Ep115 Building a 7 figure business, losing your spark and starting again- with Laurie Burrows

In this episode of Mad About, Maddy sits down with entrepreneur and marketing expert Laurie Burrows for a raw and honest conversation about grief, resilience, business, motherhood and finding the courage to start again.

Laurie shares her extraordinary journey from launching a business in January 2020, discovering she was unexpectedly pregnant just weeks later, navigating lockdown, and growing a successful seven-figure company while dealing with the devastating loss of her dad and other family members.

Together, Maddy and Laurie explore:

• Starting a business while preparing to become a mum
• Growing a company during the Covid lockdowns
• Coping with grief while running a successful business
• The impact of losing a parent and how grief changes over time
• Neurodivergence, identity and emotional processing
• Why success doesn't always equal happiness
• Outgrowing a business you've worked hard to build
• The courage it takes to pivot when something no longer lights you up
• The rise of AI and how it's changing the business landscape
• Building a new software company from scratch
• Laurie's mission to give back and support families facing financial hardship

This is a powerful conversation about trusting yourself, embracing change, and remembering that you're allowed to evolve.

If you've ever felt stuck, lost your passion for something you once loved, or wondered whether it's too late to start over, this episode is for you.

Find Laurie:
Instagram: @_laurieburrows

Find Maddy:
Instagram: @maddytalksmoney
TikTok: @madaboutmoneyofficial

Join The Maddyverse – Maddy's free community for people with hidden disabilities, chronic illness, invisible conditions and hidden struggles.

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Mad About. I'm Maddy Alexander Grout, and this is the podcast where we talk all things that we are mad about. Mad can mean passionate, it can mean angry, it can mean obsessed, it can mean hyper-focused, it can basically mean whatever the fuck we want it to mean. And I am joined today by somebody who I have known for quite some time who I don't know why she's never been on my podcast before. But everything happens for a reason. Lori is a multi-potentialite. She has so many strings to her bow. She's an entrepreneur, she's a seven-finger business owner, she has um so many skills, sales, AI, marketing, people. Like it's hard to keep up with her. So I wanted to have a bit of a catch-up with her to find out what's going on in Loreland, and uh, which is definitely definitely should be a thing. I love I know, I know. I've got the Maddy first, you can have Loryland, and uh yeah, I just wanted to see what was going on. Um, you have had an absolutely incredible journey. Um, so first of all, tell us a little bit about you and who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Yeah, where to even start? So I'm in a bit of a pivot at the moment, but what I am known for is helping other businesses essentially make more sales, but through automated sales systems, a way they can generate leads and sales every single day in their business to create a business that really fits around their life rather than them fitting around the business, which is exactly what I've done the last six years.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Amazing. Um, so how did you start? Like, I I want to I want to know like what what happened? What was the very beginning?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

God, the very beginning. So this is going back now, yeah. Good over six years. So it was that typical story. I was just fed up of my nine to five, 830 to five. I was head of marketing for a company. I'd only been there six months, but it gave me the kick up the ass that I needed to finally start a business. So I decided to turn all of my expertise into the business that I have. So back in January 2020 now, probably a while ago. So back in January 2020, I decided to officially launch this business. And just three weeks after officially launching it, I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant. You've heard the story before. Found out I was unexpectedly pregnant. And for those of you who don't know me on the story, I say unexpectedly because I'd only known my son's dad for six weeks. So it was a little bit of an oopsadaisy. So not only was I now birthing this business, I was also getting ready to birth a baby. And I had no idea before starting this business finding that I was pregnant that I wanted to be a mum. I thought it wouldn't happen for a little while, but later on, but that day that I found out, 23rd of January 2020, then a little voice popped in my head to say, You're pregnant, it just changed everything. Yep, a voice said you're pregnant, ran to the shop, got a pregnancy test, and it was positive. Ran back, got another one positive, and over 24 hours, just to really check, I did seven pregnancy tests.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

I did the same with mine.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Also, Refine said that they were negative because I wasn't reading them properly. Oh, yeah. So what do you think it was? Did you feel did you just feel different?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

There wasn't really any signs or symptoms. Um, and the month prior, I actually had an operation, so I've got a big scar on my hands because glass went through my hand. So horrible. So I had to have an operation of since part of how or where the song. My friend was a little bit tipsy on Christmas Day.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Good way of a good way of starting a story, always.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

And she kind of jumped on me to have the cuddle, but I had a like a glass in my hand, so I fell, but I fell onto the glass, and yeah, it sliced through um those tendons, nerves, so I don't really have any feeling down this side of my finger. And with mum at first was like, Oh no, it'll be fine. She went to get some plaster to try and wrap it up. She was like, It'll be all right. And then it got to the evening. I was like, Mum, I don't think I'm okay. I think I need to go to hospital. Went to hospital. They were like, Yeah, good thing you came in.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Fuck. Oh, that's not good. Okay, so you'd have an operation. Sorry for interrupting.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

No, no, so yeah, I had this operation, can't let you have a pregnancy test. So that was negative, but then suddenly a month later, I was yeah, finding that I was pregnant, and it was just a massive shock because yeah, known this person for six weeks, and now I'm having to call them up and say, Hey, I know we've only just met, but we're having a baby.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Oh God, I bet that was really hard. How did you take that news?

SPEAKER_01 5:26

It was a shock. I think we were both just yeah, in complete shock because we didn't really know each other. Uh, it's only been six weeks. Suddenly, we're having a baby. Six weeks later, we were then moving in together because we had locked down. So it was that decision, what do we do? Can't really live separately, so we're gonna have to live together. So then we were 12 weeks after knowing each other, living together. It was all happening at once. Pregnant, starting business, moving house.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

That's a lot. How did how did that lockdown look for you then? Because that I mean, I know that you kind of absolutely blossomed your business during that time, but for so many other people it was it was heartache and horrible. You know, I mean, I lost my business over COVID. It was a really tricky time for me mental health-wise, like looking after two neurodivergent children in a very tiny house that was horrible. Like, yeah, how was that with a new person being around?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Oh, it was it was a mixed bag because I was also going through quite a bit personally. So I was starting the business, and for me, COVID helped my business to thrive like incredibly well in that first year. I think 2020 was around $200,000 that was making in that first year through the business because obviously loads of businesses had to pivot. They wanted to move online, they wanted to learn online marketing and sales. So for me, that's what I was helping with. It was great timing for me, and it allowed my business to boom and grow really quickly. But then, yeah, navigating, living with someone new, being in a new house, pregnancy during COVID as well, lack of support every time different midwives. My partner at the time wasn't allowed to come to appointments, but then my dad started getting ill. I remember it was my birthday in February, and we all we always met at the same restaurant, but he got lost going to the restaurant, which looked like it just was a bit strange. We thought maybe he had early signs of dementia. I mean, he was only early 50s, but we thought maybe it was dementia. Um, and then just as time went by and he got sicker and sicker, he was then diagnosed with a really rare brain condition called CJD. And we were then told he'd only have six months to live. He managed to hold on. I was really worried he wouldn't get to meet my little boy, but he did. I've got a picture of them together sort of in his final days, and then he passed away early early 2021. It was a lot to navigate in that first year.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yeah, yeah, I can imagine that that is like you know, having lost my dad recently, and you know, my my dad was my world, so like I totally, totally get like, and then you've got grief, and nobody really talks about how grief is like this unsilent, you know, it it's it's silent to everybody apart from you, and it's so fucking noisy, and you get you get the people who are like checking in on you to start with, and then it's kind of forgotten after the funeral, people don't really talk about it so much. Um but it's but it's I mean, I I know from seeing your social media posts that you know it's not something that goes away, it's something that you're still dealing with now. How did you navigate that period?

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Well, I was I was a daddy's girl. I my dad's like my absolute wild. He's the reason I have a business. I was very successful in my career from very, very early on. I was always very career-driven, but my dad always kept me very focused to be career-driven, and when everyone was telling me not to quit the job, the career to start a business, he was really supporting me and telling me to go all in. Yeah, it was the reason that I did it all, and I think I spent a lot of time in disbelief when all of this was happening, and see there was a new partner, there was moving house, there was pregnancy, there was a new baby. Then on top of that, I was now getting ready to lose my dad, which I don't think I could actually prepare myself for. So I think I just spent all of this time in disbelief. Even on the day that I lost him, I was just still in disbelief. Kind of woke up. It was I woke up early in the morning, and it's kind of I woke up and I just knew like I just knew today's gonna be the day I'm gonna get that call.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

There's a lot of psychic signs here, my love. You like and then they happen I knew your dad had died. Like, this is like, is there anything do you know what the lottery numbers are?

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Or we just but I think for me, like I just sat under that disbelief. And that day, I just said to my partner at the time, like I got the call, and then I just said, let's take the kids out for the day. So we just got up where I live, I'm east of England, we're close to the seaside. So it's like just take the kids out for the day, and I just acted for days like nothing could happen because I think I couldn't quite, I don't think I could just, yeah, it just wasn't switching on for me. I think I was just trying to avoid sitting in that pain of losing my dad, and I dealt with it by putting my all into my business. Yeah. After I lost my dad, I had one of my most successful months. I hit my first six-figure month in business. I think that's because I was avoiding the grief and avoiding the pain of losing my dad by putting it all into my business.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Yes, yeah, I know, I know that feeling only too well. Like, I think I think I think there's there's one of two types of people. There is the crack on, get shit done, avoid it completely, type of people. And then there's the the people who like me just go, I don't have a business anymore, fuck it. And I I basically just went, I went into a hole. Like I had such a shitty six months at the back end of last year that I just decided that like it needed the only thing I carried on doing was my social media content. And thank God for that because like it kept my business, it kept my business going, and now I'm kind of in back in the the kind of the growth stage again. But I I didn't know how to process it. I didn't know what to say to people, I didn't know how to talk about it. Like I was I was my dad's carer at the end as well, because he had multiple disabilities himself, and it was it was really hard caring for somebody else, and then all of a sudden having that massive chunk of time where I didn't have to do anything for him, it was it was really weird, and I I probably you know, in hindsight, I could have used that time to go back into my business to do more things, but I just I was in such a state of overwhelm and panic, and I just didn't really know what to do, so I just kind of just existed. I kind of floated around, like I just I did some walking and some running, and I joined the gym and like tried I grew my nails, like I anything that I could have weird levels of control over because I've bitten my nails for forever, like that was the only thing I could have have any say in. Um, but so I really do admire the fact that you threw yourself into your business and and grew it, but that must have did it cut did it catch up with you afterwards?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a period afterwards where I just felt I guess I had a bit of a breakdown. Like I remember three days just sitting on my sofa, just just crying, completely broken down, just felt so lost, so confused, and yeah, just didn't know what to do with myself. Like it was it was literally like I was living in the dream.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Yeah, yeah. And and it's would would you describe yourself as neurodivergent? Yeah. If I did um and I th I think when you're neurodivergent, grief hits in a different way. It's it's almost hard to understand, especially if you don't see that person all the time. You have moments like I mean, there's still days where I'm like, I'm just gonna and I pick up the phone to call him because I want to check in on him, and I it's almost like my brain forgets for a minute that he's not here anymore. Or like, I'll see something on telly and I'll laugh about it, and I'll go to message him, and I'm like, I can't do that anymore. And like I I expect that probably is the case for a lot of people who are not neurodivergent, but I think that because we're a neurodivergent, we experience it more intensely, and also it's harder for us to regulate our emotions around it. Yeah, hard, really hard. So, how did you after this, after the breakdown, how did you pick yourself back up again?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

