[00:00:00] Karlee: Welcome to leave room for the magic, a podcast that invites you to embrace the wonder, beauty, and messiness woven into the fabric of everyday life. In this show, we'll bridge the gap between the practical and the spiritual providing inspiration, tips, and tools from our featured guests. So without further ado, let's go make some magic.

Hello, my loves and welcome to the season one BONUS episode of Leave Room for the Magic podcast. Today, my guest is a dear friend and previous colleague of mine, Marissa Hofland, and we will be sharing with you the ultimate story of synchronicity of how Gary Vaynerchuk came to be the season finale guest for the very first season of my podcast.

Now, Marissa and I have not worked together for over a year, so it was the perfect synchronicity that she happened to be working with me on a one-off basis the day that Gary Vaynerchuk crossed my path at a conference back in April. How magical is that?

Now, forgive us for going into the smallest of detail about that day, but it was just too fun to relive. Throughout the retelling, we share some of our life lessons and insights we gained from this whole ordeal, and true to this podcast, we bridge the gap between the spiritual concepts and the practical tools we saw unfold throughout it all.

We actually filmed this episode a few days before my interview with Gary, so you can either listen to this bonus episode or Gary's episode first, and hopefully you will get some inspiration or whatever message that is perfectly aligned for you whenever you listen to the each episode.

Before we dive in, I want to say a massive thank you! Thank you for tuning in and listening to this podcast in its first season. It has been a dream come to life for me and it lifts my spirit and energizes me to hear all of the feedback and stories of synchronicity from you.

So please continue to share your stories with me on any of my social channels or email them to info@themagicpodcast.ca. I would love, love, love to hear from you.

Moving forward, bonus episodes, just like this, will be available to our paid community of subscribers, of listeners, and many other incredible opportunities I am cooking up for you and some other ones we will co create together based on what you would love to see in this community. So, I hope to see you there.

But this episode and this story was just too good to gatekeep on you. This is my thank you gift for tuning in, pressing that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform, downloading our episodes and spreading the word to others who you think would enjoy each episode.

I cannot thank you enough for all the many ways in which you support this show. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And now let's dive in.

So, Marissa, thanks for being here with me. It was such a pleasure to have you here on this whole journey, and I'm so excited to share it with everybody.

[00:02:58] Marissa: I am so honored.

I'm so honored to have witnessed this podcast from the time it was just a concept, all the way to this - that was a major, like Gary would be a dream guest on the show type of guest. That to get that in your first season and to have secured that before you ever recorded your first episode, which is something I think we'll talk about later is just phenomenal, and really, just an exciting and magical thing that is one of the coolest things that I've witnessed for sure recently, if not ever. I just feel really honored to have like witnessed this ride from the beginning to today. Here we are!

[00:03:39] Karlee: So about a month before crossing paths with Gary, Marissa and I had a catch up dinner where she shared that she was in between jobs and offered to do some part time work for me if I needed.

Mid-April, I had a two day conference at the Shangri-La in Toronto, and was swamped with work. So I took her up on that offer, and invited her to the hotel to take some work off my plate while I attended these conference sessions. Now, Marissa was unavailable the first day of the conference, so it just happened that she was available the second day, which was the day that Gary Vee happened to cross my path.

Now, yost heard me promise Gary that I didn't plan to run into him that day. And to be clear about the details of the story you're about to hear, I had no idea he was even in Toronto, let alone would be in the same building at the same time as me. I did freeze the first time I saw him, so you will hear me and Marissa recount the steps and joke about the lengths we went to to put myself back in a position to possibly cross paths with him a second time.

Now, I only had Gary for a limited time to film his episode, so I didn't explain that all to him. But it truly was magic that I even saw him in the first place. Now here's the full story that led to this episode.

My conference ended at lunchtime. And as I'm leaving the conference, GaryVee walks out of the elevator.

Gary Vaynerchuk. He goes by GaryVee online for those who don't know. And you, Marissa, know how much of a fan I am from a business perspective. I mean, I've been following him for seven years. I find he has such real talk, but he's also very inspirational with his messaging. And so I froze when I first saw him, one of my colleagues who had just been at the conference with was like, "Oh my God, I love you!" blah, blah, blah.

