314 She Left Her Job To Follow In The Footsteps of The AirBNB Founders - Here's What Happened!
Maxine Cunningham
Founder of Pick My Brain
In this episode, Maxine generously allows us to pick her brain (she's the founder of Pick My Brain - see what I did there?) as she shares her inspiring journey of personal and professional growth.
Max opens up about...
Her experience starting her career as an Investment Banker, becoming an Economist and eventually quitting to become an Entrepreneur (even though she had no idea how that would look!)
She highlights the importance of relationships and the value of self-development and creating a Year On (aka Year Off) where you build your OWN curriculum!
She challenges listeners to evaluate the true worth of their time, both in terms of how they spend it working and how they spend it on personal growth.
She emphasizes the need to break away from careers that are not aligned with our values.
Maxine also shares all about her business baby which is valued at 15 MILLION DOLLARS! (it's called Pick My Brain) and how it has become a place the #1 marketplace to buy and sell knowledge!
Episode Time Stamps:
[00:03:02] Maxine's journey of taking calculated risks through her career as an Investment Banker, Economist and Entrepreneur
[00:05:34] The pursuit of self-growth through exploration, taking a 'year on' (aka year off) and investing $30,000 in herself
[00:07:27] A recent investment under $2,000 that we BOTH made that has brought lasting benefits to each of our lives and businesses
[00:13:54] What to do if your job is misaligned with your values? Can't do it.
[00:30:38] How she got the idea for Pick my Brain and her experience starting the business and dedicating the past six years to nurturing Pick My Brain.
[00:36:31] Inspired by Air BNB she quit her job, drove across the country in a campervan, and read books in Maui for a month!
[00:48:02] Passion and dedication are eays when you LOVE what you do! Maxine shares why hustling isn't hustling when you love the work (even if it means taking meetings at 11pm!)
[00:50:04] Intentional conversations change lives - here's how to be part of this new movement
To connect with Maxime:
Access the transcript for this episode:
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You're listening to the visionary life podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey Reidl.
Each week, I'll bring you conversations with the most visionary humans on this earth, in hopes that you'll be able to absorb their wisdom, avoid their failures and feel less alone on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship. This season, I'll be chatting with creative thinkers, masterful marketers, brick and mortar shop owners, brand builders, and people just like you who have a story to share or a vision that inspires. If I can share one quick secret with you before we get into the episode is that we all have a little bit of visionary inside of us, you know, that spark that nudges us to pursue our full potential in this lifetime.
But perhaps somewhere along the line, it got covered up. I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to explore that inner voice and access the brilliance deep down inside of you. It's in you. It's in all of us. Let's dive in. Hey, visionaries. Welcome back to the show, we have a super special episode, because if you remember, I went to Park City, Utah back in the summer, and I met a group of 12 Random, adventurous entrepreneurs, thanks to my friend Brandon who curated this retreat. Now I walked into this beautiful mansion on the side of a mountain. And I thought there were only going to be two girls and that there'll be 10 Guys, but I walked in, and I was met with this gorgeous woman with long red hair. And her name is Maxine Cunningham. Now, Maxine, I had no idea who she was, but I instantly was like, Okay, I think I'm gonna vibe with this person. We started talking about our shared love of mountain biking. And she was saying she didn't book a return flight home. And I said, Oh, my God, well, I'm staying a few extra days. Why don't you come stay with me in Park City, I have a hotel room, we'll go mountain biking together, we'll go eat really good food. And the rest is kind of histories. So Maxine is actually the founder of pick my brain, pick my brain.com. And essentially, she's created this marketplace where you can buy and sell knowledge. So for example, if I wanted to have a conversation with someone about becoming an entrepreneur, or becoming a mom and still running a business, I could find someone on pick my brain, hire them for an hour and talk to them. And on the other side of the equation, I actually have a profile on pick my brain. So anyone who's looking to talk about digital marketing strategy, they can actually hire me on her marketplace. What's really cool is that there are 1000s and 1000s of brains that you can actually select and book time with. So this is such an insane story of how Maxine left her career in investment banking, how she left her career as an economist, and eventually was inspired by Airbnb to actually create her own tech company. But what's even more intriguing is how she gifted herself a year and $30,000 to actually study how to do this entrepreneur thing. Okay, so you're probably just like, okay, Maxine. Sounds amazing already. But you've got to listen to this story. Because what I think is most relatable for the listener is that even if you spend five years or 10 years or 20 years building a certain career path for her being an economist, the moment it feels misaligned, the moment you think I am meant for more, or I am wildly inspired by a certain founder for her. It was the Airbnb guys. She knew that she was inspired.