I think I've had so for those people who follow my social media, I'm a pretty open book. I share the bad and the ugly because I've I've grown this business, though it is now having a huge pivot, but I've done it through so much grief. For me, the grief, in all honesty, since then has just been never-ending because I lost my dad. A couple of months after losing my dad, I got a call, and again, it was one of those things where I was on um a big virtual event, it was COVID, so I hosted the event virtually and never in the call. Like if my phone rings, I'd never answer it. If I'm on the call, if I'm on Zoom, that's where I am. And something was telling me I had to answer this call, and they answered it, and it was a call that my nan had passed away. So I then had to go through another wave of grief. I then had just the running of losing all of my immediate family. I then lost my pops, I then lost my granddad. So it was just this constant wave of grief that I've kind of been in now for the last few years. 2025 last year is what I call my most painful year. It was like life was throwing absolutely everything at me. I went through a just an absolute brutal divorce, which of course you know some about. It was just awful, and I was really struggling to navigate going through that. My mum was then diagnosed with stage three cancer, which was spread in her body. On top of that, my granddad, so my mum's dad, he was getting end of life with cancer, so we lost him end of last year. I suddenly became a parent to my younger brother, very big age gap, about 17 years between us. So I was suddenly a full-time parent to him. It was just like one thing after the other. I think the biggest thing that helped me was instead of just going all in what I did and ignored the grief with my dad, I made sure I was processing the grief. But with it, I really focused on becoming like the best version of myself. Okay, you've seen on my social media the amount I've changed in the space of like the last year, not let alone the last couple of years. And that's because I really learned to regulate my nervous system, but also made sure my health, my top priority is always my little boy. And the second priority is now my health and how I'm feeling. So I just focused on every single day what can I do to be the best version of myself, mind, body, soul. And that's really helped me to just work through the pain rather than ignore it and then it bottling up and leading to this massive breakdown. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

I really do. Like, and and I think to a certain extent, I've I've been the same. Um, you know, I had had a conversation with somebody this morning about um a new diagnosis that I'm I'm pursuing, and they they were like, you know, surely it doesn't help to have a label for something. And I'm like, but but it but it does because it helps me to understand, it helps me to enable myself, and it also helps me to live my life around this disability without having to you know push myself in a direction that I don't want to be pushed in. And I have been you know, over the past six months, like working on who I am as a person, what needs to change, like not repeating old patterns, um, not slipping into those kind of horrible things that you know have have derailed me for the past however long, um, as as they do, you know. Um and it it is really important to to recognise where you need to grow as a person, I think. Um so what do you think has like in terms of you as a person now, what do you think's changed over the over the last year? What is is it your personality? Like, I mean, we know that your business has changed and we're gonna we're gonna move on to that, but personally, what's changed?

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Everything I feel everything, like when I look back a year ago, don't even recognize me, like from everything from me as a person, but always even how I look. When you look at images from a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, like you can see through the images and how I'm looking and how I'm glowing just completely like your eyes are sparkling, like like now.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

I said, I said when when you came on, you look amazing. It's got nothing to do with your weight or anything like that, but it's your your your eyes, you are like literally shining, which is lovely. I know happiness is weird, that isn't it? We're like, oh happiness. Uh and sometimes we think we're happy and we're not. Like I I thought I was happy a year ago, and and actually I'm still working on reaching that that happy place, but I think it is a journey, and the more we work towards it, the better it is. But yeah, I I noticed as soon as you came on, I was like, Yeah, there's a there's a shine there. It's nice to see, it really is. So, okay, so let's let's talk a little bit about the business changes then and what's what's kind of happened, what made you realise that actually you wanted to be doing something slightly different, and and where's that, where's that heading?

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Yeah, so I think like now at this point in time, some people might be listening to this months or years later, but it's now where I will be announcing all of the changes across the social media. But I think I've known for the last couple of years, I think after my separation from my ex-husband, I feel like that's where I just things felt different, and I began to really change as a person, really focused on me again, and I mentioned like becoming that best version of myself. But I think with it as well, as I was focusing on this, like I feel like my whole identity changed. I feel I am this new person, and with that, I felt like I was outgrowing my business. It when I first started a business, like you had you know excitement, I felt really passionate, I felt really lit up, and all of a sudden, I missed that a couple of years ago, around the time that I began the separation, we began this whole divorce. But because I've created a business that has been able to generate a lot in sales and support clients generating millions in sales, it was comfortable. Uh it just was comfortable. Sales come in, money comes in, and I've just stayed in this comfort the last couple of years, knowing really that I've just not had the passion, it's not lit me up like it's used to. And I think I felt like I've jumped from here to here and jumped between different things in my business over the last couple of years. And when I look back, it's because I've been trying to ignite that passion inside me again, and I've just not found it.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

It's so common with neurodivergent business owners that we get not bored, but but we lose the love. And if you lose the love for something, it's really hard to keep your focus and your attention on it.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

So I know this more than anybody. Like, I mean, I ended up actually resenting and hating my first business because I ended up having to sell the assets for COVID wasn't kind to that business at all. And it ended up being me selling the assets to somebody, me going and working for somebody else, running my business, and I was like, fuck this for a laugh. Like, I just I lost the love for it completely. And when I started my new business, I was like, absolutely love that. Like, you know, and and being an ADHD coach for me for the past like four and a half years. Has been really good, but I'm I'm on that that that transformation journey now where I'm kind of looking for like what's next for me. Like you can't stay stuck, can you? Yeah. So what's that process looked like for you? How do you come to that decision when you know that you're not you know your boat is not floated anymore?

