March 13, 2025 • 47 mins
Mindset is truly everything. In this enlightening conversation with CJ Stasik, we explore how the way we think determines our success far more than any external circumstances. Starting with Henry Ford's timeless wisdom that "whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you're right," we unpack how our beliefs either propel us forward or hold us back.
CJ shares powerful insights about moving from a scarcity mindset to one of contribution. The wealthiest, most successful people aren't those hoarding resources—they're the ones giving freely, making connections, and lifting others. When we focus on impact rather than limitation, we unlock possibilities we never imagined possible.
One of my favorite moments comes when CJ describes true manifestation. It's not just visualizing what you want; it's pairing those dreams with aligned actions. As she puts it, "Manifestation is wanting something so much that every action is leading you there." This practical approach transforms wishful thinking into achievable goals and commitments.
We dive deep into the art of delegation and boundary-setting. CJ vulnerably shares her breaking point—standing with groceries spilling everywhere, feeling like a failure—and how it led to her creating "She Handles It." Her insights on letting go of perfectionism and allowing others to grow through delegation will resonate with any overwhelmed professional trying to do it all.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn to technology as we explore how AI is revolutionizing digital marketing. Rather than replacing humans, AI is handling routine tasks so marketers can focus on strategy and performance. SEO has become more crucial than ever as search behaviors evolve with technologies like ChatGPT and voice assistants.
Whether you're looking to shift your mindset, improve your work-life integration, or understand how to leverage new technologies, this conversation offers practical wisdom for navigating today's complex world with purpose and focus. Ready to transform how you think about success? This is your roadmap.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maria Quattrone (00:02):
This is the Be the Solution podcast and I'm
your host, Maria Quattrone, andtoday I have guests super
excited to welcome on CJ Stasek.
Cj and I have been trying toget together for a while, so I'm
glad we're finally this ishappening, so welcome, CJ.
CJ Stasik (00:21):
Thank you so much, maria, and yes, we have been
trying to get this on there.
Maria Quattrone (00:25):
So, CJ, I have a quote for you this morning,
and the quote for you is whetheryou think you can or think you
can.
Either way, you are absolutelyright.
CJ Stasik (00:38):
Henry Ford, one of my favorites.
Maria Quattrone (00:41):
Henry Ford.
So I wanted to start today bydiving into that quote and how
that affects somebody's successor not.
CJ Stasik (00:54):
It's actually so funny that you bring that quote
up, because it is one of myabsolute favorites and it is
because I truly believe thatmindset is everything.
I think that if we do believein ourselves, if we have that
confidence, then there's a will,there's a way, right, and
that's really what that sayingis all about.
Are you willing to take what ittakes or to do what it takes to
(01:16):
get where you want to be, to dothe things that you need to do,
to accomplish the things thatyou want?
When we are holding ourselvesback, when we have fear, when
we're in that scarcity mindset,you're not accomplishing pretty
well much anything.
But, most importantly, you'renot accomplishing the things
that you need to do.
There's too much of us lookingout and seeing other people do
the things that we want to doand we're like, oh gosh, they
(01:38):
already did it or they're great,I can't be a speaker because
look at Brene Brown and look atMel Robbins and we just tell
ourselves that we can'taccomplish these things.
I think that quote is criticalto keep in the back of your mind
, to realize that when you putyour mind to something, chances
of you accomplishing it are fargreater than when you don't?
I tell my son all the time ifyou never ask, the answer is
(02:00):
always no right.
If you never go for it, you'refailing to begin with ask.
The answer is always no rightIf you never go for it.
Maria Quattrone (02:05):
You're failing to begin with Absolutely.
If you never make that offer,whatever that is, the offer is
come join my come asking.
In our case it could be wouldyou like to work with me as a
listing broker, as a buyer'sagent?
If you don't make the offer,the answer is always no.
CJ Stasik (02:25):
Yeah, and it's actually really sad when you
start to think about the numberof missed opportunities.
Networking is something that iscritical in business, but a lot
of people don't go about it theright way.
And you kind of touched onsomething when you're saying, if
you don't ask, if you don'tstart to inquire and I think
today the people who are mostsuccessful, especially when it
(02:45):
comes to networking, are thepeople who really raise their
hands and say, hey, I need helpwith this.
Hey, what have you done in thisarea?
Hey, does anybody know someonethat could help me with this?
Instead, we just kind of sit onthe sidelines and we're always
waiting for that opportunity,waiting for that segue moment to
step in.
And the most successful peopleare the people that just pop
into the room and say, hey guys,I'm looking for a new listing
(03:08):
agent or I need to findinsurance in Arizona, and you
just start asking for the thingsand the universe finds a way to
start bringing those things toyou.
People want to give to otherpeople.
Maria Quattrone (03:19):
They really do I love that People want to give
to other people.
If more people reallyunderstood that the most
successful people in the worldthe multi-hundred millionaires,
billionaires, they're the mosthumble people who will give
everything and anything back tosomebody and it's interesting
(03:45):
back to somebody.
And it's interesting the peoplethat are the least successful
are the live in the scarcitymindset versus the one with
contribution, and contributionis where it is the impact that
you can make on people.
Because I was thinking aboutthis, my word this year is
impact, and the last many yearsI've picked a word.
Some years I forgot what theword was, so I wasn't really
doing a good job with the word,but this year it's still in
(04:07):
impact, and impact is how manylives can I impact?
How many other real estateprofessionals can I impact?
How many buyers, sellers,investors can I impact?
And so it's like giving all theinformation that you have away
for free.
And that doesn't mean you can'tcharge for things you want to
do, but I'm saying like from astandpoint of just constantly
(04:29):
contributing and being out here.
Look, you've taken time onSaturday morning and early
Saturday morning where I'm sureyou could be doing something
else, like hanging with thefamily at the gym, I don't know
going to yoga, whatever.
CJ Stasik (04:43):
Absolutely, and I it's funny that you you that you
talk about the scarcity mindset, because I see a shift.
I really do see a shift.
I think that the world wants tobe better and that's kind of a
funny way of putting it, but Itruly am seeing so many more
people that are looking tobecome connectors, master
connectors, and wanting toreally help people out.
(05:05):
And a great example that iskind of in your space is I met a
gentleman recently who was arealtor, a real estate agent,
for a really long time and hasan incredible network, and he
understands how important it isas a realtor to be able to have
connections with contractors.
Because you're trying to helpsomeone sell their home.
Contractors, because you'retrying to help someone sell
their home or you're trying tohelp someone buy their home,
(05:27):
curb appeal and different thingslike that are important.
So being able to help a sellerconnect to a roofer because
their roof needs to be done,these are all really important
things and not to digress.
But this individual realizedhow important that network was
for him when he was in the primeof his real estate business and
so he started a company just awebsite called Agents Advise to
(05:50):
connect contractors and realtorsin Bucks County together and
the reason why he wanted to doit is he said it's so hard when
you're becoming a real estateagent to get those connections
in the beginning, but it's sohelpful to close deals when
you're able to provide thosereferrals, those recommendations
to the homeowner.
So he created it to be able tohelp other agents Doesn't really
(06:13):
benefit him at all, but he'sadding value to both contractors
and realtors in the area andit's nice to see things like
that happening because, like yousaid that we can't do it alone.
You really do need the supportof people around you and you
cannot have the scarcity mindsetand expect to get to that next
level.
Maria Quattrone (06:32):
There's no way possible to get to the next
level without being incontribution.
It's often I say this all thetime with people in my proximity
and my company.
You know, if you're not whereyou want to be today, go into
the bathroom and look in themirror and it really comes down
with us.
The choice management more thantime management.
(06:54):
What things am I willing to doand what things am I willing to
stop doing in order to get toreally where I want to?
CJ Stasik (07:01):
go.
Maria Quattrone (07:02):
And most of us humans live life through just
one day at a time, with no realplan.
You want to go to Georgia?
You just don't get in the carand start driving.
Right, you need a roadmap.
So what's the roadmap?
What things can be put in placeto make sure you're elevating
(07:25):
and getting to the next level?
And somebody asked me yesterdayand the day before why do you do
these things that you do?
How are you so motivated anddisciplined?
And I first.
I really sat there and I didn'thave a good answer.
And I thought about it and Ijust want to be better.
I want to be a better human.
Good answer, and I thoughtabout it and I just want to be
(07:46):
better.
I want to be a better human.
I want to be a better businessowner.
I want to be a better wife.
I want to be a better familymember.
So I believe that God intendedfor us all to be better and for
us all to rise up each day.
He gave us another day to riseup and bring everything we got
to that day day to rise up andbring everything we got to that
(08:08):
day.
CJ Stasik (08:08):
Yeah, I love the analogy of the.
You know the roadmap, I use onewith.
You know the navigation, right,you don't get into your car to
take a road trip withoutplugging something into
navigation.
And even if you take thatanalogy further, there are times
where you may take a wrong turnor you may realize that you
know you need to alter yourdirection.
And what do you do?
You recalibrate, right, youdon't just turn around and go
(08:29):
back home, right?
If you miss your road, thenavigation recalibrates and you
start heading in the directionthat you want to go.
So I do love that analogy.
But something else that I wantto point out and hopefully this
isn't too woo woo for youraudience want to point out, and
hopefully this isn't too woo-woofor your audience, but you had
talked about you know why you'remotivated and you know why you
do the things that you do andwhy you're taking the actions.
(08:51):
The alternative is to bestagnant.
And if you really think aboutit and you think science or you
know medical anything, anytimesomething is stagnant, not
moving, it begins to decay, itbegins to fail.
So if you're talking about apiece of machinery and it's just
sitting there and there's nomomentum.
It will not start up, like wepeople see that with boats and
ATVs and things like that.
(09:12):
Your body, like a doctor, willtell you if you are not mobile,
if you are not moving, your bodystarts to rot.
You think about bed sores forpeople who lay in bed.
We are meant to have forwardmomentum and when we just sit
there we're stagnant.
And who wants to just sit androt?
And that's where it's sofrustrating.
And it also is the same thingwith manifestation.
People look at manifestation asthis magic aspect and it isn't.
(09:36):
It truly is just aligning yourdreams with your actions.
You can dream all day long, butthat's not what manifesting is.
Just sitting there visualizingyour home or your fancy car or
whatever it is.
Manifestation is pairing thatdream with the actions.
If I want that car, what stepsam I going to take?
It's about wanting something somuch that every action is
(09:59):
leading you to there.
And I think to your point.
That's why you're motivated,that's why you're driven, that's
why you do the things that youwant to do, because you
ultimately have a goal.
It's not a dream, it's a goal.
You've dreamt it.
Now you've laid out a path toget there and you're taking the
steps and the actions to getthere.
