila, philippines, and I know that a
lot of the people you work withare there.
Yeah, I've probably been to thePhilippines 20 times, probably
(05:48):
more than most Canadians have.
And so we get there.
There are 12 of us on theCanadian team.
This, this, I think, was in theearly 2000s or the nineties, and
I think it was in the ninetiesactually.
And we're all there, there's 12of us, and the bomb drops are.
My coach, who had been my coachfor 10 years, steals money from
us.
He stole our money and then hesays, well, I'm not going to
(06:10):
coach you, and he leaves.
He doesn't literally leave, hejust goes off on his own.
So here we are, all 12 of us,right, and so, being the chief
cook and bottle washer andapparently the troublemaker of
the team, I huddle everybody up.
I'm like all right, so what arewe going to do here?
Are we going to DQ, which meansdisqualify, which means you
(06:31):
don't get to compete, you'rejust out?
Or are we all going to go homewith gold?
And they're like everybodylights up, we didn't work this
hard to come this far to notcompete, so we get our cheer on
to come this far to not compete.
So I'm like, so we like, getour cheer on, we get out there,
(06:51):
we start fighting and when youget through to like the gold
medal round, each fight is threerounds of one minute, longest
minutes of your life.
I'm telling you that becauseyou're full out.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And so I probably had about six fights, so around 18
rounds.
And now I was in the gold medalround and I'm like this is it?
So I look over and across thering and there is the whole team
cheering me on right, liketotally like there for me and it
was a special circumstance oflike things happening the way
(07:17):
they did.
That I had never experiencedbefore.
And so we go into the fight.
The first two rounds are good.
The third round comes.
I'm tired, like I've been goingout this since like 8am in the
morning.
It's now 435 o'clock.
We've been fighting all day,and so their last round's there.
And I'm like, okay, I just gotto get through this.
I look over at the group, likeour team, and they're like come
(07:38):
on, laura, you got this lastround.
And I don't know what happened.
But the whistle goes, the fightstarts and I'm tired.
I look over at my opponent Irealize is tighter, is tireder
than me, more tired than I am,and I'm like, oh right.
And then so I pull on theenergy of the team.
I don't know how it happened.
(07:58):
I get through the round, thewhistle blows, like thank God,
that was the longest minute ofmy life, and so you know, we're
waiting for the scores, the refsholding our hands, and my hand
goes up and he says worldchampion, winner.
And like I just stood therestunned, and then I started
crying and like I look acrossand they're all crying right,
like because this has been likethis eight year journey, like
it's been 10 years, right, andso I mean I still get emotional
(08:19):
thinking about it.
And so I mean I still getemotional thinking about it.
And so what I realized fromthis whole experience and, by
the way, eight out of 12 of uswent home with gold that day-
that's phenomenal.
Wow, right what I realized themissing piece was the support.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It was the group of people that were driving me to
the next level, and this iswhere I want to have the
conversation that we weretalking about.
It's too hard to do it byyourself, right?
It's just, you can do a lot.
We're really resourceful, like.
I mean, I'm the energizer bunny.
I mean you and I have talkedabout this, right, like, but at
some point you need to lean.
(08:58):
You need to lean in and and andget those people who are going
to drive you to the next level,and so that's why it was so
important for me to work in thewealth mastery system and create
those systems for people, sothat they weren't stuck and that
they did have the support tomove to the next level, where
they were owning the money thatthey deserve, that the income
(09:18):
that they could make, thatgetting past the limiting
beliefs that they had, that theyweren't going to.
You know, oh, you know, moneydoesn't grow on trees.
Or you know I'm not good enough, or I start making money and I
sabotage, like all these things,sabotage myself, right, Like.
So, you know, havingexperienced so much trauma as a
young child and a teenager and ayoung woman, I was able to heal
(09:39):
myself as a holisticpractitioner and go through this
journey, which I realized weall have trauma on some level.
How are you going to use it tofuel?
Use it as fuel to help othersmove past what's holding them
back, and and this is kind ofwhere everything kind of came
from and it's manifested intothis big thing that's bigger
than me now.
(09:59):
That's in alignment witheverything that I do with people
, so like, yeah, that's my story.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I love that.
I love that and, like you know,your journey with, with, uh,
with the martial arts side ofstuff and, um, the discipline
that you've had to have how hasthat helped you sculpt uh,
sculpt your business and yourmindset in business?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, it's really interesting because when you're
high, achieving at that level,it's really hard to stay at that
level.
So you have to really have nextlevel strategies.
So discipline is one of them,tenacity is the other.
I'm relentless and I know thatto the point where sometimes I'm
too relentless.
But you have to have that drive, and if you're not aligned with
(10:52):
the thing you should be doing,it won't be there.