SPEAKER_01 22:23

I think for a couple of years, I think I've just avoided making a pivot, making change because it's been comfortable. I've also like I've been a single mum. So the last thing is I've been a single mum. I have this very big house with a very big mortgage that I cover all by myself. So I think I stayed in that comfort because I've got what I've got, I've got a very comfortable life. Like I'm very lucky to have the life I've got. So I thought I would just stick to it. And then coming into this year, but like I'm still forcing myself to just do these things that aren't lighting me up. But then oh, sorry if you can hear that in the background. Alexa's just decided to start talking to me there. So I think I just, yeah, just I've oh, I don't know what she's saying there. I continue to just do the things, but yeah, it's just I've not been growing the way I want to grow, and this big realization is because you're you're trying to force things that don't light you up, you're not passionate about. But earlier this year, I decided to turn my expertise into an AI. See, AI is the rage at the moment, so I decided to create my own AI, Laurie AI, and I built its own platform. So I built my own AI, my own software, and the excitement came back, the passion came back, and I loved it, like it was incredible. And that's where it's like, okay, I think I'm now finding what it is that I'm enjoying, what I'm loving. And it kind of just landed. It wasn't, I didn't go through a process or a methodology or hired anyone, it was just a case of trusting the universe, comes it, comes. And I had this idea to turn me into this AI, launched it, did incredibly well. We made some figures from that product, and that then sparked the next idea of I'm not passionate over here with what I'm doing. I need to do something about it. So this year, behind the scenes, what I've been quietly working on is a completely new business, a completely brand new thing that we're launching on the 1st of July, which is a software company and a brand new software that I've been building and developing and yeah, getting ready for the launch.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

How much can you tell us about it?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah, I could tell you pretty much whatever you want now because we're nearly there.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

I want to know. I want to know all of it. It's very exciting.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Yeah, we're nearly there now, so I've had to keep quiet. And I'm I hate I'm gonna have to keep quiet about something because when I've got an idea, that is it. Like I want to tell everyone, I want it out there in the world. So it's like I've been sitting on this for months and months, and I'm now getting the teaser posts out. We're now beginning to roll out, ready for the big launch on the 1st of July. So the new business is called Ascendia OS. So what we've created is a full marketing and sales operating system. So it's like a done-for-you system for coaches, mentors, online service providers, where they're able to go into the system, they can input their office, the system tells them the strategy it recommends to get to their goal. But what makes it powerful is it creates everything that you need to go and bring in the sales, so it will create your content, your sales pages, your funnels, your ads, your emails, literally at a click of a button. So it's taken a lot of time to develop, but it is ready to be launched.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Okay, I mean that's that sounds absolutely amazing. Um I'm gonna question you, and this is you probably weren't expecting me to push back on this, but what would you say to people who are saying AI is taking their jobs away? So, for example, people who sell funds for a living, or people who are sales and marketing strategists, or people like like me, for example, like I do visibility strategy. Like, is this gonna replace people's jobs that could be people that you know you like, for example?

