[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Hey, hello, hello, hello. My podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite online business podcast. If you are tuning in, listening, watching on the day that it drops, it is Monday, January 12th, and the year is already flying by like January 12th. That's aggressive. Uh, lemme turn this mic up, actually make sure we're up.
Uh, today we're talking about how. I'm taking my mafia in a new direction. Side note, this is why I love having a podcast and why I encourage folks to have a podcast if they have an online business, because you can use it in any way that you want, including promoting your own stuff, which I highly recommend doing.
Uh, so main topic today, how I'm taking the mafia in a new direction, what that direction is. But first, a quick life recap. 'cause the whole episode's gonna be about business. Uh, so the, the life recap is that. If you're watching cleaning my glasses, they're like so dirty. I don't even know how they get dirty.
Like I don't, I'm not touching them. I'm not sitting here with like my hands on my face and they get so dirty. Uh, but life recap. My birthday was great. Um, I will die on the hill. The January 1st is the best birthday, right? Because you're constantly surrounded by love. You're Christ, you're surrounded by your people.
It's the best way to start off the new year. It is borderline overwhelming. I'm not gonna lie. And this is like, I, it is such a champagne problem and I'm so grateful for this problem because I having problem. I'm just grateful that for this, uh, experience, it is borderline overwhelming how much love I receive and the texts and the dms 'cause like, people are online and like January 1st, and like, it's just like a, it's a lot.
It is a lot and it's fucking amazing. And I, I look forward to it every year and I'm overwhelmed by it every year. And it's the best. And I don't like force myself to respond and be like, I can't respond in five seconds. I do batch it. I go and do it from the computer. 'cause it's a lot. And if you reached out to me or you have to message or do whatever, you de post anything like.
Thank you. It is my favorite day and I just feel so loved. Um, Lex, you know, chick loves me so much and I, and I, I love her obviously so much, but she just like showers with me with love all the time. Uh, but on my birthday, you know, she got me a DJ controller. She likes doing gifts and like giving gifts. I don't really like receiving gifts.
Like, it's fine, but like I have all look at me, look at all the shit that I have here. Like I have, I have, I'm 41 years old now. I got a lot of stuff. Uh. But I think she kind of prides herself on trying to figure out something that like I will like because I, I do, I am so specific in particular and also like I have so much stuff.
Um, but she got me a DJ controller and she got me some speakers and the software and that is gonna be my next hobby. I kind of thought that I would wait till I was like 45 and maybe had a little more free time. 'cause right now I'm like, you know, any free time I have 'em coding. I'm trying to learn about coding.
But, uh, let the midlife DJ crisis begin. Uh, I haven't played around with it yet. Uh, the speakers are not here. But. Super thoughtful gift, super dope gift. She got me this other, this book as well that's like really cool. These puzzles I like doing. Um, she made my favorite meal. She made beef boon. I love beef boon.
Uh, she got me a cake from um, Susie Cakes. It's just, it was great. And then the day itself was just great. It was gray as well. It was a gray day. Um, but did it clear up? But like it was wet and I was doing stuff I love, so I didn't even go to the beach. I mean, I love being at the beach, but like. It was kind of wet, so I was like, I don't need to go there.
Uh, I like, from the first thing in the morning, I was up and I was doing some coating and then I built a bunch of shelves. And so I didn't go to the beach, but I went to the beach. I went to the beach like two days later, so it was fine. Um, but it was just a really great day. And if you were a part of it in any way, shape or form.
Thank you. It's my favorite day of the year and it was awesome. Um, but the segue here, having a birthday on January 1st means that shortly after that it is back to the land of responsibilities and deadlines and all that jazz. It makes me kind of sad, um, which is. Why are, we're talking about a new direction for the mafia, but those of you that don't know the Mafia is my monthly membership that I've run since 2020.
I started it right before COVID started in January, and I created it because I saw the need for it, an online resource that combined movement and online business and allowed. Dope conversations to happen in the online space. I had been teaching a lot in person and I saw these amazing conversations that happen when people are in the same room and I was like, let's make it happen online.
