The Woman Who Built a Nine-Figure Empire Says Most of What You See Online Is Fake | Codie Sanchez

There are people you meet once and think about for years. Codie Sanchez is one of mine. She is the founder of Contrarian Thinking, a Forbes 2026 Top Creator, and one of the most powerful voices in business on the internet, the rare person in her world who says the quiet part out loud instead of selling you the highlight reel. A New York Times bestseller with a nine-figure portfolio of businesses most people will never see the inside of, and a way of talking that makes you sit up straight. So I asked her the thing I actually wanted to know. What's the most dishonest part of the entrepreneurship dream we're all being sold? And she did not flinch. We get into why most business owners don't run their businesses, their businesses run them. Why the thing you build to give you freedom so often ends up with you by the throat. The vacation test that Gary and I failed miserably. And her whole argument, the one behind her new book Own or Be Owned, that being needed is not the same thing as being free, and most of us confuse the two until it's very expensive to learn the difference. But this one got personal fast, because Codie is about to become a mother for the first time, at the exact moment she's releasing the biggest work of her career. So we talked about what happens to a woman who built the whole machine when she has to evolve into a different woman for the next chapter. Running a business with your husband. Softness and power, and how they actually meet in leadership. Whether we even want it all, or whether we've just never been asked what we actually want. This is for the woman who is burned out, or tired, or quietly talked herself out of starting the thing. The one who suspects most of what she sees online is a little bit fake, and is right. Codie is proof you can build the business and still have the life, but only if you're honest with yourself about which life that is first. This is Codie Sanchez. New episodes of Not Alone every Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss one. Follow Codie: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codiesanchez TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@realcodiesanchez YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@codiesanchezct BigDeal podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bigdeal/id1736593333 Preorder her book, Own or Be Owned: https://codiesanchez.com/book/ Follow Valeria: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valerialipovetsky TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@valeria.lipovetsky Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valerialipovetskyblog Follow Not Alone: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notalonepod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@notalone.pod Podcast: https://www.notalonepod.com/ Shop my look from this episode: https://shopmy.us/collections/7214312 Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/valerialipovetsky What we talked about: 3:00 Round two, and a whole new chapter 5:00 Should you even become an owner? 6:00 Everybody can build a $10 business, but should they 9:19 The most dishonest part of the entrepreneurship dream 10:30 Selling a dream that's missing all the context 12:36 The questions nobody asks before they start 13:46 The price of the visibility 14:50 What do you actually want, though 16:00 The first million is the hardest 18:30 The martyr trap 21:03 Profit and revenue, not vanity metrics 24:11 Everybody's doing the most 25:19 Getting your team invested and leveraged 28:00 I'm not happy, and I'm the one who built this 30:27 Being needed is not the same as being free 33:10 What women in particular have to unlearn 35:30 Knowing what your person actually wants 36:38 The asset nobody wants to buy 39:00 What's my real hourly wage? 42:53 This is our era, ladies 44:00 The vacation test, which Gary and I failed 46:23 It won't work if you want different things 47:28 The moment she realized she had to evolve 48:51 Fresh flowers, and building a company you want to be in 50:55 Creating something from nothing 52:17 A world builder 55:00 What if you want something different now 58:07 Running a business, and a marriage, at the same time 1:00:44 The bargain you don't want to make 1:02:44 We're more capable than we're told 1:03:38 It's okay to say you want less, too 1:06:15 Softness and power in leadership 1:08:02 Buy or build? 1:09:28 Time is the real currency 1:11:00 Rapid fire Disclaimer: The links in this description are sponsor or affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a credit or commission at no additional cost to you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices