Pivot With Purpose Season 4 Episode 1 Full Transcript

0:00:08.1 Speaker 1: Pivot with Purpose, a podcast that highlights the unique stories of professionals that pivoted their careers to align with their work lives and personal lives more purposefully and with more joy. Pivot with Purpose is hosted by Meghan Houle, a globally accredited career and business coach and creator of the Meghan Houle Method.

0:00:33.1 Meghan Houle: Welcome back to the Pivot with Purpose podcast. I'm your host, Meghan Houle. And in this episode, we talked to Madison Ciccone, athlete, master spin instructor at SoulCycle, and creator of the Wicked Fearless coaching community and podcast.

0:00:47.8 Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pivot with Purpose with host Meghan Houle. You can find out more information about each guest, including full transcripts at pivotwithpurposepodcast.com, and if you'd like to share your own pivot with purpose, click on the share button and add your story to the conversation. Finally, be sure to subscribe and share your comments wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, your support amplifies our voice. And now, this week's episode.

0:01:21.4 MH: Madison is an emerging thought leader and relentless, fierce, cheerleader for women with big dreams. With an energy that's both inspirational and aspirational, Madison takes her crew to church each week on her podcast, delivering the news that they too can be wicked fearless. Madison is like the older sister you never had. And she's always the one that has got your back. She's real about who she is and where she's been, and by sharing her experiences openly, she offers a vulnerability that helps the women in her community feel seen and understood. As a D1 athlete and master instructor at SoulCycle, Madison knows what it takes to achieve success. She also knows that success can feel empty when it's not aligned with purpose and desire, that's why she offers the Wicked Fearless coaching container for women who are ready to identify and embody their purpose, set the stage and step into the lives they were meant for. Madison, thank you for joining us today on the Pivot with Purpose podcast. How are you doing?

0:02:25.4 Madison Ciccone: I'm so psyched to be here. You know I love spending time with you, so this is just gonna be... It's gonna be so much fun.

0:02:31.5 MH: Same, and I know we've already had a barrel of laughs, so everybody buckle up.

0:02:35.8 MC: Buckle up.

0:02:37.5 MH: Buckle up.

0:02:38.1 MC: Please keep your hands and arms inside the monitor at all the time.

0:02:41.5 MH: Yeah. Well, I'm super excited to have you on the podcast and ears of our listeners, and as someone who is constantly inspired by you and all you do, I know you will inspire others in sharing your own career story and pivots and all the nuggets that you tend to drop as takeaways. So for all those listening get ready to take some good notes, whether physical or mental, because if you have to be driving, don't take notes. Okay? So no driving and take notes.

0:03:07.6 MC: Yeah. Like pull over. Pull over at McDonald's, get a Diet Coke.

0:03:09.5 MH: Pull over. Get through that drive-through and sit in the parking lot. So are you ready to dive in Madison?

0:03:15.8 MC: Oh, yeah.

0:03:16.6 MH: You ready? Okay.

0:03:16.8 MC: Let's do it.

0:03:17.9 MH: So to kick off, I would love to hear more about your current job. Tell us what you're up to these days my friend, before we get into your pivot story.

0:03:25.5 MC: Oh my gosh, what am I up to these days? So right now, currently, day-to-day, I am a Master Instructor at SoulCycle, so I teach all the classes over at SoulCycle, I've been there for the better part of a decade, I think, seven plus years now, and I also do a lot of coaching beyond the bike, so ala COVID, which I'm sure we'll talk about at some point, because it's kind of like part of our lives now. I created my own coaching company called Wicked Fearless, where I do group coaching as well as one-on-one coaching all around, basically how to be a better version of you and show up confidently in your life, creating the life you crave. And I myself have a podcast also titled Wicked Fearless. So just like all things wicked and fearless is what we're about.

0:04:11.6 MH: Yeah. I love it.

0:04:13.4 MC: And that's like the Judy Blume version of what I do at this point. There's a million other trains running at all times, but that's pretty much where I marinate. If you were to say like, what do you do?

0:04:22.9 MH: Yeah, and I thoroughly enjoy taking your SoulCycle classes, I know you keep me on track and probably one of the best spin instructors I've ever ridden with. I know you're doing a lot and I can't wait to dive into all of it. If you had a Cliff Notes, speaking of Judy Blume, now we're gonna move over to Cliff Notes, #theninedayshere. Let's talk about your career journeys, walk us through maybe what you're most proud of, you've accomplished as you are starting off early in your career, up until what you're doing now, talk to us about some of those pivot stops and what you're really proud of.

0:04:55.3 MC: Yeah, I actually love coming on podcasts because I feel like my mom used to say, "I've forgotten more than you'll ever know," and I used to laugh at that, but it deadass feels like that, because whenever I talk about the things I've done, it's almost like you're reminded of how badass you are and you forget all the things you've done in your life, so I think one... First and foremost, something I just didn't even think about because I was so in it, and I was so young was leaving, I went to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee for undergrad for... I was an entertainment and music business major minor. It was like a double thing.