'cause people can't always be in the same room. Right? I was traveling the country, traveling the world and I was like, let's make it happen. Um, people were really just starting to move into the online space. Like, I know it sounds weird saying that, but like. Things were different before COVID? No, not everyone was online in that same kind of capacity.
Pre COVID and then pre COVID brought everyone online. Uh, so I launched it in 2020, January, 2020. And then shortly after, very shortly after COVID hit and we got through it together. Right. It's kind of, it was kind of serendipitous timing and it allowed me to provide a resource for folks to teach them how to go online, run your business online.
I actually, from the other side of it, you know, getting through it together, I brought my friend in who worked at C at the CDC and like, I was like, Hey, this is early on. Here's what we, they know and. It allowed people to be connected and stay connected and be connected, you know, during that time. And that was six years ago.
Right. And we have been super consistent. I've had some folks that are still in there. We've had a lot of folks that graduate as well, but the, the core of the, the mafia's been there largest since day one, uh, which means it's time to evolve. Right. That was six years ago. The main change that we made during those six years was that we went from dinners twice a month to dinners once a month 'cause it just made sense.
But I did add a brick and mortar meetup that I don't run. Uh, our girl Sabrina runs that. And so the Cha Tech two, uh, there are technically two, you know, live calls during the, the month. And actually it, it kind of explodes my heart. One of the, one of the people, um, one of the Mafiosos last week. At our dinner.
Uh, she was just like, I've been in this since the beginning, and I was like a lurker. And she, she says lurker, but she, she's contributing. Um, but she kinda went through different iterations of her business and now she's has a brick and mortar business. Uh, and she, she just signed a five year lease and she's doing so well.
And she's like, you know, I've been in mafia for so long. And you, you hear people say like, you have to just keep going. And part of you wonders like, when's it my turn? When's it gonna work? And she's like. I just kept going and now it's my turn and it's working. And it was just like so fucking cool to hear.
And you know, it testament it's been six years, right? These things take time. But to that end, people being in it for six years and this thing existing for six years means that it's, you know. It is time to evolve. Um, mainly 'cause when you have folks that are in it that long, like they've learned the things and now they're implementing and they've been in that long, right?
They've learned the things, they're implementing the things. And now it's largely about support and answering questions that may come up, but largely being like, yep, here we go. Keep going, keep going, keep doing the things. Uh, and in reality, the mafia has always kind of served as that kind of support space, right?
It taught business stuff online, business stuff, absolutely. But I didn't ever push people to join the mafia so that they could learn about online business. I encouraged them to join if they wanted community. So I'd finished the intensive and then people would be like, what's next? And I'm like, well, if you want, you wanna hang out with people, come to the mafia.
But it wasn't like, Hey, if you wanna learn online business, come to the mafia. Um, so the new direction, I should go. The new direction. If you're watching, you can see the, the air quotes I did. The new Direction for the Mafia isn't so much of a new direction as it is identifying and doubling down on. What's always, in my opinion, set the mafia apart and made it what's made it truly helpful.
Right? That doubling down looks like as follows. We're gonna, if someone wants, be like, what's the, what is the mafia? I would say to them the Mafia is, or the Maestro Mafia is a monthly mentorship space where people who are building online businesses come to talk through strategy decisions and the realities of this type of work with others who actually.
Get it all right. That's a big thing. Like do people get it? Are you surrounded by people you know, your family and your friends? They don't get it. That is a big thing. The heartbeat of the mafia is the monthly family dinner, which follows what I'm calling a teach and talk format. That's gonna pair practical strategy.
That's the teach part with guided conversation that examines the beliefs, the fears, and the real life constraints that shape how folks show up or avoid showing up. In their businesses alongside the conversations, right? Because it is tactical as well, like alongside the conversations, the all of members, they have access to a growing library of resources and what I have called, named the Maestro Mafia Core curriculum, and that covers the foundational pieces of online business.