Maria Quattrone (10:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I even take it a stepfurther, cj, and I call it a
commitment the commitmentbecause you know, think about
like I'll use, I'm going to usereal estate, because that's the
business we're in real estateand mortgages.
I said, well, to the agent,will you want to do X number of
transactions a month?
Let's say she said fouryesterday.
I said, okay, so how many didyou do last month?
(10:39):
I did three.
I said how many dials did youdo?
Did you do the commitment thatyou said you would?
65% of the commitment she did.
I said, with all things, if youlook at everything, could you
actually have done thecommitment that you made?
Could you have honored it?
Was there time to do thoseother calls?
(11:01):
And the problem is is that forher, her it was a goal and not a
commitment.
It was like maybe I'll do it,yeah right, but when you're
committed, I did this hundredcalls a day for a week challenge
list, october 100 dials.
And for anyone who hasn't donea hundred dollars a day and have
(11:23):
like a whole other, actuallyother work to to do besides
calling for $100, it's a lot, itis On average.
It was taking me five hours todo it and I had to cancel an
event at the Union League I wasgoing to.
I had to cancel some Remaxthing.
I was going to Like I justdidn't go Because I looked at it
(11:45):
and said if I go to thesethings and this was like in the
midst of it, I'm going to like Ijust didn't go because I looked
at it and said if I go to thesethings and this was like in the
midst of it, I'm supposed to beleaving and going, I'm not
going to make it, I'm not goingto hit this 100.
And I told I went on socialmedia and then I told everybody
in the office that I was goingto do this.
So now, what am I going to do?
Not do it.
(12:07):
No, it was 8.30 at night.
I was still 8.23.
I finished the one night.
But it comes down to like whatare you willing to stop doing to
get to that commitment that youmade and I think this is a nice
segue into she Handles it Likeyour business that you started
back in what, five years ago orso?
CJ Stasik (12:26):
Yeah.
Maria Quattrone (12:27):
And due to, you know, the burnout from COVID
and all the things that weregoing on with that, we have to
spend the time understandingwhere our time should be spent.
And not all things are createdequal.
CJ Stasik (12:41):
No, they're not.
And much like you know, youwere saying like you, you had to
make a choice, you hadcommitted to something because
it was important to you, therewas a reason and you had to
think about it.
A lot of times when I'm talkingwith women, you know we go back
and I use a lot of businessanalogies.
So it's like this stop, startand repeat.
Right, you have to look back atyour period of time and say
(13:03):
what do I need to stop doing,what do I need to start doing
and what do I need to do more of?
And you lay out that plan.
But for me, when I started, shehandles it.
I had reached that point ofbreakdown and I remember the
moment and I've told this storyso many times, but gotten a text
message at the office asking mewhat was for dinner, I realized
(13:26):
that the day before I didn't goto the grocery store because
something else had taken over aspriority.
So I ordered my.
I went to the grocery store,got all the groceries that I
needed, pulled into the driveway, loaded all the bags on both of
my arms at the everything.
Just one trip, right?
Cause that's how we are.
We're super women.
We can do it in one trip.
And then I got to my front doorand I had to open it with my
(13:49):
high heeled shoe, like and like.
As I opened the door, my son isstanding there, snaps a picture
of me laughing and I'm like, ohmy God, and for him it was just
funny.
I'm five foot one, I'm a smallwoman, everything about it was
funny to him.
But when I got in, all I coulddo was drop the groceries and I
went upstairs and I cried.
(14:09):
And the reason why is becausein that moment what I felt was a
failure like that.
I felt like an absolute failure, because I was ready to scream,
to cry, like I just felt sooverwhelmed in that moment
because it had been a very busyday.
I had so much more work tostill get done.
He only, you know the people inthe home only cared about when
(14:32):
mom is making dinner, you know,and I just felt like something
was just, something was amissand really what it was.
It was my mindset, and once Irealized that I was the one in
control and that I was the oneputting that pressure on me,
then I had, I had the ability tostart learning how to change
that, and it wasn't just aboutme changing my own thought
(14:52):
process.
It was me laying the boundariesand the new foundation for how
I wanted things to go, sosetting the precedent.
Hey, listen, I'm going to textyou and have you meet me to get
the groceries out of the car, orI'm just going to walk in the
door and be like groceries arein the trunk, go get them, you
(15:13):
know, kind of thing.
But it started making me thinkabout what are all of the other
things that I'm doing, that Idon't necessarily need to be
doing, that I could delegate tosomeone else, and how much
resentment am I holding overthese things?
You know, before we started theconversation, I had talked
about the dishes, the towels.
I'm a type, a personality.
I have ADD, ocd whatever labelyou can put on me,
self-diagnosed.
But like I didn't want anyoneelse to load the dishwasher
(15:35):
because I knew they weren'tgoing to load it the way I
wanted it, I didn't let anyoneelse fold the towels because I
wanted them folded a certain way.
And then, finally, in thatmoment, I realized that was me.
That was the pressure I put onme.
They don't fold it wrong, theyjust don't fold it the same way
that I do.
And I had to decide what's moreimportant to me having the
towels folded the way I likethem folded or having them clean
(15:56):
and put away.
And at the end of the day, Ijust want them clean and put
away.
So I started to learn how tointegrate my professional and my
home life a little bit better,and that really is what she
Handles.
It is all about is how can wechange what we do with our time
to make us more effective, sothat we can feel like fantastic
moms and great CEOs or greatentrepreneurs or whatever it is,
(16:19):
instead of feeling like we'rehalfway there on all sides of
the fence.
Maria Quattrone (16:23):
That's never a good feeling when you're feel
like you're impacting anythingyeah, absolutely you feel like
you're not striving.
You're striving but you'repulled in so many directions or
you're and like it goes back towe allow it, it's what we allow.
So you said something thatreminded me the whole dinner
(16:44):
conversation.
The dinner conversation issomething that infuriates me
beyond anything.
So what I started doing a whileback was on Sundays.
So we go to mass, we go tochurch on Sundays and then we go
to the store Because, it'sright, it's the Italian market.
We live downtown, so theItalian market's right there, so
(17:07):
we'll go to like the butcherand then the produce place and I
get everything.
And Sunday mornings I have alittle ritual I'll get up, I
break the menu for the week.
This is what we're having forbreakfast, lunch, dinner Some
days I eat breakfast, some daysI fast Depends this way, that
conversation with my husband ofof what would you like I don't
(17:28):
know what do you want.
Do you want this?
Nope, I don't want that.
Do you want this?
Nope, I don't want that.
CJ Stasik (17:34):
So, yeah, it's funny you say about the menu, because
I do something very similar,right?
So when I go to sit down anddecide what I need from the
grocery store, I plan what mealsthat I'm going to plan.
And you know, I asked one time,hey, does anybody have any
requests, does anybody wantsomething different?
And if I get them, that's fine,if I don't, I plan it out.
And then one of the things Idid for one of my workshops with
(17:56):
she handles it is I actuallydeveloped a prompt for chat GPT
that you can put in there and itasks you a bunch of questions
about the food preferences inyour house, what you have in the
refrigerator, all of that kindof stuff, and it actually helps
create a seven day meal planalong with a grocery list and
the recipe.
Oh, that's awesome.
So now what I can do is I canupload that grocery list into
(18:18):
Instacart, my groceries canarrive at my house, I can print
out the recipes and then thereare multiple people in my
household that can read andfollow a recipe.
So it's like if I need to go toa networking event at night,
it's like, okay, this is what'sfor dinner and the recipe is on
the counter little things likethat, and what a lot of times.
What you'll be surprised is my13 year old son loves to be in
(18:41):
the kitchen, right, and so forhim it's also fun to be able to
participate, and even if he'sjust, you know, doing ground
beef for tacos, it's not rocketscience, but for him it's a big
deal.
And so it's also like sometimes, when we're type A and we try
to hold on to everything, we'reholding people back.
Eos calls it delegate andelevate.
(19:01):
So you delegate things topeople, not only to get it off
of your plate, but it's becauseit's the 80% of things you
shouldn't be doing, and when yougive it to them, you're
actually elevating them, andthat works both home and in work
, right.
You're allowing them to learn anew skill, practice something
different, be independent, youknow, whatever the case may be.
(19:22):
So delegation is important, andit's not just tossing work over
at someone else.
There's a reason for it.
Maria Quattrone (19:29):
I love that.
I love the chat.
Gpt, that's really cool.
You know we talked for a secondabout AI, but how is AI
changing the digital world?
Yeah, absolutely.
What's happening?
CJ Stasik (19:44):
So AI like I hate to say it, but it's making things
easier, but not in the way thatpeople think right.
So it's not replacing peopleand, oddly enough, it's actually
creates the need for better,higher quality people, and I
call it the human overlaycomponent.
So what AI is doing is AI hasaccess to information that
(20:06):
marketers no longer have accessto.
Ai can see people's habits,people's search histories all of
the what is considered thirdparty data that marketers no
longer have access to, but AIdoes so.
When AI goes to work, ai goesto work based on your
instruction or the instructionthat it's given inside the tool
(20:27):
that you're using.
So what it's allowing people todo is be a lot more effective
and efficient, but theeffectiveness is what's making
the biggest impact.
When you're going to optimize awebsite for search engine
optimization and you want tomake sure you have the right
content on there, marketers usedto do a lot of competitive
research.
They would have to go in and doa lot of different, use a lot
(20:49):
of different tools and do a lotof different things to make sure
that they're coming up with theright keywords and the right
content for your site.
Ai can do that in moments, andbecause it can do that in
moments, the marketer canactually focus on performance.
They can focus on monitoringthat account at such a deeper
level than what they had before.
It allows marketers to be waymore proactive, and if you talk
(21:13):
to people who've been throughthree or four agencies, they'll
tell you their biggest issue.
They have two biggest issueswith agencies.
One is underperformance so I'mnot getting as much that I
thought and the second isreactiveness.
The agency wasn't proactiveenough.
They were more reactive.
Companies feel like they haveto bring things bubble them up
(21:33):
to the surface with their agencybefore the agency starts to
tackle it With AI, because it isso much more effective and
efficient.
Your human people, the humancapital that's actually working
on these accounts, are able toreally focus on performance and
be far more proactive becausethey're not sitting there typing
, punching in a bunch of toolsand doing all of this.
(21:54):
You know just work that thebots can now do, if that makes
sense.
So it's really about theeffectiveness.
Maria Quattrone (22:01):
That makes a lot of sense.
And yeah, it's true, you neverwant to have to go to your part
your vendor partner and be like,hey, and yeah, it's true, you
never want to have to go to yourpart your vendor partner and be
like, hey, can you do this, hey, can you do that.
Then the whole thing is likewhy aren't you doing it to begin
with?
It's like coming to a realestate agency, the seller saying
, hey, can you lower the price,can you do an open house?
Can you run some ads, orsomething.
