Episode 15: Kara Schug | Empower Change to Master Success

Wow. You are absolutely gonna be blown away by this next episode. We just met with Kara Shug, who's a transformational coach, podcast host, and keynote speaker who's turned her journey from extreme poverty to extraordinary success into a mission of empowering others. Creator of think your way to an epic life podcast, she's helped hundreds of professionals break through their limitations by mastering mindset and personal development.

From surviving a challenging childhood to becoming a successful coach and business owner, Cara's dedicated her life to helping people transform their biggest obstacles into their greatest opportunities. Working with top development experts and spoken at thousands, she brings practical proven strategies for creating radical personal change.

Her philosophy is simple. The person you can help is the person you used to be. So definitely excited to share Cara with you today.

Hi there, and welcome to the power up your life podcast brought to you by GoBundance Women. I am Kelly Resendez.

And I'm Mandy McAllister.

And we are so excited and blessed to have Kara here with us today. Kara, welcome, and would just love for you to share a little bit about your journey.

Thank you so much for having me. I have nothing but respect for GoBundance. And I'm so grateful to you all who have been on my podcast several times.

I started in real estate in 2002 with Coldwell Banker, kind of fighting and kicking, saying, no, I don't want to be a realtor and like, no, no, no. However, it was exactly what I was supposed to be doing. I was with Coldwell Banker for nine years and did really well. I didn't come out of the gate really well because I was fighting it, but did really well in real estate.

Bought a REMAX in 2011, had that for nine years, and then was recruited to Keller Williams to be a coach. And that's where my heart is big time.

Oh, so you're in coaching now. That's awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Would you say, you know, just kinda digging in a little bit, like, your wisdom over your entire career of really, like, building a business. Like, what really sticks out to you as, like, the core foundation for what somebody needs to be able to create success in their business?

You know, I would say relationships are the number one most important thing and the most important relationship that you have by far. And it sounds ridiculous, but it's you. It's your relationship with yourself and you have to get to know who you are. You have to be able to count on yourself, which which takes a lot of work.

Oh my goodness.

Yes. The we say a lot that you can't scale your net worth beyond your self worth. I so completely agree with what you're saying.

So so many of our members, all of our members, and so many of our listeners are, you know, trying to fit in all of the things. They're they're moms, they're business owners, and they want to scale without the burnout and without the the, you know, the making it too hard or having to give anything up.

I'm curious for you. What are some things that, you know, you really pay attention to just actionably to to scale a business?

You know, the number one thing is, again, is relationships. And as a leader, if you are a servant leader, your people will do anything for you. They will go to the mats, as the guys would say. I'll go to the mats for you, which, you know, wouldn't do much good for me to go to the mats. But but I would do it. I would do it for you.

And if people feel that from you and they feel that they're being taken care of, they feel that they're respected, they feel like they're part of something that's bigger than themselves, the stress on you as a leader is reduced massively.

I think that's the hardest part about building a business by far is is the people, is getting people that are ready, willing, and able to do the job that is necessary.

Yeah. For sure. And what would you say, like, if you were gonna give somebody, like, tips on building influence? Right? So, yes, relationships are super important. Being a servant leader, wildly important, but, like, how do you build that level of influence where you are attracting in the these people that are important relationships in your life?

You know, it I'm going really old school here. Read, think, not think and grow rich. How to win friends and influence people. Thank you. Dale Carnegie. Yes. Yeah. How to win friends and influence people and and apply that. It is so important. And when you're building these relationships, you can't be building them thinking I'm gonna get something out of you. If I'm if I'm really nice to you, Mandy, then I'm gonna get something out of you. Mandy's gonna feel that big time, and so will everyone else.

And so if you really go through your life and and you apply what you learn in that book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, be really interested in other people. Don't and heal yourself. Yeah. When you heal your own ego and you let go of all those saboteurs, have you ladies read, positive intelligence? No. Not yet. Oh, you're gonna love me. I mean, telling you, it is amazing. Not that you don't already, but but but seriously, you can take you can go on, you can just Google. Everybody listening, you can go Google positive intelligence saboteur test, and it's really quick. It it's really a quick test, and it will tell you what is holding you back. It will tell you very, very clearly that you're a people pleaser, and you get scores on all these different things.

And that is, that has to be healed. Because if you have these things, you gotta understand, we are a 100%, we've got a 100% of our brain. We're using five to 10% of it, and that's what we generally coach to, is the five to 10%. When you can coach to the whole person, the 95% or the 90% depending on different experts say different things about our brain. But if you can coach the subconscious and you can heal yourself, people are naturally attracted to you. You don't have to try.