You'll never succeed to thatlevel, and so finding what that
is is super key and where thatvision of that is taking you,
because that's really wherethings start.
And so for me, with the martialarts, it was showing up when I
was so tired and going andtraining for three, four hours,
and then training on my own,which was even harder because I
(11:14):
knew that I needed to reach alevel.
I remember going into sessionswhere I break down my
traditional forms for hours intominuscule.
So my foot was just in theright spot, right, so my balance
was perfect, right.
And so it's the same thing inbusiness.
How are you breaking thingsdown to bring them together and
make them more powerful, and youneed the support to do that.
So having the tenacity and thediscipline to know that you're
(11:37):
aligned is really like thingsthat I've transferred over to
business.
You must have those things, andyour dedication is the other
thing.
Right, like why do you get upin the morning?
Your why is made up of twothings your purpose and your
drive.
And if you're not clear onthose things, then that's the
first place to start.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I love that.
I love that and, like so manypeople, think that their why has
to be like like set in stoneyou know, it can change.
It can change, yes, yes, andtalk about that a little bit
(12:16):
more.
Has your why changed?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
a little bit throughout the years in your
business journey.
Yeah, I mean for sure, I meanI'm not really proud of like
sometimes when I was a youngercompetitor I was so competitive
I'd be like, well, second is thefirst place loser.
Like I had that mindset right,like, and I live with that
because that's what drove me forso many years.
But what I didn't realize is itwasn't driving me to the gold.
The gold was actually theopposite of using the support
(12:42):
right.
And so we can work really,really hard and tire ourselves
out, but are we getting theresults we want?
That's what we need to look atright, absolutely.
And that's really it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Did you find that you were dealing with burnout more
because of like not having that?
Why?
You know, like in a, in a goodposition, like if it was, like
you know, if you're not first,your last Bobby, bobby, uh uh uh
, talladega nights.
You know you're not first tolast.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, Uh, I watched that movie.
I was like oh my.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
God, that's me 20 years ago.
But then you get a lot ofpeople that burn out because of
that, because they're like, if Ididn't accomplish something at
a certain level, they felt likethey weren't reaching their
their full potential, when inactuality that they're just
setting unobtainable goals.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, and that's really interesting because when
I used to teach martial arts,I'd have my school.
I had my schools for many years, and this is the thing people
come in to move.
They don't realize it.
They're coming in, they think,to learn a skill, which they are
, but they move on other levelsand you as the instructor have
to be prepared to see whenthat's starting to happen, and a
(13:53):
lot of the time they're notwilling to move through it, so
they'll leave.
They'll get what they need andthey leave.
But there are some who will.
And again, the same thinghappens in business with my
clients.
They'll call me up.
They're like, yeah, I'm goingto take a break for this, we're
done for a few months.
I'm like, okay, I said, well,call me in a couple of months,
you'll be in the same spot andthen we'll work through the same
(14:13):
stuff.
So, we can waste time now, oryou can waste time later making
money.
Right so right, and so it's thesame thing.
When I was teaching, I wouldhave this conversation with the
students.
I said I don't know if yourealize this, but you're pushing
through something that you'regoing to have the ability to get
through if you stick with thisand I'll be right there beside
(14:34):
you.
And a lot of it would happenwhen we would do like testing or
black belt testing or whatever,right, because that's a big
test, right?
There's a lot of stress there.
It's the same when people arescaling their business.
It's the same.
Black belt test, right, that'sreally the level that you're at.
I mean, I did all my black belttests, like in front of three,
(14:55):
four hundred people.
Could I be more stressed?
Right, but you got to performRight and so.
But the beauty in business isit's easier to give yourself a
pass for failing because you'regoing to.
I mean, I learned far more fromfailing and losing at fights
than I ever did winning.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Far more, and it's the same in business.
It's not even failure, right?
No, it's not.
It's you're learning, you knowit's like I get to learn, the
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
How do you measure success in business?
You know, like I always youknow, yeah, you can have your
like KPIs and different successgoals in terms of that.
But, like you know, if you'relooking at overall structure, is
it a different way of lookingat things in what you deal with
with your clients.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Sure, yeah.
So there's two, two or threethings.
The first is the differencebetween them in their business
and in their life.
So those things are theyoverlap, but they're also
different, right?
I'll give you a good example Ihad.
Let's call her Sherry.
Sherry is one of my currentclients.
Sherry had low self-confidence,low self-esteem, and she didn't
(16:09):
think all the guys that shewent out with she was on a
dating app and they would ghosther and she'd think there was
something wrong with her becauseof this.
And she had a business.
It was a martial arts businesstoo, and it was doing okay.