CJ Stasik (22:26):
Exactly, yeah, and they're going to be like oh,
that's what I thought I hiredyou for.
And, in addition to that, whereAI is becoming the most
effective for a lot of agenciesis really on the creative
ideation front, because a lot oftimes, it is very difficult to
pull out of your head whatyou're trying to share.
When it comes to visual, when itcomes to creative, you may have
(22:47):
this wonderful idea for whatyou want your website to look
like or for the type of imagethat you want for a social media
post, but being able to explainthat a lot of people get really
frustrated because they have togo through two, three, four
different iterations of a designbefore they get what they want.
With AI, someone someone evenlike yourself, who's not a
(23:10):
marketer you can very simply goin and you can describe the type
of image or the type of videoor whatever it is, and it's
going to give you something thatis far closer that you can then
turn around and give to youragency and say, hey, I want
something that looks like this.
Hey, this is what I like, andit's the same thing for a
graphic designer, instead of thegraphic designer having to by
(23:31):
hand give you five differentvariations of a design.
He can go in, get three to fivereally quickly, send them over,
get your approval on what youlike and then create something
that has a far better startingpoint than starting from scratch
.
So the ideation is huge andit's helping not just marketers
but it's really helping.
(23:51):
You know people all across justabout every industry when it
comes to creative.
Maria Quattrone (23:56):
It's wild.
It certainly is, you know.
Here's the thing there's onlyso much time in a day.
I don't want to learn like now,a whole, nother thing.
And we have to be and I talkabout this a lot we have to, you
know, hire people that you needto hire to do the work.
(24:16):
That is not your zone of genius.
CJ Stasik (24:19):
Yes, absolutely yeah, and that's huge because you're
only holding yourself back andyou know we most of us like to
hold on to things like no onedoes it better than us, right,
and if you want it done, right,you do it yourself.
All of those things that weheard growing up, and we tend to
tackle it.
But to your point, that's right.
For you to live in your joy,for you to have your happiness,
(24:42):
you've got to work in your zoneof genius, and your zone of
genius may not be marketing yourzone of genius.
For me it's.
It's not spreadsheets, right.
I get infuriated having to workinside of Excel, and especially
when the numbers aren'tnumbering, it's just not my zone
of genius.
So having someone that canactually present those numbers
to me is far better use of mytime, because then I can think
(25:06):
about those numbers and I canmake decisions and I can make
actions with those numbers.
But if I were to be the one tosit there and try to put those
presentations together and putthose numbers together, it's not
going to go well, I'm going tobe frustrated, I'm going to be
behind because, again, it's notmy zone of genius, whereas you
know on your front, like thereare certain things that you are
(25:26):
really great at, and imaginewhat life would be like if
that's what 95% of your day wasabout.
Right Is doing those thingsthat light you up, that you get
excited about, and that's whatwe're trying to do, especially
in midlife.
You're trying to shave off allof the parts of you that no
longer serve you.
You are trying to focus on thethings that bring you joy.
Maria Quattrone (25:53):
And to do that you got to bring back that
village that you pushed away sovery hard for so many, and it
takes really knowing yourself.
It takes, I think, some deepwork in letting the past go but
not forgetting.
You know there's a look about.
A lot of things hold peopleback.
I think one of the one is theysay fear of success, or feel of
failure, fear of success, fearof failure.
CJ Stasik (26:17):
Sometimes it's fear of success that's the one
holding back more than feelingfear of failure yeah, and I
think too, too, I resonate withthat, and I've talked a lot
about fear of success and for meI was raised by, you know, my
dad was a great dad.
He was a great businessman.
When I was growing up, up untilI was about 13, we were dirt
(26:40):
poor and I mean, you know, likewe were poor, I went to school
with bologna and buttersandwiches right, because those
were, you know, butter wascheaper than mayonnaise and
bologna and butter sandwichesright, because those were, you
know, butter was cheaper thanmayonnaise and bologna was
cheaper than any other sandwichmeat.
We were poor and there werepeople poor, so I don't want
people to think I'm making lightof that, but when my father's
business really took off, ittook off quickly and my dad had
(27:02):
a major fear of success and hepassed that on to me and he
would say things like you can'tever let anybody know how much
money you have, because they'regoing to want to take it from
you.
My dad, he wore the same exactwork shirt with the embroidered
name tag on it forever, nomatter how successful he was.
That was how he showed up,because he never wanted people
(27:23):
to look at him differently.
He made me humble, which Iappreciate greatly, but
sometimes you can be too humble,and so my fear of success came
into.
Money was going to turn me intosomeone I didn't want to be.
I looked around at the peoplethat I knew that were considered
millionaires or that had, thatwere very wealthy, and I didn't
want to be like them.
This level of selfishness thatI saw and just this money,
(27:48):
hungry, never enough.
And they never seemed happy,and I didn't want that for
myself.
So that's what I told myselfmoney was about.
So what my internal dialogue wasI want enough money to pay my
bills.
I want enough money so that Idon't have to worry.
But that's limiting, becausethe reality is is I want enough
money to buy back my freedom.
I want enough money to be ableto do the things that I want to
(28:09):
do, to make the impact, usingyour word, to make the impact
that I want to make.
And the reality is is it takesmoney to be able to do that.
So I had to change my dialogueand I had to say no, I do want
to be wealthy and I want to bewealthy in these ways.
I want financial freedomAbsolutely, but I also want to
be able to have a home in themountains, because I love hiking
(28:31):
and kayaking, I want to be ableto, you know, have a place
closer to my family so that whenI go and visit it's there Like,
and it's not selfish to havethose things.
And so once you realize thatfear, no matter what kind, is
just false evidence appearing asreal you can change that inner
dialogue and you can start tolet that fear go.
(28:51):
It doesn't mean that somethingisn't going to scare you.
But now, when I feel that senseof angst, I know that I'm
heading in the right direction,because there's something I need
to overcome, there's somethingthat I need to do, and I chase
that feeling.
If it makes me afraid, I knowI'm doing the right thing.
Maria Quattrone (29:09):
It makes you afraid you're doing the right
thing, that I just did a videolast night about this program
contest thing I'm doing for themonth of March, and in the month
of March I'm setting out to doschedule 100 listing
appointments, and it's somethingI've never done.
(29:30):
The most I've ever done was 42,which was last April 41, last
March, 41, in January, and soit's double plus, and so it's
definitely I want to see if itcan be done.
Yeah, like it's an experiment.
(29:51):
So can it be done, what isrequired to do it and how long
will it really take to do it?
I have 31 days and that'smostly Monday to Friday, so 21
work days.
CJ Stasik (30:03):
I love how goal oriented you are, because a lot
of people don't realize that andwhat you said, you know.
You set yourself a lofty goalbecause it had never been done
before.
Right, so it's not you beinglike, oh, I'm just going to give
myself a lay down goal that Iknow I can hit.
You're saying I want to see ifit's there.
You've already removed thepressure.
You've taken the pressure offof.
If I don't, if I get to the endand I haven't hit that number,
(30:26):
you didn't fail.
The experiment needs to beadjusted, something needs to be
changed.
Right, you will learn from whatyou're doing, which is really
exciting, and the fun thingabout setting a goal like that
is that you know that that'syour goal every day.
So, just like I talked aboutmanifesting, right, you've got
this thing and you're, every dayyou're aligning with that.
Manifesting right, you've gotthis thing and you're every day
you're aligning with that, whichgives you way more opportunity
(30:49):
to actually achieve it than youhave.
If you're just like, oh well,here's what I've been able to
achieve.
Well, that's what you've beenable to achieve without actually
setting that lofty goal.
Right Now, the five minutesthat you may take to run and
grab an extra cup of coffee.
You may delay that and you maysay no, I can get my extra cup
of coffee at lunchtime orwhatever it is, because that
goal is in the back of your mind.
(31:09):
So your behavior starts toalign with that goal.
So I think it's far moreachievable than what you think,
only because your habits aregoing to change as a result of
setting that goal.
Maria Quattrone (31:20):
A hundred percent, and how many times I'm
in the office and I'm walkingback and forth, back and forth,
add, whatever it is, whatever.
Oh, I left the pen there, Ileft the book over there.
I have definitely two seats.
I sit in different ones becausewe have a in the back of the
office.
We have like standing booths soyou can stand and call.
(31:42):
Then I have my desk.
Then sometimes I'm like, oh, Ifeel like sitting in the
conference room.
I haven't done that in a while,but too many places.
Right, I'm sitting in my diningroom.
Behind me is like the stairs,so when I sit here there's
nowhere to go.
We don't have a huge house.
This is like I don't have to go20 places.
(32:02):
But CJ, it does these littlethings that you think.
Oh, let me answer somebody'squestion.
Oh, let me go get some morewater.
Let me go get more coffee.
Let me heat up my coffee.
Now Let me go get some walnutsto munch on.
Exactly.
CJ Stasik (32:17):
I don't know if you'll be able to see it, but so
I don't do a word of the month,I do a word of the year and I
just did my vision board for theyear.
I follow a woman that her and Iare becoming pretty good
friends and she does a visionboard exercise workshop every
year.
But my word of the year isfocus, and it doesn't mean that
(32:42):
the ADD is gonna go away.
What the reason why that is isbecause I wanna make sure that
when I sit down to work onsomething, even as much as this
conversation with you, that I am100% focused on this and only
this in this given timeframe.
You know I'm not looking at mywatch, thinking about my next
thing and stuff like that.
So I had to start making somesmall changes to really help
(33:03):
with my focus, and one of thosethings that I did just to give
an example was in the morning,when I get into the office or I
sit down at my computer, thefirst thing I do is I open up my
calendar and then I grab myphone and I set a timer five
minutes before every singlemeeting I have that day.
I want that timer to go offaudibly.
I want to hear it, not just abuzz.
(33:24):
I want to hear it.
And so what that means is whenyou and I are talking let's say
I have a meeting at 10 o'clockNormally my ADD is going to make
.
I'm literally going to bewatching, looking at the clock,
looking at the clock like payingattention to make sure that I
don't miss that 10 o'clock call,and that means that I'm not
giving my 100% to you and that'snot fair and that lose I lose
(33:45):
focus.
So now that the alarm is set, Iknow it's going to go off five
minutes beforehand.
I don't have it set with youbecause I don't have a call at
10.
But when that alarm goes off,it makes it very easy for me to
say oh Maria, that's my alarm, Ihave a call coming up at 10.
I just want to make sure thatwe finish up anything that we
need to finish up.
It's a great segue.
It allows me to close up,finish with you, if you were the
(34:06):
one I was on the call with andthen I'm able to get on to that
next call ready and prepared andnot feel that sense of urgency,
physically feel it in myshoulders, right, you're tense
because that next thing iscoming and when the alarms are
set, I can relax and I can justtalk to you and have this
conversation and not be worried.
And so that's to me.
