Explore SuccessRewrittenShow.com and Jay's top locations: tequilareport.com and jaybaer.com

When Jay Baer was 30, his best friend called to say he had brain cancer. Jay quit his job the next day.

That call, and the list he made afterward of what he was actually afraid of, set off a 28-year career of building, selling, writing, and starting again. Jay is a sixth-generation entrepreneur, a seven-time author, and one of the most recognizable names in customer experience. He's also taking a sabbatical from speaking after 18 years on the road to focus on his newest venture, Tequila Report.

This conversation moves through parts of his story he doesn't usually tell. He explains why he sells his companies and what he chooses to build next. He breaks down why his books are built from audience stories rather than the usual Starbucks-style case studies, and why he continues to choose collaboration in industries built on competition.

He also explains why responsiveness is finally a competitive advantage, a decade after he predicted it would be. It's a conversation about timing, decisions, and what actually holds up over the long run.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[02:03] Selling Budweiser.com for 50 cases of beer

[04:05] The phone call that made him quit the next day

[07:37] Why doing it all yourself is the trap

[14:35] Where the stories in his books actually come from

[18:29] The idea he was a decade early on

[22:33] Selling a company is like giving it up for adoption

[29:41] How a tequila hobby became Tequila Report

[36:53] Walking away from 60 keynotes a year (for now)

[44:37] Which parent the kids call, and why it matters

Resources Mentioned:

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber | Book or Audiobook

Behind the Review episode on Jay Baer’s Playbook for Customer Loyalty | YouTube

Find more from Jay:

Jay Baer | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram

Jay Baer’s Books | Website

The Tequila Report | YouTube | Instagram

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

The same drive that made her successful is the thing she had to unlearn to protect her health.

Zanade Mann is the founder of Zanade Enterprises, a full-service marketing and communications agency she built from a single client into a collaborative team of strategists and creatives. Her work focuses on helping brands, nonprofits, and public figures connect with their audiences through clarity and storytelling rather than hype.

A former New York City public school teacher and single mom, Zanade later earned Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 100 Women of Impact recognition… but the hustle that got her there came with a real impact on her mental and physical well-being. 

She talks honestly about what it took to slow down without losing momentum, and the intentional wellness practices that helped her rebuild her nervous system, from yoga and hiking to learning how to truly rest and reset. 

She also shares practical insights on small business marketing, including how to define your target customer, why your origin story matters, and a simple AI exercise you can try today. Zanade then introduces what she’s building next: a creator ecosystem for experienced professionals, ready to step into influencer marketing with real expertise.

Whether you’re building, pivoting, or starting fresh, this episode offers both practical tools and a more sustainable way to think about success.

You’ll Learn:



[00:00] Introduction

[02:20] How to tell your brand story and stop marketing to the wrong people

[04:02] The unexpected moment that sparked Zanade’s career shift into marketing

[07:02] Why not knowing your ideal customer creates unnecessary stress and wasted effort

[09:30] Zanade’s simple AI exercise to pressure-test your target audience

[14:55] What a seventh-grade teacher's pay stub did to her childhood dream

[26:37] What it actually took to defy every stereotype working against her

[37:58] How the constant hustle took a toll on her mental and physical health

[44:18] The small shifts that helped her regulate, rest, and rebuild her energy

[01:00:48] Creating new opportunities that align with your life, not just your ambition

Subscribe to Zanade's mailing list for the Millennial Creator Economy Movement. Subscribers will receive a free guide with insights on the creator economy and how they can leverage their professional and lived experience to participate in this $500B industry.

Resources Mentioned:

Blue Cross Blue Shield | Website

NYC Teaching Fellows | Website

The Rise of the Corporate Influencer by Zanade Mann | Article

Find more from Zanade:

Zanade Mann | Website

Zanade Mann | LinkedIn

Zanade Mann | Instagram

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

How long can you run away from trauma before it catches up to you?

Dr. Ricardo Anderson was a principal making six figures and finishing his doctorate, all while silently struggling with his mental health. At 32, he quit everything and moved to start addressing it for the first time.

His story shows what happens when trauma goes unprocessed for decades. His mother died when he was 11. He was unhoused at 13. He started to put himself through Marquette University at 16. He spent years inside a cult. And through it all, he built a career in education while carrying experiences he hadn’t yet made sense of.

This conversation walks through his recovery journey as a Black man navigating mental health, childhood trauma, stigma, and a hearing loss he didn’t talk about for years. We get into what it means to suppress those experiences, why stigma keeps people silent, and what begins to change when you finally start addressing it.