She wanted to triple hernumbers.
So we started to work throughwhere all this came from and the
story was it was the storiesthat she was told when she was
(16:33):
younger Interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So once we started and this just happened to be her
case Once we started workingtogether and clearing all that
stuff out, she has reached.
Last year she doubled herincome.
This year she's already doubledher income halfway through the
year in the first quarter.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And she's now in a relationship that she's not sure
is good for her.
So you see the differenceAbsolutely and so that's like
the first measure, like, so thatthat's how I measure, right,
there is the shift and you'reright with them the whole time,
right?
The second is my bank account.
Let's just be honest If I don'thave my bank, my bank account
(17:15):
isn't healthy.
Then I'm not doing somethingright.
Absolutely A hundred percent,and we don't talk about that
because it's like a taboosubject.
I talk about it.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Let me.
Let me ask you a questionbecause, like you know, there's
going to be people from aroundthe globe, you know, on the on
watching these podcasts.
Is, you know, like one of thethings in America?
Do you find that money isdifferent, looked at differently
in America as opposed to othercountries, specifically like
(17:44):
where you're in in Canada, or isit?
Is it similar?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I love Americans.
They're consumers, so let'sjust say that first.
They say yes, quicker theyunderstand the value of things.
Um, and they are more driven.
Canadians are just as driven,but they're more cautious with
their money.
It takes me three times as longto close a canadian okay but
they need it just as badly so.
(18:12):
But when you're working inEurope or overseas, it's
different.
They're not driven by business.
They don't live to work, theywork to live.
And so if you understand thatand approach it from that
mindset, how much better theirlives are going to be if their
business is in alignment, that'sreally going to push their
(18:36):
buttons.
It's a different mindset.
Interesting it's like workingwith high achievers.
It's a different mindset.
No one is going to admit who'sa high achiever.
They need help.
It's a different conversation.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I love that.
I love that I find differentgenerations handle money
differently too, whether it's,you know, here in America and
you know from people in.
You know, boomers definitelyyou know they came from, uh,
(19:17):
their, their parents were fromthe depression, you know.
So like they squirreled awayeverything I'm, I'm Gen X, right
on the Gen X millennial, youknow level and Gen X, I mean we
were the latchkey kids, you know.
Millennials, you know Gen X wasthe last analog to digital type
of generation, you know.
(19:38):
And then millennials,definitely, you know, have for
the most part been, you know,mostly digital type of type of
people.
So it's interesting to see howthe relationship with wealth and
money is, you know, dependingon the age bracket.
And you know the geographiclocations as well.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, it's pretty fascinating, and those are also
different conversations, becauseI've seen, you know, people who
are in their twenties andthey're millionaires, but I've
also seen people in theirtwenties who are in so much debt
.
Yeah, but I've also seen peoplein their 20s who are in so much
debt they're never going to getout of it, and what it came
down to is education, educationand understanding by the parents
(20:21):
.
So if there was none, becauseit's not taught in school, it's
not, it's getting better.
Yeah, it's getting better, butthere's still a lot missing
there, right?
So I mean, when I grew up, mymom's like okay, you're 18, go
get a credit card, build yourcredit.
She didn't tell me anything.
I went into like $10,000 worthof debt because I went and
bought a whole bunch of stuff.
(20:42):
I didn't need Absolutely.
I'm like oh, I got to pay a billnow right, like there was no.
Education I don't want.
And you know people, thisgeneration.
They take a lot of flack beingentitled, but what they don't
realize is this is us as humanbeings.
This is society.
(21:02):
Society is moving so muchfaster than us that we're in a
constant state of overwhelm, andthis generation is born into
that.
I can't even imagine howthey're dealing with that every
single day.
They're like a car crash ofanxiety and emotions, right and
so what people don't understandis they're just managing things
(21:25):
right, and so the people who areexcelling are the ones who've
been able to put it inperspective, got the support
they need.
But there's people like andthat's why I see so much
judgment and I'm like no, it'snot about that, let's see how we
can change that dynamic right.
And so it's so true, it'sgenerational and it's also
cultural.
There's very big differences.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
What is one piece of advicethat you would give to people
that would be starting on theirjourney in building their wealth
?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
For sure.
Make sure that you bring moneyin but you also put money out
but also save some.
Make sure you're moving yourmoney, but also make sure that
you're taking a portion of thatand putting it into a place
where you've got it saved.
I'm not saying save diligently,invest in bonds, do whatever
(22:17):
you want, have your wants andneeds money Like.
Be clear about what thosethings are.
So make sure that you spend,but also make sure that you earn
.
Okay.
The other thing, too iswhatever you do in your business
, make sure it means somethingto you.
Don't do stuff to make money.