(34:28):
That's what you know focus isall about, and, just like you,
setting a commitment foryourself, you're setting new
goals and you're strivingtowards them, and if I want to
get better at focus, it has tobe something that I'm focused on
every single day, like I've gotto practice it.
Any skill requires practicing.
It doesn't matter if it comesnaturally or not.
It needs to be honed, it needsto be harnessed, and for me,
(34:51):
focus is one of those things.
Just like you, I leave cabinetsopen as I walk through the
house.
I've got piles here and thereand I'll run into the kitchen to
get something and I'll do fouror five things on the way back
before I ever make it back.
I'm constantly, you know,starting things and not
finishing them, and I've got todo a better job, and that's why
focus is my goal for this year.
(35:12):
But it ties into what we'retalking about setting goals and
achieving them and workingtowards them.
Maria Quattrone (35:17):
I think that we don't have goals and
commitments.
What's the point I said?
Somebody said to me yesterdaywell, I said, what else would I
be doing right now?
I can't sit in the house andI'm not going to Italy at the
moment, so if I'm not working,what else am I going to be doing
?
I didn't have, like I didn'thave, an answer.
(35:38):
There's no answer.
I don't want to sit in thehouse.
I can read a book, but notgoing to read a book all day.
Yeah, I mean, what would I bedoing?
I ask people like what are youdoing?
You're not working.
Like what are you doing?
Yeah, because unless you're atthe point where you're, you
don't need no money.
As I say, you don't need nomoney.
CJ Stasik (35:59):
Yeah, if you're for me, if you're not working, you
should be doing something that'srecharging you, like it's
really, and that's in allhonesty.
Like you said, it's Saturday,I'm, you know, I'm up, we're
having this conversation.
I have, you know, a list ofthings that I have to tackle
(36:20):
that are all work related, andthe reason why I'm doing it on a
Saturday is because they'reimportant to me.
They're all part of my goalsand if I don't take the actions
and if I don't do them, I can'tachieve them.
You know, one of them is I'mright, I'm working on writing a
book and that book isn't goingto write itself.
Right, and you know, working mynine to five and being in the
office and taking care of allthose things, I'm not always
coming home seven o'clock readyto sit down in front of my
(36:40):
computer and work on that.
Well, it's Saturday, the sun isout, it's beautiful, it's too
chilly to, like you know, gohang out outside Perfect
opportunity to sit down and doit.
But I have to set that goal.
It's in my calendar.
The number of pages that I wantto write today are in my
calendar.
Because I have to be strategic,because I need to hold myself
(37:01):
accountable.
People give themselves verybroad goals and then are upset
that they haven't achieved them,and I think that that's because
we look at the people around usand we see the duck on the pond
.
We don't see their feet goinglike this crazy underneath.
We just see this majesticlooking creature soaring across
(37:23):
the top of the pond and we wantto be that duck.
Well, you got to paddle thehell out of it.
If you want to be that duck,there's a lot of work happening
under the surface.
Maria Quattrone (37:34):
There's a lot of work.
I have a little duck.
It's a little rubber duck andhe has on.
The reminder is that don'tyou're paddling underneath, but
you just see the little duck.
It sits right on my computer,on one of my.
I have a couple different umscreens, so it sits under one of
my screens, but it's always areminder that I keep paddling
(37:58):
absolutely don't let them seehow fast.
Absolutely so the you know, Iknow a lot has changed in the
SEO world.
How has AI affected that?
CJ Stasik (38:09):
Yeah, like I said before, AI is enhancing
marketers' ability to understandmore about the market, and it's
a wonderful feeling.
Like I said, the bots are ableto see metrics, data, insights
that marketers and businessowners don't have the ability to
do, and business owners don'thave the ability to do so.
Just you know, I'm not you knowto.
In layman's terms, we used tobe able to go as deep as being
(38:37):
able to see who ordered ramennoodle soup right, and you could
set up a campaign and you couldtarget people that ordered
ramen.
If you wanted to, you could getthat granular.
Well, all of the privacy actsthat have been put into place
have removed all of that datafrom marketers.
Maria Quattrone (38:50):
So you can't do that Right?
You mentioned you can't do thatanymore.
So what's the kind of so farremoved from the SEO world?
I used to know a lot more aboutit and do you think that
there's still a lot ofopportunity to enhance what
people are doing businesses withthat?
CJ Stasik (39:12):
Oh yeah, seo is not going anywhere and, as a matter
of fact, seo has become morerelevant and more prominent than
even paid advertising, and thisis why, because of the content.
So, whether we're talking aboutGoogle, bing, chatgpt or any of
the other large language modelsthat's what ChatGPT is they all
rely on the information that ison the internet.
(39:33):
So, for your business, theinformation about you that is on
the internet is your website,things like your Google business
profile, your social mediaactivity, any blogs, press
releases, any content that's outthere.
Maria Quattrone (39:46):
What about YouTube?
Same thing, absolutely Anythingthat's out there.
CJ Stasik (39:48):
What about youtube?
Same thing, absolutely anythingthat's out there.
That is how search engineslearn about your business.
So seo is more prominent nowthan ever because people are
relying on.
People are going to chat gptand they're saying I need a
plumber.
What's the best plumber in myarea?
Right, and they're getting oneanswer.
Unless they specifically saygive me three, they're getting
(40:08):
one answer.
Unless they specifically saygive me three, they're getting
one answer.
And if your website doesn'taccurately reflect who you are,
what you do, if that SEOoptimization is not perfect, is
not in there you have no chanceof coming back.
As those search behaviorscontinue to change, people's
reliance on Google is startingto go down For the first time
ever.
Google is truly losing marketshare and they've never really
(40:30):
lost market share before.
So it's a big ordeal and it isbecause AI is changing the way
we search.
We're starting to trust ourAlexas and our series.
We're asking them more, deeperquestions, and this conversation
started almost 10 years ago.
It just wasn't ready yet, butit's ready now.
So that's where AI is cominginto place and also, like I
(40:52):
mentioned earlier, it's allowingpeople to get things done
quicker so that they can monitorperformance better If your
agency is spending time writingall of your content by hand and
they're creating images by handwith graphic designers and then
someone's writing ad copy byhand.
All of that takes a lot of timeand it takes time away from
(41:14):
them monitoring performance.
So what we're seeing inmarketing space is that now we
don't need people to just pushbuttons.
We can have those buttonspushed by the AI.
Instead, what we need arepeople who can be strategic
thinkers, people who are greatcommunicators that can follow
the performance, makerecommended changes, talk to the
(41:36):
clients about their return oninvestment.
There's much more opportunityto be proactive, to stay on top
of things, to monitor googlealgorithm updates before, before
they make any impact.
Um, so, because you're freeingup people not to do the button
pushing tasks, these people areable to be far more effective in
their performance for you.
So that's some of the biggestchanges.
(41:57):
Ai is also making it possiblefor the solopreneurs, the
entrepreneurs, to get started ontheir own faster without having
to have a background inbranding or a background in
marketing.
They can actually get quickwebsites that are optimized
better, that they can pop up.
Now are those going to be whatthey want to use long-term to
(42:19):
reach their long-term goals?
Absolutely not.
But is it going to help themthrough their first couple of
years of business while they'rebuilding up revenue 100%?
Wow, so the world will continueto keep evolving and if you
don't evolve with it, you die.
And I hate to say that a lot ofpeople fight change and they
(42:40):
fight change so hard and we'rein a political environment where
we're seeing that right.
There's a big fight for changeand the reality of the situation
is the world evolves, evolutionis given and we've got to learn
how to evolve with it.
I get that question a lot oftimes for people that are
slightly older than me and I'min my mid forties.
(43:00):
I'm about to turn 45 and I'm alate adopter to a lot of
technology.
And it isn't because I don'tlike it, it's because I am a
creature of habit.
Right, it took me a long timeto switch to an iphone.
I fought it, and why.
I have no clue.
It had nothing to do with notwanting that cool technology.
I just am a creature of habit.
And what we're seeing is theneed to embrace these changes
(43:23):
you don't have to become an aiexpert, but you need to be able
to learn about it, and it doesmake life easier in certain ways
.
I check the weather just by ask.
Excuse me.
I change the or check theweather just by asking Alexa
every single morning.
That's one tiny change I can.
You know, I showed my mom andmy grandmother how to do the
same thing years ago, and it'snot about being able to code,
(43:46):
it's just about using thesethings that are here to enhance
our lives and make our lifebetter, and seeing it for
yourself.
Maria Quattrone (43:53):
That is true.
Lots to learn.
So I have a couple of questionsfor you, CJ.
CJ Stasik (44:00):
Number one.
Maria Quattrone (44:01):
What is your guilty pleasure?
CJ Stasik (44:03):
My guilty pleasure is I am an outdoor.
I am an outdoor person.
I will take every opportunity Ican to be in the woods and be
on the water.
It just like there's justsomething about that space that
clears, clears my mind and justputs me back at ease.
So anytime I'm feelingoverwhelmed or struggling, I am
going to go out there and I'mgoing to do that On the other
(44:26):
side of the fence.
I love animals, so my biggestguilty pleasure is I say, like I
have to say hi to every animalI come across.
It doesn't matter if it's asnake or a dog.
I'm just like I am an animallover and so I talk to animals a
lot.
I would say that's a big guiltypleasure.
Maria Quattrone (44:44):
Animals the fur babies I love my little fur
babies.
Animals the fur babies I lovemy little fur babies.
All right now for your.
You, not kids, nobody else,just you.
What are you most excited aboutfor your future?
CJ Stasik (45:01):
for me it's, uh, owning a farmstead, that is a
huge goal.
Um, that's something that Ihave wanted for a very, very
long time.
It has nothing to do withanybody else, it's just for me,
and that's like that would be.
It is just being able to walkout of my back door, play with
my goats while I'm, you know,going, heading to the garden to,
you know, bring in the veggiesfor dinner, like that kind of
(45:22):
aspect.
Maria Quattrone (45:24):
Wow, that's super cool.
Do you have this yet?
CJ Stasik (45:28):
Nope, but hopefully within the next couple of months
it'll be a done deal.
Oh well, in what area.
I'm up in Satterton, I'm inMontgomery County.
Maria Quattrone (45:38):
So it's going to be near there.
Yeah, excellent.
CJ Stasik (45:43):
Wow, that's exciting.
It is Looking forward to it.
I want a goat, I want fourgoats, I want I want a couple
different goats, but I do wantat least one fainting goat so
that every morning I can walkoutside and be like boo and then
I'll, you know, drive to worklaughing, smiling, happy.
It's just because I made mygoat faint oh my god, they're so
(46:04):
cute they are.
Maria Quattrone (46:05):
We went to a B&B up in New Hampshire area and
there was four goats.
They all had names that beganwith a G.
CJ Stasik (46:17):
Oh.
Maria Quattrone (46:17):
Gertrude, oh, I can't remember now, juicy or
something, gretel, somethingelse.
They were oh my God I can't.
They were.
Oh my God I can't.
They were so cute, they were sosweet, they were so lovable.
I couldn't believe it.
CJ Stasik (46:36):
I have no idea.
Maria Quattrone (46:38):
Anyway, it was a pleasure to have you on today.
I mean lots of really coolstuff we talked about and I love
your energy and I'm glad thatyou were able to finally do this
.
So thank you for taking thetime out to be on the Be the
Solution podcast.
CJ Stasik (46:52):
Absolutely, Maria.
My pleasure and looking forwardto seeing how far the podcast
goes in the future for you.
Maria Quattrone (46:59):
Yeah, let's do it.
This is the Be the Solution podcast and I'm
your host, Maria Quattrone, andtoday I have guests super
excited to welcome on CJ Stasek.
Cj and I have been trying toget together for a while, so I'm
glad we're finally this ishappening, so welcome, CJ.
CJ Stasik (00:21):
Thank you so much, maria, and yes, we have been
trying to get this on there.
Maria Quattrone (00:25):
So, CJ, I have a quote for you this morning,
and the quote for you is whetheryou think you can or think you
can.
Either way, you are absolutelyright.
CJ Stasik (00:38):
Henry Ford, one of my favorites.
Maria Quattrone (00:41):
Henry Ford.
So I wanted to start today bydiving into that quote and how
that affects somebody's successor not.
CJ Stasik (00:54):
It's actually so funny that you bring that quote
up, because it is one of myabsolute favorites and it is
because I truly believe thatmindset is everything.
I think that if we do believein ourselves, if we have that
confidence, then there's a will,there's a way, right, and
that's really what that sayingis all about.
Are you willing to take what ittakes or to do what it takes to
(01:16):
get where you want to be, to dothe things that you need to do,
to accomplish the things thatyou want?
When we are holding ourselvesback, when we have fear, when
we're in that scarcity mindset,you're not accomplishing pretty
well much anything.
But, most importantly, you'renot accomplishing the things
that you need to do.
There's too much of us lookingout and seeing other people do
the things that we want to doand we're like, oh gosh, they
(01:38):
already did it or they're great,I can't be a speaker because
look at Brene Brown and look atMel Robbins and we just tell
ourselves that we can'taccomplish these things.
I think that quote is criticalto keep in the back of your mind
, to realize that when you putyour mind to something, chances
of you accomplishing it are fargreater than when you don't?
I tell my son all the time ifyou never ask, the answer is
(02:00):
always no right.
If you never go for it, you'refailing to begin with ask.
The answer is always no rightIf you never go for it.
Maria Quattrone (02:05):
You're failing to begin with Absolutely.
If you never make that offer,whatever that is, the offer is
come join my come asking.
In our case it could be wouldyou like to work with me as a
listing broker, as a buyer'sagent?
If you don't make the offer,the answer is always no.
CJ Stasik (02:25):
Yeah, and it's actually really sad when you
start to think about the numberof missed opportunities.
Networking is something that iscritical in business, but a lot
of people don't go about it theright way.
And you kind of touched onsomething when you're saying, if
you don't ask, if you don'tstart to inquire and I think
today the people who are mostsuccessful, especially when it
(02:45):
comes to networking, are thepeople who really raise their
hands and say, hey, I need helpwith this.
Hey, what have you done in thisarea?
Hey, does anybody know someonethat could help me with this?
Instead, we just kind of sit onthe sidelines and we're always
waiting for that opportunity,waiting for that segue moment to
step in.
And the most successful peopleare the people that just pop
into the room and say, hey guys,I'm looking for a new listing
(03:08):
agent or I need to findinsurance in Arizona, and you
just start asking for the thingsand the universe finds a way to
start bringing those things toyou.
People want to give to otherpeople.
Maria Quattrone (03:19):
They really do I love that People want to give
to other people.
If more people reallyunderstood that the most
successful people in the worldthe multi-hundred millionaires,
billionaires, they're the mosthumble people who will give
everything and anything back tosomebody and it's interesting
(03:45):
back to somebody.
And it's interesting the peoplethat are the least successful
are the live in the scarcitymindset versus the one with
contribution, and contributionis where it is the impact that
you can make on people.
Because I was thinking aboutthis, my word this year is
impact, and the last many yearsI've picked a word.
Some years I forgot what theword was, so I wasn't really
doing a good job with the word,but this year it's still in
(04:07):
impact, and impact is how manylives can I impact?
How many other real estateprofessionals can I impact?
How many buyers, sellers,investors can I impact?
And so it's like giving all theinformation that you have away
for free.
And that doesn't mean you can'tcharge for things you want to
do, but I'm saying like from astandpoint of just constantly
(04:29):
contributing and being out here.
Look, you've taken time onSaturday morning and early
Saturday morning where I'm sureyou could be doing something
else, like hanging with thefamily at the gym, I don't know
going to yoga, whatever.
CJ Stasik (04:43):
Absolutely, and I it's funny that you you that you
talk about the scarcity mindset, because I see a shift.
I really do see a shift.
I think that the world wants tobe better and that's kind of a
funny way of putting it, but Itruly am seeing so many more
people that are looking tobecome connectors, master
connectors, and wanting toreally help people out.
(05:05):
And a great example that iskind of in your space is I met a
gentleman recently who was arealtor, a real estate agent,
for a really long time and hasan incredible network, and he
understands how important it isas a realtor to be able to have
connections with contractors.
Because you're trying to helpsomeone sell their home.
Contractors, because you'retrying to help someone sell
their home or you're trying tohelp someone buy their home,
(05:27):
curb appeal and different thingslike that are important.
So being able to help a sellerconnect to a roofer because
their roof needs to be done,these are all really important
things and not to digress.
But this individual realizedhow important that network was
for him when he was in the primeof his real estate business and
so he started a company just awebsite called Agents Advise to
(05:50):
connect contractors and realtorsin Bucks County together and
the reason why he wanted to doit is he said it's so hard when
you're becoming a real estateagent to get those connections
in the beginning, but it's sohelpful to close deals when
you're able to provide thosereferrals, those recommendations
to the homeowner.
So he created it to be able tohelp other agents Doesn't really
(06:13):
benefit him at all, but he'sadding value to both contractors
and realtors in the area andit's nice to see things like
that happening because, like yousaid that we can't do it alone.
You really do need the supportof people around you and you
cannot have the scarcity mindsetand expect to get to that next
level.
Maria Quattrone (06:32):
There's no way possible to get to the next
level without being incontribution.
It's often I say this all thetime with people in my proximity
and my company.
You know, if you're not whereyou want to be today, go into
the bathroom and look in themirror and it really comes down
with us.
The choice management more thantime management.
(06:54):
What things am I willing to doand what things am I willing to
stop doing in order to get toreally where I want to?
CJ Stasik (07:01):
go.
Maria Quattrone (07:02):
And most of us humans live life through just
one day at a time, with no realplan.
You want to go to Georgia?
You just don't get in the carand start driving.
Right, you need a roadmap.
So what's the roadmap?
What things can be put in placeto make sure you're elevating
(07:25):
and getting to the next level?
And somebody asked me yesterdayand the day before why do you do
these things that you do?
How are you so motivated anddisciplined?
And I first.
I really sat there and I didn'thave a good answer.
And I thought about it and Ijust want to be better.
I want to be a better human.
Good answer, and I thoughtabout it and I just want to be
(07:46):
better.
I want to be a better human.
I want to be a better businessowner.
I want to be a better wife.
I want to be a better familymember.
So I believe that God intendedfor us all to be better and for
us all to rise up each day.
He gave us another day to riseup and bring everything we got
to that day day to rise up andbring everything we got to that
(08:08):
day.
CJ Stasik (08:08):
Yeah, I love the analogy of the.
You know the roadmap, I use onewith.
You know the navigation, right,you don't get into your car to
take a road trip withoutplugging something into
navigation.
And even if you take thatanalogy further, there are times
where you may take a wrong turnor you may realize that you
know you need to alter yourdirection.
And what do you do?
You recalibrate, right, youdon't just turn around and go
(08:29):
back home, right?
If you miss your road, thenavigation recalibrates and you
start heading in the directionthat you want to go.
So I do love that analogy.
But something else that I wantto point out and hopefully this
isn't too woo woo for youraudience want to point out, and
hopefully this isn't too woo-woofor your audience, but you had
talked about you know why you'remotivated and you know why you
do the things that you do andwhy you're taking the actions.
(08:51):
The alternative is to bestagnant.
And if you really think aboutit and you think science or you
know medical anything, anytimesomething is stagnant, not
moving, it begins to decay, itbegins to fail.
So if you're talking about apiece of machinery and it's just
sitting there and there's nomomentum.
It will not start up, like wepeople see that with boats and
ATVs and things like that.
(09:12):
Your body, like a doctor, willtell you if you are not mobile,
if you are not moving, your bodystarts to rot.
You think about bed sores forpeople who lay in bed.
We are meant to have forwardmomentum and when we just sit
there we're stagnant.
And who wants to just sit androt?
And that's where it's sofrustrating.
And it also is the same thingwith manifestation.
People look at manifestation asthis magic aspect and it isn't.
(09:36):
It truly is just aligning yourdreams with your actions.
You can dream all day long, butthat's not what manifesting is.
Just sitting there visualizingyour home or your fancy car or
whatever it is.
Manifestation is pairing thatdream with the actions.
If I want that car, what stepsam I going to take?
It's about wanting something somuch that every action is
(09:59):
leading you to there.
And I think to your point.
That's why you're motivated,that's why you're driven, that's
why you do the things that youwant to do, because you
ultimately have a goal.
It's not a dream, it's a goal.
You've dreamt it.
Now you've laid out a path toget there and you're taking the
steps and the actions to getthere.
Maria Quattrone (10:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I even take it a stepfurther, cj, and I call it a
commitment the commitmentbecause you know, think about
like I'll use, I'm going to usereal estate, because that's the
business we're in real estateand mortgages.
I said, well, to the agent,will you want to do X number of
transactions a month?
Let's say she said fouryesterday.
I said, okay, so how many didyou do last month?
(10:39):
I did three.
I said how many dials did youdo?
Did you do the commitment thatyou said you would?
65% of the commitment she did.
I said, with all things, if youlook at everything, could you
actually have done thecommitment that you made?
Could you have honored it?
Was there time to do thoseother calls?
(11:01):
And the problem is is that forher, her it was a goal and not a
commitment.
It was like maybe I'll do it,yeah right, but when you're
committed, I did this hundredcalls a day for a week challenge
list, october 100 dials.