Any question that you could have about online business, it's answered. Within that, within that library. All right. That content, self-paced, it's designed to support their people's thinking. It's not like to dictate a path. It is still very much choose your own adventure in that regard. This space is for folks who are already doing the work and who are looking for a consistent place to talk through things to get strategic perspective, right?
That's a big thing there, the strategic perspective. It's not just, you know, talk about anything and share all your feelings. It is, Hey, you're gonna give feedback. That's based in experience. It's based on expertise. And one of the coolest things is it's not just me that's, that's teaching and talking about these things, right?
And giving you answers and giving you advice. I will lead the first part, but in all these conversations, and this is how it's always been, we have such a breadth of experience and knowledge and people, I don't have kids. I don't have fucking any kids, but a lot of people in Mafia do. And so it's been amazing to watch these conversations happen between folks who are thinking about having kids and being like, how do I set myself up for going on maternity leave or paternity leave?
What does that look like? How do I, I have a new baby, I have a young kid. How do I allocate more time? And then we have parents on the other side that have young kids. We have parents that have, you know, significantly older kids and they can share their experience and their expertise. And it's just like.
That's fucking amazing. And that's the real stuff, in my opinion, that helps people with their businesses, right? It's real life stuff, right? So if that sounds interesting, baby, we would love to have you, right? If you're looking for a place that you can have the conversations and not carry it all alone, you know, in your head.
Mafia. Like I said, this new direction is really, it's not so new. It's more of a niche down, right? It's doubling down on what has allowed the mafia to endure, right? The dinners and the conversations at those dinners, that's the heartbeat and it has always been the heartbeat of the mafia, and now I'm looking to attract folks who value that and who need that.
The mafia is not a fucking talking circle. And it's like when I was like playing this out and getting language, I'm like in my mind seeing like, you know, passing the like talking stick and I'm like, it's not like that. There's anything wrong with that, but like that's not what it's, I wanna be clear about that.
And I went back and forth a bunch also as I, I had chat help me out with this and I went back up forth a bunch ironing at the language and like what I was really trying to convey. It's not a kumbaya common word. Vomit your feelings. I am way too much of a Capricorn for that. Right. The dinners are anchored in two ways.
One, I start by. Teaching strategy and tactics. And then number two, the discussion is guided by a single question that I shared at the beginning of the month. And it's around, it ties into that topic and it looks to get to, um, help folks understand why they're doing what they're doing and start exploring that.
Um, so an example. So if for the month that we'd cover messaging, an example would be, I would teach what to change first and what to leave alone when refining your messaging. And then the talk part would be based on the question, what are you still saying that no longer feels true? And so that allows people to be like, Hey, this is why I haven't changed it.
Or This is what I would really love to say. Or like, you know, this is what I wanna grow into, or I've just always said it this way. And like, really have conversations around that and identify that. Go forward with marching orders. I'm excited about this shit. I am excited about this shit, this, this new direction.
It's because I want to help people do the thing. I always wanted to help, but that's always my, my whole stick, right? I want people to take action. And so when the Mafia first started, and there were a lot of folks who were new to online business and online space, helping them do the thing really looked like being super tactical and technical and providing a lot of that, you know, didactic information, holding hands.
Six years later, that's not as much the case, right? And for the folks who I wanna attract for the mafia. That's not as much the case, right? They don't need this super tactical write lot of information. Like, yeah, we still have that. Don't get me wrong, don't get it fucking twisted. We still got it. Mafia's still got it.
But what I wanna be sharing and how I wanna be helping people and showing up for people and facilitating for people are these conversations, right? The conversations that I don't see taking place anywhere else, but that I know people benefit from, right? Again, don't get me wrong, the tactical stuff still super valuable and I will teach it, and the Mafia has that huge, whole ass, huge ass library of resources for anything that you could wanna learn about online business, through my lens and how I teach things, and we have guest speakers that have come in and all those dinners are recorded and they're all in there, but what folks in my opinion, who are in the thick of it and they've been doing is what they need.
They need other folks who are in the thick of it and they need a place to speak. Honestly, the net effect of having those two things, I've seen it firsthand. It reduces isolation, it externalizes, uh, you know, this stuck thinking. It gives people language to things that they're carrying around in their head and it helps people hear themselves think, right?
There's so much value to putting this out into the ether. It is incredibly, incredibly powerful. Whether you're saying, this is what I wanna do, or this is why I think I'm doing it, or am I the only person doing it this way? Or, I feel like this. There is so much power in that and oftentimes people keep it in their head 'cause they got no one to say it to.
Come to the Mafia. All right. Like I said, this is actually not new to the mafia, and the best example that I can give is that we run love seats. I run love seats every so often, which is a five minute coaching spot. Usually ends up being like 10, but either way, call it a five minute coaching spot. And the the person comes and they ask their question and they get coached up by me and the rest of the family.
Few, quite a few years back. This is probably like four years ago. Um, we had a member, Abby, who took a seat and she shared. She wound up like not even asking a question, and she ended the loveseat basically being like, I don't really think I have a question. I think I'm just scared. Right? And that shit's real.
And to this day, we'll have folks that do loveseats, and I'm like, you're pulling in an abey, right? They're just scared or they're just like, oh, hit the bowl. They're scared, they're nervous about something. They tend to get it out, and there's nothing wrong with that. And there's so much value in having a space that allows you to do that.
I business. Business decisions can be scary. Business growth can be, wow, I'm excited. I can't speak. Business growth can be scary. Business changes can be scary. Running a business can be tough. Being in this entrepreneurial space is tough, right? The conversations that address this, that identify these things that let people speak to this than these feelings, those are the conversations in the mafia that have helped.
People the most, and that is what I wanna double down on for 2026. So again, no, it's not a feeling circle. If there's anything wrong with that, that's your thing. Go ahead, do it. But that's not what we're doing at the Mafia, right? I am way too Capricorn, type five Enneagram for that. But I do know that the conversations like this is an aside.
In addition, I also know that there are conversations that I have with my one-on-one clients that are not in the mafia. And very real feelings come up. Oftentimes it's with men. I have a few male clients and they speak about the financial stress and the responsibility and these feelings that come along with this, and I'm like, yo, I'm here to talk about it.
But like it is important to have other people that are like you, that have shared values, shared experiences. That have this shared understanding to talk to about this. Um, and that is why I, I have the mafia. That is, that is my solution for this. So if any of this sounds interesting to you, check out the registration page and check out the Mafia, right?
The doors are closed outside of this January registration period, which largely just means that you have to hit me up for an invite. There's the information page is always available, uh, but the registration page is, it gets locked down, um, after this little like January time period. And then. You have to just reach out to me.
Mainly 'cause I wanna vet people. Right. Um, but for the rest of this week, you can just go to the registration page and join. We have it linked in the show notes. It's linked below. Thank you jojo. Thank you Courtney. Um, the details are on the page, but lemme just run through them quickly. The dinners that we have, the family dinners, they have the second Wednesday of the month at 4:00 PM.
Pacific. Um, if you can't make it, maybe it doesn't make sense to be in the mafia, like, and you're like trying to have conversations, like that's when the dinners are. We've decided as a family, that's when they are. Um, everything is recorded. Uh, but obviously the goal given that we're really focused on conversation is to be there live.
Um, any, any discussions that are gonna be gonna be had outside of the dinners? They happen in the private Facebook group? Yes, it is a private Facebook group. It's just where everyone's at, like. If you hate Facebook, then I'm sorry. Um, but you can ask whatever in the Facebook folks are always happy to answer.
Folks are always happy to, to support people and share things, and I encourage people to, to share their wins in there as well. It's not just asking questions, it's like. Whatcha you up to? What are you doing? Gimme your wins. Um, all the previous dinners can be accessed via the dashboard, which is, um, where all the resources are housed.