It'll never last.
(22:37):
It may be a good quick fix atthe time, but in the end you're
going to get bored and you'llget resentful and then you're
going to be trapped.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Right, and then you got to fix stuff.
So do what feels, come fromhere and go down into here and
it's not a woo-woo thing.
Think about how things make youfeel and move from there,
because if it feels good, it'sgoing to be good.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
What's your thoughts on the?
I guess the analogy that I'vealways had is like numbers make
people think, but emotions makepeople act.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, and I mean you know me, I'm big on intuition
and all that stuff, but I mean Ireally feel like the human race
is evolving, like this is alittle bit out there, but we
really are, and we see it everyday, right, and so we all have
the opportunity to tap into thaton some level.
So whatever feels good for youis what feels good for you.
(23:36):
If it doesn't feel good, don'tdo it.
Don't think, oh, I'm going tofix this later because it's
never going to happen.
It's going to be like can Iswear on your podcast?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Okay, it's going to be a shit storm, right?
Like, so, do yourself a favor,like, listen to that inner voice
.
And you know that inner voicehas talked to you your whole
life, so you know, when youdecide what you want to do, how
does it make you feel?
Get into your head, analyze it,have all the blueprint, have
the plan, have the business plan, the marketing, everything.
(24:06):
But how does it make you feel?
If it makes you feel good, doit.
If it doesn't, don't, do it.
Right, like, don't make itcomplicated.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Man, I could talk to you for hours and we have in the
past.
So like you're just an amazingperson to be around.
I love your thoughts on how tomanage, not just like your money
, but your emotional value ofwho you are, your cognitive
(24:34):
outlook on perspective, on lifeas itself.
You're just an amazing personto have in my circle and I
couldn't be happier to have youas a part of our Scaling Up
Success podcast today.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
My pleasure.
I think you're awesome too andI just yeah, we've had some
really good conversations.
I'm looking forward to the nextone.
Thanks for having me.
I hope today people got valueout of things.
Do you want me to tell them howthey can reach me if they have
questions?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, please.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Okay, yeah, just go to talkwithlauracom.
Book a half hour with me.
I'd love to hear more, and thenwe can talk about things.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Fantastic.
All the links are going to bedown below as well, guys.
Laura, thank you so much.
Always appreciate your time.
You are an amazing person andglad to have you in our circle.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
All right, we'll see you all soon.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
All right, take care.
What's up everyone.
I'm Ryan Van Orm, and this isanother episode of Scaling Up
Success Powered by Synergist.
Today I have Laura Armstrong.
How are you, my friend?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I am doing awesome.
I'm picking up $100 bills.
I think we know where I gotthat from right.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
Oh, I'm so excited to have thisconversation with you.
Tell me about you know, firstof all.
I mean you have such aneclectic background.
I love hearing your stories.
You know we're going to getinto wealth mastery systems here
in a bit, but tell me a littlebit.
I mean you know you have thisbackground in martial arts.
(00:40):
You have this amazing storythat you've told me in the past
about how you've won medals indifferent disciplines and stuff
like that, and I just love thestory.
So go into it a little bit ifyou could.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah for sure.
So I'll just tell you a littlebit about myself and then I can
tell you the story of winning myfirst gold medal, if you want.
So I am a three-time worldchampion martial artist.
I competed in full contactweapons fighting and I was, you
know I always.
I started in Aikido.
I did Aikido for many years andthen I moved to Filipino
(01:18):
martial arts.
I actually did both arts till Ihad a motorcycle accident and
then I had to stop training inAikido.
It was just too painful.
But I still teach and I'm oneof six women in the world at my
rank.
I think that it's just been adriving force in my life, right?
So once I won my championships,I coached the Canadian team to
(01:41):
many championships.
So the beauty of doing that isall of those skills like
leadership and communication andall those things are
transferable to business, whichtook me a little bit to realize.
Now the other piece that mostpeople don't clue into or isn't
really talked about much is theholistic piece.
So I am a holistic practitioner.
I have been for decades, but Ireally got into it because when
(02:04):
you compete at that level andyou know you're you, for us it
was like a nine month ramp up tothe world championships.
So you'd have to hit weight,you'd have to have your diet
right, your mindset, your, youremotions, like everything, and
you train daily Like you had to.
You had to really take care ofyourself.
It was a new meaning ofself-care, right, and to hit
(02:25):
those two days where you'regoing to compete, and so it's
quite the journey every singletime and it's slightly different
, and so that became like awhole other thing.
That became a part of my lifebeing a holistic practitioner
and I got certified in all thesedifferent modalities and things
like that, and so at the timeit was like the woo-woo thing.