She's chatting it up with him. I freeze. I lock eyes with him. I nod and I say, "Hello." And I walk into the elevator and come upstairs to see you. And I'm actually shaking as I recount this story! I was shaking. I was like, "Marissa, I just saw GaryVee."

And I also want to preface this with at my old job in LA was celebrity talent booking. I was used to seeing celebrities. But for some reason, since I became an entrepreneur, I totally fangirl around famous entrepreneurs more so than I do like an actor or celebrity. I never had that kind of reaction when I worked in LA. And I was shaking talking to you.

[00:06:18] Marissa: You came in. You came in, like, fully trembling head to toe. "I just saw GaryVee in elevator. And I said, hello."

[00:06:30] Karlee: But I was trembling because I said, I kind of want to go back down there. I know the type of person he is. And I kind of want to do this big audacious ask and see if he would be a guest on my podcast. Because I know sometimes he may say yes to a stranger asking him for something like this. And so I was trembling thinking about that.

And so, I remember you were like, "Okay, well what would you say?" And I rehearsed it for a second with you. Thank God. Thank God I did that at least once to get it out of my body. And you were like, "Okay, go back down there."

So I go back down to this conference room floor, and we're supposed to check out by midday, by the way. And so we're doing this all like an hour before check out.

[00:07:14] Marissa: Yeah, I had called down and said like, "Hey, can, can I check out? This is Karlee Vukets. Can I please check out an hour later?" They were like, "No." I was like, "Well, okay. Thank you." Okay, we're going to do it anyway.

[00:07:22] Karlee: Yeah. Yeah. We'll see you. And I go back down to the conference room floor and I'm peeking around, seeing if he's talking in other conferences.

And there's like this one roped off area that I don't go peek into because I'm pretty sure he's in there and I'm nervous and I don't just want to be like sticking my nose into a conference, like stalker-ish. Which, there's a lot of "stalking" in this story, let's face it. And so, anyways, so my heart is pounding.

I don't know that I've ever been that nervous in my life. In my life, I don't think so. And I get back into the elevator and I come up to the room and I say, "Okay, I couldn't find him." I'm still shaking. It's wild. And, and then I looked at you and I said, "Okay, I've got 30 minutes until a client call. But we've got work to do and we're not going to see him..." He could have left already for all we know, but like, he was coming. It's not like he would have left that quickly and he was definitely there for some sort of speaking engagement. So I said, "Why don't we..." On this conference floor, it was pretty empty, but there were sofas by the elevators. So, I said, "Why don't we go work down on those sofas and we'll go work there for the next 30 minutes. And if he comes by, I'll shoot my shot. And if he doesn't, it wasn't meant to be."

Is kind of how I threw it out there. And so you're like, "Yeah, I'm game."

So we take all of our stuff. We still haven't checked out of the hotel and we go down and we sit there for like 30 minutes and I remember you did a circle of the conference room floor. You're like, "That's gotta be the room!"

[00:09:13] Marissa: We were both looking like, where could it be? We're like asking people. So like, "What conference are you here for? Is GaryVee speaking here?" There was like an education thing where GaryVee speaking at this thing. They're like "Uh, no." Okay. Okay. Okay. Interesting.

And we had been kind of talking about, okay, well, should we wrap it up? I think we were starting to consider leaving. I was like, "Well, I'm just going to go to the washroom." So I went to the washroom and there was, in the stall on the floor next to the toilet, somebody's iPhone. Like pretty nice new phone. And I was like,

[00:09:51] Karlee: I forgot about this.

[00:09:54] Marissa: I feel like I should take this and give this to somebody because some conference attendee is going to be looking for her phone. So brought it out with me, and the roped off area had three men in suits standing in front of the door, you know, with hands behind their back, all super official, blocking the sign so we couldn't even see. We assumed that that was the room just because of the level of prestige, I guess, but couldn't even read the sign.

So I brought it up to those guys and I said, "Hey, I just found this phone in the bathroom. Do you think you can like help me? I don't know where to take it. I don't know where there's lost and found." And they all kind of like shift and like two of them walk towards me. And I was like quickly Eagle-eye look at the sign.