She didn't have her own business idea, but she gave herself the time and the freedom to actually go figure it out. So I think you're gonna love this episode. We go long, we go deep. She tells us where pick my brain is at today. Hint, it's valued at over $15 million. And I'm just so grateful to call Maxine a friend. She's a dreamer, she's a doer. When we spent a few days together after our retreat, we walked everywhere. We rented e bikes together, we rented mountain bikes and met up with a local club. We appreciated really beautiful views and great sceneries. We talked about everything about grief and death and the experiences we've had we cried with each other. But we also talked about business and where we're going and what we each have strengths in and where our weaknesses are and you don't meet people like this every day. So if you want to connect with Maxine had to pick my brain dot world, I'll also link her personal Instagram in the show notes and I just have a feeling you're really going to enjoy this episode and enjoy being in her presence for an hour. So, without further ado, let's get into this episode with Max Cunningham. Hey, visionaries, do you remember why you got into business? Why you said yes to entrepreneurship in the first place. For so many of us, it's because of that freedom that it can bring, and the joy of helping our clients and our customers transform their lives. But then we get bogged down with things like too much responsibility, decision paralysis, feeling so alone, and like we're doing this by ourselves. And what's worse is that we can see everything we desire. And we just don't know how to get to that next level. So what if there was a space where you could actually come on a weekly basis to enrich your business to hang around other impact driven and health and lifestyle anchored entrepreneurs, and people who have shared values and really big visions like you do? My co host, Emily Elliot, and I run an exclusive mastermind for high performing female entrepreneurs, we are almost full, but we are accepting a few new members. So you can head over to Kelseyreidl.com/mastermind. If you've been looking for a community, and a group of women just like you. This is a space that focuses on individual and shared success, we celebrate each other, we hold space for each other, we coach each other, and Emily and I lead you through trainings. And we bring forward guest experts on the topic of luck on money mindset, on things you can do to improve your sales conversions and so much more. Our group meets at the same time each week, every single Wednesday. And each month, we set our focus around key areas so that you can become the most resilient, motivated and healthy entrepreneur possible. So we have strategy time, implementation time, but we also talk about relationships, mental agility, adventurous marketing, boosting conversions, etc. Again, this is an exclusive space for high performing female entrepreneurs. So head over to Kelsey rydell.com/mastermind. To apply. You can see pricing, what it looks like to join who's in the room with us. And we definitely only have a few spots. So if you want to slide in, we would love to see your application come through. Max, welcome to the visionary life Podcast. I'm so excited to sit down with you today, you and I share something in common, which is that we both make quick decisions. And we were just talking about this in the pre chat. And we kind of like listen to our gut. And for both of us, we ended up in Park City, Utah in July. And I know for you the invite landed in your lap a mere days before you arrived. For me it was a little sooner. But I had that similar gut feeling of like, I don't need to ask too many questions. I'm just going to show up, booked my flight and hope that the right people are in the room or slash you just know the right people are going to be in the room. I'm curious, have you always operated with such a strong gut instinct? Or is this something that you've cultivated, especially as it relates to becoming an entrepreneur and needing to be decisive? Oh,that's such a good question. Starter Kelsey. Yeah, intuition, gut feeling jumping into action probably had it since I was born. Day one, my parents had, say, a desire, like when I see something I want, I will tend to just go and try to get it. But as I have, you know, progressed professionally through my career and launched a startup and entered a field which requires that at a higher degree than any other career I've ever had. I've got to practice it. And in economics, they actually call it animal spirits. You can read about it. It's theoretical, and it's what CEOs have, they call it and they Yeah, one one version is called animal spirits. And it's these spirits that guide you are intuition or gut towards decisions that are going to be in alignment with your mission, the greater clarity you understand your mission and your vision and your purpose. You can pick out as soon as an offer is delivered to you that it is the right thing to do. And Utah was that, you know, the I met Brandon, the host of the retreat in a conversation and I was vibrating. And we were able to go at a speed that I was like so refreshing. And when I meet those people along my path I tend to want to create with them. And then yeah, he sent this invite, and he's like, I'm bringing mission based founders together to do some outdoor activity and to think about their businesses as like stuff. I'm gonna 100% that is there's nothing better I'm in I'm so and then it's just actioning it because I know how valuable that curation is that he's bringing together. And yeah, what I'm going to how I'm going to walk away from that vibrationally the opportunities that are going to unlock the people that are going to be attracted to that. And I, you need a certain amount of that energy as an entrepreneur to to be surrounded with people that are into mission based work and outdoor activities. So it was just a no brainer. As I would like to you know, I was like, this is a very easy to make this decision.
I love that reference to animal spirits or animal instincts, because you're right, when we think about an animal, like I think about walking my dog, the moment she smells something that could be food, she'll dart off, right. And it is very much like she's in distractible. And that's the same a little bit with entrepreneurs, it's like, we see an idea or we hear about somebody who we want to meet. And sometimes it's just like, okay, drop everything and just figure out how to get there. Because you just have this intuition or this knowing, or a good feeling that there's something in that room for me. So I should get myself there. But it also takes a lot of trust, because you could show up in these spaces, or you could say yes to something that comes with a level of risk. And it doesn't always work out. But again, it's an animal instinct of like, I need to follow this. And I can't let it go unless I do. So I think that's really really neat.
Some incredible things in there. And I think like knowing the feelings in your body is important to like that that comfortability be like, like the dog like they they sense that they're hungry. My body senses that I'm attracted to this, you know, we let it happen in love. Ya know, where we have to go to find if we're seeking love a place to go or, you know, a feeling that we're feeling in our bodies as a result of someone. The same is very true business. And if you get aware of with your body at a deeper sense and develop a deeper relationship with that it can navigate you. Gives you to those right decisions. Yeah, so Yeah,
somebody needs to write an entire book and like do a PhD on that, but in between animal instincts and entrepreneurs. So
we should all look it up after this podcast, I'm sure, yes.
Now, a lot of our listeners are in the early stages of starting their business and to them if they got invited on a retreat that was going to cost them 1000s of dollars require a plane ride to a different country, their immediate reaction would be, I don't have the money. I don't have the time. I'm curious, what would you say to someone like that, who hasn't yet experienced the magic of getting out of their office getting out of their own brain? And getting into a room and networking and relationship building? Why is that important? Whether it's to you or to someone you're talking to?