And for anyone who hasn't donea hundred dollars a day and have
(11:23):
like a whole other, actuallyother work to to do besides
calling for $100, it's a lot, itis On average.
It was taking me five hours todo it and I had to cancel an
event at the Union League I wasgoing to.
I had to cancel some Remaxthing.
I was going to Like I justdidn't go Because I looked at it
(11:45):
and said if I go to thesethings and this was like in the
midst of it, I'm going to like Ijust didn't go because I looked
at it and said if I go to thesethings and this was like in the
midst of it, I'm supposed to beleaving and going, I'm not
going to make it, I'm not goingto hit this 100.
And I told I went on socialmedia and then I told everybody
in the office that I was goingto do this.
So now, what am I going to do?
Not do it.
(12:07):
No, it was 8.30 at night.
I was still 8.23.
I finished the one night.
But it comes down to like whatare you willing to stop doing to
get to that commitment that youmade and I think this is a nice
segue into she Handles it Likeyour business that you started
back in what, five years ago orso?
CJ Stasik (12:26):
Yeah.
Maria Quattrone (12:27):
And due to, you know, the burnout from COVID
and all the things that weregoing on with that, we have to
spend the time understandingwhere our time should be spent.
And not all things are createdequal.
CJ Stasik (12:41):
No, they're not.
And much like you know, youwere saying like you, you had to
make a choice, you hadcommitted to something because
it was important to you, therewas a reason and you had to
think about it.
A lot of times when I'm talkingwith women, you know we go back
and I use a lot of businessanalogies.
So it's like this stop, startand repeat.
Right, you have to look back atyour period of time and say
(13:03):
what do I need to stop doing,what do I need to start doing
and what do I need to do more of?
And you lay out that plan.
But for me, when I started, shehandles it.
I had reached that point ofbreakdown and I remember the
moment and I've told this storyso many times, but gotten a text
message at the office asking mewhat was for dinner, I realized
(13:26):
that the day before I didn't goto the grocery store because
something else had taken over aspriority.
So I ordered my.
I went to the grocery store,got all the groceries that I
needed, pulled into the driveway, loaded all the bags on both of
my arms at the everything.
Just one trip, right?
Cause that's how we are.
We're super women.
We can do it in one trip.
And then I got to my front doorand I had to open it with my
(13:49):
high heeled shoe, like and like.
As I opened the door, my son isstanding there, snaps a picture
of me laughing and I'm like, ohmy God, and for him it was just
funny.
I'm five foot one, I'm a smallwoman, everything about it was
funny to him.
But when I got in, all I coulddo was drop the groceries and I
went upstairs and I cried.
(14:09):
And the reason why is becausein that moment what I felt was a
failure like that.
I felt like an absolute failure, because I was ready to scream,
to cry, like I just felt sooverwhelmed in that moment
because it had been a very busyday.
I had so much more work tostill get done.
He only, you know the people inthe home only cared about when
(14:32):
mom is making dinner, you know,and I just felt like something
was just, something was amissand really what it was.
It was my mindset, and once Irealized that I was the one in
control and that I was the oneputting that pressure on me,
then I had, I had the ability tostart learning how to change
that, and it wasn't just aboutme changing my own thought
(14:52):
process.
It was me laying the boundariesand the new foundation for how
I wanted things to go, sosetting the precedent.
Hey, listen, I'm going to textyou and have you meet me to get
the groceries out of the car, orI'm just going to walk in the
door and be like groceries arein the trunk, go get them, you
(15:13):
know, kind of thing.
But it started making me thinkabout what are all of the other
things that I'm doing, that Idon't necessarily need to be
doing, that I could delegate tosomeone else, and how much
resentment am I holding overthese things?
You know, before we started theconversation, I had talked
about the dishes, the towels.
I'm a type, a personality.
I have ADD, ocd whatever labelyou can put on me,
self-diagnosed.
But like I didn't want anyoneelse to load the dishwasher
(15:35):
because I knew they weren'tgoing to load it the way I
wanted it, I didn't let anyoneelse fold the towels because I
wanted them folded a certain way.
And then, finally, in thatmoment, I realized that was me.
That was the pressure I put onme.
They don't fold it wrong, theyjust don't fold it the same way
that I do.
And I had to decide what's moreimportant to me having the
towels folded the way I likethem folded or having them clean
(15:56):
and put away.
And at the end of the day, Ijust want them clean and put
away.
So I started to learn how tointegrate my professional and my
home life a little bit better,and that really is what she
Handles.
It is all about is how can wechange what we do with our time
to make us more effective, sothat we can feel like fantastic
moms and great CEOs or greatentrepreneurs or whatever it is,
(16:19):
instead of feeling like we'rehalfway there on all sides of
the fence.
Maria Quattrone (16:23):
That's never a good feeling when you're feel
like you're impacting anythingyeah, absolutely you feel like
you're not striving.
You're striving but you'repulled in so many directions or
you're and like it goes back towe allow it, it's what we allow.
So you said something thatreminded me the whole dinner
(16:44):
conversation.
The dinner conversation issomething that infuriates me
beyond anything.
So what I started doing a whileback was on Sundays.
So we go to mass, we go tochurch on Sundays and then we go
to the store Because, it'sright, it's the Italian market.
We live downtown, so theItalian market's right there, so
(17:07):
we'll go to like the butcherand then the produce place and I
get everything.
And Sunday mornings I have alittle ritual I'll get up, I
break the menu for the week.
This is what we're having forbreakfast, lunch, dinner Some
days I eat breakfast, some daysI fast Depends this way, that
conversation with my husband ofof what would you like I don't
(17:28):
know what do you want.
Do you want this?
Nope, I don't want that.
Do you want this?
Nope, I don't want that.
CJ Stasik (17:34):
So, yeah, it's funny you say about the menu, because
I do something very similar,right?
So when I go to sit down anddecide what I need from the
grocery store, I plan what mealsthat I'm going to plan.
And you know, I asked one time,hey, does anybody have any
requests, does anybody wantsomething different?
And if I get them, that's fine,if I don't, I plan it out.
And then one of the things Idid for one of my workshops with
(17:56):
she handles it is I actuallydeveloped a prompt for chat GPT
that you can put in there and itasks you a bunch of questions
about the food preferences inyour house, what you have in the
refrigerator, all of that kindof stuff, and it actually helps
create a seven day meal planalong with a grocery list and
the recipe.
Oh, that's awesome.
So now what I can do is I canupload that grocery list into
(18:18):
Instacart, my groceries canarrive at my house, I can print
out the recipes and then thereare multiple people in my
household that can read andfollow a recipe.
So it's like if I need to go toa networking event at night,
it's like, okay, this is what'sfor dinner and the recipe is on
the counter little things likethat, and what a lot of times.
What you'll be surprised is my13 year old son loves to be in
(18:41):
the kitchen, right, and so forhim it's also fun to be able to
participate, and even if he'sjust, you know, doing ground
beef for tacos, it's not rocketscience, but for him it's a big
deal.
And so it's also like sometimes, when we're type A and we try
to hold on to everything, we'reholding people back.
Eos calls it delegate andelevate.
(19:01):
So you delegate things topeople, not only to get it off
of your plate, but it's becauseit's the 80% of things you
shouldn't be doing, and when yougive it to them, you're
actually elevating them, andthat works both home and in work
, right.
You're allowing them to learn anew skill, practice something
different, be independent, youknow, whatever the case may be.
(19:22):
So delegation is important, andit's not just tossing work over
at someone else.
There's a reason for it.
Maria Quattrone (19:29):
I love that.
I love the chat.
Gpt, that's really cool.
You know we talked for a secondabout AI, but how is AI
changing the digital world?
Yeah, absolutely.
What's happening?
CJ Stasik (19:44):
So AI like I hate to say it, but it's making things
easier, but not in the way thatpeople think right.
So it's not replacing peopleand, oddly enough, it's actually
creates the need for better,higher quality people, and I
call it the human overlaycomponent.
So what AI is doing is AI hasaccess to information that
(20:06):
marketers no longer have accessto.
Ai can see people's habits,people's search histories all of
the what is considered thirdparty data that marketers no
longer have access to, but AIdoes so.
When AI goes to work, ai goesto work based on your
instruction or the instructionthat it's given inside the tool
(20:27):
that you're using.
So what it's allowing people todo is be a lot more effective
and efficient, but theeffectiveness is what's making
the biggest impact.
When you're going to optimize awebsite for search engine
optimization and you want tomake sure you have the right
content on there, marketers usedto do a lot of competitive
research.
They would have to go in and doa lot of different, use a lot
(20:49):
of different tools and do a lotof different things to make sure
that they're coming up with theright keywords and the right
content for your site.
Ai can do that in moments, andbecause it can do that in
moments, the marketer canactually focus on performance.
They can focus on monitoringthat account at such a deeper
level than what they had before.
It allows marketers to be waymore proactive, and if you talk
(21:13):
to people who've been throughthree or four agencies, they'll
tell you their biggest issue.
They have two biggest issueswith agencies.
One is underperformance so I'mnot getting as much that I
thought and the second isreactiveness.
The agency wasn't proactiveenough.
They were more reactive.
Companies feel like they haveto bring things bubble them up
(21:33):
to the surface with their agencybefore the agency starts to
tackle it With AI, because it isso much more effective and
efficient.
Your human people, the humancapital that's actually working
on these accounts, are able toreally focus on performance and
be far more proactive becausethey're not sitting there typing
, punching in a bunch of toolsand doing all of this.
(21:54):
You know just work that thebots can now do, if that makes
sense.
So it's really about theeffectiveness.
Maria Quattrone (22:01):
That makes a lot of sense.
And yeah, it's true, you neverwant to have to go to your part
your vendor partner and be like,hey, and yeah, it's true, you
never want to have to go to yourpart your vendor partner and be
like, hey, can you do this, hey, can you do that.
Then the whole thing is likewhy aren't you doing it to begin
with?
It's like coming to a realestate agency, the seller saying
, hey, can you lower the price,can you do an open house?
Can you run some ads, orsomething.
CJ Stasik (22:26):
Exactly, yeah, and they're going to be like oh,
that's what I thought I hiredyou for.
And, in addition to that, whereAI is becoming the most
effective for a lot of agenciesis really on the creative
ideation front, because a lot oftimes, it is very difficult to
pull out of your head whatyou're trying to share.
When it comes to visual, when itcomes to creative, you may have
(22:47):
this wonderful idea for whatyou want your website to look
like or for the type of imagethat you want for a social media
post, but being able to explainthat a lot of people get really
frustrated because they have togo through two, three, four
different iterations of a designbefore they get what they want.
With AI, someone someone evenlike yourself, who's not a
(23:10):
marketer you can very simply goin and you can describe the type
of image or the type of videoor whatever it is, and it's
going to give you something thatis far closer that you can then
turn around and give to youragency and say, hey, I want
something that looks like this.