And when people are trying, you feel it. It's it's like, oh, you're my friend. Oh, Kelly. What can we and and you're going, lady, you don't care about me. I can feel it all the way through my bones. And so that's what it's about is getting right with yourself.

No. There's a definite ick factor associated with the trying too hard or that taker energy. You know? I I so firmly believe that. You know?

One thing that, while scaling, everybody gets stuck somewhere. And I think you're in this really unique position that, you know, number one, we first bonded over Tony Robbins training being our gateway drug to this personal development stuff, but you also have been a coach to many, many high performers.

I'm curious for yourself and other patterns that you've seen across these high performers. What are some actionable things people and you do to get yourself unstuck when you feel that way?

One of the biggest things, and it's gonna sound way too easy, but really success is is simple. It it really is. It's it's habitual, is breathing. We don't breathe enough.

When when you're nervous, you're upset, you're angry, whatever, you're having a negative emotion, you tend to hold your breath. And we as humans are the only species that does this. And we hold our breath, and we that that makes us pretty stupid. I'm sorry, but it does.

It makes us stupid because you're not using your whole brain. And when you're breathing and you're really seriously deeply breathing, that's a that's a huge gain for you.

Oh my gosh. There's the power of breath alone. You know, most people don't realize how tied to our nervous system it is and that most of us are shallow breathing all the day, you know, all day long without breathing. I'm getting into the present moment, and I'm still lacking some clarity.

Like, how do you help your clients get clarity? Because I know one thing, you know, coaching agents for a long time in my own career, you know, sometimes people get tired of doing the same things over and over again. And so they start to get the shiny object kinda deal or whatever, which a lot of times takes them away from their foundation.

But, like, how do you help them in that situation where they they feel stuck, they don't have clarity, and they're not kinda connected to to their own success?

And you're assuming that they are in coaching? Yeah. Okay. Cool. You're coaching them. I'm coaching them. You are the expert right now. Everyone's listening. Let's do this.

So first of all, you've gotta get centered. You you really breathing is is one way. You also you need to be doing meditation, guys. I know that might sound fufu and not to you ladies. I know you get it. But it might sound fufu like meditation, seriously, we're drivers. There's not one lady on the screen right now that's not a driver and you're telling me you want me to sit and be quiet and be curious and breathe? Like, I have 25 things to do. You have no idea. Look at my calendar. The best thing you can do is be quiet, be curious, breathe deeply. Really.

And so I would get them breathing. I would get them in what what I call get in state. And so we do Sufi breathing, which is oh, see. You got me. You're right there. Two in. Just and and when and I do wanna talk about breathing just a little bit. When you do mouth breathing, it can be dangerous. If you go too far, you could literally pass out. So if you get into a point where you're breathing and you're really you're feeling, oh, this is weird, stop mouth breathing and do it through your nose. The reason we want to start with mouth breathing is we want to get you into a state as quickly as we can so we can access your subconscious mind and you know the answers.

I wish I could say as the coach, I know exactly what you need and what you should do, and here's what it is. And if you have a coach that ever says that to you without asking you any questions, fire them immediately. Yeah. The answers are inside of you.

And so I I get you breathing, and then I'll start instead of asking you, Kelly, what color is your shirt? You're gonna go to a certain place in your brain. Mhmm. If I say, Kelly, finish this sentence. My shirt is, you go to a different part of your brain that's more the subconscious. And so I'll get you breathing really good, and then I'll start sentence finishing with you. And so let's say, for example, I say, when I think of the ocean and you say, when I think of the ocean, I think of God. When I think of the image Margaritas. Sorry. Margaritas. Yes. Toes in the sand and the whole bit. Right? And so so we keep going on that until you hit something deep. And maybe maybe there's nothing deep at the ocean for you, but maybe there is. And maybe you had had repressed it, and you put it deep down in that cave that people fear to enter, as Joseph Campbell would say. But you have to enter it.

That that is my biggest, I would say, understanding who I am, and I started in 1990 with Tony Robbins. I was severe poverty before then, and 1990 and Tony Robbins. And I studied. And ladies, no exaggeration, I have probably read at least a thousand books on self development, on your brain, on all of these good things. And I worked and I worked and I worked and I worked and I worked and I grinded and I got to where I had worldly success. The world would have looked at my life and thought it's pretty great.

But it wasn't until I released all that childhood trauma, went through and released all of that, that's when I feel successful completely. I don't feel at all. You all know the struggle when you're climbing. You're like, oh, they're gonna think that. And you get to a point where you're like, no, I know. I've got this knowing inside of me that it's all good and you can get there.

It's I love it. It's that deep inner knowing that you've gotta learn how to listen to. That's a skill that isn't taught. You know, I, I so firmly believe that. I heard somewhere that, you know, praying is asking God for what you want and meditating is listening for that answer. You've absolutely got to get quiet.