Well, I think if the pursuit while we're here on this planet earth in this life is to get to know ourselves and to be of service to people and to explore and taste and touch and feel this experience is guaranteed to lead to personal, professional and spiritual growth. And not every retreat is for you. Again, we come back to that what is the right retreat for you? What is the right experience for you, right is the right risk for you. That you trust yourself with to Yeah, I can do that. Right? When you're standing on a mountain bike and you're looking down a rock? Well, you and I both mountain bike, we have to know our level. Generally, we have to know our feelings that day. Sometimes I can go down big rock faces. And some days I am like not today. And whether it was the beginning of the ride, whether it was how comfortable I'm feeling what it is, whether it's the weather conditions, I'm deciding as an athlete, what I can take on based on my knowledge of what I have and what I'll enjoy. And I think we can apply I love using sports analogies because they're so tangible and like love we do that. But with business. It's very like for people it's very intangible, but it's it's really the same. So I'd say what do you know you're going to enjoy? seek that out. And the investment. And I know it doesn't sometimes feel like it but the payout is continuous in perpetuity forever. So take that into consideration. It's not a one or done we're we're here because of Utah. Ryan from Utah is coming to visit me because I went to that retreat in Utah. Brand and I are co collaborating are probably the partner on some, you know, because of Utah. Mm hmm. I learned so and that's still playing out. So the investment even if it was it was Not a big investment is under $2,000. And that might seem like a lot, but again, ground truth it, okay. You know, I have like four relationships that are playing in my business and personal lives in perpetuity without worth, I got to see Utah and flay and stay in this massive curiosity, beautiful house and get food and like adventure with people that are vibing with me that for months, I can still tap into that feeling. What is that worth? I can compare it to things that you pay for. Okay, so, you know, I don't know, how much do you pay for therapy? How much do you pay for your gym membership? How much did you buy a monitor? Did you buy a peloton?
Do you go for you know, what do you invest in? And what return does it give you and start to notice that and recognize when opportunities come your way that will improve your personal professional and spiritual health or your vision or your mission and know that and just break down the cost? If it wasn't what I start to see the world in value. Now I don't even see the upfront cost. Yeah, I think when I'm buying a coat, okay, this coat $150, I'm obsessed with it. But I'm only going to probably pull it out on weddings. Okay, that code is a very different price than like this coats like 250 bucks, but I can wear it every single day in winter. And it will literally even be my winter jacket, that coats like a buck a day, this coat 150 bucks to wear or whatever that. So I think people in society need to learn how to do these value based equations to both invest in themselves to start businesses even just to recognize the value of something that it provides them.This is such an interesting topic. And I love this idea of price versus value. And even thinking about your previous life, which was working as I believe it was an investment banker, right? Or an economist or both. Okay, so can you transport yourself back to your career path did you feel you're being properly valued in that chapter of your life, so to kind of crack that conversation open, because a lot of people listening are in that corporate world, their salary is defined their work hours and constraints are defined. And I think they hit a point at some, at some point along the journey where they feel like they've grown but the value is not being recognized within their current career path. And then they start to feel like they have to break out and find something different. Can you take yourself back to that chapter of your life? And like, what was it that made you kind of break free from investment banking and working as an economist? Was it that you weren't feeling like you were getting the value out of that career path? Or that you weren't being valued?
Yeah, excellent question. So my Yeah, my career path started right after my finance degree with an experience of investment banking, and working to trade stocks and build portfolios. And what I first started, that was my first kind of job. And I managed a fund at my university, so felt equipped to do that. But my first job was this this role that I had went to school for. And I, I'm like, I am so curious, I really love to learn I was a kid that was like asking for homework and like, can I please take more classes and like, had to ask the Dean permission to take seven classes instead of five and like, so simple. Any experience that I am delivered, even if it's, I will find the interesting parts to learn about it. As I've aged, I've learned, again, the value of like having that and things that are more in alignment. And again, that takes knowing yourself so I started to recognize that in the investment banking space, despite learning everything, the way they made decisions was fundamentally out of alignment with me. And I started to recognize the culture of this industry, which is profit driven 100% Yeah. And there and it's, it's I was one of the only females on the team and, and I always have been in male dominated industries, and I actually love it, I will fully use it to my competitive advantage. And I love working with men in a lot of ways. But I Yeah, there was a missing feminine element for sure in that culture that did not align and then yeah, the decisions that they were making never like I started to bring up questions like, How does this impact that economy? If we trade that much of a commodity, it literally could fundamentally change the price of something that could impact a country like these companies trade on billions of dollars and they move money? Yep. And they do not have flate their decisions with the impact that is happening on a global scale environmentally socially, within the systems, they don't consider investing in companies that are more in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, because they don't even know what the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are. And I found that shocking as like you're trading billions of dollars regularly. And you don't know what the the governance of all countries is suggesting, you're literally investing into companies that are going in out of alignment with the sustainable development as you're providing resources. For a company that is not environmentally sound that is not treating their workers, right, that still has child labor that is polluting over developing countries, that is like not adjusting to what is wrong. And you're not questioning it, because you're not even looking at that you're looking at the price earnings ratios and all these quantitative linear facts to make these decisions. And I was like, and I want people to recognize that in their corporate careers. If your job is out of alignment with your heart and your soul and your body, there's just no good. There's just you're just you got to get out, you got to get out. Nothing's worth it.
For people to feel that it's very common.