It's like Vaynerchuk productions and like something, something, something. And I was like, confirmed, he's in that room. So I come back. I tell you all that. We're like, "Ou, do we go? Do we stay?" I think at this point you emailed your meeting to say, "Are you okay with 1:15?" And then we heard applause coming from that room.

And so we were like, okay, it's done. Maybe it's about to wrap up. Maybe there's going to be start being some movement. And then I was just working and completely zoned out for the next portion of the story at first.

[00:11:12] Karlee: So I'm casually working. I'm still kind of shaky. Because I'm like, am I really going to do something like this?

And then all of a sudden, him and his team round the corner and press the elevator button. And I shout across the room, I'm like, "GARY! Can I have a minute of your Time?" I think is how, in my head, I said it, hopefully it was that eloquent. While I jumped up and sped walk over to him. And I was like, literally, I now have, in my head, I'm like, "This is a literal elevator pitch while he is waiting for the elevator he's willing to stop and talk to me."

And he was so gracious. He's like, "Absolutely." And he comes and he is so attentive, very engaged, locked eyes, kind demeanor, listening. You can tell he's very active listening. It's like that is the only thing he's focused on, which is a really incredible quality for somebody who's that busy and that much of a leader.

And I give him my elevator pitch. And at that point, and I will correct you because at the beginning, you said I hadn't filmed an episode yet. I had filmed the first episode four days prior. The one episode. And I said, "Gary, I've been a fan of your work for a long time..."

Honestly, I think it was as fast as this. It was like, "I've been a fan of your work for a long time. I love the messaging you have these days about everybody trying to find what's true to them and what's authentic for them. I host a podcast called Leave Room for the Magic..." By the way, I had the interview, this is in mid-April, it got released in June, the podcast had not been a thing yet.

I said, "I AM this podcast host," which technically I was, "I am this podcast host of Leave Room for the Magic, which is all about helping entrepreneurs and people find the magic within themselves and make magic through their work." And I said, "You're on my dream list of... podcast guests. And I don't get this opportunity often - you're right here. So I'm going to shoot my shot. Would you consider being a guest on my podcast?"

And he goes, "I'm gonna stop you right there." And if there's one thing I know from business, when you've sold, stop selling and just listen when they're ready. So I was like {action: zipping my mouth shut}. And he goes, "I sometimes say yes to this stuff."

And I was like, "I know you do. I've been watching you for seven years." He goes, "Do you have your phone on you?" And in the whirlwind because I had my phone prepared to take down like a contact of his likely somebody from his team. And I didn't have it on me in the whirlwind of the the shock of seeing him at the elevator.

So I go, "Uhhh, it's over there.". Still shaking. He's like, "Go get it." And he comes and he walks over with me to where you're sitting next to me with my phone. He's like, "I'm going to give you..."

[00:13:59] Marissa: We both are having our phones out, trying to type out what he's saying, both like {

panicked noises}.

[00:14:04] Karlee: And he's like, "I'm going to give you my email." His email. I thought he'd connect me with somebody on his team and be like email them whatever. He goes, "If you email me right now a link to your show anything that I need to know about it I'll consider it. Email me, like, right now."

So, he gives me his email. I'm shaking, I can barely talk. I'm like, "Marissa, you got it?" You're like, "Yeah, yeah, I got it. I got it." Then I was like, cool. And then I looked at him and I was like, "Gary, thank you so much for your time."

All of a sudden, the elevator doors open. I don't know, maybe his team was holding it, but in my memory, I got that whole interaction in before the elevator came.

[00:14:43] Marissa: Yeah, I don't remember them holding it for longer than like a few seconds at the most.

[00:14:48] Karlee: Yeah, they weren't holding it for long. It all happened within like a minute or two.

[00:14:53] Marissa: Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah. If even it was so quick.

[00:14:56] Karlee: It was so quick. To the point where then I was like, "Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. I'll send you the email right now." He's like, "Awesome. Nice to meet you." He walks into the elevator with his team. I see as the elevator doors are closing, his team goes, {audible large exhale}.

Like, it was so intense. I was palpably shaking.

[00:15:17] Marissa: The energy was palpable.

[00:15:19] Karlee: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It was one of those things where I was like, holy shit. The amount of courage and energy that took for me to do that. There's not a lot of stuff that I feel like I have to step into courage like that and do it with such fear. That was by far the craziest jump that I've ever done.