Dr. Ricardo now works as a Mental Health Recovery Support Specialist for the Illinois Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, and serves on the executive committee of WISE. He shares how he supports others in their recovery, including how to validate your own experiences and make sense of what you’ve been through.

If you've ever questioned your own memories or been told your experiences didn’t happen the way you remember them, this episode will resonate.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[04:51] What being unhoused at 13 in Milwaukee actually looked like

[09:06] Signing himself up for university at 16 and adulting with no roadmap

[15:02] Finding identity as a young Black man at Marquette

[18:20] Chasing degrees inside a cult while teaching Milwaukee's kids

[26:51] The student who held up a mirror to his own unaddressed childhood

[29:59] Leaving the cult, the marriage, and the identity tied to both

[38:23] What rebuilding looked like after walking away from everything

[47:03] Supporting people who don't yet have words for what they went through

[52:13] Why group dialogue heals, and where it can go wrong

[55:09] WISE's mission to end stigma and what good crisis support actually looks like

Resources Mentioned:

Marquette University | Website

Boys & Girls Clubs | Website

Urban Learning Collaborative (formerly MTEC) | Website

Find more from Dr. Ricardo:

Dr. Ricardo Anderson | LinkedIn

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

What if success isn't about retiring someday, but funding the life you actually get to live?

This week on Success, Rewritten, I sat down with Xerxes Nabong, a wealth advisor with twenty years in the business and his own firm, Wealth Avenue. Xerxes was nine years into his career when his dad passed away at 58. His dad served thirty years in the U.S. military and never got to retire. That loss rewrote the why behind his work and changed how he talks to clients about time, money, and what they're actually building toward.

We also get into what he learned on a municipal golf course at fourteen, the Yelp job that doubled as a social life, the $80,000 he lost on a cafe investment, and how he ran a $2 million escape room business on three hours a month. Plus naps, phone boundaries, and what it means to build a business that can run without you for two weeks.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[05:32] Why losing his dad rewrote the purpose behind his wealth advisory work

[09:28] From Yelp event planner to escape room owner, what sparked the leap

[15:08] How he built a $2M escape room on three hours a month and launched Kristen's career

[29:04] From 60-hour weeks to a schedule that works; how his relationship with time evolved

[32:22] Whether work helped or hurt after losing his dad, and how grief shifted his perspective

[37:13] How Xerxes protects his time off the clock: phone boundaries, naps, and workouts

[46:22] Why people hire the advisor they like, not just the one with the best returns

Find more from Xerxes:

Wealth Avenue | Website

Xerxes Nabong | LinkedIn

Xerxes Nabong | Instagram

Xerxes Nabong | Facebook

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

What happens when the person who taught you to work hard is the one who makes you question it?

Jenny Dempsey, also known as San Diego Furniture Flipper, started by rescuing discarded furniture and found herself rebuilding her own confidence and career path in the process. That idea of restoration, finding potential and giving things a second chance, runs through everything she does.

We get into what it feels like when your identity is tied to your work, and suddenly that’s gone. There’s a moment where she describes seeing herself in a piece of furniture someone else had written off, and how that shifted the way she approached both creativity and her own life.

She also shares how the loss of her dad and the words he left her with forced her to rethink what she was chasing in the first place, adding a deeper layer to how she defines success now.

The conversation moves through the emotional weight of job loss, the reality of rejection when you’re trying to return to what’s familiar, and the clarity that can come from asking what you actually need instead of what you’ve been taught to chase.

If you’ve ever questioned your career identity, navigated a layoff, or felt pulled toward something more creative, this episode explores redefining success, career reinvention, and life transitions in a way that feels grounded and real.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[03:16] The origin of San Diego Furniture Flipper: Seeing herself in a junky table

[08:30] His last words changed everything she thought she knew about work

[10:17] The grief she kept running from finally caught up with her

[13:32] A layoff mindset shift that neither of them was prepared for

[19:00] The "good enough" job strategy that lets her build her real dream

[27:22] Learning furniture flipping from scratch with zero experience

[33:04] The local and online community Jenny built from the ground up

[39:16] Her real daily strategy of staying intentional without burning out

[44:00] Giving yourself permission to not push through

[48:05] Your "thing" might already be in the trash

Find more from Jenny:

San Diego Furniture Flipper | Website

San Diego Furniture Flipper | Instagram

San Diego Furniture Flipper | YouTube

Jenny Dempsey | LinkedIn

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

You don’t need better intentions to support someone who’s grieving; you need better words.

Grief isn’t just about death. It shows up in divorce, diagnosis, job loss, and the moments that reshape your life.