0:05:32.1 MC: And my spring senior semester, instead of doing your glory semester hanging out, I went to Belmont West in LA and I interned with Ellen DeGeneres and... I was still so young, I don't even know if I was 21 at the time, and I was just like, I'm going to LA and I went to LA that glory semester. And that's kind of what started my LA journey with Hollywood and being an executive assistant to some very large and high-powered people, and I don't think I give myself an up credit for that, that was so big. And I see all these college kids day in and day out when I'm teaching, and that was me making such a big move in my life and just being so sure about it, just quite literally diving off a cliff. So that was huge, and I think that really led to a lot of the other jobs and things that came with LA, and that kind of [0:06:20.4] ____ woke you up to my LA chapter.

0:06:22.9 MH: What was your first big pivot moment you had early on in your career?

0:06:28.2 MC: I think my first big pivot was, well, I think getting your first "big girl job" because I think you go to college and you think you have an idea, but for me, I was kind of on that cusp of I was the first class of Facebook. So when I went to college in 2006, so I graduated high school 2006, and I was in college till 2010, that was when this giant boom of social media and tech kind of happened in the sense of like... Before that, we didn't have Facebook, we didn't have Instagram at the time. I think I still had a flip phone. So in my head, I really wanted to go to school and work at Capital Records or work in music or do something like that. And I think my first big pivot was getting a real job as an executive assistant. I worked at XIX Entertainment, which was this big entertainment company run by Simon Fuller, who created American Idol and the Spice Girls and all this crazy stuff.

0:07:24.5 MC: And it was really like that first kind of deep dive into what it was like to work at and for an entertainment mogul and also be part of this crazy Hollywood story. I think that was the first really big pivot 'cause I kinda went out there and I didn't know what I was gonna do, and that kind of streamlined my process into, okay, we're taking this road right now, and I know we use the word pivot a lot, but I kinda think of it as kind of just little right hand, left hand turns down your journey, 'cause you always think it's gonna be linear and then different things come up in this kind of ways. I always think of the map ways, it's like, okay, go this way, go this way, go this way. So that was my first big take a right here moment when I got to LA. 

0:08:09.8 MH: Yeah. Oh my gosh. And for all of the recruitment, and you know I have eight jobs, which is a [inaudible] for recruitment, a lot of what I do with candidates going into interview is preparing them. How did you prepare for that first big interview, were you scared to death, how did you know you nailed it? What was that process like for you?

0:08:29.8 MC: I feel like I never walk out and I'm like, I nailed it because I'm one of those people that's always like... Even if you can give yourself a 10, I'm like, I'll give myself like a nine, just because I always think you can do better. I think it was just blind young, fresh luck, honestly, because I went on like five or six interviews, it was such a long process to the point where I was like, do you guys fucking know yet? You must know whether you want someone or not. Right? And I had never been in that type of process before where it was several different interviews. Literally, I think it was like five.

0:09:04.6 MC: And I don't think I ever walked out and was like, oh, I got the job, I think if anywhere in the world makes you feel like an impostor, outsider, not good enough, it would 1000% be Los Angeles. And it was a super intimidating building, that was one of the biggest things about working there, it's like floor to ceiling, all white everything, giant glass panoramic views all around, but when I tell you the entire office was white, it used to remind me of the scene in 'Bruce Almighty' where he goes to heaven. Straight up, it looks like that. It was crazy, and when you would ride the elevator up every day, it would go, "Penthouse," and I just remember being like, what the fuck am I doing?

0:09:39.0 MH: The elevators talking to...

0:09:41.6 MC: Yeah, yeah. Literally.

[laughter]

0:09:43.9 MH: Here I am in Penthouse. I made it.

0:09:48.5 MC: Yeah.

0:09:48.6 MH: Oh my gosh, yeah. That's so interesting. That interview process has not changed, let me tell you, for all those listening in that I know are a big part of retail and jobs community, still a lot of what people struggle with in terms of like, okay, make a decision. And I think COVID did not help that in any sense of the word, of having multiple people to kind of sign off on hiring you, and you feel like you're going in and you're telling your story to six people, you're like, can this just be like a group interview [laughter] so we can just speed things on? But it's so stressful.

0:10:21.5 MC: I'm like fact checking what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's so stressful.

0:10:24.5 MH: It's so stressful. Yeah. But you did it, and I just feel like early on, to me, you have this incredible confidence, and I think this personality that just shows up before you even walk through the door, is that how you were as a kid, do you feel like that's something that's been innate in you or something you really had to work on?

0:10:43.1 MC: Yeah, I think it's definitely something for sure within me, and I've asked my dad a lot of times where the fuck did this animal come from, where did you come from? Was I just born like this? 'Cause even when you said that, I had a memory of when I first got to LA, I was working all these odd jobs trying to figure out, am I gonna dance, am I gonna perform, am I gonna do extra work? I was doing everything, I basically was doing anything I could to make a dime, and I actually worked with a recruiting company in Hollywood, and I would go temp, and temping is like... I think it takes a real personality to go temp and lean in because I was getting put on the SVP of Lionsgate desk, I was on the president of Nigel Lythgoe's desk.