Why put your WHY would you work for something you're fundamentally out of alignment with, I can't put my time and energy and effort into anything that my goes against my like skin, the mistreatment of animals, the mistreatment of children, the mistreatment of nature? That is not okay for me, in any circumstance to child labor. I'm just like, how does that still exist? You know, how was it allowed that we can go and I'm going on a bit of a tangent, but I just want you to like vibe into what your company does. And do you support it? Yeah. Because you're putting your everything your lifeforce into it. Yep. So I started to recognize that and I started to recognize that the company wasn't even open to have the conversation. And I was like, nope, nope, this is wrong. And the Bloomberg terminal in which millions all like majority of trades are made through you place your trades on this big terminal that keeps all the stats of the stocks, does not highlight the difference which companies are environmental or so this social indicators seem to those soft skills that are actually fundamentally so important. They, again, just you're looking at numbers and moving things that don't mean anything are unattached.
So I just was like, I can't do this. I love the idea of putting money towards an idea and growing it, I do not like the money of not looking at that that's in alignment with where we want to go as society. So it was easy for me to leave that job. It took, you know, like, yeah, like 16 months, because I was interested in learning. I like to kind of figure it out. I was trying to develop a voice. I was trying to show the stats using I'm not a hippie, and I hated that. They told me that I was like, This is pure math, this pure economics. This is the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are not hippie. Yeah, are a bunch of nations coming together to look aggregate look at what the conditions are, you know, and I just wasn't heard. So if your voice is also not being heard, you're never you're not going to be able to practice it. And it's it's going to, it's going to dim you. And that's not worth it.It's not.
It's not hard to find a way to make money. I know it's so scary. Sometimes when you've been delivered a paycheck, I really get how safe the regular paycheck is more than ever, because I'm an entrepreneur and have it's not a linear, you don't get a paycheck like regularly for a while or it's you know, you have seasons, or you have launches that are big that feed you for like four months. And you don't have to go all in. But yeah, is that paycheck worth it? Again, let's look at the value to get something that is out of alignment with your values, that is not serving your voice where you're not being heard where you're not developing. You know? Yeah, can't even my stomach makes me it's like stay in a bad relationship. I'm like, No, this is not worth it.
So is this when you decided to boldly quit and take what you call a year on? Is that what happens next? And if so, could you explain a little bit more about how you made that decision? And what a year on actually is?
Yeah, no, I wish I was that brave. At that point. I was still too young. I still had to go back to the corporate world a few times to figure that out to go on my own. I didn't I was not equipped with the knowledge yet. So after that, I went back and actually did my Master's in economics. I was like, finance is great.
But I read what I want to round this out. And Economics is the study of economic, environmental and social indicators at play, it included that sphere that I was seeking investment space, and went through that loved it. I had an incredible time as like Utah, but for a year, just like, fell in love with all my classmates, and found people that saw it like I did, you know, on an aggregate scale, and embedding environmental and social indicators and thinking money is important, and all of it can be done. And then came the decision that I tested going out, they offered us a bunch of jobs while we were there, and like, none of them sounded fun. Sounds like kind of boring. And I was like, classmates, like, we're so smart. We have so much fun hanging out, we do really go could things. Possibly do you think we could get a contract if we applied and gathered our knowledge together and applied to some of these RFPs? And do it our way? Yeah. And that conversation turned into a company called doing economics that works. So that was my first and that was? does? Yeah, there's my first like, creation, recognizing what I have around me to work with. Yes. And that that was possible having the thought like, why couldn't we apply to these RFPs? Yeah, we're inexperienced, but we're masters and economic student, we can price ourselves and maybe get a leg and we've got a variety of people that have got the energy. Let's try and do like, three classmates join me we applied to our first contract is $35,000. Like the most amount of money I've like ever seen. And we got it. That's like, so cool. Yeah. And then so all our classmates watch that happen. And we had so much fun with it, because we answered the proposal, how we would do it I can do in economics differently, doing economics that works. And went through it how to had a heck of a time I had more students join us applied for another proposal. Yeah, this time a little bit bigger. We want it. And I was like, No way like, okay, cool like that. You really do need that validation. And, and if you apply yourself like I knew when we produced the proposal, it was good. Yeah. I just felt I was like, This is good work. We just came out of school, we were like super eager, I can see how it could stick out in a pile of like, templated proposals, people take a chance on us. Yep. So that was really cool. And that gave me confidence, right. And you can do this on the side of your desk, there are people on our team that worked and came and did this on the side, they applied to a proposal, something that spoke to their heart, wrote up a plan and submitted it. That's what it was, and then we got paid for it. So that was really powerful. And then I got recruited to work at an intern that was called the International Institute for Sustainable Development. And it was an organization that was doing sustainable development work on an international scale, something that I could not get by myself, I wouldn't be able to step into that. And I know that I have limits, like I can't just be international, you know, and go work on policies outside of my jurisdiction, because I don't study I thought I was like, this is a great opportunity. We're gonna keep doing economics that works going just we the company was will apply to contracts when they speak to us, and if we pull from our Economist group, to work on them, and we can keep doing that on the side, I couldn't say notice opportunity and ended up working there for five years and got so much knowledge about how a company works. And yeah, how the world works, how policy works, and governance works and environmental systems works and grants work and governments. And that kept me curious for five years, like I was really into this experience, and got to travel and got to sit at the Climate Change negotiation tables and see what happened between developing countries and developed countries, and see the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals get produced and how they're edited and audit and where they come from. And it was fascinating, and I just like, develop so much, personally and professionally. And again, it was an alignment with me. But then I started to notice that their solution, the way that they tackle these problems through policy, was not working and couldn't be dismantled. Yeah. And I didn't know that I was green to that. I was like, I didn't know that you could work on a policy for three years and then a change in government happens and it gets dismantled. Of course it can but I never saw it happen in my career. And I didn't experience it and I didn't understand that someone just because they feel like something shouldn't be there could just negate stats and science and those things and I got crushed, because I'm like a rose colored glass girl live in a world that's not rose colored all the time. So and I kept seeing this happen And then I kept seeing the struggles to push a policy through like three years were lucky dia to push something that needs to be happened five years ago that's too slow. And I started to become knowledgeable about the statistics that I was reading about the environment. And the action that we needed to take to stay in alignment with the planetary boundaries. was not going to happen if policy like it was not, if we want to achieve this goal, this this way of doing it is not going to do it, it takes too long. So I was starting to get frustrated. And I was like, getting all like, this feels like I'm hitting my head against the wall.