Shelby Forsythia is a grief coach, author, and founder of Life After Loss Academy, a community helping people navigate life after major loss. After her mother died in 2013, she became what she calls a “student of grief”, building her work around one core focus: helping people find language for what feels impossible to explain.

What we say to grieving people often creates more distance than support.

What’s actually happening beneath the surface is often misunderstood. Shelby breaks down the three core stories many people tell themselves in grief, and how simple, grounded language can shift the entire experience.

Grounded in her own losses, Shelby shows why permission matters more than advice and how to support someone without trying to fix something that can’t be fixed.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[01:28] How Shelby accidentally became a grief practitioner

[08:10] The four grief support styles and what your clients will eventually tell you

[16:18] The unexpected pivot point that changed everything

[26:09] What a medical crisis revealed about her audience and her hustle

[29:55] Learning to grieve out loud after losing her best friend

[40:47] Words are the most powerful grief support tool you already have

[47:54] The three stories every grieving person is telling themselves

Resources Mentioned:

Permission to Grieve: Creating Grace, Space, & Room to Breathe in the Aftermath of Loss by Shelby Forsythia | Book

Your Grief, Your Way: A Year of Practical Guidance and Comfort After Loss by Shelby Forsythia | Book

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor | Book or Audiobook

Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life by Donald Miller | Book or Audiobook

Coming Back | Podcast

What’s Your Grief Support Style? | Quiz

Check out Shelby’s Free Workshop to help you cope with grief and find your way again.

Find more from Shelby:

Grief Grower | Podcast

Life After Loss Academy | Website

Shelby Forsythia | Website

Shelby Forsythia | YouTube

Shelby Forsythia | Instagram

Shelby Forsythia | Facebook

Shelby Forsythia | TikTok

Shelby Forsythia | LinkedIn

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

Today’s guest, Cate Luzio, is the Founder and CEO of Luminary, a global professional networking platform designed to support women and allies across every stage of their careers. After two decades in corporate banking leadership, she left to build a self-funded startup with no external capital and no backup plan.

Networking opened doors in her career, but building her own company meant taking full responsibility for every outcome. Every decision carried weight. Every challenge became personal. Even years in, she still questions whether she made the right decision sometimes.

We get into the reality of entrepreneurship, from the pressure of leading a team to the loneliness that comes with ownership. She shares how quickly external conditions can shift what feels stable, and how the pandemic reshaped her business.

Cate breaks down how she approaches time management and prioritization, and why access has been central to her work. She also opens up about learning she had breast cancer minutes before leading a call with hundreds of people.

This is an honest look at founder challenges, career transitions, and what it means to keep going when certainty never fully arrives.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[01:41] The side work that turned into the main career

[08:07] What Luminary actually is and why anyone can walk through the door

[13:27] Betting on yourself without a backup plan

[15:51] The doubt that never fully goes away, even when you're winning

[22:28] What was really happening behind Luminary's seamless pandemic pivot

[25:50] What Cate does when everything feels like it's falling apart

[32:18] How Cate protects her time and decides what actually deserves it

[36:02] Getting a cancer diagnosis five minutes before a 400-person Zoom call

[41:45] Why Cate keeps coming back to one piece of advice above all else

Resources Mentioned:

For high-impact programming focused on collaboration, professional and personal development, and community, explore Luminary Events & Programs.

Kim Perell | Website

Find more from Cate:

Luminary | Website

Luminary | LinkedIn

Luminary | Instagram

Cate Luzio | Website

Cate Luzio | LinkedIn

Cate Luzio | Instagram

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

Why do smart, capable people still struggle to communicate clearly under pressure?

Today I’m joined by Lynn Smith, a former news anchor turned communication expert, who now helps leaders confront what she calls the “brain bully.” Her work focuses on how fear, not skill, is often the root of communication struggles.

Lynn shares the moment her confidence broke on stage and how that failure forced her to investigate what was actually happening in her mind. That experience became the foundation for her framework, which connects thoughts to outcomes in a direct, practical way.

We break down why ineffective communication costs businesses real opportunities and how internal patterns like self-doubt and fear of failure shape how you show up. Tracing where those patterns come from, naming the environments and people that drain or elevate your energy, and building the skill of reframing thoughts in real time before they control your actions.