0:11:24.3 MC: I was just getting thrown on to these desks and it was just blind. I think it was just the ability to just be like, okay, I'm here, I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. I'm just gonna lean in, I'm gonna go for it, and I'm gonna just do everything I can to make this work, and I didn't know what the hell I was doing, Meg. So a lot of it, I feel like is just like, I don't wanna say beginner's luck, but you don't know what it's like to totally fuck up or run it or whatever, so you don't... You don't know anything other than to lean in and go for it and just balls to the wall, full send.

0:11:55.7 MH: Isn't that so amazing? And I remember some of that fearless energy that I had as a young kid, and I think as we get older, the fear really then starts to creep in because life experience and all of that, but I love that, and anyone that can sit with that fearless energy and just continue to own and embrace it. Those are the people that are really still doing all the things now in this life of like, don't let someone tell you no, don't let someone tell you can't do something. Stand in your power, stand in your voice, just go out there, go for it, carve your own path, trail blaze and try all kinds of different things. I think gone are the days too of a lot of professionals staying in their careers 5-10 plus years and being these career lifers. I think it's so important to try new things and try new industries and work for different people and be challenged in different ways. Do you agree?

0:12:44.7 MC: Yeah, 1000%. And I think a lot of times people don't believe that the skills are transferable, and the skills are totally transferable, I had no idea playing instruments and being so connected with music would pay off so well now, SoulCycle. I think that's a huge edge I always forget about. I play a thousand instruments, I was in every band, every orchestra, chorus, jazz band, before school. All these things I take almost... It's not like I take them for granted, but it's like I forget how blessed I am and what skills I actually bring to the table, and all those skills are part of it, they're all part of...

0:13:19.2 MC: My dad in always uses the word war chest, it's like, what's in your arsenal, what's in your war chest of things you can use when you go into the area for battle? And I forget sometimes like, oh, well, that connects, or that checks out. Or when I volunteered for my friend's company and basically ran their wedding, now I have leadership and event planning skills, I think the more things you show up to, I always say you gotta go to grow, and I think the more you can just kind of do that and not be so worried about, okay, I'm gonna mess it up. Or what if it doesn't work out? I'm like, what if you forget? You forget everything you think you know, and just go for it.

0:13:58.0 MH: I love that. Well, before we dive into what your big juicy kind of pivot is, so what experiences would you say, including education, any personal experiences do you feel like have been really important and maybe have shaped you throughout this journey?

0:14:14.4 MC: I think a huge one, and it's when I've talked about a lot on my podcast was getting fired or let go. I mean, the verbiage is very interchangeable, 'cause to me, fired is like you did something wrong, like you're bad, leave or you messed up in a way that's inexcusable or something like that. But what people don't talk about a lot is getting let go, which means you work at an ad agency, they lost the account, it's before Thanksgiving. They quite literally have told me, we can't keep the lights on and keep paying all the bills to keep this place company afloat, so we're letting every middle level interim junior account or junior program, product development or junior programming, whatever, go.

0:14:58.5 MC: It doesn't matter what you do, it doesn't matter how great you are. We can only keep the most important people or whatever, and so you're out crying in your car and you're like... I think those are the moments that have shaped me the most, and they have been the things and the catalyst to create the biggest pivots. It was like never when I was winning or crushing it or got the job, it's always sobbing in your Jetta outside the company you just got walked out of like a freaking criminal. And nobody, no one in your entire life prepares you for those moments. It's wild.

0:15:31.9 MH: Yeah. And I know that you play these little amazing snippets and the playlists at SoulCycle, but I just love the ones where it's the voices over, you have just shared with me, but I always remember the one that's like the growth comes when you're at rock bottom. And I don't think enough people see that and appreciate sometimes the things that don't work out in the struggles, like running through the fire. That's where you learn so much about yourself and you just keep going. And you figure it out. And that's what life is. But it's not always gonna be perfect. And you're not always gonna get a 100%. It's not always gonna work out. And sometimes that's okay.

0:16:09.2 MC: Yeah. One of my favorite people once said this, Lori Harder said this, you don't meet yourself in heaven, you meet your higher self in Hell. And... Yeah, that's one of my favorite quotes she's ever said that I picked up on at a thing. And it's so true, that's where you meet yourself, you meet yourself when your face is down and you're blooded. And it's the low moments that then give you the opportunity to use that rock bottom as a stepping stone in a step back up. So yeah.

0:16:37.1 MH: I love that. I love it. Alright, so in the spirit of this podcast, I love to leave a little teaser, so I usually ask you yes or no question, and then we go to a little break and come back and pick it up. Okay, so I'm gonna put you on the spot. Are you ready?

0:16:50.5 MC: Okay.