Like I'm working now I'm putting my time, energy and effort towards a solution that I'm like, that's not gonna work. Yeah, I was starting to get jaded. And then, at the time, I was like, huge couch surfer. I like couch surfing on a bunch of these people's couches, like love this economy. But again, I was like this thing should be paid. And I had stumbled on Airbnb. And this is what made me quit my job. You know, it's a tangent. But I discovered this platform called Airbnb while I was working at my company and was like, this company is going to change the world. This is insane. This is probably going to create more environmental benefit. And the policy I'm working on right now. This is only going to turn a bunch of people into entrepreneurs, this is going to scale internationally, this is going to catch and that was my immediate thought. And I was like, who, who frickin made this thing? Like I shouldn't. I was talking about monetizing couchsurfing for a year who got this like, right? I look up and it's the three founders of Airbnb, Brian, Joe, and I always forget the last man's name. But I was and they were my age. And they just had an idea. And they raised money. And they built it. And within like six months it was launched and scale or you know, like behind the scenes, like five years. But you know, they didn't have to apply to the government for permission. Yep. To launch an idea. And I was like, This is so creative. And I fundamentally was like, environmentally, this is going to have a profound impact in such a cool way. Yeah. And then everything I was working on became like uninteresting in comparison to this solution. This tech this marketplace. I was like, oh my god, I can't believe you have to submit stuff to the government. Yeah. And I was like, I need to jump. I need to be in this world. I know I need to be in this world. It goes fast. You get to create, they're successful. They're creating impact. It's going to be economical, social and environmental. It hits all my my boxes without the admin of government and telling me no, it's they got they don't no one's gonna tell them no, until a certain point, whatever. Yeah. So I was like, Okay, how do I get from economist to tech founder, I was like, that's a different world, what do I do, and I decided that I was going to quit my job. And I had like, $30,000 in savings, you know, and that's not hard to do. When you're getting paid, I wasn't even getting paid that much like, you know, 70k 75k. So I just like grab money every month and pool it. And I always just save money for creation, for personal development for the ability to go on a retreat, to just be able to sign I was like, that's about the same as my masters was 35k. quit my job, give myself a year of Max tuition, Max University. I got $35,000 for a year to study whatever I study. So let's go I went to university for seven years, like what if I made up my own university, and figured out the transition to go from economist to tech and like, played with every tech tool that was out there every marketplace, like study these Airbnb founder stories, listen to how I built this and develop a curriculum for this year to make this transition. So that's what I did.So badass, and you know, I wish more people would give themselves that permission to take a leap. It's like we don't hesitate necessarily, to go back to school. But to make a leap from a more structured corporate job, or something that's a bit more steady and stable, to say, you know, what, I kind of want to get into entrepreneurship or something that is more expansive, to actually give yourself the budget and the time allotment and to say, I could learn so much by making a curriculum for myself. And what's really neat is that for you, it started with the three founders of Airbnb acting as expanders for you showing you that it was possible and I think what's also important to note there is that it's not like these three guys were your best friends. It's not like you were in proximity to them, but you can still leverage their story and what success they had to say that just expanded Something in me. And if they can do it, so can I, and maybe what skills are missing between me where I am now and me who could become a multimillion dollar founder, and then you built yourself that curriculum, and said, I'm just going to take a chance and see if this year on can actually get me one step closer to this vision I have of creating something in the realm of Airbnb. So when did the idea for pick my brain actually come? Like? Did you just wake up one night and say, That's it? I got it, like, start to paint a picture for the person's like, who's watching you saying, Okay, so now she runs pick my brain? Great. How did that year on support you and getting clear on an idea? And eventually what were those first few steps you took to bring? pick my brain to life?
I love how you frame questions. Kelsey. Also, I just want to point out how important something that you said is again to drawing on the stories and the experience of others as ammunition and you know, fuel and energy and belief because you don't need to know someone you can draw on they their story totally impacted me and gave me a map a first map. That was possible. Yeah, exactly. They updated it and I was like them I was a university kid is super passionate that just like you know, would go and live somewhere and have someone strangers stay at my house. I do that and I do it. They do. Yeah. Yeah, grounded it for me. So yeah, super important to just spill even if you're not ready to make the jump, jump. Fill your mind and your time with stories listening to this podcast, Kelsey interviewing, Bill your mind envision with that energy, because it's definitely a starting point. So I just wanted to point that out. So yeah, what is how did this year on I did not come up with the idea. Not until like eight months in. And then I had four months and I had like, got impregnated with this idea of pick my brain, which I'll get. I did. It was a full birthday. It was full birth, I was I woke up my partner when I got the idea. I was like, I need you to recognize that this is like me telling you I'm pregnant. Like I'm pregnant, but with an idea that will be a baby. Did this
actually happened in the middle of the night? Like, were you literally like you woke yourself or you're not going to sleep? And you said I think I got it like
Yeah, and it was a little bit of a progression. Like we had talked about it in the car and like something happened. And I like couldn't stop thinking about it. And then I went to bed and then I just started sketching and I couldn't sleep. And I was like, This is it. This is it. This is my sleep. And yeah, and then it came like it was like iterative. And the whole year on I can see how it built into it and gave me the space to find it. But I did wake him up at like four in the morning. I was like I am just so pregnant.