(02:48):
This was like decades ago wherepeople just thought you lived
on planet Xenoc or somethinglike that, but actually you were
getting practical results,people were having change right,
and they were stepping intothings right.
Yeah, and I also worked incorporate for decades as a
commodities trader, was the onlywoman on the training desk for
a very long time, and you knowthat was just like a nightmare,
(03:10):
that toxic environment, and theypackaged me out.
I was at the age of 42.
I was now 58.
You know, you just have thesemoments in your life where
you're like all right, I'mretired, right.
I only want to do things thatmake me happy, that help people
which is so important and thatmake me boatloads of money,
(03:31):
because I love money so much andyou know I take a lot of.
I take a lot of crap for thatsometimes, because because
people's points of view aboutmoney aren't the healthiest and
what we don't realize is ismoney is just a vehicle, an
energy that we use in our livesto get us where we want to go,
to move us along, to move ourneedle forward, and how that
(03:51):
relationship is with us, witheach person, is very different,
and it's usually not a positiveone.
So it became really importantto me to create something around
where people could have ordevelop a more positive,
powerful relationship with moneyso that they could elevate
their revenue fast, so that theycould earn what they deserve,
(04:13):
make the impact they werelooking for.
So this is kind of where thingsled me.
Now I still do teach martialarts, but I'm more teaching
instructor programs inself-defense and empowerment,
which actually is very needed inthe world today.
So that's like my 4-1-1 bubble,yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I love it.
I love it, man, it is.
You have.
You have had such this, thisjourney with you know, with the
corporate side, and thenutilizing martial arts for
growth and not just, like youknow, as as a physical but a
mental aspects to things, likeyou know, with what you're
building, with wealth masterysystems.
(04:54):
What inspired you to get intothat?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well, it was just, you know, when I won my first
gold medal.
It was really interestingbecause, you know, I competed at
an international level for likeeight years and this world
competition only happens everytwo years somewhere in the world
, so I would always win silver,bronze, silver bronze, silver
bronze.
I couldn't get the gold.
I don't know what was going on,and so like, and I'm like I did
(05:20):
the whole Rocky thing.
I was like, looking at my tapes, I, you know, I was jumping, I
was doing the running, I, youknow all, all of it, and I was
like what is going on here?
And so we, we come up to the.
You know, this is like my fifthor sixth time going to the
world, and it was over in Manila, philippines, and I know that a
lot of the people you work withare there.
Yeah, I've probably been to thePhilippines 20 times, probably
(05:48):
more than most Canadians have.
And so we get there.
There are 12 of us on theCanadian team.
This, this, I think, was in theearly 2000s or the nineties, and
I think it was in the ninetiesactually.
And we're all there, there's 12of us, and the bomb drops are.
My coach, who had been my coachfor 10 years, steals money from
us.
He stole our money and then hesays, well, I'm not going to
(06:10):
coach you, and he leaves.
He doesn't literally leave, hejust goes off on his own.
So here we are, all 12 of us,right, and so, being the chief
cook and bottle washer andapparently the troublemaker of
the team, I huddle everybody up.
I'm like all right, so what arewe going to do here?
Are we going to DQ, which meansdisqualify, which means you
(06:31):
don't get to compete, you'rejust out?
Or are we all going to go homewith gold?
And they're like everybodylights up, we didn't work this
hard to come this far to notcompete, so we get our cheer on
to come this far to not compete.
So I'm like, so we like, getour cheer on, we get out there,
(06:51):
we start fighting and when youget through to like the gold
medal round, each fight is threerounds of one minute, longest
minutes of your life.
I'm telling you that becauseyou're full out.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And so I probably had about six fights, so around 18
rounds.
And now I was in the gold medalround and I'm like this is it?
So I look over and across thering and there is the whole team
cheering me on right, liketotally like there for me and it
was a special circumstance oflike things happening the way
(07:17):
they did.
That I had never experiencedbefore.
And so we go into the fight.
The first two rounds are good.
The third round comes.
I'm tired, like I've been goingout this since like 8am in the
morning.
It's now 435 o'clock.
We've been fighting all day,and so their last round's there.
And I'm like, okay, I just gotto get through this.
I look over at the group, likeour team, and they're like come
(07:38):
on, laura, you got this lastround.
And I don't know what happened.
But the whistle goes, the fightstarts and I'm tired.
I look over at my opponent Irealize is tighter, is tireder
than me, more tired than I am,and I'm like, oh right.
And then so I pull on theenergy of the team.
I don't know how it happened.
(07:58):
I get through the round, thewhistle blows, like thank God,
that was the longest minute ofmy life, and so you know, we're
waiting for the scores, the refsholding our hands, and my hand
goes up and he says worldchampion, winner.