0:16:51.6 MH: So, yes or no. Do you remember the exact moment you decided to pivot into fitness?

0:16:58.1 MC: No.

0:17:00.4 MH: And with that, we are going to go to a quick break and we will pick this up when we get back.

[music]

0:17:22.0 MH: Alright, Madison, so before the break, you said no. So what... When did you know... When did you feel it was right to leap in a fitness... Tell us all about the big pivot move.

0:17:32.8 MC: Okay, so for me you know, so I have this thing I talk about called the knock in your life, and the knock comes from people outside of you and not inside of you, it's not an inner thought, it's almost like everybody else sees how skilled you are in some area, but you don't see it for yourself, 'cause you either see it as a passion or you're just living your life, you don't really notice it. So when I got let go of the last agency, the one where I got locked out of crying in my car, like blah, blah, blah... At the time, I had gone through yoga teacher training, and this was like when the real boom of boutique fitness is happening, and so I was just like, I don't know what I'm gonna do and my friends were like, Madison, you literally go to the gym at like 40 AM before work, work a 12 hour day, and then you go back because that's like your community, you dance there. You're always there on the weekends. You're always involved with literally any event and anything they're doing, that's where you need to work.

0:18:27.0 MC: And so I had worked the front desk at Equinox at some point in the interim of like, I wanted the free membership, and so I was working the front desk. I don't even remember what year this was, this was alongside one before I really got that big girl job as an EA, so it was very early on in LA, probably 2010 or 2011-ish. So I was like, "Yeah, and across the street is this place called SoulCycle, and it's like the next big thing." And I was like, "Alright, I'll go try to get this SoulCycle job." Meanwhile I had no intention of being a fitness instructor, I was like, "I'm gonna go work for SoulCycle so that I can somehow pivot back to marketing, advertising, whatever the career that I just got let go from." And I went through a huge round of interviews there, Meg. I drove up to Malibu for an interview, I drove to Pasadena for an interview, if you don't know LA, that's literally.

0:19:16.9 MH: Far.

0:19:17.1 MC: On two different size of the whole entire planet. I was driving all over, I went through this whole interview, I did a whole day of screening at Beverly Hills, and I didn't get the job. And I was like, "What the hell? Okay, well, maybe fitness isn't it." So then I went back into a six-month ad agency job, and then when that was up, I was like, "Alright, well now here I am back at square one, I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do with my life." So I was like, fuck LA, I'm done with LA, and I applied to be a studio manager in Boston for SoulCycle.

0:19:42.4 MC: I was like, "Listen, I just wanna get in with this SoulCycle place, I just know it's gonna be a rocket ship, I just know boutique fitness is gonna be a rocket." So I go. They call me back and they're like, "Hey, we know you went on all these interviews before, unfortunately Boston is not looking for a manager right now, but LA is again." And I was like, "You gotta be freaking kidding me." And I was kind of at the point Meg where I was like, "If I go in and they try to string me along again, I'm fucking done."

0:20:06.8 MH: Right. You're like I'm done.

0:20:08.0 MC: Yeah, so I went in on one interview, I remember I got coffee with two other managers at the time, it was at the Montage in Beverly Hills, like talk about boujee in the courtyard. And they were like... I kinda was like, "Yeah, I've literally been in front of you guys a million times, so yes or no pretty much, and I got the job.

0:20:25.2 MH: Yes or not. [chuckle]

0:20:27.3 MC: Yeah. I was like, "What the fuck?" So that's kind of what pivoted me into SoulCycle and the fitness space, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I was gonna be an instructor. I went in thinking I was gonna somehow get in with them, and then I could move back to New York and be closer to my family, and I'd live in New York and everything would work out and I could be by coastal and whatever. And as the story goes that's not how it happened. So I think the knock, what I was alluding to is other people see I think your skills or where you might land, before you do, and that came again when I was writing up on Podium all the time. I was writing for Angela Davis and David Sin, Laura Craigle, all these senior master instructors. And people would come to me and be like, "Why don't you be a teacher? Why don't you be an instructor, why don't you, why don't you, why don't you?" And after a while, when you hear that so many times then you're kinda look at yourself in the mirror and you're like, "Yeah, why the fuck not me?"

0:21:21.9 MH: Right.

0:21:22.0 MC: Why are you not thinking this could actually be a thing, and that's kind of what led me to the whole instructor land, of going to the audition and riding with 52 other people in the room at Culver City. And then going to New York for training, and then eventually landing here in Boston, but it was never in my wildest dream, like "I'm gonna make this pivot." It just kind of unfolded as people were like, "Hey, heads up. Hello, hello, knock, knock. Are you listening? Are you opening your eyes?" And that's kind of like what woke me up to it a little bit.

0:21:55.9 MH: I love that, and I think there's so much in there of just kind of having some clarity of at least this could be something fun to do next, and this is something I'm really passionate about. And maybe it didn't work out the first time, but you also didn't give up, and I give you a lot of credit there, because so many people get the no and then that's it. Like how many people are listening and sitting in the shoulda, coulda, woulda month?