So good. I love that.
So then, and then from that day on, I had worked on pick my brain now for six plus years from that original incubation idea, I dedicated my life to that idea. Just like I would a baby. I was like I want this thing to live and breathe and be in existence. And I want to nurture and I want to get to know it and I want to raise it. I'm so passionate about this existing bringing this to life. So yeah, but ya know, it took eight months and how I had started thinking about okay, you know, let's I want you guys to take a minute to think about if you made yourself a university today for a year, you gave yourself one year to study whatever you wanted, experience whatever you wanted. You know, spend time wherever you wanted, what comes out? And that's a very, that's very interesting exercise to go through. Yeah. And it would share a lot. And maybe it would share that you need to find that those answers out. Maybe it would share that you know exactly what you'd spend a year doing. You know, and maybe you can get creative so I got started to get creative with this. I like servers, I started writing it out like a university timetable. I was like, Okay, I have semesters because that was what I knew. You know, I was like, I have semesters, I'm gonna need some classes, I need some themes. And so I started like in my journal, like drawing all these out. And then I started to sketch out like things I wanted to do. I was like, I want to drive across Canada, and go meet all of my economist friends and see what they're doing and tap into what they're up to and what their decision making power is now and go see where this network my network is that I was like, I feel like it's important. I want to drive across Canada to just feel that and I want to camp while I go. So I can slowly do it. And this hit a few things slow down, invest in your network, discover where you live and who you are. You know, I had those as like kind of themes and I was like this trip and I again outside the box that university never gave me experiences like that. It was like anthropology 101 economist one have to do the economist to do but so I was like, Okay, that was interesting. I was like, what else do I want to do? And I knew I wanted to onboard into every marketplace that existed, right? And I really what fundamentally, like captured me with Airbnb was the marketplace economics that existed behind the model and the environmental, social and economic benefits that it unlocked, which was totally in alignment with all of my career that I was looking for. I was always looking for the combination of those things. So I was like, Okay, well, I have to spend a certain amount of time digging in and researching marketplaces that exists in technology if Airbnb like Airbnb built this thing that allows you to bet pay for anyone. And I was, like I said, a couch surfer before I stayed on hundreds of coaching. And they built tech to enable free surfing. And so I got to compare free experience and onboarding and things and then go over to pick my brain or Airbnb and pay, right and I had my house on both. And I was experiencing it from a host perspective and a demands perspective. So part of my university schedule is like, dive into this problem. You want to make a transition from economist to tech, start studying tech, or start a founder. So I put in my schedule, certain amount of time in my calendar to explore like one marketplace every two weeks, onboard myself into notice how it worked. So I did that I also Coursera and Udemy and Udacity. Were just coming out that that that that time, and I was like, Okay, gotta get on the future of education. What is this. So I also was like, take two classes that speak to you from each of these sites and compare that experience and tap into where the future of education is going. Yeah. And I gravitated towards these data science classes that allowed me to like look at a giant data set and call answers, and a few creative classes about how to design a website. And I, you know, that allowed me to tap into the future of education, which I think was important.
And it got me to play with a different form of education, which I think was important. It got me to judge and have an opinion about the level of quality in comparison to my masters in my undergrad. So I had a metric to kind of compare it that was a class that was beautiful that I put in my university schedule, it fed me a lot taking those Udemy Udacity and Coursera courses. Yeah, I knew that in my job, I had all these books and articles I wanted to read to make me a better economist, but my job did not allow me the time to read them. And I found that such a contradiction. And I remember advocating in my office, there should be a thinking, like I should be able to consult my hours for thinking and reading. Because if you put me on a project on an international, which I did i This is out of alignment, my job like go work on this project from Kenya. I was like, No, I've never been to Kenya. Don't put me on a project that I've never I don't even know the President. I don't know how the governance works. No, not a chance. And I get mad that that's actually sometimes how the United Nations these companies work too. I'm like, That's not in alignment with me. Yeah. And I didn't have time to read these books. And I had like, develop this collection of books. And I was like, okay, in my year on I really want to read I really want to take time to read these books. I never had time to upgrade my knowledge. So I was like, Okay, what if I fly to Maui somewhere warm? It was winter in Canada. drive across Canada. What am I going to Maui for a month and then my entire job is just to read. That's it. And you know what, it was cheaper for me to fly to Maui. And we did two weeks in an Airbnb two weeks in a campervan. And two weeks in another hostel type situation. It was cheaper than one month of rent in Kingston. Because we got a flight, it was like four we got a return flight to Maui for foreigner bucks, which is crazy. And I think we stayed like spent like, yeah, 1200 on accommodation, and our rent was like 1800. And I was like so we could either live in Kingston, or we could go to Maui, and we didn't have a lease so we could do that. So my partner and I flew to Maui for a month that was scheduled in the university costs to read books. I made a list of 12 books that I thought I could read in a month. He made a list of 12 We literally excelled it counted the pages because it was our job to go to Maui and read. Yeah, and morning lunch and dinner. And we put some activities in there, of course, but our job was to read and it was so wonderful because he was reading his set. I was reading mine and we'd like exchange what we were reading. Cool. And so then we got to like yeah, like upgrade our knowledge and like, and I was like What books do I Want to read if I have total open availability like university, I have to read these certain books. But like if I get to choose what another interesting activity for me to prioritize the 12. And that's an another amazing exercise you can do as a person, what books and articles do you want to read to reach the next level of yourself right now?That's like the most expansive question that we could possibly ask ourselves, especially anytime you feel stuck or unhappy or unfulfilled for multiple days in your life, like you said something 10 minutes ago saying, if you could study whatever you wanted, for a week, month, a year, what would that be? And my guess is that a lot of people will hear that question and go, I have no freaking clue. Because I haven't given myself the space, or the allowance in my brain to think outside of my current reality. So if somebody's working in a profession, and they've been doing so for 20 years, yeah, they may not even know like, if I had all the time, money and energy in the world and sent myself to Maui, what would I consume? Yeah, that's, it's almost scary to hold. Yeah, that means that you have limitless possibility, you can create anything you want in this lifetime. But you have to give yourself the space, to dream and to ask the deeper questions. And to be curious about who you are beyond your current circumstances, which is terrifying.