And like I just stood therestunned, and then I started
crying and like I look acrossand they're all crying right,
like because this has been likethis eight year journey, like
it's been 10 years, right, andso I mean I still get emotional
(08:19):
thinking about it.
And so I mean I still getemotional thinking about it.
And so what I realized fromthis whole experience and, by
the way, eight out of 12 of uswent home with gold that day-
that's phenomenal.
Wow, right what I realized themissing piece was the support.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It was the group of people that were driving me to
the next level, and this iswhere I want to have the
conversation that we weretalking about.
It's too hard to do it byyourself, right?
It's just, you can do a lot.
We're really resourceful, like.
I mean, I'm the energizer bunny.
I mean you and I have talkedabout this, right, like, but at
some point you need to lean.
(08:58):
You need to lean in and and andget those people who are going
to drive you to the next level,and so that's why it was so
important for me to work in thewealth mastery system and create
those systems for people, sothat they weren't stuck and that
they did have the support tomove to the next level, where
they were owning the money thatthey deserve, that the income
(09:18):
that they could make, thatgetting past the limiting
beliefs that they had, that theyweren't going to.
You know, oh, you know, moneydoesn't grow on trees.
Or you know I'm not good enough, or I start making money and I
sabotage, like all these things,sabotage myself, right, Like.
So, you know, havingexperienced so much trauma as a
young child and a teenager and ayoung woman, I was able to heal
(09:39):
myself as a holisticpractitioner and go through this
journey, which I realized weall have trauma on some level.
How are you going to use it tofuel?
Use it as fuel to help othersmove past what's holding them
back, and and this is kind ofwhere everything kind of came
from and it's manifested intothis big thing that's bigger
than me now.
(09:59):
That's in alignment witheverything that I do with people
, so like, yeah, that's my story.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I love that.
I love that and, like you know,your journey with, with, uh,
with the martial arts side ofstuff and, um, the discipline
that you've had to have how hasthat helped you sculpt uh,
sculpt your business and yourmindset in business?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Well, it's really interesting because when you're
high, achieving at that level,it's really hard to stay at that
level.
So you have to really have nextlevel strategies.
So discipline is one of them,tenacity is the other.
I'm relentless and I know thatto the point where sometimes I'm
too relentless.
But you have to have that drive, and if you're not aligned with
(10:52):
the thing you should be doing,it won't be there.
You'll never succeed to thatlevel, and so finding what that
is is super key and where thatvision of that is taking you,
because that's really wherethings start.
And so for me, with the martialarts, it was showing up when I
was so tired and going andtraining for three, four hours,
and then training on my own,which was even harder because I
(11:14):
knew that I needed to reach alevel.
I remember going into sessionswhere I break down my
traditional forms for hours intominuscule.
So my foot was just in theright spot, right, so my balance
was perfect, right.
And so it's the same thing inbusiness.
How are you breaking thingsdown to bring them together and
make them more powerful, and youneed the support to do that.
So having the tenacity and thediscipline to know that you're
(11:37):
aligned is really like thingsthat I've transferred over to
business.
You must have those things, andyour dedication is the other
thing.
Right, like why do you get upin the morning?
Your why is made up of twothings your purpose and your
drive.
And if you're not clear onthose things, then that's the
first place to start.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
I love that.
I love that and, like so manypeople, think that their why has
to be like like set in stoneyou know, it can change.
It can change, yes, yes, andtalk about that a little bit
(12:16):
more.
Has your why changed?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
a little bit throughout the years in your
business journey.
Yeah, I mean for sure, I meanI'm not really proud of like
sometimes when I was a youngercompetitor I was so competitive
I'd be like, well, second is thefirst place loser.
Like I had that mindset right,like, and I live with that
because that's what drove me forso many years.
But what I didn't realize is itwasn't driving me to the gold.
The gold was actually theopposite of using the support
(12:42):
right.
And so we can work really,really hard and tire ourselves
out, but are we getting theresults we want?
That's what we need to look atright, absolutely.
And that's really it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Did you find that you were dealing with burnout more
because of like not having that?
Why?
You know, like in a, in a goodposition, like if it was, like
you know, if you're not first,your last Bobby, bobby, uh uh uh
, talladega nights.
You know you're not first tolast.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah, Uh, I watched that movie.
I was like oh my.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
God, that's me 20 years ago.
But then you get a lot ofpeople that burn out because of
that, because they're like, if Ididn't accomplish something at
a certain level, they felt likethey weren't reaching their
their full potential, when inactuality that they're just
setting unobtainable goals.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, and that's really interesting because when
I used to teach martial arts,I'd have my school.
I had my schools for many years, and this is the thing people
come in to move.
They don't realize it.