0:22:19.4 MC: I don't know, and I think it's so hard 'cause it's something I've been watching a lot too, especially on Instagram and social media. All these people talk about the stories of them having made it. I actually was walking to class and thinking about this the other day, I don't know why I kept showing up for it. 'Cause I think it would have been really easy to have gotten that no and walked away, and I don't know what... I wish I could bottle up what the feeling was that's like keep going, or bless and release, but for whatever reason I kept going with this place called SoulCycle, and it's led me kind of to where I am now.

0:22:49.5 MH: And here you're. Yeah. Well, and I know and I've heard stories of how grueling it is in the instructor auditions, and I guess for you, how is it? Is it different than what you thought it was gonna be starting out, and how has it changed your life? What are your thoughts around now being in the moment, and kind of being in this master instructor place with SoulCycle now, right? Yeah.

0:23:12.0 MC: Yeah, it was really tough. I think I'm a kind of person like you tell me no and that lights a fire under me, versus snuffs me out, and I know you're very similar in that. It's kind of like, "Well, then watch me." I really think of the iconic scene in Legally Blonde where she's like, "I'll show you how whatever Elle Woods can be, and then it's like, better watch, I'm going for the knockout" And it's like this whole scene of her studying and getting and the whole scene. So I always think of that 'cause that's just what was inside me. I don't know why I kept on keeping on, I don't know why when it got hard or the pay structure change or all the crazy shit within a company that's going from a smaller company to a large now a international, global. I don't even know what the hell you call it, the growth pains, the changes in infrastructure, changes in leadership changes, changes, changes, changes.

0:24:02.0 MC: I don't know what has been able... I'm not really sure what my X factor is of being able to push through other than being like, "Don't tell me no," 'cause whatever, if you give me a number to try to hit, I'm gonna go try to hit it and I'm gonna try to knock it out of the park. And it's just like this inner... I don't know if it's out of spite or if it's like this inner whatever in me. I call it maybe the... I allude to it as the D1 spirit, 'cause I was always a big athlete, I cheered through college, I always was bigger, better, stronger champion D1 mindset. And I think that has served me in a lot of ways, it's definitely also hindered me I think in some ways, but I think for the most part, it served me.

0:24:41.2 MH: Yeah, 100%. And I always love to ask this question, especially for anyone in fitness. What do you feel are some of those misconceptions around the industry? And I know you have such an amazing community, how are you changing that narrative in your own community around those misconceptions, 'cause you really have a big voice. I feel like you feel like you know, but you know I'm like a big cheerleader of yours too.

0:25:02.8 MC: You're so...

0:25:02.9 MH: So you do have a moment.

0:25:03.7 MC: You're so kind, I appreciate it. When you think... When you say misconceptions what... Do you have an example of that? 'Cause I just think that's such a wide problem.

0:25:11.2 MH: I know, so the industry it's really clicky or it's like mean girls or you can't show up unless you're super fit, or you can't be an instructor unless you're super fit. And because I don't have many people showing up for class, I'm not that good, I should quit, just things like that where I know feel... I think it's all mindset, but it's like image, misconceptions about what studios are like, I don't know, kind of down that road.

0:25:37.4 MC: I gotta be honest Meg, the best piece of information I ever got was, stay in your lane, and I gotta be honest I have blinders on a lot of times.

0:25:46.6 MH: That's awesome.

0:25:46.7 MC: I mute a lot of people on Instagram, even within my own company, I'm like, "I love you, I support you, I'll go find you if I need to, but I don't wanna see what you're doing 'cause it's gonna fuck up what I'm doing. And I don't wanna second guess myself, or my thoughts or what I'm doing." And I think that's really, really, really helped me, and it helped me get to where I am and now from a very confident, grounded in my ability, expertise, leadership type of position, I think I have more... I'm a lot more...

0:26:17.6 MC: Comfortable is the wrong word, but I think I can... I've always been a believer in a rising tide lifts all ships, but I think now I can cultivate in a different way than when I was grinding, and climbing, and trying to get to the top. 'Cause we're all doing that, you wanna say, "Oh, we're all in this together." But then when it comes to filling your classes and stuff like that, it's not, and this is a weird way, it's like you're a team but you're not, you're a team but you still have to perform, and it's a performance-based industry. So it's kind of like being on team USA, but you're all running the 100-meter hurdles and you wanna fucking win.

0:26:53.2 MH: I love that.

0:26:53.4 MC: So it's like a very delicate ballet dance with trying to manage that, but I honestly think... For the most part I honestly think I just have blinders on a lot of times.

0:27:00.6 MH: I love it, and so interesting to hear. And I totally agree with you, and I feel like you've talked about that before of just like, stay in your own lane. I think it was maybe you talking about Michael Phelps when he was in a race and there was some dude looking at Michael Phelps and he wound up losing or something. Right?