I'm so accurate, and so true, it is so scary. And it's scary, that it's scary. And it and I feel like people would put so much pressure on themselves that they wouldn't even do it. And I'm like, You guys, this can be flexible, and like your list can change. And it can be different next year, and it can. But yeah, we do not create enough space for ourselves to think about what our reading list would be. Or if we had a year to create our own school, what we'd invest in ourselves, like, what do we want to learn? How do we want to grow? I am so sad that we don't have enough space to explore that. And work really kept me from exploring that in some ways. In some ways, I got to really explore myself through my work at the at the companies but yeah, I don't, I didn't have the space ever to think about what I wanted to work on. Yeah, that is really significant. This year that I took on this year on, I want to come back someday and create a career it was so it was so valuable, Kelsey, like, fundamentally, to feel that much space and to feel that I was okay financially. And I lived I did this whole year on less than $30,000 in credit. So like, would you take $30,000 to explore a year of your life and whatever way you wanted, like, I hope you make that a goal of yourself at some point before you die. Hmm. So Right. Yeah. 100% like, and maybe I'll you know, create a course for you don't have to do it next year. But dream about it. Put $30,000 on a budget down and get crafty with it. I was super crafty about it, too. Like I drove and camped across Canada for a month. Yeah. Cost me $700 in gas. And like, you know, it was very affordable as always less than my rent. And I was like, wow, people don't even know how affordable it is to be so expensive. Yeah. They're so worried that it's going to cost so much money. And I'm like, No, it just takes a little bit of planning, like you would plan a wedding or you plan going to school or you'd plan a vacation or you plan on having a kid. It all costs money. But for whatever reason, we think, yeah, are these other things are out of alignment in terms of the barriers cost? And like, no, it's actually really cheap, too. And, again, what I got to do, I got to drive across Canada, I got to go to Maui, I got to like, find the future of education. I got to read all these books, I got to like, connect with my network. I got to like, babysit my sister for a month when my mom went to Europe. And that was special. And all of these things. gave me this like, yeah, and it allowed me to become like who I loved. Yeah, I fell. So in love of myself. I was like this is so fun and frean and again led to the creation of pick my brain which is yeah now officially a $15 million valuation company and going to be far more and is touching a lot of people and it's something that I want to work on until I die until I take my last breath like I wouldn't. What is that worth everything to me? I will fight for that Nirvana forever. Because I know it's possible. So anyways. Yeah, creating just even as an inspiration, even if you start sketching what you would do in a year if it was all for you, is empowering. You don't even have to actually just think about it.
Yeah, and honestly, what kept circulating in my brain is 30,000 to spend a year on is not expensive, but Buying yourself out of misery that you've trapped yourself in. That's expensive. Because you're investing in things that just add bandaid solutions. Like you're over consuming alcohol, you're buying new cars, because you're bored. You're online shopping. I'm like, That's expensive. Like you're saying, I fell in love with myself. That is, you know, 30,000 to fall in love with yourself for the rest of your life and to create a massive company out of it. Yeah. I think that's the best return on investment ever. So Whoa, right?
And way more it's given me like, you know, the count, like user education as a proxy, it has returned more financially than my degrees, I'd say at that point. Yeah. But yeah, totally agree.