So you and I are sitting there. We're like, Oh my God. So we go back to this hotel room that we're supposed to check out of. That's when I emailed my clients being like, "I'm gonna need 15 minutes. I'm so sorry. I'm running late from my last meeting." And thank God I have lovely clients who are very understanding.

And even though I didn't tell them what the meeting was, they were very kind and understanding of my delay. And, yeah, I was like, "Okay, I need to email him now. I can't have this client meeting for an hour and email him an hour from now."

[00:16:18] Marissa: Yeah, we sat down and drafted that right away.

[00:16:22] Karlee: Immediately, to which I realized that I don't have a link to this show. I literally had one episode on a Zoom link that I filmed four days prior that wasn't edited, has no, Leave Room for the Magic intro, but luckily the interview was as it stood front to back. We didn't need to cut it. And so it was what the interview was going to be without an intro or an outro.

And then I had... A logo from my branding team sitting in my inbox from the week prior that I hadn't even given them any feedback on yet. So I had a Leave Room for the Magic Podcast logo that I screenshotted from their proposal deck. Because I didn't even have a file of it. And I put it into an email, but luckily I had been inviting guests and had done a lot of outreach for guests, and that was my old job in LA. So I had a pitch email of - Here's what I need from you. Here's why I think you would be great for the episode.

So, I send him a nice email. I say the details are below. Let me know if we can make this happen. And we got it out within like 10-15 minutes. Yeah. And we were shaking.

We jumped up and down dancing.

[00:17:39] Marissa: It was truly, for him to give you his personal email was such a huge move of like showing that he was serious and not just shirking you off. Like, sure, email Amanda, like she'll set it up, you know?

And that just made it feel so crazy to be like, wow, you just sent an email straight to his inbox. Straight to his email that I'm sure he has people that help him monitor it, I'm sure his assistant helps him monitor it, but that just felt so insane, it was not just a shout into the void, which is what I think when you first pictured having him on your show, you assumed it would be. Having to reach out on linkedIn, on Instagram, through publicists, trying to find a way in and it was like, it was no shout into the void. It was just direct to him.

[00:18:28] Karlee: Yeah. And there was a very palpable understanding I had at that time. Where it was like, even if I don't hear back from him, I had this feeling of - he will be on my podcast eventually, and we will laugh about this story. Whether it is now or whether it's five years from now. And our paths cross again and all of a sudden he's on my show.

There was kind of this moment of ...

[00:18:57] Marissa: Maybe both!

[00:18:58] Karlee: Maybe both, but there was this palpable feeling that my task had been done.

It was now out of my control. So we talk about how do we bridge the gap between the spiritual and practical, right? So a vision board, a dream board. That's a very manifesting spiritual type practice, right? And I've had that for years, by the way. He's been on a vision board of mine for years. And so has this podcast, as you know.

But the bridge is , Gabby Bernstein always calls it inspired action. So, we weren't going to just see him and all of a sudden he's like, "Hey Karlee, I want to be on your show!" I had to get past the heart pounding shakiness and actually do the audacious ask in front of him.

And you and I had to put ourselves in a position. Which really was a lot of stalking. To cross that path with him again when I didn't have the courage or immediacy. I think I had even said to him when I first saw him, I said, "I saw you down here earlier and I had to come find you again to say, you know, I'm a huge fan of yours, XYZ."

And so we put ourselves in a position because we weren't going to just see him again by staying in the room. So inspired action. Let's go see if we can cross paths with him again and put ourselves in the line of luck. Right? And good fortune.

[00:20:34] Marissa: Yeah, it was almost like a practical exam of all the things that you think about and like talk about, like, stepping out of fear into courage and taking advantage of the opportunities that are presented to you.

There's this really cheesy story or anecdote, I'm sure most people, including you, have heard it. Where this guy is in a flood and he's sitting on the roof of his house and a guy comes along with a boat and he's like, "No, thanks. God will save me." And the next guy comes with a helicopter and he's like, "No, thanks. God will save me."

And he's sitting on the roof, surrounded by water. He dies and goes to heaven. He asks God, "Why didn't you save me?" And God's like, "I sent you a boat. I sent you a helicopter, like all these things," very cliché.