0:27:15.2 MC: Yeah, they're totally is, it's a really famous picture. I guarantee if you Google it right now, and you're like Michael Phelps and other guy, or Michael... Guy looking at Michael Phelps. And the whole point of the story is, I don't even know who that guy was, he's obviously an Olympian. I think he got second place, but he got the silver medal, no one knows his name, no one knows what country he's from. And the picture is famous because Michael Phelps is laser-focused on the finish line, the goal ahead, and the other guy is leaning over his shoulder looking at, and worrying about what Michael Phelps is doing. And the same thing goes for any industry you're in, if you're looking at other people's paper, if you're not keeping your eyes on your own prize and that's what I mean by blinders on.

0:27:50.9 MC: Any time someone's like, "Well, this person does this and that." And I'm like, blinders on, blinders on, who gives a shit what they're doing, do what you're doing, and if you have to protect yourself by muting people on social media, or not going to that event, or not doing that thing or whatever it is then that's what you have to do. I think that comes with maturity and time. Now, could I have said this six or seven years ago when I first started? Absolutely not, because I was just doing everything I could to not drown, I was like doggy paddling with my nose, barely above water, trying to playlist, trying to be whatever. Trying to figure out my voice and who I was, and you don't know who the fuck you are when you start out. You can only talk like this, having gone through the whole process up till now, I think.

0:28:32.9 MH: Yeah, I love that. So well said, and on the topic of people in your life, and I love to talk about having mentors and people we can lean on. I was talking about it today with a client, kind of like building a mini personal board of advisors.

0:28:47.1 MC: Oh my God, I love that.

0:28:48.3 MH: Yes, in terms of having friends and other like-minded individuals you can go to for support or guidance. So a two-bar question for you. So first, what types of people do you think are most important to have in your life, and then who have you leaned on if anyone to support you in your own pivot career goals?

0:29:06.4 MC: Okay, so I think surrounding yourself with important people is... You are literally... You are the people you surround yourself with. They're gonna influence every single decision you make, they're gonna literally cheer you on. You always want the people around you who are gonna speak your name in rooms of opportunity, who are gonna cheer you on, who aren't gonna have doubts about you. Because that is ultimately... People are either pumping your tires or they're not, straight up. For me personally, 1000% full stop my dad, I would not be here without my dad. I'm gonna cry, he's just everything.

0:29:44.2 MC: I talk to him all day, and my dad was really... He's everything, he is my therapist, my coach, my whatever I alluded to, I do a lot of personal developmental work, I work on myself tirelessly because I know that that's so much a part of the process. He is quite literally the person, if I was a boxer that would be grubbing your shoulders and being like, "I know you know what to do, I don't need to tell you what to do, I'm just gonna tell you... Like slap your ass and tell you to get back in the ring, type of thing. You know what I mean?

0:30:15.2 MH: You got that kid. Yeah.

0:30:16.6 MC: So for me that's that and of course I have some really good friends and some mentors and coaches I look up to, my friend Heidi B, shout out to Heidi B, I met her... I literally ran up to her at an event when she was on a panel and I was like, "Oh, you have the quality that I call the running into battle effect, the Walking Dead truck." And I talk about this in our class Soul Hitter, soul activate a lot, who are the people you want in your fucking Walking Dead truck? You have one truck, it's the zombie apocalypse, who do you want in your truck?

0:30:46.8 MH: Right?

0:30:47.0 MC: Who's got your back, who's fighting for you? And so there are a few people here and there, but yeah, having those people is so major 'cause you're gonna have days where you're like, "Oh my God, I wanna quit, I suck." That's all normal, and it doesn't matter how much mindset, mental toughness, you could read every book, listen to every podcast, you could go to every spiritual guru retreat out there, and you're still gonna have those thoughts. So surrounding yourself with the people who champion you and see you sometimes in a different light, in a better light than you see yourself is like.

0:31:18.0 MH: Chef's kiss.

0:31:18.9 MC: It's chef's kiss. Exactly.

0:31:20.7 MH: Oh, I love all of that and shout out to your dad, he sounds like a really cool guy, really. We need the dad meeting a lot.

0:31:27.7 MC: I know, a lot of people want him to come on the podcast, and I will get him at SoulCycle at some point.

0:31:34.0 MH: Oh yeah. Well, I'm signing up, put me on the waitlist. Speaking of the network of support, let's dive in your coaching program Wicked Fearless.

0:31:40.8 MC: Yes.

0:31:41.1 MH: Tell us where did the inspiration come from? Who is the program for? What can someone expect working with you one-on-one, and I know you do more group coaching, right? So tell us about that.

0:31:51.9 MC: Yeah, so I like a lot of things, when we shut down, the world shut down, I never in my wildest dreams was I like, I'm not gonna go teach SoulCycle tomorrow, I'm not gonna be on a bike, I'm not gonna be in front of 60... I don't know, three classes a day times 60 people, do the math. I was like, "What do I do with myself?" And innately I'm like, I know that the message that I give in the room for 45 minutes could be so much more meaningful far beyond these four walls. And to be honest, the whole Beyond the Bike concept was something I was marinating in.