Hey, this is what I like, andit's the same thing for a
graphic designer, instead of thegraphic designer having to by
(23:31):
hand give you five differentvariations of a design.
He can go in, get three to fivereally quickly, send them over,
get your approval on what youlike and then create something
that has a far better startingpoint than starting from scratch
.
So the ideation is huge andit's helping not just marketers
but it's really helping.
(23:51):
You know people all across justabout every industry when it
comes to creative.
Maria Quattrone (23:56):
It's wild.
It certainly is, you know.
Here's the thing there's onlyso much time in a day.
I don't want to learn like now,a whole, nother thing.
And we have to be and I talkabout this a lot we have to, you
know, hire people that you needto hire to do the work.
(24:16):
That is not your zone of genius.
CJ Stasik (24:19):
Yes, absolutely yeah, and that's huge because you're
only holding yourself back andyou know we most of us like to
hold on to things like no onedoes it better than us, right,
and if you want it done, right,you do it yourself.
All of those things that weheard growing up, and we tend to
tackle it.
But to your point, that's right.
For you to live in your joy,for you to have your happiness,
(24:42):
you've got to work in your zoneof genius, and your zone of
genius may not be marketing yourzone of genius.
For me it's.
It's not spreadsheets, right.
I get infuriated having to workinside of Excel, and especially
when the numbers aren'tnumbering, it's just not my zone
of genius.
So having someone that canactually present those numbers
to me is far better use of mytime, because then I can think
(25:06):
about those numbers and I canmake decisions and I can make
actions with those numbers.
But if I were to be the one tosit there and try to put those
presentations together and putthose numbers together, it's not
going to go well, I'm going tobe frustrated, I'm going to be
behind because, again, it's notmy zone of genius, whereas you
know on your front, like thereare certain things that you are
(25:26):
really great at, and imaginewhat life would be like if
that's what 95% of your day wasabout.
Right Is doing those thingsthat light you up, that you get
excited about, and that's whatwe're trying to do, especially
in midlife.
You're trying to shave off allof the parts of you that no
longer serve you.
You are trying to focus on thethings that bring you joy.
Maria Quattrone (25:53):
And to do that you got to bring back that
village that you pushed away sovery hard for so many, and it
takes really knowing yourself.
It takes, I think, some deepwork in letting the past go but
not forgetting.
You know there's a look about.
A lot of things hold peopleback.
I think one of the one is theysay fear of success, or feel of
failure, fear of success, fearof failure.
CJ Stasik (26:17):
Sometimes it's fear of success that's the one
holding back more than feelingfear of failure yeah, and I
think too, too, I resonate withthat, and I've talked a lot
about fear of success and for meI was raised by, you know, my
dad was a great dad.
He was a great businessman.
When I was growing up, up untilI was about 13, we were dirt
(26:40):
poor and I mean, you know, likewe were poor, I went to school
with bologna and buttersandwiches right, because those
were, you know, butter wascheaper than mayonnaise and
bologna and butter sandwichesright, because those were, you
know, butter was cheaper thanmayonnaise and bologna was
cheaper than any other sandwichmeat.
We were poor and there werepeople poor, so I don't want
people to think I'm making lightof that, but when my father's
business really took off, ittook off quickly and my dad had
(27:02):
a major fear of success and hepassed that on to me and he
would say things like you can'tever let anybody know how much
money you have, because they'regoing to want to take it from
you.
My dad, he wore the same exactwork shirt with the embroidered
name tag on it forever, nomatter how successful he was.
That was how he showed up,because he never wanted people
(27:23):
to look at him differently.
He made me humble, which Iappreciate greatly, but
sometimes you can be too humble,and so my fear of success came
into.
Money was going to turn me intosomeone I didn't want to be.
I looked around at the peoplethat I knew that were considered
millionaires or that had, thatwere very wealthy, and I didn't
want to be like them.
This level of selfishness thatI saw and just this money,
(27:48):
hungry, never enough.
And they never seemed happy,and I didn't want that for
myself.
So that's what I told myselfmoney was about.
So what my internal dialogue wasI want enough money to pay my
bills.
I want enough money so that Idon't have to worry.
But that's limiting, becausethe reality is is I want enough
money to buy back my freedom.
I want enough money to be ableto do the things that I want to
(28:09):
do, to make the impact, usingyour word, to make the impact
that I want to make.
And the reality is is it takesmoney to be able to do that.
So I had to change my dialogueand I had to say no, I do want
to be wealthy and I want to bewealthy in these ways.
I want financial freedomAbsolutely, but I also want to
be able to have a home in themountains, because I love hiking
(28:31):
and kayaking, I want to be ableto, you know, have a place
closer to my family so that whenI go and visit it's there Like,
and it's not selfish to havethose things.
And so once you realize thatfear, no matter what kind, is
just false evidence appearing asreal you can change that inner
dialogue and you can start tolet that fear go.
(28:51):
It doesn't mean that somethingisn't going to scare you.
But now, when I feel that senseof angst, I know that I'm
heading in the right direction,because there's something I need
to overcome, there's somethingthat I need to do, and I chase
that feeling.
If it makes me afraid, I knowI'm doing the right thing.
Maria Quattrone (29:09):
It makes you afraid you're doing the right
thing, that I just did a videolast night about this program
contest thing I'm doing for themonth of March, and in the month
of March I'm setting out to doschedule 100 listing
appointments, and it's somethingI've never done.
(29:30):
The most I've ever done was 42,which was last April 41, last
March, 41, in January, and soit's double plus, and so it's
definitely I want to see if itcan be done.
Yeah, like it's an experiment.
(29:51):
So can it be done, what isrequired to do it and how long
will it really take to do it?
I have 31 days and that'smostly Monday to Friday, so 21
work days.
CJ Stasik (30:03):
I love how goal oriented you are, because a lot
of people don't realize that andwhat you said, you know.
You set yourself a lofty goalbecause it had never been done
before.
Right, so it's not you beinglike, oh, I'm just going to give
myself a lay down goal that Iknow I can hit.
You're saying I want to see ifit's there.
You've already removed thepressure.
You've taken the pressure offof.
If I don't, if I get to the endand I haven't hit that number,
(30:26):
you didn't fail.
The experiment needs to beadjusted, something needs to be
changed.
Right, you will learn from whatyou're doing, which is really
exciting, and the fun thingabout setting a goal like that
is that you know that that'syour goal every day.
So, just like I talked aboutmanifesting, right, you've got
this thing and you're, every dayyou're aligning with that.
Manifesting right, you've gotthis thing and you're every day
you're aligning with that, whichgives you way more opportunity
(30:49):
to actually achieve it than youhave.
If you're just like, oh well,here's what I've been able to
achieve.
Well, that's what you've beenable to achieve without actually
setting that lofty goal.
Right Now, the five minutesthat you may take to run and
grab an extra cup of coffee.
You may delay that and you maysay no, I can get my extra cup
of coffee at lunchtime orwhatever it is, because that
goal is in the back of your mind.
(31:09):
So your behavior starts toalign with that goal.
So I think it's far moreachievable than what you think,
only because your habits aregoing to change as a result of
setting that goal.
Maria Quattrone (31:20):
A hundred percent, and how many times I'm
in the office and I'm walkingback and forth, back and forth,
add, whatever it is, whatever.
Oh, I left the pen there, Ileft the book over there.
I have definitely two seats.
I sit in different ones becausewe have a in the back of the
office.
We have like standing booths soyou can stand and call.
(31:42):
Then I have my desk.
Then sometimes I'm like, oh, Ifeel like sitting in the
conference room.
I haven't done that in a while,but too many places.
Right, I'm sitting in my diningroom.
Behind me is like the stairs,so when I sit here there's
nowhere to go.
We don't have a huge house.
This is like I don't have to go20 places.
(32:02):
But CJ, it does these littlethings that you think.
Oh, let me answer somebody'squestion.
Oh, let me go get some morewater.
Let me go get more coffee.
Let me heat up my coffee.
Now Let me go get some walnutsto munch on.
Exactly.
CJ Stasik (32:17):
I don't know if you'll be able to see it, but so
I don't do a word of the month,I do a word of the year and I
just did my vision board for theyear.
I follow a woman that her and Iare becoming pretty good
friends and she does a visionboard exercise workshop every
year.
But my word of the year isfocus, and it doesn't mean that
(32:42):
the ADD is gonna go away.
What the reason why that is isbecause I wanna make sure that
when I sit down to work onsomething, even as much as this
conversation with you, that I am100% focused on this and only
this in this given timeframe.
You know I'm not looking at mywatch, thinking about my next
thing and stuff like that.
So I had to start making somesmall changes to really help
(33:03):
with my focus, and one of thosethings that I did just to give
an example was in the morning,when I get into the office or I
sit down at my computer, thefirst thing I do is I open up my
calendar and then I grab myphone and I set a timer five
minutes before every singlemeeting I have that day.
I want that timer to go offaudibly.
I want to hear it, not just abuzz.
(33:24):
I want to hear it.
And so what that means is whenyou and I are talking let's say
I have a meeting at 10 o'clockNormally my ADD is going to make
.
I'm literally going to bewatching, looking at the clock,
looking at the clock like payingattention to make sure that I
don't miss that 10 o'clock call,and that means that I'm not
giving my 100% to you and that'snot fair and that lose I lose
(33:45):
focus.
So now that the alarm is set, Iknow it's going to go off five
minutes beforehand.
I don't have it set with youbecause I don't have a call at
10.
But when that alarm goes off,it makes it very easy for me to
say oh Maria, that's my alarm, Ihave a call coming up at 10.
I just want to make sure thatwe finish up anything that we
need to finish up.
It's a great segue.
It allows me to close up,finish with you, if you were the
(34:06):
one I was on the call with andthen I'm able to get on to that
next call ready and prepared andnot feel that sense of urgency,
physically feel it in myshoulders, right, you're tense
because that next thing iscoming and when the alarms are
set, I can relax and I can justtalk to you and have this
conversation and not be worried.
And so that's to me.
(34:28):
That's what you know focus isall about, and, just like you,
setting a commitment foryourself, you're setting new
goals and you're strivingtowards them, and if I want to
get better at focus, it has tobe something that I'm focused on
every single day, like I've gotto practice it.
Any skill requires practicing.
It doesn't matter if it comesnaturally or not.
It needs to be honed, it needsto be harnessed, and for me,
(34:51):
focus is one of those things.
Just like you, I leave cabinetsopen as I walk through the
house.
I've got piles here and thereand I'll run into the kitchen to
get something and I'll do fouror five things on the way back
before I ever make it back.
I'm constantly, you know,starting things and not
finishing them, and I've got todo a better job, and that's why
focus is my goal for this year.
(35:12):
But it ties into what we'retalking about setting goals and
achieving them and workingtowards them.