But I was thinking about that because It's like that where you can do all the like vision boarding and manifesting and dreaming and setting these big goals. But if you don't take the opportunities, take the action to take the opportunities when they are given to you, then it'll just completely pass you by.

All of that energy brings you the opportunity, but it's not gonna take the step for you.

[00:21:42] Karlee: Yes, yes. Oh, that's a good way to put it. I love that analogy. I've used that multiple times in my life. And that's one I go back to a lot because it's also like, how do you recognize the opportunity?

Because I also think about this opportunity, right? Like, he's been on my vision board as long as I've had this podcast on my vision board, which has been seven years, right? And we've been taking more practical steps really, since you started working with me, which was 2-3 years ago, probably three years ago now, when we started together.

And we were taking those practical steps, but we hadn't solidified a name. And then even in December, when I solidified the name and the purpose of the podcast had started outreach to my initial interviewees. I didn't meet him then. I literally met him four days after my first interview when he said, "Send me a link." And I was actually up front in the email. I didn't pretend. I said, the season one is in production. Here's one of the episodes. I didn't say it was the only episode that I had shot yet, but I had other episodes lined up for filming. And so I was like, "Season one is in production. Would love for you to be a season finale guest." How incredible would that be? And here we go.

And so I wasn't lying to him in terms of having a podcast, but I also didn't meet him and he didn't cross my path, like the universe, God, whatever, didn't send him on my path until I had something tangible and could see the opportunity and say, this is my shot.

Right? And so I find that fascinating. It's like, it's not just like I saw him in January where all of a sudden I had a name and a little bit more of a vision. That opportunity crossed my path at the perfect - and perfect timing would have been, oh, I've already launched it and here's a website to go to.

So there's actually like a legitimate website like there is now. I didn't have that yet, so I found as much of the opportunity as I could to capitalize on that moment.

[00:23:45] Marissa: Well, yeah, that's what I was going to say, is it would have been so easy to let the opportunity pass you by, because of saying... "I'm not ready. I don't have it on Spotify to show him. I don't have a website. I don't have anything really to say that like, this is a real thing."

You had a screenshot and logo and a zoom interview, which is great that you had both those things, but it would have been so easy to be like, "Oh, the timing wasn't right. If it's meant to be we'll cross paths again. I shouldn't bring it up right now." It's really so bold to take the initiative knowing that the chance might not come again. And if you want it to happen, you gotta go for it. It's like an audaciousness, you know?

[00:24:32] Karlee: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was quite remarkable. And then how it ended up coming to fruition, because it's not like he emailed me back right away. What ended up happening was... I let it go. I was like, "I've done the part that I can control." Right? And these are two way interactions. You can't control the other party in business like this.

And so you can control. Did I send the email in the time frame that he asked me to? And do I follow up? Right? And in my head, I went, "He's a busy business guy. If I don't hear from him within 24 hours, it's probably down on his inbox and I may not hear from him." But I can follow up and they often say in business, the fortune's in the follow up.

So, I go to my friend's engagement party that night. The next day I go for lunch with my girlfriend and my friend was hosting this fitness event that we went to. At the lunch I went with one of my friends, I'm telling her this story and I'm like, "I met GaryVee yesterday. I'm freaking out," whatever.

She's said, "How are you not on your phone checking your email this whole time?" And I was like, "He may not get back to me." I'm not going to sit there and watch, you know, what do they say? A watched pot never... a watched kettle never boils or something like that? I'm not going to like attach myself. I had to let it go.

And that's another practical tool that's hard in manifesting is the letting go part, right? So often you're like, "Oh my God, I need to make this happen." No, no, no. I did my steps to make it happen. And it was out of my control. So yeah, I let it go.

And the letting go part is so hard with manifesting. Because when people practice manifesting, there's a fine line between holding that thing in your vision and not suffocating it. Right? So there's a letting go piece that is very difficult in practice.

[00:26:26] Marissa: It's very tempting to feel like, If I just manifest harder, it'll happen faster.

[00:26:32] Karlee: Yes. If I just think about it more.

[00:26:34] Marissa: That's not, that's not how it works.