0:32:26.6 MC: And so when we shut down I was already in a coaching program and mastermind with my friend Jess DeRose, formerly Jess Glazer, I had invested all this money, and I was like, "Holy shit, I'm not making any money, this is so scary." But I was just like, "You know what? You already spent the money, you'll figure it out." And her program was all about how to build a coaching program, so basically I... It's so funny, and the whole thing is around sell the program before you build a program. So I just started talking about it on social media like, "Hey, I'm gonna run this group coaching program very open." Didn't know what I was doing, and I had 10 girls be like, "I'm in" And pay me money and I was like, now I have to freaking show up.

0:33:09.1 MC: Now, I have to do it, now I have to do the damn thing, I held my own feet to the flame, and that was really how it started. It was kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall a little bit, and I figured out how to build all these modules and things and videos and downloads, and whatever in this program called Kajabi, which I kind of feel like is an exclusive YouTube, if you have no idea what that is. And then it just kind of took off from there, and I was like, okay, well, this is gonna be another arm, another branch of all that I do Beyond the Bike, because I think I have a lot more to offer in an individual and a small group setting than I do like one golden nugget in the go home run at SoulCycle.

0:33:47.1 MH: Right, yeah.

0:33:47.9 MC: So, that's kind of how it started, and then now it's evolved to, I guess, it'll be three years in April or May-ish, and I've had about 50 girls go through the group coaching program, I've also run some accelerator groups. So it's kind of like a 2.0 like you've learned the foundation, now let's dig in deeper, and I've really build the program off of just the questions I get asked all the time by everybody. Like "How did you do this? How did you start the gratitude practice? How do you show up confidently, what creates confident? How do you do this? How do you deal with social media? How do you deal with sanity?" It's like I took every how do you, how do you, how do you do, how do you question, and I started to formulate, okay, well, this is obviously what people want. This is obviously what people are asking for, this is what they need, and I bottled that all up into my coaching program.

0:34:37.6 MH: Oh, I love that. I'm signing up for your next one, do you have more in the works for next year or how do you schedule out? How could the team work with you?

0:34:46.3 MC: So my plan right now is to do one at the beginning of 2023, and I'm changing it a little bit, it used to be an eight-week program, I'm gonna change it to a 12-week program. I'm also revamping all my social... My whole website, I brought in a team, so everything is kind of like... Right now, it feels a little bit like a Willy Wonka Mikey TV, when he's floating in all the particles, that's kind of like how things feel right now for me. Because it's like I'm waiting on the website, and this and we're changing the branding and da da da da. We're doing all this stuff, and also I'm building out all this other content and updating it. So that's the plan, and that plan could change, so who knows at this point.

0:35:23.7 MH: Well, you know being my ambassador for this podcast and some of our new branding I'm right there floating with you.

0:35:30.1 MC: Hell, yeah, hell yeah.

0:35:31.4 MH: We're on the journey together. Well, a couple of more questions before I let you go. In this pivot journey, which it feels like a constant as we've been talking about it, we're always pivoting, right? And knowing you are absolutely that individual, just like me, and is always looking to level up. We're very similar in this, what are you struggling with right now and what would you say to someone potentially feeling the same?

0:35:52.0 MC: You know what I'm really struggling with right now, and this is being really honest, when people talk about their struggles I often find on social media... This happened the other day I was talking about something, and I immediately got sign up for a coaching call with me, and I was like, "Bitch, I do not need a coaching call with you, I'm simply telling you how I feel in hopes that someone else out there will feel seen and heard and not feel alone." And that is the bedrock of everything I do, is vulnerability a 1000% because it is the key to connection, and connection leads to community, and community is the only currency that will ever go out. So me saying this is like I feel like I am behind, and when I say that, it's like I'm watching this new wave of TikTok and trending and all these like...

0:36:39.9 MC: I don't wanna say overnight sensations because I know that it takes a massive amount of consistency and a massive amount of work ethic to get to a certain point. But for whatever reason, I just feel like I have been banging, and banging, and banging, and banging on the door for years, and then all of a sudden with all these new apps and shit, I feel so far behind. I used to feel like I was on the forefront of social media and new what was up, felt like my content was good, I felt like like a trailblazer in that sense. And now I kinda just feel like it has been, and I know that myself is there's a lot of work to do there about creating... I know I'm creating impact, but it's tough when you see someone like sky rocket to a million followers or whatever, and you know that their platform is so huge to do good, and you hope that they do good with it.

0:37:30.8 MH: Right.

0:37:30.9 MC: I don't know if that makes sense.