Maria Quattrone (35:17):
I think that we don't have goals and
commitments.
What's the point I said?
Somebody said to me yesterdaywell, I said, what else would I
be doing right now?
I can't sit in the house andI'm not going to Italy at the
moment, so if I'm not working,what else am I going to be doing
?
I didn't have, like I didn'thave, an answer.
(35:38):
There's no answer.
I don't want to sit in thehouse.
I can read a book, but notgoing to read a book all day.
Yeah, I mean, what would I bedoing?
I ask people like what are youdoing?
You're not working.
Like what are you doing?
Yeah, because unless you're atthe point where you're, you
don't need no money.
As I say, you don't need nomoney.
CJ Stasik (35:59):
Yeah, if you're for me, if you're not working, you
should be doing something that'srecharging you, like it's
really, and that's in allhonesty.
Like you said, it's Saturday,I'm, you know, I'm up, we're
having this conversation.
I have, you know, a list ofthings that I have to tackle
(36:20):
that are all work related, andthe reason why I'm doing it on a
Saturday is because they'reimportant to me.
They're all part of my goalsand if I don't take the actions
and if I don't do them, I can'tachieve them.
You know, one of them is I'mright, I'm working on writing a
book and that book isn't goingto write itself.
Right, and you know, working mynine to five and being in the
office and taking care of allthose things, I'm not always
coming home seven o'clock readyto sit down in front of my
(36:40):
computer and work on that.
Well, it's Saturday, the sun isout, it's beautiful, it's too
chilly to, like you know, gohang out outside Perfect
opportunity to sit down and doit.
But I have to set that goal.
It's in my calendar.
The number of pages that I wantto write today are in my
calendar.
Because I have to be strategic,because I need to hold myself
(37:01):
accountable.
People give themselves verybroad goals and then are upset
that they haven't achieved them,and I think that that's because
we look at the people around usand we see the duck on the pond
.
We don't see their feet goinglike this crazy underneath.
We just see this majesticlooking creature soaring across
(37:23):
the top of the pond and we wantto be that duck.
Well, you got to paddle thehell out of it.
If you want to be that duck,there's a lot of work happening
under the surface.
Maria Quattrone (37:34):
There's a lot of work.
I have a little duck.
It's a little rubber duck andhe has on.
The reminder is that don'tyou're paddling underneath, but
you just see the little duck.
It sits right on my computer,on one of my.
I have a couple different umscreens, so it sits under one of
my screens, but it's always areminder that I keep paddling
(37:58):
absolutely don't let them seehow fast.
Absolutely so the you know, Iknow a lot has changed in the
SEO world.
How has AI affected that?
CJ Stasik (38:09):
Yeah, like I said before, AI is enhancing
marketers' ability to understandmore about the market, and it's
a wonderful feeling.
Like I said, the bots are ableto see metrics, data, insights
that marketers and businessowners don't have the ability to
do, and business owners don'thave the ability to do so.
Just you know, I'm not you knowto.
In layman's terms, we used tobe able to go as deep as being
(38:37):
able to see who ordered ramennoodle soup right, and you could
set up a campaign and you couldtarget people that ordered
ramen.
If you wanted to, you could getthat granular.
Well, all of the privacy actsthat have been put into place
have removed all of that datafrom marketers.
Maria Quattrone (38:50):
So you can't do that Right?
You mentioned you can't do thatanymore.
So what's the kind of so farremoved from the SEO world?
I used to know a lot more aboutit and do you think that
there's still a lot ofopportunity to enhance what
people are doing businesses withthat?
CJ Stasik (39:12):
Oh yeah, seo is not going anywhere and, as a matter
of fact, seo has become morerelevant and more prominent than
even paid advertising, and thisis why, because of the content.
So, whether we're talking aboutGoogle, bing, chatgpt or any of
the other large language modelsthat's what ChatGPT is they all
rely on the information that ison the internet.
(39:33):
So, for your business, theinformation about you that is on
the internet is your website,things like your Google business
profile, your social mediaactivity, any blogs, press
releases, any content that's outthere.
Maria Quattrone (39:46):
What about YouTube?
Same thing, absolutely Anythingthat's out there.
CJ Stasik (39:48):
What about youtube?
Same thing, absolutely anythingthat's out there.
That is how search engineslearn about your business.
So seo is more prominent nowthan ever because people are
relying on.
People are going to chat gptand they're saying I need a
plumber.
What's the best plumber in myarea?
Right, and they're getting oneanswer.
Unless they specifically saygive me three, they're getting
(40:08):
one answer.
Unless they specifically saygive me three, they're getting
one answer.
And if your website doesn'taccurately reflect who you are,
what you do, if that SEOoptimization is not perfect, is
not in there you have no chanceof coming back.
As those search behaviorscontinue to change, people's
reliance on Google is startingto go down For the first time
ever.
Google is truly losing marketshare and they've never really
(40:30):
lost market share before.
So it's a big ordeal and it isbecause AI is changing the way
we search.
We're starting to trust ourAlexas and our series.
We're asking them more, deeperquestions, and this conversation
started almost 10 years ago.
It just wasn't ready yet, butit's ready now.
So that's where AI is cominginto place and also, like I
(40:52):
mentioned earlier, it's allowingpeople to get things done
quicker so that they can monitorperformance better If your
agency is spending time writingall of your content by hand and
they're creating images by handwith graphic designers and then
someone's writing ad copy byhand.
All of that takes a lot of timeand it takes time away from
(41:14):
them monitoring performance.
So what we're seeing inmarketing space is that now we
don't need people to just pushbuttons.
We can have those buttonspushed by the AI.
Instead, what we need arepeople who can be strategic
thinkers, people who are greatcommunicators that can follow
the performance, makerecommended changes, talk to the
(41:36):
clients about their return oninvestment.
There's much more opportunityto be proactive, to stay on top
of things, to monitor googlealgorithm updates before, before
they make any impact.
Um, so, because you're freeingup people not to do the button
pushing tasks, these people areable to be far more effective in
their performance for you.
So that's some of the biggestchanges.
(41:57):
Ai is also making it possiblefor the solopreneurs, the
entrepreneurs, to get started ontheir own faster without having
to have a background inbranding or a background in
marketing.
They can actually get quickwebsites that are optimized
better, that they can pop up.
Now are those going to be whatthey want to use long-term to
(42:19):
reach their long-term goals?
Absolutely not.
But is it going to help themthrough their first couple of
years of business while they'rebuilding up revenue 100%?
Wow, so the world will continueto keep evolving and if you
don't evolve with it, you die.
And I hate to say that a lot ofpeople fight change and they
(42:40):
fight change so hard and we'rein a political environment where
we're seeing that right.
There's a big fight for changeand the reality of the situation
is the world evolves, evolutionis given and we've got to learn
how to evolve with it.
I get that question a lot oftimes for people that are
slightly older than me and I'min my mid forties.
(43:00):
I'm about to turn 45 and I'm alate adopter to a lot of
technology.
And it isn't because I don'tlike it, it's because I am a
creature of habit.
Right, it took me a long timeto switch to an iphone.
I fought it, and why.
I have no clue.
It had nothing to do with notwanting that cool technology.
I just am a creature of habit.
And what we're seeing is theneed to embrace these changes
(43:23):
you don't have to become an aiexpert, but you need to be able
to learn about it, and it doesmake life easier in certain ways
.
I check the weather just by ask.
Excuse me.
I change the or check theweather just by asking Alexa
every single morning.
That's one tiny change I can.
You know, I showed my mom andmy grandmother how to do the
same thing years ago, and it'snot about being able to code,
(43:46):
it's just about using thesethings that are here to enhance
our lives and make our lifebetter, and seeing it for
yourself.
Maria Quattrone (43:53):
That is true.
Lots to learn.
So I have a couple of questionsfor you, CJ.
CJ Stasik (44:00):
Number one.
Maria Quattrone (44:01):
What is your guilty pleasure?
CJ Stasik (44:03):
My guilty pleasure is I am an outdoor.
I am an outdoor person.
I will take every opportunity Ican to be in the woods and be
on the water.
It just like there's justsomething about that space that
clears, clears my mind and justputs me back at ease.
So anytime I'm feelingoverwhelmed or struggling, I am
going to go out there and I'mgoing to do that On the other
(44:26):
side of the fence.
I love animals, so my biggestguilty pleasure is I say, like I
have to say hi to every animalI come across.
It doesn't matter if it's asnake or a dog.
I'm just like I am an animallover and so I talk to animals a
lot.
I would say that's a big guiltypleasure.
Maria Quattrone (44:44):
Animals the fur babies I love my little fur
babies.
Animals the fur babies I lovemy little fur babies.
All right now for your.
You, not kids, nobody else,just you.
What are you most excited aboutfor your future?
CJ Stasik (45:01):
for me it's, uh, owning a farmstead, that is a
huge goal.
Um, that's something that Ihave wanted for a very, very
long time.
It has nothing to do withanybody else, it's just for me,
and that's like that would be.
It is just being able to walkout of my back door, play with
my goats while I'm, you know,going, heading to the garden to,
you know, bring in the veggiesfor dinner, like that kind of
(45:22):
aspect.
Maria Quattrone (45:24):
Wow, that's super cool.
Do you have this yet?
CJ Stasik (45:28):
Nope, but hopefully within the next couple of months
it'll be a done deal.
Oh well, in what area.
I'm up in Satterton, I'm inMontgomery County.
Maria Quattrone (45:38):
So it's going to be near there.
Yeah, excellent.
CJ Stasik (45:43):
Wow, that's exciting.
It is Looking forward to it.
I want a goat, I want fourgoats, I want I want a couple
different goats, but I do wantat least one fainting goat so
that every morning I can walkoutside and be like boo and then
I'll, you know, drive to worklaughing, smiling, happy.
It's just because I made mygoat faint oh my god, they're so
(46:04):
cute they are.
Maria Quattrone (46:05):
We went to a B&B up in New Hampshire area and
there was four goats.
They all had names that beganwith a G.
CJ Stasik (46:17):
Oh.
Maria Quattrone (46:17):
Gertrude, oh, I can't remember now, juicy or
something, gretel, somethingelse.
They were oh my God I can't.
They were.
Oh my God I can't.
They were so cute, they were sosweet, they were so lovable.
I couldn't believe it.
CJ Stasik (46:36):
I have no idea.
Maria Quattrone (46:38):
Anyway, it was a pleasure to have you on today.
I mean lots of really coolstuff we talked about and I love
your energy and I'm glad thatyou were able to finally do this
.
So thank you for taking thetime out to be on the Be the
Solution podcast.
CJ Stasik (46:52):
Absolutely, Maria.
My pleasure and looking forwardto seeing how far the podcast
goes in the future for you.
Maria Quattrone (46:59):
Yeah, let's do it.
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