[00:26:36] Karlee: No, it's not. And it's not. And so there's a letting go piece and a trust piece that is very, I think, challenging to do in the manifesting world for those who believe in manifesting and that language.

And so I was like, well, what am I going to do? Look at the email and watch it the whole time? Anyway, so we get to my friend's event, we have a drink, she goes to get us a second glass of champagne, and I then go to look at my phone. So I've had the whole lunch, haven't checked my email.

I get to the Alessia's event, I haven't checked my email. I wasn't expecting anything.

[00:27:10] Marissa: So it had been at this point just about 24 hours?

[00:27:14] Karlee: About 24 hours, yeah. And so right on the timeline, I thought, "If it's not in this window, I'll follow up next week to make sure he got it," right?

And this is when he loops me in with his team, which I figured he would do, like, I just figured he'd give me somebody's email right away. He loops me in with his team and says, "I might do this in the fall for 20." So for 20 minutes. I had asked for a 40 minute interview, because these are normally about 40 minutes.

I was like, I'd fucking take 20. Not only that, but then... The colleague had gotten back to me already as well. So they had both emailed me pretty quickly. And so then I had an email sitting there from them both. So then it was great because if I had just gotten the Gary one, like sometimes it's just too many emails.

So now it's an hour later, it's a Saturday, you know? And so an hour later, I get to email them both being like, "This is amazing. Gary, thank you so much for this opportunity. I'll coordinate with your colleague here." And so we coordinated.

So we touched base the following week. I sent a proposal and they were like, "Yeah, we'll see if we can get this in his schedule." And then the follow up time happened. And so it was about two months. So wait, that was mid-April, May, June, it was early July that I finally got the response from the team with an official date. So it was, two and a half months of follow up.

[00:28:48] Marissa: Wow.

[00:28:49] Karlee: The fortune is in the follow up, right? Even after the initial follow ups with the team were pretty natural and they got back to me right away, there was kind of this gap where I hadn't heard for a while. And so then I did a touch base. I knew there was this big VeeCon conference that Gary puts on.

And so that happened in May. So, I gave them some space. I figured he'd be really busy, or him and his team would be busy around that. So I gave them some space knowing that schedule. And then followed up in June and finally in July I got the email confirmation on the date. And it was, yeah, it was a fantastic feeling.

[00:29:33] Marissa: Shout out to his team for keeping the follow up and following through on that. I feel that's the type of thing that is so easy to slip through cracks. Some random podcast with some no name person that they don't know anything about. They easily could have just been like, whatever, I've got to answer other emails more important than this one. But, persistence on your part and like perfect timing, but all perfect timing.

[00:30:02] Karlee: And that's where it feels like the Leave Room for the Magic part. And I will say it does feel like divine timing, right? And whatever that divine is for people. It feels like there was a hand greater than myself guiding that interaction. Right?

[00:30:20] Marissa: Absolutely.

[00:30:21] Karlee: So, that's where I would say like, Leave Room for the Magic, it was such an appropriate story for a season finale of this incredibly magical thing that happened.

[00:30:38] Marissa: And is the balance of doing the work and leaving room. That is really

what Leave Room for the Magic is all about.

Is taking the opportunities, having the dreams, but not forcing it. Trusting that there is an element of it you have to release, like you have to let go of because that's where the magic comes in. And this is just such a perfect season finale because it's such a perfect summation of that concept.

[00:31:07] Karlee: Yeah. And I think, you know, I've ended each episode with a story of synchronicity, and this is the ultimate story of synchronicity at least in my life. I talk about synchronicities and stories of synchronicities, and my understanding of synchronicities has evolved throughout the season.

And the biggest way it's evolved is realizing that synchronicities can happen in the good times and the not so great times, right? Let's call them the dark times, where we're struggling a little bit more. It's not exclusive to just fun synchronicities, where it feels like magic and everything's great!

It's like, all of a sudden you might be in the shit and stuff is still kind of... aligning in a divine way.

[00:31:52] Marissa: There's still like a guiding hand.

[00:31:54] Karlee: Yeah, even if it's not something you want, the universe is going, no, no. And Gabby Bernstein also often says, "Rejection's redirection." And I know it's a cheesy saying, but I like it sometimes when you're think, "This sucks."

[00:32:08] Marissa: It's true, yeah.