0:37:32.5 MH: It really does, and I feel the same it's constantly coming up with content and what's next, and there's always gonna be new platforms or new things to explore. But like you said, it's doing the mindset work, it's showing up for your community, it's continuing to stand on your voice, keep those blinders on, [laughter] and keep looking forward into the future, but there's a lot to offer and you have to give yourself a lot of credit for how far you've come. Just in the time I've known you, I'm just again, so impressed with all that you do and how you show up, and teach fitness on the days where I'm sure you're freaking exhausted [laughter] and are like, "No." But you show up and you're incredible. So, I know there's big things to come.

0:38:12.8 MC: Yeah, thank you.

0:38:13.0 MH: More to do, TBD. One more closing question, 'cause I know you love to read book. What is one book that you've read that really changed your life and why should we read it?

0:38:22.6 MC: Okay. So that's such a tough question, 'cause...

0:38:27.0 MH: I know.

0:38:27.2 MC: For me, the book that changed my life because I was in such a low dark party, drug, awful space, I had just gotten broken up with, I dated this guy for a long time, my friend in LA gave me this book called Spirit Junkie by Gabby Bernstein. That book changed my life, like full stop. Whatever happened with that or just whatever I read in that book was like, "You need to fucking change your life right now, or you're literally gonna wind up in jail or dead, or worse." That book changed my life, but I think there's been so many other books along the way that... There's so many, but I think that one, Spirit Junkie really, whatever... Well, I was open to receive, whatever needed to be downloaded when I got that book placed in my hands, so.

0:39:12.0 MH: Right. I know it's kind of funny how some things... Books fall or media falls in our lap when we kinda need to hear it or read it. So maybe I'll do like a Madison top five book list and we'll put it in the show notes. [laughter] 'Cause I know there are some more.

0:39:23.9 MC: Oh my gosh, yeah. Okay.

0:39:25.0 MH: Your own cover.

0:39:25.9 MC: Oh, I'll tell you one right now, I read one just recently audio book, and I loved it, and it's called Fear is my Homeboy, and I'm blanking on... I think...

0:39:34.7 MH: Writing that down.

0:39:35.6 MC: Yeah, Fear is my Homeboy, and you're gonna have to put the author 'cause I...

0:39:38.8 MH: We will.

0:39:39.7 MC: I am blanking on her name, she's dope, I listen to it on audio books, I listen to a lot of audio books, and I love listening to the inflection in people's voices. Another one that I love is Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo, another great audible. She's awesome, there's just so many.

0:39:55.4 MH: The list goes on and on. I know I feel like I have books piled up that almost give me anxiety, 'cause I have to read them all, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, but they're so many good ones." Yeah, that just made me over the break, in the new year, that's my resolution, read the damn books, so yeah.

0:40:08.6 MC: Oh my resolution, I think, is more surrender for sure, and I think I try to be in control of everything, kind of alluding to what I said, what I'm struggling with right now. I think a lot of that struggle is the way I visualize it is speaking, we're doing a lot of horse girl references, like blinders on. But I think about it like I'm so choked up on the reins sometimes, and I think what I'm working on right now into 2023, is I used to have this Pony, his name was Billy, and I knew him so well, we knew each other so well. I could literally drop my reins and he would still run around the ring and to go over the jumps.

0:40:48.3 MH: Wow.

0:40:48.7 MC: And that's the vibe I'm trying to be in.

0:40:51.0 MH: Just let it go.

0:40:52.1 MC: For my life, right?

0:40:53.0 MH: Yeah, surrender. Oh I love all of this and I know we could talk for three days, but no one's got time for that, so.

0:41:00.1 MC: Forever.

0:41:00.8 MH: Let's just keep listeners engaging and finding you. So what's the best way to engage, to find you, to work with you, where are all your platforms right now?

0:41:10.2 MC: So right now, I think the best place is probably Instagram @maddztaddz, M-A-D-D-Z-T-A-D-D-Z, and of course, I have www.maddztaddz.com that's being done over. So honestly, I just always feel like it goes down in the DM, I answer all my DMs and stuff like that. So just message me, and you can get my email on there and basically literally everything lives there right now.

0:41:33.0 MH: So you're so engaging and you have amazing reels and content. Thank you so much for sharing your pivot story and all your heartfelt advice, as I said in the beginning, and many times, I'm so inspired by you and appreciate how honest and real you are. I believe you truly are a gem of a human. So please everyone if you're in Boston, let's take Madison SoulCycle class together, so message me, message Madison, we'll get you in there. And tune in to her podcast, Wicked Fearless 'cause honestly she shares so much wisdom, and there's some great guests and stories on there as well, I always am taking notes. I love you for all you do, you keep me sane, you keep me smiling, you keep me healthy, so keep shining your light, and I cannot wait to see what 2023 bring.

0:42:14.3 MC: Hell yeah, hell yeah.

0:42:16.3 MH: Yes.

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0:42:17.1 S1: Pivot with Purpose with host Meghan Houle, is a Fashion Consort production and part of the FC podcast network, it is produced and directed by Phil aka Corrine. And a special thank you to Spencer Powell for our theme music. Learn more at pivotwithpurposepodcast.com, and be sure to follow us on Instagram at pivotwithpurpose_podcast.

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