And I, I think you're so right too, that success leaves queues, you know? There's clues in there that you can tap into to to figure out what's next.

So, you know, one thing that's really important to us as high performers building businesses, trying to have influence, making sure that we're as impactful in our families as we could possibly be, you know, trying to juggle too many things can put you into a place of burnout. Talk to me a little bit about what you do to avoid burnout and maybe some health care hacks that you have or self care hacks that you have in there.

Well, you're talking to the right person on that for sure. I, I have some health issues. And because of those health issues, I've tried the medical route and it did not, it didn't end well for me, and I read a book called Radical Remission. And I also had that lady on my podcast because I had to, I just had to meet her, I had to talk to her and get the answers directly from her.

And in radical remission, there's a doctor who was in her undergrad, and she was, volunteering at a cancer center, and someone had a radical remission. And they told her about it, and she was freaking out. She's like, what? That's even possible? You know, she had no idea. And and they were told, please don't get the people in the waiting room's hopes up. Don't talk to them about this, that you had this. Don't don't do that. And she thought, no, we need to tell the whole world about that.

So she spent her and she's her name is Kelly too. She spent her entire school all the way through her PhD just studying people who had a radical remission. And all of those people do they do 10 things to be healthy. I was already doing eight of them because of the health condition I was in. But two I wasn't doing. One was releasing past trauma and the other was accepting social support. And so that's it's amazing immediately when I started doing that, the tumor started to shrink because it was those real things that were missing.

Oh my goodness. That's so powerful. And I definitely you know, being a big our body has the power to heal. You know, it really does and not all things. And and there's definitely a time and a place for for getting, you know, western medicine into us. But I think for anyone listening, you know, I think that it's it's taking responsibility for our own health and not trusting somebody else knows what it is.

So I've worked with people that, you know, were given six month, twelve month, you know, terms on their life. And it's like and when you don't believe it, like, how powerful we are. Like, when you just say, like, no. I I am definitely gonna work on healing myself, whether it's a Joe Dispenza platform or just a different direction that you go. There's so much powerful, you know, goodness in that. So that's definitely unconventional. Right?

Yeah. What other unconventional, I would say, like, beliefs or or things do you have up your sleeve that would help? Everyone here is really about growing without sacrifice. So, you know, we try to we try to, I would say, help people before they have a life situation to awaken them. We wanna awaken consciousness before people get to devastation. So, like, what other unconventional beliefs would you share with the audience today?

I I would say to relisten to what you just now said over and over and over because so many of us wait until we absolutely have no other option. And that is so ridiculous. You know, I went to doctor Ron who helped me release all that childhood trauma that I was genuinely believed was better off. I genuinely believed this. Please do not believe this. Please do not let the lie impact your life.

I believe that I was better off leaving that stuff back there. I I had a really rough childhood. I'm going to leave it back there. That is the wrong answer because, guys, the issues are in your tissues. And when you I know. I love that. I had a yogi say that the other day. I was doing a mastermind. He was on the front row, and I'm like, yes. The issues literally are in the tissues.

You you you stuff it down. You get hurt. You get pain. You get whatever and you just keep stuffing it down and you keep stuffing it down. And eventually, you will end up with a serious problem. So my advice to you is please do not wait.

Please understand that there is no doctor out there. I don't care how powerful and wonderful of a doctor they are. They do not care about your body more than you do. No. No one cares about your body more than you do. And so take some responsibility. I had to catch myself there. Please take some responsibility and and study health. Figure it out. Figure out what works for you.

And every single body is different, and that's why I'm a little hesitant to tell you my regime because it won't work for other people. I'm a vegan. I'm gluten free. I'm pretty much sugar free. I'm caffeine free. I'm alcohol free. Like, all of these things, I I went and it's hard. It's very hard to be social when you're as anal about all that as I am.

However, I got I got a I got, like, yes. Functional health does a thing where you can do all this blood work, and then they tell you what your biological age is. And ladies, I am happy to tell you I'm still just flipped out by this, seventeen years younger than my biological age. Wow. Amazing. It works. Like, it it works if you work it.

And and you just have to do it just like everything else, baby steps. Just a little bit. You don't please don't hear me and say, oh, gosh. Tomorrow, I have to be a vegan and I have to do no. No. Maybe tomorrow, you just have one meal that doesn't have meat in it. Or Yeah. If that works for you. Now my husband, he needs to eat meat. So it's not like I'm saying everyone should be a vegan. It needs to be what your body is telling you, and you need to test that out.

Oh my gosh. Thanks here, Kel. I I need first of all, I'm totally borrowing the issues are in the tissues. Whenever I sing alliteration or rhyme, I'm all in.