They're coming in, they think,to learn a skill, which they are
, but they move on other levelsand you as the instructor have
to be prepared to see whenthat's starting to happen, and a
(13:53):
lot of the time they're notwilling to move through it, so
they'll leave.
They'll get what they need andthey leave.
But there are some who will.
And again, the same thinghappens in business with my
clients.
They'll call me up.
They're like, yeah, I'm goingto take a break for this, we're
done for a few months.
I'm like, okay, I said, well,call me in a couple of months,
you'll be in the same spot andthen we'll work through the same
(14:13):
stuff.
So, we can waste time now, oryou can waste time later making
money.
Right so right, and so it's thesame thing.
When I was teaching, I wouldhave this conversation with the
students.
I said I don't know if yourealize this, but you're pushing
through something that you'regoing to have the ability to get
through if you stick with thisand I'll be right there beside
(14:34):
you.
And a lot of it would happenwhen we would do like testing or
black belt testing or whatever,right, because that's a big
test, right?
There's a lot of stress there.
It's the same when people arescaling their business.
It's the same.
Black belt test, right, that'sreally the level that you're at.
I mean, I did all my black belttests, like in front of three,
(14:55):
four hundred people.
Could I be more stressed?
Right, but you got to performRight and so.
But the beauty in business isit's easier to give yourself a
pass for failing because you'regoing to.
I mean, I learned far more fromfailing and losing at fights
than I ever did winning.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Far more, and it's the same in business.
It's not even failure, right?
No, it's not.
It's you're learning, you knowit's like I get to learn, the
opportunity.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
How do you measure success in business?
You know, like I always youknow, yeah, you can have your
like KPIs and different successgoals in terms of that.
But, like you know, if you'relooking at overall structure, is
it a different way of lookingat things in what you deal with
with your clients.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Sure, yeah.
So there's two, two or threethings.
The first is the differencebetween them in their business
and in their life.
So those things are theyoverlap, but they're also
different, right?
I'll give you a good example Ihad.
Let's call her Sherry.
Sherry is one of my currentclients.
Sherry had low self-confidence,low self-esteem, and she didn't
(16:09):
think all the guys that shewent out with she was on a
dating app and they would ghosther and she'd think there was
something wrong with her becauseof this.
And she had a business.
It was a martial arts businesstoo, and it was doing okay.
She wanted to triple hernumbers.
So we started to work throughwhere all this came from and the
story was it was the storiesthat she was told when she was
(16:33):
younger Interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
So once we started and this just happened to be her
case Once we started workingtogether and clearing all that
stuff out, she has reached.
Last year she doubled herincome.
This year she's already doubledher income halfway through the
year in the first quarter.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And she's now in a relationship that she's not sure
is good for her.
So you see the differenceAbsolutely and so that's like
the first measure, like, so thatthat's how I measure, right,
there is the shift and you'reright with them the whole time,
right?
The second is my bank account.
Let's just be honest If I don'thave my bank, my bank account
(17:15):
isn't healthy.
Then I'm not doing somethingright.
Absolutely A hundred percent,and we don't talk about that
because it's like a taboosubject.
I talk about it.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Let me.
Let me ask you a questionbecause, like you know, there's
going to be people from aroundthe globe, you know, on the on
watching these podcasts.
Is, you know, like one of thethings in America?
Do you find that money isdifferent, looked at differently
in America as opposed to othercountries, specifically like
(17:44):
where you're in in Canada, or isit?
Is it similar?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I love Americans.
They're consumers, so let'sjust say that first.
They say yes, quicker theyunderstand the value of things.
Um, and they are more driven.
Canadians are just as driven,but they're more cautious with
their money.
It takes me three times as longto close a canadian okay but
they need it just as badly so.
(18:12):
But when you're working inEurope or overseas, it's
different.
They're not driven by business.
They don't live to work, theywork to live.
And so if you understand thatand approach it from that
mindset, how much better theirlives are going to be if their
business is in alignment, that'sreally going to push their
(18:36):
buttons.
It's a different mindset.
Interesting it's like workingwith high achievers.
It's a different mindset.
No one is going to admit who'sa high achiever.
They need help.
It's a different conversation.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I love that.
I love that I find differentgenerations handle money
differently too, whether it's,you know, here in America and
you know from people in.
You know, boomers definitelyyou know they came from, uh,
(19:17):
their, their parents were fromthe depression, you know.
So like they squirreled awayeverything I'm, I'm Gen X, right
on the Gen X millennial, youknow level and Gen X, I mean we
were the latchkey kids, you know.
Millennials, you know Gen X wasthe last analog to digital type
of generation, you know.
(19:38):
And then millennials,definitely, you know, have for
the most part been, you know,mostly digital type of type of
people.