This is a conversation about clarity, ownership, and what it actually takes to show up with confidence when it matters.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[02:05] The keynote bomb that proved fear, not skill, is behind every communication breakdown

[09:43] Why Lynn wrote a children's book about failure, and the "just keep going" text that started it

[13:22] The painful personal low that taught Lynn what words actually help someone who's struggling

[15:33] Leaving news, betting on purpose, and building a business before the paychecks stopped

[21:11] What manifestation actually means according to neuroscience, and why most people misunderstand it

[27:42] How the executive coaching process works: self-discovery questions, brand story, and mock interviews

[31:52] Why investing in your presence matters more than ever, and what AI-faked emails cost in trust

[34:48] A failed partnership, a business rebuilt from zero, and why clean breaks protect your integrity

[40:15] The yes/no/want bucket system Lynn uses to protect her time as a working parent

[42:31] Building a business from a big idea: nucleus concept, IP frameworks, and staying resilient without a roadmap

Find more from Lynn:

Lynn Smith | Website

Lynn Smith | Instagram

Lynn Smith | YouTube

Lynn Smith | LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned:

Matt Cook | Instagram

Beyond Wanting by Matt Cook | Book

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

What if the thing you started for fun after work turned into a national business?

Jami Stigliano, founder of DivaDance, joins me to talk about how a frustrating experience in a competitive New York dance class led her to create something entirely different. She originally started teaching classes because she wanted a space that felt welcoming, social, and confidence-building rather than intimidating. Over time, what began as a casual side project (what she jokingly calls her “manicure money”) evolved into a growing company and a franchise business with dozens of locations.

Jami shares how listening to customers from other cities helped her realize the concept could scale, and how franchising allowed the brand to expand using other people’s investment rather than opening every location herself.

We dive into the practical side of entrepreneurship, including questioning limiting beliefs about growth, implementing EOS business systems to create accountability, and thinking about health the same way you think about running a company by paying attention to the data.

Along the way, Jami shares the personal rituals that keep her grounded: dancing regularly, teaching classes she loves, and holding onto the joy that started the journey in the first place.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[04:44] Renting spaces instead of owning, the asset-light model born from necessity, not strategy

[06:40] Why Jami chose franchising, how it actually works, and the two DivaDance franchise paths

[14:13] Three near-breaking moments and the delusional confidence required to push through them

[21:53] Having kids at 41 and 43, building systems that enabled maternity leave, and reframing working-parent guilt

[28:55] Running physical health like a business: blood panels, KPIs, and what her parents' opposite trajectories taught her

[34:26] Discovering EOS/Traction at 50 franchises, right-people-right-seats restructuring, and the hardest year in DivaDance history

[40:15] Paying yourself fairly, outsourcing home tasks, and questioning whether you actually need that employee

[47:15] Jami's daily reset: diet Coke, teaching class, and doom-scrolling her own camera roll

Resources Mentioned:

Traction by Gino Wickman | Book

Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS) | Website

Burn Boot Camp | Website

DivaDance Franchise Opportunities | Website

Find more from Jami:

DivaDance | Website

DivaDance | Instagram

Jami Stigliano | Instagram

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram

What happens when a manic episode interrupts a high-achieving life that looks successful on paper?

Welcome to Success, Rewritten. I’m your host, Emily, and from the outside, my corporate career in tech was accelerating. I had moved across the country to work at Yelp, built a reputation supporting small business owners, and hosted more than 200 interviews with entrepreneurs. Ambition, achievement, and professional identity had always defined me.

In my late twenties, a manic episode led to a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Years later, an adult ADHD diagnosis forced me to examine the relationship between mental health and high performance. I began asking a question many driven professionals wrestle with: Is the version of success we’re chasing sustainable for our well-being?

In this first episode, I’m joined by my friend Shelby, a grief coach, three-time author, and podcast host, who helps guide the conversation and unpack the foundation behind this show.

Today, I speak openly about bipolar disorder, mania, ADHD, burnout, resilience, and the pressure of ambition in corporate and entrepreneurial spaces. I’m committed to redefining success so it supports both achievement and mental health, and creating space for more honest conversations about identity and the courage to choose a different path.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[07:05] The risky move to a big city that might actually have been hypomania

[14:50] Building and hosting a 200+ episode podcast and tying identity to achievement

[25:10] What mania actually feels like from the inside

[29:50] A mental health crisis and hospitalization that forced everything to stop

[33:12] The hidden mental health patterns that can shape major life decisions

[37:01] When doctors warned her dream job might not support bipolar instability

[39:25] The surprising performance boost from sleep, boundaries, and no multitasking

[52:58] Losing career stability and discovering the freedom to bet on yourself

[56:00] The promise behind this show and why other people’s stories can reshape your own

Resources Mentioned:

Rogers Behavioral Health | Website

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website

Success, Rewritten | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | Instagram