[00:32:09] Karlee: But there's this redirection element that sometimes the universe comes knocking and says, "It's time to go here now." And so I find synchronicity, my definition of it over the season has kind of evolved from it's not always this light and fluffy thing. Sometimes it's in the more difficult moments where you can't see it. It doesn't feel good, but there is still this guiding hand and stuff like that.

And I've always talked about how synchronicity doesn't have to be these big milestones and big things that can be in the ordinary every day too. This just happens to be a very big, cool, incredible story of synchronicity that is also really fun, in my opinion. Like, this isn't an everyday thing. This isn't an ordinary moment. This is a pretty cool happenstance.

[00:33:02] Marissa: It's a standout thing that you'll think about for the rest of your life. And it makes it a fantastic season finale. But, of course, with the small synchronicities that happen, you know, sometmes you go through a season of life where it feels like they're happening every day and you're just totally surrounded by it. But looking back, you couldn't even name them because they were just so small and kind of inconsequential that at the moment you thought, "Oh wow, like this is great. I feel so like taken care of and I feel so just like guided and supported by the universe." And then now you're like, I don't even couldn't even tell you what those specific stories were.

But it's not like those are worth less than these big hallmark moments. It's just that they teach different lessons and they, you know, one's a little more season finale worthy than the other.

[00:33:52] Karlee: They are all very worthy, I will say, but I hear you on that. It's a little bit more of a splash and a fun way to close out the season.

Yeah, and sometimes it's the culmination of little moments that then lead to the big splashy thing. There's a great analogy I've heard recently is that if you focus on the waves, right? Like if you're in looking at an ocean or body of water and you focusing on the waves, sometimes the waves don't come, but , if you focus on the drops, the drops will become the waves.

And I love that concept because it's like, "Okay, let's turn our focus to the drops." What's the daily consistent thing I can do to show up for myself? And on hard days sometimes that's get out of bed, do laundry, shower, right? Like on the really tough days for those who go through those really tough days, right?

Those are the drops of water. And if you have more energy than that, it's maybe moving your body, nourishing yourself the way you want to nourish yourself. Those consistent things. Showing up for work the way you want to show up for work. But we expect the waves all the time. And I think that's one of the things I'm learning in my 30s. You know, in my 20s, in my career in LA, there were a lot of waves. There are a lot of big waves, right? There was a lot of these big, splashy things that happened to me. Where I was at, and I didn't even practice any of this stuff at that time, right? And it was still happening. So synchronicities can still happen, whether you're trying to make them happen or not is always a great reminder too.

But if you focus on the drops, then the waves come. I really like that analogy versus, "Hey, let's just sit here and wait for the waves and not look at the drops and not focus on the drops of water."

[00:35:47] Marissa: Definitely, especially because there is so much magic in, it's so cheesy, but there's so much magic in the everyday and in the small things. The small moments are what make a life and the small synchronicities and the small magical moments are what really shape your... Like really your spirituality and like your perspective on life. It's when you're noticing those things and like noticing the ways that you are guided and supported every day in small ways, I think, just shapes you in such a significant way. Rather than only looking for the waves, the big things and being like, "Well, nothing big and crazy has happened to me in a while, I guess God just forgot about me!"

Because it's way too easy to kind of feel that way if you're thinking back on past times that felt like these really big synchronicities and these really big cool things. But you have to notice the small things because that is your life. That's what makes up your life.

[00:36:50] Karlee: That is what makes up your life. The majority of your life, right? Well, Marissa, I want to, first off, thank you for being here and having this conversation. I figured rather than just recount it myself, I thought it would be so fun to recount it with you and relive this with you. And it did fill me with the same buzz and excitement as the day.

[00:37:16] Marissa: Same, same! I feel like it just happened yesterday. I got just as excited.

[00:37:21] Karlee: Absolutely. So because we end each episode with a story with synchronicity, let's talk about some other synchronicities. Do you have a story of synchronicity that comes to your mind?

Because I've got a good little story of everyday synchronicity I'd love to leave with.