So it's interesting to see howthe relationship with wealth and
money is, you know, dependingon the age bracket.
And you know the geographiclocations as well.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, it's pretty fascinating, and those are also
different conversations, becauseI've seen, you know, people who
are in their twenties andthey're millionaires, but I've
also seen people in theirtwenties who are in so much debt
.
Yeah, but I've also seen peoplein their 20s who are in so much
debt they're never going to getout of it, and what it came
down to is education, educationand understanding by the parents
(20:21):
.
So if there was none, becauseit's not taught in school, it's
not, it's getting better.
Yeah, it's getting better, butthere's still a lot missing
there, right?
So I mean, when I grew up, mymom's like okay, you're 18, go
get a credit card, build yourcredit.
She didn't tell me anything.
I went into like $10,000 worthof debt because I went and
bought a whole bunch of stuff.
(20:42):
I didn't need Absolutely.
I'm like oh, I got to pay a billnow right, like there was no.
Education I don't want.
And you know people, thisgeneration.
They take a lot of flack beingentitled, but what they don't
realize is this is us as humanbeings.
This is society.
(21:02):
Society is moving so muchfaster than us that we're in a
constant state of overwhelm, andthis generation is born into
that.
I can't even imagine howthey're dealing with that every
single day.
They're like a car crash ofanxiety and emotions, right and
so what people don't understandis they're just managing things
(21:25):
right, and so the people who areexcelling are the ones who've
been able to put it inperspective, got the support
they need.
But there's people like andthat's why I see so much
judgment and I'm like no, it'snot about that, let's see how we
can change that dynamic right.
And so it's so true, it'sgenerational and it's also
cultural.
There's very big differences.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
What is one piece of advicethat you would give to people
that would be starting on theirjourney in building their wealth
?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
For sure.
Make sure that you bring moneyin but you also put money out
but also save some.
Make sure you're moving yourmoney, but also make sure that
you're taking a portion of thatand putting it into a place
where you've got it saved.
I'm not saying save diligently,invest in bonds, do whatever
(22:17):
you want, have your wants andneeds money Like.
Be clear about what thosethings are.
So make sure that you spend,but also make sure that you earn
.
Okay.
The other thing, too iswhatever you do in your business
, make sure it means somethingto you.
Don't do stuff to make money.
It'll never last.
(22:37):
It may be a good quick fix atthe time, but in the end you're
going to get bored and you'llget resentful and then you're
going to be trapped.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Right, and then you got to fix stuff.
So do what feels, come fromhere and go down into here and
it's not a woo-woo thing.
Think about how things make youfeel and move from there,
because if it feels good, it'sgoing to be good.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
What's your thoughts on the?
I guess the analogy that I'vealways had is like numbers make
people think, but emotions makepeople act.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, and I mean you know me, I'm big on intuition
and all that stuff, but I mean Ireally feel like the human race
is evolving, like this is alittle bit out there, but we
really are, and we see it everyday, right, and so we all have
the opportunity to tap into thaton some level.
So whatever feels good for youis what feels good for you.
(23:36):
If it doesn't feel good, don'tdo it.
Don't think, oh, I'm going tofix this later because it's
never going to happen.
It's going to be like can Iswear on your podcast?
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Okay, it's going to be a shit storm, right?
Like, so, do yourself a favor,like, listen to that inner voice
.
And you know that inner voicehas talked to you your whole
life, so you know, when youdecide what you want to do, how
does it make you feel?
Get into your head, analyze it,have all the blueprint, have
the plan, have the business plan, the marketing, everything.
(24:06):
But how does it make you feel?
If it makes you feel good, doit.
If it doesn't, don't, do it.
Right, like, don't make itcomplicated.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Man, I could talk to you for hours and we have in the
past.
So like you're just an amazingperson to be around.
I love your thoughts on how tomanage, not just like your money
, but your emotional value ofwho you are, your cognitive
(24:34):
outlook on perspective, on lifeas itself.
You're just an amazing personto have in my circle and I
couldn't be happier to have youas a part of our Scaling Up
Success podcast today.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
My pleasure.
I think you're awesome too andI just yeah, we've had some
really good conversations.
I'm looking forward to the nextone.
Thanks for having me.
I hope today people got valueout of things.
Do you want me to tell them howthey can reach me if they have
questions?
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, please.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Okay, yeah, just go to talkwithlauracom.
Book a half hour with me.
I'd love to hear more, and thenwe can talk about things.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Fantastic.
All the links are going to bedown below as well, guys.
Laura, thank you so much.
Always appreciate your time.
You are an amazing person andglad to have you in our circle.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
All right, we'll see you all soon.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
All right, take care.
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