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, so I think the whole AI debate, AI is definitely replacing jobs. It we all know it's coming, it is happening, it is a thing, and it is gonna continue to happen, especially as AI advances. Now, for anyone in terms of business owner, you're if you feel like the job is at risk, what you're doing is at risk, it's impacted so many businesses. This is where the personal branding is so, so important, and more important than ever. In terms of my platform itself replacing jobs, it it can. That is one of the downfalls when it comes to AI. AI is replacing jobs and it is a full done-for-you system, but also what it's there to do is there's a lot of business owners out there who aren't able to afford team members anyway. They're not able to hire that marketing manager, that copyrighter. They're not able to do all of these things, so they're doing it all of themselves, like they started the business to have freedom, and then they have the complete opposite because they're having to create all of this content, plan out their launches, plan out the funnels, and they can't hire someone yet because they're not at that stage. So, this is where the platform comes in. The platform is going to solve that problem, it's going to tell you exactly what you need to do, and it's going to help create everything you need to do it, which helps with the pool of business owners who aren't yet ready for hires. But for those who do have team members, it can support them sort of replacing their team member and making the team members freedom up to do other things and yeah, making them a hell lot more efficient because they don't now need to spend days creating copy. They utilize the platform that can create the copy for them.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Yeah, no, that makes sense. Um, and sorry to push you back on it, but I just see people asking it in there, like you know, and it's it's it's my job to be the the the monitored and managed kind of like level debate, I guess. Um, no, I get no, and I I totally get that. So what would it replace systems like I don't know, like email marketing systems, for example?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

No, so it's slightly different. I mean, eventually when we move on to the next phase, it will be a case of where we want it to replace email marketing systems, funnel systems, etc. At the moment, you have things like Go High Level, Kajabi, which ours will be linking into. So it'll create what you need so you can then link it into your current system that you're using. So we've actually created our own now as well, which will work alongside it.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

Yeah, this is very exciting, very exciting. I mean, like, I I'm I mean, I'm I'm one of those people where I'm like, I I'm not I'm not worried about AI, I embrace AI. I think like wherever we can use it like for good, I think brilliant, especially for neurodivergent business owners, because we have we have so much in our brains that we need to organize that when it comes to a launch, it's it's hard, it can be really hard. Um, but I I know that what I do in terms of visibility strategy goes so much deeper than a system, and you know, it's about the confidence and the mindset and the personal brand and how and where people show up and the strategies behind that. Like, I don't think that that's something that AI could take away from me, which is why I feel like actually there are there are people, don't get me wrong, there are people who are kind of crabbing themselves a bit about like, is their job gonna still be around? You know, can they still continue to do the thing that they do? And I would always say yes, but you have to embrace the AI side of it as well. Because if you don't, you're gonna be left behind. Um, what about the environmental impact of AI? And you know, I mean, I'm I'm always saying to people, you know, we fucking use social media every day, right? You know, there are so many things. We drive a car, you know, all of these things are environmental impact. What would you say on that side of it?

SPEAKER_01 30:58

So it's like you said, anything we do always has an environmental impact, and it's about you as a user, if you're utilizing AI, if you're utilizing social media, if you're utilizing your car, that all has an environmental impact because it's then you, what are you doing to try and offset the environmental impact of what it is that you're using? So that's gonna be a big part of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

No, that's that's really good. So, what what do you what would be your measures to offset your use of it?

SPEAKER_01 31:30

So we're obviously the whole platform is AI, the whole platform is well, it's it's a whole software in itself. So, what I do in terms of what I do personally, there's things that I do to always make sure that I'm offsetting. There's things that I also do, not just to offset in terms of environmentally, but things that I'm doing to try and make sure I'm giving back as well. Yeah, so big part isn't for me just the environmental side, it's how I'm using this whole platform to be able to give back what my bigger mission is, which is one of the reasons I've actually started a software company. A big reason I want this software company and why I'm now focusing on growing that and beginning to close down as such the other side is because with the LB brands, it's me, it's Laurie Burroughs, that's why people are buying. So it doesn't matter really matter what I sell, there's always gonna be an element of me involved.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

There has there has to be. There has to be a personal brand is the most is the most important thing. Um, but it but it I think if you've got a strong enough personal brand, it doesn't matter what you sell because it because people are always gonna be buying into you as a person, so exactly that's definitely gonna help. So beginning of July is coming out, yeah, target target audience, people who are not not ready to start a team yet.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