[00:37:34] Marissa: Oh, a lot of my synchronicities over the past year I feel like they're a little depressing, maybe depressing to other people because I lost my brother about a year ago. So, there have been small things and big things. Because grief is such an inherently spiritual undertaking. I mean, I don't know how people grieve without any like sense of spirituality because to me, they're just so closely intertwined. And I really can't imagine. But regardless, there've been so many small things of...

I know that you and I have talked about this in the past with stories about your Aunt Wendy and things that make you really aware of either their presence or a presence of guidance in your life after they're gone.

There have been so many small things like that. One that is so practical and so mundane that it actually caught me off guard just over Labor Day. Where it was like, this is such a blessing, and I'm so thankful. My brother's birthday and the one year anniversary of his death both fell on long weekends in this first year of grief.

And for my whole family to not have to worry about asking for a day off or rushing back to work. Like, his birthday was on the Sunday of Easter weekend, and the one year of him passing away was on the Monday of Labor Day weekend. And just for our whole family to not have to work and to have those days off, whether we were together or not together, was just the most practical, boring, mundane, biggest blessing that I think I've ever experienced.

You know, I don't want to ask for like, "Hey, can I have my dead brother's birthday off work?" Like, I don't want to ask for that. I just don't want to go to work.

So it's really like, that was one small thing that I just felt really overwhelmed with gratitude and like, just felt like that's no coincidence, you know?

[00:39:50] Karlee: It's not a coincidence. It's so interesting you mentioning gratitude and grief, and I think that's where the interesting part of life is. Is holding these massive two almost paradoxical emotions at the same time. And that's a challenging thing. Whether it's gratitude and grief or courage and fear. It's holding those things and moving through them. And hopefully people have some good support throughout that time. And I'm glad your family was able to all experience that little moment of synchronicity.

[00:40:34] Marissa: Thanks. Yeah, it really is so true what you just said. Holding two really conflicting things and being so acutely aware that they don't cancel each other out. They're both just there. It's not 50/50, it's 100% / 100%. And just holding them both and being like, "Okay. Okay, this is what I'm holding right now." And it's a little weird, but if this isn't life, I don't know what it is.

[00:41:02] Karlee: Well, Marissa, I know that was a big story of synchronicity. So, thank you for sharing with the audience. But I'll leave off with my story of synchronicity. It feels very appropriate that not only Gary Vee was my season finale guest, but you are my season finale guest.

And I'm going to get emotional. Oh wow.

But it felt like very much synchronicity that you came into my life a few years ago. That you were present through this big spectacle because you gave me the courage and talk about being support. You were my support that day and for a lot of other days over the past few years. So anyways...

[00:41:55] Marissa: Two years of being coworkers throughout COVID, like what a bonding experience.

[00:42:01] Karlee: I know this zoom is our natural state. In person is always like a fun, whoa, but this is how a lot of our relationship,

[00:42:13] Marissa: This feels so real.

[00:42:14] Karlee: It is very real.

[00:42:17] Marissa: Aww, Kar I'm so thankful for you.

[00:42:19] Karlee: I am too, Marissa. And the synchronicity of you finding me. You actually knew my old boss at Freedom 55 was your landlord, which we didn't know when you applied.

[00:42:32] Marissa: My landlord was your old boss.

[00:42:34] Karlee: Like, it was wild. It was wild.

[00:42:36] Marissa: It was so meant to be at every level. And it has been, I mean, it's been such a joy, such an honor to get to know you as a person and watch the things in your life happen.

But even just from a work standpoint, to get to be your colleague and to watch the work things happen. And specifically the podcast is just such a cool, like, I feel so proud of it and so excited for it. No less than if it were my own work. I'm just like so enthused for you and so happy that it made it here. That it made it safely into the world and it exists and it's out there forever and to have everything just end up being so perfect for it. Perfect guests, perfect logo, perfect season finale. Like just really perfect timing. Like there's a reason why it never like happened before this.

[00:43:33] Karlee: YeaH. Well, thank you for being here today, Marissa. To all the audience, thank you for listening, sticking with us through this story. For the season.

I'm looking forward to what's ahead and continuing to expand upon this podcast and the magic that it can create and hopefully it's inspired you to make some magic in your own life.

Marissa, you inspire me with your magic, so thank you for being here.

And until our next season, I hope you all have magic, remember your magic, and look forward to hearing all of your stories of magic.

Take care.