They built this many years ago, and I'm really fucking proud of it. Um, if you have a question about online business, I guarantee we have a dinner that answers it. And if we don't, which I'm like we do, um, but if you don't, I'll I'll, that can be the topic of one of the dinners or we will answer it as well in the, in the.
In the mafia. Um, Erica Webb is our official moderator and she answers the shit out of the questions, but everyone else chimes in. And as well when they, you know, it's within their, their domain of expertise. Um. There's also a, uh, selection of dinners that I have put together and organized, and I call it the Maestro Mafia, the mafia Core curriculum.
Um, maestro core curriculum. Wow. Mafia Core Curriculum course. Um, and this offers structure and guidance in a more of like a start here approach. For anyone that's overwhelmed by it was over a hundred dinners and you're like, where do I start? So I put them then, or a handful of them in order that cover the biggest topics as it relates to online business.
Um. We also have the, uh, brick and mortar meetup that meets once a month that is run by Sabrina. So if you have brick and mortar business. There you go. Um, and that's usually the third Thursday of the month at 10 30 Pacific, 10:30 AM Pacific. Um, the price, $97 a month cancel at any time. No, there is no, uh, annual option or like a discounted price for paying for the full year.
But once you've been in for six months, you'll get 50% off of all of my other offers. Anything that I come up with, um, excluding lecture, mine, and press publish. Most of the people use this to get 50% off of my one-on-one calls.
So I personally am clearly. Really excited about this for three reasons. One, because y'all know that I love me a niche down. Uh, two because I get to create new content. I love creating content when it's about stuff that I enjoy. Um, but I get create to create new content to facilitate this. And three, because I know that people are ready for it, I can feel it energetically, right.
We are six years out from the pandy folks have been doing this stuff. They're not new to it. Yes, there are new folks. That are, you know, just starting out, but this is not for them. Um, there's plenty of folks that have been in it and they're just like, needing a, a space like this. And I'm excited to be like, Hey, this is a space and I can put words to it.
And it's been the space for many years, but I couldn't really articulate it. And now you can see it. Additionally, at the end of the year in December, we do our, our word for the year in the mafia. And I'm listening to what folks word for the year is. And I'm also seeing online some people that do share their word and folks putting things out there like connection, community, nourish, compound carve, curate, a lot of Cs there.
Um. And words like that take intention, right? They take effort, concerted effort, and they are bigger than tactical strategy. Tactical strategy supports it. It's helpful, but like a lot of these words are speaking to people how they want their lives to feel and their businesses to feel and, and things to feel.
And I'm excited to steer the mafia. In a direction that supports that intentional action and helps people live into the goals or the words that they set. Right? So to that end, the 12 months, the, the next, this, the next 12 months, the year it is laid out, um, in terms of what the each month's topic is, though, I always give myself permission to change things if or as needed.
What I have as it as it stands right now, month one is actionable focus month two, messaging and copy, month three, visibility systems like social media, things like that. Um, where you're showing up. Month four, offer architecture. Month five. Pricing as information. Month six, money flow and capacity. Month seven.
Guest Month. Month eight. Month eight. Launching with intention 'cause that'll be August. And like we're heading into launch season again. Month nine. Systems that support you. Month 10, guest month. Again, month 11. Selling without Selling Your Soul. And month 12, because that's like, uh, usually during November is like Black Friday.
Things like that. And then on 12 orientation and intentional direction. 'cause we'll be moving into the new year. So I may move some of those around, but those are like the main topics and things that I want to be hitting. Um, and I want to, I obviously pairing it with the seasonality and, and giving myself permission to have guests tend to come in organically and it's kind of like, oh, did I meet someone here about someone, uh, get recommended.
Someone that I'm like, yeah, I wanna put them in front of my people 'cause I do pay them as well. Um. Then I'll bring the guest in. So I have two, two guest months in there. Um, we will see what, where they end up or if I take them out, but you know, I give myself permission to wait to have some wiggle room with this.