It's gonna be a mix, there's gonna be different tiers. So there's gonna be if you're solo, there's gonna be if you already have a team or even an agency, so agencies want to use it to organize all of their clients and create things for the clients and do the project management. So yeah, it's gonna be coming out on the first of July at a very exclusive price.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Can you can you tell us how much it's gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Oh, you have to wait till first of July.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Well, I'm very excited, also very interested. Um, I think you know it sounds like a really, really interesting tool, and I think it will help so many people. Um, I'm sorry for pushing back a little bit because I feel like I feel like but these are questions that I know that my audience will will ask.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Yeah, obviously, push back because there's again the reason behind like I'm going down this route because with the other brands, even in delivery, it it will still require to me some extent. But my like I have a bigger mission, there's a bigger way I want to give back. And at the moment we're in this huge cost of living crisis where there are parents who are working full-time, working their asses off, and they get to the end of the month and they literally have to choose between heating and eating. And I've done talks on this before, it's something I'm very passionate about because of how I grew up. I grew up watching my mum having to do the same, having to ration food, having to ration even things like shampoo. Remember as a kid her telling me how much I could use. So, the one of the biggest reasons for me also having this pivot, creating a brand that isn't reliant on me, is so I can focus on that. And my plan of action is to start a foundation where I'm giving back, I'm supporting these parents, choosing between heating and eating, and there's a whole plan around that, which will also be launched very, very soon.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

That's very nice as well. Yeah, and I I love I love the fact that you're off you're offsetting essentially. I think that's that's very exciting. Yeah, well, it's it's lovely, really lovely to have you on. Um, I ask everybody um that comes on this podcast, um, what are you mad about?

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Life at the moment. I I feel like as I was saying, the last couple of years, I just knew I was staying in comfort. I lost that passion, lost that vibe. I just feel like at the moment I've got that back. So I'm like mad about the passion of just launching this new business. But what that's now allowing me to do to have bigger impact over here, we're being able to start a foundation where we're really supporting people who need support. Like I love what I do, I love helping other businesses to make more money, but I'm just helping more people with money to make more money. And we've got all of these people over here who are struggling, choosing between heating and eating, and I'm just yeah, feeling like lit up that I'm finally able to take action on turning that idea into something that is really gonna have that impact and change lives.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Yeah, it's I mean, how has I mean, for for somebody who kind of came from nothing and now earns a lot, has a nice house, like, do you think money makes you happy?

SPEAKER_01 36:28

No, it's not about money. Something I've really learned since starting the business, something I've learned the hard way. I used to be so focused on the money, making each month bigger and bigger and bigger. And actually, like that's yeah, that's not what makes you happy. You can have all the money in the world, but it is yeah, about if you have all the money in the world, what you're doing with that money. Yeah, money is not what makes you happy. I just now all about just a quiet, peaceful life.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Oh god, mate, tell me about it. I am so here for the quiet, peaceful, like you know. I mean, she's she says after just getting a new puppy and moving house, and we're just about to do a loft conversion and like all of these things. My life is totally crazy at the moment, but I'm aiming to stabilize it over the next like six months and do some exciting things. Um, but yeah, no, it's it's love, it's it's really nice to see you so happy and so excited about something new. Um, and I wish you the best of luck, and I'm sure that it will be an absolute amazing success, and maybe we'll get you back on in a year and uh like we can talk about how much it's grown and and how amazing it is. I think it it's it's interesting because I've seen a bit a big a big shift recently in a lot of people going, Do you know what? This isn't working for me anymore, I'm gonna do something else. Um and it's it's really empowering. And you know, so I I I think I just want all of our listeners to to kind of take that on board and you know, get get help and support, but also like just go back to your values, go back to your foundations, back to your roots, and actually analyze like what makes you happy, what makes you tick, what's the thing that gets you out of bed every single day? And if it's not the thing that that you're doing, especially if you're neurodivergent, if it's not the thing that you're doing, do something else. Like, life's too short. Exactly. Gotta do it. Oh, well, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on, my love. Thank you so much. Where can people find you?

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Instagram underscore Laurie Burrows. That's where I'm actually going to be documenting the full journey of growing this new business from scratch.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Awesome. Okay, amazing. Well, best of luck with it. Um, if you've enjoyed this episode, um please hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, um, leave us a review as well. We don't get many reviews. I love a review. Um, and yeah, as as always, I'm Maddie Alexander Grout. You can find me on Instagram, Maddie TalksMoney, Mad About Money Official on TikTok, Maddie AlexanderGrout everywhere else. And you can join the Maddieverse, which is our free community for people who have got hidden disabilities, chronic illnesses, invisible conditions, and hidden struggles. Um we will see you next time. Thanks for listening.