So a couple of things that you've said that impacted me really deeply, the people first, being that servant leader leader and really showing up in a way that is is so authentic. That matters to me so much. I'm so glad to hear you say that.

And breathing and meditation. Whenever you are a really high achiever, the the getting quiet is so counterintuitive sometimes, but it is the answer to tapping into that inner knowing. Kelly, what hit you the hardest?

Oh my gosh. So much. I mean, first of all, you're just so wise and and, you know, your energy is what is a testament to the way that you're living. And I think you nailed it where all of us have a different path to emotional and physical well-being. Right? And for you, it's been this path or or that path, and all of us just have to give ourselves more credit than what we have.

Like, I think one of the one of the challenges that we're seeing is how much we're looking. You know, you go on social media and someone's like, you need to eat this much protein and you need to do this and you need to do that and you need to and by the end of the day, you're like, I need to quit my job just to be able to get enough protein in. Like, I'm gonna that's all I'm gonna be doing is is, like, drinking water and eating protein or whatever it might be. So there's so much noise, and what we really need to do is actually get quiet. Mhmm. Like, we need to get quiet and listen to our own bodies and then be able to see how how these things show up.

And I think I think that it was just so powerful in this message of, like, it is an inside out job. Like, success is an inside out job. We all have been rewarded for being super productive and for being, you know, successful in business when a lot of times that's just avoidance in a in a, you know, in a in disguise. And so and it will catch up with you. And I think that's what you've kind of alluded to in your own life is that you've had to go down that path. And sharing your story is what helps people find a different way, which is so important.

So thank you so much. I mean, just so much goodness. You know, one of the most important things to us at GoBundance Women is just supporting other women as well. Not not we we support the men too, but but we definitely wanna make sure that that we do that. Like, how can we support you? Like, what is what's the most important resource or or connection or way that that GoBundance women or Mandy or myself can support you? Because I know it sounds like that was a piece that one of those last remaining pieces, right, for you in asking for help, receiving help. What does that look like?

You know, I would I would say the biggest thing right now is, you know, doctor Ron and I have gone into business together, and we are we're creating. We're going to co lead the life and transformational division of coaching, for the coaching portal, which is gonna be rolled out at the April with Smokey Garrett and the and that whole gang. And and it would be fabulous if if either one of you would would go through even an hour of this kind of coaching with me so that you could tell people what it's like. Oh. Because it's so amazing. Me up. Sign me up.

It's it's really amazing to be coaching. It's it's like you've got you and there's a 100% of you, but but generally, you're only being coached to the to the conscious part. Mhmm. And when you can coach right into the subconscious, stuff happens, and it's shocking. You will shock yourself. The words that will come out of your own mouth, you're like, oh my gosh. But you don't doubt it because you know it's from the inner knowing.

What's crazy about the subconscious is it doesn't have that. That's why you can be so messed up for one through six. It's all subconscious. And everything that comes in, you believe it is true. You you can tell your kids that there's a Santa Claus, and he comes down every chimney in the entire world, every single year, and they will believe it. You can tell your kids that they are incredible, and they can do anything, and they will believe it. You can tell your kids that they're an idiot, and they're worthless, and they will believe it.

And so it's so important that we get that stuff cleaned out so that we can move on and have the life that we really do deserve. And when you do that, seriously, when you start to love yourself, and it sounds so narcissistic, but it's the opposite of that. Because when you truly start to love yourself, nothing pours out of you but love for others.

So beautiful. Kara, tell our listeners how they can best get a hold of you and listen to your podcast.

It's Think Your Way to an Epic Life, and you can get it anywhere podcasts are, Audible, YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, wherever. And you can find me, like, my my number is (505) 264-3005. And I would love to talk to any of you.

And if you would like a free discovery call, just let me know with myself or doctor Ron. You know, if you have a preference that you would rather have a male or a female, it it doesn't matter who you work with, but it is the best thing I have it's the best thing I've ever invested in in my life by far, and I wish I could have found him forty years ago.

Yeah. And for anyone listening, you know, investing in yourself is the number one thing that you should do if you wanna scale or grow whatever area of of your life you really want to. So you have been an amazing guest, and I wish we would all be able to just hang out and have some caffeine free tea together right now or no sugar or whatever it might be, but you are absolutely wonderful and always in our prayers. And just you're so powerful, and I know that you're just gonna continue to make a massive impact in the world.

So thank you so much for being here on the GoBundance Power of Your Life podcast. Check out GoBundance Women at goabundancewomen.com. Always love to connect with all of you to put you in that right environment to scale your business without sacrifice. So thank you again, Kara.

Thank you. Hope to see you guys in Austin.

Yes.