But the first dinner, if you're listening to this on the day that it drops this, so you're, listen, if you're listening on Monday the 12th, our first dinner, I'm looking at the calendar over there, is I have a bad glare in this calendar. It's unfortunate. Is the, uh, 15th, uh. Nope, that's not right. It's the four.
I really can't see this calendar. It's the 14th. And obviously I can just do the math in my head. Um, it's the 14th and that will be actionable focus. And basically what I'm looking to do with that is just teaching about what needs to happen so that people can actually live into their words, right? It's nice to come up with a word that you want for the year, but then like, what are you doing?
What are you changing? And so, you know, the Capricorn in me can also put some accountability in there and have people identify these things and then we can hold them to that. Um, but there's, I, I'm not releasing the question yet. Although I probably should release it because you're gonna just, you're just gonna be showing up.
Uh, but I'm releasing it later as I'm recording this a week early, obviously. So I would release it to the folks in the mafia. I don't, I basically wanna give them, uh. I don't wanna put it out like super long before and have people feel like ob obligated to be thinking about this a ton. But I do want them to put it out long enough that they have time to think about, uh, the things.
So the, the, the topic is gonna be actionable focus, getting people to, um, figure out what needs to be done in order to achieve, I don't wanna say goal, so we don't have a lot of goal setting, but there, but to really live into, to really live into that word. So, uh. Thinking. I'm like, what should I share? A obviously, you know, if you decide to join the mafia, you come.
The conversation's never, never required. You can just be a fly on the wall as well. Um, everyone's an adult, but coming. Thinking about the question, coming with that in mind, like what was your word for the year? What was your intention for the year? Um. And I'm, I'm still, there's, I haven't shared the questions.
I'm still working on which one I want to pick. Um, but some food for thought that I, that I'm just gonna throw out here, it may end up being the question. It may not be, but one is, what are you currently doing that does not meaningfully contribute to the goal? Another one, where are you confusing activity with progress or progress?
Maybe that's how they say it in Canada. Process and progress. I don't know. Uh, and another one, if you could only make progress in one area this year, which would it be? Alright, so I'm still deciding if I wanna kind of tweak and I'm gonna just pick one. Um, but those are three that you can mull over. And if I guarantee if you have thought about that and you bring that to the dinner, I bring your, you know, your musings to the dinner, you'll be able to, 'cause I'm gonna pick from around there.
Um. You'll be able to, to, to chime right in and be right with everybody else. Who knows? The que the set question that I've gone with. Okay. Um, but like I just went through, those are the 12 months. I'm excited. I'm giving myself permission to have some flexibility, but what I just showed you is how I'm, I'm just gonna structure it where the beginning part and the very short part will be me teaching and then I'm gonna open it up for conversation.
How long will dinners go? I dunno. I don't wanna put a cap on it and be like, it's gonna be an hour. Um, but the, basically the best thing with dinner is that if you have to leave you, then you can leave. Um, usually dinners have gone about two hours. Um, it's just been historically just, you know, people talking and asking the questions and, and teaching things like that.
So usually anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours. But, um, if you're listening to this on the day it drops, join, come, come to dinner, join the mafia. Try it out for a month and if you don't like it, cancel right. No hard feelings. Um, all the info, it's in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you Jojo. And if you have any questions, just hit me up.
You can DM me, you can shoot me a text, 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5. I'd love to hear from you. Um, and thank you for listening. If the mafia ain't in your bag, it ain't for you. All good. Um, and you should listen to this. Thank you. Uh, I have other offers that are coming. I'm working on another one by working on is kind of like going through my head.
Two other ones actually. Um, one, obviously AI related, um, but I'm, I'm working on stuff in my head. Um, but mostly I hope that this episode inspired you to lean into what you and your people and your business needs. All right. Alright, that is all that I got for you for today. As always, my friends endlessly, endlessly, oh, and more time endlessly appreciative for every single one of you, this is your next time friends maestro out.
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