So as we wrap up here, I want to know, what are some of the milestones that you are so proud of, in these past few years of building pick my brain? What are some of the moments that have been kind of surreal, whether they're small, or big, kind of walk us through a few of those, just like celebratory moments that you want to share with us today? Yeah,
um, okay. So biggest milestones that come to mind in this pursuit of building pick my brain was the first time I tested the offer, or this idea that people would pay to connect with certain people to have a, an experience a conversation, and it validating and people paying me $50 For this coffee and conversation, my very first offer was a milestone, and again, confirmed that I could attract whatever I wanted towards me with an offer, which included a title, a description and a price. And I was like, whoa. And so I went entered into this, I can create revenue streams doing again, something I designed and love, that's nuts. So that was super empowering. You know, building that up till I hit my $100,000 making my own revenue streams. That took me a while, but I figured it out. I like hosted workshops and classes and programs, anything I like desired to my community was just like, do you want to do this with me? And it was like, No, this is possible. And I needed that much validation before I was like, I'm going to teach other people how to do this. Yeah. And I saw that, you know, and so when I got to teach other people, and they showed up, and they, they wanted to do this, I was like, okay, that's something the first person that invest in me was a real milestone and changed my entire outlook and being like, this is an investable idea. You know, I I knew Airbnb got funding, but when I was studying them, they had just gone to Y Combinator, this accelerator and started and I just never really thought of like asking someone for a check. And then when I got when someone said, I'd like to invest, it changed my perspective. And that was a whole milestone. And that led us to raising $750,000, something I never thought I could do. That was crazy. And now we're raising 3 million right now. And I'm like, I wonder if I can do this one, like, we'll see. Like, I'm just gonna try to go ask, you know. So that was a real milestone of hiring and having these incredible people want to work with me, has been and will continuously be a milestone, it is life giving to have someone want to work on your idea. It's just crazy. And then the community, of course, you know, meeting people from all around the world because of what pick my brain does, which is like, facilitates conversation between people in this deep way. You know, I got to do that as a living. And my network is global. And my perspective is very rich, and my relationship health indicators super high. And so the milestone of like, myself having over 1000 conversations through the platform and recognizing what that has opened up, I'm super proud about Yeah, and then just how big the dream has gotten and it is a grind, you know, for sure, but like, I am happy to grind on my vision. Like that's what I want to grind out. I don't want to write down other things. So yeah, just like again, like the year on gave me the space to create working on pick my brain was such focus, and seeing the investment come in the people that want to work on it in the community form it has allowed me to dream even bigger. And so a milestone of like, yeah, like truly believing we can unlock an entirely new economy I'm proud of and the conversations we're having with organizations that want on board and the CEOs that I'm in the room with is like amazing, which is a milestone. So again, just like the Iran it was going to be a win win win either way as like, okay, so worst case scenario, nothing happens after is it still worth 33 In order to do all these things, absolutely, yes. You know, yes, absolutely. Even if you top I didn't talk with anyone after it was an absolute Yes. Because the entire time of the week and I was like, this is high level work. Mm hmm. So yeah, it's it's a combination answer, just like I always look for the environmental, economic and social impacts, it has been a personal professional and spiritual expansion. Unbelievable. And I knew it always would, because I'm working on something that I created.
Hmm. Oh, my God, so many things to celebrate there. And I know you have such a huge vision that you're pushing forward to. And I one thing that you said that I've never heard anyone say is like, it never feels like a grind when you're working on your vision, right? Because you and I stayed together. And I saw you taking calls at 10 at night, 11 at night. And I'm like, she's not even bothered by this, because this is what you are meant to bring to life. And it's just like, it radiates so deeply within your soul, that taking a late night call doesn't feel like anything. And I feel that way about showing up to work to like, I don't care if I have to do something early or stay late. Or if I want to just be immersed in editing a podcast for six hours, because I'm so damn inspired. Who cares? When it feels that good? You just let it flow, right. And I really saw that in you and staying with you just for a few short days. I'm like, she's not bothered by this 11pm Call in the slightest when it's your vision, you will hustle, but it doesn't feel like a
hustle. So really love it. Perfect summary.
So if somebody wants to connect with you, as a founder, if they want to learn more about how they can be part of pick my brain and the communities that you've pulled together, where are the best places for them to come find you? Yeah,
for sure. Check out pick my brain dot world, go browse the brains, we've got 1000s of people from over 88 countries who are just open to connect and share. And you can just ask them one question that will give you energy and I just say just go ask one person, like how did you get to where you are? Yeah, sit in it, sit in it. It's really, really powerful. You will have insights, you will gain courage, you will get energy you will expand your network. So always go to pick my brain, I challenge you to go have one to 10 conversations. If you're new those like Yeah, I think if I challenged the entire world to have 10 conversations a year with people who they're just gravitated towards, they want to learn more. We live in a different world. The Empathy, the perspective, the opportunities that unlock from having 10 intentional conversations here will fundamentally change your life. And really everyone can do that. So I just would encourage you to challenge yourself to do that. And know that there's 1000s of people and pick my brain that you can do that with. So go check out pick my brain. If you ever want to have a conversation with me or discuss an opportunity, you can find my profile and forever always connect. And then the regularly Yeah, we post somewhat regularly on LinkedIn, and Instagram ish, we're going to be doing more in 2024. But yeah, I think and then if you become a brain, if you want to sign up to join the community, start a profile. And that means that you're building a profile that asks you questions of who you are and who you want to be of service to and what you want to learn more about. And once you're in our system, you will get invites to community events. And we'll be able to support you connecting with people who might help you on this personal professional pursuit that you're on.
Incredible, we will link all of that in the show notes. And I would encourage people to come check out whether they want to pick a brain or be a brain, I'm sure everybody listening could benefit from one or the other. And to you know, consider if you can't take a year on just have 10 conversations like Max challenged you to that could be the start of something really, really meaningful in your life. So thank you so much for sharing your journey, your story, all that delicious wisdom on the visionary life podcast, and we cannot wait to follow along for the future. So thank you, Max.
Thank you so much for listening, I
had to interrupt this episode to let you know that over on the visionary Life Blog, we have created so many free resources for you to help you live your best life to stay motivated as an entrepreneur and to dial in your marketing strategy. Right now, if you head over to Kelseyreil.com/blog. You can access free content like marketing strategies for you to test in the next 12 months that don't cost a penny. And that actually works. We have a blog on how to track important SEO metrics and to monitor your traffic to see if you're ranking on Google. We have something called the 10 essential elements of writing a blog post If you don't want to miss that one, we talked about five easy ways to grow your coaching business 10 marketing strategies to attract more clients and exceptional women owned small businesses that you don't want to miss out on. So there's so much content head over to Kelseyreidl.com/blog. Pick one to start with and let me know which one resonates with you. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of visionary life. I love bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis. So it would mean so much to me. If you could help me out by rating and reviewing the show on either iTunes or Spotify. It just takes a second. And if you don't want to rate the show, you can also just take a screenshot of the episode and share it on your social media platform of choice. tagging me at healthy rivals. I'll catch you in the next episode.
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